News and Notes

On April 7, 2021, the Northwest School gathered for a special Community Meeting celebrating the 40th anniversary of the school’s founding.

The virtual event kicked off with alumni Chaz Welsh ’97’s and Oce Eagan ’96’s children, Nico and Carlos, (known as The Welsh Sessions) playing instruments and singing “Happy Birthday” to the school. The floor then went to Cofounder Ellen Taussig, who (in a pre-recorded video) provided a bit of history about the first graduation of Northwest School seniors in 1980. Those 10 graduates walked down the aisle of the Upper Hall to receive their diplomas in a ceremony filled with musical performances.

Ellen was followed by Athletics Director Britt Atack who presented a history of the Northwest School athletics program. He featured abundant photos of some of the earliest sports teams at Northwest. The birthday Community Meeting concluded with long-time Humanities teacher Tamara Bunnell providing some context for the school’s room-naming conventions.

Happy birthday, Northwest!

Celebrating 40 Years of Community Meeting

After nearly an entire year of learning from home due to COVID-19, Northwest School students and faculty partially returned to campus for a hybrid learning experience at the start of Trimester 3.

Returning to the House required some orientation days for both students and faculty. In the weeks leading up to the switch to hybrid, Northwest offered multiple Mask On Join Other (MOJO) Days for each grade level. The purpose of the MOJO Days was both to provide some on-campus and in-person social exposure for students and to help orient and adapt to the new normal of a safely distanced classroom experience.

To ease into the process, Middle School students first attended on-campus hybrid learning on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Upper School students on Thursdays and Fridays. Throughout the trimester, students who wished to remain in remote learning were allowed to do so and they joined their classes synchronously through Zoom.

Noting the complexities that physical distancing presented for performing arts classes, Performing Arts Department Chair Jo Nardolillo created a performing arts rotation schedule for Wednesdays. Each week, the arts disciplines of dance, theater, and music had the option to participate in those classes on campus, allowing students to continue to engage in a critical part of The Northwest School educational experience.

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Northwest Students Return to Campus for Hybrid Learning

01 Community Meeting in the Commons,

circa 1990s

02 Community Meeting in the 401 Gymnasium, 2020

03 Beginning at top of staircase: Juno S. ’25,

Keefe S. ’25, Max M. ’25, Cara L. ’25,

Stella B. ’25 observe safe distancing as they descend from the Upper Hall during

MOJO day, March 2021.

Students Initiate School Plan for Carbon Neutrality

The NWS Carbon Neutrality Task Force had its first meeting in late April and plans to meet monthly through Fall 2021. To launch the Task Force, EIG students put out an open call for students, faculty, parents, guardians, and alumni to express interest in being a part of the group. The group is currently comprised of seven Upper School students, two parents/guardians, and four faculty who represent science, humanities, facilities and transportation, and environmental sustainability. The objectives of the Task Force include:

• Develop a comprehensive plan of strategies and actions that would enable The Northwest School to meaningfully achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

• Assess the physical and financial feasibility of such a plan.

• Create opportunities for meaningful engagement in the process (input, feedback, and evaluation) for The

Northwest School community.

• Effectively share the story of this work with our school and broader community to inspire action at other schools and organizations. Upper School students from the Environmental Interest Group (EIG) believe The Northwest School can be a leader in climate action and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. To that end, they developed a proposal for the school to adopt a goal of meaningfully going carbon neutral by 2030 and presented it to the Board of Trustees Facilities Committee. With support from that committee and school administration, the students created the NWS Carbon Neutrality Task Force to develop recommendations and assess the feasibility of the carbon neutrality goal.

Students cited the Northwest School’s core values and mission as driving the needs for institutional change and climate leadership.

“It is a complicated and complex process to figure out carbon neutrality and it is big enough to have an impact in the Seattle area and on other independent schools,” says junior Annika W. “If Northwest can accomplish this feat, we are setting a bar and providing a blueprint for others to follow.”

The Northwest School has long identified environmental sustainability as one of the most significant existential issues of its time. More recently, in the context of the 2018 United Nations IPCC report that demonstrates the need to dramatically reduce GHG emissions by 2030 to stave off the worst of climate change, and in parallel with its participation in the 2019 Global Climate Strike and moving the endowment to Environmental, Social, and Governance Screened investments, the school has emphasized climate change as one of the biggest social justice issue of our time (the global and local impacts of climate change disproportionately effect already marginalized communities, particularly Black, Indigenous, and people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and young people).

