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Arts Are at the Core

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 07/21/2011 - 2:12pm
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By Nance Leonhardt

From the Summer 2011 Caller

In these troubled times “arts are at the core” are fighting words. My morning commute is peppered with reminders of the campaign to save the arts in schools. From the Campfire billboard offering to paste back what has been cut in schools, to my neighbor’s Subaru packed to the gills with supplies she’ll need to teach her son’s after-school art class, the evidence is clear: we are blessed to be at Catlin Gabel School.
 
Arts have been at the core of Catlin Gabel’s philosophical and pedagogical underpinnings since day one.
 
From Priscilla Gabel’s earliest writings: Let him daily tell or write or sing or dance or act or paint all that he has seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted. We aim to develop in each child an inquiring mind that wants to search out facts and truths about the world in which we live.
 
To Lark Palma’s current charge: We want to create conditions that support students to know the power of their own ideas, develop new-to-them ways of doing things, and be able to think inventively.
 
The arts are inherent to the culture of teaching and learning across this campus. The approach leaves an indelible signature on our alumni, many of whom may never set foot in a ceramics studio again, but when faced with a professional dilemma will conjure the memory of wrangling a shapeless mass of mud and water into a sleek vessel under Judy Teufel’s watchful eye. They will remember how the idea was so clear in their mind and slipped away so easily once the wheel began turning. The feel of the clay veering determinedly off course and then, with persistence and a steady hand, the sense of it righting itself as the circuit came to a close. They will not only remember the success, they will remember the journey and the dividends its lessons paid.
 
For some alumni, their Catlin Gabel arts education sparks something more, a lifelong commitment to the creative process. In addition to those profiled in this Caller, notable alumni include filmmaker Gus Van Sant ’71, opera director Elizabeth Bachman ’74, painter Margot Voorhies Thompson ’66, Broadway lighting designer Carl Faber ’01, and Pixar animator Nathan Matsuda ’03. We send an increasing number of students to colleges with exceptional (and competitive) arts programs: last year that list included the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the California Institute for the Arts, the University of Southern California Schools of Music and of Cinematic Arts, and Cooper Union. Our faculty would never claim these achievements as personal trophies, but like any parent we can certainly feel pride in our ability to cultivate talent and act as stewards of the values that enable these kinds of minds to grow and thrive.
 
Our 15-member arts department attests: from preschool through 12th grade the arts are alive and well at Catlin Gabel. Following Priscilla Gabel’s directive, we weave creative habits of mind into the daily experiences of our student body. Students learn to know themselves and the power of their ideas through our various disciplines. We identify with our students and have the unique opportunity to collaborate with them.
 
Last February I had the pleasure of sitting with my colleagues and devoting two days to exploring our professional practice. Rob and Elizabeth Whittemore, professors and parents of CGS alumni, led us through a series of discussions and reflective writing activities to help tease out our core values. We asked ourselves the big questions: What is the essence of what we do? How do we scaffold this individually and as a department? How do preschooolers with pipe cleaners and pine needles evolve into regional and national Scholastic Gold Key art award winners? How does the shy and awkward 6th grader leap on to center stage as a junior in The Fantasticks? In a program as rich and varied as ours, what are the universal truths behind our diverse methodologies and media?
 

Create , Perform, Respond

 
CPR are three little letters that communicate our directive to revive the imagination day after day, year after year. Our program is about process, the cycle of inspiration leading to action leading to reflection. Like the wheel in the potter’s studio, ideas follow a circuit, and results emerge before our eyes. We guide students’ explorations of the tools and skills needed to perform, and we offer prompts from various sources (art history, current events, poetry, student-generated themes) to draw out their unique points of view as thinkers. More specifically, we agreed that regardless of medium (instrumental music, film production, oil painting, woodworking, lighting design) we shelter our students’ development under the following core values:
 
Community building and trust
Creative problem solving
Collaboration
Risk taking and resiliency
Finding voice
Valuing process
 
How this plays out at the classroom level is as varied as our subject areas. In the Middle School, every student participates in a full complement of arts offerings annually, including instrumental music, fine art, theater, woodworking, and media and graphic arts. Our Upper School program offers more than 30 electives in the realms of drama, technical theater, narrative and documentary filmmaking, painting, printmaking, chamber choir, jazz band, photography, ceramics, and more.
 
Perhaps nothing espouses the value of community building and trust more than the Middle School theater program, developed by traditions of St. George and Gilbert and Sullivan, Middle Schoolers perform in more than 14 productions yearly. Deirdre Atkinson creates a safe, energetic environment that allows students to tackle everything from 20-minute renditions of Shakespeare to developing their own plays through a method called devising. When devising, an anything-goes approach allows students the creative space to brainstorm theme, share ideas on visual and auditory components, and physically construct a representation of their thoughts on the chosen topic. Whether it’s a piece on immigration, cyber-bullying, or gender identity, the students proudly step forth in front of packed audiences to share their message and engage the community in a wider dialogue.
 
