Nueva Magazine - Winter 2025 by The Nueva School

FROM THE EDITORIAL TEAM

Feeling Inspired

There are many reasons why we love working at Nueva. At the top of the list is the opportunity to be continually inspired by young people. Every day we see students asking thought-provoking questions, dreaming up new ideas, and thinking through ways to shape the world they want to live in. You could say the relationship between Nueva and its students is a symbiotic one: Students inspire the school to imagine new possibilities while Nueva inspires them to make choices that benefit the world.

It’s this relationship that brings this issue of our magazine together. Nueva students and alumni often credit the school with creating the spark that lit a passion for helping others. There’s iStudio, an Upper School club in which students design and engineer products to help people and communities. There’s the Community Committee, where Lower School students get the first taste of what it means to represent their peers and work toward making change. There’s the Mavericks Ambassador program, where Middle and Upper School students develop their voices as they serve as official representatives of Nueva during the admissions process. And there are countless other ways in which students realize the power they have to positively impact the world around them. We invite you to read our lead feature about civic engagement at Nueva, which highlights some of the students and alumni who have been inspired to take what they’ve learned here into their communities (page 32).

Of course, a symbiotic relationship goes both ways and this inspiration is no exception. Student involvement in the garden has been an anchor for this year’s food-systems theme in the Lower School’s Community Service Learning and helped spark plans for garden expansion. The garden has even inspired students to try new foods (page 26)!

The inspiration that this community sparks doesn’t end there: many Nueva alumni recall teachers and moments that motivated them to pursue their chosen careers. In this issue, we highlight two pairs of professionals, who share how Nueva shaped their career paths and how they, in turn, hope to inspire the next generation (page 48).

And, in what may be the central way inspiration plays out at Nueva, our feature “Through Their Eyes” highlights the fascinating classes, conversations, and classmates that our students experience daily. In this story, thirteen students share the classroom moments—big and small—that fuel their love of learning. Find out how a psychology experiment led to a student’s deeper fascination with human behavior, which class revealed the beauty of math for another student, and how one student experienced apotheosis, inspired by the hero’s journey (page 14).

We hope you feel inspired by all of the amazing people who make up the Nueva community—and perhaps inspired to make change in your own communities, too.

Try your hand at a crossword puzzle designed by Clara B. ’27. Can you find all of the Nueva references?

FEATURES

If These Walls Could Talk

Many students have left their mark on the whiteboards on our campuses. Take a look at some of their annotations, drawings, diagrams, and more.

Through Their Eyes

“How was school today?” Thirteen Nueva students take us into their classrooms to answer this question.

26 A Living Classroom

The Hillsborough campus garden is more than just a peaceful retreat—it’s an outdoor classroom where students grow food and grow skills in environmental stewardship, patience, and community.

Change Starts Here

Fostering changemakers is in Nueva’s DNA. From classes to community service learning, students are empowered to tackle real-world challenges, cultivating empathy, optimism, and the skills to make a difference.

nuevaschool.org

Nueva Magazine is published by the Communications Office for alumni, students, parents, grandparents, and friends of The Nueva School.

EDITORIAL TEAM

Karin Storm Wood

Director of Communications

Rachel Freeman

Assistant Director of Communications

LiAnn Yim

Assistant Director of Communications

Holly Nall

Communications Associate

ALUMNI NEWS

Diana A. Chamorro

Director of Alumni & Community Engagement

Mae Walsh

Alumni Relations Assistant

DESIGN

Aldeia / aldeia.design

PRINTER

Lahlouh

Printed on FSC®-certified Accent Opaque cover and text.

“To develop ethically engaged citizens and to help launch them into lives of intentional and thoughtful civic engagement—is there any better way to measure the success of a school program?”

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

From Interest to Impact

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS about Nueva is how authentically it fulfills its vision. We enable gifted learners to make choices that benefit the world, and the evidence for this is visible every day. Our students are bold, ambitious, innovative, compassionate, and generous in the choices they make—in class, in extracurricular activities, and in the world outside our walls. This issue of Nueva Magazine highlights the many ways Mavericks act as changemakers through meaningful civic engagement, a key priority for our gifted students as they learn to exercise their own agency for the greater good.

We have a student who builds and distributes hands-on math kits to facilitate learning in under-resourced populations. We have students who train and work with service dogs to help those who benefit from this assistance. I have been working closely with a group of Upper School students who have challenged the school’s Board of Trustees to find ways to reinvest parts of Nueva’s endowment in clean energy initiatives. When students leave Nueva, this disposition to serve others continues. One alum developed software to streamline the task of matching students with good-fit mentors on behalf of a Nueva partner organization that serves low-income students. Another graduate developed an app for a startup company that helps recent immigrants cut through the red tape on their path to legal residency and citizenship. Yet another is helping to design the user interface for a surgical robot. Many alumni also volunteer their time to community-based organizations, a life priority they often attribute to their time at Nueva.

All of these and many more examples, including those you will enjoy in this issue of our magazine, are testaments to the learn by doing, learn by caring ethos that our faculty instills in our students. The Nueva experience does much more than simply prepare students to thrive in college and in the workforce. Our gifted students learn what it takes to bring together their skills in design thinking, social-emotional acuity, and environmental stewardship to make choices that truly benefit the world. To develop ethically engaged citizens and to help launch them into lives of intentional and thoughtful civic engagement—is there any better way to measure the success of a school program? I could not be prouder of how well our students and alumni fulfill our vision!

LEE FERTIG Head of School

NOTED

Avery C. ‘31 creates a custom beaded bracelet during a jewelry-making workshop. This was one of many workshops offered during Intersession this January. See more about Intersession on page 4.

Intersession

Each year, students from all divisions dive into Intersession, an intellectual feast of stimulating, rich, experiential introductions to a variety of subjects and fields. Parent and professional facilitators offer hundreds of sessions covering topics such as arts, cooking, humanities, environmental citizenship, design thinking, business, science, math, and much more.

Celebrating Nueva’s community through authentic conversations

Our video series In Conversation highlights the kindness, humor, and respect that define relationships at Nueva. Here are two of our favorite moments from the first seven episodes.

[ EPISODE 5 ]

Karen Tiegel: If you could invent a new tradition or event for the Nueva community, what would it be?

Caden C. ’30: I would invent some sort of sports fest where you have ping pong, basketball, soccer, and volleyball or something. You could choose where you want to go, and hang out with friends and play sports with them.

[ EPISODE 2 ]

Rashida Blade: How would you describe yourself?

Sade A. ’33: I don’t actually know myself that well. When you think about it, you don’t really give yourself good qualities all the time.

Rashida: You think so?

Sade: Do you give yourself good qualities all the time?

Karen: That sounds like a Mav Dive (special Friday activities) waiting to happen!

“A commitment to education is a commitment to democracy because, in its essence, education stems from a belief in our better angels.”

— TOM DORRANCE

Dorrance on Democracy

The day after the 2024 presidential election, history teacher Tom Dorrance delivered remarks to the Upper School on the durability of democracy. Shawn Taylor, Director of Equity & Inclusion, invited prize-winning graphic artist Jamie Noguchi to bring Tom’s words to life through illustration.

See Tom’s illustrated speech:

Rashida: You know, to be honest, Sade, that took a lot of practice for me. When I was your age, I focused on the things I wanted to be better at, and I didn’t always focus on the things I was great at. I had to retrain my mind. Even if you don’t have an answer for me right now, that’s something to think about. You have so many amazing qualities about you.

Watch the whole In Conversation series on YouTube:

Friday, We’re Unplugged

A pilot program reduces laptop use in

the Middle School

When the parents of today’s Middle Schoolers were students, the most talked-about health risk associated with school was an overloaded backpack.

In the 25 years since then, advances in technology have removed giant textbooks from kids’ book bags. And when laptops were first widely integrated into students’ daily lives, no one could have predicted today’s concerns about screen time. Paradoxically, the same school-issued laptops that eased the pressure on children’s growing spines are now associated with bigger health risks: screen addiction, social isolation, and decreased physical movement and outdoor play.

Fortunately, schools like Nueva have measures to limit the use of digital devices. At the Hillsborough campus, student cell phone use is banned during the day and popular online entertainment is blocked from the Wi-Fi network.

Still, laptops are here to stay. School time inevitably involves screen time. What’s a middle school to do?

Enter Tech-Free(ish) Fridays, a new pilot program introduced in fifth through eighth grades in the fall. “Teachers aim to create lessons on Fridays that don’t require laptops so students can leave them at home,” Division Head Karen Tiegel shared. “The goal is to support kids’

face-to-face interactions and build community.”

In the Middle School, regular classes take place Mondays through Thursdays, leaving Fridays for a range of co-curricular programming more adaptable to tech-free learning. The division already requires students’ cell phones to stay in backpacks, which reinforces the unplugged spirit of Tech-Free(ish) Fridays.

These measures have received “great reviews from teachers and parents,” Karen noted. “Students have gone along with it and seem to enjoy more face-to-face time with their peers.”

The positive reception is evident in classrooms and beyond. Seventh grade SEL associate teacher Janita Kumar has noticed that without the distraction of laptops, “the students are so much more willing to participate and be part of the discussion.” She added, “Instead of answering questions individually, they’re working as a team. Honestly, it’s so much more fun.”

Janita also highlighted the value of face-to-face interactions, saying, “Getting students to interact with one another as human beings is so necessary.”

Michelle Greenberg, sixth grade dean, observed a shift toward more

meaningful interactions. “It just feels easier and warmer,” she said. “I’m not fighting students to get off their computers and go run around—they’re doing it. Lit Club is just Lit Club—a conversation about books without tech distractions.”

She’s noticed students engaging more with each other, fostering a stronger sense of community. She compared the first advisory of the year to the first tech-free advisory. Initially, new students clustered separately from returning ones, and there was limited interaction between the groups. However, once devices were removed from the equation, the dynamic shifted dramatically. “They opened up the games, plopped on the floor, and started playing,” said Michelle. “That vibe now happens in every advisory.”

Michelle’s advisee Sierra A. ’31 embraced the change. Though she spends more time on her laptop on the weekends, the program has increased the feeling of connection at school. “Playing games during advisory instead of using laptops helps us connect and get to know each other better,” Sierra pointed out. On Fridays, she also spends more time with friends.

Eighth-grader Adam K. ’29 initially felt frustrated with the new policy since he and his classmates rely on their laptops for so many purposes. “There was some grumbling at first,” he admitted.

He has since come to see it as an opportunity for more social interaction in his grade. “A major source of conversation in our grade used to be about things we saw online,” he said. “Now, we take more time to talk about things directly around us, and [we] appreciate natural environments like the Nueva hiking trails or fields.”

The program is a reminder of the power of small changes. Just one day a week without screens has fostered new opportunities for students to connect and engage organically. As Karen Tiegel said, “It’s awesome to see students hanging out with friends, running around the campus, and just enjoying time with one another.”

—Karin Storm Wood

FACULTY BOOKSHELF

NUEVA ON A NATIONAL STAGE

Phil Moreno, Associate Director of College Counseling, has been appointed the board chair of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). Alongside his work guiding Mavericks through the college application process, Phil is shaping the strategic vision of the organization, which supports 27,000 high school and college admission professionals from around the world!

“With trust in higher education at an all-time low, this role allows me to advocate for a more transparent admissions process” for students and families, Phil said.

GO MAVERICKS!

MAKE IT MATTER

To coincide with the opening of our new weight room and new athletics training room in late 2023, the Athletics Department debuted a unifying theme that athletes, coaches, administrators, and fans would find meaningful.

“Make It Matter” reflects what we want our studentathletes to strive for not only on the fields and courts, but in all aspects of their lives. Whether it’s in the classroom, at home with their siblings or parents, at an internship or job, we want our students to know that with purpose and hard work they can achieve great outcomes. Make It Matter ties in well with the school’s mission to empower students to make choices that benefit the world.

We hope that our student-athletes have a “lightbulb moment” about the positive impact of the hours they are putting in in the weight room or at practice, about what’s possible when they push themselves further than they thought they were capable of. We are a school that aspires to do great things, and we want our athletes to do the same.

—Brett McCabe, Athletics Director

1. Carly B. ’25 Cliff Diving Oil paint on wooden panel

2. Felix L. ’30 Dragon Number Two Clay and ceramic glaze

3. Aariv C. ’33 The Changed Man Prismacolor marker and paper

4. Marcus H. ’25 Divine consequence Clay and ceramic glaze

5. Grey L. ’27 Untitled Acrylic paint on canvas

6. Karissa L. ’33 Picasso Inspired Portrait Prismacolor markers and paper

Acrylic Paint

8. David L. ’33 Clay Pencil and paper

9. Hayes S. ’27 Forest Crossing Watercolor, gouache on cotton paper

10. Zadie K. ’25 Gilded Spirit Clay and ceramic glaze

11. Kate S.-J. ’30 Floating Acrylic Paint

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

On a quiet stage with two ladders and a few chairs, 20 abundantly talented actors told a timeless story of the human experience. The Upper School’s production of “Our Town” carried audiences through the simple yet profound moments in the lives of the residents of Grover’s Corners, NH. The performance was more than a play. It was a meditation on connection, mortality, and the beauty of being present. Students mimed their actions, breaking theatrical conventions, as the stage manager— in this production, a single character shared by three actors—guided the audience through time and memory.

