Head-Royce School Magazine, Spring 2018

Head Royce School MAGAZINE

SPR ING 2018

TEACHING & LEARNING

ISSUE

HEAD-ROYCE SCHOOL MAGAZINE

SPR ING 2018

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Life @ HRS

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Letter from Crystal Land, Head of School

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Happenings

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Social Studies Refresh in Lower School An expanded approach to teaching social studies

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The Middle School Big Build An innovative design/maker project

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Engineering Expo The practical applications of engineering

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Reimagined H-Block Four strands of engagement

EDITORS

PHOTOGRAPHY

Julie Kim-Beal Jennifer Beeson Keisha Courtney Dani Moseley Mantra Robinson

Jennifer Beeson Cameron Bracco Keisha Courtney Sam Deaner Nancy Feidelman Kerry Kehoe Jim Graham Saya McKenna Harry Muniz Richard Wheeler

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Alexander Atkins Design, Inc. PRINTING Solstice Press

VISIT US ONLINE! Discover more about us, our mission and activities at www.headroyce.org Visit us on Facebook at facebook/headroyceschool

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“ Throughout these pages, you’ll discover how we seek to equip our students with the skills and competencies necessary to thrive at school and beyond.”

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Notes of Validation Offering appreciation for our peers A Standout Season for Soccer Varsity men’s soccer makes School history Equity & Inclusion Art Project An all-school artistic endeavor First Person: Annika H. ’19 A junior’s exchange experience across the country Flapper’s Fête Annual auction fundraiser recap and photos

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CommunityEd Launches A community tradition is born

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HRS Adventures Abroad Student journeys to Japan and France

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Performing Arts Review The arts are alive at HRS!

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Math Marketplace Students as shopkeepers

CRYSTAL LAND

Gold Rush Study Our history through another lens Letter from the Alumni Council President Jason Langkammerer ’88 Alumni Profile Abby Falik ’97 Adulting 101 Alumni share wisdom with current students Alumni Profile John Meadows ’07

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Alumni Profile Candice Elder ’02

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Alumni Events

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Alumni Notes

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Collegiate Alumni Spotlight Adam Pratt ’14

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In Memoriam

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Where Are They Now?

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BUILDING BONDS IN SEVENTH GRADE 7th-graders participate in a team-building exercise.

LIFE@HRS

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EXPRESSION THROUGH ART Students hard at work in the art studio.

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LIFE@HRS

FUN AT THE FAIR Students enjoy carnival-style games at the All-School Fair.

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GENIUS HOUR Students collaborate on their woodworking projects during Genius Hour.

LIFE@HRS

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LARGER THAN LIFE Using teamwork and strategy, faculty and staff work in groups for a mini Big Build of their own, constructing letters that collectively form “Head-Royce School.”

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LIFE@HRS

CELEBRATING MAY Fifth-graders perform the traditional Maypole Dance.

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LIFE@HRS

LAB LIFE Students conduct a plasma mapping experiment in Dr. Brakeman’s Molecular Genetics class.

Bridge to 2022: Teaching + Learning Goal u

Welcome Our inspired faculty are committed to creating an engaging studentcentered experience that provides opportunities for choice, real-world problem solving, and experiential learning.

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to the Spring 2018 issue of Head-Royce Magazine. In this issue, we delve into our Strategic Plan goals around Teaching and Learning, and highlight the dynamic and creative ways that we are teaching the four Cs (creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication) across all divisions.

Our inspired faculty are committed to creating an engaging student-centered experience that provides opportunities for choice, real-world problem solving, and experiential learning. Throughout these pages, you’ll discover how we seek to equip our students with the skills and competencies necessary to thrive at school and beyond, while also nurturing curiosity, building character, and encouraging an authentic sense of civic responsibility.

This issue showcases the innovative spirit of teaching and learning at HeadRoyce. You’ll learn about the ways the Lower School faculty is enriching the social studies curriculum by introducing an expanded set of perspectives to shed light on untold histories.

TEACHING & LEARNING Our feature on the Middle School Big Build reveals how students thrive when given the opportunity to work with their hands to implement an idea from start to finish, and

how this process imparts the confidence and resilience required for deeper problemsolving capabilities. We explore a seniorlevel Engineering elective, where students are applying their knowledge in a realworld context. In this college-prep class, students draw upon their engineering skills to design, prototype, and build a hands-on project intended to improve an aspect of life at Head-Royce.

Another facet of the student experience that comes across in the pages of this issue is the delicate balance we strive to achieve by offering students the opportunity to fully engage in a challenging and purposeful curriculum, while also providing meaningful opportunities for pause and reflection. We take a look at H-Block, which gives Upper School students the freedom to explore more restorative practices like urban hiking, yoga, and cooking. Athletics is another outlet for many students to decompress and forge bonds with peers outside of the classroom, and, as you’ll read, many of our student-athletes encountered great success together this year.

I am energized by the great progress we’ve already been able to make towards our Teaching and Learning goals in this first year of implementation. We will continue to build upon this wonderful momentum, and I look forward to sharing many more examples of what’s unfolding in and out of our classrooms.

Warm regards,

Crystal M. Land Head of School

TEACHING & LEARNING

Enhance and amplify a student-centered academic program with opportunities for choice, real-world problem solving, creativity, and intellectual engagement.

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ur exceptional academic program successfully prepares students for intellectual engagement, lifelong learning, college, and real-world application. Educational research shows us that future success for students is tied to the mastery of critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. Additionally, we need students to be equally adept at both seeking knowledge and applying that knowledge within a real-world context. Building strong character and a deep understanding of the student’s own learning and cognitive abilities is also essential. These relevant competencies will complement our excellent academic program, and launch engaged students who will thrive in the world beyond Head-Royce.

Our imperative: we need to adapt our current approaches to teaching and learning so our students are instilled with the knowledge, skills, and mindset required for success in the 21st-century.

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Cultivate K-12 programs and courses that expand options for choice, real-world problem solving, and experiential learning.

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1ST-CENTUR 2 A Y

Re-examine our K-12 assessment philosophy and methods in order to investigate forward-thinking measurements of academic and social competencies.

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ON TI CA

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Align Head-Royce’s K-12 curriculum and program to the NAIS 21st-Century Competencies, which include critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity, and cultural competency.

KNOWLEDGE “WHAT WE KNOW” Interdisciplinary Traditional (i.e., Mathematics) Modern (i.e. Entrepreneurship) Themes (i.e., Global Literacy)

SKILLS

CHARACTER

“HOW WE USE WHAT WE KNOW”

“HOW WE BEHAVE AND ENGAGE IN THE WORLD”

Creativity Critical Thinking Communication Collaboration

Mindfulness Curiosity Courage Resilience Ethics Leadership

META-LEARNING “HOW WE REFLECT AND ADAPT” Growth Mindset Metacognition (reflection) Courtesy Center for Curriculum Redesign

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Happenings

1 Hiking with the Head Crystal Land joins the annual 6th-grade trip to Pinnacles National Park.

3 Boo! Lower School students pose for a picture in their Halloween costumes during the annual parade.

2 Remembering Loved Ones Students stand in front of the DĂ­a de los Muertos altar with handmade flowers to celebrate the holiday.

4 Together as One K-12 students and faculty gather at the beginning of the school year for the student-led opening ceremony.

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6 5 Annual Boat Race Tenth-grade homerooms race their handmade boats in the School pool during this spirited annual tradition.

6 Toothpick Bridges Upper School engineering students test their bridge designs. This year’s winning bridge held almost 200 times its weight!

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7 Celebrating Artists of Color Inspired by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, the artists who painted Barack and Michelle Obama’s recent portraits, upper school students paint portraits of their own.

8 Farm Fun Sixth-graders visit City Slicker Farms for their service learning trip, helping to harvest and plant crops.

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Happenings 9 Lunar New Year Lower School students celebrate Lunar New Year by participating in traditional dances and games on the patio.

10 Classroom Rollercoaster Using only a styrofoam roll, Upper and Lower School students work together to conquer a challenge—successfully moving a marble from one end of the room to the other.

11 The Art of Origami Upper Schoolers enjoy a lesson in transforming an ordinary piece of paper into art.

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12 Gather Em’ Up! Following garden class, a Lower School student helps put one of the wayward school chickens back in its coop.

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13 Roman Replicas Seventh-graders craft muslin dolls while studying ancient Rome.

14 Bright Ideas Fourth-graders build devices that convert electrical energy into light, motion, and sound.

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Happenings

15 15 Vex Robotics World Championship The Robohawks compete in the Vex Robotics World Championship, with three teams making it to the semi-finals!

16 Rebuilding Together Oakland An annual tradition, HRS students, faculty, and alumni come together for two weekends in the spring to paint a community member’s home.

17 Changemakers A group of Upper School BAStA (Bay Area Student Activists) students travel to Sacramento to lobby for stricter gun control legislation.

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18 Free Spirits Student dancers put on a spectacular show at this year’s FADE performance.

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TEACHING & LEARNING

Choice, Collaboration and Connection: Lower School Social Studies Gets a Refresh!

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ead-Royce regularly reexamines its K–12 curricula to account for emerging practices in pedagogy and research in child development—a common best-practice in education.

The Lower School social studies curriculum is the latest to undergo an exciting refresh which has served to enhance the learning experience in innovative and engaging ways.

Social studies is generally defined as the study of people—individuals, communities, and families—and it is both historical and contemporary. It is being able to recognize our similarities and differences. The consensus among the Lower School faculty was that “while the previous curriculum did provide opportunities for students to highlight aspects of themselves that make them unique,” Lower School Kindergarten Teacher Katie Reilly reflects, “we wanted to introduce targeted and specific topics and vocabulary that are increasingly present in our daily lives, even the lives of five-year-olds.”