“While a single school cannot tackle climate change alone, the hope is to inspire other schools and organizations to take action and lead on aligning operations and business practices with contributing to a more just, equitable world and stable climate,” says Jenny Cooper, Director of Environmental Education and Sustainability, who is supporting the student effort to forge a path to meaningfully reducing GHG emissions. The EIG’s carbon neutrality proposal specifically calls for the school to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions within its direct control (such as school buses or natural gas to power the school) to zero by 2030. To achieve this goal, students propose focusing on reducing emissions as much as possible onsite and using certified, verifiable carbon offsets when a viable option for emissions reductions isn’t yet available. A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. The students stress that the focus is on directly reducing the school’s emissions rather than so-called “green washing,” which is maintaining carbon neutrality by relying solely on offsets. The reason for this focus is that offsets can have serious and complex negative impacts on social and racial justice.

According to the EIG proposal, offsets would still be used but only as temporary approach to address GHG emissions that the school has less control over and for which there are no viable options to directly reduce emissions. For example, the proposal calls for all emissions from student programs and administrative airplane trips to be offset by 2022, and all international student travel and domestic commuting offset by 2030.

“It is a lofty goal, but if we don’t start now, when are we going to start it?” says senior Iliana G. “For me as a senior, knowing we have younger members in the EIG who are able to continue the project and make it into something concrete ensures that our work will bring results.”

The carbon neutrality proposal was inspired by a project completed by Northwest School alumnae Jena Utaski ’20. Working with Jenny Cooper and other Northwest faculty members, Jena completed a greenhouse gas emissions inventory of The Northwest School.

To learn more about the Carbon Neutrality Task Force, or to express interest in joining it, please contact Jenny Cooper (jenny.cooper@ northwestschool.org).

The Northwest School community engaged in celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. The day began with Indigenous public speaker Lyla June and concluded with poet Yolanda Wisher.

Normally, the schoolwide event is organized by students. However, given the complexities of remote learning, the faculty members stepped forward to facilitate the day this year. Led by the Advancing Equity Team, faculty members presented over 20 workshops on a variety of subjects.

Lyla Jane, an Indigenous environmental scientist, doctoral student, educator, community organizer, and musician of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne), and European lineages, opened the day as the keynote speaker, describing her lived experiences and what the community can do to make Northwest a more inclusive space.

“One thing I would say, in terms of building a more equitable and inclusive school environment, is to challenge ourselves to break open our minds of what is possible,” Lyla told the community. “What counts as knowledge? What would the world look like if you are seeing it through my language, or Mandarin, or an Australian indigenous language? We can learn there are many ways of seeing and understanding reality, understanding the world, and understanding the Earth.”

After Lyla’s presentation, students chose from a wide range of workshops covering topics such as implicit bias, Black feminist literature, re-energizing allyship, explorations of sexuality, queerness, and race, and global voices within the Northwest community.

Math teacher Alex Chen led “Implicit Bias— The Hidden Biases of Good People.” Alex facilitated a similar workshop in previous years, but this year decided to tailor his presentation specifically to Middle School students. “Vocabulary around implicit bias and how to present it can be challenging for middle schoolers, but given the current events of our times, it’s necessary to begin to teach them that vocabulary,” says Alex. “My hope is that the students will come away with questions that lead to conversations, either among their peers or with their parents.”

Theatre teacher Ashleigh Bragg led a workshop called There is No Hierarchy of Oppressions— Audre Lorde: Mindfulness, Meditation, and Exploration of Sexuality, Queerness and Race. She chose the title because she felt it was important to talk to young people about the intersectionalities of oppression and how Audre Lorde’s work explores that topic deeply and vulnerably.

“What I want people to take away from my workshop is that there is a whole system designed to depend on us not knowing who we are, or hating our bodies or ourselves for being different from what is socially praised and historically and systemically uplifted,” says Ashleigh. “Different is beautiful and it should be celebrated. Our relationships to our sexuality and being racialized in this country is an ever-evolving journey, and being kind to ourselves and all of who we are is an empowering way forward.”

After the workshops, the community reunited to listen to poems from Yolanda Wisher, an African-American poet, educator, and spokenword artist, who served as Philadelphia’s Poet Laureate for 2016-17. Yolanda read both her published and unpublished poems, including “Mentoring Joy,” “Secret Garden,” and “The Potter’s Field.”

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Community Reflects and Learns Through MLK Day Celebration

01 Lyla Jane, Indigenous environmental

scientist, speaks at MLK Day,

January 2021.

02 Poet Yolanda Wisher reads her

published and unpublished poems to conclude MLK Day, January 2021.

