Full Circle Spring 2011

CASTILLEJA SCHOOL MAGAZINE SPRING 2011

spring 2011 | 1

contents SPRING 2011 features First Person: Innovation in 21st Century Schools The Case for an Independent Cirriculum

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Continuous Innovation: The 10 The Global Program Moves Forward Women in the Economy 2 | full circle

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Faculty Notes

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Alumnae

Class Notes

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In Memoriam

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Scratching Out STEM: 6 Innovation for Middle School Girls The Old and the New in the Classics Thread

Around the Circle

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from the head innovate 1548, from L. innovatus, pp. of innovare “to renew or change,” from in“into” + novus “new.”

As I near the end of my first year as Head of School, I am pleased and proud to deliver to you the latest issue of full circle magazine. Through the combined efforts of engaged contributors, this publication illustrates the far-reaching role innovation plays in meeting the challenges of Castilleja’s Strategic Plan, “Defining Educational Excellence for Girls in the 21st Century.” In many respects, this spring magazine exemplifies our vision for how strategic innovations will continue to define Castilleja’s future.

Speaking last fall at Castilleja’s Advancement Forum (excerpts on page 2), environmental and educational activist Ann Doerr P’09 sparked a year-long exploration of the role of innovation in education by urging us to embrace five critical challenges as we redefine educational excellence for girls. This spring at View360, IDEO CEO Tim Brown P’09, ’11 eloquently articulated that innovation is the key to addressing the world’s challenges, with young women playing a critical role in solving these problems.

Embracing these inspiring forecasts, we are planting the seeds of educational innovation through new teaching methods, new programs, and a curriculum rich with authentic, real-world experiences. And as you will see throughout this issue, teachers are

leading the way, preparing girls and ensuring they will have the knowledge and skills to shape and protect the world they inherit.

The recently announced Innovation Investment Fund supports the development of these innovative programs in four strategic areas: • Highlighting innovation in the Humanities, Middle School English Teacher Christina Gwin shares insights into how innovations are rooted in classic traditions.

• Part II of her series on STEM, Anne Cameron, Middle School Head, reports on the innovative integration of MIT’s Scratch programming language into Science and History classes.

• Spanish teacher Flaurie S. Imberman, in our featured interview, sheds light on the broadening of our global program to include solidarity activism through engagement with women in Guatemala struggling to improve their own lives.

• And Steve Taffee, Director of Strategic Projects, and Jole Seroff, Director of Library and Information Services, highlight innovative initiatives in support of the “third teacher,” the physical space in which learning and teaching occur.

My passion for inspiring Castilleja girls to learn and to lead is unrelenting. The faculty and staff share in this passion, and together we have embarked on an innovative redesign of Castilleja’s program to meet our strategic goals. A recent issue of The New Yorker featured a cartoon with the caption, “We’re ready to begin the next phase of keeping things exactly the way they are.” At Castilleja, on the other hand, we’re ready to begin the next phase of keeping innovation at the forefront.

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feature First Person: Innovation in 21st Century Schools Castilleja Alumna Parent Ann Doerr P’09 was the guest speaker at our fall Advancement Forum, and spoke to the Castilleja community about education in the 21st century.

Ann emphasized the need for schools to go beyond educating students for acceptance into top colleges.

She urged Castilleja to prepare students to confront the challenges of a rapidly evolving and increasingly interconnected global economy. Following is an excerpt from her remarks, focused on steps Castilleja can take to enhance the program, deepening intellectual curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.

Teach the power of narrative to inspire curiosity and motivation. Whether through teachers or speakers, either on campus or via webcasts and teleconferencing, provide tools for the girls to tap into today’s thought leaders. Let the girls hear their stories and think critically about how these influential individuals have approached their areas of expertise.

Give the girls an opportunity to have fun and feel empowered to learn and explore. Take learning beyond the four walls of the classroom, and give the students a chance to experience hands-on, realworld applications of the knowledge and information they are learning.

Engage the girls in the local and global community.

Immerse them in society so that they have the requisite knowledge to shape policy. Perhaps more importantly, by becoming active participants in the system they seek to change, they can become the most effective advocates for reform.

Develop the girls’ ability to understand and manipulate data. Empower them to analyze large volumes of information and to understand the significance of the data they are examining. From the iPad, to Facebook’s social graph, to tools such as Google Maps, News, and Scholar, the girls need to know how to mine the datasets created by contemporary society so that they can think critically and form new ideas.

Ann Doerr is an educational and environmental activist and a trustee of the Environmental Defense Fund. She received a B.A. and M.A. in Electrical Engineering from Rice University.

Provide the students with collaborative spaces in which to work. Studies show that girls want to work together. By providing group-study spaces to facilitate class projects and extracurricular activities, the girls can learn from each other’s creativity and gain inspiration from their peers.

Ann and John Doerr drop in on the Casti Gatorbotics Team and their mentors at the FIRST National Tournament in St. Louis.

Photo courtesy of Cardinal Photo.

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By Steve Taffee, Director of Strategic Projects

academics

What Should 21st Century Classrooms Look Like?

As Castilleja thoughtfully examines its teaching practices, course offerings, and daily schedule, it is also addressing what some refer to as “the third teacher,” the physical space in which learning and teaching occur.

Led by the Buildings and Grounds Committee, Castilleja is creating a new Campus Master Plan (CMP). Castilleja’s CMP will serve as a “guiding light” for making decisions about building and renovating school facilities. The document will be the result of hundreds of hours of collaboration with faculty, staff, students, parents, alumnae, and other members of the community. Inspiration will come from visits to outstanding, innovative examples of school architecture, and through consultation with regional and national experts on school design and the role that learning spaces play in the education of children.

The CMP will enable the 21st century learning and teaching that are hallmarks of a Castilleja education and create a campus that will demonstrate our leadership in the education of girls.

Castilleja’s previous CMP, completed in 1995, led to renovations to the Arrillaga Family Campus Center, Rhoades Hall, and the Gunn Family Administration Building, projects which took a over a decade to complete. Though the details are still taking shape, our new CMP will be equally ambitious.

We hope to create environments that are agile, inspiring, sustainable, healthy, student-centered, and affordable.

Five finalists were selected and visited campus in the early spring to be interviewed by the committee. Out of a field of strong contenders a firm was chosen in May. Look for more information about the firm and the next steps in the CMP process in the fall.

Steve Taffee joined Castilleja in 2002 as Director of Technology, following more than a decade of teaching and executive roles at technology companies. He recieved a B.S. from Central Michigan University and Ph.D. from Michigan State University.

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feature The Case for an Independent Curriculum The research in girls’ education clearly shows that female students engage at a deeper level and retain more knowledge when they have opportunities to collaborate and interact while they solve problems.

Over the past year, Castilleja faculty and administrators have begun to develop an independent curriculum to replace the current Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum used in the Science Department. New advanced classes in Physics, Biology, and Chemistry will debut in September 2012. The shift puts Castilleja among those schools leading a “quiet revolution” away from the College Board’s AP Curriculum and standardized tests and toward a curriculum that is student- rather than test-centered.

Susan Dean:

In May, Castilleja hosted a panel discussion for parents to learn about the rationale for the change, as well as the curriculum development process and messaging to college admissions offices. Head of School Nanci KauffmanHA was joined by Science Department Chair Jeanné Appelget, Director of College Counseling Susan Dean, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Stanford University Harry Elam P’12, and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Stanford University Rick Shaw for the panel discussion. Their comments are excerpted below.

“Students entering college most need to have flexibility of mind and critical thinking skills, and I believe an independent curriculum will better prepare them for what is expected of them after high school. Science is one of the places I think this kind of curriculum will make the most difference, especially for girls. Having been exposed to research and inquiry already, they will be more confident and know that they can immediately, and successfully, go and get involved at a deeper level.”

Nanci Kauffman: “The impetus for any curricular change at Castilleja begins with our strategic plan, ‘Defining Educational Excellence for Girls in the 21st Century.’ It demands of us that we are a defining and redefining institution. It demands that we consider everything current research teaches us about cognition and learning. And, it demands that we develop the most compelling and pedagogically sound curriculum based on all we have learned.”

Jeanné Appelget: “The new curriculum will be centered in inquiry, where students are actively involved in the process of learning and experimenting, regularly involved in communicating their knowledge, and invested in critiquing their own work. It will provide more time for in-depth study, allow the flexibility of following student interests, and create space for significant collaboration and communication of ideas.”

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“It is important to remember that most of the Castilleja curriculum is independent already, and is what has established Castilleja students as the kind of learners that colleges and universities want to attract. Revising our curriculum will bring positive changes for the girls not only in the classroom, but also in the applicant pools of the most selective colleges.”

Harry Elam:

Richard Shaw: “Among the most selective institutions in the country, all will adapt and adjust to what you are trying to accomplish with an independent curriculum. They’ll look at the outcomes of the women taking those courses and their experiences, and see that they are exceedingly well educated.”

The complete audio and video of this program, as well as handouts and other independent curriculum resources, can be found on the Head’s Page, castilleja.org/head.

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• Focus on depth rather than breadth without compromising rigor • Offer more project-based courses • Offer more truly interdisciplinary courses • Infuse our curriculum with courses that also address Environmental Sustainability, Equity and Social Justice, Globalization, Leadership and Communication, and Research and Technology Skills • Expose our students to a way of thinking that allows them to create new knowledge and make connections across disciplines, not simply gather information or memorize facts • Support and engage our students in valuing and pursuing a lifetime of learning

Survey of Admissions Officers

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Goals of an Independent Curriculum at Castilleja:

In January 2011, Castilleja surveyed Deans and Directors of Admission at colleges and universities in the U.S.; 175 (32%) completed the survey.

82% of respondents supported this statement: “I support Castilleja’s decision to review its curricular offerings and replace its AP curriculum with rigorous college-level courses designed by Castilleja faculty. Such curricular changes in and of themselves would not jeopardize a Castilleja student’s competitiveness for admission to my institution.”

Would replacing our current AP curriculum with an independent curriculum that offers college prep, honors, and advanced-level courses negatively affect our students’ chances for admission to your college? 

No (82%)

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Yes (1%)



Perhaps (17%)

Would offering an independent curriculum pose any problems for you/your staff in evaluating our applicants’ transcripts or determining their preparedness for study at your institution? 

No (81%)



Yes (1%)



Perhaps (18%)

How well do you know Castilleja School? 

Well/Very Well (55%)

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Somewhat (31%)



Not At All (14%)

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feature Scratching Out STEM: Innovation for Middle School Girls

By Anne CameronHA, Head of Middle School

“This is so cool!”

Castilleja’s seventh grade students are participating in a series of hands-on activities, specially designed to integrate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) principles into the curriculum using MIT Media Lab’s Scratch programming environment.

Louise Madrid, Middle School STEM Coordinator, has collaborated with teachers across the disciplines to create meaningful, interactive lessons that develop programming skills while reinforcing course-related concepts. These high-interest and real-world applications are designed to develop teamwork and logical thinking skills as well.

• They have regular and predictable access to technology.

The activities involving Scratch have been carefully scaffolded, building student skills, engagement, and confidence along the way. Each successive project allows for additional sophistication and understanding of programming skills. In the fall, students programmed animations to illustrate biological processes in Life Science. Then, they created study aids in French and Spanish using visuals and voice recordings. Before February Break, they collaborated to write interactive Math games. The year concluded with student-created multi-media museum exhibits in History. Students applied an engineering design process to achieve their goals. Interface designs, like storyboarding, and program flow designs allowed them to effectively communicate their ideas and to turn them into a tangible plan of action.

Castilleja’s STEM program is in line with these concepts, and this pilot is succeeding for many reasons. Our one-to-one program has created easy, immediate access to the tools and resources that enable this engrossing work. The collaboration between our STEM Coordinator and the teachers has facilitated the development of integrated, meaningful, real-world applications of programming skills. Enthusiastic, skilled mentoring allows students to stretch and experience success. The activities are designed to encourage teamwork and provide a social context. The design process and concrete ways to communicate ideas provide meaningful structure.

A capable student body, willing to work hard and embrace new challenges, goes a long way as well!

Why is the development of STEM skills relevant? Historically and currently, women are underrepresented in STEM-related programs and careers. The 2010 AAUW study, “Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics,” asserts, “Girls’ achievements and interest in math and science are shaped by the environment around them” and “believing in the potential for intellectual growth, in and of itself, improves outcomes.” Additionally, research by Scheckelhoff, Swarlis, and Murakami, outlined in the article “Girls and Technology: Strategies for Success,” names these specific criteria to increase preparation and interest in technology among girls and young women: 6 | full circle

• There is social connectedness and social issues are addressed.

• There is social relationship building in their work with technology.

• Spatial ability is developed and nurtured beginning in their early years of education.

• They have skilled and passionate mentors and role models.

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The students’ animations, study aids, and math games are one measure of success. Student reflections say even more about the value of these experiences.

“I learned teamwork, patience, and how to put steps together.”

“I like working with a partner, fixing bugs, and when you finally get something right after 200 tries.”

“I liked that we had free rein. We were allowed to figure out how to put together our program by ourselves.”

And, when asked what else they would like to learn about Scratch? “Anything! Scratch is really fun!”

Music to an educator’s ears.

“I like the satisfaction when you accomplish something, finding the elegant solution to a glitch in your program.”

— Casti 7th grader

Anne CameronHA joined Castilleja in 1996 as Head of Middle School from St. Andrew’s Episcopal School where she was Director of Intermediate Grades. She began her career in the classroom and has taught students in all grades, K-8.

She received a B.A. from the Oregon College of Education and an M.A. from Santa Clara University. spring 2011 | 7

feature The Old and the New in the Classics Thread: Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts

By Christina GwinHA, English Department

What happens when Disney makes a movie about Hercules and the muses introduce the story with gospel music? What happens when Harry Potter has to get past Fluffy, the three-headed guard dog, to begin the adventure?

These examples of the “old” in the “new” are more than just references to Roman and Greek mythology; these “new” contexts transform the “old” characters to make them a part of our world—our sensibilities, our jokes. When we look at the old in this way we become acquainted with it and innovate, inventing our own world out of what is given to us. It is with such a perspective on change and invention, in the transmission of cultural media and values, that a group of sixth grade teachers has begun building a Classics Thread to lay the groundwork for a liberal arts education in which the analysis and invention of our own perceptions of the “old re-made in the new” are forefront.

In 2009, the school began an open conversation around the Latin curriculum, which resulted in the creation of the Language Task Force, and this body recommended that a Classics Thread be incorporated into the 6th grade curriculum. We started with History 6 and English 6 to create antecedents to a liberal arts education through the historical, linguistic, and cultural—the rationale being that the content the students would acquire would create a basic foundation from which further, more advanced, content could be pursued and conceptual questions of the humanities could be posed.

We began with a historically focused unit, as it allowed for us to expose students to terms useful for History and to literary and artistic terms for English.