In an age of online interactions and fleeting attention, this production of “Our Town” was a reminder of the power of life’s small, shared moments. Director and theater teacher Zoe Swenson-Graham, who herself acted professionally in Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece, said this: “It’s a play about the preciousness of life. It’s about the joy of life’s daily pleasures and of the relationships and connections that we share.”

Lower School students delivered a joyful choral performance at Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day in November. They celebrated themes of community, gratitude, and hope through song, choreography, and sign language led by music teacher Gemma Arguelles. Scan the QR code for a video by Aaron Wippold P ’35.

crowd at the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park was treated to performances by a whopping 22 ensembles in December. The impressive three-hour line-up featured music from Groove Workshop bands, the Jazz Band, and other Middle and Upper School music groups.

The

In December, the Nueva Steel Drum Bands returned to light up SFJazz’s Miner Auditorium for the third time.

Max N. ’36 proudly shows off a radish he harvested. Learn more about the Hillsborough garden on page 26.

PHOTO BY MEGAN TERRA

THROUGH Their EYES

THE STUDENT PERSPECTIVE ON CLASSES

R“HOW WAS SCHOOL TODAY?”

It’s the question every parent asks with eternal hope—and even the most loquacious student will sometimes dodge it with a shrug, a grunt, or the universal standby, “fine.” But not this time. We’ve gathered 13 students who share their favorite classroom moments with enthusiasm to spare. Turns out, there’s plenty to say.

stories

Nueva Students

photos by Matthew Nall, Holly Nall, and Rachel Freeman

WHO DOESN’T LOVE COOKIES? Third Grade Math

by Maya R. ’33

PSST! THE ANSWER IS NO ONE S

I really love math. And a big reason I love math so much is our teacher Deborah [Snyder]. She is really patient with us and explains things really well. And she makes math fun! My favorite part of third grade math was when we got to bake cookies to learn to multiply fractions. Who doesn’t like cookies?

We got to choose our groups, and I was assigned to the chocolate thumbprint cookie group! We independently calculated the fractions for everything in the recipe, from flour and baking powder to cocoa powder, butter, and sugar (yum!). We had to answer the question, “If we want to make 10 batches of cookies, what would the ingredients’ proportions need to be?” So we took, say, a quarter cup of cocoa, and multiplied 1/4 by 10 to find out how many cups we’d need.

Then, as a group, we got to take turns adding the ingredients into the bowl and mixing them. After the cookies were baked, not only did we get to eat them, but we also delivered some to all of the staff. Since they really support us, it was nice to give something to them.

To future third graders, here’s my advice: Do your best with your recipe, even though it might not be your first choice, because you will still get to taste all of the types of cookies. Also try not to stress about doing all of the math—it can be hard, so just do your best. It’s okay if it’s not perfect because that means you’re learning. And you have a group to work with so you can help each other.

This was the best unit in all of third grade math. I loved getting to work with my hands, and applying our new skills to a fun activity definitely helped me learn the math better.

HTHE BEST LAB OF THE YEAR

Sixth Grade Physics

by Logan D. ’31

APhysics can be very theoretical, so I like that we have hands-on projects. We have been studying Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion— inertia, acceleration, actions and reactions—and his law of gravitation. To learn about and apply these laws, we did the egg-drop challenge, which our teacher Lauren [Struebing] told us was “the best lab of the year.” And I agree!

Using only playing cards, tape, and straws, we needed to build a mechanism for an egg to drop 20 feet to the ground without cracking. We were also challenged to build something creative, even if it took us out of our comfort zone. Because my partner and I like engineering and 3D design, we immediately wanted to come up with an idea that no one would think of. Our first design was a two-part parachute, where one parachute would open, and then two other parachutes would deploy, creating more lift.

During prototyping, I kept thinking, “What can we do to push our design even further?” Eventually we pivoted to a helicopter-blade design. Creating the blade was my favorite part. In the final design I used a string made of tape to spin the blade before dropping my egg to give the container extra lift and to soften the landing.

When it came time to drop our containers, we had a miscommunication and we didn’t drop our container the way we had hoped; we released it on its side rather than upright. Both of our eggs cracked. It was really disappointing.

But then I realized this is what engineers go through. Even really good engineers pursue hundreds or thousands of ideas, and maybe only a few of those succeed. When an idea fails, they study what went wrong and learn how to improve it next time. So even though our eggs cracked, we still had a lot of fun learning about Newton’s laws, and got to experience what it is like to be an engineer.

"WHAT CAN WE DO TO PUSH OUR DESIGN EVEN FURTHER?”

FMY BIG APOTHEOSIS Fourth Grade Humanities

by Lucy F. ’32

In fourth grade humanities, we did a lot of writing projects. My favorite was writing about a changemaker or hero who was not very well known. Our teacher Sharmi [Ghosh] told us to pick someone that connected to us in some way. My family had gone to Antarctica for winter break a year or two earlier, so I wrote about Colin O’Brady, the first person to do a solo walk across Antarctica. To me he was heroic because he did this 900-mile journey alone and in only about 50 days.

A project we worked on throughout the year was The Path of the Hero. We learned about all of the steps the hero takes during their journey. One of the ways we studied the hero’s journey

Rwas by watching movies—my favorite part! It was really cool to see that the path we had been learning about could be applied to popular movies, such as Big Hero 6 and Kiki’s Delivery Service. As each story unfolded, we recorded the path the hero took.

When I watch movies now, I still look for the apotheosis, the highest point in the hero’s journey. I like seeing the character’s big moment of understanding. I felt I could relate because my big apotheosis moment was happening at the same time.

Finishing Lower School and starting Middle School felt like stepping into a new chapter in my life.

CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS, CONFRONT NEW PERSPECTIVES

Intro to Psychology

O

by Marcus H. ’25

For 75 minutes twice a week, I was challenged to confront new perspectives and reconsider preconceived notions about human behavior. To me, Psych 101 was more than a class; it was a gateway to a deeper fascination with psychology.

In our first unit, on aggression, the class quickly latched onto big questions: Why do humans possess aggressive tendencies? Is aggression a product of instinct, biology, or a learned behavior? Slowly, these abstract questions became the foundation for a deep dive into theories, experiments, and heated discussions.

We worked in pairs to present research on studies that explored the factors that drive aggressive behavior. Alongside Kaila Erlich ’24, I explored Albert Bandura’s landmark Bobo doll experiment, which found that children who observed

aggressive behavior in adults were more likely to imitate that behavior themselves. This study continues to influence my understanding of human behavior. As I engaged with this research, I quickly began to recognize patterns in my own behavior, such as moments of frustration or impulsivity, and linked them to concepts we explored in class. Analyzing my actions and mindset through a psychological lens gave me a clearer and more nuanced understanding of the factors influencing my responses.

My peers’ presentations on biological influences on aggression and how it has evolved as a survival mechanism broadened my understanding even further. Now I see aggression not as a purely instinctual trait, but as a nuanced behavior shaped by environmental, social, and biological influences.

Psych 101’s collaborative approach, where we constantly tested and refined ideas together, exposed me to perspectives I had never previously considered. For those contemplating the course: prepare to challenge your assumptions, confront new perspectives, and fundamentally rethink how you perceive yourself—and the world around you.

IS HUMANITY’S KNOWLEDGE A SPAN OF INDEPENDENT AXIOMS, OR IS IT INFINITELY DIMENSIONAL?

A (NEW) LENS ON THE WORLD Linear Algebra

by Vinca L. ’25

Why do we value math as a discipline?

Many seem to believe the answer lies solely in math’s usefulness. More abstract and inapplicable theorems are often met with the question, “When are we going to use this in the real world?”

I experienced a similar sentiment— until I took Jana [Comstock]’s Linear Algebra class in my freshman year. The topic of the first class: vectors.

Vectors? I almost scoffed when I heard this—vectors are one of the most basic concepts in physics. Imagine my surprise when I learned that, in linear algebra, vectors are abstract objects that can represent almost anything. Numbers can be vectors, but so can polynomials and functions. At first, this type of abstract characterization seemed completely unrelated to the common perception of linear algebra as the very useful discipline that involves matrices and optimization.

I learned that linear algebra isn’t just about those matrices. The class taught me that math provides another lens through which to view the world. I reimagined a function not as something that takes an input and spits out an output, but rather as a structural transformation of the entire space inhabited in the domain. The class even allowed me to think about questions in completely unrelated fields, such as history or epistemology, through a mathematical structure: Is humanity’s knowledge a span of independent axioms, or is it infinitely dimensional? For the first time, I truly appreciated the beauty in math.

Jana’s teaching style and class structure effectively balance those eye-opening insights with rigorous proofs and collaborative foundation-building.

I’ve taken most of her other classes, too: Abstract Algebra, Topology, and Complex Analysis, to name a few. Here’s the counterintuitive but perhaps most salient thing I have learned about these advanced math classes: you don’t have to be a “math person.” In fact, I believe there is no such thing as a math person. When presented with the intuition and depth of such classes, truly anyone can understand the joy of pure mathematics through an explorative playground instead of a daunting battlefield.

THE INTERSECTION OF MONEY AND NATURE Environmental Economics

by Aanya D. ’25

“If you could talk to a non-human organism, living or dead, what would you ask?”

Super fun, bizarre “attendance questions” like this one kickstart every class with Patrick [Berger]—setting the stage for an hour and 10 minutes where anything can be discovered!

As with the questions themselves, Environmental Economics stretches beyond our comfort zones and encourages us to voice even our most unexpected economic insights into the intersection of money and nature.

Over a few weeks of the class, we dove into hedonic pricing analysis. While my classmates examined the economic impact of urban parks and waterfront properties, I tracked how the removal of the Klamath River dams affected nearby home values.

Between statistical deep dives, Patrick peppers in fascinating economic oddities—like how researchers cleverly connected rainy days at political rallies to their impact on elections (yes, really!).

What makes this class unique isn’t just the complex concepts we tackle—it’s our approach. We share our findings, poke holes in each other’s analyses, and piece together how environmental changes ripple through markets. Sure, we crunch

numbers with tools like Gretl and R, but we’re really exploring bigger questions about how we value our natural world.

After this class, I no longer look at a riverside property or city park the same way. I see economic stories hidden in places I least expect them—much like how Patrick’s questions train us to think beyond the obvious and discover unexpected connections.

“IF YOU COULD TALK TO A NON-HUMAN ORGANISM LIVING OR DEAD, WHAT WOULD YOU ASK?”

HTAKING RISKS MAKES THINGS INTERESTING Middle School Improv

by Vismay M. ’31

“WHY ARE YOU POURING COFFEE INTO YOUR HAND?”

LBefore Middle School, I didn’t know if I liked acting. After taking Improv three times, that has changed.

Improv is a class where we play games that teach us various skills. My favorite game is called Growing and Shrinking, which is named for the varying number of people on stage at any given time. One person acts out a household task, such as washing the dishes. After a minute, Jenny [Rosen], our teacher, calls, “Freeze!” The second person enters the scene and, based on the first person’s frozen state, launches an entirely new scenario. If the first person was adding soap to a dirty bowl, the second person might say, “Why are you pouring coffee into your hand?”

For the next minute, the two people act out the new scenario until Jenny again calls, “Freeze!” The process repeats until five people have entered the scene.

Next, the actors “unravel” what they’ve just done. In reverse order, each finds a clever way to exit and the remaining actors revert to the original scenarios one by one. This game forces us to think of new scenarios on the spot, which enhances our creativity.

Improv has taught me the importance of change, as change makes an improv scene funnier and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. It provides an element of surprise.

Improv has taught me to take risks. Taking risks means not being afraid to make mistakes—which is actually encouraged in this class! And taking risks leads to better offers, which is how actors invite each other into a scene. In Growing and Shrinking, the student making a demonstrative gesture, like pouring soap, gives an opening to the next actor to come up with a new storyline. Taking risks makes scenes interesting!

Improv has taught me the value of adding on. At Nueva, we often call this, “Yes, and,” in which we give each other statements rich with possibilities that others can build on and expand. This skill is essential for succeeding both in the class and in life. Improv is truly a class for anyone who wants to build their confidence, expand their brain into a new realm of possibility, and have a ton of fun at the same time!

SHAKESPEARE, IMPERIALISM, AND CHOCOLATE Seventh Grade Humanities

by Valentina T. ’29

AMy favorite unit in seventh grade humanities was, surprisingly, the one with the most challenging culmination. For our Commodities unit, I explored 21st-century imperialism through the lens of my chosen commodity: chocolate.

First, I read a 16-page college-level paper—which was a lot for me at the time—that covered every step of creating

chocolate, its chemical composition, the sensorial perception of tasting chocolate, its authenticity and traceability, and more. It was definitely a struggle to stay focused and be productive. Nonetheless, I pushed through the paper and got a lot out of it. (This skill has carried forward to eighth grade humanities: I use this resilience to read a lot of Frankopan and Foltz, two Silk Road historians whose writing can be somewhat…dry.)

