CatlinSpeak

As an independent K-12 school that encourages individual, inspired learning and strong student-teacher relationships, Catlin Gabel strives towards seemingly progressive elements. The Upper School’s values reflect these ideals, as well as the importance of a strong college-preparatory education. Yet where do these two priorities conflict? Is the Upper School progressive, and, if so, does the community want it to be?

It is important to recognize the three stakeholders — parents, students, and faculty — that decide how Catlin Gabel works, each with varying levels and spheres of influence. While there are certainly members of each group that embrace the idea of a more progressive curriculum, others expect the school to provide a strictly preparatory curriculum.

Catlin Gabel is a member of the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools, a subset of the larger National Association of Independent Schools. In order to maintain membership, every school must undergo an accreditation process to confirm that the school practices what it preaches. Catlin Gabel underwent the screening last fall, and one of the main takeaways the accreditors had was that although Catlin Gabel portrays itself as progressive, it wasn’t clear how the school was furthering this part of its identity, according to math department head Jim Wysocki. Teachers have met on numerous occasions to discuss this issue, although at the moment, Wysocki believes the main concern is “defining exactly what it means to be a progressive school.”

Kiruna, a former Catlin Gabel student, runs class as project manager for client-based work with TriMet in the Urban Studies course. (Photo: Catlin Gabel)

What does it mean to be progressive? Alfie Kohn, an author and lecturer who is considered a leading figure in progressive education, offers a multi-faceted definition of what it means to be progressive. In an article titled “Progressive Education: Why It’s Hard to Beat, But Also Hard to Find,” Kohn defines progressive education as active, collaborative, and community-based learning that attends to the whole child. Progressive education helps students become “not only good learners but also good people,” says Kohn. He emphasizes the importance of the interest of the students: that they should feel intrinsic motivation to learn and that they should have an equally important role in shaping the curriculum and classroom as the educator. Based on this definition, the Upper School does seem to have progressive elements, and lack some others.

“We are definitely not on the extreme end of the continuum in terms of being ultra-progressive,” says Upper School dean Aline Garcia-Rubio. “I think there are many things that we do that are progressive…we’re student centered, so we define academic progress individually…as opposed to [one] student in relationship to other students in the class, we don’t do ranking.”

Wysocki adds that he thinks the Upper School is “less progressive than it likes to think it is.”

Instead, in some ways Catlin Gabel is more culturally progressive than educationally progressive. “Generally speaking there is an equalizing of students and teachers in terms of learning together, [we have] the first name basis, it is a friendly place; the relationships that exist within the community,” Garcia-Rubio clarifies.

“We do tend to have hands-on learning, project-based learning, but that’s a tendency, it’s not that the entire school and every class runs it that way,” adds Garcia-Rubio. She notes that there are different levels of how much the student controls the curriculum; for example in her advanced biology class, students have a lot of input, but in science one, it’s almost none.

But if the lower-level classes were just as student-led as the upper-level ones, would students get the preparation and base they need to move on to those advanced courses? Here is where the controversy lies, between being one of the strongest college-preparatory schools in the state, and remaining true to Ruth Catlin’s and Priscilla Gabel’s progressive ideals. Can Catlin Gabel leverage this balance to form bold learners?

The verbal equivalent system of grading is a category that seems to be trying to incorporate both aspects. Equivalents attempt to de-emphasize the importance of a grade, and get the student to strive for deeper learning and not just a good mark.“We want learning to be interesting for learning’s sake,” explains Garcia-Rubio. “I do think that the Lower School is much more progressive in that there’s really truly no grades.” She adds, “there’s more free-flow of the curriculum [in the Lower School] than there is in the Upper School. The tension in the Upper School is that in the end students are taking AP exams, students are applying to college, that there’s some accountability that parents request that can only be measured in ways that are not necessarily progressive.”

“We de-emphasize grades, but ultimately we do give grades,” says Garcia-Rubio. “Many students are grade-oriented and they like that feedback.” She recalls her past experiences at Catlin Gabel, commenting “when I was a student here, there were truly no grades.”

