NWS Fall 2016 Magazine by The Northwest School

Growing Good Writers A Publication for Alumni & Friends

Fall / Winter 2016

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

www.northwestschool.org

Mike McGill Head of School Margie Combs, Editor Director of Communications Walter Long Director of Development Rose Bellini Assistant Director of Development Sarah Graham Alumni Program Manager Jen Schlobohm Development and Volunteer Coordinator Peter Woodburn Website and Digital Media Coordinator Contributing Writers Margie Combs Peter Woodburn Sarah Graham Walter Long Contributing Photographers Diane Cassidy Stefanie Felix Jenn Ireland Peter Woodburn NWS Faculty, Students, Parents Graphic Design Barbara Chin

Table of Contents 04

Head’s Message

FInding the Present in the Past

News and Notes

Global Symposium

Activism & Advocacy

Partnership with Heritage University

Interviewing WWII Vets

Runners Take State Championships

Environmental Education

Play Production: Nicholas Nickleby

Crates of Thunder Delights Audiences

ArtsFest 2016

Graduation 2016

Growing Good Writers

Alumni Profiles

Brian Reich ’96

Liz Mair ’96

Daniel Lathrop ’95

Dylan Meconis ’01

Reid Wilson ’01

Jeremy Miller ’89

Class Notes

Planned Giving: What is it?

Alumni Happenings

Northwest “ has long

embraced the commitment to develop and nurture in its students the capacity for authentic conversation— the ability to engage with one another, on the page or aloud. Mike McGill Head of School

”

head of our Board of Trustees’ annual retreat this fall, one of the guest speakers, Bob Dullea, Acting Provost at Seattle University, circulated an article he’d written that posed a provocative question to educators at every level: “Does it still make sense to study English in the age of apps?” To be honest, as a former undergraduate English major, I didn’t have to ponder my response for all that long, but I also couldn’t help feeling a bit, well, defensive. But then I recalled a conversation a couple of years ago at a luncheon with several Northwest School parentprofessors at the University of Washington. I had asked the group what they saw as the most important preparatory work secondary schools could be doing to get their students ready for college. Overwhelmingly, and regardless of discipline, they replied, “The ability to think critically and express their ideas effectively, both verbally and in writing.” These were the capacities that were both most crucial—and most lacking—in their own students. At the time, I remember being struck by one father/neuroscientist’s dismay that some of his brightest graduate students would likely not make it through his department’s doctoral program, not because they weren’t talented and smart, but because they were utterly incapable of sharing their thinking and discoveries with their fellow students and professors. He contrasted their struggles with his daughter’s growth as a writer at Northwest, noting that she had developed excellent habits—a commitment to drafting and revision, regular solicitation of feedback from second and even third readers; the technique of reading her own work aloud— which had resulted in increasingly sophisticated essays and, perhaps as important, a comfort with process. Further, in the course of all of that revising, she gradually discovered writing needn’t be painful or something to fear—and something even more exciting: her voice.

It’s reassuring that our colleagues on the university side continue to recognize the importance of this vital skill, long the province of the liberal arts, especially given the narrow, careerist focus of much of the current debate over the cost and value of higher education. As Kevin Alexander is fond of reminding us, Northwest has long embraced the commitment to develop and nurture in its students the capacity for authentic conversation—the ability to engage with one another, on the page or aloud. And we feel validated every winter as our most recent alums return to the House for a holiday visit and invariably mention how wellprepared they feel as writers. Instead of gasping in intimidation when the first syllabi are passed out freshman year, they’re more likely to shrug their shoulders and say, “No big deal.” Of course, that shouldn’t be surprising given the amount of practice and thoughtful feedback they get while they’re here. As you read the diverse profiles of alumni in the pages that follow, it’s clear that their time in the House helped to foster their love of, and talent for, writing, as well as that most important of companion skills, the ability to think—critically, empathetically (that is, from another perspective), creatively or imaginatively, logically, and with deep curiosity about the world. In the spirit of this edition of the magazine, we invite you to share your own stories with us. Get back in touch! Best wishes,

P.S. At an alumni gathering in Portland last month, a pair of classmates from the early aughts shared an incongruous image that has stuck with me ever since: that of learning to knit in Adina’s humanities class…as they watched A Clockwork Orange! I hope to see many more of you—and get some equally compelling images—at one of our upcoming gatherings in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Check with the Alumni Office for details.

Finding the Present in the Past

hallmark of The Northwest School is the Founders Library, a lively space marked by the artistic sign that hangs above its doors. When the Founders Library was opened in 2006, a committee was created to develop a commemorative piece of art celebrating the founders of The Northwest School, Paul Raymond, Ellen Taussig, and Mark Terry. Several students submitted drawings and a committee selected the artwork of Mika Little ’09. Mika collaborated with local artist and sculptor Steven Hirt to bring the design to life. Now, every morning at 7:30 am, the doors to the Founders Library swing open and stay open all day. Its warm humming atmosphere is largely due to the efforts of former Northwest School librarian Nancy Highiet. Nancy’s first day as librarian at the Northwest School was on April 2, 1990. She remembers the day vividly because it also coincided with her first wedding anniversary. Nancy started with limited materials and resources in what is now the Martin Luther King classroom on the school’s top floor, and presided over the transition to the library today. When Nancy retired in June 2016, she left a legacy and a space in the school that has become one of the busiest places in the building.

“From the day we moved into the Founders Library, it just worked,” says Nancy. “It felt like home and it was so welcoming. Everyone just loved it from the moment the doors were opened.” It was Ellen’s idea to always have the library doors open, despite the noise echoing in from the hallway. The open doors created an invitation for students to come in and learn. The first thing students see as they enter the library is the Warm Welcoming Table. Sitting in the very middle of the library, the table is often 02 populated by students doing homework, teachers meeting with students, or students and faculty members reading the newspaper. The table was Ellen and Paul’s old dining room table. It was never meant to be a permanent fixture, according to Nancy.

The Founders Library is a three-room complex, housing a quiet reading room and a computer lab, as well as a central area full of books. During Nancy’s tenure at The Northwest School, she helped facilitate the transition from piles of newspaper clippings to the digital realm of online databases. Students now have access to vast collections of information through sites such as JSTOR, an academic journal and reference resource. Nancy worked closely with the architects as they built the new library, making sure the design accommodated student needs and energy levels. She remembers the architects wanting to put in a rolling ladder along the bookshelf, like you might see in a bookstore, but she advised against this due to space restrictions and safety concerns. “It has always been about utilizing this space to the most potential,” says Nancy. “The Founders Library was created to provide a gathering space for students and faculty, and especially, to serve the community.”

“The idea was always to replace it, but instead we just kept on fixing it and fixing it. Somehow, it was the perfect table for that space.”

03 0 1 Library artwork by

Mika Little ’09 0 2 Librarian Nancy Highiet 0 3 An architect’s early rendering

of the Founder’s Library 0 4 The Warm Welcoming Table is 04

always a hub of activity.

Our First Global Symposium 0 1 From left: Kibur Adera (International

Leadership Academy of Ethiopia), Elisa Huang (Affiliated High School of National Chengchi University), Dawit Endale Alemayehu (International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia), Collete Schouppe (Lycee Emmanuel Mounier), Mike McGill (The Northwest School), and Carlos Villar Hernández (Centro Docente Maria), enjoy a meal during the symposium. 0 2 Northwest School Humanities

teacher Adina Meyer confers with Yuki Wen, English teacher at the Affiliated High School of National Chengchi University, Taiwan. 0 3 Dawit Endale Alemayheu, from

Ethiopia, shares curriculum ideas with Northwest School science teacher Cecilia Tung. 0 4 The participants in the

Global Symposium

he Northwest School held our first Global Symposium of Partner Schools on June 26 - July 1, 2016. Fifteen faculty members from four of our partner schools overseas gathered with Northwest School faculty to share curriculum ideas, visualize potential collaborative projects, and deepen connections.

“All of us gathered here share one very important trait: we are, every one of us, idealists,” said Mike McGill, Northwest’s head of school, during opening remarks. “We all believe in the power of education to make a meaningful difference in our students’ lives, but also, ultimately, in the state of the world.” Teachers and administrators from Lycée Emmanuel Mounier (LEM), Angers, France; Centro Docente María, Seville, Spain; The Affiliated High School of National ChengChi University, Taipei (AHSNCU); and the International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, participated in seminar sessions, community building exercises, and curriculum workshops.

News & Notes

“It was a rare opportunity to sit in a room with teachers from very diverse countries, from several disciplines, and talk about teaching: why we do it and how we do it,” says Sarah. “Many of us are looking forward to future collaborations!”

“It was exciting to see how easily the teachers representing different schools, cultures, and languages were able to connect with each other right away,” says Dmitry Sherbakov, director of the global program at The Northwest School. “The symposium proved how many great ideas will emerge if you gather together talented and passionate teachers from all over the world in the same room.”

Faculty from our partner schools and Northwest School teachers spent hours during workshops drafting concrete ideas and plans for future curriculum items. Humanities teacher Adina Meyer is planning on jointly reading The Yellow Wallpaper with Catherine Legendre from LEM to showcase different cultural interpretations of the same text. Humanities teacher Sarah Porter, Graziella Cournuault, from LEM, and Elise Huang, from AHSNCU, are developing a cultural cookbook that will share dishes, recipes, and stories created by the students at each school.

