ALUMNI MAGAZINE
THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI OF LICK-WILMERDING HIGH SCHOOL | WINTER 2017
COVER STORY:
Celebrating Architecture
Lick-WilmerdingLux Alumni Board Members 2016-2017 Alexander Hochman 1988, President Marjorie Zaharin Albarran 1954 Frances Kawalkowski Bertetta 1936 Catharine Clark 1985 Philip Galante 1987 Amy Esken Gershoni 1990 Anthony Grant 1987 Jason Gullion 1987 Sita Brooks Hanlon 1996 Yennie Lee 2006 Matthew Levy 2001 Angus MacDonald 1992 David Mitchell 1991 David Morgenstein 1979 Brandon Rosen 2007 David Salazar 1994
LWHS Mission Statement A private school with public purpose, Lick-Wilmerding High School develops the head, heart, and hands of highly motivated students from all walks of life, inspiring them to become lifelong learners who contribute to the world with confidence and compassion.
Matthew Tolve 1998
Lick-Wilmerding Board of Trustees 2016-2017 Wally MacDermid 1987, President Eric Temple, Head of School Charles Bullock Tom Chavez John Clawson Peter Engel Barre Fong Steve Guttmann Parker Harris Alexander Hochman 1988 Deirdre Hockett Pam Hommeyer Misha Hurd 2009 Lucinda Lee Katz Kathy Kimball William Madison 2001 Rafael Mandelman 1992 Sima Misra Natalie Ocampo Tori Peterson Tricia Stone Doug Tom Laura Witter Golnar Yazdi
On the Cover Visual Arts Department Chair and Architecture Teacher Goranka Poljak-Hoy and students from her Advanced Architectural Design class. Photo by Robert Sanborn 1970.
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Alumni Events
published by
The Lick-Wilmerding Alumni and Development Office lick-wilmerding high school 755 Ocean Avenue San Francisco, CA 94112 415-704-5593 E-mail: alumni@lwhs.org brian driscoll The Fund for LWHS Manager 415-704-5592 bdriscoll@lwhs.org nancy kehoe Director of Alumni & Development 415-704-5590 nkehoe@lwhs.org miwa kozuki Alumni Program Manager 415-704-5593 mkozuki@lwhs.org mila krush Database Manager 415-704-5594 mkrush@lwhs.org camille walker Development Associate 415-704-5591 cwalker@lwhs.org EDITOR: NANCY KEHOE PRINCIPLE PHOTOGRAPHY IN THIS ISSUE
Ryan Fernando Barre Fong Erika Jones 1999 Max Kellenberger Santiago Mejia Martino Mingione Eleanor Sananman Robin von Breton Hemah Zaveri
Contents 4 On Architecture Message from Head of School Eric Temple 6 Graduation 2016 11 Class of 2016 College Destinations 12 Celebrating Architecture: Big Plans for Main Classroom Building
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20 2015-2016 Faculty Milestones
BY GORANKA POLJAK-HOY
Designing for Life
22 Student Notables 44 New Board of Trustees and Alumni Board Members 48 The Center at LWHS A look at the Public Purpose Program (PPP), the Nicaragua and Senegal Service Learning Trips 61 Recently Published Alumni Authors 64 Class Notes with updates on renuions for the Class of 1966 and 1975, and profiles on Robert Klein 1962 and JR Wong 2009 94 In Memoriam
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Aim High Celebrates 30 Years
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in common, or indeed what connection architecture has with any other discipline. Sam noted that architecture taught him how pieces fit together to form a whole. The layering of perspective found in architecture, it turns out, is very applicable to the layering of sounds in composing music.
On Architecture
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ell-known composer Sam Adams 2004, when speaking to the audience during our annual THE event to fund a need for the school, said that one of the
ways he learned how to compose music was by taking architecture with GORANKA POLJAK-HOY at Lick-Wilmerding High School. We might wonder what composing music and architecture have
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Architecture, for many of the reasons that I chose to study literature, is actually the confluence of multiple disciplines that culminate in a unique vision and perspective of the world. Just as literature is the intersection of art, history, psychology, theology, and an overall grappling with trying to make sense of the human condition, architecture combines engineering, geometry, kinetics, environmental science, urban planning, art, history, and many other fields in an attempt to
MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
connect humans to their physical and emotional place in the world.
designed by alumnus WILLIAM MERCHANT 1924.
Ultimately, both literature and architecture are about perspective. When students can learn to see the world from multiple perspectives, whether these are from above or below or to the side of an object, or through the lens of people who bring different life experience to their interactions, we help them grow into individuals who can recognize the infinite variety and beauty of our experience. In this issue of the Alumni Magazine, you will hear more about how architecture has influenced the lives of our alumni, as well as learn more about the classroom building at 755 Ocean Avenue,
Merchant’s 1954 classic example of mid-century modern architecture has served the school well for 60 years. But just as our perspective changes with time as we accumulate experiences and wisdom, we know that learning and teaching has changed as we understand how the brain works, and we have better ways to gather data about how and what our students are learning. Thus, by keeping the façade of the 755 Ocean Avenue building, and in particular the delicate and finely wrought curtain wall, we respect and value Merchant’s vision, while updating that vision to meet the needs of 21st Century learners.
“Ultimately, both literature and architecture are about perspective. When students can learn to see the world from multiple perspectives... we help them grow into individuals who can recognize the infinite variety and beauty of our experience.”
The LWHS campus is a physical manifestation of the creativity and ingenuity imbedded in our faculty and students. I am excited to share our plans for the renovated classroom building with everyone. To learn more, please visit www.lwhs.org/ expansion. We are at an exciting time in the school’s history as we embark on our largest project since moving from Potrero Hill to Ocean Avenue. I welcome your questions and comments, and encourage you to check the website and read the information that will be sent regularly during the next 18 months.
Eric Temple head of school
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Left: Camryn Hollarsmith celebrates outside of City Hall. Photo by Jordan Hollarsmith 2008.
VALEDICTORIAN: WILEY WADSWORTH
Graduation: Congratulations Class of 2016! BY SHEVANN STEUBEN 2016
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or the second time, Lick-Wilmerding’s High School graduation was held at the well-suited Nourse Theatre.
The class of 2016 gathered to celebrate and conclude the last four years of friendships and bonds, joys and successes, and their overall love for one another. The love was apparent throughout the entire ceremony, with several standing ovations and laughs as the class reflected on their time as LWHS Tigers. As their time as a full class has concluded and they all begin new adventures, there is no doubt that their connection with each other will be everlasting.
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Class Valedictorian, WILEY WADSWORTH, spoke to everyone and reflected with her class about the movie version of high school she imagined Lick to be, and the reality of her actual experience. “Here was the plan: Every morning, my friends and I would drive to school together in a convertible, just like on ‘Mean Girls’. School would pass by and homework wouldn’t really exist, so after school we would go get milkshakes at the diner” is how Wiley thought her high school career would play out, but like many of her classmates, it was more study sessions and sleepless nights because “school was really hard.” Often, with hard work there is little time to be with others, and Wiley recommended to everyone that we try not to get “so caught up in the stress of school and in our small friend groups that we do not appreciate the greatness in our new communities” as the graduates move on from high school. A final note she made was about wishing she had realized how much she enjoyed her classmates sooner so that she might have taken a
GRADUATION 2016
Left: Faculty speaker & History Teacher Shaun Lopez gave a heartfelt speech to the class of 2016, the first students at LWHS that he taught. Below: Left to right: Kate Chaloemtiarana, George Castellon, Killian Collins, Gavi Chavez Bottom, left: Angela Iton (left) and Emily Lam (right) help Taft Weber-Kilpack with her graduation cap and tassels. Bottom: The three Oppenheimer LWHS graduates—Ron 2016, Tal 2008, and Or 2014.
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GRADUATION 2016
Right: School and heritage pride collide. Left to right: Marcus Simmons, Marcus Veal, Taalib Smith, Justin Robinson, Andrés Sobalvarro. Below, right: Señor Luke Alessandroni spends time with Max Ozer-Staton, David Peletz, Courtney Peterson, Isabel Povey, and Antonio Quadra before the ceremony.
step back to take in all that the LWHS community had to offer. Wiley concluded with a generational quote, from her grandmother, who said, “when you say goodbye, leave.” But that is not the hope for the class of 2016; graduation is not goodbye!
CLASS SPEAKER: ANGELA ITON Class-elected speaker, ANGELA ITON, was a clear representation of the spirit and joy of the class. As introduced by DANIEL TESFAI, Angela’s humor is snarky and one of a kind; her speech led to what many might call a comical lesson. She read to the class a short spoken word piece, How to File a 1040 tax return. Step number 2: “Fill in personal information” seemed to get a chuckle out of everyone as well as the following 8 steps. Angela ended with, “Calculate your refund, if applicable. If total payments are less than amount owed, then instead calculate the remaining amount you owe and
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GRADUATION 2016
Left: From left to right: Dixon Layton, Eva Laxo, Maddy Leibovitch, Carolena Leon Below, left: History faculty members Suzanne AldridgePeacock and Lauren Konopka smile before heading into the theater.
you have essentially completed your first 1040” using the math skills the class of 2016 would have gathered from their time at LWHS.
GRADUATION SPEAKERS 2016 Class-Elected Speaker: Angela Iton, introduced by Body Mind Education Faculty Member Daniel Tesfai Valedictorian: Wiley Wadsworth, introduced by History Department Chair Rebecca Hong Faculty Speaker: Shaun Lopez, introduced by Gavi Chavez 2016
As the humor came out of Angela, the smiles of her classmates became infectious and you could see the appreciation for one another across every graduate’s face. Her parting words were, “So to those of you who will inevitably go on to be the celebrities, role models, famous intellectuals, and leaders of our future generations, please invite me to cool parties.” For some, that is the hope and standard of what the Class of 2016 will become: Unforgettable.
who was the faculty speaker elected by the students, began his speech with all the other ways he thought of addressing the Class of 2016. Some of his ideas included singing, dancing, and Prince reference from “Let’s Go Crazy”, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life”, but none of those seemed fitting. The Class of 2016 is like family to Shaun, he said, they were the first kids “I taught at Lick, and in many ways we’ve grown up together.”
Shaun spoke about how feeling like you belong is what helps you thrive in any environment. An experience that deeply impacted him was a piece in the 2016 dance concert about diversity featuring four girls of FACULTY SPEAKER: color, two of whom were from SHAUN LOPEZ the class of 2016. Another was History teacher SHAUN LOPEZ, from three students sharing
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GRADUATION 2016
Right: Board of Trustees President Sam Fleischmann 1983 and Head of School Eric Temple just before they lead the procession of students, faculty, and staff into the theater. Below, right: Sydni Green, Nina Gonzalez Silas, and Nate Gorjance are all smiles before the ceremony.
their personal experiences during Walk With a Purpose, specifically surrounding their struggles with ability and socioeconomic status. These moments at Lick helped Shaun come to the thought that, we must “share our stories and accept the stories of others into our hearts. Belonging is a team game.” He left the Class of 2016 with one last piece of advice, urging the group to “remember those kids who didn’t always quite fit so seamlessly at Lick, and whose stories we never quite got around to listening to. And I hope that motivates you to get out of your comfort zone, expose yourself, and learn from people whose lived experience differs greatly from your own. Don’t silo yourself with people of similar backgrounds. Get out of the bubble. Take the time to listen and reflect.”
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Left: Valedictorian Wiley Wadsworth
College Destinations for the Class of 2016
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he Class of 2016 is an amazing group of students with hopes and dreams for themselves and the communities
they hope to impact. The 2016 graduates have been accepted to outstanding colleges all across the country. We can’t wait to hear about their discoveries, successes, new interests and fun they have on their journeys, as we hope they stay in touch. Listed are the college choices from the Class of 2016 and the number in parenthesis indicates the number of graduates planning to attend the school when there are multiple.
Allegheny College American University Bard College Barnard College (2) Baylor University Berklee College of Music Boston College (2) Boston University (2) Bowdoin College (2) Brandeis University (2) Brown University (3) California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California State University, Los Angeles Carleton College Chapman University City College of San Francisco Colorado College Columbia University (2) Cornell University (3) Dartmouth College Dominican University of California Duke University Emory University– Oxford College Georgia Institute of Technology Goldsmiths, University of London Grinnell College Harvard University (2) Haverford College Johns Hopkins University (2) Kalamazoo College Lafayette College Lehigh University Lewis & Clark College Macalester College (4) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Middlebury College Minerva Schools at KGI Mount Holyoke College New York University
Northwestern University (3) Oberlin College Occidental College (2) Pitzer College (4) Pomona College Princeton University (2) Purdue University Quest University Canada Saint Mary’s College of California Sarah Lawrence College Scripps College Seattle University Skidmore College Sonoma State University Stanford University (2) Syracuse University University of California, Berkeley (10) University of California, Los Angeles (2) University of California, San Diego University of California, Santa Barbara University of California, Santa Cruz (2) University of Chicago (2) University of Colorado at Boulder University of Michigan (2) University of Minnesota, Twin Cities University of Oregon University of Pennsylvania University of Puget Sound University of San Francisco (2) University of Southern California (2) University of Virginia Washington and Lee University Washington University in St. Louis (2) Whitman College Whittier College Yale University (2)
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CELEBRATING ARCHITECTURE:
Big Plans for Main Classroom Building BY REBECCA CORMACK 2017 AND LOIC MARCON 2017
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n June 2017, Lick-Wilmerding High School will undergo an extensive remodeling project. The goal is to upgrade
the facilities of the main classroom building so that LWHS can accommodate more students while preparing to support innovative teaching and learning through the 21st century. The main classroom building was constructed in the mid-1950s, when the school moved from Potrero Hill to Ocean Avenue. The buildings on campus were designed by William G. Merchant, a highly-regarded San Francisco architect, who graduated from the Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts in 1909. Merchant’s building has been the school’s home ever since.
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Exterior View from Ocean Avenue
During the facilities master planning process in 2014, it was brought to the attention of the LWHS Board of Trustees that the classrooms in the Merchant building are at their maximum capacity. All of the rooms in that building are being used 100% of the time, which leaves neither room for new courses to be added nor the flexibility of classroom use. Additionally, the Board recognized that the LWHS student population has grown over 100% since the building’s construction in 1955. Because the school wants to have the ability to admit more well-deserving students in the future, there is a pressing need for more classrooms, labs, and collaborative spaces. Finally, and importantly, during the facilities master planning process, engineers found seismic
concerns with the building. The school has addressed some of these concerns, and there are no life-safety issues presently. But should the building experience a major natural disaster, engineers worry about the possibility that the building would not be able to be re-occupied following such an event. Given all of the information discovered during the facilities master planning process, the Board unanimously approved pursuing plans to renovate the classroom building. As fundraising and architectural plans progress, the Board will make a final decision in the spring on whether or not to commence construction in June. Several highlights of the construction of the larger
building include: seven new classrooms, the renovation of existing science labs and two new labs, new athletic locker rooms, and a reconstruction of the dance studio. With an additional 10,000 square feet, the building will have much more space dedicated to student group work, such as open nooks to be used for collaborative projects, studying, and meetings with teachers. The building will have better air circulation and more natural lighting, creating a healthier learning environment. There will be inviting offices for faculty and administration, increased outdoor community space, a larger entry lobby, and an improved entryway with easier accessibility. The entryway will include an outdoor plaza and a gallery to display student
and alumni work. Seismic maintenance and repair will also be addressed. Last but certainly not least, the Center for Civic Engagement will be moved intentionally to the center of the school and will be one of the first spaces one sees when walking into the building. It will be placed strategically adjacent to nearby classrooms, which makes it convenient for the classrooms to be used as community spaces during non-school hours. LWHS intends to maintain its commitment to being a private school with a public purpose as it invites its surrounding neighbors to use the community space. Relationships with Youth Art Exchange, Bay Area Teacher Training Institute, Aim High, Geneva Car Barn, and others will benefit from this
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Left: Hallway Right: Main Lobby Below, right: View of Third Floor and Atrium
new and improved community meeting space.
energy. (Learn more at http:// living-future.org/lbc.)
William Merchant’s midcentury modern construction is a historically significant example of architecture. Thus, the city of San Francisco is requiring that LWHS keep 75% of the building’s facade. The gym’s exterior and the majority of the front of the Merchant building will be maintained.
These plans for the new building all seem promising, but the timing of the construction must be strategic. How will this all get done? In the summer of 2017, demolition will commence, and temporary classrooms will be installed in the LWHS parking lot. Additional upgrades include more seating in the gym to accommodate the full student body. Construction and renovation of the science labs will take place in the summer of 2018, and all construction is due to conclude in time for the start of school in August 2018.
An integral component to all of the aforementioned upgrades is environmental sustainability. LWHS is pursuing certification in several Petals of The Living Building Challenge, which demands that building projects of all shapes and sizes be as clean, beautiful, and efficient as nature itself. The principles that the Living Building Challenge is set upon are: indoor air quality, beauty and inspiration, materials, site, water, and
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ARCHITECTURE AT LWHS As LWHS plans for the future of its largest building, it places importance on the architectural process of the remodel, for a
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highly valued aspect of the Lick-Wilmerding education is its architecture program. The architecture program is known to be rigorous and fulfilling. With its sights set on three goals—imagination, expression, and reflection —the program is one which students are exposed to at the beginning of their LWHS careers. Freshman are required to take a course called Contemporary Media and Art, often referred to by students as CMA. CMA is described as “an energetic multi-disciplinary arts class,” and over the course of the year students’ portfolios fill up with works in Drawing and Painting, Mixed Media, Photography, Film, and Architecture. CMA is the foundation for LWHS art students; once this class is completed, students can
take a multitude of visual arts classes. Many go on to take the Architectural Design class, some continue on to take the Advanced Architectural Design, and some are so inspired by the architecture program that they decide to pursue Architecture in college and beyond. The Architectural Design class teaches the basic skills of architecture. Students learn how to execute twodimensional drawings using various mechanical and computerized techniques, use a number of model making techniques, complete a set of conceptual drawings (including site plan, floor plan and elevation), and enhance their designs with a variety of graphic expressions. As the year progresses, students take on several projects that
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require them to incorporate generational stylistic decisions using the skills they learn in class. They begin with a project where they must design an open air pavilion, which requires that they freehand sketch their designs. Students are also introduced to a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) program called Vectorworks. For their final project of the year, students must design a Tahoe Cabin inspired by architecture from the 1950s to the present day. They are graded on the following aspects and skills: space organization and architectural standards for residential buildings, green buildings, structural systems, model making/ isometric drawing, landscaping, presentation, and critique. There is no doubt that the architecture program is
challenging, as students demand a lot of themselves, but LWHS students are up for the challenge as the course offers skills that not many other high school students will ever be able to learn before college.
As she has been with prior major building projects, long-time LWHS Architecture GORANKA POLJAK-HOY has been a member of the facilities master planning committee and the new building committee. The
2017-2018 academic year will provide plenty of opportunity for Goranka’s architecture students to learn directly from the building project. (See “Designing for Life” for Goranka’s reflection on her career.)
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CELEBRATING ARCHITECTURE
Designing for Life BY GORANKA POLJAK-HOY
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hen I was seven years old my aunt Vera came to live with us. I remember how fascinated I was with
the beautiful ink and watercolor drawings she produced for her classes at the Architecture School in Sarajevo. My love for architecture was born! The love for teaching followed much later. While trying to find my architectural voice in this country, I was always a little jealous when my husband woke up happy and excited to go to work on Monday mornings, saying, “I love my job! I love my students!” He was a high school teacher of photography and art history. So when a local high school with a long and unusual name advertised an opening for a teacher of design and architecture, I readily applied. Luckily they offered me the job and my tenure at Lick-Wilmerding High School began. My original plan was to try teaching for a few years and then return to architecture, but the longer I taught the harder it was to leave. The turning point was my attendance at the Experiential Pro Conference in Philadelphia. David Mallery, the late educator of educators, gathered from around the country 30 teachers of different subjects with varied years of experience. We spent a long weekend on a beautiful estate talking to each other and attending seminars with several forward-thinking educators of that time. Great food, inspiring films, thoughtful conversations… Their stories made me realize that staying in education would offer a great
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opportunity to have some of those experiences myself. I left knowing that I would not find greater satisfaction from any other field. For almost two decades I taught a required course for ninth graders called Drafting and Design. The levels of precision and required attention to fine details were challenging for many students. I loved teaching it, and I was impressed with the work they produced. It was in that class that I learned how amazingly imaginative young people are and what great results they could accomplish with a bit of guidance. It was rewarding to observe how their confidence grew as they learned ways to express their ideas. It was a class that opened the world of design for them, and many students continued to develop their budding
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Science Lab
talents by taking shop classes and/ or architecture. Eventually this course was folded into the new Design and Technology class taught in the Tech Arts department. During these years, I have also been teaching the elective Architectural Design classes. Initially I modeled this program after the courses I took in my first year of architecture school, but as I learned about my students, their thinking skills, and abilities I realized that they were finding more pleasure in the design of real structures rather than abstract assignments. So the program slowly began to evolve. Initially I assigned simple projects, like redesigning their room. But I quickly became aware that students are capable of greater challenges, so I started to search for more engaging design subjects. One of the best sources of inspiration was the annual American Institute of Architects competition of high school designs. The projects AIA developed were rich, timely and challenging. They aimed to stimulate students to engage various aspects of their own education. LWHS students participated in
Alumni Reflections The Architecture program at LWHS has had a profound impact on the lives of many alumni. Here are thoughts from a few of them about the curriculum, training, and inspiration they received from taking classes in the LWHS Architecture program. Samuel Adams 2004 Composer It’s common to assume composers spend most of their time molding sound, when in fact the better part of my working hours are spent creating detailed visual instructions for other musicians to read and interpret. I take great pride in preparing my scores and strongly believe that a beautifully prepared document can communicate something beyond its contents. There is absolutely no question that my dedication to the visual aspects of composition come from my experiences working with Goranka Poljak-Hoy at Lick-Wilmerding.
