Alumni News

Class of 1986 Chris Corbett recently moved back to Marin from San Francisco. He hosts an all vinyl soul weekly event at 19 Broadway in Fairfax on Sunday afternoons.

Class of 1988 Mike Long is a film editor who recently came back to the Bay Area to work on the documentary “Q Ball.” It follows the lives of the San Quentin Warriors—teammates and inmates at “The Q”, California’s San Quentin State Prison. Kevin Durant and fellow Golden State Warriors team members’ previous visits to the prison helped kick-start the project. The documentary explores the inmates’ personal struggles, as they search for redemption and transcendence both on and off the court. The answers, characters, and stories are complex, but in San Quentin—a place where freedom is taken away—basketball gives a little bit back. The movie premiered at the San Francisco International Film festival, and aired numerous times on Fox Sports and can now be seen on Netflix. It was nominated for two Sports Emmys.

Class of 1990 Sean Peisert leads computer security and privacy research and development at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and is an adjunct professor of Computer Science and Public Health Sciences at UC Davis. He lives in San Rafael with his wife Kathryn, managing editor for The Governance Institute. Sean and Kathryn are over the moon that their son Lucas is a third grader at Mark Day School. They also have a two-year-old daughter, Lauren (Mark Day School class of 2032!). While sheltering in place, they have enjoyed playing tennis in the driveway; building “chain reactions” with prompts from Mark Day School Tinkering Instructors Mr. Greenleaf and Mr. St. Martin; exploring the local fauna, also with guidance from Mark Day School teacher Mr. Krupp; doing playdates and attending virtual jazz and Grateful Dead concerts by video; and caring for the Mark Day School chickens, taking hikes in China Camp and taking the family Labrador retriever on a somewhat excessive amount of dog walks.

Class of 2001

Josh Galland and his wife Veery Maxwell happily welcomed their first daughter, Sloane in December 2019.

Class of 2002

Sarah (Lopez) Catalano and her husband Tyler Catalano welcomed their first child, Magnus Kilburn Catalano on July 10, 2019.

Class of 2006

Alexandra Norman started her career in education as a teacher at Tilden Preparatory School in the East Bay, and quickly became the Foreign Language Department Head. After helping to open the Tilden Sausalito campus, she went to Teachers College at Columbia University for a Masters in Education at the Klingenstein Center for Private School Leadership. Upon graduation, Alex returned to Tilden Preparatory School Marin as Associate Head of School and now oversees all faculty, academics, and resources, as well as developing curriculum, as the school transitions and rebrands in 2020. In developing curric

ulum, she has often been inspired by “my time at Mark Day, and think about how the school helped me to develop a strong academic foundation and the love of learning that I have today.”

Class of 2008

Julia Smith continues her career in theater, with her newest role playing Estrella in “Almost Famous” the Musical.

Class of 2009

Eva Geisse is finishing up her second year as the Science Support Specialist at Mark Day School. She is grateful to have reconnected with the Mark Day community through her passion for teaching science.

Class of 2010

Tyler Leswing is a recent graduate of Berklee School of Music, and he has released his solo album, Unfinished Portrait, composed and performed by him. You may listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBI-YWGEZSI&t=108s. It is also available on all other streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes. Ben Lyons graduated Bates College in May 2019, and he’s now living in Boston and working for Accenture. Aidan Nelson is a consultant for Charles Salter in San Francisco, and when socializing resumes, he will be found at Terrapin Crossroads in his role as a Live Sound Engineer.

