UHS Journal Fall 2015 NOAR

Annual Report Issue

Celebrating 4o Years!

Fall 2015

UHS JOURNAL A Magazine for University High School Families, Alumni, and Friends

University High School welcomes students of demonstrated motivation and ability to engage in an education that fosters responsibility and the spirited pursuit of knowledge.

We are a school where adults believe in the promise of every student, and together we work to build and sustain a community of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and talents. UHS challenges each individual to live a life of integrity, inquiry, and purpose larger than the self.

Front Cover: For this Fall 2015 issue, our cover showcases a beautiful design created by renowned Bay Area artist Michael Schwab, commissioned to celebrate San Francisco University High School’s 40th anniversary.

FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

UHS Journal a n n ual r eport issu e

2

fa l l

2015

Letter from the Head of School Celebrating Together: 40 Years of UHS

4

by Holly Johnson ‘82, Director of Alumni Relations and Alissa Kinney Moe, Director of Communications

6

Reminiscing and Reflecting with the Class of 2015

by Alissa Kinney Moe, Director of Communications

12

13 14

Moving Forward with Our Design: An Update on the Strategic Design Process at UHS Sabbatical Reflections: Time Away

by Dr. Jesse Berrett, History Instructor and Ninth-Grade Mentor

The UHS Album: Campus Galleries

by Alissa Kinney Moe, Director of Communications

16

The Universe of Imagination: An Interview with Visiting Writer-in-Residence Chang-rae Lee with Alissa Kinney Moe, Director of Communications

18

At My Desk with Tilda Kapuya with Alissa Kinney Moe, Director of Communications

20

New on Campus

by Alissa Kinney Moe, Director of Communications

24

Alumni Association News

by Holly Johnson ’82, Director of Alumni Relations

26

Class Notes / In Memoriam

by Holly Johnson ’82, Director of Alumni Relations

The Annual Report 34

Board Chair Letter

36

Parents Association Letter

37

Alumni Association Letter

38

Board Treasurer Letter

39

Fundraising

40

Gift Listing

62

Volunteer Thank Yous

64

Ways of Giving to UHS

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL VOL. XXVI, NO. 2 EDITOR Alissa Kinney Moe EDITORIAL BOARD Shaundra Bason Thelma Garza Kate Gorrissen Holly Johnson ’82 Mary King

PHOTOGRAPHY Jane Coté-Cook James Faerron Jean Fruth Anne Gamrin Pantelick ’85 UHS Alumni Relations UHS Communications PRINTING Burns & Associates Fine Printing

San Francisco University High School admits and welcomes students of any race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national, or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, employment policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school administered programs.

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

1

From the Head’s Desk Life in High School Matters for Life When I graduated from college in 1981, I stumbled into my first job without a lot of worry or planning.

I was one of the lucky ones. In college, I found my niche academically, had professors who engaged me, and found an advisor who took an interest in me. While all of that didn’t necessarily prepare me for the professional world, it did give me confidence and an appetite to look for role models in my work life, and I was fortunate enough to find a number of people who have had a significant impact on my 35-year career in education.

Among other things, my mentors taught me to believe in and listen carefully to myself and to others, to appreciate that everyone brings valuable perspectives to the table, and to stay true to my core values and beliefs. I still call upon these people when I need a boost, some advice, or a shoulder, and I have offered the same to my peers in independent schools across the country.

A 2014 Gallup/Purdue University study revealed that support and experience in college had a direct connection to long-term outcomes, engagement, and success for graduates. Professors who care about students as people and inspire their excitement about learning

2

FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

double the odds of those young people later experiencing success in the workplace and thriving in all aspects of their well-being.

And just as important? The presence of a mentor who encourages them to pursue goals and dreams.

When UHS set out to revamp our advising system in response to a recommendation from CAIS (the California Association of Independent Schools) years ago that we build a stronger system of support for our students who engage in this challenging academic program and fast-paced school environment, we did so with the kind of passion and energy we expect of our students. Led by Dean of

“I am confident that I’m sending my child to college with the academic and emotional skills she’ll need to thrive.”

Students Alex Lockett, we searched for models, exhausted the literature, and eventually decided we should build the most robust program possible, given what we knew about best practices in student social and emotional health. We made a dramatic shift in focus from traditional, academic advising to integrated, wholestudent mentoring. As far as we know, no school has created a program quite like ours.

One of the main tenets of the Mentoring Program at UHS was to ensure that in their first year, the mentors receive the same amount of support as they themselves devote to our ninth-graders. In addition to receiving a reduction in their teaching load, our ninth-grade mentors (now for the fourth summer in a row) engage in a week of intensive training, which includes deep listening, parent and teacher communication, collaborating with the UHS peer advisors, and teaching students better organizational strategies. We accompanied this initiative with an extensive program of parent education and engagement. We also expanded the role and reach of the director of wellness and leadership, which has allowed us to better coordinate the work of the mentors with the student peer advisors and members of the UHS Human Development Department.

Since we initiated the Mentoring Program at UHS, it has received considerable attention from peer schools and been embraced by numerous colleagues in education. In late July, Denise Pope, a faculty member at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education and co-founder of Challenge Success, released her new book, Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids. We are delighted that the Mentoring Program is featured prominently in the book’s “Creating a Climate of Care” chapter. Alex also continues to field numerous calls and inquiries from other high-performing schools about the program and has been excited to share our story.

In 2016, we will be graduating the first class that has been mentored in this formal and intentional way for all four years of their high school career. There is no doubt that the seniors feel more connected to and grounded in their UHS experience; that their parents feel calmer and more confident; and frankly, that the tone throughout the school feels more relaxed and authentic. With the 2015–16

school year, we have fully implemented the Mentoring Program in all four grades and the entire community in benefitting from our committed focus on student support and well-being. By being more intentional about teaching a wider range of skills (both cognitive and non-cognitive), we’ve seen our students respond to that teaching in the same way that they respond to classroom learning—engaged, interested in feedback, curious about more effective approaches, etc. As a result, we have a school filled with students who value a wider range of success measures than just grades, scores, and wins.

At a recent parent coffee led by Alex and Academic Dean Kate Garrett on the senior year, a number of parents shared deep gratitude for the program. According to one: “I can’t imagine UHS without mentoring—the support we’ve all received these past four years has enabled my child to flourish by focusing on meaningful areas of growth and learning.” Another shared, “I am confident that I’m sending my child to college with the academic and emotional skills she’ll need to thrive.”

So often our alumni seek out their UHS teachers for advice long after they’ve finished college and entered the world of work— it is certainly no surprise that this mentor relationship weaves throughout our graduates’ careers and lives. The connection that our students develop with the adults on campus provides the foundation they need to take advantage of opportunities and experiences after commencement. When they arrive for the first day of college, they will have already spent four years at a place where they are known, valued, and supported, and they will be equipped to use those great gifts to explore and change the world.

Julia Russell Eells Head of School

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

3

Celebrating Together: 40 Years of UHS

BY HOLLY JOHNSON ’82, DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS AND ALISSA KINNEY MOE, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

The 2015–16 school year marks the 40th anniversary of San Francisco University High School, and celebrations began in August with the annual convocation ceremony marking the start of classes and the official introduction of the senior class, who made quite the entrance into the UHS Theater as they rushed the stage and started one very enthusiastic dance party.

The kick-off of the 40th alumni art series quickly followed on September 17, with the opening of Nikhil Paladugu ’12 and Conor Ward ’12’s exhibition at the Jackson Street Gallery. A stunning showcase of the two ceramicists’ most recent work, Shifting Focus includes Nikhil’s delicate vases and pottery, which reflect the influence of a recent semester in China, as well as Conor’s beautiful series of birds and lanterns, based on his interpretation of San Francisco’s demographic shifts and migrations.

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FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

The good times continued with the first-ever UHS Day on Monday, September 21, providing the community an opportunity to reflect on our history—while also enjoying a good old-fashioned birthday party.

Founding faculty and alumni from the first four graduating classes were invited to return to campus and recall the early days of University, while also paying homage to our evolution into the much-beloved institution UHS is today. And though much has changed over the years, it was agreed that the heart and mission of the school have remained very

Nº 1

ALL OF US EARLY PIONEERS BELIEVED THAT IF WE SUCCEEDED,

Which class at UHS has been considered the most difficult?

A. Chemistry B. APUSH C. AP Physics D. Latin E. Western Civ

UHS would become a national model for the very best in urban college preparatory education. We would lead the way in our commitment to diversity and pluralism. We would set records in athletic competition, we would excel in academic and artistic pursuits, and we would set the standard for college and university admissions and subsequent careers of leadership, service, and contribution. We would reach out and give back to our larger community, and we would become known for a pervasive spirit of generosity and goodness.

This morning, University High School remains a work in progress. Those who came before you dreamt about a future you now inhabit. Those who follow surely will depend on you—this new generation of UHS pioneers—to keep that flame of aspiration burning brightly. I am fully confident that you are up to the task.

— DENNIS COLLINS AT UHS DAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Nº 2

How much has Decorator Showcase raised for financial aid at UHS since 1977?

A. $5 million B. $10 million C. $15 million D. $20 million

Nº 3 much the same: we are a community committed to excellence, the city of San Francisco, and one another. UHS Day festivities began in the morning with a breakfast for founding faculty and early alumni at the head’s house, where old friends reunited, sometimes after decades apart. Next, the crew headed over to the UHS Theater, where an all-school assembly featuring a welcome from founding Head of School Dennis Collins; a lively alumni panel; an unveiling of our school’s new logo by renowned Bay Area graphic artist Michael Schwab (currently featured on our cover!); and a keynote address by noted musician, producer, and spoken word artist Hollis Wong-Wear ’05 was planned.

(Though a trivia game had to be skipped due to an unexpected fire drill, you can find some

of the prepared questions in this article— a key is provided at the bottom of page 6.)

Afterwards, students, faculty, and school founders alike gathered together on the Upper Courtyard to enjoy the incredible sunshine and share some UHS birthday cake before heading back to class or, in the case of those who hadn’t been at UHS for quite some time, a tour of the campus. “Thank you for providing this memorable opportunity to reconnect with former students and colleagues of the most cherished years of my career,” founding faculty member Anne-Marie Pierce later shared. “It is clear UHS has fulfilled and surpassed our wildest dreams.”

Which other Bay Area school do students and alumni consider to be University’s biggest rival?

A. Branson/KBS/MTS B. Lick-Wilmerding C. Marin Academy D. Urban UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

5

celebrating together continued...

“It was such a pleasure to join the UHS community for its 40th birthday! From reuniting with alums and founding staff I haven’t seen in decades to remembering the first day of University, the first dance, the first soccer game, and the original mascot (yes, the Unicorns!), we all had a wonderful time. Here’s to the next 40!”

— MARK KUSHNER ’79

Counter-clockwise from top left: Hollis Wong-Wear ’05 leads a workshop for current UHS students; Head of School Julia Russell Eells speaks to the founding faculty and alumni gathered for a special breakfast at the head’s house; and founding Head of School Dennis Collins entertains the crowd at UHS Day.

Nº 4

Students and alumni most often say, “I’m glad I went to UHS because . . .”