Above: First-graders create self-portraits for the “How Am I Unique?” project.

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We wanted to introduce targeted and specific topics and vocabulary that are Lower School Head Lea Van Ness made this a departmental focus during the 2015–2016 school year. What began as honest observations and reflections from discerning Lower School teachers in a committee meeting three years ago, resulted in a two-year curriculum planning process that resulted in a newly-designed social studies curriculum being implemented at the beginning of the current school year.

The collaborative and involved process worked particularly well because teachers were given adequate time to do a true deep-dive. All of the Lower School classroom teachers played an important role in shaping the next iteration of the Head-Royce Lower School social studies curriculum: “We began researching national frameworks that included IB Schools, national and state standards, plus other independent schools to gauge what they were doing that was working particularly well. We came up with five different pathways we thought were worth examining further. In our second year of work, these ideas were brought to the entire Lower School teaching community. We devoted departmental meetings to this topic for months, and every classroom teacher had a chance to share what they were doing— what they liked and what they didn’t like,” teacher Zach Bernard shared.

Halfway through last school year, the faculty arrived at a clear consensus around the best direction to take. The Lower School adapted the K–12 social studies curriculum from Engage New York as a framework from which to base its new curriculum, drawing upon some of the more potent pedagogy and inquiry-based unit examples and weaving them into what was already being done at Head-Royce.

Beginning in the spring of second grade, Lower School teachers will now be rolling out larger projects which provide students with more opportunities for choice, collaboration, and creativity, as well as offering them opportunities to actively demonstrate what they’ve learned in new, innovative ways. As teachers continue to develop their units, they are also more closely analyzing the varying developmental stages of racial/cultural identities and attitudes, which has allowed the Lower School to reimagine the program to include concepts around social justice, including empathy and tolerance.

The third, fourth and fifth grade teams will continue to ramp up their curricula in a similar fashion, with the hope that by the time students are

increasingly present in our daily lives, even the lives of five-year-olds. transitioning into the Head-Royce Middle School, they will have experienced a rich and expanded variety of perspectives and will have also had some agency in their own learning. Executive functioning skills are crucial in the early grades because by the time students transition to the Middle School, they are working in a much more independent fashion. The Lower School faculty is helping to foster executive functioning skills in addition to offering opportunities for more project-based learning, like the 4th Grade Gold Rush Museum Exhibit, which went on display just before spring break this year (more about this on page 39!).

Implementing the new curriculum this year has underscored that our youngest learners are eager and ready to actively engage in this work. Our Strategic Plan goals around Teaching and Learning are wellaligned with the new curriculum, keeping students at the fore with an emphasis on collaboration, creativity, and larger, more experiential projects.

Bernard offered some final thoughts on both the benefits and challenges of the social studies

curriculum redesign: “One of the things that I think is going to be challenging as we continue to roll these new units out, is that the projects are more based on the process rather than the product. We’re not trying to create a bulletin board display of beautifullydecorated art projects. We are trying to emphasize process a lot more because that is where all the good learning happens.”

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M I D D L E

S C H O O L

BIG BUILD

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his spring, Middle School students participated in an innovative design/maker project that thoroughly challenged their ability to effectively collaborate, problem-solve, and strategize in a fastpaced environment with a high level of mental agility. The challenge was appropriately titled the Middle School Big Build.

“ As a teacher, it’s amazing to see what students are capable of and able to create in such a short amount of time.”

JONATHAN BRAIDMAN K-12 Technology & Design Coordinator

“We designed this project because we wanted middle school students to have an experience using their hands to build something that was literally larger than themselves. We wanted them to get experience using power tools and work together creatively in a way they hadn’t before,” K-12 Technology & Design Coordinator Jonathan Braidman said.

Students were put into several small teams to build one of two projects; a parklet, which is a tiny, park-like seating area that fits in city parking spaces so passersby can relax and enjoy the city atmosphere; or a playlet, an oversized interactive game that lower school students could play.

One group decided to make a playlet that combined two traditional games: pool and soccer. “With this game you actually have to step into the table. Think of the game pool with the stick, but instead of using the stick, you use your feet to kick the balls into the holes,” Annatie M. ’22 said.

All of the teams had ambitious ideas, but quickly learned there were several challenges they had to overcome to get from the idea phase to the the building phase.

Teachers were on-hand to ensure safety and to keep track of time, but, other than that, they couldn’t interfere. Students had to work problems out without adult intervention.

“They had to find cohesion within their groups and figure out how to best work together. One person had to think ‘big picture’ and figure out what was going on

around them in order to get the whole group to gel,” Braidman said. “As a teacher, it’s amazing to see what they are capable of and able to create in such a short amount of time.”

The introduction of design/making projects has been shown to support student development in many significant ways.

From a social/emotional perspective, these skills can foster a sense of competence and confidence in middle schoolers, as well as an appreciation for collaboration. Students also benefit from a physical standpoint, with reinforced hand-eye coordination and finemotor control. And the cognitive benefits are many, as students are able to delve more deeply into concepts around math and engineering. Then, of course, there’s the very practical skill of knowing how to operate power tools!

For many students, this project was the first time they had used tools of any kind.

But perhaps even more surprising, the Big Build was the first time many had interacted with students from other grades in the Middle School. And for them, the best part of the experience was building solid bonds with students from other grades in their division.

See the Middle School Big Build in-action at https://bit.ly/2JvL8og.

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ENGINEERING

EXPO

IMPROVING LIFE AT HEAD-ROYCE

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you’ve ever stepped in to Dr. Chris Kinney’s classroom, you may have noticed that it looks part tidy teaching space, part mad scientist’s lab. With curious-looking contraptions spilling off of the shelves and electronic components strewn about, it’s obvious that this is a space

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where some serious out-of-the-box, hands-on learning happens.

Each spring, juniors and seniors have the opportunity to enroll in Dr. Kinney’s Engineering class, a college-prep elective that delves into introductory concepts in engineering.

Always seeking practical applications for his teaching material, Dr. Kinney came up with the idea of organizing the class’s very own Engineering Expo.

“I wanted students to have the opportunity to establish a solid foundation of engineering principles by working with their hands,” Dr. Kinney explains. At the start of the process, he asked students to consider the fundamental question: “What does it mean to engineer? What is the objective?” His students would need to identify a specific problem affecting life at Head-Royce, and then propose a practical solution that they could engineer themselves.

Students were eager to tackle issues that many of them had longidentified in their academic careers at Head-Royce. Aidan C-M. ’18 and Belinda T. ’18 had observed how difficult and disruptive it was to have to locate peers in class in order to move their blocked-in vehicles in the often cramped north parking lot.

The duo developed a clever lock box system that fits perfectly into the lot retaining wall, and allows students to directly access the keys of the other drivers who share tandem parking spots. Dr. Kinney says he’ll be working with the facilities staff to explore piloting this new system.

Having noticed that Lower School art teachers didn’t have a way of effectively transporting materials from classroom to classroom, Blythe R-P. ’18 conceived of a mobile “Art Cart,” complete with a smart shelving system and dedicated spaces for a bevy of art materials. “I really

appreciated the opportunity to work with the Lower School art teacher— she was very helpful in explaining exactly what she needed. I used her feedback on how the Art Cart will actually function in the classroom to build out the idea,” Blythe shared.

She even used upcycled materials to make her a idea reality. Throughout the process, Dr. Kinney emphasized that students had to fully understand the “why” of their projects on a fundamental level, then communicate their understanding to the larger group, and finally create.

Seniors Cameron B., Alexandra G., and Jonathan W. dreamed up another project with a very clear purpose.

They devised a solution for students who often use the hallways as a place to study during free time, with the floor serving as the workspace.

They developed a foldable table that mounts to the wall and can be lowered to create impromptu, temporary desk space. In a closed position, the thin table is barely

At the start of the process, Dr. Kinney asked students to consider the fundamental question: “What does it mean to engineer?” noticeable on the wall, but lowered and supported via a single leg, it creates a sturdy and unobtrusive work surface.

Other creative examples included a cell charger station to accommodate the many phones on campus, and a napping pod, which can be attached to any chair and provides a dark, cocoon-like experience for the tired and weary student’s head. One student designed a PVC shower curtain system for the boys locker room, while another group designed a Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) card security protocol that would ostensibly grant parking lot access to HRS students without requiring

them to get out of their vehicles, as well as enhance the student sign-out process.

A random number generator was also developed to relieve faculty of the conundrum of picking student pairs for class activities.

The presentation poster reads: “Has picking pairs always been nervewracking? Ending up with the same partner over-and-over? Does ‘cough, cough’ Mr. Vann take too long to pick partners with his cards? Well, not anymore!”

The 10-week process consisted of several phases; a preliminary research period, where students had to bring their ideas to their peers for feedback; a development phase, where projects went from idea stage to reality; and a final presentation phase, where prototypes were presented to the larger community.

“I really didn’t imagine I could actually build this idea. But now I can’t wait to see how it will help in the classroom,” Blythe added.

Students Re-Imagine

H-Block

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or the past several years, upper school students have attended Practicum every Thursday—adult-led discussion groups, activities, and academic sessions that are intended to offer support in a variety of areas. But some intrepid upper schoolers wanted to re-envision an expanded format that would enable them to self-select activities that are even more relevant and speak to their ever-evolving needs.

“Last year, a group of students wrote a petition, which was signed by a large portion of the student body, and submitted it to Mr. Thiermann. Two seniors who are now alumni, Scott Van Ness ’17 and Maddie Dyke ’17, dedicated their senior projects to strengthening community engagement. As part of their projects, they developed a plan for restructuring Practicum,

which became the basis of the H-Block we have today,” student body co-president Noah T. ’18 said.

