The Northwest School Magazine - Spring 2019 by The Northwest School

The Transformative Power of the Arts A Publication for Alumni & Friends

Spring / Summer 2019

northwestschool.org

Mike McGill Head of School

Margie Combs, Editor Director of Communications Walter Long Director of Development Julie Lombardo Assistant Director of Development Svetlana Turetskaya Alumni Program Coordinator Maria Mazcorro Development and Volunteer Coordinator Peter Woodburn Website and Digital Media Coordinator

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

Contributing Writers Margie Combs Alice Shahan Peter Woodburn 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.

Contributing Photographers Stefanie Felix Jeff Halstead Karen Mason-Blair Erik Stuhaug Peter Woodburn NWS Faculty, Students, Parents, and Alumni Graphic Design Barbara Chin

Table of Contents

cover photo: A pair of hollow wooden vessels created by woodworker and ceramist Alex Olson ’14: the left is made of pacific yew, the right of black locust, and the base is made of madrone. this page: Over 100 Northwest students from all grades took to the stage at the 2018 Dance Department Showcase on Nov. 9, 2018, at Broadway Performance Hall.

Head’s Message

Placing Students at the Center

Stay Connected to Northwest!

News and Notes

From the Archives: Alice’s Five Favorite Finds

Sixth Graders Embody Scientists from Ancient Times to Present Day

Model U.N. Students Tackle Global Issues

Middle School Students Engineer and Build Rube Goldberg Machines

Science Students Design and Launch Catapults

Northwest Community Embraces Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Students Explore New Media Art

Students Visualize Calculus Equations

Northwest Athlete Wins WIAA Award

Tartuffe: Born Again a Comedic Delight

Multiple Faculty Members Published

Celebrating Math and Science at Winterfest

The Transformative Power of the Arts

Alumni Profiles

Mesa Schumacher ’04

Alex Olson ’14

Elizabeth Lorayne ’02

Alden Keefe Sampson ’09

Caitlin Foito ’97

Class Notes

Alumni Happenings

Dewey’s thinking still resonates today. Or, rather, we’re finally paying attention and taking to heart some of what he suggested at the beginning of the 20th century, specifically: taking kids seriously; trusting that they are innately curious and eager to learn; and believing that they want to do well and “master school”—all of which argues for a significant shift in the teacher’s role in the classroom. Our evolving conception of what student-centered learning means at Northwest today certainly embraces many of Dewey’s ideas and includes the following precepts:

T Placing Students at the Center

he very first “Direction” in Engagement and Evolution, Northwest’s new Strategic Framework, reads, “Student-centered learning leads to a sense of wonder, purpose, and agency.” This fall, as the Curriculum Committee began to unpack that claim and draft goals and outcomes that might flow from it, faculty members realized that they needed to define what, specifically, we meant by the expression in the first place. This was more challenging than you might think given the amount of (virtual) ink that’s been spilled in the effort: Googling “student-centered learning” yields over 150 million results!

One of the earliest proponents of what then amounted to a radical rethinking of education was the American philosopher John Dewey. Over 75 years ago, in his classic Experience & Education (1938), he argued that “There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learners in the formulation of the purposes which direct [their] activities in the learning process.”

• Students understand that they are at the center of what is happening here in The House. Their diverse voices and experiences matter and help to shape and inform our decisions about programs and practices. • Students are given opportunities to make choices about their own learning and to contribute to the design of learning experiences. • Students move from being passive recipients of information to active participants in their own discovery process. Teachers become facilitators of this process rather than the central sources of knowledge. • Teachers develop a clear, transparent, and consistent system of measuring student progress that students understand. • Teaching and learning are “personalized” experiences, intended to address the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, and cultural backgrounds of individual students. Embedded in these are tremendous implications for teaching, for curriculum, for building and classroom design, for cocurricular activities—for virtually everything we do at school. As we continue to build out the Strategic Framework’s Directions, we will keep you apprised of new developments.

he easiest way to know what our students and faculty are doing every day at The Northwest School is through our social media channels. You can follow us on: Facebook: @NorthwestSchool @NorthwestSchoolAlumni Twitter: @northwestschool @NWSAlums @NWSathletics Instagram: @thenorthwestschool @nwsalumni @nwsathletics

And we have three more Instagram accounts that offer fantastic glimpses into the school day: @nws.sustainability Director of Environmental Education and Sustainability Jenny Cooper keeps us in the loop on Northwest projects involving environmental sustainability. @nws.kitchen Director of Dining Services Bethany Fong shares lively culinary news and fun facts about food from Northwestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kitchen and dining hall. @TheHouseArts Visual Arts teacher Julia Freeman captures a wide variety of the art projects our students engage in every day.

Stay Connected to Northwest!

From the Archive

Alice’s Five Favorite Finds by Alice Shahan Northwest School Archivist

s I have delved through papers and interviewed founders and faculty, I’ve come across so many fun bits of Northwest School history. Here are just a few of my favorites:

When I came across this photo I had to smile. It’s a great image of Ellen and complements the stories I’ve heard about her, taking on the responsibility to cold call, follow up, and gain support for the school and the students. In fact, just before I found this picture, I had asked Ellen about how renowned visual artist Jacob Lawrence became involved in Northwest. It turns out Ellen simply picked up the phone, called Jacob and introduced herself. They were comfortable with each other’s NY accents and bonded over their nostalgia for a good pastrami sandwich. Eventually, Ellen laid out the founders’ intentions with the Northwest School, and the rest is history.

The oral history interview I conducted with former art faculty member (1978-1984) Mark Gilstrap allowed me to speak with someone who signed on with NWS before the school even had a home.

Mark met Ellen Taussig through their work with Seattle Public Schools Arts in Education Program in the 1970s. They kept in touch over the years. Ellen contacted him when they were looking for faculty and trying to establish Northwest in the historic buildings at the Martha Washington Park site. He contributed a sketch of these buildings and the founders used it in an early brochure. Later, Mark collaborated with Floyd Standifer and Ellen to develop the Northwest School Humanities curriculum, as funded by a grant from The Northwest Area Foundation.

While not heavy with historical relevance, this tiny, coffee stained, moldy note is emblematic of Paul Raymond’s record keeping. Paul wrote notes on every scrap of paper, so my work with his documents was often “item level” (read that: slow), and I found so much spilled coffee on his files! Most importantly, this scrap shows why it is important Northwest decided to preserve its history: Without intervention, mold can cause considerable damage to a collection.

The records Glen Sterr donated to The Northwest School Archive are highly valuable because they are so comprehensive, covering many aspects of the school’s history. What could have easily been discarded, Glen kept and organized in well-labeled files. His collecting practices are why we have been able to fill some gaps in our documentation as well as obtain a complete run of the Outdoor Program schedules, describing each trip planned from 1984-2019.

I was working with the collection for some time before I came across a program from the first graduation ceremony when renowned musician Ernestine Anderson (who served on the school’s Board of Trustees) sang at the commencement. Gwen Jackson, who was described to me by Mark Terry as the school’s founding Registrar and (informal) Dean of Students, asked the first senior class to pick the school’s colors. The class of 1981 chose teal, burgundy, and sand.

E Sixth Graders Embody Scientists from Ancient Times to Present Day

very Northwest School 6th grader adopted the life of a scientist, mathematician, or inventor, and conversed about their lives over tea and cider during the annual Tea Parties Project in January 2019. The interdisciplinary project engaged students in science, Humanities, and library research. It also heightened students’ awareness about gender disparities in science professions.

Students chose from a list of people, and read a biography and other online resources about their individual. Students then wrote an outline that detailed the person’s history, achievements, and lasting impacts in their field, working with library faculty to cite each source correctly. After the outline was completed, the students worked in groups of four to write an original script for the tea party scene, which they presented to the entire 6th grade. Students in the audience took notes on the scientists’ achievements during their classmates’ presentations. “Everyone we learned about has done a lot of equally important things, and they don’t get as much exposure as white men,” says 6th grader Anusha S. “I think it is very important to give women scientists and people of color the attention they deserve since they had just as big of an impact on our world.” The project developed researching and writing skills while also shattering the preconceived notions of what it means to be a scientist or engineer.

