UHS Journal Spring 2018

UHS Journal

Community Members Combat Climate Change Lamott Endowment Unfolds Announcing 2018 Alumni Honors Recipients Reunion Weekend May 4-5

SAN FRANCISCO UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL SPRING 2018

A magazine for the San Francisco University High School Community Spring 2018 Volume XXIX, No. 1

CONTRIBUTORS BROOKE ANDERSON is a freelance photographer and photojournalist based in the Bay Area, covering movements for social, economic, racial, and climate justice.

SARITA CANNON ’94 is an associate professor of English at San Francisco State University and a lyric soprano who performs with various groups in the Bay Area.

ROXIE MILES ’19 is a UHS Peer Advisor mentoring freshmen, and is on the varsity field hockey team.

STACY McCARTHY is the president of Learning Design Network, Inc. LDN interprets complex business issues creatively to deliver innovative solutions to accelerate alignment, understanding, and launch of strategic concepts.

KATIA SAVCHUK Freelance writer SPORTS WRITERS Sarah Camacho ’19 Nathalie Chicoine ’19 Emily Ehsan ’18 Maddie House ’18 Julian Manyika ’18 Micherice Tao ’19 EDITOR Marianna Stark ’89 DESIGNER Design Action Collective EDITORIAL BOARD Shaundra Bason Julia Russell Eells Alex Lockett Aaron Mieszczanski

EDITORIAL STAFF Thelma Garza Kate Gorrissen Mary King PRINTING Community Printers CONTACT THE BULLETIN We welcome your letters.

Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number to communications@sfuhs.org.

Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium.

Please send alumni updates to UHSalumni@sfuhs.org.

If you have news, questions or comments, please contact us via communications@sfuhs.org or 415-447-3116.

FOR ADDRESS CHANGES If you have recently moved, or if this issue is addressed to your son/daughter/child who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please email address changes to communications@sfuhs.org.

The UHS Journal is published by San Francisco University High School, 3065 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115, and is circulated free to more than 7,000 households of alumni, parents, former faculty, and friends of the school. Periodicals postage paid at San Francisco, CA. The UHS Journal is issued two times per year, in spring and fall. The Journal staff reserve the right to select and edit all materials received. The UHS Journal is financed by University High School. Postmaster: send address changes to Mailing Records Office, San Francisco University High School. 3065 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94115. ©2018 San Francisco University High School. All rights reserved.

Printed in California on recycled paper.

Front page photo: Aldo Schwartz ’19 and Ethan Joseph ’19 in Lake Tahoe with AP Environmental Science collecting soil samples for nutrient analyses.

Back page photo: James Emerson ’21 in Photography I.

On October 3, 2017, UHS Advanced Chemistry students took a field trip to The Crucible in Oakland to learn blacksmithing basics.

Pictured: MC Villasenor ‘19

UHS

SAN FRANCISCO UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL SPRING 2018 UHS JOURNAL VOL. XXIX, NO. 1

Journal

UNIVERSE

18

FROM THE HEAD 2 NOTE OF SCHOOL

3

BUILDING A BETTER CARPOOL APP

3

41ST YEAR OF SHOWCASE

4

A CALL TO ACTION Runway Lecture

6

8

FACULTY MEETING UNPLUGGED faculty who hold leadership positions on mission-driven boards 2018 ALUMNI HONORS RECIPIENTS Dr. Njema Frazier ’88 and George Watsky ‘05

19 10 11

13

PITCHING IN profiling parent volunteers MEET SIX STUDENT ATHLETES champions of balance FANATICAL SABATICAL Dr. Jesse Berret’s new book Pigskin Nation

FEATURES

14

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE COURSES URGE ACTION profiling faculty, students, and alumni

BREAKING DOWN SILOS Lamott Fellowship

By Sarita Cannon ’94 HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, SUMMERBRIDGE Alumni memories from Julia Angeles ’11 and Joshua Kwan ’13

ALUMNI

23

CLASS NOTES

26

ALUMNI HOLIDAY PARTY PHOTOS

28

ONE DEGREE OF SEPARATION

29

ALUMNI CALENDAR

30

OBITUARIES

CORRECTIONS

We regret that student artwork featured in the fall 2017 issue of UHS Journal magazine was misattributed. We extend our apologies to these artists (L to R): Annie Duncan ’15, Linda Huang ’17, Meave Cunningham ’17, Kate Roger ’17.

Note from the Head of School

I am proud that we are part of changing the school climate that inspires these future leaders.

On Friday mornings, I drop my bags in the Jackson Street Lounge, arrange some relatively healthy breakfast snacks on the seminar table, and turn on the lights in preparation for a group of students who elect to come to school an hour early (yes, you read that right: an hour early) to engage in a current events discussion with me. Gerrymandering, gun violence, DACA, media bias—they’re all up for grabs as we explore our reactions and responses to the week’s events.

These current events “convos” came out of our students’ growing hunger to make sense of our increasingly polarized national dialog and explore the impact and power of their voices— sometimes in unison and other times in discord.

As our Journal readers may recall from a previous issue, UHS made a significant change to our daily schedule in 2016 to give our students greater agency over their sleep and homework patterns and our faculty more time during the school day to collaborate on curricular, pedagogical, and strategic issues. This schedule change, partnered with a shared school vision and values, has birthed a number of exciting partnerships and conversations on campus. Our breakfast club is just one of these.

This Journal issue’s focus on climate change should be seen for what it is: a review of UHS students, faculty, and alumni who are engaging in this critical moment in our planet’s climate history. Beyond those specific articles, I challenge you to consider the other stories on these pages as part of a climate change that is taking place at UHS and other schools. We know that for our students to thrive and see relevance in their education, they, too, need a climate change— one that de-emphasizes transactional aspects like grades and college applications, and instead celebrates the more authentic and less tangible aspects of a student’s intellectual and social/ emotional journey.

During our strategic design process, we made a bold statement that UHS has the power to be a leader in shifting high school culture. To that end, our mentoring program, our institutional research agenda, our reflection on the role of assessment, and our foray into interdisciplinary work beyond our signature Western Civilization course all contribute to building a healthy ecosystem for our students, faculty, alumni, and parents. Focusing our work around our core values of AGENCY, INTERCONNECTION, INQUIRY, INTEGRITY, and CARE and empowering our students (and faculty, for that matter) to invent and sustain their own distinct vision of success and excellence is part of the “conservation” we’re providing the UHS ecosystem. Students are organizing clubs and discussions around politically and culturally relevant ideas and issues; faculty are experimenting with exciting and novel practices in their classrooms; and administrators are bringing expertise and education from their participation in local, national, and international dialog (see Faculty Unplugged, page 6.) Additionally, we see that our alumni and parents are gravitating toward the conversation (see A Call to Action, page 4) about the role that UHS values play in the complex world that we are all navigating.

It heartens me when my stalwart group of breakfast clubbers show up ready to listen to a podcast for discussion or fired up about a story on their newsfeed. They don’t gather for credit, a grade, or another activity to list on their college application. Instead, they want to be part of a meaningful dialog as a member of a school community and climate that values their position and opinion. We are all feeling a bit of news-cycle fatigue as we scroll through our phones and consume our newspapers and shows. I feel very fortunate that my occasional news malaise is cured every Friday morning by engaging with the young hearts and minds of energetic UHS students, and I am proud that we are part of changing the school climate that inspires these future leaders.

Julia Russell Eells

2

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

Building a Better Mousetrap

Carpool App

C

arpooling’s not just for kids anymore, so when Rohan Vasishth ’20 was accepted by? UHS, he thought he would have multiple options to choose from when planning his commute from northern Marin County. He did his homework and found that commercial rideshare apps lack something UHS students consider to be a source of pride: a strong sense of community.

Rideshare apps are transactional; pick up and drop off occur with military precision, leaving no flexibility for the ebbs and flows of life. What Rohan wanted was an app that facilitated the oldfashioned carpool, the one where

Rohan Vasishth ’20 and Will Stark ’20.

a few families band together, divvy up the week, and help each other out on days when there’s a need for a one-time trade or schedule flex. The summer before his freshman year, Rohan attended a coding boot camp called Makeschool and coded the app himself.

UNIVERSE

Rohan is beta-testing the app, called ZipShare, with two UHS Marin carpool groups, and also with students attending a university in Egypt who found ZipShare on the App Store. Users appreciate the unique “full stack” offering, including in-app messaging and calendar, because it offers an organized view of the carpooling data.

This year as a sophomore Rohan founded a student club called UHS Apps, mentored by Byron Philhour, UHS physics instructor.

Club members experiment with app code language like Javascript, HTML, CSS, and Swift to learn how to launch and develop their own iOS apps.

In order to further grow ZipShare, Rohan plans to open up the app fully to the UHS community and reach out directly to more Bay Area

independent schools. In the meantime, you can download Rohan’s other app, QuikiNewz, which allows you to see the top five daily headlines based on the categories of interest you select. n

41st Year of Decorator Showcase

T

he selection of 465 Marina Boulevard for the 2018 Decorator Showcase marks the first time in Showcase history that the event will be held in the historic Marina District. Located across the street from the vibrant Marina Green and San Francisco Bay, this sophisticated three-level home was built in 1930 by architect George Edward McCrea (1871-

1943) and will be transformed

by Northern California’s top interior and landscape designers into the West Coast’s premier showcase event.

And another first this year, a UHS alumna is co-chair of the event. Angelina Alioto-Grace ’88, P ’19 and Natalie Stern P ’19 have teamed up to lead the hundreds of volunteers who fill roles such as docent, cashier, greeter, and sell advertisements for the coffee table-worthy program.

L to R: Angelina Alioto-Grace, Natalie Stern

Since 1977, Decorator Showcase has raised nearly $16 million in financial aid for our students, including $713,000 last spring,

a tie for highest net revenue of a Showcase house since the fundraiser first began. Decorator Showcase is not only an important fundraising vehicle, it also serves as a way for the design community, students, parents, faculty, trustees, alumni, friends, and visitors to reengage with our school every year. Over 14,000 people visited Showcase last

year, many who have returned annually for decades.

The house is for sale, listed by Travis Hale and Eva A. Daniel of Hill & Co. Learn more at 465marinablvd.com. The house is open to the public from April 28-May 28. See decoratorshowcase.org for details. n

SFUHS.ORG

3

UNIVERSE

A Call to Action O

n October 27, 2017, UHS’s Alumni Association sponsored the first event in a new series called “Runway Lecture.” Built neither for airplanes nor couture, this runway is made to give you, our audience, the fuel to “take off ” and participate in social justice in your professional life, as volunteers, and at home with family and friends.

Held at the downtown Olympic Club, the business-day lunch gathering brought together nearly 100 alumni and current parents for a timely conversation about race and politics.

