UHS Journal–Summer 2023

UHS Journal

2023

Volume XXXV

MANAGING EDITOR

Ruth McDaniels

EDITORIAL BOARD

Shaundra Bason

Matt Levinson

Marianna Stark

COPY EDITOR

Evan Hulka

DESIGNER Design Action Collective

PRINTER

Community Printers

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Kevin Kitsuda

Bill Reitzel

UHS Faculty

EDITORIAL STAFF

Shaundra Bason

Tilda Kapuya

Jim Ketcham

Matt Levinson

Nate Lundy

Susannah Martin

Ruth McDaniels

Marjan Philhour

CONTACT THE JOURNAL

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

ALUMNI NEWS AND CLASS NOTES

Please send alumni updates and class notes to UHSalumni@sfuhs.org.

FOR ADDRESS CHANGES

Please email address changes to communications@sfuhs.org.

The UHS Journal is a publication of San Francisco University High School, and is circulated free to more than 7,000 households of alumni, parents, current and former faculty, and friends of the school. Periodical’s postage paid at San Francisco, California.

Postmaster: send address changes to Mailing Records Office, San Francisco University High School, 3065 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115.

©2023 San Francisco University High School. All rights reserved.

Printed in California on recycled paper.

Cover illustration: Illustration by Design Action Collective.

Inside cover photo: Honors US History students take a social justice activism tour of Chinatown with teacher Kerry Trainor.

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Head of School Reflection: Matt Levinson Looks Back on His First Year at UHS

our school. The student’s portfolio highlights her favorite spots on campus. She writes: “When I first came to UHS, these spaces felt intimidating and unfamiliar. But over the years of being here, they have become filled with many wonderful moments and nostalgia, and leaving them behind feels bittersweet.” These are beautiful words that reveal a sense of belonging.

At the AP Art Studio show, I had the opportunity to view remarkable student artwork that reflected a yearlong effort by the class to develop a portfolio. Of course, I am the direct beneficiary of these beautiful pieces, as they adorn the walls right outside my office.

There is life, radiance, texture, complexity, and joy in these different pieces, much in the same way our community displays these elements. An artist statement accompanies these portfolios. Each student reveals a part of themselves through these written testimonies.

One artist statement in particular captured the core values of

As I reflect on my first year at UHS, the student’s words resonated with me. I feel fortunate to be part of a community that opens and expands its spaces for new students and community members to enter and bring forth their perspectives and selves. It is a message we conveyed to our new students and families at New Family Saturday; our community grows stronger and evolves with new people coming into our community.

This strong sense of community and authenticity is one of the things that drew me to UHS. As I have been interviewing and talking with prospective candidates for various positions at UHS this spring, I have talked about the importance of our core values and our commitment to strive to live these values every

day. At our Spring Step Up Day focused on mental health and wellness, I heard students talk openly about the ethic of care at UHS while also wrestling with our aspirational culture to be excellent. These are not mutually exclusive concepts; instead they can be mutually reinforcing as we continue to support our students to find their spaces and places, as well as “empowering our students to invent and sustain their own vision of success and sense of purpose,” as our vision states.

I have certainly had my moments of joy and laughter this year, from popping balloons with my behind at All School Meeting, to getting doused with very cold water in a dunk tank during An All School Surprise, to making a fun welcome video for newly admitted students, which you can see in the caption below.

Our school year began with an All School Picnic at Paul Goode Field, where hundreds of UHS community members came together to launch the 2022-2023 school year. At the close of the year, we broke ground on 3150 California Street in mid-June, aligned almost to the day 50 years ago when UHS was first incorporated as a school, and as we

prepare to build and construct a more expansive UHS community, with a front door facing into the city of San Francisco.

I know that my transition to UHS would not have been as smooth without the gracious, unwavering, and kind support and generosity of Julia Russell Eells. I am so glad to be at UHS and look forward to our many years together in community.

Sincerely, Matt

NEW HEAD OF SCHOOL: MATT LEVINSON

We have been so pleased to welcome our new Head of School, Matt Levinson, and his family to University High School. Matt started on July 1, 2022, succeeding Julia Russell Eells and her remarkable nine-year tenure as Head of School.

UHS sought a transformative academic leader who is student-centric, collaborative, and inspiring, and who also possesses a proactive commitment to

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), as well as substantial financial, operations, and fundraising acumen. We not only found all of these qualities and experiences in Matt, but we also discovered a warm, engaging person whose heart is in the right place. His personal and professional characteristics align with our core values of inquiry, integrity, care, interconnection, and agency.

A thoughtful, visionary, and experienced independent school leader, Matt has 28 years of experience as a passionate educator. Starting his career as a history teacher for 14 years, he has also served in various school leadership roles, including Department Chair, Grade Level Dean, Division Director, Assistant Head of School at Marin Country Day School and the Nueva School, and Head of School at University Prep, a 6–12 independent school

in Seattle. Most recently, Matt served as Head of School at the Pingry School, a K–12 independent school in New Jersey.

Matt’s appointment as UHS’s 10th Head of School represents the culmination of a comprehensive national search process. Thanks to thoughtful and detailed feedback from our community, we articulated the community’s aspirations in our position specification. Additionally,

Matt Levinson, head of school

AP Studio Art Show Poster by Mao Sun '23

Watch Matt's video congratulating newly admitted students!

we wish to thank the numerous faculty, staff, department heads, alumni, board members, parents, students, and other members of our community who provided invaluable guidance during the search process.

In all of our engagements and queries, we came to appreciate that Matt puts students first. He loves engaging with students and supporting them in their journey into young adulthood. Matt was a history teacher and coach for 14 years before he went into administration, and his focus and love for student well-being have continued to inspire. Matt strives for academic excellence while keeping the whole child in mind. His colleagues have said that he wants to know everyone—every student, every parent, every teacher, every staff member, and every alum. He supports people when they are down, and he celebrates every achievement. Matt is a true community builder.

Equally important to Matt is his commitment to the principles of DEIB—work that he has prioritized and has been dedicated to for nearly a decade. At Pingry, Matt created an Anti-Racism Task Force to examine and transform practices and culture while developing strategic recommendations. Through this work, Matt and his colleagues reformulated hiring processes, implemented ongoing professional development for faculty and staff, initiated affinity groups for parents and caregivers and for middle school students, and created a permanent DEI Board Committee. At University Prep, he led the community to adopt a diversity mission statement and a strategic diversity plan that led to enhanced professional development for faculty and staff, articulation of equity-based teaching practices, creation of a permanent DEIB Board Committee, and establishment

of equity-based hiring practices. At both schools, DEIB was central to Matt’s and his entire administrative team’s work, starting with extensive training of the board and the administrative team, led by Alison Park of Blink Consulting. Matt believes that DEIB work is critical at all levels and that the board and his administrative team are central to creating the tone and setting the culture for the entire community, beginning with their own commitment and training. Finally, Matt’s highly collaborative style and the strength of the relationships that he builds have been shown to be highly effective in moving school communities forward, deepening their commitment to DEIB.

Matt’s energy is captivating, and his creativity is inspiring. As a lifelong innovator, Matt has brought many initiatives to transform the student experience. At University Prep, Matt

and his colleagues created a new daily schedule and launched “intensives,” three-week immersive, interdisciplinary courses, twice per year, that enabled students to examine and solve real-world problems while engaging in place-based learning in and around the city of Seattle. At Pingry, Matt and his colleagues created and implemented Pingry Anywhere, a learner-centered experience that allowed for both in-person and remote learning throughout the entire school year while engaging students in the entirety of the Pingry program, including arts, athletics, clubs, and extracurriculars.

It has been such a pleasure welcoming Matt and his family to UHS.

Sincerely,

Laura Spivy Chair, Board of Trustees

Administrative Team Reflections on Matt’s First Year

“He sees and acknowledges everything and manages to do it with calm, grace, and a great sense of humor!”

“Smart and thoughtful leadership. Compassionate and steady.”

“Matt is a warm and calming presence.”

“Unflappable! Matt is a calm leader who makes decisions grounded in values and strong principles.”

“Matt is levelheaded, funny, insightful, flexible, open minded. THANK YOU!”

“He has an open, calming presence, so excited about our school”

“I appreciate Matt’s steadfastness”

“Huge positive impact in such a short time!”

Priyanthi Alahendra, Sanjay, Maya, Matt

Laura Spivy, Matt Levinson, Shaundra Bason

“As I reflect on our work together, I have such a sense of pride in the foundation UHS has built on the development of our shared core values and vision for a transformational high school experience. Our Strategic Design boldly positions UHS to be a leader in shifting high school culture to one of challenge, balanced with support and care to inspire authentic engagement. It has been gratifying to acknowledge that UHS is not only in the conversation of educational reform, but leading it with a national reputation in independent schools for strategy, research and student wellness.”

Among the many accomplishments made during Julia’s tenure, significant headway was made in

• realizing many aspirations of our Equity and Community Statement,

• expanding access by increasing financial aid,

• securing Summerbridge as an essential part of UHS’s community, culture and public purpose,

• enhancing faculty compensation and financial support for professional development,

• significantly diversifying our faculty, staff and board of trustees,

• promoting multi-disciplinary curricular development and assessment innovation,

• realizing the potential of our signature mentoring program and

• opening Paul Goode Field – not just for UHS to have as a true home field, but to share with our nonprofit partners and neighbors throughout the city.