“This year we asked students to think about the social identifiers of their scientists and how discrimination placed barriers in their way because of those identifiers,” says “I like this project because we aren’t just Humanities teacher Julie Kim. “We want learning about people like Albert Einstein or them to take away the idea that not everyone, Nikola Tesla,” says Josephine D. ’21. “Instead, depending on your race, gender, nationality, we are learning about people like my scientist, language, and a whole host of identifiers, gets Dr. Birute Gladikas, and all sorts of others the same recognition for their achievements.” who made big contributions to science.”

News & Notes

Model U.N. Students Tackle Global Issues

tudent members of The Northwest School Model U.N. Interest Group spent Nov. 9-11, 2018, holed up in the Sheraton Hotel for the annual Pacific Model United Nations Conference (PACMUN). PACMUN is entirely student-run and is the largest Model U.N. conference for high school students in the state.

This year, students were assigned to play one of three specific roles: a country’s delegate in the General Assembly or Committee of the United Nations, a delegate of a country in the World Trade Organization or World Health Organization, or a United States senator. Then, in two five-hour sessions, the students simulated their assigned roles, working through conflicts and proposing resolutions to solve global issues. All of the global scenarios were written by selected high school conference participants. Says senior Hantong W.: “It is fascinating to watch everyone spend hours each day working to find solutions to the issues, form blocs, and convince others of your position. Model U.N. teaches you how to collaborate and work together in an intense but productive way.”

Hantong won an award for his representation in the Joint Crisis Committee (Bloc 1). Hantong’s committee was set in South Africa in 2050. His hypothetical scenario involved a rebellion resulting from an economic takeover by Chinese corporations. Hantong notes that the scenarios for each committee are relevant to many of the hardest issues facing the world today. The general assembly, for example, dealt with legality of drone attacks in the Middle East. “When you partake in Model U.N. you get to hear the other side and try to understand it, even if you don’t agree,” says Hantong. “In the end, I think it is a good model for all of us to understand each other, especially during this time of political polarization in the U.S.”

0 1 Amaya B. ’25 (left), Rafi H. ’25 (right) 0 2 Jonah D. ’25 (left), Bea M. ’25 (right) 0 3 Back frow, from left: Thomas S. ’22,

Atticus M. ’20, Charlotte H. ’21, Lola T. ’22, Taiya H. ’22, Erika C. ’20, Scout S. ’20, Hantong W. ’19 Front row, from left: Qian G. ’20, Seeah L. ’20

Middle School Students Engineer and Build Rube Goldberg Machines

ixth grade science students engaged in the design process for much of December 2018 by imagining and creating Rube Goldberg machines. A Rube Goldberg machine is intentionally designed to perform a simple task in a complicated manner, often through a series of devices linked together to produce a domino effect.

“This project introduces the difficulties of the engineering and design process,” says Middle School science teacher Erica Bergamini. “Just because you can imagine something doesn’t mean it will work on the first try. Students have to develop the grit and perseverance of problem solving.” Students were required to include at least one of the three basic simple machines: an inclined plane; a lever; a wheel, pulley or something that turns on an axle. The project also required a labelled diagram of the machine with a detailed description of how it works.

01 Anna T-R. ’25 (left) and

Livvy S. ’25 test out a Rube Goldberg machine. 02 Molly E. ’25 explains how her

Rube Goldberg machine, The Thing-a-magiger, works. 03 Science teacher Jeremy

Dewitt cheers on catapult team members (from left) Carley C. ’22, Greg S. ’22, and Simon H. ’22.

Students primarily used cardboard, hot glue guns, and masking tape to build their Rube Goldberg machines. “The biggest challenge of this project is realizing that when faced with limited resources, sometimes you can’t solve the problem, and that is okay,” says Erica. Morris R. ran into this issue. His original idea proved to be too complicated to complete with the materials available. “I had to take out two or three steps and simplify my entire machine,” says Morris. “It was hard to go back to the design and figure out what I could eliminate.”

News & Notes

Science Students Design and Launch Catapults

he entire Northwest community cheered on the 9th grade Physical Science students during the annual catapult competition in January 2019. Team members Neeku P., Lucy S., and Steven W. took home the trophy this year after their catapult hit the target in each round of the competition.

“The first goal of this project is collaboration: teaching the students how to work with each other during a process that potentially is frustrating,” says Jeremy. “The second goal is to experience the design process: Come up with an idea, test it out, have it work or have it fail, and then come up with different solutions to improve the idea.”

The catapult competition is the culmination of a science unit that plunges students into the design process. Through several rounds of problem-solving students fine tune the precision of their catapult designs. Physical Science teachers Sophie Daudon and Jeremy DeWitt give these simple instructions: Create a device that can launch a projectile toward a 30-centimeter target five meters away. Precision and consistency are major focal points of the project. The aim is to hit the target at least 50 percent of the time.

“Making the catapult precise was definitely the hardest part,” says Anders B. “After our first launch, we realized we had to figure out how to stabilize it in order to make it work better.” Paul C.’s group experienced the complexities of the design process firsthand. His group’s catapult did not live up to the wear-and-tear of the testing phase, and the launching arm broke off before the first launch of the competition. Despite the glitch, Paul’s team still managed to present a working catapult. Says Paul: “Even if it didn’t come close to the target on the launch, the fact that we got a working arm on in 20 minutes was a success.”

0 1 From left: MLK Day

organizers Sy’Neah S. ’20, Isaiah J. ’19, Nina A. ’19, Chloe C. ’20, Jane B. ’20, Amalia H. ’20, Scout S. ’20, Eleanor C-S. ’20, Mia H. ’19, Deanna W. ’19 0 2 Jaedyn F. ’20 (far right) leads 01

one of 16 MLK Day workshops around racial issues. Seated from right to left: Sarah R. ’20, Zach T. ’25, Cam M. ’25, Rafi H. ’25, Wyatt B. ’25, Dorje H-B. ’25. 0 3 Grace E. ’22 (left) and

Simon H. ’22 take in the new media art exhibit at the Frye Art Museum, September 2018.

Northwest Community Embraces Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

he Northwest School community remembered and celebrated the life, work, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by engaging in a variety of workshops and presentations on Jan. 18, 2018.

A group of seniors and juniors organized the annual school-wide event, which began with a presentation to the entire school about the history of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the importance of fully engaging in the activities and workshops. Students chose from 16 workshops, many of which were led by their fellow students. Those who planned the workshops focused subject matter on issues Northwest students face. “The reason I wanted to lead the workshop on music appropriation is because it is applicable to almost everyone,” says senior Melat F. “Students who come to the workshop listen to rap and hip-hop, learn about the roots of the music, and how they can be responsible and respectful consumers of the music.” Other workshops included Segregation in Seattle Public Schools, Masculinity and Men of Color, Deconstructing White Privilege, The Hidden Biases of Good People, and What’s Negative About Positive Stereotypes. The day’s events concluded with a live performance from local Seattle rock band The Black Tones.

News & Notes

orthwest’s New Media Art course challenges Upper School students to combine technology and art. New media art is the use of digital technologies, most commonly video and audio, in tandem with an installation, a sculpture, or a performance.

The assignment reflected how new media art teacher Julia Freeman finds new works and artists. “When I go to exhibits and shows, I get intrigued, research the artist, and discover more work,” says Julia. “The way to authentically learn about art is to experience it.”

To become more informed about new media artists, students visited the Frye Art Museum in September 2018, chose a piece that peaked their curiosity, and researched the artist for two weeks. Then they presented their research to the class via PowerPoints, revealing the artists’ upbringing, schooling, and style, as well as providing visual examples of their work through photos or videos.

Numerous students in the class chose to present on Shana Moulton, who is known for her Whispering Pines video series. Although many of the students enjoyed her autobiographical, surreal, video alter-ego, some students didn’t understand or respond positively to her artwork, which, according to Julia, was a perfect learning moment.

“Art has many forms, and each form has its own idea,” says Dale D. ’21, who chose to study New York-based new media artist Shana Moulton. “I didn’t understand a lot of her work, but I could definitely appreciate her love and passion for art.”

