OakTree Times - Fall/Winter 2015

FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 1 5

OakTree Times Lighting up about language AUTHORING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

I ns i de :

Writing program at Poly Nobel laureate named Distinguished Alumnus ■

■

Julie Lythcott-Haims talks parenting

OakTree Times FALL/WINTER 2015

Feat ures : 10 Lighting up about language

p.

Learn how writing at Poly is woven through all disciplines in relevant and creative ways.

14 Nobel laureate named Distinguished Alumnus

p.

Poly honored Dr. Bruce Beutler ’75 during his campus visit this fall.

A P U B L I C A T I O N F O R T H E P O LY T E C H N I C S C H O O L C O M M U N I T Y

Departments: The Patio p.05

Julie Lythcott-Haims talks parenting ... Green River

OAK TREE TIMES EDITORIAL STAFF: Leslie Carmell, Director of Communications

revisited ... Peanut Better campaign ... AFS student

Michelle Feynman, Communications Officer/ Photographer

highlighted ... and more

Jennifer Godwin Minto, Photographer

CONTRIBUTORS:

09

p.

In the Classroom The Lower School science program receives infusion

Matilda Berke ’17, John Bracker, Katrina Damasco ’02, Amanda Edwards ’92, Katherine Vieser, Reñee Larios, Isabelle Phinney ’16, Jack Prater, Molly Reed, Shuchi Sehgal ’16, Nathan Stogdill, Michele Waller

of wisdom from Poly parent experts.

ON THE COVER:

Assistant Head of School Greg Feldmeth discusses a writing assignment with students in his contemporary ethical issues class.

Panthers in the Zone

ed ct ne

Fall recap ... winter preview ... alumni in sports

n Co ay St

16

p.

facebook.com/poly twitter.com/polytechnic

18

p.

Poly Connections Alumni in college … Grandparents and Special Friends Day … new leadership for Alumni Association … parents of alumni reconnect on campus … fall phonathons

30

p.

P.S. Wearing an abundance of hats, Middle School Dean of Students (among other things) Pat Gray shares how his life experience has shaped his work with students.

twitter.com/polyalumni

Head of

School

The power of words About 10 years ago, I heard the actor James Earl Jones speak at an awards event.

In his beautifully sonorous voice, he began, “Sticks and stones may break my bones,” and then he paused in a way that only a great actor can. My guess is that all of us in the room finished his sentence with what we knew, “but words will never hurt me.”

Mr. Jones, however, looked up over his glasses and continued, “but words can break my heart.”

College and university communities all over the country are wrestling over the power of words. For some, words are there for us to use however we want, and free speech is a sacred part of who we are. And whether they inspire, destroy, heal, or inflict pain should not limit where, when, and how they are dispensed. We have faith that eventually the chorus of humanity will drown out the verses of hate. Some see free speech as an elegant cloak used by some to shield their venom and to inflate their power. Still others want to be able to talk about their experiences and feelings without worrying if the pain they express will be belittled or trivialized as whiny political correctness. Words.

This issue of OakTree Times delves into how we teach our students to use their words and to find their voices. Across all disciplines, we challenge our students to express what they see and what they understand to be true. A mathematical proof, a scientific theory, a historical event, or a heroic couplet are each in their own way paths into how they see and organize the world around themselves.

When our students move beyond Poly, they take with them the knowledge of the power of their words. They will have grown to understand their responsibility for the words they use — an idea, a concept, or a perspective deserves their very best.

A few days ago, I was a reading buddy in a second grade class. My student buddy and I read one of the Amelia Bedelia books together. I had forgotten how beautiful words sound when they are read by someone whose eyes are just beginning to understand what they mean. Teaching how to use words well is an awesome gift and duty. Words.

John W. Bracker

04

HEAD OF SCHOOL MESSAGE

The

Patio

Author Julie Lythcott-Haims talks parenting This fall, best-selling author of “How to Raise an Adult” Julie Lythcott-Haims addressed the Poly and local community about her book, which has been described as “a provocative manifesto that exposes the harms of helicopter parenting and sets forth an alternate philosophy for raising preteens and teens to self-sufficient young adulthood.” First speaking to Poly faculty and staff and then later to a standing-room-only auditorium of school parents and community members, Lythcott-Haims drew on her experience as an undergraduate advisor and dean of freshmen for more than a decade at Stanford. While at Stanford, Lythcott-Haims saw first-hand how an increasing number of students were arriving at college less prepared to be the adults that life would ask them to be. She provided practical advice on how parents can provide direction and protection to their children without sacrificing their readiness for their future.

Explaining that every parent’s job is to put themselves out of a job, Lythcott-Haims stressed the importance of providing children the opportunity to develop the “resilience, resourcefulness, and inner determination necessary for success.” She explains, “You can’t let go of your 18-year-old if you’ve been holding tight to your 17-year-old.”

“I found Julie Lythcott-Haims’ presentation timely, meaningful and poignant. While her message was urgent and at times uncomfortable, her humor made it go down easier,” shares Lower School parent Heather Brunold. “I have found myself ruminating on many things she said in a very soulshifting way. Her book has an extremely robust bibliography, and her assertions are clearly backed empirically. I commend the school for making her available to us and for challenging the community to think outside the box.”

Lythcott-Haims was well received by those in attendance and graciously signed books following her programs.

T H E PAT I O

05

The

Patio

Sixth-graders sponsor “Peanut Better” campaign to support local food bank As part of their six-week Community Outreach block, sixth-graders explore aspects and the impact of homelessness and hunger. During this time, students examine some of the causes of homelessness and what services exist to support those going through troubled times. This year, students toured Pasadena’s Union Station Family Center to learn more about how the housing facility serves homeless families in the area. They also stocked shelves at the Friends in Deed food pantry in Pasadena, where they learned that even full-time employees sometimes need assistance to feed their families.

After learning how difficult it can be to make ends meet and to provide shelter for a family on a minimum-wage job (or two or

three), students devised a simple way to help families access proteinrich food at the food pantry.

Friends in Deed indicated that peanut butter, almond butter, and other protein-rich spreads were in high demand. The sixthgraders launched the “Peanut Better” campaign and encouraged friendly competition among Middle School advisory groups as a way to challenge each other to collect the most peanut butter.

The students took the challenge seriously: In just three days, one group gathered more than 650 ounces! The class collected a total of 7,652 ounces overall. In midNovember, the students delivered the donated items and stocked the shelves in the food bank.

Q

Juniors rediscover the Green River

For the first time in a decade, Poly juniors ventured this fall to Utah’s Green River as part of the Outdoor Education program. A group of 12 students and two chaperons spent five days canoeing down the green, silty waters of the river. In addition to the rustic yet lush beauty of the river canyon, participants witnessed the inscriptions of early settlers dating back to the 1800s. The trip also included several hiking expeditions that led students to discover and marvel at ancient petroglyphs left by native peoples who occupied the river canyons before the 1300s.

Q

06

T H E PAT I O

The

Patio

Tervetuloa, Pauliina!

For years, Poly has been sponsoring students from around the world to experience American schooling through the AFS program. This fall, Pauliina Gavrilov traveled from Finland to be a part of the junior class.

Pauliina quickly immersed herself in Poly and Southern California. She partipated on Poly’s JV tennis team and has been busy exploring the Los Angeles area, even taking surfing lessons with her hosts, the Terrile family.

She has also been learning about new foods and is always eager to try new things: “Desserts are something

you can’t find easily in Finland. I hope to be able to try as many different sweets as possible while I am here,” she shares.

From hikes in the San Gabriel Mountains to scavenger hunts in Chinatown, Pauliina enjoys being able to take advantage of the eclectic L.A. city life. She hopes to be able to explore more of Southern California this year by taking rides on the Metro through all the cities and to the beach.

She is still getting used to the crazy L.A. traffic, however.

A native Finnish and Swedish speaker, she shares her love of language by showcasing her talents in Spanish as well. Paulina has found her favorite spot at Poly: the science room where she delves into psychology with Dr. Kim. Although Paulina greatly misses her family and friends back home, she looks forward to a new chapter at Poly, wearing our vibrant orange and white colors around campus in the Southern California sun. — Shuchi Sehgal ’16

Q

Lower School enlists for “Operation: Books” Each year, the Lower School hosts a fall book fair as a way to promote literacy and to encourage students to explore their love of reading. This October, the 34th annual Book Fair featured the theme “Operation: Books,” which parent volunteers expertly wove through communications and activities, creating an exciting event that engaged students, teachers, and parents alike. Guest speakers included Robin Preiss Glasser, illustrator of the “Fancy Nancy” book series, and Ben Mikaelsen, author of “Touching Spirit Bear” and many other titles.

