Download Northwest Academy Newsletter Spring 2014

SPRING 2014
PUBLISHED TWO TIMES A YEAR FOR ALUMNI, PARENTS AND FRIENDS OF NORTHWEST ACADEMY
New Visions in Education
PHOTO BY NATHAN LUCAS
Dear Friends and Family,
Here in the Main Street building, the halls
have been alive with sounds of singing, dancing
and rehearsing, as Northwest Academy was
busy preparing for four productions: Xanadu,
The Miracle Worker, Dynamo, and Esprit.
In particular, with our productions of Xanadu
and The Miracle Worker, I think it’s safe to say
that Northwest Academy is probably the only
school in the country where student performance hinges on learning to roller skate and
learning sign language. Combine all that
with regular coursework, and our students are
clearly engaging all areas of their brains.
Across the street, another type of activity is
taking place. This fall, Northwest Academy will
take over the second
floor of the Century
Plaza building.
In anticipation of
that move, we are
currently knocking down walls,
creating openings,
and refurbishing
12,000 square feet
of small offices into
large, light-filled classrooms, common areas,
and administrative space. While we will still
be using the Main Street building and a few
classrooms in the Buchan Building, this move
brings us even closer to our goal of having all
our facilities in the same location.
The 12,000 square feet in the Century Plaza
building – the whole 2nd floor – will house the
Admissions office, Head of School office, Capital Campaign office, eight classrooms, a teacher
workroom, an employee break room, a studio,
and storage spaces. We will be moving in on
August 1st and will hold some Open Houses in
those facilities during the last week in August,
Orientation Week.
NORTHWEST ACADEMY
1130 SW Main Street
Portland, Oregon 97205
503.223.3367
www.nwacademy.org
f facebook.com/nwacademy
HEAD OF SCHOOL
Mary Vinton Folberg
Each June, we say goodbye to our seniors,
several of whom have been with us since they
were in middle school. It’s always difficult, but
exciting, to see the paths they have chosen for
themselves. The class of 2014 is heading out to
do wonderful things. From being accepted to
art schools and music conservatories, international universities as well as liberal arts colleges
and engineering schools, it’s clear that Northwest Academy has given them the background
to confidently follow their dreams. We wish
them well and hope they will keep in touch
with us through the years. It’s great fun to read
about the adventures of our alumni in this
newsletter. They follow their own paths,
adapting to these changing times in unique and
creative ways. We’re so proud of all of them!
EDITOR
Margaret Foley
I hope everyone has a wonderful summer. Ours
will be a busy one!
Best,
DESIGNER
Annie Abele
WHAT ’S INSIDE
Club Cabaret
2
Reaccreditation Self Study
2
New Century Building
2
Teacher Wins Fellowship
3
Costume Class Added
3
Student Competitions
3
On the Road
3
Spring Performances
4
Alumni News
6
College Acceptances
7
Mary Vinton Folberg
Head of School
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Northwest Academy
Self Study
by Scott Kerman, Dean of Curriculum
In November, a ten-member team of
independent school administrators and
teachers will pay a four-day visit to Northwest Academy as part of our school’s reaccreditation with the Northwest Association of Independent Schools. NWAIS is
an independent school organization with
109 member schools in eight states and
British Columbia. NWAIS accreditation
assures parents and the public that the
school provides a safe, enriching learning
environment, and operates effectively. For
school leadership, it provides independent
validation that the school delivers a quality
educational experience and gives educators valuable information about effective
practices for independent schools. It also
assures families that the school’s fiscal
policies and practices are sound.
For reaccreditation, Northwest Academy
has been conducting a Self Study, a yearlong review of every aspect of the school.
Teachers, staff, and trustees have been
meeting in committees to focus on each
of 12 best-practice standards for independent schools.
All members of our community (including parents and students) completed
self-study surveys earlier this year. These
surveys have provided insight into our
school’s strengths and areas for growth.
Not surprisingly, there is consensus
that our teachers, small classes, arts and
academic partnership, and supportive
culture are our strongest features.
The Self Study and supporting documents
will be finished this summer and sent to
NWAIS in September. After the site visit,
the visiting team will write its own report
for NWAIS. The full NWAIS Board will
vote on our accreditation at its spring
2015 meeting.
