Full Circle Spring/Summer 2013

CASTILLEJA SCHOOL MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2013

spring/summer 2013 | 1

contents

SPRING/SUMMER 2013 features

departments

How to:

Practice Mindful Living

Be a Team Player

Feed a Crowd

Wow an Audience

Make the Most of

an Internship

Keep Your

Garden Green

Organize a Flash Mob

Be a Tourist,

Traveler, Guest

Take a Break

Around the Circle

14

Faculty Notes

37

Alumnae

38

Gift Report

Class Notes

49

In Memoriam

72

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2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 12

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from the head All over campus there is a growing passion for sharing how to explore new ideas, how to make new things, and how to do it yourself.

Two years ago, Limor Fried was the first female engineer to appear on the cover of WIRED magazine. After graduating from MIT, Fried founded online electronics mecca Adafruit to provide inspiration and equipment for digital creators of all ages and skill levels. An evangelist of the “maker movement,” Fried has helped redefine what it means to “do it yourself.”

Featured on the cover of this issue is sophomore Teni Amos ’15, also pictured here with faculty member Helen Shanks (1). Together they are putting the finishing touches on the 1950s-inspired dress that Teni is wearing. Alongside her Design and Sculpture classmates, Teni conceptualized and crafted her costume from discarded and recycled materials in anticipation of the View360 Trashion Show, “Upcycled Epochs.”

Tackling a different kind of design problem, Heejin Hahn ’16, Claire Huang ’16, Jolena Ma ’15, Mayuka Sarukkai ’15, and Wings Yeung ’15 entered the 2013 Technovation Challenge with the goal of creating a technology solution to address a problem in their local community. The result was CommUnity, an Android app that allows students to search for service opportunities based on age, location, and interest, to learn about different organizations, to track their volunteer hours, and, to sync with their school so required hours can be recorded. The girls were one of 10 teams, out of 115 worldwide, selected to pitch their business idea in the final round of the competition held at Twitter headquarters. Two of the team members are pictured below (2) responding to questions posed to them by CBS Evening News for a segment on their success and their interest in STEM.

1

All over campus there is a growing passion for sharing how to explore new ideas, how to make new things, and how to do it yourself. Whether in the art studio, Bourn Lab, faculty room, or classroom, new forms of designing and “making” are thriving at Castilleja.

In this spring issue we provide a “how-to” guide, inviting you to join us as we explore hands-on learning and authentic engagement. Enjoy this opportunity to cultivate curiosity, foster innovation, and learn something new.

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feature How to Practice Mindful Living

by Cassie Meresman ’00

Have you ever happily enjoyed an ice cream cone on a hot summer day and then noticed it dripping down your hand creating a sticky mess? Or engaged in conversation with a friend or colleague only to realize that you stopped listening to what they were saying halfway through? Or arrived at your destination never noticing anything or anyone along the way?

We’ve all been there, inundated by countless distractions, expectations and responsibilities. So often we blaze through life on autopilot, ignoring what matters most in our lives: our authentic connections with ourselves and with others.

So how can we take time out of our busy lives to stop, step back, and be present in the moment? How can we be aware of the world around us and of our world, while fulfilling our daily responsibilities?

Here are a few tips for practicing mindful living in your daily life: Make use of idle time When waiting for a meeting to start, your bus to arrive, or the red light to change, take time to breathe, focus on your surroundings, relax your mind, and dismiss unwanted distractions.

Concentrate on what you are doing in that moment rather than reflecting on the past or looking towards the future.

Why be mindful? Research shows that being mindful in the moment has a long-lasting positive impact on our physical and mental well-being. Mindful living can help us grow more attentive and focused in our professional and personal lives and enhance creativity and resiliency. It can help reduce stress and promote authentic connections with others.

At Castilleja, the wellness curriculum aims to teach the girls mindful living skills early so they develop habits that foster a more peaceful and balanced way of life. Activities include yoga, relaxation exercises (breath awareness), active listening exercises, and reflection logs.

So next time you’re enjoying an ice cream cone on a hot summer day, engaging in conversation with a close friend, or driving to work in traffic, think about taking time to focus on your surroundings and be present in the moment.

Be present in conversations Pay attention to what the other person is saying. Notice facial expressions and gestures.

Avoid thinking about what you will do after the conversation, what you have to get done, how you will respond, or when to interject your advice. Concentrate on listening and connecting with that person in the moment.

Take time alone Even if you only have five minutes, take time to be alone, do nothing, sit with your thoughts, and focus on your surroundings. Pay attention to textures, tastes, sounds, smells, and colors.

Notice how you are feeling. Focus on the present, and unplug from technology.

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Cassie Meresman ’00 is in her third year as School Counselor at Castilleja where she provides individual and group counseling to all students. She has a BA from Willamette University and a master’s in clinical social work from Columbia. She tries hard to practice what she preaches, by being present while enjoying travel, cooking, photography and any kind of outdoor activity and carving out solitary time to reflect, decompress, and unwind from the day.

feature How to be Team Player

by Gatorbotics Team 1700

For several months each year a group of Castilleja girls become known collectively as Gatorbotics Team 1700. While you might not have the floor space or pneumatic actuators available to build a robot of your own, there are a few ways for you to still be a Gatorbotics team member:

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1. Post weekly videos on YouTube, each themed with a different trending topic like The Office, Star Trek, and the “Harlem Shake.” Then share them with teams around the world.

2. Practice safety first. In the lab, failing to use a tool safely will get you a safety violation, and you will be forced to clean the fridge, a daunting task, even on a good day.

3. Create a new chassis design featuring a waterjetted belly-pan that holds the electronics board and has a custom v-shaped cut-out.

4. Confirm chassis dimensions. Make bumpers.

Change chassis dimensions. Make new bumpers. Repeat.

5. Use pneumatic actuators wherever possible and then wonder why the robot is too heavy.

6. Learn how to use the finicky vinyl cutter and proceed to cover every laptop and chair in sight with “1700” stickers.

7. BYOCM (Bring your own coffee machine.) This is important. How else will you make it through 15-plus hour work days?

8. Clean the lab daily to the point that it is so clean you cannot find what you have misplaced.

9. Make so many trips to Ace Hardware that the staff knows you by name and gives you a rose on Valentine’s Day. 10. Notice a growing pile of sleeping bags in the corner of the Bourn Lab and not give it a second thought.

Team Gatorbotics and their robots have been a fixture on the Castilleja campus for almost a decade. In 2012, they moved into their new tricked out space adjacent to the Bourn Lab on the lower level of the Arrillaga Family Campus Center. The highlights of their most recent competition in Portland included winning the Entrepreneurship Award and making a trip to Voodoo Donuts. spring/summer 2013 | 3

feature How to Feed a Crowd

by Chef Forrest Gingold

At Castilleja, the Food Service Department is responsible for feeding upward of 550 people every day and pleasing the palettes of students, staff, and summer campers year-round. Many of the techniques that we use can be useful when you need to feed a crowd, though probably a smaller one, in your own home.

Planning is everything. The more you can anticipate and get down on paper the better. In the Casti kitchen we make lists, create step-by-step recipes, and set up game plans for all our events.

We make sure we have all the ingredients on hand, know when we need to start marinating (or chilling or sautéing), and assign tasks so everyone knows what they need to do.

Seasonality is key. Choosing seasonal items for your menu not only provides the best possible product, it also makes economic sense and helps with sustainability. Epicurious.com has a great tool to show you what is in season where you live.

The calculator is your friend. Don’t be scared as the numbers change. As your number of guests increases or decreases, so will your food purchases.

Sometimes the numbers can be daunting. Keep calm and when in doubt, order up!

Timing is everything too. When it comes to service, it takes time to feed people. Putting a large group through a formal dinner service or even a buffet line can take up a significant part of your event. Plan accordingly so that guests don’t wait too long to be served, feel rushed to get through courses, or that food gets cold.

Yikes, leftovers! Even if you’ve done your calculations correctly, your guests may still surprise you. Have a strategy for dealing with any leftover food. Whether it is to-go containers you can give to guests, space in the fridge or freezer, or the phone number to a local food bank, having a plan for what is left at the end of the party is smart.

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Don’t forget the clean up. Not exactly everyone’s favorite part of the event but necessary nonetheless. Having enough help and equipment to get the final part of the job done is a must. Make sure you stock up on towels, dish soap, storage containers, garbage bags, and maybe even an extra scrub brush.

Chef Forrest Gingold joined Castilleja in 2010 after 20 years as executive chef/owner of La Pastaia Restaurant at the Hotel De Anza in San Jose. He is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, trained in classical French cuisine. He’s often asked if he’s tired of cooking after a long day in the kitchen and his answer is always, “Absolutely not, I love cooking for and eating with my wife and daughters nightly!”

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feature How to Wow An Audience

by Winter Mead

Whether you’re a performer in a production or speaking at a podium, there are a few things you can do that are guaranteed to improve your chances of wowing an audience.

It’s not you up there

It’s all about believing

This is the strange little secret of public speaking: standing at a podium is much more like acting than you think. Just as an actor prepares a role by rehearsing and becoming that character, when you are speaking in front of an audience, you are playing a character—in essence, a version of yourself who is perfectly fine with being in front of a crowd. Just as a teacher is not the same version of herself outside of a classroom, you are playing an iteration of yourself who is totally fine with being in front of an audience.

Speaking of authority, an actor who is 100 percent committed to her role is more convincing. An actor doesn’t judge her characters—she just portrays them with deep belief. It’s the same with public speaking: speak about what you care about and you will speak it sincerely. If you believe in the subject deeply and do your best to convey that belief, your audience will follow you and you will wow them, whether you’re playing a role on-stage or speaking at a podium!

Actors find security in assuming a role and you can as well! Humans are not wired to stand in front of other humans at their most vulnerable, exposed, and real. As a public speaker you are now performing your speech in the character of an informed, intelligent, relaxed authority on the subject. And, just as an actor rehearses again and again, the more you practice your speech out loud… the stronger your character and your speech will become.

Winter Mead first appeared onstage as the owl in “Winnie the Pooh” and has been an actor and knowit-all ever since. In addition to teaching Theatre and Film at Castilleja, he’s directed the Upper School productions “As You Like It,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Top Girls,” “Scapin,” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

If you seem relaxed, the audience will relax Studies have shown that up to 97 percent of what an audience receives from a speech is visual. While over the course of the speech, people focus more on content and less on you, at the outset it is important that you convince them that everything is going to be great. The easiest way to do this is to act relaxed as soon as you reach the podium. Take a breath.

Don’t rush. Most importantly, smile. This sends a visual message that says, “I’m ok, so you can relax and listen to me.” Actors know that confidence and sincerity in what they’re doing onstage helps the audience to engage in the “willing suspension of disbelief;” as a public speaker, acting relaxed further helps them to believe you in the role of an informed, intelligent, relaxed authority.

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feature feature

How to Make the Most of an Internship

by Taisa Goodnature ’10

During my first three years as an undergraduate, I have had the opportunity to complete five internships, each of which has taught me something new about myself and about what I want to do after graduation.

As an intern, I have applied academic interests in a practical way, refined my career goals, and learned to contribute more professionally and effectively within an office environment. Whether you are in a city or college town, intern during the summer or during the school year (or both), there are a few things you can do to find and make the most of your internship.

Cast a wide net Finding an internship, especially your first, can be a challenge. The more you keep an open mind and think creatively about what interests you, the more likely you are to find an opportunity. Don’t be discouraged if you send out a lot of resumes and applications before receiving an offer. If you are finding it hard to find an internship in a specific field, think about other possibilities, something you might not have initially considered that might provide you with a valuable experience. Whether you know exactly what you want to do after college or have no clue, any number of experiences can serve as a jumping-off point.

Taisa Goodnature ’10 is in her junior year at Georgetown, where she studies government and English. After graduation, she hopes to stay in D.C. and work on Capitol Hill. She is currently studying abroad in Australia this semester, and recently visited New Zealand where she hiked through a pack of wild sheep. In her spare time, she enjoys cheering on the Georgetown basketball team, trying out new restaurants, and watching “Homeland.”

Use your networks Networking will be an important skill throughout your career, and it’s great to use the internship search process as practice. Especially if you don’t yet have any professional experience, it is very helpful to have someone vouch for your relevant skills and your career potential. I found my first internship at Stanford Law School through the Castilleja community. Meanwhile, continue to expand your network with every new experience. I found a great mentor in my boss at Stanford, and his advice and references have helped me land a number of subsequent internships.

Learn from the good and the bad Internships provide a unique opportunity to take on a professional role for a very short period of time. Capitalize on this opportunity, and use it to learn about what you do and don’t like about your responsibilities and work environment. Learning something that you don’t want to do professionally can be just as helpful as learning something that you do. And whether you love your internship, hate it, or anything in between, pay attention to the specific elements that make it fulfilling or not. For example, working on a political campaign this fall taught me that I enjoy frequent opportunities to get out of the office and into different settings.

Let your interests snowball Ideally, each subsequent internship that you have will tie in somehow with your past experiences, while introducing new elements. Try to zero-in on those favorite aspects of your internship, and think about what other opportunities might incorporate them while adding new elements to explore.

Following my interests this way has led me in some unexpected directions, but it has helped me make the most out of the learning opportunities that internships have to offer.

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feature Keeping Your Garden Green

by Danny Veloya

At Castilleja, our Green Program on Sustainability and Water Conservation takes on special importance in the Landscape Maintenance Department.

Over the last several years, we’ve put in place horticultural practices to support the school’s conservation efforts and to create an aesthetically pleasing campus landscape. Here are some that can help out in your home garden.

Healthy soil = Happy plant

Right plant, right location

Good soil is literally the foundation for both an environmentally sustainable and beautiful garden.

Healthy soil results in happy plants. Happy plants require fewer resources to control pests and diseases, less water, and less upkeep since growth is slower but sustained and, of course, more vibrant!

The second component of a sustainable garden is choosing the right plants, On campus, we are particularly interested in maintaining a landscape that is natural for our Palo Alto location and in conserving water, so we often choose droughtresistant California native plants. Do a little research to find out what growing region you are in, what plants are native and what non-native plants share attributes like hardiness, soil type, and sun and water needs, to complement them.