In the Upper School, students in Laurie Carlyon-Ward’s honors art seminar engage in a three-semester quest to produce a portfolio of work that reflects the development of their voice as an artist. Visitors to the gallery in the Cabell Center foyer in May see the culmination of this process with displays that include self-portraits, figure drawing, journals, and a personal statement. Whether it’s Mary Bishop 11’s use of line and color to depict her musings on women’s Western attire, or the fleshy graphite textures of Kashi Tamang ’11’s portrait subjects, their voices are etched in the gallery space as distinctly as fingerprints on glass.
 

The Space to Collaborate and Connect

 
As colleagues we deeply value the collaborative avenues opened by the artistic process. For the Middle and Upper Schools, physical proximity places limits on the depth and frequency of our and our students’ opportunity to mingle creatively. We have moments of incredible synergy—like when a student in Mark Pritchard’s music composition class works on a score for one of my student’s films or sound design for one of Deirdre’s plays. Collaboration is a core value, yet restrictions of time and distance push these moments to the periphery.
 
As education theorist Heidi Hayes Jacobs observes, the most authentic integrations are those driven by the students themselves. Picture the student dance group working in conjunction with photographers to build a multimedia performance for the Diversity Conference, the painter developing a mural for the math building based on mathematical algorithms, a group designing sustainable furniture for community partners. Our students are already making these things happen—we’ve fostered that habit of mind in spite of limited physical space. The legacy of Priscilla Gabel is most alive in these moments. Imagine the future where our core values move to the physical core of our campus—a space where the creative process can be witnessed by our community at large, where distinct voices of student artists and musicians meld into a dynamic cacophony of inspiration, and where collaboration and creative risk-taking can thrive, unbridled.
 
Nance Leonhardt teaches Upper School media arts.  

 

A Campaign for Arts & Minds

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 07/21/2011 - 1:51pm
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From the Summer 2011 Caller

In this issue you will meet some of our most creative and talented alumni, all of whom found their time at Catlin Gabel important to their creative development. Creative freedom takes place in the science lab as much as it does in the painting and drawing studio. The way the robotics team comes together to map out their technical strategy for competition is akin to drama students coming together to write, cast, stage, and perform their annual one-act plays. And the thought process a student uses to troubleshoot a buggy line of code in computer science class involves the same set of synapses as when that same student tries to figure out why her timing is off in her original film score.

Exercising the creative mind is at the core of a Catlin Gabel education. We are currently in the leadership phase of a capital campaign to raise the necessary funds to elevate this commitment to our students and their education. Catlin Gabel’s Campaign for Arts and Minds has two components: building our endowment, with special emphasis on financial aid, and building a new Creative Arts Center for the Middle and Upper Schools.
 
The campaign began quietly in the fall of 2007 and has picked up momentum during the past year. Our most loyal and engaged donors have stepped up to the challenge of investing in our students, their creative minds, and their bright futures.
 

THE ENDOWMENT

As the campaign continues, we will tell you more in future issues of the Caller about the enormous effect that our various endowed funds have on our community. With an emphasis on building endowed funds for financial aid and for general purposes, this campaign effort experienced strong growth over the past year with a lead gift from Phil and Penny Knight. As of June 30, all of our endowed funds were valued at $21,800,000.
 

THE CREATIVE ARTS CENTER

“The arts are a core of Catlin Gabel’s philosophy and are key to a well-rounded education. In no other discipline do critical thinking, problem-solving, predicting outcomes, analyzing, re-assessing, and creativity come together as they do in the arts. . . . The intellectual challenges posed by visual art, music, and theater facilitate learning in all other disciplines. These vital pursuits help make our children more thoughtful, interesting, and well-rounded—and create a life of more profundity and beauty for all of us.” —Lark Palma, head of school
 

As you’ll discover in this issue, Catlin Gabel alumni have the creative bug. They credit their time on campus, their teachers, and their progressive education for influencing their ability to create and innovate in life and in work. If organizations should play to their strengths, then Catlin Gabel’s commitment to building a creative arts center for the Middle and Upper Schools is our way of demonstrating how fundamental creativity is to our educational philosophy.
Above: Creative Arts Center facade; right, aerial view; below, lobby.

 

CREATIVE ARTS CENTER HISTORY

Catlin Gabel has dreamed about a creative arts center, one that consolidates the visual, music, and drama classrooms scattered around campus, for the last 20 years. In the late 1980s, then-headmaster Jim Scott spoke seriously about bringing all the arts under one roof. And ever since current head Lark Palma set foot on campus in 1995, it was abundantly clear to her, a veteran drama teacher, that the arts facilities needed updating.
 
And the need has continued to grow. During the past two decades, the school and our arts offerings have grown, but the square footage per student dedicated to the arts has decreased. The lack of adequate space for teaching the arts has been singled out as an important area for improvement in our last two accreditation reports by the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools.
 
Finally, in 2007, Lark and the board of trustees, with input from the Catlin Gabel community, decided we could not put this off any longer. Planning for a new Creative Arts Center began in earnest that spring, led by a committee of staff, faculty, alumni, and trustees. The arts department faculty developed a set of needs and a vision for the art curriculum. Committee members visited peer schools up and down the West Coast and gathered data on best practices. All of this good work informed the original building design presented to the community in the fall of 2008 (see that issue of the Caller). Unfortunately, efforts fell short of the mark, and this initial Arts Center design did not fulfill all the programmatic and aesthetic requirements.
 
