Northwest School Fall Magazine 2014-15 by The Northwest School

A publication for Alumni and Friends

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fall

Mike McGill Head of School

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 Outreach 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 alumni@northwestschool.org. Website: www.northwestschool.org

Margie Combs, Editor Director of Communications Walter Long Director of Development Sarah Graham Alumni Program Manager Jessie Schreiber Development and Volunteer Coordinator Contributing Writers Margie Combs Andrew Matson Sarah Graham Adina Berg Contributing Photographers Diane Cassidy Stefanie Felix Jenn Ireland Andrew Matson NWS Faculty, Students, Parents Sarah Watson Graphic Design Sarah Watson Design

Table of Contents Head’s Message ............................................................................................................ 2 News and Notes ............................................................................................................

Trip to John Day Fossil Beds ................................................................................ 3

Sixth Graders Investigate Global Issues .............................................................. 4

Student Wins Gates Millennium Scholarship ....................................................... 5

Gold and Silver at the World Ultimate Championships ...................................... 6

NWS Track State Champions ................................................................................ 7

Student Art Supports Food Bank ........................................................................ 7

Adina’s BIG Road Trip .......................................................................................... 8

ArtsFest .......................................................................................................................... 10 Winning with Grace ........................................................................................................ 12

Maddie Meyers ’12 – NCAA Cross Country and Track Athlete ........................... 16

Chase Sparling-Beckley ’00 – Architect, USA Youth Ultimate Coach .............. 17

The Entrepreneurial Spirit .............................................................................................. 18

Emmett Shear ‘01 – CEO, TWITCH ...................................................................... 22

Alex Pemoulie ’02 – Founder, Thirty Acres Restaurant ..................................... 23

Colin Gardiner ‘05 – Director of Product, tripping.com ...................................... 24

Oceania Eagan ’96 – Founder, Creative Director, BLINDTIGER Design ............ 25

Graduation ..................................................................................................................... 26 Class Notes .................................................................................................................... 28 Alumni Happenings ....................................................................................................... 34 Annual Fund Inspires Matlock Challenge .................................................................... 35

Cover: Maddie Meyers ’12 sprints to first place in the Sundodger Cross Country Invitational, September 2014 Inside Cover: Humanities teachers and emcees Scott Davis (vertical) and (horizontal) entertain the audience at ArtsFest 2014.

Team Work at its Best When I think about athletics at Northwest, two images leap to mind. The first is from the Western Regional Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Corvallis last spring. That weekend, team after team, having just been soundly defeated by our boys, actually thanked them in the post-game huddle—not for the whuppin’, of course, but for the standard Northwest players have set for so long, both as athletes and as models of good sportsmanship. Their opponents were grateful for our having elevated the game’s visibility and bestowed on it genuine credibility. (For the record, our boys won the tournament and, as of this writing, have amassed over 109 consecutive victories dating back to 2011.) The second image comes from a cross-country meet this fall when our top runners—three of the state’s best—held hands as they crossed the finish line together in first place…over a minute ahead of the next fastest finisher. It seemed a quintessential Northwest moment (though it did complicate the poor scorekeeper’s job!).

From left: Graham P.’15, Tibebu P. ’17, and Tamire P.

I’ve learned a lot from our faculty and student athletes during my three years at Northwest, thanks to the vision and dedication of leaders like Britt Atack, Mike Mullen, Joe Bisignano, and Jeff Blair. They created, and have subsequently nurtured, a sports culture at the school that successfully balances a desire to excel with a strong commitment to other, equally important values: inclusivity, passion for play, the capacity to be fully in the moment, a belief in hard work and the drive to exceed personal bests, resiliency, integrity and fair play, the importance of holding one’s head up in defeat and refusing to gloat in victory, and the experience of coming together as a team—working with others toward a common goal.

Reading the alumni profiles in these pages, it occurred to me that the very same attitudes and habits of mind that we strive to develop in our students through our athletic program—and, indeed, throughout the school—are essential to entrepreneurs in their efforts to get a startup off the ground, or, really, to anyone’s success and happiness in life. I hope to see many of you back in the House—our own House!—early this January for the Alumni–Varsity games.

Best, Mike McGill, He ad of School

News and Notes

Students Make th 24 Consecutive Trip to John Day Fossil Beds NWS

students capped their senior year Primate Biology class with the 24th annual trip to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in central Oregon, May 6-10, 2014. During this enriching trip, students slept under the stars amongst 40 million years’ worth of mammal and plant fossils, visited the John Day’s world-class paleontology laboratory and museum, and after months of studying dental and skeletal anatomy—including NWS’s own extensive mammal collection and the collection at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum—met working paleontologists in the field.

“The evolution of the horse is well-represented there,” says Mark, “the evolution of the dog, the evolution of a lot of critters that are like cats but aren’t cats. For scientific purposes, there is a lot of preservation of soil, and tremendous plant and even insect fossils.” Gabe Jacobson ’14 said the trip was inspirational. “The John Day trip showed me what it is to be a researcher. We met the people who prepare the fossils for being displayed at the museum, and talked to them about their stories, how they got their jobs. It was really cool how many opportunities there are for students to get involved. They were graduate students. They talked about internship programs for high school students.” Other NWS students have returned to John Day on their own: Yoshi Ashikaga ‘97 became a summer counselor/ interpreter at the region’s Hancock Field Station after his Primate Biology trip; Tobin Hieronymus, ’93, Ph.D., now a paleontologist and medical school professor in Ohio, worked there for a summer during his undergraduate years at Colorado College. And Mark’s

daughter, Rebecca Terry ’97, Ph.D., just led her first John Day field trip for Oregon State University students. She is working with Samuels to locate sites in the region for her own research on paleoecology. The NWS paleontology program has reached a wide audience of paleontologists. It has been noted as an exemplary program at the North American Paleontological Convention, where Mark has spoken twice on how we teach this topic to high school students.

“There are some other great mammal fossil sites in North America, but there is no other place that has this sweep of time essentially unbroken,” said Mark Terry, NWS co-founder and science teacher. “Every period there is so well-represented. And the dating is exquisite, because there are datable crystals in the volcanic ash. It’s one of the best readable sequences of these kind of strata anywhere on the planet.” Students stayed at a camp site with running water but no electricity. Over the course of three days, they toured the John Day museum and surrounding area with head paleontologist Josh Samuels. Students examined sites where the museum’s fossils were found, and learned about how they were prepared for scientific analysis and display. At every turn, students were surrounded by scientific evidence of evolution.

Sixth Graders

Investigate Global Issues, Take Local Action O

n the evening of June 9, 2014, 47 NWS 6th grade students presented families and friends with global issues-related research projects, demonstrations, and personal actions. It was the culmination of months of in-class learning with co-teachers Heather Hall and Mackenzie Dickinson. Through this unit, students saw themselves in a global context, and gained knowledge of how resources are spread unequally around the world. They were also empowered to make a positive change.

Coursework for the Global Issues unit was multilayered. Groundwork included reading William Kamkwamba’s memoir, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which showed students a real example of a person who faced significant problems—famine, lack of access to education, lack of electricity—and took action to overcome them. “This unit is about research and investigation of the interconnectedness of global issues,” says Heather. “But the most significant aspect is the action component. Each student investigates, designs, and carries out an action in the local community to address a global problem.” For example, student Daphne M.’s project was about loss of animal biodiversity, which means animals declining and

becoming extinct for various reasons. For her action, Daphne went to her former school, The Meridian School, and taught 3rd grade classes about biodiversity. She used games to engage the younger students, including a version of musical chairs with a page on each chair about a threatened animal. “For the sea turtle, the Meridian students guessed pollution in the water was the main cause for population decline, and that’s true,” says Daphne. “But more threatening is bycatch, when turtles get caught in illegal fishing nets. More people need to know about bycatch so it becomes a bigger issue and the government will enforce laws. Education is a way to make that happen.” Other topics tackled by the students included deforestation, global hunger, pollution, global warming, and girls’ lack of access to education. One student turned her birthday party into a food drive to address hunger, while others did volunteer work, wrote letters to lawmakers, and sold cookies, lemonade, and original artwork to raise money, which they then donated to

established charities working for change. An important element of the Action Project is that it takes place outside of school, in the larger community. This allows students to venture outside their comfort zones on behalf of causes that are important to them. Part way through this unit, Heather and Mackenzie helped students see the big picture by physically rearranging their classroom. They formed desks into continents, with proportionate amounts of desktop space (land mass), students (population), and cupcakes (resources) distributed to each continent. In this arrangement, students could easily see North America with one student and many cupcakes, and Africa with far fewer cupcakes than people. Students gained a clear picture of resource consumption around the world, and realized the luxury in everyday North American life that is easily taken for granted—and hard to justify. At the finale event, while students presented Research/ Action Projects in the Commons,

students in adjacent rooms led an activity with friends and family, designed to demonstrate interconnectedness between global issues, including climate change, pollution, human rights, food and water access, and sustainability. Each piece of yarn represented an issue and, if pulled, would stress another— and the connection would need to be explained by the group. One parent wondered how technology was related to waste, since digital files don’t take up any space. A student supplied the answer: hardware. Where do our devices go when we upgrade to the next model? One of the largest goals of this project is to help students not only understand the issues, but allow them to feel enabled to have a positive impact. “Sometimes, when 6th graders contemplate the problems facing our world, they feel overwhelmed,” says Heather. “This project allows students to take a different viewpoint, one that challenges them to see not only problems but also possibilities.”

