UHS Journal Fall 2017

UHS

SAN FRANCISCO UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FALL 2017 • SFUHS.ORG

Journal

New UHS Athletic Complex | Activism on Campus Meet the New President of the Alumni Association | Annual Report

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY “Day Without a Woman” protest at San Francisco City Hall March 8, 2017. Left to right: Gale Jesi (UHS fine art instructor), Maria Hernandez ’20, Jadelyn Johnson ’20, Gabriella Hord ’20,Vicky Hierro (UHS math instructor 1994-2016); front: Isabella Hord ’17. Photo courtesy of Gale Jesi.

CONTRIBUTORS BROOKE ANDERSON is a freelance photographer and photojournalist based in the Bay Area, covering movements for social, economic, racial, and climate justice.

CHRISTOPHER D. COOK is an author and awardwinning journalist who writes for Harper's, Mother Jones, The Atlantic and more.

ANGELICA EKEKE is a multimedia journalist, filmmaker and photographer.

MARY LADD is the co-author of The Wig Report, a humorous graphic novel about serious illness.

MIYA MATSUISHI-ELHARDT ’19 is a co-editor-inchief of the UHS student newspaper Devil’s Advocate, and the co-founder of Riot Club.

ROXIE MILES ’19 is a UHS Peer Advisor mentoring freshmen, and is on the varsity field hockey team.

ALISSA KINNEY MOE is a freelance writer and editor, and the former director of communications at UHS. FIA SWANSON ’17 is an aspiring writer and freshman at Syracuse University studying Writing and Rhetoric.

ZOE YZABELLA TAYLOR ’19 is one of three vice presidents of diversity and the co-founder of Riot Club.

She is dedicated to engaging the UHS community in meaningful discussions on social issues regarding diversity, inclusion and equity.

KSENIYA TUCHINSKAYA ’04 works in donor communications at the Exploratorium.

ITORO UDOFIA is a freelance writer, educator, and singer/songwriter based in the Bay area. She is currently writing about the importance of Black teachers in K-12 classrooms.

EDITOR Marianna Stark ’89 DESIGNER Design Action Collective EDITORIAL BOARD Shaundra Bason Thelma Garza Kate Gorrissen Mary King PRINTING Community Printers San Francisco University High School 3065 Jackson Street San Francisco, CA 94115 communications@sfuhs.org PHOTO THIS PAGE: Student Club Fair in the UHS Courtyard on September 20, 2017

UHS

SAN FRANCISCO UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT ISSUE/FALL 2017 UHS JOURNAL VOL. XXVIII, NO. 2

Journal

ALUMNI

FRONT OF BOOK

2 Note from the head of school Meeting UHS welcomes 3 Faculty ten new faculty and staff members

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Introducing the new president of the Alumni Association, Julayne (Austin) Virgil ’94

UNIVERSE Dara Northcroft, 4 Welcome, executive director of Summerbridge; Decorator Showcase celebrates milestones; two summer book clubs are better than one; ribbon cutting celebration for the UHS Athletic Complex at Paul Goode Field; writing in history with Librarian Nicole Hunter; Science curriculum update; and more

FEATURES ON CAMPUS 14 ACTIVISM University High School has a long history of giving voice to those less fortunate. A new generation of faculty, alumni and students step up

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HOW TO START A GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT Zoe Yzabella Taylor ’19 gives a firsthand account

FOR JIM 22 RUNNING 3 Annual Jim Tracy 5K rd

to defeat ALS

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Alumni Association News Alumni Calendar One Degree stories In Memoriam Class Notes

ANNUAL REPORT

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Board Chair Letter Parents Association President Letter Alumni Association President Letter Treasurer Letter New Board Members Fundraising and Financials Gift Listing Thank You to Our Volunteers Ways of Giving to UHS/Board List

Note from the Head of School

We are an intentional community—our faculty, students, parents, trustees, alumni, and staff are all quite adept at imagining, reflecting, planning, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating.

I’ve always remarked that one of the things I love best about UHS is that nothing on this campus goes unexamined. We are an intentional community—our faculty, students, parents, trustees, alumni, and staff are all quite adept at imagining, reflecting, planning, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating. When you Google the term “intentional community,” links to communes and retirement communities pop up; and while we are neither of those things, we are a place that thrives on connection and teamwork, holding certain values in common.

Our work on values alignment is currently very much alive.

Three years after our strategic design process began, we continue to launch a variety of exciting projects that position us as a leader in curriculum development, student wellness, faculty recruitment and support, and assessment, to name a few. We are committed to being a school that continually operates in a strategic stance and that mirrors growth and learning at all levels. Most important, these efforts are built along the spine of our core values of INQUIRY, CARE, INTERCONNECTION, INTEGRITY, and AGENCY. Our strategic design gives us the opportunity to think about all the things we evaluate and examine in a values-based context.

According to Jim Collins1, “There is a big difference between being an organization with a vision statement and becoming a truly visionary organization.The difference lies in creating alignment—alignment to preserve an organization’s core values, to reinforce its purpose, and to stimulate continued progress towards its aspirations.When you have superb alignment, a visitor could drop into your organization from another planet and infer the vision without having to read it on paper.”

While other-worldly visitors may not yet infer UHS’s vision and values from an intergalactic visit, we are getting closer to making them visible in every corner of our campus and community. This year at our opening faculty and staff meeting, we examined three different scenarios and considered how we would respond to each of them through the unique lens of each of our core values. We found (of course) that there can be great alignment, as our values informed our thinking; while at other times, these same guiding principles can collide. This exercise not only provided a kind of stickiness that gives our values voice in our teaching and learning community, it also showed us a way to use this framework for future decision-making at our school.

In this issue of the Journal, we are profiling student, faculty, and alumni activists, including Monique Morris ’90, who is also a current parent (Ebony ’19); and Andrew Williams ’00, director of the community engagement program, who returned to campus four years ago to join our faculty. I’d like to thank Mal Singer, a member of our founding faculty who retired in 2009, for providing historical perspective and personal insight for the story about activism on campus. We know there are many, many more of you out there doing this important work and we look forward to telling more of your stories in future issues. The UHS community is no stranger to activism, and the world is not wanting for issues that need our attention. Engaging in activism in a school setting can support our values, but it can also shed light on areas where our values are in active conflict. At UHS, we are intentionally embracing these intersections, engaging in brave conversations, while continuing to prize connection and community. To me, this is the difference between a school that does excellent things and an excellent school.

This letter will appear in an annual report issue of the Journal, and I would be remiss if I didn’t express my very deep gratitude on behalf of our faculty, staff, and students, to those volunteers and donors who provide the hours of support and significant resources that make all of this important work possible.

Julia Russell Eells 1 2

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Jim Collins is an expert in business leadership and is the author of many best-selling titles including Good to Great and Great by Choice.

Upon graduating from Louisiana State University with a double BS in Chemistry and Mathematics, Andrew Galatas moved out to the West Coast to obtain his MS in Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He became a physics instructor at Santa Cruz this past winter, after being a teaching assistant there for years.

He also tutors and worked for the ADVANCE Program for Young Scholars in Louisiana. He now joins the University science faculty, where he will be teaching Physics and Chemistry.

Faculty Meeting Top row, left to right: Rafael Romero, Christina Donahue, Susee Witt, Jeff Bialik, Dara Northcroft. Bottom row: Rochelle Devault, Kristin Landowski, Adam Ahmed, Andrew Galatas. Not pictured: Elizabeth Schaffernoth.

Photo by Anne Gamrin Pantelick ’85, P ’19

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his fall, University High School welcomes ten new members to the ranks of our faculty and staff and, as usual, this dynamic crew embodies a host of experience and expertise.

A seasoned English instructor, Adam Ahmed arrives at UHS after years of teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a pedagogy mentor, coaching graduate students on their teaching practice, and a mentor with the school’s Berkeley Connect program, helping first-year students to adjust successfully to life at a large, bustling research institution. Adam received his BFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College and his PhD in English at Berkeley.

Jeff Bialik joined us on campus this summer as University’s new chief financial officer and chief operating officer, replacing Jim Chestnut, who retired after more than two decades with UHS. Jeff has provided financial leadership for numerous institutions, including Dominican College, Golden Gate University, and,

most recently, Catholic Charities, where he was the executive director. Jeff has also taught at numerous business schools, including the University of Notre Dame. He has a BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington and a MBA from the Haas School of Business at Berkeley.

Rochelle Devault joins the Science Department after teaching a host of biology courses at Rocky Hills School and Classical High School, both in Providence, RI. Rochelle is also a committed volunteer, working on behalf of organizations such as AmeriCorps as part of their Ocean State Environmental Education Collaborative.

She was also the overnight programs coordinator at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence. Rochelle graduated from Northeastern University with a BS in Biology and received her Master’s in Teaching Secondary Science (Biology) from Brown University.

After five summers on the staff of Summerbridge, Christina Donahue joins

that team as associate director of academics. Prior to joining Summerbridge, Christina worked as a public high school English teacher in the North Bay. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Journalism, from Northwestern University, and her master’s in Education from Dominican University of California. She is passionate about educational equity and access, making Summerbridge the perfect fit.

Kristin Landowski is a visiting fine arts instructor teaching ceramics. She thrives on creating utilitarian forms that connect community, as well as throwing vessels over three feet tall. She has over 12 years teaching experience.

She graduated with a MFA in Ceramics & Interdisciplinary Studies as well as an MA in Visual and Critical Studies from the California College of the Arts.

She received her BFA the from University of Wisconsin: Stevens Point.

After leading schools in the East Bay for 20 years, Dara Northcroft arrived on campus in July to become the new executive director of the Summerbridge program. See page 4 for more about Dara.

Continued on page 4

The Graduating Class The following faculty and staff retirements this past spring marked major milestones for our community, as these four individuals dedicated a combined 96 (!) years of service and immeasurable dedication to the UHS community. Jim, Ina, Diane, and Rae Ann will always have our gratitude, and we hope to see them back on campus soon.

Jim Chestnut Chief Financial Officer 22 years Ina Clark IT Development Manager/ Database Administrator 18 years

Diane Schroeder Associate Athletic Director/ Instructor of Physical Education 40 years Rae Ann Sines Instructor of Science 16 years

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The Summerbridge team: Rebecca Dugan, Dara Northcroft, Deundra Hundon, Christina Donahugh.

Summerbridge True North

Photo by Anne Gamrin Pantelick ’85, P ’19

Welcome Dara Northcroft

Summerbridge is UHS's tuition-free academic enrichment and advocacy program for motivated but underserved middle school students, founded in 1977.

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rom the time she was a young girl, Dara Northcroft knew she wanted to be a teacher, inspired by her grandmother who taught for 50 years at a Catholic school in Harlem. She started out on a different path, studying child psychology at UC Berkeley. Before finishing her degree, however, Dara realized she couldn’t ignore her calling—but what she didn’t expect was becoming an administrator.

At her first teaching job at a Catholic school in Oakland in the mid-’90s, the principal noticed her gift for leadership and created a hybrid teacher/vice-principal role for Dara, her first administrative position. Through this role and with increasing responsibility over time, Dara’s mentor helped her continue to develop; she went on to receive her Master’s in Educational Leadership and Administration from California State University at Hayward.

Dara came to Summerbridge from St. Martin de Porres Catholic School. Why did she choose to come to Summerbridge? “The thing that has drawn me to all the schools where I've worked at is a sense of community, positive

culture, and push for college readiness,” Dara says. She was also impressed by the students-teaching-students model.

Since telling friends and family that she joined the Summerbridge San Francisco team last June, she has been pleasantly surprised to find out how many of her friends and colleagues have been connected to the program over the years as students or teaching fellows (some of whom went on to become professional teachers).

