Dear NWS Alumni,

We hope everyone is enjoying beautiful fall weather and looking forward to Thanksgiving and the winter holidays. We have great alumni events coming up, and hope to see you at our gatherings or around The House soon!

 

A happy moment reconnecting during our Alumni Reunion this summer. From left: Tamara Bunnell, Madie Feil ’09, Shadie Hijazi ’09, and Simone Wood ’09.

Alumni and Faculty Happy Hour

All alumni are invited to get together for a Holiday Happy Hour. First drink is on us!
Kaladi Brothers Coffee, 517 E. Pike St.
Friday, November 29, 2019,  6:30 – 7: 30 p.m.

Click here to RSVP or email alumni@northwestschool.org.
 

Alumni and Faculty Basketball Games

Reconnect with Northwest faculty and friends at the annual Alumni and Faculty Basketball Games. Join the women’s or the men’s games on the court, or be there to cheer them on from the sidelines.

NWS Basketball Court, 401 E. Pike St.
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Men’s Game, Alumni and Faculty, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Women’s Game, Alumnae and Faculty, 5:15 – 6:45 p.m.

Click here to RSVP or email alumni@northwestschool.org.
 

NWS Archives Project Needs Your Help!

Faculty and alumni are invited to identify people and events in photographs in our archives. Our archival sessions are hosted by the Development and Alumni Office and will be lead by NWS archivist Amanda Demeter. Archival sessions are planned for the following dates:

Wednesday, January 29, 2020, 10:00 a.m. – 12 noon
Tuesday, February 25, 2020, 8:00  – 10:00 a.m.
Thursday, March 19, 2020, 5:00  – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 18, 2020, Reunion Weekend, (time TBD)

We will meet in "House West," (across Crawford St. from The House) on 1422 Bellevue Ave.

Click here to RSVP or email alumni@northwestschool.org.
 

Alumni Reunion Weekend  

April 16-18, 2020

April will celebrate our 2020 return to The House. Mark your calendars to reconnect with fellow alumni and beloved faculty. Alumni from all classes are invited, and we will especially celebrate class years with milestone reunions: ’85, ’90, ’95, ’00, ’05, ’10, and ’15.

Reunion Weekend Activities:

April 16: Leadership Dinner, Annual Fund giving level $2,500 or more
April 17: Upper School class visits and evening cocktail reception for faculty and alumni
April 18: Morning Q&A and Panel Discussion; Evening individual class gatherings

Are you a Class Rep planning special gatherings for your class this year? Let us know by emailing alumni@northwestschool.org! We can help you promote your activities as well as direct alumni from your class to you for details.

Kathryn has been teaching Physical Science, Biology, and Advanced Topics in Biology at The Northwest School since 2005. She has previously taught marine science aboard several research and sailing vessels in the U.S. and the Caribbean Islands.

What fueled your interest to return to NWS to teach?
I got the chance to teach as a substitute at NWS while I was in grad school. I subbed Herb Bergamini’s class Earth Science (thank you, Herb Bergamini!) and it quickly became the highlight of any week when I got called in to sub.

What do you love about working at NWS?
The students, one-hundred percent. They make it all worth it. They are funny, weird, annoying, and inspiring, but mostly, they are all kind and collaborative. It makes teaching them a joy.

What did you want to be when you were a senior at NWS?
I wanted to be a marine biologist.

Where did you go after you graduated from NWS?
I went to Occidental College, majoring in Marine Biology and then to the University of Washington where I obtained an M.S. in Aquatics and Fisheries Science.

What did you miss about NWS after you graduated?
I missed being in a vibrant urban campus with great things within walking distance, like Bauhaus (coffee shop) where I used to meet friends and study. I missed having teachers that actually read and graded my essays.

Which book changed your life?
Getting Things Done, by David Allen; I love being efficient and organized. Then I have time to read rad novels like A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towels.

The Alumni Office was busy in October!

We mailed more than 300 care packages to our recent alums in the classes of 2015 - 2019. Alumni parents came back to NWS to help us prepare our packages. Thank you, parents!