Tansy Mak 2007 Project Architect, Handel Architects The rigor within the architecture program was unlike any other creative class I had taken previously. I loved being able to combine abstract creativity with more rigid logic. Goranka’s class was a place where I felt constantly challenged, but was given the tools and encouragement to thrive. I’m so thankful that Drafting & Design (D&D) was a required class for freshman while I was at Lick. I may not have started on my career path if I hadn’t been introduced to architecture at Lick. Goranka, in many ways, was the heart of my time at Lick. She nurtured our talents and created so many architects all over the world. I had the chance to visit Goranka’s classroom this year and was so impressed by the passionate students she was cultivating.
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Alumni Reflections, continued Jonathan Sargent 2000 Founder and VP of Product, Solemma At Lick, my fledgling interest in design became a serious passion. Goranka deserves all the credit for this. She wasn’t merely a knowledgeable and devoted teacher—she also understood that the greatest gift to aspiring designers was an architectural experience that wasn’t watered down. Her courses demanded focus, and invited students to indulge in the frustrations, joys, and rewards of commitment to a craft. Nearly 20 years later, I can still remember every plan and elevation! But what stands out most are the sense of accomplishment, the learned value of close observation, and the thrill of working in a creative environment. Anyone interested in making things for a living—and I mean that in the broadest sense—will be grateful for having walked through LWHS’s architectural doors!
Logan LaVail 1994 Principal at Logan LaVail Architect, LLC I took four years of classes with Goranka while I was at Lick, starting with D&D in my freshman year, and then essentially every semester after that (with a break one semester to do a class in Adobe Illustrator, also with Goranka). I believe she still has some of the work I did while her student, and she says she shows it to her classes from time to time...I loved the architecture program, and still consider Goranka one of my closest friends. I’m a licensed architect today with my own practice, and would never have taken this path in life had it not been for Lick, Goranka, and the architecture program. Among the many lessons the architecture program taught me was a deep desire to creatively explore and consider the world around me through architecture. In my sophomore year I took it upon myself to renovate my bedroom at home, encouraged to do so by Goranka and the projects we had been working on in her class. This included sheetrocking and painting, installing new light fixtures, and buying some new furniture and decorative items and lighting. I also developed my work ethic and learned what it took to take a project from initial schematic ideas to a finished, polished design in Goranka’s class. Work in the architecture program was never limited to strictly class time--my classmates and I would eagerly spend hours in Goranka’s room outside of class, working to push our designs and to present beautiful finished drawings. Recently I needed to purchase a new copy of AutoCAD, the quintessential architectural drafting program, and I was laughing to myself when I did because I realized I’ve been using the program from its very beginnings in Goranka’s class; AutoCAD v. 1, if you will. That’s almost 30 years of using the program, thanks to Goranka.
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a considerable number of those competitions, and we brought home many awards. The other source of inspiration for developing the architecture program came from construction projects on the campus. First it was the addition of the new library building, designed by SMWM and the move of the Design Studio from the old shop building to its current location. Following those changes was the competition for the Tech Arts Center and new cafeteria. Students were energized by real life examples of architects’ work. One of them was even a representative on the jury that selected Pfau-Long Architecture as the winner. We were all excited with their vision for the location of the main structure under the rarely used field. Suddenly our campus became a great teaching tool. We had the best examples of almost every aspect of architectural information, from style and concept to design and material choices. My students’ work became significantly stronger. A greatest recognition of our program came when we were invited to design an eco village for the United Nations 60th anniversary celebration. We were the only school invited to participate, and our work was to be viewed by dignitaries from around the World. Our students were enthusiastic and inspired. The exhibit was a great success, and their work was received with much praise. I was so excited by our students’ desire to learn about eco challenges that I have made
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it a mandatory component of the creative process from then on. Concurrently, web-based information became a great resource. Several architecturespecific websites have been developed that showcase works from all continents. International architects and their work have become very accessible. This resource pushed students’ ideas even further. Eventually we were ready to think past the world of westernized architecture and embrace the unique opportunity to design a small school in rural Senegal. The winning structure was selected as part of an in-school competition. It was a carefully composed complex that took into consideration all of the requests from the village. Three out of the four student designers actually went to Senegal to build the school. Based on this great experience, last year I included the design of a school for a new village into the beginning architecture curriculum. Students developed six proposals. Their models were carried to Senegal and the villagers chose the one they liked the most. That was a great honor and accomplishment. Ten students from our school went to help with its construction, including one of the two designers. As I look to the future of the program, I am very excited about the remodel and new addition to the Ocean Avenue building. I am positive that this change to our campus will significantly influence our students’ ability to visualize and execute their ideas at a higher
Classroom
Alumni Reflections, continued Jason Gullion 1987 Senior Manager, Enterprise Content System, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. The advanced Architecture classes that were offered when I was at Lick were very small and that size created a feeling of a very tight-knit team. Even though we were working on our own projects, we seemed to be working together towards a common goal. While I think that happened in other classes at Lick, it was even more pronounced in Architecture. Even though I did not pursue a career in architecture, I feel like the skills and mindset that I took away from the classes has helped me in other ways. I was better able to approach and deal with various challenges in life as a result of the skills and capabilities that we practiced in these classes. The attention to detail and the ability to see the interconnectedness of things are both skills that I use in my career. And personally, I have had multiple real estate projects where I have used the actual techniques to communicate with contractors and architects.
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level. The architectural firm EHDD is an excellent partner in this complicated project. One of our students has already completed an internship in their office this summer. I hope that there will be more opportunities for student engagement as the work progresses. I am very proud of the work my architecture students have produced over the years. Inspired by their own accomplishments, a number of students have decided to pursue architecture as a career.
REFLECTION:
35 Years at LWHS BY OLEG OSIPOFF
There are so many success stories. Some love working for the prominent architects of worldwide fame, while others choose local, smaller firms with equally fulfilling paths. I am always happy to hear from them and share their stories with my current students; it is especially meaningful when they come and visit our classes and talk about their work in person. But I also like to hear from students who have found that some aspects of the architecture program have inspired them to pursue
A
lifetime spent at Lick-Wilmerding High School! I guess
that’s not an exaggeration of my career experience as a teacher of Art for the past 35 years, but it still sounds strange to say as I don’t at all feel that so many years have passed since I first stepped through the doors at 755 Ocean Avenue. I am, in many ways, unchanged in character and spirit, and I still feel passionately fond of my discipline and about the profession of teaching, just as I did back in 1981. I am excited with the prospect of each and every day, experiencing and
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fields like music, acting, writing or medicine. These stories support my belief that design is an essential thinking tool applicable to life at large. As I look back, I feel fortunate that my love of architecture and teaching have merged into one beautiful career. It has been a great pleasure to learn and grow alongside my students. I am pleased with the choices they have made and grateful for the relationships that have enriched my life.
learning something new in this dynamic and ever-changing school environment. One thing that hasn’t changed, and is a major part of my memories of working at LWHS, is the uniqueness of every class, and of every student in every class; such that my teaching experiences have always been multi-faceted and refreshing, constantly reminding me about the diversity and potential of this community we are serving. I still feel some of the restless anticipation of meeting and greeting my very first class in 1981 with each new group that
enters my classroom. It’s an excitement and energy that I have learned to channel into a personal focus on addressing the needs and expectations of different students in my class and making them feel comfortable with the creative abilities they have within them. I view this job as my calling to help students to recognize, discover, and strive to create at the level of an artist, regardless of what they happen to do as their life’s work. I am honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to do what I love over these years and look forward to continuing to do so.
2015-2016 Milestones: Faculty & Staff Years of Service at LWHS 5
YEARS
Maintenance
Annie Mehalchick
Eleanor Sananman
Anna Lea
Juana Morales
Christine Sebastian
Sander Leung
Math Department Chair
Math Faculty
First Cook
Gillian Ashenfelter
Erin Merk
Communications Director
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Eric Temple Head of School
Executive Assistant to the Head of School
10
YEARS Thu Nguyen
Body-Mind Education Department Chair
Science Faculty
Library Assistant
Alexander Jospé
Chinh Nguyen
Kate Wiley
English Department Chair
Dean of Academic Services / Science Faculty
Solana Diaz
Carrie Maslow
Mao Nguyen
Science Faculty
Library Assistant
Laurel Nathanson
Randy Barnett
Rosa Zapatero Spanish Faculty
Dean of Students/ History Faculty
20
YEARS Director of Food Services
Alayne Haggerty
Co-Director of College Counseling
25
40
YEARS Marty Stoddard Instrumental Music Faculty
Director of Enrollment
Assistant Head of School
Technical Arts Faculty
35
YEARS
Lisa Wu
YEARS Oleg Osipoff
Bev Boitano
Visual Arts Faculty
Math Faculty
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Student Notables COMPILED BY REBECCA CORMACK 2017, LOIC MARCON 2017, AND SHEVANN STEUBEN 2016
ELOISE SCHRIER 2018 first became passionate about street art when her middle school commissioned artist Zio Ziegler to graffiti a library wall. “I researched graffiti art and started taking notice of it around the city. I experimented with the styles and started tagging and attempting to assimilate myself into the street culture,” Eloise explained. At the beginning of her sophomore year at LWHS, Eloise started taking graffiti and stencil classes at 1AM SF, a hub for all things street culture. After being shown the ropes by professionals, Eloise started taking things into her own hands. She sought out professionals who needed painters assistants and worked alongside them to gain
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experience. At the same time, Eloise was taking the mural class at school, which inspired her to try to “take what I had observed and learned and use it to create pieces that meant something and that were my own.” Training at 1AM SF has exposed Eloise to the Tenderloin’s large homeless and drug community. She realized she could utilize her graffiti skills to reflect the beliefs of the Tenderloin community, using spray paint as a vehicle for change. For example, she helped design a piece propagating awareness against Mayor Ed Lee’s 72-hour eviction notice of the displaced homeless communities postSuperbowl 2016. This past summer, Eloise attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a street art and graffiti culture program. There, she painted a downtown
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Chicago garage with her peers and had a gallery opening to showcase work. After that, she traveled to South Africa to shadow famous South African graffiti and street artist Falko. At the same time, Eloise was an intern at Equal Education, a nonprofit in Khayelitsha (a township in South Africa) that advises on guerrilla style marketing and campaigning, a platform she uses to gain and share knowledge of street art and
Top: Eloise Schreier 2018 (center) teaches a graffiti lesson at an LWHS fair. Above: Eloise Schreier 2018 in front of her tribute to Prince.
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culture. This school year, Eloise hopes to continue working on developing her skill set and to begin publicly showcasing her pieces.
Above: Nicole Borders 2017 (at table) practices some scene work during her summer drama program at Carnegie Mellon University this summer. Top, right: The APT dance crew, of which Erin Tsang 2016 and Michelle Soledad 2016 were members, competed at the Bridge NorCal dance competition.
This past summer, NICOLE BORDERS 2017 participated in a summer drama program at Carnegie Mellon University. There, she majored in musical theatre, along with 81 other students. Her course load was intense, as a typical day of classes for her began at 9am and ended at 6pm. She also had the opportunity to take classes outside her major, such as singing, acting, improv, dramatic literature, an audition class, ballet, jazz, and private voice lessons. She particularly loved being surrounded by dozens of students who shared the same passions she does, and she was especially impressed by the credentials and professionalism of the teachers. One of her favorite experiences in the summer program was participating in
her jazz class. “It was super challenging and pushed me to do things that I didn’t think I could,” Nicole exclaims. In the future, Nicole plans on majoring in musical theatre along with pursuing an additional major in a science-related field.
The first ever LWHS Jam took place on a cozy, rainy day in the Caf. The jam encouraged musical students to perform and play together, as well as impress their peers with their talents. MAIA SHWARTS 2017, founder of the LWHS Jam, shared that her goal for the jam was to set up a creative and spontaneous outlet for the entire community to express themselves. The jam was a spectacular sight: students harmoniously improvised on their instruments, surrounded by dozens of their peers cheering them on and listening with joy while munching on their lunches. Maia says that “the outcome was a positive rest of the day, with
the students feeling more motivated and positive overall.” She hopes to plan another jam session in the future.
ERIN TSANG 2016 and MICHELLE SOLEDAD 2016 are teammates on the local hip-hop dance crew APT. They went head to head with fellow LWHS dancers DOMINIC MASOTTO 2016 and ERIC GARCIA 2017, members of the Young Skull Club hip-hop dance crew (YSC), when the two teams competed at the Bridge NorCal dance competition last school year. After much dedicated training, APT came in fourth, closely nipping at the heels of YSC, which beat APT by one point. Win or lose, it’s safe to say that all four dancers are extremely talented, and the LWHS community is grateful to have them in the dance program. Michelle and Erin were the “dance mamas” of the 2015-2016 school year. Their job entailed organizing the dance concerts, choreographing
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large numbers, and finding ways for the students to bond. With the program being the biggest in LWHS history (an additional class was added to accommodate more dancers), both Erin and Michelle had their work cut out for them. Although they were thrilled to help lead a program that so many students are passionate about, it sometimes felt a little overwhelming to keep a group of over 60 people organized. At the same time, they knew it was important to try to lead the program in a positive direction. Since there was a fear that the dance program would lose the closeness of the community it had when it was smaller, Erin and Michelle organized a Secret Dancer activity (similar to Secret Santa, where gifts are anonymously given to another person) before the winter concert as a way to get people acquainted across the four different dance classes. Erin concludes that the best
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old citizens in San Francisco. The campaign was launched by Oliver and the Riordan student with the support of the San Francisco Youth Commission, in which JILLIAN WU 2016 also participates. The proposition was placed on San Francisco’s November ballot this year. The work Oliver has done with Vote16 has involved designing a training program for youth advocates, pursuing way to help improve and unite grant money, and fielding the dance community was to press calls to generate buzz. “get to know as many people as Vote16 has the support of the possible. In the end, I was able San Francisco Democratic to have amazing conversations Party, California state senator with people and that is and assemblymen, and the something I will never forget. unanimous endorsement of the Overall, it was super rewarding, Board of Education. Although and it was such an honor to Oliver is staying positive in the lead a group of awesome hopes that Vote16 will pass, he people.” acknowledges that many ballot measures fail the first time they are introduced, and then OLIVER YORK 2017 has a are re-introduced in the future. passion for motivating students Since Vote16 started as an to engage in their community. unknown non-issue without any He used this passion to take kind of support, Oliver is proud big strides in San Francisco to have been able to mobilize politics. In January of 2015, young people as well as adults while pursuing an independent to increase overall awareness study, Oliver joined forces with about the campaign. Through a senior at Archbishop Riordan the success of Vote16SF, Oliver High School, who at the time has been able to work closely was independently developing with Vote16USA, a collection a proposal for Vote16. Vote16 is of thirteen campaigns formed a proposed charter amendment in seven states, in addition to that would extend voting Washington, D.C. Oliver is very rights on local and municipal proud that Vote16 has become elections to 16 and 17 year a national movement. Oliver
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Left: Oliver York 2017 addresses a crowd of Vote16 supporters in front of City Hall.
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Right: Christian Tyler Rydeen 2016, Michelle Soledad 2016, and Keanu Velasquez 2017 pose at the Halo Halo mixer with two girls from Bay Area schools who participated in planning the event.
says he is “excited to think about how we can mobilize students, parents, and alumni,” for the Vote16 cause.
THE KABA CLUB, a Filipino affinity club at LWHS, ended the school year with a bang: a halo-halo mixer. Modeled after the annual Filipino festival Pistahan held in San Francisco, Kaba Club’s mixer helped raise awareness of LWHS’ and San Francisco’s Filipino community, teach Filipino culture, and host a celebration for community members to enjoy. Also joining in on the fun and helping organize the event were other San Francisco schools and their Filipino affinity clubs: Archbishop Riordan and Immaculate Conception Academy. Getting
these other schools involved helped the club embrace their very name. “Kaba” is short for “kabayan,” a Tagalog word that is used to address fellow Filipinos, and is often translated to “fellow countrymen.” The wide outreach of the halo-halo mixer promoted “halo,” or the mixing and mingling of not only Filipinos but others interested in engaging in the community and advancing their knowledge of Filipino culture. Giving back to Filipino San Franciscans in need was Kaba Club’s additional goal for the event. Using the money made from the festival, Kaba Club donated an approximate total of $500 to The Filipino Community Center and The Manilatown Heritage Foundation.
RYAN KEARNS 2017 became involved in Model UN in the seventh grade. He joined the League of Creative Minds (LCM), which is a special branch that allows kids from the sixth through twelfth grades to participate in Model UN affairs. Both MAYA LEVIN 2016 and LIAM MANISCALCO 2018 are involved in the League as well. Model UN is a form of debate styled in the same way the United Nations assembly achieves their goals. Kearns explains, “In most cases you represent a country, and you have to take on that country’s policy on a particular issue. For example, in my last conference I represented China in a committee about nuclear disarmament.” By working together with other countries, Kearns and his peers
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draft a resolution to the issue, taking a stand on how to solve the problem. This upcoming school year will be Ryan’s and Liam’s sixth year participating in LCM, and Ryan will be leading LWHS’ Model UN club along with classmate RYAN STEWART 2017. ISM, which stands for Immaculate State of Mind, is a rap duo comprised of SEIJI ODA 2016 and ISAIAH BALUYOT 2016. Both had rap experience coming into LWHS, but in high school they began to pursue their passions together. After their sophomore year at LWHS, they dropped their first album titled Immaculate. They are inspired by Bay Area rap legends such as Mac Dre and E-40, and they strive to create something new by blending in sounds of salsa and country music. Not only do
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they rap as a hobby, but they also rap as activists, performing at the Black Lives Matter vigil in May 2015, and at assemblies such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. You can catch these two talented artists on the rise performing at venues in the East Bay such as La Peña or The New Parish, when they’re back from college.
KATHERINE WU 2018 is both a talented musician and internationally known archer. Katherine has been playing the Guzheng, otherwise known as the Chinese Harp, since she attended bilingual middle school. The instrument acts as a way to connect to her Chinese roots. Katherine used to perform with an ensemble during middle school, but now practices on her own. She has
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performed at the Asian Art Museum and at the Summer Palace in Beijing. Katherine is also a part of the USA Recurve Junior Dream Team, which consists of 36 of the most promising junior and cadet Olympic style archers in the country. The team travels to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, once a quarter for an intensive week of training. Most recently Katherine competed in Ankara, Turkey, placing 9th at the indoor world championships which take place every two years. Indoor archery is different than outdoor archery in that in indoor archery, one
Left: ISM members Isaiah Baluyot 2016 and Seiji Oda 2016 perform at Summerfest in Turlock, CA with artists such as Nef the Pharaoh, P-Lo, and Kool John. Above: Katherine Wu 2018 performs at the Asian Art Museum.
STUDENT NOTABLES
Above: Nick Dolce 2018 with his ABADÁ Capoeira group. Photo courtesy of Nick Dolce. Right: Kate Chaloemtiarana 2016 is one of many LWHS students who are committed to doing social justice work.
shoots from 18 meters away and the target is smaller, while in outdoor archery, one shoots from 60 meters away and has a larger target. After Ankara, Katherine traveled to Seoul, Korea for the Outdoor World Championships. Some of Katherine’s highlights include practicing alongside 3-time Olympian Brady Ellison and competing against 5-time Olympian Khatuna Lorig of the country of Georgia.
NICK DOLCE 2018 started Capoeira when he was 5 through Fairmount Elementary School. At 10 years old, he began to practice Capoeira at the studio in which he currently trains. His favorite thing about Capoeira is that it includes so many different aspects of movement and expression. It’s a combination of martial arts, dance, and music. When he stopped dancing at the SF
Ballet, Capoeira was a perfect substitute for the part of him that still wanted to dance, while the martial arts side of Capoeira was very intense and fun. He practices Capoeira at ABADÁ Capoeira on 22nd and Mission Streets. He considers Capoeira a hobby, but he has traveled to Brazil twice for competitions.
Most of the work KATE CHALOEMTIARANA 2016 has done has been of their own initiative; Kate has noticed where help or action was needed and stepped up. During Kate’s junior year at LWHS, they worked for LYRIC (Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center) in the Castro, where Kate helped organize youth events for teenage LGBTQ people. Since being out as
gender non-binary for about a year, Kate has shifted their focus from sexuality rights to gender issues. During their senior year, Kate worked as an intern in LWHS’ Center for Civic Engagement. In addition, Kate was co-leader of Gender Sexuality Awareness club at LWHS. Recently, Kate received two awards: one from Peninsula PFLAG and one from Kaiser Permanente in the eQuality Scholarship Collaborative. Through both awards, they were invited to speak at events. Kate believes that giving speeches is their greatest tool for attracting awareness, and says that, “I use vulnerability to help people put a face to the transgender community. Talking about what I have been through makes people more comfortable to talk about their opinions and experiences. It’s hard to make
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Left: Right: Claire Moreman 2017 working her balloon magic at a birthday party.
Senior Awards Anne Murray Ladd Award Brian Ebisuzaki Jeannette Gaehwiler Award Sydni Green Female Scholar Athlete of the Year Maddy Nakada Male Scholar Athlete of the Year Kevin Hou Female Athlete of the Year Catherine Peabody Male Athlete of the Year Jacob Shaw Head of School Award for Civic Engagement Samuel Berston Signer Award Justin Morgan Carrie Howland Award Brian Ebisuzaki
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progress if people aren’t able to talk about why progress needs to be made.” Kate also helped with smaller but equally important topics at LWHS, like providing free condoms and putting up “Safe Space” signs in classrooms. Lastly, Kate’s message to everyone is to use they/their pronouns for gender nonconforming people.
