Highlander Summer 2017

SUMMER 2017

Expanding Horizons Through Experiential Learning

State of the School Report

Writer's Workshop Captivates Lower School Students

Faculty Profile: Bringing History to Life

Presenting the Class of 2017

CONT E N T S DEPARTMENTS

2 TA R TA N SNA P SH OTS Learn the latest news happening around St. Margaret’s.

FE AT U R E S

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14 P E R SP ECT IVE Ryan Dahlem, assistant head of school for strategic initiatives, discusses St. Margaret’s research into a new school schedule.

18 FACULT Y P R O FI LE

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Upper School history teacher Simon Fellowes brings history to life in the classroom.

36 A LUMNI P R O FILE Chris Benderev ’05 followed his passion for storytelling to Washington, D.C., and a career with NPR.

38 C L A SS NOT ES AN D ALU M NI UP DAT E S Learn the latest from your classmates and updates from the Tartan Alumni Association.

44 TA R TA N SCENES What’s happening in the St. Margaret’s community? Check out photos from the latest events on and off campus.

On the cover Members of the St. Margaret’s community took a unique spring break trip to Navajo Mountain near the Utah-Arizona border, where they immersed in Navajo culture and visited scenic wonders like Rainbow Bridge. Composite of photos courtesy of Lora Allison, stitching by Sarah Kustera.

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Learning Through Doing St. Margaret’s is expanding experiential learning across the school, bringing new and creative approaches of learning to its students.

Scholastic Winners St. Margaret’s students had unprecedented success in the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Take a look at some of the winners.

Driving a Passion for Writing The implementation of the Writer’s Workshop in the Lower School is teaching students writing skills in an innovative way.

State of the School Board of Trustees President Jason Weiss and Head of School Will Moseley give a comprehensive report on the progress St. Margaret’s has made, and strategic priorities going forward.

Commencement 2017 Re-live the celebrations for St. Margaret’s graduating Class of 2017, as well as the important milestones of the classes of 2021 and 2024.

Q&A With Rosetta Lee St. Margaret’s 2017 scholar in residence talks about the importance of the school’s cultural competency efforts.

GUIDEPOSTS

SUMMER 2017

Message from the Head of School

ST. MARGARET’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL Will Moseley, Head of School EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Anne Dahlem MANAGING EDITOR Ryan Wood GRAPHIC DESIGN Sarah Kustera COPY EDITOR Jennifer Perez

Dear Friends, Summer is an exciting time of unlimited possibilities. For many, we anticipate this annual downtime because it allows us to explore new places, expand our horizons, reconnect with ourselves and deepen relationships with those around us. As educators, we are continually looking to bring these rewarding benefits into the learning environment for our students.

Fittingly, this Summer 2017 Highlander Magazine issue explores experiential learning approaches inside and outside the classroom at St. Margaret’s, which offer our students similar ways to expand their horizons, deepen relationships with their teachers and peers, and reflect on their own personal learning and growth.

In addition, this issue will showcase the innovative curriculum of Columbia University’s Writer’s Workshop being implemented in the Lower School; you will have an opportunity to step inside the immersive classroom of History Department Chair Simon Fellowes as he brings world history to life for his students through vivid journeys and lively reenactments; you can visit with alumnus Chris Benderev ‘05 who has taken his St. Margaret’s work ethic to the airwaves at NPR, and meet educator and thought-leader Rosetta Lee, who shared her expertise in cultural competency as a St. Margaret’s scholar in residence.

We have also included a comprehensive School Report that details the school’s academic and financial strength, illustrating that St. Margaret’s is well-positioned to implement the initiatives of our newly approved Strategic Plan. Of course, the truest measure of St. Margaret’s mission is the impact of our collective efforts on our students. We celebrate the extraordinary Class of 2017 in a special Commencement section as they now transition to the next stage of their educational journeys at colleges and universities across the nation.

EDITORIAL BOARD Jeannine Clarke, Anne Dahlem, Ryan Dahlem, Jeneen Graham, Will Moseley, Ryan Wood CONTRIBUTORS Lora Allison, Chris Benderev, Jennifer Blount, Anne Dahlem, Ryan Dahlem, Jeneen Graham, Jillian Gray, Simon Fellowes, Sarah Kustera, Rosetta Lee, Christie McMahon, Will Moseley, Erica O’Neill, Rocky Parker, Ashley Pelissier, Jennifer Perez, Jonathan Tufo, Stacey von Winckelmann, Jason Weiss, Ryan Wood

Highlander Magazine is published biannually by the Communications Office as a St. Margaret’s Episcopal School community magazine.

St. Margaret’s publishes responsibly. Highlander Magazine is printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper, using soy-based inks, made from renewable resources such as natural pigments and vegetable oils.

St. Margaret's Episcopal School does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, sexual orientation or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational, admission, financial aid, hiring and athletic policies or in other schooladministered programs.

We hope your summer has been a time of refreshment and renewal, as we look ahead to another amazing school year together.

Sincerely,

ST. MARGARET’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL 31641 La Novia San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 949.661.0108 www.smes.org

Will Moseley Head of School HIGHLANDER

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Tartan Snapshots Espen Garner and Logan Wojcik Win Numerous Honors With Entrepreneurial Science Project The innovative science project developed by St. Margaret’s students Espen Garner and Logan Wojcik received numerous honors at competitions across Southern California.

The two developed Buzz Trap, a 3D-printed mosquito trap affixed to a drone that allows for testing of mosquito-borne illnesses in hardto-access areas. The two won St. Margaret’s Tartan Tank, an event created by grade 8 science teacher Eric Harrington, which spotlights entrepreneurial science projects and pitches them to venture capitalists.

Buzz Trap also claimed first place in the ocMaker Challenge and won top honors at the Orange County Science Fair, winning three special recognitions.

JENNIFER ROSS-VIOLA NAMED STEM FELLOW St. Margaret’s announced the appointment of Jennifer RossViola as STEM fellow. She will lead schoolwide STEM curriculum development and programmatic innovation in support of the school’s Strategic Plan.

For the past 10 years, Dr. Ross-Viola has been deeply involved in developing STEM experiences for St. Margaret’s students through her leadership as Science Department chair and STEM Task Force chair and overseeing the exclusive St. Margaret’s partnership with UCI Henry Samueli School of Engineering for Upper School student summer research internships. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Arts in biology from University of San Diego.

TARTAN DEBATE EXCELS AT CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

INAUGURAL ‘GIRLS IN STEM’ SYMPOSIUM INSPIRES TARTANS TO PURSUE STEM OPPORTUNITIES St. Margaret’s hosted its inaugural “Girls in STEM” symposium this spring, sharing with Middle and Upper School girls the opportunities available in STEM fields and engaging those students in fun activities.

Nearly 100 girls and family members attended the event. The evening featured guest speaker Dr. Michelle Khine, a professor at the University of California, Irvine and serial entrepreneur who has a Ph.D. in bioengineering. There were also presentations by three STEM leaders at St. Margaret’s who shared their personal stories of entering and succeeding in their fields as one of few females — Director of Technology and Innovation Lynn Ozonian, Math Department Chair Elizabeth O’Shea and Science Department Chair Jennifer Ross-Viola.

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St. Margaret’s debate team participated in the High School Public Debate Championship Tournament, excelling in the capstone event attended by schools across the country.

The St. Margaret’s team of Colby Rogers, Tyler Genevay and Tyler Ashman won the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record and had the highest speaker scores out of all teams. Colby was awarded a gavel for being top overall speaker, while Tyler Genevay was given third-best speaker overall and Tyler Ashman fourth-best speaker.

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS BECOME ANCIENT ROMAN ARCHITECTS USING 3D PRINTERS

St. Margaret’s Leaders Present at NAIS Conference on Cultural Competency Three St. Margaret’s administrators traveled to Baltimore to present at the prestigious National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference, sharing details about how St. Margaret’s strategic cultural competency initiative intersects with the school's college counseling program.

Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives Ryan Dahlem, Academic Dean Jeneen Graham and Director of College Counseling Roland Allen together led a workshop titled “Roots and Wings: Preparing Students for the New College Campus Reality.”

“We were able to communicate our approach to cultural competency development from a variety of angles, with each presenter illustrating a different dimension of our work," Mr. Dahlem said. "It was an honor to share the story of the St. Margaret's community with a national audience."

LITERACY DAY CELEBRATES STORYTELLING AND SERVICE During a special day dedicated to reading, writing, speaking and listening across all divisions, St. Margaret’s celebrated its annual Literacy Day with a wide range of activities across campus. Students shared stories behind the meaning of their names, participated in a Battle of the Books tournament and explored science concepts related to Benjamin Franklin’s famous experiments, among other activities. The day finished with an all-school service project, during which HOPE boxes were filled with non-perishable food items and toiletries that were donated to Family Assistance Ministries.

As part of a unit on Roman bath houses in Emma Boyle’s grade 7 Latin 1A class, students learned about the ancient facilities in a handson way by creating their own bath house using 3D printers in the design and fabrication lab — a merging of Latin and STEM. The students then presented their structures to the class, pointing out different areas of their creations using both Latin and English terminology.

“I think it was a great success,” Ms. Boyle said.

“There was a higher retention of students remembering terminology and features of ancient Roman bath houses. And they were able to gain experience with new technologies here and create something that they could take home.”

UPPER SCHOOL STUDENTS USE VIRTUAL REALITY TO EXPLORE A NEW REALM OF VISUAL ARTS The evolving classroom experience at St. Margaret’s showed another hint of the future, as students in the Upper School’s advanced 2D art class created a project using virtual reality.

The students used one of two HTC Vive virtual reality headsets that St. Margaret’s purchased through the generosity of a PTF grant.

Using the Google Tilt Brush art program, students completed an assignment to create a figure in a virtual environment.

“Virtual reality occupies a space somewhere between drawing and sculpture,” said Phillip Griswold, who teaches the class. “It was great to see the techniques they used on paper translate to this medium.”

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Tartan Snapshots DAVID BESHK NAMED ‘OC TEACHER OF THE YEAR’ BY PARENTING OC MAGAZINE St. Margaret’s Lower School teacher David Beshk was named the top teacher in Orange County for 2017 by Parenting OC Magazine. As part of the honor, Parenting OC featured Mr. Beshk on the cover of its March issue.

Mr. Beshk has developed programs on rocketry, the physics of roller coasters and animal prosthetics for St. Margaret’s extension programs. He also has led a partnership with Level Up Village to bring the Global Inventors course to St. Margaret’s grade 4 and 5 students. The course participates in video-based engineering brainstorms with students in Honduras, with a mission to design and build a product that helps solve a global issue. PC Magazine wrote a feature on the course, calling it “a fitting endorsement that the global classroom has arrived.”

EVAN LEE WINS MATHCOUNTS ORANGE COUNTY COMPETITION St. Margaret’s student Evan Lee won the MathCounts Orange County competition held at the University of California, Irvine, outlasting 240 students across the county. The event consisted of three tests during the morning session and a “countdown” round pitting the top 12 students against each other in the afternoon.

With the victory, Evan qualified and competed in the MathCounts Southern California state championship.

UPPER SCHOOL STUDENTS PROPOSE INVESTMENT STRATEGIES FOR IRVINE TECH STARTUP

Middle School Tartans Design Magnetic Wall Activity Center for Preschool The Outdoor Classroom in the Early Childhood Development Center received an exciting new activity center, as students in the grade 8 design and fabrication class worked for several months conceptualizing, planning, designing and constructing 3D-printed and laser-cut ramps, chutes, cups and rings to go with a newly installed magnetic wall. The Middle School students interviewed preschoolers to get insight on which parts would work best with the wall.

“The wonderful part of being a four-division school is the community the students build with each other,” ECDC Director Cris Lozon said. “The grade 8 students found a purpose in their learning in providing a service to their preschool friends, and the preschoolers found a community of older peers that listened and cared about their ideas.”

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Students in the Upper School’s math for financial markets class took part in an entrepreneurial studies pilot unit, proposing strategies for investing $1 million in venture-capital funding to grow social media startup VYRL, which was co-founded by St. Margaret’s alumnus Jason Goldberg ’13. The students visited the VYRL headquarters, researched VYRL and the industry and applied design thinking to create their proposals for consideration.

“It was great to go out and integrate ourselves in the world of entrepreneurship,” Luke Desforges said after the presentations, “and VYRL was really a great business to work with.”

THE ARTS

St. Margaret’s junior Jeni Bauer was named a grand-prize finalist in the Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight program and performed with 13 other finalists at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in May. As part of the prestigious honor, Jeni also received a $5,000 scholarship and a scholarship to the 2018 Aspen Music Festival.

Jeni is one of 14 grand-prize finalists out of 1,300 Spotlight participants across Southern California and the only female grand-prize finalist in the classical voice category.

BLAKE STEVENSON WINS BEST MALE VOCALIST AT CAPPIES

Athletics

TARTANS COMMIT TO TOP COLLEGES DURING NATIONAL SIGNING DAYS The athletic signing periods were busy for St. Margaret’s seniors. A total of 15 Tartans committed to play intercollegiate athletics, representing eight St. Margaret’s athletic programs.

They will matriculate to an impressive group of colleges and universities to pursue their academic and athletic interests.

For more information on their destinations, please visit www.smes.org/signingday.

SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS • Of the nearly 600 schools in the CIF Southern Section, St. Margaret’s was one of only 16 to advance both boys and girls cross country programs to the CIF State Meet in Fresno, after both teams placed in the top five at the CIF-SS Division 5 finals. The boys placed 10th at the State Meet, led by Nic Gitter’s 24th-place finish. The girls placed 13th, paced by Charlotte Jones and Julia Martin.

Three St. Margaret’s students were recognized as CAPPIES winners for their contributions to high school performing arts in Orange County.