Students Explore New Media Art

“As a class we are learning how to take part of viewership and learn how to process, appreciate, and most importantly, not appreciate art, and to figure out why you don’t like it,” says Julia. “I want to buck the idea of just looking at art and assuming you have to like it and understand it.”

Students Visualize Calculus Equations

sing Desmos, an online graphing calculator, senior calculus students in December 2018 programmed derivative equations to create visual representations of how points move across space.

“I want students to have this experience of observing how points move in space, because it is hard to understand calculus equations in the abstract without seeing motion,” says calculus teacher Mimi Yang. “Desmos allows us to take what we are talking about conceptually and put it into practice, and also allows students to be creative.”

Working in pairs, students were required to move at least one point across space. One team created a Super Mario-inspired project, and another created a solar system. In addition to derivative analysis, students studied the chain rule, a formula to calculate the derivative of a composition of functions. The calculus unit expands on functions such as sine and cosine, which students learned in pre-calculus. “Last year, students saw these equations mostly confined to a circular motion,” says Mimi. “For the students to see that the same functions can produce wildly different results helps deepen their understanding of how the functions work.”

News & Notes

Northwest Athlete Wins WIAA Award

enior Melat F. was named the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Athlete of the Week for her stellar basketball performances during the week of Jan. 7, 2019. Melat posted a triple-double against South Whidbey High School, finishing with 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 steals. She followed up that performance with 20 points and eight rebounds against Seattle Academy, and eight points, 10 rebounds, and two steals against Forest Ridge.

0 1 Tom X. ’19 and Elle L. ’19

program derivative equations with Calculus teacher Mimi Yang. 0 2 A heart visual created by

Tom X. ’19, using the online graphing calculator Desmos 0 3 Melat F. ’19, WIAA Athlete

of the Week

he Northwest School Theater Department proudly presented the Upper School Play Production performance of Tartuffe: Born Again, by Moliére, translated and adapted by playwright Freyda Thomas, and directed by Northwest teacher Ellen Graham, in December, 2018.

Tartuffe: Born Again a Comedic Delight

The performances came with a special curtain warmer, The Rehearsal, written by Northwest School alumnus Frank Garland ’16. Frank’s play was inspired by Moliére’s Rehearsal at Versailles. Tartuffe: Born Again was set in a televangelist studio in the 1980s. The adaptation had Tartuffe as a former televangelist who tricks Orgon and his family out of their money and home. The script took great delight in skewering religious hypocrites. The production featured a gorgeous set, designed by 16 students from Northwest’s Stagecraft class.

News & Notes

Multiple Faculty Members Published

wo current Northwest School faculty, plus cofounder and former biology teacher Mark Terry, published work in 2018-19.

Mark Terry authored two articles for publications related to Biological education. One article, a review of a new book on genes, appeared in the October 2018 issue of The American Biology Teacher; the second, a piece he co-authored on the historical and philosophical perspective of Intelligent Design, appeared in The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology.

Humanities teacher Lynne Feeley was published by The Nation in February 2019. She wrote a review of They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South, by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. In her review, Lynne wrote JonesRogers’ new book was “a definitive account of how deeply invested white women were in the slave economy of the South.” Orchestra teacher Jo Nardolillo released her fourth book, Cello Secrets, in July 2018. Her book, which is aimed at advanced cello players, explains over 100 techniques cellists use to master the instrument, complete with illustrations. 05

01 Ashwin R. ’20 (left), Emma R. ’20 02 From left: Becca S. ’19, Emma R. ’20,

David T. ’19, Ben S. ’19, Malia M. ’19 03 NWS Co-founder Mark Terry, 2016 04 Humanities teacher Lynne Feeley

talks with Yeonwook P. ’19. 05 Orchestra teacher Jo Nardolillo

Celebrating Math and Science at Winterfest T

he Northwest School community joined in Winterfest, an annual celebration of math and science, in December 2018.

“Winterfest is a way to highlight the creativity and the imagination, excitement, and beauty of math and science,” says Physics teacher Cecilia Tung. “It is also an important way to celebrate and honor the different disciplines at the school.”

Students rotated throughout school hallways and classrooms, interacting with presentations from 7th grade life science, 8th grade earth science, 9th grade math, 10th grade biology, 11th grade chemistry, and 12th grade physics and advanced chemistry. Winterfest has long been a tradition at Northwest, though this year it was redesigned to promote more student engagement. The day began with a pendulum demonstration from Physics students. Moving in groups, students performed chemical reactions with chemistry students, tested salinity with earth science students, built free-standing paper towers with physics students, took health measurements for a deepdata plunge with biology students, and performed field-of-vision tests with life science students. “Winterfest is a challenge for our students because they are presenting, explaining, and acting as facilitators for their peers,” says Cecilia. “It is a great skill to have and teaches them how to successfully communicate scientific ideas.”

0 1 Oliver C. ’22 (left) and

Sophia J. ’23 measure the weight of a salt-filled tube. 0 2 A scientific contraption for

measuring water salinity Page background: Maisie M. ’23 (left), Rose B. ’20

03 Oscar M. ’21 (left),

Maureen P. ’20, and Juniper C. ’21, apply physics principles to build a paper tower. 04 A display of paper

towers built by students during Winterfest 05 Scout S. ’20 (seated)

plays a Winterfest game with Ava L. ’20 (left) and Sasha B. ’20. 06 Amalia H. ’20 measures

her heart rate at the Winterfest biology station.

0 7 Math teacher Alex

Chen looks on as Emmanuel T. ’22 (left) challenges a classmate with a game of chance. 0 8 Rose B. ’20 (left) watches

Keean S. ’22 attempting to cause a chemical reaction. 09 Humanities teacher

Gigi Craig (left) and Lanie R. ’20, identifying chemical compounds by flame color.

ne of the many reasons arts are vital for middle and high school students is the development of the brain. Scientists are beginning to learn that in the teenage years the brain strengthens synapses that are active and begins to prune away ones that are idle. It is an opportune time for adolescents to try new things, to activate a variety of synapses before they are eliminated once and for all. Arts also help adolescents develop psychologically, providing avenues for self-expression at a crucial time when they are exploring identity.

“From the beginning, we knew in our bones the various ways dance, music, drama, visual arts are important to human beings—you can’t develop without them,” says former Science Department Chair Mark Terry, who co-founded The Northwest School with Humanities teachers Ellen Taussig and Paul Raymond. “If you take the arts away, you’d have a bunch of hollow people. The arts are deeply human and provide us with other languages for expressing ourselves.” When Mark, Ellen, and Paul came together to form The Northwest School, they brought deep personal connections to the arts: Ellen as a pianist and viola player, Mark as a pianist and drummer, Paul as a connoisseur of jazz and a soloist in his church choir. Mark’s father was a working artist, so Mark grew up around canvases and paint brushes and a library overflowing with art history books. Ellen attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City.

“You can’t separate arts out—it’s part of the whole,” confirms Ellen, who served as Head of School from 1992-2011. “Learning is about all of the senses—we are not just left-brained logical beings. We all function better when the imagination is fired up. This is what the arts do for us.”

0 1 Jack N. ’21, sculpting an Roan C. ’19

endangered pangolin

Eliot W. ’20

An Arts Foundation

“A student here can participate in a band for 21 trimesters but that does not have to be at the expense of dance or sculpting or spoken word,” says Jo, who is a violinist and holds a doctorate in musical arts from the Eastman School of Music. “We allow students to really focus in and do expert work in one area while also trying out other forms of expression in other areas. That is a huge and defining thing about our school.”

Flexing Brain Muscles Fundamental is the school’s belief that the arts require as much focus and discipline as academic subjects, and in many ways demand more from students. “I tell my students this is the hardest class they’ll ever take—and it’s true,” says Jo, referring to her orchestra class. “Music demands everything all other classes demand of students and, additionally, it calls for them to perform in front of each other, on the spot. When I tell the sixth graders that, their eyes light up and they dig in. They love the idea they are doing this hugely challenging thing that uses the whole brain.” For developing precision and accuracy there are few practices more demanding than learning a musical instrument and performing in a band or orchestra, according to Jo. “If you are performing in an academic field at 94 percent accuracy, that’s considered really good work, but if you’re doing that in music, it is a disaster,” testifies Jo. “You cannot have six percent error in music and have it be anything other than chaos. The stakes are really high in terms of what every student needs to bring to the table to have it be successful.”

