Pacific Ridge School Print Newsletter summer 2017

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Alumni Spotlight

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FROM THE RIDGE |

College Acceptances

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Q&A with Jed Stotsenberg

SUMMER 2017

CONNECTION: 4 GLOBAL Students Take Learning Across Datelines and Cultures 2 Future Focus: Skills for a Rapidly Changing World 8 One Service Learning Group’s Impact 10 Perfect Harmony at the Intersection of Arts & Technology

Connections have been on full display at Pacific Ridge this spring. Our 10thyear celebrations highlighted in festive fashion the connections between our school’s past and present. Especially gratifying were the contributions of our alumni and alumni families, showing their continued dedication and involvement.

The process of connecting takes place all the time at our school. Whether it’s bringing speakers to campus to discuss careers, politics, ethics and technology or engaging students with local communities and those outside the country, Pacific Ridge links learning to the world. I personally witnessed the power of these connections on a recent trip to India with 16 juniors and seniors to meet the girls whose education they have sponsored for five years.

In the pages that follow, you will read more about connections being made -students traveling the world to explore and learn about specific issues, alumni helping girls connect to fields in technology, and students combining music theory and crafting instruments in an integrated STEAM class. And, in our first annual report, one can see the important relationship between the financial support the school receives and the programs we provide.

We hope reading the VIEW will help you get a glimpse of all the great work being done at Pacific Ridge. We also warmly invite you to the Amazing Quest, our final 10th-year celebration on Saturday, September 3. Join a team, volunteer or just come for the food and camaraderie.

It’s a great way to stay connected.

Dr. Sidra Smith Assistant Head of School 2 VIEW FROM THE RIDGE

FUTURE FOCUS:

What skills will students need in a rapidly changing world?

When we founded Pacific Ridge School ten years ago, we did so knowing that a 21st-Century education needs to be forward-looking and nimble. Preparing students to thrive in a changing world requires combining the best of traditional education with new, innovative approaches.

Ten years later, with rapid change in the speed of technology as the primary driver, we can expect our lives to look and feel quite differently ten years from now than they do today.

Just like the relationship between 2007 when we opened our doors (and the iPhone was released) and 2017, much of what will probably be “normal” in 2027 most of us have not yet conceived. And the fact that the “only known is the unknown” has huge implications for education.

It is not enough for schools to assume the methods that have successfully prepared students in the past will continue to suffice. Fortunately, a big part of the culture at Pacific Ridge is that we constantly evaluate our programs and look for ways to improve. At our annual summer retreat in June, faculty members and administrators turned our attention to educational, technological, business and civic trends. The specific question we addressed? “What do students need to thrive in a rapidly accelerating and changing future?”

Happily, our findings were not far from where Pacific Ridge School has been focused these last ten years. Our mission is still relevant – perhaps now more than ever. In an increasingly interconnected future filled with opportunities and dilemmas we have not yet faced, young people will need to know how to ask the right questions, discuss and design solutions to complex problems, make commitments, take thoughtful risks and grow from both success and failure.

In many cases, the actual issues that students address in the classroom are less relevant than practice with facing them.

“The confidence and skills that students develop as a result of learning how to work with others to solve problems, no matter what those problems may be, are eminently transferable to future situations, even those we can’t imagine just yet.”

Harkness tables actively encourage this kind of thinking. Service learning projects that assist local and global communities give students practice applying the same processes outside the classroom. Gradelevel projects such as Orations and Planting a Seed encourage students to publicly share their personal passions and act on them for the public good. And our global travel programs teach students how to thrive as a group and as individuals in a variety of environments.

Wondering about some specific skills in this area, I asked our alumni about how well Pacific Ridge School prepared them for collaborative design in college and beyond. Nearly a hundred of our recent grads responded to the survey and 93% of them said they felt well prepared or prepared for communicating with others, 94% for critical thinking, and 92% for creative problem solving. While this is not an exhaustive survey, when combined with the anecdotal feedback we receive from alumni, their professors and employers, we can feel pretty confident we are on the right track.

