athenian M A G A Z I N E 2020 2020
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Editor Kimberly Moore Associate Director of Communication Contributors Kim Webb Palacios Associate Director of Advancement Alumni Giving & Engagement Shoshana Ziblatt ’92 Director of Advancement Design Julie Contreras, Urban Bird Design Walnut Creek, CA Printing Solstice Press, Oakland, CA
About The Athenian School For over 50 years, Athenian has been educating students for a life of intellectual exploration and meaningful contribution through experiential, collaborative, and interdisciplinary learning. The Athenian School is a private college preparatory boarding and day school that serves students in grades 6–12 in Danville, CA. Students gain knowledge and skills that stick with them throughout their lives through signature programs, including a required 26-day wilderness expedition and a robust international exchange program. The Athenian School is dedicated to educating young people who will thrive in a variety of environments and will put their knowledge in service of society, both in college and beyond.
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Features
M A G A Z I N E 2020
4 Back to our Roots
Seeing Opportunity in Uncertain Times
16 Art in Isolation
A monthlong photography project, Visualizing The Coronavirus
Sixth grade students perform at Fairy Tale Day, a middle school Focus Day this spring.
In This Issue
The Athenian Magazine is published annually in the fall for alumni, parents, and friends of The Athenian School. The opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily the school. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and mailing address changes at news@athenian.org. Or send us mail at:
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The Athenian School 2100 Mt. Diablo Scenic Blvd. Danville, CA 94506
Head’s Message
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Find us at: Athenianschool
Leaving the Nest
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Class Notes
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In Memoriam
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Annual Report
Cover, page 4 illustrations: Julie Contreras Copyright 2020 The Athenian School 2020
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Athenians: Back to Our Roots Message from the Head of School, Eric Niles I was running on the Green Valley trail recently, and a lightning bolt found itself closer to me than one ever has in my entire life. So the fact that I am still here is a bit of a miracle, but here I am. While one never knows what the future holds, this has never felt more true for me than this year at Athenian, when moments of existential questioning, both for myself and for the institution I lead, were impossible to avoid. How can we have school without students on campus? How can I, as a White male, lead an exclusive private school—one that inherently attracts and magnifies privilege—on a journey toward racial justice? I tend to be a positive person, and I believe these questions have answers. This is where my time on sabbatical last year, especially the ten days I spent in a silent meditation retreat in northern California with my wife, Margaret, has informed my work at Athenian. As I reentered what proved to be a remarkable storm, I was grateful for the reserves of equanimity that I had built up in the previous year. As the world swirled around us, we at Athenian approached emerging realities with pragmatism, confidence and, while it didn’t alway seem so, an underlying calm that comes from our knowledge of who we are as individuals, as an institution, and as a community. Reflecting on this year, and thinking to the future, it is time to go back to Athenian’s roots. This is not an excuse to stay the same, but a needed step to inform our growth into a better institution. Athenian was founded in 1965 as a coeducational, racially integrated independent school. In 1966 we were one of four founding members of Round Square, a global organization that now includes over 200 schools. The Pillars, or IDEALS, of Round Square, are the following: Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership, and Service. Our Pillars are alive and well in many ways. For the Adventure Pillar, AWE’s High Sierra expedition took place this summer—safely, and against the odds. For Environmentalism, we are installing electric car chargers on campus and have used far less paper this year as we have shifted to an online model, two of the myriad improvements that will emerge from this difficult time. As for Service, we have a task force convened now that will endeavor to better integrate an ethic of service in all we teach and all we do. One of the many lessons of this pandemic is that a commitment of service to others, now more than ever, must be an outcome of an Athenian education. Our Leadership Pillar shone through as we provided best-in-class online education to our students. While I hoped and believed that we would start this school year in person, our robust online learning program has given parents the confidence to keep their students at Athenian in this year of uncertainty, and our enrollment numbers are nearly unchanged. This shows that our parents understand, even in a difficult distance learning mode, the passion and quality of our faculty and the education that we offer their children, no matter the circumstances.
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Eric’s sabbatical brought him to this tea stand in Kolkata, India
While in Bhutan, he noticed that a gentleman had a Yankee cap on, so they struck up a conversation.
In other ways, there is room for growth. The world that we have inherited has only made clearer the need to return to our Pillars of Internationalism and Democracy. We have also seen the need to update these Pillars as we and the world around us evolve. Just as the world shifted beneath our feet in regard to public health, a wave of long-needed social change grew in strength. For example, we have come to better understand that the experience of Black students at our school has fallen far short of what we and they would have wanted it to be, and this is unacceptable. As a community we have begun a yearlong journey in Diversity, Equity Inclusion and Cultural Competence (DEIC), wherein we work with highly skilled trainers to ask and answer the difficult questions needed to move us toward racial justice. The Board, for its part, has created a committee on Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice to be sure these commitments, central to Athenian’s mission, are kept and nurtured. This is some of the work of this year, yet we understand that our work will never be done in this regard; that our commitment to action and learning must be ongoing. The inherent privilege of our community makes our call to create change even more pressing. Our stellar graduates can hardly help but become influential adults. They make their way into a wide array of fields—they are scientists, educators, communicators, executives and parents, among many other professions—and our goal is to prepare them to change the world for the better when they get there. We want them to not simply join communities, but to collaborate and build better communities wherever they go. With our help, and with the understanding that the world many of them are coming from is in fact unjust in their favor, they can use their influence to help foster justice, equity and fairness in the world they are entering. In conclusion, I would like to express my readiness for this challenge, and my gratitude for the amazing depth of our resolve as a community. As always, I am so proud to be an Athenian. Warmly,
Eric F. Niles Head of School The Athenian School 2020
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Seeing Opportunity in Uncertain Times
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FEATURE: BACK TO OUR ROOTS
When Athenian helped found the Bay Area BlendEd Consortium with a small group of independent schools in 2013, the school was fulfilling its role as an educational leader and striving to better serve its students. Those leading the charge at Athenian were collaborating with like-minded educators to provide the best and most forward-looking options in the moment. Little did they imagine what the world would look like in March of 2020 and the role this early work in blended learning would play in the school’s ability to respond to an immediate switch to a distance model. “We weren’t thinking of disasters and moments that would force us to evolve overnight, but what it has shown is that the vast majority of our faculty were able to pivot in that way,” says Kalyan Balaven, Athenian’s Director of Teaching and Learning. While schools across the Bay Area and the country struggled to deliver new content and instruction to their students, Athenian teachers were adjusting lesson plans to fit the new learning environments offered by Canvas and Zoom, and they barely missed a beat. Over the next several weeks, teachers and administrators responded to feedback from students and parents in order to regain the steady hum of learning that Athenian had before quarantine. They adjusted class schedules to allow students in different time zones to participate, changed the grading system, and made special efforts to connect with students who were having trouble adjusting to the new reality. Creativity was of the essence. Over the past year, Athenian’s Teaching and Learning Committee, led by Kalyan, had undertaken a process of examining and formalizing what excellence in teaching means at the school. Working from existing school documents, the group came up with three categories: core professionalism, core teaching, and core development. The first, professionalism, has to do with the nuts and bolts of being a teacher, from taking attendance to submitting grades on time.
