Diversity And Multiculturalism News
Zimbabwean volunteer at CG featured on KATU news
KATU Channel 2 News came to campus to film a story on Blessing Makwera, a young man from Zimbabwe who is volunteering in our Middle School. Blessing was severely injured five years ago, when a land mine exploded near his mouth, and he has been in the U.S. for reconstructive surgery. MS counselor Kristin Ogard and her daughter Hayden have been involved in helping Blessing since 2009, when Kristin visited Zimbabwe with the nonprofit Operation of Hope and met Blessing, and Hayden's class (now juniors) raised money for one of Blessing's operations. Blessing is volunteering at Catlin Gabel as a way of acknowledging the kindness he has received from our community
Video: Diversity Conference a cappella performance, "Shosholoza"
"Priority Male," the male section of the Catlin Gabel a cappella choir, performed the South African freedom song "Shosholoza" at the Upper School Diversity Conference on February 27, 2013. The choir is directed by Charles Walsh.
How to Match Reality & Idealism
A trustee & parent on why she supports financial aid
From the Fall 2011 Caller
By Elizabeth Steiner Hayward
Knowing that I’m violating a cardinal rule of writing, I’ll start this piece with several rhetorical questions. Why did our family choose Catlin Gabel as the right school for our children? What has inspired us to volunteer our time, energy, and financial resources for the school? What are the values that Catlin Gabel holds dear that we believe should resonate throughout our community and the broader Portland community? A straightforward answer suffices; Catlin Gabel inspires all of us to show our best selves, to reach deep inside and ask tough questions, to accept and rejoice in our commitment to the world around us, to “make the world a better place” (to quote the Girl Scout law).
Ideally, this inspiration must be accessible to as many children and families who would benefit from it as possible. Yet economic reality compromises idealism; 
running a high-quality, progressive, independent school is an expensive proposition, and thus tuition remains beyond the reach of many. To match reality and idealism, Catlin Gabel must have a robust endowment for financial aid, to open our doors to every deserving, qualified student regardless of her family’s means. Without this, our school’s expressed commitment to our ideals and our community becomes hollow and less meaningful.
running a high-quality, progressive, independent school is an expensive proposition, and thus tuition remains beyond the reach of many. To match reality and idealism, Catlin Gabel must have a robust endowment for financial aid, to open our doors to every deserving, qualified student regardless of her family’s means. Without this, our school’s expressed commitment to our ideals and our community becomes hollow and less meaningful.Catlin Gabel without generous financial aid would not be the Catlin Gabel we chose as the right school for our children. It would become a more homogeneous community, less interesting and vibrant. It would ignore the reality of economic diversity that all of our children must understand and appreciate. It would shield our children from the “real world” in which they will all live and work as adults. It would deny the value and contribution of children from all walks of life, from a wide range of circumstances.
For the Catlin Gabel community to thrive, we must walk the walk. It is for this reason that our family is so committed to supporting the endowment for financial aid, and that I volunteer on the major gifts committee for our Campaign for Arts & Minds. I love telling others about why we believe so strongly in financial aid, to make Catlin Gabel accessible to the diversity of children and families around the Portland metro area.
The Campaign for Arts & Minds is ambitious. We aim to raise funds to build a desperately needed Creative Arts Center, and to fund a thriving, sustainable endowment with special emphasis on financial aid. This endowment will open our doors to many more children who would benefit from attending Catlin Gabel, and would benefit our school from their contributions to our community. However, tuition support alone is not enough. The endowment would also support global education, the teaching and learning center, robotics, outdoor education, and so many other special programs that all our students should benefit from, regardless of their family’s economic reality.
We ask a lot of our families at Catlin Gabel. We ask them to engage closely with the school as partners in educating our children, to volunteer time in the classroom or chaperoning dances, to contribute to the Annual Fund. All of those are critical to our children’s success, yet without also contributing to our campaign, without helping open our doors to students who otherwise would be shut out of the Catlin Gabel experience, we are in fact short-changing all our children. Please join me in supporting Catlin Gabel’s future by contributing to our financial aid endowment. The rewards are infinite, and you will make the world a better place.
Learning About Education Through Travel: Botswana 2011--An Education About Education
From the Fall 2011 Caller
Botswana 2011: An Education About Education
By Fiona Noonan '12
Africa. When presented with this word, a litany of adjectives may swirl through one’s mind. One may stand above the rest, though: uneducated. While it is true that many people in Africa—as in all parts of the world—lack access to schools, supplies, and teachers, “uneducated” by no means describes this entire continent of extremely diverse people. A brilliant counterexample to the label “uneducated” is Botswana, a southern African republic whose national focus on schooling deserves attention, and certainly changed my perspective on what getting an education truly means.
This summer, a group of 13 Upper School students accompanied by our chaperones, science teacher Aline Garcia-Rubio ’93 and Richard Kassissieh, director of technology and learning innovation, traveled to Botswana for a trip that primarily revolved around interacting with people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Since Botswana is the country with the second-highest HIV infection rate in the world, we aimed to educate ourselves about the virus and its ramifications—and to help those affected by it—to the extent possible. To achieve that end we tutored and played with HIV-positive children, painted a mural at a pediatric HIV clinic called the Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence, and engaged in dialogues with teens and adults about the effects of HIV and AIDS on Botswana’s culture and society. However, the unifying theme of all these activities extended beyond connections to HIV/AIDS. Each of our discussions, interactions, and services exposed us to something even greater: education.Our trip took us all over Botswana, starting in the capital city of Gaborone, where we boarded at our sister school, Maru-a-Pula. MAP was our first encounter with any type of educational institution. Interestingly, as we discovered by living on campus, befriending the students, and attending classes, the term “sister school” extends beyond the mere relationship between CGS and MAP. In many ways, MAP perfectly mirrored Catlin Gabel in its large outdoor campus, commitment to service learning, and relatively small class sizes. Catering to wealthier families and very intelligent students, and widely considered one of the best high schools in Botswana, the parallels between the two schools were unmistakable.
While in Gaborone we also did various works of service through which we came across a completely different type of education. One of our main projects was a week-long project implementing a tutoring program for children at the Botswana Baylor Centre. Though an overwhelming 90% of children in Botswana go to school, one study has found that most are not doing well. In helping these children with basic math skills, we were able to provide essential practice in a one-onone format likely unavailable at their schools. Not every child expressed an interest in math, but to see even a few of them succeed was exciting. Despite any language barriers, I came to see math as a truly universal language, and I felt proud that our teaching had positively impacted the kids’ lives.
Our group departed from Gaborone and visited towns and villages farther north in the country. One of the villages we went to was Thabala, the tiny home town of alumna Mmaserame Gaefele ’11. We spent time with her family, who gave us a tour of everything, including the school. The fact that such a small town had a school surprised us, and as students rushed out of the schoolyard to follow us, we found out that it was not uncommon for such a school to exist. In fact, we discovered that almost every village in Botswana has some type of school, giving an incredible number of students the opportunity to learn and succeed in hopes of eventually going to a university.
This widespread access to teaching and learning is made possible by Botswana’s federal government, which allocates an overwhelming 21% of its total budget to education. As a result, every child can attend school, and can then, if accepted, attend the University of Botswana for free. The government will even pay for medical school anywhere in the world in hopes that students will return to Botswana and join the highly understaffed medical workforce. Based on these facts, the access to education in Botswana appears to be solid. However, as we travelled farther north to the village of Gumare, we experienced a slightly darker side of schooling in Botswana.
