NWS Fall 2015 Magazine by The Northwest School

A Publication for Alumni & Friends

The World is Our House Fall / Winter 2015

The Northwest School is an international college preparatory and boarding school for girls and boys, grades 6-12. Inquiries for academic year admission should be directed to Douglas Leek, Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management, douglas.leek@ northwestschool.org, 206 682 7309. Inquiries for international admission should be directed to John Lloyd, International Program Coordinator, john.lloyd@ northwestschool.org, 206 682 7309. Inquiries for global partnerships and programs should be directed to Dmitry Sherbakov, Director of Global Marketing and Programs, dmitry.sherbakov@ northwestschool.org, 206 816 6202. The Northwest School Magazine welcomes alumni notes and photographs by alumni, parents, and friends. Please email to alumni@northwestschool.org.

Mike McGill Head of School Margie Combs, Editor Director of Communications Walter Long Director of Development Rose Bellini Assistant Director of Development Sarah Graham Alumni Program Manager Jessie Schreiber Development and Volunteer Coordinator Contributing Writers Margie Combs Sarah Graham Peter Woodburn Rose Bellini

www. northwestschool.org

Contributing Photographers Diane Cassidy Stefanie Felix Jenn Ireland Peter Woodburn NWS Faculty, Students, Parents Graphic Design Turnstyle

Table of Contents 04

Head’s Message

News and Notes Announcing New Website & Illustration Dajing Student Visit Mark Terry AP Bio Frank Garland Award Cross Country Wins Physics Students Tour Lab at Fred Hutchinson Students Forge Community-wide Diversity Conversation

ArtsFest 2015

Learning to Act with Integrity

Graduation 2015

Evolution of the Artist

Alum Profiles Chris Trinh ’12 Vanessa Kritzer ’04 Joshua Osborne-Klein ’98 Jacob Slosberg ’06 Sarah Farr ’06

Class Notes

Ben Chickadel Art Installation

Alumni Happenings

Our Values in Action

The Head’s Message

We graduate students with historical, scientific, artistic, and global perspective, enabling them to think and act with integrity, believing they have a positive impact on the world. From the Northwest School Mission Statement

The World is Our House Mike McGill Head of School

arly in my tenure at Northwest, a teacher friend of mine from out of town spent a day in the House visiting classes, eating lunch (of course!), and talking with faculty and students. Before he left that afternoon, he made an observation that has stuck with me ever since. He remarked, “You know what’s really striking about this place? It’s a school with a thesis.” When I asked him what he meant, he explained that, as they taught and interacted with students, faculty remained focused on a larger educational context, on goals or objectives that seemed to transcend mastery of the quadratic equation, the past subjunctive, or Conrad’s use of metaphor in Heart of Darkness. Specifically, they were quietly, persistently, connecting our quotidian concerns to those of social justice, to the needs of an increasingly challenging world beyond our walls. Of course, we recognize that there’s tremendous value in certain core intellectual and academic experiences—and in our promise to prepare students for the next important stage of their education. At Northwest, however, these aims, while essential, are insufficient, especially in a world that, more than ever, needs the kind of idealistic young people we aspire to produce, students who have developed the capacity to think critically and recognize injustice— and then seek to redress it. The commitments we make in our mission statement, and the optimism embedded there, are precisely what draw kids and faculty to Northwest to teach and learn.

And it’s why I love the idea of a house—our House—as a metaphor for what we’re all about. In particular, the expression, “the world is our house,” which emerged from our messaging work over the past couple of years, captures the idealism inherent in our vow to inspire students to take responsibility for their global home, to lead positive change that will help to make it more like the House they inhabit here on Summit Avenue: that is to say, more peaceful, equitable, and sustainable. This edition of the Magazine profiles alums who have embraced—in really compelling, diverse ways—the social-justice-oriented idealism that Northwest aspires to instill in all of its graduates. But we know they represent just a tiny fraction of the alumni who have taken our mission to heart and who, daily, have “a positive impact on the world.” We’re eager, then, to hear from the rest of you. Please connect with us at alumni@northwestschool.org, and let us know how you’re effecting change.

News & Notes

Welcome to Our New Look!

ith this issue of The Northwest School Magazine we are proud to present a new design. This fresh look is part of an exciting three-year project to redesign our website, view book, and magazine. All of our materials are now singing together: bold new fonts, a dramatic color palette, and clean graphic design. One of the most creative elements to come out of the design process is our master illustration. It captures the interconnected nature of our program and the warmth and playfulness of our community. And, at the same time, it echoes the shape of our beloved House. To see more of this new look, please visit our website: www.northwestschool.org.

News & Notes

0 1 Students from Dajing 0 2 High School, Northwest’s

partner school in Shanghai, China, spent a week taking classes and interacting with Northwest students in September 2015. 0 3 NWS cofounder and science

teacher Mark Terry

Northwest Hosts Visiting Students from China

s part of our Global Learning Program, The Northwest School welcomed 23 students from our partner school in China for a week of classes and activities from Sept. 28, 2015 through Oct. 2, 2015. The students, who are from Dajing High School in Shanghai, China, spent time immersed in the school day and studied and interacted with Northwest’s domestic and international students.

“We had such a blast,” says Humanities teacher Adina Meyer, who supervised and supported the students throughout their visit. “I am excited for the opportunities the kids had to learn about each other and to make lasting friendships that span the globe.”

The visiting students spent much of their time engaged in curriculum activities designed to give them chances to scholastically interact with both our domestic and international students. In 9th grade Humanities, our domestic and international students joined the visiting Dajing High School students on a week-long project. The students split into groups and read a simplified English version of Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus Rex. The project culminated with the groups filming and performing a brief scene from the play, which was then posted online for the Dajing High School students to share with fellow students back home in China.

News & Notes

S Mark Terry Helps Develop New AP Biology Teaching Materials

To view the materials, go to: http://humanorigins.si.edu/ education/teaching-evolutionthrough-human-examples

tudents across the nation are learning from new AP biology materials released this year and developed in part by Northwest School cofounder Mark Terry.

“The science in these units is absolutely up-to-date, and the presentation is intriguing and inquiry based,” says Mark, who was part of a national team of educators working on the materials. “This is some of the best of what the AP Biology program can do for science teachers across the country. All the material is downloadable for free, and any teacher can use it whether in an AP class or not.” “Teaching Evolution through Human Examples” was a three-year National Science Foundation-funded project of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins unit. The idea was to enhance the teaching of evolution in AP Biology courses by providing supplements on human evolution tied to the expansive online resources of the Smithsonian.

Mark consulted on all aspects of the program, but was most deeply involved in the “What Does It Mean to Be Human?” segment, which makes extensive use of primate comparative anatomy and fossil specimens. Mark selected and vetted many of the links to the Smithsonian’s images, and co-authored the final unit with lead author Paul Beardsley, PhD, science education specialist at Cal Poly Pomona. Other units focus on human adaptations to extreme altitude, malaria, and sunlight (skin color). And still another unit is designed to help educators deal with conflicting assumptions and attitudes in their classrooms about evolution.

News & Notes

Senior Wins National Playwriting Competition

F 01

rank G. (’16) was one of nine winning playwrights in the 2015 National Playwriting Competition sponsored by Young Playwrights Inc. His original play, Maggie’s Diner, was one of over 1,500 entries in the competition. As part of winning, Frank will fly to New York City in January 2016 and take advanced classes on playwriting, courtesy of Young Playwrights Inc. Maggie’s Diner will also be part of a stage reading with professional actors.

0 1 Frank G.’16 performs in 0 2 the Upper School Play

Production, la casa de los espíritus/The House of the Spirits, February 2014. 0 3 Tibs P. ’17, captain of the

2015-16 NWS Boys’ Cross Country Team.

For Frank, the big appeal of the Young Playwright’s competition is the opportunity to learn from professionals. “Anything you submit to them, even if you don’t win, they return it to you with feedback,” says Frank. “It is like having a free, professional editor.”