Blake Stevenson was awarded best male vocalist for his performance in the Upper School musical Children of Eden. In addition, Elena Plumb and Caroline Ullem were each named critic winners for their work in reviewing shows as part of the CAPPIES award process. The three were honored at a ceremony in May in Anaheim.

To read more St. Margaret’s news, visit Tartan Today online at W W W. S M E S .O R G / TA R TA N T O DAY

• The boys volleyball team advanced to the CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals, capping a 27-5 season. Ethan Hill was named first-team all-league and led the Tartans with 315 kills.

• St. Margaret’s won the Academy Cup for the 2016-2017 school year, an award given to the Academy League school with the highest overall combined finish across all sports.

• The girls golf team captured first place in the CIF Southern Section – Ford Academics Awards program with a 3.89 cumulative grade-point average, one of 12 St. Margaret’s teams to place among the top 10 for academic achievement.

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LEARNING throughDOING St. Margaret’s Expands Experiential Learning Across the School B Y A N N E D A H L E M & R YA N W O O D

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t the end of a productive week of service and activity in the Navajo Mountain region of the Navajo Nation territory near the Utah-Arizona border, a group of St. Margaret’s students who were there on a unique spring break service-learning trip gathered in a circle to reflect on their experiences and immersion into Navajo culture.

The Tartans served the community through volunteering at the Head Start preschool, organizing learning activities at Navajo Mountain High School like lacrosse and virtual reality, working with local residents to haul away refuse in areas that have inconsistent trash service, treating sick dogs and preparing land for the spring growing season.

The one-of-a-kind trip developed organically through conversations between Upper School Community Life Director Lora Allison and Upper School students Kinsale and Shea Hueston. Kinsale leads the Native American Culture Club at St. Margaret’s, where the idea to experience Navajo life over spring break was born. Their mother, Mabelle Hueston, grew up in the Navajo Mountain community and was instrumental in designing and arranging the trip.

Students also learned about the history of the area from Mrs. Hueston.

Among other activities, she led them on a hike to Rainbow Bridge, a scenic wonder in southern Utah that is deeply sacred to the Navajo people, and arranged their attendance at a Navajo pow wow to see up-close the cultural celebrations of Native Americans.

The impact of the experience came pouring out in deep and meaningful ways around the circle, Mrs. Allison said. The St. Margaret’s students’ reflections revealed connection and deeper understanding of Native American history and present-day experiences, as well as the environmental impact of the industrialized world on some of the most stunning geographical landscapes on Earth.

The powerful takeaways from the students were hard to overlook. Upper School student Eleanor Jones said she considers this experience lifechanging. “There’s so much I don’t understand from all over the world,” she said. “One thing close to my heart is trying to grasp some of that, and this trip did that for me.”

“Reflection is essential to successful experiential and service learning,” Mrs. Allison explained, “because it solidifies meaning and understanding for the learner.”

The Navajo Mountain trip was a unique opportunity offered new this year that demonstrated the personal growth that St. Margaret’s seeks to nurture in its students. In line with the Strategic Plan priorities centered around the core value of character, St. Margaret’s leaders are expanding experientiallearning programs with an emphasis on service learning, personal exploration, leadership and involvement with outside communities that deepen understanding, empathy and real-world connections.

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“Experiential learning offers exciting possibilities and compelling intersections in nurturing our mission and advancing the academic priorities outlined in the Strategic Plan,” Head of School Will Moseley said.

“There are many aspects of the academic program and our strategic goals that naturally overlay with experiential learning, including service learning, STEM, entrepreneurship studies, leadership, and cultural competency and non-cognitive skill development.”

Experiential learning is learning through doing, an integration of knowledge, activity and reflection. The content and skills in the school curriculum are the “what” that St. Margaret’s wants students to know and be able to do. Experiential learning is a highly effective “how,” a pedagogical approach for teaching the “what.” It creates deeper understanding and connections with the curriculum and nurtures other skills and traits — like empathy, creativity, problem-solving and grit through real-world experience — in students at the same time.

"By connecting learning to life ... we are helping students find that essential spark not only to build their academic resumes, but also to be creative,

caring, capable,

engaged human beings."

- Michael Brosnan, Independent School Magazine In the 2013 Spring issue of Independent School magazine about experiential education, Editor Michael Brosnan said, “By connecting learning to life, engaging students in their local communities and connecting them to global communities, linking disciplines to each other, encouraging students to make things, and setting them loose to solve real-world problems, we are helping students find that essential spark not only to build their academic resumes, but also to be creative, caring, capable, engaged human beings.”

There is an ongoing paradigm shift in education, which enhances learning by listening through learning by doing. That puts the student as an active learner at the center of the experience and the teacher in the role of guide, says Academic Dean Jeneen Graham.

“It creates cognitive engagement and makes learning stick with students better and longer. It is supported by volumes of research and well touted by educational theorists like David Kolb and John Dewey, who said, ‘Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking, learning naturally results,’” Dr. Graham said.

Over the last few years, St. Margaret’s educators have recognized broader applications and benefits of experiential learning, and as a result they have implemented many new and creative programs for their students.

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“Experiential learning is evident in classes like music, art and physical education, but is also heavily utilized in other classes like science, math, English, history and world languages,” Dr. Graham said. “We plan our curriculum to provide as many opportunities for this kind of learning as possible and are constantly seeking new ways to be pedagogically innovative.”

St. Margaret’s provides myriad experiential-learning opportunities that allow students to apply their learning in real situations and settings inside and outside the classroom, near and far, immersing themselves into the work and taking time to reflect on the process and their learning.

TA R TA N S AT W O R K A C R O S S T H E C A M P U S A N D B E YO N D Inside the St. Margaret’s Early Childhood Development Center, experiential learning is the bedrock of the school’s play and exploration-based curriculum. Students are free to “practice their world,” doing the activities they want to do among a set number of choices specifically designed by teachers for desired learning outcomes. They learn lessons that build upon each other each time a feat is accomplished or a mistake is made.

This extends outside to the Outdoor Classroom and in the school garden. These youngest Tartans get a firsthand look at the life cycle of food, for example, as they work with teachers to cultivate seeds to plants, observe textures, smells and shapes of plants as they grow and help harvest the vegetables that are donated to Father Serra’s Pantry in San Juan Capistrano.

“The students gain a newfound understanding that food doesn’t just come from a grocery store, and they also develop compassion for others when they learn that their harvest goes to some families who don’t have enough food,” ECDC teacher Shelly Harmon said. “And it’s all done outside in a beautiful environment, where they learn respect and patience with each other and Mother Nature.”

In Lower School, grade-level learning themes around global issues provide opportunities to merge core subject learning, STEM and service learning.

Using an integrative, project-based approach to the kindergarten’s transportation theme, teachers meshed science, technology, reading and service to create a treasured learning experience. The students visited a San Clemente retirement center and interviewed residents about their first car. With questions like, “What color,” “How many seats,” and “What would you change about it?” students picked up communication skills and took notes that would come in handy as the unit progressed.

With the help of an automotive designer who is a St. Margaret’s parent, the students learned about the process of designing a car, from sketching to creating models using tape and clay. They put their new skills and creativity to work, creating replicas of the cars their new elderly friends described and adding the modifications they desired. The students molded the cars out of clay and created wheels in the ICE Lab using 3D printers. The students revisited the retirement center and presented the finished cars as gifts to their friends.

“Service learning is experiential learning,” Mr. Moseley said. “As a core tenet of our mission, faculty are increasingly incorporating service components into their teaching. Service learning builds awareness and connection to communities outside our campus, it instills responsibility and leadership, and, like all experiential learning, it allows students to apply their knowledge and skills and learn through doing. It is a natural fit for St. Margaret’s.”

To reinforce understanding of sustainability issues around water, grade 5 students participate in the Home Water Consumption Project, a monthlong STEM project for students to track their personal water consumption at home. For one week, students track gallons per minute for their bathroom and kitchen faucets and showers and personal gallons per load of dishwasher and washing machine and keep a log. They calculate their personal usage and create a personal water bill from the home data. They then are charged with designing solutions to conserve water in their homes.

In grade 7, all students undertake an extensive English class debate unit.

For three months, students develop research methods, reading and annotation strategies, public-speaking skills, and debate fundamentals and persuasive appeals. They learn all of this through the study of a real policy point currently affecting the United States that is assigned to them by their teachers. This school year, it was the pros and cons of increasing federal spending to promote equitable access to high-quality education.

Students spend time researching the topic, interviewing experts who visit the classroom, learning how to search resources for relevant information, analyzing the credibility of sources, and formulating a position on the policy point, then create research-based arguments to defend their positions.

Every grade 7 student teams with other students and squares off against classmates in lively debate sessions in front of a panel of faculty judges.

Finalists participate in a debate in front of the entire Middle School and guest judges on the Hurlbut Theater stage.

“Students learn and practice reading strategies and skills,” grade 7 English teacher Christie McMahon said. “They learn how to do research through an introduction to various sources and evaluating author and publisher credibility. They synthesize all of their research by deciding how to answer the research question, which then determines their final positions in the debate. They create arguments, based on research, to defend their position. Then they present and defend their positions, where they practice public speaking and debate skills such as voice projection, eye contact, building effective arguments, anticipating counter-arguments and responding with evidence-based rebuttals.”

In the Upper School’s introduction to engineering class, students work in teams to take on the methodical task of assembling quadcopter drones, reflecting the patience and detail-oriented work that engineering requires. After completing the intricate construction, students calibrate and problem-solve systems issues before testing and flying the quadcopters in Pasternack Field House. The finished quadcopters were then highlighted as part of a cross-divisional day of learning, where the engineering students taught the dynamics of flight to grade 2 students, who were studying air as a grade-level theme, and demonstrated the quadcopters in action.

Top: Preschool students harvest plants in the Outdoor Classroom garden.

Middle: Kindergarten students create clay car replicas for elderly friends.

Bottom: Grade 7 students practice for their debate tournament.

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Military history students visit notable World War II sites including: The Mémorial de Caen in Normandy, France; Chartwell, the home of Winston Churchill, in Kent, England; and the Nuremberg Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany.

In the history department, Upper School teachers partnered with Library media teacher Stacey von Winckelmann to create a new historical research course to build skills that prepare students for future research at the college level and beyond. In introduction to historical research methods, students examine the meticulous work done by historians and spend ample time in the Library conducting their own research on topics.

The capstone of the class is an extensive research paper students submit for consideration to The Concord Review, a quarterly journal that publishes the academic work of secondary students. They also worked with the San Juan Historical Society and interviewed prominent elderly members of the San Juan Capistrano community for an oral history project. The transcripts of those interviews were given to the society for their archives.

Doing the work themselves as historical researchers is the key to the permanency of the student learning, Ms. von Winckelmann said. “It’s a game-changer,” she added, “taking something that seems abstract on a piece of paper or a computer screen, and embedding students in those experiences. I don’t think there’s a replacement for that deep connection to the content.”

kept detailed journals reflecting on their experiences. Upon returning to St. Margaret’s, they presented on their findings, while also sharing their reflections from the experience.

The students explored topics like the Battle of France, D-Day strategy, the U.S. homefront efforts to support European allies, and the Enigma Machine, which transmitted German communications before being deciphered by Allied forces.

Junior Joey Westendorf studied the Final Solution of Nazi Germany, visiting several sites central to the Holocaust. “Seeing these places and realizing that it’s not just a museum that’s set up but the actual grounds that people were standing on when they were faced with these untenable circumstances like in Dachau,” Joey said. “It’s so harrowing to see all of that.

It makes an impression on you.”

The experience of visiting sites where transformational moments in world history took place left a lasting impact on her. “There’s so much that I will remember,” she said. “Being able to see where the Nuremberg Trials happened and the precedent that it set. The way they impact our lives today and our international relations and law and the human moral code. It all traces back to this one place and literally this one room that we got to sit in. It was neat to see where these things actually happened.”

FIELD STUDIES This summer, Upper School history teacher Rocky Parker took his militaryhistory course completely experiential as the class traveled to Europe.

Students spent three days on campus learning about notable World War II sites and preparing for their upcoming projects, which centered around significant events that impacted the European theatre of World War II. A 10-day trip to Europe to visit sites like in Portsmouth, Normandy, Munich and Nuremberg followed. Students studied the locales up close and

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Off-campus experiential learning takes place for students in grades 5 – 12 every year in grade-level retreats at the beginning of the school year. Retreats are an important and highly anticipated part of the student experience, creating a fun, safe and rewarding passage for each class to come together in unique opportunities for character education, service learning, leadership, team building, personal challenge and reflection. They foster social interaction, friendship and community among the classes and within advisory groups.

"It's a game-changer, taking something that seems abstract on a piece of paper or a computer screen, and embedding students in those experiences. I don’t think there’s a replacement for that

deep connection to the content.”

Retreats are thoughtfully designed with focus on learning objectives, activities and locales to reflect student age, readiness for increasing responsibility and independence, as well as grade-level studies and themes. Retreats facilitate applied- and service-learning experiences often occurring in nature settings, destination locations, and on site at service organizations to kick off themes and topics of the school year, and to allow bonding time for the class after several months apart.

Retreats also allow for students, faculty and staff to work together in unique environments and contexts, often as an entire class and within advisory groups.

The Upper School reimagined the grade 10 and 11 service retreat, designing a one-of-a-kind, experiential, service-learning project, giving students tangible resources to serve the community, yet challenging them to figure out the who, how and why. In 2015, this involved working together in different teams to build 100 bikes without instructions that they then donated to eight local charities they identified that could put them to good use. In 2016, the students collaborated with #HashtagLunchbag to plan, coordinate, assemble and deliver more than 3,000 lunches to 14 different nonprofit organizations across Orange County.

