A SHARED COMMUNITY
W
indward School is an independent, not-for-
profit, college preparatory school for students in Grades 7-12. Founded in 1971, the School provides a dynamic education in a nurturing,
inclusive community that offers the highest quality of instruction
to every student. Windward teachers, parents, and administrators work together to inspire our students to be responsible, caring,
well informed, ethical, prepared, and well balanced young adults.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP REPORT
Head of School Tom Gilder and his family have lived in Mar Vista
W
indward School has been a neighbor in the close-knit Mar Vista
community of Los Angeles for more than 30 years. We’re proud to partner with so many long-term residents to make the area a
welcoming place for our students and fellow neighbors. Windward seeks
to foster the special qualities of Mar Vista that make it feel like a small town in a large city.
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HOW DOES WINDWARD CONTRIBUTE TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY?
“
We are committed to engaging in partnerships that honor the School’s tradition of giving back and that can make a real difference in the community. — Jennifer Willens,
”
Upper School Dean of Student
Life & Experiential Learning -2-
Since 1982, Windward
School has been an active
member of the Mar Vista community. The School’s collaboration with the
local community is the epitome of a mutually
beneficial partnership.
Host community events on campus like the Westside constituent forum with California State Rep. Karen Bass
Donate surplus food from our cafeteria to local nonprofits Take a leadership role in sponsoring local activities like the Mar Vista Fall Festival and Pop-Up Mar Vista
Lend our campus facilities to local organizations, such as the Mar Vista Community Council’s Aging in Place Committee
Include our Mar Vista neighbors in cultural and educational events on campus throughout the year Our neighbors are welcomed to: Homecoming, Summer Camps, Guest Speaker Lectures, Performances, and Youth Events
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP REPORT
PRESERVING MAR VISTA PARK A COMMUNITY TREASURE
Windward actively seeks out voices from neighbors and local neighborhood associations through the Mar Vista‐Windward Partnership Steering Committee, which meets several times a year to identify new opportunities for working together.
Windward School families helped raise
to build a playground in Mar Vista Park
—an effort that earned a special merit from the city. Windward was the first school in Los Angeles to take part in the LA Parks Foundation’s Adopt-a-Park Program, to which Windward families donate
$25,000 A YEAR
earmarked for Mar Vista Park. Members of the Windward community also donate their time to the park by volunteering for festivals and beautification projects.
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Reduce the number of cars coming to campus through additional school bus lines, carpool incentives, and biking promotion
HOW DOES WINDWARD MANAGE TRAFFIC IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD? Windward School has contracted with one
of the premier traffic consulting firms in the Los Angeles area to routinely conduct an
Implement enhanced parking management during major School events to help prevent street congestion
Hold additional morning patrols on surrounding streets to monitor parking and maintain smooth traffic flow -4-
independent assessment of the School’s traffic flow and make suggestions on how to reduce
traffic in the surrounding neighborhood.
Station security guards before and after school to supervise traffic, monitor for jaywalking, and control parking and noise
Employ community crossing guards to assist with pedestrian crossing
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP REPORT
HOW DOES WINDWARD HELP FUEL THE LOCAL ECONOMY? Windward School makes it a priority to invest the revenue it receives back into the local community whenever possible.
OVER 645 Windward students, parents, faculty, and alumni live in the
90066 AND SURROUNDING
ZIP CODES WINDWARD EMPLOYS
140 MORE THAN
FACULTY AND STAFF
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A COMMITMENT TO
FINANCIAL AID
W
indward’s
commitment
to diversity and inclusivity is an
integral part of its educational
fabric and is inextricably linked to the mission of the School. A robust Financial Aid Program
that makes a Windward education possible for qualified students
15% $ 100% 3.7 2.3 The School’s Financial Aid budget has more than tripled over the past seven years.
regardless of financial ability is
OF FINANCIAL AID STUDENTS
diversity and attracting talented
have gone on to college since 2008
critical to ensuring economic students of all backgrounds.