In Gumare we met pen pals with whom we had been corresponding. Our arrival marked the first day of their high school winter break. Though their real vacation had just begun, we learned that they had recently finished a five-week break of a very different kind. We came to Botswana in the wake of an eight-week long strike that had shut down schools all over the country as teachers refused to work. Our pen pals’ school suffered greatly as a result. With exams approaching, they were unable to learn necessary material for the test, and the older students had collectively resorted to teaching younger ones what they would need to know. On top of that, we were informed that many of the teachers in Gumare lack interest in their students as a result of involuntary placement in such a rural location.
Hearing all of this astonished me. To go teacherless for over a month after normally having indifferent teachers, and to still have the motivation to succeed and help others succeed, was admirable, and necessary.
My own pen pal, Pearl, told me all about high school, and about her desire to attend the University of Botswana upon graduation. Coming from a family of four girls and a single mother, Pearl told me it would be difficult, so she needed to pass and continue to pass her exams in order to make it. Unlike the students at Maru-a-Pula, most of whom are accepted to and can afford to attend universities all over the world, the students in Gumare have relatively limited opportunities to further their education and go to college. For Pearl and the rest of our pen pals, an education clearly meant more than homework and tests: it meant the chance at a better life.
Fortunately, I have never had to consider not being able to attend college. Seeing the passion for learning from such a broad range of scholars in Botswana forced me to consider the importance of my own education, to reflect on what an education means to me, and to subsequently feel ashamed of consistently taking it for granted. After viewing the exposure and access that Batswana have to education, though, I feel less guilty. The sheer number of kids enrolled in school is admirable, and though Botswana’s school system may be imperfect, it is on the right track.
Pearl will soon have to decide what to do after graduation, and if she wants to attend the University of Botswana, I believe she can.
Catlin Gabel now makes it possible, through financial aid funds, for every Middle and Upper School student to participate in at least one global education trip abroad during their years at Catlin Gabel.
Meet Our Gatekeepers
From the Fall 2011 Caller
Admission and financial aid director Sara Nordhoff and Knight Family Scholars director Chad Faber chat about admissions, financial aid, and what brought them to their careers. Chad came to CGS from admissions work at Harvard, and Sara’s work in admissions included the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Mt. Holyoke, and Bennington.
Q: Tell us about your backgrounds, and how that led to your commitment to admissions and the realization of the importance of financial aid.
SARA: I grew up in a small fishing village, Damariscotta, Maine, where about half my class went to four-year colleges, mostly to state schools. When I went to Middlebury College in Vermont I received financial aid, and I never would have been able to go without it. I was hoping to spend my junior year at an exchange program at Edinburgh University in Scotland. There wasn’t financial aid available, and I remember conversations with my parents about whether it was really going to be doable for us. We asked Middlebury for assistance, knowing that if they didn’t help it wouldn’t be possible for me to go. And they did help. That was the moment when I realized that my school was really committed to my making the absolute most of my experience there. And that’s what I see as the power of financial aid. There were not a lot of students at Middlebury at that time receiving financial assistance, and I felt at times like the poster child for diversity. I was sensitive because I felt like you could kind of tell who was on financial aid and who wasn’t. If you have a financial aid policy because you’re trying to create the best and most diverse student community possible, you need to make sure your school community is ready to embrace people coming from all perspectives. And it feels to me like Catlin Gabel does a great job of celebrating the individual students for who they are and where they’re coming from—and for what they have to say when they’re sitting around the classroom table. I chose to work in admissions because I love the art and science of it, and I love cultivating a community. The moment when I call families in the spring and say, “You’ve been admitted, and we’re going to make it financially possible for you to come,” is like no other. I think that’s a lot of why I’ve stayed in this field— helping to make those possibilities happen for people.CHAD: I lived in a metropolis of 250 in western Pennsylvania called Turkeytown. All that I knew growing up was from helping out on a farm. And I was caretaker of a cemetery, and I stocked shelves in a grocery store. I saw how hard my dad had worked in the steel mill, and I knew I didn’t want to do any of those things. And I knew I had to get out of there in order to do something different. My dad was underemployed after most of the steel mills closed, and my mom was at home. So my plan was to enlist in the Marine Corps to get money for college—though college wasn’t an expectation there. The month before I graduated from high school I got an ROTC scholarship, which basically provided full financial aid for me to go to college. I went to Georgetown, which was the one college I had been to other than Pitt. I didn’t know how to write when I got to Georgetown. One of my professors there said, “We need a five-to-seven page paper next Monday,” and I said, “On one topic? All about one thing?” I was really shocked in a way. How I struggled! I think that’s where I realized the power of education. I graduated from Georgetown on a Saturday and was in the Navy on Monday morning. I owed the military four years, but ended up staying almost nine years. A book called The Gatekeepers by New York Times writer Jacques Steinberg, who followed an admissions officer around Wesleyan for a year, was transformative for me. I read it while I was doing alumni admissions interviews for Georgetown, teaching high school, and talking to kids about the choices they were going to make. I knew then that I wanted to be an admissions officer. When I got an admissions job at Harvard I realized, “Wow. Now I’m the gatekeeper—from a mobile home in Turkeytown, Pennsylvania. How the heck did I ever end up doing this?” I saw a lot of kids a lot smarter than I who had even less opportunity than I had, and what kind of difference we could make in their lives.
Q: Have you had experiences with families where giving aid became crucial?
SARA: Yes, we’ve had Catlin Gabel families whose situations changed due to illness or a change in income. We get behind the kids and the families that we decide to take, whatever it takes, whether that’s supporting them academically when they’re struggling in their coursework, or supporting them financially when they’re struggling with their finances. It takes a lot to come forth and say, “We can’t do it any more. Can you help us?” There’s a certain amount of pride there. I know in my family, my dad especially, it hits pretty hard when you have to ask for help.
Q: What are your roles here and your admissions strategy? Admission is a huge responsibility. Somebody like you said yes to every person in every classroom here.
SARA: What I like about the addition of the Knight Family Scholars program to admission at Catlin Gabel is that it amplifies the overall strategy of what we’re trying to do in admissions— which is to bring in the brightest, most engaging, community-minded kids we can. To me that means kids from all over the metro area, from private and public schools, from households that speak English, Spanish, and other languages. And that gets at our financial assistance for these families. Our outreach strategy is about going out to schools all over the Portland metro area, about leveraging all our parents to get the word out about Catlin Gabel to their networks. When we get to the point of making hard decisions on who can come here and who can’t, we have a budget in mind that we can use for financial assistance, but that’s not what’s driving our overall efforts.
CHAD: The big thing is that we’re trying to find families that don’t know about Catlin Gabel. We can do a better job of going into communities and educating kids and families about what independent education is, what the value is, and how that’s going to help their child. It’s harder now for any state, not just Oregon, to do what it’s done before because of the economic times we’re in. I want the Knight Family Scholar program and the school to look like Portland. I want to see more kids from Hillsboro and the east side. As the income gap widens in this country, so does the education gap, and you’ve got to try and reduce that. A variety of independent schools can really differentiate what kids learn and make for an economically and intellectually stronger country.
SARA: The gift from the Knight family for the scholars program is invaluable, but reaching out to these communities and expanding this funnel of students applying to the school will put pressure on our financial aid dollars. This is why the school has launched its arts and endowment campaign. What’s important is that we both feel completely supported by the school’s leadership to say, “We want more great kids thinking about Catlin Gabel.”
