Harvard-Westlake Life Magazine, Spring/Summer 2023

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HARVARD-WESTLAKE SPRING/SUMMER 2023

IN THIS ISSUE

Dear Friends of Harvard-Westlake, Allow me to introduce some of the articles we’re featuring in this issue. Note that this issue has two covers, so be sure to turn it over to see more stories.

HW LEGACY Lights, Camera, Westflix 02

In the spring, Westflix, the HW film festival featuring student filmmakers from around the state, turned 20. Westflix is a true all-community event, with alumni, parents, faculty, and students pulling together to act as judges, workshop leaders, organizers, and audience members. As a film lover, I’ve enjoyed watching this festival blossom into a showcase for some of the best high school filmmakers in the state of California, lighting up marquees from the Cinerama Dome to the TCL Chinese Theater.

ALUMNI PROFILES

Fighting the Good Fight This year, Harvard-Westlake faced disturbing incidents of antisemitic vandalism. In 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents were up 36% nationwide. In this issue, Rabbi Peter Levi ’82 and Rob Goldenberg ’91 reflect on the work they are doing to reverse that alarming trend.

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ALUMNI PROFILES

FACULTY & STAFF PROFILES

Sam de Castro Abeger Director of Alumni Relations

26 HW VOICES

Whether Never Together Forever

Generation Gap Year Fifteen years ago, the Michael Brownstein ’99 Memorial Gap Year Fellowship was established to honor Michael’s passion for travel and service by helping students fund a gap year. In the first few years, one fellowship was awarded; now a handful of students receive Brownstein Gap Year Fellowships every year, while others pursue a gap year on their own. Get into the gap with Mia Karathanasis ’21 and four other alumni.

12 Cheers,

Ed Hu Head of External Relations ehu@hw.com

By Taeyeon Paik ’24

29 LAST LOOK Slam Dunk 30

We take a look back at Westlake’s undefeated 1990-91 JV basketball team.

S X HW I E LEGACY L E F T W F X I ST X I E L W F T T ES T W ES I L WF E T

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E T S W ELIX ST F E W W X I X L F X T FLI S E TX W F I ST X E LI

HW’S STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES AN EPIC

20 YEARS

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HW LEGACY

FADE IN: EXT. MILLION DOLLAR THEATER - NIGHT WE OPEN on a beautiful, 2,000-seat vintage theater in Downtown LA. In the background, we hear a medley of film scores performed by the Jazz Explorers. A CROWD OF TEENS in formalwear walks the red carpet leading to the entrance, camera flashes intermittently illuminating the scene.

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Westflix’s student directors, GRACE BELGRADER ’23, WILL CHANDRASEKHAR ’23, ADISON GAMRADT ’23, and DANNY JOHNSON ’23, and their advisors, visual arts teachers REB L LIMERICK and BRANNON ROCKWELL-CHARLAND COOK, pose for photos. This evening is

This article was edited together from interviews that archivist Alexis Sherman Arinsburg ’98 conducted with Reb L Limerick, Nick Guagliano ’23, and Will Chandrasekhar ’23; Arinsburg’s interview with Cheri Gaulke upon her retirement in 2019; and a conversation with Reb L Limerick, Brannon Rockwell-Charland Cook, Liz Yale Marsh ’04, and Gaulke for Westflix Reflections, filmed and edited by Nick Guagliano ’23.

BEGIN FLASHBACK: INT. RUGBY AUDITORIUM - NIGHT (20 YEARS EARLIER) LIZ YALE MARSH ’04, age 17, wearing a black dress and jacket, settles into her seat as the lights come down in her high school auditorium. CHERI GAULKE and TED WALCH, art teachers and festival advisors, clap enthusiastically. The first of 13 short films by Los Angeles high school students flickers onto the big screen in the first-ever Harvard-Westlake Film Festival (now known as Westflix).

END FLASHBACK

YEARS

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the culmination of their year of planning for the film festival’s blockbuster 20th anniversary celebration, including the screening of 16 films introduced by guest speaker Mindy Kaling, a filmmakers’ afterparty at Grand Central Market, and day-after workshops led by director, writer, and actor Jay Chandrasekhar and writer and producer Kate Angelo.

YEARS

HW LEGACY

WESTFLIX BEHIND THE SCENES

CHERI GAULKE is a filmmaker and former Westlake and Harvard-Westlake visual arts teacher.

CHERI GAULKE I dreamed of having a festival for years, but I wasn’t going to take it on because I knew it was going to be a lot of work. I just kind of waited until the right person came along—and Liz Yale Marsh was that person.

LIZ YALE MARSH ’04 is an Emmy Award–winning producer and the founder of Westflix.

LIZ YALE MARSH There were all these high school film festivals around, but they weren’t that great. And it seemed like such a missed opportunity—with the industry and so many incredible people here, I thought we could do something really special.

And Cheri and Ted said, okay, if you plan it, you can do it.

CHERI GAULKE Liz was just a powerhouse. She figured out how to reach out to people and put it all together, from promoting it to the flowers for the reception.

“ The room that I teach in is filled with Westflix posters,” says Reb L Limerick. “I knew when I took the video art position [four years ago] that I would also be inheriting the legacy of Westflix. I took on that responsibility with pride, and I often feel it’s my favorite part of my job, but people who aren’t inside of it can’t really begin to understand the magnitude of this event, especially because it grows every year. It’s intense because every year the advisors are the only people who have ever really done it before. Even though it’s a truly student-led festival, the advisors have to be there every step of the way to provide the to-do list and timeline. The student directors kind of only learn how big of an undertaking it is as they’re undertaking it, and they always rise to the challenge!”

CHERI GAULKE Ted loved telling the story about how we had technical problems that first year. The DVD that we made kept stuttering and freezing in the middle of the show. And finally we told the audience, we’re taking a break. [Westflix advisor from 2013 to 2018 and art teacher] Kevin O’Malley and I ran up to the classroom, took a whole computer downstairs, connected it to the projector, and played the program directly from the Adobe Premiere timeline.

Jake Gyllenhaal ’98 was our speaker—he was a young, emerging actor at that point, but already a heartthrob—and Liz was comforted by Jake during that time, so it kind of worked out for her.

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LIZ YALE MARSH Putting the festival together is probably the reason I became a producer. Prior to the festival, I would have thought I’d be a director, but putting the idea and the budget together, presenting it, making something happen, bringing in all the other people—it was like, oh, okay, I’m producing this. To have an idea at such a young age and have somebody believe in you and give you the tools, but make you do it yourself—that’s really special. I feel lucky to have been mentored like that.

AUGUST: AUGUST: KICKOFF KICKOFF Directors from the previous year meet with the new festival directors and pass along wisdom and words of advice.

LIZ YALE MARSH I was hysterical. Everything I had built for months and months was crumbling before my eyes.

But Jake Gyllenhaal held my hand, so maybe it was worth it. It was all fine, but he did come up and appease the crowd while it got fixed.

CHERI GAULKE We always wanted the [festival] directors to feel like they could build on Liz’s foundation and create something themselves with a sense of ownership. When Nick Lieberman ’11 was a director, he came up with the wonderful idea of the day after: Instead of just doing Friday night, what if we expanded it to a Saturday with workshops and networking?

REB L LIMERICK The day-after filmmakers’ workshop feels like post-college-level, deep feedback sessions.

Sitting in on workshop sessions and having that seep into the way I offer students feedback in my own video art classes is a real highlight for me. It’s so cool and inspiring to have these incredible industry professionals treat the four- to ten-minute student films with so much respect. They are genuinely impressed and engaging with the work.

Photos: Kevin O’Malley, Woo Sim, Ed Hu, Allan Sasaki, Clarissa Brown ‘24, Lily Stambouli ‘24, Ari Ogden ‘22, and unknown

HW LEGACY

OCTOBER: SUBMISSIONS OPEN

The team reaches out to film and video art teachers across California in an effort to invite more public schools and schools that haven’t been represented in the festival before in order to include greater diversity of stories and student voices.

NICK GUAGLIANO ’23 was a 2023 Westflix Board Member and the Director of Westflix Reflections.

NICK GUAGLIANO Westflix is an incredible way for young filmmakers to show their peers and industry leaders what they can do.

There is so much talent in the student filmmaking sphere that I think Westflix does a really good job of capturing. It’s an amazing way to bring the community of California young filmmakers together!

WILL CHANDRASEKHAR ’23 was the 2023 Director of Submissions and Judging.

WILL CHANDRASEKHAR The 20th anniversary celebration was a huge one for Westflix, so we wanted to make it special, promoting it with videos, animations, and graphics on the Westflix Instagram account and releasing the Westflix Reflections docuseries, which captures interviews with past directors, judges, and others who have contributed to the festival’s history [watch it at youtube/@Westflix].

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NICK GUAGLIANO Westflix ’23 was the biggest festival yet.

The student films are by far the best I’ve ever seen!

HW LEGACY

JANUARY: SUBMISSIONS CLOSE This year Westflix received 171 eligible submissions. Fifty-five student judges rated the submissions, 11 of them judging over 100 films each. Before the festival, six to eight industry professionals judge the 11 to 16 final film selections, offering comments and their own ratings to determine the Lizzie Awards for directing, cinematography, screenwriting, acting, and more. Named in honor of the festival’s founder, Liz Yale Marsh ’04, the Lizzies are presented the night of the festival.

LIZ YALE MARSH The writing behind the films this year is just leaps and bounds beyond where it was 20 years ago. This year with some of the films, I was just really blown away by the storytelling. And that is what I hope continues to evolve 20 years from now.

CHERI GAULKE It’s a really great festival. I’m super proud of it. And kids from other schools tell us that for them to get into Westflix is the pinnacle of film festivals. To them, it’s like Westflix and then the Academy Awards.

In 2018, Rayka Zehtabchi won the Academy Award for best short film for Period. End of Sentence. after being one of the filmmakers selected for Westflix in 2011.

MARCH TO MAY:

MARCH:

FEBRUARY:

ACCEPTANCES GO OUT

Filmmakers are notified if their film will be in the festival.

WRAP-UP AND PREP

THE FESTIVAL WEEKEND

The team archives and edits festival photos and videos, thanks everyone, and chooses next year’s leadership.

REB L LIMERICK Young filmmakers from all across the state get to come and connect with other student filmmakers, receive feedback from industry professionals through the judging process and the day-after filmmakers’ workshop, and get the experience of seeing their films on a huge screen in a packed theater. And whether you’re behind the scenes and working on it all year or you’re only coming for one night, there’s something just so celebratory and profound about the magic of Westflix.

FADE OUT

THE

TED WALCH

dW This is Te

Ch eri Ga ulk e

alch

AWARD FOR TEACHING AND MENTORSHIP

To honor Ted Walch’s legacy and the pivotal role Walch played in Westflix since its inception, the Ted Walch Award for Teaching and Mentorship recognizes the importance of film teachers and mentors to student filmmakers.

Jake Gyllenhaal ‘98

Liz Yale Ma rsh ‘04

The recipient is given $1,500 to fund their school’s film program and expand access to filmmaking. This year, the inaugural award was given to Kyle Provencio Reingold, the Program Director of Ghetto Film School Los Angeles, a nonprofit focused on educating and developing young filmmakers.

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Max Cho ‘15 introducing the award

Ted Walch passed away in 2022 after 19 years of acting as a Westflix advisor and five decades of inspiring students inside and outside the classroom.

ALUMNI PROFILES GENERATION GAP YEAR What teaching on a gap year fellowship taught Mia Karathanasis ’22 Mia Karathanasis ’22 has some advice for students considering a gap year: “Go for it!” As she puts it, “It’s prime time for traveling and learning new things and making mistakes and figuring out who you are and what your passions are and what you really want to do. And to be able to get a sense of that before college is really invaluable.”

In the summer of 2021, with the help of the Junior Summer Fellowship, Mia made a film about the environmental issues surrounding the beekeeping industry in Greece. After graduation, instead of heading to college in the fall, she headed to Paraguay to teach English, thanks to the support of the Michael Brownstein ’99 Memorial Gap Year Fellowship. While there, she started a blog about her adventures. The following is an excerpt from her first entry.