Ever since she was little, CLAIRE MOREMAN 2019 wanted to start her own business. Her dream became reality at ten years old. Claire has been a balloon entrepreneur since middle school, after receiving a book
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on how to make balloon animals. One day, she decided to practice her balloon skills at school, and gave the animals to some of the younger students. Later that day, a mom came up to her and asked her to make balloons at her son’s birthday party. Surprised, Claire agreed, and from there her business blossomed. She now makes business cards, buys many more balloons, and constantly learns more designs. Claire really loves making balloon animals because she is good at working with her hands and loves working with kids, which makes her business the perfect gig for her. Her business allows her to express her creativity in a unique way.
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Top: Rebecca Cormack 2017 (second in from right) dances at the San Francisco 2016 St. Patrick’s Day parade. Above: Rebecca Cormack 2017 (second in from left) poses with her 8-hand team and her teacher after a big win. Right: Leila Kashani-Sabet 2017 performing in Macbeth at Cal Shakes. Photo by Jay Yamada
It has also taught her a lot about business, like working with customers, supply and demand, and networking. Claire has her own website (http:// clairesamazingballoonanimals. weebly.com/) where one can contact her to make balloon animals at parties. Included on her website is her balloon animal gallery, where she flaunts masterpieces such as Zebras, Monkeys, and Bunnies.
REBECCA CORMACK 2017 has been an Irish dancer for 14 years. She has traveled both nationally and internationally for competitions. One of her greatest achievements was
when her Dance Drama team (like a ballet, but with Irish dancing) won 2nd place at the London World Championships in 2014. Since her senior year will be her last year competing, she hopes to place well with her team at the Western Regional championships, taking place in San Francisco this November. Preparing for the Western Regionals entails multiple nights a week of practice. Even though competing takes lots of commitment, she is willing to give it her all for her last year. While competing is a fun challenge, Rebecca prefers performing. Her favorite time of year for dancing is March, because she does performance
after performance at many different St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. You can catch her marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in San Francisco every year!
LEILA KASHANI-SABET 2017 has been intrigued by the works of Shakespeare ever since she saw a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in fourth grade. She was drawn to the plotline and hilarity of the play. Since then, Leila has continued to pursue her passion for Shakespeare in several ways. First, in seventh grade, for a drama project, Leila modernized A Midsummer
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Night’s Dream and performed it in front of her entire school. In the summer after ninth grade, she attended a summer conservatory held by the California Shakespeare Theatre, and returned for the next two summers. At Cal Shakes, students are placed in a group with campers similar in age, and attend classes on a variety of topics such as history, voice, improv, acting, text, movement and combat. The students are expected to use the knowledge gained in those classes to produce a show. Through Cal Shakes, Leila has played Hippolita and Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a servant, a murderer, and a witch in Macbeth, and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. Being in a setting such as Cal Shakes has allowed Leila to pursue her love for Shakespeare through both literary and acting lenses. Leila plans on pursuing Shakespeare in college.
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EUGENE HAN 2017 was the recipient of an Honorable Mention Award in the 2016 DuPont Challenge© Science Essay Competition. Eugene’s essay, “Making Last Mile Deliveries Emission Free” was chosen out of 9,000 applicants. For the essay, Eugene had to choose one of four categories: food, energy, protection, and innovation. Because Eugene has always been interested in the environmental sector, he chose energy. He asked Tech Arts faculty member (electronics) ANDREW KLEINDOLPH to sponsor his essay, since Eugene had taken one of Mr. Kleindolph’s sustainability classes during his sophomore year. Together they discussed the question, “how can cars be made more fuel efficient?” This question sparked Eugene’s interest after reading an article about “Last Mile Delivery” and how society’s increasing reliance for e-commerce (Amazon, eBay) increases
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deliveries (whether by ship, truck, or mail truck) and thus increases carbon emissions. The Last Mile Delivery is the last mode of transportation one’s item takes to reach their house (most commonly the mail truck delivery). In the essay, Eugene shared his idea that if electric delivery trucks are used, carbon emission problems can be diminished.
In February, the LWHS OCEAN BOWL TEAM placed third at the Sea Lion Bowl held at Stanford University. The Varsity team also won a team spirit award, and the JV team won an award for sportsmanship. The Ocean Bowl team is a group of students so intrigued by all things ocean (including geology, history, sociology, technology, economics, and physical sciences) that they compete to test their knowledge. The team is supervised and coached by GILLIAN ASHENFELTER, Biology and Marine Ecology
Left: The certificate Eugene Han 2017 received for The DuPont Challenge. Above: The Ocean Bowl team from the Class of 2017 at the Sea Lion Bowl competition at Stanford. Back row, from left to right: Lewis Bobrow, Lucas Unietis, Ryan Stewart, Aden Misra Siebel, David Ludeke, Kelby Kramer, Ms. Gillian Ashenfelter, and Eliot KentUritam. Front row, from left to right: Ryan Kearns, Sophia Yin, Alexandra Tien-Smith, and Warren Tse.
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a bit low resolution
Above: The SF Composite biking team, which includes LWHS grads and current students.
teacher at LWHS. The Varsity team members included DAVID LUDEKE 2017, ALEXANDRA TIEN-SMITH 2017, WARREN TSE 2017, ADEN MISRA-SIEBEL 2017, and LUCAS UNEITIS 2017. The JV consisted of RYAN KEARNS 2017, KELBY KRAMER 2017, SOPHIA YIN 2017, LEWIS BOBROW 2017, and RYAN “BRIJ” STEWART 2017.
The SF COMPOSITE BIKE TEAM is made up of high schoolers from several San Francisco schools and includes seven LWHS graduates and current students ALEX BRAHM 2016, CALVIN BRAHM 2019, MADDY NAKADA 2019, PETER KOCH 2016, LILY KOCH 2016, RAPHAELA DONOHOE 2019, and LEONARD SCHUMMER 2019. The team trains on indoor stationary bikes during the winter and rides in Golden Gate QUINBY DUBLE 2019 has Park during the springtime. been playing ice hockey since They also ride during the the age of seven. He was first weekends at locations around introduced to the sport by his the Bay Area. They compete dad, who was similarly coached in six races during the biking by his own father. One of the season, which take place aspects of ice hockey that throughout Northern California. Quinby loves the most is the Biker RAPHAELA DONOHOE friendships he has made from it. 2019 joined the team knowing Although his hockey life is very very little about mountain separated from his school life, biking. This is one of the great his good friend and teammate things about SF Composite: is LWHS classmate EDMOND it’s open to anyone with any DILWORTH. skill set. “Wherever you ride, you don’t really know what
to expect because the terrain is always changing due to weather and other riders. That’s what makes it so fun—the adventure!” says Raphaela. Be sure to check out SF Composite MTB on Facebook for more information.
Since his sophomore year at LWHS, MALHAR SINGH 2016 has been interning at the Central Coast Sleep Disorders Center. Malhar’s work at CCSDC has entailed working with children in the facility. Malhar has been interviewed for several articles and he mentions having a LWHS teacher asking if he got enough sleep, which triggered his curiosity, leading to his own diagnosis with sleep apnea. During his time with CCSDC Malhar took notice to the lack of resources to inform students about sleep disorders and the effects they can have. Stemming from
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Malhar’s observations, personal experience, and internship, he was able to stream together an idea of writing what started out as a short story about sleep apnea for children. After being told that his internship could no longer spearhead the sponsorship for the short story project, he continued to work on it anyway. He worked on the book for several months, seeking out Amazon for publishing and his cousin for illustrations. Malhar says, “It took lots of editing, talking to people and more drafts than I thought it would”. Malhar is pushing for his children’s book, I Don’t Do Sleep Well, to be available in hospitals to raise awareness in younger children. His book is currently in some hospitals and he hope that he can continue to create relationships with hospitals in the Philadelphia area as he ventures off to the University of Pennsylvania. I Don’t Do Sleep Well is available now on Amazon. Though it is not a priority, there is the thought of translating the book, which would provide access to more people.
For most seniors, the first semester of senior year is a hectic time: most are visiting colleges, filling out countless
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Left: Lauren Hom 2016 after graduation in June.
applications, and scheduling interviews. For some there is even more to do, like fill out scholarship applications; LAUREN HOM 2016 was one of those students. Lauren applied to the Gates Millennium scholarship, an initiative founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to give 20 cohorts a full-four-year scholarship to college for students who display academic excellence and leadership. The process of obtaining this scholarship unlike others is quite lengthy: nine essays and two letters of recommendations. The essay topics ask students to reflect on everything from academics and extracurriculars to future career options. The class of 2016 was the last of the 20-year cohorts that the Gates family proposed to fund. To apply for this scholarship Lauren forced herself to finish all of her college applications by the
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end of finals week so that she could write and edit all of her essays during winter break. In the end it all paid off: in March of 2016 Lauren was award the Gates Millennium scholarship for four years with potential for postgraduate degree funding. Lauren will be participating in the Gates Millennium West Coast Leadership Development Conference and will be attending UC Berkeley. Congratulations Lauren!
The documentary Ghost Town to Havana follows the lives of two extraordinary youth baseball coaches, Roscoe Bryant in Oakland, who coaches in a troubled Oakland neighborhood, and Nicolas Reyes, who coaches in a community that is struggling economically in Havana. The coaches are introduced on
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Above: Sisters Lauren Carothers-Liske 2018 and Chloe Carothers-Liske 2016 celebrate after an ultimate frisbee game.
videotape to each other by the filmmaker, who is determined to take Coach Roscoe and his team to Cuba so they can play Coach Nicolas’ team. After two years of US/Cuba sanction and red tape, Coach Roscoe, his team, the Oakland Royals, including JUSTIN ROBINSON 2016, finally travel to Havana where the players form friendship, bond over baseball, culture, food, and dancing until unfortunately the team receives some terrible news about events back home. For more information on this film, visit www.ghosttowntohavana.com.
Congratulations to LOLI KRIKORIAN 2016, EYTAN SCHILLINGER-HYMAN 2016, NIZA CONTRERAS 2016, and MEREDITH FRY 2017, who were all selected as winners in the
2018 play on the team. When asked about the future of the team, and the rising popularity of ultimate frisbee, especially for female players, Lauren responded, “right now we are at a turning point, because this year we gained a lot of new girls. This is great, but as you gain more players, the skill gap begins to grow. Our goal is to continue to keep the team competitive while still developing and encouraging new players.” In addition to the many athletic teams both sisters play on, they are also a part of the USA national team under 20. Chloe is currently attending Whitman College and will play on their women’s CHLOE CAROTHERS-LISKE frisbee team, which placed 2016 has been playing ultimate second in Division 1 women’s frisbee since the seventh grade. nationals. Lauren also hopes She has competed on a national to play in college, and will scale, and has won several state continue to play throughout championships with her team. high school. Chloe has helped form a girl’s ultimate frisbee club team, which is the only team for high school girls in all of California. The team’s record is strongly improving, placing ninth in the region in 2014 and seventh in 2015 and 2016. The team has even broken seed every year at the Western Championships. Both Chloe and her sister LAUREN CAROTHERS-LISKE Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Student Contest. Students from the Marine Ecology class entered this contest as a part of their final project. The contest had over 2,100 submissions from 67 countries and 44 US states. Loli received a Gold Award (and a $1500 prize) for her film about plastics. Eytan was recognized for his prose piece on invasive lionfish. Meredith and Niza won an honorable mention for their film on mercury in the San Francisco Bay. Follow @fromthebowseat for more information on the contest and their organization.
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Athletics Notables FALL HIGHLIGHTS • Girls Varsity Tennis won BCL West for the 3rd year in a row. • Girls Cross Country placed 4th overall at State Championships and claimed the BCL title. • Boys Cross Country runner SEAN LAIDLAW 2018 set a LWHS record for the course he ran at State Championships. NICK HARRIS 2019 marked the second fastest freshman time ever, and the team’s overall time was the second best ever at the state meet. • Boys Varsity Soccer lost in the BCL West championships to University in overtime. It was their first year in D1 NCS, and they reached the semifinals. • The Girls Volleyball team lost to Marin Academy in the BCL
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Finals. They were in Division 4 for NCS and reached the quarterfinals. • Lick fielded (or shall we say pooled) its first ever Water Polo team. It is coed and competed in the West Alameda County Conference for the fall 2016 season.
WINTER HIGHLIGHTS • Boys Varsity Basketball won the BCL West Championship. The team won their first NCS playoff win ever, and made it to the quarterfinals. They were also a Norcal Playoff team. • CAL CROMPTON 2017, for the second year in a row, was crowned BCL Champion in Wrestling.
SPRING HIGHLIGHTS • Boys Lacrosse placed third in the BCL and reached the
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semifinals and qualified for NCS. • The Boys Badminton Doubles team consisting of MATTHEW LIU 2017 and WARREN TSE 2017 won their BCL West Championship game. • The Boys Baseball team won the BCL West Championship and made it to the second round of D1 NCS.
Top: Jacob Shaw 2016 (right) and Max Ozer-Staton 2016 put their game faces on during a varsity tennis match. Above: Maya Burris 2017 takes control of the court with Sydni Green 2016 behind her during a varsity basketball game against International High School.
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LWHS at Oracle BY REBECCA CORMACK 2017 AND LOIC MARCON 2017
R
oaracle is one of the most highly anticipated events of the Lick-Wilmerding School Year.
In January, the LWHS Boys and Girls Varsity Basketball teams battle University High School at Oracle Arena in Oakland before the Golden State Warriors play a home game. Both schools shut down for the afternoon and shuttle students to the arena, where spirit and tension are high. But it wasn’t always that way. When the LWHS athletics department initiated the Oracle event, they were inspired by the Bruce Mahoney Football game that takes place every year between Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep and Saint Ignatius. For the inaugural Oracle games in 2007, former LWHS head of school AL ADAMS shut the school down and had every student attend. Unfortunately for UHS, students weren’t handed the luxury of a school holiday, nor were they aware of the extreme importance of this day; few UHS fans showed up to watch LWHS dominate the court. From then on, both schools would make the Oracle games the biggest spirit event of every year.
Top: Micah Elan 2016 goes for the lay up against UHS at Oracle. Above: Kevin Hou 2016 and the boys varsity basketball team get fired up before the game vs UHS at Oracle.
Beginning in 2008, the winner of each year’s games would take home the most prized possession: a framed basketball jersey that reads “Univemerding,” and is half red and white, half yellow and black. If, for example, one school’s girls’ team wins, but their boys’ team loses, the jersey goes to the team that didn’t have it the year before. This past year, Oracle was perhaps the most eventful one yet. The Oracle games were scheduled to take place on Thursday, January 14. On the Monday before, UHS ambushed LWHS with a hype video titled “Devil’s Anthem.” The song contained lyrics such as “we gon’ spread Lick-Wilmerding paper thin” while promoting the talent on the UHS basketball teams. Naturally, within 48 hours, LWHS students responded WINTER 2017
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STUDENT NOTABLES
LWHS at Oracle, continued
with a rap and music video entitled “Game Recognize Game,” a diss track to UHS. While some lyrics were controversial, LWHS morale and pride skyrocketed, as students blasted the song while riding buses to Oracle. The Boys’ game began and cheers, chants, and battle cries erupted from the LWHS section of the stadium after a 10-point win. Afterwards, the LWHS Dance Ensemble and Dance Company performed riveting dances. Then the Girls’ team played, and while they did not win, they ended up beating UHS (at UHS) later in the season.
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Left: Raphael Gonzalez 2019 takes off in a track and field relay race. Below, left: Frances Jacobson 2018 high fives varsity girls tennis doubles teammate Sophia DiSabato 2019 after a victorious point. Opposite page, top: The varsity girls lacrosse team pumps themselves up for a game with a cheer.
All are welcome to attend these spirited games at Oracle, and in fact several alumni and many parents join in the fun each year. This year’s Oracle game takes place on January 12, 2017. Contact alumni@lwhs.org for more information.
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Above: Teammates cheer on their fellow LWHS swimmers during a race.
Opposite page, top right: Chip Thompson 2017 drives to the basket during the NCS playoff game against the McKinleyville High School Panthers. Opposite page, middle right: Dixon Layton 2016 prepares to hit it out of the park. Opposite page, bottom right: Evan Fuller 2018 prepares to launch during a water polo practice.
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STUDENT NOTABLES
Athletic Notables, continued • For the third year in a row, the Boys Tennis team claimed the BCL title. As a team, they reached the semifinals of NCS. Doubles team MAX OZER-STATON 2016 and JACOB SHAW 2016 won both BCL and NCS, making all-league first team. DESMOND EVERTS 2016 won BCL singles. • The Girls Track and Field team placed first in the BCL for the ninth consecutive year and the Boys Track and Field team placed third. AUBREY EGERTER 2017 set the school record in the 100m hurdles, and EVA LAXO 2016 in the 300m hurdles. MARCUS SIMMONS 2016 was a player for the San Jose Earthquakes Youth Soccer Academy for both the 20142015 season and the 20152016 season. The Academy
played against other Major League Soccer academies, and brought about an extremely competitive level of soccer. Marcus’s commitment to the club was taxing, as he would BART to Walnut Creek in order to get a ride to San Jose. From San Jose, he would BART to Balboa Park, and catch a bus home. On the nights he had practice, he wouldn’t get home until 10:30 pm. It all paid off though as he has had the opportunity to drastically improve his game through playing games against other rigorous clubs. In addition, he had the opportunity to play a match against the actual San Jose Earthquakes Men’s Team, and he had the chance to train with the Argentina Men’s National Soccer team. The reward: Marcus is currently playing Division 1 soccer for Saint Mary’s College.
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Left: Drew Howard 1968 shares his story with LWHS students, while panelists Andrew Cuneo 2001, Cynthia Wong 1988, Jessica Marmor Shaw 1998, and Danny Bernstein 2000 listen and reflect on their own experiences. Below, left: Members of the Class of 1965 attend their first Golden Tigers Luncheon. From left to right: Monte Smith, Howard Beadner, Gil Alvarado, Charles Pengra, Richard Nutting, Phil Williams, Robert Fertman, Edward Cherney, and John Berry.
with a special presentation in the McCullouch Library for the Golden Tigers to hear more about the archives at LWHS and see what special memories and collectibles the Library houses.
Alumni Events
A
nother great year for alumni events! The annual GOLDEN
TIGERS LUNCHEON, a celebration for alumni who graduated from LWHS 50 years ago or more, was held on campus in the Bothin Gymnasium in October. This year, the Class of 1965 joined the group of Golden Tigers. Althetic Director Eliot Smith kicked off the luncheon with the Lick-Wilmerding cheer. Head of School Eric Temple also addressed crowd, and the Golden Tigers were treated to a performance by the Waves, a student-run acapella group. After lunch, alumni were able to take tours of the campus, ending
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ALUMNI REUNION took place the next day. Close to 200 alumni returned to visit campus and celebrated their class reunions (classes ending in 0s and 5s). During the afternoon, alumni were able to tour the campus, learn more about the Technical Arts program, and connect again with classmates and friends. There were activities for children, as well as adults, such as tasting wine from our alumni winemakers. Additionally, Visual Arts Department Chair GORANKA POLJAK-HOY led a panel about the Visual Arts program at the school. The afternoon events concluded with a happy hour with jazz music
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courtesy of three talented musicians from the Class of 2016: ZACH CUMMINGS, EYTAN SCHILLINGER-HYMAN, and GABRIEL SCHILLINGERHYMAN. Class reunion dinners started immediately after the Happy Hour, and alumni from 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1995 enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with their classmates. The Class of 1965 celebrated their reunion dinner off campus and the lovely dinner was spearheaded by STUART OPPENHEIM, PHIL WILLIAMS, and CHARLES PENGRA. In November, the Alumni & Development Office partnered with their counterparts at Branson, Convent & Stuart Hall, Marin Academy, Nueva, Urban, Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, and University High School to organize a BAY AREA ALUMNI NETWORKING event, which was held at the Flood Mansion at Convent High School. Alumni from all schools were invited to attend, meet other Bay Area alumni, and network.
Above: Alumni from 2015 and 2016 gather together at the annual lunch for college-aged alumni.
The annual HOLIDAY PARTY was a huge success! Once again, the party took Right: Class of 2015 place at Mr. Smith’s (owned alumni from left to right: by MAX YOUNG 1983) in Dylan Montagu, Zac Oji, Troy Mock, Logan SOMA and more than 130 Pierce, and Arjun Jay. LWHS alumni packed the bar. Alumni representing classes ranging from 1960 (CLINT DAY 1960 made the trip from Florida!) to 2013 were in attendance. This year, alumni enjoyed snacks and food from Rossi’s in Sonoma, which is also owned by Max. The annual COLLEGE-AGE LUNCH took place in early January. It was wonderful to see many familiar faces again—young alumni from the classes of 2015, 2014, and, 2013 returned to campus to say hello to faculty and current students. In February, a panel of eight alumni representing different industries and career paths spoke to
current students at the fourth annual TIGERS HELPING TIGERS event. Panelists included YAKUH ASKEW 1992, DANNY BERNSTEIN 2000, ANDREW CUNEO 2001, AMY GUITTARD 2001, DREW HOWARD 1968, JESSICA MARMOR SHAW 1998, LAUREN PAUL 1988, and CYNTHIA WONG 1988. In the spring, Director of Alumni & Development Nancy Kehoe and Alumni Program Manager Miwa Kozuki traveled to Southern California to meet up with alumni over dinner. Dinners were held in SAN DIEGO, IRVINE, and TOLUCA LAKE. A happy hour was held in CULVER CITY with Head of School Eric Temple. It was wonderful to meet alumni from 1945 to 2007 at these events and to welcome some alumni to their first LWHS alumni event since graduating!