FINANCIAL AID FACTS
Amount CGS awards for financial assistance
2011–12
$2.9 million
Percentage of students receiving financial assistance
2011–12 26%
2010–11 28%
2009–10 26%
2008–09 21%
2007–08 21%
Budget allocated to financial assistance
2011–12 15%
2010–11 16%
2009–10 16%
2008–09 13%
2007–08 13%
Spanish teacher Lauren Reggero-Toledano named "Teacher of the Future"
Lauren Reggero-Toledano, a teacher of Spanish at Catlin Gabel’s Upper School, was selected by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) as part of the 2011-12 Teachers of the Future program. The NAIS Teachers of the Future were selected from a large pool of nominees who inspire academic excellence in students and who serve as opinion leaders among their colleagues and peers. The Teachers of the Future were also chosen for their expertise in particular areas—environmentalism, globalism, technology, and equity, and justice—that NAIS believes are hallmarks of a high-quality education for the 21st century. As one of only 25 teachers nationwide chosen for the program,Lauren will lead an online discussion forum designed to share innovative ideas and teaching techniques, and she will create a demonstration video to inspire others.
ABOUT LAUREN REGGERO-TOLEDANO
Lauren Reggero-Toledano received a bachelor's in education (elementary education and Spanish) from the University of Miami, followed by a master's in Spanish language and cultures from the University of Salamanca, Spain. In August 2009 she was awarded a Teacher Fellowship Grant by the American ImmigrationCouncil for a Spanish V class project, “The Hispanic Presence in Oregon: During the Great Depression and Today.” For the last five years she has made a concerted effort to make service learning in the local Hispanic community an integral part of the Spanish V curriculum. Visit her Spanish V class page for more on the service component in Lauren’s class.
ABOUT NAIS AND THE TEACHERS OF THE FUTURE PROGRAM
The Klingenstein Foundation offered NAIS a generous grant for the Teachers of the Future program through which each teacher will receive a $1,000 stipend for participating in the program.
The National Association of Independent Schools, based in Washington, DC, is a voluntary membership organization for over 1,400 independent schools and associations in the United States and abroad. Independent schools are distinct from other private schools in that they are independently governed by boards of trustees and are funded primarily through tuition, charitable contribution, and endowment income. To be eligible for membership in NAIS, schools must be accredited, nondiscriminatory, 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.
The Preserver of Traditions
Mariah Stoll-Smith Reese '93 has kept alive her family legacy of performing Northwest Coast dances and stories
From the Winter 2010-11 Caller
As a baby, Mariah Stoll-Smith Reese ’93 was carried around the fire in the ceremonial longhouse of her famed Lelooska family in the foothills of Mt. St. Helens. She
grew up dancing and watching her relatives perform living history in fantastically carved masks, seeing people she knew in everyday life transformed into characters such as Raven and Grandmother Loon as they shared and celebrated the cultural legacy of the Northwest Coast Kwakwaka’wakw Nation.
Mariah grew up surrounded by art. Her mother was a contemporary visual artist, and her father carved the traditional masks used in the family’s living history programs; she remembers cedar chips flying into her playpen in her father’s workshop. Her grandmother was famous for her carved wooden dolls depicting Native Americans, and she taught the art to Mariah. Art was in the air she breathed, and the family’s love of their traditions—and their commitment to educate others about those traditions—permeated everything.
She came to Catlin Gabel for high school, a long commute made easier by the many nights Mariah spent with her Portland grandparents. Their priority was working to make the world a better place. Their model, combined with her father’s family legacy of making, sharing, and educating, helped create the woman she is today—competent, intelligent, strong, and compassionate.
At Catlin Gabel Mariah became involved in multicultural issues and helped found SPEED (Students Promoting Ethnic Equality & Diversity). In her classes she learned to read deeply and have something to say—and be able to back it up. As a junior she first experienced the thrill and satisfaction of doing solid, complicated research. Mariah brought those skills to Fairhaven College at Western Washington University, where she designed her own major in Native American cultural preservation.
Her research training came into play when the family patriarch and storyteller, her uncle Chief Lelooska, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Mariah began a tireless campaign of recording everything she could to preserve the legacy he carried with him, combining this urgent work with her independent studies for college. Mariah was chosen as executive director of the Lelooska Foundation, buttressed by her family and her talents in communication and organization. When Chief Lelooska died, the family regrouped and carried on the foundation’s living history programs.
Her legacy of community service has played out in many ways, with Mariah leading fights to save her children’s school (she has a girl and a boy, aged 8 and 6, and a wonderfully supportive husband), and to maintain free access for locals to rivers and lakes when that was threatened. “All the skills I learned at Catlin Gabel came into play,” she says of these struggles, where she had to make her case to the public and the press. She has also pitched in to her tight-knit community by leading Girl Scouts and starting, with her husband, a children’s soccer program.Mariah’s advice to current CGS students: “Don’t take it for granted! When I look back at my life, I see how many things I was able to do because of what I learned at Catlin Gabel,” she says. “And having an opportunity to learn skills means having an opportunity to give back and make life better for people around you.”
Performance photo courtesy of the Lelooska Foundation
Catlin Gabel launches the Knight Family Scholars Program
A new program for the Upper School will bring talented students and an emphasis on experiential learning
From the Winter 2010-11 Caller
This past fall, Phil and Penny Knight honored Catlin Gabel with the largest gift in the school’s history—a multimillion- dollar contribution for the new endowed Knight Family Scholars Program. The Knight’s unprecedented generosity is a tremendous vote of confidence in our school from world leaders in philanthropy.“My goal is to honor the progressive ideals articulated by school founders Ruth Catlin and Priscilla Gabel—not by resting on our laurels, but by continuing to progress,” said head of school Lark Palma. “Phil and Penny Knight have given us the financial ability to try a new teaching and learning paradigm, see how it works, evaluate the program, and refine it over time. We have been given the opportunity to research, experiment, and stretch our wings in pursuit of improving education. We can be bold, like our students.
“The Knight Family Scholars Program will benefit all students through the innovations we pilot,” continued Lark. “The program also catapults Catlin Gabel’s visibility as one of the leading independent schools in the country, adds to our financial aid corpus, and will undoubtedly have a positive overall effect on admissions and on our ability to attract phenomenal student applicants. I could not be more delighted.”
“The Knight Family Scholars Program quite simply opens doors,” says Michael Heath, head of the Upper School. “It is a chance for us to grow as a school, to stretch our preconceptions of education and our assumptions about those we are educating. The scholars who attend Catlin Gabel every year will gain much from their opportunity, but I think we will learn as much from them, if not more.”
This Q&A by communications director Karen Katz ’74 with head of school Lark Palma explains more about this new program.
What is the Knight Family Scholars Program?
It is a pilot program for the Upper School faculty to explore a new model for high school education and attract outstanding new high school students. The gift funds an endowed faculty member to direct the program and teach in the Upper School. In the anticipated inaugural year, 2012–13, we hope to enroll about four Knight Family Scholars as fully integrated members of the Upper School student body who benefit from our exceptional curriculum. The Knight Family Scholars Program is similar in concept to the Rhodes Scholar program in terms of the caliber of students who will qualify.
It is a pilot program for the Upper School faculty to explore a new model for high school education and attract outstanding new high school students. The gift funds an endowed faculty member to direct the program and teach in the Upper School. In the anticipated inaugural year, 2012–13, we hope to enroll about four Knight Family Scholars as fully integrated members of the Upper School student body who benefit from our exceptional curriculum. The Knight Family Scholars Program is similar in concept to the Rhodes Scholar program in terms of the caliber of students who will qualify.
What is your vision for how this program will affect Catlin Gabel?
