Originally published on 28 July 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
When the Arcadia High School class of 2016 bade farewell to their alma mater last month during their graduation ceremony, George Hou, spoke on behalf of his classmates. In his valedictory speech he did not brag about his peers’ academic prowess, instead he lauded their empathy.
“It was our compassion that united us so quickly in solidarity after the recent shooting in Orlando; it was our compassion that brought us all together to help stop the spread of the Ebola outbreak; and it is our compassion – and how we show it – that will dictate our future and the world’s for generations to come,” George declared.
That George has been chosen this year’s valedictorian is evidence that academic excellence isn’t everything Arcadia High School stands for. As he himself confesses, “I was really surprised to be named valedictorian. I am of the opinion that this honor isn’t bestowed to the person with the highest GPA, because if that were the case I wouldn’t have had a chance. I can list ten or 20 students who have higher grades and better minds, and who learn faster than I do. I think I realized that early on when I saw my classmates grasp concepts in an hour when it took me twice as long to understand them.”
There is a message George wants to impart to students who may be like him, “To all students out there who might be struggling, know that you’re not alone. Keep your head up and take a deep breath. It’s not a matter of who sprints the fastest. Work at your own pace, but never, ever give up. If you fall, get right back up and look at your failure as a stepping stone – a learning experience to see how you can improve. By focusing on what lies at the core of everything – your attitude and work ethic – slowly, yet surely, you will see that your potential has no bounds.”
In his valedictory address George began by saying, “When I was in first grade, I wanted to become just like my idol, Curious George – charming, curious, cute. But somewhere along the way, I lost the inquisitiveness I always believed I had. At some points during high school I noticed there were times when I was confused about why I was studying. Why did I need to learn the Greek alphabet – alpha, epsilon, pi, sigma – to study math, for instance? I became calculated and grade-driven, singularly focused on getting a certain grade in hopes of attending a better college. I was no longer the Curious George that I once was; I was frustrated that I lacked any and all passion.”
But George knew the adults around him expected him to find his passion, and to meet expectations he went in search of it. He googled ‘how to find your passion’ and took a bunch of quizzes that claimed to provide the answer, consulted his daily horoscope for potential clues, even read fortune cookies. But nothing yielded the result he was looking for.
Image of Harvard University taken from Harvard website
“Even now I don’t think I have figured out what my passion is. But I believe the path to discovering it is an ongoing process and it starts with compassion. For me passion and happiness go hand-in-hand. And happiness to me means a healthy family, an impactful legacy, and a meaningful contribution to society,” George explains.
“That gave me the drive and the purpose to accomplish something of value,” George continues. “In my case, the impetus to find meaning to everything I was studying began with my grandfather who was hearing-impaired. While early on I questioned why I had to learn calculus when I didn’t see its importance in the future, since I didn’t want to be a mathematician, I had a sudden change of heart. I discovered that math could help develop a method to enhance hearing aids; I can improve the quality of hearing aids so people will actually want to wear them. That motivated me to apply my knowledge in the classroom to solve a real-world problem.”
George’s research ‘Separating Mixed Signals in Noise-Polluted Environments Using Global Optimization’ landed him in the final round of the 75th Annual Intel Science Talent Search competition. He was one of 40 finalists chosen from around the country who traveled to Washington D.C. this past spring to present their work. For George, being in the same room with these talented researchers was a tangible validation of his own accomplishment.
This summer George continues his quest to build an algorithm that will separate sounds and filter out noise in hearing aids in real time. He intends to make it his life’s work to create something that will enrich the lives of the hearing-impaired.
As George heads off to Harvard University next month, he will take with him his deep-seated resolve to be of service to humanity. He may not have been the smartest one in his class, but just as he has proven, when he puts in twice the effort he can achieve whatever he aspires to.
Originally published on 21 July 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
In 1970, a group of comic book, movie, and science fiction aficionados got together and decided to organize a small convention (which they called minicon) in San Diego to establish awareness and raise funds for a much bigger event of this nature. They held it on March 21 of that year at the US Grant Hotel and it drew about 100 attendees.
It has since evolved into the San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC) and attracts thousands of followers to its multi-day gatherings in major cities the world over. The granddaddy of them all remains to be the annual Comic-Con International: San Diego, which will be held in several venues in and around the convention center from Thursday, July 21 to Sunday, July 25, with a preview night on July 20.
The comic convention has become hugely popular that it has spawned other events like WonderCon, held from 1995 to 2014 in Anaheim; the Alternative Press Expo (APE), held in San Francisco from 2002 to 2014 and in San Jose in 1995 to 2001; Comic Book Expo; ProCon; and Con/Fusion.
Image taken from Comic-Con website
Stephen Haydon, who works at a national retail store in Pasadena and is going this year as a member of the industry, is one of the organization’s most devoted attendees. He states, “Comic-Con has a reputation that preceded it long before it became mainstream. I’ve known about it for as long as I’ve been able to lift a comic book but it wasn’t until I was in high school that I learned the particulars of the event. I happened to be talking to my uncle who lives in San Diego and he suggested that my dad and I come out for it.
“I was born and raised in Iowa so Comic-Con seemed like an impossible dream but to hear that it was in such close proximity to my family made it an attainable goal. I first attended it in 2009 with my dad for four days and preview night. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed and I was unable to make it to preview night in time that year. I’ve tried not to miss it since,” Haydon continues.
Pasadena born and bred, Rachel Miller, loves reading comic books. The 20-year-old college student relates, “I must have heard about Comic-Con through an ad or at the comic store I frequent. Heading down to SDCC has been my dream since I was about 11 or 12, but this was the first year I was able to set any plans down in stone.”
For Miller’s 19-year-old former high school classmate, Brianna Chu, going to Comic-Con wasn’t exactly a childhood wish. She discloses, “I found out about it from friends like Rach but it wasn’t until I learned that my favorite actors from TV shows and movies went to it every year that I got really interested.
“Rach and I had considered going to it together, just the two of us, but having thought more about it we decided it wasn’t such a great idea to have two girls go on their own. So I asked two friends from university if they wanted to tag along,” Chu expounds.
Tom Williams, a 20-year-old who hails from Herefordshire, England, has also known about Comic-Con for a while. He recounts, “I had heard about it from various different sources, long before I ever conceived of possibly going there one day. It’s discussed and represented quite a bit in the general media, in such forms as gaming YouTube channels. And if you’re even vaguely interested in the Marvel film franchise, for example, it’s highly likely you’ll hear about it eventually. Some friends from back home and I considered going to London Comic-Con a number of times, although we were never able to organize it properly.
“Being from England, I obviously really didn’t think about traveling to San Diego until I went to university and made new friends. We knew we all wanted to go together! In my experience it’s always the people that make an event special and I’m really looking forward to enjoying it,” Williams continues.
Rebecca Montgomery, who is 19 years old and Chu’s flat mate last year at the university they both attend in the UK, has lived all over the world where her dad’s business operates. When school isn’t in session, she resides in Singapore. She says, “I found out about Comic-Con from watching my favorite TV shows, ‘Chuck’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ While I had dreamt of going to Comic-Con it wasn’t until I met Brianna and Tom that it became achievable.”
The process of getting a badge to Comic-Con proved daunting for this group of friends. Miller says, “Badge purchasing was awful! You have to register long before you can actually buy tickets just to secure a spot in the ‘waiting room.’ On the day the badges become available you log onto this ‘waiting room’ an hour at most before tickets are up and you wait to get called into the page where you purchase them. In the meantime, banners pop up letting you know when days are sold out. On top of that, you can only purchase for yourself and a maximum of two others. It was stressful!”