H-Block is an hour-long segment of the class schedule every Thursday where students get the opportunity to attend activities or classes that are focused on four main categories: academics, athletics, community service, or personal enrichment.

In selecting their own activities, they now get the agency and flexibility they were seeking.

“The main thing H-Block gives students is freedom, which is something that is important to high school students. H-Block allows students to apportion their time based on how things are going. If they have a big test coming up, they can sign up for study hall to make sure they’re well-prepared; if they have a big game coming up, they can sign up for open gym; or if they need to de-stress, they can try jam

making or board games,” Noah said.

Students sign up for classes on the popular app MindBody, which is used predominantly in the wellness industry. Classes change weekly to ensure that students don’t grow tired of the same activities.

“I’ve taken an improv class and Slices of Psych. Today, I got to do DIY Cooking. We’re making ramen and experimenting by seeing how we can make it delicious and healthy. I like H-Block—it’s just really fun,” Amzie B. ’20 shared.

The development of H-Block was a process that involved a lot of planning and collaboration from students, administrators, and teachers. “I think H-Block really represents good discussion, compromise, and a healthy step forward,” Noah said.

H-BLOCK EX AMPLES

College Counseling Resum e Workshop Gardening Latin Study Hall Slices of Psych Urban Hiking We Jammin’ Writing Lab Art Histor y Film Cross-Country Run Math Cafe Podcasting Science Support Debate Coaching Self-Defense You Are What You Eat

n o i t a d i l a V f o s e t o N g n Shari

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hat started as a simple viewing of a humorous but uplifting short film around the concept of validating others exploded into a popular annual tradition in the Middle School. For a three week span in the fall, students set up a “Validation Booth” on the middle school patio. Its purpose was for students to create special notes of gratitude for those they shared a bond with at School.

“It’s not often that people get to tell each other that they care, so we had a specific place set up for people to feel better about themselves and make other people feel good as well,” Student Body President Michael B. ’22 said.

During lunch and break times, students could visit a table on the patio that was filled with colorful construction paper and markers to aid them in writing their notes of gratitude to the person/people of their choice.

“I wrote to my friend Nina because she means so much to me. I sometimes take her for granted and I want her to know I care,” student Raven R. ’24 said.

The notes of gratitude that the students wrote ranged from humorous to more serious and heartfelt, but the overall reaction of students— both writers and recipients—was happiness, appreciation, and excitement about writing and receiving the notes.

After writing out their messages, students were given the opportunity to pose for a picture with their notes. Those pictures were later shared with the rest of the division at the middle school assembly.

“Learning to both acknowledge each other positively and also learn how to accept praise are powerful and fundamental rituals in our technology-ridden world and perfect for middle schoolers who are navigating the new social and emotional dynamics of pre-teen life.

Going back to the basics is always a good way to remind ourselves that we live among others in a diverse community and that focusing on how awesome others are is healthy for us,” Middle School Assistant Head, Brian Barish said.

Once all of the notes were collected, they were put on display in the middle school hallway so that students, faculty, and visitors to campus could appreciate the messages.

Men’s Varsity Soccer Makes Head-Royce History!

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t was a record-breaking season for the Men’s Varsity Soccer team, having captured the CIF Division 2 title for the first time in School history! The team defeated Making Waves Academy, also winning the playoff tournament to earn the BCL-East league championship. Coach John Miottel, who started his career at HRS in 1982, shared some of the team’s tactics that allowed them to reach this thrilling milestone.

“We talked a lot about Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hours concept, which argues that it takes a person approximately 10,000 hours of concerted effort in order to master a discipline. I think this concept helps kids develop more of a growth mindset; they can better understand the idea of an ongoing process, as opposed to achieving a goal and being ‘done.’”

Coach Miottel also relied on an age-old practice to get his team into a winning mindset. “We used meditation and mindfulness to prepare for the big game. I lead them through a series of visualizations to relax and focus the mind.” Athletes said they found this practice really helped with stress during games.

These strategies, coupled with a lot of hard work set this year’s varsity team up for success. The Jayhawks ended the season 18-1, ranked as the top men’s fall season soccer team in the state of California. Go Jayhawks!

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All-School Equity & Inclusion Art Project Earlier in the school year, Head-Royce art teachers asked the entire student body and professional community to ponder a single essential question:

What does equity and inclusion look like to you?

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“We talked about the project at the beginning of the year in our opening meetings. We were so shaken by the events from last summer in Charlottesville, and we wanted to find ways to talk to students about what we perceived to be an abnormal climate of hate in the United States. We decided to create art around a positive message. It’s also powerful because it’s based on personal reflection,” art teacher Ann Murphy said.

Community members were asked to create a graphic representation of equity and inclusion on a small index card, and more than 500 people responded.

“I loved all the use of text and the variety of mediums people used in the project. Interpretations ranged from iconic symbols like hearts, globes, and hands of different shades, but also, some very specific incidents or memories

as well. We received everything from photographs to a cut-up dollar bill!” art teacher Emily Miller said.

When the cards were displayed together, it was a powerful statement that artistically conveyed the wide range of thought regarding equity and inclusion at the School.

“It was beautiful to see the varied interpretations of the question from the youngest artists to the oldest artists sideby-side. Each participant got to reflect on what our ideal community includes for us to collectively envision a better world,” teacher Marissa Kunz said.

In an age and environment where everything moves so rapidly, teachers agree that it has been a delight to see people stop and linger in front of the artwork, and discover something new each time.

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T PERSON FIRS

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Y NAME IS ANNIKA. I am a current Head-Royce junior

participating in a semester-exchange program at Mountain School of Milton Academy in Vershire, VT (a tiny rural town about 40 minutes from Dartmouth). We’re really out there in the woods—Vershire boasts a general store, an inn, and a few cars passing through. The Mountain School is a semester program for 45 students from across the country who are interested in sustainability. We live and take care of a farm, working with animals, pruning bushes, planting seeds, mopping, and skiing. It’s experiential learning at its most experiential. We read Robert Frost’s “Directive” at an abandoned farm house, “Mending Wall” at a stonewall broken by frost heaves and time, we take a quiz identifying trees by walking through the woods, and we learn orienteering by getting dropped off at a random location and finding our way back to campus.

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e learn outside. We have Environmental Science outside, looking at trees and pillows and cradles and coppices; we have science hike each week where we visit a spot on campus of our choosing that we investigate for the whole semester; we take a four-day solo camping trip where we learn how to be bored in a world where there is constant bombardment of notifications; we learn about weather by walking through Siberia during a hail storm.

Every day, we have two-and-ahalf-hour work periods where we are cutting down trees, exploring our science sites, learning about perennials, doing dishes, helping with farm work, and learning how to survive in the woods alone. One of the most amazing work periods I had was apple pruning with the Latin teacher and orchardist, Ben. I’ve never met someone so interested and knowledgeable about apples—how they grow, the etymology behind their names, how old the trees are, why we have an orchard, what the proper fungal components of the soil should be, why the grass should be scythed—and

teach it in a way that is full of even more interesting digressions into lessons about sculpture, ancient societies, and language.

It was amazing to learn a skill so practical and physical, but to have it presented in the most philosophical, contemplative manner.

We only did about 10 minutes of active pruning. We had to learn the principles (don’t exert your will onto the tree and don’t change the tree to fit your pre-conceived standards), the orchard’s history, the apple’s history, the proper conditions for apples, the terrible world of trademarked and commercialized apples, and about super niche species that only taste right if they come from a very specific town in Massachusetts (the Westfield Seek-No-Further).

This weekend, in preparation for our four-day solo coming up next week, we spent the night outside around campus.

We practiced our knot-tying and shelter-building skills and practiced keeping warm on a below-freezing night (lots of jumping jacks!). It was really cold, but my hammock was comfortable, and we got back to campus before 8:00 the next morning to have a hot breakfast.

On my way up to the dining hall, I stopped in the sheep barn.

It has always had a really nice atmosphere, and the sheep are the sweetest and most loving animals. But recently, the sheep barn has been even better; lambing season has begun.

Eighteen of our sheep were pregnant, and most are having twins.

I walked into the barn that morning and

We live and take care of a farm, working with animals, pruning bushes, planting seeds, mopping, and skiing. It’s experiential learning at its most experiential. was was greeted quietly by a friend who was on the sheep chore. Having just been fed new hay, all of the sheep were munching along the feed troughs except for 403, who was lying against a back wall in labor. We sat in near silence watching her push forw close to half an hour.

We could see the two front hooves of the lamb, and after awhile we could see its nose, too. Eventually we decided to help to ease her. The farm manager cleaned her hands with alcohol, covered them in lubricant, and pulled the lamb out while I hugged 403 to keep her still. The lamb came out gooey and huge; its legs are the same length as its body, and when he tried to stand just minutes after we birthed him, it was like he was trying to stand on stilts. 403 licked him clean, then we cut the umbilical cord and put iodine around the area to keep infection away. The barn was so peaceful and quiet with all of us just watching 403. At the end of the barn, we could watch the kindergarten area, where all of the older lambs are playing with each other. They don’t walk or run anywhere, they hop. Picture popcorn! 403 is the sweetest sheep; she’ll come up to you and lean in, expecting scratches, like a big, lovable, huggable dog. I am so happy that I got to see her give birth. It was so magical and peaceful and beautiful and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I think I felt like I understood a part of this lamb’s journey. It’s a harsh transition to go from the warm, comforting womb to the cold, wide world of rural Vermont, and it’s a similar journey as mine coming here.

When I left California at the beginning of February, it was 75˚, and the first week here it was a chilly 16˚. We joke that we are the Winter ’18 semester instead of Spring ’18. We’ve been getting intermittent snow and freezing rain since I arrived. We didn’t experience comfortable, warm, sunny weather until the end of April. Now, I’m just hoping that it stays warm for solo.