SEPTEMBER 2O22

When I landed in Asunción at 11 p.m. after 14 hours of travel, I was exhausted. Thankfully, Gloria, the director of the school I’m working at, and Ariel, the school coordinator and English teacher, drove over an hour to pick me up and seemed as glad to see me as I was them. Perhaps it was their warmth that allowed my new reality for the next three months to finally sink in.

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I first arrived at Gloria’s house, where I am living, at one in the morning. Staying with her has thus far been perfect. Gloria speaks no English, which is essential for my goal of becoming fluent in Spanish.

She lives about a 25-minute walk from the center of Tobatí, population 30,000. At night, I hear the cicadas drone, dogs bark, and the faint purr of a motorcycle off in the distance. And it’s just a fiveminute walk to school every morning, which makes the 7 a.m. start time fairly bearable.

MY HOST COUSIN JAZMÍN (GLORIA’S NIECE) POSING BEHIND ME AT THE MIRADOR, OR LOOKOUT. IT’S THE CLOSEST THING YOU’LL GET TO A TOURIST SPOT HERE, AND A LOVELY LITTLE PLACE TO WATCH THE SUN GO DOWN OVER THE VALLEY.

HEADING SOUTH DOWN THE MAIN ROAD, AS THE TOWN CENTER FALLS BEHIND, TOWERING ROCK FORMATIONS SUDDENLY CLIMB UP FROM STREET LEVEL LIKE BILLOWING CLOUDS, DENSE GREENERY TIGHTLY HUGGING THEIR BASE.

THE ROAD TO GLORIA’S HOUSE IS ENTIRELY DIRT. OTHERS ARE JUST ROUGH OLD COBBLESTONE. THE MAIN ROAD THROUGH TOWN LOOKS AMAZINGLY SMOOTH, BUT MANY OTHERS ARE HALF-PAVED OR PAVED SO LONG AGO THAT POTHOLES AND DITCHES HAVE FORMED, FORCING DRIVERS TO ENTER INTERSECTIONS FROM TRULY BEWILDERING ANGLES AT AROUND TWO MILES PER HOUR.

A PHOTO OP AT THE BASE OF THE MIRADOR

A VIEW FROM GLORIA’S FRONT PORCH

ALUMNI PROFILES IN THE TOWN CENTER, YOU’LL FIND A SUBSTANTIAL GRID OF STREETS INTEGRATING SMALL RESIDENTIAL HOMES WITH BUSINESSES, STANDS, AND SHOPS. TAKING UP ONE CENTRAL BLOCK IS A SIMPLE BUT CHARMING CHURCH SURROUNDED BY A DELIGHTFUL LITTLE PARK. A POPULAR ICE CREAM CHAIN RESIDES ON THE CORNER NEARBY, ALONG WITH A VARIETY OF FAMILY-RUN STORES THAT ALL SEEM TO HAVE HAD SOME TROUBLE DECIDING ON JUST ONE CATEGORY OF THINGS TO SELL.

So. School. El Colegio Privado Reinaldo Macchi is a private school that gives 18 students per grade, all from the lowest income families in Tobatí, a level of secondary education that is hard to beat outside of Asunción—and for free, funded entirely by the nonprofit Team Tobatí. A growing list of students attend university from each graduating class, and a few have even gone on to study in America on full-ride scholarships. Of course, a big factor in this is learning English, and where the public schools in the area require only one hour of English a week, the Macchi school gives each student two to three hours a week.

I’ve been sitting in on every English class along with Helena, a 19-year-old German girl who has been in Tobatí teaching English since March and with whom I’ve become very friendly. Mostly, we help with translation and pronunciation as well as brainstorming ideas for exercises and games for the students. The group of students is small to begin with, and the classes tend to thin out a bit in the older grades as a few students drop out or are forced to prioritize something else in their lives over their education. Even though there is no tuition, for most families, losing any able hand around the house or the workplace is not an easy sacrifice to make.

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EL COLEGIO PRIVADO REINALDO MACCHI

Along with teaching, I am getting in a bit of classroom learning myself, as I’ve taken to sitting in on the seventh grade Guaraní classes. Guaraní is the indigenous language of Paraguay, with over six million native speakers, and since 1992 it has been one of Paraguay’s national languages alongside Spanish, though it has existed on this land for far longer than Spanish. It is certainly like no language I’ve attempted to learn before, which has me all the more intent on picking up a bit even though it is notoriously challenging for non-native speakers.

Obviously, my level has me sitting at the very bottom of the class. The seventh graders seem to really get a kick out of Helena and me attempting to learn Guaraní. They help us out with homework and try to teach us phrases and vocabulary and find it very entertaining whenever we implement some shard of our limited knowledge. A favorite snarky phrase, in response to a request for the time, is che robá reloj mba’é? which essentially translates to “Does my face look like a clock?”

Along with Gloria and Ariel, there’s Juan Dario, who teaches MAKING BREAKFAST ON A RAINY Guaraní, and Cristhian, who does a load of miscellaneous jobs MORNING WITH CUPS OF MATE to help run the school. It’s like a group of cousins hanging out every day. Never serious when they don’t have to be. My first weekend, a few of them came over just to hang out into the night. Another time, Cristhian and his girlfriend came over to make dinner. It’s a fun little community that has seemingly easily made room for me as Gloria’s proclaimed hija (daughter), which I am very grateful for.

This group has also given me a world of experience with the essential pastime that is drinking mate and tereré, which are herbal drinks kind of like tea, with tereré being the cold version of mate. Often when we have a moment of downtime during the school day, Cristhian, Juan Dario, Helena, and I sit on a bench outside and pass around the small cup of herbs.

I find that Paraguayans, in general, do not fear boredom like we so often do in the U.S., always needing something, anything to occupy ourselves. I think it’s okay to spend an afternoon truly doing nothing. Gloria said to me that the people here are pobre pero feliz, or “poor but happy.” Perhaps welcoming boredom into our lives like Paraguayans do is something we ought to implement just a bit more.

I have a ways to go before I can consider myself fully at home, but I think I’m off to a solid start. There is much more to come. ¡Chau!

A CUP OF TERERÉ

TO READ MORE ABOUT MIA’S ADVENTURES IN PARAGUAY, CHECK OUT HER BLOG AT MIATRAVELS.BLOG

Since leaving Paraguay, Mia has been a children’s ski instructor in Montana, studied Korean in New Jersey, and worked at a small family business in Greece. This summer, she’s finishing out her gap year as a counselor at a sleepaway camp in Maine. She will be attending the University of Chicago in the fall.

ALUMNI PROFILES

MATTHEW YAM ’18

I first spent three months of my gap year traveling through the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica on a program focused on public health and sustainability. I still recall the fear I had in my first homestay in a tiny village called Angostura working on building aqueducts with the team. I had never done manual labor and being so far away from anything remotely familiar scared me. However, within a week, I’d started to notice the beauty of simple living, food made with love, and the kind demeanor of the locals.

After the homestay, we continued on to other rural areas, where we hiked mountains and snorkeled in clear water. We built latrines in the bateyes [settlements for sugarcane cutters], some of the most impoverished places in the world. While there, I became really in tune with my mind and body. I recognized the food, exercise, and rest that my body needed to fend off foreign bacteria and sickness. I was able to determine the personal emotional connections that I needed to be my best self.

After a month and a half in the Dominican Republic, I flew to Costa Rica to live with the Bribri indigenous cacao farmer community. It took a 30-minute canoe ride down a river into the rainforest to get to the village. The Bribri live without

electricity or Wi-Fi. They live off the land and grow all the food they eat. They take cacao into a nearby city to sell for anything else they need. We slept under mosquito nets in wooden huts. Without artificial light deep in the rainforest, it is pitch black around 8 p.m., and by 8:30 p.m. my body felt like it was completely shut down, relaxed. We woke up to the sounds of birds singing and monkeys hollering, a mist leaving as the sun rose over the trees. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more refreshed than waking up in the rainforest.

For the second part of my gap year, I got to work with startup founders as part of the marketing team at an amazing incubator called Creative HQ in Wellington, New Zealand. Most of the companies in the incubator were enterprises that made purpose and benefit their mission. I was the youngest person in the office, and everyone knew more than I did. I can now appreciate learning on the fly and how willing people were to talk to someone who would listen.

By the time I came back home, I had improved my Spanish skills, explored new cultures, lived with people completely different from myself, had a great professional experience, and got up to all kinds of adventures.

I felt very comfortable and confident heading into college, and my experience made the transition seamless. I had a new zeal for trying things out of my comfort zone. It’s made college a blast so far.

ANJA CLARK ’19

I first took a two-week sailing course in Spain because I’ve always wanted to get better at it. The group ranged from a 17-year-old French boy to a 67-year-old Kenyan farmer! From there I stayed with a family in the Pyrenees for a month. I lived in a yurt on their extremely isolated land in the mountains, and every day we drove 15 minutes down a crazy bumpy track to their local school of 11 students.

There I helped teach (all in Spanish).

After the month was over, I went to Madrid for an internship with a sustainable product design company. I ended up in an apartment with 14 other students all on gap years or studying abroad.

Living in a communal environment full of traveling, studying young people was so fun! My Spanish improved significantly, and I learned I might want to incorporate design into my future career. I also spent a lot of time in Madrid volunteering with Extinction Rebellion, a climate change activism organization. There I was pushed out of my comfort zone every day to plan events and publicly speak in Spanish. I also took weekend solo trips to national parks and other cities in Spain. Booking only a bus and a place to sleep, I spent hours walking miles down any street that looked interesting. I discovered tiny old churches and strange museums and beautiful courtyards of flowers. With this level of independence and unknown comes a lot of challenges, but it was so rewarding to solve the problems that came my way. I met friends from all over the world and really, really grew.

After Christmas, I backpacked through Parque Patagonia in Chile with 12 students and 3 instructors, learning about conservation and the concept of “wilderness.” Unfortunately COVID began just after we arrived in Peru, so we had to quarantine in a hostel for two weeks before we were able to figure out evacuation flights home. At home, I cooked a lot, sewed clothes, and built some furniture that I’m pretty proud of. I read and kept up with my Spanish by taking classes three times a week over Skype with a teacher our group met while stuck in that hostel in Peru!

This year I was the happiest that I have ever been. I am a fuller person for having taken a gap year, 10/10 would recommend.

THE WORLD IS YOUR CLASSROOM Gap year lessons from other alums

SY SCHOEN ’20

I chose to take a gap year during the pandemic with the goal of learning more about developmental disabilities around the world. Still under stay-athome order, I started a remote internship with UCLA PEER’s autism program and tutored programming, which I was able to continue throughout my entire gap year. South Korea was one of the safest countries during the pandemic and was open as long as you followed all the strict quarantine rules. In Korea, I jumped around different work exchanges teaching English. In March, I left for Thailand and volunteered at a single women’s home and school.

I met the most kindhearted people in Thailand who changed my perspective in life.

And in July I packed super light, bought an Interrail Pass and hit nine countries in Europe: Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Croatia, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, and Iceland. I am still astonished by how much I was able to accomplish, and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without the Brownstein Fellowship.

After Montana, I moved to Portland, Oregon, where I participated in a Jewish social justice gap year program with 23 other gap year students. We experienced being on the frontline of meaningful change, as we all worked two different internships. One of them was building platforms, solar contraptions, and guardhouses for Portland’s houseless communities, working alongside members of those communities to help create better living situations. My other internship helped me gain professional experience, as I worked in the communications department for PCUN (Oregon’s farmworker union), translating testimonies, websites, and presentations into Spanish and creating pamphlets with resources for marginalized farmworkers and immigrants.

To finish the year up, I was a camp counselor at Camp Tawonga, a Jewish camp in beautiful Yosemite. I worked with 10- to 12-yearolds and tried to make their camp experiences as unforgettable as mine were when I was a camper.

The friends and connections I made throughout my entire gap year have truly changed my life for the better.

I wouldn’t change a single thing about my gap year and I feel a lot more prepared for the challenges and exploration at college.

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STEPHANIE CHO ’20

I always knew that I wanted to take a gap year after high school to explore some of my interests out in the world and away from a rigorous school setting. During the summer of 2020, I found an amazing outdoor medicine program in Montana where I received my EMT and WEMT [Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician] licenses and a host of other outdoor certifications. In that program, I was able to learn from my peers in a very close-knit group, ages ranging from 18 (me) to 38.