One way to improve soil texture and structure is through compost. While the thought of composting can be intimidating, it is actually pretty simple and doesn’t require a lot of space. At Castilleja, an outdoor, three-bin system made of recycled wood and chicken wire provides space for a combination of landscape or “brown” waste (grass clippings, dried leaves) and kitchen or “green” waste (vegetables, coffee grounds, egg shells).

Depending on your own space and materials you are most likely to compost, you may choose indoor (for kitchen waste only) or outdoor composting (for landscape waste or a mix of kitchen and landscape).

A simple rule of thumb is to use one-third green and two-thirds brown waste. But don’t worry too much about being exact—anything you toss on the pile will compost!

Danny Veloya is a Landscape Specialist in Castilleja’s Maintenance Department. Before coming to Castilleja in 2012, he worked at Stanford University.

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Mulch much In addition to providing a clean, fresh and earthy aesthetic look mulching is beneficial to a garden.

At Castilleja, we mulch the soil with 2-3 inches of fine bark and harvested composted materials which prevents weeds as well as minimizes loss of top soil and ground moisture. Keep mulch at least a foot away from tree trunks to prevent trunk rot.

feature How to Organize a Flash Mob

by Maya Ambady ’13 and Anna Harris ’13

Have you ever thought to yourself, “It would be really cool to organize a big group of people to surprise an even larger group of people with a spontaneous dance performance?” We thought it. And then we did it.

Step 1: Recruit The more the merrier is the flash mob motto, so you need to find amazing people (like the Class of 2013). Then find more amazing people (like the Casti faculty and staff). Then convince them they can dance. Beg if needed. If this fails, tell them they can stand in back where they won’t be seen (this may be a white lie). Finally you need to find marvelous choreographers (feel free to recruit yourself).

Send out an absurd amount of emails as “the day” approaches to convey your enthusiasm (or to annoy people into coming to rehearsal).

Step 3: Dance Have a huge amount of fun. Make sure someone is videotaping you. Preferably multiple somebodies taping from various angles for the best effect.

Simultaneously post on Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter so you can revel in accolades.

Step 2: Plan Tape yourself and post the choreography to YouTube, making sure the links can’t be found (especially by snooping underclassmen). Be sure to make a blooper reel of all the times you messed up while filming the choreography (don’t let this fall into the wrong hands).

Collect song suggestions and make sure they have a great beat (like “Party Rock Anthem”). Your music mix should: • Convey your awesomeness (such as “We Will Rock You”) • Include at least one “oldie but goodie” (such as “U Can’t Touch This,” though admittedly if you were born prior to 1995, you might have to go back a little further) • Have a few trending popular hits sprinkled in (like “Gangam Style” or “Harlem Shake”) Keep it a secret. This is very important. Siblings are not to be trusted (we learned this the hard way).

Set up rehearsal times. Include one mandatory rehearsal date (the day before is good for the procrastinators, and there are sure to be a lot of them). When people don’t come to rehearsal, bribe them with brownies. When people still don’t come to rehearsal, threaten to cancel the flash mob. Don’t forget to include practicing your poker face for when people ask probing questions (like why you are still in uniform).

Maya Ambady ’13 and Anna Harris ’13 have always wanted to be in a flash mob. When they realized that the only way to do this would be to choreograph and organize one, they set out to convince the splendid and enthusiastic Class of 2013 to show off their spirit right before Rivalry. Seeing the surprise of the underclassmen as the dancing began was one of the highlights of their senior year!

To see their flash mob visit facebook.com/CastillejaSchool

spring/summer 2013 | 9

feature Tourist, Traveler, Guest

by Stacey Kertsman

Despite growing up and being educated in the United States, to many I am “the South African friend.” And, as such, I am often asked to consult on “once in a lifetime adventures” that often have additional terms associated with them like “honeymoon,” “retirement celebration,” or “lifealtering experience.” Now, as Director of the ACE Center, many expect me to be able to offer additional expertise that comes with personal global experiences so that their trips exceed their expectations.

And perhaps it’s time for me to give experience the credit it is due, because years in the field of global education have taught me that the most important bit of advice I can give is to formalize your expectations and from that create your travel mindset. As we ask students in the fall of their junior year, expectant as they prepare for their Global Investigator trips in January, “Will you be a tourist, a traveler, or a guest?”

Tourists: Seeing the expected Tourists usually see a society from spaces especially prepared for them like resorts, tourist sites (or traps), amusement parks, or special attractions.

In South Africa this might look like a safari where you are guaranteed—no matter what—to be able to get the optimal photo of the big five, a glorious beach experience including watching the collision of ocean currents from the warm Indian and the frigid Atlantic Oceans, wineland tours surpassing the beauty of Northern California’s own growing regions, rafting down the Orange River, or worldclass golfing. It might also include a day trip to Robben Island, Nelson Mandela’s prison for over 20 years, and the Apartheid Museum to give you a taste of the past and how far South Africa has come since the formal demise of apartheid in 1994.

Travelers: Experiencing “real life” Travelers want to find out what really happens in the places they visit and to feel like they have gone beyond the average tourist experience. Travelers expect to see “inside culture” and “authentic life.”

In other words, can local people show us what real life is like?

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In South Africa this might include visits to perfectly replicated Zulu villages, game walks in reserves with rangers who chat about their daily life in the local community, dinners in off-the-beaten track restaurants that cater to the “new South Africa,” visits to local museums featuring artists’ impressions of South Africa in the 21st century.

Guests: Developing relationships Guests have mindsets focused around “rules of engagement” vs. expected experiences. Guests realize they are developing relationships with others and intentionally work to partner with others so that they come to understand how one another makes decisions, solves problems, and builds relationships all while being immersed in the daily life of a community.

In South Africa a guest experience would involve a host like the Kliptown Youth Program (KYP).

Partnering with KYP, you would work alongside community leader Thulani Madondo to learn about his Soweto-based youth empowerment program and dig in to work on some of its projects.

Alternatively, you might plan an extended stay in the Cape winelands, visiting various properties, reading up on the history of each site, and asking questions. Think about asking locals where you should visit. Of equal importance, be open to sharing as much as you are to learning. Offer insights and observations that invite constructive debate or create thoughtful conversation, and be open to having your assumptions turned upside down. While in a game park, you take your cues from those around you as to how to honor nature and the local community, and read cues, verbal or

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Since 2008, Castilleja juniors have participated in the Global Investigator program and traveled to China, India, or Guatemala as guests. Over the years, they’ve put together their own list of travel tips:

otherwise, from your ranger as to how to behave in the bush.

travel tips

Travel Tips

1. Pack appropriately for the country’s cultural and geographical climate. You’ll feel more comfortable.

A little research can take you a long way as a tourist or a traveler; however, becoming a guest can be a daunting task. There is so much to gain from the experience, young or old, as an individual or as a family, but how does one begin?

2. If you are changing multiple time zones, start adjusting your sleeping schedule a day or two before you leave to avoid jet lag.

Also if you are arriving in the afternoon or evening, resist the temptation to sleep on the plane, even if you are exhausted. Better to arrive tired and go right to sleep!

First, set your personal goals. Do you want to create or build something, have a shared experience and time for reflection, fundraise for a cause, or foster awareness of an issue? Identifying what you want to do will help you find a host that is equally invested the same goals.

3. Meet and talk to as many people as possible! Most of them are so incredibly kind and welcoming and love meeting Americans. Even speaking through translators, you can learn so much and it will definitely improve your experience.

Next, identify your host. Get recommendations from families and friends whenever possible; it is critical to identify a host who has experience in collaborating and developing relationships. Look for someone who has deep ties to the local area, knowledge of something you hope to learn more about, and a good track record. Contact highly credible local organizations or NGOs who might be doing work wherever you plan to go.

4. Be observant of and respectful towards cultural norms.

There are travel groups that plan trips that focus on developing thoughtful, partnership-based relationships with their on-the-ground contacts.

Castilleja recommends Where There Be Dragons as an industry leader in the arena.

7. Take lots of pictures and video. Also try to jot down a few notes about the day’s experiences so that when you look at the photos when you get home you’ll remember what everything was.

Whichever experience you choose, have a wonderful time!

8. Be sure to leave room in your suitcase, or bring an empty carry-on, for all the miscellaneous items you pick up along the way.

Stacey Kertsman came to Castilleja in 2011 from Saint Mark’s School in San Rafael where she designed and implemented a school-wide social and emotional learning program. Previously she taught at the University of California, Berkeley.

She received her MA in 2000 from the University of California at Berkeley in the field of social and cultural studies in education. The most movies she’s ever watched in a row is 6 (3 romance, 1 thriller, 2 documentaries) while on an international flight from New York to Johannesburg.

5. If you don’t speak the language, at least learn how to say “please” and “thank you.”

6. Learn about gift-giving expectations before you go. You don’t want to be in the position of receiving a gift and having nothing to give in return.

9. Step out of your comfort zone. Listen to local music. Try local cuisine. Who knows, you may find out you love jellyfish or chicken feet.

10. Don’t waste any time complaining or wishing you were home. Before you know it, you’ll have left and will spend all your time wishing you were back and thinking about what you missed.

spring/summer 2013 | 11

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How to Take a Break

by Ailey Crow ’01

Several years ago, while wallowing in graduate work and Silicon Valley long hours, my husband and I began planning a much-needed break— fondly referred to as “The Year of Adventures.” wstone

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Two years later we were driving south, towing a 1970 Airstream Caravel Trailer towards Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks—the first on our cross-country roadtrip visiting 25 National Parks over June, July, and August of 2011 and learning a lot along the way.

kings cany on sequ

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Planning can be part of the fun and relaxation. We spent our evenings leading up to the trip dreaming of RVs, connecting the dots of National Parks on Google Maps, calculating driving times, and concocting ways to pass those hours of driving. The trip itself was, of course, amazing, but the entire year leading up to the trip was made more fun and relaxing by the excited questions and suggestions of friends and relatives, purchases of critical gear such as Tevas, and important discussions around the best read-aloud books for long car trips. (Conclusion: “Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole.)

See America first. This was the marketing slogan for the National Parks and the railroads connecting them in the early 1900s when Europe was the popular vacation destination. I think, however, the message rings true in today’s age of international travel. I’m often asked which was my favorite park and while I do have a top three, I can honestly say that each of the 25 we visited was spectacular. We saw baby antelope only 10 feet away and bear cubs wrestling a more comfortable 1,000 feet away in Yellowstone. We took hiking paths that zig-zagged from rainforest to rugged ocean coastline and back on the Olympic Peninsula and were amazed by a lush green oasis complete with fruit orchards in the middle of red rock desert in Capitol Reef. (Yes, those are my top three.) Ranger talks and educational material are impressive, even on the shoestring budgets of some of the lesser known parks such as Capitol Reef, roads and paths make the wonders of nature accessible to all, while the more adventurous can feel miles from civilization only a quarter mile from the main road.

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It’s about the journey AND the destination.

While the National Parks were indeed incredible, we thoroughly enjoyed the life on the road as well.

Traveling with an RV is carefree—whereever you are you feel at home. We went grocery shopping every couple days and rolled the cart right up to the trailer refrigerator to unload. Once every two weeks we treated ourselves to Subway, but otherwise cooked on the stove and in the mini-oven in the trailer. Between eating in and daily hikes, I never felt healthier. The trailer only has two “moving parts”—a single axle and jack—both of which broke during the trip. But even these mishaps had their bright sides including and unplanned bike ride amongst herds of buffalo on Antelope Island and a visit to Redneck Trailer Supply to retrieve replacement parts.

Most importantly: take the break. The most common response to tales of our trip has been “Wow! I wish I could do that.” The fact is: you can.

Even if Airstreams and National Parks aren’t your style, and even if it takes years to save up and plan, the most important step is the decision to take the break.

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mamm oth cave gre smok at y mtn .

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Ailey Crow ’01 is an image acquisition and analysis specialist in the basic research division at Genentech Inc. She maintains a microscopy suite for the Vascular Biology group where her work focuses on designing image analysis solutions.

She credits her Castilleja teachers, including Doris MouradHA and Eryl BarkerHA and Dave Lowell, with deepening her passion for science and math. She’s already planning her next adventure. spring/summer 2013 | 13

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A great American Rivalry

A History of California in 63 Objects An interdisciplinary project integrating English, art, and history taught juniors how to curate as they created an exhibit in the Seipp Gallery on California history with the help of ACE Org. Gallery leader Charlotte Jones ’13. The project, inspired by the British Museum’s “History of the World in 100 Objects” and Laurel Ulrich’s course on “The Tangible World” at Harvard, was funded by an Innovation Investment Fund grant.

To tell the Golden State’s story, students brought objects from home, researched the item, and then wrote paragraphs to accompany the item in the exhibit. The students were then challenged to define an organizing principle for their disparate objects and then further categorize them into smaller groups within that organizing principle. “Sweet Home California” is organized by where items might be found in a home with items including an antique quilt in the bedroom, an early Apple II computer in the office, an avocado in the kitchen, a San Francisco Giants baseball in the den, and luggage used by immigrants to California in the attic. The exhibit was installed by the ACE Gallery Org.

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Sophomore Career Day In early March, the sophomore class participated in Career Day, an annual event in which each student visited a site pertaining to her interests to learn about professions she might pursue in the future.

Students visited Google, Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the Stanford School of Medicine, the University California Santa Cruz (for astrophysics), a federal court, the University California San Francisco School of Medicine and Hospital, the Mercury News, and Oracle. At these sites students spent the day shadowing employees and got a hands-on career experience. They came back excited and inspired to pursue a wide variety of careers!

“Innogators” Participate in Stanford Hack Day

Medieval History and Art Intersect An interdisciplinary unit combining history and art complemented seventh-grade students’ study of Medieval Europe. Under the guidance of Eugenie Paick and Mary Hurlbut the girls each made a historiated initial, or a fancy, decorated letter which contains a picture. Using the first letter of their first name, the girls designed an initial to reflect their personalities, hobbies, interests, and dreams. The girls let their imaginations run wild and created some beautiful art!