Maggie’s Diner was originally written two years ago for the Seattle Public Theater. The play reveals the plight of a small failing diner that is about to close when it gains the patronage of a new social movement called “The Truthseekers,” which is dedicated to absolute honesty. Tensions rise as The Truthseekers gain power and clash with the diner’s regulars. Young Playwrights Inc. was founded in 1977 by Stephen Sondheim. The competition was limited to individuals under the age of 18, and previous winners include Jonathan Marc Sherman, whose entry in the 1988 competition was produced for television by PBS.

News & Notes

NWS Cross Country Excels at Nike Portland Invite

ibs P. (’17) led the charge for The Northwest School cross country team and finished 2nd in the Jim Danner Boys Championship race at the Nike Portland Invite, on Sept. 26, 2015. The Nike Portland Invite is an annual meet attended by over 4,500 athletes from approximately 150 middle and high schools from eight states.

“I have to try and keep moving up,” says Tibs, who just started running cross country last year. “My goal is to cross that finish with a smile and move on from there.” It was a huge accomplishment for Tibs. Both the boys’ and the girls’ squads had a strong showing in Oregon. The girls’ team finished 3rd overall in Division 2 and the boys’ team finished 7th overall in Division 3. Tibs was joined by his brother Tam P. (’18), who finished 1st in the Division 3 boys race. He was joined by Dylan C. (’19), who finished 10th. The girls’ cross country team was led by Isa M. (’18), who finished 5th in the Division 2 race.

Students Tour Lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

News & Notes

hysics students recently explored the connection between physics and biology at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Touring the lab, they heard from members of the team working on Project Violet, a research project devoted to using optides to fight cancer.

“It’s important for students to see and hear how physics applies to other scientific disciplines,” says NWS Physics teacher Cecilia Tung. “Most of the underlying science behind how proteins fold, how proteins interact in the body, and how the equipment in the biology lab works, is based on physics principles. If you really want to understand the biology of the human body, you need to learn physics.”

Project Violet is responsible for discovering what is being called “tumor paint”. Tumor paint is a drug that attaches to and illuminates cancer cells, helping surgeons identify where cancers begin and end. As part of the tour, students were able to see aspects of the research in action. “It is enlightening for students to see a real lab space and realize that it is open and encourages collaboration and sharing among the scientists,” says Cecilia.

News & Notes

Students Forge Communitywide Diversity Conversation

0 1 NWS Physics students learn

about new cancer research at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. 0 2 From left: Carina Bolanos

Lewen ’15, Anna Boyar ’15, Augie Ballew ’15 0 3 From left: Sophie Lipitz ’15,

Sarah Rothschild ’15, Riley Hert ’15

n May 7, 2015, Northwest students and faculty participated in a community-wide conversation about issues of diversity. The event was organized by students who attended the 2015 Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in Indianapolis, Indiana.

SDLC is a multiracial and multicultural gathering of upper school students from across the country with a focus on developing cross-cultural communication skills and effective strategies for social justice. At NWS, students and faculty split up into grade levels and discussed identifiers such as race, gender, sexual orientation, and family structure. Microaggressions were a focus at the SDLC conference and one of the more common themes that came from many of the various groups in the community conversation. Says Humanities teacher Harumi LaDuke, who worked with students to organize the conversation: “In general, members of this community try to be respectful of one another but we all have blind spots with respect to other identities. Education and continued conversations like this can help create awareness and contribute to dismantling racism, sexism, heterosexism, etc. and help to create a community where we can bring our full selves—our most authentic selves.”

Students broke into small groups amongst their grade levels, with each group led by a faculty facilitator. Students were arranged into peacemaking circles and passed around a “talking piece” to allow each student the opportunity to speak without getting interrupted. Junior Iman M. (‘16), who attended the SDLC Conference, felt the discussion groups were productive and positive. “I expected there to be a bit of discomfort,” says Iman. “People tried their best to be engaged, and as time passed more people leaned into their discomfort. There were definitely some good moments.” The conversations were guided by community norms that all students agreed to abide by. Norms included speaking from the “I” perspective, having the option to pass, and maintaining an openness and respect in the conversation. Both Iman and Harumi felt that a successful foundation was laid for future conversations at Northwest.

ArtsFest Gala

he 35th annual Northwest School ArtsFest Gala delighted audiences on April 1, 2015, at Town Hall. The annual showcase of the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; artistic talents displayed stellar performances in music, dance, and mime. Making the event particularly special was retiring NWS cofounder Mark Terry, who emceed his final ArtsFest Gala, along with Humanities Teacher Scott Davis, with characteristic humor and aplomb.

ArtsFest Gala 2015 02

13 04

0 1 Noah S. ‘l9 (left) and Ibrahim B. ’20 0 2 Tanya T. ’16 0 3 Rebecca C. ’18 0 4 From left: Matteo A. ’16 and Max S. ’16,

and far right, Truman S. ’16 0 5 From left: Avital B. ’16 and A.J. S. ’16 0 6 Olivia K. ’19

Nikki L. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;16 (left) and Sophia R. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;16 improve housing for migrant farmworkers in Skagit Valley.

Learning to Act with Integrity Caring about the world and putting that care into action are crucial pieces of a Northwest School education.

ocial justice is a concept embedded in the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture and curriculum, beginning with the 6th grade Global Issues Action Project, moving to 7th grade study of the Chinese Exclusion Act and citizenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights, and on to 8th grade participation in Water1st. In Upper School, 9th and 10th graders study social reform movements and ponder big questions such as who should rule? Eleventh graders dive deeply into the Jim Crow Era and the Civil Rights Movement and learn about institutional racism and legalized discrimination. Twelfth graders participate in election campaigns and participate in vigorous study of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. According to several faculty, social justice is a lens through which our students come to see the world. Here are some of their insights into how that happens.

Learning to Act with Integrity

Tuney Kannapell Middle School Director

Social justice begins with a student’s personal experience. We build practices into our community to best amplify equity and justice among ourselves. Whether it’s with one student or twenty, we spend a lot of time talking about how you manage your needs in tandem with the fact that someone here may have a set of needs in conflict with yours. How do you manage that with respect? Another example is how we support the concept of social justice with our approach to discipline. It’s not about punishment for doing something bad. Our approach is more in line with restorative justice principles. Instead of saying, ‘This is what you did, go away and suffer detention,’ we help the aggressor understand the pain they have caused and help all those involved move forward together. We talk to the ‘victim’ and find out how much they have been offended. Lastly,

we moderate the conversation and lead the aggressor to say ‘I’m sorry’ from a place of authenticity. Our goal is to give students the tools to treat people justly and help them to understand their actions have an impact. We treat them in a way that helps them know how to treat other people. And we give students an academic understanding of social justice. A good example is the 6th grade Global Issues Action Project. In that project, 6th graders own an environmental or social issue and understand what it means to be active champions for that issue. Our Service Program expands on this. Service is not mandated. We want students to be self-motivated in their choice of service and we want it to be an internal motivation. We don’t require service hours for this exact reason; we don’t want them to do it because they have to. We want them to live their values.

01 Mathea P. ’16, at the

Sawant Campaign Election Night Party 02 Annika S. (‘18) and Mira

C. (‘18) volunteer to hand out food at the Pike Market Food Bank.

Students Raise over $20,000 for Drinking Wells

Four new drinking wells will be built all around the world thanks to the fundraising efforts of 30 students from The Northwest School during the annual Carry5 event by Water1st on May 31, 2015. The Northwest School raised over $20,000, the highest of any team in the event.

