South Asian Affinity Group brings Holi celebration to upper school community

Kayla L.

On a Wednesday afternoon, the Rosenberg courtyard erupted in a haze of colored powder. Dozens of students and teachers alike smeared powder on their friends, snapped photos of others with color-dusted clothing and massive smiles, and called out “Happy Holi!”

This was the first time SAAG (South Asian Affinity Group) celebrated Holi at Nueva.

“A lot of us have wonderful memories of celebrating Holi and [we] wanted to bring that same joy to Nueva,” said Anoushka K. ’23, who co-leads SAAG along with Meher B. ’24.

Holi, a Hindu festival which took place on March 8 this year, celebrates the arrival of spring, the triumph of good over evil, and the love between Hindu gods Krishna and Radha. The festival includes bonfires, splashing colors on each other, and visiting family and friends.

“It was so moving seeing everyone [at Nueva] enjoy and appreciate South Asian culture,” said Zara M. ’25, a member of SAAG who helped plan the celebration.

“I was concerned it would be too unfamiliar for people,” Meher said, “but it was the happiest I’d seen the larger Nueva community

Photo of the Issue: McKeever strikes a pose at Beta Club’s commnuity-wide puppy playdate

Nearly 20 dogs from lower all the way to upper school families gathered on the upper school lawn on Saturday, April 8. While the human children participated in an egg hunt through the first floor of the upper school building, the dogs participated in a "doggy egg hunt” outside, where they sniffed their way through the bushes in search of treat filled eggs. The puppy playdate was spearheaded by Beta Club lead Olivia Chiang.

As for McKeever, a 45-pound bull terrier, she was brought by her owner Diana Chamorro, the Director of Alumni Relations. Find McKeever on Instagram @the_mckeever!

in a while.”

Prior to the color festival, Anoushka and Zara, along with SAAG members Anahita A. ’23 and Devika M. ’25, presented the significance of Holi at an all-school assembly.

“A lot of people might think, ‘Oh, color festival, let’s just have fun,’” Anahita said. “But [Holi] has religious and cultural significance and we wanted to make sure people understood that.”

The affinity group coordinated with Dean of Students Jackee Bruno and upper school Coordinator of Social Justice and Equity Matthew Oakland to plan the event, which included buying biodegradable powder to minimize the impact on the environment.

"We started talking about organizing this in the fall," Meher said. "We had to figure out what kind of color to use, where to do it, and how to not create too much of a mess."

SAAG plans to celebrate Holi at the upper school again next year and hopes for an even larger turnout.

“Even the people who were looking on were like, ‘I want to play this next year,’” Devika said. “[For 2024], we should order way more powder.”

Biennial Humanities Fair makes in-person debut

STORY Josie B.

PHOTO Kayla L.

The biennial Humanities Fair returned this March, boasting 35 unique sessions, 18 special guests, and over 19 student-led activities. Attendees delve into literature and art through musical performances, writing workshops, and even a special guest lecture from Frozen composer Robert Lopez.

The fair—analogous to the biennial STEM fair—grew out of the Humanities Circle, an annual series of humanities workshops. Due to the pandemic, this year was the first students could partake in in-person exhibitions.

“My goal was to create a celebration of the humanities,” said Sarah Arron, chair of the event who helped execute this humanities extravaganza. “We aimed to include as many areas of the humanities as possible and workshops that would appeal to students from all three divisions.”

For Sarah, her favorite memory from the fair was interviewing Lopez, her lifelong friend, on his career in musical theater.

“It was magical to watch the kids in the audience absorbing his advice and imagining their own futures in the humanities,” Sarah said.

Eleanor A. ’25, along with leading a seminar on classical music, worked with her mother as the fair’s student cochair. Seeking out student volunteers and developing ideas for exhibits, Eleanor was excited for students interested in the humanities, like herself, to channel their creativity into hands-on experiences.

“When I stopped by a poetry workshop for lower schoolers [where] only one kid attended, the kid still surprised me with how engaged she was,” Eleanor recalled.