I also learned about chocolate’s fascinating social and environmental impacts! One family habit that I changed because of this in-depth learning was the type of chocolate that we eat— we now prefer options like Original Beans, which was ranked number one for most sustainable chocolate.

So much of what I learned in this class was because of my teacher Colin [Tribble], who makes learning fun. One of our funniest classes was during our Shakespeare unit about Richard III. We had an assignment in which we created a text-message exchange pretending to be Shakespeare characters, but with as much modern-day slang as we wanted. The classroom was filled with laughter, and we learned so much, too!

IMMERSED IN THE CULTURE

Eighth Grade Spanish

by Cate G. ’28

Spanish has always been one of my favorite classes, and I have always loved the Spanish language. What’s unique about the eighthgrade Spanish curriculum, in particular, is that it’s designed to prepare us for the two-week trip to Spain at the end of the year.

Throughout the year, we completed different projects and activities to help us prepare for the various settings we would encounter abroad. My favorite was when each of us created our own mini store personalized with unique items, and then everyone went around “shopping” at each other’s stores. This project helped me practice purchasing items and speaking conversationally with my classmates—similar to what I experienced in Spain.

The Spain trip was truly a culmination of my three years of Spanish: a chance for me to be fully immersed in the culture and to practice speaking with native speakers.

Initially, I was quite nervous about the homestay in Alcalá, not sure what to expect. But my host family welcomed me with open arms, and their kindness and hospitality helped ease my nerves, allowing me to be fully present. I spent the week with my exchange student, Lucia, going to school together, hanging out with her friends, and enjoying meals with her family and grandparents. It was so fun to get a glimpse into what life in Spain is like, and how it differs from my own in the United States.

One of my favorite memories with Lucia was talking with her on my bed every night after dinner. We tried our best to communicate with each other, having so many great conversations. Even though some things got lost in translation, we became fast friends, and have built a strong bond we still share today.

After the weeklong homestay, we traveled to many of Spain’s incredible landmarks. We visited the Alhambra in Granada, the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, and the Plaza de Toros in Seville. By the end of the trip, I was amazed by how much my Spanishspeaking skills had improved. To engage with Spanish culture firsthand and speak with native speakers allowed me to appreciate the language even more, an experience that will stay with me forever.

A CLASS FOR ASKING QUESTIONS Ninth Grade History

by Alexis C. ’27

In six groups, we taught lessons about different aspects of the Crusades, which were European religious expeditions in the Middle Ages that aimed to conquer the Holy Lands. The most exciting thing about our project was its interactive component.

During our lesson, we handed out slips of paper with different social titles: Noblemen, Knights, Monks, and Peasants. Before giving our presentation, we asked our peers to line up by their likeliness to go on a crusade. We intentionally gave them no context except the guiding goal of our lesson: to understand how differences in class and power affected the core motivations behind the Crusades. With a few tables and chairs pushed out the way, our classmates were up and discussing their hypotheses. By the end, kings stood next to peasants, who stood next to bishops—quite a different outcome from what we had expected.

I worked on this project for some time. We began with research: each student found a unique scholarly journal article to analyze. Mine was about Pope Urban II and the First Crusade. I read through research papers about Pope Urban II’s preachings, and considered the historical debate whether or not the church’s intentions were misinterpreted by crusaders. For example, was reclaiming Jerusalem the goal of the first crusade? Or was it a culmination of the idea of a holy war?

History is a class to ask questions, to discuss and make connections. Out of all the things I’ve taken away from this class, learning how to engage in meaningful discussion is the most valuable. Our discussions are often accompanied by whiteboard sketches—notes, flowcharts, doodles. In small groups or large, there’s always friendly debate and collaboration.

One small thing that opens up the classroom is that my teacher, Alex Brocchini, allows us to sit on the tables, stand up, and write on the board during group work. It makes the classroom feel more casual and more comfortable—closing the distance between teacher and student. We learn from our teachers, but we also learn from each other. That’s what makes history so special.

#ATTENTIONTODETAIL Journalism

by Josie B. ’25

C

"ANY IDEAS FOR A HEADLINE?”

Tensions were high in the journalism classroom when I walked in at 8:50 a.m., just before the start of class, everyone already deep in debate. The deadline for the semester’s final issue of The Current was fast approaching. Questions flew across the room. Before I could even sit down, one of my peers thrust his laptop in front of me and asked, “Any ideas for a headline?”

By 8:55 a.m., we were discussing the remaining missing pieces in the issue. Our opinion editor, Kayla L. ’26, dropped an announcement on us: “We need a student standoff.” The student standoff is a recurring staple in our opinion section where two students offer opposing opinions on a hot topic. Without it, our issue would be incomplete.

Kayla suggested social media usage, but no one in the class had a strong enough take. We began sharing recent news stories we had read. Each idea fizzled before it could catch fire.

Finally, someone mentioned the shooting of the United Healthcare CEO. Debate exploded across the classroom as we began sharing wild online posts and opinions we had read. Jackpot. Once we had assigned two writers for the standoff, the tension in the room eased and people dove back into their work. Fingers flew across keyboards, emails

were fired off, and the faint sound of recorded interviews filled the room as we got to work pulling the issue together. Our teacher LiAnn [Yim] often invokes #attentiontodetail; it’s a mindset that defines not just our work process but also our classroom culture. We take good care of our work but mistakes are inevitable; we see them as a learning opportunity and then we move forward productively together. We rely on each other when we need help, and we find solutions together. In the chaotic moments before a deadline, we face challenges head-on, fix what we can, and move forward with the resolution to do better.

This collaborative process has made me more confident, taught me to thrive under pressure, and also helped me discover my love for journalism, something I intend to carry into college. From the thrill of hunting down a teacher for a last-minute quote to the pride and relief of holding a freshly printed issue for the first time, I will always treasure the moments I have shared with this team.

THE LAB WAS ALIVE Biology Research TeamS

by Nathan S. ’25

Before the school day had even started, the lab was alive and humming with the energy of groups hard at work. With the end of the semester looming, my peers and I were eager to get a head start on the day in order to finish collecting data for our projects. My group had spent the past several weeks designing, writing, and piloting an experimental plan aimed at characterizing specific mutations in the organism C. elegans, a millimeter-long nematode worm. We couldn’t wait to begin our actual experimentation.

As the clock ticked past 8:55 a.m. and our teachers, Jehnna [Ronan] and David [Eik], walked through the door, the intense focus of the lab persisted, unbroken. Instead of pausing the class

L MUTANT WORMS!

for announcements or a lecture, they jumped into the frenzy, ready to answer a barrage of questions about our most recent round of experiments and observations of our mutant worms.

Moments like this were common in my Biology Research Teams ("BRT")

Level 1 class. They quickly became the reason I was often thrilled by the prospect of Monday mornings. To me, the self-driven, hands-on curriculum perfectly captured Nueva’s motto of “learn by doing.” Whether it was in the introductory units on the history of science and the ethics of animal research or in the final lab presentation on our mutant data, the projectoriented and collaborative environment made each day captivating.

A TAPESTRY OF UNIQUENESS Asian America

by Daniel R. ’25

One of my favorite experiences from the history elective Asian America was all of the presentations we had. Given how broad the term “Asian America” is, both in terms of people and experiences, it was great that we had the opportunity to dive deeper into our own interests.

Our class was not just about Asian American history in isolation; we looked at how this history intersects with the experiences of other minority groups in the United States. We also explored how Asian American history is part of American history.

One of the presentations that still makes me think was focused on comparing the Asian American experience with another minority group. Topics for this project ran the gamut from immigration to civil rights to segregation. I decided to explore how the Asian American and African American schoolsegregation experiences differed, since they had very different experiences as minority groups in the U.S. As part of the process, I learned about many schoolsegregation cases that involved Asian Americans, and also discovered how underreported it is in the larger story of school segregation in America. Later in the semester, I was able to connect that to how Asian Americans became seen as a so-called model minority.

One of my classmates presented on how, when European immigrants were greeted with open arms at Ellis Island, Asian immigrants were held under scrutiny for weeks at Angel Island on the opposite coast. Yet another focused on the experience of people from the Middle East in a post-September 11 world. And a third researched the Japanese American experience following the attack at Pearl Harbor, showing similarities between modern America and its past. After every presentation, Sushu [Xia] made sure to ask questions that pushed us to make connections across the different presentations and deepen our understanding. Together, the presentations created a tapestry of the uniqueness of the Asian American experience. [N]

Nueva’s garden yields a bounty of learning opportunities

A LivinG CLasSroom

STORY BY HOLLY NALL

At the edge of the Hillsborough campus, where the familiar rhythms of school life fade into the serenity of the woods, lies a place of wonder.

Down a steep dirt trail sits the garden—a lush sanctuary where students cultivate far more than just plants. Here, seeds sprout into lessons, community takes root, and environmental stewardship blooms.

PHOTO BY MONIQUE BURTSCHELL

D

Digging In

As part of the Hillsborough Campus since its founding in 1971, the garden has always been more than mere plots of soil. “The garden is a classroom,” explained Lower School Division Head Megan Terra. “It’s also an interdisciplinary learning space. Our SEL classes will go and engage in service to the community by caring for plants. We’ve also had literacy classes go and think about the connection between the art of pruning in a garden and the art of pruning one’s essay.”

Sarah Koning, Director of Environmental Citizenship, says the garden introduces students to outdoor education. “We really want students to feel comfortable getting dirty and understanding the space while also doing research and learning about the ecosystems they study.”

Beyond the academic realm, students are also learning life skills in the garden. Monique Burtschell, who serves as both the garden coordinator and preK–1 science teacher, emphasizes the lessons of patience and resilience that gardening teaches students. “It’s a really amazing skill to develop—being patient and knowing that you can’t rush nature. Sometimes you get disappointed. Sometimes the seed does not sprout. That’s what farmers face every day.”

Growing Together

The garden is not just a place of learning but also a hub of joy, play, and community. Three days a week during recess, a devoted group of students—mostly first graders—chooses to skip the playground and forts, instead opting to spend their time tending to their plants.

“One of the most fun things I’ve done in the garden is making the garden beds,” said Max N. ’36, one of the recess regulars. Each first grader was assigned a personal plot in the garden beds, taking ownership of the planting and care, which fostered a sense of responsibility and choice.

This freedom occasionally leads to delightful surprises. “Right now, there’s something growing that I can’t identify,” Monique shared. “Some students found seeds and planted them, so now we’re growing these weird gourd things. It’s a mystery, but super fun.”

Students get to share these delights with their families during family volunteer days, building

community as they tend to the garden together. “It’s naturally a multi-age space,” Megan said. “It’s a really wonderful place for people to connect across grades, across generations. Everyone feels that sense of ownership by the end.”

Cultivating Wonder

When students get to harvest the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor, the excitement is palpable. “When you grow plants, there’s more than just the reward of food—everyone gets excited and happy,” Sebastian J. ’36 said.

Throughout the year, students plant seeds while learning about the seasons and growth cycles of different crops. This fall, preK through first grade students harvested a pumpkin patch, corn, potatoes, and more, each crop offering its own lessons.

“They learned about climate and the optimal conditions for plants,” Monique said. “There is also some math, to determine spacing and how many seeds can fit in a garden bed.”

Upper School Environmental Club member Kayla L. ’26 creates a secret handshake with her preK buddy Maya B. ’38.

Monique helps Lower School students prepare garden trimmings for composting.

For Monique, the potato harvests are always a highlight. “There’s nothing more fun than watching kids dig up potatoes. I always say it is better than watching kids look for Easter eggs. Just the excitement of finding this potato treasure underground, or that they could put a sad little shriveled potato in the ground and then three months later pull up a handful of beautiful, beautiful potatoes. The potato process is always magical.”

The excitement of harvest also inspires students to try new foods. Last year, an abundant lettuce crop led to the students’ invention of “herb tacos”—lettuce leaves rolled up with herbs like mint, basil, oregano, and pineapple sage. “Unless parents served those with a gallon of ranch dressing, I didn’t think there was any way students would eat that,” Monique says. “But, oh my gosh, they loved it so much.”

Upper School student Julia C. ’27 has fond memories of discovering new foods in the garden when she was younger. “I loved harvesting brussels sprouts and snap peas with friends, only trying them because we had grown them.”

That same joy of discovery extends to the garden’s four chickens—Coco, a Rhode Island Red hen, and Professor, Sesame, and Sunny, all Silkie hens. Megan recalls a year when preK students worked on data collection by counting the number of eggs laid each day. “Every Monday they had this mysterious spike,” she said. “They wondered, ‘Why do chickens lay so many more eggs on Mondays?’ It wasn’t until well into the year that they realized that the weekend was a factor.”

Rooted in Sustainability

The garden also plays a pivotal role in Nueva’s broader environmental stewardship programming and community service learning (CSL). This year, the Lower School’s CSL focus is on food systems. From composting and soil health to food access and justice, students are exploring how food systems impact the planet and communities.

“The importance of teaching kids where their food comes from cannot possibly be overstated,” Monique said. “Every single kid in the world needs to develop a deep connection with the earth, with the soil, and with the process of growing food. The future of our planet actually depends on that.”