But is it effective? Some students will convert the equivalent immediately, and not think about why they earned the mark. Freshman Nic Bergen comments, “There [are] people who actually care for the learning, but I feel like there [are] more people going for the grade.”

Based on her experience, Garcia-Rubio says, “I think there’s some of it that is effective. I think that when we have conversations with students we can use [equivalents] to have more productive conversations. If a student comes to me, and wants to go over a lab report, I have the capacity to say ‘okay let’s look through this lab report really carefully, and let’s focus on the skills that we’re trying to build’…rather than saying ‘well you got an A because you got this point off, and this point off,’ it’s an entirely different conversation.”

Wysocki practices a non-traditional teaching style, one that he says he developed over the years by testing out new methods on his classes. In his own words, “I think that to be a progressive school you have to experiment. You have to be willing to try and fail.” He draws from the discussion-based English and history courses that Catlin Gabel offers to make his own math curriculum, one that engages his students and keeps it from becoming a daily lecture.

Does the progressive appeal remain if it is slightly encumbered by striving to have a strong preparatory education as well? Why and what do parents choose Catlin Gabel for? Garcia-Rubio thinks that “parents choose this school for both … I do think that they choose Catlin Gabel over some of those other schools because of the way we go about [preparing students for college]. And the way we go about it is progressive … I think we actually do both, we prepare students for college very well, but really truly we’re preparing to go way beyond just college.”

“We definitely have a small percentage of parents that choose Catlin Gabel as a college preparatory school, and we struggle with those families. And I think there’s a small population that choose Catlin Gabel merely for the way that we go about teaching without considering college at all. I think most people fall in the middle, where the overlap exists,” she adds.

With current head of school Lark Palma stepping down next year, it is important to factor in the ideas about progressive and preparatory education that each possible new head might have, and how they would affect Catlin Gabel’s balance of the two. Wysocki, a member of the head of school search committee, says “one of the things that everybody is looking for [in a new head] is somebody who would continue to uphold Catlin Gabel’s progressive history.”

However, it is debatable whether this opinion is reflected in the greater Catlin Gabel community. “I think that people have that tendency, they lean toward progressive, but I don’t think that anybody fully embraces it,” says Garcia-Rubio.

While Catlin Gabel has been seen as a progressive school in the past, in this new age of education, centered around colleges and tests, we have lost some of those ideals. Until we as a community are able to determine our vision of progressive education, we will remain a school that provides a preparatory education with a progressive twist.

 After a chance meeting in 1971, Ron Sobel took a job at Catlin Gabel as a middle and high school Spanish teacher. Now forty-two years, more than five positions, and hundreds of students later, he prepares to leave.

Almost every longtime Catlin Gabel community member knows Sobel and considers him a close friend. His love for the school and people in general is felt by all and has been reflected in each of the roles he has held while at Catlin Gabel.

Explaining the uses of ser and estar to a class. Sobel taught Spanish to seventh through twelfth graders. (Photo: Catlin Gabel Yearbooks)

Growing up in Los Angeles in the ’60s, Sobel learned Spanish from both his family and the Spanish-speaking customers at their men’s clothing store. He loved the language and “made a decision to teach Spanish when [he] was in eighth grade.” He took Spanish classes through middle and high school and minored in Spanish at San Jose State University, along with majors in political science and international relations and a minor in physical education. After graduating from college he worked at a business in Los Angeles.

His time at Catlin Gabel began in September of 1971 after what he described as “a chance meeting on the beach” with Clint Darling, then head of the foreign language department. The two met in Monterey, California, at an event designed to teach people how to take students on global trips. During a game of Ping-Pong Darling described the school he worked at to a bewildered Sobel. As Sobel explained, “I’m from the big, big public schools – three or four thousand kids”; he had no way of understanding the small, progressive school that Darling described, but was intrigued.

Ron Sobel (second from left) with members of his previous CnC (Photo: Catlin Gabel Yearbooks)

After asking Darling if they might be interested in hiring a Spanish teacher he was invited to Oregon for an interview. Months later in September of 1971 he began teaching at Catlin Gabel as a coach, assistant athletic director, and the school’s first seventh through twelfth grade Spanish teacher, although at that point he had absolutely no teaching experience.