Developing Resilience The stakes are equally high in other arts disciplines. Northwest’s theatre students engage in major dramatic and musical productions every year, directed by professional directors and actors Laura Ferri, Ellen Graham, and Solomon Davis. “Theatre is not easy, you have to work hard to learn all the lines, the dialects, the meaning behind the words, how to communicate to an audience,” says Laura, who has directed, adapted, and acted for Book-It and the Seattle Repertory Theatre. “After working that hard there’s a feeling of triumph. In this era of instant gratification it’s very important educational experience for students.”

Theatre’s production of Newsies in February 2019, depicting the historic 1899 strike of the newsies of New York City 0 3 From left: Jazz band

members Lucas K. ’19, Peyton C. ’19, Preston P. ’21, and (back) Iliana G. ’21 perform in Northwest’s fall music concert at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, November 2018.

According to Laura, there’s a point in every play when she and the entire cast think they’ve made a huge mistake by even trying to pull it off. “When we did the Odyssey, the students and I talked about being in ‘boat hell,’” reveals Laura. “But I always go in telling them you can do this, you will get this. You don’t have to get it today, but don’t worry, you will get it. You have to keep telling them that and give them the tools to do it.” Kai G. ’21

Today the school stands on that foundation, requiring students to take two arts courses all year, and by graduation, to have completed at least one art course in each discipline: theatre, music, dance, and visual arts. This rich program allows for experimentation as much as it encourages high achievement, according to Art Department chair and orchestra teacher Jo Nardolillo.

0 2 The Upper School Musical

The Transformative Power of the Arts

Becoming Inventive

0 1 Bergin Utaski ’18

(left) discusses her portrait drawing with visual art teacher Lisa Beemster, 2018.

The practice of failure and recovery is one of the most valuable learning experiences provided through the arts. Says drawing and painting teacher Lisa Beemster, who has exhibited her work in several shows at the Seattle Art Museum: “The process of creating and understanding visual art provides students with the increasingly rare experience of delayed gratification. They learn to appreciate the commitment and investment of time required to create a finished work.” In addition to patience, art students learn that a vital part of the creative process is making mistakes.

Wuhib M. ’19

“In my class, we work on getting a perfect image first, and then we throw it all off,” says photography teacher Lyn McCracken, whose documentary film, Mujeres de la Guerra, Historias de El Salvador, was released in 2013 and screened in Cuba and Sweden. As part of her class, Lyn has students experiment with double negatives, a process that calls for deliberately sandwiching two negatives together. It forces students to let go of their preconceived ideas about the original photo and open their brains to other possibilities. “The risk-taking actually moves them into an inventive state,” explains Lyn. “A student suddenly says ‘Okay, I’m going to block one of the negatives and put images in there,’—now that student is telling a story; they are becoming inventive. They’re seeing the possibilities by their own action.”

Identity and Empathy Through experimentation, students find their voices and shape their ideas. Developmentally, teens have a tremendous need to explore their viewpoints and identities and the arts are a compelling way to do this. “I get to see the students transform,” says theatre teacher Ellen Graham, who holds a master’s in Directing from University of Utah. “A kid comes into my class and for a certain amount of time he’s a cool guy in this play, so he can be cool while on stage. Theatre gives students these moments when they are so fully in the character, they feel transcendent.” Embodying other characters brings students to greater levels of understanding and empathy. Says Laura Ferri: “When you get inside a character’s world, it stretches your heart. You must face the choices of the character and you gain a much deeper insight into what that means. You learn how to walk in the steps of another person.” Playing the bully can be just as illuminating as playing the hero, says Laura. “You have to understand how the villain works, which can widen and deepen your emotional life and your understanding of others.” 0 2 Gabriel S. ’22 (center front) leads fellow

dancers (from left) Katherine M. ’22, Alex B. ’22, and Tomi J. ’22 in the November 2018 Winter Dance Showcase at the Broadway Performance Hall.

Mia H. ’19

Belonging to Something Powerful 02

Body Strength and Bravery From gesturing onstage to intricately fingering a string instrument to moving limbs and torso in a dance ensemble, arts engage the body as well as the brain. In this increasingly technical world, students are spending a lot of time sitting in front of screens, making it more imperative to offer arts experiences, according to Dance Department Chair Ellie Sandstrom. “Dance helps students develop strong bodies from the core outward, and acquire balance between right and left sides,” says Ellie, who has been dancing and performing for over 30 years. “It’s very clear to me when students are presenting their projects in academic classes, which ones have been in a dance class—they’re making eye contact, they’re moving while they are talking, they are confident in their bodies. Learning how to be brave and strong in your own body is very empowering.”

Few experiences challenge and transform a student more than performing in front of an audience. According to Jo Nardolillo, students feel a deep personal connection both to themselves and to the people who are watching and listening. “Performing is an internal emotional journey,” confirms Jo. “The first moment students perform for an audience and the audience responds, there is this profound connection—it is a very big moment.” One of those biggest moments occurs at the school’s annual Arts Gala in the spring. All music students are joined on stage by adult members of the community—alumni, faculty, parents—to form one enormous ensemble. In spring 2018, two hundred people played and sang “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars, a thrilling experience that Jo believes students will never forget. Says Jo: “I made sure that a senior was sitting with a sixth-grader, so they were doing the same thing together to create this huge sound—all creating this amazing energy. Every student had that sense of belonging to something much bigger—something powerful and profound.”

Aspen A. ’20

03 Clockwise, from top:

Max L. ’24, Izzy S. ’24, Ben B. ’24, and Sara M. ’24, performing in ArtsFest, 2018

Student Voices: Responding to the Holocaust Milo G. ’20 I’m interested in music—I started playing bass here in 6th grade—so I thought this would be a good way for me to respond to what we learned about the Holocaust. My goal was to share the whole story, specifically to express how life changed for victims of the Holocaust: from the diaspora beforehand to the fear when Germans invaded, to the grief when they are being taken into the camps and killed, and, finally, to when it all ended and they’re able to go to Israel and have a place in which to live and be safe. My musical composition has four sections: The first is Klezmer music, with bass, viola, violin, and solo clarinet—a chord progression that repeats twice. In the second section, the song transitions to a more western style, bigger and symphonic, which is meant to symbolize the German army coming into the Jewish communities, taking over and imposing restrictions on their lives. Section three transitions to a duet with bassoon and flute, a much more somber part meant to represent the Holocaust itself and grief for the people who have died. And finally, it ends with the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah,” representing the fact that the Jews have come out of this on the other side, stronger, and their culture still survives to this day.

As part of the eleventh-grade unit on WWII, students immerse themselves in the political and social dynamics and forces that led to the torture and murder of 11 million people, 6 million of whom were Jews. They study Elie Wiesel’s novel Night, about a boy who suffers in the Nazi camps, and they meet with Josh Gortler, whose family was interned in Soviet camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan for the duration of the war. As a culminating project, students respond creatively to what they have learned. Here to share insights into their Holocaust projects are eleventh graders Milo G. and Jaedyn F.

What was this experience like for you, personally, given your Jewish heritage? We had a person whose family was in the camps come to speak in our class. When someone who lived through it talks with you, it’s very powerful. In terms of going into the Holocaust itself, that was tough. I had read Night, by Elie Wiesel, before, but it hit me a lot harder this time; it took on a deeper meaning for me. In terms of the creative response project, bringing in the themes from Judaism was very gratifying. At the Jewish camp I went to (as a child) we would sing the “Hatikvah” every morning, and once a year, I’d hear the Shofar. I created several nods to these cultural elements: for example, the trumpet does a ba-dah, ba-dah—the same notes as the Shofar call. In ancient times, the Shofar call was a warning of approaching danger; now it’s a call for Jews at the start of the new year to look back on the previous year and make amends for the pain you have caused. Why is this kind of study important for students of your age to have as part of an academic education? Learning about it in a classroom, being with other people to discuss it and grapple with everything that happened, and to listen to how others interpret those events, is a very valuable experience. It’s important to remember and be very aware and sensitive to what’s going on in the world today as well as having accounts like Night that really describe what happened. We have to make sure people from all over the world come together and prevent it from happening again.