Adapting and seeing opportunity in challenging moments is part of Athenian’s DNA, and faculty members expect and embrace professional growth in their pursuit of excellence. Next is teaching: does a teacher exhibit cultural competence, create community in the classroom, and lay the foundation for aha moments? While some schools may have stopped there, the committee decided that there was another level involved in excellence at Athenian: professional development. To be truly excellent, a teacher must continually seek new knowledge and skills through immersion in new circumstances and situations. With the pandemic, Athenian’s definition of excellence hasn’t changed, but distance learning has put a spotlight on the aspect of core development. It’s the professional growth that faculty have pursued over time, Kalyan argues, that allowed them to adjust so quickly to a new reality.
Showcasing Flexibility A teacher of advanced chemistry and advanced computational thinking, Megan Leich ’94 was ahead of the curve when online learning started in the spring. She had recorded many of her classes in 2012–13 so that students could watch videos for content outside of class and focus on group work, projects, and asking questions during class. When labs were also required to be remote, she switched to online lab simulations and tried to tailor them to the goals she had for the class. When the tool that they were going to use in class one day mysteriously went down, she had the class switch to another one. The class made an instant pivot. Megan took a day to write some new instructions, and they were able to continue their work using the new simulation tool. Roots, continued on page 6…
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The growth mindset exhibited by Athenian’s fearless faculty applies to both individuals and the school as a whole—in short, the zeitgeist of the institution supported this type of flexibility.
Megan Leich ’94, Chemistry and Computer Science Teacher.
Roots, continued…
“Probably the thing that helped me the most was just being flexible,” Megan said. “And the students were great—they were so flexible, too. So when [this] happened, they knew I was trying my best.”
Dyke Brown was steeped in classic academics, but envisioned a dramatic departure from education as usual. After practicing law in San Francisco from 1946 to 1953, Brown was elected Vice President of the Ford Foundation, where he worked for the next decade. During this tenure, Brown traveled to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia for work on youth development and juvenile delinquency. “I came eventually to the conclusion that probably the most crucial factor in the healthy functioning of our society is the commitments young people make when they are growing up about what they want to do with their lives,” Brown said at his home in Orinda, Calif., in 1985.
Dyke Brown sits on a tractor during the school’s construction.
Our Roots Both the commitment to the highest standards of learning and the ability to innovate hearken back to the school’s origins. As a graduate of UC Berkeley, a Rhodes Scholar, and a graduate of Yale Law School, the school’s founder 6
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“Although I had responsibility for administering grants that totaled several hundred million dollars, I decided I wanted to do something which would come more directly to grips with my interest in how to replenish good citizens and leaders in each generation, and in the capacity of a relatively free society, like ours, to function more effectively. [This replenishment]
FEATURE: BACK TO OUR ROOTS
Two students in the High Sierras during the Athenian Wilderness Experience.
just doesn’t happen because it’s been there before: it has to happen every generation, and a society can go down or up.” Hoping to implement his ideas in a more direct way than he could at the Ford Foundation, Brown founded the Athenian School in 1965. From the day it opened its doors, Athenian has been ahead of its time. Both racially integrated and coeducational from its inception, Athenian served a diverse and talented student population with the goal of creating informed, compassionate, and service-oriented citizens. Consistent with his Mandala, a detailed diagram of his teaching philosophy, Brown advocated a wide-ranging field of study including history, science and society with a combined emphasis on intellect, moral character, and physical fitness. Brown’s mentor Kurt Hanh’s challenge to each student that “There is more in you than you think,” is emblematic of the Athenian Wilderness Experience, a 26-day trek that teaches resilience, camaraderie and self-reliance, and serves as a rite of passage for nearly every Athenian.
So as teachers changed their tack to adjust to new winds this spring, they were drawing on the core values that make our school so special. In true Athenian fashion, they adapted to a new reality, a challenge that ultimately strengthened our community in unexpected ways.
Encountering Challenges This transition was not without its challenges. As the Athenian community left campus and entered the digital landscape, some things remained the same: teachers still needed to take attendance, encourage participation in class, assign projects and classwork, and evaluate this work. But instead of threedimensional beings with the ability to communicate through body language, students and teachers were now only visible as squares on a screen. The connections characteristic of Athenian’s easygoing atmosphere, in which students and teachers are on a first-name basis and in constant communication both inside and outside the classroom, now took more steps to accomplish and could not all be distilled into an online format. Roots, continued on page 8…
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“Students need us to be proactively adapting around their needs rather than having to ask us to adapt to their needs.� -Mark Lukach
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FEATURE: BACK TO OUR ROOTS
Roots, continued…
Ninth Grade Dean and wellness advocate Mark Lukach has a keen awareness of the challenges to students’ emotional health during this time of isolation from friends and teachers. At a distance, the need for teachers to dial into the subtle signs students give about their well-being simultaneously became more important and more difficult to meet. Whereas in person, educators can easily observe students’ receptiveness to lessons, in distance learning the teacher has to make a deliberate effort to check in and find out what is working and what modifications are needed. Teachers need to be proactive about this in order to prevent disconnection, Mark says. “Students need us to be proactively adapting around their needs rather than having to ask us to adapt to their needs.”
social media campaigns to help keep students moving. The tech department assisted students and teachers with unfamiliar programs, and held drop-in times for most of spring semester. Community meetings were held online. Teachers reached out when students seemed withdrawn, and in some cases alerts went out to the community to make sure certain individuals got the support they needed.
A New Kind of Excellence The result has been a shift in what constitutes excellence in teaching—or, rather, an addition to it—as digital skills and an experimental mindset augment the traditional skills that make teachers great in the classroom. Some teachers have come to shine in this format.
