WNS Jetway 2021: SOAR

TheJetway

SOAR

W I N T E R

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SOAR Table of Contents

Editors

Welcome from HOS

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Design-Code-Make

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ECC: Environment as the Third Teacher

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Performing Arts

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Visual Arts: Studio 22

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Alumni Spotlight: Class of 2017

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Graduation 2021

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice

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Alumni Highlights

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Annual Fund

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Philanthropy Report

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Daniel Brubaker, Director of Communications Hannah Lawrence, Director of Marketing Becky Lockhart, Assistant Director of Development Alicia O’Connor, Graphic Designer & Creative Director Alice Arutiunian Wyman, Assistant Director of Admission

Printing Ed Su, Studio Printing

TheJetway is published annually by Westside Neighborhood School for parents/caregivers, alumni, and friends. For more information or questions, please contact:

Photography Daniel Brubaker Vince Bucci Photography WNS Community Members

WNS Office of Marketing & Communications 5401 Beethoven Street Los Angeles, CA 90066 communications@wns-la.org © Westside Neighborhood School

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SOAR Dynamic character is defined as a literary device that describes a character in a story, be it a novel or a movie, that internally changes or morphs in significant ways throughout the arc of the story as a result of the forces brought upon it by the story itself. Ebenezer Scrooge in

A Christmas Carol is a classic example of a dynamic character, changed by the experiences within the story. Each and every one of our students at Westside Neighborhood School is a dynamic character in the purest sense of the term: inexorably altered internally through their accumulated experiences of their WNS story. Their character, sense of purpose, cognitive capacities, upwelling of creativity, internalization of the lessons of DEIJ, and the wisdom to decipher right from wrong with the courage to choose what’s right.

My grandson recently explained to us that he really doesn’t learn much in kindergarten. “We do have math and reading, but the rest of the time we just play,” he explained. He then comes to our house and independently sets up the easel and paints a beautiful picture of a bird in a tree, later moving to an upstairs desk and finds odd bits of paper to create a mosaic. Then, following a script only he sees, he moves to the patio and methodically takes cuttings of succulents to create a magical garden. He has no idea that those years “playing” in the ECC and now in Kindergarten have taught him so much more than any book could. Unbeknownst to him, our early childhood curriculum, centered around social constructivism - a theory that encourages children to learn through play, making their own discoveries, and empowering them to innovate and become protagonists in their own learning - provided him the building blocks to become the independent, curious, and creative student he is today. He has been a dynamic character, changed in profound ways that will form the foundation for more growth, change, and capacity. It is that way for all of our students at an evolving developmentally appropriate pace. The Design • Code • Make (DCM) program engages our elementary and middle school students in new versions of “play,” that unleashes imaginative problem solving.

Our performing arts programs provide torrents of opportunities for our dynamic characters to create, express, and experience a myriad of stories of their own creation and develop empathy, connection, and harmony among a community of dynamic characters that is WNS. Our magazine, The Jetway, is created to give you a deeper look into a variety of parts of our story, a constantly evolving story that includes all of you as our children SOAR! Enjoy.

Brad Zacuto Brad Zacuto Head of School TheJetway

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Design Code Make

The Next Generation Of Creators

Lower School DCM Brad Wright, Director of Technology and 5th Grade DCM Teacher

The foundational approach of the WNS Design • Code • Make (DCM) program is the design thinking process. We use design thinking as a gateway to teach entrepreneurship, computational thinking, and habits of mind. Middle school students have been busily engaged in creating and innovating since we introduced DCM in 2017. The curriculum has been so successful, we decided to expand it down to fifth grade in 20-21 and to the rest of the lower school starting this year.

In this first year of the program in kindergarten through fourth, we have focused on developing “making skills” through exploration of papercraft and cardboard construction. We have also begun introducing elements of design thinking, computational thinking, and the entrepreneurial mindset. In kindergarten and first grade, this is a hands-on approach with no digital component. In second grade, we have begun integrating making and design into the larger projects happening in social studies, language arts, and science in order to offer authentic contexts for practicing these skills. For example, while learning about Día de los Muertos, second graders created traditional paper flower arrangements.

