Nueva Magazine – Spring/Summer 2023

NUEVA

Nueva is an independent, co-educational, preK–12 school for gifted learners. Our school community inspires passion for lifelong learning, fosters social and emotional acuity, and develops the imaginative mind. Nueva uses a dynamic educational model to enable gifted learners to make choices that will benefit the world.

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Want

EDITORIAL TEAM

Rachel Freeman

Assistant Director of Communications

Holly Nall Communications Associate

Karin Storm Wood Director of Communications

LiAnn Yim

Assistant Director of Communications ALUMNI

Diana A. Chamorro Director of Alumni & Community Engagement

WHEN CHATGPT LAUNCHED in late November 2022, our community, like the world around us, had the sense that we were experiencing a tectonic shift in the landscape. This revolutionary tool pushed us far past what we had previously known and deemed familiar. Overnight, it seemed, we had arrived in a future where both the possibilities and potential pitfalls were vast and unknown.

Our community responded to this suddenly infamous chatbot as we often do at Nueva: brimming with curiosity and a lot of questions. What does this mean for education? For our work? For homework?! How can we use ChatGPT to improve learning? (To say nothing of the existential questions.)

This issue of Nueva Magazine explores new frontiers and the opportunities they provide. Our main feature, on page 14, delves into some of the conversations our students, faculty, and administration are having around generative AI. When we convene in the fall, the expansion of the Hillsborough library to create a Humanities Center, as well as significant campus improvements at San Mateo, will be well underway (page 4). Get to know Lyla Max, our new Director of Development, who is poised to build on Nueva’s strong legacy of philanthropy in support of the school’s strategic goals (page 21). Meet Lauren Pool, our new Director of Teaching and Learning, who arrives energized to help us map out what learning progression looks like at Nueva and spearhead new curricular offerings (page 25). Read about alumnus Blake Robin ’84, who is co-hosting a new satellite radio show that hit the airwaves in July (page 34).

Some of these frontiers are less visible, but still keenly felt: Our strategic framework is giving direction to our ambitions and helping new opportunities take shape. On page 12, read about how the resounding success of the Realize the Potential capital campaign has increased Nueva’s endowment by five times its value six years ago, ensuring long-term support for key commitments of the framework.

And as we stride forward, we do so with a collective understanding about our school and “this Nueva navigational system,” as Upper School Division Head Liza Raynal says. On page 6, hear from a panel of students, faculty, alumni, and a trustee that Liza gathered to share their view of “Nueva’s North Stars,” the founding values that continue to guide us as we chart a journey into an unknown cosmos. And speaking of stars, on page 19, you will find many heartfelt tributes to our beloved librarian Marilyn Kimura—the veritable center of the Hillsborough solar system—who retired this year and whose guiding light will reflect on our community for many more years to come.

We hope you’ll dig into these stories and feel excited and inspired for the future we’ll shape together as a school.

What We Talk About When We Talk About AI

A group of Nueva students, teachers, and administrators sat down to discuss the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence and how they see the tool being used in education.

The Nueva Library

More Than Just a Number

A cross-divisional look into Nueva’s qualitative approach to assessment.

Eighth-Grade Celebration

Eighth graders delivered 100-word speeches at their celebration, sharing what they’ll carry from their Middle School experience as they continue to the Upper School.

A Legacy in Letters

After more than 35 years at Nueva as a parent, librarian, and teacher, Marilyn Kimura retired at the end of this school year. Community members reflect on her lasting impact.

Class of 2023 Graduation

On a windy Sunday in June, we bid farewell to the magical, spirited, and close-knit Class of 2023.

Dear Community

AT FIRST GLANCE, Nueva’s strategic framework, Renew | Belong | Innovate, may seem self-contradictory: it seeks to anchor the ship by renewing our commitment to he school’s founding values while also steering it into uncharted waters by embracing innovation. This dynamic tension—between foundational principles and pedagogy that responds to a changing world—is not only intentional, it has been the essence of Nueva for 55 years. What ties these seemingly disparate approaches together? Learn by doing, learn by caring.

In recent months, I’ve participated in a few cherished activities that embody our project-based approach to learning and encapsulate doing and caring. In the first grade Community Partner Project, in which young learners are paired with Nueva employees, the students not only learn about the importance of different roles at our school, they also more deeply learn how those roles interrelate, how they depend on sustained collaboration, and how they serve others in the community. At their weekly Tuesday Teas, preK students invite different Nueva staff members to get to know them as people, workers, educators, and leaders. These same students have taken a lead role in our composting program at the school, a commitment to both student ownership in learning and a deep compassion for the planet that we inhabit.

Our motto is embraced by our older students, too. I saw many Eighth Grade Recital and Upper School Quest projects that sat at the intersection of innovative design and caring for others—from practical social-service tools (a mental health peer-support app) to mechanisms that promote alternative energy sources (a wind-powered cellphone charger).

This social-justice and environmentaljustice orientation shaped our spring trips as well. I’ll never forget witnessing deep inquiry and genuine concern for the world around us on the eleventh grade Minneapolis trip, whether it was learning from our Lakota guide about sacred sites along the Mississippi River, to understanding the challenges facing immigrants from Europe and southeast Asia, to meeting with local activists as they seek to rebuild their community three years after the murder of George Floyd. Learn by doing, learn by caring came to life with every experience on this trip.

And when we recently welcomed alumni home for our exciting Alumni Reunion Weekend, I saw how this motto continues to be a compass point for many of them, even in their professional lives.

Finally, we look forward to lifting up and sharing our learn by doing, learn by caring ethos with fellow educators and thought leaders at the much-awaited return of the Innovative Learning Conference on Thursday, October 26, and Friday, October 27, 2023. In the last four years, our country and the world have changed in ways that demand our collective innovation, and the conference is a powerful opportunity to share our wisdom and learn from others.

As long as Nueva values—above all else— the beautiful integration of student agency and change-making, there is full alignment within the Renew | Belong | Innovate strategic framework. Grounding ourselves in what makes us Nueva includes a genuine desire to boldly imagine a new world—and build the paths to get us there. Isn’t this what we want for Nueva’s next 55 years?

LEE FERTIG Head of School

“Grounding ourselves in what makes us Nueva includes a genuine desire to boldly imagine a new world—and build the paths to get us there. Isn’t this what we want for Nueva’s next 55 years?”

NOTED

BLENDING IN

Siri P. ’27 blends into the Hillsborough campus as part of the camouflage project for Rachel Dawson’s middle school art class. Students perform a close observation of light and shadow, learn about color mixing and matching, and practice painting techniques in order to successfully blend into the environment.

Quiet in the Library?

Not at the New H illsborough Humanities Center

“The study of humanities isn’t something that’s just personal or private or introverted. It’s interactive and collaborative. It’s performance-based.”

This vision of a dynamic space where the humanities can be celebrated out loud animates Terry Lee, Associate Head of School. At San Mateo’s Writing and Research Center (WRC), that vision has been palpable for a decade. With every indoor Coffeehouse performance, Humanities Fair, and more, the WRC comes to life.

By the end of 2023, that vision—of a flexible space dedicated to celebrating the humanities—will also exist on the Hillsborough campus, with the remodeling and expansion of the library that is now underway.

The entire western half of the current library is being redesigned

and extended to the driveway in the space previously occupied by two portables. Four classrooms will accommodate presentation and performance-friendly spaces, with divider walls that retract into the ceiling to allow for presenters, performers, and audience seating. Additional workspace areas will be available for faculty.

“When you’re exploring the humanities, you don’t only need a quiet space,” Terry said. “You need a voluminous, adaptable space that can accommodate different experiences of humanities.”

The facade facing the J-Building will also be reconfigured for outdoor seating clusters, creating a greater sense of indoor-outdoor connection between the library and the plaza outside.

“A library is really a place of learning. By expanding and updating the library, we’re actualizing that understanding with the active learning that we practice at Nueva in and out of classrooms,” Terry said. “The new classrooms and presentation spaces have been designed not only for where the school is today, but where we see ourselves going tomorrow.”

Construction is slated to finish by the end of 2023.

—Karin Storm Wood

Meanwhile, at San Mateo

Starting in summer 2023, a range of space improvements are underway in the Upper School, including thoughtfully reconfigured arts, music, athletics, science, and wellness space, as well as additional all-gender restrooms. Several new flexible classrooms will be created by enclosing the WRC’s mezzanines with glass and relocating some administrative offices. These updates are scheduled for completion by August 2023.

← As soon as classes ended in June, the project to create a humanities center in the Hillsborough Library began.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Earlier plans for a humanities center on the Hillsborough campus included dramatic structures featuring seminar spaces in distinctive elevated pods tucked among the trees. But in the wake of the pandemic, its smaller, enclosed spaces seemed less desirable. Ultimately, the Board’s Buildings and Grounds Committee decided to shift the focus back to the existing library at the heart of the campus.

BUBBA’S GREAT ADVENTURE

A week before graduation, the Hillsborough campus dinosaur, a gift from the Class of 2011, was abducted. Luckily, Bubba was able to escape and find his way back home—after dodging flying balls at a golf course, stopping for ice cream, and taking the Caltrain home (and losing his backpack on the train). Bubba’s adventure is all thanks to the eighth grade class of 2023 pranksters!

I recommend Brandon Sanderson’s novel, Tress of the Emerald Sea! Sanderson is one of my all-time favorite authors, and this is one of his latest books. Set in a magical fantasy world, this delightful story takes inspiration from The Princess Bride but answers the question: “What if Buttercup were more proactive?”

MICHELLE GRAU I-Lab Engineer and FIRST Robotics Coach

Largo pétalo de mar

(A Long Petal of the Sea) by Isabel Allende is a fascinating work of historical fiction, portraying the complexity of life choices during the Spanish Civil War and the Chilean dictatorship. The protagonists’ stories weave with those of other fictional and real-life figures like Pablo Neruda or Salvador Allende.It is a powerful narrative of exile, survival, hope, and love.

YOLANDA NAVARRO RAJOY Upper School Spanish Teacher

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins is the first book inthe Underland Chronicles. It’s an action-adventure book series that follows an 11-year-old boy’s journey to the strange lands that exist beneath the streets of his New York City apartment. The acts of courage, loyalty, and empathy on display as Gregor embarks on dangerous quests through the bat- and rat-filled Underland are relatable to elementary-aged and adult readers alike.

MICHAEL HURLEY Third Grade Teacher

“

The huge breadth of experience amongst Nueva students means there’s almost always someone who can help when you’re working on a project, no matter how niche or complicated.

As I look forward to becoming specialized in a specific field, I’ll miss being on a robotics team with debaters and building ocean simulation tanks with violinists.”

THOMAS RIMER ’23

Art Briefs

LOWER SCHOOL

→

For their Community Partners Project, first graders got to know a number of Nueva faculty and staff members, then painted their portraits. They started by outlining a photograph of their community partner, and then used their understanding of color theory to mix skin tones and other colors to bring their subjects to life.

Pictured top right: Community Partner portrait of Taryn Grogan, Director of Enrollment & Strategic Engagement

→

Second grade students studied Alma Thomas, the first Black woman to work in the Whitney Museum and in the White House Collection, and whose own works of art are known for their exuberance, color, and expressions of joy. The students made their own artworks inspired by Thomas’ style and spirit. Using ripped paper that they had previously painted to mimic her broad and celebratory brush strokes, students designed their own imagery.

PERFORMANCES

↑ As part of an interdisciplinary project between humanities and art, third graders studied stop-motion animation. Guided by their art teacher, Helen Wicks, students created stop-motion stories that brought the Mali Empire to life. Towards the end of the unit, renowned stop-motion animator Rich Zim visited classes to give demonstrations. Following the visit, students were inspired to try new techniques as they finished their own animated shorts.

↑ In March, a cast and crew of more than 60 Middle School students performed The Addams Family. Director Zoe SwensonGraham said, “It was such a passionate, hard-working, and kind group that worked so hard to create a truly beautiful production. Everyone was fully committed and invested in the story, choreography, singing, acting, and storytelling.”

↓ Upper School students put on a successful spring musical with their production of Something Rotten. In the outrageous farce about two brothers trying to write the world’s first musical, students delivered side-splitting comedy, captivating musical numbers, and a cast of over-the-top characters.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

→ Fifth graders worked together to create hand-tied mini looms. Art teacher Reenie Charrière showed the students how to incorporate natural materials collected from the Hillsborough campus into intricate and delicate woven art.

↓ Sixth graders practiced block printing. After researching the habitats of the animals they had chosen for their power animal sculpture project, they carved images of the habitats into blocks for printing. This technique gives students the opportunity to learn about carving, negative and positive space, composition, and hand-eye coordination.

UPPER SCHOOL

Upper School art classes explored the themes of permanence and temporality in three ways: materially, conceptually, and visually. Students worked in 2D and 3D formats to investigate the full range of possibilities related to their unique experience and voice.