For veteran middle school teacher Tina Nott, who retired in June, the loss was palpable. But in her last semester before retirement, she redoubled her efforts in response to the challenges distance presents. When a student walks into the classroom with a hood on, or with their head down, for example, a teacher can tell how they are feeling. She can give the student more time, or ask how they are doing. “I miss that a lot,” Tina says. “I also feel like with this remote learning, that there are times where the kids who get it, they are going to get it anyway. It’s hard to get to those kids who aren’t getting it, and aren’t asking questions. But I can see it in their homework, and email them, and meet online, and make that happen.”
A Community Effort Classroom teachers were not the only ones finding opportunities to innovate. Faced with a new environment, where they could only connect at a distance, Athenians continued to shine in academics, the arts, and athletics. Students recorded musical performances that were either live or recorded in various homes and mixed together to form beautiful pieces. The Athletics Department hosted a fitness challenge, an interactive 5K/10K, and
Tina Nott, Retired Middle School Math Teacher.
“There are folks who either because of their personal interests, committees, [or] how they taught during focus days, et cetera, have been very adept at shifting to this model of teaching,” Kalyan says. Through Canvas, teachers can go in and see how a class looks to a student, and how visually engaging it is, to help them thrive. While Athenian teachers had access to Canvas before and some used it regularly, they all received a crash course in the software before school went online on March 16. Roots, continued on page 10…
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Roots, continued…
For Kalyan, excellence online means something far beyond putting assignments online. “But to take that and shift it in a way where students are super engaged and having fun—that has been showcased.”
“There’s this reflection, the school itself has a growth mindset—how can we be better, how can we do better, how can we serve our students better?”
– Lisa Haney
A Growth Mindset Having seen the school change over time, longterm former faculty members like Lisa Haney have a unique perspective on the school’s ability to evolve. Lisa Haney
Sally Baker
After 26 years at Athenian, where her roles included English Teacher, International Program Director, and Humanities Department Chair, Lisa has since moved on to become the Executive Director of the California Teacher Development Collaborative, where she curates and facilitates learning experiences for educators. Lisa has a deep respect for Athenian as an intentional, mission-driven organization.
“There’s this reflection—the school itself has a growth mindset. How can we be better? How can we do better? How can we serve our students better?” she says. “That’s why it was easy to be there for so many years, because I saw the school growing in positive directions and I could grow within that as an educator.” And growth has been essential this spring. Excellence took on a new form across the educational community as teachers showed creativity, resilience, and the ability to adapt on the fly while keeping the essence of their messages intact.
Resourceful Creativity In the Athenian Art department, teachers had to figure out how to transition activities that normally required prepared spaces equipped with kilns, video editing stations, or a dance floor to a home environment. Dancers collaborated on Zoom, filmmakers made oneweek films where they filled every production role, and ceramics students worked with playdough made from everyday pantry items. “I decided we would continue sculpting things by making Playdough at home since everyone would have flour, salt and water,” says Fine Arts Instructor Sally Baker. “The students all went with it, and we made tiny sculptures with Playdough until I was able to get students access to clay several weeks later. We made tiny things so as not to use up too many food items that families might need. Once we had clay, we used normal household items for sculpting and for use as molds such as large pots to use as drape molds to make bowls.” The resilience of this example is exactly the type of innovation that for Lisa indicates a teacher’s attention to the essentials; rather than giving way to despair at being out of the studio, a ceramics teacher shifts to available household items and smaller works of art.
With classes moving online as of March 16, 2020, Zoom became a way of life. Teachers like Sven Miller tried to keep things fun—this photo features a silly hat day in one of his sixth grade classes.
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“It’s that kind of shift that truly exemplifies what teachers are doing at this moment,” she says. “They are thinking about the why—what is the deepest, most essential set of learning and how might I adapt that to this setting.”
FEATURE: BACK TO OUR ROOTS
Drape molded clay slab bowls by Grace True ’20.
Painted fish by Ananya Goel ’20.
And while it’s tempting to look back at what we’ve lost in this time of change, if we are too attached to how things were, Haney says, it will be more difficult to remain responsive to students. Whatever the learning format, the relationships—those between teachers and students, materials and students, and students and themselves—are what matters most, and can still be fostered in an online environment. “It’s harder,” Lisa says, “but I think the essential qualities remain.”
Back to school in the fall In anticipation of a phased return, we’ve continued to invest in our professional development over the summer. This includes ways to better use technology, support our students’ social-emotional well-being, build community, and further our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Cultural Competency (DEIC) work. And while nothing will replace in-person learning on our idyllic campus, face-to-face with our talented and compassionate teachers, the ability to combine and shift between learning models will remain key. As Athenian transitions back to campus, elements of what we adopted in distance learning will be maintained. Now that they are experts in Canvas, for example, many faculty will continue to utilize it more robustly.
Tiny food (croissants, burgers, toast with fried egg, doughnuts in box, etc.) all less than 1’’ by Chloe K. ’23.
“Athenian now has the ability to do a hybrid teaching model,” Kalyan says. This means that international students can participate in classes even if they need to stay in their home countries, and students and faculty in the Bay Area can stay connected when they cannot make it to class. If a class needs to switch midsemester from in-person to online or vice-versa, it’s not a problem, Kalyan says. “We’ve done it before, and I know we can do it again.”
Kalyan Balaven, Director of Teaching and Learning.
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Papier mâché and wire world by Pavika (Pow) V. ’21 ATH HEEN NIIA AN N SSC CH HO OO OLL 12 12 TTHHEE AT
FEATURE: BACK TO OUR ROOTS
Artwork: zooooom by Athenian art teacher Monica Tiulescu, 62’ x 10’, acrylic pen and paint on gesso paper. The painting is a compilation of Zoom meetings with both students and faculty over the spring semester.
In Their Words: How Faculty Pivoted in a Digital Environment “By setting aside time to meet with students one-on-one and by being able to share documents in real time, I felt like we replicated much of the personal attention we give students on campus.” Martin Rubio, Humanities Teacher
“We completely let go of the final projects we were creating. Instead, we enjoyed a successful time of collaborating on original group performative works created for the Zoom window. These group works also included text that voices social justice issues amid the crisis of COVID-19.” Laura Ellis, Dance Teacher
“We really had to rethink the entire curriculum. Each student became their own independent film studio, doing development to post-production on their own and improvising their tools from cameras to tripods to editing.” Peter Tamaribuchi, Film Department Director
“The transition to distance learning did not require the elimination of any content in Spanish 5. On the contrary, the postponement of the AP exam allowed students a wider window of practice and distance learning provided an opportunity for students to engage with several excellent multimedia tools designed to enhance language learning and cultural competence.” John Harvey, World Language Department Chair, Spanish Teacher
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Notable
Moments It’s been a remarkable year! While students were off-campus after March 16, there were many amazing moments and shared experiences before we switched to distance learning.
