Seattle Academy 2023 SAAS In Focus Magazine

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Athletics

Jalani Clemmons (Grade 10), getting a slam dunk before varsity basketball practice. Scan the QR code on the left to view a GIF of the SAAS basketball team media day and the qr code on the right to view a GIF of Jalani’s dunk!

CREDITS

Editor

Maggie Leuzzi ’08

Additional Editing

Giselle Furlonge

Lori Metcalf

Todd Rotkis

Fred Strong

Design & Photography

Todd Rotkis

Contributing Writers

Rocket Davis (Grade 11)

Giselle Furlonge

Maggie Leuzzi ’08

Marc Moquin

Matt McAuliffe

Marketing & Communications Team

Darby Frey

Maggie Leuzzi ’08

Madeline Pennington

Todd Rotkis

Andrew Spitzer

FRONT COVER:

Asa Peters (Grade 9) on the left and Ri’Chara Mitchell (Grade 12) on the right working together during Gerald Elliott’s Intro Engineering class, where they were part of a team building a mechanism that utilized all three classes of mechanical levers.

BACK COVER:

SAAS wrestlers (left to right) Jackson David (Grade 11), TRTL Lee (Grade 12) and Parker Manzo (Grade 9) having fun and showing off their strength during Winter Sports Media Day.

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Community

Middle Schoolers compete by grade level against each other in Tug-of-War during Fall 2022 Spirit Week.

10. Middle School Robotics

Inaugural Battle Royale

Featuring: Gerald Elliott, Robotics Program Director

15. Spoken Words

Featuring: Harlem Yarbrough, Grade 8

20. Odyssey Trip

Past, Present & Future

Featuring: Freddy Carley ’04, Director of Outdoor Trips and Travel

29. The Cardinal Triumph: A Record-Breaking Fall Sports Season at SAAS

Written by: Marc Moquin, Assistant Athletic Director

41. The Need for More Black Women in Science

Featuring: Olivia Griffin, Grade 10

47. Seattle Academy Then and Now

Featuring: David Campbell ’83

Written by: Rocket Davis, Grade 11

52. 你好, Hola, Bonjour, and Welcome to the Future of World Languages

Written by: Matt McAuliffe, World Languages Department Chair

59. One Bike to Change a Life

Featuring: Ayile Locoh-Donou, Grade 11 & Wymbia Locoh-Donou, Grade 12

64. Buggin’ Out!

Featuring: Melanie Zahn, Science Faculty

72. AfroHouse

Featuring: WillyNoir and Students in Advanced Dance

80. A History of Social Exclusion

Written by: Giselle Furlonge, Associate Head of School

82. Baby Day: Engaging Students with RealTime Cognitive Skill Development

Featuring: Sarah Smith, Psychology & Math Faculty

90. Brad & Craig Talk Mentorship

Featuring: Brad Evans and Craig Tomlinson, Coaches & Athletics Faculty

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Community

October 12th is always a special day here at Seattle Academy. This fall students across our campus celebrated the start of the 40th year of SAAS with balloons and cake.

Middle School Robotics

Inaugural Battle RoyalE

Students built eight different robots and helped with the construction of two battle bot arenas. They utilized 3D printing, custom metalworking, and engineering design to assemble and customize their “Viper” robots.

One of the greatest accomplishments to date for the Middle School Robotics team is their recent win at the new battle bot competition. Seattle Academy hosted a combat robotics competition that brought in teams from around the country thanks to a posting on a widely frequented robot combat website, monitored by all combat robot enthusiasts. This competition drew adult and student teams from the greater Seattle area, East Coast, and one international!

Robots are designed differently for battle bot competitions than for regular robotics competitions. These robots are designed with weight in mind to meet the weight limits placed on competing bots. Plastic and aluminum are popular materials, alongside titanium weapons. The weapons were either a vertical spinner or a horizontal spinner that was designed to “slice and dice” other robots.

One of SAAS’ four teams, which was composed entirely of sixth graders and were named “The Northwest Nobodies,” placed third in the tournament of 16 teams, beating out teams that were composed of adults and battle bot veterans. In attendance was a Brazilian individual who has worked on the larger “Battle Bots” TV show, as has SAAS parent and head of our local league Western Allied Robotics (WAR) who refereed and helped bring combat robotics to SAAS.

The Northwest Nobodies placed higher than their competitors due to their spinning weapon, which knocked a few opponents into “The Pit” to win some matches. “They had a lot of drive practice and a bit of good luck!” says Gerald Elliott, Director of Middle School Robotics at SAAS.

This year’s Middle School Robotics team has reached new heights with more student participants than ever before, largely in response to the new combat robotics program. We had around 40 total students, and the success and popularity of combat robotics shows that we will continue to grow.

One of the highlights of the season is the special group of mentors which tapped every part of the SAAS community, including Penelope “Penny” Lora Ramirez (mother of Carolina, Grade 8); SAAS alumnus

Spencer Laube ’15; SAAS Technology Support Network Engineer Mark Zavala; SAAS Robotics Director Gerald Elliott; and SAAS parent Rob Farrow, father to Colin (Grade 12). Rob also serves as head of the local battle bot league known as Western Allied Robotics.

A total of 18 practices and 36 hours were spent preparing technology and machines for battle. “Because this was our first year hosting a battle bot competition,” says Gerald, “the students really built the program in many ways, including some of the work with our robot combat arenas.” ■

SPOKEN WORDS

Q&A with Harlem Yarbrough

Harlem Yarbrough (Grade 8) is a talented artist, poet, and dancer. At the age of thirteen, she has already performed spoken word at several community festivals around Washington. “My spoken word is mostly about social justice and advocacy,” says Harlem, who is not afraid to jump on stage and speak her truth.

Back in 2021, Harlem joined Elevate, a spoken word program through Seattle Theatre Group that centers the voices of Black and Brown youth, promoting themes of social justice. Following the footsteps of her mother and Elevate program mentor, Tia-Nache Yarbrough, Harlem began taking the stage on a regular basis. Her latest performance through Elevate, “I Am,” was written and performed at The THING Music Festival in Port Townsend in the summer of 2022. On the next page is Harlem’s poem “I Am.”

I AM

I am Harlem Yarbrough

and well, I’m a lot of things… I’m from an invincible culture who had their lineage stripped and their rights took but still found a way out

I am from jazz, hip-pop, and vogue

But also…test strips, insulin, and needles to help me survive

But on the inside, I’m courageous kind hearted and truthful

Like my parents…born leaders my mother that is multiple things but also a poet and

My father that has found joy in doing hair and making people smile everyday

and everyday, I carry that smile around with me...

Whether I’m pulling up to the Rainier Beach Safeway or Seattle Academy

So yeah ima young black girl, that loves dancing, has diabetes, and cares about others but once again

I am Harlem

SAAS interviewed Harlem Yarbrough to understand more about how spoken word is intertwined with her advocacy efforts — and her personal experiences as a thirteenyear-old.

SAAS: What motivates you to speak your mind on stage?

Harlem: I primarily draw from my own experiences. There is just a different drive that comes with writing about things you emotionally connect with. In all my pieces, I put my all into them and write from my heart because it pulls people in and makes them connect more with my poems.

