A CONVERSATION WITH HEAD OF SCHOOL LEE THOMSEN
By Julie Nelson
As the Communications Director at Country Day for over 20 years, I worked with five heads of school, including Lee Thomsen. In one of the first communications I wrote about Lee, I spelled his name incorrectly.
“I have to spell it often: “T H (dash) O M (dash) (No P) S (dash) E (dash) N.” he told me when he kindly pointed out my error. The name “Thomsen” is Danish. Lee said the only time he didn’t have to spell his last name was during a family visit to Denmark. There were seven pages of Thomsens in the phone book.
As a candidate for the head of school position, Lee Thomsen first visited Country Day in October 2015, meeting students as part of the interview process. “Coming from Salt Lake City,” Lee said, “the first thing that struck me about the campus was that nearly everything happened outside. “There were no hallways; most rooms opened directly to the outdoors. The High School students met under a tree in the Quad, and I had lunch with the student council at a table under the trees near the Pre-Kindergarten.”
Lee started work July 1, 2016. Looking back at those first few years, he said, “Being a new Head of School is like drinking from the proverbial fire hose; it is a giant leap in responsibility from being a Division Head, and I was incredibly fortunate to have hired Valerie Adelsheim as my assistant. She had worked in schools forever, and I think she knew more about my job than I did in those early years.”
When I asked Lee about accomplishments over the last ten years, he mentioned several. “I’m incredibly proud of the revisions we made to the Mission Statement that first year. In over 30+ years in schools, I’ve never worked in a place that lives and breathes its mission as Country Day does. It truly acts as our guide in everything we do, and it took everyone’s active input over months of work to bring it to fruition. In 2016, we had different identities across all three divisions, and I believe that in 2025 we are much closer to being ‘one school’ than we were 10 years ago.”
A second milestone he cited was increased enrollment. In 2016, student enrollment was 481, with the maximum allowed by the School’s 1996 Conditional Use Permit (CUP) of 544, with a 144 cap in the High School. Over the next four years, enrollment continued to climb, so Country Day returned to the City for an amendment to the 1996 CUP.
“When I was hired, one of the Board’s stated goals was to grow the High School,” Lee explained. “In 2016, our High School enrolled approximately 135 students, and we were not regularly filling 9th-grade classes of 36. Once the revised CUP was approved (on August 14, 2020), allowing enrollment to increase to 598 for the school and from 144 to 180 in the HS, we assumed it would be slow growth in the HS. We got there more quickly than anticipated. Those extra 36 High School students have helped fortify our athletic teams, as well as the extracurricular and club programs.”
An additional impact on enrollment involved a back-to-school requirement during the COVID-19 years. Lee explains. “We had to take over a second classroom to accommodate social distancing in Pre-K. This change allowed the Pre-Kindergarten classes to grow in future years to 30, making it easier to fill the Kindergarten classes the following year, which had the happy result of making enrollment more consistent and predictable throughout the Lower School grades.”
In our conversation about additional actions he was proud of, Lee mentioned bringing on appropriate staffing to address the changing needs of 21st-century students. “In 2016, Head of High School Brooke Wells had just hired
the first part-time emotional support counselor and now, in 2025, there are two full-time counselors and an intentional Social Emotional Learning curriculum in grades PK-8. Similarly, I hired the first academic support counselor, Kelley Brown, in 2016 to serve students as we better understand a neuro-divergent population.” Under Lee’s leadership, Country Day now boasts two full-time and one part-time academic support counselors who support students with mild to moderate diagnosed learning differences - those who might have struggled in earlier years at Country Day.
Lee also pointed to the creation of the High School internship program, started by Dr. Kellie Whited with former Country Day teacher and now Sacramento State Professor Dr. Robin Altman. Lee describes the program, as “Students working alongside research professors in the sciences, both in the summers and during the academic year.” The results of the internship program are remarkable: Students have had their names attached to published research, and one created and named her own species of orchid.
I asked Lee about anything unexpected that he faced in the last nine years, and his answers didn’t surprise me. I was his communications director for the first one, and we all experienced the second.
On December 1, 2016, one of our Pre-K teachers, Ariyana Jones, was the victim of random violence when a stray bullet from criminal activity nearby penetrated her house and killed her. She was just 26 years old and the mother of two. In 2020, the “Be A Banana Award“ was created in memory of Ariyana (who chose “Banana” as her camp counselor nickname). Honoring her positivity and warmth, this award is given to two fifth-grade students each year who embody her kindness, friendship, and empathy.
“Ariyana was a shining beacon of light, always smiling, and her oldest, Lola, was a student in her Pre-K class that year,” Lee said. “As a brand new Head of School, I felt utterly unprepared for such a tragedy. I had learned in July at the NAIS New Heads Institute that in moments like these you become something akin to a pastor shepherding their congregation. We worked with local police chaplains and the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement to determine how best to care for Ariyana’s family and the Country Day community.”
The school quickly established a GoFundMe page for the children, and the family was assured that as long as Lola, and their youngest, Marcus, wanted to attend Country Day, they would be supported. Both kids still attend Country Day.
And then in March 2020, the COVID-19 virus arrived in the United States. Lee recalled, “While working in schools can be stressful at times, there are predictable rhythms that feel familiar year to year, and most decisions don’t feel like life-or-death choices. All that changed in March 2020. Remember, we were flying blind and the science was changing constantly. First, everyone thought the virus spread through droplets, so we wiped everything down, including the groceries we brought into the house. Next, we had to wear masks everywhere except at home and, after six months of cloth masks, we were advised that those were ineffective and we needed surgical masks, or N-95s. I was lucky enough that the Sacramento County Health Commissioner was a parent at the school and a personal friend; he would answer my texts and take my calls at all hours of the day or night. And once COVID became politicized, vaccines in particular, every day felt like a lose-lose situation.”
When I asked Lee if he was aware that ten years is a time when some heads of school move on to either retirement or the next step in their career, he kindly corrected me, just as he had when I misspelled his name. “According to NAIS, the average tenure of a head of school is 7.3 years, with 24% leaving their posts in under three years! So I’m thrilled to be finishing year nine at Country Day. I’m surrounded by a talented, inspirational, missiondriven team of wonderful educators and human beings. As long as the Board feels I am the right person to lead our wonderful community, I’m honored to continue.”
WHAT IS A CUP AND WHY DOES IT MATTER TO COUNTRY DAY?
As defined by the Internet: A Conditional Use Permit (CUP) allows a property owner to use their property in a way that is not strictly permitted by the local zoning ordinance, but is allowed with specific conditions. It essentially grants an exception to the zoning rules, permitting uses that might otherwise be prohibited, as long as the conditions are met.
MODIFIED CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT APPROVED
An August 17, 2020, Octagon online article, “Zoning Administrator Approves Request for Increased Building Space and Enrollment Cap,” published during the early months of the COVID-19 school closure, notes the August 14 approval of a modified CUP to include “a 12,000-square-foot increase in building space . . . and raising the enrollment cap to 596 (later amended to 598). Head of School Lee Thomsen added, “Essentially, we were awarded everything we were hoping for, which is the expansion of square footage for future construction projects; we no longer have to rent an off-site parking lot that we haven’t used for a long time; and we’re allowed to grow to 598 students, and for the High School to grow from 144 to 180.”
Enrollment at Sacramento Country Day School was capped at 544 for decades and included a 144-student maximum for the High School. The Conditional Use Permit that dictated that 144 number, was part of the agreement with the City of Sacramento dating from 1996 when, after months of negotiations, the City Council approved the school’s Master Plan for future construction, allowing the building of the Frank Science Center in 2005, and the new Lower School (2008) and Middle School (2015) buildings. Without an approved CUP, building improvements over the years would have been minimal.
With the passing of the CUP Amendment, the school undertook a feasibility study for a capital campaign to finally replace the L building and the Multipurpose Room (built in 1970 and 1974), and has undertaken a campaign to raise a total of $9.5 million. As of this writing, Country Day is on track to break ground in the summer of 2027.
The school’s enrollment numbers have ranged from 12 students in 1964 to near full enrollment from 1999 to 2008. In 2008, when the bottom fell out of the market, the economy took a hit and enrollment dipped below 500 for ten years. In the 2019-20 school year, student enrollment surpassed 500 and continued to increase, nearing the 544 maximum. The limitation on High School enrollment to 144 couldn’t accommodate the number of students from the school’s 8th grade who wanted to continue in the High School.
The traffic impact on Latham Drive was one of the main concerns in 1996 and 2020, and the solutions are what is evident today: staggered drop-off and pick-up times, no pick-up or drop-off on the street, and regular traffic counts to ensure the school’s compliance with its Conditional Use Permit, the goal always being to minimize the traffic impact on the neighborhood.
Along with the City’s Conditional Use Permit of 1996 was a binding agreement with neighbors that contained similar language about the 544 enrollment and the 144 High School restrictions. Conversations with the neighbors are ongoing to amend the agreement to be in line with the revised CUP.
CROSSING THE STREET AT MUNROE AND LATHAM
Have you ever noticed the orange flags stored in canisters attached to the crosswalk signs at the corner of Munroe Street and Latham Drive? In 2015, after nearaccidents involving pedestrians, including students walking to and from school, Susan and Doug Brown, parents of Emma ‘16 and Lily ’18, purchased the flags and installed the canisters, which they fashioned with materials from Home Depot.
Photo from the Octagon (May 26, 2015) with 2015
seniors Clare Fina, Skovran Cunningham, Micaela Bennett-Smith, and Ethan Ham as they cross Munroe.
Flags come and go and disappear, and the Brown family has graduated and isn’t around to replace them. The solution is a traffic light, which Country Day has agreed to help fund.
RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT
A traffic light request goes back at least 15 years when Headmaster Steve Repsher contacted the City and was told that his request wasn’t the first; there were over 30 requests already on record to put a light at that intersection. Over the last five years or so, Head of School Lee Thomsen checked with the City of Sacramento periodically and at one point was told that the School was number 44 on the list of planned traffic lights. When asked how many get done in a year, Thomsen was told maybe four or five, which he calculated could take up to 11 years. Because the intersection is on the list to eventually get a traffic light, any temporary fix, such as a stop sign or a flashing pedestrian light, is out of the question.
For those who live in the neighborhood, approaching Munroe at 9 a.m. or 5 p.m. means a long wait. The route north has been discovered by commuters fleeing Howe Avenue.
COUNTRY DAY PARTIALLY FUNDS A TRAFFIC SIGNAL
Over several years, traffic counts have estimated that the school contributes 20% to the traffic at the intersection, so Country Day has agreed to pay what’s called its “fair share” toward the cost of a traffic signal. A “fair share” was calculated to be $150,000, and that’s the amount Country Day deposited with the city in 2020.
Fortunately, the date for the light installation has moved up the list from the 11 years estimated by Thomsen. “The timetable has changed often, but now it’s looking hopeful. First it was 2021, then 2023, and recently, spring 2025 was mentioned. Now I’ve been told it is winter 2025,” Thomsen said. In the meantime, someone needs to replace the orange flags because the canisters at the corner appear to be empty.
LUNCH PROGRAM ADAPTS TO STUDENT APPETITES OVER SIX DECADES
The Country Day lunch program has gone through major changes since the Hot Dog Wednesdays of the mid-1960s. In those days, the hot dogs were served out of a trailer (which also served as the library), and Country Day parents baked desserts to accompany the hot dogs. By the 1980s, the weekly lunches included chili on Mondays, hamburgers on Thursdays, and pizza on Fridays, all coordinated by the Parents’ Association and arranged by parent volunteers.
THE MP ROOM WITH TABLECLOTHS
It wasn’t long before more students, coupled with fewer available volunteers, required the administration to seek outside sources. Fortunately, the owners of Rico’s Pizza contacted the school and offered to bake and deliver freshly baked pizzas. With restaurant experience behind them, they soon expanded the menu to include burritos, soups, chili, and baked potatoes with toppings. Most food was prepared in the Perkins Multipurpose Room kitchen, and tables, chairs, and, on special occasions, tablecloths were put out, and the MP room served as the lunch room for the students. In a case of serendipity, this is when our current lunch program coordinator, Jennifer Adams, came into the picture 30 years ago. It was Jennifer’s family who owned Rico’s, and as a senior at Rio Americano, Jen would come to Country Day to help serve lunches. The offerings during those years were plentiful, but without a required ordering system, it was challenging to determine needed quantities, which resulted in leftovers and wasted food.
