The Show(case) Must Go On

and applying all that we learned won’t be easy, but I’m very grateful to be equipped with concrete tools and linked to a national cohort of passionate math educators there to support and encourage one another. Thanks to the family who graciously donated to support our work.”

CAMPUS RENEWAL

We all look forward to returning to campus and recapturing our connection as a learning community. In anticipation of this return, significant work has been completed in key areas of the campus to provide additional space and safety for students, faculty, and staff. Several classrooms have been expanded and improved, new access points and doorways have been created, and changes have been made to Decorator Showcase is now open to the public. The typical April opening of the annual San Francisco Decorator Showcase, benefitting the UHS financial aid program, was postponed (twice!) because of multiple local and global crises. The story of what it took to bring you the 43rd Decorator Showcase demonstrates the resilience, creativity, and generosity of our community. After shelter-in-place orders were issued in response to the the serving spaces in the Student Center. All of these targeted improvements will ease crowding and offer more flexibility and safety for our community. Again, generous supporters helped make this possible, by providing funds in support of these improvements.

STUDENT WELLNESS

UHS has long desired a new model for school research, self-assessment, and strategic decision-making that leverages the talents of its faculty and staff while also creating leadership and professional growth opportunities. Thanks to a $250,000 leadership grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation (secured with matching dollars from our community, for a total rising threat of COVID-19, work on the Showcase house, was effectively shut down, and the wait began. As all of us at UHS and around the world attempted to adapt to extraordinary circumstances, we started planning for producing a virtual Showcase tour. Thankfully, construction restrictions were relaxed in mid-April; work resumed with new safety regulations in place, and the house was Showcase-ready by the end of July. We eventually made the difficult decision not to open Showcase for in-person tours and hired UHS alum Dan Herz ’85 to create a virtual tour once the house was finished. Filming of the house wrapped in early August, and the long-awaited “opening” of the 2020 Showcase of $500,000), we can provide meaningful support to UHS’s ongoing internal research work. We are studying a complex variety of strategic questions on a range of topics, including student belonging, assessment and grading, culturally responsive classrooms, access and affordability, student and faculty workload, and adolescent well-being. We believe that our work in these areas will transform the way we support individual and institutional growth by placing strategy in the hands of those who work most closely with students, and was finally in sight and set for August 29. A week before the scheduled launch, Showcase was postponed once again, due to key members of the virtual-tour production team being directly impacted by the California wildfires. As UHS development director Shaundra Bason said to the press and the public, “2020 might have slowed us down, but it won’t stop us.” And stop us it didn’t! This year’s Showcase launched on September 5. We are thrilled at the increased public this work is especially meaningful at a time when student wellness is challenged to an unusual degree.

These are challenging times and important institutions will continue to be tested as we navigate some of the most difficult social, political, and health crises imaginable. But if the last six months of generosity within the UHS community tells us anything, it is that the philanthropic spirit and leadership will rise to meet the

— Thelma Garza, Director of Events

The first-ever virtual

August 19–20, 2020

UHS launches Fall 2020 Virtual Orientation, opening the 2020-2021 school year officially on August 21 with continued distance learning. at 22 • 22nd Avenue, challenges. n accessibility to Showcase and the special content that going virtual has offered our supporters and our designers.

We would like to share our deepest appreciation for the hundreds of people who stood with us and willed a successful Showcase into existence with their passion and dedication, including designers, donors, advertisers, and our amazing volunteer committee, led by the indefatigable 2020 Showcase co-chairs Elizabeth

Showcase Chairs Liz Allor (P ’21) and Wendy Kesser (P ’23)

Photo courtesy of design firm DZINE and artist/photographer Elina Frumerman

Allor (P ’21) and Wendy Kesser (P ’23). In their words, “Never has there been a time when we have more appreciated the value of ‘home’ as a place of refuge, but also of work and diversion. Our community’s loyalty to our cause this year proves ‘the Show(case) must go on’ and is a powerful testament to our resilience and dedication, as well as a deeply appreciated gift in support of our next generation of leaders.”

Thank you, also, to those of you who have already participated in our virtual Showcase and supported the UHS financial aid program. We are especially grateful given the additional needs that many in our community are experiencing because of current events. If you have not done so already, please visit decoratorshowcase.org and show your support by enjoying a tour of the 2020 Showcase home at 22 • 22nd Avenue. n

September 22, 2020

U.S. death toll reaches a staggering 200,000, just over 6 months after the World Health Organization declared COVID19 a pandemic.

October 7, 2020

UHS Head of School announces November orientation and re-connection plan with hybrid learning to begin in January and possible relaunch of interscholastic athletics.

ALUMNI HONORS: JEFFREY K. HOM, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

on hold. Weeks later, George Floyd’s murder became widely known, shedding further light on the racism that exists in and beyond our criminal/legal system, and, as Jeff says, “the work absolutely changed.”