However, being on the right track is only a start. Pacific Ridge School has always prioritized communication, collaboration, creative problem solving, and critical thinking. With these skills as important as any in the future, we intend to continue their emphasis with renewed focus in our teaching, our co-curricular

programs, and our institutional practices. We will also focus on skill building in STEAM integration, as well as creating opportunities for students to take academic risks and embrace failure as a path to success.

The new building we are designing, sometimes referred to as a “collaboratorium,” will provide opportunities in all these areas. The facility will have large and small areas for students to collaborate and study, a large open maker space for robotics, theater set construction, and all kinds of group building activities, a wet lab for prolonged bio-tech research, an electronics studio, and of course, traditional library research facilities. The best part about the space? All of these functions will flow together to ensure our students’ many projects and ideas interact with each other for further inspiration.

The fast pace of change can be dizzying sometimes, but to an educator it is filled with endless possibilities. I am excited to see what’s coming in the next ten years for our students, for the world, and for Pacific Ridge School.

Dr. Bob Ogle Head of School

Summer 2017 3

Late May and early June can be a bit lonely at Pacific Ridge. Classrooms are empty and the

oc nnection

ke Students Ta ross c A g n i n r a e L res u t l u C & s e Datelin

GREECE GREECE

bustling energy of the campus comes to a pause.

However, the two-week period is one of the most important times of the year for learning and discovery, reinforcing the global perspective that is woven into a Pacific Ridge education. This year, over 570 students and faculty traveled to communities across the country and world for academic enrichment, cultural and linguistic immersion, and service work. Several of this year’s global adventures are highlighted on the following pages.

CROSSROADS OF A REFUGEE CRISIS Trips to Greece call to mind images of azure waters and pristine white homes speckling island cliffs. However, the stunning landscape is also a coveted gateway for many Syrians hoping to find refuge in Europe.

Fifteen juniors and seniors traveled to Athens, Thessaloniki and the islands of Lesvos and Hydra to investigate and document untold stories from the refugee crisis. They interviewed refugees, aid workers and Greek citizens of different political affiliations, then created film documentaries about the multi-faceted issue. While meeting with nongovernmental organizations, students grappled with the ethics of their own travel footprint’s effect on the crisis, ultimately deciding that raising awareness was a worthwhile goal. In Athens, students heard firsthand about the debt crisis faced by Greece and its relationship to the refugee situation.

While their topic of study was serious, students also took time to visit important sites from antiquity, eat delicious Greek fare and experience the country’s natural beauty through hiking and sea kayaking.

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The field officer of a boat rescue organization showed us the spotting system they use to see boats at night. On the screen, the boat carrying more than fifty people was a small slightly discolored dot, almost impossible to see if you didn’t know what you were looking for. This work is extremely stressful for the volunteers who monitor the boats for many hours a day; if the spotters miss a dot, people could die.

– Haitong D. ‘18

View student-created documentaries by scanning the QR code or by visiting https:// tinyurl.com/PRSGreece

Countless boat wrecks and discarded safety vests represent hundreds of thousands of refugee journeys.

GLOBAL TRAVEL 2017 7th Grade: Outdoor Leadership in Big Bear 8th Grade: Understanding U.S. Government in Washington, D.C. 9th Grade: Cultural Exploration in China 10th Grade: Teamwork & Leadership in the Northern Sierras 11th & 12th Grade: Austin, TX: Entrepreneurship Australia: Reefs & Rainforests Costa Rica: Rainforest Ecology Cuba: Political Transitions Grand Canyon: Wilderness First Responder Training Greece: The Refugee Crisis India: NGOs and Rural Communities Morocco: Gateway to Africa Taiwan & Hong Kong: The “Other” Chinas Thailand: Rebuilding Lives

Summer 2017

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In the afternoon, we went on a hike with our host siblings to a waterfall.

Our relationships were deepening, and we had a long discussion underneath a beautiful shade tree next to a donkey munching some grass. We talked about the purpose of our lives and what we liked and disliked about our respective societies.

We experienced friendship.”

- Olivia C. ‘18

MOROCCO

GATEWAY TO AFRICA Ramadan in Morocco is a time of fasting, feasting, special prayers and family celebrations. It is also a unique opportunity for visitors to witness aspects of the culture they would not see any other time of the year.