The Athenian Men’s Soccer Team celebrated their big win—and Athenian’s first ever North Coast Section Championship—on Nov. 16, 2019.
Students, parents and alumni harvested olives to be made into Athenian olive oil. Proceeds from olive oil sales went to the Starehe Boys’ and Girls’ Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, and helped to finance the purchase of our very own milling equipment.
Middle schoolers addressed the pandemic ahead of time last year, with one Focus Day titled Epidemic Day, which went hand-in-hand with Mock Congress Day (pictured), in which plans to handle a pandemic were discussed. All this was before we knew about COVID-19!
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Students organized the Together Through Art Alumni and Student Benefit Show in January to support Save the Music, a nonprofit that increases student access to music education.
The inaugural season of Athenian Women’s Lacrosse was cut short with COVID-19. On a plus side, they went undefeated, with one win!
The Athenian hOWLers sang in the International Championship for High School A Cappella in Portland, OR, in February. They were invited back for the semi-final round, which was canceled due to COVID-19.
The Board of Trustees set up “The Nest,” a small conference room in the Main Hall dedicated to gathering student and faculty input on the school’s strategic plan.
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Art in Isolation “The stay-at-home order coincided with our March Term, so I quickly transitioned to a monthlong project titled Visualizing The Coronavirus. As we started our final projects in the fourth quarter still sheltering in place, many of the students continued to build on their projects, making work from home, on daily walks, and about their isolation.” Adam Thorman, Fine Arts Department Chair and Upper School Photography Teacher
Connor Chow ‘20 made a series of landscape images, using a drone to photograph the hills around him.
20cchow.wixsite.com/advancedphoto/oak-stoke
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HIGHLIGHTS: ART IN ISOLATION
Seela Haidari ’22
found amazing variety while observing late daylight in her house during lockdown.
seelahaidariphoto.weebly.com/before-its-gone.html
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Avinash Iyer ‘22 made a series about the local beauty he discovered while taking daily walks during the lockdown.
aiyerphoto.weebly.com/sun-kissed.html
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Mary Dias ‘21
HIGHLIGHTS: ART IN ISOLATION
looked at the feeling of isolation during the lockdown.
marydiasphotography.weebly.com/isolation.html
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Graduation
Leaving the Nest
The Class of 2020 Self-described as energetic, persistent and bold, the Class of 2020 will be remembered for its grit. Despite the loss of on-campus fellowship and the alteration of countless traditions, this class ended the year with dignity and grace.
Seniors viewed a video of their graduation at a temporary drive-in theater on campus.
Class of 2020 College Matriculation American University, DC• Boston College, MA•
Fashion Institute of Technology, NY Franklin and Marshall College, PA•
Saint Mary’s College of California, CA• Santa Clara University, CA••••
Boston University, MA•
Franklin W Olin College of Engineering, MA• George Washington University, DC•
Scripps College, CA••
University of Hawaii, Manoa, HI•• Howard University, DC••
University of Southern California, CA•• Stony Brook University, NY•
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL• Indiana University, Bloomington, IN•
Texas Christian University, TX• The Ohio State University, OH•
Lehigh University, PA• Loyola Marymount University, CA•
Trinity University, TX• Tufts University, MA••
Middlebury College, VT•
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA••
Mount Holyoke College, MA•
University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada•
Brandeis University, MA•• Bryn Mawr College, PA• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA•• University of California, Berkeley, CA• University of California, Irvine, CA• University of California, Los Angeles, CA••• Chapman University, CA•• Claremont McKenna College, CA•• Colgate University, NY• University of Colorado, Boulder, CO• Cornell University, NY• Depaul University, IL• Drexel University, PA• Duke University, NC• Elizabethtown College, PA• Emory University, GA•
New York University, NY•••••• Occidental College, CA•
Sonoma State University, CA•
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan• Washington and Lee University, VA• Washington State University, WA•
Oregon State University, OR• Pitzer College, CA••• Pomona College, CA•• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY• University of Rochester, NY•• Rochester Institute of Technology, NY•
Washington University In St Louis, MO•••• Wesleyan University, CT• Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA• University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI•
Each dot (•) denotes the number of graduates attending each school.
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The Question: We asked the graduating members of the class of 2020 to tell us about the role of teachers at Athenian. This is what they said:
“Sanjev De Silva, Kalyan Balavan, Jamie Julian, Emily Shinkle, and Stephanie Kim. They all are supportive and understanding people I could have long discussions with.”
“My teachers taught me what intellectual passion looks like. Their love for what they taught made me love what I learned.” - Micah Ross
- Christopher Thompson
“Gabe Del Real’s relentlessness in questioning my philosophical propositions helped me to think more critically and to keep an open mind.”
- Matthew Ye
“April Smock was a rock “Emily Shinkle and Michelle Park were both second moms.” - Wonjun Jo
for me during the college process and introduced me to some of my favorite books.”
- Izzy Andrus
“Mark Lukach and Whitney Hofacker were special to me. They believed in me when I didn’t even believe in myself.” - Senta Hackman
“Maria Luca and Megan
“Athenian teachers have
Leich helped confirm my
taught me we can change
passion and love for science
the world in more ways
and kept encouraging me
than we think. We can
during challenging times.”
never stop learning.”
- Aditi Reddy
- Victoria Koffi
Photos: Kelley Lotosky www.letsspreadbeauty.com 2020
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Retiring Faculty
Leaving the Nest Tina Nott A co-creator of the Focus Day tradition, middle school math teacher Tina Nott’s 38-year career at Athenian began in 1982. She originally came to the school as a part-time swimming coach while she was earning her teaching credential. She later joined the math department directly, where she learned from peer contemporaries such as Munzer Afifi, Lester Henderson and Eleanor Dase. Tina spent countless hours after school helping students who needed extra support. She invested in students by getting to know them individually and figuring out how their minds worked. During her coaching years (which came to include periods spent coaching the middle school girls’ basketball team) Tina redirected her coaching stipends to go to the middle school Math department. She led summer trips to South America for middle school students for years. Students appreciated Tina’s approachability and her positive disposition. Behind the scenes, she was a practical joker, known for her complicity in pranking faculty and staff. She is mother to David Nott ’02 and Jessica Nott ’03, a proud grandmother, and a competitive skier. She was one of the longest-running teachers at Athenian. In a few rare cases, she taught two generations of the same family.