“It was nerve-wracking while we were all waiting to see if we could get onto the actual buying site. I honestly wasn’t expecting we’d get lucky so I wasn’t really paying much attention. Then suddenly I realized I got in the purchasing page,” Montgomery relates.
Participants at Comic-Con San Diego 20 July 2013. Comic-Con draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and some attend in full costume. Image taken from Comic-Con website
The four friends were at school the day badges became available – Miller was in Philadelphia while Chu, Montgomery, and Williams were in Scotland. They were all on Skype together, watching the screen and hoping one of them would get selected.
Relates Williams, “Happily, Rebecca got chosen and she nominated Brianna and Rachel, who are both from Pasadena. That left me in a bit of a pickle. I had resigned myself into missing it this year but, thankfully, I was invited as an official guest of an exhibitor at the show!”
“We planned for this event for a good six months – figuring out when everyone would be meeting up and how we’d get there, as Rebecca and I live abroad. We also had to find accommodations at a reasonable price, decide what costumes we wanted to wear, consider our meal plan. The hardest part was making sure we’d all arrive at convenient times and that we’d have enough time beforehand to work and save up some cash,” Williams goes on to say.
They’re all looking forward to a thrilling experience. As Miller says, “Hopefully, it will live up to all my expectations of fun craziness. The trip still feels like a dream – it won’t be real for me until I step onto the convention floor on Thursday! While I anticipate to get much enjoyment, I also hope to gain a sense of independence and self-responsibility, traveling without my parents for the first time.”
Montgomery pipes in, “I’m delighted to be here in California; I shall make the most of this experience. I intend to have a great time, maybe see some cool panels, and listen to people talk about interesting topics.”
Meanwhile, Chu has one priority, “The first thing I’ll do is head to the Warner Bros. booth and hopefully get some autographs from the cast of ‘Supernatural,’ one of my favorite TV shows.”
One drawback about Comic-Con’s popularity is that tickets are in such high demand. Haydon, who has been going for seven years, illustrates, “The first time I purchased them, I went on the website a mere two months before the event. It was as simple as buying a movie ticket from Fandango, if not easier. Now the process is so complicated and badges sell out within 45 minutes after they are available for purchase.
“The price has also gone up – the first time my Dad and I went it cost $50 for all four days plus preview night; it’s now $275. But Comic-Con is part of my life; it’s hard to imagine a year without it,” Haydon states.
Image taken from Comic-Con website
Comic-Con International is the largest event of its kind and is held in 19 separate rooms in the Convention Center, at hotels nearby, and in the public library. Activities for attendees range from hands-on workshops, a masquerade cosplay costume competition, film screenings, an art show, portfolio reviews, autograph area, and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.
People who weren’t able to purchase badges can attend events that are open to the public including booths, carnivals, obstacle courses, etc.
The presence of Hollywood celebrities promoting upcoming films and TV shows has added to the attraction and popularity of Comic-Con. David Glanzer, spokesperson for SDCC, says, “We have a wide variety of attendees, some of whom are interested in comics, writing, film, acting, producing, art, and other forms of artistic expression. It is great that those aspiring creators can meet and learn from those who are successful in their chosen field.
“In fact, I think there is a misconception that Comic-Con was originally just to focus on comic books. The reality is we always thought comics, film, and fantasy literature were areas of popular art that the public may not have fully embraced. So our hope was to bring wider recognition to elements we felt were truly great artistic forms of expression. In fact, it is heartening to see that in the 21st century, fantasy literature is so popular, that film is widely regarded with such high esteem that the US Congress established a film registry, and comic books are so popular that the public is aware of so many comics characters,” Glanzer expounds.
“The event is different for every person,” Glanzer concludes. “But we are all fans, who produce Comic-Con, so we try to create the type of show we would want to attend. We hope they learn something new and informative, enjoy the company of like-minded friends, and realize Comic-Con is a place where you can be yourself … or who you want to be.”
For the over 100,000 enthusiastic fans who will flock to San Diego this week, Comic-Con makes it so cool to be a nerd.
Originally published on 14 July 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
The magnificent mansions on Orange Grove Blvd., in Pasadena, set along wide avenues and well-tended manicured lawns, are the stuff of fairy tales. The Fenyes Mansion is one such residence where kids would have so much fun playing pretend. At the same time, it is an excellent setting for today’s children to learn how people lived a hundred years ago.
From 10:30 am to noon, on Wednesday, July 20 and Saturday, July 23, the Fenyes Mansion is offering senior and junior docent-conducted and supervised immersive tours for kids aged six to twelve. Called ‘Growing up on Millionaires’ Row’, the visits offer a glimpse of what is was like to live in a grand house through the eyes of children.
Brad Macneil, Education Program Coordinator at the Pasadena Museum of History, designed the tour in hopes that this would be an occasion for grandparents to take their grandchildren on an enjoyable visit. He says, “It will be an intimate group of no more than 30 people for each session to allow for individualized attention. We will divide them into three groupings touring different sections of the mansion. The first one will look at the public places – foyer, dining room and kitchen; the second will go into the studio and the conservatory; and the third will go to the upstairs private areas – the sitting room and the bedrooms.”
“There will be fun things to explore in each space. Obviously the kitchen is a wonderful place to see because while it looks somewhat like today’s kitchen, it is full of delightful appliances – old fashioned toasters, ice box (refrigerator), stove – that children don’t see in their homes. We’ll show them how ancient phones functioned and how irons worked,” Macneil explains.
“In the studio we have a Victor Victrola which we rarely use but it will be cranked up and will play music,” reveals Macneil. “It would be great to see the look on kids’ faces when they hear tunes coming out of that instead of from an iPod”.
Macneil further enthuses, “The conservatory is such an amazing place – how many people have their own private garden inside their house? How fun would it be for a child to come and play in this room devoted entirely to plants!”
“The group that will be looking at the foyer would become acquainted with how people arrived to visit – they had calling cards, for one, and they dressed far more formally than we do today. Children will get to pretend to come for a special lunch. They will see how the table is set and learn table manners. Just knowing which fork to use for certain foods require basic training; we have a book devoted solely to dining etiquette. I’m sure we’ll hear a lot of entertaining stories about that,” Macneil says with in amusement.
“Upstairs in the sitting room, children can dress up. Back then, girls and boys were taught how to be proper ladies and gentlemen. We will have replica clothing they can put on to see what it was like – people wore different attires for various activities, including going out to tea or the theatre. Women’s dresses had so many layers and weighed as much as 35 pounds! They carried accessories and the way they held their fans symbolized specific meanings, like if they wished to encourage conversation with a gentleman across the room. Even the flowers they received or offered to someone conveyed a particular sentiment. During the Victorian era, people had to know the language of flowers. Who, these days, would even realize that when a gentleman gave a lady a white camellia it meant he found her adorable? And that getting back a bouquet of withered flowers was a dreaded rejection from a lady he so admired?”, Macneil adds.
“There’s so much the older generations can teach to children today, and that’s why we’re so excited about this.” Macneil continues. “We’re grateful that the Tournament of Roses gave us the funding to make this possible. Using these two sessions this year as a kick-off, we’ll evaluate how much interest it generates and if it’s successful we might make it a regular summer offering. It is a wonderful addition to our mission of reaching out and sharing history with the community.”
Macneil states, “What I love about it is the sharing of information among multiple generations. There’s nothing like observing a grandfather or a grandmother watching a child learn. I can already hear the start of a conversation ‘When I was your age, I used to do ….’ It initiates a wonderful dialogue.”
