Overheard

“Overheard ”

Country Day teachers are working to give students a phenomenal education and to help guide students to become citizens of character and citizens who are going to change the world.

Alice Irvin ’21, senior reflection

I think being exposed to so many different things and different people is really what made me into the person I am today.

Cassidy Ratner ’21, senior reflection

Don’t be afraid to ask for help from teachers. Be comfortable with who you are and try your best not to dwell on trivial things like mistakes and other people’s opinions.

Devon Jha ’21, Lifer Q&A

The more we learn how to overcome challenges, the more we learn about ourselves and our resources.

Adrian Hayes, Lower School assistant educator, new faculty/staff bio i believe in the power of sharing our stories with each other and encouraging our students to do the same. it is through community and collaboration that we learn and grow. i believe that together we are better.

Miranda Conway, Lower School associate educator, new faculty/staff bio

There is so much potential for greatness that lives in each of us.

Crystal Tan, Lower School associate educator, new faculty/staff bio

I encourage this community to check in with ourselves, keep an eye on each other, and say something if we sense someone is struggling. That is what community is all about.

Geordie Mitchell, assistant head of school for institutional advancement, news article

My hope is that students go out into the world feeling empowered to create a more just, equitable and inclusive world.

Jessica Heredia, director of diversity, equity and culture, news article

When you have a clearly defined vision and your core values are your guiding light, the decisions you make, the projects you manage, and the feedback you give and receive will all go through your values filter, and you will be clear and confident about your next steps as a result.

Payton Hobbs, head of Lower School, news article We need to be our biggest fans, always lifting each other up. it sounds silly, but it is really working. i feel like i’ve changed and grown as a teacher 10-fold because of what we’ve all gone through the past two years.

Liesl Hansen, Middle School band educator, news article

Here’s to an infinity of future possibilities and experiences that will change us all.

Ashley Lee ’21, commencement speech

Whether it be in academics, athletics or arts, there is greatness in each individual that we are excited to grow at LJCDS. Together, we support students in their pursuit to lead our world toward a better future.

Andrew Kim, Upper School math educator, new faculty/staff bio

JESSICA WILSON-JONES ’10

DISCOVERING HER POWER

When she was about 10 years old, Jessica Wilson-Jones ’10 moved to the United States from Egypt with her parents. Her Egyptian-born mother and African American father were at the center of her rapidly expanding universe and a powerful fire in the core of the person she would later become. These two beautiful, resilient people, as she refers to them, raised her to be principled, passionate and patient (and she’d make good use of all three qualities, especially patience). They gave her access to a world where unimagined doors could be opened—doors that they never had access to. But as she was often the only Black, Muslim female wherever she went, finding the key to unlocking those doors was a journey of discovery that Wilson-Jones would primarily have to map out on her own.

Wilson-Jones has come a long way from being the girl who had to adjust to life in a new country. She now represents the United States as a foreign affairs officer at the U.S. Department of State, the latest in an impressive series of positions she’s held at the federal level.

During childhood and up to her professional career, Wilson-Jones learned to harness her unique lived experience to strengthen her sense of self and hone a worldview guided by empathy and insight. “Everyone comes into situations with assumptions about the way I navigate the world as a Black woman, an Arab woman, a Muslim woman,” she says. “There are judgments and assumptions made about who I am, where I am from—my culture, customs, way of navigating the world—from both sides of the pond. Just because I view things differently doesn’t mean I don’t bring knowledge and value. If anything, I am able to bridge the good from both sides of my worlds—and see where gaps exist from both ends.”

“There are judgments and assumptions made about who I am, where I am from—my culture, customs, way of navigating the world— from both sides of the pond. Just because I view things differently doesn’t mean I don’t bring knowledge and value. If anything, I am able to bridge the good from both sides of my worlds—and see where gaps exist from both ends.”

Be Patient, Observe, Assess, Respect, Then Speak Up

with her ability to read a room and understand people, and a desire to use that understanding to bridge gaps and bring people together, WilsonJones began to leverage her duality of culture and upbringing into a philosophy of sorts, a toolkit for human interaction. No matter what the situation, she approached it with the same personal mandate: First, enter with a keen eye and the patience to observe. Don’t rush to make an assumption or change the status quo from day one. Listen and let words and actions reveal a person’s character or the disposition of your new environment. Assess their experiences and motivations. Respect their priorities and objectives, even if you know there are gaps or opportunities for positive change. After that information is fully processed, speak up and let others know what you can offer.

