Priorities #51: Winter 2011

A Magazine of the Priory · Issue #51

Priory Alum ‘87

Mark

Wins Pulitzer Prize

· November/December 2011

TOC TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Woodside Priory School Celebrating 54 Years of Benedictine Education In This Issue Fall at a Glance. Pages 5-7 Mark Fiore - Pulitzer Winner. Pages 8-10 Reunion 2011. Pages 12-13 Class Notes. Pages14-15 Media Mavens. Pages 16-20 Tapestries of Hope. Pages 22-23

Board of Directors Abbott Matthew Leavy, OSB Father Mark Cooper, OSB Brother Edward Englund, OSB Father Martin Mager, OSB Father William Sullivan, OSB

Board of Trustees Father Timothy Backous, OSB Janet Brownstone Lisa Carlos Jennie Chiu Sherri Coats Monica Corman Eileen DiGiorgio Kathy Feldman Mark Gainey Chris Galli ‘84 Hilary Giles George Hohnsbeen Peter Kasenchak Bob Latta Rick Magnuson Bruce McAuley Bud McElroy ‘83 Tim Molak Cecilia Montalvo Jami Nachtsheim Father Maurus Nemeth, OSB Dale Pfau Ray Rothrock Maureen Sansbury Ken Tehaney ‘66 Paul Titterton ‘82 Keith Van Sickle Lisa Wan

Trail to Eagle. Pages 24-25 Interview with David Moseley. Pages 26-27 Peninsula Bridge Program. Pages 28-29 The Green Page. Pages 30-31

Priorities magazine is published in March/April, June/July, and December/January by Woodside Priory School for its alumni, parents, students, neighbors and friends. Contact the Communications Office at 650-851-6193 or the school at 650-851-8221.

Editor: Sean Mclain Brown Contributing Writers: Thea Sullivan, Gulliver Lavalle, Hovey Clark, Sean Mclain Brown, Ben Krausz, Dan Polk Design/Production: Jim Kirkland, Copperline Multimedia Photos: Sean Mclain Brown, Jim Kirkland, Tina Paulson, Kelly Sargent, Tim Molak, Al Zappelli Printing: Communications on the Mark, Mark W. Allen

Chapel Services

Masses at 7:15 a.m. Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m. Sunday 11:00 a.m. Sunday Hungarian service 8 p.m. third Friday (Taize) ecumenical service All are welcome.

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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear Priory Community, The weather is changing as I write this letter – Thanksgiving is over and soon Christmas and the end of our first semester of school. The students have been amazing – three of our Upper School fall sports teams qualified for CCS and our girls’ volleyball made it all the way to NORCAL’s championship, our young thespians performed remarkably in The Crucible, and we had over a thousand people attending our three Open Houses in November and December.

As has become a tradition, our school celebrated Dia de los Muertos with over 50 memorials displayed around Benedictine Square in honor of loved ones. As you pass each table you see a picture, a quote or some momento that held significance for the deceased. The altars were the creation of a brother or sister, son or daughter, grandson or granddaughter. The month of November in Christian churches allowed us to remember and be connected to the ones who we have loved or have made a significant impact on our lives. Our hearts and souls are filled again with their spirit and a reminder of what their life taught us. Throughout November, the Monks prayed for all members of the Priory community who are deceased. This gesture reminds us how much we value their spiritual role and leadership.

At a morning faculty meeting in October, and ironically the day Steve Jobs died, I shared five of the ten “commandments” that he believed were most important in the “creative process.” These five matched perfectly with our philosophy which has created an extraordinary educational environment.

The five were: Tap the Experts, Never Stop Studying, Simplify, Keep Teams Small, and Use Carrots Not Sticks. They mirror the benchmarks we have used in our “educational process” to motivate our students and explore the best ways to teach. These five, along with our five Benedictine Values, assist us in creating the kind of place that is “good for kids” and provide them with the academic and personal skills necessary to be successful.

The Priory, at age 54, still prepares young people for a future that is exciting and daunting, unpredictable and challenging. Our call as educators and parents has never been greater, to listen and to understand the demands and issues confronting this generation. We must have the resources to maintain the best facilities, provide appropriate programming for our Middle and Upper Schools, explore new ways to teach and reach our students and provide life changing experiences both locally and globally. The Priory offers some insights and experiences for those who are on our campus. Our Residential Program represents 12 countries of the world which makes us a mini United Nations and provides an international flavor to our daily life. Our on-campus community of Benedictine Monks living, working and praying here, and a large on-campus faculty, staff and families, give us a permanence and stability that will serve us well into the decades to come.

We are in the final stages of our accreditation self-study. In March, we will be visited for three days by a team of educators who will visit classes, talk to parents, staff, students, meet with departments and our Board and generally verify our plans and dreams for the future. This process occurs every 6 years for us as members of WASC – Western Association of Schools and Colleges, WCEA – Western Catholic Education Association and CAIS – California Association of Independent Schools. The team continued page 4

The Priory, at age 54, still prepares young people for a future that is exciting and daunting, unpredictable and challenging. Our call as educators and parents has never been greater, to listen and understand the demands and issues confronting this generation.

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will write a report on their visit and findings and send it to the accreditation council. The past 15 months has given us the opportunity to look back and forward on changes made to our educational program, staff professional development, and facility improvements. Faculty, staff, students, trustees, and parents worked together to produce a report that is honest, highlights our many strengths and provides a roadmap for improvements. Our summary of input from the committees affirms that the Priory manifests a consistent vision and focus, demonstrates vitality and growth and displays a welcoming environment to all. The following areas emerge as strengths since our last visit in 2006: Mission and Vision, Student Learning, Culture of Innovation, Enhancement of Student Life, Governance, and Leadership and Sustainability. The Priory continues to become a better school and community every day, and all of us are proud to be members of this caring Benedictine institution.

This past week the Priory lost a valued former Board Chair, Bob Ward. Bob and his wife, Charlene, were some of our biggest supporters, and Bob’s leadership came at a time when we needed a steady and experienced hand. We extend our prayers and sympathy to his family.

May this letter find you well, full of the Holiday spirit and ready for the miracle of this holy and sacred season.

Sincerely,

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Left: Head of Upper School. Brian Schlaak participates in the yoga class led by Alex Thayer.

Above: L-R Middle Schoolers Eva El Fishawy and Hannah Lazarus write notes to place on the Wall of Kindness

Tim Molak Head of School

Below: L-R Alex Han and Chris Brugger play a tense game of blitz chess during break Above: Orchestra Director Eileen Dimminger shows Max Leiter how to properly hold the bow on a violin.

Coach Rick Riebhoff and his staff helped the Girls Volleyball team advance to the State Championship Finals. Congratulations to the team!

Coach Matthew Lai and his staff helped lead the Boys and Girls Cross Country team to the State Championships!

Above: Middle School students learn woodcraft in Hovey Clark’s Woodshop class.