ALUMNI PROFILES

Antisemitic Incidents | U.S.

Antisemitic Incidents | U.S.

INCIDENTS BY STATE

TEN YEAR REVIEW

2022

0-19

20-39

40-99

100+

2013-2022

4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500

3,697

2,717

2,026

2,107

1,879

1,986

1,267

942

0

912

500

751

1,000

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

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Rabbi Peter Levi ’82 is a member of the Harvard-Westlake Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Alumni Advisory Council and Director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Orange County/Long Beach regional office. He recently served as President of the Orange County Board of Rabbis and is an active member of the Orange County Sheriff ’s Interfaith Advisory Council. In this interview, Levi reflects on what’s behind the spike in antisemitism, how it’s related to other forms of hate, and how the ADL is combating it.

Charts used with permission from ADL.org

Antisemitic acts are at an all-time high. In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League documented 3,697 antisemitic incidents nationwide, up 36% from the previous year and twice as high as the number was five years ago. Bomb threats against Jewish institutions have increased more than tenfold since 2021. According to the FBI, Jews are the most targeted religious minority in the United States.

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT RABBI PETER LEVI ’82 ON WHY ANTISEMITISM IS ON THE RISE—AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT

ALUMNI PROFILES

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

WHAT DO YOU THINK ACCOUNTS FOR THE RECENT RISE IN ANTISEMITISM? Well, one thing we know is that extremists and haters never miss an opportunity to share their extremism and hate. When there are crises and anxiety in the world, whether it’s the pandemic or an economic recession or immigration policy or criminal justice, they get exploited to divide people and foment division.

And that is aided and abetted by the coarseness of the discourse on cable news networks, social media—both mainstream and alternate platforms—and umpteen YouTube channels.

Now social media has massively expanded its reach, and by extension, the recruitment and radicalization into bigotry and hate. Everyone has a right to free speech.

But what everyone doesn’t have a right to is algorithmic amplification. There are huge online communities that are cesspools of hate, normalizing conspiracy theories to make it seem like most Americans believe these ideas, even if they don’t say so out loud.

Extremism drives clicks and therefore profits for social media companies at the well-known expense of people on the margins. These companies are putting profits over people, with no accountability. Meanwhile, they hide the volume of hate on their platforms because it makes them look bad. It’s time to stop hiding hate so we can develop policies and strategies to fight it.

We don’t want extremists to radicalize individuals on these platforms. We don’t want violence organized on these platforms. In 2022, ADL pulled together about 90 different organizations, up and down California, to pass the social media transparency bill, which was signed into law last fall by the governor. It mandates that social media platforms share data on how they’re enforcing their terms of service, because you can’t fight hate if you don’t know where it is.

HOW DOES THE ADL FIGHT ANTISEMITISM AND OTHER FORMS OF PREJUDICE?

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ADL also works to protect people’s civil rights and advocate against harm to marginalized groups—for example, by writing amicus briefs [legal documents offering expertise but filed by a party not directly involved in a case]. We can also provide an expert witness to explain why an attack qualifies as a hate crime and not just an assault, for example.

And we deeply care about community safety. We’re the largest NGO holding briefings with law enforcement about inclusive policing and extremist threats.

Researchers and analysts from ADL’s Center on Extremism share data on who the actors are, what their ideology is, and how they operate, resulting in hundreds of law enforcement assists.

Finally, ADL does a lot of community outreach to build coalitions with interfaith, cross-cultural, and other groups.

A few months ago, for example, I put together a one-day summit of 300 Orange County community leaders from government, media, law enforcement, and education to learn about antisemitism, how it interacts with other expressions of hate, and what we can do about it.

We’re organizing another one right now for the Long Beach community.

Photo: Mark Rightmire, SCNG

No one is born a bigot; they learn it somewhere.

We try to disrupt the bias, blind spots, and bigotry before it escalates. And the key place for this is education. We have robust education programs in K-12 schools and college campuses about fighting hate and bullying wherever they rear their ugly heads.

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITY IS A BIT OF A CANARY IN THE COAL MINE. What starts with the Jewish people never ends with the Jewish people. When we see an increase in antisemitic activity, we’re seeing increasing racism, increasing Islamophobia, increasing anti-LGBTQ+ hate, increase in anti-immigrant attitudes.

-Rabbi Peter Levi ’82, Director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Orange County/Long Beach regional office and member of the Harvard-Westlake Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Alumni Advisory Council

ALUMNI PROFILES

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

WHAT ASPECT OF JUDAISM IS MOST MISUNDERSTOOD BY NON-JEWS? The biggest misunderstanding is thinking Judaism is a religion. Many Jews consider themselves nonreligious or even atheists but still identify as Jewish. We’re connected to a land, a language, a history, with a certain culture and values and customs. There is a spiritual quality that is a part of all of that, but the Jewish people can’t be reduced to just a religious group.

And that is why antisemitism is often misunderstood.

If you don’t know who the Jewish people are, then you can’t understand antisemitism. Because antisemitism most often today shows up not as antireligious bigotry, but as the hatred of the Jewish people. The conspiracy theories about Jewish control, about money, about power, Holocaust distortion—none of that has anything to do with what Jews believe. It’s about who the Jewish people are. For example, the individual who walked into the synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, a year ago, and held the rabbi and a number of congregants hostage—he didn’t care how they pray, or

that it was Shabbat, a Sabbath day; what he cared about was that he thought the Jews could somehow control the criminal justice system and let someone who was a convicted terrorist out of jail.

In Charlottesville in 2017, hundreds of white supremacists chanted “the Jews will not replace us.” Most people’s first reaction was that there aren’t enough Jews on Earth to replace white Christian men in the United States; what are they talking about? But no, they’re talking about a fabricated Jewish conspiracy to replace white Christians, particularly men, from their elevated status through what extremists call a “white genocide.” According to this antisemitic rhetoric, the Jews are trying to replace white Christian America in order to drive their own agenda.

So if someone thinks that Judaism is just a religion, it is not possible to understand how antisemitism shows up in the world today. Antisemitism is about conspiracy theories and attacks on the Jewish people.

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has more Twitter followers than there are Jews in the world. So when he went on his antisemitic rants about Jewish control and praising Hitler—look, the Jewish people cannot fight antisemitism on their own. Black folks can’t fight racism on their own. Muslim folks can’t fight Islamophobia on their own. LGBTQ folks can’t fight hate against the gay, lesbian, bi, trans, and queer community on their own. It’s one and the same fight. It’s about extremists othering folks and exploiting anxieties in society to drive a wedge between citizens.

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So working together in coalition is really important.

We all sink or swim together.

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

HOW DOES ANTISEMITISM INTERSECT WITH OTHER FORMS OF PREJUDICE? Many other bigotries are connected to antisemitism.

For example, in March, two shootings within 24 hours at a Los Angeles synagogue were committed by an individual who had gone down some rabbit hole about the Jewish people controlling COVID in order to defame Asians. Last year, when an individual drove across New York State to murder 10 Black folks in a supermarket, he posted antisemitic ideas about how Jews are responsible for the “white genocide” and the browning of America.

When an individual murdered 23 people in an El Paso Walmart a few years ago, he published a manifesto about how Jews are driving immigration policy. An individual went into the Tree of Life synagogue on a Sabbath morning in Pittsburgh and murdered 11 Jews in the deadliest antisemitic act in American history for the same reason. And these are just examples of horrific

NON-JEWISH K-12 SCHOOLS

500

5

400

1

300 200

1

100

68

0 Total

92

232

152

178

257

161

331

494

2020

2021

2022

Harassment

Vandalism

Assault

Yes, ADL is a Jewish organization. But we fight for all peoples. There’s a famous quote from 2,000 years ago from [Jewish sage] Hillel, who said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” We cannot separate the fight against antisemitism from the fights against racism, misogyny, and all other hate and bigotry. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of history. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” That’s why we’re an antihate organization fighting extremism of every kind.

WHAT HW IS DOING

Antisemitic Incidents | U.S. 2020-2022

extremist mass murders. Many other incidents, against not just Jews but all sorts of minority groups, are also motivated by antisemitism.

In K-12 non-Jewish schools, there were 494 antisemitic incidents recorded last year—including antisemitic graffiti found at HarvardWestlake. In response to this antisemitic vandalism, HW formed an Antisemitism Working Group to focus on curriculum review and teacher training, support for Jewish students, and programming for students, including school assemblies featuring National Director of the Anti-Defamation League Jonathan Greenblatt and Jewish author and educator Ben M. Freeman. In addition, our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office continued to provide ongoing education about hate speech and symbols, offered support for the Jewish Club and allies via a series of meetings with Jewish community organizer and advocate Brian Hertz, and organized a field trip to the Auschwitz Exhibition at the Reagan Library for students, families, and faculty and staff. Finally, the upper school JSA (Jewish Students’ Association) and middle school JCAAC (Jewish Culture & Antisemitism Awareness Club) took action, including creating and posting signs combating antisemitism around campus and leading a Yom HaShoa (Holocaust Remembrance Day) assembly, featuring the artwork of Holocaust survivor David Labkowski and a reciting of the Jewish Mourner’s Prayer for the victims of the Holocaust.

ALUMNI PROFILES

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

SIGNS OF HOPE The Jewish Federation’s billboards (shown here and found all over LA) fight hate with love, says Rob Goldenberg ’91, Chief Creative Officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles

In October, a few blocks from our office, a couple of billboards were vandalized with antisemitic hate. So we reached out to the billboard company, Outfront: “Hey, do you think we can take these down?” and they were amazing. They took them down really quickly and then offered us free media space around the city.

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The timing was incredible. We had already been looking for a way to combat all the hate in the city. This was in the middle of Kanye West [now known as Ye, who made news at the end of last year by espousing antisemitic tropes, conspiracy theories, and threats on social media and in interviews]. It was in the middle of Kyrie Irving [an NBA player who posted an antisemitic video on social media]. It was in the middle of the banners [reading “Kanye is

right about the Jews” that individuals] hung over the 405. It was in the middle of someone defacing a menorah display in Beverly Hills during Hanukkah. It was about as bad as it’s gotten.

That was the context that we were living in. It was dark. I canceled trips, and I didn’t sleep. Young kids were asking tough questions.

Things were happening at Harvard-Westlake that I’m not proud of; there are challenges that we’re facing—I say “we” because I’m a part of the community and we’re facing it together. Parents, friends, family—they were all grabbing me at parties to share their concern. My phone kept sending me notifications about new horrifying incidents. It was the first time in my life that the hate and pressure was palpable. It was nice to know we had something in the works to help.

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT LOOK FOR THEM AROUND LA

The billboards are modern translations of Jewish texts and ancient Jewish teachings. In times of darkness, Jews are taught to be a light. So when our city was filled with signs of hate and anger and darkness, we met those signs with our signs. Signs of love, acceptance, and goodwill. That’s what the billboards are meant to do—bring light into the world. We knew that the billboards were going to be up for a year and bounce around the city. We knew that a lot of people would see them, and we couldn’t pinpoint exactly who they would be, so we wanted to make sure that they were digestible and resonated with everyone.

I get asked all the time about the billboards’ impact—and my answer is always the same. Look, if someone comes across the text and says, “That’s Jewish? That’s really cool. I should learn more about that,” or, “Wow, that’s what Jews are about? I’m down with that.

That’s not what I’m being told,” that’s great. But, if someone’s having

a crappy day or feeling down about the state of things, and they drive by this billboard and see “love your neighbor” and just sit up and flip on some music and smile, that’s great too. Positivity. That really is what it’s about.

My message to Harvard-Westlake students is to be kind to others—and to yourself. I wasn’t the typical student at Harvard [School], but I’m doing all right and making my own impact on the world. Everyone can do something that makes you and the people around you proud—and it doesn’t have to be the path others are taking. We can all help each other out in some way, even if it’s just reaching out to a random person from your class and saying, “Hey, how’s it going?” My class recently lost a beloved classmate, we’ve all been through COVID, and most of us are struggling with something. The more good that we can all do in the world, especially right now, the better. -Rob Goldenberg ’91

FACULTY & STAFF PROFILES

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Twenty-two years since he first set foot on campus, Sam de Castro Abeger ’07 found himself right back in middle school—only this time, his desk is in his office. Former member of the Alumni Board and Director of the Alumni in Arts and Entertainment Affinity Group, de Castro Abeger took the leap to become the full-time DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS this spring. “Being a part of the Harvard-Westlake community does not come to an end when you leave the school,” says de Castro Abeger. “You are a part of the community forever.”