In January, the Castilleja Technovation Challenge Team, the Innogators, participated in Hack Day at Stanford. The Technovation Challenge is a program in which high school girls learn how to write a mobile app, develop an actual app that solves a problem that they identify in their local community, and then compete for funding to bring it to market.

Hack Day is the first activity in the program, where local teams gather together to learn how to use Android App Inventor, a programming tool. In the next stage of the season, which runs from January through April, the team will complete an online curriculum, design and prototype their app, write a business plan, and create a video pitch for investors which they’ll present at a regional competition. Regional winners will continue on to the Technovation World Pitch event in May. Go Innogators!

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Full C-STEAM Ahead Just before winter break, Castilleja held the first C-STEAM (Castilleja - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) Forum for upper school students. Thirteen speakers, including six Castilleja alumnae and three current Castilleja parents, came to campus to discuss their expertise in areas such as product design, medicine, engineering, startups, biotechnology, architecture, medical research, entrepreneurship, human-computer interaction, law/intellectual property, and computer science. With 11 venues and three 25-minute sessions, the 250 Upper School girls had an opportunity to learn from the speakers in an intimate and highly interactive setting. With the guests sharing their personal and professional wisdom, and answering questions ranging from how to combine a passion for the humanities with an interest in the sciences, to how research was conducted in outer space without ever leaving Planet Earth, each student came away with a great deal of food for thought. Ellen Flamen, P’14, P’16, one of the parents who helped coordinate the action-packed afternoon, explained, “In doing this, we are hoping to introduce our girls to the varied STEAM fields and inspire them to pursue these fields in the future. We also hope to promote mentoring and internship opportunities for our girls and the greater Castilleja community.”

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The Art and Craft of the Book English teacher Christina Gwin and history teacher Laura Thornburg ’81 took sixth-grade students to visit the Codex 2013 International Book Fair to experience the art and craft of the book. The Codex Foundation “exists to preserve and promote the handmade book as a work of art in the broadest possible context and to bring public recognition to the artists, the craftsmanship, and the rich history of the civilization of the book.”

After and introduction to the fair by exhibitor Catherine Docter ’88, a Casti middle school alum and Dr. Thornberg’s sister, the girls viewed books presented by over 175 artists and artisans and private presses from around the world. At the end of the day, the girls had special visit with Roberto Trujillo, head of special collections at Stanford University and a member of the board of trustees of the Codex Foundation.

A FOMF Five-Fecta!

Forget about a tri-fecta. The Castilleja FOMF team captured first place for the fifth-straight year in the 45th annual Millard Fillmore Trivia Hunt held in February at Henry M. Gunn High School library in Palo Alto. Team Casti earned 421 points out of a possible 500, resulting in its eleventh win in 19 years. Simone Seiver ’13 and Ari BarzmanGrennan ’13, led a team of 40 who spent the weekend researching answers to 90 questions covering the arts, history, sports, current events, and culture. By Sunday night the girls had compiled their sources, both print and physical (no Internet sources are allowed!), and turned in their answers. Finally, they prepared to defend their sources and challenge their competitors’ sources in front of the Hunt judge, attorney Chris Cobey, on Monday. Their hard work paid off and the Robert S. Hunter trophy returned “home” to Castilleja.

Bourn Lab wins 2012 Rambus/ KCI Innovation Award On behalf of faculty and students, Bourn Lab Director Angi Chau accepted the grand prize in the 2012 Rambus/KCI Innovation competition. The award, presented by Rambus and the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College, honors an exemplary technology project or program that benefits the Silicon Valley educational community. Dr. Chau, faculty member Christina Nawas ’02, Carly Robison ’14, and Margot Robison P’14 attended the awards ceremony at Rambus headquarters in Sunnyvale. After being presented with the $4,000 award, Dr. Chau gave a short presentation on the Bourn Idea Lab. During the reception, Carly and teachers showed the invited guests sample projects and videos from Gatorbotics.

Eliane NeukermannsHA P’82, P’85 also attended the ceremony and congratulated the Castilleja team, noting, “Dr. Chau’s presentation was very interesting and well-received and seeing the students and teachers made the entire evening inspirational.”

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The Scientific Revolution, Historically Speaking Peggy McKee’sHA AP European history students welcomed a guest rarely seen in the history classroom—AP math teacher Robert GliddenHA—who led the girls through a dynamic presentation, “The Scientific Revolution: A Humanities View.”

In his chronological survey from Aristotle to Newton, Mr. Glidden placed the Scientific Awakening in a historical and cultural context.

He incorporated familiar images of the cast of characters, as well as animations that allowed students to see, for example, the retrograde motion and epicycles of the celestial orbits.

He also emphasized the critical role of math in proving the new theories and laws of physics.

The presentation illustrated a successful collaboration between the mathematics, history, and technology departments and gave the girls a new perspective on math and science.

Computer Science Class Gets Expert Advice Throughout first semester the Upper School computer science class welcomed several technologists and entrepreneurs who gave students insight into the real-world applications of what they were learning.

Entrepreneur, technologist, and philanthropist Steven Kirsch joined the class to discuss technical innovation and the transformation of great ideas into wildly successful businesses. Mr. Kirsch, who has founded six companies, provided both practical information about the business of founding high-tech companies, as well as a great deal of wisdom regarding the personal qualities that people can develop to help themselves achieve their dreams. Students also had the opportunity to talk with technology executive John Robinson, most recently CTO of Move.com, about software architecture and the design of large systems—especially useful as they began work on their final programming project. The girls also spent time with Jeff Dean, Google Fellow in the Systems Infrastructure Group.

Eighth Graders Study Exponential Growth—With Love After learning about exponential growth in math and science courses, the Class of 2017 brought the concept to life with a Valentine’s Day twist. Applying the tenets of exponential growth to chain letters, each advisor gave their advisees a heart-themed card with a poem instructing the girls to copy the poem and deliver it to three classmates. Those girls then likewise forwarded the poems. By the end of the period, the girls were awash in valentine cards and poetry and had learned some important lessons about the benefits and risks of exponential growth.

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Gatorbotics Takes Home Entrepreneurship Award Castilleja’s robotics team took home the Autodesk Oregon Regional Award for Entrepreneurship at the FIRST Robotics Portland regional competition, one of the largest regional competitions in the world.

Through seemingly endless smiles, all team members congratulated PR Lead and author of the winning business plan, Devanshi Nishar ’14.

Judges and peers celebrated the girls’ 10-year business plan, organization, strong pull in the community, and professional and positive attitudes.

Many girls remarked that making their way down from the stands to the field to receive the award together as a team was something they would never forget. While the award was the highlight, the team had a great weekend competing, meeting other teams, and making an excursion to the (in)famous Voodoo Donuts!

Students Take Home STEM Awards Senior Victoria Dean ’13 was among the 300 students from across the country named as semifinalists in the 2013 Intel Science Talent Search for her paper, “Automated Search for Lyman-Alpha Emitters in the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey.” The students were selected from 1,700 contest entries based on their projects in biochemistry, materials science, physics, mathematics, engineering, behavioral science, medicine, or health. “The 300 Intel Science Talent Search 2013 semifinalists have distinguished themselves as the nation’s top young scientists dedicated to independent, hands-on research in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields,” said Elizabeth Marincola, president of Society for Science & the Public.

Caroline Debs ’14 and her partner Zareen Choudhury of Sunnyvale were among the 95 regional finalists in the 2012 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Their project studied star formation to determine if distant stars formed in clusters or in isolation. Caroline and Zareen, a junior at San Jose’s Harker School, met during the summer Science Internship Program (SIP) for high school students at the University of California Santa Cruz. According to Caroline, “I thoroughly enjoyed performing the research, collaborating with my partner and mentors, and gaining an in-depth understanding about a subject that was completely new to me.” Teresa Krause ’13 and Meghana Bhat ’13, also SIP alumnae, were among the 325 national semifinalists.

Smriti Pramanick ’14 was a runner-up for the national Award for Aspirations in Computing presented by the National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT) and a winner of the NCWIT Bay Area Affiliate Award. NCWIT honors young women at the high school level for their computing-related achievements and interests. Aspirations in Computing is the only national level talent development program for young women in computing and information technology.

Pictured top to bottom: Victoria Dean ’13, Caroline Debs ’14, and Smriti Pramanick ’14

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The Wee Trio Delivers a Big Performance Critical Jazz calls them “the future of modern jazz.” The Boston Globe says their music is “infectious and raucous.” Castilleja students just called them fabulous! The Wee Trio, a musical group making huge waves in the New York City jazz/fusion scene and around the country, visited Castilleja for a special performance this winter. They played songs from their latest album, “Ashes to Ashes,” which was inspired by the music of David Bowie. In addition to performing for the whole school to wide acclaim, musicians Jared, Dan, and James worked with the sixth-grade instrumentalists in-class on their improvisation skills.

Music for the Community Casti’s Music for the Community Club hosted the third annual Benefit Concert for the Music in the Schools Foundation (MSF). MSF is dedicated to making music education classes available to elementary school children who would otherwise have little opportunity to learn about the art of music. This year’s benefit showcased the diverse talents of the Castilleja community. More than 50 Upper and Middle School students were involved in the concert, whether through performing, organizing the event, or coordinating the technical logistics. The concert included performances by the Glee Club, chorus, hip hop dancers, instrumental performances and duets, Indian dancers, short films, and original songs from singer-songwriters. The benefit raised over $2,000, which will allow 40 students in local, underresourced schools to gain access to music programs for an entire year!

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Juniors vs.

Seniors: Rivalry Returns A little rain did not dampen the enthusiasm around the Circle during Rivalry! The juniors went all out with their “Under the (Purple) Sea” theme, paying homage to all things seaworthy including SpongeBob, Nemo, King Neptune, mermaids and lots and lots of sharks! They extended their theme straight into the senior lounge covering the floor with hundreds of Dixie cups filled with water! Not to be outdone, the seniors took red (white and blue) to a whole new level and turned the Circle into “Casti’s Great America,” a celebration of all things all-American, including candy apples, carnival games, burgers and fries, Las Vegas, cotton candy, the stars and stripes, and the juniors dressed up as tourists! The week wrapped up with a great Great Gatsbythemed junior-senior banquet.

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Physics: Now in 3D Throughout the year, students in the Advanced Topics (AT) physics class have been using VPython, a free, open-source module for producing real-time 3D scenes with the Python programming language, to predict and observe motion in three dimensions. This kind of motion has important connections for advanced subjects like materials science, as we can model a solid substance as a collection of masses (atoms) connected by springs (atomic bonds).

Traditional courses in introductory mechanics focus only on those problems that can be readily and completely solved via analytical means: writing a single equation that can be solved using algebra or calculus. This ignores whole categories of problems that can only be approached via computational models (i.e. computer programs). The AT physics class, which replaced AP physics in Fall 2012, introduces students to computational problem-solving using the 3D-programming environment VPython. Throughout the year students have built computational models in VPython to describe problems, like mass oscillating at the end of a spring, that cannot be solved analytically. In such a system, there is a clear, simple, unique solution if the mass is simply bobbing up and down, but not if there is also side-to-side motion. The students created a computational model of the latter case, and used stereo-vision to see their creations more clearly.

From Page to Stage to Oregon!

In March, a group of intrepid Page to Stage (and just-plain dramaminded) students traveled to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland to see four amazing plays in 48 hours! Using the threeday weekend, five students and two chaperones leaped into a van on Thursday afternoon and drove straight up to the renowned regional theater. After a good night’s sleep, the group saw a terrific moderndress matinee production of “King Lear,” followed by an astounding evening staging of “My Fair Lady.” On Saturday morning, they had a chance to take a backstage tour of OSF’s three theaters—The Elizabethan, the Angus Bowmer, and the Thomas—where they were privileged to see some of the “change-over” of the Lear set to another production. On Saturday, the group witnessed a powerful performance of August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running,” followed by a provocative and imaginative evening staging of “The Taming of the Shrew.” The exhausted but delighted group came home on Sunday, thrilled by its whirlwind weekend of theatre.

Ready, Set, Swap!

Owing to the success of the first clothing swap in “Buy Nothing New October,” students organized a second swap just in time for Earth Week and spring cleaning. The organizers encouraged students to dig deep into their closets and bring in unwanted clothes, jewelry, scarves, and shoes. Every item brought in earned the donator one credit towards a “new-to-them” item. Even those with clean closets could get in on the fun, by purchasing items for $5 with all proceeds, and leftovers, going to Goodwill. The swap gave students the chance to find something new, pass along something no longer needed, and most importantly make sure items didn’t go into a landfill!

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Workshops Wow During Global Week Global Week always offers a wide range of opportunities to engage with the theme, and this year was no exception as students took an indepth look at social change. Students chose from among many threeday workshop options, organized by the ACE Center and student-led ACE Orgs. which presented ways of standing up and speaking out that are accessible to everyone.

The Green Team led a workshop where students made eco-friendly snacks including no-bake chocolate cookies, which provided the whole school with an afternoon snack! Another workshop featured a different teacher each day. Roshni Club member Megan Colford ’15 led workshop focusing on the work they’ve done with work with alumna Saima Hasan ’04 and Roshni Academy, the organization she founded to bring leadership skills to underserved girls in India. Mayuka Sarukkai ’15, led a workshop where students worked in small groups to create audio books for visually impaired children which are now part of Access Braille’s library and available online.

Castilleja also welcomed community members to lead workshops.

Some joined to share their experiences in politics as women and talked about what it is like to run a campaign and speak in public forums, while others helped students write their own mission statements. A group of representatives from the Global Woman’s Leadership Network at Santa Clara University came and spoke on their experiences with the program. Christi Zeleski, program director of The School Fund, led another workshop to teach students how to use technology to further improve the relationship between Castilleja and Kisaruni.