↓ Seventh and eighth grade students in Reenie’s collage/assemblage elective did a stool transformation project: they assembled and then transformed an ordinary Ikea stool into a sculpture using paper, cloth, paint, and other hardware, taking into consideration the sculpture’s overall composition, scale, building, design, and balance.

↑ In the culminating project for Advanced Art and Fabrication (which was voted on by the class), students repurposed an outdated art encyclopedia donated by the Nueva library as planters. The student artists wrote, “The plants growing out of them represent the inevitability of the regrowth of ideas.”

In the Advanced Painting elective, students explored the geological origins of colorants and created presentations on the history of individual hues. These origins of the pigments were plotted on a map and linked with string to small paintings made with the color. →

IN FEBRUARY 2023, Upper School Division Head

Liza Raynal ’95 hosted “Nueva’s North Stars,” a panel of students, faculty, alumni, and a trustee. The discussion focused on the founding values of the school, which remain steadfast today, and how these values have played out in their personal experiences at Nueva. Liza’s goal was for those in attendance to leave the event with “a collective understanding about who we are and what we’re doing with this Nueva navigational system, with its orientation towards a particular cosmos.” Here are some highlights...

SAM

JONKER ’23

North Star: True excitement and joy

There are a lot of things I love about Nueva; how do I pick what I love the most? I think my answer is the hallway conversations, walking from Calculus to Spanish and hearing people talk about quantum mechanics, seeing two people playing a game of basketball as they’re walking between classes, and seeing people smile.

One time I was rounding the corner and I almost ran into five or six juniors standing around a hallway whiteboard with their physics teacher and, I kid you not, they were brainstorming how to make a rocket in the five-minute passing period between classes!

It was just a truly amazing experience and I think it really highlights the way the students love to have fun, but also the way these kids love to learn.

MARK HURWITZ Upper School Physics Teacher and founding faculty

member

North Star: Circumpolar

In keeping with the astronomical theme: at every latitude except the equator, there’s a collection of stars near the North Celestial Pole that remains visible above the horizon no matter how the earth is rotated. I think staying visible, one to the other— within the faculty and staff and with the students— is key to Nueva.

Sometimes when I’m somewhere else that isn’t Nueva, and it feels constraining, disappointing, or inadequate in some way, rather than just roll around in that disappointment, I ask myself, “What would Nueva do?”

LEE HOLTZMAN ’01

Upper School Science of Mind Teacher

North Star: Intrinsic motivation

I remember in seventh grade being frustrated by a certain math problem I was trying to work on and having that moment of being stuck and saying, “Maybe I’m not good at math, or maybe I’m not capable of this.” I was processing this with Stephen Lessard, an amazing humanities teacher, and he said, “Sometimes it’s hard because it’s worth it.”

So many experiences I had at Nueva gifted me joy in the actual process of growing, of changing, of learning something, of being bad at something, and overcoming something. I was a naturally risk-averse person, and Nueva gifted me this deep, internalized desire to go through the things that were hardest.

NUEVA’S

North Stars

HILARY NELSON ’18

North Star: Community

Nueva has given me a whole way of thinking that I’ve taken out into the world. In college, you meet someone, you’re part of their friend group, and then they don’t invite you to brunch, and you have some feelings about it. And I remember other friends saying, “Oh, I was in this friend group and they excluded me, so I’m going to block all their numbers.” And I remember thinking, “Well, why don’t you just use an I statement? Tell them how you feel. You’ve got it in your SEL toolbox.”

Even now, in my job, Nueva taught me so many soft skills that I didn’t learn in college. It wasn’t in my college computer science classes that I learned how to go to a cross-functional team meeting and be the only one representing my team. It was my ninth grade portfolio defense that really taught me the skills to be in that room and hold my own.

ALBERT HUANG ’23

North Star: Non-Euclidean

(A non-Euclidean geometry is one that doesn’t follow the standard triangle inequality where a triangle’s internal angles always add up to 180 degrees. And it means that in some directions, there’s actually a lot more there than you can see or than you would expect.)

I took Kathy Paur’s math modeling class last semester. One of the math problems is the lake problem. It’s like, “Here’s the Suez Canal.Here are the distances. How many ships can you fit through in a day?”

How do you begin thinking about that? I had been taking all the math classes I could, but I didn’t have the tools to do this. Then Kathy said, “What do you do when you don’t have a foothold?” In math modeling, you make up some data and you do something to it and then you realize that you’re wrong—which is great because then you fix it.

What I learned is, when you don’t know what to do—in math modeling, but also in the world— just do something. Bias towards action. This is what [former Nueva teacher] John Feland said all the time. Don’t be paralyzed with being a perfectionist and doing it the right way; just get your hands dirty, make up some data, and figure out what’s wrong.

RIYANA SRIHARI ’23 North Star: Compassion

On the senior camping trip, we were handed these questionnaires that had a hundred questions about things we identified with or experiences we had gone through. We weren’t really sure what was going to happen with the answers, but we trusted the process, which is a big Nueva tenet.

At the end of the camping trip, we were all gathered around the campfire, and our teachers started handing out the questionnaires. We had no idea whose questionnaire we had gotten, but we were holding in our hand a piece of someone’s identity with all these questions checked off about experiences that they’d been through. Then our teacher read off different statements from the questionnaire and we had to stand up for the person whose answers we were holding if they had identified with that experience.

I still get chills thinking about it because it was one of the most powerful moments of collective effervescence, which basically means this feeling of being united around a common cause or goal. In that moment, we were all united around this common cause of wanting to really know each other. And as we stood up for a lot of these questions, it was really powerful to know that none of us were alone.

GRACE VOORHIS P ’19 ’22 ’26 Chair of Nueva Expansion Task Force

North Star: Trust and curiosity

One of the things I value the most is one of the things that Nueva does really well with youth: constantly giving students problems that are really hard, that they can’t immediately figure out. When you keep doing this, you develop a trust in yourself that you can persevere, that you can figure it out, and that you will come up with an answer.

We are not only progressive; we are experiential, we are interdisciplinary, we are hands-on, and we center SEL. We really want to center what it takes to be successful in life; that’s the ultimate north star.

PHOTOS BY DAVID GONZALES (@GONZALESPHOTO), JOY FENG, AND DIANE MAZZONI

To learn more about Nueva athletics, visit nuevaschool. org/athletics.

Gifts That Keep on Giving

What increasing our endowment five-fold means for two key strategic goals

In capital campaigns, campus improvements—so-called “bricks and mortar” projects—often take center stage. Indeed, Nueva’s recently completed capital campaign, Realize the Potential (RTP), directly funded major new facilities: San Mateo’s Diane Rosenberg Wing and Hillsborough’s Science and Environmental Center and remodeled café.

The campaign’s resounding success, closing out at $125 million, has even accelerated additional capital projects. In 2023, San Mateo’s visual arts and auxiliary athletics spaces will be reconfigured, new offices and classrooms will be created, and, at Hillsborough, the library will be expanded and reconceived as a humanities center (see page 4).

A less visible achievement of the campaign is the unprecedented $35 million increase in Nueva’s endowment. In 2025, when all pledges have been fulfilled, its total value is anticipated to be $47 million, five times its value in 2017.

“Endowment funds are a resource that we draw on intentionally,” said Joe Cheeseman, outgoing Director of Development. During the RTP capital campaign, $35 million was raised for endowment—$15 million for professional development opportunities for faculty and staff, and $20 million for financial assistance for current and future Nueva families.” These two commitments are directly connected to Nueva’s strategic framework, Renew | Belong | Innovate.

Earlier this fall, Taryn Grogan, Director of Enrollment and Strategic Engagement and Brett Dyer, Director of Finance and Administration, stated that students and families must be able to “fully engage in our wide range of school programs and activities in order to fully belong.”

To realize that promise, they announced a systemic change to Nueva’s financial assistance program. Previously, families receiving financial assistance who were in need of additional support for school-related activities (bus service, extended-day programs, music programs, and more) had to submit a request for every expense in advance. Now, families automatically qualify for the same proportion of assistance towards these expenses as they receive towards tuition. Overall, financial support to Nueva families will total more than $7 million in 2023–24.

The Renew pillar of the strategic framework concludes with the promise to “increase commitments to expert faculty and

As part of the Strategic Framework’s commitment to environmental sustainability, Director of Environmental Citizenship Sarah Koning and her team have embarked on a three-year, cross-divisional composting study to develop a plan for composting all of Nueva’s food waste on site. Last fall, the team instituted worm and bokashi composting on the Hillsborough campus, and composting has become part of the science curricula in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. Upper School students in Sarah’s Soil Health class studied insect composting; designed, iterated, and built a biome on the Hillsborough campus; and explored models for teaching younger students about how composting systems work.

staff through bold and creative strategies to recruit, support, develop, and retain the very best.”

In that spirit, Nueva has made a concerted effort to extend and enrich professional development (PD) opportunities for faculty and staff who, in the words of Head of School Lee Fertig, “make Nueva an unparalleled home for gifted students.”

Nueva’s allocation for professional development in 2023–24 will be $500,000, an increase of 37 percent, thanks to money being generated by the endowment. The school can now sustainably support more schoolwide PD and curriculum innovation than ever before.

“In support of our equity and inclusion priorities, we have been able to bring in national and local experts to address employees, parents, students and the Board,” said Associate Head of School Terry Lee. “At the same time, we’ve sent an unprecedented number of colleagues to the National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference.”

The endowment also allows for the continued and increased support of individual employees as they seek to further develop their personal practice and programs.

“Now, with funding bolstered by the endowment, our teachers can pursue more of the exciting curriculum innovation they’ve wanted,” Brett explained. He cited a range of examples, including curriculum development for physics teachers and a student-journalism conference attended by the student newspaper’s faculty advisor. — Karin Storm Wood

FEATURES

As she walks across the stage at graduation, Rosie Ding ’23 snaps a selfie with Head of School Lee Fertig.

What We Talk About When We Talk About

AI

STORY BY RACHEL FREEMAN

ILLUSTRATIONS BY HOLLY NALL AND SENYA S. ’26, CREATED IN MIDJOURNEY

A group of Nueva students, teachers, and administrators sat down to discuss the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence and how they see the tool being used in education

The rise of ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. At Nueva, classrooms and hallways are buzzing with conversations about artificial intelligence and the implications of its use in education. We invited nine Nuevans to sit down for a discussion about AI at Nueva what uses the tools have, what opportunities these tools might bring, and what challenges may arise in the months and years to come.

Wes Chao, Upper School Computer Science Teacher: When we talk about AI at Nueva, we’re asking, “Are students using AI in ways that are hindering their learning?” and “How can we use AI to improve learning?” The really big question is, “In a world where this technology is readily accessible to everyone, what do we need our students to be able to do in the short term, medium term, and long term?”

Liza Raynal, Upper School Division Head: There are a lot of really intriguing, very difficult human-centered choices to make in this new world. I’m happy that we, as an institution, are in a position where we get to make choices based on our values rather than on bureaucracy or fear.

My biggest question is, “If we have a first grader now, who are they when we in the Upper School get them?” For someone who’s had all 10 years of their major schooling with AI, what does that change [about who they are]? If our mission is to set students up to make choices that benefit the world, what do we need to understand about what the world needs from its humans?

Kelly Ward, Middle School Assistant Division Head: Like Liza, I really appreciate that we’re at an institution that is not just saying, “This is banned,” but is rather thinking thoughtfully about what we want kids to be able to do in the future,

and how this might impact their lives. We’re thinking about our responsibility as educators to prepare kids for this future, even when we might not know exactly what that looks like yet.

One thing that’s helped me think about AI as an administrator and as a teacher is the video produced by the Upper School Social Impact Filmmaking Club, where they interviewed Nuevans about AI such as ChatGPT (see page 18). [Upper School English Teacher] Pearl Bauer gave the analogy to the use of a calculator and how a calculator is now a common tool in mathematics. In what ways is ChatGPT a tool able to help students the way a calculator helps students with math?

Elisabeth S. ’28: I really like this analogy of AI being like a calculator: It could be used to solve all the problems on your math homework, but you have the power to choose and make decisions to solve them by yourself, and really learn the process. At Nueva, most things aren’t just about the outcome; they are about the process and about learning.

Anay M. ’29: Because I’m a sixth grader with six more years at Nueva, I’m most excited about the fact that AI is really going to become more mainstream. It’s going to keep developing more quickly than we can even talk about.

And as it grows, my questions are, “How is the curriculum going to change?” and “How is the world going to change?”

SOUNDBITES

AI IN THE CLASSROOM

AI Art + Poetry

“In English 11, one student created a collage of AI-generated visual interpretations of an excerpt of an Emily Dickinson poem. He then analyzed the AI’s interpretations of the text alongside his own interpretations. He was able to demonstrate his close reading skills and his understanding of the literature while experimenting with technology tools he was excited about at the time.”