As the designs were being finalized, fundraising began in early 2008 just as winds from the looming “Great Recession” began to stir. The weak economic conditions of 2008 and 2009 exacerbated the tepid community response to the initial building design, forcing the school to make the hard yet courageous decision to pause the project so we could reevaluate and regroup.
 
In early 2010, with a year passed and time to reflect on the initial launch, the school brought the project out of hibernation. The recession had officially ended, and both enrollment and the Annual Fund were healthy. This renewed economic outlook served as a signal for the school to refocus on the project and explore new opportunities.
 
With a chance meeting between former trustee Jim John and world-renowned Portland architect Brad Cloepfil (see “Allied Works,” at right), a new phase to the project began. Brad had just finished high-profile arts projects in New York City, Montreal, and Dallas and was looking for a project back on his home turf. Jim, a seasoned developer and builder, thought that Brad would be just the person to reignite our Arts Center with a fresh and inspired design. We hope you’ll agree, when you see the design renderings, that Brad and his team delivered the right design at the right time.
 

MORE ROOM FOR CREATIVE ARTS

For US visual art, US choir, US media arts, MS drama, MS music, MS visual art
Current Square Footage: 6,786
Future Art Square Footage: 20,000
 
Creative Arts Center Layout Main Level
Gallery
Courtyard (outdoor)
Media Arts
Theater Control Room
MS Visual Arts
US Visual Arts
Shared print room
3D Studio
 
Lower Level
Black Box Theater (two levels)
Theater Tech Space
Drama Classroom
Instrumental Room
Choir Room
Music Laboratory
Practice Rooms
Instrument Storage Lockers  

GROUNDBREAKING

We expect to break ground in the fall of 2012, and the project will take about 15 months to build. This timeline is dictated entirely by how quickly our community raises the funds for design and construction. The overall project budget is estimated at $6.9 million. Prudently, our board mandates that we raise 80% of projected costs in pledges in order to break ground. As of June 30 we are just shy of having raised half of this amount, with approximately $2.3 million to go. We will look toward leadership donors this summer and fall to get us there. Please contact development director Eileen Andersen, 503-297-1894 ext. 306 or andersene@catlin.edu, to to learn more about our fundraising efforts. Catlin Gabel funds major capital projects entirely through contributions.
 
The board and administration’s conservative fiscal management has positioned the school with zero outstanding debt after completing the major construction projects of the past 20 years. The Murphy Athletic Complex, Warren Middle School, the Beehive, and most of the Upper School buildings were built without incurring debt. While this is unusual in the sea of heavily financed cultural projects throughout the city and region, it’s a distinction that makes us proud and contributes to the school’s financial health.
 

LAUNCH OF THE NEW PROJECT

The original project phase used a “design-build” strategy, where the school would contract with one firm that managed both the design and construction processes. This contractor, the Arts Center design committee, and the greater Catlin Gabel community vetted and chose the original designer after a thorough series of design proposals and presentations from a long list of architectural firms. When this second phase of the project began in early 2010, all the criteria and specifications for the building established by the committee and arts faculty in 2007 could be transferred to the new architect. This streamlined the hiring of the current designer, Allied Works Architecture. More important, this allowed us to save on the normally high costs of the schematic design phase and significantly shorten the project timeline. With the new project phase ready to launch, the school sought more project control and opted to engage both the contractor and architect directly, using separate contracts. The new arrangement encourages a healthy tension between our builder and architect by forcing both parties to balance the budget.
 

James E. John Construction

James E. John Construction (JEJ), the project general contractor, is a subsidiary of C. E. John Company, Inc., a diversified real estate development and management firm founded in 1947. Although JEJ is known for its Class A office and retail projects, it became clear early in the process that the firm not only had the talent and the resources to build a Brad Cloepfil building, but a keen understanding of how the new classrooms and spaces fit the needs of students and teachers. Current parent and former trustee Jim John, the project principal, provides close and careful management.
 

Allied Works

We are privileged to have our building designed by a world-renowned museum and creative space architect. Brad Cloepfil and his Allied Works Architecture team developed what has been overwhelmingly received by our community as an inspired, practical, and beautiful design. Portland native Brad Cloepfil studied architecture at the University of Oregon and earned an advanced degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture. In fact, his teacher and mentor at Oregon was Thomas Hacker, the principal architect and master planner for much of the Upper School you see today, including the Miller Library and Hillman Modern Languages buildings. Since Brad founded Allied Works in 1994, he has won commissions for some of the highest-profile cultural projects across the country, from the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis to the adaptive reuse of Manhattan’s Museum of Arts and Design on Columbus Circle. His West Coast projects include the renovated headquarters of Wieden + Kennedy in Portland’s Pearl District, the Seattle Art Museum, and a recently completed expansion of the Pixar Animation Studios headquarters in Emeryville, California. Allied Works’ art education facilities include the award-winning Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas (alumnae include Nora Jones, Edie Brickell, and Erykah Badu), the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the Caldera Arts Center in Sisters, Oregon. “Catlin Gabel’s project for the new arts building means a tremendous amount to me,” says Brad. “To build on that beautiful campus, with the legacy of great architecture by John Storrs and Thomas Hacker, is a true gift. We have worked with faculty and students to create a building that will be a beautiful catalyst for creativity, not only in the visual and performing arts, but for the entire curriculum of the school. It truly is a laboratory, one that will encourage the students to develop new ideas and forms of expression.”
 