SAAS: Why is it important to speak your mind?

Harlem: I believe it is imperative to speak your mind because if you don’t, you won’t be able to grow. And when I say that, I don’t mean height; I mean your thinking. But it’s also essential to developing your character and to be heard.

SAAS: What makes spoken word such a powerful advocacy tool? Harlem: Spoken word is such a powerful tool because, when I write, I feel a sense of freedom! I can explain and express myself through words but add a twist to how I say it. For example, instead of saying, “I was scared,”

I can say, “And there I stood, my motionless body paralyzed in fear.” See how I just turned the simplest emotion into a dramatic image you can picture in your mind? That is what I love about poetry!

SAAS: Any life advice from a talented, wise thirteen-year-old? Harlem: Be yourself unapologetically, live life to the fullest, and never give up! ■

Harlem performing “I Am” at THING Festival in Port Townsend, WA during the summer of 2022.

“Performing at THING was an amazing experience! It was cool being backstage and getting treated like a professional artist, even though I’m only thirteen years old. Everyone was really friendly and supportive!”

- Harlem Yarbrough

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Student Life

ASB members taking an all Seattle Academy selfie during our year-opening assembly for the 2022-23 school year.

ODYSSEY PAST, PRESENT

PRESENT & FUTURE

Students at Rialto Beach, 2016.

The Odyssey Trip is, in many ways, Seattle Academy’s flagship trip. It is a grade-level retreat for incoming 9th graders right out of the gates of their first month of high school. For many students, their classmates are new, their teachers are unknown, and camping is a foreign concept. This trip is famous for its predictably uncomfortable fall weather. It knowingly pushes students out of their comfort zone. It is the type of trip that generates hallway talk for the years that follow, with stories and recollections making their way into class videos, graduation speeches, and camp counselor resumes.

The funny part is that students don’t even read Homer’s long, epic poem “The Odyssey” any longer — previously a reading assignment included in SAAS’ English curriculum and the original inspiration for the trip.

The SAAS Odyssey Trip of past, present and future has evolved in many of the same ways the school has evolved since it was established in 1983. “The trip has changed every year that I have been a part of it,” says Freddy Carley, SAAS’s Director of Outdoor Trips and Travel and an alumnus of the class of 2004. Freddy is not only tasked with organizing the trip

year after year, but he has also participated in the “experience and tradition of the Odyssey Trip” as a student himself in the fall of 2000. “The trip was much different back then when I was a student. It was called the ‘Lord of the Flies’ trip because that was the book students were reading at that time. “We were truly out there on our own,” says Freddy, noting that the Odyssey Trip of present-day involves a whole lot more faculty-student interaction and support. “I think overall the school realized it was a missed opportunity for the faculty to get to know the kids and create those relationships.”

Freddy Carley with Clarke Grayson and her advisory hiking back to the boat on Sucia Island in the fall of 2022.

The lasting relationships between faculty and students and the students and their classmates are the propulsion for the trip, more than the camping component itself. And a compliment to the relationships is getting out of the classroom and out of comfort zones.

“It is really purposeful when we do the trip. Doing it at the start

of the school year is important for students to create lasting relationships with other students. When you are out there, you are forced to get to know someone better than if you were in the classroom. I think it is important to make that connection early,” says Freddy.

“This is also an opportunity for faculty trip leaders to get to know

families. It is a natural time when families are reaching out and everyone is working towards the trip.” And the results are always worth the unexpected raindrops, forgotten gear, and uneven campground.

“When I was on the trip, I kind of became a leader of my group. I had all of my outdoor skills and was able to share them with

Students watching the sunset in Olympic National Park, 2016.

(Pages 22-24) Highlights from Odyssey Trips over the years. From Orcas Island to the coast of the Olympic Peninsula, students gained outdoor experience while building fundamental relationships with their classmates and faculty leaders.

classmates on the Odyssey Trip,” recalls Freddy, whose trip as a student took his group into the Olympic National Park, to the Rialto Beach area. “There are certainly students for whom camping for a couple nights is a big push. Then you also have students who are able to be leaders — who may not be leaders in the classroom. I think that is a special experience for them, as well.”

Freddy is again in a position of leadership as the director and trip organizer and has been planning these grade-level trips since 2013. “The post-trip feedback from most grades is to have more time together as a whole grade,” Freddy says as he explains the thought process heading into presentday Odyssey Trip. “So students at least get the full grade-level together at Camp Orkila and

then they also get small group advisory time at Sucia.”

For future years, ideas for Odyssey Trip 2.0 are in the formulation stages. “Potentially making an opportunity for upperclassmen to attend might be a next step,” Freddy imagines. “And I think the other piece we talk about every year is whether the trip should still be called the Odyssey Trip?

Student’s don’t even read the poem anymore; that stopped a few years ago.”

Homer’s themes remain fitting for the tradition and experiences remain as epic as ever. “Whether or not kids experience a year that was really rainy or wet, you hear kids talk about the strife they endured. But they are excited about that; excited and proud that they were able to push through. It was challenging and they pushed through, and that sense of accomplishment is lasting.”

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Community Arts faculty, Paris Randall in the studio speaking to prospective student families at a Fall 2022 Open House about the Music Production program at SAAS.

THE CARDINAL TRIUMPH

By Marc Moquin, Assistant Athletic Director

Additional photographs in this article taken by Jeff Halstead and Adam Flash.

It was a record-setting season.

Seattle Academy had 302 Upper School athletes participate this season reaching our highest athletic participation count in school history. With 263 students participating last year — and students barely playing sports in 2020 — it makes this a 14.8% increase at a time when we are just grateful not to be testing noses before every game.

After the dark ages of COVID in 2020; and the headaches of a hybrid-remote school schedule in 2021; and then the continued awkwardness of COVID testing for high-contact athletics in 2022 — this year’s attendance is something to celebrate.

Kicking off the fall athletic season, SAAS Assistant Athletic Director and coach Hilary O’Dougherty corralled Middle School volleyball players in the gym during turnouts.

Girls Soccer They rockeD it

Cardinal girls soccer team finished their regular season undefeated. To finish undefeated is a pretty big deal; they rocked it.

For the second straight year, the girls soccer team won the 1A Academic State Championship, a scholastic award granted to each team with the highest average GPA in their classification.

The girls soccer team took home third in State! They advanced all the way to the State semifinals before falling in overtime on penalty kicks to Lynden Christian. The girls bounced back the next day defeating Montesano, 3-0 to finish third, and ending a great season with a record of 14-1-3.

Girls Cross Country First for all

For the first time in Seattle Academy history, the entire Cardinal girls cross country team qualified for State. No other SAAS girls cross country team has qualified every runner for State competition. This is the first time that has ever happened on the girls side at SAAS.

The entire girls cross country team qualified for the State meet where they finished eighth best in the State.

Boys Golf Record numbers

In boys golf, a school record 16 players qualified for the Conference Tournament that will be held in May with qualifiers advancing to the State Tournament.

Boys Tennis State bound

Nabih Farhat (Grade 10) (not pictured) won the singles District Championship. The doubles team of Ryan Heyworth (Grade 12) and Beck Langstraat (Grade 12) (back row, third and second from right) finished second in district. They will compete at the State Tournament in Yakima the last weekend in May.