He only stayed for three years before he left to return to school. He obtained an MA in Spanish literature at Middlebury College in Vermont and Madrid and also taught at other schools around the country.

Three years after leaving, in 1977, he received an unexpected call from then-head of school Manvel Schauffler asking him to return to the Middle School as a full time Spanish teacher. Soon after, Sobel returned to Catlin Gabel, but this time he was back to stay. After returning he spent one year teaching before he was asked to fill in for a year as the head of the Middle School. That one year quickly evolved into an eight-year tenure, but throughout that time he continued to teach and coach.

During his time as Middle School head many changes were made in the Middle School, some of which can still be seen today. “We made the decision to bring back the [eighth grade] musical,” Sobel happily recalls. His enjoyment in this is still shared by the Catlin Gabel community when the eighth grade performs a musical once a year. He also played a crucial role in hiring Roberto Villa in 1984, who has continued teaching at Catlin Gabel and now considers himself one of Sobel’s closest friends.

In 1985 he was asked to move positions once again and within a week was hired as the school’s head of admissions. Sobel described it as “a difficult yet rewarding job,” and though he made it clear that he has loved all his positions at Catlin Gabel, it was his favorite: “The work I enjoyed the most and the work I found the most fulfilling was in the admissions office.” He compared the job of an admissions officer to that of a farmer who helps his crops to grow and finds great satisfaction in the crops that make it to the harvest.

As well as a teacher, Sobel (facing away in center) also acted as the assistant athletic director and a coach for track, soccer, and volleyball. (Photo: Catlin Gabel Yearbooks)

Throughout his time at Catlin Gabel, Sobel’s cheerful demeanor and amiable qualities made him a likeable person, especially as a host for newcomers to the school. “I was always very enthusiastic about talking to people about the school,” he admits. Karen Katz, Catlin Gabel’s communications director and a friend of Sobel’s, summed up how he worked as an admissions officer: “I know of several people who would say they enrolled at Catlin Gabel because of Ron Sobel.”

 Twenty-three years after returning to Catlin Gabel and 15 years into his time as the head of admissions, Sobel decided to make the switch back to teacher and did so in 2000. Since then he has taught Spanish in the Upper School, a fitting completion to the circle of jobs he has held at the school.

Though he greatly valued his positions at Catlin Gabel as an important part of his life, the role the school played in his personal life was of even more weight. Sobel met his wife, Jeanie, through Catlin Gabel: “she was a single mom, with a daughter in the Beehive, and someone on campus fixed us up on a blind date.” Her daughter, Emily, became his daughter as well, and she continued her education at Catlin, graduating in 1993. He also celebrated Passover with Catlin Gabel faculty and past students.

Now though, it is time to start down a new path. “[Retirement] will represent a huge change when you’ve been coming to the same place with many of the same people for over half your life,” says Sobel.  He plans to travel and “become involved in the mental health community.” He also hopes to stay in shape and sleep in for at least the next year. Still, he expects to be seen around campus, “if [the administration] get desperate and need a sub!”

Sobel’s close friend and office mate of more than ten years, Roberto Villa, echoed a thought shared throughout the community, “this [modern language] office won’t be the same without him — he’s a great guy to work with…and I’ll miss him.”

Although Catlin Gabel is an independent community-based school with significant student input into the disciplinary system, some rules remain questioned by the students. Aline Garcia-Rubio, assistant head of the Upper School, recently gave insight to some of Catlin Gabel’s rules and privileges, including the school’s dress code, upperclassmen’s right to off-campus lunch, and the requirement of remaining on campus for the duration of the school day.

In Catlin Gabel’s code of conduct, the expectations for dress are wrapped up into one sentence: “The school’s standard is simply that clothing be neat, clean, and appropriate to the program of the day.” This statement clearly gives leeway to the students, and leaves them the responsibility of deciding what exactly is appropriate to wear.