“We do this service-learning project because it is closely tied to all three pillars of our mission,” Mrs. Allison said. “Students rise to the challenge of leadership on a large scale with an experience that is complex, ambitious and hands-on. They are learning about a facet in our community where we can be of assistance, and better understand critical needs.

and independence while better understanding and connecting with the natural world around them. Journaling and self-reflection were critical components of this outdoor experience.

“The NOLS trip provided us unique challenges, with struggles much harder and very different from the ones we experience in our day-to-day lives. This helps to add new perspective to our own lives, especially upon which we can reflect in the future. This kind of change in perspective makes all other potential challenges, such as college, seem much more doable,” said Jack Westhead, 2017 St. Margaret’s graduate who went on the NOLS trip for his ISP. “The bonding we experienced with each other on the trip was another lasting impact. We will revisit the memories that we created together through this trip for the rest of our lives.”

TA R TA N S A G R E E “We hope that they will find a direct connection between leveraging their strengths in teams for this large-scale service experience, and leveraging their strengths on teams in the classroom — and life beyond St. Margaret’s.”

For all Tartans, their last assignment at St. Margaret’s is experientialbased — the capstone Independent Senior Project. ISPs are designed to give seniors a taste of independence as they prepare for their transition from high school to college, applying their St. Margaret’s experience to the outside world. Students take part in internships and field experiences at businesses, nonprofits and academic settings, volunteer at various organizations and take on a creative project that aligns with their future interests.

This year, 10 students went to the Canyonlands of Southern Utah for their ISPs on an expedition led by the National Outdoor Leadership School. Taking part in a weeklong backpacking trip in the desert wilderness, the students handled the strenuous daily hikes, navigation, cooking for themselves and setting up daily camp and faced adversity inherent to a technical backpacking trip, including inclement weather.

They built skills in leadership, teamwork, risk management, self-reliance

Students have validated the merits of experiential learning, providing telling insights with recurring themes.

“Through reflection, interviews and feedback, our students tell us that they enjoy working on real problems and challenges outside the normal classroom structure, and feel these experiences strengthen their learning outcomes,” said Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives Ryan Dahlem. “When they engage in complex tasks, particularly those they did not think were possible at the start, they derive a profound sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Students also noted a byproduct of deepened relationships with teachers and peers through these experiences.

“Themes of leadership and service naturally emerge when students engage in experiential learning, demonstrating how aligned this work is with our mission. This feedback is affirming and vital as we design additional experiential-learning opportunities for our students going forward around the goals of our Strategic Plan.”

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Tartans Thrive in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have recognized student creativity since 1923 with a prestigious regional and national awards competition. In 2017, there were more than 330,000 works of art and writing submitted to the competition.

Only 2,740 received national medals—less than 1 percent of all submissions.

by Connor Jordan

This year, St. Margaret’s students had unprecedented success in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Tartans received 94 art awards and 33 writing awards in the regional competition, one of the best showings in Orange County. The regional Gold Key winners were then forwarded on to national competition. There, six St. Margaret’s students won a total of seven national medals. Kinsale Hueston, Sahar Khashayar and Madye Arundale all won national gold medals and were honored with other gold medalists across the country at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Here's a closer look at the students who received national recognition for their creative works.

To see more, visit www.smes.org/scholasticawards.

C O N N O R J O R D A N created a portfolio of life-size plaster cast hands with miniature 3D-printed humans that interact. His sculpture “Blame” caught the attention of the Scholastic judges, who awarded Connor a national silver medal. He also earned regional silver keys for his sculptures “Broken,” “Fountain” and “Twisted City.”

by Hana Adams

In addition to his Scholastic honors, Connor was also recognized by OC Varsity Arts as an honorable-mention selection for 2017 Artist of the Year for his 3D-art portfolio. Connor will attend Indiana University this fall and plans to major in business and minor in art.

H A N A A D A M S ’ creative photograph showing a pajama party in a supermarket aisle, appropriately titled “Clean Up on Aisle 6”, was awarded a national silver medal by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

While Hana is a talented photographer, she also has a passion for performing arts. She recently received an honorable mention in the OC Varsity Arts 2017 Artists of the Year selections for dance, and she aspires to combine her passion for dance and photography to create innovative forms of art.

by Danielle Drislane

D A N I E L L E D R I S L A N E ’ S talent as an artist was highly acclaimed by the Scholastic Art & Writing Award judges. In addition to her national silver medal for the painting “Midtown,” Danielle received three other Scholastic regional gold keys. She was honored twice in digital art (“Flow" and “On My Sleeve”) and once in drawing & illustration (“Dawn in the Forest”).

It was the most successful regional showing of any student in Orange County.

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by Madye Arundale

K I N S A L E H U E S T O N uses the written word as a way to express herself and explore her Native American roots, and her writing ability and depth of subject matter has received high accolades. She won two national gold medals in the Scholastic Art & Writing competition this year in two different writing categories.

Her work titled “Haseya (She Rises)” won national gold in the dramatic script category, and she also won a national gold medal in poetry for her work “Grandmother,” both of which address the challenges faced by present-day Navajo culture. In addition, she recently won the Yale Young Native Storytellers Contest and was awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to New Haven, Conn., to recite her poetry to a crowd of Yale students, alumni, deans and professors.

Kinsale was honored at the regional level in poetry in 2016 for her poem “Stella,” one of three poems she recited on her visit to Yale. She has also been recognized by Scholastic in photography, including three honorable mentions in the regional competition this year.

“I’m so grateful,” Kinsale said. “The poem and play I submitted this year were ones I spent a lot of time enriching with meaning, metaphor and relevant modern issues pertaining to my cultural identity and the current social climate, so to have them recognized was such an encouraging sign that my voice and passions were valued."

S A H A R K H A S H AYA R is president of St. Margaret’s Poetry and Prose Society and has served as a proponent for the written word during her time as an Upper School student.

She has arranged poetry readings and bulletin board showcases of student work throughout the Upper School.

Her work has turned heads among Scholastic Art & Writing judges. She recently won a national gold medal for poetry, in addition to multiple regional recognitions.

M A DY E A R U N D A L E created a 1-minute film animation titled “Fox and Bear,” earning a national gold medal at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, a rarity for a Middle School student.

While it was highly acclaimed by visual arts critics, Madye also put the film to other uses. She used her film as part of her science project, testing memory retention among subjects by playing it at two different frame rates, then quizzing the subjects on details from the film. That experiment earned her third place at the California State Science Fair in the cognitive science category.

Grandmother

by Kinsale Hueston

Grandmother pushes her lips together, Two wild canyons overgrown with shadows and sandstorms Something smells sour— Milk, or mutton, left out in the sun too long.

Come, she motions with her hand, A willow branch bent slyly by the western wind.

Her fraying blue blouse feels cool and stretched like Frybread dough Under my small fingers. I pry a loose ball of Tangled cotton from her left shoulder.

She asks me to speak, she commands, In a voice that warbles like the canyon’s rivers.

I remember shadows cast across the mesa at dusk.

Ya’a’téé, I whisper, humming against her ear.

Eyes so brown they seem blue press moisture upon her Papery eyelids. Through her gray crown, she cannot hear me; She floats back to Grandfather, nali, adeezhí.

Smoke pulls at my vision, pulls at her eyes, Silky gray with age and glistening sorrow.

Empty words die upon empty ears as The children fall from Grandmother’s eyes.

Summer sends angelic sugar peas Spilling from her womb that will curdle And crackle in fall.

Sweet peas dance in an August wind, Wind chimes churning, sweet sheep grazing— But something is burning— Our people, or words, left in the sun too long.

Death descends upon cursed vowels, Oppressed utterers, feverish vibrations That rise from our defiant throats.

He snatches them up in sharp white jaws, with shivering hands Soaped and dried carefully with rusting metal— Cement block teeth glint in the sun—he is not careless, But greedy, and is bone disguised In a pilgrim’s white cap of impudence.

He met Grandmother when she was young and Strong from tasting our honeydew songs.

Now she holds my wrists With clutching fingers, sticky with Words that escape us.

You can view the film by visiting www.smes.org/foxandbear.

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Perspective

The Power and Potential of a New School Schedule

S

chool schedules are frequently viewed as logistical necessities ­— more about the “when and where” of a school experience than the important “what.” Through the allocation of time, however, schedules make powerful statements about a school’s values and priorities.

How much time is devoted to various academic subjects? To the arts and physical education? How often do students attend Chapel? How early do they arrive each day, and when do they get home? When does the school gather as a community, and when does it take breaks? How much time is devoted to service learning? Is there enough time for students to eat? To reflect? To play? To just “be?”

The answers to these questions explain much about the St. Margaret’s experience, and provide vivid evidence of how we live out our mission, core values and Episcopal Identity. The power of a school’s schedule is artfully communicated in “The Master Schedule: A Culture Indicator” from the National Association of Secondary School Principals: “The master schedule reveals the true beliefs, attitudes, values, and priorities of the school. The school’s master schedule is like looking at an MRI of the inner workings of a school. It is the window to the soul of the school.”

So what does the “MRI” of our current schedule tell us?

We began to reflect on this question last fall when faculty and staff gathered in selfselected design teams around the aspirational goals of our Strategic Plan. As teams engaged in creative ideation sessions, a pattern emerged.

Many teams identified innovative solutions to student needs, but felt restricted by the current school schedule.

Rather than allowing these exciting “what if?” conversations to fizzle, teams pivoted and asked the logical next question: “What if we redesigned our school schedule?”

One particular team took this challenge head-on. Focused on student health and wellness, the team created a prototype schedule and tested it with students. The prototype addressed needs uncovered around sleep, nutrition and peer connection, and featured a later

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start time, consistent lunch and snack times, and a fixed block for community time. Feedback from students was positive, both for the prototype itself and the notion that the school schedule could change with student input.

As our discussions continued, there was also growing attention on school schedules in the broader educational, medical and media landscapes.

The American Academic of Pediatrics issued a policy statement urging middle and upper schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. The statement is based on a substantial body of research demonstrating that “delaying school start times is an effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss and has a wide range of potential benefits to students with regard to physical and mental health, safety, and academic achievement.”

This spring, the California State Senate responded by proposing legislation requiring all public middle and high schools to push back their start times. The disconnect between teen sleep cycles and school start times was recently illuminated by sleep researcher Wendy Troxel in her TED Talk, “Why School Should Start Later for Teens.” She noted that “waking a teenager up at 6 a.m. is the biological equivalent of waking an adult up at 4 a.m.”

Articles about other aspects of school schedules appeared in the national media with provocative titles including “Fixing America’s Broken School Calendar” and “What if Students Only Attended School Four Days a Week?"

(The Atlantic), and “I Never Paid Attention to School Master Schedules. That Was a Mistake.”

(Washington Post).

These wider discussions and research findings provide important context as we prioritize redesigning our schedule during the 2017-2018 school year with implementation planned for 2018-2019. Our rationale focuses on student health and wellness, support of other strategic initiatives, and ongoing innovation (see sidebar).

The redesign process will rely on broad input from students, faculty, staff and parents.

St. Margaret’s is also partnering with a scheduling expert from Independent School

B Y R YA N D A H L E M

Management who will conduct interviews with all constituencies and provide research-based scheduling solutions tailored for St. Margaret’s.

After initial redesign discussions, our “MRI” shows the inner workings of St. Margaret’s are not far off our defining principles. Many aspects of the current schedule reflect our mission, core values and Episcopal identity. If we are to stretch ourselves toward the aspirational goals in our Strategic Plan, including important health and wellness considerations, the schedule deserves a thoughtful review and redesign to reflect the school’s future.

This process provides exciting opportunities for innovation and reflection as we strive to create a schedule that provides the clearest and most accurate “window to the soul of our school.”

R AT I O N A L E F O R R E D E S I G N I N G THE SCHOOL SCHEDULE:

1.

Student Health and Wellness: The school schedule impacts student sleep, nutrition, exercise and the general pace of the day. A redesigned schedule must address research and student input in these areas.

2.

Support of Other Strategic Initiatives: A redesigned schedule enables innovation across the academic and affective programs including interdisciplinary studies, experiential learning, service learning, mindfulness, peer connections across divisions, and increased faculty collaboration and professional development time.

3.

Ongoing Innovation: Much of the current schedule has been in place for more than 10 years.

A significant review is necessary to determine how a redesigned schedule will better meet the current and future needs of St. Margaret’s students.

The sounds of tapping keyboards fill a St. Margaret’s grade 5 classroom. It is a little after 9 a.m., and the daily 45-minute Writer’s Workshop session has begun.

In sync with the writing curriculum St. Margaret’s adopted from the Columbia University Teachers College, grade 5 teacher Ashley Pelissier is walking around the room with a purpose, conferring one-on-one with students as they work on revisions to a research report about a topic from their U.S. history studies.

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“Student choice has everything to do with engagement in writing,” said Mrs. Pelissier, a lead teacher of the curriculum.

“While this program guides the type of writing and thoughtfully cultivates writing skills, the students eagerly engage in the Writer’s Workshop because they are excited and motivated about a topic or piece of writing that they are passionate about.”

Faculty have noticed a newfound inspiration and joy students feel toward the writing process. What once created a sense of dread for some Tartans has been replaced with a buzz and excitement toward the individual writing time set aside each day.

These grade 5 students are nearing the end of the unit that leads to the creation of compelling written work, and the skills picked up along the way will benefit them as they advance through the Middle School, Upper School, college and beyond.

St. Margaret’s adopted the Writer’s Workshop three years ago as a pilot unit in grade 5. It was introduced to Lower School Principal Jennifer Blount by grade 5 teacher Simone Fraser, who now works for Columbia University as a staff developer for the Writer’s Workshop. Mrs. Blount and Academic Dean Jeneen Graham quickly realized it was an innovative and effective way to teach younger students the writing process. It is now fully implemented with fidelity throughout the entire Lower School.

