Nueva Magazine, Fall/Winter 2021 by aldeia

FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 1

NUEVA

M A G A Z I N E

EVOLVING & ADAPTING

As the 2020–2021 school year challenged our Nueva community to imagine new ways of teaching and learning, the new Science and Environmental Center provided students robust classroom spaces and teachers opportunities to develop new curricula.

N U E VA Magazine is published by the Communications Department for past and current students, parents, grandparents, and friends of The Nueva School.

EDITORIAL TEAM Antonia Ehlers Rachel Freeman Mitzi Mock LiAnn Yim

S TAY

ALUMNI NEWS Diana A. Chamorro

C O N N E C T E D

WANT TO REACH OUR ALUMNI OFFICE? Please email us at alumni@nuevaschool.org DESIGN Aldeia www.aldeia.design PRINTER Colorprint www.colorprint.com

Printed on Rolland Enviro® 100PC, 80lb cover and 70lb text. This paper contains 100% post-consumer fiber, is manufactured using renewable energy—Biogas and processed chlorine free. It is FSC® and Ancient Forest FriendlyTM certified.

Dear Nueva Community, The new year offers a fresh start, and I am amazed by the Mavericks in our community who have offered endless messages of hope. Each of us has had to adapt personally and professionally. Our teachers have astounded us with the hybrid teaching model, and our students have adjusted to their “new normal,” despite ongoing COVID challenges. Our parents and alumni are always there to offer a helping hand, and our staff members and contractors have devised new ways to maintain business as usual. Maya Angelou once said, “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” Our community has handled the COVID pandemic with grace, and our commitment to providing an exceptional, mission-driven education has never wavered. Social justice is at the heart of everything we do, as we are doing all in our power to break down barriers and promote our Beloved Community. In addition, we have refined and redefined how to safely come back to campus while following COVID protocols and safety requirements. All of that is extraordinary! This edition of Nueva Magazine is a collective effort of our editorial team and contributors. As you read this latest edition, we hope that the articles in this issue will illuminate our community’s commitment to being advocates for a more peaceful, just world. Wishing you all the best in 2021! Antonia Ehlers Director of Communications DROP US A NOTE: Share your thoughts on this magazine—and anything Nueva related—at communications@nuevaschool.org

T H E N U E VA S C H O O L is an independent, coeducational, PreK–Grade 12 school for gifted learners. Our school community inspires passion for lifelong learning, fosters social and emotional acuity, and develops the imaginative mind. Nueva uses a dynamic educational model to enable gifted learners to make choices that will benefit the world.

nuevaschool.org N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

At the upper school’s first assembly of the year, Division Head Liza Raynal kicked off the fall semester by inviting students and teachers to write and share the first lines of their novel that would describe the start of 2020–21 school year. These first lines offered a moment of reflection as students and faculty acknowledged to the unusual school year and held up their first lines on Zoom for everyone to read. Freshman Ellie K. (left), who is new to Nueva this year, wrote: “While I expected to enter strange rooms and get lost in new hallways, I find myself in my own home and still feel found through the screen.” Find more first lines at the bottom of the pages throughout this issue of the Nueva Magazine!

I N

T H I S

I S S U E …

FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 1

02 R EF L E C T I O N Letter from the Head of School

03 N OT E D

News from Nueva

52 A LU M N I

News from alumni

A Climate for Change

60 E XC L A M A T I O N P OI N T

Upper school students explored different facets of climate change in multiple new electives this year.

As upper school students returned to campus, they shared their excitement with one another on post-it notes.

Anti-Racism is a Verb

This story explores the ways Nueva is striving to be anti-racist in the classroom.

Study Buddies

Middle school students held a Pet Pop-Up on Zoom for the community to meet their fourlegged companions.

ON THE COVER Through our Nueva Flex program, Nueva students were welcomed back for on-campus learning.

Stepping Up

Nueva alumna Liza Raynal ’95 inspires students as the new US head of school.

Joey K. Fellowship

Nueva student’s memory lives on through social innovation fellowship.

COLLAGE BY LILLY PEREIRA

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

R E F L E C T I O N

Dear Community

“ The determination and resilience exhibited by this community while in the pandemic darkness of the past few months is nothing but inspiring.”

Now that we are well into 2021 and approaching the final lap of this school year, it is helpful to assess the state of Nueva. Students continue to embrace learning in our Nueva Flex model, an innovative approach to education that effectively serves in-person and remote learners. Faculty and staff continue to expertly practice their craft while deeply caring for each and every student. Families remain steadfast in their incredible support of and advocacy for the school. The Nueva experience, that unique blend of learning by doing and learning by caring, is unwavering and robust. This continuity in spirit at Nueva is more important than ever for several reasons. The determination and resilience exhibited by this community while in the pandemic darkness of the past few months is nothing but inspiring. This benefits everyone in the community—students, families, faculty, staff, and alumni. We all need a safe harbor every now and then, especially during such turbulent times, and Nueva has enough energy to keep us all afloat! In addition to the individual benefits afforded by a strong Nueva, there is an institutional perspective as well—the moral imperative an organization like Nueva must embrace as it serves its role in society. In addition to addressing the specific vulnerabilities gifted learners experience each and every day, Nueva has also creatively addressed the health, safety, and social needs of everyone in our community during these challenging times. In addition, the fragility of our planet and the important role we all play in tackling climate change has also been a priority for us. Finally, understanding the true impact of racial inequities at Nueva and beyond has served as a catalyst for us to prioritize diversity and inclusion in our learning organization as we strive to become a truly beloved community. With a strong background in giftedness, social-emotional learning, environmental citizenship, and social justice, Nueva is poised to lead in all of these areas, sharing ideas and resources with other educators around the world. So, what is the state of Nueva right now? There is hope. Plenty of it, even as we continue to suffer through the pandemic. This is because of who we are as a community, and each of us is an important member of the global Nueva family. The year 2021 is a great time to stay connected as a family, to celebrate what we stand for together, to be bold in our thoughts and actions. Please join us as we make the most of this fresh start to a new year. Let’s show the world it can learn by doing and learn by caring for the benefit of all. In partnership, LEE FERTIG

Head of School

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

“No one could have predicted it, but there we were. Stuck, but stuck together.” —Jonah R. ’21

N O T E D

N E W S

F R O M

N U E VA

O N CA M P U S In July, a volunteer group of students returned to campus to participate in a pilot for our hybrid learning model, Nueva Flex. In one of their first activities, students, like fourth-grader Elisa K., took a cue from their surroundings to write nature-inspired poetry.

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

NOTED 03

N O T E D

Q U O T E D

HAVIN G A B A L L

Third-graders went on a treasure hunt through the trails of the Hillsborough campus. Their booty: years’ worth of lost sports balls.

“ My favorite thing has been how supportive the whole cast is. During rehearsal and even the shows, the chat would blow up with everyone expressing how much they loved other people’s scenes and it really felt like having an energetic audience even when we couldn’t have an actual audience.” S A M A R A B. ’24. Samara played Tillius in the upper school theatre elective’s production of She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms. The play was performed live over Zoom and follows Agnes, played by Sophie D. ’24, as she explores the diary and identity of her late sister Tillius.

LET TERS TO SQUIRRELS

HILLS B O R O U G H CAFÉ O P E N S

Who’s hungry? This fall, we celebrated the expansion of the Hillsborough café. The facility now boasts a state-ofthe-art, environmentally-friendly kitchen, expanded seating area, and an outdoor deck with views of San Francisco and Oakland. These upgrades will enable our food service provider, Epicurean, to offer a wider array of culinary choices, reduce wait times, and give students and faculty more time and space to enjoy their lunch.

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

The PreK class was the only cohort to start in-person learning the first week of the school year. Having the Hillsborough campus to themselves gave the students plenty of time to explore their new surroundings. They quickly learned that the grounds are shared by some furry friends—the Nueva squirrels. Charmed by this scurrying squad, the students decided to share their curiosity and affection in a series of letters pinned on campus trees.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

WINNER N U E VA SCHOOL

The Nueva Communications Team won a 2020 Bronze InspirED School Marketers Brilliance Award for its special event, “Anti-racist Communications Strategy Session.” This competition is the only international one that recognizes excellence in private and independent school marketing and communications exclusively. The entries were judged by a panel of 69 marketing experts from around the world, and entries were scored on creativity, persuasiveness, design, copy, photography, and overall appeal. “Schools are at their best when they look beyond themselves and their students,” one judge wrote. “It was encouraging to see the Nueva School take on this important topic, and do it so well.”

“519 boxes neatly stacked, each containing a familiar face. This is new.” —Peter C. ’23

N O T E D

PET P O P - U P

F A C U L T Y B OOKSHELF

Study buddies On the morning of December 11, more than 50 students and teachers gathered virtually on Zoom. There was one week of the fall semester left—a period of peak stress in the final stretch before winter break—and many people had Zoom fatigue. As video cameras began to turn on one by one, people’s faces were wreathed in smiles of delight as they glimpsed a host of dogs, cats, and other animal companions appearing on video. Seventh-grader Colin C., vice president of the student council, invited everyone to introduce their pets and to share a story or fact. The pet pop-up was organized by the middle school student council, which had received requests from students for more online social events. “My sister, Camille (sixth-grader and StuCo treasurer), and I noticed that many Nueva families adopted new pets during shelter-in-place, and we wanted to see them!” Colin C. explained. “We thought it would be really fun to meet all these pets online.” In addition to dogs and cats, there were also cameos from a tarantula, scorpion, and horse. Attendees bonded over getting to know each other’s pets and the sharing of favorite stories or habits of their furry companions. The Zoom chat was filled with “awww” comments and heart emojis. “The pop-up actually highlighted a benefit of hybrid learning,” Colin said. “If we were all back on campus, I’m not sure any of us would have gotten to meet each other’s pets. But Zoom was the perfect forum to learn about other very important parts of each other’s lives—our other ‘best friends’ during COVID: our pets!” Attendees proclaimed the pet pop-up “the best assembly ever” and “it made my day!” Student council plans to host another pet pop-up in the spring.

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

RECOMMENDED READING

Island of a Thousand Mirrors Nayomi Munaweera Reminiscent of The God of Small Things, this novel is a lush and heartbreaking story set during the Sri Lankan genocide. Of human tragedy and the bitter succor of love; of familial strife and the sweeping landscape of intra-cultural schisms, it is a book of majestic generosity and aching humanity. —KEVIN QUINN Upper School English teacher When Stars Are Scattered Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed I am not a huge fan of graphic novels, but this one captured my heart. A beautiful true story full of triumph and determination. And a poignant nudge to take action to help one another. —LIZA ZASSENHAUS Lower School Literacy Specialist

↑ Sixth-grader Finn R. brought his tricolored cat. Science teacher and sixthgrade dean Dalton Lobo Dias’s cat Daisy has starred in some of his science lessons. Sixth-grader Havi S. brought her dog to the pet pop-up. Lee Fertig’s cat, Katniss, often joins him for his daily Zoom calls.

Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 Cho Nam-ju (translated by Jamie Chang) While it was frustrating to read about the stigmas and inequalities faced by the protagonist, I couldn’t put the book down. It was relatable and eye-opening. —Molly Hasegawa Middle School Math teacher

N O T E D

A R T S

T A B L E A U VIVANT

In Rachel Dawson’s middle school elective Tableau Vivant (French for “living picture”), students paint the backdrop against which they carefully pose and arrange themselves to create a static scene, recreating an existing famous work of art of their choice. They start by painting a small 12"x16" canvas for their background. Then, using materials like canvas and cardboard, they create “paper doll” style costumes and props. Typically, the seventh- and eighth-graders would photograph their completed painting, photograph themselves in front of a green screen with their costumes and make-up, and stitch it all together into the final composition in Photoshop. This year, all the photoshoots took place at home. The costumes were created in miniature and re-sized in Photoshop!

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

N O T E D

← Seventh-grader Sophia A. painted herself into “The Water Fan,” a famous watercolor painting by American artist Winslow Homer.

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

N O T E D

QUARA N T I N E E D I T I ON

ARTS

Heart of Steel How the beating heart of Nueva’s music program lived to jam another day

↑ Eighth-grader Chole M. performed her role in Matilda from the comfort of her kitchen

T H E S H OW M U S T G O O N

The annual fall musical is a middle school tradition, but this year’s performance was anything but traditional. With no community gatherings allowed on campus, the students’ production of the musical Matilda took place in 30 homes across the Bay Area. The school sent every student home with costumes, props, and a green screen. They filmed each of their scenes individually on phones and sent their files to eighth-grader Oliver C., who edited the actors into ensemble scenes. Senior Celia C. mixed all the audio. The new format meant fewer after-school demands and no intense “tech week.” However, the process still offered students a challenging learning curve. “Stage acting is building upon other people and it’s harder when you can’t see anyone else,” said eighth-grader Chloe M., who found herself trying to perfect her takes. “In person, you only get one chance during a performance, but now we can film over and over.” “When the footage started coming in, it was intimidating,” said Oliver, who had never worked on a video project of this scale. “But knowing that a lot of people were going to watch it motivated me to keep going.” New challenges aside, Chloe was determined to participate this year. “I’ve been doing the middle school musical since fifth-grade,” Chloe said. “There’s something special about doing it your final year of middle school.”

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

For some teachers, starting the school year in remote learning meant designing class presentations on Google slides, refreshing their Zoom skills, or setting up new discussion threads in Canvas. For music teacher Jim Munzenrider, it meant distributing 40 sets of steel drums to students across the Bay Area. “Music is really important at Nueva, and, it became apparent, if we don’t do this, the music is gone,” Jim said. Knowing that parents had limited access to campus, Jim shuttled most of the drums home so parents could pick them up as needed. For students playing with larger drums sets such as bass pans, which entail six oil barrel drums per set, he loaded them in utility vans and drove them to students’ homes. During the semester, the drums had adventures of their own. There was the drum set that took a cross-country roadtrip, which included an outdoor rehearsal amongst the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona and family visits in Texas and Connecticut. Then there was the set that came perilously close to local fires. In the end, all the drums (and families and homes) were unscathed. In retrospect, getting drums to students was the easy part. Figuring out how to teach a remote music class was a much more complex orchestration. “When we meet, there’s always less than half the class who can play their instruments because their little sister is starting a remote class or their dad is in a meeting in the living room,” said Jim, who had to master the rhythm of muting and unmuting in Zoom. But in true Nueva fashion, new problems led to new opportunities. For Jim, one of the silver linings of remote learning was the discovery of Soundtrap, an online platform that enables multiple musicians to contribute to the

same music track. It enabled students to rehearse at home and contribute to collective performances. The other exciting change in his class was the inclusion of more music history, which he incorporated early in the pandemic with the help of guest speakers. Students interviewed renowned musicians, including world-famous calypsonian David Rudder. “The students were getting schooled by one of the most important figures in the history of this music,” said Jim, who observed Nuevan curiosity on full display. “Half way through our Q&A session, David said, ‘Wow, these are really good questions!’” For many of these students, the steel band is not just a class—it’s a pillar of their Nueva experience. “I have students that have been playing with me since first grade,” said Jim, who feels especially passionate about keeping the program alive for soon-to-be-graduating seniors. “We know what we can’t do, but what can we do?—Mitzi Mock

↑ In mid-November, upper school students had the option to return to campus part-time. Jim created lead tracks on Soundtrap to help on-campus students and remote students rehearse in sync with each other

“Being 17, I knew a lot less than I thought, but that was not necessarily a problem.” —Kaia S-S. ’21

N O T E D

T H E

N U E VA

W AY

COFFEE HOUSE

More than 80 students, teachers, and parents attended the fall virtual Coffeehouse and lit up the Zoom chat with a stream of enthusiastic and supportive commentary for each performance. From a Bach partita on the violin to a crab rave on steel drums, stand-up comedy to original songs, the coffeehouse featured a dozen live and pre-recorded performances from middle and upper school students. A biannual tradition founded in fall 2018, coffeehouse was organized by seniors Jordan M., Willow Taylor C.Y., and Tomo G. Zooming in from his dorm room at Vanderbilt University was alumnus Jason Hwong ’20, who reprised his role emceeing the event.