A. of my teachers B. of my friends C. it was fun D. of the amazing education Trivia Answers Nº 1.

E. Western Civ

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FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

Nº 2.

C. Nearly $15 million

Nº 3.

B. Lick (It was close, but 37.5% of respondents chose Lick and 33.75% chose Branson/KBS/MTS

Nº 4.

D. The amazing education

Celebrating

40 Years Together!

We at San Francisco University High School are celebrating our 40th anniversary, with special events throughout the 2015–16 school year!

date

event

Friday, March 18 to Sunday, March 20, 2016

“Back for the Future” Celebration Weekend: ▪ All-School Assembly ▪ Open Campus at UHS ▪ All-Class Reunion ▪ “Back for the Future” Gala (at the Palace of Fine Arts)

Additional 40th Anniversary Events...

Friday, August 21, 2015

Convocation

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Alumni Art Opening: Nikhil Paladugu ’12 & Conor Ward ’12

Monday, September 21, 2015

UHS Day with founding faculty & staff:

Friday, October 23, 2015

Alumni Art Opening: Maddie Cichy ’06

Friday, November 6, 2015

Then, Now, & Tomorrow Symposium

Friday, February 5, 2016

Alumni Art Opening: Mary Daniel Hobson ’87, Colleen Mullins ’84, and Adam Thorman ’99

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

7

Reminiscing and Reflecting with the Class of 2015

BY ALISSA KINNEY MOE, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

T H E U N I V E R S I T Y H I G H S C H O O L community returned to Davies Symphony Hall on Monday, June 1, to watch the Class of 2015 throw their mortarboards in the air, ready to make their individual marks on the world as they transformed from high school seniors to graduates. Head of School Julia Russell Eells and Senior Dean Ginger Jackson-Gleich ’03, along with elected student speakers Lauren Banks ’15 and Josh Wasserman ’15, delighted the audience gathered in the gilded auditorium with beautiful memories, sage advice, and hilarious pop culture metaphors. Math instructor (and fellow alumna) Jacqueline Thompson ’09 took the podium as the morning’s faculty speaker, a role she marveled at as she recalled her time as a UHS student and the profound impact those years have had on her. She also imparted three important lessons that she hoped would carry the Class of 2015 into their next adventures: 1) welcome change, 2) there is nothing you can’t do, and 3) seek to be whole, not perfect. Jacqueline noted how the University community continues to evolve, and encouraged the graduates to 8

FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

embrace the magic that comes from embracing the new: “Many people ask me, ‘Is UHS really different than when you went here?’ And my feeling has been that it isn’t wholly different, it’s just gotten better. It’s helpful to remember that we are a rather young school. And although we have already accomplished so much as an institution, we are still growing up. We don’t have everything figured out and we don’t have all the answers, but we are in a place now where we are ready to learn.

We are ready to listen. We are ready to change. Seniors, by this point in time, you have figured out what ‘works’ for you and that’s reflected in your success. But if you go through life doing only the things that are convenient or familiar, you’ll miss out on your promise. Stretch yourself.

Don’t be complacent because being grown up doesn’t mean you’re done growing. Being ‘grown up’ is a process of discovering and celebrating your truest self. We don’t get better by staying the same.”

FROM JULIA’S SPEECH The summer after my college graduation, I hiked up Mount Katahdin to the head of the Appalachian Trail. I, like the intrepid searcher in last summer’s all-school read, Cheryl Strayed, had new but better-fitting hiking boots, was woefully out of shape, and knew little about what I was getting myself into.

After a mighty climb up over miles of boulders that required sure footing, I triumphantly gazed over the stretch of tall pines that met the Canadian border. With a lot of pride and enthusiasm at my back, I headed out over the fabled knife’s edge until all the hikers — myself included — were chased off the ridge by a ferocious summer storm. With my hair standing on end in an intense electrical field, I began a hasty descent. The cold rain poured, my shins were burning, and my new boots were pounds heavier from the water they were carrying.

I was in pain, demoralized, soaking wet, and eager to get to the tree line. The $23.00 in my wallet would not pay for a warm and dry hotel room, so I was dreading the soaking tent I would call home that night as I searched for the edge of the tree line. At that moment, I took an unfortunate step on a rock and landed face first on the trail, now a small, fast-running river. I picked my bloodied, bruised, and soaked self back up, hobbled another four chilly miles to level ground, and hitchhiked to the camp ground where I encountered a most surprising and welcome act of kindness: an anonymous camper had dug a trench around my tent that allowed me a warm, dry, and sound sleep that night.

As I have watched you scrabble over boulders, walk the long hills, and forge the streams of your UHS experience, I’ve wondered at times if the alluring glow of college on the horizon didn’t sometimes lift your heads too hastily from the here-and-now to the what’s-to-come.

While thankfully you remained upright, I wonder if you may have missed some joyful and magical moments both inside and outside the classroom that were happening right at your feet.

In light of that question, I want to share some advice as you head to college (inspired, in part, by the sage words shared on the Clif Bar wrappers I recently cleaned out of my top desk drawer): GET YOUR FEET WET: There is so much to the college experience beyond your classes, your major, your friends. Take part in a cause,

TOP: Assistant Head and Dean of Faculty Nasif Iskander and Head of School Julia Russell Eells look on during the UHS Commencement ceremony on June 1, 2015. BOTTOM: Senior Speaker Lauren Banks ’15 hugs Theater Department Head Susannah Martin after the ceremony.

attend a symposium on creativity, take on a cool job — or a not-so-cool job — on campus, collaborate on a research project with a professor, join a team or club that tests your limits.

You not only have developed the appetite to extend yourself at UHS, you also will have the time (yes, the time!) to indulge in myriad new experiences that will wed you to the beauty and richness of our complex world.

SLEEP UNDER THE STARS: I’m not necessarily encouraging you to sneak into your campus planetarium with a sleeping bag, or to spend a clear night on a roof deck. But I am encouraging you to not make the confines of your college campus your only place for inspiration. A walk in a nearby park, canoeing

down a river that winds around the outskirts of the city or town, or becoming a fan of a local sports team is just plain fun!

CHANGE YOUR ALTITUDE: Perhaps because you have climbed higher and see the world from a different vantage point, or perhaps because you have put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you will be able to see your future from a different perspective.

Remain open to the ways others experience the world with the knowledge that you will gain from that understanding.

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

9

FROM JOSH’S SPEECH Finding Nemo actually has uncanny similarities with UHS: calculus class is the jellyfish forest, Paul Hauser is the turtle that helps us along the EAC, and Spanish class is like speaking whale. For those of you who don’t like happiness and haven’t seen Finding Nemo, Marlin is a clownfish who is very intent on finding his missing son. He’s driven and determined, but he’s so engrossed by his journey and following his routine that when things don’t go according to plans, he gets overwhelmed and shuts down. Then he meets Dory, who annoys the hell out of him but ultimately makes him a better person… Dory has short-term memory loss and can’t focus for more than a few seconds at a time, which angers Marlin for a long stretch of the movie. But by the end, he realizes her silliness and ability to stay calm in times of emotional trauma is exactly what he needed to complete his journey. He would’ve quit and self-destructed if he hadn’t had someone to push him to persevere. When Marlin is about to give up on finding his son, Dory tells him that when life gets you down, just keep swimming. And that’s what I want to impart to the UHS community today.

Senior Speaker Josh Wasserman ’15 delivers his speech at Davies Symphony Hall.

UHS is hard, really freakin’ hard. There are times when you look at your peers and say “Why did we choose to go through this?” and “Why doesn’t MA have finals?” But in those times, you have to keep swimming, because those are the jellyfish and the sharks and the divers you have to swim past on your journey.

If there weren’t those times, it wouldn’t be a journey — it would be like Titanic — just with-

out the ship hitting the iceberg and sinking and the Celine Dion song. A good journey isn’t always fun, a good journey isn’t always easy… but it’s achieving what you believed you couldn’t when [the obstacles in your way] scared you the most.

There is nothing you can’t do.

your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but also with the powerless; then it will not only be us who celebrate you, but all those whose reality you have helped change.

FROM JACQUELINE’S SPEECH

I know that sounds extreme, but I believe it. As our school’s mission attests, you are bound to live lives full of integrity, inquiry, and purpose larger than the self. Now, while we in this room may wish that upon you, we can’t make it happen. That responsibility is on you. You are poised to be our world’s change-makers. Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, and the education you have earned and received give you unique status and unique responsibilities. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, and the pressure you bring to bear on your government, have an impact way beyond your borders. This is your privilege and your burden. Use empathy as a source of competitive advantage. Step outside of yourself and see the world as others do, because we’re already experts in what we think. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise Faculty Speaker Jacqueline Thompson ’09, herself a UHS alum, shares some wise words with the graduates.

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FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

Seek to be whole, not perfect. … Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes perfection, for the world is quite eager to give you its warped criteria if you let it. In all that you do, believe that your best is always, always good enough.

If you take anything away from my speech today, know that what I want most is for you to be happy. Happiness is an activity. Create it; don’t wait for it to find you.

2015 College Admission & Matriculation Numbers in parentheses indicate enrollment as of July 31, 2015.

COLLEGE

ADMITTED

Agnes Scott College

1

Harvard University

5

(4)

Southern Methodist University

2

(1)

American University

2

Haverford College

1

(1)

Stanford University

4

(3)

Amherst College

2

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

1

Suffolk University

1

Arizona State University

1

Hope College

1

Swarthmore College

2

Auburn University

1

Howard University

2

Syracuse University

3

Babson College

1

Humboldt State University

1

Texas Christian University

1

Bard College

7

Indiana University

1

Trinity College

4

(1)

Barnard College

1

Jewish Theological Seminary of America

1

Tufts University

8

(3)

Bates College

4

Johns Hopkins University

4

Tulane University

5

(1)

Beloit College

2

Kenyon College

1

UC Berkeley

6

(2)

Bennington College

1

King's College London

2

UC Davis

4

Birmingham-Southern College

1

Lafayette College

1

UC Irvine

2

Boston College

5

(1)

Lake Forest College

1

UC Los Angeles

10

Boston University

10

(4)

Lawrence University

1

UC Merced

3

Bowdoin College

2

(1)

Lehigh University

3

UC Riverside

1

Brandeis University

2

(1)

Lewis & Clark College

6

UC San Diego

8

Brigham Young University

1

Linfield College

2

UC Santa Barbara

14

Brown University

3

Loyola Marymount University

1

(1)

UC Santa Cruz

13

Bryn Mawr College

1

Loyola University Maryland

1

(1)

University of Alabama

1

Bucknell University

3

Loyola University New Orleans

1

University of Arizona

3

Butler University

1

Macalester College

1

University of Bristol

1

Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

1

Marymount Manhattan College

1

University of Chicago

1

(1)

California Institute of Technology

1

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2

University of Colorado, Boulder

4

(1)

Carleton College

2

McGill University

1

University of Denver

1

Carnegie Mellon University

2

Michigan State University

1

University of Edinburgh

1

Case Western Reserve University

1

Middlebury College

3

University of Illinois

2

Chapman University

2

Mount Holyoke College

2

University of Maryland

2

Chico State University

1

Muhlenberg College

2

University of Massachusetts

1

Claremont McKenna College

3

New England Conservatory of Music

1

University of Michigan

4

Clark University

3

New School - Eugene Lang College

1

University of Notre Dame

1

Clemson University

1

New York University

12

University of Oregon

3

Colby College

3

Northeastern University

6

University of Pennsylvania

2

(2)