As someone who has gone to the same school for twelve years, coming to the Mountain School was a big change. Fortyfive people is a lot more than it sounds when you don’t know a soul. But learning to get to know people and discover who they are and where they came from is such a unique opportunity, and the experience of unifying with 44 other people from completely different backgrounds is something so valuable that I hadn’t gotten the chance to do before.

Hear more about Annika’s adventures at the Mountain School on her blog: www.oak2vershire. wordpress.com.

Spring Magazine 2018 31

Flapper’s

Fête

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n Saturday, March 17, our Parents’ Association hosted Flapper’s Fête, an amazing community event and auction to benefit Head-Royce School.

Guests stepped into a transformed Chapman Pavilion and were transported to a glamorous 1920s jazz club, complete with a champagne tower, signature cocktails and a jazz ensemble. This year’s event featured silent auction baskets, unique live lots, an Instant Wine Cellar raffle, paddles up for Heads Up, and an online auction of parent and student experiences.

Flapper’s Fête was one of our most successful events and raised over $230,000 for our school. We are deeply grateful to the volunteer team who worked tirelessly to make this event a reality: Leslie Sarandah, Kirsty Gumina, Julia Knight, Margaux Brown, Rani Batra, Emily Sah, China McKay, Amelia SandovalSmith, Samantha Furstein, Michelle Fulbrook, Dianna Preena, Shab Farzaneh and Lisa Poplasky. Save the date for next year’s event at Chabot Space & Science Center March 9, 2019!

CommunityEd’s

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n partnership with the Parents’ Association, Head-Royce successfully launched CommunityEd this year— an enrichment, personal development and community connection program comprised of a Parent-Faculty Book Group and a 3-part Speaker Series. Our book group came together to read and discuss The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, which explores hacks for living a happier life and experiencing heightened levels of well-being. Denise Pope, founder of Stanford’s Challenge

Success, kicked off our Speaker Series in November, sharing tips on how to reduce the stressors that prevent our kids from thriving. In February, Glenn Singleton delivered a powerful talk on the importance of deepening interracial dialogue.

The event was also part of NIA’s Speaker of Color Series in honor of Black History Month.

Finally, bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims shared her observations as a mother and former student dean in her poignant and oftenhilarious talk on overparenting. Each

Inaugural Year

speaker’s wonderful expertise was connected to our Bridge to 2022 Strategic Plan goals and current work being done on the Head-Royce campus. We were thrilled with the community response to this new program and are already in the planning stages for the 2018-19 school year!

Top to bottom: Glenn Singleton with members of NIA. Denise Pope (second from right) meets with faculty and students before her evening talk. The Parent-Faculty Book Group discusses Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage.

Julie Lythcott-Haims shares tips for supporting stressed-out kids.

Spring Magazine 2018 33

H

ead-Royce has a longstanding global education program that seeks to provide unique opportunities for students in all three divisions to extend on-campus learning in new ways. These trips are more than a tourist view of a country—students dive deep into culture, history, tradition, and language.

This spring, a group of 16 students and 3 administrators journeyed through Japan.

Nadia N. ’20 (pictured below) shares her account of their adventure.

F

or 10 days in February, I was among 16 students who traversed the globe along with Ms. Land, Ms. McKenna, and Naoko to visit Japan.

Throughout Japan—from Kyoto to Tokyo—we experienced everything, from caramelized crickets to 320-kilometer-per-hour bullet trains. To say the trip was enriching and unforgettable is an understatement.

A full summary of the trip, including blog posts from each day, is available on Twitter, but there are some lessons we learned that cannot simply be deduced from glancing at a Twitter feed.

Our visit to the Yasuda Gakuen Junior and Senior High School in Tokyo, for example, highlighted a few of the wonders of Japanese culture. Samuel T. ’19, Dylan E. ’20, and I joined a men’s volleyball practice. This was not only great fun, but also quite an eye­-opening experience because the camaraderie and talent of the team were incredible.

The boys could jump out of the gym and hit the ball at the speed of sound. They said they practice Monday through Friday for three hours a day, and on Saturday and Sunday for half the day. This demonstrates the incredible commitment to excellence we found throughout Japanese life. In the midst of the Winter Olympics, I found it that this universal pursuit of greatness and commitment to excellence is shared by Japan, the United States, and many other countries alike.

After we gawked at the boys’ talent for some time, the team allowed Samuel, Dylan, and me to play. We were nervous–

JOURNEY TO

Japan

none of us had played volleyball, and clearly this team was in a league of its own. Still, the boys cheered every time we hit the ball in the court and applauded us after every point we won or lost. Their helpfulness and humility showed they put the group first over the individual.

The boys could have easily played among themselves, and it would have resulted in an intense and rigorous match. Instead, they made sure either Dylan, Samuel, or I touched the ball during every play. The team inducted us into its ranks and immediately acted as if we were one of their own, giving us pointers and cheering at our every lackluster spike or when we accidentally won a point.

From my experiences on this trip, I found that most Japanese really do believe that “you are only as strong as your weakest link.” Returning home, I realized that, while the United States acknowledges the importance of the group, it also celebrates the individual a fair amount—a trait differing greatly from what we saw in Japan.

While there is neither the time nor space to detail and compare all the traits of Japanese culture to that of our own, a virtue I found in most every person I interacted with in Japan was profuse kindness. Not only was the Yasuda Gakuen team kind to us newcomers, but the Japanese in general were genuinely nice people. A clear example of this was when a student in our group left a pen and 10 yen (the equivalent to a dime) in a room. In many American hotels, those items would have been thrown out, but the innkeeper called our guides and returned the forgotten merchandise.

This kindness is backed by statistics: Japan is the ninth safest country in the world, according The Independent. I believe that kindness is a true American value, but it is not always demonstrated in our daily lives. One important lesson we can learn from the Japanese is how to be kinder and subsequently improve our nation as a whole.

Cross-cultural exchange was a fascinating and complex experience that we were able to take part in during our trip. Ask anyone who went on that trip, and they will likely say something along the lines of “It was amazing.”

From the volleyball courts of Tokyo, to the rustic inns of the Nakasendo Trail, we experienced life outside the United States’ borders, life beyond a Twitter feed, life teeming with wonder that at times appeared different but was filled, like our own, with important values and traditions.

This article originally appeared on the Japan Forward blog.

French Exchange

T

his spring, faculty members Sylvie Vaillant and Aurélie Bordet took a group of 14 Head-Royce students to Melun, a city southeast of Paris near Fontainebleau, to complete the second part of their exchange program with École Saint-Aspais. Students lived with their French families, spent two days at school, and experienced the history and culture of the area. Highlights included visits to the towers of NotreDame, the French Senate, the Eiffel Tower, the 17th-century castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte, the medieval town of Provins, and the royal Palace of Fontainebleau. Our students were so happy to reunite with their French counterparts, who had visited Head-Royce for ten days back in October.

Since 2015, the School has partnered with École Saint-Aspais, a Catholic independent school in France, for a student exchange program.

French students visit Head-Royce during their October break and stay with Head-Royce families. In exchange, HRS students are able to visit France to do the same thing in the spring.

“This program provides an opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to a real-world context. Language proficiency is a valuable 21st-century skill, and students are able to develop it authentically during the home stays. This program is also a true exchange of cultural values and ideals,” Bordet said.

Rachel D. ’20 adds, “The most striking thing about complete immersion in French language and culture was that everything I had been worrying about for weeks was wiped, and in its place was a whole new dictionary of words and tidbits I couldn’t wait to scribble in my journal that night. I found that France had an impact on my life; now I listen to French music while I do my homework.”

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THE ARTS A RE A LIVE A ND WELL AT HE A D-ROYCE!

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he Head-Royce Fine Arts Department works tirelessly throughout the year to put on concerts, musicals, plays, exhibitions, and other performances locally and beyond.

Our dedicated and hardworking Fine Arts faculty nurtures student creativity and expression in all of its wonderful forms. Here is just a sample of the Fine Arts highlights for the 2017-2018 school year.

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1 FADE presents Unspoken From ballet to Bollywood and hip-hop to salsa, many styles were showcased at this year’s Fine Arts Dance Ensemble (FADE) show entitled Unspoken.

2 Upper School Play The spring production, All the Way, vividly captured a period of great turmoil and consequence in American history, from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 through Election Night, 1964.

3 All-School Art Show Parents admired the works of students from K-12 grade at the annual All-School Art Show. Work included photography, sculpture, drawing, painting, and more.

4 Holiday Program During the much anticipated annual Holiday Program, student dancers, singers, and musicians collaborated to create an incredible show for the community.

5 Third- to Fifth-Grade Spring Musical Inspired by the traditional Aztec Tale, The Flame of Peace, 3rd- through 5th-graders put on an energized performance during the spring musical.

Spring Magazine 2018 37

or one lunch period during the school year, the Community Room is transformed into what looks like a bustling farmer’s market. Students and teachers walk from booth to booth sampling handmade goods, including sweets, bath products, and stationary, while other students stand behind the booths answering customer questions, analyzing numbers, and counting back change.

A MARKETPL ACE FOR MATH This unusual classroom set-up only happens once a year, but for the students who are running the booths and selling the products, it takes weeks to get to this point. This entire production is the Middle School Math Marketplace.

“The math marketplace came about as a way to engage kids in the concept of linear equations. I wanted to engage kids in a real life understanding of what a variable means (unit price) and what a constant represents (fixed cost),” math teacher Lisa Van Kirk explained.