Thank you, Julia, for nine years of steadfast dedication, outstanding service, and tremendous contributions to the UHS community. We are indebted to you for your visionary leadership.

Julia Eells Tribute Video

In December 2020, former Head of School Julia Eells announced her retirement.

Snapshot of the Class of 2027

135 Total Enrolled

64% Students of Color

52 Middle Schools

83% independent

5% religiously affiliated

12% public Geographic Breakdown

87% from San Francisco

9% from North Bay/Marin

2% from East Bay

2% from South Bay

CBO’s Represented

22 % Financial Aid Participants

$ 1,320,921 UHS Dollars Committed

Breakthrough Summerbridge

A Better Chance Aim High Breakthrough

Next Generation Scholars

UHS Admissions Through the Lens of Interconnection

— Nate Lundy, Director of Enrollment Management and Strategy

a school community that celebrates and centers diverse identities and perspectives.

Additionally, our admissions team seeks to ensure that all applicant families are equitably seen and heard.

UNI Funds

San Francisco University High School is at a special place in our history. As we break ground on the first building to be built for UHS, there are many reasons we celebrate this opportunity. Facing the city on California Street holds us to a more visible responsibility to our broader community. We want everyone to be curious about UHS and to be met with access, inclusion, and belonging. UHS is committed to being a leader at the forefront of changing high school culture nationwide and fostering graduates who live a life with purpose larger than themselves.

In fact, this has been true from the beginnings of UHS 50 years ago, when the founders envisioned a school grounded in equity and excellence, “based on attracting a dynamic mix of students who would bring a wide variety of talents, interests, and abilities to the school from as many different backgrounds as possible.”

At UHS, our Vision is still grounded by “our fundamental belief that collaboration among people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences is essential to deep learning.” Guided by this vision, the admissions team prioritizes broadening the reach of UHS to students and families of all backgrounds and fostering

We know that we are actively working against and shifting a history of exclusion in independent schools. As the institution we are today, UHS has a responsibility to work against the systems that not only defined this history, but may continue to define the access and opportunity of independent schools. As an admissions team, our success is defined by how we are able to provide an accessible and equitable learning environment to all students and families.

Equity at UHS requires that all members of our community have what they need in order to thrive. As an institution, we pay particular attention to alleviating structural and systemic barriers that prevent us from bringing this vision to life.

Language

As one of our primary access points to community and connection, the language we use must reflect and represent all of our UHS families. In partnership with the language, technology, and communications departments, we are developing systems to translate all school communications into the primary and preferred language of every family. By decentralizing a single language, we can include the primary and preferred languages of all our families.

Transportation

As San Francisco’s demographic diversity continues to shift, the admissions team is prioritizing broader outreach to more distant San Francisco neighborhoods as well as communities in neighboring cities. In order for us to continue the actualization of our vision, we must recognize how the changing access and affordability of housing in San Francisco impacts who is reflected in the city and thus, who is reflected in our institution. With over 90 middle schools from six Bay Area counties and 54 zip codes represented in the school right now, we believe we are moving the needle in the right direction - though we also recognize that our work is dynamic and must continue to adapt to the changing dynamics of the city. Our newly implemented shuttle service from the Embarcadero provides access for students traveling from the East Bay, while our new building at 3150 California Street will offer close proximity to transportation options through SFMTA.

Our Uni Funds program is available to all students who participate in the UHS financial aid program. An endowed source of funding, these funds support students’ ability to fully engage in the UHS experience, regardless of financial flexibility. In years prior, Uni funds have covered everything from musical instruments and athletic equipment to prom dresses and tuxedos. The ability to fully participate fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility in our community, recentering their focus on their learning and growth potential both in the classroom and in their relationship to one another. In this way, students invest wholeheartedly in making the most of a UHS education.

As a school community, the Statement on Equity and Community guides us as we continue to recruit, nurture, and support a student body, faculty, staff, and board of trustees whose composition is responsive to the shifting diversity of the Bay Area, with particular attention to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, religion, and 2SLGBTQIA+ Identities. n

CHASE DAY

On Friday, January 20, 2023, the UHS community gathered at the Chase Center for our annual Chase Day

What is Chase Day?

Chase Day is centered on two varsity basketball games between UHS and Lick-Wilmerding at the Chase Center, where the Golden State Warriors play. There is a special schedule for the day, with no academic classes and several spirit-focused activities.

Why do we do Chase Day?

This is a day when all the members of the UHS and Lick communities can have fun yelling and screaming for their teams and just being together. Our students say this is one of the most fun days of the year. It is intended to very much be a day for the entire school community. With a 15-year history, it has also become a tradition that UHS alums have as a shared memory.

Who is invited?

The entire student bodies of UHS and Lick are expected to attend Chase Day, and all faculty and staff are invited to come. Parents are also absolutely invited, as are relatives, community friends, and just about anyone else who is interested in coming. We always get a healthy turnout of alums as well.

How did all this get started?

More than 15 years ago, the Lick athletic director was asked if he wanted to be part of a Warriors program that would allow his basketball teams to play at Oracle Arena in Oakland (the Warriors played in Oakland until they moved to the Chase Center a few years ago). Lick asked us if we wanted to do this with them, and

we enthusiastically agreed. At the first Oracle Day, our kids were kept in school (except for a few straying seniors) and Lick brought their entire student body. Yikes! Since then, both schools have ended school early.

What else happens on Chase Day?

Lots of things, from talented Red Devil singers/musicians performing at various points during the day, to the distribution of red T-shirts at the pep rally, to UHS kids getting their face paint on. This is not a traditional school day!

Does this cost anything?

There is no cost for students or for anyone else attending.

ARTS AT UHS

As an academic department, our curriculum is designed to allow students to develop both the understanding and the creation of the arts. Every graduate of UHS has a hands-on experience in the arts, as well as a historical context for the discipline. In addition to our strong curriculum, the Arts faculty is proud to present an exciting program of events. The vibrancy and energy of these events are a reflection of what students and teachers experience in our classrooms everyday.

#UHSInquiry: Arts Come to Life

• Over 75% of the student body is enrolled in arts classes

• Over 35 arts classes offered

• Over 80% of students take more than the minimum graduation requirement for the Arts

• 3 theater productions, six art openings, and four music concerts every year

• A large percentage of the school’s Independent Studies projects are sponsored by the Arts faculty

• 10 Arts faculty members who are all working professionals in their fields and the disciplines in which they teach.

For the second year in a row, the UHS jazz Ensemble was awarded the top scores (a unanimous “I” rating) from all three judges for their performance at the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival, which was held on March 17 & 18, 2023. The Ensemble was among over 100 participating high schools and middle schools performing at the SCJF - one of the longest running and most respected jazz festivals in the country.

Several of the Ensembles musicians were also awarded special, individual honors:

• Annika Peterson (’23) – Composition Award and Performance Award

• Brenna Tucker (’23) - Performance Award

• Mika Yamamoto (’24) - Performance Award

• Jasper Chan (’26) - Performance Award

We are thrilled to celebrate the hard work and amazing talents of these musicians. Go Devils!

Snapshot: Arts Events

FALL PLAY: Lost Girl (Poster designed by Mao Sun '23)

Long after returning from Neverland, Wendy Darling decides she must find Peter Pan to reclaim her kiss and move on with her life. Along the way, she meets others with a similar journey and discovers that she's not alone. In Kimberly Belflower's moving and magical Lost Girl, we meet familiar faces and new ones: the Lost Boys, Wendy's mom, her therapist and doctor, a detective, and a chorus of girls who have more in common with Wendy than she knows. Lost Girl is a beautiful re-telling of a story we thought we knew, a story that was never told, and a coming-ofage story of first love, lost love, and the girl who had to grow up.

WINTER ARTS FESTIVAL: Poster designed by Fira H. '26)

For one exciting evening, the Winter Arts Fesitval showcased what the UHS Visual Arts and Music Classes were up to during the fall semester! First, at the Arts Show, parents and

friends viewed works by the Photography, Ceramics, and Drawing and Painting classes, as well as some arts-related Independent Studies and work done by the AP Studio Arts Class. Then, at the Winter Concert, the audience was treated to incredible music stylings from Jazz Combo, Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, and Advanced Choir, as well as two music projects: Yoshi’s Jazz Combo and The Flute Group, and UHS’ student-led A Cappella group, The Satonics!

Watch Lost Girl Here

STUDENT DRAMA SERIES: Poster designed by Annika P. '23

The 2023 Student Drama Series was the culmination of over 7 months of work by the Advanced Projects in Theatre class and included the participation–as creators, directors, designers, performers, musicians, assistant directors, choreographers, stage managers, and technicians–of almost 40 UHS Students. The projects were varied and diverse, including everything from a musical about a high school choir in the afterlife after a fatal accident on a rollercoaster; to a hysterical satire that sent up YA Dystopian novels and films; to an absurdly comedic murder mystery(ish) that trapped 3 questionable humans on an elevator with a dead body; to a magical realist dramedy that explored

friendship, idealism, art-making and the tropes of the 80s film, Say Anything. The students in Advanced Projects imagined, created, and wrote all of their own works.

Congratulations National YoungArts Winners!

Congrats to Katrina Franco ’23 and Emily Maremont ’25 for becoming National YoungArts Winners this year! Katrina won in the Classical Voice category, and Emily won in the Novel, Play or Script, and Short Story categories.