“We were looking for a research-based approach to boost an already successful writing program,” Mrs. Blount said. “In piloting the program in grade 5, we were excited to see improved writing, but were even more convinced when we saw the students’ motivation and enthusiasm.”

" The students eagerly engage in the Writer’s Workshop because they are excited and motivated about a topic or piece of writing that they are passionate about."

- Ashley Pelissier

The school’s latest quantitative data indicates that the approach is succeeding. In the writing assessment portion of the ERB test (WrAP) that all students grades 3-8 take annually, the Class of 2022 and 2023 at St. Margaret’s, who participated in Writer’s Workshop in grade 5, have seen improvement in their average WrAP scaled scores at a rate significantly greater than the independent school norm groups, as well as other St. Margaret’s cohorts which preceded them.

Previously, the teaching of writing skills followed a traditional formulaic approach that provided a structure for students to work from. In addition, spelling and grammar skills were taught separately, with those skills expected to transfer automatically to students’ writing.

But the innovators behind the Writer’s Workshop envisioned a better way to teach the subject and realized grammar skills taught in isolation aren’t proven to translate seamlessly.

The Columbia University Teachers College Reading & Writing Project, a think tank of educators that strives to help young people become avid and skilled readers and writers, developed state-of-the-art tools and methods for teaching the subjects, backed by extensive research.

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Once the decision was made to shift to Writer’s Workshop curriculum, Mrs. Blount worked to make sure Lower School faculty gained an understanding of and expertise in this approach.

“I’ve seen students go from telling me on the first day of school that they don’t like writing, to begging for more time in class or asking for another notebook."

Professional development time to study, understand and implement the methodology is critical, and Mrs. Blount has seized every opportunity.

Members of the Lower School faculty observed a school in San Diego that uses Writer’s Workshop. They attended conferences in Los Angeles and San Diego. Over the last two summers, teachers have attended weeklong institutes at Columbia to further develop the teaching skills. Those faculty members return to St. Margaret’s as lead teachers, training their colleagues on the latest innovations and skills they acquired.

In addition, Mrs. Blount constantly researches strategies and best practices for teaching the curriculum. She is in regular contact with Ms. Fraser, collaborating on teaching techniques and other approaches. Ms. Fraser also conducted a workshop at St. Margaret’s recently.

“There’s so much research and philosophy behind it,” Mrs. Blount said. “It’s important that we understand it, so we can teach the full curriculum and deliver the best learning experience for our students.”

At the program’s core is individual writing time, up to 45 minutes every day, during which students simply write, self-edit and revise their work as teachers offer one-on-one feedback. The independent writing time usually is preceded by a mini-lesson, no more than 10 minutes long, which covers a deliberate sequence of skill development that progresses day after day, year over year in the curriculum. That includes lessons on spelling and grammar, which can immediately be applied to a student’s writing.

Grade 1 students learning how to write an informative nonfiction chapter book, for example, had mini-lessons devoted to outlining their stories, thinking like a teacher to imagine and answer questions in their writing, to have the courage to use bigger words even if they aren’t sure how to spell them, and the purpose behind the beginning and endings of books.

Throughout each unit, students collect, draft, write, revise, edit and receive tips and feedback from their teachers — much like a professional writer. The craft is further developed through writer’s notebooks, a “safe space” where each

student can explore writing styles and try new approaches. Teachers check these notebooks for completion and may offer feedback on Post-It notes, but they do not assess the work, and, by design, they do not mark the notebooks.

The process is repeated throughout the year as different genres are introduced, from opinion to informational to narrative writing.

Over several weeks of revisions, listening to feedback and reworking sentences, paragraphs and entire papers in each unit, the student’s work comes into focus, and a polished piece of writing is the end result.

When it is time to assess the final work, students are graded based on structure, development and language conventions.

And then it’s time to celebrate.

In Erica O’Neill’s grade 1 class, as with the rest of the Lower School, the end of a writing unit is a time to share and rejoice.

On this day, the students are reading from the multi-chapter nonfiction book they wrote about something that interests them.

There are stories about the beach, riding bikes, baseball, kittens, Star Wars and dogs. Each student gets an opportunity to share his or her story with the class, sitting in an oversized chair and wearing a crown in the front of the room.

“Celebrating the hard work, the process and the finished work is a huge part of the Workshop. It’s embedded in the program,” Mrs. Blount said. “It gives students an intrinsic drive. It motivates them. It reinforces the importance and value of writing. It allows students who are progressing at different rates to collectively be proud of the work they have done. It unifies everyone around their hard work.”

From the beginning, Lower School students are learning that writing is a process, not a singular assignment. In Colleen Beshk’s kindergarten class, a mantra has been memorized and repeated: “When you think you’re done, you’ve just begun!”

Mrs. Pelissier has seen how the workshop has positively influenced motivation, as her grade 5 students have better embraced the work of a writer and everything that goes into it.

“This workshop has changed the way students think and feel about writing,” Mrs. Pelissier said. “I’ve seen students go from telling me on the first day of school that they don’t like writing, to begging for more time in class or asking for another notebook because they have completely filled their notebook from cover to cover.”

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B R I N G I NG

H I S T O RY TO LIFE

�

I N A Q U E S T T O H E L P S T U D E N T S B E T T E R U N D E R S TA N D H I S T O R Y A N D I T S P R E S E N T- D AY I M P A C T, S T. M A R G A R E T ’ S T E A C H E R S I M O N F E L L O W E S N E V E R S T O P S B E I N G C R E AT I V E .

B Y R YA N W O O D

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Faculty Profile

O

n her first day in St. Margaret’s Upper School, Caroactivity is accompanied by popular music, which is loosely line Ullem walked into her grade 9 world history tied to the topic and always sparks a discussion of its own. and geography class and took a seat. She didn’t Engagement is important, but Mr. Fellowes also underknow what to expect, but she definitely wouldn’t stands the need for individual interpretation. He goes the extra step to make sure an accurate, nuanced portrayal of have anticipated what teacher Simon Fellowes had planned.

"When he opened the door,” Caroline said, “I saw him dressed history is presented to students, who then can draw their head-to-toe in Viking garb, complete with a beard.” own conclusions about events and figures that shape the Caroline and her classmates caught an early glimpse of world. This often means multiple angles to a single unit — the lengths Mr. Fellowes will go to bring out empathy in his for example, an Industrial Revolution simulation taught from students — a necessary component, he says, of retaining the vantage point of factory workers in harsh conditions, but historical knowledge. also a lesson focused on the big picture of how the important “If you can get them to exist in that time period, and to think time period continues to shape the world to this day.

“Simulations, project-based activities, and debates can be about how people thought or acted in that time period, I think it makes it much more real and relevant,” Mr. Fellowes said. “For fun, but for students to retain essential information, they must students, it can be very abstract. To make it concrete, you bring also be accurate and grounded in historical scholarship,” said things to life in the classroom.”

James Harris, Upper School assistant principal and fellow history Mr. Fellowes works tirelessly to make history interactive, teacher. “Mr. Fellowes blends ‘serious’ and ‘fun’ in a way that captures students’ attention and gives them agency often transforming his classroom to a in their own learning.” time and place far removed from pres“If you can get them ent-day St. Margaret’s through the use of As a proponent of experiential learning, Mr. to exist in that simulations, props, costumes and creative Fellowes says he chooses to be a “guide on the time period, and classroom setups. side, not the sage on the stage” when teaching.

His outside-the-box simulations allow students to It makes for an engaging class, with an to think about how figure out the “why” of history for themselves. unpredictability that students relish. They people thought or have come to room 710 to find it trans“They retain a lot more, because it forces them acted in that time formed into a British factory during the to empathize, to analyze, and to consider differperiod, I think it ent perspectives,” Mr. Fellowes said. “If you can’t Industrial Revolution, with Mr. Fellowes’ strong British accent adding to the makes it much more experience the past in some way, it’s very hard to comprehend it.” authenticity. Or into Versailles, site of real and relevant.”

Estates General of 1789, which triggered Mr. Fellowes has taught history at St. Margaret’s the world-changing French Revolution for four years, and in 2016 he became chair of the (with the students responsible for simulating the three clashhistory and social sciences department. Before that, he taught ing estates). Or a courtroom, where students have debated and all over the globe. A native of England, Mr. Fellowes had two argued the complicated legacies of historical figures like Chrisseparate stints teaching English in Japan and has also taught English to foreign-language college applicants in Australia and topher Columbus and Martin Luther.

Mr. Fellowes strongly believes bringing history to life helps to recent immigrants at a college in the United Kingdom. students retain knowledge but also fosters an understanding of Eventually, Mr. Fellowes and his wife settled in Orange its present-day impact.

County. Mr. Fellowes taught middle school history at JohnCaroline was so moved by the way Mr. Fellowes teaches son Middle School in Westminster and middle school and high grade 9 world history that she credits him for her decision to school history at Tarbut V’ Torah before joining the St. Margaret’s pursue Advanced Placement world history. faculty in 2013.

As head of the history and social sciences department, “He connects real issues in our world today to the concepts we learn in class through common themes of conflict, migraMr. Fellowes works closely with Academic Dean Jeneen Graham tion and trade, resulting in the whole class learning more about and the academic leadership team to evaluate curriculum and the world around us,” Caroline said. “It is difficult to create a set the course for student learning. classroom environment where students feel heard and creative “We strive to have students understand and appreciate the while covering difficult material with a focused mindset, and Mr. valuable content and skills that their social studies classes Fellowes has mastered it.” provide here at St. Margaret’s,” Mr. Fellowes said. “And we hope Mr. Fellowes starts each class with a focus activity, which they develop an intellectual curiosity that they will take with gives students an opportunity to think, write and share their ideas them to college and beyond.” about a particular topic of discussion from the current unit. That

A Man of Many Hats.

A small sample of the many props and costumes Mr. Fellowes uses to transform his classroom.

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S T. M A R G A R E T ' S 2 0 1 7

B Y J A S O N W E I S S , B O A R D P R E S I D E N T A N D W I L L M O S E L E Y, H E A D O F S C H O O L

The State of the School is a comprehensive report on the strength and advancements of St. Margaret’s Episcopal School. Board President Jason Weiss shares his perspective on the institutional health, from mission focus to financial sustainability. Head of School Will Moseley highlights new Strategic Plan initiatives from year one and details important academic and student assessments and performance benchmarks.

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BY JASON WEISS

M

y summer began with a visit to an East Coast boarding school to attend my nephew's graduation. The school, founded in 1839, sits on a sprawling campus featuring regal academic buildings and pristine fields. Inhaling the pomp and circumstance (and humidity) of commencement there, I was filled with pride and hope, not just for my nephew and his future, but also for our school.

The hope I felt was not a passive wish, hoping as to what St. Margaret's will resemble when it, like my nephew's school, is in its 178th year. Rather, my pride and hope derive from confidence in who we as a school are today, what we have accomplished, what our vision is for tomorrow, and, ultimately, St. Margaret's boundless promise.

WE ARE AN ACTIVE EXPRESSION OF HOPE At the very time I took in that graduation ceremony, almost 3,000 miles away, our Head of School Will Moseley was preparing to deliver his remarks at St. Margaret’s 32nd commencement exercises. In Mr. Moseley's remarks to the Class of 2017, he spoke of hope: "The kind of hope that I see at work in our school community every day, and, importantly, that I wish to continue to grow in your hearts and minds as you go into the world is an active expression of hope. This kind of hope is a determination to act based on the ability to imagine something different. Active hope is rooted in a firm conviction that you and I as individuals can help bring about what we hope for, from the certainty that by envisioning a different way, we can make it happen."

St. Margaret's was founded in 1979 as an active expression of hope to provide an unparalleled and transformational educational experience for students. Thirty-eight years later, and emboldened by a record of success that defies the school's relative youth, this active expression of hope burns even brighter today. St. Margaret's has a plethora of objective metrics that fill me with hope: impressive college matriculation; full enrollment with waiting lists; a talented and passionate administration and faculty; strong tests scores; broad, diverse and vigorous programmatic offerings and classes; cutting-edge technology to support them and propel our students to thrive in the future; success across the academic, arts and athletics arenas; financial health; exceptional facilities; a bold strategic plan; a clear campus master plan; an engaged community; and the high caliber and fine character of our students and graduates, and their preparedness to succeed beyond St. Margaret's.

I see and feel hope emanating from St. Margaret's every day. Hope is revealed by the school’s support and love for all students with their unique academic interests and pathways ever committed to their individual development, growth and success. Hope exists because student wellness is as paramount as student achievement, because character

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

- Andy Dufresne, from the movie The Shawshank Redemption

and community are valued equally as high expectations, and because students are challenged to step outside their comfort zones and test the bounds of their promise. Hope is depicted by the celebration of curiosity, innovation, creativity and problem-solving on our campus. Hope is evident in faculty who continually seek new practices and professional development to always enhance teaching and learning for students. I am filled with hope when parents recognize the need for an important school project and champion the cause, raise the resources and make it happen.

Hope is reflected because our differences are admired and we value a culture of inclusion.

I am filled with hope and awe when I hear and witness the inspiring stories of our incredible students who possess immeasurable talent, determination and perseverance: when a 16-year-old Tartan sustains a debilitating leg injury in the course of a track race and wills herself to crawl on her knees to the finish line; when a talented and promising Middle School student is filled with tears of joy upon learning that his hard work and focus has earned him acceptance to St. Margaret’s, and that his family’s financial circumstances will not keep him from attaining his dreams; when a high school senior we all know to be of the highest work ethic, grit, humility and character, stands before his graduating class as valedictorian after a harrowing and victorious battle over cancer.

Loving and supporting our children — our incredible Tartans who continuously surprise us and exceed our highest expectations and are living embodiments of our mission, Episcopal identity and values — is what motivates and compels us forward with active hope.