“Summerbridge encourages leadership in college studentteachers by requiring them to step up and plan activities from beginning to end. And the kids demonstrate leadership by doing everything from getting up on stage at All-School Meeting to make an announcement to leading a cheer to planning an activity themselves.”

Dara is passionate about changing the narrative for students who will be the first person in their family to go to college.

“It’s important to instill high expectations in students; kids rise to meet your expectations.” n

Faculty Meeting continued from page 3

Rafael Romero comes to University High School with over a decade of experience in the technology field, receiving his BA in Computer Science in El Salvador before working as a tech administrator, specialist, project manager, and analyst for companies in San Salvador; New York; and more recently, across the Bay in Emeryville. Over the past several years, Rafael has held a number of roles at Whole 4

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Foods Market headquarters before arriving at UHS this summer to become the new data manager in the school’s Technology Office.

Elizabeth Schaffernoth arrives on campus to round out the Athletic Office as our new assistant director of athletics.

Elizabeth was previously a competitive sports intern at UC Berkeley and a game operations intern at Saint Mary’s College of

California, where she graduated with a degree in Kinesiology (focusing on sports and recreation management) and served as the vice president of sports and recreation management of the institution’s Kinesiology Club.

Susee Witt has joined University’s English Department after spending nearly a decade at the nearby Branson School in Marin County. While there, Susee taught English at all grade

levels, developed alternative and interdisciplinary units and assessments, new electives, and redesigned and taught the school’s AP Art History course. Susee received her BA from Middlebury College and her PhD in Art History and American Studies from Stanford, where she served as a postdoctoral teaching fellow in the university’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Program. n

UNIVERSE

Design for Good 40 Years of Showcase

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orty years ago, in the earliest days of University High School, a group of parents, led by renowned interior designer Nan Rosenblatt P ’78 & ’86 and then Parents Association president Philip Fernandez P ’79 & ’83, conceived of the idea for a fundraiser to benefit University’s burgeoning financial aid program. Thus, the San Francisco Decorator Showcase was born, which has since gone on to net nearly $16 million for financial aid (consistently breaking past records nearly every year), see the creative vision of over 600 designers come to life, and become a stalwart of the Bay Area’s spring calendar.

This year we celebrated Showcase’s many accomplishments, as well as those who have made it possible—and at the top of that list is Nan. Nan’s participation has spanned many roles: event founder, UHS parent, dedicated volunteer, featured designer, and member of the Showcase’s guiding Design Advisory Board. She has witnessed Showcase morph from an idea in its infancy, to the West Coast’s premier showhouse event, featuring the artistry of the region’s most distinguished interior and landscape designers and regularly recognized in leading design publications such as House Beautiful, Dwell, and Elle Décor.

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isitors to the Decorator Showcase often daydream and imagine themselves living in the beautifully appointed rooms, spending quality time with family in the cozy private upstairs quarters, or hosting gatherings for friends in the public spaces. In 2017, one family felt so at home that they bought in—literally!

University’s Showcase team signed a contract with the thenhome owners Melissa Black and Diego Fonstad in November, 2016. Three months later, Melissa and Diego made the decision to

take advantage of the pending keen-eyed foot traffic, and put their property on the market.

Starting in February, realtor Steven Mavromihalis (Pacific Union) showed the home to multiple buyers during the construction phase. Once all 28 designer spaces were completed and the Showcase was open to the public on April 29, interested buyers came back multiple times to carefully consider the property.

As it turns out, the successful new owners saw the home for the first time not during

n te Banfield, Na Left to right: Ka g er inb Fe a nn Rosenblatt, Je

To celebrate four decades of community, fundraising, and design, this year’s 40th Showcase chair Jenna Feinberg P ’15 & ’19 and assistant chair Kate Banfield P ’16 & ’20, organized a tea at head of school Julia Eells’s house for all past Showcase chairs, with a special honor planned for Nan (her children, Brooke and Eli, were invited as a sweet surprise). The anniversary was also marked with the transformation of a memorable, iconic San Francisco house, filled with the creativity and artistry of big-name designers.

As Jenna shared, “The 40th Decorator Showcase this past May exceeded all expectations! With the support of a record number of volunteers, designers, and visitors, we announce with great pride a contribution of over $700,000 to the UHS Financial Aid program. A very special thanks to Nan Rosenblatt for your vision—it was an honor to follow in your footsteps.” n

construction preview, but as ticket-holders after it was officially open for Showcase season. Because the home was not formally on the market, it was the full-page ad Steve took out in the Decorator Showcase program that led the buyers and their agent to contact him.

Over the course of their visits, the buyers fell in love with four rooms outright, and worked with the Showcase designers to purchase all design elements and furnishings: the library by Martin Kobus Inc, the living room by Jonathan Rachman Design, the kitchen by JDLC Design, and the

laundry room by Dina Bandman Interiors. The buyers also decided to keep all window treatments, light fixtures, and a few additional furniture pieces. And some designers were contacted to discuss decorating the couple’s second California residence.

The buyers’ offer was on the table by last day of the month long fundraiser, and closed escrow in late September. Thanks to all participating designers whose incredible work made this year’s Showcase so appealing! n

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Opening Day

The UHS Athletic Complex at Paul Goode Field

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ver 400 members of our community attended the

grand opening of the UHS Athletic Complex at Paul Goode Field on August 27, 2017, including current

students; alumni and their families; past parents; past faculty;

Presidio neighbors; and supervisor Mark Farrell, whose district includes the Presidio. The celebration was a culmination of

years of planning, negotiation, fundraising, and construction,

resulting is a world-class, environmentally responsible artificial turf facility, the first ever built in a national park. The Paul

Goode Field project provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create first-rate athletic facilities in close proximity to UHS, freeing students from travel burdens to attend games and

meets and better fostering school spirit. No less important,

the complex was realized in a way that affirms UHS’s founding concept: to be a school in and of the city of San Francisco.

UHS is providing full access to Paul Goode at no cost to

numerous nonprofits and youth groups, serving thousands of families beyond our immediate UHS community.

Special honor at the grand opening was given to Jim Shapiro,

father of Sam ’09, Anne ’11, Ben ’13, and Ellie ’17 and member of the UHS Board of Trustees from 2010-2016, who led the

project since its inception in 2011 to its final completion this past summer.

Thanks to these generous supporters who made a special gift to the Paul Goode Field capital campaign in honor of Jim: Jay and Kate Banfield

The Ketcham Family

Ann and Ron Cami

Mack5

Linda Burch and Rajen Dalal Daniel Ashton Carroll and Stasia Obremskey Jim Chestnut and Diane Schroeder

Julia Russell Eells and John Eells Matt Farron ’98

Jason M. Fish and Courtney Benoist

Tricia Foster and Harold Bernstein The Halperin Family Boe Hayward ’96

Bill and Carolyn Langelier The Moore/King Family

Lynn and Edward Poole Jane and Nick Prior

Debbie ’84 and Roger Reynolds and Family

Robert A. Bothman Construction Alan Robin, Connie Levi, and Shartsis Friese LLP Jon Rosso/Rosso Environmental, Inc

William and Margaret Hearst

Sally, Sam ’09, Annie ’11, Ben ’13, and Ellie ’17 Shapiro

Lindsay ’84 and Peter Joost

Catherine and Wister Walcott

Kristen and Mike House

Verde Design Inc.

Photos these two pages by Artemisia Luk ’19 and Chloe Jackman Photography

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LIBRARIAN, NICOLE HUNTER

AT MY DESK 1. A Pocket Guide to Writing in History

by Mary Lynn Rampolla is my go-to resource. I discovered this book a few years ago and I wish I’d had it when I was a student studying history. Hayley (UHS assistant librarian) and I are embedded in the Ninth-Grade History I class to teach research skills, and I recommend to all our students that they follow the advice in this guide.

We base much of our research lessons on the process that Rampolla uses.

Her writing style is accessible, and she covers the “why” we study history before she moves into the “how.”

2.

Mexico to the United States and crossed the border in El Paso, Texas, in 1919. Every year, a student points out a small detail that I hadn’t noticed before and it brings me closer to my family’s story of immigration. I feel fortunate to have known my immigrant relatives and am proud of my Mexican heritage.

3.

Our first research session each year is on how to use primary sources to study history. Working with primary sources ignites the inner-historian and inspires students to look further into the historical context of the document.

This passport belonged to my great grandfather, Nicolas Covarrubias, and shows stamps from when he immigrated from 4.

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These buttons feature two of my personal heroes, Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm (New York’s 12th Congressional District, 1969–1983) and her mentee, my own district congressional Representative for Alameda County, Barbara Lee. One of my favorite political quotes is by ’68 presidential candidate Chisolm: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” The “Be Bold for Change” button reminds me to be strong at a time when we need more strong voices and leaders.

These balsawood orange and pink marigolds are left over from last year’s Day of the Dead altar that the LatinX Club made to exhibit in the library.

Over the years I have built up a stash of Dias de los Muertos decorations, so I am happy to share!

Quilting is a tradition in many cultures around the world. Quilts are beautiful and highly functional, representing resilience and industriousness and often using scraps from other projects. They are quotidian and high art at the same time. On International Women’s Day last spring, I wanted to bring light to the work women do, so I set up a sewing machine in the library and invited students and adults to come in and sew with me. Some sewed scraps together, some embroidered names of important women in their lives. One day soon we will sew them all together.

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Knitting has been my main hobby for 15 years. Knitting led me to sewing, and now I make most of my clothes. Being able to make my clothes is empowering and allows me to have personal sustainability. I can’t always be knitting, so it’s nice to have the mug on my desk to remind me of how much it has impacted my life in a positive way.

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This poster is a take on Banksy’s Rage, Flower Thrower, featuring (what else?) a librarian. If you want someone to organize the resistance, ask a librarian!

UNIVERSE

BOOK CLUB Book Club Connection

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n August 29, 2017, award-winning author Tracy Chiles McGhee ’88 joined the UHS community via Facebook Live to talk about her novel, Melting the Blues, in University High School’s first-ever virtual Alumni Book Club meeting (which parents, trustees, and faculty and staff were invited to join, as well!). Moderating the discussion was academic dean and English instructor Kate Garrett, who kicked off the meeting with questions for Tracy about where she draws her inspiration as a novelist; the power of voice and silence; and how she develops her characters (particularly those who are, at first, difficult to like) before fielding numerous questions from those joining the meeting via live stream.

The inaugural virtual book club experience proved to be a success—despite navigating some initial audio issues. See an archived video of the event on our Facebook page: @SFUHSorg. (Helpful hint: the discussion does not begin until about 3:00 minutes into the video.) n

Cynthia Brown ’91 Amazing! Thanks for doing this.

Like · Reply · Message

Yasmin Zialcita ’89 Love this opportunity to connect with fellow UHS alums! Thank you all for creating this platform!

Beverly Yates P ’21 Are you thinking of the path that happened for Cane Sugar,

by Natalie Bazsile, with OWN Network?

Like · Reply · Message

Aisha Queen-Johnson ’89 Thank you!!

Yasmin Zialcita ’89 How has your journey influenced your daughter's journey to become published herself at such a young age?

Like · Reply · Message

Like · Reply · Message

Like · Reply · Message

Mo W Morris ’90 I find your lyrical writing style compelling (and beautiful). Can you talk a bit more about how your own travels and exposure to African cultural expressions factored into how you brought voice to "objects" in the story and in your writing (in general)?