Left: Will Galloway and Maggie Hernandez shine in their performaces for The Crucible. Above: Lukas Sarnow delivers a stand-up performance as John Proctor

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AT A GLANCE Left: L-R Robert Perez and Kaylen Chung volunteer with dormers and dorm staff helping beautify the San Francisco Zoo. Below: L-R Katrina Jim and Katie Sonnenfeldt.

Middle Schoolers learn teambuilding and self-confidence on the ropes course at Outdoor Ed.

2011 Spirit Week was a blast! Priory students really ramped up their school spirit and had an enthusiastic and fun week!

Carolyn Akers sprints a strong finish beating out her competition.

Left: L-R Non Kuramoto and Maggie Mei pose on Halloween.

Right: The boys football team had a great season, learning the fundamentals and building the skills to become a stronger team.

Halloween was a blast! We had a motley assortment of ghouls, ghosts, faceless Mariachi players, and more!

Left: Former NBA star and original Dream Team member, Christopher Laetner coached Middle School and High School basketball players on the fundamentals.

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PULITZER Priory Alum takes

“Priory got the ball rolling. It has a special place in my heart.”

—Mark Fiore, ’87, Pulitzer Prize winner

in Political Cartooning

by Thea Sullivan

Mark Fiore, ’87, can claim a lot of

firsts. He is the first political cartoonist ever to make a career of posting computer-animated cartoons online. He is also the first graduate of the Priory to win a Pulitzer Prize, which he did in April 2010. And he’s the first Pulitzer winner in the eighty-nine year history of the political cartooning category to win for cartoons that don’t appear in print.

It All Started at Priory Mark Fiore says the same thing to everyone who asks: he got his start as a political cartoonist in high school. At Priory , to be exact, in Vernon Sohlberg’s English class. On that fateful day, Mr. Sohlberg let the students work quietly on any creative project of their choice. The only requirement was that they turn something in to him at the end of the class period.

Fiore remembers, “I did a hokey little drawing on binder paper of a kid sitting under a tree. All these trucks were going by with disassembled nuclear missiles on them. It was kind of this disarmament thing.”

It was Mr. Sohlberg’s reaction that day, Fiore explains, that determined the course of his career. “I turned it into him, and he said, ‘You know, people do this for a living! That’s a political cartoon.’ It really was one of those light bulb moments. From that point on, I just sought out politics and political cartoons wherever I could. It really was that clear cut of a moment.”

Fiore’s early interest in politics had started at home. “There were definitely a lot of political discussions around the dinner table,” he says. “But it was basically at the Priory where politics started to come onto my radar a little more. I became much more political when I was at Priory.”

While at Priory, he worked at the school newspaper, The Beacon. “I was doing political cartoons in each issue, and a comic strip. The comic strip was

kind of my attempt at being the Doonesbury of Priory. I remember one in particular that poked fun at Mr. Trudelle. He was a recurring caricature in there.”

After graduating from Priory, Fiore earned a degree in political science from Colorado College and went on to work as a freelance political cartoonist. In the late nineties, he began experimenting with computer animation, turning single- or multi-paneled print cartoons into very simple animation using Flash software. The Internet was young, and fledgling online news sites were looking for content. Fiore began to find a market for his animated cartoons. “Back then, those were pretty much the only thing that moved on the Web,” he says. “It

was still pretty much all text and photos. There was nothing that was actually animated, or video, or anything. It was kind of a fun time to be experimenting with that stuff.”

For several years, Fiore’s bread and butter continued to be print cartooning. For a short time before the dot com bust, he was the staff political cartoonist for the San Jose Mercury-News. But then, says Fiore, “the paper just kind of hit the fan and they started laying people off. The new publisher that came in basically told the editorial board to go easier on Bush. When they tell that to a cartoonist, you tend to go harder on Bush.” Fiore can’t remember if he was fired or if he quit the Mercury-News, but that was the turning point. “After that I tran-

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W Dear Priory Alumni,

We had a fantastic Reunion weekend in September for the classes that end in 1 or 6. This year’s reunion set many new records! We had the highest attendance of alumni at dinner Saturday night, the class of 1981 set a new record for total money raised for the class reunion gift and our first graduating class, 1961, celebrated their 50th reunion! It was definitely a weekend not to be missed, and I am so happy to have met such enthusiastic and fun alumni over the three days. Alumni Reunion 2012 is already scheduled for September 7-9 for the classes that end in 2 or 7. If you are interested in being a class agent or helping organize your reunion, please email me at alumni@prioryca.org.

Top: A few frames from an assortment of Mark’s animated political cartoons Left: Mark at the 2010 Pulitzer Prize Workshop Speaker Series in Tokyo, Japan

sitioned into doing just animated political cartoons, which I then sold to a lot of different online new sites.”

A New Kind of Political Cartoon Mark Fiore’s animated political cartoons are hard to describe, but once you see them, they’re hard to forget. Cartoons are between forty-five seconds and two minutes long, and they convey their sharp-edged message through satire and ironic juxtaposition. For example, a cartoon called “Mourning in America” combines the soft music and hushed tones of Reagan’s famously successful ad, “Morning in America,” with images of a deteriorating nation and a cynical, apathetic voice-over, suggesting that political callousness is behind the country’s current economic slide.

Another recent cartoon is titled “We Are the Whirled.” It critiques the public’s lack of attention to current famine conditions in Africa by spoofing the 1985 fundraising blockbuster “We Are the World.” As the familiar music swells, the lyrics tell another story: “We are the whirled, we are distracted…” The real problem, the lyrics go on to suggest, is that famine victims just aren’t interesting enough. “They’re not on Twitter, and there’s no reality show, if only they were televised like Casey Anthony…”

Other cartoons play with other conventions. The recurring “News in a Nutshell” cartoons borrow the sepia-toned urgency of old-fashioned newsreels, while “Dogboy and Mr. Dan” and “Little Suzy Newskins” juxtapose the light-hearted tone of the television sitcom with harsh political realities.

Fiore says of animation, “I can do more with it than I could with single-panel print political cartoons. I feel like I have more tools in the quiver, essentially. I can use motion, and color, and sound, and music.

I feel like I can tap into people’s brains a little bit more, and touch emotions, and opinions.” He also appreciates the reach the technology gives him. “I can reach a younger audience, and a different audience than I could in a newspaper.”

Publishing his work online also allows Fiore an element of interactivity unavailable in print cartooning. “In the old days you’d get letters or a letter to the editor. But with this, people can respond immediately either with commenting or emailing.” He admits it’s not always a civil discussion. “ You do hear from a lot more people.

It’s quicker for someone to send an angry or nasty email or comment.

But a lot of times you do get a good dialogue going with the person, or they start talking among themselves. That’s the beauty of having comments affiliated with the cartoon.”