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Left: Athletics Director Eliot Smith leads the crowd in the LickWilmerding cheer. Below, left: THE event speakers Jason Gant 2002 and Larry Baer share a laugh during the program. Opposite page, right: From left to right: Board of Trustees members Misha Hurd 2009 and Will Madison 2001, with Alumni Board Member Matt Levy 2001, and Nicholas Leppla 2007. Opposite page, far right: Parents Robin and Chris Donohoe with Pam and Larry Baer.
THE Event 2016
O
n Thursday, April 28, LWHS hosted the 4th annual THE event in the Ehrer Theatre. THE event celebrates the immense
talent found within the LWHS adult community (parents, alumni, and PALs) and this year the focus was on athletics. Parents, students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends were treated to an evening of exciting and inspiring conversation around the importance of athletics in youth lives. LWHS was honored this year to have two dynamic speakers—President and CEO of the San Francisco Giants LARRY BAER (parent of ZACH BAER 2017 and ALANA BAER 2018) and former LWHS Athlete of the Year and three-sport
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walk-on at UC Berkeley JASON GANT 2002. After Coach Eliot Smith kicked off the evening with the Lick-Wilmerding cheer and warm introductions of the speakers, both Jason and Larry shared their stories with the audience. The program in the theater concluded with a lively discussion guided by Head of School Eric Temple (think TED talk meets City Arts & Lectures), and immediately following, guests enjoyed a lovely reception in the Ann Maisel CafĂŠ. This year, a few lucky guests walked away with some exciting raffle prizes including tickets to a Golden State Warriors game, as well as SF Giants tickets. This year, THE event raised more than $89,000 to support necessary improvements and upgrades to the Bothin Gymnasium so that the gym can be used as a community gathering space. A huge thank you to everyone who supported THE event this year!
ALUMNI EVENTS
Update: Artistin-Residence Program
L
ast year, THE event raised funds to
launch a new Artist-inResidence program at LWHS. The first artist-in-residence, JESSICA SABOGAL 2005, an accomplished muralist known for creating art for social change, action, and empowerment, worked on campus this year with students from the Drawing and Painting the Mural class. Students created two separate projects that will be displayed on campus: the first project is a set of culturally inspired patterns created by pairs of students. Each group was inspired by a different geographical region of the globe. The canvases line the breezeway between the Ann Maisel Café and the
Music Room. The second project will be installed in the main courtyard during the second semester of the 2016–2017 school year. The design addresses student’s self-identifiers: physical, psychological, and emotional. Instead of focusing on racial or ethnic identifiers, models are depicted in non-natural colors to help decrease racial
identity and emphasize qualities all have in common. The models are accompanied by statements painted into the mural that they have chosen to include in the depiction of themselves to describe their strengths and passions.
Above: Jessica Sabogal 2005 provides feedback to Yasmeena Khan 2018 during the Drawing and Painting Mural class.
Come check out the murals on campus!
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ALUMNI EVENTS
Reunion 2016
Top: The Class of 2006 celebrated their 10 year reunion. From left to right: Kaileen Kelly, Piper Niehaus, John Jefferies-Wilmore, Lily JefferiesWilmore,Rebecca Feldman, and Zai Divecha. Above: Head of School Eric Temple and former Head of School Al Adams visit at Reunion. Above, left: Florence McDonald Spampinato 1939 attends the Golden Tigers Luncheon for her first time with daughter Maggie Souza. Left: Norman Bonner 1937, Robert Heiss 1940X, and Barbara Hardy at the Golden Tigers luncheon. Robert also presented his autobiography he wrote at the luncheon that documented his life, including his time at LWHS.
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ALUMNI EVENTS
Right: Members of the class of 1981, from left to right: Maeve Visser Knoth, James Slater, Miko Ohno, Leo Lin, and David Egert. Below, right: Alexis Rouda 2001, Robert Sanborn 1970, and Michael Teshima 2007 celebrate together during Happy Hour. Below: Artie Konrad 2001 and his family. Bottom, right: Back for their 25th Reunion— Sean Sullivan, Nick Pera, Jennifer Cronan Flinn, Ramona Pederson, and Mark Kamiya. Bottom: The Class of 1986 celebrated at the home of Paige Rausser Grey.
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI BOARD MEMBERS
SPOTLIGHT:
New Board of Trustees and Alumni Board Members Meet the new members of the Lick-Wilmerding High School Board of Trustees and the Lick-WilmerdingLux Alumni Board.
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Above: The 2016-2017 LWHS Board of Trustees, from left to right: Head of School Eric Temple, Parker Harris, Pam Hommeyer, Tricia Stone, Doug Tom, William Madison 2001, Tori Peterson, Barre Fong, Wally MacDermid 1987, Alex Hochman 1988, Charlie Bullock, Kathy Kimball, Sima Misra, Natalie Ocampo, Steve Guttmann, Lara Witter, John Clawson, Golnar Yazdi, Deirdre Hockett, Tom Chavez, and Misha Hurd 2009. Missing: Peter Engel, Rafael Mandelman 1992, Lucinda Lee Katz
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI BOARD MEMBERS
W
ally attended Cathedral School for Boys, Lick-Wilmerding High School, and UCLA. Based
NEW PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Wally MacDermid 1987
Lucinda Lee Katz Board of Trustees Member Lucinda is the Head of School at Marin Country Day School in Corte Madera, CA. Prior to MCDS, she was the Chief Education Officer for the Chicago Public Schools, and served as Director and Principal of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools from 1986 to 2002.
largely on advice from his LWHS computer teacher, Wally started a software development business, which led to a career in high tech spanning a variety of sales, marketing, and business development roles. Wally currently runs alliances for Riverbed Technology based in San Francisco. From 20042013, he served on the board of Cathedral School for Boys, where he chaired both
Lucinda’s early career included teaching as San Francisco Public Schools’ first Chinese bilingual bicultural teacher, and she was professor and lecturer at the Erikson Institute, University of Illinois and the University of Chicago for 25 years. She has served on many education and cultural boards and been a keynote speaker and panelist for several organizations, notably multiple
the alumni association and development committees. He was previously a member of the LWHS Alumni Board, and in 2013 he became a member of the Board of Trustees. For three years he chaired the Development Committee, and he has been a leader of the Make The Future capital campaign since its inception. He became President of the Board in July 2016. Wally lives in San Francisco with his wife, Ellen, and their two boys, MALCOLM MACDERMID 2018 and CALUM MACDERMID 2020.
guest appearances on Oprah. She has written and consulted on three films including the PBS special, “Boys Will Be Men.” Lucinda holds a B.A. in Creative Arts-Music, an M.A. in Elementary Education from San Francisco State, and a Ph.D in Child Development and Early Childhood Education from University of Illinois-Urbana.
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI BOARD MEMBERS
Rafael Mandelman 1992 Board of Trustees Member Born and raised in San Francisco, Rafael attended Brandeis-Hillel Day School before attending LickWilmerding High School. He graduated from Yale with a B.A. in History and received a Master’s in Public Policy from
Natalie Ocampo Board of Trustees Member Natalie is the current President of the LWHS Parents Association. Natalie is a Sr. Compliance Analyst at Depomed, a pharmaceutical company specializing in Pain Management. Natalie has her undergraduate degree from
Natalie and her husband, Erwin, have 4 girls: ELYSSA NICOLAS 2017, Jewel, Nolan, and Harper, along with their Husky, Pepsi, and reside in Brisbane. As a family, they currently are involved with
Board of Trustees Member Lara Witter is a non-profit volunteer; she recently served on the Board of Trustees of the Katherine Delmar Burke School in San Francisco (20102016) where she chaired the audit, finance and multicultural committees. She is currently the treasurer of the North Fork Association. Lara was previously a management consultant
LWHS ALUMNI MAGAZINE
Rafael has been a practicing attorney for over 15 years, and is currently the Deputy City Attorney in Oakland. From a young age, Rafael has been committed to serving his community, with an interest in
San Jose State in Biological Science and her MBA from University of Phoenix.
Lara Witter
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the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He returned to the Bay Area to receive his degree in Law from UC Berkeley.
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with Bain & Company in Toronto, Canada and San Francisco where she worked in a variety of industries from technology to financial services. She graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in International Relations; and received the Certificate d’Etude Politiques from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. She earned her M.B.A. from the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario, Canada. Prior to her business
local government. He has been a Commissioner for the San Francisco Board of Appeals and Building Inspection Commission and has been an elected member of the SF Democratic County Central Committee since 2006. He is the current Board President of the City College of San Francisco and is the Board Co-Chair of the San Francisco LGBTQ Community Center.
volunteering at the SF Food Bank and GLIDE Memorial and also enjoy traveling.
degree, Lara lived and worked throughout Europe, South America, and Africa managing adventure travel trips. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Curt Sigfstead, and is the mother of ANNIKA SIGFSTEAD 2018 and INGRID SIGFSTEAD 2020. She loves hiking, skiing, tennis and swimming and being outdoors as much as possible.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI BOARD MEMBERS
Amy Esken Gershoni 1990 Alumni Board Member Amy Gershoni is the president and co-founder of Gershoni Creative Agency, a fullservice branding and design firm based in the heart of San Francisco. Amy got her start at Wired magazine at the beginning of the dot-
Brandon Rosen 2007 Alumni Board Member Brandon was born in Connecticut and at the ripe age of four moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he spent the rest of his childhood. After graduating from LWHS in 2007, he attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he received his
com boom, and for the past 20 years she has been instrumental in building client relationships and developing creative solutions for Fortune top-10s, bleeding-edge startups, established lifestyle brands and nonprofits. She has led campaigns for Google, Apple, Deloitte, Patrรณn, and the San Francisco Art Institute. In addition to her work with
the agency, she is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, serves on the advisory board for the Commonwealth Club of California and is the founding board president emeritus of Inforum, the young adults division of the Commonwealth Club.
Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 2011. He then moved to The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, to further pursue his interest in organic chemistry. During his time at TSRI, Brandon collaborated with several academic labs and major pharmaceutical companies, developing new methods to prepare medicinally relevant small molecules. Upon the
receipt of his Ph.D. in chemistry in 2015, he returned to the Bay Area with his wife, LEAH SIMKE 2010, and his dog, Odin, to begin his career as a medicinal chemist at Arcus Biosciences. He looks forward to getting back in touch with LWHS and giving back to the community as a member of the LWHS Alumni Board.
Alumni: Interested in getting involved with the LWHS community again? Whether you would like to help plan local or regional events, fundraise, attend and volunteer at networking events, or become an alumni board member and gain valuable nonprofit board experience, please contact Alumni Program Manager Miwa Kozuki: mkozuki@lwhs.org or 415.704.5593 for more information. Go Tigers!
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Alex Southwick 2018 talks about her experiences volunteering during the PPP Sophomore Fair last year.
The Center for Civic Engagement:
Public Purpose Program (PPP) BY MARLEY PIERCE AND ALAN WESSON SUÁREZ
T
he Public Purpose Program (PPP) is unique to a Lick-Wilmerding High School education. All students participate in this program, which guides them in several ways from recognizing how to apply their education and unique talents, to ultimately affecting positive change beyond the walls of LWHS. Different PPP elements are woven into each grade’s experience at LWHS.
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THE CENTER
As the program grows and develops, here are a few highlights and examples from the 2015-2016 school year.
9TH GRADE During their first year at LWHS, students experience the Public Purpose Program through a series of workshops. Workshops introduce students to different injustices and aim to activate compassion. The hope is that this compassion translates into students choosing to make volunteering a way of life. Aligned with this goal, the workshops culminate in a day of service for all freshman on May 9. This past year advisories were paired together and served at six different sites: Mission Playground Recreation Center, Real Opportunities for City Kids, The Jewish Home of San Francisco, Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center, Excelsior Action Group, and San Francisco Recreation and Parks. As opposed to the previous year when the whole class did one service project, the design of last year’s freshman day of service allowed for a range of experiences that exposed students to the many different ways volunteering can play out. Furthermore, embarking on their service in smaller groups allowed students to develop more personalized relationships with the people they served. Looking forward, Public Purpose Program
PPP course offerings include: Advanced Combo
Advanced Stagecraft PPP
Bay Area Cinema PPP
Calculus PPP
Chamber Orchestra/Advanced Chamber Music PPP
Chinese 4 Honors PPP
Computing 2 PPP: Concepts and Applications
Drawing & Painting the Mural PPP
English 4 Honors PPP: Ethnic Studies Through US Literature
English 4 Honors PPP: Lived Religion in America
Environmental Justice & the Social Determinants of Health PPP
Film: Cinematic Storytelling PPP
Honors Statistics 1: Descriptive Statistics and Data Visualization PPP
Honors Statistics 2: Inferential Statistics PPP
Journalism PPP
Marine Ecology PPP: Semester Field and Lab Science
Metal Fabrication PPP: Private Skills for a Public Purpose
Modern US History Seminar PPP: A Fundamental Difference? Race, Class, and Gender
Modern US History Seminar PPP: America in the 1960s
Modern US History Seminar PPP: Define American, an Exploration of Immigration
Modern US History Seminar PPP: Lived Religion in America
Modern US History Seminar PPP: Making Sense of US/East Asian Relations
Philanthropy Initiative PPP
Precalculus PPP
Spanish 3 PPP
Stagecraft PPP
Student Leadership Training in a Technical Arts Environment PPP
Vocal Ensemble PPP
Who’s Inside? An Introduction to the Prison Industrial Complex PPP
Wood PPP: Private Skills for a Public Purpose
Director Alan Wesson Suárez hopes to build on this momentum and add even more service projects in the future—perhaps aiming for a unique service project for each advisory group.
10TH GRADE The 2016–17 school year marks the second year of the LWHS Community Tutoring Program. The program is free for 5th-8th grade students attending parochial or public schools in the Bay Area. The
school’s ongoing commitment to serve the larger community is embodied by the Community Tutoring Program, which relies on LWHS students to volunteer as math, humanities, and science tutors. As such, the program pairs curricular support for middle school students with leadership development for high school students. Sophomores are required to complete 40 hours of volunteer service during the school year. The tutoring program is a convenient and lively way for sophomores,
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THE CENTER
Right: Alexandra TienSmith 2017 (right) designed her own PPP internship last year at LifeMoves, a homeless shelter for families in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Far right: Students from the Chinese 4H PPP course Jane Liu 2017, George Dicke 2017, and Jillian Wu 2016 tell the story of “Monkey King” over a video conference call to a 5th grade class at Keys Middle School in Palo Alto. The Chinese 4H class used their language skills to develop an educational book to tell the story of “Monkey King.”
like ALEX SOUTHWICK 2018, to complete their hours. Alex worked with various students throughout the year and excelled not only as a tutor, but also as a mentor. Whether it was discovering new ways to incentivize students with animal crackers to complete math problems, or talking about the ways middle school compares to high school, Alex developed close connection with her tutees. Alex completed the majority of her volunteer hours through the tutoring program and has returned as a junior to continue building relationships with new and returning tutees.
11TH AND 12TH GRADES Juniors and seniors may choose to dive further into a topic they may have explored during the prior years via three different routes: designing an
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independent study, taking a course with a public purpose focus, or applying for an internship. During her junior year, ALEXANDRA TIEN-SMITH 2017 decided to pursue an internship opportunity. Alexandra had spent time volunteering at LifeMoves (formerly InnVision Shelter Network), a homeless shelter for families in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Hoping to continue spending time at the shelter, she designed her own internship and spent an average of 3 hours a week working with young people. She quickly noticed that while there were classes and programming in the evening designed for adults and very small children, no such thing existed for middle and high school aged kids. Inspired to address this gap, Alexandra
spoke to the shelter manager and got permission to singlehandedly design and carry out weekly cooking and nutrition classes for youth at the shelter. From lessons on what constitutes a balanced meal to preparing simple recipes, the classes were a success. Alexandra is an innovative student who used the PPP program to chart her own course into community service. There are also a variety of courses that juniors and seniors can choose from that include a PPP focus. An example of a PPP course is the Modern US History Seminar: America in the 60s, taught by Suzanne Aldridge-Peacock. This PPP course examined the dramatic and often turbulent history of the United States in the 1960s. From the optimism of the Kennedy years to the upheavals, divisions, and
THE CENTER
frustrations that marked the decade, this history elective analyzed a series of events and movements that stirred passions during the sixties and influenced the development of the United States as we know it today. The class considered social, political, and cultural forces that shaped and defined the era including topics such as: the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, the Vietnam War, the rise of the Counter Culture, the New Frontier & Great Society, the modern women’s movement, the New Left, and the emerging conservative philosophies that formed largely in response to the liberalism of the time. Students connected content with real world experiences in the larger community and leveraged the central role of San Francisco and the Bay Area to social activism and
cultural change. Part of the student experience included volunteering with community organizations that related to topics in the course, ranging from groups such as The Black Panthers, to Food Not Bombs, to the San Francisco LGBT Center. In this way, the class created a unique and powerful synergy between content covered in the classroom and work being done in the community, strongly influenced by the spirit of the 1960s. The Public Purpose Program is continuing to find exciting and innovative ways to bring the school’s mission to life. By learning to recognize injustice in their communities, students are guided from growing empathy and compassion, to intentionally exploring ways they can use the privilege of an LWHS education to respond
and work in partnership with community organizations. One of the most valuable things about PPP is its flexibility— students can follow their passions and get support in doing so. The next year will undoubtedly bring a new crop of unique projects, classes, and internships!
“Part of the student experience included volunteering with ... groups such as The Black Panthers, to Food Not Bombs, to the San Francisco LGBT Center.”
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Senegal Service Trip Above: Hudson Matz 2018 Above, right: The prototype of the school, designed by Hudson Matz 2018 and Jason Woodruff 2018, that was selected to be built this summer in Senegal.
BY HUDSON MATZ 2018
L
ast year I was taking Goranka Poljak-Hoy’s architecture class,
and I was surprised to find out that the class’s students from the previous year were responsible for designing the school built in Senegal on the service learning trip. I was beyond excited when we were told there would be another trip, and we would be the ones in charge of designing the school. As Goranka started showing us all of the pictures of some fellow students painting the school walls and playing with the little children in Senegal, I thought about how amazing it would be to build a school for a community that doesn’t have the same advantages that we do. LWHS has always made
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me think about my advantages and my privilege, so I thought this could be a good way to use my privilege to help people who have less than I do. I also realized that the design process was a competition, and I could technically become a 15 year-old architect if my design was chosen. For five weeks I worked extremely hard with my partner JASON WOODRUFF 2018; cutting, measuring, resizing, designing, and redesigning. By the time the designs were due, the whole class was extremely tired from after-school architecture binges, usually lasting from 2-6 hours. After sitting on those “vintage” but extremely uncomfortable stools and staring at bright LED screens for hours on end, I was a mess. I was so discombobulated that when Goranka told us that our school design was picked, it took me a few seconds to register what she had actually said. When it hit me, I felt like my heart stopped. I just looked at her in astonishment. I swiveled around and looked at Jason, and I could tell he was feeling something, too. The very next thing I did was call
my family from the bathroom to tell them. Everyone on my dad’s side of the family are architects (uncle, grandfather, great grandfather), so this was a pretty big deal in my household. I got home and skyped with my grandfather for a while, and he was happy and proud that the “legacy would live on.” Sadly, he passed away a few weeks before I left for Senegal. When we arrived in Senegal and walked into the village for the first time, I was shaking because I was so nervous. I was desperately trying to find the school, even when we had the village meeting. When we were finally done, we were led by a few Senegalese builders to the building itself, and I was overwhelmed with emotion. I started feeling indescribable emotions after seeing the school I’d worked so hard to bring to life in person, and decided to just walk over and hug it out. I will never forget this summer, and hope that I can go back some day and see the village after a few years have gone by, and visit the kids who I played with in the courtyard of my school.
THE CENTER
Senegal Reflection BY CHLOE LOMBARDO 2017 (MARIAME SOH)
T
he Lick-Wilmerding Senegal Trip is an incredible cultural learning experience. Ten to twenty LWHS students are selected each year to travel to Senegal and collaborate with local villages to build elementary schools. Together with Drew High School, LWHS has created deep connections with the villages of Santhiou Mame Gor (2012-2015) and Niokhob Guedj (2016). Our woodshop teacher, Youssou Fall, lives near Santhiou Mame Gor. I’ve had the unique privilege to attend the Senegal Trip twice and work in both villages.
and shoulders, always greeting a person before starting a conversation with them, and little things like eating with your right hand because you work and clean yourself with your left. We studied Senegalese politics, sports, food, economics, geography, agriculture, and much more. After getting the proper pills and shots and packing supplies, we flew for 17 long hours to get to our new home for the next three weeks, Niokhob Guedj. Upon arrival, we were each adopted into a Senegalese family, and given a Senegalese name, mine was Mariame Soh. The Sohs lived in a single household with five generations of their family. They had one house with many rooms for sleeping in and another with
“I loved going to Senegal because I gained a global perspective that not only helped me appreciate my life in America, but led me to also reflect on what I would like to change about myself and my community...”
In preparation, we attended meetings at school to learn the basics of the Senegalese languages of Pular and Wolof. We discussed cultural norms, like girls covering their legs
one big room that functioned as a common area where the women could cook outside in the courtyard. The language barrier was an enormous problem for all the students.