The Transformative Power of the Arts

Say more—how does your piece show both pain and beauty? The beauty of the Holocaust is the feeling that comes with remembrance and knowing you are doing your best to prevent it from happening again. It’s the beauty of survival and the knowledge that they made it through. They survived and won. That’s the beauty. What moment in time are we seeing in your imagery? The boy on his way to the concentration camps and he is forever in that moment. It’s about how that moment can last for infinity. Each ring represents a year and the fact that, even after you have left the camp, the experience stays with you forever. What did you gain from studying this unit and responding to it in a creative way? Trying to articulate something that didn’t happen to me was extremely hard, but I believe we have a responsibility to see the hard things and to feel them. Reading about these events is one thing but having to express them visually adds a whole new level of comprehension. 02

Jaedyn F. ’20 0 1 Milo, playing bass

in Northwest School’s music concert, 2018 0 2 Artwork created

by Jaedyn in response to the Holocaust

When I first began to study the Holocaust this year, I related it to African American slavery, which was genocide over hundreds of years. Originally, I wanted to do a comparison of the Holocaust and slavery, but I came to see that you can’t compare suffering. So, I decided to do a surreal image of a Nazi concentration camp. I chose the silhouette of a boy who is supposed to be the author/narrator in Night, by Elie Wiesel. I knew I wanted to create a clock, especially with respect to genocide because it is not just something that happened in the past—this is happening as we speak. Before this, I had always thought of art as happy, but as I stayed with this piece, I realized art is also about pain, and with pain, there can be beauty.

I came away understanding how important it is to remember the genocide. You can look at blackand-white photos and it seems like it happened eons ago. But we had the opportunity to speak with a person whose family was in the camps and you realize it did happen, and not so long ago. Is it important for this kind of study to be a part of a high school education? If so, why? I think it’s essential. As a high school student, it’s a perfect time to learn about it because you are at a point in your development that you are mature enough to take it seriously. It also provides a stepping stone into the future to be able to recognize when something like this might happen again. This project brings awareness not only to the past but to the future.

Alumni Profiles

Mesa Schumacher ’04 Science and Medical Artist, Biological and Archeological Illustrator

01 Mesa

Schumacher

wo-thousand nineteen is an exciting time to be a graphic artist, according to Mesa Schumacher ’04. This year, Mesa’s artwork has appeared in both Scientific American and National Geographic Magazine, among other scientific publications. At times, Mesa is creating art to better people’s lives by illustrating anatomy and what is going on in the body. Other times she might be creating animation modules to illustrate how a surgery will unfold or visually translating real data from MRIs.

“Art is so important right now,” says Mesa, who holds a master’s degree in Biological and Medical Art from Johns Hopkins University. Currently, her studio and home are in Nepal, where she lives with her diplomat husband, Austin Lewis, and their one and a-half year old daughter, Zephyr. “Science art is a groundbreaking area where data is coming into art.” Mesa’s role as an artist is to translate complex scientific material for the general public, and at other times, to communicate information from scientist to scientist. “Often scientists are in the weeds—they know so much, but they can’t step back,” explains Mesa. “So it’s nice for them to work with someone like me who has a somewhat substantive knowledge of their field and can probe and ask questions, such as what is exciting about this information? What is ground breaking? What matters? I am a visual information translator and sometimes that means being very simple, other times big and flashy is what matters.”

02 Portraits of women in

STEM careers for Womens History Month (from left): Mae Carol Jemison, Chien Shiung Wu, Rachel Carson, Hedy Lamarr, Marie Curie, and Barbara McClintock 03 Illustration for Scientific

American, September 2018, comparing brain areas responsible for higher cognitive functions in humans and chimpanzees. 04 Illustration of an ochre

sea star ecosystem

Developing as an Artist When Mesa was in Upper School at Northwest, she was already drawing up a storm. “I kept these notebooks and my notes would be these detailed comic characters popping out and saying things,” recalls Mesa. “My senior project in Primate Biology class was a series of scientific illustrations comparing fossil teeth casts of an extinct North American primate, Notharctus, with their living relatives, modern lemurs.” Mesa testifies that she was definitely influenced by the school’s art classes and the fact that so many people around her were artists. In her photography class with Lyn McCracken, Mesa was fascinated with the darkroom and what she could do with double exposures, creating effects with chemicals, light, and other materials.

“After NWS, I taught myself digital photography and now I have a broad tool box. Sometimes I’ll approach the illustration like a photograph and paint with light rather than color—I gained that ability at Northwest.”

Illustration as an Essential Tool

A Joyful Career

Mesa was a sophomore at Stanford University, earning her B.S. in Anthropological Sciences, when she went on an archeological dig in 2006, and it was there that she first realized scientific illustration was a job.

Mesa puts a high value on the way she and her fellow students were taken seriously by Northwest faculty. “No one ever said ‘Oh, you’ll never be a photographer.’ They said ‘Yes, you could do this, just try it out.’ I don’t think I would have had the courage to take creative leaps if I hadn’t gone to Northwest.”

“I learned you couldn’t adequately photograph certain rocks,” explains Mesa. “Some, like obsidian, cleave irregularly and refract light; you get a lot of glare and it’s inherently hard to scan. Plus, you can’t remove some of these materials from the country of origin. The best tool you have is illustration.” After graduating from college, Mesa started freelance illustrating for academics. For three summers, she worked at an archeological site in central Turkey called Catalhoyuk—a Neolithic site, 9000 years old. As the archeological illustrator, she reconstructed where the cooking and living happened, how the people died, and how they were buried. “At this site they buried their dead under the house beneath a platform structure, so I was taking what traces were left and rebuilding that story,” explains Mesa.

Recently, Mesa was tapped to launch a puzzle 05 project with Genius Games Company. She created jigsaw puzzles of anatomically correct body dissections: one of the head and neck, one of the thorax with lungs and heart, and one of the stomach and guts. The puzzles are targeted for anyone from middle school age upward. In addition, she has started doing portraits of women in science, technology, engineering, and math and putting them out on social media. “I never run out of subject matter,” says Mesa. “I love synthesizing ideas and figuring out how to explain them. I can’t imagine another career that would make me so happy.”

0 5 Mesa, with her husband Austin,

and daughter Zephyr, taking photos in Bhaktapur, Nepal, 2019.

he tactile qualities of the raw materials Alex Olson works with every day—primarily wood and clay – are as much a part of his creative process as his imagination.

“When I go into the studio, I don’t have set expectations. I have a general vision of what I want to create, and then I respond to shifting information as I work,” says Alex, who graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College with a BA in Studio Art. “It’s a kind of call and response—a dance with the material.” Alex designs wooden and ceramic bowls and vessels inspired by the natural world. Their forms are both organic and evocative, with the wooden pieces featuring knots, cracks, and natural edge characteristics of the wood, and the ceramic vessels reflecting hues and textures of soil and vegetation. For all of their beauty, many of his pieces are intentionally crafted to be utilized, integrated into people’s daily routines involving food and drink.

Alex Olson ’14

“My art pieces are intended to be both beautiful and functional,” confirms Alex. “I’m interested in creating pieces that bridge the art-life divide.” Since 2013, Alex’s work has appeared in more than 15 exhibitions around the country. He is currently represented in three galleries: Seattle’s Kobo Gallery, Everett’s Schack Art Center, and the Rob Schouten Gallery in Langley, Washington. In 2018 he launched his art business, Alex Olson Arts LLC, and proceeded to not only create his artwork but document his artistic processes through imagery and video on his website and social media channels.

Woodworker, Potter, Visual Artist 03

Alumni Profiles

A Path to Artistry

A Thirst for Creativity

Before choosing his life as an artist, Alex actively explored a wide range of interests. He chose Carleton College because it was a small liberal arts college where he could take courses in both art and science and continue his athletic passion for playing ultimate. For the first couple of years, he took a variety of courses in math and computer science, but by his junior year, he knew he was heading in a different direction.

Looking back, Alex credits The Northwest School for developing the sense of curiosity and wonder that he took with him to college.