The Gates Millennium Scholars Program selects 1,000 talented students each year to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice.

Student Wins Gates Millennium Scholarship NWS

alum Teata Nanpooya ‘14 has been honored with a 2014 Gates Millennium Scholarship, which is currently funding her full tuition to Dartmouth College. “I’m really excited, and it’s an amazing scholarship,” said Teata just before she left for Dartmouth, adding that NWS College Counselors Peter Morgan and Erin Miller encouraged her to apply, and math teacher John Baldwin wrote a letter of recommendation. “The Dartmouth campus is so beautiful. I don’t know what I’ll study, but I love math and science.” Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the scholarship goes to outstanding African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students. It pays for full undergraduate education in any discipline, as well as graduate school in the specific areas of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, or science.

John said Teata was “an amazing, positive force in the classroom, but one of the things that stood out to me is her ability to seek out help and challenges independent of the requirements of the course.” John was impressed that Teata signed up for online courses in astrophysics and at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership, and that she individually researched summer programs and enrolled herself in the Outward Bound-esque High Mountain Institute in Colorado last summer.

ship and initiative are the two qualities that were likely key factors in getting the scholarship. Teata was the third consecutive NWS student to win a Gates scholarship: Carolyn Tran ‘13 was honored in 2013 and currently studies at Macalester College; Chris Trinh ‘12 won in 2012 and is at UC Berkeley.

“That kind of initiative is remarkable,” said John. Teata was one of only two students in Seattle to win a Gates Millennium Scholarship this year, and nationally, one of 1,000 winners chosen from over 15,000 applicants.

Teat a Nanpooya ‘14

She was nominated for the scholarship by Nikki Danos from Rainier Scholars, an organization that supported Teata at The Northwest School. Danos says leader-

Gold and Silver for NWS at the World Ultimate Championships 2014 NWS

alum Mia Bladin ’14, a decorated sports star, helped capture the gold medal for the U.S. at the World Junior Ultimate Championships in Lecco, Italy, on Saturday, July 26, 2014. The U.S. junior women’s team defeated Canada 17-9. The men’s team won the silver medal, with sterling efforts from Sam C. ’15, Sam Lehman ’14, Alex Olson ’14, and Head Coach Chase Sparling-Beckley ‘00. These international Ultimate successes followed domestic wins at the Western High School Regional Championships and Washington State Championships for both NWS Girls’ and Boys’ Varsity Ultimate Teams. Bladin now plays soccer for Harvard University, Lehman plays Ultimate for Brown University, and Olson plays Ultimate for Carleton College. Sam C. ‘15

Mia Bladin ’14

Washington State Champion Maya J. ‘16 (center)

NWS Track State Champions I

n June 2014, Maya J. ‘16 and Jack B. ‘14 won These wins were preceded by successes at the Emerald City League and Tri-District tournaments. Tri-District was first place in their categories at Washington the competition that decided whether student athletes State Track and Field Championships this year when NWS sent the most student athletes in the would advance to State, and featured wins by Maya, Jack, and runners Graham P. ’15, Hazel C. ’15, and school’s history to the tournament (five). Maya Julia M. ’15. won the 1A Girls 400m title, and Jack won the 1A Boys High Jump event.

Congratulations to our student athletes, and NWS coaches Spencer Walsh, Kevin Jackson, and Robert Wakeley!

k n a B d o o F s t r o Student Art Supp F

or the third consecutive year, NWS pottery students supported the North Helpline Emergency Services and Food Bank with their artwork. This year, our students created 16 functional ceramic bowls for the Fifth Annual Empty Bowls Dinner, an important fundraiser for Helpline. The bowls were used in food service at the event on Sunday, May 4, 2014. NWS has contributed a total of 41 bowls to this event.

A d i n a

B e r g’ s

B lo g :

Adina’s

Big

Road Trip W

hen The Northwest School approved my teaching sabbatical proposal I was given one of the greatest gifts of my career: the ability to spend half of the 2013-14 school year On The Road. I gave my landlord my notice, put all my worldly possessions (except for two suitcases and a box of books) into a 200 square-foot storage unit, and on March 8, 2014 I was off. With my best friend and partner, Matthew, I drove a total of 13,000 miles through 23 states. The trip (much like my teaching) was a combination of carefully planned learning and spontaneous discovery. And while my sabbatical was inspired by Visions of America—my comparative literature class where seniors analyze archetypes and mythologies comprising the epic story of the United States—it will enhance the way I teach all my classes in 2014-15 and beyond: Visions of America, Religion and Society, and 10th Grade Humanities. My dream was to make pilgrimages to sites I had read about and taught about but never actually visited: Manhattan,

Kansas, the boyhood home of Northwest co-founder and activist Paul Raymond; Money, Mississippi, where Emmett Till was murdered; Charleston, South Carolina, where the southern slaveholder Charles Pinckney spoke so eloquently in favor of ratification of the Constitution; the Acoma pueblo, site of the Pueblo revolt, and the oldest continuously inhabited human settlement in North America. I wanted to get my kicks on Route 66 while thinking of the Joad family, to drive through Wyoming while reading Owen Wister and Annie Proulx. I wanted to see Little Rock Central High School, where nine brave children defied the governor to attend classes. I wanted to behold the Grand Canyon, the mighty Mississppi and the Grand Ole Opry. And then I wanted to return to school in the fall, full of stories and new ideas to share with my students.

Beds National Monument that the camp overlooks the site of the Modoc War, in which Native Americans who had refused to stay on the reservation and had returned to their homes held out against the US military for months until they were finally captured. The irony of this juxtaposition was startling to me, and I ended up writing a blog post entitled, Resistance is Futile. As we drove, I shared my travels with my students and colleagues via Adina’s Visions of America, a blog which can be accessed at adinasvisions.blogspot.com. This summer, I self-published it into a book, a copy of which I plan to put into The Northwest School library, along with a CD of American music collected on the way.

We stayed in mom-and-pop motels and historic homes; we ate barbecue and danced to Zydeco music; we visited more cultural centers, museums We had some powerful experiences and monuments than I can list in this on my sabbatical, some by accident. short space. I got to live my dream of I had planned to visit the Tule Lake exploring the United States, seeing the internment camp, where thousands of places I had only read about, walking in Japanese Americans (including one NWS the footsteps of Francisco Coronado and family) who refused to sign the loyalty Paul Raymond and Fannie Lou Hamer pledge to the American government and Button Gwinnett and Mark Twain, were moved during World War II. I didn’t just to name a few. We traveled through realize until we got to the nearby Lava Monument Valley with a Navajo guide. I

spent time in the Mormon High School seminary and in large public high schools, at the ultra-conservative American Heritage School in Utah and the St. Joseph Indian School in South Dakota. I spoke with people who had walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Reverend Shuttlesworth, and others who told me the fire hoses had just been used to cool off the marchers. Oh, and we sat in the second row of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and heard 82-year-old Loretta Lynn belt out “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” What will this sabbatical bring to my teaching? Specifically, in terms of curriculum, here are some highlights: In Visions of America, we will begin with Art Everywhere U.S., a nationwide celebration of iconic images of American art (like Norman Rockwell’s original Rosie the Riveter, which I saw at the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville); I have added new methods and new monuments to my “State Informants” project; my assembled readings packet has been replaced by What So Proudly We Hail, a superb collection of speeches, stories, and songs that I discovered while on my trip. To the 10th grade study of the Civil War, the Reconstruction era, westward expansion and Manifest Destiny, I will bring a broader and deeper under-

standing of African American history, particularly in the American South. I would also like to work with my team to help students understand Native American history and culture as a constant, ever-present part of every geographical place and historical moment in the history of the United States, because that is how I experienced them on my trip. To my 12th grade Religion and Society class, I will bring a deeper understanding of American religions, particularly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its fascinating history; I also feel a renewed sense of urgency for helping students understand American Christianity and how it continues to shape public debate. Students will be closely examining recent Supreme Court decisions (concerning employers’ rights to deny some workers insurance coverage for birth control) that have emerged in just the past few months in light of the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment. To the 10th and 12th grade studies of the U.S. Constitution, I will bring Charles Pinckney, his “no religious test” clause as well as his insistence on “states’ rights” in support of slavery; a new book called Faiths of Our Fathers, addressing what the framers of the Constitution really believed religiously; and

various personal stories of Button Gwinnett, Lachlan Macintosh, Aaron Burr, George Washington and Nathaniel Greene. From my sabbatical, I have gained new resources, new stories, and most of all, renewed energy and enthusiasm. When you’ve stood on a Civil War battlefield and cried while imagining the 19-year-old kids from Iowa during that time facing the 19-year-old kids from Arkansas, lecturing to 10th graders becomes more immediate and personal. When you’ve seen the vistas that the “Oakies” saw in the Arizona desert, and visited Woody Guthrie’s birthplace and the new museum dedicated to his music, and heard Dwight Yoakam talk about the song “Streets of Bakersfield”, reading and teaching The Grapes of Wrath becomes more powerful. When you’ve walked down the street in Birmingham and stood on the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church, and learned from people who were there, you can’t help but carry that passion for social justice back to the classroom. I have always been an enthusiastic, dedicated and passionate teacher, but now I have personal experiences and adventures, stories to tell, new monuments and songs and dusty roads and ghost towns to talk about. I can’t wait to get started.