In third and fourth grades, we have been delving more deeply into the design thinking process, focusing on the “empathize” step through the use of literature-based design units which help students identify the needs of clients as presented within a situational context. As the year goes on, students will begin to explore digital design and content creation more deeply while continuing to practice making with their hands, using the techniques they have already learned and beginning to incorporate found objects and digital fabrication.

In fifth grade, students begin traveling across the street to the FabLab for DCM classes. We began the year with a project inspired by the surging popularity of board games during the pandemic. Working in groups, students are concepting and producing their own board games using the principles of design thinking while creating 2D game boards and 3D game pieces.

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Middle School DCM John Umekubo, 5th-8th Director of Entrepreneurial Studies

Design • Code • Make (DCM) began as a methodology to prepare students to use the tools of today and tomorrow, both digital and analog, to ideate, design, and prototype their way to creating innovative solutions for themselves and others. Our goal is for WNS graduates to be equipped with the skills, knowledge, and mindset to tackle future challenges in their lives and in society. As such, we strive to impart an entrepreneurial approach to problem-solving, coupled with an empathetic outlook toward design. Beyond the skills and knowledge related to the specific tools we introduce, we seek to provide opportunities for students to practice habits of mind: taking risks, learning from failure, applying past knowledge to new situations, and thinking flexibly.

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In sixth grade, traditionally our foundational year, we offer a blend of stand-alone projects and units of study that integrate with curricula in their core classes. Students learn 3D design and printing, 2D graphic design and digital fabrication, coding and robotics, woodworking, and game design. With the introduction of DCM into the fifth grade curriculum in recent years, we now dive much deeper into each area as students arrive with a higher baseline of skills.

To discover more about the sixth grade program, please visit http://bit.ly/DCM-6.

This year, in seventh grade, students explore 2D design in vector and bitmap formats using industry-standard tools like Adobe Illustrator and Procreate. They fabricate their final work using laser cutters and vinyl cutters. While these projects and designs stem from a student’s personal interest, the skills developed in 2D graphic design benefit their future work in SPLASH (Solving Problems for Los Angeles’s Society and Health), the interdisciplinary capstone for this grade level.

In eighth grade, students are engaged in a furniture building project, working with several WNS clients who had specific requests for their classrooms, offices, or other workspaces. Students are trained in the safe and proper use of power tools, honing their design ideas to move from paper to real-world products. Students interview their clients, draft ideas, take measurements, and start the building process. In February, students will present these projects to their clients and transition into the eighth grade capstone, Passion Project.

With the rapid advancement of technology and the evolution of both hardware and software, we must remain flexible and revisit our program design each year. In addition to this, the state of society, current events, and significant global issues inspire our content. What we offer this year reflects a specific moment in time, and the program will adapt as needed in the coming years.

One constant is to provide engaging and meaningful experiences. We strive to integrate our work with what students are learning in their core classes, leading toward interdisciplinary studies and the importance of using these tools for social good.

Simultaneously, learning should be fun and inviting. Our work in DCM should serve as a valuable stepping stone on a student’s path toward life-long learning.

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Early Childhood Center

Environment as a Third Teacher Kelly Massey, Director of Early Childhood Education

At the Early Childhood (ECC), as a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool, we put a lot of thought and conversation into our school environment and how it invites children to play and learn. When folks are visiting the ECC, they often notice the beauty of the classrooms first, but much more important to us is how the spaces support children in their learning and growth. Our hope is that our environment is engaging, intentional, readable, beautiful, and playful. We also hope that it shows the children in our care that we respect them and want them to feel both comfortable and at home in this space. In her inspiring book, Designs for Living and Learning, author Deb Curtis invites us to see the classroom through the children’s eyes and consider what the environment is communicating to the children in our care.

When a classroom is well set up and our intentions are readable to the children, the environment can also assist with classroom management and the children’s ability to autonomously navigate the space. When materials are organized on the shelves in a manner that makes it clear how to find what you need and where to put it when you are done, we are supporting children’s emerging executive functioning skills. When we invite children to investigate the light table with materials arranged in an inspiring way, we are supporting their attention and ability to stick with an activity for a longer time.