The Pasadena Museum of History will be open to the public immediately after the tours so attendees will have the opportunity to explore the ongoing carousel exhibit, walk the grounds of the mansion, and stop in to purchase souvenirs at the gift shop. This interactive visit to the Fenyes Mansion can be a truly pleasurable beginning of a young child’s greater appreciation for history, the community, and the generations before them.
Originally published on 28 July 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
Carved into the foothills of Pasadena is a Kindergarten to eighth grade independent school that has consistently provided an outstanding education for its students for the past 50 years. High Point Academy (HPA), located on five compact acres on Kinneloa Canyon Road, to this day remains competitive in a market which reputedly boasts some of the most high achieving educational institutions in the state.
HPA was established in October 1965 when three women decided to open a small school for a few children. With Millicent Wilson serving as the first headmaster, it opened on Chester Avenue with 16 pupils; the following year enrollment grew to 50. In 1967 it had 75 students and eight teachers, and another space had to be leased to accommodate third to ninth graders.
By 1973 it became clear that their existing site wasn’t big enough for all their students; construction on its present location began. In 1974 the 15 faculty members welcomed 230 students on their first day of school in this brand-new structure that featured a sports field. School uniforms were also introduced that year; and a $10 donation to the building fund was incorporated into the monthly statements (it continued until 1990).
The HPA library was opened and a junior high (seventh and eighth grades) science department was created in 1976. The decade between 1977 and 1987 saw more classroom and building additions; computers were installed. When the school observed its 25th anniversary in 1990 it had 312 students, 29 teachers and three administrators.
In 1993 John Higgins was appointed the sixth headmaster. He served in this office for 21 years and oversaw major expansions of the school’s facilities. He also ushered in the age of technology with the installation of Smartboards in every classroom, the launch of a digital library, and the introduction of laptops in junior high.
Under Higgins’s charge HPA’s enrollment reached its capacity of 350 students. The staff and faculty grew to about 55 (31 teachers, one librarian, one school counselor, one learning specialist, seven aides and student supervisors; with the rest in administrative capacities). Sixteen teachers hold masters degrees and have an average length of service of ten years.
Image taken from High Point Academy website
High Point offers a vast array of subjects including: math; science; history/social studies; language arts (reading and writing); world languages (K-3 Spanish; 4-8 French or Spanish); writers’ workshop; technology (coding, robotics, STEAM); visual arts and choral music; instrumental music in grades 4-7; physical education daily; library program twice weekly; and a technology class (computer lab) several times a week.
After-school enrichment courses are offered every day during the schoolyear with Kindercare for kindergartners and Eagle Club for grades 1 to 8. Some programs include: bricks 4 kids; chess club; dance; mad science; mathnasium; robotics; STEAM; cub scouts and girl scouts. An after-school musical theatre program is likewise available. Most seventh and eighth graders are in athletic teams and play a variety of sports in five different seasons in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF).
The school holds small class sizes with an average student/teacher ratio of 11 to 1. In K-6, there are approximately 20 students in the classroom with one teacher and an associate teacher who works with smaller groups.
Forty percent of HPA’s student body is of diverse ethnic backgrounds (Asian Americans, Latinos, African Americans, and Middle Eastern) and 60 percent are Caucasians. Most of the students who arrive in kindergarten stay until they graduate in eighth grade.
HPA has a middle school placement program designed to help students and families find the perfect fit for them. Graduates matriculate to some of the most highly selective schools in the Pasadena area including Polytechnic, Flintridge Prep, Mayfield Senior, Westridge School for Girls, La Salle, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Loyola, Saint Francis and Maranatha.
By the time Higgins retired in 2014, HPA had gained a reputation as one of the best elementary and junior high schools in the area. The sports field was renamed ‘Higgins Field’ to commemorate his enviable legacy.
Timothy Burns was appointed interim headmaster for the 2014-2015 school year. He led HPA through the California Association of Independent School (CAIS) accreditation process where it was awarded the maximum certification of seven years.
Gary Stern, who in 2015 succeeded Burns as the eighth headmaster, is charged with ensuring the next half century measures up to the success of the first five decades. Several events marked his first year, a milestone for HPA. On the first day of the school year students and parents got to ‘Dive into the 50th with a swim event at Gerrish.
Alumni students and parents came back on campus for the ‘Alumni Wine & Cheese’ affair. On the 50th day of the school year, the entire student body, faculty and staff gathered on Higgins Field to form an ‘HPA 50’ and photographed by a sky lift and drone for posterity. A Golden Gala was held on April 30 to celebrate High Point’s anniversary in style.
The Earth Day and Green School Showcase in April was the capstone of HPA’s ongoing commitment to lead independent schools in the advancement of environment sustainability. The school was recognized as a flagship ‘green’ school and local dignitaries were on hand to present an award.
During his first year, Stern hired a curriculum and innovations specialist who will work with teachers to incorporate and integrate technology in their classroom curriculum. This will pave the way for students to keep pace with technology and be able to access its power to prepare them for today’s global society.
This fall, Stern will unveil HPA’s Strategic Five-Year Plan which outlines what’s ahead. Created in collaboration with the board of trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, parents and students, he says it will provide a clear path forward to allow High Point to remain true to its mission and core values, and successfully grow and evolve.
Stern elaborates, “First and foremost, we focus on academic excellence through awakening the joy of learning in every student. We trust that when learning is a joyful experience all students will rise to their full potential. We also believe in meeting the needs of the whole child, which means emphasizing not only the academic advancement but the social, emotional, and ethical development as well.
“Through our strategic planning process we identified four pillars that support and sustain our mission: excellence, innovation, responsibility, and community,” Stern expounds. “These, in turn, are the cornerstones of our long-term objectives that focus on: a strong, challenging curriculum; a commitment to fiscal responsibility; fund-raising and friend-raising; campus facilities to optimize student learning; admissions, enrollment, and marketing; and recruiting, retaining, and supporting talented faculty and staff.”
“Next year, most probably, we will undergo a campus master planning process. An architect will be consulting with all our constituents to come up with a facilities design that will continue to support our academic program,” Stern reveals.
“Some of the upgrades we’re contemplating include: remodeling the junior high classrooms; improving the sport court; expanding the Snack Shack; increasing technological enhancements; reconfiguring space to meet our curriculum needs; and adding more drought-tolerant landscaping,” Stern explains further.
HPA’s 50 years of establishment will be memorialized in posterity. Says Stern, “Sometime in the early part of the 2016-2017 school year, we will bury a time capsule to be opened in 2041. Students have gathered mementos from the five decades that denoted a noteworthy event for the period. Each student included in this time capsule things that represent who we are today and their dreams and aspirations for the future. They also put in their predictions about how life will change over the next 25 years.”
Another 50th anniversary commemorative is a transportable mural hanging on an outdoor wall made up of tiles individually painted by a student. It is a tangible demonstration of the importance of each piece to compose one beautiful whole.
It was indeed quite an auspicious beginning for Stern. That he came on board during this landmark year for High Point must have been predetermined by fate as he himself celebrated his 50th birthday. And just as he is looking forward to the rest of his productive life, he is likewise eager to lead this singular school to achieve greater significance in the San Gabriel Valley.
Originally published on 7 July 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
The word ‘gifted’ usually refers to someone who has innate intellectual or artistic abilities that surpass his or her age, while ‘talented’ is often used to describe one who works hard and accomplishes feats exceptionally well. Based on those delineations, a gifted child doesn’t put in any work while a talented kid makes some effort to achieve something spectacular.
Marc Soong, a recently graduated eighth grader from Barnhart, a K-8th grade independent school in Arcadia, is both gifted and talented. Listening to his spirited and rousing rendition of Grand Etude Paganini No. 3 ‘La Campanella’ by Franz Liszt on the piano transports you into another world and time. His amazing fingering also reveals a mastery of technique honed by hours of painstaking practice and a devotion to his craft.
