Colorado Academy Journal - Summer 2021

J urnal

Summer 2021

Volume 48

Together Again

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Issue Number 2

Colorado Academy Mission Statement

Creating curious, kind, courageous, and adventurous learners and leaders.

About the Cover

For more than a year, they persevered through maskwearing, a combination of remote, hybrid, and in-person learning, rescheduled sports seasons, and for many, personal loss. When the day arrived, the Class of 2021 fully embraced the joy of a traditional Commencement.

Colorado Academy Journal Summer 2021

J urnal

Summer 2021

Volume 48

Together Again

Colorado Academy Journal

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Issue Number 2

J urnal Contents Summer 2021 n Volume 48 n Issue No. 2

The 2021 CA Journal is published by the Colorado Academy Office of Advancement.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information included in this publication is accurate and complete. If you note any errors or omissions, please accept our apologies and notify the Office of Advancement at chris.barnard@coloradoacademy.org, or 303-914-2510.

PARENTS OF ALUMNI: If this publication is addressed to a child who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please send an updated mailing address to our Alumni Office at sue.burleigh@ coloradoacademy.org.

CORRESPONDENCE: Colorado Academy, 3800 S. Pierce Street, Denver, CO 80235, 303-986-1501

Dear CA Community.......................................................................................................... 2 Leach Center Prepares to Make its Debut................................................................. 4 What We Learned and What We May Keep From This Year................................ 6 Commencement 2021....................................................................................................10 The Next Chapter for Dr. Jon Vogels..........................................................................12 Boys Soccer Caps Undefeated Season with State Championship................14 Lower School Students Turn into Playground Designers.................................16 Meet the New Upper School Principal.....................................................................18 ‘We Felt Like VIPs’...............................................................................................................20 Creating ‘Middle School Meetup’................................................................................22 The Tale of Suzanne Kolsun Jackson.........................................................................24

WRITERS AND EDITORS: Chris Barnard Jan Beattie Sue Burleigh Vicki Hildner Jacque Montgomery Natalie Newcom Ralston ’99 Becky Risch Amy Ventura Gravely Wilson

A Community Comes Together For All-Day Lovefest.........................................28

DESIGN: Cindi Sherman Publication Design, Inc.

Actor, Teacher, Activist, and Much More..................................................................36

PHOTOGRAPHY: Cyrus McCrimmon Jacque Montgomery Marc Piscotty Becky Risch Kathryn Scott HEAD OF SCHOOL: Mike Davis, PhD

Colorado Academy 3800 S. Pierce Street Denver, CO 80235

Bill Witt, the ‘Perfect’ Match...........................................................................................26 Joyce Li’s Final Note..........................................................................................................27 A Match Made in Free Period.......................................................................................30 He Can’t Help But Help....................................................................................................32 ‘Doing My Best to Help People in Need’..................................................................34 Why We Joined the Musil Society...............................................................................38 A Horizons Hero.................................................................................................................40 The Class of 2021...............................................................................................................42 Boards and Associations.................................................................................................44 Legacy Children 2020-2021..........................................................................................46 Giant Relay Day .................................................................................................................48 Alumni Association Highights.....................................................................................49 Class Notes ..........................................................................................................................53 In Memoriam.......................................................................................................................65 Former Faculty....................................................................................................................67

Printed by a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified Printer

CA Alumni Association 2021-2022 Important Dates..........................................69

Summer 2021

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Dear CA Community:

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his past year marked my 13th as Head of School at Colorado Academy. Many people see the number 13 as unlucky or superstitious. Few may know that it also signifies renewed passion and motivation, hard work, and organization.

I saw these traits everywhere I looked this past year, as our school found its way through the pandemic. The pandemic certainly brought change, but so did CA’s commitment to simultaneously address strengthening and growing our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts. I am profoundly grateful to the faculty and staff, who put their passion for teaching and connecting with students and parents at the core of their work.

Our students motivated each of us to bring all we could to meet the challenges of remote learning, quarantines, daily curve balls, and interrupted traditions.

Everyone worked hard to ensure the CA experience held true to our commitments to our families and our values as a community. We had to be organized and thoughtful, as we navigated the additional decisions that this school year, in particular, required us to make.

It was a year full of moments that often had me reflecting on the power of contrasts. Too often, a deafening

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silence filled a campus with all too few students in class; we were alone together, with so many of us secluded in our homes, while trying to Zoom into class; and we found ourselves trying to act naturally, as we looked upon each other fully masked. Week after week, our students provided a question or laugh at just the right moment, our parents showed faculty and staff appreciation—not just one week, but all year long—and our alumni and families continued to add new ways to engage. This issue of the CA Journal captures the highlights of the year and showcases the strength and resilience of this very special place.

It also highlights new ways to remain connected with CA and reunites us with some of our amazing alumni.

Year 14 promises to be just as powerful. If there is one thing I will take away from year 13, it is that CA is ready for anything. Most importantly, we are ready to come together again—in person and all on-campus—excited about a year that brings the new Leach Center for the Performing Arts, new Lower School Playgrounds, and the opportunity to make stronger connections.

Sincerely,

Mike Davis, PhD Head of School

Letter from the Head of School

On May 21, Giant Relay Day, Head of School Dr. Mike Davis gathered the entire Colorado Academy student body for an All-School Assembly to end the year. Because of the pandemic, this was the first time all students had been together in person since March 2020.

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Leach Center Prepares to Make its Debut

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n April, when Steve Scherer, Chair of the Theater & Dance Department, gave a group of Colorado Academy students a sneak peek inside the unfinished Leach Center for the Performing Arts, the students reacted in unison.

“They literally gasped,” Scherer says. “It’s just such a large space, not just in comparison to Froelicher Theatre, but in general.”

After his preview of the building’s interior, Middle and Upper School Theater teacher Maclain Looper compared the Leach Center theater to ones he had performed in throughout the lower 48 states during a national tour of Annie Get Your Gun 20 years ago.

“I felt like I was walking into one of those big city theaters,” he says. “It is a grand space, and yet it also still feels intimate, so there are ways that actors can connect to the audience.”

It took only 12 months for the Leach Center to catapult CA’s capacity for gatherings, lectures, and performances from one century to another—from the late 1970s to 2021. Built to nestle among the centenarian campus cottonwood trees, there is nothing old-fashioned about the new performing arts center.

“This building is the most sophisticated on our campus because of all the audio-visual and theatrical equipment,” says Director of Operations Jesse Schumacher. “Everything that is needed to create a modern-day production has gone into this building.”

“As you enter the campus, your eye follows the new building for a long time,” says Architect Andy Rockmore from SA+R. “For such a prominent location, it’s critical that it represents CA’s strong commitment to the arts for all students, in concert with CA’s unique natural landscape. It’s the crown jewel of CA. Everyone can see it

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from the road, and everyone will be able to enjoy it.”

It seems hard to believe, but it was less than a year ago—August 2020—when a small audience gathered on Firman Field to watch the demolition of Froelicher Theatre on a hot summer afternoon.

Within 10 months, the exterior of the new building was 90 percent complete, with the entire auditorium wrapped in a sandstone façade.

During the summer of 2021, the construction crews will put interior systems in place and finish painting and flooring. And if all goes as planned, the CA community will gather at the Leach Center on August 23 for the ribbon cutting. The first theatrical performance in the building, the Middle School play, Alice in Wonderland, will take place on October 29.

But don’t be deceived by the speed and efficiency with which the Leach Center has been built. Behind every successful construction project, there is a story, and this one includes a pandemic.

Steering clear of surprises Anyone who has tried to do a home renovation project lately knows that the pandemic changed the availability—and price tag—for supplies. One of the toughest challenges that Schumacher faced in undertaking a major construction project during 2020-2021 was making sure he procured materials for the Leach Center project far enough in advance to keep the project from stalling.

“A lot of industries were negatively affected by COVID,” Schumacher says. “And sometimes those could come as a surprise.”

An example? Well, who would have guessed that there would be a sudden

shortage of porcelain, making it difficult to buy porcelain toilets?

“Normally we would start buying what we need a couple of months before we need it,” Schumacher says. “But we learned to back up our planning by four months on almost every product.”

After West Coast fires last summer, Schumacher anticipated what anyone involved in construction has now discovered.

There was an increase in demand for lumber, and the price skyrocketed. Schumacher bought and shipped lumber long before the CA project was ready for it.

But what do you do with a stash of toilets and lumber that you may not need for months? In some cases, vendors held on to the materials, but in other cases, Schumacher rented storage lockers— whatever it took to keep this project on time and on budget.

Leach Center Progress

“I love the problem-solving part of my job,” Schumacher says. “We have really had a collaborative approach, working with Andy Rockmore and Dan Craig from SA+R and the construction company, Fransen Pittman. Everybody came to the table with the attitude that we are always looking for solutions.”

passion for what he calls “the fly.” And he’s looking forward to a full grid of LED lighting and sound that he says will be “spectacular.”

Making new memories

Katy Hills, Director of Visual & Performing Arts, acknowledges that faculty and students will face some challenges as they transition from Froelicher Theatre to the new building.

“We loved Froelicher for its quirkiness,” she says. “But now we have a space where performers can stand on a stage, and the work that our teachers, actors, and performers do together will feel professional.”

Schumacher has a favorite part of the Leach Center—the “fly loft.”

“From the outside, it looks like a big box on the south side of the building,” he says.

“It’s the section behind the stage where the scenery is dropping down—flying—from a stored area above the stage. There was a lot of technical craft needed to make that happen, and it was fun to learn.”

Middle and Upper School Theater teacher James Meehan shares Schumacher’s

“I can see real opportunities for making great art in that theater,” Meehan says. “It’s going to be a special place for students to create and make memories.”

Members of the Class of 2021 will miss the opportunity to perform in the new space, but they proved that theater can go on even during a pandemic, as they brought

plays to life in the Choir Room and on the steps of Schotters Music Center in 2021.

And ultimately, the lessons taught by performing will live beyond the confines of any building—as best put by Senior Czarina Yuffa in her Senior Journal profile.

“Froelicher Theatre was torn down at the beginning of this school year, and that taught me a very valuable lesson: the thing that makes theater important to me is the community, not the place. CA’s theater community has welcomed me with open arms since the very beginning of Freshman year and has taught me to be the most genuine version of myself.”

Starting in August, the CA theater community will have a new home—long awaited, much anticipated, and ready to make its debut as a new star in the constellation of wonderful Colorado Academy buildings. n

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What We Learned

And What We May Keep From This Year It was a school year like no other in our lifetime. The entire CA community was tested in many ways—including more than 5,000 COVID-19 PCR tests that were performed to keep the virus from spreading. Families lived through illness, sadness, and untold loss—of plans, jobs, and loved ones. Is it possible that any good could come from so much grief?

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hat’s what we wondered when we asked a sampling of students, faculty, and administrators what they learned from living through a school year dominated by a pandemic. And, we wondered, is there anything they might keep after the end of the year? Their answers range from pragmatic, to personal, to profound. But they all demonstrate support for the future of CA and reinforce the heartfelt wish of Head of School Dr. Mike Davis: “I hope this generation holds on to the resilience they demonstrated during the past year. Some students faced life and death issues. They showed how amazingly adaptable they could be.

They reminded us of our mission— to create ‘curious, kind, courageous, and adventurous learners and leaders’—and how we are going to live that mission moving forward.” n

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What we learned…

I learned the kind of person I want to be from watching other people, especially my parents. It’s amazing how much people care about each other, and how they tried to support each other. They wear masks to protect themselves and to protect others. I know now that what I do affects other people.”

Lillian Ormes, Grade 5 “Because of COVID, all of our speakers— including speakers on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion—had to be virtual this year. By using CA facilitators for those speeches, they felt more like conversations. It felt like the audience was experiencing a dialogue, and I found that to be an unexpectedly enriching experience.”

Sarah Wright, Director of Inclusivity “I have new respect for rules. During COVID, it is important to respect the guidelines, because they are made by experts. They are doing what’s best for the common good and greater community.

We need to honor the rules when we make decisions, because it’s for our own safety.”

Charlie Rakowski, Grade 8 “I have been teaching for 20 years, but this year, I felt like a new teacher. This was my mantra: ‘I am going to try every method to build community and connections, so students know I care about them and want them to learn.’ I wanted them to learn history, how to be individuals in a society faced with challenges, but most

of all I wanted them to feel invested in school and connected to each other.”

Liz Sarles, Upper School History Teacher “I learned to expect the unexpected. You never know what’s going to happen, so don’t get hung up on the little stuff. In a way, it was like a physical and mental test. I had to stay safe physically, keep my family safe, and mentally be able to go through so many months of not knowing what will happen. I would give myself a good grade on this test. I learned how strong I really am, and how strong the CA community is.”

Ana Yáñez, Sophomore “This was a year when we had to use our imagination. We had to reimagine all our processes and procedures—the way we travel inside and outside the school, what kind of games we can play at recess, how we interact with each other to be respectful of each other’s space. Extroverts learned self-control. Introverts felt they had their safe space. Many of the strategies we developed to keep students safe turned out to be ideas everyone loved!”

Angie Crabtree, Lower School Principal “During COVID, I learned to take initiative, because we were working more by ourselves, so I told myself, ‘You have to be more responsible for everything—your choices, your grades.’ I also learned to be better at advocating for myself and asking for help when I needed it.”

Gabriela Gonzales, Grade 8

What We Learned “I learned I can be savvy about technology!

Rather than finding recordings of singing to teach music to young students, I made the recordings myself to help keep a connection to my students. Using an app, I can now record myself singing and add the accompaniment. I enjoyed learning how to do this so much, that by the end of the year, I had made several albums of my singing!”

Brenda Bartel, Lower School Music Teacher “It’s not something I ever thought a pandemic would do, but COVID helped clarify for me what I was looking for in a college. I realized that I was looking for a place where I have a sense of belonging, and where students are invested and involved in the community—everything that I am incredibly thankful to have at CA. When we were fully remote, I learned that sometimes you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.”

Peter Carpenter, Class of 2021 “We learned that we needed to do whatever it took to keep our artists—singers, painters, photographers, performers, dancers— engaged and creating art, despite the restrictions. This year has been a challenge, but we still found ways to celebrate our students’ unique voices. We teach our young artists to be creative, flexible, and adaptable, and this year we educators had to do that as well.”

Katy Hills, Director of Visual & Performing Arts “I always looked forward to playing soccer in the fall, and when the season was postponed, I realized how much I took for granted about sports. I learned that the social side of sports—being around friends—is really important to me.”

Jared Goldstein, Class of 2021 “In a year like this, I learned what is the most important part of the curriculum. Because we were using a format that was often remote, I targeted the essential skills students would need to feel confident and comfortable as they move into the next grade.”

Matt Olmstead ’95, Middle School Core and English Teacher

“I learned self-reflection. All of us had to leave our fast-paced lives to spend more time alone. It was good to just be quiet and reflect on the state of the world. Coming of age in a global pandemic changes your mindset and makes you want to expand your horizons. I always thought of myself as a painter, but during COVID, I branched out with my artwork in ways I never would have during normal times.”

Brooke Taylor, Class of 2021 “I was new this year, so everyone I met for the first time was wearing a mask. Think how hard it is to learn everyone’s names, and the importance of connecting a name to a face! I learned to pay close attention to people’s faces, so that some day, when we take our masks off, I will know who everyone is.”

Chelsea Grantham, Grade 5 Teacher “I learned to be adaptable to a new reality—things I could not control—and that was huge. Part of that meant cutting back on time spent on social media. It was just too hard to see people doing things that I wouldn’t do, because I wanted to keep my family safe. I put away my phone, and instead, I made an extra effort to have closer emotional connections with people in my life—my friends, my siblings, and my mom.”

Annabelle Swenson, Class of 2021 “We learned that the daily schedule is not written in stone. It can be reconsidered and adjusted. We experimented with a day that started later and classes that were different lengths. Because using technology was not optional this year, everyone found they could be far more nimble with juggling multiple different tech tools. We learned you build resilience by living through experiences that make you resilient.”

Dr. Jon Vogels, Upper School Principal “As a Co-President of the Senior Class, I worked with administrators and got a look behind the scenes at all the planning

that goes into creating the Upper School schedule. It’s complex, and I learned it’s impossible to make everyone happy.

In times like this, I am grateful for the responsible CA leaders. I don’t take that for granted anymore.”

Ryan Gaghen, Co-President, Class of 2021 “So much of the pandemic reaffirmed the value of what happens on this campus every day. It reminds us of the importance of experiential learning, service learning, in-person learning, our work in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the work of parents on CA Cares, supporting families in need. We found new ways of connecting to parents and alumni, allowing people to dial in and see what’s happening at CA. When COVID comes to an end, we plan to come out of this stronger, more thoughtful, and more relevant than ever.”

Dr. Mike Davis, Head of School “This year taught me to always be ready— especially for bad news. During the first major lockdown, I started running. This fall, when Field Hockey was postponed, I went out for Cross Country, which I never would have done otherwise. You learn about yourself when you are running, and I’m going to continue to do it.”

Ellie Wadsworth, Class of 2021 “I learned that the most inspiring, creative solutions to problems come when you are under the worst constraints. When you are limited, you are forced to think outside the box. COVID forced us to separate what is ‘nice’ to know, from what students ‘must’ know—and still make it fun.”

Elizabeth Drazdowski, Middle School Athletic Director “I learned to be more physically self-aware.

I have to pay attention to where I am and where other people are and make sure my mask is high above my nose! And remote learning taught me to be more grateful for going to school.”

Jackson Hersch, Grade 5 >>>>

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<<<< “I think we learned that we are much more capable of making changes and being flexible than we imagined we were. After COVID struck, we created a plan to reopen school—first remotely, then in a hybrid model, and finally inperson. Everybody worked together to make it happen, and that’s an ethos that has developed because of COVID that we want to maintain. Moving forward, being able to change quickly creates real possibilities for meeting student needs in a more rapidly evolving way.”

Bill Wolf-Tinsman, Middle School Principal “I think society as a whole learned a lot from this pandemic. In the time we spent alone, we discovered new parts of ourselves. I started a new habit of exercising every day—biking, running, doing high-intensity interval training. I discovered that I have a lot of determination. And I felt better and slept better!”

Tuhin Sur, Freshman “We really learned to prioritize, and for me that meant prioritizing mathematical thinking over individual skills. During remote learning, we found that students did a good job learning mathematical thinking and problem solving. Along the way they learned the individual math skills, without even realizing it was happening.”

Kathy Zolla, Middle School Math Teacher “We learned to pivot and quickly develop a host of new tools—pop-up libraries, an overhauled and more robust Raether Library website, how-to videos that taught students how to access and search our databases through Destiny Discover, and new tools to place holds on books. And we read bedtime stories to students over Facebook! We always knew our libraries acted as community hubs and gathering places, but we learned how much of our purpose involves seeing students, teachers, and parents.

CA Librarians: Allison Peters Jensen, Lindsay Beatty, Allie Bronston, Mary Leyva, Becci Marzonie

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What we may keep…

I would like to keep my attitude, because I learned how to persevere. COVID isn’t going to be the only tough thing that comes at me in life, and I always want to remain optimistic—even in the middle of a pandemic.”

Gabriela Gonzales, Grade 8 “We would like to keep picnic lunch—we call it “Adirondack lunch.” It’s so relaxing and joyful—it feels like a family. And there are lots of celebrations we reinvented this year—like the Halloween Popsicle party and the Valentine ice cream sundae party—which we will keep, because they contributed to maintaining studentcentered love and joy in the Lower School.”

Angie Crabtree, Lower School Principal “I hope I keep this amplified feeling of loving school, my friends, and my community. Before COVID, I looked forward to the weekend as the best part of the week. Now, school feels like the best part of the week, because there is nothing to do on the weekend. Right now, the only thing I want to do is hug someone, just because I feel like it. For the rest of my life, I want to keep that sense of not taking hugs for granted.”

Lillian Ormes, Grade 5 “I used Zoom to send student music recitals to people all over the world. With a camera and a Zoom link, we can invite anyone to attend, and it was fun to see grandparents from all over the country. I remember saying, ‘Why haven’t we done this before?’”

Katy Hills, Director of Visual & Performing Arts “It seems like students have had fewer colds this year. I wouldn’t mind keeping the hand sanitizers!”

Matt Olmstead ’95, Middle School Core and English Teacher

“I want to keep the new friendships I made. Before COVID, I had my circle of friends, and I didn’t think I needed any more. But through COVID, I made connections with new people and discovered we had a lot in common— including the experience of living through a pandemic together.”

Charlie Rakowski, Grade 8 “We are never going to be an online school, but I could envision using Zoom in the future for a student who has to be absent from school for an extended period of time due to a serious injury. In an emergency, a student could be kept up to date, instead of missing a month of school.”

Dr. Jon Vogels, Upper School Principal “I loved the later start to Upper School.

Truly, it was life-changing. It made me calmer as a person and better to work with as a student.”

Brooke Taylor, Class of 2021 “Before COVID, I was busy every night. But during COVID, I spent more time with my family—eating dinner together, talking about what’s going on in my life, just the small stuff. I would like to keep that extra time with my family.”