Another exciting element of the online medium is its power to get viewers politically involved. “For a cartoon that’s involved with a humanitarian issue,” Fiore says, “I’ll have a link to where people can actually do something about it.” At the end of the “We Are the Whirled” cartoon, for example, he provides links to four international famine relief organizations.

Fiore lives in Fairfax, CA, with his wife and newborn daughter.

Speaking of his work, he says, “Overall what I really love about it is that I’ve been able to find a job, or cobble together a career, that’s allowed me to do what I love, and that’s cartooning. It’s allowed me to say what I want to say and throw my opinion out there. It’s something I really enjoy doing and it allows me, as silly as it sounds, to try to make a difference in the world.”

Go to iTunes to downlad Mark’s app and watch all of his animated political cartoons.

Father Martin and John Baldwin (Director of Development) just returned from Asia, meeting with a large number of alumni in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei. It is always an enjoyable trip for Father Martin, John and the alumni they visit. Father Martin received a note from one alum he saw in Taipei who said, “The truth is, once, we all couldn’t wait to graduate from the Priory, but as time goes by... we finally realize that piece of land in Portola Valley is after all... heaven on earth. Miss you always.” We will continue to travel and visit alumni. In February, Father Martin and I plan to visit alumni in the Seattle area. As our efforts go forward, our relationships continue to grow with alumni everywhere.

Some alumni have expressed interest in organizing events around specific activities in their area, such as cycling, book clubs, hiking, etc. If you are interested in organizing an event in your area, please contact me and I can help you reach other alums.

As you can see, there is always an opportunity for you to reconnect or get involved with the Priory community. I wish you a warm holiday season and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Casey Wynn Associate Director of Development, Alumni Relations

Father Martin received a note from one alum they saw in Taipei who said, “The truth is, once, we all couldn’t wait to graduate from the Priory, but as time goes by... we finally realize that piece of land in Portola Valley is after all... heaven on earth. Miss you always.”

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REUNION! Sept e mb e r 9 - 1 1, 2 0 1 1

13 “What a great weekend. I really enjoyed it and am equally impressed by what a great group we have. I think it’s a tribute to what they were trying to achieve at the Priory. They loaded up our brains with all this stuff (Latin, etc.), but in the process achieved the greatest result, molding our hearts. It all worked, the Ora and the Labora.” — Steve Welch ‘66

“It was such a fantastic reunion, that I am still trying to digest all that I experienced; we all change over the years physically, but the spirit stays the same, keeping all the individual character traits with us for the rest of our lives.”

— Csaba Hrotko ‘61

“The last time I saw Dennis, John and Whit, we were a bunch of young “Bucks” ready to take on the world. I did see Csaba a few times in between. 50 years later, when we got together at the Priory, we were old pals that had a life time of adventure behind us, looking forward to a less stressful time and wanting to enjoy the years ahead.” — Jim Ruffo ‘61

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15 “Being together again on campus, at old haunts and now some new, reinforced the bond that we as a class created those many years ago and which will undoubtedly remain our true legacy at the Priory.”

— Jay Blumenfeld ‘81

“For me the most powerful thing is that...no matter how much time has passed, when we all get back together it is 1981 all over again. We pick up right where we left off. After 30 years I still find that amazing”. — Dan Hart ‘81 “The class 20 years before us looked so old and the class 20 below us looked so young but the class of 1981 just looked the same.”

— Rupert Hall ‘81

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CLASS NOTES

ALUMNI

1982

Noel Kidd and his wife, Lori, welcomed their son, Alexander John, into this world on May, 27, 2011.

1995

Jim deCarion has been teaching at Town School in SF for the past three years, two years in the teacher intern program and this year as a lead teacher in their upper school’s English program.

His class, “Literate Writers” is taught to Town’s seventh and eighth graders. He will be featured in Town School’s upcoming quarterly magazine as part of the coverage of their teacher internship program.

1998

Suzi Kovacs received two awards at the Embassy/USAID awards ceremony. One of them was a Length of Service with the US Government Award (5 years), which she received from the DCM Betts (basically, the VP in the Embassy). The other was a Meritorious Honor Award (monetary) for an important event that had been held a few months ago. This she received from Ambassador Kounalakis.

2000

Emily Chapman visited Priory this summer with her daughter, Dylan, and former classmate, Joanna Watkins. Pictured here with Father Pius.

2002

Dion Diedrich graduated from Oberlin College this past Spring with a B.S. in History.

William Harryman graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara this past Spring, with a B.S. in Environmental Studies. He is back living in the Bay Area and looking for an Environmental Science job. He has been rapping under the alias WillieJ and released an EP on itunes called “SB Livin” about his four years in college.

Laura Hohnsbeen graduated from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, in May. Chanse Perez graduated from University of San Francisco in May with a major in Graphic Design and a minor in Media Studies.

Gyorgy Somogyi graduated from Corvinus University of Budapest in January, majoring in Leadership and Management and went straight to Grad school at the same college. He will also get a degree from CEMS, the leading network of management schools from around the world.

2007

Nick Coombs and Mr. Molak made a friendly wager on the Wisconsin/Nebraska football game in September. Obviously the Badgers won and Mr. Molak shares the joy with Mr. Moseley of wearing a Wisconsin sweatshirt for a day.

2008

Annie Lin graduated from University of London in the Spring and moved back to Taipei for work.

Taylor Eigsti married Ashley DuVal on October 21, 2011 at Mountain Terrace in Woodside. Priory alumni and faculty/staff that were able to attend this celebrate were: Mr. Clark, Paddy Sullivan ‘00, Cynthia Sleight ‘05, Paul Lewis ‘00, Ed Wilson ‘00, Claudia Meyer ‘02, Lindsay Hagan ‘02, Liz Dellheim ‘02, Mr. Molak, Jamie Davidson ‘02, Will Reinhardt ‘02, and Ryan Moin ‘02.

Liam Thompson graduated from Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in June. He returned to his NROTC unit at the College of the Holy Cross to complete his education and training this fall.

2005

This fall, Leslie Barkmann, a current Junior at Cal Poly, received Defensive MVP Honors at the Viking Soccer Classic. She provided contributions on both ends of the field in earning the Big West 2011-2012 Alumni Defensive Player of the Week award.

Kyle McAuley is pursuing a PhD in English Literature at Rutgers University.

2007

Ian Brent graduated with a B.S. from University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, this past Spring.

Kelsey Corkery graduated from Colorado State University in May, majoring in Equine Sciences.

2009

Events

Home for the Holidays Party (Classes of 2008-2011) — December 27, 2011 Nathan Feldman visited Spain this summer with his family. Here he isSeattle, in frontWA of and the Portland, statute ofOR alumni socials — February 2012 Gaspar d’ Portola, in Arties, Portola’s home in Spain.