Our speaker was Professor Ian Haney López, who holds an endowed chair as the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley and teaches in the areas of race and constitutional law. His most recent book, Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class (Oxford, 2014), describes how for fifty years politicians have exploited racial pandering to build resentment toward government, fooling voters into supporting policies that favor the very wealthiest while hurting everyone else. Haney López

came to campus in November of 2016 immediately following the election to speak with students.

He galvanized the student body and inspired students to speak up and protest policies they disagree with.

current climate of unbridled racism as politics-as-usual and part of the normal cycle between Democrats and Republicans, but instead to recognize it as an existential crisis that threatens democracy.

Haney López’s clear explanation of decades of insidious behavior is now seen as a prescient foretelling of the 2016 presidential election and a clarion call to action for those who find the analogy contemporary and relatable.

“There is a mistaken belief that racism only affects communities of color. The deep social divisions that bedevil our society don’t reflect the American people, they reflect a strategy among our politicians. What will happen to ‘us’ when social divisions are purposefully deepened, and anger is purposefully fueled and stoked? What will happen

Haney López appealed to the audience to stop seeing the

Coming together rests on us to have a shared vision

4

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

UNIVERSE

Ian Haney López; TK Lakshman P’ 20, co-chair of the Parent Alliance for Community Equity and Julayne Virgil ’94, president of the UHS Alumni Association; Nicola Miner ’88, Jennifer Smorgon ’90; Aisha QueenJohnson ’89, Vendela Vida ’89; Ted Levinson ’90, Elizabeth Ü ’95, Scott Boutin; Dr. Beverly Yates, P ’21; Ayana Cuevas Curry ’93, Tom Malarky ’80; Rachel Becker ’13, Gabriela Aleman ’13. Photos by Brooke Anderson.

if the major social institutions that have bound us together are dismantled? This will hurt everyone. Recognizing this and fighting against it can be used to rebuild a government coalition of the size that will affect an election’s outcome and change how the country is run. We are a people united by a set of ideals, including equality, liberty, and freedom. We’ve been taught to

fear each other, when in fact other people in our society are our greatest allies.”

Haney-Lopez’s newest project is called The Integrated Race and Class Narrative Project, and starts with the idea that coming together rests on us to have a shared vision about what has happened to the country. n

SFUHS.ORG

5

Kate Garrett, Academic Dean Board Member The SMART Program Bay Area Providing low income students access to an exceptional education and the skills needed to thrive in college and in life.

Melissa Mirza, Instructor of English Founder Bay Area Middle Eastern Educators Challenging the dominant narrative the West has of the Middle East by promoting Middle Eastern curricula across grade levels and disciplines, and creating support structures for educators and students of Middle Eastern descent.

Jessica Bejarano, Instructor of Music Music Director and Conductor San Francisco Civic Symphony Dedicated to offering numerous opportunities for classical music lovers and amateur musicians.

Deundra Hundon, Summerbridge Director of Outreach & Family Relations Secretary Economic Development on Third San Francisco Supporting, strengthening and developing economic growth on the Third Street corridor in the Bayview-Hunters Point Community.

Andrew Williams, Instructor of Community Engagement Regional Co-Chair, Alumni Admissions Ambassador Program Harvard Graduate School of Education Cambridge Provides opportunities for HGSE applicants to connect with Alumni and Student Ambassadors to hear about the HGSE experience firsthand.

Founder and Conference Committee Chair 2020 Conference Oakland Weeklong empowerment experience to help high school students develop the tools they need to build the world that they want to live in.

Aaron Mieszczanski, Director of Admissions SSAT Admission Leadership Council Enrollment Management Association Princeton Serving enrollment leaders by providing access to the best science, research, and training.

Susannah Martin, Instructor of Theatre Arts Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Shotgun Players Berkeley A company of artists determined to create bold, relevant, affordable theatre that inspires and challenges audience and artist alike to re-examine our lives, our community, and the everchanging world around us.

Nicole Hunter, Librarian President Bay Area Independent School Librarians Making the library a central and indispensable academic force within the independent school.

6

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

Rochelle Reodica, Director of Learning Services Faculty Mentor, Equity in Excellence Conference California Teacher Development Collaborative Professional development opportunity to understand the research and pedagogical practices that support equitable, diverse, and excellent K-12 schools.

Stanley Lau, Instructor of English Board Member Asian Educators Alliance San Francisco and New York AsEA is committed to identifying challenges that Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) teachers and staff face, discussing strategies to address these challenges, building mentoring structures, fostering networking, and sharing ways to support our AAPI families at our schools.

Jim Ketcham, Director of Athletics & Physical Education Finance Committee North Coast Section San Ramon Athletic body overseeing 160 high school athletic programs in the Bay Area and Northern California. The North Coast Section fosters, defines and preserves the role of athletics in secondary education. It is an organization committed to providing a wholesome environment in which educational athletics will thrive.

Scott Laughlin, Instructor of English and Department Chair Co-Founder and Associate Director DISQUIET Literary Program Portugal Aims to deepen mutual understanding among writers from North America and writers from Portugal

Julia Russell Eells, Head of School Board Member School Year Abroad Italy, Spain, France, China High school study abroad program for juniors and seniors. SYA guides students through a challenging curriculum focused on developing skills for successful engagement in an increasingly interdependent world. Central to the SYA experience is the adventure of understanding different languages, cultures and peoples.

Faculty Meeting

Unplugged

Many of our faculty lead and engage with the community beyond UHS, in fields that are directly related to their work at school. Volunteering for a mission-driven board drives professional development by cross-pollinating with peers and solving institutional challenges. UHS recognizes that we, too, benefit from our faculty members’ community engagement beyond the classroom, and thank these individuals for giving back.

Alex Lockett, Dean of Students Advisory Board Challege Success Brazil, Qatar, United States Providing families and schools with the practical, research-based tools they need to create a more balanced and academically fulfilling life for kids.

SFUHS.ORG

7

2018

I

n the last issue of UHS Journal we announced a new tradition at UHS called Alumni Honors, designed to recognize and acknowledge the contributions of alumni who embody our core values of inquiry, care, integrity, agency, and interconnection.

The Alumni Honors program celebrates alumni who are leaders in their field and are making important contributions at a local, national, or international level through personal accomplishment, professional achievement, or humanitarian service.

We invited students, alumni, current and past faculty, current and past parents, and friends of University to submit nominations, and the committee considered many excellent candidates.

We are pleased to announce the inaugural recipients here. Dr. Njema Frazier ’88 and George Watsky ’05 will speak at the Alumni+Student Symposium on May 4, and all alumni are welcome to attend. See page 29 and sfuhs.org/reunion for details.

— Leonard Chung ’98, chair of UHS Alumni Honors

Lawrence Livermore Lab. It is through this combination of professional excellence and service to others that she embodies UHS’s core values of inquiry, care, integrity, agency, and interconnection.

DR. NJEMA FRAZIER ’88

D

r. Njema Frazier ’88 says her hobby is changing the world.

In the twenty years since obtaining her PhD in nuclear physics in 1997 and rising to a place of leadership within the field, Njema has been a lifelong mentor to youth and emerging professionals just beginning their path, specifically focused on increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in STEM professions. Due to her efforts, she has been recognized by countless organizations devoted to the same, from national entities to grassroots influencers, extending her reach even further.

The path to enter and excel in STEM is illuminated through

8

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

the life choices she has made: a rigorous course of academic study, time spent in the House of Representatives on the staff of the Committee on Science learning the business of government, many years working as a physicist with the Department of Energy, and now leading the Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). At the NNSA she manages scientific and technical efforts undertaken to ensure that the United States maintains a credible National nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing. Her program is charged with researching high energy density and plasma physics and works closely with the nation’s top talent around the country, including researchers at

Njema is candid about the experience of being an underrepresented minority in her field. “There aren’t a lot of women or people of color in physics. Because of that, my qualifications have routinely been challenged, and my work has had to be strong enough to counter or change those views. Even today, in 2018, some established leaders in my field still are not ready for diversity. I guess it is a good thing they don’t sign my check!”

The academic rigor at UHS prepared Njema well for Carnegie Mellon where she felt comfortable with challenging assignments like problem sets from day one. Being comfortable in the college classroom early on instilled a high degree of confidence in her. She credits her time in Summerbridge before UHS with making her take academics seriously as a middle school student.

Njema’s first love is math, but the pervasive nature of physics drove her to pursue science instead.

She remembers trips to the Exploratorium for homework assignments from physics instructor Tucker Hiatt; trips that made her realize physics is everywhere.

When asked how she has moved up through the ranks to leadership in her field, Njema offers advice that can be applied to any field. “My willingness and ability to find solutions to problems is one of the things that has made me successful. It’s not enough to identify a problem.

Managers appreciate team members who identify a solution at the same time as presenting a challenge. Offering a solution means the team can work together to solve the issue and move the project – or program – forward.

Being a physicist means Njema was trained to find solutions.

But looking for answers isn’t enough, you also have to listen for answers. “It’s important to be a good listener, an active listener, instead of simply preparing your next talking point while others are speaking.”

And the other ingredient for success? “You have to be an expert in your job before you can lead. Advancing into higher positions is a worthwhile goal, but take the time to learn your current role inside and out before you decide it’s time to advance. Doing the best job where you are will help you get the plum assignments. Then, when you do get the promotion, you’ll be more competent and valuable as a leader because you understand the details of how your discipline works.”

Today she still volunteers her time for STEM education and STEM advocacy. Algebra by 7th Grade which she co-founded

UNIVERSE

and now serves on their advisory board. She is an active speaker for the American Physical Society. And she is on the board of CHANGES, Coalition of Hispanic, African and Native Americans for the Next Generation of Engineers and Scientists.

And on a personal note, she shares the news that she is engaged to be married to Dr. Joe

Eleanor Stills photo

and still chairs, has just ended a successful pilot program in Washington DC and has started to expand with a second program partnering with Purdue University’s Minority Engineering Program. Ab7G is evaluating the pilot’s results and preparing to take the program to scale. Njema has been involved with National Society for Black Engineers since her undergraduate days

GEORGE WATSKY ’05

G

eorge Watskey ’05 (known professionally as Watsky) is an accomplished artist who has experimented with and mastered multiple genres: rap, poetry, music, writing, acting, and directing.

He has been dedicated to his craft since his high school days as a poetry slam champ when he broke new ground with his 2005 spoken-word play, “The Fuse,” the first ever student-written mainstage production at UHS. From Lin Manuel Miranda to Ellen DeGeneres, established artists and performers have identified George as a rising talent and collaborated with him.

George continually reinvents himself, rewarding his loyal followers while reaching new audiences. His essay collection, How to Ruin Everything, is a timeless look at the angst and humor of being a youth and young adult, like a Gen Y David Sedaris. And his short film excerpting the book is yet another example of genrebending innovation.

George was selected for Alumni Honors because of his innovative work, and because he uses his stage to question the status quo, advocate for those who are less fortunate, and expects the same from others.