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OF WINDWARD STUDENTS RECEIVE FINANCIAL AID
AVERAGE GPA
of Financial Aid students since 2008
MILLION
is budgeted for Financial Aid for the 2016-17 school year
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP REPORT
WINDWARD SCHOOL
Financial Aid Award Recipients Erica (Latimer) Tukiainen, Windward Class of 2006, earned her master’s degree in public health from Harvard University in May 2016 during a required one-year break from her medical school program at UCLA. She will begin her final year of medical school in the Fall of 2016. She is a former Division I athlete. I was born and raised in Finland and had moved to Los Angeles just a few years prior with my brother and my mom, who was a single mother. Education was a very important part of our upbringing, but there was no way we were going to afford a private school without aid. Windward was incredibly generous with their offer of assistance. At Windward, I found a place where people were very sincere and warm. I felt like all the students I knew were really welcoming. And the faculty were amazing; I had never been in a learning environment where the teachers were not just there to educate you, but were also there to be a mentor for you. It was truly a community that was nurturing to me in so many ways. Because of the Financial Aid that I received, I had a chance to pursue my dreams. Not only did I become a Division I basketball player at UCLA, but I also received a degree in French and moved on to medical school at the UCLA PRIME program at the David Geffen School of Medicine. I hope to become a physician, researcher, policy maker and an advocate—someone who can affect the lives of thousands of people, perhaps more. If it wasn’t for the tools that I learned at Windward, I would not have been able to go forward, to believe as much in myself, or to have the confidence that I could accomplish those things.
YoungJae Ryu, Windward Class of 2016, was awarded the Gates Millennium Scholar Award in the Spring of 2016. The award will cover his full undergraduate tuition at Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. YoungJae completed his senior year at Windward School with a 4.05 GPA earned in a wide range of challenging AP and Honors classes. Through tireless work, diligence, self-advocacy, and support from his nuclear family, YoungJae has learned he can overcome countless obstacles. He also seeks to share what he has learned with others, devoting time to numerous causes that he is passionate about. His work has been recognized with the AE Bell Foundation Deaf and Hard of Hearing Scholarship. He was also named a Questbridge Scholar. While at Windward, YoungJae was selected by his classmates to write the proposal for the Chairman’s Award, the highest award in Robotics. He was a leader in service through the School’s Community Care Committee and was a highly respected teammate and leader on the cross-country and track teams. His leadership, academic achievements, and civic dedication were recognized in the Spring of 2016 when he was selected from more than 53,000 applicants nationally to receive the distinctive Gates Millennium Scholar Award, one of the most selective honors available. With this honor, YoungJae will receive renewable scholarship funding throughout his undergraduate career.
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PARTNERING WITH LOCAL SCHOOLS Since 2012, Windward students have engaged in a flourishing partnership with Grand View Blvd. Elementary School, in which students from both schools learn from each other and support one another. Once a week, Windward Middle and Upper School students travel to the Grand View campus after school to serve as mentors to students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade. In MEDIA BYTES, Windward Upper School students guide Grand View students in learning new technology tools and programs at Windward’s Center for Teaching and Learning.
BILINGUAL BOOKS ’N GAMES, Through
Windward student mentors practice language skills with their buddies in both English and Spanish using books, creative activities, and board games.
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In ART EXPLORERS, Grand View students—under the guidance and encouragement of Windward Middle and Upper School students—learn about artists and create projects using their techniques. In the SECRET ARTISTS SOCIETY, Windward students use arts-based activities as a launch pad to teach their Grand View buddies how art is interwoven with STEM subjects, social studies, and language arts. In JUNIOR SCIENTISTS CLUB, Windward students work with Grand View students to explore a wide range of exciting science fields through hands-on activities and science projects, using Windward science labs, classrooms, and equipment.
Through our DISCOVERY ACADEMY, Grand View students in the third, fourth, or fifth grade, come to Windward’s campus once a week, where they partner with Windward student mentors to enrich their learning in a variety of extracurricular areas through resources available on our campus.
Windward’s current Upper School student body has logged a total of
17,000 COMMUNITY
SERVICE HOURS through the School’s service learning projects, courses, and opportunities.