Colgate University

8

Northwestern University

2

(2)

University of Puget Sound

5

(1)

College of Wooster

1

Oberlin College

4

(2)

University of Richmond

1

Colorado College

1

Occidental College

5

(1)

University of San Diego

1

Columbia College-Chicago

2

Ohio State University

1

University of San Francisco

2

Columbia University

1

Ohio Wesleyan University

2

University of Southern California

12

(2)

Connecticut College

5

Pitzer College

2

University of St. Andrews

2

(1)

Cornell University

5

Pomona College

1

University of Tennessee

1

Dartmouth College

1

Princeton University

1

University of the Pacific

1

Dickinson College

3

Providence College

2

University of Virginia

2

Dominican University of California

1

Quinnipiac University

1

University of Washington

2

Drew University

2

Reed College

3

University of Wisconsin

1

Duke University

2

Rhode Island School of Design

1

Vanderbilt University

2

Earlham College

1

Rochester Institute of Technology

1

Vassar College

1

Elon University

3

Royal Holloway, University of London

1

Virginia Tech

1

Emerson College

1

Rutgers University-New Brunswick

1

Washington University in St. Louis

5

(2)

Emory University - Oxford College

2

Saint Mary's College of California

1

Wellesley College

1

(1)

Fairfield University

1

San Francisco State University

3

Wesleyan University

2

Fisher College

1

Santa Clara University

4

Westmont College

1

Fordham University - Lincoln Center

2

Sarah Lawrence College

3

Wheaton College (IL)

1

Franklin and Marshall College

2

Savannah College of Art and Design

1

Wheaton College (MA)

2

George Washington University

1

School of the Museum of Fine Arts

1

Whitman College

5

Georgetown University

2

Scripps College

2

Whittier College

1

Gettysburg College

1

Seattle University

2

Willamette University

2

Goldsmiths College, University of London

1

Skidmore College

7

(2)

Williams College

1

(1)

Goucher College

2

Smith College

2

(1)

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

2

(1)

Guilford College

1

Sonoma State University

2

Yale University

3

(3)

(1)

(3)

(2) (1)

(1)

(2)

(4)

(3)

(2)

(1)

(2)

(1)

(2)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(3)

(1)

(1)

(1) (2)

(2)

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

(1)

(1) (1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1) (2)

11

Moving Forward with Our Design: An Update on the Strategic Design Process at UHS

This past spring, University’s Strategic Design Committee (SDC) gathered input from parents, alumni, students, faculty, and board members to draft a set of core values statements that are now being vetted by various constituencies. These statements will be used to steer our work as we move into phase three, “Outlining Our Vision,” and will be reflected in the final plan document.

This fall, the Strategic Design Committee has organized faculty, staff, and trustee-comprised inquiry teams to focus more specifically on implementation strategies related to issues and recommendations made throughout the past year by the UHS Board of Trustees, the California Association of Independent Schools’ visiting accreditation team, and our own community feedback gleaned from last year’s self-study. Their work will help us define a set of action steps as well as create a school environment that reflects the values we all share. At right is a list of questions they are considering.

In addition to the inquiry teams, the SDC is reviewing a set of recommendations from the Program Space Task Force made up of UHS trustees, faculty, staff, parents and friends who met during the 2014–2015 school year to determine the opportunities and challenges of our campus spaces in support of our program and community.

While these teams are hard at work, the SDC is currently drafting an outline of a shared vision that is emerging from phases one and two of their work (“Learning Together” and “Identifying our Values”).

With the values statements finalized and the inquiry teams’ and various committees’ work complete, the SDC will determine a clear set of goals in service to that vision and expect to share a draft of the “Design for University’s Future” in the early months of 2016.

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How can we enhance collaboration, integration, and effective design by breaking down the silos that are traditional in a high school?

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How can our program best respond to the changing world?

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How can our assessment practices be more closely aligned with our educational values?

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What structural changes can bring about a healthier pace and enhance engagement?

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How do we continue to build the most inclusive school culture?

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How do we respond to the rising cost of living in the Bay Area and its impact on our families and staff?

SABBATICAL REFLECTIONS

Time Away

BY DR. JESSE BERRETT, HISTORY INSTRUCTOR AND NINTH-GRADE MENTOR

I spent the last eight months writing, and it was great. I missed being part of the daily life of the school and frantically rearranging tiles in adrenaline-fueled Bananagrams death matches every Friday, but it was nice to get back in touch with a part of myself that the press of teaching had forced me to put aside. I’d been pretending to work on a book about football, politics, and American culture since about 2007. The story my cloud storage tells is that I did a bit of preliminary fumbling that summer, produced an entirely hypothetical outline based on having read 15 sources, then downloaded a whole lot of material in 2009 and 2012.

Mostly, I rewrote two chapters over and over without any sense of how they might fit into a larger plan. In between, I kept promising myself that I’d write more when I had time. Knowing that my cluster was graduating in 2014 and that I was nearing the top of the sabbatical list, I decided that taking off the Spring of 2015 to work would be a wonderful opportunity to put up or shut up.

It turned out that I actually did want to work on the book.

I would take my son to school, sit down to write, and not get up for eight hours. I spent three full days at the Nixon Archives in Yorba Linda; examined material from Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State, the bicentennial Commission, the USO, and the papers of John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, Gerald Ford and Spiro Agnew; and talked to the woman who won the NFL’s Bicentennial essay contest as a high school junior and three people who’d been at Kent State. I learned that research assistants in West Virginia are much more affordable than in Washington, DC — and I had to hire both. I wrote over 250 pages of new material. Now I’m currently trying to finish the last half-chapter, add a few pages here and there, and rewrite the chapter I’ve rewritten ten times already, because now it doesn’t fit with the rest of the book. I’ve got a pretty solid commitment from a university press and am trying to decide how hard I want to pursue the possibility of trade publication.

Yes, it was rejuvenating to be away — but it’s also so nice to be back at UHS.

An excerpt from Jesse Berrett’s Fumbling Forward: Football, Politics, and the End of the Sixties: If all politics was a stage and all politicians merely players, why not elect someone who’d actually played? “The national passion for jocks is the most commonly used PR vehicle going,” Vic Gold noted. “Sportsspectating is the opiate of the people.” The 1970 elections marked a watershed. “This is evidently the year for athletes to go into politics,” a West Virginia columnist noted in March — so resonant a metaphor that Time ran an article on “ambitious sons of famous fathers” running for office with a subheading discussing “Leftfielders” that did not include any actual leftfielders. Football players, on the other hand, were plentiful: Sam Huff had thrown his helmet in the ring in West Virginia, Jack Kemp in Buffalo, Bill McColl in California. Current Packer quarterback Bart Starr was mooted as a candidate in Wisconsin. From one perspective, football players running for office was even worse a prospect than actors doing so: “That’s what happens when a guy gets hit in the head once too often,” a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times caustically observed.

From a purely Machiavellian standpoint, athletes’ instant name recognition, bipartisan appeal, and comfort in the spotlight might endow them with so powerful a head start that they could simply coast to victory for much less than the price of a typical campaign. And maybe the skills nurtured on the playing field actually mattered these days in a way they hadn’t before. “With the passage of time, what changes is which groups of celebrities turn to politics … Today’s system promotes expert persuaders,” a political scientist argued in 1978. Or as Huff, who as the Giants’ middle linebacker had called signals for the whole defense, put the same point on the campaign trail, “I’ve been working on a committee of 11 men for a lot of years.”

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UHS ALBUM

Campus Galleries Talented artists have been a continuous source of pride for the UHS community throughout our history, and since Head of School Julia Russell Eells’s arrival in the Summer of 2013, she has been searching for places around campus to showcase the outstanding work created by our students and alumni. To this end, the school has begun to purchase pieces from alums who exhibit in the Jackson Street Gallery and seniors who participate in our spring art shows, building an impressive collection of photography, ceramics, paintings, and more. Julia initiated the installation of some pieces around campus where they can be enjoyed as public artworks, and has also invited faculty and staff to “sign out” pieces temporarily for their workspaces. As we walk down hallways, gather for meetings, and congregate for lunch, the stunning art that surrounds us adds a new dimension to the vibrancy and beauty that has always existed at University High School.

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“I believe that all campus spaces and the people who engage within those spaces are enriched by artwork and we are so fortunate to have such inspiring work coming out of our own studios as well as from the continuing creative endeavors of our alumni.”

— JULIA RUSSELL EELLS, HEAD OF SCHOOL

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Photo by David Burnett.

The Universe of Imagination: An Interview with Visiting Writer-in-Residence Chang-rae Lee WITH ALISSA KINNEY MOE, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

University High School is delighted to welcome prize-winning author and former chair of Princeton University’s Creative Writing Department Chang-rae Lee, who will be a writer-in-residence on our campus throughout the 2015–16 school year while he is on sabbatical from Princeton. A celebrated novelist for the past two decades, Lee has focused particularly on themes of identity and acceptance in his work. His most recent novel, On Such a Full Sea (Riverhead, 2014), has been described as “a chilling, dark, unsettling ride into a dystopia in utopia's guise,” (The LA Times) and “... a wonderful addition not only to Chang-rae Lee's body of work, but to the ranks of 'serious' writers venturing into the realm of dystopian fantasy,” (The New York Times). As he drove across Wisconsin with his wife and daughter during their trek from New Jersey to the Bay Area, Chang-rae took the time to speak with us about his career, his passion for writing, and the influence of some important teachers in his life. We are thrilled to welcome Chang-rae and his family to the UHS community!

It seems that you were focused on a writing career from a young age—what drew you to writing? Had you always known that you wanted to be a writer?

I first thought that I might have a deep interest in writing when I went to boarding school, in tenth grade at Philips Exeter Academy. Before that, I had just been a generally engaged student, not particularly focused on any one subject… But when I got to Exeter, I quickly found that the English classes were wonderful and the English teachers were particularly energizing — and this discovery dovetailed with my life-long passion for reading. I took a special interest in those classes, and I think 16

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what got me additionally excited was the fact that we did a lot of writing — critical writing, of course, but also creative writing, creative responses to the literature, and a bit of memoir.

I also was very interested in poetry — I became editor of the poetry magazine and I remember I won some silly prize for a poem (and not a very good poem), but I was excited to be recognized for it. So it all came together at that point in time. Without that particular cohort of teachers who were not only energizing, but also encouraging, I would likely not have realized this special passion.

Do you feel like the influence of those faculty members might have influenced your interest in teaching, as well?

It certainly did a bit; but to be honest, I never thought I would be a teacher. I saw writing as my career after college, and I had a picture of my life as a writer already formed in my head.

I was living in New York City at the time and I thought that perhaps I would write a novel there or go to graduate school and write a novel, and then go right back to New York City to lead the life of a writer without doing any teaching. But the teaching arose when I was in graduate school, where I had to teach as part of my fellowship. I found I enjoyed it, and it didn’t seem to derail my writing. When you first start, you think about the teachers you had and how they taught you — how they talked about the literature, how they engaged students, how they approached each day. I would say that I always had my favorite teachers in mind when I was in the classroom, especially early on.