Elisabeth Bertschi Well-known for her ability to connect with students, Elisabeth began teaching French at Athenian in 1986. She made headway with students who struggled mightily with the French language, as well as those who took to it easily. She held student wellness at the center of her practice. Over the years, she was asked to graduate many students, including boarding students, who she cared for in a maternal way. She is the parent of two alumnae, Sarah Azari ’10 and Tanya Azari ’12. Elisabeth is famous for hand-writing her lessons and throwing them away at the end of the year only to rewrite them again the next (which she describes as her approach to staying fresh).
Lydia Guzman After 20 years as the Attendance Officer, Lydia Guzman leaves many friends and an admirable legacy behind. An early and enduring advocate for equity and inclusion, she was instrumental in driving a culture of inclusion at the School, representing Athenian at POCC conferences and serving alongside Debbie Schafgans as advisor to the Latino Club. Lydia also co-founded the much-loved tradition of the Tuesday Nacho Sale, which raised more than $17,000 for the Monument Crisis Center over the course of seventeen years. She served as Dean of Staff, organized the Annual Athenian Pink Day to bring awareness of breast cancer, sponsored Salsa Nights, performed in faculty/staff talent shows, and wore too many hats to name. She will be remembered by students for her compassion, and will be remembered by everybody in the community for her unwavering status as a Dodgers fan. Her granddaughter, Soli Guzman ’20, is a recent Athenian graduate. Lydia celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary this summer. In her retirement, she will act on her longtime goal of driving Route 66 with her husband. She also looks forward to visiting her sister in Nevada and spending more time with her grandchildren.
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Debra Ataman Debra started out at Athenian as a receptionist in 1997 and became Assistant to the Director of Special Programs in 2001. Known for her excellent people skills, Debra’s role evolved as she took on community outreach and leaned into supporting summer programs, her final role at Athenian. Debra embodies what it means to be of service, carrying out her work quietly and effectively in a manner exemplary of the values of the school. She has been called an unsung heroine of our community. A certified yoga instructor since 2017, she taught yoga to our students. Her daughter, Shelby Ataman ’11 was four years old when she attended Devil Mountain Summer camp at Athenian as a Trail Blazer.
Barbara Carlino Barbara Carlino joined Athenian in 2007 as the Upper School Counselor, and helped Athenian carry out its health education program for many years. She was a co-creator of ASAP (the Athenian Sexual Assault Prevention Program) as well as the school’s peer counseling program. In her retirement, Barbara will spend time reading, cooking, traveling, going out with friends, and diving into more creative pursuits.
Elise Jan Mandarin teacher Elise Jan came to Athenian in 2009, bringing with her a method that helped students reach levels of fluency that could not be obtained from textbooks. She also applied tech-forward approaches in the classroom well before they became standard. As a language immersion devotee, she led international trips and was known by her students as a teacher who really cared. In her retirement, she plans to spend time with her family, play piano (an instrument she once taught) and sing.
Debbie Schafgans Debbie joined Athenian in 1987 as a contract employee in the Development Department. When Head of School, Sam Eliot, deemed her indispensable at the end of her contract, it launched a 33 year career. Beyond Development, Debbie worked at the front desk, ran the student store at points, ran the bookstore, and was instrumental in early and ongoing efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion. She enjoyed acting parts in the faculty/staff talent shows and is known more broadly for her love of music and dancing. A play about an event in her life was written by Gabe Del Real and acted by Amy Wintermeyer, who played the part of Debbie. Viewed by many students over the years as a second mom, Debbie sent her own three children to Athenian: Julirose Schafgans-Enriquez ’96, Damian Schafgans ’99, and Jonathan Schafgans ’09. As a student club advisor and staff activist, she championed a culture of service, equity and inclusion. Along with Lydia Guzman, she founded and organized the Tuesday Nacho Sale that has benefited Monument Crisis Center for 17 years. When asked what she will do in her retirement, her response was, “More concerts, more hiking, more discovering more trails on the mountain, enjoying life and dancing, dancing, dancing!”
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Class Notes
1973 Claudia Finkle visited campus this year and got a sneak peek at the beginnings of the Athenian Archives. She is based in Berkeley but splits her time among Berkeley, West Hollywood and Cuba. A lifelong artist and arts aficionado, she is involved with specialized tourism in Cuba that focuses on its vibrant arts community. She sometimes runs into Jamahn Lee ’94 as part of her involvement in the arts in the East Bay.
Round Square Program, connected with Mr. Goetz Plessing, the school’s former headmaster. Mr. Goetz Plessing was a protégé of Kurt Hahn who visited Athenian in the early 1970s, knew Dyke Brown, and remembers Eleanor Dase and Tom Swope fondly. Daniel enjoyed catching up with both Mr. Goetz Plessing and his wife, Mrs. Kristin Plessing, who was his German teacher and dorm parent during his time at Biklehof.
a leader in glass restoration tool manufacturing, of which he is the CEO.
1999 Jaime Rossman and Sarah Drescher Rossman “finally got their acts together in 2017,” got married and moved to Olympia, Washington. They welcomed their first child, Charlotte, in November of 2019.
1975 Chris Arai is living with his wife, Tess, in Healdsburg, and received media attention for his DIY fireproofing, which he credits with saving his home in the 2019 Kincade Mr. Goetz Plessing, Mrs. Kirsten Plessing, fire. As an electrical engineer who and Daniel Ziblatt ’90 in Berlin “built the house and every detail of the construction with fire in mind,” he relied partially on a fire pump from Jamahn Lee works as an Education the pool to the perimeter sprinklers, Program Coordinator for SFJAZZ, bringing which emptied 11,000 gallons of water jazz education programming to middle onto the surrounding vegetation and the schoolers in the Bay Area. His work walls of the house. The blaze destroyed in transcending the COVID-19 crisis the homes of many neighbors and came by finding ways to continue to deliver two months after Chris was dropped interactive educational programming abruptly by his insurance company for online was recently profiled by fire coverage, after the company deemed the organization. his home too high a risk.
1994
1983
1996
Alison Savage reached out recently to let us know she’s living in Vermont and has worked as a real estate appraiser for the past twenty years.
Former Athenian Trustee, Alison Fletcher, became engaged to her longtime partner, Eliot Quataert in March. Barring restrictions on gatherings, the pair hopes to celebrate their nuptials with an attended wedding in early 2021.
