Congressional Art Award

SD Student Wins 2022 Congressional Art Award

Each spring, the U.S. House of Representatives sponsors a nationwide high school arts competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in each congressional district across the country.

Recently, Congressman Jared Huffman personally called our very own May (Zexuan) Wu ’24 to announce that she is the winner of the 2022 Congressional Art Competition for California’s Second District!

May’s winning artwork will be exhibited in the U.S. Capitol building for one year, along with artwork from each congressional district in the country. She will also receive two round-trip tickets to Washington, D.C., to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception for the new display.

“Every year, the Congressional Art Competition serves as a testament to our students’ creative talents,” Rep. Huffman tells us. “I’m so impressed by the creativity and skill exhibited by our North Coast students, and I look forward to seeing Zexuan’s portrait in the halls of Congress.”

More than 650,000 high school students have participated in the annual contest since 1982, making May’s win this year all the more impressive—a true confirmation of her artistic skills, work ethic, and willingness to reflect and share herself with the world.

Congratulations on this high and well-deserved honor, May!

"We Are the Keepers of Tomorrow," by May (Zexuan) Wu

“My drawing is a message of hope for a future of peace and connection, not division and borders. My use of color symbolizes optimism in a world of war and bleakness, and the girl carries this message into the future. The background depicts the reality of war where refugees and children are separated from their families and countries. As a foreigner, I know what it is like to be separated from my culture and family by thousands of miles. If humankind truly understood how this felt, there would not be war.”

May also won an award from the Global Oneness Project for the same piece! This year’s theme, “The Environment Is in You,” challenged student artists to document “the fragility, hope, and future of our planet due to climate change.” May is among 18 winners chosen from hundreds of student submissions from around the world.

In the Classroom

UPPER SCHOOL | Senior Chloe Flynn Earns Global Citizens Fellowship

Chloe Flynn ’23 has been accepted into a highly competitive international program run by Global Citizens Initiative, starting with a month at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The 10-month fellowship program aims to equip young global citizens with the mindset, skills, and resources necessary to become effective and ethical global leaders.

MIDDLE SCHOOL | Lively Carnaval Assembly

Students in Seventh Grade Spanish explored the history, traditions, and art of the Lenten holiday Carnaval, a lively celebration with desfiles (parades), disfraces (costumes), comida (food), and música (music). Students shared what they learned at a Middle School Assembly, where traditions came alive with singing, dancing, and informative presentations.

LOWER SCHOOL | Learning Mandarin

Fifth Grade students immersed themselves in Mandarin during a five-week course, asking and answering questions in Mandarin and learning how to count, read, and write numbers one through ten. To assist with learning numbers, students used an abacus and found it most intriguing. They mastered how to use it to count and created their own abacus in the 3D Maker Lab! Many of them were nervous about learning Mandarin at first, but remarked how fun and easy it was with project-based activities.

All School Lunar New Year Celebration

Students and faculty celebrated Lunar New Year with All-School activities to honor the Year of the Tiger! In Lower School, students learned a song about numbers in Mandarin. Others worked on creating red lanterns to ward off evil spirits, using a symmetrical cutting technique. Middle School students created poster art and a movie about the 12 zodiac animals. And in the Upper School, students mastered the art of painting and calligraphy, which they then used to create a custom model of a stamp on the 3D printer. They used the stamps to personalize handcrafted soap in the Garden of Hope. And the Asian Students Association created a lively and informative short video to share with all students at Assembly.

MIDDLE SCHOOL | Tinkering in the 3D Lab

In Sixth Grade Tinker Lab elective, student coders created a “shy” octopus that pulls in its tentacles in reaction to a loud sound or other trigger, emphasizing design thinking throughout the project. Students ended up problem-solving how to arrange pieces in the laser cutter software and adjust the laser cutter's power and cutting speed. The students had to figure out on their own how to apply those tools to create very precisely measured pieces—no eyeballing the right shape!

SD Art and Music Students Win Awards

Kailash Brumwell, at age 10 and in Fifth Grade, recently won the Junior Scholarship Award for Piano from the Marin Music Chest scholarship competition. According to the judges, Kailash “breezed through the allegro movement of Friedrich Kuhlau’s Sonatina—a required piece—and then took off on his optional selection, La Chasse by Franz Liszt, considered one of the most difficult classical composers to perform.” Kailash will receive a scholarship of $1,100 and perform with the Music Chest’s Young Artists.

Olivia Warwick ’22 won Honorable Mention in Voice (Jazz) in the YoungArts Awards. YoungArts recognized Olivia for her “work that demonstrated exceptional technique, a strong sense of artistry, and a depth of thinking/performance that exceeds the level of peers at this career stage.”

LOWER SCHOOL | Making Robots to Learn Spanish

How do you make learning Spanish fun? Make robots in the 3D Maker Lab! Recently, students in fourth and fifth grades created robots, using newly learned Spanish vocabulary to describe the parts. Each student wrote a short paragraph identifying the robot's name, color, body parts, and details about its clothing. They created the robots from scratch, using recyclable material. Students then presented their robots at the Lower School

Assembly, describing them in

Spanish!