Luckily for me, my family knew French, and I was able to communicate with them. Our families fed and took care of us when we weren’t working, but most importantly they were incredibly loving and supported us as we bumbled along and adjusted to our new world. During the day, we helped build three elementary school buildings (designed by HUDSON MATZ 2018 through the LWHS architecture program) and 40 desks and chairs. The schools will provide the village children with an education that could help some of them attend high school, and lead a few on the path to getting a degree at a university. Our responsibilities for building the desks and chairs included resourcefully cutting the wood without waste, assembling the pieces, sanding, and painting. We also sanded the concrete classroom walls and painted them with primer and paint. In addition to building, we helped run a medical clinic where our group’s doctor dispensed glasses and pain medication, did physical exams, and helped villagers obtain harder to find medication. We also installed solar panels in another clinic. The building work was physically hard and working in the clinic was emotionally challenging at times, but very rewarding. Coming home was the most difficult part. As much as I love America, I’ve realized that Senegal is very special. The lack of technology and
other distractions create a unique space for family, community, and the building of personal relationships that isn’t as easily found in America. The Senegalese people are extremely friendly and welcoming. Whether we were with people from the village or strangers in the markets, they all loved to talk to us simply to hear our story and find out why we were there. In return, we met a lot of interesting people and heard some amazing stories. When I returned, it was difficult for me to explain to my friends at home the differences I observed between the Senegalese and American lifestyles. They didn’t always understand. There are still moments when I have flashes of culture shock, and I miss my Senegalese family and their simpler way of life. I loved going to Senegal because I gained a global perspective that not only helped me appreciate my life in America, but led me to also reflect on what I would like to change about myself and my community. Once in awhile my older brother, Mamadou Ka calls me, and we speak in French and Pular. It’s amazing how we can love people we’ve only lived with for three weeks. I will forever be a part of my Senegalese family, and their culture will always be a part of my life. I will never be the same.
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THE CENTER
Nicaragua Reflection BY KEANU VELASQUEZ 2017
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he Nicaragua trip was a trip filled with memories and experiences that can’t be taken away. It was
We were all living fairly close to each other and were able to meet up every morning and night at a house nearby. As we arrived to the main house, we separated and parted ways a short service learning trip with our families. David Ludeke where I had the opportunity 2017 and I met our host Jairo to learn about the culture and with full excitement. Our house history of Nicaragua, while also was located directly behind the getting the chance to make main house, where Jairo and his new friends with students from two daughters, Fernanda and different grades in the LWHS community. Each day of the trip Paola, lived. Fernanda and Paola both went to school everyday was an adventure. It all began but at night David and I would with a warm rainy arrival at the Nicaragua airport, where we met spend time sharing each other’s life experiences. My family stay our fantastic tour guide Lucila. was filled with a lot of intense The first stop was lunch in the town of León, a town filled with Uno and Jenga games with my sisters, listening to my sisters’ wonderful people and stories favorite American music on the that are so powerful. The first meal consisted of delicious rice, TV, and many jokes. chicken, salad, and plantains. Each day started with an After the meal, we got a brief early morning crow before tour around the town. The my 6:30am alarm and cold murals were beautiful; each shower. Every morning we painting had some meaning enjoyed a delicious breakfast behind the history of Nicaragua. with plantains as Jairo would We visited a community pool dance to American music in the and played a few popular pool background. Sometimes we games such as Marco Polo, were even able to fit in a quick which we then played with the competitive game of either children and locals in the pool. Uno or Jenga! After breakfast, we would all gather at our It was then finally time to meet central meeting house for a the family we were going to presentation.The presentations live with for the rest of the trip. were generally about the history Everyone was split into pairs.
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and culture of Nicaragua and we were lucky enough to have a former mayor of León give one of these presentations. After the presentations, the community service portion of the trip began. It was about an hour bus ride to Goyena, which reminded me of a small farm town. The people who lived there were so happy and welcoming. They showed us the beautiful gardens they’ve created and our task was to help them keep the gardens going. Each day in Goyena we had a different assignment to complete. The first task was to transfer piles of soil into plastic bags. Although our first task didn’t seem like a big job, I learned that every little thing helps. We also built planter boxes out of pallets; this was hard but very rewarding. In the end I’ve realized how lucky I am to be a part of the LWHS community with all the privileges we have. Everything we did in Goyena made an impact in the community and
helped make our host families’ lives a little easier. By the end of each day, everyone was tired and sweaty from working in the heat. Most of us fell asleep within minutes of getting on to the bus. When we arrived back in León, it was time for dinner. Our host families picked us up and we spent the night talking about what our favorite activities were. Although this was a service learning trip, it was also an opportunity to experience the way that the people of Nicaragua live. We all participated in a fantastic salsa dance class, where the teacher brought so much positive energy to the class. We also had our fair share of hanging out at the pool during our breaks. Personally, the best activity was the chance to hike up a volcano and slide all the way back down it. During this trip, I learned to appreciate all the little things in life, as well as to take chances and always try to do something new.
THE CENTER
Nicaragua Reflection Above, left: Keanu Velazquez 2017 and his host family. Above: Group photo of the LWHS students with advisors Christine Godinez and Shaun Lopez on their trip to Nicaragua. Pictured on the far right is Khloe Thomas 2018.
BY KHLOE THOMAS 2018
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oing to Nicaragua was a privilege for me because I was able to learn more about my heritage and what it really means to appreciate what I have. This exposure to a different culture was inspirational and mind changing. This amazing experience made me think about everything that I find valuable. These “valuables” don’t hold much weight compared to what Nicaraguans hold valuable. I have the choice to buy things that aren’t necessary and this is something that the U.S. prides itself on: material things. In Nicaragua, how well one can provide food and clothes for the family is important where in this country, how many name brand materials one possesses seems to hold more value. I learned that being on my phone all the time worrying
about what celebrities are doing with their lives is making me miss out on my own life. My host family was absolutely amazing. Having conversations where I could only speak Spanish helped my confidence in the language and also helped me get even closer to my host family. Zenayda and her husband, Santiago, were so easy to talk to and outgoing. I wasn’t afraid to make mistakes using my Spanish, and I didn’t feel vulnerable when they corrected me because they were only trying to help me. I appreciated their support and care during this trip, especially from their kids: Eliett, Aisa, and Santiago, with whom I connected. This wonderful family made me feel so comfortable while I was away from home. They are like my second family. Even now we are still communicating over Facebook and other forms of
social media. I still feel close to them even though I’m 3,430 miles away. They protected me when we felt an earthquake and when I was afraid to sleep. They always made sure I had enough food and rest at the end of each day. Every morning their bird, Sofia, would wake us up at 6am, which was the time my host family began making breakfast for EVAN FULLER 2018 (my roommate) and me. Having had a roommate this summer makes me look forward to living in a college dorm because of how close Evan and I became. We sang and danced with each other to the artist Pitbull, and we took about 100 selfies! This trip also inspired me to choreograph a dance comparing wealthy individuals to poor individuals and how it doesn’t matter what your socioeconomic status is. All that matters is how we all come together with one common goal: To express ourselves and be understood. Khloe performed this dance at the Fall Dance Concert.
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Every summer, students participate in the “Read Around the World Challenge,” a reading initiative designed to build literacy and inspire a love of the written word.
Aim High Celebrates 30 Years
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mpact. Inspiration. Lifechanging. Opportunities. Community. Magic. These are all words that have been used to describe Aim High, a free summer learning and enrichment program for low-income middle school students. Founded 30 years ago by former LickWilmerding High School faculty members Alec Lee and Eleanor McBride, Aim High has not only enriched the lives of thousands of students and their families, but also the staff and instructors who have worked for the nonprofit organization.
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LWHS has been a supporter of Aim High since its inception, a partnership that the school has been very proud of over the years. Co-Founders Alec and Eleanor met while teaching at LWHS, both sharing a dream of developing an interactive educational program to support middle school students during the summer months to create new learning opportunities for those with limited resources, and to address the achievement gap headon in San Francisco. Eleanor recalls, “I remember when we visited 6th graders and we were so impressed with their diverse talents and positive energy. I vividly remember meeting ANGIE SANTANA 1993 and LAKISHA YOUNG 1993 (Aim High Distinguished Alumna 2014), and
AIM HIGH CELEBRATES 30 YEARS
these visits motivated us to write requests for grants, hire teachers, and create a curriculum to turn the dream into a reality.” After receiving funding from the San Francisco Foundation to start a program in 1986, there was no turning back for Aim High. Aim High opened on the LWHS campus that summer and the program has been growing ever since. Today, Aim High is the largest summer academic program in the Bay Area, with campuses all over the city (including LWHS) and the Bay Area. Aim High has served over 10,000 students since 1986. “Aim High showed us that there were schools and programs that were looking for a diverse student body from all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Aim High nurtured the belief that I should not feel bounded by background. Lick introduced me to the architecture field, which lead me to Cornell and my current career,” shared TANSY MAK 2007. “I’m not sure we were thinking of impact when we started the program,” commented Alec. “We wanted to create something inspiring. We discovered that summer is the time when kids fall behind. We wanted to help kids become successful in school, help them be poised for success. We were committed to creating a joyful learning community of lifelong learners.” What does this learning community look like? Aim High is a six-week summer program for middle school students. Although there are many summer academic
Above: Students make friends and build close, supportive communities each summer at Aim High. Pictured on the far left Aim High teaching intern Shevann Steuben 2016.
programs, the Aim High approach to teaching students is unique. In addition to math, science, and humanities curricula, Aim High students take a course called “Issues and Choices, “ which is a staple. In this course, students are pushed outside of their comfort zone to build awareness of current events, identity, and self-empowerment. This class gives students the opportunity to engage in social justice work and self-identity at a young age. With “Issues and Choices” combined with the core academic curriculum, students are set to achieve academic excellence and social-cultural lifelong awareness. Every student also participates in an afternoon activity. There is a wide range of offerings, based on the staff’s talents and topics they would like to introduce to students. Afternoon
activities range from cooking to performing arts, sports, visual arts, and exploring the city using public transportation. Many of the activities are also driven by student suggestions, allowing both students and staff to have creative outlets to explore. Aim High students take what they learn in the classroom and often apply it to their afternoon activities. Students experience two activities throughout the week to gain exposure to more than one field of expression. LWHS Head of School, Eric Temple, comments, “As a school that is committed to our mission of improving access and creating lifelong learners, we deeply value our partnership with Aim High. LWHS has been fortunate to work with this incredible and inspiring organization, sharing resources, our faculty, and also students.
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As a private school with public purpose, being a community partner and strong supporter of the Aim High program is one way that we embrace our mission, build community, and demonstrate civic engagement.” Over the years, over 100 alumni from LWHS have been involved with Aim High, whether as teachers, teaching assistants, interns, or graduates of the program. Many Aim High alumni are also alumni of LWHS, and return to campus to be involved in the program. “I felt compelled to come back to Aim HIgh to teach because I wanted to be a part of something that I felt was making a difference. I was able to see first-hand the effect Aim High had on myself and my peers and how enthused we were each summer to come back,” said ISAIAH BOONE 2012, Aim High 2008. Aim High’s impact has not gone unnoticed. Aim High has
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received numerous awards and recognition. In 2015, the nationally-renowned Stanford University John W. Gardner Center evaluated the program and found that Aim High reflects the best in educational youth and development, resulting in positive outcomes for its students. This past spring, co-founder Alec Lee was recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change for Summer Opportunity. This award honors leaders who have focused on narrowing the opportunity gap that exists for low-income students during the summers by providing summer learning, meals, and job opportunities. “Simply put, Aim High has served as the platform for my success,” commented KANEEM THORNTON 2014. “Aim High has given me the skills, experience, and confidence necessary to succeed in and outside of school. Though I
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Above: Aim High students engage in joyful summer learning, giving them a leg-up for the following school year.
struggled in high school, I ultimately had the proper work ethic that got me through. Aim High has shown me that simply being smart or talented is not nearly enough to succeed. Hard work, dedication, and determination are much stronger indicators of how far you will go. I now have this mentality in and outside the classroom.” Congratulations to Aim High for all that it has accomplished over the past 30 years—the number of lives (both student and adult) that the program has influenced and changed, and the enormous impact this program has had on the community. Although only recently recognized (officially) as a Champion of Change by the White House, it is more accurate to say that Aim High has been been a Champion of Change since the day it opened its doors in the summer of 1986, and has been a leader and trailblazer in youth education and lifelong learning.
AIM HIGH CELEBRATES 30 YEARS
Praise for Aim High There is overwhelming praise for Aim High and all of its magic from the LWHS community—from faculty, students, and alumni. Similar to Midas and his gold touch, the Aim High program seems to have a similar effect by inspiring all who have encountered or experienced the program. Read about the impact this program has had on some of our LWHS community members. Isaiah Boone 2012 Aim High 2008, Aim High Teaching Intern and Teacher I’ve always believed strongly about the importance of giving back and Aim High has allowed me to experience this from both sides. The teachers and site directors I worked with during my summers there were some of the most thoughtful and engaging people I’ve met, and the positive mindset and attitude they brought each day of the summer were things I’ve carried with me after leaving the program. Aim High always encouraged me to think big and work hard. This has played a large role in the path I’ve taken today. My teachers and staff were always there not only to push me to do my best, but to support my ambitions as well. It’s been over 8 years since I was a student at Aim High but that message still holds value.
Cameron Yuen-Shore 2005 Aim High 2001, Aim High Teaching Assistant, Intern, Lead Teacher, Site Director The biggest impact that Aim High has had on me after the program was being a part of that teacher pipeline. While I was in high school, I thought of working at Aim High as the perfect way to be a part of and give back to a community and program that gave so much to me. When I was in college and it was time to find a career path, I made the majority of connections for getting a foothold in teaching in the bay area through the Aim High community. Also, Aim High classrooms have such an incredible energy and level of student and teacher engagement and innovation, that I (and many other teachers) have sought out schools and teaching opportunities that are similar. I can definitely say that I have chosen schools to work in based on their similarity to the Aim High model. As a teacher I came back every summer to continue to innovate and tinker with my existing curriculum. The energy at Aim High is an incredible incubator for new ideas and strategies in the classroom. Finally, I kept coming back to
Aim High to further develop my education as a site director. Learning the thousands of logistics that go into creating that environment for students has given me an incredible appreciation for every school and has shaped my career path again as I make the move to a more administrative role at The Brandeis School of San Francisco. It has been incredible to see the ripples of mentorship grow in Aim High’s pond for the 15 years I have been involved. What really struck me was when I met another site director, shared a particular story with them, and found out it was identical to their experience. Different campus, different students, different neighborhood, same growth and mentorship from one Aim High generation to the next. Magic.
Marjorie Morales 2013 Aim High 2009, Aim High Teaching Assistant I came back to teach at Aim High in order to give more firstgeneration minority students like myself the life-changing experience I had. My goal as a teacher is to “be the passionate and enthusiastic mentor and role model I had as a child.” I wanted to show these students what they are capable of, regardless of what barriers may be in front of them. I wanted to be the encouraging teacher for them, similar to the teachers who supported me during Aim High. I absolutely love working with Aim High students. Their imagination and creativity soars beyond what my adult mind can think about, and they always have a way to bring me into their world. I may be one of the teachers in the room, but they constantly teach me much more than they think they do. I love Aim High because it’s a place where everyone supports each other, helps each other, and celebrates each other. Aim High magic is what you feel when you’re a 4’11” female encouraging a group of sixty 9th graders to form the magical Tunnel of Champions prior to Cultural Day. Aim High magic is when you put in hours after the day ends to make sure teachers have what they need the next day--and then some. Aim High magic is when you connect to a student who’s having a rough day, and they say “Thanks for being there.” Aim High magic is that moment when you try to keep it together on Celebration Day even though your graduates are crying. Aim High magic is what you feel every day when you’re at Aim High. It can’t be described; it can only be felt.
Kaneem Thornton 2014 Aim High 2010, Aim High Teaching Assistant Simply put, Aim High has served as the platform to my success. Aim High has given me the skills, experience, and the confidence necessary to succeed in and outside of school.
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Priase for Aim High, continued Though I struggled in high school, I ultimately had the proper work ethic that got me through. Aim High has shown me that simply being smart or talented is not nearly enough to succeed. Hard work, dedication, and determination are much stronger indicators of how far you will go. I now have this mentality in and outside the classroom. Aim High magic is passion. Passion not only for the cause of the program, but also to making a difference in underserved communities.
Tansy Mak 2007 Aim High 2003 Aim High showed us that there were schools and programs that were looking for a diverse student body from all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Aim High nurtured the belief that I should not feel bounded by background. Without Aim High, I would have never learned about pursuing education and opportunities beyond what was considered standard. Lick introduced me to the architecture field, which lead me to Cornell and my current career. Aim High was a confidence builder. I received much more academic and interpersonal attention than I did during the regular school year at my large public middle school. Even small details, like the site leader’s ability to memorize everyone’s name, helped to create a sense of worthiness. Aim High sets its students up for success by introducing them to a community of teachers, leaders, and donors who are personally dedicated to their growth.
Carrie Maslow LWHS Science Faculty, Former Site Director What I enjoy most about Aim High is the idealism and clear sense of purpose. The faculty always seems enthusiastic and deeply committed to the social justice and academic preparation goals of the program. To me the Aim High magic refers to to all of the occasions in which very ambitious plans just come together in a lovely, unexpected way. There have been so many times where it seemed like there wasn’t enough food for our cultural days, the egg drop experiment contraptions were all going to fail, there weren’t enough scheduled acts for the talent show, etc. and then, as if by magic, everyone stepped in (parents, kids, staff) at the last minute and it all worked out. It doesn’t just work out, either; those events go well and are inspiring.
Benjie Achtenberg 2003 Teaching Intern, Lead Teacher, Site Director Aim High has inspired me to be a career educator. I have learned about what it takes to work collaboratively with others,
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especially those who are different than you. I have worked as a teaching assistant, intern, lead teacher, office assistant and site director during my summers at Aim High. These varying roles have allowed me to take on numerous responsibilities from lesson planning, to managing a small group of students, to leading full classes, writing student narratives and giving constructive feedback to kids, to creating a site budget, interviewing and hiring teachers and everything in between. I have learned a lot at Aim High. Aim High’s focus on project based learning and making everything as engaging as possible is noteworthy. In such a short time, each Aim High site is able to develop and foster a strong sense of community with team building, fun activities, authentic engagement, and meaningful relationships between staff of all ages and students.
Mariel Triggs LWHS Math Faculty, Former Site Director I studied Aim High during grad school and fell in love with the organization. It was very similar to a program that catapulted me into college and gave me much more control over my own life. Aim High’s change-making crews break down barriers and are a catalyst for everyone in the community’s growth through creating a culture of respect and giving folks the opportunity and support to meet clear, high expectations. Aim High’s structure of scrappiness, transparency, and agility leads to rapid innovation. I share Aim High’s vision of transformation and love being a part of its actualization. Aim High reminds me to “show up” in life and that in giving back through empowering others, my life gains purpose and I become a better me.
Rebecca Hong LWHS History Department Chair, Site Director Aim High has taught me that it is always important to consider the larger mission, while you’re paying attention to the details of the day-to-day summer program. The mission will guide you in making little decisions just like it will bigger picture/ comprehensive decisions. Aim High magic is all about the commitment to social justice and the belief in the students. We believe that all kids can succeed, and that is apparent in all that we do. I also think the emphasis on positivity and growth is part of the magic. I love the enthusiasm and energy the teachers bring to the work, and the true and authentic engagement that they bring to the program and to the kids. I was learning constantly from watching teachers work together and with the students. The energy in Aim High — all the positivity, at first seems culturally very specific to Aim High, but then you realize HOW important a culture of appreciation and shout outs can be.
ALUMNI AUTHORS
Alumni Authors
Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Spinoza on Politics
democratic societies. This book is an ideal starting point for anyone new to Spinoza and essential reading for students of political philosophy and seventeenthcentury philosophy. Daniel Frank is Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies at Purdue University. He has published widely on Greek and medieval Jewish philosophy. Jason Waller is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Illinois University. He is the author of a number of articles on Spinoza, as well as Persistence through Time in Spinoza (2012).
data, which they then model with elementary functions. If you are looking for experience with multiple representations, connecting geometry, algebra, and functions, then this is a good place to look.
to effectively deal with others whose anger controls them. The first chapters of both books can be downloaded for free with no opt-in from Ed’s website TheEmotionsDoctor.com.
Beyond Anger Management: Master Your Anger as a Strategic Tool
Jewish Philosophy Past and Present: Contemporary Responses to Classical Sources
Daniel Frank 1968 and Jason Waller Baruch Spinoza is one of the most influential and controversial political philosophers of the early modern period. Though best-known for his contributions to metaphysics, Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise (1670) and his unfinished Political Treatise (1677) were widely debated and helped to shape the political writings of philosophers as diverse as Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, and (although he publicly denied it) even Locke. In addition to its enormous historical importance, Spinoza’s political philosophy is also strikingly contemporary in its advocacy of toleration of unpopular religious and political views and his concern with stabilizing religiously diverse
Ed Daube, PhD 1966
The Model Shop: Functions from Geometry Tim Erickson 1971 This book contains 42 activities for mathematics students in high school and college. In these activities students measure figures and objects to get
Beyond Anger Management picks up where typical anger management books end. This is an easy to understand guide which explains what anger is and shows the reader how to master the emotion of anger and apply it as a strategic tool to improve one’s life. Beyond Anger Management is for anyone who feels controlled by their anger and wants to learn how to strategically deploy their anger or who wants to learn how
Daniel Frank 1968 In this innovative volume, contemporary philosophers respond to classic works of Jewish philosophy. For each of twelve central topics in Jewish philosophy, Jewish philosophical readings, drawn from the medieval period through the twentieth century, appear alongside an invited contribution that engages both the readings and the contemporary philosophical
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ALUMNI AUTHORS
literature in a constructive dialogue. The twelve topics are organized into four sections, and each section commences with an overview of the ensuing dialogue and concludes with a list of further readings. The introduction to the volume assesses the current state of Jewish philosophy and argues for a deeper engagement with analytic philosophy, exemplified by the new contributions. This book is an engaging introduction to the issues that animated Jewish philosophers for centuries and is designed to set the agenda in Jewish philosophy for years to come.