Students were tasked with coming up with a compelling product they could market. Working in pairs, they drafted business plans that included an executive summary, a marketing plan, and a financial plan. The marketing portion of the plan included a survey to gauge customer interest, equations that determined a viable price, and a sales forecast. The financial part of the plan included a detailed cost analysis and break-even point.

“It’s a lot of complicated math! You have to find the exact rate of what you are going to spend and what you are going to get in return from everyone 38 Spring Magazine 2018

else. You also have to estimate the number of people who will want to buy your product,” Anay M. ’23 said.

Some pairs initially came up with plans that weren’t financially viable, so they had to iterate.

Dealing with real money created even more of a challenge for many.

“They are used to doing math with really no consequences, except maybe getting the answer wrong. Now they have real money riding on their math calculations!,” Van Kirk said.

The work didn’t end once sales commenced— they still had to do calculations while selling their products. If they found their products weren’t selling as anticipated, they had to reanalyze the market and amend their prices if necessary.

The money that is collected from math marketplace is given to a charity of the students’ choosing. This year, they were able to raise about $1,200 from selling their products, and all of the money was donated to the California Fire Fund to help the victims of the fires that ravaged California last year.

Digging Deeper: Uncovering the Untold History of the Gold Rush

“ I enjoyed learning about different groups and how

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he recent Lower School social studies curriculum redesign (more about this on page 19!) gave faculty the opportunity to reimagine how specific units could be taught in ways that further heighten student engagement.

Fourth-grade teacher Annie Tsai Gomez embraced the opportunity to reframe how the history of the Gold Rush is taught in her grade. “I wanted to include the perspectives of those we don’t always learn about,” Tsai Gomez says. The Gold Rush was arguably one of the most significant events that shaped California as we know it today—by the end of 1849, the non-native population of the California territory had exploded from approximately 800 people to 100,000.

In an attempt to illuminate the lesserknown experience of these minority communities, fourth graders studied Gold Rush history through the lens of Native Americans, Chinese immigrants, Latinos, African Americans, and women.

Students were asked to create their own exhibits that represented a facet of each of these disenfranchised groups’ experience in burgeoning Gold Country.

Exhibits consisted of two elements; an artifact that was emblematic of a specific experience, and an accompanying written piece offering context and historical data.

One of the essential questions students were tasked to consider was: “Was the Gold Rush a good thing for your particular group of people? Why or why not?”

The completed exhibit told a story characterized largely by perseverance and adaptation. One student fashioned a bow and arrow from obsidian and wood to represent how the Gold Rush had transformed how Native Americans obtained their food sources. Another student created a wheel that, when spun, foretold the various hypothetical futures of

ambitious ’49ers—from striking it rich to sailing back home in defeat. Another student created replicas of laundry and herb shops to tell the story of the many Chinese immigrants who were forced to explore alternate means of economic survival after unsuccessful attempts at mining.

Students worked independently on their projects, but also came together as a larger group to collectively animate this fairly turbulent period in history. Their exhibits had to complement one another, so as to collectively uncover a fuller narrative of the minority experience. Tsai Gomez shared that many students were particularly excited about the opportunity to explore their own ethnic and cultural histories as it related to the Gold Rush.

Once the exhibit was complete, the class welcomed third and fifth graders into their “museum,” as well as teachers across all divisions. Students served as docents for their exhibits, enthusiastically sharing the new historical knowledge they had gained and imparting greater clarity on a significant chapter of California history.

they struggled or succeeded in the Gold Rush.”

E VA M . ’ 26

LOOKING TO RECONNECT OR NETWORK WITH OTHER ALUMNI? Check out the secure online

HEAD-ROYCE ALUMNI DIRECTORY www.headroyce.org/alumnidirectory Search for alumni by: • Class • Industry • Company • College or University • Region

This directory is only available to alumni of Head-Royce School. This directory is only intended for the personal use of Head-Royce Alumni and can not be used for any commercial purpose. The misuse or abuse of any information in this directory will result in the removal of access privileges.

DEAR FELLOW ALUMNI,

A

LETTER FROM THE ALUMNI COUNCIL PRESIDENT

s I write this letter, I am eagerly anticipating seeing many of you at Alumni Weekend & Reunion, the 30th for my class of 1988. These milestone reunions create a special occasion to reflect on my time at Head-Royce and I recently was thinking how different the school

is now compared to how it was then. The improvements in diversity, financial stability, and the amazing changes in the physical campus are especially notable since the school I graduated from was already 100 years old! You’d think a century-old institution would lean on its rich history and be set in its ways, yet the school continues to progress and improve, building upon the incredible history created by those who came before us.

JASON LANGKAMMERER ’88

With Head-Royce’s leadership in promoting new facets of a 21st-century education, there is a growing opportunity for the alumni body to support this education. The I-search, senior projects, summer internships and other “outside the classroom” learning are perfect opportunities for alumni to give back. Faculty member Nancy Feidelman has done an amazing job of launching the Center for Community Engagement, which supports service learning and fosters real-world experiences that make connections with classroom curriculum.

Some accomplishments this year include the launch of a database of alumni to make it easier to connect with old friends or network with other alums, as well as several social events held in New York, Los Angeles, and locally.

Alumni giving increased again this year—in both dollars and number of donors (thank you!)—and we held our second annual Adulting 101 event, where over 30 alumni from a variety of professional industries came back to campus and spoke to groups of Upper School students about their career paths. As we build the alumni program, there is a way for all of us to participate.

A common trait of many great schools is active, lifelong alumni engagement.

We are committed to continuing a similar tradition right here. While we honor and show gratitude for the past at Alumni Weekend, there is an exciting future ahead for Head-Royce and an equally exciting future for her alumni community!

Sincerely,

Jason Langkammerer ’88

Alumni Council President & Trustee We invite you to become more involved with the alumni community and HeadRoyce. Please contact Julie Kim-Beal, Director of Alumni Relations and Events, at jkimbeal@headroyce.org or 510.228.1591 for more information.

Spring Magazine 2018 41

ALUMNI PROFILE

Abby Falik ’97

Founder, Global Citizen Year

I

n the 1990s, many Head-Royce students had the sole goal of going to college in mind, but Abby Falik ’97 had desires beyond going straight to college. She dreamed of joining the Peace Corps to get life experience, but her plans were thwarted when she was told by the organization that she had to wait until after college to even apply. Frustrated, and a bit disappointed, she went off to college. It wouldn’t be until after a stint in South America that the idea to create her non-profit, Global Citizen Year,* was born.

“In unexpected ways, HRS taught me what I needed to know about myself and set me up on the path I’ve been on ever since.”

Abby Falik ’97

42 Spring Magazine 2018

How did the School help foster the journey you are on now with Global Citizen Year?

The 9th grade I-search project was the first time I got to pose a question that really sparked— and allowed me to follow—my curiosity. That experience of self-guided, out-of-class learning based on a clear, guiding question, in many ways shaped my high-school and college experience.

The questions I was interested in then are the questions I am still trying to answer today: How do we help young people leave their comfort zone and figure out who they are who they are becoming?

How will we ensure that our next generation develops global insights, empathy, and the skills needed to work—and lead—effectively across lines of difference? These ideas are the foundation for

what has—now, two decades later—become Global Citizen Year.

Why are post-high-school “gap years” (or, as some colleges prefer to call them “bridge years”) so important for learning?

Today’s K-12 experience has today’s students so focused on building perfect records and resumes.

One consequence of this is that there’s rarely room to take risks, experience failure, or figure out what makes you feel most alive.

At a time when our kids have been called “excellent sheep” (great at what they’re doing but with little sense of why), it has never been more important to forge a new pathway that allows high-achieving kids to get off the proverbial

treadmill. We need kids get out of the classroom, to experience themselves—and the world—beyond their comfort zones, before setting foot on a college campus.

We all have a comfort zone, a stretch zone, and a panic zone. We don’t learn when we are comfortable, and we don’t learn when we are panicked; we learn when we’re stretched. At Global Citizen Year we see our job as helping maximize the time our Fellows spend in their stretch zone— asking the questions that will shape their identity, character and values for life.

When a gap year is done by design, and not default, it is the opposite of a “gap”; it helps a young person develop a set of guiding questions they will carry with them into their higher education and beyond.

Global Citizen Year helps fellows adjust to unexpected life experiences. How is that beneficial when it comes to attending college?

When we give a young person the opportunity to step out of the classroom and off the treadmill, they have an opportunity to figure out who they are when they’re outside their comfort zone. Rather than having deadlines and people telling them what they need to do next, they are able to figure out what gets them up in the morning when there isn’t an alarm clock, how they structure their day when they don’t have class periods, and how they can prioritize their own well-being when faced with pressure.

The experience of living in a community with intermittent running water, or watching your host-sister drop out of school to help her family or get married puts all the other stressors— midterms, grades, and the fear of missing out—into perspective.

After a year of living in the world with a wraparound of training and coaching, our Fellows develop the experience they need to understand real-problems, the insights they need to see new opportunities, and the network they need to make change happen.

They land in college ready to declare a major and a mission. Rather than feeling burned out, they have burning questions they plan to answer with their higher education.

To date, there have been four HRS alums who have been accepted to Global Citizen Year. How does it feel for it to come full circle?

It is so gratifying! It’s a thrill to see the culture begin to shift at HRS toward gap years being seen as aspirational, and not remedial (as they were when I graduated). I think the School is at the forefront of a national trend toward a transformative, immersive, and inclusive “global year” before college becoming the norm, not the exception. * Global Citizen Year is a 501(c)3 social enterprise re-inventing the “gap year” to build the generation of leaders that the world needs.

