The Northwest School Fall 2018 Magazine by The Northwest School

Developing Agile Mindsets A Publication for Alumni & Friends

Fall / Winter 2018

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 Michele Sanchez, Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management. michele.sanchez@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 notes and photographs by alumni, parents, and friends. Please email to alumni@northwestschool.org.

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Mike McGill Head of School Margie Combs, Editor Director of Communications Walter Long Director of Development Julie Lombardo Assistant Director of Development Maria Mazcorro Development and Volunteer Coordinator Peter Woodburn Website and Digital Media Coordinator

Contributing Writers Margie Combs Alice Shahan Peter Woodburn Lindsay Bailey Contributing Photographers Diane Cassidy Jenn Ireland Tino Tran Peter Woodburn Barbara Chin NWS Faculty, Students, Parents, and Alumni Graphic Design Barbara Chin

Table of Contents

cover photo: Marcel F. ’21 (left) and Tom X. ’19 test the water quality of Seattle’s Duwamish River. They and 13 other students spent a two-week Summit in March 2018 studying the river and its relationship to the Duwamish people. this page: Griffin W. ’23 shoots images of the Duwamish River landscape.

Head’s Message

Meeting the Demands of a Complex World

News and Notes

From the Archives: A Digital Home for the Archive

Virtual Orchestra Project Connects Students Around the World

Renee Frederickson—Teacher Extraordinaire

Students Expand Farm and Garden

Sixth Graders Act on Global Issues

Juniors Debate Complex World Issues

Biology Students Match DNA Samples

Jazz Band Performs on Famed Seattle Stage

Mr. Darcy and Ms. Bennet Come Alive on Stage

Northwest Runner Wins State Championship

Sikh Captain America Inspires Students to Tell Their Stories

Class of 2018 Celebrates Graduation

Developing Agile Mindsets

Alumni Profiles

Ethan Sorrelgreen ’99

Nick Jones ’01

Deborah Haley ’83

Nick Eaton ’03

Class Notes

Alumni Happenings

Meeting the Demands of a Complex World

y now, I hope you have received (and perhaps already even perused!) Engagement and Evolution: A Strategic Framework, 2018 – 2019, which will guide Northwest’s decision-making about all aspects of the school—our program, the student experience, campus expansion, faculty growth and professional development, enrollment, and much more—over the next several years. The result of hundreds of hours of work by a dedicated Task Force of 16 (eight faculty and eight trustees), and literally thousands of sources of input, including surveys, focus groups, interviews, and demographic research, that touched every one of the school’s constituencies, it is a thoughtful, elegant, and inspiring document that we believe captures both the essence of the school now and the directions we hope to travel together. We chose as the Framework’s visual expression the camera lens, a powerful metaphor that implies a capacity for focusing broadly, at a distance, and close-up, and that symbolizes the complementary disciplines of art, science, and technology. Unlike more traditional strategic plans, our Framework is not simply a to-do list, but a holistic way of thinking about the school’s identity, its values, and its evolution. Comprised of four guiding Principles, a handful of Distinctions (the unique qualities and programs that distinguish Northwest from our peers), and a halfdozen Directions (the key areas on which we expect to focus), it will enable us to better achieve our vision, support our mission, and leverage our many strengths. Much of the Framework’s success will hinge on our ability to live up to one of the four principles, “Agile Mindset: We evolve to meet the changing demands of a complex world.” In the body of the Framework, we elaborate on this idea: Guided by the example of Northwest’s founders, we thoughtfully seek to balance respect for tradition with the curiosity, creativity, and courage necessary to innovate. By remaining true to our mission and values, we are able to respond in a timely way to contemporary challenges and meaningful opportunities, while avoiding the tendency to overreact to trends and shortterm threats.

This requires that we keep an open mind, listen thoughtfully, take care to discern values (which ought to be immutable) from practices (which we should adapt to reflect the times, changing student needs, technological innovations, etc.), and be willing to experiment with new approaches to teaching and learning.

Engagement and Evolution: The Northwest School Strategic Framework 2018 The school’s new strategic framework is encapsulated in this graphic image. For the full narrative that accompanies this graphic please go to our website: northwestschool.org >About>Board >Strategic Framework.

Examples of a thriving agile mindset abound on campus. In this issue of The Magazine, you will read about one of them, “Summits,” the two-week immersive experience that debuted at the end of second trimester last spring. Interdisciplinary, experiential, mostly team-taught, and frequently with a social justice angle, they gave students and faculty an opportunity to explore interests outside of our regular program and, often, beyond the comfortable confines of The House. Elsewhere, we have shared news about The Virtual Orchestra Project, our burgeoning Farm and Garden, our novel approach to student health and wellness, and many other exciting initiatives. We look forward to sharing more such examples in the coming months, as we prioritize and begin our efforts to realize the dozens of desired outcomes suggested by the Framework’s Directions. In the meantime, I welcome your feedback on Engagement and Evolution and invite you to support our efforts to nurture young adults who, in the words of our mission statement—which sits, symbolically, at the center of the Framework— will leave Northwest with a commitment “to think and act with integrity, believing they have a positive impact on the world.” Best wishes,

Head of School

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Student-centered learning leads to a sense of wonder, purpose, and agency.

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Exceptional faculty – Our diverse our greatest community Liberal arts and resource – works sciences,animated continue to relentlessly by intellectual vitality, choose The to advance joy, and humor A vibrant Northwest equity and international School. inclusion school so that all community Education We graduate can thrive. and global as a students with network historical, scientific, commitment artistic, and global to humanity Our perspective, enabling urban them to think and act campus with integrity, believing reflects The they have a positive our ecological impact on the educational imperative world. philosophy of an urban Our - bold, environmental technology imaginative, education The integration and transformative model consistent power of the arts empowers with our all students, environmental fostering values. creativity and capacity for complex We work at the forefront of social justice, problemenvironmental stewardship, and solving. global perspective, passionately engaged at their critical intersection.

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Our Mission We remain focused on N orthwest’s foundational and enduring educational purpose.

Distinctions The unique qualities and p rograms that distinguish u s from our peers.

Directions This is the work we need to do to achieve our vision, s upport our mission, and l everage our strengths.

Principles These guide our work, with student experience and o utcomes at the center of o ur efforts.

School’s Investments Reflect Environmental and Social Justice Ideals

n Spring 2018, The Northwest School transferred 100 percent of its $10.4M endowment to Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investments. These funds better reflect the school’s values, including its longstanding commitment to teach and promote environmental sustainability, social justice, and global perspective.

“This is both an expression of our values and a smart financial move,” says Head of School Mike McGill. “As a school, we strive to model for students what it means to live what we teach; we feel obliged, then, to act on our principles at every level, including in our investment choices.” Northwest’s portfolio will be managed by Bailard Inc., an institutional asset management firm with deep expertise in sustainable, socially responsible, impact investing. Using a strategy that incorporates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) filters to evaluate potential investments, Bailard will ensure the school not only avoids investing in fossil fuels and other polluting industries, but also in alcohol, tobacco, gaming, adult entertainment, weapons, and nuclear energy. In addition, the portfolio will eschew companies with egregious patterns of behavior around equity and human rights issues, as well as those with less than one woman on their boards.

From the Archive

A Digital Home for the Archive by Alice Shahan Northwest School Archivist

am happy to announce a significant milestone in the archive: The Northwest School now has a relational database and discovery platform customized to preserve, organize, and share the history of the school. In short, a digital archive, catalog, and website. A huge part of my work in establishing the NWS Archive is devoted to ensuring people will have access to the collection. This takes different forms. Processing the collection is a component, but we also need an internal catalog to capture administrative and descriptive metadata* I identify during processing, as well as an outward-facing component that facilitates discovery.

When considering software options, we thought about how our community would want to access the archive. We imagined alumni commenting on and tagging digital media; the community exploring digital exhibits; students collecting images and documents for a project; and users listening to oral histories while following along with the interview transcript.

How we made this happen I spoke with various company reps, collected feedback from the national archivist community, and incorporated my nine-plus years of experience with different systems before I recommended the free, open-source software CollectiveAccess. From March through July 2018, I collaborated with developers to customize the application to match the needs of the collection and the anticipated use by the community. We started by tailoring the catalog functions, workflows, and compliance with metadata standards and best practices. Next, we turned our attention to the archive website. For each page of the site, we specified what content, sourced from the catalog, we would display and how it would be visually structured. Our goal was to design an engaging archive site that mimicked the look and feel of the NWS website. Each of those steps involved several rounds of testing and review. When we were just about fine-tuned, I recruited an array of community members to test the site. Our user group included parents, alumni, and faculty and we gained valuable feedback that we were able to relay into site improvements.