—JEN NEUBAUER, Upper School English Teacher

Language Learning

“For my students’ research projects in Spanish 301, it’s challenging to find sources that are both intellectually compelling and linguistically comprehensible. I used ChatGPT to simplify the complex language of authentic articles to a language level appropriate for them. The students’ feedback was positive because their comprehension was much higher, yet the complexity of ideas was close to those in the original text.

“I would like to collaborate with colleagues or students to create a program that uses AI to generate differentiated versions of original texts. Can you imagine if each student could instantly customize the language level from any resource available?”

—YOLANDA NAVARRO RAJOY, Upper School Spanish Teacher

THE PANEL

The Ethics of AI-Human Hybrids

“The eighth grade debated the ethics of transhumanism, which advocates for the use of science and technology to enhance human longevity and cognition. Students researched potential uses of AI that might advance transhumanism, then offered recommendations for ethical guidelines should the technology move forward.”

Anna Lyon, Middle School Writing Teacher: I have been thinking about the same questions Anay poses. The students who are engaging with and learning how to maximize these tools are beginning to build a skillset that’s going to get them ahead, a skillset that will match the world that they’re going to graduate into. Therefore, I know my future as a teacher will include training in how to handle AI in the classroom in a way that empowers my students to use it strategically and thoughtfully.

and asked students, “What do you see in these two things? Based on what you know of Reconstruction, how could the AI answer be improved? What is it missing?”

Some of our humanities and writing teachers have looked at AI writing and thought, “This writing’s actually not very good.” We can see that not as a negative but as a positive, because the big strength of ChatGPT is that it generates lots of examples in a very short time. Instead of a teacher writing or finding 10 examples of bad, good, and very good writing, they can tell ChatGPT to write them, and then can give them to students and say, “Tell me what you think of these.”

Anna: Exactly. AI gives us so many powerful and creative tools that enable us to have fun with some of these higher-order thinking skills.

Liza: Wes and I met with a game designer who uses AI, and he said the exact same thing. He talked about AI’s ability to push humans up the scale of Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning objectives by taking care of some of the things we know how to do, short-cutting those menial tasks in our lives.

He said, “In my world, there’s no part of AI where we’re removing the human. We actually need more skilled humans, humans who are so skilled at their subject area that they become these really beautiful prompting machines.”

At Nueva we have always been really invested in those higher-order thinking skills. If there are ways we can use this tool to teach kids to be great prompters, or to teach them discernment when they look at six different versions of something, I think that’s the level-up that comes with AI.

Wes: A few teachers have tried out AI this semester. In his Upper School history class, Tom Dorrance asked ChatGPT to talk about the Reconstruction Era. Then he compared its output to an article written by a national historian,

Bodie C. ’24: To build on that, if we can now use AI as a tutor—it’s gotten quite good at math and science, and can solve complex chemistry problems—teachers could spend a lot more time on the things they bring expertise in: building relationships with students and going deep into subject areas.

—JENNIFER (JP) PERRY, Middle School Humanities Teacher

“If we can now use AI as a tutor… teachers could spend a lot more time on the things they bring expertise in: building relationships with students and going deep into subject areas.”

– BODIE C. ’24

Wesley Anna Liza

Kelly Hailey

Mason Bodie Anay Elizabeth

Hailey F. ’24: I really like what Bodie said, because a lot of the language used around AI is too focused on outcomes. This focus can efface how important the process is, especially in writing. The most important thing in writing is the messy process. Skipping that process takes away an integral part of learning how to write, and learning who you are through writing.

That’s why I’m not such a fan of ChatGPT being used in humanities classes or for writing. The brainstorming process, the editing process, the proofreading process, the “which word should I put here?” process—all of that is more important than whatever the work turns out to be.

Anna: As a writing teacher, I’m also pretty devoted to keeping that process and emphasizing those processing skills as part of the writing experience for students. I do think, though, that AI can be used in writing in a way that builds skills instead of being outcome-oriented. I’ve learned that it’s a pretty good tool for giving students the type of feedback that I would give about how they can improve their writing.

The great thing is that AI doesn’t have to fix it for the students. If a student says, “Give me feedback on this,” it’ll say, “You could use more specific word choice. Your topic sentences are a little murky. You didn’t really thoroughly analyze the evidence in your third body paragraph.”

Then the student still has to do the intellectual work of going through their piece and editing it.

Mason C. ’24: I want to add that at the current moment, with the current technology, AI is not perfect. In fact, it’s pretty far from that. So I agree that the main way I see it being used positively in the classroom is as a tool to summarize, provide

feedback, and more, as others have said.

Liza: My heart is where Hailey’s is. This isn’t just about producing a document that gets you a grade. I know fundamentally more about who I am because I have had the skill of being a writer. I don’t want students to miss that part.

But I do like the idea that maybe now we get to privilege our higher-order thinking skills. This is why, to me, cheating feels less concerning, because we’re really focused on how to use AI as a tool during the messy process.

Kelly: I agree. I think if a student were to use ChatGPT to cheat—which is often how the media portrays it—we as educators would want to focus less on the outcome and more on the motivation that would lead a student to such an enormous decision. We want to make sure the student feels supported in their learning, so it’s really important to understand what’s behind that decision.

Wes: Kelly said that so well. There is such a love of learning at Nueva, so

Differentiated Learning in Chemistry

“We asked the ninth grade to use ChatGPT to explore their understanding of intermolecular interactions. The students prompted the AI to generate—and subsequently refine—explanatory prose on this topic, as well as questions. The resulting texts reflected the students’ own level of understanding of the introductory material and their own areas of interest within the topic. The AI model could be a type of force-multiplier for me, giving my students the benefit of a differentiated instructional resource that allows them to move through the content at their own pace. It could also help students build resiliency by grappling with new source material.”

“At Nueva, most things aren’t just about the outcome; they are about the process and about learning.”

– ELISABETH S. ’28

—PAUL HICKS, Upper School Chemistry Teacher

No Match (Yet) For Nueva’s Student Writers

“We can’t fear AI. Instead, we should find productive ways to use it as a tool. In English 10, I presented students with AI-generated texts, and they dissected them. Most of the discussion was a critique of the toogeneral and simplistic way that the AI responded. No student thought that AI writing was better than writing that they could do themselves. But I found it to be a useful tool for critiquing language.”

our focus should be less on preventing cheating per se and more on preventing the conditions that subvert the love of learning and that leads students to decide, “I don’t want to cheat, but it's the only option I have”?

For example, if I said to Hailey, “I’m giving you permission to use ChatGPT to write all of your essays for the rest of your high school career,” I am 100 percent certain that Hailey would say, “I reject your offer. I’m writing all my essays myself, no matter how long it takes.”

That’s not an accident.

Anay: Yeah, the main thing for me is if I cheat, I’m not going to learn anything.

Wes: Right. I’m so grateful for our community, for our colleagues in the Lower

Social Impact Filmmaking

Students in the Upper School Social Impact Filmmaking Club interviewed other students, teachers, and alumni to get their perspectives on ChatGPT. Scan the QR code on the left to watch the video.

and Middle School who help foster that level of learning, for our admissions team who helps identify these students, and for their families that we partner with to foster that love of learning at home and to encourage students to love learning.

Liza: All of this makes me wonder what it means if we don’t keep humanity at the center of our conversations about AI. We really need to be forward-focused and use the idea of critical hope, as opposed to blind optimism.

Hailey: I agree with Liza. I think ChatGPT and AI are revealing some fundamental problems I see with society, and some questions like, “What do we think is important in life? Is there some purpose to the tedious things we do?” Those are really

“In a world where this technology is readily accessible to everyone, what do we need our students to be able to do in the short term, medium term, and long term?”

– WES CHAO

—PEARL BAUER, Upper School English Teacher

hard questions that often have differing answers for each individual, and they are questions we’ll have to consider.

Wes: Hailey’s questions are spot-on. With any very powerful technology, there are unforeseen consequences. There are consequences that we’re worried about now, and there will be consequences we’re not worried about now because we don’t know what they are yet.

When social media first started, everyone was worried about how much time people spent on it. That was a good worry, as it turned out. But nobody said, “Do you think, 10 years from now, this might undermine democracy?” Nobody thought about that. That’s one apprehension I have: these things, by definition, are hard to predict.

But I am really excited to see how generative AI will raise the floor on skills, which means that we as humans will do bigger and better things. [N]

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

GUIDELINES FOR AI USAGE AT NUEVA

The Nueva Handbook’s new addendum about generative AI states, “In alignment with Nueva’s values—specifically, a dynamic learning community, an environment of trust, and curiosity and creativity—and our commitment to fostering a student-centered environment that emphasizes student agency and choice, we deliberately refrain from implementing a schoolwide policy on generative AI.”

This spring, Wes Chao, computer science teacher in the Upper School, was tasked with exploring the applications of AI in education. After having conversations with colleagues, students, and Liza Raynal, Upper School Division Head, it became clear that there was a need for comprehensive guidelines on using AI in Nueva’s classrooms.

Basing the guidelines on Nueva’s core values and teaching principles— particularly student agency, choice, and a love for learning—Wes aimed to create guidelines that would help both students and teachers. He also recognized the importance of differentiation, which is highly valued at Nueva.

He emphasized, “No two students’ experiences in the same class need to be the same. In fact, they can be quite different, and our guidelines should reflect that. So, it became clear that having a policy applied universally wouldn’t work.”

Wes sought input from his colleagues and incorporated their feedback into subsequent versions. He then presented the draft to the Academic Council. The teachers on the council stressed the need for guidelines specific to each subject and a clear definition of shared language. They wanted to ensure that everyone had a common understanding when the term “generative AI” was used.

The current version of the guidelines starts by outlining the core values that influenced their creation. It then provides suggestions for teachers to explore and adapt to their own classrooms. The guidelines also differentiate between using generative AI as a classroom activity (like students analyzing and critiquing ChatGPT output) and as an individual activity (such as students using ChatGPT to generate ideas for an essay).

Wes acknowledged that variations across disciplines will require collaboration among teachers in each subject to create subject-specific guidelines. For example, guidelines for English classes would naturally differ from those for computer science classes.

Nueva hopes to have a set of guidelines ready for the fall. These guidelines will act as a compass, helping teachers in navigating the realm of AI in a way that supports the Nueva student experience and faculty objectives.

The piece above was generated by ChatGPT in a process that required 11 iterations. As the participants in the roundtable discussion note, ChatGPT and other AI tools are only as good as the prompts they receive. After receiving ChatGPT’s initial write-up of the information that I had provided, I requested further refinements: press-release style, news-story style, less formal language, more formal language. With each revision, I was able to hone in on what I wanted the AI to produce. It became clear that while the content ChatGPT produced was good, it was not as good as the more sophisticated content a strong writer could produce. And the AI required a lot of direction to get there.

— Rachel Freeman

“I really appreciate that we’re at an institution that is…thinking thoughtfully about what we want kids to be able to do in the future, and how this might impact their lives.”

– KELLY WARD

Expository Ekphrasis

Ekphrasis: The use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device

The first piece of art one encounters on the San Mateo campus is a vibrant digital art piece of a city aflame. It looks down the I-Lab hallway, displayed against the blue staircase. The art, by junior Bodie C. ’24, was created with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence program that generates images from language prompts.

This year, AI-generated art created by Nueva students has been showcased on the digital displays, featured on posters around campus, and printed in the student newspaper, The Nueva Current. Bodie, who co-leads the AI Club with junior Mason C., loves using AI as a tool to create art because of its boundless creativity.

“It feels playful and experimental,” Bodie said. Midjourney/ AI is “shockingly good at what it’s capable of producing.”

Mason agrees. “The spectrum of things that you can generate with these tools is absolutely ginormous—so many different styles. You can generate anything that you want.”

The AI Club started facilitating prompt-engineering competitions to invite people to explore AI art programs like DALL·E 2, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Playground AI. In one challenge, students raced against the clock to replicate a starting image by reverse engineering the prompts. In another, they tried to generate the “best” image in various artistic styles.

“We gave them a word cap,” Bodie said. “For example, ‘Create the coolest space-themed art with 10 words or less.’ This pushed participants to be creative and precise in their word choices.”

Since he began experimenting with AI art last fall, Mason has used it for creative English assignments. After reading Fences by August Wilson, students were

asked to create an art piece that reflects a scene from the play.

“We had to do a close reading of the passage and analyze the art piece we created,” said Mason, who produced his artwork using Playground AI. “It was my own interpretation of the scene, visualized through AI. It took a lot of experimenting, and the majority of the assignment was writing the artist’s statement.”

Junior Hailey F., who has used AI for help in creating book covers, calls the process of developing a successful art prompt as “expository ekphrasis.”

“Artists shouldn’t be required to be really good at AI,” she said. “It should be treated as a discipline in art, like a new medium. You have oil painting, watercolor… they can choose to specialize and incorporate AI into their art or not.”

AI art programs have lowered the barrier of entry to creating art. Like a number of his peers, freshman Max E. began experimenting with AI art a year ago.