Like · Reply · Message

Read Different Every summer, UHS asks students, faculty, and staff to read a book that we can all share and discuss when we return to campus for the start of the new school year. This year, however, UHS assistant librarian Hayley Beale, inspired by student and faculty activism in the face of last year’s presidential election, the idea of building empathy for those who are different from ourselves, and the advice of civil rights activist and author Bryan Stephenson to “get proximate” to people and issues we are passionate about, asked the community to “read different.” Below, Beale discusses how she formulated University’s 2017 summer reading project: • Because we live in something of a bubble at both UHS and in San Francisco, one way of getting outside this is to read a memoir—a great way to get inside someone’s head and really live their experience. ‘Read Different’ is about picking a memoir written by someone who is different to you in a meaningful and significant way…

• We quickly realized that we could not do the traditional all-school read because everybody in our community is different and what is different to them will vary. By allowing students, faculty, and staff to select a memoir to read, they could choose what was interesting and important to themselves, and find a contrast to their own identity.

• On September 22, students shared their brief reviews to their clusters and then took part in a speed-dating style activity (minus the relationship-type questions!) in the persona of the person they read about, and then decided who that person would most want to have dinner with. Example questions include: “What three words would your friends use to describe you?” and “If you were President for the day, what one law would you change?”

Students (and adults) got a taste of the breadth of memoirs that were read—and became inspired to read more. n

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What To Say To You?

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t’s been over a decade since UHS shifted its annual commencement ceremony from Julius Kahn Playground indoors. Now held at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, the indoor venue is a guaranteed foil against San Francisco’s mercurial weather. This year, the musical setting happened to be particularly fitting, as head of school Julia Russell Eells was inspired to pen and sing an original song in honor of the Class of 2017, inspired by Lin Manuel Miranda’s genre-busting hit musical, Hamilton.

what we at UHS hold dear, it is comforting that we were able put a stake in the ground and declare that at UHS we will make decisions, define policy, build programs, and build our community with the guidance and through the lens of inquiry, interconnection, agency, integrity, and care.” This was a milestone for Eells too, sending off the first UHS class that she watched mature from freshmen to graduating seniors (including commencement speakers Sam Lesser and Rachel Wu).

It was a light-hearted moment during a thoughtful and thought-provoking program.

The past winter and spring since the presidential election saw UHS at its finest: students and faculty living up to a long tradition of giving voice to those who do not have the same opportunities and resources as others who are more fortunate. Graduation proved to be a fitting culmination of that dialog.

English instructor Melissa Mirza was selected by the graduating class to give the keynote speech. She is an example of a teacher who walks the walk, and she didn’t sugarcoat her message: UHS has prepared you well, but our community is unique, and you have a responsibility to continue this work beyond high school. Mirza told a moving personal story of attending a professional development conference last year and taking issue with what she considered an overly simplistic and inaccurate way a speaker portrayed being Muslim in America. She waited in line to speak at the mic in front of a crowd of over

Eells assured the community: “Suffice it to say that while the country and the world are less clear and even more at odds about

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Photo by Anne Pantelick ’85, P ’19

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UHS isn’t just a high school to me. It’s a place that has helped shape my identity and my views of the world. Every day I was asked to engage in challenging discussions, especially ones that dismantled my assumptions and asked me to reflect on my beliefs.

– Excerpt from commencement speech by Rachel Wu ’17 3,000 educators and share her reaction. As the daughter of a Lebanese Catholic father and a Turkish Muslim mother and the founder of Bay Area Middle Eastern Educators, she spoke from experience. But to her great surprise, the room booed her, perceiving her remarks as disrespectful, and she was asked to sit down by conference organizers.

Mirza was shaken. In the days and weeks that followed, colleagues reached out to thank her. Mirza says the experience reminded her that “speaking up does not ensure you will be heard, acknowledged, welcomed, championed—just the opposite if you are fighting the fight that needs to be fought.”

The University High commencement audience gave her a standing ovation, and Hamilton the activist would have been proud. n

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e’re pleased to announce a new tradition at UHS called Alumni Honors, designed to recognize and acknowledge the contributions of alumni who embody our core values of inquiry, care, integrity, agency, and interconnection.

Each year, Alumni Honors will celebrate one young alumnus/alumna who is an emerging leader in their field and is already making important contributions at a local, national, or international level through personal accomplishment, professional achievement, or humanitarian service.

We invite our entire community to nominate alumni candidates: current UHS students, alumni, current and past parents, faculty, staff, and trustees.

Leonard Chung ’98 will chair the nominating and selection committee. An inspiring role model himself, Leonard

is driven by a passion for innovation and people. He is the founder and CEO of Chava, a company automating collaboration through AI and cognitive science, and has been recognized for identifying emerging markets and launching successful products with a particular focus in SaaS, Cloud Computing, and Big Data. Leonard developed first gen products at SETI@home, Scale8, IBM, and Microsoft, and was the founder and CEO of Syncplicity.

“Like most of us, my love of learning was nurtured at UHS,” says Leonard. “University gave me the early confidence and skills to pursue my interests beyond the classroom. Through Alumni Honors, we want to recognize in our community that sense of agency, taking risks and growing from the experience and pursuing passions with confidence, creativity, and humility. We look forward to hearing stories of trial, error, and innovation so we can all learn through their example.” n

THE SELECTION COMMITTEE INCLUDES: Leonard Chung ’98, chair of Alumni Honors Julayne (Austin) Virgil ’94, trustee and president of the UHS Alumni Association Marianna Stark ’89, director of alumni engagement and giving Oscar Flores ’89, co-chair of the Summerbridge Annual Fund Frances Hochschild ’80, P ’21, co-chair of the Alumni Annual Fund Thomas McKinley ’02, co-chair of the Alumni Annual Fund Andrew Williams ’00, UHS director of community engagement Jane Prior, president of the UHS Board of Trustees Julia Russell Eells, head of school Nominations for 2018 will be accepted through January 5, 2018. Please submit your nominations through our online form: sfuhs.org/alumnihonors.

Our honoree will be revealed at the Alumni Symposium on May 4, 2017 (see page 26).

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CLASS OF 2017 ADMISSIONS STATISTICS COLLEGE

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Reed College

2

Rhode Island School of Design

0

San Francisco State University

1

1

Sarah Lawrence College

5

Bryn Mawr College

2

1

Seattle University

2

California Institute of Technology

2

0

Smith College

1

1

St. Olaf College

2

0

Swarthmore College

3

1

Trinity College

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Tulane University

2

University of California, Davis

2

University of California, Los Angeles

4

1

University of California, San Diego

7

1

University of California, Santa Cruz

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1

University of Colorado at Boulder

5

4

0

University of Notre Dame

4

3

University of Oxford

0

University of Puget Sound

0

University of San Francisco

1

0

0

University of St Andrews (Scotland)

2

0

0

University of Virginia

2

University of Wisconsin, Madison

1

Vassar College

0

Wellesley College

2

Whitman College

1

Williams College

Amherst College Bard College

Barnard College Bates College

Boston College

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5

2

4

2

Boston University

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Brown University

1

Brandeis University

Bucknell University

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California State University, Long Beach Carleton College

1 3 1

2

Carnegie Mellon University

2

Clemson University

1

Claremont McKenna College Colby College

Colgate University Colorado College

Columbia University

5

5

3

1

2

Connecticut College

2

Dartmouth College

1

Cornell University

Davidson College Duke University

Emory University

Fordham University

George Washington University

Georgetown University

Grinnell College

3

1

1

4

2

3

4

Hamilton College - NY

4

Haverford College

1

Harvard University

Johns Hopkins University Kenyon College

Lewis & Clark College

Loyola Marymount University

Macalester College

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3 5

3

4

2

2

McGill University

2

Mount Holyoke College

3

Middlebury College

3

10

0

0

Rochester Institute of Technology

1

Santa Clara University

1

Scripps College

0

Skidmore College

0

Southern Methodist University

2

Stanford University

3

Syracuse University

4

1

2

Tufts University

3

1

0

University of California, Berkeley

3

0

University of California, Irvine

3

1

University of California, Riverside

1

University of California, Santa Barbara

0

University of Chicago

0

University of Edinburgh (Scotland)

2

0

University of Oregon

5

1

1

University of Pennsylvania

2

2

1

University of Rochester

0

University of Southern California

2

University of Toronto

1

2

University of Washington

2 1

1

3 5

2

2

1

5 6 6

5

14 5

1

1 6 1 3

2 1

1

1

Washington University in St. Louis

11

1

Wesleyan University

3

1

Willamette University

Pitzer College

Pomona College

Princeton University

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8

2

1

2

Yale University

0

0

Northwestern University

2

1

4

5

Occidental College

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1

2

11

Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences

1

5

New York University

6

1

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Vanderbilt University

Northeastern University

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ACCEPT

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2

0

5 3 0 0

2

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UNIVERSE

Science Sets Up UPDATE ON THE CURRICULUM

L

ast year UHS implemented a foundational ninth grade physics course. The switch allows students to explore vital principles in the field of study— which students apply when they later go on to biology and chemistry. While their brains are activated (on quantized electron energy level to wave-particle duality and the evolution of atomic nuclei), the use of hands-on projects furnishes a connection to ideas and experiments from Rutherford, Thomson, Millikan, Bohr, de Broglie, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Born.

Another twist: Using an updated version of the in-house textbook written when dean of faculty Nasif Iskander taught physics a decade ago is a key resource that has wide appeal—using this book means students enjoy the elements of a historical narrative. It’s not the traditional

Photo by Glenn Matsumura

sort of scientific revolution focused story, according to Byron Philhour, physics instructor and member of the Physics Design Group, who is tasked with updating and adapting the book’s text with chemistry and physics instructor Jennifer Look.

This program update— adding tactile learning exercises and teaching the history of the discipline—is on-trend and students attain a broader exposure to the humanities in conjunction with physics.

Converting physics to the core curriculum for all Freshmen required some unexpected behind-the-scenes reorganization.

Science Department head Chrissy Jacobs says, “The class of 2020 is the first to see the logistical changes and curricular shift. There wasn’t as much chemistry being taught this year,

especially in the spring. That freed some teachers to teach physics instead. Then in the fall there wasn’t any biology offered” so that teacher was redeployed.

Transitions are tricky, but thoughtful planning and ongoing staff meetings offer vital structure as the department works towards achieving the goal of a truly integrated core curriculum.

Nasif ’s textbook allows students who are drawn to the humanities to think about “who are the people” as well as deeper context and stories for all those discoveries. Studying these cultural reasons gets students thinking in a different way about science. Byron says Nasif did a good job at making a story that’s broad – the book presents “a novel and cool” teaching tool.

Nasif’s textbook allows students who are drawn to the humanities to think about “who are the people” as well as deeper context and stories for all those discoveries. Studying these cultural reasons gets students thinking in a different way about science.

Another vital change: getting rid of the “honors” course title— which means students all take the same physics class. Students then work together as they form study groups to tackle advanced worksheets. These assignments again reflect the new program.

Byron says the exercise of seeing students get to work was “really collaborative and reminded me of working on worksheets in college.”

Chrissy says of the process she spearheaded: “Students liked having different ways to attach to the material, whether through historical background, or projects that are creative or writing focused. We’re trying to build a bridge towards kids who do not typically think of themselves as science students to connect with the content more.” n — Mary Ladd

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STUDENT ACTIVISTS

By Christopher D. Cook

W

hen then UHS sophomore Zoe Taylor ’19 organized an ambitious conference for young women of color last year—a hefty undertaking even for an experienced professional organizer—her teachers could have dissuaded her from such a big project outside the classroom. Instead, her former mentor and advisor Jacqueline Thompson ’09 embraced the idea.

At many schools, “administrators would discourage students, or say, ‘maybe this is too much,’ ” says Zoe. But Jacqueline “made sure I was never overwhelmed” as she and classmate Miya MatsuishiElhardt ’19 organized the “Break the Glass” conference and launched a new student club for women of color at UHS called Riot.