Jared Goldstein, Class of 2021 “This year made me a better teacher, because I was challenged. I became innovative in ways I had not been before.

All the Fifth Grade teachers were very intentional in our curriculum. I’m proud of my team and my students, because, although we had to adapt this year, I feel confident that our Fifth Graders are ready to take the next step.”

Chelsea Grantham, Grade 5 Teacher “I loved the culture of hanging around

What We May Keep outside in the new Adirondack chairs.

We spend a lot of time in the classroom. I enjoyed being outside!”

Peter Carpenter, Class of 2021 “While we always like to have spectators for athletic events, we discovered the potential of Mustang Vision this year. By partnering with the NFHS Network, we can connect to people who don’t live in the area. Grandparents can watch their grandchildren compete in the Main Gym, parents who are traveling for business don’t have to miss a game, and we have newly enlarged sports footprint—around the country and the world.”

Bill Hall, Director of Athletics “I want to continue to unplug from my phone when I am with my friends. The person I am with right now is more important than any text! Not being able to see people face-to-face taught me that.”

Annabelle Swenson, Class of 2021 “I know that so many students across the world had their education put on hold for a year. When we were fully remote, being able to attend school online was a huge advantage. So I would keep the ability to shift quickly to a platform like Zoom, so that students and teachers don’t miss a beat.”

Ana Yáñez, Sophomore “Moving forward, I can see the potential to use Zoom routinely to make meetings with parents more convenient, to open the door for more parents to engage in Parent Association meetings, to include more people when we have speakers for Middle School, and to offer teachers the opportunity to bring experts from around the country and the world into the classroom.”

Bill Wolf-Tinsman, Middle School Principal “Even though I like being around people, I found a more introverted side to myself.

Before COVID, I would always choose to go out with friends. Now, I think I will

want to stay in as often as I go out.”

Ellie Wadsworth, Class of 2021 “When students come in for office hours during the day, they are pulled in multiple directions. I started doing my office hours over Zoom in the early evening. Sometimes they wanted to check in about the homework, sometimes they wanted to talk about the reading. It was a great way to stay connected, especially when students were remote.”

Liz Sarles, Upper School History Teacher “In-person birthdays are better, but using Zoom for my birthday this year meant that all my relatives could come—my aunt in Connecticut and my family in India and the UK. We can continue to use Zoom for all sorts of daily scenarios, like early morning or after-school meetings.”

Tuhin Sur, Freshman “We developed new projects that enabled students to work from home. The silver lining to this is that students are learning how to design and create from anywhere.

It became obvious to them that they can be empowered designers of their world anywhere, all the time. With a fairly small kit of tools, plus 3D modeling software, it means that students can engineer their designs whenever inspiration strikes, not just at school or in the Innovation Lab.” Chris Roads, Director of the Anderson Innovation Lab “I lead three clubs, and it’s always difficult to get everyone together in person. I would keep using Zoom for club meetings.

I think that would lead to people trying out more clubs, because they can attend if they are at home or out of town.”

Ryan Gaghen, Co-President, Class of 2021 “We will keep all the new library techniques we developed this year. But some day, we won’t mind getting rid of our masks and cleaning products!

‘I want to keep that sense of not taking hugs for granted.’

Lillian Ormes, Grade 5

Allison Peters Jensen, Director of Libraries

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Commencement Returns in 2021

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ne year ago, there were no pre-Commencement nervous jitters, no flowers, no processional, no audience, no choir, no speeches. In the middle of the pandemic, the Class of 2020 celebrated its Commencement with an enthusiastic, but socially distanced, Diploma Parade.

A year later, there were still some concessions to social distancing, with multiple stages and pods of families filling Firman Field; but the mood of the day was pure joy, as Seniors, parents, grandparents, friends, and faculty came together to celebrate the resilience of the Class of 2021.

Upper School Principal Dr. Jon Vogels delivered his final Commencement speech and had the honor of congratulating a graduate in the family, his son Henry Chesley-Vogels ’21.

Head of School Dr. Mike Davis paid tribute to Vogels, who is stepping down as Upper School Principal after 18 years, but who will continue at CA as an English teacher and Advisor to the Speech and Debate program.

Davis also had some final thoughts for the Class of 2021.

“You have proven that you are resilient and can muster the strength and creativity to come out better than when we started,” Davis said. “You will handle what life brings to you with the same kind of courage and kindness that have defined how so many of you interact in your daily lives. As you leave CA, know that you are prepared for anything.”

On behalf of the Class of 2021, Colby Lish ’21, the student-elected speaker, thanked CA. “As we go off into the world, remember that we are all leaders—though we will each present it in our own unique way. We have received the priceless gift of education,

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and now it is our duty to take charge of the world that we are stepping into with the intent to better it for the next generation.”

Until last year, sitting through Commencement was an experience students and families took for granted.

After a year when so many things seemed not quite normal, Commencement represented the return of beloved traditions for the Colorado Academy community—and the community celebrated with smiles, hugs, and a standing ovation for the Class of 2021. n

Class of 2021

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The Next Chapter for Dr. Jon Vogels

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n 2020, Upper School Principal Dr. Jon Vogels announced that he was stepping down to return to full-time teaching and to lead the launch of CA’s Speech and Debate program.

His successor, Max Delgado, will start at CA in summer 2021. In almost every way imaginable, the Colorado Academy Upper School that Vogels bequeaths to Delgado bears no resemblance to the school Vogels inherited 18 years ago.

When he took over the Upper School position, Vogels found himself working in a worn, outdated, and overcrowded Upper School building that had been built in the ‘60s.

Today, Vogels’ successor will find a stateof-the-art LEED-certified Upper School building which opened in 2013. It has multiple science laboratories, the 110-seat Knowles Lecture Hall, and the Anderson Innovation Lab, where students can design, engineer, and build whatever their imagination creates.

When he was hired, Vogels led an Upper School with 320 students—it’s now grown to 420. He had 32 full-time faculty members—and now, he works with more than 50 faculty.

The school Vogels inherited had one parttime counselor sitting in a dark office in the basement. Today, CA prioritizes student social and emotional health, boasting two full-time counselors. And they no longer sit in the basement.

Finally, alumni with good memories will recall one of the traditions in place when Vogels arrived. Twice a year during exam periods, all Upper School students would carry their desks over to the old gym to take exams. After watching small students struggle (and fail) to transport large desks,

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Vogels pointed out that the practice simply defied common sense. That was the end of what he calls “the great desk migration.”

But for all the changes that have occurred during Vogels’ tenure as principal, what is most important at CA’s Upper School has not changed at all—the feeling of connections within the community.

“Even as we have grown, we have not sacrificed the personal,” Vogels says. “I teach, I go to plays, I watch sports events, and it reaffirms what we do. We give students so many great opportunities to learn, perform, and achieve. We are fortunate to have the resources to support students and introduce them to situations where they can be successful. Then we stand back and let them flourish.”

Arriving at CA Former Head of School Chris Babbs did not have to twist Vogels’ arm during the hiring process nearly two decades ago. Vogels had grown up in Denver, knew about CA, and was ready to return to Colorado.

He had watched two nephews and a niece attend CA, and now he had the opportunity to bring his own young family to the school.

His son, Henry Chesley-Vogels, was in Employee Child Care when Vogels started the job. This year, Henry graduates with the Class of 2021, a homegrown example of what appealed to Vogels about CA. “In a Pre-K through Grade 12 school, you can walk across campus and see a First Grader, a Sixth Grader, and an Upper Schooler,” he says. “I loved the environment where you could watch the span of a child’s education, and you could work with families over a long period of time. It’s also wonderful to see your own children grow up in that kind of community.”

Building a new Upper School Perhaps one of the most important days during Vogels’ tenure in the Upper School came in January of 2013, when the ribbon was cut and Upper Schoolers flooded into the new building, after just seven months of fundraising and seven months of construction. Architects had encouraged Vogels and other school administrators to be “aspirational” in this new building, with an eye on letting the space help teachers take their practice to a new level.

“It was one of the most exciting things I got to do as principal,” Vogels says. “The decision-making was great fun, and we knew this building could transform Upper School programs at CA.” There were no models for Vogels to follow.

He was designing a building for programs that did not exist yet. He remembers how the idea of pulling lockers away from the walls and placing them in the center of the hall felt “revolutionary.” He envisioned Knowles Lecture Hall as a “great space,” although he admits that, at the time, seeing how the space for the now-successful Innovation Lab would be used was “challenging.”

He persuaded teachers to give up their exclusive classrooms and share an office alongside teachers from different disciplines, where they could more easily exchange ideas. The result? CA has gone from few interdisciplinary courses to more than a dozen. He planned for rotating art displays, floor-to-ceiling white boards in math labs, classrooms with modular furniture to accommodate dynamic teaching styles and small groups, student lounges for each grade, and 22 skylights to bring natural light into both floors of the building.

Dr. Jon Vogels

Dr. Jon Vogels

“I still love the fact that we brought natural light into the building,” he says. “It was a huge win.”

Writing the next chapter In fall 2021, Vogels will have a rare opportunity in any teacher’s career. He will work with students in a second new building. When the newly-built Leach Center for the Performing Arts opens, he will be the faculty advisor for the nascent CA Speech and Debate program, spending many of his Saturdays traveling to tournaments, in addition to teaching a full load of classes. CA has considered starting a Speech and Debate Club for as long as Vogels has been at the school. Now, he is the right man, at the right time, and in the right place—a wonderful new performing

arts center with a space dedicated to speech and debate.

“I think it’s so important for students to learn public speaking skills,” he says. “No matter what field students go into, you need to be able to think on your feet, know about current events, and speak extemporaneously. Speech and debate builds confidence, language skills, and the competition is fun.”

Jon’s leadership, the Upper School has evolved in significant ways, beginning new programs and initiatives that have enhanced CA’s reputation on a national level.”

While Vogels is pleased to have a new opportunity at CA, the school is equally delighted that he is staying.

Vogels looks back with pride at his accomplishments—the commitment to caring for students’ social and emotional health, the strong group of faculty he assembled through the years who “put their heart and soul into what they are doing,” and the ways that CA has grown “without sacrificing what makes an independent school special.”

“I am so thankful to work with Jon and so pleased that he will continue teaching at CA,” says Head of School Dr. Mike Davis. “Jon always puts students first, and he is a man of deep integrity. His faculty trust him. Under

He acknowledges what he will miss— “working with an incredible administrative team”—but this principal who also loves to teach literature is ready to write the next chapter in his personal story. n

Summer 2021

13

Boys Soccer Caps Undefeated Season with State Championship

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occer in spring—no problem for the Colorado Academy Boys Soccer Team! The May Marvel Mustangs defeated the Frontier Academy Wolverines to end a perfect season (14-0) with the 3A State Championship.

Sure, CHSAA usually schedules Boys Soccer during the fall, but the CA team was not fazed by a restructuring of seasons during this pandemic year. The boys gave an unparalleled demonstration of CA resilience through full regulation play, plus two overtime periods, on a day when temperatures hit the mid-eighties.

Co-Captain Jared Goldstein was one of four Seniors (Goldstein, Peter Carpenter, Luke Wharton, and Nick Maffei) who had traveled to the State Championship game as Freshmen, only to be disappointed. “This was four years in the making,” Goldstein says. “I knew this was the last real soccer game I would play—both for CA and competitively—so that was the motivation for me to get it done.”

“From the beginning of the school year, this team—led by a group of 13 Seniors—was hungry for this moment,” adds Coach Gabe Bernstein. “They have trained so hard—in areas like strength and conditioning, fitness, and ball work—and the preparation these players did laid the foundation for their ability to play through two overtimes and win.”

Getting it done Playing at Weidner Stadium in Colorado Springs, home of the Switchbacks, the Number 1 seed Mustangs played their tightly controlled game with patient possessions from the start. The strategy worked, as Junior Nico Watters passed to Co-Captain Nick Maffei, who put the Mustangs on the scoreboard 13 minutes into the first period.

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But the Wolverines, who came into the game as an underdog 14th seed, proved to be scrappy and persistent on both offense and defense. They had no shots on goal in the first half, but they came out more aggressively in the second half, and at 17 minutes, they scored, tying the game at 1-1.

The tie held up through regulation play, sending the game into two overtime periods, with each team seeking the “golden goal.”

“At the end of regulation, we just reminded the team of how capable they have been throughout the entire season during moments like this,” Bernstein says. “And by the end of the first overtime period, we had a more tactical conversation about where we saw cracks in Frontier’s defense, which allowed our attack to find more success. A lot of credit should go to my assistants for modeling composure for these players in a highly charged situation.”

Bringing it home At the start of the second overtime period, the NFHS announcer was predicting that

the game was destined to go to penalty kicks. But in a no-nonsense “we are ready to get this over” move, Maffei took a well-placed pass from Behrhorst and again found the back of the net. This time it was for gold.

“Grady beat his guy, found me, and set that up so nicely,” Maffei says. “All the credit goes to him.”

“Grady could have taken the shot,” Bernstein adds. “But the unselfishness of his pass, so Nick would have an easier shot, represents the approach of this team all season long and made me so proud.”

The ball had barely hit the net before the team piled onto Maffei and began the celebration of CA’s fifth Boys Soccer State Championship, triumphantly carrying the trophy to celebrate with their fans.

“What a great thing for our community,” says Director of Athletics Bill Hall. “Congrats to Gabe and the boys. They were rewarded for hard work going back more than a year.

Winning never gets old.” n

State Soccer Champs X

STATE SOCCER CHAMPS!

Nick Maffei makes his move.

Grady Behrhorst drives past the defense.

Summer 2021

15

Lower School Students Turn into Playground Designers

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f children could design their dream playground, what would it look like?

At Colorado Academy, we are about to find out!

Last fall, both of the Lower School playgrounds—the Primary play structure used by Kindergarten and First Grade and the Intermediate play structure for Second through Fifth Grades—were removed after more than 20 years of daily use by hundreds of Lower School students.

“The old playgrounds were worn and had outlived their era,” says Lower School Principal Angie Crabtree. “Today, we know so much more now about the developmental needs of students when they play, so we knew we could really add value to recess with new playgrounds.”

By February, planning for the new playgrounds was well on its way, thanks to Crabtree and CA students. And when they debut in August 2021, the new play areas will also provide an opportunity to honor the life and memory of beloved Kindergarten Teacher Leslie Webster.

“Leslie had a ‘wonder window’ right next to her desk,” remembers Upper School Counselor Kate O’Donnell, one of Leslie’s colleagues and friends. “She would encourage students to pick up binoculars, look outside, and wonder out loud at what they saw. She would love having new playgrounds where students could explore their world.”

Consulting with the experts Of course, Crabtree, who serves on recess duty twice a week, had some of her own playground design ideas. But she knew

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there were far more expert consultants who should sit at the table for the planning—the Lower School students.

So she sent out a survey to all students, asking them what kind of experiences and equipment the playgrounds should offer. What were students’ favorite activities on playground equipment?

Swinging, sliding, crawling, climbing, jumping, or imaginative play? What kind of equipment did they prefer? Straight, curvy, spiral, or double slides? Net or rock wall climbers? Monkey bars, swinging rings, log steppers?

And then she asked the students to go a step further and design their ideal playgrounds. Ask, and you shall receive— some of the delightful student designs look remarkably like the final professional playground designs.

Crabtree also met informally with students, consulted with the Lower School Student Council, and, with preliminary professional designs in hand, met with every single Lower School class to gather feedback before finalizing the order.

“This experience so empowered the students,” she says. “This space is important to them, because it’s a chance to develop physically, but also to develop socially and emotionally, as they spend time with their friends in all three sections of each grade level.”

Remembering Mrs. Webster The new playgrounds will include marvelous new play structures, including slides, climbing areas, and, Crabtree says, “lots of monkey bars.”

There will also be a lovely gathering

Leslie Webster

place between the two playgrounds, with musical flowers that can be played like a xylophone and boulders for climbing.

At that spot, there will be a bench with a plaque honoring Leslie Webster, who touched so many lives at CA as a teacher, a colleague, and as a parent.

“Recess was one of Leslie’s favorite times,” Crabtree says. “That’s when you would hear her great laughter. She loved to watch students come up with ideas for ways to play, and she always came inside with wonderful stories from recess.”

“Leslie was a joyful person who inspired joy in others,” says O’Donnell. “And to see students on the new playground, building community, making friends, and learning new skills would mean the world to her.”

Through the generosity of a group of current and former families, alumni, and current students, CA raised all of the funds needed to replace the playgrounds.

We are grateful for the support of the CA community! n

Lower School Playground

Students designed playgrounds with monkey bars...

...a rope ladder, rock wall, hanging rings...

...a curvy slide, and a suspension bridge.

Rendering of Primary play structure

Summer 2021

17

Meet the New Upper School Principal

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ax Delgado will be the new Principal of Colorado Academy’s Upper School, beginning with the 2021-2022 school year.

He comes to CA from Saint Paul Academy and Summit School in Saint Paul, Minn., where he is the Upper School Principal.

He was also an administrator at the Blake School in Minneapolis and The College Preparatory School in Oakland, Calif. He holds an MFA degree from the California College of the Arts and a BA from Fordham University. We talked to Max in January about the circuitous journey that led him to his career in education.

Welcome to the Colorado Academy Upper School! What about Colorado appealed to you and made it worth relocating your family from Minnesota?

To be honest, it was Colorado Academy that attracted me even more than the state. I have worked at enough excellent independent schools to have seen some very strong programs. But every time I left a school, I found that I had to leave behind a program that was wonderful.

When I moved to a new school, I would find another program that I really liked, but then I would have to leave it behind when I moved on. When I looked at CA, the school had every quality program I had seen throughout my career! It is really exciting to see it all in one institution.

Specifically, what impressed you about CA? It was very clear to me that both the students and faculty at CA take the notion of intellectual curiosity to heart. You engage in big ideas at CA! But everyone I spoke with also emphasized that CA is a place where kindness is expected.

CA is clearly a school where students can find and dive into a specialized passion,

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but they also are asked to explore a broad spectrum of interests. The Upper School Innovation Lab where students can design and build is so impressive. And I really like the programs I saw, like Interim and the experiential education programs, that emphasize community service and outdoor education.

You interviewed for this new position in the middle of a pandemic. Was that strange?

It’s definitely a different process from what it would have been pre-COVID. I interviewed over Zoom, but I met all the same people I would have met if I had interviewed in person and engaged in the same conversations. My family agreed that everything that we were learning about the position was affirming. We are taking a leap of faith, but it just felt right to us. And we’re excited to be moving back to the West. Of course, I didn’t get the visceral experience of seeing the campus.

Wait a minute! You mean you’ve never seen the CA campus?

I haven’t! I considered flying out for a personal interview, but I didn’t want to have to quarantine and miss being on campus at my current position, so I’ve never been to the CA campus. I’ve seen pictures on the website, of course, and I hear it’s beautiful, so I’m really looking forward to being there in person. Is it true that the sun shines a lot in Colorado?

Were you determined to work in education as far back as your undergraduate years?

I actually majored in “Modern Age Studies” at Fordham, which was very stimulating intellectually, but as I got closer to graduation, I was biting my nails about what would come next! I had spent a college summer on the West Coast working at a camp with kids, and I fell in love with

California and working with young people.

When I graduated, I moved to California and served as an AmeriCorps volunteer, and I also led volunteer crews for Habitat for Humanity. I discovered that I really enjoyed the teenage crews that came to volunteer— they were funny and engaging. One of my friends suggested that if I enjoyed working with young people, perhaps I should consider becoming a therapist.

I got a job working in an adolescent drug treatment center and discovered It was fascinating to work with young people who were really at a pivotal moment in their lives. But always, in the back of my mind, I was thinking about going into teaching.

In your next position, you transitioned into education, but not as a teacher. How did that happen?

Yes, I did things backwards! I can still remember carrying my printed resume around to every high school in Oakland in 2000 with no takers. One day, Dr. Sharona Barzilay, the Assistant Head of The College Preparatory School, which is a private high school in Oakland, called me. She said, “I know you want to be an English teacher, but actually, I think you are an administrator.” That’s how I ended up as a 24-year-old Associate Dean of Students.

I loved it more than I thought I would, and Sharona also made sure I had the opportunity to get into the classroom to co-teach some classes. I still feel that I owe my entire career to Dr. Barzilay.

You are moving from one Principal position to another.

What about being a principal appeals to you so much?

There are always new challenges. It’s so different, moment to moment, day to day. The duties of a principal call upon my combined interests in being a therapist and an educator. I really enjoy entangling

Max Delgado

In March 2021, new Upper School Principal Max Delgado finally got his first chance to visit the CA campus and the Upper School.

big problems that have emotion tied to them. At the same time, I find it interesting to figure out the little stuff—like do we have the right doorknobs on our classroom doors? I am also excited to join the English Department at CA, teaching whatever class that will help out.

Favorite vacation?

I like going back to Mexico. My mother was an American foreign exchange student when she met my father in Mexico. He had grown up in a small town in Oaxaca.

We lived in Mexico City when I was a kid,

and I still have many family members in Mexico City and Oaxaca. My first language was Spanish, and I am a heritage speaker, so when I go back, it takes a couple days for my brain to kick in. My aunties like to correct me on my grammar.

collection has now grown to something like 6-7,000 comic books.