Led by math teacher Noureddine El Alam, who hails from Morocco, juniors and seniors explored Marrakech, Rabat and Fes, and spent several days living with families in the small town of Boulemane, which lies at the foot of the Atlas Mountain Range. Sharing the traditional iftar meal, which breaks the fast after sunset, was a culinary journey through traditional dishes and rituals that helped students bond with their homestay families. In Boulemane, students helped make repairs at a local school, while farther north in Fes, Mr. El Alam’s parents welcomed the group to their home for tea and another delicious meal full of deep conversation and amusing stories about their teacher’s childhood.

When in the cities, students sharpened their bargaining skills in the busy souks of the medieval medinas, visited Roman ruins and other historical sites, and reveled in the country’s Berber, Arabian and Europeaninfluenced architecture.

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c o nn ec t i o n

Studen ts Learnin Take g Acro ss Datelin es & Cu ltures

POLITICAL TRANSITIONS

CUBA

Cuba’s vibrant community has been off-limits to American travelers for nearly 60 years. This past year, the lifting of travel sanctions gave a group of Pacific Ridge students a unique opportunity to explore the country and learn how the influx in American tourists has affected the island’s economy.

Want to make meaningful connections with Cuban residents?

Stay at a “casa particular,” the Cuban version of a privately owned bed and breakfast. During delicious home-cooked meals, students discussed Cuban policies and issues with local homeowners. They learned how a communist society operates and the challenges of subsisting on rations and a state-capped income. The trip also had an emphasis on service, as students spent time painting and repairing buildings at a home for the disabled and delivering food to local disabled residents.

Throughout the trip, students shared music and language with Cuban citizens eager to interact with them, showing off their respective cultures through dance, teaching English phrases and learning Cuban idioms. In their downtime, students made sure to visit some of Cuba’s beautiful beaches and sample the delectable local cuisine.

“One night, we sat and had a conversation with the security guard, Junior, at our casa particular. We talked about what life was like. He told us that this was his night job and he had a government job during the day.

He said the average salary in Cuba is about $12 a month. It was really eye-opening and I was forced to reassess my place as an American citizen traveling abroad.”

– Claire S. ‘17

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TRANSFORMATIONS: ONE SERVICE LEARNING GROUP’S IMPACT It was really inspiring to see the impact that we’ve had for the past five years and to see how happy the girls are,” Mirai Patel ’17 The members of A Million Knots are masters of transformation. In March, the service learning group turned Pacific Ridge students into high fashion models, the Athletic Center into a chic Indian lounge and a fashion show into years of education for female students in Rajasthan, India.

It took more than a year of preparation to create the successful fashion show. Mirai Patel ‘17, Paige Hellinger ‘18 and the rest of the group entertained over 300 guests with a gourmet Indian dinner, silent auction and a line of Indian-themed outfits they designed themselves. The event raised more than $10,000 to continue funding the school Mirai founded in 2012.

The A Million Knots School in Alwar, Rajasthan educates about 30 girls every year, who otherwise wouldn’t have access to schooling. The education gives them the ability to provide for themselves and their families.

During the global travel period, Mirai, Paige and other group members traveled to India and visited the school.

Mirai said that meeting the students whose education the group has sponsored was a touching experience.

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“It was really inspiring to see the impact that we’ve had for the past five years and to see how happy the girls are,” Mirai said.

The Pacific Ridge students were given a warm welcome from the girls and their extended families. Mirai said it was a great opportunity to learn more about Indian culture and that she saw similarities between the girls’ enthusiasm for learning and the atmosphere at Pacific Ridge.

The trip to India focused on non-governmental organizations and their impact in rural communities.

Students met with their contacts at IIMPACT, the organization that oversees the A Million Knots School.

They also met with leaders of Project Concern International and learned about the process of running a trade school for at-risk teenage girls. The fashion show’s outfits were handmade by students at the New Delhi school.

Inspired and empowered by their experiences, the service learning group is busy planning for the future.

