Passing the JEDI torch

a lot of negative energy floating around below the surface,” he said. “I hope that over the next several years […] y’all can recover a little bit of that genuine care and love for each other because it’s one of the things that makes this place what it is.”

Senior quote: Don’t let capitalism lie to you.

After two years of working as a biology teacher, Rosalind Bump will be moving to New Haven with her partner.

Upper school science teacher Paul Hauser has worked at Nueva for four years and will relocate with his family to Carpinteria this summer due to his wife’s new job at the incoming head of school at Cate School.

While excited to join another community and raise his two kids in Southern California, he is grateful for all the relationships he has created with those at Nueva.

“Seniors, I wish you so well and go bravely forth into the world,” Hauser said. “To the rest of you, it is so clear that this is a school with great vision and lots of potential, and I look forward to seeing how it grows. I’m really excited to stay in touch with the community.”

Although Hauser does not know exactly what he will be doing once relocated, he plans to take a year off of full-time work to support his family and integrate into the Cate School community.

Senior Superlative: Biggest PHeminist

Senior Quote: Style is not just what you wear but how you think

Upper school physics teacher and advisor Betsy Madden just finished her third year at Nueva. Next year, she plans to be an Assistant Professor in the Geology Department at San Jose University—an opportunity that allows her to return to her passion for rocks and earthquakes full time.

“Despite all of my previous classroom experiences, I can easily say that everything I learned about teaching, I learned at Nueva. Most importantly, my three years have reminded me of the joy of learning,” Madden said.

Burcu Birol has worked at Nueva for two years as an upper school associate math teacher and will be moving internationally to teach math at an American school in Monterrey, Mexico.

After of a year of teaching upper school math, Bayard Miller will continue teaching math next year at Marin Catholic in Kentfield.

Upper School Social Justice & Equity/Thrive Coordinator Matthew Oakland and Director of Institutional Equity & Inclusion Savannah Strong depart Nueva

Following the Martin Luther King Day assembly in January, co-organized by Matthew Oakland and Savannah Strong, Strong facilitated a screening of the documentary In our Mother’s Gardens, and noticed that the film sparked fruitful and empathetic discussions about domestic life and motherhood. On the same day, a student approached Oakland to reminisce about the lessons taught that day. The conversation morphed into an exploration of marginalized representation, the intersection of food and culture, and cultural resiliency.

These are just a few of the moments they will miss at Nueva. After three years of building connections through such wideranging conversations, working on the admissions team, teaching Science of Mind, and acting as the Social Justice and Equity Coordinator on the DEI team, Oakland will depart the Upper School at the end of this semester. Next fall, he will join LickWilmerding High School as the new Dean of Students.

Strong, who joined Nueva this year, will venture east and assume the inaugural position of Dean of Equity and Community at the Head-Royce High School in the City of Oakland.

For Oakland, Nueva not only offered him the chance to practice diversity leadership, but also provided a stepping stone into the world of academia.

“When I entered this space, I was new to education. I was just trying to learn what it was like to be a teacher. My biggest goal was to make really solid connections within the community,” he said, emphasizing that “all healthy partnerships are based on relationality.”

Oakland has embraced relationality in multiple ways, including anchoring a support group for the parents of LGBTQ+ students, collaborating with Strong on the Gender Inclusion Policy, and cultivating “spaces of belonging” throughout the student body by building structure around affinity groups.

“I'm really proud of the affinity groups and their celebrations this year,” he said, recalling events such as the Filipino affinity potluck organized by the Filipino affinity group in April and the South Asian affinity group’s Holi celebration in the Rosenberg courtyard.

“At a certain point, I was just looking around and I was like ‘this is beautiful.’ It's just really sweet.”

In addition to “lighting the torch of affinity,” Oakland has enjoyed having a front row seat to the growth of these spaces. And although he will not return in the fall, he has faith in the affinity group program.

“I’m excited to see what students will continue to do,” Oakland said. “I don’t think the energy will dissipate at all.”

Strong’s work this year has been closely aligned with Oakland’s. However, while Oakland was interacting with students on a daily basis, much of Strong’s work was faculty and staff-facing.

“In my previous role, a lot of my work was very student-facing,” Strong said. At Nueva, her work has been more behindthe-scenes, centered around “crafting and fine tuning the systems and structures that support the student belonging with it.”

In line with promoting belonging, Strong spent much of the year working on codifying an updated Gender Inclusion Policy—a matter she views as both “important and urgent.”

“I know that there are folks within the school who are waiting on the introduction of these policies to be able to show up as their full selves,” she said.

As Strong engaged in diversity work across divisions, she felt supported in her endeavors.

“There's a real deep network of support that I feel here,” she said.

Oakland echoed Strong’s sentiment. “ I've just connected so deeply with so many folks, students, faculty, staff… all the people who also just make this space so beautiful,” he said. “Even in leaving the Nueva space, I'm never really leaving the community.”

Looking forward, the school is in the process of hiring Strong’s replacement for the 2023-2024 school year. They both hope that the new hires will continue to harness the power and drive of the student body to create change. As of June 6, a new Coordinator of Social Justice and Equity has been hired to fill Matthew’s position.

“I'm excited to see someone who's able to take the torch and just run with it. I'm excited for them to see the beauty of all the affinity and club leads and students who have just been building such cool stuff,” Oakland said.

And while she may be departing, Strong says that she considers her Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team “family.”

“I’m a big believer that relationships transcend institutions…I envision that these will be relationships that I will have for the rest of my life,” she said.