Alumni Issue - Stanford Online High School
Transcription
November 2013 VOLUME 6, ISSUE 3 S pe c i a l E di t i o n : A l u m ni I ss u e Co n t e n t s 2 LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR: INSTRUCTORS & ALUMNI 3 SPOTLIGHT ON SPRING COURSES 4 A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN INSTRUCTOR 6 ACADEMIC ADVISING FINALS COUNTDOWN 7 COLLEGE COUNSELING ODDS & ENDS BOOK CLUB RECAP 8 ALUMNI NEWS 10 16 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT EXPERIMENT OF THE MONTH: MAKE THE MOST OF PUMPKIN PIES 12 SPOOKY, SCARY, OHS HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST 18 13 19 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT FROM THE OHSPA 14 20 INTRODUCING THE OHS SERVICE BOARD EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES STUDENT NEWS L e tte r fro m t h e Directo r BY KATHLYN GRAY, DIRECTOR This issue of our Monthly Newsletter is devoted to two growing and integral groups in our Community—our instructors and our alumni. O ur lead article is about a day in the life of an OHS instructor—an educator who is doing something completely unique in the world of secondary education. The influence of an OHS instructor literally spans the world, and he or she has the opportunity to teach and collaborate with students who have chosen to be part of the school because they seek an intellectual challenge beyond what they have been able to find elsewhere. When the original 30 students became the grade 10–12 pioneers of the first 2006–7 school year, they were taught by some of the same individuals who are still a part of the instructor community today: Dr. Kerr, Dr. Scarborough, Dr. Oas, Dr. Keating, and Mr. Alper. Over the past 8 years, our instructor community has grown in proportion with the student body, with new instructors being selected for both their love of teaching and their passion for their field of study; 64% of our instructors hold Ph.Ds. This year we have 42 instructors teaching our 540 students. These teachers have varying teaching loads, just as our students have differing levels of enrollment. 22 of our instructors teach full-time, meaning that they teach 4 courses with a total of as many as 60 students. These teachers also run a homeroom, hold office hours, sponsor at least one club, and serve on a school project committee. Other instructors carry fewer than four courses and/or work in other administrative capacities, either with OHS or with Stanford PreCollegiate Studies. But over the last eight years, the school has remained dedicated to keeping contact time between instructors and students similar to what was offered in initial years, which is a very unique characteristic of Stanford Online High School. I know you will enjoy reading about a day in the life of Dr. Kim Failor in our lead feature. Dr. Failor has been here since the second year of OHS and serves as the Science Division Head, teaches AP Biology and Advanced Topics in Biological Research (with and without the writing component), and coordinates our Health course. Our instructors are naturally enthusiastic about all that they do, but they derive the most energy from OHS students, a dynamic that has persisted from the school’s inception. They are also delighted to connect with our alumni, whether it be through electronic and social media or in person. As a school, we are increasing our efforts to reach out to these important members of our community, and we hope they will enjoy staying connected with each other and their former instructors. We are now distributing the monthly newsletter to our alumni, and with this issue we are inaugurating a biannual alumni news feature. And by early December, an alumni working group will begin meeting; if anyone is interested in being part of this working group, please get in touch with Dr. Scarborough, Director of Curriculum ([email protected]) or Ms. Aubrey, Director of Student Life and Community ([email protected]). This group will be reaching out to identify individuals who are interested in being regional or class representatives. These representatives will then have the opportunity to determine the goals of the OHS Alumni Association and to plan the annual OHS alumni graduation weekend event. News of all of these activities will be shared with the OHS Alumni Facebook Group. These two special groups of our community—our alumni and our instructors—have created the OHS through building relationships and fostering mutual respect and a passion for knowledge. I hope this is only the beginning of connecting alumni and bringing them together with their past instructors across many different forums. We hope to enhance these connections so that we can learn more about the influence these instructors and this school has had on all OHS students. 2 Spotlight on Spring Courses BY JEFFREY SCARBOROUGH, DIRECTOR OF CURRICULUM O ne of the most exciting features of the OHS is the striking array of academic expertise and interests among our instructors. While instructors’ backgrounds and research work are perhaps most impactful in the richness they bring to everyday interactions in and out of the classroom, there are other ways in which members of the school community can benefit from this unique aspect of the school. I now want to draw your attention to two regular, but perhaps less prominent, forums in which instructors explore their more specialized expertise: Advanced Topics courses and the Instructor Research Colloquium. It all began in 2010, with a petition signed by nine students who were finishing their AP Biology course and were passionately seeking a follow-up course that would help them further their study in biology. The following fall, eleven students were enrolled in Research Topics in Biology, which was conceived as a weekly seminar course driven by student interests in cutting edge and seminal research papers in biology. From a curricular perspective, this type of course served two key functions in the school, in addition to addressing the interests of these particular students: (1) it provided students with an introduction to college-style inquiry and instruction in the discipline beyond the AP level, while (2) limiting the workload and scope of the course so that students with already-full schedules could sample such advanced work in a broader range of disciplines. With Dr. Failor drawing on her specialized expertise to select original research papers appropriate to topics of student interest, the course became such a success that the concept was expanded to other disciplines, with an additional wrinkle. While some students were happy to sample the material by reading the papers and participating in active discussions, in true OHS fashion, many of them wanted more. So as the new Advanced Topics courses were added in history, literature, and film, a writing option was added for students who wanted to couple the advanced material with similarly advanced written research. In history, the History Research Seminar exposes students to college-level themes and historical modes of analysis on alternating topics that have so far included the European Enlightenment and Topics in Contemporary History (since 1950). The Advanced Topics in Literature courses alternate on a semester basis, with courses focusing on a genre, theme, or author. So far, these courses have included, Imagining Nations, Medieval and Modern; Xtopias; and The Idea of History in Literature (and Art). This spring, Caedmon Haas will teach the newest course in the sequence, The Classical Ode in the Ancient and Modern World. This course