So, for the first two weeks of school, we focused on approaching similar content through different disciplines. And because it is always worthwhile to be grounded in the concrete, tangible world for this age, our first theme was things: What do things reveal about who we are, what we value, how we live? What is the meaning we give to things?

And then the “things” turned into “artifacts” and

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“caches,” and the culminating activities provided a foundational understanding of how archaeologists and historians learn about the past using both artifacts and oral history. And with these terms, the old becomes a medium, as it is a part of fashioning the new.

There are the obvious linguistic connections between English and Latin and Greek, so English 6 is focusing on these through roots and context. It is exciting to see word play in definitions at an exact point in history, and we begin with Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary. We continue to give linguistic study historical context with the Oxford English Dictionary, and then we move to current online sources.

(Feel free to adopt an almost obsolete word at savethewords.org.) We also created our own online Samuel Johnson-inspired dictionary: A Castilleja Lexicon of the 21st Century in which the Words are Originals and Illustrated in Their Different Situations

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by the Community, Volume I. We are continuing with mini lessons on the journey of English with a special focus on the three introductions of Latin into English—can you make the connection from the Anglo-Saxon “kingly” with the French “royal” to the Latin “regal”? Etymology, another model for the old in the new, plays another kind of key model for how to advance students in interdisciplinary study— words change over historical periods, as do cultures.

The third focus of the Thread, culture, brings me to a project in English which was continued in History. The question “Where is the old in the new?” was recently put to English 6 students. They are presently looking and listening for evidence of Ancient Greece and Rome in our world, and they are posting their findings on our Edmodo site. Just a few days into the project, there were 80 postings and counting. And, of course, we focused on the stories from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Not only did we have fun with the operatic nature of the myths, but we looked for the larger ideas, for clues about the cultures, for the values. We noted that the Ancient Romans took many of the myths from the Greeks, creating their own “old” in the “new.” (Why, for example, is Ares found in very few Greek myths, but Mars is so important to the Romans?) We noted the Greeks took their myths very seriously and the Romans not as much. We noted that the Romans had a flair for blending history with mythology,

connecting their leaders to the mythical icons.

Looking ahead to next year, we hope to expand the Thread to build on an already-successful Archaeology Day and to include Latin and Greek lessons—a transmission and transformation of our old in the new theme: like our model of etymology, girls will be given exposure to linguistic contexts of change and development. It is a metacognitive perspective that coincides with our interdisciplinary goals and objectives, with our view of the humanities and a liberal arts education. We can see how the history develops in its particulars, its cultural artifacts and inventions, and more. It is not often that we pair “innovation” and “the Classics” together, but in presenting the old content in a new way, we hope to allow for such a relationship, one that may surprise and delight.

Christina GwinHA has taught Middle School English at Castilleja since 1999 and currently serves as Academic Dean for the 6th Grade. Previously, she taught at the Town School for Boys in San Francisco. She received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.Ed. from Harvard University.

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feature Continuous Innovation: The Global Program Moves Forward In January, faculty member Flaurie S. ImbermanHA traveled with Director of Library and Information Services Jole Seroff to Guatemala to explore the viability of expanding the Global Investigator trips to Latin America. Ms. Imberman recently sat down with full circle Editor Dana Sundblad to talk about the trip and the next steps for the Global Program.

Dana Sundblad: There are so many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean - why Guatemala?

Flaurie S. Imberman: Guatemala’s diverse population includes more than 60% indigenous people. Its rich history provides ample opportunities for our students to learn about human rights and other struggles for social justice, topics with which they will have engaged in the classroom by the time they are juniors. Guatemala is also home to an extensive handicraft industry, and women artisans who have been working to find solutions to problems caused by globalization.

DS: Problems caused by globalization? Can you talk more about that?

FSI: Handicraft workers in most developing countries are having a tough time competing with sweatshop-produced items that imitate the local crafts and are imported from other countries. So, for example, in some of the markets in Guatemala, we saw “Guatemalan-style” textile goods that were manufactured in sweatshops in China. This leads to loss of income and rising rates of impoverishment for women and children globally, so there is strong motivation to look for solutions.

DS: You spent a couple of days meeting with women artisans. Tell us more about this exchange?

FSI: The women we met are weavers who belong to fair trade cooperatives supported by Mayaworks, a non-profit organization that stimulates and supports fair-trade handicraft production in Guatemala. Fairtrade agreements protect workers through certification of healthy working conditions and hours, fair pricing for goods produced, and workers’ participation in key decision-making. Additionally, Mayaworks has a microloan program to support artisans; we visited a weavers’ cooperative whose members were also raising chickens and pigs to supplement their income.

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DS: You also spent time with school-age girls?

FSI: The girls attend the Study Center in the town of Comalapa, where they benefit from after-school enrichment and remediation. Mayaworks believes that, “the education of young Mayan girls is critical to the economic development of communities. These young women will become the primary caretakers of the next generation, making decisions about the education and health care of their children and the future of their families.” It’s important to note that this is an after-school program; girls must be in school in order to participate. Once she is given a scholarship to attend this program, a girl will be supported in this program until she graduates high school. In Guatemala, a large number of indigenous girls do not complete even elementary school; this program helps combat that trend. Forging a meaningful relationship with these girls is at the heart of the experience we are designing for our students.

DS: Can you talk about how the philosophy behind global engagement has changed over the years?

FSI: Yes, for many years now I have been deepening my thinking and practice of solidarity instead of charity and our program is undergoing a similar shift.

As we met with different organizations in Guatemala, Jole and I had a real “aha” moment when we realized that our program design for this new Castilleja experience turned on one small proposition: we aim to work with people in Guatemala, not for them. It is important that students not only be aware of issues, but also be actively engaged with people struggling to transform their lives. By centering our work with Mayaworks, we gain the opportunity to forge relationships with authentic, grass-roots organizations in the developing world.

As solidarity activists, we will be supporting work developed by Guatemalan community organizations

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1 1 One of the artisans from Mayaworks.

2 We spent time with Francia Jackson Ala ’53, a founder of the Los Cimientos Alliance (LCA-USA) a non-profit organization that provides humanitarian aid and international advocacy for the Maya K’iche community and K’aslem Mandala, a youth program dedicated to environmental education, reforestation, and water conservation.

3 We also spent time with students who attend the after-school programs at the Study Center in the town of Comalapa.

Photos courtesy of Jole Seroff.

themselves. I like to paraphrase Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, when he writes about “scratching where there is an itch.” Authentic needs, authentic organizations, authentic solutions.

DS: What an incredible experience you are designing! What’s next?

FSI: Incredible indeed! The students in my Spanish IV classes have been enjoying a new curriculum designed especially for them; in a sense, we are beginning the Guatemala experience now. The trip is at the heart of the experience, but it is not an experience on its own. We’ve been grappling with tough issues in class, such as the root causes of inequality, poverty, and injustice, as well as exploring the differences between solidarity and charity. At the same time, we have been meeting with the chaperone team, engaging in similar learning while bonding as a group.

Flaurie S. ImbermanHA, who self-describes as a “teacheractivist,” has taught Spanish at Castilleja since 1991 and has led numerous trips for students to Latin America. In addition, she teaches Latin American & Caribbean History, leads SEED seminars, and presents workshops at the annual White Privilege Conference. In 2009, she was named an NAIS Teacher of the Future. She received a B.A. and M.A. from SUNY-Binghamton.

DS: We wish you and the chaperone team a great trip in June, and we look forward to hearing from you again after the student trip in January.

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feature Women in the Economy: A Conference Focused on Action On May 14, Castilleja hosted “Women in the Economy,” a conference for high school girls, young alumnae, and educators. Inspired by The Wall Street Journal’s inaugural Task Force on Women in the Economy, and sponsored by NASDAQTM and McKinsey & Company, the conference drew more than 200 to campus from Bay Area schools.

Head of School Nanci Kauffman described it as, “an amazing day for Castilleja as we offered young women a wonderful opportunity to engage deeply with economic issues, think broadly about solutions to challenges raised, and network with mentors.”

The conference kicked off with a keynote address from Meg Whitman, former President and CEO of eBay and former California gubernatorial candidate.

She gave an overview of the gender gap in the American workplace and offered her hopes for the next generation of women leaders. Ms. Whitman implored the girls to experiment with different roles in divergent fields while they are young, and not to narrow their focus too early in life. She encouraged them to get to know themselves, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, by using the summers to explore different fields. “If you think of something interesting, try it out! Find someone who knows it— learn from a mentor and network. Don’t be shy!”

Next, “Women Power: Unleashing the Power of Women in the U.S. Economy,” a panel discussion moderated by Sue Siegel, a General Partner at Mohr Davidow, focused on how women can position themselves for success in the workplace. Panelists Dotty Hayes, Board Member, First Tech Federal Credit Union and Range Fuels, and Lauri Shanahan, Principal at Maroon Peak Advisers, talked about how they attained their leadership positions, as well as the networking and relationship building which had facilitated their career progression.

The second panel, moderated by Dr. Jane Shaw Carpenter, Chairman of the Board at Intel, discussed the personal and professional characteristics necessary to break barriers in the workplace, as well as the importance of work-life balance. Panelists Lori Goler, Vice President of People at Facebook, and Teresia Gouw Ranzetta, a Partner at Accel Partners, described how they had nurtured the ambition and 12 | full circle

drive requisite for ascending the corporate ladder.

They also shared how spending time outside the office can further enrich a leader’s work and enhance her professional success.

Students Jane Larkins ’12, Kendall Levison ’13, Taylor Wilkerson ’13, and Isabelle Hillberg (Sacred Heart), the leaders of the student group which organized the conference, added their perspectives to the panels as well.

Throughout the conference, Lareina Yee, Partner at McKinsey & Co. and co-author of the original research that guided the WSJ Task Force’s discussion, presented her study’s findings and guided the audience through some of the highlights. One slide regarding the leaky corporate management pipeline really resonated with the girls. Students marveled at how women hold 53% of the entry-level positions but only 3% of the CEO positions. “It was really eyeopening data,” said Michaela Wetter ’11.

Eleven mentors, from industries ranging from hightech and retail to investment banking and venture capital, were also an integral part of the conference experience. They sat at tables, while the girls rotated after each segment, giving the students the opportunity to network with many people during the day. Laptops at each table enabled the groups to work together to create action steps the girls could take that would help change the gender imbalance in the workplace. At lunch, cell phone voting was used to allow all the participants to vote on the action steps to see which were most popular.

Monique Moyer, Executive Director, Port of San Francisco, was wowed by her experience. “It was amazing to be in the presence of such accomplished women of all ages, to hear their perspectives, and share their energy. And I was delighted to share my own experiences with the girls...it was impossible not to take away something of value.”

“Today I learned so much!!! This conference was truly eye-opening.” Sophomore, Castilleja “I feel incredibly inspired and grateful to have had a learning experience to hear from so many amazing women and take away so much from their experiences.” Freshman, Castilleja “I will work on building my teamwork and networking skills.” Senior, Castilleja

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Words of Wisdom From Conference Attendees:

“I will put myself out there in any opportunity that I am given.” Junior, Gunn High School Taylor Wilkerson ’13, who participated on the first panel, summed up the conference saying, “The McKinsey Women Matter team found that ‘the most important leadership attributes for success today are intellectual stimulation, inspiration, participatory decision-making, and setting expectations.’ That is exactly what we did today and what we’ll continue to do in the future.”

“My daughter came home motivated, excited, and truly inspired by the speakers and mentors. We greatly appreciate that Castilleja gave her the opportunity to participate today.”

— Palo Alto High School Parent

“I will not get upset about my failures, but instead embrace them so I can use them as tools for success.” Junior, Sacred Heart “I will think about my options and possibilities more and how anything can be achieved if I really challenge myself.” Junior, Castilleja “I will devote more time to mentoring young women besides my daughter.” Castilleja Alumna

“I will work to encourage my peers to have confidence. It occurred to me today that not all young women are as encouraged and empowered as we are here. All women need to have confidence in their ability to succeed.” Junior, Castilleja “Today I learned that you stop working the day you find a job that you love.” Senior, Palo Alto High School “I’m inspired not to wait around for opportunities, but to make opportunities for myself.”

Sophomore, Castilleja “I will not be afraid to take risks because, as I learned today, that is how you come across great opportunities.” Freshman, Menlo School

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feature Library 2.0: Small Changes, Great Impact

By Jole Seroff, Director of Library and Information Services

Keeping libraries relevant for today’s teens is a challenge. They want spaces for silent study and to hang out with friends; they want places to work collaboratively and have access to resources quickly. Not only do services need to be of high-quality, but the physical space needs to be appealing.

While a major redesign of the Margarita Espinosa Library may happen in the future, we decided to make a few economical updates to raise the profile of the library and indicate the direction of future change. Our goals were to create a more flexible space to facilitate a range of uses and position the library as a center of collaboration, inquiry, and knowledge-generation on campus.

With input from students and faculty, including a design thinking workshop with the entire sophomore class and a dedicated Library Vision Team, a range of ideas from the practical (more supplies) to the fanciful (hang hammocks from the ceiling) was winnowed down to a list of short-term projects: • Construction of two glassed-in group study spaces, with writable glass walls • Addition of small tables with writable glass tops and comfortable seating • Installation of a new cabling system to support increased use of laptops and new overhead lighting • Elimination of some reference shelves to make more open space • Installation of a flat panel screen to serve as a digital sign At the same time, we undertook a renovation of the library’s website. A fresh new look included student book reviews, a rotating carousel of featured stories and photos, the BookBox widget to highlight new acquisitions, and numerous interactive elements.

Better access to myriad research sources and subscription databases ensured that our electronic presence was as strong as our physical one.

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Reactions to the changes have been gratifying.

Students asked one another, “Have you seen the new library? It’s so cool!” It is amazing what a difference a few changes can make. One student remarked, “it has become more of a space for the community.”

That is just what we had in mind.

Excerpt from “School Library Update 2.0: Small Changes Add Up to Great Impact” by Jole Seroff, Director of Library and Information Services.

Originally printed in VOYA (February 2011).

Jole Seroff joined Castilleja in 2009 as Director of Library and Information Services. Previously she worked as a library media specialist in an under resourced urban school district and as an instructor with the Institute of Reading Development. She received a B.A. and M.S. from the University of Memphis.

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Earth Week The dynamic, student-run “Green Team” pulled together a full week of eco-conscious activities to honor Earth Week at Castilleja.

From raising awareness about simple things that can lessen an individual’s impact on the environment and planting new seedlings, to creating clothes out of recycled materials for a fashion show and learning about green business practices, the Team put together an inspiring array of programming. Highlights included the bike-to-school contest, a locavore farmer’s market on the Circle, and a green gadget fair.

Palo Alto Mayor Sid Espinosa (pictured right with Green Team leaders) dropped by mid-week to visit the fair, announce the winner of the bike-to-school contest, and talk to students about the City’s efforts to be green.