This past June 28, Marc electrified as he performed the finale number at The 65thAnnual Redlands Bowl ‘Young Artist Competition Winners’ where he interpreted Chopin, Rossini and Ginzburg.
Valerie Peister, program director for the Redlands Community Music Association pronounces, “As a winner of the 2016 Redlands Bowl Young Artist Competition, Marc Soong thrilled Tuesday evening’s Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival audience with a virtuosic recital performance. His technical mastery was matched by a sensitivity and depth of expression well beyond his years, and showcased his remarkable ability to tell a musical story.”
And again on June 30, Marc impressed at the Isaac Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in New York, where he played Paraphrase of Figaro’s aria from the Barber of Seville by Ginzburg/Rossini.
Marc’s outstanding musical abilities have earned him awards from the Los Angeles Young Musician International Competition, San Jose International Piano Competition, American Protégé Piano and String Competition, among other others.
Music, specifically, piano, is an important family activity for the Soongs. Marc’s mom, Alice, says “My husband and I attend all of our kids’ concerts, competitions and performances. Both Marc and Melodey, Marc’s older sister, perform at senior homes, and volunteer as ushers for concerts held at the Pasadena Symphony and Pops”.
Love of music came to Marc early on when he was three years old and heard Melodey playing the piano. He remembers that in first grade, he tagged along when his sister visited USC Thornton School of Music to meet with Daniel Pollack, a renowned professor there. When he was in third grade, he became one of Prof. Pollack’s students.
Vladimir Khomyakov, who at age 32 is an accomplished concert pianist himself, is Pollack’s assistant and has been Marc’s piano teacher since he was eight years old. From Khomyakov Marc learns technique as well as general music knowledge – history, the background of each piece, composer, style, and theory.
“Marc is a brilliant student to teach because once he starts, he’s hungry for more. He learns a piece on his own, asks a lot of questions, and has great initiative. While he chooses his pieces based on his personal journey, I help him build a balanced repertoire to include various genres, styles, periods, and composers, and develop a solid program as an artist,” Khomyakov states.
“As a musician, Marc is very passionate about his music. He plays from the heart – a rare trait for someone at his age, most kids do it mechanically. He has excellent ears: when he hears a noise he knows what pitch it is; when he hears a computer tone, he can play it. He absorbs all sounds like a sponge. He has what it takes to be a successful concert pianist … although I wouldn’t recommend it. It is a challenging life, with countless hours spent practicing which may turn out to be time wasted on something that might not work. It is usually filled with disappointments and stress, especially at the age of 20 to 25 when one gets into serious competitions,” Khomyakov says.
And Kyomyakov knows whereof he speaks. Like Pollack, he himself has concertized internationally as a pianist, conductor, chamber musician, and a soloist with leading orchestras including Dresden Philharmonic and Houston Symphony. He says he holds 40 to 50 concerts a year and has been all over the world except Africa. In 2009 he was chosen to be the assistant to Prof. Pollack; he teaches weekly master classes to all degree-level students.
Music is not the only thing that Marc is superior at. According to Tonya Beilstein, associate head of school and director of curriculum and instruction at Barnhart, Marc exhibited talent and creativity for a normal fourth grader. She relates, “I began working with Marc in fourth grade, supporting his social and emotional growth. At the end of his fifth grade here we realized he was also ready for more academic challenges. I thought a solution was for him to go from fifth grade in June to seventh grade that Fall, skipping sixth grade entirely.
“That decision didn’t come about haphazardly. We first asked his parents to get outside psychological evaluations (because we don’t have the resources on campus to do it). One of the things we do now, that we weren’t doing before, is use a tool called Iowa Acceleration Scale. It provides the rubric to help schools make effectual decisions relating to grade-skips. Besides psychological evaluation, we look at IQ, academic assessment – capacity and performance.
“We conferred with the whole team in Marc’s life – his parents; past, current, and future teachers; school administrators. The last step we took was talk to Marc himself. He was very excited about the idea – he very much wanted to move ahead,” Beilstein discloses further.
Marc says, “I was a little nervous about being in seventh grade and being with older students but I also wanted a more challenging curriculum. My classmates were very kind to me and I developed deeper and more meaningful friendships in seventh and eighth grade. I found it easy as well as enjoyable.”
As if all these weren’t enough, Marc has been accepted to attend Stanford Online High School (SOHS) in the fall. At 13 years old, he might be the youngest person to gain admission to this highly selective institution. Offering a distinctly innovative program, SOHS requires students to take core courses in Science, Math, English, and History. For academically advanced students, SOHS has numerous post-AP subjects, including university-level courses that typify most undergraduate programs.
“Stanford Online High School is the perfect fit for Marc,” declares Beilstein. “It’s a good choice for so many reasons – the challenge of the curriculum, the interaction he will have with like-minded students. I think, for the first time, he’s really going to be surrounded by his academic peers which he will find engaging and exciting.
“For students like Marc, who have participated in the summer program at Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, a rigorous curriculum will give them peace and confidence. This model of learning is ideal because he can study at the pace that’s right for him and gives him the time to focus on his piano – it accommodates all his needs. He’s going to be in control of his destiny now,” Beilstein concludes.
Marc is surrounded by people who support him – from his parents who encourage him to follow his dreams and provide the means for him to do so, to school administrators who find the perfect environment to engage his mind, to his music teachers who dare him to play demanding piano pieces, to friends who supply him with equilibrium as he navigates life. Through it all, Marc has remained sanguine and has retained his inner ‘kid-ness’. He thinks the coolest thing about going to an online high school is that he doesn’t have to eat cafeteria food.
Originally published on 23 June 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino is a venerable institution beloved by residents in the San Gabriel Valley, recognized by scholars all over the world, and visited by tourists of every color and stripe.
At the heart of this landmark foundation is Dr. Laura Skandera Trombley, who took over as its eighth president (and the first woman to hold the title) in July of last year. She oversees an organization with so many moving parts that perfectly coalesce to make The Huntington run as smoothly and seamlessly as it is beautiful and breathtaking.
Prior to her current post, Trombley served for 13 years as president of Pitzer, one of the Claremont Colleges in Southern California. Under her tenure the college raised its U.S. News & World Report ranking, and improved its acceptance rate. In 2012 The Chronicle of HigherEducation named Pitzer College the top producer of Fullbright Fellows among U.S. colleges.
Two weeks before commemorating her first full year at The Huntington, Trombley remarks on the past eleven and a half months, “It’s like discovering the wonderful contents of a treasure box – from the people, to the objects, to the gardens. The Huntington has the most amazing way of revealing itself like the petals of a flower. You see that the totality of it is stunning but the real beauty comes in the particulars. I’ve spent the year just looking at it a little more deeply than I have ever had before … and that has been really incredible for me.”
Like most people living in the area, Trombley is no stranger to the place. She remembers that as a child, she walked through the rose garden with her mother and went to tea. Years later she came back to The Huntington as a young scholar researching for her doctoral thesis.
Image taken from the Los Angeles Times
“I felt this strong connection to it and I thought my experience was atypical. But I soon learned that it’s not. In fact I’ve met families who’ve volunteered at The Huntington for three generations; we have someone who has been actively volunteering for 54 years. That a quarter of a million people have the same robust ties to The Huntington – that this is so widely shared – was something that I could not have anticipated,” Trombley observes.
Trombley has fully immersed herself in the operations of The Huntington. She has worked alongside volunteers to prune and deadhead the roses in the garden, meet school buses as they arrive for tours, and wrap gifts during the holidays. She says, “I don’t want to just sit in my office; part of the fun is engaging with people here.”