will use the ode as a lens through which to explore classical traditions of poetry from the ancient through the modern world. Students (and teachers!) have thrived in these courses because specialized and alternating topics foster creative and in-depth investigations that prepare students to thrive in these disciplines when they get to college. Another component of the vibrant intellectual community at OHS, for both students and instructors, is our Research Colloquium. Perhaps even more than advanced-topics and university-level courses, the Research Colloquium provides a window into our instructors’ professional academic research. These colloquia demonstrate to students what academic research looks like in a given discipline. It also serves students well to practice engaging high-level material in a formal academic context, and our instructors are eager to share their work with peers in this setting. Beyond the benefits above, individual talks can have great impact in a variety of other ways: they inform students’ understandings of their teachers’ backgrounds and how those backgrounds inform what is happening in class; they inspire students to develop new questions, topics, and areas of inquiry; they connect instructors to the specialized expertise of their colleagues, setting the stage for fruitful discussions that may make it back to the classroom; and perhaps above all, they foster the enjoyment of ideas and excitement about new possibilities, both of which should be at the heart of all the work we do at this school. This year’s Research Colloquium talks are particularly compelling because they introduce the work of many of our new instructors. In October, Dr. McLuckie gave a talk entitled, “What is Kantian Anthropology?” And on November 15th, Dr. Dawkins presented a talk called, “Gendered Legal Narratives of Marital Dissolution in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale”. On November 22nd, Dr. Wallhagen will give a talk entitled, “A Zombie Within? What Cognitive Science Doesn’t Show Us about Consciousness.” To keep up to date on speakers, topics, and times, be sure to visit the Research Colloquium Speakers page on the Gateway. All are welcome! OHS NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2013 3 A DAY IN THE LIFE O BY KIM FAILOR, SCIENCE INSTRUCTOR & DIVISION HEAD OF SCIENCE This is an accounting of a day in my life as an instructor, colleague, mom, and wife. This is a representative sample, but each day brings unique challenges that usually involve juggling classes, meetings, clubs, communications, housework, and family time. Some tasks, like student letters of recommendation and employee performance evaluations, happen during specific times of the year. But each and every day is a busy mix of evaluating the past, living in the now, and preparing for the future. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into a day in my life! RISE AND SHINE! I’ll do a little yoga and have a cup of tea to greet the day before the rest of the house wakes up. This gives me the opportunity to mentally run through my day. 7:15AM CLASS TIME! It’s time for Advanced Topics in Biological Research—today’s topic is induced pluripotent stem cells. The student presenter does a great job of leading discussion and keeping everyone engaged. 8:45AM BABY IS UP! 7:00AM PLUG INTO THE HOME OFFICE Email, Skype, Google Calendar, Saba, Pandora. I see there are 9 new messages overnight—these messages will have to wait, for now. I prepare for class by digging out today’s Advanced Topics in Biological Research paper from the pile on my desk and opening up my grading rubric for presentations to jot notes in during class. I then check to make sure that every student has submitted the assignment that is due before the start of class. I wrap up class discussion, save the text chat, and publish the class recording. Next, I assign participation grades and write up comments about the presentation. 9:00AM My 18 month old son is beginning to stir, which means its time for some morning cuddles and a book or two before the nanny arrives. This morning’s readings include, The Gruffalo and King Jack and the Dragon. The nanny arrives and the house is in full swing because everyone is awake. Today is laundry day, so I change the sheets on everyone’s beds and gather up towels. Next, I sort the laundry and get the first load going. I notice that Bitcoins are in the news again today, and my husband and I chat about the long-term viability of this form of currency. 9:20AM BACK TO WORK! 9:30AM Time to make sure that everything is ready to go for AP Biology discussion, which involves making final edits on today’s quiz and PowerPoint slide deck. And 3 more emails have landed in my inbox! After a quick triage, I respond to the urgent and easy ones. 9:45AM TIME FOR AP BIOLOGY! Today’s topics are mutations and viruses. And, of course, I let the students take me on a tangent regarding prions. I wrap up class and hang out for a few minutes answering a question from the midterm exam and setting up a meeting with a student. I save the text chat and the whiteboard and publish the event. 12:06PM 10:50AM LAUNDRY... It’s time to rotate the laundry. I find a shiny dime in the washer! I then cave in to my grumbly stomach that doesn’t want to wait until lunch—a handful of crackers will have to do. 10:53AM At last, time to get to the email (plus the 4 new messages that have arrived since last check). These messages run the gamut from administrative concerns, to scheduling meetings, to student concerns, to questions about course material, and some plain fun conversations. 11:58AM I update the AP Bio PowerPoint deck for this afternoon’s section and share notes about this morning’s discussion with Dr. Wolf for his section tomorrow. LUNCHTIME WITH THE FAMILY! The nanny has picked up sandwiches from a local favorite. The fries are covered in blue cheese and red pepper flakes and a discussion of different types of peppers ensues. 4 12:43PM BACK TO WORK 1:06PM LAUNDRY...AGAIN. I get started on a midterm performance appraisal for a science instructor. This involves finding the paperwork that needs to be filled out and assessing what needs to be done. I look up an example of the same form I filled out last year to remind myself about the difference between “Performance Standards” and “Core Competencies.” I then complete an outline of the qualities I want to discuss. 1:16PM I make some preparations for next week’s classes. I open up my weekly checklist that includes making sure 19 Saba events are created, students are enrolled, and eCollege pages are up to date so students can prepare for next week. While running through these checks, I listen to the week’s AP Bio lectures and catch keywords for Quizlet vocab lists. I then assess what work needs to be done in terms of writing the quiz and crafting homework assignments. O F A N I N S T R U C TO R 1:49PM SKYPE SESSIONS I have a Skype chat with colleagues so we can address some tech issues. 1:58PM Keeping with the Skype theme, I chat with a student about the reading for the week—I equate stem cells with superheroes. 2:14PM BACK TO EMAILS! And there are 6 new messages since lunchtime. 2:29PM BREAK TIME. Today’s ten-minute respite includes running in circles in the living room with my son and playing with blocks. I build structures and he knocks them down. The game, for me, is to see how elaborate I can get before he comes running! 