One of the highlights of the week was the keynote speech by Dr. Yong Zhao, director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education at the University of Oregon. Delivering his speech via Skype from Oregon, Dr. Zhao emphasized how the paradigm in teaching needs to shift as the world moves into what he called the fourth industrial age of technology and artificial intelligence. Much of the work done at the symposium showed that despite the range of cultural differences that exist in teaching all around the globe, current technology and some face-to-face time can easily bridge the gap and make a truly global curriculum feasible.

he Northwest School’s senior Writing Seminar and Race and Gender classes paired up in spring 2016 for what they called the Activism Project. The purpose of the project was to engage students in grassroots activism and demonstrate that real change can be accomplished on any level. It can be as simple as writing an editorial to a newspaper or printing a T-shirt to promote a cause.

“Activism is something we focus on in both of these classes; we dive deep into those heavy, personal, and systematic issues,” says Harumi LaDuke, who teaches the Writing Seminar. “The Activism Project is an extension of what we have been talking about historically, and also what the students have seen in the literature.”

Engaging in Activism and Advocacy

In addition to discussion and reading, students work in groups to complete projects related to issues of race, gender, identity, and justice. They start with a simple question: What are some ways you would like to create positive change? For the first part of the project, groups must create awareness and change in some way within The Northwest School community.

The projects focused on a wide variety of topics, from T-shirts benefiting the Black Lives Matter movement and Planned Parenthood, to a hosted evening discussion of bullying in schools. Other projects included a student-filmed documentary about core identifiers and a community-wide book discussion on systemic racial issues in America. Greta Zorn ’16, Alex White ’16, and Taya Christianson ’16 knew they wanted to focus on depoliticizing reproductive organs. They designed a T-shirt and were overwhelmed with the positive response and support from the community. To date, the project has sold over 1,000 T-shirts with all of the proceeds going to Planned Parenthood. “This project spurred interest across gender lines: lots of guys in our class bought and wore the shirt, just like the girls,” reveals Alex. “Our whole class was great about actively participating.”

News & Notes

0 1 From left: Taya

Christianson ’16, Greta Zorn ’16, and Alex White ’16 modeling their Uterus T-shirts 0 2 From left:

Lily P. ’18, Linus B. ’18, Maya L. ’18, Yakama Nation member, Ella N. ’18, Megan W. ’18, and Zora B. ’18

orthwest School sophomores helped build raised vegetable beds for citizens of Wapato, Toppenish, and Zillah, Washington, through a partnership with Heritage University during the annual 10th grade trip in May, 2016.

“The parallels between Heritage and Northwest run deep,” says Dean of Students Kevin Alexander. “We are both institutions founded by teachers with a focus on the transformative potential of education.” Heritage University is piloting a program that encourages residents of all socio-economic classes to build and garden year-round. The Yakima Valley’s fertile soil allows for agriculture on a national scale. The area is considered a food desert, however, because much of what is grown is shipped out across the nation.

Partnering with Heritage University for Sustainable Food Development Students worked with The Northwest School Maintenance Department to gather the necessary materials for the project. Then, students researched what types of plants would grow well in the Yakima Valley region. In addition, students experienced aspects of the Yakama Nation and were invited to a traditional salmon bake by the tribe. “The students cover the indigenous peoples in 10th grade Humanities,” reveals Kevin. “It’s valuable for students to hear first-hand about the Yakama Nation history as well as about the struggles the Nation is facing today.”

News & Notes

eventh grade students interviewed both World War II veterans and those directly affected by the war on April 5, 2016. The interviews are the culmination of a curriculum unit on WWII.

Students Interview World War II Veterans

Students split into groups and researched their subject prior to the interview. During the interview, specific students took the role of asking questions, while other students took notes on the responses. After the activity was over, all students spent some time reflecting on the day. “It is important to listen to the veterans talk about the war because what they went through was so hard,” says Ryann M. ’21. “It is really special for us that they take the time, and I hope it is special for them that we are listening.”

Some students sat down with Fred Shiosaki, a JapaneseAmerican veteran who served with the famed 442nd Infantry Regiment. The 442nd is still one of the most decorated and medaled units for its size in the history of American warfare. “The veterans really like connecting with the kids,” says Humanities teacher Tamara Bunnell. “It is a way of knowing that something that was so significant in their lives still has meaning and impact today.”

Students asked Fred questions ranging from his upbringing to what his experience was like in the war. He concluded his interview with the students by calling for an end to racism, drawing correlations between the backlash to Japanese-Americans following Pearl Harbor and the backlash against Muslims following 9/11. “Don’t judge people by what they look like,” Fred told the 7th graders. “Judge people by who they are and what they represent.” Students also interviewed Bob Harmon, a veteran who landed on Utah Beach on D-Day, Earl Collins, a mechanic who worked on planes with the Eighth Army Air Force, and Louise Kashino, whose Seattle family was forcefully moved from their home during the incarceration of Japanese Americans. Students spent several weeks learning about WWII, with an emphasis on the internment of Japanese-Americans and the B-17 bombers. A few years ago, Tamara began reaching out to anyone from the war who would be willing to tell the students about their experiences. “When the students hear some of these stories and see the emotions rising in these veterans, they get a clear sense of what a big deal the war was and how deeply it affected people’s lives,” says Tamara. “The history becomes much more alive and personal.” After the students interviewed Fred, he showed some of the many medals he was awarded for his time in the service. In a touching moment, the students gave Fred a standing ovation for his time and sacrifice.

0 1 Ella W. ’21 listens as

Fred Shiosaki presents his WWII medals. 0 2 WWII Veteran Bob

Harmon is interviewed by Jacob H. ’21, Aaron T. ’21, Ella A. ’21. 0 3 From left: Maya Jackson ’16,

Isa M. ’18, Tibs P. ’17, Macenna H. ’19, and Laila K. ’18, at the 2016 Washington State Track and Field Championship 0 4 Jenny Cooper, our new

Director of Environmental Education & Sustainability

Northwest Runners Take Home State Championships 03

he Northwest School track and field team had an excellent showing at the State Meet in Cheney, Washington, on May 26-28, 2016. Maya Jackson ’16 won the state championship in the 400m with a time of 56.75. It is the third consecutive year Maya has won the 400m! She also finished third in the 200m and fifth in the 100m. Tibs P. ’17 won both the 1600m and the 3200m. He set a new personal and school record in the 1600m with a time of 4:20.65.

Isa M. ’18 finished second in both the 800m and the 1600m. Macenna H. ’19 finished 8th in the 1600m as well. Laila K. ’18 set a new personal record in the high jump at 4’10”, finishing 12th. All combined, the four Northwest girls finished third in the state as a 1A girls’ team. Congratulations to Maya, Tibs, Laila, Isa, Macenna, and all of the other Northwest School track and field members. Also, a big thanks to coaches Allen Wood, Kevin Jackson, and Spencer Walsh for leading a great team!

Deepening our Commitment to Environmental Education

enny Cooper is joining Northwest’s faculty this year in a newly created position, Director of Environmental Education and Sustainability. Jenny’s previous positions have included work with NGOs and city governments on local and international climate change policy, and food justice and urban agriculture. Most recently, she was living in Singapore as a Henry Luce Scholar, working at a software company that uses behavior science to drive residential energy efficiency improvements. She holds two master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: a Master of Science in Natural Resources and Environment, and a Master of Business Administration.

As part of her job at Northwest, Jenny will be identifying opportunities to collaborate across disciplines and grade levels to support the school’s mission with regard to environment. Some of her immediate efforts include: • Co-coordinating our Environment Program. • Supporting Middle and Upper School faculty to further incorporate environment and sustainability concepts into existing curriculum, including connections with equity and social justice. • Co-facilitating student interest groups, including the Environmental Interest Group. • Supporting Facilities, Transportation, and Food Services in improving and refining sustainability practices. • Furthering environmental initiatives by expanding the school’s external partnerships.

News & Notes

Upper School Play Production: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

he Upper School theatre students performed an adaptation of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens, for their winter production. Directed by Laura Ferri, the play featured 22 actors and followed the exploits of the 60-plus characters who grace the novel. The play is rarely, if ever, performed in high school, because of the challenging dialects and range of characters, but this outstanding ensemble, more than ably supported by a superlative crew and several student musicians, wowed audiences at each of the four performances.

0 1 Frank Garland ’16 (left) and Thomas Streigl ’16 0 2 Sam McHale ’16, Liam M. ’18,

The classic novel tells the tale of Nicholas Nickleby, a young man who must support his mother and sister after his father dies. The production is an epic evening of great theatre, featuring romance, action, pathos, drama, comedy, and music!

Camyrn K-S. ’19, Allegra A. ’19, Eliza J. ’18 0 3 Far left: Thomas Streigel ’16

Standing, from left: Frank Garland ’16, Ryan K. ’17, Matteo Abbruzzese ’16, Allegra A. ’19, Ada B. ’17 Seated: Massimo A. ’18

Posters for the play were designed by the Graphic Design class and the ceramic props were created in-house by ceramics students.

y command request, Northwest School’s production of Crates of Thunder, an original play about the warplanes of WWII, was presented at the invitationonly opening ceremonies of the newly restored American Air Museum (AAM) in Duxford, England. Under the guidance of playwright and director Laura Ferri and Humanities teacher Tamara Bunnell, the show toured schools and restored air bases in the Cambridge area, playing to audiences ranging in age from 11 to over 90! The actors and crew were able to meet the veterans whose stories were featured in the play, as well as tour the historical sites important to the story.

Crates of Thunder looks at World War II through the lens of the war plane. It features real life people and stories drawn from oral histories conducted by Northwest 7th graders, as well as other research, material drawn from historical site visits in England, and transcripts and artifacts housed at the AAM and other museums.