Finally, when the classroom is beautifully arranged, we demonstrate to the children that we respect them and that we consider them worthy of a space that is artfully designed. We consider color, lighting, and natural materials essential design elements to show children that we consider them valued members of our community. We hope that our classrooms evoke wonder, curiosity, and, sometimes, surprise through our careful and intentional planning.

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Performing Arts

Reenvisioning of Performing Arts and Music Desi Cameron , Nate Cohen, Kylie Jenkins, and Jesse Marquez

The “Arts” are the heart of WNS! Our graduates have the skill set, confidence, creativity, and commitment to be leaders on stage and behind the scenes. Even with a few curve balls thrown our way the past two years, our department loves to creatively problem solve and see challenges as opportunities. We’re proud to report that our program continues to grow and thrive! This year, we continue to expand and reach for excellence!

WNS students learn how to collaborate, empathize, stretch their imagination and creatively problem solve, all while building their confidence, public speaking skills, and presence.

Our students thrive by devising student-created work in our visual arts, music, dance, and theatre programs. Students create, perform, respond, and connect to the work and build upon their knowledge and skill set each year.

They rehearse and create powerful art pieces and performances, all while being in a supportive and loving environment. All students are seen, heard, nurtured, and cherished. Our students are the next movers and shakers in the arts.

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Kindergarten Through Fourth Grade Music: It all begins in kindergarten, where students participate in a variety of musical activities that will be built on throughout their time at WNS. Kindergarten students experience musical concepts such as steady beat, rhythm and meter, melodic contour, dynamics, tempo, and music listening from all over our big wide world. They strengthen their singing voices, creative movement skills, and their ability to use a variety of instruments including drums, guiros, maracas, claves, and barred instruments.

In the first and second grade, students learn about music notation, meter, dynamics, pitch, and music from around the world. They build their skills on unpitched percussion instruments and strengthen their abilities on the barred instruments. Students are also continuously working on becoming stronger, more confident singers. By the end of our time together at the close of the second grade, students will be able to perform, read, and notate a variety of music with confidence.

In third and fourth grades, we are excited to expand our programming and welcome music, theatre, and dance to our curriculum. Students split the week learning about the three disciplines while learning how to collaborate and stretch their imaginations by creating, performing, connecting, and responding to the work we create in class.

In third grade, we explore and create work from a lens of curiosity, culture, identity and community through percussion such as drums, guiros, barred instruments and boomwhackers. Students also create short movement pieces that represent feelings and emotions. Students are introduced to improvisation and creative play by collaborating on a small in-class performance. Later in the year, third graders will take on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, and create choreography that will be performed for families and some of our WNS community.

In fourth grade, students continue their work exploring and creating work through curiosity, culture, identity, and community. Students also split their week learning and collaborating through music, theatre, and dance. fourth graders add a digital element to their repertoire by exploring our music lab where they learn basic piano techniques and create compositions through SoundTrap, an online collaborative music making studio. Fourth graders will also perform a musical piece towards the end of the year.

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Fifth Through Eighth Grade Music: Students used Soundtrap to create their own musical compositions.

Eighth grade students even released their own album on amazon, Spotify, and iTunes. Some of their songs were selected to play at graduation! Fifth through sixth graders continue to build their musical skills.

Fifth Through Eighth Grade Theatre Arts: Our main goal in Middle School Music is for students to receive a well-rounded musical experience and education. Music is very much about process and how students connect with the content. It is important at any level, but especially in middle school to provide repertoire that is pertinent to their experience, but also musically rich and expansive to their world view.

In fifth grade, students explore the beginning pillars of musicianship, which opens to the doors to their future musical success. Our main goal in this period is to ensure students leave with a solid understanding of basic musical rhythms, solfege, and developing a healthy unison sound.

We utilize a variety of percussive and string instruments to supplement their learning.

In sixth and seventh we continue to build upon our skills from fifth grade and explore more intricate rhythms and tackle simple harmony and independent sight reading.