Boys Ultimate Named 1st

Photo caption: James Ezzo (Grade 10) was named First-Team All-Conference (below right).

Girls Volleyball Career kills

The girls volleyball finished just one match short of the State Tournament. Ella Hendelman (Grade 12) also set the school record for career kills with 401 (below left).

Middle School Athletics

“We were blown away by the record number of sixth graders on the court. It was a showcase turnout,” says Hilary O’Dougherty, Assistant Athletic Director.

SAAS also enjoyed great success on the middle school level, with over 200 kids participating on six soccer teams, five volleyball teams, and two cross country teams.

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Academics

Amanda McCarther teaching her Upper School Intro to Rhetoric class about the importance of facial expressions and body language while public speaking.

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Outdoor & Travel

9th

Grade students on the ropes course at Camp Orkila on Orcas Island, WA during the Odyssey retreat, Fall 2022.

The Need For More BLACK WOMEN IN SCIENCE

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center acknowledges that we need more Black women in the field of science and medicine. It is a field systemically lacking underrepresented communities like LGBTQIA, women, and scientists of color. This is why the Pathways Research Explorers Program, funded by the National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health, was created for sophomores and juniors, especially those who tend to be systematically excluded from biomedical research.

“Fred Hutch’s Pathways Research Explorers Program has made this summer the most memorable summer of my life,” says Seattle Academy Student Olivia Griffin (Grade 10) who interned as part of this program last summer. She says Fred Hutch introduced her to areas of biomedical research including cancer prevention, public health, epidemiology, and biostatistics.

Olivia Griffin (Grade 10) looking at DNA samples through a microscope at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center during the summer of 2022.

A large portion of the internship centered around a case study involving a woman named Kristin. Kristin is a former patient at Fred Hutch who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). She was among 93% of participants with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. B-cell ALL is not the most common cancer; when Kristin got it, it raised significant alarms for her and her family, considering it was a cancer that takes your B cells and turns them into leukemia, which can live longer than your normal cells and reproduce fast.

Kristin was referred to Dr. David Maloney at Fred Hutch for another possibility: finding a clinical trial of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, an experimental immunotherapy strategy in which patients’ immune cells are engineered with a specialized receptor that allows them to selectively destroy cancer cells.

Olivia participated in Kristin’s case study, and she didn’t just observe from the sidelines. “I worked in the lab,” Olivia says as she explains what she was doing. “Healthy cells of the immune system that receive chemical signals and release antibodies can recognize those cancer cells as abnormal and kill them, but sometimes, like in Kristen’s case, the immune system just might not be strong enough to get rid of cancer

altogether. Treatments like CAR T-cell therapy, guide the immune system to fight cancer.”

Fred Hutch brought into the program many student mentors from the University of Washington who are working on receiving their PhDs. “There is a possibility that I want to major in premed or any medical science,” says Olivia, “and we had UW students with us to access info on those science and medical programs, which was helpful.”

“I have always been interested in science. In kindergarten, I did a project on future jobs in science, and my family has a bit of background in science: my dad works for the Veteran Affairs Puget Sound Hospital, and my mom for a company that

develops medical devices for hospitals and private clinics. I have always been very attached to science.”

A family friend introduced Olivia to the Pathways Program, which accepted about 30 students over two sessions of 15 students each. Olivia participated from August 1-12. Olivia was introduced to Fred Hutch’s mission and background, and then quickly dove into CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats a.k.a. DNA splicing and sequencing), CAR T-cell therapy, bioethics, and what it means to become a resilient scientist.

In the lab, Olivia was given the opportunity to use a gNRA strand to attempt to split a

After Olivia learned about the Pathways Program from a family friend, she worked with her science teacher Thomas O’Neil who wrote her recommendation letter to the program at Fred Hutchinson.

Olivia and other students in the Pathways Program lab using pipettes to sample DNA before splitting it using CRISPR.

DNA strand. “I can’t believe I separated DNA using CRISPR,” says Olivia.

Olivia says the program was a “reassurance moment” for her:

“While in the program, we had a special speaker one day. Dr. Anthony Fauci was in town that day and he talked to us about how it is very, very important that people who look like me, and the person next to me, are engaged in science. Science is always growing. He had said that and it really really stuck with me — and that he acknowledged my background as a Black woman was really warming to me. It was a big reason why I want to engage in science and with the Fred Hutch program, as well.”

The explorer’s program highlighted what science had already accomplished, how

the data was collected, and how scientific discoveries were used to conclude bioethical statements and decisions.

“To truly understand bioethics and how it applies to our skin color, you must fully commit to comprehending the significantly drastic dissimilarity between race and racism and how racism is a social construct, not a biological one,” Olivia says.

“And I gained so many connections at Fred Hutch, and so many resources. The teachers they bring in stay connected to the interns and value our determination and dedication to science.” ■

Dr. Anthony Fauci visiting with the Pathways Program students.

“To be a part of explorers was genuinely eye-opening and encouraged me, even more, to pursue medicine. And if I get to that point, I can proudly say Fred Hutch got me there,”

- Olivia Griffin

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Arts

Just one of the 525,600 reasons why the SAAS community loved this year’s Upper School Fall Musical “RENT.” Student performers Darby, Mia, and Cory danced on stage during one of the sold-out shows.

SEATTLE ACADEMY THEN and NOW

By Rocket Davis, Grade 11

When the 2022-23 school year began, SAAS had one thousand one hundred and fourteen students, including myself in the class of 2024.

But when Seattle Academy first opened its doors in 1983, the school had just seventy two students, including my uncle. He sat down with me recently to talk about what it was like in SAAS’ early days.

Seattle Academy split off from The Northwest School after the latter suffered financial difficulties. David Campbell, my uncle and then one of Northwest’s students, struggled to decide which school he wanted to go to.

“I went to one of [SAAS’s] open houses that they held at the YMCA, and I came loaded with questions to try to jam them up, and they answered all my questions and by the end of it I was like, yeah, maybe I’d like to go to this new school.”

He attended SAAS for the rest of high school, while his sister did so for the rest of middle school. Years later, his son and two nieces — my sister and I — would also attend.

Because the new school didn’t have much money, “Everything they did was out of the box, a practical solution. It was really sort of roll up your sleeves, gritty, we’re gonna make this work, I’m

SAAS’ first graduating class in 1984 and a photo of the class of 2023 at a retreat during the spring of 2022.

not totally sure how, but we’re gonna do it” attitude.

One decision SAAS made as a result was to rent space from the Sunday School portion of the Temple De Hirsch Sinai, where some of our students still go to this day. In my uncle’s time, that was the entire school, contained in just one of the two buildings we rent out today. And because it was the 1980s, “That little breezeway, between the two buildings, was the smoking section.”

For other school facilities, students visited a church gym, did biology labs at Seattle Central University, and participated in athletics at Broadway Playfield. “It was an exciting place to be,” my uncle told me. The grunge scene was just emerging and SAAS students were at the heart of it in urban Seattle.

were seen as this misfit group of, like, who the heck are those kids and what kind of school are they going to? And we dressed weird. There was a real mix of socioeconomic [statuses].