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Upper School Signs New Technology Code In February, Upper School students signed a new Technology Code modeled on Castilleja’s current Honor Code, which was written by students a decade ago. The work of drafting the document was done over the course of two years under two student-led Judicial Committees.

The committees worked with students, class governments, the Dean Council, and the Technology Department to determine relevant issues and best practice conduct. With the launch of the 1:1 laptop program on campus during the 2010-11 academic year, the document is particularly timely. The document is posted on campus and will be included in the 2011-12 Parent-Student Handbook.

Welcoming the Class of 2018!

Casti is... the school for me! That was the most common response the admission staff heard throughout the 2010-2011 admission season. With applications up by 22% and standing room only at admission events, the energy and enthusiasm for Castilleja was palpable.

We will welcome 90 new girls, including 62 members of the Class of 2018, and their families to Castilleja this August. They come from 46 different schools and 22 cities, from San Francisco to Sunnyvale.

Each girl brings a different set of interests and talents, but collectively they share a love of learning and a strong desire to engage in their community and in the world around them. We couldn’t be more proud to welcome our newest Casti girls!

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GLEE – ful!

Castilleja’s very own newly-formed Glee Club was positively glee-ful at the results of their first competition, “Music in the Parks,” held at Great America in May. Sixteen girls, who dubbed themselves the Sound Sisters, sang “Brand New You” by Jason Robert Brown, “Out Here On My Own” from the movie Fame, and “Ain’t No Mountain,” and took home first place in their division with a “Superior” rating and a score of 95/100. Of the 14 choirs who competed, the Sound Sisters received the second highest overall rating.

Library Wins 2010 Edublog Award Late last year, Castilleja’s Margarita Espinosa Library won the 2010 Edublog award for Best Library Blog—topping 23 sites that had been short-listed. In November, the site was nominated along with 56 other library blogs, websites, and podcasts and shortlisted as one of the top nominees in the category before voting was opened to the community.

Edublog provides custom blogging platforms to individual teachers, school districts, and students, and began the Edublog Awards in 2004 to promote and demonstrate the educational value of social media.

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Cum Laude Luncheon Cum Laude is a student honor society in selected high schools across the country. The student members of Castilleja’s Cum Laude society are seniors with strong citizenship records and the highest academic rank in their class. This spring, Castilleja inducted 13 seniors into Cum Laude and celebrated their achievements at a luncheon attended by their teachers and advisors. The students honored from the Class of 2011 are: Sophie Brown, Rachel Brownell, Grace Chen, Courtney Chuang, Charlotte Geaghan-Breiner, Sophia Koontz, Camila McHugh, Brenna Nelsen, Laura Rose, Rachel Skokowski, Sedona Speedy, and Jacqueline Summers.

Random Acts of Kindness Students decided to contribute to campus cheer by instituting Random Act of Kindness Day at Castilleja. The girls spread the word in The Daily Bulletin, imploring their classmates to, “Do something nice for someone. You can do anything! It doesn’t have to be big. Give someone a hug. Open the door for someone you don’t know. Do whatever you would like!” After girls performed their acts of kindness, they went to the whiteboard in front of the Dining Hall and wrote down the ways they had helped make someone’s day a little more special. Actions included everything from giving away candy, to opening a difficult box, to “telling a high schooler she was pretty.”

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Film Festival Winner In April, the sixth annual Greenlight Earth Day Film Festival, “Reel(ize) Your Connection,” screened films made by local artists exploring the concept of environmentalism and showing how individuals can help to reduce their environmental impact. Five finalists from each of three age categories were chosen and shown at the festival.

The finalists’ topics ranged from environmental citizenship to preserving wildlife habitats.

Castilleja junior Emily Wong ’12 won first place in the High School category with her film “Running Out of Time” about conserving resources such as water and clean air. Last year, classmate Katie Kirsch ’12 took home first prize.

Shakespeare’s Birthday Students, faculty, and staff gathered on the Circle for the annual celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday. Students reenacted scenes from Love's Labours Lost and The Merchant of Venice on the Circle, ate “couplet cakes,” hurled appropriately Elizabethan insults at each other, and gathered around to read the many submissions to the Bad Sonnet Competition, which attracted some truly awful poetry this year! Of course the celebration would not be complete without the traditional “Pin-the-Lips-on-Kenneth-Branaugh” game and a piñata decorated to look like Hamlet’s castle!

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lockey alumnae house

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Lockey Alumnae House Speaker Series Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading international human rights organizations, visited Castilleja as part of the Lockey Alumnae House Speaker Series. Mr. Roth has written extensively on a wide range of human rights abuses, devoting special attention to issues of international justice, counterterrorism, the foreign policies of the major powers, and the work of the United Nations. He talked to the group about how HRW selects which injustices to combat, and how it conducts the research and investigation necessary to confront the inequity. He described how the organization uses the media and public court of opinion to effect change and how HRW must carefully assemble facts and figures to counteract the misinformation and disinformation propagated by abusive regimes. He also shared some of the organization's recent successes including the closure of a ring of “black jails” in China, where citizens had been held for days or months in secret after making complaints about the government.

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Founder’s Day It was a beautiful day on the Circle as more than 750 gathered for Castilleja’s annual Founder’s Day Mother-Daughter Luncheon on April 29. Head of School Nanci Kauffman welcomed mothers and special guests, including 8 members of the Lockey Family, direct descendents of Castilleja’s founder Mary Ishbel Lockey. The Lockey Family traveled to campus to be part of the event and to present the school with a folio of historical letters and documents from the Lockey Era (1907-1938) for our archives.

Recognizing the foresight and leadership of Ms. Lockey, Ms. Kauffman noted, “She, in collaboration with Dr. Jordan, established a course for Castilleja that remains relevant today. Together they planted the seeds of Castilleja. They nourished the school’s early roots. And they brought meaning and purpose to their lives, by literally and figuratively planting trees under whose shade they might never sit. And to this day, a Castilleja education demands of each student that she too plant the trees that will provide shade for others.”

The afternoon continued with songs from the sixth and seventh grade choruses and speeches from four members of the Class of 2011 who were selected by their classmates. Hannah Nesbat, Claudia Kelley, Natalie Shell, and Michaela Wetter shared their personal stories, Castilleja histories, and hopes for our shared future. CSA President Lisa Merenbach P’10, P’11, P’14 presented the 2011 CSA Award for outstanding volunteer service to the School to Martha Seaver P’06, P’08, P’11.

The day ended with the traditional planting of a tree on campus. The ceremony, which was attended by the many faculty, staff, students, alumnae, parents, and friends who were touched by his warm heart and wonderful cooking during his more than 30 years at Castilleja, honored beloved former Director of Food Services Rudy DeCaminadaHA, who passed away last year.

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A Club with Clubs With musical accompaniment ranging from ragtime to the Beach Boys, the Middle School Mini Golf Club always gets students swinging and dancing on the Circle! Club leaders arrange foam noodles, life preservers, and a variety of other “found” objects into an intricate mini golf course and then attempt to maneuver the ball as efficiently as possible through their obstacles. There is no green jacket for the winner, just a lot of fun in the sun!

Casti wins FOMF! The first and last time any team won the Friends of Millard Fillmore Trivia Hunt (FOMF) three years in a row was in the early seventies. In February, Castilleja did it again, defeating teams from Gunn, Woodside, Carlmont, and Paly. Team member Simone Seiver ’13 reflects on Casti’s big win: “It took more than five hours for our FOMF team to be crowned the champions of the 2011 Hunt, and we were thrilled to bring the trophy home to Castilleja! The strength of our team is undoubtedly the incessant communication between team members from the moment we get the questions on Friday right up until answers are due on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. We text, we call, we email, we chat, and we Skype non-stop! Also, our team does not specialize—everyone takes part in everything in one manner or another so come Monday night, at the adjudication, we have a core group of team members who are as prepared to defend our answers as they are to challenge those of our competition. We pride ourselves on being well-rounded FOMFers! We can’t wait for next year to see if we can make it four in a row!”

Lauren Myracle Skypes In Students were sad to say “l8r g8r” to writer Lauren Myracle at the end of their Skype session.

The best-selling author of ttyl, the first book written entirely in IM, Eleven, and Love Ya Bunches has been called the Judy Blume of her generation for books that deal with the social and emotional struggles of young adults, especially girls. She talked to the students about her childhood, her passions, and what inspires her to choose the topics and issues she features in her books, and the girls had questions about her writing process and, of course, some of their favorite characters!

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Peacemaker Exhibit Fills Seipp Gallery In February, more than 100 students, parents, and teachers attended the opening reception for the Peacemaker Project, a juried show in the Anita Seipp Gallery featuring 125 works from students and alumni of seven peninsula high schools: Castilleja, Menlo, Phoenix, Woodside Priory, Palo Alto High School, Menlo Atherton High School, and Sequoia High School.

The show was juried by local artists Mitchell Johnson and Kathryn Dunlevie and curator Susan Hillhouse. The winning artwork will travel to the Museum of Modern Art in San Antonio, Texas to be exhibited alongside notable artists, including Herb Ritts and Jenny Holzer, in “The Missing Peace Exhibition: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama.”

First place was awarded to Ariadne Yulo ’10 for her painting “The Literacy Project,” celebrating Efren Peñaflorida’s work to promote education in the Philippines. The painting was done in Ms. Trilling’s Advanced Painting and Drawing class during her senior year at Castilleja. “I chose Peñaflorida as the subject of my painting,” said Ariadne, now a student at the University of Chicago, “for his courage and determination to turn a pushcart from a mark of poverty into a symbol of peace and progress.” Since 1997, Peñaflorida and his team of volunteers have been working in slums and shantytowns using mobile “pushcart classrooms” to teach basic literacy to nearly 2,000 impoverished children in the Philippines. Today, in Peñaflorida’s native Cavite City, construction is underway to build a state-of-the-art learning center for impoverished children, proudly planned to resemble a giant pushcart.

Aurora Real de Asua ’12 received an Honorable Mention for her portrait of Louis Armstrong done in her Drawing and Painting class. Said Aurora, “To me, Louis Armstrong (bottom center) represents peace because he remained true to his values during a time of extreme racial tensions. Although the performers he sang with on stage refused to eat with him in restaurants, he maintained his respect for others and for his industry. He valued people for their talents and their beliefs, not for what they looked like or where they were born. He was an oasis of acceptance amidst all the social restlessness; he is peaceful in the literal sense of the word.”

One of the other paintings in the exhibit by Saloni Kalkat ’13 (bottom left) won first place in an art competition sponsored by the Los Altos Rotary Club. The painting was displayed in several different city venues, including the Fine Art in the Park show on May 14.

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Working in Web2.0 Fashion

Janet Lai ’87 presents science and crime scenes to middle schoolers.

CSI: Palo Alto Scientist and Casti alumna Janet Lai ’87 thrilled Middle School students with her presentation, CSI: Palo Alto, when she talked about the science of crime scene investigation. As part of the “Lunch-and-Learn” series, Ms. Lai explained that, while 99.9% of people’s DNA sequences are the same, the other 0.1% often plays a critical role in helping law enforcement officials solve crimes. From isolating the sources of DNA at a crime scene, to how best to store DNA evidence and the steps in DNA testing, the girls learned about the logistics of using microscopic clues to catch criminals. As the girls headed back to class after an exciting hour, they were extra careful when recycling their trash— if they left their cup or napkin behind, they knew exactly how the teachers would figure out whodunnit.

Casti Girls Attend WOW Summit in New York

Elizabeth Yin ’00 and her best friend, Jennifer Hsieh Chin ’00, always knew they would start an internet company together, and shook on that fact during their junior year at Castilleja! Today, they run LaunchBit, a set of online tools and resources to help new web entrepreneurs validate their markets and acquire their first online sales without coding.

Prior to LaunchBit, they built several profitable niche websites, including social shopping sites for wedding apparel, ShinyOrb.com, and dresses, DressMob.com. In the spring they returned to campus to talk to a group of aspiring entrepreneurs and fashionistas about their work. The pair shared the excitement and difficulties associated with creating an online business: “everyday is like a rollercoaster, but it is quite a fun ride.” The students got answers to their questions around designing websites, developing business and funding plans, and measuring success. By the end of the hour, the girls had greater perspective on entrepreneurship and on how to turn their passions into businesses.

While speaking at View360 2010, Castilleja’s annual spring symposium benefitting tuition assistance, Tina Brown, then Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Beast, invited students to the 2011 Women of the World Summit.

Almost a year to the day later, faculty member Dr. Christy Story and 5 Upper School students, selected on the basis of an essay and application, were among the 100 guests and journalists in attendance at the Summit in New York! They spent the weekend hearing from an amazing array of political, cultural, business, and media leaders including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Sheryl Sandberg, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Christiane Amanpour, and more than 80 others who shared their stories and offered their solutions for improving the lives of women and girls around the world. “It was an incredible and inspiring event,” said Sam Cecil ’10. “What was most amazing was realizing that we actually are the ‘generation of the future’ the panelists kept talking about and that it is up to use to not only learn about problems, but to learn what we can do to support the best solutions to solve the problems.”

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Community Action Projects Create Change The Music for the Community Club organized a spring benefit to support the Japanese Red Cross. The event featured a variety of acts, ranging from original songs to theatrical monologues to violin concertos, including special performances by Castilleja’s own Glee Club and faculty members. During the year the 35-member club raised money to support organizations including Music in the Schools, performed locally for the senior residents of Lytton Gardens, and ran a weekly after-school music program for third and fourth grade students at East Palo Alto Charter School (EPACS)...

A group of enthusiastic seventh graders packed up hundreds of pounds of spaghetti squash, apples, turnips, and onions and dozens of pie shells for the Ecumenical Hunger Program’s (EHP) Family Harvest Day in February. Once a month, Casti Middle School students sort, bag, and distribute groceries to local families who receive services from EHP… Since January, freshmen have partnered with My New Red Shoes (MNRS) and Haven Family House to help local homeless families. One of their first projects was a mini-makeover of a drab apartment at Haven House, which they turned into a welcoming space for a family transitioning from a homeless shelter. The girls used baskets of toiletries and other housewares collected in February to set up each room. In April, the class organized a school supplies drive and then spent an afternoon at the MNRS warehouse to sort donations. Seven students also participate on the MNRS Youth Advisory Council, which provides an opportunity for the girls to take a leadership role in alleviating homelessness…

For almost a year, Abby Thornburg ’11 has volunteered in the dispensary at Ravenswood Family Health Center, the only health clinic in East Palo Alto. In the spring, she rallied a group of Castilleja students to help the clinic with a pressing need—creating medical record files for 300 new patients. Students spanning six grades helped out and worked alongside the clinic coordinators, two recent Stanford grads…

Casti students honored America’s troops abroad by sending valentines to soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Advisories made more than 100 cards and even collected stamps to help offset the costs of mailing the letters…

Students created a wave of support for Japan by voting to forgo dessert at lunch for two weeks in April! The small sacrifice made by the girls resulted in an $1100 donation to the Red Cross to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami…

Sophomores partnered with Rebuilding Together Peninsula (RTP) for a series of volunteer projects to help prepare for National Rebuilding Day on April 30. One team spent the morning at RTP’s Redwood City warehouse sorting tools and assembling building kits, which were distributed to job sites around the Peninsula. A month later, another team joined with Bellarmine student volunteers to prepare marketing materials for each of the sites. They sorted through t-shirts, arranged postcards, cleaned and alphabetized sponsor banners, and made kits for quick banner setup…

In the spring, the softball team volunteered at Garfield Elementary School in Menlo Park as part of the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative (BAWSI). Founded in 2005, BAWSI serves elementary school-age girls who lack opportunities to participate in sports programs. The Gators served as mentors for the younger girls by participating in BAWSI’s after-school program of fitness activities and healthy living discussions designed to combat obesity, raise self-esteem, and demonstrate the value of sports for girls.