PHOTOS BY ANDIE PETKUS PHOTOGRAPHY
Fun at Club Cabaret
A spirited “Obrigado!” goes out to the
more than 300 guests who visited
“Rio de Janeiro” for Club Cabaret in
February. This was our most successful
Club Cabaret ever. The event raised
more than $150,000 for the Scholarship
Fund at Northwest Academy. Thanks
to all of the families and friends who
attended, the sponsors, auction donors,
advertisers, and volunteers who made
the event possible. Mark your calendar
for February 28, 2015 for another great
evening celebrating Northwest Academy!
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PHOTO BY NATHAN LUCAS
Northwest Academy freshmen Sarah
Duran, Camille Robertson, Sam
Crispin, and Pearce Hyatt examine the
architectural plans that will renovate
the second floor of the Century Plaza
into next year’s classrooms. Right: The
Century Plaza awaits its renovation.
PHOTO BY ANNIE ABE
LE
On the Road
Northwest Academy
French Teacher Wins
Fellowship
Jamie Michaud, who teaches Emerging French,
is the recent recipient of a Jeanne Marandon
Fellowship (2014-2015) from the Society
of French and Francophone Professors of
America. The $4,000 fellowship is awarded to
American teachers of French for summer study
at the University of Laval in Québec City. Jamie
plans to deepen her French language skills,
focusing on Quebecois, the style of French
spoken in Quebec. By studying in Canada,
she hopes to break out of her “France-centric”
cultural knowledge and learn more about the
culture of our Francophone neighbors to the
north to share with her students. Félicitations,
Jamie!
Costume Class Added to
Arts After Hours
In January, Costume and Make-Up Design,
a new Arts After Hours class was added to
the line-up of theater-related classes. Eight
eager students hit the ground running! The
Costume & Make-Up Design class teaches
the important process of juggling all the
elements of good design — fabric selection,
design conceptualization, character, place,
time, and most importantly, quick changes.
Northwest Academy instructor David Bliss
(set/make-up/special effects) and Northwest Academy parent Jennifer Strait (costume design/construction) took charge and
soon the library was overrun with Xanadu
satins, feathers, togas, and goddess dresses.
Then the costume class took on the 1880s
with Project Theatre’s production of The
Miracle Worker.
Costume and Make-Up Design will be
offered again as an Arts After Hours class
during 2014-15 and provide even more opportunities to take charge of the look and
feel of Project Theatre, Musical Theatre,
Club Cabaret, and Arts Week performances.
Current needs for Northwest Academy’s
Costume Department include sewing machines, ironing board, fabrics, and general
sewing accoutrements. If you can help with
these, please contact David Bliss (dbliss@
nwacademy.org) for more information.
While in Washington, D.C., Northwest Academy middle schoolers not only visited museums,
government buildings, and monuments, they also connected with other civic-minded students.
An unexpected highlight of the trip was this photo taken by the official Supreme Court photographer, who doesn’t usually photograph school groups, at the end of the tour.
Dance and Theatre
Students Perform and
Compete
When Northwest Academy students compete,
they go armed with stage makeup, props, and
jazz shoes. In February, several of Erin Shannon’s Dance and Advanced Dance students
participated in the Young Choreographers’
Competition. Natalie Gullo, Madeline Ettinger,
Walker Guinnee, Sam Gullo, and Sanjana
Potnis choreographed original pieces that were
performed by their classmates. For Northwest
Academy’s young choreographers, a highlight
of the competition was a dinner and the chance
to talk dance with professional choreographers.
In March, Wade Willis and David Bliss took
Northwest Academy’s thespian contingent to
Salem to attend the Oregon State Thespian
Conference. This conference gives theatre
students the chance to attend workshops,
perform, and get feedback from professionals.
Students Marisol Ceballos, Jared Kerman,
and Ilana Newman auditioned for the Final
Showcase, and Project Theatre students
performed a version of their fall production,
The Game’s Afoot.
Arts-Based Field Trips
During the spring term, Northwest Academy high school students had two opportunities to learn about contemporary art
and choreography. The entire high school
traveled to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum
of Art at the University of Oregon to view
and study the work of emerging artist, Kara
Walker. Walker is an African-American
artist whose black paper silhouettes explore
racial and gender tensions. The museum’s
pieces are from the collection of Jordan
Schnitzer, a Northwest Academy parent,
who led the field trip.