OUTSIDE CATERING INTRODUCED
Fast forward to the 2000s and the advent of an increasing number of outside catering vendors able to provide multiple options for student and staff lunches. Lunches were pre-ordered from a limited menu, prepared offcampus, delivered to school, and quickly distributed. A welcome side effect was that it freed up the Multipurpose Room for needed classroom space, music and drama rehearsals, assemblies, and meetings. In 2010-12, parents ordered student lunches through LunchMaster, a company offering the service to schools in the Bay Area and the Central Valley. In 2012, GoodFellas, of Folsom, CA, offered a similar service and was used for three years.
The reviews were mixed for the portions and options offered by GoodFellas, so in fall 2015, a school-run program nicknamed The Cavalier Café was introduced. Instead of an outside company organizing lunches, Country Day contracted directly with local restaurants. Parents and students could order meals, committing to a full month at a time, from Boudin, Noodles & Company, Noah’s Bagels, Chili’s, and Pizza Guys, all delivered to school. According to a May 31, 2016, Octagon article, the process was popular - during one month toward the end of the school year, the 208 orders (92 for lower school students, 78 for middle schoolers, 34 for high schoolers, and four for employees) were double the GoodFellas March order from the prior year.
Hot Dog Day 1966. Betty Kanner, president of the Parents’ Association, serves lunch to a young student.
Pizza Lunch 1999. Soroush Rahimian ‘99 shares his pizza with his middle school pal Badier Velji ‘03.
Because of the school’s guarantee to the local vendors, students needed to commit to a month’s order at a time, and last-minute changes were problematic. New menu options were added in September 2022, including sandwiches from Sourdough & Co., pastas from The Old Spaghetti Factory, and pizzas from Round Table. Costs per lunch were $7 to $9. According to program coordinator Jen Adams, “The variety of restaurants allowed students to find food to their liking and to search for gluten-free and vegetarian options.” Jen adds, “An ongoing challenge is keeping the food warm after it’s delivered.”
Among the multitude of impacts of the COVID pandemic on school children nationwide, the delivery of lunches to campus during the 2020-22 years was unsettled, as were most parts of daily life. Adams added, “The challenges we faced during those years were unprecedented. We all had to adapt quickly, often on a daily basis, to ensure that students were still receiving the meals they ordered. From supply chain disruptions to restaurant staffing shortages, it was a constant juggling act for everyone.'"
MY HOT LUNCHBOX
Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, My Hot Lunchbox was introduced. It’s a service similar to GoodFellas, but with the helpful additions of program management, more flexibility with the ordering process, and the resources to partner with over 3,000 restaurants and chains nationwide. Recently, Panda Express, Subway, and Panera joined the program, offering increased meal options. Adams continues to track the orders, and says, “The most popular restaurant this year is Round Table Pizza with over 200 orders per day, and Panda Express is a close second with slightly less than 200 orders.”
For over 60 years, as lunch program organizers met the challenges of changing appetites, there is one constant. It’s pizza - that crispy crust pie topped by cheese and tomato sauce, and often pepperoni – that continues to be a Country Day favorite. And no wonder. According to a recent Pizza Hut survey, Americans consume approximately 95 billion pizza slices annually, with the average person eating 288 slices per year. As diners turn to healthier options, cauliflower crust and spinach-topped pizza will gain acceptance, but it’s unlikely that cheese-topped pizza will disappear from Country Day lunch options in the near future.
2025. The school is currently in the silent phase of a campaign that will add a full-service kitchen, which would support a lunch program providing locally sourced, healthy meals to nourish its students, and bring food service up to the standard of the school’s whole-body education.
A group of students enjoys lunch outside on a spring day in 2023.
TWENTY-YEAR HISTORY OF THE MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION
In February 2024, the Country Day Mock Trial team won the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Mock Trial Competition for the third time (2018, 2023, and 2024). That same year, the team went on to the California State event in Los Angeles and finished fourth, going up against championship teams from over 30 counties. What started with fewer than 10 students and a couple of parent coaches 20 years ago has grown into a varsity and a JV team with about 50 kids competing in various competitions and qualifying for the state competition multiple times. In 2025, the team continued its success with its fourth first place in the Sacramento County championship in February and competitive scores in the California State arena in March.
EARLY HISTORY
Twenty years ago, in 2005, when Keele Shaw-Connelly ’09 and her parents moved to Sacramento, her mom, Reverend Jeanie Shaw, was aware of high school mock trial teams from their former school and believed that such a group “would fit Country Day like a glove. The students were intelligent, had first-rate writing and reasoning skills, and were accustomed to speaking publicly.” Rev. Shaw enlisted Keele’s dad,
At
March 2014. Coach Jeanine Boyers (far left) and some members of the team at the Sacramento County awards ceremony, where Country Day received the 4th-place plaque. (l to r) Grant Miner ‘15, George Cvetich ‘15, Arvind Krishnan’17, Shriya Nadgauda ‘17, Aishwarya Nadgauda ‘15, Emma Belliveau ‘16, and Akilan Murugesan ‘16.
Judge Lloyd Connelly, to provide legal expertise as well as access to his law library and, on an occasional Sunday, his courtroom, where students could practice in an actual trial setting.
Around the same time, Country Day parent and practicing lawyer Jeanine Boyers was stepping away from her full-time career to focus on raising her kids and joined the group the second year. Jeanine was a member of her law school’s mock trial team and had volunteered to coach Kennedy High School’s team. She, too, saw potential for a Country Day mock trial team. “The program would give the school a unique opportunity to compete with larger schools despite its small size.” Director of Student Activities at the time Brooke Wells (current Head of High School since 2014) coordinated the scheduling logistics; drama teacher Brian Frishman was the team’s faculty advisor; Judge Connelly was head coach; High School parent attorneys Sharon Reilly and Ilija Cvetich worked with the students preparing them for trial; and Jeanine Boyers managed the program.
The team met weekly on Sundays in the school library, traveled locally for scrimmages, and, within a year or two, often reached the semi-finals and finals in the County competition. Along with Keele, that first group
2015.
Back-to-School night, class of 2016 students Emma Brown, Emma Belliveau, and Max Schmitz explain mock trial to visiting parents and guests.
included class of 2009 students Michel Wigney (who went on to law school), Cristina Hargrave, Tyler Trussell, and Andy Furillo. Jeanie Shaw remembers one incident a few years later involving sophomore Cooper Jackman ’13 who was the bailiff for the case. During the trial, an unexpected noise came from a spectator in the audience, seemingly from the purse of Cooper’s sister Kelsey. When the judge asked Bailiff Jackman to see about the disturbance, Cooper answered, “It appears to be a talking Barbie doll, your Honor.”
TEN YEARS AGO
In 2014, Jeanine Boyers retired to homeschool her children, and attorney volunteers were spread thin as more students joined and the team matured. Wayne Strumpfer, alumni parent and spouse of High School math teacher Patricia Jacobsen, stepped in as a full-time coach. Wayne had experience with mock trials – he had volunteered as both a scoring and presiding judge and had worked with Boyers and the Country Day team on occasion – and was employed full-time as Chief Counsel at the Victim Compensation Board and later as Chief Counsel for the CA State Auditor.
A few years later, McGeorge law student and Country Day alumna Hayley Graves ’12, joined the coaching team, working with students on their trial presentation skills. Hayley remembers her high school experience as a member of the school’s mock trial team and says, “Without that first introduction to the law, I’m not sure I would have the career I have today.” Hayley brings experience to her coaching role: not only was she on the High School mock trial team, she also competed in college and law school and currently works as a law clerk to the Honorable Jeremy D. Peterson, United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of California, as well as an adjunct professor at McGeorge School of Law. In 2023, former Elk Grove mock trial coach David Hill joined the coaching staff, focusing on helping students understand the case and prepare for potential challenges.
During the three years Wayne coached (2014-2017), Country Day started to make inroads into the perennial heavyweights – Elk Grove High School and Rio Americano High School. (According to the Sacramento County Office of Education website, from 1990-2016, Elk Grove HS won 15 times and Rio Americano HS 12 times.) Under Wayne’s leadership, Country Day finished fourth in 2015, third in 2016, and second in 2017.
THE WHO, WHAT, WHERE OF MOCK TRIAL
WHO?
The California Mock Trial competition is sponsored by the non-profit, non-partisan Teach Democracy (formerly Constitutional Rights Foundation), which each year creates and produces the source material for the program, including the description of that year’s hypothetical case. Coordination of each county’s program is most often the education department, in our case the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE). Volunteers from local law firms and other legal organizations serve as scoring and presiding judges.
WHAT?
The mock trial competition simulates trial-level proceedings where students take on the roles of attorneys, witnesses, court clerks, bailiffs, and jurors. Opening statements, direct and cross-examinations, and closing arguments are all part of a mock trial. Moot Court, another student competition, is also a court trial, with the difference being that students portray attorneys arguing legal positions before a judge in an appellate court in a case that has already been tried and is now an appeals case.
WHERE?
In Sacramento County, the competition is held at the Gordon D. Schaber Courthouse, named for the former dean of the McGeorge School of Law. Recently, as the spectator audience for the final competition has increased, the final round is held on the 16th floor of the Matsui Federal Courthouse in its Ceremonial Courtroom B.
WHEN?
Cases are released to all California counties in the early fall. Scrimmages are scheduled in late fall and winter, followed by mock trial rounds, quarter-finals and semi-finals, and culminating in early February with the final championship. Winners of County competitions go on to the State Finals in March. In May, the winner of the State Competition represents California at the annual National High School Mock Trial Competition, involving teams from 54 states and territories.
WHY?
According to the “Teach Democracy“ website, “The program was created to help students acquire a working knowledge of our judicial system, develop analytical abilities and communication skills, and gain an understanding of their obligations and responsibilities as participating members of our society.”
In Wayne’s second year (2015-16), there was a surplus of interested students, and he decided to field two teams. One team slated senior Emma Brown ’16 and junior John Hansen ’17 as the lead attorneys, and the other team featured senior Emma Belliveau ’16 and freshman Jack Christian ’19. Wayne says, “Brown and Hansen’s team went undefeated in the first four rounds of the County competition and were ranked #1. Belliveau and Christian’s team was ranked #4, so SCDS had two of the top four teams in the competition.” The County rule states that if two teams from the same school make the quarterfinals, they have to play each other. It was a unique experience for a coach, Wayne added, to see both his teams opposing each other in the courtroom.
Student teams are presented with a different case each year, often drawing on real-life legal issues, and always with a focus on teaching legal procedures and courtroom etiquette. The People v. Awbrey case in 2016-17 involved the trial of restaurant owner Cameron Awbrey, who was charged with human trafficking and false imprisonment of Lin Stark, an immigrant from the fictional country of Tanterra. People vs. Meadows addressed the right to privacy, and another case concerned a possible art theft. In 2020, the year that Country Day beat Jesuit in the first round of the County competition, the case was People v. Matsumoto, in which Bailey Matsumoto, the
Coach Strumpfer describes a scrimmage with another school during the year of the People v. Awbrey case when one of the lead attorneys was Jaelan Trapp ’17. Jaelan’s closing argument concluded with an improvised “Free Cameron Awbrey.” Wayne says, “This became a rallying cry, and we had t-shirts made for everyone with #freeCameronAwbrey along with the team members’ names.” That year, the team finally reached the finals and competed against the defending champion Elk Grove, lost in a close match, and finished in second place.
COACH RICK LEWKOWITZ AND A COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
Work called with a new job for Wayne, so he retired from coaching, recommending Rick Lewkowitz for the position. Wayne knew Rick personally and had seen his mock trial experience first-hand as Rick was the assistant coach for the winning Elk Grove team. Lewkowitz spent 35 years as a prosecuting attorney with the Sacramento DA’s Office and had volunteered for mock trial programs, both as a judge and a coach, first at Christian Brothers High School and then at Elk Grove High School beginning in 2003, where he coached for 14 years. During that period, Elk Grove won the County Championship nine times, won the State Championship once, and was runner-up for the State Championship twice.
2020. Team members take a lunch break between County competition rounds, where U.S. Attorney and former Country Day parent McGregor Scott joined them from his nearby office.