0 3 Kirk Anderson from Water1st

Carry5 teams carried five gallons of water for five kilometers to raise awareness for the one billion people around the world who do not have easy access to clean water. To date, The Northwest School has participated for six years in the Water1st event and funded a total of seven wells.

speaks to NWS students. 0 4 Drinking wells in Ethiopia, 0 5 built with funds raised by

NWS 8th graders

Kirk Anderson, Director of International Programs at Water1st, stopped by The Northwest School to congratulate the 8th graders on their fundraising and to present the options for where the four wells will be built. Students voted to distribute the wells around the globe, funding one well each in Bangladesh and Honduras, and two wells in Ethiopia.

Max. S. (â&#x20AC;&#x2122;16) was the fourth-highest individual fundraiser at the event, and Mosey B. (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;19) and Macenna H. (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;19) also raised over $1,000. The Northwest School officially raised $10,399, which was then matched by an anonymous donor.

Learning to Act with Integrity

Tamara Bunnell Middle School Humanities teacher

In 7th and 8th grade Humanities, we try to highlight eras and events in history that involved a youth movement. This is so our students can see how people their age actively worked to correct wrongs or participate in influential Supreme Court cases. In the 7th grade study of the First Amendment, for instance, we look at Tinker v. Des Moines, and show students that the right of free speech in the United States isn’t just an adult one, that many key cases and social justice movements involved young people. Mary Beth Tinker was a 13-year-old junior high school student in 1965 when she and a group of students decided to wear black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam. When Mary Beth arrived at school on December 16, she was asked to remove the armband. When she refused, she was sent home. Represented by the ACLU, the students and their families embarked on a four-year court battle that culminated in the landmark Supreme Court

decision that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” It’s a powerful story for our Middle School students. We emphasize the individual’s role, that we are not passive and there are ways to take effective action for something we believe in. We also formally study vocabulary in the 7th grade. Students get new words each week, and often they connect to the larger social justice ideas we are studying. They learn words and phrases like xenophobia, institutional racism, and assimilation. Having these concepts as a shared base of knowledge allows us to go deeper into the historical components of our studies and also provides a bridge to understanding the present.

Suzanne Bottelli Upper School Humanities teacher

0 1 Mackenzie W. ’19 and

Noah S. ’19, donating time to community service 0 2 Humanities teacher Tamara

Bunnell confers with Sam M. ‘21 (left) and Aaron T. ‘21 during the 7th grade World Court Debates. 0 3 Alexandra T. ’16 (center), Evelyn

D. ’16, and John Y. ’16, on the Migrant Farmworker trip

Our cofounder Paul Raymond is such an important emblem. He was a brilliant person who could have done any number of things, but he chose to fight for social justice, tirelessly writing protest letters, participating in marches, speaking up. He brought that passion into his teaching—he showed students the power of analysis, of challenging assumptions. He never let anybody get away with hierarchical baloney and he was also humble, no airs. His attitude was ‘the work just has to get done.’

relationship we have with El Salvadoran people who lived through the war and came back from refugee camps to rebuild. Our students meet kids their own ages and they can’t help but be moved by that, as well as the conditions they witness: scarce utilities and the fact that government is not really meeting people’s needs. There is a huge shift in awareness. Students are inspired by the hope they see in El Salvadoran people as they work towards a better future.

We come at social justice from so many different angles here at the school. Increasingly, in Humanities we’re bringing in a lot more current connections and intersectionality. These make students see how complicated it is today with systems of domination and power. Our students appreciate that we’re not just telling a rosy story and this is when they become most engaged: when they see it’s not all onesided, but in fact, it’s very complex.

When they go to college, our students plug into a point of entry so far ahead of other students. For example, one of our students went to Stanford and, in a seminar on Latin American studies, she knew so much that she was asked by the professor to teach her own classmates about El Salvador for a few days—as a freshman!

For our 11th and 12th graders, the trip to El Salvador is a huge eye opener. The physical experience is so different from any classroom experience. They witness the long-standing

Learning to Act with Integrity

Daniel Sparler Upper School Humanities teacher

01 Daniel shows students a

document from the Civil Rights Movement. 02 Malia M. ’19 (right) chats with

a Dajing High School student visiting Northwest.

We focus on two things in our curriculum: the dignity of the individual, and the primary purpose of the state to protect the individual. We begin with the Civil Rights Movement, which threads all the way up to today. We start by reading works from the Harlem Renaissance: Richard Wright’s Black Boy and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. This year, we decided to take pivotal things that have happened recently, like Black Lives Matter, and wrap them in. Students are able to see racism isn’t all in the past, and that we still have a problem. We talk about power, and how the desire for more power is a human condition, and we stress that we always have to be on guard, checking ourselves and putting pressure on officials. We show students that their engagement can do a lot to improve the situation. In lecture, we try to show students how the powerful figures of history had choices— some were courageous advocates, some confirmed bigots—most individuals were in between. Sitting governors such as George Wallace and Orval Faubus on the one hand, who took advantage of their positions of power, and Dale Bumpers on the other hand, who, as a young lawyer in 1954, convinced his school board to become the first in the South to integrate. The Little Rock case in

1957 is a big one for our students. The black journalist Alex Wilson, who was one of the top journalists in the South, was kicked, choked, and hit in the head with a brick as he walked through the white mob. He kept standing up, straightening his suit and hat, and walking on. Everything about his actions said, ‘I fought for my country and I’m not running from you.’ We look at President Herbert Hoover’s and Franklin Roosevelt’s responses to the Great Depression: Hoover was against government programs to help the poor; he believed it would destroy the dignity of the individual. We show those complexities and we say, ‘don’t be trapped by ideology – keep an open mind.’ As faculty, we don’t steer thinking one way or the other, we let these figures expose themselves. We talk about the fact that we are racists in recovery—it’s a long, continual process.

Humanities 11: Sampling of the Reading List Race – The Power of an Illusion, Audrey Smedley (2003) Frederick Douglass: The Composite Nation & the Myth of “Yellow Peril” (1869) Passage of the Chinese Bill (1882 newspaper editorial) Ida B. Wells: Southern Horrors– Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892) When Americans Lynched Mexicans, William Carrigan & Clive Webb (2015) Alex Wilson: A Reporter Who Refused to Run, Hank Klibanoff (2001) Oratory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963) Malcom X: The Ballot or the Bullet (1964) James Baldwin: A Letter to My Nephew (1962) Ta-Nehisi Coates: Letter to My Son (2015) Listening While White, David Brooks (2015) Angela Davis: Recognizing Racism in the Era of Neoliberalism (2008) Michelle Alexander: Against Colorblindness Excerpts from The New Jim Crow (2010) When Whites Get a Free Pass–Research Shows White Privilege is Real, Ian Ayres (2015) Apologize for Slavery, Timothy Egan (2015) ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the G.O.P., Charles Blow (2015) A Dream Undone – Inside the 50-year Campaign to Roll Back the Voting Rights Act, Jim Rutenberg (2015) President Obama’s Letter to the Editor in response to Rutenberg’s article (2015)

Graduation

n June, the Northwest School Class of 2015 gathered at Town Hall and 92 students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas. One hundred percent of Northwest School graduates were accepted into four year colleges and universities and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be pursuing studies in several states and countries, including Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The night was filled with moving performances from the Class of 2015, and featured wise words for the future from many faculty and students, including Mark Terry, who gave his final address to The Northwest School student body.

Congratulations Class of 2015! 03

Graduation

0 1 From left: Sam Packard

’15, Sam Waller ’15, Xander Cuizon Tice ’15 0 2 Maddie McCann ’15 (left),

and Arielle N. ’16

04 Back row, from left: Abby

Tang ’15, Abbey Starling ’15, Sophie Katz ’15, Olivia Bloom ’15, Lena Panescu-Reich ’15, Angela Riggins ’15 Front row: Sophie Lipitz ’15 (left) and Hawi Mohamed ’15

0 3 Sarah Murphy ’15,

with Mark Terry 05 Tai Nguyen ’15 06 Allegra Kahn ’15

Evolution of the Artist

25 Created by Andy Estey ’15

Alum Profile

Chris Trinh ’12 Creating Opportunity

n his senior year at University of California, Berkeley, Chris Trinh is majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on social enterprise and impact evaluation – in other words, how to attack social problems using business models. In the summer of 2011, when he was but a junior at The Northwest School, Chris cofounded and helped launch the Youth Ultimate Project (YUP) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The project’s mission is to offer children from city slums a positive outlet through the sport of Ultimate Frisbee. Now, five years later, 400 children have gone through the camp and several of its first campers have advanced to become coaches and counselors.