“It was fun to be part of something that was new and struggling to make it work. It really felt special because you really made a choice to go there against the odds.”

Today, SAAS houses classes in eight different buildings, and each year, our class sizes continue to grow. But one thing SAAS has always tried to remain true to is its guiding principle of Know the Kid, a line we all recognize from just below the mission statement.

When SAAS began, my uncle told me that “because it was small, you really got to know people, especially the teachers.

Students would have the same teachers all throughout their time at SAAS, so you really had this continuity. And so that’s different now. I don’t think it’s often that you have the same teacher more than once. I think that’s changed the feel of the school, but they’ve worked really hard to maintain relationships in lots of other ways.

“So that idea of Know the Kid grew out of that. There weren’t any of those slogans when I was in school, none, but it was a really special place. And as they got bigger they started thinking, we don’t want to lose what we have as we get bigger, and so let’s really drill down and figure out what that is, and Know the Kid is one of the things that came out of that because they really knew the kid. They all knew what was going on with us because it was so small and because we had that continuity over the years.

“We were really different from all the other private schools. We

“When we graduated, Jean Orvis [the founding head of school] would just talk about us, each of us, for about ten minutes. Things we had done and personal anecdotes about when she first met each of us. She probably told the story of me grilling her at that open house. And it was really moving because she knew us. This is the head of school, who knew, really intimately, each of the kids who was graduating.”

Obviously today, with over a thousand kids, it’s impractical for something like that to happen. But SAAS has found other ways to keep the tradition alive. The high school offers continual advisors for all four years, and the school has built an effective support staff of coordinators, counselors, coaches, and teachers for its students.

SAAS believes that knowing the kid is essential to helping students be successful. Understanding their individual challenges and learning styles to better help them learn is a crucial part of preparing them for college and life.

This is SAAS’s fortieth school year but its values have stayed the same throughout all of them, and the school continues to work on finding new ways to make a supportive, effective learning environment for all its students.

My uncle offered me this final piece about the way SAAS has grown and changed: “It’s different in ways that are exciting, but it’s the same in ways that matter. And it’s nothing without the people inside it.” ■

David Campbell speaking at SAAS In the City in 2019.

Opposite page: (top left) David and Paul Goldberg at SAAS. (Bottom Right) The Seattle Academy Class of 1986.

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Arts

SAAS 6th graders in Albee Abigania’s class performing their choreographed dance to “Party Rockers” at Fall End of Tri.

BONJOUR HOLA 你好

.... and Welcome to the Future of World Languages

By: Matt McAuliffe, World Languages Department Chair

World Language Department Chair Matt McAuliffe with two Middle School students in Latin Class.

In the fall of 2023, seventh graders in the Middle School at SAAS will, for the first time, have the opportunity to study a modern language. Since SAAS was founded, the study of Latin has been a cornerstone of the sixth and seventh grade academic experience. Generations of SAAS students strengthened their understanding of grammar and Latin roots as they learned how to read, write, and even speak Latin. As SAAS prepared to enter its 40th year, however, the World Languages Department took to heart the words of our mission and questioned how we could re-imagine a language learning experience that would still capture the foundations of language learning that Latin

provided while enriching the study of modern languages. As a result of this process of self-reflection, the SAAS World Languages department is excited to announce a new Middle School language program. Starting in sixth grade students will take a new course

titled: Foundations of Language. Then in seventh grade, they will have the option to study French, Spanish, or Mandarin Chinese. In eighth grade, they will continue to study whichever language they studied the previous year. As they enter ninth grade and enter the Upper School they will have

Spanish teacher Smith Childs with 8th grade students as they played games in Spanish.

the opportunity to either continue studying the same language or choose a different one.

In sixth grade, Foundations of Language will mark the beginning of students’ language study at SAAS. This course will take the skills and knowledge that made Latin valuable for so many SAAS students and distill it into a one year course. Instead of learning the rules of grammar and parts of speech as an incidental benefit of their Latin study, students will receive instruction in how grammar contributes to meaning across languages and see concrete examples from English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese. In addition to introducing grammar, students will learn Latin roots and see how Latin

provides insight into English vocabulary as well as Spanish and French. Near the end of the winter trimester, as course registration approaches, there will be information presentations and sample units from each of the three modern languages, Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese, that will help students make an informed decision about which language they will study for the remainder of their time in Middle School.

After students make their language choice, their modern language study will begin in earnest in seventh grade. Through language working groups that include experienced Middle and Upper School language teachers, we are designing a new curriculum that

Emily Lin explaining description words in her Upper School Mandarin Chinese class.

will both academically prepare our Middle School students and allow teachers more flexibility to adapt to the ever-changing needs and interests of Middle School students. Students will have the opportunity and the time over the course of their last two years of Middle School to explore their chosen language as a method of communication and also as the product of unique cultures around the world.

Students learn languages best through listening and reading extensively and then having the opportunity to use what they have learned in real world situations. By extending the study of modern languages to two years in the Middle School, there will be more opportunities for students to grow comfortable with their chosen language before the pressures of Upper School. In practice, this means that students in Spanish 1 will have more time to research restaurants in Mexico and design their own using

culturally appropriate items and vocabulary. Students in Chinese 1 will be able to take more trips to the nearby International District to practice their characters as they identify foods in a Chinese grocery store or use their Mandarin to order food.

The hope and the goal of these changes in the Middle School language program is to take the elements of language instruction that have been an integral part of the SAAS experience for years and design a program that highlights those strengths. Sixth grade students will still learn the elements of grammar, how Latin roots impact English vocabulary, and how to use flashcards effectively, but now that instruction will be more directly connected to how they can learn in English and French, Mandarin, or Spanish. Similarly, as students begin to study a modern language, their teachers will

still encourage their creativity and curiosity, but now they will have more opportunities to demonstrate that creativity and more time to grow comfortable with the inherent ambiguity and discomfort that comes with learning a new language. As they prepare to enter Upper School, SAAS language learners will do so with a deeper understanding of their chosen language and stronger confidence in their own abilities as language learners through their experiences in the newly redesigned Middle School language program.

■

Middle School World Languages teacher, George Burpee giving a lesson to his sixth grade Latin class.

SAAS SNAPSHOTS: Athletics

Say

“Cheese!” Middle School Boys Soccer team celebrating at Fall Mania in September 2022.

One Bike to Change a Life

Ayile Locoh-Donou, Grade 11 & Wymbia Locoh-Donou, Grade 12

This past summer, two SAAS students from the Upper School walked from the village of Tchamba to a Cashew Plant located in Togo, 240 miles and five-and-a-half hours from the capital of Togo (Lome) in West Africa. Their goal was to improve access to transportation for the workers in Togo — and they succeeded.

We often ask ourselves: Where is the SAAS community seen and felt? This past summer, siblings Wymbia (Grade 12) and Ayile (Grade 11) Locoh-Donou started a project to improve the lives of individuals living across the Atlantic Ocean from them. Factory workers from the Cashew Factory of Cajou Espoir, a family business, were familiar to them from a young age. The gesture started small, with a visit from Wymbia and a GoFundMe started by Ayile, and the end resulted in a donation of over 300 bicycles to the factory workers in Togo. It was a simple goal — a bicycle for each worker — with a large impact. The story starts with Akoulouma.