Now that writing is your career, and has been for some time, what does it mean to you or fulfill for you personally?

It has been awhile now, so it’s my job, and I guess that word comes with certain connotations. It’s what I do — I spend most of my day working on my writing. It’s also somewhat more routine than I ever thought it would be when I was first starting out. When you’re a young writer, particularly before you’ve published, there’s a lot of anxiety and excitement and energy. But since I know now that what I write will at least be read by a few people, I can focus on the work and what the work requires, the challenges of every sentence. I guess writing is always rather fraught. I find it very difficult.

But sometimes I still crave that nervous, frantic energy I used to have, which is, in many ways, aspirational energy. And maybe there’s a level of fear there, as well… It’s not that I write fearlessly now — there’s still a lot of fear — but I think I have a little more faith that I’ll get through the rough patches.

How do you feel—or do you feel—that teaching and writing complement or enhance each other?

They don’t really complement each other in the way that most people might think they do… For example, whatever I might say about literature or about the craft of writing, obviously those notions are inside of me. But when I’m working at my desk, I very much try to turn off those notions, those bits of advice, or even that wisdom that I might have accrued over the years, because I believe that when you’re thinking about those things too much, the writing dies. When I’m working, I’m trying to wall off everything I’ve ever said about writing—at that point, it’s really about you and the universe of your imagination.

When I’m teaching, however, it’s the opposite: I’m there to be attentive to what my students are thinking and perhaps needing to hear or wanting to hear. It’s not exactly being a therapist, but it’s close to that — it’s understanding what kind of advice or considerations would push them further or challenge them. It’s about their imagination, and I am a facilitator, a guide, an advisor. Whereas when I’m writing, I try to shut out the real world so that I can get into my own imagination. That’s why sometimes when I’m really working hard it’s hard to come out into the world and function normally… But over the years, I think I’ve trained myself to make the timing better, to know that this week, during these two days in the afternoon, I’m going to shut off my writer brain and be that other person, that guide for my students.

Over the course of your career, are there any habits you’ve noticed that good writers or teachers possess?

Almost every writer who’s had a serious career early (and I can even see it in student-writers sometimes) possesses a lot of self-discipline.

They’re obsessed with what they’re thinking about. I would say they have a kind of relentless focus — they’re not just waiting around for inspiration… A lot of people with talent never end up becoming writers because they can’t get the work done; I’ve seen that through the years as a teacher. And almost every successful writer I’ve ever met has been a passionate reader — they don’t just write all day, at least in the formative years. Learning how to write, at least early on, is mostly dependent on being an informed and serious reader, rather than being someone who’s just practicing writing all day.

You were the director of Princeton’s Program in Creative Writing—what do you enjoy most about working with young writers?

I love their energy most of all, their fearlessness, their willingness to try all sorts of voices and forms. Obviously, they sometimes write some wacky things, but that’s great. I think that sometimes more experienced writers, career writers, can get into ruts, and I’m always trying to break myself out of my own ruts.

Teaching and being around young writers reminds me of that kind of restless, risky energy I spoke of earlier. That sense of risk that young people have — that energizes me.

You have said that you are “fascinated by people who find themselves in positions of alienation or some kind of cultural dissonance… people who are thinking about the culture and how they fit or don’t fit into it,” and this is clearly a theme in your writing.

Why is exploring these issues important to you?

Over the course of my writing career, it’s been important in different ways. I think early on, it was questioning the culture and the ways in which it forms people. Now though it’s more philosophical or theoretical — interest in margins, a certain kind of threshold existence, where people are between places, whether that’s politically, culturally, or existentially.

I think it’s the same focus, but maybe the expressions and what I’m looking at that have changed a bit. I think that most people would probably think that being settled and completely belonging to a place, whether it’s geographical place or a philosophical place, would be the most pleasant or satisfying, fulfilling state of being. But I actually think that’s wrong.

I think that the more satisfying state of being is constantly needing to revise, reconsider, reenvision what makes you up and what gives you pleasure and what you believe in. That

state is, for me, what makes life worthwhile.

That may just be how I grew up and how my brain was formed, but it seems to me that stasis is the most deadening condition.

Many aspiring writers find it difficult to “just get started” or to find their own authentic voice—any advice for students who struggle with this?

I have them ask the question: “Why am I writing this? Why am I interested in this character, place, or time in history?” People can write about anything, but they write best when they not only understand why they’re writing, but when they’re living in the passion for it — that’s what sustains a project. For example, people describe my first novel as an immigrant story, which it is in many ways. But my interest in it was much more focused than that. It was really a project that I undertook because I was curious about the power of language and the way language forms us and creates us. It took me a little bit of time to figure out that that was really what the book was about, but once I did, I think that’s what helped me both start the book in a serious way, and then sustain it. Yes, I’m going to follow this character and whatever happens in his life — but it’s all through the prism of this one notion that I was deeply curious about and didn’t have all the answers for… and I wanted to just keep exploring and uncovering. I think that’s what really starts a project that can have life.

What made you decide to spend your current sabbatical in San Francisco and join the UHS community?

My wife has always had this sense that she should live in San Francisco; she had spent a summer here as a teenager, working. At first, when we were thinking about places to go for my sabbatical, we were considering far-flung places: New Zealand, Vietnam, Europe. But then we thought, why not try a city and an area that we’ve always loved and always loved visiting? Our daughter is also in ninth grade this year, so we obviously wanted to go to a place with a great school. I was having lunch with our new friend and former UHS trustee Jason Fish, and we talked about University; I’d heard about it before. The Bay Area was always an interest, but the decision ended up coalescing around UHS. We thought this would be a perfect way to spend a year: our daughter could go to a great school and we could all enjoy the city.

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At My Desk

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WITH TILDA KAPUYA, DIRECTOR OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

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1. COLORING BOOKS AND PENCILS “Recently, I read an article about how coloring, second to meditation, is a great tool for managing stress. Since we’re talking about work/ life balance as a community, I wanted to explore that for myself and offer it to anyone (faculty, staff, and students!) who’d like to come by my office and color, even if they don’t necessarily want to talk. There is a choice: will you select the same colors as the original artist, or are you going to go your own way? It provides a great lesson in resisting perfectionism—not worrying about what the picture should look like. I am going to try to schedule time throughout the school year to sit with myself for 10 minutes and color.”

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2. SKYLIFE MAGAZINE AND GUM TREE CANDY “I got very homesick over the summer. A week before I had to be back at work, I used my frequent flyer miles and bought a ticket to Izmir, Turkey, where my immediate family lives. I only went for a week—to see loved ones, to swim in the Aegean Sea, to eat the amazing food, to get the dose of warmth I need throughout the year, especially in the summer. It wasn’t necessarily a rational decision to use all my miles for a week-long trip, but it was what I needed for my heart.

Sometimes you have to do the illogical thing to maintain wellness.

During my visit, my family and I took a ferry ride from Turkey to the Greek island of Chios, which is famous for its fragrant mastic trees, and I got these mastiha toffee candies there. Even though it’s just candy, the taste and the smell are reminders of the Aegean, which I consider my home.”

4. BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME BY TA-NEHISI COATES 3. FRIDA KAHLO CANDLE “I always want to have a candle around—it makes an office feel more homey to me. I spend so much time at school, and in my office, that I need this space to be reflective of who I am. What I really like about Frida is her resilience—she was painting when she was in a full torso cast. To me, she epitomizes strength and resilience of women in the face of hardship, and I’ve always been in awe of her spirit. If I had known her, would I have liked her? I’m not sure—she was hard on those around her. She put her whole life, struggles and all, on canvas, and that’s inspiring to me.”

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“I’m a huge fan of James Baldwin, and I saw that Toni Morrison called Ta-Nehisi Coates the next Baldwin. Like Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time was a letter to his nephew about being black in the U.S. at that time, this is about being black in the U.S. today. There was no question—this was my must-read for the summer with the ongoing violence and the Black Lives Matter movement, the atrocities that we are living through right now. I would recommend this book to everyone. If I were teaching English (and perhaps someday when we’ve developed our Human Development electives), this would be a book I would want to read and discuss. I haven’t really processed it all yet; I guess I need to talk to others who have read it. If anyone wants to get together and talk about their experience reading the book, this is an invitation: I would love to hold space for that.”

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5. DIVERSITY | EQUITY | INCLUSION BLOG “This came about because I began a weekly series of emails for students and faculty last year, and it soon became overwhelming. Nicole (our UHS librarian) suggested starting a blog, instead. Over the summer, I finally came up with a title for the blog that reflects exactly what it is about: “Diversity | Equity | Inclusion” (diversityequityinclusion.wordpress.com). I’m using it as a tool to share links and resources I receive from colleagues, students, and friends, and also through social media. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m enjoying it!”

6. NOTEBOOKS “There is something romantic to me about writing in notebooks rather than on a laptop or an iPad. I have the big, black notebook, which is my school year notebook, while the little ones in different colors are for specific professional development workshops and conferences I go to every year. As a teacher, I encourage my students to think about what works best for them and their brain. Even though technology is great, it might not be what works best for you. I’ve explored how writing works for me, versus using a device, and I encourage students to do the same if it works better for them. There’s a more visceral response I have to writing in a notebook and reading an actual book, versus working on a virtual notebook or reading from a screen.”

7. SHAKESPEARE ACTION FIGURE “I was an English teacher for 15 years at Urban (and a year and a half before that). One of my favorite classes to teach was a Shakespeare class that all students were required to take.

Though we didn’t have our own classrooms, I wanted to make my teaching spaces feel more special, so I started putting up production notes from different plays we had been reading and tickets from plays I had seen in Stratford on the walls, and I picked this action figure up as something fun and goofy to decorate the classroom, as well. I think that Shakespeare can be intimidating for people, but his language is actually quite playful, and I wanted to bring this toy into the classroom to underscore that levity. If any teacher at UHS ever wants me to sub in their Shakespeare class, I’m there.”

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New on Campus

Introducing Our New Faculty and Staff

BY ALISSA KINNEY MOE, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

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Gvantsa Apkhazava re-

joins the UHS faculty this fall as a Spanish instructor after teaching for six years at the Gerstell Academy in Finksburg, Maryland. Gvantsa previously taught at UHS from 2002–2009 before moving to the East Coast, and we are so happy to welcome her back! Gvantsa has taught high school Spanish at independent schools for 15 years, and has also worked as a translator. Originally from the Republic of Georgia, she is fluent in four languages and holds degrees from the Institute of Foreign Languages in Tblisi, Georgia; Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, and Middlebury College in Vermont.

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Becca Brewer arrives at University to tackle a few different roles, including those of senior dean, ninth-grade mentor, and 2

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the director of wellness and leadership. With a Master’s degree in Human Sexuality Education from Widener University in Pennsylvania, Becca has previously worked with teens as a health and sex educator at the Daly City Youth Health Center, where she helped to develop an extensive curriculum for high school freshmen.

She most recently served as an instructor in human sexuality at City College of San Francisco.