When Rick stepped in as head coach for the Country Day team in the fall of 2017, he found an outstanding, experienced group that he remembered from their competitive rounds with Elk Grove. “The team was just 12 students,” added Rick, “which included four juniors, all class of 2019 – team captain Jack Christian, Blake Lincoln, Mehdi Lacombe, and Gabi Alvarado – who, because of the small team size, often played two roles during trials, one for the prosecution and one for the defense.”
The year was noteworthy for the entire team, as well. After competing for over a dozen years and coming in close, Country Day won the Sacramento County competition for the first time, breaking a 25-year battle among other area high schools. Because of the win, the team qualified for the State competition, drove to Orange County for the event, and finished
2018. Coaches Hayley Graves (far
& Rick
members after their inaugural first-place win at the Sacramento County level. (l
r) Keshav Anand ‘21, Blake Lincoln ‘19, Heloise Schep ‘20, Anu Krishnan ‘20, Sarina Rye ‘21, Avinash Krishna ‘21, Jack Christian ‘19, Gabriela Alvarado ‘19, Mehdi Lacombe ‘19, Ian Thompson ‘20, Om Sharma ‘21, and Ming Zhu ‘21.
13th. The next several years brought additional top Sacramento County finishes: third in 2019, fourth in 2020, sixth in 2021, second in 2022, and first in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The COVID-19 years (2020-22) brought some challenges. All scrimmages and competition rounds were on Zoom for two years, except in the spring of 2022, when the final championship was held in person at the Robert T. Matsui Federal Courthouse. For some underclassmen, this was the first time they were “live” in a courtroom; nevertheless, the team stepped up with a second-place finish, losing in the final to Elk Grove by just two points out of over 1,200.
On occasion, team members travel outside the Sacramento area to compete in various tournaments. During Rick’s first year, the team participated in the Beach Ball Classic, an invitation-only tournament in Irvine, CA, finishing 14 out of 22, in one round competing against Redlands High School, a former
March
left)
Lewkowitz (far right) with 2017-18 team
to
April 2018. Send-off sign for the mock trial team’s first trip to the State competition after their victory at the Sacramento County level.
California State Champion. More recently, team members have traveled to the National Gladiator Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia, a one-on-one event attracting hundreds of applicants but inviting no more than 40, where participants compete as individuals, either attorneys or witnesses. At the Empire National Mock Trial competition in Chicago, a Country Day team member received an Outstanding Witness Third Place, and in the 2023 Bay Area Bash, individual awards included a First Place Top Witness and a Second Place Top Trial Attorney.
2025 AT THE STATE LEVEL
The 2025 Mock Trial fictional case, People v. Gold, argued by all teams throughout the county and at the state competition, involved a kidnapping, political motives, and incriminating statements while in police custody. Nineteen Country Day team members and their coaches flew to Los Angeles for the State event. The 2025 contest was held at the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse, a few blocks from the Biltmore Hotel, where participants stayed and where the final awards were presented. Teams from 32 counties participated in the finals with the winning team qualifying for the National Championship in Phoenix, AZ, in May. Team captain, senior Garrett Xu ‘25, has been a mock trial team member for four years and has gone to the state competition three times. He says his teammates have become his closest friends. “Seeing how our collective friendship translates to team chemistry in the courtroom is so awesome.” Garrett adds, “The state competition is more intense . . . we’re competing against the best teams in the state, . . . but the difference is there’s the opportunity to meet and make friends with other teams. All the teams stay at the same hotel, and there’s a social event after the trials are over, where we meet and get to know each other.” Although the team did not place in the top eight, Coach Lewkowitz said, “The team competed well against some powerful teams, performing nearly perfectly in one round, and holding their own in others.”
Student defense attorneys Ava Eberhart, Garrett Xu, and Liam Donohue, all class of 2025, discuss defense strategy as defendant Ike Reynen ‘26 sits quietly, hoping their strategy is successful.
2025. Mock trial team members with the Los Angeles City Hall Building in the background.
Pretrial attorney Saheb Gulati ‘25 argues before the presiding judge that the defendant’s statements should be ruled inadmissible because they were obtained in violation of the defendant’s Fifth Amendment Rights due to the detective’s coercive tactics.
2016. High School students and their annual chalk mural, this year depicting the work of famous artists, including Matisse, Rivera, and Picasso.
Run to Feed the Hungry trophy, ours for top fundraising team, every year but one, since 2006.
2017. After a 44-year career at Country Day, Daniel Neukom celebrates with a group of alumni and alumni parents at his retirement party.
Cupcake art from Lower School artists a la Gilhooly decorate a shelf in the Lower School Winters Library.
Colorful hats created by first graders for the annual Spring Tea.
BREAKTHROUGH’S SIX-YEAR COMMITMENT TO ITS STUDENTS, 1994-2025
Every summer for the past 30 years, a group of enthusiastic middle school students arrives at Country Day, many of them by bus, eager to spend six weeks of their summer vacation in classrooms, poring over academic subjects like math, literature, and science. Cheering on those young students are energetic college and high school students who aspire to a career in education. The students, both young and older, spend their mornings in academic classes, their afternoons in enrichment activities, electives, and field trips, and their evenings on homework. And they all appear to be having fun!
In 1994, Summerbridge Sacramento welcomed its first 45 students. The program was described in an early brochure as a “tuition-free college preparatory program serving academically motivated middle school students with limited educational opportunities and from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.”
The students-teaching-students model was a breakthrough experience for both the young students and their aspiring teaching fellows, and in 2008, as the curriculum had expanded to include more yearround support, the National Collaborative changed its name to Breakthrough to better capture its approach
1994. Carter Graham ‘94, one of the first Summerbridge teachers, with a group of her students at the inaugural summer celebration.
to student development. What began as a two-year experience for middle school students has expanded into a six-year commitment to support and follow Breakthrough students on their journey through high school and college.
With the name change, Summerbridge Sacramento became Breakthrough Sacramento (BSAC) and was hosted by Sacramento Country Day School for 23 years until becoming independent in 2017.
As is true of numerous not-for-profit enterprises, funding for the ambitious venture oscillated between optimistic announcements of new funding sources and untimely setbacks most often due to the ups and downs of the economy and their impacts on donors’ budgets. Funding from Country Day School consisted of $2.1 million of direct cash support over 20+ years, as well as valuable in-kind administrative support and facility use. Additional funding sources included various government and foundation grants and donations from corporations and individuals.
A DIFFICULT BOARD DECISION
In what must have been a challenging meeting, the Board of Trustees voted to end sponsorship of the Breakthrough program effective at the end of the 2016 summer. In an August 11, 2016, letter to the Country Day community, Board President Kelley Taber wrote, “I write to inform you of a difficult but necessary decision recently made
1997. Summerbridge students in class in the Country Day Matthews Library.
by the Board of Trustees: to end SCDS sponsorship of the Breakthrough program after this summer.” The letter continued, despite “concerted efforts by Board members and others to develop independent funding . . . Country Day can no longer “subsidize the substantial annual deficit in the Breakthrough program.”
Breaking away from the umbrella of Sacramento Country Day School triggered concerned responses, with some noting that the unexpected termination of Country Day support left current BSAC students without school-year tutoring, financial aid counseling, and college guidance. Other letters of concern addressed the loss of the opportunity to offer deserving and academically motivated students access to educational resources unavailable to them, and that Breakthrough’s unique program positively widened the global perspective of the Country Day community.
THE WORKING GROUP
In September, a second letter from Board President Taber said, “A well-organized effort is underway to explore a path forward for Breakthrough in partnership with SCDS.” The path forward, as envisioned by the group calling themselves the Breakthrough Sacramento Working Group, was that Breakthrough would need to become a selfsustaining organization with administrative control and fundraising capabilities. By the fall, the group had secured several commitments for the restructured program: The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) would provide financial services and human resource support; BSAC’s current program manager Ying Lo-Khang would temporarily maintain operational continuity;
2015. Breakthrough administrators Ying Lo-Khang and Adolfo Mercado and volunteer Faith Galati set up for the “I Heart Carnations” fundraiser.
BREAKTHROUGH SACRAMENTO
USES THE POWER OF
EDUCATION
TO RADICALLY CHANGE THE LIVES OF SACRAMENTO’S YOUTH IN UNDER-RESOURCED SCHOOLS, AND INSPIRES STUDENTS WHO DESIRE TO BECOME TEACHERS.
and former Executive Director Adolfo Mercado, who had headed the program for 12 years, would be available in an advisory capacity. At the same time, the Board of Trustees expressed ongoing interest in making the campus available for the summer program, provided Breakthrough was independent and self-supporting. With the infrastructure in place to allow contributions, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation (SRCF) began to process and record donations, and with the generous support of numerous donors, the Working Group raised over $330,000, estimated to be enough to reopen the doors of BSAC 2.0.
The decision to hire a new director fell to the Working Group, and the job description had multiple responsibilities – raise funds, manage
Founding members of the Breakthrough Sacramento Working Group were former Country Day Board Presidents Toran Brown ‘75 and Jamie Nelson, Country Day Head of High School Sue Nellis, High School science teacher Michael Covey, Middle School math teacher Laura Monahan, and former Country Day Board members Richard Mancina ’73, Ross Siragusa and Pat Talamantes. Six of the group continue as BSAC Advisory Board members in 2025.
Summer 2024. Teacher intern leading a student through the dissection of a dog shark.
volunteers, hire staff, mentor young teachers, and resurrect student programming, to name just a few. The Working Group invited Country Day parent and Breakthrough volunteer Faith Galati to join the group to help with fundraising and to sit in on the interviews for a new Executive Director. Faith remembers, “The job description was essentially to work for a ‘start-up’ with no staff or infrastructure,” and applicants were hesitant to take on the job at the proposed salary. At some point, Working Group members agreed: “Our director is sitting right here. Let’s offer the job to Faith.” Her qualifications for the job were clear: a career in leadership positions in the financial sector and as a marketing consultant, an experienced fundraiser for local non-profits, and strong relationships with Country Day faculty and staff. She and her husband Scott were long-time supporters of the Breakthrough program and had built strong connections with many of the students.
the Country Day Scholars program, a competitive application process offering two full high school scholarships to economically disadvantaged students from the greater Sacramento area.
GALATI HEADS BREAKTHROUGH IN 2017
Faith remembers taking over the program in January 2017 with “multiple students waiting for service, no office, and a warehouse of program supplies.” It wasn’t long, though, before Richard and Nina Mancina secured an office at Encina High School, where Faith set up with donated supplies and used equipment.
Over the next several months, as Breakthrough evolved in its new configuration, positive conversations with the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees solidified the agreement allowing the summer program to return to campus, a significant commitment. At the same time, Head of School Lee Thomsen announced the formation of Summer 2017. Students on the Country Day field participating in the annual Olympics Day.
Summer 2024. Seventh graders intent on a lesson in C programming taught by their college-aged teacher intern.
The UC Davis admission team addressing BSAC students as part of a university tour, an annual event each summer.
For that summer, she hired 14 teaching fellows, half of whom were former BSAC teachers or students, including two mentor teachers, and brought back traditional events like Spirit Day, Olympics Day, college field trips, and the talent show. Over 300 family members and supporters attended the endof-summer Celebration to applaud the students.
As Faith prepares for her ninth BSAC summer, she is supported by a full-time team of three and 32 teacher interns (formally called “fellows”), many of whom are funded in part through AmeriCorps*. And, Faith adds, “Thanks to support from Sierra Health Foundation, we’ve expanded our offerings to include paid high school internships in social justice, substance abuse awareness, and public policy.” High school students also receive individualized academic support, monthly college readiness seminars, and help with applications, financial aid, and scholarships.
PROGRAM DIRECTORS 1993-2025
Heather Hughes, 1993-1996
Nancy Nagramada, 1996-1998
Laura Noyes Zahn, 1998-2002
Laura Steele Monahan, 2002-2005
Adolfo Mercado, 2005-2016
Faith Galati, 2017–current 2025
In 2025, the summer program will serve over 130 seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade students, more than double the number enrolled in 2017. In addition to the six-week summer program, (still taking place on the campus of Sacramento Country Day School), Breakthrough has expanded to offer year-round tutoring at four school sites, at the Breakthrough office , and virtually, for a total of almost 300 students. Year after year, the high school graduation rate for Breakthrough students is 99-100%, and the college acceptance rate is 95%. Faith adds that “many Breakthrough students have gone on to be Country Day graduates.”