The current generation of students is far more sophisticated than previous generations. Their educational needs are evolving quickly. Educators must ask, what more can we do to prepare them? How can we ensure that they have a great liberal arts and sciences foundation for success in college, plus the experience and skills to thrive in a workforce and world that will change in ways we cannot imagine? Catlin Gabel teachers have envisioned a high school that is more real world, project based, experiential, and interdisciplinary—but limited resources have stymied our progress toward this goal. Now we can take some big steps in building on our curricular innovations and evolve more quickly. As a new Catlin Gabel faculty member, the Knight Family Scholars Program director will collaborate with our high school teachers and students to develop methods of teaching and learning that respond to the changing educational environment.
The current generation of students is far more sophisticated than previous generations. Their educational needs are evolving quickly. Educators must ask, what more can we do to prepare them? How can we ensure that they have a great liberal arts and sciences foundation for success in college, plus the experience and skills to thrive in a workforce and world that will change in ways we cannot imagine? Catlin Gabel teachers have envisioned a high school that is more real world, project based, experiential, and interdisciplinary—but limited resources have stymied our progress toward this goal. Now we can take some big steps in building on our curricular innovations and evolve more quickly. As a new Catlin Gabel faculty member, the Knight Family Scholars Program director will collaborate with our high school teachers and students to develop methods of teaching and learning that respond to the changing educational environment.
Where did the idea for the program originate?
The genesis for the program stems from the Imagine 2020 conference held in the spring of 2006. A lasting idea that emerged from the conference was to enrich Catlin Gabel’s educational offerings by taking advantage of what our great city and region have to offer— using Portland as a learning laboratory. Bringing students together with creative, analytical, medical, political, entrepreneurial, and science leaders would further our experiential and progressive education goals. The intent is to get our students “off the hill,” as one alumnus put it in 2006. Our global education and PLACE programs, and the urban studies class in the Upper School, also stem from the Imagine 2020 conference.
The genesis for the program stems from the Imagine 2020 conference held in the spring of 2006. A lasting idea that emerged from the conference was to enrich Catlin Gabel’s educational offerings by taking advantage of what our great city and region have to offer— using Portland as a learning laboratory. Bringing students together with creative, analytical, medical, political, entrepreneurial, and science leaders would further our experiential and progressive education goals. The intent is to get our students “off the hill,” as one alumnus put it in 2006. Our global education and PLACE programs, and the urban studies class in the Upper School, also stem from the Imagine 2020 conference.
How did this gift come about?
As I got to know Phil, our shared interest in improving education emerged as a vitally important theme. Phil and Penny Knight are long-range visionaries and Oregon’s most generous individual education philanthropists, which is humbling and exciting. We talked about Ruth Catlin’s vision of modeling for others and how, because of our relatively small size, our success, and our focus on progressive education, we are the ideal school for innovation. I described some of the seminal ideas that emerged from the Imagine 2020 conference and how hard our teachers work to implement those ideas.
As I got to know Phil, our shared interest in improving education emerged as a vitally important theme. Phil and Penny Knight are long-range visionaries and Oregon’s most generous individual education philanthropists, which is humbling and exciting. We talked about Ruth Catlin’s vision of modeling for others and how, because of our relatively small size, our success, and our focus on progressive education, we are the ideal school for innovation. I described some of the seminal ideas that emerged from the Imagine 2020 conference and how hard our teachers work to implement those ideas.
Can you give us an example of a program feature from Imagine 2020 that this gift allows us to implement?
The faculty and the program director will have the opportunity to advance the exchange of ideas in seminars taught by a network of community experts, including some of our talented and notable parents, alumni, and grandparents. The seminars, both on and off campus, will examine topics that emerge from the shared interests of the students and the director as they move through the program together. The seminars will also respond to the availability of influential mentors, speakers, and guest instructors. Upper School students, not just Knight Family Scholars, will be able to attend seminars. It is vitally important that this is open and inclusive, and that we prevent any kind of “us and them” dynamic. We also expect that as the program grows, it will include opportunities for the Knight Scholars to travel nationally and abroad for summer learning.
The faculty and the program director will have the opportunity to advance the exchange of ideas in seminars taught by a network of community experts, including some of our talented and notable parents, alumni, and grandparents. The seminars, both on and off campus, will examine topics that emerge from the shared interests of the students and the director as they move through the program together. The seminars will also respond to the availability of influential mentors, speakers, and guest instructors. Upper School students, not just Knight Family Scholars, will be able to attend seminars. It is vitally important that this is open and inclusive, and that we prevent any kind of “us and them” dynamic. We also expect that as the program grows, it will include opportunities for the Knight Scholars to travel nationally and abroad for summer learning.
How else does the program benefit current students?
The research is clear: high caliber students raise the level of learning for everyone. The positive peer effect is evident throughout our school. Students in our supportive, noncompetitive environment engage more deeply when their classmates are excited about the lab, discussion, problem solving, or literary analysis at hand. And, naturally, teachers are at their best when their students are highly engaged.
The research is clear: high caliber students raise the level of learning for everyone. The positive peer effect is evident throughout our school. Students in our supportive, noncompetitive environment engage more deeply when their classmates are excited about the lab, discussion, problem solving, or literary analysis at hand. And, naturally, teachers are at their best when their students are highly engaged.
What are the student qualifications for the program?
Prospective Knight Family Scholars Program parti
cipants will stand out in four key areas: academics, community service, athletics, and leadership. As Knight Scholars they will receive tuition assistance funded by the program’s endowment. The amount of assistance will depend on their families’ need. The program will attract well-rounded students who will inspire their peers, take advantage of everything Catlin Gabel has to offer, and go on to serve their communities.
Prospective Knight Family Scholars Program parti
cipants will stand out in four key areas: academics, community service, athletics, and leadership. As Knight Scholars they will receive tuition assistance funded by the program’s endowment. The amount of assistance will depend on their families’ need. The program will attract well-rounded students who will inspire their peers, take advantage of everything Catlin Gabel has to offer, and go on to serve their communities.Can current Catlin Gabel students apply for Knight scholarships?
Current and former Catlin Gabel students are ineligible to become Knight Scholars because one objective of the program is to attract new students and deepen our pool of admitted students. The Knight Scholars Program will raise the profile of our excellent Upper School and entice students who will be wonderful additions to our community.
Current and former Catlin Gabel students are ineligible to become Knight Scholars because one objective of the program is to attract new students and deepen our pool of admitted students. The Knight Scholars Program will raise the profile of our excellent Upper School and entice students who will be wonderful additions to our community.
Who determines who qualifies for the program?
The faculty, admission office, and a new program director will decide whom we accept.
The faculty, admission office, and a new program director will decide whom we accept.
Who is the Knight Family Scholars Program director and how is the position funded?
Typically, when donors make large gifts to institutions they fund a position to oversee the program. We will launch a national search for a Knight Family Scholars Program director to fully realize the vision of this program. The director will be Catlin Gabel’s first endowed faculty member. This turning point for Catlin Gabel could very well lead to additional endowed faculty positions.
Typically, when donors make large gifts to institutions they fund a position to oversee the program. We will launch a national search for a Knight Family Scholars Program director to fully realize the vision of this program. The director will be Catlin Gabel’s first endowed faculty member. This turning point for Catlin Gabel could very well lead to additional endowed faculty positions.
What are the director’s responsibilities?
First and foremost, the director will find the right students for the program. A big part of the job is outreach and making a wide range of communities aware of the program and our school. As the program spokesperson, the director will bolster the Knight Family Scholars Program and our overall admission program. The director will also lead the scholars’ seminar and teach other Upper School classes so he or she is fully integrated into our faculty. We will hire a dynamic educator who becomes a vital member of our school community.