Favorite music?

Favorite type of book?

Favorite holiday?

I like non-fiction and comic books. There are many comic books published in Mexico City, and when I was a child, my aunt would take me to a publishing house, and I was fascinated by the comic book artists.

I started collecting comic books, and my

Thanksgiving, because I like to be around my family.

I am a Gen Xer, so the ‘90s is where my heart is at.

Favorite way to relax?

I like jogging and doing old-fashioned jigsaw puzzles. n

Summer 2021

19

‘We Felt Like VIPs’

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bout 10 minutes into the second evening Portfolio Show of the year, Director of Visual & Performing Arts Katy Hills turned to a colleague with a question:

“Do you think we should do this every year?”

If it were up to the students who attended the Friday night showing of “Off the Grid,” the answer for the future would be an enthusiastic, “Yes!” “At night, it felt like a professional art gallery,” says Senior Rebecca Kerr. “Having parents come to their own show gave us more personal time to talk with them.”

The Friday night show was born of necessity and inclusion. At the beginning of the spring Portfolio Show season, it was clear that COVID-19 safety policies might allow the usual live lunch-hour shows but would reduce the number of people who could attend during a school day. To make sure parents would still have a chance to see their students’ art, the teachers— Stashia

From Left: Aaron Rice, Andy Guevara, Rebecca Kerr, Peter Carpenter, Charlie Westfall

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Taylor, Karen Donald, and Alecia Maher— added an evening show just for parents of the students in each Portfolio group.

“I am incredibly thankful for the CA teachers, staff, and administration for their creative problem-solving and generosity,” says Trish Cooper, mother of Senior Andy Guevara. “Our small gathering of student artists, dedicated teachers, and proud parents in the stunning evening glow of the Ponzio Center was a perfectly intimate and memorable affair, pandemic notwithstanding.”

“We are always amazed at the incredible talent of CA students,” adds Sara Carpenter, mother of Peter Carpenter. “We have been to several Portfolio Shows over the years and very much enjoy the opportunity to celebrate the students who put so much effort into their artwork. This year’s evening event was unique, because the darkness outside really highlighted the lighting on the art. We felt like VIPs having a private showing.”

Five artists, five styles The guests at the Portfolio Show were treated to a variety of pieces created by five Seniors, described by the artists in their own statements. n

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P eter Carpenter “sought to showcase the beauty of nature through non-traditional realist landscapes.”

C harlie Westfall used photography to “represent the idea of nature being powerful as well as beautiful.”

A aron Rice experimented with multiple ways to produce light in photography in order “to contrast the natural and the artificial.”

R ebecca Kerr tried long exposure photography to focus on “the idea of light and the painting effect I can create with it.”

A ndy Guevara created characters—some life size—that represented “the friends that helped me realize my own voice throughout quarantine.”

Portfolio Show

A show of thankfulness and pride There was considerable pride to go around at the Portfolio show. Teachers and parents were proud of the student work, but students were no less proud of themselves for overcoming obstacles to get to this night.

“At one point, I didn’t think there would be a live show, so I figured I had better get ready to take pictures of my work for a virtual show,” says Peter Carpenter. “I’m so thankful we could have it in person, because it makes a huge difference in the culture of the show.”

For Rice, who used a DSLR camera on a tripod with a very long shutter speed to create distinctive photos, the Portfolio Show was the culmination of multiple years of work. “It’s important to have a goal to work toward, and it’s a great learning process,” he says. “Ms. Donald has high expectations, she treats you like a professional artist, and she has faith in how our art will turn out.”

Kerr’s original plan—to feature a series of black and white candid photos taken on the street—had to be scrapped because of COVID-19. People weren’t going out, and neither was she. Her new

approach represented a compromise with COVID-19. Using long exposure, half of her photos were taken in the parking garage of the building where she lives.

She discovered that “even in such a boring place, with lights, you can create colors and dimensions. The result were pictures that looked like paintings.”

“I never thought I was the kind of artist who could use a paint brush,” says Kerr.

“But I proved to myself that, with a different outlet, I can be artistic and push myself outside my limits. As for the Portfolio Show, I didn’t want this night to end.” n

Summer 2021

21

Creating ‘Middle School Meetup’

C

OVID-19 has disrupted daily life, long-term plans, and social interactions around the world, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise when the students in Liz Estacio’s Seventh Grade Critical and Creative Thinking course started talking about how they felt disconnected from friends and classmates. During periods when Colorado Academy was on 100 percent remote learning, they saw each other only on Zoom. When CA transitioned to a hybrid model, students saw only half their class in person.

“During COVID, people have been having a hard time meeting new people,” says Seventh Grader Willa Wang. “You don’t see half your grade, so it felt like it was important to have a place where CA Middle School students could meet up and chat.”

Estacio turned a pandemic problem into a learning exercise by challenging her students to use the skills they were practicing in their class. Critical and Creative Thinking teaches and practices Colorado Academy’s 6 Cs: character, collaboration, creativity, communication, critical thinking, and cultural competence, by engaging students in a series of challenges. In addition to the 6 Cs, the course includes these topics:

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I nnovator’s mindset

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D ebate skills

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D esign-thinking process and protocols

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P erformance tasks

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S ocial Justice

“The students identified the problem, talked about it, and then initiated a Design Thinking project to address the issue,” says Estacio. “I was super excited to watch them, because they handled this so maturely.

They saw that they could do something to make a difference, and you could tell they felt so empowered.”

‘They didn’t know what they could do’ The first step the Seventh Grade students took was to brainstorm and design a peer-to-peer survey of the social and emotional health of students in the Middle School. They fine-tuned the survey until they had narrowed it down to just a few questions, some of which required a longer written answer: n

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H ow connected do you feel to your classmates this year?

H ow are you connecting with people from our school?

H ow has online school impacted your social life?

They also polled students on what kind of clubs they might be interested in: Chess Club, Book Club, Movie Club, Arts and

Crafts, Foodies/Cooking Club, Among Us Club, Authors Club, Duo Lingo League.

“When the results of the survey came in, the students analyzed and debated the data,” Estacio says. “They had to decide what were the most important needs, and what they could do about them.”

The students concluded that there were two needs: Middle School students should be able to join a club virtually, and they should be able to talk with each other in a social way about their feelings outside of the confines of a Zoom class meeting.

Estacio suggested to the students that one way to meet those needs would be through a website.

“Their reaction was, ‘We can’t do a website!’”

Estacio says, laughing. “They didn’t know what they could do.”

‘I didn’t know how good it could look’ What followed for the students was a process of intense discovery, summed up candidly by Willa: “We didn’t exactly know what we were doing.” But quickly, the students divided the labor based on their interests and skills.

Seventh Grader William Arney took over the technical development, working with a team of students he assembled. They decided to build the site on Google Sites. “I

Middle School Meetup

had never used Google Sites,” William says. “I didn’t know how good it could look.”

William’s team built a page with visuals and links to a variety of clubs, which the class chose based on the survey results. From the site, students could sign up to join and meet with fellow students in the Movies Club, the Foodies Club, the Chess Club, the Sports page, and a club where students interact with other students who want to play the popular “Among Us” online game.

They also created the GSA Club, the Gender Sexuality Alliance, to support diversity among students and the “Good News Page,” to collect positive news from around the world.

Willa took over the design of the social interaction page of the site. “I am the worst at technology!” she says. “I was surprised that I could learn to navigate the technology to build the site.” The social interaction page offers students

the opportunity to give each other advice about how to handle issues presented by COVID-19 safety protocols and to express gratitude for positive experiences this year. Willa ensured that it is moderated in real time by Estacio, who approves every message before it is posted.

After much debate, Estacio’s class named their site, “Middle School Meetup.”

‘It’s created a feeling of hope’ To support the students and ensure the site would look professional, Estacio brought in Jennie Kies, who is a Computer Science and Engineering teacher as well as a tech specialist. She oversaw security, ensuring that only students with CA email credentials could get access to the site. She was impressed by what the students had achieved. “My first reaction was, ‘Yay, awesome!’” she says.

“It’s a thoughtful site, it’s inclusive, and it

offers a way to reach out and communicate.”

The students presented their website to the rest of the Middle School at a January Town Hall, launching a pandemic silver lining story. Estacio says that her class would never have tackled this project if students had not been motivated by COVID-19. Born out of adversity, “Middle School Meetup” proved to teach a broad range of lessons.

“It feels like I accomplished something,” William says. “It’s created a feeling of hope that people will have resources to connect with each other,” adds Willa.

“This project proved to be a way for students to take control during the pandemic—a time that could have felt chaotic to them,” Estacio says. “To me, that’s the best part of it. We took a bad situation, and we made it into a learning moment that students can take with them for the rest of their lives.” n

Summer 2021

23

The Tale of Suzanne Kolsun Jackson

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fter 39 years of teaching at CA, Suzanne Kolsun Jackson (KJ to her friends) still has plenty to say and no shortage of opinions. But when you try to get her to talk about herself, she will do everything she can to change the subject.

Instead, she would prefer to talk about her former students: Eli Saslow ’00, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer with the Washington Post, Maeve Moynihan ‘13, who received her Master of Science degree from the University of Oxford and is now researching migration at the University of Warwick, or Adam Bry ’04, the Co-Founder and CEO of Skydio, a Silicon Valley company which produces one of the hottest drones on the market. “I couldn’t give Adam enough math,” she remembers, laughing. “We had math problems stretched up and down the hallway!”

And if you can steer the conversation away from the hundreds of successful alumni who have learned in her classroom, she would like to talk about the devotion of CA parents, who, she says, are always willing to help out when they see a need.

And don’t get her started on fellow Fourth Grade teachers, Jeff Brown and Chris Hertig. “We worked together every single day as a team,” she says. “CA gave us the freedom to develop new curriculum while mentoring each other. Leaving those two guys was so hard for me.” She also has many kind words to say about the leadership of Lower School Principal Angie Crabtree: “She is so respected for her civility, strength, and graciousness.”

And even as you attempt to wrest control of the conversation at this point, there is a good chance that KJ may have seen the news of the day and yes, she has a few thoughts she would like to discuss with you about current events.

That is Suzanne Kolsun Jackson—as

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Colorado Academy Journal

energetic, sharp-witted, and fierce as the day in 1981 she first interviewed with then Dean of Students Chris Babbs. “Why should I hire you?” Babbs asked the young applicant.

“I said, ‘Well, if you don’t, you would be making a huge mistake,’” KJ recalls. “I meant it. But I wasn’t being disrespectful.

I just wanted him to know that I loved the profession of teaching, so what else could I say?”

Adventuring from England to tribal lands In today’s era of professional college counseling, it’s hard to image KJ as a high school senior, standing on her tiptoes at the library to reach a thick book listing all British universities, and from that book picking the University of Manchester as her first-choice college. She applied and was accepted via snail mail. But why England?

“I already had spent my lifetime loving English and American literature,” she says.

“I had this 18-year-old dream that said, ‘You will go to college in England.’”

She has also had a sense of adventure that has woven its way throughout her life’s journey. She is the granddaughter of Ellis Island immigrants and the child of first-generation parents. “It was a loving Italian-Czech family,” she says. “Knowing I was beloved gave me confidence to handle whatever was thrown at me.” She followed her undergraduate years with post-graduate primary teacher training at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

And true to her adventuring spirit, after training in London, she taught Oglala Lakota Native American children at the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

“It was absolutely phenomenal,” she says.

“We lived on the reservation, earned $50 a month, and we loved the kids. I had found my calling to be an educator.”

After earning an MAT degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, she taught at an independent school in Connecticut, but she longed to return to “the great American West.” Fortunately for CA, Chris Babbs took her advice at her interview and hired her on the spot.

Why stay at CA? What has kept KJ at CA for the past 39 years? In large part, it would be the perfect match of this teacher and the Fourth Grade.

“It’s just a magical year to teach,” she says.

“The students love school, they love their teacher, they are friends with each other, they want to work hard and do good work.”

Even as KJ watched CA double in size, she stayed because the school “did not lose sight of its fundamental mission.”

“We cared about the whole child,” she says. “We were always asking, ‘What is the best way to teach math, to teach reading, writing,’ and we were always getting better at it. And we have always worked on developing empathy and courtesy in students, long before it became the focus it is today in the world of education.”

She also stayed because she loved the CA community and campus, the place she calls “the 100-acre wood—pastoral, bucolic, with a family-like feeling.” For 10 years, she lived on campus with her family in faculty housing on the North Road, providing her two girls a “charmed childhood.”

“If parents couldn’t make it on time to pick up their kids,” she remembers, “they would just say, ‘Go on down to KJ’s house.’” Today, she credits her daughters’ professional success to the first-class education that both received as CA “lifers.”

Finally, KJ attributes her longevity at CA to the annual professional development opportunities she received. These trainings and experiences in reading, writing,

Retirements

Suzanne Kolsun Jackson

mathematics, and technology took her around the world, and include a Fulbright year teaching in Scotland, trips to attend reading and literature conferences, and membership in the Beatrix Potter Society.

And it was with Beatrix Potter that she said farewell to CA.

The tale of KJ On her final day in the classroom, KJ taught a lesson based on The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, an author she believes “gives students a role model from the world of literature.” In her classroom sat Fourth Grader Eleanor Jones, 35 years after her father, David Jones ’95, had also been KJ’s student.

“My family will forever get a kick out of

this legacy,” says Jones. “There are many CA families with stories like this. It is not a small thing, and it’s special. The close community and the steady soul of CA is unwavering. This must be due, in some substantial measure, to the dedication of long-tenured and beloved members of the faculty like KJ.” “I love watching KJ in the classroom, because she represents everything special about CA,” adds Head of School Dr. Mike Davis. “She is nurturing, supportive, and child-centered. Her classroom is vibrant with deep learning. She is passionate about justice, and she is funny. Like bendover laughing funny. We need more KJs in this world.”

On that final day, KJ taught with the same enthusiasm as she did on her first day, still inspired by the philosophy she learned at age 23 studying in London: “Children will teach you far more than you can ever hope to teach them,” she says. “I kept this at the center of my teaching for my entire career. You may well have a lockstep lesson plan in place, but students come in filled with wonder, excitement, and ideas, and it is such great fun to listen to them with respect and with lots of humor.”

As students, colleagues, and CA said farewell to KJ, she said “good-bye” with a promise.

“I hope to come back and maybe just sit in the library,” she says. “Don’t worry…I haven’t disappeared.” n

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Bill Witt, the ‘Perfect’ Match

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wenty years ago, Lower School Technology Coordinator Bill Witt was shocked when he applied for a position at Colorado Academy and was told he was not even going to get an interview.

Undaunted by initial rejection, he contacted CA to ask why he had not moved ahead in the interview process. “They said, ‘Your credentials don’t match,’” he recalls. “I thought, ‘That’s crazy! This job is perfect for me!’”

So he wrote letters to everyone he could find at the school, including then Head of School Chris Babbs. Until a chance conversation two years ago, he never knew exactly what happened next: “I learned by accident that one day Chris Babbs walked out of his office, and he said, ‘You know, maybe we ought to interview this guy.’”

Babbs must have agreed that Witt was a “perfect” match for the job, because he hired him, starting with the 2002-2003 school year.

Now, after 19 years at CA teaching Lower School students to love all sorts of technology—from 3D printers to coding— as well as coaching both Boys and Girls Golf, Witt is ready to retire.

“I’m happiest when the lab is busy all day, including during lunch,” he laughs. “When I only have enough time to run to the Campus Center, grab a sandwich, and bring it back, because the lab is filled with kids—I love that.”

‘The vision changed’ In 2002, Witt arrived to find a Lower School Computer Lab that was set up with rows of carrels, separated by dividers, sporting those translucent, candy-colored, but bulky early iMacs. Students were given 45 minutes a week in the lab, with a focus on learning to keyboard, the basics of editing documents, and turtle Logo programming.

In characteristically low-key style, he sums up what happened next: “The vision changed over time.”

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Bill Witt

The desktops gave way to mobile laptops and iPads. Witt introduced 3D printing and robotics. The dividers between computers were eliminated, and the Lab became more open. Witt adjusted his curriculum to support the material teachers were covering in the classroom. In short, he focused more on projects than on programs.

“We don’t say, you will learn this, this, and this software program,” he says. “If a student comes in now, I say, ‘What do you and your teacher want to accomplish?’

And then we figure out what is the appropriate program—the best tool—to accomplish the goal of the project. So it’s much more individualized.”

“Students love Mr. Witt and are dazzled when they have an opportunity to learn a new app, create code with him, or design an object from their imagination on the 3D printer,” says Lower School Principal Angie Crabtree. “He does so many ‘behind

the scenes’ tasks to help the Lower School operate every day, and he is always kind and gracious about offering his expertise.”

‘The evolution of teaching technology’ Witt coached Ice Hockey and also served as an assistant coach to the Girls Golf Team, which won the State Championship for three straight years—2017, 2018, 2019— and the Boys Golf Team, which won the State Championship during the pandemic in fall 2020.

There might be more time for golf in Witt’s future, and he’s also looking forward to travel that’s been postponed during the pandemic. But he will miss the “camaraderie with teachers and staff at CA” and the part of his career that makes him proudest: “I’m proud of the evolution of teaching technology—both what we taught and how students learn.” n

Retirements

Joyce Li’s Final Note

S

ometimes, when people say they are leaving their position to “spend more time with their family,” they really mean it.

That is the case for Piano Instructor Joyce Li. Her daughter has moved back to Colorado from the San Francisco Bay Area, and Joyce has become a grandmother for the first time.

The opportunity to “learn to become a grandparent,” as she puts it, proved to be too good to pass up.

“It’s a new chapter in my life,” she says. “It’s exciting, but I am also nervous, because it’s the unknown.”

From the concert stage to the classroom Li spent 22 years at Colorado Academy, teaching piano to students young and old. She arrived in 1999, with an extensive conservatory background in the study of piano. At one point, she believed her destiny was to become a concert artist. Instead, she says, “I became a very good teacher.”

What appealed to her about the CA position was the opportunity to teach on a regular school schedule. She had two small children, so she could essentially work on her children’s schedule and be home with them when they were not in school.

“Most piano teachers can only teach lessons before and after school,” she says.

“It’s a great amenity for teachers and for students to be able to have lessons during school hours.”

In those early years, Li taught students in a tiny studio in the basement of what is now the Ponzio Arts Center. She only had enough room for an upright piano. With the opening of the Schotters Music Center in 2005, she moved into a studio large enough for two grand pianos, a space, she says, that would be “the envy of a college professor.”

Joyce Li

Saying good-bye Throughout the years, Li has taught students of all ages, from the very small ones to the mature Upper Schoolers. She has shared her passion for piano with students who study piano for different reasons—those who play to become wellrounded students who pursue excellence in academics, arts, and athletics, and those who are serious students of piano and continue playing after they leave CA. She encourages students to enter piano competitions and has had students who have played in various music festivals and with the Colorado Symphony. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, she says her students have not slowed their participation in competitions.

“Competition is not for everyone,” she says.

“But for students who want to compete, it’s good to set a goal and push yourself to try to be the best you can be.”

Ask her what she will miss after she leaves CA, and her first reaction is to laugh.

“Truthfully, I will miss pre-pandemic lunch!” she says. “It’s home cooking, and there is an amazing salad bar, where someone has cut up all the vegetables for you! I’m grateful that someone makes lunch for you, and you don’t have to worry about it.”

She says she will also miss her supportive team of colleagues who “offered their professional guidance through so many years.”

Finally, she will miss talking to her youngest students and watching the most accomplished excel. “I think of them all as my children,” she says. “It’s going to be hard to say good-bye.” n

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CA Community Comes Together for All-Day Lovefest

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hen the CA community comes together, there’s no stopping what can be achieved! This year’s Lovefest to raise funds for financial aid gave students, parents, grandparents, and alumni and their parents a chance to celebrate together, even in a year where an in-person event could not be held.

The pandemic postponed the 2020 Lovefest concert event but not the commitment from the amazing Lovefest committee, which created a full day of fun and celebration on April 22, 2021. We are grateful to Lovefest chairs Ann Benson Reidy ‘88 and Kevin Reidy for recognizing the high interest of our CA families to gather and rally for a good cause.

Caption to come...

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A new addition to CA’s annual spring event was the chance to connect with our students. Cookies welcomed each student as they arrived to a campus ornamented by

special rocks, capturing expressions of love and appreciation for all things CA. Fifth Graders contributed their artistic talents to decorating the rocks.

The evening of April 22 brought performances by Denver’s own Nathaniel Rateliff and reunited us with Rebecca Popara, Class of 2016, as she and her father Jovo shared their appreciation of CA’s financial aid. Lovefest Benefactors and Friends set us up for success, as pre-event support saw more than 150 families sharing their love. Their engagement paved the way for others to join the event for free. An online silent auction offered one-of-a-kind experiences with teachers, while the live auction gave donors a chance for unforgettable fun. Special thanks to our event host and auctioneer, Tom Kimball ’89. Lovefest raised more than $360,000 for financial aid, and it was a night to get together and celebrate CA. Thank you to everyone for making the event such a success! n

Lovefest

Head of School Dr. Mike Davis welcomed the guests watching from home.