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3 3 We are thrilled to announce that Daniela Cavalli returns to University High School and our Foreign Language Department this fall, after spending the past few years at the Universitat de Barcelona as both a research and teaching fellow. Daniela previously taught Spanish at UHS for six years, in addition to her duties as an advisor and chair of the Foreign Language Department. She also taught Italian as an independent study course. She has degrees from the Universidad de Chile and the Universitat de Barcelona, where she is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of the Teaching of Language and Literature.

4 4 Morgan Darby arrives at UHS to lead our Summerbridge program as the new executive director. With more than ten years experience in social justice and educational communities, Morgan was most recently the education program director for Gender Spectrum, where she was responsible for deepening curricular, programmatic, and outreach efforts to make issues related to gender accessible to those who work with children and teens.

She previously taught middle school English and history and served as an advocate for youth of color and gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Morgan has a BA from Providence College, an MA from Simmons College, and a certificate in educational leadership from the Klingenstein Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University.

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5 Rebecca Dugan joined University High School this past year as our new front desk receptionist and Business Office assistant.

After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in French Language and Literature, Rebecca spent time at the Lycée Fourier in Auxerre, France, where she was the English language assistant, teaching classes of up to 20 students, developing American history curricula, and providing individual tutorials. Rebecca most recently worked as the social media coordinator at CicleClick Media in San Francisco.

6 6 Justin Morgan Johnson joins UHS as a history instructor from REALM Charter School in Berkeley, where he was a founding member, a board member, the chair of the social science department there, and the founder/ director of the school’s Third Semester Bridge Program which provided enrichment opportunities for students and helped transition eighth-graders into the ninth grade year. Justin Morgan holds degrees from UC Berkeley and California State University, East Bay, and was awarded a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship to travel to Salvador, Brazil, where he researched and developed an Afro-Brazilian History, Politics, and Culture curriculum in 2013–14.

7 7 Mary King returned to the Bay Area after spending two years in Hong Kong, where she was a head teacher at The Open Classroom. At The Open Classroom, Mary managed marketing and outreach efforts and taught and developed a curriculum for creative writing, college admissions, and standardized testing courses. After joining the UHS community this past spring as our new Development Associate, Mary jumped right into the mix, helping to manage the Decorator Showcase’s Silent Auction. Mary obtained her BA from UC Berkeley.

9 9 After recently receiving his Master’s in Astrophysics from Arizona State University, Luke Probst was eager to return to the field of teaching. Before embarking upon a graduate degree, Luke taught physics, astronomy, and calculus at St. John’s School in Houston, Texas, for seven years.

He was previously a teaching assistant at Rice University’s Astrophysics Lab and an adjunct faculty member at his alma mater, Bemidji State University in Minnesota. Luke will join the Math Department at UHS.

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UHS is pleased to announce

that Jen Look will be joining the Science Department this fall as both a chemistry and physics instructor. After obtaining her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Washington, Jen taught at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, the University of Wyoming, and Mercer University in Georgia. In her capacity as a professor, she brought high school students into her research lab to give them the opportunity to garner hands-on experience alongside her graduate advisees.

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Rochelle Reodica joins the

UHS community after spending seven years in a number of different roles at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx, New York. During her time at Fieldston, Rochelle served as the learning specialist and middle school diversity co-coordinator, among other duties. Rochelle was previously the director of the Sylvan Learning Center in New York and a special education inclusion teacher for the New York City Department of Education. She has a BA from Ithaca College and completed her graduate work at Boston University.

11 11 After covering Lisa Pollack’s maternity leave this past spring, we are pleased to announce that Lindsay Repko has joined University High School as our permanent school counselor this fall. With a BA from Lycoming College in Pennsylvania, a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from the New College of California, and advanced psychotherapy training from The Psychotherapy Institute in Berkeley, Lindsay has previously worked at the Edgewood Center for Children & Families and is currently in private practice in San Francisco.

13 13 Megan Storti joins the UHS Math Department this fall with over a decade of teaching experience at the nearby Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco and Northwestern University’s Gifted Learning Links online education program.

Megan served as the Math Department chair and yearbook advisor at Convent, as well. She obtained her BA in from Mills College in Oakland and her MA from San Francisco State University (both in Mathematics), and her Master of Educational Technology degree from Boise State in Boise, Idaho.

12 12 Tonia Rivera arrived at UHS this summer as the new Human Resources Manager in the Business Office. Tonia worked for several years as the human resources manager at Solazyme, Inc. in South San Francisco, where she recruited, trained, and mentored personnel and implemented new practices to increase employee engagement and productivity. She previously worked in human resources at Heller Ehrman LLP, La Clinica de la Raza, and TBS Couriers. Tonia has a BA in Organizational Communication from California State University, East Bay.

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new on campus continued...

Introducing Our New Trustees Planned Parenthood Golden Gate. Katie is currently a member of the California and District of Columbia bars. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two children.

tee of USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate, and a board member for The Hamlin School for girls where his daughter Maddie (UHS ’18) was previously a student.

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KATIE ALBRIGHT, P ’18

Katie Albright is the executive director of the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, a community-based nonprofit organization seeking to prevent child abuse and reduce its devastating impact. Katie joined the Prevention Center from the San Francisco Education Fund, where she served as policy director, leading a public engagement campaign to improve teacher quality and increase student retention.

She has also served as co-director of policy & outreach at Preschool California and as deputy city attorney for the Office of the City Attorney in San Francisco. In the latter role, she served as acting general counsel and deputy general counsel for the San Francisco Unified School District. She advised the San Francisco Board of Education and Superintendent on diverse legal issues, including compliance with federal and state education, election, and civil rights laws; charter school reform; curriculum development; youth health services; and board governance.

Katie graduated with honors from Georgetown University Law Center and received her BA from Williams College. She is the recipient of a 2012 Ascend Fellowship from The Aspen Institute, one of a select group of 20 leaders from across the country who are pioneering two-generation approaches to move families beyond poverty. Katie currently serves on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Day School. She also served as a Commissioner to the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Commission and Board of Appeals, as well as a member on the SPUR-Recreation & Parks Revenue Task Force and Public Education Enrichment Fund Community Advisory Committee. She is a former board member of NARAL Pro-Choice America, NARAL Pro-Choice California, and 22

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MIKE HOUSE, P ’18

Mike House founded House Properties in 1989, a private real estate investment company established to acquire, reposition, and develop commercial, residential, retail, hotels, self storage and industrial real estate. Mike formulates the company’s investment strategies and oversees the acquisition, development, operations, and disposition of each investment. Throughout his career, Mike has completed real estate transactions in excess of $500 million. Mike recently started ThompsonHouse (TH), a construction company specializing in the development and retrofit of real estate properties. TH is off to a very active beginning and will be involved in at least five projects by the end of 2015. He is also founder and managing partner of Wayfare Tavern, one of the most exciting restaurants on the San Francisco dining scene, with a menu inspired by Mike’s business partner, executive chef and Food Network star Tyler Florence.

Wayfare opened in June of 2010 and continues to offer some of the best food in San Francisco.

Prior to starting House Properties, Mike completed Union Bank’s Uniform Credit Training Program, where he specialized in commercial real estate lending.

Mike earned his Master’s in Business Administration from Santa Clara University in 1987 and graduated from the University of Southern California in 1985 with a BS in Real Estate Finance. Mike is also a licensed California real estate broker, a member of The Urban Land Institute, a member of the Executive Commit-

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LOUISE GREENSPAN ’86

Louise Greenspan ’86 was born in London and grew up there and in Marin County.

After graduation from UHS, she majored in Anthropology at UC Berkeley and graduated from Cornell University Medical School. She returned to San Francisco to complete her medical training at UCSF, and now practices pediatric endocrinology at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco and is on faculty at UCSF Medical School. Louise is primarily a clinician, but also conducts research in the areas of pubertal development and pediatric obesity, and is the co-author of a book, The New Puberty. She has been featured on NPR, and in the New York Times. Louise served on the boards of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Diabetes Youth and Families Foundation. She lives in the city with her husband and two children and enjoys introducing her kids to the joys of San Francisco, as well as skiing and hiking.

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MARK MILLER, P ’18

Mark Miller is an award-winning, creative, entrepreneurial professional who founded and led the award winning businesses, MKThink and Project FROG. Trained as an architect and planner, Mark excels at generating and connecting building, environment, human behavior, and technology thought leadership, particularly for strategic assignments that require integrated creativity, vision, and practical implementation.

raise her children, she recently became one of a team of producers for the City Visions radio show on KALW, one of San Francisco’s local public radio stations.

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In addition to his role as company CEO, Mark also services as the director of MKThink’s Innovation Studio, which is dedicated to the research, incubation, and enterprising of nextgeneration technologies and practices related to optimizing the built environment to improve the human condition. The Innovation Studio is comprised of industry specialists poised at the crossroads of today’s relevant issues: environmental management, economic sustainability, and social connectivity. Mark received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College and holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from King’s College, Cambridge University.

Chris grew up in New Jersey, has a BA from Yale, and a JD from Harvard. She and her husband Mike moved to San Francisco in 2000 after having lived and worked in London and New York. They have three children: Robby, a freshman at UHS; Athena, a sixth-grader at Hamlin; and Truman, a second-grader at Cathedral. An avid runner who qualified twice for the Olympic Trials in the marathon, Chris enjoys exploring the trails of San Francisco in her spare time.

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CHRIS NOONEY, P ’18

Chris Nooney has served on the Cathedral School for Boys’ Board of Trustees for six years, chairing Cathedral’s Committee on Trustees and serving as vice chair of the board for four years. She was co-chair of the search committee to find the replacement for the outgoing head of school, and has also served in a variety of other positions at the school over the years, ranging from room parent to SMART representative. Chris has also assisted at The Hamlin School with admissions and as a room parent.

Chris began her career as a lawyer at the New York law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where she advised nonprofit organizations.

After taking several years off from her career to

with Butler-Armsden to build two rooms for the Ronald McDonald House’s expansion at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University, expected to open soon.

CLAYTON TIMBRELL ’00

Clayton Timbrell, UHS Class of 2000, is a general contractor in San Francisco, with work focusing on renovation and construction of distinct single-family homes and condominiums.

Many of Clayton’s projects are near University High School, and clients have included UHS parents and alumni. Clayton Timbrell & Co has participated in supporting the Decorator Showcase as an advertiser, builder, and Showcase sponsor, dating back to 2007.

Clayton attended Town School (’96), School Year Abroad in Spain (’99), and holds an honors degree in Spanish Language & Literature from UC Berkeley (’03). While at UC Berkeley, Clayton spent a semester at Casa de Las Americas in La Habana, Cuba. Clayton has otherwise travelled extensively to Asia, South America, Western Europe, and various off-beat destinations within the United States. In addition to Clayton’s involvement with Decorator Showcase, he has sponsored the 7-Tepees Youth Program’s Annual Bowling event, the LEAP Arts Sandcastle Contest (which in partnership with Butler-Armsden Architects was the highest fundraising team in 2014), and his company is currently working again

SCOTT GLOBUS, P ’16

Scott Globus grew up in a suburb near Trenton, NJ. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue a photography project he began at MIT. Shortly after the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Prize in 1989, and inspired by his example, Scott started learning meditation practice from Tibetan masters. Since 2000, Scott has been the director of Orgyen Dorje Den, a nonprofit meditation center in Alameda that hosts traditional meditation programs and retreats led by Tibetan and Western teachers. He also serves on the boards of Light of Berotsana, a nonprofit publishing group that translates Tibetan materials into English, Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish, and the Dhanakosha Foundation, a family foundation that supports Tibet-related causes.