Ethan H. ’25 worked alongside other members of Social Impact Filmmaking Club to lead a session exploring their ongoing video series, “Humans of Nueva,” a project designed to spark connection within the school.

“It was fun giving [the audience] an inside peek into how we all work together,” Ethan said.

Head of School Lee Fertig noted the fair's particular importance at this time due to rapidly evolving technologies.

“In a world where technology is advancing so rapidly, the importance of the humanities is evermore important,” Fertig said.

Spring Coffeehouse returns to the WRC

It was the first time since 2019 that the performing arts event went back to its original location

Steel drums band take on Trinidad

Students experience the Trinidad Panorama, the “Super Bowl of steel drums”

They’ve taken center stage at San Francisco Jazz, rehearsed rhythms beside St. Lucia’s beaches, and played alongside top musicians Andy Narell, Tony Lindsay, Robert Greenidge, and David Rudder. Now they experienced the largest steelpan competition in the world: The Trinidad Panorama.

Over February break, 20 students in the upper school steel drum band spent a week in Trinidad and Tobago for an unforgettable steel drums experience.

“I call Trinidad the pilgrimage to Mecca,” said Jim Munzenrider, who teaches upper and middle school music and steel drums. “It’s where you see the most ridiculous steel drum playing on the planet…There’s no place else you can see so many bands at that elite level.”

Munzenrider was especially keen to bring 15 seniors—some of whom he has been teaching for over 12 years.

“[This group] put so much time into steel drums and have been so dedicated,” Munzenrider said. “I’ve talked about Carnival and Trinidad, I’ve talked about the big steel drum bands in the Panorama, and I’ve shown them videos for years, but they do it no justice. You can’t actually explain it to anyone until they go see it.”

Calder B. ’23, who has played pan since first grade, remembers hearing about the “magic of Trinidad” even in middle school.

“Trinidad was this place with all the best pan players, and he had these posters, too. There were always two aspects he wanted us to see: Panorama and Carnival,” she said.

On their second night, they witnessed “the Super Bowl of steel drums.” Under the hanging tinsel and above the crowds dressed in elaborate costumes, 13 bands of over 100 players performed 10-15 minute long songs and were judged on arrangement, performance, tone, and rhythm.

“We left around 1 a.m., and they still weren’t anywhere near done,” Calder recalled. “When we got back to the hotel, we pulled it up on YouTube and live-streamed it together. We waited until the results and when our group chat went off with ‘This person won!’ we all freaked out.”

Carnival Tuesday was another highlight. The group’s early rise on J’ouvert morning was accompanied by blaring music, buckets of clay soon smeared on one another, shaved iced, and temporary tattoos. They spent that evening wandering around the Savannah (the field where all the festivities took place) following massive 18-wheeler trucks with speakers blasting music.

“There was a lot of joy and music in the air,” said Anoushka K. ’23, who started playing steel drums in seventh grade. “It was one of my favorite moments.”

Munzenrider’s favorite moment, however, was neither the dazzle of Carnaval nor Panorama but rather their visit to the Renegades panyard where students watched the band on a closer scale.

“[The kids’] jaws were dropped, and I’m like ‘You get it now!’ For me, that made it so worth it,” he said.

The group also explored Trinidad through hikes and beach trips. Other activities included a visit to a high school’s steel band practice, a tour of a pan factory, and immersive local experiences such as Tassa drumming and stilts.

“After playing for so long and learning so much about Calypso, Trinidadian culture, and the history of steel drums, it truly felt like a culmination of everything we’ve learned and a celebration of music,” Anoushka said, describing the trip as a “full-circle experience.”

For Calder, she got to experience the depth of the culture beyond what she had learned in class.

“There’s a lot of history…that we would have never gotten to understand if we didn’t go to Trinidad,” she said. “The coolest thing to me was experienc[ing] things I only knew a little about in such profound ways. It was overwhelming in the best way possible.”