“What’s unique and gratifying is to see YUP has come full circle. The campers who first started in the program are now coaches— they’re taking full leadership of the program,” says Chris, who co-founded YUP with four other NWS students and a former math teacher, Rodwell Kov. “This was the first year the camp was run completely by Cambodians. They planned all the trials, selected the teams, and coached the kids.”

Fostering leadership

A lasting impact

Giving back

In addition to promoting health and fitness, one of YUP’s core aims is to facilitate and foster leadership in high school students. YUP’s Camp Counselor Program allows young Cambodians to gain not only leadership skills but also income.

YUP is changing lives in yet another profound way. In 2013, YUP established a Scholarship Program that pays for full tuition for the top campers to go to a private school. Right now, three boys and three girls are attending schools, courtesy of YUP. Modeled after the Gates Millennium Scholarship that Chris was awarded in 2012, the YUP Scholarship Program’s goal is to make sure kids are supported over the long term.

Chris’s drive to keep YUP supported and growing into a sustainable organization in the Cambodian community comes from his high school experience. At The Northwest School he learned the value of leadership and giving back.

In summer 2015, YUP sponsored a camp counselor named Sovannareach (Reach) Yoeun to come to Seattle and practice with club teams through the Seattle Youth Ultimate Camps (run by NWS coach Mike Mullen). Reach then returned to Cambodia, trained the coaches, and led the camp. “Reach has been a great role model for many of our campers, both on and off the field,” testifies Chris. YUP works with Northwest School seniors and juniors as well. Since 2011, 17 students and alumni have participated as volunteers, raising funds to support the YUP programs and travelling to Cambodia in the summer to coach the campers. As part of their participation in YUP, all volunteers must learn how to pitch to donors.

“I was fortunate enough to have a full scholarship to Northwest, and now I have the Gates Millennium to support me all the way through Berkeley,” says Chris. “In the same way, we want to have the YUP scholarship winners’ backs all the way through both high school and college. With that kind of support they can grow into future leaders in their community.”

“Northwest does a great job of facilitating leadership and engaging its students in community service, whether it’s through an Interest Group or leading critical conversations,” recalls Chris. “We all wanted to give back. We had grown up playing Ultimate and we wanted to give that to these youth – to give them a sense of community.”

Empowering girls 01 From left: 2013 YUP coaches

Perhaps the most powerful way YUP is making an impact is in the lives of girls. For the most part, girls don’t play any sports in Cambodia. It’s even more unusual for them to have opportunities to work with boys on teams.

Maya Gillett ’13, Jack Baba ’13, Sam Lehman ’14, Chris Trinh ’12, Julia Bladin ’11, Mia Bladin ’14 02 Chris (tallest in group),

“You have to be confident, stand up straight, “We not only offer a sport for girls but we teach project your voice, and connect with an it as a co-ed sport,” says Chris. The first year, audience of over 100 strangers,” points out only three girls signed up for the camp. “This Chris. “A senior who can do that goes to year, in the second week of camp we had 32 college knowing they have the capacity to lead.” girls and 68 boys. Going forward, we want to improve our recruitment of girls. We’re working on building a team of women coaches to go over and run a camp just for girls.”

coaching YUP campers in 2012

Alum Profile

n June 2015, Washington Governor Jay Inslee named Vanessa Kritzer ’04, a graduate student at the University of Washington, as the next student member of the UW Board of Regents. The position gives her a seat on the highest governing board of the University and she will be acting and voting on policies that affect thousands of students and their families.

“At our first meeting we approved a historic cut in tuition,” says Vanessa, who is pursuing a dual MBA/MPA degree at UW’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance and Foster School of Business. “I believe our public higher education institutions can be a powerful force to counter inequalities in our society today. By giving more people access to an affordable education, it gives them the opportunity for social mobility and helps us cultivate a more diverse set of future leaders.” Vanessa earned her BA from Vassar College in Latin American and Latino/a Studies and Political Science. After college, she spent six years in Washington D.C., working on international and environmental policy. One of her positions was as communications director and board member at the Latin America Working Group, a human rights organization that led a coalition of 60 different organizations brought together to make a stronger voice for advocacy. Vanessa specialized in advocacy to promote human rights in U.S. policies toward Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, and Guatemala. 01

Vanessa Kritzer ’04 Countering Inequalities

During her tenure she experienced the power of digital tools to mobilize change. “I visited one Afro-Colombian community where a mining company had bought rights to their land and thousands of families who had lived there for more than 400 years were going to be evicted,” recounts Vanessa. Two days before the eviction, Vanessa sent out an action alert to the Latin America Working Group email list. Within 24 hours, thousands of messages poured into to the U.S. State Department. “That caught their attention. The State Department ended up sending embassy officials to work with the Colombian government to intervene in the situation, and we ended up stopping the eviction,” testifies Vanessa. “I saw the power of storytelling and using these simple digital tools to bring people together for collective action. It reinforced my belief that together we can make an impact. I got that value at Northwest, where I learned how building community and advancing social justice are intertwined.”

0 1 Vanessa, with Washington

Governor Jay Inslee as he signs historic education bills into law 0 2 Vanessa (center) in Colombia,

with Afro-Colombian and indigenous community members

A political awakening

A seat at the table

Vanessa traces her passion for social justice back to 7th grade at The Northwest School. She credits her discussions with Humanities teacher Tamara Bunnell and former Humanities teacher Kevin Alexander (now Dean of Students).

One of Vanessa’s big dreams is to run for public office and be a legislator. Rather than shy away from the glare of politics she believes it is one of the most effective ways to bring about change. This, too, she credits to one particular day in her junior year in high school when she was sitting in Humanities teacher Paul Raymond’s class.

“In Middle School we read In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, and Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, and spent time pondering society and where you fit in it,” recalls Vanessa. “Kevin and I sat down and discussed why it was important to know all of the countries in the world. We started those discussions in 7th and 8th grade and by the time we graduated, we were way ahead in cultivating a global perspective.” Vanessa’s true political awakening came in Upper School, primarily through Northwest’s integrated Humanities curriculum. “I developed a deep understanding of social movements,” testifies Vanessa. “I got a great historical basis in the classroom and also went on the El Salvador trip my senior year and served as an election observer. We talked with people who had seen the violence from people trained at the School of the Americas in the United States.”

“I remember it was not long after we learned about Vietnam, and Paul said, ‘Raise your hand if you want to be a politician,” recalls Vanessa. “No one raised their hand, and he said, ‘That’s sad, then nothing is going to change.’ His words are why I’ve worked to get a seat at the table, even though it’s messy. My passion is driven by that initial seed at Northwest.”

Alum Profile

Josh Osborne – Klein ’98 Fighting for Human Rights & the Environment

s an attorney and partner at the Ziontz Chestnut law firm in Seattle, Josh Osborne-Klein ’98 defends Native American tribal rights throughout the West. The nature of his work is focused on protection of the environment on Indian reservations, management of tribal resources, and protection of tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. “Tribes have suffered for many years with huge economic and socio-economic disadvantages,” says Josh, who represents tribes in Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming, as well as the Puget Sound area and the Olympic Peninsula. “They often don’t have the functional infrastructure to deal with huge issues. We provide services to those tribes that are smaller and don’t have casinos. They don’t have the capacity to make sure their rights are vindicated.”