ANOTHER HRS GLOBAL CITIZEN

H

enry Yeary ’17 recently completed an 8 month fellowship in Ecuador with Global Citizen Year. On his experience he says: “I knew a decent amount about the culture around the United States, yet practically all the information I had about life in foreign countries— especially those “less developed” than mine— was either insufficient or just plain wrong. My creativity of other cultures lacked the genuine textures of life, and I was painfully aware of it...

I was a lost sheep among other lost sheep, disconnected through confusion and in need of revival. Then, a mysterious path beckoned me to break the chains from my feet so that I could finally walk the earth and subsequently encouraged me to take the mask off my face so I could truly see, hear, smell and talk.

This path was a gap year...

Needless to say, this has been a once in a lifetime adventure that has forever changed me.”

Adulting101 O

n March 30, thirty alumni returned to campus for the 2nd annual Adulting 101 event. This event is fast-becoming a HeadRoyce alumni-student tradition where graduates are able to impart stories, experiences and advice upon upper school students in small group settings.

Alumni working in technology to theater from finance to medicine spoke with students about their paths to adulthood after HeadRoyce.

44 Spring Magazine 2018

“ It was valuable to talk to someone who was, at one point, in the same shoes as me, but has gained some experience and real-world perspective. They can now see high school and HeadRoyce through a clear lens and can help us appreciate what we have.”

“ I thought he was very informative about the transition from Head-Royce to college and then into the workforce.

Lots of what he said reassured me that Head-Royce is truly preparing me to succeed.”

“ She was super honest about what it is like to be a student, an adult in a large world, and unsure of your direction. She was great about giving straight advice regarding decisionmaking and finding oneself.”

“ I thought it was super interesting to hear a first-hand story of an actual journalist, as journalism is something I am quite interested in. I also liked how we got to ask our own questions because it made the experience more personal.”

“ It was very interesting to hear about a woman in the medical field and how the gender dynamics have shifted so rapidly in the past few decades.”

“ I greatly enjoyed meeting and listening to someone who was easy to relate to, since they were once in a very similar place as me.

Their story about the path from high school to college and beyond was especially helpful.”

Spring Magazine 2018 45

ALUMNI PROFILE

I

John Meadows ’07

n possession of a U.S. History degree from the University of Pennsylvania, John Meadows ’07 wasn’t quite sure which career path he wanted to pursue after college, so he headed to New York to explore his options. There were no lack of ideas, from starting a salad restaurant in Austin, to inventing a healthy ice cream sandwich, to writing a screenplay. He even worked for Dos Toros (founded by fellow alumni Leo ’98 & Oliver Kremer ’04 and Tyler Lohman ’04) for a few weeks to see if he wanted to enter the restaurant business. In the meantime, John had always maintained an interest in real estate, which led to a job with a commercial real estate appraisal service in New York.

Then the light bulb went off—maybe even a dozen of them. With the world in the midst of a technological revolution where countless numbers of products and platforms exist to create efficiencies for seemingly all industries, the tech wave had not yet reached the world of commercial real estate appraisals.

“Valuations were still only utilizing excel spreadsheets and Microsoft Word, but these are incredibly complex documents. There were enormous inefficiencies and we were feeling the pain of these ourselves for 12-14 hours a day,” explains John. “We found ourselves in this incredibly antiquated industry where the tech revolution hadn’t remotely caught on yet.”

With personal savings and $30,000 of seed money from none other than the Dos Toros Kremer brothers, John and his roommate/ colleague, Noah, a childhood friend from Berkeley, began building

46 Spring Magazine 2018

Co-Founder at Bowery Valuation

what is now known as Bowery Valuation. Ahead of them was the potential to transform a $4 billion industry. What TurboTax did for personal income taxes, they hope to do for this industry, cutting the time for an average commercial appraisal from 3-4 weeks to one week and at a fraction of the cost.

And by all accounts they are doing it.

They recently secured a second round of VC funding, bringing their total to over $7 million and can name such real estate giants as Cushman Wakefield and several high profile venture funds among their investors.

Now, John finds himself in the role of entrepreneur and business builder, utilizing a vast range of skills and knowledge set, but something that was always in his wheelhouse if you ask Warren Fernandes, one of his former Head-Royce teachers. “John was just an exceptional student who made learning fun for everyone. He had a tendency to be everyone’s best friend and make the classroom atmosphere a jovial one. His constant participation during lectures, intelligence, sense of humor and first rate mathematical skills all but ensured his success in my courses.”

John’s Head-Royce connections still remain strong.

Their encouragement and support, while keeping him grounded, have been invaluable in the midst of all the stresses that come with starting a company and Bowery’s rapid growth. In fact, rumor has it that a fellow Jayhawk helped come up with the Bowery name. Perhaps we can credit that to the English department?

C

andice Elder is a young and emerging changemaker and visionary. She went from being a legal professional for over nine years to working in the nonprofit sector for Women’s Funding Network, the largest philanthropy network of women’s funds and foundations in the country. In March 2018, Candice took the big leap and dedicated her time full time in service and leadership in her beloved community of East Oakland.

As a native of East Oakland, she is the Founder and Executive Director of The East Oakland Collective (EOC), a member-based community organization serving the communities of deep East Oakland with a focus on racial and economic equity through civic engagement, economic empowerment and homeless services and solutions. After years of disinvestment and lack of resources in her neighborhoods in deep East Oakland, Candice was moved to found EOC in January 2016. With Candice’s background in law, philanthropy, the nonprofit sector and through her dedicated efforts, EOC has wide recognition as advocates and champions of underserved populations in no to low income marginalized communities. Candice is strongly committed to those who are impacted in deep East Oakland having and creating seats at the table, with EOC being the first community based organization to work with the City of Oakland to ensure community members have a voice at the onset of a planning process. Under Candice’s leadership, EOC is the go-to advocacy and organizing group to build leadership of unhoused community members, serve as mediators and respond to crises in deep East Oakland homeless encampments. EOC runs the Feed the Hood Program which to date has galvanized over 1,000 community volunteers, distributed 18,000 lunches and hygiene kits, and served

ALUMNI PROFILE over 3,000 unhoused persons across Oakland.

As a frequent speaker and known advocate, Candice has been instrumental in leading efforts to decriminalize, change the narrative and end the stigmatization of homelessness. In January 2018, Candice co-led the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing on a tour of homeless encampments in Oakland to investigate the homelessness crisis in the Bay Area as a global human rights issue.

Candice has been honored with numerous awards and recognitions including the 2017 Trailblazer Award from In the Spirit Awards. In 2016, she received the Community Leader Award by Black Elected Officials of the East Bay and the Top 6 Under 40 Award by the Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA). Candice and her organization team members were recently featured in KQED and Oakland Magazine.

Currently, as a leader in the community, Candice serves on the Board of Directors for the UC Berkeley Black Alumni Club, the State Board for Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) and on the Board of Directors for Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project.

Candice holds a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and a minor in African-American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati.

You can learn more about The East Oakland Collective by visiting www.eastoaklandcollective.com. Contact Candice directly at candice@eastoaklandcollective.com.

Candice Elder ’02 Founder and Executive Director, The East Oakland Collective

Alumni Events

NYC ALUMNI RECEPTION October 26, 2017

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ANNUAL PARENTS OF ALUMNI & PAST TRUSTEE DINNER WITH THE HEAD OF SCHOOL November 2, 2017

YOUNG ALUMNI HAPPY HOUR November 24, 2017

LOS ANGELES ALUMNI RECEPTION November 30, 2017

Spring Magazine 2018 49

Alumni Events

ALUMNI HOLIDAY PROGRAM PRE-RECEPTION December 15, 2017

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ALUMNI HOLIDAY PARTY December 21, 2017

40TH ANNUAL ALUMNI BASKETBALL GAME December 27, 2017

BACK FROM COLLEGE LUNCH January 4, 2018

Spring Magazine 2018 51

Alumni Events

PARENTS OF ALUMNI VALENTINE’S CARE PACKAGE PARTY February 5, 2018

A full recap of Alumni Weekend and photos will be included in the next issue of Head-Royce Magazine.

52 Spring Magazine 2018

Alumni Notes

1953 MARI BLUMENAU LYONS ’53* Nick Lyons wrote to let us know that The First Street Gallery, located on New York City’s Upper West Side, displayed Mari’s art in a final memorial exhibition entitled “The Vital Street—A Celebration of the Variety and Vitality of Broadway on the Upper West Side from Her Studio” in February.

1956 ALEXANDRA “SANDY” JAMES We said goodbye to Carol Navone Corwin ’56 last fall, but who could forget Carol’s early morning arrivals at Head’s with Maggie Byers-Wallace ’56 in her jeep. After school it was tennis lessons for Carol & Maggie at the Berkeley Tennis Club, where Sara and the Head’s tennis team spent many hours.

Carol and Maggie met again at COP, with Donna Gliddon Pomin ’56. As for me, Carol and I rafted the middle fork of the Salmon River, and water-skied Lower Lake at nighttime, with sparklers! Carol’s brother, Tim, put me through the 12 Air Force stunts over Mt. Diablo, in the Citabria. Carol’s poise under pressure and her chuckle and wisdom equaled her connections with so many of us.

Commuting to Heads with ’54 alumnae Carol Brown, Margie Burge and my sister, Myrna was hilarious, and a Harry Potter bumpy ride for sure.

A certain ’56er comes to mind everytime I see a tub of cottage cheese and fruit, her lunch on The Senior Porch every single day. My former boss at Cancer Research, Dr. Rotkin, did the same for 10 years, as well.

Amazing!

I never knew Mrs. DeFremery lived so close to me (in Carmel) until I encountered her niece and fellow teacher, Barbara, in Greenfield (which is where Holly Hutchins-Puechavy’s grandmother lived.) I still remember scrounging to impress Mrs. D. in our civics class, but never quite succeeding.