George has always been interested in the craft of writing, figuring out how to add new tools to make language pretty, interesting, rich, or attention-grabbing, and there’s humor in most of what he does. At the center of everything he writes is sincerity and desire for emotional connection with the audience. When asked to describe the common thread in his work, George says, “I’m an atheist searching for church. I keep returning to the question of how we can find beauty and meaning in a world that may lack fundamental meaning. If we’re all gonna die and none of us matter, what’s the point of this exhausting dance we all do? I think the conclusion I tend to draw is, well, yeah, there probably is no point.

But we’re here, our feelings are real to us, and it’s more fun to care than to cave in.”

George’s inspirations include the precision and clarity of Jhumpa Lahiri’s prose, the stream-ofconsciousness brilliance of Andre 3000, and the passionate dedication of ropeless rock climber Alex Honnold. His

Haralson, an electrical engineer.

The two met the summer before freshman year of college and have been lifelong friends. Joe got down on one knee and proposed the night that Njema was recognized by Black Girls Rock! as their STEM awardee.

Njema Frazier is indeed changing the world. n Nominated by Steve Kubick ’85

poetry is largely influenced by the other teenage writers he grew up competing against.

Navigating a career in entertainment is not for the faint of heart. Unlike an author who can’t get published because his novel isn’t easily filed in a bookstore “section,” George has found a way to stay true to his art and keep himself in the public eye. “I’m an advocate for finding the balance. I aim for a sort of Trojan Horse strategy, i.e., give them what they want enough to get in the door, and once you’re in, subvert their expectations.”

UHS had a big impact on George. “I got to UHS and almost overnight became a better writer, a better listener, a better Greek-column-volute explainer.

UHS believed in me, allowed me to make mistakes and bounce back, gave me a platform for my playwriting, and delivered me to leadership positions.” And after graduation, “we as University alumni are privileged to have the opportunity to spend our careers doing something that makes us happy.”

But true to his ethos, George recognizes his experience was not universal, and challenges us to be better: “What I’ve been coming to terms with over the last few years is that my experience of the school was not shared by everyone. Some of my good friends—brilliant, hardworking, caring people—had a starkly different high school experience than I did, a straight, white male.”

“UHS can’t singlehandedly solve the patriarchy, or racial income inequality, and it would be unfair to expect the school to. All my experiences relate to the school as it was when I was there, so I can’t speak to the current environment.

But I think if we're staying honest with ourselves about how to serve the needs of every student we’re moving in the right direction.”

His advice for aspiring artists?

“You can do it! Try to create something you’ve never seen before. Dream big. Apply all those awesome analytical practical UHS skills to your art. Break your craft down into manageable chunks and master one little subset at a time. Be dedicated and determined. Every career takes hard work and you need to be your own taskmaster because usually there’s no one there to force you to show up. But never disassociate from the spark that made you fall in love with the arts in the first place.” And that advice can be applied to any discipline.

Remember, everyone starts somewhere: “I was, to my knowledge, the first person ever cut from the freshman basketball team.” n Nominated by Henry Rittenberg ’11

2018 Alumni Honors selection committee: • • • • • • • • •

Leonard Chung ’98, chair of UHS Alumni Honors Julayne Virgil ’94, UHS trustee and president of the Alumni Association Marianna Stark ’89, director of alumni engagement and giving Oscar Flores ’89, P’13, co-chair of the Summerbridge Annual Fund Frances Hochschild ’80, P’21, co-chair of the Alumni Annual Fund Thomas McKinley ’02, co-chair of the Alumni Annual Fund Andrew Williams ‘00, UHS director of community engagement Jane Prior P ‘15, president of the UHS Board of Trustees Julia Russell Eells, head of school SFUHS.ORG

9

UNIVERSE

PITCHING IN

L to R: Monique Moore P ’19, Czar of Celebration; Betsy Munz P ’18, P’11, Scout; Oracles Jenna Feinberg P ’19, P ’15 and Laura Spivy P ’20, P ’18; Chris Dowd P’ 19, P ’17, the "Shooter."

This is the first in a series featuring our amazing Parent Association volunteers. There are over twenty PA committees made up of nearly 200 hands-on volunteers who help make the University community a welcoming place for students, faculty, and staff.

SPORTS BOOSTERS: A Very Special Team

S

ports Boosters are passionate Red Devils fans who help do everything from manage dozens of parent volunteers to execute flawless special events. With nearly all UHS students playing a team sport at least one season during their career, and 36 active interscholastic teams every year, there are a lot of logistics to command! The group meets with the Athletic Department staff monthly and relishes the opportunity to hear tales of victory and lessons from defeat firsthand

10

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

from Athletic Director Jim Ketcham P’06, P’09, P’13, now in his 15th year at UHS. The Sports Boosters committee is made up of four critical roles, and the average commitment is two years.

The Scout: Recruits two to three parents per team each season to serve as the parent captains or Team Parents. These Team Parents then take the lead in disseminating information on game schedules, organize away game carpool duty, and snack assignments.

Team Parents manage team potlucks and pizza nights where sports families develop strong friendships over the course of the school year.

There are between 70-80 parents every year who serve as team parents, and the season runs smoothly much in part to their efforts.

stroke of noon to watch this enduring basketball rivalry play out every year. Oracle Day planning duties include communicating the intricate day’s schedule to students, faculty, and parents, and hosting a celebratory BBQ tailgate for hungry fans immediately after the game.

The Shooter: A gifted photographer who attends as many games as humanly possible to record the winning shot, fierce crowd cheers, and post-game glow.

Czar of Celebration: Three times a year, the entire school community is invited to meet at school in the evening to celebrate the end of the season, lessons learned, and honor team spirit. This postseason party planner handles communications, potluck assignments, decoration and logistics for these special bonding opportunities. n

Oracles of Oracle: In partnership with rival Lick Wilmerding parents, this twosome coordinate the details necessary for 800 UHS and Lick students (plus parents and faculty) who arrive at Oracle Arena at the

UNIVERSE

CHAMPIONS OF BALANCE The UHS Athletic Complex at Paul Goode Field has been in use for almost one year, so we thought we’d take a moment to meet a few student athletes who embody our school values in all arenas. These students are passionate about sports and make the time to participate in other aspects of student life as well.

Sarah Li ‘18

Volleyball, Badminton For Sarah Li, balance is the name of the game.

Between serving as captain for both the volleyball and badminton teams, acting in the winter play, and maintaining academics and family life, juggling activities has grown beyond a talent into a lifestyle. By taking each moment one step at a time, Sarah remains focused and dedicated to each individual activity. “Once you’re on the court it doesn’t matter what’s going on in your life, it’s all

MISSION OF UHS ATHLETICS:

about the game.”

Most importantly to Sarah, she relies on the support of her teammates and her community for help. After all, “the game depends on the success of the team, not just the individual.”

— Nathalie Chicoine ’19

Nico Petry-Mitchel ‘18 Soccer

If you look out at Paul Goode Field on any given soccer practice or game day, you can see team captain Nico Petry-Mitchel flawlessly executing a Maradona spin (used to escape a tackle from a defender). In the offseason, Nico is the captain of the SF Elite Academy club soccer team, where playing with kids from all different schools has helped him develop his leadership skills.

The star fubolista is also the President of Latinx United Club and Vice-President of Diversity on campus.

According to Nico, his UHS education has taught him to see multiple sides of any one story, which explains his interest in journalism as

a career. Nico credits the effective study skills that UHS has pushed him to develop with making it possible to participate in so many activities.

— Sarah Camacho ’19

Elliott Weil ‘19 Cross Country; Track and Field

Elliott Weil started cross country as a freshman with no prior running experience and was recently elected team captain for the 2018-2019 school year by his fellow runners. He is part of an elite group of seven top University runners that compete in postseason meets and helped our boys team claim first place at the D5 state championship this year.

Elliott is not just a leader

The interscholastic athletic program seeks to help student-athletes grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially through the challenges of athletic discipline, team participation, and interscholastic competition.

The mission is educational and designed to enrich and complement the UHS academic experience.

SFUHS.ORG

11

UNIVERSE

on his cross-country team; he is also a Peer Advisor to freshmen and writes for the Devil’s Advocate. He is the drummer for the UHS Jazz Ensemble which competes against other jazz bands in the city, and even started his own band with an EP scheduled to be released this spring.

— Micherice Tao ’19

Kavita Parekh ‘18 Field Hockey

Kavita has been a starting field hockey defender since sophomore year and a proud member of the team that went undefeated in league last fall. At the beginning of last fall, she was one of two

12

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

students invited to speak at the grand opening ceremony of the UHS Athletic Complex at Paul Goode Field. In addition to being a stellar athlete, she is a Peer Advisor, a president of SWEAR (Students for Women’s Equality and Rights), and a senior class representative on Athletic Council. For Kavita, the supportive, tight-knit team dynamic has played a large part in making her UHS experience so amazing. Her advice to incoming freshmen thinking about trying out for field hockey is to play hard and have fun: “You’ll have a fun season and meet lots of new people either way, so just enjoy yourself!”

— Julian Manyika ’18

Julian Manyika ‘18 Basketball

Senior basketball captain Julian Manyika has been a dedicated student athlete since his freshman year at UHS. His strength on the court is shooting threes, but perhaps his biggest contribution is his leadership and dedication; he strives to make every player better.

He does this by constantly communicating with every person on the team, giving them advice and working to ensure the entire team plays together smoothly. Julian is an Admissions Ambassador, selected by the Admissions team

to tell prospective families about UHS, and was a Vice President of Academics during his junior year. He plays club basketball for the Bay Area Warriors and volunteers at 826 Valencia, sharing his interest in math.

Along with the amazing UHS coaches who developed his skills as a player, Julian especially values the friendships he has made and the teamwork involved in being part of the UHS basketball program.

— Maddie House ’18

Gracie Feinberg ‘19 Lacrosse, Basketball, Track and Field

Gracie has worn many jerseys in her UHS sports career: Lacrosse, Basketball, and Track as a discus thrower and high jumper. For Gracie, spending Thanksgiving, Holiday, and February breaks practicing and playing in tournaments means, “Your team becomes a family,” including Track where athletes compete as individuals and cheering for teammates’ events. On the court, Gracie can be seen doing her signature move: her drop step and jump hook. In addition to having the strong time management skills required of every devoted athlete, Gracie emphasizes sleep, “a lot of sleep,” as a must.

On campus, Gracie is a Peer Advisor, a member of the debate club, and is helping organize a breast cancer fundraiser this spring.

— Emily Ehsan ’18

UNIVERSE

Lydia Grossman, ’17 with Dr. Jesse Berret in 2016.