2:39PM ADVANCED BIO RESEARCH ROUND 2 Now I settle in for the second round of Advanced Topics in Biological Research. I open the presentation grading rubric and check that assignments have been submitted. Class begins! It’s always interesting to see how the discussion progresses differently in the two sections. 4:00PM 4:17PM AND THE LAUNDRY... I save the text chat and publish the class recording. Next, I assign participation grades and write up comments regarding the presentation. 4:27PM STAFF MEETING 4:49PM END OF WORKDAY I revisit my email inbox (9 new messages). These messages include followups on earlier messages, new issues, and preparations for Friday’s staff and division meetings. (On Friday’s, all instructors convene onsite at OHS to conduct various meetings, including: OHS All Staff Meetings, Grade Level Meetings where instructors develop support plans for students, monthly Division Meetings, monthly Pedagogy and Technology Workshops, and a monthly meeting of the Academic Leadership Team that takes place online.) Not much “workday” left, which means it’s time to consider what needs to get done today and what can be put off till tomorrow. While I just might get an opportunity to do some work tonight, I want to make sure that I don’t have to. I decide that the most urgent task is to publish next week’s assignment for the writing option of AdvBio. The tasks of watching lectures, finishing the performance appraisal, writing letters of recommendation, and grading will need to wait until tomorrow. 5:15PM 5:05PM AP BIOLOGY ROUND 2 Time for the second round of AP Biology—this section’s tangents include chromosomal mutations and the 3D organization of the nucleus. 6:15PM I save the text chat and white board and publish the event. And then I take attendance for the day. 6:20PM I now remember that my husband’s business partners are coming over this evening and one will be staying the night, so I set up the guest bed and do a little tidying up. I Skype chat with a colleague about the events of the day. 6:25PM 6:33PM TIME TO UNPLUG I check back in on my emails (2 new messages that are easy to respond to). 6:45PM I unplug from the home office. And now it’s time to check in on what everyone is up to in the house: my son is napping, the nanny is ready to head home, and my husband is picking up dinner with his business partners. It’s nice to find out that I’m off the hook for dinner. And so I fold the final load of laundry. 7:11PM 7:18PM PLAY TIME! Drums and cars and chasing and laughing! Time to initiate my son’s bedtime routine —dance party, bath time, books, and bed. 9:39PM My son is all tucked in, so I tidy up the rest of the toys, wash the rest of the dishes, and socialize with the guys. 10:08PM The guys get back to talking business, so I leave them be and put the laundry away. Dinner arrives! And my son wakes up just in time. We share stories, discuss the news and current events, and teach our son how to use a fork. I clean up the table, start the dishwasher, and take out the recycling. I do a final sweep of the kitchen, and while there are fewer dishes to deal with when I’m not cooking, it still seems like Cheerios spontaneously generate on the floor. 10:25PM I’m now ready for a little entertainment —TV and knitting. I work a little bit on defining terms in my Quizlet list and ponder what needs to be done tomorrow. TIME FOR BED. GOODNIGHT MOON. If you are interested in knowing what a typical day is like in the life of an OHS student, be sure to check out our next month’s Newsletter. OHS NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2013 5 Academic Advising Finals Countdown BY DARLENE JACOKES, ACADEMIC ADVISOR Midterms are complete and final exams are right around the corner! The OHS Advising, Counseling, and Registrar teams would like to provide you with some important dates and tips to help you prepare for your finals. START PREPARING NOW! November 11 – 17: Schedule your proctor now. Exam dates are posted on Gateway. November 18: Secure a back-up proctor for each exam. (It is cold and flu season!) Get your past tests, handouts, assignments, and class notes organized. ONE WEEK TO GO (12/9 – 12/15) Confirm your proctoring appointments. Keep your brain in top shape: Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise. Connect with positive study partners. (Work with peers who will help you learn and not feed anxieties about the exam!) Find out what the exam will cover and in what format it will be. 24 HOURS BEFORE THREE WEEKS TO GO (11/22 – 12/1) Start a study calendar. For each day until the exam, set specific times of the day and week to study for each class. Sign up for the Test Prep Workshop. (will be posted in the Weekly Bulletin) Take some real time off over the holiday! Enjoy family and togetherness. Confirm with your proctors that they have downloaded the exam. 5 minutes before BREATHE! TIPS FOR PARENTS Help your child maintain a productive and distraction-free study environment. TWO WEEKS TO GO (12/2 – 12/8) December 6: Attend the OHS Test Prep Workshop. (signups in late November) Divide topics for study into manageable chunks of 20–50 minutes. Study for each class a bit each day so your brain has multiple touch points for each subject. Take advantage of your resources and support services: instructors & office hours, counselors, resources on Gateway. 6 Work on a study schedule together so both study and family needs are met. Provide healthy snacks and water for energy, and encourage breaks. Be encouraging and supportive; normalize stress and remind your child of his or her strengths and past successes. When your child is struggling, help make the situation concrete and controllable. Ask questions like “what resources could help you with that?” College counseling Odds & Ends odds BY ADAM LIPS, DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING OFFICE UPDATE ALUMNI CONNECTIONS The College Counseling Office has been busy working to support our senior class during this busy time in the college application season. Many of our students have already submitted college applications, as Early Application programs typically carry an early November due date. We would like to thank all of our instructors who took time out of their busy schedules to write letters in support of our applicants. The majority of students will apply to college through Regular Decision programs, meaning they will have applications due in early January, so there is still a lot of work to be done! If you are a junior, please note that we are eager to start working with you in the spring semester. Families of younger students will soon be receiving information on our spring programs. As the focus of this month’s newsletter is on OHS alumni, we thought we might offer a few comments on how OHS alums can help current students as they search and apply to college. Our alumni attend, and have graduated from, a diverse array of colleges and universities both in the US and abroad. We encourage our current students to use these OHS graduates as a resource in navigating the college admissions process. Students who are interested in colleges that OHS alums attend are welcome to reach out to their college counselor to see if we are able to put you in touch with a fellow Pixel. For prospective students who are visiting college campuses, this is a great way to connect with a current student who can relate to your high school experience and give a unique perspective on the college. We have wrapped up our college representative visits for the fall. We had representatives from over 30 institutions visit our students in Saba. Each session is available for students to watch on playback, and they are a great way to learn