ISSUE 3
a newsletter for BHS alumni and friends MESSAGE FROM
HEAD OF SCHOOL Dear Alumni and Friends of Berkeley Hall, A warm hello to you from Berkeley Hall! We want to share with you what’s been happening at school, so please enjoy this issue, which is sure to bring back fond memories. The enclosed pages focus on our Variety Show, the Sixth Grade Invitational, cultural events, the graduating of the Class of 2017, a new fundraising event—the Adult Spelling Bee—and of course Class Notes. We’d love to include your news in Class Notes in our next issue, coming out this fall, so be sure to contact us. Also, check out our new Did You Know? section – interesting facts about the current families and staff at Berkeley Hall.
WHAT’S INSIDE 1-2 ...................................Variety Show 3..........................6th Grade Invitational 4....................................Cultural Events 5...............................Adult Spelling Bee
Please keep in touch, connect with us on Facebook and Instagram (especially on #ThrowBackThursdays), and let us know what you’re up to. Of course we’d always love to see you when you’re in town.
6-8......................................Class Notes 9...................................... Class of 2017 10.................................. Did You Know?
Until next time,
Lisle Staley, PhD.
SAVE the DATE! CAMPOUT
Friday, September 22
GALA
Saturday, December 2
VARIETY SHOW
Saturday, February 3
STAY CONNECTED
@berkeley hallschool
/berkeley hallschool
/berkeley hallschool
BerkeleyHall.org
SPRING /SUMMER 2017
Berkeley Hall School • 16000 Mulholland Drive • Los Angeles, CA 90049 • 310-476-6421
SPRING/SUMMER 2017
2017
VARIETY SHOW
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In the annual Dads’ Club Variety Show, students showcase their talents to packed audiences in Hodges Theater. This year’s event was full of singing, dancing, magic, comedy, piano, gymnastics and more!
Unti volo intior atureprovit vel inus adit alit
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SPRING/SUMMER 2017
6TH GRADE
INVITATIONAL
This Berkeley Hall tradition pulls at heartstrings every year when sixth graders are greeted so enthusiastically by the older students to their very first Junior High dance. After being announced by the DJ, sixth graders run through a tunnel of junior high students and are welcomed into the dance. The students prepare for this semi-formal dance by learning and practicing swing dance in PE class for several weeks. The culminating event of the evening, the Swing Dance Competition, reveals 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winning couples from each grade. It’s a special and memorable tradition and a wonderful night.
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Cultural Diversity Our lives are enriched in many ways by Berkeley Hall’s cultural diversity. This year, both the Indian and Persian communities on campus hosted special celebrations to share their traditions. Our Indian families hosted a Diwali festival to celebrate the Festival of Lights, and our Persian families hosted a Nowruz Festival to celebrate the Persian New Year. With music, dancing, delicious food, henna tattoos, arts and crafts, and many beautiful displays explaining the importance and meaning of these special traditions, all came away with a better understanding of these cultures.
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SPRING/SUMMER 2017
On March 18th, Berkeley Hall held its first ever Adult Spelling Bee. ECD’s “Better Than Auto-Correct” team won the event, having faced stiff competition from 3rd Grade’s “24 Karat Magic.” We had a great time at MountainGate Country Club and netted over $13,000 in support of Berkeley Hall’s Annual Fund.
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TOM TREANOR ‘48 Tom worked as a reporter for the L.A. Times and had an offer to pitch for the Chicago Cubs after graduating from Principia’s Upper School. In his retirement, he has worked as a FEMA volunteer for many years, and continues to compose orchestral music.
CLASS OF 1966 50TH REUNION Members of the Class of 1966 met up at the 2016 Family Fun Fest for a great reunion, filled with memories and photos. After a tour of the campus, they reconnected over dinner together in the McMahan Library. (L-R) Rich Asher, Mike Waldman, Derek Davis, Pam McGee-Martin, Trish Waldman Cruise, Kathleen Pratt
TORREY WULFF AND GARY HANSEN ‘66 Torrey Wulff was sailing in the British Virgin Islands and unable to attend the class of 1966 50th reunion. He sent this photo of fellow classmate Gary Hansen (on the left) and himself from summer 2015, at Arches National Park in Utah.