YOUR CAREER UNTIL NOW HAS BEEN AS AN ENTERTAINMENT EXECUTIVE. WHAT DREW YOU TO THIS ROLE? I care deeply about Harvard-Westlake and treasure my time spent here. I was looking for a career change post MBA and wanted to find something that I could sink my teeth into, a place where I could feel like I was making a difference.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS AS DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS? My mission is to ensure that alumni from Westlake, Harvard, and Harvard-Westlake still feel connected to the school they attended and what the school has become. I want to make sure that every alum feels that connection, whether it’s through attending an affinity group event, coming back to school to partake in an HW4LC (Harvard-Westlake For Life on-campus event), or simply receiving a thank-you note for a gift they made to support the school.

AS AN ALUM AND THE SON OF AN ALUM (ANDREA DE CASTRO ’83), YOU’VE ALWAYS MADE A POINT TO ATTEND HW ALUMNI EVENTS. WHY?

It all comes back to my love for HW and what I feel is an extreme privilege to be a part of the HW community. I love meeting other alumni from all the different classes and reconnecting with alumni I know from my time as a student here.

WHAT WAS YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE AT HW LIKE?

I have so many fond memories of my time at Harvard-Westlake. I played water polo and swam on the swim team, which took most of my extracurricular time, but I also took classes like Black-andWhite Photography, AP Bio, AP Econ. I remember recognizing how amazing it was to be at a place like Harvard-Westlake—how amazing the teachers and my fellow students were.

HOW HAS HW CHANGED SINCE YOU WERE A STUDENT HERE?

HW is not only encouraging its students to pursue excellence, it’s always trying to make itself better too. The biggest change I see is in student mental health support, including establishing fully staffed learning centers and adding more full-time psychologists.

HOW DO ALUMNI MAKE A DIFFERENCE AT HW? Alumni give in support of the school, volunteer to help program events for the alumni community, and mentor and provide internships for alumni and students alike through HW Works or the Alumni Relations Office. I think the easiest way to make a difference is to continue to live the values and the mission of HW post-graduation and represent our community out in the world.

IF YOU COULD SAY ANYTHING TO ALUMNI, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

I would love to connect with any and all Westlake, Harvard, and Harvard-Westlake alumni. I want to hear from you and see how our team can support you and connect you back to the school.

HW VOICES

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Art: Matthew Nguyen ’23

WHETHER NEVER TOGETHER FOREVER

By Taeyeon Paik ’24 I remember the times that we took together— When I hugged my mother to whisper and tell her Good night, she picked me up light as a feather And tucked me in bed—when, in the cold weather, We ate her warm dinner, all gathered together ’Round a small wooden table, facing each other, While my father told tales as timeless as treasure— Those were the days that I thought were forever.

I avert the abandoned chair’s stare, I ponder the lonesome table’s wear, I bear the spoiled meal’s despair, I pity the lackluster spoon’s glare, I am the worn storybook’s tear.

And for whatever odd reason, In my silent heart, I freeze in A fire which withers, wherein I wallow in woe from within.

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I reopen the book Whence, to no avail, For the past, I wait alone.

LAST LOOK

SLAM DUNK

By Alexis Sherman Arinsburg ’98

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Westlake’s last junior varsity basketball team, led by tri-captains Kara Nortman ’93, Leah Rosenblatt Lehmbeck ’93, and Lindsay Sloan ’93, ended the 1991 season undefeated. “During tryouts I thought that they would be a good team, but they surpassed my expectations,” reflected Coach Dale Maeder in the 1991 Vox Puellarum. “‘Surpassed’ is a good word because the team loves to pass. They frequently pass the ball five times before taking a shot.”

Front row: Lindsay Sloane ’93, Amy Cohen Lavker ’93, Caroline Gibson ’94, Elizabeth Rodriguez ’94, and Angie Wong ’94 Middle row: Karin Livingston ’93, Alison Mace ’94, Kara Nortman ’93, and Collette Bowers Zinn ’94 Back row: Coach Dale Maeder, Leah Rosenblatt Lehmbeck ’93, and Coach King Schofield Photo from 1991 Vox Puellarum

Photo: Jordan Park ’25

In the next issue:

SNEAK PEEK:

How Chat GPT Is Rewriting Lesson Books

Julia Wick ’07 and Melanie Mason ’03 Win a Pulitzer

HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS: ARI ENGELBERG ’89

ARCHIVIST & WRITER: ALEXIS SHERMAN ARINSBURG ’98

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & DESIGNER: LIZ WELCHMAN

PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHERS: W OO SIM, DARLENE BIBLE, FAB FERNANDEZ, ERRISSON LAWRENCE & SHAUNA ALTIERI

CONTENT DIRECTOR & WRITER: ELIZABETH HURCHALLA PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: SHAUNA ALTIERI

ILLUSTRATOR: REBECCA CLARKE

HARVARD-WESTLAKE SPRING/SUMMER 2023

IN THIS ISSUE

Dear Friends of Harvard-Westlake, Allow me to introduce some of the articles we’re featuring in this issue. Note that this issue has two covers, so be sure to turn it over to see more stories.

HW TODAY How the West Was Won 02

In March, the boys basketball team, led by Head Coach David Rebibo, won the CIF Open Division state championship for the first time in the school’s history (the school last brought home a CIF boys basketball state championship in 2016 in Division IV, and prior to that, in 1996 and 1997 in Division III).

IN MEMORIAM

Tragically, in March and April, Harvard-Westlake suffered the heartbreaking deaths of Jordan Park ’25, Jonah Anschell ’23, and maintenance crew member Andres Quintanar. We will be forever grateful for the time we shared with them and forever changed by their losses.

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HW VOICES 12

ALUMNI EVENTS

Summer Programs Edited by Amber Zhang ’25

NOTES 14 24 26 30 Class Notes

Faculty & Staff Notes

Where Are They Now?

The Supporting Cast

By Eli Goldsmith

In January, alums came together for WolveRun and When Women Lead events.

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HW LEGACY Tributes to Retirees 34

This month, we bid a fond farewell to retirees Sanders Jackson and Jim Pattison, who have been at HW for a combined 54 years.

Cheers,

Ed Hu Head of External Relations ehu@hw.com

Team photo on right:

Assistant Coach Russell Payne Josh Engelberg ’24 Assistant Coach Ari Engelberg Brando Fuqua ’23 Nikolas Khamenia ’25 Christian Horry ’24 Jacob Huggins ’23 Niccolo Kalischer-Stork ’24 Coach Dave Rebibo Trent Perry ’24 Brady Dunlap ’23 Robert Hinton ’24 Dominique Bentho ’26 Santiago Hernandez ’23 Assistant Coach Alex Nailes Amir Jones ’26 Assistant Coach Alex Lieu Not pictured:

Isaiah Carroll ’25 Bryce Williams ’26 2

Barron Linnekens ’26

Team photo: Rayne Athletics Creative Studio

HW TODAY

Wolverines capture the CIF Open Division boys basketball state championship

“I think it’s fair to say this is one of the most significant championships that Harvard-Westlake has won in its history,” says Head of Athletics Terry Barnum. “Virtually every high school in the state of California plays basketball, so to win the Open Division state championship—the top division— and to finish ranked number-one in the state is truly remarkable.”

Assistant Coach Ari Engelberg agrees. “It’s a big deal,” Engelberg says. “We’re not just the biggest state, we’re the state with the most high-quality high school basketball teams. There are 558 high schools in the CIF Southern Section alone, and Southern California has become the epicenter of high school basketball nationwide.”

Not since the legendary 1996 and 1997 Division III state championship teams, led by Jarron Collins ’97 and Jason Collins ’97 (who both went on to play in the NBA), has Harvard-Westlake dominated so consistently on the court. In this recap, we take a closer look at this year’s season of success.

3

This summer, Harvard-Westlake will hang a new banner in Taper Gym—one celebrating the 2023 California Interscholastic Federation Open Division state championship in boys basketball.

HW TODAY

regular season

HEAD OF ATHLETICS TERRY BARNUM: Coach Rebibo is extremely prepared for virtually every situation and relentless when it comes to studying our opponent to develop a strategy that will give us a competitive edge. He leaves no stone unturned

HEAD COACH DAVE REBIBO: During the regular season we really tried to schedule up and get as many competitive games as we could, seeking games out of the area and even out of state in hopes of preparing us for Mission League play and a deep playoff run.

ASSISTANT COACH ARI ENGELBERG: In many ways, we really started training for the championship game last summer. Spring workouts.

Strength and conditioning. Summer league. Fall league.

Daily practice starting in August. Film sessions. Building

4

team chemistry and sharpening our execution throughout the season.

when preparing for a game. He has a great feel for his athletes and knows what buttons to push at the right time. He’s one of the best there is!

BRADY DUNLAP ’23: Coach Rebibo shoots straight, and he doesn’t sugarcoat anything, which really has helped me develop off the court as well, in terms of just being more mentally tough. He’s improved my entire skill set, most importantly my defensive awareness and defensive schemes. He also put me in different good situations on the offensive side of the ball.*

Photos on top left and top right: Samuel Mawanda/Max Preps; photo on bottom left: Dennis Lee/Max Preps

Harvard-Westlake started off strong, winning every game but one (against Liberty High School from Henderson, Nevada) leading up to tournament play.

MISSION LEAGUE & SOUTHERN SECTION TOURNAMENTS

REBIBO: Notre Dame was an incredibly talented team. Despite holding a double-digit lead for most of that Mission League Tournament game, we did turn the ball over a little late and didn’t execute as well as we should have down the stretch. But I was proud to see our players show great character and fight after going 9-0 in Mission League play, winning the Mission League

REBIBO: St. John Bosco caught us on a bad day.

Things were not clicking—we had a few guys who had been dealing with illnesses, and we just couldn’t seem to find a rhythm. St. John Bosco has an incredibly talented team, and in the Open Division you cannot bring anything but your best when trying to win.

for the fifth consecutive season.

5

Photo on top right: Samuel Mawanda/Max Preps; photos on bottom left and bottom right: Dennis Lee/Max Preps

In February, Harvard-Westlake took the Mission League title with its second victory of the season over Notre Dame High School.

The team then went on to win CIF Southern Section playoff games against St. Bernard and West Ranch but lost to St. John Bosco, knocking HW out of the running for the Southern Section title.

HW TODAY

REGIONAL & STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS Although HW’s loss to St. John Bosco in Southern Section championship pool play kept the Wolverines out of the final Southern Section game, they still qualified for the regional championship based on their overall record. In the state tournament, they won a rematch against St. John Bosco and then beat defending state champions Corona Centennial in the regional final before going on to Sacramento to take it all in a matchup against Santa Maria St. Joseph.

ENGELBERG: Last year, we made it to the CIF Open Division championship game at Corona Centennial, but of the top teams in the country. This year we played them again in the regional final. To go into the same gym where we took a beating the year before and win was a pretty tall order, but we came out aggressive, took an early lead, and never looked back. We were ahead by 10 points at halftime and by 18 by the end of the third quarter. By the time the fourth quarter started, I remember turning to another assistant coach and saying, “I think we’re going to do this.”

BARNUM: In many ways, the state championship game was a little anticlimactic because we had beaten Corona Centennial in the Southern California regional final. To go on the road and win that game was huge! So by the time we got to Sacramento to play St. Joseph, we knew we were facing a quality opponent who had the ability

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to beat us, but this was not the first time we had played an opponent of that caliber.

Photo on top left: Louis Lopez/Max Preps; photos on bottom left and right: Dennis Lee/Max PrepsPreps

we lost the game by 20 points—and Centennial came into this year as the number-one team in California and one

REBIBO: I felt good about our group, but I was very anxious heading into the championship game with St. Joseph. We were playing great basketball, but in championship games, anything can happen.