This focus is already inspiring students across divisions. “Having access to a garden from a young age

and being encouraged to explore sparked my passion for protecting the earth,” Julia said.

Julia is one of several Upper School students partnering with the Lower School on environmental initiatives, by mentoring preK buddies and supporting composting programs. “Teaching preK students about environmental issues reminds me of what I learned at their age and gives me hope that they’ll become advocates for the environment as they grow,” she added.

A Vision in Bloom

Looking to the future, the garden is poised for other forms of growth, thanks to recent upgrades (including new fruit trees and a terraced hill used for the pumpkin patch) and ambitious plans for expansion. Monique and Sarah plan to expand the garden so it can accommodate more students from grades preK through eighth and more garden electives. “We also want it to seamlessly blend into the other outdoor spaces,” Sarah said. “So when students are outside working in the garden, they can move from the garden to the nature playground area and they won’t even know that they were shifting spaces because it’s all integrated and it all feels really comfortable for them.” A consultant joined the project in January and is supporting efforts to expand the garden, enhance nature play options on campus, and integrate the two spaces.

With every seed planted and each lesson learned, the garden helps students grow a deeper understanding of sustainability and a vision for a brighter future. From small beginnings—be it a seed, a student, or an idea—great things can grow. [N]

“ With every seed planted and each lesson learned, the garden helps students grow a deeper understanding of sustainability and a vision for a brighter future. ”

Students check the chicken coop for new eggs during a family volunteer event. PHOTO BY MEGAN TERRA

A collective look at Nueva’s whiteboards

These Walls Could Talk

Whiteboards line many of the walls and halls of our two campuses, serving as canvases for academic and creative expression. On these surfaces, complex problems are solved, new ideas are illustrated, and opinions are crowdsourced. Between classes, even the smallest blank spaces are often filled with delightful doodles. In this compilation of whiteboard ephemera, do you see anything you recognize?

STORY BY LIANN YIM

PROFILES BY RACHEL FREEMAN AND KARIN STORM WOOD

How Nueva’s curriculum inspires compassionate action and civic engagement

WHEN UPPER SCHOOL DIVISION HEAD

Liza Raynal ’95 was a sixth grade student at Nueva, she participated in the Future Problem Solving program, colloquially known as “Futures.” It was a pivotal, developmental experience for her.

In the program, students work in teams to solve problems that might occur decades out. At competition, students receive scenarios, like the implications of cloud storage or the dangers of toxic materials, and devise written solutions within a time limit.

Futures coach Carla Newton encouraged Liza and her teammates to reach out to Silicon Valley pioneers innovating in fields like virtual reality.

“I took away a belief that big problems can be improved or even solved,” Liza said. “I learned that when you use a multi-step problem-solving framework and have good heads together, you can take a situation that at first seems difficult and come to a solution you hadn’t initially imagined. I still think in this way and I often use some combination of the steps to solve challenges.”

ENVIRONMENT

Good for the Earth

For Bianca K. ’34 and Ian L. ’34, creating the Trash Clean-up Club was a no-brainer.

“We both saw how much trash there was around campus,” Bianca said. “We really wanted to make a change because it’s not good for the earth to have so much trash.”

Each week, Bianca, Ian, and anyone else who wants to join them trek down to the Lower Forts area on the Hillsborough campus, find big sticks to use as trash pickers, and walk around looking for and picking up trash.

To bring awareness to the cause and the club, the pair presented information to their Lower School peers during a fall community meeting.

“I shared how it’s never too late to take care of the earth,” Bianca said.

Despite getting some puzzled looks from classmates for spending their recess time collecting litter, they are not deterred from pushing forward with their efforts. “I’ve heard a lot of people saying that it’s weird that we are trying to pick up trash,” Ian said. “But it’s good for the earth so we are not going to let that stop us.”

Bianca echoed Ian. “We want to do our part to protect the earth because it can’t protect itself.”

Solving difficult problems is in our DNA.”

A changemaker is someone who works to create positive change in the world by identifying problems and working toward solutions.

Nueva students are still working to solve very real problems today.

Some students get involved with local government advisory boards and others blaze their own trails. Many projects go far beyond Nueva’s campuses, but it all starts here, in this community of inventors.

Liza said, “It has been a part of us for a long time—it’s in our DNA.”

Representing Youth Voices

Several years on Nueva’s Middle School Student Council showed Eva G. ’29 the power of turning ideas into action. It also inspired her to seek broader impact through city government. “I was really interested in sharing what I believe in with the government,” she said.

As one of 11 middle and high school students on the San Carlos Youth Advisory Council, Eva is actively helping to shape her town’s future. In addition to providing feedback on the town’s downtown development plans and organizing intergenerational activities with seniors, she is working on a video featuring young people from around the world sharing how climate change has already affected their lives.

The council’s objective for the video is not to galvanize peers, Eva explained, but to get through to their elders. “Honestly, adults really need to realize: ‘Hey, kids are being affected. We are inflicting damage on their lives.’”

She rejected the idea that children’s concerns shouldn’t be taken seriously. “Kids are often told, ‘You can’t do stuff. You don’t know enough,’” she reflected. “But it’s really crucial that we look towards children and the youth perspective.”

IT IS THE CURIOSITY, empathy, and optimism common among gifted learners—qualities that often lead students to identify challenges around them and feel the tug to address them. Nueva’s curriculum and programming help translate these qualities into action. Here, students learn skills and acquire tools to make choices that benefit the world.

This commitment to nurturing changemakers is rooted in the school’s founding vision.

Karen Stone McCown, daughter of two educators, envisioned a school that served gifted students, who were often overlooked. She also believed in the responsibility each individual holds to make the world a better place. To realize her vision for the school, she consulted a diverse array of gifted thought leaders—educators, Nobel

laureates, psychologists, and physicians— asking them, “As a gifted student, what did you need?”

“They said two things,” Liza shared. “One, to be taught how to get along, and two, to engage in the real problems of the world.”

What gifted students didn’t want was to be told that addressing the real world— and the real questions they had about it—needed to wait until they were older, in college and beyond. Gifted students are asking provocative, interesting questions about the way things are, and why they are the way they are, now.

“They rightly don’t see a distinction between ‘my school life’ and ‘the real world,’” Liza emphasized.

Gifted learners often have a strong sense of right and wrong, and concerns about injustice can keep them up at night. In the late 90s, when Middle School humanities teacher Colin Tribble ’04 was a fourth grade Nueva student, much news coverage and conversation concerned the war in Kosovo. Colin and his classmates grew “really upset” about children their age who were caught up in the conflict.

“We knew there was a need, but not how to meet it,” Colin admitted. “Our teacher, Suzanne Geller, said, ‘Well, we can learn about [the war’s impact on kids], but we could also take action.’ She knew it would feel better to do something rather than just talk about it.”

He recalled Suzanne taking notes on the board as he and his classmates listed what they wanted to send to children in refugee camps: food, blankets, school supplies. Later, they gave presentations to other classes, drafted emails to class parents, and set up donation jars around the Hillsborough campus to raise money for purchasing the supplies.

“She saw we had this seed of compassion and care, and she helped us nurture it,” Colin said.

From Passion to Civic Calling

Marc C. ’27

loves public transportation. In fact, he loves it so much that a few years ago he and some friends, armed with their clipper cards, decided to take a 12-hour Muni journey across San Francisco.

“I wouldn’t say it was transformative to my view of the city,” he joked, “but now I can say I’ve ridden every bus line in the city.”

Marc’s passion has become his civic calling, as he serves on the San Francisco Youth Transportation Advisory Board (YTAB), which uses research and data to recommend improvements to the city’s transportation agency. He also leads the Youth Planning Division. Planning, he says, is “the art of looking at patterns and at the needs of an area to figure out a financially sound way to serve those needs and help improve lives.”

Marc is excited about the work YTAB is pursuing in 2025, all of which is designed to share the youth perspective.

“Youth riders are the next generation. It’s important to amplify their voices so they see improvements to their daily commutes,” he said. “There are so many things young people can do—work on projects, serve on councils—to make people’s lives better.”

ENVIRONMENT

Putting Learning into Action

What started four years ago as a question for Harper F. ’26—Can we supercharge plants’ ability to store more carbon to combat climate change?—has transformed into an award-winning youth-led organization focused on educating and inspiring elementary and middle school students to take action to protect the environment.

Project Super Plants “really took off in new and exciting ways when I came to Nueva for high school,” Harper said. She partnered with chemistry teacher Paul Lyons and built a team of students at Nueva and four other Bay Area high schools who were all interested in combining their science knowledge with climate action. In visits to public and private schools from Petaluma to Oakland to San Jose, the team shares information about super plants—plants whose large, durable root systems sequester more carbon dioxide than other plants—then leads the students in planting native brome and melic grasses in the schools’ gardens.

“One of our main goals is to focus on hope and action because climate change can feel really overwhelming,” Harper said. “Our classroom sessions culminate with planting as a way to take a concrete action step on the same day.”

Project Super Plants has been in such demand at local schools— leading more than 70 sessions during the 2023–24 school year—that the team has had to reimagine its outreach. “With the support of Nueva’s Joey Fellowship, we are producing a series of short videos that teachers can share with their students.”

Harper credits Nueva with helping realize the potential of her science knowledge. “Nueva’s strong emphasis on putting our learning into practice has been a really powerful way to see the impact we can make,” she said. “Project Super Plants is a way to directly apply what we’ve learned in biology and chemistry to tackle carbon emissions in the fight against climate change.”

MANY STUDENTS AND ALUMNI are making a difference by engaging with issues that affect their communities— whether it’s through advocacy, volunteering, or other forms of action. Across all three divisions, teachers encourage this spirit of civic engagement by embedding it in curricula and projects, helping students to see how they can create positive change in the world around them.

Often, one way teachers drive engagement is by bringing real-world problems into the classroom for students to grapple with. Students might learn about real challenges facing urban America, such as racial and class polarization, sustainable development, and the urban political economy, and then apply design thinking to identify possible solutions and engage in action-oriented policy research, as they do in the Urban Studies elective. After learning about the decline of Union Square in San Francisco, Upper School students proposed redesigns of the neighborhood incorporating aspects of four different urban design theories.

Other Upper School electives like Infectious Disease Dynamics and Modeling, Environmental Justice and Toxicology, Climate Science and Action, Economic Inequality, Creature Comforts, and Journalism also provide students with opportunities to explore and address pressing global and local issues, empowering them to take an active role in shaping a more just and sustainable world.

Another class with real-world applications is Design Engineering for Social Good, a service-learning elective. Students spend half the semester learning about the local issues that interest them through interviews and immersive research, before collaborating with community organizations to co-design new solutions in support of their work.

“The value of this class is to let the people you serve guide the design,” said I-Lab engineer and design thinking teacher Morgan Snyder. “Through deep collaboration with people experiencing the problems they aim to solve, students learn

how to make their design engineering process truly user-centered.”

While the Upper School offers specialized electives for in-depth exploration, the commitment to fostering changemakers begins in the earliest years. In Lower School, students engage with real-world issues in ways that are developmentally appropriate, building a foundation for thoughtful, compassionate action as they grow.

“By integrating real-world issues into the classroom, we create a rich and complex learning environment,” said Megan Terra, Lower School Division Head. “Giving students agency, voice, and the opportunity to dive deep into meaningful learning is central to our mission.”

For all Nueva students, one of the key values of teaching changemaking is that it demystifies the process of addressing large, complex challenges. Like many people, students may feel empathy and a sense of justice, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they know how to translate those feelings into productive action; most young people, if not all, require a step-by-step breakdown of the process. By breaking down big, daunting problems into manageable steps, students learn that making a difference isn’t about having all the answers at once, but about starting with small, thoughtful actions. This approach helps to alleviate overwhelm, empowering students to take initiative and move forward with confidence, knowing that change is possible, no matter the scale of the issue.

Fostering this sense of agency and optimism is especially crucial for Nueva’s youngest learners. Teachers encourage exploration of topics that ignite their curiosity—such as wild animals and oceans—and help them navigate the challenges that accompany those interests. “Often, children wonder, ‘What can I do?’” Megan noted. “We intentionally flip that narrative. There are so many ways we can all engage; every student has the potential to be a changemaker.”

Learning about influential people who have made a positive difference enables

SOCIAL SERVICES

The Power of Sharing Stories

A family tragedy experienced at 12 has become the driving force behind this senior’s work as a mental health advocate. Charlotte R. ’25 turned to photography as an outlet for her grief and realized that she could use her skill to raise money for overlooked needs in the community. She created The Community Photobooth, a collective of Bay Area high school photographers who offer low-cost portraits, with the proceeds benefiting a variety of local causes.

She also channeled her grief by spreading awareness about mental health and suicide. In fall 2022, Charlotte produced a short documentary film, “It’s Time We Talk About It,” to shine a light on “critical conversations around mental health that don’t exist in so many communities,” she said. The film received national acclaim, airing on CBS News and “The Drew Barrymore Show” (see QR code below). She raised $13,000 in donations to relaunch Ending the Silence—an in-school mental-health education program from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)—at Bay Area schools. Her efforts didn’t end there. For her 2024 Quest project, Charlotte built SearchMentalHealth, an online site that helps people locate mental-health services in their area. She is currently working with NAMI to deploy this tool across all U.S. states and territories— while also serving as a UNICEF USA Youth Representative and as co-chair of the San Mateo County Behavioral Commission’s Youth Action Board.