The work for Trombley going forward is several-fold. She wants to focus on what goes on inside the buildings – continue to expand The Huntington’s collections, increase funding for art exhibitions. Additionally, she’s thinking of putting on more outdoor art displays, making sure all staff are well-taken care of, and imagining how to enhance the visitor experience.
As president of Pitzer, Trombley grew its annual endowment from $42 million in 2003 to $133 million in 2014, and raised its national profile. As she is quick to point out, The Huntington is already a world-class organization as well as a global cultural institution and is in an incredibly robust financial position. Her charge is to continue to grow the institution and consider carefully its physical footprint.
The Blue Boy Installation after the conservation project | Photo courtesy of The Huntington
And as Trombley did in her previous post, she intends to make The Huntington a model of environmental responsibility. She states, “We are moving strategically towards sustainability – analyzing how much water and power we consume and looking at how we can use less of both.
“In fact, we will be a beta site for cutting-edge drip irrigation systems that are astoundingly sophisticated – they are all computer-controlled and can actually sense when it’s time to water. We’re considering installing low-flow toilets across the board, and maybe generating our own power.
“These things are options that are important not just because we are a very challenged area when it comes to water and power but also because more and more the state is requiring that people take measures. Beyond that, we are always a teaching institution and we want to exhibit best practice. We want to show a path for how people can become increasingly sustainable in their homes at an affordable way,” Trombley expounds.
Ten months ago, Trombley embarked on a mission to make The Huntington a food destination. She explains, “The thing that’s interesting, and at the same time is complex, is that we have so many constituents when it comes to food. We have children who want grilled cheese sandwiches, tater tots, and mac n’ cheese; adults who want an authentic fine-dining experience with chefs designing their meals; our staff who want organic food and pre-prepared meals they can take home so they won’t have to go to the market and cook dinner from scratch.
The Huntington’s Chinese Garden | Photo by Brianna Chu
“We plan to launch it in September and we hope it will be part of the attraction among the locals and particularly for our members. We want them to come for a nice walk and then enjoy an incredible meal with the best parking in Los Angeles. It would be so satisfying for me if people think of The Huntington when they want to have a world-class meal in an incomparable setting,” Trombley enthuses.
Dovetailing with this project is an expansion of their dining venues to accommodate the sheer number of people who visit. Trombley reveals they are building a second restaurant in the Chinese Garden – the Garden of Flowing Fragrance. The one that currently exists will very likely return to being a dim sum place, or become a real teahouse serving sweets and desserts, while the second restaurant would offer heartier fare.
Trombley says further, “We have received an enormous number of requests for a place to accommodate large parties for weddings, first birthdays, even dances. Right now we only have our grass area and not everyone wants to be on grass; we also have to build a stage, which adds to the expense. To meet that space requirement, we are on the final phase of fund-raising for a 600-seat venue on the hillside of the Chinese Garden to be used for events. It will be able to support a tent so we can have events at any time of the year. It would have a spectacular view of the Chinese Garden and the two restaurants there can cater the affair.”
There are several memorable events during Trombley’s first year that stands out in her mind. She describes her favorites, “The Huntington Ball is always lovely … I’d never been to a ball before … that was a lot of fun. It’s a fundraiser we hold every September for our members, guests and corporate sponsors.
The Huntington’s Rose Garden – Courtesy Photo
One event they had for the first time is the San Marino Day which Trombley initiated. In April The Huntington opened its gates and invited everyone to come free of charge – about 20 percent of San Marino’s population came in that day, reports Trombley. Another favorite is An Evening Among the Roses, held for the LGBT community. She is also looking forward to the completion of the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, a grand celebration slated for 2018.
“There are so many events here … and I’m not even mentioning the fantastic speakers who have all been extraordinary,” Trombley hastens to add. “Except for the San Marino Day which we held with my coming in, these other amazing events have been going on for a long time. But it’s a place that’s very open to new ideas … to creative ideas. I find that to be one of the best parts of The Huntington.”
When asked what vision she wants people to have at the mention of The Huntington, Trombley laughs and protests, “I think it would be almost impossible for me to name just one. We have The Huntington rose, The Blue Boy, Mark Twain’s manuscript of ‘The Prince and the Pauper.’ What I’ve learned is that everyone has a different mental image of it.
But one thing that comes to mind above everything is that it’s a kind and gentle place where people are treated very, very well. And it’s a place where you could just have a sense of spontaneous exhaling and, at the same time, an inhaling of creativity. I think that’s the most special aspect of The Huntington,” Trombley opines.
The Huntington is an institution that evokes as many different feelings and emotions as the tourists and visitors who come to experience it. And just as Trombley discovered when she came on board a year ago, every single person who steps into this wondrous oasis retains a deep connection to it.
While locals happily share The Huntington’s vast treasures with the thousands who come to visit annually, they are fiercely protective as they are intensely proud of this national treasure in their midst. They are also absolutely certain that in Trombley’s accomplished stewardship The Huntington will thrive and flourish for centuries to come.
Originally published on 16 June 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly and Sierra Madre Weekly
College applications: it’s a rite of passage among teenagers in this country. High schoolers spend 18 months of their life focused on this singular pursuit – actively padding resumes, accumulating countless hours of community service work, and preparing feverishly to get high scores in standardized tests – with the hope they would be good enough to merit admissions officers’ interest and acceptance to their dream school.
In its present form, the process arguably favors students with the resources to take test-prep classes, hire independent counselors to ‘package’ them, travel to far-flung countries to build houses as part of their community service, and intern for prestigious corporations. All for the purpose of burnishing applicants’ resumes.
The authors of the report touched on three areas: promoting more meaningful contributions to others, community service and engagement with the public good; assessing students’ ethical engagement and contributions to others in ways that reflect varying types of family and community contributions across race, culture and class; redefining achievement in ways that both level the playing field for economically diverse students and reduce excessive achievement pressure.
Image taken from Blair High School’s website
At Blair High School, in the Pasadena Unified School District, community service activism is a component of its International Baccalaureate program, according to college counselor, Karen Favor. She says, “Students identify a need for the school or the community, develop a plan with other schools, people or community, address that need and complete it in 150 hours. The Harvard study’s second recommendation – collective action that takes on community challenges – validates what we are already doing.
Favor adds, “I also appreciate its recommendation for assessing ethical engagement and contributions to others across race, culture, and class – specifically the one touching on contributions to one’s family. More and more we see students who also are caregivers for the elderly in their family. We had one student who had a grandfather with Alzheimer living at home. She woke him up every morning, fed him breakfast before going to school, then fed him dinner when she got back home. Besides providing care for him, she also had to deal with the mood swings that come with the disease.”
Image taken from Flintridge Prep’s website
At Flintridge Prep, a 7th-12th grade independent school in La Canada, Harvard’s seminal report has been widely circulated. Gloria Diaz Ventura, director of college counseling, reveals, “We know it well, it’s posted outside my office door. I believe in the words and to me it’s two different things. It’s something I will use to promote a balanced and healthy college process. The second issue is whether or not I feel if, in fact, this document will implement change in the college application process.
“Having worked at highly selective institutions, I’m very clear on the institutional standards and how the process works. But I believe in the document because I have to; I have to believe there’s a better way because right now I don’t see how we can keep going at this rate. The extreme selectivity among universities is creating unhealthy behaviors on the high school side.
“While we don’t have a community service requirement, we encourage our students to be part of their community. Our messaging is so clear that life has to be more than test scores and grades. We have a middle class ethos – there is no entitlement and we don’t forget where we come from,” Ventura further expounds.