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RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS: LEADERSHIP, STRATEGIC PLAN, CAMPUS ENHANCEMENTS, FINANCIAL REPORT The hope that fuels our achievements is affixed to the strategic and financial planning that has marked our work together, as well as the leadership at the helm.

One of the highest responsibilities of the Board of Trustees is ensuring sound and visionary leadership of the school. We hold tremendous esteem and confidence in the outstanding St. Margaret’s leadership team and faculty led by one of the finest independent school leaders in the country, Head of School Will Moseley. Will’s leadership has directed tremendous growth for our school and is a strong prognosticator of continued future success. On behalf of the Board, it is our privilege to partner with him.

We are deeply grateful for his unwavering commitment to deliver our mission and consistently strive to enhance the educational experience for our students every day, and for many years to come.

ambitious goals. In the first year of implementation, the school launched pilot programs; forecast a 2018-2019 schedule redesign, focused on the health, wellness and educational experience of our students; emphasized cultural competency skill development; modified the service learning experience; and awarded innovation grants to advance interdisciplinary studies. Year two promises further and significant progress.

Over the past few years, through the generosity of our community outside of tuition revenue, we have accomplished remarkable developments across our campus master plan. Completed projects include the state-of-the-art Maseeh Middle School, renovation of Lower School classrooms, restoration of Chalmers Field and establishment of the Highlands Quad ("Heart of the Campus"), replacement and improvement of new artificial turf for the Tartan Field with improved safety for our students, the construction of the Church Arch and redesign of the Fountain Courtyard, and significant enhancements to educational technology and campus security measures.

Strategic planning for the future of St. Margaret's is also a primary responsibility of the Board of Trustees. After a multi-year process that included community-wide input, and thoughtful analysis and priority-setting, we launched a bold Strategic Plan in 2016. The plan captures our This summer we are building the new Visual Arts Center, community's collective areas of aspiration and opportunity funded by the 2017 Fund A Need at the All-School to advance our programs and more fully realize our mission. Fundraiser, completing phase one of our Upper School I am very proud of the manner in which the Strategic Plan classroom and campus remodel, renovating Preschool has been embraced by our entire community and the classrooms, and improving the flow and safety of progress that has been made. Under the leadership of Ryan the student parking area in the Ortega Village Center.

Dahlem, assistant head of school for strategic initiatives, Importantly, none of the capital projects was funded by a St. Margaret's engaged a design-thinking methodology, single tuition dollar. Tuition is used only to fund academic with an emphasis on our students, to implement the programs and school-year operations.

A U G U S T 2 0 14

AUGUS T 2015

Lower School Classroom Renovation Construction of Church Arch

Maseeh Middle School Opens Chalmers Field & Highland Quads Open

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Endowment has nearly tripled to

$9

million since 2014

$1.2 million raised through the '16-'17 Annual Fund

14%

increase in community participation rates

Mindful that the key to our future growth and progress is the school's steadfast focus on financial sustainability, I am especially proud of our financial health and position. Amid the global financial crisis, the school took extraordinary steps to support a sharp increase in emergency financial aid needed by existing families while maintaining the quality of the educational experience.

These steps included the drawdown on reserves, limited to no compensation increases for faculty and staff, and refinancing our long-term debt at lower interest with a deferred principal payment schedule. With the improving economy, we have been diligently fortifying our longterm financial sustainability, balancing between the increasing costs of providing a world-class education with corresponding tuition, fees, and other sources of income required to support that effort without adding to the school's long-term debt.

"High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectations."

- Charles Kettering, Inventor

The administration works with the Board to develop the annual budget through an exhaustive process, analyzing line-by-line with every department of the school to ensure an efficient and optimum use of expenditures. Over the last several years, the Board has adopted a number of budget guidelines, including: 1) fully amortized debt payment, 2) maintenance of sufficient cash reserves, 3) increased funding of deferred maintenance reserves, and 4) needbased financial aid consistent with our Episcopal identity.

Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees also identified the endowment as the best possible source of non-tuition income for the school's annual operations. Over the last three years, we have conveyed the importance of endowment and taken important steps to build the fund. The Board put the following endowment measures in place:

2016-2017 School Year

• A policy to include a 20 percent endowment component to any capital fundraising effort • Made the endowment the Fund A Need of the 2016 All- School Fundraiser • Created the Tartan Alumni Legacy Endowment (TALE) Fund • Allocated all Tartan Tee-Off proceeds to financial aid endowment

SOURCES OF FUNDS 96% Tuition & Fees 3% Annual Fund 1% Endowment Income

• Made the endowment a component of the Annual Fund during the 2016-2017 campaign.

Consequently, the size of the endowment has nearly tripled to $9 million since 2014.

In addition, we have increased awareness and participation in the school's Annual Fund, which is designed to allow families to make tax-deductible contributions toward filling the annual budget gap between the actual cost of running the school and the tuition revenue, approximately 4 percent or $1,250 per student. Over the last three years, we have accomplished a steady increase in community participation rates of over 14 percent, which provides the Board of Trustees with another lever in management of annual tuition setting. The 2016-2017 Annual Fund raised over $1.2 million.

USES OF FUNDS 79% Instruction &

Student Activities 11% Administrative Support 6% Reserves 4% Debt Service

J A N U A RY 2 0 16

J U N E 2 0 16

AUGUS T 2017

Strategic Plan Launch

New Tartan Field

Visual Arts Center & New Student Parking Lot Opening Phase 1 of Upper School Remodel Complete

HIGHLANDER

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COMING ATTRACTIONS We should be tremendously proud as a community for what we have accomplished together for our students. Through vision, hard work and fidelity to our mission, core values and Episcopal identity, we have earned the right to be proud. Yet when our state of mind is on excellence, when we are committed to be “active expressions of hope,” we have no time to be comfortable or static, for the work we do has no end. Envisioning the future is another primary charge of the Board, and in turn we are continuously planning for a future of excellence for St. Margaret's.

At the threshold, we are committed to continuing the important work of financial sustainability to gain greater financial flexibility in the future. We will remain vigilant in our annual budget and tuition-setting process, to reducing debt, and growing the Annual Fund and endowment, with the ultimate goal of an endowment fund twice the size of the annual budget.

We are marching steadily toward the successful implementation of our Strategic Plan initiatives. We are dedicated to continued fundraising success to allow us, without debt, to acquire land and to develop additional mission-centric facilities, including athletic fields and a dining facility.

"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits."

- Charles Kettering, Inventor

We will continue to build financial aid resources providing access for outstanding future Tartans regardless of financial resources. We will continue to strengthen relationships with universities, leading businesses and the community to serve our student learning experience and benefit the larger good.

We will witness our third generation of Tartans arriving to a school that their grandparents helped shape. Ultimately, we are committed to embodying a school community where every person connected to St. Margaret’s is inspired to lead genuine lives of learning, leadership and service. We are moving in these promising directions deliberately and diligently. This is what our future looks like.

THE BAND PLAYS ON As I reflect upon the achievements at St. Margaret's over the past few years, I am reminded that the key to St. Margaret's success does not lie in the efforts of some, but rather those of this entire community. Great schools are built by strong, passionate and generous communities of families, faculty and administrators who devote themselves completely, and fueled by the talent, intellectual vitality and dreams of students who are the manifestation of our hope for a brighter future. These, in harmony, are essential to our greatness.

I feel privileged to be both a member of the “band” and a contributor to this great school. What we are doing together is important and is having a deep and meaningful impact not just on the lives of current and future generations of Tartans, but also on all those St. Margaret’s touches. I will not be here for St. Margaret's 178th anniversary, barring one of our students discovering a fountain of youth (it’s possible!), but if past is prologue, then St. Margaret’s will be a sight to behold and experience. Our mission and core values are truly timeless, and they will serve as currents to generate advancements at St. Margaret's forever.

"Everyone joins a band in this life. And what you play always affects someone.

Sometimes, it affects the world."

- Charles Kettering, Inventor

I am deeply grateful to our Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, Parent Teacher Fellowship and Tartan Alumni Council for their unwavering commitment and service to St. Margaret's. To all parents, present and past, thank you for your faith, trust and support, for your partnership on this incredible and inspiring journey, for joining this band, and for uniting as active expressions of hope for St. Margaret’s and our students.

JA S O N A . W EI S S has been the President of the St. Margaret’s Board of Trustees since 2013, and a Trustee since 2009. Mr. Weiss is a partner with the law firm Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, where he specializes in representing businesses on a wide variety of employment and labor-relations issues. From 2003-2015, Mr. Weiss was an adjunct professor of business law at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. He also has served as an adjunct professor at Chapman University Law School. Mr. Weiss is a former Board member of The Prentice School. Mr. Weiss holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Southern California. Mr. Weiss and his wife, Joanna, have three children, Will, Leah, and Audrey, who attend St. Margaret's.

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BY WILL MOSELEY

O

ur Board President Jason Weiss eloquently and with great passion and love described the unique strengths and qualities of our St. Margaret’s community that emanate from our shared mission and our central purpose to nurture an outstanding academic experience for our Tartans.

Mr. Weiss also conveyed our shared commitment to continually move St. Margaret’s forward as a school of excellence and scholarly pursuit focused on meeting the needs of students today and tomorrow. While we have been strengthening the school’s fiscal foundation over the past few years, importantly we too have been steadily advancing academic and student programs across all areas. We have broadened and evolved course content and areas of study, enhanced the learning environment, focused on individual student skills growth, and advanced teaching and learning techniques in the classroom.

The 2016-2017 school year marked significant academic growth for St. Margaret’s. Year one of implementation of our aspirational Strategic Plan made exciting progress through an innovation process that engaged all faculty and staff and leveraged input from students. Our use of design-thinking methodology centered on student needs and feedback unearthed compelling findings and underlying insights that have generated innovative initiatives and action steps around the priorities and goals of the Strategic Plan.

In the past few years, we have also sought partnerships with national experts and research-based solutions to analyze, measure, validate and ensure consistency in teaching and learning. We have implemented several new academic assessment tools and programs and are in the midst of our six-year accreditation self-study.

Commensurate with these efforts, student success and achievement continue to grow year-over-year at impressive rates, further validating our work across the academic program. The following is a report on the exciting strategic initiatives across the academic program, and important student benchmarks from the 2016-2017 school year.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES AND NEW INITIATIVES R ED E S I G N S CH O O L S CH ED U L E: After conducting ethnographic interviews with students as part of the design-thinking process, a faculty and staff team focused on Strategic Plan health and wellness goals identified redesigning the school schedule as a priority. The team tested a prototype schedule with students to address their needs around sleep, nutrition, and community time. Other Strategic Plan teams identified limitations of the current school schedule. The school will build on this work with an all-school schedule redesign anchored in student health and wellness, facilitation of other strategic initiatives and ongoing innovation. Students, faculty and staff have already provided preliminary input for the redesign, and parent forums will be held in the fall. St. Margaret’s is partnering with a specialist from Independent School Management to consult on the project. The specialist will visit campus for a week in September to conduct interviews with all campus constituencies and consult on schedule redesign options. Read more on page 14.

20 I N T ER D I S CI P L I N A RY S T U D I E S G R A N T S AWA R D ED: St. Margaret’s launched an Innovation Grant program for faculty to collaborate and create interdisciplinary curricula to be piloted and analyzed next fall, building on the success of a pilot collaboration between grade 9 math and science teachers this past year. Faculty from every division and department, 44 in total, worked together earlier this year to develop and write grant proposals that were awarded in June 2017, with full development of the pilots happening over the summer. Illuminating connections of academic content across disciplines is a strategy to deepen understanding and make learning more relevant, addressing student feedback.

HIGHLANDER

25

A L L-S CH O O L CU LT U R A L CO M P E T EN C Y WO R K : Diversity and inclusion thought leader Rosetta Lee visited St. Margaret’s in March 2017 as scholar in residence. During her week on campus, Ms. Lee held workshops, presentations and small-group conversations with students, faculty, staff, parents and school leaders, providing tangible guidance and applications of cultural competency skills. The next step is to create a framework that outlines the intentional development of these important skills throughout the St. Margaret’s student experience. This effort will be led by faculty and staff with continued consultation from national experts, including Ms. Lee. Read more on page 34.

R E VA M P ED S ERV I CE L E A R N I N G R EQ U I R EM EN T: The Strategic Plan team focused on experiential learning prototyped a new service learning graduation requirement that included consistent partnership with a service organization to deepen empathy and relationships, and dedicated time in the school day for service learning. A group of Upper School students piloted this model during the 2017 spring semester. The pilot will be scaled to the freshman class next year in an ongoing shift from a required number of service hours to a model based on long-term transformational experiences.

EN T R EP R EN EU R I A L S T U D I E S P RO G R A M S: Building on the successful four-week entrepreneurship pilot in the Upper School in the fall, the math department created a semester-long entrepreneurial studies course that the Academic Leadership Team approved in February. The course will launch in spring 2017. Further, the highly successful Middle School Tartan Tank inventors program coordinated with the grade 8 science fair unit this year, and brought in mentoring and judging with local venture capitalists, including alumni. Learning from these programs, St. Margaret’s will continue to expand entrepreneurship programs with a focus on deepening partnerships with universities and industry.

V I R T UA L R E A L I T Y A P P L I C AT I O N S: Through a generous PTF Grant, St. Margaret’s integrated two HTC VIVE virtual reality stations on campus this year and used them in various classes across divisions and by student groups.

Student feedback and engagement with the technology was overwhelmingly positive, with students logging over 500 hours on the Google Tilt Brush application alone. The computer science department created a semesterlong virtual reality coding class, also approved by the Academic Leadership Team, that will be launched in the Upper School this school year. The PTF Grant program funded additional VR stations so each maker space on campus has a station, as well as dedicated stations in the Upper School computer science classroom and the new Visual Arts Center.