(Front row, from left) Daphne Cuizon, Andrea King, Kirsten Morrison, Reena Koshy, Patricia Nef; (middle row, from left) Director of Development Beth Mulvey, Micheline Baral, Alumni Program Coordinator Svetlana Turetskaya, Sonja Krejci; (back row, from left) Susan Cook, Felecia Job, John Bramhall, Christine Carr. Thank you!

The Northwest School recently received the 2019 Green Ribbon Award from the U.S. Department of Education. On October 29, officials from the U.S. Department of Education, and Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, came for a tour of the school, joining thirty other guests. The tour, led by our Director of Environmental Education and Sustainability Jenny Cooper, highlighted our excellent environmental sustainability practices. 

Uniquely Northwest is The Northwest School's Annual Fund, which serves as a critical source of support for the ongoing implementation of our Strategic Framework. This year's focus includes more broadly integrating technology across all grades, providing professional development for faculty, and developing our partnership with Camp Gallagher for a more robust Environmental Program. You can help make this possible! Families are encouraged to contribute or make a pledge by Dec. 31. To give now, or to learn more, click here. Questions? Contact Julie Lombardo at Julie.Lombardo@northwestschool.org

 

The Northwest School is currently accepting applications to the 6-12 grades for the 2020-21 academic year. Priority application deadline is the second week of December. For more information, please visit our Admissions page. 

Our Student Stats 2019 – 20

Middle School – 159
Upper School – 352

511 Students from 13 Countries
75 International Students in grades 9-12 (21% of the Upper School)
52 of the 75 are Boarding Students

35% Students of Color

Awarded Financial Aid: $2.7 M
16% of Northwest School Families (81 Students) receive Financial Aid
22 Rainier Scholars

For more than 30 years, The Northwest School has provided a welcoming and engaging summer program for youth from across Seattle, the U.S., and the world. Every year, our campers represent more than 15 countries.

With integration at all levels—from the classroom to the dorm room—we have a truly international camp; English becomes a passport to new friendships and understanding for both American and International students as they learn together in class, and play together outside of the camp day.

Our camp is open to youth ages 10-16, with the exception of our boarding program, which has a minimum age requirement of 12.

For more information, please visit our Summer Camp website. 

Alumni are a welcomed and valued resource for our faculty and students. 

We would like to invite you to consider speaking at The Northwest School, either in the class setting or as part of our community meeting. We would be honored to have you speak to our students about your professional journey or other meaningful, educational, and inspiring topics. Our students would highly benefit from the perspective of our alumni community.

On November 20, 2019, Rad Cunningham '97 visited our 11th grade to talk about public health effects of lead in drinking water. Rad works as a senior epidemiologist for WA State Department of Health. The students were learning about ionic compounds in water by sampling water sources around Seattle.

If you have an interest in adding your voice and expertise to our programs, please be in touch! Contact our alumni office at alumni@northwestschool.org.

Every year, our Board of Trustees starts the school year with a Board Retreat. This year, the aim was to continue to implement our school’s Strategic Framework and outline work plans for the year across Development, Governance, Communications, Finance, Facilities, and more. 

Alumni Board Members John Shue '90 and Lynda Lopez '01 join other parents of alumni and community members to make up our Board of Trustees.

This year the board started their work with productive brainstorming sessions with Mahlum Architects, the firm chosen to design our Campus Master Plan. Mahlum Architects has a stellar track record of practicing culturally responsive architecture and our board members are looking forward to diving into sustainability design work with them. At the brainstorming session, members considered questions such as, Can we harvest sufficient water on-site to meet the needs of an ecosystem and its inhabitants? Can we design a nourishing, highly productive, and healthy building for our students? Can the building rely solely on renewable energy? These ideas were collected by Mahlum team members and will be used to inform their creative process.

The Board also participated in an Ally Skills workshop, which helps people to recognize and mitigate bias, and practice intervening and empowering others through real-life scenarios.

Colorado College Alumni met with Head of School Mike McGill on September 28 to talk about their college experiences and share NWS memories. 

The attendees at the Colorado event: (standing, from left) Jack Domeika '18, Willa Serling '16, and Gabe McGill '15; (seated, from left) Max Sarkowsky '16, Ada Bowles '17, and Josie Ballew '18. 

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