What’s next My work going forward will include data entry of a high degree of detail about the records and related digital materials. This encourages findability and allows us to understand what we have and where to find it. When we are ready to launch, the website will serve as an access portal for the community. When is the reveal? I think I can best answer with a metaphor. We have built the house. It has wonderful structure and flow, lovely views. However, there is no furniture, fixtures, or running water, yet. We will have an “open house” when we are ready for visitors. We’re getting there!

* Administrative metadata - information about the format or creation of the materials, necessary to manage and use information resources. This may include context, acquisition details, and/or rights management. Descriptive metadata - information that refers to the intellectual content of materials. Capturing these details facilitates discovery and use of the records.

Virtual Orchestra Project Connects Students Around the World

pper School Orchestra students connected with student musicians from six different countries around the world in an exciting new collaboration called The Virtual Orchestra Project (VOP). The yearlong project resulted in a performance featuring a video presentation of all eight schools playing a tango by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, on May 30, 2018. Says orchestra teacher Jo Nardolillo: “We talk a lot at Northwest about global citizenship and social justice. I wanted to explore what that means to be a global citizen in terms of orchestra. If music truly is a universal language, then playing together should dissolve all borders, and that is exactly what happened with this project.”

0 1 A glimpse at The Northwest School’s new

archival website, now ready for data entry. 0 2 Northwest orchestra students perform in

synchrony with video recordings of six other schools from around the world, all playing an Argentinian tango by Astor Piazzola.

Prior to the performance, a few Northwest School Upper School orchestra students were featured on NPR affiliate 88.5 KNKX. The segment about the Virtual Orchestra Project aired the morning of May 29, 2018. In addition, Jo was interviewed on Classical KING FM 98.1’s Musical Chairs on August 17, 2018. The VOP paired Northwest students with students from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, in Washington D.C., Colegio Jorge Washington, in Cartagena, Columbia, the John F. Kennedy School in Berlin, Germany, the International School Bangkok in Bangkok, Thailand, the Givatayim Conservatory in Tel Aviv, Israel, and the Lelt Foundation Orchestra in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Renee Frederickson

Impassioned Chemist, Lover of Nature, Teacher Extraordinaire

f the strong and caring faculty who anchored the foundation of The Northwest School, few are as deeply loved and revered by alumni as Renee Fredrickson. Heartfelt thank-you notes from hundreds of the school’s graduating seniors cover the pages of her yearbook collection, and as many notecards, letters, and postcards flutter out from between the yearbook pages from alumni who continue to be inspired to thank her. Eager for her wisdom, seniors have chosen innumerable times to have her speak at graduation, and this year, 2018, was no exception. She is known to have prickly edges, and a no-nonsense attitude, which she never hid or apologized for, and in some ways, students were most grateful for this aspect of her. They knew she was not going to coddle or spoon-feed them and, more often than not, they came away from her class empowered to love science and inspired to learn more.

After thirty years as an exceptional and seminal teacher, Renee is retiring and moving onto new adventures. She began teaching at Northwest in 1988, coming in as an 11th grade Chemistry teacher, and within just a few years, so many students were clamoring for more chemistry that she added the Advanced Chemistry course. In her second year she also taught 10th grade Geometry.

“How humbling it has been to watch my students interact with each other and the world in mature ways I did not have,” says Renee, reflecting on her three decades of teaching years at Northwest. “These teenagers are so amazing—my life has been engaged here with the depth of intellect and capacity that these teens have. They are in this incredibly fascinating time in their minds and they have challenged me all along the way.” Renee began pondering what it means to be educated when she was in her late twenties. Having graduated with a degree in chemistry from Seattle Pacific University, she left town on a cross country bike ride, making her way to New England. Her desire to understand what it means to learn, and learn well for life, spurred her to go back to school and get a master’s degree in education from Keene State University, in New Hampshire. With that degree in hand, she biked back to Seattle and reconnected with a former lab partner who knew a friend whose daughter attended The Northwest School. Word had it that the school was looking for a Middle School science teacher. When Renee called Mark Terry (cofounder and head of school at the time), he revealed that the school was actually looking for a chemistry teacher. As Renee began to teach chemistry to upper schoolers, it became increasingly clear to her that her job was to set the stage for curiosity.

0 1 From left: Sara Dong ’17 and Emma Barker ’17

join Renee on an ethnobotany field trip to Discovery Park. 0 2 Renee, Northwest School yearbook

photo 1990-91 0 3 From left: Glen Sterr, Rene Fredrickson,

Erica Bergamini, and Herb Bergamini on an early ’90s Outdoor Program camping trip to the North Cascades.

09 09

“

“The only true education comes from a need to know,” reveals Renee. “If you look at that as the basis, then the next step is to empower the student to ask ‘what do I need in order to get there? Where do I go? Who are the people, what are the books, what are the technical sources in order to find out what I want to know?’ What are the tools?” Students quickly discovered that Renee was not going to answer their questions. If there was one response she became known for, it was “go look it up.” She pushed students hard to be independent thinkers—sometimes to the point of frustration—in the hopes of getting them to where they needed to go. She tells the story of one international student in her chemistry class who threw his hands in the air and said ‘I think there are things I just don’t know!’ Renee immediately went to the front of the room and wrote that on the board. “When a student says to me, ‘I’m lost,’ I say, ‘I can’t help you with that. Ask me a question,’” says Renee. “I told students, ‘Your job in this class is to learn how to ask a good question. That question moves you to a deeper level; that’s how you’ll get to better understanding.’” When Renee was not in her classroom, she was pairing with Glen Sterr, and Herb and Erica Bergamini, to travel with students out into the wilderness. She describes the school’s Outdoor Program as “the delight of my life.” According to her, getting out into nature is as foundational and imperative to a good education as any chemistry lab or scientific body of knowledge.

”

Glen Sterr Veteran philosophy teacher

“There is a richness out there in the wilderness that is incomparable to the classroom,” she says. “You cannot help but be changed. It removes us from ourselves, our preoccupations, our sense of our importance, our schedules, inadequacies, insecurities, and it humbles us. It shows us that we are connected to something that is so much greater than our own little worlds.” Renee’s influence on the lives of Northwest students is not easily measured but perhaps best encapsulated by an alum who wrote to her after having to write the first essay at the university. The alum wrote to Renee: “I wish my teachers here trusted how much we could do and did not come to our rescue.” Thank you, Renee, for sending so many young people out in the world who are fearless in their learning and do not want to be rescued. We can only hope that many of them will become the teacher you have been, inspired by your knowledge, your wisdom, your wonder of the natural world, and your caring heart.

Renee has been a model to her students and colleagues of the holistic approach to education and life: Outstanding science teacher; student of trees and plants, birds and stars; artist, musician, and lifelong outdoor enthusiast—Renee has shared all of her passions, knowledge, and skills with generations of appreciative students. They are eloquent and moving when they write or visit and give testimony to the impact she has had not just on their education but on their sense of self-confidence and selfworth from being taught to meet difficult challenges head-on. A noteworthy mark of her students’ esteem for her teaching and for who she has been in their lives is that our seniors have invited her to speak to them at 14 graduation ceremonies over the course of her career at NWS.

News & Notes

Students Expand Farm and Garden

n 2017-18, Environmental Interest Group (EIG) students worked hard to expand Northwest’s pop-up garden, building raised beds, shoveling dirt, and prepping a new outdoor greenspace for the school. The multi-use outdoor space sits on 1418 Bellevue, a property purchased by Northwest in December 2017.

“I’ve realized how much I like gardening since working on these gardens,” said Riley W. ’19. “This project allows students to explore different interests and a lot of us have become really invested in this space. It has been fun to enjoy it together.”

Riley served as a member of the student manager team for the Urban Farm and Garden all year. Riley and the rest of her team took stock of tasks that needed to be done in the gardens and helped organize and delegate responsibilities to other students. The pop-up garden contains 16 raised beds, which, combined with the 14 beds in the Urban Farm and Garden, increases the school’s growing space to approximately 1,000 square feet. Cared for by a team of EIG students, the gardens grow “everything under the sun,” according to Jenny Cooper, Northwest’s director of environmental education and stewardship. In addition, they provide fresh vegetables and herbs for the Dining Hall team to serve occasionally at lunch. “The students worked hard to transform the space and saw how doing so can transform community and personal relationships,” says Jenny. The EIG helped create the space over the course of about 15 dedicated work days, many of which occurred over Spring Break and on weekends. In the summer, the NWS Dining Hall served some of the produce for lunches during Summer Camp.