Reflection from Ayile: A day in the life of Akoulouma before receiving a bike.

I followed Akoulouma for a day to see her life from her perspective. We walked side-by-side to the factory and I got to know her. I got to understand her journey. It was about an hour-and-a-half walk from her home in the village of Tchamba to the factory. At the factory, I worked alongside Akoulouma for hours; it was a long day on our feet. After work, we walked back to her home. I stayed with her that night and saw what chores she did after she got home. Akoulouma is 52 years old and has 5 kids. Because of her job at the factory, she was able to provide a great education for her kids, so she sent them to the capitol where they currently live and learn. She lives in a community house. It has a courthouse and communal areas, and everyone has a room within the community house.

Francois Locoh-Donou (far left) with Ayile (second from left), Wymbia (fourth from right), and fellow classmates in Togo, West Africa. Also pictured are Cajou Espoir General Director Maurice Edorh (middle) and Cajou Espoir Director of Factory Production Georges Djekre (far right).

Cajou Espoir, a Cashew Factory outside the village of Tchamba, has been a large employer in West Africa since 2004. It was opened by Francois — father of Ayile (Grade 11) and Wymbia (Grade 12), two current SAAS students who return to Togo to visit almost every year. Francois grew up in Togo until his family moved to France when he was about 14 years old. Cajou Espoir means “cashew hope” in French.

“I am Togolese. What is better than giving back to where you came from?” explains Ayile when asked what her motivation was for volunteering time and resources to the Togo community. “I got the luxury to grow up here, in America. But I thought, what’s better than to support the Togolese community that I come from.”

Ayile and Wymbia have been going to the Cashew Factory since they were young. “I have grown up to know a lot of the people there,” says Ayile. “So we decided this project could be something to help the people there.”

This project began last summer when Wymbia took a solo trip to Togo and spent the summer with family friend Calixte. Wymbia surveyed the factory workers during his time there, asking, “What is something that would really help you; something that you need?” The factory workers responded with transportation needs.

Visit Ayile and Wymbia’s YouTube channel @ONEBIKETOCHANGEALIFE2029 to view videos from their time in Togo.

This spearheaded a project to raise money to meet the transportation needs of the factory workers in Togo, West Africa, a project that gained momentum with the help of Wymbia’s sister Ayile. During the 2021-2022 school year, Ayile started a GoFundMe to raise enough money to purchase a bicycle for each factory worker. Wymbia and Ayile decided to email a list of people — some family friends, some fellow classmates — and collectively emailed 70-100 individuals. Their efforts sparked the attention of their cousin, who conducted a bake sale. And the efforts just became contagious.

“I got a job for the project during the school year, so 70% of whatever I made from the job I donated to the GoFundMe; about $1,500 total,” explains Ayile. Ayile recalls conducting the job interview in the middle of a SAAS study hall during the fall trimester and how everyone was listening in.

Ayile, Wymbia and their growing cohort raised $10k over their target funding, raising a total of $30k. They utilized their original $20k to purchase bicycles and with the extra $10k, they opened a childcare facility where factory workers can drop their kids off on the way to work.

Norman Locoh, joined Ayile and Wymbia in their travels to Togo this past summer (2022) to distribute the bikes to each factory worker. They purchased over 300 bikes from a local business and loaded up trucks to surprise everyone with a gifted bike. The workers had no idea this was happening.

On July 6, 2022, they drove to the factory, loaded with bikes and full of excitement. “It was a moment, unveiling everything,” describes Ayile. “We had a huge truck, and everyone was getting excited, and after we unveiled the truck and its contents — all of the factory workers started singing and dancing around us. It was a really cool moment.”

Wymbia recalls, “All the workers were passing me one by one on their brand new bikes, stopping to thank us when they would see my friends and me. It was a moment of joy for me because I realized that this long project

had really worked and we had all succeeded.”

Ayile and Wymbia captured these moments in film and are working with a filmmaker to produce a documentary and translate the contents from French to English. The documentary will detail Akoulouma’s journey and experiences through this time and show to all those who donated to the GoFundMe what their donations have become. They filmed 200 or more clips that they are now compiling together.

“This experience definitely made me value bicycles more. To me, riding a bike is just an option; it is just for fun. When I need it, my parents can drive me. For the workers in Togo, a bike is a mode of transportation. Having to walk is extremely tiring and extremely hot. I now see how much more value a bike has,” says Ayile. ■

SAAS student Nick Leeds (Grade 12), along with four friends Elias Farhat, Omar Diouf, Giovanni Mancini-Grifoli, and Gabrielle

Reflection from Wymbia:

A day in the life of Abide after receiving a bike

I shadowed a woman named Abide. I was able to walk to and from home with Abide, both before and after she got a bike. Before she had a bike, she would have to wake up at 4 a.m. to do laundry, clean up and make food. She would also have to walk one hour to the factory. After work, she would have to clean her clothes and clean the house, make dinner, etc. After she got a bike, she was able to cut 40 minutes of her daily walk, so she would save 80 minutes a day, sometimes more. This allowed her to go to sleep earlier and wake up later; she would also be able to spend more time with her family.

These bikes didn’t just help her with time; they also helped her financially. Here in America, a lot of people save up to buy cars, whereas, in Togo, people are saving up to buy bikes. This bike donation allowed her to save money to pay for her bills and food.

SAAS students Ayile (Grade 11) and her cousin Gabrielle Norman Locoh with a recipient of one of the 300 donated bicycles.

BUGGIN’ OUT!

BUGGIN’ OUT!

SAAS’ BrAnd-New EnTomoloGy

ClAsS with MelAniE ZAhN

Out in the wilds of Frink Park in search of insects.

(left to right) Jack Cammermeyer (Grade 11), Colin Farrow (Grade 12), Giacomo Ferguson (Grade 12)

Students helped with all of the necessary equipment for a productive park visit in Melanie Zahn’s Entomology Class.

The TrimesTer’s finAl exAmS conSisTed of A five-coUrSe meAl of bUGS:

... A brownie duo with desiccated orthoptera, followed by Oaxacan chapulines crisps, insect charcuterie (melange of grasshopper, cricket, silkworm, worm), grilled earthworm jerky and cricket au chocolat.

“I have never been opposed to eating bugs,” says Giacomo Ferguson, a SAAS senior in Melanie Zahn’s Introduction to Entomology class. This is lucky for Giacomo, who never would have expected to do so for class credit. Entomology, the study of bugs, is a class Melanie brought to SAAS this academic year — a first of its study for Seattle Academy students. Melanie, who majored in entomology at University of Wisconsin in Madison, “always thought

entomology would be the most amazing class to teach.” And it is.

“It is a fascinating class that really broadened my view of the insect world,” says Clare Stout, senior and bug enthusiast.

The class takes a deep dive into insects generally, not just Washington-based bugs. “It is fun to see how diverse they are and how big the world is,” says Melanie. One goal of the class is to have a generally higher appreciation for this really important part in making the world function. Because kids tend to not like insects, it is a barrier to appreciating them. And the goal is to have a relationship with insects.”