Wilson-Jones had already started refining her philosophy by the time she arrived at La Jolla Country Day School as a ninth-grader. Finding only a handful of students who looked like her was understandably unnerving. “It’s scary to think, Do I belong here? Am I navigating this right?” says Wilson-Jones. “I remember thinking to myself that the best course of action would be to get a sense of where I was and what the dynamics were. Then use that knowledge to help me navigate this setting.”

During her four-year tenure at LJCDS, WilsonJones was seen as an ambitious student leader who was passionate about making a positive difference in the world.

She caught the attention of George Mitrovitch, president of the City Club of San Diego, who would later become her mentor. Wilson-Jones first met Mitrovitch when he visited Mr. [Jonathan] Shulman’s AP History class to discuss civic engagement. Given her desire to be an active citizen, she became part of a group of LJCDS students that Mitrovitch invited to different City Club events. They stayed in touch until he passed away in 2019.

“George personified what it means to navigate the world with humility and kindness,” Wilson-Jones says. “We couldn’t be more different. Here was a white man in his late 70s who grew up in my dad’s era of American history—the injustice, the violence, the fight. I never had a chance to clearly articulate to him how much I watched and listened to how he navigated the world—his integrity, his persistence, his affable laugh and character. Whenever anyone reaches out to me, I always respond and offer advice, because we’re all just trying to figure it out. To mentor someone else the way George mentored me reinforces that no matter what you do for a living, what position you have in our arbitrary hierarchy of life, the only thing that matters is your character and how you approach other people. George opened up doors for me that led me to where I am today, but more importantly, he reminded me, always, that I too bring value and voice. I’ve been privileged to get these opportunities, particularly the ones I received being at Country Day.”

“No matter what you do for a living, what position you have in our arbitrary hierarchy of life, the only thing that matters is your character and how you approach other people.”

It’s Complicated

as she embarked on the next leg of her formal education, Wilson-Jones continued to sharpen her observational skills and sense of dynamics around her. Everything in her arsenal would come in handy as she headed into a career in service and government. After studying international relations and public policy at Tufts University, she returned to San Diego in 2014 to work as a communications and outreach director for the International Rescue Committee. In 2016, she moved to Washington, D.C., to begin work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the Office of Policy for the Middle East and North Africa, first as a policy analyst, and later as an acting director.

When the Obama administration ended, appointees such as herself had to find new jobs. Wilson-Jones landed at the State Department, where she worked for more than three years as a senior programs officer for the Fulbright Program, working with students from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. In early 2020, just as the world was becoming overwhelmed by the COVID-19

pandemic, Wilson-Jones became a foreign affairs officer for Near East Affairs with a specific focus on another overwhelming entity, Syria.

As a foreign affairs officer, Wilson-Jones serves as a liaison between the State Department and her colleagues in the field. She works with teams in D.C. and the region to shape the guidelines for U.S. efforts with Syria, specifically on stabilization assistance efforts. As with many of the big issues challenging our world, there is no easy fix for Syria.

“Developing and supporting stabilization assistance to Syria has been incredible and heart-wrenching at the same time,” explains Wilson-Jones. “It’s been rewarding to witness the ways in which foreign institutions and governments are supporting the stabilization efforts in Syria given the challenges there. But the scope of the issues is insurmountable. Whenever someone asks me about what’s going on in Syria, my response is always, ‘There are really smart, capable people doing yeoman’s work in Syria; I’m just here to rally behind them. It’s a complicated portfolio, and you have to remain patient more than anything.’”

A Room with a Point of View

the state department is not known for being the most diverse or progressive organization, but Wilson-Jones believes there is hope for change. She navigates a room where she is usually the only Black woman, in the same way she has countless times before, and with the acuteness born of her own experiences.

“When you are working with people who have various frames of reference and outlooks, you have to nudge the discussion toward things that might never have been discussed in this group before,” she explains. “Simply by my being present, by bringing a different perspective and using my voice, I am forcing others to think about things in a new light. I’m pushing change.”

In the four years that she has been at the State Department, Wilson-Jones has witnessed a surge in conversation and efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion. “I can’t speak for the entire U.S. federal system, but I can say for my bureau, we’ve been working hard on these efforts and taking to heart the reality of what the State Department is. It’s ‘pale, male and Yale’—a small contingency of people who come from a background of privilege and access. And “Simply by my being present, by bringing a different perspective and using my voice, I am forcing others to think about things in a new light. I’m pushing change.”

“When I come home and rest my head on the pillow at night, I want to know without a doubt that we tried 150% to create a slightly better world today, for tomorrow.”