V I R T UA L S H OW

The open-air courtyard, surrounded by a cerulean sea, is lined with billboards displaying works of art that range from graphite portraits to wire sculptures, block prints and clay self-identity busts. As you move between billboards, leaves drift down from the courtyard trees. Navigating farther down the stone pathway leads to a two-room indoor gallery, featuring paintings for the Hero’s Journey project and a 3-D castings project. This was the setting for the fall upper school arts culmination show, which moved from the San Mateo campus to an online gallery, accessible on desktop browsers or through a VR headset. Viewers advance through the virtual space in a way that emulates the real-life experience of walking through an art gallery to examine work produced by visual art students. Clicking each piece launches a pop-up with more information about a particular student artist, assignment, or material. Make sure to circle around the outside of the building, where you’ll find photography, art and fabrication work, and sculpture!—LiAnn Yim SOCIAL JUSTICE

 Visit the arts culmination online gallery: nuevaschool. org/fall-artsculmination-2020

Every year, fifth-graders explore social movements in their humanities and art classes. They choose a specific social justice issue to raise awareness about and research. After learning some basic stencil-making techniques and pictorial symbols, they use these skills to create their own posters in art class while writing speeches in their humanities class. Due to remote learning, in this year’s final performance piece, the students created their posters as Zoom virtual backgrounds, and they’ll read their speech against this backdrop. “The students had to consider how the poster fit with them standing in front of it. When they’re standing there, delivering the line from their speech, that’s when the poster becomes alive,” explained art teacher Reenie Charriere. “Each class is going to record a video of everyone in the Zoom gallery reading a line. They’ll all be wearing masks since some students will be at school, others will be at home, and we wanted to unify the group.”

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

C R A Z Y H AT S P R O J E C T

Third-graders talked about wearable art and learned a few techniques to make an underlying structure that would serve as a foundation for their own constructions. Using recycled materials like paper, cardboard, fabric, and whatever else was available at home, students created their own “crazy hats” over two art classes held on Zoom! ← For this year’s social movement project, students created posters that would be displayed as virtual backgrounds on Zoom. 09

N O T E D

P R E S S

P L AY

NUEVA LIVE

M E E T A M AV E R I C K S E R I E S

From polar bears to blue-footed boobies, middle school science teacher Cristina Veresan (above) shared tales of her expeditions to the Arctic and the Galápagos Islands with National Geographic.

JOY OF A GIANT S I X - F O OT COMPASS

A DAY I N T H E L I F E O F R E M O T E L E A R N I N G

While students waited until mid-semester to return to in-person classes, hands-on learning was part of their school year from day one. For example, freshman Sam B. got a chance to apply his science skills to a practical—and very tasty—chemistry experiment: making pancakes.

First-grade teacher Jahi Johnson (above) shared how his childhood impressions of school inspired him to be a teacher and why exploring “black joy” is an important part of his teaching practice.

To launch his geometry unit, math teacher Andrew Alexander came up with a creative way to infuse joy and wonder into the learning: he constructed a six-foot tall compass and an accompanying 12-foot long straight edge.

THRIVE

G P S F DAY! Pakistan! Mexico City! New York! Nueva pride beamed around the globe at our Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day on November 20, as approximately 1,300 guests joined us for the virtual celebration. It was the most inclusive experience to date for these cherished members of our community, many of whom had not been able to attend GPSF Day before, due to distance or accessibility constraints. Students expressed their love for these special guests with a surprise thank you video.

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

From rap battles to pizza parties, upper school students shared why THRIVE—a club that builds community among students and teachers with shared racial, cultural, and socioeconomic experiences—has been their home away from home.

To watch these videos and see more of Nueva life, visit

nuevaschool.org/youtube

“While birds were chirping and dogs were barking, silence shrouded the streets of 2020.” —Alex T. ’23

N O T E D

NUE V A A T H L E TICS DEPARTMENT ON:

Activities to Stay Moving Despite an unprecedented holding pattern that the Nueva Athletics Program and its student athletes have endured, there have been many bright spots for opportunities for students to remain active and strive for personal growth and challenge. The Nueva Athletics Team is excited to share some excellent ways to get moving and stay moving for our student-athletes and for everyone in our community. In addition to the following activities, athletes should always try to eat nutritionally and get ample sleep, which not only help on the court or field, but also in the classroom. Cooking at home is a great way to eat nutritionally. Try including more vegetables in place of grain (cauliflower rice is a new go-to for me), and be sure to eat lots of protein: fish, meat, and poultry, and also plant-based, such as beans, tofu, and nuts. A balanced meal helps competitive and casual athletes to feel energized and strong. We can’t wait for Nueva athletics competitions. Until then, here are some tips from our team to yours.—Chris Wade, PreK–12 athletics director/PE director

TR A I L R U N N I N G

FINISH 5

1 START

I N T E R V AL TRAINING

Laurel Donnenwirth, upper school girls’ basketball coach Particularly for sports that require short bursts and sprints (for example, basketball, tennis, and volleyball), but great for any athlete who wants to stay in shape, interval training is an outstanding way to keep up your cardio and work the muscles that help with your speed and agility. Cone drills are one example of this type of training which only requires a small patch of grass, track, or driveway (and you can use water bottles or other homemade markers if you don’t have cones!). See illustrated example above.

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

Robert Lopez, director of track and cross country and athletic administrative aupport I often encourage my cross country athletes to head out to Sawyer Camp Trail in San Mateo to get in some workouts in a safe environment. The trail is paved, allows for easy social distancing, and has great mile markers. The easiest way to maintain fitness is to establish a schedule of five-to-six days a week of daily exercise—incorporating aerobic and anaerobic training, interval training and strength training—coupled with proper nutrition and hydration. Some other great spots for walking, jogging, and running in the Bay Area include Seal Point Park, Foster City Bay Trail, Crystal Springs/Hallmark Park, Wunderlich Park, Baylands Park, and Golden Gate Park.

B O D Y - W E I G H T T R A INING

Mallory Celaya, Nueva athletics trainer The great thing about body weight training is you don’t need a gym to workout! Just find a space (about 6 foot by 6 foot) where you can move around a little bit, and do a circuit workout that engages the whole body (lower, upper, and core). This includes activities such as burpees, squats, and high knees, with minute-long breaks between each exercise. I recommend experimenting with your exercise style. Start with full body workouts every other day. If you want a little more variety, rotate through different focus areas, such as lower body one day, upper body the next, and core to finish the week. Every day doesn’t need to be intense or hardcore; I like to emphasize that some movement is better than no movement. The key is to find a style or type of exercise you enjoy to stay healthy and stay active! • Two minute warm-up • One minute jumping jacks • One minute squats/squat jumps • One minute mountain climbers • One minute push-ups/burpees • One minute crunches/full sit ups • One minute single leg lower/ double leg drop • Two minute cool down

N O T E D

Firsthand Account Adele and Joel Sandberg Share Powerful History of the Russian Jewry Movement with Upper School Judaism Club

The story had all the makings of a Hollywood movie: a secret mission, an interview with the KGB, and the successful rescue of more than 2 million persecuted people. This was the true story shared by Adele and Joel Sandberg at an upper school Judaism Club event on the last Friday in October. The 20 participants who gathered on Zoom were taken back in time to 1975, as they heard the incredibly powerful and inspiring story of Adele and Joel and their integral involvement with Soviety Refuseniks. Their granddaughter, Judaism Club co-leader Maya B. ’22, invited her grandparents to present to her peers, Nueva faculty and staff, and parents. KGB (Russian: Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) Translated in English as the Committee for State Security, was the secret police force that was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until November 1991. REFUSENIK An unofficial term for individuals— typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern bloc.* *source: wikipedia

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

“I’ve been hearing stories about my grandparents’ work in Soviet Jewry and their nail-biting, incredibly brave trip to the USSR ever since I was little,” Maya said. “I knew that most Nuevans have likely never heard a story like theirs, and hopefully they found it very interesting. My grandparents love talking about Jewish history and their activist work— so it came together quite nicely.” To help contextualize the significance of their work, the Sandbergs began with a brief and illuminating history of Jews in Russia spanning centuries of war, relocation, forced assimilation, discrimination, violence, and—during World War II—the murder of more than 2.5 million Russian Jews. “In 1967, one of every five Jews in the world was living inside the USSR,” Joel shared. “After witnessing the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were exterminated, we felt a sense of urgency to help save them.”

Adele added, “During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was a vast police state surrounded by what was called the Iron Curtain. Jews, with yevrey stamped on their passports were under special suspicion. There was very little hope for their future.” So began Adele’s and Joel’s journey in the Soviet Jewry movement, in which they played an important role in aiding Jewish families and individuals hoping to emigrate out of the USSR. They were part of an international campaign in support of the Refuseniks, people who went against the government by applying for exit visas they knew they would be denied. Adele and Joel decided the best way to help would be to travel to the Soviet Union. In 1975, the Sandbergs landed in Moscow in the middle of the night, went to the American embassy to check in, and then made their way to the apartment of the Druk family, Refuseniks with whom the Sandbergs had been in touch for years. “Refusenik families like the Druks were so courageous,” Adele said. “They were our heroes, who risked everything to get an exit visa.” To Adele and Joel, their efforts were worth the risk given how much the Refuseniks had been through. “As we walked down the street one night, we were cornered by a soviet agent who told us we were not supposed to be in Moscow,” Adele shared. “We were followed everywhere. We would be walking and someone would jump out in front of us, take our picture, and then disappear. They were trying to intimidate us. It was often pretty frightening.”

“Through all the uncertainty and hopelessness, we now stand, humbled, on the precipice of change.” —Anya M. ’24

N O T E D

← Joel and Adele Sandberg shared their story of working with Soviet Jews in the 1970s with the upper school Judaism Club.

“ We were followed everywhere. We would be walking and someone would jump out in front of us, take our picture, and then disappear.” Eventually intimidation led to interrogation, as Adele and Joel were arrested by the KGB and brought in for questioning. “We were taken to a small room on the second floor of the hotel,” Joel described. “Three men were waiting. The door closed behind us.” But, they shared, after eight hours of screaming and yelling, they were allowed to depart. Ultimately, their efforts and the efforts of other Jews from around the world helped free nearly 2 million Soviet Jews. For Maya, who has heard her grandparents’ story many times growing up, hearing it again still moves her immensely. “My heart flutters with nerves every time I hear the climax of that story, even though I know what will happen,” she said. “The stakes of the interrogation and my grandparents’ bravery never loses its appeal.” There were many reasons audience members attended this virtual event. Rachel Freeman, communications and

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

website manager, has been looking for ways to connect with the Jewish community at Nueva. This event helped to provide that connection. “I was so moved by their activism to help Soviet Jews, even in the face of potential danger,” she said. “Regardless of their different national heritages and the language barriers, the Sandbergs felt a connection with the Soviet Jews they were working to help. Tikkun olam (repairing the world) and chesed (loving-kindness) are two core values of Judaism. To me, what Adele and Joel did for Soviet Jews exemplify these values in action.” Maya hopes that others will find the same kind of inspiration from her grandparents’ story as her family has. “I believe my grandparents’ story about their work advancing the human rights of the Jewish people has strengthened my family’s sense of Jewish identity and reminded us of the importance of standing up against modern persecution—against Jews, but also against BIPOC, LGBTQ+ people, and others,”

JOEL SANDBERG

she shared. “I hope that my grandparents’ activism educates the Nueva community on an instance of Jewish persecution in history that is rarely talked about and inspires them to take action against oppression that they see in the world.” It seems as if Maya’s goals were accomplished. “I think Joel and Adele really highlighted how compassion for others and a drive to make the world a better place can ultimately triumph over hate,” Rachel said. “I know that sounds cliché, but the work they did in Russia to help Soviet Jews is remarkable, and it didn’t happen overnight. But through their dedication, it’s clear they can look back now and see the impact that they were able to have. Their story demonstrates that perseverance, even in the face of opposition (or the KGB), will lead to positive change in the world.” —Jim Morrison

N O T E D

M AV E R I C K S O N T H E This fall, we asked many Mavericks in our community about what it has been like for them during this pandemic.

What advice would you give to your old self at the beginning of quarantine? Get ready for a wild and crazy ride! Be prepared to take advantage of a completely different rhythm and life cadence. Never, ever take personal, collegial, and professional relationships for granted—they are more important than you will ever know. LEE FERTIG, HEAD OF SCHOOL

Work smarter, not harder.

Be easier on yourself. AMBER CARPENTER, UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER

Spend some more time outdoors and away from the computer. Although our work and social lives are now inevitably tied to our devices, it’s good to just go outside every day and go places other than our rooms. Reach out to your friends and allow yourself to adapt socially to the circumstances. Find what works best for you and them. Balance your time with family, friends, and by yourself. Don’t feel pressured to study extra or master an array of new skills; do what feels right for you and fits best with your lifestyle. Once a day, take at least a few minutes to just do nothing at all.

This is going to last a lot longer than you think, so brace yourself—but don’t let that be an excuse to procrastinate. Oh, and get some library books before the library closes for the first few months of quarantine! AURA M., FRESHMAN

N U E V A

The spray I use to clean my groceries, a picture of my son’s high school graduation as that masked event tells it all, and a picture of the PPE created for others by my family and students. CHRISTINE BRAUN, HILLSBOROUGH SHOP MANAGER AND I-LAB ENGINEER

My journal, a mask, and a Zoom sticker. JAHI JOHNSON, FIRST-GRADE TEACHER

JONATHON T., JUNIOR

ANNA K., FRESHMAN

If you could put three things in a time capsule that would help retell your “future self” the story of your time in quarantine, what would they be?

M A G A Z I N E

Puppysized kibble, elderberry jam, my Bluetooth headphones. ELENA STAMATAKOS, LOWER SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER

A mask, a piece of dirty laundry, and a charging cord (no matter how many you have, you still need more). ANTON P., SEVENTH-GRADE

N O T E D

( V I R T UA L) S T R E E T What one word would you use to describe this period of your life? Triste (which is sad in Portuguese), or Sozinho (alone). DALTON LOBO DIAS, MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER AND SIXTH-GRADE DEAN

HOPE. QIAO LIU, UPPER SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHER

Paradigm-altering. CHRISTINE BRAUN, HILLSBOROUGH SHOP MANAGER AND I-LAB ENGINEER

Is there a special project you have been working on during quarantine? A new hobby you’ve discovered? I’ve been writing a book, slowly. I started at 500 words a day, but that didn’t last very long. When the libraries closed, I started reading all of my bought-butunread books.

I finally solved a Rubik’s cube after one year of tussling!

CLIFF BURKE, FIFTH-GRADE WRITING AND HUMANITIES TEACHER

ELBERT P., THIRD-GRADE

I have really gotten into cooking and have been cooking breakfast and lunch for my whole family. Cooking to me is really special because I love it and my dad taught me to cook. MIRIAM H., SIXTH-GRADE

I have really gotten into critter felting. I recently made a macaron. It’s really fun! MIA T., FOURTH-GRADE

Is there someone that you wish you could have been quarantined with? Why? I wish I could have been quarantined with a yoga coach or a gym coach so I would have someone “force” me to workout everyday. QIAO LIU, UPPER SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHER

One of my close school friends. We are social animals, aren’t we?

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

MIRIAM H., SIXTH-GRADE

ANTON P., SEVENTH-GRADE

How has your personal style changed during quarantine? I have tried to maintain a professional appearance (from the waist up). BRETT DYER, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

My style really developed from basic to more vintage and Y2K. I stopped wearing skinny jeans as well. I also got a middle part and changed my eyebrows. KAILA E., FRESHMAN

F A L L

I wish I could be with my aunt because she just got a dog and I love dogs but my parents do not want a dog, but I am trying to convince them.

I have not worn fancy clothes in a long time. MIA T., FOURTH-GRADE

N O T E D

The new Science and Environmental Center will be home to students across all three divisions and will promote student collaboration on efforts to address climate change and other environmental issues. See page 44 for more. P H O T O BY W. L. B U T L E R

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

S T O R I E S

F R O M

N U E VA

FEATURES

N O T E D

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

Antiracism

As activist Leslie Mac said, “Being anti-racist is a verb— and it requires consistent action.” This story explores the ways in which Nueva is striving to be anti-racist in the classroom.

is a

VeRB

S T O R Y

N U E V A

B Y

R A C H E L

M A G A Z I N E

F R E E M A N

→ During the 2019– 2020 school year, students in David Robinson’s PreK class explored the idea of skin color, learning that no two people have the same tone.

F E AT U R E

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

F E AT U R E

On any given day, PreK–12 Director of Social Justice and Equity Alegria Barclay might open her inbox to find an email from a faculty member wanting her support in creating a new social justice lesson or hoping to bring in a social justice guest speaker or with an idea for a class field trip centered around social justice. “Our faculty members have spent countless hours thoughtfully, passionately, and brilliantly reimagining their curricula and pedagogy to better include, celebrate, and critically engage with diverse perspectives, so much so that the thread of anti-racism is present in every grade from PreK through 12,” Alegria said.