Kailash Brumwell

Upper School artists won multiple awards at this year's Rising Stars Marin County High School Art Show! Art 3 student May Wu ’24 won Best In Show— an impressive win in a very competitive show featuring art from the strongest high school artists throughout Marin.

Nami Wolfus May Wu

Maya Alpert ’23 won Best Photograph and Nami Wolfus ’25 won a Merit Award for her digital painting from her Ninth Grade Art 1 class.

From San Domenico to Sesame Street

At San Domenico, Shanna Kohn ’09 developed an ethical framework that continues to influence her both personally and professionally, as the Director of International Education at Sesame Workshop. While a student at SD, Shanna was encouraged by her teachers to explore ideas creatively and to solve problems with ingenuity and confidence, culminating in her exemplary approach to cross-national learning and addressing the needs of children in diverse contexts and situations.

After graduating from San Domenico in 2009, Shanna attended Vassar College and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies with a minor in Education and participated in the Tibetan Cultural Studies Program Abroad in 2012. Shanna continued her education by attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education and earning a Master of Education in Education Policy and Management.

At present, Shanna leads educational content development for Ahlan Simsim, a localized version of Sesame Street in the Middle East, and manages the design of multimedia teaching and learning materials for Sesame Workshop’s humanitarian programs. The workshop’s two large-scale humanitarian programs, generously funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the LEGO Foundation, deliver early learning and nurturing care to children and caregivers affected by the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises and comprise the largest early childhood intervention in the history of humanitarian response.

Prior to working on humanitarian programs, Shanna managed curriculum, content, and program design in collaboration with on-the-ground partners for global programs focused on a variety of outcomes—including shifting parents’ perceptions and capacity around meaningful play, improving global health outcomes, and promoting a whole-child curriculum—-in Jordan, Lebanon, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, and Mexico. She also worked as Editorial Assistant for the Sesame Learning team, creating multimedia content for preschool classrooms in the United States. Shanna was recently selected to join the workshop’s senior leadership Operations Team through an inaugural effort led by the president and CEO to broaden and diversify the voices that impact business decisions and operations.

Shanna is a global change agent who possesses a strong sense of meaning and purpose. She is compassionate, collaborative, service oriented, and a true embodiment of San Domenico’s enduring values, and we are so proud of the tremendous work she has done.

Today, Shanna lives with her husband and cat in Brooklyn, New York.

A Global Community:

Living and Learning at an International School

All top schools today claim to be educating global citizens, but it is only a small percentage of K-12 students who actually get to meet, be in class, make friends, and live on campus with peers from around the world. It is a unique point of distinction adding invaluable, multicultural perspectives to any discussion, whether that entails examining political, social, and economic systems while in the classroom or sharing Spotify playlists after school. With nearly 30 countries represented among our student body, the result is a mini United Nations right here in Sleepy Hollow.

with ASSIST Scholar Filip Engelhardt ’23 (Sweden)Q&A

In 2018, San Domenico was selected to become a distinguished ASSIST school—one of just 68 throughout the United States— adding yet another layer of international learning to our program. ASSIST is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that matches academically talented, multilingual international students with American independent secondary schools. During a one-year school stay, an ASSIST scholar-leader serves as a cultural ambassador actively participating in classes and extracurricular activities at an independent boarding school in the United States. “The word of mouth on San Domenico is very strong,” says Anne Stanley, ASSIST Director of School and Family Relations. “We knew the school offered a diverse and globally minded program, with an authentic and strong commitment to preparing kids for an interconnected world, so it was natural and exciting to formalize a collaboration.”

Why did you aspire to be an ASSIST scholar? I have always loved to see and discover the world through different perspectives, cultures, traditions, countries, and languages, so when I heard about the exciting opportunities and the global community that an ASSIST scholar would become a part of, it was an easy decision to apply. Pursuing my passion for learning, I also felt that becoming an ASSIST scholar at San Domenico would allow me to engage in a community that emphasized learning through creativity and a sense of purpose, as well as fostering great individuals beyond the scope of the classroom.

What has been one of the biggest surprises about

San Domenico? Although the architecture, food, and ambiance of Marin are somewhat different from where I live in Sweden, I was very surprised by how much like home it felt when I got to San Domenico. Thinking back on the first day at SD, I remember how welcoming everyone was and how the boarding program community quickly became like family and a home away from home.

What do you think has been your biggest learning

experience that you will take home with you? From community dinners to Upper School movie nights, burrito hikes, and Spring Discovery trips to the Constitution party in U.S. History and the musical, my time at San Domenico has taught me to value and appreciate the small things in life. Before SD and the pandemic, it was not always easy for me to do that, but in being a part of a school community that brings forth the best in all its students and believes that with only a spark of inspiration and guidance, great things can happen, the mentality of gratitude and appreciation became a part of who I desire to be.

Would you recommend San Domenico to other

international students and if so, why? I would definitely recommend San Domenico to other international students. The past year at SD has been one of the best in my life. More importantly, however, is how SD has opened doors for me and given me the tools to prepare me for many more “best years” to come in a way I could have never imagined. I have gotten to practice critical thinking and problemsolving, springing from the motto “learning through a sense of purpose” to become the best version of myself.