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Students Pitch Social Enterprises Three finalist student teams presented their innovative ideas in Castilleja’s first annual Social Enterprise Pitch Competition. Interested teams of sophomores and juniors spent the months since January’s Global Week working on social enterprise proposals, and each group of girls made a case to earn a $3,000 grant to pursue their initiative over the 2013-2014 academic year. The three finalists’ ideas were: • Adopt a Hospital - Kids Helping Kids: This group aspires to form a partnership between Indian children’s hospitals and American children’s hospitals so that clean, unused, and wrapped medical supplies being discarded in the United States can be repurposed in India.

• Gifts of Arts: Members of this group hope to both increase participation in arts and crafts in schools and nonprofits throughout the Bay Area and raise funds to support arts-related local causes by selling the articles they produce.

• Castaruni Cards: This group seeks to create and sell greeting cards developed in conjunction with our partners at Kisaruni Girls’ School in Kenya to inspire interest and engagement in our developing partnership and then to use the proceeds to support Kisaruni students as they implement their own entrepreneurial projects.

Each team delivered a stellar presentation, and then entertained questions from the audience. A small group of experienced judges and members of Castilleja’s Leadership Team attended to give students feedback on their presentations. All three teams received first-round funding ($1,500) for the pilot phase of their projects next year.

“Explo”-ring the National Wildlife Refuge Middle School students kicked preparations for their Science Explo 2013 with a field trip to the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge in Alviso. This section of the San Francisco Bay marshland enabled the students to engage with a variety of tidal and freshwater habitats. Students worked in teams of their own grade level for service projects and had the chance to work with specific grade-level content in a related application. Students also had the chance to work in inter-grade groups to collect data from multiple locations. In these inter-grade groups, they tested water, soil, and air for many variables including pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature and salinity.

The combination of hands-on activities helped them to practice the skills they have learned in class and enabled them to explore and understand the connections between many features of the ecosystem while giving them techniques and ideas for their own projects.

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Casti Kudos!

Congratulations to Castilleja sophomore Hannah Knowles ’15, who has earned a gold medal and national recognition in the 2013 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her short story entitled “Paper Cranes for Japan.” Hannah says, “The title comes from a memory I have of my sixth-grade class folding cranes as part of a fundraiser for Japan’s recovery from natural disasters. I started out writing with that idea, and the rest of the story, about a girl going through her parents’ divorce, grew from there.” This year, 230,000 works of art and writing were submitted to the competition, and only the top 1 percent was recognized on the national level. The selection committee writes that Hannah “has been identified by panels of creative professionals as one of the most talented young writers in the nation.” Hannah and her English teacher, Valerie Ross, have been invited to attend an award ceremony at the world-famous Carnegie Hall in May. Castilleja students Saloni Kalkat ’13 and Alice Winham ’13 received Honorable Mentions in 2D3D: A National Art + Design Contest sponsored by Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA). CIA faculty jurors made their selections from among the more than 850 entries received from students nationwide. Their winning works are pictured (left).

Top: untitled by Saloni Kalkat ’13 Bottom: untitled by Alice Winham ’13

Shakespeare’s Birthday Students, faculty, and staff gathered at break and during lunch for Castilleja’s annual celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday. Students reenacted scenes from “Macbeth,” “Othello,” and other plays, read aloud the entries to the Bad Sonnet Contest, and competed in a costume contest. Of course the celebration would not have been complete without the traditional “Pin-the-Lips-on-KennethBranaugh” game!

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Come to Order! Casti Mock Congress is in Session Sophomore American political system students participated in a mock congress to gain a deeper understanding of the legislative branch.

“House” members authored bills that contained a potential change in the areas of Castilleja’s scheduling, curriculum, or environmental friendliness. In smaller committees, the girls selected several bills from each category that would be debated and put up for a vote. Key issues included double-sided printing, reusable water bottles, and sports performance option requirements.

After “House” members of the Congress had debated, voted, and posted their opinions of the bills on the Castilleja Congressional Caucus blog, the bills were sent to the “Senate” for approval and further amendments. Student senators debated the bills and amendments and even delayed voting with a filibuster that included reading sections of “Harry Potter.”

Once the House and the Senate agreed upon three bills, they were sent to “President” Kauffman to veto or sign the bills. Last year, Ms. Kauffman signed the Class of 2014’s bill that resulted in the purchase and installment of new landfill, recycle, and compost bins around campus. Hopefully this year’s mock Congress will be able to have a similar impact on the school.

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Green Team Celebrates Earth Week!

This year the Green Team's Earth Week theme is footprints. Jessica Matthys ’13, one of the leaders, explains, "We are focusing on the immediate and global impacts of our personal actions, with a new focus on creating quantifiable change. We are taking data for various types of footprints: food, transportation, energy, water, lighting, and paper." In addition to other Extended Opportunity Period/Flex Block workshops, the Green Team invited Katelyn Lewis from Green Waste to come to campus and provide a hands-on demonstration for students. She spoke about classifying waste into appropriate categories: compost, recycling, and landfill. Girls enjoyed the opportunity to get their hands dirty, and are ready to take on trash cans at home!

Other Earth Week activities included an eco-friendly lunch, a demo of green gadgets, products from the Green Team EOP workshops, and the energy bike built by team members. The Green Team also hosted a screening of the Peabody award-winning documentary “King Corn” ­­— which follows two college friends who move to Iowa, plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most-productive, most-subsidized grain, and try to follow their pile of corn into the food system raising troubling questions about how we eat and how we farm.

Leading up to Earth Week, the Green Team welcomed Michèle Lamarre, P’13 for its first Green Bag Lunch. She shared with students and faculty information about a raw, vegan diet and how to balance it with social and family life. Participants learned about health pros and cons of this way of eating, as well as many environmental benefits.

Indeed, some barriers were broken down as she served her homemade raw vegan pizza and mango-parsley smoothie as well as some storebought raw vegan cocoroons. Everyone left full, but hungry for more!

Smoothie Recipes Mango-parsley Smoothie: 2 cups water 4 organic yellow mangos or 2 green and red mangos, chopped 1 bunch organic curly parsley Mix together in a blender and enjoy!

Kale Smoothie: 2 cups water 5 leaves of kale (veins removed) 24 seedless green grapes 1 banana 1 cup of pineapple, sliced 1/2 cup of mango, sliced 20 fresh mint leaves Combine everything in a blender and enjoy! spring/summer 2013 | 27

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Speakers at Castilleja Castilleja welcomed Thulani Madondo as this year’s Arrillaga Family Speaker. One of the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2012, he was recognized for his significant impact on the children in the Kliptown area of South Africa. He is the co-founder and director of the Kliptown Youth Program (KYP), which provides school uniforms, meals, tutoring, after-school activities, and perhaps most importantly, a sense of hope to 400 children in the slum of Kliptown. He sees education as the way to end a cycle of poverty that has plagued Kliptown for generations. By enabling children to excel in school, he is preparing the next generation to become the leaders and visionaries the people of Kliptown so desperately need.

Building upon this year’s Global Week theme of “Social Change: Standing Up and Speaking Out,” his grassroots activism provided an inspiring example of how one passionate person can become a catalyst for change. Through song, dance, uplifting words, and humorous anecdotes, he shared how he hopes his dedication to KYP will have an impact far beyond the borders of South Africa. He encouraged the girls to believe in themselves and the power of their voices to bring social justice to their communities. By thinking globally while acting locally, our students can become the leaders of tomorrow.

As part of Global Week, Castilleja welcomed Craig Kielburger, founder of Free the Children. At the age of 12 he came up with the idea for Free the Children after reading about a child labor activist who was murdered in Pakistan at the age of 12. Today, Free the Children operates comprehensive programs for service learning and active citizenship in the US, Canada, and the UK, and comprehensive childfocused development programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

It has built more than 650 schools and classrooms allowing 55,000 children to be educated everyday. Mr. Kielburger’s inspirational talk advocated the power of young people in making a difference, especially in new and innovative ways. He emphasized the importance of working with an entire community and creating a partnership as a tool to successfully build a community that can sustain itself, especially pertinent given the Castilleja’s partnership with Kisaruni, a Free the Children school for girls in the Narok South District of Kenya. After the assembly, Victoria Dean ’13, one of the leaders of the Castaruni ACE Org. encouraged her classmates to get involved with the club or with Free the Children directly.

On the Friday before View360, students were treated to a special assembly with renowned artist Phil Hansen. Hansen is a multimedia artist who works at the intersection of traditional visual art, pointillism, and offbeat techniques. His work has been featured on the Discovery Channel, CNN, CBS, “Good Morning America”, “The Rachael Ray Show”, and “Dr. Phil”, and he has performed several TED talks to standing ovations. He is also the author of “Tattoo a Banana”, an innovative approach to finding creativity in everyday objects.

At the assembly Hansen shared how he had learned to use limitations to drive his spirit of innovation and creativity. In high school, Hansen developed nerve damage in his arm that caused his hands to tremble and stopped him from following his dream of being an artist. After returning to art years later, he learned to “embrace the shake” and to channel his tremors into new art forms. He encouraged Castilleja students to likewise see obstacles as opportunities, and to find creative ways to pursue their passions. The artist also worked with Upper School art students in Deborah Trilling’s drawing and painting class.

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Pictured top to bottom: Thulani Madondo, Craig Kielburger, and Phil Hansen

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Seipp Gallery Welcomes Mitchell Johnson

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2 3

The Anita Seipp Gallery hosted a small retrospective of the work of Menlo Park artist Mitchell Johnson during the month of February. Johnson has lived in the Palo Alto area for over 20 years and this was the second exhibit of his work at Castilleja.

His color and shape-driven paintings have changed over time as evidenced by the wide gamut of approach to color and composition in this show. The Italian artist Giorgio Morandi and Yale professor and artist Josef Albers have influenced his work.

Mitchell taught a condensed version of Albers’ famous color course to Deborah Trilling’s Drawing and Painting II class allowing the students to better understand the importance of context for color perception— the underlying theme of all of Johnson’s paintings. The workshop covered how we see color and how to think about how context influences what we see. He revealed that “warm” and “cool” and “dark” and “light” can only be understood in relation to scale and surrounding colors. The students then made their own collages illustrating the contextual color analysis made clear in Mitchell’s workshop.

1 Lucignano D’Asso by Mitchell Johnson 2 Asclano by Mitchell Johnson 3 untitled by Nicole Mitchell ’15

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4 untitled by Hannah Knowles ’15 5 untitled by Brooke Anderson ’15

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View360 On April 6, the Castilleja community gathered for the 6th Annual View360 Symposium. More than 550 parents, alumnae, alumnae parents, faculty, staff, and students attended our signature spring fundraiser held at the Oracle Conference Center in Redwood City. This year’s event raised almost $600,000 to support tuition assistance and enable qualified young women to attend Castilleja regardless of their families’ financial circumstances.

This year View360 took on a new format, with shorter faster-paced, and more active segments reinforcing the “Action” theme. The evening included songs from Rupa and the April Fishes, a band led by Rupa Marya ’93, performances by members of the acclaimed dance collaborative Pilobolus, and inspiring talks by Isabel Allende, Grace Dammann, and Phil Hansen. A cocktail “shake off” between Martha Stewart and mixologist Brandon Clements, conversation with Nina Garcia and Nick Wooster, and a Trashion show featuring designs by Castilleja students, rounded out the amazing evening.

The school is deeply grateful for the generosity of its donors, particularly lead sponsors Oracle and Osborne Partners Capital Management, and the many volunteer hours contributed by the View360 steering committee including Jessica Lonergan ’89, P’19; Amanda Jones, P’18, P’16; Polly Tam, P’17; and Quin Whitman ’81, P’14; as well as fundraising chair Darlene Yaplee, P’17.

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1 Mixologist Brandon Clements shakes it up at the after-party 2 Patricia Lee-Hoffman and Steve Hoffman, P’17 3 (left to right): Adria and Beau Brown, P’14 and Jennie and Ben Li, P’14 4 (left to right): David and Susan Lewis, P’19; Kristina Austin-Nicholls and Ethan Nicholls, P’13, P’17; Mandy Safka, P’17; and Michelle Rockler, P’17 5 (left to right): Veda Orlova, P’19; David Henig, P’18; Raymond and Cynthia McNaughton, P’14

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6 Emily and Stephen Henn, P’19 7 Underwriters enjoy dinner with the speakers before the program 8 (left to right): Kim Roberts ’83, Minal Hasan ’00, and Saima Hasan ’04 9 (left to right): Alison Marston Danner ’89 and John Danner; Jessica Collins Lonergan ’89 and Frank Lonergan, P’19; and Marty Korman, P’14 10 View360 student volunteers 11 (left to right): Bob Wenzlau, Yasmin Radjy ’04, Mariam Nayiny Radjy, P’04 and Nader Radjy, P’04 12 Karen and Ron Johnson, P’14 with Martha Stewart and guest

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Upcycled Epochs: A “Trashion” Show—Onstage and Behind the Scenes

This page: 1 Upper School Design and Sculpture students and teacher Helen Shanks pose with Nina Garcia, creative director of Marie Claire and judge on Project Runway 2 through 4 Students spend time in hair and makeup and putting finishing touches on their outfits

Opposite page: 5 (front row): Scout Dittmar ’15 (1930s) and Chloe Sales ’15 (Edwardian); (back row): Karina Gunadi ’15 (1970s) and Teni Amos ’15 (1950s) 6 Anne Li ’14 (Elizabethan) 7 Alina Brown ’14 (1960s) 8 Yael Goldstein ’15 (Medieval) 9 Jane Choi ’15 (Rococo) 10 Maya Crawford ’15 (1980s) 11 Izzy Lyseggen ’15 (Gen Z) 12 Maya Ambady ’13 (1920s)

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Performing Arts Rewind

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For students interested in performing arts, Castilleja is a great place to be. Our stage is rarely empty as student music and theater performances happen year-round. During the past few months students have brought their considerable talents, both on stage and off to three fully staged productions: “SchoolHouse Rock,” “Arts with a Heart: Friends Helping Friends,” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” The fourth production, Moliere’s “Scapin,” was actually performed (to great acclaim) in the gym using the indoor rock-climbing wall as a backdrop! The girls also took the stage for eighth-grade one-act plays and the annual Winter Concert, featuring Castilleja’s orchestras and choirs as well as the Glee Club.