Ann Benson Reidy ’88 and Kevin Reidy chaired Lovefest.

Some of CA’s Pre-K students made signs to show their love for CA.

Fifth Grader Tula Stettner joined her class in decorating rocks that were placed around campus to spread joy.

Sixth Grader Henry Paton was grateful for the cookie he received when he arrived at school on April 22.

Singer and songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff presented three songs.

Lovefest chair Kevin Reidy and event host and auctioneer Tom Kimball ’89

Fifth Grader Iker Jimenez encouraged kindness with his rock painting.

Summer 2021

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A Match Made in Free Period

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t was her Sophomore year of high school. Sarah Brill ‘02 was walking across the Colorado Academy campus, heading to the cafeteria. That’s when she saw him, the new Eighth Grader everyone seemed to be talking about: Marcus King-Stockton ’04.

“I yelled to him and said, ‘My brother talks about you all the time,’” says Brill, referring to Dan Brill ’05. “He thought I was so weird.”

King-Stockton remembers their first meeting a little differently, as having happened behind the gymnasium, with Dan Brill introducing them.

Whatever the case, when the aspiring actress met the soon-to-be professional basketball player, they had no idea how their futures would become entwined.

Here’s their story.

The stars finally align After their first meeting—wherever it was— Brill and King-Stockton’s paths kept crossing.

She saw him on the court when she sang the National Anthem at CA basketball games.

When her brother hosted Basketball Team sleepovers at their house, King-Stockton was there. When they were both in Upper School, they had the same free period. They spent much of the time together, talking and bonding over music interests and, Brill says, “just laughing a lot together.”

They both ended up going to the University of Colorado Boulder—she, a Spanish and pre-med major involved in choir and theater, and he, a poli-sci major and starter on the Buffs basketball team.

They saw each other on campus while walking to class and on the basketball court when Brill sang the National Anthem before games. She remembers them once passing one another in the arena tunnel, she on her way out after singing, and he on his way in to play.

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“We were friends, but nothing aligned for us to be together as more than that,” Brill says.

Fast forward about five years, through Brill’s acting career in Los Angeles and King-Stockton’s professional basketball career around the world. He was back in Denver, playing for the Colorado Kings and planning his next professional move.

She was considering a career shift into counseling and therapy and contemplating a move back to Denver for grad school.

They started chatting on Facebook a lot, and one day, he asked if he could call her on the phone.

“We started talking and never stopped,” Brill says. After a few months of a long-distance relationship, Brill chose the University of Denver for her master’s degree and moved back to the Mile High City. The two have been together ever since.

They got married in 2017 and live in Park Hill with their Mini Goldendoodle named Mayhem (“May-May” for short). They are expecting a son in August.

When social justice hits close to home While King-Stockton and Brill are excited as they plan for their growing family, they say being in an interracial relationship has not always been easy. The couple has had a lot of experiences with racism.

Last year, as a way of healing, they started writing a collection of stories about those experiences. And on her podcast, “Two Therapists in Therapy,” Brill has hosted discussions of racism with King-Stockton and with former CA Director of Inclusivity Adrian Michael Green ’05.

Brill says the increase in social justice protests and anti-racism movements over the past year has, in some ways, brought relief.

“It has brought to the forefront a lot of the struggles related to racism that we face as

a couple and that Marcus has dealt with his whole life,” she says. “Before 2020, many people were not awake to these issues and didn’t have the language to talk about them. The fact that people are finally talking about this and acknowledging that this exists in society is part of what made us feel ready to have a baby.”

King-Stockton agrees there is more understanding of racism but that bigger changes are still needed.

“Unfortunately, not a lot of what has happened is shocking to me. For Sarah and me, we already discuss this often and have constant experiences with it,” he says. “There may be more awareness of the issues, but it’s only when the systems are changed that I would see a difference in my day-to-day life and experiences.”

Where the relationship started—and the dunk happened Although Brill and King-Stockton have different backgrounds and cultures, they have found more in common than not. And they first found that common ground at CA. For that, they are grateful, and also for the nurturing relationships with CA faculty.

“To this day, I think about how the CA teachers are some of the most influential people in my life, more than anyone in college or grad school,” says Brill, who attended CA from Second to Twelfth Grade.

“They saw me and my potential, and that changed my life forever. If it weren’t for CA, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

King-Stockton remembers being challenged by the rigorous academics.

“I really learned how to be a student, how to study and learn,” he says. “The classes were small, so the teachers got to know you and cared about your success.” n

Sarah Brill & Marcus King-Stockton

Summer 2021

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He Can’t Help But Help

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hen it comes to the world’s biggest, most complex, and heart-wrenching problems, Nat Robinson ’99 can’t seem to stay away.

“Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment. It seems that, once I gain success with one project, I often leave to start something new and difficult,” Robinson says. For instance, he founded the Juhudi Kilimo company, which, in six years, provided $30 million in microloans to help lift rural Kenyan farmers out of poverty—and then he left for law school at Vanderbilt University, before starting a new social enterprise venture.

The financial technology business expert chalks up his tenacious do-gooder habits to lessons he learned at Colorado Academy.

“I like hard problems,” says the Evergreen native. “I think it connects to what I learned at CA about our responsibility to contribute to society. If I’m going to try to solve world problems, I might as well focus my energy on the hard ones.”

When to be flexible and hope for the best If you commit to solving the world’s hardest problems, you’re probably going to find yourself traveling to some of the world’s hardest places. Robinson has traveled to more than 60 countries on six different continents, including many impoverished areas in economically developing nations.

At the time of this story, he was working in Rwanda, had just spent time in Tanzania, and could be off to another country soon.

His aim is not only to generate revenue and growth, like any for-profit operation, but also to influence social change. He spends time in urban field offices, at rural work sites, and everywhere in between, creating fintech solutions that help people rise out of poverty.

His very first international trip came on a

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CA Eighth Grade trip to Europe. Building on that experience, he participated in Semester at Sea during his junior year at Colorado College. While he was on that 10-country, round-the-world cruise ship voyage, two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

After September 11, 2001, his group’s travel itinerary changed six different times. The students witnessed antiAmerican protests in India. They returned home to new scenes of heightened security, including heavily armed airport guards. And at the end of it all, Robinson felt a new and powerful confidence in his ability to travel the world.

“I learned to be flexible and hope for the best,” he says. “It was a phenomenal, lifechanging experience and the driving force for my international work ever since.”

How to run a business in a pandemic For many people, a typical day looks a lot different now than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic. For Robinson, there hadn’t been a “typical day” in his life for more than a decade.

In his work—building profitable operations and driving social change in emerging markets all over the world—every day brings something new. Of course, the pandemic took that to a new level.

As co-founder and CEO of Leaf Global Fintech—a Techstars company that has received awards from the Vatican, United Nations, and South by Southwest—Robinson had been working before the pandemic to develop a digital wallet product to help refugees in five African countries move themselves and their assets across conflictplagued international borders.

By late 2019, Leaf had solid investor commitments and work planned in

Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya. Robinson had plans to spend the next year in East Africa, launching the new blockchain business venture. Then, COVID-19 hit. National borders started closing, and it became hard to justify the work to investors.

“COVID’s been hard for everyone, but it’s a really tough time to find capital and start a business,” he says. “Initially, our investors were still committed, but a couple weeks into the pandemic, everything changed.”

Robinson needed to apply the flexibility and adaptability that he’d learned years ago while traveling to foreign countries in the days and weeks immediately after 9/11.

He and his team secured research and development grants from the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research program and the State of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

They leveraged the increased demand for digital currency that emerged, as the threat of viral infection made exchanging cash less popular. Robinson managed his international team through phone and Zoom calls, instead of meeting with them on site at refugee camps.

Despite the pandemic, the company managed not only to survive, but grow, and retain every single staff member.

The rare gift of CA Nat Robinson has spent so much time working in Africa that he could write a book about it. And it turns out, he did: Creating a Cash Cow in Kenya: Adventures in Starting a Social Business and Living in Africa.

He feels grateful for the Tattered Cover book talks and other promotional events that CA helped organize when the book was published in 2016.

“The support that CA gave me was so amazing,” says Robinson, who attended CA from Sixth to Twelfth Grade. “It was

Nat Robinson

Nat with the Leaf Refugee Team in Rwanda

Nat Robinson and his wife, Sarah, in Tanzania

nice to reconnect with students and faculty and speak to students. I loved all those opportunities.”

He also hasn’t forgotten the opportunities he had as a student at CA, especially those outside the classroom, where he learned best: the marine biology program in Key West during Interim, the many seasons on the Lacrosse and Golf Teams, the experience managing the Girls Soccer Team when they won the State Championship, the holiday choir performances downtown in Larimer Square—

Nat and Sarah at Lake Kivu in Rwanda

even though he’s a “terrible singer.”

“CA was such a great foundation academically and socially,” he says. “It helped me to build confidence in trying new things, to not be afraid of failing, and to be able to accept challenges.”

Robinson remembers “great friends and fantastic faculty at CA, everyone so caring and supportive.”

“As I went to bigger programs in college and grad school,” he says, “I realized how rare that is.” n

Nat with his colleagues in Rwanda

Summer 2021

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‘Doing My Best to Help People in Need’

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t was a Sunday—January 10, 2021— when Lisa Tepper Bates ’86 got the call.

On the line was the Connecticut Department of Public Health and the Office of the Governor of Connecticut, and they had a request for Tepper Bates, the president and CEO of United Way of Connecticut/2-1-1 (UW of CT).

They were trying to get the COVID-19 vaccine to as many Connecticut residents as possible, many of whom could not successfully navigate complex online registration options. They asked if UW of CT could set up a statewide, centralized, phone-based vaccine registration system— and have it ready to go in four days.

She accepted the challenge.

Since the system launched on January 14, her team has fielded half a million vaccine-related calls and scheduled 180,000 Connecticut residents for their vaccine appointment, accounting for 10 percent of the state’s vaccinations. By May, 71 percent of Connecticut adults had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“It’s been a team effort, and we have an

incredible team,” says Tepper Bates, who joined UW of CT in October 2020. “I enjoy solving problems to make people’s lives better.”

You can say that again.

A patriotic vision for her country With more than 25 years of experience in diplomacy and nonprofit leadership, Tepper Bates has a long history of solving problems, big ones.

She spent more than a decade helping people around the world in failed states, war zones, refugee camps, and human trafficking situations. With Serbian language training and expertise in the Balkans area, she contributed to implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and worked in the White House, providing counsel on Southeastern European affairs to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Then, she brought her skills and experience back home to U.S. soil.

“I am very patriotic,” says Tepper Bates, a fourth-generation Coloradan. “I believe in the United States and in our understanding of what this country represents. And I felt a calling to apply my talents and skills to help solve for issues, like inequity, that stand in the way of us being what we think we are, to make good on our values and that vision of the U.S. that I believe in.”

With an MBA from the Yale School of Management, she began leading nonprofit organizations in Connecticut, starting with a focus on ending homelessness.

Tepper Bates with her husband Scott at the Inaugural Ball of Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont

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As executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, she led the transformation of the state’s approach

to homelessness response—bringing more than 100 previously siloed housing agencies together as a true, coordinated system and reducing homelessness in the state by half in seven years. And now, she wants to replicate that process in other arenas, like food security.

“If we figure out how to put resources together more effectively, we can make much more out of the whole than the sum of the parts,” says Tepper Bates, who served as Connecticut’s senior coordinator for Housing and Transit Oriented Development before coming to UW of CT. “I want to create a truly systemic response.”

The secret to powerful problem-solving So, how exactly does Tepper Bates manage such effective change?

For her, it comes down to three actions: 1) Challenging the current system; 2) Leveraging existing resources and organizational strengths; 3) Engineering new ways to respond to problems.

Of course, it’s not always easy.

In the case of the COVID-19 vaccine phone support system, for instance, there was no time for preparation or testing before rollout. It was a case of “building the airplane as we fly it.”

“We’re responding to an unprecedented challenge, with no roadmap to follow and no time to prepare,” she says. “So we’re going to do our best, innovate and course-correct quickly when something doesn’t work, praise our team, and make sure people know we’re doing the best we can.”

She says her foreign policy work in war-torn places and tragic human rights situations

Lisa Tepper Bates

The Bates family

was good training for keeping her cool in the face of high-stakes issues.

“I’ve worked in high-profile settings, like the former Yugoslavia, where we were dealing with the after-effects of war, and there was a real and present trauma,” she says. “That setting teaches you how to be present with something that is potentially very emotional. Your job is to not get bogged down in the weight of what you’re witnessing but to work through it and provide a positive direction.”

When the work gets particularly grueling, she draws strength from the knowledge that she is part of the solution.

“I’m doing my best to help people in need,” she says. “I’ve worked harder and more hours during the pandemic than ever before in my life, but I keep going, because it’s

important, and this is how we get through.”

A home for future leaders Tepper Bates believes much of her problemsolving ability is rooted in the education she had at Colorado Academy. There, she learned to dig deep to understand complex issues, to think outside the box, and to always ask questions.

“Most people would say that’s a hallmark of my work,” says Tepper Bates, who hosted a CA Interim group visiting Washington, D.C., in 2003 and told them about her work in the foreign service. “I’m always asking, ‘What are we missing? How can we do better?’”

A CA student from First to Twelfth Grade, she’s grateful for the efforts of faculty and staff to respond to the unique needs of

every child and to challenge and inspire every student.

“At CA, I was challenged and supported, always as a unique individual,” she says.

“That’s an incredible thing and was, for me, formative.”

She says CA taught her the importance of raising her voice, not being afraid of leadership, and, ultimately, leading—a skill that has obviously come into play in her life and career.

Finally, from CA she gained powerful relationships. Though she has lived and worked all over the world and currently resides far from Colorado, most of her closest friends are still from CA. “I have incredible friendships that have lasted my whole life that I forged at CA,” she says. “It felt like home to me.” n

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Actor, Teacher, Activist, and Much More

I

f you’ve seen Back to the Future—either I or II—then you’ve seen the talents of Harry Waters Jr. ’71 in action.

Waters played Chuck Berry’s fictional cousin Marvin Berry in the “Enchantment Under the Sea” high school dance scene of the 1985 hit film. He performed the pop song “Earth Angel” on stage alongside Michael J. Fox’s character Marty McFly on guitar.

“It was a great experience,” says Waters, now Professor of Theater and Dance and Associate Dean for the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. “I had a live band to work with, and everyone on set was so friendly.”

And he earned a Gold Record for his singing on the soundtrack.

“I thought they were going to have someone else do the vocals,” he says, “but

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they asked if I wanted to sing the song, and I said ‘Sure!’”

What it means to ‘act on pitch’ Waters’ Marvin Berry performance showcased merely a couple of items in his MacGyver-like professional toolbox—which includes acting, singing, dancing, writing, directing, teaching, community activism, and higher education administration.

He chalks up his multi-faceted skillset to starting his career at a time when success required a broad skillset.

“It was a different time in the world, with less technology involved,” says Waters, who began his career with a dance company in New York City after attending Princeton University. “Everyone needed to be a triple threat: You had to be able to act, dance, and

sing. I like to say ‘I act on pitch.’”

In 1991, his skills earned him the role of Belize in the first workshop productions of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. He worked with playwright Tony Kushner as a member of the original cast of the award-winning Broadway play, which was made into an HBO TV series in 2003. Waters helped develop the characters of both Belize and Mr. Lies.

“I had great talks with Tony about how a Black, gay drag queen would relate to other characters in various situations,” he says.

“I got to be an intrinsic part of a piece of American literature.”

Waters participated in the World Premiere at the Eureka Theater in San Francisco, and then the show went to Broadway. Alas, Waters was unavailable to perform in the Broadway

Harry Waters production, as he’d been cast in the Disney Channel’s Adventures in Wonderland. He still feels disappointed about the situation but has made some peace with it.

“We created the script itself,” he says, “and the Broadway cast got to work out the kinks and make the show vital.”

Community building and anti-racist action While Waters has performed in major films and famous theater productions, he’s also been part of performances you’ve never heard of—but that made big impacts on the communities where they happened.

He taught acting to kids in Los Angeles at the Crossroads Arts Academy and Theatre and the Vision Theatre—both led by Marla Gibbs of The Jeffersons TV show. He worked with Cornerstone, a company that lived for months at a time in small towns and urban neighborhoods, collaborating with locals to tell their stories through theater.

“We invite community members to participate in the process, so they work together, hear one another’s stories, and create new relationships,” he says. “It becomes this amazing event where you have 70-year-olds with walkers and 10-yearolds with skateboards all on stage together.”

When he moved to Minnesota, he took along his passion for community-driven theater, recreating the Cornerstone model on St. Paul’s multicultural west side.

Through decades of living and working in the Twin Cities, his ties there run deep.

He lives six blocks from what is now called George Floyd Square, where Floyd was killed by former police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020. As protests of the murder turned violent, Waters could see fire on three sides of his building. Friends called to check on his safety.

“It was terrifying, like a war zone—guns, fires, people running,” he says. “There was a moment when we wondered if we should leave, if we could leave.”

But he stayed. The violence died down, and within a week, he was on the street

with his neighbors, sweeping up debris, nailing plywood over broken windows, and engaging in community meetings.

He contributed to fundraising for the Floyd family and to Black Lives Matter Minneapolis.

It’s not the first time he has been a part of anti-racist activism in his community. When Philando Castile was fatally shot by a police officer in 2016 in a St. Paul suburb, Waters joined the Million Artist Movement in organizing food drives, knitting groups, and song circles to help the community heal.

Lessons in how to be a better human

Now a teacher himself, Waters knows that his education and upbringing played a big role in his success in theater.

A member of CA’s last all-male boarding class, he was in a school play every year he was a student, from Ninth to Twelfth Grade.

He performed in choir and a vocal harmony group and remembers traveling around the country with the Glee Club.

“I knew I wanted to be an actor,” he says of himself as a young person. “I love acting. I shamelessly will say it anywhere and everywhere.”

And now, he loves teaching and mentoring college students in theater and dance.

“There is something wonderful about sharing your passion and to watch that ‘a-ha’ experience with students who are amazed how this brings them into a fuller appreciation of their own self,” he says. “One of the things that I offer in teaching acting is that it makes you a better human being.

Yes, you are crafting a character, but you also learn how to be your true self.”

This year is the 50th anniversary of his graduating class. Their reunion event is scheduled for this fall, and Waters says he’ll be there. n

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Why We Joined the Musil Society he Musil Society, named after beloved languages teacher A.J. Musil, includes members of the CA community who have made a legacy gift to the school and its students, ensuring that their commitment to CA’s mission will last beyond their lifetime.

Recently, we talked with Billy and Christy Wynne about their decision to become members of the Musil Society.

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years in Montessori School to Kindergarten, they did what many parents would do in that position. “We wanted what was best for Eleanor,” Christy says. “So we started searching, and we looked at all our options.”

When Billy and Christy Wynne’s daughter Eleanor was ready to transition from three

“The minute we drove away from the CA campus, we said, ‘Well, we’re done looking,’”

They researched their neighborhood public schools, various charter schools, several independent schools, and finally narrowed their choices to three schools. Then they visited Colorado Academy.

says Christy, laughing. “We knew this was where we would end up.”

“CA’s campus is beautiful, and it has an excellent academic reputation,” Billy adds.

“Even during the application process, we felt a difference at CA.” What struck the Wynnes when they applied was the call they received from CA’s Admission Office with an inquiry.

Eleanor’s parents were applying to place her in Kindergarten, but would they consider enrolling her in First Grade? There would be a place for her in either class, so the choice was up to them.

“It was astonishing to me that CA had taken the time to really get to know our daughter and have a sense of what she was capable of doing,” Christy says. “I knew she was ready academically, but the final decision was ours, and they gave us time to think about it.”

“CA looks at the whole child and focuses on the child’s social and emotional well-being,” Billy adds. “That felt different compared to other schools we had looked at.”

‘The school’s values are aligned with mine’ Today, Eleanor is a rising Sophomore in the Upper School with an interest in volleyball and theater. Her younger brother, Lei, followed in her footsteps to CA and will be in Fifth Grade.

“Eleanor loves CA, and she has had a seamless academic career there,” Christy says. “The environment is nurturing, warm, and supportive.”

“We’ve loved her teachers,” adds Billy. “She had Paula Osborne in Lower School, and that was a magical experience. But all of her teachers are very impressive people who relate to her well.”

The Wynne family

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Christy echoes her husband’s praise for the teachers her son has had at CA. “Lei’s teachers have been just sweet, incredible

Musil Society women who have been so nurturing for him,” she says. “We trust the process at CA, because the school really knows how to place students with the teachers they belong with.”

Both parents also praise CA’s school counselors and the support system they provide for students.

“I believe that all humans are different, and you can’t have a one-size-fits-all educational experience,” Christy says. “CA does a good job recognizing that each child is an individual and offering that child the support they need.”

“The thing I love most about CA is that the school’s values are aligned with mine,” says Billy. “For a school to have the word ‘kind’ in their mission statement is so impressive.

Yes, CA sends students off into the world to perform at a high level academically and athletically. But the fact that the school prioritizes kindness says it all.”