 

A New Creative Arts Center– Now is the Time

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 07/21/2011 - 11:06am
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By Lark P. Palma, head of school

From the Summer 2011 Caller

Our alumni will tell you: Catlin Gabel taught them habits of thinking and new ways to question their world—and new ways to practice and develop their innate creativity. These skills of thinking and creating serve them well as the basis for fulfilling careers and satisfying lives. And in fact these days, as the world quickly changes, creativity is fast becoming the skill that colleges, graduate schools, and employers look for first. In a time of rapid change, those who adapt and flourish best are those flexible thinkers who are not afraid of innovation.
 
There is no discipline better than the arts to encourage and develop creativity. Our classes in music, theater, visual art, media art, and woodshop call upon our students to stretch themselves, take enormous leaps, and learn to express themselves through mediums that are often unfamiliar, and scary at times. A blank canvas, a role in a play, an assignment to make a music video, an instrument they’ve never played before—all demand courage and a connection between brain, hand, and heart.
 
We’ve done amazingly well at Catlin Gabel over the years in providing places for creativity to take hold. But we can do better. You’ll read in this issue about our plans to build a new creative arts center. And I couldn’t be more thrilled to present these plans to you. I believe that this is what Catlin Gabel needs most right now, and I hope that my conviction and enthusiasm for this project will grab you, too.
 
As you walk our campus, you see students of all ages benefiting from the facilities we’ve built, such as our light-filled Miller Library, our Warren Middle School with its wonderful gathering space, the well-loved Lower School Art Barn, and Upper School science labs where authentic, original research is taking place. But our Middle and Upper School arts programs sorely lack the facilities they need to best help our students expand their creative skills.
 
We all gladly do what we can with what we have on campus. But it makes my heart sink to see our Middle Schoolers performing in the tiny, dilapidated Chipmunk Hollow, or watch Upper School students painting, printmaking, and drawing in a room that can’t accommodate a large work of art. It’s time for us to provide something more in keeping with our ambitions for our students.
 
By providing a center for creativity, we will send our students out in the world prepared to navigate a new landscape. Last year Newsweek published a feature story about the creativity crisis, noting that the U.S. is losing its status as the nation of ideas that others imitate. Fortune 500 companies must know it, because many now administer creativity tests to future employees. Colleges and universities realize this: among others, Princeton, Brown, Pomona, and Stanford are also building creative arts centers. Important discoveries in science, exceptional business models, and successes of all kinds are born from the wellspring of creativity—the new, the great idea.
 
In our new creative arts center, the free flow of thought, creative energy, and mixture of all the arts in true collaboration will help forge the kinds of minds that generate big ideas. Our students will build on those habits of creativity and confidence to be poised for innovation—in fields that include science, math, technology, and engineering. We have to make sure that our children can create jobs for themselves that don’t even exist yet, and that they have the fire and drive, fueled by creative thinking, to make a difference in this world. Let’s give our students the creative boost they need to succeed.

 

 

Summer Programs has a few spaces available

Submitted by Karen Katz on Fri, 07/01/2011 - 5:03pm
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Classes begin Tuesday, July 5

Classes for kids of all ages!

Review our catalog (below) for course descriptions. 

Enroll today! Tell your friends!

Contact Len Carr, program director, for additional information.

Summer Programs ~ our difference is learning

application/pdf iconSummer Programs Catalog

Thanks to all: Annual Fund reaches goal

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Fri, 07/01/2011 - 12:41pm
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We did it! The Annual Fund reached its $935,000 goal!
Thank you to everyone who participated and gave so generously this year.

For additional information about annual giving, please contact:
Sara Case
Annual giving program director
8825 SW Barnes Road
Portland OR 97225
503-297-1894 ext. 423
casesa@catlin.edu

Extreme Ironing on the Summit of Mount St. Helens!

Submitted by David Zonana on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 11:51pm
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Thirteen newly-graduated 8th Graders, one 7th grader, and one ironing board reach the top of a NW landmark.

"I've never been this tired in my life...not even when I stayed up to watch Harry Potter 7 on opening night!"

The words of this wise student summed up how we all felt after the nearly 12 hours of hiking that went into the powerful experience of standing on top of a Cascade volcano and peering down into the smoking crater.  All of us here in Portland orient ourselves by looking North to the snow-covered rise of Mount St. Helens, but few of us can claim to have been lucky enough to see the world from on top.  Thirteen excited and newly-graduated 8th graders joined the company of one dedicated 7th grader, four adult climb leaders, and an increasingly heavy ironing board to try their hand at reaching the summit.

As most of the group was new to the wonders of mountaineering, the greater portion of Saturday was spent in the sun, learning about the fundamentals of a safe and successful climb.  We talked about the essential clothing and personal equipment that one needs for an outing, as well as the importance of food, water, rest and paying attention to ones breathing and body.  We learned the basic skills needed on a mountain climb at a short Snow School (on a less than impressive snow slope!)  These techniques included the rest step, plunge step, walking with an ice axe, putting on and walking with crampons, and the theory behind a self-arrest.