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1 1 Music for the Community members at clubs fair 2 Seventh graders at EHP

3 Freshmen at Haven House 4 Abby Thornburg ’11 volunteering at Ravenswood Family Health Center 5 Student-made valentines for soldiers

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speakers

Speakers at Castilleja More than 250 parents, alumnae, and students turned out for a very special Parent Education event with acclaimed artist and activist Eve Ensler, best known for her play, The Vagina Monologues. Ms. Ensler read from her newest book, I Am An Emotional Creature: The Secret Lives of Girls Around the World. Based on observations and interviews with hundreds of teenage girls, the book is a collection of fictional monologues on subjects ranging from sexual mutilation to slavery and is filled with the youthful intensity of girls who want to create change in the world. She also talked about her recent trip to the Congo, where she and her organization, V-Day, are working on an anti-violence campaign and have recently opened City of Joy, a shelter for victims of violence. Prior to the reading, authors Isabel Allende (House of the Spirits) and Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner); sociologist Arlie Hochschild (Global Woman); journalist Adam Hochschild (Bury the Chains); and Anneke Van Woudenberg of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch joined Head of School Nanci Kauffman and a small group of guests at a reception at the Lockey Alumnae House.

This winter, Castilleja welcomed Susan Orlean as this year’s Arrillaga Family Speaker. A renowned journalist and writer for The New Yorker, she is the author of The Orchid Thief, My Kind of Place, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, The American Man, Age 10, and Lazy Little Loafers. She spoke to the girls of her experiences as a published author and her personal journey to success.

“Each story comes from love,” she noted. “Love of writing. Love of the challenge of seeing both sides of a situation, of getting to know different people, and of getting to travel into another culture or sub-culture through the eyes of another person.” She encouraged students to focus on each person’s unique story, and to let other people’s different experiences and points of view enrich the stories that they write in the classroom and beyond.

Emmy Award-winning musician, philanthropist, and author Peter Buffett brought concert and conversation to campus.

He shared parts of his latest work, Life Is What You Make It, a personal guide to following your passions, transcending your circumstances, and living life to its fullest.

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Princeton Prize Winners

Students and faculty members attend the Diversity Conference in San Diego.

In April, four Castilleja students were among those awarded 2011 Princeton Prize in Race Relations Certificates of Accomplishment.

Griselda Carlos-Arzate ’11, Grace Chen ’11, Sonali Mehta ’11, and Mia Taper ’11 were recognized for their work to advance the cause of positive race relations. Chen also received a Certificate of Accomplishment in 2010. Upper School Head Chris Blair was thrilled to see the girls’ work recognized. “It is a fitting tribute to them and to faculty members Christina Nawas ’02 and Joke van der Hulst for the incredible work they have done in changing the awareness of diversity in all its forms at Castilleja.”

Since 2003, Princeton University has sponsored an annual awards program to recognize, support, and encourage high school students who have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the cause of positive race relations. Through this effort, Princeton hopes to inspire others to join in these or similar efforts and to undertake their own initiatives.

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Coach Jez McIntosh “Gets the Roll” Like a basketball circling the rim before it falls in, it took a few tries for the Gators to deliver Jez McIntoshHA his 200th career victory.

McIntosh scored his 199th victory on December 31, when Castilleja won the Championship match over San Benito in the Dons Club Holiday Tournament in San Jose. But it took three tries before the Gators scored a decisive win over visiting Crystal Springs and the celebration could begin. Natasha von Kaeppler ’11 reached her own milestones that night, setting a school record by playing in her 102nd consecutive game (all of them under Coach McIntosh), eclipsing the mark previously set

by Nikki Perlman ’05, and becoming the first player in school history with 300 career steals.

Castilleja Scholar-Athletes Shine Each year, the Central Coast Section (CCS) of the California Interscholastic Federation presents the Winter Season Scholastic Championship Team Award to the varsity team with the highest collective grade-point average of all teams competing in that sport during that season of competition. The Gators took top honors in both winter sports categories in which they competed—Basketball (3.84) and Soccer (3.75). This is the 6th year that varsity soccer won this award and the 2nd year for basketball.

The student-athletes involved have achieved distinction in the classroom, and at the same time have committed themselves to participation in interscholastic athletics. According to Upper School Head Chris Blair, “This remarkable accomplishment is a testament to the girls’ ability to maintain scholarship despite the early dismissals and hours of practice and competition required to engage in this level of sport.”

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Awards and Honors Senior Natasha von Kaeppler ’11 was named to the 2011 All-League Basketball Team (First Team) and the 2011 All-Metro Girls Basketball Team (Honorable Mention). Six players were named to the 2010-11 All-West Bay Athletic League Girls Soccer Team: Emily Mosbacher ’12 (First Team); Rachel Brownell ’11 and Kathryn Hobbs ’13 (Second Team), and Caitlin Colvin ’12, Charlotte Geaghan-Breiner ’11, and Kaley Nelsen ’13 (Honorable Mention). In addition, Mosbacher (First Team) and Brownell, Colvin, and Hobbs (Honorable Mention) were named to the All-Daily News Girls Soccer Team.

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sports recap

Lacrosse

A 6-7 overall record landed the Gators in the Central Coast Section (CCS) top ten and tied for 3rd in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL). Coach Claire Mancini praised the “strong senior leadership” on the team and noted, “the girls made huge improvements both offensively and defensively which gave them their most successful season to date!” Junior midfielder Martha Harding ’12 led the team in scoring with 72 goals. Freshman goalie Rebecca Merenbach ’14 had a great first varsity season with 56 saves.

Swimming

The Castilleja Swim Team finished the season with a 5-3 record.

The girls were competitive in each meet and showed incredible improvement throughout the season. Coach Chris Rubin, in his first season at Castilleja, commented, “With more than 75 percent of the 21-member team freshmen and sophomores, there is a lot of promise in the pool and a bright future for this outstanding team.”

Softball

The Gators tied for first in the West Bay Athletic League, pulling out a dramatic win over visiting King’s Academy in the bottom of the seventh inning. The team moved on to the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs as the No. 13 (9-3, 13-12) seed, but fell in the first round to No. 4 Soquel (22-4). Head coach Robert Burley said, “We lost a big part of our team from last season, but we still finished this season as co-champions and I’m really happy with the way this young team played all season.”

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MS Students Take Top Prize at Tech Challenge The Solution Seekers—eighth graders Shea Ketsdever, Dani Mitchell, Nicki Mitchell, and Wings Yeung—took home the Grand Prize in the middle school category at the 2011 Tech Challenge in April. This annual team challenge for youth in grades 5 through 12 is a signature program of The Tech Museum in San Jose, designed to introduce and reinforce the scientific process with a hands-on project geared to solve a real-world problem, in this case removing garbage from the Great Pacific Gyre.

During the challenge, the girls had 3 minutes to use their device to remove two 2-liter bottles and three bottle caps from the “test rig” (which simulated an ocean garbage patch) without harming the marine life.

Making History at National History Day For the first time, two Castilleja students have advanced to the National History Day Finals competition, which will be held at the University of Maryland. Eight Castilleja students were among the 950 elementary, middle, and high school students who competed at the state level in April. Categories included historical papers, websites, exhibits, performances, and documentaries. After the preliminary rounds on Friday, freshman Monica Taneja ’14, who did a documentary film on women’s suffrage, and eighth graders Clare Tandy ’15 and Caroline Harris ’15, (pictured above), who did a website on Prohibition, advanced to the finals. On Saturday, judges announced the two entries plus a runner-up in each category to advance to the national finals, and Clare and Caroline’s website was chosen as the runner-up in the junior group website category. This is a first for Castilleja and quite an accomplishment for the girls, as there were 32 projects in that category!

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When the emcee asked the girls what advice they would offer next year’s Tech Challenge teams, they answered, “Fail. And then improve on it. Because if you never fail, you’ll never win.” Anita Chan, the team’s advisor, said, “I am very proud of their success, but more importantly, I am very proud that Casti teaches the girls to take risks, to not fear failure, and to try their best to succeed.”

Castilleja students last took home the top prize in 2007, when Annie Cardinal ’11, Virginia Phelps ’11, and Evan Cranston ’11 won the Mars Crater challenge.

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Picture Perfect: Palo Alto Weekly’s 20th Annual Photo Contest Castilleja students took home 5 awards in the Palo Alto Weekly’s Annual Photo Contest. Now in its 20th year, the contest invites entries from local photographers of all ages in three categories: Portraits, Bay Area Views, and Views Beyond the Bay Area.

Competing in the Adult Division, Maya Maniar ’11 took 3rd place in the Portrait Category (top).

Competing in the Student Division, Petra Carlos-Arzate ’13 (top left) placed 2nd in the Bay Area Views Category. Julia Vais ’13 (top right), Katherine Gaffney ’12 (bottom left), and Grace Arnold ’13 (bottom right) received Honorable Mentions.

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Performing Arts Rewind

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The Castilleja theater is rarely quiet, as student performances occur year-round. This winter, students brought their considerable talents, both on the stage and behind the scenes, to three full-staged productions: Annie, Urinetown: The Musical, and the student-led Arts With a Heart: Stand up. Stand out. Show Your True Colors., which raised money to combat bullying in schools. The girls also took to the stage for class assignments, like the Eighth Grade One-Act Plays, the Middle School Talent Show, and the annual Winter Concert, featuring Castilleja’s orchestras and choirs.

This page (top to bottom): 1 and 2 Eighth Grade One-Act Plays 3 Winter Concert 4 Middle School Talent Show

Opposite page (top to bottom): 5 and 6 Arts With a Heart: Stand up. Stand out. Show Your True Colors.

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7 and 8 Urinetown (Upper School Musical) 9, 10, and 11 Annie (Middle School Musical)

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engaging possibility

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On March 12, the Castilleja community gathered for the 4th Annual View360 Symposium. Almost 600 parents, alumnae, alumnae parents, honorary alumnae, faculty, staff, and students attended the spring fundraiser to benefit tuition assistance.

View360 brought together optimists of the highest caliber whose achievements and aspirations for the future are exhilarating. A flash mob of students kicked off the evening with a performance that proved that the future really is bright!

Journalist and ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas served as moderator and guided an exploration of optimism from a 360-degree perspective. Tim Brown P’09, ’11, CEO of IDEO, set the foundation for the importance of creativity in all forms of innovation and illustrated how collaboration on a vast scale is allowing for the exponential development of shared ideas. Astronomer Dr. Jill Tarter, Director of the Center for SETI Research, launched into a mind-expanding journey to the cosmos in search of intelligent life beyond Earth. Zainah Anwar, a brave voice for Muslim feminism, provided an authentic perspective on the relationship of Islam, human rights, and democracy as we struggle to contextualize the changing political scene in Muslim countries.

Cory Booker, the nationally acclaimed Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, captivated the audience with his optimism for the American city, where his fresh and effective approach is addressing some of our nation’s most intractable problems, including education and crime. Finally, Broadway actress, playwright, and NYU professor Anna Deavere Smith performed excerpts from her newest work and reminded us that the heart of optimism lies in the resilience of the human spirit.

The school is grateful for the generosity of its donors, who contributed more than $500,000 to support tuition assistance, and the hundreds of volunteer hours contributed by the View360 committee, including Liz Korman and Siobhan Fink Korman ’77 (co-chairs), John Macdonald (fundraising chair), and Cindy Goldberg (party chair).

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This page: 1 Caitlin ’09 and Sophie ’11 Brown 2 Sophia Kokores ’04 and Logan McClure ’04 3 Kimberley Morris ’98 and Lindsay Austin Louie ’98 4 Michele Kirsch P’12, P’14, Cathy Friedman Duane ’78, and Emily Wu P’08 5 Alumnae spanning 4 decades gather at the View360 after-party

Opposite page: 6 Ellen Flamen P’14, P’16 and Sue Purdy Pelosi P’14, P’16 7 Susan Kokores P’02, P’04 with Ken and Veronica Kornberg P’00, P’02, P’08 8 Teni Amos ’15

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This year’s View360 was full of excitement not only for adults but for Castilleja students, who were involved on the stage and behind the scenes. To the delight of surprised audience members, more than 40 student ushers became performers in Casti’s firstever “flash-mob,” an event organized and produced by students in Georgi Shea’s Dance Production Workshop (DPW), to kick-off the evening.

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On the Stage and Behind the Scenes

Amazingly, the girls learned most of the routine online over Winter Break. DPW choreographers filmed themselves and then flash-mob participants logged on to learn the steps. Back on campus, the girls had a few group rehearsals during lunch and clubs period before trying the piece on the venue stage only 2 hours before showtime.

According to DPW class member and performer Lizzey Johnson ’13, “It was great to see our work come to life on stage! Everyone embraced the challenge and worked really hard leading up to the event, and that night each student eagerly awaited her cue music and giggled anxiously when an unassuming parent asked her for a program, knowing what was about to happen. The minute we saw Fiona Maloney-McCrystle ’13 do the Twist, we knew there was no turning back...and throughout the piece, we couldn't help but smile!”

For the first time, the girls also had the opportunity to see what goes on “behind-the-scenes” of View360 and work closely with the professional technical and production staff from e2K, the global event production company that supports the event each year. The girls realized that their own Casti productions, like Arts with a Heart, are just as intricately designed and produced.

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The ultimate highlight for the student technical producers came when the speakers arrived backstage for the start of the show, and the students had the opportunity to help the speakers with their mics and cues. According to one student, “Some were relaxed, others chatty, and one took to meditation and isolation to prepare for her presentation. Interacting with them was a truly memorable experience, and when added to our experience of interacting with professionals in the technical production field, the whole evening was an incredible learning opportunity!”