Sixth Graders Act on Global Issues

he culmination of the 6th grade Humanities curriculum every year is the Global Issues Action Project. In June 2018, the students presented their projects to the Northwest School community.

“The important thing is for the students to see themselves as agents of change,” says 6th grade Humanities teacher Heather Hall. “The action project is designed to show every individual has a responsibility to do what they can and has the power to do so.” Students chose from a wide range of global issues, including ocean pollution, access to education for girls, food waste, and access to clean water, among others. Their research included diving into an actual case study for real life context. Students presented their research in a variety of mediums. Some created websites, others produced PowerPoints or tri-fold information boards, and some students engaged in artistic responses, such as creating board games, books, or 3D models to visually present their findings.

01 A bird’s eye view of the

Farm and Garden on the West Court (in background) and the expanded pop-up garden with 16 new raised beds. 02 A sculpture created by

Northwest students adorns the pop-up garden. 03 Isabelle V.G. ’24 shares

her project with parents at the Global Issues Action Project night. 04 Sara M. ’24 displays her

research on a global issue.

The most significant portion of the project was to carry out an action in the local community to raise awareness. This year’s actions included handing out pamphlets, writing letters to senators and representatives, and organizing clean-up parties for beaches. Amelie B. held a bake sale and donated the money to the Malala Fund. She was inspired to research girls’ access to education after reading I am Malala, the autobiography of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education who was the target of a Taliban gunman in retaliation for her stances. “I wanted to learn how I and others can help girls gain access to education,” said Amelie. “It is a serious issue that needs more attention, because education is critical to helping women find stable jobs and take care of their families.”

Juniors Debate Complex World Issues

culminating experience for juniors at Northwest are the annual 11th Grade Debates. This year, students explored the complexities of some of the world’s charged issues. International and domestic students worked in teams to argue the pros and cons of a wide range of subjects, including the Pacific Rim Free Trade Agreement, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants, settlements in the West Bank, and the refugee crisis. The debates challenged students to learn both sides of the issue. Student teams of domestic and international students created opening statements, rebuttals, and closing statements, and prepared to answer clarifying questions from their classmates. After the debates were over, classmates provided constructive criticism to the debate teams and voted for who presented a better argument.

Ben W. ’19 was on a team that argued against a proposal to admit 1,000,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. Ben noted the extensive preparation required for the debates helped inform him of the nuances of the issue, and the effects of multiple refugee crises around the world. “The preparation for the debates really gave me a deeper understanding on a topic that is really important right now,” says Ben. “Syria dominates the media coverage, but there is a crisis in Eritrea and a migrant crisis in Italy as well. I have a more complete knowledge of what is unfolding on a global scale.”

News & Notes

hanks to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Science Education Partnership, Northwest 10th grade students are engaging in DNA manipulation. In spring 2018, they conducted a lab in electrophoresis, one of the methods used in DNA matching for criminal investigations.

“We talk so much in terms of molecular structure in biology, which can be hard to visualize and understand the meaning of,” says biology teacher Kathryn Wallace. “This lab allows us to actually turn on a light and see the DNA patterns, and see which ones are matching. Visualizing these examples goes very far to promote and inspire learning.”

This lab opportunity is a benefit of a program Kathryn participated in at Fred Hutchinson over the summer of 2017. Its goal is to further technology and science in the classroom by promoting access to a lending library. Many students were excited by the lab, especially because they used equipment not commonly seen in a biology class room, such as centrifuges and the electrophoresis chamber. Said Greta H. ’20: “This lab helped us see how and why the structure of DNA is important, and it was fun to do it in a real-life CSI sort of laboratory.”

Biology Students Match DNA Samples

Gel electrophoresis is a process that involves placing DNA in a gel substance that is charged by electricity. Because DNA is negatively charged, the DNA strands move through the gel towards the positively charged end, with smaller DNA molecules moving further than larger ones. The result is a banding pattern that is unique to just one person (except in cases of identical twins). “This is a real-life application of DNA fingerprinting,” explained Kathryn.

0 1 Mikala L. ’19 (left) presents her

argument, flanked by debate teammates Ben W. ’19 (center) and Owen L. ’19. 0 2 Asa E. ’20 places DNA in a gel

substance, as lab partners Greta H. ’20 (left) and Ibrahim B. ’20 (right) look on. 0 3 Ava L. ’20, Alec G. ’20, Callum M. ’20,

and Scout S. ’20 charge DNA with electricity, a method used in DNA fingerprinting. 03

News & Notes

Jazz Band Performs on Famed Seattle Stage

tudents in the Upper School Jazz Band experienced the thrill of performing on a professional stage at Tula’s Restaurant and Jazz Club, in Belltown, on June 5, 2018. The students opened a marvelous night of music for Seattle-area-based jazz musician Tim Kennedy.

“It is really valuable as a young musician to know you are on the same stage that so many professional jazz musicians have stood upon,” says Mosey B. ’19, who plays drums. “Experiencing that and having the professional sound and space makes for a great memory.” 0 1 Performing at Seattle’s Tula’s Jazz Club:

From Left: Band Teacher Dave Jewett, Jack N. ’21, Ibrahim B. ’21 (on bass), Peyton C. ’19, Preston P. ’21, Haylie B-H. ’21 (on saxaphones), Caroline F. ’21 and Avery P. ’21 (on trumpets).

The 14-piece ensemble played a wide range of classic jazz hits, including “Straight, No Chaser” by Thelonious Monk, “Time Will Tell” by Art Blakey, “Strasbourg St. Denis” by Roy Hargrove, “Boplicity” by Miles Davis and Gil Evans, and “Li’l Darlin’” by Neal Hefti. The annual performance at Tula’s is an integral part of the jazz band experience at Northwest, which is open to all Upper School students.

Mr. Darcy and Ms. Bennet Come Alive on Stage

he Upper School Play Production class, in conjunction with the Upper School Orchestra, was proud to present Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, originally adapted for Book-It Repertory Theatre by Marcus Goodwin. The performances took place in the Black Box Theatre, Feb. 8-11, 2018.

The production was directed and choreographed by Theatre teacher Laura Ferri, featuring music direction by Orchestra teacher Jo Nardolillo. Nearly 90 students contributed to the performance. Stagecraft students designed, built, and painted the set, and designed the lights and sound. The Graphics Design class created the posters advertising the show, and the Advanced Photo class photographed the display of the cast, musicians, and crew. The entire Upper School Orchestra, in rotating shifts, played all the music for the show, including 10 period dances and many moments of underscoring.

0 2 Josie Ballew ’18 (center front), in a scene from

Pride and Prejudice. Directly behind her, from left: Julia Hess ’18, Kovit V. ’20, Spencer Fier ’18, Chris S. ’21, Eliza Jacobson ’18, Juniper C. ’21, and Iris A. ’21. Back, far left: Mara W. ’20, and Natale T. ’19. Back, far right: Ethan J. ’21, Anna Tsunkova ’18, and Talia P. ’21 0 3 Liam MacDonald ’18 plays Mr. Darcy. Seated:

Isobel M. ’19 (left) and Emma R. ’20.

Northwest Runner Wins State Championship

enior Isa Meyer ’19 capped off her fantastic career as a Northwest School athlete with her second consecutive 800m state title, a new personal record of 2:15.04. Isa’s performance was just the beginning of a fantastic weekend at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 1A State Championship in May 2018. As a team, the girls’ finished the state meet in fifth place with 39 points. Impressively, all 13 of the Northwest runners who qualified for the state meet made it to the podium, finishing within the top eight of their respective events.

Lanie R. ’20, Maleda S. ’21, Grace P. ’19, and Amelia H. ’19 set a new school record in the 4x100m relay with a 50.84 time, finishing fourth in the race. Grace achieved two more personal records during the championship, taking third in the 300m hurdles (45.90) and third in the 400m (58.75). Scout S. ’20, Grace, Lanie, and Isa finished off the meet in the 4x400m relay with a fourth-place finish. Congratulations to all the Northwest School track and field members on a fantastic season!