ARtsFest2 0 1 4 NWS

students brightened Town Hall on Thursday, April 10, 2014, with two hours of dance, music, spoken word, and mime. It was all part of our annual ArtsFest Gala, emceed for the second consecutive year by Humanities teachers Scott Davis and Andy Meyer. The event was co-produced by NWS faculty Ellen Graham (Theatre), Ellie Sandstrom (Dance), Curtis Erlinger (Visual Art), Glen Sterr (Humanities) and Gretchen Yanover (Music). Highlights on stage included safely executed backflips, and the Upper School jazz band’s ace rendition of Freddie Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower.”

grace

Winning with 12

nside every student lives an athlete. This bedrock belief of The Northwest School’s athletic faculty, according to Athletic Director Britt Atack, has not only proven true over the last two decades, it has developed NWS into a powerhouse in several sports. “We have coaches who are really strategic and effective at getting the most out of our kids,” says Britt, who holds a master’s in Teaching from Seattle University, and has played on two national champion Ultimate teams. “We ground our kids in fundamentals —there is a set of skills and certain foundational things we make sure they have—and then we develop their individual strengths.” Last year, both NWS Boys’ and Girls’ Ultimate Teams captured Regional and State Ultimate Championships. In track and field, four NWS students took first in ten separate events in the Emerald City League Championships, and two went on to take first in the 400m and 1A Boys High Jump in the Washington State Championships. In basketball, our Varsity Girls’ and Boys’ Teams qualified for Tri-District playoffs. And in cross country, NWS teams brought home league championship trophies in every division, including high school girls’, high school boys’, middle school girls’, and middle school boys’. “I like that, I like winning,” smiles NWS Cross Country and Track Coach Joe Bisignano. Joe is co-founder of Seattle’s Youth Ultimate League. He holds a master’s in Contemporary Curriculum from Barry University and joined the coaching faculty at NWS in 2001. “Mostly you just put a kid in touch with that they want and they’ll excel.”

The right way to be competitive Even more notable than NWS’s first place trophies is the frequent number of times students and coaches win sportsmanship awards. In 2012-13, NWS Girls’ Varsity Soccer Team not only qualified for the state championships, they brought home the Emerald City League Team Sportsmanship Award. In addition, NWS Coach Mike Mullen won league coach-of-the-year. In 2013-14, both NWS Gi rls’ Varsity and Boys’ Varsity Basketball squads won the League Sportsmanship Award, and NWS Boys’ Varsity basketball coaches Orion Baker and Graham Brewer were named league coaches-of-the-year. The school’s reputation for fair play across multiple sports does not happen by accident, according to Britt.

NWS running champion Graham P. ’12 initiates a hand shake at the 2014 Tri-District Championships.

“We stress all of the time, let’s be gracious, whether we win or lose,” says Britt. “I emphasize that this is not an ‘us versus them’—it’s a privilege: we get to compete because the other team is here.”

“That’s when they learn not to give up—not to roll over—that they can lose a game but they won’t be defeated,” says Mike. “The losing game is often when they do their best playing.”

At the beginning of every year, students and parents receive a guide to athletic participation at The Northwest School. The guide encourages “cheering, rather than steering or jeering,” and “applause for effort” no matter which team has just scored.

When Britt sees a student getting overwrought by the prospect of losing, he takes him or her aside and helps refocus outlook and attitude.

“There’s ample opportunity for our teams to get haughty and we address it,” concedes Britt. “We’re always working on it. Here at school we talk about courtesy and common sense—not only for students but for coaches. Coaches are critical: if they don’t embody that spirit, the kids won ’t practice it.”

“I stress that the score is only one aspect of the game—the bigger picture is your integrity. This is much bigger than winning or losing. It’s about getting knocked down, getting back up, and helping your teammate up. It’s about mindfulness: how you’re responding to and living your life, both inside and outside of competition.”

Underscoring Britt, NWS Soccer and Ultimate Coach Mike Mullen agrees. “There’s nothing bad about being competitive—there’s simply a right way to be competitive,” says Mike, who has been teaching and coaching at NWS since 1992. “This is about healthy student development.”

Instilling desire

Some of the most important psychological development that students gain from athletics comes not from winning, but from losing. Living with the results of a game can be acutely challenging for most students, and yet, being in a losing game is one of the most valuable experiences a student will have, according to Mike.

“Sometimes that means we encourage them to go join a club team, if we don’t offer the sport in our program,” says Mike. The school supports students by arranging schedules for outside club participation and granting PE credit. “We do whatever is best for the student, not the athletic department.”

Helping every student to find their inner athlete takes a combination of thoughtful guidance and deft coaxing. According to Mike, it begins with matching students with their sport.

By and large, NWS students thrive in one or more sports offered at the school and they tap into their own desire to improve. This happens without draconian pressure from the coaches. “I try to show kids what can happen if they work a bit harder,” says Joe, who is known for his ability to bring out the runner in every human being. “I’m a very patient person. I have a student right now who has a ton of talent but he sits back a bit. I had him run his first workout miles with our top runners and I said, ‘Look, you can run with them.’ Then just today, I chased him up the hill—I can usually beat him in a 5k race—and he beat me!” Joe grins. “He crushed me!” Perhaps the best evidence that NWS students develop a love for athletics and value it as a part of their growth is that many NWS graduates go on to play sports in college and post graduate adulthood. “That’s what we want,” says Britt: “We want students going away more excited than when they came in.”

Selene Canter ’14

“Spor ts are supposed to be fun, and at the end of the season or the game, win or lose, we want students to be able to say, that was awesome!” – Athletic Director Britt Atack Snapshot of NWS Alumni playing college sports, 2014-15: Soccer Mia Bladin ’14—Soccer, Harvard University Rachel Marklyn ’13—Soccer, Vassar College Karlie LeClair ’12—Soccer, University of Puget Sound Gabe Jacobson ’14—Soccer, Whitman College

Cross Country & Track Jack Buckner ’14—Track, Carleton College Maddie Meyers ’12—Cross Country & Track, University of Washington John Curry ’11—Cross Country & Track, Haverford College Liz Webber-Bruya ’11—Track, Tufts University

Ultimate Mariah Webb ‘14—Ultimate, University of Pennsylvania Sam Lehman ’14—Ultimate, Brown University Michaela Yaman ’14—Ultimate, Harvey Mudd College Chris Roach ’14—Ultimate, University of Puget Sound Ghislaine Pagès ’14—Ultimate, Barnard/Columbia combined team Alex Olson ’14—Ultimate, Carleton College Jake Olson ’14—Ultimate, UC Santa Cruz Owen Freed ’13—Ultimate, Carleton College Maya Gillett ’13—Ultimate, Oberlin College Tyler Monroe ’13—Ultimate, George Washington University Jack Baba ’13—Ultimate. Tulane University Khalif El-Salaam ’12—Ultimate, University of Washington Jesse Bolton ’12—Ultimate, Carleton College Camille Canter ’12—Ultimate, University of Washington Soriya Ton ’12—Ultimate, University of Washington Lani Nyugen ’12—Ultimate, Seattle University Julia Bladin ’11—Ultimate, Whitman College Emily Buckner ’11—Ultimate, Carleton College Drew Benditt ’11—Ultimate, University of Oregon Finley Baba ’10—Ultimate, Tulane University

Crew Teata Nanpooya ‘14—Crew, Dartmouth College Lucy Porter ’14—Crew, University of Pennsylvania Will Van Cleve ’13—Crew, Princeton University Harrison Shure ’13—Crew, Princeton University Kendall Ritter ’13—Crew, UC Berkeley Maddie Jacox ’13—Crew, Barnard/Columbia combined team Louisa Willis ’12—Crew, Princeton University Clara Jessup ’12—Crew, Bates College Henry Cryst ’12—Crew, Brown University

Fencing Gabe Jacobson ’14

Leila Braun ’12—Fencing, Haverford College

Maddie Meyers ’12

NCAA Cross Country and Track Athlete I think about things; I organize my day and week and make to-do lists—it’s a way for me to stay stress free. Once you’re done with the run you feel so great.”

The birth of a winner Maddie first caught the running bug in 6th grade when she was at The Northwest School. As a middle schooler she was required to choose between cross country, soccer, and a variety of other sports. She chose cross country. “I remember really liking it. We had about 15 kids on the team, and our coach, Joe Bisignano, was great,” says Maddie. “He motivated me in really good ways and he introduced me to the coach for the Rain City Flyers. I raced in the Junior Olympics in Rhode Island and Kansas.”