4th Annual Alumni Social in San Francisco — March 2012 Priory Auction and Gala — April 28, 2012 2011 Palo Alto Alumni Social — May 2012

Media

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Mavens:

Priory Alumni in Entertainment and the Arts Whether they’re capturing the day’s news, working in reality TV, writing movies, producing plays, or debugging

video games, these Priory alums have made careers in the world of news and entertainment.

What are their jobs really like?

These insiders give us a peek behind the scenes.

by Thea Sullivan

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Bryan Riches, ’03

Scott Bagley, ‘86

What’s a day on the job like?

When out on location, we--the other Segment Producers and the Supervising Producers--watch the contestants interact all day long.

Sometimes they get in fights, which I love, and sometimes they sit around for hours napping and talking about sandwiches. We also split time out there at night. While they sleep, you’re up making sure you don’t miss anything.

What’s your job like?

Editing is a desk job inside of dark room with two computer monitors and a TV monitor. For the most part it is solitary work - just you and the material.

Segment producer, Survivor Mark Burnett Productions, Los Angeles, CA

How does your life on location compare to that of the contestants?

We watch the contestants sleep on bamboo and eat rice but at the end of the day, we’re headed back to nice hotels to eat surf and turf. My first season, though, I slept in a tent for 3 weeks because our plastic cabins hadn’t been finished. I’d never been so excited to share a 15x15 shed with someone.

What do you appreciate about Priory, looking back?

At the Priory, I always enjoyed how close people were. Everyone was always friendly with one another and you didn’t have to worry about the normal high school drama. Although if there was anyone who caused them for other people, it was probably me. So sorry to any alumni reading this who are calling my answer total BS. Any surprises about the path you’ve taken?

In the 11th grade, we took a class trip to Australia. Father Maurus led us on a trek through the Outback in the middle of nowhere. As we were driving, the guy leading the tour pointed out a location they had shot at during the second season of Survivor, which I thought was pretty cool. I had no clue that eight or nine years later, I’d be working on the show.

How did Priory prepare you for where you are now?

I wasn’t the best student at Priory, no one will dispute that. Socializing was my strong suit. Work these days is heavily based on how you get along with other people and how you read people, so you could say I honed my craft at the Priory.

Reality TV Editor Los Angeles, CA

Best part of your job?

One doesn’t find a lot of huge egos in the reality television world.

Most of my co-workers are very pleasant and down-to-earth. The best part is shaping material that is often shot in a haphazard fashion and making it appear more coherent and dramatic than it actually is.

What are some shows you’ve worked on?

NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” ABC’s “Extreme Make Over: Weight Loss Edition,” Oxygen’s “Hair Battle Spectacular,” and CW’s “Beauty and the Geek.”

How “real” is reality TV? Many reality shows are highly produced, even soft-scripted. If the show centers on the life of a “well-known” celebrity you can bet that there isn’t much authenticity to it. “The Biggest Loser” is one of the more “real” non-scripted shows out there in that the contestants are definitely losing the weight as portrayed on the show.

Any surprises about the path you’ve taken?

I was a film snob during high school and college. After our family purchased a VCR in the summer of 1982 I rarely watched episodic television at all. Now I am working 50+ hours a week in a genre of television that is despised by a vast majority of critics and is about as populist and anti-elitist as one can get. It is fun, though.

How did Priory prepare you for where you are now?

Having an understanding of English actually helps a lot in crafting believable “frankenbites” in reality television, which are interview clips stitched together from multiple interviews. There are good frankenbites and (mostly) bad frankenbites. This is one of the reasons why my job will not get outsourced to a foreign country any time soon.

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Johnson Chan, ‘85

Allyssa Rapp, ’05

Darren Zulberti, ‘99

Tyson Trish, ‘94

What’s your job like?

After getting the concept of a movie, we pitch it to a network or studio, get the project financed, and hire the writer, director, editor and crew, followed by casting. Then we go into principal photography. Next we edit the footage and add sound and music. When all the elements are ready we put the film together.

What is the role of talent agencies?

We represent actors and actresses in film and television. I have about 500 working actors. Day to day my job is to make sure our clients get to their auditions on time, dressed right, with the correct script and ultimately book the job.

How did you get involved in this field?

I was lucky. In high school when a lot of my friends at the Priory had no idea what they wanted to study in college, I knew I wanted to be a journalist. I’m pretty hopeless at math, so it seemed like a good fit!

What’s your work life like?

I spend a lot of time in my car both working on my laptop and driving.

I travel from assignment to assignment taking pictures to accompany all kinds of stories, from breaking news to portraits and sports.

What does it mean to be a news producer?

I decide what stories we’ll cover and what makes the show and what doesn’t.

How did you get involved in this field?

I developed an interest in photography early on at the Priory and with the support of Fr. Martin, I was able to learn enough to earn an art scholarship to George Washington University where I latched on to the school newspaper.

Writer and film producer Founder and CEO, Germie and Bucky Productions, Inc.

Best part of your job?

It’s when I see my end product on the screen. It is kind of like seeing your dreams come true.

Do you work with celebrities? What are they like?

Being a producer, you must deal with everyone, including normal and crazy celebrities or talents. You just need to know and remember the reason why you are meeting that person, and stick to the reason. In general, they are very nice to me-- because I am the producer! But I’m a very reasonable and a nice man. So we actually become friends after the project is done.

Any surprises about the path you’ve taken?

At Priory, I was just struggling to pass my exams! I had no idea what I wanted to do in life at all. If you told me even ten years ago what I would be doing today, I would think that you were on drugs!

Favorite Priory memory?

When I was dropped off at the Priory by my brother, and I saw a group of monks walking down from the hill. At that moment, I thought I was either the sacrifice or I’m here to be trained as a Jedi Knight!

Favorite class or teacher at Priory?

Mr. Holderman. He played many great movies in English class that got my mind going. He was just pure inspiration! I actually listed his name on my first movie’s thank you list.

AKA Talent Agency, Commercial Department Los Angeles, CA

Best part of your job?

I love being an industry insider, knowing the behind the scenes gossip or signing non-disclosure agreements on secret projects. And the perks aren’t bad either. Most recently, I attended the Twilight: Breaking Dawn premiere.

Most challenging part of your job?

The crazy personalities. On any given day I have someone yelling through the phone about an actor being late, or a meeting that needs to be rescheduled. Some people can be a total nightmare. I blame short deadlines that make everyone’s stress level skyrocket and result in short tempers and bad attitudes.

Favorite Priory memory?

Playing soccer. We were awful! Maybe the worst team in Priory history. But it was so much fun.

How did Priory prepare you for where you are now?

Priory taught me the value of community. I have tried to incorporate that sense of community in my life today. The entertainment industry is a small world and every person I come in contact with I try to make a personal connection with. That way of thinking has helped me both in my career and socially.

News producer The Ten O’Clock News at KTVU San Francisco, CA

Best part of your job?

It’s different every day--different stories, new topics, new people.