When asked about a possible stricter dress code, Garcia-Rubio made it clear that the school has absolutely no intention of implementing one. Garcia-Rubio stressed the importance of a student’s right to self-expression, through the way he or she dresses or his or her hairstyle. Garcia-Rubio adds that the faculty doesn’t want a formal dress code, so that students don’t feel that the faculty is policing them. She emphasizes that the dress code we have now isn’t a set of rules but more of a set of guidelines intended to encourage a sense of respect between students and teachers.

A more regulated rule, upperclassmen off-campus lunch, has been a student privilege since at least 1992, when Garcia-Rubio attended the Upper School, she says. Since the school is liable for students’ safety, underclassmen are excluded from the privilege. Teachers want to make sure that students who choose to go off campus are responsible behind the wheel and that students know they are taking responsibility for themselves. Sophomore Violeta Alvarez agrees with the rule: “Yes, [it is fair that only upperclassman get to go off campus] because most of them have their license, and their car, and they are more responsible.” Garcia-Rubio says that we need to have boundaries set in place, especially for the underclassmen. Although the rule may seem unfair, all students get the opportunity to experience the privilege when they become upperclassmen.

Heading off Campus for Lunch (Photo: Dana Ellis)

 The requirement of arriving on campus at 8:00 a.m. and staying the duration of the school day is often met with complaints from students. Catlin Gabel’s policy is that students are required to be on school grounds from 8:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. unless they have signed out for a specific reason, due to the school’s liability for students’ safety. Since this is hard to regulate, Garcia-Rubio says “It is an honor system. We want to live in a community of trust, not policing.” Some students with long commutes find the rule hard to accommodate. Alvarez comments, “I ride the bus for like an hour and a half to get here, so it would be nice if I could sleep in or get home earlier, because that way I have more time for homework.” When students encounter problems with rules like this, Garcia-Rubio says that the school encourages students to start dialogue with faculty and administration to discuss the rule.

Although some rules may seem constricting, Catlin Gabel is a school that gives most responsibility to the students by trusting them to make the right decisions.

As the members of the class of 2013 head off toward a future away from Catlin Gabel, it is important to note that the final matriculation decisions for seniors are often more diverse than the common perception. Usually, students’ decisions are not based primarily on a school’s reputation, but on how they, as a student, would fit into a college. Here are three such examples:

(Graphic: Cody Hoyt)

Where will you be attending college?

Emma: “Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.”

Anne: “Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.”

Jeremy: “Chapman University in Orange, California.”

What elements of the school did you find the most attractive?

Emma: “Foreign language, study abroad, Vermont, sustainability, medium-small size, nearby skiing, beautiful campus, [and] seemingly interesting people.”

Anne: “The perfect balance between academics and social life, the people are genuinely proud to go to SMU and have a lot of school spirit and pride, and it’s bigger than [the small student population of schools like Catlin Gabel].”

Jeremy: “What drew me most to this school was the quality of its theater department in addition to its small class sizes and close relationships between students and professors.”

What was the ultimate factor in your decision?

Emma: “Nowhere else had everything I wanted.”

Anne: “Some people say that you just kind of know. That was definitely my experience. I felt excited about everything there [and] that I could be a part of such a great community, even before I applied. The program was attractive to me in every way. I can’t imagine going anywhere else. Also, 70 degree weather most of the year is not bad at all.”

Jeremy: “After I heard back from all my schools I had applied to, I decided to select Chapman since they placed me in their top theater program and offered me the most money through merit and talent scholarships.”

What do you hope to study?

Anne: “The plan right now is to double major in accounting and management science (engineering).”

Jeremy: “[I will enter as] a member of their Bachelor of Fine Arts theater program.”

Why did you decide to take a gap year?

Emma: “I am eager to learn more Spanish and to experience the mix of wild mountains, barren deserts, and everything in between that Chile has to offer. Also, I’m sick of school at this point and really want time away from homework to pay attention to the things I’m interested in and have the freedom to learn about the world.”

What advice do you have for future college applicants?