The fable that Death tells the children ultimately brings them solace, and helps them understand their grandmother’s passing. A sensitive story about learning to say goodbye to those we love, Cry Heart, But Never Break shows us death as a natural part of life—both necessary and inevitable.
of social as well as physical infrastructure characteristics, and its intensive examination of models of community change for fostering aging-friendliness. It presents a conceptually and empirically-based model of aging-friendliness, identifies environmental modifications that could enhance individual and community well-being, outlines a typology of community change approaches, and considers the potential efficacy of those approaches. This book identifies practical implications for policies, programs, and knowledge development designed to help communities become more aging-friendly. The book can be found on Amazon.
I Don’t Sleep Well
Creating Aging-Friendly Communities
Malhar Singh 2016
Andrew E. Scharlach 1968 and Amanda J. Lehning
Cry, Heart, But Never Break Written by Glenn Ringtved, Translated by Robert Moulthrop 1957 Cry, Heart, But Never Break tells the story of Death, a cloaked but kindly figure, visiting four children as their grandmother is dying. To help them understand, Death tells the grandchildren a story about joy and sadness existing together.
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Creating Aging-Friendly Communities (CAFC) examines the need to redesign America’s communities to respond to the realities of our rapidly aging society. The text focuses on the interface between individuals and their environments, and the ways in which communities can enhance individual and community well-being. What differentiates CAFC from other books is its breadth of focus, its comprehensive and evidence-based consideration of key concepts, its inclusion
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revolutionary breakthroughs in entrepreneurship history. With careful and concise consideration, Clinton presents a comprehensive analysis of all of the components needed to double one’s chances for new venture success. Available on Clinton’s website: www. clintoneday.com
Understanding Lean Startup Clinton Day 1960 Released on August 1, 2016, Understanding Lean Startup is Clinton’s third book. It answers all of the questions about one of the most
Malhar has written a children’s book, I Don’t Do Sleep Well, to inform young children about the effects of sleep apnea. The book tells the story of a young boy named Alfie who has been diagnosed with sleep apnea and how Alfie overcomes the obstacles he faces with his sleep disorder. For the past three years, Malhar has been interning at Central Coast Sleep Disorders Center, where he worked with children and noticed the lack of resources to educate children on sleep disorders. His book is now available on Amazon: http:// amzn.com/1517028485 and being distrubuted to hospitals to give a wider range of access.
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Desdemona’s Dreams Volume 1: To Dream of Dancing Zachary Mohr and Aaron Damon Porter 2004 Released in February 2016, this is the first book in this fairytale series about Desdemona, a young girl who dreams of becoming a dancer. Written by Zachary and illustrated by Aaron, this book won an Outstanding Children’s Illustrated book of the year with the Independent Authors’ Network. Volume 2 is scheduled for publication soon.
Song of the Stubborn One Thousand: The Watsonville Canning Strike, 1985–87 Peter Shapiro 1966 On September 9, 1985, 1,000 mainly Mexican women workers in Watsonville, California, the “frozen food capital of the world,” were forced out on strike in response to an attempt by Watsonville Canning owner Mort Console to break their union. The workers remained out for eighteen months, during which
time not one crossed the picket line. Before the strike was over, they had foiled a company attempt to decertify their union, forced Mort Console to sell his plant to avoid bankruptcy, and finally won a settlement from the new owner, despite having been advised by the Teamsters that the strike was formally over and they could no longer count on union support. The Watsonville Canning strike was a dramatic show of the power by women workers whose struggle became a rallying point for the Chicano movement as Watsonville’s Latino majority emerged as a major force in local politics. Peter is a retired letter carrier and longtime labor journalist, and his work has been in published in Labor Notes, Labor Studies Journal, Unity, and The Nation.
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Class Notes 1949J After reading the Fall 2015 Alumni Magazine, and seeing that there were 109 graduating students, it got MILTON “BUD” LIPMAN thinking about his graduation from LWHS (when the building was on 17th Street). At that time the classes were known by “X” or “J” after the class year, i.e.. 48X, 49J, 50X, etc. “X” meant a student graduated at Christmas time, “J” in June. At that time, the school population was about 137 students—132 boys and 5 girls (Bud counted from the yearbook). His graduating class consisted of 22 students. As Bud looked though his 1949 yearbook, he remembered some of his teachers, like Mr. Britton (Math), Mrs.
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Stewart (English), Mr. Privernetz (History), Mr. Tibbetts (Chemistry), Mr. Thomsen (Machine Shop), Mr. Stone (Sheet Metal), Mr. Sparrowe, (Woodworking), and Mr. Sleeper (Mechanical Drawing). His major was machine shop, and Bud remembered that square rough block of iron that Mr. Thomsen gave everyone in the class on that first day. The students had to chisel and file all sides and the surface to get it square on all sides. It took Bud the first six months to do it. This was one of the requirements before a student could run electric machines. Bud also liked Math, and Mr. Britton was one of his favorite teachers, for Math and Physics. Last but not least, the Director, Mr. Wynne. LWHS was a school that the students attended to learn a trade, or subjects needed for the Junior College. Students came to LWHS to learn, and if grades were not up to standard, students were dismissed. Graduating at 17 years old, Bud worked as an electrician and project manager for 45 years in San Francisco and other cities. He met his wife Norma on a construction site in 1983, where he was the electrical project manager and she was the secretary for the plumbing contractor. Bud enjoys fishing, and they both enjoy boating on their own boat, and cruising when they can. Bud and Norma have seven children, and now have five grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.
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Above: Milton Bud Lipman 1949J and his wife, Norma, on a Hawaiian cruise in 2012.
1951J JAY EDWARDS says that it seems like forever since he graduated from LWHS in 1951. He regrets to say that he has not been to see the Ocean Avenue campus but plans to do so soon. His class held a 50th reunion but it was difficult to rally classmates to attend. There were only 8 from the class plus two representatives from the school. Jay wonders how many of his classmates are left and would love to hear from his class. Jay shares that after college he worked for AT&T for 30 years and then for Verizon for 14 years. He finds it hard to believe that he worked in Telecommunications for over 44 years, where he started as a bill collector, then moved on to be a toll testman, which eventually led to him being a senior marketing manager. Many of his years with these two companies were in Engineering, where Jay was able to put his
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education from LWHS and from UC Berkeley to good use. Now Jay is the owner of Jay E Edwards Property Management Company and he manages four home rentals in Oro Valley, Arizona. He rents these houses to folks from the US and Canada who want to escape the cold and snow. He also enjoys golf, swimming, bike riding, hiking with his dog, genealogy, and many projects around his two homes—one in Reno, Nevada, and the other in Oro Valley, Arizona, both located in Del Webb adult communities. Regarding his family, Jay and his wife Dee Ann just celebrated 63 years of marriage. They have raised four sons, all are married, and they have four lovely daughter-in-laws, 11 grandchildren, and 5 ½ great grandchildren (one due in February). Three of his sons live in California and the eldest is in Oregon. Jay’s oldest son just retired from Northrop Grumman after 30 years of working with drone technology. His second oldest son is a lawyer in Palo Alto with a very active Silicon Valley practice. Jay’s third son just moved from Washington, DC, to San Diego and is seeking a new job. His youngest son has been with IBM for over 15 years and is involved with managing outsourcing customer’s computer activities. Jay and his wife are proud of all of their sons and their accomplishments. One of his granddaughters is now a OBGYN doctor and another one just graduated with her Master’s
Above: Jay Edwards 1951J (middle) and his wife, Dee Ann, with members of their family.
Degree in Divinity. Four of their grandchildren are married and already raising families. Jay recently completed a book of his life experiences and family history. It was written primarily for family and friends and the book is currently being printed and distributed to them. The book consists of 175 written pages and 75 pages of pictures.
style New Yorker caught the favor of some friends in Tennessee. It’s a privilege,” says Robert. The story will be available on Robert’s website following its publication in the CWA anthology. www. robertmoulthrop.com
1959 BOB MANION is looking forward
1957 In addition to the publication of the Danish children’s book about death (Cry, Heart, But Never Break, available from Amazon), ROBERT MOULTHROP’s story “Hootie’s Eyes” was recently a prize winner in the Chattanooga Writers’ Association annual competition. “I’m really pleased that a Southern story from a West Coast Yankee-
to the class of 1959’s 60th reunion in three years! Bob says, “so guys, so stay around, life has been fun, our wealth is our health!” They had a great mini reunion last year with those classmates in the Bay Area, and would love a replay, so if anyone is interested, email Bob and he’ll work on a date, possibly early 2017. Bob has been travelling to Italy and Spain this year, enjoyed segway riding in five different places. He recently
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SECTION NAME
SPOTLIGHT | BY ROBERT KLEIN 1962
A LWHS Military Retrospective
M
y Dad, Julius O. Klein 1911, was born in San Francisco in 1893 and graduated from Lick in 1911, both facts sources of
322nd Field Signal Battalion, arrived. The Signal Corps is the Army’s communication branch and is always involved in front line activity. Beginning in July of 1918, the 322nd was credited with participation in the pride his entire life. Equally important to him and ultimately Champagne-Marne Defensive, to me was his entry into military the Aisne-Marne Offensive, the St. Mihiel Offensive, and the service 100 years ago. In 1916 Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which he took a leave of absence ended with the Armistice on from MetLife (known then November 11, 1918. The Battalion by a longer name) to join the then became part of the Army federalized National Guard. of Occupation until it returned to Several units had been serving on the Mexican border since 1911 the U.S. in July of 1919. under Colonel J.J. Pershing to Dad returned to MetLife combat increasing raids across in San Francisco where he the border by non-military remained until he retired with gangs. Dad was stationed in 48 years of service. The only Nogales, Arizona, notable only complaint I ever heard from him in that he led a squad of horseconcerned Congress renaming mounted cavalry! the Armistice Day Holiday (November 11) and then allowing On the horizon, of course, was it to “float” for a three day far more meaningful duty. weekend (since corrected). That When the U.S. declared war date had great meaning for him. on Germany in April of 1917, it took almost three months for the first troops to arrive in France, and almost a year before Dad, by then a First Lieutenant, and his unit, the
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Exactly fifty years after his enlistment (or fifty years ago) I received my ROTC Commission in the Army: the WINTER 2017
day I graduated from UC Davis in June of 1966. Since all officers must have a branch identity, I chose the Signal Corps just to see Dad smile, even though I was following a different path. The Army sent me to flight school (no horses, just helicopters) and then on to Vietnam. No trenches, just jungle. I had a medical delay before leaving the States, and arrived in country immediately after the enemy’s Tet Offensive in January of 1968. (I had also missed the Summer of Love while learning to fly). The First Air Cavalry Division (note the cavalry coincidence) had just been relocated from the central highlands to a newly built Camp Evans, 20 miles south of the DMZ (border with North Vietnam). That was my home for the next ten months with the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion. The unit moved south to Quan Loi in November where there
actually was an Officer’s Club! Up until then, there was only 3.2 beers delivered twice a week. I immediately gained 15 pounds, mostly from rum and coke. I left for home in January of 1969 with just under 1,000 hours of combat flight time. The First Cavalry unit patch on my uniform had a horse’s head as part of the insignia. We all remember the infamous Blue Books at exam time in school. You hoped you had retained enough material to fill at least one, if not more. Invariably the most gutwrenching question began with the words “compare and contrast” something or other. Let me try it anyway. The only similarities between Dad’s service and mine were the three years we spent in uniform, the one year spent in
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Far left: Bob Klein 1962 during his tour in Vietnam. Left: Julius Klein 1911 and his military credentials.
successful method to build a new business. Called Understanding Lean Startup, this anthology puts the many lean startup resources in one book. Together his three works provide a complete entrepreneurship package at little expense. All are available for e-book download or print copy on Amazon. See www.clintoneday. com for more information.
combat, and the fact we both made it home. There were significant differences however. Dad’s war—sometimes known as the Great War which is a contradiction in terms—was an absolute necessity if balance in the world order was to be maintained. It had almost complete public support and returnees were hailed as heroes. My war, certainly never called “great”, was neither a necessity nor was it popular. I learned very quickly NOT to wear my flight jacket to grad school classes in Berkeley in 1970. Although statistical reports vary slightly, during the mere 17 months American troops were on the ground in Europe, they suffered 53,513 combat deaths and 204,000 wounded. During the 12-plus years the Vietnam conflict lasted, we lost 47,434 soldiers and hospitalized 153,303 more. The style of warfare had obviously changed in 50 years. One much smaller difference— I left the service as a Captain, but Lieutenant Dad never minded saluting, smiling as always.
attended a four-day wedding celebration in Montana for friends from Europe and is headed to the Bahamas soon. Bob advises, “keep on smiling, stay sunny side up, and travel the world!”
Top: John McCarthy 1960 and his wife on a recent camping trip. Above: Clinton Day 1960
1960 CLINT DAY writes in that his retirement avocation is expanding entrepreneurship. Clint was an entrepreneur, earned an MBA and certificates in the field, and taught at the college level. His third publication was released in August 2016, in which he explains the newest and most
After retiring as a computer scientist at Berkeley Lab in 2003, JOHN MCCARTHY began volunteering with Verified Voting (a non-profit founded by computer scientists), and it has been one of his main activities ever since. Verified Voting works to educate state and national legislators as well as the general public on behalf of voter-verified paper records that can be audited to check electronic tabulations, as opposed to paperless touch screen voting equipment or casting ballots over the internet. As part of the Election Verification Network, John recently co-authored a set of recommendations on “Ten Things Election Officials Can Do to Help Secure and Inspire Confidence in This Fall’s Elections.” When he’s not working on election integrity, John and his wife, Kathy, babysit their two year-old grandson every week, and are active with their Quaker Meeting. John is also still on the board of the Slavyanka Chorus (Check them out at www.
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story and many pictures can be seen on Mark’s blog: www. mytravelswiththedogs.blogspot. com.
1962
Top: Mark O’Shea 1960 and his wife stopped in London before traveling to South Africa. Left: Roger Johnson 1962 with his late wife, Mary, their son David, daughter Tracy, and granddaughter Madeline during Christmas a few years ago in San Jose.
slavyankachorus.org if you like Russian choral music. He’s been singing with them on and off since 1979). For more information on Verified Voting, visit www. electionverifcation.org
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MARK O’SHEA, his wife of 54 years, Sharon, and their family spent the month of May 2016 in the Republic of South Africa. Their trip included a five-day safari in the game preserves next to Kruger National Park. Their
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In May of 2015, ROGER ALF JOHNSON lost his beloved wife, Mary, after 50 years of an absolutely wonderful marriage. He misses her terribly, but is fortunate that his son, daughter, and granddaughter live close by, as well as his two sisters. Alf keeps busy with bridge, a Spanish club, square dancing, and a life-long learning program at Santa Clara University.
DELL LINDSTROM writes in with a wonderful story about how he was reunited with his class ring from 1962. Dell had misplaced his ring before his 50th class reunion (four years ago), which was unfortunate because he was planning to wear the ring to the event! Although the ring went missing, it was never forgotten. This past June, the Alumni & Development Office was contacted by someone who had found a LWHS class ring from 1962 in Carson City. The person who found the ring was unable to make out the initials on the ring but wanted to return to ring to its rightful
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owner. The Alumni & Development Office contacted Dell, asked him a few questions to confirm that the ring belonged to him. The office put Dell in touch with the individual who found the ring. When Dell took down the phone number of the person who located the ring, he thought the number sounded familiar. Sure enough, the phone number belonged to a friend of Dell’s and his wife Connie’s, a friend they have known since they moved to Carson Valley in 2004! All parties were surprised by this discovery! What a small world—both Dell and the man who found his ring are members of the Carson City Railroad Association. Dell was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and figured
Above, left: Dell Lindstrom 1962 was reunited with his class ring this year. Above, right: Rolling retirement home of Wally Free 1963.
out that he had lost his ring about six years ago while doing some track work on the Carson & Mills Park Railroad in Carson City’s Mills Park. The individual who found the ring was a member of the crew that had been doing some work on the track to prepare it for the summer’s operations. Just think if Dell had been present at that work session! The individual who spotted the ring said the object seemed to have been buried for quite some time. In addition to being a member of the Carson City Railroad Association, Dell is a docent at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City. If in the area, please let him know. They do run a steam train, the McKeen Motor Car (a national historical landmark), and they recently restored the
Glenbrook, a beautiful 1875 narrow gauge locomotive. Dell still owns the 1965 Ford ex SFFD Chief’s “buggy” and still “waves the flag” at car shows and emergency vehicle displays, etc. Dell is also now much more careful with the ring and the next time the ring ventures out, it will hopefully be for his 55th year reunion next year! Dell hopes to see a bunch of his classmates there.
1963 WALLY FREE writes that he has finally retired and let his teaching credential expire on his 71st birthday. He is enjoying his free time, especially on the road (see photo).
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Left: Paul Appelblom 1965 and his wife Nancy on their recent trip to Ecuador.
fields currently on Treasure Island, a Gaelic football field, three Little League diamonds (including PAUL APPELBLOM celebrated the Tepper Field), and several other venues that may be unavailable 40th anniversary of his company, once the development of Treasure Jatco, Incorporated, which was Island gains momentum. If any started on February 11, 1976. Paul alumni or current students are and his wife, Nancy, will celebrate interested in working on this their 40 years together this coming January. They are blessed with Jesse, please contact him at jessetepll@aol.com. with four children and seven grandchildren at this time. 2016 was the year of connections for PHIL WILLIAMS. Phil was JESSE TEPPER was nominated adopted at birth and grew up in December 2015 by Supervisor as an only child. Even though Jane Kim for a vacancy on the he knew at an early age that he Treasure Island Community was adopted and had a loving Advisory Board, and was relationships with his adopted confirmed by the SF Board of parents (who were definitely his Supervisors in August. Jesse’s Mom and Dad), there was still focus is on preserving recreation a strong desire for Phil to learn
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Above: Phil Williams 1965 and his half-brother, Peter.
more about his ancestral history. After his parents passed, Phil spent 20 years using conventional searching methods to look for his birth mother. After this challenging process, Phil was successful and with the assistance of a “searcher” who had access to “hidden” files, he found his mother in 2004. Phil and his wife relocated and moved 1500 miles away to have a relationship with his mother and learned more about her family, life, and also why she had given Phil up for adoption. She unfortunately did not wish to become a mother again so late in life nor did she share any information about the birth father. Phil and his wife moved to Gilroy in 2011 and he resumed his interest in finding out more about his family. This past March, using Ancestry.com, Phil not only learned that he was British/Greek/Italian (and not British and Swedish as he had
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thought his entire life), but he also located a first and second cousin, whom he immediately contacted. There was a breakthrough when he realized that the first cousin was from his father’s side, and that after the cousin saw a photo of Phil and heard his story, she said, “I’m not absolutely sure, but I think I know who your father was!” Phil’s father turned out to be her Uncle Albert! The story gets better! Unfortunately, Uncle Albert had passed away but had remarried and had a new family...and Phil discovered that he has a half-brother who lived in San Carlos, CA! Phil has now successfully connected with his half-brother, Peter, and the rest of the Fiore family, and he and his wife attended an amazing and emotional family reunion on the East Coast in August, organized for Phil and his wife to meet his new family. Phil shares, “so here I am in 2016, 69 years old with a whole new family. I’ve gone from being an only child to one with an amazing younger brother, sisterin-law, two nephews, and a niece, over 25 cousins, three living uncles and one living aunt!”
1966 JOE GARRETT was recently appointed to a three-year term on the National Advisory Council of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.
Above: Phil Williams 1965 (fifth from left) and his wife attend a family reunion after successfully locating the family of his birth father. Right: David Stein 1966 and his wife, Elizabeth.
DAVID STEIN writes that he bit the bullet this past August and retired. He says that Texas Instruments seems to be getting along fine without him and vice versa. In the best medieval tradition, David would devote the coming years to God, but before that happens, his first order of business is the Arbuthnots Reunion Tour. He says, “best wishes to all!”
1968 DANIEL FRANK continues his career as a professor of philosophy at Purdue. His four children live in Brooklyn (NY), Austin (TX), West Lafayette (IN), and Beijing (PRC). He remembers LWHS fondly and thinks it was a great place to come of age in SF in the ‘60s! Daniel would enjoy hearing from classmates and can be reached at dfrank@purdue.edu.
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Row 1: Rick Levy, Andy Wilson, Bill Wallace, Ed Daube, Wes Ashford, Rick Shea Row 2: Bill Boehle, Jeff Quiros, Joe Garrett. Neil Stipanich, Mike Engmann, Al Brown Row 3: John Palmer, Larry Roth, Charlie Morgan, David Rapaport, David Stein, Doug Kaye Row 4: Peter Shapiro, David White, Tom Felter, Ed Colloff, Eric Leonard, Richard Tamler Row 5: Jim Pappas, George Adam, David Gibbs, Malcolm Yuill-Thorton, John Barker
REUNION SPOTLIGHT | BY JOE GARRETT 1965
The Class of 1965
U
nbelievably, our 50th reunion was coming up soon, and it would actually
be 54 years since we first walked into 755 Ocean Avenue as callow freshmen. There were 52 of us who graduated in June 1966. Four whom we know of have died, and unfortunately probably more. Of the remaining 48 whom we know of from our class, 29 classmates attended our 50th, a remarkable 61% turnout. How did we get such a good turnout? I decided to get it going myself. In my experience, committees seem to diffuse responsibility, so I simply picked a date and went to work. For past reunions, summers didn’t seem to work so well since people were traveling more, so I chose a date in March.
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I started sending out emails five months in advance. I asked each recipient to review the email addresses I received from the Alumni & Development Office, in case any one had new or more current contact information. A lot of guys (remember, it was all boys when we went to LWHS) sent contact information on classmates that was more current, which helped out tremendously. I also asked one retired classmate, PETER SHAPIRO, if he could help me track down some of our classmates. ERIC LEONARD volunteered to help as well. It was a huge amount of work trying to find some of our classmates so a team effort was crucial.