‘A chance to leave a legacy’ Five years ago, the Wynnes revisited their estate planning with an eye to prioritizing charitable giving.

“We asked ourselves, ‘What causes mean the most to us?’” Billy says. “CA means a lot to us, and we want to help kids in the future—including kids who may not have the means to have the enriching and valuable experience that CA provides.”

For Christy, the decision to include CA in their legacy giving was based on her personal experience with education.

Honoring A. John Musil

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ast adrift from his homeland, A. John Musil (A.J.) was a man who found a home at Colorado Academy. He was born in 1904 in a tiny village in Austria. As a young man, he devoted himself to the study of languages, but in the years leading up to World War II, turbulent times forced him into perpetual relocation—a refugee with very specialized skills.

Caught in the run-up to a world war that left him stateless, he taught languages in Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and, for more than 20 years, in India. Eventually, he came to the United States on a visitor visa, and in 1960, he was hired

by Colorado Academy’s Head of School at the time, F. Charles Froelicher, who recalled the hire as “unique.”

“The Upper School Head had just informed me that they needed a foreign language instructor who could teach Latin II, German I, and French III,” wrote Froelicher in his book about CA. “Impossible, I thought.” But through connections at the University of Denver, Froelicher found Musil, who was fluent

in French, German, Latin, Greek, and Italian. “I ran over to [the University of Denver] in 20 minutes, brought him back, and he stayed the rest of his life,” Froelicher wrote.

To Musil, the international upheaval that had defined his life was “an eternal chess match.” Perhaps that explained his fondness for the game of chess, which he taught to CA students. He loved to hike and climb Colorado’s mountains, but he never learned to drive. After he retired, then-Head of School Chris Babbs offered him an apartment in Welborn House, where he happily lived into his old age. He died in 1991 on a visit to Austria—just 50 miles from the place he was born—at the age of 87. He left his entire estate— consisting mainly of gold coins and gold bars—to Colorado Academy. n

A.J. Musil with Tess Vigil Goldhamer ‘00, at the time the youngest student on campus with the oldest person on campus

“Growing up, a private school would not have been on the radar for me,” she says.

“But I received a scholarship to attend a private college. Had I not attended that small liberal arts school, my life would be so different today. It changed the trajectory of my life! I want other students to have the same opportunity that I did.”

The Wynnes see their membership in the Musil Society not as an obligation, but as an opportunity. They say it is a “comfort” to know they have made provision for CA in their long-term planning. “If you are fortunate enough to have the means,” Billy says, “it is a chance to leave a legacy.” n

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A Horizons Hero

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t was the first year Karen Cannon had children attending Colorado Academy when she heard about Horizons at CA. And from the very start, she was “thrilled about their mission.”

“I have a soft spot for kids who need a little extra help,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to be able to provide an opportunity for somebody who can make something happen in their life, because there were several people in my life who did that for me.”

Through the years, Karen served on the Horizons Board, offered strategic planning guidance, and connected Horizons with foundations that would help with financial support.

Ultimately, her contribution was intensely personal. As a result of generous donations made in memory of her husband, Jim, the Cannon family was the first ever recipient of the “Horizons Hero” honor.

“A hero is someone who helps other people, a hero is also someone who overcomes a lot of adversity, a hero is someone who is brave when the chips are down, and a hero is someone who is there for you when you need a hand,” Karen says. “It’s a great honor to be a hero for someone else. Jim would be thrilled to be called a hero.”

‘Change the course of a life’ For Karen, the best part of Horizons is its consistency—following a student from PreKindergarten through high school.

“There are many programs that help children, but not for so many years,” she says.

“The consistency of year after year, serving the same students with the same teachers is the most impactful aspect of the program.”

In the Horizons children who come to CA for the summer program and the

school-year weekend Super Saturdays, Karen sees a little of herself. As a young gymnast, she had P.E. teachers and coaches who helped her win national titles and earn an athletic scholarship to the University of Denver.

“It changed the course of my life,” she says.

“So I really know how a little bit of attention can change the course of a life.”

‘My best friend’ In January of 2019, Karen’s husband Jim was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, but to Karen, it seemed as if there was more to her husband’s illness than the initial diagnosis indicated. Moving from specialist to specialist, she advocated for him, looking for the answer to the dramatic changes she was observing in his health and behavior. Finally, she was referred to a neurologist.

“He had an MRI, and the doctor came in and told us that he had glioblastoma, a very aggressive brain cancer,” Karen remembers.

“And it was huge, so he was at high risk of having a seizure, and operating was dicey at best.”

Undaunted, she sought a highly regarded neurosurgeon in Denver, and Jim underwent a 10-hour operation to remove the tumor. After the surgery, the family felt optimistic, “hopeful that Jim would be one of those people who lived a long time, at least a couple of years,” Karen says. Initially confined to a wheelchair, he recovered to the point where he could walk again, then hike, play tennis, and even ride a bike. But the improvement did not last, and in late 2019, tests showed the cancer had spread.

Jim Cannon, the man his wife calls “my best friend,” died on March 8, 2020.

“From diagnosis to his death was nine-anda-half months,” Karen says. “And it was a very difficult nine-and-a-half-months.”

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A Horizons Hero

The Cannon family

‘To inspire donations to Horizons’ After Jim’s death, Karen talked with her daughters, Sophie ’17 and Phoebe ’20, and Jim’s sister about how to best memorialize a man she describes as “generous beyond imagination—the most generous man I ever met. He would give you the shirt off his back. And he was a wonderful father and a wonderful husband.”

And then, she says, the idea just hit her.

“After Jim died, I didn’t want the house filled with 200 bouquets of flowers,” she says. “We went through a variety of choices, and we ultimately decided—and felt like Jim would be very happy—to inspire donations to Horizons.”

The Cannon family and their friends made more than 40 donations to Horizons at CA in memory of Jim. Their contributions sponsored eight Horizons students for one full year of programming.

In December, on behalf of her family, Karen accepted the inaugural “Horizons Hero” Award.

“The entire Cannon family—including the extended family—has been incredibly supportive of Horizons at Colorado Academy for many years and in many different ways,” says Horizons Executive Director Daniela Meltzer. “To continue to honor Jim’s legacy and impact by contributing to our program in his memory helped us be there for our Horizons students,

especially during these difficult times, as we operate during a pandemic.

Philanthropic families, like the Cannon family, form the backbone of our donor base, and for that, we are eternally grateful.”

Ask Karen whether she believes Jim’s legacy will live on through Horizons, and she pauses for a moment to consider the question. “Horizons has been here a long time, and it’s built its own strong legacy,” she says. “The people involved with Horizons are wonderful, the students are enthusiastic, and we’re pleased to contribute in any way to make sure more children can see a world they haven’t seen before. To me, education is everything.” n

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The Class of 2021 Renna Pauline Allan University of California, Los Angeles

Garrison Mark Ebel University of Southern California

Hannah Isabelle Krueger University of Colorado Denver

Eve Ryan Angevine Colorado College

Samuel Louis Ehrman Washington University in St. Louis

John Coleman Kuelling Berklee College of Music

Riley Everett Barthels Colorado College

Marlyn Estrada Whitman College

Galilea Landa-Posas Whittier College

Connell Thomas Barton Indiana University Bloomington

Jason Michael Evans Oxford College of Emory University

Brooks Sheehan LeClair Texas Christian University

Virginia Lucille Beardsley Tulane University

Byron George Farmar Gonzaga University

Grady Moore Behrhorst St. Lawrence University

Zoe Anne Mostly Fierer Whitman College

Steven Peter Blattner Florida Institute of Technology

Michael William Ford University of Michigan

Marin Belle Bomgaars University of Miami

Ella Markley Freimuth Cornell University

Chloe Elizabeth Brants Tufts University

Marius Maximilian Frenz WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management

Lily Katherine Brinker Loyola Marymount University William Harrison Buecking Southern Methodist University Peter Emerson Carpenter Stanford University Henry Page Chesley-Vogels Davidson College Meilani Ineke Louise Cole Chapman University Jordan Alexandra Davidson Yale University Thomas Hubertus Robertus Maria de Leeuw University of Groningen

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Sophie Helen Link University of California, Los Angeles Colby Rand Lish Dartmouth College Britt Christina Lochhead University of Wisconsin-Madison Nathalie Anne Maffei Dartmouth College Nicholas Craig Maffei University of Southern California

Ryan Connell Gaghen Claremont McKenna College

Alexander Dickson Main Texas Christian University

Catalina Quinn Alvarado Geller Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College | The New School

Margaret Dake Bansbach Maloy University of Mississippi

Mateo Jay Hartmann Gluck Arizona State University Charles Max Goldman University of Miami Jared Fraser Goldstein Boston College Joseph James Gonzales University of Kansas

Makayla Eden Martinez University of Colorado Boulder William Alan Mattin Gonzaga University Kiah Warner May University of Colorado Boulder Finnerty Curtis McCoy Hamilton College

Andres Cesar Guevara Rhode Island School of Design

Teresa Elizabeth McManus Trinity University

Ella Marie DelZotto Tulane University

Julia Casson Hall Phillips Academy

Katharine Bode Merrifield University of Michigan

Nicholas Stephen Dietrich Stanford University

Spencer McKnight Harvey Colgate University

Jordon Preston Mills Auburn University

James Howard Doolittle III DePaul University

Rebecca Peirce Kerr Denison University

Reeve Lane Mitchell University of Oregon

Colorado Academy Journal

Graduates Sophia Alexandra Mix University of California Santa Cruz

Emmett William Lane Schlager University of Redlands

Samer Elyas Mohamed Arizona State University

Lewis Inman Sharp V Trinity College Dublin

Sara Ali Musani University of Colorado Boulder

Kendall Ann Smart Northwestern University

Elsa Sky Mushkin Tulane University

Charlotte Bevan Smith Williams College

Evelyn Marie Needham University of Virginia

Elle Margaret Smith Texas Christian University

Liam Patrick O’Donnell Chapman University

James Ross Smith Texas Christian University

Catherine Duncan O’Halloran Dartmouth College

Paige Chandler Stanton Boston College

Pedro Isai Olivas-Holguin Trinity College

Clark Schwab Steinhauser Pitzer College

Karlee Nye Osman University of Arizona

Griffin AJ Stevens Harvey Mudd College

Maya Pellegrini University of Portland

Cameron Noble Swaney Colgate University

Sage Elle Phelps-Fast University of Colorado Boulder

Annabelle Jane Swenson Colorado College

Levi Buyers Pinkert University of Southern California

Bryn Merrick Taplin University of Vermont

Fernando Arturo Prieto Lin New York University

Devon Taylor Taplin University of California San Diego

Aaron Stephen Rice Carleton College

Brooke Elizabeth Valentine Taylor Maryland Institute College of Art

Ulisses Rico Moncada University of Southern California

Henry Joseph Trembath Colby College

Victoria Marie Rodawig University of Virginia

Eleanor Mickle Wadsworth University of Colorado Boulder

Nicolas Carlos Rodriguez Villanova University

Mackenzie Grace Wagner Colorado College

Miriam Maylin Rojo Gutierrez Union College

Arjun Lama Weihenmayer University of Vermont

Sofia Rebecca Rossman Pitzer College

Charles Martin Westfall Denison University

Natalie Michelle Rumsfeld Queen Mary University of London

Lucas Robert Wharton Carleton College

Maya Jane Rutherford University of Michigan

Zoe Evelyn Worrall Harvey Mudd College

Ashley Kay Schafer University of Miami

Czarina Marguerite Rose Yuffa Wesleyan University

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Boards & Associations Alumni Association Board 2020-2021 Chris Bailey ’02 Vincent Brown ’11 Austin Carpenter ’05 Katie Cordes ’03 Caroline Cramer ’11 Lisa Harrison Ellsworth ’79 Brian Fisher ’02 Georgia Grey ’08, VP of Development Jared Harding ’97, Co-VP of Special Events Isabel Gary Harper ’09 Ben Hock ’07, Co-VP of Special Events Emma Harrington Kane, ’07 Karl Koch ’05

Myles McGinnis ’08 Aimée Nieuwenhuizen’06 PJ O’Neil ’07 Brian Parks ’96, VP of School Relations Ashley Peterson ’06 Kyle Rajaniemi ’07 Max Shaw ’08 Gordon Smith ’79, Honorary Zach Tucker ’01 Terrie Dickinson Warren ’73 Elsa Woolley ’11, President ex officio: Sue Burleigh, Alumni Director Mike Davis, Head of School

Parent Association Officers 2020-2021 Alice Rydberg, President Kellie Prall, President-Elect Alyssa Clarke & Meg Braun, Lower School Vice Presidents Ann Benson Reidy ’88 & Yama Foreman, Middle School Vice Presidents Jeanne Coleman & Brenda Alexander, Upper School Vice Presidents

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Gina Kennedy, Secretary Amy Martin, Treasurer Allyson Jacoby & Heather Spruell, Communications Coordinators Jenny Wolkon, Volunteer & Outreach Marte Timmers, Community Appreciation Lyndsey Farncombe, Gifting Chair

Board of Trustees 2020-2021 Liz Arnold Carole Buyers Betsy Crane Jeffrey Geller Daniel Goldman Erika Hollis, Chair Danny Jimenez Thomas Jorden Bryan Leach Amy Livingston ’93 George Lochhead Tate McCoy Nina Henderson Moore Tricia Noble, Vice Chair Liz Buckingham Oertel ’93, Secretary Lisa Osman Kevin Reidy Meshach Rhoades Andrew Robinson Catherine Rollhaus David Shapiro Robert Stettner ’94 Natalie Bocock Turnage Maribeth Younger ex officio: Mike Davis, Head of School Alanna Brown, Chief Financial Officer & Business Manager Jacque Montgomery, Director of Advancement & External Affairs Alice Rydberg, Parent Association President Elsa Woolley ‘11, Alumni Association Board President

Support CA’s mission to create curious, kind, courageous, and adventurous learners and leaders.

In donating to The CA Fund, you are investing in everything that makes CA extraordinary: a diverse, motivated, and kind student body, exceptional faculty and staff, academic excellence and innovative teaching, a well-rounded liberal arts curriculum that includes arts and athletics, and a beautiful campus with top-notch learning facilities.

Make your gift to The CA Fund today! coloradoacademy.org/TheCAFund Visit: coloradoacademy.org/TheCAFund

Mail a check to: T he CA Fund 3800 South Pierce Street Denver, CO 80235 Call: The Advancement Office at 303-914-2510

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Legacy Children 2020-2021

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olorado Academy is pleased to report that 100 students enrolled for the 2020-2021 academic year are the children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews of alumni/alumnae. Current grade shown in parentheses.

Piper Adams (10) Steve Adams ’91, father Chip Adams* ’89, uncle Chloë Barton (2) Alex Barton ’97, father Grady Behrhorst (12) Tate Behrhorst (9) Nicole Moore Behrhorst ’87, mother Mandy Moore Mischler ’82, aunt Hopi Moore-Sargent ’84, aunt

Ezra Goldstein (10) Jared Goldstein (12) Jeff Goldstein ’88, father

Annabelle Dennis (6) Lilah Dennis (3) Travis Dennis ’00, father Kendall Dennis Slutzky ’97, aunt

Parker Grossman (4) Nicole Cannon ’03, mother Alix Cannon ’01, aunt Lauren Cannon Davis ’99, aunt

Samson Dillon (1) Megan Young ’97, mother Daron Young ’00, uncle

Aidan Harrington (8) Brendan Harrington ’89, father

Emmylou Elkins (PK) Sarah Robinson Elkins ’06, mother Brian Elkins ’02, father Jenny Elkins ’99, aunt Brian Robinson ’02, uncle

Spencer Harvey (12) Libby Crosby Harvey ’84, mother Ned Harvey ’84, father K.K. Harvey ’88, aunt Kent Harvey ’86, uncle

Fletcher Emerson (7) Julia Völkel Emerson ’94, mother Marc Voelkel ’89, uncle

Jillian Hills (4) Molly Hills (7) Zach Hills (K) Liston Hills ’95, father Zach Hills* ’01, uncle

Ava Biederman (5) Lilly Biederman (8) Emily Pederson Biederman 95, mother

Ella Firman (8) Chris Firman ’93, father Lyz Firman Olmstead ’95, aunt Andrew Firman ’00, uncle Matt Olmstead ’95, uncle

Maijur Blanchard (2) Yori Blanchard (8) Tiffany Woodward ’01, mother

Carson Flottman (9) Jim Flottman ’89, father

Charlotte Braun (4) Karsten Braun (6) Alexa Hanke Braun ’95, mother Cecilia Hanke Wolfson ’90, aunt Georgia Burstein (9) Rex Burstein (7) Tatum Burstein (4) John Burstein ’89, father Alli Burstein Kozloff ’94, aunt

Elise Ford (2) Jeska Horgan-Kobelski ’98, mother Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski ’96, uncle Tim Horgan-Kobelski ’05, uncle Lucy Garnsey (8) Peyton Garnsey ’91, father Michael Garnsey ’89, uncle

Bella Converse (1) Kate Hart Converse ’03, mother

Digby Gile (3) Gia Gile (6) Merritt Gile ’95, father Caitlin Gile Morris ’96, aunt Philippa Gile Taylor ’05, aunt

Joshua Corn (10) Roger Corn ’87, father

Noa Gold (4) Meagan Gold ’96, mother

Henry Cowperthwaite (7) Kevin Cowperthwaite ’79, father Tom Cowperthwaite ’81, uncle

Marshall Golden (2) Nora Palenchar Golden ’00, mother Ethan Palenchar ’98, uncle

* Deceased

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Matthew Coyle (K) Martha Fulford ’01, mother Scott Fulford ’98, uncle

Colorado Academy Journal

Hadley Hodgson (11) Harper Hodgson (8) Jennifer Warner Hodgson ’92, mother Ellie Jones (4) David Jones ’95, father Jill Bible ’99, aunt Phil Jones ’99, uncle Natalie Kesselman (PK) Rob Kesselman ’03, father David Kimball (7) Tom Kimball ’89, father Allyson Kimball ’92, aunt Ford Kimball ’91, uncle Helaina Korneffel (9) Peter Korneffel ’83, father Tracy Korneffel ’82, aunt Buckley Ladd (K) Sadie Ladd (PK) Tucker Ladd ’99, father Bryann Ladd Nourse ’02, aunt Ben Ladd ’95, uncle

Legacy Children Carter Maloy (8) Cate Maloy (10) Maggie Maloy (12) Brooke Bansbach Maloy ’90, mother Alex May (9) Kiah May (12) Skylar May (9) Kim Warner ’86, mother Gracie McHugh (11) June McHugh ’80, aunt Burke McHugh ’83, uncle Chris McHugh ’87, uncle Blake Miller (6) Fletcher Miller (8) Wren Johnson Miller ’95, mother Craige Johnson ’93, uncle Clare Milligan (11) Brian Milligan ’75, father Karen Milligan ’80, aunt Hadley Morris (9) Piper Morris (7) Caitlin Gile Morris ’96, mother Philippa Gile Taylor ’05, aunt Merritt Gile ’95, uncle Claudia Nelsen (2) Olivia Nelsen (6) Savanna Nelsen (2) Amy Livingston ’93, mother Katie Livingston ’96, aunt Buzz Oertel (10) Ollie Oertel (8) Liz Buckingham Oertel ’93, mother Elin Olmstead (3) Gus Olmstead (7) Maddy Olmstead (9) Lyz Firman Olmstead ’95, mother Matt Olmstead ’95, father Amy Olmstead ’91, aunt Andrew Firman ’00, uncle Chris Firman ’93, uncle Coulter Perkins (11) Ellie Perkins (8) Gray Perkins (10) Alli Stamper Perkins ’95, mother Amy Stamper Corrigan ’98, aunt Jeff Stamper* ’92, uncle

Parker Pryor (7) David Knowles ’66, uncle Charlie Rakowski (8) Lucy Rakowski (11) Jill Boat Rakowski ’92, mother Hattie Ralston (K) Natalie Newcom Ralston ’99, mother Chip Newcom ’02, uncle Maddy Reeves (9) Julie Beattie Reeves ’90, mother Jason Beattie ’93, uncle Diana Reidy (10) Laura Reidy (8) Ann Benson Reidy ’88, mother David Benson ’85, uncle Jim Benson ’83, uncle Ben Rockmore (10) Eli Rockmore (5) Lizzie Welborn Rockmore ’90, mother Jeff Welborn ’64, grandfather Cayden Roll (5) Sasha Roll ’02, mother Gavin Ulrich ’02, father Jordan Ulrich ’10, uncle Clark Seaton (8) Danielle Seaton (10) Andrew Seaton ’92, father Conrad Sehl (7) Lola Sehl (10) Meagan Gold ’96, mother Lewis Sharp (12) William Sharp (11) Amy Sharp ’02, aunt Lisa Sharp ’04, aunt Darcy Simon (4) Finn Simon (1) Dan Simon ’95, father Jordan Slutzky (6) Taylor Slutzky (9) Kendall Dennis Slutzky ’97, mother Travis Dennis ’00, uncle Tula Stettner (5) Willy Stettner (9) Rob Stettner ’94, father Andrew Stettner ’99, uncle Rich Stettner ’91, uncle

Kim Warner ’86 with her daughter Kiah May ’21 at CA’s Commencement

Bea Wadsworth (8) Ellie Wadsworth (12) David Wadsworth ’86, father Abigail Wadsworth Serfass ’94, aunt George West (7) Henry West (5) Jack West (9) Thomas Kerr ’76, uncle J.D. Westerberg (9) Jim Westerberg ’87, father Peter Kugeler ’95, uncle Sam Wiechecki (PK) Nicole Sisk Wiechecki ’01, mother Jason Sisk ’98, uncle Ben Zinn (6) Jessica Zinn (9) Ken Zinn ’92, father Jenn Zinn ’95, aunt Dan Zinn ’97, uncle This list contains alumni non-graduates.