Over the course of the event, generous supporters added 141 new titles to the Lower and Middle School Library, donated 54 books to the Mothers’ Club service learning project, contributed 275 volumes to teachers from their wish lists, and generated more than $27,000 in sales, resulting in a gift to the Library of nearly $5,500. As they say, mission accomplished!

Q

T H E PAT I O

07

The

Patio

Creative leadership through the arts

In the summer of 2014, Poly Arts Student Council (PASC) was formed to promote Polytechnic’s holistic arts program, to incorporate it into school culture, and to create new opportunities for interested students. Since its inception, PASC has organized a number of events and programs, including monthly Fifth Quarters, casual performance spaces open to students across the Upper School. In accordance with PASC’s philosophy of across-the-board artistic appreciation, recent Fifth Quarters have been expanded to include a student-curated art show, student films, and other visual art portfolios.

PASC has also introduced the Poly community to other aspects of the artistic world. They have hosted a panel of writers, visual artists, and musicians; introduced a service component in the form of bimonthly arts clinics at Hillsides; and publicized events in the greater community (such as Pasadena Art Night and the Art Walk DTLA).

Looking forward, PASC plans to encourage greater

08

T H E PAT I O

artistic awareness and participation through student shows, self-publishing magazines, and inter-school performance events. By offering broad exposure through a variety of experiences, PASC hopes to connect the communities of Poly, Pasadena, and Los Angeles through the arts. — Matilda Berke ’17 Q

In the

Classroom

Lower School science receives infusion from experts A program already rich with hands-on activities and experiential lessons, Poly’s Lower School science program has been enhanced with an infusion of expertise from a number of local specialists, including a number of Poly parents.

Through this sharing of experience and knowledge of subjects that directly relate to the science curriculum, students are able to make the connection between the concepts they are studying and real world applications.

Some Poly parents who have spent time in the Lower School science classes include: DR. DIANNE NEWMAN, a microbiologist at Caltech, who spoke to fourth-graders about microbes as part of their study on food chains and food webs; DR. ALEX SESSIONS, a geobiologist at Caltech, spoke about rocks and minerals; DR. PATRICK TAKAHASHI, a gastroenterologist, addressed the digestive system; DR. STEFANI TAKAHASHI, a dermatologist, discussed skin as part of the integumentary system; DR. MICHELLE TYSON, a primary care physician, talked about the respiratory system and related illnesses; DR. SCOTT YUN, a urologist, talked to fifth-grade boys as part of their human development program; DR. NEIL SINGLA, founder and chief scientific officer of Lotus Clinical Research and chair of the Analgesic Clinical Trials Shared/Special Interest Group at both the American Pain Society and the International Association for the Study of Pain, spoke to students about the circulatory system; DR. MONICA KOHLER, a seismologist at Caltech, discussed earthquakes with fourth-graders as part of their study of changes on the Earth’s surface.

“Hearing from experts in the field benefits students in two ways,” shares Nishat Alikhan, Lower School science specialist for grades 3-5. “They better understand what they’ve been learning, and they see diverse role models actually working in the field giving them real-time information.”

Q

T H E PAT I O

09

Lighting up about language: AUTHORING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

By Nathan Stogdill, Upper School English teacher

It

is a bright afternoon at the end of the October, and the Santa Anas are blowing. I am sitting on the patio of the Language Arts Building on the South Campus,

with a stack of ninth grade fairy tale projects at my elbow.

It is the middle of the day, class is in session, but the classrooms are empty. Students have instead spilled onto Arden Lawn. Seniors are stretched out in the shade, revising reflective essays. Ninth-graders are clustered around picnic tables, creating slideshows of the Los Angeles Riots.

Spanish students practice biographical pantomimes under a Haaga House awning, while students in the Negotiating Identities course drift by, capturing images of “identity” and “negotiation” on their phones. Across the lawn, Visual Arts students stand in the sun and angle their easels against the wind. Before long, 10th-graders will perform Shakespeare under the oak trees, juniors will deliver speeches on the lawn, and, on March 14, Physics students will observe Pi Day by populating the patio concrete with chalk circles.

10

F E AT U R E

When I was asked to write this piece on Poly’s writwhether in law offices or laboratories. Some ing program, I thought that I would begin with these have turned authorship into literary lifestyles and students scattered around the lawn. In the past, they have found celebrated careers as writers, journalists, have helped me decode some of the school’s cultural and critics. anomalies: the Colors Cheer, advisee snack, the Pet It may not be obvious on these bright afternoons, and Hobby Show. But when I ask them about the but our students are learning to be authors on Arden writing program, they give Lawn. If you ask the faculty me blank looks. They standing at the margins “ STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO EXPLORE are skeptical that we even or moving among the groups, WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY, HOW THEY WANT TO have one. they will tell you that the SAY IT, AND THE ACTUAL IMPACT OF SAYING IT. ” Our graduates, however, students are busy in and see it differently. Last year, out of the classroom learning an alumni survey found that almost all recent the skills that they will need to be practicing writers, graduates felt that they were prepared to take on the scientists, artists, historians, and scholars. challenges of college-level writing. Respondents The acts of authorship practiced on Arden Lawn reported that the Poly curriculum prepared them to and beyond have their roots in the earliest learning “think critically about all forms of literature,” to experiences at Poly: the Lower School writing work“analyze a text, take a point and defend it,” and to shops. Emily Brown, the K-2 literacy specialist and “find the words to convey my intentions … even as an dean of students, and Alex Velasco, the 3-5 literacy engineer.” While lingering in Garland, on sidelines, or specialist and dean of students, distill the goals of the as parents at Back to School workshop to two fundamental questions: “How do I Night, alumni often gather ideas?” and “What do I do with ideas when I observe that the have them?” Students discover narrative, informational, critical reading and persuasive writing as potential ways to answer and writing these questions. As they go through their day, they skills that they have opportunities to practice these skills, keeping forged at Poly are math journals, science journals, and history journals. invaluable in their This technique of giving students the tools to gather professional lives, their ideas and express them is literally dramatized in Tina Cocumelli’s creative dramatics project with third-graders. In this project, students are invited to write, direct, and perform in their own short plays based on the enigmatic drawings in Chris Van Allsburg’s “Mysteries of Harris Burdick.” They practice reading, writing, directing, and collaborating in an act of expression that is, finally, empowering.

F E AT U R E

11

Like a first-grader arguing the merits of Yogurtland, their expression is their own; the making and performing of these plays develops confidence, resilience, and autonomy to be heard.

In seventh grade, English teachers Laura Gershenhorn and Amy Jaffe guide students through a letter-writing project that complements their reading of Sherman Alexie’s novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” For five weeks, students write a different type of letter a week: an email to their teacher, a letter to a friend with whom they have fallen out of touch, a thank you letter, a letter to a public figure or organization, and a letter of advice to a character in the novel. Students have the freedom to write whatever they like, but the letter must conform to specific conventions, and it must be sent to its recipient, whether it be their teacher, a camp friend, or President Obama. Students are encouraged to explore what they want to say, how they want to say it, and the actual impact of saying it. The autonomy and authenticity of this authorship is exciting for students because, as Gershenhorn observes, “It’s theirs.”

Tom Berrian mirrors this type of authentic authorship in his seventh grade science classroom, where he strives not only to teach science, but also to teach the skills necessary to be a scientist. Like Gershenhorn and Jaffe, who find that the structure and conventions of different types of letters promote different opportunities for expression, Berrian finds the formal restrictions of haiku

Upper School English Teacher Marge Kenny discusses Shakespeare with seniors.

to be a useful tool in teaching the changing states of matter. As students learn how liquids change to solids or gases change to liquids, he asks them to compose haiku that represent these changes. This seemingly “literary” exercise is an opportunity to create interdisciplinary connections with the English classroom. But it also asks students to distill their knowledge into an original and concise expression that observes specific conventions and often requires extensive revision — the very skills necessary to study and practice science.

In his Upper School math classes, Derek Weisel sees math solutions as a form of authorship in which students strive to express their own understanding of complex problems through the conventions of a mathematical Third-graders write and perform plays for their creative dramatics project.

12

F E AT U R E

F E AT U R E

13

Juniors in Upper School English Teacher Laura Marion’s class debate the issue of immigration found in their summer reading, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman.

language. Like Berrian in his science classroom, Weisel finds that this challenge is not that different from the challenge faced by students in their English classes. The fundamental challenge of the mathematician is: When faced with a difficult, nuanced problem, can you tell the narrative of how you arrived at your ideas in a way that someone else can understand? Solving a math problem is a form of storytelling: The words and sentences may look different, but they are part of the grammar and conventions that students use to express their ideas. As Weisel observes, “Narrative is the strongest learning tool that we have across disciplines.”