What is a special experience at SD that you will

remember? Where do I begin…there are so many wonderful things I have experienced during my year at San Domenico. One thing that lies very close to my heart is when the whole school, students, parents, faculty, and many more included, drove to the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento to cheer on our Women’s Varsity Basketball team as they won the State Championship. Although only a few of us competed on the basketball court, the state title embodies so much of what SD stands for: grit, passion, community, and joy.

Another experience that I will never forget is how fantastic it has been to live in the dorms, surrounded by my best friends and dorm parents (shoutout to Mr. and Mrs. Churchill). As we all settled in at the beginning of the year, I quickly became accustomed to Brazilian music in the bathroom, Dylan playing guitar in the lounge, and a nice “good morning” from the resident faculty on duty as a part of my morning routine. Additionally, during the short walk from the dorms to the Upper School building—I remember how I was always mesmerized by the beautiful campus and excited to let the day begin.

OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY

“For me, one of the biggest surprises about San Domenico was the level of inspiration and acceptance. It is a community that helps you appreciate and accept yourself and others. I would say that I am going back home with a greater sense of purpose in life and a more creative and accepting outlook toward the world.”

— Aarya Chowdhry ’24 (India)

“Because of San Domenico’s being a school and community that encourages us to be kind, be honest, work hard, keep learning, pursue your dreams, and enjoy life, I have had the best year of my life

while here.” — Lola del Palacio ’23 (Spain)

“I had the good fortune of meeting one international student in Middle School. It was quite interesting to talk with him and hear his stories about Thailand and the culture there. I learned a lot just from meeting him, and I am looking forward to befriending other international students, sharing ideas, and learning from each other in high school.”

— Julia Wise ’26 (USA)

“I feel incredibly lucky to be immersed in a learning environment that welcomes and encourages diversity of thought and experience, especially as the outside world has become increasingly intolerant to opposing perspectives. With exposure to a great variety of people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, I am able to gain a more balanced and well- rounded perception of life that spans beyond my individual experiences.” — Mali Nguyen ’22 (USA)

STUDENTS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

We are excited to welcome 38 new international students from 25 countries to San Domenico this fall. These students will travel thousands of miles to come to SD. Their goal is to obtain an exceptional educational and cultural experience and be an ambassador of goodwill for their home countries. They are emerging artists, athletes, scientists, mathematicians, writers, and future world leaders. Many of them speak three or four languages. Some know what it is like to live under a democratic political system, and some know only other styles of government. All will share their incredible stories and cultural customs, and we will all be the richer for this experience. We are thankful for their courage and confidence as they temporarily leave their families in search of new connections and community here at San Domenico. — COLLEEN BERTIGLIA, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL ADMISSIONS

26 Countries

and Territories Represented in the Upper School 2022-23

Afghanistan Brazil Cambodia China Czech Republic France Georgia Germany Hong Kong Hungary India Lithuania Malawi Poland Russian Federation Rwanda Serbia South Korea Spain Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey United States Vietnam Zimbabwe

“Being a part of an international community like the one San Domenico offers has helped enrich my experience and broaden my worldview in a way I don’t think I would have had I not gone here. When there are problems or issues that affect other parts of the world, I can hear the perspectives of those in my classes and community who are connected to these events, which has allowed me to learn so much and understand more about these events than if I had just heard it on the news. .” — Zidane Zamorano ’22 (USA)

Global Challenge:

International Relations Comes to Life at SD

By Kathy Hagee, United States History and International Relations Teacher

San Domenico’s international community makes for excellent conditions to learn about global issues in a dynamic and in-depth way. Students in my International Relations senior elective class engaged in project-based learning to address real world problems. The course was one big simulation with every student representing a country of their choosing for the entire semester. As a delegate from that country, each student learned vital skills as they practiced roles as diplomat, decision maker, influencer, and change agent. Together, they explored the intersectionality between multiple actors within the global political system, each with unique interests and ideas. It has been very inspirational, to say the least.

In the final semester summative assessment, delegates were grouped together as teams from around the world, then given a major world crisis to reevaluate through inquiry with the goal of proposing viable solutions. Topics covered included:

• Worldwide Pandemics

Denmark, Iceland, South Africa • Famine/Food and Water Security

Belarus, Japan, United States • Sustainable Development and

Climate Action | Afghanistan,

Saudi Arabia, New Zealand

• Human Trafficking

Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Cuba, Egypt

• Free and Open Seas/Oceans

China, South Korea, Russia

• Atomic Energy

France, Colombia, Ethiopia

• Women’s Rights and Access to Education

Brazil, North Korea, Singapore

I was thrilled with the outcome of the exhibits. The experiential learning of the entire semester helped prepare the students to think critically about their global challenge from a perspective beyond their own. The students were so engaged and so excited to share all their research and efforts with a larger community. They were accountable for their learning and I know experiences like that prove to be very powerful motivators for students to continue to want to learn. I am extremely humbled by the success I witnessed with this dynamic group, and I know many of them will go on to be amazing change agents of the world.