RICHARD ASHER ’66 CLASS OF 1964 The Class of 1964 had such a great time at their 50th reunion, that they reconvened two years later at the Topanga home of classmate Charlotte Pahlavi Correia and her husband Steve. Pictured left to right are: Kirk Honeycutt, Kent Bilsborrow, Lindsey Nicholl, Mark Bickerton, Charlotte Pahlavi Correia, Guy Veloz, Julie Stevens Jacoby, Larry Charlston, Dave Greenwalt, and Christina Sansone
Rich reports that he, Derek Davis, and Mike Waldman have been getting together every other month since the 50th reunion. Here is Rich with a rainbow trout caught while fishing on the Bighorn River of Montana, near Fort Smith.
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SPRING/SUMMER 2017
DAVID MARSHALL ’67 Dave lives in L.A., works in the travel industry, and would love to hear from his BHS classmates. Pictured with his daughter, Michelle.
STEPHEN CRAFT ‘71
ASHLEY ROBERTSON COATES ‘86 Ashley is busy being a mom to a six year old, and managing her and husband Tim’s outdoor store in Ventura. She is pictured here with her aunt, Wendy Price Anderson ’61, and her daughter, Charlotte.
Stephen lives in Los Angeles with his wife Renata, son Luca, and daugher Celestina (pictured here before her prom). Stephen is a real estate appraiser and enjoys family travels to Europe, especially to Renata’s hometown in Germany.
ERIC CHRISTIANSEN ‘92 After completing both his MBA and MPA, Eric has taken an Acquisitions Management position with the Missile Defense Agency.
BRIAN TLOUGAN ‘71 Brian met up at Berkeley Hall with classmates he’s not seen in 35 years, BHS history teacher, Pamela Fazio Tartaglia, and Jamie McMahan Trewhitt. He lives in the Czech Republic, is a world traveler, an author, and has had 32 solo photography exhibitions in Europe.
MIKE ELSEY (CAIRD) ‘76 Mike Elsey (Caird) lives in Boise, Idaho, and calls it “the mecca of sporting fun and adventure.” He composes music, is writing a script, and would love to hear from other alumni (mpelsey007@ gmail.com). He sadly reports that his brother, James Caird ’86, passed on last summer.
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DARYA LARIZADEH ‘97 Darya lives East Palo Alto with her husband and they are expecting their first child in June. Darya graduated from The University of San Francisco Law School in 2011 and worked as a criminal defense attorney for several years, followed by doing criminal justice policy research. She now works in a public high school helping to run a program for first generation and undocumented students who will be the first in their families to go to college.
CHRIS WHITE ‘97 Chris White loves practicing law in the city of his undergrad alma mater, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. In his spare time, he enjoys surfing and running on the beach or hiking and mountain biking in the hills nearby.
ANIL PATEL ‘03 Anil Patel stopped by Berkeley Hall to learn about our website software. Anil works as the Director of Software Information Systems for his high school, Notre Dame. He asked about his former math teacher Mrs. Barrows, and former Headmaster, Mr. Barrows, remembering them with great fondness.
PAST PARENTS, CLASS OF ‘98 Moms met at the Getty for dinner and caught up with news on their BHS ‘98 graduates. Pictured left to right are Sherry Walter, Vicki Murphy, Barbara Lavender, Debbie Braunz Plotkin, Suzy Nyhus, Sandi Johnson, and Sara Swallow
NATALIE WHITE ‘99 Natalie, pictured in Belgrade, Serbia, is an attorney with Moriarty and Associates in Woodland Hills. She also donates volunteer time to Lawyers for Human Rights, a non-profit NGO, located in Cape Town, South Africa.
KEVIN AVEDISSIAN AND ANDREW BOGGS ‘04 Kevin and Andrew’s friendship started in Kindergarten and continues today. Their gettogethers are not as often now, as they live on opposite coasts. Pictured here from a recent visit to Berkeley Hall.
NOAH MILLER ‘09 Noah is finishing his undergraduate Degree in Physics at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and spent time last summer in Switzerland working on a project for CERN, the largest particle collider on earth. Noah’s work on upgrading the geometry used for a detector recording data will be in place for years to come. He won the Steven Chu award for best undergraduate presentation at the Far West Conference of the American Physical Society.
Natalie has traveled around the world for legal events, volunteer work, and pleasure.
CHRIS ADAMS ‘14
CLASS OF ‘99 Giorgia Horrell and her mom, Assistant Business Manager Marialuisa Horrell, hosted a holiday party for BHS and Viewpoint classmates and moms. BHS Class of 1999 members pictured are (L-R) Giorgia, Calais Brown, Kash Hovey, Lyndsay Lebiedzinski, and Tessa Swallow.
Chris Adams has had two stand-up comedy shows at the Improv Comedy Club on Melrose in Hollywood, played with his band at a show at The Mint, and is looking to pursue physics or astro-physics in college.