An environmental mission The Ziontz Chestnut law firm was founded by Al Ziontz, a lead trial lawyer in the seminal United States v. Washington treaty rights litigation, and author of the recent book A Lawyer in Indian Country. When Josh first joined the firm in 2010, his expertise was mainly in environmental litigation. He had majored in environmental studies in college at the University of California Santa Cruz, and after obtaining his law degree from Seattle University, he worked for three years at Earthjustice, a national environmental non-profit law firm. While there, he represented farmworkers on issues of pesticide contamination. The bridge from environmental issues to Native American rights was natural, according to Josh. He illustrates by pointing to one of his current cases: a garbage dump on the Makah Indian Reservation, located on

0 1 Josh, at the Colville Indian

Reservation in Washington 0 2 Josh (third from right),

poses with his co-counsel and members of the Makah tribe in front of the Federal District Court in Seattle.

the most northwesterly tip of the Olympic Peninsula, in Clallam County, Washington. The dump, which has existed since the 1970s, contains military waste due to a nearby Air Force base in Cape Flattery. “It’s a nasty situation—full of pesticides, fuel, underground tanks, asbestos, and PCB contamination—and it’s filtering into the Strait of Juan de Fuca,” says Josh. “We worked to get it listed under CERCLA, the Superfund statute, and now we’re working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to get it cleaned up.”

Protecting tribal life Josh is also representing the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in a case involving a proposal to build an enormous coal mine near the Reservation boundary in southeastern Montana. Currently at issue is the existing environmental impact statement for the railroad that would carry coal from the mine to export terminals on the West Coast. The Tribe believes the impact statement is not sufficient. “The mine would be just feet off the Reservation,” explains Josh, “bringing coal dust from the railroads and contributing to fish contamination and water pollution in Montana’s Tongue River. Not to mention the socio-economic impacts of bringing thousands of coal workers into a tribal area where many inhabitants follow a traditional way of life.”

A passionate career Josh’s aspiration to become an attorney germinated in his junior year at The Northwest School. After participating in the school’s 11th grade debates, he recalls being pulled aside by Northwest School cofounder and Humanities teacher Paul Raymond. “Paul asked me, have you ever thought about being a lawyer?” recalls Josh. “That put the idea in my brain. I knew I was good at arguing and I cared about the environment. I could envision putting the two together.” Josh also cared passionately about social justice, owing in part to Northwest’s Migrant Farmworker trip to the Skagit basin. In college, Josh traveled to Costa Rica as part of a human rights course, and there he learned about farmworkers and pesticides. “Linking human rights together with environment has been a driving force for me,” says Josh. “Northwest gave me the idea that my professional career and my political and social views did not have to be separate. I learned I could have a career that expressed my passions.”

Alum Profile

Jacob Slosberg ’06 Sustaining Food Systems

new generation of farmer is redefining how to feed and replenish the planet. Jacob Slosberg ’06 is a prime example. A certified organic farmer, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Global Resource Systems from the University of British Columbia. While studying and training at UBC’s sixty-acre urban farm, Jacob came to see farming as the interface of agriculture, food, health, and culture. “At UBC, we had everyone from bankers to First Nation elders come speak to us, nutritionists tell us how we can eat better, wildlife specialists lecture about how to maintain healthy habitats,” says Jacob. “All those things are important. It’s a concept I actually learned at The Northwest School.” As a contemporary farmer, Jacob not only resolves how to cultivate beets as efficiently and sustainably as possible, he knows where they are going, who they are feeding, and also, who his co-farmers are. “Farming is an integration of all those things,” says Jacob.

A community of farmers Jacob and his wife, Amy Frye, whom he met at UBC’s Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, are working toward their dream. In three to four years they want to own their own land so they can farm sustainably fulltime, managing both vegetables and animals. “If you are going to have a sustainable farm, especially in terms of fertilizer, you have to have animals,” says Jacob. “Cows take a lot of space but we will definitely have pigs and chickens. “ To get started, Jacob and Amy have joined several other small farmers in renting land from Viva Farms in Skagit Valley. Specifically, they’re managing 1.5 acres, which they’ve named Boldly Grown Farm, and growing only vegetables. Viva is a nonprofit incubator program that provides lands and equipment for people to get started on their own farms. About a dozen farms are now leasing land from Viva; all are organic. Along with land and tractors, Viva farmers have access to

water from a well and places to wash and pack produce for market. Viva also provides channels to restaurants and markets in Seattle. “We’re producing 20,000 pounds of produce this year, and without Viva, that produce wouldn’t be here,” says Jacob, whose produce is currently feeding Seattleites through several restaurants and markets, including the Puget Sound Food Hub, Canlis, Capitol Cider, Eve Fremont, Independent Pizza, DERU Market, and many community centers and day schools. Jacob decided to work with Viva not just because they provide land and tractors, but because they serve small farmers. “Half of them are Latino farmers, former migrant workers who are able to turn it into a business and a living,” says Jacob. “I get to work beside them as peers. Viva is a bilingual organization: all meetings and emails are in both Spanish and English.”

The making of a millennial farmer Some of Jacob’s early inspiration for sustainable farming came from Latino farmers. In what he describes as a turning point in the summer of his 10th grade year, Jacob spent a month in Costa Rica, staying at farms and talking with workers. He learned about the interface between agriculture and wilderness. “For example, trees can provide benefits to the farmer as natural wind breaks and natural animal habitats,” he says. Before Costa Rica, Jacob’s interest in agriculture came from what he calls “the environment side: backpacking and spending time in nature.” But what he learned inside the classroom at Northwest was as much of an influence as his experiences outside.

At the moment, Jacob is spending three “In Herb Bergamini’s class, we talked about soil quarters of his time on the road, working (and not dirt) as a living thing. It’s a renewable with Osborne customers and sharing resource if you care for it and invest in it. It’s the key to all agricultural health, whether dairy, information, and the remaining onequarter of his time with Amy in the fields. vegetable, animal, it all comes back to you,” recalls Jacob. “You can very quickly deplete soil, but it takes a long time to build it back “I’m working 60 to 70 hours a week,” says up. I learned a lot of that through Herb.” Jacob, cheerfully. “It’s all worth it if you’re passionate about what you’re doing.” Jacob also credits Northwest’s Environment Program as the fundamental tenet behind For photos and more information about sustainable farming: Taking care of the Boldly Grown Farm, go to Instagram space you are living and relying on. (@boldlygrownfarm), Facebook, and www.boldlygrownfarm.com.

Sowing more than seeds

Any-sized farm takes capital and, to earn enough, Jacob is working fulltime for Osborne Seed Company based in Skagit Valley. Even though he is in a sales and product development position, he spends much of his time on outreach and teaching. In his role with the company, he works with growers of all scales, from gardeners up to owners of the largest farms in Pacific Northwest (1000 acres +), advising them about best practices: what varieties perform the best in the Pacific Northwest climate; which are disease resistant, pest resistant, have good color, and hold well in shipping. “In college, I focused on education as well as agriculture,” says Jacob, who was involved in teaching and grant-funded research projects at UBC. He worked with schools to bring kids into a farm setting and also participated in programs focused on First Nation farms and rights.

01 Jacob, cultivating at Boldly

Grown Farm at Viva Farms in Skagit Valley Photo: Calvin K. Carter 02 Vegetables from Boldly 03 Grown Farms supply several

restaurants in Seattle. Photo: Calvin K. Carter

Alum Profile

very year, hundreds of thousands of workers are recruited by U.S. companies for temporary employment. The H-2 visa program allows migrant workers to perform short-term jobs in the agricultural, production and service industries, and eighty-five percent of those workers come from Mexico.

Sarah Farr ’06

The experiences of these workers are the driving force behind Sarah Farr ’06’s work and study. Currently pursuing a PhD in Sociology at the University of WisconsinMadison with a focus on recruitment and labor migration, Sarah’s goal is to better understand the forces driving workers into these programs and to advance policy that protects migrant workers’ rights.