Paige and Madeline Forgey ‘18 will take the reins of leadership. Mirai, who is attending Washington University in St. Louis, plans to stay connected and looks forward to seeing what the group does next.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT KATHLEEN CARMODY ‘12

CHRIS PRIJIC ‘11 COLLEGE: UC Irvine Class of 2015, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering

COLLEGE: Baylor University Class of 2016, B.A. in Management Information Systems and Supply Chain Management

CURRENTLY: Co-Founder and Lead Engineer at Orbee, a digital marketing tool for the automotive industry

CURRENTLY: Software Development at General Motors

WHEN SHE’S NOT AT WORK YOU CAN FIND HER: Running her dog at the greenbelt, a seven-mile outdoor park in Austin, Texas, or catching an outdoor concert.

ON INSPIRING YOUNG GIRLS TO GET INVOLVED IN STEM: I’m a board member with Technology Goddesses, a non-profit that runs workshops and a summer camp in San Diego that nurtures girls’ passion for science, technology, engineering and math. We also hold career panels for grades 7 through 12. Women who work professionally in the fields visit and talk about what they enjoy about their jobs and what they don’t, so girls get an idea of what it’s like to work in STEM. ON HOW THE HARKNESS METHOD PREPARED HER FOR THE WORKING WORLD: The thing that I value a lot was talking to our teachers every single day. When you’re 16 or 17 and talking to someone twice your age, you’re learning communication skills that students at other schools may not learn or develop. I’m not afraid to ask questions during important meetings. In the corporate world, it’s good to ask questions because it shows that you’re trying to actively learn and participate in a project.

ON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT WORKING IN TECHNOLOGY: A lot of people don’t want to get into IT or computers because they assume it’s just staring at lines and lines of code. In reality, IT has a lot of different aspects that can fit multiple personalities.

WHEN HE’S NOT AT WORK YOU CAN FIND HIM: Using his annual pass at Disneyland or sampling delicacies from Santa Ana’s eclectic food truck scene.

ON HIS DIGITAL MARKETING COMPANY: Orbee focuses on providing digital marketing data and analytics to the automotive industry. Using SEO optimization and other digital marketing tools, we give car dealerships better analytics to see how their advertising dollars are spent and how they could be used more efficiently.

The company is based in Orange County.

ON HOW THE ARTS AT PACIFIC RIDGE HELPED WITH PROBLEM SOLVING: I played the piano and saxophone in the jazz ensemble and the orchestra.

When we’re talking about bigger product issues, or a roadmap for the company, playing music was very good for me in terms of training the creative side of my mind, jazz especially. I’m okay trying different things and am not afraid of messing up.

ON LEARNING THROUGH DISCOVERY AT PACIFIC RIDGE: From physics experiments to global travel, I learned that you can figure things out on your own and just be thrown into situations where you don’t even know where to start. Pacific Ridge helped me to learn to make discoveries and move forward with the knowledge from those discoveries.

Planning my own global trip in particular, gave me the confidence to step up and start my own company.

Summer 2017 9

MAKING MUSIC: PERFECT HARMONY AT THE INTERSECTION OF ARTS & TECHNOLOGY If you were lucky enough to attend the Middle School Arts Show in May, you probably saw a group of eighth graders playing electric cigar box guitars and sounding pretty darn good. Students designed and constructed the instruments themselves as part of Making Music, a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) class offered to eighth graders at the end of the two-year Middle School arts curriculum.

Physics teacher Brooks Park began teaching Making Music three years ago as a way to integrate conceptual physics and music theory. The hands-on environment emphasizes three-dimensional thinking, a skill that Park believes is increasingly left behind thanks to modern technology. “We tend to think in 2D because of the ubiquity of screens,” says Park. “This class asks students to move fluidly between the 2D and the 3D world.”

Together with Music teacher Drew Burges, Park split the class so that students alternated days focusing on instrument design and construction with days immersed in music theory. Students in the class had a wide range of playing ability, but, according to Burges, even accomplished players have gaps in their knowledge. “A lot of kids use online tutorials to learn playing an instrument, which is great, but that will only get you so far. Music theory teaches them the language of music, rather than just songs.”

Their first task, constructing and learning to play a one-string guitar, gave students a great platform for learning the basics of chords. As they progressed

10 VIEW FROM THE RIDGE

in the class, they were asked to create a song using particular chords and chord structures.