Chemistry Students Examine Impact of Water Pollution

01 Shoreline of the polluted Duwamish

River, Seattle, 2018

02 Adrienne Hampton, Climate Policy and

Engagement Manager, Duwamish River

Cleanup

03 Gabrielle Farrell, former Press

Secretary for the Elizabeth Warren for

President Campaign

04 Harriet Morgan, Researcher, UW

Climate Impacts Group

01 W ater quality and its profound impact on human health was the focus of an integrated Chemistry assignment for juniors this year. The unit combined the science of ions and compounds with the study of water pollution and environmental racism in the world.

“We want the students to see what they are doing is applicable, important, and not just a stand-alone topic,” says Chemistry teacher Olivia Heeter. “You can learn about water quality through the context of ions only. But what about everything else, the harm to humans and the environment, and the bigger picture?”

To practice the science behind water quality, students took two samples from different sources and conducted a water quality test to identify what contaminants resided in the water. Then students researched a variety of subjects related to water quality, environmental racism, and social justice. These subjects included microplastics in alpine lakes and rivers, the lead contamination of the Flint Water Crisis, the history of pollution of the Duwamish River, among others. Students demonstrated what they learned by creating a video, podcast, news blog, or article.

Grace N. read articles about pollution in the Duwamish River, specifically one about BIPOC representation in science from the Delridge Neighbors Development Association. The article discussed how many of the environmental issues in the Delridge neighborhood, which is one of the most racially diverse in the city of Seattle, were being attended to by white environmentalists.

“As someone who is mixed race, hearing other people talk about lack of representation in both media and STEM fields is great to see,” says Grace. “People don’t talk about it much at all, but we need to acknowledge it is happening.”

Classmate Annika W. valued going beyond the standard labs and scientific studies of chemistry.

“A lot of times people learn about science, work in science, and teach science, and they strictly focus on that scientific perspective without thinking of the broader implications,” says Annika. “It is a good lesson for us to combine our labs with Humanities-like research. Science can’t simply be single-focused—it must consider communities, and social justice aspects.”

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Environmental and Climate Justice Speaker Series

Adrienne Hampton, the Climate Policy and Engagement Manager for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, joined Northwest School students, parents, guardians, faculty, alumni, and parents of alumni on Oct. 28, 2020 for the Environmental Sustainability Speaker Series.

“The series is through the lens of environmental justice and climate justice, and how these issues disproportionately impact already marginalized people,” says Director of Environmental Education and Sustainability Jenny Cooper, who organizes the series. “The series gives members of our community the opportunity to see how different professions have ways of engaging in the topics of environmental justice through university research, community organizing, city government, political campaigns, and a wide range of other sustainability practitioners.”

The event with Adrienne Hampton was the fourth in the series and the second one of the 2020-21 school year. Previous speakers include Lylianna Allala, the Climate Justice Director at the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment; Harriet Morgan, a researcher with the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group; and Gabrielle Farrell, the former press secretary for the Elizabeth Warren for President Campaign.

According to Jenny, the series is an opportunity to bring people together to learn about environmental sustainability and build community, using the resources available within the constraints of the pandemic. Held over Zoom, the series allows for a casual, yet informative discussion among people of different ages and backgrounds.

Students Amplify Internment Camp Stories

01 Historical photo of a Japanese-

American Internment Camp during WWII

02 Students performing in the

virtual Fall Music Concert,

December 2020

01 Eleventh grader Shoshana R. was one of several students who this year dove into the lives of Japanese-Americans incarcerated during WWII. Along with her classmates, she strove to tell a lesser-known story about the Japanese-American incarceration by the United States government.

Shoshana focused her required exhibit on the experience of females in the internment camps, informing on maternal healthcare, caring for children, acts of sexual violence and assault, and other difficulties faced by women.

“People usually learn about the living conditions and how harsh and bleak it was, but not about individual experiences,” says Shoshana. “I feel like, in general, women experience a lot of things that we don’t talk about, and I thought it was important to highlight this issue.”

According to Shoshana, one of the hardest parts of the project was finding the information. Eventually, she found some quality sources on The Densho Project website.

“The assignment wasn’t to tell the story of what happened, we already know that,” says Humanities teacher Curtis Hisayahu. “We wanted students to find a human-interest element, or some aspect of the process of incarceration that isn’t traditionally told, and amplify it. We wanted them to find their own small story to tell in the history.”

To prepare for the assignment, students read Miné Okubo’s graphic novel Citizen 13660, a biographical documentation of life inside one of the relocation centers. Then, browsing through archives of the Japanese-American incarceration from The Densho Project, Smithsonian Museum, and others, students created visual PowerPoints with information slides on subjects such as baseball, women’s rights, and entrepreneurship in the camps.

“We had to analyze everything so deeply, find our specific focus, and figure out how to tell the narrative,” says Shoshana. “I’m a visual learner, so I like this over writing a paper because all the same research and information is in the exhibit. It is just consolidated in a different way.”