“[The programs] make art super accessible,” Max said. “It’s a great way to find out what can be created, and it really changed my perspective on art.”

For his Quest project this year, Max programmed a system to automatically create an AI art-generated music video based on the lyrics and sound of a song.

“AI art opens up a brand new door of possibilities,” he said. “You can create anything. Just like any tool, it has the potential to be misused. But it can also be used to inspire…it’s a tool that can be used at any step of the artistic process.”

“You could say that art is like water: it can take a lot of shapes,” Max added. “And like water in the ocean, AI art is expansive and limitless.”

— LiAnn Yim

Top: City Aflame created by Bodie C. ’24 in Midjourney. Bottom: Don't Change Anything by Mason C. ’24 in DALL-E.

Meet Lyla Max

Nueva’s new Director of Development

Tell us a bit about your background. How did you become interested in development and what draws you to Nueva? After starting in public relations in the luxury goods and travel spaces, I made a conscious decision to move into the nonprofit sector to pursue a career that aligned with my own values and vision for the world. I love that both PR and development

are about telling a compelling story that appeals to a specific audience, and I truly believe in the power of education to change the world for the better. Nueva’s curricula and programs are a great example of how to give students that opportunity, and I can’t wait to find creative and authentic ways to share my appreciation and inspire support for the important work we do.

What do you hope this new school year will bring for you personally and professionally? I feel incredibly grateful to be joining a team that has done so much to move the needle on Nueva’s long-term sustainability and I hope that I can honor their hard work and dedication. The Nueva community is clearly deeply invested in each student’s success and, more than that, in seeing them thrive and flourish. In my first year, I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and pulling back the curtain to see what makes this amazing school tick!

What is something that nobody would know about you from reading your resume? My final project as an art history major at NYU was about the differences between Minoan and Mycenaean architecture (but don’t quiz me, that was a long time ago!). I am still a huge fan of ancient art and architecture, and my family and I always take time to visit ruins and artifacts during our travels, the oldest so far being the Lascaux Cave. I love to imagine how our predecessors lived and find connections between the past and present— it’s what makes us human.

The lower school often marks the 100th day of school with a celebration. How do you envision your first 100 days? Busy! The fall is an exciting time at a school, filled with optimism and enthusiasm. In my first 100 days, I hope to build and nurture lasting connections with my team that inspire us all to our best work. One of the great things about development is that you cross paths with everyone in

the community, so I also hope to have the chance to at least say hello to everyone on both campuses!

What is your favorite part of your job? It is easy to forget that the original meaning of the word “philanthropy” was “love of humanity,” and that development is rooted in making connections and building community, both of which I love to do! The work we do at independent schools—giving young people the tools to see and appreciate the world around them— is incredibly fulfilling, and it gives my job meaning and direction every day. [N]

QUICK FACTS

Book you are most likely to gift: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Favorite travel destination: Paris

Song that always draws you to the dance floor: I’m not really a dancer, but a song that always makes me happy? “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys.

Person, place, or thing that brings you joy: Travel, with my family, to see art!

Morning beverage of choice (or how do you take your coffee): Oat milk latte (hot or iced)

Favorite rule to break: Don’t talk to strangers

Secret hidden talent: Rock star parking

Number one thing on your bucket list: Visiting Japan during cherry blossom season

Your hero: All the young people who are forging their way in today’s incredibly complicated landscape.

Last “supper” (i.e. favorite meal): The roasted chicken at Zuni Café

T ib e Ma y i u a

Sept. 1986

June 2023

A legacy in letters

IN TWO RESPECTS, the library is at the heart of the Hillsborough campus. There is its central location: overlooking the café, directly across from the I-Lab, visible during drop-offs, pick-ups, and culminations. More importantly, it is a gathering space—a home to rainy recesses, gratitude circles, and warm conversations.

But what truly brings the building alive? What is it about this space, among all other places on campus, that has become so integral to the community?

The better question would be who.

At recess, one finds the library full. Students snuggle up between the shelves, their faces buried in graphic novels, dystopias, and pastry cookbooks. While the pages differ, many will share a source: Marilyn.

After over 35 years at Nueva as a parent, librarian, and teacher, Marilyn Kimura announced plans to retire at the end of this year. In that time, she has played a pivotal role in transforming the library into the hub of community connection it is today.

“She has a book for everyone; that’s how well she knows us all,” said Middle School Division Head Karen Tiegel. “She can identify a book for every person who walks into the library. After a single conversation, she can say, ‘This might be something you’d like to read,’ or ‘I’ve got this new title. Why don’t you check it out?”

When Karen started at Nueva 14 years ago as a sixth grade writing teacher, she struggled to adapt to its culture and way of doing things. Marilyn’s genuine warmth and kindness, such as her special effort to greet everyone by name, made the library Karen’s first stop when she needed advice.

“I said to her, ‘Marilyn, I need help. This is a school that’s unlike any other school I’ve been at. Can you mentor me?’ We started meeting on a weekly basis,” Karen said.

Community members reflect on retiring librarian’s 35-year impact

Throughout their friendship, Marilyn has kept a pile of new books for Karen on her desk, each one adorned with a sticky note bearing Karen’s name.

“She knows that I love to explore new books. [The pile] is everything from picture books and poetry to the latest historical novel she thinks I should look at,” Karen said. “That’s the kind of relationship we have; it’s what I love about her.”

William Fisher ’23, like many other students, met Marilyn on the back steps of the library when he joined Nueva in first grade. For students too young to join the Lit Club program, Marilyn would organize read-aloud sessions on these steps, allowing those not yet able to read independently to experience the world of literature. In fifth grade, William was placed in Marilyn’s advisory, which referred to themselves as “Marilyn’s biker gang.” (“That’s how cool she was,” said William, smiling at the memory.)

“In my eight years of advisory, she was by far the best advisor. She was just full of energy and really loved what she did,” William said. “She would play soccer and poker with us; you wouldn’t expect her energy from a librarian.”

Lower School PE Teacher Zubin Mobedshahi ’03 met Marilyn in kindergarten, over a decade prior. At the time, the current library building had not even been built yet. It was Zubin’s first day of school, and his class was visiting the library on the second floor of the Mansion to check out books.

“I was brought to the edge of tears when I realized I didn’t have any money on hand to borrow a book,” Zubin said.

“I went to Marilyn and told her I didn’t have any money. She reassured me that it was okay, checking out a book was free, and she walked me through the process again. Marilyn became a very safe and loving figure from that point on.”

Zubin graduated from Nueva in the eighth grade, and returned 10 years later to join the Lower School faculty.

“When I first came back to work at Nueva in 2013, it was the same feeling when I saw Marilyn walking across the plaza into the new library. I was just overcome by a sense of ‘I am home, these are my people.’ It was a great reconnection point. Marilyn’s warmth not only infused the library, but also the programs she founded, such as the Lit Club program. Lit Club is essentially a weekly book club built into the schedules of the Lower and Middle School where students can develop their analytical reading skills through discussion.

Molly S. ’26 met Marilyn in kindergarten and remembers spending hours in the library, getting lost in books. She always felt like Marilyn understood her and had a way of nurturing her curiosity. For Molly, Lit Club was an opportunity to share her love of reading with her peers.

“When I read a book, I often find myself wanting to talk about it. For example, I really enjoy science fiction, and especially with genres like that, it was so great to get to discuss the possibilities of what could happen,” Molly said.

Karen also remembers Marilyn’s unwavering mission to bring out the best in every student and appreciate them as unique individuals.

KIND WORDS FROM THE COMMUNITY

She turned the library into a magical universe.

—The Hershenson Family

Marilyn has made the library the heart of our family time on campus. She has welcomed us with warmth as we read, look for books, work on lectures, cuddle, play games, chat, and rest. She has made a true community space.

—The Fordyce Family

From leading our first campus tour to reading to my girls and curating impactful Black History Month exhibits, Marilyn embodies Nueva’s spirit of curiosity and generosity. Her absence will be felt, and her impact will endure.

—Jody Sievers, trustee, parent

Her understanding of the bright and quirky nature of our kids (and us parents) and the ways she enjoyed us as individuals and as a community have truly been a gift.

—Tina Mizukami, parent

Her knowledge of each child allows her to give each of them a bit of Nueva magic: the right book, a piece of encouragement, a nudge to be their best selves, an author sparking creativity, and Lit Club opening new worlds.

—Bonnie Fought, trustee, alumni parent, former

lit club

leader

“I love that she knows each child so well, and is always thinking about their best selves, and how we can bring out those best selves in each kid,” Karen said. “Over the years I had lots and lots of discussions with her about children. She’s so patient. She just sees each person individually, and she helps all of us do that as well.”

“In many ways, she is the center of our community. She holds the memory of so many years of development at Nueva,” Karen said.

“Marilyn inspires me to pursue what I love, and to enjoy staying the course. Because Marilyn did that really incredibly well. So we’re going to miss seeing her. I’m still very much in denial that she is retiring.” [N]

REFLECTION IT’S BEEN A PLEASURE, Ma y

Marilyn has always been a wellspring for understanding what a child needs. When my family first heard about Nueva in 1990, I signed up for the tour. We joined fellow prospective parents in front of the fireplace in the Mansion Ballroom and were led up to the second floor by Nueva librarian Marilyn Kimura. Marilyn explained with eloquence Nueva’s educational philosophy, which was reflected in the classrooms and, by extension, the culture of lifelong learning. Our son joined Nueva the next school year, in the same grade as Marilyn’s son. She helped me figure out what to bring to birthday parties, where to get just the right sleeping bag for the Yosemite trip they took in seventh grade, and how to navigate the Middle School years.

As a parent volunteer, I signed up to facilitate a Middle School Lit Club with Marilyn serving as my mentor. It was such a joy to share our love of books together.

Marilyn and I became colleagues when I joined the faculty in 1997, and we worked together creating the fifth-through-eighth grade humanities curriculum. In building this program, we recognized the value of travel for Nueva students, having seen the impact of these experiences on our own children. We have shared a tent on environmental education trips, and a room on American history trips to Washington and Boston, and we slept on futons in the mountains of Japan. Each experience of “Nueva on the road” enhances the students’ ability to learn in the field, and Marilyn’s presence on those travel teams was such a gift because she knows the students and because she exemplifies the calm voice of reason in any situation.

Marilyn’s gifts to Nueva have been invaluable: her commitment to interdisciplinary lifelong learning, her wealth of knowledge, [and] her willingness to research academic sources...to name just a few. My classroom has moved around a lot at Nueva; however, for almost 15 years, I have had the great good fortune to pass Marilyn’s desk every day on my way to L104, the Library classroom. Whenever I am puzzled by a particular student, I seek out Marilyn, whose insights about a child may reach back to preK or first grade.

Marilyn found just the right books for a Lit Club, exemplary texts for our humanities curriculum, or professional development readings for faculty—over and over and over again. Collaborating with Marilyn meant getting the benefits of her intellect, her wisdom, and her generosity of spirit, which usually spilled over into a conversation frequently ending with her phrase, “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

One of my favorite quotes from Marilyn, “Reading is not running your eyes over the page,” focuses attention on the process that takes place in our minds and hearts as we read, whether holding a book or listening to someone reading a book. That experience of entering into another world, so many worlds, over so many years, has been Marilyn’s gift to countless people, children of all ages. She may be leaving the Nueva campus; however, she will be forever in our hearts and minds.

— Cynthia Kosut, Middle School Humanities Teacher

↓ Marilyn helps a student navigate the library’s digital card catalog. Trustee and alumni parent Bonnie Fought said, “Her knowledge of each child allows her to give each of them a bit of Nueva magic.”

Meet Lauren Pool

Director of Teaching and Learning

What do you hope this new school year will bring for you personally and professionally? New challenges, and lots of learning. I’m happiest when I’m learning something new, and a new school, a new job, and a new environment really provide that excitement. Personally, I’ll be happily back to living in the United States, something I haven’t done in 18 years.

What drew you to Nueva, and specifically to the role of Director of Teaching and Learning? Nueva is known to be an impressive and creative school. It was very important to me to find another school community deeply rooted in its care for students and the hard work of pioneering learning. Nueva delivers on both of those in spades. Having served as high school principal and deputy head of school at Jakarta Intercultural School, this director of teaching and learning role called out to me: I love seeing the learning progression, and a schoolwide role gives me the opportunity to focus on that area exclusively.

A key commitment of Nueva’s current strategic framework is to explore the creation of a collaborative center for educational innovation. What makes this initiative exciting to you? Teacher development

is key to student learning and to teacher’s job satisfaction, so the opportunity to contribute to the creation of a center dedicated to these things really excites me. I was just on a Zoom call (at 5 a.m. Jakarta time!) that Lee convened to launch this effort.

Our work can only be enriched by partnerships with education researchers and universities. I am a big believer in asking for insights from outside the usual circle, so collaborations with people outside the education space will offer unique perspectives we wouldn’t get otherwise.

I’m excited to develop these partnerships with universities and companies, and see where the opportunities take our teachers and students.