about different colleges and see who our representative is in each admission office. We want to thank our Student Ambassadors who attended our sessions, helped the representatives feel welcome, and asked questions on behalf of students who were not in attendance. We also want to take this opportunity to solicit alumni volunteers who are willing to act as a contact person for current students. Discussing life at your college (either the one you currently attend or from which you graduated) with a current OHS student can be tremendously rewarding, and is a great way to give back to OHS. We know that you have a great deal of insight, and we appreciate any support you can offer our current students during this busy and exciting time. Please contact Adam Lips ([email protected]) or Kate Rossetti (kate. [email protected]) if you are interested in acting as an OHS liaison for your college or university and we will put you in our database of OHS alums available to speak with current students about your institution. Book Club Recap BY DARLENE JACOKES October 10th marked the inaugural meeting of the OHS Parent-Staff Book Club. This group was created with the goal of fostering community and conversation in a relaxed and social forum, and we achieved just that in our discussion of Sticks and Stones by Emily Bazelon. Through on-camera and text-chat discussion in Saba, parents, staff, and administrators pondered issues of cruelty and bullying. The roles of strong community, school response, and parent involvement were also considered. Those in attendance agreed that bullying incidents do not seem to occur often at OHS, though students are not immune from more typical teenage “drama”—an important distinction emphasized in Sticks and Stones. The roles of the school in raising students’ awareness of online privacy and social issues, as well as regulating conflicts in online social environments, were other predominant issues in our discussion. Fostering character and empathy in our children was another central topic in our discussion, and one that we felt Bazelon could have spent more time discussing. Parents pointed out how their children crave relationships with their online peers. Building empathic skills in the online classroom was discussed, including the importance of participation on camera where facial expressions are visible. One parent noted how her child continues that face-to-face connection in Skype video study sessions that can last for hours. The examples shared from home and from the classroom gave all participants new insights into how our children experience these issues. If you are interested in further exploring the topics of bullying, online safety, and building empathy, check out the great resources on Emily Bazelon’s website and Common Sense Media. Our next book is Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. We will meet in early December to discuss Quiet. Date, time, and co-facilitators will be announced in future Weekly Bulletins and on the Book Club Forum. Quiet is available at most local bookstores and libraries, as well as online and for e-readers. Please join us next month! 7 ALUMNI NEWS Please enjoy our first installment of Alumni News, a new feature we will be sharing with you biannually in the Monthly Newsletter. Our next Alumni Edition of the Newsletter will be next spring. We will request updated alumni news as that edition approaches, but you can submit your news and update your contact information at any time by completing our Alumni News Form. THOMAS NIELSON (2013) has been studying piano with Benjamin Pasternack for the last two months at the Peabody Conservatory. He is currently taking a gap year to work intensively on music before applying to Juilliard’s double-degree program with Columbia University. Thomas has committed to start at Columbia in fall of 2014 and is excited for the opportunity to refine his musical skills in the interim. NICK BENSON (2012) has had a wild ride over the past year and half or so. Now an MIT sophomore, he has performed with the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble, MC’d for MIT’s Asian Dance Troupe, and joined a fraternity. Nick is interested in majoring in Computer Science and Game Studies. Soon he’ll be teaching a Splash class about game design. He’s found himself working at the MIT Media Lab and at Tufts University, but who knows what’s next! ALEXANDER LEE (2012) recently took a trip to Singapore to attend SIGGRAPH Asia 2012. He is continuing his independent study of human anatomy and 3D modeling. Some of his recent work can be seen here: http://alexanderlee1.deviantart.com. LAURA JAMESON (2011) is a currently National Scholar at Clemson University in South Carolina. As part of her scholarship, she traveled to Amsterdam and then enrolled at Stellenbosch University in South Africa for their winter program. Before enrolling at Clemson University, she took a gap year to work and visit her childhood home in Singapore. She continues to hang out with her OHS friends in person and online. BRYAN BACH (2011) has been working in the lab of Dr. Jim McGuire (who studies the evolution of reptiles and amphibians), teaching a student-run class through the DeCal program at Berkeley about the science and ethical issues concerning stem cells, submitting and reading poetry for Lunch Poems Student Readings, and thanking the heavens above that he passed Biochemistry. 8 AINSLEY LUNDEEN (2012) has been running around Paris, working for her school’s art gallery at the American University of Paris, planning outings for new students, and painting. SARAH BECHTEL (2011) is a junior at Bard College, majoring in Classics and taking pre-med classes. In January, she studied abroad in Rome, Italy for two weeks with Bard’s Roma in Situ program, through which she studied the city’s urban foundations from antiquity to present day. This past summer, she shadowed a local ER physician in California, an experience that has further solidified her decision to apply to medical school after Bard. In October, Sarah became a Teaching Fellow for Bard’s acclaimed Citizen Science program. She also tutors Ancient Greek and plans to translate Hippocrates for a senior project on ancient medicine. OLIVIA POBIEL (2011) is now involved in The Justice, Brandeis University’s independent student-run newspaper. She is training to become the photo editor and is excited to start the position next semester. MATTHEW BUNDAY (2010) lives in New York City where he is a freelance developer, meditation coach, and lifestyle consultant. To balance out all that play, he practices martial arts and bouldering. MATTHEW STEVENSON (2010) attended economic policy conferences in Poland and Ukraine last summer. EMILY HOLLAND (2010) completed a summer internship that ran June – July 2012 at The New Republic in Washington, DC. CHRISTOPHER JAMES (CJ) CRUZ (2010) is a senior at Occidental College in Los Angeles and is pursuing a degree in economics with an emphasis in business management. This semester he is on an exchange program at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), taking management courses at the business school. Having interned and volunteered at numerous non-profits, CJ is now passionate about social business and learning about ways to tackle global issues. During his free time, CJ enjoys hanging out with his friends (including fellow OHS alumni), reading, hiking, and watching operas. EUGENIA O’KELLY (2010) is currently a senior at Stanford. She’s sad to realize that she’s about to say goodbye to Stanford (well, there’s always grad