Also, I can set the agenda for my viewers, informing then, educating them, even calling them to action. It’s a great responsibility.

Most challenging part of your job?

The pace of it, and the stress. Even the normal days are fast paced.

And when news breaks, it only gets crazier because you’ve still got the deadline bearing down on you. We go on the air whether we’re ready or not! But again, each day is a new day. So when the newscast is over, it’s over.

What are your favorite stories to work on, and why?

I think weather makes a great story because it affects everyone. A hurricane doesn’t differentiate between rich and poor. It equally touches everyone. TV has an amazing power to give people critical information about where a storm is heading and how to prepare, information that can save lives.

Favorite class or teacher at Priory?

Mrs. Koppett was tough, but it was her classes that best prepared me for what I do now. She taught me how to write clearly, how to write and re-write, and how to improve other people’s writing. Someone else once told me to do what I was good at. Because of Mrs. Koppett, I can write, so that’s what I do.

Staff photojournalist The Record (aka Bergen Record), a large daily newspaper serving Northern New Jersey

Best part of your job?

I often say that I meet people on their best days and sometimes their worst days. I am witness to history both on a large scale and a personal level, and every day people allow me to share in some of their most personal moments.

Most challenging part of your job?

It is my job to tell a story through a picture. Sometimes it can be quite challenging to find the appropriate subject or get access to the necessary places to tell the story. The news business is very time sensitive, so delivering the pictures as quickly as possible is important and sometimes challenging.

What are some of the photographs you’re proudest of?

I spent the better part of two years covering the training and deployment of a National Guard unit from New Jersey, including traveling to Iraq during their deployment. I was able to document the everyday lives of citizen soldiers and was very proud of the final product and the impact it had on the community.

Photo by Tyson Trish at the Super Bowl

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Humphrey Yang, ‘05 Player Experience Associate Kabam video game company Redwood City, CA

What does a Player Experience Associate actually do?

I field and answer questions related to the game submitted by our players and help troubleshoot glitches and bugs.

What’s your workplace like?

My company is technically a start-up, even though we have 500+ employees. Most people still wear jeans and t-shirts. There’s no one on your case about being late to work. As long as you put in your amount of hours for the day, you are pretty free to set your own hours.

Are you a gamer yourself?

Yes, I’ve been into gaming since I was a little kid. I would describe myself as a “hardcore” gamer. I’m really into the game “League of Legends” right now. In my free time I also love playing golf.

What do you love about video gaming?

It combines many of my favorite things: fictional or fantasy storylines with challenges, problem solving, and strategies. Especially now that so many games are online, the amount of competition is growing. You can put your skills to the test versus anyone in the world and see how you stack up against them.

If you have kids, will you let them play video games?

Yes, but I would limit their playing time. I definitely spent too much time on video games growing up.

Favorite Priory memory?

Getting into the van my senior year after beating Sacred Heart Prep at Menlo Country Club in a golf match by two strokes. I think all of us were a little dumbfounded and shocked by what we did. Sacred Heart usually wins everything, especially in golf. They had been the team to beat my entire time at Priory. So beating them was a huge deal.

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Tak Viravan , ’84 Theater Owner and Producer Muang Thai Rachadalai Theatre Bangkok, Thailand

What sorts of productions do you put on?

We produce all kinds of productions: original Thai musicals, plays, new productions of existing musicals, and we also import touring international musicals, like Cats, Mamma Mia!, and Chicago. The audience is mainly Thai people and also some ex-pats.

What are you working on now?

My latest project is a musical called The Four Reigns. It is based on a classic Thai novel about the life and times of a woman who lived through four reigns of Kings of Thailand. It shows the Thai culture and ways of thinking. And it tells you why we Thai people love our King.

Did you participate in plays in high school?

When I was at the Priory, there was not a lot of interest in theatre. We had tough times putting on theatre productions. Nevertheless, we did a few. In my senior year, we put on a musical revue called Lullabies of Broadway, which I performed in, and a production of The Odd Couple, in which I played Felix.

Why did you stop acting?

The most valuable lesson I learned was that you have to accept that your talent and your ultimate dream may not go together. I was lucky to find that out when I was in college. So I shifted gears to go for the second dream. I went for behind the scenes instead, which to this day I’ve never regretted.

Favorite Priory memory?

I guess my favorite memories at the Priory were the tough times we had trying to put on theatre. We had both the heartbreaks and the triumphs. We learned a lot. And it prepared me for the heartbreaks and the triumphs in my career today.

HELP! LOST ALUMS We are expanding our efforts to find lost alumni. The following names are from the classes that will be celebrating reunions in September 2012. If you know where these alumni are, please contact Casey at alumni@prioryca.org.

1962 Orlando De Sola James Gordon 1967 Joseph Burns John Grinnell Michael Manning 1972 Douglas Cannon Paul D. Gordon Stephen Harrison Eduardo Montealegre Carlos Montero Robert Spiegl Gregory Talarico Matthew Torley Christopher Wade

1977 Thomas Carley Siu Cheung Chu Tobias Lanz Doug Quan David Roush

1987 Stephen Brown Matthew Gibbs Albert Yuan-Hou Huang Brian Wing Tsun Tang Johnny Shu Kuen Yu

1982 Ghassan Alusi Michael Bosse Victor Cheng Todd Foglesong Nelson Lee Alvin Lim Hong Bang Lin Patrick Luft Scott Stormer Ronan Wagner John Weil

1992 Naoto Hara Naokazu Kuboyama 1997 Ryohei Akiyama Jay Jong-Hoon Lee 2002 Sze-Kit Ka Tony Schoch

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In Tapestries of

ope

Priory Parent and Filmmaker Michealene Risley Speaks Out for the Girls of Zimbabwe

by Thea Sullivan

With one of the highest HIV infection rates in Africa, widespread poverty, and a repressive regime that’s led to the country’s increasing isolation, Zimbabwe’s situation is dire.

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Before filming her new documentary, Tapestries of Hope, about young girls healing from rape in Zimbabwe, Priory parent Michealene Cristini Risley swore she was going to focus on a different subject. She’d already dealt with child sexual abuse in her first film, Flashcards, and co-authored a best-selling book on the subject entitled This is Not the Life I Ordered. Both projects drew upon her own story as an abuse survivor and sought to educate others about the extent of the problem in the United States. She’d even helped create the first national curriculum on the topic. After that, she explains, “I decided I wasn’t going to do anything else on abuse.”

Then a former professor at Stanford told her about Betty Makoni, a women’s rights activist from Zimbabwe who founded the Girl Child Network (GCN) and created empowerment villages where young girls come to heal from rape. Risley recalls how her professor kept saying, “‘Oh, you’ve got to go to Zimbabwe. You’ve got to tell Betty Makoni’s story.’ But every time I go overseas, I get a parasite and get really ill. And I’m like, ‘You know what, I’m sure she’s doing great things, but I’m not going to Africa.’”