YoungArts recognizes the most talented young performers, writers, and visual artists, and offers them opportunities for professional and creative growth throughout their careers. YoungArts has a highly

competitive application process for talented artists, judged by an independent panel of highly accomplished artists through a rigorous blind adjudication process. YoungArts winners, who make up the top 8.8% of applicants, are eligible to receive financial awards, opportunities to present at prestigious institutions across the nation, and the chance to study with esteemed mentors and artists such as Debbie Allen, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Frank Gehry, Wynton Marsalis, Salman Rushdie, and Mickalene Thomas.

Twenty Years of Great Red Devil Athletics

The UHS Journal sat down with retiring Athletic Director Jim Ketcham to reflect back on his two decades as Athletic Director.

Journal: You started in 2003 after a long career in business. How did that transition happen?

Ketcham: It certainly was not my career plan. I loved my time in the business world, especially with McKinsey and Wells Fargo. I left Wells in 2000 and took over a venture-backed software company. When the dot-com bubble burst shortly thereafter, we shut down that company. I was trying to be patient, evaluating options, when my son started at University. I attended a parents’ evening and met the interim Athletic Director, Sarah Pelmas. She said they would be starting a search in January, and my wheels started turning.

I was serving as the San Francisco Little League (SFLL) President and enjoying that in ways very different from my

business experiences. My wife, Dana, and I thought hard that fall about a pretty radical career change. She recognized that I had gotten to the point where I would regret not trying it, and, as has always been the case, she got behind the idea.

I interviewed in early 2003 and the search committee, which included Kate Garrett and Carolyn McNulty, recommended me for the job despite my complete lack of experience—something I always appreciated.

Journal: What was your approach to running the athletic program?

Ketcham: I had learned from my time with SFLL how powerful a complete and total focus on the experience of the athlete could be. With SFLL, we grew it rapidly

from 200 to 1,000 kids and became, very quickly, the preeminent choice for youth baseball in the city. Beyond that, we also went from being an also-ran in our district to dominating our district competitively. I wanted to apply this Player Experience Model at University because delivering great athletic experiences to students is an awesome goal in and of itself, and it also seemed like it could lead to competitive success, which you have to have for many reasons.

Journal: How does the model work?

Ketcham: It starts with the premise that the single most important goal of the program is to deliver a great experience (positive, constructive, and memorable) to each and every student-athlete. The only way to do that is to hire and retain great coaches who are motivated by this objective. And the function of the Athletic Department is to

support those coaches so that they can be incredibly successful.

Journal: How do you measure success with this model?

Ketcham: In two fundamental ways. First, we measure participation. Kids at University do not have to play sports. If they choose to do so, that is a great indicator. Our participation rates have risen from just under 70% in the early years to over 85% today. That is about 70 extra kids per year on a team. The PE requirement is a critical part of this success, and I hope we never back away from that.

Secondly, we believe that “what you measure is what you do.” So, we send out surveys to every student-athlete at the end of each season. The key question is, “Was your experience this year positive and memorable?” In 2022, over 96% of the students responding (60%+ response rate) indicated that that was true. That

is really incredible and indicates what amazing coaches we have.

Journal: Yet most athletic programs are measured by their competitive success. How did that part go?

Ketcham: Our hypothesis was that numbers and great experiences were key factors in competitive success. We were right. Here are a couple of examples.

League titles: Our teams win league titles about 40% of the time. University has won 176 league titles over the past twenty years, well ahead of Lick’s 72.

Section titles: Around 2010, the Chronicle named their five top athletic programs in the Bay Area, based on section titles, including De La Salle, Saint Francis, Bellarmine, and Mitty. The fifth school they identified was sort of like an SAT test question, “Who does not belong on this list?” It was, of course, University.

State Athletic School of the Year: Cal-Hi Sports selects five schools, one from each of the five sizebased classifications. We have won this honor eight times, including, most recently, in 2018 and 2021. Cal-Hi Sports called University the “Stanford of California high school athletics” because Stanford wins the overall award for total program competitive excellence year after year. In our case, no

other Division 5 school has won this honor more than two times.

Journal: How do you explain this level of competitive success? Everyone knows that University only takes in talented academic students.

Ketcham: I get asked all the time about our program’s success. I think our model is a big part of it. It allows us to operate in a consistent and sustainable way. But there are other elements to it. Most importantly, the kids that we admit are hard-working, high-character, and achievement-oriented kids. That is exactly what a strong athletic team culture depends on. The very same thing that helps our kids succeed in the classroom feeds into our athletic success. Our kids work hard, treat each

other well, and are extremely coachable. Not every one. Not every time. But a very high percentage of the time. That works wonders. Our coaches all totally get this. And our parents deserve the credit for it. They have raised incredible kids.

Journal: Switching topics, can you tell us about Big Red Fridays and Oracle/Chase Day?

Ketcham: Big Red Fridays came about in my first year. We wanted to do something to bring more fans out to games. University kids are so academically consumed during the week that we had little hope about getting big crowds out for weekday games. But Fridays were a different matter. What better way to get in the TGIF spirit than with an exciting athletic

contest and tables full of food? We have now done over 300 Big Red Fridays, and they almost all are just incredibly fun days.

Journal: What about Oracle/ Chase Day?

Ketcham: Oracle Day (now Chase Day) was the idea of Eliot Smith, the AD at Lick. The first year, we kept our kids in school, and I showed up at Oracle to see the entire Lick student body in attendance. Yikes! That never happened again. Chase Day is now perhaps the most fun day of the entire year.

Journal: What else stands out as you reflect back?

Ketcham: Well, the way the school rallied to the side of longtime cross-country coach Jim Tracy was just amazing. Coach Tracy was diagnosed with ALS, always fatal, and was given just a few years to live. Our girls’ cross-country team wanted to win a state title for him. And they did! The story went viral after the New York Times ran a story, with dozens of news stories, and two films were made about it (Running for Jim and one in Japan). Google ESPN’s The Finish Line to see their great eight-minute feature.

What was really amazing was how the school came together to support Coach Tracy. He had dedicated his life to coaching.

He had no money. No place to live. With ALS, it was going to end very badly for him. But our families came together to raise money. We found him an ADA apartment in the Presidio, and our community contributed over 100 items to furnish it. When we surprised him with it, this crusty old man broke down in tears. He got to live his last years doing what he loved the most—coaching University kids to run. I am so proud and appreciative that we could do that. I still wear an ALS bracelet to remind me of him, and also of a moment in UHS history when we really rose to the occasion.

Journal: What else are you proud of?

Ketcham: Well, Paul Goode Field and the new 3150 California project. It was always a big goal of mine to get better facilities. No one thought we could do it. I often say that Paul Goode was a simple twelve-year effort. The Presidio Trust never wanted that field to be developed. That is not the mission of national parks. Our persistence over eight years paid off. Now we have the most functional and beautiful athletic field in the city.

And we were not the only ones thrilled with this outcome. We use the field less than 1,000 hours per year. A whole host of great nonprofit youth sports organizations, like Viking Soccer, the JCC, and SFLL, use it for over 2,000 hours per year. It is truly one of the most significant ways University gives back to the community.

We bought 3150 to be an athletic center about 15 years ago. At first, the Hong Kong family that owned the property refused to sell to Americans. I asked Mike Diamonti to try again a few years later, and it turned out that the family matriarch, who hated Americans, had passed on. Her kids and our Board quickly reached an agreement. Now, thanks to the incredible generosity of so many UHS families, we will have an incredible championship gym, in addition to

amazing academic and community spaces

Journal: What else has been key to the growth of the Red Devil athletic program?

Ketcham: The hard work we do to grow participation is maybe the least-understood aspect. We survey our incoming ninth graders each summer, and I then have probably two or three dozen conversations with kids or parents over the summer, helping to lay out options and encourage them to participate. It is hard work, but it is so key to smallschool athletics, especially when you want to offer as many sports as we do.

I am also proud that we have never lost a program. We have come close on at least a halfdozen occasions, but every time, there were kids who just would not let their program die. I loved working with them to save their programs.

Journal: Are there student memories that stand out?

Ketcham: So many. Everything from a kid fighting to get athletic eligibility, gaining confidence in himself academically (and now working for the State Department in Africa), to a robotics genius who decided to run cross-country so that he would have a physical activity to “get him out of the lab,” to Eileen Gu and her path to be one of the great advocates for women’s sports in the world. And, of course, the roughly 1,000 captains who have done so much

to make our program great. I love supporting them and watching them turn into great leaders.

These interactions happen literally every week, and they all mean so much to me. No one really knows about them, but I do, and they make me very happy.

Journal: How shall we wrap this up?

Ketcham: I am not quite sure how I found this path, but I do feel blessed to have found it. We have worked hard to make Red Devil athletics what it is today. I will be eternally grateful to my partners in the Athletic Department for sharing this passion and doing such a great job.

I love what high school athletics can do for kids, building confidence, dealing with adversity, and learning how to be a great teammate. There have been over 10,000 player seasons in my

tenure, and, I believe, most will be wonderful forever memories.

But what has been the most meaningful to me are the coaches I have gotten to know. They are truly great people. So committed. They put their heart and soul into their teams. My role is to find them, listen to them, and support and mentor them so that they can be great. And they are.