While in the Bay Area, Scott has worked as an independent casting director, founded a startup called casting.com, and worked as a mergers and acquisition advisor with a boutique bank. At UHS, Scott has served as an usher co-chair for the Decorator Showcase and as a co-chair of the FMC (Family Multi-Cultural Committee). Scott and his wife, Sangye, live in San Francisco with their daughter Norbu ’16 and son Pema, who is in the sixth grade at Claire Lilienthal.

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Alumni Association News

BY HOLLY JOHNSON ’82, DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS

Last year was another banner year for alumni participation and support of their alma mater. We had our first parent-led alumni seminar with Dr. Robert Sapolsky, as well as several seminars led by teachers. The Alumni Entrepreneur and Networking Club held several meetings, helping its members solidify business plans and elevator pitches. Alums in the Boston area met with the Director of Alumni Relations Holly Johnson ’82 and Director of Development Shaundra Bason and enjoyed a cocktail party with Head of School Julia Eells and several other administrators and faculty members. Alumni weekend attracted over 200 alums and their guests to campus, the Decorator Showcase house, and the annual alumni vs. UHS Varsity Baseball game.

Over 16% of our alumni (totaling 571 individuals) donated to the school via the Annual Fund, Summerbridge, Showcase, or the financial aid endowment. This growing demonstration of support of the school by its alums is very gratifying and is one of the pillars of strength that University will continue to count on as it moves forward. In recognition of their robust annual support of at least $750, 71 alums were named charter members of the newly minted Alumni Leadership Society.

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Diana Ziola Jansson ’99 completed her two-year term as the alumni representative to the Board of Trustees, and the school greatly appreciates her dedicated service. Debbie Geller Reynolds ’84 also cycled off the board after six remarkable years, including four as chair of the UHS Development Committee. Clayton Timbrell ’00 steps in this year as our new alumni representative, joining fellow alumni Margaret Peters Charnas ’76, Matt Farron ’98, and Louise Greenspan ’86 on the board.

Elizabeth Dawson ’94 has agreed to join Cecily Burrill ’00 as co-chair of the Alumni Fundraising Committee. Our community remains grateful that we have so many strong alumni leaders to draw from!

Please review the calendar at right and make note to participate in some of the many alumni activities being planned for our school’s 40th Anniversary Celebration this year. Alumni news and events will continue to be disseminated through a monthly e-newsletter, so please be sure to keep your email contact information up-to-date with the Alumni Office. Log onto the website (www.sfuhs.org/alumni) or email Holly Johnson to make updates at holly.johnson@sfuhs.org.

Alums from the Class of 2015 enjoyed a summer BBQ on the Upper Courtyard before heading off to new adventures.

Alumni Calendar 2015 – 2016 Please check the website for updated and new information.

SEPTEMBER 17

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Alumni Art Opening: Nikhil Paladugu ’12 and Conor Ward ’12 ▶ 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Alumni Seminar with Hollis Wong-Wear ’05, Spoken Word and the Artistic Life ▶ 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

NOVEMBER 17

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Alumni Annual Fund Letter Signing ▶ 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

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Alumni Seminar with Dr. Louise Aronson ’81: Our Aging Parents and Our(aging)selves ▶ Postponed: Watch for new date.

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2–3

Alumni Gatherings in New York City (times and locations on website)

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Alumni Art Opening: Mary Daniel Hobson ’87, Colleen Mullins ’84, and Adam Thorman ’99 ▶ 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

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Alumni Seminar with Dr. Louise Greenspan ’86: The New Puberty ▶ 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

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Holiday Reunion (all classes invited), at Pause Wine Bar (1666 Market Street, SF) ▶ 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

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Badminton Alumni Game ▶ 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

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Alumni vs. Varsity Basketball and Alumnae vs. Varsity Girls’ Soccer ▶ Times and other details TBD

Milestone Class Parties (’1 and ’6) and 25th Reunion Dinner (’91) ▶ Times and other details TBD

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40th Celebration Open Campus at UHS (time TBD) and All-Class Reunion ▶ Times and other details TBD

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“Back for the Future” UHS 40th Anniversary Celebration Gala at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater ▶ Times and other details TBD

Alumni Art Opening: Maddie Cichy ’06 ▶ 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Alumni Gathering in Seattle, WA, at Bell + Whete (200 Bell Street) ▶ 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Alumni Soccer Turkey Kick-About, at Kimball Field ▶ 10:00 a.m.

DECEMBER

OCTOBER 12

Bay Area High Schools Networking Event ▶ Please check your email for invitation!

FEBRUARY

MARCH

JANUARY 31

Group outing to see Allegiance on Broadway, starring Chris Nomura ’82 ▶ 7:00 p.m.

MAY 20

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Alumni Night at Showcase

▶ 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Alumni vs. Varsity Baseball Game, (location TBD) ▶ 10:00 a.m.

Other seminars to be announced, including estate planning, social media and crowd funding, and more!

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

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Fall 2015: Class Notes

BY HOLLY JOHNSON ’82, DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS

These class notes include information submitted through August 10, 2015. Thank you for keeping in touch! Please submit your news by email to uhsalumni@sfuhs.org or by mail.

Photographs are welcome and will be returned upon request. Digital images should be of high resolution for printing. Remember that the alumni office is here to help you network with other alumni and keep in touch with old friends. The password-protected online directory can be reached by logging in at www. sfuhs.org/alumni (click on the Log In button at the top of the page).

1978 Alice Tully Pirtle writes that she and her husband have settled into their life in Florida, enjoying the tropical environment and exploring the state. “It has been a great professional move for my husband, and I am enjoying part-time teaching, providing intervention to struggling students,” she says.

1979 Mark Kushner reports: “I am excited to be starting a new national education company called Future Academy. It will open and operate cutting-edge blended learning independent K–8 schools, first in San Francisco, and, if successful, nationally. The plan is to open two small 60-student campuses in Fall 2016, and, if a small facility and sufficient philanthropic or angel seed funding are secured, a small 20-student pilot K–2 campus this upcoming Fall 2015… The goal is to open independent private schools that can offer just as much or more than most elite independent schools, but for a much more affordable cost.”

Web Stone and his wife, Katrina Robinson, welcomed baby daughter Churchill Titania Stone to the world on March 15, 2015. The happy family lives in New York.

Marc Zegans has a new book, The Underwater Typewriter, which is a collection of his poetry and was published by Pelekinesis in September 2015.

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1980

1983

What a turnout for the Class of 1980’s 35th reunion last May! Marta Benson, Bill Brady, Bill Brooks, Hardy Crawford, Dayna Wood Deaton, Frances Hochschild, Caroline Hughes Jones, Lexy Loewenstein, Tracy Maes, Tom Malarkey, and Michael McGinn attended. Bill Brooks came all the way from Florida!

Allison Lee began a year-long fellowship on Capitol Hill this fall. She is a foreign service officer, and has been posted in Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, and Tunisia.

Carolyn Hughes Jones writes: “We moved our family back to the Bay Area six years ago from Seattle and live in Marin with our kids Oliver (second grade) and Hannah (fifth grade), who are attending MCDS.”

1982 Ruth Berkowitz faced down middle age by cross-country skiing from Russia to Sweden (across Finland), a trek that totaled 430 km last March. She has also published the third edition of her Hood River guide book, Kidding Around the Gorge, with co-writer Lisa Kosglow.

Tuuli Messer Bookman was lauded in a San Francisco Chronicle article about women pioneers in the maritime industry. Tuuli, who is a professor at the California Maritime Academy, has both a law degree and a captain’s license, and was one of the first women to hold a position of command aboard a ship (SF Chronicle, April 4, 2015).

Jenny Rosenthal Hitchings won her age group at the 2015 Boston Marathon, beating 1,205 other runners in the group with a time of 2:52:51. She was the 57th woman overall to cross the finish line. Way to go, Jenny!

Steven Honig and his family’s winery received a great write-up in Gentry Magazine due to their sustainable practices and the family aspects of the business.

Chris Nomura is making his Broadway debut this fall, playing the part of Tatsuo Kimura in George Takei’s musical, Allegiance, about Japanese-American internment camps during World War II.

1985 Maryam Mohit Blachford, Mark Bolton, Paul Brakeman, Laura Bremer, Laura Robertson Gilbert, Karen Neustein Gould, Alex Huneeus, Andrew Lovett, Pete Lowry, Anthony Mickens, Lincoln Mitchell, Michelle Sullivan Nettesheim, Anne Gamrin Pantelick, Max Peltz, Chris Viadro, Julia Whitelaw, Laura Wise, and Heather Martinez Zona had a great time at their class’s 30th reunion in May. Alex Huneeus came from Madison, WI, and Lincoln Mitchell travelled from New York for the big party!

Peter Emblad sent in this note for his classmates: “Working as an ER doc at Kaiser and loving it. Still selling Skuut bikes and working on random entrepreneurial ventures with classmate Peter Imlay. Living in Mill Valley, where I get to mountain bike freely and my kids enjoy the local schools.”

Steve Kubick was sorry to miss the reunion, but was looking forward to touring the Czech Republic, with a side trip to look up ancestors’ graves and homes outside Prague.

Steve has finished three seasons with Pacific Chorale at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County.

Andrew Lovett writes that he is an academic tutor who works regularly with students at UHS. “The upstairs conference room still has that huge wooden table!”

Lincoln Mitchell shares: “I am still living in New York, trying fruitlessly to spend more time in San Francisco. I have left academia and am now consulting on political development projects and writing on politics for the New York Observer. My sons are 13 and 15 years old, so my house is always quiet and mellow.”

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(1) Web Stone ’79 and his wife, Katrina Robinson, recently welcomed baby daughter Churchill!

(2) Marc Zegans ’79 released a book of his poetry.

(3) Colonel Rob Menist hosted First Lady Michelle Obama in Italy (Photo Credit: US Army).

(4) Ruth Berkowitz ’82 skied across Finland last March.

(5) Mary Daniel Hobson ’87 published a children’s book, with help from her daughter and father!

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Laura Wise is living in Berkeley with her husband, Josh, and two children, Anna (12) and Jonah (eight). She’s working as a family doctor for Alameda County, seeing all the newly insured Obamacare patients and also running group medical visits.

1986 Dr. Louise Greenspan recently joined the UHS Board of Trustees. Louise is a pediatric endocrinologist at Kaiser and on the UCSF faculty.

Col. Rob Menist hosted First Lady Michelle Obama for a visit to Vicenza, Italy, where Rob is garrison commander.

1987 Danny Hobson wrote a children’s book with her daughter, Anna, and her father, Charles Hobson. “When my daughter, Anna, was 3 ½ years old, we created this story together during car rides to and from preschool. In telling it again and again, it grew into the story that is now in this book. My father, artist Charles Hobson, illustrated and designed it. This three-

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generation project was published by Heyday (Berkeley, CA) in Spring 2015. Here is a taste of the plot: ‘A very hungry wolf eats the sky, plunging the whole world into darkness, but a brave boy and a menagerie of animals are determined to bring back the light.’”