Winter Performing Arts Showcase: Our performing arts elective has returned with 30 eager middle schoolers who will be acting, dancing, and singing for various transitional moments as the entire school gets to performed in front of a live audience in December 2021.

Seventh and Eighth Grade Production, NEW! We just added an extra production to our docket to provide an opportunity for more middle school students to perform in a play. This year’s play is Puffs: or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, a Harry Potter parody. We can’t wait to share this performance with you!

Middle School Dance: Not only are we growing our dance program to offer classes for our students, but we’re upgrading our Black Box Theatre to include a dance floor and mirrors! This will be extremely beneficial for all our rehearsals and dance classes moving forward!

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Dance Team: Selah Johnson and Noah Johnson created a dance team elective with fellow seventh graders last year. This inspired us to offer a dance team elective this year to feature students’ talents in dance and push them to tell stories as choreographers. The dance team will perform as part of the Winter Performing Arts Showcase. In the Spring, we hope to see the Dance Team perform at sports games!

Dance PE: Middle schoolers are also participating in the Dance PE Elective. This course is designed to give students the opportunity to learn the beginning skills of dance while improving their techniques, poise, self-confidence and creative ability. Students will choreograph and dance in class presentations along with a performance in December. Through their own dance compositions and expressions, students explore the creative process, translating ideas, thoughts, and feelings into original pieces of choreography. They also study dance forms from many cultures and time periods in cultural and historical context.

The vocabulary of dance includes the basic elements of time, space, and force or energy. Students grow in understanding dance and its elements through direct experience.

Dr. Desi Cameron has been a lecturer for UCLA’s Visual and Performing Arts Education (VAPAE) program for a couple of years now. Through the Arts Department Partnership With UCLA, she developed a course on social and emotional learning in the arts and teaches the teaching artist teaching sequence to prepare future arts teachers and teaching artists to work in school and community settings. This year, she helped create an avenue for junior and seniors in the VAPAE program to come to WNS to observe and student teach with our fabulous arts teachers, as our school is becoming known in the LA area as having a model visual and performing arts program.

Nate Cohen, who teaches third through fourth grade music, fifth grade theatre, and middle school dance, is mentoring Wyatt Larrabee, a musical theatre major at UCLA who is also minoring in Visual and Performing Arts Education.

Erin Wolf, one of our middle school art teachers, is mentoring Bradley Bell, a fine arts major at UCLA who is also minoring in Visual and Performing Arts Education.

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Visual Arts: Studio 22 Nikea Johnson, Director of Development

Digital Art has not only expanded the definition of art, but has increased the accessibility of art to the world at large. It has become an equalizer for artists who have long faced the challenge of breaking through to traditional art spaces to have their work seen. Drawing, interactive installations, screenshots, animation, digital prints on canvas, and installation views of photographs are all considered forms of digital art.

This year, our amazing Visual Arts teacher, Erin Wolf, has introduced the WNS Digital Arts program and elective to our sixth and eighth grade students in an effort to further enhance Westside Neighborhood School’s incredible visual arts and DCM curriculum.

Born from necessity, when WNS students were engaging in remote learning and having to Zoom into art classes, Erin realized that the opportunities and interests among her students to engage in a digital art curriculum was growing. Returning to a full on-campus program, The Class of 2022 has met this inaugural year of the WNS Digital Arts program and elective with enormous enthusiasm and engagement! Our eighth grade class is filled with amazingly creative and determined artists! Erin is currently running the program’s elective with a limited number of ten students, but her overall vision would be to expand this studio to a total of 20 students and allow for more state-of-the-art tools to take this program to the next level.

Being that the Class of 2022 is the inaugural class for this new and innovative program, we have conceptualized an 8th Grade Legacy Gift program we have coined STUDIO 22.

As the years go by and STUDIO 22 reaches more and more eager and talented students in the digital art space, the Class of 2022 will forever be memorialized in the studio’s name and mission.

In keeping with the essence of our DCM approach at WNS, STUDIO 22 will cater to our children’s understanding of process over product and approach the creation of their artwork as experimental and evolutionary. STUDIO 22 will allow for more of our WNS students to move easily between the worlds of art, science, math, and technology, right in the heart of Silicon Beach, where over 500 technology companies and creative firms reside.