Emma: “Apply early to one of your top choices (if you have narrowed it down to three-ish you will love each one), don’t apply to more than six schools unless you enjoy filling out apps, don’t check your decisions at school, and take standardized tests and prep courses as little as possible.”

Anne: “Get it done early! I had my final list, personal essay, and some supplements ready to press send [much earlier than my senior year]. Make sure you have a well balanced list…Make sure you are happy with every school on your list but don’t apply to only ‘reach schools’. Also, be open-minded…Don’t let one part of the country, or one climate, or a silly name make your college decision for you. Not that those things aren’t important, but not everyone is going to be happy at a school with a ‘big name.’”

Jeremy: “I recommend only applying to schools you know you would be happy at. If you can’t see yourself there, it is probably not the school for you. Don’t worry, wherever you end up will be the perfect fit.”

Remember that one section of the SAT? No, not one that required filling in answer bubbles – that agreement on the back of your answer sheet that you had to painstakingly rewrite … in cursive?

An instructional page from the famous (in the world of handwriting) Lloyd J. Reynolds’ exercise book, Italic: Lettering, Calligraphy & Handwriting. This form of cursive is taught at Catlin and numerous other schools. (Photo: Marina Dimitrov)

 In elementary school, most of us were told that cursive handwriting would form a vital part of our high school and adult lives. So we continued to practice forming those loops with our pencils. But these days, we rarely use cursive – rewriting that agreement on the SAT being one of the few instances – so should children continue to learn it?

Personally, I type far more than I write. So I ultimately find my lessons in keyboarding in middle school more useful than my cursive handwriting education. In fact, it was only upon taking the SAT and rewriting that agreement for the first time that it struck me how little I used cursive nowadays. But surely there was some point to learning it?

I began my quest for the rational behind this large portion of my elementary education by searching “why learn cursive” in Google. I found a number of arguments involving brain development, speed and efficiency, and even security risks.

A study at Indiana University claims, “Neuroimaging research … has revealed that brain activation in preschool children changes depending on how they learn,” and that writing letters out by hand helps children recognize them better. An article by William Klemm, D.V.M., Ph.D. explains many cognitive benefits to using cursive. For example, “Brain imaging studies show that cursive activates areas of the brain that do not participate in keyboarding.”

A New York Times article brings forth another interesting issue: “Might people who write only by printing — in block letters, or perhaps with a sloppy, squiggly signature — be more at risk for forgery?”

With that information under my belt, I contacted Catlin Gabel Middle and Lower School faculty about their thoughts on the merits of teaching cursive, and handwriting in general.

Mariam Higgins of the Lower School says that cursive is alive and well in the classrooms: “I teach fourth graders cursive italic; they spend between 30 and 45 minutes a week practicing the formation of the letters, then apply it on all handwritten classroom and homework.”

(Graphic: Marina Dimitrov)

Third grade teacher Marcelle Donehower says that “handwriting is important because it helps reinforce expectations about quality of work and it teaches students about aesthetics.” She has found that her students value the experience: “My students really enjoy the time during the day that is designated to handwriting practice. It is meditative and very gratifying for them to see their growth and improvement from practicing something every day.”

I met with Lower School head Vicki Roscoe, to discuss her many ideas about handwriting. In fact, she has herself written an article about the merits of teaching handwriting, entitled “In a Day and Age When We Are All Using Computers – Is Handwriting Still Relevant?”

In her article, Roscoe writes, “There is something so utterly delicious, so empowering, and so dynamic when oral language and written language converge!”

She continues later: “An increasing number of high schools now require laptops and this makes sense to me. But is this what we want for our youngsters? Just because it may be what we are doing with the older students does not make it right for our elementary age learners.”

What are the benefits of the physical act of handwriting? “Kids need to FEEL the letter ‘T’, which is distinctly different from a ‘S’ or a ‘D’,” Roscoe explains in her article. “No matter what letter or symbol you press on the computer keyboard, the ‘feel’ is exactly the same.”

For Roscoe, “sometimes the sheer act of physically writing helps me to clarify my thinking and work through my ideas in a way that is more satisfying than whipping it off on a keyboard.”