“It’s almost like a math class for the students with little or no experience,” says Burges. “They spend a fair amount of time laying the foundation, but then there are these sudden ‘a-ha’ moments when theory and practice come together in a moment of creativity.”

With Mr. Park, students cut their teeth by building a Canjo, a one-string guitar. The simple construction introduced them both to LIbreCAD, a computeraided drawing program, and to the relationship between string, resonator, and sound. They then moved on to the three-string, cigar box guitar, which required a far more complicated translation from 2D representations on the screen to 3D renderings in the Design & Fabrication Studio. “This kind of thinking is not what you would typically find in a traditional physics class,” says Park. “Moving between the 2D and the 3D world demands abstract spatial awareness.”

Not to mention skill with tools. Most students in the class, according to Park, have never built anything.

“Not only are they learning to use tools safely, they have gained a huge appreciation for how important measuring is,” he says with a smile. “But even better,” he adds,

“students are learning mechanical knowledge, which gives them the confidence to know mistakes are fixable.”

Each year, Park has added elements that deepen students’ engagement with the concepts and creative output of the class. Performing at the Middle School Art Show this year was possible because the cigar-box guitars were electric for the first time, thanks to amplifying tools called piezo pickups. “They got a chance to play for an audience, and it gave us an opportunity to talk about electricity and magnetism.” He is already looking to future classes, when students might wind their own pickups, or perhaps have even more opportunity to customize their instruments, adding more strings or designing the full body as well.

Enrollment for Making Music has almost doubled since last year, and Park can appreciate why students are drawn to it. “One great thing about the course,” Park explains, “is that the stakes are not whether or not the product gets a certain grade but whether or not it works. Evaluation is very black and white.” And students more than rise to the occasion, taking ownership of the process and pride in their work. “The class redefines what they think they can do, and it shows in their work.”

Summer 2017 11

Pacific Ridge Graduates Welcomed to Universities Across Nation and Overseas The list of acceptances below for the 327 graduates in the classes of 2014-2017 gives a 4-year snapshot of the colleges and universities around the country that welcome our students. Bold type identifies the schools to which Pacific Ridge students have matriculated; asterisks indicate those institutions that include more than one Pacific Ridge graduate in their student ranks.

NORTHEAST

Adelphi University Babson College Bard College Barnard College Bates College Bennington College Bentley University Boston College * Boston University * Brandeis University Brown University* Bryant University Clark University Colgate University Columbia University * Connecticut College Cooper Union Cornell University Curry College Dartmouth College Dean College Emerson College Emmanuel College Endicott College Fairfield University Fordham University Olin College of Engineering* Hamilton College Hampshire College Harvard University Hofstra University Ithaca College Marist College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Middlebury College Mount Holyoke College Mt. Ida College The New School * New York University * Northeastern University * Pace University Pratt Institute Providence College Quinnipiac University Rhode Island School of Design Rochester Institute of Technology* St. John’s University St. Lawrence University Salve Regina University Sarah Lawrence College Simmons College Skidmore College Smith College Suffolk University Syracuse University Trinity College Tufts University * Union College University of Buffalo, SUNY University of Connecticut University of Massachusetts University of New Hampshire University of Rhode Island University of Rochester University of Vermont U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Wellesley College Wentworth Institute of Technology Wheaton College Williams College Worcester Polytechnic Institute Yale University *

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MID-ATLANTIC

American University Bucknell University * Carnegie Mellon University Catholic University of America College of William and Mary Dickinson College Drexel University Franklin & Marshall College George Washington University * Georgetown University Gettysburg College Goucher College Haverford College Johns Hopkins University * Lafayette College Lehigh University * Loyola University, Maryland Muhlenberg College Pennsylvania College of Technology Pennsylvania State University Princeton University * Roanoke College Rutgers University St. John’s College Stevens Institute of Technology Swarthmore College United States Naval Academy University of Delaware University of Maryland University of Pennsylvania * University of Pittsburgh University of Richmond University of Virginia Ursinus College Villanova University Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Military Institute Virginia Tech Washington College Washington & Lee University