At UHS, “they never allow you to settle for less.” Zoe and Miya didn’t settle, either. “We wanted to make our voices heard, and voice our experiences as women of color at UHS,” Zoe says—and they quickly expanded their horizon beyond campus.

For Spring 2018, the Riot “Break the Glass” Conference on “experience, expression, and empowerment” for young women of color will “reach out to different communities that don’t have as many opportunities as we do,” including schools throughout the Bay Area. “We

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want to break through this bubble. We go to a private school and that’s a privilege,” Zoe says.

Breaking through bubbles and opening horizons is not unusual at UHS—it’s part of the point, students and faculty say. From student protests and walk-outs over national politics, to immersion in nonprofit community service work, to mobilizing benefits for people in need, student activism is central to the UHS experience.

As head of school Julia Russell Eells puts it, “If you don’t find space for respectful dissent, you are missing out on a key part of the educational process.”

Whether it’s students advocating to make UHS a sanctuary school resisting the new administration’s immigration crackdowns or writing and sharing poems on protest politics around campus, students are “learning what it means to rise up,” says Eells. “I think it’s where young adults

should be in terms of how their education propels them into the world… It’s an important part of the student and faculty experience.”

Nourishing a “Community of Inquiry” Since its launch in 1975— inspired by 1960s-era politics and alternative education movements—UHS has cultivated a unique blend of academic rigor, social consciousness, and community engagement. As a history of the school recounts, “The founders envisioned a school that would achieve both equity and excellence with a range of excellence that would encompass community service as well as the arts, academics, and athletics.” To spur this deep engagement, “a catalytic context had to be developed—a ‘community of inquiry’ where risk-taking, experimentation, and personal growth for students and teachers could occur.”

Alongside that community of inquiry, community service is a vital ingredient in UHS students’ education. Ranging from serving meals in soup kitchens to restoring natural park areas, students perform at least 20 hours of service each year in a program designed to develop social conscience, and to set standards for civic participation that will last a lifetime.

Former UHS math teacher Mal Singer recalls this mix of activism

and engagement from the school’s earliest days. “We began with a philosophy of not being an ivory tower,” says Singer, who taught generations of UHS students from 1975 to 2009. Founding head of school Dennis Collins “really encouraged us to connect kids with the outside world.”

To promote an engaged student community, UHS initiated All School Meetings—weekly “open mic” affairs at which, “we encouraged students to come forward and express their opinions.” To nourish this student voice, Singer helped launch the Uni-Times, a school publication of letters to the editor fostering student opinion and dialogue— an “uncontrolled instrument of free speech. It’s important to put yourself out there and take a stand for something,” he says.

In 1988, students formed a UHS Oxfam America Club, Singer remembers, which soon initiated provocative “hunger banquets” aimed at promoting awareness and dialogue around poverty and inequality. At a lunch assembly before Thanksgiving, UHS students, faculty and staff, and parents were served meals proportionate to the scale of global inequality: rice and water for most and “sumptuous” full meals for a small, privileged minority. “Many people were really touched by the obvious inequality being portrayed,” Singer says in a written remembrance of UHS student activism.

F E AT U R E S

Beyond Protest When President Trump assumed office this past January and ordered immediate crackdowns on immigrants, Muslims, and others, UHS students maintained their tradition of fiery engagement, walking out of class and joining thousands of others in the streets of San Francisco to protest.

Ana Telfer ’17 recalls, “one of the most defining things about UHS was how political it was.

We learned how protesting

We want to break through this bubble.

We go to a private school and that’s a privilege. and making your voice heard is very important. We had a lot of kids walk out and protest after Trump’s election.”

But Ana, like Zoe Taylor, did more than protest—she became a leader raising awareness and funds for people suffering from ALS. When former cross country coach Jim Tracy died of ALS in 2014, students founded a 5K run to benefit the ALS Foundation (see Running for Jim page 22).

Telfer recalls “all these kids in running clothes and this guy in a power chair…[Tracy] was the first person I knew who died.”

In her senior year, Ana expanded the race, recruiting more student-volunteers and securing the UHS administration as a co-sponsor. “I want to it to be permanent, so it digs its claws into the community.” Beyond raising money and awareness, Ana visited labs to better understand the scientific research being done in the fight against ALS. “The great thing about the ALS Foundation is they’re not just trying to find a cure, but really focusing on getting care for people with [the disease],” she says.

This deep connection with communities is central to the UHS learning experience, says Andrew Williams ’00, director of community engagement. Williams encourages thinking “beyond protest and civil disobedience,” emphasizing a broad spectrum

2017-2018 SOCIAL JUSTICE CLUBS ON CAMPUS Animal Advocacy Club

Hip Hop Club

Black Student Union

Latin United

Christian Club

Mental Health Coalition

Debate

Middle Eastern North African Club

Devil’s Advocate (student newspaper)

Model United Nations

Filipino Club

Multiracial Club

Gender Sexuality Awareness

Riot Club

Girls Who Code

Students for Positive Change

GirlUp

SWEAR (Students for Women’s Equality and Rights)

Global Rights and Advocacy Club Green Club GSA (Gender and Sexuality Awareness)

VOX (Arts and Literary Magazine)

Vintage Hunger Banquet photos from the mid 90s.

Courtesy of Mal Singer.

of activism, including advocacy, community-organizing, institution-building, philanthropy, and direct service.

Diversified engagement is integrated into students’ education both in and out of the classroom, Williams explains. Starting with a more structured curriculum in ninth grade (including a community engagement class and field trips), UHS students are steadily exposed to more—geographically and intellectually—as their high school career goes on. By their junior and senior years, while they are studying social issues and their roots in the classroom, students are also immersing themselves in an array of communities and learning experiences.

“There’s never an option that doesn’t involve going out into the community,” says Williams.

“You can’t just stay on campus and in the classroom.” But it’s

not just about getting outside of the classroom, says Williams.

“No matter how much you care about one issue, you have to push outside of your comfort zone,” and explore different projects, different communities, different types of activism. “It’s like a scavenger hunt… It’s not to make it hard for you, it’s to push you.”

This rigorous yet supportive nudge comes as a welcome challenge—and opportunity— to students like Ana and Zoe. Even when taking on ambitious projects such as the Riot conference, they know UHS has their back. “Having that support and validation from teachers, having that support system, I really appreciate that at UHS,” says Zoe. Reflecting on her time at UHS, Ana adds, “I got the sense I was in the most positive space I could be. I really found my voice… I’m super grateful, I know there are people around the country who are not having the same experience.” n

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F E AT U R E S

a broad spectrum of political philosophies. For Mauleón, journalism acts as “an attempt at democracy,” allowing us all to address institutionalized problems by connecting to the personal opinions and stories of members of our community, shown honestly and objectively by the media. n

Faces of Activism: Alumni who found inspiration to become changemakers while at UHS.

Ted Levinson ’90 Ted Levinson ’90, founder and CEO of Beneficial Returns, was a pioneer of economics at UHS. What started as an informal student club including Ted and about eight classmates is now one of the school’s most popular classes. This cultivation of Ted’s curiosity in finance has led to a career paved with real purpose.

Students in the late ’80s faced an array of global issues: the fall of Communism, Apartheid in South Africa, and the AIDS crisis.

The idea that students could ever make a positive impact on these enormous problems, even as adults, seemed impossible.

“I didn’t just feel powerless—I didn’t think it was my role. But we all have a choice on how to exercise our agency… all of us as consumers, savers, donors, and investors have opportunities to improve our planet and society with the financial decisions we make.” Now with Beneficial Returns, a new impact investing business focused on social enterprises in emerging markets, Ted has the power to help the

world in ways he never thought he could.

According to the World Bank, over one billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty since 1990. In order for that number to keep growing, Ted believes market-based solutions are the answer. He’s also confident in the potential that social enterprises have to address some of the problems that government or philanthropy cannot solve alone. This is the objective of Beneficial Returns: to support social enterprises that need capital to grow by making loans in frontier markets (the fund borrows money from family foundations and donor-advised funds to make its loans).

With a professional background in small business finance, Ted once thought he would need to leave the field completely if he was to find a deeper purpose in his work. “I’m grateful for my UHS education because it instilled in me the confidence to create my own path.

University taught me that I had a responsibility to use my privilege and skills to make the world a better place.” n — Fia Swanson ’17

Ted Levinson ’90 of Beneficial Returns visiting a Hilltribe Organics farm in Thailand. They provide hens and organic feed for free to hilltribe families that live by the Burmese border. Every day they pay cash for every egg and their producer families earn, on average, $10 per day.

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— Roxie Miles ’19

Victoria Mauleón ’91

Jabali Sawicki ’95

Under the careful tutelage of beloved teachers Joe Di Prisco and Laurie Bottoms,Victoria Mauleón ’91 was able to experiment with her writing, and to find her own voice while at University. As an editor with KQED’s statewide radio program The California Report, she uses that voice as “a positive source of change,” by focusing her work on important issues that deserve greater public visibility.

Homeless U [You], a story KQED ran about three homeless college students in the Bay Area, moved its audience to fund secure housing for one of the college students featured in the program, with some listeners even offering the students jobs and personally donating thousands of dollars to their GoFundMe accounts in order to help them along.

Mauleón believes the media allows people to empathize with one another, ultimately improving society. “You find your own humanity,” she explains.

Jabali Sawicki ’95 has devoted his life to education and social justice. He was the founding head of school at Excellence Boys Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, the first all-boys charter elementary school in New York state. He currently serves as the compass director at nXu, a nonprofit straddling the education and leadership development sectors, dedicated to helping young people realize their potential by enabling them to explore, articulate, and pursue their purpose in life.

Although KQED’s audience is based in Northern California, Mauleón emphasizes that the organization isn’t “preaching to the choir,” because as the audience we are “unified in our diversity.” Through her work on Start the Conversation, a radio program where Bay Area residents with differing political opinions engage in civil discourse, she’s seen California’s ability to foster people across

In high school, Sawicki’s experience as a Summerbridge student allowed him to see both sides of the educational equity issue: “The fact that

F E AT U R E S

my closest friends from my neighborhood didn’t have access to the education that I did forced me to think about the way our society is structured. It didn’t make sense that folks who were just as smart, creative, and capable as I was weren’t able to attend schools like UHS. When I ultimately chose a career, my goal was to challenge that reality; to see if I could contribute to my community in a way that led to greater equity and a world in which everyone had access to high quality education.” His message to current students?

“Live life according to the change you want to create…

Make sure you intentionally cross as many lines of difference as possible. In whatever field you choose to go into, you’ll be able to apply the deeper sense of respect and empathy you’ve developed and help us build a society in which everybody is valued.” n — Miya Matsuishi-Elhardt ’19

Daniel Lurie ’95 Daniel Lurie ’95 is the founder and CEO of Tipping Point Community, an ambitious grant-giving organization that is reinventing philanthropy in the Bay Area. The organization’s board covers overhead costs, so every dollar raised goes directly to vetted local nonprofits helping low-income Bay Area residents get a fair chance at a better education, a stable job, and an affordable home. In true San Francisco fashion, the organization even has a research and development arm, T Lab, that is testing new ideas for fighting poverty.

Growing up with a rabbi father and philanthropist mother, community service was “like breathing” to Lurie. UHS pushed Lurie to continue volunteering,

local government to his cause.

Most recently, Tipping Point announced a $100M publicprivate initiative to halve chronic homelessness in San Francisco by 2022. Lurie encourages everyone to do their small part: donate, volunteer, or simply greet and acknowledge their homeless neighbors. Tipping Point’s name is a reminder that change comes when individual actions add up. n — Kseniya Tuchinskaya ’04

Daniel Lurie '95, CEO and founder of Tipping Point Community on campus last spring to speak with Freshmen about his organization's pledge of $100 million to the City of San Francisco to try to cut the chronically homeless population in half over five years. His advice to students who want to help: "Get involved by volunteering for nonprofits that are doing this work... Ask 'what do you need and how can I serve?'"

and as student body president, he got his first taste of leadership. After college, he worked on Bill Bradley’s presidential campaign, and then briefly for a consulting company, but he sought more meaningful work.