Back at camp, we explored the edge of the lake, played some ridiculous games, and feasted on a "make-your-own burrito" spread.  There is nothing like chorizo to power you up a mountain.  We all went to bed early knowing that we would be awake again in only a few hours to start the climb.

By 4am everyone in the group was up and putting the final touches on their gear, and we were at the Marble Mountain trailhead and moving toward the mountain by 6:15.  Our first break all together came at timberline where the sun greeted us in full force.  The trail through the "Worm Flows" soon met up with Monitor Ridge, and the group worked its way up this prominent feature on the mountain.  The shortest route to the top of the mountain starts at a trailhead known as the "Climber's Bivouac," but due to the heavy snow this year, the bivouac had not yet melted out, forcing our group to take the longer approach from Marble Mountain.  The extra distance didn't slow us down, as our group easily kept pace with another Mazama party that was on the mountain that day.  

The group tired as we neared the top, and a bit of fog covered the summit, but everyone pushed on.  The first in our party reached the top at 1:11pm, and the rest of us trickled up to the rim before we all started the incredible glissade back to the forest.  As the fog cleared, we had unbelievable views north to Mt. Rainier, and down to the impressive, and smoking lava dome.  

The ironing board made it all the way up to the summit only for us to realize that somebody had forgotten the iron!  Please enjoy these photos from this incredible weekend.  It was an experience that we all will be able to draw from in many ways for years to come.

"Who forgot the iron?"

 

We spent Saturday talking about the skills, gear, and focus that we would need for the climb.
We spent Saturday talking about the skills, gear, and focus that we would need for the climb.
Trying out the boots.
Trying out the boots.
We had a beautiful campsite next to the Swift Reservoir
We had a beautiful campsite next to the Swift Reservoir
At our Snow School, Kallisti gives a lesson on how to put crampons on.
At our Snow School, Kallisti gives a lesson on how to put crampons on.
More instruction.
More instruction.
Snowballs were thrown.
Snowballs were thrown.

Learning and having a blast at Snow School.
Learning and having a blast at Snow School.

After a 4am wakeup, the group started the climb at 6:15 in the morning!
After a 4am wakeup, the group started the climb at 6:15 in the morning!
Having a rest at timberline.
Having a rest at timberline.
The shoulder of the mountain behind Erin.
The shoulder of the mountain behind Erin.
Nick decides that mountaineering is for him!
Nick decides that mountaineering is for him!
The weather on Sunday morning was beautiful.
The weather on Sunday morning was beautiful.
We got to use our sunglasses on one of the first days of summer.
We got to use our sunglasses on one of the first days of summer.

Midway up the mountain the ironing board begins to cause Ford some grief.
Midway up the mountain the ironing board begins to cause Ford some grief.
Regaining composure...
Regaining composure...
Thumbs up.
Thumbs up.
Leader George
Leader George


Climbing.
Climbing.
The route follows the famous Monitor Ridge.
The route follows the famous Monitor Ridge.
Joseph showing off his ice axe technique.
Joseph showing off his ice axe technique.

Its a long ways back to the trees, but we still have a lot of mountain ahead of us!
Its a long ways back to the trees, but we still have a lot of mountain ahead of us!
The steepening grade couldn't slow Larissa down.
The steepening grade couldn't slow Larissa down.
Each hill gives way to another
Each hill gives way to another
Moss and Mt. Adams.
Moss and Mt. Adams.
Kallisti, right before the Swedish Fish powered her to the top.
Kallisti, right before the Swedish Fish powered her to the top.
One foot in front of the other.
One foot in front of the other.
Mt. Adams.
Mt. Adams.
Joseph reveals that he had brought along some "light" reading.
Joseph reveals that he had brought along some "light" reading.

A line of climbers making the final push to the crater rim.
A line of climbers making the final push to the crater rim.
Our rests became more frequent toward the top.
Our rests became more frequent toward the top.
Looking back down.
Looking back down.
Others climbers glissading into the clouds.
Others climbers glissading into the clouds.
Jacob's dream comes true! Finally on top!
Jacob's dream comes true! Finally on top!
Moss is the first to experience the summit at 1:11pm! 7 hours of climbing pay off!
Moss is the first to experience the summit at 1:11pm! 7 hours of climbing pay off!
The fog blew in and out on top, but that didn't stop us from celebrating!
The fog blew in and out on top, but that didn't stop us from celebrating!
Some world-class glissading took us most of the way back down the mountain.
Some world-class glissading took us most of the way back down the mountain.
It was Mary's 15th or 16th summit of the mountain.
It was Mary's 15th or 16th summit of the mountain.
We leave the mountain behind us as we head home to rest up for the next adventure.
We leave the mountain behind us as we head home to rest up for the next adventure.

Life After Catlin Gabel: alumni and student panel video

Submitted by Karen Katz on Thu, 06/09/2011 - 11:32am
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Present by the alumni and college counseling programs

Student panelists: seniors Henry Gordon, Rebecca Kropp, and Josh Langfus.