Activism ↗ A Nueva student uses shadows to show a sign made during the fifthgrade social movements unit.

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

This year, perhaps more than in previous years, this recentering and reimagining of the curricula has become front and center, largely in part to the Black Lives Matter protests that swept across the nation last summer in response to police brutality against Black people. Shortly after Lee Fertig joined Nueva as head of school in July, he sent an email, “Elevating Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” to the Nueva community, reaffirming the school’s ongoing commitment to anti-racism. “For more than 50 years,” he wrote, “Nueva has demonstrated unwavering commitment and focus—a commitment to gifted learners and a focus on social-emotional learning. However, as successful as Nueva has been in embodying these principles in practice, our community is not immune to the effects of racism and marginalization. We must be even more intentional and strategic in ensuring equity and accountability in issues specifically pertaining to racial diversity.”

One of the initiatives Lee identified—which has already shaped and will continue to shape Nueva’s commitment to anti-racism—is “embedding themes of social justice and equity throughout the PreK–12 curriculum.” Alegria added, “Much of the work we’ve done over the last five years at Nueva has been to build a common understanding of racism and its effects on our students and, broadly, our nation.”

Identity

This understanding begins with explorations of identity, a thread that runs through nearly all grades, building in depth and complexity as students get older. For sixth-grade humanities teacher Sam Modest, helping students understand identity and positionality are critical to their understanding of history. “It’s really important for students to understand their own identities and the identities of the authors we read,” he said. “When we read history, we need to identify the biases of the authors, as well as our own biases. I tell my students, ‘The author wrote this piece and their positionality impacts what they wrote, and our positionality impacts what we take away from it.’” PreK teacher David Robinson spent this past summer thinking about anti-bias education and how he could continue to shape his curriculum around anti-bias and anti-racist education. He brought together the PreK through second-grade teaching teams, and they collectively worked with early childhood consultant, Debbie LeeKeenan. “I wanted to focus more on identity and what that means to young children,” David shared. “I then built in family identity and ethnicity and culture. Identity becomes the foundation for our conversations around equity and justice.”

“Between the smoke and pandemic, one could assume this is a story about apocalypse—rather, it is a story about

F E AT U R E

“

The philosophy in early childhood education is to combine subject areas. We don’t say, ‘This is math time,’ or ‘This is writing time.’ We combine many subject areas. I think it’s the same with anti-bias and anti-racist education. We don’t have ‘anti-racist time.’” DAV I D R O B I N S O N , P R E - K I N D E R GA R T E N L E A D T E AC H E R

The key to infusing the curriculum with anti-bias and anti-racist principles, David said, is by weaving in the goals established by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards in their book, Anti-bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. “The philosophy in early childhood education is to combine subject areas. We

don’t say, ‘This is math time,’ or ‘This is writing time.’ We combine many subject areas. I think it’s the same with anti-bias and anti-racist education. We don’t have ‘anti-racist time.’” In the upper school, conversations around identity permeate not just the Science of Mind (SOM) curriculum, but a broad range of disciplines and topics.

The exploration of identity is a critical component of the 11th grade American Literature class. Through the reading of diverse texts—in genre, author’s background, and era—students explore how American identities are shaped by a multitude of voices, cultures, and actions. “Because this course is focused on the interplay between literature and American history, everything we talk about relates to American identity,” English teacher Jen Neubauer said. The course has evolved over the last few years because of input that Jen and the other American Literature teachers received from students. “We received feedback from students, particularly our Black students, that the curriculum and books we were reading were problematic,” she said. “I think this highlights how we aren’t always going to get it right, and that we are constantly striving to do better. We welcome our students’ perspectives, and we want them to feel represented in the stories they are reading. So as a faculty, we asked ourselves, ‘How do we make sure we are bringing a variety of voices and American narratives into the classroom?’” The first year Jen taught this course, 2017–2018, she and the other faculty teaching it added the book Passing by Nella Larson. This modernist text fit into the curriculum well both because of its craft and how it represents the literary movement of its time, Jen said, and in how it looks at the story of race in the United States and race’s impact on identity. This year, the faculty introduced Tommy Orange’s There There, “to bring the Indigenous perspective into American literature.” “Selecting texts is a challenge we take very seriously, because with every voice that we highlight, there is a voice that we leave out,” Jen acknowledged. “We only have so much time, and we want to make sure students have the knowledge

how humans remember how to create. How to be human. How to live.” —Olivia Barber, upper school Science of Mind teacher

F E AT U R E

they need to be successful once they leave Nueva. What voices we choose to highlight impacts students’ experiences after Nueva.” “For such a long time, our students weren’t able to see themselves in the texts,” said Davion Fleming, associate director of admissions and ninth-grade Science of Mind teacher. “They were often going out into the world—and even navigating Nueva—without an understanding of who they are. If we keep telling the same stories, students miss out on a very key piece of identity work in understanding not just themselves, but also in understanding and having empathy for others. Yes, we are going to be leaving voices out, but by continuing to change and iterate on the perspectives we share, students across PreK through 12th grade will have a profound and nuanced understanding of themselves and of others.”

Literature

A few years ago, third-grade teacher Erin Longo noticed that the year-end lists of the best books for young readers contained stories and authors that were far more diverse than the books

“

she remembered seeing when she was growing up. “It’s really remarkable to see how many new children’s books feature more diverse characters now,” Erin said. “I’ve noticed, too, that the Nueva Book Fair selections have also grown to include more titles with broader representation.” Books are oftentimes one of the best ways to introduce students to the themes of identity, social justice, and antiracism. They also help facilitate conversations, build empathy, and provide a launching point for important and difficult conversations. Erin and the third grade team use books as a starting point in building their curriculum. “Over the summer, Priscilla [Jih, third-grade teacher] and I did a lot of thinking about what books we are reading in the classroom,” Erin said. “We worked with Alegria to thoughtfully select our class read-alouds. This year, we are reading Front Desk by Kelly Yang, which tells the story of a Chinese-American immigrant and the issues around race that she faces.”

We want to provide students with mirrors and windows: stories that offer all of our students, especially our students of color, a chance to see their own cultures and identities reflected, as well as stories that allow students a view into someone else’s experience.” E R I N LO N G O, T H I R D - G R A D E T E AC H E R

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

IN-CLASS READING Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds Black Brother Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson Front Desk by Kelly Yang Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi Passing by Nella Larson There, There by Tommy Orange

The third-grade team also more broadly looked at the picture books it offers students and the images as well. “I think the biggest piece is representation,” Erin added. “This is really what we’ve been doing for the past couple of years. We want to provide students with mirrors and windows: stories that offer all of our students, especially our students of color, a chance to see their own cultures and identities reflected, as well as stories that allow students a view into someone else’s experience.” Books can provide students not only with an opportunity to see themselves represented, but they also help students gain a more complex understanding of how history informs the present and the future. In Alegria Barclay’s senior seminar, Afrofuturism: Black Histories, Black Futures, students read and engage with Afrofuturist short stories and novels

“After years of struggle, I found myself in a community full of life that embraced uncertainty. Through them,

F E AT U R E

to gain a better understanding of the history of racial injustice, the legacies of colonialism, Black liberation movements, pan-Africanism, science fiction, and futurism. The course also delves into the ways race intersects with ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, and ability. Students read texts, watch films, look at artwork, and listen to music, including substantive works by Janelle Monae, Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, and Jordan Peele. “Literature in this genre asks us to consider in powerful terms how our collective racial past continues to live, at times, side by side with our present moment,” Alegria said. “It also opens up imaginative pathways on how we can not only envision but make real different futures that are committed to liberation and innovation.” The course challenges students to use these texts to answer essential questions, including, “Who is the future for?” “How, when, and why do the past intersect?” and “What are other perspectives/lenses that might broaden or challenge what we understand about a text?” Meanwhile in middle school, Lit Clubs have provided the perfect space for students to dive into the complexities of antiracism and social justice. Whereas in past years themes for Lit Clubs have varied across groups—from space to Chinese fantasy to utopias and dystopias—this year all groups are centered on the theme of antiracism. “This year, we decided to dedicate Lit Club in the middle school as a venue for supporting Nueva’s articulated commitment to making our school more socially just and equitable,” said Marilyn Kimura, Hillsborough campus librarian. “To this end, we are focusing on stories and texts that allow us to walk in others’ shoes familiarize ourselves with diverse authors, engage in the lived experiences of others whose stories might differ from our own culturally, racially, ethnically, and socio-economically, and create a common vocabulary for discussing social justice, equity, and intersectionality.”

R E F L E C T I N G O N M Y F I L I P I N O H E R I TAG E JAC K A. ’22 Following his recent reelection to the California state legislature, Assemblymember Rob Bonta commemorated Filipino American History Month at an event organized by Nueva’s Filipino Club. Speaking virtually to the entire upper school, Bonta shared how his identity as a Filipino American influenced his political career, which has been devoted to promoting social justice, inclusion, equity, and opportunity. He also noted that, as the first Filipino American elected to the state legislature, he is all too aware that many in our society lack political representation and he wants to ensure that those voices are heard. He has introduced legislation to protect civil liberties and immigrant communities against overreach by the federal government, and he recently authored a bill that makes racially-motivated 911 calls a hate crime. He has also co-authored various pieces of legislation that protect tenants against rent-gouging and unjust evictions, provide for free community college, and strengthen workplace protections for nurses and others who work the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis. Given the current political climate, it was inspiring to hear a public servant who wholeheartedly believes in the power of government to affect positive change in people’s lives. As I listened to Assemblymember Bonta share his perspective on what it means to be Filipino, I reflected on my own Filipino identity. I have always been aware of the fact that I am half Filipino. Like Bonta, my mother was born in the Philippines and emigrated here at a young age. She is both a proud Filipina and a proud Californian, and she has always tried to instill in me a similar love of my Filipino heritage. Her extended family lives in California, and we’d see them at holidays and other occasions. In short, I have every reason to be in touch with the Filipino side of my identity, to be fully aware of what it means to be Filipino. But the reality is that I remain unsure exactly how Filipino culture fits into my life. Outside of my familiarity with my relatives and their personal histories, my knowledge of the Philippines is limited to facts and figures I’ve read in books and on the internet. One of the primary reasons that I co-founded the Filipino Club at Nueva was to answer these questions about my Filipino identity. Forming the club and getting to know the handful of other Filipino students at the upper school made me realize what I had been missing. I’ve been at Nueva for 12 years, and last year was the first time that there was another Filipino student in my grade and the first time I had a teacher who was Filipino. I’m thankful to be part of this community, and I take great comfort in knowing that, like me, others in the club are also searching to understand what it means to be Filipino. Being part of the Filipino Club has also helped me learn more about Filipino American history. In preparing for Assemblymember Bonta’s presentation, I read about AB 123, a 2013 law that requires California schools to teach students about the role of immigrants, and began researching the role that Filipino Americans played in the California labor movement. I was surprised to learn that Filipino workers initiated the 1965 Delano Grape Strike. But, while Cesar Chavez’s role as the leader of the UFW has been widely celebrated, history has largely forgotten Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, and other Filipino activists who first made the decision to strike. Unfortunately, this erasure of Filipinos from the American story is not just a historical phenomenon. Even today, Filipinos make critical, but largely invisible, contributions to this country. For example, recent reports have revealed how the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted Filipino healthcare workers. While Filipinos make up about 4 percent of registered nurses in the U.S., nearly a third of registered nurses who have died of COVID-19 are Filipino. One explanation for these statistics is that Filipino nurses tend to work on the front lines of the pandemic—in the ICUs, the emergency rooms, and in long-term care facilities. Yet, their sacrifices are rarely acknowledged. During his presentation, Bonta warned that the true enemy of democracy is apathy. In a nation where we have the right to vote, to speak, and to protest, failing to use these tools to combat injustice undermines the entire system. Bonta meant this as a lesson in civics, a recommendation to soon-to-be voters on how to effect change. But I wonder if there is a related point here, one that operates on a more personal level. Apathy towards the political process is certainly an issue, but apathy can take many forms. Apathy towards heritage, an ignorance of where you come from, may be just as problematic. By learning more about my Filipino culture and about the contributions made by other Filipinos, I’m inspired to think about what role I can play as a member of the Filipino community in creating a better democracy.

I discovered a renewed sense of purpose.” —Samuel Timinsky, upper school history teacher and debate coach

F E AT U R E

“

We want our students to see that math is a tool that is connected to the world, and that sometimes that connection can be missing. We don’t want students to leave Nueva thinking that math is just abstract and theoretical. Math at its best can be used to promote social change and promote values associated with social change.” A N N A B L I N S T E I N , M AT H T E AC H E R

To begin the year, all fifth- and sixth-graders read and discussed Black Brother Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes, and all seventh- and eighth-graders dived into the young-adult version of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Now, students in individual Lit Club groups are selecting from a long list of social justice-themed middle grade and young adult books. The list includes books such as Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds; The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden; and Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi. Fifth- and sixth-graders even had the opportunity to hear from and ask questions of Rhodes, whose book they had read as the introduction to Lit Club. ↗ Middle school students made signs for a communal art piece as part of their unit on social movements.

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

“The fact that we have committed to having all of the Lit Club books be related to anti-racism, social justice, and building tolerance is huge,” said Sam Modest, Lit Club facilitator and sixth-grade humanities teacher. “This is a very tangible way I see the school committed to anti-racism in our practices and in our teaching.”

Science & Math

Close to 20 percent of California community college students are homeless. This fact was the starting off point for a social justice project in Danielle McReynolds-Dell’s upper school Applied Statistics and Probabilities course last year. Students reviewed decades of California housing data to tell a story about the housing situation in the state. The idea for this project came when Danielle and fellow Nueva math teacher

Veena Krishnan attended a professional development opportunity one summer through the Silicon Valley Math Initiative and were brainstorming ways to incorporate social justice issues into the math they were teaching. “Sometimes in math, students miss the forest in the trees,” Danielle said. “I wanted students to be able to see the stories that data is trying to tell us. Last fall, there were a number of news articles about issues around homelessness. We read articles and journals about gentrification and urban development, and we discussed who was writing the article, what position they were taking, and what the graphs of data say about the issue.” Then, using California housing data spanning every month and every county’s median home price from 1996 through 2019, students told stories. They answered the questions, “What does the data tell you about an area, and thus about income and jobs in that area?” and “Why might someone live in one area and commute for over an hour each way to a job in another area?” “This project was designed to demonstrate economic inequalities, which in turn speaks to racial inequalities,” Danielle added. Examining data, as students in Danielle’s class did, is another tangible way for students to understand and talk about racial and social justice issues. Through middle and upper school science courses, students engage in projects designed to show them that there is no data to suggest a connection between genetics and race. “The Equity and Inclusion Institute really opened my eyes to the ways I could bring more anti-racism into my classroom,” said Dalton Lobo Dias, middle school physics teacher and sixth-grade dean. “During our DIY unit in the spring, we’re going to talk about how science has been misused to promote racist ideas. We’re going to pull apart these pseudoscience ideas, and identify the fallacies in eugenics.”