Faith continues, “We’ve come a long way from a warehouse and a dream – and the heart of the work remains the same: inspiring young people and preparing them for college, leadership, and a future of limitless potential.”
*May 2025. The Trump administration terminated $400 million in AmeriCorps grants, affecting Breakthrough’s 12 student teachers serving as school-year tutors for several local public schools. The impact on the summer program should be manageable, assuming there are no further cuts. Dozens of states, including California, are suing the federal government to stop the dismantling of AmeriCorps.
THE COUNTRY DAY SCHOLARS PROGRAM SEEKS SCHOLARS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The Country Day Scholars Program was introduced in 2017 by new Head of School Lee Thomsen. The goal of the need-based scholarship program is to bring to the Country Day High School exceptional students with notable potential in one or more of the following areas: academics, leadership, innovation, the arts, and service. Each year, the program offers two new incoming ninth-grade students from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to join other high-achieving students in small classes taught by exceptional faculty and to access the college preparatory curriculum at Sacramento Country Day High School.
The route for applying for the scholarship begins with the enrollment process detailed on the Country Day website. Students selected as Scholars receive a guaranteed four-year high school scholarship towards tuition, textbooks, class trips, one-on-one college counseling, an SAT preparation course, and a school-issued laptop computer. Applicants come from throughout the Sacramento area and often include students from the Breakthrough program.
High School students volunteered at the 2024 Auction and took the stage during the Fund-aNeed to speak about the impact the Scholars Program has on the whole school community. As Saheb Gulati ‘25 (second from right, above) said, “Our community’s diversity enriches every student’s journey, not just the Scholars’.”
LOCKDOWN
March 2025 marks the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic — when a unique virus transformed the way we live and work, putting normal life on hold for most people and overwhelming healthcare providers. We may have learned to live with COVID-19, but that doesn't mean we fully understand its lasting impact on our health, our community, or our schools.
2020: JANUARY TO APRIL
It was early January 2020 when China reported the first death from what they called a “novel Coronavirus.”
Cases in Thailand and Japan followed, and by late January 2020, the virus had found its way to the United States, first in Washington state, then in Illinois, California, and Arizona. The first death (confirmed post-mortem) in the U.S. was on February 3, in Santa Clara County, California.
On January 31, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the virus outbreak a public health emergency, and the Trump Administration restricted travel to and from China. On March 11, with worldwide deaths at close to 5,000 from the virus – now called COVID-19 (an abbreviated version of Coronavirus Disease 2019) – the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. On March 13, the Trump Administration issued a travel ban on non-U.S. citizens traveling from 26 European countries to the United States and declared a nationwide emergency, which unlocked billions of dollars in federal funding to fight the disease’s spread.
Thirty days earlier, the administrative team at Sacramento Country Day School had been monitoring the coronavirus news and planning how to prepare for a possible outbreak in the school community. Ongoing communications, emailed home to school families, emphasized effective ways to minimize the spread of infectious diseases through wellness best practices, including hand washing and staying home if not feeling well, along with links to further information from the CDC and the WHO. Daily emails to parents from
The school’s first school closure, from mid-March and returning after Spring Break, was thought to be temporary.
March 12 to March 16 show thoughtful planning and concern, with the awareness that no cases had been detected within the on-campus community.
Locally, the confirmed cases of COVID-19 were rising – 17 in Sacramento County, 198 statewide – so in a March 13, 2020, email to parents, Head of School Lee Thomsen wrote, “In an abundance of caution, as of Monday, March 16, Country Day’s campus will suspend in-person classes and begin online learning on March 18 for the next three weeks leading up to spring vacation.” The faculty’s proactive planning enabled remote teaching to begin right away, and the administrative team hoped almost a month of distancing with students away from campus through Spring Break would help to flatten the curve of the virus and get students back to class by early April.
On Thursday, March 19, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order shutting down all but essential businesses. On March 28, President Donald Trump issued guidelines discouraging gatherings of more than 10 people, and, on April 3, at a White House press briefing, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced new maskwearing guidelines and recommended that all people wear masks when outside of the home. When the White House extended all social distancing measures through the end of April 2020, Country Day’s plan to welcome students back after Spring Break was abandoned.
Spring events at Country Day were canceled or postponed, including Admission playdates and Toddler Story Hour, field trips, speakers, the Sports Banquet, alumni happy hour, Red Cross Blood Drive, music festivals, and Grands and Friends Day.
SPRING 2020: PIONEERING REMOTE TEACHING AND LEARNING
On Friday, March 13, when it was announced that their school was closing for a few weeks, students were excited and looking forward to an extended vacation, until it dawned on them that sports, trips, playdates, and lunch with friends were also canceled. During the spring of 2020, while families were learning the ropes of remote learning, teachers were figuring out chat functions and Zoom technology, and finding space at home to set up temporary teaching stations. There was a learning curve for everyone.
Lower School faculty sent home lesson plans with detailed activities. IPads were made available for those who needed them, and Pre-K students used their artistic skills to draw what they were doing at home. Middle School students shared a high-five with a chicken wing during a remote learning science experiment. The High School library hosted a virtual Book Club, Sophomore Projects were presented online, and juniors and seniors Zoomed in to update their AP projects and assignments. All spring sports were canceled, (but the High School tennis team managed to play its last match on March 5, finishing with an exciting 5-4 win). The Country Day garden harvested squash and cucumbers for the River City Food Bank.
Working from home: Jackson Whited ‘26 (left) is the test subject for a high school Physiology lab taught by his mom Kellie Whited. Middle School science teacher Aleitha Burns (right) prepares a chicken wing for a comparative anatomy class, which will teach students about the skeletal, muscular, and integumentary systems of the human arm.
on my backyard patio, it was necessary during the pandemic for your teaching methods to be flexible.”
Middle School science teachers Aleitha Burns and spouse Cade Grunst were sharing the dining room table for dissections and experiments, and sharing the kitchen for Ms. Burns’s farm-to-fork elective. She remembers, “From opening a frog stomach on my table to walking through a heart diagram I drew
Understanding that watching a video of someone else doing a lab can be boring, High School science teacher Kellie Whited recruited her family (even her dog), to make online labs more lively. “My family acted out scientific principles, and I used them as test subjects to collect data for labs,” Dr. Whited said. “We studied science as we leaned on each other to find a connection across the Internet. And, when it just got too much, we had pet breaks where everyone got to grab their pet and do a show-and-tell.”
One mom describes those first days: “My kids set up their computers at the kitchen counter and I worked at a small table in the corner of the bedroom, and we each fought for internet connections. Thinking the set-up was temporary, we ran extension cords through the rooms and tripped over them regularly.”
The March 27 email home from Mr. Thomsen read, “I’m incredibly proud of our teachers and the pluck and resilience of our families working in collaboration with teachers to make the best of this difficult situation.”
Pam Livesey (upper left) on remote at home with her fourth grade class.
THE ANNUAL AUCTION GOES ONLINE
The pandemic impacted the annual Country Day auction, always a popular event. In 2020, the Advancement office and Auction Chairs Pepa Novell and Maureen Smith changed course from their planned “Una Noche De Cine” in-person May gala to a special community webinar, “We Are Country Day,” in conjunction with an online auction. The event featured recorded videos and live interactions to celebrate students’ talent and creativity and offered an opportunity to support tuition assistance for families facing financial hardship related to COVID-19.
For Auction 2021, Pepa and Maureen again chaired an online auction, “Una Noche De Cine: Take 2.” Ticketed guests were delivered charcuterie and a cocktail-making kit and led through instructions on how to make a signature Country Day cocktail. Guests dressed up and tuned in from their couches to a Zoom live auction, online programming, and an online dance party.
SPRING 2020: STATES TO GRADUALLY EASE LOCKDOWNS
In late April, the Trump Administration issued guidelines for a phased approach to loosening restrictions, which states could meet by achieving benchmarks such as declining COVID-19 cases and maintaining social distancing. The guidelines specifically said that schools, camps, and organized youth activities should remain closed, which prompted the cancellation of the Country Day Summer Program.
Many states, including California, postponed reopening plans as COVID-19 cases in their states continued to rise. In a May 22 email to families, Thomsen wrote, “While we do not yet know what specific modifications to our programs new public health guidelines will require, we are working on plans which will allow us to best serve our families . . . whether that means in-person classes, hybrid classes, cohort groups, or other student/class configurations.”
On Memorial Day 2020, California set a one-day record of 2,565 new virus cases. In June, California’s guidelines for a phased reopening allowed certain
businesses, such as restaurants and retail stores, to reopen if their localities met listed state minimum criteria for new COVID cases, adequate testing capacity, and healthcare availability. In mid-July, with an increase of more than 30% in new COVID-19 cases since mid-June, Governor Newsom ordered the reclosure of indoor restaurants, bars, and personal services, such as gyms and hair salons.
With 12,807 new coronavirus cases reported on July 22, California had the most cases of any state.
JUNE 2020: A UNIQUE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
An April 24 email to parents read, “The continued prohibition of large gatherings means we will be unable to host our traditional closing ceremonies for lower and middle schools and the 2020 high school graduation.”
Originally planned to begin at 7 pm, the ceremony was moved an hour earlier to accommodate the city-wide curfew issued by the City of Sacramento in response to protests, vandalism, and looting following the death of George Floyd. As decorated cars moved slowly through the balloon-festooned parking lot, each member of the Class of 2020 received their diploma to the music and lights of a professional D.J. A video featuring individual tributes read by teachers for each graduate was sent home for families to watch at their leisure.
Katherine Merksamer, mom of graduate Emme ’20, remembers, “For 13 years I heard about the charming, funny, heartwarming High School Graduation at Country Day. The drive-through wasn’t like the graduations I had heard so much about, but you could tell that everyone
Mr. Wells raises a glass to the graduates with an apple juice toast.
involved put their hearts and souls into making it special. It was definitely something to remember!”
“The prom was canceled, so I ended up wearing my sparkly dress to graduation,” remembers Larkin Barnard-Bahn. “My mom drove our bright yellow Miata convertible through the graduation line, thinking it would be easy for me to stand up in, but the Sacramento heat was too much – our car broke down mid-parade! The Country Day community jumped in to push us through, which felt like a metaphor for all the support that got me to that
moment. At the end, we gathered by our cars to sign yearbooks on the hoods and to say goodbye.”
In his taped address to the graduates, Head of High School Brooke Wells said, “Please understand how much we care and admire each one of you for your compassion, creativity, and uniqueness. We have seen you grow through the darkness of tragedy and pandemics, and push into the sunshine of kindness and insight. And now, we see you go off into the world.”
The Barnard-Bahn car stalled during the graduation parade and got a push from a couple of attendees.
Faculty welcome the parade of cars entering the parking lot with signs and cheers.
SUMMER 2020: BACK-TO-SCHOOL GUIDELINES
The CDC published a list of public health strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 in a school environment, and, based on guidelines from local public health and education departments, Country Day produced “A Safe Return to School, an Overview for Parents.” The document addressed temperature monitoring, staggered arrivals and departures, frequent handwashing and sanitizing, social distancing, face coverings, and cohorts in anticipation of a September 1 back-to-school opening.
Over the summer, Governor Newsom introduced several measurement tools to track virus trends by county: a watch list and color tiers. As explained to Country Day parents in a July 17 email, “The new guidelines dictate that all schools – public or private – must open in a remote learning environment until their county has been removed from the state’s watch list for 14 days.” Sacramento County, home of Country Day, was on the watch list and would remain so for several months.
The color-tiered model announced by the state in late August provided a detailed framework for managing the reopening of businesses by area. Counties were listed in one of four tiers depending on
the extent of COVID spread – Purple (widespread COVID), followed by Red, Orange, and Yellow (minimal spread). Each Tuesday, the state updated the data for each county, and to move into a less restrictive tier, counties needed to meet that tier’s criteria for two weeks. Sacramento County was listed in the Purple category, which prohibited schools – both public and private – from reopening for in-person instruction.
On September 29, 2020, Sacramento County moved from the Purple tier to the Red tier, making schools eligible to reopen for in-session classes if the County stayed in the Red Tier for 14 days.