Empowering Migrant Workers

“I want my research to help migrant workers be empowered in their migration and have the tools they need to avoid abuse,” says Sarah. “Recruiters hold a lot of power. They are the gatekeepers to these jobs in the U.S. No one is holding them accountable and this puts people at risk for abuse.”

Uncovering a flawed system After graduating from the University of Chicago in 2010, Sarah was awarded a Fulbright and traveled to Mexico City to conduct historical research about the city’s urban expansion in the 60s and 70s. After finishing, she took a job as the coordinator of the Justice in Recruitment Project at the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, a migrant worker advocacy organization. The goal of the project was to better understand how the migrant labor and recruitment system works. Through interviewing migrant workers, Sarah and her colleagues uncovered a system ripe for abuse. U.S. companies hire intermediary recruiters to find and hire migrant workers. The intermediary recruiter often subcontracts to another recruiter who then subcontracts to another. “U.S. companies often don’t know who the subcontractor is on the other end— and this is how they evade responsibility for their recruiters’ actions,” explains Sarah. “It’s hard to hold any single actor accountable for abusive practices.”

Alum Profile

Exposing injustice With jobs so scarce in small Mexican communities, desperation is high. According to Sarah, some recruiters exploit the situation. “The recruiter says, ‘Oh I have this great job for you.’ There is no way to get background information on what the job is, the pay, the company, or if the job really exists,” reveals Sarah. “The worker has to take the recruiter at his word.” In more than one case, workers believed they were going to one state to harvest crops or work in construction, but instead, ended up in a completely different state, working for a traveling carnival. “We had legal cases where workers were paid three dollars per hour and told to set up a Ferris wheel without a harness or any safety training,” says Sarah. “We did a number of death cases for widows in Mexico.” One in 10 workers told Sarah they had experienced at least one incident of outright recruitment fraud, paying an illegal fee for a nonexistent job. If workers spoke up about unlawful employment, they were fired, forced to return to Mexico, and blacklisted from future recruitment. “We consulted migrant community leaders and what they wanted most was a way to warn other workers so recruiters and employers could not continue these practices without consequences.”

Putting it out there Taking action, Sarah and her colleagues launched Contratados.org, a website built as a YELP for contemporary migrant workers. The site allows workers to anonymously tell their stories about fraud, name the recruiter who defrauded them, and reveal information about U.S. companies and the jobs. “Part of the power is just putting it out there,” testifies Sarah. “Now a migrant worker can know who the honest recruiters are, who is doing everything above board and not charging illegal recruitment fees, and not making false promises about employment conditions in the U.S.” In addition to the website, Sarah and her colleagues went out to communities that

had high recruitment rates and trained workers in how to use the internet. The website features audio skits about people’s rights, revealing the signs of recruiter fraud and defining a fair and legal wage. “Our vision is that if I’m a worker and get an offer, the first thing I do is look it up on this website. And if I’m not comfortable with the internet, there’s a hotline I can call.”

Questioning assumptions Sarah’s commitment to social justice dates back to her days in high school. She credits The Northwest School’s Humanities program for giving her a clear-eyed view of past struggles that changed the course of history. “That four-year-long journey in Humanities was very important to me,” confirms Sarah. “It emphasized the voices that history had forgotten. It stretched me to know more about the history of apartheid, the Civil Rights Movement, and the struggle against oppressive regimes.” Her learning in the classroom deepened through her participation in the school’s trip to El Salvador. She recalls that most of the two-week trip involved learning about the civil war and also about Oscar Romero and his struggle to support the people of El Salvador against the repressive ruling regime.

01 Sarah (third from left), with

colleagues on an outreach trip to Monterrey, Mexico 02 Sarah (third from right),

with the Solidarity Center Delegation in Bangladesh

“On that trip and in all of my NWS classes, teachers always asked me to question my assumptions,” recalls Sarah. “I’m still doing that. It’s the really strong thing I learned from Northwest.”

Class Notes Chris Moburg ’81 Ups and downs over past years. Back in the mix! Music going great. Love to reconnect with you!

Beka Teklu ’87 In May of this year, I am proud to let everyone know that I joined the Board of the International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia, working with Ellen Taussig and other dedicated board members to grow and sustain the school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ILAE is modeled after The Northwest School, and NWS meant a lot to me when I came from Ethiopia and it armed me with the skills I use to this day. I am honored to be part of this board. ILAE will help give a great education to students in Ethiopia, and will have a positive and meaningful impact on their lives. We have a lot of exciting developments and we have hit a lot of important milestones for ILAE this year, and the future is bright.

Dedra Whitt ’87 (01) My family and I have moved back to the Seattle area. We are now living on Vashon Island. I own my own company, a cosmetic line, dedra beauty. My husband and I have two children, 11 and 13, and we are looking forward to connecting with our Pacific Northwest friends and family.

Brent Rice ’88 My wife and I have continued to build and operate First Response Water Damage. We specialize in the dry out and restoration of water-damaged, flood-damaged, and smokedamaged homes and businesses. It’s a pure joy to use our experience to help those in a distressed situation and restore their home. www.firstresponsewaterdamage.com

David St. John ’88 (02) What an AMAZING summer!! I produced a groundbreaking TV show for TLC about a transgender 14-year-old named Jazz Jenner. BUT the number one highlight of my life happened in August when I married the love of my life, Scott Darlington, surrounded by family and friends on North Lake Union! Life is good!

Class Notes

Sarah Gundle ’89 (03)

Uche Nchekwube ’97 (07)

Naomi Yang ’01 (11)

I am thrilled to announce the arrival of our daughter, Dahlia, on July 12, 2015. We are all happily adjusting to life with an infant. Also, my 9-year-old daughter, Yael, and I recently started a great project called Clario: Children learning about Refugees and Immigrants. It’s on Facebook; hope you can check it out.

After earning an M.B.A. and working in finance and consulting, I eventually became a successful San Franciscobased realtor who has appeared on television shows like House Hunters and Million Dollar Listing. I sell and lease both residential and commercial real estate as well as sell businesses. I’m passionate about affordable housing, and an expert on the related programs here. My time at NWS influenced me to be more socially conscious. My former schoolmates are among the most socially–conscious people I know.

It was wonderful that I got to meet up with Claire Chen ’01 and Gaku Kurahashi ’00, and his teammates from Nagoya in Taipei. They are the Nagoya Omotenashi Busho-tai (Nagoya Samurai Greeters), a group that is doing an awesome job promoting and representing the culture of Nagoya. It’s great to see how people care so much and work so hard for their city. Nagoya is a wonderful place, and we definitely want to visit there. And of course, Claire, my charming, sweet, beautiful friend, was so nice to see along with her sweet family.

Jen Alley ’93 (04) Celebrated 12 years of marriage to Frank Delia this past summer by traveling to New Zealand with our three kids. We spent a month exploring both islands and had many adventures. Doubtless Sound, the Otago Peninsula, and going to Hobbiton were highlights from our winter trip. We look forward to having many more adventures over the years to come.

Daniel Lathrop ’95 (05) I recently left my newspaper job to join the faculty at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to report as a freelance journalist, tackling news, investigative, and data journalism stories and projects. Once we’ve bought a house, Anne-Marie and I hope some of you will come visit us in Iowa City. Go Hawkeyes!

Brian Reich ’96 (06) I’m leading a special project with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to get more Americans to understand, care about, and take action in support of the global refugee crisis. Check out www.projecthive.nyc for more information. Also writing a new book about the power of imagination and hosting a new podcast about the intersection of sports and society. Family is great. New York is great.

Yoshinori Ashikaga ’97 I now live in Kyoto with my wife and 3-year-old daughter. Often travelling around the world in a marketing job for a security device manufacturer. Love to invite any NWS alumni for a meal if you travel to Kyoto, Japan.