1990 Daniel Ziblatt co-authored the New York Times Bestseller, How Democracies Die. Currently the Eaton Professor of the Science of Government at Harvard University, he spent the year as a fellow in Berlin Germany. While there, Daniel, who had spent a year at the Birklehof School in 1990-1991 through Athenian’s 24
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1998 Cody Thomas launched a new program called Storefront Strong that is aimed at providing no-cost support to small businesses that have been impacted by the COVID pandemic. This effort is an offshoot of his company, GlassRenu,
Charlotte, daughter of Jaime Rossman ’99 and Sarah Drescher Rossman ’99
2005 Pendarvis Harshaw now lives in the Sacramento area and commutes to work in the East Bay. He is the host of KQED’s Rightnowish, a radio show and podcast that highlights artists and activists on the front lines of history. Monica Streifer was married in March to her longtime partner, Miles, in Walla Walla, WA. A live-streamed ceremony accommodated those who could not travel to the affair. The lovely ceremony was followed by a picnic attended by eight socially-distant guests.
2006 Tane Remington, along with her partner, James Cahill, welcomed Layla Mavi Cahill this spring. The couple was frequently on campus earlier in the school year while serving as volunteer instructors with the Athenian Robotics team.
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The July 2019 nuptials of Kevin Burke and Laura Kashiwase were attended by at least a dozen Athenian alumni spanning three classes.
Michaela Lee just finished an Assembly Fellowship at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, which is focused on improving detection, response, and coordination against disinformation campaigns that threaten our elections, institutions, and social trust. After five years working in a nonprofit that worked with technology and human rights issues, she returns to Harvard this fall to pursue her Master’s in Public Policy.
David Liebenberg competed in Athenian Alumni at the Wedding of Kevin Burke ’06 the 2020 Sailing World Cup and and Laura Kashiwase ’06 placed 14th at the 2020 World Sailing Championships. He and his sailing partner, Sarah Newberry Moore, earned the distinction of top American team in Amanda Kent and her fiance, Alex, 2020 in the latter competition. recently became engaged at the summit
2009
of Mt. Tallac. The two met while working together at Bain & Co. and subsequently attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business together before returning to Bain. They hope to tie the knot at her parents’ house in South Lake Tahoe in October 2020.
Meg McClure was adventuring in New Zealand when her trip was cut short by an impending lockdown of the borders in relation to the COVID-19 crisis. She had hiked over 500 miles on Te Araroa when she learned they had closed the trail. Prior to her trip to New Zealand, she had been working with the Peace Corps in Ukraine.
2011 Asha Brundage-Moore has been in New York for three years and just graduated from NYU Law School. She looks forward to moving to Philadelphia and learning how the courts work while clerking for the Honorable Judge Theodore McKee of the Third Circuit. After her clerkship, she hopes to work in environmental law. Amanda Kent ’09 and Fiance Alex
2010 Now based in Washington, DC, nonproliferation and Terrorism expert, Maggie Croy, works as a research associate and imagery analyst around weapons of mass destruction, North Korea, and Iran. She was quoted in numerous media articles in January in relation to unrest in Tehran.
Chris Chen is living in Northern Virginia working for The Telemus Group, a small defense contractor that specializes in forecasting, wargaming, and qualitative analysis. Brinton Cheng graduated from Purdue in 2016 with an Electrical Engineering degree and went on to work in China for about a year-and-a-half. He later moved to Taiwan in late 2018, where he remains, working for Wistron.
Hannah Debois ’11 and Susan Blick ’11
Hanna Debois will attend Boston College in the fall to pursue her Master’s in Social Work with a clinical focus. She expects to join a rowing club to meet new people in Boston and expects to return to the Bay Area after that. Connor Dougherty is having fun working in golf course construction for Greenscape Methods; despite the “crazy hours,” he loves working in the outdoors. He’s lived in six different states over the past four years for project work and says he never “expected to end up spending three years of [his] life in Texas.” His current renovation project, Memorial Park in Houston, is slated to host the next PGA Houston Open. Sophie Griswold is living in Tucson and working as an ICU nurse on a COVID-19 unit, and reports that she likes rock climbing in her spare time. Kelly Herman lives in Orange County and works for a commercial real estate brokerage firm with a focus on multifamily assets in Southern California and the Bay Area. She earned her Master’s in Real Estate Development from Georgetown University in 2018 and worked previously as a sustainability consultant overseeing commercial properties in Atlanta. Izzy Prince has been working in book publishing and living in New York since she graduated from Colby in 2015. After working with literary agencies and a trade publishing house, she is now with Oxford University Press as an assistant editor for archaeology, history, and religion books. In her spare time, she does art Class notes 2011, continued on page 26… 2020
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and creative writing to “keep [her] mind from rusting into decrepitude”. Though she loves New York, she misses her Owls and the golden hills of the East Bay and would move back to California if her job situation allowed. Aaron Wiener organized several virtual reunions for his class this spring, and is a moderator of the Class of 2011 Facebook Group, which has been active for years. He works as Southwest Outside Salesman for his family’s company, QuickBOLT, which supplies mounts to install solar panels on residential roofs. He works remotely, serving a wide service territory, from his home in Silverlake, CA.
2012 Sidney (Katz) Thompson and Brian Thompson just celebrated their two-year wedding anniversary. They were married in Vermont, where they have been living for the past few years. The spark of their romance began while both were at Athenian.
2016
2018
Avery Burrell recently graduated from Johns Hopkins with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Accounting & Finance. She will attend the Graduate School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins this fall, where she will major in Biomaterial and Material Sciences and conduct research in Denmark as part of her program. Earlier this year, she worked on an archaeological dig of the Homewood Museum, a National Historic Landmark in Baltimore on the Johns Hopkins campus. Along with her classmates, she determined the material makeup of a 1900s-era artifact that had eluded researchers since the early 1980s and pieced together its origins.
Brian Li served as the West Coast Ambassador for the Makin’ Lemonade Fund, a student-led fundraiser to raise money for Feeding America, the CDC Fund, and Direct Relief.
Eric Strand returned to campus this fall for the fourth time as a visiting instructor to teach the hOWLers beatboxing skills. Strand sang with On The Rocks, the nationally-known all-male a cappella group at his undergrad school, the University of Oregon, and traces some of his love for performing back to his Athenian roots.
2019 During his gap year, Derek Perry completed a NOLS course in the Colorado Rockies and visited Middle School faculty members Ted and Leah Webb who were on sabbatical in the Kingdom of Tonga.
Derek Perry ’18 with Faculty Members Ted and Leah Webb and family in Tonga
Four Alumni Donate 10,000 Masks to East Bay Front Line Health Care Workers Brothers Jim Lin ’07 and Shannon Lin ’09 partnered with friends Jamie Chang ’08 and Wesley Yang ’12 to organize the donation of 10,000 surgical masks to Athenian. The former boarding students—all from Taiwan—gave Athenian discretion to distribute the masks. Beneficiaries included the SEIU United Healthcare Worker’s Union, John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek, the Springhill Medical Group, and The Gubbio Project.