Class of 2011

Sarah Ihnken graduated from Texas A&M University, class of 2019 with a major in Kinesiology. This month she is starting classes to become an Emergency Medical Technician while waiting to apply to medical school to begin in 2021. Claire Kirkpatrick graduated from Wake Forest University in May 2019 with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Computer Science. She spent the next four months hiking on the Appalachian Trail before starting her career in Corporate Social Responsibility at Dish Network in Denver, CO. Madelyn Quirke-Shattuck graduated with a degree in Biological Sciences, with a double minor in Hispanic Studies and Dance from Connecticut College in2019. She spent four years on the Guest Services team at the Mystic Aquarium on Long Island Sound. Maddy also pursued her interest in marine ecology and conservation in Ecuador, the Galápagos Islands and the Bahamas through study abroad opportunities and internships. During the summer of 2018, Maddy worked in the Educational Programs Department at the Cape Eleuthera Institute on the island of Eleuthera. Having studied Spanish since her Kindergarten year, Maddy has become fluent in the language and finds ways to include it in all her endeavors. She was granted a Fulbright Fellowship for the 2019-2020 academic year, and was placed in an elementary school in the Canary Islands, Spain. Although her time there was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Maddy loved the time she spent teaching natural and social science classes in English to students in second through fourth grade, and volunteering with a local beach cleanup organization, where she also prepared and presented marine conservation and art workshops for several other primary schools on the island. This summer, Maddy hopes to spend another season as a National Geographic Student Expeditions Leader, sharing her love for Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands with middle school students as they study wildlife conservation and photography. She plans to pursue a career in marine science experiential education, inspired by her early exposure to outdoor education programs at Mark Day School, and obtain a Masters degree in Marine Conservation. Annalise Schulman graduates this spring from Occidental College, with a degree in Biology, with a cellular and molecular emphasis. She is also a five year member of Marin Search and Rescue.

Class of 2012 Avik Banerjee will graduate spring 2020 with a computer engineering degree from UC Irvine. Robert (Wally) Dryden graduated from the Bay School of San Francisco in 2016 and will graduate with a BS from Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles in Business from their Entrepreneurship Program in 2020. While at LMU was president of the men’s fraternity Phi Delta Theta and was co-captain of the Men’s Lacrosse team. Additionally, he received a national academic service scholarship from Phi Delta Theta called the Whole Man Scholarship and was a accepted into Order of Omega, an academic honor society. He plans to attend graduate school in business

and work in Marketing. Dylan Woodhead and Quinn Woodhead ’14 helped Stanford win its first NCAA water polo Championship in 17 years this January. Quinn is currently a sophomore majoring in Product Design and Dylan is a senior majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Class of 2013 Louis. She is studying global health and women’s studies and policy. She plans to go to law school to become a health law/women’s rights lawyer. Larkin started the year in Durban, South Africa doing a semester abroad studying the HIV epidemic there when the COVID 19 broke out. She was ordered to return to the US before she completed her work, but she will finish her independent study project on polygamy, sexual consent tradition major in Spanish and Sociology, with a concentration in Immigration, at Occidental College. She also is a member of Oxy’s Women’s Volleyball team. In late February, she traveled to Chile on the IES study abroad program in Santiago. Unfortunately, her trip was cut short, but she will return on a future trip. Claire Smythe is a Junior at Stanford, majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is a Peer-Advisor for her major and the Vice President of the Stanford Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She is a member of the Varsity Lightweight Rowing team, and has won two National Championships. This summer she will be interning as a Civil Engineer Assistant at a Bay Area engineering firm. Recently, Claire led a fundraiser to raise $1,500 for the Marin and SF Food Bank by rowing a marathon on her indoor rowing machine. Class of 2014 accepted to the UCLA Sports Medicine Internship Program. She will work side by side a UCLA sports team

helping them with physical therapy, injury treatments, and prevention. Spencer Petras is enjoying his college life at the University of Iowa. This year he will be the starting quarterback for the Hawkeyes. Perhaps his ability to read the defense so well can be related to his playing

Larkin Levine is a junior at Washington University in St. and the transmission of HIV. Marielle Lyons is a double

Daisy Lookinland is a sophomore at UCLA and was just chess in preschool and at Mark Day School!