If you are not listed and are a legacy, please contact the Alumni Office at 303-914-2584.

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Giant Relay Day

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onsidering most of the past year’s uncertainty, just holding a Giant Relay Day was an accomplishment.

Head of School Dr. Mike Davis was determined not to cancel another Giant Relay Day, no matter how different the circumstances or activities. The day began with the whole school gathered for an AllSchool Assembly on Welborn House Lawn for remarks from Dr. Davis, including the traditional reading of Senior names and the Seniors enthusiastically shouting their class cheer, “2021: We got it done.”

Giant Relay Day planners did their best to create a fun and festive day that seemed to be a hit with every grade level. The Lower School held its Field Day in the morning on both Firman and Slater Fields, guided by faculty from the P.E. Department and with assistance from Eighth Graders.

Everyone gathered to watch Dr. Davis run not one, but two, races. Along with this year’s Kindergartners, the now-First Graders, who missed last year’s race due to the pandemic, lined up to challenge our Head of School.

Middle School began the relay action after lunch with a heated competition amongst the Grades Six, Seven, and Eight teams on Wright Field. With dark clouds

The winning Giant Relay Team, the Seniors, From Left: Chloe Brants, Nathalie Maffei, Kendall Smart, Maya Pellegrini, Aaron Rice, Peter Carpenter, Luke Wharton, Jordon Mills, Kiah May Not pictured: Grady Behrhorst and Spencer Harvey

building, the Giant Relay started right after the Middle School finished. The Race consisted of three teams: Seniors, Faculty/ Staff, and (vaccinated) Parents. Alumni Board Member Ben Hock ’07 designed the race T-shirts with the theme “Back to the Future.” Current students, faculty, and staff cheered for their favorite team. Not surprisingly, the Seniors won the race by a wide margin. Senior Spencer Harvey, son of Ned and Libby Harvey ’84, had never been in a kayak, yet increased the student

Kayakers, from Left: teacher Sydney Finkbohner, Senior Spencer Harvey, parent John Briggs

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lead on that leg of the race, giving Senior Captain Luke Wharton an easy sprint to the finish.

The Alumni Association is looking forward to seeing the return of an alumni team and many more fans at next year’s Giant Relay Day on May 20, 2022. We hope to bring back all the fun activities and CA community members we missed seeing in 2020 and 2021. Mark your calendars now, as we look forward to seeing you then, if not at Homecoming this fall. n

Alumni Association Highlights

Veterans Day in the Upper School

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rowing up in a military family, CA Junior Helen Blake wanted to mark Veterans Day in the Upper School. She organized a Town Hall Meeting featuring two CA alumni who were veterans. Together they shared their experiences serving our nation.

Corporal Austin Lee Carpenter ’05 served in the Presidential Salute (GUNS Platoon) Battery Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd US Infantry Regiment, and Sergeant Colin Gumm ’94 served with B Co. 2/327 INF, and 324th Tactical PsyOp Company.

The two alumni enlightened students on what it means to be a Veteran.

“To me, Veterans Day marks the kinship

Austin Carpenter ’05

Colin Gumm ’94

among those who have served,” Gumm said. “It is a time to say ‘thank you’ to people who have been willing to risk their safety, health, and lives for a job, whatever that job is around the world.”

“When you enlist, you give the government a blank check,” Carpenter added. “On Veterans Day we remember the honor, duty, selfless service, and sacrifice required to protect the Constitution and what it stands for.” n

Alumni-Student Multicultural Meet-Up

Alumni-Student Multicultural Meet-Up

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n the wake of the racial tension and civil unrest that has taken place, both alumni and students have asked for more communication from the school on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion topics.

Alumni have stepped up to help.

affinity space to support them, as they navigate Colorado Academy and the college process. Our hope is that these connections will last well past CA and college. Ultimately, one goal is to develop a multicultural network for CA alumni.

The first Alumni-Student Multicultural Meet-Up, hosted by Sarah Wright, CA’s Director of Inclusivity, featured Upper School students meeting alumni on Zoom in November. The goal was for alumni to empower students, and create an

Thank you to Brooklyn Batey ’12, Anshu Bhatia ’06, VJ Brown ’11 (Alumni Board Member), and Ulysses Estrada ’13, who participated in the first Meet-Up. Also important was an alumni

conversation in April with current CA faculty and staff during a professional day.

Trier Bryant ’02 joined Brooklyn Batey ’12 and Ulysses Estrada ’13 in speaking about their experiences as students and challenging CA’s teachers to develop more inclusive curricula for their courses.

Alumni Board Members who are involved with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are Caroline Cramer ’11, Isabel Gary Harper ’09, Emma Harrington Kane ’07, and Elsa Woolley ’11. n

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Alumni Enjoy Virtual Get-Togethers

January Book Club February Book Club

April Book Club

March Book Club

Alumni-Former Faculty Book Clubs

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ith in-person events on hold, the Alumni Association pivoted to a virtual platform to offer a venue for alumni to gather. Keeping in mind the mission statement of the Association to provide alumni with significant opportunities for intellectual enrichment, the Alumni-Former Faculty Book Club was born.

Three retired CA English teachers stepped up to lead discussions on books of their choosing: Paul Krajovic (1974-1994), Linda Plaut (1973-1982), and Anne Strobridge (1981-2017). Alumni joined from across the U.S.: D.C. to Los Angeles, and Jackson Hole to Brooklyn.

In addition to reading and discussing each novel, alumni were able to reconnect with their former teachers and each other. Some had not attended an Alumni Association event in years. Expect Book Club to continue when the pandemic is over, and look for a Writers Workshop. Hope to see you online! n

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Top Row, (L to R): Adam Dorsheimer ‘19, Justin Bassey ‘16, Story Wolf-Tinsman ’19.

Bottom Row: Jane Doherty ‘19, Liam Caplan ’18.

College Alumni Panel

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n December 2020, Senior Class Dean Gabe Bernstein, along with CA’s College Office, hosted a virtual alumni panel on Zoom for the class of 2021. Many thanks to the five CA alumni who joined for this fun and informative event: Adam Dorsheimer ’19 (College of Charleston), Liam Caplan ’18 (Wesleyan University), Story Wolf-

Tinsman ’19 (Colorado College), Jane Doherty ’19 (Georgetown University), and Justin Bassey ’16 (Harvard University). (Editor’s Note: Justin was Story’s CLT leader back when he was a Senior!) Insights and wisdom shared covered many topics, including how to choose a college, the transition and separation from family, unexpected struggles, thoughts of transferring, and life skills. n

Alumni Association Highlights

Inspired Dinner for the Class of 1989

BY MISTI ALDERS ’89 & AARON DALLAS ‘89

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n a seemingly ordinary Sunday at the end of February, a group from the Class of 1989 gathered on a Zoom call with the pretense of making a Chilean Pastel de Choclo and Ensalada de Cebolla to truly (re-)connect and have a fun time together. Despite Wi-Fi signal glitches and no access to water, Peter Stout (and Robyn Russell Stout ’88) joined to touch base, laugh, and watch; Emily Hobbs Wright ‘89 also dropped in to chat and partake in the lively exchange.

The other dinner guest chefs were Srael and Nicole Boruchin, Lisa Grout Cabot and her husband Len, Michael Garnsey, Michael Lazarus, Michele Forstot Nadel with sous chef husband Darren, and Melanie Schutt. We literally spanned the continent with participants in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, New York, and Texas! It was magical. When the Pastel was cooked, we sat down to eat together,

Despite the miles, classmates cook together.

and undoubtedly wondered silently, while talking, if each of us was the only one to have undergone an out-of-body experience. How was it possible that the food we were eating was created, constructed, and built with our own hands?

blatantly glorious about creating a meal someone else will enjoy with you, something utterly addictive about having one less meal to plan each week, and not having to think as you chop, mix, and cook.

Join us! You are invited. n

We have enjoyed the steadily increasing numbers of CA alumni who have joined us for dinner, along with spouses, other family members, and friends from our “other worlds” outside of CA. There is something

Misti Alders ’89 is the Chief Creative Officer of Copper Cork Cookery, which she founded in November 2020 after taking a leap of faith to prioritize family and move across country.

Aaron Dallas ’89 is the Moral Support Officer.

Virtual Wine Tasting

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uring pandemic protocols, many alumni events changed their venue to virtual. With a nod to Alumni Back-to-School Night and Happy Hour, CA alumna Maia Parish ’92 delighted guests with a Virtual Wine Tasting evening. Full of humor, honesty, and common sense regarding wine, Maia spoke in general about wine and then took everyone on a guided tour of three wines she had selected for the tasting.

How do you evaluate a wine? What do you smell, taste? What does the color tell you about the wine?

As a trained sommelier, Maia fielded questions on pairing wine with food and how to properly save leftover wine. She spent time describing many states and countries where wine is produced and offering to help connect alumni from Tennessee to New York with local producers.

For those who live in Colorado, we are in luck, as our state has an up-and-coming wine industry on the Western Slope.

Alumni who attended invited their own cohort to join them. Parents, roommates, significant others, fiancés, spouses, and friends came to the wine tasting Zoom room. Alumni in attendance were from five states. Those attending from outside Colorado were Emily Cohen ’06 (Chicago); Justin Connerly ’15 (Mojave, Calif.); Carrie Fritzinger ’15 (New York City); and Ginger Tallmadge ’06 (Knoxville, Tenn.).

Metro Denver alumni included Lauren Kenney Berv ’06, Jessie Chrismer ’00,

Katie Cordes ’03, Caroline Cramer ’11, Courtney Ergen ’13, Jack Fritzinger ’11, Ben Hock ’07, Erika Mori ’03, Nicole Hoffman Myers ’92, Kurt Oleson ’11, Jill Boat Rakowski ’92, Julie Beattie Reeves ’90, Andrew Seaton ’92, Charlie Woolley ’72, and Elsa Woolley ’11.

With our Zoom format allowing more participants from across the country to be able to attend events, look for more alumni virtual activities, even after the pandemic has passed. n

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Alumni Association Highlights

Find Your Path Learning from alumni career journeys

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ne key session of CA Senior Launch Week is the Alumni Career Panel.

Seniors hear stories from CA graduates, focusing on their college experiences, career exploration, career path choices, and navigating the “post high school world” of jobs, professional opportunities, and life.

This year six alumni provided the Senior class with unique perspectives on their personal career journeys. They included a college transfer, six relocations in five years, work in the Virgin Islands, eleven years of postgraduate work, a career change to the U.S. Navy with three deployments, expanded opportunities in a tech start-up, and civil service. The wisdom and insights were powerful.

Key takeaways for Seniors:

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Explore in college.

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Enjoy college, but don’t make poor decisions that could affect your future.

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College is filled with trade-offs, friendships, studies, and sleep.

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A great college professor may inspire you to change your major. Listen.

Top Row (L to R): Senior Dean Gabe Bernstein, Sheila Kumar ’06, Cazes Martin ’98. Second Row: Allison Kaptur ’05, College Counselor Cathy Nabbefeld, Jordan Sedlacek ’05. Bottom Row: Steve Chan ’98, Murphy Robinson ’06, Director of College Counseling Sonia Arora ’01. n

A growing start-up business expands your opportunities.

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Integrity is crucial. Find people you trust, and treat other people well.

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M eans are the ends in themselves.

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Y ou will know when it’s time to change careers or jobs when means and ends diverge.

Don’t burn bridges, and learn to navigate tenuous relationships.

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T ake advantage of team relationships and opportunities.

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Take control of your own journey.

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B efore going off on your own, it’s okay to make mistakes when someone else is paying your salary.

Lessons learned at CA: n

I was given the permission to fail.

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I didn’t realize the value of CA until I left.

Embrace where you are. It’s just a process.

Enjoy the experience.

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My first two years were challenging. I had to learn how to learn.

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I learned it’s okay to struggle.

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CA is where I found my closest set of friends, including my wife.

Thank you Alumni Association Board!

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T eachers and coaches were always supportive, always encouraging.

The Alumni Board administers the activities of the Colorado Academy Alumni Association and upholds its bylaws and mission statement. The Alumni Board helps plan alumni events, raises funds for the Alumni CA Fund (annual campaign), and represents CA and the Alumni

Thank you to this year’s alumni panelists: Steve Chan ’98 (data scientist), Allison Kaptur ’05 (software engineer), Sheila Kumar ’06 (broadcast media producer), Cazes Martin ’98 (architect), Murphy Robinson ’06 (Deputy Mayor, City & County of Denver), and Jordan Sedlacek ’05 (veterinarian and medical writer). n

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R each out to speakers at conferences or on podcasts. They might enlighten you about career paths you haven’t considered.

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Don’t be afraid if college is challenging.

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Associations bring about assimilations.

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Immerse yourself in a different part of the country or the world.

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It’s okay to learn on the ground.

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H obbies can fulfill other interests.

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Opportunities to grow are supposed to be hard.

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D on’t chase the money. Experience is your currency. The money will follow.

Colorado Academy Journal

S urround yourself with a broad spectrum of friends who emulate how you want to live.

Association in the community.

A special thanks to our officers: President Elsa Woolley ’11, VP of Development Georgia Grey ’08, VP of School Relations Brian Parks ’96, and Co-VPs of Special Events Jared Harding ’97 and Ben Hock ’07. n

Class Notes Be Connected!

1963

Class Notes is one of the most popular and well-read sections of the CA Journal. It provides a forum for alumni to share their news, from professional accomplishments and accolades, to marriages, births, and anything else fellow alumni might find interesting. Thank you for sharing your updates. We love hearing from you!

Michael Underwood is awaiting the ability to travel, after 15 months of quarantine and two vaccinations. He writes, “Quiet here in Hobe Sound, Fla. Thankful there is a return to normalcy in the governing structure, but am concerned about the divisions that have been exposed. I hope to get out to Colorado this summer/fall. I recently, through social media, have connected with some old classmates, which is a treat after all this time.”

Don’t See Your Class Year?

If your year doesn’t appear in the Class Notes, it means we didn’t receive any notes from your class. We really (really!) want to hear from you. Your news and photos are always welcome.

1961 60th Reunion September 17-18, 2021 Don’t miss this Reunion!

The Class of 1961 held a Zoom class meeting in January 2021 to discuss their 60th Reunion. Joining them was Garry Mitchell ’60. Hope to see you all in September!

1962 60-Year Reunion May 20-21, 2022

John Ragsdale ’62

John Ragsdale continues as a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School and is about to start his 50th year.

“Time, like money, flies and says good-bye!” he reports. “It’s still great fun, and the year of online was interesting, and necessary, as I had a rigorous case of COVID-19. With plenty of whining and the aid of two subsequent doses of Pfizer vaccine, I feel fine now, though I missed the ski season.

I’m still playing tennis, golf, and looking forward to hiking and kayaking in Colorado this summer. My lovely wife Lisa and luminous daughter Sydney are both attorneys and committed to the Innocence Project and civil justice in general. They will be out west this summer, too. Hope to see you all!”

Top Row (L to R) Bobby Sahlen ’61, Sue Burleigh, Rory Donaldson ’61. Second Row: Kent Drummond ’61, Len Aitken ’61, Garry Mitchell ’60. Bottom Row: Chum Howe ’61, Michael Piel ’61.

1965 David Abbott says he followed CDC advice and basically stayed home for the past 12-plus months. “My social activity has been via Zoom meetings. Being able to see people, as well as hear them, is pleasant. Matt Wells ’64 recently got me reconnected with members of our old Boy Scout Troop. Reconnecting with these guys after 60 years is a new experience.

Our discussions are focused on what we’re doing now. I continue to write on geoscience professional ethics issues.”

Joel Schulman, MD, who is nationally recognized in his field of Retinal Ophthalmology, has written three books, including a 1,000-page examination of Vitreo Retinal Surgery. While on staff at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center of Ophthalmology, Joel was on the LSU admissions committee for 15 years. He was the co-founder of the American Society of Retinal Specialists, which currently has more than 4,000 members internationally.

Greg Lewis has published a new novel in verse for young readers, Chasing Wonder.

A labor of love taking seven years to complete, the book is an aquatic life lesson, written in six-line

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rhyming stanzas, that follows the journey of a loveable oyster named Wonder who is thrown out of his oyster bed. Wonder lives in the land of “Curiosity” and meets and confronts new challenges and learns the meaning of friendship and community.

Greg has also created a teachers’ guide and narration of the entire book, with an original musical prelude for each chapter, written

by Aspen composer David Melton. Take a listen at davidmelton.hearnow.com/. Greg has been writing most of his life and says of his Upper School English teacher, “Mr. Slevin changed my life. He awakened a force within me that has never waned.”

1966 Tim Lappen and his wife Gail are still living in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Their five children all live within twenty minutes of them, so they often see their “kids” and their 12 grandchildren, who range in age from

two to 26 years. Tim just celebrated his 45th year of law practice, 35 with the same firm.

His peers voted him Lawyer of the Year for trusts and estates and for closely-held and family-owned businesses in Los Angeles in 2018, 2020, and 2021. Tim’s Family Office and Luxury Home Groups continue to be an asset for the firm. His law firm’s website is jmbm.com/timothy-lappen.

While at CA, Tim’s love of cars can be attested to by classmates Craig Cropsey, Mike Parmakian, and Paul Whistler. His interest continues unabated, as he also just celebrated his eighth year as an official automotive journalist. As a member of the Autowriters Guild and the Motor Press Guild, he remains the Fine Autos Editor for Haute Living, Haute Time, Haute Residence, and Haute Auto online and in print. Tim recently took on the role of Fine Autos Contributor for the Beverly Hills Courier. His automotive website is LifeInTheFastLane.org.

Tim Lappen ’66

Tim writes, “CA was a special place for me.

I joined in the 12th grade and may have been the only ‘new kid’ that year. I had a number of great experiences—learned to ski, was on the football and basketball teams for my first time, and so on.”

Check out the website Pop Bop Rock Honor

Legacy Giving Make an impact that lasts beyond your lifetime.

Leave a legacy gift to CA.

Legacy donors are recognized as members of CA’s Musil Society, which was created in 1992 in memory of former CA teacher A.J. Musil, who left his estate to the school. Like Mr. Musil, you can make a gift to CA as part of a will or trust. Other possible legacy giving options include charitable trusts, charitable annuities, and beneficiary designations of IRAs and insurance policies. Blended giving allows you to give now—and be recognized now— but also contribute in the future.

If you are interested in learning more about legacy giving and the Musil Society, please contact Gravely Wilson, Advancement Officer, 303-914-2543.

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Class Notes

Colorado Academy Jazz Band, The Preps, in 1965

Roll, kimsloans.wordpress.com/pop-boprock-honor-roll/, for highlights on new Hall of Fame members, Dan Newman, Josh Filley ’65, and Charlie Nicola ’68. The site remembers musicians from Colorado’s early music scene who practiced in garages or basements and played at local clubs, or on high school or college campuses.

Also mentioned is the band formed by former Assistant US Principal, Tom Lee, the Colorado Academy Preps. Practicing after school, the swing band recorded a vinyl LP released on the Band Box label.

It is difficult to find but is available in the Colorado Academy Archives. Dan recalls, “The recording was done in the library at CA by Allen Banbury, another teacher, with two Shure microphones into an Ampex reel-to-reel two track recorder.” The website chronicles the bands Dan, Josh, and Charlie played for, including The Exists, Finders Keepers, Funk Train, and Bloodstone. Josh Filley, who formed the Kool Kats in 1973, representing Denver radio station KOOL 105 as their house band, is still playing with them, under the name Cruisin’ Cats.

1967 Campbell Dalglish will have his feature documentary Savage Land screened on PBS. Campbell was the co-writer, director, and producer of the film, which reveals 150 years of historical trauma that the descendants of the Sand Creek and Washita Massacres have endured. View the trailer on the D’arc Productions website, darcproductions.net.

Randall Smith ’69 during his time as a commercial industrial diver

Jim Guggenheim and his wife Janet sold their home in Denver and moved to Virginia Beach, Va., all of which was accomplished in 30 days, including the purchase of a newly built home. “We made the decision that if you want your grandchildren to know you, you have to move.”

1968 Jeff Baker writes, “Well, it’s been a crazy year for sure. I retired back in September 2020 and have never looked back. I started volunteering at a small horse rescue facility outside of Scottsdale, Ariz. It has been a very rewarding experience. I have now signed up with another horse rescue ranch in the Rio Verde area outside of Scottsdale.

The ranch has a herd of 65 horses that came to the ranch by different circumstances.