When a crowd of runners is thundering toward the finish line, whether it’s in a state, regional or national race, Maddie Meyers ’12 is often out in front.

Two years ago, as a freshman at the University of Washington, she made the national qualifying team for cross country, was selected to run for the PAC 12 Championship meet in the 1500 meter, and also ran in the NCAA Championships. “Running has opened up amazing doors of opportunities for me—I’m loving it,” says Maddie, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Communications at UW while running both cross country and track. Most recently, she captured her first big collegiate victory of her career, coming in first in the 6000 meter at the Sundodger Invitational cross country race in September 2014. Outdistancing 50 other athletes from across the nation, she crossed the finish line nine seconds ahead, crossing in 20 minutes, 21 seconds.

“Running for me is meditative—it’s not something I’m forcing myself to do,” says Maddie, who, at her peak, runs 65 miles per week. “To run on a rainy day can be hard, but most of the time I’m out in the sun, running with a friend.

In 9th grade, Maddie not only qualified for states in cross country, she won the distance Triple Crown: the State 5k Cross Country, 1600 meter, and 3200 meter. In 10th and 11th grades, she ran indoor and outdoor track and qualified for nationals. All the while she was having fun. “Joe and Bob Martin were coaching, and Bob was amazing. He made lifesized puzzle pieces and hid them in the park—we had to run to find them and put the puzzle together,” recalls Maddie. Even though she showed exceptional promise, Maddie wasn’t pushed by her parents or by her NWS coaches. She praises Joe for motivating her to take charge of her own improvement. “The way Joe coaches, he shows people it takes only a little extra effort to improve,” explains Maddie. “He didn’t want to push me so hard that it stopped being fun. In 10th grade, he encouraged me to add just one extra workout a week and some additional stretching. I saw how much it helped me.” In addition to effective coaching, the support of her NWS classmates and teachers spurred Maddy on. “Everyone at the school was encouraging. Kids would come up and say hi and congratulations—I saw that I had this whole population behind me.”

Knowing how to heal Last year, as a sophomore in college, Maddie got her first taste of what it’s like to be benched. Three weeks before the 2013 NCAA Championships, she discovered she had a stress fracture in her right femur. It was in an odd location: the lower backside of the bone. She felt the pain in her hip, knee, and lower back and, for five weeks, thought it was a muscle injury. “My college coaches still let me run in the NCAA Championships and I finished the race, but it didn’t go well,” she says. After that, Maddie took the cross country season off, resting and training in non-weight-bearing ways. Stress fractures take about 12 weeks to heal and she took it extremely slow. “In college you see runners training at these intense levels, and you see it takes over their lives. When they get hurt they don’t know what to do,” observes Maddie. “I see a lot of athletes quit because they didn’t have a good season.”

Excelling and having fun Maddie’s patience and careful recovery paid off. At the end of her sophomore year, she once again put on her running shoes and, when she ran the 1500 meter in the Ken Shannon Invitational, she won. “My goal now is to make it into the big national races and win an NCAA Championship in track,” says Maddie, but adds that she is also taking it year by year. “It’s important to be able to balance everything in your life. NWS taught me how to do that—how to balance my athletic life with my academic and social life,” says Maddie. “And I learned I can still excel while I’m having fun. I’m extremely grateful for that.”

Chase Sparling-Beckley ’00 (right, airborne)

Chase, with wife, Anna Neraas, daughter, Arlie (4), and son, Renan (1)

Chase Sparling-Beckley ’00

Architect, USA Youth Ultimate Coach

n his day job, Chase Sparling-Beckley ’00 tackles mega design projects. As an architect for the global company IDC Architects, he solves complex design issues for data centers, photovoltaic factories, and microelectronics factories. One of his current projects is a technologic campus in Saudi Arabia, an incubator for startup tech ideas and a training center with traditional seminar and classroom spaces.

“Ultimate is a really interesting sport, a very athletic sport, but also a highly cerebral one,” says Chase, who played Ultimate through high school and college. “There’s a high degree of team coordination, of commitment to team, and of respect for your opponents and for the game. It has a lot of the elements built into the ethos of The Northwest School.”

“We’re trying to make all of these different elements go together in an elegant, useful, and meaningful way,” explains Chase, speaking from his Portland, Oregon, office. “We design around the element of people. We’re looking at the way people move across outdoor plaza space and facilitating how business and software people want to talk together.”

When Chase was a 10th grader at NWS, the youth Ultimate scene in Seattle was just getting underway. He marvels that the sport has exploded with such popularity and that NWS is such a force to reckon with. Says Chase: “It’s amazing to see the school is now the Ultimate juggernaut. NWS is arguably the best team on the West Coast.”

Chase holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Carleton College, in Minnesota, and a master’s in Architecture from the University of Virginia. His eclectic mix of interests is not limited to the intellectual—he is also a national caliber athlete. In July 2014, he served as head coach for the USA Youth Ultimate Championship team and traveled to Lecco, Italy, with the national boys’ team for the six-day World Junior Ultimate Championships.

Chase credits key individuals at NWS for establishing the school’s sports culture: Jeff Blair, who was the soccer coach at the time, Mike Mullen who was “an enthusiastic sports facilitator,” and Athletic Director Britt Atack, who was a high-level Ultimate player.

Sports as a life value

“Those three people really helped set a standard of sports as a value in life,” says Chase. He remembers Jeff was adamant about recruiting whoever was willing to come out and play, developing whatever the person’s skills were, and minimizing weaknesses.

“He figured out how to make us into a team and taught us not to be overly driven by the idea of winning, but of putting our best foot forward.”

Commitment to preparedness At NWS, Chase learned not to mold himself to a particular sport but to figure out what his strengths were and play the sport that matched those strengths. This was groundbreaking to Chase. “It was foundational to how I think about the world today,” confirms Chase. “Rather than molding myself into the perfect architect, I figure out what I’m good at, what my strengths are, and I run with that.” Chase particularly values how NWS fit sports into the rest of life. The coaches treated athletics as one important commitment among the many that shape a full educational experience. “We weren’t allowed to play unless we had finished our homework,” recounts Chase. “It was about a commitment to preparedness, not just physical, but also mental and emotional. I learned not only how to be fit for play—I learned how to be fit for life.”

Director of College Counseling Peter Morgan (upper left)

Entrepreneurial

high number of NWS alumni choose to be entrepreneurs. Our alumni create their own design firms, launch notable restaurants, startup online businesses, and innovate technology platforms. They’re named in Forbes’s annual 30 Under 30 Who are Changing the

World, Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 under 40, and national news coverage lauding technology startups. What is it about The Northwest School experience that nurtures entrepreneurs? According to NWS faculty, answers come from every corner of the school.

Dean of Students Kevin Alexander

a question, she will not answer you. In Primate Biology, Mark Terry is more likely to ask you another question. In the Humanities, the emphasis is less on product and more on the celebration of the process. We encourage students to say, ‘Hey, that poetic line, or essay, or piece of sculpture didn’t work but I’m going to honor that fact.’ It’s about how you respond to your failures.

Questioning authority

NWS founder Paul Raymond’s mantra, ‘Speak truth to power’, is one we take seriously and the students know this—it’s not just about power but speaking truth to how a business works or even non-profit organizations. On the other side of it, former Assistant Head Alan Braun always used to say, ‘Yes, question authority…. with courtesy and common sense.’ It’s a model that encourages innovation and collaboration. Questioning has become a part of our culture. We start the moment students arrive, saying we hope you’ll have a conversation. Obviously we have basic rules, but those are open to conversation. We don’t have a discipline policy but a discipline philosophy. We preach integrity, courtesy and common sense. This creates an experience that is rich with creativity—our students not only learn to start new initiatives they become activists; they ask ‘does it really have to work this way?’

Lena P-R ’15 (center)

Kevin Alexander:

An absence of obstacles

The education here stretches students in every way. There is an expectation you’re going to try something out, versus in so many other institutions where you are either this or that. Here you’re both, and something else besides. What we do here is so much about conversation and so little about obstacles. Students’ experience is one of having a freedom to talk about things without restriction. They have the freedom to question, and when they question, whether it’s about a rule or an approach in class, what they get is a conversation. Their experience is not just to “go along with it.”