Lurie took a job with the New York City-based Robin Hood Foundation, and a week later, on September 11, 2001, he was mere blocks from the World Trade Center. Seeing the Foundation’s

dedication to helping communities rebuild in the aftermath, Senator Bradley’s call to be a part of something bigger than himself took on a deeply personal meaning for Lurie. He returned to San Francisco and started his own foundation in 2005.

“It’s easy to avoid seeing poverty,” Lurie says, which makes him all the more determined to recruit people, businesses, and

Monique Morris ’90 P ’19 For Monique Morris ’90, the fight for equity and justice has always been a personal purpose. Now an award-winning author, as well as president and co-founder of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, Monique has made a name for herself as a scholar of social justice.

In high school, Monique was already advancing towards her future career by acting as a vocal leader within the UHS community. She was an active member of the student affairs committee, which addressed

Monique Morris ’90 (back row, far left) next to her daughter Ebony Morris ’19 with the ACT cast and crew of Black Butterfly, inspired by Monique’s book Pushout. Sixth from left in the back row is Jonah Benjimini ’17 who was an actor in the play.

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F E AT U R E S

racial justice issues on campus and helped organize the early MLK assemblies held at school.

The courses that inspired her most were English classes focusing on the voices of women of color, as well as her own independent study projects surrounding African American studies. As a senior in high school Monique took things into her own hands, writing a letter directly to the head of school and the Board of Trustees to insist on a more inclusive curriculum. Her proactive efforts successfully yielded an African American history class that is still offered today. Monique says: “I always loved how responsive the board was to me as a student and appreciated the ability to cultivate my voice on campus— it’s served me well as an adult.”

Outside of school, Monique devoted a copious amount of her time to volunteer work. Like many current UHS students, she was a tutor for Summerbridge after being a student in the program herself. She proceeded to take on several different leadership positions with Summerbridge. Additionally, she volunteered at various youth and elderly community organizations throughout the city, as well as at her own faith community.

Over time, however, Monique’s understanding of such work refocused from “service learning” to equity and justice. Since then, this shift has been reflected across her engagement academically, creatively, and professionally. n — Fia Swanson ’17

Faces of Activism: Faculty who bring activism inside the classroom, and into the curriculum.

Andrew Williams ’00 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

“I like young people—they’re fun, energetic, and honest. Part of what draws me to teaching is the belief that they are going to change the world, one way or another.”

Andrew Williams comes from a rich legacy of educators. His roots

Photo by Brooke Anderson

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span Oakland, the deep South and the Northeast. His paternal grandmother worked as a publicschool teacher and administrator in New York City. His mother’s father was the president of Tuskegee University for three decades. As a youth, Andrew’s next-door neighbor had a childcare center at her house, and when Andrew spent time there under her care, the adults in his life told Andrew that he was actually on the job, helping out as an educator.

As a young leader, Andrew learned that he enjoyed supporting children and being of service. He feels a healthy responsibility to follow the lead set by the Black educators in his family. After graduating from Harvard Graduate School of Education, he returned to his alma mater, UHS, and is now in his fourth year with the Community Engagement Program. Andrew believes that it’s important to model lifelong

volunteerism and community engagement for his students.

In addition to his work as the director of community engagement, Andrew is an active youth soccer coach, community organizer, and nonprofit leader. n — Itoro Udofio

Melissa Mirza ENGLISH

“I have come to realize that learning doesn’t happen until students feel connected. Without that connection, whatever we’re doing seems irrelevant, maybe even threatening. I really put connection at the center of everything I do.”

Melissa Mirza’s roots are in Turkey and Lebanon. She has lived in Liberia, New York, Arizona, Canada, and Sacramento. Moving around frequently has expanded Melissa’s definition of home—for her, home is where her family is. These experiences have strengthened her practice as an English teacher at UHS, and she says she is aware that she may not know the full stories of the students entering her classroom.

To address these potential challenges, she dedicates the first two weeks of her curriculum to community- and trustbuilding activities. Students are supported while they share personal experiences and build

relationships with peers from different backgrounds, and she does not shy away from bringing in provocative literature or facilitating conversations about pressing social, economic, and political issues. The day after the 2016 presidential election, Melissa’s students participated in a writing activity in which they wrote and shared how they felt about the results. Not wanting to lose momentum with her students, she then shifted the focus of her freshmen and elective classes to unpack the election, and study the history of whiteness in the United States.

Melissa believes that social justice education allows students to understand their relationship to the world. She is proud to be one of five Middle Eastern teachers on the UHS campus. n — Itoro Udofia

Jenifer Kent FINE ART

Jenifer Kent hails from the East Coast and was the first in her family to attend college. She studied fine arts and began teaching at UHS after finishing her MFA at Mills College. As a professional artist and teacher, Jenifer is always striving to improve, learn more, and grow.

She has taught at UHS for 17 years and loves engaging her students in creative inquiry and asking, “What does this mean?”

Photo by Brooke Anderson

F E AT U R E S

Photo by Brooke Anderson

In her classroom, Jenifer creates ways to inspire her students through innovative lesson plans and exposure to artists that push dominant perspectives. Recently, she introduced a culturally relevant project addressing power and identity. Students studied the architecture of the prison while reading about Foucault’s panopticon, and how it relates to existing power structures in society; they also looked at Ai Wei Wei’s recent project at Alcatraz and discussed mass incarceration, all before creating their own artwork in response to their reading and discussion.

Beyond the classroom, Jenifer uses her voice to question her community around issues of power and privilege. She believes that an artistic practice empowers her to question mainstream ideals, and she strives to live a creative and thoughtful life informed by critical inquiry. She sees art as a valuable tool for students to find their own voice, and works to give them skills that they may use to approach the world with a reflective, creative, and critical eye. n

Chrissy Jacobs grew up in suburban Detroit, MI, in a white neighborhood. She moved to the Bay Area for graduate school. Before she began working at UHS as a science teacher in 2002, she worked on a classroom research study that took place at Willard Middle School in Berkeley, and volunteered in an after-school program in east Oakland. Those formative years taught her that not everyone shares the same experience, and that her personal experiences are not the norm.

These realizations led Chrissy to incorporate an inquiry-based approach into her curriculum.

In her classroom, students are given the support needed to deconstruct information and develop an informed analysis. As a social justice-oriented educator, Chrissy strives to connect science to current events. Most importantly, she seeks to nurture a space where students engage with the pressing social, political, and economic issues they care about. During the general strike mobilized to protest President Trump’s election on February 17, 2017, Chrissy’s students discussed different social movements and protests throughout history, a result of her encouragement of her students to investigate the world surrounding them, whether it’s “harmonic motion” or a protest.

Beyond the classroom, Chrissy is sincere in the fact that like everyone else, she is still learning how to continue to integrate principles of anti-racism into her

Photo by Brooke Anderson

life, specifically from other great social justice-oriented teachers and administrators on the UHS campus. n — Itoro Udofia

Justin Morgan Johnson HISTORY Justin Morgan Johnson is entering his third year as a history teacher at UHS. He hails from the northern part of Marin; Novato, a historically workingclass city that sat in the shadow of Hamilton Air Force Base.

He attended a predominantly white high school just south of central Marin, where he was one of a handful of Black students. The experiences of

— Itoro Udofio

Chrissy Jacobs CHEMISTRY

“I have a personal relationship with the kids that supports them in incorporating new understandings into their worldview.”

Photo by Brooke Anderson

growing up straddling the line between the “haves” and “have-nots” as a young Black man in Marin and in a broader context, California, led him to fight for students in marginalized communities. His experiences with systemic poverty in such communities was the catalyst for his commitment to social justice.

Before teaching at UHS, Justin Morgan was a founding teacher at a local charter school that predominantly serves students of color from under-resourced communities in the East Bay. At UHS Justin Morgan pushes students, through the study of history, to analyze systems of oppression, noting how the systems of old have evolved and play out today in real time. His pedagogy reflects the activist spirit and centers on the realities and experiences of traditionally exploited populations. One cannot teach oppression without teaching resistance.

One of his most memorable moments teaching at UHS was watching his students speak to the community about the importance of UHS declaring itself a sanctuary school in the fight against mass deportation, bans on immigrants, and the increased exclusion of vulnerable communities. Justin Morgan seeks to be a voice and a bridge between students of color and independent schools. n — Itoro Udofia

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How to Start

a Grassroots Movement

By Zoe Yzabella Taylor ’19

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F E AT U R E S

I

n September 2016, Miya Matsuishi-Elhardt ’19 and I formed Riot, a student club focused on the intersection of race and feminism. Our goal was to spark discussions in the wider UHS community about issues relevant to women of color, as well as to provide an affinity space for self-identified girls of color to talk and connect, uplifting the perspective of women of color at our school in the process. We engage in topics such as prejudice in the media and Beyoncé’s role as a feminist. Riot meets at least once a month, hosting 15–20 girls on average.

Right from the start, Riot proved to be such a positive experience that I wanted to include our peers from independent schools around the Bay Area, so I proposed the idea of holding a conference. Tilda Kapuya, University’s director of multicultural education, loved the idea and urged me to make it happen. With the support of our club’s advisor Jacqueline Thompson ’09, then associate director of academics for Summerbridge, we got to work.

Our inaugural conference theme was “Break the Glass” because we recognize the lack of women of color in leadership positions in business and politics and wanted to introduce students to role models who have reached positions of influence, learning from their examples.

The conference planning was elaborate. Our committee— Fatima Burgos ’17, Tomicia Blunt ’17, Bella Fleming ’18, Alyza Martinez ’19, Ariana Martinez ’19, Alysha Sadarangani ’19, and Angela Savage ’18—worked over weekends and through school breaks to recruit students, speakers, and sponsors.

The program featured two keynote speakers: Brittany Packnett, vice president of National Community Alliances at Teach for America, and Moogega Cooper-Stricker, planetary projection engineer with jet propulsion at NASA. The conference also offered various student-led workshops; an info session on how to plan your roadmap to college sponsored by The Princeton Review; and a professional panel, including Shefali Razdan Duggal P ’20, co-chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum, and Jordan Tse ’09, sustainability program manager at Facebook.

Producing the event not only gave Riot Club a voice within the UHS community, it also built meaningful relationships between schools and students across the Bay Area.Young women left the

event inspired, empowered, and ready to lead.

When asked why she decided to attend the Riot Conference, Enyolli Martinez ’17 from the Urban School explained that, “In times like today when women—especially women of color—are not given as many opportunities as they deserve, it is important for us to take our space and make sure our voices are being heard. By sticking

together, we will become stronger in our fight for social change for the future.”

The Riot Club looks forward to hosting the second conference next spring, with the theme “Experience, Expression, Empowerment.”

For more information on Riot Club, the Riot Conference, or ways you can get involved, please visit sfuhs.org/ riotconference. n

In times like today when women—especially women of color—are not given as many opportunities as they deserve, it is important for us to take our space and make sure our voices are being heard.

Our hard work culminated on April 29, 2017. We hosted 50 students, representing 10 Bay Area independent high schools.