Prep’s headmaster, Peter Bachmann, pronounces, “We support the values of the Harvard report, which are extremely compatible with Flintridge Prep’s. We sincerely hope that colleges around the country truly embrace them.”
Image of Mayfield Senior School taken from Mayfield’s website
Among independent schools in Pasadena, community service and doing good for others are already part of their moral ethos. Kate Morin, head of school at Mayfield Senior, says “That’s our core mission – Action Not Words. It’s really about empowering our students to be leaders in making the world a better place.”
Morin recounts, “When I met recently with several generations of alums in San Francisco and in New York – some of whom were in their 70s – that’s what they want to talk to us about. They all have continued to serve the community in various ways, an extension or expansion of the work they started back when they were at Mayfield; maybe as part of their experience on Cornelia Connelly Day or Annual Service Day.”
Lori Holtrust, Mayfield college counselor, echoes Morin’s words, “We foster the development of the whole person. I think we’ve found that students are learning because they’re intrigued – they’re diving in. I don’t know that they’re doing it for college admissions. We focus on the journey of development, learning and understanding. And the college piece just happens.”
Sequoyah School, which will welcome its first 9th grade class this fall, has instilled this ‘habit of mind’ even among their elementary and middle school students. Marc Alongi, high school director, says “Our curriculum is designed to prepare students to graduate as experienced, confident and resourceful problem solvers, who know how to apply their knowledge and passion using strategies that can make a difference for their communities and for their own lives. Students will be challenged to think critically and creatively, learn how to work in diverse teams, and communicate ideas successfully.”
“The Harvard study certainly aligns with our values; our high school curriculum is framed along those lines. We aren’t merely preparing our students for college, we’re educating them. We want to inspire curious learners who are passionate and engaged about what they’re doing and connected to their community.
“Oftentimes the college process distracts students from that; they focus on APs, grades, test scores, extra-curriculars. Again and again you hear in the media about college admissions officers seeing window dressing on students applications, not genuine interest. Are the community service hours being done to merely check off a box or is it for a deeper purpose? Our program for social innovation makes students responsible for their own impact project. It would show genuine interest and commitment; they’d have a real story to tell in their college essay.
“The question for college admissions officers is how do they sort through the application? Are they using SAT scores as the initial filter? Some of these essays may still not get read; but if they are read, does it make a difference?,” Alongi further queries.
Ventura of Flintridge Prep, voices this same concern. “In large offices, it’s newly graduated professionals from that school – 22-, 23- or 24-yeard-old grads – reading the file. Not unless the dean or director is telling them this is what they’re going to emphasize, they’ll just be following their marching orders. The deans, in turn, are following what the university president is telling them.
“College admissions officers need to evaluate what they’re valuing and what they’re praising at the end of the day. It’s very political – you have to look at these institutions and how they’re tied to Wall Street and political organizations. Community service by itself doesn’t get you into Harvard,” Ventura states.
Another Mayfield college counselor, Abigail Shaw, opines, “I think colleges are honest that they’re looking holistically. They want students with broader perspectives. A lot of colleges are shifting their priorities – there are schools which are making the testing element optional and it’s building every single year. They are realizing that testing doesn’t necessarily present a true reflection of what a student can provide in their community so they’re taking it to heart. But I think in terms of the full spectrum of colleges making that shift … it’s not going to happen.”
According to the media spokesperson for the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools (ACCIS), Jodi Sweeney, “The intentions of the report are very noble. From our perspective, we feel that the report meshes well with our programming. Independent schools are preparing citizens of the world; we really work hard to help students find a balance so that they’re selecting courses with an appropriate amount of rigor so that they’re able to engage in the life of the community.
“We encourage our students to challenge themselves, find authentic service opportunities, and have transformative experiences. But we also want them to thrive and get sleep at night. It’s a balancing act and the landscape right now is more is more. And until we see that colleges really are recognizing and valuing a student who engages deeply in two or three activities and rewarding that with an acceptance, we won’t be making great changes to our college application process.
“Often admissions officers talk about the transcript being the most important component of the application – more so than the ACT or SAT. But when you look at the median scores at the schools, you’ll see that ranges are very high. College applications is so complex that it’s a perfect storm; fixing it requires a collective effort.
“Technology and the ease with which students can apply to more schools, have also increased the competition. While we encourage them to be thoughtful and do intentional searches, students put out 12 to 15 applications because they can.
“We’re waiting to see what impact this report has on admissions selection and their recruitment process. Right now it’s GPA- and SAT-based. We want to get a sense from college admissions officers how they’re going to tweak their process,” Sweeney says.
At the core of the Harvard report is a fundamental issue – raising children with a moral compass who will grow up to be upstanding citizens of their community and the world. And that process starts during childhood.
Clairbourn School – Courtesy Photo
Dr. Robert Nafie, headmaster of Clairbourn School, a pre-K to 8th grade school in San Gabriel, offers his insight to support it. “Encouraging young people to take a more ethical path of social responsibility and community service must begin in the home. Additionally, it must be embraced at the individual level or there will be nothing but lip-service to perceived expectations. It is a way of life, not a fulfillment of college admissions criteria.
“The position paper implies students who demonstrate social responsibility and concern for the common good to be more desirable than those who have not exhibited such. However, it is doubtful that these institutions would accept social and ethical engagement in lieu of proven proficiency and knowledge in chosen fields of study. Although it is not clear from reading the study, it is likely that the report is actually arguing for the use of social and ethical engagement as an important secondary consideration, or even at the tertiary level, in the admissions process,” Nafie further opines.
While emphasis on the empathetic record might be highly desirable in a liberal arts college which focuses on the humanities or in education, social services, counseling, even law, Nafie puts forth that this does not hold true in technical areas.
“In the technical fields, content mastery and demonstrated proficiency will continue to be paramount. And the United States must continue to strive for excellence as measured by objective standards instead of anecdotal testimony. In science, medicine, aviation, and mathematics, for example, no amount of motivation, intention, or concern, will make up for lack of precision or knowledge.
“When content mastery and demonstrated proficiency are substantially equal in college applicants, admissions officers should evaluate important but less critical elements in making their decisions. Without such a strong standard for objective measures of readiness, American colleges will be pulled into accepting good enough instead of reaching for genuineexcellence,” Nafie posits.
American universities are the envy of the world. Students everywhere aspire to gain admission to them. It is incumbent upon these institutions of higher learning to find the students who can balance scholastic ability and ethical responsibility.
Originally published on 9 June 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
Barnhart School was founded in 1959 by Dr. Ethel Barnhart and is affiliated with the non-denominational Santa Anita Church. Students from kindergarten to 8th grade acquire a stellar education based on an ethos of respect and love that encourages independence and self-responsibility.
Tucked away in eight acres of real estate between Colorado Place and Colorado Blvd. in Arcadia, close to the race tracks, Barnhart can easily by missed by someone driving by. But if Ethan Williamson, headmaster of five years, were to have his way, it wouldn’t be too long when everyone will know exactly where it is.
“My ultimate goal is for Barnhart to be the premier independent school in the greater Pasadena marketplace – Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Sierra Madre – the surrounding communities where we draw from,” Williamson pronounces. “I think we have an excellent product. We do exceedingly well placing our students into highly selective independent schools.
“We don’t track them to one particular school. And that’s also what I think is unique about Barnhart. We try to understand the child and make sure a Barnhart education is about stretch, not stress,” Williamson says further.
The 32 8th graders graduating this year were accepted to 23 high schools, including Marlborough, Campbell Hall, Flintridge Prep, Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), Mayfield Senior, Sequoyah, St. Francis, Westridge, and Stanford Online High School. Seven of them have been awarded merit scholarships. This wide range of institutions to which they applied and were admitted is proof that Barnhart ensures it finds the best fit for them.