Richard White sees a similar form of authorship in his AP Computer Science classes, where students create their own programs through the syntax and conventions of coding languages. Like seventh-graders writing haiku

14

F E AT U R E

or ninth grade math students telling the story of their solutions, his students have an outcome in mind and must work within the constraints of a specific language or instruction set to achieve that outcome. But there is creativity within those constraints, and the outcome is not assumed. Sometimes when the program is run, it does the unexpected. These surprises are exciting moments for White and his students: Like authors discovering new meanings through the process of writing, they find that they have created new things that they never intended, and they are able to learn from them.

My own Upper School English classes share this goal of developing students as authors. Ninth grade English is designed to expose students to a range of perspectives and the literary genres used to express those perspectives. Like seventh-graders writing letters or seniors writing code, my

Narrative is the strongest learning tool that we have across disciplines.

students study the conventions of different genres so that they can express themselves through them. By the end of the year, they have practiced exploring and expressing what matters most to them by writing original fairy tales, poetry, short stories, dramatic monologues, blog posts, visual essays, reflective essays, and analytical essays. These acts of authorship share the same goals of the Lower School writing workshop: to help students gather their ideas and then sort out what to do with them when they have them.

The Upper School Writers’ Center is a space that “encourages and supports students in their efforts to learn about, engage in, and enjoy the art of writing.” As its director, Grace Hamilton upholds this vision, maintaining the Writers’ Center as a hub where students both get help with and celebrate writing. Sometimes the two happen simultaneously. On any given day, Hamilton has a view of the diverse authorship of our students. She might see essays from across the curriculum, college essays, independent writing projects, or applications for external programs and competitions. When she meets with

students, she asks them to read their work aloud, an exercise in which they “read to me and to themselves” and “hear their own voice.” In these moments, she says, “It’s awesome to hear them light up about what language can do.”

The word “awesome” came up frequently as I met with my colleagues to talk about the outlets for authorship in the school. And for good reason. Across divisions and disciplines, we have opportunities to see students “light up about what language can do.” That language may express itself as a haiku, a computer program, or a mathematical solution, but the thrill of having ideas and knowing what to do with them is the same. I wonder if this is what our alumni are reporting when they celebrate the writing program at Poly; not only that they know how to write a strong analytical essay (which they do, to be sure), but also that they have something to say and know how to say it — wherever they find themselves. “It’s theirs,” and they learned to make it theirs some sunny afternoon when they walked out of their classroom and onto Arden Lawn.

Q

F E AT U R E

15

NOBEL LAUREATE COMES TO CAMPUS AS POLY’S 2014 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS

by Isabelle Phinney ‘16, The Paw Print co-editor

NOBEL LAUREATE DR. BRUCE BEUTLER ’75 visited Poly this fall when he was recognized as the 2014 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year.

He spoke with students, visited classes, and reviewed photos from the archives. In the evening, he was honored over dinner with faculty and former classmates at Head of School John Bracker’s home.

Beutler is an especially seasoned honoree, having shared half of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Jules Hoffmann for their research on the activation of innate immunity, specifically the protein toll-like receptor 4. He attended Upper School at Poly until 11th grade, graduating a year early at age 16. Beutler then attended UC San Diego for his undergraduate degree and earned his MD from the University of Chicago in 1981. He is currently director of the Center for the Genetics of Host

Q You graduated from Poly after only three years in high school. Could you tell me a bit about your time here and how you came to finish after three years?

A Sure. I grew up loving nature, loving animals, so by the time I came to Poly, I already knew I wanted to be a biologist. I was interested in how molecules could arrange themselves into living things that seemed to be more than the sum of their parts. I wanted to take biology right away in ninth grade. The normal sequence was 10th-grade biology, 11th-grade chemistry, 12th-grade physics. But I started taking biology right from the start, so I was sort of in two classes at once. My friends were from both the classes of 1974 and 1975. At Poly I had about five or six close friends with whom I spent much of my time, and they were a very diverse group. They were all quite intellectual. It was a good environment to be in.

Q What compelled you to graduate early?

A I was in a hurry. I was ambitious. I wanted to be working in the laboratory, making discoveries rather than simply learning about them. And I decided a year was a year, and there were exciting things happening in biology that I wanted to be a part of.

Defense at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

16

F E AT U R E

Q I noticed your father was also a geneticist. Did he have any influence on your decision to pursue biology?

A Certainly having a father who was a biomedical scientist was useful to me because he would tell me about any

issue in biology I might want to discuss. And he knew an awful lot. He was a famous biologist. He encouraged me to go to medical school, which I might not otherwise have done. And I think that was a good decision because even though I didn’t want to become a practicing physician, I was able to learn about all different aspects of human biology. This became important to me later on in my research when I needed to see the big picture.

Q Did you do research when you were in high school?

A Yes, I worked at my father’s lab on weekends and during the summer. I remember my very first job at my father’s lab was to cut up human placentas so that others in the lab could purify an enzyme called hexosaminidase.

So I began on the ground floor. But I soon learned to assay enzymes myself, to separate them by electrophoresis and other methods, and to purify proteins. I learned a lot in that lab, all very useful later on.

Q Tell me a little about your lab now.

A You may have heard that one must begin with a hypothesis. This is often true, and good scientists always try to test their hypotheses rather than prove them correct.

However, we try to avoid making hypotheses in the first place. We try not to make guesses about how a biological system works. We use genetics. For the most part, we begin our work by creating random mutations in mice. We breed the mice to bring the mutations to homozygosity, and then we screen thousands of mice to detect failure of immune responses.

And if you find a new phenotype of this kind, you can solve it and know which protein is affected to cause this failure of normal function. Then you learn something, and you haven’t made a guess at all. You simply know protein A is important for function X. And then it is time to make hypotheses to begin to understand the mechanism behind that.

Q Could you talk a bit about your work for the 2011 Nobel Prize in physiology?

A In that case we had a phenotype to begin with; we didn’t have to create it. Since the 1960s, it was known that there were certain mice that didn’t respond to endotoxin, a structural component of all gram-negative bacteria to which mammals, and especially people, respond violently.

If I were to inject an average mouse with endotoxin, within a few minutes it would have chills and begin mounting a fever, and if sufficient endotoxin was administered, the mouse would go into shock and possibly die. This was something I knew to be medically important.

In my earliest post-doctoral work, I isolated a protein called tumor necrosis factor, drawing on skills from my father’s lab. And I realized that it was mediating many of the effects of endotoxin. So here I had a protein that I knew was doing a lot of what endotoxin initiated. I also knew endotoxin drove the expression of this protein. But nobody knew why … the receptor for endotoxin had not yet been discovered.

I began to see the identity of the endotoxin receptor as a key question in biomedicine. I realized, “Come to think of it, we don’t know how any microbes are recognized,” so finding the endotoxin receptor would be really important. I tracked down the mutation that distinguished the resistant mice from all other mice. It turned out to affect a protein called toll-like receptor 4. By that time it was known that in fruit flies a mutation in the Toll protein, the first member of the protein family to be identified, would cause the flies to be overwhelmed by fungal infection. I thought all of this is very interesting: This is a situation parallel to that we have in the mouse, and perhaps this whole family of proteins is dedicated to sensing microbes. That turned out to be the case. In mammals, each of our 10 toll-like receptors detects a different microbial product that leads to a strong immune response within minutes. And now we know which molecules are recognized by most of the receptors.

Dr. Bruce Beutler ’75 accepts Poly’s 2014 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Alumni Board President Warren Techentin ’86.

F E AT U R E

17

Now we have a way of finding causative mutations that takes about one hour. If we find a mouse with a problem with immunity, then about an hour later, we know which gene was damaged or destroyed to cause the problem. It’s partly a computational advancement, partly a sequencing advancement. We’re in an enviable position compared to where we were before because now we have a huge surfeit of genes that we know are immunologically important.

In the old days, we had to struggle and scrape with our fingernails to try to find a single gene that was important.

Top: Dr. Beutler discusses his background with Upper School science students.

Bottom: Poly Archivist Barbara Bishop shares some of Poly’s treasures with Dr. Beutler during his campus visit this fall.

Q Has the research scene changed since the time of your work on TLR4?