Class of 2016 Lily Cummings worked with LGBTQ+ Rights and Advocacy in The Netherlands with The Experiment in International Living. She also earned a Julie Davis Butler award at San Domenico to pursue her senior Rose Project last summer. Lily is a volunteer and teen leader, along with fellow alum Kai Nittenberg, with Ceres Community Project. Lily also serves as the youth representative to the Board of Directors. Allegra Diaz traveled to Puerto Rico with National Geographic Student Expeditions. She worked with World Central Kitchens, and did conservation work to restore El Yunque National Forest. She also earned a Julie Davis Butler award at San Domenico to pursue her senior Roses Project last summer with Lily Cummings. Kath

erine Gutierrez and Ben

Strassman danced together as Cavalier and Sugar Plum Fairy in the December 2019 Nutcracker from Stapleton Ballet at the Marin Civic Cen

ter Veteran’s Auditorium. This was the culminating event of their 12 plus years dancing together at Stapleton, and it was a huge honor to dance these lead roles. Kai Nittenberg received the Youth Volunteer of the Year award at the 27th Annual Heart of Marin Awards in January 2020.

Class of 2017 Beck Lorsch, along with other students from the Bay Area, won the education track at the Global Hack and was a grand prize finalist for their project called “Inside Scoop.” There were more than 15,000 participants from 100 countries. This 48-hour competition sought building solutions to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Class of 2018 Lilah Parker and Chiara Savage Schwartz received the local Jefferson Award (The Jefferson Awards Foundation is the country’s longest standing and most prestigious organization dedicated to activating and celebrating public service in America) for their work with Wonderbag.

Class of 2019 Craig Parker is spending a semester of high school abroad at the Pan-American School near San Jose, Costa Rica. This is one of Mark Day’s international partner schools, and Craig is the first exchange student from Mark Day that Pan-American has admitted for a full semester. One of the highlights for Craig so far has been his involvement with their varsity soccer team, and recently Craig joined the team for a trip to Honduras to participate in an international soccer tournament.

Remembering Sally Henrikson. The former Mark Day French teacher passed away November 2019. Sally was dedicated to teaching not just the French language to our students, but also the culture of the French people. During her time at Mark Day, she celebrated “National French Week” with her students by making pain au chocolat and playing Pentanqué with the famous Louis Toulon. Sally retired in 2011. She is survived by her husband Steve, and their sons Charlie and Oliver.

Xander Kropp, who graduated in 2015, died on March 28, 2020. He is survived by his mom Tori Kropp, his dad the late Raymond Kropp, and older brothers Matthew and Adam. His mom writes that he was, “goofy, willing to not back down when we disagreed, and a loyal friend.” He is remembered as a natural athlete, a lover of lacrosse and a hockey aficionado who wanted to become a psychologist.

CLASS OF 2016 COLLEGE MATRICULATION

Natasha Anderman: Haverford College Marcos Brasil: University of San Diego Natalia Castillo: University of Pennsylvania Sarah Clements: Sarah Lawrence College Max Cohen: Boston University, Questrom School of Business Lily Cummings: Barnard College Madeleine Dawson: Bates College Ramona Dewane: Texas Christian University Allegra Diaz: University of Hawaii Elise Dickinson: Boston College Noah Erickson: Prescott College Katherine Gutierrez: University of Tampa Hayden Hattenbach: UC Santa Barbara Charlotte Hee: Cornell University Kyle Jakiemiec: Texas Christian University Jammie Kuramoto: College of Marin Kaisa Lee: Carnegie Mellon Univerrsity Peter Levine: Cornell University Frank Lookinland: USC Corban McIntosh: UC Santa Barbara Grant McKechnie: University of Illinois Madison Morrison: Johns Hopkins, Whiting School of Engineering Kai Nittenberg: UC Berkeley Mariah Ozkay: CSU Los Angeles Mack Parlamis: California Institute of the Arts Scott Roche: Rice University Nick Salesky: Northeastern University Lauren Seale: University of San Diego Carter Sharp: Orange Coast Community College Ben Strassman: Gap year Sophie Swett: UCLA Zander Taaffe: Texas Christians University Sophia Torto: Boston College