R EG G I O EM I L I A P RO FE S S I O N A L D E V ELO PM EN T: St. Margaret’s Early Childhood Development Center teachers traveled to Italy this summer 26

S T. M A R G A R E T ’ S E P I S C O PA L S C H O O L

to attend the renowned Reggio Emilia International Summer School for early childhood educators at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre. This unique professional development experience, funded by a generous St. Margaret’s parent, allowed teachers to deepen their study of the world-renowned Reggio Emilia approach for early childhood education, with which the preschool curriculum is closely aligned.

N E W L S R E A D I N G A N D W R I T I N G CU R R I CU LU M: The Lower School has fully implemented an innovative, research-based kindergartengrade 5 reading and writing curriculum from Columbia University Teachers College. The implementation began three years ago with the Writer’s Workshop, and the Reader’s Workshop followed the next year. The program is already showing dramatic increases in student engagement and enthusiasm, as well as reading and writing test scores reflected in our most recent ERB data. Read more on page 15.

E X PA N D ED M S S T U D EN T CH O I CE: With a focus on increasing student choice and flexibility in exploring course options, the Middle School revamped its elective offerings, specifically expanding grade 7 electives to full semesters. The new curriculum progression fosters exposure to a wide range of offerings before Upper School for those students who are still discovering their interests and talents. Further, it deepens experience through semesterlong courses and allows access for those students who seek more challenge in specific areas of the curriculum.

EN H A N CED P RO FE S S I O N A L D E V ELO PM EN T: St. Margaret’s increased the budget for professional development 35 percent for the 20172018 school year to expand ongoing growth and learning opportunities for the expertise of our educators. Professional development includes faculty on-campus training with outside experts, and external conferences, courses, seminars and workshops for faculty groups and individuals. Faculty who engage in professional development outside campus bring this new learning back to the classroom and the professional learning community, often serving as lead educators on curriculum topics with their St. Margaret’s peers.

N E W E X T EN S I O N S O FFER I N G S: The St. Margaret’s Extensions program has also added new academic exploration offerings this year, including a for-credit military history course that traveled to Europe with World Strides this summer. Extensions also engaged in a partnership with Level Up Village, bringing the global STEM classroom to St. Margaret’s that was recently featured in PC Magazine. This summer, St. Margaret’s also offered new enrichment courses in engineering challenges, digital sculpture, digital media academy for girls, and illustration and animation with alumna Shelby Nicholas.

STUDENT BENCHMARKS

AP TESTS St. Margaret’s administers the ERB assessment annually in grades 3-8, measuring student growth and achievement in the areas of math, quantitative reasoning, reading comprehension, verbal reasoning and writing. Administrators track data over time by cohort to identify and study student learning trends and identify areas of opportunity in the academic program. In the past five years during increased focus on these trends, St. Margaret’s students have shown a corresponding and continuous year-over-year growth at rates steeper than most comparative groups, including similar independent schools. The growth continuum is encouraging, and it corresponds with increasing measures of student achievement in the Upper School, as well. The following graphs show ERB growth trends for a single sample cohort, the Class of 2023.

Even with the highest enrollment levels in Upper School history, students have continued to maintain high pass rates well above the national average.

26 28 599 88%

AP Courses offered in 2016-2017 AP Courses offered in 2017-2018 AP Tests Taken in 2015-2016*

Pass Rate*

* 2016-2017 data not yet available

M AT H EM AT I C S

Q UA N T I TAT I V E R E A S O N I N G

SAT Student performance on the SAT has been consistently strong across the old and new test formats (introduced in 2016) as we continue to monitor the positive trend with the new SAT assessment.

Class of 2017 Average SAT score

R E A D I N G CO M P R EH EN S I O N

V ER B A L R E A S O N I N G

1280

ACT St. Margaret's ACT test participation has increased while scores remain high.

SMES

INDEX Schools

Independent Schools

National Norm

29

Class of 2017 mean composite score

HIGHLANDER

27

TEACHING AND LEARNING ASSESSMENT C A I S-WA S C ACCR ED I TAT I O N: In tandem with strategic planning

quality feedback from their students, gives insights to what students are experiencing, identifies areas of strength and opportunity, increases student engagement and learning outcomes, and tracks results over time.

implementation, St. Margaret’s faculty and staff engaged in a yearlong, intensive and comprehensive self-study of the entire academic program and school operations for its six-year accreditation review with the California Association of Independent Schools and Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Our accreditation is a peer-review process that fosters excellence and encourages school improvement through discovery, dialogue and compliance. The process assesses and validates our strengths as well as reveals areas of opportunity that inform the Strategic Plan implementation. The CAIS-WASC accreditation review will culminate with a visit of CAIS-member peers from well-respected California independent schools in the winter of 2018.

AC A D EM I C D EPA R TM EN T P EER R E V I E W: St. Margaret’s developed a department curriculum and teaching peer review process that began in the English department, followed by science, and most recently visual arts.

Inviting the expertise of subject educators from other leading independent and college institutions, the qualitative review has welcomed faculty from Bishop’s School, Harvard-Westlake, Campbell Hall, and La Jolla Country Day. The visiting educators observe classes, review curriculum, interview faculty and engage in dialog to offer feedback and recommendations that validate and strengthen the St. Margaret’s learning experience. One academic department undergoes the process — led by the department chair — each year.

S T U D EN T S K I L L S A N D CH A R AC T ER: St. Margaret’s Middle

S T RO N G FACU LT Y CU LT U R E: St. Margaret’s partners with

School implemented the Tessera non-cognitive student assessment that measures important skill and character strength sets, including organization, responsibility, teamwork, resilience, leadership, ingenuity and communication. Tessera findings are informing teaching and student understanding of personal strengths and the value of developing these important character traits. Students reported on their individual findings during their student-led parent conferences this year.

FACU LT Y E VA LUAT I O N P RO G R A M: The expertise and high quality of the St. Margaret’s faculty are the most crucial elements in providing an extraordinary educational experience for our students. In the past few years, we created a new Faculty Growth and Support Plan to support the development of our teachers. It is an annual evaluation tool with a common framework around excellence in teaching. The academic team has fully implemented the program campus-wide, and all teachers engage in the process annually with division principals and department chairs, accordingly.

S M E S X T E ACH ER T R A I N I N G : St. Margaret’s partnered with Research for Better Teaching for five years to bring the latest research and expertise for effective teaching and learning to the St. Margaret’s classroom.

St. Margaret’s compiled the findings and research along with internal expertise to develop a new teacher training program completed by all St. Margaret’s teachers within a year of employment. Utilizing the edX opensource platform, the web-based program engages and informs faculty in skillful teaching practices and creating optimal learning environments.

T R I P O D S T U D EN T S U RV E Y: In kindergarten-grade 12 classes, St. Margaret’s implemented the Tripod student perception survey, created at Harvard University and studied and validated by the Gates Foundation Measures of Effective Teaching project. Tripod provides teachers high-

Independent School Management to administer the Faculty Culture Profile to track the professional culture and continuity of our program through the eyes of our teachers. Research guides that a healthy faculty culture directly correlates to student achievement. St. Margaret’s faculty culture ratings consistently outperform the national independent school aggregate, indicating a strong and healthy faculty culture at St. Margaret’s in all divisions. We analyze the data as an academic team to inform our work together toward our mission.

OUR ENDURING PURSUIT Our 2016-2017 school year culminated on June 3, 2017, when we celebrated the 111 Tartans of the Class of 2017, some who came as preschoolers and others who joined us along the way in red and blue sweaters or navy blazers, yet each representing their individual contributions and special place in our community. One-by-one they crossed the stage and accepted their well-earned St. Margaret’s diplomas and all the responsibility and privileges that come with it. We launched them in 111 different directions, to colleges and universities across the nation and the world, well prepared for their futures. We trust these outstanding Tartans will carry forth their St. Margaret’s learning and values with purpose, resolve, honor and integrity.

We are deeply grateful for our work with all of our amazing Tartans. It is what propels us every day in our enduring pursuit of scholarship, growth and distinction. Thank you for your partnership and shared dedication to our mission and values. We look forward to continuing our important work together next year, and many years to come.

H E A D O F S CH O O L W I L L M O S EL E Y joined St. Margaret’s in 2013 and has more than 30 years of experience as an independent school leader. He holds a Master of Arts in Independent School Leadership from the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University Teachers College and a Bachelor of Arts from Lake Forest College. Mr. Moseley currently serves on the National Association of Episcopal Schools Governing Board and the Diocesan Commission on Schools of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

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S T. M A R G A R E T ’ S E P I S C O PA L S C H O O L

Presentingg COM M EN CEM EN T 2017

’24 T HE CL A S S OF

St. Margaret’s grade 5 students ceremoniously bid farewell to the Lower School and made the “walk” to the Middle School, flanked by a cheering human pathway of their parents and younger Lower School peers. The new commemoration culminated with the tossing of their Lower School red sweaters into the air, symbolically closing their time in the Lower School.

’21 T HE CL A S S OF

The Class of 2021 gathered one last time as Middle School students before being officially promoted to the Upper School during a formal Chapel ceremony in June.

The ceremony featured moving remarks from Head of School Will Moseley and Middle School principal Jeannine Clarke, as well as an official welcome from Upper School principal Tony Jordan.

HIGHLANDER

29

’17

COM M EN CEM EN T 2017

The

Class of

“The challenges we’ve all faced throughout high school—big or small— have tested us, forced us to grow and, in turn, have made us stronger because of them. I’m just fortunate to have spent my four years of high school tackling every bump in the road alongside people that cared enough to help me along the way.”

CH A R L I E S M I T H , VA L ED I C TO R I A N

111

CL A S S O F 201 7 G R A D UAT E S

616 A P T E S T S TA K EN

110

AT T EN D I N G CO L L EG E (1 I N CI V I L S ERV I CE)

30

S T. M A R G A R E T ’ S E P I S C O PA L S C H O O L

IN

20

AT T EN D I N G

58

S TAT E S & D.C . (plus Australia & Scotland)

CO L L EG E S & U N I V ER S I T I E S

“I'm not here to say that carefully planned moves to stay on the ‘path to success’ toward your ultimate goal in life are necessarily bad. But to find happiness, follow the advice of cartoonist Randall Munroe: ‘Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.’”

T H O M A S K WA , S A LU TATO R I A N

24

CU M L AU D E S O CI E T Y I N D U C T EE S

15

P L A N TO PA R T I CI PAT E I N I N T ERCO L L EG I AT E AT H L E T I C S

10

P L A N TO S T U DY THE ARTS

For complete speeches and photo galleries from Commencement 2017, visit www.smes.org/commencement2017.

HIGHLANDER

31

COM M EN CEM EN T 2017

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CLASS OF 2017 HIGHLANDER

33

Scholar in Residence Rosetta Lee Talks Cultural Competency at St. Margaret’s St. Margaret’s welcomed cultural competency thought leader Rosetta Lee to campus in March, when she spent a week as scholar in residence. Ms. Lee engaged with constituencies across the community, including students, parents, faculty, staff, administrators and the Board of Trustees.

exist? Collaboration: Will you be effective in working with people who aren’t just like you? Creativity: We know just from the research that the more diversity you have, the more creativity you generate. You can have brilliant folks from a homogenous perspective, and they will always be outperformed by diverse groups.

St. Margaret’s Strategic Plan specifically lists the development of cultural competency “as an essential element of a St. Margaret’s education, equipping students with the awareness and skills necessary to effectively engage with others across cultures, perspectives and backgrounds.”

To me, cultural competence becomes critical if we’re going to educate students well. I think it’s important to acknowledge we’re not talking about it as a touchy-feely, nice thing to do. It’s imperative that if we want to best educate young people, we would be remiss not to do this work.

Ms. Lee shared that building cultural competency within a community is not about assimilating individuals with diverse identities, but rather valuing differences and leveraging them to create a more vibrant and innovative school. That message was conveyed in a variety of contexts across campus during the week.

RD: Our Episcopal identity provides a grounding and starting place for developing cultural competency. How can we fully integrate that aspect of who we are into this important work?

At the end of her stay, Ms. Lee sat down with Ryan Dahlem, assistant head of school for strategic initiatives, for an in-depth discussion on cultural competency and the steps St. Margaret’s is taking to teach these skills to students.

Ryan Dahlem: The case for developing cultural competency skills has many dimensions. How do you see it as an essential element of a 21stcentury education?

Rosetta Lee: What I notice is, and the research bears out, that any field, whether it’s government, industry, education, mental health, medicine, any field, as they develop cultural competency, the desired outcomes always improve. Twenty-first-­century education needs to rely on the skills that are necessary for this age—critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication. I don’t know how to do any of those things without cultural competence. Critical thinking takes account of multiple perspectives. But if you cannot talk to someone who is not like you, how do you gain that perspective? Communication: Will you be effective communicating across all of these human differences that

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S T. M A R G A R E T ’ S E P I S C O PA L S C H O O L

RL: I always think about the arc of the way schools adopt cultural competence. Some schools are in the place of, “Why are we doing this?” Some schools are in the place of, “How are we doing this?” Some schools are in the place of, “We tried to do it, and it’s not as smooth as we want it to be.” The final arc is, “We’re doing this, but we want to put systems into place so this happens no matter who’s at the school.” Being an educational institution with an Episcopal identity allows you to not have to work so hard for the “why.” It’s part of the value orientation. If you sign up for this school and its identity, it’s part of the package. I think at the same time, it can become a fallback for a lot of schools: “We’re an Episcopal school, so of course we accept everyone, and of course we want to be effective across differences.”

I think about cultural competence involving multiple pieces—the head piece, the heart piece and the action piece. The heart piece is built into the school’s identity. The head piece consists of, “What is the language and vocabulary around cultural competence?” It’s nice to have language and tools that talk across cultural differences. There are knowledge pieces for sure.