By Simone Seiver ’13 Member of the Dance Production Workshop

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faculty notes

New Faces and Positions on Campus in 2011-12 Come fall, there will be some new faces around the Circle. Joining the Leadership Team as Director of Finance and Operations will be Sue Reyneri, most recently Director of Finance at Phillips Brooks. She succeeds Georgia BondHA, who has thoughtfully and diligently stewarded the finances of Castilleja for more than 25 years. Also new to the Leadership Team is Gabriel Lucas, Director of Technology. He joins Castilleja from Menlo School, where he has been the Academic Technology Director for the past several years.

In 2011-12, Castilleja will add several new academic positions.

Stacey Kertsman, a teacher and administrator from Saint Marks School, will join Castilleja as our ACE Center Director. The Center for Awareness, Compassion, and Engagement was created to integrate the school’s programs in global education, community action, and leadership, and will serve as the nexus of experiential learning at Castilleja. With the continued growth of our Music program we have added Music Teacher Leslie Hart to the Visual and Performing Arts Department.

Ms. Hart most recently taught at Harker and recently received her Ph.D. in Music Education and Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester.

Finally, to further the school’s efforts in interdisciplinary planning and programming, 38 | full circle

Science and Math Teacher Camilla LauHA will coordinate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) integration in the Middle School and Brydie Sullivan will coordinate Humanities at the sixth grade-level. Castilleja’s Innovation Investment Fund will fund these new, part-time positions.

Cristina de Cardenas O’Brien will join the Admission Office as Assistant Director of Admission.

She began her career as a recruiter for McKinsey, but most recently was part of the Development Office at Sacred Heart Schools. Joy Biscornet will join the College Counseling Office as Associate Director of College Counseling. She currently serves as Senior Assistant Director of Admission at Boston College and will relocate to the Bay Area this summer. Finally, we welcome Jessie Starr, currently Assistant Athletic Trainer at Menlo College, who will serve as Director of Health Services, Sports Performance, and Athletic Training in our Athletics Department.

Look for more faculty and staffing news in the fall.

alumnae

September 30 - October 1, 2011 Reunions are now in the fall!

If you are in a class that ends with a “1” or a “6” it’s your reunion year! Save the dates and make a plan to come back to Castilleja! A weekend full of activity awaits:

Alumnae Association Leadership Team Expands This year the Alumnae Association Executive Committee expanded to include an additional VP of External Events, Ursula Ringham Kinney ’90. Ursula is helping to expand the regional events in more cities throughout the world. This coming year the Executive Committee will focus on developing more participation on the Alumnae Internal Events, External Events, Communications, Development, and Networking Committees. If you have any interest in participating on any of these committees that meet quarterly, please contact the Alumnae Office.

• 50th Reunion Luncheon at Lockey House • 25th Reunion Dinner • Reunion Class Gatherings • Classes with Faculty Members • And more!

alumnae

Reunion Weekend:

Even if you aren’t celebrating your reunion, you are still invited to some of the weekend activities.

If you would like to help plan your reunion, please contact the Alumnae Office.

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stay connected

alumnae

Stay Connected.

Get Involved.

STAY CONNECTED to the Castilleja alumnae network.

Join the new Castilleja Careers Listserv at groups. google.com/group/castillejacareers to stay up-to-date on upcoming career-oriented events, job opportunities, and professional-skills workshops.

We want YOU! There are countless ways alumnae can get involved. We love hearing from you, so please stay in touch. If you’re as excited as we are and want to join in the fun—here are a few suggestions:

The Castilleja Connection is Growing Alumnae now have the opportunity to network with the entire Castilleja community—current parents, alumnae, and alumnae parents—to find internships and jobs. This spring the Castilleja Connection Internships webpage was launched for college-age alumnae. Thirty-five outstanding internships were posted, with opportunities in non-profits, science and medicine, law, and pr and marketing at established companies, universities, and start-ups in locations ranging from New York City and Boston to London and Shanghai. There was immediate positive response from appreciative young alumnae. One ’09 grad wrote: “I just wanted to thank you for setting up this internship connection! Watching my peers struggle to find internships, I know how valuable this will be to me in the future. I also love that everyone in the listing is connected to Castilleja; it makes me feel like I would be guaranteed to work for wonderful people.”

Some of the internships posted included: • Harvard Stem Cell Institute (Boston, MA) • iOS Internship (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA) • Research Assistant (Stanford Law School, Stanford, CA) • Development Intern (World Resources Institute, Boston, MA) • Product Marketing Intern (Blueprint Labs, San Francisco, CA) • Fixed Income Intern (Interactive Data, New York, NY)

1. Join the Advisory Council

• Architecture/Design Intern (MADA S.P.A.M., Los Angeles, CA and Shanghai, China)

2. Help plan a regional event 3. Attend a regional event 4. Provide an internship for a Castilleja student 5. Email or write an update for Class Notes 6. Become a Castilleja School fan on Facebook 7. Join the Castilleja Careers Listserv 8. Send us your updated contact information (it sounds simple, but nothing makes us happier than an accurate database!)

Castilleja School Casti School Casti Athletics Castilleja School

Casti School

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In addition to over 200 members of the Castilleja LinkedIn group, there are over 130 alumnae who subscribe to the Castilleja Careers listserv that offers alumnae seeking jobs an ongoing list of opportunities throughout the country. Elizabeth Yin ’00 maintains the listserv, and alumnae are encouraged to sign on each month directly through the Alumnae eNews.

If you know of internships that are available for our alumnae, please post them on the Castilleja website, castilleja.org, by going to the Alumnae section and clicking on “Alumnae Internships.” To post a job on Castilleja Careers, click on the “Casti Careers” link or send the information directly to alumnae@castilleja.org.

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Alumnae Regional Events In the winter, more than 100 alumnae and Honorary Alumnae gathered at events in Washington, DC, Southern California, and on campus. The events gave classmates and friends the chance to reconnect and alums from across the decades the opportunity to meet. If you would like to help organize an event on campus or in your area, please contact the Alumnae Office.

Los Angeles 1 and 2 Alums enjoy an evening with Head of School Nanci KauffmanHA 3 Jessie Kornberg ’00, Jackie Provost ’98, and Elizabeth Schmidt ’97 Washington, D.C. 4 Nanci KauffmanHA with DC-area alums including Nancy Walker Low ’71 and Bill Low 5 Kate Powell ’06 and Darshini Patel ’06

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Alumnae Events on Campus Honorary Alumnae Winter Tea 1 Ethel MeeceHA, Eleni ColtosHA, Eryl BarkerHA, and Lauren SchryverHA Young Alumnae Holiday Brunch 2 Sonja Swenson ’08, Alexandra Libby ’08, and Rachel Vassar ’08 3 Kelly Schryver ’07, Chelsea Waite ’07, Tori Anthony ’07, Charlotte Fowler ’07, and Nani Jansen ’07 4 Adriana Mujal ’07, Christina Liou ’07, Andrea Goday ’07, and Stephanie Smith ’07

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Alumnae Family Valentine's Party 1 Karen Anderson ’90 and daughter Alumnae vs. Varsity Soccer Game 2 Emily Colvin ’10, Sophie Koontz ’11, and Darian Martin ’08 3 Alumnae soccer players with faculty and coaches Class of 2006 Five-Year Reunion 4 Grace Nelson ’06, Darshini Patel ’06, and Leslie Lipsick ’06 5 Members of the Class of 2006 6 Martina Troesch ’06 and Brittany Brown ’06

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alumnae

Spotlight: Casey Cadile ’91 Looking back, it isn’t surprising that Casey Cadile has dedicated her professional life to animals of all kinds. At a very young age, her mom drove her back and forth to the Academy of Sciences so she could take classes on bugs and animals. At 14, she began volunteering at the San Francisco Zoo Education Program on the Nature Trail and went on to spend ten years teaching visitors about habitat conservation, endangered species, and environmental issues. She also worked with the Raptor Program and focused on condor breeding. At Castilleja, she took every advanced science and math class the school offered, and found her passion further fueled by inspiring teachers like Mrs. Meece.

Casey attended Cornell University and studied chemistry and cell biology while continuing her interest in the injured birds of prey at the Cornell Raptor Barn. She determined that she wanted to be a “hard core” bench research scientist in veterinary medicine and entered the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois right after graduating from college. With her outstanding background in cell biology, she quickly determined her interest in oncology research.

After internships in Illinois and back at Cornell, she moved to San Mateo, where she began a medical oncology residency with Veterinary Medical Specialists (SAGE) and Michigan State University. Her interest in oncology became more personal during veterinary school when she herself successfully battled breast cancer and her father passed away from metastatic melanoma.

Casey completed her residency in 2007 and was welcomed as one of seven oncologists at SAGE in San Mateo. She works with dogs and cats, coordinating their radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy treatments with a total treatment approach. While she misses research, Casey says that the thing that inspires her most about her work is her patients, and she does stay in touch with human oncology research and genetic causes for breed-related cancers.

Outside of the office she is an avid snowboarder. She gets up to Kirkwood several times a month during the season, and also enjoys back-country camping in the Eastern Sierras during the summer.

Asked about any advice that she has for others who are hoping to pursue veterinary medicine, she suggests taking a rigorous science course-load and getting hands-on clinical experience, not necessarily just in a veterinary office. “Be persistent,” she says. “It may take more than one try to understand something, or to get into school, or secure an internship, but if you are following your passions, it is well worth the effort.”

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alumnae

Spotlight: Kiki Kapany ’75 More than twenty years ago, a difficult personal experience gave Kiki Kapany ’75 a new perspective on life, love, and family, and took her career in a new direction. A certified family law practitioner and pro tem Family Court Judge, she closed her San Francisco law office in 1997 to help her best friend who was dying of cancer. After her friend passed away, she found herself wanting to pursue new interests and began to work in business and media alongside her husband.

Today, she oversees day-to-day operations, business development, strategic planning, finance, and administration at Kikim Media. The company provides full-service production to national broadcasters, foundations, non-profit organizations, and individual clients, enabling them to tell stories that make a difference and change lives. Kikim’s most recent projects include “The Botany of Desire,” a two-hour documentary for PBS based on Michael Pollan’s best-selling book, The Body’s Secret Army, a half-hour documentary for public television commissioned by Nobel Media to highlight the work of Nobel Prize winners; and two short videos for the Skoll Foundation about social entrepreneurs whose work Skoll supports, Riders for Health and CERES. Kikim is also working on projects about type 1 diabetes, medieval Spain, and a documentary based on In Defense of Food, another best-selling book by Pollan. For more information about Kikim or to view some of their wonderful work, please visit www.kikim.com.

Kiki’s former experience allows her to combine sound creativity with experienced legal sense, adding an important dimension to Kikim’s resources. She has also consulted with several start-up companies in the Bay Area, assisting them with strategic planning and development and building their legal and advisory teams.

She is the mother of two daughters, Ariana, a sophomore at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Misha, who will begin her freshman year at UCLA as a Regents Scholar in the fall. Now, as her youngest goes to college, you will find Kiki wondering what she is going to do when she grows up!

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alumnae

Spotlight: Yasmin Radjy ’04 Yasmin Radjy’s parents raised her with three basic rules: first, always do well in school; second, never be dependent on a man; and third, never ever become religious. So, when she told her parents two years ago that she was moving to Des Moines to organize churches, they just about had a panic attack. And when, one year later, she told them that she couldn’t be happier with her job and wanted to move to San Antonio, TX, the shock only continued.

In Yasmin’s words they couldn’t understand, “Why would an IranianAmerican, staunchly agnostic, Palo Alto native spend her postcollegiate years organizing pastors, nuns, and laypeople?” According to Yasmin, the story begins at Castilleja.

“For most of my seven years at Casti I was involved in the community service program, specifically tutoring at Beechwood and St. Elizabeth Seton. I was increasingly struck by the obvious disparities between schools on my side of the creek and those just down the road in East Palo Alto. With my rose-tinted lenses on, I felt I could change the world one classroom at a time, and I embarked on a journey to the University of Pennsylvania, where I intended to study Urban Education.”

But as she grew to understand the problems of public education, immigration, racial segregation, and chronic poverty, solutions seemed impossible. She says, “I tried working for various non-profits, but grew frustrated as they didn’t seem to tackle the issues at their root. I worked for a political campaign which was really exciting, but I didn’t feel that the focus was on the most pressing issues for families.”

Two years ago she joined the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), a broad-based, non-partisan political organizing group. Her job involves organizing various institutions (churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, labor unions, non-profits) and their leaders to build a base across political, religious, and economic lines to solve the issues that most affect families every day.

“Being raised in a staunchly non-religious household, at first I didn’t see the point of involving religious organizations in the public and political sphere. But now that I’ve become more familiar with such a variety of religious tenets and traditions, I’ve realized that my job is to remind people of their own book of rules and to challenge them to live out what they believe. It makes this job about something more than just fixing different local or statewide political issues and ultimately makes my work more effective.”

She summed it up saying, “While the problems that first got me into this work like education, immigration, and the economy still remain daunting, what I like about organizing is that we teach folks how to take those overwhelming problems and look for smaller, tangible issues within them, and to do something to actually change them. And that, I think, is what all our traditions, be they religious or democratic, teach us to do.”

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alumnae

Spotlight: Lizzie Harmon ’08 Lizzie Harmon ’08 has always been interested in studying the Arabic language and has worked to attain fluency to be able to contribute to her research and coursework in International Relations.

Last year, while researching study abroad opportunities, she came across the David L. Boren Scholarship, sponsored by the National Security Education Program, for the study of languages critical to U.S. national security. The scholarship awards up to $20,000 for yearlong language programs and living expenses. She was awarded a scholarship and made plans to live and study in Syria from August 2010 to June 2011.

She settled in Damascus, and completed a month at the University of Damascus before she was accepted into a year-long, research-oriented Arabic language program at The French Institute for the Near East (IFPO). Says Lizzie, “It was a bit of a culture shock to be studying in the French style with graduate students mostly from Europe.” The goal of the program is to promote fluency in Arabic in order to prepare for research in the language. The program also stresses a holistic approach, with a focus on both language and culture. Her classes and one-on-one tutorials, taught exclusively in Arabic, covered subjects including media, history, modern and classical literature, grammar, and Islamic thinking.

“I absolutely loved studying Arabic in Syria, where so little English is spoken. I decided to live with a Syrian family that only spoke the local dialect, and I enjoyed them correcting my mistakes and eating homemade Syrian food every day,” said Lizzie. “Syrians are very hospitable and polite, and it was not unlikely for me to be invited for tea or even a meal with a shopkeeper with whom I struck up a conversation.”

She noted that, “It was an adjustment to live in an authoritarian country with a developing economy closed off to the outside world.” She found that people were afraid to speak freely about any political issue that could be viewed as critical of the regime, foreigners were monitored, and websites ranging from Facebook to Amazon were blocked or censored. She wrote, “It was fascinating to see the huge difference in reporting on the revolution in Syria between Syrian state-run media, western media, and what I was seeing and hearing for myself.”