We are creating the next generation of creative artists and entrepreneurs!

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Alumni Spotlight: Class of 2017 In Mr. Zacuto’s speech at the Class of 2017’s graduation ceremony at WNS, he addressed this class’s ability to adapt to change. This interestingly held true as this class spent most of their senior year confined to online learning due to the pandemic. In this speech, he said, “It’s critical to have the capacity to adapt to changing conditions, and while we adapt, to continue to care for each other, collaborate and cooperate, and take care of our tribe through kindness, equity, justice, and fairness. Bottom line, you must prepare both your mind and your heart for an exciting and meaningful life ahead.” This class came back in June to visit the campus and share with us their accomplishments over the last four years and plans for their future. It is apparent through the colleges and universities they are attending that they took Mr. Zacuto’s advice and maximized it. Take a look at where this class is attending next year. Congratulations, WNS Class of 2017!

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The Class of 2017 is attending the following colleges and universities: Barnard College Beloit College Bennington College Boston University Chapman University Claremont McKenna College Columbia University (2) Cornell University George Washington University Indiana University Kalamazoo College Loyola Marymount University New York University Northeastern University Pasadena City College Purdue University Santa Monica City College Sarah Lawrence College Skidmore College Texas Christian University The New School University of Arizona University of California, Berkeley (4) University of California, Davis (2) University of California, Los Angeles University of California, San Diego (2) University of California, Santa Barbara (2) University of Michigan (2) University of Oregon University of Pennsylvania University of Southern California University of St. Andrews (2) University of Texas Vassar College

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GRADUATION

WNS Class of 2021 Mateo Christiano Aluisi Jessica Arutunian Johannes Brandon Austin Willow Baltazar Natalie Behrendt Donavyn Andrew Belisle Ryan Matthew Betanzos Beckett W. Brooks Ayla Bushell Jimmy Condos Sam Cozolino Kylie Dickerson Skye Dunn Noah John Farag Quinn Fontana Ty Frawley Sarah Marie Freidin Kristen Marie Garrett Brady Green Luke Remon Hanna Austin Isaiah Hill Brice Huxen Dylan Johansen Connor Jordan Georgia Bea Koff-Gilmore Mason Alon Koff-Gilmore Charles Allen Kresser Anwyn Lees Liam Phoenix Lombard

John Anthony McCovey Luca Measer Madison Alessandra Meléndez Addison Micka William Mirhashemi Kyle Patrick Morris Jackson Marcel Nuss Sean Bilge Ozalpasan Logan Pagani Bailey Ambrose Pardee Dashel Petranek Zoe Makeda Plotkin Rachel Poulten Zyra Asialeata Uputaua Puni Perry A. Rainey Abriella Reddick Boden Reiners Noah Root Joaquin Rothenberg Abigail Elizabeth Qiudan Rott Lucille Claire Russell Maya Malia Ryan Gigi Spiegler Elise Ayame Thio Zoe Tramble Abebe Tsabar Oscar Sidney Vaughan-Verk Edward Titus Vernon

The Class of 2021 spent 467 days adapting to a pandemic world filled with online learning and virtual events. During the spring, our eighth grade students were able to come back to campus and crammed a year’s worth of excitement into just six weeks. Not only did the Class of 2021 graduate with the benefit of an outstanding WNS education, but they also moved forward in the world having survived a storm, hardening their resilience along the way and experienced first hand the power and importance of holding a growth mindset. Those 467 days are not simply something to forget; they are the storm this class has faced and come out the other side stronger for it. Their exceptional preparation for success in the future is not in spite of experiencing the storm; it is because of it. The Class of 2021 is now at the following high schools continuing their journey.

High School Matriculation WNS is proud of our Class of 2021 high school acceptances!