The entire school attended a special performance of excerpts from Oregon Ballet
Theatre’s Petal, a piece of choreography that
examines the interplay of light, color, and
movement. Afterwards, students participated in a discussion of the uses of and effects
of light and color in dance.
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Spring Performances
The Miracle Worker
Xanadu
PHOTOS: ABOVE, BY ILANA NEWMAN; BELOW, BY NATHAN LUCAS; IN LEFT COLUMN, BY DAVID BLISS
4
Arts Week
Dynamo
It’s always exciting to see our students
bring the performance skills they’ve
been studying in class to the stage,
and this spring Northwest Academy
students have been showing that
there’s no form of performance art
they don’t excel in. The Musical
Theatre class produced its first fulllength musical, Xanadu, complete with
roller skates, togas, and hits from the
80s. Project Theatre produced The
Miracle Worker, the physically and
emotionally challenging story of Helen
Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan.
As always, our Arts Week showcases,
Dynamo! and Esprit, cap off a year of
excellent work in music, theatre, dance,
visual arts, and acting.
Esprit
PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE BY NATHAN LUCAS
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Alumni News
t Hannah McFarlane Culver (’10) married
Anthony Culver last February. They worked
in Hawaii and Oregon to save money for their
next big adventure, which started in Ubud, Bali,
Indonesia. They spent a month in Ubud, where
Hannah took a vinyasa flow yoga teachertraining program. For the next few months, they
will be traveling through SE Asia, and she plans
to study Thai massage in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Hannah and Anthony are not sure when their
travel adventure will end, but they expect to
be back visiting family in early 2015. As she is
traveling through Asia, Hannah is developing
her own style of yoga-dance, and she is excited
about sharing it with family and friends in Hawaii
and Oregon when she returns.
Phil Saunders (’08) moved to New York to
do his BA at the New School’s Gallatin School
of Individualized Study. He planned to study
photojournalism but ended up majoring
in International Politics, Media, and Conflict
Analysis. During his sophomore year, he
interned for photographer Poppy de Villeneuve
and assisted fashion shoots. He also worked
on a long-term project making a series of short
films for the New York Times website and
interned at StoryCorps during his senior year.
He is currently working toward an MA in public
policy at the Hertie School of Governance in
Berlin, Germany. This summer he will be
interning in the marketing and communications
department at the Chicago Council on Global
Affairs.
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t Jeremy Huff (’06) has had some big changes
in his life. He recently got engaged to Heidi
Mandler, whom he met during his senior year at
Northwest Academy. He’d like to thank Northwest Academy not only for his education but
also for the opportunity to have met her. After
five years of working as a commercial truck
driver, Jeremy is giving up the big rig and planning to return to school to study mechanical
engineering. In his spare time, he likes to ride
his motorcycle and participate in Live Action
Role Playing. He is currently based in Portland
but plans to move to Olympia this summer.
s Katelyn Hales (’05) is a dancer living in
Brooklyn, NY. She is currently developing new
work to be presented this summer. In the
past year, she is thrilled to have performed at
the Judson Memorial Church, in the ReHappening Festival at Black Mountain College in
North Carolina, and as a part of Performática in
Puebla, Mexico. Ellie Johnson (’08) has been living in Paris since
September and studying at L’ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq—in a nutshell,
intense physical theatre. It’s essentially a clown
school, but more French, and makes her feel
like she’s training to be a sorcerer. After she
finishes her studies in June, she plans to bike
through Europe, work on some farms, and busk.
In August, she plans to perform at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival with three friends she met at
school in Paris. They’ll be doing acrobatics,
clowning, and puppeteering. After that, she’ll
return to the US. With all her travels, she’s condensed everything she owns into two bags and
plans to shave that in half before she returns.
s Alison Irvine (’10) is a senior at Eugene
Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts
in New York City studying Theater and Interdisciplinary Science. Alison was recently awarded
the Hunt Fellowship for her work as a theater
artist creating theatrical performances that have
centered on the emergence of new biotechnologies and their ethical implications in the
context of social and economic inequities. As
a Hunt Fellow she will research and develop
creative practices that engage the public with
basic science and contextualize these scientific
innovations and new technologies in ways that
promote social reflection and responsible and
ethical scientific conduct. Alison will build on
this experience in an internship with Imagine
Science Films combining her interests in science
communication, performance art, and science.