At the heart of Charlotte’s commitment to community wellbeing is storytelling. “Since the beginning, I realized the power of talking and sharing stories [in healing],” she said. “Over the last few years, my ‘why’ has transformed to being about human connection.

“Nueva has taught me how to be curious, and how to incorporate radical empathy and radical listening into my life. I’m proud to have created this human connection for so many others.”

Charlotte rejects the idea that only certain types of people can make a difference. “When it comes to civic engagement, you don’t have to be ‘qualified.’ There is no one way to do it. Anyone can have agency. Anyone can have a reason to do something good in the world.”

Connected to Something Bigger

Paco Poler ’18 did not graduate from Nueva thinking he would one day be dedicating his time to a civics issue. He entered Stanford University with plans to be an aerospace engineer. “I viewed colonizing Mars as a way to make a positive impact on the world,” he said. But after “a semi-dramatic wakeup call,” he realized that public interest work would be more fulfilling. Ultimately, he added a coterminal master’s in sociology to his bachelor’s in geophysics and has since pursued criminal justice reform.

Paco now works as a policy analyst at Recidiviz, a nonprofit organization that uses data and technology to help state-level Departments of Corrections safely and strategically reduce their prison populations while increasing public safety.

Paco’s interest in mass incarceration began when he was a Nueva debater. The summer before twelfth grade, he interned with the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison. As he dug into criminal justice data, he was struck: mass incarceration is “the largest social problem in the United States. You just look at the numbers and nothing else comes close,” he said.

He credits Nueva with helping him make the pivot to civic issues. “Many people I knew at Stanford started in engineering, realized that what they actually cared about was different, and finished their engineering degree [anyway]. At Nueva, I had learned how to be proactive about my learning, and I always felt very comfortable experimenting and exploring.”

He also started a Stanford student group focused on criminal justice issues. “I don’t think I would have started it if I didn’t have the mindset and mental muscles that Nueva helped me grow around being comfortable with uncertainty and failure.”

As Paco reflected on his journey since 2018, he shared some advice: “If you are a young, ambitious person, the most ambitious thing you can do is engage with civic institutions. It feels amazing to contribute to something bigger than myself.”

changemakers with disabilities, first grade students became advocates for disability awareness. They researched ways to improve inclusivity and wrote to Head of School Lee Fertig to advocate for greater accessibility at Nueva. Lee and the students brainstormed ways to make the campus and the playground more accessible—reinforcing their sense of agency and their ability to enact change.

Middle School students are at an age where they can start thinking about ways to make a positive impact on the world outside of Nueva. In the Environmental Stewards elective, students take on the challenge of writing grants for environmental and sustainability projects. And the community service learning (CSL) program, which starts in Lower School and runs through all three divisions, serves as a spark that might inspire them to go further. Whether by removing thousands of cigarette butts from the beach or cleaning weeds from an urban farm, students start seeing the immediate and visible positive impact they can make.

Miriam H. ’27, a sophomore who coordinated a beach cleanup for Lower and Middle School students, was inspired to do so because of an “obsession” borne of her own CSL experiences in kindergarten. She shared that “the idea of caring deeply about the environment, especially our local environment, is deeply ingrained in the Lower School experience through outdoor recess, garden time, CSL days, and the overall curriculum.”

students to see themselves in similar roles. “Instead of overwhelming them with daunting realities, we guide them toward inspiring narratives of change,” she explained.

Unsurprisingly, Nueva students are often eager to turn their ideas into action. After their abilities and disabilities unit, which includes learning about

“I have a very vivid memory of doing a beach clean up with my grade for a CSL day. Even before I could participate in CSL days, I remember my older brother (David Hershenson ’22) coming home from a similar CSL day and showing me a photo of all the trash they collected, and I was so sad I didn’t get to go too,” Miriam said. “The feeling of doing something good while also having fun with classmates is something I will always cherish about Nueva’s CSL experience.”

“I wanted to replicate that feeling for Nueva students, while also providing an

educational perspective on the true harms of plastic on the ocean.”

“We want them to be advocates for the world that they want to see,” said Middle School Division Head Karen Tiegel.

NUEVA’S COMMITMENT to social and emotional acuity and building a caring community complements its emphasis on fostering students’ activism. Socialemotional learning (SEL) classes across all three divisions develop empathy and engagement, inviting students to consider, “What is our collective responsibility?”

Charlotte R. ’25, who has initiated several projects around mental health advocacy and support, recognized how pivotal her SEL classes were in shaping the direction of her interests (see sidebar, page 35).

“Our conversations were around how we can better understand, empathize, and build love and support for each other,” Charlotte said. “It’s really special to be taught that intentionally.”

Steven Chanan ’80, who teaches math and music, described his arrival at Nueva as feeling that he was “at a place that nourished my soul.”

“I felt like I was being seen as a whole person, being taught not just academic but [also] emotional skills,” Steven said. “I believe at the deepest level that to be a responsible citizen, to be a productive citizen—and I mean productive in a broad, positive sense—you have to be emotionally healthy.”

Karen, who is a parent to three Nueva alumni, expressed appreciation for the way teachers encourage and foster student interest in civic engagement.

“That’s how teachers really influence our students to make a difference—they show them what’s possible.” She added, “Teachers offer our students this very rich life at Nueva that allows them to see lots of possibilities for the future.”

Students and alumni who are actively participating in civic engagement have expressed appreciation for their faculty mentors who instilled in them the belief

that they can be the ones to make this change, and that they can start at any stage of life.

“I cannot express enough gratitude for all of the mentors that I’ve had that have guided me through that process of trying things out,” said Paco Poler ’18, who currently works as a policy analyst at a tech non-profit that uses data to reduce incarceration safely and equitably. His interest in his current work was piqued while he was a Nueva debater (see sidebar, page 36).

Upper School physics teacher Mark Hurwitz, who was hired to teach Nueva’s

THE ARTS

Poetry as a Means of Making Change

The rise of first-ever United States Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman at the 2021 presidential inauguration inspired cities across the country to create their own youth poet laureate positions. Young writers were encouraged to apply. One of those young people is Sierra E. ’28, the 2024–25 Burlingame-Hillsborough Youth Poet Laureate.

In this role, Sierra “advocates for poetry, language, and the arts across the community, especially the youth community,” she said. She leads workshops at the Burlingame Public Library, writes and performs her own poetry, and even serves as a judge for a literary contest at a local middle school.

In fall 2024, Sierra led youth workshops on poetry and artificial intelligence (AI), which sparked engaging conversations about technology’s impact on the art form. The workshops were inspired by Sierra’s eighth-grade Recital project in which she first wrote a book of poetry and then investigated AI’s ability to write poetry and pass the Turing Test, a method for evaluating a machine’s ability to mimic human intelligence. After that, Sierra began looking for a way to share her poetry and her findings—and her love for poetry—with other teens. For her, this role as Youth Poet Laureate has been the perfect opportunity to do just that.

“I really hope that young people are able to see poetry as a form to express themselves and their feelings about not only what’s going on in their own lives, but what’s going on in the world,” she said. “I think poetry is a really wonderful medium for making change.”

ENVIRONMENT

Creating a Social Movement

Climate action has been a popular cause at Nueva for a long time. In recent years, a group of Upper School students launched an international student coalition working toward sustainable investing principles for their schools’ endowments.

In 2020, the students called for Nueva to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Due in part to the students’ advocacy, Nueva’s endowment committee endorsed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment principles in 2021, and the school’s exposure to fossil fuel investments is now negligible.

In their conversations with the committee, which is responsible for the school’s investment strategy, the students realized that divestment was not the only desirable end goal.

Over several years, the students educated themselves through a great deal of research, according to coalition leader Alex Wagonfeld ’24. The group “solicited advice from investment experts and contacted divestment advocates to ask, how does an endowment work? How can we propose new investments?”

The students began to shift the conversation from divestment to clean-energy investment and environmental education. For Naomie Chien ’24, the conversations with Nueva’s endowment committee proved essential in shaping a successful strategy for action.

“To take a step back and evaluate what is actually effective and creating impact was extremely enlightening,” she said.

Having learned these lessons, the students wanted to share them with other high school climate activists and build leverage by launching a coalition. Creating a social movement would provide a “credibility proof-point” for students advocating for climate action before their schools’ endowment committees, according to Naomie.

To date, the International High School Clean Energy Investment Coalition includes students at 51 schools in 11 countries and is dedicated to equipping members to advocate effectively to their school administrators for cleanenergy investment and climate education.

“A lot of times, activists, especially young people, see older people or big institutions as something to fight,” current club leader Anjuli M. ’25 said. “But we were able to collaborate with people like Lee [Fertig, Head of School], and that just gives me a lot of hope for finding middle ground on these big issues.”

first high school cohort, became interested in teaching here because he believed that his future students might go out and “do some good.”

“If one of my students ends up working for General Electric and helps make solar panels even one percent more efficient, that would have a tremendous positive impact,” Mark said.

“Why else would we be doing what we’re doing?” Steven wondered out loud. “To teach and develop the leaders of the future, because we want to have a world that is a better world than this one.”

Many teachers express their hope that Nueva students graduate with a deep sense of agency, equipped with the intellectual, emotional, and practical tools—and compassion—to solve problems in the world around them.

At a Nueva event in the fall, alumna Maya Chawla ’21 spoke about the mindset and compassion she learned during her 10 years attending Nueva. She recalled her third grade CSL trip to the Second Harvest Food Bank sparked her commitment to community service. During the recent election, Maya worked at the local polls and helped get out the vote. Today, she volunteers at 826 Valencia, helping elementary school students in underserved San Francisco schools improve their writing skills.

“Nueva taught me to care—to care for my friends, for my community, for people I’ve never met and never will; to care about our planet; to care about our future,” she said. “It is so easy to be pessimistic about the future, but Nueva taught me that we have the power to enact change.”

Maya continued, “It’s easy not to care about these things, to be apathetic or to turn a blind eye, but at Nueva, that’s just not a way of life. We learn about the problems in the world with the hopes of solving them. We learn skills so we can apply them for good, and we learn through the lens of caring and compassion. Those are values that, once they’re instilled, especially from a very young age, become a permanent North Star.” [N]

ALUMNI

GOALLLL!

Our annual December alumni games welcomed home members of the Classes of 2017 to 2024 for an evening of fun and competition. The doubleheader featured a coed alumni soccer game and an alumni boys basketball game.

Pictured bottom row: Mia Tavares ’23 (Harvard), Claire Green ’21 (Dartmouth), Mira Deb ’22 (Stanford); middle row: Gaelen Clayton ’21 (WashU), Anya Potsiadlo ’23 (Colorado College); top row: Kevin Hwong ’23 (Connecticut College).

GREETINGS, NUEVA ALUMNI!

What does it mean to be a member of the Nueva alumni community? Common throughlines are the special and lasting connections to the people: classmates and teachers; the places: the Hillsborough and San Mateo campuses; and the big and small moments: the Silk Road Project, international trips, and unexpectedly meaningful hallway conversations. As I connect with alumni and learn about their Nueva journeys, I can only conclude that this shared experience is one of a kind.

I don’t have to search hard to recall the many examples of these deep, beloved connections. One morning in mid-December, I was walking to my office to start the day at the San Mateo campus. There on the green “senior couches” was a familiar, smiling face waiting to greet me. This recent graduate could think of no better way to spend a day of his winter break than to visit Nueva and catch up with members of his extended family. For so many of our alumni, Nueva is a family. I hope as you read updates and news from members of your alumni family, you’re transported back to your time at Nueva.

As those memories flood back, please know, like the alumnus who greeted me on the couches, you are always welcome back home to our Hillsborough and San Mateo campuses. Please visit often, join us at alumni events, and keep us updated about where your post-Nueva journey has taken you. Cheers to 2025 and many new stories and memories shared!

Sincerely,

DIANA A. CHAMORRO Director of Alumni & Community Engagement

Events Roundup

Deb ’22 (Stanford), Vienna Gao ’21 (USC), Roan Wanek ’24 (Occidental), and Naomie Chien ’24 (Stanford) enjoying the hands–on Conservation Ambassadors workshop at Intersession.

Members of the Class of 2024 close out the summer at our inaugural alumni hike at Waterdog Trail in Belmont.

January’s Young Alumni Social kicks off the year with fun, food, and camaraderie.

Mira

VERBATIM

At September’s Leadership Circle Reception, UC Berkeley fourth-year MAYA CHAWLA ’21 reflected, reminisced, and offered inspiring insight about the impact Nueva continues to have on her life in her keynote remarks.

“Every single [Nueva teacher] has been a role model to me in some way and supported me in and outside the classroom. They have inspired me to try things I don’t think I would have picked up otherwise; encouraged me to take new classes or to challenge myself in existing ones; entertained long, winding discussions outside of class hours.”

ALUMNI TAKEOVER!

Want to know what life is like as a working professional in NYC or as a first-year studying at an international university? Check out our alumni Instagram takeover series and get an insider’s look to the lives of our alumni!