0 1 Northwest School Girls’

Track and Field Team, 2018 0 2 Isa Meyers ’18, running

for gold in the 800m 0 3 Vishavjit Singh

(Sikh Captain America), talks with Nghia W. ’23.

News & Notes

ishavjit Singh, a nationally recognized cartoonist and performance artist, also known as Sikh Captain America, visited The Northwest School on May 10-11, 2018, to speak with Middle School students on issues of race and identity. “Even if you have an identical twin, no one on this planet is exactly like you,” he told students. “You have to remind yourself that you have your story and you aren’t going to let anyone else tell it but you.” In his two days at Northwest, Vishavjit visited with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students, detailing his upbringing and sharing how he struggled with his own identity as a youth. After fully adopting the Sikh religion he was born into, Vishaujit was inspired to don a Captain America costume after the Aug. 5, 2012, mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He chose Captain America in order to challenge stereotypes, noting that Captain America, as a fictional character, can be anyone. When walking the streets as Sikh Captain America in New York, Vishavjit challenges pedestrians with simple questions, such as, “When you look at me, what is the first thing you think of?”

Sikh Captain America Inspires Students to Tell Their Stories “People often mislabel me, but it starts conversations,” said Vishavjit, who was born in Washington D.C. Vishavjit began drawing cartoons after seeing a creative response by Pulitzer-Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore, which featured a Sikh man. It was the first time Vishavjit had ever seen someone who looked like him represented in media. That inspired Vishavjit to start drawing cartoons featuring Sikhs and other images from his upbringing. In a special activity with the 7th grade class, Vishavjit asked students to draw a cartoon of their own story. Said Vishavjit: “If you don’t see yourself represented, draw yourself. That is the power of art: it doesn’t necessarily have to answer questions; it can create an image or an idea that somewhere down the line can change what someone thinks.”

O 01

Class of 2018 Celebrates Graduation 02

n June 12, 2018, 87 seniors assembled under the evening lights of The Center of Spiritual Living to receive their high school diplomas and embark on a new chapter of their lives.

Science teacher Renee Fredrickson and Philosophy teacher Glen Sterr addressed the students for a final time before retiring in June 2018. Renee and Glen represented over 60 years of combined tenure at Northwest. Senior Joe Webb represented the students, delivering a powerful message to his classmates and their families and friends. Like all Northwest graduations, many students took the stage for their final high school performances. Members of the A Capella choir sang “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by John Denver, and a special ensemble group performed “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young.

The Class of 2018 are pursuing studies at the following 48 colleges and universities: Barnard College Bellevue College Berklee College of Music Carleton College Chapman University Claremont McKenna College Colorado College Columbia University 03

Cornell University The George Washington University Gonzaga University Grinnell College Haverford College Kenyon College Lehigh University Lewis & Clark College Loyola Marymount University Macalester College McGill University New York University Occidental College Pacific University Pitzer College Pomona College Rutgers University-New Brunswick Saint Mary’s College of California Santa Clara University School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Scripps College Seattle University 0 1 Joe Webb ’18 gives the

student keynote address. 0 2 Head of School Mike McGill

welcomes families of graduates at the Center for Spiritual Living. 0 3 A Capella seniors take a

bow after performing “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” 0 4 Faculty speaker Renee

Fredrickson imparts wisdom and words of encouragement to the graduates. 0 5 Faculty speaker Glen Sterr

delivers a philosophical farewell to graduates and to 30 years of teaching at Northwest. He and Renee both retired in July 2018.

Smith College Syracuse University Tufts University Tulane University University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Riverside University of California, Santa Cruz University of Colorado at Boulder University of Oregon University of Puget Sound University of Redlands University of San Francisco University of Washington Wesleyan University Western Washington University Whitman College Willamette University Williams College

The Internet of Things (IoT)

Developing Agile Mindsets

Recreating the Wheel

oday’s high school graduates must have the capacity to absorb and adapt to rapidly changing information and to understand how subjects interconnect and influence one another. The complexity of today’s problems—climate change, immigrant rights, embedded racism, economic disparity—calls for this higher level of systems thinking and problem solving.

Tiny Houses

The Northwest School curriculum is already interdisciplinary and now has added a new academic experience that supports and deepens interconnected learning. For a solid two weeks in the spring, students and faculty dive deeply into one course, exploring a subject from multiple lenses and across disciplines. These courses, called Summits, are designed with the school’s values, history, and mission in mind, and all contain a social justice component.

Mexican Folk Art

Lego Robotics

Islamic Art The Nuclear Age

21 Food Chemistry

A Sense of Place

Visual Art Criticism

Seattle Rocks

Unlimited Learning “This kind of cross-curricular education is meant to blow the sides off of any single department,” says former Assistant Head of School Tuney Kannapell, who facilitated the development and launch of the first Summits. “It is a fantastic opportunity to learn together—teachers and students—in a concentrated way on a single theme and through lenses unrestricted by departments.” Depending on the Summit selected (from a list of 30), students may find themselves studying the ethics of technology in the Internet of Things, rafting down Seattle’s Duwamish River examining industrial pollution, fashioning working musical instruments out of landfill materials, conducting scientific labs to understand the chemistry and cultural role of food in communities, building a Tiny House for one of many homeless encampments around Seattle, or traveling for ten days throughout the South, visiting pivotal sites of the Civil Rights Movement.

The March Goes On: Walking in the Footsteps of the Civil Rights Movement

Greater Depth and Complexity The purpose of Summits is to expose students to crucial learning experiences that cannot be achieved within a regular school day broken up by several subjects. “Summits are designed to take students to a greater depth of learning—a depth made possible by time, intensity, and the opportunity to revisit a subject from multiple perspectives,” says Tuney. When learning is freed from space and time constraints, students can engage in longer labs, analyze an issue or subject through historical, sociological, and artistic lenses, take field trips around the state and across the country, interact with experts in the field, and spend quality time helping the local community, To illustrate the best of Summit learning, we have broken out two Summits in greater detail. Read more

The Duwamish: The Lifeblood of Seattle

he Duwamish River, which runs through Seattle, is an imperiled stretch of water poisoned by industrial pollutants. At one time, the river was the lifeblood of the Duwamish people. Fifteen Northwest students, ranging in grades from seven through twelve, embarked on a scientific and cultural journey that took them rafting down the Duwamish, conducting water quality investigation, examining sediment, and studying microscopic crustaceans negatively affected by pollution. In tandem, they learned about the river’s cultural importance from elders of the Duwamish tribe as well as professional artists inspired by its beauty.

“Duwamish means ‘people of the inside place,’” reveals Humanities teacher Priscilla Lindberg, who developed the Summit along with faculty members Heather McKey and Susan Sutton. “We wanted to anchor the students in a sense of place and also move them toward a sense of urgency and activism to care for this river.”

The Duwamish:

The Lifeblood of Seattle

Students rafted down the Duwamish to get a close look at industrial pollution.

Lani R. ’20, testing water quality

Developing Agile Mindsets

Learning Through Lenses Duwamish tribe member James Rasmussen, head of the Duwamish Cleanup Coalition

Pollution Up Close Starting at the upper reaches where the river is relatively pristine, students camped in yurts on the riverbanks and conducted their first water quality tests. They then rafted down the river for several miles to Herring House Park, which sits across from the Duwamish Longhouse. There they found a drastic difference in both river temperature and acidity and saw the effects of the massive shipping industry. “We got a sense of the scale of industry and how big the ships are,” confirms Priscilla. “There is an enormous concrete plant there and Boeing is another huge contributor of the river’s pollution. The students expected to see visual pollution but were surprised to learn pollutants are embedded in the sediment.” Students learned the river was straightened to make it easier for ships to move in an out, and now only one natural curve remains. In addition, the high level of pollution with PCBs has rendered the river’s shellfish inedible.

To develop a deeper connection to the Duwamish River environment, the students worked with the Audubon Society, learning the identification of local bird species. They also visited the Renton Wastewater Treatment Center, where they helped weed a sizable garden plot nourished with clean, treated water. Additionally, students studied the river through an artistic lens, sketching the flora and fauna of the river’s environment while working with visiting visual artist Gene McMahon, author of the book Water Watching: Puget Sound and the Duwamish River. Furthermore, they worked with professional photographer Tom Reese, who has been photographing the Duwamish River for over twenty years and recently published the book, Once and Future River: Reclaiming the Duwamish.