Ben Humphreys and his family moved to St. Louis, MO, where Ben is the new director of the Renal Division in the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine.

1988 Nicola Miner was named to the Presidio Trust’s Board of Directors by President Obama in June.

Dan Shadoan and his osteopathy practice were featured in Prevention Magazine last June.

Carlton Tucker, former UHS history instructor, got to see Anne Tolpegin perform in Kinky Boots in Providence last spring. Carlton sent in this note: “I can’t believe it was just a year ago that I saw you (and the UHS contingent) in NYC. What a fun evening! A year hence,

I happen to go to Kinky Boots in Providence, RI, looked at the Playbill, and saw that Anne Tolpegin was in the show.”

1990 The 25th reunion class inaugurated a new school tradition, enjoying dinner with Head of School Julia Eells on the Friday of reunion weekend. The class turned out in great numbers for the festivities. We saw Dan Bartlett, Michael Betz, Susan Lange Burrows, Maren Caruso, Ted Collins, Matt Cook, Schan Duff, David Gilson, Kathy Gin, Seth Goddard, Carlos Gonzalez, Christin Hokenstad Kos, Lucy Hume Koukopoulos, Ted Levinson, Stu McLaughlin, Monique Williams Morris, Phieu Phun, David Redlin, Paisley Knudsen Schade, Catherine Moller Spaulding, Alix Spivack, Robert Steinmetz, Annie Bransten Wooster, Celeste Young, and Monika Zech Zands. Ted Collins and Monika Zech Zands came up from LA, while Celeste Young travelled from New York. Rumor has it that Celeste and her husband will be moving back to the Bay Area soon!

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

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class notes continued...

From Ted Collins: “Hello, my dearest chums from the Class of 1990 and beyond! The past several years have been quite a ride for me— I have backed down from my former ‘international man of mystery’ lifestyle in favor of a healthier, stable, and more grounded existence in Los Angeles. UHS people are still at the core of my friend-family, and I [was] very excited to see everyone to celebrate our 25th reunion together!”

and let him know that he had inspired me to pursue singing. He got back to me and shared that another UHS alum had returned to campus to sing with his college a cappella group while he was in school, and that watching him perform had inspired him, as well. So, in essence, he was paying it forward.” (Editor’s Note: the alum who inspired Deke was Chris Nomura ’82).

Alex Mandel reports that he wrote the music and lyrics for Norman Rockwell’s America: The Musical, presented by the Mill Valley Public Library last year. He missed the reunion because he was performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in NYC that very weekend!

1993

From David Redlin: “I am loving life in Marin after a brief stint in New York after college.

After a false-start career in finance, I went to UCSF for medical school and residency and am now an anesthesiologist at Kaiser in Oakland/Richmond. I am married to Hillary, a hand surgeon at CPMC and an incredible mom to our two fun-loving boys: Ethan (six) and Zachary (eight). Beyond that, I hit the local trails on my mountain bike every chance I get.”

Ayana Cuevas Curry writes: “I recently experienced a significant and thrilling career highlight that I want to share with the UHS community. In late March, I participated on the legal team that presented a potentially groundbreaking case regarding the treatment of disabled citizens by the police pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act to the United States Supreme Court.”

Scott Richardson writes that he recently broke ground on his first real estate development as an owner, with three UHS classmates as investors! The project includes 44 apartments, plus retail space, and will be complete in late 2015.

Monica Zech Zands writes: “I am so grateful for the learning opportunities and the breakthroughs that being at UHS provided for me.

I was overly prepared for UCLA [thanks to] the nurturing teachers, like Sudie and Mr. Tucker, and the butt-kickers, like Rusty and Mr. Crabtree. This set the tone for self-discovery and massive work, and I was able to take full advantage of so many opportunities that would be presented to me over the next two decades. [Returning] to my reunion I was excited to connect with, to learn from, and to share about the journey that we all have been on, and rekindle memories, celebrate successes, and witness dreams for our future.”

1994

1992

Aimee Antonio, Peter Bach-y-Rita, Nina Rothberg Bailey, Sasha Mardikian Bainer, Lesley Bunim, Georgia Borden Collins, Rose Dakin, Caroline Helwig Dudley, Lara Ettenson, Nicholas Felton, Ryan Fong, Allison Goodson, Kambridge Hribar, Edward Hung, Gregory Kasavin, Wendy Kwok, Hilary Larkin Mendola, Gordon Li, Mercy Ringelmann Manning, Jennifer Massie, Ethan Mevi, Nicole Miller, Megan Gridley Mina, Will Morehead, Becka Olasov, Sara Pasquinelli, Emily Dobranski Poague, Elaine Robertson, Juliet Lane Rubini, Lewis Samuels, Teddy Schall, Elizabeth U, Amanda Scdoris Walker,

George Vargas submitted this charming note: “I read the blurb about Deke Sharon and his work on the Pitch Perfect movies and The Sing-Off, etc. Back in the early ‘90s, when I was at UHS, Deke and his a cappella group from Tufts came out to perform in the courtyard and I knew instantly that I wanted to follow in those footsteps. He inspired me to sing in my college a cappella group at Cal. I had met Deke in passing over the years but I reached out to him after reading about him in the newsletter

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FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

Elizabeth Dawson moved back to San Francisco with her two children after living in London and Hong Kong. Welcome back!

Mary Shen O’Carroll, husband Mark, and daughters Anna and Emily welcomed baby Lauren Liu on May 21, 2015. The family lives in Los Altos.

Helen Pogrel welcomed her baby boy, Jude Anthony Pogrel, on July 3 in Madrid, Spain.

Congratulations to Helen and to proud Grandma Ann Pogrel!

1995

Justine Elliot Williams, and Erika Yuen represented the 20th reunion class in great style and numbers last May. Rose Dakin submitted this note: “Back in the Bay Area after 15 years away and would love to reconnect! I live in Albany with two daughters (ages two and six) and my partner, John Gravois.”

Edward Hung and his wife Suzanne Scoggins celebrated the birth of their daughter, Octavia Anne Scoggins-Hung, on November 29, 2013.

They live in Berkeley.

Mercy Ringelmann Manning writes that she is juggling her career in renewable energy and energy efficiency technology and family time with husband Kevin and children Mason and Celeste. She’s also preparing for their third child to join the family in September!

Jennifer Massie reports that she is living with her husband (whom she married almost one year ago) in the East Bay, and working as a bilingual social worker/case manager with children under three who have developmental delays and disabilities.

Libby Reder wrote in: “Sorry to miss catching up at the reunion—my sister is getting married the same evening! I’m living in San Francisco, working as an independent consultant focused on corporate good-doing and/or the collaborative economy, and we just celebrated our daughter’s first birthday.”

Lewis Samuels: “I’m living in SF with my wife Ange, three-year-old daughter Nico, and one-year-old son Iggy. I’m a senior writer for Surfer Magazine. Various feature stories have seen me chase swells from Sumatra to Ireland, dodge great white sharks, shadow Kelly Slater on the path to an 11th world title, shoot automatic weapons with Hawaiian gangsters, and surf Maverick’s with the world’s best big wave riders. In my spare time I help ruin San Francisco by doing consulting work for Google and Twitter.”

Justine Elliott Williams is living in San Francisco with her husband and their two boys, ages three and one. She was looking forward to seeing friends at the reunion!

1997 Vanessa Langer shared that she was part of The Plath Project, a concert presenting work by five composers whose music features the poetry

(1) Mary Shen O’Carroll ’94 and family welcomed a baby girl in May. (2) Former science instructor Ann Pogrel, along with daughter Helen ’94 and grandson Jude.

(3) Chris Drake ’99 and his boys.

(4) Diana Ziola Jansson ’99’s daughter, Emilia.

(5) Hillary Moses Daluz ’99’s son, Micah.

(6) David Denning ’99 married Bridget Cannata.

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of Sylvia Plath. Vanessa, a soprano, is part of contemporary music ensemble Wild Rumpus.

Margaret Timbrell was happy to find out that her neighbor in the Startup Art Fair last spring was another alumna, Jennifer Kaufman ’87.

1998 Emily Isaacs reports that she lives in Boulder, CO, where she directs Women’s Wilderness, a nonprofit with the mission of strengthening the courage, confidence, and leadership qualities of girls and women through wilderness and community experiences. She says she’d love to collaborate with any UHS alumni in the area.

1999 Hillary Moses Daluz recently published Fundamentals of Fingerprint Analysis and Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory Workbook (CRC Press, 2014).

She is a forensic instructor, and lives with her family (including new baby Micah Alexander Daluz, who was born in December 2014), near Destin, FL. Hillary’s husband is an active duty

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US Army judge advocate, assigned to Seventh Special Forces Group out of Eglin Air Force Base. Congratulations!

David Denning was married to Bridget Cannata on June 6, 2015, in San Francisco. David is vice president at Denning & Company, a private equity advisory firm downtown and Bridget is a realtor at Pacific Union. They are both San Francisco natives and were introduced to each other by their sisters.

Chris Drake and his wife, Natalie, are raising their two sons in Washington, DC. They are July boys: younger son Simon was born on July 11, and Henry (two) was born on July 25. In between trips to parks, museums, etc., Chris is an energy regulatory lawyer.

Diana Ziola Jansson and her husband, Daniel Jansson, welcomed baby Emilia Mia Diana Jansson on May 1, 2015. The family lives in San Francisco. Diana just finished up a two-year term on the UHS Board of Trustees as the alumni representative. We are grateful for her service!

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Allyson Peracca and her family welcomed baby Lucas on June 4, 2015. Allyson was the previous alumni rep to the UHS Board of Trustees!

2000 Whitney Baron, Ben Bert, Cecily Burrill, Aaron Fung, Kendra Kramlich, Charlene Mak, Adi Price, Lindsey Moses Sikes, Clayton Timbrell, and Kimberly Wong represented the great Class of 2000 at their 15th reunion last May. Cecily Burrill shares that she is in her second year of teaching science at Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco. Cecily was co-chair of UHS alumni fundraising this psat year, along with Clayton Timbrell.

Veronica Collins Roberts reports: “I got my MBA at Wharton a few years ago and was consulting for Bain and Co., but recently went to work for Amazon subsidiary Shopbop, doing international business development, marketing, and customer development! I still live in New York (after 15 years) with my husband!”

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

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class notes continued...

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3

4

(1) Stina Skewes-Cox ’00 married Kerry Trainor.

(2) Katy Thomas ’02 married Lance Johnson this past summer.

(3) Sydney LaLonde ’04, Erik Sparks ’99, Tali Jang ’04, Julia Margulis ’05, and Mariam Missaghi Cline ’01 at University High School’s Career Day. (4) Andrew Zingg ’08 and Ale Vargas-Johnson ’08 recently bonded in Bahia, Brazil.

(5) Rachel Salmanowitz ’08 married Billy Kronenberger on Nantucket.