The creative mindset

Our teachers create a model to think in dynamic situations. It’s not just in the arts classes. I see it in all areas of the school. If you go to Rene Frederickson’s chemistry class and ask her

Suzanne Bottelli:

Learning leadership

We don’t have a hierarchical environment, which is good training for a startup. Out students see all of us wearing a lot of hats: whether it’s when we’re camping, or cleaning rags during Environment, or making announcements In Community Meeting, we’re mixing it up. The Environment Program is for many students the first opportunity to lead a team—three times a week they are the lead person, the point person, the decision maker. They must do a full assessment of what tools and supplies are needed, and then problem solve what materials are needed and how to repurpose. They have to figure out how to motivate other people, how to be inclusive, how to do it in a friendly manner. They find out what it takes to lead successfully, such as: you’re the first to arrive and the last to leave; you must follow through on things that have to happen; you must be fair and figure out how to rotate duties; you must learn how to be effective while being kind and nice. You have to find a way to inspire productivity, to make it something your team looks forward to. All of the students on the team learn to think in terms of the big picture: seeing how it fits into the overall campus, where the waste goes. Then they apply it when we go on trips: how to leave it cleaner than when we arrived. They see how it sticks and why it matters. Maybe most importantly, the Environment Program is not work as punishment. Some schools assign cleaning and maintenance as Saturday detention, but we approach it the opposite way: work is not a punishment but something to take pride in; there is dignity in it.

Humanities teacher Suzanne Bottelli, with Jacques T. ’15

P e t e r M o rga n :

Crafting your own course

The interdisciplinary nature of our Humanities curriculum allows students to see connections that many other students don’t discover until later in their academic career. With the traditional barriers, boxes, lines blurred or destroyed, our students often develop interests that many seem quite disparate to others but make complete sense to them. When our graduates head off to college, they often seek out places that allow them to be entrepreneurial in crafting their own course of study. In the end, many choose to create their own majors, melding together different interests, and in so doing, they discover the thread that connects these interests together. Given that many of our students have this experience of being educational entrepreneurs, it’s a very logical next step for them to go out into the working world with the desire to create their own business rather than stepping into preexisting, already-developed entities. Being a business entrepreneur allows many of our alumni to continue to put their own stamp on their professional endeavors just as they have done with their own educational path.

Schyler B. ’17 (left), and Analiese G. ’17

Ben Lee:

Courage to be yourself and contribute

The environment here is fundamentally very safe, safe to explore, safe to fail, and there is a tremendous amount of camaraderie and a spirit of collaboration and cooperation, which I believe is unique, certainly different from other schools where there is a competitive atmosphere. And that creates this kind of baseline of freedom and willingness to be yourself and to contribute and work on a team, but also to do your own thing and feel okay about it. It’s that combination of the intentional community that fosters enjoyment in the achievement of others and also provides a common base of knowledge that allows students to develop real curiosity and courage and then be inspired to make a contribution. When they make a contribution it doesn’t flow according to the narrow channels that some high school administrator has laid down. Take student council, we don’t do that, and one way to look at it is to say students are very limited because they can’t be student body president. But in my view, student body president is the most limited possible expression of responsibility. In some schools it serves to dilute student activism because you take a student’s energy and initiative and channel it into very narrow acceptable window of organizing prom, dances, pep rallies, fundraisers. Whereas here, nobody’s off the hook; we expect everyone to be a leader. We expect everybody to contribute.

Upper School Director Ben Lee, with Julia M ’15 and Graham P. ’15

A culture of courtesy

And we expect people to be courteous and kind to each other; we talk about it a lot, and students rise to the occasion. Of course they appreciate it themselves— they like being treated with respect. It’s in the air. Students watch how other students behave—they’re all anthropologists from the moment they enter the building for the first time, they look around to see how we behave, how do we do things here? What is our culture? And what they observe, they then participate in themselves. So we foster a culture of safety and respect by modeling; by explicit exhortations from the faculty; and through a lot of conversation. That’s what we want people to do: talk to each other—we spend a lot of time encouraging that and doing that.

Sophia S. ’16

When there is a problem, usually it’s because conversation has broken down in some way, so our solution is to restart the conversation and keep talking. It is our expectation that everyone will follow some kind of passion of their own, many of them will do it while they’re here, many will do it elsewhere after they’ve left us, but they will carry with them that spirit of being supported by an intentional community, and their blood will run with intellectual courage and the desire to make an individual contribution.

TWITCH.COM

Emmett Shear ‘01

CEO, TWITCH A

bright new star recently exploded in the vast universe of cyberspace. It’s called Twitch (twitch.tv), a San Francisco-based social network for gamers. Sixty million unique users visit the site every month to watch and interact with more than one million broadcasters who are streaming live video feeds of the games they are playing, The Twitch broadcasting and viewing app is also available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 platforms, and various mobile devices.

“We started working on Twitch three years ago—it was fantastic to see the company grow and reach so many people,” says Twitch CEO Emmett Shear ’01, speaking from his office in San Francisco. Twitch’s growing popularity recently caught the attention of Internet giants. In August 2014, Amazon bought Twitch for $970 million. “The sale was not

something I was looking for originally,” testifies Emmett. “I was thinking more about the company and the customers than about exiting—but it’s good news financially.”

Pioneering new worlds Twitch is actually Emmett’s third startup innovation. After graduating from Yale in 2005, with a degree in Computer Science, he immediately co-founded his first company, Kiko Software. Kiko introduced the first Ajax-based online calendar. Ajax has come to represent a broad group of web technologies that allows users to communicate directly with servers behind the scenes, making updates and changes without interfering with the current state of the page. After auctioning Kiko on eBay in 2006, Emmett jumped into another startup. This time it was Justin.tv, a website created by Emmett and three colleagues that pioneered live video on the Internet. Justin.tv user accounts were called channels, like those on YouTube,

and users could broadcast a wide variety of original video. Because Emmett liked to watch the video game-playing broadcasts on Justin.tv, he noticed this type of content was building momentum “We dug into it further and asked the users questions about what they cared about and wanted. Then we built a platform that made it easy for them to share videogames—it was the key feature they needed,” says Emmett. Thus, Twitch was born, complete with unique streaming-video technology. In February 2014, Twitch and Justin.tv’s parent company was rebranded as Twitch Interactive.

Risk taking and research According to Emmett, entrepreneurship is exhilarating, and also, not for the faint-of-heart. An entrepreneur must have an “appetite for risk” and, at the same time, a devotion to discipline. “It’s about noticing what you like and

letting your intellect and curiosity pull you that direction,” says Emmett. Hundreds of hours went into research before he launched any of his startups. “It takes qualitative analysis—you make a spreadsheet, you build a model. And finally there’s a creative problem-solving component—you must figure out what the solution is to solve the problem.”

Stretching the mind In college, Emmett soaked up computer science skills, but the development of his growth mindset and creative thinking skills began in high school. “The education I got at Northwest was personally enriching and mind-opening to the possibilities in the world,” recalls Emmett, whose younger brother Adam ’05 also graduated from Northwest. “The atmosphere was very encouraging for intellectual and artistic development.” Emmett credits The Northwest School for being a safe environment in which he could try new things. He was encouraged as a student to tackle independent projects, which challenged him to stretch himself. Not only did he try new things, he failed and tried again. “One of the key meta-skills I got from Northwest was to not beat myself up when I didn’t succeed on the first try, but to use it as a teachable moment,” confirms Emmett. “When I did my first startup I didn’t know how to do any of it—but I was self-critical and I learned from it.”

Independent thinking Aside from being challenged both intellectually and creatively at Northwest, Emmett says he gained valuable lessons from the school’s culture. He still draws from these lessons today. “The Environment Program gave a really strong message—it was a key part of caring, cooperation, leadership, and believing in teamwork,” says Emmett. “Being prepared for college was one thing—Northwest certainly did that for me—but more than that, I graduated from Northwest prepared to think for myself.”

M Thirty Acres Restaurant

Alex Pemoulie (Magnan-Wheelock) ’02

Founder, Thirty Acres Restaurant; Director of Finance, Momofuku A chance for growth I n January 2014, when Forbes released its third annual 30 Under 30 Who Are Changing the Although Momofuku was a small operation at the time and the job was for an office assistant, World, a list of young stars in 15 fields, Alex Alex was on the lookout for opportunity. Shortly Pemoulie ’02 was on the list. Recently, Alex after she started the job, she saw that no one founded Thirty Acres, a contemporary upscale was doing the books. restaurant, with her husband Kevin. Located in “I’ve always liked math, so I nominated myself,” Jersey City, the tiny bistro was funded in part recounts Alex. “I saw it as a way to be important by Kickstarter, and features American food with in the company.” seasonal dishes made from local products. Alex quickly learned bookkeeping from the comFans describe the restaurant as “fresh” and pany’s accountant, and then, Momofuku offered “eclectic,” and testify that the long lines are to send her to business school. Today, Alex holds “worth the wait.”

Today, when running a meeting with six people, where everyone has different ideas and reasons for “wanting what they want,” Alex is able to gain consensus.

“It’s going really well—when we opened we had lines around the block, and now we’re crowded on weekend nights and we’re hitting our sales goals,” says Alex, speaking from her Jersey City home.

Alex also credits NWS for the confidence she brings to her multiple roles as entrepreneur and financial director.

Managing Thirty Acres is only one of Alex’s consuming responsibilities. As she speaks on the phone she is cradling her five-week-old daughter, Vivian. Also, she serves as director of finance at Momofuku, a group of award-winning restaurants in New York City, Toronto, and Sydney, Australia. Currently, she oversees projections, budgets, and costs of -Momofuku’s ten restaurants. “After college, I thought I was going to be a writer,” says Alex, who graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in International Relations. “Because I’d always worked in restaurants, I decided to write about food, and got a job at an online restaurant magazine. Then I saw an ad for a job at Momofuku and I was intrigued.”

an MBA from New York University.