Alison recently completed her Senior Thesis
where she co-wrote, acted in, produced, and
directed a play entitled, Elegant Degradation
based on Orestes 2.0 by Charles Mee. It premiered at Theater for the New City in early May.
Al Nelson (’09) graduated from California
College of the Arts in December. He recently
accepted a junior design position at Helms
Workshop, a small branding and design studio
in Austin, Texas.
Revan Williams (’05) has returned to Northwest Academy first as a middle-school wrangler
and now as the school’s first Admissions Assistant. He’s happy to be back in Portland and
is particularly happy to be back at the school,
working with a fantastic group of teachers,
administrators, and students. He’s also just
completed his first round of home brewing (the
White House Honey Porter recipe).
Stephanie Gervais (’04) graduated from Reed
College in 2009 with a degree in art. She now
lives between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Since 2013, she has been in the Independent
Program of Escola São Paulo (São Paulo,
Brazil), a post-graduate program for the
formation of emerging artists. Stephanie’s work
encompasses costume, sculpture, photography
and performance. She has completed projects
in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas that explore
language, community values, and collectivity.
She participated in the MAPPE program for
emerging artists at the gallery Les Territoires in
Montreal and has shown her work in Portland at
the Elizabeth Leach Gallery. Upcoming shows
include the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics in Montreal, Jeune Creation
in Paris, and InpanemArt in Rio de Janeiro. She
plans to start a full-time MFA course in the fall of
2014, location still to be decided.
Kelsey Chapman-Sutton (’10) is finishing her
third year at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA.
She spent last semester in Paris, studying
French and feminism and taking dance classes
around the city. She is currently majoring in
dance and after graduating, plans to pursue an
advanced degree in dance. She’ll be spending
the summer in Portland working, dancing, and
becoming a certified yoga instructor.
s Stephanie Sandstrom (’05) graduated
magna cum laude from California College of
the Arts in 2009. She moved to Amsterdam,
where she did some traveling around Europe
and began working for a Dutch fashion brand
designing men’s apparel and women’s footwear.
She stayed in Holland for three years before
moving to Hong Kong, where she is the Design
and Marketing Director for a manufacturer that
produces footwear for mass chain stores in the
United States, Canada, and Australia.
Donate your old car
to Northwest Academy!
Northwest Academy can accept vehicle
donations. Support the school and receive
a tax deduction. Please contact Laurel
Keppy at 503.223.3367 ext.103 or
[email protected] for more info.
Catherine Young (’08) is working in New York
City at the luxury women’s shoe brand Paul
Andrew as the Assistant Designer and Social
Media Manager.
Nathan Stanton (’04) has been doing a lot
of freelancing during the last year, working on
projects for Coupang, an ecommerce company
in South Korea, and for the MEST School and
Incubator in Ghana. He spent a few months at
Codecademy for their recent mobile and web
relaunch. He just began working with Minibar,
a mobile app startup that delivers wine and
spirits on demand within an hour and that just
launched on the iPhone in New York City.
Emily Katz (’01) has been touring the country
teaching macramé workshops, art directing,
working with brands to become better versions
of themselves, and collaborating with makers.
She has also turned her focus to interior design,
and her home has been featured in Japanese
design magazines and a coffee table book.
College Acceptances
Wondering where this year’s
graduates might go?
Brooks Institute of Photography
California College of the Arts
California Polytechnic State University,
San Luis Obispo
Colorado School of Mines
Drew University
Falmouth College of Arts
Gonzaga University
Goucher College
Grinnell College
Hampshire College
Kenyon College
Leeds College of Art & Design
Macalester College
McGill University
Oberlin College
Oregon State University
Honors College
Oregon State University
Pacific University
Pomona College
Portland State University
Purdue University
Ravensbourne College of Design and
Communication
Regis University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Robert D. Clark Honors College at the
University of Oregon
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Sarah Lawrence College
Savannah College of Art and Design
Seattle University
The Arts University College at
Bournemouth Wallisdown
The Evergreen State College
The University of Montana, Western
University of Aberdeen
University of British Columbia
University of Denver
University of Kent
University of Liverpool
University of North Carolina at
Greensboro
University of Oregon
University of Puget Sound
University of San Francisco
Western Oregon University
Western Washington University
Western Washington University
Honors College
Whitman College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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PHOTOS BY RACHAEL TORCHIA
1130 SW Main Street
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