FALL 2020: LOWER SCHOOL STUDENTS AND TEACHERS RETURN TO IN-PERSON CLASSES
REPORTED DEATHS FROM
COVID-19 IN THE UNITED STATES
May 28, 2020: Surpass 100,000. September 22, 2020: Surpass 200,000. January 18, 2021: Surpass 400,000. February 21, 2021: Surpass 500,000. December 15, 2021: Surpass 800,000.
As abrupt as the closing of schools in spring 2020 was, the return of students to campus in the fall was thoughtful, purposeful, and designed to acclimate the community to full days of classes amidst the ongoing threat of a virus outbreak. Mr. Thomsen reminded parents that “School will not be the same as it was before March 2020. Students will work, eat, and play at a distance . . . these shifts will require patience and adaptability as we work to maintain the sense of personal connection that is such a key element of a Country Day education.”
Back to school in early October means temperature checks and masks.
Lower School pair work from home with guidance from the family dog.
A show-and-tell from beekeeper Rachelle Bee explains to the Pre-Kindergarten class that there are many jobs that require wearing a mask.
Pre-Kindergarteners were the first students back on campus on September 1. They were allowed to return before the other grades because the school’s childcare license governing early childhood education permitted it. Pre-K teachers moved furniture and equipment into the former Lower School Spanish classroom and welcomed two Pre-K cohorts in separate spaces, renamed the Workshop and the Clubhouse.
A waiver from the County Public Health Department allowing kindergarten to fifth-grade students to return to school was applied for and approved after stringent safety protocols were met. Plans were made for Lower School classes to return to campus on a staggered basis beginning with kindergarten and first grade on September 22, followed by the rest of the grades. This arrangement was altered when new state guidelines stipulated that specialty teachers – those teaching classes such as music, art, world language, and library – could not have contact with multiple cohorts, making in-person teaching for all subjects and specialty classes unworkable as planned.
On September 23, an email communication home to families read, “We have been able to clarify the different scenarios that the County will permit under the revised guidelines . . . and we are moving forward with the return-to-school plan for K-5th grades” with the following schedule:
Pre-Kindergartners are back at school in September 2020, and ready to create something from the ground up.
Tuesday, September 29 – Kindergarten
Thursday, October 1 – 1st Grade
Monday, October 5 – 2nd and 3rd grades
Wednesday, October 7 – 4th and 5th grades
During the first month back at school, Lower School students attended in-person classes in the morning before being dismissed early to attend specialty classes remotely. There were no specialty classes on Friday afternoons. Lower School continued with this abbreviated schedule until longer school days were introduced on November 9 with classes dismissed at staggered times in the afternoon. Half-day Fridays continued until the end of the school year.
FALL 2020: MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL ALTERNATE CLASSROOM DAYS
On Monday, October 19, after Sacramento County had remained in the Red Tier for the prescribed two weeks, Middle and High School students returned to campus in cohorts, alternating days when groups of students were on campus and other groups were remote. During breaks and lunch periods, students remained in their cohorts. With fewer students in classrooms each day, desks were situated six feet apart and lunch tables were more easily shared. In the Middle School, two grades would be on campus, while a third grade would attend online. The High School returned to campus using a modified A/B schedule with Group A on campus two days a week, Group B on campus two different days a week, and the groups alternating on Fridays.
Fourth graders and their teacher Pam Livesey spend time in the garden for a break away from the classroom.
Jane McGinnes, incoming drama and Middle School English teacher completed her hiring interview and demo lesson the day before school shut down, and met her colleagues and students for the first time on Zoom. For an early lesson, Ms. McGinnes decided to make a film. “Students filmed themselves in and around their homes, and we intercut them with scenes from Zoom and created a clever short film exploring the frustrations of being stuck at home.”
An Octagon article posted online on October 18, quotes Middle School teacher Kathryn LaComb. “I think the middle school hybrid schedule is a good solution . . . I’m glad we will be together again, even if it’s only for a few days a week. I’m cautiously optimistic.”
SEPTEMBER 2020: REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS
As on-campus classes resumed and some students chose to stay at home to attend classes remotely, teachers found themselves in front of a classroom as well as in front of a screen. High School English teacher Jane Bauman found it somewhat disconcerting to see herself on Zoom, so she “changed the lighting, raised her computer, and used a lot of powder!”
Mr. Wells said, “Zoom offered breakout rooms, whiteboards, and screen sharing and YouTube helped with creating instruction videos. And we continued
using CavNet, which has features like quizzes, online discussion boards, and other tools that our teachers and students had worked with before.”
Pam Livesey and Amanda Ashdown had been team teaching for 18 years and faced the challenges together. Pam recalls, “In the spring when we first began remote learning, Country Day was up and running in no time, while other schools took months. I was proud that we were able to do that. Teaching the fourth graders how to log in was the first of many tough steps. Then we transitioned to a combination of remote and in-class teaching, rotating between three cohorts with all our materials on carts. Even now, I can’t believe we managed to do it for an entire year.”
As positivity rates fluctuated, so did classes – some days students were on campus and remote learners tuned in; other days all students were online at home. Teachers leaned into digital tools to facilitate the teaching process with the goal, always, to encourage those students at home to engage with those on campus.
Science experiments were particularly challenging. High School teacher Kellie Whited called her students “Roomies” and “Zoomies” while addressing them in the hybrid classroom. Dr. Whited said, “Each ‘Roomie’ was partnered with a ‘Zoomie’ for lab work. While students on campus conducted the experiment, their partner on Zoom would record the data. It was
High School students in Dr.. Whited’s lab communicate with their Zoomie partners at home.
not ideal – there was always someone yelling for the camera to be readjusted so they could see or to move their bodies because they were blocking the experiment for the Zoomie at home.”
SAFETY STRATEGIES ON CAMPUS
Country Day “COVID-19 Policies and Procedures,” a 25-page document available to all families before the return to school, clearly describes health and safety practices for students and employees, protocols for testing and the process for reporting positive test results, maintaining physical distancing on campus and wearing masks, and a description of the “PickUp Patrol” app to collect health screening information for all grades. The app allowed parents to easily complete health and temperature data each morning to show to screeners on the curb before children left the car. Students arriving on their own were screened at stations on the curb before going to class.
The school’s Director of the Physical Plant, Jay Holman, and his crew, undertook numerous tasks during the pandemic far beyond their usual responsibilities. Those important health and safety
modifications to campus facilities included the installation of plastic barriers in common areas, hand sanitizer stations throughout campus, IQAir purifiers in every classroom, and MERV 13 filters in HVACs, in addition to enhanced campus cleaning and sanitizing.
Arranging the necessary additional teaching spaces also fell to the maintenance team. Knowing the dimensions of campus structures better than any other employee, Jay determined the best use of classrooms and common spaces to satisfy the six-foot desk separation mandate and took on the responsibility of contact tracing. Director of Communications Emily Allshouse crafted multiple messages to parents, compiled and updated the Policies and Procedures manual, and generally kept the community well informed during a rapidly changing situation.
In November 2020, a student in the Lower School tested positive for the virus. Because classes and cohorts were small, and contact tracing features were accessible, those families whose children had been in close contact were quickly notified. With the
TESTING AT COUNTRY DAY
In November 2020, just over a month after returning to on-campus classes, Sacramento County returned to the Purple Tier, indicating a significant increase in virus positivity rates, and Country Day announced a return to remote learning for two weeks, following the Thanksgiving Break until December 14. In addition, school-sponsored testing appointments were now available on campus, and all students and employees would need a negative COVID-19 test before returning to campus.
The bi-weekly testing reminders were emailed home weekly, appointments were made online, and students and staff were tested on campus. The return to classes on January 2 from Winter Break began with a week of remote learning until in-person classes began on January 12. Cases were still low – of the 471 tests administered at Country Day in mid-January, 463 were negative, two were positive, and six were indeterminate or pending. Students and staff continued the every-other-week mandatory testing, and the community headed into the annual Mid-Winter Break on February 16, 2021. The endof-February testing results were encouraging - 488 administered, 485 negative, one positive, and two indeterminate. Testing on campus continued until the end of 2022, and self-test kits were sent home with each student to be used before returning to school after breaks.
Until the advent of the self-testing-at-home kit, people had to visit a doctor’s office or some other site to have a sample nose swab taken. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2022 that home testing kits became readily available, and in April of that year, the school distributed two tests per student to take home.
The sounds of music! Special masks were ordered with an opening, which allowed student musicians to play their instruments.
availability of empty classrooms, libraries, the gym, and other common spaces, the school was able to spread out students in multiple class areas and maintain the recommended six-foot spacing.
No other positive cases were reported until one case in mid-December.
SPRING 2021: SHORTAGES OF VACCINES AND COVID-19 TESTS
As the first anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic was observed, COVID-19 variants began appearing in the United States – first Gamma and Alpha, followed by a COVID surge known as Omicron, and in June 2021, the Delta variant arrived.
To help meet the demand for testing, the Biden Administration funded research into a rapid overthe-counter COVID-19 test and created an online portal where people could order free at-home tests through the U.S. Postal Service. At the same time, as the development of vaccines proved successful, the White House announced the “Find a Vaccination” website with a 1-800 number to help people access locations to receive the injection. Finally, in May, the FDA declared children 12 and older eligible for the vaccine. It wasn’t until June 2022 that vaccines were available to everyone six months and older.
In March 2022, Waldo is on hand for Read Across Country Day to offer some health safety tips.
2021-22: A NEW SCHOOL YEAR
After a year and a half of remote and hybrid learning, the 2021-22 school year resumed on August 31. Social distancing recommendations from the state were reduced from six feet to three feet, allowing all students back on campus five days a week. With the universal goal of maintaining in-person attendance, safety protections remained in place – students and faculty were wearing masks, air ventilation machines were in classrooms, and testing continued. Cohorts were small and seating charts were created for each classroom, allowing the notification of the impacted cohort should someone test positive. Parents continued to use the PickUp Patrol app to screen their children for temperature and symptoms.
After months without a positive case on campus, multiple first graders tested positive in January 2022, and, after consultation with the school’s medical advisors, in-person learning for both first-grade classes was paused for a week, with access to classwork on Zoom. Those children who continued to test negative were able to return after the week. Country Day’s February testing of 570 students and staff returned zero positive cases, and vaccination rates in all divisions exceeded the state averages. Beginning March 14, masks were recommended in classrooms, but no longer required. In May, five more
The High School Class of 2025 wear logo gear from the colleges they will attend in the fall.
members of the Lower School community tested positive, a reminder that COVID-19 was not over. A May report from the CDC stated that the weekly average of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S. was six times higher than it was in 2021.
2022-2023: ANOTHER SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS WITH OPTIMISM
The school calendar listed in-person events for the annual New Parent Welcome Dinner and the Senior Sunrise, as well as the Parents’ Association’s traditional back-to-school coffee and the first oncampus PA meeting since spring 2020. School trips canceled during the last two years were back on the
calendar. Negative COVID tests were required before the first day of school, and upon return to campus after the Thanksgiving and holiday breaks.
March 2023 marked three years since schools across California closed for what most thought would be a three-week break. Lee Thomsen’s February email, “I am sincerely grateful for the support and cooperation of our community as we have sought to balance two chief objectives – maintain the health and safety of our entire school community and keep Country Day open for in-person learning. While I hope that the most challenging days of the pandemic are behind us, we will remain committed to the safety of our community and attuned to any changes in public health recommendations.”
MAY 11, 2023
Ninety days after the third anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic’s beginning, the public health emergency designation in the United States for COVID-19 expired.
VACCINE DEVELOPMENT
Nationwide, the search for a vaccine started quickly. Moderna Therapeutics began the first human trials of a vaccine to protect against COVID-19 at a research facility in Seattle, Washington. On April 30, 2020, the Trump Administration launched Operation Warp Speed, funding the development of six promising vaccine candidates while still in the clinical trial phase, including the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. In November, both Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines were found to be 95% effective in their clinical trials, and on December 14, 2020, a nurse in New York was the first American outside of clinical trials to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
In just ten days, more than a million vaccine doses were administered in the U.S., primarily to healthcare workers and older adults living in long-term care facilities. By the end of February 2021, more Americans had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine than had tested positive for the virus. (source Bloomberg.com) At the same time, reported COVID-19 deaths reported in the U.S. surpassed 500,000, and COVID-19 was listed as the third cause of death after heart disease and cancer. In April 2022, for the second year in a row, COVID-19 was again the third leading cause of death in the U.S. With the advent of available vaccines and booster shots, by 2023, COVID-19 had dropped to the 10th leading cause of death.