I hope we never take this incredible Red Devil athletic program for granted. It is so much harder to build a great program than it is to sustain one. I can’t wait to see what improvements are made to Red Devil athletics over the coming years and decades. If you want great academics and great athletics, there is no better option than University! n

The UHS Alumni Association is proud to announce the recipient of the 2023 Alumni Honors: Dr. Corinne Rocca ’93. Corinne is an epidemiologist whose decades-long research on access to contraception and abortion care (or lack thereof) brings rigorous scientific evidence to the improvement of reproductive health policies and programs in the US and globally.

Alumni Honors are designed to recognize and acknowledge the contributions of alums who embody the core UHS values of inquiry, care, integrity, agency, and interconnection. Each year, Alumni Honors celebrates alums who are leaders in their fields and who are making important contributions at a local, national, or international level through personal accomplishment, professional achievement, or humanitarian service.

Her research fuels the work of reproductive rights activists and scholars studying the life impacts of women who are able to exercise reproductive and bodily autonomy—those who can choose whether, when, and with whom to have a child—and in contrast, those who are denied those rights. As a visiting lecturer at universities, cited in global media, Corinne contributes to important discussions around these issues. Her science is used by policymakers and has been referenced to fight state-level abortion restrictions and in US Supreme Court amicus briefs. Her recently published scholarship includes forecasting the harms of overturning Roe v. Wade

Corinne was a lead investigator of the landmark UCSF Turnaway Study, a five-year study investigating the impacts of obtaining or being denied an abortion among nearly 1,000 US women, to gain insight into what happens when reproductive autonomy is stripped. She and her colleagues found that having an abortion was not associated with subsequent mental health harms, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, or decision regret, for the vast majority of women. This research has also provided insight into how being denied an abortion reduces financial security for women and their children and can perpetuate domestic violence, especially among people

of color and other marginalized populations.

Corinne’s colleague Dr. Diana Greene Foster went on to write The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having—or Being Denied—an Abortion (Scribner, 2021). In its review of the book, The New Yorker noted, “the rationale for so many recent abortion restrictions—namely, that abortion is uniquely harmful to the people who choose it— simply topples.”

Corinne received her BS from Stanford University, her MPH from Columbia University, and her PhD from UC Berkeley. She is a professor in UCSF’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.

We invite the entire UHS community—alums, current students, current and past parents, and current and past faculty/ staff—to nominate candidates. Nominations are reviewed on a rolling basis, and recipients are honored at Reunion Weekend. The Alumni Honors selection committee consists of the Alumni Council, the head of school, and the president of the board of trustees. Our honorary chair is Lareina Yee ’91, P ’21. To see past nominees or to make a nomination, visit our website at sfuhs.org/alumnihonors n

Dr. Corinne Rocca ’93

DR. CORINNE ROCCA ’93

Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, UCSF

Runway is designed to bring the energy and dialogue around social justice, equity, and inclusion on our campus directly to alumni and parents, providing you with runways to be change-makers at work, as volunteers, and at home with friends and family.

The Crime of Poverty: Ending Wealth Inequality in Our Justice System

2021 Alumni Association Runway Lecture

Last November, the UHS Alumni Association held the sixth annual Runway Lecture. Our guest speaker was Atteeyah Hollie ’98, SB ’94, who is the deputy director of the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR). In that role, Atteeyah fights for equality, dignity, and justice for people who are experiencing poverty and who are impacted by the criminal legal system. People experiencing poverty are at greater risk of being fined, arrested, and incarcerated for minor offenses than wealthier individuals, as a result of a system of wealthbased justice that disadvantages and punishes people because they are poor.

Atteeyah has more than a decade of experience litigating on behalf of people challenging denial of their right to counsel, illegally closed courtrooms,

wealth-based detention, and human rights abuses in prisons and jails. She helps lead SCHR’s efforts to end extreme sentencing in Georgia, and trains public defenders, working with multiple state public defender agencies across the country, and with Gideon’s Promise, where she was a mentee. In 2017, she was named an “On the Rise” Georgia lawyer by the Fulton County Daily Report , and in 2022, she was a finalist for the American Constitution Society’s David Carliner Public Interest Award. She received her BA in history from Dartmouth College in 2002; graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2010; and is a member of the Georgia bar. She served SCHR as an investigator for four years, before returning in 2010 as an Initiative for Public Interest Law at Yale Fellow.

During the Runway Lecture, Atteeyah shared advice for those who want to reverse the criminalization of poverty:

• Closely follow the courts.

• Demand the decriminalization of offenses that keep low-level courts in existence.

• Vote out judges and DAs who prioritize money-making over the Constitution.

• Examine local budgets.

• Examine local jail populations.

• Push for the end of fines and fees in local communities.

• Invest in local reentry programs.

• Imagine communities not relying on impacted people through fines and forfeitures of assets. n

Atteeyah Hollie '98, SB '94

Class Notes 2021–2023

Ted Streuli ’79 was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in April 2022. Ted is the executive director at Oklahoma Watch. He was the editor of The Journal Record in Oklahoma City from 2004 to 2017, and previously worked for Southern Newspapers and Westward Communications in Texas and Lesher Communications in California. He has appeared regularly on the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA), KOSU, and KGOU, and served as president of the Oklahoma Press Association and Freedom of Information Oklahoma. His awards include the Will Rogers Award for Humanitarianism from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the Voice Award from the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Pilot Award from the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium, and numerous writing and editing awards.

At the end of 2022, Simon Frankel ’81 was appointed by Governor Newsom to serve as a Judge in the San Francisco County Superior Court. Simon was a partner at Covington & Burling LLP until 2006. He was previously a partner at Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin from 2001 to 2006 and an associate there from 1994 to 2001. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Pierre Leval at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1992 to 1993 and for the Honorable Stephen Breyer at the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, from 1991 to 1992. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.

Katherine Melchior Ray ’81 writes, “After enduring COVID in Berlin, where we lost our jobs (again), David and I fast-forwarded our retirement dream lifestyle without retiring! We now live the first half of the year in Nice, France, where Nordstrom had sent me years ago for work, and the second half on the West Coast. In the fall, I teach global marketing at Berkeley Haas, commuting between the Bay Area and Portland. Year-round, I consult remotely with global clients and am finishing my memoir about risk and reinvention as a global CMO/MOM. Stay tuned!”

John W. Reid ’83 co-authored Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet (W. W. Norton & Company, 2022), which documents how protecting megaforests is the key to reducing climate change.

Andrew Lovett ’85 is the proud parent of Alex Lovett ’26. He still runs Liminus Learning, a tutoring and admissions consulting firm in San Francisco. He also serves as the Admissions Director for BATS Scholars, the community service program of the Bay Area Tutoring Summit.

living in Southwest Florida and running my own accounting business.” Cathy says, “I have returned to my high school passion of photography and enjoy photographing and designing my healthy dessert recipe blog, cathyscakesalon.com.”

After a decade as head of the Carey School in San Mateo, Duncan Lyon ’87 started a new position as head of school at the Allen-Stevenson School in New York in June 2022.

Natasha Boas, PhD, ’82, P ’18, shares that her son, Jacques Boas ’18, graduated from Wesleyan in spring 2022 with a dual degree in film and government. He is now working full-time as a production sales coordinator for Champion out of the Lost Planet Editorial office in SoHo, and living on Lower East Side.

1986 classmates Cathy Lara and Eve Throop connected in Nokomis, Florida. Eve is “happily

In October 2021, Anne Tolpegin ’88 married Blake Stadnik in Sonoma. UHS friends present included ’88 classmates Thomas Newmeyer, Edward Lovett, Darcy Ellsworth Yow, Jeff Linder, Terrell Hutton, Mary Elizabeth Haas Barton, Maggie Pattengill Castle, and Sarah Van Ness, and Kate Shafer Riccardi ’87

Ari Gold ’88, filmmaker, and brother Ethan Gold ’88, musician, collaborated with their father, novelist Herbert Gold, on a short poetry collection published in Tablet Magazine. The poems started as a correspondence with their father, first during the pandemic lockdown, then expanded when Ari traveled

Natasha Boas ʼ82

Author John W Reid ’83

Cathy Lara ’86 and Eve Throop ’86

Anne Tolpegin ’88

to his father’s birthplace in Ukraine to film scenes for his award-winning film project Helicopter

In January 2022, Dr. John Saroyan ’89 was appointed as executive director of Vermont’s Blueprint for Health Patient Centered Medical Homes program, a long-standing and widely recognized health care reform initiative. The Vermont Blueprint for Health was established to promote the integration of high-quality primary care with human services that impact health and well-being. John is a board-certified pediatrician, with subspecialty certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and a Certified Hospice Medical Director. In the Vermont Agency of Human Services press release, John said, “While I have devoted my entire professional career thus far to alleviating the pain and suffering of chronically and terminally ill individuals, I feel the time is now to turn my experience and knowledge more broadly to prevention, health promotion, and complex care management so that Vermonters may live longer, healthier lives. I also want to help ensure that our health care practitioners and staff will be there to serve them.”

Alex Mandel ’90 and his family recently returned to the Bay Area after a six-year stint in New Zealand. Alex is currently finishing his score for The Inventor, a stop-motion/2D animated feature film about Leonardo da Vinci. The film is written and directed by Academy Award nominee Jim Capobianco (Ratatouille) and stars Stephen Fry, Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard, and Matt Berry, all of whom sing Alex’s songs. It can be seen this winter in theaters worldwide.

Los Angeles musician/producer Blake Robin ’90 signed with Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Studios to do a radio show on SiriusXM. The show is called One Song

and is set to debut on air in late spring 2023. It is based loosely on his viral TikTok and Instagram videos about “interpolation,” which is musical borrowing, similar to sampling.