Alumni panelists: Leslie Nelson ’10, attending Pitzer College; Rivfka Shenoy ’09, attending Washington University St. Louis; Riley Gibson ’04, BS in business management from Babson College and co-founder and CEO of Napkin Labs; and Peter Bromka ’00, BA in anthropology from Tufts University and a design researcher at IDEO, a global design firm.

Moderator: Rukaiyah Adams ’91, BA from Carleton College, JD and MBA from Stanford University, consultant for Plum District and Regence Blue Cross/ Blue Shield.

Outdoor Program Hike Up Dog Mountain

Submitted by David Zonana on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 2:21pm
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The day dawned gray, with the promise of dampness ahead.  Nevertheless, the intrepid hikers, 11 students and 2 leaders, gathered at Catlin to set off to climb Dog Mountain.  All were present before the hour for departure, so the expedition left 5 minutes ahead of schedule.  Driving through the Gorge the clouds thickened, the moisture condensed, and the wipers came on.  In the distance much brighter clouds over Dog Mountain enticed us onwards.

 

As we approached the trailhead, the summit of our climb was shrouded in cloud.  The trail at the base was clear and dry, so after introductions all around, we set off up the first steep pitch in high spirits.  True to tradition, some students charged ahead, while others (and one leader) plodded up in the rear.  With stops at each junction to ensure that everyone went the same way, the group was never overly stretched out.  Despite the chilly, damp season we’ve had so far in the Northwest, the wildflowers were emerging colorfully.  Yellow Balsamroot, red Indian Paintbrush, and, higher up, lilac Phlox were to be seen, along with many others.

The wind rose and the temperature dropped as we neared the summit.  We were very glad of the extra layers and warm hats and gloves we’d brought along.  As we huddled in the flower fields at the top, a light rain began to fall as the view alternated between the damp inside of a cloud, fleeting views of snowy slopes on the Oregon side of the Gorge, and spectacular panoramas westward over Wind Mountain and down the Gorge towards Portland.  Living up to its name there were many dogs of all sizes on the trail.  One even sported a doggy rain poncho. 

The wet, windy and chilly weather didn’t dispose us to linger on the top, so we soon packed up our things and set off down the alternate route towards the base.  The lower we descended the warmer it got.  By the time we reached the trailhead the sun was out and it was a beautiful day.

 

The group came for many reasons: conditioning to climb Mt Hood or Mt St Helens, to build towards a summer of hiking, or just to have fun outdoors.  Since all made it to the summit, the goals were achieved.  We returned to Portland and Catlin 6 minutes ahead of schedule, tired but well satisfied with our efforts of the day.

 

"The Mikado" photo gallery

Submitted by Karen Katz on Fri, 05/27/2011 - 12:59pm
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8th grade musical

The 8th grade production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado" was given an Anime treatment.

 

Click on thumbnail to start slide show
Click on thumbnail to start slide show

















































































Spanish Exam Results

Submitted by Karen Katz on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 9:20am
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¡Felicitaciones!

Middle School

Level 1 – EighthGrade
Eva Jahanshir, 1st in state, silver nationally
Annika Carfagno, 2nd in state, silver nationally
Garet Neal, 2nd in state, silver nationally
Maya Banitt, bronze
Ford Brown, bronze
Lauren Fogelstrom, bronze
Zach Allen, honors
Max Armstrong, honors
Brendan Attey, honors
Lily Burns, honors
Nico Hamacher, honors
Arielle Schnitzer, honors
Walter Sherry, honors
Lauren Shoemaker, honors

Level 2 – Eighth Grade
Kellie Takahashi, 1st in state, gold nationally
Matthew Bernstein, 3rd in state, gold nationally
Larissa Banitt, gold
Sarah Norris, silver
Daniel Chang, bronze
Evan Chapman, bronze
Conner Hansen, bronze
Andrew Lee, bronze
Nick Miller, honors
Dylan Gaus, honors
Emma Marcus, honors
Collin Moore, honors
Ally Rossi, honors
Simon Schiller, honors
Elli Wiita, honors

Upper School

Level 1
Walker Andrews, bronze
Peter Smith, bronze
Camille Fairbairne, honors
Spencer Hotchkiss, honors
Liban Sheikh, honors

Level 2
Samara Michaelson, 2nd in state, gold nationally
Michael Elliott, gold
Kyra Finley, gold
Libby Grant, silver
Tess Michaelson, silver
Alexis Shoemaker, silver
Anisha Adke, honors
Qiddist Hammerly, honors
Rachel Caron, honors
Ali Corwin, honors
Ellie Lezak, honors
Maya Rait, honors
Jordan Riddle, honors
Lukas Stracovsky, honors
Elise Thompson, honors

Level 3
Katie Zechnich, 2nd in state, silver nationally
Rahul Borkar, 3rd in state, bronze nationally
Allyson Foltyn, bronze
Ramtin Rahmani, bronze
Curtis Stahl, bronze
Kenny Woods, bronze
Ben Shmulevsky, honors
Kenny Yu, honors
Lurana Crowley, honors
Margaret Fossand, honors
Mira Hayward, honors
Will Schneiger, honors
Mckenzie Spooner, honors
Will Bishop, honors
Naomi Iverson, honors