school, so maybe Stanford isn’t through with her yet). This winter she will be in Kyoto studying Japanese and visual software design, which will probably be fun and scary at the same time. BRANDON CONLEY (2010) took the opportunity to travel throughout Europe and Latin America after graduating from OHS. He is currently approaching graduation from the NYU Stern Undergraduate School of Business. Brandon has worked at JPMorgan throughout his college tenure and will be starting full-time in structured products this coming fall. LINDSEY ZEMEIR (2009) is double-majoring in Psychology and Family Science at the University of Maryland and will be graduating in May. She has been working as a research assistant in the Family Science Department for the last year and a half. She is also helping to coordinate three nutrition and physical activity education programs for low-income families. After graduation, she plans to go into Human Resources and pursue an MBA within the next few years. EMILY ROSS (2009) graduated from Quest University Canada in the spring of 2013 with a B.A.Sc. She is currently pursuing her Master's at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Her thesis project is a trial to determine if a text messaging program helps heart disease patients transition once they have been discharged from the hospital. HARPER ROBERTSON (2009) has made a permanent move to the UK. He works as an architectural illustrator part-time while studying to be a fully certified architect. He proposed to his long-term partner during a surprise helicopter flight, and they will be married next summer. The photo shows Harper (left) and his fiancée Joe (right) with the pilot (centre) just after Joe said yes! MATTHAEUS WEINHARDT (2009) is finishing his Master's and Bachelor's in Psy- chology at Stanford. He will be starting his first year at Stanford Law School next year. OHS NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2013 9 ALUMNI S P OTL I G HT BY RANDY JOHNSON , ACTING COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER Louisa Bahet: Life and Learning in London When I got the opportunity to talk with Louisa Bahet (2012), she was busy writing papers and prepping for midterms at New York University’s British satellite campus in London. Midterms and papers are staples of any college experience, but when Louisa talks about her freshman year studying abroad, she highlights how living in London affords her the rare chance to inhabit the places, ideas, and works of her study. In fact, Louisa and her fellow students often joke about how they causally pass the Rosetta Stone while taking a shortcut to class. They do so because the British Museum (which houses the stone) is just around the corner from NYU London’s Academic Center. And as a student of literature, Louisa cherishes living in dorms located in historic Bloomsbury, from which she shared with me how meaningful it is to walk the same streets as Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, and William Shakespeare. But London’s cultural life offers more than history. For example, fans of the Harry Potter films will relate with Louisa’s excitement for London’s contemporary offerings when she says, “the same week I saw [Daniel] Radcliffe on stage, by an amazing stroke of luck, I also ran into Emma Watson on the street when she was in London to receive GQ’s Woman of the Year award. This city never fails to surprise!” Louisa, however, was not surprised by what interpersonal life is like in a vibrant, multicultural city like BACKGROUND PHOTO BY DAVID ILIFF. LICENSE: CC-BY-SA 3.0 10 London. She says, “While many people are surprised to learn I am spending my first year abroad, this has been a comfortable transition because at OHS I already learned the rich value of studying alongside global peers in an environment that uniquely joins paths that might never otherwise cross.” Louisa also appreciates how the broad educational path she was able to take at OHS informs her collegiate work: “At OHS, I took advantage of studying across the full spectrum of disciplines, and therefore developed the ability and interest to pursue broadly interdisciplinary work.” She traces her current interdisciplinary interests in philosophy and mathematics to OHS’s unique competence for teaching deeply across the disciplines. When we asked her to talk about a particular instructor that helped her access a new depth of study, Louisa recalled taking MWA with Dr. Kerr. She shared a specific moment from that semester when Dr. Kerr, “in a rare departure,” shifted from his classroom persona to “explain his professional take on a subject.” In that moment, she saw that Dr. Kerr was “dedicated to cultivating our personal talents as authors and students of literature, something that requires talent and generosity,” especially given his willingness to restrain, at times, his personal reading in favor of cultivating rich student discussion. It comes with great pleasure to know that Louisa’s appreciation for the literary history of London has its roots in the virtual classrooms of OHS. So as Louisa echoes the steps of Woolf, Dickens, and Shakespeare in London, we hope too that knowledge earned at OHS will continue to meaningfully resound along her academic and professional paths. Connecting with Leena Iyar After graduating from OHS in 2010, Leena Iyar moved to London, earned her BSc Honours Degree in Business Management from King’s College, and has now returned home to Silicon Valley to work for tech startup, Moxtra. When I got the chance to catch up with Leena, she reflected on how the global community at OHS has helped to shape her experiences while studying abroad, living in a fast-paced and cosmopolitan city, and developing technologies that help people connect and work collaboratively with shared content. While speaking about London, Leena conjures up memories of a bustling and inspiring city where she connected with students and faculty from Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. She says, “virtually all the students were born and brought up in other countries and came to university with myriad different backgrounds and experiences,” a cultural dynamic that Leena equates to what she experienced at OHS. Leena describes the Business Management program at King’s college as “a practically oriented program” that focuses on helping students transition seamlessly to professional careers. As we shifted our conversation to her professional career, Leena talked about how being exposed to different backgrounds and experiences has defined her vision for business. She explains that “business by nature is globally focused,” so if you are drawn to different perspectives and fortunate enough to attend schools that encourage and thrive off of diversity of thought, then you are better prepared to offer products that help a diversity of people connect and work together. Leena brings this insightful vision to Moxtra, where she now markets an app that she began developing mockups for within a year of graduating from OHS. Leena describes Moxtra as “a cloud based collaboration application built for the mobile lifestyle.” The app is group-centric and offers multiple layers of communication, including voice annotations and live meetings, which enables users to interact deeply with shared content. She says the app was inspired “in part by the OHS experience, where students from all over the world studied together virtually and had to collaborate with each other through a range of different tools.” As you can see, connection and collaboration have been