0 4 Back row, from left:

Mosey B. ’19, Finnley K.’17, Eliza J. ’18, Josie B. ’18 Front row, from left: Truman Smith ’16, Frank Garland ’16, Peter G. ’19, Liam M. ’18, Max Sarkowsky ’16, Laura Malatos, Kisanet Bezabih ’16 0 5 Eliza J. ’18 (left), Liam M. ’18,

Josie G. ’18

Crates of Thunder Delights Audiences

he 36th annual Northwest School ArtsFest Gala delighted the audience with a night of music, dance, spoken word, and juggling, on April 6, 2016, at Town Hall. The showcase is a variety of student performances dedicated to showcasing the arts. Highlights of the evening included a jaw-dropping rendition of “O Fortuna” by all of the Northwest choirs combined. The Upper School Orchestra and faculty members Steven Wilber, Chris Pesce, Jo Nardolillo, and Rose Bellini helped provide instrumentation for the piece. Humanities teacher Scott Davis and dance teacher Ellie Sandstrom served as hosts for the evening. In total, 18 classes contributed to the 20 performances of the evening.

Arts Fest 2016

0 1 From left: Josie B. ’18, Tam P. ’18, and Azure H. ’18 performed “We’re Better When We’re Dancing” with the Creative Movement class. 0 2 Mia H. ’19 charmed the house with her original song. 0 3 From left: Claire McHale ’16, Ellie M. ’17, Simon S. ’17, and Shai G. ’17 performed with the Upper School Jazz Ensemble. 0 4 ArtsFest Co-host Scott Davis modeled the appropriate garb for Tutu Tuesday (instituted by Ursula Collins-Laine ’16).

ArtsFest

05 Mime & Improvisation class, from left: Anasophia S. ’17, Ursula Collins-Laine ’16, Avital Baral ’16, Erin R. ’17, Joe S. ’17, Truman Smith ’16, Ian Greenwood ’16, Morgan Temkin ’16, and Max Sarkowsky ’16 06 Tamrat H. ’19 (left) and John Yang ’16, dancing to the music of Justin Beiber and Trevor Wesley 07 Naomi F. ’22, Natalie F. ’22, and Carly C. ’22, warming up during rehearsals 08 Northwest’s choirs, along with musicians from the orchestra, wowed the audience with Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna.”

Class of 2016 Celebrates Graduation

n June 13, 2016, the 77 students who comprised the Northwest School Class of 2016 gathered at Town Hall in front of friends and family members to receive their high school diplomas. The students will pursue studies in several states and countries, including China, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Along with words of wisdom from Head of School Mike McGill, the Class of 2016 received advice and good wishes from chemistry teacher Renee Erickson and math teacher Alex Chen, nominated by the students to deliver keynote addresses. Students Frank Garland and Sophia Shaw also spoke, highlighting the values they will take with them from their years at Northwest. For the first time in school history, The Northwest School awarded an honorary diploma to one of its faculty members, Facilities Manager Bob Martin. In total, the Class of 2016 will matriculate to 50 colleges and universities.

0 1 From left: Sara Bellan, Kisanet Bezabih, Iman Mustafa, Emma Stammen, Taya Christianson 0 2 Back row, from left: August Byrne, Grant Yang, Owen England, Tonya Tang, Ali Black, Sam Johnson, Maya Jackson Front row, from left: Sophia Rosencrantz, Allen Wang, Summer Nanpooya, Nicki Loo, Dora Drucker, Carl Cellini 0 3 Sophia Shaw, addressing the audience at Town Hall 0 4 From left: Max Lorenz, Jason Weigel, Ben Bishop, Chandra Seasholes, Xander Rota, Matias Lazo-Fanning, Henry Schuyler, a graduation guest, Sam McHale, Joshua Gilbert-Katx

ecoming a skilled writer is not easy and it doesn’t happen all at once. Students at The Northwest School begin writing the moment they arrive in sixth grade, and by the time they throw graduation caps in the air, they are full-fledged writers who possess an exceptional level of fluency and confidence that not only sets them apart in college, but strengthens their performance in any chosen field.

According to Humanities teacher Suzanne Bottelli, a number of elements work together at Northwest to nurture good writers. “We have an articulate faculty who read well and write well—students see that,” says Suzanne, who holds a master’s in creative writing from the University of Iowa, and a master’s in English literature from Middlebury College, and last year published her first book of poems. “We have conversations, in depth, about things that are important. We read great works of writing, not chunks from a text book, but literary works and drama from the period. And we train students to be close readers—to read as writers.”

Growing Good Writers

Roadmap to Good Writing The journey to good writing begins in Middle School, with sixth graders focusing on the “art of the paragraph.” After learning components of a good paragraph, students are immediately asked to practice by writing a brochure that advertises the features of a make-believe island. Every sixth grader also writes a short story in the fall and learns about developing a narrative arc. “The students learn there’s a solid formula to writing a good paragraph, and in addition, we give them several opportunities to be creative,” says sixth grade teacher Heather Hall, who holds both a master’s in liberal studies and a certificate in women’s studies from Duke University. This dual approach to writing—pairing craft and creativity—holds true for seventh and eighth grade as well. Seventh graders dive into expository writing, mastering the introduction and conclusion and writing research reports; but they also listen to Woody Guthrie’s music and then take his themes—nature, and politics—and write a song inspired by his work.

Seventh graders also tackle analytical writing. One demanding project involves studying the Canwell Commission Hearings held at the University of Washington during the Cold War. Students write an opinion piece, arguing in a broader sense and applying the First Amendment. “It’s hard material but they rise to it,” says Middle School Humanities teacher Tamara Bunnell, who holds a master’s in school leadership from Columbia University, and has taught at Northwest for 22 years. “We are always setting the bar higher; we want kids to be challenged.” In eighth grade, students master the five-paragraph essay, and also complete an assignment on dystopias by studying social injustices and then creating their own society where those problems exist. “We want writing to be fun, to have a creative component built in,” confirms Tamara.

One-on-one Critique

Developing Point of View

In Upper School, proficiency as a writer is considered so important that the Humanities program is intentionally designed to help students develop advanced skills. In addition to lecture and small group discussions, every ninth, tenth, and eleventh grader receives individual tutorials and feedback on their major compositions. For ninth graders this happens during class time and faculty office hours; for tenth and eleventh graders, during a separate ‘conference’ every other week. These conferences involve three to four students working closely with one faculty member to critique the structure and content of writing assignments.

Throughout the whole of Upper School, Northwest students are working hard to develop one of the most essential and challenging qualities of a good writer: a strong voice. “Students have to find out where they stand and then they have to communicate that,” says Adina. “In ninth grade they are just learning who they are. We teach them how to ask themselves questions so they can begin to identify what they want to write about, and we do this through a number of venues.”

The first Humanities project in ninth grade is called “The Family of Man.” Students look at pictures of humans through all the stages Humanities teacher Adina Meyer deems this of life: giving birth, babyhood, work, food, one-on-one attention critical. “I can tailor and family relationships. Then they choose the conferences to where my students are one picture that appeals to them and write on their journey,” says Adina, who holds a a letter in the first person, introducing master’s in philosophy from the University themselves to the person in the photo. In the of Edinburgh. “If I see a lot of run-on second assignment, students switch points of sentences in a student’s essay, I can say view and write an interior monologue of the okay, we’re going to stop and have a person in the photo. In the third assignment, ‘run-on’ session today.” they read Lord of the Flies, discuss the book’s In addition to allowing time for close critique, setting and point of view, and then write a conferences create a safe environment for persuasive essay about who would make the students to share their writing, make mistakes, best leader in the story. ask questions, and take in feedback. “They have to make a good argument and “It’s easy for students to feel intimidated as support it with evidence,” says Adina. “We they share their writing,” explains eleventh check spelling and mechanics, of course, but grade Humanities teacher Sarah Porter, who more importantly, we want to see students holds a master’s in English from the University discerning and articulating their perspectives.” of Virginia and also teaches advanced English composition to international students. “In conference, they get a sense they’ve been heard and understood by a well-informed reader. Conference allows a safe setting for close listening and feedback.”

0 1 Middle School Humanities

teacher Heather Hall, in the classroom with Luka M. ’23 0 2 Upper School Humanities

teacher Adina Meyer, in conference with Macenna H. ’19 0 3 Upper School Humanities

teacher Suzanne Bottelli goes over a student’s writing project.

Interpretation

Shaping the Argument

Self-Reflection

Crucial to developing a strong voice is the opportunity to interpret the world through one’s own lens. To that end, students of all grade levels engage in creative writing as a way to encounter the world.

A good writer not only has a way with words, but is able to prioritize information, organize thinking, and deliver it all to the reader in a way that is compelling and engaging. Some of the best training for this occurs in the junior year as students participate in the annual eleventh grade debates.

One of the less obvious but most important ways Northwest students improve as writers is through self-reflection. They must assemble a portfolio of their work over the course of the trimester, along with a cover letter identifying the work that was accomplished and what the student found challenging. As with any other assignment, the letter receives a point score.

Humanities teacher Harumi LaDuke has her tenth grade students begin by examining someone else’s creative mind. “We read Romantic poets such as Dickinson and Blake, and then students choose a poem to recite for their peers,” says Harumi, who holds degrees in English literature, creative writing, and music, from Dartmouth College. “We also read Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, which centers on the legacies of imperialism on the Caribbean island of Antigua.” Students then write a creative response to the text that examines post-colonialism through the lens of irony, and they practice the art of critique by peer editing each other’s drafts. “Through this process, students strengthen creative and analytical skills, which are two sides of the same coin,” says Harumi.