In 2022, Betina Baumgarten ’92 graduated magna cum laude with her LLM from Fordham Law School and received the Judy and Dennis Kenny Fashion Law LLM Award.

In March 2023, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) announced that curator, author, historian, educator, and multidisciplinary arts leader Makeda Best ’93 would join its staff as its new Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs. Makeda most recently served as Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at Harvard University Art Museums, and previously served as Assistant Professor of Visual Studies at California College of the Arts. At OMCA, Makeda will lead planning and implementation of exhibitions and will oversee all aspects of management of and access to the museum’s nearly two million items in its collections, which focus on the art, history, and natural sciences of California.

Mary O’Carroll ’94 recently completed her second year as Chief Community Officer at Ironclad. She lives in Los Altos with her husband and three girls.

Julayne Virgil ’94 was recognized as one of 2021’s Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by the San Francisco Business Times. She continues to lead Girls Inc. of Alameda County, where transformational programming inspires girls to be strong, smart, and bold.

In November 2021, Kathryn Cahill Thompson ’96 was named one of the 10 most admired Bay Area CEOs by the San Francisco Business Times. She

is the CEO of Cahill Contractors, which completed Russian Hill’s Francisco Park last year.

Jeremy Horst Keeper DDS, PhD, ’98 reports that he is the director of clinical innovation at CareQuest, where he is leading the transformation of dentistry into non-invasive community-centered wellness, centering around brush-on treatments and nutrition. His journey included Summerbridge as a middle schooler and Teaching Fellow, UHS, college, postdoc in the UCSF lab where SARS-CoV was discovered (and where Peter Skewes-Cox ’98 did his PhD), pediatric dentistry residency, earning his PhD, dental school, master’s in chemistry! He and his wife live in the Presidio with kids Moscone and Justice, who attend SF Waldorf preschool, and Cadence, who’s at Claire Lilienthal.

Last fall, Nick Jocelyn ’98 Zoomed in to UHS math instructor Megan Storti’s Financial Literacy class to talk about how to invest and save for retirement. Nick is the principal of Jocelyn Pension Consulting, LLC, founded in 2006.

Cameron Kramlich ’98 shares, “My wife, Carrie Burgener, and I bought a house above the Truckee river in Verdi, NV, this spring. While we’re keeping our SF place, we just love waking up to see the sun dance with the Sierras, and beautiful hikes start just out our front door! We have lots of space, so look forward to lots of houseguests. (Friends, please reach out.)”

Justin Christensen ’99 writes, “I’m excited to share that I am the Dean of Academics at Woodside Priory. It has been fun to help lead a school that is similar in size to UHS, and I remain ever grateful for how UHS formed me as a young person.”

On September 30, 2021, Aaron Fung ’00, his wife Caitlin, and big brother Cooper welcomed baby Clementine to the world.

After eight years in Philadelphia, Dr. Jeffrey Hom ’00 moved back to San Francisco and to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where he works as the director of population behavioral health. He is grateful to be home and looks forward to reconnecting with the UHS community.

Stephanie J. Lee, DMD, ’00, endodontist at San Francisco Endodontics, became a diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics in July 2022. Stephanie earned her BS in Neuroscience, summa cum laude, from UCLA before deciding to pursue her interests in pain management of the head and neck at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. She returned east in 2019 for specialty training in endodontics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. She is presently clinical faculty in endodontics at the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry and provides instruction in endodontics for the residency program at the Veterans Affairs in Northern California.

Goodhire, founded by Max Wesman ’01, was acquired by privately held Checkr, a technology platform focused on employee background checks.

Continued on page 25

Aaron Fung ’00

Pizza Party!

The Pizza Party Program’s going strong!

When you get three or more alums together for any kind of snack, we’ll reimburse you up to $50 when you send us a photo with your tablemates and the restaurant check. All grad years are eligible! Only one submission per person per year, please. Submit your photo at sfuhs.org/pizzaparty.

William Chang ’19, Jacob Urisman ’19, Nicole Cuthbert ’19

Jacob Urisman ’19, William Chang ’19, Nicole Cuthbert ’19

Mimi L’Engle ’18, Gabe Owen ’17, Sergio Martinez ’17

Aurélie Roubinowitz ’21, Lauren Angeli Teotico ’21, Sarah Cheung ’21

Angela Hui ’16, Aidan Warren ’16, Flora Fouladi ’16

Sam Lesser ’17, Ben Guggenheim ’17, Shale Setty ’17, Gunnar Black ’17

Jacob Urisman ’19, William Urrutia ’19, Alex Sheft ’19, Tulasi Holdridge ’20

Gabriel Hale ’17, Linda Huang ’17, Ian Browne ’17

Sami Lee ’21, Erika Heng ’21, Owen Flanagan ’21, Alejandro Clermont-Delgado ’21

Devan Paul ’20, Hayden Deffarges ’20, Lukas Bacho ’20, Mary Qiu ’20 Robbie Grisso ’21, Darius Yamini ’21, Rakim Cabrera-Scarlata ’21, Claire Niehaus ’21

Sarah Walcott ’22, Leila Menezes ’22, David Wignall ’21, Owen Wolff ’21, Fletcher Grumbach ’21

Alex Sheft ’19, William Chang ’19, Lauren Teotico ’21, Jacob Urisman ’19

Linda Huang ’17, Mimi L’Engle ’18, Ian Browne ’17

Pierce Hoenigman ’21, Emilia Fowler ’21, David Wignall ’21

Benjamin Hunt ’20, Prathinav Vishnu ’20, Jorge Mora ’19

David Wignall ’21, Kyra Kushner ’20, Reed Schwartz ’19

Maddy Chung ’15, Peter Baumbacher ’15, Caelyn Dovey ’15

Ben Solomon ’16, Ted Hartel ’16, Jiana Schnabel ’16

Mostafa Donia ’19, Uma Kumar ’20, Gabby Garland ’19

Peter Baumbacher ’15, Maddy Chung ’15, Caelyn Dovey ’15, Ila Shon ’15

Nabil Saad ’17, Morgan Ruff ’17, Gracie Durham ’17, Rowan McGarry-Williams ’17

Ethan Joseph ’19, Justin Shen ’19, Alex Sheft ’19, William Urrutia ’19, Jacob Urisman ’19

Sarah Cheung ’21, Jeffrey Weisinger ’21, Shrey Varma ’21, Lauren Teotico ’21

Jacob Urisman ’19, William Urrutia ’19, Alex Sheft ’19, Ezra Parkhill ’19

Crissy Wong ’96, Katy Chamberlain Hope ’96, Leslie Manace Brenman ’96

Isabella Ruston ’14, Radhika Kenkre ’14, Saloni Parikh ’14, Stephanie Tse ’14

Caroline Ferguson-Dryden ’16, Jackson Herrick ’16, Spencer Ferguson-Dryden ’16, Kyle Shin ’16

Jackson Herrick ’16, Caroline Ferguson-Dryden ’16, Norbu Globus ’16

Tre Gonzales ’15, Angelo Harb ’16, Giuliana Lee ’16

Simone Jacob ’17, Claire Wilson ’17, Linda Huang ’17, Lindsey Chung ’17

Ottillia Ni ’14, Calvin Philips ’14, Debbie Cheng ’14, Adair Rosin ’14

UHS ADOPTS REVISED STATEMENT ON Equity and Community

In March 2023, Matt Levinson shared the news that the revised Statement on Equity and Community had been endorsed by the Board of Trustees and had received unanimous approval from the UHS faculty and staff. This show of support ensures that UHS will move forward together as a community “to further our self-knowledge, our ability to communicate effectively across individual differences, and our capacity to cultivate an anti-racist, anti-oppressive school culture mindful of systemic barriers to equity.”

The revision of the Equity and Community statement grew from the need identified by the Stewardship and Oversight Committee that so much has changed at UHS and the world since the statement was first adopted in 2018. There was a call for UHS to be bolder, more concrete, and more action driven in its language and commitments. As with all work at UHS, we engaged in a thorough, intentional process involving Board and school leadership, as well as faculty and staff, to identify gaps and areas of opportunity for the school to focus its energies. The Board spent over a year digging deep into the statement, with guidance from Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, who is an associate professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University’s College of Ethnic Studies. In addition, Allyson spent the 2022-2023 school year providing her expertise to our Ethnic Studies team and the Board’s Equity and Community Committee. What you see below is the culmination of a lengthy, detailed process that reflects our institutional commitment to equity and community, very much aligned and in tune with the founding principles of UHS as a school where equity and excellence would thrive.

This exciting step gives UHS great momentum as we work to further mobilize action in our community.

2023 STATEMENT ON EQUITY AND COMMUNITY:

At UHS, we believe that the deepest learning requires collaboration among people who embody a diversity of backgrounds, beliefs, experiences, and perspectives. Building and sustaining a community composed of a wide range of social and cultural identities requires that all members have the resources they need to thrive. To this end, we must further our self- knowledge, our ability to communicate effectively across individual differences, and our capacity to cultivate an anti-racist[1], anti-oppressive[2] school culture mindful of systemic barriers to equity[3]. We do this work on a personal, professional, and an institutional level, recognizing that our community is part of a larger and more complex world.

The purpose of this document is to articulate our aspirations in our ongoing work towards building systems that yield equitable outcomes. We make the following commitments in the context of the increasing cost of living in the Bay Area, our desire to better serve youth who are expansive in their understanding and expression of gender and sexuality, and our conviction that this revised Statement on Equity and Community must inspire deliberate actions.