A Sense of Stewardship “It takes time to be in a place and develop a sense of curiosity and ownership over it, and a sense of stewardship,” says Priscilla. She believes the students came away not only with an unvarnished knowledge of this threatened waterway, but also a sense of hope. “There was a real joy among the students and awareness that they were learning something very important. They were encouraged to know the river is coming back, slowly. They learned it takes persistence and money—and you have to be a watchdog.”

Heartbreaking History Spending several days at the longhouse, students spoke with Ken Workman, great-great-grandson of Chief Seattle, and James Rasmussen, a Duwamish tribal member and head of the Duwamish Cleanup Coalition. From these elders, students learned the Duwamish people long ago lost their land to white settlers and, today, are not recognized as an official tribe.

Ben S. ’23 (left) and Griffin W. ’23 identify local bird species in the Duwamish ecosystem.

Visual artist Gene McMahon helps Mia S. ’23 with her sketch of Duwamish plant life.

Students and faculty gather with tour guide and civil rights activist Dr. Shirley Cherry (center right, standing) at the Dexter Parsonage, one of many stops on their civil rights journey through the South.

The March Goes On:

Walking in the Footsteps of the Civil Rights Movement

o both grasp and grapple with the depth of racism in America, a multiracial group of Northwest Upper School students and four faculty members engaged in a historical and personal journey through key moments of the Civil Rights Movement, past and present. Traveling for ten days to four states in the American South, they stopped at pivotal sites that memorialized significant events of the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, as well as today.

Grappling with Past and Present Among the many stops were the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia; Southern Poverty Law Center and Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama; Selma, Alabama, the starting point of a series of marches to call for the expansion and protection of voting rights in 1965; Medgar Evers Home Museum in Jackson, Mississippi; the Stax Museum and the Beale Street Blues Club in Memphis, Tennessee; and the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. At many of those locations, plaques recently erected by the Equal Justice Initiative memorialized the lynchings that had happened on that very ground. “This was not a tour of monuments,” clarifies Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Anshu Wahi, one of the faculty leaders on the trip. “The goal was to demystify the South as a faraway place where racism happened in the past. We wanted students to meet and talk with historians, activists, and contemporary participants in the struggle for civil rights today, and to give them time to process that racism is a very presentday issue.”

Students reflect in their field journals at the Civil Rights Memorial designed by Maya Lin, Montgomery, Alabama.

Developing Agile Mindsets

Reckoning with Racism

A Transformative Experience

Given the complex and painful events represented by every memorial site and monument, difficult moments and conflicting opinions arose during the trip. This was central to the experiences students and faculty shared throughout the Summit.

As essential to building community within the group were the moments of fun, lightness, and connection. Many times, students and faculty enjoyed stopping for ice cream, visiting local parks to relax, laughing at meals, and sharing a love of music, especially the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the B.B. King’s Blues Club on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee.

Upper School Director Chance Sims, another faculty leader on the trip, commends the students for their ability to work through the challenging moments along the way. “I’ve been with students who intend to do the hard work and then step back and soften their message to make if more palatable. These kids did not step back,” says Chance. In fact, the journey centered the work of transforming this group of individuals into a trusting and committed community that can do important anti-racist work together today. “It was powerful to see how students handled it—how they stayed in conversation when it was hard,” says Humanities teacher and Summit leader Gigi Craig. “These challenging conversations were the basis for the strong sense of community built on the trip. By going on the journey together and challenging one another to face this history, we were able to become much closer as a group.” Adds Anshu, “Those difficult moments aren’t awful if you are ready for them. It is a reckoning of the history of this country. We don’t want to avoid those moments.”

Isaiah J. ’19 unlocks the door to Martin Luther King Jr.’s longtime home, Montgomery, Alabama.

Arriving back at school, the faculty and students knew they would need weeks to process what they had experienced. Some of the most compelling moments were hard to reconstruct, often occurring in conversations in the vans going from one destination to another. Says Summit faculty leader Kevin Alexander: “Before we went on this trip, Anshu pulled out a (James) Baldwin quote from a documentary we watched together. It talked about the I’ve always had an fact that coming to awareness about internal conflict of who racism in America was a journey. I was. I’m half black and my This was definitely that, but it skin is very light, so people are was much more than that— it was a transformative always telling me ‘you don’t look experience.” black.’ I thought this would be a really

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good chance for me to explore black history as a part of who I am. I was not at all prepared for how powerful it would be. We went to (civil rights activist) Medgar Evers’ place and it was simply a house with a sign. It was definitely the most powerful place on the trip for me. He was just a regular guy who was trying to help and he worked really hard. To think that he got out of his car, was shot, and crawled up to his house to be with his family right where I was standing—it felt like time hadn’t passed. I could connect to him, it was very real and very hard. One of the stops was Martin Luther King’s house where he lived with his family for a long time. Our guide told me she had a special present for me. She gave me the key to open up Martin Luther King’s door. She told me there have been only four or five other people other than Martin Luther King—civil rights activists with very big names—who have been given the key. I was hoping I’d get some sort of sign on this trip that I am Isaiah, I am black, I am a mixed race kid, and I know who I am. Opening up Martin Luther King’s door— that was my sign.

”

— Isaiah J. ’19

“

The goal of the trip was not comfort, but it created so many opportunities to learn about and grapple with your own identity. I am white passing, but I identify ethnically as Puerto Rican. So I don’t really belong in white affinity space or in the people of color space. It wasn’t easy the whole time—we had some arguments and conflicts, with people feeling safe to speak in the affinity groups but not with the whole group. Then there were times when we all came back together and we had to share what we were feeling. It was not an option to not participate, I’m so thankful for that because as a group we ended up so much closer. I came away with a deep connection to the students and the faculty—all four of them—on that trip because of the vulnerability demanded of us.

The memorial at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

It was a very formative experience for me both in my individual identity and my identity at the school and also my identity in Seattle. I had never been to the South and around people with political views so drastically different than my own. One of the biggest things I took away was to not hide in Seattle, to be more independent in the ways I identify and understand race – to be an individual voice that says things that aren’t always right and that’s okay. That pushes me to be uncomfortable and to challenge my peers.

— Lia C. ’19

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Math teacher Susan Sutton takes a water sample form the Duwamish River.

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I got an attachment to the river. The first week we camped in yurts and tested the clarity of the water to study how it changed as we got closer to the city. We rafted down the river and we just saw big container ship after container ship—there was really not end to them. If you actually get to see what’s happening, it changes your perspective. We visited the Duwamish longhouse multiple times and met with members of the tribe. I am a tiny bit indigenous—my great grandfather was the leader of a tribe— so I was interested in learning about the Duwamish. They told us stories from 10,000 years ago. I saw the river was a big center—it’s like a family to them. There is only one way to really learn about another culture and that is from a person in that culture.

— Griffin W. ’23

”

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We didn’t just go to monuments. We were able to unpack our own emotions and how we do or do not shy away from conflict. I’ve heard about so many of these places and events, such as the 16th Street Church bombing. We were walking into the park and it was silent and cold and I felt so many emotions running through me. There was a little memorial to the girls and the man who got killed that day. I looked at that, and then I turned 180 degrees and there was the church—I was looking at history and all the pieces I had learned about that history were coming together. I came away with a deeper understanding of self—how I fit into the narrative I’ve been taught and the realities of the situations and events.

— Nina A. ’19

”

Student Perspectives

A student on the “self-walk” through the woods along the Duwamish River.

“

When we went down the Duwamish, we picked up as much trash as possible and made sure every single bit of trash was in our bucket. We learned it isn’t only the trash on top of the river but what is in the sediment. The pollution from industry and the oil that leaks out of the barges gets broken down into itty bitty pieces that you can’t clean it all at once. You have to take the sediment, clean it, and put it back.

At the Duwamish longhouse we met the great great grandson of Chief Seattle. We learned the government does not recognize the Duwamish as an official tribe. He told us how the Duwamish lost their land to the settlers. They signed an agreement that was wrongly interpreted and translated. The land is not just a toy someone took away from them and now they want it back – this is their home. It’s their identity. It’s where they belong. The best thing you can do is understand that it’s not just the Duwamish River – it’s the Duwamish culture and land. We can’t help anyone if we don’t understand there is an issue. In the morning, on our last day of the camping trip, we did a self-walk: We all stood in a line in the middle of the forest and slowly, one person at a time, we started to walk. If you saw the person ahead of you, you had to stop and wait until they were out of sight again. On that walk, I really felt present, seeing the beauty of this place; being at one with myself and the land that I am not only physically standing on but also spiritually.