As part of the prep work, students must write a position paper, which opens by defining the terms and providing the context of a contemporary world issue they have chosen to debate, and then summarizes the strongest arguments on either side and cites the sources of those arguments. “We are asking students to outline their argument and see the progression of their ideas: Why do you want to get to point B? Where do you start? Where do you transition in a new idea? How do you wrap it up?” reveals Scott. “In the process, they see the value of creating a framework, a road map.”

Reading as Writers As Harumi and Adina illustrate, a foundational way students learn to be good writers at Northwest is by reading good literature. At all grade levels, Northwest students are steeped in literary work, reading and analyzing passages for meaning and technique. “When you read good literature you acquire an appreciation of the craft,” says Humanities teacher Scott Davis, who holds a law degree from the University of Washington School of Law. “In eleventh grade the students read such beautiful authors: Hurston, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Sherman Alexie, Gordimer—these are master writers. We are teaching our students how to read for metaphor and to appreciate the use of image.”

“The students have to articulate, ‘Here’s what I responded to of what we studied; here’s how I struggled; here’s me, my voice, my take,’” testifies Suzanne Bottelli. “To be invited to have something to say about your work is an important element of starting to think of yourself as a writer.”

Growing Good Writers

The Habit of Creation The power of words to move hearts and minds is fundamental to the literature/creative writing seminars. Students are challenged to move deeper as writers and reach for more sophisticated levels of language. In the seminar Identity, Joy, Justice, and Action, for example, students study a variety of writing styles and genres, including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, humor, film, and other media, and write their own creative pieces in each genre.

Nuance and Artful Expression In their final year of Upper School, students at Northwest advance to the highest levels of writing and critical thinking. They immerse themselves in two courses of their own choosing: one in social studies and one in literature/creative writing. Both are modeled after college level courses and require substantial writing and increasingly sophisticated uses of language. In the Law and Society seminar taught by Scott Davis, for example, students are presented with a civil or criminal case scenario and must prepare to argue for or against a party in a mock trial. Students must write an opening statement to introduce the jury to their version of what happened. “We’re asking them to take disparate stories and facts and to create a roadmap for the juror,” explains Scott. “It’s storytelling; students are learning how to tell a story in a compelling way—it’s not unlike writing history.” Simultaneously, students must think about the audience—the jurors—and what makes them respond in a certain way. According to Scott, students learn to apply the nuances of language. “The opening statement is appealing primarily to reason and laying the foundation for the testimony to come, and the closing argument is more emotional and draws conclusions,” explains Scott.

“Creative writing and peer editing are habits that we can develop,” states Harumi, whose students frequently engage in free writing, peer editing, and revising. “Writing is all about practicing the art of moving past our filter and into vulnerability. Free writing is a way to accomplish this.” Through readings and exercises, students are challenged to consider the power of diction to construct and obstruct meaning, identity, awareness, justice, and change. “Creative writing is a way for students to connect with the world around them,” confirms Harumi. “In that process, they can experience empathy, joy, and greater understanding.”

0 1 Left to right: t o Jasmine Q. ’18, 0 5 Raina Z. ’18,

Saebrinde C. ’18, Michael M. ’18, and Kendall F. ’18 take part in the eleventh grade debates. 0 6 Upper School

Humanities teacher Scott Davis, in conference with Rome L. ’18 0 7 Upper School

Humanities teacher Harumi LaDuke encourages students to develop the habit of creation.

Craft Plus Insight It is at these highest levels of writing that seniors most appreciate their Northwest School training—the dual emphasis on writing technique and artful expression. “My students love the parameters as long as they know the content is up to them,” says Suzanne Bottelli, who teaches the senior Writing Seminar: Writing Workshop Intensive. “Their most successful responses bounce off of structure.” Suzanne starts off her seminar with a quote from Herman Melville’s poem, titled “Art,” in which he identifies both “instinct and study” as essential to the making of great art. Says Suzanne: “You need that flash of insight and also a certain amount of facility and conversancy with the tradition, as well as fluency with the medium, so it all comes together. You don’t get that flash of insight that often—so you want to be ready for it when it comes.”

Brian Reich ’96 Democratic Political Strategist, Speechwriter, Author

t 21 years old, Brian Reich ’96 was already serving a crucial role in the White House. As briefing director to Vice President Al Gore before and during the 2000 presidential campaign, Brian spent two years working 20 hours per day, pulling all-nighters and using the floor of the vice president’s plane, Air Force Two, as a makeshift airborne office space.

“I was responsible for making sure Vice President Gore and his staff knew what was going on in the world at all times.” says Brian, who attended the University of Michigan for two years before leaving to work in the White House (he earned a degree in political science from Columbia University in 2002). With the vice president traveling to as many as five different states each day for campaign events and interviews, there was a constant flow of new information to be managed. “My job was to make sense of the information and determine what was needed and not needed,” explains Brian. “I was working with our policy team, our speechwriters, people on the ground in each state. This was before we had so much information available to us online as well, so I would call people all over the world to source information. I had a rolodex filled with reference librarians spanning every time zone—from Honolulu to London to everywhere.”

Brian met his wife, Karen, at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. Karen worked at the Gore campaign headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, where she was the assistant to the communications director. Their first date took place during the recount of the 2000 presidential election. Now, they’re partners in their own firm, little m media, and live in New York City with their two children, Henry and Lucy. Karen helps organizations with a variety of communication and operational needs, and Brian is a speechwriter and communications adviser for executive leaders at global brands, media companies, startups, nonprofits, and political and advocacy organizations. “I write for a living. I help people solve problems and change behavior,” reveals Brian. “My role is to disrupt thinking.”

Alumni Profiles

Imagining New Worlds

A Passion for Paragraphs

Line-by-line Critique

Brian has authored three books thus far: Shift & Reset: Strategies for Addressing Serious Issues in a Connected Society (2011); Media Rules!: Mastering Today’s Technology to Connect with and Keep Your Audience (2007); and The Imagination Gap, which is due out this fall 2016. In this latest book, Brian explores imagination and our lack of it.

Brian’s capacity to think imaginatively, and to present ideas coherently and compellingly, developed while he was a teenager at The Northwest School. He says his life has been deeply formed by the teachers and experience at Northwest.

In addition to writing a multitude of essays, Brian says the most important way he learned to be a good writer at Northwest was through rigorous one-on-one critique.

“We talk about innovation and optimizing and improving, but the crazy transformative shifts in society are not logical extensions of what we already know,” stresses Brian. “We’ve become so obsessed with the micro-details, we’re not using our imaginations.” If ever there was a crucial time for imagination and critical thinking, Brian believes it’s now, especially as we face massive global issues such as the current Syrian refugee crises. “We’re not even trying to solve that problem,” he asserts, adamantly. “We’re trying to solve yesterday’s problems. We should be thinking about what is possible in the future and trying to do big, ambitious things.” In The Imagination Gap, Brian makes a strong case against simply using different versions of what we’ve already done. “There are people who are tinkerers, and that’s important, but also, people need to build new engines,” states Brian. “We need to skip driving from point A to Point B, and instead, teleport.”

“I credit Paul Raymond, Daniel Sparler, Adina Meyer, Jeff Blair—we would read books and have discussions and they pushed me to defend my argument, even if I went way out on a limb and took a totally different position,” recalls Brian. “I wasn’t going to get away with a half-baked argument. I was taught to reason, argue, interpret, and philosophize. That’s exactly what I do now, and I do it for a living.” Brian’s passion to “articulate things in paragraphs” was honed throughout his high school years. He recalls each week having to write thousand-word papers about the books that were assigned in class or the issues that were being discussed. “I always went over a thousand words,” admits Brian. “But my teachers were fine with that, as long as I made the argument.”

“Daniel Sparler was the best and worst thing that ever happened to my writing,” laughs Brian. “He would go line-by-line, sometimes making me defend each word. Every sentence had to mean something—there were no throwaways. I can’t count the number of times Daniel and I did not get past my first paragraph of a paper in our conference time. I’d try to make some broad platitude and he’d call me on it.” There is no doubt in Brian’s mind that every decision he has made is an extension of what he learned while in high school. “I can trace my perspective back to Northwest—how it invited me to approach learning.” Says Brian: “I learned how to learn.”

0 1 Brian Reich ’96 0 2 Brian (far left, in white

shirt, holding camera), in the press pool at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

Alumni Profiles

iz Mair ’96 is a libertarian Republican and makes a living speaking her mind and advising others how to do so effectively. Starting in 2015, Liz took a stand against Republican candidate Donald Trump. She helped launch the anti-Trump Super PAC, Make America Awesome, and she appeared on MSNBC debating Ann Coulter on “Donald Trump and Birtherism.”