“Academics are essential at Barnhart. The rigor of our program shows in our ERB scores which have been improving over time. But we don’t focus a whole lot on test scores, we focus on education. We recognize that excellent test scores follow excellent education.
“We have been tracking their GPAs and our graduates do better than the average incoming freshman into high schools. We have a really high cohort of students who test as gifted; about 40 percent of our students qualify for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) and participate in its summer program, and it’s still increasing,” Williamson proudly states.
Barnhart is also distinctive for its racially diverse student body – 40 percent of its enrollment is Caucasian, 30 percent Asian (Chinese, Japanese or Korean), 20 percent Hispanic, ten percent African-American. And while students attend 15 minutes of chapel every morning (Monday-Wednesday-Friday for elementary students and Tuesday-Thursday for middle schoolers), a third of them are Catholics, another third are Agnostics or Atheists, and the rest belong to other world religions including Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.
Williamson says, “Cultural diversity and cultural competency are very important to our students because their peers are from all over the world. It mirrors what they will be experiencing in the future as society and jobs become ever more global.”
With a total enrollment at 225, a faculty and staff of 50, the average class has about eight students to one teacher; with a maximum of 15. According to Melissa Gersh, Director of Marketing, Barnhart has 25 teachers, representing 336 years of total experience in the classroom.
Gersh adds, “On average, our teachers have a little over six years of experience directly at our school. Half of our teachers have a master’s degree or higher; the school also requires all teachers to be credentialed.”
Barnhart’s elementary program schedule incorporates the core content areas into the homeroom classes. A focus on literacy (reading/writing) includes 90-minute teaching blocks each day. Math instruction occurs daily with a minimum of 60-minute lessons. Social studies and science classes are also built into the daily lessons. Balancing out the academic program is a variety of enrichment classes including: 45 minutes of art and library weekly; 30 minutes of music and Spanish, twice weekly; and 30 minutes of physical education daily.
The middle school program is designed to prepare students for the requirements of Pasadena-area high schools. Students have eight classes each day which include five core academic classes – Algebra/Geometry; English; History; Science; and Spanish – and three opportunities to experience the Barnhart Balance.
Four exploratory classes rotate each quarter. In 6th grade: art appreciation; music appreciation; public speaking; technology. In 7th grade: human health; life skills; theatre appreciation; woodshop. In 8th grade: art appreciation; music appreciation; woodshop.
Students take one elective class per year: advanced band; studio art club; drama club; outdoor education; science club; screenwriting; and yearbook.
Physical education is a required daily 45 minute class.
Barnhart has made incredible strides in technology. Says Williamson, “Four years ago not every student had individual access to an iPad or a laptop or any sort of tech device; they had to go to the computer lab. But our vision is to make technology as ubiquitous and available to students as pencils. This year we have iPads for every student in K to 2nd as they’re easy for children to use with their small fingers. Third to 5th graders use Chrome Books; we recognize that students enter the world of Google so we have Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom. In middle school it’s ‘bring your own device’ because we know this is the generation that will be device-agnostic. Many students already have both Apple and IBM at home so we intentionally gave them the flexibility to choose the right tool for the job they need to accomplish.
“We thought a lot about making sure our students are ready for the world they will encounter outside of college. We’re not just getting them into their high school or into college; we’re thinking about what their workplace will look like. And that’s especially true around technology where collaboration is key. In grades 3 to 5 our students use Google Doc so if they have a group project, which they might want to work on during the weekend, they can edit simultaneously without being in the same room.
“Investing in a seamless wireless infrastructure became a priority for me when I first came on board. By spending $7K on a wireless network, we were able to integrate our entire system. Another enhancement we’ve created is a comprehensive student information system database – the instant students apply to Barnhart, we are able to track their progress in the admissions process. Once they’re accepted, we are able to interact with the family, keep all of them updated. Grades, test scores are all available in real time – there’s no hiding as a student,” Williamson laughs.
There’s much yet to be accomplished in the future, as Williamson says. “We’ve made major improvements in our school facilities. While it isn’t exciting to talk about, last summer we pulverized 75,000 sq. ft. of asphalt. But what’s cool about it is that we were able to recycle what we dug up and used it as a foundation for the new asphalt … and we were able to complete the project in 30 days, between summer school and the start of the school year! In the process, we also took down outdated poles, put in brand new basketball hoops, put in a nice white fence.
“Our future goals include updating our facilities to make them inspiring and competitive with our peer schools. We are currently on the planning stage of figuring out our priorities for improvement, how to go about that, what fundraising that entails.
“In terms of our curriculum and staffing, we want to optimize what we’re already doing by making changes every year as warranted. We have something solid, it’s simply a matter of continuing training. On the technology side, we will keep up with students’ needs to get their work done.
“We have a big rollout on a social curriculum this coming schoolyear. We’ll be using a system from a book developed by the Northeast Foundation for Children called ‘Teaching Children to Care – Management in the Responsive Classroom.’ It’s a proactive approach using a social curriculum that involves creating community standards or rules in the classroom. We will have teachers model the expected behaviors. This consistency in conduct means students don’t have to adjust to teachers’ expectations and styles; while personalities differ, the language we use does not.
“More broadly, it’s a management system for the classroom. Research talks about ‘affect’ – how you feel in a classroom or work environment, for that matter, tremendously affects your performance. If one is scared, that uses up a lot of brain energy and leaves less available for learning. As students feel comfortable, their brains become fully engaged on their activity. So I think an investment in the social curriculum is critical to everything else we do.
We have adapted the system into our middle school what the Northeast Foundation for Children designed for K-6th grade. But they have now come out with a middle school-specific book for which we have the honor of hosting the training. This summer, from August 8 to 11, an international group of 90 educators will be on our campus to learn it. It’s pretty exciting!” Williamson enthuses.
Williamson’s infectious passion for learning and social responsibility is pervasive in the entire Barnhart community. Conceivably in the not-too-distant future, this spirit will spread far afield.
Originally published on 26 May 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
At Clairbourn School, a pre-K to 8th grade school in San Gabriel, technology is as ubiquitous as students and teachers themselves. There are Smartboards in every classroom and iPads on every desk; electronic resources and tools are utilized to enhance the everyday learning experience.
It isn’t surprising, therefore, that besides large screen monitors and desktop computers, robots can also be found in the computer science lab. A relatively new addition to the tools used in the classroom is a 58-centimeter tall, blue and white humanoid robot whom the students endearingly call Megabyte.
Paul Barker, computer science teacher, tells how he was able to get a robot to be part of their class, “I found out about this a year-and-a-half ago and did some research on him. Originally named NAO by its manufacturer, Megabyte was created by the French company Aldebaran, which worked with kindergartners through post-graduates to develop a robot that can help students learn Robotics.”
“I knew I wanted one for the school, and pushed for it all year. I started my own fund-raising campaign by teaching after-school classes in Robotics. When the kids went home they told their parents how they wanted to have the class as part of regular school. Eventually our parent association allocated funds to go towards purchasing the $9,000 robot,” Barker adds.
“We’re all learning together with Megabyte. We’re training him to recognize people so when you walk up to him he’ll be able to say ‘Hello, Henry (or the name of the student)’. My goal is to have students do both input/output then using all the programs; students can create something on their own. I would like them to use the program, dive as deeply as they can, and learn how the robot operates with the end-goal of experiencing and exploring him,” Barker explains.
Here, kids as young as kindergarten learn Robotics; in 2nd grade they start programming using a Lego robot; and they move up through the curriculum until they get to 5th grade when they start using Python to program Megabyte.