“Be a Banana Week” is a time for Lower School students to honor Ariyana “Banana” Jones, beloved Pre-Kindergarten teacher and ASE Camp Counselor, who was tragically killed in 2016. (Ariyana chose “Banana” as her camp nickname.) During the week, there are themed costume days, kindness challenges, and projects, and children are encouraged to follow Ariyana’s example to be kind, supportive, and loving to each other. The yearly Banana Award, created in 2021, recognizes two fifth graders who demonstrate those qualities.
The Kindergarten 100th-Day celebration has been a tradition for at least 30 years. It’s a day about numbers - 100 stars on a cape, 100 Froot Loops on a string, 100 beans in a folded paper plate, and 10 sticks in 10 cups equals 100. Learning to count can be fun!
The High School garage band plays on the curb for the annual Play-a-thon. The first Play-a-thon was organized in 2009 by senior Miles Bennett-Smith and it raised over $5,000 for the Rulindo Schools. In the spring of every year, Country Day bands, orchestras, and student and faculty musicians join together for the all-day event, with all donations going to Rulindo. Total contributions to date = over $200,000!
From a pile of dirt in the 1990s, the garden has grown into a dynamic part of campus. It’s a pleasant place to enjoy lunch, its rows of vegetables offer teaching opportunities for young students, the crops are a source of food for the Middle School farm-tofork elective, and much of the produce is donated regularly to the River City Food Bank.
SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS & MORE 2015-2025
2015-16
The boys’ soccer team defeats Sac. Waldorf 3-0 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Championship. Goalie, senior Brad Petchauer, leads the team in the shutout win, and sophomores Jayce McCain, BJ Askew, and Theo Kaufman score goals, assisted by senior Aidan Cunningham.
Logan Winfield ‘13 wins the NCAAD2 men’s cross country National Championship for the Colorado School of Mines.
The 7th/8th boys’ basketball team wins the Parochial Athletic League (PAL) championship for the second year in a row.
Led by our freshman “Fab Four,” the basketball team wins its first-ever league title and then defeats Valley Christian 104-85 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship game. Freshmen Jayce McCain, BJ Askew, Cole Johnson, and Rick Barros III score over 20 points each.
Freshman Miles Edwards pitches a one-hit, 15-strikeout complete game against Lutheran, moving the Cavaliers into the playoffs. Country Day knocks off Big Valley Christian in the first round before falling to Brookside Christian.
Senior Claire Pinson plans to swim at Harvard University.
The girls’ basketball team defeats Stockton Christian for their first-ever playoff win. Leading scorers are sophomore Yasmin Gupta (23 points, 20 rebounds) and senior Julia Owaidat.
Volleyball seniors Jenny Kerbs and Sydney Michel are named to the Sacramento Optimist All-Star game. Jenny will go on to play volleyball at Vassar College.
2016-17
The boys’ basketball team wins its second league title, going undefeated for the first time in school history.
Senior Marigot Fackenthal will continue fencing at Cornell University.
Senior Johann Dias wins the boys’ section tennis championship for the first individual boys’ title in school history.
The ski team, led by freshman Luca Procida, wins the league championship.
The girls’ volleyball team, led by league MVP Alexa Mathisen, wins the league championship. Alexa will continue to play at Wellesley College.
2017-18
Nate Jakobs ‘16 represents the United States in Israel’s World Maccabiah Games in baseball and wins a gold medal.
The girls’ swim team – senior Amalie Fackenthal, sophomore Becca Waterson, and freshmen Athena Lin, Layla MoheyEldin, and Sydney Turner – wins the first of back-to-back CIF SacJoaquin Section titles.
Senior Amalie Fackenthal won four CIF State Championships over two years, setting the California State Meet record in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. (She goes on to swim in two
The 2015-16 soccer team celebrates after their victory over Waldorf for the Section Championship.
Olympic Trials, and at Stanford University, where she won an NCAA team championship.)
The girls’ varsity volleyball team wins its second league title in a row, going 11-1 in league play.
Senior Yasmin Gupta leads Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League basketball in scoring and is named league MVP. Yasmin will play volleyball at Cornell College.
When he was a sophomore, Nico Burns ’18 lost to Johann Dias ’16 in the tennis league singles championship. In 2018, Nico wins the league title.
Senior and team captain Miles Edwards is the low golfer in the first Sac. Metro Athletic League (SMAL) tournament.
2018-19
Senior Heidi Johnson wins the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Divisional title in the triple jump for the second straight year.
The golf team of senior Miles Edwards, junior Harrison Moon, and sophomores Jackson Crawford, David Situ, John Snyder, and Ted Zhou wins the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Divisional at Diablo Grande by 68 strokes.
Senior Emil Erickson plays catcher in the first game of a doubleheader, rushes off to a tennis match, and then returns to the baseball game in time to be behind the plate in the third inning of the second game.
In tennis, junior Leo Eisner has an undefeated season and goes on to win the singles league championship.
Senior Nate Jakobs will play baseball on the Pomona-Pitzer team. (In his senior year of college, he helped lead his team to the College World Series.)
Senior Luca Procida bookends his Cavalier skiing career with league MVP in his freshman and senior years.
Senior Joe Zales the lone boy swimmer, qualifies for the CIF State Championship. Joe will attend Harvey Mudd College and swim on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps swimming and diving team.
2019-20
Jewel Turner, a gymnast since third grade, starts playing volleyball in high school, helping Country Day to the CIF Section semi-final. She placed 3rd in the USA Volleyball Junior Nationals and went on to play volleyball at the University of the Pacific.
After a highly successful Country Day swim career, Becca Waterson will seim at Brown University.
2020-21
The high school coed soccer team goes 8-1 in a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senior Sydney Turner will swim with the University of Indiana.
2021-22
The league’s Most Valuable Players - Senior Ethan Monasa, junior RJ Vargo, and senior Arjin Claire - lead the soccer Cavaliers over Cristo Rey three times to end Cristo’s fouryear unbeaten run. The final win is Country Day’s fifth CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title.
Arjin Claire is named the Sacramento Bee male soccer player of the year after recording 37 goals, tying the record set by Morgan Bennett-Smith ‘09.
2022-23
In a basketball game played at Golden 1, senior RJ Vargo throws down a dunk, and senior Jonah David hits a threepointer near the end of the game, leading the Cavaliers to an upset 59-58 win over eventual CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Champion Valley Christian.
RJ Vargo is off to Oregon’s Linfield University to play soccer.
Senior Zola Grey wins the league title in the 100m hurdles, high jump and long jump and takes second in the 100m, qualifying for all four events at the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division. Zola is now competing in track for California State University, Northridge.
In an undefeated season, the tennis team wins its first league championship.
Middle School soccer wins the PAL championship, upsetting Woodland Christian. Ryan Scripps and Nolan Montoya score the goals in the 2-1 victory.
2023-24
After back-to-back cross-country state meet appearances, senior Aakash Arumugam will head to Seton Hall University, where he will be on the track & field and cross-country teams.
Girls’ volleyball goes undefeated in league for the 2nd year in a row, and makes it to the CIF NorCal State Championship semi-final, losing in five sets to Fall River. Senior Kaitlyn Dias is named League MVP and the Optimist All-Star team’s outstanding player.
Junior fencer Irene Jung competes in the Cadet World Cup in Hungary as well as other international competitions.
Senior William Holtz will be fencing at Duke.
Coached by Jason Kreps, the 2019 ski and snowboard team poses before their races at Boreal Mountain.
The tennis team, coached by Jamie Nelson for the last decade, repeats as league champions, led by juniors Henry Wilson, Parker Byers, and Ashley Lattyak.
2024-25
League champion senior Wyatt Hall and freshman Carly Townend qualify for the State Championship in cross country.
Girls’ volleyball wins its third straight league championship.
Having placed 3rd in the league the past two years, skier Dylan Corcoran ‘26 is 10th overall at States.
Baseball makes the playoffs for the first time in ten years. In only its second season, boys’ volleyball makes the playoffs.
Coached by Kris Hall, the golf team wins the league championship, playing 12 different players in league matches led by junior Kale Patel, senior Henry Wilson, and sophomore Niam Patel.
Senior Mia Askovich wins the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section individual girls’ title in tennis.
Fencer Daniel Holz ‘26 finishes 3rd in Cadets at the Junior Olympics. He hopes to recover from a knee injury and fence at the Senior World Cup in Italy.
Former students Jared McCain ‘22 and Jaylen Wells ’21 are 2024 NBA draft picks and are named NBA Rookies of the Month in November. The boys were champs on the 5th/6th basketball team in 2015 and led the team to an undefeated season and a PAL Championship.
2022-25
With their parents looking on, Henry Wilson and Andrew Burr sign their intent to play at their respective colleges.
Andrew Burr ‘25 won three straight cross-country section championships and was named freshman all-state in 2022. Andrew will run at Dartmouth University in fall 2025.
2022-25
Tennis ace Henry Wilson ‘25 wins three boys’ individual CIF SacJoaquin Section championships and four League Championships. Henry will play tennis on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team.
A. Dale Lacky Scholarship Award
The A. Dale Lacky Scholarship Award recognizes the league’s top male and female scholar-athletes in the Sac-Joaquin Section of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) for their outstanding athletic performance, community service, and academic success during their four years of high school. Country Day has been honored to receive the award for many years.
Ethan Ham, Claire Pinson
Sydney Michel
Emil Erickson
Jack Christian, Heidi Johnson
Jackson Crawford, Rebecca Waterson
Sydney Turner
Arjin Claire
Samrath Pannu
Kaitlyn Dias
London Hoffart
CIF Academic Champion Award
In 2017, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section created an Academic Champion award for each sport that is multi-divisional. To date, Country Day has won more than once in several sports.
2017-2018
2018-2019
2018-2019
2018-2019
2018-2019
2018-2019
2019-2020
2021-2022
2021-2022
2021-2022
2021-2022
2022-2023
2022-2023
2022-2023
2023-2024
Girls Swimming and Diving
Boys Track & Field
Girls Track & Field
Baseball
Girls Swimming and Diving
Boys Golf
Boys Basketball
Track & Field
Coed Tennis
Baseball
Golf
Boys Track & Field
Boys Golf
Girls Soccer
Boys Track & Field
In 2024, Athletic Director Matt Vargo was named one of the California Interscholastic Federation Model Coaches of the Year, the highest honor bestowed upon coaches in the state. This is not the first time Matt has been recognized by the CIF - in 2012, he was awarded the Sac-Joaquin Section Athletic Director of the Year.
The state media release states, “Coach Vargo’s impact on student-athletes at Sacramento Country Day as both a coach and Athletic Director is truly significant. His embodiment of the values of education-based athletics, including sportsmanship, compassion, and ethics, sets a positive example for all involved in the athletic program. By emphasizing the importance of resilience and grace under pressure over mere winning, Coach Vargo instills valuable life lessons in his players.”
Each year since 2022, the Solar Regatta team has worked together to participate in the SMUD Solar Regatta challenge at Rancho Seco. Creative engineering, project management, and teamwork come together as the students repurpose a 14-foot Hobie Catamaran to run on solar energy.
A Fall Family Festival has been part of the school’s celebrations since the early days, and it’s been organized by the Parents’ Association every year. There are always pumpkins, food, games, and sometimes hay bales; face painting and bounce houses have been added in the last 25 or 30 years. High School students organized car washes in the parking lot for a few years; now the High School chalk mural is an annual happening on the other side of campus. Homecoming games, in the gym and on the field, are also part of the day.
2025. Auction themes over the last ten years have highlighted locales such as the Caribbean, Sedona, and Havana; featured special drinks like martinis and mojitos; and been held at various venues including hotels, a golf pavilion, the Railroad Museum, and under the tent at Country Day. On March 15, 2025, the 60th Anniversary Gala Auction celebrated the school’s Diamond Anniversary.
Not only do young campers wear costumes to summer camp, but the counselors dress up, too. Country Day Summer Camp has welcomed children for over 50 years, and the Camp Director Joy Pangilinan, (aka the Director of Fun) has been overseeing it for close to 18 years.