“
Our students are not doing their service work to log hours. They’re doing it because they really love spending time with the kids. — Jennifer Willens,
”
Upper School Dean of Student Life
& Experiential Learning
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP REPORT
HOW DOES WINDWARD MINIMIZE ITS ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT? Windward prides itself on being a green campus and
neighbor. We teach environmental responsibility to our
students and live out those teachings by employing various ways to reduce our carbon footprint. The School has:
Achieved LEED for Schools 2.0 Gold Certification for our Center for Teaching & Learning and Science Center, making Windward one of the first schools in California to attain this level of environmental excellence
Encourages the replacement of all plastic water bottles on campus with reusable ones
Partnered with the Los Angeles Parks Foundation as part of Plug into Your Park, a city-wide ewaste recycling effort, where students from Windward’s Green Club collect electronic waste from the community Installed solar panels on campus to offset energy use
Installed waterefficient landscaping and bathroom fixtures to reduce water use on campus
Implemented an active recycling program that reduces waste and preserves our natural resources
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Windward is honored to partner with many LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS, including:
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• The Mar Vista Family Center • Mar Vista Elementary School • Prime Time Sports at Palms Middle School •T he Grand View Palms Senior Living Center, among others.
These partnerships are part of Windward’s longstanding commitment to be a good neighbor and add value to the Mar Vista community.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP REPORT
Each year, Windward inducts
50-60
NEW MEMBERS into the School’s Community Service Honors Society, which recognizes ninth- to 12th-grade students who have completed
100
OR MORE
HOURS OF SERVICE
STRENGTHENING OUR COMMUNITY THROUGH SERVICE Family Portrait Days Once a year at the holidays, Windward’s volunteer photography students run professional photography stations and invite families from the Westside Children’s Center to sit for a portrait. The families are then given a copy of a favorite photo, as well as a CD of all photos taken during their personal photography session.
Windward Students Selected for Mayor’s Youth Council Seven Windward students were selected for the Mayor’s Youth Council, a youth involvement program established by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to increase youth involvement in local government. As Youth Council members, students participate in community service projects in their local area and work side-by-side with local government officials. -11-
HOW DOES WINDWARD WELCOME THE COMMUNITY? Each year after the school year ends, Windward Summer Camp opens its doors to all students from across the community. In the Summer of 2016, 543 students took classes in Windward Summer Camp. Nearly three-quarters of these students were from almost 100 other schools, demonstrating the breadth of the summer program’s reach.
Windward Summer sports camps focus on the total student-athlete by improving performance, encouraging good sportsmanship, teaching leadership, and fostering camaraderie
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Actively solicits feedback from our neighbors through multiple, ongoing communication channels
Windward Summer academic camps are designed to enhance campers’ confidence and curiosity as they pursue a wide range of subjects, such as robotics, forensics, and debate
Holds an annual neighborhood meeting to promote continued dialogue and partnership
Publishes a quarterly neighborhood newsletter to provide updates of interest to our neighbors
Windward’s Performing and Visual Arts Camp provides a fun and creative atmosphere for campers entering fourth through eighth grade to explore their artistic potential
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP REPORT
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU Windward strives at all times to be a respectful and considerate neighbor. Your feedback is always welcome, and we are committed to working with you and responding quickly to any question or concern you may have. We provide 24/7 phone access to security for neighbor comments or inquires. Please feel free to contact Security Supervisor Mark Tronson at (818) 388-0681 or Miguel Castellanos, Facilities Manager, at (310) 391-7127, ext. 1018 if:
“
Your feedback is always valuable in our continual effort to make adjustments and operational improvements that will better serve the community. — Mark Tronson, Head of Security
• Y ou have any questions or feedback regarding parking, traffic, or noise at the School. •Y ou observe a Windward student or community member violating parking guidelines or engaging in disrespectful conduct.
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• You have any questions or feedback pertaining to campus events or School operating hours. Learn more and sign up for our email list at: www.windwardschool.org/community.
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