Then Betty Makoni came to San Francisco to speak, and the next thing Risley knew, the two were having breakfast together. The women just clicked. “You know those synchronicity moments?” Risley asks.

“I brought her Flashcards, my first film, and it was like I had handed her a gift from Heaven. I’ll never forget how she handled that movie and the curriculum. I said, ‘Oh, let me ship it over to Zimbabwe,’ and she said, ‘Oh no no no, I’m taking it on the airplane.’ I don’t know how religious you are, but I got outside and I swear I heard somebody laughing. And I just finally said, ‘OK, I get it, I’m going to Zimbabwe.’”

Once there, Risley and her young assistant spent almost a week filming at one of the empowerment villages, meeting the girls, hearing their stories, and learning about the traditional beliefs that put so many in such grave danger. “I’d heard this for years, that in many parts of Africa, men were counseled to rape a virgin to cure their AIDS,” Risley says. “I thought, God, that’s got to be just some horrible myth. Unfortunately it’s not.”

With one of the highest HIV infection rates in Africa, widespread poverty, and a repressive regime that’s led to the country’s increasing isolation, Zimbabwe’s situation is dire. Many traditional healers counsel those infected with AIDS to rape virgins, and men heed that advice out of sheer desperation. “These are fathers with wives and children, and they’re just so desperate to stay alive,” explains Risley. “I’m certainly not supporting an act like that, but you realize, it’s not black and white.”

Still, Risley was inspired by what she saw at the empowerment villages. Though they’ve been orphaned or rejected by their families for speaking out about the abuse, the girls seemed to be healing from their experiences in a way she hadn’t seen in the U.S. “Here was the most fascinating and ironic thing,” Risley says. “Here I go to this Third World country, a developing country on the verge of collapse, and they’re doing a far better job than us on rape and abuse.”

For one thing, Risley explains, the girls are allowed to tell their stories at their own pace, using a questionnaire provided by GCN. “ They can take a day, they can take two weeks, they can take three months to fill out the paper.” After that, she says, “it’s all peer-to-peer support. It’s not an adult saying, ‘What happened to you?’ So immediately the child becomes re-empowered.”

Another strength of GCN’s approach, she says, is an emphasis on naming the perpetrator. “They teach the children something that we haven’t learned here yet, which is, ‘Name them and shame them.’ If you keep it a secret, you’re the one suffering. That is incredibly freeing for these kids, and what’s amazing is, their healing time is truncated.”

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“When we had come back to Betty’s house, fifteen Central Intelligence men were there waiting for us and arrested us.”

The film celebrates that healing with scenes of the girls singing, dancing, and playing delightedly with bubbles brought over from the U.S. We hear the girls’ dreams for themselves: lawyer, accountant, even future director of Girl Child Network.

Risley had planned to film even more, but after about a week things took a dramatic turn. “We’d decided to go out and have a real American breakfast before we went shooting that day, and I needed a Diet Coke. When we had come back to Betty’s house, fifteen Central Intelligence men were there waiting for us and arrested us.” Risley, her young American assistant, and Makoni were taken into custody at what she learned later was the torture center of Zimbabwe.

Until that moment, it hadn’t really registered with Risley how dangerous this trip was. “My husband, who really supports what I do, had expressed deep concerns before I went over,” says Risley. “I wasn’t really listening when he said that. I just thought, ‘Oh, c’mon, honey, I’ll be fine.’” Even faced with armed men, she found herself slow to react. “I was always a little bit of a good Catholic school girl, and I just couldn’t imagine what they wanted to do with us. It just didn’t enter my mind that we were doing something wrong. At that point I began to see how naïve I was.”

What followed was three nightmarish days of interrogation and imprisonment in filthy, overcrowded conditions. “I stepped in feces. I got urinated on from the fourth floor because the ceilings had gaping holes. I saw someone being tortured.” In the end, they were released, but the experience left an indelible impression on Risley.

“I remember curling up in the corner (in prison) thinking, how incredibly selfish I was. I kept thinking of my husband and my kids, and thinking, God, if you don’t come back, look what you did.” As a result of her close call, she says, “I think I’m acutely aware of what I do and how it impacts my children.”

Her experiences in Africa changed Risley in other ways, too. “When I came home,” she explains, “it was a jarring re-introduction. We live in a wealthy community. I came home and people were calling me and saying, ‘Oh, let’s go out for dinner at the Village Pub.’ And all I could see was this little girl who’d walked a day and a half to get a baked potato. She haunted me.”

Turning anguish into action, Risley met with lawmakers, showed the film at Congress and the State Department, and spoke at the UN twice, trying to raise awareness of the plight of Zimbabwe’s girls. Together with forty-six other groups, she’s advocated for passage of the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA).

In addition to helping the women of Zimbabwe, Risley hopes her work will help teach her sons the importance of pushing for change and helping others.

Here at Priory, she says, “I feel that my kids are in a really supportive environment with a moral container for modeling how they should be in the world. I think that having moral fiber developed in you makes a difference in whether you’ll stop to help somebody who is hurt, or not.”

She was especially proud when she watched her older son, Christopher, react to Japan’s tsunami and radiation crisis. “He said, ‘Mom, we have to go over to Japan.’ And I said, as any parent would, ‘Well, we’ve got radiation issues happening right now, it’s not a safe time.’”

“And he said, ‘Well, we can wear those yellow suits. Somebody’s got to go.’ And I thought, ‘Yes!’” Risley pumps her fist in victory and laughs.

“We love Priory!” she says.

To learn more, visit http://www.tapestriesofhope.com

Stewards of Land and Air

by Hovey Clark Recently, on a campus tour with PG&E for an overview of our electrical usage, my students and I had the opportunity to put St. Benedict’s Rule of being good stewards of the earth into practice. We were walking near the cell towers at the top of the campus when we heard something that sounded like a squeak. Off to our right, we saw movement through a small aperture and gap near some cables in the base of the cell phone tower.

I looked inside and saw what I thought was a small falcon. We still had some work to do with PG&E, so I continued the tour, then came back to the tower with a glove and a small bag and a flashlight. I brought a few students to assist me in pulling the cables aside so that I could reach the bird.

When I finally pulled it out, we noticed it was limp and weak, most likely from dehydration and malnutrition, as it appeared as though it has been trapped in there for a few days. We found a small eyedropper and began to dribble little bits of water to the bird, which was a Kestrel falcon.

For the rest of the day, we nursed the falcon and later, as I was about to show the falcon, which was still pretty limp and lifeless, to a student, the falcon arched up and flew off into a nearby poplar tree.

We watched for a few minutes as the bird called to us from the tree. Soon, a large Red-tail hawk flew from the tree where the Kestrel landed. The next day, as I was sharing the story with a student in my garden class, I pointed at the tree, and out flew a Red-tail, probably the same one , and right behind it, out came the Kestrel!