First and foremost, the director will find the right students for the program. A big part of the job is outreach and making a wide range of communities aware of the program and our school. As the program spokesperson, the director will bolster the Knight Family Scholars Program and our overall admission program. The director will also lead the scholars’ seminar and teach other Upper School classes so he or she is fully integrated into our faculty. We will hire a dynamic educator who becomes a vital member of our school community.
How will this historic gift change the school?
When we laid out strategic directions in 2003, one of our top three goals was to strengthen our identity and visibility in the community. We set out to identify and attract qualified, informed, and diverse applicants and to increase our applicant pool, particularly in the Upper School. The Knight Family Scholars Program will move us quickly and decisively towards these goals.
When we laid out strategic directions in 2003, one of our top three goals was to strengthen our identity and visibility in the community. We set out to identify and attract qualified, informed, and diverse applicants and to increase our applicant pool, particularly in the Upper School. The Knight Family Scholars Program will move us quickly and decisively towards these goals.
Has Catlin Gabel ever received a gift of this magnitude?
In 1987, the school received a $3.6 million bequest from the estate of Howard Vollum that allowed Catlin Gabel to establish an endowment fund. His foresight and generosity moved the school beyond a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle.
In 1987, the school received a $3.6 million bequest from the estate of Howard Vollum that allowed Catlin Gabel to establish an endowment fund. His foresight and generosity moved the school beyond a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle.
What other benefits does the Knights’ gift offer?
The Knight Family Scholars Program raises our visibility as one of the leading independent schools in the country. On a purely financial and pragmatic level, the program releases financial aid dollars for students in all divisions. On a more philosophical and curricular level, the Knight Family Scholars Program will stretch us to take some risks about how we teach. All Catlin Gabel students will benefit from the innovations we pilot through the program. On a grander scale, my dream is to model innovations that can benefit students nationwide. We cannot underestimate the value of raising our profile, too. What’s good for Catlin Gabel’s reputation is good for Catlin Gabel’s students and teachers. As far as fundraising goes, this is the tip of the iceberg for all programs and needs of the school. I know Phil and Penny Knight’s generosity and confidence in Catlin Gabel will inspire others to give. In fact, two other donors are planning to contribute to this program. We anticipate a positive overall effect on admissions and on our ability to attract phenomenal student applicants. Some great young people, who perhaps don’t qualify as Knight Family Scholars, will still apply to our Upper School when they learn about Catlin Gabel’s curriculum, meet our faculty and students, and hear about our generous financial assistance program.
The Knight Family Scholars Program raises our visibility as one of the leading independent schools in the country. On a purely financial and pragmatic level, the program releases financial aid dollars for students in all divisions. On a more philosophical and curricular level, the Knight Family Scholars Program will stretch us to take some risks about how we teach. All Catlin Gabel students will benefit from the innovations we pilot through the program. On a grander scale, my dream is to model innovations that can benefit students nationwide. We cannot underestimate the value of raising our profile, too. What’s good for Catlin Gabel’s reputation is good for Catlin Gabel’s students and teachers. As far as fundraising goes, this is the tip of the iceberg for all programs and needs of the school. I know Phil and Penny Knight’s generosity and confidence in Catlin Gabel will inspire others to give. In fact, two other donors are planning to contribute to this program. We anticipate a positive overall effect on admissions and on our ability to attract phenomenal student applicants. Some great young people, who perhaps don’t qualify as Knight Family Scholars, will still apply to our Upper School when they learn about Catlin Gabel’s curriculum, meet our faculty and students, and hear about our generous financial assistance program.
Is this Phil and Penny Knight’s first gift to Catlin Gabel?
In the past three years, the Knights have quietly and generously funded other immediate needs that I identified. They were instrumental in our ability to provide financial aid for families who have struggled through the recession. I am so honored that they have put their trust in me and in Catlin Gabel.
In the past three years, the Knights have quietly and generously funded other immediate needs that I identified. They were instrumental in our ability to provide financial aid for families who have struggled through the recession. I am so honored that they have put their trust in me and in Catlin Gabel.
You call that a coffin? News of Michael de Forest's lecture on Ghanaian woodworkers
Beaverton Valley Times article, February '11
PLACE urban studies program in the news
Portland Tribune article, February '11
Martin Luther King Jr. community meeting photo gallery
Lower School students, teachers, and families honor a great man through music and poetry
Journalist, human rights activist Amelia Templeton '02 profiled in Oregonian
Oregonian article, November '10
Finding a Place to Stand
Actor and playwright Vicente Guzmán-Orozco ’92 got through life’s tough spots with the help of a great teacher
By Nadine Fiedler
From the Fall 2010 Caller
Twelve-year-old Vicente Guzmán-Orozco loved growing up in Colima, a small and pretty city on Mexico’s southwest coast. Although his parents had moved to 
Oregon to work in the fields of Washington County, his strong, vibrant grandmother provided a haven for him. He had an innate talent for performance, nurtured in theater and dance classes. Vicente’s world was safe and comfortable, and then it burst apart.
It was time to rejoin his family, said his mother and father. Vicente came north and moved in with them—into a trailer in the middle of a berry field outside of Hillsboro. That reversal of fortune shook him and his sense of who he was, and it took years to overcome. He did finally succeed. The story of that success winds from rural Oregon through Catlin Gabel, to Portland’s stages and beyond as Vicente rediscovered himself and learned to take pride in his life.
Vicente came to Catlin Gabel in 9th grade, introduced by Spanish teacher and admissions staffer Ron Sobel. Vicente had been attending junior high school in Hillsboro and working summers in the district’s migrant education office, mostly translating letters for those who spoke only Spanish. He loved Catlin Gabel when he toured the school and was eager to attend: “My parents were always good at encouraging me to think for myself. After the tour Ron looked at them, and they looked at me, and I said yes right away.”
But when Vicente started going to classes, he felt like he really didn’t belong. “As far as I knew, everyone led a different life from mine. They didn’t live in a trailer,” he says. “It took me one to two hours to go to school and come back. I wrote a piece my freshman year, an uncomfortable conversation between the two different people I had to be: Vinnie at Catlin Gabel, and Vicente at home.” As a young gay man, he hid behind a façade of flamboyance that was not just about sexual identity: it was about the freakishness of feeling like an outsider, mostly in terms of class and color.
Vicente knew he was dealing badly with his situation. He finally confided in teacher Pru Twohy, who had often spoken up for him and expressed confidence in him. That conversation still resonates for Vicente. “Pru asked me to think about whether Catlin Gabel was a good opportunity for me or not. I admired her and Clint Darling, my English teachers, most of all. So I took her seriously and decided to deal with it,” he says. “Academics weren’t the hardest part of Catlin Gabel for me: it was getting a better understanding of certain forms of privilege. But I told myself that this is a good opportunity, and that Catlin Gabel will open doors for me.”
“I finally did get through it,” he says. “I love the school and am proud to be a Catlinite. Pru was right: it was not the torture I thought it was then. It was my own inner turmoil about moving quickly to a disadvantaged position in the States, and moving in a world that was not my own. That experience—finding a place to stand— this is where I am, this is who I am, this is who I need to be—and finding my strength taught me that I am as worthy of a Catlin Gabel education as those around me. And I learned to say why that was.”