”

— Samantha W-S. ’19

Alumni Profiles

Ethan Sorrelgreen ’99 Chief Product Officer, CARMERA

riving a car safely across town requires a high level of brain activity. The onslaught of sensory information— colors into optical neurons and sounds into auditory neurons—must be absorbed and contextualized, then sent to another part of the brain that delivers a command to turn right or left or stop. If navigating in a familiar neighborhood, your brain is rather nimbly performing something called “localization,” which means you do not need to see any signs or look at a map to know the street network and understand where you are.

A self-driving car must replicate every one of these neuronal functions. This daunting task is why Ethan Sorrelgreen ’99 gets up every morning. He is the chief product officer for CARMERA, a start-up company based in Seattle and New York City that is building a real-time, street-level intelligence platform to create maps that power autonomous vehicles. “I’m the bridge between the customers and what they need and the engineers and what they build,” says Ethan, who founded CARMERA’s Seattle office a few years ago. Before working at CARMERA, he was an engineering manager at Apple and Amazon, and built both of their v1 Maps Applications.

Operating in a World of Obstacles At CARMERA, Ethan is responsible for “mapping,” an essential element for self-driving cars to navigate safely. In a world of obstacles, the car needs maps that constantly refresh and deliver important information— such as a sudden detour due to construction, or a double-parked truck—so it can take the safest and most efficient route possible. “Driving conditions for a self-driving car have to be in real time, not a month ago,” says Ethan. “You have to keep that info really up to date at a rate of high efficiency.”

From Pulsars to Map Data

Driving into the Future

Historically, Ethan has always been passionate about mapping. When he played on the basketball team at The Northwest School, he was always at the front of the bus telling the coach how to navigate through the streets to the games.

While working in the Bay Area, Ethan noticed Amazon was making a smart phone and needed maps. He saw it as a good career opportunity and a chance to satisfy his burning desire to move back to Seattle. Once at Amazon, he built a smart phone maps application. Unfortunately, Amazon’s Fire phone failed, so Ethan integrated all the technology into Amazon logistics (where it is still being used today).

After graduation, Ethan headed to Haverford College where he majored in astronomy and minored in physics. There, he studied pulsars (old dead stars that have collapsed and become neutron stars)—which spin at a fantastic rate. One pulsar he studied had a spin rate of 16 milliseconds. “It takes a huge amount of compute time to find the signal of that 16 millisecond pulsar in dataset spanning 12 hours,” explains Ethan. It would take at least 10 computers processing all semester long in order to complete the project but only one of them had a hard drive large enough to store the data. His solution was to build a “Linux cluster” to break the job up over a number of machines in order to study that pulsar. “This was the beginning of my experience working with distributed systems,” reveals Ethan. “We use similar processes today to build map data in real time.” Ethan followed a circuitous route to the field of big tech and mapping. After college, he first pursued a career in sales and recruiting. He also worked at a research institute, and then at a startup in the public bus prediction space before winding up at Apple.

“Then I asked myself, what is the future of mapping?” recounts Ethan. “It’s not shipping packages; it’s mapping for autonomous vehicles.” Thus, in yet another career move, he quit Amazon and founded CARMERA’s Seattle office. Signs indicate that Ethan’s decision was a smart one. Autonomous cars powered by CARMERA’s maps are already operating in a retirement community in California. “Our partners still have safety drivers in every vehicle,” concedes Ethan, “but in certain locations, I predict you’ll see fully driverless vehicles within the year.”

0 1 Ethan Sorrelgreen 0 2 CARMERA’s mapping vehicle, called

CARMERA Force One, capable of creating a 3D scan of a street at 10cm accuracy 0 3 Ethan, with his wife, Judy Lackey,

and children Milo (9), Desi (6), and Callen (3), and dog, Chilly. 0 4 An example of some layers

of an HD Map used to power autonomous vehicles

Alumni Profiles

Nick Jones ’01

Assistant Professor of Spanish and Africana Studies, Bucknell University

hen Nick Jones ’01 welcomes a new group of students to his Spanish literature and culture courses at Bucknell University, he often warns them, “You’re going to get your hands dirty.” Nick specializes in literature between 1400 and 1700, roughly from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. His research focuses on race, gender, and sexuality in Spain and Portugal and their colonial kingdoms. The prevailing stereotype about blacks in those early modern periods is that they were downtrodden and oppressed. Nick’s work shakes up that assumption. “A common argument held by scholars is that all representations of blacks in early modern Spain are negative, pejorative, and racist,” says Nick. “The groundbreaking work I do is to reveal there is this other history going on, when we center and highlight agency and resistance of slaves in Spain.” For example, historical records of the Spanish Inquisition show evidence of black slaves navigating and negotiating the Spanish Inquisition “in a savvy way,” according to Nick. In particular, there were black women using their intelligence and diplomatic skills to acquire power. There were also black mariners sailing from Portugal to Brazil who were earning more than many white captains.

31 02

Nick’s first monograph, titled Staging Habla de negros: Radical Performances of the African Diaspora in Early Modern Spain, will be published by Penn State University Press in Spring 2019. In the study, Nick analyzes white appropriations of black African voices in Spanish theater from the 1500s through the 1700s—a period when the performance of Africanized Castilian, commonly referred to as habla de negros (Black Talk), was in vogue.

“You have all these instances when you see black agency and resistance. In my writing and my classroom, I like to put it out there that the representation of blackness in literature is always complex and paradoxical,” explains Nick. Nick holds a Ph.D. in Iberian Literature and Cultural Studies from New York University. Prior to his graduate study, he received a B.A. with departmental honors from Haverford College. Now, in addition to his role at Bucknell, he is a visiting scholar at Georgetown University, where he teaches a graduate seminar in Spanish called “The Early Modern Hispanic Black Atlantic.” “My students are always blown away and shocked to learn that in art and visual culture, blacks are there and visible. I break down and deconstruct issues of race and sexuality and show them how these categories intersect and reflect on one another.”

On the modern-day front, Nick is a current blogger for Black Perspectives, the online journal of the African American Intellectual Historical Society (AAIHS). In addition, he is forging new thinking as co-editor of Early Modern Black Diaspora Studies: A Critical Anthology, which is scheduled to come out in November 2018 with Palgrave Macmillan. “Usually, Early Modern studies and Black Studies are pitted against each other as if they are diametrically opposed,” testifies Nick. “We illustrate that Early Modern and Black Studies have a lot to say to each other.” Nick believes that connecting past and present in Spain is important to understand the early modern period. To illustrate, he turns to popular culture in present-day Spain. “Spanish cinema and television productions have explored the country’s imperial relationship to sub-Saharan African slavery and slave trading,” says Nick, pointing to the current TV series La peste [The Plague]. He points out that the paradoxical nature and status of black Africans in La peste—portrayed as both enslaved and free persons— can be seen today in Spain’s current handling of African and Latin American immigration in major cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia. Says Nick: “The timelessness of it all is really empowering and fascinating because it shows the cyclical nature of history as well as the ways in which the formerly colonized return to Europe to bite it back.”

0 1 Nick Jones 0 2 The cover of Nick’s monograph,

Habla de negros: Radical Performances of the African Diaspora in Early Modern Spain, to be published Spring 2019 0 3 Nick (back row, second from left),

with the Bucknell-en-España study abroad group, Spring 2017, Seville, Spain, Parque María Luisa 03

Deborah Haley (Gong) ’83 Creative Food Scientist

Culinary Science Deborah’s changes meant pilots would experience different flavors as the paste went through their mouths and throats. A favorite among the pilots was her key lime pie.

To the elite pilots who fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft, Food Scientist Deborah Haley is a godsend. Due to her ingenuity and skill, the food these pilots ingest while flying at 70,000 feet in pressurized suits and helmets, actually tastes delicious. It goes by the name of Tube Food, and it is exactly as it sounds: a paste that comes out of a tube. Before Deborah was hired by the U.S. Department of Defense, Tube Food flavors were limited, bland, and redundant. “I ended up modifying the program completely,” says Deborah, who recently completed her degree in Food Science from Kansas State University. As a chef and physical science technician at the Combat Feeding Directorate at Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center in Massachusetts, she made a huge difference in the pilots’ lives. “They had tremendous menu fatigue, so I introduced texture and more layers of flavor.”