A Yes, quite a bit. It took us five years to track down the mutation in TLR4. And it was back-breaking work because we could only sequence a few hundred nucleotides per day, at least in the beginning, and we had confined the mutation to a region that was about five million base pairs of DNA in length. We had to cover the whole area and look for what genes were there; then sequence them individually and try to find if there was a mutation that distinguished the reference strain from the mutant. That took a long time.

18

F E AT U R E

Q Would you have any advice for anything students interested in biology or any science?

A Yes, lots of advice. First of all, don’t be put off by people who tell you that it’s too hard to succeed in biology. If you really love biology, then you’re likely to succeed. The fact is, there is more competition for resources than there was before, but there are also a lot more things to do than before. Some people like to say that all the big problems have been solved, that all the easy discoveries have been made.

But there are a huge number of research opportunities out there, and a hundred years from now people will look back on our time and laugh at how naive we were and how little we knew. There are still great things to discover.

Second, there is not one set career path you must follow to pursue biology, or any science for that matter.

If you’re a bright person, you’ll see all kinds of questions and challenges around you. If you start to work in the lab,

almost any lab, you will see that there is a certain boundary beyond which we don’t know much. And probably what determines success most is recognizing a really important question … one that also is tractable. Perhaps it’s best of all if nobody else sees it as important.

Finally, don’t believe anyone who tells you that you must have a hypothesis. Hypotheses are only tools, and you should use them as such. You should not fall in love with them. Try ardently to reject hypotheses, not to prove yourself right. When you try to say, “I was right. Look, I discovered this,” you can’t really claim to have been surprised. Trying to prove hypotheses rather than trying to reject them accounts for the greatest errors in science. One need not use a hypothesis at all; one can take a completely unbiased approach. It is not necessary to make a guess at all in order to discover something. And there’s something wonderful about discovery in biology. It’s rather like being an explorer. It’s a truly rewarding career.

Q What sort of background do you look for in up-andcoming scientists when you are hiring in your lab?

A People with knowledge of statistics, of computation, programming — these are gifted people, and they have a huge amount to do when they come to my lab. Also, a knowledge of traditional chemistry is important. I can imagine the two melding. For example, it’s possible to model with a computer all of the molecules that can exist with 20 or fewer atoms. You know the bonds around which groups can spin; you know every conformation of these small molecules. And it just so happens that most useful drugs are of about that size. We can imagine a time — maybe a hundred years from now, maybe less — when molecular dynamic modeling is much better than it is today, and people won’t be screening drug libraries anymore. They’ll know the structure of all the proteins, so if one wants to design a drug to target a given protein, he or she will let the computer find exactly which drug will bind to the active site and nowhere else in the body. It is fanciful now — can’t be done — but we can see the possibility.

Visual Arts Chair Arnor Bieltvedt gives Dr. Beutler a tour of the new Boswell Arts Center on the South Campus.

F E AT U R E

19

PANTHERS

IN THE ZONE Photo by Beverly Schaefer

Alumni in sports today While Poly is widely known for its vigorous academic program, a number of students go on to excel athletically as well. A few recent Poly graduates made a name for themselves in sports on a collegiate level, on a professional level, and even on an international level. Here are some recent highlights of our alumni in sports.

Zibby Boyer ’11

Robbie Rasmussen ’07

Zibby was a three-time Varsity track and field athlete at UCLA, where she competed in the high jump. During her career at UCLA, she jumped the fourth best mark in school history at 6-1.25. She qualified for the national meet twice and earned a Pac-12 title in 2015. After graduating with a double major in psychology and communications this past May, Zibby competed in the World University Games in South Korea, where she jumped 5-10.75, earning the silver medal. Q

During his career at UCLA from 2008-10, Robbie was named All Pac-10 pitcher of the week two times. In June 2010, he was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the second round, 73rd overall. After pitching for various clubs, he was called up and made his major league debut on May 20, 2014, for the Toronto Blue Jays. Last year, he was traded to the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners called him up for his first game on Aug. 4, against the Rockies, when he tallied his first Major League win. Robbie finished out the regular season on the active roster pitching in 18 of 20 games after being called up. In December, Robbie’s currently a member of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Q

Alexis Genske ’12 Alexis is an outside hitter for Penn’s volleyball team. She lettered her freshman year. As a junior, she was named to the Stanford All-Tournament team, as well as the Crowne Plaza All-Tournament team. Her successful season earned her All-Ivy honorable mention. In her senior season, Alexis earned second team All-Ivy league and led the team with 288 kills.

She finished her career with 42 match appearances, 739 kills, and 867 digs. Alexis graduates with degrees in philosophy, politics, and economics this spring. Q

Michelle Miller ’12 (pictured) Michelle is a senior guard on Princeton’s women’s basketball team. She started her career strong at Princeton, having played in every game as a freshman. In her junior year, Michelle made a huge contribution in Princeton’s undefeated regular season. She was two-time Ivy League player of the week, coSIDA first team All-District, and earned third team All-American honors. Along with her athletic accolades, Michelle received the prestigious Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence. In March, she was featured in SLAM magazine’s online publication and was noted for her quiet but dedicated work ethic on and off the court. She is expected to finish at Princeton in the spring with a pre-med degree and looks to start medical school next fall. Q

20

PANTHERS IN THE ZONE

Daniel Wohl ’11 Daniel was a four-year Varsity basketball player for Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. During his career at Williams, he earned first team Capital One Academic All District One, second-team All-Northwest Region by D3Hoops.com, first-team ECAC New England Conference, and first-team All-NESCAC. He finished in May with a double major in economics and history.

This past July, Daniel signed a two-year contract to play professional basketball overseas with Galil Gilboa in Israel. Q

Colin Woolway ’12 Colin is a four-year Varsity goalie for Harvard’s men’s water polo team. As a freshman, he had a team-high of 172 saves, as well as eight assists and four steals. In his sophomore season in goal, he tallied 211 saves, 12 assists, and 12 steals.

He also earned five Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) weekly awards during his second year. As a junior, he made 286 stops, 23 steals, and 14 assists as the starting goalie. His outstanding performance helped Harvard finish second at the CWPA Northern Championships, and he was named to the CWPA All-Northern second team. Colin is set to graduate in the spring with a degree in economics. Q

PANTHERS

IN THE ZONE

FALL RECAP Football Panther football headed into Prep League finals with a record of 6-4 in the season, 2-1 in league. They faced Rancho Mirage in the first round of CIF playoffs.

The experience of their nine seniors was a big factor during playoffs. Q

Girls volleyball The girls volleyball team experienced a turbulent season riddled with illnesses and injuries. However, through it all, they finished fourth in the Prep League and earned a berth into the CIF Playoffs. They relied on the leadership of their eight seniors to get them through post-season and faced defending CIF-SS champions South High in the first round. Q

Boys water polo The team had a very demanding schedule this season, including two tournaments putting them up against much bigger schools. Senior Dean

Behary was a great contribution to the offense, and goalie senior Brett Kidman made key stops throughout the season. Q

Senior Samantha Collins and freshman Tara Adarkar, continued on in the post season through the second round of CIF playoffs. Q

Cross country

Fencing

The cross country team ran in some prestigious races this season, proving they are a force to be reckoned with.

The team had nine boys and nine girls participating in the post-season. Poly has some young talent (the team is graduating only one senior) that will be exciting to follow in the years to come. Q

The fencing team returned 15 fencers and added nine new freshmen this season. It was a very young team, with only one senior and three juniors. This season was focused on gaining experience and fencing more teams than they had in the past. They look forward to gaining more experience and building the skills of the team in the future. Q

Girls tennis Panther tennis finished going .500 in league. They earned a spot in the playoffs by beating league rival Flintridge Prep.

They faced Charter Oak in the wild card round of playoffs. The weather conditions forced a rain delay, and the Panthers had to travel to Charter Oak again, where they were defeated and exited the playoff run.

The Panthers number one doubles team,

Girls golf The girls wrapped up their season going 5-3 in league, 7-4 overall. This included a five-match streak in five days. Four girls qualified for the finals, and junior Robyn Lee represented the Panthers in the Prep League Finals match. Q

WINTER PREVIEW Boys basketball

Boys soccer

Girls water polo

The boys came into this season with a lot of younger returning athletes. They looked to their two seniors, Hunter Harper and Tim Matthiessen, to set the tone and for leadership. Q

Boys soccer entered the season with a young team, returning 14 boys, with the leadership of six returning seniors. They hope to uphold back-to-back playoff appearances. Q

Girls water polo came into this season with high expectations. The defending CIF champions returned to the pool after finishing last season with a streak of 48 undefeated league games. Q

Girls basketball

Girls soccer

Girls basketball returned with experience, bringing back four of last year’s five starters. Anticipation was high for sophomore Sarah Johnson and the team return to the court. Q

Beginning of this season brought a lot of expectation for this team. The girls entered the season defending the title of last year’s Prep League champions and hoping to continue a 36-game undefeated streak. Q

PANTHERS IN THE ZONE

21

Poly

Connections

News and Events

Boston

Washington, D.C.