“The world was ablaze yet as I beheld the half-obscured faces of my bemasked compatriots I saw in each set of

F E AT U R E

In Luke De’s upper school neuroscience courses, he teaches the physical underpinnings of implicit bias so that students can understand racism at the mechanistic level. Implicit bias, he said, is rooted in anxiety, and when conversations around race make people uncomfortable or angry, the anxiety system in the brain is activated. He hopes that by exploring the neuroscience of implicit bias, students gain “new empathy so we don’t make assumptions about people’s behavior based off of stereotypes.” “I want my students to learn that from a mechanistic level, the best way to approach conversations around race is through kindness and empathy, because it doesn’t provoke the anxiety system in our brains,” Luke said. The upper school Journal Club, which aims to create a culture of scientific inquiry at Nueva, also strives to have science-based conversations about racism and social justice. The club hosts Science Thursdays, weekly presentations about current or controversial research designed to educate with data-backed ideas and make science accessible to everyone. “We had a presentation on the translation of systemic racism in artificial intelligence,” Luke explained. “When a person creates an AI tool, the bias of the creator lives in that piece of AI. We also had a presentation of the classification of credit scores based on race: that while race cannot be used to determine one’s credit score, there are many proxies for race, namely area code.” In the middle school math program, teachers follow the same philosophy as Journal Club: to use data to simplify high-level mathematics research. In seventh- and eighth-grade math, students explore data for a culminating project in which they research a social justice issue and use data to support their claim. Every other year, seventh- and eighth-graders explore the theme of commodities across subject areas. In chemistry, they look at a commodity—say, a natural element or a

R E C O N N E C T I N G W I T H M Y H E R I TAG E : L U K E M. ’21 My connection with my Latino heritage is very meaningful to me; however, this connection was one that I had to work to find. My grandparents did not always involve my parents in aspects of our Latino culture because it was often looked down upon in schools and in the world. With my parents being left out of many traditions, it made it harder for them to share this aspect of our identity with my sister and me. Part of this disconnect feels inevitable, as being third or fourth generation Americans means we associate more with our American history. Moreover, as Latinos in America we have not had the luxury of being able to choose to represent our heritage. The fear of being othered has led to basic yet important changes to our identity, such as the Americanization of my parents’ names and them being discouraged from learning Spanish outside of school. All of these factors have created a disconnect between myself and my cultural identity, prompting me to work to reclaim my heritage. I have found that my interest in cooking has been a great way for me to learn and connect with my heritage. I have learned many traditional Mexican dishes from different members of my family and have even taught myself new recipes to help me connect with this aspect of my identity. I have also worked to strengthen my ties to my identity by finding and engaging with the Latino community, which has not been an easy opportunity to find in school or in the world. I decided to attend the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project conference in Sacramento in summer 2019, where I met many Latinos from all across the state, and I am still in touch with many of them today. Finding other students with the same heritage as mine has been very empowering because it showed me the progress of our community and our potential. One of the best ways Nueva has enabled me to reconnect with my Latino heritage was through the Spanish immersion trip to Colombia. On top of being able to practice my Spanish, I was able to experience a country with a rich history, one that is important to the rest of Latin America. Given my love for history, I found that learning the history of my ancestors was an interesting and enriching way for me to connect with identity. This trip inspired me to enroll in the Post-Colonial Latin American history class, which allowed me to further explore my new interest in an academic setting. One topic that was particularly interesting to me was the Mexican Revolution because it is a large reason why my family members moved to the United States. It was also particularly important to me because it is very rare that I have an opportunity to learn about history as relates to my family and heritage. Learning about the conditions that brought my family to America was especially important to me because it helped me appreciate the journey of my ancestors even more. I came to understand why my orphan great-grandfather fled the country on a train at my age, and I now better appreciate the opportunities I have today. I hope to continue to strengthen my relationship with my heritage and that Nueva works to help more students like myself find their connection.

chemical compound—and in humanities they explore how that same commodity is used in different parts of the world. In math, students select a social justice research question about their commodity that can be answered using data. “In the past, students always had the option to select a social justice topic,” math teacher Anna Blinstein explained. “This summer, we spent time thinking about this and other projects and decided to have all students select a social justice topic.”

eyes the distinct sparkle of hope.” —Rebecca Alaly, upper school math associate teacher

For example, she said, “Students might choose to look at the use of their commodity over time and its impact on the environment. Or, they might choose to investigate workers’ rights around who mines their commodity and the wages workers are paid compared to living expenses of that region of the world.” It was clear to Anna that this project really struck a chord with her students. “As citizens of the world, we have some knowledge that poor labor conditions exist,” she shared. “But, the

F E AT U R E

STUDENT PROJECT In Sam Modest’s sixth-grade humanities course, students researched the Christopher Columbus statue in New York City and then created five-minute videos explaining the controversy around the statute and sharing their recommendations about what to do with the statute. Some students recommended replacing it with a new statue, others recommended moving it to a museum, and some suggested adding historical information about Christopher Columbus so people walking by can know the full story. The videos, addressed to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, were then shared with the mayor’s office, in hopes of swaying him to consider their recommendations.

specificity of the data helped students see trends over time and understand that as demand from Western culture increases, labor conditions in other parts of the world change. The data made it much more powerful. “We want our students to see that math is a tool that is connected to the world, and that sometimes that connection can be missing,” Anna added. “We don’t want Nueva students to leave Nueva thinking that math is just abstract and theoretical. Math at its best can be used to promote social change and promote values associated with social change.”

History

For years, sixth-grade humanities teacher Sam Modest has incorporated the stories of marginalized people in the United States into his curriculum. When he

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

During the 2019–2020 school year, thirdgraders learn about the Mali Empire.

Sixth-graders Shayan S. (above left) and Finn R. proposed replacing the Columbus statue with new statues, similar to the ones they designed.

taught second-grade, students explored the history of Chinese immigrants and the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 on Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans. Now teaching sixthgrade, Sam continues to ensure students learn about the history of oppression in the United States. “Going into this year, I knew that I wanted to give voice and amplify the voices of marginalized people in U.S. history,” he said. “To do that, we have to understand what power is, and who decides who has it and who doesn’t.” In sixth-grade humanities, the overarching questions students are working to answer are: “Where does power come from?” “Who decides where power comes from?” and “How can power be reclaimed?” To begin the year, Sam introduced students to the ideas of power, oppression, and identity. Students explored the ways

in which history is about power and positionality. “That’s the lens we’re taking for every moment in history that we look at,” Sam added. Students learned about the ways that monuments and statues in the United States express power, and they read a variety of current events articles about certain statues being removed throughout the country. As part of this discussion, Sam asked the class, “How might we reclaim power for the Indigenous people?” “We start in the present, then go to the past to help inform what we know about the present,” he said. “We look at current events through a historical lens.” Focusing on the Christopher Columbus statue in New York City, each student created a five-minute video explaining the controversy around the statue, sharing their recommendations about what to do with the statue, and elaborating the research they used to support their recommendations. And these videos were not solely for a class project. “I shared these videos with the Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office,” Sam said. “I want students to know their voices can be heard.” Understanding the past in order to better understand the present is an important way for students to learn about racial and social justices issues in the United States.

“Each hour lasts 60 minutes, but the memories will last forever.” —Anna F. ’24

F E AT U R E

Task Force on Racial Equity & Accountability In our spring/summer 2020 issue of Nueva Magazine, we announced the creation of the Task Force on Racial Equity and Accountability. We sat down with task force co-chairs Jody Sievers and Puja Kaul to learn more. What prompted the board to create this task force? It goes without saying that 2020 was an unbelievably challenging year: COVID, politics, fires, and, of course, the protests that arose after the death of George Floyd. It has been a time of reflection and reckoning for the country and for Nueva. The Board created the Task Force on Racial Equity and Accountability within this context. What, specifically, has the board asked the task force to do? The task force has a mandate to “elevate the school’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work with a specific focus on the Black community.” While school leadership will focus on the implementation of immediate operational changes, the work of the task force will focus on long-term, structural recommendations designed to create cultural and systemic change across the institution. In short, the task force has been asked to find the best ways to build, nurture, and maintain Nueva’s Beloved Community. How have you approached the goals of the task force? We’re thinking like Nuevans and leading with a question! We knew we had much to learn by listening. We couldn’t say, “This is what needs to happen and this is what we’re going to do.” So, we’ve

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

spent months meeting with lots and lots (and lots!) of members of the Nueva community. While Nueva’s DEI work considers the whole community, our task force was asked to focus specifically on issues affecting the Black community at Nueva—so there’s been an emphasis on talking with Black students, faculty, staff, and parents, as well as the African American Affinity Group. Our work can be boiled down to a few simple questions: What problems are we trying to solve? What efforts are already in place and how are they working? What can we learn from other schools or organizations? Where can we go from here? Nueva’s African American Affinity Group has already done a great deal of thinking on these questions and offered clear suggestions and ideas. That work provides a helpful starting point, and we are continuing to explore additional bold, highimpact opportunities. Who’s on the team? We’ve done our best to build a diverse team that represents a wide variety of experiences. There are 26 members—faculty, staff, parents, and trustees—spread across five working groups, each with a clearly defined piece of the work: • Awareness: Enhance awareness to understand, acknowledge, and heal

• Access/Opportunity: Increase access and opportunity to harness the strength in diversity • Support: Facilitate a culture of inclusion to ensure each of us has a true sense of belonging • Governance/Leadership: Endorse through bold leadership to sustain systemic, longterm change • Accountability: Hold ourselves accountable to measure our efficacy and impact over time Each group has two leads: one trustee and one faculty member whose work at Nueva is relevant to the task force group. Our thinking is that we are most successful when we bring people together from all corners of our community to think collaboratively to move this work forward for Nueva and beyond.

• Additional resources are being devoted to the DEI work that Director of Social Justice and Equity Alegria Barclay leads and the search for two additional team members is underway. • Trustees have been provided with diversity and anti-bias training and recommended readings. • The school launched a dedicated webpage on racial equity and accountability (nuevaschool.org/racialequity). We also envision the task force leaving in place a system for ongoing efforts, continuous improvements, creating metrics of success, and so forth. It’s so important that the work remains a priority long beyond the lifetime of this one effort. In true Nueva style, this task force is dynamic and we are learning by doing and learning by caring every step of the way!

How will you know when the work of the task force is completed? We want to underscore that this task force is just one Anything else we should know? piece in a giant tapestry of DEI It’s worth emphasizing the efforts. Administrators and facmany partnerships and efforts ulty, the board and the Nueva across our community. Parents Association, affinLee, Alegria, the adminity groups, and student istration, the African groups are all working American Affinity to foster Nueva’s Group, faculty and Beloved Community, staff, the NPA, and and there are many countless community ways to get involved. JODY members continue to The finished “prodbe dedicated to this uct,” so to speak, will be work and are wholly a set of recommenengaged and comdations made to the mitted to building the board and to Head Beloved Community. of School Lee Fertig. It’s exciting because We will offer clear, we know that when actionable ways to PUJA Nuevans set their minds improve the experience to a task—or a task force— of community members— it gets done! specifically for, but not necesWe also want to make sarily limited to, Nueva’s Black sure people see what’s happencommunity members. ing. We want to be open and We will not wait for the inclusive about the work—as conclusion of the task force to we all know, it takes a village. implement change. Rather—as We will do our best to commubest practice in design thinking nicate regularly and clearly. shows—as good ideas emerge, We also invite anyone with Nueva’s faculty, staff, and questions or suggestions leadership team will strive to or wants to get involved, to implement them as quickly as reach out to us at socialjustice@ possible. Indeed, short-term nuevaschool.org. interventions have already begun. For example:

F E AT U R E

“

In the classroom, we look at the language that was used to describe race. We read how slavery was used to create binaries, the way Blackness was—and still is— used to describe the wrong behaviors . . . Through these conversations, I want students to see that race in America is part of the air we breathe.” T O M D O R R A N C E , U P P E R S C H O O L H I S T O R Y T E AC H E R

Upper school U.S. history teacher Tom Dorrance approaches the history of racism in the United States in two ways. “We look at race as a constitutive element of the creation of America,” he said. “So we’re not treating race as an anomaly, but rather as a core part of America. In the classroom, this means we look at the language that was used to describe race. We read how slavery was used to create binaries, the way Blackness was—and still is—used to describe the wrong behaviors. We look at the Gilded Age and the arguments about capitalism. Through these conversations, I want students to see that race in America is part of the air we breathe.” The other part of Tom’s approach to teaching U.S. history is understanding the history of the Black experience. “Reclaiming agency is a really important part of the story of Black people in the United States,” Tom shared. “We are talking about the history of subjugation and violence against a group of people, but with an eye toward finding agency and resistance.”

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

One way the class has been doing this is through an exploration of the 1619 Project, a New York Times initiative that, according to its website, “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” Another teacher focused on capturing lost voices in history is third-grade teacher Erin Longo, who, with teaching partner Priscilla Jih, has worked over the last three years to incorporate a deep-dive of the Mali Empire of West Africa. At the time, the third-grade humanities curriculum already included an exploration of ancient Egypt. “We wanted to bring in a study of another African civilization,” Erin said. “We decided to incorporate the Mali Empire because ↗ A fourth-grader sits in front of the photo of a youth activist, who is serving as inspiration for the student’s poem.

it was a very powerful and renowned African empire. It’s so important to provide students with a positive, view of African societies.” Having students study these ancient African societies provides an important precursor to the students’ studies of slavery later in their academic careers. “We want students to truly understand where slaves came from,” Erin explained. “We want them to have an appreciation and awe of the continent of Africa, so when they are older they will understand the cultural and political histories from which enslaved African people descended. And amplifying these voices and stories is especially important to me because I’m a white teacher.” Acknowledging and navigating their positionalities as white educators is one way that Sam, Tom, Erin, and other white history teachers have grappled with this work. Alegria added, “It’s also important for white students to know, and see, that they too can engage in anti-racist work.”

Moving Forward

Dalton wants his students to be “raggedy.” He wants students to be unafraid to engage in conversations about race and social justice issues. He wants to create for them a safe and brave space, where they feel comfortable asking questions and working through these questions with their peers. This work, he believes, helps lay the foundation for students to engage in anti-racism activism. “I want to remove the taboo and fear around doing anti-racism work,” Dalton explained. “With Black Lives Matter being so front and center right now, we as teachers are doing a disservice to our students if we don’t talk about these issues. And not just talk, but help students to take action.” In fall 2020, Dalton offered an elective course for fifth- and sixth-grade students,

“I awoke to a reality wholly separate from what I had come to expect—one that was surreal and exciting.” —Jackson G. ’22

F E AT U R E

“Anti-racism Activism,” to provide a space for students to discuss and learn, sign petitions, create anti-racist art, write emails, and make phone calls for justice. Students worked individually or in small groups on a variety of projects related to anti-racism. Sixth-grader Dashiell H. created a website with resources and guides for students. “The biggest feature I’m thinking about is a system where visitors can fill out an anonymous form so they can be ‘raggedy’ and get their questions answered,” he said in the fall. Talia F. and Hannah F. realized they could use their skills in art and baking to help raise funds for anti-racism organizations. “We’ve learned that we can use our strengths to help create something great,” Talia shared. Nueva’s “Learn by Doing, Learn by Caring” motto feels very apropos to Dalton, who wants students to realize that even young people can make real change in the world. “Even before they have full adult autonomy, students can use their skills, strengths, and resources to help further a cause,” he added. Driving home the idea that students can be changemakers is fourth-grade teacher Sarah Merkt, whose students engage each year in a project that brings together social justice, art, poetry, and math. “We introduce social justice and restorative justice to students through art,” Sarah said. “Students look at art created by white men and then by Black and brown people, and write a poem about what they observed.” Following this introduction, students select a form of systemic oppression— racism, sexism, ageism, classism, and environmental justice—that they are passionate about changing. “I introduce students to seven amplifiers, people who experienced something tragic in their young age, and what they did to positively make a change in the world,” Sarah said.

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

As part of the fifthgrade social movements unit, students create signs they’d hold up at a hypothetical rally for equal rights for all. →

Sarah uses the Amplifier education resources, which include free artwork, lesson plans, and teaching tools that help facilitate non-partisan conversations around social justice. These resources help Sarah and the fourth-grade team introduce students to real people doing real work. The class explores different forms of activism that these amplifiers have engaged in and then expands that conversation to the ways students can be activists. “This is really about recognition and action,” Sarah said. “I want students to recognize when something is unjust, whether that is at Nueva or outside Nueva, and know what they can say and do to make it better.” One of the ways changemakers find their voices to make the world a better

place is through art. Last spring, Danielle McReynolds-Dell and Alexa Hart cotaught an upper school course, This Is America: Harlem Renaissance, focused on an exploration of cultural artifacts— activist manifestos, novels, poems, visual art, and others—of the Harlem Renaissance to understand the relationship between politics, history, art, and resistance. “We wanted students to learn about the Harlem Renaissance and the ways that it has reverberations with Black Lives Matter today,” Alexa said. “One of the things we did as a class was watch Childish Gambino’s video, ‘This Is America,’ and talk about the ways the issues raised in the video are uniquely American, as well as racist and anti-racist.”

F E AT U R E

“

I hope that the incredible momentum and urgency of this moment around antiracism continues and deepens into an intentional, profound, and self-reflective commitment to transform our school culture, pedagogy, and practices so that every child can truly thrive.” A L E G R I A BA R C L AY, D I R E C T O R O F S O C I A L J U S T I C E A N D E Q U I T Y

Danielle and Alexa provided students autonomy to guide their learning, creating four modules—clusters of texts that shared common thematic connections to the Harlem Renaissance—of which students selected the ones that most interested them. The four modules, which were named after important Harlem Renaissance figures, were: • “ Augusta Savage: Voices not heard,” which asked the question, “Within a political, social, or artist movement, who gets to have a voice and who does not?” • “ Countee Cullen: Artist perspectives,” which asked the question, “How do artist movements reflect and respond to social movements?” • “ Langston Hughes: Last impact,” which asked the question, “In what ways do we see the impact of the Harlem Renaissance today?” • “ Paul Robeson: Church and community influence,” which asked the question, “What are the ways in which we create space for agency and power.”