“First you taste the key lime custard, a pudding texture with a nice sharp note of the key lime that is sweet and tart; then you swallow, and it finishes with the flavor of the crust,” explains Deborah. When developing a new flavor of Tube Food, Deborah and her colleagues first ate the real food prepared and cooked in the normal way. Then they blended another helping and tasted it again. From there, they reverse engineered the blended food, tinkering with ingredients and chemistry to approximate the taste of the original dish. The most challenging food she ran up against was peach melba. “We made the melba, retorted it (a heat sterilization process), and it was just horrible—it tasted like rotten dairy. Scientifically, we looked at the ingredients—in certain conditions, dairy can develop negative offflavors—and kept trying it again. We worked for a year before we got it right and shipped it out to the pilots.”

Alumni Profiles

Becoming a Food Scientist Just how Deborah came to create food at the U.S. military base was part intentional and part serendipitous. When she was in Upper School at Northwest, Deborah had dreams of dancing ballet as a career—but those plans derailed when she was hit by a car while riding her bike and ruptured a tendon in her foot. Fortunately, she also was interested in science, so once she graduated, she decided to certify in surgical technology. Not surprisingly, this soon proved to be too repetitive for her creative interests. “Food was always a relaxation and fun thing to do, so when I moved with my husband to Vermont so he could go to medical school, I enrolled in the New England Culinary Institute.” Deborah’s husband is an active duty military physician, so Deborah and their three daughters (Natasha, now 29, Alessandra, 24, and Sophia, 21), have been stationed all over the world. At these different locations, Deborah seized the opportunity to work in the food industry in different ways. In Hawaii, she ran a catering business for six years. Then in San Antonio, where her husband pursued more schooling, she worked for HEB Corporation, the largest grocery store chain in Texas. They had an upscale market grocery store with a big kitchen and she worked as a chef, writing recipes and teaching.

A Versatile and Portable Career “You can do so many different things in my field: food safety, quality assurance, product development,” testifies Deborah. “I love the work.” In culinary school, Deborah developed a product for her Senior Capstone Project. The assignment was to come up with something that was missing from the food world. She noticed that popcorn seasonings were all powders (none with just blended-in butter) and she found the buttered flavored oils on the market tasted terrible. “I developed an umami, a sweet hot Moroccan, and a spicy Moroccan paste,” reveals Deborah. “You pop your popcorn and then stir in the paste and it melts readily.” Deborah tested her concoction on campus as well as with parents and senior citizens. “They wanted me to call it ‘Mommy Ghee’ because it’s so easy to use. It spices up dishes with very little effort.”

0 1 Deborah (right) with fellow

food technologist Dan Nattress, at the Combat Feeding Directorate in Massachusetts 0 2 Tube Food for U2 pilots 0 3 U2 Reconnaissance Aircraft

Now that she is finished with school, Deborah is considering opening a business and producing Mommy Ghee herself. “My friends and family are putting it on salmon, chicken, pasta, and cooked eggs,” she laughs. “I can hardly keep up with the demand.”

s digital audience editor and head of the digital audience department at The Seattle Times, Nick Eaton’s work centers on helping the newsroom make the transition to a new digital world. He oversees the team of four producers and another editor who curate the Times home page, write engaging social media posts and headlines, make sure the newsroom is staying on top of the latest trends for platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, and he plans and strategizes digital direction for the whole news organization.

Nick Eaton ’03

Journalist, Digital Audience Editor, The Seattle Times

“It’s an art to fine-tune how we write the news in order to reach readers as best we can,” says Nick, who graduated cum laude from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University (WSU), one of the top communication programs in the country. “Here at the Times, we think of our main product as journalism—that may mean print, or digital, or mobile apps. We just want to meet our readers where they are.”

Transitioning to a New World Like most news organizations, The Seattle Times is emerging from a rough decade. The advent of social media platforms plus mobile apps, free/cheap online advertising (such as Craigslist), and the reluctance of readers to pay for news online has all but gutted the way news organizations traditionally deliver the news. Many print papers have disappeared and journalists have lost their jobs. In 2008, Nick was working for The SpokesmanReview in Spokane as a sports multimedia producer when he and a quarter of the newsroom staff were laid off. “It was the start of the economic downturn and news organizations were already feeling the hurt and things really started to go south,” recalls Nick. “I moved back in with my parents in Seattle and managed to land a job with seattlepi.com. Barely two weeks after that, Seattle P-I print shut down.” Nick covered Microsoft and technology for seattlepi. com, and then moved to being sports editor. (He traveled to two Super Bowls, covering the Seahawks, and the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.) After six years at seattlepi. com, he caught the eye of The Seattle Times editor Don Shelton and, in 2015, was hired by the Times for digital sports production, then local news production, and then he landed a promotion to digital audience editor.

Alumni Profiles

A Changing Horizon

News of the Future

In college, Nick did not quite know what he wanted to do with communications, until he started writing for WSU’s college newspaper, The Daily Evergreen, and fell in love with it. Blogs were new and Twitter didn’t exist, but he still could see that change was coming. “I ran for editor-in-chief of the paper on a ‘Web First’ platform,” he says.

According to Nick, the beauty of this metric is that it has shown that people do not necessarily value “cheap journalism” like listicles. They want the hard-hitting impactful journalism on which the Times prides itself— the watchdog investigation stories and deep features.

Now, in addition to having a thorough knowledge of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, Nick is utilizing sophisticated digital analytical tools. He advocates using analytics to help guide editors and reporters in seeing what their readers are most interested in reading. “I’m not saying I want that to be the only approach, but it is a strong tool in the news reporting process,” he says. “Numbers are not the only thing we are paying attention to, but if you don’t do that, you will shrink.” A new metric Nick is paying attention to is “subscription influence.” Basically, it enables him and his team to see what triggers someone to buy a digital subscription to the paper. “When a person subscribes via our website to any of our offerings, we can look back on the last thirty days and see which stories they read and we can give each story an influence point,” explains Nick. “It’s a kind of in-house thing we’ve created.”

0 1 Nick Eaton 0 2 The landing page

for The Seattle Times mobile app 0 3 Nick, at work in

The Seattle Times newsroom, 2018

“The waters are still pretty rough for news media but I think we’ve turned a corner where people value hard impactful journalism,” he says. Though Nick is no longer doing the beat reporting he first fell in love with, he says he thoroughly enjoys his work in the digital universe. “Now I’m coaching and teaching and overseeing and improving, helping the organization make this transition,” says Nick. “And I’m constantly learning myself about the digital future.”

Robert Yarnall ’82 [01]

My musical, The Ten Year Test, funded by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, shows Muslim kids as protagonists and tells how Eid became an officially recognized school holiday in NYC. It is now available to middle schools across the country. In 2017, I became an ordained Interfaith/Interspiritual Minister through One Spirit Interfaith Seminary. And I’m living in NYC with my partner Joseph and our dog Blazer. I’d love to hear from classmates! robertyarnall.com

Paul Jennings ’83 [02]

Class Notes

My wife, Deanna, and I have been living near LA for the past 10 years. I’m a pilot flying biz jets for a software company based near San Francisco. We plan to move to NorCal by the end of the year to be closer to my work. Deanna runs an on-line boutique: juniperandscout.com. Claire, my oldest, recently graduated (summa cum laude—yeah, sorry, some dad bravado there) from Boston University in Film/TV and Philosophy. She’s interviewing now for jobs in “the industry” here in LA. My son, Nick, just finished his 2nd year in Environmental Management at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Good friend and NWS ’83 classmate Lisa Strong has been a big part of our lives here in SoCal. We love her, and she made the trip all the way to Boston to be a part of the BU graduation!

Hiromi Charles (Shiraiwa) ’91 [03] This summer, Hiromi visited Seattle (and NWS) for the first time in more than 20 years. We were delighted to learn that she’s currently living in Japan, running a language school called Nokishita Toshokan, built on her grandmother’s history of opening her home to children and providing a library under the same roof. Learn more about her work at nokishita-toshokan.com. Written by NWS

Noelle Royer ’95 I’ve finally followed my dream and have left the country to teach scuba diving and also lead divers around dive sites. I live in Khao Lak, Thailand, for seven months a year, and I may move elsewhere for a year-round gig. It brings me great joy to share the ocean with new and old divers alike.

Brian Reich ’96 [04] On June 15th, I was in Moscow when FIFA members voted to award the 2026 FIFA World Cup to North America. I had led communications for the United Bid, including writing the Bid Book, helping shape the messaging and media strategy, and final presentation.