“A lot of people were very slow to respond to what they saw in Trump,” says Liz, speaking over her cellphone during a break from pitching media. “There are a lot of principled right-of-center people who are concerned with his rise—philosophically, they have deep disagreements with him.” As founder and president of Mair Strategies LLC, launched in Washington D.C. in 2011, Liz works as a communications expert, new media advisor, political consultant, and blogger, who—when she writes— writes principally about politics and public policy issues. Her firm’s opposition research was largely responsible for the attacks on Trump Mortgage LLC, Trump University, his business failures and bankruptcies, and hypocritical labor practices. 01

Liz Mair ’96

Republican Political Consultant, New Media Advisor, Blogger

Bi-partisan Consensus

Building Left-Right Coalitions Liz’s firm also led the charge last year to eliminate the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a huge regulatory subsidy benefiting Big Corn by mandating ethanol use. This work was done on behalf of a large left-right coalition that included environmental, anti-poverty, and free market groups, as well as petroleum refiners, motorcycle companies, and boaters. Says Liz: “Our work helped kill the Iowa Straw Poll, one of the key political events that boosted the ethanol industry’s influence, and deprive ethanol proponents of a win in the 2016 Republican caucuses in Iowa.” Liz is particularly proud of her work in support of legal recognition of gay marriage. In the course of her work for Freedom to Marry, she spoke to a large crowd of activists and media in front of the Supreme Court when the cases regarding Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act were being heard. She lobbied state Republican parties and signed the persuasive right-of-center amicus brief in support of the freedom to marry in the Obergefell case. Says Liz proudly: “We won, decisively!”

Comportment and Civility

The way she rigorously looks at issues from Liz holds a master’s in international relations from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, both sides and seeks multiple points of view comes largely from her upper school and a law degree from the College of Law in experience at Northwest, according to Liz. London. She also holds an undergraduate certificate in political and social sciences “I came away from Northwest with a lot of my from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. values of comportment and civil behavior. Currently, she lives in Washington D.C. with One thing I got very strongly was not just her husband, Mark Strong, and two-year-old ‘courtesy and common sense,’ but the son, Malcolm. concept that you’re not better than anybody else—the sense that people really are equal Though Liz’s political commentary and highand we all have value.” profile political work has thrown her into the spotlight, political work is only ten percent of her revenue. The other ninety percent comes from her work on policy issues, including tax, technology, and health care issues. Her firm has also spent significant hours, pro bono, on immigration reform—from the pro-immigration side. “Despite huge political challenges to getting something good passed through Congress, we’ve had a lot of success,” testifies Liz. “We were instrumental in getting a comprehensive reform bill through the Senate, where it got a higher-thanexpected number of Republican votes.”

0 1 Liz Mair ’96 0 2 Liz, debating with

Ann Coulter on MSNBC

Liz’s passion for politics blossomed as she fulfilled Northwest School’s senior requirement to volunteer on a political campaign. “By doing actual work in politics, I discovered I was good at it,” says Liz. She also discovered she was a persuasive writer and, along with a band of like-minded classmates, she wrote and edited The Bagel, Northwest’s student newspaper. (When Liz later became communications director for the Republican National Committee, her media pool included three fellow Bagel editors, Brian Reich ’96, Daniel Lathrop ’95, and Reid Wilson ’01.) “When I got to University I didn’t have to write nearly as much as I did in Upper School,” recalls Liz. “At Northwest, we were forced to raise our standards at a young age.”

Rigorous Research One of the highest standards Liz sets for herself today is to know both sides of an issue, a lesson she learned the hard way during the tenth grade debates at Northwest. “I’m pro-choice, and Jeff (Blair) put me on a pro-choice team to debate abortion,” recounts Liz. “What I discovered in the debate process was that the basis on which Roe v. Wade was decided is shaky. I failed at that debate and it was a good experience at failure. It taught me to be more rigorous with research and developing my argument.”

Reaching Across the Aisle D

emocratic strategist Brian Reich ’96 and Republican strategist Liz Mair ’96 are successfully doing what Congress has not been able to do for the last eight years— working together. “Liz and I have learned from the Paul Raymonds of the world,” says Brian, who is based in New York and works on boundarycrossing media projects. “We have a shared appreciation for bringing people from opposite sides together.” Most recently, Brian and Liz worked together on a project for REVOLT, the multi-platform media network created by hiphop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. Brian serves as political director for REVOLT and has helped to lead the network’s coverage of the 2016 cycle. Liz helped with REVOLT’s planning and outreach for both the Democratic and Republican conventions this past summer, as well as a series of issue forums hosted by the network featuring topics such as immigration, environment, and gun violence.

“If you want to attract viewers and have an impact, it is well worth your while to have both sides at the table,” says Liz, who is based in Washington, D.C. “Brian can bring liberals to the table and I can bring my perspective, which is more libertarian. We can advise as to how a project can best attract media coverage on both sides. It presents the opportunity to reach people.” Liz and Brian also teamed up to work on a project surrounding the Pope’s visit to the United States in September 2015. Together they helped to strategize and guide digital and social outreach, as well as media coverage relating to the visit. “Brian’s a liberal Jew and I’m a libertarian Catholic and there we were, working together,” laughs Liz. “Brian had social media monitoring the Pope’s emojis on Twitter, and I was advising the Pope’s publicity people to reach out and engage the conservative Catholic audience.” Both Liz and Brian agree that bringing different political perspectives together is the only way to evolve the political discussion. Says Brian: “Liz and I both just want to see progress; we want to see change happen; we just want to see the discussion play out.”

Alumni Profiles

Daniel Lathrop ’95 Investigative Journalist, Assistant Professor of Journalism

n 2006, Daniel Lathrop ’95 joined the Seattle Post Intelligencer as an investigative reporter, working with the investigative projects team. One of the notorious stories he helped uncover was how the Seattle police officers were assaulting people and then charging those people with crimes to cover up the incidents. The criminal charges would be quietly dropped a few days later.

“Those cases had never been seriously looked at before,” says Daniel, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Iowa, where he teaches crime, political, and depth reporting. “Did we ever say that police were arresting people they had assaulted? No, we interviewed police and asked for their opinions.” Daniel has been investigating and writing serious news for over 15 years. Awards for his work include the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors Star Investigative Report of the Year (2012), Award in Criminal Justice Reporting (Series) by John Jay College of Criminal Justice (2009), the White House Correspondents Association Edgar A. Poe Award (2008), and the Sigma Delta Chi Award Public Service in Online Journalism (2004). “I knew in high school what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” says Daniel, who was part of the team that founded The Bagel, Northwest School’s student newspaper at the time. “By the time I graduated from Northwest, The Bagel was 8 to 16 pages and offset printed on newsprint. We ran a lot of op-ed pieces about political issues, and once ran something about copyright reform.”

0 1 Daniel Lathrop ’95 0 2 Daniel, speaking

to students at University of Iowa Center for Teaching Photo credit: University of Iowa Center for Teaching. 02

The Making of a Reporter After graduation, Daniel headed to Haverford College, where he majored in philosophy and worked on the college newspaper. His first job out of college was at The Tribune, a small newspaper in Ames, Iowa, where he covered the beat known as “cops and courts.” “Every morning, I walked from my rented apartment to the police station and looked at who had been arrested; and then to the county courthouse to read the hearings and court files; and then to the station to turn it into news,” explains Daniel. “We wrote a lot: twelve stories per week.” Daniel’s career path took him to the Daytona Beach News Journal, where he joined the investigative team, and also the Dallas Morning News. When he met his now-wife, Ann Marie Taylor (a political consultant and campaign manager), Daniel followed her to Washington D.C. and took a job at the Center for Public Integrity. There, he combined his investigative and database analysis skills to shed light on the oil and professional lobbying industries, and reveal “who was paying whom to lobby on their behalf.” In addition, he built a database that could decode who controlled the media in any particular town.

Technology as Media Tool “When I became a reporter, I was able to dig up stories no one else could because I knew how to read a spreadsheet,” says Daniel, who describes himself as a nerdy kid who loved computers and technology. “I believe computers are a way to write stories, a way to understand and figure out the world so I can explain it to people.” Daniel’s fascination with data analysis has landed him at the forefront of an emerging field called Media Informatics. It involves tracking the click path of every user to a news website and using that to develop a sophisticated understanding of people’s media consumption habits.

Developing Good Writers Despite this rapidly changing landscape, Daniel believes the best way to become a good journalist is to learn the way he learned at The Northwest School. “We had the opportunity to have really smart people sit with us, like Paul Raymond and Adina Meyer, and ask, ‘What are you trying to do here? What’s not working?’ They’d say, ‘That’s great but here’s what we can do to make it better.’” This kind of thoughtful critique, plus lots of practice and high expectations, is how Daniel says he emerged from Northwest a good writer.

Now we can analyze what causes people to share a news story, or go to a related story, or leave the site entirely, or read to the end. According to Daniel, this kind of powerful data can guide journalists in their efforts to reach their readers more effectively.

“I remember once I used ‘than’ instead of ‘then’ and Paul Raymond said, ‘If you make that mistake again I’ll fail you.’ I learned a lot because I was pushed hard on my strengths and weaknesses. There was a certain level I was expected to meet and I was supplied with the tools and support to do that.”

“Fifty percent of traffic to news websites now comes from Facebook, this we know. So the question for journalists now is how do we make the important interesting?” says Daniel. As an example, he points to the website BuzzFeed. “BuzzFeed attracts people with silly cat pictures and then exposes them to serious news.”

In addition to teaching his own students, Daniel is still writing. Currently, he is working on an investigative project that has to do with criminal justice. “My goal is what Paul Raymond said: ‘Speak truth to power,’” says Daniel. “That’s not the only thing a journalist does, but it’s what I do.”

Dylan Meconis ’01 Writer, Illustrator, Graphic Novelist

ylan Meconis ’01 was only a sophomore in college when she was first approached by a publisher. Her writing and illustration, which she had been sharing online with other comic artists, caught the attention of an online publisher, Girlamatic.com. In short order, her graphic novel, Bite Me!, debuted to audiences around the world.