Fanatical Sabbatical

D

r. Jesse Berrett’s debut book, Pigskin Nation, began as an exploration of football’s intersection with politics and culture in the 60s and 70s and picked up surprising relevance due to the “taking a knee” protest within the NFL in protest of oppression of people of color and police brutality. Jesse wrote half of the book while on sabbatical in the spring of 2015, and finished it over the next 18 months after returning full time to UHS. As the “take a knee” protests went viral and spurred on other players and entire teams to join Kaepernick, Jesse experienced a “pigskin nation” coming alive as the national public expressed support or disdain for the NFL protests on a daily basis, and even the President and Vice-President tweeted opinions.

Dr. Berrett spent his early childhood years in Ann Arbor, where his father attended

graduate school. By age seven, Jesse was a passionate Michigan football fan and to this day watches games and exchanges messages with his college roommate about how the team is doing. As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, he shared a dorm and one class with fellow students who were also football players. This is where he first noticed how different these athletes’ lives were from those led by “regular” college students.

The seed from which Pigskin Nation grew came from a book about the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry in the 60s: “the kicker got in trouble for being late to practice because he was attending a protest….” Writing the book allowed him to work through the ambivalence he feels about the wide cultural presence of football in the United States and the serious and sometimes fatal health effects experienced by many athletes who play the sport.

One unexpected perk of Jesse’s writing process was enrichment of his teaching practice.

“Studying source materials from the White House archives gave me insight into how the President and his staff think about the effects his actions have on the country. It’s also reminded me firsthand of the challenge of the empty page. I’ve shared with my students the process of working with editors on rewrites.

Just as I critique my students’ work and help them refine their voices, someone else does the same for me. You’re never a finished product as a writer.” n Jesse Berrett, PhD., has taught history at UHS since 1996. Some of his most popular classes have been Dictatorship and Democracy and Modern Middle East. Pigskin Nation will be published by University of Illinois Press in April 2018.

Since 2004 UHS has offered its longest-serving faculty a sort of recess—time to research and create or rest and refuel. Sabbaticals provide experienced faculty extended time and funds to pursue their studies, artistic endeavors, and other projects meaningful to their personal growth.

Two sabbatical grants are available each school year. Chosen faculty are compensated with half-pay for a full year, or full-pay for one semester. We’ve had 21 faculty members take advantage of this opportunity to date, with every discipline represented.

If you are interested in making a contribution to the restricted endowment supporting faculty sabbaticals, please contact Shaundra Bason, director of development at shaundra.bason@sfuhs.org.

SFUHS.ORG

13

Environmental Science Courses Urge Action on

Climate Change Last September, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced that California will host the Global Climate Action Summit from September 12 to 14, 2018 in San Francisco. From the start UHS has offered environmental science courses, and many of our alumni have gone on to work in environmental science or environmental justice professionally. In this issue, we’re sharing a few of those stories. Share your story by sending an email to communications@sfuhs.org.

M

any Game of Thrones viewers consider the HBO series a parable for climate change. Like the show’s supernatural White Walkers and their army of the dead, global warming can seem too distant or overwhelming a threat to face head on. At UHS, environmental science courses are taking a different approach to teaching students about climate change—one that inspires action.

In her AP Environmental Science and Marine Biology courses, Rochelle Devault, who joined the UHS faculty this academic year, is tying science to the real world. She took students on field trips to the Headwaters Science Institute at Donner Pass, where they researched biodiversity and soil composition, and to a local park, where they estimated the carbon content of a tree. This fall, she plans to link coursework to the Global Climate Action Summit, which will bring climate advocacy leaders to San Francisco.

“I want students to feel that steps can be taken and this isn’t a doom-and-gloom situation,” Devault says.

That is also the goal of a new course that Devault is launching

14

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

with English teacher Susee Witt this spring. Called “Climate Science/Climate Stories,” the elective is the first UHS course focused on climate change and the first to be cross-listed in the English and science departments.

The goal of the interdisciplinary course is to illuminate the human aspects of a crisis often seen as abstract.

“Our central question is: What is a human being’s relationship to nature, how has it changed, and do we have a moral responsibility to the environment?” Witt says.

The course will explore both the science of climate systems and the stories people have told about the natural world from the pre-industrial era to today.

Students will read everything from Native American and Greek mythology to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau to Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. At the end, they will work on a local climate-related project with a social justice component.

“Included in our teaching philosophy is the notion that teenagers don’t need to be bombarded with disaster, but rather given the opportunity to create and imagine: This is going

Clockwise from top: Justin Sze ’18 and Queenie Li ’18; Rochelle Devault, science instructor; UHS students in the field.

to be your world. What would you like it to look like?” Witt says.

Devault hopes the new curriculum, combined with her other courses, can help overcome inertia on climate change. “I saw

a disconnect between science and the general public because there wasn’t a humanization of what was going on,” she says. “Here is the data, but how can we really make students and the public take ownership of it?” n — Katia Savchuk

UNIVERSE

Elliot Britton ’18 Helps Solve a Local Environmental Mystery

L

ast spring, hundreds of leopard sharks began washing up on Bay Area shores. Scientists had no idea why the animals were dying, and they were concerned: The sharks are a key part of the local food chain.

Last summer, senior Elliot Britton helped crack the case during an internship at the DeRisi lab at the University of California, San Francisco, which was collaborating with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Elliot flew drones along the coastline to scan for

Sam Steyer ’06 Energy Analyst While at UHS, Sam Steyer ’06 took AP Physics Mechanics, AP Physics Electricity and Magnetism, and honors math courses. He particularly appreciated how UHS taught the “whole system of math and science,” immersing the students in new “worlds,” rather than simply following “procedures.”

Sam is the head of analytics at Station A, a “spin-out company” of NRG Energy, he is currently developing software to facilitate the collaboration of clean energy companies and large landowners seeking to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels, by making it easier for all parties to construct renewable

any dead leopard sharks that volunteer beach patrollers missed.

He only found one, which confirmed that counts were accurate.

“I wanted to use my interest in aviation and aerial systems to solve an environmental problem,” Elliot says. “I was able to figure out techniques for the best way to use drones if similar outbreaks occur in the future.”

Next, Elliot put his UHS coursework in molecular biology to use. He assisted Hanna Retallack, a graduate student working in the lab, to analyze the DNA and RNA in samples of brain fluid from leopard sharks that had died in the Bay and elsewhere.

Elliot’s role was to perform

energy projects. As an analyst at Advanced Energy Economy in 2011 and 2012, he fought for the implementation of a legal policy in Ohio, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania called the “renewable portfolio standard,” or RPS, which encourages politicians to support renewable energy. Steyer hopes that the Global Climate Action Summit next September will establish country-by-country specifics of implementing the goals of the Paris Climate Accord, as well as encourage industries and states to prioritize the environment. He hopes UHS will continue encouraging students to “rebuild some of the systems in the world,” and to keep asking students to imagine ways for cities to function more sustainably. n

polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a lab technique used to make copies of DNA segments.

Hanna was able to use the results to discover the killer: A parasite called Miamiensis avidus was infecting the sharks’ brains, causing them to become disoriented and die.

Some scientists believe California’s drought, followed by heavy rainfall in Northern California, helped the parasite spread by washing toxins into the Bay or decreasing salinity.

Such extreme weather events are becoming more common due to climate change.

Elliot, who is now studying microbiology and working on a student pilot's license, says his internship inspired him to persevere in using his love of planes to solve realworld problems, including environmental ones.

L to R: Elliot Britton ’18; Hannah Retallack, graduate student who works in the DeRisi Lab; Dr. Joseph DeRisi, Professor, Biochemistry and Biophysics, UCSF, and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator. Photo courtesy of Paul Hauser.

“I couldn’t believe I could fly a drone every day and call it work.

It was amazing to be able to see scientists solve problems in a lab setting and even help out” he says. “If you have a passion or weird interest, think about how you can connect what you know to what other people need help with.” n — Katia Savchuk

L to R: Sam Steyer ’06 with Michael Wara ’91. The two met at Stanford University when Sam was a statistics grad student. Michael advised Sam on a project concerning integration of wind and solar into the electricity grid. At the time, Michael was an associate professor at Stanford Law School. He is now the director of the climate change and energy policy program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment.

— Roxie Miles ’19 SFUHS.ORG

15

UNIVERSE

Defending California’s

ENVIRONMENT

N

either Bradley Solomon ’81 nor Elaine Meckenstock ’89 started out in their careers defending the environment, but today both are proud to work for the State of California Attorney General in the Natural Resources Section.

Brad spent the first part of his law career as a personal injury lawyer litigating in front of juries. A few years back, he was recruited by the Natural Resources Law Section because they thought having a strong litigator on the team would be an asset. One of his most recent cases has involved defending our state Department of Fish and Wildlife in regard to a moratorium on suction dredge mining, sometimes called

“recreational” gold mining, and its effects on the environment.

Also a Deputy Attorney General, Elaine came to law as her second career. While in law school she studied the legal issues presented real time by Hurricane Katrina.

In her third year she secured an internship with the California Attorney General’s office in the Natural Resources section and has been there ever since a postgrad stint clerking for the 9th circuit. She has worked on the same case for ten years, defending California’s carbon intensity standard for transportation fuel sold in our state. California’s clean air standards for fuel sold in our state are higher than other states, and she and her team defend that practice. n

Aquatic Scientist

Samantha Ives ’08, Ethical Designer Sam Ives eschews the term sustainable design. “Ethical is the word we should be using,” she says. “The problem is that most fashion apparel is made with cheap material and cheap labor in styles that people tire of quickly.” Sam’s clothing line, Maker and Mineral, walks the walk. Garments are seasonless and versatile because the items can be worn with or without layers. Materials are upcycled fabric, scrap fabric, and dead stock fabric. She’s so thoughtful that she prints the fabric after it’s been cut so the blank scraps are more versatile. Inks are water soluble. Her manufacturing equipment is two second hand industrial sewing machines.

Packaging is made from recycled materials. Everything she sells she prints, cuts and sews herself.

16

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

Michelle Woo Bowman ’89

She’s built a following for her business at craft fairs and through Instagram. “The change that has to come is massive. We need to be more considerate of our purchasing choices in general.

We need big businesses to say it’s important to be green, important not to poison rivers with dye runoff. We need customers to say we value safe work environments for factory workers, and we’re willing to pay for it.” n

During the next big winter rain, you won’t find Michelle Bowman inside keeping dry; she’ll be deep inside a storm drain monitoring water quality.

Michelle’s first job out of college was with an environmental consulting firm that specialized in storm water regulatory issues and it’s what she’s still doing today. As an aquatic scientist, Michelle monitors water and sediment (a.k.a. mud) for her clients to make sure they comply with clean water regulations.