Brittany Boulding ’00

Twan Claiborne ’03 (12)

I am very excited to announce that I am now a member of the Seattle Symphony. I will continue in my role of concertmaster with Northwest Sinfonietta and Auburn Symphony but am thrilled to finally have the full-time position with the Seattle Symphony. I’ve been living in Seattle with my husband and dogs for the last few years. We are very happy to call this great city our home.

This year marks six years in the New York City area. I am currently in my fourth year of teaching English and Special Education at York Preparatory School, which surprisingly feels like a special place I’ve called home for five illustrious years. When not teaching, I still dance, play the viola, and am involved in several social sports leagues (football, dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, kickball, bowling... you name it, I’ve done it). I’m currently the Director of Dodgeball for Big Apple Recreational Sports. If you’re ever in the New York City area, throw me a line, as I’m always looking for people who will poke fun at New Yorkers and their aversion to precipitation with me.

Nora Martin-Cooley ’00 (08) I came back to Seattle in 2010 (after college in Boston, a year in Japan, and 4 years in NYC). I have since co-founded Test Innovators (ISEEpracticetest.com and SSATpracticetest.com) and teach and tutor in the Seattle area. I currently live and work on Capitol Hill, though I hope to soon live somewhere greener! I am an avid partner dancer and highly recommend Seattle’s Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba, etc., dance scenes. If you are local, come out and play!

Lola Ocian ’00 (09) Early in 2015, I joined True Love Tattoo & Art Gallery on Summit Ave, just one block from Northwest School. In more ways than one, it has felt like coming home. I’m now working full-time in the arts, between tattooing, designing, and creating my own line of jewelry, and managing several online retail businesses.

Maggie Thompson ’00 (10) I married Colter Wilkie on July 18, 2015, in Cle Elum, WA. My NWS classmates and best friends, Ariane Westin-McCaw and Alma Lemberg, were there to toast me! Colter and I live in Denver, Colorado. I’m a legal recruiter and he is a chef. Caption: From right to left: Alma Lemberg ’00, Maggie Thompson ’00, Ariane Westin-McCaw ’00

Rohan Gibb ’03 I am currently at Seattle University as a second-year law student.

Jade Justad ’03

My film Creased is slated to launch this fall (and is being supported by the Seattle Japanese American Citizens League, as well as a grant from 4Culture). The film centers around a high school senior, Kayla, who is strongly considering Asian eyelid surgery. As a multicultural Korean American, this film hits close to home for me, and touches on the experience of being Asian American in a culture where western beauty standards reign supreme. Learn more about the film at http://creasedthefilm.com/.

Class Notes

Jonathan Bond ’05 (13) In May, I landed my dream job when I was promoted to Line Maintenance AMT (Aviation Maintenance Technician) at Delta Air Lines in Seattle. I thoroughly enjoy my job, the technical challenges it presents, and making use of my free flying benefits. Most recently, I spent the month of September in Atlanta for Delta Airbus 330 school. It has been a journey to get where I am, and I’m excited for what the future holds.

Paul Fields ’05 (14) I spent the last six years in Boston and I recently received my PhD from MIT in Biology, with a focus in stem cell biology. This fall, I returned to Seattle to start a post-doc at the University of Washington Stem Cell Institute. I will be working on studying the mechanisms behind congenital heart disease. I am excited to be coming back to Seattle and continuing my research.

Ariana Meyrich-Blomquist ’05 & Nathan Bell ’04 (15) On June 13, Nathan Bell ’04 and I were married in a joyful celebration on Whidbey Island! Many other Northwesties were in the wedding party and in attendance. This fall, Nathan continues his psychiatry residency at the University of Washington and I begin the master’s in Library and Information Science program at the UW.

Robert “Frank” Martin ’05 Graduated college in 2011. Since then I’ve gotten my certification as a yoga teacher and have been teaching at the Recovery Cafe, an addiction recovery program in downtown Seattle. I continue to meet with my teacher training class to improve my skills and practice with a group I’ve come to consider some of my closest friends.

Jake Millett ’06 (16) I’m currently a working artist in Seattle. You can see images of my work and my full professional history on my website, www.JakeMillett.com, or see my work in person during the month of December at Cupcake Royale on Capitol Hill (reception is 12/10 during Capitol Hill art walk). I also work as a fabricator and studio assistant for my father, Peter Millett, and curate art shows for Backstreet Bazaar, a free monthly arts festival in South Seattle.

Colin Coltrera ’08 After I graduated from New York University in 2012, I got a certification in Teaching English as a Second Language from the Teachers College at Columbia University. I used that training to spend a few years teaching English abroad, including a year spent developing and implementing a supplementary English program at a monastic university for Tibetan

Buddhist Monks in Sikkim, India. I am now getting a master’s in LDT (Learning, Design, and Technology) from Stanford University, with the plan to return to Seattle to be an EdTech designer.

Piper Lewis ’08 (17) I spent the spring working as a Geoscience Public Policy Intern with American Geosciences Institute in Washington D.C. Based on my experiences in D.C. and my work on the Healy, I was very excited to pitch an article to EARTH Magazine on the U.S. domestic icebreaker fleet. The article was published as the cover feature of EARTH Magazine’s August 2015 edition. I’m thrilled that my second published article is a cover feature, though I haven’t actually been able to see the physical copy yet as I’ve been traveling in Europe this summer/fall. I’m looking forward to holding the print version when I’m back in Seattle, and packing for a move across the country to start an Online Communications Fellowship in Philadelphia.

Carson Robinson ’08 (18) This past May, I graduated from Columbia University with my master’s in Social Work and moved to Philadelphia for a job as a dialectical behavior therapist. I work with suicidal teens and adults in a private outpatient clinic.

Martin Merz ’09 I am currently in my second year of a master’s program at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, at UC Santa Barbara, where I am specializing in Water Resources Management. As a recipient of the Sustainable Water Markets Fellowship, my master’s thesis is focused on the development and expansion of dry-year water leasing programs for environmental flows. For this project, I got to spend the first half of my summer on a 4,000-mile road trip throughout the Western US, interviewing water trust practitioners, farmers, and state officials about my project and their experiences weathering droughts, while also finding time to enjoy the ride and catch up with old friends. I spent the second half of my summer working with American Rivers back in Seattle, where I wrote a report on the role of water markets in the Yakima Basin Integrated Water Management Plan, and even ran into Mike Mullen, where I got the update on Northwest School sports and got to reminisce about the good ol’ days. Spending over a week backpacking and rafting in Montana with my Northwest School classmates Carter Lawrence, Alex Roper, and Graham Threlkeld-Guy, was a huge summer highlight, giving me the mental clarity I will need to focus back in and live that graduate-student life.

Moriah Patashnik ’10 (19) After graduating from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, I came back to Seattle and jumped right into a new hobby: bike racing. In my first year, I discovered athletic prowess I never knew I possessed, and to my complete surprise, ended up winning the Best All Around Road Rider award in my category; in addition, I won the Cat 4 Women’s State Championship Road Race. And, as an added bonus, I ran into Mike Mullen at nearly every race I was at! I am continuing on this whirlwind cycling adventure while taking prerequisites for Nurse Practitioner programs, and will begin the application process this coming summer.

Skyler Burke ’12 (21) This past summer, I had the privilege of working in Dr. Jim Olson’s (NWS parent) lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. While there, I worked in the lab responsible for a number of really exiting breakthroughs, including ‘Tumor Paint’ (http://www.geekwire. com/2013/geek-week-dr-jim-olson/). Also, check out the ‘Project Violet’ campaign (www.projectviolet.org) designed to have families be able to contribute to exiting new potential anti-cancer drugs (named after a former patient of Jim’s). As part of my summer internship, I (along with most of the other lab members) participated in Obliteride, the Fred Hutch annual bike ride fundraiser.