SOUTH/SOUTHEAST

Auburn University Berry College Centre College Clemson University College of Charleston * Columbia College Davidson College Duke University Eckerd College Elon University Emory University Emory University, Oxford College * Furman University George Mason University Georgia Institute of Technology Guilford College Hendrix College High Point University * James Madison University Louisiana State university Loyola University of New Orleans Lynn University North Carolina State University Queen’s University of Charlotte Rice University Rhodes College Rollins College St. Edward’s University Savannah College of Art & Design Southern Methodist University * Texas A&M University Texas Christian University * Trinity University

Tulane University University of Alabama * University of Miami University of Central Florida University of Georgia University of Kentucky University of Louisville University of Mississippi University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill University of South Carolina, Columbia University of Texas Vanderbilt University Wake Forest University

MID-WEST

Beloit College Carleton College * Case Western Reserve University College of St. Benedict Columbia College Chicago DePaul University DePauw University * Denison University Grinnell College Illinois Institute of Technology Indiana University, Bloomington Kalamazoo College Kenyon College * Kettering University Knox College Lake Forest College Lawrence University Loyola University, Chicago Macalester College Marquette University Miami University of Ohio Michigan State University Northern Michigan University Northwestern University Oberlin College The Ohio State University Ohio Wesleyan University Principia College Purdue University * University of Chicago * University of Illinois, Chicago University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign University of Iowa University of Kansas University of Michigan * University of Minnesota University of Missouri, Columbia University of Nebraska, Lincoln University of Notre Dame University of Oklahoma University of St. Thomas University of Tulsa University of Wisconsin * Washington University in St. Louis * Xavier University

WEST/ MOUNTAIN

Arizona State University * Brigham Young University Colorado College Colorado School of Mines Colorado State University Johnson & Wales University Montana State University Northern Arizona University Regis University Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design University of Arizona * University of Colorado, Boulder * University of Colorado, Colorado Springs University of Colorado, Denver University of Denver * University of New Mexico University of Utah Utah State University Westminster College

CALIFORNIA

Art Institute of California Azusa Pacific University Biola University California College of the Arts Cal Tech Cal Lutheran University

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo * CSU Channel Islands CSU Chico CSU Fresno CSU Fullerton CSU Long Beach CSU Monterey Bay CSU Northridge CSU San Marcos CSU Sacramento Chapman University * Claremont McKenna College * Concordia University - Irvine Fashion Institute of Design Harvey Mudd College Humboldt State University Laguna College of Art & Design Loyola Marymount University * Mira Costa College Mills College Occidental College Otis College of Art & Design Palomar College * Pepperdine University Pitzer College Relativity School San Diego State University San Francisco State University San Jose State University Santa Clara University * Scripps College * Sonoma State University St. Mary’s College of California Stanford University * UC Berkeley * UC Davis * UC Irvine * UC Los Angeles UC Merced UC Riverside UC San Diego UC Santa Barbara * UC Santa Cruz * University of La Verne University of the Pacific University of Redlands * University of San Diego * University of San Francisco

PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Evergreen State College Gonzaga University Lewis and Clark College * Linfield College Oregon State University Portland State University Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Northwest College of Art Reed College * Seattle University University of Oregon * University of Portland University of Puget Sound * University of Washington * Whitman College Whitworth University Willamette University

INTERNATIONAL

The American University of Paris Bard College, Berlin Imperial College, London King’s College London McGill University, Canada Minerva Inst. for Research & Scholarship New College of the Humanities, England Quest University Richmond, The American University in London St. Louis University, Madrid University College London University College Roosevelt, Netherlands University of British Columbia, Canada University of Edinburgh, Scotland University of St. Andrews, Scotland* University of Toronto, Canada

COMMENCEMENT 2017

On June 15th, Pacific Ridge School bid farewell to the 84 members of the Class of 2017 with a joyful commencement ceremony attended by family, faculty, classmates and friends.

In his Commencement address, Dr. Ogle spoke about the importance of community connections in a rapidly changing world:

As you go through your lives, you will have a choice.

You can go through your days, head down, focused on your tasks, worrying about grades, numbers, to-do lists, consuming all the new abilities and choices we will have before us -- focused on the next goal, the next objective, the next big thing -- projecting and protecting your personal interests.