Michelle spent her summers as a kid playing in tidepools in Hawaii, her mother’s birthplace, and always knew she wanted to be a marine biologist. She studied marine biology at UHS with Rob Spivack P ’07, volunteered at the Marine Mammal Center, received her Bachelor of Science from U.C. San Diego in general biology (because they didn’t offer the specialized major back then),

and did work towards her M.S. in animal physiology at S.F. State University. She curated a career path into her profession by holding internships throughout her undergraduate career at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in marine benthic ecology and taxonomy, and was a scientific illustrator at the Scripps Institute Aquarium. Her expertise is in water quality monitoring and sediment characterization, and her clients include the Port of San Diego and Port of Los Angeles. She provides chemical analyses and toxicity testing of water and sediment samples. More recently, she's provided her clients with environmental outreach and education. She has filled a much-needed role in translating scientific results or compliance regulations into layperson terms. She uses these skills to teach the public how to use more environmentally friendly practices prior to regulations needing to be put in place, and to help them understand new or current regulations. n —Marianna Stark ’89

Breaking Down Silos:

Lamott Endowment for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Curricular Innovation Dr. Bruce Lamott in the late 80s

By Sarita Cannon ‘94 Book art by Jane Knoll ’14

O

ne of my most vivid high school memories was taking the yearlong course Western Civilization: History of the Arts. In this uniquely UHS rite of passage, I learned about the connection between sonata form in Mozart symphonies and composition in neoclassical painting. Under the dynamic instruction of Dr. Bruce Lamott and Prudy Kohler, I understood how Picasso’s Cubist innovations and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring marked the rise of modernism. The interdisciplinary approach and broad historical sweep of the class challenged and engaged me in equal measure, and the imprint of Western Civ is evident in my own teaching practices in the literature classroom. The desire to provide more opportunities to engage in this kind of collaborative, multidisciplinary work has led to the creation of the Lamott Endowment for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Cirricular Innovation. Named after Dr.

Endless Book, 2014

Bruce Lamott, who retired in 2016 after 36 years of teaching at University, this endowment will support the creation of interdisciplinary courses that facilitate dialogue between academic disciplines.

This endowment was established to respond to a growing interest among UHS faculty to collaborate across departments.

Dean of Faculty Nasif Iskander notes that the endowment provides the time and resources to “break down the silos of the program” through the creation of innovative courses that draw upon multiple methodologies.

Interdisciplinarity already exists in the UHS curriculum; but the Lamott Fellowship gives instructors time to collaborate with their colleagues to generate courses that are grounded in interdisciplinary exploration.

Students who take these classes also benefit. Iskander asserts that interdisciplinary learning gives students a “stronger sense of

Card Money, 2014

agency” because they are able to synthesize information in a more realistic way. Moreover, says Iskander, students witness the power of lifelong learning when they see their teachers “putting themselves in an explicit learning stance.” Indeed, watching teachers position themselves as learners has immense value for students.

The History of Whiteness, the first class funded by the Lamott Fellowship, was offered in Fall 2017 and provided students with both Human Development and History credit. Taught by Human Development instructor Mollie Crittenden and history instructor Justin Morgan Johnson, this course “examined the origins and history of white as a racial category and whiteness as the mechanism to establish and perpetually assert imagined cultural norms.”

Because of their shared interest in equity issues, Crittenden and Johnson developed this course to give students an intellectual

and affective understanding of whiteness. Says Crittenden, “We structured the course so that students were learning concepts and practices related to their way of being, which went beyond an intellectual framework.”

Drawing upon readings about whiteness, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence as well as techniques that Crittenden has used in her work as a teacher with UNtraining of White

SFUHS.ORG

17

F E AT U R E S

Piano Book, 2014

Liberal Racism, the course allowed students to “make learning more relevant to their lived experiences.” Throughout the semester, students engaged in different forms of meditation to increase self-awareness about the “negative impacts of white conditioning (self-judgment, criticism, shame, guilt, anger, fear, doubt) on their internal states” and to cultivate compassion for others. Crittenden notes that “students also benefitted from the modeling of a white person and person of color working together and caring deeply about the impacts of whiteness on all of us.”

18

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

The second course funded by the Lamott Endowment, the Art of the Book, will be offered in Spring 2018 after school for a half course credit. Taught by visual arts instructor Jenifer Kent and English Instructor Michael Holt, the Art of the Book will explore “the ways in which a literary text can be enhanced and informed by a visual dimension, and in turn, how visual art can inspire and transform a narrative or poetic creation.” By showing students books such as The Gorgeous Nothings, which features facsimiles of Emily Dickinson’s poems that were written on the backs of envelopes, and Renee Gladman’s Prose Architectures, in

which she uses letters to create drawings, and guiding them through a series of in-class exercises, Jenifer and Michael aim to encourage students to playfully engage with the intersection between verbal and visual narratives. They also plan to supplement instruction with field trips to Park Life, a local art and design gallery, and the San Francisco Center for the Book.

Says Kent, “The meta question for the class is: ‘What is a book?’”

The culminating project will be either a collection of books created by individual students or a single book collaboratively produced by the class. “We want to see what motivates and

inspires our students,” says Kent.

A fitting tribute to an instructor beloved by many generations of UHS alumni, the Lamott Endowment will give faculty the opportunity to collaborate by teaching courses that allow students to experiment with different ways of synthesizing knowledge. The rigor and experimentation in these two inaugural classes represent the innovative learning environment that epitomizes a UHS education. n For more information on the Lamott Endowment, go to sfuhs.org/Lamott.

F E AT U R E S

Happy 40 th Birthday,

Summerbridge!

Teaching Fellows at Summerbridge Celebration 2014. Julia Angeles is third from right, Joshua Kwan is fifth from right.

F

ounded at University High School in 1978, Summerbridge is an award-winning pioneer in preparing ambitious middle school students from under-resourced circumstances to enter and thrive in college preparatory high schools.

Dennis Collins, founding head of school at UHS, and two faculty members, Lois Loofbourrow and Mal Singer, envisioned a program that would utilize the resources of UHS to serve the city of San Francisco.

Since its founding, Summerbridge remains committed to providing tuition-free programming for every student and improving educational outcomes for young people.

For 40 years, Summerbridge has advanced three primary goals: • preparing ambitious middle school students from under-resourced circumstances to enter and thrive in well-matched high schools, for the purpose

of securing admission to, succeeding in, and graduating from college • providing intensive summer teaching fellowships for high school and college students who are passionate about the power of education, and creating meaningful volunteer experiences throughout the academic year for members of the University High School (UHS) and San Francisco communities and

Summerbridge memories

I

was 11 when I first heard about Summerbridge. ThenAssociate Director Kihana Ross came to talk to my 6th grade class about a tuition-free 6-week summer program for students who loved to learn, and I was immediately interested.

My Filipino immigrant parents worked full-time jobs, and as an only child, I often spent my summers marathon-reading. This time, I wanted to do something different.

Over my three summers as a student at Summerbridge (SB), I grew in my self-confidence

and learned more about the opportunities that existed for me in the world. As I had come from a Catholic school, it was the first time I had heard about independent schools, and it was the first time I traveled across the city by myself from my home neighborhood, the Excelsior. It was the first time I had called my teachers by their first name, had had teachers who were in high school or college, had heard of schools like Williams and Tufts and UCSD. It was the first time I had felt challenged academically, and

Founding director of Summerbridge Lois Loofbourrow with co-director Tom Malarky ’80 in the late 80s.

• transforming lives through the unique and powerful relationship between the Summerbridge and UHS communities.

We thank Julia Angeles ’11 and Joshua Kwan ’13 for sharing their memories of Summerbridge with the University High School community. n

Julia Angeles ’11

more importantly, it was the first time I had truly felt cared for as a student. At my middle school, I had classes that were sometimes up to forty students, and since I was shy, I often did not know what my place was. At SB, I had classes with only ten, and the difference was astounding. My teachers actually knew who I was as a person. I was not just a student in their class, but I was an avid speller, Harry Potter reader, and House fan. I saw myself fitting in somewhere for the first time.

This magic, I would learn, was

part of the SB “spirit,” the special mix of joy and togetherness that permeates every aspect of SB. Much of it is because of tradition. Class songs, a handshake, Spirit Day, and my favorite, cheering. Summerbridge has a cheer for everything, from showing class and department pride, to congratulating students on a job well done, to celebrating the program itself.

When I was in the seventh grade, my English teachers asked me if I would perform a speech I Continued on page 29

SFUHS.ORG

19

THE SUMMER SLIDE

STUDENTS APPLICATIONS in English, 普通话 (Mandarin) and Español (Spanish) AVAILABLE DECEMBER

Essay

Short-form questions for students and their parents

GPA & standardized test scores

Teacher recommendations

Achievement Test Scores

Why enrichment matters

Middle-class students

Under-resourced students

Regular School Year

Summer Vacation

Regular School Year

Source: deliveringhopeforkids. org/mainpage/bookgraph.png

Statement of income One day weekly Applications Due early spring semester

90 minutes After school Snack

EVALUATION PROCESS

Fall • English

Admission committee includes staff, UHS students, and Summerbridge alumni

6 weeks, Monday through Friday, full day

Interviews

Infographic concept developed by Stacy McCarthy, learningdesignnetwork.com. Icons from Noun Poject.

Decisions mailed mid-spring semester

• Academic (Math, Science, Humanities) • Co-Curricular: Nutrition

OFFER & ACCEPTANCE

• Electives

• Math Spring • English • SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test) Prep

Welcome Letter to New Students

Available Daily

New Student Orientation

• Tutoring

Placement testing Student/family contract

SUMMER #1 (Rising 7th)

After School Enrichment (7th grade)

TEACHERS APPLICATION:

OFFER & ACCEPTANCE:

Essay

Video of a mock lesson

Teaching Fellows (Rising Seniors and/or college students)

Letters of recommendation

Interview

Instructional Coaches (Professional teachers)

GPA

20

EVAULATION PROCESS:

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

6 weeks, Monday through Friday full day • Academic (Math, Science, Humanities) Weekly

• Co-Curricular: Community & Identity

90 minutes

• Electives

After school 6 weeks, Monday through Friday, full day • Academic (Math, Science, Humanities) • High School Options • Electives

Snack Fall • High School Options

95%

of Summerbridge students have enrolled in academically rigorous college preparatory high schools.

90%

• SSAT Prep

S. A .T.

Spring

RESULTS

of our students have gone on to

four-year colleges

• English

and have pursued careers in medicine, business, law, art, and education.

• Math Available Daily • Tutoring

72%

TIMELINE

SUMMER #2 (Rising 8th)

SUMMER #3 Rising 9th

After School Enrichment (8th grade)

promote educational equity.

1978 Summerbridge was

launched as a summer enrichment program for youth from under-resourced middle schools at UHS by Dennis Collins, Lois Luftburrow, and Mal Singer.

2001

Summerbridge National became the Breakthrough Collaborative national office.

1991 Summerbridge

National was founded and two more affiliates opened their doors.

1990 Summerbridge New Source: Breakthrough Collaborative

of Summerbridge teachers have gone on to work or volunteer in schools or other organizations that

Orleans was founded with support from the directors of Summerbridge San Francisco and the affiliate model was created.