Our own Susan Fratis Penny ’56 is currently involved in a screenwriting project—more to come in our next Alumni Notes.

Keep in touch ’56ers.

1982

1989 AMY GLYNN Amy Glynn’s second poetry collection, Romance Language, is forthcoming from Measure Press.

1998 HARRIS BRODY Johanna and Harris happily welcomed their second child, Weston Abraham, on February 3, 2017. Big brother Bennett is excited to have a new best friend.

MARIAN BARNES BREEZE

I deeply appreciate some of the lifelong friendships that started at HRS... it’s a wonder that Rob Goldsby ’81, Beth Kneel and Pickett ’82, Nicole Duritz ’83, and a few others still put up with me.

I’m in year 5 with a tech start-up, and serve on the Advisory Task Force for Voices for Innovation, a Microsoft supported org of technology professionals.

This past year I started volunteering for Hour of Code, to help promote CS learning, particularly with girls in underserved communities. I look forward to reading more about what other HRS alums are up to these days.

1994 CAROLYN BYL DOLAN I’m living in Reno, NV, raising three active kids and married to my best friend. I’m running my own business to help others optimize healing and reduce pain naturally to reduce the need for opioid pain medication, (DrCarolynDolan.com). Grateful everyday for all my past education, including HeadRoyce.

1999 JENNIFER “PIPER” BELOW MCPHILAMY Jennifer and Chris McPhilamy welcomed their first baby (and Holly Below’s first grandchild!),

Cole John McPhilamy, on April 1, 2018. They live in Nashville, Tennessee, where Piper is Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics at Vanderbilt University.

2003 ELENA FINCH HORNER Proud parents Elena and Greg Horner are happy to announce the birth of their daughter, Blaire Harper Horner. Born on October 24, 2017 at Kaiser Hospital in San Leandro, Blaire weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches long. She is the first child of the family.

2004 AMAKA OKECHUKWU Amaka Okechukwu serves as Assistant Professor of Sociology at George Mason University where she researches race, social movements, and urban sociology. Her forthcoming book, To Fulfill These Rights (Columbia University Press) examines political contention over the end of affirmative action in public universities. You can learn more at her website: www. amakaokechukwu.com.

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Alumni Notes

2005

2006

GRETCHEN STERN Gretchen began her postgraduate training in periodontics at NYU last fall.

ANTON ZIAJKA Anton is an attorney in Palo Alto, where he works with startups, venture capital funds, and established tech companies.

In the several years between undergraduate school at Brown University and Harvard Law School, he lived in NYC and trekked through South America from Patagonia to Bolivia. He lives in Redwood City.

2013 LINCOLN HOWARTH Lincoln graduated from UCSB in June 2017 and is now enrolled in the PhD program in cell and molecular biology at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. AMINAH LUQMAN Aminah is a Fulbright Scholar and is teaching in Manizales, Colombia.

2003 ANNA ZIAJKA STANTON Anna is in her second year as an assistant professor of comparative literature at Penn State University, where her specialization is Arabic literature. She lived and worked in the Middle East for four years, including in Egypt during the Arab Spring. Anna’s translation of the contemporary Lebanese novel Limbo Beirut was longlisted for a PEN translation award in 2017. She lives with her husband in State College, PA.

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2015 ANDY PELOS

This April, Andy was named a 2018 Barry Goldwater scholar for proposed research into mechanisms of Alzheimer’s Disease pathogenesis. His ideas for this research started during his senior year of HRS, as part of his grant proposal for Dr. Jen Brakeman’s neurobiology senior elective. Andy is currently finishing his third-year at Pomona College in Claremont, CA, pursuing a double major in Molecular Biology and Gender & Women’s Studies.

COL L EG I AT E E N T R E PR E N E U R S P O T L IG H T ADAM PRATT ’14 Co-Founder, Halligan, Inc.

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s a senior pursuing a computer science degree at Colgate University, Adam’s youth has not been a barrier in making tremendous strides, both professionally and for his community, since graduating from Head-Royce.

It started for Adam his sophomore year, when he began volunteering with the local Hamilton Fire Department. During his time there, he witnessed certain inefficiencies in the operations of the firehouse.

“Every firefighter needs to know their equipment is going to work when they need it. Accordingly, every fire department needs a reliable, cost effective and time efficient way to keep track of equipment and apparatus.

In many departments, including my own, the traditional pen and paper checks were both frustrating to complete and keep track of over time.”

Applying his knowledge of computer science, Adam decided to tackle this issue along with two other Colgate alumni and created a software product from the ground up. Named for a key piece of firefighting equipment, Halligan, which was a simple yet powerful platform to help firefighters perform fast and reliable truck checks.

With their product idea in-hand, they entered the 2016 Colgate Entrepreneurs Fund Competition and won, using the award money to build and launch Halligan. The product is now in active use, serving 200+ fire departments across the nation.

“I have been increasingly passionate about the fire service over the last 3 years. It is filled with amazing people who do amazing things every day. However, it often falls behind the curve when it comes to digital technology. Halligan modernizes the apparatus-checking experience for fire departments without over complicating the process. The software is designed to save departments money and time while making firefighters safer.”

In Memoriam

1943 CAROLYN HICKS PIERCE Nov 22, 1925 - Jun 18, 2017 Carolyn passed away surrounded by family on June 18, 2017. She is survived by her children, daughters Kathleen Woodard and Charlotte Pierce, son Donald Pierce, daughter-inlaw Alexandra O. Pierce, and grandsons Michael Woodard and John D. Pierce. Carolyn was widowed for ten years, after 55 years of marriage to John A. Pierce. Carolyn was predeceased by her older sister Jane Harriet West and is survived by her younger sister Marjorie Krall.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the second of three daughters of John D. and Lucile C. Hicks, Carolyn spent most of her early childhood in Nebraska and Wisconsin before moving to California with her family in 1943.

She attended Anna Heads high school for women, the University of Wisconsin, Mills College in Oakland and graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts with a bachelor of fine arts degree in Art History.

Carolyn met her husband, John, after being set up on a blind date by mutual friends.

After a brief courtship, John and Carolyn were married on November 15, 1952. Carolyn devoted her life to her husband and family, raising three children in the Bay Area while spending summer vacations with her family at the family’s vacation property in Dutch Flat, located in California’s Sierra foothills.

Carolyn was very artistic which was exemplified in her elegant but classic personal style and her love for ikebana (kado) flower arranging. She had a passion for gardening which she shared

with her husband. She was active in various organizations including the Berkeley Hillside Club, Berkeley Clinic Auxiliary, Berkeley Garden Club, Dutch Flat Golden Drift Historical Society, and the PEO Sisterhood.

In respect of her wishes, there will be no memorial service. Donations can be made in Carolyn’s honor to the P.E.O. Foundation, 3700 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312; the Berkeley Clinic Auxiliary, 10052 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530; or the Golden Drift Historical Society, PO Box 253, Dutch Flat, CA 95714.

Published in San Francisco Chronicle on July 23, 2017.

1945 LOEL MARSTON (MILLAR) BUCKLEY Loel Marston (Millar) Buckley died peacefully on August 7, 2017, surrounded by her family in Coarsegold (Madera County), California at the age of 90. She was born July 7, 1927, in Oakland at Fabiola Hospital and was a third generation Californian whose family has lived in the Bay Area since 1857. Her parents were Margaret Lowell Garthwaite Marston and Otis Reed Marston of Berkeley. Her maternal grandparents, Maria Augusta Lowell Garthwaite and Edwin Hatfield Garthwaite were born in San Francisco in 1857.

Her paternal grandparents, William Harrington Marston of Cutler, Maine and Adela Alice Reed Marston of Mt. Desert, Maine, were married in San Francisco in 1884. Both families were prominent residents of Oakland and Berkeley, as were other family members of the

Tildens and Cockrofts. She is predeceased by her first husband, Russell Ward Millar Jr. and her second husband John Edward Buckley II. Her brother Otis Garthwaite Marston predeceased her in 2005. She is survived by her twin sister Maradel Marston Rowlands of Fair Oaks, CA., three sons— Andrew Millar of Orcutt, CA., Bradbury Millar of Coarsegold, CA., Duncan Millar of Tustin, CA., seven grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. She attended Hillside School in Berkeley, Anna Head School for Girls in Oakland, the University of Arizona, and the San Francisco Theological Seminary. She and her siblings were early “river runners” on the Colorado River with their father in the 1940s.

Loel was extremely active over the years in Marin County, where she lived since 1968.

Vibrant, funny, inquisitive, and adventurous, she touched the lives of countless friends and family members over the years.

She will be greatly missed.

(Marilyn), her grandchildren (Samuel, Matthew, Jillian, Maxwell, Charles, Margo, William, Heather, Katie, Elizabeth and Michael), sister Royetta Burton Ash and numerous nieces and nephews.

An enthusiastic world traveler with her husband and friends, avid bridge and dominoes player, Jackie had many interests and will be fondly remembered for her abundant sense of humor and love of entertaining. She and Emery enjoyed cheering on the Cal Bears, San Francisco 49ers and Giants and often invited family and friends to join them.

Cancer shortened her years, but Jackie’s warm smile and lively curiosity never faded. She lived with gusto and laughter to the very end.

Her family is immensely grateful for the support, care and treatment that Jackie received over the course of her illness, in particular the care given by Kim Espino of Colusa.

1955

MARGOT PLANT Margot Plant of Tiburon passed away on February 10, 2018. She was 82.

She was a person of many accomplishments as a research attorney, Tiburon Fire Commissioner and De Young Museum docent. She spent her early years in Alameda living in a three generation household with her maternal grandparents, parents and brother. She attended Stanford University and Boalt Law School where she excelled academically and was elected to the law review. She served as researcher for several justices on the First District of

JACKLYN BURTON POUNDSTONE Jacklyn Burton Poundstone of Colusa, passed away January 13, 2018 at her home with family and loved ones at her side.