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The Northwest School proudly presented its Fall Music Concert on Dec. 16, 2020. The virtual concert featured pre-recorded pieces played by Middle and Upper School students.

“We may be alone in our rooms, but we can still enjoy the magic of playing music together with a little help from technology,” says Orchestra teacher Jo Nardolillo. “I am particularly proud of how all our musicians broke down these barriers, poured their hearts into our work, and produced a powerful concert in spite of everything that is going on.”

Jo prepared the music for her students by uploading all of the individual instrument scores into a software program called Sibelius that mimics the instrument sounds and produces a pre-recorded computerized orchestra piece.

Students then practiced together by muting their microphones in the Zoom classroom and playing their individual parts in sync with the computer-generated score. This muting eliminated feedback issues and latency problems that occur when all microphones are on.

Despite the challenges of playing remotely, many students, such as senior Hana H., found growth as musicians.

Students Perform Powerful Virtual Concert

“I trust myself and my playing more now,” says Hana. “I only know what I think the music is supposed to feel like. Because I am by myself and I can’t hear the other students, all I can do is my best to bring out what I think is the proper emotion of the piece and trust that my classmates are doing that as well.”

In some ways, practicing for the performance during class was business as usual. Aviva L. ’25 noted that during class, Jo told only specific instruments to play various sections, just as she would do during an in-person class.

“All the work that Jo puts in to create the backing track with the individual instruments is incredibly helpful,” says Aviva. “It doesn’t replace being in person, but it is the next best thing.”

The Fall Music Concert included The Avengers: Endgame theme and other musical compositions such as “Carpathia,” by William Owens, the traditional American folk song “Oh Shenandoah,” and “Set Me as a Seal,” by René Clausen.

Nutritious Fare in a Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020 and The Northwest School shifted to remote learning, Director of Dining Services Bethany Fong and her team gathered to contemplate how they could still serve the school community. They looked at daily lunches, meal kits, and CSA-like boxes before settling on the House Specialty Program.

“Continuity, agility, and care for the community are three points that apply to the House Specialty Program,” says Bethany. “How are we caring for our faculty, community, and the farmers we purchase from? How are we agile, rethinking, and pivoting? How are we providing continuity?”

Once every week, the dining room faculty provided pre-made meals for five, featuring Northwest School favorites such as yakisoba and curry. Community members came to the school to pick up the meals or at one of six locations around the area.

From the very beginning, it was clear to Bethany that the pandemic would hit the food service industry disproportionately harder than other job sectors.

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“There were people on my team who were unsure if they were going to have jobs,” says Bethany. “In thinking about the big impact COVID has had on society and the inequities it brought to the table, it is important to recognize that The Northwest School is not immune to any of that.”

Bethany was able to recreate much of the Dining Program values in the House Specialty Program. From a sustainability standpoint, she committed to sourcing as many local ingredients as possible and assembling the meal kits with compostable packaging.

“The themes of having meaningful conversations, connecting, and sharing ideas, and hoping that families can use the dinner to take a pause, all of that is what we do daily at lunch,” says Bethany. “Everything from how we designed the packaging to how we are delivering reflects our values as a program.”

Recognizing that Northwest School families live all over the Seattle area, the dining services faculty loaded up a Northwest School bus each day of the week to deliver meals to families in Queen Anne, University Village, West Seattle, Crown Hill, Columbia City, and Bellevue.

A weekly newsletter echoed the daily information students normally see on the chalkboard while waiting in line at lunch. The newsletter included information about the meal, where the ingredients come from, and a “table-talk question” that came from the chalkboard’s question-of-the-day.

The program was very successful but not without its challenges. On top of continuing to provide meals for the students living in the dorm, Bethany’s staff increased their work load from cooking for 2,500 people per week to 4,000 per week. The increase in quantity reflected the expanded portion sizes for each serving. These larger portions made up for the fact that students no longer have access to soups, an expansive salad bar, or the WOW-butter sandwich station.

Challenges aside, Bethany and her team were pleased that families were sharing the lunch experience of their students.

“Before, lunch was something only students and faculty could experience, but this was an opportunity to include families,” says Bethany. “It is not often families get to be a part of the day-to-day life of the school.”

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01 Elham Kazemi (left) and her

daughter Neeku P. ’22 pick up take-out dinners, courtesy of the school’s House Specialty

Program, 2021.

02 Dining Services faculty Miguel

Mora packs salad in compostable containers for the weekly takeout dinners, 2021.

03 The Northwest School delivers

meals at one of six locations around Seattle, 2021.

04 One House Specialty meal,

enough to feed a family of five.

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