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SPRING/SUMMER 2017
ACCEPTED The Archer School for Girls The Buckley School Campbell Hall School Chaminade College Preparatory Crespi Carmelite High School Flintridge Prep School Harvard-Westlake School Highland Hall Immaculate Heart High School Louisville High School Marymount High School Notre Dame Academy
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Notre Dame High School Oaks Christian School Pacific Hills School Principia Upper School St. Monica High School Sierra Canyon School Viewpoint School Village Christian School Vistamar High School Wildwood School Wilson Hall *Bold denotes where they will be attending high school
Did you know? SASHA GADALOV, 4TH GRADE for Californa Youth Art Month in her age category for an unprecedented 3 years in a row. Each year she had to win 1st place at both the county and the regional levels before competing at the state level. She accomplished this in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades.
WINTER SPORTS SEASON at BHS
(NEW THIS YEAR) One of the Jr. High boys soccer teams clinched the championship, after having lost to the same team in regular season.
BHS students, DANIEL KOTLYAR and THOMAS MATTHEW, decided to compete alongside some BHS coaches at last year’s Redondo Beach Triathalon. Not only did they do very well in their division, they also took 1st and 2nd place among all competitors age 14 and under!
have been born this school year; a boy to 6th grade teacher Eva Cooper, a girl to Librarian Tracey Swiderski, and a boy to 4th grade teacher and BHS alumna, Ashley Brown.
She may be teaching girls PE, but COACH REESA has her B.A. in Music Education and French Horn Performance from U.C.L.A., and started the BHS Band this year!
AWARD-
WINNING
ART PROGRAM The California Art Education Association named art teacher, TRACY CHENEY, Outstanding Elementary Visual Art Educator for 2013. In 2015 four Berkeley Hall students were selected to represent the state of California at the 5th Arts Olympiad held in Washington D.C. in front of the White House. Winners representing 33 states and dozens of countries from around the world met to celebrate the importance of the arts to the development of children ages 8-12.
AMEERAH GROVER, 7th grade, and her brother Shiv, 2nd grade, started iSparkle, Inc., to raise money for a school in India educating children who live in slums. Ameerah has used part of her summer vacation to teach English at the school, and Berkeley Hall families have generously donated funds and warm clothing for the students.
The Bobcat Chorus performed “Double Trouble” from the film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The piece was composed by John Williams and features the prose of William Shakespeare. Says chorus faculty leader, CHELSEA ROUSSELOT,
“ This piece was no easy feat as the music features unpredictable changes in meter and pitch.”
With deep sorrow, we want to let you know that our dear Berkeley Hall family member, Richard K. Fields, passed away on March 13, 2017. Rick served as our Director of Advancement from 2015-2017. He passed peacefully at home in the comforting embrace of family. We will miss Rick’s unbounded enthusiasm for ideas and life, his joyous smile and easy laugh, and his humble way of bringing us all together. Among his many contributions to Berkeley Hall for which he will long be remembered, are the formation of the Trustee Advisory Board, the creation of our Difference Makers Series, and his strong focus on marketing our Depthof-Study initiative. Rick will truly be missed.
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Make a lasting impression!
edicate a brick to your family, a student, a class, a favorite teacher, to celebrate someone’s life, or as a way to always be part of the school. This makes a wonderful graduation present or alumni gift. When you donate a brick, you help Berkeley Hall fulfill its mission to provide the best education to its students and give them a solid foundation for their future. Visit BerkeleyHall.org/Bricks to make a donation.
Be remembered on a beautiful brick along the GIVING WALKWAY adjacent to our learning garden.
SIZES 4x8........................$500 8x8.....................$1,500 12x12.................$2,500
FROM THE
ALUMNI OFFICE Dear Alumni,
Be a social media ambassador! Share BHS news in your feeds.
You are an ambassador for your alma mater. You represent the rich and diverse history of our school. The Office of Alumni Relations would like to maintain a vital link between alumni and Berkeley Hall by providing our new publication, Berkeley Hall School Connections. There are photos of campus updates and highlights of our school activities, Class Notes, and a ‘Did You Know’ section. We want you to know what campus is like, what the students are like and share the traditions, the present, and the future of your school. We encourage you to connect and engage with Berkeley Hall. We celebrate our history, and your achievements, both past and present, and we look forward with anticipation to a great future together.
@berkeleyhallschool
/berkeleyhallschool
Warm regards, SARA SWALLOW Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Alumni@berkeleyhall.org
/berkeleyhallschool