Photos by Angelica Ekeke SFUHS.ORG

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Running for Jim

Photo by Orange Photography

Powerful Legacy and Leadership

by Alissa Kinney Moe

T

he late Coach Jim Tracy was, unquestionably, a tour de force in the lives of the numerous runners he worked with over the course of his storied career, training, inspiring, and pushing them to their limits in their quest to reach the finish line with a personal best. Dozens of UHS graduates cite his unwavering expectations, but also the passion he instilled in them: “Before I gave in to his doctrines as a freshman in fall trimester cross country, I thought running was a meaningless pastime designed to maintain fitness. I had no notion of the bonds, the joy, or the mental fortitude that could originate from such a simple act,” says former UHS cross country captain Ana Telfer ’17.

It was that passion that spurred action in 2014, shortly after Jim’s death following a valiant battle with ALS, when Wyeth Coulter ’16 and a few other UHS cross country runners decided to honor Jim’s legacy and raise funds for ALS research by hosting an event that Jim would have loved: a 5K race through Golden Gate Park.

ORGANIZE For years after Jim’s diagnosis, there had been a wish amongst the UHS running community to start a race in his honor; however, the logistics of planning and receiving approval from local agencies proved to be a challenge, and the first Jim Tracy 5K to Defeat ALS did not get off the ground until a year after Jim’s passing, in 2015.

Headed up by cross country and track captains Wyeth and Julia Lu ’15, the inaugural run saw enthusiastic support from the UHS community and ALS Association’s Golden West Chapter, which receives all proceeds derived from the race. “Honestly, I do not think Julia and I knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into,” admits Wyeth. “We had to reach out to donors, get the proper permits, map a course, market the event, and so much more.

I remember having to run around the city the whole week before the race, just making sure everything would be ready. But at the end of the day, I always knew the race would happen because of the people who

For more information on how you can support and get involved with the Jim Tracy 5K, please visit facebook.com/jimtracy5K and jimtracyals5k.weebly.com.

rallied behind us.” UHS students have continued to head up the organizational efforts, which can certainly be daunting, though they receive support from the UHS Community Engagement Program. “Ye be warned: it’s a full-time job!” admits Ana, who led the planning and marketing of the 2017 race.

GROW Over the course of three successive 5Ks, the race has grown exponentially, with just under 100 runners participating in 2015—and 223 this past April. This is, in large part, due to the extensive recruiting efforts of the UHS runners who have led the charge (both literally and figuratively) to make this race both a school—and a San Francisco—tradition.

“It’s hard to launch an event,” acknowledges UHS athletic director Jim Ketcham, “but from the beginning [the students have] understood that they’ve needed to operate as a high-quality race, even if it started small.” This dedication to providing a topnotch experience for participants. while also doing good, has been the key to their success. “I have a feeling that with each year that they do it and do it well, more and more people hear about it and decide it’s something they’d like to [be a part of],” says Jim.

Ana agrees: “This goes without saying, but I hope that the [race] becomes a permanent landmark event for our school and for the city as whole. Our race is fun, powerful, and already starting to garner quite a reputation.”

SUCCEED The leaders of the UHS cross country and track teams have consistently stepped up to make the race and fundraiser a success, cultivating exposure through social media, strengthening the 5K’s partnership with the ALS Association, and working diligently to increase the professionalism of the event and its organization. “I’ve always thought UHS kids have really strong leadership potential, and this is a great platform to present that—give them the space [and opportunity], and they will show you how well they can lead,” says Jim Ketcham. Wyeth agrees that student-leaders have taken pride in the impressive growth of the race—and what that means for people battling ALS: “I am honored to be a part of the community that has formed around this race. I think this race teaches students that you can make a difference with some hard work and support… It is so important for students to receive this exposure to community service.” n — Alissa Kinney Moe

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Julayne Virgil ’94 connects with then Student Body President Tomicia Blunt ’17 at the 2017 Break The Glass Riot Conference. Photo by Angelica Ekeke

Introducing Julayne Virgil '94, President of the Alumni Association Dear Alumni, I am happy to share the news that Julayne (Austin) Virgil '94 joined the UHS Board this year as an ex-officio trustee representing the alumni community. In this role, Julayne becomes the president of our Alumni Association. Outgoing president Clayton Timbrell '00 will continue on as a full trustee on the Building and Grounds Committee.

Before she joined the board, I had met Julayne at several alumni events since joining UHS four years ago. She first made an impression on me for her warmth and kind demeanor, and as I learned about her leadership in the community, I became determined to recruit her to help further University's strategic design and mission.

Julayne is the CEO of Girls Inc. of Alameda County, where she leads community investment in thousands of girls in grades K–12 in the East Bay as they navigate gender, economic, social, and racial barriers to realize their full potential and to become the strong, smart, and bold leaders of tomorrow. Julayne has nearly 20 years of experience in the nonprofit, government, and corporate sectors.

When asked to share why she chose to join the UHS Board of Trustees, Julayne said: "UHS played a very special role in my life, honing and shaping my perspective and preparing me to be successful in college, to excel professionally, and to be a leader and an advocate for a better society. At University, I had the opportunity to push myself, explore, create, and lead."

"My UHS experiences have stuck with me: serving as captain of the volleyball team; documenting family folk tales as part of an independent study in Zora Neale Hurston's folklorist tradition; developing a love of art history; steeping myself in the Harlem Renaissance with Jackie White; being introduced to Gabriel García Márquez

by Nancy Boutilier; supporting the transition of freshmen as a peer advisor; teaching at Summerbridge; and when seeing a need for students of color to have a safe space to process lived experiences, co-founding the People of Color support group. I'm honored to be a part of ensuring that University remains a place where the seeds for transformational experiences are sown and nurtured every day."

Julayne received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a master's degree in public administration from the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, where she has served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors.

She is currently on the Board of Directors of Educate 78, an organization on a mission to ensure that every student in all 78 square miles of Oakland has access to world-class public schools.

Julayne is an Oakland native and currently resides there with her husband Clayton and their two daughters Vivienne (four) and Zahra (two).

Julayne has been working closely with Marianna Stark '89, director of alumni engagement and giving, who joined the UHS staff in January of this year. Please join me in welcoming Julayne!

Sincerely,

Julia Russell Eells Head of School

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RESPONSIVE DESIGN

Alumni Association Expands Its Reach

L

ast April, we invited all alumni with current emails on file to participate in a confidential survey administered

by Hanover Research. We asked you questions about your overall perception of our school and how connected with UHS you feel. Nearly 600 alumni (19% of recipients) returned fully completed surveys, representing a broad array of graduation years.

Through the survey, we learned that over half (56%) of respondents are satisfied or very satisfied with the alumni support provided by UHS. If you’re one of the 44% who think we should try new things, we want you to know we’re striving to expand our services and programming, while maintaining old favorites.

Ways Respondents are Most Interested in Getting Involved with UHS as Alumni:

“Facilitate career networking for alumni and give exposure to key thought leaders in different fields. Maybe seminars/ webinars on researched topics for continuing education.”

51% 51% 44% 40%

41%

31%

20%

13%

14% 10% 6%

0%

Cl as sr eu s oc Al ni i u Al al on m um ga ni th ni ne er co tw in m or gs m k in un g ity ev se en rv ts M ice en /v t ol or un in Sp g te on er so e D ra ve ev n nt el s op d in te m rn en sh tC om ip m itt ee N on O e th of er th e ab ov e

“More networking events, more opportunities to get together.”

60%

Ca su al

“Please offer more opportunities to get involved with current students and [tell] how UHS has impacted our lives, and the many different paths one could take after high school.”

Note: Percentages do not sum to 100%, as respondents could select all options that apply.

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In response to your requests for networking and mentoring opportunities, we’re introducing some new events and programs.

Reunion-Social EventNetworking-Mentoring Mashup: Introducing the Alumni Symposium Up until about ten years ago, only the class celebrating their 25th reunion came back to campus for a party, and the rest of the milestone reunion classes organized their own shindigs at restaurants and private homes.

Last year we officially expanded the annual reunion from a party for just milestone classes, to one where all classes are welcome.

Formerly a standalone event, this spring we’re growing Career Day into a half-day symposium and scheduling it to coincide with Reunion Weekend. We’re inviting alumni to come to campus and tell their stories of agency to all current UHS students. The Alumni Symposium will address many themes that surfaced in the survey: the desire for networking, continuing education, and exposure to students. A committee of volunteers from the Class of 1993, gearing up to celebrate their 25th reunion, is helping recruit speakers and organize the event. Thanks to ’93ers Justin McMahan, Lisa Congdon, and Franny Stark for all their work so far.

Networking, Mentoring, Internships Last June we held the first UHS Business Networking Group.

Thanks to J.P. Harbour ’94, Sarah Kwan ’01, and Scott Okamoto ’94 for helping to conceive and organize this event.

The format is a combination of speed dating and Toastmasters: participants sit in a circle and have exactly two minutes to pitch the group, explaining their professional background, career

goals, and what kind of help or advice they’re looking for. Then the group has one minute to respond, offering introductions, a follow-up meeting, or further advice.

The 17 attendees were a mix of alumni and current parents, an eclectic group representing finance, communications, engineering, the arts, and many more fields. Some were seeking a career change, some were seeking new clients. Many were surprised to find they were able to offer advice to those in completely different fields from their own.

Resume Workshops for Seniors Last spring, we offered resumewriting workshops for UHS students, and over one quarter of the senior class signed up! For this school year, we've developed some DIY resources (rules for resume-building and an example of a resume) so students can first create a first draft on their own—then we'll hold clinics for further refinement. A simple set of instructions gives advice on how to write a one pager resume with a professional format, with tips on how to include volunteer, academic, and all types of work experience. Anyone can access the materials on sfuhs.org/jobs.

The 25% 75% percent of our alumni live in California, but for the 25% who don’t, we’re starting to experiment with live video and podcasting so you can participate from your neck of the woods.

In late August we hosted our first Facebook Live conversation between novelist Tracy Chiles McGhee ’88 and academic dean Kate Garrett, which you can watch now on our Facebook page! n

San Francisco University High School

All-Class Holiday Party Thursday, December 21 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Museum of the African Diaspora 685 Mission Street, San Francisco FREE | significant others welcome Catered by Miss Ollie’s

ATHLETIC CALENDAR Thanksgiving Thursday, November 23 Pickup Soccer – Coed. All skill sets welcome!

10:30 AM Paul Goode Field Wednesday, December 20 Badminton – Coed- Varsity vs. Alumni 6:00 P.M. UHS Gym Saturday, December 23 Soccer - Boys Varsity vs. Alumni 10:30 AM Paul Goode Field Soccer - Girls Varsity vs. Alumni 12:00 PM Paul Goode Field Basketball - Girls Varsity vs. Alumni (Home) 3:00 PM UHS Gym Basketball - Boys Varsity vs. Alumni (Home) 4:30 PM UHS Gym Saturday, May 5 REUNION WEEKEND Baseball - Varsity vs. Alumni 10:00 AM Paul Goode Field SFUHS.ORG

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ALL CLASSES WELCOME Honoring the classes of:

1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2013

MAY 4-5 SAVE THE DATE! REUNION WEEKEND FRIDAY, MAY 4 Alumni Career Symposium 9:00 A.M.–1:00 P.M. We are seeking volunteer speakers for a career symposium featuring YOU, sharing the stories of your career journeys and the latest news from your professional fields. To volunteer to speak at the Career Symposium, email UHSalumni@sfuhs.org.

Theme: Inventing and Sustaining Your Own Vision of Success • What does success mean to you?

• How have you created and sustained success in your life?

• How have you been challenged? What helped you?

How has UHS helped you?

Campus Open House 1:00–4:00 P.M. Make a masterpiece with Prudy Kohler herself (founding faculty member, instructor of Western Civilization and Art History) using her unique photo transfer technique. Families welcome.

Happy [Reunion] Hour 4:00–6:00 P.M. Meet me in the Courtyard!

And for our 25th anniversary class…

Class of 1993 Get-Together 6:00–8:00 P.M. Reconnect with your classmates at this cocktail party at the home of Julia Russell Eells, head of school, just a few blocks away from campus.