1994 Twenty-six Summerbridge programs in operation across the country.

TODAY

Breakthrough Collaborative has 24 affiliate sites across the country and one in Hong Kong that collectively serve over 5,000 middle school students and over 1,000 teaching fellows each summer.

The Breakthrough Collaborative national office is based in Oakland, CA. SFUHS.ORG

21

F E AT U R E S

had given in class in front of the entire community at Celebration, the end-of-summer student showcase. I had never given a speech before, but with their help, I got up on that stage and said the speech with confidence in front of over 300 people.

From that point on, I felt very comfortable on stage, and in my last summer, I was elected to be one of two class speakers for my SB graduation.

Those three summers as a student were only the beginning. Summerbridge gave my family and me a lot of assistance through the high school application process. I had initially planned on applying to the public schools that I knew, but SB introduced me to other types of schools, and I started to see how they might be a better fit for me. When I was accepted to UHS on almost full financial aid, I weighed the fact that I would be the only student from my middle school there, and that it was going to be a very different academic and social environment than what I was used to. However, I felt prepared to push myself. At SB, I had been introduced to many skills I would need at UHS, such as how to write an essay with evidence or participate in seminar-style classes. More importantly, I also gained a growth mindset. Suffice it to say that had I not had SB, the transition between middle school and high school would have been significantly more challenging.

Being a UHS student allowed me to keep my connection to Summerbridge. I spent many an afternoon in South Campus in the SB office, hanging out, tutoring in the School-AfterSchool program, and serving on the student admissions committee. In 2010, the summer before my senior year of high school, I was finally old enough to become a teaching fellow, and I was excited to help shape the program for future generations of SB students. That summer,

22

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

Julia Angeles (left) graduates from Summerbridge at Celebration 2007

I taught beginning French (which I learned for the first time myself at SB) to twenty rising 7th and 8th graders, and it was tough. Just like a normal teacher, I had to be at school from at least 7:30am-4:30pm, design curriculum, write lesson plans, manage a classroom, supervise events, mentor students, participate in faculty meetings, attend professional development… you name it, I did it. I worked 12-hour days for eight weeks, but it was exciting.

After that first summer, I gained a new appreciation for my own teachers and all their hard work. I also started thinking that I might want to become a teacher, and each of the three subsequent summers I spent teaching at SB reaffirmed that thought. I loved giving back to the community that had raised me and helping students just like me start to tap into their potential. I wanted to continue making a positive impact in the world.

My last two summers I experienced the administration side of education when I served as SB’s Dean of Student Life. In this role, I was no longer the shy, nervous 11-year-old that had walked into SB; I was a confident leader. Every day, I was up on stage in the theater in front of our entire community, facilitating ASM and end-of-day Cheer Time and having a key role in faculty meetings and professional

Top: Joshua in 2015 with his former Summerbridge students, including Aly Hughes ’21, far left. Bottom: Joshua helping a peer in one of their 9th grade classes.

development. I was able to help guide faculty members and offer advice on how to organize assemblies and events. Having this role has been one of the most fulfilling in my life to date.

Teaching is absolutely not easy, but thanks to SB, I decided that I wanted to pursue this career.

After graduating with my BA from Middlebury College, I received my MA and teaching credential from Stanford University’s Teacher Education Program. I am currently the only French teacher at a public

high school south of San Jose, and I teach over 120 students in French levels 1 to 4. After teaching at Summerbridge for so long, I entered confidently and much more prepared into my first years as a “real” teacher.

Summerbridge helped shape my values as an educator—among them, community, kindness, enthusiasm, high expectations, and academic rigor—and helped me believe in my ability to make a difference. n — Julia Angeles ’11

SUMMERBRIDGE IS DYNAMITE! As I walked into the UHS theater filled with jumpy students and spirited teachers chanting this classic All School Meeting (ASM) cheer last summer, I began to smile and feel the contagious energy that is so characteristic of Summerbridge (SB). This community has been a second home to me since I first arrived in 2007 as a shy but curious 7th grader.

I now entered this space to help lead a session for College and Career Day, something I couldn’t have imagined doing as that quiet middle Continued on page 30

ALUMNI

Rock Your Profile on LinkedIn C

ontinuing the Alumni Association’s embrace of new media and career networking, we broadcasted a live webinar in January to support New Year’s resolutions of the job-hunting variety. Rock Your Profile on LinkedIn was hosted by our very own Aaron Fung ’00, talent brand strategist with LinkedIn. Aaron’s clients are corporate recruiters who want to reduce the time to hire and cost of training new employees. He shared what makes an excellent profile from the hiring manager’s perspective (think keyword search), including using the personal statement, skills, and most importantly, a photo. He also shared tips on using the publishing features to demonstrate your subject matter expertise, and interesting new enhancements on the LinkedIn roadmap which will be unveiled later in the year. Catch the replay on San Francisco University High School’s YouTube channel. n San Francisco University High School 1996-2000

A fellow alum could help you get your next job if you add San Francisco University High School to the education section of your LinkedIn profile, and join our private group: linkedin.com/groups/3823.

You can only be "found" on LinkedIn if UHS is listed in the education section of your profile with our logo displayed.

Listing years of attendance is optional.

Class notes 1979

1980

1983

1987

Lauren MacColl Maass shares, “As a practicing architect, I am the Associate Principal at Gould Evans, Inc., in the San Francisco studio. It’s been 22 years with my current company and I’m still loving it. I focus primarily on K-12 education and forwardthinking learning environments.”

Published last fall, Jennifer Egan’s latest book Manhattan Beach is an historical novel set in the shipyards of New York in the 40s and 50s. Jennifer has been recognized by multiple literary institutions for (once again) reinventing herself as a writer and for her command of this genre.

Last fall Dr. Peter Callander came to campus to meet with the student Med Club to share the story of how he became an orthopedic surgeon, and advice he has for those starting out on their journey today.

After many years in Massachusetts, Ken High and family have moved back to the Bay Area last summer. Their new home base is in San Rafael. Ken is teaching 10th grade World History and 12th grade International Relations at San Domenico.

Marc Zegans, former Executive and Research Director of Harvard University’s Innovations Program, spoke to alumni and parents on campus last fall about two career/ life transitions: making the shift from student to working artist, and reinventing yourself no matter what your field, when simple mastery is no longer enough. Marc has been a creative development advisor to artists and creatively driven organizations for the past two decades. Catch the podcast on sfuhs.org/jobs

1988

Dr. Peter Callander with the co-presidents of the UHS Med Club.

1984 Harold Mann reports that The San Francisco Business Times named Mann.com as one of the fastest growing businesses in 2017.

See Mann.com/fast for details.

1986 Claire Myers became engaged to Dr. Boris Bastian in June of 2017.

Angelina Alioto-Grace P ’19 is chair of the 2018 San Francisco University High School Decorator Showcase.

Congratulations Dr. Njema Frazier, honored by Black Girls Rock! Inc. as the STEM Tech Recipient at the 2017 BGR Awards.You rock! Frazier is currently serving as acting director of the $530M Inertial Confinement Fusion program within the National Nuclear Security Administration – the first woman and the first black scientist to head that office in its SFUHS.ORG

23

ALUMNI

40-year history.

Ari Gold has collaborated on a short video project that’s an open letter to the Koch Brothers from Zoe, a 15-year-old ballet dancer, about the impact of pollution on her family in the California wildfires. Ari says “We’re looking for media partners and friends to pass it on, so please let me know if you have any ideas - our hope is that the Kochs themselves will see it, and wake up to do positive things for our air and water. It’s a kind of love-arrow into the ether. More info is at DearKoch.com, and follow @ DearKoch on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.” And in other news, Ari’s movie “The Song of Sway Lake” won Best Picture in Vancouver and will be going to China; we continue to tour, including to Emir Kusturica’s wild&lovely Kustendorf festival in Serbia!

feature, a six-part online video series, and an audio documentary produced in partnership with Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

1991 Buffy Maguire and her mobile coffee bar were featured in Sunset Magazine’s 2017 “Best of the West.” Named for a local women’s bicycling club that was founded in the 1880s, the traveling café is housed in a refurbished 1948 GMC truck and symbolizes the “grit, beauty, and rust” of Maguire’s beloved Sunset District.

You can follow the whereabouts of the Lady Falcon Coffee Club truck on Instagram: @ladyfalconconcoffeeclub

formed the basis of my career and life.”

1994 Nina Geneson Otis is looking forward to her 25th reunion next year and has volunteered to help organize the event. If you’d like to be on the committee, contact UHSalumni@sfuhs.org.

Veronica Roberts, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Blanton Museum of Art writes, “Still loving breakfast tacos and swimming holes in Austin!”

Veronica curated a well-received show up last fall at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University: “Nina Katchadourian: Curiouser.”

Sherief Meleis has moved back to the Bay Area with his family after nearly thirty years on the East Coast.

Last July Courtney Sakai moved from Washington, DC, to Honolulu to become Vice President of the East-West Center, a diplomacy and policy organization for Asia-Pacific-US issues.

1989 In addition to holding Music Director posts in both Arkansas and Ontario, Canada orchestras, Paul Haas is starting to homestead in New York’s Hudson Valley, where he, his wife Suzette, and their three kids (including new baby boy Sieger!) will be growing their own food using organic methods.

1990 Senior Mother Jones Editor and Berkeley Journalism lecturer Dave Gilson and his team were nominated for a 2017 News & Documentary Emmy Award in the New Approaches category.

Their multimedia project “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard” included a 35,000-word 24

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

1998 & 1999 Kevin Chew, ’98, married Rosie Monardo, ’99, in San Francisco on 2/28/2018!

The wedding was attended by their sisters, GiGi Monardo, ’05, and Kara Chew, ’97, and the rest of their immediate families.

Kevin works at a technology start-up in San Francisco and Rosie is an OBGYN at Alta Bates.

1999

1992 Last fall Katie Hultquist became the West Coast director of OutRight International working to advance the human rights of LGBTI people around the world. Katie writes, “Although I didn’t come out until college, I still remember the panel about LGBT acceptance and awareness in the library when I was a junior, and the faculty and student who spoke. Having faculty members who were out and proud and a school culture that embraced this diversity is something that made a huge difference for me in accepting myself and I’ll always be grateful for that. I also believe that UHS’s commitment to the wider community, and helping students think about how they can contribute, is something that set me on the path of activism and community support that has

Girls Inc. of Alameda County CEO Julayne Virgil was honored with the 2017 East Bay Women in Business Nonprofit/ Community Leader Award.

1997 Artist Margaret Timbrell exhibited two new bodies of work “AutoCorrected” and “RedWork” at Pacific Felt Factory arts complex last fall. In traditional “redwork” embroidery, she captures and interprets moments when autocorrect betrays the user with something inaccurate or embarrassing.