The class involves observation and caretaking. Students learn how to identify insects, and also arthropods, using dichotomous keys, looking at samples, and IDing samples. They cover fieldwork, including trips to Seattle University’s campus and Frink Park for data collection and observation. They observe King Worms (beetle larva), for example, who do this burrowing behavior. One student, Clare, set an experiment sampling three different habitats the insect might burrow in, like soft soil and leaves, to see in which one there was high burrowing behavior. “The King Worm is the larval stage of a beetle named Zophobas Morio. They are usually found in tropical environments, so I decided to

focus on changing their habitat into a more natural setting for them. King Worms love to be underground or at least shielded by something,” says Clare, who saw these preferences play out and observed in the experiment.

Students also create insect collections, pinning and preserving various insects found in different parks. Students learn the difference between insects and bugs. “Technically insects are an umbrella term, bugs are a small subset of insects within that umbrella. We are studying insects. Bugs are a smaller order,” explains Melanie. They also study insects versus chelicerates, a taxonomic group which includes spiders and ticks. Insects have six legs; chelicerates have eight.

Generally, the students walk away with an understanding of how insects connect with the world around them. “Part of the practice of looking at small things, at the world around me, had a really big impact on how I see the world now,” says Melanie. This is why she is bringing this outlook to Seattle Academy students. “The practice of noticing — especially the things you tend to overlook when you are out in the world at our scale — is something I thought was important to bring to the class itself. Once you look at insects, you see smaller things on plants; you see microorganisms. It is important to build a relationship with nature in general. The fascination starts with tending to

(Above) Students learned how to pin their insect specimens and classify them by family, genus and species and arrange them in a collection. (Below) Each student presented their collection to the class for their final.

things and caring about [small] things, which is important moving forward and thinking of big policy in how we treat things.”

They also have class pets: two orchid mantises; a couple blue-legged walking sticks; one centipede (a species from the Galapagos); a couple lubber grasshoppers (the golden retrievers of grasshoppers —

they eat carrots from your hand); a tarantula; and some deathfeigning beetles.

At the end of the year, they play a game of entomophagy, the eating of insects. “It is more upand-coming as a health option and sustainability option,” says Melanie, who enjoys setting the five-course French-inspired fine dining menu.

“While I have never been opposed to eating bugs, getting my foot in the door and finally trying some tasty bug snacks has been an eye-opening experience,” Giacomo reports. “It has definitely made me question why eating insects is seen as strange in some parts of the world and normal in others.” ■

Melanie Zahn, talking to Jack Cammermeyer about insects found on their field trip to Frink Park.

(Above) The ‘Entomophagy’ menu from the Entomology final where students (below) got to try insects in a variety of preparations.

“AfroHouse is a music and dance genre that is mostly practiced in Angola and South Africa,” says WillyNoir (legal name Yilan Wiegers), a professional dancer and teacher from Amsterdam who made a guest appearance at Seattle Academy to teach Upper School students the basic steps. “The music emerged first in South Africa in the early 90’s thanks to house music. However, South Africans had not yet associated AfroHouse music with special dancing steps as Angolans did.”

WillyNoir has taught workshops around the world in over 25 different countries. This year, he came to Seattle to teach SAAS students the expression and essence of AfroHouse.

“Dance is not only a form of expression, it is a community, sibilinghood, and lifestyle. Having the opportunity to meet Willy was life changing and an experience I believe every dancer should be able to have. Not only because diversifying your perspectives and dance styles is important, but because the smiles on everyone’s faces while we danced in the same room was so inspiring.”

— Lucy Mayer, Grade 12 (at right)

“As a student choreographer new to teaching dance, it is inspiring to see someone like Willy come in with so much love and energy. His spirit was incredibly impactful. Moments like this are genuinely lifechanging. I‘m so grateful for Alicia Mullikin, who I’ve had the privilege of studying under for three years, for giving the dance program this unique opportunity.”

— Mei Enoki, Grade 11

“WillyNoir gave us such a deep insight into the style of AfroHouse dancing. With the moves that he taught us, he invited us into a whole new world of dance, and we could fully immerse ourselves in that new experience. To learn about a style like AfroHouse — which has laid down the foundation for many other dances I do today — put into perspective how much dance has further evolved because of it.”

— Marquez Perry-Daves, Grade 11 (at center)

“I loved when he had us dance his combo facing each other because it felt like having a conversation. Dance is not only a sport and art form but also a language. Dance allows people all around the world to come together.”

“I appreciate the SAAS dance program for giving us opportunities to become wellrounded, skillful, and respectful dancers.” — Darby Greene, Grade 10 (at center)

“Willy brought so much life and energy into the space. From the moment he walked in, there was music blasting, and we were chanting and dancing the whole time. We were at 100% for the whole rehearsal. I think that by entering the space with so much intention and excitement, we all had no choice but to meet Willy with as much energy as we could.” — Hersh Powers, Grade 11

“The SAAS Dance program views dance as a full body, social, and emotional experience. Students in the program are nurtured to become impactful global citizens and activists through dance. Bringing in artists who represent the values of Seattle Academy and the dance program is essential to empowering our students. Allowing them to see up close all the ways artists are impacting the world today allows them to imagine and work towards the future they want for themselves.”

— Alicia Mullikin, Dance Department Director

A History of Social Exclusion

By: Giselle Furlonge, Associate Head of School

As I walked down from the Temple building to the main block on a sunny day in the late April sunshine, an idea formed. I was listening again to a podcast about the adolescent mental health crisis and how schools and medical providers alike might understand better how to approach the isolation, depression, and anxiety among teenagers that we’ve seen intensified by the pandemic. I thought in particular about the social isolation that we’ve all experienced since 2020 and considered the traditions that we were welcoming back to campus in the spring to reinforce our own community connection. Free seating during lunch, End of Trimester performances, and Senior Project Night marked just a few of the ways that we were returning fully, in big and small ways, to those experiences that define our vibrant SAAS community.

Considering the countless examples of exclusion and cancellation that our students have witnessed and grappled with since 2020, my mind alighted on a series of questions What would it be like to dive deeply into social exclusion from an historical perspective? How is social exclusion similar to or different from ostracism and cancellation? What benefit might students experience from approaching a

history of social exclusion from a breadth of perspectives, time periods, and cultures? Once the idea took root, it was difficult to shake. At a time when our students are called not only to engage but to shape the world around them, a class designed to explore the ways in which societies have used mechanisms of social exclusion to reinforce cultural norms, sanction behavior, and define (or redefine) socially acceptable standards of behavior for individuals and organizations alike felt urgent and necessary.

My background in Classical Studies, American History, and Archaeology offered a variety of entry points from which to draw source materials. As I prepared for teaching the course this summer, I read the book, The Social Outcast: Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Rejection, and Bullying, edited by Dr. Kipling Williams, Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. On a lark, I decided to email Dr. Williams to see if he would consider a Zoom visit to my fall trimester class. To my great surprise and delight, Dr. Williams was not only excited to discuss my class, but willing to come to SAAS and talk with students and faculty about his research on social exclusion. In October, we hosted Dr. Williams for a two-day visit where he met with upper school students, middle and upper

school division leadership, and our counseling team in addition to visiting our Psychology and Advanced Psychology classes. Dr. Williams offered our students direct access to his cuttingedge research on social loafing, ostracism, and its implications for self-esteem and belonging.