George Felton ’11 (20)

Khalif El-Salaam ’12 (22)

I just graduated from Whitman College with a Classics Major/Philosophy Minor! Before I begin working, I’m traveling through South America for at least the next five months. I’m currently in Baños, Ecuador, as I write this, and I’ll be moving south through Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. To see what I’m up to, please go to www.georgetimetv.wordpress.com.

Hope the Northwest School is still as awesome and amazing as I remember! This past summer, I again represented the USA in the u23 World Ultimate Championships in London! I played in the mixed division where we took gold, 17-4, over Australia! The mixed team I play for, Seattle Mixtape, competed in the U.S. Open, one the highest level club tournaments this year, and took second behind a team from Australia (those Aussies love some frisbee). The game was featured on ESPN3 and I got to do the halftime interview, during which I gave a shout out to 2Chainz! Hope to come back and visit soon!

Ben Fields ’11 I graduated from Hamilton College in May of this year with a degree in World Politics and Sociology. Since then, I have moved to Boston, MA, where I am currently serving a year with AmeriCorps as a Match Corps Tutor at Match Charter Public High School in Brighton. We are a highperforming charter school that serves primarily low-income families, and it’s a really exciting workplace! I am also enrolled in graduate school with the same program to receive a master’s in Effective Teaching, and hoping to be a teacher.

Theodora Shure ’11 I graduated this spring from UChicago, where I studied visual art and political science. Keeping with Northwest’s tradition of raising students half in school, half in Kaladi Bros, I spent much of my time outside of class managing the University’s student-run coffee shop. While I love the city of Chicago dearly, I’ve since moved to New York to take a job as a strategist for a digital ad agency. A love of politics fostered in the 12th grade political campaign project made my first assignment perfect: working for the White House to create a grassroots campaign around President Obama’s proposal for free community college (pledge at headsupamerica.us/). Art remains my reason to be, and I’m currently working on pieces for gallery shows in New York and Chicago this fall. Sending love to my NWS teachers!!

Harrison Shure ’13 This summer, I served as a member of the coaching staff for the United States Jr. National Rowing Team, coaching the Men’s Double Sculls, at the Jr. World Championships in Rio de Janeiro.

Michael McCaffrey ’14 (23) I spent six weeks in Salamanca, Spain, last summer as part of the Seattle Pacific University language program. Last year’s Sevilla trip with NWS helped set the stage!

Emma May ’14 I am a sophomore at Barnard College. I am currently working as a research assistant at the Barnard Center for Research on Women and working with the organization Queers for Economic Justice. I also blog about feminist and DIY music for Bitch Media and The Le Sigh.

Art Installation Honors Community & Connection

newly commissioned artwork by Seattle artist and educator Ben Chickadel now greets students and faculty as they enter 401 E Pike. The recently installed artwork is actually two separate but related pieces, designed to connect the vintage main building with the modern 401 facility, and to celebrate community. One piece, titled Fensterrecht (Right to Window), is a wall-mounted relief made of blackboard slate reclaimed from the original Summit School classrooms. The design echoes the window shapes in the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historic building and also The Northwest School house logo, and is inspired by the concept of a window representing a vision, an idea, and an opening.

Ben Chickadel Art Installation

The other piece, Satellites, is a trio of 3D structures suspended from the ceiling. Each of the structures, made of wood veneer and lit from within with LED lights, is an assembled pattern of The Northwest School house logo. The design, honoring community and connection, includes the names of the donors who helped fund the building. Ben’s passion for teaching influenced the design of the slate wall-mounted piece. Running along the bottom is a fir chalk rail reclaimed from the school’s vintage building. It holds several pieces of chalk, inviting students to mark on the piece. “I wanted students to be able to interact with the art in a playful way,” explains Ben. “To put your mark on something is an expression of yourself – it’s the beginning of ideas. And to do it in a public way: that’s what it means to be an artist, to put yourself out there.”

01 The newly installed artwork honors

community and connection, and greets faculty and students as they come in the door to 401 E. Pike. 02 Fensterrecht (Right to Window), wall-

mounted relief made of reclaimed blackboard slate, by Ben Chickadel 03 Satellites, trio of 3D structures made

of wood veneer and lit from within with LED lights, by Ben Chickadel 04 Each Satellite structure is an

assembled pattern of The Northwest School house logo.

Alumni Happenings

Alumni Happenings Ultimate Camp Many Northwest School Alumni share their Ultimate talents working at the Seattle Youth Ultimate Camps over the summer. (Left to right) Gabe McGill ’15, Jack Buckner ’14, Sam Packard ’15, Nina Job ’14, Josie Gillett ’15, Toby Perkins ’15, Eli KittrossSchnell ’12, Khalif El-Salaam ’12; Not pictured but who worked the camp this summer from NWS: Adam Bergamini ’15, Elena HarrissBauer ’14, Gabe Jacobson ’14, Jack Baba ’13, Jesse Bolton ’12, Julia Bladin ’11, Mia Bladin ’15, Owen Freed ’13, Rose Soiffer-Kosins ’15, Sam Cook ’15, and Selene Canter ’14.

Alumni Reunion On June 5-6, 2015, over 160 NWS alumni, faculty, and guests came back to the House to connect with the NWS community. Highlights of the festivities included a cocktail hour on the 401 rooftop, Skillet food truck, lunchroom favorites, a thought-provoking faculty roundtable, and the fabulous Pata Pata during the upper hall dance! We also celebrated the retirement of Mark and Catherine Terry by presenting a book full of alumni sentiments. A HUGE thank you to our class representatives who assisted in months of planning and getting the word out to classmates! Kate Benjamin ’10 Elise Hale-Case ’05 Lily King ’05 Adam Miller ’05 Kathryn Wallace ’95

Ria Berns ’00 Clea Hersperger ’05 Kaya Masler ’10 Alexis Ortega ’95

Alumni Happenings

Upcoming Alumni Events

January 02 2016

June 25 2016

Alumni Basketball Game

Alumni Reunion Weekend

Come cheer on your fellow alums against current NWS varsity athletes and connect with NWS faculty, classmates, and families!

Come back to the House to reconnect with your NWS classmates and faculty during the next Alumni Reunion Weekend on June 25, 2016. All NWS alumni are welcome and we will be highlighting ’81, ’86, ’91, ’96, ’01, ’06, ’11.

January 2, 2016 401 E. Pike Building 3:00–3:30 PM 3:30–4:30 PM 4:00–5:00 PM 5:00–6:00 PM

Introductions Men’s Alumni Game Reception for Alumni and Alumni Parents with snacks and refreshments Alumnae vs. Varsity Girls

If you are an alum of a class mentioned above and would like to help in planning (it’s FUN!), please contact Sarah Graham, Alumni Program Manager, at sarah.graham@ northwestschool.org. Thank you!

Our Values in Action

The Raymond Taussig Terry Financial Aid Endowment is a permanent and sustainable source of revenue for the school. Growing this endowment will support more families across the economic spectrum, and help Northwest reach its ultimate goal of providing financial aid for at least twenty percent of the student body. If you want to learn more about the initiative to grow this endowment, please contact Wally Long, Director of Development, at 206-816-6228 or walter.long@ northwestschool.org.

$18 Million

ENDOWMENT VALUE

hrough the dedication of the faculty, the generosity of many supporters, and a carefully implemented financial model, sixteen percent of our students currently receive financial aid. Fifteen percent of our students are funded through the school’s annual budget and the remaining one percent are funded through the Raymond Taussig Terry Financial Aid Endowment.

Raymond Taussig Terry Financial Aid Endowment

$13.5 Million

We are here

$9 Million

$4.5 Million

$0 2011

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FISCAL YEAR

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Seattle, Wa. Permit No. 10921

www. northwestschool.org

1415 Summit Avenue Seattle, Wa. 98122

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage

Cover: Chris Trinh â&#x20AC;&#x2122;12, cofounder of the Youth Ultimate Project (YUP), poses with YUP campers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.