A location for the event was selected; I was able to reserve a nice room at the UC Berkeley Faculty Club. Out of town classmates were also able to book a room at this facility, which made it convenient. I’m not certain daytime works better than nighttime, but some people commented that they liked it better than previous evening/dinner reunions. Emails were sent every few weeks listing everyone who had responded that they were coming, and this seemed to create a snowball effect. I’d receive emails saying, “Hey, I haven’t seen ______ since graduation night, so I’m definitely coming.” It was also helpful that most classmates hit “reply all” on the emails, so it kept us connected. The emails were a reminder, but the main goal was to share (and see) who was coming to the event. In addition, I
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put together a mailing, since there were a few people who didn’t receive the emails. If we hadn’t used the US Postal service, two classmates (who attended) would never have known about the event. What about the reunion itself? We had a buffet lunch, and we sat in a horseshoe type of a formation so that everyone could interact. We realized that the previous reunion was mostly eating and mingling, and when it was over, many of us realized that we had only spoken to half the people attending and didn’t have the chance to catch up with the other half. To avoid this at our 50th, we were slightly more formal. I asked two classmates to give 4-5minute talks on their experiences at LWHS. CHARLIE MORGAN and PETER SHAPIRO brought up anecdotes about classmates, teachers, ED RICH, and lots more. Many of us were nodding our heads and smiling when we remembered some little details about our four years at LWHS from 1962-1966. This was a great way to get the reunion started. After the two speakers, we all went around the room and each person got to talk about their lives and memories or thoughts about Lick. The reunion started at 11:30am and when people drifted out at 5pm, a number of people told me it was a very moving, emotional experience. Maybe that’s what happens when you get to take a peek back at who you were and whom you spent your days with fifty years ago.
Above: Tim Erickson 1971, or “Eric” as the late Physics teacher Fred Ludecke would call him, spent a week on the Galápagos Islands instructing secondary teachers.
1969 WILL KNOX recently pulled up stakes from Los Angeles and now resides in Ojai. Will says, “come visit!”
1971 TIM ERICKSON is once again a freelance math and science teacher. Mostly he designs curriculum materials for the high school level, especially when they involve data and technology. But he also does some direct teaching and staff development. For example, last Fall, when LWHS Math teacher YETTA ALLEN needed a long-term sub, Tim returned to LWHS to teach two of her math classes for six weeks. Tim writes, “It was a real treat to meet some of the current students. And as you may know, working at the school now comes
with lunch, which (sorry, Ma and Pa) is better now than in our day. Then, in the Spring, some very nice people asked if I wanted to go to the Galápagos for a week. When they ask you that, you say yes (duh), even if it means Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm teaching secondary teachers in a sweltering classroom. It was a great experience, and the frequent absence of a translator helped my Spanish. A lot.” Whether at LWHS or elsewhere, this year Tim has been sneaking in material from his new book, The Model Shop: Functions from Geometry, which is available on Amazon. (See Alumni Authors section)
MIKE GLEIM moved to The Villages, FL, at the end of 2012. His interests include golf, pickleball, sailing, shooting, dancing, politics, and especially scouting. Mike has been involved, as an adult, with scouting for over 27 years. He has started The Villages Ol’ Scouters Club, serves on the
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Left: Image from the exhibition on Yasuhiro Ishimoto that Ted Bosley 1972 co-curated.
Executive Board of Greater Tampa Bay Area Council, and is a unit commissioner of a local cub scout pack. He’s sorry to miss the reunion in October, and writes, “cheers and Vulcan wishes to my classmates!”
1972 This year, TED BOSLEY has had the privilege of co-curating an exhibition of architectural photography (thank you, LWHS, for the photography classes) at
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The Huntington Library in San Marino, CA. The exhibition, titled “Yasuhiro Ishimoto: Bi-lingual Photography and the Architecture of Greene & Greene” includes 46 black and white prints made by the late photographer, a native of San Francisco, who ultimately became a national treasure in Japan. The exhibition closed in October.
ROBERT MCCULLOUGH writes that his son is getting married! Since Robert and his family moved around a bit and settled in Texas, his son Mike did not
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have the opportunity to attend LWHS. Mike was born in East Texas but got to California as quickly as he could. He attended SF State and now lives in (and manages) the apartment building that Robert’s great grandfather built in Berkeley in 1928. He is marrying a Bay Area local, Stacey, whose parents emigrated from Hong Kong in the 70’s. Robert always wondered how his parents found out about LWHS. When the LWHS library was dedicated to his great uncle Jack, Robert knew that Lick was perfect for him. He loved working with his hands and worked side-by-side side with his grandfather, maintaining and repairing the apartment building. LWHS enhanced those skills in the Shop classes and the maintenance they performed on the building. Mr. Pratt (Wick) and KEN HIGH 1957 were significant influences on his life and what they taught Robert went well beyond the classes at the school. Robert still runs his construction consulting firm, performing analysis and expert witness testimony on large, troubled construction projects throughout the world. Robert has been volunteering his time through the Boy Scouts for 20 years, taking boys camping and teaching them about conservation, building their selfconfidence, and turning them into the leaders of tomorrow. They have been to the Gulf Coast to assist hurricane victims for several years and to work with many local charities helping less fortunate
Left: From left to right. Dr. Orrin Davis, Jeff Moncrief, Gary Bridges, Brad McCullough, Clay Foster, Kerry Laidlaw, Rob Strehl, Eliza Peterson Escott, Tom Clancy, Charles Sterck, Craig Brennan, Paul Wingerd Halpern. And Poppy, Brad McCullough’s Greyhound, is in front.
Left: From left to right, back row: Craig Brennan, Paul (Wingerd) Halpern, Clay Foster, Brad McCullough, Kerry Laidlaw, Frano Violich, Tom Clancy, Valere Costello, Jeff Moncrief, and Kathy Moncrief. Front Row: Eliza Peterson Escott, Gary Bridges, Charles Sterck, Rob Strehl.
Some quotes from the weekend (well, partial quotes, this is a public forum)...
REUNION SPOTLIGHT | BY BRAD MCCULLOUGH 1975
Class of 1975 Reunion
I
’m glad to say that the Class of 1975 has got some spirit!!
Meanwhile we started planning for a weekend in May 2016 that the majority of the class could make. We had 14 class We have successfully located 19 of attendees over parts of two days of fun, the 25 in the class. If the other six are reading this or if you know their contact frivolity, BBQ’s, wine & beer, reminiscing, info (GARY LEE, GEORGE PERRY, BILL and getting to know each other again— not bad for such a small graduating class! LOCKHART, PETER BLUME, KEITH We had attendees from across the US and LOW, MATT SCHIFFRIES), please even a couple of international travelers. contact me at bjcc2@comcast.net. This was our first class get-together since We had an initial get together in graduation over 40 years ago. October 2015 starting with the Alumni We all agreed to organize a second Day at LWHS followed by dinner and reunion relatively soon, so we’re already a lunch. Definitely kicked off our 1st starting to plan. Hopefully we’ll be able reunion since Lick in a great way— to get the folks who couldn’t make it reminiscing about life during Lick days, this time, and make contact with the catching up, and eating great food ones whom we haven’t located yet. (thanks Charles!).
“I was truly amazed how everybody had developed into such genuinely caring and compassionate people.” “I felt so comfortable and accepted, it seemed like I was returning home.” “Lick was a special place. I’m certainly better off for it and my life wouldn’t have been as rich without it.” “It was wonderful discussing our different memories of our eclectic set of teachers.” “It appears that Lick prepared us well for the world. I think that many agreed that I found college to be a let down after four years of Lick.”
ELIZA PETERSON ESCOTT, GARY BRIDGES, and I had a fantastic time organizing these events, and I am indebted to those who arranged their schedules and travel so that we could have this get-together. JIVE ‘75!! WINTER 2017
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members of the community. Robert married his high school sweetheart (Ann Davaly from Anna-Head High School). They own a lake house on Lake Tahoe and plan to retire there in a few years.
1979 WAYNE BAKER is celebrating 29 years of marriage and 28 years with Hilton Hotels. No, he’s not in the steel industry. Wayne lives in Marin. He has a son who is a senior at Villanova.
1975
ETHAN BERKOWITZ is having
BRAD MCCULLOUGH has retired after 36 fantastic years with Chevron. He now teaches quilting to kids in his Orinda home with his wife, Jennifer, has started playing league bocce, and has golfed more so far this year than he did over the last five years. He is also gardening in his wonderful backyard and is volunteering with a number of nonprofits. Brad and his daughter went on a monthlong trip to Asia that included a student exchange for her in Japan. And now he and his wife have two goats as pets in addition to a Greyhound. All this in just the first six months of retirement!
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a great time as the mayor of Anchorage, Alaska. He still gets peals of laughter when he tells people where he went to high school. Ethan encourages his classmates to come visit!
JIL JOHNSON was recently asked to give a lecture on aquatic physical therapy to the Doctor of Physical Therapy class of 2018 at Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, where she attended graduate school. Jil was featured in a community magazine about the work that she does as an aquatic physical therapist. She often attributes her rewarding career to her LWHS PE/typing
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Above, left: Brad McCullough 1975 with his wife Jennifer and their two daughters. Above: Jil Johnson 1979 with one of her clients at the Montage Wellness Center in Seattle.
teacher and swim coach Ms. Dixon, who encouraged her to join the LWHS swim team by offering to forgive Jil for cutting a typing class if she would just try swimming once! Jil also remembers that RANDY BATTAT 1977 was a relentless recruiter for the swim team. Jil believes that being one of the only females on the team was quite an attractive lure, which helped her to convince friends BETTY SCHWARTZ MARCON and JEAN HECHT BELLEW to join the team the following season. When Ms. Dixon and her husband were transferred to Florida, Wayne Hiroshima became the swim coach. Coach Hiroshima was also the Recreation Director at UCSF and he trusted Jil with a summer job teaching swimming lessons in the pool at UCSF. Jil taught swimming and worked as a lifeguard throughout college. She also coached a community and high school swim team in southwest Louisiana at some point. It’s been almost 40
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Left: Lisa “LD” Kirshenbaum 1979 Right: David Morgenstein 1979 with his family (daughters, Orly and Nina, and his wife Lida) in the Galápagos Islands. Below, right: Derek Norberg 1981
years since Jil joined the LWHS swim team and rode home on BART with dripping wet hair after practice at Balboa Pool. She says that not only did being exhausted and hungry after practice keep her out of trouble, it eventually led her into a healing profession that helps change the lives of many patients!
LISA DANIELA KIRSHENBAUM writes that she is back in San Francisco! She’s remarried and her son ETHAN MCDONALD graduated from LWHS in 2014. Ethan is awaiting deployment as an Army Ranger Combat Medic. Lisa has given up journalism, sadly, for corporations who pay better to have her compose the words on their websites. She says it is very interesting to have a look at the insides of these places. Next up for Lisa: better political participation and some creative projects, too.
BETTY SCHWARZ MARCON shares that her daughter, Camille, graduated in May from Syracuse and is working (yay!) in the
Philadelphia area. Her son, LOIC MACRON 2017, was an intern in the Alumni & Development Office this past summer and will graduate from LWHS in June. Some of you might have been contacted by him for updates! Betty is currently working as the business manager for an executive search firm that specializes in real estate, which is very different than her 25 years in the food world. But Betty still loves a stunning cocktail, adventurous meal, and delectable dessert.
DAVID MORGENSTEIN and his family took the trip of a lifetime to the Galápagos Islands last
winter. The abundance of iguanas, boobies, sea lions, and other sea life was something to behold. They also saw hundreds of Galápagos tortoises in their natural environment. David’s daughters, age 14 and 11, loved the trip and are helping to sustain a different sort of not-quite-endangered species—the San Francisco native.
1981 DEREK NORBERG heads the Council for U.S.-Russia Relations in Seattle, WA, and is also grandson of Lt. Colonel Ernest
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“Bud” Norberg 1907. Derek most appreciated the unique LWHS Shops curriculum affording woodworking, machining, drafting, welding, and electrical disciplines. The Shops challenged students demanding creativity, attention to detail and process that will serve them throughout their lives in all pursuits. Derek received a Political Science degree with Soviet emphasis from UC Berkeley and undertook postgraduate Russian Studies at the Monterey Institute before embarking on a Russia career in both the for- and nonprofit sectors. Early jobs included work onboard Soviet factory ships off the coast of Alaska in 1988-89 and loan finance in the Russian Far East with “The U.S.-Russia Investment Fund” in 1997 and 1998. He is fluent in Russian and has worked overseas in South Korea, Russia, and Azerbaijan. For the past 12 years, Derek has run the Russian American Pacific Partnership (RAPP) bilateral forum strengthening cooperation between the Russian East regions (notably Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Sakha Yakutia, Khabarovsk and Primorye), and the U.S. West Coast. Despite tensions in bilateral relations, the RAPP 21st annual meeting took place in San Francisco in July 2016. Derek resides in scenic Shoreline, WA, with his wife Lella and two daughters, and enjoys his daily commute on his BMW motorcycle.
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With 17 Saltwater World Records in 2015, STEVE WOZNIAK won the International Game Fish Association’s Men’s Saltwater trophy for the fifth time. He has a strong start on the 2016 season and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
1982 Greetings from Houston, TX!
SUANNE YORN BOUVIER caught up with her childhood friends SYLVIA DUFFY, SHERYL ISHIZAKI, and LEANNE NEBENZAHL over the summer. She is a mentor with FIRST robotics team Spectrum FRC #3847 from Houston. The team is made up of high school students from St. Agnes Academy and Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, two Catholic college preparatory schools in southwest Houston. FRC
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Top: Classmates and friends from the Class of 1982 Sylvia Johnson, Suanne Yorn Bouvier, Leanne Nebenzahl, Sheryl Ishizaki, and another friend of theirs met over the summer to catch up with each other. Above:Steve Wozniak 1981 with the IGFA Men’s Saltwater Trophy for the 2015 season. His partner of 12 years, Marta Bulaich, is pictured to the right.
is a six-week competition program for high school students to build 120 pound (54 kg) robots with help from their mentors, both teachers and engineers from a variety of companies. The students learned about engineering, programming, marketing, media, team work, cooperation, and much more. Each team is organized like a small
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business with many different tasks for students to do in addition to robot construction. Last spring, Suanne traveled with the team to the FIRST World Championship, where Spectrum #3847 put their amazing team-designed robot Ultra Violet to the challenge. Over 600 FRC teams competed in St. Louis for four days. 40 countries and 50 languages were represented. The best of the best were on hand to determine who has best met the engineering challenge this year. FIRST Championship is the preeminent celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Suanne has valued the foundation that LWHS provided to develop the head, heart, and hands. In the spring, Suanne will be cochairing the annual Strake Jesuit Spring Fling. Proceeds from the Spring Fling and Raffle support financial aid programs at Strake Jesuit, a Catholic, four-year college preparatory school for young men in grades 9-12, making it possible for 1,119 young men to attend the school with financial assistance. She is very excited about adding a “maker” component to the event. If you have any Houston maker suggestions, she would welcome them. If there are any LWHS alumni in Houston, please contact Suanne. She would love to organize a Houston LWHS event!
1983 NORMAN FONG has been working on his mobile shopping app company, Buy Via. This app helps shoppers save money with geo-located deals throughout the United States. www.buyvia.com
1984 MARTIN AZEVEDO is living in Alameda with his wife, Julia, and toddler, Zane. When not busy with dad stuff, Martin enjoys taking the ferry to South San Francisco for work at a biotech company, using that commute time to write, edit video, and develop underground stage musicals. He is glad to be in frequent touch with numerous LWHS alumni friends, including Alameda neighbor GRENOLD COFFEE 1983.
1984
Above: Jack Lapedis 1986
Energy Agency. Please look her up if anyone is ever in Vienna—and hopefully some day, Jennifer will manage to make it to a reunion!
1985 CATHARINE CLARK is very proud that her son, MAX BELDNER 2020, matriculated
as a freshman this year and is playing varsity soccer for LWHS. JENNIFER SMITH LUSSER writes, LILAH BELDNER 2017, his sister, “Hello, Class of 1984! It’s been ages after having spent three very meaningful years at LWHS, is now since I’ve seen most of you!” In 1991, after LWHS and Georgetown training full time at San Francisco Ballet and therefore completing (undergrad and law school), Jennifer moved to Vienna, Austria, her senior year online. and has spent her legal career there as an international civil servant in the UN system. She is currently the Head of the General Legal Section in the Office of Legal JACK LAPEDIS was named Affairs at the International Atomic Principal (equivalent to a Non-
1986
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Above: Photo of Montenegro from Adam Gasner 1988. Right: Adam Gasner 1988 Left: Pia MacDonlad 1986 and her family during their trip to Peru.
Equity Partner) at the law firm of Knapp, Petersen & Clarke in Glendale, CA. He handles all areas of litigation, with an emphasis on real estate law, construction claim litigation, landlord-tenant disputes, and the defense of professional malpractice claims against real estate agents and brokers, insurance agents, and attorneys. Jack also handles matters of general liability, premises liability, and complex business litigation. After 25 years away from the Bay Area (16 in North Carolina, 3 in Michigan, 2 in Connecticut, 2 in Thailand, 1 in DC), PIA MACDONALD is finally moving back to Berkeley. She left alone and returns accompanied by her husband and three children (Pia
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and her belongings no longer fit in her 1972 Volvo which originally brought her across the country). She’s had many great adventures this past year, but one highlight was supporting the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with their Ebola response activities in Guinea. Pia had never been to West Africa before and went there three times in the six months and even got to practice her “very rusty” French!
1987 ANDREW LIE has lived in Pacifica for the past 18 years with his wife, Page, daughter, Margaret, and son, Henry. Margaret began her freshman year at UC San Diego
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this fall while Henry started his sophomore year at Terra Nova High School in Pacifica. Andrew currently works as controller for the SF Office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP. Outside of the office, he serves as a Board Member of the Jefferson Union High School District, which encompasses five high schools serving the communities of Daly City, Colma, Brisbane, and Pacifica.
1988 ADAM GASNER is pleased to report that he was recently board certified as a specialist in criminal
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law by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He was also recently appointed pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act to represent individuals in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Also, for the second year in a row, Adam was awarded a grant through the U.S. Department of State to teach plea bargaining strategy to the judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers in Montenegro. On a personal note, Adam was elected to the board of trustees of the Marin Montessori School, where he serves on the executive and governance committees. This past summer, ALEX HOCHMAN and his family spent most of July in Los Angeles while his daughter SOPHIE HOCHMAN 2018 interned at Heyday Films (Harry Potter, Selma, Gravity). Alex hates to admit that the food in Los Angeles was mind-blowing. Long time Los Angeles resident and classmate JODIE STEINER
Above: Alex Hochman 1988 and his wife, Pam, with Jodie Steiner Schroeder 1988 and her husband, Drew. Top, right: A short video about the Alexandria Archive Institute’s work, founded by Sarah Whitcher Kansa 1989, available at www. alexandriaarchive.org Right: Sarah Whitcher Kansa 1989 and Eric Kansa accept the Archaeological Institute of America’s 2016 Award for Outstanding Work in Digital Archaeology.
SCHROEDER, Alex’s junior prom date, was an exemplary tour guide. Her husband, Drew, and Alex’s wife, Pam, get along better than Jodie and Alex do. In case anyone forgot, Jodie’s team didn’t win the Scavenger Hunt.
1989 After completing her PhD in archaeology, SARA WHITCHER KANSA founded The Alexandria Archive Institute (AAI, www.alexandriaarchive.
org ), a non-profit technology company that preserves and shares world heritage on the web, free of charge. Through advocacy, education, research, and technology innovation, the AAI pioneers ways to open up archaeology using their data publishing platform, Open Context (www.opencontext. org ). In 2016, Open Context won the Archaeological Institute of America’s Award for Outstanding Work in Digital Archaeology. Sara would love to connect with LWHS alumni interested in
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archaeology, technology-enabled learning and discovery, and Bay Area non-profits! Contact her at: sarahkansa@gmail.com.
1992 CHELSEA ENG is still working professionally in Argentine Tango. Dance highlights of her year included performing original choreography at the Teatro ND in Buenos Aires for shows with CITA (Congreso Internacional de Tango Argentino) and Latin Grammynominated band Tanghetto; modeling for DanceDress.com; and being a featured dancer in the stage show Tango Addiction at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Chelsea continues to teach tango in the Dance Department at SF City College. In June 2016 she travelled to Kanab, Utah, to volunteer at Best Friends animal sanctuary, an experience she highly recommends to LWHS students & alumni! Chelsea
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would love to (re)connect with LWHS alumni—particularly those based in SF, NYC, and Seattle, who are working professionally in the performing arts and/or animal advocacy. She sends much gratitude to LWHS faculty and hugs to the Class of 1992!
LORI DECTER WRIGHT is the Democratic Nominee for Oklahoma House of Representatives in District 67. She is the third Democrat in 20 years to run for this seat in the state’s most affluent, well-educated, and conservative House district. Her campaign is focused on prioritizing funding for public education, access to health care, and improving the quality of life for Oklahomans in dozens of areas where they are nationally ranked last or near the bottom. Special thanks to LWHS alumni from 1988– 1993 who have supported her campaign. She appreciates your donations and encouragement. For more information, visit www. wright4OK.com
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Above, left: Chelsea Eng 1992 and Count Glover performing in Tango Addiction at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Photo by Nikolay Chigirev. Above: Lori Decter Wright 1992 and her family.
1995 It’s been a year since NINA WILLDORF ENDELMAN and her family moved back home from Brooklyn. She and her husband are both working at Airbnb and their two girls, Miriam and Noa, go to Lafayette Elementary School. They also just joined Sherith Israel. They are now fully ensconced and loving being back in the Bay Area!