Using Dr. Williams’ research on social exclusion as a foundation, the class intersected historical case studies of Athenian democracy and ostracism in the 5th Century BCE. My students and I then traversed the Roman political practice of exile and martyrdom, the Salem Witch Trials, American colonial protest, McCarthyism, and the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. We examined the boycotts that businesses like Starbucks and Abercrombie & Fitch have faced in the last decade and looked at case studies of athletes such as Muhammad Ali and Colin

Kaepernick, as well as country musicians The Chicks. We are best poised to consider the present-day implications of these dynamic examples and issues by immersing ourselves in the primary and secondary source materials that define a particular historical moment, including our own. By analyzing historic examples of exile, boycotting, and cancellation, students honed their skills of chronological thinking, historical comprehension, interpretations, and research. Our course culminated with students designing their own case study, applying the principles of the class to their own research interests. They engaged a wide range of historic examples from the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal that rocked the White House in the 1990s, the boycott of Russian vodka in the United States following the invasion of Ukraine, the ostracism of Oscar Wilde in the Victorian era, the cancellation of JK Rowling, the imposition of Gagaca courts following the Rawandan genocide, and the controversy surrounding the Elgin Marbles.

I’ve been grateful to my students for the enthusiasm and curiosity that they’ve brought to every class meeting. Together we have probed the interplay between social exclusion and individual and group identity formation. We’ve wrestled with the notion of cancellation as a method of social punishment, accountability, and whether or not exclusion can be used as a tool for personal growth and larger social change.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

What is the relationship between power and social exclusion? Power, social exclusion, and identity?

What role does consequence play in the development and maintenance of social order?

How do processes of social exclusion shape our everyday experience? We will also consider the way in which historical exile, boycotting, and cancellation have served as tools for social and political process, punishment/consequence, and advancement/progress.

What is the relationship between (collective) memory and social consequence?

With each case study we’ve encountered, how we understand the relationship between power, identity, and consequence has deepened and our commitment to understanding the nuanced impact of ostracism has grown.

Learning that is relevant, meaningful, and anchored in action is a hallmark of a SAAS education. I can’t wait to see what new case studies will emerge for future students. ■

Dr. Kipling Williams speaking to Upper School students during his SAAS visit in October 2022.

Sarah Smith and Withrow, illustrating object permanence during one of the Baby Day classes in Advanced Psychology.

BabY DaY

Engaging Students with Real-Time Cognitive Skill Development

When Upper School Teacher

Sarah Smith began an Introduction to Psychology class four years ago, she started rounding up SAAS babies. She calls it “Baby Day.” Adorable toddlers, often the offspring of faculty or alumni, provide the perfect test subjects for cognitive skill development. Alongside a rich curriculum of Piaget, object permanence, conservation of mass and attachment theory, students also get the opportunity to huddle on the floor and see these developmental milestones in real time. “Kids don’t realize they want to be around little kids until they are around them. Then they are on the floor and they want to be the one to make the kid

smile, to play peek-a-boo,” says Sarah, “They are really fun to be around.” Sarah remembers learning about these cognitive tests in college. “I was nannying at the time, so I would try them on the kids I was watching.”

Sarah had the opportunity to demonstrate her presentation “Baby Day: How to engage students showing real-time cognitive skill development” at the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP) during their 45th annual conference. The institution focuses on innovative and breakthrough teaching methods and invites educators from independent, nonprofit, and educational institutions.

“Baby Day was an amazing demonstration of some foundational psychology topics,” said Dr. Ken Carter, Interim Dean of Oxford College of Emory University and member of the NITOP organizing committee. “I must admit that I’ve seen the demonstration in videos but seeing it in person really brought the information to life. Sarah Smith did an amazing job at showing faculty how this could fit into a classroom. Her demo was a big hit and she’s such an inspiration. She’s obviously a talented teacher and it was such a pleasure to have her at NITOP. I hope to see her at NITOP again.”

Meet Sully: The

Disappearing Act

As great psychologist Piaget outlines, babies learn a cognitive skill known as object permanence around nine months. Object permanence is when you understand that objects that disappear — still exist. As Sully discovered, at the age of nine months, when you take an object and put it under a blanket, it either exists or it doesn’t. Once a baby develops object permanence, they will look under the blanket, as Sully demonstrated for the onlooking students in Sarah’s class.

Credit: Mother Hilary O’Dougherty, Assistant Athletic Director and SAAS Cardinal JVC Girls Basketball Head Coach and Varsity Girls Lacrosse Associate Head Coach.

Meet Wilson:

Step Off It

Awareness of self develops around the age one and a half. There is no more honest way to test this awareness than the shopping cart test. Sarah Smith masterminded this simple and efficient way to observe when this awareness develops by attaching some fabric to the bottom wheels of a shopping cart. If the test subject steps on the fabric, the cart won’t move when he pushes it. Students bore witness as Wilson, age 15 months, enacted this frustrating milestone slowly, and surprisingly calmly.

Credit: Mother Kina Walker-Nisbet ’06, SAAS alumna and consultant for the development team at SAAS.

Meet Eva:

The Truth Takes Shape

Eva looked at two water glasses intently. Sarah Smith’s Intro to Psychology students looked at Eva unblinkingly. It was Wednesday and everyone involved was conducting an experiment to test Piaget’s Theory of Conservation. Eva, age five, is a willing participant in the class study of conservation of mass, where children between the ages of five and seven begin to understand that because something changes shape, it doesn’t change amount. This experiment can be conducted first with two balls of play dough, then rolling one into a snake. Also, first with two short, wide glasses of water (photographed above), and then pouring one into a tall, skinny glass. At which point Eva must determine which glass, or dough, has more.

Credit: Older sisters Jordyn (Grade 11) and Jasmine (Grade 12) Brathwaite, current Seattle Academy students.

Meet Tatum:

Reality is Dirty

Tatum, at age three and a half, joined Sarah’s class during remote learning on Zoom. Even when students couldn’t meet the kids in person, Baby Day was still a big hit. Here, Tatum is working on her conservation of mass skills. Do the shampoo bottles stay the same number when they’re spread out? This concept is still a little hard for her but will be a task she develops over the coming years. In the meantime, she aced her appearance on Zoom: centered in the frame, looking straight ahead, and appearing in bright lighting. Not bad for a three-year-old.

Credit: Father Zac Townsend, Upper School Coordinator and SAAS Cardinal Basketball Head Coach.

Meet Grayson:

Too Cool for School

Grayson, at three and half years old, showed Sarah’s students that human research is not as easy as you might think at first. She did not want to do any of the tasks Sarah had ready for her, and instead spent most of class cutting paper, putting on cool sunglasses, and eventually playing catch with a student. Even when experiments do not go the way they are planned, the students glean a lot out of the children’s behavior and responses to a new environment.

Credit: Father Jarad Gifford, Assistant Head of Upper School.

Brad (left) and Craig (right) coaching a summer soccer conditioning camp for SAAS students in 2022.