“It’s a story about a bunch of incompetent vampires trying to solve the French Revolution,” reveals Dylan, laughing over the phone from her studio in Portland, Oregon. “I read Tale of Two Cities in class at Northwest and combined it with the satire of Ann Rice.” Since Bite Me!’s release, Dylan has authored and illustrated several projects, including Family Man, a long-running, dramatic, historical fiction graphic novel for adults, published online and in print by Dylan herself; and Queen of the Sea, a middle-grade book aimed at 10-14 year olds, which will be published in print by Abrams’ Comicarts, available in book stores in late 2018.

Becoming a Novelist Dylan’s talent as a creative writer emerged in early adolescence and she remembers showing Humanities teachers Tamara Bunnell and Jeff Blair her sci-fi novellas. In Upper School she took her first cartooning class and began work on Bite Me!, which she submitted as her senior project. Still, she remained skeptical that this might be her livelihood. “I did not believe I’d make a full-time career out of this,” admits Dylan while also noting that her classmates told her differently. “Emmett Shear (’01) was one of my early readers. He told me in my senior year, ‘Yeah, you’ll make a living at it.’”

A Writer’s Grounding After graduating from Northwest, Dylan headed for Wesleyan University and entered its College of Letters to pursue a degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities. The program was modeled after the traditional Oxford curriculum: a small seminar class with two professors in which students cover a period of literature and study a foreign language. For her senior thesis, Dylan wrote about the Odyssey, the epic she first read at Northwest. “I wrote a full-length essay, looking at what Goddess Athena does in the story and her strategy to get Odysseus home,” confirms Dylan. All the while, Dylan was attracting a loyal readership for her creative work and, shortly after she received her degree, she joined a collective studio known as Helioscope, in Portland, Oregon, which is the largest comic artist studio in America. Now, she works alongside two dozen other artists, several of whom work for DC and Marvel comics, and one of whom is fellow Northwest alumna Erica Moen ’02.

0 1 The front cover of

Dylan’s book, Bite Me! 0 2 Dylan Meconis ’01

Alumni Profiles

A Literary Audience The distance from Odysseus to her own creative work was not that far, according to Dylan. Her novels are rooted in time and place and also in the events of history. “I’ve always been drawn to historical fiction. If you get a good Humanities education, like I did at Northwest, you are aware of the events of history,” says Dylan, who revels in setting a story in an interesting location in the 18th century. “I get to cherry-pick things that are interesting to me; I get to do historical research and tell dramatic narrative; and I get to control all of the content.”

Dylan approaches comics from a very bookoriented, narrative side. For her, the story is always the primary interest. As a result, she attracts a literary audience. “My readers are smart and curious, and many are graduate students and librarians. It’s a fun mix of people,” says Dylan.

Nurturing Curiosity To intrigue her readers, Dylan often includes historical footnotes, such as who might have invented a certain chair or device in the scene. “My biggest hope is to plant seeds of curiosity about other people’s lives and motivations,” explains Dylan. “I want my stories to be an invitation to pursue something outside of the reader’s regular experience.” Dylan’s ability to break down a story and craft it with layers of meaning is something she learned at Northwest. When asked to describe how she learned, she rattles off the entire Humanities curriculum. “All the essay writing we did at Northwest, all the critical thinking and training, all the seminar classes when you’re arguing and debating, all the writing you’re doing, all the analysis you’re doing of your work, and all of the reading,” says Dylan. “Especially the reading.”

Learning from Poetry In her senior year at Northwest, Dylan took the senior poetry seminar. She says it was some of the best foundational learning she received, both as a writer and illustrator. “Poetry is all about making careful choices, both about specific words you are choosing and about not piling them onto the reader,” says Dylan. “You have limited space as a graphic novelist, and you must constantly decide what is the most important visual and how to narrate it successfully, how to create something evocative in a limited space. I learned that at Northwest.”

n 2012, Comedy Central named Reid Wilson ’01 “The Greatest Political Mind of Our Time” for his skills at cutting through the spin and telling the truth about the state of politics and Washington D.C.

Reid’s reputation as a political reporter has been honed over the last decade in our nation’s capitol. He has served as editor and head of the Washington Post’s GovBeat, and editor-in-chief of National Journal’s The Hotline. He also served as chief political correspondent and Congress editor for Morning Consult. Now he is writing for The Hill, the largest circulating political publication in Washington, and a favorite read for anyone around the country who identifies as a political junkie.

“I get to be the sportscaster for the only game that matters,” says Reid, unabashedly, explaining his passion for reporting political news. “The Hill is a growing publication—so many other papers are shrinking—and it has serious ambitions to shape conversation in Washington D.C.”

Reid Wilson ’01 Journalist, National Political Correspondent, Political Junkie

Alumni Profiles

A Hot Time for Journalism For a journalist who has worked through the last decade of upheaval in the newspaper and publishing industry, Reid is nonplussed. He believes now is one of the most exciting times to be a journalist. “The news business is thriving,” counters Reid. “Our parents got their news from three very trusted white men, some of whom were smoking. People tuned in at the same exact time to hear what these men had to say. Now you’re checking anytime during the day, and on any number of devices and sites.” Because people are consuming news through a variety of tools, today’s journalist must operate differently, according to Reid. “As a journalist, I can no longer rely on you to come to me to get your news stuff, I have to come to you. Whatever your chosen medium, that is the one I have to be in.” Reid knew through college that he wanted to do something in politics though he wasn’t sure what. He attended George Washington University, graduating with a degree in classics and archeology. His first job out of college was as an assistant to Chuck Todd who was running The Hotline. It wasn’t long before Reid was running The Hotline himself.

Reporting with New Tools Today, Reid spends countless hours trolling Facebook and Twitter to stay abreast of what’s happening. “I can’t tell you how much time I spend thinking about social media,” he says. He doesn’t yet use Snapchat, but assumes it’s only a matter of time. He knows he’ll have to adjust to the next big thing. “The social media network that will drive the next generation we haven’t even seen yet,” he declares. Reid believes social media has not affected his writing as much as his storytelling. For each story he must decide how he is going to tell this story: audio format? video format? or perhaps a ‘listicle’ (a new word that melds article with list, as in ‘Ten Things to Watch for in Trump’s Speech’)? “Basically, it forces me to be creative in how I tell the story,” says Reid. “The presentation matters as much as the writing. You can argue these different formats bend it a certain way, but it bends your story toward your audience, rather than to the (political) right or left. I’m still trying to put non-partisan objective news in front of people at their level.”

Gaining Strong Fundamentals

Thinking Critically

Reid’s passion for writing and journalism is in In addition to the craft of writing, Reid says his blood. His mother, Cindy Wilson, wrote for he learned to be a thinker at Northwest, an Newsweek and Seattle Times. As a seventh essential element of being a good writer. grader at The Northwest School, Reid began “I had a couple of teachers who challenged to learn the craft of writing. He remembers me in ways I didn’t expect. Glen Sterr was absorbing the fundamental structure of the the most interesting teacher I ever had. His five-paragraph essay from Humanities teacher teaching was all about thinking wider than Tamara Bunnell. history class, questioning what history books “That five-paragraph essay is essentially what say. It led me to being the skeptic I am today.” we’re using as journalists, whether it is an Reid was so enthralled with Glen’s ninth article or a 300-page book,” observes Reid. grade lecture on the three days of the Outside of his Middle School classes, Reid Peloponnesian War that he majored in honed his journalism skills by joining the staff classics and archeology in college. of the school’s ambitious student newspaper, According to Reid, it couldn’t have been The Bagel. He not only wrote stories for the better training for what he does today. paper but served as Middle School editor. “My job is to think critically and to tell Liz Mair ’96, Brian Reich ’96, and Daniel good stories,” says Reid. “Glen taught Lathrop ’95 were the Upper School editors. me to do both. In his senior year, Reid took over as Upper School editor. States Reid: “The Bagel taught me how to be a journalist.” 0 1 Reid Wilson ’01 0 2 Reid, with John Boehner the

day the Speaker resigned, in Washington, D.C. 0 3 Reid, appearing as a panelist

on PBS’s Washington Week with Gwen Ifill, Oct. 7, 2016

Jeremy Miller ’89

Senior Researcher Biodiversity Discovery, Scientific Writer & Editor

s a senior researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands, Jeremy Miller has spent the last eight years studying and documenting the diversity of “tiny little things.” In particular, spiders. Arachnids play an important role in planet health, both as a food source and as plant pollinators, and Jeremy has written and published a vast number of articles on patterns of spider biodiversity. In addition, he serves as one of a number of “spider editors” for Zootaxa, ZooKeys, and Biodiversity Data Journal, demanding revisions and facilitating better published content. “We still don’t have a full picture of the mass diversity of species in many parts of the world,” testifies Jeremy, who holds a PhD in biological sciences from George Washington University. His quest for biodiversity knowledge has taken him all over the world, including Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. “We know a lot about little: some about birds and plants but almost nothing about biodiversity of most of the world’s species. Thirty percent of species that we’ve recorded we have only seen once.” According to Jeremy, this science has to be done today. The world is in flux—it’s changing as we speak. “It’s a big data challenge but it’s a relevant challenge,” stresses Jeremy. “We don’t yet have the details to advise wise environmental policy.”