Be sure to follow @NuevaAlumni on Instagram to follow along. Past takeovers are archived in the highlights section.

WELCOME HOME! A member of the Nueva community since preK, Stanley Wang ’20 returned home as an Alumni Relations Intern in January!

NATIONAL CHAMPION! On Dec. 8, Gaelen Clayton ’21 was instrumental in guiding the Washington University in St. Louis women’s soccer team to capture the NCAA Division III national championship. Read more about Gaelen on page 53.

SAVE THE DATES

Alumni Calendar

Nueva Cup Golf Tournament

Monday, April 28, 2025

Alumni Reunion

Friday, May 30, 2025

Celebrating Cynthia Kosut’s retirement!

Class of 2020

Five-Year Reunion

Saturday, May 31, 2025

BY THE NUMBERS

140+

Attendees at alumni events

210+

Campus visitors

#NuevaNoshes and meetups from July to December 2024, featuring more than 70 alumni (see page 44)

PHOTO: ALON SOWELL

↑ BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

While studying abroad this fall in Madrid, Tyler Huang ’22 (Northwestern) coordinated a get-together with Eli Smirin ’22 (Wellesley), who was studying in Amsterdam, and Joshua Yao ’22 (Northwestern), who was in London.

↑ DALY CITY, CA

Former Nueva basketball teammates won their summer league championship on Aug. 2. Pictured: James Tilson ’21 (Northwestern), two non-Nueva teammates, Amit Singh ’20, Connor McGraw ’22 (UChicago), Ethan Fong ’20, Josh Francis ’20, and Stanley Wang ’20

CHINA → Class of 2024 friends Steven Liu (Princeton), Anping Zhu (Yale), and Christine Zhao (Stanford) met up while traveling in China this summer.

↑ NEW YORK, NY

Amy Cavet ’20 coordinated a #NuevaNosh brunch outing at Pause Cafe with Nikhil Patel ’20 and Ben Lee ’20 on Aug. 11.

↘ SAN FRANCISCO, CA

On June 30, Micah Brown ’23 (Carleton College), Sam Leong ’23 (Carnegie Mellon), Sami Kingsbury ’23 (Wellesley), Isabelle Ho ’23 (Tufts), a local friend, and Abi Wee ’23 (UC Berkeley) got together for #NuevaNosh outing at Gioia Pizzeria.

Maverick Meetups

Mavericks were on the go throughout the summer and fall! From regional reunions to #NuevaNosh get-togethers, alumni enjoyed reconnecting both stateside and abroad.

What is #NuevaNosh? When three or more alumni gather over a meal or coffee, the Alumni Office will reimburse them up to $50. Visit MavNet to learn more!

SHANGHAI,

↑ PRINCETON, NJ

While attending a language conference on the East Coast, Upper School Mandarin teacher Ting Zhang caught up with Kaden Knight ’24 (Princeton) on campus.

↓ HILLSBOROUGH CAMPUS

Adam Cropper ’07 and Chelsea Pettigrew ’06 hosted their rehearsal dinner in the Gathering Space (formerly known as the Ballroom) of the Lower School Building on Aug. 2. Pictured: Brian (Cropper) Heredia ’05, Rachel Heredia, David Cropper P ’05, ’06, ’09, Adam, Chelsea, Joni Cropper P ’05, ’06, ’09, Haley Cropper ’09, and Luis Aponte Cofresi.

↑ NEW YORK, NY

Class of 2019 friends met up at Grand Central Station on Oct. 29. Pictured: Kyle McGraw, Eton Shon, Cooper Mills, and Toby Frank.

←↓ CAMBRIDGE, MA

Nueva Upper School Physics teacher Barak Yedidia visited Dominic Lehane ’23 (Harvard) and Zoe Barton ’24 (MIT) in October.

↗ HILLSBOROUGH CAMPUS

Visiting from Oregon, Loren Schaller ’06 toured the Hillsborough campus for the first time since 2013.

← WOODSIDE, CA

Class of 2008 friends Catherine Pavlov, Rebecca Schantz, former Nueva teacher Marissa Maimone (bride), Saya Jenks, and Zoe Monosson, current Nueva Upper School I-Lab shop manager, celebrated Marissa’s wedding in June.

↓ GENESEO, NY

Former Nueva cross country studentathletes Ariane Yedidia ’24 (University of Rochester), Anna Feland ’24 (Case Western Reserve), and Alyssa Horng ’22 (University of Rochester) competed for their respective colleges at the SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods Invitational on Oct. 19.

Maverick Meetups

↑ LONDON, UK

Class Reps Anya Potsiadlo ’23 (Colorado College) and Riyana Srihari ’23 (Brown) met with former Maverick Ines P. ’25 (center) during their July trip.

→ LONDON, UK

While traveling through Heathrow Airport, Logan Ramanathan ’24 (Brown) met fellow Nuevan and Brown graduate Graham Norwood ’95

↑ SAN MATEO, CA

Class of 2021 friends Bayan Shimizu (Columbia), Lauren Wong (MIT), Quinn Armentrout (UC Santa Cruz), and Spencer Ball (University of Wisconsin) gathered for a #NuevaNosh at Hillsdale Mall on July 28.

↑ NEW YORK, NY

In mid-September, Donya Zarrinnegar ’18 coordinated a #NuevaNosh outing with fellow Class of 2018 friends Talia Schonberger, Anika Kwan, and Nathalie Gee

↓ SAN MATEO, CA

Mark Goodenough ’79 facilitated an Intersession course focused on how friendships support developing organizational skills, planning abilities, and community.

↑ WELLESLEY, MA

While visiting her alma mater in July, Director of Extended Learning Katie Saylor and her daughter, Hannah, crossed paths with current Wellesley student Grace Holmes ’21

MORGAN HILL, CA →

Five Nueva alumni were groomsmen in a mutual friend’s wedding on Aug. 31. Pictured: Graham Toben ’02, Andre Burnier ’02, Zubin Mobedshahi ’03, Noah Kaplan ’92, and Charles Zaffaroni ’02

SAN FRANCISCO, CA → Before heading back to college, Class of 2020 friends Ina Lalic (UC Berkeley), Noah Howard (Brown and Rhode Island School of Design), and Audrey Hirshman (Otis College of Art and Design) gathered at Souvla for a Greek-cuisine #NuevaNosh on Aug. 18.

BACK ON CAMPUS

Charting Their Paths

SWETHA TUMMALA ’17 AND MADELEINE MCGLYNN ’19 ARE THE NEXT GENERATION OF WOMEN IN MEDICINE

BY DIANA A. CHAMORRO

Grounded in their Nueva roots and inspired to effect positive change in the world, Swetha Tummala ’17 and Madeleine McGlynn ’19 are paving their own paths in medicine with curiosity, self-resilience, and empathy. The pair share a common thread—transformational adolescent experiences—as catalysts to becoming doctors.

Swetha and Madeleine reflected on their journeys to working as medical practitioners, shared their sources of inspiration, and offered advice to Nueva students.

SWETHA TUMMALA ’17

Did you always feel a pull towards medicine? Yes. My dad was my biggest role model and he is a physician. He seemed like Superman— flying off to the hospital with his white coat trailing like a cape. Whenever he shared an interesting case with me, I listened as if he were narrating my favorite Nancy Drew mystery, eager to solve the case. The doctor’s office also felt like the fantasy world of Narnia from the C.S. Lewis novels. Even during uncomfortable procedures, doctors were like Narnia’s Great Lion, making me feel protected and understood. Performing at a nursing home throughout high school also helped inspire my path in medicine. I had previously sung in countless theaters

and music halls, where the lighting and distance divided me and my audience. But in the intimate setting of 12 residents, I was forced to be vulnerable for the first time. One of the residents—who had dementia and would ask the same questions every day— suddenly started humming a line from my performance the week before. It was then that I realized the power of connection, which is what I strive for with my patients.

How did your time at Nueva influence you? Lily Brown, my tenth grade English teacher, had a huge impact on my approach to writing. By giving us assignments such as emulating Jamaica Kincaid’s rhetorical style, she opened my eyes to creative writing. For that assignment I wrote about how sugary drinks contribute to rising obesity rates using a

multitude of rhetorical devices. After that, I fell in love with writing as a way to vent, relax, and advocate.

How has the transition to residency been? Residency has been great but also tough! I am in the internal medicine program at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. I love the autonomy we have, how patients and attendings look to us as the patient’s primary physician. I have developed great relationships with patients—like helping a patient with a history of opioid use disorder presenting with tricuspid valve endocarditis improve his compliance and abstinence to the point that he became a surgical candidate for valve replacement.

What wisdom about being a woman in STEM can you share? Connecting with female mentors really helps. A female attending once noticed when I backed down from a male senior resident who disagreed with my recommendation for a patient. She praised my thought process and my advocacy. Thanks to her, I’m committed to starting conversations with my future senior residents to hear both sides, learn, and come to a shared decision.

Do you have advice for Nueva students? A lot of my confidence comes from the fact that I learned many socialemotional skills at Nueva: like self-reflecting, seeing failure as a learning opportunity, and asking for help. I have these

TUMMALA FILE

Nueva Class Year: 2017

College: Boston University Accelerated Medical Program (seven-year combined undergraduate and medical school program)

Degree: Doctor of Medicine

Current Role: Medical resident at the University of Pittsburgh

Swetha’s Residency Rx: Prioritize activities outside of academics:

❍ eating good food

❍ talking with family

❍ attending holiday events

❍ doing physical activity

❍ participating in performing arts

tools for when I need them. My advice to students is to say to themselves, “look how far I’ve come,” or some positive affirmations, think about obstacles they have overcome in the past, and most importantly, know that they are not alone. Even those who seem like they have everything together feel imposter syndrome.

MADELEINE MCGLYNN ’19

Did you always feel a pull toward medicine? No, but there was always an undercurrent of curiosity about how the human body works, how it responds to the world, and how we can intervene to heal it. In fifth grade, I wanted to cure Batten’s disease for the health innovations project in our design engineering class. A friend of mine, Drew, had what I knew to be a “hard problem” in his brain that was killing him. I spent hours online trying to understand CLN genes and impaired lysosomal trafficking. In one of those marbled composition notebooks, I taped annotated printouts so I could tell Drew all that I had learned about his hard problem. His curiosity was indestructible. About a year later, the disease turned out to be indestructible too. While I tried to make meaning of his passing, I discovered a curiosity for hard problems like Drew’s.

How did your time at Nueva influence you? Nueva was not just the starting line in my path to medicine: it really did establish the foundation for almost every aspect of who I am. It is where I was encouraged not just to consume knowledge, but to create it, question it, and, above all, engage with it in ways that felt authentic. It introduced me to questions that had no easy answers and created an atmosphere where creativity, curiosity, and compassion are at the heart

MCGLYNN FILE

Nueva Class Year: 2019

College: Stanford

Degree: Bachelor of Science with honors in human biology, humanities minor

Current Role: M.D. candidate at Harvard Medical School

Madeline’s Med School Rx:

❍ Recalibration: learn to recognize when to reset and take a step back

❍ carve out time for things that fill you up

❍ remind yourself of who you are outside of medicine

of learning. Most importantly, Nueva helped me understand that effecting positive change in the world is about being part of a dynamic, ongoing conversation about the human condition. Medicine, I realized, was where that conversation would unfold for me.

What wisdom about being a woman in STEM can you share? Let your curiosity lead you, and do not wait for “the right time” to pursue what energizes you. Seek out mentors and find spaces that support your growth, but remember that you are always your best advocate. Being successful in medicine is not about doing well in your college organic chemistry class (though I know that it often feels like it is). It is about asking better questions, and

your perspective is essential to that evolution. You belong— not because you have proven it by arbitrary and subjective metrics, but because the curiosity you intrinsically carry is uniquely essential.

Do you have advice for Nueva students? A Stanford mentor of mine told me that imposter syndrome means you are entering into something that actually challenges you. Trust in your ability to adapt, to learn, and to grow into each iteration of yourself.

When you think of Nueva today, what comes to mind? I see a playground for the mind. For me, Nueva was a place led by educators who believed that the pursuit of knowledge in school went hand-in-hand with the discovery of self. I think of classrooms alive with debate, where we were pushed to think critically and lean into intellectual discomfort, knowing that that is where true growth happens. The teachers I had throughout my 12 years never just conveyed knowledge; they cultivated a mindset, inviting all of us to participate in the construction of understanding, not just the consumption of it. Because of this, we learned to question the way things work, to connect disparate ideas, and to see patterns others might miss. It is a strange and beautiful thing— how a place can quietly shift your perspective, so that learning becomes less about what the right answers are, and more about exploring the vastness of the questions themselves.

Passing the Torch

TYLER MCGRAW ’12 AND JILL MANKOFF ’17 ARE INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION

BY DIANA A. CHAMORRO

For Tyler McGraw ’12 and Jill Mankoff ’17, witnessing the sparks of connection that occur during impassioned class discussions are reminiscent of their Nueva days—and affirms their decision to become educators. Bridging their own love of learning fostered at Nueva, they are helping the next generation of students develop their own interests and passions in two different educational environments. Tyler is a second-year teacher at a rural charter school in North Carolina, and Jill’s path has taken her from a centuries-old East Coast boarding school to an independent high school back in the Bay Area.