BRAD & CRAIG TALK MENTORSHIP

Two former Seattle Sounders players and current soccer coaches at Seattle Academy agree on two things: winning games, and that mentorship is what you make of it. As leaders on the field as players — and now on the sidelines as coaches of the Seattle Academy Varsity Soccer teams — Brad and Craig are experts in the game of soccer, role models outside of the classroom, and mentors to many SAAS students. This is not a passive role. It is also not an easily defined role. An interview with Brad and Craig illuminated the concept of mentorship and what it means to each of them, and why.

BRAD EVANS

Retired Captain of Seattle

Sounders & Current Head Coach at Seattle Academy

“I have never had a mentor,” says Brad Evans, Head Coach of the Seattle Academy Girls and Boys Varsity Soccer team and retired captain of the Seattle Sounders. “I have been looking back on my life, trying to think of things that would categorize someone as a mentor and what that meant. I have had excellent coaches that I looked up to but never did we grab a bite to eat or spend time after practice and talk about what’s going on in school or at home.”

Amongst Seattle Academy students, Brad himself is a mentor to many. As both a coach and professional soccer player, he is an expert and leader on the field. So we asked Brad what mentorship means to him.

Mentorship is making the time. “It is taking time out of your day, your coaching, on the weekend to watch a student play. It is talking to college coaches on their behalf. It is emails. It’s watching videos to advise players on what they need to do to improve. It is taking the time outside of your job — that is the vested interest. And that is where mentorship becomes much more than coaching: when you are doing it in your free time to better someone else’s potential future.”

Mentoring is being there. “I wasn’t able to make the boys’ run to the State Tournament Final Four last school year because, as a Sounders ambassador, I had Sounders stuff all weekend. So I asked Craig to let me know how it was going. During the first round game, at halftime, I had no texts, no nothing. And then, after the game, I got a Facetime from one of the students, junior Riley Cantu. I open up my phone, and his phone is on the ground, and all of the players are standing over the phone, just celebrating. And it was amazing.

“So the next day, the quarterfinal game, I again had no calls, no texts, nothing. And I finally got a Facetime from Riley and knew we won then. And they were again dancing over the phone and celebrating. And that is the camaraderie. That is being there to share those moments. It was so cool.”

Mentoring is pushing you to try. “When I was a student, I went to the University of California, Irvine, and our team was terrible. I had no aspirations to play soccer professionally. And then, it clicked for me in the second year, and my soccer career just took off. So you never know. You may not like an endeavor, but you must at least try it. You have to take that chance; take that leap.

“If you don’t have someone in your corner fighting for you — a coach, a mentor — it may not happen. So I am on the side of do it. Push kids. Push them until they push back. I am here to push them beyond what they think they can achieve. Because you can’t just sit back and say to yourself, ‘What if I would have just tried harder.’”

CRAIG TOMLINSON

Retired Seattle Sounders Player & Current Head Coach at Seattle Academy

“In Jamaica, a Caribbean island nation with a population of 2.9 million, soccer is king. The whole community is rallying behind you to perform your best work and work your magic in the sport,” says Craig Tomlinson, retired Seattle Sounders player and current Head Coach of the Seattle Academy Girls and Boys Varsity Soccer team. “Youth soccer is a very different dynamic from our youth’s experience here in Seattle and the states generally.”

“Where I am from,” shares Craig, who grew up and played soccer in the streets and school playgrounds in Jamaica, “for most youngsters on the island, opportunities for advancement in the sport are restricted due to a lack of structure in the youth leagues: poor infrastructure (fields) and limited access to equipment (playing soccer games barefooted with the other neighborhood kids). I got a lot of help,” says Craig, “If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be where I am today. So now, I’m in a position where I can help and give back. I’m excited about it.”

Mentorship is community.

“Being a mentor goes beyond teaching in the classroom or coaching on the soccer field — it is a meaningful relationship that nurtures young people to see the world through their lens. It’s doing whatever is necessary to give them opportunities and the self-confidence to achieve more. It’s not only about a higher mark or letter grade in the classroom, or more points in an athletic contest, but also about giving them whatever support they need to grow and always making time to share knowledge and wisdom.

“It’s a holistic approach to thinking about the needs of students: treating everyone as members of the community in which they live, whether at home, at school, or out in the community. It is about showing up for them — showing up to watch them play during sporting events, attending their recital, or making time to meet up during lunchtime to chat about their interests and goals.

“I feel like I have a role to play in their lives daily. Honestly, they bring me a lot of joy, and inspire me to be a better educator and person. It’s where I feel

fulfilled and find such splendid company. It gives me great pleasure to see them go on to achieve their goals.”

Mentorship is supporting the whole student. “I would say that my high school soccer coach was the most influential person in my life. He inspired me not only to be a better player at the sport but also steered me to becoming the person I aspire to be. He always pushed me to find this fire and hunger, striking an outstanding balance between sports and academics. He encouraged me to set goals for my education and athletics and do everything I can to meet them.

“One big piece of advice I got as a youngster is that I can’t be successful without hard work and that my ticket to a career through athletics can have

setbacks or be derailed by an injury any given day. Chances are I will have to work hard and apply the same principle to my school work to support myself when I become an adult. And that my future is not only in sports but also in academics. That got in my head that I needed to do decently in school. I needed to be a more rounded person. So I try

to impart wisdom to help kids discover their truth. Fail Big and do what you’re passionate about. Take chances. Don’t be afraid to play outside of the box. It’s about taking opportunities and moving forward, trying harder, and making an effort to do the best you’re capable of. And don’t ever give up on yourself or try to be better than someone else.”

Mentorship is thinking outside the box. “One of the reasons why I felt my high school coach was such an influential piece

and actions that earned me a track and field scholarship at a university here in the states.

“Track and field wasn’t even my first love or passion. You know, it was soccer. But my coach had the insight that, even at that young age, the opportunity to pursue a soccer scholarship leaving Jamaica was very slim. He encouraged me to think outside the box and pursue my studies in college on a track scholarship. He said he was confident I could excel in track and field and succeed

and graduated from The Ohio State University. Now here I am, retired from the Sounders. I had a career out of soccer, and with those connections, I have a community here at SAAS working with fantastic colleagues and amazing kids.” ■

of my life is because I’m sitting here right now. I had hardworking parents who raised me and weren’t always able to give us kids the things that other kids had. Neither of my parents had any postsecondary education. I got a lot of second chances, and I had the opportunity to go to college and play professional soccer and follow my dreams. I think my coach had a lot to do with that. He gave me the support that I needed. He had a lot to do with the decisions

academically. He envisioned that at some point, there was going to be a chance to get back to pursuing my dreams of playing soccer. And then, in a couple blinks of an eye, just like he said, I had the opportunity to switch to a soccer scholarship and I got right back into it.

“I am really grateful I attended Central State University in Ohio, did two years of track and field, and then transferred

SAAS SNAPSHOTS: Academics

Last fall, Jason Vasquez and Meghan Fox led Middle School students in a hands-on demonstration of Newton’s third law. This lab was part of a class unit that culminated in the student groups designing their own space craft applying Newton’s laws of motion.