Alumni Profiles

Mobilizing Scientific Data

Gaining Different Perspectives

Writing as Thinking

To speed up the quest for knowledge, Jeremy Jeremy’s ability to see the bigger picture and a small group of like-minded scientists comes less from his science background and are advocating going beyond the traditional more from his solid grounding in Humanities. practice of publishing facts and details in “I honestly believe that being steeped in the scientific journals that are only interesting Humanities background at both Northwest to zoologists. He wants to “mobilize” the School and Evergreen College gave me a information: free it from the confines of different perspective as to how all of this scientific journals and research papers and could and should work,” testifies Jeremy. make it openly accessible to larger audiences. At Evergreen College, Jeremy followed “Half-a-million printed pages of biodiversity an eclectic course of study ranging from knowledge exist today, but very little is ancient philosophy and U.S.-Soviet relations digitized as data,” reveals Jeremy. “If we to tropical biodiversity. He believes this were to digitize this knowledge, it could be foundation in literature, history, and packaged and reused in interesting ways.” philosophy, as well as international relations, has given him a unique Jeremy envisions being able to enter data capability as a scientist. on a map that shows where that particular species can be found. Then, if he is walking “I can draw on non-traditional ways of around with a smartphone he can interface thinking,” explains Jeremy. “I have more with that data base. He can take a photo experience than some of my collegues in of a species he is looking at in Borneo, for this. I’ve spent more time with different example, and compare it with all others on perspectives.” the planet. Says Jeremy: “The point is to be able to read the article anywhere on earth. And we don’t want to just read this taxonomic literature but be able to query it. We want to be able to ask it questions.”

Equally valuable to his scientific career has been the ability to write well, a skill he developed in Upper School and honed in college. As a scientist, he is constantly expected to communicate his findings and ideas in the written form. “I enjoy the writing process. A lot of scientists do not like to write, and that makes for an unhappy life,” confirms Jeremy. When you learn to express your idea in written form, you are engaged in critical thinking, a habit essential to scientists, according to Jeremy. “I picked up critical thinking at Northwest by writing draft after draft. And in all of the lectures and courses we were always taught to think. That was a core Northwest School element.” When asked to name what most influenced his growth as a scientist, Jeremy calls out his mentors and the views they bestowed on him. “Paul (Raymond), Ellen (Taussig), Mark (Terry), Floyd Standifer—they were important role models for me. They cared about people, and knowledge, and doing things conscientiously, thoughtfully, and compassionately,” says Jeremy, “They were idealists. I’m an idealist.”

03 0 1 Jeremy Miller ’89 0 2 Jeremy, in the Gaoligongshan

Mountains in western Yunnan, China, as part of a joint expedition with the California Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This 10-year series of expeditions surveyed the plants and animals of the region. 0 3 Jeremy utilizes a rubber tube

informally called a “pooter”, a suction-based device used to collect spiders and other arthropods. The site is Kawa Karpo, the highest mountain in Yunnan.

Class Notes

Class Notes Junko Yamamoto ’92 (01) I have received a GAP Grant from Artist Trust in 2015 for my fabric production project. The City of Bellevue purchased a couple of my paintings for their mini city hall in Crossroads. My first temporary public art just opened as part of Art Interruptions 2016, this year taking place in the Rainer Valley Neighborhood Greenway. This annual temporary art program is created by the Office of Arts & Culture of Seattle. The installation runs from September-December 2016. Visit www.seattle.gov/arts/ art-interruptions-2016 for more information. I will also have a solo exhibition at TASTE at SAM in May 2017. www1.seattleartmuseum.org/ rsg/200. My website is: www.junkoyamamoto.com. painting shown in photo: Cactus Bloom oil on canvas, 2016

Jacob Winkler ’94 (02) I have been teaching music to children for about twenty years, first as faculty at the Northwest Choirs, and for the past seven years as the Artistic Director of the Seattle Girls’ Choir. This year, I have an unprecedented FOUR current NWS students in the organization! We took this picture on the first day of rehearsals in the 2016-17 year. “Common Sense and Courtesy,” meet “Elegance and Artistry!” photo: pictured from left: Eleanor K-S. ’22, Claudia C. ’19, me, Mara W. ’20, Lila F. ’17

Brian Reich ’96 (03)

My new/next book, The Imagination Gap, is scheduled to be published by the end of the year. I write about how imagination is the greatest natural resource available to humans and one of the most powerful forces in shaping and motivating behavior to make real change, but that most of us do not use our imagination to its fullest potential or apply our imagination to the challenges that we face. The book provides guidance on how leaders in every sector (business, politics, media, science, arts/entertainment, nonprofits, education, etc.) can use imagination to shape the future.

Chadd Bennett ’97 (04) Alumni Council Member Time keeps ticking towards our 20th reunion, as does life at Casa Bennett! During the day, I create data visualizations and info design for Washington state’s higher education agency, and at night, I’m the family guy: Sophie (7) just started first grade at Spruce Street, Noah (4) is in PK and adores anything his sister does. Lizzy and I just celebrated 11 years this July 3rd. Looking forward to more random and planned run-ins with NWS classmates!

Fleur Larsen ’97 (05) I just launched my own business, Fleur Larsen Facilitation, which provides social justice and equity consulting. I love that I get to bring my passion for social justice and facilitator skills together in a way that supports people and organizations living their values.

Amy Wales ‘97 After eight meaningful years at the international nonprofit organization PATH, Amy Wales recently joined the Seattle office of Weber Shandwick, a global advocacy and strategic communications firm. In her role as vice president, Amy is helping to lead Weber Shandwick’s health and social impact practice by spearheading the Gates Foundation portfolio of work across three different but interrelated verticals: Women and Girls, Financial Services for the Poor, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.

Michelle Huang ’97-’00 (06) Alumni Council Member I came to Seattle with my baby boy, Marcel, to attend the wedding of NWS alumna and good friend, Lynda Turet ’01. I took Marcel to NWS, and our Alumni Program Manager, Sarah Graham, gave us a quick tour and let Marcel crawl around the long hallway. After our Seattle trip, we headed down to LA to visit alumna Jia Feng ’00 and her 8-day-old baby boy. I haven’t seen her for 10 years. It was so nice to reunite again with babies in our arms.

Nora Martin-Cooley ’00 (07) I’ve been living in Seattle since 2010. I continue to work with Test Innovators, the company I co-founded. We are ISEEpracticetest.com and SSATpracticetest.com and just expanded to offer practice tests and resources for the PSAT. I also tutor and coach students independently, here on Capitol Hill. I’m happy to have my parents and several friends from our school days nearby in Seattle! photo: This summer pic is with lovely Lynda Turet ’01, also a Seattle-living NWS alum.

Mimi Johnson ’01 (08) Just over three years ago my husband, Chris Johnson, and I decided to move back to Seattle to start a family. It was the best decision we’ve ever made! In January, we welcomed our daughter, Liv Lavin Johnson, into the world. Since then, we have been enjoying every minute with her. While juggling parenthood, we are both running our own small businesses, HealthKitchen and Zeren PT and Performance. We couldn’t ask for a better place to live, work, and play. Jaki McQuiston ’01 (08) My husband, Devin McQuiston, and I had our baby girl, Jayda Louise McQuiston, this past February. She has been such a blessing in our lives. I’m pretty sure being a new mother is the most challenging job I’ve ever had, but it is also the most rewarding. I would love for her to attend The Northwest School in the future! photo: Alum babies Liv and Jada, enjoying the NWS alumni Reunion on June 25, 2016

Reid Wilson ’01 (09) My wife, Veronica, and I just had our first kiddo, Max Wilson, on September 13, 2016.

Elizabeth Lorayne ’02 (10) After receiving wonderful reviews and awards for my children’s picture book, The Adventures of Piratess Tilly, I couldn’t not write a sequel! Piratess Tilly and her crew continue their naturalist studies and head to Easter Island - due out January 2017. I continue to feel inspired by my time at NWS and feel immense pride and gratitude for having had that education and community during those formative years.

Class Notes

08 09

Class Notes

Alex Magnan-Wheelock Pemoulié ’02 (11) I recently moved back to Seattle from the east coast to open a sandwich shop with my husband. We closed our restaurant in Jersey City, packed up our condo, and flew back to Seattle with our now two-year-old daughter, Vivian. Our sandwich shop will be called Mean Sandwich, and will be located in Ballard. We look forward to seeing NWS alumni and faculty when we open in November!

Emma Fuller ’05 (12) August was a crazy month: I successfully defended my PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, started a new job as a data scientist at an agricultural startup, and my husband Peter and I bought a farm on Vashon Island, WA! Things are moving fast but continue to be exciting. Hoping to reconnect with NWS people in the Seattle area once life slows down again. :)

Trevor Harron ’10 Currently, I am working by day as a software contractor at the Walt Disney Company, and by night, I follow my passion with my own game company, Blue Heron Entertainment. I have two board game titles in progress, Collectors and Capers, and Affectionate: Cats and Cuddles. Collectors and Capers was a semi-finalist for the Luci Award (an independent game designer’s award). It is in the final stages of production, and was successfully funded on Kickstarter. I am also in the development stage of Affectionate: Cats and Cuddles. For more information on my game-making adventures, got to my website: www.blueherongames.com. I also have Facebook pages for my company and games!

Addy Borges ’11 (13)

Adam Stambor ’13 (16)

Khalif El-Salaam ’12

After declaring my anthropology major, health studies minor, and peace/justice/human rights concentration at Haverford College in May, I participated in an intensive business ethics summer course before heading to New York to intern at a fashion start-up with a single product: socks (pictured here). I also volunteered at GMHC, one of the leading providers of care and advocacy for people living with HIV and AIDS. After spending ten weeks in New York, and after being away from Seattle for nearly seven months, I returned for three weeks to spend some much-missed time with the familiar before flying back to Philadelphia to begin my junior year.