I’m assisting with the supplements team twice a week along with helping around the ranch. Good times! I met up with Jeff Reynolds ’67, a former roommate at CA, in Wickenburg, Ariz. It was great seeing him— many memories.”

In January 2021, Jeff had his left hip replaced. He reports he is doing very well.

In the past weeks, he has been able to ride his bike again, ride horses on a number of occasions, and hike. Recently he began hitting golf balls at the range. Jeff credits his excellent doctor and the great therapy.

1969 Randall Smith, currently living in Ogden, Utah, wrote to the CA Alumni Association

in late 2020. Included with his letter were fascinating photos from his career as a commercial diver. He started in the industry, following one semester at the University of Colorado. Randall also spent a semester at Colorado School of Mines and a summer semester at University of Galveston, where he studied writing.

Randall received an associate degree in Applied Science at the Highline Community College as a Diving Technician.

He worked as a tender and then as a diver in New Orleans. His jobs included underwater photography, plug and abandons (setting explosive charges in a casing), and laying pipeline underwater.

Randall moved back to Colorado and started his own commercial diving company. One of his more interesting jobs was using the underwater robot DART (Deep Access Underwater Television), to successfully locate the intake structure at the Cherry Creek Reservoir. The DART was necessary because of the altitude; at that time, no one knew how long a diver could stay underwater at a mile-high elevation.

Underwater Submarine Engineering flew in a prototype of their DART vehicle for him to use, at no cost to Colorado.

In the early 1980s, Randall moved to California and obtained his law degree. He started practicing law (criminal, business litigation, personal injury, and wills and trusts) in December 1984. In 2005, Randall retired and moved to Utah to take care of his elderly mother, now 94 years old.

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1970 Tim Karstrom writes, “As Mark Twain once said, ‘Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.’ All of us in our immediate Karstrom Clan, even Kevin ’72, are doing very well, or at least hoppin’ along. Two of our three sons, Gabe, Andrew, and Martin, are married. My wife, Luz Maria, has remained curious about what I did at CA and in Colorado during 1968-1970, and actually thru 1974. If the Class of 1970 has a specific plan, I will try to be there on Alumni Weekend.”

Rod Oram ’70 riding in the Tour of New Zealand Cycle Race

Rod Oram completed a 6th Tour of New Zealand Cycle Race and reports it was a wonderful adventure. The two teams he organized finished third and fifth in the mixed team category.

1971 50th Reunion September 17-18, 2021 Don’t miss this Reunion!

Erik Steinberg retired and is residing in Taos, N.M. He recently wrapped up a 43-year-long career as an alpine ski coach. Erik coached three Olympic teams, including a Gold Medal winner (Bill Johnson, downhill) in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. He was also executive director of Ski Club Vail for many years.

Portuguese Man painted by T. Jacira Paolino, class of ’74

Read about Harry Waters, Jr. on page 36.

1972 50-Year Reunion May 20-21, 2022

1974

Elizabeth Lippitt ’77 with her horse Skibo. The name means peaceful place in Gaelic!

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Colorado Academy Journal

T. Jacira Paolino is well and surviving the pandemic in Lisbon, Portugal. She admits getting bored watching Netflix, so Jacira taught herself to paint, using YouTube videos. She had never taken a class before.

Jacira reports Portugal had a third major wave of COVID-19 in January 2021 and went to strict stay-at-home lockdown until April 2021. She writes, “Although our numbers are better and there are no longer ambulances lined up outside of

the ER waiting to drop off patients, the government deems it prudent to continue wearing masks and socially distancing, as well as staying home as much as possible.”

1975 Gary Coombs announced his retirement, effective June 1, 2021, following a year and a half of teaching courses at Ohio University remotely due to COVID-19 protocols. While teaching was going fine, in terms of student satisfaction and learning, Gary did not find it very satisfying personally and professionally. He really missed the direct student interaction and engaging in real in-class discussion, rather than seeing students’ initials or faces on Microsoft Teams. Gary ponders, “Maybe it’s a case of old dogs and new tricks. In any case, Amy and I are looking forward to spending more time with my 91-year-old father, who lives nearby, spending extended time at our vacation home at the Delaware beaches, eventually getting to travel more to see our sons in Portland, Ore. and Cambridge, Mass. (plus elsewhere domestically and abroad), and hopefully the reopening of Broadway in the not-too-distant future. I do have a co-authored book manuscript currently in the editorial/revision process for a series on teaching methods in business, focusing on project-based and problem-based learning techniques. If we get it through the editorial process successfully, it will be published by Edward Elgar press in the UK for international distribution.”

1977 Elizabeth Lippitt is retired from Los Angeles Superior Court and is living in the Roaring Fork Valley. She is occupying her time with horseback riding, golf, and traveling when things open. Elizabeth writes, “It has been a ride....I lost my home in the Woolsey Fire disaster of November 2018. I moved five times before I finally figured out what was most important in life, so retired and moved back to Colorado. I’m now in a place where family and friends can visit. It is very peaceful to be back after 35 years in Los Angeles! I look back and think, how did I survive?!”

Class Notes

1981 40th Reunion May 20-21, 2022 Don’t miss this Reunion!

1982 40-Year Reunion May 20-21, 2022

1983 George Newton retired after 28 years of active duty service in both the Air Force and Navy, comprising five combat deployments and 13 household moves. His wife Lisa and two daughters, Natalie and Ava, settled in Northern Virginia. George is now beginning a new chapter of his career at a local community hospital in their area.

George says, “Having left the strict grooming standards of the military, my wife has assured me that a man-bun, earring, and goatee are not in my future. My wife and I spent most of the last nine months apart, as we prepared for our new lives in the civilian world. She diligently settled our family in Virginia, managing all the day-to-day operations of single parenting two kids while moving into a new house, while I stayed behind in San Diego, completing my commitment of service to this great nation. Selected as the Vice Chair of the Anesthesia Department and the COVID-19 policy and procedure subject matter expert for our hospital’s surgical services, the year was quite busy with re-engineering our operating room spaces and securing supply chains to continuously provide the protective equipment for our operating room personnel. Throughout all of 2020, I was one of only two people in our directorate who became infected with COVID-19. This was quite a success, as we continued providing surgical care to our beneficiaries for the better part of 2020.

“I continue to see Patrick Friedauer, and the lovely Ron Adams family throughout the years, mostly on the beautiful beaches of Coronado. I’m not quite sure how I am going to lure them to Northern Virginia. Looking forward to a possible on-campus visit for the big 40-year reunion in 2023! Who else is in?”

1986 Marc Friedman moved to Colorado from California during the pandemic. He, with his wife Mana and daughter Kyla, are happily living in Parker, Colo.

How is Daniel Lopez, former CA faculty member, filling his time while waiting to be deployed by the Peace Corps?

Here’s his answer: “Meeting virtually with colleagues in Costa Rica through the CR Corps, costaricacorps.org/. Serving as a Spanish Translator and Cultural Advisor for the Department of Health and Human Services at the Mexican Border through the National Language Service Corps.

Mentoring immigrants who have applied for U.S. citizenship through Lutheran Family Services. Reviewing applications for the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms program. Visiting friends in Bellingham, Wash. and Woodstock, Vt., thanks to the Pfizer vaccine. Planning a sea-kayaking trip to Alaska. Going on lots of hikes in Golden.

Subbing whenever needed at CA.” Read more about Daniel on page 68.

First Row (L to R): Natalie and Ava Newton. Second Row (L to R): Lisa and George Newton ’83.

Read about Lisa Tepper Bates on page 34.

1987 Both Jim Westerberg and Nicole Moore Behrhorst are parents of CA Freshmen, JD Westerberg and Tate Behrhorst. This spring they were frequently seen at JV Lacrosse games.

1988 Gabriela Cowperthwaite Wilbur is the director of Our Friend, her most recent film. It is based on a true story, adapted from freelance journalist Matt Teague’s article “The Friend,” which was originally featured in Esquire and took the National Magazine Award in 2015. The story is of a couple with two young daughters.

When the wife is diagnosed with terminal cancer, their best friend puts his own life on

Alumni watch spring CA Lacrosse, L to R: Jim Westerberg ’87, Patrick Neely ’88, Nicole Moore Behrhorst ’87

hold and moves in with the family to offer help and support. Gabriela says, “This story tells us that, if one day you get back up on your feet after losing someone, you can look back and see that, when you did sink into the abyss, there was someone there to break your fall.”

1989 Peter Stout has turned the Houston Forensics Science Center into the premier forensic lab in the nation, as documented

by The Christian Science Monitor in a recent article, “CSI Houston: How a Texas Lab has Remade the Science of Forensics.” What is even more remarkable, in 2003, the HPD crime lab was labeled the worst in the country by the New York Times. When

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1995 John Beich wrote in December, “I was talking to Liston Hills tonight. He really was my first friend in life. We played YMCA soccer before we attended Kindergarten at CA. While we were chatting, I mentioned that we are looking to place our youngest son Hudson in Kindergarten here in New York City. I realized we are really looking for a school that will be as close as we can get to recreating my wonderful 13 years at CA. The conversation with Liston, our search for Hudson’s school, and the CA Journal on my coffee table all reminded me of how formative and special my years at CA were. All of my closest friends are people I met at CA. In most cases, we have been friends for 35+ years.

Peter Stout ’89 at a crime scene in Houston

From Top: Locklyn (3) and Hattie (7 mo.), daughters of Colin Gumm ’94

speaking of the President and CEO of the lab, Dr. Peter Stout, the Monitor reports, “His life has been defined by a quixotic search to bring scientific truth to the justice system, a search that has led him to the cutting edge of criminal justice reform, heading what some call the nation’s most advanced and innovative crime lab, the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC).”

Admittedly as the focus of the story, Peter is slightly self-conscious, but the details of investigations, the procedures, and the drive to frequently test the lab’s results by introducing “fake evidence” to blind tests are fascinating. As Peter says, “We have to take the responsibility to produce [forensic evidence] as rigorously as we can. Because the number of trials that swing on one piece of physical evidence is really terrifying.”

1991 30th Reunion May 20-21, 2022 Don’t miss this Reunion!

1992 30-Year Reunion May 20-21, 2022

1994 Hudson (L) and Maple, children of John Beich ’95

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Colorado Academy Journal

Colin Gumm and his wife Kimsey welcomed their second daughter on September 15, 2020. Hattie joins big sister Locklyn. Read more about Colin on page 49.

“It occurs to me that I’ve never done anything with the Alumni Association— mostly because I’ve been in NYC for 18 years working at every level of education and starting a family. My wife Elif just had our second baby on October 10, 2020, Maple Beich. She is very sweet. I’m a lucky father and husband.

“I am now Deputy Head of School at York Prep, right on Central Park. You will recognize the front of our building in the movie Elf. I’ve been at York Prep for three years. Before that I was a teacher for eight years, and the Middle School Director for seven years, at Stephen Gaynor School.

All of this with a specialty in learning disabilities, which is what brought me here originally to get my master’s degree from Columbia Teachers College in Learning Disabilities. It’s been an amazing journey here in NYC. “Anyway, I thought I’d give you a quick update and ask if there is anything I can do for CA. It was a remarkably formative part of my life. I owe so much to the teachers and administrators. I loved every year there. Stay in touch.”

1996 25th Reunion May 20-21, 2022 Don’t miss this Reunion!

James Jackson moved back to the Denver area in 2019 and now lives in Littleton with his husband Brian and their two-

Class Notes year-old identical twin daughters, Aurora and Brooklyn. James is an emergency physician working with the HealthOne system, though currently spends most of his time in the Swedish Hospital system. In addition to working and entertaining his twin daughters, James is also working on an MBA and currently trying to work off the COVID-19 20 lbs. he gained.

them in the past few years, which was very, very special. It’s amazing to watch them where I too grew up!”

1997

The Last Cruise is the true story of the Diamond Princess, the ship which sailed from Yokohama, Japan, on January 20, 2020. The documentary reveals the experiences of the ship’s passengers and crew when the first uncontained COVID-19 outbreak occurs outside of China and exposes the threat of the new virus at the beginning of the world-wide pandemic, hbo.com/documentaries/the-last-cruise.

25-Year Reunion May 20-21, 2022

1999 Read about Nat Robinson on page 32.

2000 Travis Dennis is thrilled to report his family purchased land outside of Lyons, Colo., which they are developing into festival grounds for small camping and live music events. It will also include a glamping property with a couple of yurts and large pole tents that they will rent out. He writes, “It has been a dream come true! I studied Concert and Festival promotion in college at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., and this project has been a long time coming. But, the time has come and the time is here! I hunted for property for several years, looking for that right piece of land. In January, I found that right property! It is very exciting. Also, Annabelle (12) is now in the Sixth Grade at CA’s Middle School and Lilah (9) is trucking along at CA in the Third Grade. I am a very proud father to see them learn and grow at CA. They are both goalies on their CA Lacrosse teams, which is awesome. I got to coach both of

Stray, produced by Shane Boris ’00

Shane Boris had two new documentary films released in March 2021. Stray, available to view on Netflix, looks at the stray dog population in Istanbul and simultaneously uncovers truths about the human condition, straymovie.com/.

It is with great pleasure that Tess Vigil Goldhamer and her husband Aaron Goldhamer ’99 announce the birth of their daughter, Georgia “Gigi” Elizabeth Vigil Goldhamer. Her Hebrew name is Gal Carmel, Gal to keep the Gs going, and Carmel for Tess’s grandmother Carmen of blessed memory. Gigi was born at Rose Hospital (Aaron’s birthplace) at 37 weeks, tipping the scales at 4 lbs. 12 oz. She had a short NICU stay, but was home soon. Aaron and Tess say, “All in all, we were very grateful for the care we received, especially because we had an over-week-long stay at Hotel Rose at 33 weeks and were looking at a possible lengthy NICU stay at that point. We are bleary-eyed but very happy!”

Sarah Holland-Batt’s poem “The Gift” was published in the New Yorker magazine in February 2021.

From Left: James Jackson ’96, Brooklyn, Brian, Aurora

Front: Lilah Dennis. Second Row (L to R): Lisa, Annabelle, and Travis Dennis ’00.

Georgia “Gigi” Elizabeth, daughter of Tess Vigil Goldhamer ’00 and Aaron Goldhamer ’99

The Last Cruise, produced by Shane Boris ’00

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From Left: Whitney, Zach ’00, Emily, and Micah Tucker

2001 20th Reunion May 20-21, 2022 Don’t miss this Reunion!

Lisa Blattner is an attorney and fiduciary at the Blattner Law Firm, LLC in Colorado Springs. She is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Southern Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. Lisa won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2016 and was nominated as the Small Business Person of the Year with the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado.

After spending more than a decade as a professional dancer, teaching and touring around the globe, Jon Sloven retired from the stage and began his career in accounting. After working alongside his father for four years, Jon recently received his

Phoebe Coleman ’03 (R) with Carla Hayden, President of the Library of Congress

CPA designation. He lives in Chicago with his partner of seven years, Sidney, and started a new job at an accounting firm this past fall.

Zach Tucker and his wife Emily are thrilled to announce the birth of their son, Micah. He was born on the 21st minute of the 21st hour of the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century, 9:21 p.m. on January 21, 2021! He arrived just in time to meet his grandfather, Zach’s father Rob, before his passing.

2002 20-Year Reunion May 20-21, 2022 Read about Sarah Brill on page 30.

2003 Phoebe Coleman completed a 15-month Leadership Development Program at the Library of Congress.

Katie Cordes is now fully vaccinated and looking forward to hanging out with more than just her dog, Bleecker. Katie has been back in the saddle more, riding her horse again. She is also acting as social media manager for Erika Mori.

Erika Mori performs the body capture, facial capture, and voice of the playable lead character and protagonist Alex in the new video game Life is Strange—True Colors.

It is the most recent game in the popular series by Square Enix and Deck Nine that mixes coming-of-age stories with the supernatural. According to the Washington Post, “All characters have been fully animated with motion capture technology, a first for the franchise. True Colors is described as the most visually advanced game yet in the series. Fans can also expect a wide array of licensed and original music, much like previous entries.”

Taylor Ross’s classmates will appreciate and enjoy the way he proposed to Elizabeth Polsin of Bremerton, Wash. on New Year’s Eve 2020, with a RingPop. Because Taylor is a dentist and Elizabeth is a general surgeon, and because of COVID-19 uncertainty, they must schedule their ceremony far in advance. The couple will wed in Parker, Colo. in 2022.

2004

Life is Strange—True Colors, starring Erika Mori ’03

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Joe Kaptur took every Computer Science class offered at CA with Ms. Jans, which propelled him into a career in technology. To show his appreciation, Joe visited her classes for an entire day in February (via Zoom) and

Class Notes

Joe Kaptur ’04

From Left: Candace and Austin Nunn ’04 with baby Freya

answered students’ questions about paths to careers in the technology sector.

especially Black and Indigenous People of Color. Aaron is the author of two books, The Color Code and Invisible: The Black and Blues of Child Welfare. Both books are resources to support and complement efforts toward social and racial justice and healing and to undo the harm of racism in America.

Aaron is also on the Cherry Creek School Foundation Board of Directors, where he is committed to inclusive excellence for students, teachers, parents, and community members. In addition, Aaron is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.

After pursuing a Computer Science degree at Columbia University in New York City, Joe first worked at Merrill Lynch, before securing a job at Google as a software engineer.

During the past 10 years at Google, Joe has worked on several collaborative teams, including software development of Google Sheets and Google Search. His current focus is creating a new programming language for use in Google Search.

Joe had some specific advice for the students: “Pay attention to how you spend your early college summers—tech companies have internships available.”

Austin Nunn and his wife Candace McLellan welcomed Freya Nunn into the world on November 16, 2020. Freya is enjoying life in Vancouver, B.C. and looking forward to her first trip to Colorado.

Elena Harman has been named to the Board of Directors of AfricAid. She first became involved with AfricAid as part of the AfricAid Club at Colorado Academy, where she attended school with AfricAid founder Ashley Shuyler Carter ’03. The

year 2021 marks AfricAid’s 20th anniversary.

Elena credits her participation in this service-learning club with igniting her passion for girls’ education. This, and her work advising organizations on how to use evaluation as a way to maximize their impact, inspired her to join the Board.

Currently, Elena serves as the Manager of Strategy at SonderMind. She is also the former CEO and founder of Vantage Evaluation, Colorado’s leading partner, resource, and voice for evaluation. Elena is the author of The Great Nonprofit Evaluation Reboot: A New Approach Every Staff Member Can Understand, an active member of the American Evaluation Association, and the 2019 President of the Colorado Evaluators Network. She holds a BS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT and both an MA and PhD in Evaluation and

Read about Marcus King-Stockton on page 30.

2005 Aaron Green and his wife Traci happily announced the birth of their second son Elijah, born in January 2020. Big brother Aaron Jr. is thrilled to have a brother. Aaron is the Founder and CEO of Aaron Ross Green Sr., LLC (aaronrossgreen.com), which is a consulting firm dedicated to elevate the antiracist footprint of organizations worldwide. He facilitates and trains small, medium, and large agencies and institutions in how to create and become spaces that champion equity and inclusion for all,

From Left: Aaron Jr., Traci, Aaron ’05, and Elijah Green

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From Left: Brett Hite and James Sunderland ’05 of the band Frenship

Georgia Grey ’08

Murphy McGinnis (post carrots), son of Myles McGinnis ’08

Jake Sally ’08

Applied Research Methods from Claremont Graduate University.

caseload management, and provision of quality care to patients and their families.

Jordan Sedlacek recently started a new job as a regulatory medical writer for a company called Synterex Inc., based in Boston. She works remotely from her home in Fort Collins, Colo. In addition, Jordan is still working as an emergency veterinarian while finishing her residency in canine sports medicine and rehabilitation. To complete the residency, she is finishing two studies on rehabilitation of back injuries in dachshunds and the mobilization of stem cells with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Murphy Robinson III was named one of Denver Business Journal’s 2021 “40 under 40.”

He is the Deputy Mayor and Public Safety Director of the City and County of Denver.

James Sunderland and his pop duo partner in the band Frenship, Brett Hite, were featured in a New York Times article, “Musicians Say Streaming Doesn’t Pay. Can the Industry Change?” in May 2021.

Frenship’s first hit, “Capsize,” had huge success on Spotify. They signed briefly with Columbia but are preparing their next release independently.

Read about Austin Carpenter on page 49.

2006

Dori Wey ’08 (R) with baby William, and husband Alex with Kennedy Ann

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Colorado Academy Journal

Aimée Nieuwenhuizen was recently promoted to clinical lead therapist of the inpatient therapy department at the psychiatric hospital where she works. In addition to carrying her own caseload of patients, Aimée provides support and guidance to the inpatient team, including training interns and new therapists. She helps with staffing, caseload assignments, projects, and coordination amongst departments and disciplines to aid in crisis management across the hospital. Nominated by her peers, she has received several awards for her passion and dedication to the field, organization and

2008 Georgia Grey runs a holistic nutrition practice, Whole Body Healing Nutrition Co., out of Nurture, a “wellcare” marketplace in the Highlands neighborhood in Denver.