While Calder and Anoushka are wrapping up their final months in Nueva’s steel drum band, the trip left Noor Z. '25 with a newfound sense of excitement for next year.

“Going to Panorama and seeing the bands made us all go, ‘Wow, we want to get to that level!’ We were all inspired to keep on playing,” Noor said.

Nueva Notes perform National Anthem at Golden State Warriors game

A cappella group expands reach beyond school

Even before tipoff, the crowd was on their feet. In front of the star-spangled banner, 13 members of the upper school a cappella group, Nueva Notes, stood ready on center court. On March 31, after months of practice, the group performed the National Anthem in front of an audience of 18,000 at the Golden State Warriors home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“Right after we got off the court, we just started cheering. Our adrenaline was so high,” said club co-lead Anoushka K. ’23. “Hearing the crowd and singing on the court was so worth all the hard work.”

For fellow co-lead Lucie L. ’23, performing in front of such a large audience was the perfect culmination of her four years with the group originally formed during her freshman year.

“It really mark[ed] the growth and exciting potential of Nueva Notes,” Lucie said.

Echoing Anoushka's and Lucie's sentiments, co-lead Owen Y-L. ’24 described the experience as “surreal.”

“It didn’t sink in until the last moment,” he said. “It was hard to fathom the sheer scale and magnitude of this opportunity until we really walked out onto the court.”

Spearheading the initiative, Owen organized much of the logistics. In addition to an audition recording, the group was tasked with selling a minimum of 75 tickets— which the group met—in order to be eligible to perform.

“At first, we were a bit daunted,” Owen said. “but we’re so grateful the community supported us.” The singers encouraged students and families to purchase tickets through social media promotion as well as posters around the school.

Yet, because the club is student-led, another challenge noted by Owen was the lack of adult support in organization and funding.

“We had to figure out how to do everything by ourselves from the finances to transportation to logistics,” he said.

Owen hopes the group will continue to pursue external performance opportunities.

“I really want to direct our focus outwards,” he said. “While I don’t know if anything can top [singing at Chase Center], next year we want to have a lot more opportunities.”

The spring coffeehouse returned to the event’s original location in the Writing and Research Center, the first time it had taken place indoors since the pandemic. Students took to the stage to perform a cappella, slam poetry, classical music, original music, folk, and more on the evening of Thursday, April 13.

Lucie L. ’23, who performed solo and with the a cappella group Nueva Notes, described the indoor setting as a more intimate event that was especially welcoming for performers.

“It helps artists—both new and returning—step onto the stage,” said Lucie, a veteran performer who helped organize previous Coffeehouses as Arts Representative last year.

For current Arts Representative Kayte C. ’25, the goal was to bring the same excitement for outdoor Coffeehouses indoors. The spring coffeehouse doubled the number of performances and students in attendance, a trend she hopes will continue.

“A big part of Coffeehouse is giving people a voice and having the community see them and recognize their abilities,” she said, “and I’m really glad that happened.”

One of these voices was math teacher Ihmar Aldana, singing “Truly Madly Deeply” by Savage Garden. Aldana, currently in his first year at Nueva, saw Coffeehouse as an opportunity for him to introduce himself beyond being a teacher and to see his students outside of the classroom.

“It was nice to see students showcase their talents outside of being a math student and for me to show something other than teaching,” Aldana said. “People were able to see other sides of me that is not just a math teacher.”

One of these people was his colleague Roya Curtis, who was “so surprised” with Aldana’s performance, declaring, “He’s a total rockstar!”

“There are people I’ve only interacted with in a classroom who got up on stage and belted Sia,” said Paul Hicks, who teaches science. “During Coffeehouse, I could see other parts of the stained glass that make up the mosaic of the student.”

“Coffeehouse is a special stage that’s open to everyone to find their voice and inspire the audience and other performers,” Lucie agreed. “It gives a full view of different artists and creatives without pressure and encourages collaboration between performers. It’s an amazing experience to share with your own community.”