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The Trail to

By Ben Krausz, Class of 2013

EAGLE When asked by younger scouts what is the hardest merit badge to complete

to attain the rank of Eagle Scout, I usually say, all the Eagle badges are very doable, the hard part of the trail to Eagle Scout is living up to the Scout Law: “A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent” Living the code takes a lot more self-discipline and commitment than any particular merit badge, and my goal was to take those words seriously when deciding upon my Eagle Project. Previously, most of my community service was accomplished locally, helping with building projects and serving food to the hungry, although all projects were helpful, there was enough support locally, for the most part, to exercise that conduct easily. I questioned if I could maintain that code outside my comfort zone, or outside my local community. Scout values and training inspired me to take a more global approach. Through a friend, I had the

The goal was to collect 600, 8-function simple solar calculators, ensure that they functioned well, package, and ship them. opportunity to meet with Ruth Degolia, the Executive Director of Mercado Global. Directly after graduating from college, Ruth began working with craftswoman from the rural indigenous areas of Guatemala.

Ruth created Mercado Global as a non-profit fair trade organization whose focus is on teaching rural indigenous women (arguably the most politically, economically and socially marginalized population in Latin America) with the financial, business, technical, and organizational skills and the market access they need to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Ruth told me that a key goal is to help women develop income and business skills because studies have shown that by putting a dollar into the hands of mothers in these communities ensures that almost the entire dollar goes to their children. Ruth suggested that the collectives needed solar powered calculators to help manage their CO-OP business matters. Because of the isolation and mudslides of the area, electricity and batteries were in short supply. Few of the artisans Mercado Global trains have calculators, and they have on average just 2.1 years of education. This may be enough to understand basic math but not to reliably add up costs on their own. The calculator is a fantastic tool to get a better handle on their CO-OPs’ finances. For example, people learning a trade to bead jewelry or to make textiles, need to be able to calculate exactly how much material they need. Calculators are expensive- especially in a third-world country like Guatemala, and were almost nonexistent in the rural communities supported by Mercado Global. Hence, an Eagle project was born.

The goal was to collect 600, 8-function simple solar calculators, ensure that they functioned well, package, and ship them. Locally, I began drives at local schools and religious institutions in the area and sought out private donations from companies. People were very generous and the drives were very successful. I headed to Guatemala with a small team to deliver the calculators along with jackets and coats as it was the rainy season, and two dozen soccer balls. I visited the craft collectives in the communities of San Jorge, Santiago Atitlan, Chuacruz, Santa Catarina and Chaquiiva. There are over 25 dialects in the Mayan communities. Fortunately, math is somewhat a universal language. After training the women how to use the calculators with the help of a Mayan interpreter, I learned a great deal about the history of Guatemala.

Chuacruz was an especially emotionally difficult experience to visit as the leaders of the collective, Petrona and Estella, gave accounts of the civil war. In their community every boy over the age of 11 was murdered by the military – many of whom were also community members. Resurrecting community trust is a key element of Mercado Global’s mission, and the calculator project helped.

The true tenets of the Scout code were codified for me during my visit to Guatemala. The calculators were helpful, but it was people helping people that had the most impact. If one actually makes the effort to care and get involved in areas outside one’s comfort zone, the duty to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, and even brave and clean, becomes self-fulfilling.

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31 Describe your love of basketball, how did your game develop?

I started playing in 5th grade and ended up on a team that was playing in the City Championship in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I missed a last second lay-up to lose the game. My coach at the time looked at me and said, “You are the worst basketball player ever!” Right at that moment I decided to become the best player in the state of New Mexico. I went to the library and read a book called “Hoops” and began to memorize all of the moves of the best players at the time, Bird, Johnson etc. After that pivotal, I went on to have outstanding coaches who nurtured my talent. As a 5’11 8th grader, I started as a post-player, but through years of experience on traveling teams and playing against men in a local recreation center I developed a more complete game.

Q&A An Interview with

David Moseley Priory Head Basketball Coach, former Stanford Star and Professional Basketball Player

What was Las Cruces like?

It was tough; kids I knew went to jail. There were many Latino gangs. I even got stabbed once when I was in 6th grade. I was very into school and tried to turn negatives into positives. I was into science and wanted to be an engineer. I never drank or smoked and often would do the homework of my white teammates so they could maintain their eligibility. My mother still lives in Las Cruces, so I get back to see her when I can.

What was the Stanford experience like?

After maintaining a 3.5 GPA and being awarded the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of New Mexico, Stanford expressed interest in me both academically and for their basketball program. Adjusting to Stanford was very hard both on and off the court.

I was an Econ major and ended up studying more during my four years than playing basketball. I had a sense of having to prove myself as a scholar, then as an athlete. In terms of basketball, Coach Montgomery’s playbook was thick and took hours of practice to memorize. The experience served me well when I went on to navigate various languages, cultures, economies, and professional basketball leagues in France, Turkey, and Hungary.

How do you plan on connecting Stanford to Priory?

Previously, we had former Stanford center Peter Prowitt working out in our open gym; Tyler Starling got to go toe to toe with him a number of times. Prowitt is off to play professionally in Germany, but we will have more Stanford players stopping by this year. I know Anthony Goods and Laundry Fields, as well as other former Stanford players. I am hoping to have our Priory guys scrimmage a squad of Stanford players before the season begins. We have some guys that have Division I potential. Getting them and our whole team playing against bigger, stronger players will increase their confidence. We are also planning on playing some scrimmages against teams in Oakland as part of the confidence-building process.

Why Priory? What are your impressions of Priory athletes and students?

I’m excited to build a program and hone talent; there is more focus here on creating a successful basketball experience rather than just winning. The Priory students remind me of myself. They are dedicated, accepting, and embrace the Benedictine values. This is a values-oriented place where people are true to their word with a thoughtfulness that I appreciate.

What are your personal goals? Your goals for the team?

My personal and team goals go hand and hand. I want to build a team that thoroughly understands: Teamwork, Discipline, and Respect. I would like to reach the benchmark of 20 wins, I would like us to play well in big games, and to compete in the CCS Championship game. I would also like to see our players conduct themselves as ambassadors for the whole Priory Athletic Family, hopefully catapulting all of our sports programs towards greater respect and recognition.

What special things will you emphasize as a coach?

Our team will be working with a sports psychologist to help players channel their mental and physical focus so that they can play their absolute best. I will be putting rituals into place; pre and post-game routines that will help students get into the zone and later process the game experience. I will also likely have an award board that tallies the little things like deflections and dives for a loose ball, etc. Our team will support other sports teams, as well as perhaps doing a community service project, like I did at the Ronald McDonald House with my Stanford team.