I acknowledge it’s the same privilege and access I was given at a very young age, so I know how it works.”

The Department is reviewing its recruitment and hiring practices to shift the conversation and pipelines to guarantee new people at the table. As Wilson-Jones can attest, the first people at the table who look different often have the hardest time. She admits it’s sometimes exhausting being the only voice of her kind in the room. But then she thinks to herself, If I don’t do it, and others like me don’t do it, then who will? Who’s going to make way for the next generation to come in and feel much more comfortable being their authentic selves in that space?

Loss and Remaining Committed

the work wilson-jones is engaged in is not for those impatient with the often glacial pace and lack of progress inherent in a massive bureaucracy. Exceptional minds and extremely caring people put their hearts into creating programs and executing policies that sometimes amount to nothing. The heart is something those in this line of work need to do their best to protect.

In over a decade in this field, Wilson-Jones has become invested in the people and countries she works with. As a result, the tragedies in Afghanistan with the Taliban’s takeover in late summer 2021 were particularly painful for her. “I worked on Afghanistan for three years on the Fulbright program. We brought over 200 master’s and Ph.D. students to the U.S. during that time. I have beautiful memories of all of them,” explains Wilson-Jones. “They would come to D.C., and I’d take them out to lunch or coffee. Every single one of them has an incredible, beautiful story of triumph, resilience, pain and trauma, but they were so happy and positive despite all that. We viewed each other as friends, so what happened in August broke my heart. Three women I worked with that were in prestigious ministerial positions lost all of that instrumental work in a day; it all just disappeared. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I was and am still heartbroken.”

In the midst of this humanitarian tragedy, Wilson-Jones was forced to face a more personal loss, the death of her beloved father. “My dad was a major factor in my education and was my guiding light throughout my academic, professional and personal life,” she shares. “He is the reason why I am where I am today and continue to pave the way forward for others.”

Yet amid her private heartache, she continued to do all she could to help her Afghan friends. “I had to be a pillar and support my family, but also these friends, because they matter,” says Wilson-Jones. “But at the same time, I felt helpless. I called on friends on the Hill, joined multiple task forces and tapped on DoD colleagues coordinating the airlifts. This crisis was a battle where so many roadblocks were present across all levels of government. Some we were able to get out, others are still stuck in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Albania—but we remain in touch and will not give up.”

Moving the Needle

wilson-jones embraces both the peaks and valleys in each phase of her life as opportunities for growth in her perspective.

“It’s amazing how, with each chapter in your life, your perspective and priorities change,” she shares. “I’m really happy where I am right now; I love the work I do. But my husband and I are expecting our first child, and our lives will take on a new, if not added, meaning and priority. I’m already starting to think about pursuing opportunities that will allow my family to gain all the joys out of life. My dad was at every track meet, every basketball game; my mom was there for every pickup and drop-off. They were there all the time, and that was so important to me, and I want to be able to offer that to my family.”

Whatever it is that she does, family concerns aren’t her only priority. “I want to move the needle forward in bringing good to the world,” she says. “That desire is deep in my core. How I might achieve that in the future is not clear. I could leave the State Department next year and go into nonprofit. I could start my own business. I just know that whatever it is, I want to be surrounded by family; I want to be surrounded by friends. And I want to make sure that we are doing good at the end of the day. When I come home and rest my head on the pillow at night, I want to know without a doubt that we tried 150% to create a slightly better world today, for tomorrow.” ■

Every day the world depends on the ocean for its resources—the oxygen we breathe, the food that nourishes us, transport of goods and services, revenue from coastal tourism and numerous jobs. According to the United Nations, more than 3 billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. The ocean’s global economic value is estimated at $3 trillion per year, and marine fisheries employ more than 200 million people. But overfishing, pollution, waste and other harmful human activities are disrupting the oceanic ecosystem.

TAKING CARE OF THE OCEAN

SUSTAINING PEOPLE

BY TIFFANY TRUONG

3 BILLION PEOPLE

DEPEND ON MARINE AND COASTAL BIODIVERSITY FOR THEIR LIVELIHOODS

$3 TRILLION

THE OCEAN’S ANNUAL GLOBAL ECONOMIC VALUE Jocelyn Lin Drugan ’98 believes that restoring the ocean’s health is vital not only for saving marine life but also the livelihoods of some of the most vulnerable communities around the world. As the analytics team director and senior fisheries scientist at the nonprofit organization Ocean Outcomes (O2), she works directly with the seafood industry to help fisheries and their supply chains become more sustainable.