Finance the organic way Under Alex’s watch, Momofuku has become a model for business in the New York area. It uses a hub and spoke approach, where the office is the hub and the spokes are the restaurants. Explains Alex: “Our office does all the business for the restaurants so they can concentrate on doing the food and customer service. It’s very organic: the focus is on creative food, pleasing customers, and making people happy. Our job in the finance department is to figure out how to make it work financially.” The fact that she studied liberal arts in high school and now succeeds in finance and commerce is not a surprise, according to Alex. “My education at NWS prepared me really well for what I’m doing now,” she says. “I have strong communication and critical thinking skills, thanks to the Humanities classes at NWS. They encouraged me to not only read something but to be critical about it.”

Says Alex: “I have the skill to be able to discuss things at length and get to a solution. I learned that at NWS.”

Courage, confidence, and courtesy

“When I graduated from NWS, I wasn’t embarrassed to talk about things or to have ideas,” says Alex. “I left there feeling I could do anything. That was especially important to me as a woman.” Recently, Alex co-founded a women-in-hospitality group in New York City, called the Toklas Society, for inspiring and networking with women in the restaurant industry. She is making plans to start a chapter in Seattle. As she manages the demands of Thirty Acres customers and continues to lead Momofuku staff, Alex often calls up a central tenet she learned at The Northwest School. “I tell people all the time that my high school motto was ‘courtesy and common sense’,” says Alex. “I talk about this with my staff and say, over and over, courtesy and common sense are all you really need.”

TRIPPING.COM

Colin Gardiner ‘05

Director of Product, tripping.com I f you’re planning a trip to any part of the world, the first place to start is www. tripping.com. Tripping is the world’s largest search engine for vacation and short-term rentals. It works with top organizations, including universities, travel groups, and international volunteer organizations, and aggregates many sites into one-stop shopping. Visitors to the site have access to 1.5 million rental properties in 50,000 cities.

Colin Gardiner ’05, tripping.com’s Head of Product, is in charge of building the website’s new product features and tracking. He joined tripping.com very early on in its development and is pivotal in what the website looks like today. As the first product employee at the company, he has seen tripping.com grow from four to ten employees.

Colin G. ‘05, on the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run from Squaw Valley to Auburn, CA, 2014

“We’ve seen impressive growth—it’s starting to skyrocket,” confirms Colin, who says he thrives on building successful products from the ground up. “It’s an awesome experience to see that all the work you’re doing is actually working. What drives me is that we solve a major problem for people.”

The spirit of an entrepreneur Colin was personally inspired to solve a frustrating problem for travelers. He and his wife, Justinia, are runners, skiers, and avid world travelers (Colin is an ultra-runner, Telemark skier, and fly-fisherman). “Before tripping.com, I was spending endless hours searching a lot of separate websites for unique places to stay and not finding what I wanted,” testifies Colin. “Where you stay can make or break your travel experience, both in terms of budget and enjoyment.”

After graduating from Willamette University with degrees in Math and Economics, Colin headed to San Francisco where he worked at the Federal Reserve as a research associate in the Labor Microeconomics research division. In 2012, he jumped into the tech world and into startups, serving as a senior analyst at Just Answer (also known as Pearl.com). Two years later he was senior product manager at Ancestry.com., where he led a team of developers. In 2013, he grabbed the opportunity to work at tripping.com.

Seeing what others don’t When asked what makes a successful entrepreneur, Colin answers instantly: “Drive—you’ve got to want it. Without that, you’re not going to take the risk to go after it.”

out and be independent. Even going to the store and buying food and supplies—they trusted you to do that and make wise decisions.”

At the same time, Colin quickly adds that drive alone is not enough. An entrepreneur must be pragmatic and have the ability to spot an opportunity.

Colin also values the relationship he had with many NWS teachers. He was both inspired and guided by their individuality and example.

“Seeing something that other people miss is crucial,” states Colin. “A lot of times people don’t recognize a problem, even if they experience it.”

“Many of the teachers are great characters—Mark Terry, Erica Bergamini, Tamara Bunnell, Adina Meyer, our soccer coach Jeff Blair—they were all interested and invested in the success of their students. They spent a lot of time with us.”

Individuality and independence His ability to see a problem and act on it was developed at The Northwest School. “Self-agency is definitely something I got out of Northwest,” testifies Colin. “I went with (science teachers) Herb and Erica Bergamini up into the Cascades on camping trips and got opportunities to go

Colin on his honeymoon in Dubai, 2013

According to Colin, NWS did a great job of giving him the foundation to go out in the world and be successful. When he graduated, he was a wellrounded person with knowledge of life beyond the school. “That was one of the greatest assets I walked away with,” confirms Colin. “NWS prepared me not just for my job, but for the world.”

Oceania Eagan ’96

Founder, Creative Director, BLINDTIGER Design

n 2013, Oceania Egan ’96 seized “‘Do the best you can in the time available’—It’s a rare week when I’m an opportunity to start her own not saying that,” testifies Oce. “My creative agency. With 12 years of people have to maximize what they marketing and design experience, do and come up with really amazing she took her existing clients and solutions within a specific timespan— creative team and split off from a it may be four hours or four days.” company she was working for to launch BLINDTIGER Design. BLINDTIGER Design bills itself as a creative agency dedicated to the unique needs of the craft beverage industry. It provides brand identity, logo design, illustration, web design, marketing materials, custom lettering, and copywriting to breweries, distilleries, and other craft producers. “We’ve only been in existence for a year but we have deep experience,” says Oceania, who goes by Oce (pronounced ósh) for short. She manages a staff of 12, including an art director and several designers responsible for creative execution, a copywriter and marketing person, and an account-management group, which handles the client relationship and project management.

Rolling up your sleeves When identifying what is essential to being an entrepreneur, Oce names passion, confidence, fearlessness, and a willingness to roll up your sleeves. Each of these qualities, she says, she absorbed from the culture at The Northwest School.

“I think of my core team as chameleons,” says Oce, who oversees all brand strategy. “One brewery may be traditional and need a watercolor, another may be graphic and clean and contemporary—it’s about responding to what “I witnessed teachers who were passioneach company needs.” ate and capable—they were true role models,” says Oce. “And no one was too good to wash a toilet,” she adds, Delivering on deadline referring to the school’s Environment Currently, BLINDTIGER has clients in Program, which engages faculty and Denmark, England, Australia, and students in cleaning the school campus many in the United States, including three times a week. “There was deficompanies in Florida, North Carolina, nitely no room for ‘that’s not my job.’ California, Colorado, and Ohio. Recently, You were being taught by teachers BLINDTIGER rebranded Seattle Distilling who embraced this ethic.” on Vashon Island, as well as many After graduating from Northwest, Oce Seattle breweries, including Reuben’s earned an illustration degree from Brews, Schooner Exact, and Bale Seattle’s Cornish School for the Arts. Breaker. She received the highly selective According to Oce, the success of her Kreielsheimer Foundation Scholarship, business hangs on two things: creativity a regional arts award given to one and practicality. When a new job comes person annually from the four different in, she often evokes the words of the artistic disciplines. The award supported late Paul Raymond, NWS co-founder her entire college education. and Humanities teacher.

Seeing and seizing opportunity Right after college, Oce worked as a freelance commercial illustrator, specializing in paper sculpture. She designed posters for The Center for Wooden Boats, International Kite Festival, and Salmon Days Festival, among others, and participated in gallery shows in Seattle and the surrounding area. Between assignments, she substituted for NWS art teacher Sandy Nelson, teaching art classes and jump starting NWS’s Communication Design class. She also coached the NWS Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team. But as much as she loved teaching and coaching, she longed to be in the commercial world. When she saw a job posting for Taphandles, a Seattle startup company focusing on the beer industry, she grabbed it. “Back then there weren’t hundreds of breweries—the industry was young. I saw they needed marketing chops,” recalls Oce. “Beer had to have a brand, a full presence, a strategy and story— that’s where I stepped in.”

The beauty of balance Oce is married to Chaz Welsh ’97, coach of the NWS Girls’ Basketball Team, and they have three boys: eightyear-old twins, Carlo and Nico, and eighteen-month-old Theo. “Chaz and I were one of those golden pairs that came out of Northwest,” Oce says with a smile. One of the things Oce likes best about being her own boss is that she can balance work and family and also make good decisions about her business. “I care about creating an environment where people on my team can be passionate about what they are doing,” she says. “I feel it’s possible to have a melding of work and family. My kids come down and hang out at the studio—they know I’m excited about what I’m doing. It loops back to that holistic thinking at Northwest. It’s all one big thing.”

Graduation! E

ighty NWS seniors earned diplomas on June 10, 2014, at our 34th annual graduation ceremony at Town Hall. Head of School Mike McGill began the event by addressing the capacity crowd with heartfelt remarks, followed by student performances and various speeches from students and faculty.