You’ve worked on several different continents. Tell us where your career has taken you, and what you’ve loved most about each place. I was very fortunate to find international teaching fresh out of college when I didn’t have any fear of anything holding me back! It was easy to resettle in Brazil at the time—a vibrant place, full of fun, and at a great independent school. I met my husband there so we stayed quite a while (eight years) before deciding to go on another adventure in Southeast Asia. Indonesia became home to

our family—now including a dog and two boys, 6 and 3 years old—for a decade. The travel opportunities on that side of the world, and working at another fantastic school, has made the years fly by. Indonesia and Brazil have warm and welcoming cultures that make living abroad still feel homey.

What draws you to the Bay Area? Really it is to join the Nueva community, but the weather certainly doesn’t hurt! I will miss many things about the tropics, but a dose of fresh ocean and mountain air sounds really lovely. It is also an area with so much energy around progress and innovation that it’s an exciting place to land.

QUICK FACTS

Book you are most likely to gift: Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown (it’s a physically beautiful book)

Academic discipline that most fascinates you: Neuroscience

Academic discipline that most challenged you as a student: Genetics

Song that always draws you to the dance floor: “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston

How you take your coffee: Black with just a splash of milk

Hidden talent: My juggling is rusty but I need to get it back to impress my kids!

Number one thing on your bucket list: Seeing the Northern Lights

What is something that people might be surprised to know about you? I am really a homebody. I love to laugh with people when I’m at work or out, but I’m very, very happy when I’m quietly at home. [N]

More Than Just a Number

A cross-divisional look into Nueva’s qualitative approach to assessment

One of the ways Nueva teachers help students meet their potential is through assessments. Just as our approach to learning keeps gifted students at the center, so too does the process by which teachers assess—and then communicate—how their students are meeting learning objectives and where they have opportunities for growth. With projects that are responsive to students’ curiosity and creativity, Nueva faculty design assessments that are both standards-based and flexible so students feel most engaged. Take a look at how teachers in each division approach assessments and establish an open feedback loop with their students.

Izzy Mayer, Second Grade Teacher

At the core of being a Nueva teacher is being able to differentiate for students with different needs and interests. So formative assessment is the foundation of a lot of what we do in second grade, and one way we do this is by interviewing students about what they know, and what they want to know.

For example, during our daily morning messages, we write a prompt on a sticky note, such as “One thing you know about the California Gold Rush” or “One question you have about the California Gold Rush.” This allows us to build the rest of our unit around an understanding of what the students already know and want to learn, rather than on assumptions.

At the end of the day, we also frequently use exit tickets to encourage reflection. We ask them to share one thing they learned that day. That way, we know if we hit the nail on the head or if we need to revisit the topic the next day.

This year I’ve been thinking a lot about assessments, specifically how to use self-assessment for students. One example is a project in which our students wrote land acknowledgments, focusing on the Ramaytush Ohlone, the indigenous people of the Peninsula. We provided

them with a rubric that outlined various features that their pieces might demonstrate and offered three assessment options: “not quite,” “I did it,” and “bonus wow.”

Image A is the rubric that Izzy provided to her second-grade students for the land-acknowledgment project.

With the rubric, students did self-assessments—which were quite accurate—and also gave feedback on their peers’ work. This process empowered students to monitor and manage their own progress, rather than always relying on adult input.

We also do high-frequency word check-ins, which resemble traditional spelling tests. We say words they have studied throughout the year in Structured Word Inquiry and ask them to spell them. This offers a more objective measure of student learning.

Yet there’s so much nuance because every kid has a different brain. For instance, if a student in our class faces challenges in reading and writing due to dyslexia or dysgraphia, we take their specific needs into consideration. We focus on understanding what they can do based on the explicit skills we have taught them.

As a second grade team and in the Lower School, we put a lot more weight on a student’s process. We value their thoughtfulness and we focus on skill-building, rather than simply achieving a skill. This allows us to meet each student where they are and provide personalized support, rather than adhering to a standardized expectation.

past experiences of the Ohlone AND more than one story about the present experiences of the Ohlone community.

Call to Action!

My statement includes 1 action we will do to allow native communities to feel supported.

Capitalization I used a capital letter for the first letter of: My name and my title OR Every sentence

My statement includes 2 actions we will do to allow native communities to feel supported.

I used a capital letter for the first letter of: My name and my title AND Every sentence

Sam Arndtsen, Middle School Humanities Teacher

My statement includes more than two actions we will do to allow native communities to feel supported.

I used a capital letter for the first letter of: My name and my title AND Every sentence AND Proper nouns (days of the week, groups of people, places, names, etc.)

At the most systemic level, the Middle School is adopting a single-point rubric for providing feedback for midterm and final evaluations. A single-point rubric lists the learning objectives and the expectations around those objectives without describing what it looks like to exceed or fall short of them. Unlike a more traditional rubric that provides those alternatives, a single-point rubric gives students a clear understanding of what the learning objectives are without limiting them to succeeding in one

Image B (next spread) shows a section of the single-point rubric Sam used for his sixth-grade humanities unit.

This single-point rubric allows me to be reflective and to customize my feedback to each student at the end of every unit. In areas where students are meeting expectations, I highlight the skill and leaning objectives. If a student is exceeding expectations, I write in celebrations, and if a student is not yet meeting expectations, I write in opportunities for growth.

In this rubric, there are three sections for approaches to learning: independence, demonstration of engagement, and organization. Then there are humanities-specific skills: research and documentation, use of evidence, and analysis of evidence.

Handwriting I used 1-2 of these writing habits: Start my letters start at the top

My letters sit on the line I have one finger space between each word I used a standard pencil grip

Omissions I did not re-read my writing out loud to a stuffie, friend or teacher to check for missing words

I used 3 of these writing habits: Start my letters at the top

My letters sit on the line I have one finger space between each word I used a standard pencil grip

I’ve re-read my writing aloud to a stuffie, friend or teacher and added any missing words

I used all 4 of these writing habits: Start my letters at the top My letters sit on the line I have one finger space between each word I used a standard pencil grip

I’ve re-read my writing aloud to a stuffie, friend or teacher and added any missing words and gave myself organizing feedback.

Punctuation I have a punctuation mark (. ? 1) at the end of every sentence.

Spelling I did not re-read my writing to check for spelling.

I’ve re-read my writing aloud and underlined any unknown spelling words and I wrote a spelling hypothesis.

I’ve re-read my writing out aloud and underlined any unknown spelling words, I wrote a spelling hypothesis, and looked it up in a dictionary to confirm.

Students Maya R. ’33 and Alex J. ’33 work on their land acknowledgment posters.

Finally, the rubric includes project-specific objectives: communication skills, writing skills, verbal presentation skills, and visual presentation skills.

Because our curriculum is inherently project-based, the new rubric assesses the students’ learning across the unit as a whole, rather than just the culminating project. This allows students to really see where they are, and it also gets them used to this format.

I take data throughout the whole unit so I have qualitative and quantitative information to fill out the rubric. I include the same skills for every unit; my hope is that they can put their rubrics next to each other and ask, “How is my independence growing over time?” It allows students to holistically see where they are growing.

In one of our units in which we learn about and discuss the merits of the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus

Circle, students created videos for New York City Mayor Eric Adams, suggesting what to do with the statue. For the specific project skills, I looked at the script they wrote, the video they created, and the research they did to propose their solution.

Scan to view a video by student Evan C.

Overall, what I really like about this single-point rubric is that it gives students clear metrics for what the expectations are without limiting them in a convergent way, where they are only allowed to succeed in certain ways. For example, there are many ways students can demonstrate engagement that are inclusive of different learning styles and personality types. For one student, it may be participating in class discussions, while for another, who is quieter, it may look like engaging in partner

conversations and active class journaling. Both indicate student engagement, and there are multiple entry points for students to demonstrate engagement.

In addition, my job is not to just teach history or humanities and the related skills. Rather, as part of a school that centers the whole child, my job is to also teach social and emotional skills. This is why the rubric includes transferable skills that students will use across disciplines and at every stage of their lives.

are various ways to demonstrate mastery, and students do not have to be at the same level to indicate progress.

In my classes I often assess content knowledge and skills through comprehensive projects, like writing a research article or conducting long-term experiments in the lab. I also incorporate smaller checks for understanding during class, to gauge progress toward learning goals.

In my Biology 101 class this year, when we delved into the complex mechanism of DNA replication, many students struggled to grasp the concept. When some of them didn’t achieve mastery on that knowledge check, I offered them an opportunity to reassess after reviewing the material, which is always an option in my classes.

Jehnna Ronan, Upper School Biology Teacher

Our introductory biology classes have been a joint effort between myself and the other teachers. We use various modes of assessment depending on the learning objectives. I use a rubric for every course and aim to follow the standards-based model, where I clearly communicate the learning goals to the students for each assignment and for the course as a whole. The learning standard serves as a guide for their progress, and I assess each piece of work solely in relation to that standard. At the same time, we acknowledge that there

I often design assessments that are integrated into the learning experience itself. For example, in my Experiment and Research Teams class, students engaged in a guided search of the scientific literature. While we haven’t covered all the mechanics of formal literature searches, this assignment provides them an opportunity to learn and apply these skills as they are being assessed. The learning standard noted that students should be able to find sources that are “relevant and impactful” to the topic at hand. When assessing their list of sources, I leave feedback on how to improve their strategies for future literature searches.

In the upper-level research class, students work in small groups on scientific experiments and projects they design

Sixth Grade Humanities

XRT275 - Spring 2023 - Course Rubric

Learning standard mastery levels:

4 - (Mastery) Student demonstrates mastery of the standards assessed.

3 - (Partial mastery) Student demonstrates partial mastery of the standards assessed.

2 - (Emerging understanding) Student demonstrates emerging understanding of the standards assessed.

1 - (Insufficient evidence) Student has submitted insufficient evidence for the standards assessed.

Scientific Skills (80%)

Collaborative Project Management

Lab Tracker: Student records lab work narrative notes, short and long-term goals, problem-solving, and annotated data in an organized and navigable format

Group Dynamics Assessment: Student regularly and thoughtfully evaluates their peers and themselves, offering constructive feedback that will benefit group dynamics

File and Data Management: Student maintains an easily navigable Google Drive folder structure that includes all project-relevant files and has clear naming conventions

Experimental Design

Question and Hypotheses: Student generates specific, testable, and relevant scientific questions and associated hypotheses based on existing research and observations

Experimental Plans: Student designs a well-controlled experiment with justifiable variables that could eliminate or support a hypothesis

Protocol Acquisition: Student creates their own protocols based on synthesizing reported methods and revises them based on iteration; student maintains a protocol library

Engaging with Scientific Literature

Scientific Literacy Development: Student documents an iterative process, responsive to reflection and feedback, to efficiently extract information from the scientific literature

Search Skills: Student finds the most relevant and impactful papers from the scientific literature as the basis for their work using PubMed and Google Scholar

Synthesis: Student synthesizes multiple interrelated scientific articles to demonstrate an integrated understanding of an area of study

Scientific Communication

Lab Meeting Presentations: Student clearly communicates their project's rationale, latest data, issues, and future plans to their peers with the aid of helpful visuals

Writing for Expert Audiences: Student writes clearly, accurately, and precisely for a scientific audience

Peer Review: Student gives substantive and constructive feedback on their classmates' writing via guided peer review

Dealing with Data

Data Analysis: Student identifies and learns to use appropriate statistical methods to analyze their datasets before data has been obtained

Data Acquisition: Student soundly measures their variable of interest, creating a quantified dataset from an adequate sample size

Data Display: Student presents their analyzed experimental data in organized, captioned, and easily-interpretable figures and tables

Academic and Scientific Habits (20%)

Collaboration: Student respectfully interacts with groupmates and contributes to collaborative work according to agreed-upon duties

Timeliness: Student completes work in a timely fashion and communicates proactively with their teacher if more time is needed on occasion; student arrives to class on time

Safety: Student keeps laboratory equipment, peers, and themselves safe at all times by following appropriate procedures and cleaning up fully after lab work

Self-Reflection: Student reflects on strengths and growth areas based on peer and teacher feedback then creates, implements, and documents plans for growth

themselves. The research they conduct is similar to what you’d find in an academic lab— one group is even preparing a manuscript for publication in a scientific journal. Since the students are primarily working on independent projects, it can be challenging to assess them. We use various methods, such as group meetings with the students to discuss their progress and assess their ability to design backward from a research goal. We also evaluate their digital lab notebooks, the frequency of reading scientific literature, and their ability to extract information from what they read.

Pictured label C the rubric for the Experiment and Research Teams (XRT) class

I believe in giving students choice and freedom within the bounds of their subject knowledge. In my neuroscience class, for example, the final project offers students three different strands: write a science fiction story, design an experiment to answer a novel question, or develop a technology to solve a prob lem in sensory neuroscience. This leads to a selection of unique projects that foster similar skills through varied approaches. Students are as sessed on their ability to find relevant scientific literature, apply research to create a new product, and effec tively communicate their work. While the projects differ, they are evalu ated against the same

learning standards. At the end of the project, we have a project showcase day so that every student can learn from the work completed by their classmates. [N]

Aanya D. ’25 and Margot S. ’25 engage in a lab in an upper-level biology class.