Take a look at where the Jets will be soaring this year:

Chadwick School Crossroads School El Segundo High School Geffen Academy Hamilton High School (Arts) Harvard-Westlake School La Jolla Country Day Loyola High School New Roads School Notre Dame Academy

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Notre Dame High School Pacifica Christian High School Palisades High School Portal School Rolling Hills Preparatory School Santa Monica High School Sierra Canyon High School St. Anthony High School St. Bernards High School Junipero Serra High School

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St. John Bosco High School Vistamar School Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts Windward School Da Vinci Design Laurel Springs High School Highland Park High School Redondo Union High School

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice

DEIJ: From the Classroom to the Community Martinique Starnes, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice

Last year, our eighth grade students gave an amazing gift to the WNS community.

These students were seriously impacted by what may have been the most extraordinarily disruptive academic year they have had and likely will ever see. They began the year virtually, resubmerged in an abyss of uncertainty caused by a seemingly never-ending global pandemic looming in the background of political tension and racial turmoil that drove millions of Americans to the streets to demand change. From this chaos came an amazing opportunity.

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Since they began WNS, the Class of 2021 was instrumental in challenging the status quo and advocating for an educational experience that met the needs of a growing, diverse school community. Through their dedication and determination, WNS has become a safe haven where students and families are free to be their truest selves. The world events of 2020 (and 2021) were eerily the perfect setting for this class to do just what they have been known to do. Their response to this state of affairs was to create a legacy gift that not only solidified their place as changemakers in the annals of WNS history, but would also leave a tangible legacy: an indelible commitment to equity and inclusion for years to come.

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Their gift, a beautiful mural they created under the tutelage of muralist Alexandra Belisle and artist Erin Wolf, sits in the back lot of the main campus building. The mural is not only a beautiful representation of the diversity within the Class of 2021, but also the richly diverse ecosystem that exists around us. Their gift also included a fund to provide and sustain training and professional learning opportunities for members of our community that focuses on maintaining an inclusive environment where everyone thrives, regardless of background, belief, or status. This fund will continue to provide the financial resources needed to ensure our community thrives.

We will use this money to continue to execute our comprehensive plan to create a safe and inclusive educational environment through our partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). We currently use their Anti-Bias Building Blocks curriculum for our lower school students and Empowering Students, Challenging Bias curriculum for our middle school students as a foundation for our anti-bias work in our classrooms, and our faculty and staff members will also engage in a set of training sessions led by the ADL. Through these sessions, we hope to build upon our competence in maintaining a respectful, inclusive, and safe learning environment by identifying and challenging bias in ourselves and others and in encouraging personal and collective responsibility in the promotion of justice. For information, visit wns-la.org/giving/DEIJ. To complement the ADL training, in January, our faculty and staff members will engage in a training session led by Welcoming Schools, the most comprehensive bias-based bullying prevention program in the nation. This organization provides LGBTQ+ and gender inclusive professional development training with the goal of maintaining an environment that embraces all families, prevents bias-based bullying, supports transgender and non-binary students, and fosters allyship. We have also partnered with Gender Inclusive Schools to provide training and resources for our parent/caregiver community to effectively teach children as young as three-years-old about gender identity and expression and how to practice the use of concrete language at home to interrupt bias-based behaviors in community settings.

We are grateful to the Class of 2021 for this gift that allows us to grow deeper as a community and strive more intentionally toward our goals to eradicate the biases that stand in the way of a full and fulfilling educational experience.

Alumni Highlights

Zoie Brogdon (‘19) was featured in a Financial Times article of the “Top Ten International Show Jumpers to Watch.” The article features an impressive list of international show jumpers along with Zoie Brogdon, including Jessica Springsteen, who is an US Olympic Silver Medal winner with whom Zoie recently completed a clinic. Zoie also had her first Sports Illustrated (SI Online) video and written interview that previewed on November 19, 2021.

The article is titled “How 16-Year-Old Equestrian Athlete Zoie Brogdon Is Making a Mark in Her Sport.” To follow along on Zoie’s journey, you can follow her on Instagram at @iamzoienoelle. The Brogdon family thanks WNS for always believing in Zoie and encouraging her to follow her passion.