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New Alumni Trustee,
Alumni in the Classroom Athenian faculty found silver linings as they adjusted to distance learning, tapping our global network of alumni to lend live classroom expertise. Andrew Gerst ’09, Lizzie Miskovetz ’10, Julian Binder ’11, Karen Hinh ’19, and Baxter Eldridge ’13 all joined David Otten’s Applied Science and Engineering course. Grace Reckers ’14 dropped in and spoke to Ted Webb’s eighth grade Humanities class about her work as a union organizer. Amel Sahnic ’08, who is now a police officer in San Jose, joined Ted’s class as a guest as well. Jenny Lee ’09 visited Leah Webb’s 7th grade Science classes, teaching students how to make masks and discussing her job as a scientist for a cosmetics maker. More than a dozen other Alumni served as guest instructors this spring in student classes.
Alumni Gather for Regional Reunions Trustees and alumni Hansol Hong ’06, Matt Okazaki ’06, and Lizzie Miskovetz ’10 hosted alumni happy hours in San Diego, Boston and Palo Alto, respectively. The events were attended by more than twenty-five alumni, combined. Former Biology Teacher John Fowler even joined the San Diego event.
Jeannine (Bell) Whittaker ’98 Congratulations to alumna Jeannine Whittaker ’98, who recently joined the Athenian Board of Trustees as one of nine alumni who currently serves. Jeannine attended Athenian for both middle school and high school and she still resides in the East Bay—a busy career woman and mother of two.
Alumni Online Gatherings A number of online Facebook groups and ad hoc virtual get-togethers saw increased membership and activity this spring. Some of these groups hosted video conferences and other virtual events. Janet Wallerich Aldrich ’74 moderates a Facebook group called Athenian School ’74-ish; Poppy Davis ’82 moderates a Facebook group called Athenian Late 70s early 80s; Agzja Carey ’05 is the longtime moderator of the Athenian Black Student Alumni Association Facebook Group; and Aaron Wiener ’11 is another yearslong moderator of a Facebook group exclusive to his class. If you run a virtual alumni group, please reach out and let us know at alumni@athenian.org.
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Alumni Spotlight: Two Health Care Innovators Battling COVID-19 This spring, we had a chance to catch up with two young alumni who are working on treatment options and cures for COVID-19. Irena Volkov ’16 and Ian Truebridge ’12 are active on projects meant to help patients and combat the disease. Irena approaches this work from two angles: through her company, Surgicure technologies, and through her research at MIT. Originally intended for burn victims in the army, Surgicure’s intubation device secures endotracheal tubes in the throat for patients suffering from COVID-19 and other respiratory conditions. Beyond requiring less time and fewer resources than existing techniques, it is particularly suited to elderly patients to prevent facial or oral trauma. On the academic research side, Irena focuses on the neurological effects of the disease, and how the brain’s response may impact the heart and lungs. While Irena’s work has been treatment-focused, Ian has been on a race for the cure through his work as a principal research associate at the Institute for Protein Innovation on the Harvard Medical School Campus in Boston. His team is developing peptides designed to bind to the virus and prevent it from interacting with human receptors. “We’re making progress,” he says. “It’s in a preliminary phase, so we’re going through basic testing to make sure our platform works.” Ian described his outlook as cautiously optimistic, and said he was excited to be at the cutting edge of something that is such a priority for the biomedical research community, and the world. Both Irena and Ian took an interest in the sciences during their time at Athenian. “My interdisciplinary education at Athenian is the reason I’ve gotten as far as I have,” Irena says. “And I’m still pursuing multidisciplinary education. I’m interested in neuroscience but I want to look at it from a medical engineering perspective. I have a company that’s in respiratory care that’s completely unrelated.” Ian credits the School with “allowing and encouraging students to think outside of the box.” Beyond Irena and Ian, other alumni in fields ranging from nursing to medical consulting are also working to prevent and improve conditions for those suffering with COVID-19.
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Former Faculty Notes roommate and best friend break the only two rules that automatically lead to expulsion. Their actions help and ultimately save the life of a homeless Iraq war vet with post-traumatic stress syndrome.” Former Biology teacher John Fowler now lives in the San Diego area and serves as Head of School at The Children’s School in La Jolla. We got to catch up with him this spring when he attended an alumni happy hour in Carlsbad. Former Upper School Dean of Faculty and Humanities teacher Lisa Haney is now the Executive Director of the California Teacher
Development Collaborative, a nonprofit that supports collaboration between educators and schools and inspires teachers to become leaders. Former Math teacher Mariel Triggs is working to bridge the digital divide for Native nations. She is CEO of the Oakland-based nonprofit, MuralNet. Her organization recruits and coordinates technical, educational and industry partners to bring high-speed internet to rural areas and to close the homework gap. This includes deploying LTE networks, strategizing to influence government policies and driving toward self-determination for the communities served.
Munzer Afifi We recently saw former Math teacher Munzer Afifi in his home in Fresno, where we took his oral history for the Athenian archives. Munzer still sings in a choir, exercises daily and enjoys needlepoint crafting. Alum Darren Gersh ’80 organized a fundraiser in Munzer’s name to benefit ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid). Munzer still stays in touch with some of his former students and is enjoying his retirement. Former Head of Upper School Dick Bradford reports that he’s been taking “lots of hikes on local trails” and is looking forward to the reopening of beaches so he can start to kayak again on Drakes Estero. He ran into Craig Fraser ’87 in a secluded bay on the Estero last fall and said it was great to reconnect. He was Craig’s dorm parent all those years ago. Dick has also been collaborating with former science teacher Eugene Mizusawa on the design and programming for a STEAM space on the campus of the Northern Lights School in Oakland. Dick said he remains excited about the project and has loved re-engaging with NLS, where he served on the board for several years.
Former Literature teacher Karla Brundage works as a Programs Manager at 826 Valencia, a San Francisco non-profit dedicated to helping young people develop writing skills and helping teachers inspire their students to write. She is also co-editing Colossus:Home, an anthology that addresses the devastating housing crisis. Project proceeds will be gifted to Moms4Housing, a progressive, Oakland-based movement that is revolutionizing how the city reconciles real estate vacancy and homelessness. Her final project is a poetry exchange with Oakland and Ghana poets that she started at Mills College as a Community Engagement Fellow.