Level 4
Zoe Frank, 2nd in state, gold nationally
Casey Currey-Wilson, gold
Owen Chapman, bronze
Jackson Morawski, bronze
Andrew Salvador, bronze
Brooke Edelson, honors
Kanaiza Imbuye, honors
Grace McMurchie, honors
Grant Phillips, honors
Hannah Rotwein, honors
Maggie Weirich, honors
Jeremy Wood, honors
Koby Yudkin, honors

Level 5
Lauren Ellis, gold
Jade Chen, silver
Jenna Rolle, silver
Taylor Smith, silver
Jenny Faber, bronze
Rebecca Garner, honors
Nina Greenebaum, honors
Julianne Johnson, honors
Esichang McGautha, honors
Logan Smesrud, honors
Cydney Smith, honors
Holly Kim, honors
Andrea Michalowsky, honors

Kudos to our Spanish language department: Enrique Escalona Fuentes, Spencer White, Wally Wilson, Ron Sobel, Lauren Reggero-Toledano, and Roberto Villa.

 

National French Contest Results

Submitted by Karen Katz on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 9:07am
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Félicitations!

Middle School French awards

Level 01A (7th grade) 6,817 participants nationally
Iris Ellenberg, bronze, 1st in Oregon, 8th in nation
Nina Miller, 2nd in Oregon
Janelle Gowgiel, 3rd in Oregon
Nicolas Bergen, 4th in Oregon
Calissa Spooner, 5th in Oregon
Abby Hungate, 6th in Oregon
Emily Rodriguez, 6th in Oregon
Kendall Goodlett, 7th in Oregon
Solomon Hammerly 8th in Oregon
Hanna Alomair, 9th in Oregon
Dariush Sabi, 9th in Oregon
Ethan Hanson, 10th in Oregon

Level 1A (8th grade) 24,874 participants nationally
Victoria Michalowsky, bronze, 1st in Oregon, 7th in nation
Jillian Rix, 2nd in Oregon, 8th in nation
Jarod Gowgiel, 3rd in Oregon, 9th in nation
Raina Morris, 4th in Oregon
Simon McMurchie, 4th in Oregon
Nicole Nelson, 5th in Oregon
Nicolas DeStephano, 8th in Oregon
Kallan Dana, 9th in Oregon
Nicolas DeStephano, 8th in Oregon
Mary Gilleland, 10th in Oregon
Finn Schneider, 10th in Oregon
Hanna Sheikh, 10th in Oregon

Upper School French awards

More than 100,000 students participated in the Grand Concours National French Contest. Eight Upper School students placed among the top 10 nationally in three proficiency levels.

Level 1A
Erin Wynne, bronze, 2nd in Oregon, 8th in nation
Mary Whitsell, 6th in Oregon
Olivia Streb, 7th in Oregon
Tapwe Sandaine, 9th in Oregon
Madison Lee, 9th in Oregon
Lewis Fitzgerald- Holland, 10th in Oregon

Level 2A
Emmarose John, bronze, 1st in Oregon, 10th in nation
Ella Bohn, 2nd in Oregon
Kelsey Hurst, 2nd in Oregon
Gabriele Chodosh, 3rd in Oregon
Dina Zaslavsky, 3rd in Oregon
Ian Smith, 4th in Oregon
Yelena Blackburn, 5th in Oregon
Mark Van Bergen, 7th in Oregon
Emily Tuchman, 8th in Oregon
Emily Siegel, 10th in Oregon

Level 3A
Zoe Frank, 1st in Oregon, 3rd in nation
Lynne Stracovsky, 2nd in Oregon
Flora Field, 3rd in Oregon
Jeremy Howard, 4th in Oregon
Benji Lin, 4th in Oregon
Ilana Cohen, 5th in Oregon
Genevieve Gideonse, 5th in Oregon
Evan Brandaw, 7th in Oregon
Brandon Wilson, 7th in Oregon
Allie Weston, 8th in Oregon
Anne Gilleland, 9th in Oregon
Tucker Gordon, 9th in Oregon
Devon Utter, 9th in Oregon
Annika Berry, 10th in Oregon

Level 4A
Hunter Ray, bronze, 1st in Oregon, 9th in nation
Nicholas Rhodes, bronze, 1st in Oregon, 9th in nation
Fiona Noonan, bronze, 2nd in Oregon,10th in nation
Neil Badawi, 3rd in Oregon
Thalia Kelly, 4th in Oregon
James Furnary, 5th in Oregon
Schuyler Brevig, 6th in Oregon
Rachel Caron, 6th in Oregon
Sarah Ellis, 6th in Oregon
Cameron Edwards, 8th in Oregon
Mona Corboy, 9th in Oregon

Level 5A
Rachel Savage, 3rd in Oregon
Ko Ricker, 3rd in Oregon
Alexandra Corey, 5th in Oregon
Eli Wilson Pelton, 5th in Oregon
Jemma Pritchard, 6th in Oregon
Sarah Macdonald, 7th in Oregon
Alex Liem, 8th in Oregon
Henry Gordon, 9th in Oregon

Three cheers for our French language teachers: Francine Chough, Monique Bessette, Veronique de la Poterie, and Madeleine Girardin-Schuback!