Lizzie was evacuated from the country in mid-April because of the deteriorating security situation. Determined to stay in the Middle East, she relocated to Amman, Jordan, and has continued her studies with tutors. She concluded that, “Studying Arabic is an incredible challenge, but all the more rewarding with every little success. It helps that Arabs are impressed to hear an American speaking their language and love to flatter foreigners with exaggerated compliments! I’m looking forward to fulfilling the last part of my scholarship obligations, which requires that I work for the U.S. government for at least a year, by working in the Foreign Service.”

If you would like to know more about the Boren Scholarship or living in the Middle East, feel free to email Lizzie at lizzieharmon@gmail.com.

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alumnae

Spotlight: Nora Connell Titone ’90 Casti alum and celebrated author Nora Connell Titone ’90 returned to campus in May to talk with students about her acclaimed book, My Thoughts Be Bloody. Nora has made television appearances and received outstanding reviews of her work from renowned critics; Doris Kearns Goodwin called her book a “gripping work of fiction“ and “the best account I have ever read of the complex forces that led to John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Lincoln.”

Eighth graders, juniors, and seniors who have studied U.S. history welcomed Nora back to the stage in the Chapel Theater where she often performed in plays while a student. Nora discussed how diaries are an important recurring theme in her life, from a neighboring Casti alum’s diary sparking her childhood interest in attending the school, to Anne Frank’s diary inspiring her literary career, to an overlooked Civil War diary shedding light onto the mysteries of Lincoln’s assassination.

Nora’s conversation with the girls focused not only on the revelations of her research, but also the indirect pathway a book takes from literary inspiration to physical publication. She shared her passion for historical research with the girls, as well as the importance of perseverance in the face of criticism and adversity.

Later in the day, Nora participated in a “Book Chat” in the Library with several English classes. The girls learned first-hand about the years of research that developed Nora’s initial concept into a book that would be accepted by Simon and Schuster. Faculty member Jeannine MarstonHA continued the discussion with Nora that evening at the Lockey Alumnae House in front of a packed crowd of interested alumnae and current and alumnae parents.

After her visit, Nora shared what it was like to return to Castilleja: “It was a wonderful, magical thing to see Castilleja after so many intervening years. And truly, it was a revelation to discover that the more things change at this beloved school, the more they stay the same. Even with the many transformations in architecture and curriculum since the 1990s, Castilleja retains the same timeless identity, the same powerful feeling of community, the same passionate dedication to the advancement of young women.”

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alumnae

Spotlight: Kendra Barkoff ’98 On May 23, Vice President Joe Biden announced that Kendra Barkoff ’98 would take over as his new press secretary at the end of May. Kendra left her post in the Interior Department as the Deputy Communications Director and Press Secretary for Secretary Ken Salazar to join Vice President Biden in the White House.

Kendra has worked hard since graduating with a degree in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis. Before moving to the Interior Department, she worked as the Press Secretary for Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), as Democratic Media Coordinator and Press Assistant for Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), and as a communications aide for Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

The weekend before Vice President Biden made the announcement, Kendra was in California with many of her ’98 classmates at the third annual Sunbeam Foundation fundraiser, Los Altos Cooks for a Cure.

The Sunbeam Foundation supports cutting-edge research on Ewing’s Sarcoma and other forms of pediatric bone cancer and was founded in memory of Kendra’s beloved classmate Sara LaBoskey ’98, who passed away in 2002.

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casti is ...

alumnae

Casti is ... graduating!

The consequences of a Castilleja education have been evident for more than a century. Generations of young women have left the Circle with not only an outstanding education, but also with passion and confidence.

This month, many members of the Class of 2007 are celebrating their graduations from colleges and universities around the world. As befitting Casti girls—they are already off and running towards their next destinations.

Cristina Quattrone (University of Pennsylvania): I am going to be a 5th and 6th grade English teacher (as well as the Hip-Hop enrichment teacher) at a charter school in New Orleans through Teach For America. I am excited to pack up, move to a new part of the country, and do what I am most passionate about!

Katherine Jordan (Amherst): I am off to NYC to work at an international law firm! After that, I hope to head to law school.

Rachel Steyer (George Washington University): I will be working full-time at the Council on Foreign Relations as a research associate for Elliott Abrams, so I’ll be staying in DC. Nicole Ryu (USC, Marshall School of Business): I’m excited to be returning to the Bay Area where I’ll be starting a job as a Financial Analyst in Corporate Banking for Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco.

Courtney Chang (Georgetown): I’m staying in DC and will be working at the State Department’s Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator on the PEPFAR program as a Program Support Officer.

50 | full circle

Sarrah Nomanbhoy (Stanford): This summer I’m interning at the international labor org in Geneva.

I took a year off last year, so I’ll be completing my senior year next year and graduating in 2012!

Stephanie Smith (Santa Clara University): I’ll be staying in the Bay Area to take a job with Deloitte in San Jose, where I will be working in Advisory/ Enterprise Risk Services.

Charlotte Fowler (Santa Clara University): I am planning on taking a year off in between graduation and eventually going to medical school. My current plan for that year is to get my EMT certification and hopefully get a job on an ambulance or at a fire station.

Sarah Karp (University of Rochester): I will be returning to the University of Rochester for a scholarship program in the fall to study 20th Century Europe. Then re-locating to New York City or San Francisco to work in arts administration, and hopefully reuniting with some Casti alums!

Rachel Care (UCLA): I have been awarded a Fulbright Grant to work in Prof. Dr. Jorg Stulke’s molecular biology lab at the University of Göttingen in Germany next year!

Malin Bogue (St Andrews): After 2 years at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, I left to spend a year and a half working in Parliament in London, and have transferred to St Andrews (Class of 2013) to study history—so still a student for a while, and looking forward to returning to Parliament for a bit this summer!

Jessie Carr (University of Michigan): I’ll be studying English Literature and Classical Studies in the UK on a fellowship from the University of Michigan before applying to graduate school programs in Pharmacology or Cancer Biology.

Hannah Sachs (Princeton): I will be working in investment banking at Deutsche Bank in New York, beginning with two months of training this summer in London.

Adriana Mujal (Harvard): I’m coming back to the west coast to start the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. Program at UCSF.

Kersten Schnurle (Stanford University): I’m working on a co-terminal Masters/Bachelors program at Stanford, focusing on Marine Science and conservation.

Anne-Marie “Punky” Chun (Stanford University): After graduating in June, I will be moving to D.C. to work for the Avascent Group, a management consulting firm that serves private sector clients in government-driven markets, such as the defense and aerospace markets.

Kristin Leasia (Northwestern University): I’m moving to Virginia and starting law school in the fall at the College of William and Mary.

Kaitlin Keller (University of Notre Dame): After graduation, I’m heading back to California to attend the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law.

class notes ’06 Class of ’06 celebrates their five-year reunion at NOLA’s in Palo Alto.

Send News to School Diane Pickering Gibbs says, “My family keeps me busy. I now have twenty-one great grandchildren!”

Marilyn Hill McKae 4855 Snyder Lane, Apt. 218 Rohnert Park, CA 94928

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Carolyn Hornkohl Gillespie 531 Rosarita Drive Fullerton, CA 92835 chgillespie@sbcglobal.net

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Send News to School Elizabeth Gerrard Blackwelder excitedly reports, “On May 2, 2011 I presented the trophy to the winner of the Pony Hunter Class at the Children’s Horse Show of the Flintridge Riding Club. This was the 5th winner of the Perpetual Trophy I established five years ago.”

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Cynthia Kaiser Floyd 150 La Sandra Way Portola Valley, CA 94028

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Shirley Arnott Pruitt 8555 Edinbridge Way Roseville, CA 95747 shirlpruitt@aol.com

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Send News to School Nancy Burbank Sears writes, “I have two great grandsons: Arvind (5) and Nikhil Chettier (1). I paint regularly in my Emeryville loft and with a group of artists weekly in Berkeley.”

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Adele Landenberger Haynie 550 Main Street Morro Bay, CA 93442

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Keep in Touch with Castilleja

Please send Class Notes to your Class Representative, or to Castilleja:

Maggie Ely Pringle ’71 Director of Alumnae Relations Castilleja School 1310 Bryant Street Palo Alto, CA 94301 (650) 470-7743 mpringle@castilleja.org or go online to castilleja.org/notes

For the following years, please send your news to the school:

Ellie Tilden Gardner 501 Portola Road, #8057 Portola Valley, CA 94028

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Judith Bailey Quayle 7106 Overlook Drive Santa Rosa, CA 95409 dkquayle@hotmail.com

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Peggy McKennan Link 5752 West Marquette Drive Denver, CO 80235 peggyslink@indra.com

’40 “Green Rake” by Nancy Burbank Sears ’40

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class notes

1956

Darlene Cherie Rickey 444 San Antonio Road #6C Palo Alto, CA 94306 rickeydarlene@yahoo.com Mary Beth Overfelt Edwards is traveling around the world to places such as Hawaii, the Rhine, the Danube, and Amsterdam. When she is back in the country, she is going through physical therapy from her rotator cuff surgery and she is active in the Delta Kappa Gamma society, which helps renovate historical sites across the State of California. She is also subbing as a California English Language Development Test Tester and Intervention Teacher.

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Charlotte Geary Gilmore 1061 45th Street Sacramento, CA 95819 charlotte.gilmore@gmail.com After Sue Dodge Casner’s husband, Earl, retired from the Army and then from his second career in the late 1990s, they became involved in a Christian ministry to serve international military Christians. They are on the staff of the Association for Christian Conferences, Teaching and Service (ACCTS), and they are involved with people and programs in Eastern Europe and sometimes Asia. They find it a wonderful and fulfilling mission. They enjoy being grandparents and having various roles in the Washington International Church (CMA), as well as doing quite a bit of hosting in their home. The Castilleja spirit of sisterhood and hospitality runs in her family, since her mother was at Casti with Miss Lockey!

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Hildi Jensvold Vieira 75-640 Mahi iu Lani Place Kailua Kona, HI 96740 viera001@hawaii.rr.com

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Eleanor Geer Miller 1003 Broncho Road Pebble Beach, CA 93953 egmiller@redshift.com

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Glori McDaniel Hoffman 9120 Silverwood Court Granite Bay, CA 95746 glori@hoffmantech.com

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Honor Berger Spitz 1324 Central Street Evanston, IL 60201 honorspitz@sbcglobal.net Honor Berger Spitz shares some sad news: “My sister, Ellen Berger ’59, died in December 2010. She was a quiet soul with a sweet sense of humor, a punster extraordinaire.”

Camille Gibbs Herrick has a new granddaughter, Eloise Herrick, born September 24, 2010!

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Send News to School Katie Johnson Moeller is still a sales representative for Abyss & Habidecor, and Chairman of Team Reeve Utah, the Utah Chapter of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation—Chris is her stepbrother!

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Gail Wilson Zetter 757 Marina View Drive El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

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Libby Ames Edwards 3517 Shilo Drive Fort Collins, CO 80521 libbyeuro2@q.com Lindsay Jones Lowe 729 Old Creek Road Danville, CA 94526 lindslowe@aol.com

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Annette Boushey Holland boushey@juno.com Nancy Tate is the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of the United States, an organization with 800 state and local chapters, including several in the Bay Area. This job and related events take up most of her time, along with her service on nonprofit boards. Her husband works full time too, and she occasionally joins him on overseas business trips. They have two daughters, both of whom currently live in the DC area. Jennifer (27) is involved in international economic development work. Sarah (25) has just returned from two years in the Peace Corps in Peru as an environmentalist, and she is currently looking for a job in that field.

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Nancy Blake Tetrick dntetrick@sbcglobal.net Belle Jacopi reports that she may be getting older by the day, but that she survived the Tahoe storms of February, and the completely white world was beautiful.

Jo Ann Asher is still in the restaurant business in Anchorage, AK. Her cafe, Sacks, is in its 28th year. Her daughter, Sage, helped develop another restaurant called “Spenard Roadhouse,” which they opened in 2009 with another woman restaurateur. Jo Ann has earned the right to brag a bit: Sage is home after graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Oregon. Jo Ann enjoys traveling with her husband, Larry, and had a fun visit with Laura Schumacher when they were in Spain last October.

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Diane Schwabacher Vocker dsvocker@sbcglobal.net

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Susan Varian Hammond susy5150@gmail.com

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Carol Henley Meredith krole@comcast.net Elizabeth Schumb Sheppard writes, “I’m retired and my parents have passed on, so I started playing bridge three years ago to keep the little grey cells working. Love it.”

1971

Anita Seipp Marmaduke awsm@sbcglobal.net Anita Seipp-Marmaduke says, “My nest is empty except for a precious, ailing, old dog. Daughter Emily graduated in 2008 with a degree in history from Occidental College; she has been living

’71 DeBorah Eaton Beatty ’71

52 | full circle

class notes in San Luis Obispo, but will be starting graduate school this spring to become a nurse practitioner. Son Tom graduated in 2010 with a degree in electrical and computer engineering from Duke; he lives in Wisconsin, where he works as a software developer for Epic. My position as President of the Board of Trustees of Sacramento Country Day School has kept me actively involved in my children’s school community and the world of independent education—as I contemplate what’s next.”

DeBorah Eaton Beatty writes, “Wow! Where has the time gone? Husband Rich and I are now living just outside Portland, OR, and enjoying the new area. I’m busy working as a life coach with mid-life women who are reinventing themselves and dusting off their dreams and visions.

Such powerful, inspiring people; I’m honored to work with them.”

Sue Heeger is an accomplished magazine and newspaper feature writer with a specialty in garden, design, lifestyle, and food stories. She recently co-authored a book, From Seed to Skillet, that was highlighted in the last issue of full circle. Sue wrote, “I have a wonderful husband, Rob Steiner, whom I’ve been with for 34 years, and a great son, Simon (21), who’s a junior at UC Santa Cruz. I’m lucky enough to earn a living as a writer, and my best friend, Kathy Kelleher, is someone I met at Castilleja.”

1972

1978

Mia Mora and Betsy (Janet) Barker

Cathy Friedman Duane turned 50 last

had a nice visit at the Huntington Library in San Marino in April. “If you want to know where the quilt shops are in Los Angeles, just ask us! It’s amazing that after all these years, we are still dear friends!” Beth Riley enthuses, “After a fabulous year teaching at Castilleja in the Fitness and Wellness Department, I am happily settled into my position at Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School in Santa Cruz teaching health, wellness, and dance. I will become a grandma in April 2011.”

summer! She celebrated the milestone in style with a birthday party including guests Cailean Spielman, Lynn

Karen Smith Shaw kesshaw@ucdavis.edu

Laurie Ray Lamb nylambs@gmail.com

1973

1974

1980

Heidi Singhoff Brown heidi.s.brown@gmail.com

Jeanne Floyd Downs Jdowns84@comcast.net

1975

1981

Jessica Hansen Fellows angelpiejess@hotmail.com Anne Christine Bowers Peck happily reports, “I have remarried. Jim (Peck) is a wonderful man. We live in Andover, MA, and between us we have 5 children ages 23-26. My husband is a chiropractor, and I am the office manager of our family chiropractic business.”