Significant others welcome.

SATURDAY, MAY 5 New! All Class Reunion at Decorator Showcase 6:00 P.M.–8:00 P.M.

Honoring the Classes of 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2013 Open to all alumni classes, current and former faculty and staff, and significant others.

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Coming in from out of town for the festivities?

Receive a 15% discount at the Laurel Motor Inn, a Joie de Vivre property. Located on the corner of California Street and Presidio Avenue. Use group code REUNION18 at http://bit.ly/2smCTqA

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One Degree of Separation

Stories of alumni who work and volunteer together after UHS Alexandra Perloff-Giles ’07

Sarah Bacon ’90

I just graduated from law school and started a clerkship for a judge on the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. I just discovered there is another UHS grad working here: Niall Mackay Roberts ’02.

I want to share to share my connection story with Maren Caruso, also from the Class of 1990. When we were opening our second Nourish Cafe, which is bigger and has a lot of wall space, my business partner and I discussed commissioning some original photography. I remembered seeing that Maren had become a professional food photographer and worked in San Francisco. So I reached out to her and a couple of weeks later, we were in her studio, shooting our food and watching her creatively bring our menu items to life. We had a great day and now we have large installations of her photos in our new space.

Magdalena Alioto-Grace ’19 and Juliana Davis ’19 We are interested in entering the medical field, and sophomore year we conducted an independent study to meet and interview doctors in different specialties to gather a better sense of a doctor’s daily life. Magdalena’s mother, Angelina Alioto-Grace ’88, connected us with pediatrician Dr. Lisa (Giannini) Dana ’86, and we reached out to our classmate Maddie’s dad, interventional neuroradiologist Dr. Christopher Dowd P ’17 & ’19. We were able to shadow them both for a day, and we wrote about our experiences on our blog medicalimmersion.wordpress.com.

Melissa Holman-Kursky ’99 Molly Treadway '03 and I just missed each other at UHS, but we have been colleagues and friends at The San Francisco School since 2010! In yet another small world/ city/school coincidence, our head of school is Steve Morris, who used to teach at UHS (English instructor and director of multicultural programs from1999–2004), and is married to Beth Goya-Morris ’93!

Two UHS alums’ public affairs startup reflects ‘formative’ UHS values

Rich Peterson '86, Richie Peterson '21, Boe Hayward '96, and Eloise Hayward. Photo by Artemisia Luk '19

I

t took Rich Peterson ’86 and Boe Hayward ’96 several years to realize that as two of San Francisco City Hall’s most accomplished influencers, they had something in common beyond just similar roles and mutual respect.

Just over a year ago, however, the UHS connection took on added relevance for Rich and Boe when they became

partners in Lighthouse Public Affairs, the top consultancy of its kind in the Bay Area on its first day in business.

(The two-firm merger also included local lobbyist and communications guru Alex Clemens, who formerly served as UHS government and community outreach consultant during the Sacramento Street expansion.)

Opening for business with four Bay Area offices, Lighthouse’s government relations practice alone far outpaced its nearest competitor. From the beginning, the startup’s client list has included giants like AT&T, Cisco, Facebook, and Kilroy Realty, further attesting to the industry-leading respect their firm enjoys.

“Lobbying is about advocacy, and most people assume we advocate in only one direction, to policy-makers,” explained Rich. “The truth is, we advocate at least as much to our own clients about the meaningful ways they should get involved in local communities and neighborhoods. For Boe and me, much of that is rooted in what we learned at University High.”

“Local leaders have very high expectations for good corporate citizenship,” Boe added. “So our approach has a direct lineage to UHS values that encourage community engagement. We’re believers in doing well by doing good, and we see great success with our approach for our clients in Bay Area city halls.” n SFUHS.ORG

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In Memoriam Lloyd Connors Lloyd Connors, who retired in 2015 after a long career in the UHS Math Department, passed away peacefully at home on May 15, 2017.

Lloyd began his career teaching math at Half Moon Bay High School in 1971. In 1996, he retired from public school service to take a job at San Francisco University High School.

He retired from classroom teaching in 2015, continuing to tutor students in math and physics.

Lloyd encouraged and inspired thousands of students, guiding them to see the beauty of mathematics. Last spring, our student body dedicated a star through the international star registry in Lloyd’s name for “all he taught.”

We all remember Lloyd as a teacher who inspired so many students to challenge their limits in mathematics, who went the extra mile on behalf of each and every UHS mathematician, and who was a caring and committed member of the UHS teaching and learning community.

We acknowledge the loss of the following members and friends of the UHS community and extend our deepest sympathies to families and friends.

Katy Feeney sister of Mary Feeney Hall ’79 on April 2, 2017 Myrna Frankel Mother of David Frankel ’83 and Ellen Frankel ’86, on August 7, 2017 Frank Gotch, MD father of Jeremy Gotch ’83, on February 18, 2017 Lola Heer mother of Lisa Heer ’76 and Mark Heer ’79, and past trustee, on February 21, 2017 Jim Henderson father of Tierney Henderson ’12 on July 21, 2017 Judy Johnson mother of Holly Johnson '82, grandmother of Alejandra '08 and Javier '06 Vargas-Johnson, on July 12, 2017 Stephanie MacColl mother of Lauren MacColl ’79 and past trustee, on February 23, 2017 Peter McLaughlin brother of John Riley McLaughlin ’85, on April 18, 2017 Lucien Ruby father of Cameron Ruby ’10, on April 14, 2017 Frank “Sandy” Tatum, father of Victoria Wilson ’78 and Shelley Kieran ’79 on June 22, 2017

Lloyd Connors with Suniqua Thomas '97 at UHS Reunion last spring.

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Obituaries in this issue include notices received in the Alumni Office by August 31, 2017. Please let us know if you would like a relative to be remembered in the UHS Journal.

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Class notes Faculty and Staff:

UHS English Faculty Stan Lau and Joanna Ro joined forces last spring to organize a national conference for self-identified Asian Pacific Islander (AAPI) educators, which took place in March at LickWilmerding. Supported by the Asian Educators Alliance (AsEA), the conference, entitled “Uniting Our Voices for Action,” offered participants two days of fascinating keynote addresses; breakout workshops; and an affinity space to network, build mentoring structures, identify challenges, and discuss strategies for supporting Asian American/Pacific Islander educators and families.

Career Day Thanks to these alumni who came to campus to speak with graduating seniors about how they chose their majors, graduate school, internships, and their careers: Jack Chase ’98 MD FAAFP FHM; director of operations, Family Medicine Inpatient Service; co-director,

Minor Procedure Clinic at Family Health Center; attending physician, Supportive and Palliative Care Service; assistant clinical professor, Dept of Family and Community Medicine; University of California, San Francisco | Eric Fischer PhD ’99, economist, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco | Anne Fung MD ’89, Associate Group medical director, Genentech Ophthalmology Medical Affairs | Haregu Gaime ’97, founding and managing attorney of Law Offices of Haregu Gaime, Immigration Practice | Elizabeth Hammerman ’98, senior process development engineer, Novartis Pharmaceuticals; head of franchising operations, Alkalign Studios | Kelly Johnson ’94, president, 215 McCann | Jennifer Massie LCSW, MSBH ’95 | Erik Sparks ’99, vice president, Investment Banking Division, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC. (We’re seeking speakers for next year’s career forum on May 4, please email UHSalumni@sfuhs. org if you’d like to participate.)

Professional Panel Inspired by the San Francisco Decorator Showcase, the Alumni Association hosted the Urban Living Panel, featuring UHS alumni who work in architecture, design, construction, landscaping, and real estate. Alums Brad Goya ’96, San Francisco Green Spaces; Ericka Jennings ’89, Green Key Real Estate; Alissa Madden ’97, Alissa Madden Design; Matthew Peek AIA ’89, Studio PEEK|ANCONA;

and Rob Walker ’96, Upcycle Builders; shared trends to watch and how to get the most value when using these services, among other tips and tricks.

Survey Winners Congratulations to the four alumni who won tickets to Showcase for filling out the Hanover Research alumni survey: Duncan Hosie ’12, Lauren Watanabe ’00, Rebecca Kimport ’99, and Ruth Berkowitz ’82!

1980

Mark Lee recently talked to the New York Times about his decision to step down from his role as CEO of Barneys New York to focus full-time on his work with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center in Manhattan. Notably, he co-chaired June’s Fashion Centered fundraiser and gala that benefits the Center.

1982 Diane Rosenblum hosted a fascinating walkthrough of the 2017 San Francisco Decorator Showcase, which highlighted art by Bay Area artists, many of whom were on-hand to discuss

their pieces and answer questions.

Diane’s own golden drawings and golden works from her “A Measure of Art” series were also featured; Diane described this conceptual series as linear and architectural, and credits Prudy Kohler’s art history class and Creighton Bedford’s statistics class as being major influences on her work.

1988 Tracy Chiles McGhee was awarded the 2017 Honor Book at the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) Self-Publishing Literary Awards for fiction for her debut novel, Melting the Blues, lauded by Kirkus Reviews as “a brave, musical story rich with Southern history.” In addition to her successful writing career,Tracy is an ambassador for the National Museum of African-American History and Culture and the co-founder of the Literacy Empowerment Action Project, a nonprofit that “provides innovative literacy, school improvement, and youth development programming to expand educational opportunities globally.”

Anne Tolpegin recently had a cameo as “Tanner” on the third season of the web series, Bloomers, which has been steadily accumulating accolades and recognition since its debut in 2007. Focused on a group of seven young adults living in Los Angeles, Bloomers has won awards

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featured in the American Craft Show’s San Francisco Style Slam Stylist Spotlight.

at the Tellys and the LA Web Fest.

Anne also had a recurring role on USA’s hit, Mr Robot, and recently wrapped the comedy “Women in Jeopardy” at the Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City.The mainstay of her professional work is on the stage, both on and off Broadway.

Anne got her start in the UHS theater and music programs with Lorna Strand and Bruce Lamott, naming them both as important architects of her career.

1990 Sarah Bacon opened the second location of her restaurant, Nourish, at 1030 Hyde Street, where she has beefed up her catering menu, as well.The original Nourish has been thriving on 6th Avenue since it opened in 2015. See story and photos page 27.

Matthew Cook recently joined the Pacific Union realty firm in San Francisco, after working in high-end real estate for over a decade on behalf of high-profile clients such as Joe Montana and Barry Zito. He also develops highend properties in the Napa Valley.

Senior Mother Jones Editor and Berkeley Journalism lecturer Dave Gilson and his team were nominated for a 2017 Emmy Award for “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard,” a multimedia project including a 35,000-word feature, a six-part online video series, and an audio documentary produced in partnership with Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

1992 Betina Baumgarten’s fashion styling and wardrobe consulting service Best Foot Forward was

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1993 On the occasion of the 57th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, Zuecca Project Space presented “Sundoor at World’s End,” an exhibition by artist and UHS alum Slater Bradley at La Maddalena (Church of Mary Magdalene).The exhibition is open now and will run through November 26.

Justin McMahan, vice president at Citigroup Global Markets Ltd, returned to campus to teach a special class on international trade and employment with Economics instructor David Roth. Justin tackled a number of issues with our students, including the current questions of how the government should respond to the mounting pressure caused by growing industrial job loss in this country and whether our trade relations with other nations have an impact.

1994 Inspiring women were honored this spring at the Girls Inc. of Alameda County’s Strong,

Smart and Bold celebration, ensuring #girlshavetheright. UHS alums Scott Okamoto ’94, Justin McMahan ’93, Margaret Charnas ’76, honoree Monique W. Morris ’90, and Marianna Stark ’89 all came out to support the cause and fellow alum Julayne Virgil ’94, the CEO of Girls Inc. Alameda County!