A look at upcoming plans to develop cultural competency at St. Margaret’s: •

Develop a PK-12 Cultural Competency Framework that outlines the intentional development of skills throughout the entire St. Margaret’s student experience.

•

Further embed cultural competency skill development into the classroom through inclusive teaching practices and curriculum that integrates multiple perspectives.

•

Create a cultural competency toolkit for service learning that provides guidelines for approaching service through a culturally competent lens.

Then there are action pieces, which are, “How are we practicing it, how are we living it, how are we thinking about the impact of the programs?

What’s the experience of our alumni who are becoming increasingly more skilled, how are those skills playing out in their college life and their professional life?”

The final measurement you can take is affective. How do people feel around here? Do they feel they are valued? Do they feel they can show up as themselves? Do they feel they can contribute fully their expertise and creativity? It’s not just measuring in terms of numbers, but measuring what the community is saying and feeling.

RD: We have institutional support, a direction and resources committed

RD: After spending a week on campus and connecting with members of our community, what is your takeaway on the direction St. Margaret’s is heading with cultural competency development?

to developing cultural competency in our school community. How do we measure our progress along the way in this work?

RL: I think about measuring progress in three domains. One is demographic diversity. Part of practicing cultural competency means we have different forms of diversity show up. For me, it’s measuring how different people identify, what does our population look like, what are those various ways diversity shows up in our community, and how is that reflective of our local, regional or national trend?

There’s also programmatic diversity. Where does it show up in the curriculum? What are the major skillsets in cultural competence, and how do they show up in the advisory program, in assembly speakers we bring in, or in history curriculum or a math classroom?

RL: What’s been great is there’s been a lot of eagerness and engagement.

Teachers are really eager to walk away with the inclusive practices classroom tool. There was a great turnout with the parent event, with parents thinking about, “How do I intentionally teach positive self-identity and commitment to making sure others feel good about who they are and where they come from?” The board was engaged, thinking about why it’s so important that this continues to be part of the strategic efforts of St. Margaret’s.

Young people want to be at that place where they are more skilled. There is a lot of desire here, and I hope we equip some actionable things that folks can try and hopefully see the positive outcomes of it in weeks and months to come.

HIGHLANDER

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Chris Benderev ‘05

The Storyteller Chris Benderev took his love of broadcasting to NPR, where he helps tell stories that reach millions.

Chris Benderev ’05 was just “looking for something to do” to stay involved in campus life while enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles. That something quickly became his passion—and eventually, his career path.

By Ryan Wood While working on a degree in neuroscience, Mr. Benderev joined the UCLA campus radio station as a hobby, first as a music DJ and later starting the news department there. Inspired by programs like the massively popular This American Life, Mr. Benderev decided to try putting together nonfiction radio stories at UCLA with a narrative feel, featured both at UCLA Radio and on the website of The Daily Bruin, the UCLA student newspaper.

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Alumni Profile

“There are some great teachers at St. Margaret’s that encourage you to dig, to research, be thorough and do a good job. ...On some level, all of that filters into what you do as an adult."

>> Listen to "Hidden Brain" and "Embedded," two of the podcasts Chris has produced, at npr.org/podcasts

“They were bad,” he said with a laugh, “but I still found it really exciting. So I kept doing it.”

36 million listeners both online and on more than 1,000 radio stations across the country.

After completing his bachelor's degree at UCLA, Mr. Benderev turned to his newfound passion for broadcast journalism. A decade later, he is in Washington, D.C., working as a producer for National Public Radio, the nationally acclaimed not-forprofit multimedia organization with an enormous audience both on radio and online. He has worn many hats and worked on many shows at NPR. Lately, he’s focused his efforts on some of NPR’s popular podcasts that collectively have nearly 4 million weekly downloads.

Mr. Benderev’s role at NPR developed through years of hard work and hustle. Upon graduating from UCLA, he accepted an unpaid internship at NPR to get his foot in the door. After it ended, he started earning money as a temp worker, running around and assisting different NPR departments and shows.

That persistence eventually paid off with a full-time offer.

Producers do all the things that need to be done that aren’t on the microphone, Mr. Benderev says, such as brainstorming story ideas, researching subjects, booking travel, conducting interviews and editing sound.

The podcast he currently produces was one he helped launch. Titled Embedded, the podcast dives deeper into news topics that are shaping the world. It is produced in a narrative format, complete with voice-overs, interviews and natural sound. Embedded has tackled topics such as opioid addiction, immigration court, homelessness and police shootings.

On a recent episode, Mr. Benderev visited Wilkinsburg, Pa., a borough outside of Pittsburgh, and interviewed several community members impacted by the closing of 100-yearold Wilkinsburg High School. The podcast examined the reason for public school closings around the nation and attempted to humanize it by focusing on affected students, parents and faculty.

Previously, Mr. Benderev worked on the popular Weekend Edition radio show, and also tapped into his neuroscience education while working on NPR’s Hidden Brain podcast, which examines human behavior and the science behind it.

He’s one of more than 300 members of NPR’s news staff, which collectively reaches a weekly audience of more than

His broadcast work has taken him to different towns across the United States, where he’s experienced the entire spectrum of American culture. In addition, a fellowship through the International Center for Journalists enabled him to travel to Japan in 2012 to do reporting on the devastating earthquake and tsunami and its long-term effects. His pieces on the social impact of the disaster were picked up by news organizations like Public Radio International.

Mr. Benderev started at St. Margaret’s in grade 1 (“almost a lifer,” he says) and excelled during his years as a Tartan.

He was a member of the Cum Laude Society, ASB, varsity baseball and track & field.

He says St. Margaret’s ingrained a work ethic, performance standard and a curiosity toward learning that has served him well in his professional life.

Chris, grade 8

“There are some great teachers at St. Margaret’s that really encourage you to dig, to research, be thorough and do a good job,” Mr. Benderev said. “On some level, all of that filters into what you do as an adult.

“When you have to work on a story, you want to do a really great job. That’s the standard you hold yourself to, and for me that started at St. Margaret’s.”

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A LU M N I U P DAT E S L E T T ER FR O M T H E TA R TA N A LU M N I A S S O CI AT I O N P R E S I D EN T

Support for T.A.L.E M A K E A N I M PA C T

Dear Alumni,

with your fellow alumni and help change the life trajectory of future Tartans needing financial aid.

Show your Tartan loyalty with a participatory gift year in and year out— your generosity will directly impact the hearts and minds of future Tartan generations.

As I finish my tenure as President of our “newly” founded Tartan Alumni Association, I cannot help but reflect on how far we have come in six short years. For me to watch this organization grow into a dynamic group of volunteers and an alumni body more than 2,100 strong has been both an honor and a privilege. While we must keep in mind that our school and alumni association are still relatively young, we should step back and appreciate all that has been accomplished in such a short time.

T H A N K YO U to all of our 2016-2017

donors – we encourage you to continue the tradition of supporting T.A.L.E and your alma mater. Remember, our target aim is to increase alumni giving participation to 30 percent by 2020. Tartans, together we can!

S E R V I C E T O A L M A M AT E R M AT T E R S !

Ian Tacquard ’02 and most recently Georgina Lean ‘09 and Andrew Wood ‘03 have established the annual Alumni Career Forum as a way to connect our ever-growing alumni body with our current students. Alyson Barker ‘99 and Megan Canright ‘99 continue to develop the Class Captain system that is a leadership feeder for our reunion committees. Umar Bajwa ‘05 and Justin Phan ’04 have collaborated with science teacher Eric Harrington in providing our Middle School students the opportunity to interact with real world entrepreneurs as they design their own companies through “Tartan Tank.” Chris Allen ‘89 not only served in the critical role as vice president of the TAA, but worked with Director of the Arts Darcy Rice to produce the All-Alumni Review, one amazing evening of Broadway-style showmanship by St. Margaret’s artists. Nicole Hughes ’05 and Rachael Stoddard ’02 are fostering alumni engagement through events both locally and regionally. Our cardiac screening initiative has been a huge success, in partnership with Holly Morell of Heartfeltcardiacprojects.org and with the help of Athletic Director Patrick Bendzick and Athletic Trainer David Tomlinson ’95. The Tartan Alumni Legacy Endowment (TALE) continues to grow to meet its goal of increasing financial aid support for eligible incoming St. Margaret’s families. Our first year of fundraising saw a huge increase from $2,000 to $11,000 but since then has seen astronomical growth, and over the past four years the TAA has raised over $200,000 from our alumni, more than 80 percent of whom are less than 40 years old.

L E A R N M O R E A N D D O N AT E

www.smes.org/tale

Upcoming Alumni Events A U G U S T 1 8 -1 9 , 2 0 1 7

30th Reunion, Class of 1987 SEPTEMBER 15, 2017

PTF Tartan Family BBQ NOVEMBER 3, 2017

Homecoming NOVEMBER 22 , 2017

10th Reunion, Class of 2007 FEBRUARY 9, 2018

2 0 1 7-2 0 1 8 A N D B E YO N D

In closing, as I look ahead, I encourage each of you to get behind these efforts and thank you personally for your support and participation. As Mark Risner ‘86 bravely steps into the role as president of the Tartan Alumni Association, I implore you all to find a way to become involved and help us continue to develop this exciting and critical component of St. Margaret’s future.

Sincerely,

Alumni Career Forum

Choose Your Connection.

Follow, like and post to enjoy the latest alumni and campus news, events and nostalgic flashbacks!



S. Todd Newman M.D. ’91 Outgoing President, Tartan Alumni Association (and proud St. Margaret’s parent)

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 @TartanAlumni  Tartan Alumni Association  St. Margaret's Tartan

Alumni Association

Class Notes C O M P I L E D B Y J I L L I A N G R AY

'87

Stay tuned for our 30-year reunion recap following our celebration from the outing on August 18 and the family-friendly BBQ at Joe Kennedy’s on August 19.

'92

It is time to relive that St. Margaret’s pride and join our friends and classmates for our 25-year reunion! If you are interested in helping organize a gathering for ‘92s, please contact the Alumni Relations Office at alumni@smes.org.

'95

Congrats to Chico Jones and his wife, Mariah, on the birth of their New Year’s Eve baby, Paloma “Lolo” Jones, who was born at 9 pounds and 19.5 inches.

'97

Becky Stewart and John Glosser are joining forces to bring the Class of ’97 back together for a memorable 20-year reunion.

Stay tuned for all the planning details and be sure to update your address and email with the Alumni Relations Office at alumni@smes.org.

'99

Trevor Connon and wife, Tara, welcomed baby Grace in December, joining big brother Luke (9) and big sister Caroline (6). The Connon family is relocating from the Bay Area to Pacific Palisades, where Trevor works as a fixed-income investment analyst at Capital Group.

'01

Kelly Dooley is taking a break from entrepreneurial life to enjoy being a mother to daughter, Zoe Giselle, who was born in July 2016.

With a Ph.D. in Christian theology and ethics, Michelle Wolff graduated from Duke University with honors, a certificate in teaching religion and a certificate in gender, sexuality and feminist studies. She lives in Durham, N.C., with her partner, Derek Jones, and three children. Robert Kelly was married to Daniella De La Cal on November 12, 2016, at The Ebell Club in Long Beach. Befitting a lifelong St. Margaret’s student, the wedding party was filled with many Tartans — including his best man, Joseph Kelly ’05. Rob is a commercial insurance broker and partner at Arroyo Insurance Services in Torrance.

N OTA B L E: 20 Y E A R R EU N I O N

'96

Members of the Class of ’96 celebrated their 20-year reunion together in style at Marbella Country Club. Among the attendees were Shay Nothman, Renee Bond and Kat Johnson, Dina Shaban Moatazedi and David Moatazedi ’95, Jean Freeman and Chris Raih, Paulo and Jennifer Santana, Pete and Katrina Smolen. Celebrating from afar on a ski lift in the snow were Aaron Koenig and Adam Pratt. Special thanks to Dina, Shay, James Harris and Rob Miltner for helping organize and promote the festivities and to Patty Canright for celebrating with us!

From top to bottom: Baby Paloma with mom (Chico Jones '95); Trevor Connon '99 with family; Baby Zoe (Kelly Dooley '01); Michelle Wolff '01 with family.

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N O TA B L E : 1 0 -Y E A R R E U N I O N

'06

Our 10-year reunion was certainly one for the record books! The Class of 2006 had the largest reunion attendance and highest class donations to date for St. Margaret’s.

A festive night was had by all who met at The Cannery in Newport Beach. The event was hosted

by Brendon Salisbury, along with his team at the restaurant. Danielle Graham and Sydney Matthews also helped organize. Thank you to everyone who attended!

'02

It is time to bring the ‘02s together for a 15-year milestone celebration. Clary Delano and Rachael Stoddard will be in touch with all the details, so stay tuned! Emily Parker, after eight years working for the federal government and earning a Master’s degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco, will pursue a lifelong passion of making traditional European leather goods. Emily is currently working at April in Paris, a bespoke leather retailer in San Francisco that specializes in traditional European hand-stitched goods. Emily will complete two apprenticeships with the top shoemakers in western boot-making and English riding boots prior to launching her eponymous label, E. Parker, in 2018. She and her husband, Ali Yurukoglu, a professor of economics in Stanford's Graduate School of Business, reside in the Bay Area. Lieutenant Michael Boyle, wife Rebecca and daughter Lyla will move to Iwakuni, Japan, for a two-year tour beginning this summer. Michael will serve as a training officer for the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 125 on the USS Ronald Reagan.

'04

Both Alexa Gozali and Amanda Gittelman graduated from medical school in May and are officially doctors.

Justin Phan and Max Solomon joined in the celebration. Alexi is headed to PIH Downey for her family-medicine residency, and Amanda is headed to Kaiser Los Angeles for her obstetrics/ gynecology residency. Hutch Parker, following four years as a Marine Corps officer, including a tour in Afghanistan, earned an MBA and an MPP from the University of Virginia in May. He will begin working for Accenture as a strategy consultant in New York this summer.