1977

Mijke Roggeveen mijkeroggeveen@aol.com

Elizabeth Milne Baum elizabeth@elizabethbaum.com

1982

Helen Floyd Sullivan helensullivan3@hotmail.com Liz Babb Fanlo writes, “I was in NYC and saw Steph Katch and Pam Katch ’83 for dinner. Gabrielle Whelan and I went to Yosemite last fall and she brought her boyfriend along. We had a great trip and climbed to the top of Cloud’s Rest at 13,000 feet. I am going back in May to climb Half Dome.”

Meanwhile, Christl Mitsch Drewry reports, “We are still doing well, and very happy up in the Pacific Northwest, here on Bainbridge Island. I am currently NED (in remission) from Breast Cancer.

Our older son, Will, is a freshman at

Mia Mora ’72 and Betsy Barker ’72

Castillejans gather for Cathy Friedman Duane’s 50th!

Margarita Huertas Balagso balagsom@yahoo.com Andrew, will be attending Dartmouth College in the fall! He won two silver medals at Club Nationals in Tennessee, rowing with Community Rowing, Inc. on junior men’s varsity 8 and 4 boat events.

Meg Malone Thompson peterthom@comcast.net

Meredith Rothrock meredith@rothrockfamily.com

’78

1979

Deborah Bowers Kenealy’s oldest son,

1976

’72

Anderson Poole, Kate Gilhuly ’14, Karen Gilhuly, Karen Bowers Hill, Betsy Foster ’77, Caren Friedman, Caren Duane ’11, and Vicky Lilienthal.

’82 Kendall Stratford Barrer ’82 and family

’82 Liz Babb Fanlo ’82 at Yosemite

spring 2011 | 53

class notes the University of Oregon and loving it, and our 16 year old, Danny, is plugging away in his sophomore year at our local public high school. I have a small private practice in Marriage and Family Therapy, mostly adolescent girls and their parents, and my husband, Bill, has just expanded his business, Peninsula Outfitters, a fly fishing gear, touring, guiding, and outfitting business.”

1986

1992

1987

1993

Kendall Stratford Barrera says, “I am

Jennifer Breakstone Kabatchnick is

Lauren Carreker Leary laureneliseleary@gmail.com

busy being a single mom of Ben (13), Marina (11), and David (7). During the last year, I have enjoyed seeing Heather Fairfull-Gatti and her family as well as Liz Babb Fanlo and Natasha Moiseyev.

Hopefully 2011 will include more frequent visits.”

Chris Telfer McKenna writes that life back east in Connecticut is very busy with an eighth grader, sixth grader, and third grader, all playing soccer (rec, travel, and premier level), and lacrosse and tennis. It’s that spring open house, concert, graduation, Bar Mitzvah time of year, so the normal family life is crazy.

She also helps with literacy in Hartford: “the city is so poor and the children desperately need a little attention and help learning to read and write. About 60% of the population is immigrants from Asia and Africa looking for a fresh start. And I get the pleasure of helping little kindergarteners.”

1983

Helen Da Silva hmdasilva@gmail.com

Laila Haq Collins collinslaila@gmail.com

Michele Wray Khateri wraykhateri@yahoo.com

Courtney Dyar cdyarsf@hotmail.com

living in Rockridge, CA, with her husband Edan, daughter Sabrina (3), and son Ethan (6). She continues to work at Kaiser Permanente.

1988

Nicola Morf Janvier nicola@fleurdecocoa.com Nicole (Coco) Wilcox is working as an OB/GYN at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s Mountain View campus.

She recently caught up with fellow classmates Jocelyn Hoar and Cathy Lim Bio. She has also been in close touch with Jeannette Colyvas, who is a sociology professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

1989

Marcee Rogers Chapman marcee.chapman@gmail.com

1984

1991

Meredith Mortimer Pellegrin meredith94062@gmail.com

Sarah Bourne Lamb sjbourne@gmail.com

1985

Susan Ryan suelryan@yahoo.com

Kristin Young Gilbert kristigilbert@sbcglobal.net

husband, Mike Klinke, are enjoying living in the Washington, DC Metro Area with their two kids Franklin (4) and Grace (2). Previously she worked at Sun Microsystems and Oracle. Now she is the IT Customer Liaison Officer for the U.S. government and has “never loved a job more.” As the U.S. government’s official web portal, USA.gov makes it easy for the public to get U.S. government information and services on the web.

USA.gov also serves as the catalyst for a growing electronic government.

1994

Jennifer Cady Logan skinbyjennifer@gmail.com Michelle Forgy Ellis had a baby in

Jessica Collins Lonergan jessica@spurprojects.com

1990

Yoshimi Segawa Munch ymunch@sbcglobal.net

Wendy Rhodes Klinke and her

Katy Gaul married Byron Stigge, Jr. on December 11, 2010.

December! She writes, “Bridget Elizabeth Ellis was born December 28, 2010—right on her due date! So far she is an easygoing baby, just like her big sis, Allison.

Allison turned three in March, and she is doing surprisingly well in her new role.

She is a very active and independent little girl, so she definitely keeps me on my toes. She attends a Reggio Emiliainspired preschool with Sehba Ali’s almost-three-year-old, Ziya. They are both thriving there and love school! I am currently on maternity leave from a small animal practice in Los Gatos. I am returning to work part-time, and I will gradually transition back to full-time. My goal is to own my own practice in the next few years. I am looking forward to a reunion with Kimmy Bowen Rust this summer, when she will bring her new son, Quinn, back to California for a visit.”

1995

Sarah Shenfield sk31haras@hotmail.com Lisa Vocker Lofberg lcvlteach@mac.com

’95 Tara Hopwood Connon’s ’95 children, Caroline and Luke

54 | full circle

’94 Michelle Forgy Ellis ’94 with daughters Allison and Bridget

Tara Hopwood Connon enthuses, “Caroline continues to be a dream baby! She is so sweet and calm and we love her so much! Luke is a very proud big brother and always wants to help Mommy and hold Caroline, too! We are loving life as a family of four!”

class notes

1996

Kirsten Tobey ktobey@revfoods.com Emily White and her husband, Bryan Kelly, had a baby boy, Ned, in April 2010.

Upon returning from maternity leave, she transitioned from Google to Facebook to run their local efforts.

Susanna Cox Bahrami recently moved back to Palo Alto from Carmel with her husband, Chris, and two children, Anders (5) and Mary (4).

Rebecca Adamson Snider married Todd Snider in May 2010 at Holman Ranch, CA. She recounts, “Castilleja played a serendipitous role in our meeting, as we met at Mego Spieker’s ’97 wedding to Calin Thomas (a high school friend of Todd’s)...and Megan Parmer ’97 made the introduction.

Todd is from Lodi, CA, and actually lived

across the street from Castilleja while attending Stanford through 2001. We currently live in Redondo Beach, CA. I left acting in 2008 and am now working in pharmaceutical sales while Todd runs a water polo company in Orange County.”

Laurie Davidson Phillips and Dominic Phillips are the proud parents of Cooper Gordon Phillips, born February 21, 2011, weighing 7lbs, 8oz.

Elissa Denny writes: “I graduated from SFSU’s nursing program last May, was married to my fabulous husband, Niels Hirschmann, on July 3 in Los Gatos, had a fabulous honeymoon in Greece, and started my job as a cardiac care nurse at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City in August. Sending lots of love to all!”

Marissa Ocegueda Haynie lives in Takoma Park, MD. She and her wife welcomed their son, Grant, to the family on December 21st—the night of the full moon, lunar eclipse, and the winter solstice! Marissa says, “We’re enjoying every minute with him.”

Samie Goodman Grossman married Mike Grossman on September 5, 2010 in Ojai, CA. Elizabeth Weisberg was a bridesmaid. Other Casti classmates in attendance were Anne Wood Kuykendall, Deanne Ecklund, Jenny Corral Farias, and Casti staff member Karen LynnHA. Samie graduated from

’96

Kirsten Tobey Saenz says, “We just moved to Berkeley with our wonderful little girls, Alita (3) and Dakota (1). We’re loving living in the East Bay much closer to my work.” Speaking of work, the Cal Alumni Association recently awarded Kristen and her business partner Kristin Richmond the Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by a Young Alumnus/a. The distinguished award recognizes the impact that their company, Revolution Foods, has had on more than 60,000 students in several states. They have truly started a revolution in feeding school-age children healthy and sustainable meals.

1997

Courtney Carter Charney ccharney@apr.com Yuriko Tse tse.yuriko@gmail.com Following Alexandra Blasgen’s graduation from Princeton, she went to Honolulu to work for a non-profit that handles international educational/ cultural exchanges. Currently she is the Committee Administrator at Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS).

FIDM with a degree in interior design in San Francisco in May 2010.

Samie Goodman Grossman ’96 and husband Mike Grossman

’96 Classmates and faculty at Samie Goodman Grossman’s ’96 wedding

’96 Elissa Denny ’96 and husband Niels Hirschmann

’96 Marissa Ocegueda Haynie ’96 and son Grant

’96 Rebecca Adamson Snider ’96 and her husband Todd Snider

’96 Cooper Gordon Phillips, son of Laurie Davidson Phillips ’96

’96 Ned Kelly, son of Emily White ’96

spring 2011 | 55

class notes

1998

Lindsay Austin Louie lindsaylouie@stanfordalumni.org

her little sister, Lynsey Barkoff ’03, to temporarily move east to go to nursing school.

WEDDINGS! Jennifer Massoni got hitched! In December, she married Ryan Pardini, an all-around awesome guy who hails from the North Bay. Castilleja alums

Kimmy Morris kimberley.morris@gmail.com BABY NEWS! Heather Washburn and her husband welcomed Alaina Marie Washburn into the world on September 29, 2010. There will be more Class of 1998 pitter patters soon, as Tara Wilstein and her husband, Joe, are expecting their first child, a daughter who will be named Cynthia. Sarah Cobey and Margaret Helmer Kroeber were on hand to celebrate at Tara’s baby shower. Margaret has graciously consented to be Cynthia’s fairy godmother!

ENGAGEMENTS! Andrea Mann’s boyfriend proposed to her during Christmas 2010. They plan to get married in August 2011 in Northern California.

Andrea is currently halfway through her first year of residency at University of Chicago’s adult psychiatry program.

Andrea reports that she ran into Lauren Bowling on a recent flight from San Jose to Chicago. Lauren loves Chicago and is enjoying her work as a genetics counselor at a local hospital.

JOBS! Kendra Barkoff is still living and working in Washington, DC and has a new post as Press Secretary for Vice President Joe Biden (see page 49 for more details). Kendra is super excited for

2002

Katherine Cooke kcooke@scu.edu Christina Nawas christina.nawas@gmail.com

Laura Vartain Horn, Kendra Barkoff, Katie Barnes, Jessica Aronson McKenzie, Keri Yen, Lanlian Szeto, Lindsay Austin Louie, Lynsey Barkoff ’03, and Caitlin Vartain ’05 all joined in

Ashley Pfefferkorn just completed her master’s degree in Systems Engineering through George Washington University.

the celebration at the Verdi Club in San Francisco, where Jenn and Ryan met the year before. The first year of marriage will bring more than an adventure or two; after Jenn graduates from Mills College with an MFA in Prose, they will relocate to Santiago, Chile, where Ryan is working for Bechtel and where Jenn will continue to write and teach English the best she can as she learns Spanish! Saludos¡ Margaret Helmer is also a newlywed!

She married Blair Kroeber in the Santa Cruz mountains on October 24, 2010.

master’s degree in Marine Biology at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, and anticipates being done in 2012.

Tiffany Sih is currently working on a

Sarah Vander Ploeg Beck is in the middle of a master’s degree in education at George Washington University. She is currently doing her full-time student teaching internship at the SEED Public Charter School in southeast DC, teaching 9th Grade Ancient World History.

2003

1999

Jenny Cook jennifernicholscook@gmail.com

Katherine Sleeth katherine_sleeth@ml.com

Katherine Tincher finished her master’s degree in Interior Design at Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Her thesis project was a complete interior conceptual redesign of the Metreon in San Francisco, turning it into the San Francisco Center for Sustainability, including sustainability education, restaurants, green retail, and interactive

Kate Stober kes2122@columbia.edu

2000

Anjelika Deogirikar anjelika@gmail.com Claire Cummins clcummins@gmail.com

2001

Ailey Crow ailey.crow@gmail.com

’98

’98

Alums gather at Jennifer Massoni’s ’98 wedding

Alaina Marie Washburn, daughter of Heather Washburn ’98

’03 Rashida Bridges Ilegbodu ’03 with husband Ben Ilegbodu

56 | full circle

’98 Jennifer Massoni ’98 and husband Ryan Pardini

’98 Margaret Helmer ’98 and husband Blair Kroeber

class notes art installations. Now that school is finished, she is living in Portola Valley for a few months and performing in a small production of the Wizard of Oz as Glinda. She is super excited to be going to Burning Man this year, and after that she hopes to find an interior design internship abroad for a year or so.

Rachel Zeldin will receive her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Berkeley this May. She is excited to be moving to New York City, where she will be a Health and Life Sciences Consultant with Oliver Wyman. Though sad to be leaving the Bay Area, she is looking forward to this new adventure!

Samia Rogers is currently in her first year of law school at the University of Texas, working through the required firstyear courses and focusing on water law.

She lined up a job for the summer doing water rights and environmental law work in Austin, and she is looking forward to the break from school to get to know this new city. Austin is a fantastic place, and she would love to see anyone who wants to visit!

Lynsey Barkoff will be moving to the East Coast next year to attend a masters entry nursing program.

In September 2010, Rashida Bridges (now Rashida Ilegbodu) married the love of her life, Ben Ilegbodu, whom she met at Stanford. While juggling her job at a workplace strategic firm in San Francisco called DEGW (where she has been for the past 3 years), she spent most of 2010 planning the wedding held at her church in Mountain View. In attendance at the wedding were her sister, Naima Bridges ’02, Malavika Kumar, and Seema Sharma! Ben and Rashida are now enjoying married life while continuing to live in the Bay Area.

When we heard from Sydney Larson this winter, she was still working in San Francisco and planning for her wedding in March. She was excited to celebrate with quite a few Castilleja alums in attendance! She and her husband, Brian, were planning their honeymoon—skiing at Whistler—right after the wedding. Stay tuned for more news on how the big day went.

Elizabeth Wright is living in Boston, and despite the incredible amount of snow this year, is still enjoying living on the East Coast. She is almost halfway through completing her master’s degree in International Relations at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, where she is studying conflict resolution and the role of women in peace building processes.

Elizabeth is also studying Arabic and planning for her summer internship—we hope she found somewhere warm!

Nicole Stasio continues to work at NASA Ames Research Center on the Aviation Cognitive Engineering (ACE) Team, which conducts human factors research to help design the integrated workstation for the Next Generation of Air Transportation System (NextGen).