Known to all as Jackie, she was a lifelong Colusa resident, born February 24, 1937 and the daughter of John Kelly Burton and Janice Grenfell Burton.

She was predeceased by her beloved husband of 50 years, Emery Poundstone.

Jackie is survived by her daughter Kelly Small (Patrick Small), sons John and Richard (Joan) and stepson Thomas

1953

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In Memoriam

the California Court of Appeal upon graduation from law school until her retirement.

Margot was a voracious reader and a member of several book clubs. She was possessed of a great thirst for knowledge born of her extraordinary intelligence and was an expert gamesman as well. She played in duplicate contract bridge tournaments, attaining the ACBL title of Life Master several times over. She was passionate in all she did.

Margot is survived by Morgan Prickett, her devoted husband of thirty six years, her brother Philip Plant, his wife Barbara Schraeger, her nieces Jennifer and Jessica Plant and her grandnephew Noah Dudley. She is also survived by her brothersin-law Gregg and David Prickett, their wives Laura and Kim, and their children Jennifer, Haley, Sean, Travis and John.

1956 CAROL NAVONE CORWIN Carol passed away on August 18, 2017.

1966 PIXIE LAMM COOLIDGE Pixie Lamm Coolidge passed away on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at the age of 69. She is survived by her husband Carlton C. Coolidge. Pixie was born on March 4, 1948 in Hartford, Connecticut, to Russell and Jean Lamm. She lived most of her life in the San Francisco/Bay Area and was an accomplished tennis player and real estate agent. Her junior tennis career included winning the National 16s doubles with partner Rosie Casals, the California State Girls’ 18s

56 Spring Magazine 2018

championships, and the Girls 18s Pacific Coast Championships.

Pixie graduated from UCLA and played number one on the UCLA women’s tennis team.

She represented the United States at the World University Games in 1970 in Turin, Italy and competed at Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open.

Pixie was a top producing real estate agent at the McGuire Real Estate Company for 30 years. She spoke French fluently and was an accomplished pianist and bridge player. Pixie and Carlton lived in Pacific Heights for 27 happy years and enjoyed traveling and visiting friends and family. She will be loved and missed dearly.

1976 RONN LOEWENTHAL Ronn passed away in July 2017.

1983 JAMES LICHTMAN James Lichtman died suddenly in Tarzana, California on Saturday, November 25 at 52 years of age.

He was born on November 9th in New York City at St. Albans Naval Hospital during the “great blackout of 1965.” As a navy dependent, his formative years were eventful and challenging as he moved many times, residing primarily in Bethesda, MD, San Diego, CA, Virginia Beach, VA, and Oakland, CA. Jamie’s favorite extracurricular activity in high school and college was performing in stage productions. In his senior year at the University of Pennsylvania he met his future wife, Jennifer (Jenni) while both

had leading roles in a production of Amadeus. After graduating from Penn with honors (magna cum laude) in 1987, he attended Stanford University Law School, where he was an editor of the Stanford Law Review. In 1989 Jamie and Jenni were married and in 1990, after graduation from Stanford, Jamie joined the law firm of Ropes and Gray in Boston. In 1997 the Lichtman family, now including son Spencer and daughter Miranda, moved back to Southern California. The following year Jamie joined the NBC family in Burbank as a litigator. Although his job at NBC was demanding, Jamie was an equal partner with Jenni in raising their two children. His interests were many, but there was nothing he loved more than spending time with his family. He never missed a single stage performance by either of his children, both of whom are aspiring show business professionals. His other interests were travel, theater, music (especially the Beatles) and literature. At the time of his death, Jamie had risen to the position of Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at NBC/Universal, with offices in Southern California and New York. He was much admired by his colleagues for his leadership skills, intellect, wit, warmth and generosity. In 2015 the Los Angeles Bar Association named him “Corporate Attorney of the Year.” His favorite charity was the Alliance for Children’s Rights Foundation where he was a member of its Board of Directors. Jamie is survived by his father, Rear Admiral (retired) David Lichtman, his mother Frances Lichtman, his sister, Elisa, his wife, Jennifer and children, Spencer and Miranda.

1983 STEPHEN PRESCOTT NELSON Steve Nelson died peacefully in his sleep early in the morning of Nov. 19, 2017 after courageously battling a mean brain tumor for the last two years.

Steve graduated from the University of Oregon, where he served as its student body president. He enjoyed a long career with the State of Oregon Department of Education.

Despite his illness, Steve remained easy to smile and quick to laugh.

Steve is survived by his daughter, Austin; son, Jake; his mother, Pat; sister, Lisa; and his nieces, Jordan, Maddie and Tess.

A celebration of Steve’s life was held on Jan. 6, 2018.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? A N U PDATE FRO M

Caroline

LEHMAN Former Chemistry Faculty

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etiring is just like any other life changing event; it’s exciting to reconstruct one’s life and it takes time to adjust! From being part of a large vibrant community where time is heavily regulated to being “free” all the time is a surprising challenge!! It brings to mind a film I saw when I first came to California called Quilts in Women’s Lives, which inspired me to facilitate a faculty-staff quilt that was donated to the HRS auction.

One of the featured quilters, Grace Earl, was a teacher who had retired to San Francisco from the Art School in Chicago. Her comment about the first year after retiring was that she watched her “blasted old TV” after which

it was time to “get up and concentrate on the things you love to do!”

Now, three years on (not surprisingly) I find myself very involved in projects connected to immigration. I continue to work in interfaith organisations in the Bay Area, supporting immigrants in a multiplicity of areas, as our local communities grapple with the breadth of the humanitarian crises that result from our country’s immigration policies.

I work within my synagogue community as well on a number of projects, one of which is helping with monthly vigils at the Richmond ICE Detention Facility (2nd Sunday from 11- 12). There I have met a former HRS student who is also involved in the same project.

Another project is assisting refugee families as they settle here in the Bay Area. The Arabic keyboard on my phone and Google translate are lifesavers! Sometimes even I

can make technology work!!

I also volunteer at Oakland International High school... in a math class. No chemistry is taught at the school, so no opportunity for any demonstrations, and class is less of a fire hazard!

Meanwhile, amazingly, I am able to travel whenever I like, share an espresso or go for walks with friends at any time, read as much as I want and attempt to maintain the garden before the deer eat it all! I miss the collegiality and community of being at HRS. And I really enjoy visiting from time to time. From my first day, 40 years ago, HRS has always had a fabulous, multitalented and always interesting faculty as well as students who never cease to astonish me and in whom I delight when running into them at concerts, local cafes, grocery stores, Torah Study at the synagogue and even quilt shows!

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Celebrating

RETIRING FACULTY

This year we have three long-term members of the HeadRoyce community who will be leaving the school to pursue personal passions. We thank them for their dedicated service!

Sarah Noll, Music Teacher

S Mary Goglio, Librarian

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ary, our outstanding librarian, book critic, and student advisor has decided it’s time to end the chapter of Library Director at Head-Royce.

Mary’s achievements include helping to lead the design of the Read Library, creating a Library Department, and leading important conversations with students about literature, curriculum, community, diversity, and service. Whether rafting down the American River, advocating for a robust GSD, leading an engaging book group discussion with faculty and students, or pounding nails at Rebuilding Together Oakland, Mary has been at the center of student life. She is an inspiration, a good friend, and a model of academic excellence. We wish her all the best in this new chapter!

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arah started at the School in 1999 as a part-time teacher and taught upper elementary students. When the former music teacher retired, Sarah took the full-time position and made it even more remarkable.

She has taught thousands of students how to be comfortable with singing, dancing, and playing instruments; and to be passionate and appreciate of the fine arts. Her list of accomplishments is vast: she added music to all the grade level plays and every Friday assembly, established traditions at the May Dances, the Holiday Program, and a multitude of cultural events, such as the Chinese New Year parade. Please join us in thanking Sarah for 19 years of amazing work with our students and wishing her all the best in her retirement.

Matt Fraser, Debate Coach

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att’s outstanding debate program has helped define the academic excellence of Head-Royce School. While his work at Head-Royce over the past thirty years has been distinguished by a number of achievements, Matt deserves special praise for the debate program’s enormous popularity, excellent performances at national tournaments, and the numerous student accolades that have accompanied the debate team’s national success.

With impressive consistency under Matt’s leadership, Head-Royce has dominated national and regional debate tournaments, and many of Matt’s students and assistant coaches have continued their sparkling performances at the college level. His students remember him fondly and we wish him well in his semi-retirement from teaching as he devotes his future endeavors to his own company, Education Unlimited.

H E A D -ROYC E SC HOOL

MASTER PLAN Five years after the purchase of the former Lincoln Child Center, we’re thrilled to be able to share our vision for the future of Head-Royce School.

Visit the Master Plan microsite (www.headroyce.org/master-plan) to learn about the main priorities, get a sneak-peek into the South Campus and see how this exciting project stands to transform teaching and learning at Head-Royce!

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he new South Campus will add K-12 classroom space featuring state-of-the-art labs for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), hands-on learning and multidisciplinary exploration, and utilizing cutting-edge teaching equipment, technology, and flexible design.

A modern and innovative performing arts and community center will showcase the importance of fine arts as a vital element to our whole-child philosophy, and will also allow the HRS community to gather together in a single space.

A new loop road and pedestrian link tunneled below Lincoln Avenue will increase student safety and improve traffic flow.

Head-Royce School scholarship · diversity · citizenship

4315 LINCOLN AVENUE OAKLAND, CA 94602 address service requested