Drugan’s work focuses on economic, social and environmental sustainability. “At a fundamental level, it’s about managing the fishery resource in a way that keeps it going so that you don’t take too many fish and the population can keep reproducing and stay healthy,” she says. “Monitoring the fish stocks to see how they’re doing. Are they healthy or not? That’s usually determined with stock assessments and data collection.”

The Path to Fish Science

After graduating from La Jolla Country Day School, Drugan earned her bachelor’s in ecology and evolutionary biology from Yale University. She then embarked on a laser-focused journey studying fish. During a yearlong Fulbright Fellowship in Japan, Drugan visited fish markets and tuna aquaculture facilities to study tuna sashimi production. As a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, she studied the evolution and genetic population structure of wild Pacific salmon. Then in her post-doctoral position at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Drugan developed a genetic simulation model to help confirm oceanographic models of larval fish dispersal at their Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

While serving as a salmon management analyst at the Wild Salmon Center, Drugan uncovered a need to support sustainable fishery practices beyond salmon. “The Wild Salmon Center is mainly focused on conserving what they would call ‘salmon strongholds,’ places where the environment is relatively pristine, and helping keep their salmon populations healthy,” she says. “I was also working on the sustainable seafood side within a group there. While we were working with salmon fisheries in Russia, we recognized a huge demand for sustainable seafood and insufficient supply to meet that demand.” So, rather than wait for someone else to solve the problem, in 2015, Drugan and a group of passionate colleagues founded O2.

200 MILLION PEOPLE

ARE EMPLOYED BY FISHERIES WORLDWIDE

Sustainable fisheries management requires data collection.

Leading with Passion

Today, her current role combines the best of her education, experience and passions. While a critical part of her job involves providing technical expertise drawing on her fisheries science background, Drugan also works directly with people in the field—those who are contributing to their community’s nutrition, food security, sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation. She explains, “When I start a fishery project, I typically begin with an assessment and evaluation. It’s a lot of talking to people and learning about their fishery.”

Ocean Outcomes supports large- and small-scale fisheries, but small artisanal fisheries hold a special place in Drugan’s heart. “Smaller-scale fisheries are essential because they provide many local communities with food security and jobs,” says Drugan. “Stereotypically, people believe a lot of fisheries are operated by men. However, women are instrumental in the sector, too. Often, they may be more involved in selling or processing.”

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations named 2022 the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. “It is the year of supporting small-scale fisheries,” shares Drugan. “Fisheries support a lot of people. These smaller-scale fisheries might not have political or economic power to leverage. I think it’s important to support them. Trying to help them keep their livelihoods going is one of those big challenges, especially when there’s substantial competition among sectors.”

“At a fundamental level, it’s about managing the fishery resource in a way that keeps it going so that you don’t take too many fish, and the population can keep reproducing and stay healthy.”

Local communities rely on healthy fish populations, such as the salmon fishers in Kamchatka, Russia.

Global Obstacles

From Mexico to Costa Rica to China to Japan, each country grapples with its own challenges as they strive to restore our oceans and manage the current impact of climate change on fish stocks. “Sometimes fishing rights are determined by historical patterns of where fish have been caught and what quantities have been caught,” says Drugan. “As water temperatures change, the distributions of fish are shifting, for example moving poleward where the water’s colder.”

In Guyana, Drugan works with local groups to raise awareness about sustainable fishery management practices. “The capacity for management is notably more limited here,” she shares. “Most of the fish stocks are not being assessed. Although the local people eat a lot of fish, they don’t think of themselves as major seafood consumers like in Japan, where there’s a lot of pride about eating seafood. There’s considerable room to raise awareness. They are also contending with oil exploration coming up at the same time. In a way, it’s an opportune time to be able to look at how the fish are doing before oil development gets settled there because that may have environmental impacts on those fish populations.”

Small-scale fishers in Guyana bring their catch ashore to sell in the local marketplace.

“Taking an authentic interest in people is something I learned while I was at Country Day and something that I appreciate and still try to practice in the work I do now.”

Mitigating the Cost

Environmental sustainability cannot come at a tremendous financial cost for fisheries; therefore, the balance of short- and long-term outcomes is critical. “When you encourage environmental sustainability, there might be short-term costs like a need to invest in gear with less bycatch, or even reducing catches,” Drugan shares. “To help financially support those investments, sometimes you need outside investment. The goal is that the fishers themselves receive some benefit from doing this because they should not have to bear all the cost and hassle of trying to improve fishing practices on their own.”