3 This page (top to bottom): 1 through 4 Students perform in Arts with a Heart 2013 Friends Helping Friends to support the Tomodachi Initiative 5 Middle school students take the stage in the musical SchoolHouse Rock 6 and 7 Upper school students perform Moliere’s classic play Scapin

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faculty notes

This spring, Castilleja welcomed Anitha Arackaparampil to the Business Office and come fall, there will be even more faces around the Circle.

We are excited to welcome Bethany Blackwell who will be teaching Upper School chemistry, Julian Cortella who will be teaching Middle School English, Ahmed Elgasseir who will be teaching vocal music, Jeff Mayfield who will be teaching Spanish, and Samantha Terkeltaub who will be teaching Middle School English. Finally, Cameron Johnson will join the Technology department as systems manager.

Farewell to MJ BlockHA It is the end of an era! After 35 wonderful years of service to Castilleja, MJ BlockHA is retiring at the end of June. Since she first set foot at Castilleja in 1978, MJ has worn many hats—accounting associate, junior class advisor, advisory leader, and, as many boarding students fondly dubbed her, “mom.”

In the words of the Class of 1986’s yearbook dedication to MJ, “You are more than an administrator; you are a friend who has supported and encouraged us through adventures and mishaps. With your help we have learned that friendship and sincerity are key ingredients in our future success. As a strong, independent woman with the courage to succeed on her own, you have set us an example.”

Honoring MJ If you would like to honor MJ, we invite you to Castilleja on Thursday, June 6 at 3:30pm for a dessert reception on the patio of the Administration Building.

MJ’s exemplary leadership likewise inspired the Class of 1992’s senior dedication: “Mom you have been wonderful to us with your smiles and your candy jar. When Junior year rolled around and our, let’s just say, not so organized class had to plan a banquet, you had the lucky task of being our class advisor. You lived up to the challenge and brought us together. Coincidentally, our banquet theme was the one that you had wanted all along—over the rainbow made our dreams and yours come true. You are really Glenda the good witch.”

Her colleagues on campus are equally sad to see her depart. Longtime history teacher Peggy McKeeHA remembers, “MJ has been a beloved figure to decades of Castilleja students who called her ‘Mom’ and went to her with their various thoughts, issues, and problems. MJ has been a major player for many years in the Castilleja community, a good listener, and a supporter of ‘going green’ before it was trendy.” Dan ChapmanHA, Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, could not help but smile when he said, “I have always admired how—even under the worst extremes, rain or shine—MJ rides her bike to work.” Perhaps Jeanné Appelget, Science Department Chair, sums it up best: “MJ’s lasting legacy will be her willingness to be a friend. She is the greatest of listeners, tightest of confidants, and keeper of the chocolate.”

We will miss her sunny smile, signature bicycle, and bottomless candy jar.

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(left to right): Elise Fabbro, Nicole Cox, Marie Christine Lopez, Chris BlairHA, and Kaitlin Bagby at the Class of 2008 five-year reunion.

2013 Reunion Weekend: September 27-28, 2013 Save the date for your Casti Reunion!

If you are from a class that ends with a “3” or an “8” it is your reunion year! Save the dates, call your classmates, and make a plan to come back to Castilleja. Plans are underway including: • Reunion Gatherings, and all-reunion class cocktail party and dinner • Campus Tours • Special Alumnae Lecture • Garden demo with Castilleja Garden Coordinator • And more!

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

If you would like to help plan something special for your class, please contact the Alumnae Office.

We’ll see you around the Circle this fall!

The class of 2001 at reunion 2012.

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Just Launched! Internships and Networking Database In response to the ACE Center’s goal to significantly increase internships available to current students and our alumnae’s interest in networking and internship opportunities through the Castilleja community, a searchable database was launched on the ACE website in early April.

We are already seeing positive results from this powerful resource as students and alumnae venture out into labs, companies, and nonprofits to further explore their areas of interest and career paths.

internships & networking

Alumnae, alumnae parents, and current parents are the key to the success of this program. By submitting internships, or asking others that they know to do so, the value of the database grows with a greater variety of real world experiences. In addition, offering to network with students or alumnae gives them the chance to learn the various ways that they can achieve their life and career goals. This demonstrates the strength of the Castilleja Connection.

For more information, or to submit an internship or networking opportunity, please go to www.castilleja.org and click on the “Internships and Networking” button on the ACE Center page.

The Alumnae Giving Circle: A New Concept The 2011 Alumnae Survey revealed that alumnae are most interested in supporting the innovative programs at Castilleja rather than the general Annual Fund. In exploring this further, it was found that alumnae would particularly like to support a specific program that they could support and receive feedback on how the program is impacted through their combined gifts.

Giving Circles are a concept that was started by women to combine their individual giving for a specific cause in order to increase their impact. By developing an Alumnae Giving Circle and targeting a current program, the aggregated alumnae gifts can significantly make a measurable difference to that program. Young alums who are starting a tradition of giving to Castilleja by making a small gift are joined by all other alums who make a gift based on their interest, loyalty, and capacity. These aggregated gifts will most certainly make a difference, but to which program?

After considering the programs on campus that would resonate with alumnae, the ACE (Awareness, Compassion, Engagement) Center was chosen as it is based on the values of the 5 Cs that all alumnae learned while at Castilleja. The ACE Center focuses on Community Action, The Global Program, Diversity and Inclusion, Leadership, and Internships and Networking.

Alumnae will learn the many ways that their gifts are impacting the local and global communities through the work of the ACE Center and the current students. Annual accomplishments will be communicated through the Full Circle, the Alumnae eNews, special reports, and the Annual Report.

All alumnae are invited to become a part of the annual Alumnae Giving Circle to support the innovative ACE Center by making their annual gift online or in the enclosed remit envelope. Thank you to all alumnae who have already made your 2012-2013 contribution!

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Alumnae Events Over the last few months, more than 125 alumnae and honorary alumnae gathered at events on and off-campus. These events gave classmates a chance to reconnect, alums across the generations to meet, and everybody a chance to have some fun!

Honorary Alumnae Winter Tea 1 Elyce Melmon and Susan Barkan 2 (left to right): Connie Richardson, Eleni Coltos, Nancy Flowers, and Nanci Kauffman 3 Mercedes McCafffrey and Ann Criswell 4 (left to right): Christiane Andreopoulos, Judy Rino, and Elyce Melmon 5 (left to right): Jeannine Marston, John Klopacz, and Michele Grundmann 6 Judy Wagner and Connie Richardson 7 (left to right): Suzanne Sparks, John Klopacz, and Karen Tobey

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Young Alumnae Holiday Brunch 1 (left to right): Megan McClain ’10, Natalie Morin ’10, and Laura Swenson ’10 2 (left to right): Eleanor Powell ’11, Claudia Kelley ’11, and Jackie Summers ’11 3 (left to right): Morgan Jones ’09 and Kelly Loughleed ’09 4 (left to right): Lizzie Souter ’12, Sedona Speedy ’11, and Amy Yamamura ’11

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Young Alumnae Holiday Brunch continued 5 Sonali Mehta ’11 and Mia Taper ’11 6 (left to right): Beverly Jiang ’11, Claire Fraisl ’11, and Roark Luskin ’08 7 Anna Winham ’13 and Ari Yulo ’10 8 (left to right): Barbara Petersen ’11 and Natalie Shell ’11

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Alumnae vs. Varsity Soccer Match 1 Soccer teams with their coaches 2 Kelly Fitzgerald ’07 and Darien Martin ’08 3 Ginny Orr ’04 and Meghan Fitzgerald ’04

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Class of 2008 Five-Year Reunion 1 The Class of 2008 Celebrates! 2 (left to right): Andie Navarro, Christina Sun, Lucy Strand, and Lauren Augustine 3 (left to right): Rebecca Mazonson, Marion Cohn, Allison Hoffman, and Sonja Swenson 4 Laura Hansen and Shibani Mehta 5 (left to right): Lauren Augustine, Pooja Prasad, Jenny Pender, and Anjali Jotwani

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New York Regional Gathering 1 (left to right): Lauren Sheridan ’94, Logan McClure ’04, Sarah Rakonitz Stein ’87, and Leigh Tanner ’08 2 (left to right): Leigh Tanner ’08, Selina Troesch ’04, Nanci KauffmanHA, Julia Renaud ’05, and Melissa Wong ’04

Alumnae Family Valentine’s Party 3 Laurie Davidson Phillips ’96 with husband Dominic and son Cooper 4 Clare Tandy ’15 helps with face painting

First Friday Alumnae Lunch - February 5 (left to right): Ursula Kinney Ringham ’90, Christina Hansen McClure ’71, Patricia PietrzykHA, Ann CriswellHA, and Honor Spitz ’62 6 (left to right): Christiane AndreopoulosHA, Pratima Sethi ’94, Laurie Baldwin ’77, Anne Spaulding Draeger ’71, and Pat Hunter Gregory ’64 7 Roxanne Tursi ’03 and Amanda Gordon ’03

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1 Anne Warner ’08 and Allison Hoffman ’08 2 Eleni ColtosHA and Christina Hansen McClure ’71

Upcoming Events June 5

June 8

San Francisco Regional Gathering

Graduation on the Circle September 27-28

June 6 Alumnae Induction Lunch at Lockey Alumnae House

Reunion Weekend Stay tuned for more information about regional events in New York City and Los Angeles!

Members of the Class of 2012 at the alumnae induction lunch

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Spotlight: Mia Mora ’72 Mia Mora ’72 remembers the stories her mother told her about her childhood growing up in San Francisco, riding streetcars to visit Sutro Baths with her two sisters in grade school. In high school, after her grandmother died, the family moved and her mom experienced segregation in the Deep South. Both her mom and her mother, an Irish immigrant, were independent women, and experienced lives far removed from how we live today and she was inspired to make sure their personal histories were not lost.

With a small voice recorder she captured the voices and stories of her relatives. She noted, “The hours I’ve spent with my mom and aunt have given me a glimpse into a history both quirky and keenly personal.

When they are gone, the voices I have captured will bring them back in a way photos cannot.”

She was fortunate to join forces with a cousin from Colorado. Great at research, he was able track down many missing pieces of information.

Amazingly, he was able to find when their grandmother emigrated from Ireland, what ship she traveled on, and even a photo of the ship!

Mia spent a lot of time pouring through a fascinating array of old photographs and letters and is now scanning all of them. “Scanning is a wonderful way to both protect and organize photos,” she notes. “I am scanning my mom’s and aunt’s photos, using their input to identify and date them. Together, with my cousin’s research, we’ll produce a story, with photos, telling how a young woman traveled alone from Ireland and joined a convent in Chicago—one of few options available to women like herself. If I were a novelist, I’d have no shortage of material!”

Last summer, Mia took another step in researching her personal history by retracing her family’s footsteps to Ireland. She noticed that some aspects of life remained much as it was 200 years ago—peat harvested along narrow country roads overrun by sheep and stone cottages similar to the home her grandmother left. Her Catholic family of 13 is no doubt lived in a similar two-room cottage, with a dirt floor and no running water or electricity. She also visited the port in Cobh, on the south coast of County Cork, where her grandmother likely may have seen the ocean for the first time, having left an isolated country village for the promise of America and a better life.

“Family stories set in times and places so unlike today are personal treasures. They require digging, but history becomes infinitely more relevant when inhabited by your own family. I encourage others to pursue their family history and engage their living relatives in telling their stories.”

Mia Mora ’72, now retired, continues her work in environmental sustainability on the board of a nonprofit, LEAF (Local Ecology & Agriculture Fremont). She is using her construction project management skills on the installation of LEAF’s new facility on the grounds of an historic nursery. Work on her geneology project accelerated after her mom moved to a nearby retirement community last summer. In between, Mia fits in long-time passions gardening and quilting.

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Spotlight: Nancy Burbank Sears ’40 Nancy Burbank Sears’ ’40 life took an unexpected turn after her Castilleja graduation. Due to health reasons, she wasn’t able to compete her undergraduate degree at Pomona College, so she took a drafting course, and at eighteen became the first draftsperson for a young Hewlett-Packard, working in its garage on Page Mill Road.

She trained at the Academy of Advertising Art (now Academy of Art University) in San Francisco and went to work as a graphic designer.

Other jobs in commercial art followed and eventually she became a freelance graphic artist working from home once she started a family in 1950. In the 1970s, she joined Mayfield Publishing Company in Palo Alto and spent the last sixteen of her over forty year career designing college textbooks.

Throughout her years of work and raising a family, getting an undergraduate degree was never far from her mind. So when she retired, at age 70, she decided to go back to school, eventually moving to Oakland and enrolling full-time at UC Berkeley. This was in the early 1990s and she didn’t have a computer, so she wrote all her papers on a typewriter, competing with smart, computer literate students more than fifty years her junior in all her academic classes. She worked hard and in 1991 received her Fine Arts degree, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.

After graduation, she began painting in earnest focusing on urban and rural landscapes in oil and more recently venturing into abstract images and painting on acrylic panels. In 2007, she told the Oakland Art Association, “To work with a free flow of expression and allow the brush to speak, meant overcoming the intentional precision that had been required for my career as a graphic designer. Past experience served me well but is outweighed by how absorbingly unrestricted I now feel facing a canvas.”

In her “retirement,” she’s had more than 20 productive, creative years painting and exhibiting. Proving that it is never to accomplish goals and follow your passion.

Nancy Burbank Sears ’40 began painting while at Castilleja encouraged by her art teacher and inspired by the French avant garde movement.

She continues to paint and lives at home in an artist’s loft in Emeryville.

She looks forward to reading Full Circle and really enjoyed the last issue with its focus on art. She stays in touch with classmates including Barbara Nathan Strain ’40.

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keep in touch

Young alumnae gathered for the Holiday Brunch in December

Keep in Touch with Castilleja Please send Class Notes to your Class Representative, or to Castilleja: Maggie Ely Pringle ’71 Director of Alumnae Relations Castilleja School 1310 Bryant Street Palo Alto, CA 94301

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1947

Elizabeth “Egie” Gerrard Blackwelder deserves kudos! She

Marilyn Senn Moll shares some sad news:

Send News to School

wrote to let us know, “I have just learned that I will be receiving an award which I never expected I would ever receive– the ‘California Trails and Greenways Volunteer Annual Recognition’–for my work benefiting trails. I will be presented with this award on May 9, in Lake Tahoe, at the annual dinner.” Congrats Egie!