Tell us about what you teach and your current school community. Tyler: I work at Roxboro Community School (RCS) in Person County, NC, about 40 minutes outside Durham. It’s a smaller charter school with an average of under 100 students per grade. It places more of an emphasis on readying students for a fouryear degree, compared to the public high school, which offers more vocational programs.

I teach: precalculus honors, and Advanced Placement [AP] classes in precalculus, calculus, statistics, and computer science. I also host the Dungeons and Dragons club and am working on establishing a competition math club.

The school can’t afford sufficient janitorial staff, so I am responsible for cleaning and maintaining my room. I

also organize communityservice days for my classes— community is one of RCS’s emphases—and it is up to the teachers to reach out to community members and organizations and plan trips or activities four times a year.

Jill: I teach tenth grade chemistry and the advanced chemistry elective at the Branson School in Marin County. Branson is quite different from Nueva, but I love being back in the Bay Area. I appreciate the innovative culture of education on the West Coast that is present at Bay Area independent schools. We are always thinking about how to change our teaching to better serve our students. At Branson, we have a great science department, and I enjoy collaborating with my colleagues.

“The biggest thing Nueva did for me was to instill a love of learning … I remember having my mind blown by the Monty Hall problem in Dan [Bennett’s] math class.”

What inspired you to get into education? Jill: I started to think about working in education in college. I was a writing tutor throughout my time there, which I really enjoyed. During junior year, I took a class on chemistry education. I realized in that class how passionate I was about learning science and thinking about how we learn science. I especially loved the practicum part of the course; being in the classroom with students was such a joy.

From then on, I decided to pursue a career in science education and sought out opportunities both at my college and beyond to learn about teaching science. I especially enjoyed working with high schoolers so I decided to follow that pathway when I graduated.

Tyler: When I graduated college in 2020, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I started tutoring high school students in math and the SAT/ACT as I prepared for my next move and I really enjoyed it. When I decided to try teaching, I knew

that I neither wanted nor had the experience to “manage behavior” so I wanted to teach upper-level courses in math and computer science. I almost eliminated RCS due to its 40-minute commute from Durham, where I live, but I felt that I could have an immediate impact as the school would otherwise have had no math courses past math 3 (algebra 2 in California).

Does being a member of Nueva’s founding Upper School class influence your teaching style? Jill: Nueva helped foster and deepen my love of learning and of science. It was such a wonderful space to explore my passion for science, which led to one of my greatest strengths as a teacher: my enthusiasm! I am so excited each day to be thinking and talking about chemistry alongside my students. Additionally, Nueva helped instill the importance of reflective practice, which is essential to being a good educator. I keep a reflective journal on my teaching as it

helps me think about how to best grow my practice and better support my students and colleagues.

Our Class of 2017 experience at Nueva was so unique that it would be hard to replicate the culture we had. But I do try to bring a sense of wonder and possibility into my classroom each day that we had in those first few years.

How did your time at Nueva prepare you for teaching?

Tyler: The biggest thing Nueva did for me was to instill a love of learning. I enjoy education so much because I love talking with students about ideas and sharing my enthusiasm for the material.

I remember having my mind blown by the Monty Hall problem in Dan [Bennett’s] math class; the excitement of Jana [Comstock] letting us in on the secret of imaginary numbers; learning about fractals and fractal dimensions in an elective with Steven [Chanan ’80]; competing with my friends to see who could code the fastest prime-number generator.

When I think of my experience at Nueva, in math classes and in general, fun and excitement come to mind. I try to bring that same energy so hopefully my students look back on their classes and feel the same way I do when I look back at my time at Nueva.

As an educator, how have you approached teaching with a nonpartisan lens in your communities? Tyler: When I drive down back roads

in Roxboro, I see Confederate flags quite often. There is one visible from the school gym, in a neighbor’s yard, and a student of mine drew one on a whiteboard last year. Though generally Republican, Person County is about 35 percent Democratic, and this percentage is higher in the RCS population. I thought that this year’s election would be divisive, but my students and the community as a whole are much less partisan than I expected. Roxboro was hit hard by the financial crisis (TIME even ran a piece on the 8,000-person town), and from talking to community members, I saw that they really don’t care for the inflamed political rhetoric of recent times. They just want normalcy and a steady economy.

I believe that teachers should be strictly nonpartisan, and as an outsider to this community, I make an extra effort not to push my own viewpoints. I have taught lessons involving polling, prediction markets, analyzing data, and creating models. Math is probably the easiest subject to stay nonpartisan in as I can focus on methods, tools, and analysis rather than on the controversial topics themselves.

Jill: I’ve found it valuable to reframe questions this year through our theme of civil discourse (like Nueva, Branson’s 2024–25 theme is civil discourse). Rather than framing a topic in class as a debate with two sides, I’ll think about how we can create space for nuance and multiple solutions. For instance, in my

“Nueva helped instill the importance of reflective practice, which is essential to being a good educator.”

advanced chemistry class, instead of “should nuclear energy be part of a green energy future?” we asked, “what role should nuclear energy play in a green energy future?” Reframing allowed for a fantastic discussion.

Additionally, good background information is essential to having good civil discourse. Guiding students toward a broad range of accurate sources and giving them the tools to do good research have helped elevate our class discussions.

What excites you most about teaching? Jill: Getting to hear my students’ fantastic ideas and watching them grow is what motivates me each day. I am also constantly excited by thinking about new curriculum alongside my colleagues and testing out new labs and activities for my classes.

Tyler: I like getting my students excited about math and getting them to think at a deeper level. They have been conditioned to treat math in a very formulaic manner, which requires less work.

Last year, all of them, even the ones who hated math, got really into the history of math.

Some of them asked me to make a “tier list” of my favorite mathematicians, and one asked if there were any significant female mathematicians, as I had only mentioned males up to that point. At the end of the year, I gave them an optional, open-ended project on any math topic of their choosing, and I received a flood of presentations, posters, podcasts, and even a 14-page essay on the history of math. I am also lucky to have a number of students who are really passionate about learning. Two of them who didn’t have space in their schedules to take calculus decided to study it on their own. I meet with them once a week to answer their questions and give them resources.

As a challenge, I gave them some contest math problems, which they really enjoyed, and now they want to start a competition math club. There’s nothing I like more than talking about their ideas and pushing the kids to their limits.

BRIEFS

1986

Rebecca Gardyn Levington recently published her fourth children’s picture book Little Dreidel Learns To Spin with Scholastic/ Cartwheel Books, and she is looking forward to releasing seven more, including three in 2025. To learn more about her upcoming titles and events, visit rebeccagardynlevington.com.

2017

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Do you have news or personal updates you’d like to share?

We invite you to submit a class brief about exciting personal events, including marriages or new arrivals, professional experiences or accomplishments, recent travel, reunions with fellow Nueva alumni, and more. nuevaschool.org/ classbriefs

Naomi Chou spent the summer of 2024 in Brooklyn working as a data analyst at Hachette Book Group, one of the largest publishing houses in the country. She has taken up perfume collecting and has developed an appreciation for vintage films—often spending weekends at local theaters to enjoy old classics on the big screen. ¶ Emily Ross works at Google and in spring 2024 she transferred from London to New York City. She currently lives in Brooklyn and spends her free time playing cello and pickleball.

2018

Sinead Chang lives in New York City and works as a strategist at a creative communications agency. Outside of work, she writes about food in her newsletter, One More Bite

(onemorebite.substack.com). In November, she and her Nueva friends celebrated their seventh annual Friendsgiving: “The older I get, the more I realize just how special all the people I met at Nueva are.” The most special of them all, she shared, is of course her boyfriend, Viraj Garg ¶ Nat Luo lives in Providence, RI, and works at Echo Design Group, a New York-based company known for its innovative work in home and fashion accessories. ¶ University of Pennsylvania graduate Donya Zarrinnegar began medical school at Thomas Jefferson University. At school, she has enjoyed diving into both contextual and clinical skills to support her growth in the medical field.

2019

Jenna Lange is a secondyear Ph.D. candidate studying bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. ¶ After graduating

from Caltech in 2023, Kyle McGraw relocated to New York City, where he worked at AE Studio as a data scientist on their brain-computer interface (BCI) team before pursuing his next opportunity. Outside of work, he juggles, plays a lot of basketball and volleyball, and participates in a book club. ¶ Cooper Mills relocated to New York City in the fall of 2024. Since his crosscountry move, he’s spent time solving financial challenges for non-profit organizations, calling races on election night, and playing in recreational soccer leagues. Cooper shared that the best part of his move was reuniting with fellow Mavericks on the East Coast! Every day he’s “grateful for the strength of

Sinead Chang ’18 and Viraj Garg ’18

Little Dreidel Learns To Spin by Rebecca Gardyn Levington ’86

the Nueva community out here.” ¶ Ada Weinstein was an exhibitor at the worldrenowned Venice Biennale in Italy. Ada’s piece was part of the prestigious Personal Structures exhibition at the Palazzo Mora.

2020Amy Cavet is studying computer science with a concentration on algorithms and complexity at Carnegie Mellon University. Over the summer, she interned at Jane Street in New York City alongside her Nueva classmate Ben Lee, who

A Quest to the NBA: Class Rep Jeremy Dumalig ’20 was featured in The Nueva Current about his path to the Brooklyn Nets. Check it out!

recently graduated from Brown University. Following her spring 2025 graduation from CMU, she plans to live in New York and return to work at Jane Street. ¶

From Heartbreak to Champion

Gaelen Clayton ’21 clinches the NCAA soccer championship

Gaelen Clayton’s junior season on the women’s soccer team at Washington University in St. Louis ended with an injury in the 2023 national semifinal.

“It was definitely a frustrating experience, going from a very promising season to having to watch the final from the sideline,” she said.

Audrey Hirschman is in her sophomore year at Otis College, where she is pursuing a degree in graphic design. She recently took some time to focus on her musical career in Los Angeles, and her musical creations are now available on Spotify under the moniker Audrey II. ¶ Noah Howard was an experience design intern at Konrad Group in New York City last summer. He is studying industrial design and anthropology in the fiveyear dual-degree program at Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. During the fall semester, he enjoyed studying abroad in Spain. ¶ UC Berkeley fourth-year student Ina Lalic is majoring in product management, a researchbased individualized degree combining business, engineering, cognitive science, anthropology, and linguistics. Prior to returning to school, she worked in product strategy consulting for a year and plans to pursue a minor in

A year later, she scored the decisive goal in a 3–0 victory, leading the Bears to an NCAA Division III championship. “The loss from last year was the motivation I needed at times,” she said. “But it was all worth it in the end—I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to my career.”

Gaelen will graduate this spring with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and return to WashU for a master’s. Reflecting on her time at Nueva, she said, “Projects like Quest taught me to take an interest of mine, identify a long-term goal, and then plan out my strategy to reach that goal over the course of months or years. Academics at Nueva also taught me problem-solving abilities, which have helped me stay on top of my classwork while juggling school and soccer. Nueva taught me that if there’s something you’re passionate about, it’s absolutely worth it to put everything you have into making it a reality.”

data science. A fun fact: Her Cal neighbor is fellow Nuevan Maya Chawla ’21! ¶ Nikhil Patel graduated in the spring of 2024 from the University of Southern California and is a software engineer in New York City.

2021 University of Wisconsin fourth-year Spencer Ball spent the first half of summer 2024 in Sweden, participating in

Ada Weinstein’s ’19 art reached an international audience while on display at the 2024 Venice Biennale.

PHOTO: ALON SOWELL

Spencer Ball ’21

Did you know?

Five Nuevans—Amy Cavet ’20 (Carnegie Mellon), Ben Lee ’20 (Brown), Elliot Chin ’21 (Harvard), Nicholas Hope ’21 (Princeton), and Matthew Sakiyama ’21 (Harvard)— interned at Jane Street Capital in NYC this past summer!

a research-abroad program that explored human behavior in games. Upon returning to the U.S., he worked at Siemens Energy as a software engineering intern for the second consecutive summer. Spencer is working on projects for Siemens’s powergrid monitoring software and has “graduated” from testing existing displays to writing some new UI components. ¶ Maya Chawla spent her summer in New York City, immersing herself in the world of journalism as an audience development intern for Architectural Digest. Her experience at the publication has led to a freelance writing opportunity with the company. At UC Berkeley, she is a member of several clubs and societies, and will graduate in the spring of 2025 with a degree in sociology. (Maya also appears on page 40.) ¶ Elliot Chin is studying statistics and neuroscience at Harvard University, while also expanding his horizons in the world of finance. He spent the summer at Jane Street in New York City, working as a trading intern focused on data science and taking internal classes on various financial concepts. He is passionate about financial markets and is eager to continue learning

authentic insights for high schoolers and an opportunity for college students to earn money by sharing their experiences on their own schedules. You can learn more about Shalin’s work at skalaapp.com.