Or, you can go through your days with your head up, part of a community, aware of others, embracing difference, employing empathy, genuinely connecting, putting collective interests ahead of your own.

One way may lead, more efficiently, to individual success. But, the other way, while a tad messier, makes

you part of something bigger -- a member of a community, part of team, a small part of a larger whole.

And, when change comes -- when the world shifts just a little bit underneath your feet -- where will you be? Will you be alone with your work and your accomplishments? Or, will you be together, with people who care about you because you care about them.

Class of 2017, if your experience here at Pacific Ridge School is any indication, I know where you will be.

You will be with your people – laughing, talking, sharing, questioning, agreeing, disagreeing, empathizing -- cheering.”

Summer 2017 13

Each athlete has a role, and has to be good in that role -

essentially they are competing to be their best selves.

Director of Volleyball Programs

Q&A WITH JED STOTSENBERG You have extensive coaching experience, most recently with WAVE Volleyball. What brought you to Pacific Ridge School?

I have always admired Pacific Ridge School from afar, and saw a lot of opportunity here because it is a growing school with a great mission. Not only did I hit it off with the teachers and coaches I met here, but also was very impressed with how the students were so polite, self-aware and well spoken. I thought to myself, this is a really cool environment.

What is your coaching experience, and what will your responsibilities include as Director of Volleyball Programs at Pacific Ridge School?

I have been coaching since 1996, in high schools, colleges, and clubs. Before joining Pacific Ridge School, I was Director of Boys’ Volleyball and coach at WAVE Volleyball Club for 10 years. As a coach at La Costa Canyon, I helped guide the Boys’ Volleyball team to Championship wins three out of my four years there. At Pacific Ridge, as the Interim Athletic Director I will oversee all Volleyball programs, Tennis, Basketball and Baseball programs.

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What are your impressions of the Boys Varsity Volleyball Team so far?

I have noticed a number of things since beginning in February. The camaraderie among players is superb, they seem to really know and like each other. All the players are intelligent, and have high emotional IQs. Strong leadership within the team really helped them go undefeated in league play and far into CIF playoffs.

There’s great potential in the Boys JV team, which has improved tremendously this year, taking 2nd in the Coastal League. I also notice some very talented players on the boys Middle School team, which went undefeated this year. I’m looking forward to helping with the girls’ teams when their indoor program starts in the fall.

How did you become a volleyball player?

I started playing doubles grass volleyball on a court at the apartments I grew up in which was outside of Seattle. There were no high school volleyball programs in the northwest but I did find a few small clubs, adult leagues, open gyms, double tournaments to keep improving my game along with attending college camps in California.

Out of high school I was recruited for track and field as a decathlete and pole vaulter but my love was volleyball so I moved to San Diego to pursue the game in college. Through many great coaches, teammates, families, clubs and schools I was able to continue my playing in university and professionally.

What are some insights you have gained from coaching 7th-12th graders?

Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is that, while it is great to win and to coach the most accomplished teams, the most satisfying part of being a coach is seeing how sports can teach kids to be good people.

They learn how to perform under pressure, how to fail and try again, how to handle the emotions that go hand-in-hand with competition, and how to build camaraderie with their team. Each athlete has a role, and has to be good in that role - essentially they are competing to be their best selves.

Summer 2017 15

COMMUNICATIONS SURVEY

We want your feedback!

Use attached QR code or visit: https:// tinyurl.com/pacificridge1

6269 El Fuerte Street Carlsbad, CA 92009

IMPORTANT DATES AUGUST 30 OPENING DAY SEPTEMBER 3 PRS AMAZING QUEST SEPTEMBER 8 COMMUNITY BBQ SEPTEMBER 19 BACK-TO-SCHOOL NIGHT OCTOBER 21 FALL FEST OCTOBER 9, 12, 13 STUDENT/ PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES NOVEMBER 4 ADMISSIONS OPEN HOUSE NOVEMBER 18-26 THANKSGIVING BREAK DECEMBER 8-9 MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSICAL DECEMBER 21 GINGERBREAD BREAKFAST

Celebrate our 10-year journey at this all community event!

Sunday, September 3 3:00 p.m. on campus

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