“I didn’t want to sell my soul to the tech world,” confirms Alex. “I took physics, writing courses, art history classes and, after exploring those, I found the most love and joy from the arts.” Majoring in studio art, Alex studied drawing, sculpture, woodworking, ceramics, painting, printmaking, and photography. He found his arts teachers to be “grounding and wise people” who encouraged creativity and critical thinking.

01 Alex Olson 02 Faceted mugs made out of porcelain, which

are thrown, faceted, and then textured. Different flashing slips are applied to their exteriors before being fired in a soda kiln. 03 Alex, turning wood in his Seattle studio 04 A natural edge bowl made of apple wood

“The art program at NWS was incredibly valuable to me— being exposed to many mediums starting at a young age such as theatre, dance, music, and visual art,” says Alex. “It instilled in me an intensive curiosity and openness to learning.” Early in his freshman year at Northwest, Alex took Mime and Improv with Scott Davis. He remembers Scott structured the class in a way that embodied valuable skills and philosophies. “We all started on the floor with meditations and working to set and sink the body into space—working on the idea of intentionally being present and having a mindbody connection,” recalls Alex. “Mime gave me a greater awareness of my body, how to engage it as a creative tool, and how to use it in a sustainable way. I learned the importance of good body care and mechanics.”

Developing Body and Mind Today Alex’s creative process is grounded in the physical— he hikes in the forests around Seattle and cuts and hauls his own wood from locally salvaged trees; he operates power tools to turn wood and sculpt clay. Clearly, a healthy body is vital to his process. But as vital, if not more so, is a developed sense of courage. Says Alex: “In my arts practice, I actively choose to be curious, inquisitive, and attentive, and embody those qualities over fear.”

Elizabeth Lorayne ’02 Artist, Award-winning Author

A Character is Born

n 2014, artist and writer Elizabeth Lorayne had an epiphany. As a young mother with an eighteenmonth-old daughter, she had been wondering for some time why there were so few strong heroines in picture books for children.

“I kept asking where are the curious, adventurous girls? Where am I?” recalls Elizabeth from her home in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where she lives with her musician husband Robert Lorayne, and daughter Geneviève (Vivi). 01

Not long afterward, Elizabeth answered her own question. A character came to her: a young girl – a naturalist – who captained a ship and was named Piratess Tilly. Elizabeth sat down and wrote ten stanzas in Haiku of Tilly’s adventures on the high seas. “It just came out so naturally,” says Elizabeth. “I read it to Robert and both he and I choked up. He said, ‘Wow, you really have to do something with that.’”

Elizabeth decided to form her own self-publishing press (White Wave Press) with the goal of creating girlempowering stories. She then scoured the illustrators from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and discovered Canadian artist Karen Watson. In December 2015, The Adventures of Piratess Tilly, Book 1, was born. It was very different from a typical children’s story: not only was it written in Haiku, its heroine was a curious biologist. “Piratess Tilly embodied a lot of me,” reveals Elizabeth. “I grew up boating in Seattle, going to the San Juan Islands and exploring the shorelines, shifting rocks to discover crabs, and adventuring through the forests. I loved the outdoors—I even started a neighborhood save-the-earth club called The Pangea Alliance.” Piratess Tilly captured high praise from reviewers and led Elizabeth into a whirlwind of book readings and community events. In May 2016, the Newburyport Custom House Maritime Museum arranged for Elizabeth to meet the only female captain of a tall ship in the world, Captain Rosario Fernandez Rodriguez. The 16th century Spanish tall ship replica, El Galeón, docked in Newburyport’s harbor, and Elizabeth boarded to meet the captain and present her with a copy of Piratess Tilly. Because she didn’t feel finished with Piratess Tilly’s adventures, Elizabeth created a second book, The Adventures of Piratess Tilly Easter Island, Book 2, which was released in 2017. 0 1 Elizabeth, with her musician

husband, Robert Lorayne 0 2 Elizabeth, with Captain Rosario

Fernandez Rodriquez on board the tall ship El Galeon, 2016 0 3 Covers of Elizabeth’s three

books for children

Alumni Profiles

A Melding of Passions

Empowering Girls

The coming together of science, art, and writing in Elizabeth’s books is in many ways a coming together of herself. As an Upper School student at Northwest, Elizabeth was fascinated by science, especially primatology in Mark Terry’s class. She was equally drawn to writing and reveled in Northwest’s arts classes. Her favorite art experience was a creative expression class with artist and teacher Leah Kosh.

In 2018, Elizabeth published a third book designed to inspire girls. This time she focused on women scientists and created a playful approach to learning about them. The Historical Heroines Coloring Book: Pioneering Women in Science from the 18th and 19th Centuries, also published by White Wave Press, celebrates 31 women who passionately pursued their talents in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, often in the face of gender discrimination. Each woman scientist is featured on a double-page spread.

“I’ll never forget we were drawing something and Leah would come over and bump into you, or put glue on your paper, and you’d have to figure out how to incorporate it. Rather than see it as a mistake, I learned to say yes, I can go with this. It was a fantastic life lesson.” Elizabeth’s passion for primatology led her to defer her acceptance to Lewis and Clark College and head to Durham, North Carolina, where she volunteered at Duke Lemur Center. While there, she applied to Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, and there she became interested in anthropology. But it wasn’t until a Northwest School friend recommended the New School in New York that Elizabeth found her true academic home. She fell in love with the balance of academics and arts that reminded her of Northwest. In 2008, she graduated with a B.S. in Liberal Arts in Psychology and Art, with a minor in Writing. Looking back, Elizabeth credits Northwest for empowering her to explore many interests, try out new things, and think “outside the box.” “The academic classes were just fantastic—Latin American Studies, Philosophy, and the writing!” recalls Elizabeth. “I loved that we were required to take two art classes and we learned from working artists. There is no doubt in my mind that it honed me to be where I am now.”

According to Elizabeth, it took some real digging to find the women scientists. “It wasn’t just a Google search; if you do that, you won’t find them,” confirms Elizabeth, who sought the help of a science historian. “It was so much fun to get the information right, to take that information and give it some life. It was very exciting.” Along with the Piratess Tilly books, Historical Heroines won the Moonbeam Children’s’ Book Award and is finding its way into classrooms. Students at a school in Canada made a world map and located where each woman scientist had lived and worked. Closer to home, a branch of Girls’ Inc. in Lynn, Massachusetts, created a ten-week course based on the book. The students, who were 7th grade girls, read each bio and then did a science project that correlated with that scientist’s work. “I have had a few people approach me to turn Piratess Tilly into a cartoon series and shop it to Netflix, which could be such fun. I could do an episode on her adventures and include a woman in science,” says Elizabeth. “There are all these things I am so passionate about and Northwest helped me gain the sea legs to explore them all.”

Alumni Profiles

lden Keefe Sampson is on a mission to drive positive environmental change through technology. In 2018, he and his business partner, Marshal Moutenot, were named to Forbes 30 Under 30: Energy. Together, they created Upstream Tech, a water intelligence software platform that combines satellite imagery, geospatial datasets, and machine learning to help environmental conservationists, energy companies, and municipalities more effectively manage freshwater resources. Upstream Tech is now informing decision making at The Nature Conservancy, The National Forest Foundation, and The Freshwater Trust. “We make it cheaper to do good things for the environment,” states Alden, who earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Tufts University. “We fill in information about the environment that organizations are missing, and then we monitor projects going forward to make sure the impacts are what the organizations are hoping for.”

Supporting Bird Health

Alden Keefe Sampson ’09 Cofounder, Upstream Tech

0 1 Alden Keefe Sampson 0 2 Upstream Tech’s machine learning models

automatically mapped these farm fields in California and suggested cost-effective changes to farming practices to improve water quality. 0 3 A map of habitat conditions in California, created

by using Upstream Tech’s machine learning models and satellite data. Blue regions are shallow water— just right for migratory shore birds. 0 4 Upstream Tech’s water intelligence software

platform

A perfect example is The Nature Conservancy. The chapter in California runs a program called BirdReturns, which pays rice farmers to flood their fields in the spring and fall to provide habitat for migrating shore birds. “It’s like an Airbnb for birds,” comments Alden. Unfortunately, the mechanical processes necessary to sustain the project were holding it back. “They had to send people out in trucks to verify fields were flooded,” explains Alden. “We were able to take historical ground observations, line those up with satellite data, and then use machine learning to build a program that can spot good shallow water habitat for birds and process maps to confirm fields are in compliance. It helped them increase the scale of that project.”