“We graduate tonight with an understanding that the purpose of school is not to give tests to measure our intelligence or knowledge,” said student speaker Gabe J. ’14, “but to provide a place where we can actively question, engage,

and discover. We are unafraid to ask questions. We embrace that feeling of not knowing.” For the greater NWS community, it was closure on a year of transformation, which saw the opening of our new facility at 401 E Pike and departure of Alan Braun, beloved Assistant Head of School, for a new position at Valley School in Seattle. The ceremonies included several musical performances (ukulele, saxophone, voice, electric guitar), performing arts performances (dance, mime, spoken word), and ended with grads throwing their caps triumphantly into the air.

Class Notes

Rene Hart ’84

Leslie Young ’86

After graduating from NWS, I headed to the East Coast to attend Berklee School of Music, and then moved to New York. I currently live in Brooklyn, NY, and have two wonderful children who are 12 and 9 years old. I feel lucky to be in the middle of a fun career playing music (mostly on the upright bass), and to have performed with a wide range of inspiring people, from Pete Seeger to Branford Marsalis. Music has taken me to so many interesting places, geographically and otherwise, and I’m thankful that I still have the drive to improve everyday as a musician and human being. Every once in a while I find myself performing with NWS alumni, which is always a joy. I want to let everyone know: On December 27, 2014, I’ll be performing my own music at the Royal Room in Seattle. I’m going to have surprise special guests, including some NWS alumni. Come on down, have some food and a good time!

This June, I finally completed a BA in Urban Studies with a minor in Law and Policy, at UW Tacoma. I’m still working in my real estate business (celebrated 10 years in the business this year) and am looking at community development and property development opportunities. I am continuing to fall in love with Tacoma after 12 years here! Come visit and see what’s going on in our fair city! I also sent my firstborn daughter off to college a few short weeks ago. Amanda is attending California Lutheran University, and my youngest, Grace, attends SOTA (School of the Arts) here in Tacoma, which is a public arts-focused school with many similarities to The Northwest School.

December 27, 2014 Rene Hart and friends www.royalroomseattle.com 5000 Rainier Ave, Seattle WA (206) 906-9920

Elizabeth Perera ’85

Melissa Enger ’94

Elizabeth Perera ’85

The arts continue to be a great passion of mine, and I’m fortunate to be working at Edmonds Center for the Arts as their Director of Advancement & Communications. I’m excited to be pursuing music again and happy to announce an upcoming gig at Egan’s in Ballard on Nov. 5, 2014, at 7pm, featuring a stellar trio! Life is good.

Melissa Enger ’94 We are currently homeschooling our 5th grader for the first year! It’s crazy and exhilarating, and the perfect fit for us. We also have a trip to Yachats planned for our much-delayed honeymoon later next year, which is exciting. Other than that, I’m working hard on taking care of myself, and finding new solutions to help deal with my fibromyalgia.

Patrick Dench ’96 I’m working as a developer for a small company. Our two-year-old son, Darian, just welcomed his little brother, Carter, on August 20th. In addition to all the fun of a newborn and a two- year-old, this winter I’m coaching two hockey teams: one travel U12 boys team and the local high school varsity team.

Fleur Larsen ’97 I am currently completing my executive master’s in Public Administration at UW and love it! It’s awesome to be a student again.

Fleur Larsen ’97

Hyun-Oh Kim ’99 I am currently serving as a consul for political affairs at the Republic of Korean Consulate General in Honolulu, Hawaii. A couple of months ago I visited Seattle, and it reminded me of my days at the NWS!

Ani Raymond ’99 I have now spent more than a decade working in three New York City public schools, each with a distinct focus: special needs, the environment, and inclusive education. Over that time, we have witnessed a national overhaul of standards, and large-scale reform movements that include the proliferation of charter schools, high stakes testing, and revamped teacher evaluation. The incredibly complex question of how to reform public education in this country enthralls me, and my experience to date has whetted my appetite for more. Recently, I began a school leadership residency program funded by the Wallace Foundation to further explore school and systemic dysfunction from the perspective of a school leader. Ultimately, I hope to cultivate a Northwest School-caliber educational approach in the schools where students need it the most.

Ani Raymond ’99

Holly Sabin Houston ’99 My husband and I just moved to the Pacific Northwest after many years in Chicago, where we owned a gallery and frame shop. We are happily living on Vashon Island, and I just landed the position of Program Director for Vashon Artists in Schools (VAIS) at Vashon Allied Arts. VAIS connects regional professional artists with Vashon public school classrooms for enriching and challenging artist residencies. I’m very excited for this new role working for arts education.

Holly Sabin Houston ’99

Class Notes

Twan Claiborne ’03, with sister LaNika Knight ’06

Jaki McQuiston (Dixon) ’01

Rohan Gibb ’03

Devin McQuiston and I married on June 28th in Plain, Washington. Devin is a Seattle Prep and Seattle University grad and he partners with his brother as an appraiser at Alpine Appraisal Group. It’s safe to say that we won’t be leaving Seattle. Sara Hallihan (Blaski) ‘01, Mimi Johnson (Peterson) ’01, Lynda Turet ’01, and Nick Eaton ‘03 (Devin’s cousin) were all part of our bridal crew.

I have just started law school at Seattle University with the help of a merit scholarship. I am particularly interested in criminal defense and in becoming a public defender.

Twan Claiborne ’03

Malaika Schwartz ’05 Ajan Brown ’04

I am currently in my third year of teaching in New York City after finishing my master’s in Special Education at Hunter College. I switched from high school in the Bronx to middle school in Brooklyn, which is a huge step. Because I ruptured my Achilles tendon playing dodgeball (though I am still on the Board as Operations Manager for Dodgeball for Big Apple Rec Sports), dancing is not happening, sadly. However, I revisited my viola, something I missed dearly over the years, and I am working on my drag persona: LaLa Lingua. If any NWS alums are ever in New York City and love unlimited brunches, send me a line via Facebook or my email: twan.claiborne@gmail.com.

Jaki McQuiston (Dixon) ’01

Ajan Brown ’04 My wife, Jayme Ballard of Vancouver, WA, and I were married on September 2, 2014, in Paris, France. We now reside in Arlington, VA.

Stephen Ebrey ’05 I am an early employee at Adcolony, a company which just sold for up to $350 million to Opera Software. I’m using my stock option payout to buy a condo in West LA, and am staying with the company for the foreseeable future.

Malaika Schwartz ’05 I graduated this June with my MPH (master’s in Public Health) in Epidemiology from the University of Washington. Since then, I’ve been working at the Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center (HIPRC) as a research consultant and communications officer, where I’m using both my analytical and creative skills to assist with the creation of a national traumatic brain injury research database, and to update the graphics and communications materials for the center. I’m also working on the development of a reproductive health fair event for adolescents, for which NWS faculty Amy Berner-Hays and Megan Reibel were kind enough to let me talk to the NWS Peer Mentors last spring. In my spare time, I’ve been working on an art series, which I hope to show at a local coffee shop in the near future.

Catherine Pratt ’06 After Northwest, I pursued a degree in Near Eastern Languages at the University of Washington, where I focused on Arabic and Turkish. I spent my senior year abroad in Egypt and Turkey, and remained abroad working mainly in Cairo, Egypt, and Juba, South Sudan, for three years. I am currently living in New York City, pursuing a MPA-DP at Columbia University. Highlights from my time abroad include experiencing Egypt’s January 25th uprising firsthand, witnessing South Sudan’s first independence celebration, and trekking with my family in the Nepali Himalayas.

Tiva F. Hoshizaki ’07

Tiva F. Hoshizaki ’07 I am back in the country after graduating last year from Veterinary School at Massey University in New Zealand. I also finished a one-year Internship at Cornell in June, and am now starting a two-year residency program in Shelter Medicine. My NZ collies, Atlas and Sadie, now enjoy skijoring around Ithaca, NY, and are adjusting to the variety of mammals in the woods and to my affection for disadvantaged, senior cats.

Annie Loggins ’07 I just returned from six months in Madagascar following three different lemur species around the rainforest for a behavioral ecology study. Along with reminiscing about Primate Biology, I heard deafening lemur alarm calls, petted aye-ayes (pictured), played with chameleons, and chatted, danced, and sang with the awesome Malagasy guides. I am now researching Wildlife Biology graduate programs in between sorting lemur photos.

Annie Loggins ’07

Catherine Pratt ’06

Class Notes

Grace Lehman ’10

Carson Robinson ’08

Kayla Meyers ’09

I am entering my second year of the master’s program at the Columbia University School of Social Work. Specifically, I am being trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, an empirically supported treatment for borderline personality disorder, and am working with female inmates on Rikers Island.

I just finished my MAT degree in Elementary Education at the University of Puget Sound. After graduating, I was hired at James Sales Elementary School in South Tacoma. I am teaching 4th grade and absolutely love it!

Mohammed Alhamidi ’09 I just landed an internship with the Executive Bureau for the acceleration of aid absorption and support for policy reforms in Yemen. In this role, I’m helping Yemen fight corruption, introduce policy reforms, and improve the overall situation there.