Through these modules, Danielle and Alexa wanted students to think about the ways that art can be a form of activism. “We wanted students to see their agency in art, both their own agency and especially the agency of Black artists,” Alexa shared. “There is power in being an artist, and engaging and supporting one’s community through art.” Danielle added, “Underneath the art of the Harlem Renaissance there was a whole political movement that preceded the Civil Rights Movement. I wanted to create this course because for so long I’ve felt that the power of the Harlem Renaissance has effectively been silenced in formal education. My hope is that we, as a school, move toward incorporating more of these movements and ‘non-classic’ voices into the curriculum.” Davion Fleming, associate director of admissions and ninth-grade Science of Mind teacher, also sees the value in introducing new curricula to students. “We talk about being iterative here at Nueva,” he said. “I hope we can continue to have that practice in our community when it comes to anti-racism so that we can model for our students and our communities what this can look like. The broader question for me

JustIce 30

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

is, ‘How do we make a kinder and more beautiful world for the next generation?’” Dean of Student Life Hillary Freeman sees a number of concrete steps Nueva students can take over the coming months in our efforts to become more anti-racist. She said, “I think we can do more, and there are three things I’d love for us to do. We plan to get involved with the efforts of activist Kenan Moos, in filling hand sanitizer bottles to distribute to homeless youth in Oakland. Second, STUCO social justice rep Fiona T. ’22 has an idea to create a mentorship program between our upper school students and the programs in which we already have partnerships, such as Peninsula Bridge. And third, I would love to reactivate the BSU club in the upper school.” Ingrained in all of the teaching and learning around anti-racism at Nueva— in programs and projects built over the years, as well as new ones introduced this year—is a message of hope: hope for this next generation of young people, hope for the future of Nueva, and hope in creating a more anti-racist community at Nueva and within our broader communities. It is inspiring to Alegria to see all that Nueva has done, and yet there is still work to be done as Nueva continues to move toward being more anti-racist. “I hope that the incredible momentum and urgency of this moment around antiracism continues and deepens into an intentional, profound, and self-reflective commitment to transform our school culture, pedagogy, and practices so that every child can truly thrive,” she said. “I hope that we learn to center the voices and experiences of our most marginalized communities and heed their words as we seek to make our school a place where all feel a sense of belonging. And I hope that our students feel like they can be their whole selves at Nueva, undiminished by oppressive forces, undaunted by the long work of uprooting racism that lays before us, and unapologetically proud of who they are.” [N]

F E AT U R E

Student Diversity Leadership Conference LUCIE L., SOPHOMORE experiences with social justice “Lean into discomfort” and and from many different facets “Take risks, be raggedy, make of life, I was empowered to feel mistakes” were SDLC conferless afraid about struggling ence norms that resonated when trying to make a differwith me. Topics such as socioence. Instead of focusing on economic status can often the goal to do something cause tension, and impactful, I learned my family group of I can channel that facilitators and peers energy into listening was supportive and and learning from eager to jump into others’ stories. discourse. The comThe activity that LUCIE L. munity was embracing resonated with me N I K K I A ., S O P H O M O R E school administration—and and did not feel stilted. I the most was fishbowls, When I first heard I had been not just the determination to listened to personal anecdotes: where members from different accepted to be one of a small apply what I had learned to how the pandemic had dramataffinity groups (e.g indigenous number of Nueva students my everyday life by engagically affected my peers’ lives, people, LGBTQ+ community who would have the chance ing in more conversations and how student groups at premembers, etc.) would turn to attend the Student about diversity with the dominately white institutions on their cameras and discuss Diversity Leadership people around me, clashed with their administrahow the students with their Conference (SDLC), but the resolution to tions, as they perceived equity cameras off (people outside of I was ecstatic. This continue what I first efforts as performative. SDLC their community) can be better conference is somelearned at Nueva taught me the importance of allies. This allowed me to truly thing that I have been and studied more speaking from the “I” perspeclisten and reflect on my role interested in for many of at the SDLC by NIKKI A. tive. I learned that speaking in restorative justice, and also years. To me, the opporkeeping my eyes open from our own experiences in my community. By blocktunity to bond with other and stopping myself from enables us to present ourselves ing out superficial goals of students across the country making assumptions about and our truths, and no one may “changing the world,” and the on the topic of diversity, and those around me when I know invalidate them and our lived overuse/misuse of words like to find others with whom I can they are so much more. experiences. diversity, I learned to focus on relate and whom I might not As I transition back on taking small steps: for example, be able to find in my own comHOPE H., JUNIOR campus, I think it would be not shying away from “unpalatmunity, was amazing. The idea I am extremely grateful that I fascinating to have a physical able” conversations. When we of a diverse community was was able to connect with so installation at the San Mateo combined our affinity groups what had originally resonated many students from different campus to share our stories. in the activity, I was able to with me about the conference. backgrounds who have the SDLC was a space unlike discuss with other members Nueva’s community is incredsame passion for social jusanywhere I had ever been, surof the Asian and Black ibly diverse, but it is also very tice and current events. rounded by people with diverse communities how the small. At a conference of more Attending this conferbackgrounds, who Zoomed in “model minority myth” than 1,000 students, I was able ence was especially from Pennsylvania to Beijing. created resentment to expand my friend circle and fulfilling and inspirI learned about the cycle of within minorities, and connect with multiple people ing for me because it oppression, how to make parhow we can dismanon a personal level. I had not helped me to relieve adigm shifts in language, and tle anti-Blackness just a chance to learn a lot a lot of stress and also HOPE H. the value of being a co-conwithin Asian commuabout myself and my idenconsider my role amidst spirator, as opposed to an ally. nities and internalized tity, but to learn about other the unrest in our current Inspired by grassroots student biases within ourselves. people’s identities, and what political climate. efforts of sharing BIPOC’s Through my experience, I walking through everyday life In the Bay Area, it is really experiences via social media, I realized that these genuine can be like for them. easy to be immersed in the would love to initiate a project conversations with other indiI left the conference with trends surrounding social with similar goals but through viduals are far more valuable a new appreciation for the issues. Many students, like me, the medium of art. than broad goals which can struggles that many others feel the pressure of needing cause us to feel detached and go through that I have been to be politically outspoken irrelevant within social issues. lucky enough not to encounter and “correct.” However, after

In December 2020, Nueva sent five students to the virtual Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) hosted by the National Association of Independent Schools. This conference—a multiracial, multicultural event for upper school students—focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. In addition to large group sessions, SDLC “family groups” and “home groups” allow for dialogue and sharing in smaller units. Below, three Nueva attendees reflect on their experiences.

yet in my short life—whether it be homophobia or a racist

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

interacting with educators and students with many different

F E AT U R E

Colors of Nature An Eye-Opening Course—or, How Environmentalism and Racism are Intertwined In the new fall 2020 elective Colors of Nature, seventh- and eighth-grade students explored the notion that people of color have different access to and privileges in the natural world. Through class discussions and creative journals, students reflected on how environmentalism and racism are intertwined. Eighth-grader Jax C. shares an introduction below, and three students—Anika G. (7th grade), Kayla L. (7th grade), and Anjuli M. (8th grade)—reflect on their experience in this course. In the course, Colors of Nature, we learned about nature and racism and how they affect and are related to each other. We read the book, The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors by James Mills, which is about a group of African Americans who participated in Expedition Denali. One thing we focused on in the beginning of the semester was the concept of representation. The majority of movies and photographs about nature present white people as explorers, park rangers, and adventurers. We looked into why that is, and what’s changing in the world about this lack of representation. We took so much away from the course, as we learned so much about the environment, racial inequality, and nature. —Jax C., 8th grade

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

Access to Nature is that fact that communities and Experiences with of color face more of the efIt for BIPOC fects of climate change This class was really and environmental eye-opening for damage. For examme because it went ple, fracking occurs into environmental on indigenous racism, a facet of reservations, and the ANIKA G. racial discrimination government doesn’t that is less talked about than take the time to clean the other forms of racism. In this water or educate Indigenous elective, I learned about how people about what water isn’t BIPOC (Black, Indigenous polluted with chemicals and and People of Color) have thus safe to drink. Indigenous very different experiences people now have damaged in the outdoors than white immune systems from all the people. For one thing, many pollution, making them more BIPOC face racial profiling susceptible to COVID-19. when enjoying activities in This is a horrifying parallel nature, such as the black birdto Indigenous people dying watcher, Christian Cooper, from diseases brought by who had the New York City British colonizers due to Police called on him by a unprepared immune systems. white woman because she And communities of color and was upset that he asked her to the poor are often near toxic put a leash on her dog. This air as well as water pollution and other painful experiences because of socioeconomic (some of which lead to death) trends. Learning that all of with nature and the outdoors these components of systemic hinder BIPOC from develracism cause a very different oping a positive relationship access and experience with with nature. nature was one of my core Another thing I learned takeaways from this class. in this class that I hadn’t Overall, this elective was realized was that BIPOC often really inspiring to me as have less access to nature. it taught me about racial City planners often focused issues and nature. It was on planting trees in only the very informative and a great more affluent areas, which course. Thank you, Judith, for are likely white communioffering this!—Anika G. ties. Additionally, state and national parks might charge Representation in Media entrance fees, making cost (in Nature and Beyond) a barrier for many lower Between binge-watching income BIPOC. These, and TV and talking to tiny other factors, mean boxes every day, the that many commuline between reality nities of color are and the digital world nature-deprived. starts to blur. What A third aspect of we see on-screen the course that has KAYLA L. reflects in our actions, really stuck with me

“Smokey skies, miniscule virus, computer screen of hundreds of familiar faces that are so far but so close at the

F E AT U R E

and the media’s “status quo” rules our beliefs. This course helped me to unpack the reality behind the myths and ideals that the media (namely, the internet, television, and Hollywood) shape, create, and embrace. What does that mean? Try to picture an adventurer: Who do you see? While I can’t necessarily tell you the specific details of the person you pictured, I can tell you one thing: you likely didn’t just conjure up an image of a queer, disabled, woman of color. Why was this not the picture you imagined? Because the media has conditioned you to think of adventurers in a particular way. Jumanji. Survivor. Bear Grylls. These figures tell you that the ideal adventurer is an able, white man—who is likely straight. But one thing we all must know: we also need to hold ourselves accountable because we accepted this image the media told us to idealize. But let’s not. We need to reimagine and restructure our belief system. Now. So, I ask you to learn about BIPOC adventurers. Learn about female adventurers. Learn about LGBTQ+ diversity in the natural world. You can start by finding the story of Charles Crenchaw; find the statistics that show how communities of color lack access to nature disproportionately to white communities; read The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors by James Edward Mills.—Kayla L.

Patriotism and Privilege: able-bodied or disabled, man Our Changing View or woman, white or a person of an Adventurer of color, old or young, nature For me, this course acted as is for everyone. an extension of my unanI disagree with an importswered questions and curiosant part of Abbey’s logic. He ities that were first teased in believed that the people who a unit last year in my sevshould be allowed to experienth-grade humanities class. ence nature should be white, During this unit we studied male, wealthy, and fit. This is the historical significance of the standard he and others nature, the battles that have have set for who the world’s been fought over nature, and, adventurers are, but how silly most importantly, the stigma is this considering that this people have against those fits so little of us that live on whom we believe belong in this earth? Despite this, it has nature, and those who don’t. become the standard that has As part of this study, conditioned society for we read an excerpt centuries. from Desert Solitaire The so-called exby Edward Abbey. plorers that we learn It was obvious that about in history Abbey cared deeply class always seem to ANJULI M. about nature and was be white (or at least a pioneer for environmenthey are the only ones talism and sustainability. He discussed), they are always wrote about how nature had male, and they mostly come become collateral damage from wealthy and powerful during America’s industrial families. Try searching for a revolution. He talked vividly pair of hiking boots . . . you’ll about hating the idea of cars likely see someone who looks filling up the space between just as I describe: white, male, the mountains in our national and well-off. When I looked parks, or people walking in up the list of people who have with their grandmothers in summited Mount Everest, the wheelchairs holding crying pattern continued: the list of babies on their hips. accomplished mountaineers Abbey was honorable in the lacked any sort of diversity. As way that he loved nature, but a woman of color, I see myself he also had a very strict view dramatically underrepresentof who was allowed to love ed in the world of nature and nature. I agree with Abbey to adventuring. some extent. I am passionate Yet, I do not think that about the environment, about Abbey had this view because helping the climate crisis, he believed that a white about fighting for the rights person could scale a mounof Native Americans, and of tain and an African American course spending time in naperson could not; rather I ture. Unlike Abbey, however, think he feared them because I do not think anyone should they were foreign. They didn’t be denied the opportunity to fit his mold, and that was hard enjoy nature; whether you are for him to accept. I’m sorry,

sir, but your cowardness will not discourage me. However, Abbey and I do agree on one thing: Nature is sacred. It is our home and without it we would not survive. America is special in the way that we have established a system where beautiful parts of our country can be preserved for the public in our National Parks. I am proud to be a citizen of a country that finds nature important enough to do this. However, I am also dismayed to be a part of a country where our government officials continuously ignore the problems that climate change brings, while instead push further on initiatives that will eventually destroy our world, leaving money in the hands of the powerful, and young people like me to deal with the consequences. I think the fact that I was even able to take a course like this just shows how much progress we have made in making nature a more inclusive place. There is so much good that has been made, so much love that has been poured into making nature a real home, but there is still a way to go. But I know that it is the conversations and ideas that were exchanged in this course, and the minds of students like us that will continue to fight for the rights of Mother Nature.—Anjuli M.

same time. This first day of 11th grade was one like no other—in the midst of chaos in our physical world, our community perseveres.” —Miki Y. ’22

F E AT U R E

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

Feature

Q&A ← Liza Raynal is in high spirits as her goal of a drive-in celebration for the eighth-grade students became a reality in June 2020.

INTERVIEW BY ANTONIA EHLERS

Upper School Division Head LIZA RAYNAL ’95

Stepping F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

Up 35

L F E AT U R E

Liza Raynal ’95 has been at Nueva for 24 years. Ten years as a student, seven years as a middle school teacher and grade dean, and seven more as the head of the middle school. Between her time at Nueva, she also attended Lick-Wilmerding for high school, then UCLA and Brown University, with a short study abroad at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Now in her 25th year in the Nueva community, she has stepped into yet another role: that of upper school division head. Read on to learn how she starts her day, her vision for Nueva’s future, and what she hopes the new year will bring. How do you feel about your role as the new upper school head? What are you most excited about? I applied for this role

because I love what Nueva makes possible and I wanted to experience this in our youngest division with our oldest learners. If middle school students could knock me out with their ideas, I wanted to be around the high-school version of this student to see what happened when this depth had matured. I feel humbled by what I do see and excited about being in a position where I can help facilitate this learning and make space for the programs and the people that make us who we are.

What is your favorite part of your new job? Who knew that

C OVID BAKI NG

In my COVID free time, I have baked many loaves of bread because toast with butter is the best food group.