BARNUM: It’s funny. I was not comfortable that we would win the game until about the last 30 seconds—even though we had a comfortable lead for most of the second half. People sitting around me were telling me to relax and I couldn’t! You never know when you are going to have this opportunity again and to be that close to winning it...I didn’t want to relax and leave anything to chance.

JACOB HUGGINS ’23: I realized we were going to win when we started the fourth quarter up 10 and everyone was still locked in—not joking, acting like the score was 0-0. We weren’t gonna let this lead slip.

TRENT PERRY ’24: I was actually so happy [when we won]. I thought I was gonna

Photos on top left and right and photo on bottom left: Samuel Mawanda/Max Preps; photo in middle: Dennis Lee/Max Preps

cry tears of joy, but I didn’t. It was a very special moment just because we went through a lot.

I’m just glad I got to get my best friends, the seniors, a championship in the end.*

HUGGINS: We celebrated in the locker room throwing water on each other and making TikToks. Then we went out to dinner and listened to music together while playing video games in the hotel.

ENGELBERG: This year, between the regular season and the playoffs, we ended up playing against the other nine schools that, along with us, made up the top 10 teams in Southern California. And we beat all of them. I mean, we had to beat literally everybody to win the championship. So that’s what we did.

BARNUM: We have the best coach in the state and a group of players who bought into being a team first and putting individual accolades second. This team stayed hungry and focused the entire season and didn’t allow adversity to distract them from their ultimate goal. This was truly a team championship.

HW TODAY

REBIBO: They were great guys who celebrated others’ success as much as their own.

They showed tremendous love for one another and great character. It was a pleasure to coach this group and watch them continue to evolve into the eventual California state champions.

ENGELBERG: I’ve been an assistant varsity basketball coach for 20 years at HarvardWestlake. This team was the most successful by the numbers and by the banner, but what makes coaching fun isn’t necessarily winning.

It’s working with players, getting to know them as people, and seeing and helping them grow

REBIBO: This was a great group of young men who not

both on and off the court. In that respect, this

only thrived on the court but also in the classroom. They are

was the most satisfying coaching experience in

tremendous ambassadors of our school and community and a

my career, and it was made extra special by the

group that I will never take for granted. Truly, an absolute honor

fact that my son, Josh [Engelberg ’24], was on

to coach this team.

the team!

DUNLAP: [I’ll miss] the camaraderie. I’ve heard of a lot of teams that don’t really have that and they’re kind of split—like, some people

Check out footage of the team celebrating as they win the state championship

like each other and other people don’t. This team wasn’t really like that at all. We all loved

Read the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle article about the championship

8

each other.*

*Quoted in the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle article “Best in the West: Open Division Champs” by Ella Yadegar ’24 and Averie Perrin ’24 from March 21, 2023

Victory Is Ours The CIF Open Division State Basketball Championship wasn’t the only notable win Harvard-Westlake brought home this school year.

Here are HW’s other 2022-23 banner-worthy accomplishments.

Mission League Championships: Girls Cross Country Girls Golf Girls Tennis Boys Water Polo Girls Soccer Girls Water Polo Boys Basketball Boys Soccer Girls Swimming Boys Tennis Boys Track & Field Southern California Scholastic League Championship: Fencing

Homecoming Court Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Harvard’s 1970 CIF basketball championship

By Alexis Sherman Arinsburg ’98 by two points (54-52) to become CIF Southern Section

1970 varsity basketball team gathered in Taper Gym to

A champions. We sat down with four members of the

commemorate the 50th anniversary of Harvard’s first

championship team from the class of ’70 (co-captains

California Interscholastic Federation championship in

John Irvine and Randy Whittell and teammates John LoPresti

basketball. That year, Harvard beat Trona High School

and Stephen Hoch) to reflect on their victory 50 years later.

10

On January 10, 2020, alumni from the Harvard School

Note: This story was initially slated to appear in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue, which did not go to press due to the pandemic.

Photos: Jordan Tucker (center photo), 1970 Harvard Sentinel, and unknown

HW TODAY

You won the first—and only—basketball CIF championship in the history of Harvard School. What was the secret of your success?

JOHN IRVINE: All of us played multiple sports,

JOHN LO PRESTI: Talk about bonding—to say

so we got to know each other very well in a lot of different

our coach was tough would be an understatement...but it

circumstances. And our journey for this championship really

actually brought us closer together. We were still playing

began two years before when a group of us went to [Camp

together eight to ten years after graduating. We’ve stayed

DeWitt in] New Hampshire.

close 50 years later!

STEPHEN HOCH: At camp, we played basketball together all summer between our sophomore and junior

JOHN IRVINE: We’ve all been to each other’s weddings. Celebrated births. Been to a couple funerals.

year, so when we came back, we had already bonded.

What was your senior year season like?

RANDY WHITTELL: We played three summer leagues that summer and we didn’t have any time to take off to do anything. When we lost in the first round

McFadden, the coach, was driving us. Sometimes it was very painful, and other times it was a lot of fun.

JOHN IRVINE: The fast break was one of our

of the football playoffs, [basketball] practice started the

hallmarks, and it came from doing these drills where we

next day. We practiced on December 26, and no one

would go for half an hour. It was a well-oiled machine. It

goes skiing— something everyone at Harvard did back in

was one of those things we would start doing even before

those days. We can’t go on without mentioning that Dan

McFadden showed up.

Before the championship game at the LA Sports Arena, your coach had you practice at the Loyola College [now Loyola Marymount University] gymnasium, where the Lakers and the 76ers were practicing. Why? RANDY WHITTELL: The gym that we played in was 84 feet and had wooden backboards. The Sports Arena was 94 feet and had glass backboards. We had never played in any gyms with glass backboards, so the idea was to give us some experience. We walk in and Wilt Chamberlain and the Lakers are just finishing up a practice.

What do you remember about playing Trona High in the championship?

JOHN IRVINE: It came down to a very close game at the end. Our defense remained good and that’s what helped us.

RANDY WHITTELL: I think everybody was a little tight. I remember blocking a shot about 20 feet from the basket. I slapped it forward and could not get a handle on the ball and blew the layup. It was pretty bad.

JOHN IRVINE: I don’t know if you guys remember, but the Trona paper the next day said “Freak Shot.”

RANDY WHITTELL: It’s tied and there are probably 55 seconds left. For two years, we’d practiced running the offense through three, four, five times until someone got open. Of course, when you’re playing against

your own people, they know what’s happening, so it’s tougher to get someone open. We come back on the court, and I swear that it was the first time in those two years that we actually ran the offense [plays] through three whole times. And it comes down to Douglas Econn [’70] taking a shot and then taking off toward the baseline. I turn around, and my hands are right here [above the head] and another hand comes in like this and tips it in. With two seconds left, John Irvine tips it in, and as I went down to stand on the baseline and hassle the guy who was taking the ball out of bounds, all the lights come on—and I looked around and we’d just won.

JOHN IRVINE: It was pretty surreal.

What was it like coming back to campus having won?

STEPHEN HOCH: The school had never won a major championship before, so I think people were sort of excited. I’m not sure how long it lasted. It lasted for us.

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JOHN IRVINE: Coach McFadden taught American History, and the goal was to get him to talk about anything else but history, so the class lobbed him with questions about the game.

HW VOICES

SUMMER PROGRAMS

12

WOLVERINE SPORTS CAMPS, NORTH FARING EXPLORATION, COLDWATER PREP CLASSES INTRODUCE ACTIVITIES, EDUCATION TO BOTH CAMPUSES IN THE HEAT OF THE SEASON By students in the Summer 2022 Coldwater Prep course Intro to Print Journalism, edited by Amber Zhang ’25 Excerpted from the Harvard-Westlake Spectrum

Director of the Kutler Center and Summer Programs Jim Patterson has worked to make the summer programs more engaging.

During the year, Harvard-Westlake students are scurrying to their lockers to get their necessities for their next class, and in the summer, there is a mix of HW students and students from other schools together doing different activities. Whether it’s running on the track, writing an article in print journalism, debating with friends, or even just learning more about a subject, HW Summer programs give students the opportunity to experience something new.

“We’re not a summer camp, by any stretch of the imagination,” Patterson said. “But I want to be like a summer camp. I want kids to come here and enjoy being here, have fun, make some friends, learn some new things, in the same way that you do that at a summer camp. That does really allow us to create what I think is an environment that is really, really quite special.”

“We are able to learn extracurricular subjects as well as develop new relationships with those who aren’t only in your grade, but those who are younger or older, including your teacher or coach,” Katelynn You ’26 said.

North Faring Exploration offers academic courses for grades 5-7 that provide a similar feeling to a summer camp.

Coldwater Prep classes are a bit more serious and are made for grades 7-12, but don’t carry the stressors that classes in during the school year may bring to the students as well as the teachers.

“You get to meet a lot of really interesting kids and develop relationships with them,” Patterson said.

“We’ve removed a lot of those things that really stressed students out; we’ve also removed a lot of the things that honestly stressed teachers out.”

This is one of the challenges Patterson faces running the program. He says that teachers are less enthusiastic about working during the summer after finishing a long school year.

“Just as the school year ends, the summer program starts,” Patterson said.

One of Patterson’s goals is to identify the uniqueness of HW and offer opportunities for summer enrichment programs that are available for students from different schools, giving kids the chance to meet people with different backgrounds and passions.

For example, Wolverine sports camps allow students in grades 3-12 from any school to experience HW athletics, coaches, and facilities.

“I have tried to look across the rest of the school to see what are the other elements we offer during the academic year that might be able to have a summer equivalent that can be offered to the wider community,” Patterson said.

Inclusivity is an important part of the summer program for Patterson. Currently, more than 450 schools are represented in the summer program, and roughly 40% of participants do not currently attend Harvard-Westlake.

Patterson has served Harvard-Westlake for 28 years of his career. He worked as a science and math teacher before becoming a dean, and has been the director of the summer program since 2006.

He said his goal is to create a special experience for both the educators and students.

“I hope people join HW Summer Programs to get a taste of Harvard-Westlake.”

CLASS NOTES WESTLAKE CLASS NOTES

1960s

SUSAN OKIE ’68 writes, “Hello, dear Westlake classmates! After a career as a medical reporter and science editor, I rediscovered writing poetry, which I’ve been doing in recent years—I went back to school for two years at the low-residency Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College to earn my MFA in Poetry. And now, I have exciting news! My full-length poetry collection, Woman at the Crossing, containing about 50 poems, has won the 2023 Off the Grid Poetry Prize, and will be published this fall. Grid Books, a small press, sponsors this annual contest open to poets over 60.

My manuscript was chosen by Garrett Hongo, a well-known poet and poetry teacher who served as this year’s judge, and the book should be available in October. I’d previously published a chapbook (a smaller collection, Let You Fly), and was surprised and excited to receive this validation of my work.

The book contains some poems from the chapbook, but is mostly newer, previously unpublished poems, including some about the experience of being a doctor and others about our family’s life-changing years in Kenya.

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This June would mark our 55th Westlake reunion. I expect to be in Los Angeles in the fall to visit my nieces and nephews who live there, and am hoping to have a poetry reading in LA during my visit.

Maybe I’ll see some of you then! Best wishes to all!”

1980s

VALERIE ULENE ’82 writes, “Last year, I launched a new company in the healthcare space along with my longtime business partner and Harvard-Westlake mom Byrdie Pompan (Noah ’14 and Simon ’18). The company, Boom Home Medical, is reimagining the consumer category of durable home medical products.

Unlike the geriatric-looking medical products that are currently available, all of which are embarrassingly out of place in people’s homes, Boom Home Medical is manufacturing products that are not only highly functional and easy to use but beautifully designed as well.

Boom’s first product, Loona, is a bedside urinal designed specifically for the female anatomy and is currently on the market.

Additional products, including a urinal designed for the male anatomy and a urinal for use on the go, will be released later in 2023.

With the rapidly aging United States population—sometimes called the ’silver tsunami’—the demand for home healthcare products is anticipated to rise dramatically. With Boom, I hope to help empower people to care for the basic needs with dignity!”