Maine

Alumni in college lunch During his travels around the country, Head of School John Bracker has made an effort to meet with young alumni in college, keeping Poly connected to our most recent graduates. The Alumni Association hosted five alumniin-college lunches to coincide with Poly’s regional receptions on the East Coast and in the Midwest this fall.

Students at both the University of Virginia and Georgetown enjoyed lunch in Charlottesville and Washington, D.C., respectively, before Poly’s alumni reception in the area on Oct. 1. The latter group also enjoyed seeing beloved history teacher and Assistant

Head of School Greg Feldmeth, who was in town for a conference. Later in October, nearly half of the 17 alumni who currently attend Harvard joined Bracker for an opportunity to reminisce and share how their Poly experiences prepared them for college. Bowdoin College students enjoyed dinner in Maine the following night with Director of Advancement Colin Allen. Rounding out the season, all alumni in the Classes of 2012 through 2015 were invited back to campus during Thanksgiving break to enjoy the longtime tradition of Alumni in College BBQ lunch with former classmates and teachers.

Q

BOSTON: Colin Allen, John Bracker, Hunter Worland ’15, Caleb Lee ’13, Simone Abegunrin ’14, Annika Lars ’15, Connor McKnight ’12, and Henry Brooks ’15 • WASHINGTON, D.C.: Jared Lim ’15, John Bracker, Greg Feldmeth, Ana Acosta ’14, Colin Allen, Erin Annick ’14, Miller Whitehouse-Levine ’15, and Director of Alumni and Community Relations Katherine Vieser • MAINE: Colin Allen, Harry Templeton ’14, Natalie Edwards ’14, and Ezra Sunshine ’15 •

22

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

Poly

Connections

News and Events New leadership for Alumni Association

Grandparents and Special Friends Visiting Day Each year faculty, staff, students, and parent volunteers delight in welcoming grandparents and other special visitors to campus for a morning at school. Just before Thanksgiving, Poly’s campus filled with the proud enthusiasm of hundreds of grandparents and friends who sat at desks and on rugs, joined in classroom assignments, heard performances, and shared stories of their own. The multi-generational exchange brought smiles and new mutual appreciation for all ages.

Q

To view more photos from the day, visit www.polytechnic.org/webextras.

The 2015-16 school year opened with Warren Techentin ’86 as president of the Alumni Association.

Having served on the Alumni Board for four years, Warren Techentin brings enthusiasm for the Alumni Association’s mission to foster relationships among those who have attended Poly and the broader school community. He is the founder and principal of Warren Techentin Architecture in Los Angeles and adjunct associate professor at USC. Warren and his wife, Mimi, are also parents of current Poly first-graders Remick and Larkin. Poly is fortunate to enjoy the dedication and service that Warren and all volunteers in the Alumni Association offer to help propel programs of exceptional quality and integrity.

Q

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

23

Poly

Connections

News and Events Annual Young Alumni events

Parents of alumni return to campus for five- and 10-year reunions For many parents, as their children progress through their school years, the Poly community becomes a second family, the campus another place to call “home.” After their children graduate, their relationships with faculty, fellow parents, and alumni remain, and the nostalgia of their days on campus evokes pride and offers comfort in the familiar faces and spaces.

Alison Lifland P ’06, ’09, ’12, ’12, reflects on her experience as a Poly parent: “We were Poly parents for 20 consecutive years, and at one point had kids simultaneously in the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools. That’s a lot of parent coffees and back-to-school nights! And with twins in the picture, our family personally experienced virtually every member of the Poly faculty. We have many fond memories and look forward to reconnecting with everyone at reunions!”

Each December, the Alumni Association invites parents of alumni to join their alumni children in celebrating the five- and 10-year reunions on campus.

Guests are treated to tours of the revitalized Upper School campus as well as a chance to hear updates from current faculty and the head of school. This year, parents from the classes of 2011 and 2006 reconnected and celebrated their days as a community of Poly parents.

Q

24

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

With many alumni home for the holidays, the year’s last weeks are an opportune time for young alumni to reunite. Just before Thanksgiving, the Classes of 2012 to 2015 returned to campus from colleges around the country for the Alumni in College BBQ. Alumni were welcomed back by faculty members and Alumni Board member Cindy Lam ‘02. In December, the Alumni Association hosted the annual and muchloved Young Alumni Holiday Mixer for Classes of 2001 to 2012 and the five- and 10- year reunions for the Classes of 2011 and 2006 and their parents.

Special thanks to the reunion committees for making these events memorable and successful!

Poly

Connections

Philanthropy Parents propel the Poly Fund forward

This school year, current Poly parents have especially sparked fresh enthusiasm around the annual giving program now called the Poly Fund.

Still the school’s principal fundraising effort that supports about 10 percent of the operating budget, the Poly Fund helps keep programs, faculty salaries, and financial aid strong.

“My eldest is a senior, and I can now say that we have lived the Poly

experience from start to finish,” parent volunteer leader Kim Shepherd says.

“I help the Poly Fund because I believe in the education at Poly. My kids love trips week, and whether they are interested in music, performing, visual arts, athletics, foreign languages, or volunteering, Poly offers so many opportunities for them to be adventurous.”

Already this fall, parents’ giving and volunteering have helped propel the drive’s early success. “The transition to the ‘Poly Fund’ is meant to rally our community around a concentrated fundraising effort,” Director of Annual Giving Elizabeth Shdo says. “Our ultimate goal is to create a Poly Fund–free spring semester so that our on-campus families can focus on other things.”

So far, Shdo explains, Poly’s parents are responding to the shift to remarkable effect — and perpetuating

a century-old school tradition.

“Parents’ efforts result in more than two-thirds of the Poly Fund, but their contribution is much more than that.

By sharing their passion for the wellbeing of the school with others, they nurture the culture of philanthropy that helped create Poly.”

The benefits of participating in the Poly Fund are personal and plentiful, according to one active volunteer who is newer to the community: “I love helping out at Poly,” Lower School parent Jim Kohn says, “and the Poly Fund is a fun way to do it, with the great camaraderie of the parent and alumni volunteer team.”

Kohn says he appreciates the fact that the focus is more on participation than a particular giving level. “It’s so refreshing to know that the Poly Fund proceeds go immediately toward the school’s mission. Poly knows how to do it right!”

Q

VOLUNTEERING FOR THE POLY FUND Interested in helping the Poly Fund? Director of Annual Giving Elizabeth Shdo can connect you with a fun way to get involved. Reach out to her at eshdo@polytechnic.org or 626-396-6337 to learn more about these options: • THE POLY FUND LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE – Composed of parents, alumni, and parents of alumni, this group helps solicit our donors at the club level of giving.

• PHONATHON CALLERS – This year’s opportunities included two traditional phonathons on campus and three “virtual” phonathons for connecting from home. Now alumni and parents can help the Poly Fund from anywhere!

• FACULTY/STAFF COMMITTEE – One volunteer representative each from the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools and the administration encourage their peers to support the Poly Fund.

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

25

Poly

Connections

Class Notes trips to Reno, Carson City, and Monterey, Class Notes editorial policy:

where we attended the wedding of

The editorial staff gives preference to those class notes that come from primary sources. We reserve the right to edit class notes (primarily because of space considerations; occasionally for clarity). We do not have the resources to fact-check class note entries; therefore, we cannot be liable for inaccurate or false information that may inadvertently find its way into a class note. We thank you for your understanding.

Bruce’s grandson. Q

To submit a class note, send an email to classnotes@polytechnic.org.

are spending our “golden” years in the

Susan Straubel Champion ’52 I am still playing some golf and bridge.