N U E V A

this would be the job I had this year! I think my favorite parts are any places where I see us being resilient, creating good out of challenge, and growing in spite of and because of our situation. For example I loved hearing from a ninth-grader excited

M A G A Z I N E

about his first day of high school in person in January. I’m proud of how fiercely our seniors advocate for what they think is right as the leaders of our school. I love seeing pride in a teacher’s face after they didn’t know a remote class was going to work but it really did. I save emails from parents who tell me something we did made a difference to the wellness or outlook of their child. It’s the often unpredictable nuggets proof that are my favorite part of the job. These moments of growth show what’s worthwhile. You were a student at this school, then a teacher, then a middle school administrator, and now an upper school administrator. What do you hope to see Nueva doing in the next five years that we aren’t currently doing? We joke that in these

times a day can feel like a year because the ground of what’s known keeps shifting, so it’s a gift to think about five years from now. So to dream for a

minute? I hope in five years we are back in person and yet haven’t become complacent, never taking chances to connect in person for granted. I hope we’ve kept the best of what we had to invent this year and stayed nimble. I hope we are a greater place of belonging for more Black and brown students. I wish for all students to graduate as fluent environmental citizens. I want us to easily look around and see places of care and connection, both within the high-school and between the campuses and divisions. And I hope we never abandon our hunger for innovation but that we learn to balance that with a healthy pace that sustains us. When you get to work in the morning, how do you prioritize all the things you have to get done? I love that you asked this

because I think about how to do this, and do it better, very often. Usually, my day is set for me ahead of time with meetings, so there’s not as much room as I’d like sometimes for emergent priorities. I keep a yellow legal pad by my computer so I can always see my running list of what’s most important, no matter how many windows are open on my computer. I try to have 15 to 20 minutes before my first call or meeting to set myself up for the day and to know what’s ahead. Often I add a sticky for the day on top of my list where I write in a nice thick pen the three things I need to get done or remember, no matter what. I prioritize items that involve the most people, the most amount of change, or are most important to student wellness. These

“Amidst all this talk of schedule, ‘trimester’ took on a new meaning for me, a literal new life.” —Liza Raynal, upper school division head

F E AT U R E

days, many items fall into all three categories! How did the Nueva way help inform the schedule that the upper school is implementing this spring? The Nueva way is

nimble, it’s kind, it’s flexible, it cares about equity, and it embraces creative solutions. All of that was necessary for the creation of not one but three schedules so far for 2020–2021. Our program demands we use these tools to design our schedule, because we don’t have a system where students are tracked into a particular grade-level course. I’m proud of the choice and depth we offer and in the best of times, that college level of choice is an interesting and tricky design factor in a high school schedule. And, of course, this spring schedule is the outcome of a team of people who had to know our COVID constraints, hold those with our purpose and mission, balance that with our programs, add the classes students were already enrolled in, and then design with all that in mind. We learned from what other schools were doing, we talked to different constituents, we read the Pandemic Recovery Framework and attended county meetings, and we met . . . a lot. It makes me laugh a bit that we ended up with something with both term and semester-long classes, with both consistency and flexibility. We weren’t satisfied until we found the best of both worlds. That’s an OAN (only at Nueva).

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

What are some of your fondest memories during your time as a young Nuevan? There are

so many! Raising geese, chickens, and even praying mantises in first grade. Sliding on the butt slide and spending time on the Hillsborough campus eating miner’s lettuce, finding banana slugs and blue-bellied lizards, making forts in the manzanita trees. I loved being on a Future Problem Solving Team with people who remain fast friends. I remember studying the Greeks and choosing Athena as the goddess I most wanted to be. I remember fondly the projects I worked on with friends, like recreating an exhibit from the Museum of Tolerance, lobbying the library to change the books we had about Thanksgiving, and doing a debate on climate change where I played Al Gore. I was in love with Shakespeare and was in the play every year, from being a fairy in kindergarten A Midsummer Night’s Dream to middle school Titania. I even remember my first speaking role as Apparition 1 in Macbeth as a first-grader. And, I probably remember more moments from our trip to Japan than any other span of time I spent at Nueva.

What life values did you learn at Nueva? Honestly, I proba-

bly can’t distinguish what was Nueva, since I spent the 10 formative young years of my life there. My mom was a firstand second-grade teacher, so

If in middle school a student could knock me out with their ideas, I wanted to be around the high-school version of this student to see what happened when this depth had matured. to dance and do yoga, and I really look forward to spending time with friends again exploring, laughing, and just being together. If my dreams mean something, I can’t wait to get on a plane again to travel, a love that was cultivated at Nueva.

VIR TUA L L E A R NING

Liza has enjoyed the innovative spirit of her students’ “new normal.”

it was like I had no choice but to suck up the values of the place. If I had to pick a few applicable to the moment, I’d say flexibility, teamwork, listening, and treating young people with respect. Can you tell us a little about what you like to do in your free time? In my COVID free time,

I have baked many loaves of bread because toast with butter is the best food group. I planted a garden with kale and chard (it did very well) and okra and peppers (less well) and even learned how to fry foraged dandelions for lunch. I love to be outside, and during the week this means many walking meetings in my neighborhood. I also love

What do you hope this new year will bring for you personally and professionally? This

next year is uncharted for me because I’m becoming a mom. I always used to joke when people asked if I had kids that I had 275 children. I can’t wait to meet my newest one and see how he sees the world. His arrival is supposed to be in late March!

What is something that people might be surprised to know about you? Hmmm.

I’m not sure. Maybe that I wanted to be a marine biologist as a kid? That while I have a drawer in my house dedicated to chocolate, it contains no milk variety because that is just not the real stuff? Or that I’ve lived at 11 different addresses, but never more than 30 minutes from the ocean? And I don’t understand ketchup. Dijon mustard, yes, always. But ketchup? No thank you. [N]

F E AT U R E

Joey Kovacevich Social Innovation Fellowship STORY BY RACHEL FREEMAN

Joey Kovacevich was an inspiration to everyone who knew him. To his parents, Joey was “an innovator. He had a big imagination and huge intellectual curiosity.” To his sister, Lucy ’24, he was her best friend and “the I-Lab kid of the family.” To Diane Rosenberg, former Nueva head of school, Joey was “the quintessentially Nueva student, someone whose kindness and gentleness infused our school.”

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

Student’s Memory Lives on Through Social Innovation Fellowship

His fourth-grade teacher, Matt Berman, said knowing Joey was life changing: “He changed the way I see the world.” In July 2014, Joey tragically lost his hard-fought battle with cancer. He had just completed the fourth grade at Nueva. At the memorial service, Matt shared, “In the midst of terrible physical trials that would have most of us unable to think of anything except ourselves and our misery, he offered that radiant Joey smile to everyone . . . along with kind and thoughtful words that showed that his thoughts were not with himself, but with those around him.”

F E AT U R E

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

F E AT U R E

The Establishment of the Joey Kovacevich Social Innovation Fellowship It was this kindness that attracted people to Joey and is what inspired so many in the Nueva community to donate to the school in Joey’s memory. Nueva was such a profound part of Joey’s life that, “in the obituary and at the memorial service, we asked people to donate to Nueva in lieu of flowers,” said Joey’s mom, Bradley. “Nueva was his greatest love.” The $137,000 that poured in from more than 130 donors has provided the seed money for the Joey Kovacevich Social Innovation Fellowship, which is now in its third year. “When we thought about how to use the generous donations that people provided in memory of Joey, we came up with this innovation fund,” said Joey’s dad, Todd. “Joey had a passion for innovation and a passion for social good. We asked ourselves, ‘What could we do that celebrates what Joey loved?’ This fund does that.” Nueva students across all grade levels are invited each year to apply for a Joey Fellowship. “The fellowship is awarded to students or groups who have designed something that would solve a specific problem and benefit the world, and who need the funds to take the project out of the prototyping phase and into action in the real world,” said I-Lab Director Angi Chau. “The project should demonstrate the use of design thinking in action.”

“ Joey had a passion for innovation and a passion for social good. We asked ourselves, ‘What could we do that celebrates what Joey loved?’ This fund does that.” Todd Kovacevich, Joey’s dad

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

F E AT U R E

The fellowship is awarded to students or groups who have designed something that will solve a specific problem and benefit the world, and who need the funds to take the project out of the prototyping phase and into action in the real world. ANGI CHAU, I-LAB DIRECTOR

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

Projects Rooted in Empathy While Joey’s time ended after fourth grade, his legacy transcends all grades and divisions at Nueva. Eleven projects have received grant funding for the 2020–2021 school year, including one project that is being funded for a second time. Team MODAP is a group of upper school students working to create a cost-effective, automated drone system that streamlines the search and rescue and post-fire relief process. The team wrote in its grant application, “MODAP seeks to create positive change in the disaster-technology space in two key ways: by providing autonomous search and rescue operations and facilitating payload delivery.” Over the past year, the group has designed, built, and verified an open-source software platform that is able to identify humans through a custom machine learning model in real time from an aerial perspective. In January 2020, the team was recognized by SXSW EDU—which, according to its website, “annually celebrates and honors groundbreaking work in education”—as a finalist in the Student Startup category. Another Joey Fellowship team has worked to install a weather station on the Hillsborough campus and to build an app that can report the weather on people’s phones. After learning about the Joey Fellowship last year in their third-grade class, fourth-graders Mia T., Lucia v. G., and Kaci G. were inspired to apply for the grant and begin prototyping their idea. “We heard about this opportunity from our third-grade teacher Priscilla [Jih],” Mia said. “The goal of the grant is to make Nueva a better place, and we have a passion for making Nueva a better place.” Lucia shared, “Our first idea was to set up a weather station on campus, which is as simple as buying one. As we dived deeper, we thought that we should build an app where all of the data can go to a website.” “I am so impressed and proud of the weather station team,” said Priscilla, the team’s faculty advisor. “Mia, Lucia, and Kaci truly work as a team, and they are dedicated and thoughtful in everything they do.” Another member of the Nueva community has been so impressed with Team Weather Station, he was inspired to give to the fund after

F E AT U R E

(2) (1)

(3)

PROJECTS

(1) Junior David C. is working on RAMEN (Recyclable Automatic Exothermic Environmentally-sustainable Noodles), a compostable and self-heating version of the popular cup-of-noodles snack. (2) Sixth-graders Miriam H. and Talia F. are weaving blankets on a peg loom to donate to children in hospitals. As part of their project, they built the peg loom themselves, their own tribute to Joey. (3) Upper school team, Stroke Recovery, is building a camera and an app that helps people who suffer from stroke-related memory loss and prosopagnosia, a crippling condition in which people are unable to recognize familiar faces.

meeting with them. Nueva Director of Technology Ed Chen met with Mia, Lucia, and Kaci to talk through some of the logistics of setting up the weather station and having it be WiFi-enabled. “I donated to this project because it was headed by fourth-grade girls interested enough in weather science to actually build a solution,” Ed said. “I also wanted to encourage these girls because they are tackling a broader subject matter—science—not traditionally filled with women. I wanted to show them and hopefully others that supporting girls in the sciences is critical to our collective future success. My hope is these girls will become leaders in their future fields of study.”

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

The weather station was installed on the Hillsborough campus at the beginning of December. It is located on the roof of the building across from the middle school. Students are welcome to apply for the fellowship as individuals or teams and, to Todd, there’s something special about seeing teams strive to solve problems they see in the world. “We really value when a team comes together, and you call tell that they are all passionate and that they are all playing a role,” he said. Sixth-graders Miriam H. and Talia F. have had their project in mind since they were in the fourth grade, when they learned to weave in Matt Berman’s class. The pair are weaving blankets on a peg loom to donate to children in hospitals. As part of their project, they built the peg loom themselves, their own tribute to Joey. “We decided to apply for the fellowship because it had to do with Joey,” Talia shared. “Joey loved the I-Lab and we chose to build our own peg loom because of him. We would have built it in the I-Lab if we could.” “My brother was really close friends with Joey,” Miriam said. “I remember when we made paper cranes for Joey

and brought them to the hospital. We realized then that giving patients gifts brings them so much joy. This is why we want to donate our blankets to children in hospitals.” When applying for the grant, students often share their connections to Joey, which his family finds particularly moving. “Students will often say, ‘I knew Joey and here’s what he meant to me,’ or ‘I’ve heard about Joey, and he’s so inspiring,’” Todd shared. “His spirit really lives on through this.” “We sit through presentations [when students pitch their ideas to us] and feel like it could be Joey giving the presentation,” Bradley added. “We like to think that he would have been part of these projects.” Since Joey would have been a teenager now, many upper school students find deep connections with Joey and this fellowship. For junior Maya A.—who began at Nueva the fall after Joey’s passing— this was one of the main reasons she wanted to apply for a grant. “The Joey Fellowship appealed to my team for more than just monetary reasons,” she said. “It’s a great way to honor Joey’s memory because I think our project can make a real difference.” Maya and her team, Stroke Recovery, are working to build a camera and an app that help people who suffer from stroke-related memory loss and prosopagnosia, a crippling condition in which people are unable to recognize familiar faces. “The idea came through us asking each other, ‘What would be the coolest thing we could build?’” said junior Sophia Y. “The idea of having a camera recognize people isn’t the most unique, so instead of the camera just directly giving you an answer of who it is, it would give you hints. The idea is to help build up one’s memory.” The team, which also participates in Invention Studio, had just begun the prototyping stage when team members

“And they looked ahead, eyes bright with spirit, hearts filled with love, and minds full of ideas for the years to come.” —Meher B. ’24

F E AT U R E

Many of our students have a desire to create new things, and this has sparked so many projects designed for social good. J E R E M Y J AC Q U O T, U P P E R S C H O O L C H E M I S T R Y T E AC H E R

applied for a grant. The students are using the funding they received to purchase cameras and other necessary equipment. In addition to creating their prototype and gathering data from users, the team hopes to help people who struggle from face blindness and also to raise awareness about this condition. “Physical disabilities are most talked about after someone has a stroke,” Sophia explained. “Mental issues related to strokes are talked about less frequently. It’s a debilitating issue. Through this project and in conversations with someone who suffers from prosopagnosia, I’ve learned a lot about user-centered design.” “I’ve learned a lot about user research and the design thinking process,” said junior Karen G., echoing Sophia. “It’s been very helpful to talk to Ken [a stroke survivor] and learn more about poststroke recovery.” While all of the Joey Fellowship projects have at their core the goal of making a positive social impact in the world, some of the projects have a more whimsical nature to them. Junior David C. is working independently on RAMEN, which stands for Recyclable Automatic Exothermic Environmentally-sustainable

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

Noodles. (“Scientists like acronyms,” joked faculty advisor Jeremy Jacquot.) For his project, David is aiming to create a compostable and self-heating version of the popular cup-of-noodles snack. In addition to the container being made of biodegradable material, the container will also be able to hold an exothermic chemical reaction, allowing the soup to heat up without the aid of an external heat source. David shared that disposable food packaging accounts for nearly 50 percent of the waste in the country’s landfills. “The idea came from my visit to the Cup of Noodle factory in Japan,” David said. “I realized how much garbage a single cup produces, from the plastic wrapping and the styrofoam cup itself. There are three components of my project: the material of the cup, the exothermic reaction used to heat up the noodles, and the noodles themselves. So far, I’ve tested a number of cup materials and found one that is the best insulator.” “While the science David is exploring in this project isn’t new to the field of chemistry,” Jeremy said, “what he’s trying to accomplish could be. When you think about mass produced goods, very small changes add up to a lot.”

A Legacy of Global Citizens Joey cared deeply about the world and approached the world with a design thinking mindset. This spirit is very much still with Nueva students. “As a student at Nueva, I have learned the responsibility that each and every one of us shares as global citizens of our planet,” said David. “To solve such a large problem, I am leveraging the design thinking that I have learned at Nueva to conceive and prototype potential solutions.” All of the projects that have been supported by the Joey Fellowship would not have been possible without the financial support the fund provides. “I think it’s great that there is a source of money for students to use,” Jeremy said. “Many of our students have a desire to create new things, and this has sparked so many projects designed for social good.” “This fellowship is a great way for students to apply what they have been learning, what they are learning, and what they will learn about design thinking and use it to create something meaningful,” Angi said. “This is truly a venue where we ask students, ‘What is your idea?’ and ‘What do you need to make it happen?’ I think it really exemplifies that you can give to the school in a way that is meaningful to you.” It is clear that Joey has had a tremendous impact on the Nueva community. “The world should be a little better because a person has lived,” Matt said, “and Joey made the world a better place.” [N]

With more opportunities to explore climate change and environmental issues than ever before, Nueva students are poised to be agents of change.

Climate change f o r 44

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

STORY BY MITZI MOCK I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y SHUSHA GUNA

F E AT U R E

By Mitzi Mockz

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

F E AT U R E

September 10, Brian Cropper logged into a remote session of his elective, Ecological Humanities, and opened his class with the question, “How are you?” This might seem like the most normal question one could ask. However, in this moment in time—and particularly on this day—Brian asked the question as a reminder that students were experiencing something that was anything but normal. Wildfires were spreading across the state. A day earlier, smoke high in the atmosphere had caused orange-hued, apocalyptic skies—a darkness that lasted for more than 24 hours. The moment cut deep for many Nueva students who followed news of the CZU Lightening Complex fire that tore through Big Basin, the site of the annual junior class retreat. The effects of climate change were suddenly personal.