Jeff says, “Early on, data on COVID showed people of color developing higher rates of infection and more severe infection than Whites, a reflection of long-standing racial disparities in health care and health care access. The past months have prompted me and my team to reflect on our work on substance use and harm reduction, and to ensure that our actions are antiracist. I know, for me, personally and professionally, this has meant reflecting, listening and learning, understanding my own biases and, ultimately, what work I need to do to help address the structural racism that endangers people’s health and safety.” In addition to addressing the consequences of the “War on Drugs,” the most visible manifestation of the intersection of racism and drug policy in the US, Jeff seeks to improve the equity of care requires the U.S. Department of Education to award grants to local educational agencies and nonprofit organizations for the purpose of reducing suspension and expulsion of students (i.e., exclusionary disciplinary practices), requires the department to collect data on exclusionary discipline in schools, and establishes a joint task force to end school pushout. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor in December 2019. Last summer, many White people around the world reacted to the murder of George Floyd by reaching a deeper level of understanding of the insidious and deepseated effects of slavery and racism. Monique sees attention from people who had not previously provided by health care systems and drug treatment programs to people who use drugs. Jeff says the problem is twofold: “Systems have for too long been less accessible to Black and Brown individuals, and then these same groups are hurt by the biases that exist within them. We must be better.”

CHOOSING PUBLIC HEALTH AS A CAREER

Jeff points out that there are many paths into a career in public health, a broad field ranging from climate change to substance misuse. While many of his health department colleagues have had formal public health education, others trained as physicians, lawyers, social workers, or educators. “It can be fast-paced,” Jeff says, “solving problems in real time that are affecting the health of the community.” Jeff thrives working at the county level, which allows him witness firsthand local public health problems and influence policy to create their solutions. “Public health departments have seen a great shrinking over the been involved in the ongoing conversation as an opportunity to sustain efforts to dismantle structural racism and individual bias. To those who are ready to step up and help advance the important work of antiracism, Monique says, “Commit to aligning the allocation of resources and actions with interest in being a part of the solution. Partner with organizations and individuals who are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), and trust their leadership to guide us through conditions that intentionally and/or subconsciously facilitate bias or exacerbate harm.” Today, Monique is increasingly focusing on facilitating spaces for healing. She says, “It’s time to step into our radical imagination years, but COVID has spurred a new interest in the field, and my hope is that we attract new people to help solve some of our most pressing problems.”

Public health is often behind the scenes, its work garnering attention only when a crisis emerges. Funding then pours in, only to be cut when the threat wanes. Despite this cycle, Jeff thinks COVID-19 has changed our understanding of what public health is and why it’s important. At the same time, Jeff worries about the politicization and mistrust of science that have also emerged during the current pandemic. He believes that, while a balance can and must be struck between the needs of the economy and public safety in response to COVID, too much of the dialogue today frames this as a one-or-the-other decision. This conflict has inflamed tensions in our already deeply partisan society, and has sown doubt in public health. “I expect that restoring trust will be a necessary component of our work in the years to come,” Jeff says. and embrace the possibility that we can transform the relationships that cause individuals and communities so much pain if we address, head-on, the historical traumas that guide so much of how and what we think and do.” At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Monique accepted a position as the inaugural executive director of Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4GC). “After decades of scholarship and advocacy for Black lives, joining G4GC felt like the right move,” she says. “Currently, philanthropic organizations donate just $5.48 per woman and girl of color in the US. We have to uplift strategies that respond to the unique needs of Black women and girls. We can’t assume that funding and initiatives aimed at eliminating

UHS’S INFLUENCE ON JEFF’S LIFE

At UHS Jeff sang in the chorus, ran cross-country, and developed a love for art history that would lead him to choose it as his major at Bowdoin College. Jeff says, “UHS faculty taught me to think critically and to welcome feedback, challenging and expanding my understanding of the world around me. While my years at college were formative, it was UHS that prepared me and enabled me to make the most of them. And UHS fostered deep friendships and a sense of community that I hold dear to this day.”

Jeff was named to the inaugural list of “40 Under 40 in Public Health” by the de Beaumont Foundation in 2019. He is a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a fellow in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, a TEDx speaker, and a faculty member in the MPH program at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching classes on substance use as a public health issue. He has published multiple peer-reviewed articles to advance knowledge in the fields of pub-

ALUMNI HONORS: MONIQUE W. MORRIS, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

lic health and health policy research. n injustices for Black men and boys will automatically respond to the needs of Black women and girls. Certainly these efforts are important and worthy, but we need to apply an intersectional lens when investing in solutions to inequity.”

UHS’S INFLUENCE ON MONIQUE’S LIFE

Monique has been an important part of the UHS community for more than thirty years, as a Summerbridge student, a UHS student, an engaged alumna, and, most recently, a parent. “UHS taught me how to structure intellectual inquiry,” she says. “It also taught me how to grow as a thinker. As a student, I had many critiques about the curriculum, even though I knew it was the best that San Francisco had to