Chris Wendell and his wife Kristen are enjoying life in Bedford, Massachusetts. Chris is in his 7th year serving as the priest at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. He and Kristen have two boys, Nathan (7) and AJ (4) who seem to have endless energy and love their annual summer visits to the grandparents in San Francisco!

2000 Jessica (Pettus) Vose and husband Greg Vose welcomed their daughter Adelyne Ronia Vose to the world on October 15, 2017 in Orange County, CA.

ALUMNI

Kate Sanger and her husband Brandon Yoder became parents in April 2017 to their daughter Cendana Evelyn Sanger-Yoder, otherwise known as Dani. They live in Singapore, where Kate works as a professor and academic administrator at Yale-NUS College.

Andrew Williams is the founding conference committee chair of 2020 Conference which debuted last summer.

The weeklong empowerment experience helps high school students develop the tools they need to build the world that they want to live in. The conference is a project of Youth Education for Success (YES4), whose mission is to provide and support programs that enrich the creative capacities of youth for real world excellence.

Andrew has been a member of the board since 2016.

2001 Matt Lane came to campus last fall to share insights on how math is related to gaming. Matt’s book Power-Up: Unlocking the Hidden Mathematics in Video Games was published in 2017

by Princeton University Press.

Matt is the Matt Lane with Megan Storti, math instructor. co-founder and lead instructor of Rithm School, which offers a full-stack web development program in small class setting.

Zombies in Dogpatch?!?!

Yes! As part of a project on dystopias, Jenifer Kent’s AP Studio Art class made a visit to the studio of zombie expert George Pfau, who’s been drawing and

New York Times.

countries.

Chukwudi Nwadibia is still with the US Department of State, now posted in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Jaqueline Thompson ’09, dean of students at Alta Vista School, Rochelle Reodica, director of Learning Services at UHS, and their colleague Tinia Merriweather, 8th grade dean and ethics teacher at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, led a half-day workshop at the 2017 National Association of Independent School’s People of Color conference last fall. Through discussion centered on Black and Asian-American/Pacific Islander communities, this interactive seminar explored how white supremacy affects the relationships between and among people of color.

2012

painting zombies since 2011.

The group ate pizza, looked at old and new work by George, learned about the app he created called BlabberLab, and even got some cool “Make Art Not Bombs” t-shirts designed by the artist.

2002 Sarah Adler-Milstein and co-author John M. Kline published Sewing Hope: How One Factory Challenges the Apparel Industry’s Sweatshops (University Press). Sewing Hope presents the story of the Alta Gracia factory in the Dominican Republic as a model for the apparel industry, a successful “anti-sweatshop” offering a living wage, high health and safety standards, and a legitimate union.

2006 Iris Brilliant, national organizer and coordinator of family philanthropy with Resource Generation presented at Salesforce’s annual conference Dreamforce in a session called Compassion in the Community: Service and Activism. Her talk addressed who is in the top 10%, what is the current state of the racial wealth divide, limitations of white feminism & the role of people with class privilege in effecting social change.

2007 Lexie Perloff-Giles graduated from Yale Law School in May 2017 and is back in SF clerking for the Ninth Circuit before returning to a fellowship at the

Nick Perloff-Giles aka Wingtip signed a record contract with Republic Records and just toured the US, including a gig at the Fillmore attended by lots of UHS friends.

2014 Pizza Party! When you take a photo of a group with three or more alums, and send us the restaurant check, we’ll pick up the tab! (Up to $50 max.) Thanks Jacqueline Epstein, Samantha Andow, Ottillia Ni, Gabrielle

Roberts, Adair Rosin, Debbie Cheng, and Calvin Philips.

2015 Paul Gross and the Yale Spizzwinks(?) stopped by campus on their West Coast winter tour for an informal performance.

2016 Ryan Lipton transferred from Vassar College to the University of North Carolina where he will join the sports journalism program.

Faculty Mal Singer, founding faculty member who retired in 2009, published his memoir, One Man’s Life. Mal was a Peace Corps volunteer early in the program, and is an irrepressible traveler, especially to “non-entry-level”

Building Bridges: Unlearning AntiBlackness Within Communities of Color was a deep dive for educators who were ready to explore the complexities of how institutional racism and internalized oppression impact their personal and professional lives. The workshop consisted of four parts: why we need to come together, particularly during the Trump era; what gets in the way, which explored how anti-blackness and colorism exists in our communities; individual and collective healing; and moving forward: activism for collective impact.

Rochelle and Tinia led a similar workshop of shorter length at the UC Santa Barbara Social Justice Conference last year and found participants wanted more time, so the longer format was indeed well-received at NAIS POCC. Participants ranged from faculty to school administrators at all career stages and disciplines.

One transracially adopted college student shared that the session was life changing for her, giving her a safe place to explore her Black identity, and affirming her experiences.

Rochelle will continue this work as a faculty mentor at the 2018 Equity as Excellence Conference in July, with Elizabeth Denevi, conference founder.

The conference is hosted by the California Teacher Development Collaborative. n

SFUHS.ORG

25

ALUMNI

Holiday Party 2017 The annual all-class Alumni Holiday Party moved to a new venue in 2017, the Museum of the African Diaspora. The gathering was held in the jewel box ground floor lobby and exhibition galleries were open for browsing. The December 21 date proved doable for members of our community coming into town for the winter break, with nearly 200 alumni, their significant others, and current and former faculty attending. The Yerba Buena neighborhood location, close to BART and MUNI, was easily accessible for those coming from all corners of the Bay Area.

Thanks to our excellent photographer, Eva Krueger ’20!

26

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

ALUMNI

SFUHS.ORG

27

ALUMNI

One Degree of Separation W

e asked alumni in our private LinkedIn group to share stories of working with and volunteering with fellow alums after graduation.What’s your One Degree experience?

Send us the story UHSalumni@sfuhs.org.

…hanging in my office are numerous works of art by Diane Rosenblum ’81!

— Lauren Bolfango ’81

“I reconnected with Marc Zegans ’79 five years ago, and was intrigued to find out that he has a practice as a creative development advisor.

Remembering him from UHS as a smart, straightforward guy and just a deeply good soul, I was curious how he might help me advance my career as an artist. We gave it a try, and five years later, we are still working together. Marc is a polymath, combining the skills of an astute art critic, a professor, a therapist, and a business analyst. He knows what it means to be an artist at a profound level, and he walks the walk himself as a poet who reads his work and publishes regularly.

One idea that opened up through my conversations with Marc was showing my artwork as a Decorator Showcase designer, which I did in both 2016 and 2017, bringing us both back full circle to being a part of UHS.” Editor’s note: Listen to the podcasted interview with March Zegans about creative career transitions on sfuhs.org/jobs

At Benefit Cosmetics, one of my roles is helping lead the Bold is Beautiful Project, which raises money for charities that foster women’s empowerment through education, access to wellness and financial self-sufficiency.

One of our founding partners is Girls Inc., and we have enjoyed building a relationship with the local chapter. We were honored to have Julayne Virgil ’94, CEO at Girls Inc. of Alameda County, speak at our Benefit Cosmetics global marketing conference last year!

— Diane Rosenblum ’81

— Maggie Ford Danielson ’99

It was with a dose of skepticism that I reviewed the résumé of Ben Springwater ’04. I’d read hundreds of résumés and cover letters in my 20+ years of online consumer product development work, this was sure to be another vague, jargon-filled bore. “Wow, this guy can really write!” I thought as I read his letter. Ben “got” our mission and had good insights into our product. In his interview it came up that we’d both grown up in San Francisco, and what’d you know, we’d both gone to UHS. That sealed it.

Ben became our first Product Management Intern between his first and second years at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

After completing his degree, he joined Nextdoor as a full-fledged Product Manager and now runs Nextdoor’s For Sale & Free peer-to-peer marketplace. As his immediate manager, we work together every day. Someday I’ll probably be working for him!

Go UHS! — Maryam Mohit ’85

28

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

This summer I was happy to hire UHS alum Audrey Evers ’15 as a marketing intern at my digital mental health company, Ginger.io. She did a fabulous job kickstarting our social media strategy, so much so that we extended her employment into the school year. She’s curating and writing newsletter articles for us while attending school at Tufts.

— Traunza Adams ’86

Top, Traunza Adams; Bottom Audrey Evers.

ALUMNI

ALL CLASSES WELCOME Honoring the classes of:

1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2013

Dynamite!

MAY 4-5 FRIDAY, MAY 4

Alumni+Student Symposium: Inventing and Sustaining Your Own Vision of Success

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. followed by hosted lunch See website for detailed schedule UHS Theater, 3150 Washington Street Hear The Hon. Madeleine K. Albright in conversation with Alumni Association President Julayne Virgil ’94. Welcome remarks by Justin McMahan ’93. Featuring 2018 Alumni Honors recipients Dr. Njema Frazier ’88 and George Watsky ’05. Alumni will share stories of their career journeys and the latest news from their professional fields. You may participate as a panelist or audience member. Guests welcome. Free. RSVP at sfuhs.org/reunion Happy [Reunion] Hour

3:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Courtyard, 3065 Jackson Street Make a masterpiece with Prudy Kohler (Instructor of Art History, 1975–1995) using her unique photo transfer technique. Book signing featuring alumni and current/past faculty authors. Families welcome. Free. RSVP at sfuhs.org/reunion Class of 1993 — 25th Reunion Party

6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Head of School’s Home, 3954 Washington Street

continued from page 19

be duly learned via workbook exercises.

school student. Because of this life changing program, I was able to break out of my shell and blossom into a confident and critical lifelong learner. I was able to attend UHS and Carleton College. I majored in psychology and minored in educational studies and women’s & gender studies, and studied abroad in Prague and in India. I graduated magna cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors and honors in my major and my senior thesis.

On that day I helped lead a session about college access, I was also reunited with many of my former SB students, some now volunteers for the program, and some of whom were enrolled at UHS. I saw myself in them and felt so proud to have been a part of their journeys. While I am currently pursuing my lifelong dream to work within feature animation to help make films that touch people’s lives, I know that I will always be connected and involved with SB and education.

I have not known another community that centers on such a powerful and universal love of learning that unites individuals and families across different ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. SB is the place that sparked in me a passion for learning and it is where I received the support that I lacked from my under-resourced middle school. At SB, I was challenged by my civil rights teacher to reenact a mock debate about segregation with my classmates. I conducted hands-on experiments in lab facilities with my chemistry teacher. All subjects were engaging, not something to

Like the cheer, Summerbridge is dynamite—a community that is exploding, a program that sends aftershocks, reverberating along the many amazing paths that its graduates take as they become our future leaders, educators, and scientists. I have no doubt that SB will continue to inspire and lift up many more dynamite youth for the years to come. n — Joshua Kwan ’13 Joshua Kwan is currently working at The Walt Disney Company and actively pursuing a career in feature animation production.

