Note from the Head of School
Faculty meeting
WHEN MY YOUNGEST WAS IN NINTH GRADE, WE COMMUTED T O S C H O O L T O G E T H E R . Like most teenagers, he would get up at the last minute, pull on some pants, brush a tooth or two, climb into the car, and go right back to sleep. He attended a school that required a coat and tie, and I would watch in wonder
UHS welcomes 10 new instructors and staff members
from the driver’s seat as he put on his tie without waking up. So, yes, I know about the difficulty teenagers have getting enough sleep. The problem is epidemic. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement two years ago
University High’s newest
teacher and a student: He’s an
School. In the spring semester,
saying “insufficient sleep in adolescents [is] an important public health issue that sig-
faculty members hail from
English instructor and ninth-
Mary Kelly will take over the
nificantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation’s
all across the country and
grade mentor at UHS, and
Latin program while Deborah
he’s a master’s student at the
Shaw is on sabbatical. Mary
middle and high school students.” Chronic sleep loss not only impairs physical and
specialize in sundry subjects, but they all seem to have one
Middlebury Bread Loaf School
has taught Latin at St. Andrew’s
thing in common: They’re quite
of English. Rachel Esselstein,
School in Middletown,
comfortable wearing a number
who has taught math to middle
Delaware, and at the TEAK
of different hats.
schoolers and college students
Fellowship Summer Institute
as well as to high schoolers
in New York City.
Incoming math instructor
mental health and classroom performance, it contributes to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and obesity. Clearly, an alarm has sounded. Let’s hope that schools are awake enough to respond. At University, we’re taking action. This year we’re experimenting with our schedule, moving our Monday and Tuesday start times to 8:30 a.m. and beginning classes at 9 a.m. the other three days. I hope you’ll turn to page 14 and read “The Rest is History,” writer
Sandeep Bhuta, who loves
at the Bay School, has taken
writing word problems, comes
on statistics and precalculus
to UHS from St. Ignatius High,
at University. Catherine Lu
where he not only taught math
is teaching three levels of
for six years but revitalized the
Chinese. Before UHS, Catherine
the demands of agriculture, the lack of air-conditioning for urban schools, transpor-
speech and debate program.
was an instructor at Princeton
tation timetables, and the adult workday. And even as we’ve learned a tremendous
Jessica Bejarano is teaching
University’s Beijing program
amount about the particularities of teen sleep in the last 20 or so years, the science has
chamber orchestra, camerata,
and at the Tsinghau International School.
remained way ahead of the practice. We’ve decided to put the science into play.
and chorus and serving as a
Robert Sullivan’s exploration of the UHS schedule changes and the neuroscience behind
Back row, Pierre Carmona, Catherine Lu, Jessica Bejarano, Sandeep Bhuta. Front row, Rachel Esselstein, Molly Bondy, Jessica Osorio. Not pictured, Nora Free Mather, Mary Kelly, Heather Olson.
them. There are also some helpful tips, “Your Tickets to a Better Night’s Sleep,” on page 17. School schedules—daily, weekly, and yearly—in the United States were built around
There are three considerations driving this experimental schedule change: First and
ninth-grade mentor. She was
Jessica Osorio, Class of
also recently named the con-
2010, has returned to Univer-
ductor of the 85-year-old San
sity to teach English and serve
Francisco Civic Symphony.
as a 12th-grade mentor. Her
Nora Free Mather, who
UHS classmate Molly Bondy
has a PhD in music from the
is teaching AP Art History as
to but rarely find time for. This work, which is essential to our ambition to be a national
University of Pittsburgh with
well as the visual arts portion
leader in shifting school culture, is now happening by intention rather than by chance.
a concentration in jazz studies
of Western Civ. Heather Olson,
foremost is our care about the health and wellness of our students. Second is our need to model risk-taking for our students, to be as bold and nimble as the school’s strategic vision calls for. Third is the opportunity to provide our faculty with time to engage in the professional development and curricular collaboration that educators often aspire
My personal hope is that by acknowledging the different circadian rhythm of teen-
returned to campus. After
fully awake but also to engage as alert and happy participants in this exciting academic
Western Civ. Nora is also a pro-
working in admissions and
journey. At UHS, we want to give our students more time to sleep so they have more
fessional saxophonist and
college counseling for UHS,
will soon be releasing an
Heather headed to Minneapolis
album with Zambian singer/
where she most recently
musician Mathew Tembo.
served as the lower school
Pierre Carmona is both a
office manager at the Blake
GLENN MATSUMURA
the admissions assistant, also
the music history portion of
GLENN MATSUMURA
and composition, is teaching
agers with our new schedule, we give them the best chance not only to get dressed while
opportunity to dream.
Julia Russell Eells
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UHS JOURNAL FALL 2016
SFUHS.ORG
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