EQUITY IN ACCESS AND SUPPORT

• Continue to recruit, nurture, and support a student body, faculty, staff, and board of trustees whose composition is responsive to the shifting diversity of the Bay Area, with particular attention to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, religion, and 2SLGBTQIA+ identities.

• Devote resources to measure and promote equity and belonging in order to ensure that our students, faculty, staff, and trustees have support and opportunities to thrive in our programs and community.

• Sustain and promote financial support systems to provide our students with equitable access to all aspects of the UHS experience, and respond proactively to changing family circumstances.

• Provide equitable pathways for the professional growth and leadership development of our faculty and staff.

CARE AND INTERCONNECTION

• Regularly revisit and revise our UHS Community Agreements to maintain a model for honoring differing perspectives, and for building and sustaining relationships in and outside of the classroom.

• In moments of difficulty and disconnection, respond with openness, empathy, and restorative action. We are a stronger community when we repair harm by talking to each other, not about each other.

• Develop and sustain partnerships with people, institutions, and organizations beyond UHS in order to learn and grow as part of a larger community ecosystem.

DIVERSITY RESPONSIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

• Act with an awareness of our personal cultural lenses and the normative culture that we, consciously or unconsciously, create together.

• Regularly engage faculty, staff, and administration in equity training to ensure that all UHS programming and practices are designed to understand, respond to, and elevate the perspectives, experiences, and needs of our increasingly diverse student body.

• Consistently invite student reflection and incorporate student feedback in order to create learning experiences that are meaningful to the dynamic needs of diverse students— that help them feel seen and heard in ways that resonate with them.

INSTITUTIONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT AND REFLECTION

• As we design new programs, policies, and practices (and changes to existing ones), be deliberate about considering the impact of this work on advancing equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression.

• Create dashboards that communicate our progress in increasing student, faculty, staff, and board diversity in order to monitor our accountability to our goals.

• Regularly measure the growth, success, and well-being of our community members, and utilize student input whenever

appropriate as we design responses to any patterns of inequity that we identify.

• Continue to uphold our core value of Inquiry, challenge our thinking, and foster our growth as an institution by looking beyond our walls for models, best practices, and opportunities to learn from (and share with) our peers.

[1] An anti-racist school is one that does not tolerate racial discrimination on an individual or a systemic level. Anti-racist actions may take the form of:

• Confronting racism, disenfranchisement, and discrimination

• Acknowledging the inequitable effects of power and privilege structures based on race Interrupting and challenging oppression

• Building community that values all members

MLK Day Symposium 2023: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELONG?

This year’s theme for our annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Symposium posed the question

“What does it mean to belong?” It is an open-ended question that acknowledges that “the arc of the moral universe” does not “bend toward justice” on its own. Promoting justice requires inquiry and an honest grappling with the stories we uncover in order to redress any injustice from a place of genuine care.

Think about belonging and what it means to you. What

does it mean to belong to a physical land, to a lineage of people, to nature and living beings (human and nonhuman)? What does it mean to belong on a spiritual level? Is it a practice? A feeling? Both? What does belonging feel like?

What does belonging look like at UHS? What does it feel like to be seen, welcome, needed? Who feels a sense of belonging in this community, and who doesn’t? What patterns of inequity, if any, emerge? What agency do we have, as

individuals and as a school, in redressing these patterns in order to build systems of equity and belonging instead?

Now consider belonging in a larger historical context. What does it mean to belong in history? What does it mean to have one’s stories and one’s connections to and alliance with others erased from history, to have to (re)write oneself back into history in order to create belonging on one’s own terms? n

Continued on page 26

I hope today’s program will give you opportunities to reflect on these questions. Maybe you will find some of your own answers. Maybe (more than likely) you will uncover even more questions. Probably both. Either way, my wish is that today’s Symposium will inspire you to take action toward building bridges and promoting belonging in your communities.

—Tilda Kapuya, Director of Equity & Community

Keynote Panel: “Beyond Kanye and Kyrie: Renewing the Historic Black-Jewish Alliance"

Q&A with panelists.

EQUITY, CONT.

• Building systems of equitable access, experiences, and outcomes

• Conscious, structured, and deliberate actions

— from the Due East Educational Equity Collaborative

2022-2023 Board of Trustees Equity & Community Committee

Leonard Chung ’98 Co-Chair

Mallar Bhattacharya, M.D.

Co-Chair

Kendal Black

Paul Cooper

Sheila Cuthbert

Sean Hamer

Mina Kim

Tomás A. Magaña, M.D. ’82

Brenda Mira

Matt Levinson UHS Liaison

[2] An anti-oppressive school seeks to dismantle systems of power and privilege that mistreat historically marginalized groups.

[3] Equity requires providing members of a community what they need in order to thrive, with particular attention to systemic barriers they may face due to group membership(s). “Equity is not equality; it is the expression of justice, ethics, multi-partiality, and the absence of discrimination” (NAIS.org).

2022-2023 Stewardship and Oversight Committee

Students

• Katrina Franco ’23

• Santiago Herrera ’23

• Randall Tom ’24

• Serina Jain ’24

• Pedro Garcia-Silva ’25

Faculty

• Nicole Hunter

• Sandeep Bhuta

• Camila Moreno-Jimenez

Parent

• Kendal Black

• Efrain Perez

Alumni

• Nicole Cariño

Breakout groups in discussion at the MLK Day Symposium.

Class Notes, CONT.

Hallie Chen ’03 writes, “2023 is shaping up to be an exciting year for me! My architecture practice is turning 5 this year, and we recently moved into an artist studio complex I am developing with a friend in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland. We’ve held community events, art sales, and film screenings since the first building renovation was completed this past November, and we’re looking forward to starting construction on a new studio building this year. It’s great getting to visit our recently completed projects, such as Marigold Flowers and Grand Coffee’s new cafe in the Mission District, and Highwire Coffee Roasters on Broadway in downtown Oakland. Our residential projects around the Bay Area are still going strong, and we’re growing our practice to include multifamily housing while we continue to do community based and pro bono work with Town Fridge, Peralta Hacienda Historical Park to build a youth center, and instruction with Girls Garage in Berkeley. Reach out if you’re a student looking to learn more about architecture and design, or an alumnus with a design need, looking for a collaborator! Visit cahadesign.com or email me at hallie@cahadesign.com.”

Following a career as an art historian and IP lawyer in London, NYC, DC, and Los Angeles, Michelle Edelman ’03 returned home to open TINT Gallery in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco in October 2021. TINT showcases contemporary artists—highlighting women artists—who innovate across media. Michelle created TINT to provide a welcoming space to engage with art, to celebrate artistic talent, and to cultivate community through art. She invites all alums to visit her gallery at 149 Gough Street.

Dr. Andrea Niles ’03 founded Prospera Mental Health and Wellness. From its website: “Prospera’s platform combines highly trained mental health coaches with digital tools and licensed therapists who work behind the scenes to ensure patients receive excellent care. Their innovative hiring and certification process, comprehensive digital tools library, and quality control procedures allow us to pass significant savings back to you without compromising quality.”

In 2022, Michelle Tandler ’04 founded Growth Path Labs, which provides audio courses for professional development.

to share that I’m starting a new position with the Content Advisement group under the Representation, Inclusion Strategies, and Engagement (RISE) team at The Walt Disney Studios! Our unit will be providing creative feedback on projects from Pixar, Marvel, Disney Animation, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, Searchlight Pictures, Disney Theatrical Group, and Disney Live Action for the entire life cycle of a project: from development and pre-production, to marketing and distribution. The notes will be focused on maximizing diverse storytelling opportunities: eradicating stereotypes and tropes & ensuring authentic representation.”

Zach Reynolds ’13 launched NTLY Clothing (ntlyclothing. com) for men, designed in New York and ethically milled, cut, sewn, and dyed in Peru.

Claire Feuille ’14 performed a piece that she wrote, called Like Other Girls, at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Queenie Li ’18 posted this graduation message on LinkedIn in June 2022: “A week ago I graduated summa cum laude as a first-generation college student from Middlebury College with a B.A. in English & American Literatures and a B.A. in Economics. One day later, I arrived home in San Francisco, a place that has always been my home and a place that will continue to be my home in the foreseeable future.” Since August, Queenie has been working at Woodline Partners LP as business associate.

PAST FACULTY/STAFF

Giselle Huff P ’81, UHS’s first director of development, published her autobiography in August 2022: Force of Nature: The Remarkable True Story of One Holocaust Survivor’s Resilience, Tenacity, and Purpose. All proceeds from book sales will benefit the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, which champions economic security for all through universal basic income. (Gerald Huff ’81 passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2018.) n

Simone Stolzoff ’09’s debut book, The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work, was published by Random House on May 23, 2023. Learn more at thegoodenoughjob.com.

Zoë Lyon ’11 graduated from the University of California, San Francisco, and started a new position there as an intern in internal medicine.

Joshua Kwan ’13 posted this announcement on LinkedIn in June 2022: “I’m so excited

C.C. Clark ’18 is the producer and co-host of Sun and Soil Podcast about food, agriculture, and the environment. She writes, “Every episode, we explore a new topic in this area, usually through an interview with someone in the field. This could be a professor, a business owner, or really anyone who knows a thing or two about agriculture/food science! We’ve covered a variety of topics so far, from kelp forests, to cows that eat algae, to food equality made possible through local farming. If you’d like to check it out, you can give it a listen wherever you get your podcasts (https://linktr.ee/ sunandsoil). You can also learn more by following the podcast on Instagram: @sunandsoilpodcast. Thanks for listening!!”

