New Faces and Fast Friends in Bishop’s Administration By Zach Jones ’01
New Faces and Fast Friends 10
What is The Bishop’s School? That’s a question with as many answers as the School has students and alumni, but common to almost all is a journey that began with an application, ended with the graduation to college and likely included some form of athletics in concert with academic rigor. Those are the tent poles of the Bishop’s experience over which three new administrators now preside.
VIVIEN VALENZUELA MALLICK Director of Admissions and Financial Aid
PAULA CONWAY Director of Athletics
WENDY CHANG Director of College Counseling
“Are you going to ask me about the dynamic trio??!!”
served as the de facto San Diego welcoming committee. “Paula started it before we even moved—we were still on the East Coast,” Wendy says. “At my previous schools, I never had that same dynamic of support.” But more than restaurant recommendations or tips for good running trails, these three share a mission to shape the Bishop’s experience from start to finish. That begins with making that experience accessible to families living far from the School’s La Jolla footprint. “For people who haven’t had friends and neighbors send their kids here, we need to get the message out that yes, Bishop’s is an accessible place to you,” Vivien says. “If you have a kid who loves to learn and wants to be part of an awesome community, then this place can be for you as well.”
A lifelong public school student herself, Vivien is focused on creating a sense of belonging for students who are new to the manicured independent school campuses where she’s worked. Knocking down barriers to potential applicants is a big part of that mission. From offering both in-person and Zoom interviews (to cut down on travel), to formulating student-friendly application questions and making standardized entrance exams such as the ISEE optional, she hopes to cast an everwider net across the San Diego area. “Having gone through the independent school application process multiple times with my own children, it’s a hard thing and an intimidating thing,” she says. “We want people to be interested in our school, and we don’t want the application—in and of itself— to trip them up.” Once that new student arrives, so do
That’s Vivien Valenzuela Mallick, the School’s new director of admissions and financial aid, and she’s referring to fellow newcomers Paula Conway (director of athletics) and Wendy Chang (director of college counseling). The three formed a quick bond last winter over Zoom—as well as a group text entitled “Bishop’s Newbies.” Since then, Paula has helped Vivien scout out her new condo (“I was literally FaceTiming her from the ground taking pictures of the shag carpet to make sure it looked OK”) and brought crutches from the School’s training room to Wendy after an ankle injury. The three share Boston-area roots in both their educational and working lives, but Paula—with her seven years as athletic director at La Jolla High—has
