class notes

class of 2011: class of 2012:

Miya Tada ‘11: Miya has been working at a culture and political education space in New York City called The People’s Forum for the past two years and organizing in Brooklyn. At TPF, she has worked on international solidarity campaigns for countries like Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil, produced a YouTube interview series on Black liberation and internationalism, and coordinated political and popular education events. She is eager to connect with others who are interested in getting involved or supporting this work! Her email is miya.t@peoplesforum.org.

Madeleine Buzbee ‘12 graduated from Drew School in 2016 among friends: winter 2023 and went on to major in Studio Art at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, Class of 2020. During her undergraduate studies, Maddy was a two-time summer scholar at Bard College Studio Intensive in Berlin, Germany in 2017 and 2018. Since graduation, she has deepened her artistic practice in painting and experimental music through studio work. She has shown work at Southern Exposure in San Francisco, Instar Lodge in Germantown, NY, and has been a contributing curator at Hessel Museum of Art in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. More recently, Maddy has returned to SFFS as an A3/ED Teacher for 7th- and 8th-graders. When she’s not in aftercare, you can find her DJing at a local community radio station- BFF. fm. She is overjoyed to be back with the Friends community, and quaker values have remained a guiding principle in her artistic, professional, and personal life.

class of 2016:

Katie Cleary ‘16: Katie is in her second year at Smith College, majoring in Russian. Last summer, she spent six weeks on a study abroad program to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. There she lived with a host family and attended classes (Russian language and post-Soviet Eurasia). The rest of her time was filled with excursions to cultural sites in the city and to more rural locations such as Son Kul lake. Highlights included sleeping in a yurt, learning traditional crafts, horseback riding, hiking through the mountains, and the food. This was Katie’s second time in Kyrgyz- stan, a country she has fallen in love with. class of 2018: class of 2020:

Eva Peschel ‘16: I’m currently studying Anthropology focused on Climate Change & Human Solutions at UC San Diego, and loving it here! I’m planning on studying abroad in Rome from January through April 2023; where I will study Roman culture, take pasta-making classes, and hopefully be able to pick up some Italian! I loved my time at SFFS and miss it so much, so when I saw the opportunity to submit an alumni note I knew I definitely wanted to!

Simone Wesley ‘18: Simone, currently a freshman at the University of Southern California, where she is majoring in Creative Writing, has been awarded the Amanda Gorman Future Poets scholarship for emerging poets of color, one of only three young poets to receive this distinguished honor. Simone’s family shared that her love of poetry was sparked in middle school at SFFS.

Randall Tom ‘20: Randall shares, “I graduated from Friends in the Class of 2020 and am currently attending San Francisco University High school. During my time at University I have been selected by my peers and teachers to be on the Stewardship and Oversight Committee organization. On the board I work with fellow classmates, active teachers and parents, former UHS students and Alumni as well as the head of School. The committee meets to talk about issues in our school as we talk about diversity and inclusion in all spaces whether that’s in our classrooms in our athletic spaces or in our school mission statement. Being a Student Athlete and

Sports Captain for boy’s basketball and Flag Football being apart of this committee allows me to see the school in different mediums and perspectives.” class of 2021: class of 2022:

Jules Buckner ’21: We are grateful to Jules, who came to help out Emma and the rest of the Development Office at GrandFriends Day in November—and to hang out with his brother, Elias.

Avi Katzman ‘22: Avi writes in that he is currently a student at the Urban School, where he has learned to play the tenor saxophone and is now a member of the Urban jazz Band. •

Do you have news to share with your fellow SFFS alums?

Please send in a Class Note to communications @sffriendsschool.org— we look forward to hearing from you!