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FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

Aliza Cohen writes: “My husband and I live on the top of the hill between Noe Valley and the Castro. I graduated from law school at the University of Michigan in 2011 (after a short stint as an environmental engineer) and have been working in the corporate group in the San Francisco office of Paul Hastings LLP ever since. My primary practice area is investment management law (mutual funds and their boards, hedge funds, investment advisers, and broker-dealers), but I also do some public company work, and I really enjoy assisting nonprofits in formation and corporate governance related matters. I actually overlapped with Elyse Greenwald and Amy Super ’99 while at Michigan, and missed Caleb Vognsen by a year.”

Anthony Cheung shares that he is settled in Chicago, in his second year of teaching music at the University of Chicago and enjoying it very much.

Elyse Greenwald married her husband in June, after meeting him in college at Stanford. They moved from San Francisco to Boston in August (“An unexpected move that I never thought I’d make!”). She is still practicing law at Latham & Watkins, but now out of their Boston office.

She says she (barely) survived her first New England winter, and now that it’s baseball season, is battling sleep deprivation to stay up late and watch the Giants. She was disappointed to miss the reunion, but hopes that everyone is doing well!

Stina Skewes-Cox Trainor writes: “In September, I married Kerry Trainor, a social studies teacher at Stuyvesant High School. In attendance were fellow UHS classmates Jessica Pettus, Josephine Liu, Melina Denebeim ’01, and Mollie Allick ’99. My brother Peter Skewes-Cox ’98 served as man of honor, while brother Andrew Skewes-Cox ’02 gave the best comedic toast of the century. We live in Brooklyn, and I continue to love my work as deputy chief of staff to US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.”

Ali Wong is a writer for the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat. She also performs stand-up comedy and had a great run at the Punchline in San Francisco last winter.

2001 Congrats to Ben Gucciardi, who was recently honored at the White House as a Champion of Change for Refugee Youth. Ben founded

Soccer Without Borders nearly 10 years ago; since then, the program has impacted youth in Oakland, seven other US cities, and abroad.

Rebecca Ives married Nick Friend on February 15, 2014, and the couple now lives in Davis, where Rebecca is in residency in pediatrics at UC Davis. She says she is excited to be back in California!

2002 Katy Thomas married Lance Johnson on June 13, 2015, at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco. Katy’s sister, Ashley Thomas ’04, was the maid of honor and alums Katie Stanford ’02 and Michael Vandervelden ’78 were guests.

Congratulations to Nick Fram and his wife, Victoria, who welcomed baby boy Peter Clifton Fram on July 4, 2015.

2003 Annie Waldman is a reporter at ProPublica in New York City.

2004 Tali Jang, the face of Google+, spoke to UHS students about working at Google at the annual Alumni Career Panel in April. She shared the panel with Sydney LaLonde ’04, who works for IDEO, a design firm; Julia Margulis ’05, who is getting a PhD in neuroscience at UCSF; Mariam Missaghi Cline ’01, who is a lawyer with the start-up PopSugar; and Erik Sparks ’99, who works for Goldman Sachs.

2005 Julia Baron, Taylor Bell, Vicki Blohm, Jessie Chamberlin, Alison Cohen, Chris Crawford, Colin Feuille, Sarah Getto, Kolin Hribar, Ryan Kellett, Ross Kornberg, Sam Lazarus, Julia Margulis, Nick McAdoo, Bremner Morris, John O’Connor, Stephen Richards, Sam Roberge, Jonathan Shia, Trent Walker, and George Watsky were back at school for their class’ 10th reunion last May. What a treat to see so many from the class!

Colin Feuille graduated from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY, in 2014. He is currently finishing his first year of residency training in internal medicine at the same institution.

Zander Lehmann was featured in Variety magazine’s article about the top 10 scribes for television to watch. On Zander, Variety said:

“Now at the ripe old age of 27, Lehmann’s penning the upcoming dramedy Casual for Hulu, under the auspices of Jason Reitman’s production company. Yet he says he didn’t always want to be a writer—given that his father, Michael, was a director. Instead, his plan was to play baseball.”

Noah Pritzker’s movie Quitters (co-written with Ben Tarnoff ’03) premiered at SXSW in March and screened at the SF International Film Festival last May. In an article on the IndieMovie website, Noah says his film is about “high school, privilege, subtle forms of emotional cruelty, trying to grow up too fast, fog, curiosity, (and) humiliation.” Noah and Ben spoke to students and faculty at UHS, and many UHS’ers were in the audience at the screening.

Sam Roberge is an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, where he executes mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he practiced corporate law at Latham & Watkins.

He lives in Los Angeles.

Jonathan Shia is the editor of The Last Magazine, a biannual arts and fashion publication based in New York.

2007 Michael Kremer is happy to be back in San Francisco and starting a new job with an SF-based solar company called Cypress Creek Renewables.

2008 Rachel Salmanowitz married Billy Kronenberger on June 20, 2015, on Nantucket. The couple will be living in Houston. Rachel is starting a new job as a major gifts officer for the Menil Collection, a museum housing the private art collection of John and Dominique de Menil.

Ale Vargas-Johnson lives in southern Bahia, Brazil, teaching middle school and adult education in a very small rural community.

She recently enjoyed a visit from Andrew Zingg, who lives in Rio, and they went hiking with friends to the Chapada Diamantina National Park.

2009 Caroline Kremer moved to London with her job at Cambridge Associates.

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

31

class notes continued...

(1) UHS alums at Middlebury enjoyed an alumni pizza party.

(2) Zach Kornberg ’08 bunts a camouflaged orange during the alumni/ varsity baseball game.

1

2010 It was great to see Matt Galardi, Al Grinberg, Alexandra Hills, Olivia Jew, Zack Karrasch, Jake Leichtling, Andrea Pickel, Nick Prey, Taylor Rankins, Aenea Raskin, Anderson Tsang, Will Wettersten, and Delia Zhou back on campus for the Class of 2010’s fifth reunion!

2011 Mikhail Vysotskiy, Joshua Kwan ’13, Wyatt Kim ’14, and Yeymi Rivas ’15 were the UHS alums on staff at Summerbridge this summer, along with Nick Blum ’08, who is a Summerbridge program director.

2013 Nate Bernstein was named to the Honor Council at Harvard University. He is one of 12 undergraduates to be named to the council and

had already served on the Academic Integrity Committee, which drafted the university’s honor code. As a member of the Honor Council, he will hear cases of alleged academic integrity violations. At UHS, Nate was Student Council president and a member of the Academic Integrity and Discipline Committee that helped to write University’s honor code.

2014 Alums at Middlebury recently had a pizza party (contact the Alumni Office to see how you can organize one at your college)! Alissa Huntington writes: “We had a blast it was so much fun to be together for a big dinner!” The party included Eliza Hearst, Kevin Tsai, Alissa Huntington, Jack Gale, Adrian Kerester ’11, Kayla Nahi, Sky Nahi ’13, and Will Ernst.

2

Alumni Weekend last May. The alumni team also included Trevor Hill ’07, Zach Kornberg ’08, Michael Kremer ’07, Duncan Lyon ’87, Adam Medoff ’09, Matt Schneider ’11, Eli Wald ’10, George Watsky ’05, and Jon Williams ’08. The varsity squad played a great trick on Zach Kornberg, who is one of their assistant coaches, painting an orange to look like a baseball. When the orange was pitched to Zach (who coincidentally went to bunt), the team had a great laugh (see photo).

Stephen Nemy was in town for the annual alumni vs. varsity baseball game during

In Memoriam We acknowledge the loss of the following members and friends of the UHS community and extend our deepest sympathy to their families and friends.

Jebba Handley, mother of Kyra Maes Kuhn ’79, Tracy Maes ’80, and Vail Maes Wilkinson ’77, April 27, 2015.

Gloria Hoppe, mother of Prentiss Hoppe Van Den Berg ’80, March 1, 2015.

Sue S. Loeb, mother of Donald Loeb ’85, February 26, 2015.

Ellen Sue Massie, mother of Jennifer Massie ’95, April 29, 2015.

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FALL 2015 UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

Vernon McKale, father of Clara McKale Firestone ’79, March 21, 2015.

Herbert McLaughlin, father of Riley McLaughlin ’85, February 25, 2015.

Roland Perkins, MD, father of Chris Perkins ’79, August 20, 2015.

Paul Vapnek, father of Jessica Vapnek ’81, February 28, 2015.

Leonard Saul Zegans, father of Marc Zegans ’79 and Michael Zegans ’81, July 6, 2015.

Obituaries in this issue include notices received in the Alumni Office by August 24, 2015. Please let us know if you would like a relative to be remembered in an upcoming issue of the UHS Journal.

CLASS OF 2015

CONGRATULATIONS AND GOOD LUCK! TOP ROW (L TO R)

ROW SIX (L TO R)

ROW TWO (L TO R)

ROW SEVEN (L TO R)

ROW THREE (L TO R)

ROW EIGHT (L TO R)

ROW FOUR (L TO R)

ROW NINE (L TO R)

ROW FIVE (L TO R)

ROW TEN (L TO R)

ROW FIVE (L TO R)

FRONT ROW (L TO R)

Josh Wasserman, Paul Gross, Rohail Rai, Naod Sebhatleab, Ethan Lampert, Conor Butler, Brian Palmigiano, PJ Jones Brian Cami, Brandon Lew, Aaron Barbieri-Aghib, Charley Gow, Peter Baumbacher, Steven Povlitz, Alexander Ederer, Michael Mendelsohn Alexandra Hansen, Caroline Hashagen, Natalie de Benedetti, Quinn Low, Katie Kelley, Jaelah Hutchison, Lizzie Halper, Sarah Feinberg, Luke Davis Austin Moreman, Ben Tracy, Matthew Schrage, Robert Singer, Edward Schlesinger, Ethan Dixon, Dale Frost, Max Herman, Alix Hashagen, Madi Lusk Matt Koegel, Izzi Tracy, James Corse, Ethan Ko, Kabir Parekh, Arman Tabassi, Olivia Barnett, Audrey Evers, Trevor Chong, Lauren Banks Brian Schmeltzer, Caeeri-Aghib, Charley Gow, Peter Baumbacher, Steven Povlitz, Alexander Ederer, Michael Mendelsohn

E’mani Davis, Brenda Walker, Maddy Chung, Ila Shon, Michael Lin, Julian Santos, Caroline Sheng, Adrian Gutierrez, Jordan DeAngelo Adam Kwok, Cecilia Zhou, Grace Euphrat Weston, Benjamin Share-Sapolsky, Adam Dolinsky Yeymi Rivas, Caroline Canihan, Julia Wei, Jenny Yu, Thea Shantzis, Annie Duncan, Alex Prior, Alan Choy Julia Lu, Amanda Li, Valerie Chen, Ali Meneghetti, Adair Maxwell, Katie Lo, Alex Howard, Tre Gonzales Kate Schember, Kimberly Young, Lindsey LePlae, Nathan Amin, Jonathan Wang, Danny Fishman-Engel Lydia Lee, Gavi Strauss, Anna Martell, Camila Pelsinger, Nikki Kang, Lara Pesce Ares, Annie Fraser, Xenia Rangaswami

UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2015

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Parents of Alumni, If your son/daughter no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the Alumni Office of his/her new mailing address at (415) 447.3116 or UHSalumni@sfuhs.org.

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