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Priory students, alums and the community reap the rewards of the

Peninsula Bridge Program

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by Gulliver LaValle

The Peninsula Bridge Program has been a part of the Priory community for two decades. Bridge Founder Les DeWitt’s dream of serving middle school students from under-resourced communities on independent school campuses was a natural fit for Priory.

For the past twenty summers, the Priory has donated its facilities to provide a place for 60 rising 8th grade Middle Schoolers from economically disadvantaged communities such as East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Redwood City to strengthen their Math and English skills, increase their engagement in their education, and improve their self-efficacy. Les DeWitt’s initial dream inspired a belief that Priory and other Peninsula independent schools could help motivated middle school students to Bridge the Achievement Gap with a four year, five week summer program geared to bringing core skills and enriched curricular content into their lives.

Bridge has enjoyed positive results. The summer program attendance rate is 95%. More than 95% of our Class of 2006, or the high school Class of 2011, graduated on time. Current data indicates that 52% of Bridge alums complete Algebra I in 8th grade as compared to 20% of the students of color in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Bridge and Priory share a common goal, and it is spelled out in the Peninsula Bridge mission: “Dream, Believe, Achieve.” For the past 20 years, more than 95% of the population served is of color, and 100% are FARMs kids (free and reduced meals). Bridge has served over 5,000 kids.

While the partnership between Bridge and Priory has been tremendous and the middle schoolers have enjoyed great gains, Priory students have also reaped unexpected benefits. Bridge students enjoy a better than 4:1 student:teacher ratio. From mid-June to mid-July, fifteen brave TA’s from current Priory students to alums and former Bridge students embark on a remarkable journey. Arriving at 8:30 every morning, each TA must bring enthusiasm and a level of commitment to a group of thirteen year olds who

aren’t sure about their own identities as they stumble through their early teenage years. TA’s shepherd students to their classes, challenge them in the classrooms and learn when to push for results and when to be good listeners. While doing all this, they learn leadership, empathy, how important it is to engage with the community, and how they have more in common with Bridge students than differences. All this in only five weeks! In their own way, TA’s experience as much transformation and growth as do Bridge students. Bridge is about empowerment and self-efficacy for TA’s and students alike. Research shows that students who engage in activities like being a TA do better on all the indicators of success such as grades, attendance, and athletic success among others.

Many of the TA’s are former Bridge students who currently work at Priory in the summers. As part of a larger plan charted by Mr. LaValle, TA’s along with others helped develop an electives program last summer that was run by the TA’s. After the students finished their core subjects, they had the option to participate in classes such as guitar, creative writing, drawing, PE, gardening, retreat and team building, and bridge design. Arturo Ferrari, a Bridge and Priory alum who helped teach guitar, found that several students were waiting, guitars in hand, on a day that no guitar was scheduled. He responded by sitting down and asking them to strum a song using math equations and English vocab for lyrics. So successful were these electives, that they will become a standard part of the Priory Bridge Program in the years ahead.

Peninsula Bridge and Priory have enjoyed a partnership for more than two decades, which not only enables motivated middle school students to Bridge the Achievement Gap, but has created opportunities for individual growth for our students who participate as TAs, for our teachers to improve their practice, and for Priory to add to the diversity of our community. If you would like further information, or would like to participate in the Priory-Bridge partnership, visit the Bridge website at www.peninsulabridge. org, or talk to Gulliver LaValle, Priory Bridge Site Director at glavalle@prioryca.org or Deirdre Marlowe, Executive Director, Peninsula Bridge, deirdre@peninsulabridge.org or 650.473.9461.

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The Green Page A letter from the Priory Sustainability Coordinator

Dear Priory Community, Winterhas arrived as is evidenced by the falling oak and maple leaves leaves. Seasonal migration patterns will bring rare and seldom seen birds to the area. The gold thatch of the Priory’s upper hillside is now replaced by sprouting green grass, and students will be wearing an extra (dress-code appropriate) layer.

Always we begin again. These seasonal changes provide opportunities for hands-on learning about cyclic change in nature. In the school’s small vegetable garden, we notice these changes and must respond to them. We remove the shade cloths from the greenhouse and outdoor beds; these were necessary just weeks ago to protect new plantings from drying out. We improvise cold-frames to extend the growing season (Christmas or bust, baby!) on our two beds of tomatoes. And most importantly, we cultivate a different collection of crops --plants that are tolerant of winter’s scarce solar energy.

Our plants are typical of a garden’s winter growing season – Leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and chard, and lowly rooting vegetables like onions, garlic, and potatoes -- are plants that have evolved to use solar energy in different ways and for different purposes than the vainglorious corn and melons of summer. While summer’s fruit- and vegetable-bearing crops use the abundant and direct sunlight to generate colorful, elaborate, and often juicy encasements for seeds, winter’s crops strive just to produce green biomass and maybe a clutch of woody and unprotected seeds. The result?

In winter, we peel beets, chomp into dinosaur kale, and dig up muddy potatoes.

Lessons like these are the core of a garden class’ curriculum and seasonal narrative, but they are also so relevant to the school’s focus on sustainability, and integral to our Benedictine philosophy. The changing of seasons, the turning over of soils, preparation of planting areas, and the rotation of crops, are all routines and habits that are evocative of simpler lives from simpler times when self-reliance and self-provisioning were not the trendy slow-food, locovore movements of today, but were actual necessities and means of survival. Indeed, in our imagination’s eye, we might even see Benedict and the monks of early communities tending to small garden plots, working the land between moments of prayerful reflection. Ora et labora.

Thus, the school’s garden project is not just an opportunity for more hands-on learning in science, nor is it just an endeavor in sustainable food production, the garden and the seasonal work that it entails can be seen as an effort to embody something spiritual and faith-based.

Winter crops are the ones that students can watch come full circle, observing changes from seed to harvest. These are the crops that grow and leaf out against all odds, in spite of crispy frosts and

buffeting winds. The farmer’s relationships to the winter garden and its collection of hardy crops is the embodiment of faith; the winter harvest is the proof that our hard work and belief was not in vain.

In closing, I want to invite the larger Priory community to come and see the garden first hand, in whatever season most interests you. There is heavy lifting to be done, holes to dig, tastes to enjoy, and satisfaction to be had in the simple pleasures of earth work and plant care. Despite the challenges of the season, the plants in the garden are growing. And in the future, the school garden itself will be growing and expanding, offering increased opportunities for students to experience the routines and habits of seasonally-adjusted lifecycles. If you or your family are interested in getting involved in the garden’s care and expansion, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your sustained and sustaining interest!

Sincerely, Hovey Clark

NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE

Woodside Priory School 302 Portola Road Portola Valley, CA 94028 (650) 851-8221 fax (650) 851-2839

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Celebrating Our 54th Year

Thank you for remembering the Priory during this season of giving.

To donate or pledge to the Annual Fund, please contact Gail Kimball in the Development Office at gkimball@prioryca.org or (650)851-6139. You can also give online at https://www.prioryca.org/support/give