One thing about Catlin Gabel that always connected for Vicente was the ethos of service, as expressed by the school chapter, 1 Corinthians 13 (“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”). Back in Mexico, Vicente’s grandmother had found her unique place in the world through serving others. She was the center of her community: if people needed flowers for a funeral, she’d cut them from her garden. If people needed letters written or advice on life’s thorny issues, she was there for them. “She taught by example,” says Vicente. “The whole thread that runs through my family is dedication to the world around you. Enjoy yourself, but serve! The contents of the Corinthians verse spoke to me then, and they speak to me now. It’s why I do the things I do. I constantly use that angle in my projects.”Vicente’s pursuits at Catlin Gabel built on his talents and prepared him for his eventual career as actor and writer. He wrote his first play in Pru Twohy’s “Hell in Literature” class, a takeoff of Dante’s Divine Comedy. He loved his theater classes, where Robert and Mary Medley provided great support for him. He eventually got his first shot at professional theatre when Portland’s Miracle Theatre asked him to join BRIDGES, its anti-racist teen theater group. Vicente’s skills were a perfect match, and he fell right in with Miracle. He started directing a year later, while still in high school, then after graduation worked in the office and wrote grants. “For commissioned plays I used a bilingual style so that you could understand the whole thing if you only spoke English or Spanish, but were not bored with repetitive dialogue if you understood both,” he says. Finally he was named resident playwright and guest performer in the dance ensemble.
In the three years he was resident playwright, Miracle Theatre produced eight of Vicente’s plays, including an HIV educational piece they performed in migrant camps. One of his plays opened in Mexico City, toured the West Coast, and was performed in Festival Cervantino, Mexico’s biggest performance event. He left
Miracle to join CITE, a theater company that put on educational plays in schools on topics such as water conservation and energy efficiency. In the evenings Vicente would rehearse and perform for Artists Repertory Theater and other companies.
Miracle to join CITE, a theater company that put on educational plays in schools on topics such as water conservation and energy efficiency. In the evenings Vicente would rehearse and perform for Artists Repertory Theater and other companies.As an actor, Vicente has worked mostly with Miracle Theatre, appearing in about 25 of their productions over 20 years—twice as Pancho Villa. He has performed for many local companies, including Do Jump!, Stark Raving Theatre, and Theatre Vertigo. Between shows, he’s found time to present workshops in acting and improvisation, playwrighting, cultural sensitivity, environmental issues, and more. And he’s spent 20 years as an activist and counselor about sexually transmitted infections, to both English and Spanish-speaking people.
Since his time in Hillboro’s migrant education program, Vicente has been serving others through his knack for language and translation. That skill had an emotional cost for him when he translated for asylum hearings. “I had to speak in their words, in the first person, and say things like, ‘The soldiers came at midnight and took my wife away.’ But it was important that the person’s statement be totally clear to me,” he said. He’s translated three books, one of which is used to train seasonal agricultural workers to care for senior citizens. He’s spot-on when he mimics various Latin American accents in his acting roles; once when he played an Argentine radio announcer an audience member said to him, “I know you’re Mexican, but listening to you I was back on the streets of Buenos Aires.”
Today Vicente is back in Colima, Mexico, with his partner, Eric Widing. He moved there recently to concentrate on writing and researching a novel based on four generations of women in his family. He doesn’t see himself living in Colima forever, but while he’s there he hopes to connect with the local arts scene, and he enjoys the slow pace of life in the beautiful city of his childhood.
In looking back on his busy life, Vicente says, “My satisfaction has come from the hopeful messages of most of the work I’ve been able do. If you can do good work, you can lead by example.” And in a nod to his teachers at Catlin Gabel who helped him when he needed it most, he says that working with children and youth is deeply important to him. “If other people hadn’t taken the time with me when I was growing up,” he says, “I wouldn’t be this inspired.”
Nadine Fiedler is editor of the Caller and Catlin Gabel’s publications and public relations director.
Production photo at left: Vicente in "The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa." Production photo at right: Vicente in "Te Llevo en la Sangre." Photo by Russell Young.
Catlin Gabel family's independent service in New Mexico
Los Niños International volunteer opportunities
By Carrie Gotkowitz
Los Niños/Via International is a community development organization headquartered in San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico. Our family has been involved with Los Niños for many years – my son Daniel's grandfather, Joseph Gotkowitz, started the microcredit program in the early 1990s. I was familiar with the Los Niños programs through contacts in San Diego, but had never visited any of the program sites.
During spring break 2010, Daniel and I spent two days at the Los Niños program in Mexicali, Mexico. We visited a cactus farm, a beehive cooperative, a ladrillera (brickmaking business), and a preschool, which is the site of a xeroscape landscaping and playground installation project. We ate meals and slept at the Los Niños dormitory in Mexicali.
Los Niños Mexicali volunteers have helped with sustainable farming development projects, bridge building, xeroscape landscape installation, and playground construction. Volunteer work is directed by agronomists or construction supervisors. Los Niños provides Spanish language interpreters. Voluntourism trips include discussion and education on community health and nutrition, local and global economic forces driving migration, and U.S.-Mexico border relations. Volunteer and community contributions are used to fund projects.
Los Niños/Via International has a 37-year history in community development work. The organization focuses on family health and food security, nutrition, and ecology training, microenterprise and microcredit, community leadership education, and voluntourism programs. Los Niños offers voluntourism programs in San Diego, New Mexico, Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico, and Guatemala.
"This school opened up the world for me"
A personal story of the importance of financial aid from Dr. Derrick Butler '86
From the Spring 2010 Caller
After hearing the news that the Rummage Sale would retire, Derrick Butler ’86 M.D. shared his story on how financial aid changed his life. Inspired by his life story, we invited him to speak at the Gambol and help the school raise funds for student financial aid. Here are some excerpts from his speech.
I am confident that my life’s work is changing lives and inspiring others. My work is challenging and, many times, fatiguing, but I can wake up every day and possibly make a small positive difference in someone’s life. That is the essence of what Catlin Gabel has given me, and must continue to instill in its students.
My journey at Catlin Gabel began with me as a shy, fat kid from the ‘other side of the tracks’ (or in this case, the Willamette River). I was black, not wealthy, from a single-parent household, but hungry for knowledge. Six years later I emerged as a confident, curious, inspired young adult with a desire to explore every corner of the planet. Catlin Gabel allowed me to navigate the world outside of my inner city neighborhood and to realize my own potential for achievement. This school opened up the world for me and gave me the skills and courage to go out and savor it.
Financial aid at Catlin is what made all of this possible.
Catlin Gabel exposed me to a diversity of races, cultures, religions, and ideas that made a difference in my life by broadening my world view. I believe that my tenure there equally exposed my peers to someone like me, which helped them understand racial and socioeconomic differences—but also realize our sameness as human beings. I think the need for a wide diversity of students is even greater in our world today, a world of global cooperation and increased complexity.
I graduated from Catlin Gabel in 1986 to continue my journey of self discovery. I was first on full scholarship at Morehouse College, where Catlin Gabel’s academic rigor gave me the discipline and study skills to graduate second in my class. Then with the Peace Corps to Africa, where I taught science and math, traveled extensively, mastered French (which I first encountered at Catlin Gabel), and truly became a world citizen.
Led by my desire for service, my love of people in general, and passion for science, I then pursued my medical degree at the University of California–San Francisco and a public health degree at the University of California–Berkeley. During this period I also first experienced the devastation of the HIV epidemic, which would influence my later career path.
Now as a family physician I treat all types of patients, especially underserved populations of color in South Central LA and those who are even more disenfranchised: people living with HIV. I consider myself a doctor, master of public health, HIV specialist, breaker of stereotypes, lifelong seeker of knowledge, student of the world, and servant to humanity. Upon reflection, I see that Catlin Gabel was the foundation for these accomplishments.