Author Simone Stolzoff ’09

Past Faculty Gisele Huff

SF UNITY Robotics

SF UNITY is a rookie FIRST Robotics Competition team based in San Francisco that aims to promote STEM outreach in schools. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) inspires young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators, as well as well rounded contributors to society, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based, research and robotics programs. SF UNITY also has students from multiple high schools in order to further connect our community.

SF UNITY was co-founded by Leyton Lin ‘24, who, along with his co-founder Kyle from The Urban School, had an ambitious idea to start a FIRST robotics team. Their goal was to expand the network of people interested in STEM from outside UHS and peer high schools. Instead of creating private teams within each school, they wanted to conjoin these communities and unify San Francisco. Their hope is that SF UNITY will encourage more students to join the STEAM community, as well as create stronger bonds between high schools.

According to Lin, “Our mission is to unite different kids from diverse communities from across the Bay Area through the wonderful world of STEM. We’ve just begun reaching out to younger students in San Francisco to inspire them to learn more and encourage curiosity.”

SF UNITY is made up of a group of diverse high school students spanning from freshmen to seniors, across multiple high schools in the Bay Area. “We are all very motivated to contribute

to this team and get this rookie team off the ground and flying.”

For more information about SF UNITY, visit https://www. sfunityrobotics.com/ n

The Team:

Leyton Lin ‘24

Marshall Schneider ‘24

Sebastian Shoup ‘24

Sanayah Mullafero ‘24

Lucas Holden ‘24

Ryan Jo ‘24

Outreach

SF UNITY has started working with the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco. We want to embody the ideals of FIRST with impact and teamwork, so we’ve created a competition similar to FRC competitions for the children of the Boys and Girls Club using Lego Mindstorms. We’re teaching students the basics of engineering and problemsolving through the use of Lego.

Our Robot

Meet Karl, Team 9038’s first robot! Karl’s named after the wonderful fog of San Francisco. Being SF UNITY, we wanted to embody San Francisco and become the iconic fog. This is a modification of the 2023 Everybot.

The SF UNITY Team in action.

SF UNITY won the Highest Seed Rookie Award as well as the Rookie All Star Award at this regional competition.

Watch Karl in action!

Inquiry in Action: Embracing UHS Core Values through the Independent Study Program

To provide students opportunities to pursue self-directed learning, UHS offers a rich program of independent study. Following our belief that students learn best when they become architects of their own education, the program encourages students to pursue independent study by awarding transcript credit for a variety of self-initiated projects. Fullsemester credit is offered for seminar-style courses that require regular faculty interaction and workloads comparable to an ordinary semester-length class. Half-semester credit is offered for projects with lighter workloads and more student independence.

Spring 2023 Independent Study Highlights

THE PAPERFUGE: Can this device help solve the postpartum hemorrhage crisis?

By Avery Fringer

Science Sponsor: Tonyanna Borkovi

Last semester, I interviewed mothers and clinicians who had experiences with postpartum hemorrhage and told their stories. Postpartum hemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death globally, yet most of the cases that result in deaths are preventable. So why are mothers still dying from postpartum hemorrhage (PPH)? This semester, I researched the factors driving this issue and learned that the PPH maternal death rate is so high due to improper screening and/or catching the hemorrhage when it is too late. Many places around the world also lack resources such as electricity and funding for blood measurements and screening devices. To address these issues, I built my own Paperfuge device (originally designed by Professor Manu Prakash at Stanford University) to assess its feasibility in screening for PPH by measuring hematocrit values (% by volume of red blood cells) in a mother's blood. When hematocrit values in a mother’s blood change by 10% or more between the labor admission and the postpartum period, it’s likely that she will have PPH. Not only is the Paperfuge device a centrifuge made out of paper that costs only 20¢ to manufacture, but this device is also completely hand-powered! Please come to my presentation to learn more about this project. I will be building a Paperfuge that will be passed around the room in addition to going into more detail about my research and the results of my experiment.

Teaching a Machine to Predict and Play Games

By Ryan Wolk

Math Sponsor: Byron Philhour

This semester, I looked at and went through a few different types of machine learning models, mostly revolving around games. The first was a set of predictive models. I used regressions and neural nets to (attempt to) predict the results of march madness for Kaggle's annual competition. The second was a basic game-playing AI, using a method called Deep-Q learning which I used to get the computer to learn how to balance a pendulum. The final model used a tree search with the algorithm outlined in Deepmind's Alphazero paper to try to make the machine learn how to play connect 4.

Independent Study: Q&A with Avery Fringer ’24

What did you enjoy most about taking part in this project?

Through my independent study, I have enjoyed choosing a topic that I am most passionate about and being able to adapt to changes in my ideas throughout the semester. The more time I spent working on my project, the more I learned about myself and how I could complete my project in the most encompassing way.

How do you feel this helped you grow and learn?

Beginning this independent study, I knew I was interested in helping people, especially from a global perspective. I wanted to work on something that would have an impact on the world and help solve the urgent maternal mortality problem. By the end of my study, I not only learned more about my topic of interest through my research, but I also learned that I liked engineering and trial and error experiments. My independent study has helped me grow as an individual and has also helped me feel more knowledgeable about areas that interest me.

Why would you encourage other students to do an independent study project?

I really recommend the independent study program because of the freedom it provides students. The program encourages students to take a deeper dive into areas that excite them. One of the most rewarding feelings is being able to present a project you worked so hard on and are so passionate about to your peers, teachers, and friends at the end of the semester.

Is there anything else you’d like to say or share about the program in general, or about your project in particular?

One of the main aspects of UHS that stood out to me while applying to high schools in 8th grade was the independent study program. I consider myself a very independent person, and this program has allowed me to pursue my passions in my own way.

The Blend of Cultures, Strokes, and Art

By Sharon Cheng

Art Sponsor: Lisa Carroll

Have you ever seen different culture art styles and want to develop your own art style? In this independent study, I blended Chinese and English calligraphy, developing my own style while expressing myself within. From the Four Treasures of Chinese Calligraphy to the quills and dipped pens, the two resemble each other yet differ in so many ways. Come learn some basics of calligraphy, see the development of my own style and try to develop your own!

ChatGPT and Its Effects on Education

By Joey Philhour

Responsive Education Sponsor: Adrian Acu

When ChatGPT released on November 30, 2022, an overflowing amount of users interested in its capabilities flocked to the site. It almost seemed like any question you asked, it had an answer to, the perfect solution for a student who needs to complete a last minute essay or paper. In only a few weeks, several schools had to ban the usage of ChatGPT, because of the plagiaristic ways it could be used. Through this study, I explored how school systems can respond to its use in a way that implements and/or restricts the use of AI powered tools.

”Our independent study program is a direct expression of our commitment to student agency. With a new front door for UHS being built on 3150 California Street, the opportunities to expand this transformative program into and around the Bay Area are boundless. Our students are so curious and inquisitive, eager to dig deep into topics and issues. Their desire to find a “purpose larger than the self” expands through the independent study program.“

—Matt Levinson, Head of School

#UHSInquiry

Being curious, open-minded, and courageous.

Seeking out different perspectives and learning from one another.

Striving to deepen our understanding of the evolving world.

Behavioral Economics

By Alexandra Wythes

History Sponsor: David Roth

Standard economic theory assumes that individuals are fully rational decision-makers; however, that is often not the case in the real world. Behavioral economics is a subfield of economics that uses economic tools, combined with psychological theories to better understand human decision making, and to consider the implications of deviations from rationality. People often fail to save, invest, and consume in ways that make sense for them. This Independent Study project presents key psychological theories behind human behavior, how they intersect with economic theories, and why this matters.

Using Analytics to give Baseball Players their Song

By Franco Parcella

Arts Sponsor: Ernesto Mazar Kindelán

Baseball fans might say that DeGrom throws a jazz-style pitch and Jeter conducts a symphony on defense. But, could I prove that to be true? To do this, I created a model where I could input baseball statistics to produce an output that describes a player’s technique as a musical genre. The player statistics include length of career, time on the IL, pitch selection, velocity per inning, and varying tempo. I am weighting these stats and matching them to various music genres based on style, form, and melody. For example, my stats for the a cappella genre are high slugging, high OPS, and high WAR. These stats are indicative of a player who is an individual star and doesn't have much support from his teammates, just like an a cappella singer.

The Approach to Jorge Luis Borges

By Jacob Neplokh

Languages Sponsors: Helena Senatore & Ernesto Padró-Campos

Jorge Luis Borges unabashedly confronts readers with a terrifying array of literary references (both real and fake). Is there more, though, to this labyrinth of erudition? How does one understand Borges, if at all?

Losing myself a few years ago in my personal reading of translations of his works, I gave another attempt to answer these questions by reading various works—an autobiography, essays, poems, and short stories—in their original language.