Former Head of School Steve Davenport released The Encampment, his third novel in the saga of Miss Oliver’s School for Girls, a series that centers around a Connecticut boarding school. “It should resonate with Athenians. The head’s daughter, and her
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Athenian
Remembers
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Dick Warmington A beloved member of our community, Richard (Dick) Warmington, passed away in the early hours of September 9, 2019 at his home in Saratoga, CA at age 76. Dick served as a Trustee of The Athenian School from 1985-1992 and returned to serve again from 2000–2010. A tireless innovator, Dick saw Athenian through many transitions, including the school’s early adoption of technology. We will always be grateful for his leadership, for the generosity he brought to everything he did, and for his sage wisdom and steadfast guidance as our school progressed to its present success.
Dick Warmington
Alfred Heller Alfred E. Heller—editor, writer, environmental advocate, and a leading authority on international expositions—passed away on December 20, 2019 in San Rafael after a short illness at the age of 90. He was an original Trustee of the School, serving from 1963-1964, and a personal friend of Dyke Brown.
Fortney “Pete” Stark Father of Jeff Stark ’73, Bea Winslow ’75, Thekla Wainwright ’76, and Sarah Ramirez ’79, Pete Stark passed away in his Maryland home on January 24, 2020 at the age of 88. Pete spent his 40-year career as a lawmaker—a California Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives—and a staunch advocate for expanded access to health care. Pete was a key player in pushing through landmark legislation in that area, including the signing into law of COBRA in 1986 and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which guaranteed public access to emergency medical services regardless of patients’ ability to pay. Among the seven children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who survive him are his grandchildren, Athenian alumni Nate Winslow ’05 and Nora Winslow ’08.
Deborah Louria ’75
Deborah Louria ’75 A beloved member of our community and mother of Noah Lourie ’14 and Rena Lourie ’12, Deborah Louria succumbed to a long battle with cancer in March. A political activist, Deborah dedicated herself to the Soviet Jewry movement as well as causes focused on eradicating gun violence. She will be remembered as a fiercely loyal and deeply kind friend.
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Annual Report 2019–2020
Reflection and Gratitude Message from Beth Borchers, Board Chair Never have I been more proud to be an Athenian. The events of this year have highlighted the importance of a strong educational system, especially one that values service, leadership, equity and compassion. Athenian’s broad community response to distance learning was amazing to witness. The skills and trust needed to transition to distance learning are the result of a foundation built over many years by a community dedicated to excellence and innovation. Our incredible teachers, some of the true heroes of 2020, displayed grace, grit and creativity on a daily basis. This spring’s events necessitated ingenuity in all areas. Families of the class of 2020 embraced and celebrated graduation as a drive-in movie on the viewshed. Our community of parents dug deep to support financial aid for those in unexpected need. And our students, having more fully understood their privilege, embraced giving back more than ever—volunteering at food banks, raising funds, and tutoring— all after hours spent in their own Zoom classes. As Kurt Hahn a source of inspiration for Athenian’s founder and the Round Square Pillars, said, “there is more in us than we know.” Before this unprecedented disruption, the board had embarked upon a comprehensive strategic planning review. Though still in process, the early results were clear; our foundational pillars are as important now as ever and demand our full attention. Kurt Hahn has given us guidance as we realize how far we have to go for an equitable society. The Board has established a new committee on Equity, Inclusion & Social Justice led by two alumni trustees. We will work with the School leadership to ensure Athenian is an antiracist, welcoming and thriving place now and in the future for all its students. The role of the board is to always keep our eyes on the future of Athenian. Our foundation is strong, but we are also in historic times. We are consulting experts beyond our campus and community to ensure that Athenian is at the forefront, educating our children to be leaders in their communities. The timeline for our strategic planning has rightfully been extended as the world is rapidly changing. It is an honor and a privilege to partner with my fellow Trustees, Eric and the entire Athenian community as we guide the School through these challenging times. I am confident we will emerge with a more powerful curriculum, more tight-knit community, and an even stronger reputation for delivering an excellent progressive education. Thank you for your continued support—including the very significant and impactful financial support highlighted in the pages that follow. Your generosity, flexibility and commitment to our mission are constant source of inspiration. Stay safe, healthy and may you all have a wonderful 2020–21 school year!
2020-2021 Board of Trustees A special thanks to our dedicated trustees for their leadership, time, and many contributions. We are grateful to out outgoing trustees, Antonio Dominguez and John Kohler ‘88, for their service through June 2020. Nancy Anderson Beth Borchers, Board Chair Josh Freeman Ginna Girzadas Geetika Goel Guy Henshaw Hansol Hong ’06 Lori Keith Michael Knierim Angel Lewis ’92 Jon Nickens
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Matt Okazaki ’06 Russell Patton ’07 Esha Ray Susan Reckers Monica Streifer ’05 Kathy Torru Laura Victorino Jeannine Bell Whittaker ’98 Ruth Winchell-Moyes ’89 Catherine Yewell Jazy Zhang
Advisory Board Member Lizzie Miskovetz ’10 Zohere Tabriz ’12 Honorary Trustees Michael Connolly ’71 Lifetime Honorary Trustees Judy Carter Stephen Davenport Susan Nebesar
Legacy Trustee Jim Wang Ex-Officio Eric F. Niles
New in 2020-2021
Financials 2019-2020 REVENUE
EXPENSES
(Sources of Operating Cash)
(Uses of Operating Cash)
89%
55%
14% 4% 3% 3% 1%
Tuition and Fees Annual Fund & Other Giving Auxilary Summer Programs Endowment Harvest
89% 4% 3% 3% 1%
$23,412,000 $918,000 $792,000 $699,000 $392,000 $26,213,000
TOTAL
1% 4%
13% 4%
9%
Salaries & Benefits 55% Financial Aid 14% Administration & Student Support 13% Buildings & Grounds 9% Capital Expenses 4% Academic Departments 4% Summer Programs 1%
$13,819,000 $3,514,000 $3,159,000 $2,135,000 $1,107,000 $1,045,000 $327,000
TOTAL
$25,106,000
Gift Summary by Area
Annual Fund Restricted/Special Gifts Endowment TOTAL GIFTS
89% $904,000 9% $92,000 2% $22,000
$1,018,000
Unaudited numbers as of June 30, 2020
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PAID 2100 Mt. Diablo Scenic Blvd. Danville, CA 94506 925-837-5375 www.athenian.org
“I came eventually to the conclusion that probably the most crucial factor in the healthy functioning of our society is the commitments young people make when they are growing up about what they want to do with their lives.� - Dyke Brown
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