This morning, Henry, a 6th grader, bounds in, eager to demonstrate how Megabyte gets them excited for their class lesson. He asks Megabyte to dance and the robot obliges with his tai-chi moves. Midway through his routine, he teeters and reacts to it “Oh, I’m falling on the floor!” But even falling is methodical as he slowly spreads his arms out to lessen the impact to the ground. And just as efficiently, he gets himself up from the floor, and announces, “Hey, back in the game!” The kids absolutely love that.
For Clairbourn’s 5th graders, interactive robots create a wondrous experience. As Alicia Wong says, “Working on robots is better than watching TV. It isn’t hard to make and it’s a lot of fun. It makes me proud to finish constructing a robot by myself.”
In agreement with Alicia is Isabella Hernandez who relates, “Robots are fun to work with and they challenge your mind. I learned that building robots and programming them are easier than I thought.”
Christopher Fung, on the other hand, takes a different stance, “I learned that robotics is not for everyone, but if you put your mind to it, you can do almost anything. It takes listening, respect and skill.”
Another 5th grader, Henry Xu, has a similar opinion, “I personally think that working with robots means patience and creativity. If you aren’t creative you won’t know what to do – instructions or no instructions. I learned that you should always double check what you’re doing before saying you’re finished.”
Branden Orellana believes robots are transformative, “It means a lot to me when I work on robots; it changes my life. I love building and programming now. I always wanted to be an engineer or a graphic designer.”
Perhaps it’s Julian Harrison who summarizes the role robots play, “Robots are the way of the future; seeing all the technology available now, they will likely replace humans someday. I am inspired because it makes me feel like I am part of that future.”
“Robotics is going to be huge in the next ten to 15 years, and getting a jumpstart on it would be a major accomplishment for our students as they go on to the next level in their schooling,” Barker concludes.
That Megabyte interacts well with young kids, who treat him almost like a friend and who talk to him like they would someone their own age, is what gives this Robotics class the element of a deeper, more meaningful experience. Students program questions the answers to which they’re really interested to know.
Megabyte can provide much information about himself including: his height and weight; his birthday and age; if he can eat, hear, see, or understand people; who made him and what he’s made of; if he has family or friends.
Presently, Megabyte asks, “Do you like chocolates?” If someone responds with a Yes, he rejoins, “Yes? That’s nice.” When he hears a No, he says, “No? I’m sorry to hear that.”
Henry then invites Megabyte, “Let’s go for a walk. Follow me.” Megabyte agrees, “Sure, take my hand.” Together they stroll, and when Henry stops after a short distance, Megabyte asks, “Are we done walking?” Henry looks into Megabyte’s eyes and replies, “Yes, thank you for walking with me.” Child and robot regard each other, seemingly in complete understanding of a shared knowledge.
The possibility of robots taking over the world one day, as one 5th grader surmises, sounds like a death knell for mankind. Happily, robots are not advanced enough to achieve the level of intellect that young students today are capable of reaching. For as long as human beings utilize that wisdom, it’s safe to say that robots still need breathing, living, and thinking people to program them to accomplish tasks.
Originally published on 19 May 2016 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly
For many people Albert Einstein’s theories are topics that just go way over their heads. For Prakash Dass, a senior at John Muir High School and who has been awarded a Gates Millennium Scholarship, they are matters to wrap his head around.
As Prakash states, “Einstein proved to us that we cannot travel faster than the speed of light. He started the conversation which became a jumping off point for many scientists in much the same way that Isaac Newton inspired his work. My life’s ambition is to accomplish the counter argument to Einstein’s theory – that we indeed can.
“We would need an infinite amount of energy to reach the speed of light, but what if we found a way to bend space instead? We wouldn’t be bending the laws of Physics; we aren’t using energy to propel us but we’re still getting to a different location because the space around us is moving.”
For Prakash that concept didn’t just come about from too many hours watching Star Trek, “I think there’s a group of people at NASA researching it but there isn’t enough science to back it up yet. I would like to be one of those scientists who can come to a definite conclusion.”
Interest in things that are out in the galaxy was something born from Prakash’s early passion for stargazing. He says, “I love to look up the night sky and stare at these twinkling, bright lights; they’re so fascinating to me. As a child, I dreamed of being an astronomer. Then I started to be more specific – I wanted to learn the physics behind stars and other things in the universe; which led to my absorption with particle and nuclear physics. Then that led me to aerospace engineering because I want to build interstellar spaceships.”
A student at John Muir’s Engineering and Environmental Science Academy, Prakash has participated in the Johns Hopkins Engineering Innovation summer program at Pasadena City College. He has also been actively involved with the school’s Solar Cup (a seven-month educational program, sponsored by The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California) Team. Of this year’s competition, held at Lake Skinner in Riverside County on May 13-15, he enthuses, “We made a much different boat from last year’s – we overhauled it and went completely the opposite direction. We had a rudder made of wood last year, this time we drew it out on Auto Desk Inventor and 3-D printed it in pieces then attached them. We applied more engineering aspects to it, and built new parts for the boat.
“While our team did not win the grand prize at the competition, we earned first place in the region for the technical report we wrote. John Muir also received an award for greatest teamwork in helping other teams at the Solar Cup, and communicating with them the best,” Prakash relates.
“I learned a lot of hands-on skills and gained valuable experience working with my team. It’s exhilarating to be with a group of people who share a common scientific and engineering endeavor – these are friends who, like me, have big dreams,” Prakash explains further.
It helps that Prakash has all his plans laid out to make his wishes come true. He reveals, “I’m going to attend Cal Poly Pomona because I believe it’s a strong engineering school. It offers more practical applications as well as teaches other methods of engineering, including astronomy. It will better prepare me for Masters and Doctorate degrees. I have already figured out what I need to do in order to be accepted to Cal Tech for graduate education.
“I intend to earn three doctorate degrees – particle and nuclear physics, and aerospace engineering. They’re all intertwined in pursuit of interstellar travel – comprehending stars and particles on a smaller scale, and understanding how to build ships to get us out there. Those three subjects are essential for me to succeed.
“There isn’t very much support for the things I want to do because right now there isn’t a lot of evidence it’s even possible for that to happen. While there is a great deal of research going on, it isn’t compelling enough for everyone get on board, so to speak. It’s something you see only on TV; but I want to be a pioneer in this field,” Prakash asserts.
Funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gates Millennium Scholarship was established in 1999 with the goal of developing leaders and removing financial barriers to education for high-performing, low-income students. Prakash is John Muir High School’s seventh winner of this academic scholarship since 2005. He joins the ranks of a prestigious group of talented students from across the country awarded the scholarship that can be used to pursue a degree in any undergraduate major and selected graduate programs at accredited colleges or universities. Last year’s Muir HS winner, Kimberly Mejia, is currently at UC Berkeley studying engineering.
Most scientists do not believe in a Higher Being who watches over us, mere mortals. But Prakash is certain that God has a hand in his good fortune. “I believe God gave me all the wonderful things I have. Winning the Gates Millennium Scholarship is something that doesn’t often happen in Pasadena, and yet I did. I feel really blessed because I know how much my education is going to cost. This scholarship will help immensely and it truly is a gift from God,” Prakash says with conviction.
Dr. Ben Aroyan, Prakash’s counselor, must have had tremendous confidence in him because he nominated Prakash for the Gates scholarship. Judges for the prestigious foundation, likewise, must have believed in his potential. And whether it was an Act of God, or his persuasive essays, or that the stars had all aligned for him to receive the much-coveted scholarship, he is most assuredly on a path to his intended destination.
A San Gabriel Valley Inquirer 