There is genuinely something special about the community of students behind me. I don’t want to give COVID too much airtime in this speech, but we were the grade tasked with lifting the school out of remote learning and distant connection, and bringing back hallway laughter, spirit assemblies, and group hugs. And boy did we do that.

2023 CLASS OF CONGRATULATIONS

—RIYANA SRIHARI

Class of 2023, you did it! On a windy afternoon on Sunday, June 11, faculty and staff, families, and friends came together to watch this most magical Class of 2023 walk across the stage. The two student speakers, elected by their peers, represented the full scope of Nueva experience: Riyana Srihari, who joined in kindergarten, and Colin Cham, who entered in ninth grade. In their speeches, both graduates revealed their deep understanding of and love for their class, the group that brought so much spirit and community as we emerged from the pandemic. They also talked about Nueva’s lasting impact on themselves and their peers, and their profound appreciation for their teachers. Read full speeches by scanning the QR codes.

Nueva is what brought us here. The true wonder of Nueva is the privilege of being instructed by some of the most passionate and compassionate teachers ever. In my four years of high school, I’ve been encouraged, discipled, and inspired by my amazing teachers. To my teachers, I will carry your kindness and wisdom in my heart forever.

Hurrah, eighth graders! They’re moving on up to the Upper School. As is tradition, each eighth grade student shared a 100-word speech, highlighting what they will carry with them from their middle school experience. They reflected on the moments they’ll remember, the people they appreci -

ate, and how Nueva has helped to shape them into who they are today. Read on for a few excerpts!

Eighth Grade Celebration

Walking into Nueva in fifth grade, I was 4 feet 6 inches. Eight inches and a quarter later—and still not as tall as I’d like to be—I am graduating. Not only have I grown in height, I’ve grown in experience. Nueva taught me to speak up and not be afraid of the wrong answer. I’ve learned about who I am, and what I’m capable of. The physical transformation is evident, but the internal transformation only I can reflect on. And that, especially, is what Nueva taught me.

In my humanities class, I learned about the ship of Theseus, a boat that had all of its parts changed out for new ones. Since joining Nueva, I have changed many of my own parts. Some would argue that I am a different being altogether. As I contrast who I am with who I was, it is clear that Nueva has broadened my perspective of the world around me, through curiosity and skepticism. Nueva taught me that no matter how many pieces I change about myself, I’m still the one driving my own ship through Nueva’s blue wave.

ALUMNI

What happens when your inner voice is too strong to continue to ignore? For Blake “LUXXURY” Robin ’84 it encouraged him to pivot from corporate life to following his passion in arts and entertainment as a viral social media sensation, world-traveling DJ, and radio show host. Read more about Blake on p. 38.

GREETINGS, NUEVA ALUMNI!

What a wonderful year! From coast to coast and beyond, the Nueva connection reverberated back to campus. By hosting regional reunions and #NuevaNoshes, returning to campus throughout the year, mentoring Upper School students, and joining us for our socials, reunions, and other events and programs you remained close to fellow Mavericks, your former teachers, and our entire community.

I don’t think a week went by this year that I didn’t hear from a member of our alumni community. Whether it was a quick hello and check in to exciting personal announcements, or ideas about future alumni initiatives, it’s incredibly rewarding and meaningful to work with such an engaged community whose love for Nueva runs so deep.

In the coming year, we look forward to offering more opportunities for alumni to reconnect both on campus and at regional socials, and further developing our professional networking and mentoring programs. This year, we will also survey our entire alumni community to better understand their lifelong relationship with Nueva and help direct the development of our next alumni strategic plan.

Please enjoy reading about fellow alumni and the many ways they’ve stayed connected. We love to hear from you and learn where your post-Nueva journey has taken you. I encourage you to stay in touch and invite you to return home to our Hillsborough and San Mateo campuses any time!

Sincerely,

Diana A. Chamorro Director of Alumni & Community Engagement

SEE YOU ON MAVNET

NUEVA LAUNCHES ALUMNI NETWORKING DIRECTORY

Want to meet fellow alumni in your region? Interested in professional networking? Have a job or internship opening at your company that you’d love to hire a fellow Nuevan to fill? These reasons and more are why you should join Nueva’s first alumni networking directory, MavNet! Visit nuevaalumni.org to claim your profile and begin connecting with your Nueva alumni community and register for our upcoming events.

STAY CONNECTED! FOLLOW NUEVA ONLINE… nuevaalumni.org

instagram @nuevaalumni

facebook @nuevaalumniassociation

Reunion festivities bring the fun and strengthen the Nueva bond

With members of the Classes of 1979 through 2022 in attendance, our Alumni Reunion Weekend events on June 2 and 3 closed out the school year highlighting our lasting Nueva magic. Joy, laughter, and memories flooded back for generations of alumni, parents of alumni, and former faculty and staff who returned home to Nueva for our Upper School Reunion Reception and Alumni Reunion Celebration.

“I had a lot of fun attending my first alumni reunion!” said Theo Rode ’22, who attended the reception the day before heading to Southern California to begin a summer internship. “I always enjoy hearing what my former classmates have been doing since I last saw them, visiting with my Nueva teachers, and spending time on campus.”

Alumni Reunion Celebration

1. Madeline Park ’20 takes a photo of Class Rep Avery Chen ’22, Head of School Lee Fertig, and Adrienne Park ’20 between bites of Mister Softee ice cream.

2. Laena (Wiltberger) Wilder ’79

3. Adam Keller ’18, Noah Tavares ’20, and Ryan Gannon ’20

4. Cole Bregman ’22, a reunion guest, Audrey Acken ’22, Romola Cavet ’22, and Barak Yedidia, Physics Teacher

Upper School Reunion

9. Upper School alumni are all smiles at the festivities: (l to r) Maya Bodnick ’22, Yoav Rafalin ’22, Nicholas Hu ’22, Timothy Zhu ’22, Brandon Cho ’22, Pascal Descollonges ’22, Evan Steirman ’21, Lauren Wong ’21, and Eleanor Monroe ’21

5. Our Alumni Reunion Weekend festivities kicked off with our Upper School Reunion Reception. Members of the Classes of 2017 to 2022, parents of alumni, and faculty and staff joined the celebration.

6. An advisory reunion! Pascal Descollonges ’22, Caroline Phipps ’22, Emma Saarnio ’22, and Theo Rode ’22 pose with their senior-year advisor Diana Chamorro and Class Rep David Chan ’22 (far right).

7. Teachers Mark Hurwitz and William Chang pose with former students Sam Tateosian ’22 and Ajay Tadinada ’22.

8. Parent of alumni Nancy Nelson P ’18 with fellow parent of alumni and former teacher Fred Estes P ’07

10. David Shields ’20, Christopher Martin ’20, and Cevi Bainton ’20

11. Nina Grigg ’18 and her mom Denise De Mory P ’18, ’20

12. Brandon Zhou ’22, Miles Frank ’22, Ryan Poon ’22, and Arielle Choi ’22

Mic Check

TikTok sensation Blake “LUXXURY” Robin ’84 launches new SiriusXM radio show

For the past 20 years, Blake “LUXXURY” Robin ’84 has been pursuing his passion as a producer, songwriter, musician, and DJ. Today, he is the mastermind of the viral TikTok account, @LUXXURY, and a SiriusXM radio host—two musical pursuits he loves. But he almost didn’t follow his heart.

Blake spent nearly a decade unfulfilled. His first jobs were in advertising in New York, and then working in software and the tech space in San Francisco.

“It wasn’t the right fit for who I am,” he said.“I wish I had considered recognizing that music was really a passion earlier, and not focusing so much on what I think I should do or what society or my mom wants me to do.

“There’s more to life than money. There’s more to life than tech and marketing.”

As Blake made the transition from corporate life to follow his heart in arts and entertainment, his time at Nueva was foundational in nurturing this passion. It was a place where he developed critical skills and the language to appreciate music, while also demystifying it and making it a less intimidating topic.

“I feel very lucky to have had my Nueva background, which was very eclectic and open-minded, and not at all rigid,” he said. “There was a teacher of legendary status, G.G. Fitzmorris, who was such a vibrant lover of music and a great teacher, as you would expect in Nueva’s heritage.”

She was instrumental in fostering his love of music: “There were little specific things that she would use to teach that I think about to this day. How she would sing a melody and she would visually demonstrate it.”

With his music career blossoming, Blake signed a publishing deal and moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago to be a songwriter. During that time he also was making his own music under his stage name “LUXXURY,” which he describes as a funk disco project, and working as a DJ creating special mixes for himself and other DJs.

“One day a friend who I had done a remix for brought me a hard drive with all these multitrack stems, which are the isolated vocals, drums, and basslines from all these amazing famous songs, like ‘Under

Pressure’ by Queen and David Bowie,” Blake recalled.

“We’re so used to hearing ‘Under Pressure’ with everything happening all at once. When you peel back the onion and isolate the individual bassline or the individual vocals, it’s really mind-blowing. As a fan of the song and a fan of music, not to mention as a music maker, it was all these layers of discovery and education. You hear all the imperfections and you have little hair-raising moments where you hear Friday Mercury singing something without the backing band. You sort of feel in the room with him.”

This new discovery led Blake to launching a new project by making his own remixes for his DJ sets in a way no one had done before. As his sets began to draw more attention in the underground DJ community, a remix of “Hotel California” by the Eagles piqued the interest of the Wall Street Journal. He was profiled in the paper in July 2014.

The very next day, Warner Records sent him a cease and desist letter. Thankfully, they didn’t pursue a lawsuit or monetary damages.

“This did lead me to my next career as a world-traveling DJ,” Blake said. “Once the news broke that I was being sued by Don Henley, I was that much cooler.”

His newfound notoriety led to DJing opportunities at venues in London, Mexico City, and around the United States.

When the 2020 global pandemic hit, the jet-setting DJ turned the proverbial lemons into lemonade by launching his now-viral social media platform. With TikTok exploding, Blake spent time investigating its functionality and developed a genuine interest in the platform. Ultimately, he took the plunge and @LUXXURY became a musicological content creator.

“The first video I did was a Britney Spears’ song ‘Toxic.’ I thought, I have all these stems, and that song fits the platform, skewing young and more recent,” he explained. “I posted it, and two days later it had about five views, and eventually it got to two million views and just went crazy. I went from having about seven followers to 50,000 in the first week.”

Behind this immediate success, Blake continued creating videos using stems to illustrate 60-second stories about the origins of certain songs and how they are connected to other songs in dynamic, content-rich videos. He also delights viewers by whispering his catchphrase “interpolation.”

As of today, he has nearly 300,000 followers on TikTok and over 100,000 on Instagram.

“It’s cool to have this resonate with people,” he said. “Educationally speaking, it’s giving a word to a concept. I’m really happy that the videos are in a sweet spot—not too musicologically arcane or academic or of interest only to other musicians or academics.”

With his profile rising, Blake connected with writer, actor, and DJ Diallo Riddle of tv shows South Side and That’s My Jam. Over shared music interests,

Diallo, who was asked to join entertainer Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Entertainment to develop a new SiriusXM radio show, pitched Blake to join him in developing and co-hosting it together.

Fast forward a few years and this past March, SiriusXM and HartBeat announced the launch of Diallo and Blake’s show, “One Song,” where the pair are joined weekly by a special guest to talk about the creation, legacy, and trivia of one hit song. The show began production in May and debuted in July on SiriusXM channel 96, Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud Radio.

Reflecting on the many chapters of his life, Blake is grateful he listened to that inner voice encouraging him to follow his passion many years ago. He looks forward to bringing more interpolation viral videos to the masses, and continuing to share music history with emerging projects, and returning to the international DJ circuit.

“I feel very lucky to have had my Nueva background, which was very eclectic and open-minded, and not at all rigid.”

Problem Solvers

Four Nuevans saw an issue plaguing college students and sought to find a solution

What started as identifying a problem plaguing students at Columbia—the essential need to find safe and affordable ride-sharing options—has now expanded to an international network of students from more than 60 universities providing one another access to safe, affordable, and recommended subletting options.

The quartet began noticing trends of students studying in the Northeast and how interconnected the region is.

“At that point, we wondered, ‘What else could we do to help people with their practical needs?’” said Ben, who will graduate this fall from Brown. “We were taking our design-thinking skills and actually iterating and talking to people about what else they need in their lives.”

At that point, they began thinking more seriously about the need for subletting options. Based on their own experiences looking on major platforms like Facebook Groups and Marketplace, they were left with the same questions: Is it safe, affordable, and does the advertisement accurately represent the actual living situation?

