the harvard-westlake
CHRONICLE Los Angeles • Volume XXII • Issue VIII • May 29, 2013
Dudamel conducts orchestra at assembly By Elana Zeltser
PHOTOS BY JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE
A SCULPTURAL LEGACY: Visual Arts teacher John Luebtow peels off the covering to a reflective stainless steel sheet base of a sculpture, left, which was commissioned in honor of President Hudnut who will retire this year. The sculpture is wiped down after its installation, top right. Science teacher Dietrich Schuhl uses a bubble level to keep the structure straight, bottom right.
Hudnut assures ‘everything is ending well’ President Thomas C. Hudnut will retire after his 26 year tenure, establishing a culture of high achievement in not only academics but also the arts and athletics.
By David Lim When President Thomas C. Hudnut arrived at the Coldwater Canyon campus to take up the post of headmaster in 1987, the all-boys Harvard School was known almost exclusively for its academic reputation as an “AP factory” that churned out admittances to top colleges. “But its performing arts were dismal, visual arts were under-appreciated and its athletics program was anemic,” Hudnut said. His predecessor, Christopher Berrisford, had transformed Harvard School from a boarding school that had been founded in 1900 with a
strong military tradition into a day school enrolling nearly 800 boys. When Harvard’s Board of Trustees reached out to Hudnut, he jumped at the opportunity to succeed Berrisford at a school that had always been on his “dream list.” Yet, the well-reputed school was not a particularly happy one in the years leading up to his tenure and Hudnut, who arrived with a decade of experience heading schools, faced the immediate challenge of stemming a recent “series of defections” as boys dropped out to attend other schools. “The trustees made it clear to me that they wanted me to do something about the morale of school and make it a
happier place than that it had been,” Hudnut said. Hudnut set out to improve the arts and athletics programs in order to make attending Harvard an enjoyable experience in itself and not simply a means to an end. But it was not until the merger with Westlake School for Girls and the resources of a larger school that Hudnut could conceive of a more ambitious educational vision—to create an institution which he describes today as having both “the academic program of a small private academy and the extracurricular opportunities of a public school.” Hudnut also credits the merger, in retrospect, for
keeping him on the same campus for 26 years, speculating that he would have moved on when either his older son graduated after eight years or younger son did so in 12 years. “The two campus, co-educational setup and the big opportunities that have been presented with it have made it endlessly interesting,” Hudnut said. “Such would not have been the case if it had been Harvard School.” THE MERGER As Hudnut was about to leave for a month in France with his family during the summer of 1989, he received word that Westlake’s Board of • Continued on page A8
Garcetti ’88 to serve as next LA mayor INSIDE
By David Lim
“Mayor Bradley was this larger than life symbol of a City Councilman Eric great city,” Garcetti said. “He Garcetti ’88 will serve as the gave us a great feeling about next mayor of Los Los Angeles.” Angeles, after defeatIn addition to ing City Controller Bradley’s accomWendy Greuel May plishments bring21 by a wide margin ing the Olympics in an election with to Los Angeles only a 19 percent and starting work turnout. Garcetti on the subway systook 54 percent to tem, Garcetti emGreuel’s 46 percent. phasized Bradley’s Garcetti rememadeptness dealing bers seeing Los Anwith city politics. Eric Garcetti ’88 geles Mayor Tom “To be mayor Bradley speak at an of LA you have to assembly while at Harvard engage people—you have to School and credits Bradley for earn their love and respect but “making Los Angeles into a you have to be strong enough great world class city.” to get things done,” Garcetti printed with permission of
garcetti for mayor campaign
said. Garcetti said that his time at Harvard School impressed upon him the importance of education, which was a focus of his campaign. “Opportunities that were all given to students and alums of this great school make me want to help provide that for every young person in Los Angeles, whether they’re lucky enough to go to Harvard-Westlake or whether they’re in a neighborhood public school,” Garcetti said. “I’m here because of my education.” Though Garcetti was interested in politics and had lunchtime discussions with history teacher Dave Water• Continued on page A10
C1 FEVER PITCH: Jack Flaherty ’14 winds up for a pitch in the baseball game.
Dressed in a classic, crisp tuxedo, world-renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel stepped onto the stage at Walt Disney Concert Hall to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the second installment of the Mozart/Da Ponte Trilogy “The Marriage of Figaro,” on the evening of May 23. Earlier that same day, he opted for a black T-shirt and jeans when he stood on a platform in Taper Gymnasium to conduct the combined Harvard-Westlake Orchestra through Beethoven’s 1st Symphony at an all-school assembly. Seated next to Linda Brown (Russell ’94, David ’96), who sponsored the open master class, Dudamel was introduced by President Thomas C. Hudnut and members of the Latino Club. Maria Gonzalez ‘13, on behalf of the Latino Club, had approached Hudnut with the idea to invite Dudamel, a family friend, as the Brown Family Speaker. “We have had some amazing speakers,” Hudnut said, “none of them any more interesting than the one we have today. This is the hottest musician on the planet.” Dudamel, with his signature mop of curly hair gelled back, taught an open class for the third time in his career. He shook the hand of Concert Master Sydney Cheong ’14, removed his gray linen jacket and took a bow. Despite conducting this particular symphony only once before in Hamburg, Germany, he needed no sheet music in front of him. “When I was 11 years old, I studied this piece,” Dudamel • Continued on page A11
ontheweb COFFEE HOUSE: Students and faculty perform at the year’s final coffee house. See online for more coverage.