Significant others welcome. Suggested donation $19.93, $199.93, or $1,993.00. RSVP at sfuhs.org/reunion

SATURDAY, MAY 5 Family Tee-Ball 10:00 a.m.

Baseball: Alumni vs. Varsity 10:30 a.m.

UHS Athletic Complex at Paul Goode Field, The Presidio Free. RSVP at sfuhs.org/reunion All-Class Reunion 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Decorator Showcase, 465 Marina Boulevard Everyone’s invited! Raise a toast to the Classes of 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2013. Alumni, current faculty and past faculty are invited for mingling, wine, and nibbles. Significant others welcome. Complimentary valet parking. $40 per person.

Tickets available on sfuhs.org/reunion Find more details at sfuhs.org/reunion Current/former faculty welcome at all events 15% discount at Laurel Inn with code REUNION18 http://bit.ly/2smCTqA

SAN FRANCISCO UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2017-2018 Katie Albright

Chang-rae Lee

Jay Banfield

William Madison

Ron Cami

Mark Miller

Margaret Charnas ’76

Chris Nooney

Marguerite Clark, Ex Officio

Anne Pedrero

Jill Cowan

Lynn Poole

Julia Russell Eells, Ex Officio

Jane Prior, chair

Matt Farron ’98

Nadir Shaikh

Rocky Fried

Laura Spivy

Louise Greenspan ’86

Clayton Timbrell ’00

Boe Hayward ’96

Julayne Virgil ’94, Ex Officio

Dennis Herrera

Catherine Walcott

Matt Hobart

Kay Yun

Jeff Hord Mike House

Lindsay Mace Joost ’84, Trustee Emerita

Carolyn Langelier

Lynn Wendell, Trustee Emerita

Want to plan a get-together for your class? We can help!

Questions? Contact us at UHS.alumni@sfuhs.org or 415-447-3116 SFUHS.ORG

29

ALUMNI

In Memoriam

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

In Memory of Davis Xu ‘10

Andrea B. Arrick, mother Dillan Arrick ’07, on February 16, 2018.

Davis Xu, Class of 2010, passed away on February 27, 2017 while a sophomore at Occidental College. Davis will be remembered as a kind and compassionate individual who cared passionately about access to quality education for all.

In 2012, just two years after high school graduation, Davis launched the visionary Missing Pieces Foundation with the mission to provide lowincome students with refurbished Apple laptops while reducing environmental waste.

The impetus came from his own experience with a defective Apple MacBook Pro that broke just a few days past warranty.

He put it up for sale on Craigslist.org and when a low-income single mother bought it for her eighth-grade son, his idea was born. He was also the founder of AudioCritic Amazon seller, proceeds from which went to fund Missing Pieces.

Jon Reider, UHS college admissions counselor, remembers Davis as an outstanding student who distinguished himself among his peers academically.

His classmate, Molly Bondy ’10, remembers him as incredibly kind and concerned for others.

Deundra Hundon, Summerbridge director of outreach and family relations, is grateful for his dedicated service as a tutor to Summerbridge students, and for his contributions of refurbished computers to the program.

And Jim Ketcham P ’06, P ’09, P ’13, athletic director, remembers Davis as an excellent badminton player.

He is survived by his parents,Yan Xu and Huiping Dai. If you have a memory of Davis you would like to share, please send it to UHSalumni@sfuhs.org. n

Dee Blatteis, mother of Barry Blatteis ‘83, on December 23, 2017.

Bill Evers, stepfather of Marianne Emblad ’83 and Peter Emblad ’85; grandfather of Katherine Evers ’12, Audrey Evers ’15, Elizabeth Evers ’21, on June 28, 2017.

Jean Fay, mother of Kevin Fay ’79 on August 7, 2017.

Leslie Luttgens, founding trustee, on October 27, 2017.

Leonilo Malabed, MD, father of Patrice Willig ’78 and Kati Malabed ’83, on October 19, 2017.

Nancy Newmeyer, mother of Thomas Newmeyer ’88, on December 10, 2017.

Barbara Garlan Rosenblum, mother of Leland Rosenblum MD ’82 and Diane Rosenblum ’82, on February 15, 2018.

Andrew Tilin ’83, brother of Tracy Tilin McKendall ’80, on February 17, 2018.

Andre Tolpegin, father of Anne Tolpegin ’88 and Bill Tolpegin ’85, and husband of Diana Tolpegin, past trustee, board chair, and director of development.

Eileen Westerbeke, mother of Julia Westerbeke ‘99 on September 27, 2017.

Gabriel Alexander Whooley, son of Monica Whooley ’88 and John Montoya; nephew of Patricia Whooley-Kulawiak MD ’85; Mary Whooley, MD ’83; John P. Whoolielurie, Jr. ’93; and cousin of Anne Gross ’19 and Paul Gross ’15; on December 14, 2017.

Alice McAllister Wright, mother of Sally Wright ’79, Peggy Wright ’80 and Kathy Wright ‘82 on February 14, 2018.

Davis Xu ’10, on February 27, 2017.

Obituaries in this issue include notices received in the Alumni Office by February 22.

30

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

ALUMNI

In Memory of Andrew Blake Tilin ’83 July 8, 1965 – February 17, 2018 You mean you’re Andrew Tilin’s sister?”

It should have been the other way around. After all, I was the senior and my little brother, Andrew, was a freshman.

And yet over and over again, students and teachers would look at me with a gleam in their eyes and say, “You mean you’re Andrew Tilin’s sister?”

I understood that gleam. Andrew was a natural friend-magnet who reached circles far beyond his posse from Town School when he came up the block to UHS. The more friends Andrew made, the more he kept; many of the attendees at his memorial had known Andrew from the time his age could be counted as a single digit. His sense of humor, wit, and his kind and encouraging nature drew people to him.

As he grew up, Andrew held onto those captivating traits and gained a few more; among them was a clear sense of what he wanted to do with his life. He knew from his days at Cal that he wanted to be a journalist, and as a self-proclaimed “fitness geek,” he launched his career plan by taking an internship at City Sports Magazine, a San Francisco-based journal that focused on endurance sports. The internship bridged his two loves—writing and sports—and he was in his glory.

Meanwhile, Andrew had been a longtime runner, but now took to cycling with a passion, even completing the Leadville 100, a grueling Colorado mountain-bike race, three times. He was excelling on the journalism side, too, as he began writing for such magazines as The New York Times, GQ, Rolling Stone,Wired, and Outside, and he edited for Outside and other publications, as well.

They say some people “have a book in them,” and Andrew was one of those people. In 2008 he began a book-length work of investigative journalism that became The Doper Next Door: My Strange and Scandalous Year on Performance Enhancing Drugs, a Comingof-Middle-Age Memoir in which he explored the intersection of the anti-aging industry, performance-enhancing drugs, and amateur cycling.

At first, Andrew worked on the book from the sidelines of doping, by talking to middle-age amateur athletes who were drugging themselves. But none of his sources would admit publicly their transgressions, and Andrew hit a roadblock. That didn’t stop Andrew, though. If other athletes wouldn’t talk to him about the experience of doping, then he would have to do it himself. And that’s exactly what he did: Andrew became his own guinea pig, taking testosterone for nearly a year while recording its effects on his personal life and athletics. The book was revealing, offering unadulterated honesty about the experience of “cheating” by Andrew the athlete, and a confessional about how the process affected Andrew the human being. It was Immersion Journalism at its best.

As Doper showed us, Andrew was willing to expose his life so that all of us could know and understand more about ourselves and each other. He set an example for others of how to be present and authentic, spending a life in fearless examination of himself and his world, and willingly shared it all. He also, through his short but fully-lived life, loved deeply - especially his family, who, luckily enough, included me. n — Tracy Tilin McKendell ‘80 Top: Tracy and Andrew in 2010. Left: Andrew's senior page in the 1983 UHS yearbook.

SFUHS.ORG

31

Why I Give

to the Annual Fund I give to UHS to thank the school for the education and experiences of my own high school years (special shout out to my field hockey teammates and our coach, Diane Schroeder!); in appreciation for the friends I’ve made in the alumni and school community, and to support the ongoing excellence and opportunities it provides students today (including my daughter Isabella ’21), and will provide to future generations of UHS students.

— Frances Hochschild ’80, P’21 UHS was and is a special place for me and I want to give back in a way that will impact every student.

To me, a gift to the Annual Fund means that a UHS education and experience remains accessible to talented and deserving students in the Bay Area. I give to honor the past, support the present and future of the school, and because I know every gift counts.

— Thomas A. McKinley ’02

32

UHS JOURNAL | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

The Board of Trustees, students, faculty and staff ask you to consider a gift to the Annual Fund. Your commitment of financial support strengthens our ability to remain a strategically nimble institution, engaged in learning, reflection, and growth on all levels. A supported Annual Fund enables us to empower our students, alumni, and faculty as they invent and sustain their own vision of success and sense of purpose.

To make a gift to the UHS Annual Fund, go to sfuhs.org/giving or contact Senior Associate Director of Development, Kate Gorrissen, at 415-447-3117 or kate.gorrissen@sfuhs.org.

Community Milestones 30 Ben Jacobs Instructor of Mathematics

10 Chris Martin Instructor of History

30 Joanne Sugiyama Registrar

10 Ozzie Nevarez Instructor of Physics

20 Carol Coles Assistant to the Deans

5 Anne Boucher Instructor of French

20 Gale Jesi Instructor of Photography

5 Ryan Chisolm Associate Director of Athletics

15 Jim Ketcham Director of Athletics & Physical Education

5 Ezra Davidson Instructor of History

15 Matthew Scheatzle Instructor of Art

5 Christina Donahue Associate Director of Academics for Summerbridge

10 Elizabeth Faris Assistant to the Director of College Counseling 10 Shoba Farrell Asst Dean, Proffesional Growth & Development and Instructor of Math 10 Bih-Hsya Hsieh Instructor of Chinese Language 10 Kate Gorrissen Sr. Associate Director of Development

5 Julia Russell Eells Head of School 5 Thelma Garza Director of Events and Special Projects 5 Michael Henley Instructor of Mathematics 5 Stan Lau Instructor of English 5 Aaron Mieszczanski Director of Admissions

SFUHS.ORG

33

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT NO. 10748 SAN FRANCISCO, CA

3065 JACKSON STREET SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115

@SFUHSorg

“The F I V E C O R E V A L U E S we adopted as part of our strategic design act as a compass as we turn our groundbreaking vision into a reality. They allow us to make decisions, define policy, develop programs, and build our community and culture with the guidance and through the lens of I N Q U I R Y, C A R E, I N T E G R I T Y, A G E N C Y, and I N T E R C O N N E C T I O N .”

—Julia Russell Eells Head of School

I N Q U I RY

CARE

AGENCY

INTEGRITY

INTERCONNECTION