running themes in Leena’s life. She remains fascinated by how she and her fellow students at OHS were “united through the common experience of learning together, even though when we left Centra after class, all of us instantly returned to such different lives.” She now emphasizes that her exposure to different lives at OHS directly prepared her for life in London and her work at Moxtra. And so it is fitting that a student ever mindful of seeking out and bringing together different perspectives is now working to bring others together for work and growth. She says, “the Bay Area is home for me, and I’m really enjoying being back,” but she has also “become used to the high energy and activity” that comes with being in a new place. With that in mind, she plans to travel to Africa soon to visit several close friends that live in Nairobi. For now, though, she’s still waking up at absurd times to Skype with her friends from around the world. It seems some things haven’t changed much since high school. OHS NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2013 11 Spooky, Scary, OHS Halloween Costume SCARIEST BEST OVERALL 1 st Elizabeth Gabel Margaret McGuire as a Zombie as deadmau5 2Anastasia Gracheva nd 2Meaghan Zuczajda nd as a Vampire as a French Maid/ Mary Poppins/18th Century/ Gone with the Wind Girl 3 rd 3 Natalie Lebaron Thyra-Lijia Altunin 1 as Violin en Pointe Ashley & Krystle DiCristofalo as each other rd as a Black Cat MOST ORIGINAL st 12 1st 2 nd Aleksandra Gracheva as an 18th Century European Dancer e Contest FUNNIEST Artist Spotlight MARGARET MCGUIRE, WHEEL THROWN SWIRLING DEPTHS, WHEEL THROWN POTTERY Damon 1as sta TheParker Spanish Inquisition AMY SPRUILL, BALLOONIMOUS FOUR, DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPH 2ndJing Liu as an Orange 3rdBen Bjorkman as a Warlord EMMA FARRELL, EIFFEL TOWER (PARIS, FRANCE), DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPH UMAR AHMED, FALLING BACK, COLORED PENCIL & MARKERS SEE MORE STUDENT WORK AT THE ARTISTS’ CORNER ON THE GATEWAY OHS NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2013 13 Introducing the OHS Service Board BY ALEXANDRA MULCONNERY (’15) The Student Service Board (SSB) is a new addition to the OHS community that will help foster service among the student body. Sponsored by Ms. Aubrey, the board is composed of students who will work to spread awareness about various student service projects, organize Service Fairs, and initiate new ways to involve students in service work with other OHS students and in their local communities. The board is dedicated to the goal of enabling OHS students to connect through volunteer work and is currently working on establishing a database of OHS students involved in service. The board will also promote Service Meet-ups and will work with the “!” (OHS Student Newspaper) to showcase students working on individual projects. If you are interested in being profiled for your service or want to learn more about getting involved, please contact one of your board representatives or Ms. Aubrey ([email protected]). Many of the SSB Members are profiled below, and a complete list of members can be found on the SERVICE PAGE on Gateway. Becky Bjorkman (’14) volunteers through National Charity League, Inc., a nationally-recognized motherdaughter philanthropic organization. Her favorite philanthropic organizations are Blue Line Gallery, Placer County Libraries, and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Her plans for after high school include majoring in mathematics, attaining a Master’s or Doctorate degree, and teaching mathematics at either the high school or college level. (Becky pictured center.) Luke Kwong (’17) organizes events focused on helping people with self-improvement. He is deeply involved in his speech and debate club, enjoys pursuing forensic skills, arguing philosophy, and thinking on his feet. Henna Nam (’18) is a new member of the OHS community and is most passionate about service that supports cancer patients and research. In her free time she can be found playing flute or in dance class. Roma Forest (’15) has participated in numerous service projects, ranging from raising money for nonprofits to designing and planting a native plant garden. Most recently, she served as a representative for the Chumash Nation (a Native American tribe located on the central coast of California) in interactions with the Maori people of New Zealand. This year she is involved in giving presentations to the Chumash people about the Maori and working on bringing a traveling Maori exhibit to the central coast. 14 Caroline Humphreys (’14) and her family provide medical care for people in rural Kenya through an organization called Samaritan’s Purse, which is similar to Doctors Without Borders. She also volunteers time at her local hospital in Soldotna, Arkansas. Service is central to Caroline's life, and she plans to go into the Peace Corps or a similar program after college. Erin Maidman (’15) uses her experience as an athlete to support and coach young students. She has played volleyball since she was six and raced in skiing events since she was nine. She is currently skiing at a highly competitive level. She hopes to impart the dedication and work ethic she has obtained from sports to the young children in her community. Avery McCall (’16) speaks across the country to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world. In 2011, she served as a Teen Advisor to the United Nations Foundation Girl Up campaign. She currently works with the Somaly Mam Foundation combatting sex trafficking in Southeast Asia. Outside of her human rights work, she is a competitive squash player and high jumper who loves studying French! Alexandra Mulconnery (’15) has been involved in therapeutic riding programs for the last three years. She is now focusing her service efforts on raising awareness for the prevention of sexual assault and domestic abuse. She is also the coeditor-in-chief of the “!”, an avid equestrian, and an active participant in spoken word and slam poetry non-profits. Shruthi Sukir (’16) tutors at her local elementary school and volunteers at a local science museum where she uses fun projects to teach young students about topics in science. She also has a longterm service project, through which she supports an orphanage in India called the Balamandir Kamraj Trust. Last summer she started a reading project through this trust and is currently in the process of creating avenues for others to raise funds and spend time reading with the girls in the orphanage. Sullivan Sweet (’16) combines service with his passion for robotics. To accomplish this, he goes into the community with his robotics team to inspire people to get involved in science and engineering activities. In particular, his team targets under-achieving schools and communities to ignite interest for robotic engineering. OHS NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2013 15 Experiment of the Month Make the most of PUMPKIN PIES BY KIM FAILOR November is one of my favorite times of the year. The fall weather and the Thanksgiving holiday have me thinking about warm, comforting food shared with friends and family. With so much cooking going on, you’re bound to slice into a vegetable or two, throwing away the parts you don’t want. But why not use these parts for science!? You can make the most of your produce this season by combining food and science. For example, you could make a pumpkin pie from scratch and use the seeds to study germination. You can use the strategy below to examine