University High School is thrilled to announce that Julayne Virgil ’94 has joined the UHS Board as an ex-officio trustee representing the alumni community; see the full story on page 23.

1995 Daniel Lurie CEO and founder of Tipping Point Community came to campus in May to speak with ninth-graders about his organization’s pledge of $100 million to the City of San Francisco to try to cut the chronically homeless population in half over five years. His advice to students who want to help: “Get involved by volunteering for nonprofits that are doing this

work... Ask ‘What do you need, and how can I serve?’” See page 17 for more.

1996 Kathryn Cahill Thompson who became CEO of family business Cahill Contractors last year, was named one of 2017’s Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by The San Francisco Business Times.

Thanks to Rob Walker and his company Upcycle Builders for being a generous sponsor of the Jim Tracy 5K to Defeat ALS (see page 22).

1997

Sosia Bert was married last July to Jonathan Graham in Yosemite National Park. Her brother, Dr. Ben Bert ’00, walked her down the aisle and Emily Dellas ’97, Sosia’s oldest friend, was on-hand to help her get ready. Sosia and Jonathan live in New York, where she is an executive producer in advertising and he is a creative director.

Vanessa Langer performed “a concert of adventurous and iconic vocal chamber music” with pianist Allegra Chapman, flautist Elizabeth Talbert, and composer/sound artist David Coll in the debut performance of “The Refuse Project” at the Center for New Music on May 13.

Leonard Chung CEO and co-founder of Chava, Inc., spoke on “AI and Machine Learning” at the Big Data event in San

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Francisco’s WeWork offices on May 16. Leonard is seeking early adopters of Chava and is offering free accounts to UHS alumni.

Reach out to him on LinkedIn if you are interested!

2000 In June, Nathan Rayman ’00 launched Space Station, a small pop-up art gallery in Brooklyn, which he established in partnership with the DUMBO Business Improvement District and The Lighthouse bar.The gallery popped up weekly all summer in conjunction with Live at the Archway (a free, weekly concert series), and featured a new artist each week.

2001 Matt Lane signed copies of his new book Unlocking the Hidden Mathematics in Video Games on June 14 at Rithm School. Matt’s book explores examples of mathematics in games that don’t typically come to mind when thinking about education.

2003 Samantha Hennessey was recently selected to be a 2017 Fellow in the First Movers Fellowship Program at the Aspen Institute. Samantha was nominated by a former fellow and underwent a year-long selection process.

2005 Last winter, Natalie Engmann was part of the team from the University of California, San Francisco’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, which released a study finding breast density as an important factor in determining breast cancer risk.

Natalie was a first author of the study and is currently a PhD candidate in the epidemiology and biostatistics department.

2008 Natalia García Pasmanick was featured on remezcla.com upon

the release of her beautiful and haunting EP, Reir y Llorar. The site describes Garcia Pasmanick’s music (she performs as La Favi) as “airy melancholy,” “[heralding] the dawn of sad girl reggaeton.”

Aaron Tartakovsky was honored as one of GreenBiz’s 2017 “30 Under 30” for his start-up, Epic CleanTec, which aims to recycle wastewater into clean drinking water for people around the world, both with resources and without: “If we can demonstrate a model in a place like San Francisco, which has really strict regulations, then we want to be able to expand in the developing world…We want to take the solution to people who don’t have access to sanitation.”

2010 On July 15, Katy Abel married Ian Clark in the rotunda of San Francisco City Hall. All her bridesmaids were from UHS! This fall, Katy began her second year as a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. Katy is on the board of Circle of Women in Cambridge, Mass., which promotes and creates global access to secondary schools for girls.

budding creative writers and their teachers) about the support she received from the organization while she was a student. Bianca is now a playwright and a programs assistant at 826.

2011 Naomi Garcia Pasmanick has launched and exceeded her goals for an indiegogo campaign in support of her short film, Encuentros, currently in production in San Francisco. Naomi was inspired to make the film after the recent and sudden loss of a dear friend, and this will be her directorial debut.

2013 Marisa Lowe, Paul Gross, Alejandro Collins, and Gessica Ni, all current students (or recent graduates!) at Yale, got together this spring to enjoy some pizza and catch up.

Bianca Catalan was an honored speaker at a fundraiser for 826 Valencia (a San Francisco nonprofit co-founded by author Dave Eggers, husband of author and fellow UHS alum Vendela Vida ’89, to support under-resourced,

Jackie Langelier was awarded the Stanford University Robert M. Golden Medal for Excellence in the Humanities for the most outstanding honors thesis in the humanities and arts, the Louis Sudler Prize in the Performing and Creative Arts, and the John Shively Fowler Award in Photography.

2014 Kelly Kirkland, Jasmine Rivero, Marissa Rosenberg-Carlson, and Rachel Becker ’13 sent in their pizza party photo!

2016 Aidan Warren ’16, Angela Hui ’16, and Toni Xu ’16 held a UHS pizza party too!

When three or more alumni get together for pizza, take a photo and send a copy of the restaurant check to UHSalumni@sfuhs.org, then the pizza’s on us (up to $50)!

Left to right: Chloe Edmondson, Jessie Holtzman, Rachel Eisen, Sara Gridley, Sarah Abel ’95, Katy Abel

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ALUMNI

REUNION RECAP Last May, the classes of 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012 celebrated milestone reunions on campus. Next year, classes ending in 3 and 8 will celebrate at Showcase (see page 26).

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U H S J O U R N A L | FA L L 2 0 1 7

ALUMNI

The Class of 1992 Celebrates Their 25th at the Head Of School’s Home

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ANNUAL REPORT

Ways of Giving to UHS San Francisco University High School welcomes many forms of charitable contributions, offering varying tax benefits. Gifts to UHS may be tailored to fit the donor’s interests and tax situation.

GIFTS OF CASH

SECURITIES

Cash gifts of any amount to UHS provide resources for immediate use toward the school’s many programs. Checks should be made payable to San Francisco University High School. The school also accepts payments by Visa or Mastercard. Gifts may be made securely online by visiting the school’s web page sfuhs.org/giving.

Many donors may realize substantial tax advantages by transferring gifts of appreciated stock to UHS. Capital gains on the amount of appreciation are avoided, and the donor receives a tax deduction for the stock’s full market value at the time of transfer.

Please contact the Development Office for complete instructions.

RESTRICTED AND UNRESTRICTED GIFTS

LIFE INSURANCE

Donors may designate their gifts unrestricted, giving UHS the flexibility to allocate the funds where they are most needed, or they may designate their gift to a restricted fund.

A gift of life insurance can take the form of a new life insurance policy, an existing policy that is paid up, or an existing policy on which premiums are payable. All options can result in tax savings.

MATCHING GIFTS

DEFERRED GIFTS AND BEQUESTS

Many businesses and corporations match their employees’ personal gifts to educational institutions. Contact your company’s human resources office for more information.

Many donors can make a more substantial gift to UHS through deferred giving than through an outright contribution. Usually, deferred gifts take the form of charitable remainder trusts that generate income paid to the donor during his or her lifetime, with the principal going to the school after the donor’s death. Donors receive tax benefits, including the ability to diversify assets without the payment of capital gains taxes, and an income tax deduction for the value of

HONOR AND MEMORIAL We invite you to make a donation in honor or in memory of an alumnus or alumna, faculty or staff member, parent, trustee, or friend of the school.

the school’s interest, thereby enhancing their own financial situation while making a lasting contribution to the school.

Bequests, large and small, offer a significant source of support to UHS. Such a bequest, which names UHS as the recipient of all or a portion of a donor’s estate, not only helps the school, but can also reduce the donor’s federal estate taxes.

GIFTS OF PROPERTY The gift of a home, building, or land may be advantageous to a donor. Under certain circumstances, arrangements for continued occupancy by the donor for a specified period of time can be made. Tangible personal property may offer the donor an immediate tax deduction. Tax benefits vary and are determined by whether or not the gift is related to the educational purposes of the school.

SAN FRANCISCO UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL 2017-2018 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

64

Katie Albright

Rocky Fried

Chang-rae Lee

Laura Spivy

Jay Banfield

Louise Greenspan ’86

William Madison

Clayton Timbrell ’00

Ron Cami

Boe Hayward ’96

Mark Miller

Julayne Virgil ’94, Ex Officio

Margaret Charnas ’76

Dennis Herrera

Chris Nooney

Catherine Walcott

Marguerite Clark

Matt Hobart

Anne Pedrero

Kay Yun

Jill Cowan

Jeff Hord

Lynn Poole

Julia Russell Eells, Ex Officio

Mike House

Jane Prior, chair

Lindsay Mace Joost ’84, trustee emerita

Matt Farron ’98

Carolyn Langelier

Nadir Shaikh

U H S J O U R N A L | FA L L 2 0 1 7

Lynn Wendell, Trustee Emerita

Top Row (L to R):

Hari Kumar, Morgan Clemens, Jared Battat, Andrew Hariri, Jeremy Gillespie, David Deffarges, Andrew Guertin, Jake Tulchinsky

Row 11 (L to R):

Sammy Parkhill, Jonah Benjamini, Sam Lesser, Spencer Small, Gunnar Black, Adam Schrader, CJ Dowd, Graham Gerrity

Row 10 (L to R):

Claire Wilson, Chloe White, Grace Leupold, McRae Fried, Sophia Barron, Gabriel Hale, Ian Browne, Steven Carnevale

Row 9 (L to R):

Fia Swanson, Claire Kalikman, Meave Cunningham, Lily Cunningham, Isabella Hord, Kai Hill, Michael Yu

Row 8 (L to R):

Anna Hall, Ellie Shapiro, Ana Telfer, ChloĂŠ de Bord, William Carnevale, Ben Guggenheim, Ishmael Maxwell, Kavi Dalal, Anfernee Lai

Row 7 (L to R):

Eli Harrison-Saeli, Nate Huntington, Charles Tananbaum, Weezie Boudreau, Lucy Daro, Will Miller, Finn Amster, Max Fisher, Parker Snipes

Row 6 (L to R):

Lara Miloslavsky, Anjali Rangaswami, Pierce McDonnell, Whit Urdan, Hanna Kim, Ethan Isenman, Franny McWilliams, Emily Minus, David Shea

Artemisia Luk, Kate Roger, Simone Jacob, Ellena Parry, Rachel Wu, Chris Dann, Fatima Burgos, Lindsey Chung Row 5 (L to R): Gracie Durham, Morgan Ruff, Sergio Martinez, Wintana Gerima, Ella Sinskey, Henry Wisniewski, Janelle Tsai, Nicole CariĂąo, Row 4 (L to R): Elise Paloglou Henry Hongo, Rebecca Halpert, Mayme Schmitz, Ngee Jhin Lim, Miles Johnson, Billy Chan, Nabil Saad, Rowan McGarry-Williams Row 3 (L to R): Margot Young, Mirei Golding-Powers, Keziah Wong, Tomicia Blunt, Levi Cohen, Izzy Spagat, Emma David, Halsey Hutchinson Row 2 (L to R): Kenny Kong, Sarah Ancheta, Lydia Grossman, Diana Gleyzer, Christina Warren, Linda Huang, Camila Vergara Front (L to R): Erin Wenokur Not Pictured:

Congratulations and Good Luck!

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“The F I V E C O R E V A L U E S we adopted as part of our strategic design act as a compass as we turn our groundbreaking vision into a reality. They allow us to make decisions, define policy, develop programs, and build our community and culture with the guidance and through the lens of I N Q U I R Y, C A R E, I N T E G R I T Y, A G E N C Y, and I N T E R C O N N E C T I O N .”

—Julia Russell Eells Head of School

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