1942

Send News to School “I am sorry to report that my husband, Kenneth L. Moll, Col. USAF (ret), died on February 21, 2013. I shall continue living at The Fairfax, a military retirement community where we have been since December 2009.

I will keep working on historical research and speaking, usually on the Civil War, to various military history groups in this area.”

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

(650) 470-7743 mpringle@castilleja.org

Adele Landenberger Haynie 550 Main Street Morro Bay, CA 93442

Or go online to castilleja.org/notes

1943

Joanne Maxfield Anderson still has a

1945

Sally Anderson LaHaye attended two weddings last summer for her grandchildren. Her daughter, Laura, took her to Vienna to visit her granddaughter, who is working for the United Nations.

Sally still sees Sally Sharpsteen Wilson and exchanges emails with Nancy Gladding Baxter.

1935

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

Send News to School Nancy Tomer Pickford contacted us with a correction: “I was pleased to see my entry to the last edition of full circle in the Class Notes of 1945; however, the word ‘precious’ is misplaced—they are my precious GREAT grandchildren, not great precious grandchildren. It does change the meaning, though not an earthshaking error.”

Send News to School

Margaret “Peggy” Montague Bell is searching for kindred spirits: “Is there anyone out there? I’m so old that my graduation year (1935) isn’t even listed on the Class Notes website! But my 96th birthday party was fun.”

1946

Send News to School Ellen Walling Lewis is looking for comrades from her class: “Is there anyone else left from ’46 besides me?

I’m hale and hearty and a docent at three nonprofits.”

large tax business and is always swamped in the spring. Her grandchildren have either graduated from or are still in college.

She lives in a retirement community, plays tennis, and is a very busy lady.

Joan “Aubie” Aubineau Livingston’s husband passed away a few years ago.

She is traveling and planning a trip to Rio in December.

Carolyn “Hornie” Hornkohl Gillespie is traveling and doing hospital consulting.

She is still married and has four grandchildren: the youngest is six years old. “I’m looking forward to our 65th Casti reunion in 2014.”

1951

Cynthia Kaiser Floyd 620 Sand Hill Road, #127 D Palo Alto, CA 94304 62 | full circle

class notes

1952

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

1953

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

1954

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

1955

Peggy McKennan Link 3085 Mill Vista Road, #2423 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 peggyslink@indra.com

1956

Darlene Cherie Rickey 444 San Antonio Road, #6C Palo Alto, CA 94306 rickeydarlene@yahoo.com

1957

Charlotte Geary Gilmore 1061 45th Street Sacramento, CA 95819 charlotte.gilmore@gmail.com Sue “Kim” Holzman Hanna was disappointed that no one planned to attend the 55th class reunion. “I am still spending my summers in Auckland, New Zealand, and my winters in Beverly Hills. I just visited my eldest of six grandchildren, Sarah Alice, at her university—Barnard in Manhattan—along with my eldest of four children, Michael, who resides in Portland, OR, with his family. It was FREEZING. I also went to see my daughter, Lisa, and her family just outside of Boston at their ‘Willaway Horse Farm,’ which I do biannually. Heidi and her family live with me in California; her children attend the same school that I did. Brian and Kate reside near me in New Zealand.”

52nd birthday with a fun dinner party and complemented this happy evening with a ‘sing fest’ accompanied by several guitars.

The Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibition in Seattle was part of my trip, and what a treat and feast for the eyes. I also visited the campus of the University of Puget Sound, where our granddaughter attends. This is a very beautiful campus in Tacoma. Now, back in Kona, I have many happy memories of my trip. In April we traveled to California for the graduation of our oldest grandson from Cordon Bleu. I have an urgent need to watch calories when he visits us, which he did in January. I send aloha to everyone.”

Likewise, I hope that any and all alums will contribute a story, a photo, a video clip to help flesh out the school’s history.”

Louisa “Weezy” Griggs Hagen writes that life is good in an old house!

1963

Sudie Fenn Moreland 1897 Echo Lane Lincoln, CA 95648 casudie@aol.com Sandra Sayre Flattery is back in the area!

“We built our main home in Sun Valley, ID, where we ski, hike, ride our horses, and enjoy all the cultural events that mountain resort living has to offer. We now have a pied-à-terre in Palo Alto for the spring, fall, and some of the winter. It is on Bryant Street!!! Just eight blocks north of Castilleja! I would love to reconnect with Casti classmates in the area.”

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Dee O’Brien James 3223 Canfield Road Sebastopol, CA 95472 dee.e.james@gmail.com

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1964

Honor Berger Spitz 2012 Glen Una Avenue San Jose, CA 95125 honorspitz@sbcglobal.net

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

On February 23, Camie Gibbs Herrick, Margarita “Gui” Espinosa Smith, and Joanne De Phillips, all ’62 graduates, had a reunion breakfast together in Palo Alto for the first time since graduation! Camie and Joanne, both living in the Bay Area, are great friends and see each other often, but Gui married right after her Stanford graduation and has since lived in several states with her husband, Walter Smith, a retired academic. So the three classmates have not had a chance to visit with one another until recently. It was a wonderful occasion and, except for husbands, children, grandchildren, some gray hairs, and body sags, it really seemed as though time had stood still. Joanne says, “We hope to see Gui again when she and Walt return to visit her mother this summer.”

Denise Kaufman has been keeping busy: “Aloha, amigas!! I’m still teaching yoga and playing music in Venice, CA, and Kilauea, Kauai. I’ve been playing with my band from the ’60s, the Ace of Cups, as well as with C.C. White, Jai Uttal, and others in the world music Kirtan scene.

Also, I’m excited to share the website I created to help people stay more limber, mobile, and juicy for life. It’s just a public

Honor Berger Spitz has been a good sport: “I enjoyed being interviewed by one of Castilleja’s film classes for a video history project, and I’m looking forward to seeing the end result. The students were very professional, and I appreciate that the school is continuing to add to its archival library.

’63 Sandra Sayre Flattery and her husband, John, get ready for some disco

1958

Hildi Jensvold Vieira 75-640 Mahi iu Lani Place Kailua Kona, HI 96740 rolandhildi@gmail.com Hildi Jensvold Vieira has been traveling.

“I just returned from a wonderful visit to Seattle, where our son and two granddaughters live. We celebrated his

’62 Gui Espinosa Smith, Camie Gibbs Herrick, and Joanne De Phillips at their reunion breakfast

’64 Denise Kaufman is ready to rock and roll

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’70

’77

’75

Charise Hale McHugh and Jack McHugh with Byron and Amy Werner

Myra Gutterman and Janet Gutterman ’71 living and working in Israel

Melinda Lomax Cootsona with her dogs

service offering—nothing to buy or sell!

Please check out our Squat Song, videos, and links at squateverywhere.com.

Sending love to all Casti friends!”

Thank goodness for social networking to keep up with old classmates.”

1975

1965

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

1966

Send News to School

1967

Nancy Blake Tetrick dntetrick@sbcglobal.net

1968

Send News to School Maryanne Greninger Merritt is happily settled in southern California. “We are living in Loma Linda, enjoying the Seventh-day Adventist community, and making friends here.”

1969

Caroline Trotter cctrotter@earthlink.net Pamela Wass Rozycki shares some exciting news: “Our daughter, Valerie, married Trip Wagoner in 2011, and our son, Stefan, married Julianna Tabor in 2012. Stefan and Julianna are making us grandparents in August. So, we are entering a new, exciting chapter of family stories. Marek is still working as a radiologist with no interest in retiring. I’m still running the family business with my sisters. Our daughter and her husband live and work in Asia, and our son is starting ENT residency in Portsmouth, VA, so we don’t get to see them often.

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Send News to School Joannis Kelly Flatley is enjoying retirement! “I’ve lived in San Antonio, TX, for the last 28 years, but now that I’m retired I spend four or five months a year in both San Diego and south Orange County, where my daughters and their children live. I have four grandchildren whom I spoil with great vigor.”

Charlette Keene de Solana now has two granddaughters from her daughter, Karen.

The youngest one is six months old!

1970

1976

Meredith Rothrock meredith@rothrockfamily.com Amanda Kovattana is serving as the 2013 Conference Program Chair for the Institute Challenging Disorganization.

“Our conference is a great way to educate organizers and psychologists about the neurodiversity issues that challenge our clients’ ability to stay organized,” says Amanda, who has been a professional organizer for eighteen years and specializes in ADHD and hoarding.

Send News to School Charise Hale McHugh is very proud of her family: “My son, Byron Werner, was the Director of Photography on the movie ‘Phantom’ with Ed Harris and David Duchovney that was released in March. The cinematography was unique in that it was shot in a Russian sub in very close quarters. Byron has two girls, Annabelle (3) and Sadie (1). Tamara is getting her masters in counseling in Texas, and has Jacob (7) and Chloe (5).

I am in my seventeenth year as CEO of the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce & Visitors’ Bureau. My husband, Jack, is still enjoying his financial consulting work.”

1971

Jeanne Fisichella Hahne jeannehahne@gmail.com

1972

Karen Smith Shaw kesshaw@ucdavis.edu

1973

Meg Malone Thompson peterthom@comcast.net

1974

Send News to School

1977

Mijke Roggeveen mijkeroggeveen@aol.com Melinda Lomax Cootsona writes, “This has been an incredibly busy year already.

My new book, “Open Your Studio,” reached #1 at Amazon in ‘Business of Art.’ I have been painting like crazy to keep up with three shows scheduled this year, including a solo show in September at The Studio Shop in Burlingame, CA. I’m teaching several painting workshops, and a four-night artist retreat in the fall as well. I’ve put in an intern request at Casti! Life is good!”

1978

Laurie Ray Lamb nylambs@gmail.com

1979

Margarita Huertas Balagso balagsom@yahoo.com

1980

Jeanne Floyd Downs jdowns84@comcast.net Erika Tiegel Freitas’ family is growing up. “Our son just graduated from San Jose State University in environmental

class notes

’80

’83

’86

Erika Tiegel Freitas with her family

Christl Mitsch Drewry ’82 and Robin Haber Kallas

Daniel and Noah Gionet

sciences, and our daughter graduated in May from Sonoma State University. My husband and I are both educators at St. Mary’s School in Los Gatos.”

Jennifer Pollock is still close to Castilleja. “I continue to love living in this area, often driving by Castilleja in my career in residential real estate. My family (all still local) and I enjoy the renovated and enlivened Town & Country Village nearby. My daughter, Elisha, will attend Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in the fall. I see several Casti classmates regularly. I hope all is well in each of your lives. Blessings!”

touch with her far-flung siblings, including Maria Riofrio ’86. Melissa is a senior editor at PCWorld.com, helping reinvigorate the publication during an extremely challenging time for journalism of all stripes. She also leads the Homeless Cat Network, a local nonprofit animal rescue group with over 200 volunteers (including herself) and almost 20 years of presence in San Mateo County, working to spay and neuter feral cats so they can live healthier, safer lives.

In her spare time (ha!) she loves to read, see movies, cook, sing, and play piano, as well as see friends, including Stacey Smith and Heather Allen Pang ’84.

1987

1981

Send News to School

1982

Laura Kelly Kroger laurakroger@comcast.net

1983

Yoshimi Segawa Munch ymunch@ysmcommunications.com Robin Haber Kallas says, “Alex and I almost have an empty nest: Ben is in college, and Sam will be graduating high school in June. We are looking forward to traveling the world over the next few years. Christl Mitsch Drewry ’82 lives only about ten minutes away, and our boys have grown up together as close friends—Castilleja bonds sure can endure!”

1986

Laura Greene Wilkin lwilkin@cipa.org Debra Delizonna Gionet announced that she and her husband, Chris, were “doubly blessed” in January with the arrival of their twin baby boys, Daniel and Noah.

Renée Conrad has two children. She is a trust and estates attorney at Hales & George and just moved to Saratoga to be closer to work.

Andrea Amdahl Taylor is completing her sixteenth year with the Chicago Symphony Chorus and continues to teach private voice lessons. She enjoys traveling and recently returned from a trip to Ecuador/the Galápagos with her husband and eight-year-old son.

1984

Sonja Hellman Bogumill sonjabogumill@yahoo.com Pamela Hawley is excited to report, “My organization, UniversalGiving (universalgiving.org), recently relaunched its site with personalized fundraising lists, e.g. for your birthday, anniversary, or child’s event! A great way to increase giving and make it a natural part of your life. I also continue to love being ‘Aunt Pammie.’”

After graduating from law school in England and working in Hong Kong for six years, Christina Tam Fong is living in domestic bliss as a stay-at-home mom of four kids: David (11), Grace (9), Sammy (4), and Elizabeth (2). “We live in a beautiful place called Great Neck, NY. We are only 25 minutes by train away from New York City. Great Neck is the only town in the United States that has a ‘Park District’ (check us out at greatneckparks. com) and provides its residents with country club-style living. I am still in close contact with Alyssa Anderson and Zandra Chan. I would love to hear from friends I’ve lost touch with from Casti!”

Katie Harris is an associate professor of history at UC Davis and lives in Berkeley.

“I spent fall 2012 on sabbatical in Rome, where I did archival research for a second book project. The book treats the way that 16th and 17th century Catholics approached the epistemological problems posed by the relics of saints. I’ll be returning to Rome and to archives in Sardinia and Sicily in May-June. My son, Arvid, will be entering kindergarten in the fall(!).”