She helps people feel well through food and self-care, specializing in autoimmune disorders. www.wbhnutritionco.com Myles McGinnis and his wife Mo were excited to welcome their first child Murphy on September 24, 2020. In addition to working full-time and being a new father, Myles graduated in mid-May with a master’s degree in Real Estate from CU Boulder Leeds School of Business. He reports it was extremely challenging and rewarding.

Jake Sally is the COO of Jadu, a software company based in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia and a proprietary web experience management platform used for non-technical management of web-based content, data, and electronic documents. He was the executive producer for Time magazine’s Emmy-nominated virtual reality recreation of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech directed

by Viola Davis.

Dori Shockley Wey and her husband Alex are thrilled to announce the birth of William Knowles Wey, born on December 21, 2020 at 7lbs. 5oz. and 20 ins. long. Big sister Kennedy Ann loves her new brother.

Class Notes

Will Biche and Julia Newman ’09

2009 Julia Newman finished her Internal Medicine Residency at Boston Medical Center and is starting a fellowship in palliative care at Beth Israel this July. In addition, she is applying for a Pulmonary/ Critical care fellowship. Julia also has plans to marry William Biche next year. Julia writes, “Now that Will and I are vaccinated, we have been spending lots of time with CA alumni Hunter Davis, Katie Ozawa, and Steele Sternberg!”

2011 10th Reunion May 20-21, 2022 Don’t miss this Reunion!

A sign of the times at a holiday gathering of 2013 alumni, masked and distanced: Griff O’Brien (yellow hat), hosted Bailey Fritzinger (pink scarf), Ian Peterson (purple hoodie), and Hailey Bittman (bottom left) to catch up in December 2020!

In June 2021, Jed Paul graduated with his MD and MBA from Stanford University and moved to Boston with his new wife Rachel to start his Internal Medicine Residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

2013 Taylor Rabb graduated from the Sturm

College of Law, University of Denver, in May. Her family was in attendance.

2015 In 2017, while still college students, Thomas Brazier and Charlie Naus formed CarsonDoyle (their two middle names), a creative agency that focuses

Joel Berdie currently lives in Durango, Colo. He is completing a master’s degree in Social Work with the University of Denver Graduate School of Social WorkFour Corners, while continuing his job in supportive housing. Of course, Joel also takes time to play in the mountains around Southwest Colorado.

2012 10-Year Reunion May 20-21, 2022

From Left: Evan Rabb ’15 with his sister Taylor Rabb ’13

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Class Notes

2018 The artwork of Leilani Abeyta was featured on the PBS documentary, “Mr. Barney Ford,” on Colorado Experience, about an amazing African American entrepreneur. Her work involved 20 visuals.

Ji-young Yoo (SunHee Seo) ’17

Karl Neserke ’17

on social media marketing and helping startups understand branding. Today, their company is a full-blown digital advertising agency, working with clients like direct-toconsumer brand Backcountry Access, active water bottle company Modl Outdoors, and even the dating app Tinder.

CarsonDoyle, based in Denver and London, is made up of eight full-time Gen Zers, all under 25 years old. Their success is their ability to connect with younger audiences.

They were ahead of the curve with internal infrastructure when the pandemic hit, and consumers’ online shopping habits exploded. That edge over their competitors ultimately won the agency work with Tinder. Currently, the agency focuses on digital, paid media, creative, and of course, offering first-hand research and insights. One day, they hope to be the next Wieden+Kennedy, with an in-house accounts team, planners, and media buyers.

2016 Angelina Leonardi graduated from Skidmore College in 2020 with a BA in Chemistry and a minor in French. She is a research assistant with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder and an affiliate with the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory.

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Angelina is part of the Atmospheric Composition & Chemical Processes (ACCP) group, where she is a working on the Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical & Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP). ASM is the largest meteorological pattern in the Northern Hemisphere. She will be working with the UASO3 instrument to optimize the measure of ozone in the stratosphere on a mission in South Korea during the summer of 2022. Angelina also performs ozone data processing, using Igor Pro analysis software. This fall, she plans to begin her PhD in Physical Chemistry, with a research focus in Atmospheric Chemistry.

2017 Karl Neserke won the Computer Accuracy competition at the National Intercollegiate Flight Association (NIFA) National Championships. He also placed fifth in the Aircraft Recognition competition, helping his team the Golden Eagles, Embry Riddle University - Prescott, earn the National Championship. In 2019, Karl also won the Computer Accuracy competition, and since there were no competitions in 2020, he is the three-year reigning champion.

SunHee Seo graduated from USC in May and has already begun her acting career in full force. Taking the fall semester off, Ji-young Yoo (her stage name) joined the cast of The Sky is Everywhere from Apple TV and A24. Ji-young also appears in Amy Poehler’s Netflix comedy Moxie and recently starred in the East West Players production of the comedic thriller Man of God at the Union Center for Arts.

Avery Niles took a gap year from film school at Emerson College to work in Los Angeles as a colorist for music videos, commercials, and short films.

She is simultaneously training with artists at Company 3, where projects include Superbowl ads and big Hollywood blockbusters like Marvel, DC, and HBO’s Euphoria. Avery has found many clients of her own and is contemplating a transfer to USC’s cinematic program, which would provide a wide scope of connections and clients. However, she might just continue working at the studio, since it is where she would like to stay after graduation. Stay tuned!

Stay Connected Colorado Academy Connect coloradoacademyconnect.org

A secure online networking resource for CA Alumni. Connect with classmates, lend expertise, mentor others, or share job opportunities.

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linkedin.com/groups/117744 Join the more than 800 CA Alumni already registered!

CA Alumni Newsletter Do you receive the online Alumni Newsletter in your email box? There are stories from campus, Alumni features, and more in this newsletter, which is published three times a year: January, April, and October. To subscribe contact sue.burleigh@coloradoacademy.org. at the Alumni office.

In Memoriam

Ashley Bain ’94, as pictured in the 1994 Telesis yearbook

John Barr ’72, as pictured in the 1972 Telesis yearbook

Jerry Dean Tucker ’49 in his CMS uniform

Ashley Bain ’94

a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity. John moved to New York City, where he studied music, before returning to Kansas to start his hat business.

Lakewood, and finally Delta, Colo. in 1993.

Jerry served in the U.S. Air Force, managed country clubs, and spent many years working for the U.S. Geological Survey.

John is survived by his mother, stepfather, and three siblings. As John remembered in 1998, “The whole experience at CA is something I would not trade. Starting in 7th grade and being the only 7th grade sevenday boarder was tough. I was homesick for a time, but I was definitely prepared to leave home after a year. The experience unrelated to academics is what I remember and am glad for. The staff was top notch.”

Jerry was an avid reader, gun enthusiast, rock collector, and inventor. In his retirement, he ran a private lab on his property, where he worked with energy research, rocks and minerals, and reconstructing gemstones.

Always handy, Jerry had the ability to fix anything, enjoyed telling stories, and was known for his generosity.

A

shley Bain died peacefully on May 1, 2021, at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver, Colo. at the age of 44.

Ashley, the daughter of Annette and Harry Bain, sister to Yvette, aunt to Cameron, Ariana, and Kayleigh Bain, lived in Littleton.

Ashley was a caring and loving daughter, aunt, and friend to many, and devoted her life to family and friends, and she will be missed by all who knew and loved her. She was the owner of a mortgage company and contract processing company, A+ Processing Solutions, offering contract mortgage loan processing to lenders and brokers and providing mortgage service.

A small private family memorial service was held at Horan and McConaty Funeral Home in Centennial.

Condolences may be left at: tributearchive.com/obituaries/20979262/ Ashley-Bain

Herbert John Barr III ’72

J

ohn Barr, age 67, died January 30, 2021, in Ellsworth, Kan. John was born July 2, 1953, and lived most of his life in Kansas. He sold western hats under the trade name Johnny Bingo. John attended Colorado Academy for six years. Following graduation, he attended and graduated from the University of Kansas, where he was

Jerry Dean Tucker ’49

J

erry was born on December 14, 1930, and passed away peacefully at the age of 89 on March 16, 2020. He received full military honors at Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery in Grand Junction, Colo.

Jerry was born in Gordon, Neb. and enrolled at Colorado Military School (now Colorado Academy) in the fall of 1945. Jerry was a charter member of the Pilot’s Club at CMS in 1948, studying ground school subjects in the winter and flying aircraft in April from the Englewood Airport. He graduated in 1949.

Jerry wed Anna Mae Prime on September 10, 1955, and enjoyed 64 years of marriage.

Together they lived in Boulder, Estes Park, Nederland, Grants, N.M., Durango,

In addition to his wife Anna, Jerry is survived by children Wyatt and Jeri (Steve), five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Condolences may be sent to: Mrs. Anna Tucker, 579 1800 Rd., Delta, CO 81416-3017

Gary L. Wilkinson ’60

G

ary L. Wilkinson, 77, of Oxford, Iowa died Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Iowa City. He was buried with Military Honors at the Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island, Ill. Gary came to CA in the fall of 1958. He was, in a way, a “Pioneer” of Colorado Academy, being one of only four young men in the first graduating class of CA. He played guard on the football team and received an >>>

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In Memoriam

Geoff Goral ’06

BY ALAN GORAL

T Gary Wilkinson ’60, as pictured in the 1960 Telesis yearbook

<<< award for the most outstanding player.

In addition, Gary played basketball, where his height became an advantage, baseball, and even tried the hurdles in track. He enjoyed the Glee Club and was the Vice-President of the Student Council. At Gary’s 50th Reunion, he remembered CA’s now-extinct football team and its influential Coach Bob Simms. Simms, he said, not only taught him how to play the game the right way, but gave him insight to personal capability.

That was Geoff, always willing to say, “yes:” to help his grandpa, to give a ride to his brother, to help his dad with a project, to plan a friend’s birthday party, to go on a 52-mile hike, or to comfort his dog.

Geoff started at Colorado Academy in the Fourth Grade. Quiet and cautious at first, each new friend became a friend for life. With Middle School came sports, and dances, and friends of the girl persuasion. Upper School brought more new friends, but he never abandoned the previous ones.

Gary’s family includes his wife, Loni Duncan; his children: Bryan Wilkinson (Katja), Eric Wilkinson (Michelle), Amy Wilkinson (Victor Pattella), and Laura Wilkinson; step-children: Ashley Dalziel-Sullivan (John Sullivan) and Clayton Duncan; eight grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; and Gary’s sister, Jeanne Foss (Duane).

The Baseball Team won the District Championship for the first time ever in ‘06.

The boys erupted from the dugout when Geoff hit his only high school home run in the semi-finals against rival Kent. Geoff’s two grandpas were witnesses that day to his triumph and to the genuine fraternity shared by the team.

Words that Gary wanted shared at this time: “I have had several roles in my life. They include son, brother, nephew, uncle, cousin, husband, father, grandfather, coach (soccer, baseball, basketball), student-athlete (8 high school varsity letters), student, graduate school class president, mentor, bureaucrat (ex-Fed), hospital director, retiree, politician (city council and mayor), farmer (wheat), military veteran (Navy), and friend. I have had a great time up to now and plan to continue doing just that. When I grew up, I had to learn to fight, run fast, or talk. I picked talking and haven’t stopped since.”

Lifelong friends made at CA were scattered to the collegiate winds, and Geoff landed in Boulder at CU. Geoff excelled as an architectural engineering student, specializing in lighting design.

Good student and diehard Buff fittingly described him, but what truly defined him was the way he made new friendships and connected them together. He found allies in skiing, hiking, biking, music, and socializing— and also found confederates in mischief, from goofy Halloween costumes to epic house parties.

To leave you with his favorite quote

by Walt Disney, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” n

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he family dog—Geoff’s dog, Scout— had to be put down. Geoff got the news from his mom as he drove to work. “Let me call you right back.” He pulled over to check flights on his phone.

A quick detour to gather a few things at his house in Redondo Beach, plus the bag he always kept packed, and he was on his way to LAX. He called back less than 30 minutes later. “I have a flight in an hour. I’ll be home in less than three hours.”

Colorado Academy Journal

Geoff and Aliey met in 2010. He was attending the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and she was the joyful, energetic sister of his

Geoff Goral ’06

roommate. In Aliey he found a partner who was his equal in connecting friends and shared his passion for life. She matched him in intellect, rivaled him in goofiness, and was a willing accomplice to his exploits. As kindred spirits, they saw their lives together as an adventure that was just beginning. A townhouse in Melbourne—complete with vegetable garden—became their home base.

Plans for a house in Colorado were near realization. Geoff’s notion of sending his Aussie-accented children to CA was becoming more than just a dream.

In his professional life, Geoff designed lighting for famous restaurants, hotels and resorts, around the world. He loved his job and strove for excellence in all aspects of his work. Honors came, but again, it was his ability to connect and make strong alliances that defined him.

Over a short, ten-year work career, Geoff sowed relationship seeds in numerous companies and organizations across a dozen countries.

Fond of saying, “we’ll sleep when we’re dead,” Geoff had a love of adventure and a disdain of lethargy—a body constantly in motion. His passions overflowed: chess enthusiast, skier, bike rider, photographer, mountaineer, gear hound, card counter, fly fisherman, softball guy, pilot, world traveler, outdoorsman, fantasy league manager, golfer, sports lover, Eagle Scout, musician, dog whisperer, builder, car guy, wood worker, CA Mustang, CU Buff, rock climber,

computer nerd, electronics wiz, discophile, investor, gardener, conversationalist, organizer and, above all, friend.

Former Faculty

He had the eyes of an artist, the mind of an engineer, the heart of a lion, the soul of an empath, the loyalty of a Labrador, the legs of a sherpa, the arms of a lover, and the hands of a carpenter.

A senseless automobile accident cut short Geoff’s life. Aliey miraculously survived the horrific crash, and her physical injuries have healed, but she may carry emotional burdens for the rest of her life. Even out of this tragedy, Geoff’s generosity of spirit shines through. His gift of organ donation has benefited at least six people directly.

Those improved lives, in turn, will brighten many more lives. Geoff’s connections continue to grow.

Unable as we are to know why Geoff left us so young, we have, nonetheless, felt the brilliance of him—the echoes of his life passing through our hearts and minds, leaving evidence of him, of memories and experiences yet imagined, shining a light, and guiding our journeys.

Geoff will forever connect us, degrees of separation now insignificant. We are intersecting circles, pulled closer together, gravitationally, toward the center—the polestar.

Consider the lucky 10-year-old boy who received Geoff’s heart. Wondrous adventures await that young man, when he begins to realize the power and passion of the new engine revving in his chest. Sleep can wait.

Geoff will be deeply missed by his partner Aliey Cheah, parents Alan and Gretchen, siblings Matthew and Madeline, and grandparents Brian and Verna Goral.

A celebration of Geoff’s life took place on the CA campus on June 12, 2021.

Contributions to a scholarship in Geoff’s name can be made at: giving.cu.edu/fund/geoff-goralmemorial-scholarship-fund n

Betsey and Charles Coleman at the inner harbor, Victoria, B.C.

B

etsey and Charles Coleman moved to Brentwood Bay, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada in February 2021. They reported that the drive took a horrendous four days, involving white-out conditions, an avalanche, and two sets of PCR COVID-19 tests. The first set were delayed because of the avalanche. Their daughter Phoebe Coleman ’03 accompanied them on the drive, which included two cars, two dogs, and one cat. The Colemans are now settling into their new home and finding Victoria, B.C. to be everything they had hoped it might be. Charles writes, “It is amazing after having a garden where only ponderosa pines and Douglas firs would grow, to be surrounded by flowers and blossom-covered trees. Our garden is one where you throw seeds over your shoulder and then jump back to avoid the surging plants. We are five minutes from the sea and enjoy the clichéd walks along the

beaches. Betsey has chronicled much of this on her Facebook pages. So, this was an idea that began as a forest fire and Trump escape and turned into a new life chapter.”

Becky Russell and her husband Roger moved to Cypress, Texas, in 2020 to be closer to their daughter, Robyn Russell Stout ’88, son-in-law Peter Stout ’89, and their three grandsons. During the pandemic, Becky and Roger were able to enjoy the company of their family and play bridge online with friends all over the country.

Read about Paul Krajovic, Linda Plaut, and Anne Strobridge on page 50. >>>

Correction The gift given by Lauri Keener ’94 in honor of her former teacher Bernice Knight was incorrectly listed in the Fall CA Journal. Bernice currently lives in Colorado. We regret the error.

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Former Faculty

Blog Post from Daniel Lopez ’86

T

he year I graduated from CA more than 30 years ago, I was voted “Most Likely to Join the Peace Corps” in the yearbook.

Now, as I am poised to depart CA and undertake volunteer service with that organization for the second time (the first being in Bolivia from 2006 to 2008), I find myself asking: “What led me here?” Was it a self-fulfilling prophecy or something in my CA education that affected my life’s decisions? Probably a bit of both, but the more I ponder it, the more I must credit Colorado Academy with laying the foundation for my path of global exploration.

During my time as a CA student, I traveled to India and Venezuela, hosted an exchange student from Uruguay (who continues to be one of my best friends today), and fell in love with the Spanish language. My teachers encouraged me to embrace and build upon these experiences, which led me to take a gap year in Spain, study abroad in college in Ecuador, and get involved professionally in

From Left: CA Middle School French teacher Erin Carlson, Daniel Lopez ’86, CA Summer Programs Director Jenny Wilczewski in Quebec

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In Spain, From Left: Daniel Lopez ’86 and Upper School Spanish Teacher Lisa Todd

international affairs. A variety of overseas jobs and fellowships with the U.S. State Department followed, eventually taking me full circle and landing me back at CA as a faculty member and Director of Global Travel and Exchange Programs.

For the past 6 years, I have aspired to “pay it forward” by inviting members of our community to partake in a variety of memorable journeys. I am proudest of the signature trips and exchange programs, which are now a well-established part of our school’s fabric and have provided transformational experiences to hundreds of CA students in all three divisions: LS Scotland, MS Costa Rica, MS Quebec, MS Peru, US Cuba, US Scotland, US Haiti, and US China, among others.

As one can imagine, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered the nature of Global Education at CA. No longer were we able to board planes to faraway lands or host students from our partner schools. We never once wavered, however, from our commitment to building bridges with others around

the world. Just a few examples: We initiated virtual exchanges with Greece, Guatemala, Venezuela, and Haiti; Dr. Vogels and I piloted a virtual Freshman Intensive, immersing our Ninth Graders in the pressing issues of immigration over two days; four CA students (Seniors Kiah May and Mackenzie Wagner, Sophomores Claire Arney and Ava Geisler) participated in a series of global dialogues with students from China, Bhutan, Russia, and India; we went ahead with the Amnesty Club’s annual Write-For-Rights event; I even invited former Peace Corps volunteers to speak

by Zoom with my Advanced Seminar Spanish and Global Perspectives classes.

The way I see it, the importance of global awareness has never been greater.

Eventually, we will travel again. Until then, we can hold firm to our values of learning about and engaging with the world around us. Although I will no longer play a direct role in advancing cultural competency at CA, I will always carry this special place with me wherever I go! n

CA Alumni Association Important Dates 2021-2022 Friday, September 17, 2021

Friday, September 17-18, 2021

Alumni/Upper School Spirit Breakfast Upper School Lobby, 7:30 a.m.

Reunions for the Classes of 1961, 1970, 1971

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Homecoming Varsity Games, BBQ Lunch, Dedication of the Upper School in Honor of Chuck Froelicher, 9:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.

Friday, December 3, 2021

Alumni Ice Skating Party Denver Country Club, 5:30–9:00 p.m.

Friday, December 17, 2021

College Alumni Lunch Campus Center, 12:30 p.m.

January & March, 2022

Alumni-Former Faculty Book Club, Virtual Alumni Back-to-School Night, on Campus and Virtual

Friday, May 20, 2022

Giant Relay Day BBQ Lunch, Carnival Activities, The Race, Alumni and Faculty Party

Saturday & Sunday, Reunion Weekend May 21-22, 2022 1962, 1972, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 Please check the Alumni Home Page on the CA website, coloradoacademy.org, for updates and new events.

Colorado Academy Alumni Association Board, First Row (L to R): Aimée Nieuwenhuizen ’06, Isabel Gary Harper ’09, Emma Harrington Kane ’07, Elsa Woolley ’11, Georgia Grey ’08, Ashley Peterson ’06, Myles McGinnis ’08, Lisa Harrison Ellsworth ’79. Second Row: Max Shaw ’08, Austin Carpenter ’05, Terrie Dickinson Warren ’73, Katie Cordes ’03, Karl Koch ’05 , Zach Tucker ’01, Brian Fisher ’02, Chris Bailey ’02, Ben Hock ’07, Brian Parks ’96.

Not Pictured: VJ Brown ’11, Caroline Cramer ’11, Jared Harding ’97, PJ O’Neil ’07, Kyle Rajaniemi ’07.

Summer 2021

3800 South Pierce Street Denver, CO 80235

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Printed by a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified Printer

Remember this team?

The last Boys Soccer Team to win a State Championship was coached by Gabe Bernstein in 2013. Like the 2021 Boys Soccer Team, they had an undefeated season (19-0-1). They beat The Classical Academy in the finals to bring state honors home to CA.

Colorado Academy Journal Summer 2021

Colorado Academy