NOTABLY NUEVA Learn more about our environmental citizenship program at www.nuevaschool.org/ec

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

“Climate change feels like this big, scary, looming thing,” junior Meera W. said. “But, as I learn more about it in my classes, I’m able to understand what we’re dealing with. I feel like I can only make a change in the future if I understand all sides of an issue.” This semester, students in the upper school had an opportunity to channel their fears, curiosities, and enthusiasm for exploring climate change issues in multiple electives: Environmental Economics with Patrick Berger, Climate Change Science and Solutions with Tanja Srebotnjak, Changing Global Health Dynamics with Paul Hauser, and Ecological Humanities with Brian. These courses, of which the latter three were new this fall, exemplify Nueva’s long-term vision to steep students in learning experiences that deepen their understanding of environmental issues and equip them to be agents of change. During her tenure at Nueva, Tanja, the founding director of Nueva’s environmental citizenship program, along with the program’s assistant director, Aron Walker, developed a list of core competencies in environmental citizenship and explored the ways these competencies could build systematically through a student’s PreK–12 experience at Nueva. Through faculty discussions, ad hoc collaborations, and a curriculum development workshop held during the summer of 2020, Tanja and Aron worked closely with teachers to imagine the ways environmental themes could be infused in curricula across disciplines. The three new upper school electives are just a few examples of the burgeoning learning opportunities spurred by this work. Junior Caroline P. was one of several upper school students who took multiple environmentally-themed courses during the fall semester—an experience which

“Lost in a storm of emotions, my relationships are my lifeboats, keeping me afloat.” —Jackson B. ’23

F E AT U R E

led to a rich, interdisciplinary understanding of climate change issues. “In Tanja’s class, we asked, ‘How do we know the environment is changing?’” said Caroline, a science enthusiast, who enjoyed studying the chemistry of ice cores. “In Patrick’s class, we asked, ‘How do we place a value on maintaining our environment? How do we look at the economics of climate change solutions?’” During the semester, Caroline had multiple opportunities to weave these different strands of learning. In one project for Tanja’s class, her student group investigated solutions for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions produced by our food systems. In the course of that research, Caroline took a particular interest in regenerative agriculture practices that leverage the symbiotic relationship of animals to eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and energy-intensive infrastructures—a solution that could provide both environmental and economic benefits. In a separate extracurricular effort, she, along with a group of other upper school students, led a community roundtable around the question of whether or not Nueva should divest its endowment holdings in fossil fuel companies—a conversation which her classes prepared her to have in a nuanced way. “From Environmental Economics, I understand that one of the arguments against divestment is that it doesn’t necessarily have a financial impact on fossil fuel companies—you sell shares and someone else buys them—and the carbon is still in the air,” Caroline acknowledged. “But we can recognize those things and still, as student activists, argue that it makes a political and ethical statement.”

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

[climate change] is not a scientific problem anymore. It’s an educational problem and an imagination problem.

BRIAN CROPPER, UPPER SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER

F OR M EER A , taking Tanja’s Climate Change Science and Solutions and Brian’s Ecological Humanities classes in tandem inspired her to think deeply about the ethical frameworks and cultural influences that underlie climate change arguments. “Before looking at the environment through a humanities lens, I never considered my own beliefs about the environment,” Meera said. “I started questioning deep down, ‘How do I see myself in connection to nature?’” “It was hard not to talk about humans’ relationship with the environment the day the sky turned orange,” said Brian, who had students read Gary Snyder’s “Smokey the Bear Sutra,” a classic Buddhist text in the parlance of a beat poet, which reinterprets the metaphor of Smokey the Bear to inspire a responsibility to nature.

“As I started studying the environmental movement, I was humbled to learn that we’ve known the facts of the climate crisis—although not maybe the extent of the damage—for two hundred years,” he said. “It’s not a scientific problem anymore. It’s an educational problem and an imagination problem.” Over the course of the semester, students in his class looked at the environment through history, political theory, and theology. For example, in one project, students compared the teachings and scriptures of many different religions to see how they framed humans’ relationship to nature and considered how religion could be an access point into taboo conversations about the environment. In another exploration, students revisited their ninth-grade study of Peru, examining the conflict between indigenous and Christian views

F E AT U R E

of belonging—what belongs to you and what do you belong to. Looking at the environment from these different perspectives had a lasting impact on Meera. “After learning about tribal lands inhabited for a millenia, you better understand the gravity of what it means for a species to go extinct or a piece of land to go underwater,” she said. “I’ve definitely changed my views to see humans as inherently part of nature. I have a duty to protect what we’re connected to.” W H E N U PPE R SCHOOL science teacher Paul Hauser arrived at Nueva last year, he shared his hopes for teaching a global health elective someday. The news traveled to Tanja and Aron, who invited him to submit a class proposal for the fall semester. The result of their collective brainstorming was the creation of a year-long global health class, where climate change is not a module, but an overarching theme. “I didn’t realize how interdisciplinary this class would be,” said junior Sajin P. “I didn’t even realize that climate change would relate to global health.” Students spent the first few weeks of the semester delving into the fundamentals of climate change science and statistics. Much of their learning focused on how to read scientific papers and distinguish between correlation and causation. As they began working on their own research projects, they

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

By learning about climate change and understanding the mechanisms behind the problems, I already feel that I’m in a better place to make change.

J U N I O R M E E R A W.

were humbled to learn how many ways climate change has a domino effect on human health. In one of his early assignments, junior Alex C. prepared a brief on the ecology of cholera. “Cholera is a water-borne disease and warming in certain areas can actually increase the proliferation of the bacteria behind it,” Alex said. For Sajin, this course raised his own awareness of the ways climate change is having an impact on health disparities. “Global warming is affecting dryer regions of the earth, where water supplies are running low, which affects food chain distribution, which then affects who might be a victim of malnutrition,” he said. As the Northern California fires in early fall gave Bay Area residents a shared experience in “smoke headaches,” class discussions brought local health and environmental issues into a global context. “When we have giant forest fires, we’re exposed to this particulate, PM 2.5, which has all these carcinogens that are bad for your health, but think about the fact that 20 to 30 percent of the globe cooks with solid fuel fires in their homes,” Paul said. “Forest fires sent plenty of people to the hospital with respiratory issues, but for some communities, this is a chronic lived experience.”

“W EAV IN G IN environmental topics is a way to enhance any learning space because the issues are inherently interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary,” said Aron, who is eager to see more teachers create courses and curricula where those connections can be built in intentionally. “Nueva students are very keen to be at those intersections.” At the end of December, Nueva completed the new Science and Environmental Center (see sidebar), a state-of-the-art facility on the Hillsborough campus that will serve as a PreK–12 hub for the environmental citizenship program and will be the home to many future interdisciplinary courses and class collaborations. December also brought the end of Tanja’s tenure at Nueva, as she transitioned to a new role as Director of the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives at Williams College. Stepping into her role is Sarah Koning, who most recently worked for the Office of Sustainability at University of Illinois at Chicago. She will continue Nueva’s efforts to inspire and prepare students to be environmental changemakers. “Everything we see in the media can make you feel like we’re doomed to live in a melting world and we have no agency,” Meera said. “That’s the way I felt before going into these classes. However, by learning about climate change and understanding the mechanisms behind the problems, I already feel that I’m in a better place to make change.” [N]

“Nothing is as it should be, but everything in its place.” —Grace F. ’23

F E AT U R E

P H O T O BY W. L . B U T L E R

NEW SCIENCE & E N V I R O N M E N TA L CENTER I T ’ S F I N A L LY H E R E! A vision years in the making, Nueva’s brand new Science and Environmental Center officially opened its doors to students and teachers in January. The state-of-the-art facility includes eight classrooms, each of which were designed with the input of Nueva faculty members to bring new visions for student learning to life. Lower counters and new safety equipment enable our youngest scientists to engage in more sophisticated, independent science experiments. Sliding glass doors on the lower level allow students to expand their classroom outdoors. Ceiling power cords, lab prep rooms, and ample storage space provide convenience to teachers and new project opportunities for students. The tiered garden will give classes immediate access to studying nature. A skywalk nestled in the trees provides breathtaking views of San Francisco and Oakland and an easy path to the recently updated café. More important, the building and the programming it supports cement Nueva’s commitment to environmental citizenship. The building, which was designed to meet LEED gold standards, will be an interdisciplinary hub for exploring environmental issues and inspiring students to innovate solutions to our most pressing problems. While current health guidelines during the pandemic limit mixing among grade cohorts, the long-term plan is for upper school classes to share the facility with the lower and middle school, so that students across all three divisions can collaborate and connect more deeply as a one-school community.

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

F E AT U R E

A NEW HOME FOR LEARNING (1) Construction of the new facility began in April of 2019. (2) The skywalk offers lower school students more independence to travel between their science classes and the newly expanded café. (3) Head of School Lee Fertig, Board Co-Chair Kathleen Donahue, and trustee and “Realize the Potential” campaign chair Bruce Cozadd celebrate the official opening of the building.

(1)

(2)

(4)

(3)

(5)

(4) Since moving into the bottom floor this January, middle school students have enjoyed using the garden space as a lunch hangout spot.(5) With its proximity to outdoor learning space, the SEC offers students more opportunities to find inspiration in nature. During free time in science class, kindergartner Carson G. made a bald eagle puppet.

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

“. . . I think we’d all earned some cookies.” —William V. ’22

N E W S

F R O M

N U E VA

A L U M N I

ALUMNI

From writing songs for some of the industry’s most notable, including Britney Spears and Janet Jackson, to creating the world’s first subscription-based record label, Michaela “Mickey” Shiloh ’06 is blazing her own trail in the music industry.

A L U M N I

CONNE C T I O N S

Building Community ← Michael Byun ’18 in the Stanford Main Quad in real life (left) and in Minecraft (right). ↙ Sinead Chang ’18 (inset)

When looking for her next story topic for local online publication The Six Fifty, Sinead Chang ’18 didn’t have to look further than her Nueva community. While browsing Instagram in December 2020, she saw classmate Michael Byun’s ’18 post about replicating the Stanford University campus in Minecraft. Sinead instantly wanted to learn more. “I’ve always thought that Nueva is unique because it’s a community filled with people with all sorts of fascinating and niche interests,” she explained. “As a journalist, there’s nothing I love more than talking to someone about what they’re passionate about—especially if it’s different and quirky.” Growing up playing Minecraft, Michael started the project in December 2019,

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

before sheltering in place served as a catalyst in it gaining traction and popularity among the Stanford community. “I wasn’t surprised to see the project gain popularity once COVID hit—people naturally miss the campus,” Michael shared. “Minecraft as a medium also evokes nostalgia among my peers, because many of us grew up playing it, so it’s a perfect combo.” Michael’s project began with meticulously building Stanford’s Memorial Church to scale, and has continued with recreating other campus landmarks with the assistance of other students who are learning remotely around the country. While Sinead admits she didn’t seek out the story specifically because it was Nueva-related, she was thrilled to share Michael and company’s incredible work.

“It’s just an added bonus that one of the subjects happens to be a Nueva grad, and hopefully it’s a reminder to all of us to continue our Nueva-esque pursuits even after graduation,” Sinead said. “The Nueva community has not just brought me friends whom I’m still very close to now, but it’s also given me a whole network of people who continue to inspire me from afar.”

“It is only with remembering that we can know, truly know, what we can endure.”—Parent

P H O T O S BY M I C H A E L BY U N ’ 18 A N D S I N E A D C H A N G ’18/ T H E S I X F I F T Y

↓ The Stanford Memorial Church inspired Michael’s project, photographed below in real life and Minecraft blocks.

A L U M N I

H E A D O F S C H OOL [VIRTUAL]

MEET AND GREET From sharing cherished school memories to inquiring about his goals for Nueva, members of our alumni community enjoyed an opportunity to meet Head of School Lee Fertig at an intimate virtual event on October 25. During the hour-long conversation, alumni from the 1970s shared how Nueva sparked their lifelong love of learning, while parents of graduates spanning the past three decades echoed their continued gratitude for the school being the right educational home for their children. In his first opportunity to meet with the alumni community since beginning his headship, Lee expressed his excitement for being part of the Nueva community and the importance of the alumni community remaining connected and engaged. When asked what he is focusing on improving, he shared that it is important to honor and respect the tradition of those who helped build Nueva to what it is today, while implementing new systems and processes in response to the school’s incredible growth over the last decade. All agreed how meaningful Nueva is to them and shared their excitement for its continued growth.

↑ Head of School Lee Fertig received a warm welcome and enjoyed learning more about the Nueva community during an intimate fall gettogether with alumni and parents of alumni.

Welcome Home

Celebrate • Reconnect • Rediscover

VIRTUAL ALUMNI REUNION A celebration for all Alumni & Parents of Alumni

Saturday, June 5, 2021

All classes welcome! Learn More & Register: nuevaschool.org/reunion Questions: Contact the Alumni Office at (650) 350-4562 or alumni@nuevaschool.org

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

A L U M N I

Soup’s On: Paying it Forward

Karen Comstock ’75 has a motto she

follows: “If you come here, you’re my guest.” That sentiment comes with no judgment, no matter who you are or what brought you to the Community Soup Kitchen in New Haven, Connecticut. Karen is the assistant director of the oldest and busiest soup kitchen in the area. “During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were in the eye of the storm,” she noted. “We never closed, but we adjusted our service from indoor dining to grab-and-go take-out from our driveway. We also adjusted to an increase in meals, which has ranged from a high of 58 percent to a low of 18 percent.” Because of the pandemic, the staff has been reduced to a skeleton crew. Although the hours are long—sometimes 60 to 70 hours per week—Karen says this is her dream job. “If I don’t do a good job, people go hungry,” she said. “We believe that having a clean, cheerful, safe, reliable place to eat is not a privilege but a human right. There’s never any judgment. Just come for a balanced, nutritious meal.”

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

Those meals include chicken with vegetables, hamburgers, salad, and plenty of bread, donated by local grocery stores. It’s the people who keep Karen coming back. An eclectic bunch, they are her reason for getting up in the morning. There’s the lonely senior citizen who comes for the camaraderie and conversation. Then there’s the lively trans woman—a former linebacker— who cheers up the crowd with her feather boas and colorful tutus. Around the corner is a jaded, soulful 20-something musician who is struggling with addiction. Many of her clients have mental illnesses and substance abuse problems, but Karen has an open mind and an open heart. Her arms are open to everyone who knocks on the door. “People come here for many reasons,” she said. “Some have been coming here forever, and you really get to know them. Others are just lonely and have limited funds. Most people think that soup kitchens only serve people who don’t have homes. Actually, two-thirds of our clients have homes.”