 

Middle Schoolers Eve Maquelin and Andrew Park take home gold from national Science Olympiad

Submitted by Karen Katz on Mon, 05/23/2011 - 8:00am
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Congratulations!

Eve (grade 7) and Andrew (grade 6) beat 118 other students in the “Write It, Do It” category of the competition. Their gold-medal performance was judged on teamwork, abstract expression, logical thought, and clear, concise writing.

More than 800 students from 47 states in grades 6 through 9 competed in the middle school division of the National Science Olympiad, in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8th graders Matthew Bernstein & Larissa Banitt win 1st & 2nd place in national poetry competition

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 8:12am
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8th graders Matthew Bernstein and Larissa Banitt just won 1st and 2nd place, respectively, in the national poetry contest sponsored by the Manningham Trust. Their poems came in 1st and 2nd in the Oregon State Poetry Association (OSPA) contest in the middle school category. The OSPA submitted them to the national contest, to which 12 states sent their top poems in the junior division. Congratulations to Matthew and Larissa for this very nice honor! Their poems are below.

My Great-Grandfather’s Letter
by Matthew Bernstein

Tradition dictated that I receive my great-grandfather’s letter at 13
On the brink of adulthood I teetered
and the aged letter
winter’s bone
colored my future
it crackled under my dry fingertips
unfolding its creases
slowly
revealing a present from my past
thin blue veins holding such promise
A 13 year-old immigrant from the Island of Rhodes arrives in America with nothing
but words
his story my history
loops in perfect ruler-rapped scroll
I thought of the worn hands that folded the letter precisely
in sharp thirds
But age consumed its words
And so it closed again
an oyster shell

A Day at the Beach
by Larissa Banitt

Charcoal washes down the beach like ink
The blackened logs carried out from their pits to the tide
Prints of animals write fables in the sand
Gulls screech as they pirouette across the sky
Diving between kites
Silhouetted like a shadow show
Of masterful carving
Iridescent kelp lies floating in
The tide’s current
Mermaid hair attached to a sandy scalp
And just adjacent to the rock
With the myriad of anemones and sea stars
A child screams with delight
For she has just found
The perfect sand dollar
Completely round
Not even chipped at the edges
And in a chubby fist she raises it for all to see
Though her parents are the only spectators around
Until the sun peeks out from its cotton curtains
Smiling down at the giggling toddler
And lays a diamond kiss on the dollar
And weaves gold into the girl’s hair
And binds the fables of the shore creature’s prints
Into a charcoal ink volume
In a cover the color of warmth and summer breezes
Just for a moment
Then it slips back like the tide
Receding from the shoreline
Its beaming light playing the water like a harp
Plucking out dolphin song
 

 

8th graders' films to be shown at middle school media festival in Seattle

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 12:22pm
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The films of 15 8th grade filmmakers from Catlin Gabel's media arts class were selected to screen on May 13 at the Middle School Media Festival at Seattle Country Day School. Congratulations to all!

Jarod Gowgiel & Zach Alan
Lily Burns & Elayna Caron
Chloe Smith & Sophie Paek
Larissa Banitt & Jillian Rix
Raina Morris & Nikki Nelson
Evan Chapman & Andrew Lee
Nicolas DeStephano, Joseph Endler & Nico Hamacher

Upside Down
By Jarod & Zach
http://blip.tv/file/4485860

Runaway
By Lily & Elayna
http://blip.tv/file/4485397

The Grey Cat’s Song
By Chloe & Sophie
http://blip.tv/file/4485780

I Love Talking
By Larissa & Jillian
http://blip.tv/file/4345016

Red Runs Away
By Raina & Nikki
http://blip.tv/file/4345076

Untitled
By Evan & Andrew
http://blip.tv/file/4345015

The Prank
By Joseph, Nico, and Nicolas
http://blip.tv/file/4854812

 

Students read their work at Powell's Books

Submitted by Karen Katz on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 1:05am
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Sunday, May 22, 4 p.m.

The editors of Honoring Our Rivers Anthology of Student Artwork and Literature selected the work of three 5th graders and 29 6th graders for inclusion in this year’s collection. Students from across the state who are in the anthology are invited to present their work at Powell's on Sunday, May 22, at 4 p.m.

Students in kindergarten through college were eligible to submit their literature and artwork. Submissions focused on the relationship between people and the Willamette Watershed--the waters, weather, land, plants, animals, and habitats that make up this beautiful and fragile river system.

Congratulations to 5th graders Olivia Andersen, Macey Ferron-Jones, and Anaga Srinivas, and 6th graders Mo Alan, Carly Allen, Robin Attey, Hannah Cassin, Gracie Cavenaugh, Shinto Davis, Gus Edelen O'Brien, Beatrice Endler, Athena Erickson, Miguel Gachupin, Sophie Glew, Jasper Gordon, Ian Bryce Hoyt, Safina Lewis, Colin Mitchell, Darya Mojab, Conner Nelson, Sahil Nerurkar, Mark Nicholson, Lila Reich, Holly Sauer, Ryan Selden, Emily Slusher, Quinn Smesrud, Aidan Smith, Kenzie Stuvland, Grace Wong, Liam Wynne, and Jackson Zechnich.