Joshua Curls (‘12) is currently a senior at Chico State majoring in business marketing and will be graduating in May 2022. He was granted a final year of NCAA eligibility to play on Chico’s basketball team after the 2020-2021 season was canceled due to COVID-19. During his time at Chico State, he was on the Dean’s Honor List for five semesters and was a two-time CCAA All-Academic recipient. Though he has always strived to be the best student athlete he can be, he knows his time playing basketball will soon come to an end once this final season is over. He is currently in the process of applying to several law schools in California.

Brendan Craig (‘14) is currently a junior journalism major at Loyola Marymount University and was recently featured in the student newspaper of LMU, The Los Angeles Loyolan. The headline reads, “Meet Brendan Craig: LMU student, sports broadcaster and Oscars production assistant.” The article highlights his recent work at the university producing Lions Athletics on the WCC Network, calling play-by-play for the women’s basketball team, organizing staffing and logistics for the broadcast department, and leading production for the Iggy Awards. He has also gotten to work on events like NFL Kickoff, the 2020 Academy Awards, and the iHeartRadio Music Awards. He has even done stage management on movie premieres for Booksmart, The Lion King, and Avengers: Endgame. Most recently, he started working part-time as a stage manager for the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) of Major League Soccer. The article also notes that Brendan got his start in stage production during his middle school days (at WNS) where he was a part of the Spring Musical Elective for the Little Mermaid Junior.

Cami Carfino (‘15) is a junior at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

She is majoring in Sociology and hopes to go to dental school. She plays volleyball for the university and her team is currently in first place. Cami was recently accepted to study abroad in Vienna for the Spring 2022 semester.

Jordan Carfino (‘10) is in her second of four years at her mother’s alma mater, UCLA School of Dentistry, where she will become the third generation of dentists in her family. She recently had her first patient for a cleaning in the clinic! Prior to this, Jordan taught Pre-K and Kindergarten for two years in Greenwich, Connecticut, after graduating from Williams College.

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Taylor Pardee (‘18) has been at New Roads High School since her sophomore year of high school and is now a senior. She plans on studying entrepreneurship and creative studies once she graduates. Taylor is now patiently waiting for her acceptance letters. Throughout her time in high school, she has earned her 200-hour yoga teacher certification and created a sustainable clothing brand called Bella Venice. She has interned with artists and hopes to continue to grow and explore her passions of art and wellbeing throughout college and after. She is currently working on an independent study project that involves the fields of biology, chemistry, psychology, politics, and business. Taylor feels that WNS truly helped her become the person she is today. The school allowed her to make mistakes, own them, and learn from them. She has used this skill throughout high school and has not been afraid to fail. She still remembers Mrs. Rodriguez (who was then Ms. Lester) saying, “Failure is the first attempt in learning.” She believes WNS truly nurtured her and allowed her to become the confident young woman she is today.

Hope Shinderman (‘17) is currently attending Columbia University as a freshman! During the pandemic, she started a not-for-profit organization called Bored of Boredom to address learning loss during the times of COVID-19 and educational inequality in general. Bored of Boredom is a student-run organization committed to providing free educational enrichment for all. They offer group classes and individual tutoring. Hope believes that her organization’s mission is truly predicated upon the values that were instilled in her during her time at WNS. Hope was recently awarded the National Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award (Tikkun Olam means ‘repairing the world’ in Hebrew) for her work on Bored of Boredom. Please take a look at the website boredofboredom.org to learn more.

Ella Parker (‘19) is a junior at Notre Dame High School where she plays on their varsity softball team. During the 2021 spring season, she was named the league MVP, All-CIF, All-State, and made the All-LA Times team. Ella just recently announced she has committed to playing for the University of Oklahoma on a softball scholarship after she graduates high school. She is beyond grateful for this opportunity. She had other scholarship offers from the University of Florida, Duke, and UCLA, and had a trip lined up to the University of Arizona. While Ella was a student at WNS, she was the starting pitcher and helped take her team to three Pacific Basin League titles and two Delphic League titles. Ella was the first player to hit a home run out of our home field.

Congratulations to Ella! We can’t wait to watch you play at OU!