HARVARD CLASS NOTES

1950s

CHARLES VAN DER HEIDE ’53 writes, “70th anniversary of graduation with timeless memories galore. Excellent educational preparation for college (Harvard), medical school (Northwestern), and a long career in psychiatry (retired 2018); installation of lifelong values of responsibility (shining shoes and brass), honesty, curiosity, and accountability for one’s actions. Married 58 years, three children, six grandchildren; live near Charlottesville, Virginia; continue playing the violin (2 orchestras and chamber music), pottery classes, walking in good health, and enjoying the family. Many heartfelt thanks to an outstanding school, then and now!”

1970s

STEVE STEPHENS ’77 writes, “ROB CHUMBOOK ’77 recently visited the LA area and reconnected with classmates on two separate occasions. On 2/23 he met with GLEN FARR ’77 and me in Sherman Oaks, and then on 2/28, he met with NAT WILLIAMS ’77, STEPHEN TAGLIANETTI ’77, TOM RICCARD ’77, and FRED GLASSER ’77 in Santa Monica. Rob said it was great to see his friends again and reminisce about all the trouble they got into. They also discussed Rob’s cancer challenge and his new Lone Warrior Foundation (LWF).

The genesis of LWF was Rob’s incredible cancer journey of the last eight years.

The organization supports single-parent cancer patients financially, logistically, and psychologically during their active treatment. It’s a one-of-a-kind support group for single parents, and Rob, speaking from the heart after living this nightmare, has rallied a dedicated team of volunteers (many in Jacksonville, where he lives) around him. They all feel this is a noble and much-needed cause. Just a short time ago, Lone Warrior’s first recipient, Nisha, a single mother of two very young daughters, had food delivered and some bills paid by our small team. This was done as she laid on her couch with significant nausea and fever from the chemotherapy. She was most appreciative and is praying we will continue to support her as best we can while the foundation grows.

Rob Chumbook: chumbook3@aol.com Glen Farr: glen@glenfarr.com Steve Stephens (in Westlake Village): docstephens@sbcglobal.net"

HARVARD-WESTLAKE CLASS NOTES

1992

RANDALL DAVID ANTIN writes, “I went to a bat mitzvah in March of this year in the Bay Area and am proud to say that Jamin Seid ’92 won a prize for best person on the dance floor doing the Wobble. Good job, Jamin!”

1993

GREGORY KIM writes, “Lil Kim got into HW for ninth grade so we moved from OC to LA. It’s great to be back at school and see so many familiar faces and spaces. Also, great to be back in LA to reconnect with old friends and rediscover LA after 11 years in OC. Go Wolverines!”

1995

AUSTIN KATZ writes, “I am thrilled that we are now officially an allWolverine family. Our son, Walker, has joined the HW community as part of the Class of 2028! He has absolutely loved his time at HW so far and can’t wait for what is next for him. Our daughter, Presley, will be joining the Class of 2029 next fall!”

1997

JILLIAN FOWKES ROSCOE writes, “I recently opened my own PR firm called Birch Public Relations.

I will continue to represent actors, showrunners, and filmmakers. My husband PATRICK ROSCOE ’96 and I have a son named Will who is in kindergarten at Campbell Hall.”

2008

2001

ELIZABETH GOLDSTEIN writes, “In addition to our day jobs, we started a new small business this year.

Yellow Door Nannies helps to match experienced nannies with families.”

MICHAEL RIMOIN writes, “Nico Jude Rimoin was born on February 10, 2023. He joins big brother Kai. Mom is doing well, and both mom and dad are overjoyed.”

ADAM JOSEPHS writes, “My wife Halley and I (and proud big sister Abigail) welcomed a baby boy, Caleb Frank Josephs, in July 2022.”

2009

2005

TASHA HALL writes, “Started a new role in Global Brand Strategy at Mattel, Inc.”

2007

ALEX DE CASTRO-ABEGER writes, “I moved back to Los Angeles with my wife and our daughter almost two years ago. I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and opened a solo practice in Redondo Beach. My office sees children of all ages for their eye care needs as well as adults with strabismus (eye misalignment).”

ETHAN LEVITT writes, “My wife Shira and I welcomed our son Jace Henry into the world on February 16, 2023.”

HUNTER SPINKS writes, “My wife, Katrina, and I welcomed Selma, our beautiful daughter, to our family in October. We currently reside in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles with our two other (much furrier) children =).”

2012

VIVIEN MAO writes, “I was named one of 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Hollywood and Entertainment.”

HARLEY PARKER writes, “My wife Susan Alexander and I welcomed our daughter Eleanor Anne Alexander Parker on February 24, 2023.”

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Rob is president of LWF, I am on the Board, and Glen is an advisor. Tom, Nat, Stephen, and Fred seemed genuinely interested in supporting LWF. While a disease shouldn’t be the motivator for old friends to gather, Rob was very happy his old pals could rally. We hope others will reach out to reconnect and learn about the mission and vision of Lone Warrior.

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IN MEMORIAM

REMEMBERING

JONAH ANSCHELL ’23

Jonah Anschell ’23 passed away in April. In this tribute, three of his teachers share memories of him.

When I met Jonah, he was inside a Zoom screen during COVID. That first day of class, students had Zoom backgrounds of the ocean and blurs, but not Jonah. He sat in front of a naked plywood wall, and on day one he talked about how he had built the room he was sitting in. His internet was spotty that day, as he told me he was yet to perfect that part of the room, and within five minutes of meeting him, I knew he was capable with tools, code, building, electricity, IT installations…and that’s all before I heard about the solar panels and plans for the future of the project. My jaw was likely open the whole class for how excited I was to get to work with him! A stagecraft teacher’s dream!

So when Jonah and I finally met face to face later that year, it was amazing to put him on projects. He had no fear of heights and often was in the theater hanging lights or just hanging out with Tommy [Madison ’23]. We used to talk together for hours about nothing in particular. I remember how silly he was. Slipping into his best Arte Johnson impression, he would often say “very interesting.” Still makes me smile to hear him saying it in my head. I remember one conversation that went on for weeks about mental health care and defunding police to accommodate sensitivities during confrontations. The funny thing about that conversation (and many more like it) was how respectful he was. His opinion differed from mine, but he wasn’t rude or abrasive or dismissive. He listened to me and that truly gained my respect.

Then he and Tommy got into being Jr. Police Officers and it was a whole new world. They often needed time away from class to go to training, but Jonah was always so good about making sure he was living up to his end of the bargain for my class. Truly a rare characteristic, and I really admired him for it. He served on my crews for shows with the time he had available and was always so good at everything you gave him that it was sad not to have him in charge of anything. He never had time to be in charge of much, as he was always working on outside projects, like his excavation business.

On any normal day I could count on Jonah making me laugh, making me shake my head, and making me happy he was part of my class.

A teenager who owned his own excavation business, who worked for the Beverly Hills PD, and then became a paramedic, all while an HW student. To say he was quite remarkable is an understatement.

Jonah was a kind, thoughtful, energetic, enthusiastic, extroverted, brave man who, when you got to know him, was a nerdy, tech-heady perfectionist who could be admired for his pragmatism and ability to defend his position calmly.

The last conversation he and I had was brief but impactful. He thanked me for writing his college recommendation letter and told me how excited he was to graduate and how he was sorry I hadn’t seen him much lately due to paramedic schooling and senioritis.…

I told him I understood, and since then, have wondered who I can ask to help build sets, take on small projects, and have an ongoing debate with.

I’m really going to miss him.

Jonah was so spirited, so energetic—and so loud!

He would come to class and say, “¡Hola, Señora!” at the top of his lungs, and then proceed to talk to me extensively in his beautiful Spanish about whatever was going on that day. He took his work very seriously and hated to waste time or see others waste it. He was so organized and responsible. It felt like teaching an adult, not a high school senior.

Top photo: Beverly Hills Police Department

Jonah was also creative and had a great sense of humor: When he made his cooking video (a demonstration on how to make lemonade), he used a chain saw to cut the lemons!

Jonah was insightful and knowledgeable and observant. When we were preparing to watch a movie that required learning a lot of Middle Eastern history (in Spanish), it was Jonah who offered the most useful information about the West Bank. I learned so much from him this year.

I think about Jonah every day. It’s hard to believe that he’s gone…. His presence was such that it seems like he’s just absent working on one of his many projects. I feel like he’ll walk into class on Monday and say, “Hola Señora, what’d I miss?”

MARGOT RIEMER JONAH’S SPANISH TEACHER

AARON MARTIN JONAH’S STAGECRAFT TEACHER

Jonah was comfortable being different when it came to school. He didn’t see HW as a stepping stone toward college; it was simply his high school.

He was not concerned about college; he was physically, mentally, and spiritually ready— and in fact yearning—to begin service to his community.

At some point I received a proper, business-like email from Jonah informing me that he was going to miss a full week of school to get EMT certified and asking about arrangements to make up the work.

Later, he also stopped by to discuss the topic with me in person. He assured me he’d be on top of his assignments and apologized for making more work for me.

As I was standing there listening to him, all I could think was “This kid is apologizing to me for the inconvenience that I might experience because he’s getting certified to save lives!”

When Jonah and his group partner in Calc and Stats disagreed about a method or answer, Jonah would often ever so confidently proclaim, “No, there is no way you are right!” Then, his partner would patiently ask him some clearly leading questions about his approach, calmly point out some issues with his logic, and finally drive the point home by telling him what she did. Jonah would think about it for a bit, and then just as confidently as before, say, “Yes, of course you are correct.” He was always confident, or perhaps more accurately, respectfully cocky, but he was never afraid to admit when he was wrong.

I miss him. I’ve been lighting a candle on his desk each class to acknowledge our loss and keep him, or at least the idea of him, nearby.

KASIA WILLIAMS JONAH’S MATH TEACHER

IN MEMORIAM

Photo: Jordan Park ’25

Photo: Jordan Park ’25

REMEMBERING JORDAN PARK ’25

After Jordan Park passed away in March, her field hockey coach and two of her teachers gave eulogies at her celebration of life.

Here, we share excerpts from each.

Jordan was a quick study, naturally athletic, diligent, smart, tough, so so fast, and so so competitive. It’s hard to describe Jordan’s passion for field hockey and for her friends. She’d be on the field before practice, working on her hits or stick skills. She’d be the first to finish in sprints or the timed mile. And the player who’d run back on another team’s breakaway to miraculously save us from getting scored on. And when she wasn’t playing, she was studying the game, cheering on her teammates, hugging them after the game was over and telling them how great they played. That year, she was awarded Rookie of the Year. The next year, she made varsity. I talked with her dad once about wishing I had more players like her.

What I loved most about Jordan was her powerful, kind, unapologetic spirit. She used to stay for the JV and freshmen games to cheer on her friends and sometimes would run the clock behind me and yell so loud that it hurt my ears. She’d be screaming, “GO!! You got it!! Way to go!! Run!!” at the top of her lungs. You couldn’t help but play better when you heard her voice. Then, at the end, she would go to the goalie and run off with her, so that the goalie wouldn’t have to run off by herself. Then she asked if we could do that as a team, which we did.

I remember her trying to teach her teammates some dance moves at a tournament…just being herself, dancing to the beat of her own drum in the blue plaid pajama pants she stole from her father.

She had the universe inside her and never made herself small.

We should all strive to live like that. I know I will be forever be a better person having known her.

Love you, Jordan.

SUE HODGKINS JORDAN’S FIELD HOCKEY COACH

In our unit on The Glass Castle, students explored the metaphor of a geode, and Jordan connected with the idea that a plain, rough exterior could break apart to reveal the surprise of multifaceted crystal. In her artistic project, she indicated that some of her personal prism’s beautiful colors were still out of focus, waiting to reveal themselves over time.

Over the course of the nine months we spent together studying English, many of those colors came into view. The vibrant yellow of friendship, the deep blues of her intelligence, and the fiery red of her athletic drive and prowess. There at the foundation of the prism, the soft green glow of kindness and empathy ever present.

JON WIMBISH JORDAN’S 9TH GRADE ENGLISH TEACHER AND HEAD OF THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Jordan loved photography. It meant a lot to her. And she loved our class.