My only grandson is now a sophomore at Colorado School of Mines, and my four granddaughters, ages 12 to 24, are all busy and active. Q Carol Morris Fruit ’55 My husband and I are happily retired and beautiful South Carolina Lowcountry. Q Cynthia Nash Hummel ’56

1939-1959 Elizabeth Dempf Barnhart ’39 Life is good for this 90-year-old with happy

After all these years, we have a grandchild, Charlotte. She turns 4 at Christmas. Q

1960-1969

Bruce Nickerson ’68 We welcomed our first grandchild, Claire Elizabeth Nickerson, born to Jeffrey Nickerson ’01 and his wife, Amber. Q

1970-1979 Lucianne Phillips ’71 Greetings from the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle alumni reunions have been a great place to reconnect with classmates from

memories of seven years at Poly. Q Bill ’66 and Adele Morse Nevins ’66

Poly, resulting in several get-togethers. I

We are getting ourselves in shape to join

attended the benefit auction of Imagine

you for the 50th reunion - wow! Meanwhile

Housing, for which Lucy Sannes ’71

we are gearing up to demolish our existing

chaired the procurement committee

house and build a new house starting May

and raised more than $400,000. Ellen

2016! See you guys soon! Q

Judson ’71 and I went to the Chihuly Museum together. There were evenings

Vance Rutherford Smith ’66

together at the Farewell Tour of Dame

I love retirement! The only deadlines are

Edna and Teatro Zinzanni along with

self-imposed. We treat the farm like a

Nancy Young ’70, Sara Burgess ’70,

65-acre sandbox to play in, and I bought a

Marion Stone Neuhouser ’75, and

Marlowe Delphey Viney ’49

Shields sailboat for my 65th birthday. Life is

Laurene Kelly ’74. Traveling has offered

In early January, I was off to Mexico for

good. It doesn’t look like I’ll make it to the

me the opportunity to visit Ann Holmes

another adventure with my “forever friend,”

reunion in April, but stranger things have

Smith ’71 in Portland and at her beach

Bruce Henry. In May, we traveled to West

happened. I miss you all. Q

place near where the Columbia River

Point, where we joined Jack’s classmates to celebrate the big 60th reunion of the

Eric Winter ’66

Class of ’55. While on the East Coast, we

Eric is alive and well in Manhattan Beach.

had a short but sweet visit with Isaac

His son is a sophomore at Chadwick. Q

meets the Pacific Ocean. In Memphis, I was able to spend a few days with Nancy Jeanna Haden Juleson ’71, who looks forward to attending the 45th reunion and

and Danielle, my grandson and his wife.

has talked with Heidi White ’71 about

On Aug. 12, they became the parents of

attending as well. I have exchanged emails

my first great-granddaughter. I delight in

with Julia Tyson LaGrua ’71 and hope to

monthly fellowship with my Unique Red

connect when she comes north for a visit. Q

Hat ladies. Other fun travels included

26

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

Poly

Class Notes James Hutchinson ’72

Connections

ALUMNI PROFILE

James is preparing for retirement, painting

Mary Stewart Douglas ’65

in southern Oregon, and enjoying plays at

By Matilda Berke ’17

the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Q Debbie King Donahue ’73 I now have four grandchildren, and my own “baby” is a college junior. My real estate career continues to go well. Life is good! Q Laurie P. Farber ’73 I have moved to Baltimore to join my husband in his new job. My daughter was married at our home a month ago — a beautiful event. I am currently studying piano (once again) at Morgan State University. Lots of fun! Q Mark Rapaport ’73 Our life in Atlanta is going well. Our children are thriving, and the youngest, Joe, is at Northeastern. My work at Emory is exciting and fun. Q

Davis McDonald ’75 David enjoyed catching up with many Poly classmates at the 40th reunion in May and with John Poole ’75 in September in Berkeley, when visiting his first (and so far only) grandchild, a boy, Caleb William Meyer, born to Davis’ eldest daughter, Amanda, in August. Q

As a Poly student, Mary Douglas ’65 was already immersed in writing — in fact, her fifth grade teacher once remarked that she “had something to say to the world.”

Since graduating from Poly, Douglas certainly has made her mark. Although she initially worked in publishing after having studied English literature at Smith College, she realized that her true calling was law while writing and editing for the National Legal Aid and Public Defender Association. She attended San Francisco’s Hastings Law School, where she discovered her interest for environmental law in a water rights seminar. When she moved back to Washington, D.C., with her husband, she was able to effect change first as an attorneyadvisor with the Environmental Protection Agency and later in private practice.

After taking several years off to spend time with her family, she returned as a senior staff member for the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. Throughout her career, Douglas has always been an active contributor to meaningful causes. She credits Poly teachers — particularly their early emphasis on public speaking through oral book reports and speech contests — with having encouraged her to develop her own voice. In keeping with this passion, she recently decided to reinvent herself as a journalist. She currently writes on environmental and energy issues for The Berkshire Edge. Douglas considers herself fortunate to have been able to impact change in a wide variety of roles.

She notes that across the board, the skills that she learned as a young writer have always been an essential element of her professional repertoire. “Whether explaining a complex regulation to a client in a memo, persuading the court in a brief, or setting forth a cogent rationale for an environmental policy,” Douglas states, “I built on the strong foundation that Poly had given me.”

Q

M O R E A L U M N I N E W S AT W W W . P O LY T E C H N I C . O R G / A L U M N I N E W S

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

27

Poly

Connections

Class Notes

ALUMNI PROFILE

Maureen Grady ’75

Joshua Abrams ’91

Maureen recently published a book of

By Lucas Bohlinger ’15 His unshakeable love for theatre goes back further than Josh Abrams ’91 can remember, even to birth. “I think I was brought backstage on my way home from the hospital,” he says.

At Poly, this love found a home. As an Upper School student, Abrams was able to assistant direct and make it on stage for a production of “Guys and Dolls.” He also points to his experiences on the first-ever The Paw Print staff as foundational for his future career as a writer.

From Poly, Josh took a unique and experimental path to get to where he is now. He went from an initial focus in chemistry to doublemajoring in management science and theatre at MIT. After MIT, Josh worked in finance for a few years but ultimately could not escape the theatre, working in Boston and Cambridge as a director and doing design work. He then went on to get both a master’s degree and a PhD in performance studies from Brown and CUNY, respectively.

While working his way through the latter, he met his current partner, Jen. After finishing an analysis of the actor-audience relationship, Josh quickly rose to popularity on the international lecture circuit. He and Jen both ended up at the University of Roehampton in the UK, where they have remained since.

Josh is working on a book analyzing the theatrical techniques used by modern restaurants. The book has grown out of a combined fascination with restaurants and theatre, and he admits, it doesn’t hurt that he was “able to have a ‘professional’ reason for eating out and chatting with chefs and front of house staff.” Josh is now able to look back upon how his time at Poly shaped who he is in front of the classroom. Although he has grown through a prolific career in education, he still remembers the Poly ethos: “The class sizes, the sense of group, and even the physical environment — it felt like home in ways that allowed us to try and not always succeed, which is what I want for my students.”

Q

poetry titled “Unpack My Heart With Words.”

Fellow classmate and author Lisa Krueger ’75 provided one of the blurbs for the book’s back cover. Q

1980-1989 Elizabeth Losh ’83 Elizabeth joined the faculty of the College of William & Mary this past August. Q David Ebershoff ’87 David is the author of the critically acclaimed 2000 novel, “The Danish Girl,” which was made into a major motion picture that opened this past November.

Academy Award-winner Eddie Redmayne plays the lead role of Einar Wegener. David, who resides in New York City, is currently vice president and executive editor at Random House. He has edited more than 20 New York Times best sellers. In 2013, he became the first editor to edit the winners of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction and history in the same year. This year, he edited the Pulitzer Prize winner in biography. Q

1990-1999

Catherine Blue Holmes ’95 and Ryan Holmes ’98 Catherine and Ryan welcomed their second child, Thomas Fauvre Holmes,

28

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

Poly

Connections

Class Notes on Sept. 4. His big sister, Jane, who is 3

Milo. I’ve loved catching up with Poly

years old, is delighted with his arrival — for

folks in the area, most recently Waynn

the most part. They are living in the Bay

Lue ’01, Tim Hahn ’02 and his sister,

Area, where they have been for the past

Esther ’04, Mark Linsey ’03, Anson

two years. Ryan is the assistant director for

Leung ’04, Anne Fauvre ’04, and of course

Health Care Ethics at the Markkula Center

my sister, Catherine Karayan Wilbur ’04,

for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University,

when she travels up from Santa Barbara.

and Catherine works in labor relations for

My saintly wife let me travel Asia with Alex

Santa Clara County. Q

Benzer ’02 this summer, and we spent a Lindsay Feldmeth Westra ’95 My husband and I welcomed our first child, Luke Angelo Westra, on Feb. 21.

Dr. Nate Feldmeth, former Poly Upper School history teacher, is the proud grandpa. We are having so much fun! Q

weekend visiting with Eli Bocek-Rivele ’02 in Shanghai. You should ask him about his big news, but I can reveal that he’s been making a Dreamworks picture there for the past few years and lives within throwing distance of where the Communist Party was founded. Dr. Pixton would be so proud!