In partnership with the organization ABALOBI, Drugan and team developed an action plan for sustainable practices in a wild capture yellowtail fishery in South Africa that includes opportunities for fishers to obtain better market prices for their fish. “We think about how to improve the handling and distribution practices,” she says. “What’s the quality of fish as you’re catching it and then transporting it? If you can improve that quality, sometimes you can find buyers willing to pay more for higher-quality fish. Also, a lot of times those buyers might be interested in environmental sustainability and the story of how those fish came to market.”

The Aging Fishing Community

In Japan, the aging workforce in the fishing community is posing a challenge for the industry. As fishers are getting older and retiring, fisheries aren’t attracting enough young people to replace those retiring. “It’s hard to make a living,” Drugan shares. “There’s not a huge incentive for young people to stay in that kind of job.”

This challenge makes it vital to optimize opportunities for young fishers to thrive. Drugan and the teams at O2, Seafood Legacy, and UMITO Partners in Tokyo led a multi-year fishery improvement project plan for a giant octopus fishery in Hokkaido, Japan. “We worked with a young fisher who just wanted to keep his town going. He sought out Ocean Outcomes, which is really inspirational. Octopuses are interesting because they often tend to stay in one place. They have their home territories. In this case, we worked with the management agencies to execute a robust evaluation of how healthy those populations were.”

Drugan, who oversaw the technical aspects of the fishery improvement project, worked with stakeholders to develop a precautionary harvest strategy. The plan also included generating domestic and international interest and investment in the region’s fisheries and seafood industry.

Investing in Native Communities

In the United States, O2 is working with Native American tribes in Maine on aquaculture projects. “One of the tribes we’re working with has been raising brook trout, which are a native species in the area, and another is committed to Atlantic salmon restoration,” Drugan shares. “They want to use those programs to help feed the tribe and the local community, but they want to figure out how to do it sustainably, both environmentally and financially.”

Native American communities have historically faced significant inequity and health disparities, leading to great social and economic disadvantages. “Equity is one of the bigger issues that comes up. Historical discrimination and loss of resources have had long-lasting impacts,” Drugan explains. “The food sovereignty aspect is very important to them. While it’s a work in progress, I am really excited about this partnership.”

Politics and Consumer Behavior

The narrative around sustainability inevitably is tangled with politics and consumer behavior. Much of Drugan’s work involves the government as a stakeholder. “With regimes or political parties and individuals, momentum can be lost for a lot of the things that you’re trying to do, especially when it comes to longer-term management of fisheries,” she shares. “Politics and trade, especially in China, impact the work itself. Some of the projects we do are industry-funded, but when a tariff comes in, and they lose that income from, for example, crab exports to China, that affects their ability to fund the work.”

For consumers, social media has raised awareness about plastics and the way they damage the ocean. Most notably, the anti-plastic-straw movement ignited behavior change and bans of single-use plastic straws in many restaurants. But what can consumers do when it comes to eating seafood? Drugan recommends making intentional choices. “In general, you should be thoughtful about what kind of seafood you purchase. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program has a seafood guide that classifies species as red-, yellow- and green-rated, which gives you some sense of your choices. Additionally, I think trying to buy locally and learning where the fish is coming from makes a difference.”

Igniting a Path for Curiosity and Learning

Drugan is a lifer who attended LJCDS starting in kindergarten. “I was on the quiet and studious side,” she shares. “What I think was special about Country Day was even as a quiet student, the teachers were so great and supportive. The teachers and staff at Country Day instilled in me a deep appreciation for learning across disciplines, from reading with Susan Middleton and writing with Chris Schuck to history with Richard Nelson and Doc Stevenson, science with Tom Perrotti and art with Marsha Boston. They fostered an environment that built both my self-confidence and awareness that there’s always more to learn.”

It’s About Serving and Supporting People and the Environment

“Taking an authentic interest in people is something I think I learned while I was at Country Day and something that I sincerely appreciate and still try to practice in the work I do now,” shares Drugan.

“I care deeply about animals, including fish, and the environment,” she shares. “However, in my work, it’s so much about the people. The fish are important, don’t get me wrong. But you need to have community interest and engagement and support to make progress on the environmental sustainability side of things. It’s really neat to work with people who have all sorts of challenges and try to learn their perspectives along the way and really listen to them. Fishers work so hard. This work is hard. It takes a long time to do, and there’s not usually some flashy return on investment. But in the end, it is really rewarding work.” ■

Jocelyn Drugan in Guyana in 2020.