Conserving Water Resources In the agricultural realm, Upstream Tech is improving water quality and conservation on farms. The Freshwater Trust is an institution that works with farmers in the Northwest and California to make sure there is enough clean water in streams and rivers. Upstream Tech has been able to detect conditions happening on farm fields over time and then model possible changes that farmers can make to those fields to use less water and improve water quality. “In the past, you could do that whole analysis but it would take many years to collect the data and run the analysis in each location,” says Alden. Alden’s ultimate goal is to have all the water basins and agricultural fields in the U.S. mapped, and be able to provide a clear understanding of all factors affecting water health. “I want to help organizations see the path from where we are now to a sustainable world.”

Beyond Code Though Alden’s passion is technology, he draws on his liberal arts background to make his work more effective.

“I do a lot more than code. I write a lot, and have to concisely and clearly communicate, which is a skill I learned at Northwest.” Alden believes his ability to stand up in front of people and articulate what he does came through the performing arts. Working with Northwest theatre faculty Laura Ferri, he performed in Oklahoma, Guys and Dolls, and several other plays. Confirms Alden: “I’m more comfortable because I spent all that time on stage.” When it comes to communicating complicated data, Alden often calls on the visual arts skills he gained in Upper School. “I work with pictures of the earth with scientific numbers beneath them and have to figure out how to show that to someone in a way that makes sense. Can I map those numbers to intuitive colors and display them visually? My job is to make that information understandable to decision-makers who are not experts in satellite data.”

Technology for Good Alden’s innate interests in both science and environmental health were nurtured at The Northwest School, according to Alden. “Northwest was the first time I did science in a real way— I loved Mark Terry’s class. And the Humanities classes gave me a clear look at societal issues—seeing patterns through history and literature and thinking critically about how change happens.” After graduating from Tufts, Alden worked at two start-ups, one of which was acquired by Twitter. According to Alden, the work was challenging but lacking in an important way. “The work was not having the impact on the world we wanted our daily work to have,” says Alden, referring to himself and his business partner Marshal. One element of Alden’s inspiration to create Upstream Tech came from another Northwest School alumnus, Martin Merz ’09, who was getting his master’s in water policy and water markets (Martin now works for the EPA). Martin told Alden about all the bits of information conservation groups did not have access to. Recalls Alden: “I said wait a minute, shouldn’t they be able to have that data?” Thanks to Upstream Tech, the answer is yes.

According to Alden, now that he is fully engaged in the technological work world, he is glad his education was not just science, math, and writing classes. Confirms Alden: “You gain the ability to come at problems differently and think more creatively by doing art.”

Caitlin Foito ’97

Senior Vice President of Development, Miramax Television

aitlin Foito is devoting her career to telling stories. As Senior VP of Development at Miramax Television, she is currently running the television department and overseeing all pitches and series in development and pre-production.

“I work with writers to shape and hone their series pitches, whether it’s a germ of an idea or more fully formed,” explains Caitlin, speaking on the phone from her office in Los Angeles. “First I help them present their idea to buyers. Once it’s set up at a network or streamer, I, as the studio partner, advocate for the creator and help them see their vision through the writing process, production, and into series.” Before landing at Miramax in 2018, Caitlin served as VP of drama development for ABC Studios, where she oversaw the development of The Crossing, For the People, and The Catch for ABC, as well as Code Black for CBS. Before her move to ABC Studios in 2014, she was director of drama programming for Fox, where she developed numerous pilots and series, including Almost Human and Empire. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Fox Television Studios, where she oversaw Lights Out and The Riches.

Giving Stories New Life “TV is a really powerful medium,” says Caitlin, who is married to writer Evan Bleiweiss. Their son, Archie, is two years old, and daughter, Zelda, (named after Zelda Fitzgerald) is six. “You want to entertain first and foremost, but you endeavor to produce series that are a positive contribution.”

At Miramax Caitlin decides which film titles in the library will be developed into television shows. “If we’re going to update titles there needs to be an obvious reason to do so,” reveals Caitlin. “If we’re doing a remake, I want to somehow elevate the source material. I’m mostly looking to identify which stories in our library will resonate and feel topical, but a series can also give a title new life; you can dig in and tell a much more nuanced version of the story in a series than you can in a film.”

Alumni Profiles

The Right Medium Caitlin, whose first love of storytelling was theater, participated in a summer program at Boston University Theater Institute between her sophomore and junior year at Northwest. In her script analysis class, everything “just clicked.” She went on to complete many internships in various parts of the entertainment industry from junior year of high school through college, searching for where she fit best. After obtaining her B.A. in History and Political Science from Smith College, she moved to Los Angeles and started as an assistant at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Initially, Caitlin set her sights on becoming a feature film producer but, in the early 2000s, TV was exploding, and she was drawn to the momentum of a different kind of storytelling. “Between The Shield, The Sopranos, 24, and Desperate Housewives, TV was becoming the medium for characterdriven stories,” Caitlin explains. “As a consumer, you can have characters on your TV in your living room—and in your head—for dozens of episodes and over multiple years. That’s a relationship. As content creators we have the opportunity to penetrate the bubbles we all live in by rendering representative characters and putting them in people’s lives through screens.” She was hired as an assistant to the head of scripted television and worked her way up to director at Fox Television Studios (FTVS), where she was then a participant in 20th Century Fox’s High Potential Executive Program.

The Value of a Good Audience Seven years later Caitlin decided to jump over to the “network side” to become what is called a buyer– the person to whom writers pitch their ideas. She thought it was critical to learn the buying side of the business. “When I became a buyer, I remembered what Mark Sheppard, my theatre teacher at NWS, said: ‘Good theatre is only achievable with a good audience,’” recalls Caitlin. “I understood that if you are a good audience the writers will relax and give you their best. There’s no reason to have a poker face—you want their pitch to succeed.” Ultimately, Caitlin decided she was happiest in the “studio side” of the business and, in 2014, she made the switch back, becoming VP of drama development at ABC Studios where she sold and developed over 50 pilot scripts and eight series.

Lessons from the Arts Caitlin credits Northwest with laying the foundation for her career. Humanities was her favorite subject, partly because the passion of all the teachers who taught Humanities at Northwest “was infectious.” “Every single Humanities teacher at Northwest, along with the brilliantly integrated curriculum plan, brought context to help us understand history, rather than memorizing it. Paul Raymond would give a lecture on Vietnam from a very personal point of view,” remembers Caitlin. “We learned about history by hearing his own experiences. History was personal, not theoretical. It was intimate and immediate—it was hard not to feel activated. There is a very real correlation between my NWS Humanities education and the responsibility and POV I now have as a television content creator.” Also important to her development were the arts classes, according to Caitlin. “Laura Ferri and Mark Sheppard kept me excited about theatre—they were so supportive of me and my growth as an actor. And there were life lessons I learned in Leah Kosh’s drawing class. She taught me that mistakes are the best part if you’re open to them: don’t fixate on what your piece is going to look like. Let go of the end result.” Caitlin says that concept of being open to surprises has guided her in both career and life. “I thought I wanted to be a film producer and if I hadn’t been open to television, I would’ve missed out on all of this—and I’ve really found my lane.”

0 1 Caitlin Foito 0 2 Caitlin, in her office at Miramax 0 3 Caitlin, with her husband, Evan, and attorney Marcia

Clark, at the 2016 Emmy Awards. (Behind Caitlin is Sarah Paulson, who won an Emmy that evening for her portrayal of Clark in The People v. O. J. Simpson.)