(Left to right: Eli and Paul in high school at

2000-2015 Cameron Murphy ’94 and

Poly; Eli, Alex, and Paul in Shanghai this summer.) Q Cindy Lam ’02

Kelly Thompson ’05 Kelly and Cameron were married on

I was voted Best Local Musician in

May 25 at All Saints Church in Pasadena,

Pasadena Weekly’s 2015 Best of Pasadena

followed by a reception at the California

awards. After rebounding from a serious

Club downtown. They were thrilled to

elbow-damaging accident 13 years ago, I

have so many Poly friends and family

graduated from USC and have performed

there to celebrate. (Pictured, reclining:

with chamber ensembles and symphonies

Stacy Goto Grant ’05; second row: Jane

at such venues as Walt Disney Concert

Thompson ’07, Beth Carlson ’05, Mae Petra-Wong ’05, Reed Wagener ’05; third row: Victor Oviedo ’94, Lauren Libaw ’05, Kiley Robbins ’05, Kelly (bride), Anna Howell ’05, Taube Brahms ’05, Abe Kaslow ’05; back row: Amber Tyson Calhoun ’94, Stephen Liset ’94, David Fauvre ’94, Brett Pallin ’05, Avis

Laura Waluch Solomon ’01 Laura and and Michael Solomon were married on Nov. 28, 2014 at San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito. Laura is an assistant

Hall, UCLA’s Royce Hall, and South Pasadena’s Restoration Concerts Series. I also teach piano to a number of students, including many currently at Poly! Q

director of career services at Loyola Law School, and Michael is a partner at Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm. Q

Bohlen ’04, Cameron (groom), David Murphy ’92, and Will Thompson ’10; Not pictured: Elliott Hollingsworth ’94) Q

Katelin Radcliff Bannan ’02 Paul Karayan ’02 I’m enjoying life in the Bay Area startup scene and balancing it with my favorite side project: my almost 2-year-old son,

M O R E A L U M N I N E W S AT W W W . P O LY T E C H N I C . O R G / A L U M N I N E W S

My husband, Matthew Bannan, and I welcomed a son, Riley Charles, on Feb. 5!

I’ve been documenting my experience as a new mom on my longrunning blog,

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

29

Poly

Connections

Class Notes prettysandyfeet.com. I’m currently doing

Kelly Thompson ’05 and

hunt around town. I earned my Ph.D.

freelance social media consulting and

Cameron Murphy ’94

in industrial/organizational psychology

spending as much time as I can with Riley. Q

Kelly and Cameron were married on May 25

from Purdue University. I now am an

at All Saints Church in Pasadena, followed Gustavo Mendez ’03

assistant professor in the Department of

by a reception at the California Club

Gustavo graduated from Oregon Health

Management in the College of Business

downtown. See full note and photo under

& Science University Medical School this

at the University of Texas at San Antonio

Cameron Murphy ’94. Q

where I not only conduct research but also

past June. Q

teach organizational behavior. Q

Alexandre Webster ’03 Alexandre obtained his doctorate in biology from Caltech in April. Q

Margaret Koehler ’05 and

David Gross ’04 David and his wife, Aurora Pribram-Jones, are having a busy year. David’s work at eSolar has continued and supports their first commercial contract, providing solar thermal power for the Sundrop Farms

Alex Caughron ’05

Caitlin Latta ’07

Margaret and Alex were married in

After completing my master’s degree in

December. They started dating the

education at USC in May, I recently started

summer before their senior year at Poly.

working at Grinnell College in Grinnell,

The wedding party included 11 other

Iowa, as an assistant director of admission.

Poly alumni, including members of the

Southern California is part of my territory,

classes of ’97, ’00, ’05, ’06, and ’13. The

and I was excited to be able to speak

two are currently living and working in

with Poly students about the college

the Bay Area. Q

this past fall! Q

Meghan Thornton ’06

Alexandra Paul ’10 and Alyssa Paul ’13

I got engaged to Joel Lugo in West

Alex and Alyssa enjoyed celebrating the

Lafayette, Ind. Joel and I met through

white coat ceremony at Duke University

church and running, and we had been

before Alex starts her first year of medical

dating for little over a year when he

school. Alyssa will be a junior at Columbia this

proposed after a lengthy scavenger

fall majoring in film studies and loving NYC. Q

Port Augusta Expansion, a 20ha seawater greenhouse in South Australia. Aurora defended her doctorate in chemistry from UC Irvine at summer’s end and started at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the fall. There she holds a double appointment as a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry and a Lawrence Postdoctoral Fellow at the lab. Joining them on their adventure up north (and on many others) is their new daughter, Avra Gross Goodstein Winkelstein Pribram Jones Eko, who will enjoy her seventh airbreathing month by the end of 2015. David and Aurora are thrilled and captivated by her every minute of the day. Q

30

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

Poly

Class Notes Ellie Malchione ’11 Ellie is graduating Yale College this May and will be working at the Art and Architectural History Department at Yale University Press. Q

Sebastian Cahill ’13 Poly alums and best friends Max Harmon ’13, Isaac Calvin ’13, and Sebastian Cahill ’13 reunited over the summer as camp counselors, leading a trip through a section of the Appalachian Trail. Picture taken at the summit of Mt. Katahdin. (Left to right: Max Harmon ’13, Sebastian Cahill ’13, fellow camp counselor, and Isaac Calvin ’13) Q For the latest in alumni news and events, visit www.polytechnic.org/alumni

Connections

ALUMNI PROFILE

James Stout ’05

By Belen Cahill ’17 Seventh-grade math at Poly opened a whole new world to Google software engineer James Stout ’05, who says former Poly Middle School Science teacher Lyle Hatridge gave him programming experiments to try on his TI83 calculator outside of class.

Although he became engrossed with neuroscience during Upper School and his first year at Brown, Stout soon rediscovered his Middle School love of programming.

He crammed all he could into his remaining three years in college to delve further into software engineering. He also reserved some time for philosophy, an interest he attributes to his Upper School English teacher Bill Pickering and the complexity of Poly’s class discussions. Throughout college, Stout was a teaching assistant for computer science courses, and he was hired by Google immediately following his 2009 graduation.

He spent three years dipping his toes in various areas of computing, including working on a team that programmed a “crawler” to produce Google search results. He admits that it was a solid introductory job that did not quite correlate with his passions. Soon Stout learned of an opening on a team dedicated to developing a self-driving car (which he lovingly calls his “dream team”) and was immediately hooked on the challenge. He saw the project’s potential to save lives and have a major positive impact on those who would not otherwise be able to drive, so he proposed that he work with the team under Google’s “20% Projects,” placing engineers with a given team for one day a week. He was hired full-time on the project a few months later.

Stout credits Poly for his work ethic, the skill to thrive under pressure, and his intellectual hunger — all integral to setting him apart from his professional peers. Eager to see Google’s car on the road, Stout currently leads the team that simulates test drives in a virtual landscape. Stout is living happily with his girlfriend and is excited to see several of his Poly friends in the neighborhood, where they convene weekly over lively discussions reminiscent of those they had in high school.

Q

M O R E A L U M N I AT W W W . P O LY T E C H N I C . O R G

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

31

Poly

Connections

In Memoriam Davidson, a civic leader in Pasadena, and We extend our condolences to the families and friends of those listed below and hope this section assists those who wish to honor their Poly classmates and friends.

Poly publishes obituaries as space allows when we receive notice that an alumnus/a or former faculty or staff member has died. If we have neglected to list someone, please send us biographical information, which we will print in a subsequent issue.

Please note: Listings include those received through November 2015.

the late Bernice Estelle Osborne Savage.

She retired in 1982 after working 23 years as a general inspector for National Can Company. Afterward, she moved from Downey to Moreno Valley and joined the Lions Club, as well as the Women’s Club of Moreno Valley, where she acted

Clifford Heinz Jr. ’34

by his wife of 68 years, Grace, and their

as the club secretary for many years.

September 22, 2015, Irvine, California

five children, Jean, Walter, Grace, Kay, and

Jeanette was preceded in death by her

Frank, who were all present at his passing.

husband, Robert, who passed away in

Walter is also survived by his older brother,

1963. She is survived by her four children,

Donald Switzer ’34, six grandchildren and

nine grandchildren, and four great-

eight great-grandchildren.

grandchildren. She is also survived by her

Clifford was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., on Aug. 4, 1919, the grandson of H.J. Heinz, founder of the internationally recognized food company and contributing force

brother, Alexander Davidson, and many

behind the Pure Food and Drug Act of

Virginia Seay Ploeser ’36

1906. He was known for his keen wit

November 23, 2015, Redwood City,

and often ironic sense of humor, which

California

he maintained until the end. Heinz also believed and adhered to the principles of a life lived with honesty, generosity, compassion and unerring hard work. As an entrepreneur, he started a wide range of companies and was always confident about his ability to manage anything.