Amalia Walton ’96 [05] After a fantastic year serving as legal and government affairs counsel, I have recently become Executive Director of Sealife Response, Rehab, and Research (SR3). We are a community-based, collaborative nonprofit, dedicated to improving the health and welfare of marine wildlife in the Pacific Northwest. Our programming includes research on the health of local killer whales, large whale disentanglement, and response and rescue to stranded or injured animals, including otters, seals, and sea turtles. My favorite adventure so far has been transporting an elephant seal pup to a rehab center in CA, using our marine wildlife ambulance!

Tatiana Dreisback ’97 I’m currently working as a wetland biologist for WSDOT. Had my second baby, Trae, born June 2017.

Daniel Bell ’02 I’ve moved back to Seattle and am working at the Tinker Tank at Pacific Science Center, developing workshop programming on various tinkering/ making STEAM topics!

Lewis E. Johnson ’03 [06] Lewis is one of two authors responsible for updating the second edition of a major textbook, Understanding Nanomaterials, published this fall. Lewis holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Washington. Written by NWS

Class Notes

Becky Fish ’05

George Felton ’11

Becky is currently working as a public defender at the Federal Defenders of San Diego. She and her colleagues have been working tirelessly to combat the current “zero tolerance” policy that has led to the mass prosecution of immigrants at the U.S. border. Their work includes fighting misdemeanor illegal entry charges for some and helping others to appeal their convictions resulting from guilty pleas as the only way to get out of jail. A GoFundMe drive has been set up for those wishing to help clients to post bond at gofundme.com/ 6v67h-san-diego-immigrant-bondcampaign. Written by NWS

I just graduated with honors from the UW Foster School of Business, earning my M.S. in Entrepreneurship degree as a member of the inaugural cohort of this new program. In July, I joined my friend and classmate Andrew Clapp to found Lonely Produce. Lonely Produce is committed to reducing food waste by helping small-medium sized local farmers sell their excess produce online. We have joined the Jones+Foster Accelerator, and you can check us out at lonelyproduce.com.

Carol (Wolf) Gilderoy ’06 My family just moved to a great new apartment in Federal Way! My daughter, Beth, will be starting kindergarten this year. After staying home for the last eight years, I’m looking forward to finding a part-time job during school hours!

Grace Lehman ’10 After graduating with a master’s from UC San Diego’s Education/Multiple Subject Teaching Credential Program in 2017, I completed my first year of teaching (4th grade, in south San Diego). It was a wonderful experience and I loved getting to know the children and their families, although I am feeling more of a pull to return to my first passion of health care. I currently am applying to different health care/social work jobs in Hawaii (extremely passionate about surfing!), particularly on the island of Kauai, Hawaii (the “Big Island”), and possibly Moloka’i. I am excited to see where this next adventure takes me! Thank you NWS for all that you do in creating an astounding community and helping to shape our future generations!

Omar “Ramo” Forrest ’11 I am pursuing my dream of being a professional stage manager while pushing for social change. After three years of working for Theater Schmeater, an old neighbor of NWS, I have started stage managing for theaters that are truly interested in upsetting the narrative, in shaping tomorrow. I have worked on shows for the deaf community with Sound Theater, a show about “they” as a singular pronoun with Annex Theatre, and shows about integrating the tech world with the arts at Live Girls Theatre. Art will shape the world—we just have to choose how we want it to look.

Leila Braun ’12 I’ll be entering graduate school at the University of Michigan in the fall, pursuing a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature. Many thanks to my NWS teachers for their support along the way.

Jordan Spencer ’12 [07]

Alex Olson ’14

After graduating, I spent time in both Oregon and Washington attending different schools and working. I ended up becoming an Emergency Medical Technician and moved to the Oregon coast to pursue a career as an EMT and firefighter. I currently work for an ambulance company as well as part time for Cannon Beach Fire and Rescue. I have returned to school to pursue my degree in paramedicine and emergency services.

In 2018, I traveled to Perth, Australia, with the Men’s USA National Ultimate Team to compete at the U24 World Ultimate Championships. The men’s, women’s, and mixed teams all won gold! The final six months of my Studio Art education at Carleton were full of ceramics, printmaking, photography, a senior art show, college ultimate, and career planning. With my undergraduate degree complete, the next chapter full of new artistic adventures has begun!

Mia Bladin ’14

Upon my return to Seattle, I finalized the founding of my new business, Alex Olson Arts LLC, and proceeded with preparations for the 2018 Bellevue Arts Museum ARTSfair, in which I exhibited handmade woodturnings and ceramic vessels. Since many professional artists have a mailing list, I thought I’d make one too! The Alex Olson Arts Newsletter is a great way to stay connected with career and studio updates, in addition to my Instagram account. On October 1st, I will be starting a two-year studio assistantship with Seattle artist Deborah Schwartzkopf. This position will provide me with an opportunity to continue developing as a ceramist and learn valuable skills from an established artist.

Mia has been nominated for the USA Ultimate Callahan Award, given annually to the most valuable players in college ultimate who embody and advance the spirit of the game. Mia is currently playing for the Harvard Quasars. Her nominee bio reads: “Mia Bladin is the backbone of Harvard Quasar. Off the field, she is a patient and nurturing leader, helping to grow Quasar into a program with longevity and character. On the field, she leads by example with a ferocious capacity to dominate offensive play and force defensive turns. Mia steps on the field prepared to give what it takes as an athlete and leader, never giving up on a teammate, game, or disc. The loudest voice and the biggest smile on the sideline, she embodies what the game of ultimate is about at its core: intense athleticism and fire, combined with integrity and spirit.” The award is voted on by current college players and will be presented at the College Championships. Written by NWS

Rose Soiffer-Kosins ’15 I graduated from Northwest in 2015, and am now attending Pitzer College in Claremont! I recently interviewed for Bloomberg BusinessWeek about vintage clothing shops: bloom.bg/2r5RPFN. I started Ecru Vintage from my dorm room last year. Since then, my business has grown quite a lot. I am really proud of the progress I have made, the collaborations I have done with other Claremont students, and the hard work I have put in outside of my classes. Check out my shop on Instagram @ecru.vintage!

Alumni Happenings Alumni Reunion Nearly 100 alumni, faculty, and friends gathered on Saturday, June 23, 2018, for the annual Alumni Reunion, open to all and, in particular, reunion classes ending in 3 and 8 that were celebrating milestone reunion years. We began with dinner and drinks in the sun on the 401 E. Pike rooftop, then moved on to dessert and dancing in the Upper Hall. A giant thank you to everyone who came out for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event! We loved seeing you all, and canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to do it all again next year. 01

The Northwest School Alumni

nwsalumni

Save the Dates! Holiday on the Hill & Alumni Happy Hour On Sunday, Dec. 2, join us for an alumni happy hour followed by Holiday on the Hill, a familyfriendly community event at Elliott Bay Book Company that supports our library. The happy hour will take place at a venue near the book store—stay tuned for details.

Alumni Basketball Games This winter, come back to The House to catch up with Northwest School faculty and friends at the annual Alumni Basketball Games. Join the women’s or the men’s team on the court, or be there to cheer them on from the sidelines! More event details, including how to register, will be coming soon.

Alumni Reunion

0 1 Retiring Philosophy teacher Glenn

Sterr says a few words at the reunion gathering on the rooftop of 401. 0 2 The Class of 1998 celebrate

their 20th reunion. 0 3 David Kauffman ‘95 chats with

Northwest Co-founder Mark Terry. 0 4 Deborah Haley ’83 poses with

classmate Michael Jacobs ’83. 0 5 Along with dancing and feasting, 05

alums perused the school’s collection of yearbooks.

Plan to come back to The House on Saturday, June 22! Join us for an evening with fellow alumni and beloved faculty as we reminisce over school memories and create some new ones. Alumni from all classes are invited, though we will especially celebrate those class years ending in 4 and 9 with milestone reunions: ’84, ’89, ’94, ’99, ’04, ’09, and ’14. Are you a Class Rep planning special gatherings for your class this year? Let us know by emailing alumni@northwestschool.org. We can help you promote your activities as well as direct alumni from your class to you for details.

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Left: Juniper C. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;21 and her classmates organized a mini-walkout, during the Duwamish River Summit, to commemorate the one-month anniversary of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida. They began by reading the names of the students and faculty who lost their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

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