N OTA B L E: C H I L D R EN O F ED EN R EU N I O N

The Tartan Alumni Association hosted a mini-reunion for the Children of Eden ’09 cast on March 9 along with Head of School Will Moseley, Director of the Arts Darcy Rice, local parents of alumni and performing arts faculty.

The reunion kicked off opening night of the 2017 performance of Children of Eden with a pre-show reception at Tannins. Cast members and performers participating in the night included: Carlye Porrazzo ’11, George Ko ’11, Georgina Lean ’09, Melody Hernandez ’10, Rowley Rice ’09, Spencer Keane ’10, Kira Cahill ’09, and Scotty Ferguson ’09.

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Class Notes

'07

Congrats to Jenna Clark Johnston on her marriage to Jarrid Johnston in June 2016. They were married at Seacliff Country Club in Huntington Beach. Other Tartans in attendance included Rachel Allen (maid of honor), Kate Massey (bridesmaid) and Christina Edwards (bridesmaid). Jenna is working in Newport Beach at a commercial real estate development firm.

The 10-year reunion is set for November 22, 2017, with full event details and an invite to follow.

Please send contact info updates to anyone on the committee or the Alumni Relations office at alumni@smes.org.

by Jillian Gray

A L U M N I I N T E R V I E W : C H A R L E S C O X ‘ 1 1

Charles Cox ’11 is working in one of the most innovative spaces of our time as a propulsion engineer in the aerospace industry for SpaceX. In his role there, he designs, tests and operates propulsion systems for the Falcon 9 rocket. Charles received his bachelor's and master's in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford.

Charles shared that “wanting to make a meaningful impact with my work” keeps him motivated each day.

He shared that his toughest class at St. Margaret’s was AP Physics, and he appreciates his alma mater for the great academic training and character development.

Why rockets?

My uncle was an astronaut, and I grew up going to his space shuttle launches. Watching from six miles away, you could feel the rumble echo through your chest and watch the night turn into day as it lifted off. The raw power of that machine was infectious as a kid, and that bug stayed with me. I would definitely recommend seeing a rocket launch at some point in your life; it's a completely otherworldly experience.

Did St. Margaret’s play a role in spurring your interest in aerospace?

It definitely helped push me down the engineering path. I knew I wanted to do aerospace, but I wasn't necessarily set on the engineering side of things. The STEM classes and especially the classmates I took them with convinced me that I wanted to design and build these systems.

'08

Andrew de Burgh Sidley is a series regular in the Emmy-nominated teen drama series Youthful Daze. His short film Just One Drink, which he wrote, directed, produced and acted in, is distributed on cable television in Europe and the U.S. through Shorts International, the world's leading short-film distributor.

He is also starting on a full-length version of the film. Most recently, he wrote and directed an acclaimed short experimental revenge film called The Twisted Doll starring Elisha Kriis.

You interned at SpaceX before joining as a propulsion engineer. Was that an integral component into getting on board in such a coveted role?

'09

If asked, would you board that rocket to Mars?

After completing medical school at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, Phillip Guichet is off to New York City, where he will begin his six-year interventional radiology residency at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Definitely. Internships there are essentially a three-month tryout. You're absorbed into the workflow of the place from day one and are given tasks that need to be done for the mission to succeed. The pace is incredible, but if you enjoy that and excel in it, an internship is the best way to a full-time job.

When you see your rocket on the launch pad, what is the most nail-biting moment for you—blast-off or landing?

Liftoff is definitely the most nerve-racking part. When we light up the engines and let the rocket go, there's no taking it back. Rockets are, by necessity, built at the razor edge of our capabilities, and a tiny miscalculation can have very dramatic consequences. At the same time, you have to be willing to make mistakes to keep improving. A couple years ago, it was considered impossible to land a rocket the way we'd proposed. After almost a half dozen failed landings, we finally landed one. Now we do it twice a month.

Absolutely. I think almost everyone at this company is not-so-secretly attempting to build their ticket to Mars, and it's that shared passion that makes the job such a blast.

Any advice for all those budding St. Margaret’s STEM students?

Build stuff. It's the best way to discover and retain information and a lot more fun. Book-learning and studying is a super important part of your education, but actually going out to design and build things will deepen and cement that knowledge more effectively than anything else.

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IN MEMORIAM

Coleman Hampton ‘14 From his first days on campus, Coleman left an indelible mark on the St. Margaret’s community for his tremendous zeal for life, resilience, determination, artistry and grace.

Coleman joined St. Margaret’s as a freshman in 2010. He excelled in the visual arts with his unique computer graphics, and his presence at Tartan Jams and many Upper School dances performing as DJ Undecided. One of Coleman’s visual art works was recognized with the St. Margaret’s Illumination Award and is installed in the school’s permanent art collection in the Performing Arts Center.

Coleman also received the 2014 Faculty Plate Award for the senior who made the most of his or her St. Margaret’s experiences, and who clearly manifests the Latin inscription on the award, suo Marte, or by one’s own prowess.

Coleman was attending the University of California, Merced, pursuing a degree in cognitive science as a junior upon his sudden passing. At his memorial service his parents, Bobbi and Gerry, shared Coleman’s life story, one of perseverance and persistent on all their parts. Friend Miki Xu ’17 wrote and sang a touching song in his memory.

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'12

Gabriela Leichnitz, after graduating from Princeton with her BSE in computer science, moved to South America for six months to work on her Spanish.

She now lives in the Bay Area and works for Boston Consulting Group doing management consulting. Sam Larsen is living in Boston, where she works for Steelcase as a workplace consultant. Saba Saghafi is a writer and co-creator of an animated musical comedy series based in 2394, a time when Earth is overpopulated. Bento Box Entertainment has awarded it a development deal following their participation in the 2016 New York Television Festival. It is time to organize the five-year reunion! If you are interested in volunteering to bring the Class of ’12 together once more, please contact the Alumni Relations Office at alumni@smes.org.

ing department. After graduating from George Washington University with an art history degree, Maddy Bidmead will study at University College, London, to get her master's in art history. Symoné Pinedo is moving to Los Angeles to pursue her master's in school psychology at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Education. Symoné recently graduated from the University of San Francisco with a bachelor's in psychology. Ashley Torok graduated from Wheaton College and will stay in Chicago.

'14

Bayley Corman was recently on the CBS sitcom Two Broke Girls and is gearing up for her upcoming movie, The Hatred. She is a senior at LMU. Alfredo “Freddy” Valencia, who majored in biochemistry at Pitzer, received a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship to complete his Ph.D. in chemical biology at Harvard University. His research focuses on the biochemical and epigenetic underpinnings of highly aggressive cancers.

'13

Following her graduation from Columbia University, Victoria Lee works as an associate for the Boston Consulting Group in New York City. Gigi Morally, following graduation from New York University, works for Marcus & Millichap as an analyst on their single-tenant, net-leased team. Regan Anderson works at Bloomingdale's Corporate in New York City in the creative market-

N OTA B L E: B AY A R E A M EE T U P

Bay Area alumni gathered in December near Union Square for the San Francisco Tartan Alumni event. Special thanks to Rachael Stoddard ’02 and Mattingly Messina ’13 for their leadership in organizing the event.

Class Notes

'15

Morgan Higgins is studying musical theater at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her web series Mr. Student Body President was renewed, and she will film this summer.

Christopher Lanham, a theater major at Northwestern University, was one of 30 students selected for a summer abroad at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art). Nicole Fava has a professional summer contract with TEXAS Outdoor Musical. She is a musical-theater major at the University of Mississippi.

N OTA B L E: A LU M N I C A R EER F O R U M

St. Margaret’s students took part in a day of learning and networking with more than 30 Tartan alumni at the sixth annual Alumni Career Forum in February. Alumni dating back to St. Margaret’s very first graduating class of 1986 came back to campus and shared their professional knowledge with Middle and Upper School students. Students listened to alumni speakers, took part in Q&A sessions and attended a student-alumni networking reception.

'17

As the Class of ’17 embarks on its new journey away from campus, three individuals will lead the volunteer charge to keep their classmates connected to each other and their alma mater. Congratulations to Sharareh Famili, Tyler Genevay and Rebekah Olsen for their volunteer leadership. All ‘17s are invited to follow the Tartan Alumni Association’s Facebook page, Instagram and Snapchat accounts for exciting alumni news, flashbacks and happenings.

N O T A B L E : A L L- A L U M N I R E U N I O N ‘ 1 7

Trevor’s at the Tracks in San Juan Capistrano was home to the All-Alumni Reunion in June. Nearly 100 alumni returned to kick off the summer with their fellow Tartans. Festive tunes along with an acknowledgment of our outgoing Tartan Alumni Association President and Vice President, Todd Newman ’91 and Chris Allen ’89, capped off the night.

Parents of Alumni: If your son or daughter no longer maintains an address at your home, please notify the Office of Alumni Relations of his or her new address at 949.661.0108, ext. 1247 or alumni@smes.org. Thank you!

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TARTAN S C E N E S

Closing Ceremonies

Tartan Nightclub The St. Margaret’s community celebrated a night of friendship, fun and giving at AV Irvine at the all-school fundraiser Forever Plaid: Tartan Nightclub. The event, chaired by Lynda Collier and Margo Gunderson, raised more than $430,000 for Fund a Need as well as raising money for the PTF Grant Enrichment program.

The Tartan community celebrated a year full of academic achievements and memorable moments at the all-school closing ceremony, which officially concluded St. Margaret’s 38th school year. The ceremony in Pasternack Field House reflected on the year and honored faculty and staff celebrating anniversaries and retirement. That included retiring kindergarten teacher Anne Kemp, who was honored as Faculty Emeritus.

JOIN US OCTOBER 2, 2017 EL NIGUEL COUNTRY CLUB

Swallows Day Parade The St. Margaret’s community put its school pride on display at the 59th annual Swallows Day Parade in downtown San Juan Capistrano. More than 100 students, faculty and staff marched in the parade, led by the LA Scots Bagpipers. St. Margaret’s has participated and sponsored for more than 25 years.

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The 2016 Tee-Off raised more than $220,000 for student financial aid thanks to our players and sponsors.

All are welcome and encouraged to participate in this fun day of fellowship.

REGISTER at WWW.SMES.ORG/TEEOFF For sponsorship opportunities, please email Jillian Gray at jillian.gray@smes.org

The Ernest D. Sillers Legacy Society Named after St. Margaret’s founder, the Ernest D. Sillers Legacy Society exists to celebrate those whose commitment to St. Margaret’s extends well into the future. Members of the society have made planned-giving provisions for the school through a variety of financial and legal instruments, which may include simple bequests, life insurance policies, trusts, annuities, retirement plans, real estate and other alternative assets.

Library Luncheon More than 300 parents and friends visited the residence of the Mays family to celebrate the 36th annual PTF Library Luncheon in April. Chaired and hosted by Kasia Mays, with co-chairs Susan Beall and Liana Miller, the event raised more than $93,000 to benefit the Library and PTF Grant Enrichment program.

Planned giving enables donors to make charitable gifts now or through one’s estate later, while providing a host of tax advantages, financial benefits, and safeguards for both the donor and his or her heirs. Unlike cash donations, these gifts are typically made from assets in an estate rather than from disposable income. These gifts require planning and, often, help from professional advisors.

These tools can be used to align the donor’s tax, income and asset transfer needs with those of St. Margaret’s.

At times, these gifts can provide a long-term income stream for a donor from a non-income-producing asset, an immediate or deferred income tax deduction, or an advantaged way to transfer wealth to the next generation in a family.

We are very grateful to this special group of people for their commitment, vision and generosity.

PTF New Board/Old Board The leadership of the PTF officially transitions each summer with the installation of the new board.

Marina Goffredo was sworn in as new PTF President beginning July 1 by outgoing President Pam Cruse. Ms. Goffredo has been a St. Margaret’s parent for eight years and has served on many PTF committees and chaired several events.

As part of the New Board/Old Board brunch in May, the work of the PTF during the 2016-2017 school year culminated with Mrs. Cruse presenting two checks to Jonathan Tufo, executive director of advancement. The generous donations included a $50,000 check to the Fund A Need toward construction of the new Visual Arts Center, and a $20,000 check to the Endowment Fund.

If you have already arranged for a planned gift to St. Margaret’s, please notify us to include you in the Ernest D. Sillers Legacy Society.

For more information and sample bequest language, please contact: Jonathan Tufo Executive Director of Advancement 949.661.0108 ext. 1318 jonathan.tufo@smes.org

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Tartan Traditions…

UPCOMING EVENTS

AU G U S T 16 : San Juan Summer Nights Concert sponsored by St. Margaret’s AU G U S T 2 1 : Lower, Middle and Upper School New Parent Orientation and PTF Tartan Spirit Day AU G U S T 2 3: First Day of School for KindergartenGrade 12 AU G U S T 2 8 : First Day of School for Preschool AU G U S T 2 9 : PTF Welcome Back Coffee S E P T E M B E R 1 5 : PTF Tartan Family BBQ O C TO B E R 1 : Admission Applications Available O C TO B E R 2 : Tartan Tee-Off O C TO B E R 2 3-24 : Fall Break O C TO B E R 2 8 : Admission Open House N OV E M B E R 3: Homecoming N OV E M B E R 2 2-24 : Thanksgiving Break D EC E M B E R 1 8-JA N UA RY 2 : Christmas Break F E B R UA RY 1 : Admission Applications Deadline

St. Margaret's welcomed close to 500 visitors to campus in April for breakfast, student performances and classroom visits as part of Grandparents and Special Friends Day. The event is a chance for cherished members of the St. Margaret’s community to see the “everyday” of Lower School students.