Send News to School

1985

Kristin Young Gilbert kristigilbert@sbcglobal.net Melissa Riofrio feels fortunate (and okay, “sometimes overwhelmed”) to have a fulfilling life of family, career, and social justice work. She loves sharing her home with her mother, as well as her spouse and pets, and she is in frequent

’87 Christina Tam Fong with her family

’87 Pamela Hawley

spring/summer 2013 | 65

class notes

’88 Jeannette Colyvas with her mom Doris, nephews Peter and Nicholas, and fiancé Joe

’90 Joanna Busza at Wenchi Crater Lake in Ethiopia

1990

Christina Koo Van Zandt christinavz@gmail.com Carin Mueller Rollins is returning to

’89 Allison Marston Danner’s investiture

1988

Alexandra Dumas alexandra92@alumni.stanford.edu Jeannette Colyvas got tenure at Northwestern University. She is now an associate professor of learning and organizational change in the School of Education and Social Policy and also holds courtesy appointments in sociology, the Institute for Policy Research, and the Kellogg School of Management. Jeannette was engaged to Joe Fowler in December.

Kat Beyer became a published author this year.

Sylvia Kwok writes, “After going to Columbia and living/working in London, Tokyo, and Beijing, I’m now back in Hong Kong.”

Nicola Morf Janvier and her husband, Pascal, sold Fleur de Cocoa, their patisserie-chocolaterie in Los Gatos, last summer and have been living in Melbourne, Australia, since December.

Their children, Cedric and Claire, have adjusted quickly to the Aussie ways, are picking up accents, and are loving having minimal homework in primary school.

1989

Jessica Collins Lonergan jessica@spurprojects.com

66 | full circle

the Bay Area. “After spending nine years in Delaware, I am moving back to the Palo Alto area with my husband, John Rollins, daughter Tinsley (6), and son Johnny (4). I am still very involved in the biotech field (inspired by Mrs. Barker), and am currently working with Lyme disease researchers to develop better diagnostics. I look forward to reconnecting with Casti alums!”

Joanna Busza moved to Ethiopia this April for three years as part of a project to improve maternal and newborn survival. “Up to 20,000 women die each year in Ethiopia from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Although I’ll still be employed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, I’ll be based at the World Health Organization in Addis Ababa and support the Ministry of Health in testing new approaches to tackling this problem. Ethiopia is a gorgeous country, with an interesting history and culture, and some of the best food in Africa!”

1991

Michele Harari Goldwasser bimini356@yahoo.com

1992

Laila Haq Collins collinslaila@gmail.com

1993

Courtney Dyar cdyarsf@hotmail.com Lauren Carreker Leary laureneliseleary@gmail.com Katie Isenberg has begun a three-year MFA in the Animation Department of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television. She continues to write songs and do the occasional appearance, now at a Los Angeles venue.

’94 Becky Bender Marrs with her baby girl, Addison

1994

Jennifer Cady Logan skinbyjennifer@gmail.com Kim Bowen Rust, her husband, Josh, and two-year-old big brother, Quinn, were very happy to welcome Brynn Helen Rust to their family on March 14, 2013. She weighed in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 22 inches long, so she should be able to keep up with her big brother pretty well! “We are figuring out how to take care of two little ones, and are very sleepy and happy in the meantime. We will be in San Jose from mid-June to mid-July this summer and would love to catch up with our old Casti friends!”

Becky Bender Marrs is thrilled to announce the birth of her baby girl, Addison Virginia Marrs, born October 12, 2012. “We are having a ball and would love to connect with any Casti alums in the Northern Virginia/Washington, DC/Maryland area! Please email me at bmarrs2@gmail.com.”

1995

Lisa Vocker Lofberg lcvlteach@mac.com Sarah Nissen completed the Landmark Self-Expression and Leadership Program last year. “My dog daycare business is in its ninth very successful year, and my husband, Tim, and I will be celebrating our eight-year anniversary this year. Our son, Zane, turned six in February and I’m homeschooling him along with tending to our flock of backyard chickens, culturing kefir, and feeding my family using Weston A. Price fundamentals. I’m going through Marie Forleo’s B-School right now and am planning to start another business based on traditional diets and health. It’s a great year!”

1996

Anna Beattie Wilson annawilson@gmail.com Alexis Ritchie Doucette currently works in the Sunnyvale School District as a

class notes

’94

’95

Brynn Helen Rust

Sarah Nissen with her son, Zane

district instructional coach. “Each summer I direct the San Jose Area Writing Project’s Young Writers’ Camp and Young Authors’ Institute. Last December my husband, Levi, and I celebrated our son Andrew’s first birthday. We enjoy having play dates with the children of fellow alums Susanna Cox Bahrami, Laurie Davidson Phillips, and Anna Beattie Wilson. We would love to see other local moms and their kiddos!”

Keri Yen Ng has a one-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, who has been a constant source of joy and laughter. Keri and her husband enjoy seeing Kaitlyn’s personality develop—she is quite talkative and has a silly streak in her! Keri lives in Redwood City and works at a nearby medical device company.

1997

Erin Beattie erinbeattie21@hotmail.com

Courtney Carter Charney ccharney@apr.com

1999

Yuriko Tse tse.yuriko@gmail.com Sarah Sobel is working in architecture in San Francisco.

Sharon Gerbode is enjoying her second year as a physics professor at Harvey Mudd College. This semester she has the pleasure of teaching Shifrah Aron-Dine ’12 in the freshman mechanics course.

“It’s fun to teach a Casti girl!” Sharon’s husband, John Gregoire, is working on renewable energy at Caltech, and they are both loving life in Southern California.

1998

Kimmy Morris Rosen kimberley.morris@gmail.com

We want YOU! There are countless ways alumnae can get involved. We love hearing from you, so please stay in touch. If you’re as excited as we are and want to join in the fun—here are a few suggestions: 2. Help plan a regional event 3. Attend a regional event

Estela Frances Roque Chaney was born to Myra Chaney and Jaime Mendoza Roque on March 19, 2013. Myra continues performing and teaching music from her studio on the Mendocino coast. Her new duo album, “Sweet Moments of Confusion,” is a 2013 featured album of Bay Area radio station KALX.

Anusha Chari shares some exciting news: “My husband, Sudip, and I welcomed the birth of our first child late last year. We are currently residing in San Francisco, where I am working as an ER doctor.”

Emily Glenn Tucker has recently

Lindsay Austin Louie lindsaylouie@stanfordalumni.org

STAY CONNECTED to the Castilleja alumnae network.

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

1. Join the Advisory Council

Kate Stober kestober@hotmail.com

returned to the Bay Area with her husband, Peter, and daughter, Amelia (23 months). She works as a child psychologist in private practice. Emily enjoyed a recent visit from classmate Ramie Gold and her daughter, Jemma.

stay connected

Stay Connected.

Get Involved.

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

Castilleja School Casti School Casti Athletics Castilleja School

’96 Alexis Ritchie Doucette with her husband Levi and son Andrew

’98

Casti School

Keri Yen Ng with her family

spring/summer 2013 | 67

class notes

’99 Estela Frances Roque Chaney

’99 Ramie Gold and Emily Glenn Tucker with their daughters, Jemma and Amelia

Lauren Dickinson moved to Dubai to join a classmate from business school (ESADE in Barcelona) as he launches his e-commerce skincare website, BasharaCare.com. “It is the first of its kind in the United Arab Emirates. If there are any other alumnae in Dubai or the UAE area, it would be great to hear from them.”

Cara Cipriano completed her residency in orthopaedic surgery in Chicago last summer. She spent the following five months working for Doctors Without Borders and traveling overseas, including a one-week trip to Vietnam with classmate Sophie Jones. She is currently doing a fellowship in Richmond, VA, and will be moving to Toronto for a second fellowship in July.

Michelle Forrest has been practicing family law at McManis Faulkner in San Jose, CA, and assisting Bay Area families for nine months. “Over winter break, my husband and I went to Jamaica to relax at the beach. I continue to enjoy my time on the tennis court, and I even took a lesson from a ranked Jamaican tennis star in December.”

’01

’01

Emily Nelson, Lauren Kaplan, and Laura Wes Cheek at Bix in San Francisco

Kirstin Munro Murphy and her husband, Joseph

Kirstin Munro married Joseph Murphy on November 10. They are now living in Chicago.

weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces. Castilleja classmate Whitney Brown came to the hospital and met Oscar when he was 3 hours old! “We couldn’t be happier and can’t wait for our first visit home to California so he can meet more family and friends.”

Belkis Boyacigiller writes, “I am in my final months of living in Barcelona, my home during my studies at IESE Business School, from which I will graduate with an MBA in May. After graduation I plan on moving back to Istanbul and working in e-commerce. If you are ever in Istanbul, please let me know—I would love to share my tips and even meet up! Also, every Sunday at 11am California time you can listen to my radio show, Bisous de Barca, live on Istanbul’s own www.dinamo.fm.

See a picture of Esen and myself from Barcelona this past March!”

Emily Nelson, Lauren Kaplan, Jaclyn Kokores, and Laura Wes Cheek celebrated Laura’s 30th birthday at Bix in San Francisco.

Liz Rowan Fritz ’01 and husband Doug

Last summer, Jessica Chen was so happy that Julia Desmond and Priyanka Jacob ’03 came to the Portland, Oregon, area to celebrate her wedding day. Jessica is in her fifth year of a clinical psychology PhD program at the University of Washington.

She loves her regular dinner dates with Julia and is excited for Stephanie Rogan to move to the Seattle area as well!

Liz Khoo is nearing the end of her first year of graduate studies at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), a design and technology program at New York University. “It’s been a lot of fun learning how to do 3D modeling and printing, other digital fabrication

Fritz wrote in with exciting news. “Ethan Marshall Fritz arrived right on his due date (4/4) at 9:27am weighing in at 6.5 lbs and 19” long. We couldn’t be happier. Mom, dad and baby are healthy, happy and a bit bleary eyed but enjoying every minute!”

2002

Whitney Brown whitneyalexisbrown@gmail.com Sarah Vander Ploeg Beck and her husband, Nico, welcomed Oscar Nicolas Vander Beck on February 27 at 4pm. He

’02 Jessica Chen with Julia Desmond and Priyanka Jacob ’03 on her wedding day

2000

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

2001

Send News to School 68 | full circle

’01 Belkis Boyacigiller with Esen in Barcelona

’02 Oscar Nicolas Vander Beck

class notes methods, and a little bit of programming.

After six years in digital marketing looking at a lot of spreadsheets, it’s so gratifying to see something on screen become a real life object! I’m also very lucky to be in touch with a few fellow New York Casti alums: Lilian Haney, Jessica Feinstein, Natalie Orr, and Elizabeth Ebright.”

2003

Jenny Cook jennifernicholscook@gmail.com Sydney Larson is winding down her work at Sunrun in San Francisco and gearing up to start at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in the fall.

She and her husband are beyond excited for the adventure in store for the next two years!

Katie Harter is moving back to California, with a new husband in tow, and starting residency at USC in emergency medicine. She will graduate this spring with her MD/MPH after ten years of living in Washington, DC and nine years as a GW student. Katie’s very excited to be homeward bound and hoping to catch up with everyone!

Hosna Sheikholeslami is currently in Tehran, Iran, conducting dissertation fieldwork for her PhD in anthropology.

Her research looks at the role of publishers and translators in the circulation of translated texts of western philosophy and social science in Iran.

Hosna married Yahya Paya on December 27, 2012 in the little town of Famagusta in north Cyprus.

Katherine Tincher is living in San Francisco and running her own interior design business. She is working on a couple of interesting projects right now, including a “man cave” and a design studio for a major tech company. When not working on her business, Katherine has been working on Burning Man art projects!

Vanessa Ishii is still reporting traffic and weather for CBS radio’s LIVE 105.3 in San Francisco with Bay Area radio legend Steve Masters. She is also now working at Stitcher.com, a startup that streams podcasts and talk radio online and on smartphones, contributing to content and the social media front. As for wildlife rehabilitation, spring marks the start of the busy season; she encourages you to leave uninjured baby animals where their mothers left them!

Emily Williams Cornejo is now working in the currency industry. Aside from playing with money, the highlight has been travel within South America and as far as Russia. She is still based in Santiago, Chile, and would love to see anyone who makes the trip south.

2004

Caitlin Cameron cjcameron86@gmail.com Jenna Reback is writing for TV and working on a novel. She has decided that Los Angeles is a much cooler place than she had previously been led to believe.

Kacey Wulff says, “In 2012 I graduated with my MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. After graduation, I headed west to work on the Obama campaign in Colorado. Now, I’m criss-crossing the country again to work in Washington, DC as the Confidential Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response at HHS.”

Saima Hasan is returning to the states!

“After living for four years in New Delhi with my husband and founding/setting up Roshni, I will be moving back to the U.S. this summer to join Harvard Business School in the fall.”

Asha Raval touches base: “Hello Castilleja! I’m so excited to hear about all the creatively-oriented learning happening on campus, especially the Bourn Idea Lab! High five on understanding the importance of fostering creative learning. I have been dabbling in many creative fields during and after college in London at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art & Design.

’05 Asha Raval’s Animal Spirit Design

2005

Ashley D’Amour ashley.damour@gmail.com Over the holidays fourteen members of the Class of 2005 held a mini-reunion in downtown Palo Alto. Ashley D’Amour says, “It was so much fun!”

Katie Given Ligtenberg shares some exciting news: “Hi Castilleja! I am rounding out my eighth year in the beautiful city of Chicago. I am currently an MD/PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. I defend my thesis (microbiology) and graduate from the PhD portion of my program this spring. I will then enter the clerkship component of medical school. My high school sweetheart and I got married this September. Many of my Castilleja friends and family joined in the celebration!”

’05 Courtney Song’s Prada SS 2013 show setup

Courtney Song is happily busy in Europe.

“After teaching First Year Design Studio in the Cornell University B. Architecture Program, I moved to the Netherlands and am now working with Rem Koolhaas as an architect designer at the international firm OMA*AMO. My work and clients are really exciting since my project team works on small-scale projects with luxury clients.

Some of my recent work has included designing the Prada SS 2013 and FW 2013 shows; designing an exhibit for the luxury Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette; as well as my current project designing a furniture collection with Knoll, whose initial prototypes were featured in the FW 2013 Prada show, and will be officially debuting this spring. Living abroad is challenging at times (I’m one of only three Americans!), but quick weekend trips to Paris and working with an international crowd make working here worth it!”