Suzy Hutchinson ’83 [01]

Class Notes

Suzy became the new Art Director of MAD Magazine in 2018. This is the first time in the magazine’s history that a woman has held this position. Written by NWS

Sarah Gundle ’89 I am about to begin my new job next month as Clinical Director of Octave, a new mental health start-up in midtown Manhattan. I am so excited about all the possibilities in this role and have just finished hiring a team of therapists I feel great about. I truly believe in its mission to bring mental health care to a much broader range of people and to help de-stigmatize mental health treatment. I was also recently quoted in an article in the Wall Street Journal, “Uncoupling Less Bitterly, With Some Help,” about my work with couples.

Josh Miller ’96 [03]

Graham Arthur Mackenzie ’94 [02] I am currently pursuing a master’s in Computer Science through Georgia Tech’s innovative Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) program, with a planned specialization in Computational Perception & Robotics. Concurrently, I’m enrolled in a non-accredited program in engineering called SelfDriving Cars through Udacity. (I’m looking forward to helping us all stop the need to drive ASAP!) I will continue my 20+ year profession as a freelance American Sign Language interpreter for the duration of this hard left turn in my career path. I just released my 16th (or so) full-length album, Game Over, under the stage name Advantage: proGrammar. It is a collection of original lyrics that I rap and sing over instrumental covers of Nintendo video game theme songs by the band The Advantage. (programmar.net/music/gameover/ gameover.html) I’m also working on a one-man version of Hamlet that I’m looking forward to sharing with you soon….okay, it’s called Grahamlet. Finally, I want (in all seriousness) to have my corpse rocketed free of the sun’s gravity, upon my death, for the sake of science! The full story: grahamarthurmackenzie.net

Josh (and fellow alums John Orcutt’99, and Max Deckman ’15) attended the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference in Albuquerque in October, 2018. Josh presented a talk titled “Tracking an American Mastodon: Isotopic Reconstruction of Landscape Use from a Serially Sampled Tusk.” He also took over as Chair of the Education and Outreach Committee of the society (Note: Mark Terry was once chair of this committee and continues to serve on it today). Written by Mark Terry

John Orcutt ’99 [04] John presented at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference in Albuquerque, focusing on his own research and field work in northeastern Oregon with Gonzaga University undergraduates: “The Skeleton of Otospermophilus mckayensis and the Evolution of Burrowing in Ground Squirrels.” John also brought along one of his Gonzaga juniors, who did a great job with his first professional talk on the manner in which extinct horses and rhinos carved up resources as they coexisted across North America from roughly nine to five million years ago. Written by Mark Terry

Class Notes

Max Deckman ’15 [05] Max presented his first professional research poster at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference in Albuquerque in October, 2018: “Taphonomy of Vertebrate Fossils on a Marine Sequence Boundary in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Judith River Formation, Montana.” He attended the conference along with his mentors, Professors Ray Rogers (pictured with Max) and Kristi Curry Rogers, of Macalester College. Written by Mark Terry.

Rebecca Terry ’97 Though Rebecca did not attend the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference this year, her postdoc student presented research supported by Rebecca, who was second author, and one of her Ph.D. students, Brian Tanis, did the same via a poster. Brian won the society’s Wood Student Research Award this year for his use of museum collections in research. Written by Mark Terry.

“

Seeing a new Northwest School alum enthusiastically entering this vertebrate paleontology world, and seeing the students of our alums rise in prominence in the organization, arrested my attention at the conference. Had a great time!

Ava Coe ’00

Hazel Carr ’15 [07]

Ava currently works as a Content Project Manager at Tableau in Seattle. Tableau is business intelligence software that helps people see and understand their data. Written by NWS

Hazel took first place at the Ash Creek XC Invitational, hosted by Western Oregon University in September 2018. Carr clocked in at 19.30.6 and helped Willamette’s Bearcats finish third in the women’s team standings for cross country. Written by NWS

Emmett Shear ’01 and Adam Shear ’05 [06] Emmet and Adam honored their parents 40th wedding anniversary with a generous donation to Volunteer Park Conservatory. This gift waived all admission fees for two months, December 24 to February 28, making it accessible for everyone. Emmett shared that he grew up walking to the nearby Conservatory throughout his childhood when it was free. He knew his parents, Ken Shear and Mary Bennett, would be as excited as he was to open the Conservatory for all. Written by NWS

Grace Little ’13 Grace is currently the Stewardship Coordinator at Plymouth Housing, an affordable housing nonprofit based in Seattle. Written by NWS

Camille Williams-Ginsberg ’13

Julia Mitchell ’15 [08] Julia Mitchell took a first-place finish during the XC Little Three Championship, Sept. 2018, between Williams College, Amherst College, and Wesleyan College. She was one of four runners to place in the top 10. Julia finished the 4k course with a time of 15:33.9, naming her Performer of the Week by the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Written by NWS, photo by Geoff Bolte

Tam Proctor ’18 Tam made the news in September 2018 with some impressive soccer moves: He scored on a header from six yards, helping to secure a win for Willamette’s Bearcats. Written by NWS

Camille has joined Fred Hutch as a Program Assistant in the Philanthropy department. Written by NWS

”

— Mark Terry, Northwest Co-founder and conference attendee

07 06 08

Alumni Happenings Cailey Marsh ’08 and Lucy Wolf ’08 organized an informal ten-year reunion in December. Several alumni—some visiting for the holidays—met at Optimism Brewery to catch up and reminisce. And many proudly wore some NWS swag! We wrapped up 2018 with some basketball! Alumni, family, and faculty members turned out in late December to cheer on the players in our co-ed Alumni Game. Many thanks to our players for the rousing basketball skirmish and for exhibiting some impressive moves. Thanks also to our dedicated spectators for their enthusiasm and energy from the sidelines. We hope to see all of you back in the Haus— and on the court—next time!

Meet Our New Alumni Program Coordinator! We are warmly welcoming Svetlana Turetskaya, our Alumni Program Coordinator, who joined The Northwest School community in April 2019. Most recently she managed an alumni program at The Bush School, her alma mater. Svetlana has a strong personal and professional commitment to the deeply enriching liberal arts educational model of The Northwest School. She believes that education is “a life-long journey and that teachers who formed our minds early on continue to nourish our dreams, choices, and identities.” She is also a writer, teacher, parent, immigrant, and an occasional philosopher, and brings a multi-dimensional approach to strengthen our accomplished and caring alumni community. Svetlana came to the U.S. from St. Petersburg, Russia, as a teenager, just after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. She studied at The Bush School as the school’s very first international student. She attended Mills College, majoring in Philosophy, and later attained an M.A. in Philosophy from Arizona State University, specializing in ethics. In her free time, Svetlana enjoys writing poetry and fiction. Her writing has recently appeared in a variety of magazines and she has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize. She lives in the Columbia City neighborhood with her twelve year-old daughter, Sonja, and her parakeet, Green Leaves.

Save the Date • June 22, 2019

Alumni Reunion

0 1 Back row (left to right): Josh Liu ’18,

Jamie Cockburn ’18, Ryan Witter ’17, Tomas Schugurensky ’17, Ethan Kurofsky ’17, Nick Marsh ’16, Leo Packard ’17, Sam Cook ’15, Owen Freed ’13, Marco Schugeurensky ’15, John Yang ’16

Front row (left to right): Hanna Anderson ’18, Carolyn Tran ’13, Britt, Drew Benditt ’11

0 2 The class of 2008 enjoys a

mini-reunion at Optimism Brewery

The Northwest School Alumni

nwsalumni

@NWSAlums

It’s nearly that time of year again! Plan to come back to the House on Saturday, June 22! All alums from any class are invited for an evening with fellow alumni and beloved faculty as we reminisce over school memories and create new ones. Alumni from all classes are invited, and we will especially celebrate those class years ending in 4 and 9 with milestone reunions: ’84, ’89, ’94, ’99, ’04, ’09, and ’14. For more details, visit northwestschool.org/ our-community/alumni/alumni-events or reach out to Svetlana Turetskaya at alumni@northwestschool.org or 206-816-6266. 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: Illustration by Mesa Schumacher â&#x20AC;&#x2122;04 of a McCordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s box turtle for a sign in the National Zoo, Washington, D.C.

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northwestschool.org

The Northwest School Magazine - Spring 2019

Articles inside

Alex Olson '14

Caitlin Foito '97

Alden Keefe Sampson '09

Elizabeth Lorayne '02

Mesa Schumacher '04