the effects of many different variables (one at a time, of course!) on the germination of pumpkin seeds and the growth of young seedlings. Ms. Aubrey Experiments with a slice The variable I chose, and that produces interesting results, is light. While the seeds from any pumpkin will work, choose a sugar or pie pumpkin so you can use the leftovers of your experiment to make a pie for dessert! This type of pumpkin is small, about the size of a small melon. The pulp from this kind of the pumpkin will be less stringy than the type used for carving at Halloween. Dr.’ s Wallhagen & Weil share the fruits of science 16 BACKGROUND PHOTO ATTRIBUTION: BENJAMIN D. ESHAM / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Germination Experiment MATERIALS METHOD 12 fresh pumpkin seeds 1. Fill the cups with moist soil, being sure not to pack the soil in. 2. Plant two seeds in each cup about an inch below the top of the soil. 6 small paper cups Potting soil or other loose, aerated soil Water 3. Place three cups in a well-lit area such as a windowsill. Place the other three cups in an area that receives little to no light such as a cabinet. 4. Monitor the cups daily to ensure the soil stays moist. Be careful not to overwater. 5. Observe the germination of the seeds and growth of the seedlings. Does light affect how long it takes for a seedling to first appear? The color of the seedling? As the seedling grows, does it have a different appearance such as height, width, or color? Send observations and photos to Dr. Failor ([email protected])! Pumpkin Pie INGREDIENTS METHOD 1 small to medium pie pumpkin (or you can substitute 2 cups of canned pumpkin puree) 1 1⁄2 cup heavy cream 1⁄2 cup packed dark brown sugar 1⁄3 cup white sugar 1⁄2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg 2 teaspoons of cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cardamom 1⁄2 teaspoon of lemon zest 1 crust of your choice 1. Roast or steam the pumpkin. To roast, cut off the stem and cut the pumpkin in half. Scrape out the seeds and gooey insides. Save the seeds. Place the pumpkin on a baking sheet, cut side down. Bake at 350°F until fork tender, about an hour to an hour and a half. Remove from oven, let cool, and scoop out the pulp. 2. For the pie, preheat oven to 425°F. 3. Mix sugars, salt, spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the eggs separately and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin pulp. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated. 4. Pour into pie shell and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350°F. Bake 40–50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 5. Cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours. Note that the pumpkin pie will come out of the oven all puffed up (from the leavening of the eggs) and will deflate as it cools. Ted Alper makes the most of pumpkins OHS NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2013 17 Stu den t N ews BY RANDY JOHNSON EMILY GREENBERG TAKES LOCAL ACTIVISM TO NATIONAL STAGE While attending a summer program at Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, Emily Greenberg (’14) met a new friend who inspired her to change the name of her school mascot and take the national stage to advocate for change in Washington D.C. When her new friend, Kenard Dillon, asked what symbol her school uses as a mascot, a casual conversation between academic campers became a moment of embarrassment for Emily. Emily was embarrassed because her school’s sports teams were known as “The Redskins” and Dillon is of Navajo, Apache, and Hopi heritage. After Dillon shared that the school name “just goes to show how objectified, how marginalized, we've become to mainstream Americans,” Emily began her process of transforming her moment of embarrassment into impetus for action. “Until then,” she said, “I hadn’t really thought about how awful it was.” Emily is a parttime OHS student who also attends Cooperstown (N.Y.) Central School. When she returned to New York, Emily partnered with Hope Dohner, who was equally troubled by the school mascot, to campaign for a name change. Emily and Hope started expressing their desire for change to a teacher and ended up taking their cause all the way to the highest-ranking leaders in the school district. Others before Emily and Hope had tried and failed to make the name change, but District Superintendent, C.J. Hebert, recalls that “they made some convincing arguments.” Emily’s and Hope’s arguments eventually influenced the school board to adopt their position. ARIANA GRYMSKI PL ACES 2ND AT FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIP Ariana Grymski (’14) earned 2nd place in the Upper Great Lakes Regional Figure Skating Championships, which took place in Hobart, Wisconsin on October 12th–16th. Ariana landed a total of six triple jumps and three double axels in her program, launching her onto the podium in a field of 25 Junior Ladies from the 7-state region. Her success at the regional event means that Ariana will be one of four Junior Ladies who will represent the region at the Midwestern Sectional Championships taking place this month in Lansing, Michigan. She is also now ranked 10th nationally among Junior Ladies based on her high scores in regional competition. We wish all the best for Ariana as she prepares for the Sectional Championships. 18 The district then brought in native scholars to speak to Cooperstown students. Doug George-Kanentiio, a Mohawk writer, traveled to Cooperstown to talk with the student body about why making the name change would have great meaning. While the student body largely began embracing the name change, many alumni in the community saw the name as a link to tradition. In the end, tradition got a new name, as Emily’s campaign ended in a change from “Redskins” to “Hawkeyes.” And now Emily has taken the next step by asking people to reflect upon this issue on a national level. She recently spoke at a major news conference in Washington D.C., where she travelled to take part in a symposium assembled by the Oneida Nation. The symposium was lead by Ray Halbritter, an activist who is also fronting a national campaign to persuade the Washington Redskins of the National Football League to change their name. Emily’s story shows how determined local efforts can swell to national importance. We will continue to follow Emily as she advocates for a perspective she gained through her academic travels. SIDDHARTHA PERFORMS AT NEEL AKANTA SIVAN MUSIC FESTIVAL Siddhartha Jagannath (’18) performed two concerts at the prestigious Neelakanta Sivan Music Festival on July 31st. The ten-day festival honors the music of Neelakanta Sivan (1839–1900), a seminal Carnatic composer who is celebrated for the technical brilliance of his compositions. The Carnatic virtuoso achieved his technical brilliance despite never receiving any formal musical training. The Neelakanta Sivan Festival seeks to keep the flame of Carnatic music alive by focusing popular attention on the work of its namesake. The music festival took place in Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram, where Siddhartha convened with Carnatic music legends from all over India. Siddhartha was an extraordinary performer relative to his musical peers, as he was the only youth performing in a field of seasoned adult musicians. Siddhartha followed his performance in Thiruvananthapuram with two more concerts, which took place respectively in the Bhagavati Amman Temple located on the beautiful shores of the Arabian Sea and in the city of Hyderabad on the Deccan