I hope my humble story will help convince you that Catlin Gabel’s investment in people is what makes this school such a special institution. Greater than any investment on Wall Street, the support you can give for Catlin Gabel’s students will reap so much more in terms of human impact.
We must continue to give talented and motivated students the support they need to realize their potential at Catlin Gabel. Please help Catlin Gabel continue to change the world with its amazing graduates. So please, give cheerfully, give heartily, and give with inspiration. Thank you.
Derrick helped Catlin Gabel raise the crowd to its feet—and raise $150,000 for student financial aid. We thank him and all those who were moved by his story.
Photo: Reversed Lens Photography
A Leader in Progressive Education
Amani Reed '93 is one of the youngest division heads in the nation
From the Spring 2010 Caller
Amani Reed ’93 was an unproven quantity when he came to Catlin Gabel in 8th grade, a self-described “extra kid in the class” who was admitted although the class 
was full and his admission test didn’t go so well. “The lesson I learned was that it’s important to give kids a chance,” he says. As principal of the middle school at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Amani daily applies lessons like this one, learned from his many years following his heart toward a place he’s perfectly suited to inhabit—one of the youngest independent school leaders in the nation.
was full and his admission test didn’t go so well. “The lesson I learned was that it’s important to give kids a chance,” he says. As principal of the middle school at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Amani daily applies lessons like this one, learned from his many years following his heart toward a place he’s perfectly suited to inhabit—one of the youngest independent school leaders in the nation.Leaders at Catlin Gabel noticed Amani’s rapport with students when he was just a sophomore. Ali Barnett Covell ’65, then the Beginning School head, and Roy Parker, then head of the Middle School, both asked Amani to act as mentor to their students, so he worked with the youngest children and accompanied 8th graders on their Gilbert & Sullivan tours.
Working with kids resonated for him. “I didn’t know I was teaching, really,” he says. “But I woke up one day and found that I was a teacher.”
Amani attended Howard University and the University of Portland, where he studied secondary education and played soccer. He became involved again at Catlin Gabel working with Speed-Ujima, the diversity group that he had cofounded as a student.
“I’m blessed to be in this work. But we never do it alone, and I had really strong mentors,” says Amani. His first job in education came through Roy Parker, who had moved from CGS to become head of the middle school for Pittsburgh’s Sewickley Academy. He hired Amani as Summerbridge director, and Amani ended up working at Sewickley for six years, teaching 6th grade humanities, coaching soccer, working in admissions, and serving as diversity director.
Amani assumed more responsibility when he moved back to the Northwest in 2002 to serve as assistant middle school head at Lakeside School in Seattle, where he continued to teach and coach soccer. Amani connected with kids, but this experience for him was learning about adult leadership and what makes a school run. It made him want to take the next step: to become a principal, and lead adults and children.
Amani spent two busy years between 2005 and 2007, working at Lakeside, pursuing a master’s degree during a summer intensive at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College, becoming a new father (of son Taye, now 6), and exploring independent school leadership as part of Columbia’s Klingenstein Leadership Academy. “It all worked because my wife, Jules, is incredibly supportive,” he says.
Amani then landed his job as middle school principal at the huge University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a place completely in sync with his educational philosophy. Founded by progressive education pioneer John Dewey, its tenets are similar to Catlin Gabel’s: experiential education, higher values, critical thinking, and individual responsibility for the collective community. Son Taye is in kindergarten just down the hall from Amani’s office, which delights him.
The work absorbs and satisfies Amani. “Figuring out the right way to support people, both adults and kids, to be their best is my goal.” He loves working with middle school kids, finding that to be the best part of his job. “The challenge of middle school is to create a sense of belonging. I help kids find themselves, feel connected to the community, and belong to something bigger and greater. I give them a sense of support so they feel that they can accomplish anything.”
Redefining Community: Linking the Global & the Local
By Spencer White
From the Spring 2010 Caller
Our heads fill these days with reports of environmental degradation, the unraveling of indigenous communities, and the harsh realities of human conflict on our globe. I find this overwhelming and sometimes downright scary. I can only imagine how these problems make my 11-year-old students feel as they move through school, becoming more aware every year of the issues we, or they, will live through. Regardless of the life paths our students choose when they leave Catlin Gabel, they will face a world characterized by ever-increasing communication and collaboration with international communities. Technology has brought us the ability to maintain relationships and conduct business with people just about anywhere on the globe, at any time of the day. How our students engage in these relationships— in essence, their diplomacy—is of great importance to our world.
Our global education program seeks to foster global competencies in our students. Among these is the ability to work and communicate effectively across national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. So how do we do this? Besides teaching world languages, or providing travel opportunities, how do we help our students build cross-cultural communication skills? The answer is, we practice. We practice by taking advantage of every opportunity we can to get kids to collaborate with their international peers.
Teaching students to be literate in cross-cultural communication requires two intentional activities. The first is creating meaningful relationships with people around the world—initially through email exchanges and interactive Skype conversations, and eventually through global travel.The second act is linking these relationships to local peer groups. Our students must practice communicating about a specific issue, problem, or goal not only with local peers, but with peers of other cultures, languages, and nationalities. In this way we redefine the idea of community for our students, explicitly teaching that our actions and decisions affect not only our local community, but also those far away.
“Looking back in my journal I see how I have really never felt a connection with someone that far away from home before.” —Catlin Gabel student traveler
For example, Carter Latendresse’s 6th grade unit on food teaches students to critically examine how food is produced in the U.S. and compare our levels of consumption with that of other global communities. Making this tangible, the Garden Club’s new vegetable beds allow students to grow their own organic produce, as well as understand the influence the global food industry has on how we produce, transport, and learn about the norms of global food consumption.
Teachers David Ellenberg, Becky Wynne, and Laurie Carlyon-Ward, chaperones on this spring’s trip to Nepal, prepared 13 high school students by viewing Food Inc., a documentary on the U.S. food industry. Nepali students at the Sattya Media Arts Collective screened the film for our students’ visit, and together they talked about the arrival of fast-food restaurants in Katmandu. This spring, the students who traveled to Nepal will visit Carter’s 6th graders to talk about the perspectives of their Nepali peers.
Our community’s response to the Haitian earthquake in January most tangibly collected a sizeable sum of money to support Mercy Corps’s disaster relief work. But more notable was the fact that our Lower School students created pastel drawings with messages in French and Haitian Creole that were delivered personally by parents who traveled to Haiti to assist in the recovery. Our community grows stronger and more unified by working together to affect change in a distant place. From these collective efforts our students learn about the disparity between resources and power structures in our world—but they also see that they are not powerless in the face of all the world’s daunting problems, and that when we reach out to communities far away, we in turn strengthen our own.
“I really care about conserving water. I mean I did it before, but not nearly as much as I do now.” —Catlin Gabel student traveler
The Viewfinder Global Film Series is another example of how we challenge our community to unite around global issues, in the interest of educating our students. In its inaugural year, the series has hosted 23 films over 8 months of the school year—attended by more than 600 parents, students, and teachers. Far more impressive than the numbers, though, are the post-screening conversations that ignite passionate debate and reflection about how our school sees its place in our local and global communities.
“I was really surprised when I got back at the sheer amount of resources we use every day, how easy it is for us to have a hot shower, and how we take so much for granted.” —Catlin Gabel student traveler
As our students move into Upper School, their opportunities for local and global collaboration increase. Model United Nations challenges students’ diplomatic skills, while twice a week students board a bus to Aloha to help Latino children with homework. Many of these same students recently returned from Cuba. Apart from the humanitarian nature of the trip, the travelers learned the power of creating relationships with their Cuban counterparts and the life-changing nature of convening with a community so vastly different than their own. Leah Weitz ’10 saw this in action in Cuba, and she’ll never forget it: when she told their Cuban cabdriver about the humanitarian nature of their visit, he gratefully told her their ride would be free.