The annual Middle School Pacha Mundi Day was first celebrated in 2023. It’s a special day when families can share their cultures by preparing a favorite food, providing decorations, displaying special artwork, performing a dance, or teaching or playing a game The event celebrates the diversity of the Country Day community – over the last three years, countries represented included India, Algeria, Argentina, China, England, France, Ghana, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, and Pakistan.
HEADS OF SCHOOL
Stephen T Repsher
July 2003-June 2016
Lee Thomsen
July 2016-present
BOARD OF TRUSTEE PRESIDENTS
Kelley Taber ‘84
Julie Sloat
Roxanne Elliott (Interim)
TRUSTEES
Manish Aggarwal
Ali Alikhan
Jeremy Burr
Jeb Burton
Rohitesh Chand
Michelle Christian
Norman Colb
Melissa Conner
Carrie Cooper Bentley ‘01
Angela Donlan
Steven Edwards
Roxanne Elliott
Howard Fan
Soyla Fernandez
Randy Getz
Chris Granger
John Gudebski^
Benjamin Gumpert
Jill Hageman
Kristoffer Hall ‘91
Deborah Harvego
Amy Johnson ‘95^
Kate Kaufman
Loren Kaye
Sang Kim ‘97
Kassia Kingsley
Stephen Lesher ‘92
Christopher Levermore
Melinda Levy
Theresa Lincoln
Jenna Magan
Lee Mahla
Darra Messing Brewer ‘00
Grove Nichols
Emily Oliver Stephenson
Barbara Ore
Louay Owaidat
Drew Petersen
Tepring Piquado ‘99
Austin Ramos
Patrice Ratinoff
Lindsey Sackheim
Lokesh Sikaria
Julie Sloat
Kelley Taber ‘84
Stanley Van Vleck
Winnifred Ward ‘81
Laura Wilt
Timothy Wong
Francis Zhang
2013-2017 2017-present 2020-2021
2018-2024 2024-present 2013-2017 2019-2021 2013-2016 2023-2024 2019-present 2024-present 2023-present 2014-2019 2006-2021 2017-2021 2023-present 2021-present 2002-2011, 2022-present 2016-2017 2005-2017 2019-2022 2023-present 2022-present 2011-2014, 2016-2017 2017-2024 2018-2020 2013-2020, 2021-2022 2015-2016 2022-2025 2022-2024 2020-2023 2019-present 2017-2018 2016-present 2014-2018 2024-present 2010-2016 2014-present 2018-2021 2013-present 2007-2016 2020-2021 2024-present 2015-2020, 2021-2022 2012-2018 2016-2019 2015-present 2007-2019 2014-2016 2020-2023 2024-present 2024-present 2011-2019
PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION PRESIDENTS
2015-2016
2016-2017
2017-2018 2018-2019
2019-2020 2020-2021
2021-2022
2022-2023
2023-2024
2024-2025
Priya Krishnan & Katherine Merksamer ‘88
Lainie Josephson & Michelle Kessel-Harbart
Kelly Hall
Lainie Josephson & Michelle Kessel-Harbart
Julie Milender Parrish
Lainie Josephson & Michelle Kessel-Harbart
Robin Chatterjee & Karla Rojas
Robin Chatterjee & Preet Kandola
Katie Deterding & Preet Kandola
Katie Deterding & Michelle Christian
EMPLOYEES, 2015-2025
FOCS LEADERSHIP
2022-24 Lonnie & Maya Webb 2024-25 Kimberley Biddle, Amy Brown, Fenina Espinosa,
AUCTION CHAIRS
2016 Leah Frink & Julie Sloat
2017 Sandy Buchanan & Sandee Chand
2018 Emily Stephenson & Amie Stevenson
2019 Lainie Josephson & Michelle Kessel-Harbart
2020 Virtual Auction, no chairs
2021 Maureen Smith & Pepe Novel
2022 Preet Kandola & Danielle Manaois
2023 Ingrid Foster & Nicole Purcell
2024 Nicole Purcell & Chelsey Reeves
2025 Chelsey Reeves & Kelley Brown
Malak Abou Faour, 2021-present, HS Science
Jennifer Adams, 2000-2010, 2016-present, Lunch Program, Business Office
Tara Adams Yates, 2019-present, MS & HS Learning Specialist
Valerie Adelsheim, 2016-present, Assistant to the Head of School
Maisae Affour, 2020-2025, Head of Lower School
Melisa Albrand, 1997-2016, MS French
Jason Allen '95, 2024-present, PE
Emily Allshouse, 2018-2021, Director of Communications
Christopher Arns, 2022-present, HS History
Jane Bauman, 2003-present, HS English, College Counselor
Ronald Bell, 2000-2017, HS English
Lonna Bloedau, 1992-2020, Director of Admission
International Student Coordinator
Cameron Bohn, 2014-2022, LS Teacher
Edward Bolman, 2005-2025, MS Math & History, Dean of Students
LaTeeka Bradford, 2019-2025, LS Teacher
Yara Brenton, 2013-2014, LS
Kelley Brown, 2016-2021, 2024-2025, MS & HS Learning Specialist, LS Teacher
Aleitha Burns Grunst, 2008-present, MS Science
Sydnee Butcher, 2019-2020, LS
Aurora Cardenas, 2024-present, Spanish
Rosie Castañeda, 2023-2025, PE
Stephanie Castillo, 2018-present, LS Teacher
Marisa Christie, 2004-present, Advancement Office, Assistant to the Head of Middle School
Bill Clement, 1999-2015, Shuttle Driver
Victoria Conner, 2016-present, HS Science
Richele Cooley, 2020-present, LS Teacher
Angela Cormier, 2024-present, PE
Jon Cormier, 2015-2016, Director of Advancement
Alexis Covey '02, 2012-2021, LS Teacher
Michaael Covey , 1998-2005, 2013-2019, HS Science, Garden Coordinator
Andy Cunningham, 2005-present, MS & HS Art
Michael Cvetich '05, 2013-2016, Technology
Richard Day, 1997-present, HS French
Julie Didion, 2008-2021, MS & HS Art
Timothy Dobbins, 2021-2024, Robotis, MS Elective
Brandi Alexander Donovan '87, 2013-2016, LS
Rachelle Doyle, 2021-present, Director of Advancement
Courtney Doyle, 2022-present, LS Counselor
Amanda Evans, 2024-present, MS Science
Barbara Fackenthall Tash, 1979-2018, LS Teacher
Patricia Fels, 1976-2018, MS & HS English, College Counselor, MS & HS Newspaper, Literary Magazine
Frances Ferrell, 2024-present, Advancement Office
Tiffany Fisher, 2024-2025, MS & HS Counselor
Tucker Foehl, 2014-2020, Assistant Head of School
Gabriella Foster, 2015-2016, HS Office
Ingrid Foster, 2022-present, Director of Marketing and Communications
Hannah Frank, 2007-present, Business Office
Jo French, 2022-present, HS Math
Brian Frishman, 2005-2020, MS & HS Drama
Carlos Fuentes, 2024-present, Music
Giovanni Garcia, 2023-present, MS & HS Spanish
Aggie Geminder, 1999-2018, LS
Sarah Gerber, 2017-present, LS Teacher
Faten Ghariani, 2021-present, MS French
Jane Gillette, 2002-2018, LS Teacher
Sue Goodwin, 1998-present, LS Teacher
Cade Grunst, 2012-present, MS Science
Allison Guilderson, 2022-present, LS Teacher
Mollie Hawkins, 2013-2016, MS/HS Library
Caroline Hersh-Rodeen, 2024-present, HS Science & Math
Jason Hinojosa, 2017-present, HS English
Ryan Hobbs, 2020-present, MS History
Hannah Hohle, 2024-present, HS English
Jay Holman, 2007-present, Director of the Physical Plant
Maria Hoyos, 2019-present, Music
Patricia Jacobsen, 2003-present, HS Math, Dean of Students
Barbara Johnson^, 1998-2017, Assistant to the Head of Middle School
Ariyana Jones^, 2009-2016, LS Teacher
Anita Kassel, 1984-1990, 1998-2017, LS Teacher
Patricia Kelly, 2004-2017, MS & HS Art
Felecia Keys, 2010-2020, Music
Ashlie Kirby, 2018-present, LS Music & Movement
Robin Kren, 1992-2017, LS Teacher
Jason Kreps, 2004-present, PE
Chris Kuipers, 2010-2021, HS History, College Counselor
Dihinesh Kumar, 2014-2019, Custodian
Kathryn LaComb, 1996-1998, 2013-present, MS English
Lauren LaMay^, 1980-2017, MS & HS English
Roxana Latif, 2023-present, LS Teacher
Elizabeth Leavy, 2017-present, HS History, Yearbook
Yanling Lei, 2023-present, HS Math, Technology Office
Amanda Leidolph, 2019-present, LS
Rick Lewkowitz, 2017-present, Mock Trail
Matt Liedtke, 2014-present, Maintenance Department
Whitney Little, 2014-2017, MS English
Pamela Livesey, 2002-present, LS Teacher
Ying Lo Khang, 2012-2016, Breakthrough
Kate Lootens, 2020-present, MS History
Rommel Loria, 2018-2022, Head of Middle School
Bennett Lumban, 2012-2019, LS, ASE
Sandy Lyon, 2000-2018, MS History, Head of Middle School
Glenn Mangold, 2007-2021, HS Science & Math
Donna Manning, 1998-2018, LS Teacher
Angelique Martinez, 2023-present, MS Spanish
Kristi Mathisen, 2007-present, LS Teacher
Jane McGinnes, 2020-present, MS English, MS & HS Drama
Jo Melinson, 1994-present, Staff, MS & HS Librarian
Adolfo Mercardo, 2005-2016, Breakthrough Director
May Mercury, 2020-2025, LS Teacher
Dina Meylink, 2024-present, LS
Melanie Michel, 2023-present, LS Librarian
Chris Millsback, 2003-2022, HS Math & Econ
Laura Monahan, 1995-2025, MS Math, Breakthrough Director
Michelle Myers, 1987-2024, PE
Patricia Naylor, 2008-present, LS French
Sue Nellis, 1982-2019, MS & HS History, Head of High School
Julie Nelson, 1996-2018, Director of Communications
Amy Nelson Wells '98, 2004-present, Advancement Office
Daniel Neukom, 1973-2017, MS & HS History, HS Dean of Students
Jason Norris, 2018-present, Maintenance Department
Pepa Novell, 2019-present, MS & HS Spanish
Ines Ochoa Matthew, 2000-2024, LS Spanish
Sarah Ostermueller, 2022-present, Head of Middle School
Joy Pangilinan Kronemeyer, 2007-present, Director of Special Programs
Sarah Parrish, 2019-present, Business Office
Kurt Pearsall, 2017-present, Music
Maya Pelle, 1996-2018, MS Spanish
Kristi Peoro, 2008-2009, 2017-present, LS Office
Alicia Perla, 2021-present, College Counselor
Bill Petchauer, 2007-present, Chief Financial Office
Pam Peters, 1999-2009, 2022-24, MS & HS Counselor
Latonia Pitts, 2005-present, LS, ASE & Summer
Alma Ponce, 2020-present, LS Art
Patricia Portillo, 2008-2023, HS Spanish
Sanjesh Prasad, 2009-present, Custodian