1997 After graduating from USC, KALIA FULLERTON moved to Singapore to help start a speech and drama school for children. While teaching kids, Kalia also appeared in several TV shows, film, and theatre productions. After four years, she returned to the Bay Area to become a Life Coach. Kalia now
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resides in Los Angeles and works as a Dialogue Coach and Acting Coach on children’s TV shows, while still acting and directing for theatre and indie films. She worked for Disney Channel for seven years and has been working for Nickelodeon for the past 2 seasons on the show Game Shakers. Once in awhile you might catch a glimpse of her on your TV. She is engaged to be married next year.
PHIL GORMAN loves his first year of fatherhood! Gia Rose Gorman was born January 19, 2016, and she is quickly using head (bonking), heart (so much love), and hands (she grabs everything). He finally has a good excuse to play in his band for kids, The Bug Family Band, which he been a part of for several years. Phil would love all local alumni parents to come to a show and say hi!
Above: Phil Gorman 1997 with his wife Jodi and daughter Gia. Above, right: Garvey Walker Parker, son of Laginne Walker 1997, born on August 23, 2016. Above, far right: Laginne Walker 1997 and her son Garvey Walker Parker.
On August 23, LAGINNÉ WALKER and her partner Raheim Parker welcomed their son, Garvey Walker Parker, into the world. He was 7lbs and 7oz of love and is the third generation in her family to be born on this day! They are so happy to have him and look forward to seeing him grow. They are both avid runners and travelers and can’t wait for him to get a bit bigger so they can include him in their passions.
1998 ARIEL DEKOVIC shares that the
past two years have been some of the most exciting times of her life! In the summer of 2014, Ariel took on the role as Interim Executive Director of City Slicker Farms, where she helped this awardwinning food justice organization make a 1.4 acre, $1.5M public park and urban farm a reality in West Oakland, CA. Ariel encourages TANYA ZIMBARDO is the alumni in the area to visit the West Assistant Curator of Media Arts Oakland Farm Park. In 2015, Ariel at the San Francisco Museum of married her long-time boyfriend, Modern Art. This past year she coChristoph Scheper, a biologist edited the catalogue “Public Works: from Germany. After her post Artists’ Interventions 1970s-Now” at City Slicker Farms ended this (2015, Mills College Art Museum) summer, Ariel and Christoph spent and recently guest co-curated a month hiking and backpacking “Equilibrium: A Paul Kos Survey” around California, and decided (2016) at di Rosa, a nonprofit arts it was time to move to Germany. organization in Napa. This fall, the couple embarked on a month-long road trip around the West, visiting all of the US national
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parks they’ve always dreamed of visiting, and then they moved to Germany. Ariel would love to connect with other alumni who have moved abroad.
2000 In 2015, AUSTIN EVERS and his wife, Arianna, welcomed their son, Hudson, to the family. When not answering his call, Austin serves as Senior Counsel at the U.S. State Department, defending the Department and its personnel in investigations by Congress, Inspectors General, and law enforcement.
2002 This past summer, SHOLA ADISA-FARRAR returned to California to visit family, friends, and Lick-Wilmerding (She hadn’t set foot on campus since graduation on June 3, 2002)! Shola lives in Paris, where she has been performing regularly on stage. This past spring Shola
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released her debut album entitled “Lost Myself,” which has been receiving positive recognition from critics and tracks from the album have been playing on national radio in France, the UK, and Belgium. For more information on Shola and her work, www.sholajoy. com. During her visit, Shola caught up with classmates ALICIA LABAT, NINA BUSTOS, and
CEIRIN CONNOLLY-INGRAM. Alicia currently lives in New Orleans where she is a specialist for the Louisiana State Tax Commission and in December will complete her certification in legal and medical translation and interpretation. Last October, Alicia and her husband, Keith, had a Gatsby style wedding bash with 400 family and friends. Shola was one of her bridesmaids and Nina was also in attendance. Alicia and Shola drove from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, where they visited with Ceirin. Ceirin currently resides in Santa
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Above, left: Austin Evers 2000 and his wife, Arianna, and son, Hudson. Top: 2002 classmates Shola Adisa-Farrar, Ceirin Connolly-Ingram, and Alicia Labat. Above: Collage of photos from the wedding of Alicia Labat 2002, with friends Shola AdisaFarrar 2002, Nina Bustos 2002 and her two children, Jack and Sophie.
Barbara where he works in his dream job as a Forensic Scientist for the California Department of Justice. After receiving his BS from Loyola Marymount with fellow classmate Nina, Ceirin continued his studies and earned a Master’s Degree in Forensic Science from UC Davis. When they arrived in the Bay Area, Alicia and Shola visited with Nina, who lives in San Ramon with her husband of five years and their two children. After receiving a BA from Loyola Marymount in 2006,
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Nina is back in school to become a registered nurse.
JASON GANT writes to share a few updates and recent milestones. This past Spring Jason was invited to be a speaker at THE event, the annual fundraiser at LWHS. A few months later, he completed his Master’s study in Behavioral Health (MSBH) from the University of San Francisco (USF). Directly after graduation, Jason began a second Master’s Degree program at USF. This is a Master’s in Global Entrepreneurial Management (MGEM). This is a
Top: From left to right: Classmates from 2002 Shola Adisa-Farrar, Nina Bustos, and Alicia Labat spend time together with Nina’s children Jack and Sophie. Top: Nina Bustos 2002 and her family on vacation in Hawaii. Top right: Samuel Adams 2004 Above, right: Jason Gant 2002
unique program in which Jason will study for four months each in both Barcelona, Spain, and Taipei, Taiwan. He’ll then return to San Francisco to finish out the last four months of the program. Currently, Jason is in Spain. He is quite excited and thinks this program compliments his MSBH very well. He’ll not only know how to create, implement, and evaluate programs, but after the MGEM program, Jason will be more adept in knowing how to run an entire organization. He is also very excited to be practicing his Spanish in Spain, something he’s not put any time into since graduating from LWHS. Jason
has also been invited to speak at conferences on building trauma informed communities with Futures Without Violence and he is also an advisory member of the board for One Purpose School in Hunters Point. Jason is particularly interested in working with men to increase their self-control, selfrespect, and emotion regulation. This passion arose from a love of sports. Seeing men, abuse substances and disrespect women, prompted Jason to apply to a fellowship with Futures Without Violence during his MSBH year, which has been extended so that he can further investigate the safety of campuses overseas both in Spain and Taiwan. Jason had no idea that he would be exposed to the opportunities that he now finds himself in but is enjoying each step of the way.
2004 SAMUEL ADAMS is in his second year as a composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where he curates a contemporary music series at The
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Harris Theater for Music and Dance and creates work for the orchestra. He has also recently collaborated with pianist Emanuel Ax, creating three new works which Emanuel will perform around the country, including a performance at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, CA on January 22, 2017.
Meridian Linguistics Ltd offers translation and other linguistic services for nearly any world language, with over 200+ translators and linguists working remotely across all time zones. In other happy news, Sara Maria was married at the end of August.
ALLYSON ALBERTO received
in New Orleans, LA, for the last eight years, and has been making a living on his paintings for about five years. He sells his work in Jackson Square, at the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans. In February, Aaron and his creative partner, Zach Mohr, published the first volume of their fairytale series, Desdemona’s Dreams. Aaron is the illustrator, and Zach is the writer. This book won Outstanding Children’s Illustrated Book of the Year with the Independent Author’s Network. They are currently working on Volume 2, which is planned for publication in late October of this year. Aside from that, in July Aaron visited Berlin, Germany, for the first time, and he intends to return as an artist-in-residence down the road. Aaron has also been training with an Aikido dojo this past summer, and hopes to be receiving his first belt this fall. Aaron notes that the older he gets, the more he appreciates his experiences at LWHS, and discovers how unique they were. Aaron writes, “this school sent me out into the world with confidence and skills, enough to be able to follow my passions in life. I am grateful.”
her second Master’s in School Administration from Loyola Marymount University. Going into her fourth year as principal at an inner city Catholic school in East Hollywood (Immaculate Heart of Mary School), the school has flourished dramatically. The school has Academic Decathlon winners. The school is focused on performing arts and recently the students competed and won various local competitions. Some students were recorded for the soundtrack of the movie The Book of Life. Furthermore, the school choir just sang for Pope Francis in Rome this past December and was invited to sing over the summer at Carnegie Hall. These are inner city first-generation and immigrant students whose parents make salaries below poverty level, making huge strides in their education as the future leaders of tomorrow. Allyson writes that she is so happy to be doing this ministry! “Despite struggling through Mr. A’s Spanish class,” SARA MARIA HASBUN’s Hong Kong-based language services company just celebrated its 1st birthday!
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AARON PORTER has been living
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Top: Aaron Porter 2004 (right) with his brother Max Porter 2009. Above: Aaron Porter 2004 (left) and his writing partner, Zachary Mohr, at a book signing in New Orleans this past spring.
2005 DREA CHICAS started her own consulting firm this year. The consultancy is focused on leadership building and strategic planning for businesses, non-profits, and government organizations. Because Drea is also passionate about educational excellence and teaching, she is teaching a Social Justice and Environmental Course as an adjunct professor at Northwest University and building curriculum from scratch for virtual platforms as an Educational Consultant. Drea
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lives in Seattle, WA, and originally went to Seattle to attend Seattle University. She graduated with a Transformational Leadership degree in 2013. She continues to connect with her 2005 cohort. They had their ten-year reunion recently and Drea loves hanging out with classmates SOFIA PABLO-HOSHINO, TESSA NAPOLES, LIZ STRONG, and others when she is visiting. In October 2016, REBECCA SPRINSON celebrated one year as the Executive Director of the Eugene Education Foundation, Lane County’s largest public education organization. As the chief fundraising officer for the Foundation, she says that it has been a joy to increase access to enrichment programs for the area’s 16,000 students and to work with local leaders to improve public education. In her free time, Rebecca rock climbs, cycles, and serves in her local Rotary club.
Above: 2005 classmates from left to right: Sofia Pablo-Hoshino, Liz Strong, Drea Chicas, and Tessa Napoles. Above, right: Zai Divecha 2006 and her dog at her metal shop space in SF. Right: A sample of Zai Divecha’s 2006 artwork.
DANIELLE ROBERTS and JACK JACKSON in the LWHS Learning
2006 In August 2016, after studying for 6 months, PAUL BROOKS earned his Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI). He became only the second person out of the 150+ employees from his company who signed up for the course to complete the training and earn the certificate. (As a bonus, the trainer asked to use the study guide Paul created in his future training sessions—Paul said he is still using the visual-mapping techniques he learned from
Strategies Center to make study guides 10 years later!)
JAZMÍN COLE finished her first year of general surgery residency in June 2016 and was presented with the Intern Of The Year Award by the Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery in recognition of her performance.
ZAI DIVECHA left her corporate tech job two years ago to start her own business as designer and metalworker. (Really putting that LWHS education to work!) Her company, Elektra Steel, designs and fabricates geometric steel
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Left: Members of the Class of 2006 met up over the summer in San Francisco. From left to right: Nelson Melgar, Samia Zaidi, Nick Borelli, Sasha Lekach, Alyssa Simpson, and Eric Soifer. Right: 2007 Classmates Kazimir Amanda Brown and Liesl Spitz together again in graduate school at Yale University.
wall hangings. Zai currently has some work on display at Harmonic Brewing in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco. For behind-the-scenes photos from the metal shop, follow Zai and her work on Instagram at @elektrasteel.
SASHA LEKACH graduated from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism in May. During the two-year master’s program, she created a newsletter called Keeping Tabs, collecting and sharing interactive, multimedia, and special projects from news sites and beyond. Some recent issues looked at digital projects on gun violence and the Rio 2016 Olympics. She’s always looking for more subscribers, ideas and feedback: www.keepingtabs.online
KAZIMIR (AMANDA) BROWN and LIESL SPITZ were delighted
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2008 JORDAN GASH is the lead
2007 to reunite as classmates at Yale Divinity School this fall! After
completing her Master of Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley, Kazimir served as a budget analyst in San Francisco’s Office of the City Administrator and later as a political appointee in the Obama-Biden Administration. This fall, she’s beginning the Master’s of Divinity (M. Div) program at Yale in hopes of combining her passion for policy and theology. After working in New York City first in philanthropy and later for an arts-based NGO, Liesl entered the M. Div program at Yale in 2014. She will graduate this spring, and is on track to be ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 2018.
instructor of the Social Media for Social Justice course at the Bay Area Video Coalition in San Francisco. Over the past two years, Jordan has been advancing her video production skills thanks to
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the help of the Multimedia Arts Department at Berkeley City College, where she produced a short film, SWIPE, as a final project. The film has received recognition at the Wotever DIY Film Festival in London, UK, and the 12th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival in San Francisco, CA. Another short film Jordan produced as a part of a 3-day intensive workshop through the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project, In Her Eyes, was also featured at the Wicked Queer Boston LGBT Film Festival and the 11th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival. Jordan is now in production for a personal feature length documentary entitled Black High Tea, which she intends to submit to the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund later this year.
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Above, left: Nima Ahmadi proposes to Mia Divecha 2009.
2009 MIA DIVECHA got engaged in January to Nima Ahmadi, whom she met at Stanford. Nima organized a surprise Bollywood flash mob of her closest friends and family. Family and friends secretly flew out to Minneapolis to surprise her with a choreographed dance to her favorite Bollywood song. Two of Mia’s closest high school friends SARAH BINDMAN and LAURIE RUSSELL, as well as her sister ZAI DIVECHA 2006 were a part of the surprise!
JUSTINE HONG spent the first half of the year on a sabbatical with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Uganda. Her work was focused on increasing the testing, treatment, and retention rates of children born with HIV. While in East Africa, Justine traveled to Virunga National Park
Above: Classmates from 2009 Laurie Russell, Mia Divecha, and Sarah Bindman celebrate the Mia’s recent engagement. Above, right: Justine Hong 2009 supports the US Team while in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Olympics. Right: Justine Hong 2009 on top of Nyiragongo Volcano in the Republic of Congo.
in the DRC where she observed mountain gorillas and spent a night on Nyiragongo Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Back with Deloitte Consulting, Justine recently had the opportunity to attend the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Deloitte is a sponsor of the USOC and Team USA—including LWHS’ very own GEREK MEINHARDT 2008 who took home a bronze medal). An avid traveler, Justine says that it
has always been a dream of hers to attend the Olympic Games. While inherently competitive, Justine finds that the Olympic and Paralympic Games consistently bring together the global community, serve as a platform to build awareness around global challenges we face, and further support the interconnectivity of our times.
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Left: JR Wong 2009 on day 75, his final day, of his ride in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Below: JR Wong 2009 works alongside some of the children from Manhattan, Kansas, to help build homes, which was one of the highlights of his trip.
SPOTLIGHT: BY JR WONG 2009
Bike & Build Program
I
began my 75-day, 3,900-mile crosscountry cycling adventure with 25 other riders on May 19, 2016: the beginning of my Bike & Build experience and one of the best summers of my life. The days on the road varied, from over 100-degree, humid weather, to down pours and low visibility, to 30-mph headwinds. Sometimes you’d experience all three in the same day! We watched as the land changed under us, from flat farmlands, to crowded cities, to towering mountain ranges. We passed iconic landmarks, crossed over the Mississippi River, biked through Missouri’s Katy Trail, and over the Rocky
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Mountains. A personal highlight for me was biking along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, the third-highest paved road in the United States and one that reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet. It was an extremely fulfilling experience to know that I was able to push myself physically and mentally to climb 4,000 feet in a span of 20 miles, and to do so while being approximately two miles above sea level with 33% less oxygen than normal (the absolutely breathtaking sights didn’t do much to help my breathing either!). The Rocky Mountains were definitely the most incredible sights of the entire trip.
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Another highlight was working with an affordable housing affiliate in Manhattan, Kansas. We were fortunate to meet and work directly with the same families who would benefit from our projects. These families told us their personal stories to help us understand their backgrounds, and how much our projects would impact their lives. It was amazing to hear how our group would be a small but very important part of that process. All of these experiences would not have been as incredible and memorable as they were had it not been for the 25 other riders who went along for the ride with me. The fact that
this group of amazing, kindhearted, diverse people came together to champion the cause for affordable housing was motivating and inspiring to say the least. It is a bittersweet feeling to know the trip is over, but I’ve returned more motivated and empowered than ever to make a positive impact in my community. The teachers, students, and culture of giving at LWHS instilled in me a desire to give back to the community; this summer with Bike & Build provided me with the vehicle to do so and the confidence to continue to find ways to serve my community.
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2010 SARAH KING recently started medical school at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Kansas City, MO.
SARAH ROACH started a new job at Facebook as a product specialist. Before beginning at Facebook, she spent a week traveling alone throughout Canada. She recommends traveling solo!
Top, left: A selfie of Sarah Roach 2010 from her recent travels to Canada. Top, right: From left to right: Emma BrennerBryant 2012, Michael Kreher 2012, Francesca Zepeda 2012, Sophie Macks 2012, Oliver Gonzalez-Yoakum 2013, Emily Zepeda 2008, and Amara Wilson 2010. Above, left: Class of 2010 friends Sarah Haizlip, Sarah Roach, and Emma Miller together in Denver. Above, right: Stephanie Chung 2013 visits with a few Minions during her internship at Google in Korea.
2012
AMARA WILSON 2010 and Francisca’s sister, EMILY ZEPEDA 2008, were also in attendance.
SOPHIE MACKS, along with MICHAEL KREHER and FRANCESCA ZEPEDA, graduated
After graduation, Sophie moved to Chicago to become a corps member with Avodah, a Jewish Service Corps, working at social service organization Inspiration Corporation as a resource specialist in the employment services department.
from Macalaster College in May. Family and friends from LWHS were all there to help celebrate. Fellow classmate
EMMA BRENNER-BRYANT (who graduated from Tufts University in the spring) made a surprise visit to St. Paul to attend the graduation and OLIVER GONZALEZ-YOAKUM 2013 also traveled from Boston to cheer on Francesca. Sophie’s cousin
2013 STEPHANIE CHUNG spent the summer as a Business Intern for Korea’s Google Marketing
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Solutions team. Stephanie reports that it was a wonderful experience and the best summer of her college life, and she had never felt so exhilarated and challenged at the same time. She attends Carnegie Mellon University.
MARJORIE MORALES participated in the Summer Research Program at Occidental College, where she researched diversity in STEM at the college level. Her research consisted of analyzing the effectiveness of high-impact practices conducted at other institutions. The four main practices Marjorie analyzed were active learning, supplemental instruction, undergraduate research, and psychological intervention. Her findings concluded that undergraduate research and supplemental instruction are most conducive to the success of underrepresented minorities in STEM. However, much more research needs to be conducted. Marjorie will continue her research into her senior year
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of college, analyzing rates of STEM persistence at Occidental College. More information on this research project can be found at ideal-stem. org.
2015 JOELLE PARK writes that her first summer in college did not go as expected. She was thankful and felt privileged to dodge the corporate internship life in exchange for a less conventional summer job as the personal assistant for Shara Chalmers (previously Shara Pradhan before getting married in May), a Princeton grad, Christian minister, and independent filmmaker. This job took Joelle to Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts, where Shara and her husband, Danny, spoke at a number of churches. Additionally, they all traveled to Pemba, Mozambique to do film work. The time in Africa was spent with Heidi Baker at
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Top left: Marjorie Morales 2013 with her research poster at Occidental College’s Summer Research Conference. Above: Joelle Park 2015 captures a photo of Heidi Baker in Mozambique, the founder of Iris Ministries, who celebrates with local villagers after a well that she had been working on finally struck water.
Iris Ministries, and together they worked on documenting healing miracles that they regularly see there through prayer (many blind people seeing, deaf hearing, and HIV positive people suddenly testing negative) and gathering an academic/medical perspective on these events. Joelle imagines this sounds just as bizarre as she felt, being thrown into this ministry and work, but notes that it turned out to be a very rewarding experience that forced her to mature far beyond what she would’ve gained from the types of jobs she had previously anticipated applying for. In an effort to thoroughly document this experience, Joelle filmed video blogs and posted them on her YouTube channel (JustJoelle1). Joelle finished her internship with Shara by helping her begin her screenplay for a new film project and then returned to Dartmouth for her sophomore year.
CLASS NOTES
Above: Joelle Park 2015 worked with this film crew during the summer in Mozambique, where This summer after graduating from they interviewed Rolland Baker, co-founder of Iris LWHS, KEVIN HOU interned as an Ministries.
2016
iOS developer at Breathometer, a digital health company located in the Bay Area. For those who watch the TV show Shark Tank, Breathometer was given $1 million in funding and the support of all five Sharks a couple of years ago! Their original product was a smartphone powered blood alcohol breathalyzer, but they have since expanded into other areas of breath analysis. Kevin worked on a team of five developers to design and build two of their companion apps for upcoming products. Mint, the device that is set to release in the fall, measures volatile sulfur compounds which are indicators of bad breath, gum disease, and a variety of other oral health related
Right: Kevin Hou 2016 displays two products he worked on during his internship at Breathometer: in his left hand is the Breeze breathalyzer and in his right hand is Mint, a device that measures volatile sulfur compounds which are indicators of oral health related conditions.
conditions. Kevin reports that he not only strengthened his skills as a developer, but he also gained a lot of insight into what working at a small company feels like. He says, “It was an incredible way to spend the summer!�
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LWHS ALUMNI MAGAZINE 93
In Memoriam
Joseph DeMasi
Joyce Hirshfeld French
David Greene 1941
Daniel O’Sullivan
John Laycock 1942
Jack Bennett
Walter Duering
Timothy Arnstein
Jerry Bagnani 1954
Richard Wahlberg
Stephen Dobbs
Roderic Savorgnan
John Shenk
Lindsey Robbins
Theodore Wedel
James Walker
1938
1943
1960
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1947
1951
1952
1955J
1958
1958
1966
1971
1972
Michael Vennari
1996 94
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