“We thought, maybe we can bring people together,” Ben said. “Students want to find someone they trust when they need to find an apartment or a subletter. This is totally a solvable problem.”

With their commitment to help solve this issue, beginning with their own networks, the team established a Google Sheet with set guidelines and parameters for participation.

“It is exciting because there isn’t really anything that is connecting students across colleges with friends of friends, like we have,” said Avery, who is entering her sophomore year at Penn. “We have our Nueva alumni network and our personal networks, like social media, but something specifically across colleges, there really isn’t anything and that was a major pivot for us that happened.”

Avery Chen ’22, Ben Lee ’20, Adrienne Park ’22, and Madeline Park ’20 sought to initially help students and friends in their own networks solve these problems and quickly found themselves reaching students from Anchorage to Austin and as far as London.

Their shared Nueva foundation was instrumental in establishing the network.

“After being at Nueva, the four of us have always wanted to work at a startup

because of the design-thinking and entrepreneurial experiences we had and learned,” said Madeline, a rising fourthyear at Columbia. “We started by trying to help people organize transportation needs within the Columbia network. We helped people split Ubers from JFK back to campus after breaks, and we tried to find different ways to help college students coordinate transportation because it’s super expensive and people often felt unsafe.”

Since its launch, the platform has engaged 600 students and counting, from all regions of the United States and internationally. Students access the spreadsheet and identify the city where they are either looking to move to or are subletting their room. For those looking to sublet, they also indicate the monthly rent, the period of availability, the neighborhood, and other details, like roommates, number of bathrooms, and if it’s furnished.

↑ Avery Chen ’22, Madeline Park ’20, Ben Lee ’20, and Adrienne Park ’22

“We’ve been able to create genuine connections amongst our generation. We’ve found that a lot of our friends and users are quite disillusioned by social media and don’t make real connections through these platforms anymore,” said Adrienne, who will begin her first year at Columbia after taking a gap year. “We’ve received selfies of people at Columbia with huge smiles splitting Ubers, who had not previously met but became acquaintances through our work! These real connections and friends of friends network effects are really exciting and rewarding to form.”

As the platform continues to expand its reach, the team will look to find a more permanent solution to house it. They are not done growing either, as they’d like to broaden their offerings for college students to find year-long roommates or textbooks.

Madeline shared that January’s New York City alumni social was an inspiration, because her long-term goal is to grow the platform to young professionals finding their footing in new cities. “It was exciting to see members of the Classes of 2017 and 2018 there,” Madeline said. “A lot of them are now living here in the city and reconnecting.”

“When you’re moving to a new city for a new job or an internship, it can be really disorienting,” Ben said. “You want to find any sort of network of friends that you can connect with and build relationships with.”

Over the summer, Adrienne, Avery, Ben, and Madeline plan to grow their platform thanks to funding received from the Columbia Venture Competition and Brown’s Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, while also seeking new opportunities through startup incubators and venture competitions.

En Garde

All-American fencer Zandra Feland ’22 balances school and sport at MIT

Balance, agility, and discipline. Whether in the classroom or in a competition, Zandra Feland ’22 found her stride and share of success as a first-year student-athlete on the MIT women’s fencing team. With a course load featuring mechanical engineering, multivariable calculus, and physics, coupled with a demanding practice and competition schedule, the mechanical engineering major and fencing All-American honoree tackled the transition and new demands of college with poise and preparedness.

“My freshman year was great!” she said. “To balance school, sports, and my other activities on campus, I scheduled my day down to the minute where I would wake up in the morning, go to class, do homework, and go to office hours in between classes and fencing practice.”

For Zandra, pursuing her interests and having fun has was a robust experience over her first year at MIT.

“I took a really fun mechanical engineering toy design class, where we were given a theme and had to design and build a toy. For our final, we presented our toy at an event that was open to the public,” she said. “My group built a take-apart plane that was designed to teach kids about the aerodynamics of airplanes and how changing little aspects of the wings can change the flight path of the plane.”

As a member of the MIT Rocket Team, Zandra and her teammates are designing and building a rocket to send to space. She also holds a research position in the AeroAstro Department, plotting noise levels of electric vehicles and their impact in low-income communities, focusing on commuter electric airplanes over the Bay Area. Through these endeavors, it’s clear she has brought her Nueva foundation to her undergraduate work.

“At Nueva I learned how to learn and, when learning new material, I learned to question why. This question has helped me gain a deep understanding of the material in my classes, espe cially math. Specifically, my math and physics classes at Nueva provided a great foundation for my MIT classes. It was really funny when one of the problems on my physics homework this year had been a challenge problem we did in my Nueva Advanced Mechanics class.”

Competing in USA Fencing tournaments in high school, Zandra was well equipped to compete at the collegiate level.

“I do epée, which is the weapon where the target is the entire body of your opponent,” said Zandra, who was recruited to compete at MIT. “What I love most about my sport is the combination of both mental and physical chal lenges. My old fencing coach described it as physical chess, where you are trying to trick your opponent into thinking you will do one action but then you follow up with a different action. It requires you to always be on your toes and ready to attack or defend your opponent’s attack. I love that aspect, and I also love the community.”

At MIT, her balance, agility, and discipline shone as she earned U.S. Fencing Coaches Association Division III All-America honors and was named to the NCAA Division III Northeast All-Region Team. She finished the season with an impressive 49–28 record and a 17th place finish overall in the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship. Additionally, she competed and ranked higher against women on NCAA Division I teams, including fencers from Ivy League and Big East squads.

As Zandra looks forward to her sophomore year, she is spending her summer in Boston with fencing teammates and doing research in the MIT Media Lab with the Personal Robotics Group in data analytics.

BRIEFS

2011 Matt Baszucki and Aitan Grossman reconnected recently as they are both working at Roblox in San Mateo. Matt is a platform specialist on the Creator Success team, and Aitan is a software engineer on the Trust & Safety team.

who is in her final year at

and

a rising second-year at Harvard, both participated in the Oxford Union debate on May 27. The Oxford Union hosted the special joint debate with the Harvard Political Union on interventionism, with the motion titled, “This House Would Fight for Democracy, Individual Liberty, and the Rule of Law Abroad.”

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

2012 Katie Goldstein joined artists, writers, and filmmakers to lead a session on self-publishing at the Nueva Humanities Fair on March 26. Katie, a product manager at Microsoft, has self-published two children’s books, Ottie the Otter and Sell Me a Story, and offered insight and learnings she’s gained through her publishing journey.

2017 Loreen Ruíz and Jeremy Trilling were featured on the Upper School Nueva Podcast Club’s debut episode. Interviewed by a trio of rising junior hosts, the pair answered questions about their time

← During a June 6 visit to the San Mateo campus, Class of 2011 friends Matt Baszucki and Aitan Grossman had the chance to reconnect with Liza Raynal ’95, their former Middle School Division Head and Nueva’s current Upper School Division Head.

↑ Former Head of School Diane Rosenberg and Jasper Anscombe ’18 pose in front of Buckingham Palace.

↑ Sinead Chang ’18 reunited with her former teacher Allen Frost on May 24 in the Tribeca neighborhood.

↑ Anjali Ramanathan ’20,

Oxford,

Maya Bodnick ’22,

↑ Emma Leschly ’18 skiing Aspen Snowmass in February 2023 with her Colorado College freeride ski teammates.

at Nueva, being members of the founding upper school class, the ever-present impact Nueva has had on their lives, and what they are currently involved in and pursuing.

2018

Jasper Anscombe

is a solicitor at a London law firm. On May 1, he met up with former Head of School Diane Rosenberg and her husband, Bob, during their visit to London. They enjoyed walking around the city days before King Charles’s III coronation,

Storyteller

Over Nueva’s spring break, Louis Blachman ’19 welcomed two very special guests—former teachers Allen Frost and Claire Yeo—to his final directorial performances before graduating from Vassar this past spring. A drama and English major, he culminated his undergraduate career by bringing his vision of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus to life.

“Watching Louis’ production of A Streetcar Named Desire, I was stunned that his vision of this text, which is my favorite play, and which I’ve taught about 20 times, brought so much that was new to me. The imaginative staging—the bathtub on stage, Blanche’s ghostly boyfriend lighting the stage lamps, the birthday decorations—felt entirely new,” said Claire, who continues to teach English and serves as the Upper School Assistant Division Head.

“[Watching Coriolanus,] you could see that all the actors deeply understood and lived the Shakespeare, and I marveled at the hours of reading, thinking, and dramaturgy that the team must have applied to this text,” Claire noted. “I could also detect Louis’ hand as director both in the tiny, surprising, intimate moments between characters onstage, and in the stunning largescale geometric groupings—again, I thought I knew this play pretty well as a text, and I was so surprised by the dimensions that a directorial thematic vision layers onto the poetry.”

Allen added, “Streetcar is a favorite of mine, too, and though neither of us ever taught it to Louis, by watching his production, it felt like we were having a conversation with him about it. Coriolanus blew me away; the original soundtrack, the tightly choreographed movements of the actors, and the moments when Louis wasn’t afraid to let things get, dare I say, a little campy. I thought to myself, ‘This is the reason he always got Exemplary on close reading!’ I was so delighted that we were able to see this latest iteration of his artistic evolution.”

A director, writer, and theatre-maker, Louis led numerous productions at Vassar and was recognized for his work in 2022 as a recipient of the Marilyn Swartz Seven ’69 Playwriting Award.

“To say it was special to have Allen and Claire come to see my final two shows is an understatement,” Louis said. “When I look back at the most important things I’ve taken from my fourteen years at Nueva, the relationships I created with my teachers are at the very top of my list. I hold an overwhelming amount of gratitude for these relationships.”

↑ In late January, Julienne Ho ’19 and fellow Nuevans studying at the Claremont Colleges hosted a dinner get-together. Pictured (l to r): Julienne, Shaheen Cullen-Baratloo ’19, Noah Roskin-Frazee ’19, Clay Adams ’20, Elise Meike’19, and Leona Das ’19.

↑ A scene from Louis’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

→ English Teacher Allen Frost, Louis Blachman ‘19, and Upper School Assistant Division Head and English Teacher Claire Yeo.

catching up, and eating at a café in Hyde Park.¶ Sinead Chang is living and working in New York City as a brand coordinator at Day One Agency. During the Upper School’s trips week in May, she caught up with English Teacher Allen Frost, who was there with a group of eleventh graders. ¶ Emma Leschly is a member of the Colorado College (CC) freeride ski team and shares that she is “having an absolute blast!” The team represents CC at International Freeskiers Association and Freeride World Tour competitions. In addition to competing, the squad organizes ski days every weekend and over breaks. This past spring break, Emma and her teammates trekked to Utah to ski Brighton, Alta, and Snowbird while attending a competition at Snowbird. ¶ Emma said, “I’ve made some amazing friends on the team and am excited to hopefully recruit some more women to the team next year!”¶ Hilary Nelson graduated from Pitzer College and is a software engineer at Apple. In February she returned to campus to participate in the Upper School’s inaugural “Nueva North Stars” event. Turn to page 8 to read more about the panel.

2019 After

graduating from Scripps College this past spring, Julienne Ho is moving to Boston in the fall. She would love to see and grab coffee with fellow Nuevans in the Bay Area before she moves, and is always looking to find escape room buddies–on either coast!

¶ Kyle McGraw concluded his four-year basketball career at Caltech by being named to the Academic All-District

Men’s Basketball Team. The honor recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. Recipients must carry a 3.50 or higher GPA and play in the majority of their team’s games. In 2022–23, Kyle started all 25 games for the Beavers and led the squad in three-pointers.¶ Aster Taylor is one of 15 students from the University of Chicago to be named a 2023 Hertz Fellow. The fellowship provides five years of funding for graduate studies, and honors exemplary current or incoming doctoral students in applied sciences, engineering, and mathematics. Aster graduated with a degree in astrophysics and will enroll at the University of Michigan this fall to pursue a PhD in astronomy.

2020

Jeremy Dumalig is a rising fourth-year data science, statistics, and economics major at the University of Chicago. This past year, he managed the Maroons’ men’s and women’s basketball teams, in addition to taking on leadership positions with the Sports Analytics Club and Kababayan, the Filipino Student Association. Over the summer of 2023, Jeremy will be interning at FastModel Sports, a Chicago-based basketball analytics company.

¶ Since graduation, he has remained actively involved with the Nueva community as a class rep, and this past year he served on the Board of Trustees’ Development Committee. ¶ An ecology and evolutionary biology major at Princeton, Max Gotts is one of 55 students nationally to be recognized by the Udall Foundation and awarded a scholarship. Awardees are selected for their leadership, public service, and commitment to issues related to Native American nations or to the environment. ¶ Max is dedicated to the intersection of evolution and conservation

→ Nicholas Hu ’22 (second from left) and Brandon Cho ’22 (center) pose with members of the Princeton Nassoons.