She would spend hours after school in the lab with Andrea and Chris, blasting music and editing her photos. And she would come to school early sometimes and sit with me working a little more before first block, chitchatting as I hustled around the classroom, prepping our space. As teachers we’re not supposed to say we have our favorites…but here it is, she was a favorite.

Jordan was sensitive. That sensitivity is useful in artmaking. She was a quiet, perceptive observer of the world around her. A great thing about the camera and photography for a sensitive soul is that it allows for a bit of distance between yourself and the world. It’s a way to mediate and process what’s around us. Through Jordan’s lens she made images that were the poetry of the everyday. Quiet, candid introspective moments, like a man sitting alone at the back of an empty diner, holding his phone up to his ear and examining his nails. A red neon sign hangs behind him, filling the scene with a warm and slightly melancholy light.* Another—a side of an apartment building at night, filling the frame, small rectangular shadowy windows glowing like muted gems, portals to people and families and stories that we can only glimpse.** That’s the frustrating thing about any given photograph—it only gives you so much information. There’s a lot left beyond the image frame that is unknowable.

In the fall I do this activity with my classes called the camera obscura. I turn the 100-year-old Rugby Tower into a giant pinhole camera that we all sit inside. For Jordan’s class that day we had a spectacular afternoon—the sky had clouds, the light was perfect. I start by leading the kids through a meditation in the dark space, and when we open our eyes, you can see the outside landscape projected on the wall and ceiling behind us. We all left the obscura buzzing, having shared that experience. What I didn’t know was that Jordan was having a tough day that day. I was so caught up, I didn’t notice, but she sent me an email afterward. It was long, loving email, part of which said: “Your class is one of the few things I look forward to in a week and I want to say it’s like my comfort class. There’s something about it, maybe it’s the way you teach it, or the chemistry with the other students, or the actual photographing aspect of it (or all of the above), but it is extremely therapeutic.

“As I mentioned earlier the day had not been going very well for me, and there was something about being there with the class that felt so incredibly healing and comforting that it made me want to cry because of how grateful I was for the class. But that’s all, I just wanted to express my gratitude and let you know how much your class really means to me. Thank you for being my teacher Ms. PG. I hope you have a lovely long weekend” I have never in my tenure of teaching received a note like that. As an adult, I feel like I don’t take enough time to tell those around me what they mean to me, and here is this 15-year-old young woman with the generosity, the selfawareness, and the kindness to let me know I am valued. What a gift.

Thank you Jordan, for everything.

ALEXANDRA PACHECO GARCIA JORDAN’S PHOTO I TEACHER *See page 31 on the other side of the issue **See photo at left

IN MEMORIAM

IN MEMORY OF

ANDRES QUINTANAR

Andres Quintanar joined the maintenance staff three years ago and passed away unexpectedly in March.

Here, three of his coworkers share this tribute.

Andres was a kind-hearted guy who really cared. He went out of his way for everybody. When I was sick, he was calling me, “What do you need?

Do you need me to cut your grass, do something around the house, some chores?” One of our oldest guys takes two buses to get here, so after work, Andres would take him to his second stop so he only had to take one bus— and when it rained, he would take him all the way home.

Andres lived with his parents and always took care of his family, including his grandma, who also lived with them. He was a good guy and a hard worker.

If we told the crew, hey, we need to meet at Taper to pick up 50 tables, he would be the first one there. He wouldn’t wait for us, he’d start picking up tables. Whatever we were doing, he was always laughing and trying to make it a good environment for everybody.

I get here at 5:30 and just hang out in my truck till six. Andres would get here around 5:50 and knock on my window: “Good morning! How you doing? I’m awake, you’re awake. We’re here, right? We’re alive.” I keep expecting that knock on the window.

ALFRED LICEA ASSISTANT PLANT MANAGER

One of my duties at the end of the day is to collect all the trash. When Andres started working here, he was like, “Oh, it’s a lot of work, I’ll help you.” So he started helping with that all the time—he was my buddy.

Just so nice. He would help everybody.

Sometimes we had to wash the tennis courts together. A lot of times it was hot, and I’d pretend the hose just fell to the side to get him wet. He would be like, “Don’t do that!” and start hitting me with water too.

The last day we worked together we were all joking around. So many memories. It’s been hard for all of us because we can’t even believe it.

JESSE CABEZAS VAZQUEZ MAINTENANCE STAFF MEMBER

Andres was with Harvard-Westlake for almost three years and always had a smile whenever you saw him. He was a very positive, charismatic person and loyal employee. Andres cared for the school and would never say no when asked to stay late and assist with events on campus.

He rarely complained and it was fun to joke with him. He will be really, really missed by all of us.

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ED WORMALD UPPER SCHOOL PLANT MANAGER

Art: Edie Cohen ’24

FACULTY & STAFF NOTES UPPER SCHOOL CHINESE TEACHER BIN HE writes, “The HW Chinese Team is thrilled to share with you that our Chinese program has been selected as an Outstanding Chinese Program in K-12 Schools in the United States in 2023 by the CLTA (Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA)! There are only 20 programs that get recognition across the state, and we are proud of our teamwork! I’m also thrilled to share that I have been recently selected to serve on the Board of Directors for CLTA-SC (The Chinese Language Teachers Association of Southern California). As one of eight board members, including representatives from higher education institutions and K-12 schools, I am excited to collaborate with my team to provide an extensive networking resource for educators, students, and professionals. Together, we aim to foster open dialogue and exchange, establish common goals, and promote Chinese language and cultural education in our community.”

UPPER SCHOOL PERFORMING ARTS TEACHER AND DEPARTMENT HEAD AARON MARTIN writes, “On March 28, the Upper School Choirs and Orchestra, led by music teachers Zanaida Roles and Mark Hilt, gave an incredible performance of Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast at Carnegie Hall.

Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, by Black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, was last performed at Carnegie Hall in 1915 as part of a ‘Concert of Negro Music.’ That concert was conducted by the Black composer and conductor J. Rosamund Johnson, who wrote the music for the hymn ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ which was also part of HW’s Carnegie Hall performance.

The concert also featured an original work by indigenous Lenape American composer Brent Michael Davids and ‘Truth,’ a song written by indigenous artist Sage Bond and arranged by Zanaida Robles. The show was well received and a huge success!”

SENIOR ADVANCEMENT ADMINISTRATOR MARLA SCHLOM writes, “I’m a grandma again! Our family was overjoyed to welcome baby Selma to the world in late 2022. Dad Hunter Spinks ’09, mom Katrina, aunt Jenna Spinks ’07 (plus uncle Collin and their son Archer), and I are in love with this adorable new addition to our family.”

UPPER SCHOOL PERFORMING ARTS TEACHER MICHELE SPEARS writes, “Object of Her Affection, a show I directed and developed with performance artist Marsian De Lellis (who designed puppets for HW’s production of Into The Woods) was produced by the Chicago International Puppet Festival last year and will soon begin touring. chicagopuppetfest.org/ event/marisan-de-lellis

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And this May, I will be directing Improv Theatre’s Sondheim Unscripted as part of the Pasadena Playhouse’s Sondheim Celebration. pasadenaplayhouse.org/event/ sondheim-unscripted”

UPPER SCHOOL DEAN ADAM HOWARD ’93 writes, “I was excited to have a live public reading of my newest play, Feast, at the Road Theatre on February 24 as a final phase of the theater company’s new play initiative, Under Construction 3. I was grateful to have so many familiar faces in the audience, and I’m hopeful that this will be the first step toward this play having life in full production. Moving forward, I will also be joining the Road as one of their co-coordinators and dramaturges for the forthcoming Under Construction 4 residency.”

UPPER SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER JESUS SALAS writes, “I have been playing piano and composing songs since high school, and now, I’ve finally published my first piano album. It’s titled Blue Moon. It was released on October 8 to all major online music platforms (Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, etc.)”

CURRENT AND FORMER TEACHERS AND STAFF MEMBERS CAN SHARE THEIR NEWS BY EMAILING ELIZABETH HURCHALLA AT EHURCHALLA@HW.COM

UPPER SCHOOL CHINESE TEACHER LI SUN writes, “In the fall of 2022, I passed my Chinese martial arts (wushu, or 武术) test for the level of advanced straight sword. This is the fourth level of straight sword practice. Straight sword has been my favorite wushu weapon. I cannot wait to practice the next level’s straight sword and other forms.”

Art: Janie Chandrasekhar ’24

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? CATCHING UP WITH RETIRED FACULTY AND STAFF

RETIRED HARVARD-WESTLAKE COMMUNICATIONS TEACHER JIM BURNS writes, “I continue my writing and editing passions post-retirement. I am the new communications board member for Fly Fishers International Southwest Council and have an article about Colorado’s Estes Park and the fall elk bugle in the latest Fly Culture, a UK quarterly. But the best times are making s’mores with my 3-year-old grandson, Callen.”

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RETIRED HARVARD-WESTLAKE UPPER SCHOOL DEAN VANNA CAIRNS writes, “I’m actually still on the payroll at HW, assisting with the College Essay Writing course every summer. I’ve worked with several children of my former counselees from the ’80s and ’90s.

Truth is, shortly after retirement in 2017, I found I missed teenagers in my life. ‘Where are the teenagers?’ I lamented. Fortunately, I found Minds Matter SoCal, where I’m surrounded by highly motivated, low-income inner-city students. I’ve adapted the

HW college counseling program there.

My heart is full. In other ways, I never left HW. My closest friends are either newly retired or nearing that milestone.

We regularly attend what we call ‘Ted Movies’ (as an homage to the late Ted Walch) on Sundays. I’ve done some adventure travel with retired teacher WENDY VAN NORDEN: kayaking in the south of France, hiking 100+ miles along the Cotswold Way, ascending the Himalayas’ Mardi Himal trail to 12,000 feet, rafting 188 miles through the Grand Canyon. This October, we will tackle Mount Olympus! My body is challenged.

I look forward to attending homecoming every October and HW reunions every May and reconnecting with my former counselees.”

RETIRED HARVARD AND HARVARDWESTLAKE DEAN AND HISTORY/ SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER JOHN CORSELLO writes, “I missed the classroom and am currently a longterm sub teaching middle and upper school Latin at the Dalton School in Manhattan till June. I not only get to be at school again but am in my favorite city enjoying lots of theater.”

RETIRED WESTLAKE AND HARVARD-WESTLAKE VISUAL ARTS TEACHER CHERI GAULKE writes, “I recently screened my short documentary Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color at the Santa Fe Film Festival.

AARON PAYNE ’83 of AP Fine Art gallery in Santa Fe provided art expertise as an interviewee in the film, which has traveled nationally with a museum exhibition and to film festivals.

Alfre Woodard Spencer P’09 performs the voice of African American artist Alma Thomas. My short documentary Inside the Beauty Bubble (with NICK LIEBERMAN ’11 as Director of Photography) also screened in the Santa Fe Film Festival.”

RETIRED WESTLAKE AND HARVARD-WESTLAKE COACH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HEAD KIM HIEATT writes, “I retired in 2017. As the retired Head of the Physical Education Department and gymnastics, cross country, and golf coach, I overused my hips and now have two new hips. They are wonderful and allow me to return to all the activities I love. I just returned from a 17-day trip to several of India’s national parks. I had many close encounters with tigers (the photo is me seeing my first tiger) and visited the magical Taj Mahal during the Festival of Shiva. My daughter, CORINNE HIEATT ’06, will be married this May along the coast in Oregon, with a family party to follow in Bend, Oregon. I donate some time each week as a VIP at LAX, helping tourists navigate that jungle!”

RETIRED HARVARD-WESTLAKE ENGLISH TEACHER JEFF KWITNY writes, “Although I left the HW English department in ’18, I’ve managed to keep aflame my love for teaching by publishing a weekly newsletter devoted to the arts, The Kwitny Report. I’ve also published two novels, with a new thriller, Painted Blind, coming soon. My wife and I welcomed heartily our grandson Finn (following our granddaughter Harper, who is now 5) into the world last year.

We moved to Temecula, California, to be near family.”

RETIRED HARVARD AND HARVARDWESTLAKE SCIENCE TEACHER, DEAN, AND HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL HARRY SALAMANDRA writes, “I miss students and colleagues at Harvard-Westlake, but I now have time to take over as primary caretaker for my 99-year-old mother, which has been rewarding.

CURRENT AND FORMER TEACHERS AND STAFF MEMBERS CAN SHARE THEIR NEWS BY EMAILING ELIZABETH HURCHALLA AT EHURCHALLA@HW.COM

We were honored to be able to attend MATTIE CALVERT ’10 and Laura Schaaf’s wedding in Sun Valley, Idaho.

It was three days of celebrating. When they visited LA, we were able to go sailing with them.

I had a chance to speak with Dr. ROM KANDAVEL ’93 of Colvard-Kandavel Eye Center concerning his work providing free eye surgery to the underserved in Africa and Mexico. He is Team Ophthalmologist for LA Galaxy and Team Ophthalmologist for Angel City Football Club.

Reminisced with ANDREW KOWELL ’97, his wife, Masha, and their son Daniel about the CIF tennis championships that we won while I was coaching him at HW. Spent time with NATALIE RICE ’95 and her daughter Madeleine. Natalie is CEO of Food Allergy Detectives, LLC. My Seven Arrows School Board of Trustees membership has been rewarding. To be able to continue to help young people grow into caring, mindful individuals is important to me.

Being retired, I have time during the week to explore hiking trails and museums in the LA area with my wife.

We have skied Mammoth Mountain multiple times, kayaked along the coast, mountain biked many trails in the local mountains, and spent time sailing. We have traveled to Sun Valley, Idaho, the Grand Tetons, Wyoming, and Evergreen, Colorado.

I have been able to use skills I taught in my Molecular Gastronomy class to create interesting dishes. It has been fun connecting with some retired HW colleagues via monthly Zoom gatherings.”

We were fortunate enough to get to Edwards Air Force base to see Captain DANIEL KATZ ’09, who is a member of the Thunderbirds air demonstration squadron of the United States Air Force. This is an elite group of six fighter pilots demonstrating their skills and the capabilities of the jets that they are controlling.

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RETIRED HARVARD AND HARVARD-WESTLAKE SCIENCE TEACHER ELLIOTT PARIVAR writes, “After 33 years at HW, I retired in 2022 and relocated to Humboldt County in NorCal. I have been exploring and enjoying this beautiful beach community and the redwoods!

Recently, I officially became a faculty member at Cal Poly Humboldt, teaching horticulture and botany classes part time in their Extended Education program. I have also become a student myself again at College of the Redwoods, brushing up on my French!

I will continue to stay actively in touch with my former students and their families. I have been meeting them for coffee, lunch, or dinner when I’m back in the Southland. I still attend all annual HW alumni reunions so that I can personally stay connected with my former students. Please drop me a note and let me know how you’re doing. Would love to hear from you. elliottparivar@icloud.com”

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? CATCHING UP WITH RETIRED FACULTY AND STAFF

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RETIRED HARVARD-WESTLAKE REGISTRAR VIRGINIA SCHROEDER writes, “Just a short update on what is happening in my life currently. After 29 years at Harvard-Westlake, spending most of that time as Registrar, I retired during the pandemic. Of course, retirement is an adjustment, but especially difficult when your options of going out are limited. I had been working on writing a fiction novel. This story is about a family in the Northwest in the 1970s. I am a native of Washington State and it gave me great pleasure to set the story in the Northwest. I was able to finish the book and it is now available on Amazon in Kindle or hard- and soft-cover format.

The title is The Sun Can’t Hold a Candle. If you search for it by my name, it is Virginia C. Schroeder. In addition to working on the book, my husband John and I have been busy making the transition to becoming full-time Tennessee residents. We purchased a house here and have now moved and live in East Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains.

This area is a very big tourist center and besides the many natural wonders there are a lot of fun activities and places to visit. It has been a transition and we are working on adjusting in many ways. I spent many years on the campus of Harvard-Westlake and have many great memories of my coworkers and all the activities there. It is fun to keep in touch. We are excited about this new chapter of our lives. I may try my hand at a second book, and there are just so many opportunities here and things to explore.

We’re not sure what’s ahead, but we’re excited for new adventures.”

RETIRED HARVARD AND HARVARD-WESTLAKE DIRECTOR OF STUDENT FINANCIAL AFFAIRS PATTI SNODGRASS writes, “After retiring in 2020, my husband and I relocated to Lake Havasu City, Arizona (home of the London Bridge).

We are enjoying living in a slowpaced town which offers a beautiful lake for boating, plenty of desert for off-roading, and amazing sunsets.

Being a resort town, Lake Havasu is always brimming with activities, so there is never a dull moment. I still love to garden but had to learn about the use of desert plants in the yard, which was fun but a bit challenging.

We are following our plan to travel to places we’ve never been to. We started with a trip to Key West, then visited the Grand Canyon. Next stop will be Mount Rushmore and Deadwood! I have very fond memories of the early days at Harvard School; it was a fun place to be. Sending my best to my colleagues—you are missed!”

RETIRED HARVARD AND HARVARD-WESTLAKE SCIENCE TEACHER WENDY VAN NORDEN writes, “I have been leading trips for the Sierra Club, looking for tigers in India and tortoises in the Galapagos Islands, trekking across Greece, and enjoying Neolithic caves and fine wines in France. Trips are especially fun when they include friends like KIMBERLY HIEATT, VANNA CAIRNS, and CHERI GAULKE with her daughters, MARKA MABERRYGAULKE ’12 and XOCHI MABERRY-GAULKE ’12.”

RETIRED HARVARD AND HARVARD-WESTLAKE HISTORY/ SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER DAVE WATERHOUSE writes, “Since I retired in June 2020, my most important activity has been to babysit my 2 ½-year-old grandson Zach at least two days per week. The rest of the time, I play golf and write history books. I finished one on the history of mass entertainment in America: sports, movies, and TV. I am now working on a history of Los Angeles. I get together every month with retired HW history teachers NINI HALKETT, FRANCINE WERNER ’68, DREW MADDOCK, and KEN NEISER. I also have substituted for HW history teachers several times.”

Art (clockwise from top left):

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Madeleine Chan ’23, Rex Grube ’25, Glory Ho ’24, and Cutter East ’24

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FACULTY & STAFF NOTES

WITH ELI GOLDSMITH

JUI SHAH ’02 AND THE EXPONENTIAL IMPACT OF FINANCIAL AID There are many impactful reasons to support financial aid at a place like Harvard-Westlake—enhancing student access, diversity, and excellence, to name a few. But over the years, I have also worked with donors motivated by a different kind of philanthropic calculation, known as the “exponential impact”:

At schools with phenomenally talented students and a commitment to a life of meaning, financial aid can have exponentially more influence as it reverberates through both the lifespan of each recipient and all those impacted by a recipient’s purposeful life.

Take the example of Harvard-Westlake alumna Jui Shah ’02.

Jui leads a malaria elimination team in Bangkok, where she partners with Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health to analyze surveillance data and provide policy recommendations with the goal of eliminating malaria in the country and region. While Jui’s work is quantitative in nature, it also comprises elements of storytelling, data visualization, and advocacy, requiring Jui to draw broadly and deeply from her varied educational experiences. Thankfully, due to the work of Jui and others, Thailand has experienced a 90% decrease in malaria cases in the past 15 years—with the goal of zero now realistically in sight.

Jui grew up in Sherman Oaks as the middle daughter of Indian immigrants in a family of three sisters [Kisti ’95, Jui, and Gopi ’05], who all attended Harvard-Westlake with the assistance of need-based financial aid. Jui describes Harvard-Westlake as a “launching pad,” citing Nini Halkett’s World Politics and AP Human Geography classes as her introduction to the complexity and urgency of international development work. Following Harvard-Westlake, Jui attended Georgetown and Johns Hopkins and worked across Africa and Southeast Asia before moving to Thailand for her current role.

Today, Jui is making a real impact in Thailand—one that might not have been possible without the financial aid support she received at Harvard-Westlake. In fact, that support continues to inspire her; as she puts it,

“I feel not the pressure—but the responsibility to do something meaningful with all of the investment that has been made in me.”

Jui has taken the gift of an extraordinary education here in Los Angeles and leveraged it to create a safer and healthier future for millions across the world. It is an example of the philanthropic power that sits at the intersection of student talent, access, and purpose—and a reminder that while a gift today is finite, its impact tomorrow can be infinite.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST Eli Goldsmith is Head of Advancement and host of The Supporting Cast, a Harvard-Westlake podcast available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts.

To explore how you can make a philanthropic impact at Harvard-Westlake, contact Eli at egoldsmith@hw.com.

ALUMNI EVENTS

WOLVERUN 2023 WolveRun 2023 featured both virtual and in-person event programming this year, encouraging alumni from all over the globe to #runwithmein23 and celebrate the new year as a community. Special thanks to Andrea Levine Firtel ’95, Greg Nathan ’98, and Harry Salamandra for generously hosting in-person events, and to Kathy Moses ’81 and Kristen Kurihara ’02 for hosting WolveRun events virtually!

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The inaugural WolveRun 5K Walk/Run took place in February with alumni, faculty, staff, and students in attendance. Special thanks to WolveRun organizers Alexis Sherman Arinsburg ’98, Angel James Horacek ’95, Michelle Ghodsian Neman ’99, Sunny Ahn Whang ’92, and Coach Jonah Koolsbergen ’83 and his team for helping to facilitate the race!

WHEN WOMEN LEAD On January 9, Harvard-Westlake was thrilled to welcome Julia Boorstin ’96, Nicole Brown ’98, Kara Nortman ’93, and Associate Head of School Laura Ross to the middle school campus for an unforgettable evening, including a panel discussion and book signing.

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Special thanks to our speakers for leading an engaging discussion on female leadership and to Julia Boorstin ’96 for generously signing many copies of her book, When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them.

HW LEGACY

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IN THE WORDS OF THEIR COLLEAGUES

Head of Athletics Terry Barnum on

SANDERS JACKSON SECURITY GUARD

Few people in the world are easily identified by one name: Prince, Drake, Cher, Adele, Rihanna.

For 28 years, Harvard-Westlake had a rock star of its own—JACKSON! While Sanders Jackson’s official job title was “security guard,” that did not begin to describe what he has meant to our institution. Whether organizing the pizza for Peer Support on Monday nights (and keeping a few slices for himself), making sure that faculty, students, and guests had a place to park when coming to the upper school, or accompanying our athletic teams to contests around Southern California and across the country, Jackson was always there—putting our students and our community first. Need someone to organize the parking at Kenneth Hahn Park for the annual PAAHWS Spring Cookout? Let’s call Jackson. Need some unsolicited coaching advice on the bus ride home from a tough game? Jackson is your man. Need someone to make sure your grandparents could park close to Rugby Auditorium before the musical? Jackson will take care of it. The real magic of Jackson is not what he did, but how he did it. The thoughtful care he showed to everyone he came in contact with made Harvard-Westlake more than a school. It made it a home. We love you, Jackson, and we will miss you.

ARD ARVTLAKE H @ WES

HW LEGACY

Head of Advancement Eli Goldsmith on

JIM PATTISON SENIOR ADVANCEMENT OFFICER

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There is a certain stubbornness to someone who commutes from Goleta to Harvard-Westlake for 26 years. Undoubtedly, there is also a deep sense of responsibility, dedication, and passion for the advancement of educational excellence and opportunity. But despite Jim Pattison raising literally millions of dollars in support for Harvard-Westlake during a legendary career—I would argue that Jim’s “stubbornness” may be his most profound gift. Advancement is about “relationships, not transactions.” About “listening far more than speaking” and “thanking more than asking.” It is where “the power of volunteerism can be equal, at times, even to the impact of giving.” It is about “authentically demonstrating we care” in ways that “convey empathy and understanding.” It is the aspiration not to “outperform” other institutions, but to “outbehave” them. These quotes—these principles—these values (all authored by Jim) have rung in the ears of every HW advancement person for more than two decades, and will unquestionably do so for decades to come. This is because in an industry characterized by the pursuit of the almighty dollar, Jim was “stubborn” about a much grander kind of pursuit. To not only be successful at our jobs, but to treat others with the dignity and gratitude they deserve. May we all be so stubborn. Thank you, Jim.

DVARAKE R A L @ HWEST

Art: Grace Hudson ’23