Imani Pullum (‘17) is a freshman at NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts, majoring in Experimental Theatre. Imani has always been a performer, but fell into a deeper love of acting during her time at WNS. Under the direction of Dr. Desi Cameron, the Theater Arts Program at WNS became a second home to Imani, and she took every opportunity she was given to perform in the school’s productions. It was actually Dr. Cameron, Ms. Reimann, and Mr. Zacuto who encouraged Imani to accept the role of Nala in the national touring company of The Lion King, during the first half of her seventh grade year at WNS. She was supported with an asynchronous WNS education while traveling the country with The Lion King tour. Imani returned to WNS just in time to enjoy the second half of her seventh grade year. Now, Imani hasn’t allowed any grass to grow under her feet and recently wrapped filming on a network television show, premiering March 2022. Imani is currently on location wrapping up filming for a major motion picture. She will be co-starring with Will Smith in Apple Original Film’s, Emancipation. Be on the lookout for our very own WNS Jet on the big screen in the near future.

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exceptionally

The Annual Fund is WNS’s most vital fundraising campaign of the year and is essential to the school’s sustainability and success.

Like all non-profit, 501(C3)’s, WNS relies on the generosity of its Annual Fund contributions to take our program from EXCELLENT TO EXCEPTIONAL. Gifts to the WNS Annual Fund bridge the gap between what tuition covers and the necessary operating costs of a WNS education. It supports the year’s greatest needs, such as financial assistance for families, educational and athletic programs, maintenance and improvement of the campus and facilities, as well as professional development opportunities for our faculty and staff. The hallmark of our inclusive community is that every gift is meaningful, and every gift makes a difference, exceptionally.

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Take a look at this year’s fundraising priorities!

Program Enhancements Technology Needs Facility Upgrades Safety and Security Financial Assistance Professional Development Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Reconnecting Our Community Visit wns-la.org/annualfund to see how you can help make a lasting impact on our teachers and students today!

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SOAR W N S

P H I L A N T H R O P Y 2 0 2 0

The 2020-21 WNS Philanthropy Report highlights the successes we were able to accomplish during such an extraordinary year. You can see through the fundraising and financial reports showcased here just how much of an impact our donors had in the lives of our students and teachers over the past year.

The charts represented here show the annual budget that WNS thoughtfully created and maintained for the 2020-21 school year. Through these reports it is apparent that the primary goals of our organization are to support the important work of our faculty and staff and to maintain a robust education for our diverse student body. Faculty and staff compensation is our single biggest expense every year, and WNS proudly sits above the median amongst our peer schools in this area. This is key to attracting and retaining our top-tier teachers. The next biggest expense is financial assistance. WNS remains at the top of the list in this category, investing over $2.5 million in financial assistance every year. Our commitment to financial assistance is what makes WNS the special place that it is, a place that truly represents the world we live in. Our families step up for this cause as well and are deeply committed to maintaining our diverse community and supporting one another. As 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, independent schools like WNS must fundraise a portion of the budget through voluntary giving. Last year, we were successful in raising over $1 million in support of our Annual Fund and additional funds for financial assistance through our Gala & Auction.

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R E P O R T

2 0 2 1

EXPENSES

REVENUE

To view the full 2020-21 Philanthropy Report, visit wns-la.org/philanthropyreport.

Please contact development@wns-la.org for the access code.

THANK YOU When you support WNS, you’re not just supporting a school, you’re helping drive what comes next in education and community.

A fundamental part of who we are stems from the broad range of diversity across our school community. WNS represents: • • • • •

50+ different zip codes 58% Students of Color 51% Faculty & Staff of Color 25% of student body receives Financial Assistance Graduating students moved on to 28 high schools this year

2020-21 FUNDRAISING SUMMARY Annual Fund Major Gifts

$1,052,923

425,018

Parent Group, Library, Other Gifts

115,755

Virtual Gala, Auction, Raise the Paddle

179,157

Total Fundraising, 2020-21:

$1,772,853

WNS FUNDRAISING STATS 616 Donors to WNS Annual Fund $34,930 Raised for DEIJ 8th Grade Legacy Gift $117,500 Received in Matching Funds 360 Donors to the Community Gift $115,336 Received for the Community Gift 119 Donors to Raise the Paddle

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5401 Beethoven Street Los Angeles, CA 90066