2022

as he connects with others in the trading world. ¶ Annie Edwards will graduate this June from Northwestern University with degrees in earth and planetary sciences and mathematics. ¶ Avi Sundaresan will graduate in spring 2025 from the California Institute of Technology with a degree in computer science with a focus on exploring AI applications for conservation and biodiversity monitoring. In spring 2024, he went on a geobiology trip to the Galápagos Islands, living on a boat and studying the region’s unique ecosystems. Over the past two years, Avi has also been working on AI for conservation research with a professor at MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. ¶ University of Michigan thirdyear Shalin Zarboulas recently launched the startup Skala. The platform is dedicated to making the college search process more meaningful and personalized and connects high school students with college students for private, one-on-one campus tours. Skala’s aim is to provide

In her thirdyear at the University of Pennsylvania Avery Chen* decided to pursue a second degree, in environmental studies, while she continues working towards a degree in finance. She shared: “During my time at Nueva, I was heavily involved with environmental efforts on campus and off. [In college] I realized that I missed the breadth of electives and depth of environmental courses that I had the opportunity to take in high school.” Avery is spending this semester studying in Lisbon, Portugal. She has been excited to learn a new language and meet students from other schools.

¶ Tyler Huang* is a third-year student at Northwestern University studying economics and global health. He spent the fall quarter studying in Madrid. While abroad, he had the opportunity to see Nueva friends studying in different European cities and enjoyed visiting Amsterdam and London.

2023

Misha Aganin* has taken on new roles in several music groups at Duke University. He is both singing in and conducting

the Duke Chorale, and he is the director of his a cappella group, Something Borrowed Something Blue. Misha spent summer 2024 working on a research project at Duke, making custom wearable devices to detect early signs of infectious disease in the hospital and clinical setting. ¶ Second-year Reed College student Charlotte Applebaum has spent the past two years hosting a radio show, flying planes, writing comics about flying planes (which you can read at sites.google. com/view/cloudruncomics), and being a drag-king-intraining. ¶ Calder Burkhart* is a second-year biology major at The College of William & Mary. She is the social chair for her sorority, Chi Omega, and plans to join the sailing club this spring. ¶ Carleton College second-year Micah Brown is studying cognitive science. They spent their summer working as a lab intern at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and enjoying the city’s rich architectural and cultural history. ¶ Peter Choi is a sophomore at UC Berkeley, where he recently began a new role as the co-program director of Berkeley’s Solar Car Team. He is excited to spread “meaningful collaborative experiences beyond the Team 4904 [Nueva robotics] galaxy.” ¶ Stanford University mechanical engineering student William Fisher was promoted to the role of chief engineer for the DesignBuild-Fly team. He currently is leading the team’s aircraft development for entry in the international collegiate AeroDesign competition,

Avi Sundaresan ’21 conducting research in the Galápagos Islands.

hosted by the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. In summer 2024, William worked at a vehicle design company in Los Angeles. He also spent two weeks based in Annecy, France, touring various parts of Europe by boat and bike, even cycling the Col de L’Iseran, the second highest road in France! ¶ Anoushka Krishnan is enjoying her sophomore year at Rice University. She appreciates the 60-degree “winter” weather and Houston’s diverse food scene! ¶ Huxley Marvit is enjoying his sophomore year at Princeton University, balancing hackathons and math classes, and “trying to survive the East Coast weather.” Over the summer, he worked at Orbit Engineering. ¶ Isabelle Shi is a second-year English major at Barnard College in New York City. Over the summer, she interned at a small art gallery in Singapore. Over the winter break, she enjoyed the warmth of family,

friends, good food, and Bay Area weather. ¶ Emma Zhao, a second-year at Stanford University, recently pivoted from design to mechanical engineering. In 2025, she began taking mechanical engineering classes in the Product Realization Lab (“Stanford’s I-Lab”).

2024

A first-year at Pomona College, Gabe Ancajas is considering an anthropology or psychology major on the pre-med track. While juggling classes and playing on the Pomona-Pitzer men’s soccer team, he’s been engaging in computational chemistry research through ligand docking simulations— employing familiar concepts from Francine Farouz’s Drug Design class at Nueva. He is very grateful for the tightknit communities at the five Claremont Colleges, where he’s a part of athletics, research, and clubs! ¶ Charlie Berk is studying chemical engineering at Tulane University in New Orleans. Outside of class, he plays

Aspiring pilot Charlotte Applebaum ’23 (right) with Reed classmate Ray Perry ’23, a “fire-spinning sorcerer and baker extraordinaire!” Charlotte shares: “Ray has conquered fire and Charlotte has conquered air—only two more elements to go!”

William Fisher ’23 ascends the Col de L’Iseran in the French Alps.

Sophomore defender Kevin Hwong ’23 and the Connecticut College men’s soccer team reached the NCAA Division III national title game on Dec. 7. The Camels fell in a penaltykick heartbreaker to Amherst to finish as national runner up. At Conn, Kevin is studying biochemistry. PHOTO: SEAN ELLIOT

Gabe Ancajas ’24 (Pomona) poses with his mom, Julie, and sister, Isabelle ’21 (Harvey Mudd), following his soccer game.

Tulane first-year Charlie Berk ’24

club volleyball and is a peer tutor in chemistry. During the fall semester, he visited Los Angeles and had dinner with fellow Mavericks at USC and UCLA!

¶ Bodie Currier is enjoying his freshman year at the University of Southern California, where he is studying arts, technology, and the business of innovation. He holds a leadership position in his fraternity and was accepted into USC’s top entrepreneurial society, Lavalab, where he is a product designer. His team’s product won the demo night in front of a venture-capital panel and now has corporate users. Off campus, Bodie enjoys Los Angeles beaches, downtown, and destinations like Palm Springs. He describes his first semester as a whirlwind, but “exactly what I hoped it would be.” ¶ Jordan Dickson* is studying human development, law, and policy at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She is training to be certified in wilderness first aid

and was recently hired as a Cornell Outdoor Odyssey guide to lead future first-year backpacking trips. Jordan also works at the Harriet Giannelis Child Care Center, whose mission is to sustain and improve economic opportunity and social justice for families impacted directly or indirectly by poverty. ¶

Aaron Huang* is a first-year student at Rice University in Houston studying finance, English, and philosophy. He’s having a great time adjusting to the Houston weather and college living, although he does miss the Bay Area. ¶

Adam Kan is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. A highlight during the fall semester was meeting up with other Class of 2024 alumni in New York City for a birthday celebration for Anping Zhu (Yale). He has met incredible friends at CMU and shares that his only complaint is the weather! ¶ Selin Kandemir is enjoying Vanderbilt University in

Nashville, where she is on the pre-med track and majoring in biomedical engineering. She is engaged in research on MRI machines and is involved in the Society of Women Engineers and Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science. ¶ Tammer Maraqa is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania and spent the fall taking courses in economics and math. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball and ping pong. ¶ Kelly Poon*, a first-year student at UC Berkeley, is active in clubs such as Berkeley Forum and imagiCal, the university’s nationally ranked creative strategy agency. This spring, she will participate in the National Student Advertising Competition. With Berkeley Forum, she facilitates speaker outreach and assists with graphics to promote their events. In her free time, she enjoys watching “Dancing with the Stars” with her friends and Berkeley’s food and boba scene, especially Yogurt

Park. ¶ Alexis Tuchinada is studying computer science at Stanford University. During the fall quarter, she performed in the student-written Stanford/UC Berkeley satire before the Big Game, the annual Stanford-Cal football matchup. Alexis performed original music, releasing her music for the first time on all streaming platforms. She also has a new show coming up and is looking forward to her debut performances with her a cappella group, The Harmonics. ¶ Joshua Koo is majoring in computer science and math at Stanford University. He is involved in various clubs, including the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students, Stanford Math Tournament, Asian American Student Association, Stanford Concert Network, Badminton Club, and Blockchain Club, where he spearheads the club’s expansion and social media. As a member of BlockTreeHacks, Josh helps organize the largest

Class Rep Aaron Huang ’24 (Rice), Aaron’s 12th grade advisor Diana Chamorro, and Selin Kandemir ’24 (Vanderbilt).

An October Class of 2024 mini reunion in Little Island in Manhattan. Pictured: Mason Choey (UCLA), Ilarion Kovatchev (University of Illinois), Alyse Graham-Martinez (Yale), Hailey Feldman (Princeton), Syon Patel (Vanderbilt), Steven Liu (Princeton), Henry Harms (University of Maryland), Anping Zhu (Yale), Max Manning (UChicago), Sid Chatterjee (UCLA), Sava Iliev (Cornell), Adam Kan (CMU), and Logan Ramanathan (Brown).

collegiate hackathon in North America. While balancing his extracurriculars and classes, he is also working two jobs! ¶ Dartmouth College firstyear Sam Zukin* spent his winter break participating in a university-sponsored program focused on aspects of the energy system, including finance, policy, and technology through the Tuck School of Business. ¶ Izzy

Xu is studying international and public affairs at Brown University in Providence, RI During her first semester, she enjoyed taking linguistics and Chinese courses. Alongside one of her professors, Izzy is working to secure a Brown-funded grant to conduct research at the China-Myanmar border this summer and to teach English and Chinese in Thailand at

an empowerment coalition for sex workers. Outside of the classroom, she writes for Fashion@Brown and a creative nonfiction magazine. Izzy is a member of the Ivy Film Festival, where she coordinates talks by film industry professionals and advance movie screenings. A fun fact: Her team prescreened “Wicked”! ¶ Yale University first-year

Anping Zhu plans to major in global affairs and African studies. Outside of class, he’s the Yale Model African Union secretariat, where they are planning a Model UN conference in Nairobi for spring break. Anping is also a member of the Chinese American Students Association and the Yale Review of International Studies.

A member of the Tufts University women’s rowing team, Josie Monroe ’24 (pictured right) helped the first varsity boat capture its second consecutive Collegiate Eights championship at the Head of the Charles Regatta on Oct. 20. PHOTO: JAMIE CHAGNON

Members of the Class of 2024 speak to current Upper School students at the Intersession alumni panel on Jan. 10: Kelly Poon (UC Berkeley), Izzy Xu (Brown), Anping Zhu (Yale), Bodie Currier (USC), Charlie Berk (Tulane), and Director of Alumni and Community Engagement Diana Chamorro.

Class Rep Sam Zukin ’24 (Dartmouth) enjoying his first snow in New Hampshire.

Izzy Xu ’24 (left) watches a Brown football game with a classmate.

An avid knitter, Class Rep Avery Chen ’22 (Penn) poses in the sweater she recently completed.

Dorm Life

The Class of 2024 moved into their college dorms this fall and quickly made their new spaces feel like home with mementos of family, friends, and of course, Nueva!

MY NUEVA

ANWEN C. ’26

“Nueva is a beacon for me—a glowing star at the center, bursting with energy and possibility. Yes, things may feel a little chaotic at times, but that’s what makes Nueva exciting.”

Megan and Friends

BY CLARA B. ’27

ACROSS

1. Cardinals, on scoreboards

4. Bad start?

7. Aspiring Dr.’s hurdle

11. Fido’s complaint

13. Place to find a pupil

15. Hammerin’ Hank of home run fame

16. Love, in Vatican City

17. Gaelen Clayton ’21 won this org.’s soccer title in 2024

18. Rupert of “Harry Potter”

19. “That’s my final offer!” (All-school)

22. Vouch for

23. A piece in E major might have a lot of them

26. As well

27. “Dig in!”

31. First lady?

32. Second part of Nueva’s motto (Middle School)

34. Second-to-last Greek letter

36. “E I ”

37. QVC alternative

38. “That went by fast!” (Upper School)

43. French way

44. Tragic end

45. Na Na

48. Tennis Graf, seventime Wimbledon winner

50. Dumb follower?

52. Infinitive or past participle, for example (or, taken literally, a description of the circled letter puns)

56. Out of this world

58. Space bar?

59. BCDEFGH

60. Pluperfect, for example

61. Regard as

62. Union payments

63. [Woe is me]

64. Two-time lead-in to captain

65. Superlative suffix

DOWN

1. Shoo, as a fly

2. One can be cherry or grape

3. Seek advice from

4. Herbal beverage

5. Chevron rival

6. One who might have pants on fire

7. Nintendo plumber

8. Beasties

9. Get an (ace)

10. You have a blast with it, for short

12. Period added for Nueva students in sophomore year

14. Plato in “Rebel Without a Cause”

15. Jones’s “Men in Black” role

20. One might be British or of Man

21. Auction site with the tagline “Buy it. Sell it. Love it.”

24. Steven precursor

25. Alternative to a Rep.

28. Stuck up?

29. Haughty utterance

30. Virus from “The Hot Zone”

32. Club, Middle School class

33. “I did it!”

34. Sulking face

35. Alternative to sculling

38. Time card inits.

39. “This ” dog meme

40. Common street name

41. “I did it”

42. Enthusiasm

45. It might be a bust

46. Protagonists, often

47. Con

49. New

51. Partner of an Apple Pencil

53. -V, on a Mac

54. Global org. that promotes peaceful use of nuclear energy

55. Quarry

56. Common lead-ins to nuevaschool.org

57. Garland

Fourth grade students engage in class discussion.

PHOTO

MATTHEW NALL