As an 18-year-old at Lewis & Clark College, I traveled to Argentina and Chile as part of my Hispanic studies degree. Six months in Mendoza living with modest third-generation immigrants of Italian descent taught me the power and potential of creating emotional connections with people outside my own community. Shy of the cliché of calling them my Argentine family, especially when talking with my “real” mother on the phone, I was shocked at how close I felt to them and how utterly dependent I was on their parenting and care. Perhaps I was an independent, self-sufficient young adult in the U.S., but in Argentina I was vulnerable and far from home. Here was my new community developing before my eyes.
“There is no real way to explain what has changed about me. What I can say is that the way I see things is as if I am seeing it on two planes, two perspectives. I see things the way I see it from Costa Rica and from the U.S.” —Catlin Gabel student traveler
We are fortunate at Catlin Gabel to have the opportunities and the means to develop international relationships through travel, technology, and the study of language. We are in the business of redefining for our students what community means, what it means to become a global citizen, and what it means to consider the global effects of daily decisions. In my mind, this fortune comes with a commensurate degree of responsibility. We have the responsibility not only to purposefully seek and create relationships in international communities, but we must always make an effort to connect these relationships to our daily curriculum, our school initiatives, and our local service work. These collaborations linking local action with global realties serve as important reminders of our need to change the way we think about community.
Spencer White is Catlin Gabel's global education coordinator. He also teaches Middle School Spanish.
When Homework is More than Homework
By Leah Weitz '10
From the Spring 2010 Caller
I’ll admit it—when I found out that my Spanish V Honors class had required community service hours, I was miffed. I had essays to write, classes to teach, tests to take—and geez, now this? But our teacher, Lauren Reggero-Toledano, insisted that to supplement our class focus on the Hispanic presence in Oregon, each student should go out into the larger community and engage in community service with an organization catering to Hispanics.
The only Hispanic community service opportunity of which I had any awareness at all was Homework Club. Here’s what I knew: Catlin Gabel students went somewhere and helped Hispanic kids with their homework, and staffer Mark Lawton plugged it in assembly a lot. With no more information than that, and slightly resentful of the fact that I could be preparing for my next history test instead, I hopped on a bus after school one Thursday bound for this mysterious and elusive Homework Club.
What I found was wonderful.
Homework Club, which is run by Bienestar, a Hispanic farm worker housing service, meets twice a week after school. Five to 10 Catlin Gabel students go to the community center at Reedville Apartments, where we meet up with 20 to 30 kids ranging from 1st through 6th grade. First we help them with their homework, which may consist of writing short stories, completing work sheets, or studying vocabulary. After their homework is done, the students practice reading to us. After a heartily nostalgic dose of Dr. Seuss or Maurice Sendak, it’s play time. Catlin Gabel tutors and their students mix while completing puzzles, playing hide and seek, or coloring with crayons.
I work with the 3rd graders. Note that I say work, not worked—for all of my moaning and groaning that first afternoon about the hassle of spending three hours helping kids with their homework instead of completing my own, I somehow found the time to come back . . . every week. It’s worth it to watch the kids improve, knowing that you’re the one who taught them how. Take Brenda, whose shy smile hides a spunky and charismatic attitude. When I first met her, her reading skills were excellent—but sometimes she would suddenly halt, staring at a word with blank eyes, before struggling through it and resuming her regular flawless read. I soon learned that Brenda, to whom English is a second language, had never seen or heard a lot of these words before. Now we sit with a dictionary next to us when we read, with the frequency of pauses always decreasing.
It’s not just Brenda’s vocabulary that has grown during the months I’ve been working with her. After a few months she hugged me goodbye for the first time, melting my heart like butter, before skipping off like it was no big deal. The next week she showed me a story she had written for school, featuring a character she’d named Leah. Her eyes sparkled as she laughed at my stunned expression. I’m not the only one fortunate enough to have blossoming relationships with these kids: take junior Lily Ellenberg, another Homework Club regular, who finds herself greeted by a cheering cluster of 1st graders every time she arrives.
Over the past months at Homework Club I’ve come to realize that the relationships we have with these kids isn’t just serving them alone. While my 3rd graders have been learning how to multiply, I’ve been learning how to teach—and realizing how much I love it. I can safely say that I have Homework Club to blame for my projected career choice, and I deeply thank Lauren for pushing me to get involved—because at Homework Club, teaching can be a learning experience too.
Leah Weitz ’10 chose to intern at Bienestar for her senior project. She will attend the University of Puget Sound this fall.
Teachers & Students: The Heart of the Community--Aline Garcia-Rubio '93
Upper School science
"Sometimes all it takes is just reaching out"
From the Spring 2010 Caller
I respect students and listen to them. I listen to whatever they want to talk about: their dogs, their assignment. Spending time and looking each other in the eye shows .jpg)
that I care about them. And I really do care. I really get to know them in those after-class moments.
that I care about them. And I really do care. I really get to know them in those after-class moments.Sometimes it’s very natural and things just click with a student, and there’s an easy interaction. It’s harder when there’s friction. If there is, I make sure that I go and sit with those students. When students are active in the lab, I’ll stand next to them and interact with them as humans, beyond the content of the class. It doesn’t take much, and the students appreciate it.
I tell students little stories about who I am. They get a sense of me as a human being with a family, so I’m not a distant figure. I make myself vulnerable in appropriate ways. In my advanced class, in genetics and environment, we were talking about skin color. I showed them photos of my two children—one is blond, and the other is Mexicanlooking. We can talk about my kids in terms of biology, and it helps them explore who I am. Once we had some crickets escape, and we all chased them together. I wasn’t the all-knowing leader, but someone who could share in the humor of the situation.
I’m very deliberate. My students’ success depends on it. If we don’t have a connection, they won’t do well. If there’s not a connection, I ask my colleagues about the student. I continually watch my students’ affect. If I see changes, I tell them, I see you’re motivated, or tired, or angry, or sad, and ask what’s going on. In science their lives don’t come out as much as they might in other kinds of classes. But I do watch them, even if they don’t know I’m watching them in that way.
I try to be a part of whatever’s meaningful to students. I go on the senior trip, which is our last chance to cement those relationships. During Campus Day, or on trips or Winterim, we make the best connections. Together we have enriching experiences that invite conversation. Outside of class we let our guards down in different ways.
I feel proud to have a class that has six minority students in it. I take ownership of that. I tell them it’s cool. We create emotional connections and become part of each others’ lives. I think those are the common, invisible threads that strengthen the sense of community and identity. Teachers work deliberately to create those invisible threads. Sometimes all it takes is just reaching out to someone.
When he was first at Catlin Gabel my son felt anxious about walking to the curb alone. But he soon felt safe in the knowledge that people are watching out for him. His 1st grade class did a poetry unit, and he wrote a poem, “I Am From.” He wrote, “I am from Mexico, I am from Hawaii, I am from Portland, I am from I love you, I am from Catlin Gabel.”
Aline Garcia-Rubio ’93 spent her junior year at Catlin Gabel as an exchange student from Mexico City. She holds a medical degree from the Facultad Mexicana de Medicina, Universidad La Salle. She has been at Catlin Gabel for three years and previously taught at an international school in Mexico City and at Punahou School in Hawaii, under former Catlin Gabel head Jim Scott.