plateau. We will be sure to share news of his future performances. From t h e O H S PA GATHERINGS AND EXCHANGES Professionally, I help global enterprises to communicate through Unified Communications technologies, including many of the same technologies our students use in their classes. Most of my customers adopt these technologies because the advantages of scale and global diversity far outweigh the benefits of putting all of their employees into the same brickand-mortar facility. But even the most mature and well-funded initiatives of this type quickly reveal that for colleagues to maximize their effectiveness, they must develop high levels of trust with each other through these forums, and that trust cannot generally be achieved through online interactions alone. To solve for this problem, my company and its customers have invested in workshops to bring people together from around the world for a few days. The content of these meetings could have been dealt with more economically online, but there is something inherent in human nature that makes us desire one another’s company in a way that even the best technology cannot provide. I see the Stanford OHS dealing with this same challenge both formally and informally, and I would like to encourage all families to join in these experiments in building stronger bonds in our community through direct contact. GAT HERINGS A N D O H S E VE N TS In our monthly meetings, we have talked about how important regional gatherings are to student experience at OHS. Recently, I have been very pleased to share pictures from these very special events. In our future meetings we will be talking more about the events surrounding Graduation Weekend and the OHS Summer Session, and how families can actively participate. There are no fixed templates for any of these events and I am pleased to see how they evolve each year out of the creativity and energy of new sets of parents, faculty, and administrators working together to create memorable, social experiences for our students. OHS E XC HA NG E S More recently, parents and students have been talking about opportunities for individual families to agree to host exchanges between OHS students. In the Dallas area, where we are fortunate to have a critical mass of Pixels, this has been as simple as inviting a fellow student over for a day to attend separate classes and providing them someone to talk to during breaks. Incidentally, I have seen this phenomenon in business when freelancers who have no professional affiliation choose to rent a common space so that they can enjoy companionship between calls. One of the strengths of the OHS community is that we represent so many different geographies and lifestyles. I am very excited to hear more stories of families who have agreed to have their students visit with one another for more extended periods of time and perhaps across great distances. FO RMA L E XC HA N GE P R O GRA M S A N D SC H O L ARSH I PS Finally, I’ll confess my personal interest in exchange programs. As a junior, my own independent school introduced me to an opportunity to compete for a Congress-Bundestag scholarship to study in Germany for a year. Not only did my school introduce me to this life-changing experience, but they also were very accommodating to me during my year of study. One of my goals in the remainder of my term as OHSPA President is to work with the administration to help students learn about scholarship programs like my own (now approaching its 30th year) and to help these students take advantage of modern technologies so they may continue taking advantage of the unique OHS curriculum without having to sacrifice the equally unique experience of living with another family abroad. I hope that you will talk to your students about participating in one or more of these opportunities for direct contact next year. Or you can even propose your own solutions on the Parent Forum. Best, DAVID CORDEIRO OHSPA PRESIDENT 2013–2014 [email protected] OHSPA MEETING T HURSDAY, N OV E M BER 2 1 4 P M PAC I FI C T I ME OHS NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2013 19 Ev e n ts & O p p o rt u n i t i es T HA NKSGIV IN G BR E A K Share your News! NOVEMBER 27 – DECEMBER 1 IS THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY No Classes will be held on these days. Enjoy the holiday! W INTER C LO S U R E OHS will be closed from DECEMBER 21, 2013 – JANUARY 5, 2014. Reading Week will be JANUARY 6 – 10. Students should check eCollege for Reading Week assignments. Classes will resume on MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014. There will be no exam support during Winter Closure. Proctors issuing exams during flex days will be advised to download the exams by FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20 AT NOON. Students, we’d love to share news of your endeavors and accomplishments beyond the classroom with our community in future issues of the OHS monthly newsletter. We invite your submissions whenever you have something interesting to share. To be included in the next issue, please submit your news to Randy Johnson ([email protected]). U PCOMING E VE N TS Artist Spotlight NOVEMBER 27 – DECEMBER 1 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 19 FINAL EXAMS DECEMBER 21 – JANUARY 5 WINTER CLOSURE JANUARY 6 – JANUARY 10 READING WEEK JANUARY 13CLASSES RESUME FI NA L E X A M DATE S DECEMBER 16 COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGLISH DECEMBER 17 MATH, MUSIC DECEMBER 18 CORE, FOREIGN LANGUAGE, ECONOMICS Do you have a piece of artwork that you would like to share with the OHS community? Send your artwork, send high resolution photos or scans with your name, title of your piece, and medium used. Send submissions to Stephanie Griffin ([email protected]). DECEMBER 19 HISTORY, SCIENCE CONTRIBUTORS EDITORIAL TEAM DAVID CORDEIRO OHSPA PRESIDENT 2013–14 [email protected] ADAM LIPS DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING [email protected] KIM FAILOR SCIENCE INSTRUCTOR & DIVISION HEAD OF SCIENCE [email protected] ALEXANDRA MULCONNERY STANFORD OHS STUDENT (’15) KATHLYN GRAY DIRECTOR [email protected] DARLENE JACOKES ACADEMIC ADVISOR [email protected] JEFFREY SCARBOROUGH DIRECTOR OF CURRICULUM [email protected] COVER ART: GRACE SEWELL, SUNSET FROM THE EMPIRE STATE, DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPH SUMMAR AUBREY DIRECTOR OF STUDENT LIFE & COMMUNITY [email protected] STEPHANIE GRIFFIN GRAPHIC DESIGNER [email protected] RANDY JOHNSON ACTING COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER [email protected]
Similar documents
February 2014 Contents
Another new course builds on a unique strength emerging needs and interests, course development of Stanford OHS instructors and an intense point and renewal continues across the school. New opof in...
More informationAlumni Issue
school provided him with novel opportunities that he might not have been able to experience elsewhere. In a similar vein, all proceeds from his round-the-world flight will go to support Code.org, a...
More informationCATCHING UP WITH OHS ALUMNI GET READY FOR FINAL
Next week is final exam week, and the Advising, Counseling, and Registrar teams would like to provide you with important tips to help you prepare for finals—and take care of yourself afterward! BEF...
More informationOHS connection
The OHS newsletter has existed as a monthly publication since 2011. While the bulletin focuses on timely announcements and action-items, the newsletters focus is on broader articles about what’s go...
More information