He believed a good education was the greatest gift one could give a person, thus he established the Heinz Ethics Program at Polytechnic School; the Clifford S. Heinz Ethical Education Endowment at the Webb School in Claremont; and a chair for the economics and public policy of peace at UC Irvine. He is survived by his beloved Barbro; children, Robert, Caroline, Lisa, and Jeanette; and eight grandchildren,

nephews and nieces.

Dextra B. Hopper ’41 October 4, 2015, San Diego, California

Virginia (Ginny) attended Poly prior to attending South Pasadena High School.

Dextra was born in Los Angeles, the

She graduated from Vassar College in

daughter of Nell Wilson Metzler and

1944 with a degree in music composition,

Baldwin M. Baldwin. She grew up in

studying under internationally known

Pasadena, where she attended the

composer and music scholar Ernst Krenek,

Polytechnic and Westridge Schools,

who became her friend and mentor. Under

and then went on to attend Stanford

Krenek’s guidance, she earned a master’s

University. Dextra is survived by her five

degree from Hamline University in Saint

children: Deanne, Brent, Jane, Heather,

Paul, Minn., winning a national award for

and Wilbur; 11 grandchildren; and nine

her composition, “San Clemente Low Tide.”

great-grandchildren. Dextra was preceded

In 1945, one of her compositions was

in death by her beloved twin sister, Anne

performed by the Minneapolis Symphony

Baldwin Purcell ’41.

Orchestra under the direction of

Helen Hayes Kintz ’46

renowned conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos,

August 24, 2014, Conway, South Carolina

heard nationwide by radio broadcast.

From 1957 to 2013, Ginny taught in the

Don E. Petty ’52

Catholic School system for the dioceses

June 18, 2014, Ventura, California

Walter Switzer Jr. ’35

of San Francisco and San Jose. She taught

Don was born on Nov. 1, 1936, in

June 13, 2015, Phoenix, Arizona

first at Sacred Heart School in Saratoga

Hollywood to Don and Iola Pardee Petty.

and later at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in

He lived his early life in Pasadena and

Redwood City. Ginny is survived by her

Washington, D.C., before returning to

two children and five grandchildren.

the family ranch in Saticoy, Calif. After

He proudly served for three years in the

Charlotte Davidson Smith ’37

attending Stanford University for two

Pacific aboard the USS Farragut destroyer

December 21, 2010, Riverside, California

years, Don volunteered for the U.S. Army.

including Noor ’08 and Osman Youness ’10.

Walter was born in 1920, shortly after his father, Walter Switzer Sr. opened Switzer’s Style Shop in downtown Phoenix.

during World War II. Walter returned to

Upon completion of his military service, he Jeanette D. Cameron ’39

resumed his studies at the University of

June 8, 2014, Placentia, California

New Mexico and worked in the aerospace

business, and he plunged into community

Jeanette was born April 22, 1924, the

industry for several years. Don was part

activities after retirement. He is survived

second daughter of the late Alexander

of the American Space Program and had

Phoenix and began operating Switzer’s Inc. which became a multi-state, 20-store

00 32

SE P OC LY TIC OO N NNNAEM CE TIONS

Poly

the honor of visiting Mission Control in

Janis oversaw the excavation of a wooly

Houston during one of the Apollo lunar

mammoth that had been discovered on

missions. In the early 1970s, he returned

the campus. She served multiple terms as

to Saticoy to take the reins of the family

president, vice-president, and secretary-

lemon and avocado ranches and served

treasurer of the National Association of

the community through participation on

Geoscience Teachers Board, and she was

many farming association boards. Don is

named a Fellow of the Geological Society

survived by his wife, Susan; his brother,

of America in 2005. Janis is survived by

Stephen Petty ’54; and his four children

her husband, Colin; her sister, Nancy

and their families.

Driver ’73; and her two children, Bonnie

Carolyn R. Taft ’55 August 10, 2015, Indio, California Carolyn was born Sept. 11, 1940, to Drs.

Connections

and Eric.

Thomas S. Gumport ’03 August 2, 2015, Pasadena, California

Ruth Carolyn Taft and John Harris Taft

Tom was born in Pasadena on

of Rosemead. After graduating in 1958

Nov. 6, 1984, to Wendy Munger and

from Arcadia High School, she obtained

Leonard L. Gumport. He had a happy

her teaching degree from Cal State Los

childhood and made lasting friendships

Angeles in 1962, and her master’s degree

at Cottage Co-op Nursery School and

in education/reading from Cal State

Polytechnic School, as well as newer

Fullerton in 1985. Carolyn specialized

friendships in recent years. He attended

in teaching elementary school children

UC Berkeley. Tom is survived by his

with reading challenges in Covina and

parents; his sisters, Anna Gumport ’00

Glendale school districts before retiring

and Mary Gumport ’07; his grandfather;

to Indio in 1998. She was preceded in

and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

death by her parents and her daughter, Jennifer. She is survived by her husband, Keith; son, Jeffrey; stepchildren, Garon and Tammy; sisters, Kathleen and Arlene; nine grandchildren; and three greatgrandchildren.

Janis Driver Treworgy ’72 April 7, 2015, Grafton, Illinois Janis grew up in Santa Monica and attended Principia College in Elsah, Ill. She continued her education at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, earning her Ph.D. in sedimentary geology in 1985. She began her 25-year career at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) in 1975 and, during that time, co-founded the K-8 Countryside School in Champaign, Ill. In 2000, she accepted a position as chair of the Earth Science Department at Principia College, her alma mater. During her 15 years at Principia,

P O LY C O N N E C T I O N S

33

P.S.

Pat Gray

A man of many hats, Pat Gray serves Poly as Middle School dean of students, seventh grade level coordinator, Varsity girls soccer coach, associate director of summer programs, and director of Poly Soccer Camp (whew!). Gray’s athletic prowess comes from his experience as a three-sport athlete at Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania, including Varsity soccer, Varsity lacrosse, and winter track.

He attended Penn State University on a full athletic scholarship. While at Penn State, he played for four years on the Varsity soccer team and later played soccer professionally for the Chicago Power, the Philadelphia Kixx, the Philadelphia Freedom, and the New York Stallions. During this time, Pat used these unique opportunities to give speeches on avoiding drugs and staying in school all over the Chicago and Philadelphia area.

Q:

What do you see as the most challenging part of Middle School for today’s students?

I think the teen years are an incredible time of change — physically, mentally, and emotionally. This has always been true, but today’s teens seem to be continually pressed by activities and less free time.

Q:

What is your best advice for Middle School students?

Although a bit cliché, my best advice for Middle School students is to be themselves, do things that they enjoy, and spend time with their families and friends.

Q: How has your experience and career in sports shaped the person you are today?

I have been lucky that I began a passion for soccer from a very young age that has continued into my adulthood. My parents allowed soccer to be mine, and mine alone. They simply supported me from the sidelines. I had the same soccer coach from the time I was 11 until I was 17, which is almost unheard of today. I have been shaped by so many incredible coaches and student athletes over the years.

Q: Whom do you admire as a leader and why?

I have been so fortunate to have the opportunity to watch and learn from so many leaders over the years here at Poly. From [former Assistant Head of School] Carmie Rodriguez, who lead with values and an incredible work ethic, to [former Middle School Director] Jenn Tolbert with her unshakable strength, and now Middle School Director Rebecca Nelson, who has energy and new ideas to improve all that we do in the Middle School.

Q:

What is your favorite moment so far since you’ve been at Poly?

I have so many favorite moments — from Outdoor Education trips, and eighth-graders’ building a house in Mexico for a homeless family, to Middle School Halloween and watching kids grow, but I would have to say my favorite memory is when the girls soccer team went to the CIF finals and won the Southern California championship. I remember how the whole school supported the team, and there were so many happy faces among the team, parents, and students. A special moment.

34

P. S .

1030 East California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91106 626.396.6300 : www.polytechnic.org

Change ser vice requested

OakTree Times FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 1 5

Inside: Panthers in the Zone

Q

Class Notes and Alumni Profiles

Q

P.S. with Pat Gray

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Pasadena, CA Permit No. 1879