Brianne Pusateri, 2022-present, LS
Michael Quarles, 2019-present, Custodian
Amanda Quezada, 2022-present, LS
Bob Ratcliff, 2000-2021, Music
Adie Renteria, 2019-present, LS Learning Specialist
Steve Repsher, 2003-2016, Head of School
Sarän Richard, 2024-present, Technology Office
Rudi Rose, 1998-present, Business Office
Anna Royal, 2024-present, LS
Sue Ryan, 1994-present, LS Teacher, LS Librarian, Interim Head of Lower School
Maura Ryan Perotti '02, 2016-present, LS Teacher
April Sanders, 2019-present, LS Teacher
Christian Scott, 2021-present, LS Teacher
Denise Scruggs, 1998-2005, 2008-2020, 2022-2023, MS Teacher
Julie Shanks, 2002-2022, LS Art
Mari Shurtz, 2024-present, LS
Raj Singh, 2018-present, Custodian
Sailendra Singh, 2000-2018, Maintenance Department
Sarah Song, 2004-2019, LS Teacher
Bill Stainbrook, 1980-2017, PE
Christina Stainbrook Emerson '06, 2019-present, LS
Melissa Strong, 2016-present, MS/HS Library, Communications Office
Grace Strumpfer, 2022-present, HS Office
Wayne Strumpfer, 2014-2017, Mock Trial
Lila Suryanarayan, 2024-present, LS Learning Specialist
Joseph Tellez, 2014-2016, HS Science
Lee Thomsen, 2016-present, Head of School
Rory Tira, 2021-present, Garden Coordinator
Andrea Todd, 2023-present, Newspaper
Michael Unti, 2020-present, Director of Technology
Melissa Uroff, 2021-present, HS Art
Christy Vail, 2005-2020, Head of Lower School
Dana Vargo, 1997-present, Director of Admission
Matt Vargo, 2002-present, Director of Athletics
Amy Velder, 2013-2016, LS Teacher
Jordan Watts, 2023-present, MS Math
Brooke Wells, 2003-present, HS English & History, Head of High School
Carol Wessels, 1987-2019, Business Office
Doug Whited, 2014-2017, MS Science
Kellie Whited, 2006-present, HS Science
Becki Williams, 2023-present, LS Teacher
Erica Wilson, 2021-present, Admin Office
Emily Wilson, 2021-present, Admission Office
Gary Wong, 2022-present, MS English
Tibby Kempton Wroten '01, 2005-2011, 2015-2017, LS, MS/HS Library
Tom Wroten '99, 2005-2018, Director of Technology
John Yu, 2015-2022, LS Teacher
Sarah Zaragoza-Smith, 2023-present, MS/HS Library, Literary Magazine
Michelle Myers
Barbara Lazar
Ron Bell
Evelyn Dale
Glenn Mangold
Elena Bennett
Helen Bishop
Bill Stainbrook
Patricia Jacobsen
Brooke Wells
Graduates
2016
Emma Belliveau
Zoë Bowlus
Emma Brown
Nathan Chan
Shepard Colby Conner
Dakota Cosgrove
Johann Dias
Jacob Durante
Zoe Dym
Serajh Esmail
Benjamin Felix
Amelia Fineberg
Aidan Galati
Elinor Hilton
Madison Judd
Jennifer Kerbs
Adam Ketchum
Eliana Kuppermann
Jagjit Lally
David Liu
America Lopez
Sydney Michel
Akilan Murugesan
Keaton Ochoa
Julia Owaidat
Diego Perochena
Bradford Petchauer
Vanessa Previsic
Jacob Sands
Max Schmitz
Saachi Sikaria
Grace Strumpfer
Anthony Swaminathan
Manson Tung
2017
Avneet Bhullar
Natalie Brown
Elizabeth Brownridge
Sylvaine Bucher
Aidan Cunningham
Adam Dean
Emil Erickson
Marigot Fackenthal
Jesus Galindo-Sanchez
Maryjane Garcia
Daniel Hernried
Kequan (Kevin) Huang
Emily Jakobs
Arvind Krishnan
Quinton LaComb
Isabelle Leavy
Camille Locke
Alexa Mathisen
Shriya Nadgauda
Anna Schmidt
McGregor Scott
Emory Shi
Atlantis Talamantes
Jaelan Trapp
Kaeleigh Valverde
Christian Van Vleck
Nicole Wolkov
Yangtian (Fred) Xu
2018
Ulises Barajas
Lily Brown
Esmeralda Bruce-Romo
Nicholas Burns
Atsuo Chiu
Sahej Claire
Annya Dahmani
Katia Dahmani
Nina Dym
Miles Edwards
Amalie Fackenthal
Reggie Fan
Leakatya Gorny
Yasmin Gupta
Sonja Hansen
Siyu (Crystal) Jiang
Cole Johnson
Theodore Kaufman
Harkirat Lally
Bryce Longoria
Jake Longoria
Cameron Morgade-Collins
Gurpria Nijhar
Carlos Nuñez
Riya Rampalli
Andrew Rossell
Smita Sikaria
Zihao Sui
Hao (Howard) Yuan
2019
Gabriela Alvarado
Yishu (Jacqueline) Chao
Xingru (Rita) Chen
Michaela Chen
Jack Christian
Chloé Collinwood
Leonardo Eisner de Eisenhof
Joshua Friedman
Alan Gallardo
Bianca Hansen
Nathaniel Jakobs
Heidi Johnson
Lia Kaufman
Abigail LaComb
Mehdi Lacombe
Kyra LaFitte
Yanele Ledesma
Blake Lincoln
Monique Lonergan
Freya Lothbrok
Yelin Mao
Brady Mathisen
Harrison Moon
Grace Naify
Sophie Naylor
Chardonnay Needler
Luca Procida
Brandy Riziki Ntako
Mohini Rye
Eivind Sommerhaug
Vittoria Van Vleck
Joseph Zales
Allison Zhang
2020
Larkin Barnard-Bahn
Emma Boersma
Emily Bogetich
Kaitlyn Canepa
Jackson Crawford
Anna Frankel
Aaron Graves
Téa Carla Huynh Van
Maximilian Kemnitz
Anuradha Krishnan
Jason Li
Jackson Margolis
Mackenzie Skye McLeod
Yumi Moon
Savannah Rosenzweig
Héloïse Schep
Spencer Scott
Darius Shahbazi
Garrett Shonkwiler
David Situ
Charles Thomas
Ming Hang (Bill) Tsui
Naomi Turnbull
Jewel Turner
Alyssa Valverde
Rebecca Waterson
Michelle Whitney
Christopher Wilson
Madeleine Woo
Shimin Zhang
Shiyi (Ted) Zhou
2021
Charles Acquisto
Keshav Anand
Elijah Azar
Hayden Boersma
Allie Bogetich
Lilianne Brush
Duy (Martin) Cao
Olivia Chilelli
Brian Chow
Briana Davies
Kenyatta Dumisani
Andi Fluetsch
Jack Goselin
Shelly Hasson
Carter Joost
Meghan Kaschner
Jackson Knapp
Avinash Krishna
Nathaniel Leavy
Alexis (Hana) Lee
Athena Lin
Malek Nabhani
Connor Pedersen
Ashwin Rohatgi
Sarina Rye
Om Sharma
Liv Elise Sommerhaug
Kaelan Swinmurn
Michael Tovar
Cho-An (Joanne) Tsai
Sydney Turner
Colin Usrey
Pragathi Vivaik
Erin Wilson
Shiva Wolf
Huimin (Hermione) Xian
Yingshan (Stephanie) Ye
Ming Zhu
2022
Jesus Aispuro
Sanjana Anand
Edward Craig Bolman
Tarika Brar
Dylan Breen
Arjin Claire
Vivian Conner
Elliot Crowder
Masai Dumisani
Vanessa Escobar
Hailey Fesai
Zola Grey
Evan Grijnsztein
Nihal Gulati
Xun Yi (Tina) Huang
Dylan Margolis
Megan Matus
Angela McCurdy
Ethan Monasa
Miles Morrow
Malek Owaidat
Clara Reynen
Sicily Schroeder
Lilah Shorey
Arikta Trivedi
Arijit Trivedi
Kali Wells
Maximillius Wu
Sitong (Daisy) Zhou
2023
Adam Akins
Amaya Anguiano
Brynne Barnard-Bahn
Karabelo Bowsky
Jacob Chand
Elizabeth Cook
Emily Cook
Zander Cornelius
Minhphuong Dang
Jonah Angelo David
Simone DeBerry
Christian Dwumfuoh
Grace Eberhart
Jinhao (John) Fan
Jackson Fox
Athenea Godinez-Gomez
Haylee Holman
Shiran (Michelle) Li
Tonye Jack FRANCIE TIDEY AWARD RECIPIENTS
Yuzhou (Joe) Mo
Layla MoheyEldin
Savanna Karmue
David Kedem
Shakhzoda Khodjakhonova
Samhita Kumar
Callister Misquitta
Ibrahim MoheyEldin
Aaron Monasa
Samrath Pannu
Natalie Park
Ryan Paul
Sage Spradlin
Jiayu Tang
RJ Vargo
Cecilia Wilson
Felix Wu
Garman Xu
Guopeng (Mike) Xu
2024
Aakash Arumugam
Srisiri Atluri
Brooklyn Barker
Delsyn Beaton
Luana Booth
Imani Cochran
Kasmer Conner
Aiden Cooley
Mia Crowder
Eshaan Dhaliwal
Kaitlyn Dias
Katie Espinoza
Zoe Genetos
Aiakos George
Pax Graham
Chloe Hirahara
William Holz
Lilya Jafari
Liam Kaschner
Annalucia King
Andrew Klieger
Sarah Harper Livesey
Aidan Look
Lauren Lu
Rachel Pirie
Elliot Robinson
Aarushi Rohatgi
Luke Scripps
Ishaan Sekhon
Caleb Shin
Alex Shuler
Gulzar Sohal
Derek Taylor
Julie Tsoi
Chase Usrey
Sylvia Valverde
Grace Zhao
Juliette Zúñiga
2025
Cezar Abou Zaki
Mia Askovich
Emmanuel Biddle
Andrew Burr
Parker Byers
Bella Chand
Priya Chand
Radha Chauhan
Shay Clary
Suketa Damaraju
Cecilia DeBerry
Sundiata Dumisani
Ava Eberhart
Jennifer Fominskaya
Aaryan Gandhi
Saheb Gulati
Wyatt Hall
Juliana Hemmer
London Hoffart
Nicholas Hughes
Irene Jung
Ashleigh LaPlaca
Avery LaPlaca
Jordyn LaPlaca
Ashley Lattyak
Simon Lindenau
Yu (Kevin) Liu
Steven Lypskiy
Jai Mann
Anniston Miller
Griffin Misquitta
Gaoxing (Rachel) Pan
Ryan Pirie
Zealand Schroeder
Cara Shin
Dylan Sullivan
Imani Thiara
Jacqueline Washington
Maximilian Weitzman
Tanner Wilcox
Henry Wilson
Milly Wong
Garrett Xu
Zhining (Linda) Zhang
Alexander Zinn
LIFERS
2016
Emma Belliveau
Emma Brown
Aidan Galati
Madison Judd
Jennifer Kerbs
Adam Ketchum
Sydney Michel
Grace Strumpfer
Manson Tung
2017
Elizabeth Brownridge
Aidan Cunningham
Emily Jakobs
Isabelle Leavy
Atlantis Talamantes
Christian Van Vleck
Nicole Wolkov
2018
Lily Brown
Atsuo Chiu
Annya Dahmani
Katia Dahmani
Miles Edwards
Sonja Hansen
Theodore Kaufman
2019
Jack Christian
Bianca Hansen
Nathaniel Jakobs
Heidi Johnson
Lia Kaufman
Kyra LaFitte
Blake Lincoln
Freya Lothbrok
Chardonnay Needler
Luca Procida
Mohini Rye
Vittoria Van Vleck
Joseph Zales
Allison Zhang
2020
Emily Bogetich
Anna Frankel
Aaron Graves
Maximilian Kemnitz
Jackson Margolis
David Situ
Christopher Wilson
2021
Allie Bogetich
Nathaniel Leavy
Sarina Rye
Sydney Turner
Erin Wilson
2022
Edward Craig Bolman
Arjin Claire
Dylan Margolis
Ethan Monasa
Miles Morrow
Malek Owaidat
Sicily Schroeder
Lilah Shorey
2023
Amaya Anguiano
Jacob Chand
Elizabeth Cook
Emily Cook
Zander Cornelius
Haylee Holman
Aaron Monasa
Natalie Park
RJ Vargo
2024
Brooklyn Barker
Aiden Cooley
Kaitlyn Dias
Chloe Hirahara
Andrew Klieger
Sarah Harper Livesey
Aidan Look
Lauren Lu
Caleb Shin
Juliette Zúñiga
2025
Andrew Burr
Bella Chand
Priya Chand
Wyatt Hall
Zealand Schroeder
Cara Shin
Alexander Zinn
Enrollment
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
2024-25
472 (128 in HS) 507
503 (144 in HS)
548
574 (170 in HS)
587
598 (180 in HS)