In 2020, 81,624 meals were served, compared to 76,000 meals in 2019. “It’s a constant struggle,” Karen admitted. “We had five sites, and in March, every other site closed down. So, we’re it. We are open every day for lunch, except Wednesdays.” On Saturdays, Karen has an almost all high school volunteer group—teenagers whom she describes as rock stars. “Some are rich kids, and some are poor kids,” she said. “They are every race and come from every background. They’re the most inspiring group of people I’ve ever met. You hand them a mop, they mop. You ask them to pick up cigarette butts and they say, ‘No problem.’ These kids are always willing to help. They also have been involved in peer-to-peer fundraising and have raised $20,000! They’re my inspiration.” Karen has memories of her own youth at Nueva during the early 1970s. She found the program to be challenging, and it prepared her well for Palo Alto High School and UC Santa Barbara. “I was engaged the whole time I was at Nueva,” Karen remembered. “I was doing calculus in the sixth grade! Nueva

“Finally, in this crisis, the heavy weight of all the memories inherited from the voices of their pasts could now

A L U M N I

We believe that having a clean, cheerful, safe, reliable place to eat is not a privilege but a human right. There’s never any judgment. Just come for a balanced, nutritious meal. KAREN COMSTOCK ’75

← A gift to the Community Soup Kitchen from its artist many years ago, a mural hangs depicting its guests enjoying each other’s company over a hot meal. ↙ Karen Comstock ’75 (inset)

allowed me to direct my passions and solve problems my own way. My sister, Kristin, was in the class behind me. We both loved Nueva.” After college, Karen enjoyed a career in IT. Although she was originally hired to help the soup kitchen with tech troubles, her job has morphed into a little bit of everything. “In my late 50s, I discovered that I was really good at numbers and telling stories, which is what grant writing is all about,” Karen explained. “I’ve learned to do it all. I started today in the kitchen. This afternoon, I’m writing stacks of checks. I also fix the sink, make the food, and serve it.” COVID has changed a few things. Local hotels are currently housing homeless people in the New Haven area, and Karen and her crew are providing food for some of those hotel rooms. “We have new families who never had any assistance in their lives before COVID,” Karen said. “Some of those people are lost, confused, and embarrassed. We just tell them, ‘That’s why we’re here.’ This is the best job I’ve ever had, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” —Antonia Ehlers

pivot, and serve as ballast.”—Parent

YO U N G A L U M N I L U N C H E O N

Going Global A beloved way to kick off the new year is the January young alumni luncheon. The mini reunion, hosted during the first week of Nueva’s second semester, serves as an opportunity for upper school graduates to return to campus and reconnect with friends and former teachers, before A L U M N I I N T E R S E S SION heading back to college. For the first time, alumni were invited This year’s event took a virtual and to participate in intersession during the week of January 5–8. With more international twist, as the Classes of than 40 hand-selected activities 2017–2020 reconvened on Zoom for a and session from which to choose virtual trivia luncheon from near and from, upper school grads embarked as far as Greece on January 5. Lunch on learning about anthropocene was provided by DoorDash e-gift cards, and Roman warfare to techniques professional makeup artists employ which were sent in advance. The more during the movie-making process. than 40 recent graduates were greeted Alumni were also panelists for three by Head of School Lee Fertig before sessions, where they shared their engaging in a few rounds of friendly wisdom on making the most of the trivia competition. Nueva experience, life after Nueva, and finding a college that fits. ¶ Many in attendance shared how much “Intersession is a uniquely Nueva they enjoyed catching up with their old thing, which was why I was so open classmates. Emily Steirman ’18 described to the opportunity to join a class as it as one of the best-planned Zoom an alumna,” said Isabel Chambers events she has ever attended. Loreen ’20, who joined the course, Blind Spots: A Political Analysis on Ruiz ’17 expressed a similar sentiment. Peru’s Response to the COVID-19 “I wish you could have seen my Pandemic. “One of my favorite team’s breakout room,” she said. “I things about the Nueva Upper fully admit, I expected a degree of School was intersession, because awkwardness given the nature of Zoom it was a time where I could dip my toes into topics I had never heard of meetings and reunions, but I had a before, or dive deeply into classes very pleasant time catching up with that were fully designed around my classmates, some of whom I had not personal interests. It’s so nice to see spoken to for several years. In between that intersession is open to alumni, questions, we were laughing and sharing and it’s a good way to stay connected with the school.” stories about the things we’ve been up to since high school.” “It is always wonderful to spend time with our alumni community and welcome them back home to Nueva,” said Director of Alumni Relations Diana Chamorro. “While we’d prefer our gatherings to be in person, the silver lining of virtual events is that we are able to reconnect with our global alumni community.” Loreen added, “The positive feelings I carried with me afterwards also inspired me to reconnect with other classmates who were not at the event.” S TAY C O N N E C T E D ! F O L LOW N U E VA O N L I N E… nuevaschool.org/alumni instagram @nuevaalumni

facebook @nuevaalumniassociation

A L U M N I

Class of 2020 Roundtable Alumni share how they spent the fall following graduation

As the world continued to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for social distancing and limitations on gatherings forced many colleges and universities to begin the 2020–2021 school year remotely or implement new protocols for learning on campus. With restrictions in place for learning and living, members of the Class of 2020 had to determine how they would spend their fall. For some, they began remotely from home. Others moved to college to learn remotely from their dorm rooms, while some chose to take a gap year to pursue new opportunities and with hopes of beginning a more traditional college experience in fall 2021. Three members of the Class of 2020—Jeremy Dumalig (JD), Nico Lit (NL), and Zoe Quake (ZQ)—shared how they spent the summer and fall post-graduation. Did you begin college remotely or take a gap year? JD: I am attending The University of Chicago, where I am living and learning from campus, and majoring in economics and data science. NL: I am currently learning remotely from home and attending Cornell University. I plan to major in environment and sustainability, but I am still exploring to figure out exactly what part of it—science, politics, economics, etc.—that I want to go into. ZQ: I am taking a gap year before beginning next fall at Stanford University. Currently, I would like to major in biology or human biology with a focus on food allergies. What was something memorable that happened over the final months of school, as the pandemic shifted the end of your senior year? JD: The best part about the COVID semester was definitely our drive-in graduation. I hadn’t expected to be able to graduate in person, and the entire event was extremely well-organized. NL: Our grade got together near the end of the year for a

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

virtual bonfire, where some of our teachers gave speeches and we had time to talk about our high school experience. It was really great remembering our history as a grade and hearing about the little things that meant so much to my friends and classmates. ZQ: A daily ritual that I enjoyed during remote learning was starting off the day with homemade chai (perhaps the occasional coffee, as well). One morning, when I was not paying enough attention to what I was doing, I ended up taking a large sip of steaming beef broth and milk. In my defense, the containers looked very similar, but that minuscule fact does

not preclude my friends from holding it above my head for the rest of time! How did you spend your summer after graduation? JD: I live right in between Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, so I spent the summer biking around the Bay Area. I logged 1,000-plus total miles and hit 50 miles in one day. NL: One thing I did during the summer was get back into reading casually. I think that college applications and school work pulled me away from reading for fun, but the time I had during the summer gave me that opportunity again. ZQ: The summer after graduation, I spent time with my family and went on socially distant walks and hikes with friends. What advice do you have for the Class of 2021? JD: Turn every “have to” into a “get to,” and take advantage of your time. NL: Enjoy your last semester of high school! Make sure you give yourself time to do what makes you happy and don’t let work overwhelm you. Also, keep being active about reaching out to your friends, since both remote learning and college will make it harder to stay in touch. ZQ: Lean on the people in your support network when you need to. You’re not meant to handle certain things on your own, and the people closest to you want to be there for you. There is incredible strength in vulnerability.

← Zoe Quake ’20

If you had a chance to come back to Nueva to participate in a project or club, take a class, or do something else that you didn’t while you were a student, what would it be? JD: Any economics class with Patrick Berger. NL: I’ve heard a lot about Patrick Berger’s economics classes, and I’m curious about what I missed out on. There were also a bunch of other classes that I was curious about but never took during high school, like Music Production and American Indian History and Contemporary Issues to name a couple. ZQ: Too many amazing classes and not enough time—a very Nueva dilemma. I absolutely adored the courses I took (especially American Indian History and Contemporary Issues, 20th Century Poetry, Philosophy of Consciousness, and French Literature), but I also would have loved to take International Relations with Arta (Khakpour), Neuroscience of Addiction with (Luke) De, and one of Patrick (Berger’s) economics classes. Have you been able to do anything personally meaningful over the past year? Maybe something you wouldn’t have had the chance to do it if we weren’t living in these current remote/social distancing times? JD: Because of my commute and extracurriculars, I actually never had the time to get my license, even though I’ve been old enough for a few years. COVID opened up a lot of free time for me to practice driving, and I recently passed my driving test! NL: I’ve spent a decent amount of time staying at home revisiting some of my older

A L U M N I

hobbies. For whatever reason, I stopped drawing after senior year started, but recently I’ve been spending my time sketching and exploring different things in drawing. I’ve also gone back to a writing project I hadn’t touched since eighth grade, which was fun to look at and start again. It did take me a while to realize the silver lining of the stay-at-home situation, but I’m glad I did. ZQ: Something meaningful I’ve gotten to do over the past year is reconnect with old friends. I don’t know exactly what it is about staying home and social distancing that made people start reaching out. Maybe it was the fact that we were no longer seeing our local friends and any interaction needed to be actively sought out? Reconnecting with multiple old friends that I’d fallen out of touch with was a definite highlight. How did you decide to spend fall 2020? JD: I didn’t consider taking a gap year very much because of my love for school and for learning and, having spent the entire summer at home, I was really looking forward to living semiindependently in college. With COVID, I wanted to ensure that my health and safety (and those of all students) was being prioritized, and UChicago employed a weekly testing program and instituted strict distancing and

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

other COVID protocols in order to keep everyone safe. ZQ: I had briefly considered taking a gap year pre-pandemic, but COVID gave me a big push. For me, learning over Zoom felt less fulfilling than learning in person, which made gapping an appealing option. Additionally, I’m sure that no matter what I choose to study, I’ll probably be in school for a long time, and spontaneously taking a year off probably gets more challenging as one gets older. What have been the positives or challenges of starting college remotely? NL: I haven’t been able to really meet any of my college classmates because we only see each other in class. I’ve also heard that the campus is beautiful in the fall, so I’m kind of disappointed that I missed it this year. At the same time, I think one benefit I’ve had in starting remotely is that it’s helped me get used to the academics of college, since I don’t have to focus as much on living in a new environment. I think that being able to focus on just academics has made me a bit more responsible in dealing with the work that I have. What has the experience been like living at college? JD: Living in Chicago has allowed me to thrive under the freedom and independence of college. Despite unconventional

I think one benefit I’ve had in starting remotely is that it’s helped me get used to the academics of college, since I don’t have to focus as much on living in a new environment. I think that being able to focus on just academics has made me a bit more responsible in dealing with the work that I have. ↖ NICO LIT ’20

social events (due to COVID), I was still able to meet new people and have fun, and I’ve continued playing basketball. Nueva’s academic philosophy eased the transition to college-level classes, but the remote nature of my classes prevented me from fully experiencing UChicago’s environment. I logged in to most of my classes from my dining hall instead of from my dorm to separate where I sleep from where I work, which increased my productivity and kept me accountable. Will you remain remote for the rest of the year? NL: No, I’m planning on being on campus for spring semester. I’m a bit nervous about it, but

mainly excited to see what living in a dorm and at college will be like. I’m also hoping to be able to meet more people and learn more about the community. What are you currently doing during your gap year? ZQ: I moved to Athens, Greece in October, and I’m planning on spending a good chunk, if not all, of my gap year here. I’m currently working at a public health NGO and volunteering at a nonprofit involved in the refugee crisis. I’ve also been practicing my Greek, binging podcasts, learning how to cook Greek dishes, and making progress on my reading list. If the COVID situation improves, I’m hoping that I’ll also be able to spend time with my extended family. Living outside the United States during the pandemic is amazing and challenging. I’m really grateful to get to live in Greece this year, but I definitely underestimated the challenges of living alone during lockdown. Lockdown in Greece, similar to many other European countries, is significantly stricter than the measures enforced in the U.S., but it’s relieving to see cases dropping dramatically here because of it.

← Jeremy Dumalig ’20

BRIEFS 1998

Liz “Bizzy” Pappademas released her fourth album, Rock Record, on March 11 and an EP, Aeolian Bedforms, on November 6. While sheltering in place, she spent time learning Chopin Mazurkas on the piano she has had since she started taking lessons in pre-kindergarten at Nueva.

2003

Zack Smith, founder and CEO of Jobble, was profiled by the BBC in September 2020 to discuss the challenges Black entrepreneurs face when seeking venture capital backing. His Boston-based startup connects 60 million gig and hourly workers with actively hiring companies.

2004

Josh Herzstein recently founded Fiberologies.com, a company producing a sustainable and improved line of towels for everyday use in the home. His line of all natural task-oriented towels aims to simplify consumers’ journeys to finding the best options, and will launch in the coming year.

2006

Michaela Shiloh is the CEO and founder of HRDRV, the world’s first subscription-based record label. The label has more than 2,000 members and is operating 100 percent online. An accomplished songwriter and recording artist, she has worked with Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Diplo, Jennifer Lopez, Wiz Khalifa, and

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

many more. In November 2018, she was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 in music. In 2019, she was a judge for the class of 2020 alongside The Chainsmokers, 21 Savage, and Adriana Arce.

2012

New York-based actress Jenna Beressi’s short film, Nice to Meet You, was recently recognized as an official selection by the Venice Shorts and New York Movie Awards.

↑ Liz Pappademas ’98 album, Rock Record

2017

Kylie Holland is a member of the Stanford Student Space Initiative Team. Stanford was selected by NASA as one of five colleges to send its experiment to space, as part of the 20-year celebration of continuous human presence on the International Space Station. ¶ Brothers Yoni and Osher ’19 Lerner are excited to introduce their new sibling, Naomi. ¶ Varun Mehta is currently a double major in industrial design and graphic design at Rhode Island School of Design. He said he has been thinking a lot about alien conspiracy theories, machine learning, digital fabrication, and cultural identity recently. ¶ Jeremy Trilling, who earned his helicopter pilot’s license while working for Beta Technologies in Vermont, builds electric flying machines.

2019

Shiley Einav completed his freshman year (virtually) at Stanford University last spring.

↑ Jenna Beressi ’12

Kylie ↑ Josh Herzstein ’04 Holland is a member of the Stanford Student Space Initiative Team, which ↑ was selected Kylie Holland ’17 by NASA as one of five colleges to send its experiment ↑ Varun Meahta ’17 to space.

A L U M N I

CLASS OF 2 0 0 8

MINI REUNION

↑ Jeremy Trilling ’17

Calling in from New York, Southern California, and the Bay Area, the Class of 2008 hosted a mini virtual reunion on December 12. What started as an afternoon gettogether went well into the evening for some of the 16 attendees. Zoe Pressman, who helped coordinate the event, shared, “The Class of 2008 had a fantastic time seeing each other from behind the safety of our computer screens. About half of our class was in attendance, and a handful stuck around from noon until 8:30 p.m., catching up on the decade-plus since we graduated, as well as sharing old secrets and pre-teen drama. While we’re scattered across different cities, the silver lining of 2020 is that we’re all more comfortable catching up over video calls.”

2008 ↑ Yoni ’17 and Osher ’19 Lerner with sister, Naomi

He is taking the rest of his sophomore year off to work at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ¶ Julienne Ho continues to study art and engineering at Scripps College and Harvey Mudd College, respectively. During the summer of 2020, she completed internships with the National Science Foundation and Project Invent, and she is currently working with CVS Health to ideate on green initiatives. Julienne is considering architecture, industrial design, or civil/mechanical engineering for graduate school, and she looks forward to connecting with fellow Nuevans in those fields.

F A L L

W I N T E R

2 0 2 1

Nueva Cup Winners! As events throughout the fall pivoted to virtual functions, the 13th annual Nueva Cup transitioned from a day of camaraderie and fun competition to a month-long remote event hosted throughout October. The event, which benefited the alumni and athletics programs, welcomed students, parents, alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents, and friends to participate from their favorite course, and at its conclusion the alumni community was well represented in the winning flights. Alumnus Chip Thomsen ’18 captured the Alumni Flight and parent of alumni Alison Ross ’11, ’17 won the Women’s Flight. In addition to participating in the tournament, the Nueva community generously supported the event through sponsorships and raffle ticket purchases.

S AV E T H E DAT E

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Do you have news or personal updates you’d like to share? We invite you to submit a class brief about exciting personal events, including marriages or new arrivals, professional experiences or accomplishments, recent travel, reunions with fellow Nueva alumni, and more. nuevaschool.org/classbriefs

2021 Nueva Cup M O N DAY

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Green Hills Country Club

We are hopeful to gather once again and host an in-person tournament in 2021. More details will be shared closer to the event.

E X C L A M AT I O N

P O I N T

POST-IT In true Nueva fashion, upper school students marked their return to in-person learning with a wall of Post-its capturing the things they were most excited to enjoy on campus.

N U E V A

M A G A Z I N E

“It isn’t the end, but when will it ever be when everything is a beginning?” —Naomie C. ’24

W I L L Y O U B E A M AV E R I C K ? APRIL 24, 2021 AUCTION STARTS ONLINE

MAY 1, 2021 LIVE VIRTUAL EVENT

What does it mean to be a Maverick? Mavericks change lives through big and small endeavors. Some teach through hands-on projects. Others invest in opportunity and belonging. Please join us at our reimagined annual benefit event, the Be a Maverick Benefit, starting online April 24 and at our live virtual event at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 1. “Nueva embraces the idea that every child would benefit from a Nueva education,” said event co-chair Victoria Osman. “Be a Maverick! Don’t miss the opportunity to stand together with the entire community and celebrate our commitment to all children.” “As Mavericks would, we are refreshing this long-time Nueva event, but the goal remains the same,” said Director of Annual Giving Anne Cavanaugh. Our Be a Maverick benefit is all about celebrating what makes a Maverick: creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, and changemaking—what we’re calling the four C’s. Join us at the virtual event and raise your paddle for fund-a-need! The sum of these parts is the raising of funds for financial assistance at Nueva. “The Be a Maverick Benefit will continue to serve as a community rally that ensures that we are able to philanthropically support our growing financial assistance needs,” said Director of Development Joe Cheeseman. As it has in the past, the Be a Maverick Benefit will continue to play a critical role in building Nueva’s community and realizing its full promise. “This benefit supports strengthening our beloved community,” added Director of Admissions Taryn Grogan. “We are committed to attracting and retaining gifted students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. The funds raised will support current students and families, as well as those who are yet to join us. We are excited for this rejuvenating, meaningful, and extraordinary evening!”

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT N0. 272 BURLINGAME, CA 94010

131 E. 28th Ave. San Mateo, CA 94403

Climate for Change. See page 44.