Brisa Halviatti ‘09

Kayla Meyers ‘09

Last year, I graduated from University of San Diego with a degree in Economics and Sociology. Upon graduation, I joined Teach for America, and was placed in San Jose to teach middle school math. I was surprised at my placement, since TFA is intended to serve high-needs communities, but quickly realized that despite its connection to the tech-industry, San Jose has an enormous opportunities gap on its East side. I am now in my second year as a 6th grade mathematics teacher, and I love getting to work with some of the brightest minds I’ve ever met. While the wealth disparities are alive and well, there is no doubt that all my students are future scholars, just like all of us NWS alums. A huge shout-out to Tamara Bunnell and David Matlock— you guys were a big inspiration during my time at NWS, and have definitely helped me get to where I am today!

The entire Yemen Executive Bureau team after a follow-up meeting with the government and donor community. Mohammed Alhamidi ’09 is third from the right in the last row.

Benjamin (Ben) Duchin ’10 I graduated from Whitman College in 2014, and am now gainfully employed at AT&T, living and working in Redmond.

Kevin (André) Edwards ‘10 I have enrolled in an Electrical Engineer -ing Associates Degree program and have been working as an IT tech for a small Internet company for over six months now. Once I’ve completed my associate’s degree I plan to get a BA in Electrical Engineering.

Grace Lehman ’10 This past June, I graduated from Santa Clara University with a BS in Anthropology. I decided to take some time off and travel to see the world, hoping to discover my next step. I spent six weeks in Europe exploring Portugal, Spain, France, Northern Italy, Wales, and London. From there, I flew to Kampala, Uganda, to search for a school I could volunteer at to gain experience teaching children, as well as to figure out what ages I feel most comfortable/passionate about teaching. I am currently at PEAK Kindergarten (in Uganda, kindergarten refers to school for ages six years and below, comparable to preschool/ daycare in the U.S.) volunteering primarily in the 0-3-year-old classroom as well as with individual children ages 4-5 who have learning disabilities. I am looking forward to these next two months to observe and be a part of the progress of these children, with respect to their emotional and educational development.

Emily (Elk) Paauw ’10 I enrolled in Simon Fraser University’s World Literature Program, in Vancouver, BC, upon graduation from NWS. After two years, I transferred to University of Washington, where I graduated with a BA in Philosophy. I am now living in Santa Rosa, CA.

George Felton ’11

Alexander (Alex) Martinez’s record label

I spent the spring of my junior year at Whitman studying abroad in Greece. I really enjoyed living there and experiencing modern Greek culture and cuisine. Being able to visit the historical sites I have been studying for three years as a Classics-Philosophy double major was incredibly rewarding. I then used my summer to travel to Romania and volunteer on an archaeological excavation!

Zachary Schneider ’12 I have transferred from Worcester Polytechnic Institute back to Seattle, and am thrilled to be a new transfer student at Cornish School for the Arts. I’ll be pursuing my BFA in Theatre, Film, and Technology, finally combining my love of science and the arts!

Alexander (Alex) Martinez ’13 I have been studying music in London for a few months now and it has been life-changing. I recently started my own record label, AEVUM Records, with our first release scheduled for mid-2015. Life is moving at light speed!

Michael McCaffrey ’14

Nicholas Schneider ’13 I began my sophomore year at University of Redlands pursuing a degree in Global Business. I studied abroad at Franklin College in Switzerland this summer, traveling also to Italy and Spain and continuing now into my 7th year of Spanish!

Michael McCaffrey ’14 I spent my summer after graduation both traveling across the globe and within the United States, as well as close to home. I began my summer travels in England and Italy with fellow NWS alum Noah Litov ’14, followed by camping in Georgia with friends. I also worked on the Olympic peninsula at Camp Parsons and enjoyed time with family in Minnesota and Kansas. Most recently, I completed a three-day trip to Montana to tour the Little Bighorn battle site as well as portions of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It was a good summer!

Emily (Elk) Paauw ’10

Alumni Happenings

Participants at the reunion of NWS Classes ’81, ’82, ’83, and ’84

Founders Dinner Classmates from the classes of ’81, ’82, ’83, and ’84 came together with faculty members Lisa Blodgett, Glen Sterr, Mark Terry, and Mike McGill, Head of School, for a special evening at the NWS school campus on June 6, 2014. Participants enjoyed dinner in the Upper Hall, followed by a tour of the school led by Mark. Lisa shared, “The event made me feel things had come full circle to see all these fabulous adults who seemed to have real affection for us and each other.” She also contributed to the humor and fun of the evening by bringing her old gradebook from those early years and sharing each of her student’s grades or assignments they hadn’t turned in!

Delicious food and delightful conversation were enjoyed at the Founders Dinner in the Upper Hall.

Class of ’84 Happy Hour gathering on Capitol Hill. Left to right: Regan Rea, Maria Braganza, Anne Phillips, Niel Smith, Ruth Bell, and Anita Nadelson

NWS Class of â&#x20AC;&#x2122;94 enjoying their family-friendly summer reunion weekend. Far back (in pink): Ben Olsen; Back row, left to right: Heather Galvin, David Hernstron, Igor Dralyuk, Jake Winkler, Seth Adkins, Barry Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hara Front row, left to right: Melissa Enger Dedmen, Eva Moore, Anne (Chandler) Fordham, Esther Emery, Jessie Gramling, Carie (Nyman) Olsen, Maria (Strugov) Dura, Nicole Hollinsworth

1994 Class Reunion Members of the fabulous Class of 1994 enjoyed a weekend of catching up in late August. About 20 members were around for some part of the weekend, which included a bouncy house, barbecue dinner, camp-out, campfire after the kids were in bed, and a lazy Sunday of playing and conversation. Many classmates brought spouses and children, the latter of which made the most of playing in the creek and canoing. Special thanks to Ben Olsen for hosting at his beautiful home, Carie Olsen and Jake Winkler for helping to plan and prepare, Glen Sterr for representing the faculty, and class members for bringing a delicious array of food and drink!

Alumni Happenings Come see some serious hoop action on the NWS court at the Alumni Basketball Game on Friday, Jan. 2, 2015!

Upcoming Events 2004 Class Reunion Save the date for the 2004 Class Reunion on Saturday, December 20! NWS alumnae, Nica Horvitz ’04 and Melody Moruarte ’04, are currently planning the gathering, including a cocktail party and NWS tour open to ’04 alumni families and their parents. Email Melody at moruarte@gmail.com with questions.

11:00 am

Family-friendly tour of NWS 4:00 pm

Class of ’04 Happy Hour, Black Bottle, Belltown Alumni Basketball Game Start the new year off right with the NWS alumni basketball game. The NWS mens’ alumni record in this face-off is proving that age is just a number. Come see if the womens’ team can support that theory as well. Mingle with faculty, fellow alums, and current NWS athletes, and see the amazing new NWS court while showing your support for NWS alumni players. With your presence and loud cheering, maybe, just maybe, both alum teams will take the games by storm this year!

January 2, 2015 401 E. Pike building

5:30 pm

NWS alumnae vs. NWS varsity girls

7:30 pm 36

NWS alumni vs. NWS varsity boys

Mission Statement The Northwest School offers a faculty who engage each student in sequential, cross-disciplinary study in the Humanities, Sciences, and the Arts. We are a diverse community of people who challenge each other to learn in a healthy, creative, and collaborative atmosphere of respect for ourselves, others, and the environment. We graduate students with historical, scientific, artistic, and global perspective,

Alumni Gatherings Bay Area Happy Hour Alumni in the Bay Area joined Mike McGill, Head of School, for happy hour in San Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mission district on Monday, April 28th, 2014.

Add to the Archives!

enabling them to think and act with integrity, believing they have a positive

Members of the NWS Alumni and Development Team

impact on the world.

(Left to right) Sarah Graham, Alumni Program Manager, Walter Long, Director of Development, Rose Bellini, Assistant Director of Development, Jessie Schreiber, Development and Volunteer Coordinator

We need more flashback photosâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;can you help us grow the NWS archives? Send your photos of NWS ev ents, festivals, community meetings, trips, or candid shots in the hallways to: alumni@northwestschool.org.

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The Annual Fund inspires Matlock Challenge:

Is This Your Card?

hat do the Annual Fund, a card trick, and algebra have in common? NWS math teacher David Matlock used the Annual Fund’s professional development support to attend the National Council of Teachers of Mathmatics Regional Conference, October 2013, in Las Vegas, Nevada. While there, he learned a card trick that he turned around as a challenge to his Algebra I class this fall.

“When I saw it done [at the conference], I spent the rest of the session trying to figure it out,“ says David. “Now I’m challenging my students to do the same.” Can you figure it out? Go to www.northwestschool. org/matlockchallenge to see the trick, and post your explanation on the NWS Facebook page, tagged #matlockchallenge.

Hint: It’s not magic, it’s math! Attendance at conferences is one of the ways that our teachers find inspiration to engage students with thought-provoking, hands-on teaching. For more information, go to: www.northwestschool.org/support/annualfund.