↑ Jeremy Dumalig ’20 with his Nueva basketball coach Barry Tressler

↑ On Jan. 26, Madeline Park ’20 and Jake Vercellino ’20 took in the art and exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

↑ Valerie Braylovskiy ’21 celebrated the launch of her debut book of poetry, HalfLife, this year. The book is available for purchase on Amazon.

↑ At the March 2023 National Student Dialogue Conference, Willow Taylor Chiang Yang ’21 poses with former CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter.

Max is the 2nd consecutive Nuevan to receive the scholarship!

Photo by Dale Beck

From Nueva to the Nassoons

Best friends since the first grade at Nueva and longtime choirmates, Princeton students Brandon Cho ’22 and Nicholas Hu ’22 were selected to the university’s oldest a cappella singing group, The Princeton Nassoons. The group is the fifth-oldest collegiate a cappella group in the United States, and in 2022–2023 they toured in London and Florida, performed at a Carnegie Hall holiday concert, and participated in a concert at Yale.

Brandon, a tenor-baritone, is majoring in mathematics. Over his freshman year, he participated in the Princeton University Math Competition to help organize the event and develop problem sets, and the school’s HackPrinceton hackathon. He was also a member of the Math Club and Glee Club. This summer, Brandon is studying sociology for six weeks in Japan and Hong Kong as part of the Princeton Global Seminar.

Nicholas, a tenor 1, is considering pursuing a degree in the School of Public and International Affairs and getting a certificate in vocal performance. At Princeton, he is involved with several musical ensembles, including Glee Club and Chamber Choir, and works as a vocal coach for underserved students at the Trenton Youth Singers. He will be interning this summer at Brillianta, a market research analysis firm.

Brandon, Nicholas, and the Nassoons will return to touring next academic year with stops in the New England area, Miami, and Japan.

and has done work in Kenya and Costa Rica focusing on wildlife. He plans to work in Panama to investigate the sympatric speciation in poison dart frogs to help understand the origins of biodiversity.

2021

Following her freshman year at Pomona College, Valerie Braylovskiy decided to take a gap year over 2022–23 to dedicate more time to writing. In February 2023, she published her debut book of poetry, Half-Life. Originally serving as a place for her to collect her work, it eventually evolved into a series of poems that are thematically and chronologically connected, highlighting different parts of her life, her identity, and experiences that have been meaningful.¶ “There are so many teachers who pushed me to become a better writer and thinker. I have to give a huge thank you to Lily Brown, who used to teach English and creative writing [at Nueva],” Valerie said. “She is an incredible human, she introduced me to so many poets, and she even helped me edit the poems in HalfLife. She’s the best.” ¶ At Pomona, Valerie is pursuing degrees in creative writing and communication. She plans to continue writing and sharing her work in hopes that it resonates with someone. ¶ Maya Chawla is spending her summer traveling and working, including visiting Mexico with friends from Nueva and living in New York City for a month. She plans to take a gap year from UC Berkeley in 2023–24 to potentially work on a film or television production.

¶ Willow Taylor Chiang Yang is a double major in philosophy

and a self-made major she calls “American political economy,” where she is focusing on labor markets and the relationship between the individual and the broader economy at UNC Chapel Hill. Willow is working for philosophy professor Luc Bovens, with whom she is helping to organize the second International Behavioral Public Policy Conference in the fall at UNC. ¶ She is also working closely with UNC’s Program for Public Discourse as an Agora Fellow to promote values of civil discourse, critical thinking, and fact-based discussion on campus and nation-wide. Through this fellowship, she was invited to attend the National Student Dialogue Conference at the University of Delaware in March 2023. ¶ Over the summer, Willow will be working in Washington, D.C. as a media relations trainee for the German Marshall Fund, a transatlantic security think tank. She invites all Nuevans to reach out if they are in D.C. over the summer or in Chapel Hill over the next two years! Willow can be reached at willowtaylorcy@gmail.com.

David Chan is an electrical and computer engineering student at Carnegie Mellon. Over the summer of 2023 he returned to Tau Motors as an intern. The company works in electric motor design and David will be helping work on circuits for prototypes, while assisting on the software side. He also remains closely connected to the Nueva community, serving as a class rep. ¶ A rising second-year student at the University of Rochester, Miles Frank is majoring in computer science and a member of the

Rochester ultimate frisbee team. The squad competed in the 2023 Division III Nationals tournament this past May. It was the second appearance for the team in its 37-year history after going undefeated this postseason. Miles and “The Piggies,” as they are nicknamed, completed the tournament with a 12th place finish. ¶ Following a great first year at Northwestern, Tyler Huang is enjoying the summer in the Bay Area.

As a class rep, he has supported outreach and engagement efforts throughout the year with his classmates, while balancing academics, clubs, and other activities. ¶ He said, “My first quarter was incredibly hectic, but over the winter and spring I eased into the pace and general environment of Northwestern, which has been very different from Nueva. I’ve also met so many cool people and made some amazing friends, which has been really nice. Evanston has really felt like a second home for me, and I will miss the downtown and campus over the summer, but I’m excited to visit Nueva while I am home.” ¶ A mechanical

engineering major and humancentered design minor, Holden Johnson enjoyed his first year at Dartmouth and the opportunity to grow both academically and personally. In addition to his classes, he got involved in a variety of extracurricular activities, including the formula racing and club ski teams.¶

Anya Patel, a rising second-year student at Rice, plans to spend much of her summer in Houston

continuing her research work in Dr. Steven Boeynaems’s lab at the Baylor College of Medicine, which focuses on investigating how life has evolved mechanisms that preserve proteostasis under stress conditions and how these processes are perturbed in human disease. Anya began working in the lab in January 2023 and

↑ Enzo Salles ’22, Powell Mathewson ’22, Raza Rabbani ’22, and Humza Rabbani ’22

↑ UC Santa Cruz student Sam Rosales ’22 enjoyed a visit from former teacher Mark Hurwitz in early April.

is one of two undergraduates on the seven-person research team. During her time off, she is doing an apprenticeship under Michiko Marron-Kibbey, a chocolatier, who owns Deux Cranes in Los Gatos. ¶ Caroline Phipps will begin studying at Dartmouth this fall and is an incoming member of the Big Green varsity women’s rowing team. Over her 2022–2023 gap year, she worked as a sailing instructor in Inverness, Calif.; spent three months in New Zealand as a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) semester student, with much of it in backcountry mountaineering, sea kayaking,

and backpacking; and received her Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician certificate in Wyoming through the NOLS program. In March 2023, she started working as an EMT for American Medical Response in San Mateo County and is on the Advanced Life Support ambulances with a paramedic partner responding to 911 calls. ¶ Raza Rabbani is a member of the club squash team, enjoying his classes, and pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. This summer he will

Lunch and Learn

From sharing the importance of the course add/drop period each semester to what kitchen appliances are most helpful in a dorm room and how to prepare when moving to a new city for school, David Chan ’22, Avery Chen ’22, Jason Hwong ’20, and Loreen Ruíz ’17 offered their insight and advice at a May 17 lunch and learn alumni panel. For lunch, a group of culinary savants in the Class of 2023 grilled tacos with all the fixings for fellow upper schoolers to enjoy while learning from alumni whose experiences ranged from being at the beginning of their college journeys to those who are now navigating life as working professionals.

↑ Unable to return to the Bay Area for the recent Alumni Reunion Weekend in June, members of the Class of 2018 gathered in Central Park, NYC, for a mini five-year reunion! Pictured: Jules Garber, Aiden Herrod, Sinead Chang, Zack Chroman, Neeraj Sharma, Talia Schonberger, Thea Portnoy, Nathalie Gee. Photo by Jack McClelland.

15TH ANNUAL

NUEVA CUP

GOLF TOURNAMENT

Monday, Sept. 18, 2023

Greenhills Country Club, Millbrae

Shotgun start 10:30 a.m. and post-round reception

All parents, alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents, students, and friends of Nueva are welcome and encouraged to attend. Proceeds from the event benefit Nueva’s alumni and athletics programs.

The tournament features 18 holes of golf and is a fun, low pressure scramble format perfect for golfers of all levels. If you are not a golfer, please consider donating a raffle item, purchasing raffle tickets, and/ or joining us at our post-round reception!

Register and more info: nuevaschool.org/nuevacup

be doing a mechanical and energy engineering internship in Karachi, Pakistan. While in Pakistan, he plans to go on a five-day hiking trip through the Himalayas. ¶ Over the summer, Theo Rode, a rising second-year student at Harvey Mudd, is living in Long Beach and working at GrayMatter Robotics as an AI software robotics intern. ¶ During a visit to Santa Cruz, Physics Teacher Mark Hurwitz caught up with Sam Rosales, who is entering his sophomore year at UC Santa Cruz. At UCSC, Sam is playing bass in a band and getting involved in astrophysics research hunting for exoplanets. ¶ Kira Wallace’s autobiographical one-woman show, Unwrapped: Life After Giftedness, was a semifinalist in the Blank Theatre’s 31st annual Young Playwrights Festival. Audiences enjoyed watching her perform the show at the month-long Hollywood Fringe Festival in June.

SAVE THE DATES

Alumni Calendar

Save these dates for upcoming alumni and community events!

Classes of 2022 & 2023

Summer Sendoff

Friday, Aug. 11, 2023

Hillsborough Campus

Nueva Cup

Golf Tournament

Monday, Sept. 18, 2023

Green Hills Country Club, Millbrae

(see callout on this page)

Alumni Basketball Game

Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023

San Mateo Campus

Alumni Soccer Game

Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023

Hillsborough Campus

Young Alumni Social

(Classes of 2017 to 2023)

Friday, Jan. 5, 2024

San Mateo Campus

Intersession

Thursday, Jan. 4 to Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 San Mateo Campus

Alumni Reunion Celebration

Friday, May 31, 2024

San Mateo Campus

Additional events will be announced, including regional socials in Boston, Chicago, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area— stay tuned by following us @NuevaAlumni on Instagram and Facebook, and checking out MavNet!

↑ Theo Rode ’22 visited with Physics Teacher Barak Yedida while on campus in March.

↓ Kira Wallace’s ’22 autobiographical one-woman show, Unwrapped: Life after Giftedness

Oh, the Places Mavs Go!

Over the winter and spring, alumni hosted regional and international #NuevaNoshes.

How to #NuevaNosh

Nueva will pay for your coffee or meal when you dine with three or more Nueva alumni. To qualify, take a picture of all alumni at your event and send it to the Alumni Office along with a personal update and a copy of your restaurant receipt for reimbursement*. We will mail you the reimbursement for the meal and post your picture on social media, in the alumni newsletter, and/or magazine!

↑ During a weekend visit to NEW YORK CITY from Northwestern, Stanley Wang ’20 organized a #NuevaNosh dinner outing with a few NYC-based friends. Pictured: Stanley, Hanna Zarrinnegar ’20, Madeline Park ’20, and Wesley Shapiro ’20.

on

at

in CHICAGO. Pictured: Cole Bregman, Joshua Yao, Holden Johnson, Sam Tateosian, Tyler Huang, and Anna Ikle-Maizlish.

↑ Members of the Class of 2017 hosted a NEW YORK CITY #NuevaNosh in February. Pictured: Alex Chin, Olivia Jorasch, Saira Yusuf, Kian Motamed-Zaman, Jenna Li, Naomi Chou, and Varun Mehta.

↑ Members of the Class of 2018 gathered for a NEW YORK CITY #NuevaNosh brunch outing on Jan. 21. Pictured: Aiden Herrod, Viraj Garg, Sinead Chang, Evan Sucherman, and Nat Gee.

↑ On March 4, Class of 2021 friends hosted a #NuevaNosh in BERKELEY. Pictured: Shalin Zarboulas, Ishir Gupta, Matt Sakiyama, Nikhil Thakur, Maya Chawla, and Sean Cheong.

↑ The first international #NuevaNosh, classmates: Sean Cheong ’21, Maya Chawla ’21, Austin Jewett ’21, and Nicholas Hope ’21 in BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR, MEXICO in March.

↑ Class of 2022 friends

Feb. 4

a #NuevaNosh

↑ Andrew Chu ’22, Iam Lum ’22, and Ryan Poon ’22 reconnected over a #NuevaNosh dinner in CAMBRIDGE, MA

↑ In NEW YORK CITY for a January work trip, Emily Ross ’17 (right) #NuevaNoshed with classmates Varun Mehta ’17 (left) and Olivia Jorasch ’17 (center). Emily currently lives in London and works for Google as a product manager on the search content safety team.

THE JOURNEYS WE TAKE

This spring, second through twelfth grade students traveled across California, the US, and the world on grade-level trips. From elementary school camping journeys to twelfthgrade international adventures, these trips are an opportunity for students to bond with their peers, explore the world around them, and become informed global citizens.

Pictured, clockwise from the upper left: fourth graders camping in the Westminster Woods, third graders feeding a chicken at Pie Ranch, seventh graders exploring Crow Canyon, twelfth graders walking the streets of Amsterdam, eleventh graders hiking in Alaska, and fifth graders visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium.