Harvard-Westlake Life Magazine, Winter 2019-2020

H A RVA R D-W ESTLAKE WINTER 2019–20

Picture This HW’s YoungArts visual arts winners show off their stuff Benefit of the Doubt HW students help Laurie Levenson with the Project for the Innocent Out and About Looking at LGBTQ+ issues in schools at the Pollyanna Conference

Dear Friends of Harvard-Westlake, Since arriving at Harvard-Westlake in the summer of 1994, I have been fortunate to witness the growth of this special place. In 1994 the school had just turned three. It was exciting to be part of a fast evolving place, but like a toddler, the institution was still forming an identity. Today, it is naturally more mature. And like a young adult in their late 20s, Harvard-Westlake has clearly formed a strong sense of self, built upon the foundational values of excellence, community, integrity, and purpose beyond ourselves—yet we are still refining our aspirations and who we want to be.

With the passing of Joannie Parker and Nat Reynolds, both pillars of our past, we find ourselves at a poignant moment of reflection. We look back and recall Harvard School’s military history [page 4] and the early days of Westlake [page 76]. This winter we remember Brendan Kutler ’10, whose passing ten years ago inspired the establishment of the Kutler Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Independent Research, where high school students are making unusual real-world impact today via the Project for the Innocent [page 42]. And Harvard-Westlake exerts leadership in diversity and inclusivity by hosting the Pollyanna conference [page 26].

Harvard-Westlake continues to grow and change, as we should. That’s the life of a school. Looking forward, what Harvard-Westlake do you want to see? Feel free to reach out at ehu@hw.com and let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Ed Hu Head of External Relations ehu@hw.com

Cover image: Unbroken by Alejandro Lombard ’23 (shot for Joe Medina’s middle school Introduction to Digital Photography class)

HW LEGACY

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WINTER 2019–20 HW LIFE HW Legacy

4 The Last Military Class Alumni from the class of 1969 reflect on the final days of Harvard’s military program

By Archivist Alexis Sherman Arinsburg ‘98 10 Force of Nature A tribute to Joannie Parker, who pioneered the women’s and gender studies programs at Westlake and Harvard-Westlake 16 Larger Than Life Remembering Nat Reynolds ’51, former Harvard teacher and Westlake headmaster

HW Today 22 HW4L 411 Harvard-Westlake graduates connect with older alums via HW4L events 26 We’re Queer, We’re Here Reimagining gender and sexual orientation in schools at the Pollyanna Conference

Alumni Profiles 34 The Family That Plays Together Molly ’14 and Jake Chapman ’12 and their parents perform as musical quartet the Von Chaps 38 The Eyes of the Law United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert Hur ’91 rests his case

Faculty & Staff Profiles 42 There Are No Disposable People Laurie Levenson works with students to reform the justice system 46 Looking Up Sculptor and visual arts department head Gustavo Godoy on seeing the big picture

Student Voices 50 YoungArts Winners Announced for 2020 School Year

By Sarah Mittleman ’22 for the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle Artwork by Chiemeka Offor ’21, Penelope Juarez ’21, Santiago Salazar ’21, Oscar Montanez Garay ’20, Caitlin Chung ’20, and Abe Kaye ’20 75 Life, Now in Theaters

By Daphne Davies ’23

Notes 58 Class Notes 66 Faculty & Staff Notes 68 Reunions 72 Sincerely Yours

By Senior Advancement Officer Jim Pattison

Last Look 76 Cable Ready

By Archivist Alexis Sherman Arinsburg ’98

HW LEGACY

The Last Military Class Alumni from the class of 1969 reflect on the final days of Harvard’s military program

By Alexis Sherman Arinsburg ’98

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It was the “end of an era,” as Harvard’s Sentinel Bulletin proclaimed.

Founded as a military academy for boys in 1900, Harvard became the first West Coast academy to be named a cadet school of the Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) in 1917. In May 1969, Harvard School eliminated the Junior ROTC program after 52 years, issuing this formal declaration: “Reluctantly, we have come to the conclusion that the Junior ROTC is an ill-conceived program for a college preparatory high school. It does not fulfill the aims of the United States Army. It dampens the boys’ enthusiasm for military preparedness. Those responsible for Harvard School recognize that the elimination of Junior ROTC can be interpreted as meaning that the School is weakening in its determination to stand for discipline and patriotism. The school will prove by teaching, example, and the setting of standards that this is not the correct interpretation.”

That same summer, Father William Chalmers retired, and students returned to campus in the fall of 1969 with Christopher Berrisford as the first secular headmaster. Fifty years after their graduation, four alumni from the class of 1969 recall what happened and why.

WHAT ROLE DID THE MILITARY PLAY IN YOUR DAILY SCHOOL EXPERIENCE? Robert Hicks ’69: In some ways, surprisingly little, although it was sort of an organizing thing in that

attendance was taken at morning formation. Everyone lined up on the football field in platoons with squad leaders at the end of each row. We had drill once or twice a week where we had to march around. There was a summer uniform—khakis and a tie. Winter uniform was green dark wool pants and a tie. If you ask any of my classmates, we learned how to tie a tie running to morning formation.

It was just the way it was. Black-Foxe [Military Institute, a school in Hollywood from 1928 until 1968] had the military and uniforms. Other schools did as well, so it didn’t seem out of the ordinary for a boys’ school.

Geoff Koziol ’69: School uniforms are nice in the sense that they equalize everyone. And there are

worse things than requiring a bunch of testosterone-enriched teenage boys to learn how to stand in line and be quiet. Daily, the military was background noise, but we did learn how to shoot rifles. And how to stand at attention and succinctly answer questions asked by a senior officer.

John Roberts ’69: If you say “I went to a military school,” a lot of people assume it was a kind of

punishment, that you were a bad kid in some way. And it wasn’t like that at all.

Every morning 400-some guys would line up for inspection to make sure your shoes were shined and that your collar brass was shiny. We had rifles, plugged M1s, that had to be cleaned and get inspected. It was more a matter of the ceremony, just making sure everyone was there on time. We had a military science class where you learned about strategy and tactics and how to camouflage yourself. There were some military exercises. The juniors had war games every year—it was a capture the flag kind of thing. A bunch of guys bought cherry bombs in Tijuana and we set them up in the fields. There weren’t as many houses in those days. But our class was the last year for war games, thanks to an incident with a brush fire and the fire department.

The final aspect of military was going down to Camp Pendleton, the last stop for the Marines about to ship out to Vietnam. They would finish their training with a big exercise called Operation Blue Lotus, which we went to observe every year.

Facing page: Military tactics in the 1930s; John Roberts’s mother presenting him with his saber in 1968

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Davis Masten ’69: On our military field trip to Camp Pendleton at the height of the Vietnam War, we

were singing “Universal Soldier.” It’s an anti-war song. Here we were, military boys down to watch military maneuvers at Camp Pendleton, singing anti-military songs.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE MILITARY PROGRAM? Robert Hicks ’69: The military program seemed a funny add-on, and certainly there was great internal

student opposition. It’s difficult to appreciate the mindset of young men at the time. There was a draft. And if you were called up, you were likely to go to Vietnam and be shot at, and everyone knew someone who didn’t come home. One of our sergeants went and was wounded—and came back not the way he left. He was in rehab for a year after the war.

Davis Masten ’69: It wasn’t just Vietnam—in those days, television was also showing us what was going

on in the South, for instance. There were all kinds of things in the ’60s that made us start to question.

John Roberts ’69: I was not as opposed to it philosophically as some. We had a few guys who refused to

cut their hair short and stuff like that. But I learned a lot. I came away feeling not pro-military or anti-military, but informed, so for me it wasn’t bad.

Robert Hicks ’69: In 1969, everyone was desperately trying to grow their hair long—as long as it could be

and still pass inspection.

Geoff Koziol ’69: I don’t think we thought about whether ROTC was compatible with the educational

mission of Harvard. I think [our attitude] was just antagonism toward the Vietnam War spilling over to us as high school kids. And that gave us something to rebel against, which we did with great gusto.

I remember sitting down in Father Chalmers’s office and saying, “This has to go.” [Sean Smith ’69, Davis Masten ’69, Brad Coates ’69, and I] wanted a group of the most responsible students with institutional positions within the student body to put our names to [a report calling for the abolition of the program] and say that this is not just something the fringe wanted. It was a politically calculated act on our part to write that report.

Davis Masten ’69: My uncle, Dr. Lloyd Mills [‘36], was on the board of trustees. When he was a student at

Harvard School in the 1930s he was valedictorian and head of the military. My uncle was like a lone voice on the board wanting to get rid of the military. Over time, it made sense to a few other trustees, particularly as the 1960s developed.

I talked to my uncle. Or maybe he talked to me. [The four of us student leaders] started having meetings where we were sworn to secrecy. My uncle helped us frame our arguments; some of them were passionate, but for a board of trustees they would have gone nowhere. Once that happened, my uncle brought in one or two other trustees in private. We had the heads of two major law firms who were parents coaching us.

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We got that this was not writing another term paper. This needed to build a case. For me it was an extraordinary glimpse into how to build arguments for substantive change. We got that we just had the student perspective—and that there were a bunch of students who didn’t want the military to go away. But the military had lost its usefulness.

HOW DID STUDENTS REACT TO THE REPORT’S CONCLUSION THAT THE MILITARY SHOULD BE ABANDONED AT HARVARD? Davis Masten ’69: Generally, people were ready for the military to go. I remember more pointedly that

there were parent meetings about losing the military. Boy oh boy, there were some people who had sent their kids to a military school, and they were so infuriated. There were screaming matches among parents.

It was very controversial. Father Chalmers was at the end of his leadership. In fairness, the ’60s were a very strange time for a good man like Father Chalmers, watching his boys grow their hair a little longer. How do you train for the ’60s when it hadn’t happened? In an orderly 1950s world at a place like Harvard where people showed up for formation in the morning?

John Roberts ’69: I didn’t see it as a shock. I just saw it as kind of a natural progression. The academics

and the ability to think critically and independently are far more important than the military.

IN MAY 1969, THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES VOTED TO ELIMINATE THE JUNIOR ROTC. HOW DO YOU REMEMBER REACTING TO THE NEWS? Davis Masten ’69: There was relief in the student body. I think some excitement.

Robert Hicks ’69: I honestly don’t remember a specific student assembly or somebody standing up

and [announcing it]. It was in the wind our whole senior year. At some point we probably knew it wasn’t going to continue. It was a major point of discussion through part of my junior year and certainly my senior year, both among the students and the faculty and administration.

I don’t think I ever thought of myself as part of the last military class at Harvard until people started characterizing it that way. The military wasn’t integral to our education or college prep. I was pleased that the decision had finally been made, and it freed up the school to focus more on what it wanted to focus on.

Geoff Koziol ’69: My recollection in terms of the mood was it’s about time.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

Davis Masten ’69 Geoff Koziol ’69 Robert Hicks ’69 John Roberts ’69

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The Military at Harvard Through the Years

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Facing page: Cadet corps at Harvard School in 1904; Harvard marching band in 1927; officers with their sabers in 1934 This page: Field drill in 1916; armory circa 1940; Harvard lower school students in 1963

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Force of Nature

A tribute to Joannie Parker, who pioneered the women’s and gender studies programs at Westlake and Harvard-Westlake Former Westlake and Harvard-Westlake faculty member Joannie Parker passed away on October 2, 2019. Joannie Parker was hired as an English teacher at Westlake in 1979, started the women’s studies program, then created the gender studies program after the merger and taught at Harvard-Westlake until she retired in 1998.

JOANNIE PARKER IN A 2015 INTERVIEW WITH LARA SANDERS FORDIS ’85 FOR HER ONLINE TRIBUTE, JOANNIEPARKER.YOLASITE.COM:

When I have something I believe in, I take an active stand. And that is something I am proud of. I knew people who would say, “Wow, I really believe in reproductive rights,” and “Women ought to have their reproductive rights.” And I would say, “Oh, we have a meeting next Tuesday. I’ll pick you up, and we’ll go to the meeting, and we can do X, Y, and Z.” And they would say, “Ah… No. I don’t really want to go to a meeting.” But if you’re for reproductive rights, to make things happen you have to take a stand that means something. You can’t just walk around your living room and say, “I’m really in favor of reproductive rights. Oh, yes. Reproductive rights. That’s cool.” Walking around your living room and saying that doesn’t do the job to get women reproductive rights.

There’s a wonderful thing that Eldridge Cleaver said: “Either you are a part of the solution, or you are part of the problem.” I wrote that on the blackboard every single time I had a new class. Apathy and indifference are just not acceptable.

Stay connected to the issues of the day. And those issues shift— first the civil rights movement, then the peace movement, then the women’s movement, then the antinuclear movement…. Get connected and stay connected. Don’t think the issues are going to go away.

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lizzy weiss ’88, in a 2013 speech at the veteran feminists of america dinner where joannie parker received the elizabeth cady stanton leadership award: A middle-aged woman who dressed conservatively, Ms. Parker had an upbeat, innocuous, uber friendly vibe that seemed to say, “I’m not here to cause problems! I’m just keeping my head down, teaching the Norton Anthology!” But that was all a stealth strategy. Behind closed doors, she was actually a savvy, intense, indefatigable activist firing us up for the world we were about to inherit. Somehow—and I still can’t quite figure out how she did it—Ms. Parker brought the most inspiring women of the 20th century to Westlake: Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou. Can you imagine?

What Ms. Parker was telling us by bringing these leaders and visionaries to us was not just that we deserved to meet these incredible women, but that we were next in line to be these women. That’s a profound message when you’re 14, 15, 16 years old. And it stuck with us.

While writing this speech, I reached out to women in my grade, and I got such impassioned, ebullient responses—tell her I love her! Tell her how much she meant to me! It went on and on. Just imagine multiplying that number by 19 years, and all of the students’ lives, minds, and spirits that she touched. Just think about all of the women in the world walking around, decades later, making change, because of a core of strength and confidence that began with Ms. Parker teaching us to never settle for less.

kimberley barber hieatt, gymnastics and cross country coach and physical education department chair at westlake and harvard-westlake: She oozed inspiration. What stands out to me most about Joannie was her fierceness. She stood by her beliefs even if no one else in the room did. She was always very respectful and had a great sense of humor. At Westlake School, the girls absolutely loved her class; they worshipped her. She had a way of being sure every girl counted and that each girl felt important. She inspired them to make a difference in the world. When the school became Harvard-Westlake, the boys who took her class surprisingly felt the same way. She was flexible and figured out how to include these boys in her drive for women’s equality, a gift that not so many teachers have.

1984 (top) and 1983 (right) Vox Puellarum yearbook photos

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JOSHUA SORKIN ’96:

Ms. Parker taught me that the struggle for women’s rights is not merely an aspect of political history, but is in fact a living, breathing project of vital importance that each generation inherits. And it’s through her efforts that class after class of male HW students learned that feminist allyship is part and parcel of being a good man.

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TRACY BOHRER ULLMAN ’81:

Joannie Parker’s classroom was electrifying, empowering, challenging, and always thoughtprovoking. Never accept the status quo, not with Joannie Parker at the helm. In the spring of ’81, we were presented with four graduation gown choices, as had been the tradition. Our reaction was a pretty universal “NO WAY” upon seeing the frilly, poofy “wedding dresses” we were supposed to choose from.

How could we accept this oldfashioned, debutante graduation attire after being instilled with the quest for knowledge, selfimprovement, and intellectual growth for six years? Enter Joannie Parker. She immediately got behind us and pushed us to fight for change. We organized a protest, and throughout, Joannie Parker was on the sidelines cheering us on. I’m pretty sure we threatened to boycott graduation, and pretty sure the administration threatened to cancel our graduation ceremony as well. Ultimately, Mr. Reynolds decided to allow us to wear white academic robes. Joannie Parker helped us stay strong, always our champion and guide, the spirited mentor who inspired us to make a change for the better.

Left: Teaching in 1994 Above right: 1982 Vox Puellarum yearbook photo Right: With a Westlake student in 1988

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elizabeth gregory riordan, special advancement officer and former director of admission at westlake and harvard-westlake: When Joannie walked into a room, it was like the atmosphere was suddenly charged. She came in with that smile and energy and strode around like the confident woman she was. She loved teaching and changing minds. Name the famous feminists and they came to Westlake for Women’s History Month. She was so politically involved, she knew them all personally—and no one could say no to Joannie Parker! A brilliant and inspirational teacher, Joannie was interesting, combative, and fun. I used to love to hear her laugh, which she did often. Like all of us, she wasn’t perfect; she could be a bit intolerant of people who didn’t think the way she did, but she was alive and witty and encouraged you to see things in a different way. She was a person to be reckoned with—a force of nature, truly.

alison parker ’83, joannie parker’s daughter: She taught at the college level for probably 15 or 20 years before she became a high school teacher, and she loved teaching college. But I think she found her most positive teaching experience at Westlake and then at Harvard-Westlake. She really, really loved the high school teaching experience because she got to be with students more intensively for longer periods of time. In college, you might have two days a week for a class, and then it’s only a semester. A lot of times she might have high school students for an entire year or multiple years in different subjects. She felt like she really bonded with students in a different kind of way.

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vanna cairns, former upper school dean: I used to look forward to her annual showing of [Kay Weaver and Martha Wheelock’s 1984 short film] One Fine Day right after each amazing speaker. As the movie was playing, she would gleefully yell out the names of all those formidable feminists. And we would sing and cheer. So inspiring!

susan turner jones, former english and journalism teacher at westlake and harvard-westlake: The women’s studies program Joannie developed at Westlake became more than a class. It was a place where students could learn to think about themselves not just as students but as members of society. Westlake was a powerhouse in the ’80s, and Joannie was such a big part of that.

She stood for something, and she inspired kids to participate in marches and the political landscape of the time. She gave kids grounding and identity. Her passion and drive are rare.

She had a big, beautiful smile and a warmth about her. I remember her laughing a lot—and the seriousness of her ideas. She was engaged, passionate, and direct, fearless in conversation and argumentation. She announced her words with vigor and almost always had a story to tell. She made things happen.

There will be a celebration of Joannie Parker’s life at the next Westlake Reunion Day on May 2, 2020, at the Harvard-Westlake middle school campus. For more information, contact David Lee ’89 at dlee@hw.com.

Joannie Parker with speakers she brought to Westlake for Women’s History Month: Pat Schroeder (top left), first female U.S. Representative elected in Colorado, in 1990; Gloria Steinem (left), activist and cofounder of Ms. magazine, in 1991; and Shirley Chisholm (above), first black woman elected to Congress and first female candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, in 1988

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LARGER THAN

Life

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Remembering Nat Reynolds ’51, former Harvard teacher and Westlake headmaster

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Just seven years after graduating from Harvard School, Nat Reynolds returned to teach full-time at his alma mater. Seven years after that, he was hired as the headmaster of Westlake, where he worked for almost 25 years before helping to facilitate the merger that created Harvard-Westlake. Here, we’ve reprinted some of the remembrances from his former students and fellow faculty and staff members, as well as some words of his own. steve talbot ’66: At Harvard, Nat was my 10th grade English teacher and my JV football coach. He was the most influential, inspiring, and intimidating teacher I’ve ever had. There was no one, outside my own parents, whose respect I more wanted to earn.

I first knew him as the kind of football coach you always wanted to play for—someone who pushed you to your physical limits, but always let you know that this was only a game, and what mattered was how you learned to deal with adversity and how you became a team and depended on one another.

Harvard was a military school back then, and most of the faculty was conservative. But the world was rapidly changing, and young, liberal teachers like Reynolds were encouraging us to ask questions and challenge worn-out traditions. They helped us navigate a school that was sometimes at odds with itself.

As sophomores, we spent a month in his class doing a close reading of Moby Dick, learning how to parse complex sentences and wrestle with questions of morality. He made certain we read novels like A Catcher in the Rye, which was then banned in the Los Angeles public school system. He introduced us to Faulkner, e.e. cummings, and T.S. Eliot. He made us research, write, and defend long term papers we spent months working on. The [paper] he encouraged me to write about Richard Wright and James Baldwin is something that changed my life. When President John Kennedy was assassinated, it was Nat’s class we went to for solace and grieving.

My best friends and I admired Reynolds so much that we convinced him to teach a literature workshop for us the summer after we graduated from Harvard. It was as demanding and exciting a course as any I took in college. Once a week we willingly tore ourselves away from the beach, left summer jobs, and postponed dates in order to talk and argue with Nat about a book we’d all read.

That same summer of ’66, before we dispersed to colleges around the country, Nat hired a bunch of us to clean up the Westlake campus, where he was assuming his new role as principal of a girl’s school. We painted hallways and classrooms, cleared brush and dug up weeds, hauled trash to the dump, and once got stuck in an aged elevator—all the time savoring what we knew were our last days hanging out together in Nat’s world.

In that first half of the fast-changing, tumultuous ’60s, Nat Reynolds—always Mr. Reynolds to us—became a role model: a man who was strong and athletic, smart and sensitive, handsome, compassionate, who loved novels and poetry, who was funny and profane, who taught us to think for ourselves and care about the world.

Justine Stamen Arrillaga ’88: To me, Mr. Reynolds’s legacy is the fact that Westlake grads from his time hold dear civic involvement and caring about their neighbor. The community service program that Mr. Reynolds and his then wife Sallie started would change my life forever: the seeds of The TEAK Fellowship, the nonprofit I founded 21 years ago to help low-income students go to schools like Westlake, were planted in 7th grade. Some kids loved sports—I loved community service and would have never known about it at that age had we not been exposed in such deep way. Service was celebrated in the culture of Westlake.

Girls were running all over LA painting murals in depressed areas, tutoring, feeding the homeless, collecting cans, performing for the elderly.... Helping people on a daily or weekly basis was a part of life for most at Westlake. Some of us even missed school to march with a few Westlake teachers in support of global nuclear disarmament. Mr. Reynolds saw the value and supported us every step of the way, literally; I remember him being one of my sponsors.

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ELIZABETH REYNOLDS MAHONEY ’88, NAT REYNOLDS’S DAUGHTER:

For him, each day was an adventure. Living off the grid in some remote location. Survival camping in the Sierras. Riding his bike solo across the country. Any new food he could find or person he could meet, he lived life large and took it all in. He taught me to see life through the eyes of adventure, and for this I will always be grateful. As he did with the students of Westlake, he encouraged me to follow my dreams. He taught me that nothing is impossible with hard work and determination.

1966 Harvard Sentinel yearbook photo; with Harvard students in 1963; with Elizabeth Gregory Riordan (undated photo); undated photo; with his first wife Sallie and sons Adam and Greg in 1967 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

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paul cummins ’55, former harvard colleague in a 1966 tribute to nat reynolds: The secret of the great teacher is that he is able to transmit his passion for his subject and his responsiveness to life to his students. Every teacher hopes to touch the lives of a few of his students, but it is the rare teacher who fulfills this hope. Nathan Reynolds is an extraordinarily rare teacher; he has touched the lives not of a few but of the many. In [his] classroom conversations, many students have learned the thrill and satisfaction of meeting a difficult challenge—the challenge to transcend dullness and conventional thought and to respond to radically new and astonishing concepts.

Ultimately each student has responded to a man with a faith in learning so deep and a love of life so total that it is contagious. I and many teachers have been inspired by his example, and Harvard School has certainly been changed by his spirit and mind. francine werner ’68, former history and social studies teacher at westlake and harvard-westlake: Nat made Westlake into a school that Harvard would want to merge with. His legacy is really the school. Harvard-Westlake would not have happened if he hadn’t been around.

One thing I’ve thought about: Westlake before he came was a very rigorous but very old-fashioned school. Not quite into the 20th century. When he came, when I was in 11th grade, it transformed very, very rapidly into a far more modern school where girls were encouraged in a wide variety of areas. As a kid, I thought, “What a breath of fresh air.” What struck me as I got older was, those two older women who had run Westlake [Helen Temple Dickinson and Carol Mills] and kept it kind of preserved in this old-fashioned mode…. They hired him. This 32-year-old, slightly edgy, very rebellious person. I’m sure there were other people who wanted that job. They gave it to him and then they never interfered. So good for them.

And good for him. He took it and really did make it a very different place. He just hired people who were good at what they did—and quirky as they could possibly be—and let them go. That actually complicated the merger—Harvard was a bit more into teamwork. Westlake was a collection of rogue players. A big difference.

lisa knox burns ’70: I feel so fortunate that I started at Westlake the year after Nat took over.

He was “with it”—allowed us freedom; in fact, demanded we think for ourselves and not blindly follow teachers, administrators, even parents! We were changed by the force of his personality and leadership.

allison charney epstein ’85: Mr. Reynolds was always a huge fan of my singing throughout my six years at Westlake. He would often say—in that supportive way a grownup talks to a kid without meaning to be taken literally—“Allison, when you make your debut at Lincoln Center, I’m going to be in the front row, screaming my head off!” I did get to make that debut at Lincoln Center singing Musetta in La Bohème in 1994. Imagine how stunned I was when I came out for my solo bow in front of the curtain to find Mr. Reynolds jumping out of his front row seat, screaming his head off!

I’ll never forget his profound and exuberant belief in me.

Facing page: Cycle for Scholarship (undated photo); in his office in 1973

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NAT REYNOLDS IN HIS ESSAY “A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE,” FROM THE SPRING 1967 WESTLAKE ALUMNAE NEWSLETTER:

There are I believe three fundamental concepts which must guide all our thinking about our school and our students.

First, we must impart to our students a sense of idealism. The idealism I have in mind requires an acceptance of the world as it is and the acceptance by each person of a responsibility for the world that extends beyond mere self-interest and self-gratification.

Such idealism demands a toughness of mind and spirit and a willingness to make, in loneliness, those sacrifices which often go unnoticed and unacclaimed.

Second, we must convince our students that even in a turbulent and imperfect world, human progress is still possible. We must persuade them that the human enterprise is worth continuing and that in a world of action and liability their involvement and their choice have an effect upon the ultimate success of that enterprise.

Third, we must give to our students a sense of the real importance of individuality. Each must come to accept and appreciate the great variety of human experience and human difference, and must learn to accord to this difference and variety the dignity and respect it is due. Each must come to understand that true individuality is based upon a respect for, and an acceptance of, her own uniqueness.

These values must be imparted to our students; without them any skills and techniques they acquire will be of little use to them. But how is this to be done? Certainly, we have learned by now that moralism and pretty speeches have no effect upon the teenager of today. The answer is obvious. These values must become part of the air the students breathe as they live out their lives at school.

Such is the Westlake which we can recreate out of the heritage which those who have served the school so well in the past have given to us in trust. There can be no more meaningful tribute to them; no more meaningful goal for Westlake.

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HW4L 411

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Six recent HW grads lean forward as Casey Federman ’91, president of the HW Alumni Association as well as the real estate firm Irongate, describes the trials and triumphs of developing luxury resorts in Aspen, Cabo, and Waikiki. Between bites of lunch, the young alums ask Federman questions about real estate and his advice for those new in the field, and Federman asks each of them about their own goals.

These alumni have come together for an HW4L—think “HW for life”—event, a small networking gathering intended to connect alums who have graduated in the last 12 years with an older alum.

In 2018, its inaugural year, there were six events, covering law, fashion, entertainment, finance, and marketing as well as real estate.

“Casey was personable, open, and honest, and most importantly showed how much he cared about every one of us and our career paths,” says Daniel Glaser ’09.

Sadé Tavangarian Holz ’11 agrees. “Casey was super informative and hospitable, and we learned a lot. It was also a great opportunity to meet new faces and reconnect with alums.”

HOW HW4L GOT STARTED

Television producer Andrew Jameson ’86 proposed HW4L to his fellow alumni board members in November 2018. After seeing a similar university alumni program at his alma mater Georgetown, Jameson suggested that HW could start an initiative of its own to enable older alumni to share experiences and younger alums to seek advice in an informal, welcoming setting.

“We’re proud to do something that’s been modeled at the college or business school level,” says David Lee ’89, director of alumni relations and senior advancement officer. HW4L is a “win-win for both mentors/volunteers and mentees/participants.”

The program empowers alums who want to give back with their time, continues Zaakirah Daniels ’10, director of HW Works. “Alums volunteer to host and run the event and choose a theme, location, and the number of participants.”

Katie Lim ’13, assistant director of alumni relations, explains that the program also makes networking easier for recent graduates. “HW alumni events are often 40 to 50 people, which can be intimidating for young alums still developing their networking skills. HW4L events are up to 12 guests, so they’re small and intimate. You get one-on-one time to talk to each other.”

A WIN-WIN

And, indeed, that’s the experience of HW4L attendees. “Meeting with Casey Federman was an amazing opportunity to pick his brain on his experience, the do’s and don’ts, and how he got started,” says Nick Tolson ’07. “I loved learning from him and sharing my experience in the industry.”

And there are benefits for the hosts as well. For one, older alums “get exposure to who’s coming up and can foster those connections,” notes Lim.

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At HW4L events, Federman says, “It’s nice to learn about fellow alums’ career goals and figure out how I can be helpful. I intend to stay connected to the people who attended the real estate event.” Federman has hired Harvard-Westlake grads before and “would be thrilled to” again. “That foundation,” he continues, means “you’re already vetted and validated on many levels.”

At the same time, hosts “love connecting with the younger generation and bringing people into their worlds,” remarks Daniels. “It’s a form of mentorship and a way to leave a legacy.”

For one of the hosts of last year’s HW4L event focused on practicing small law, Angel James Horacek ’95, the event was a reminder that “today’s achievements were yesterday’s goals, and that tomorrow’s goals will be achievements one day.”

Sure enough, “beyond the satisfaction of giving back to one’s alma mater and paying forward life wisdom to others, there seems to be a cathartic experience for hosts as they reflect on their own career and life path,” says Jameson. “And in hearing fresh perspectives, hosts often find that they learn just as much from their younger counterparts.”

As Celine Khavarani ’95, senior vice president of communications at luxury brand Tamara Mellon, puts it, “Of the dozens of HW events I’ve attended over the years—and always enjoyed—[the HW4L event on fashion] was the first time I truly connected with other alums more than a few years above or below me. There were a lot of great conversations, connections, and friendships started that night.”

After attending a small law practice HW4L event last year, Mazelle Etessami ’14 says,

“I not only gained invaluable insight into the sacrifices and successes of a private law career, but also a stronger appreciation for Harvard-Westlake. The fact that these alums volunteered their time to share their knowledge with young alums interested in their field speaks volumes about both their generosity and the strength of the community we are all lucky to be a part of.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The alumni team hopes to expand HW4L events going forward. “We can see the program growing across the country and even the world,” says Lim. “We want to do events that go beyond industry specifics—for example, on health and wellness, nutrition, financial planning and budgeting, doing your taxes, where to get health insurance. An alum is a person, not just a professional.”

An HW4L event could be about any topic in any city, says Daniels. “It could be a book club, or be about gender identity in the workplace or social issues in your area. It doesn’t have to be industry specific.”

With HW4L, says Lim, the possibilities are endless. “HW for life means that you’re a part of the HW community forever.

Students, alums, parents of alums—those connections stay with you forever, bringing you opportunities for the rest of your life.”

As Cameron Schiller ’19, who went to Federman’s real estate event as well as last year’s real estate HW4L, declares, “HW4L is an amazing opportunity everybody should be leveraging. I will be going to every single event possible in the LA area.”

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TOP ROW: Cameron Schiller ’19, Casey Federman ’91, Fredel Romano ’11, Daniel Glaser ’09 BOTTOM ROW: Sadé Tavangarian Holz ’11, Nick Tolson ’07, and Jordan Mandel ’12

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WE’RE QUEER, WE’RE HERE Reimagining gender and sexual orientation in schools at the Pollyanna Conference

On November 2, Harvard-Westlake hosted the Pollyanna Conference entitled “Everybody, Everybody: Reimagining Gender and Sexual Orientation in Schools.” Two hundred forty people from over 18 independent schools gathered at the middle school to discuss how to become more LGBTQ+ inclusive. In these pages, five people who attended the conference share their experiences—and the work they’re doing for a brighter tomorrow.

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Rodney Glasgow KEYNOTE SPEAKER

A founding member and now chair of the national Student Diversity Leadership Conference, Rodney Glasgow is an independent school alum with a joint degree in Afro-American studies and psychology from Harvard University and a master’s in organizational leadership from Columbia. He is currently the head of middle school and chief diversity officer at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, and in July, will become head of school at Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy Spring, Maryland. This is an excerpt from his keynote speech at the Pollyanna Conference.

We need to reimagine ourselves in schools, because if you are LGBTQ, a woman, a person of color, the schools were not imagined for you to be in them in the first place. In 1979, I was born into poverty to a teenage mother. Public school, low-income neighborhood, 99% black. I met my first real-deal friend in kindergarten. Daniel** was handsome, intelligent, sensitive. I would take walks along the blacktop, and Daniel was my companion. And I remember one day, he happened to look over and the sun caught his eye. It was blue like a gem, and it sparkled. And in my stomach were all these butterflies. I fell in love with Daniel on that walk.

I had no words for what that meant. The word gay didn’t exist in my kindergarten vocabulary, wasn’t uttered in my school unless somebody was calling you that as an insult.

I remember going to a friend’s house, and his sister said, “Stop looking at my brother like that, fa****.” That’s how we talked. She didn’t think she had said anything wrong. I’m struggling to figure out, why are people applying this word to me?

Because before I had the chance to identify myself, I was the identified target.

And so I think about the kids in our schools who walk around and before they get to know themselves the world feels like they know them and puts that language and experience on them. And then how do you sort out and reimagine yourself when the world’s already imagined and told you who you are? The things that we don’t say become the things that kids don’t talk about becomes the pain that people walk around in and don’t express.

I moved from that public school to Gilman School, an all-boys school founded in 1897. There was one student, Paul**—tall, athletic, ripped, like the statue of David just walking around, clothed.

And I would side-eye him and put my head down whenever I saw him. But I remember the day I was walking down a crowded hallway and darn it if Paul wasn’t staring at me. It was the best feeling in the world. Then I saw him moving slowly toward me, like a lion on the hunt, and I was the waiting gazelle. As he came closer, the butterflies came up.

He got about this close, and I thought, we haven’t even gone out to dinner, you haven’t even bought me a Diet Coke, why are you this close to me?

I thought he was going to whisper something, because why would he want everybody to hear this thing we’re not supposed to talk about? He got this close to my ear and he said to me, “You are a disgusting fa****.”

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HW TODAY I wish he only did it once. He did it several times a week.

The administrators who heard about it later said, “Why didn’t you tell us?” And I said, don’t blame me. Do you know what you would have asked me to do if I had told you? “We would have protected you.” You could not have protected me.

Do you know how many times you saw that boy come over and stand that close and whisper to me and you saw me turn stark white, an unnatural color for black people, and you did not say anything?

“Why didn’t you notice?” is the question you should ask yourself. Why didn’t you ask, “How come Rodney is walking so slowly with his head down after he just talked to Paul?” But you didn’t, so don’t ask me why I didn’t talk to you about it.

And I wish I could leave that story where it belongs, 20 years ago, but it’s happening right now in our schools.

We have imagined that we have come much further than we have, because we are allowing students to say the words “I am gay, lesbian, queer, trans, pan.” But are we really protecting them? My biggest fear as a gay administrator is that I give students a false sense that you can come out here and be safe, because I cannot guarantee that.

We ask people constantly to come into schools— “we welcome you here”—and yet we offer no real protections. We offer these flowery words, but no one’s really listening, and nobody’s really understanding that to come into this school as [their] full selves could be a matter of life or death, or at least [their] physical, spiritual, and emotional health.

So as we reimagine schools, let’s reimagine the foundations upon which the schools are built. I think about my student Sandy**, who in eighth grade had the courage to come out as transgender. The school applauded, the kids stood up. One boy said, you are so brave. She did not remain in the school with the gendernonconforming, gay principal, with everybody switching the pronouns over, no one cared about what bathroom she was in. When she came to tell me, “This will be my last year,” I said, “Sandy, what happened?” She said, “You kept me safe, but you did not keep me happy. I have no friends.” She left and went to another school.

She’s struggling there too.

So we can have all the policies and procedures that we want, but what young people want to know is, are you really ready for me? Not just the absence of attack. Not just the change of a sign on a bathroom door.

Not just your welcoming nature. But are you willing to eat lunch with me? Am I part of your norm? Did you invite me to your house over the weekend? And we have not imagined a world where that is happening consistently for our LGBTQ kids. So as you think about this, don’t have my voice in mind, have Sandy’s. You kept me safe, but you couldn’t keep me happy. **Name changed to protect privacy

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AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO IDENTIFY AS… • BISEXUAL: 8%* • LESBIAN OR GAY: 2.5%* • UNSURE OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION: 5%* • TRANSGENDER: 2%† AMERICAN LGB HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN BULLIED ON SCHOOL PROPERTY: 33%* AMERICAN TRANSGENDER HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO HAVE ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: 35%† *CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION’S NATIONAL YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY, 2017 †CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION’S MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY REPORT, 2019

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nate cardin POLLYANNA CONFERENCE ORGANIZER

Nate Cardin is an upper school chemistry teacher, faculty advisor for the Gender and Sexuality Awareness affinity club, and the upper school coordinator of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Harvard-Westlake is showing itself to be a DEI leader by hosting this conference, a one-day space where schools can come talk and process in pods made up of students, faculty and staff, parents, and alumni. It’s come as you are. Schools are in wildly different places in terms of the LGBTQ resources they have in place, or how they show that they are LGBTQ-friendly in their admission materials, for example. We want to help schools get to their next step, whatever that looks like. At the end of the day, representatives from each school come up with an action plan around what feels relevant and poignant to them that they can build on as a stepping stone, and they hold each other accountable because everyone from their school is in the same room.

At Harvard-Westlake, we’re putting more emphasis on helping people move along in their cultural understanding. The first week of school, so many faculty members were asking about the singular “they.”

People want to be leveled up, but they don’t know how. This year, we’ve hosted an assembly featuring two gender-nonbinary speakers, and I’ve given talks on LGBTQ terms and pronouns to upper school students in their Life Lab class and to faculty and staff at brown-bag lunches. Faculty and staff also participate in LGBTQ Safe Space Training, and last summer read Michael Sadowski’s Safe Is Not Enough: Better Schools for LGBTQ Students.

Last year, we assembled a committee that looked at gender across the school. As a result, we made changes including establishing all-gender restrooms, overhauling the dress code, and removing gender designations from elected positions such as prom court.

Holding the Pollyanna Conference at Harvard-Westlake ticks every box of our mission statement—community, excellence, integrity, and purpose beyond ourselves.

It opens up so many opportunities to make a positive impact, not just for Harvard-Westlake, but for all the schools [who came].

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aman chaudhary ’91 ALUM REPRESENTATIVE IN HARVARD-WESTLAKE’S POLLYANNA POD

Aman Chaudhary ’91 came out his senior year at Harvard School and is the founder of the HW LGBTQ Alumni Network. what was the atmosphere like for lgbtq+ students when you were at harvard school? When I was there, there wasn’t an open atmosphere for LGBTQ+ students. There were no LGBT groups. It was still an all-boys school where people were made fun of if they were perceived to be gay, and the fa**** word was used pejoratively.

Part of it was just the time. The ’80s and ’90s were a time when gays were persecuted much more openly than they are today. It was the middle of the AIDS crisis. We take it for granted now, but across society as a whole, being out was rare then. There were little to no out role models—at the school, in the media, or publicly.

what made you decide to come out in high school?

There were no out faculty until a chemistry teacher, Mr. Marsden, came out in a Westlake Pi article during my senior year. There was also a teaching assistant in the theater department at Westlake who died of AIDS. He was in his early 20s. It was shocking, but it also raised awareness. I never forgot going to his memorial with other Harvard and Westlake students and seeing how supportive people were, knowing he was gay. That was a factor. My thinking was, who’s gonna bully me for being gay when we all know a teaching assistant who died from AIDS? I was the first student to publicly come out. I was taking Joannie Parker’s Women’s Studies and Gender Issues class, the first coed course offered after the merger was announced but before the campuses combined. It was ahead of its time. For example, in one class, several Westlake students shared what we would now call #metoo stories. It was eye opening to realize how many women and girls were sexually abused, assaulted, or harassed. Another day, we were discussing sexuality, and I just announced it in class.

Within days it was all over campus. I don’t think it shocked anyone. I hadn’t made any great effort to hide it; I don’t consider myself someone who passed as straight at any point.

how do you think things have changed for lgbtq+ students at hw?

From what I can tell, there is a much more open and supportive atmosphere for students at the school now.

As the founder of the HW LGBTQ Alumni Network, I know that alumni are very interested in hearing what life is like for current LGBTQ+ students and doing whatever we can to help. Certainly, the Pollyanna Conference demonstrated that the school is at the forefront of addressing these issues, but it also showed how much work there is left to do.

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Felicity Phelan ’21 & Taylor Cook** POLLYANNA STUDENT PANEL MEMBERS

“I think I have identified as every letter in the acronym at one point or another,” Felicity Phelan ’21 shared during the Pollyanna Conference student panel presentation. Today, Felicity, who uses “they” pronouns, identifies as “gender nonbinary and bisexual.” Taylor Cook, who spoke on the student panel alongside Felicity, identifies as “bisexual and a black woman.” what has your experience as an lgbtq+ student at hw been like?

FELICITY: As soon as I got on the middle school campus, I was like, “Okay, where’s GSA [the Gender and Sexuality Awareness affinity group]?” I sought it out. My general experience at Harvard-Westlake has been good. It was cool to see [president and head of school] Mr. Commons and [head of upper school] Ms. Ross, for example, opt into coming today. Even when you know faculty will listen to you, it’s reassuring to have them come to you and say, “I want to talk about this.”

TAYLOR: Being black, being bisexual, you’re dealing with a smaller and smaller sector of people.

But at school, that’s encouraged rather than frowned upon. I see cultural stuff and individuality get celebrated rather than ridiculed.

Honestly, the Harvard-Westlake community has been more supportive of my sexuality than my family has.

My parents don’t even know about this half of me, so the fact that I feel comfortable expressing this at school rather than home speaks volumes about how supportive the school is of the LGBT community.

My family isn’t homophobic—quite the opposite—but…. Because my parents are in their 50s, they were teenagers in the ’80s, when it wasn’t widely accepted to be anything other than straight. I know if I came out to them they would be okay with it—they are loving parents—but it would change the relationship. There would also be a certain level of discomfort that I know would come with telling them that I don’t feel at school. My friends are all totally fine with it.

what work still needs to happen?

FELICITY: The biggest thing I see in my daily life is the respect and usage and normalization of [singular “they”] pronouns. One time in acting class, for example, people were discussing a scene I’d done and just kept using the wrong pronoun. Usually it rolls off me, I don’t make a big deal of it, but I don’t know if it was just that day or the amount of times it happened in that one sitting, but I actually interrupted and—I had told everyone [my pronouns] in that room already—I just said, “Hey, maybe we all forgot, but I use these pronouns.” So maybe the next two people to speak used them, but then people just went back again. It was as though I was just shouting into the void. That was really frustrating. And that happens a lot. Would I have liked if the teacher had stepped in earlier? Of course. But I don’t think it’s a school thing—it’s a cultural thing. It’s about the respect for those identities that we just don’t have right now, but we’re working to build.

How do you respond to people who say this issue affects such a small percentage of people, why are we focusing on it so much?

TAYLOR: I think that point of view comes from people who haven’t necessarily grown up with a diverse community. What would I say to them? I feel like this goes beyond saying, “No, diversity is good. If we want to make sure our kids are making new discoveries and being innovative, we need different kids with different backgrounds and skill sets and ideas about how to create things.” It’s not even something you would say, it’s more like giving them an experience that makes them believe it. That’s why events like this [the Pollyanna Conference] are so important.

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FELICITY: The estimate is something like 10% of students are LGBT in some way, but I wonder if the smallness of that number is due to the attitudes we take toward these issues—“It’s such a small group that I don’t have to accommodate that,” leads to “I don’t accommodate it,” leads to students not feeling safe expressing it—ad nauseam, it repeats itself. But even if it is only a small proportion of students, if you’re asking as an educator, why should I have to accommodate students and make them comfortable—well, that’s your job. It’s asking for human decency and kindness, especially to children under your charge who are vulnerable and often feel alone. As a member of the LGBTQ community, there are so many people who hate you automatically. It makes me deeply sad that people wouldn’t immediately want to help in any way they can.

And the implication that pronouns are a trans or LGBT thing is ludicrous. If I suddenly started referring to my female friends using “he” pronouns, they would be like, “What?!” It’s wrong to say it’s only trans kids who get ridiculously uptight about pronouns. They’re so tied to identity that anyone would be upset if you weren’t respecting them and what they want to be called.

What would you like the HW community to get out of an article like this?

FELICITY: In an ideal world, you’d like to think people hear about how important these issues are to the people walking next to them and would stop doing the things that make people’s lives harder, stop making the dumb jokes. I would love it if everyone in the school read this and was like “Oh! I’ll be nice now.” Real world: I think the most valuable thing that could come out of this interview is reaching out to all the LGBT kids who are not in the same position I am. Who do not feel comfortable talking about their experiences.

Providing comfort for them is important, and I think it’s easier to build someone up than to tear down what other people are doing. And the more the school aligns itself with these topics and these issues—every time we do that—a student who’s questioning or identifies as LGBT but privately, feels a little more safe, a little more secure. That’s what I would hope. **Name changed to protect privacy

“AT SCHOOL, I SEE CULTURAL STUFF AND INDIVIDUALITY GET CELEBRATED RATHER THAN RIDICULED.” –TAYLOR COOK**

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The Family That Plays Together Molly ’14 and Jake Chapman ’12 and their parents perform as musical quartet the Von Chaps

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WINTER 2019–20 “It’s not every day your parents say, ‘Hey, wanna go on tour in China?’ remarks singer/songwriter Molly Chapman ’14.

“We’llseven be covering 6,176 miles across Chinafrom in 28 days,” addsSchool, her father,Nat AlanReynolds Chapman, a Just years after graduating Harvard composer and pianist who hosts a show on classical radio station KUSC and teaches at the returned to teach full-time at his alma mater. Seven years after that, he Colburn Conservatory.

was hired as the headmaster of Westlake, where he worked for almost Son Jake Chapman ’12, a vibraphonist, pianist, and composer, chimes in: “We don’t know who’s 25 years before helping to facilitate the merger that created Harvardgoing to show up. It’ll probably take us a couple of concerts to see what the show feels like and Westlake.

Here, we’ve reprinted some of the remembrances from his how audiences will respond.” former students and fellow faculty and staff members, as well as some Mom Karen Benjamin Chapman, a singer and actor who was in the original Los Angeles cast of words of own.with Michael Crawford and teaches at Santa Monica College, explains.

Phantom of his the Opera “Two years ago, Alan and I were on the faculty of a summer program that brought Chinese musicians and kids together to study classical music. Alan and I did a faculty recital, and one of the other teachers was impressed and asked if we’d like to perform in China. A year and a half later, it came together. In the meantime, our kids had gotten more successful with their own talents, so I asked if we could make the tour a family affair. The tour promoter green-lit that idea, and next thing you know the four of us are doing 19 shows in concert halls all over China.”

With credits among them that include performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Ahmanson, the Von Chaps have chops. But this China tour is like nothing they’ve ever done as a group. Will the family that plays together stay together? In this interview from the eve of their December tour, they share the history of the Von Chaps and their hopes for the quartet’s future.

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED? karen benjamin chapman: The first time we performed together was a holiday recital in 2007 at the Edye, the second stage at the Broad at Santa Monica College. The kids were very young.

alan chapman: Molly was 11 and Jake was 13. karen: We needed a name for the show. You know how things pop up in your head? It was like that: “What about the Von Chaps?” Most people know the Von Trapp family; The Sound of Music is so iconic.

jake chapman: We’ve performed together since then only a handful of times, though I’ve performed just with Molly, and Mom and Dad have performed together many times.

DESCRIBE THE CHINA SHOW. karen: We are doing musical theater and iconic songs from the Great American Songbook— “Memory” from Cats, “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miz, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.” I started as an opera singer, so I’m doing arias. Jake is a jazz musician who will be playing vibraphone. Molly will sing pop. Alan plays piano and did a lot of the arranging. There will be an adorable duet from Don Giovanni with a toy glockenspiel and toy melodica, a mini keyboard you hold and blow into while you press on the keys; the toys represent the vocal parts. It’s an eclectic show but represents what we all do.

alan: The Von Chaps combines everyone’s strengths. Molly was the leader of an award-winning a capella group at NYU. She’s been good at helping us achieve our overall sound.

karen: The four-part harmony goes a long way. Because we’re genetically connected, we have a sound from the same family. DNA has a lot to do with how you sound vocally. Singing together has been electrifying for us. There’s no band. No drummer. No bass player. It’s really just us in concert.

alan: I know we’ll sound good. But we go into this tour with no expectations.

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karen: Very few people will understand English, so we won’t be talking to the audience much. The program will be translated into Chinese so they can understand what we’re performing.

alan: It will be almost all music for 90 minutes, though we will introduce ourselves in Chinese. [To the kids:] Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it.

HOW DID HARVARD-WESTLAKE HELP YOU DEVELOP AS A MUSICIAN? molly chapman: I came into Harvard-Westlake into music and sports. Sophomore year, I had to choose—the play or soccer? I chose the play, and in the process, gained more confidence in my abilities as a performer. HW really cares about the arts and helping you grow as an artist. I was in school musicals, the Chamber Singers, the Jazz Singers, and the Scenemonkeys improv group. I was part of a team—and because of that foundation, I got stronger in my individual work. I booked gigs around town—gigging at 16 at the Whisky, the Voodoo Lounge at the House of Blues, Genghis Cohen, the Mint. Sometimes HW friends would sing backup. I owe a lot to my parents for letting me do that.

jake: In ninth grade, I played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in the brand-new Bing Performing Arts Center—it was awesome. I was considering doing baseball, but given how intense the HarvardWestlake program is and the level I was at, I had to choose theater over sports. It’s funny, I was originally supposed to play Benvolio, but the guy cast as Romeo chose varsity golf over the part, so I got it instead. I did all the musical productions, played musical improv piano in Scenemonkeys, and was very involved in the jazz program, performing in big bands and small groups, eventually leading the Jazz Explorers my senior year. I played with the Jazz Explorers at Vibrato Grill and Catalina [Jazz Club, where the Von Chaps also played the night before leaving for China] as well as doing some gigs of my own during high school—mostly private events, some restaurants.

WHAT’S IT LIKE PLAYING WITH FAMILY? molly: It’s a beautiful thing and a frustrating thing. If you yell at them, they’re still your family. That said, we genuinely like each other as people. We all want the music to sound as good as it can, so we’re very honest. One of us will say, “It might be better if you stayed off this part and came in here.”

Everyone contributes. I work on arrangements until I’m happy with them. Then we all get together and the arrangements get cosmically better.

So rehearsals aren’t just polishing the material, they’re also strengthening it. alan:

jake: We feel open to comment on anything, even minor details, because we’re so close. alan: Sometimes Jake and I will get focused on one chord out of the 90-minute show for a few days [laughs].

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE VON CHAPS? karen: We’d like to audition for America’s Got Talent in the spring. Maybe we’ll do a cool arrangement of “The Hills Are Alive” for that.

jake: We’re thinking about an album. alan: We also want to perform more in the U.S. and elsewhere.

This show is bringing us together in a way we’ve never been before. There’s no guarantee in the arts, but it just feels like there’s something about the Von Chaps that things will happen. People always respond to families. karen:

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THE EYES OF THE LAW 38

United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert Hur ’91 rests his case

WINTER 2019–20

“I’m looking at a paperweight from Harvard School on my desk,” says Robert Hur ’91. “I won the Bishop’s Medal [awarded for leadership, scholarship, and involvement in campus life] my senior year, and it came with a little memorial plaque I keep on my desk. I try to remember and honor important lessons I learned from both teachers and classmates. I was a member of the last all-boys class at Harvard, and some fabulous friendships came out of that experience,” remembers Hur. “We were a tight class.”

While studying English and American literature at Harvard University, he got interested in law. “I realized the influencers and people making things happen in government and politics were people with law degrees. And I loved law school from the first day.”

These days, Robert K. Hur serves as the 48th United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, making him the chief federal law enforcement officer in Maryland. Prior to that, he served as the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General with the Department of Justice under former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. In this interview, he reflects on everything from the opioid epidemic to the value of integrity. after graduating from law school, you clerked for the late supreme court chief justice william rehnquist. what did you learn from him?

Rehnquist was a terrific boss. All the justices have strong opinions, and managing a group like that can be challenging, but he was so well respected and loved by his colleagues. When they sat in conference together, discussing a case after oral argument, he made sure that each justice was able to speak once before anyone spoke twice. He wanted to ensure that everyone’s views were heard and respected. His fellow justices really appreciated that.

maryland’s rate of overdose deaths related to opioids is twice the national average. how do you plan to combat that trend?

There are too many drug-dealing gangs making a lot of money selling fentanyl to too many people addicted to opioids. And drug trafficking in the streets also means gun violence in the city. So I’m working with law enforcement to target the most dangerous groups selling illicit opioids. We’re also looking at the other end of getting hooked: prescription opioids. Someone suffers an injury that gets them addicted, and when their initial valid prescription runs out, they turn to illegal drugs on the street. Attorneys general from across the country [including Maryland] are suing the companies making these opioids. There’s detailed data kept on which pharmacists, doctors, and nurse practitioners are prescribing unusual amounts of opioids. We need to red-flag these folks. We recently sentenced a pharmacist trading prescriptions for sexual favors. These people need to be prosecuted.

That said, we can’t simply arrest and prosecute and jail our way out of this problem. We need to make sure people are aware of how potent, deadly, and addictive these substances are. Even two milligrams of fentanyl can be a lethal dose. Something that looks like a Xanax might be laced with fentanyl. We need to educate the public, explaining that you take your life into your hands every time you take illicit drugs.

Finally, there’s treatment. For people who are addicted, sometimes the most effective thing is to make sure they get into the right treatment facilities to beat the addiction rather than locking them up. There are addiction treatment programs in jails, but not enough for all those who suffer from opioid addictions.

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since the financial crisis over a decade ago, many americans have become cynical about the criminal justice system’s approach to white-collar crime. you’ve written about how the justice department can better curb corporate crime by making it easier to bring charges against companies in the first place. what are you doing to curb corporate crime?

Our office has a lot of experience with complex fraud prosecutions. This year, we successfully prosecuted two large Ponzi scheme cases: one involving almost $500 million in losses suffered by victims all around the country, and the other involving a financial advisor (who hosted her own radio show on financial matters) who defrauded victims of more than $20 million. Hearing from the victims in these matters was heartbreaking: These families were devastated by losing savings for retirement and their kids’ college tuitions.

Many people express frustration that more high-level executives don’t go to prison after events like the financial crisis of 2008. Prosecuting companies and individual employees is very challenging because we need to marshal enough evidence to convince a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, that people intended to break the law. As Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein reaffirmed that federal prosecutors will continue to focus on identifying culpable individuals and holding them accountable. I hope people understand that there’s no lack of will to bring fraudsters to justice.

baltimore—where your office is located and the murder capital of the u.s.—was recently selected to join the national public safety partnership. can you describe the program and why it’s important for the city?

Through the National Public Safety Partnership program, cities suffering from elevated levels of violence receive expert training and custom-tailored assistance from the Justice Department. The Justice Department provides a three-year commitment to PSP cities: the first year, the team studies a city’s law enforcement program and diagnoses its strengths and weaknesses. Year two, they work with the city on improvements. Year three, they make sure changes are implemented properly. There are 30 cities in various stages of the partnership; Baltimore was part of a class of 10 this year. Grants and money are not part of the program per se, but the Justice Department can advise cities how to get additional funds and submit persuasive grant applications.

how did attending harvard school affect your path?

Now that I’m in my 40s, I realize how fortunate I was to receive an education at Harvard School.

IT’S A TERRIFIC BEDROCK BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH THE SCHOOL FOCUSED ON CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY. IT WAS AN ACADEMIC POWERHOUSE, BUT THERE WAS ALSO AN EMPHASIS ON BEING A GOOD HUMAN BEING. THE MORAL COMPASS THE SCHOOL HELPED INSTILL HAS BEEN VERY IMPORTANT TO MY CAREER IN LAW ENFORCEMENT. The Justice Department is subject to a lot of scrutiny; I’m well aware of how much discretion we have, and that if we apply that without integrity, bad things can happen. It’s important to understand the ideals of the Department and how you’re supposed to do the job. On that subject, I think of professional mentors like Rod Rosenstein; I look to him as a role model of integrity. I’ve also been blessed to work closely with Chris Wray, the Director of the FBI, who is deeply committed to running that institution impartially and having his people follow the facts wherever they might lead.

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At press conferences detailing initiatives to target violent crime in Baltimore

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FACULTY & STAFF PROFILES

There Are No Disposable People Laurie Levenson works with students to reform the justice system 42

WINTER 2019–20

“Project for the Innocent gets letters every day, and Harvard-Westlake students are the ones going through them and saying, ‘I think we’ve got an innocent person here,’” says Laurie Levenson. A law professor at Loyola Law School, Levenson created Project for the Innocent to represent wrongfully convicted prisoners. Over the summer, she says, HW student interns screened hundreds of cases.

Levenson introduced the Project for the Innocent to Harvard-Westlake as part of the criminal law course she and Alan Croll, another visiting teacher and attorney, have taken turns teaching. “I have lawyers who are writing up legal papers, but it’s the students from Harvard-Westlake who are going out and doing investigations, taking pictures, finding witnesses, going to the courthouse, going to the jail, putting together the exhibits for us—they’re members of the team,” says Levenson. “It even helps that they’re listening, because I can be too close to it; at court recesses, I’ll say, ‘Okay, what did you hear, what was important to you?’”

A former Assistant United States Attorney and federal prosecutor, Levenson has also taught at UCLA, USC, and Pepperdine and been interviewed about legal cases for media outlets including NPR, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, and the Los Angeles Times. In this Q&A, she explains how HW students are helping her change the justice system, one innocent person at a time. how did you start working with hw kids?

Dave Hinden [director of Harvard-Westlake’s Institute of Scholastic Sports Science and Medicine] and I were both federal prosecutors at one point, and my kids also adored him as a chemistry teacher at Harvard-Westlake. One year he decided to tell the story of my client Obie Anthony, our first Project for the Innocent client, for his criminal law class. The Project had no money, and we needed a ballistics expert to explain the trajectory of a bullet to show the court that it could not have come from Obie. I couldn’t afford to hire an expert, so I came to Harvard-Westlake, knowing that the smartest kids alive are here, and said, “Who do you have who’s really good in physics?” And the answer was Brooke Levin ’12. So Brooke Levin, a junior at the time, became the expert in our case, and you know what? We won. Brooke didn’t actually testify—Dave Hinden signed off on the paperwork for the court and we got it stipulated once the report was filed—but Obie got out. In fact, Obie just had his first child, a child who would have never been born without Harvard-Westlake’s Brooke Levin doing her magic.

Obie Anthony also recently went to Sacramento and got three bills passed, so California is the only state that now provides housing and some support for people who get out of prison. People who were wrongfully convicted used to get nothing. Now they get a little bit of money, they get some housing, we’re trying to provide some education, some job opportunities. When our people walked out of prison, parolees got $600, and our guys got zero. When Obie walked out, he lived with one of our lawyers in a back house.

We had another client whose name is Kash Register. My students brought everything, they brought clothes, they brought hygiene, they brought grocery cards. He went to work in the warehouse for Costco. This guy spent 34 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. So stepping up and helping people? It’s a big deal, and California’s the leader, by far.

what’s it like to teach at harvard-westlake?

It’s a joy. I’m a nerdy law professor, but I love teaching at Harvard-Westlake. These young people are incredibly bright and very enthusiastic. What they lack in experience they make up for in enthusiasm. They ask questions. They’re not trying to game any system—they actually want to know things.

At the end of each semester in my HW criminal law class, the students try a real murder case. To see these kids stand up and be prosecutors and defense lawyers—they do as good a job as my law students. They’re arguing sentencings and making motions to suppress and picking juries. It’s really darn impressive, and they have fun.

The kids also love it when I bring in the LAPD’s K-9 squad to the classroom to show them how dog sniffs work. We hide a little bit of heroin in the room or cocaine, and the dog finds it. The dog’s nose is beyond any tool we have created, beyond any machine or device. We’re literally talking about microscopic

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HW LEGACY FACULTY & STAFF PROFILES amounts. And the way they do it—it’s all a game to them. They have no idea that they’re involved in law enforcement, they are just trained to find the dope.

why did you decide to quit being a prosecutor and teach instead?

After I had my kids I realized I really liked teaching, and it was a better schedule for me. Being a prosecutor is a young person’s game. It is physically exhausting. You know, I have enormous respect for my opposing defense counsel because the odds are against them. We are going to win most of the cases; after all, we get to pick.

We only prosecute 2% of all crime that occurs, so given that we get to weed out everything that looks like we’re going to lose, we should win as prosecutors. Defense lawyers know that it’s the rare case that they’re going to win. So I felt a lot of responsibility and pressure as a prosecutor. Getting back into the courtroom really came with the innocence project because the people who work for me have relatively little trial experience. So when we try a case, they have to drag out the old lady to be on the front lines.

you hold the david w. burcham chair in ethical advocacy at loyola law school. what does ethical advocacy in law mean to you?

It means everything to me. I’m an odd duck, a former prosecutor who now runs an innocence project, but for me it’s not strange at all. I think you have to be a zealous ethical advocate, and if I can teach students anything, it’s to play by the rules. I don’t care which side you’re on. Your word is the most important thing.

Your reputation. You don’t cheat. You’re honest. I’m not Pollyanna, but I trust that the right thing will happen if you do that. And it’s a good lesson for kids today because frankly all you have to do is turn on the news to realize that way too many people don’t follow that creed. Honor first and always.

Nobody’s above the law. The fact that you’re rich doesn’t mean that you get to violate some laws, but some people don’t understand that. The college scandal right now is a great lesson because white-collar crime boils down to lying and cheating and money. You know, follow the money, follow the lies, and you’ll figure out what happened. The other interesting thing about white-collar crime is that students have in their mind what a criminal looks like. You know, some scary dude on TV, right? But suddenly they realize, the people sitting next to them can be criminals too.

Laurie Levenson with Obie Anthony’s son, Justice

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what are the issues in the justice system that really rankle you?

People who cheat, including prosecutors. Prosecutors have a lot of power and if they don’t do the right thing, we’re in trouble, right? I like prosecutors. My own daughter [Hava Mirell ’08] is a federal prosecutor! But given the amount of power prosecutors have, we have to be concerned about whether they’re playing by the rules.

I’m also concerned about wrongful convictions, because people don’t want to look at their mistakes and the mistakes in our own system.

Police misconduct and civil rights is another major issue in our society right now. I try to focus on legal ways to change the situation as opposed to just taking it to the streets, but our criminal justice system obviously needs huge reform. It is true we have mass incarceration, it is true that there is racism and economic disparity and injustice in the justice system.

Some things change, but the law is pretty glacial.

The justice system is people. So it changes if people’s attitudes change. Right now I’m really trying to get prosecutors to abandon “us versus them” and become more collaborative. Somehow we got locked into this idea that we’re all gladiators. And you would be amazed at how much more we could get done if we would just talk to each other and show a little empathy. Instead of prosecutors and defense lawyers just meeting in court, they could meet in a room like this one to discuss a case. It would be better, cheaper, and more meaningful.

Plea bargaining is supposed to be that, but if you look at 95% of plea bargaining, there’s relatively little meaningful discussion. The criminal justice system is just shoving as many people through as they can. But I don’t kid myself; things don’t change quickly.

WINTER 2019–20

how did you end up talking about cases in the media?

After I began teaching, I got a phone call asking if I could cover the Rodney King case for NPR. I said no, I’d never done anything like that, but they said, well, do you know anything about this area of the law? I said I had trained that prosecutor, had had the first trial in front of that judge, had tried civil rights cases—so they said, could you come down the first day and just show us around? Okay. So I go down there, the CBS producer yells out, “Grab Levenson, she’s all we’ve got!” And there I was, on TV. And then I worked with a guy named Bill Whitaker, he’s on 60 Minutes now—“Hi, I’m Bill Whitaker [P ’06 ’08]”—on the O.J. Simpson trial. So I got to do really fun, interesting things and learn a lot about the law in a different way. I covered the Rodney King case and the Menendez case and the Michael Jackson case…. These so-called trials of the century that happen about every six months are insights into the problems not only in our justice system but in our society.

if you could wave a magic wand and fix the criminal justice system, what would you do?

I’d fill it full of Harvard-Westlake students! I can’t wave a magic wand, but I do think having an educated public is really important. We need transparency in law enforcement, prosecutors, everything in our judicial system. Get it out in the sunshine, even the mistakes we make. On some level, we need a change of ethos. The Project for the Innocent has two mottos: first, there are no disposable people, and second, who can I help today?

I’m not Mother Teresa, but choosing a life of service has been something that I’ve been very grateful for.

TOP: Project for the Innocent summer interns Alexandra Mork ’20, Rachel Brown ’20, Eugean Choi ’21, Anusha Mathur ’20 at Homeboy Industries LEFT: Project for the Innocent summer interns at the LAPD’s Hollywood station. Top row: Luke Schneider ’20, Coco Kaleel ’20, Paige Corman ’20, two officers, Sam Roberts ’20, Noah Aire ’20, and Mateen Sharifi ’22; bottom row: Laurie Levenson, Michael Lehrhoff ’20, Anusha Mathur ’20, Eugean Choi ’20, Alexandra Mork ’20, Gabriella Weisberg, Mikayla Weissberg ’20, and Ciara McDavis

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FACULTY & STAFF PROFILES

LOOKING UP

Sculptor and visual arts department head Gustavo Godoy on seeing the big picture

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Photo by Jolie Godoy

WINTER 2019–20

“I teach kids how to see, how to be engaged in looking,” says Gustavo Godoy, chair of the upper school visual arts department and a critically acclaimed artist. “Art should renew your outlook on everything you think you know.” Here, in his own words, Godoy explains why making art is important, how his own teachers made a difference for him, and the inspiration he found in former Los Angeles Dodger Fernando Valenzuela.

My dad’s family was very poor before they came to the U.S. from Mexico. They’re originally from Manzanillo, but after my grandfather died, they went to Tijuana and built a home from scraps of wood, pallets, whatever they could find. I grew up in Riverside, and as a kid, I’d spend weekends with my dad in TJ helping him fix up little things in the house, which my grandmother lived in for the remainder of her life. We helped keep that ramshackle place standing. It taught me to problemsolve and make do with whatever was around. For the ragtag kids in my neighborhood, I became Mr. Fixit. If you wanted to build a tree fort, I could build it. If your bike was broken, I knew how to get it working again.

My high school ceramics teacher was the guru we all wanted to hang out with—a worldly thinker who commuted from Laguna and taught and made art. So going into college I decided to be a ceramics artist. I’d always thought I would be an architect or engineer, but I didn’t want to put too much stock in what I could do to make the most money as opposed to what I could contribute to the cultural dialogue. That’s what felt really valuable. I felt we needed more people to buck the system.

Engineering is practical. Art making is super impractical. But it was something I could do to honor the hard work my dad had done. He came from a situation where he worked as many jobs as he had to just to eat. He was a landscaper at Cal Poly at the same time he was a student there. He became an urban planner, but at home he was always drawing in a big sketchbook.

My first day at UC Irvine, my drawing and painting teacher told me, “You could be a professional artist someday.” That cemented it for me, that I had some kind of talent. That’s the importance of teachers; they can really plant those seeds. I spent the next three years mostly making paintings, then got my MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. I gradually realized my paintings were really about sculpture—I was painting objects and structures like the one my dad had grown up in—so I decided to just start building them out of wood and concrete instead.

After art school, I was working in a wood shop building crates for other artists’ artwork, and there were always scraps left over, bins of them. I intuitively tried to find the logic between these cut-off chunks of wood, ultimately using them to make a large sculpture that you could climb through and around. My studio was in downtown LA, and half a block away there were big produce warehouses being demolished and dump trucks taking away these huge pieces of concrete. I started thinking about how my work related to that: LA gets built up, torn up, redone over and over again. Building is so essential to LA. Then I got my first show at a pretty well-known gallery in Chinatown, and things started happening.

In 2010, I did shows at the Honor Fraser Gallery, the Prism Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, and the Wexner Center at Ohio State. I got a ton of press—magazines, the LA Times— and was offered shows all around the world.

But being a sculptor is a difficult way to make a living. Your work will not always result in income or appreciation. Everything you make is sort of a gift to the world and you hope people will like it, but there are no guarantees they will or that anything will make any money. Being an artist is definitely a financial sacrifice, but the rest of it is super enriching, and when you love the endeavor, it’s not so much a sacrifice as a responsibility.

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FACULTY & STAFF PROFILES

After a number of years with off-and-on success in selling work, I had a conversation with Chris Burden [the artist behind Urban Light, the antique streetlight exhibit outside of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art], who was retiring from the faculty of UCLA. He said, “It’s time to pass it on to the next generation of artists.” That really struck me. I started looking for teaching jobs, and then the offering at Harvard-Westlake popped up and I landed the gig.

I’m so proud of our visual arts department. Everybody’s got so many big ideas they want to share with their classes, they’re collaborating with different departments…. It feels like we’re firing on all cylinders. Our kids win more awards than probably any school in the country for their artwork; I see no reason we won’t become the premier art program in LA if not the country. Students think of the art studio as a peaceful place, but our art classes are also highly intellectual and challenging, just in a different way. It’s a stress they welcome—a fun stress. We really value hands-on art making. We want the kids to take risks and make mistakes. There’s a rich world out there for kids to explore on their own instead of relying on spoon-fed information from their phones.

I’m still making lots of work. Last year I built a big project about border issues for the Bakersfield Museum of Art called The Prototype, a reference to Trump’s prototoype walls along the border. I was a chaperone on a school trip last year taking kids around Tijuana, and we met people along the border who were living with these prototype walls just 100 yards from their houses. The juxtaposition of the way people on one side of the border live compared to the other came into clear focus for me, and I felt it was time to speak out about immigration through my work. One side of The Prototype is metal bars and barbed wire and the other side, the residue of life—car parts, a bike, a soccer ball—and everything painted bright red. That project really made an impact on a lot of people.

I just wanted to start a conversation. I tried to leave the piece a little open ended so there was an entry point for people of all beliefs. After giving a lecture at the museum, I had people come up and argue with me, and others thank me, including a man in tears who said he’d never heard anyone speak up for the farm workers, who are so essential to the Bakersfield economy.

I just started on a new ambitious project, making crude-looking ceramic telescopes from scratch on the potter’s wheel, polishing glass lenses to use inside, and building concrete observatory viewing spaces for them. The project is about intuitive scientific ingenuity and mythologies and the way that people throughout time have looked to the heavens for inspiration and to make sense of the world. The Maya looked at the stars to determine when to plant crops, when to go to war; they thought the stars even offered clues to when someone might die. This project connects the Maya from Mexico with the Hispanic community here in LA. What are the mythologies of our time?

When I was six, the Dodgers won the World Series. Fernando Valenzuela—who looked to the heavens before every pitch—was my hero. Dodger Stadium is a sacred site for me. As a kid, it made my heart flutter every time we’d drive by. Sport is essentially a religion, full of so much ritual and superstition.

There’s even the ritual of moving around a diamond. My hope is to build one of the observatories in the Dodger Stadium complex. I’d also like to build one at Banc of California Stadium, where Carlos Vela—who’s the second coming of Valenzuela—plays for LAFC, and one at Mount Wilson, where Hubble used some of the most important telescopes in the world.

Art is supposed to take the things you know and let you see them with fresh eyes. When I make a sculpture out of a zillion pieces of wood, you wonder whether it’s something that’s being constructed or falling apart. I like art that doesn’t tell you everything, art that stops short and leaves you something to chew on.

TOP: Vacant Mound, cast concrete, 2012, and Vacant Sites, Lamda C-Print photographs, 2012. Photo by Joshua White.

B OTTOM: The Prototype, 2019. Photo by Jolie Godoy.

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WINTER 2019–20

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STUDENT VOICES

YOUNGARTS WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR 2020

By Sarah Mittleman ’22 for the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The YoungArts Foundation awarded 10 students Tuesday [November 26] for their accomplishments in music, photography, writing, visual arts, and singing.

BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Gate Keeper by Chiemeka (Mimi) Offor ’21, End of Nagle Street by Santiago Salazar ’21, Framework by Caitlin Chung ’20, Padre con Hijo by Oscar Montanez Garay ’20, Father and Son by Abe Kaye ’20, and Lost Remains by Penelope (Penny) Juarez ’21

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WINTER 2019–20

TEN ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND MUSICIANS RECEIVE AWARDS The annual YoungArts competition awards artistically talented high school students and grants them the opportunity to attend regional programs to continue developing their craft. Though approximately 7,000 10-12th graders applied this year, only 686 students won. The foundation invites merit and honorable mention winners to regional programs, while finalists are invited to National YoungArts Week, a program that offers master classes and in-person evaluations.

During the week, finalists will be evaluated; students can receive up to $10,000, and all winners receive the opportunity to attend regional programs later on.

This year, the school boasts five finalists, two honorable mentions, and three merit winners.

WINNERS RE AC T TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT Jake Schroeder ’20 said he was in physics class when he found out he received an honorable mention.

“My mind was fully immersed in electric potential and energy,” he said. “I could barely even process how big of a deal it was and completely disregarded the email [at first].” He said that rather than filming a monologue for theater as he had initially planned, he decided to apply for the Voice category.

“Pop voice presented a much easier application to me, requiring the submission of four songs recorded in any location,” he said. “I was floored when I placed. I don’t even sing pop—I guess I do now!”

ARTISTS LOOK FORWARD TO AT TENDING REGIONAL AND NATIONAL PROGR AMS Chiemeka Offor ’21, a finalist for photography, said she was initially nervous to apply.

“I received a merit award for photography [last year], so I decided to reapply this year to see if I would be placed as a finalist,” Offor said. “I second-guessed my portfolio a lot when I was going through the application process, so I wasn’t sure if the judges would like it.”

Offor said she is excited to attend National YoungArts week in 2020 to work with other photographers like herself.

“I am looking forward to meeting other passionate young artists and hopefully pushing myself out of my comfort zone to experiment more with photography and visual art in general,” she said.

All YoungArts winners become part of a network of over 20,000 alumni who get head starts on their careers through microgrants, performance opportunities, and corporate partnerships.

FINALISTS: Classical Music: Jane Meenaghan ’20 | Composition Photography: Caitlin Chung ’20 Photography: Chiemeka Offor ’21 Photography: Santiago Salazar ’21 Visual Arts: Oscar Montanez Garay ’20 HONORABLE MENTIONS: Photography: Abe Kaye ’20 Voice: Jake Schroeder ’20 | Popular MERIT WINNERS: Photography: Penelope Juarez ’21 Writing: Hannah Han ’21 | Short Story Writing: Andrea Yagher ’20 | Play or Script 51

STUDENT VOICES

White Washed

White Washed

Chiemeka (Mimi) Offor ’21 When I am not photographing myself, my art primarily revolves around photographing other people of color. Growing up and not seeing enough art in the media that included us has always been my main motivation towards finding ways to represent and magnify in the best way that I know how: through photography. I always pay attention to the relationship between color, light, and shadows in my images because I have realized that these components are very flattering and impactful when used properly on my subjects. By utilizing color and light, I find ways to appreciate their features, their warmth, and their beauty through my art and use self-portraiture to explore the ways I could also further learn how to appreciate myself.

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WINTER 2019–20

TOP: Faith and Grievance BOTTOM: No Structure

Penelope (Penny) Juarez ’21 Important to this endeavor was my journey as an artist to both explain and live the generational history of my MexicanAmerican Family. The setting includes the current working-class environment of my father’s family, home, school, and neighborhood. I began this project with the passing of my grandfather in 2017, which left the house vacant in the Coachella Valley. Through the house I was able to reconnect to my grandfather and the memories which he shared with his sons and daughter. Additionally, I wished to document the intangible environment that allowed my working-class grandparents the ability to support and send their son to an Ivy League medical school. In this process, I as an artist learned to appreciate their dreams, love, anxiety, and pressures of supporting their children throughout their lives. In this series of photos, you will find the history of parental nurturing that echo over time while the impact of time and elements shape a home and community.

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STIUDENT VOICES

Afternoon Suspension

Santiago Salazar ’21 For this series of photographs, I tasked myself with documenting, and elevating to an artistic status, different objects and often unseen scenes in my city of Los Angeles. With how neighborhoods like Hollywood and Beverly Hills are often used to define the city as a whole, disregarding entire other communities, such as my home of the San Fernando Valley, I tried to make a series highlighting aspects of these pushed-aside places. As I began to find that little scenes and random objects from geographically and culturally separate communities meshed well together, I decided to show that through these objects’ close relation between each other, these communities are not as disparate as they are often treated.

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WINTER 2019–20

Ghetto Bird

Oscar Montanez Garay ’20 Throughout my life, I have lived in the predominantly Hispanic city of Los Angeles. However, growing up, I attended private schools with few students of color and even fewer Latinx students. Every morning, the school bus ride teleported me from familiar cityscapes to foreign suburbia. As a consequence, I was ostracized and misrepresented because there was no one to relate to, and my peers’ perceptions of Mexicans were misguided by the media and their limited authentic experiences with people of Mexican descent. In order to cope with the pain of ignorant slander and racism, I turned to art as a tool of expression. Each one of my works is attached to a memory of the commentary I received about my culture: “Is your dad a cholo?” or “You must come from a farming family, huh?” Messages like these fueled my drive to educate my school community on what it is truly like to be a Mexican American. Therefore, my work is an examination, critique, and satirization of the implicit biases and stereotypes surrounding Mexicans in Los Angeles and in America.

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STUDENT VOICES

The Concept of Causality

Caitlin Chung ’20 My project “삶의 영역 [The Sphere of Life] (2016-2020)” deals with the excavation of the various intersections and bifurcations of my Korean-American identity and culture through the backdrop of my domestic sphere. While it initially began with the curiosity surrounding my grandmother’s secluded lifestyle, I soon discovered that that same curiosity would lead me to question more aspects of my household. Since then, I’ve been introducing new narratives and taking away old ones to break apart the image of family that was created for me and to create a new one through my own understanding. The multinarrative storyline I’ve created became a medium for me to open conversations about the challenges that come with the experience of bilateral cultural upbringing. From gender roles to religious values, the series tackles the often unspoken foundations of the institution of family.

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WINTER 2019–20

Evening Help

Abe Kaye ’20 About four years ago, my grandfather Zaidy was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I have been taking photos of Zaidy for a couple of years now, but this year there was a significant change in both my approach to photography and in my grandfather’s mental and physical state. In school, I learned to use a medium-format film camera, which taught me to slow down the process of taking photos and take more time in terms of framing and lighting. The disease became increasingly painful and difficult, and my biggest struggle was to avoid photos that alienated my grandfather as a subject. If anything, I wanted to use photography to get closer to him and understand what he was going through.

Photography can be a cold art form, a distancing mechanism that separates oneself from reality. That said, I always chose to take photographs in a way that would connect me with my family, not distance me. I had to ask myself whether it was right to take a photograph of Zaidy lying in a hospital bed just days before he died. I talked with my grandmother about it, and she too saw the importance to capture the disease, and was sure my doctor grandfather would too. I was reassured by the idea that my family understood what I was trying to do.

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NOTES HW LEGACY

WESTLAKE CLASS NOTES

Class Notes Class Notes is a regular feature in the semiannual HW Life magazine.

Notes are submitted by alumni, and each magazine includes submissions received in the previous six months.

If a decade/class year is not included in the notes, this means alumni from those years did not submit any updates. If you have news you’d like to share with the alumni community, you can submit it via the alumni website (www.hw.com/alumni) in the password-protected Alumni Portal or by emailing alumni@hw.com.

HARVARD CLASS NOTES

1970s

SCOTT KETCHUM ’72 writes, “I was recently inducted into the class of 2019 Santa Monica Rugby Club Hall of Fame. Former captain of the USC Rugby Club, I join John Carroll ’72 (2015 inductee) and Kent Stevens ’66 (2017 inductee) as Harvard School graduates in the Santa Monica Rugby Club Hall of Fame. I am currently living in Newport Beach, am married, and have two sons. I’m a commercial real estate broker specializing in net leased investment sales.”

BRIAN WRIGHT ’79 writes, “A group of friends from our Harvard School class of 1979 and nearby classes gathered from far and wide this past September for an unofficial reunion and Carlsbad beach party, partly in remembrance of our classmate Les Josephson ’79.

Attendees also included Les’s sister Lisa ’81 and several other Westlake alum sisters.

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1980s

1960s

JIM GLANTZ ’85 writes, “I am touring the Holy Land during the High Holy Days. I used Mike Kananack ’85 for my trip to Israel and it was a PLEASURE. He got me a discount off a flight I’d already booked!”

MICHAEL KANANACK ’85 writes, “Seeing the Who was enjoyable, but the main enjoyment was sharing with Sargon Duman, brother Claude Kananack, Rick Farrell ’89, and my 19-year-old son Joe!” CHRIS TREGILLIS ’85 writes, “My family and I have reveled this summer in the great outdoors on Mount Williamson and in Yosemite.”

TED WEITZMAN ’85 writes, “I am hiking on adventures across the Dolomites in Italy and all five national parks in Utah.”

JOE KRAUS ’89 writes, “I am the president of Lime Scooters.”

PETER RHO ’89 writes, “Playing football was one of my favorite things about Harvard High. Now 30 years after I graduated, my first son Alex started seventh grade at HW and is on the football team. I think he is enjoying it even more than I did.”

PATTI WILLIS ’63 writes, “I proudly walked with my granddaughter (age 7) in the Youth Climate Strike in Courtenay, British Columbia, on September 27. Best sign: ‘There is no Planet B.’”

1970s

JUDITH BLANCHARD ’73 writes, “After more than 30 years in Washington, DC, working in various positions, including at the EPA, on Capitol Hill, and in private industry doing federal legislative and advocacy work, I am now retired. I had a wonderful career but am now enjoying spending time in both Washington, DC, and Palm Springs, California. I would love to connect with classmates on the West Coast. My contact info can be accessed through the alumni portal.”

1980s

PATTI BANK FINKELSTEIN ’81 writes, “I continue to be a proud member of the Harvard-Westlake Alumni Board for over 20 years!

I love fundraising for my beloved alma mater and school that both my children, Brandon Finkelstein ’12 and Haley Finkelstein ’15, attended and graduated from. I learned so much as a development volunteer as both an alumna and parent

Standing: Brad Silberling ‘81, Michael Monroe ’79, John Hennessy ’79, Shaun Samuels ’79, Dave Fredricks ‘79, Eric Stockel ’80, Brian Wright ’79, Doug Ackerman ’80, Bill Gleason ’79; seated: Lisa Josephson Woodworth ’81, Keri Monroe Cronin, Suzy Forman, Natalie Samuels Wheeler ’80

WINTER 2019–20

that I was given an opportunity to work in the Advancement Office at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences. I have been working for almost four years at Crossroads, where I am the director of major gifts. I am very fulfilled professionally and love what I do! I have much gratitude for the excellent training I received for many years at HW! I am in touch with many wonderful, beloved teachers and lifelong friends from Westlake, which is so terrific. I love that my friends’ kids and my kids are friends as well. My son, Brandon, works at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles as a trainee in the TV scripted department and loves it!

He’s in his fourth year at CAA. Haley graduated from Tulane University last May. She majored in English with a classics minor and is exploring career opportunities. My husband Jeff and I are so happy to have both kids in LA! We recently added a new family member, Nilla Bean, a 16-week-old English cream golden retriever, who is precious. She’s keeping us young and on our toes!”

LAURA PITTA PETER ’82 writes, “In November 2018, I moved to Washington, DC, as I was appointed deputy under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and deputy director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). I work with director Andrei Iancu P’16 and recently hosted the 2019 National Inventor’s Hall of Fame Inductee Ceremony with Danica McKellar ’93.”

CHERICE FLANAGAN TAYLOR ’83 writes, “I am the community engagement manager for Stafford County Public Schools (SCPS).

I lead the SCPS Collect for Kids Back to School Supply Drive and the SCPS Operation Warm: More Than a Coat fundraiser, and work to increase the number of business and community partners for the school division. My husband, Eric, and I will celebrate 23 years of marriage in August. He is a retired U.S. naval supply officer and currently works for the U.S. Navy.

Our eldest son, Aaron, is an intern at eBay and will enter his fourth year at the University of Virginia in the fall. He is a computer science major with a minor in astronomy.

Our twin boys are juniors in high school and our youngest is a rising freshman. I miss LA a lot and look forward to Harvard-Westlake events in the DC area. Let me know if you are in the area.”

LISA NIVER ’85 writes, “I represented Ms. magazine at the United Nations Conference (74th session of the United Nations General Assembly) in NYC in September 2019. I also attended the Gates Foundation Goalkeepers conference in NYC. In October 2019, I was invited back to Penn (class of 1989) to speak about my career as a travel journalist. You can find me talking travel on KTLA TV and on my We Said Go Travel YouTube channel, which has over one million views. Find my videos and articles at http://lisaniver.com/ one-page/. I was recently contacted for career advice by another HW alum through HW Works! Feel free to get in touch!”

TARA RICEBERG ’86 writes, “I just opened my third shop, Tesoro, in Beverly Hills—BestGiftStoreEver. com.”

DAWN-ELIN FRASER ’87 writes, “Currently an associate arts professor and head of spoken voice and speech in the New Studio on Broadway at New York University, I’m excited to share that this theater season I will voice/dialect coach my fifth (The Great Society), sixth (Slave Play), and seventh (Tina!) Broadway productions.

In addition, I’m adapting Edith Wharton’s final novel, The Buccaneers, for the stage. The project has been awarded two Tisch School of the Arts Dean’s Grants and will feature an all-femaleidentified cast of NSB alumni.

Please reach out when you’re in New York. I’d love to see my fellow Westlakians!”

SARAH CLEMENTS HUNZIKER ’87 writes, “I moved up to the Pacific Northwest with my husband and daughter in August of 2017, and we just love it here. Our daughter is a mad hockey player. She sings ‘O Canada’ at our local hockey games and is a roving reporter, interviewing hockey players any chance she can. Hubby and I are both a bit nomadic by nature, and we were all up for an adventure... so here we are in beautiful British Columbia. We’re about 40 minutes outside of Vancouver, just over the U.S. border. We love it here and have no regrets. We’re all settled in, with no plans to come back. Canada does not disappoint! But we do still come down to LA for family visits.

We’ll all three always be Angelenos, through and through! Cheers!”

LESLEE KOMAIKO ’87 WRITES, “We met at Holmby Park while Leni Wildflower and Joe Treasure, who live in London, were visiting. Laura Schuman ’87, Christina Huber ’87, and I were in the same class at Westlake. All of us had Leni for what was then called Human Development. Some of us had Joe for English.”

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HW LEGACY NOTES immune-driven medicine company that leverages next-generation sequencing technology, proprietary technologies, and the power of the genetic code within our adaptive immune systems to diagnose and treat disease. More at www. adaptivebiotech.com.”

PARRIS MORRA ’87 writes, “I married David Berger (Crossroads ’85) in West Hollywood this August. Shirley Chung ’87 attended the celebration and brought fun, energy, and laughter to an already wonderful day. My son, Theo, started his frosh year at University of Puget Sound in September, and David and I are embracing the empty nest.”

HARVARD-WESTLAKE CLASS NOTES

1992

RIAN O’MEARA writes, “I am a certified hypnotherapist and guidance counselor in Woodland Hills with an emphasis on individual growth through clearer intrapersonal communication.

Fundamentally, I assist with one’s subconscious connection to accelerate conscious change.

In my practice, I blend a unique therapeutic mix of how to balance body, mind, and will. I show my clients easy-to-use everyday tools to achieve their goals and reinforce their ability to use these tools quickly, easily, and simply. It is a technique of self-empowerment.”

1993

CHAD COHEN writes, “Back on June 27, I took my second company public as CFO (Zillow being the first company I took public) with an ~$350m IPO. Adaptive is an

60

LESLIE IVIE writes, “Greetings from the trail! I have been traveling in a 36’ RV for almost four years as a criminal defense lawyer at Restoration Law Center. The RV allows me to serve people at risk of experiencing homelessness all over California. I partner with several nonprofit organizations through LA:Rise (a public/private collaboration). I took the RV life leap thanks to inspiration from my beloved ex-husband (Justin Volpe, a musician/audio engineer who traveled with Ringling Brothers Circus). Between trials, I’m on the trails preparing to hike the PCT, thanks to inspiration from my beloved Jörg Barfurth (choral singer, outdoorsman, and senior software engineer at Google). Take the risk, do the thing! Your life is as big as your imagination! Follow my blog: https://link.medium.com/ h0wMMCz1P0.”

MARISA GOLDSTEIN writes, “I’ve been at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva since 2006 helping members settle their trade disputes. In the past years I have focused a lot on cases involving safe trade in food and agricultural products, so I can tell you all about chicken, beef, fish, and pork! Last year, I took six months off to travel around Asia and to have some downtime back home in Encino. It was great meeting up with Neha Wickramasekaran ’93, and I look forward to seeing other HW alums when they pass through Geneva.”

ROM KANDAVEL writes, “Twentysix years goes fast! My wife, Monica, and I have been living in the Valley for the last 15 years.

We have two kids, Leela (10) and Jayan (13). Jayan joined the HW class of 2025, which is the most exciting news this year. Monica is a pediatrician at Kaiser, and I’ve

had the pleasure of taking care of friends and family in Encino as an ophthalmologist. We cherish the time spent together in between a busy work schedule, but we also look forward to being a part of the best extended family in LA. Go Wolverines!”

1994

ROB MINIKES writes, “Serena and I welcomed our third child, Maximus Wolfe, last November. Maximus joins his siblings, James and Jacqueline.”

NADER POURATIAN writes, “I’m now professor and vice chair of neurosurgery, managing a comprehensive research program focused on using brain stimulation to help people with Parkinson’s, essential tremor, chronic pain, depression, and blindness. Our most recent first-in-human clinical trial of creating artificial vision for the blind using a novel implanted brain-stimulation device has been a major breakthrough, and we are looking forward to conducting a larger clinical trial.”

WINTER 2019–20 BETH MANNING SEAMAN writes, “My husband, Benjamin, and I welcomed the arrival of our son, Bowie, on May 24, 2019. He is the third child in our family and joins siblings Jake and Charlotte.”

JOHN KANG writes, “I’m living in West LA with my wife and two kids. Our baby boy was born in February and we’re so grateful he’s finally old enough to take to restaurants. I recently hung out with Brandon Roth ’95, Edgar Lai ’95, David Orenstein ’95, Eugene Chang ’95, and Danny Seo ’96.”

1996

JIM OSTRIDGE writes, “My wife Ali and I live in LA and are expecting our first child. I work in real estate brokerage with a focus on residential development here in Los Angeles’s Westside. Go Wolverines!”

DANNY GUGGENHEIM writes, “I have lived in Sunset Park (Santa Monica) with my wife, Jenna, for the last 13 years or so, and we’re currently in the middle of a big remodel, which will be great when it’s done! We have two daughters, Elle and Indy, who are in fourth grade and first grade at Grant Elementary, and I’m grateful for how much time I’m able to spend with them. I continue to work in Century City as a partner at Pircher, Nichols & Meeks LLP, with a focus on commercial real estate transactions, and appreciate the opportunity to work for and with several other members of the HW community. I am also a lecturer in law at USC Gould School of Law, where I co-taught the fall 2018 semester of Real Estate Law and Business, and am excited to be teaching a course on real estate joint ventures in the spring. And of course, I love getting to see my old friends from HW on a regular basis.

Things are busy, but life is good!”

SAM PLOTKIN writes, “After a career-best 2018, I’m continuing to surpass personal and company sales records in residential real estate as a broker at the Passman Group (with offices near the Grove/ Farmers Market and in Playa Del Rey). Among my clients this year was a very close friend and fellow ’96er on two houses, from which I donated a percentage of my commission back to HW! On the family front, having settled into Culver City last summer, my wife Allison and I welcomed our daughter, Hanna Rose Plotkin, in June of 2019; our son Noa Parker Plotkin (age 4 1/2 years) wholeheartedly approves...for now.”

DAVID BROWN writes, “Thoroughly enjoying life in Los Angeles with frequent sailing, surfing, and still playing lots of tennis. Been managing a hedge fund for the last 14 years. Living in Mandeville Canyon with one very large and well-tempered golden retriever!”

NATE SNYDER writes, “In June I sold Ovation Fertility, the company I started four years ago, to Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, and also won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.”

1995

AUSTIN KATZ writes, “I recently purchased the 20-year-old CR Creative Services business, which specializes in the transportation and storage of high-value home furnishings. The company provides domestic and international receiving, transportation, storage, and installations for residential, commercial, and hospitality properties.”

birthday with my old HW friends and classmates Greg Samson ’96, Tony Saltzman ’96, David Brown ’96, Mitch Kamrava ’96, Ben Gales ’96, and Farbod Nasseri ’96.

JEFF KENDIG writes, “After 12 years in mainstream private equity, I left last year to start my own private investment firm, Bravos Capital, which is primarily focused on investments in the emerging cannabis and hemp CBD industry.

It’s been a gratifying experience building my own business and being able to work with smaller investors. I recently celebrated my

JARED WEINSTOCK writes, “My wife Jessica Wright ’95 and I welcomed our second son, Oz, this past January, making Milo (6) a very happy older brother.”

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1998

SARA CHIEFFO writes, “I have taken my California roots to Washington, DC, to serve as the vice president of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, focusing on enacting pro-environment policies and electing leaders who will fight for clean air, safe drinking water, and climate action. I am also a proud mom of two girls (Stella, 6, and Lucy, 2) and just celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary.”

LAUREN FISHMAN PEROTTI writes, “I’m happily married and raising almost 7-year-old twins in Los Angeles. I’m currently an elected assembly district delegate in AD46 for the California Democratic Party and hold my own food, clothing, and supply drives out of my home for various organizations. I diligently worked to flip various swing districts in the midterm elections by sending over 60,000 texts, registering my home with the Democratic Party as a phone banking site in order to hold community sessions for novices, and canvassing for three sister districts. I continue to volunteer for several local campaigns and I sit on the board of the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley. I also recently founded and chartered a club for Democratic parents with the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and recently accepted an award from the county for Democrat of the Year for my district, which includes the upper school campus. Please let me know if you want to get involved or just want to say hello (Perotti.Lauren@ gmail.com).”

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SARA WASSERMAN writes, “I am the Kresa Family Assistant Professor in Neuroscience at Wellesley College (www.wassermanlab.com) and am currently on sabbatical for the year at UCLA. I am looking forward to visiting some classes this year at both the middle and upper school to talk about my career path and current research. I was recently married in August 2019 at the Bel-Air Bay Club and was lucky enough to have friends, family (my brother), and teachers from Harvard-Westlake in attendance!”

MATTHEW KNEE writes, “At this year’s annual conference of the American Association of Political Consultants, I was honored with their 40 under 40 award. My work also won a Best Use of Analytics Pollie Award. In the past three election years, my work has been honored with four out of the eight such awards given in this category: https:// theaapc.org/40-under-40-winnersclass-of-2019/.”

1999

JAMIE GOLDBLATT MANNÉ writes, “I joined Kayne Griffin Corcoran as a new co-director after serving as the director of the Marciano Foundation in Los Angeles for two years, after having managed the Marciano Collection for seven years. I will be charged with expanding Kayne Griffin Corcoran’s community outreach programming, as well as managing the gallery’s growing list of artists.

CALINE KHAVARANI SMITH writes, “I am currently working as a math education consultant, coaching teachers on math content and instructional strategies, facilitating teacher observations, and working with schools on curriculum and instruction to improve their math programs. I often work on these projects with UCLA’s Curtis Center and UCLA’s Graduate School of Education. What I love most about this work is being able to help struggling students succeed by collaborating with enthusiastic teachers from across the region.

When I am not doing math, I am likely to be playing the dinosaur game with my 5- and 3-year-old boys.”

SPENCER VILLASENOR writes, “The Villasenor family is growing!

My wife (Kate) and I are expecting baby girl #2 in the coming months. We’re loving our new-ish neighborhood, Wellington Square, and we’re getting the house ready for the new bundle of joy. Work is great, going on 13 years as a legal recruiter, and I’d be happy to speak to any and all attorneys about their career path and options.”

2001

EDWIN CHANG writes, “I recently wrote and directed an animated short film at Pixar entitled Wind.

It’s inspired by my grandmother and takes place in a world of magical realism. It’ll be released on Disney+ at the end of the year.”

KATHERINE LUNA writes, “I’m a machine learning engineer at Apple.”

NEHA JOGANI NARANG writes, “We welcomed our third child, Aarav Jogani Narang, on September 11, 2018.”

JENNI O’REILLY-JONES writes, “I oversee homeless services for the City of Pasadena and keep busy on adventures with my eight-year-old daughter, Willa.”

STEPHEN SCHULTHEIS writes, “I am currently living in the San Fernando Valley and am pursuing a career as a musician. I teach piano lessons and am also a church pianist. I completed my master’s degree in music in 2016. I performed a solo recital for my M.M. degree and continue to play recitals. There are videos of my performances on YouTube. I would love to hear from any musician classmates! You can also check out my website, www.stephenschultheis.com.”

WINTER 2019–20

ASHLEY PETERSON and MATT SIEGLER write, “We moved to New York City with our daughter, Ella, for exciting job transitions. Matt is the SVP of managed care and patient growth at NYC Health + Hospitals, and Ashley is the SVP of operations at The Wing. We both miss LA and love visiting and hanging out with our HW friends often. We recently met up with Garret Leahey ’01 and his wife, Tanya Benenson, and daughter Kaya.”

2003

TREVOR BELTON writes, “Patricia and I are super excited to have welcomed Gianna Nicole (Baby Gia) in August.”

2004

MICHELLE ALPERT KELRICK writes, “My husband, Scott, and I welcomed our daughter, Ruby James Kelrick, on August 2nd. Ruby joins three-year-old brother Henry Frank Kelrick and one-year-old sister Carolina Rae Kelrick. We definitely have our hands full, but our hearts are even fuller! We feel incredibly blessed.”

2002

ASHLEY FELTS writes, “I am honored to support Chrysalis in a variety of ways. My company, Murphy O’Brien, provides pro bono social media and public relations services for this nonprofit. I also have taught mindfulness classes at their annual Women’s Empowerment Program event as well as their annual Team Day. In addition, I have taught a handful of their Application Station classes in Santa Monica, providing skills in how to prevent burnout, encourage team building, build confidence, and practice self-care strategies.

Lastly, I am planning on-site opportunities this fall for my team to help support the Santa Monica clients through resume support, sorting clothing, and helping with tech support. I currently am the VP of digital at Murphy O’Brien, an integrated agency working with luxury hotel, resort, real estate and lifestyle clients, and I teach mindfulness to corporations and private clients. I live in Santa Monica, CA.”

LINDSEY GLUCKSMAN and JASON GLUSHON write, “On May 12, 2019, we welcomed Dylan Seymour Glushon into the world.”

JAMIE FLESH ROSS writes, “In September, my husband Danny and I welcomed our second daughter, Lucy. Her big sister Ellie will be 3 in February. I can’t wait to introduce my girls to the Wolverine family.”

RUTHIE SAPERSTEIN SAMSON writes, “In March, we welcomed our son, Noah, into our Samson clan. His big sister, Izzy, will be 4 in November, and she is having a great time taking on her new role as big sis!”

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HW LEGACY NOTES

2006

ALEX STEPHESON writes, “I had a very successful back-to-school event on Sunday, August 18. We gave 100 free haircuts, food, school supplies, and a platform for the kids/students to perform in a talent show. It was really great for the community and very exciting for the kids. Hopefully it gives them some good momentum going into the school year. I didn’t have a chance to announce it to the HW Alumni Association beforehand, but there were still a few alumni who showed up, and I just wanted to thank them. Next summer’s event will be bigger and better, and I’m hoping everyone can come out and support.”

NICK TOLSON writes, “I received my master’s in real estate development from Columbia University in May 2019 and started my own development company, called the Lauri Group, shortly thereafter. We are currently planning on building a 56-unit apartment building in San Pedro and actively looking at deals throughout the LA market.”

2009

DARIA GAUT writes, “I am finishing up my residency in internal medicine at UCLA and will be starting fellowship in hematology/ oncology next summer.”

TESS HATCH writes, “I am passionate about space exploration because I imagine a future where one travels to space with the frequency we currently travel in an aircraft.

I invest in companies that are furthering this mission in addition to other frontier technologies like drones, autonomous vehicles, and food tech. I recently spoke at the Techcrunch Disrupt in San Francisco in October 2019.”

ERIN LANDAU writes, “I got married in Big Sur on May 26, 2019, to Mark Antal.”

KELLY OHRINER writes, “I was promoted in October 2019 to senior cybersecurity engineer at the Walt Disney Company.”

SADÉ TAVANGARIAN writes, “I received my master’s in real estate development from the University of Southern California this May and got married in Malibu on August 24, 2019, to Matthew Holz. It was so nice having my best friends from HW as my bridesmaids.”

2014

2007

SAM DE CASTRO ABEGER writes, “My wife, Carolyn Watts, and I welcomed our son, Andersen de Castro Abeger (hopefully HW Class of ’36) on July 25. We are adapting to life as new parents and looking forward to staying close to the HW community.”

TONIE PIMIENTA LEFEBVRE writes, “I moved back to LA from the Bay Area in May after completing a judicial clerkship with a federal judge. My husband and I have since welcomed a baby boy, Felix Rafael Lefebvre, who hopes to be a Wolverine someday!”

64

SARA FLEISCHMAN ROSENBERG writes, “I published my debut novel, The Tenth Girl, with Macmillan on September 24 (under the pen name Sara Faring). Set at a remote boarding school in 1970s Patagonia, it’s a gothic psychological thriller with a haunting twist. I just saw my book on signs in Times Square— the thrill of a lifetime. You can find The Tenth Girl now wherever books are sold.”

2011

ROBBY GOLDMAN writes, “I appeared on CNN’s Equality in America town hall, where I had the good fortune of asking Mayor Pete Buttigieg the first question.

I am currently a volcanology Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois, though I am doing research remotely at the moment, based here in Los Angeles until January (after which I will be in Hawaii, and then Portland, OR).”

SINCLAIR COOK writes, “After graduating from Stanford, Class of ’18 (international relations), I have worked as a research analyst at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research on projects relating to China. I’m thinking about law school in the future.”

WINTER 2019–20

In Memoriam

Cynthia Soles Jamplis ’44 William Patterson ’47 Lewis Judd ’48 Doralee Call Durst ’49 Sarah Marshall Held ’51 (not pictured) Nat Reynolds ’51 Milan Ford ’53 Larry Shewfelt ’65 Karyn Greenfield ’77 Darren Janger ’88

65

NOTES

Faculty & Staff Notes Teachers and staff members can share their news by emailing Elizabeth Hurchalla at ehurchalla@hw.com.

MIDDLE SCHOOL LATIN TEACHER AND WORLD LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT CHAIR MERCEDES BARLETTA WRITES, “I spent much of the summer editing, translating into English, and producing for publication a Latin novel written by my friend and creative partner, Anthony Gibbins, a teacher at Sydney Grammar School in Australia. The book, Legonium: Season One, was released in early September for sale online and has also spent time on the bestseller list at Abbey’s Bookshop, one of Sydney’s preeminent independent bookstores.”

DIRECTOR OF SPORTS PERFORMANCE JEFF CRELLING WRITES, “On July 10, 2019, my family and I welcomed our third daughter, Zaidee McKay Crelling.

She is full of smiles and sleeps through the night. When her sisters aren’t putting her at risk by jumping on the bed, they are fighting over who gets to smother her with affection. All is well.”

WORLD LANGUAGES TEACHER JOAQUIN FERNANDEZ-CASTRO WRITES, “In May, I had an article published in the New York Academy of Public Education Research Journal entitled ‘How can private and public schools enhance effective teaching and learning? Insights from cognitive psychology, improvement science and the bright spots from teaching practices.’”

UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER LUCAS GONZALEZ WRITES, “I married my partner, Marti MacInnes, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in June.”

UPPER SCHOOL AND MIDDLE SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT HEAD JIM BURNS WRITES, “I was published for the fourth time in Fallon’s Angler, a London-based fishing magazine with a literary bent. My story highlighted fly fishing on Montana’s Big Hole River, where ranchers and environmentalists have banded together in a rare union to protect the land and water.”

66

MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER AND FIELD HOCKEY PROGRAM HEAD ERIN CREZNIC WRITES, “My wife and I had our third child, Isabel Kenley NobleCreznic, on November 12. She already has her older brothers wrapped around her fingers.”

UPPER SCHOOL CRIMINAL LAW TEACHER ALAN CROLL WRITES, “My son Bobby—a history teacher at Beverly Hills High School— and I won the United States Tennis Association’s National Senior Father-Son Clay Court Championship. We are number one in the nation!”

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION JULIA KRAFT WRITES, “My husband Josh and I welcomed our daughter, Abigail Rebecca Goodman, to the world on June 13, 2019. Her big brother Jacob has adjusted to his role and we are settling in to life as a family of four!”

WINTER 2019–20 UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER ADAM R. LEVINE WRITES, “I got engaged in June to Jordan Heller ’08!”

MIDDLE SCHOOL VISUAL ARTS DEPARTMENT HEAD JOE MEDINA WRITES, “Magnum Foundation requested that I act as a mentor for their Photography and Social Justice Fellowship recipients this past June at NYU. This experience brought together their nine photography and social justice fellows with classroom teachers, community educators, and social practice artists to explore educational applications of documentary practice. The workshop consisted of presentations examining critical pedagogy and showcasing exemplary projects, followed by breakout sessions for workshopping curricula around each of the fellows’ projects.

With the help of mentors, these photographers/fellows came out of this experience with new ideas for contextualizing their work in artsbased learning spaces and places of higher learning. I was paired with the United States photography and social justice fellow Arlene Mejorado. In February, Arlene Mejorado, along with HarvardWestlake photo teachers and journalist Alice Proujansky, will facilitate a photo-based workshop for HW visual arts photo students at Harvard-Westlake. The workshop will be inspired by Arlene’s body of work titled Caricias. Caricias is a multimedia ode to migrant LGBTQ+ tribute artists who perform as Latinx divas. These nostalgic performances are a growing cultural phenomenon in Los Angeles, where tribute artists are invited to backyard parties, first communion and baptism celebrations, quinceñeras, and nightclubs to be the centerpieces of entertainment. Caricias explores the journey beyond the spectacle into the intimate spaces these tribute artists create with audiences and their community—where there is catharsis, where there is memory, and where there is selfpreservation.”

UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHERS JEREMY MICHAELSON AND JOCELYN MEDAWAR WRITE, “We are happy to announce we’re engaged!”

HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL [AND ASSOCIATE HEAD OF SCHOOL BEGINNING IN JULY] LAURA ROSS WRITES, “I joined the board of trustees of my alma mater, Wesleyan University.”

UPPER SCHOOL LIBRARIAN JESSICA WAHL WRITES, “When I am not working as a librarian, I am a silent film blogger/historian.

I also create campaigns to secure headstones for silent film stars who are buried in unmarked graves.

Last summer I created a campaign for Joseph Keaton, the father of silent film comedian Buster Keaton. Because of this, I was asked to speak at the annual Buster Keaton Convention in Muskegon, Michigan, in October. I not only spoke about the process of marking Joseph Keaton, but also about the 50+ other (mostly) silent film stars who are still unmarked.”

MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER SANDRA WOLCHOK SAYS, “My husband Jim and I want to announce that our first grandchild, Lyla Shirit, was born October 1, 2019. We are ecstatic to have her in the family and look forward to spending as much time as we can with her!”

WORLD LANGUAGES TEACHER DEREK WILAIRAT WRITES, “My wife and I had our first child recently. Our daughter Lauren was born early on October 21, 2019.

We’re so excited to welcome her to the world. Our lives will never be the same :).”

67

NOTES

Reunions

TOP Harvard Class of 1969 (50th reunion) and guests

TOP Harvard Class of 1984 (35th reunion)

BOTTOM Harvard Classes of 1969, 1974, and 1979

BOTTOM Harvard Class of 1989 (30th reunion)

68

WINTER 2019–20

TOP Harvard-Westlake Class of 1994 (25th reunion)

TOP Harvard-Westlake Class of 2009 (10th reunion)

TOP Harvard-Westlake Class of 1999 (20th reunion)

MIDDLE Harvard-Westlake Class of 2014 (5th reunion)

BOTTOM Harvard-Westlake Class of 2004 (15th reunion)

BOTTOM Harvard and HarvardWestlake reunion, 2019

69

NOTES

TOP Westlake Class of 1959 (60th reunion)

TOP Westlake Class of 1979 (40th reunion)

MIDDLE Westlake Class of 1969 (50th reunion)

MIDDLE Westlake Class of 1984 (35th reunion) and daughters

BOTTOM Westlake Class of 1974 (45th reunion)

BOTTOM Westlake Class of 1989 (30th reunion)

70

WINTER 2019–20

TOP Walt Werner, Francine Werner ’68, Karen Moore Dry ’80, Kimberley Barber Hieatt, Sara Griffiths Connell ’80, Leslie Forbes Owens ’74 BOTTOM President and head of school Rick Commons (center) with former teachers Joe Treasure and Sue Jackson

71

NOTES

Sincerely Yours

By Jim Pattison

72

WINTER 2019–20

Visiting churches and museums on a recent trip to Italy with my wife, I was reminded of the folklore surrounding the etymological roots of the word “sincerity.”

In the days of the Roman Empire, the story goes, sculptors commissioned to fashion works of art for wealthy patrons would occasionally misstrike the marble block they were working on, knocking off an appendage and ruining the piece. A special type of white wax was used as their version of Krazy Glue to reattach the piece and make it look like nothing happened. Art patrons grew wise to this practice and would ask the artist if the work was sine cera (Latin for “without wax”). And that’s supposedly how the meaning for our word “sincerity” developed: something that was whole, not phony, integral. (Ironically, as it turns out, it’s likely an apocryphal account, but it’s a powerful metaphor nonetheless.)

Making an honest appraisal of yourself is an important first step in effective gift planning. Being courageous, having a “savage sincerity” about who you are and what you care about, knowing why you do what you do.… This is what is asked of each of us.

Once you take inventory of your human capital (your talents, dreams, abilities, and desires), your intellectual capital (what criteria you use when making a judgment), and your social capital (how you interact with those around you and show what’s important to you and your family), you can apply the means at your disposal and make the best use of your financial capital. These four components constitute true family wealth.

For many in the wealth management, family philanthropy, and estate planning sector, the starting point is the clever disposition and treatment of income and assets rather than the identification of the core values that define who you are and what you would like to become. Certainly it is prudent to be wise to techniques that enhance the use of money, but it is even more important to define your core set of values to guide the deployment of those means. These are the practices of successful families.

Gift planning at Harvard-Westlake starts with the sincere appraisal of your family’s values. If you are interested in learning more about this approach, contact me at 818-487-5471 or jpattison@hw.com.

Jim Pattison is the senior advancement officer at Harvard-Westlake and spearheads the school’s gift planning efforts. For more information on making a gift to the school, he may be reached at jpattison@hw.com or 818-487-5471.

Photo courtesy of Clark Young, Unsplash

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SMART CHARITABLE GIVING CHARITABLE GIVING FOR THOSE 72 OR OLDER

ADVANTAGES

OF AN IRA CHARITABLE ROLLOVER GIFT/QCD:

Satisfies your annual RMD, up to the amount of

Gives from pre-tax assets; your distribution is excluded from taxable income

THE IRS REQUIRES TAXPAYERS OVER AGE

72 1 2 3

May prevent you from being pushed into a higher tax bracket or higher Medicare Part B or D premium bracket

to take a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from their IRAs or other qualified retirement plans each year.

Helps avoid limits on charitable deductions

At your direction, the custodian, trustee, or financial advisor of your IRA can transfer money from your IRA directly to Harvard-Westlake so you can support the school.

Minimizes the has on your cash flow because the assets, not your checkbook

Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) or an IRA Charitable Rollover You can do this regardless of whether you take the standard deduction or itemize your deductions. It is a direct reduction of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).

Discuss the potential benefits of a QCD with your personal financial/tax advisor to determine whether a QCD This information is not intended as tax, legal, or financial advice.

YOU MUST:

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Be over age 72

Own an IRA account (typically made from a traditional IRA account or qualified retirement plan)

Complete the instructions and the form with your custodian, trustee, or financial firm

HW

Direct as much as $100,000 to Harvard-Westlake

WINTER 2019–20

Life, Now in Theaters

By Daphne Davies ’23 Written for Amanda Angle’s English I class We sit atop a roof in August’s haze Spread out below, our generation’s street Skateboarding boys, a Taki-flavored haze I find this moment all too bittersweet.

I see the blurring stars in Courier New— To them, they’re just faint hints of glowing light.

My eyes a camera; grainy sepia views My life a film, each day a scene anew.

Reality’s harsh line begins to smudge— (EXTERIOR—ROOFTOP—SUNSET) The night is packaged up in memory’s love (THE MUSIC SWELLS in my mind’s headset) Someday, when I am weathered, old and grey; I’ll lie back, close my eyes and hit replay.

Photo courtesy of Skyler Baez, Unsplash

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Last Look

CABLE READY

By Alexis Sherman Arinsburg ’98 Long before there were texts, emails, and tweets, there were telegrams. The sender was charged by the word, so messages were typically short and to the point. Helen Monnette Amestoy ’37 set sail to England with her mother for the May 1937 coronation of King George VI and his wife, Elizabeth. “Mom was given a special early graduation so they could leave before the end of school,” recalls daughter Margot Amestoy Antinoja ’63. Westlake cofounders Frederica de Laguna and Jessica Smith Vance sent Monnette this telegram while she was aboard the Queen Mary to wish her well on her journey and congratulate her on her acceptance to Bryn Mawr College.

Telegram courtesy of Margot Amestoy Antinoja ’63 and Kami Amestoy Lee ’61

Dew by Tierni Kaufman ‘19 (created in Nicole Stahl’s upper school Glass class)

PRESORTED NON-PROFIT ORG. STANDARD U.S. U.S. POSTAGE POSTAGE

PAID PAID

700 Office North of Advancement Faring Road Los 700Angeles, North Faring CA 90077 Road Los Angeles, CA 90077 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Postal regulations require Harvard-Westlake to pay for each copy of this magazine that is undeliverable as addressed. Please call the Office of Advancement (310.288.3308) or email advancement@hw.com to notify us of any changes of address. Include both the old and new address.

Parents of alumni: If the graduate to whom this magazine is addressed no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the Office of Advancement of the new mailing address.

REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK We want to hear from you! Let us know what you thought of this issue and what you’d like to see in future HW Life issues. Please send your comments to Elizabeth Hurchalla at ehurchalla@hw.com.

HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS: ARI ENGELBERG CREATIVE DIRECTOR & DESIGNER: AGNES PIERSCIENIAK CONTENT DIRECTOR & WRITER: ELIZABETH HURCHALLA PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: SHAUNA ALTIERI ARCHIVIST: ALEXIS SHERMAN ARINSBURG ’98 PHOTOGRAPHERS: MATT SAYLES ’00, ELYSE FRELINGER

Lauren Juzang ’20 in shoes decorated by Haley Levin ’20

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