AVATAR VS THE TALOKAN VS THE SMURFS: Representation of Marginalized people as Blue in Hollywood

By Phia Black

English Sponsor: Adrian Acu

In 2022, two hit movies, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water, featured blue indigenous people and told their stories, but the context of each film was very different. I hope to explore the difference between these two depictions of indigenous people, and branch out to other blue characters and their stories in Hollywood, like the famous Smurfs, the ants from A Bugs Life, some of the X-Men, Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, Genie from Aladdin, etc. How do these depictions serve as representations for the cultures from which they have been based on or taken inspiration from? What stories are these blue characters telling? Why have film creators chosen blue as their color? How do these characters reflect the representation of non-fictional people? n

NEXT LEVEL CAPITAL CAMPAIGN REPORT Message From The Co-Chairs

Dear Friends of San Francisco University High School,

Every school year comes with its own special excitement - it’s a marker as our children grow (and we as parents age!) as well as a reminder of the passage of time. While the days are long, the years are short. This school year has been especially significant for University High School; a year that in the context of the past three years stands in stark contrast to the pre-COVID era, with an eye and spirit towards an inspiring and visionary future for our school.

We were thrilled to extend a warm welcome to our new Head of School, Matt Levinson, along with his wife Pri, his college-aged children Maya and Sanjay, and their two dogs Avi and Hopper.

It has been incredibly exciting to work with Matt. He is a head of school who puts students first and leads from the heart. This, combined with his strong strategic orientation, will enable him to effectively lead our school to the next level, achieving our future goals and vision. We are grateful to the Search Committee for their time and incredible insights in finding such an inspiring and able leader for our school.

Matt’s arrival at UHS coincides with a pivotal moment in our Capital Campaign. Just as things will never be exactly as they were in our pre-pandemic world, UHS will not be exactly as we were as we move into the future. This future includes a brand new campus that will reinforce our shared commitment to student excellence and success.

As Co-Chairs of the Next Level Capital Campaign we are dedicated to raising funds for the critical priorities of program, people, and physical space that enrich our community and realize our collective vision of an equitable and transformational educational experience for all students. There will be a growing number of opportunities for every community member to learn more about the campaign and to participate in this landmark project.

Construction will begin on the new campus at 3150 California Street during the summer, with a goal of opening the doors of this science, athletic, and community building two years later, in the fall of 2025.

This reality would not have come to fruition without your gifts of

time, treasure, and support. It is only through our entire community’s commitment that we are able to bring our shared vision to life, amplifying our dedication to a transformative, purposeful, and dynamic educational experience that values collaboration and promotes wholeness.

Your support of this vision is what allows us to ensure that UHS remains a strategically nimble institution, engaged in learning, reflection, and growth at all levels.

With UHS Pride,

Laura Spivy, Chair

Matt Farron, Co-Chair

Rocky Fried, Co-Chair

Matt Hobart, Co-Chair

Paul Wythes, Co-Chair

HERBST AND IRWIN FOUNDATION GRANTS

We are humbled with the outpouring of support from our entire community at UHS - it has truly propelled our Capital Campaign to the “NextLevel.”

This success was made possible not just by the generosity of individual donors, but also foundations through grant disbursement.

University High School has recently been awarded two grants in the amount of $500,000 each from incredible foundations who are longtime pillars of our local community — the Irwin and Herbst foundations.

Founded in 1942, the William G. Irwin Foundation focuses on

grants that benefit organizations serving the Greater Bay Area. Their funding focus is on organizations that serve basic needs, including schools and educational institutions.

The Herbst Foundation's primary mission allocates capital funds for the construction or renovation of facilities of tax-exempt organizations within San Francisco. Organizations that primarily benefit the fields of education, health, social services, and cultural institutions benefit from these critical grants. The Foundation is rooted in over 100 years of San Francisco history, beginning with the arrival of Herman and Maurice Herbst in

San Francisco along with their parents and siblings at the beginning of the 20th century.

It’s an incredible honor to be recognized by these two

organizations as worthy of investment of resources. Their early support has been critical as we move closer to groundbreaking on the new UHS campus. n

Student Voices: 3150 California Street

On November 10, 2022, members of the UHS community attended a Planning Commission Hearing to express their thoughts about the value this new building will bring to future generations of UHS students.

Sophie Nutting ’23

This year I am taking both Advanced Chemistry and AP Environmental Science. Both of these classes are taken within our lower campus where there are no windows and a limited access to the outdoors. The new science classrooms would give students the opportunity to step directly outside to take part in scientific experiments that might not be able to be done strictly within a classroom. I am energized by the potential this building holds, and envious of the students who will benefit from the state of the art classrooms and phenomenal scientific materials.

Julia Dorival ’24

California Street would help expand our school and give more children opportunities to attend UHS. University has helped change my life and formed me into not only a student, but a human that I can be proud of. I can’t wait to see the way this school continues to help impact students, and I can’t wait even more, to see what the future holds with this new campus.

Alexandra Wythes ’23

UHS has taught me how to be a student, an upstanding citizen, and a friend. The relationships I’ve been able to build with my teachers and peers not only

academically, but also on a personal level has been vital in my growth as a person. I’ve been able to pursue topics that I am genuinely interested in, like a behavioral economics independent study, or a semester-long project on media censorship in China. The educational resources I have access to at UHS rival those of some of the best universities in the country.

The California campus will make this kind of education and these resources available and accessible to so many more students. Not only will the school let in more students, the new campus will also be more physically accessible to the entire city, not just the kids growing up in pacific heights. I get beyond excited when I think about the opportunities that the new campus will open up.

UHS is a place where I get to learn about myself and explore what I am interested in. I found an interest in the STEM field, which allowed me to start a robotics club. Our current U-lab is small and does not have enough room for collaboration, which is essential when trying to build a robot. The new building, which will house a new U-lab, would be so beneficial for current and future UHS students who will experience a space where they can collaborate, and build new friendships, and explore the important study of STEM and robotics.

Another reason I support the development of the new building is its location on California Street. Everyday in the morning, it is a hassle to get to school. I take public transportation and currently there is not a bus that leaves me near UHS. The new building will be so valuable for people like me who take public transportation because it will be near the #1 bus. I will be able to arrive at school on time and not get a tardy slip because the new building will be closer to my bus stop. I am not the only person who takes public transportation; other people have also been impacted by the

suspension of the #3 Jackson bus. This new building location would be good for current and future UHS students.

Jordan Chau ’24

UHS, to me, is a second home. Coming into UHS from a public middle school during the peak of COVID-19, I didn’t know what to expect. Am I going to make friends? Am I going to fit in? Will I do good academically? All of these questions popped into my head. I was really nervous at first, but the UHS community has been very welcoming and supportive, with all of us being one big family.

Our lower campus, where I have my math class, is where the old school garage was, now having classrooms down there with no windows. Don't get me wrong, it still works and functions, but for the future of UHS, a new building and home for modernized classrooms would be amazing in terms of a better work environment. Also, for our current gym, it is great, but it can only hold so many people, and with conflicting schedules for different teams, it's hard to accommodate everyone. I play basketball, and sometimes we have to share half of the court

3150 California Street: Bringing the UHS Vision to Life

with other teams, which is a challenge because it limits us to do certain drills that can only be done in the half court, which only lets us do so much in the tightly packed gym schedule.

Joey Kennedy ’23

The plans for the new building include a new gym that is much bigger with space for two practice courts and bleachers that would fit all of our fans instead of having kids sit on the ground as they currently do when our gym reaches its small capacity.

Speaking of small capacities, a wish I’ve had during my time at University is that the school size would increase slightly. Even 100 more kids would impact the social opportunity of this school immensely. With the new building, enrollment could increase,

fulfilling my wish and positively impacting the experiences of future UHS students.

I know that we’re located in the neighborhood of Pacific Heights but I feel that this building could have a huge impact on how this school can integrate with the city. We have a lot of diversity and a really friendly community of kids and I think having a new building on a busy street like California that passes through multiple neighborhoods will enhance the image of UHS by presenting an inclusive, integrated school that draws from many different areas. This is an image that we have worked to achieve and I think this building is going to be such an incredible resource for future UHS students academically, athletically, and socially. n

DONOR SPOTLIGHT: Anthony Yu ’99

Anthony Yu, CFA, ’99 works in business development at Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative hedge fund. He currently leads the team’s efforts in Europe, Asia, and the Midwest. The French and Japanese he learned at UHS have been essential skills in his career, facilitating relationship building during his frequent travels abroad.

Outside of work, Anthony is a member of the executive circle of the Institute for International Economic Policy at George Washington University, and he serves as Co–Vice Chair of the Board of the Point Foundation, which supports outstanding LGBTQ students at all levels of tertiary education. The importance of service and community,

Supporting UHS is important to me. I recognize that the person I was when graduating had arrived a very different one, transformed by the experience and the community.

In the Student Center, the Western Civ lecture hall, and the science rooms of the revamped Middle Campus, which were new when I arrived, I found a music history teacher who would impart valuable life lessons on the LGBTQ community, a chemist who would help me with both stoichiometry and the stress of being in a punk rock band, and friends and

instilled in him while he was a peer advisor at UHS, guides his work at Point.

Anthony credits his being active in sports with helping him find a home in New York City over the past 17 years. When he is not at work, he can be found playing volleyball or tennis on the city’s courts. n

peers whose discussions on societal questions of the day would continue to shape my worldview.

The Next Level campaign will not only bring stateof-the-art facilities and expanded enrollment, but will also create new spaces that will serve as the backdrop for connection, discoveries, and life lessons that will shape the next generation of UHS students. This was doubtlessly the promise of the campaign 30 years ago that changed the campus and grounded my place in it, and I feel fortunate to take part in helping to build the next chapter of the school.