Submitted by parent, Sayre Coombs. Addy Borges just started a twoyear post with the Peace Corps in Mozambique. She’s working as a public health volunteer and every day is a new adventure, some of which she describes on her blog: borgespeacecorps@wordpress.com.

Since graduating from Northwest, I have attended the University of Washington, and am now going into my fifth year finishing my minor in American Sign Language along with my degree in political science. Continuing my path of ultimate Frisbee, I have represented the USA on national teams three times since 2012, most recently going to London to play and win gold, alongside Reid Koss, at the World Ultimate and Guts Championships (WUGC). I now play for the Seattle Rainmakers, and plan on graduating from the UW this spring.

Michael McCaffrey ’14

Submitted by parent, Ann Deutscher. Charles Truxal became a Lt. in the US Army. June 2016.

Submitted by parent, Sean McCaffrey. Michael spent last summer quarter in Salamanca, Spain, as part of his Seattle Pacific University program. The educational trip was sparked by the superb NWS trip he enjoyed in Seville. Over this past summer, he moved forward with an additional summer quarter at SPU and began his junior year.

Dakota Houseknecht ’13 (15)

Grant Mullen ’14 (17)

Charles Truxal ’12 (14)

Submitted by parent, Andrea Leigh Ptak. Dakota recently performed in Denver, Colorado, as a member of her youth vocal choir, Diverse Harmony (DH), at GALA 2016—a quadrennial festival that brings together over 130 choruses and 6,000 singers for the world’s largest LGBT performing arts event. Dakota sang with both the large choir and Spectrum, the group’s small, a cappella ensemble. In addition to performing, Dakota was featured in a video during the festival, talking about her experiences as part of the DH community. Dakota has been a member of DH since 2010, and has been a featured soloist in a number of shows. photo: Dakota is in the rainbow bustle. The photo is from the choir’s June show at the Broadway Performance Hall.

Grant Mullen ’14 and his band, Naked Giants, released their first EP, titled “R.I.P.” on October 14, via Miscreant Records. The media has described their music as “face-melting”, “punk and roll”, and a “psychedelic whirlwind.” Last March, they played their “nearly theatrical” live shows at SXSW and across the western U.S., and this September, they played to their home crowd at Bumbershoot. They are heading out this November for their second tour, melting music towns like Omaha, Boulder, Dallas, L.A., and San Francisco. Grant especially enjoys seeing NWS faces in the crowd, so make sure you say ‘hi’ at their next Seattle-area show.

Taylor Russell ’14 (18)

Submitted by parent, Bernard Russell. Taylor attends St. Olaf College, where he plays the tenor sax in its top jazz band. This past March, at the invitation of the Cuban Ministry of Culture, the band toured Cuba, performing concerts, participating in workshops and educational sessions with Cuban jazz musicians and students, and playing alongside local jazz ensembles. Taylor played numerous solos throughout the tour and was a featured soloist in a joint performance with a Cuban band, directed by Joaquin Betancourt, a famed musician who is sort of the Wynton Marsalis of Cuba.

Abby Tang ’15 (19) I recently traveled to Vietnam. I qualified as a top-40 finalist for Miss Vietnam Heritage Global 2016. During my trip, I gained many new perspectives and experiences I won’t ever forget. The friendships I made with the other girls most definitely made my trip a lifelong memory I will always cherish.

Xander Cuizon Tice ’15 (20)

Submitted by parent, Maribel Cuizon. This past May, as a player on the University of Oregon Ultimate Team, Xander played at College Nationals in Raleigh, N.C., where his team advanced to pre-quarters. He scored an Oregon rookie record of 20 goals and was Rookie of the Year runnerup in the 2016 college men’s division. This past summer, Xander played for Portland Rhino in the Club Men’s Division. photo credit: UltiPhotos.com by Kevin W. Leclaire.

Development

or the past two years, I have been lucky enough to share the good fortune of The Northwest School with my daughter, Charlotte ’22. When I see what Charlotte is learning and how the community has embraced her and supported her, I know that I want others to share in this good fortune.

Planned Giving What is it, and why should I care?

0 1 Wally and

Valerie Long

The House is a unique, welcoming community. Students, alumni, faculty, Northwest families and friends routinely share, with everyone they can, how lucky we are to be part of this community of learners, this family of idealists. The world needs more students shaped by a mission that aims to “graduate students with historical, scientific, artistic, and global perspective, enabling them to think and act with integrity, believing they have a positive impact on the world.” As alumni, parents, faculty, and friends of Northwest we have an obligation to ensure that this mission, this community, endures and prospers so that students today and tomorrow will continue to thrive in the House. Nonprofit organizations throw around the term “planned giving,” and yet, for its everpresent spot on websites and in nonprofit mailings, not many people understand the power of planned giving when it comes to supporting their most loved charitable organizations. Planned giving, especially gifts through a will, retirement plan, or insurance policy, is one of the simplest ways to support The Northwest School. These thoughtful legacy gifts ensure that Northwest can continue our critical work as “a diverse community of people who challenge each other to learn in a healthy, creative, and 01 collaborative atmosphere of respect for ourselves and the environment.” These legacy gifts are something everyone can understand and a gift that everyone can give. Susan V. Bosack, of the Legacy Project, says, “Legacy is about life and living. It’s about learning from the past, living in the present, and building for the future.” This is something everyone connected to The Northwest School can relate to because our very mission is about creating a legacy of inspired learning.

Planned gifts come in many shapes and sizes and each provides a means of leveraging your generosity when making a gift. There are planned gifts that anyone can make. These are gifts that don’t affect your current lifestyle or your family’s security but that will support Northwest in a meaningful way. Designating Northwest to receive estate assets in the future through a Will or Trust, your IRA or 401k, or with life insurance, is a powerful way to give. There are also planned gifts that are a bit more complex and are structured to provide you with income, such as Charitable Remainder Trusts or Charitable Gift Annuities, or protect your assets, such as a Charitable Lead Trust or a Retained Life Estate. You can also leverage your giving today through a gift of appreciated assets, like securities and real property that may be “out of sight and out of mind.” It is easy to be overwhelmed by the requests for support from your favorite nonprofits, but what if there was a way to support The Northwest School and your favorite charities no matter what your stage in life, your financial circumstances, or your charitable goals? You can make a gift that benefits you and your loved ones as well as The Northwest School and your favorite nonprofits. Twice a year, The Northwest School Magazine will offer testimonials from planned giving donors, and examples of simple planned gifts. We will show you ways that your gifts can advance Northwest’s commitments to social justice, equity, and inclusivity, and how your support can enhance our global connectivity and our commitment to environmental justice and sustainability. I am grateful and fortunate to be able to work in the House each and every day. I support Uniquely Northwest, I go to Pizazz and donate for financial aid and the Northwest Experience Fund, and I have donated to the Raymond Taussig Terry Financial Aid Endowment. Now, it is time to redo my family’s estate plans and Northwest deserves a spot in those plans. Northwest is going in my will. Is there a place for Northwest in your plans?

Walter Long Director of Alumni and Development

Alumni Happenings 2016 Alumni Reunion Friends were reunited and many laughs were had on Saturday, June 25, at the NWS Alumni Reunion. Over 100 NWS alumni, family members, and faculty came back to the House to enjoy a neighborhood

Portland Regional Gathering

scavenger hunt, community meeting (featuring Adina, Kevin, and Herb), a faculty showcase with Jeff and Daniel, dinner and drinks on the rooftop, and much more.

We kicked off this year’s regional events in Portland, Oregon, on September 22. Head of School Mike McGill shared updates and future plans in exchange for funny (and informative) NWS memories and stories from the six alumni present.

02 The attendees at the Portland event (from

left): Alumni Program Manager Sarah Graham, Andrew Quigley ’05, Brooke Fitchen ’02, Rebecca Micciche ’01, Nicholas Bigelow ’03, Erika Moen ’02, Simone Wood ’09, Head of School Mike McGill

03 From left: Tobin Jacobrown ’06, Megan

Callahan ’06, Jessica Mollick ’06, Rebecca Robinson ’06, and Jeffrey Suchland ’06, at the Alumni Reunion

Save the date for these events! Holiday on the Hill with Elliott Bay Book Company On Sunday, November 20, NWS alumni, families, and faculty can take part in a community event that supports The Northwest School Library and Annual Fund. A portion of sales from all purchases will be donated to the school, and a wish list of library books will be on display for purchase.

Alumni Basketball Game

Alumni Regional Events across the U.S.

Join us once again for the Alumni Basketball Game on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017. Come enjoy two exciting games while connecting with NWS friends, families, and faculty.

Join Mike McGill, NWS Head of School, in a city near you! Hear what’s new at NWS and connect with other alums in your area.

San Francisco, December 10, 2016 Los Angeles, December 11, 2016 Washington D.C., March 4, 2017 New York, March 5, 2017 For more details on alumni events, please visit northwestschool.org/our-community/ alumni/alumni-events

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage

1415 Summit Avenue Seattle, Wa. 98122

Seattle, Wa. Permit No. 10921

www.northwestschool.org Front Cover: Nina A. ’19 (right) and Olivia K.’19, in tenth grade Humanities class, October 2016

Above: Ceramic artwork by Matias Lazo-Fanning ’16, inspired by Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret, on display in the NWS Founders Library

Printed on Forest Stewardship Council® certified, process chlorine free, 10% post-consumer recycled paper.