She just completed her first Triathlon (the Stanford Treeathlon), where she placed 4th in her age group, and spent the spring training for the Wildflower Long Course (1.2 m Swim, 56 m Bike, and 13.1 m Run). She recently sold her car and is now commuting from San Francisco to Mountain View on her bike. Come join her for a ride on the weekends!

2004

Caitlin Cameron cjcameron86@gmail.com Rachel Marder is in her second semester at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where she is earning a master’s degree in Conflict Research, Management and Resolution. Out in New York City, Paz Hilfinger-Pardo is making theater with the TEAM, working with an educational therapist in Manhattan, and tutoring kids with learning disabilities while hanging out with Lauren Sloss and Carey Jones. They had a Casti Karaoke night in December, which was pretty well attended with around 12 people showing up! Nobody wanted to do karaoke, but they ended the night by singing Alva Henderson’s song “Make me a willow cabin at your gate” from Twelfth Night.

Next time she’s going to call the event “Casti Skydiving,” so people will feel like karaoke isn’t such a big risk to take.

Kate Thorman is also living in NYC, working as a freelance travel writer.

Genny Orr is enjoying her last few months in NYC before returning to the Bay Area! She’ll be spending a relaxed summer at home and starting her MBA at Stanford GSB in September. Also in NYC, Selina Troesch is at Barclays Capital and is still enjoying learning about valuations in her third rotation. She is also in the midst of studying for the third level of the CFA and preparing to apply to business school.

Out on the other coast, Emily Dennis is in her first year of her neuroscience Ph.D. and still absolutely loving it. She is rotating in a lab right now working on structural and functional connectivity in autism, and is looking forward to officially joining a lab in July. She was initially not too excited about moving to LA but has been pleasantly surprised and hopes to get in touch with other Casti grads in LA.

Gianna Giancarlo is working at Aruba Networks in Sunnyvale. She is having a great time and keeping busy by taking another round of thrilling standardized

tests. She loves being back home in the Bay Area!

In Texas, Yasmin Radjy is still working as an organizer for the Industrial Areas Foundation in San Antonio. In South Bend, IN, Caitlin Cameron is working for the Alliance for Catholic Education through the University of Notre Dame to strengthen curriculum and instruction in Catholic schools across the country.

2005

Ashley D’amour ashley.damour@gmail.com

2006

Chelsea Ono Horn onohorn@fas.harvard.edu Meg York margaret.alice.york@gmail.com Kate Powell graduated from Stanford last June. Kate worked as an intern in the Castilleja Advancement Department for two summers. She also finished up a fivemonth internship with the Council on Foreign Relations, where she performed research for a book on Egyptian history and politics which will be published in September 2011. She then started a full-time job at The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF) as an analyst working on alternative investments. TIFF is a non-profit investment firm that works solely with foundations, endowments, and other 501(c)(3) non-profits. Their website is www.tiff.org.

2007

Blakely Strand bstrand@uoregon.edu Barbara Kang Kang104@chapman.edu Courtney Chang is currently a senior at Georgetown majoring in International Health. She just got back from a semester abroad in Ghana doing research for her senior thesis. She is currently looking for a job in global health either in DC or in the Bay Area!

2008

Roark Luskin roarkster@gmail.com Elise Fabbro Elisemarie73@gmail.com Anne Warner is very excited about her research project with a German non-profit called “Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading,” which is taking her deep into one of the Cape

spring 2011 | 57

class notes

News of Former Faculty and Staff HA Barbara JohnstonHA celebrates her anniversary in Hawaii

HA Kennedy Marjorie Black, granddaughter of Penny BlackHA

Alpha Chi Omega. She is also the Assistant Director for University Affairs in Undergraduate Student Government, and has recently started an internship with a startup company, OnGreen.

Amanda Brown was elected as President of the Eta Chapter of Alpha Phi at Boston University, so that’s what has been keeping her busy at school!

HA Nancy FlowersHA with her family

After taking a gap year post-Castilleja to study in France and volunteer with parrots in Costa Rica and Australia, Rachel Baden is now a sophomore at Reed College in Portland, OR, studying biology.

Lauren Brown writes, “I am taking a lot of writing and film classes at Princeton and majoring in English. I also dance in a hip hop company on campus called BAC. Hopefully I will be writing a creative fiction Senior Thesis if my application is accepted! And I’m very interested in film, writing, or magazine editing in the future!”

HA Toni HsuHA

Town townships, into an area called an “informal settlement.” That means there are no paths, no running water, one toilet per 85 people, and no electricity.

Lauren Buchanan is a junior at Claremont McKenna. She is getting a double major in financial economics and literature. She is a tutor at the Writing Center, a teaching assistant for economics this year, and a teaching assistant for corporate finance next year.

She continues to play golf and is captain of the women’s golf team. Elisabeth Dillon spent last year in China, traveling around Southeast Asia and learning about U.S.-Sino relations and Mandarin.

This year, she is going back to Hollywood for another summer of entertainment marketing and studio experience.

Elise Fabbro has just finished her term as Chapter President for Alpha Chi Omega at USC. She is now currently Panhellenic Delegate and Assistant Educator for

58 | full circle

Rachel Moncton checked in to report that she was looking forward to another semester at Dartmouth, where she studies neuroscience and bioethics and competes on the varsity sailing team.

Laura Hansen is the women’s captain of the Stanford Polo Team, and is pursuing a degree in English at Stanford.

2009

Kennedy Flanders flanders@uoregon.edu Angie Moore angela@moorelife.com

2010

Tayo Amos tamos922@gmail.com Cam Stein cam.stein@yahoo.com

Ann Criswell 321 Alvarado Avenue Los Altos, CA 94022 afcriswell@earthlink.net

Many alumnae and honorary alumnae joined the multitude of attendees from the Castilleja community to remember beloved Food Service Director Rudy DeCaminadaHA at the memorial service held January 15 at St. Jerome’s Church in El Cerrito.

In February, honorary alumnae gathered for a tea held at the Lockey Alumnae House to meet the new Head of School, Nanci KauffmanHA. Two honorary alumnae, Toni HsuHA and Ethel MeeceHA, both of whom recently became nonagenarians, were recognized with the happy birthday song and good wishes.

Toni HsuHA of Casti’s Math Department from 1962 to 1986 comments, “I usually don’t celebrate my birthdays, but for my 90th I went all out. I took a long trip back east, first to visit my sister in Boston and her family and then to New York where I hosted a get-together dinner for over thirty of my nieces and nephews.

Back home my children treated me to a fabulous home-prepared dinner topped off with a bottle of French Bordeaux, vintage 1920, which they found in Paris.”

Ethel MeeceHA often reminded her colleagues that she and Toni HsuHA were born the same year in which women gained the right to vote. Ethel reports that, as part of her birthday celebration, she put on a PowerPoint presentation for 100 guests. In her show she reminisced about her childhood, her college days as a biology major and bird lover, her professional years as a research biologist in Detroit, Boston, and San Jose, and later as a biology teacher at Castilleja from 1968 to 1991. She also recounted her adventures as a retired traveling biologist, tracing Darwin to his home in Down, England, and seeking out finches and tortoises in the Galapagos Islands “where Darwin received definitive clues for his Origin of the Species.”

Other illustrations in her PowerPoint presentation took her and her guests to Gregor Mendel’s monastery in the Czech Republic and to the Great Rift Valley of Africa, where magnificent animals were on view.

Penny BlackHA divides her responsibilities as school counselor between Jane Addams High School and Zane Grey High School, both in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Penny is thrilled to welcome her first grandchild,

class notes Kennedy Marjorie Black, daughter of Jessica and Cortney Black.

Tim DirksHA works off-site full-time in Hawaii as Senior Editor and Film Historian for American Movie Classics (AMC/Cablevision in New York City). He continues to write, manage, and edit the website which he started 15 years ago, www.filmsite.org (Greatest Films).

Nancy FlowersHA was honored to be the keynote speaker at a European conference on human rights education in Berlin in December 2010. Sponsored by the German Institute for Human Rights and the Council of Europe’s European Fundamental Rights Agency, the conference had as its focus the new Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education and the United Nations’ Draft Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training. Nancy writes, “I was definitely there as an elder, asked to comment on the evolution over the last twenty years of this new field in both education and human rights. It was a wonderful experience except for a terrible blizzard that stopped land and air traffic all over Europe and even froze Berlin trolley cars to their rails if they stopped too long.”

Michèle GrundmannHA, who retired in 1994, reports that she has been enjoying “a nice, placid retirement” and is very happy that she can often see her grandchildren, Gregory and Michele, 13-year-old twins who live in San Mateo.

It has been her delight to be able to see them grow up, as the twins spend a lot of time with their grandparents. She did not see her other grandsons, Nicolas and Stefan, very often because they lived in Bethesda, MD, and they also spent time in Rwanda and Morocco. However, because Nicolas went to Stanford and is now in medical school there, she sees him frequently. His younger brother, Stefan, graduated from college last June and is still trying to find a job, which is a very hard thing to do in this economy. MichèIe comments, “I often see my Castilleja colleagues who are also retired, and we always enjoy seeing and talking to our former students at various alumnae events. I travel a little with my husband and we shall go to France and England in July.”

Barbara JohnstonHA, who retired from the Food Service Department in 2007, reports that she and her husband celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a trip to Hawaii. They enjoyed walking the beaches, visiting the

museums, and learning about the history of Hawaii’s famous sport of surfing. Since retiring, the Johnstons have enjoyed other travels to such destinations as Victoria, B.C., and Northern California.

They also draw pleasure from “reaching out to old friends” and visiting “shutins” such as a long-time friend living in a senior community in Orland, a small town in the northern region of the Sacramento Valley. They have also devoted time and energy to remodeling their home and revamping their garden.

Elyce Melmon'sHA play “The Quest” was performed in January by the Santa Cruz Actors’ Theatre. Concerning the parallels in the material and spiritual worlds, the play features a rabbi and a stockbroker joining forces. Another of Elyce’s plays, entitled “Motherhood,” was presented several weekends in April by the Pear Avenue Theatre in Mountain View as a part of PearSlices, described by Pear Avenue’s web page as a “new batch of deliciously varied short plays [which] will work their magic on the season’s Americana theme.” Elyce describes “Motherhood” as a short piece about Whistler’s mother.

Castilleja Travel Opportunities

coming soon

Coming Soon!

Imagine visiting the ruins of Machu Picchu, seeing the splendor of the Taj Mahal, or walking the towns of Sicily with Castilleja classmates and friends, with a faculty member as your expert guide.

It’s a whole new way to see the world.

Planning for Spring 2012 trips is underway. Trips are open to alumnae and parents (women only).

If you are interested in learning more, contact Maggie Ely Pringle ’71 at mpringle@castilleja.org or Faculty member and Program Director Constence Richardson at crichardson@castilleja.org.

spring 2011 | 59

in memoriam

Alumnae Ellen Berger ’59 Sister of Honor Berger Spitz ’62 Leonard W. ElyHA Father of Maggie Ely Pringle ’71 and Grandfather of Abby Pringle ’00 Marilie Rice McMullen ’37 Ray Clegg Westman ’39 Sister of Belle Clegg Hays ’42 Antoinette “Toni” Richard Wright ’60

Leonard W. ElyHA 1923 – 2011 Father of Maggie Ely Pringle ’71 and grandfather of Abby Pringle ’00.

Former Trustee Leonard W. Ely, who will be remembered for his passion for his family, community, and alma mater, Stanford University, passed away in April in Palo Alto.

A successful businessman who ran several car dealerships, he made his greatest impact in service to his community. A living example of one of his favorite quotes, “We make a living out of what we earn, but a life out of what we give,” he served on the boards of more than 30 organizations, including the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Castilleja School Foundation, Peninsula Stroke Association, and MidPeninsula High School. He was repeatedly honored for his service, notably with the Palo Alto Tall Tree Award, the Spirit of Philanthropy Award from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Stanford’s Gold Spike Award.

At Castilleja, his work on the Board was instrumental in furthering the academic, physical plant, and fiscal growth of the school. He was among those on the Board of Trustees with the fierce determination to keep Castilleja a single-sex school when the growing trend was to go co-ed.

Reflecting on her relationship with him during her 17 years as Head of School, Joan Lonergan wrote, “Leonard Ely loved Castilleja and I loved him; we all did. What a tremendous influence his leadership, commitment, and generosity have had on the school and this community. He led by example—always encouraging, enthusiastic, supportive, and full of good ideas. After decades of strategic involvement on the Board of Trustees and several committees, Leonard stepped down but not away from Castilleja. At the party honoring his countless contributions, I handcuffed Leonard to me as we didn’t want him to leave. We didn’t have to worry; he was a Castilleja man to the end.”

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Administration Leadership Team Nanci Kauffman , Head of School HA

Josée Band, Dean of Teaching and Learning Chris Blair, Head of Upper School Georgia BondHA, Director of Finance Anne CameronHA, Head of Middle School

Board of Trustees Don Bogue Kirk Bostrom Benjamin Chien John Doerr Karen Fisher, Chair Jennifer Fonstad Steve Franklin Mir Imran Nanci KauffmanHA David Kelley Martin Korman

Lindsay Austin Louie ’98 Joe Martignetti Lisa Merenbach Bruce Mosbacher Mike Rantz Barbara Rosston Jennifer Ayer Sandell Martin Shell Hannah Valantine Linda Yates ’80 Alan Zafran

Jill LeeHA, Director of Admission Jez McIntoshHA, Director of Athletics Kim Roberts ’83, Director of Advancement Steve Taffee, Director of Strategic Projects

Alumnae Association Executive Committee Lindsay Austin Louie ’98, President Courtney Carter Charney ’97, VP Communications Christina Hansen McClure ’71, VP Internal Events Ursula Ringham Kinney ’90, VP External Events Sarah Hinman Whittle ’86, VP Development Elizabeth Yin ’00, VP Networking

Front cover: Devanshi Nishar ’14 tinkers in the Robotics Lab Back cover: Class of 2011’s Senior Quilt Inside front cover: Students plant new seedlings to celebrate Earth Week Inside back cover: Sixth graders process around the Circle during Festival of Antiquity Photo Credits: Laura Nowell, Dana Sundblad, ToniBird Photography Design: ChaseVP, Look Design

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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PA I D Palo Alto, CA Permit No. 100

CASTILLEJA SCHOOL MAGAZINE Castilleja School Foundation 1310 Bryant Street Palo Alto, CA 94301 www.castilleja.org

Environmental Benefits Statement Castilleja School has saved the following resources by using recycled paper and printing in a green certified facility for the production and printing of this edition of full circle.

8 fully grown trees

3,466 gallons of 6,000,000 BTU’s water of energy

384 pounds of solid waste

755 pounds of greenhouse gases

Printed on FSC certified recycled paper with soy-based inks.

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