’05 Katherine Given Ligtenberg with fellow Casti grads at her wedding

’05 Fourteen members of the Class of 2005 held a mini-reunion in downtown Palo Alto over the holidays

spring/summer 2013 | 69

class notes Strong and not so silent, Animal Spirit specializes in bridging parallel disciplines like art and illustration to communicate essence in unexpected and striking—yet humorous—ways. We approach our projects that ‘perceive and create’ in a one-of-a-kind, human-centric way. Please enjoy my work at animalspiritdesign. com and like Animal Spirit Design on Facebook!”

Tamar Kreps is working on her PhD in organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “I would be happy to hear from any alumnae interested in a PhD in social science! My husband and I welcomed our first child, a baby boy, in September.”

2006

Chelsea Ono Horn onohorn@gmail.com Meg York margaret.alice.york@gmail.com

2007

Kelly Fitzgerald kellynfitz@gmail.com Rachel Care is coming back to California! “After spending another year in the charming town of Göttingen in Germany during which I helped develop an optogenetic cochlear implant, which is a hearing aid with improved resolution due to operation by light, I look forward to the very slow approach of summer and the somewhat quicker approach of the beginning of my first year at UCSF as a neuroscience graduate student!”

Chelsea Waite spent 2012 in Petrolina, Brazil—a city in the northeast interior of the country—on a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship at the state university. “After planning an English immersion camp and coordinating an international English fair, I decided I wasn’t ‘done’ after nine months, so I came back and I’m writing this from Petrolina!

I never guessed at Castilleja that I would learn Portuguese and live abroad in Brazil, but life surprises. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to going back home in August to try something other than teaching, which may end up being grad school in international communications.

Beijos a todas!”

2008

Roark Luskin roark.luskin@gmail.com Elise Fabbro elisemarie73@gmail.com Rebecca Mazonson is becoming a teacher! “After an enlightening and 70 | full circle

exhilarating four years at Brown, I am now completing my masters in education and initial teacher certification in history at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Recently, Rachel Vassar helped me chaperone my 114 seventhgrade students from Dorchester, MA, on a field trip. One student, awed and confused, pulled me aside and asked, ‘Ms. Mazonson…so teachers have best friends too?’ As a former Castilleja student, I understand this fascination (obsession?) with teachers’ lives all too well. Love to all of my teachers, friends, and teacher-friends from Castilleja.”

Rachel Baden is graduating from Reed College in May with a degree in biochemistry, and in August of this year will be starting vet school at UC Davis.

2009

Kennedy Flanders kennedyflanders@gmail.com Angie Moore angela@moorelife.net Kelly Lougheed will return to Rome this summer as an assistant teacher for the Paideia Institute’s High School Latin in Rome program. Vivat lingua Latina!

(Long live Latin!)

2010

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

2011

Emily Steemers emily.steemers@gmail.com Divya Bhat dbhatg@gmail.com Natalie Shell shell.natalie@gmail.com Ginna Freehling gehf001@bucknell.edu Ginna Freehling is participating in two different research labs at Bucknell University. The first investigates the developmental role of Hox genes in the central nervous system of the Drosophila. She presented a poster at the 54th Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Washington, DC in April.

Her other research involves isolating and characterizing a bacteriophage-a virus that infects bacteria. There are huge implications for phage therapy in the future, especially with antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the rise. In the fall she isolated a phage from a dirt sample from

California and named the phage GinFree.

She was nominated by her classmates to attend the Science Education Alliance Symposium hosted at Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s main campus in Virginia in June. She will be publishing a genome paper regarding the phage along with classmates in the spring, and she hopes to publish a neurological development paper by the end of the summer as she will be continuing this research at Bucknell this summer.

Claire Fraisl is enjoying her second year at UCLA and stays busy as the alumnae relations chair for her sorority, a member of a Middle East studies research team, and an AP English tutor. She looks forward to studying in Barcelona and Thailand this summer and is hoping to meet up with Casti alums who will also be abroad!

Camila McHugh will be doing research at the National Archives in Washington, DC for the Brazilian Truth Commission.

The Truth Commission is Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s effort to investigate human rights abuses committed during Brazil’s military dictatorship from 1964-1985.

2012

Jane Larkins jane.larkins@gmail.com Shreya Ramachandran shreyar@stanford.edu Catherine Rosch interned for a successful senate candidate, met the Vice President, and took two classes with a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning professor!

News of Former Faculty and Staff Ann CriswellHA 321 Alvarado Avenue Los Altos, CA 94022 afcriswell@earthlink.net HA

denotes Honorary Alumna or Alumnus

Lynne Williams Collins catches us up on the past 40 years! “I taught math at Castilleja from 1968-1972 and my husband and I managed the dormitory for the 1971-1972 school year. Then we moved to Los Angeles, where I taught at the Westlake School for Girls until 1981. In 1980 I spent a month trekking in Nepal, an experience that totally changed my life. As a result of that trip I moved to the mountains of Colorado, started teaching in public schools, and remarried. Now I am retired, but still tutoring math and still married to my second husband. I live in Eldora (population about 150),

class notes ski and hike frequently, and enjoy lots of travel. We spent three weeks hiking in Patagonia, and six weeks camping in Mongolia.”

a short drive away, especially on posole days, when I enjoy the opportunity to see dear friends and colleagues.”

Joan LonerganHA writes, “John and I Nancy FlowersHA spent the autumn living in Rome as “resident nanny” for her daughter, Katie Harris ’87. Katie, who teaches European history at UC Davis, was on sabbatical, working in the Vatican Library on material for a new book about the 17th century underground trade in holy relics. While her grandson, Arvid Forsman, attended an Italian kindergarten, Nancy was able both to explore the city and to continue her work for Human Rights Educators USA, a new network that promotes collaboration on human rights issues among activists, academics, and classroom teachers.

John KlopaczHA writes, “I am now well into my third year at Stanford.

Seeing my Castilleja students thrive at both Stanford and other institutions continues to be a source of satisfaction and joy. I was delighted to see Kathryn Papadopoulos ’06, who is currently pursuing an advanced degree at Stanford, as she was on the way to teach her own class. At the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in January, I met up with Emma Sachs ’04, who is advancing toward her PhD at the University of Michigan. In June 2012 Connie RichardsonHA and I had coffee at the historic Bar Sant’Eustachio in Rome with Kelly Lougheed ’09, now a senior at Brown, while she was participating in a spoken Latin program in Rome. I am glad that Castilleja is but

HA Nancy FlowersHA with her daughter Katie Harris ’87 and grandson Arvid Forsman buying flowers for Arvid’s teachers in Rome

HA Karen LynnHA and her daughter, Kaila Naomi Lieb

moved into school housing once again in September with our labrador retriever Maggie, still going strong at fifteen years old. We occupy the top floors of a large townhouse adjacent to Hewitt School on East 76th Street and enjoy being a block from Central Park and having an elevator for Maggie, whose stair-climbing days are over. Between us we have six grandchildren, five of whom will be close by next fall as students in other New York City day schools. I love being part of a K-12 girls school—who can resist bubbly kindergarten girls in plaid pinafores or a senior speaking at the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl? Castilleja sets the bar so high for educating girls, and I am grateful every day for the wonderful community and extraordinary leadership experience I had for seventeen years at 1310 Bryant. I send my best wishes with fond memories and a big hug for you all.”

Karen LynnHA writes that she has big news. “I recently left my job after twenty years as Director of Counseling Services at Castilleja in anticipation of the arrival of our baby. Our daughter, Kaila Naomi Lieb, was born in early February. My husband and I are very happy and very sleep deprived. After a brief maternity leave, I am continuing to provide therapy to adolescents and adults in my (part-time) private practice, along with spending a lot of time with our

HA Mercedes McCaffreyHA celebrating with her family, including her daughter Teresa McCaffrey ’82

HA John KlopaczHA and Kathryn Papadopoulos ’06 in the Stanford Classics Department

wonderful baby girl.”

Mercedes McCaffreyHA and her husband, Terry, celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in March. They were married in Bilbao, Spain, in 1963.

Helping the McCaffreys celebrate were their granddaughter, Amelia McCaffreyCamps, grandson, Ander McCaffreyCamps, son-in-law, Manel Camps, and daughter, Teresa McCaffrey ’82, who is a research analyst in SRI International’s Center for Education Policy. The McCaffreys’ son, Anton, and his family, who live in San Diego, also joined in the celebrations. Since her retirement, she has volunteered with Friends Outside, an association that assists individuals in prison. She found working as a liaison primarily between incarcerated women and their families and friends to be very rewarding.

Judy Sleeth, who taught history, English, and art history at Castilleja, was recently honored at the 30th anniversary of Art in Action, which she founded in response to funding cuts that had eliminated art from the elementary school her daughters Carolyn ’94 and Katherine ’99 were attending. In March, Art in Action’s annual fundraising event, Atelier d’Artistes, was dedicated in honor of Judy, who in the words of the event’s program “took the initiative to fill the void by creating a comprehensive art education program. From a oneclassroom beginning, Judy worked tirelessly to create Art in Action, which provides over 100 deeply immersive curriculum modules that teach art

HA Judy Sleeth, who has been honored as the founder of Art in Action

HA Joan Lonergan’sHA Maggie, who was well known on the Castilleja campus

spring/summer 2013 | 71

class notes history, theory, and practice to students from kindergarten through eighth grade.” Over the years nearly 250,000 children have experienced the Art in Action program with the help of 10,000 teachers, parents, and other volunteers who have been trained to teach this award-winning curriculum. Art in Action has expanded beyond the San Francisco Bay Area and now includes programs in 155 schools in 16 states. Judy received accolades from the event’s Master of Ceremonies Carolyn Johnson of ABC7 News and from the featured speaker, Craig Watson, director of the California Arts Council. Congratulations to Judy Sleeth on this honor.

near enough that Marcia sees them weekly and looks forward to her time with grandson Jack. Marcia has plans for a career change as she will be enrolling in the graduate school at the University of San Diego in marriage and family counseling. Marcia comments, “The hardest part of leaving Casti was leaving my students; they were the reason I was at Casti. I had thousands of heartwarming moments with my gals over a fifteen-year period and I am friends with quite a few on Facebook and love seeing their posts.” Marcia has the distinction of being both an honorary alumna and a real alumna, as she graduated with Castilleja’s Class of ’74.

in memoriam

Marcia Roberts Terry ’74HA, formerly Marcia Roberts Blanchette ’74HA, writes that a lot has happened in her life in a year. In June she retired after fifteen years with Castilleja’s Fitness and Wellness Department, moved to Ocean Beach, and a few days later on June 12, 2013 she and Dr. Michael Terry, an associate professor in the Graduate Nursing Program of the University of San Diego, were married in San Diego.

Another exciting event was the birth of Marcia’s first grandchild, Jack Blanchette, who—along with his parents—lives

Marcia Roberts Terry ’74HA with her grandson Jack Blanchette

Family

Adina Kletter ’91

Dr. Eugene Dicero Father of Sue Dicero ’81 Col. Kenneth L. Moll Husband of Marilyn Senn Moll ’47

Sister of Betty Roth Kendrick ’31 Aunt of Claire Kendrick Erlin ’59, Sandy Roth Scott ’62, and Jennifer Allen Schuler ’65 Great Aunt of Jennifer Bail Staley ’88 Sue Ingram Pickford ’69 Daughter of Nancy Tomer Pickford ’45

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Marcia Roberts Terry ’74HA and her husband Michael

HA

Alumnae Miriam Roth MacKenzie ’34 Mother of Sandy MacKenzie Standing ’64

HA

Correction: We apologize for the mistake made in listing the family of Elizabeth Wiel McCabe ’29. It should have read: Elizabeth Wiel McCabe ’29 Mother of Joan Ramsay Palmer ’58, Carol Ramsay Rose ’59, Ann Ramsay ’61, and Barry Ramsay Zesiger ’63

Administration Leadership Team Nanci Kauffman , Head of School HA

Josée Band, Dean of Teaching and Learning Kathy BurchHA, Executive Associate to the Head of School Anne CameronHA, Head of Middle School Jill LeeHA, Director of Admission Gabe Lucas, Director of Technology Jim Pickett, Head of Upper School Sue Reyneri, Director of Finance and Operations Kim Roberts ’83, Director of Advancement

Front cover: Teni Amos ’15 walks in the View360 Trashion Show wearing a 1950s inspired dress she designed and made herself out of recycled materials.

Board of Trustees Kirk Bostrom Diane Brooks Dixon ’69 Harry J. Elam, Jr. Karen Fisher Jennifer Fonstad Scott Forstall Amy Hsieh Mir Imran Nanci KauffmanHA Bill Kind Martin Korman Gabrielle Layton John Macdonald

Joe Martignetti Ethan Nicholls Deep Nishar Mike Rantz Ursula Kinney Ringham ’90 Barbara Rosston, Chair Jennifer Sandell Kathleen Tandy Asher Waldfogel Quin Whitman ’81 Linda Yates ’80 Alan Zafran

Alumnae Association Executive Committee Ursula Kinney Ringham ’90, President Courtney Carter Charney ’97 Liz Rowen Fritz ’01 Christina Hansen McClure ’71 Jaclyn Kokores ’01 Lindsay Austin Louie ’98 Pratima Sethi ’94 Sarah Hinman Whittle ’86 Elizabeth Yin ’00

Inside front cover: Student volunteers took on the job of stage crew at View360 2013 and were in action all night long!

Inside back cover: Afghanistan’s first female rapper, Soosan Firooz, performs on the Circle in April.

Back cover: Scene from the 2013 Upper School Musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Photo Credits: Rachel Evers, Claudine Gossett (pages 32-37), Laura Nowell, Helen Shanks, Teresa St Goar, Jamie Sullivan, Dana Sundblad, and Deborah Trilling Design: ChaseVP, Look Design

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

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

Environmental Benefits Statement Since 2011 Castilleja School has saved the following resources by using recycled paper and printing in a green certified facility for the production and printing of this edition of full circle and other projects.

59 fully grown 25,022 gallons of trees water

41,287,815 BTU’s of energy

2,740 pounds of solid waste

5,395 pounds of greenhouse gases

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

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