As I talk with her, Roscoe tells me about her opinion of digital versus physical written communication: “Email messages – let’s face it – they’re communication, but they’re not aesthetic, and sometimes in a rush they’re not very well written. Tone can also be an issue.” One can convey a lot more beauty and emotion through a handwritten letter.

Apparently this need for speed in communication could be a manifestation of a much larger societal issue. “Faster is not always better,” says Roscoe. “[The decline of] handwriting is only one small example of a much larger picture of a culture obsessed with efficiency and quantity. Indeed, a society that is in such a hurry may forget to savor.”

Roscoe ends her article with: “You cannot tell me that handwriting will ever go away.”

Lower School art teacher Peggy Schauffler was a calligraphy teacher at Oregon Episcopal School for a year before coming to Catlin 19 years ago. Schauffler learned handwriting from Inga Dubay, who, together with Barbara Getty, wrote and distributed many of the italic books that are now used at Catlin and a number of Oregon public schools.

“In my own life, I find that I keyboard a lot for information,” explains Schaffler, “but you can’t beat handwriting for personal things. When I’m, say, making signs in a meeting because we need to put up posters, people always call on me because I have nice handwriting. And I take pride in it, and I’m flattered!”

Schauffler also simply admits, “I enjoy writing! Something different happens in my brain when I’m writing in [a] journal than when I’m typing.”

But she also believes “there’s a place for both. You can use a computer all the time, but there’s nothing like sitting down and writing [an] actual letter, or writing in a journal to reflect on life.”

Schauffler concludes, “I think my main idea is that if we were to just go to that [keyboarding], it would just leave too many people out. The poor, some of those in other countries, the elderly…”

This information successfully bolstered my hopes that I did spend my elementary school time learning cursive for good reasons. And even though I don’t use it that much these days, I honestly sometimes wish I had more time to explore the art of beautiful handwriting.

Schauffler agrees with the pleasure aspect of calligraphy and cursive:  “When I bring out the nibs and ink, the kids just gravitate towards it! They love the experience, and have lots of fun.”

So, the next time you write a letter, break out a pen and go for those flowing lines – maybe some loops if you’re really daring – write something graceful and exquisite.

It was 1990 when Lower School Spanish teacher Enrique Escalona entered his first year of college in his chosen field of journalism.

He was part of the first set of students ever to study journalism at the state-run Universidad de Sevilla, which was considered one of the top universities in Spain. Just a few years earlier, such schools hadn’t existed, and journalism as a profession was just emerging in the post-Franco era.

“I was very curious and very interested in something brand new,” says Escalona, who grew up in Sevilla. “So I studied journalism in 1990, and from the beginning it was very pragmatic. It was oriented toward the profession of communicating news and reporting news.”

At the time, Spain’s media world was exploding; the concepts of television and radio news had been buried under the dictatorship, so audio-visual media formats were just coming to the fore.

This boom, combined with the prestige and novelty of the journalism school, opened up early professional opportunities for Escalona and other rising journalists. By his sophomore year, he had internships with radio stations and a newspaper, and by the end of the year he had an offer to intern at a public television station, Canal Sur TV.

At first, he studied as an assistant to one of the station’s producers––“basically making phone calls”––but by the next year he began doing “real work.”

After covering local political events and issues for a while, Escalona was dispatched to work as a foreign correspondent covering an international conflict (CatlinSpeak has agreed not to disclose further information about the conflict itself) in what he calls “probably the coolest and most bitter experience.”

It was during this assignment that Escalona faced his first major challenges in journalism. Escalona and the journalists who were also covering the conflict had to stay in a hotel, where the United Nations funneled them information on events happening several countries away.

(Photo: Siobhan Furnary)

“We were basically the middle man between the United Nations and the TV stations,” says Escalona. “So basically I didn’t think I was reporting the truth. Not what I could see with my own eyes.”

In six months of covering the conflict, Escalona did not talk to people on the ground once––he wasn’t permitted. Instead, he and the other journalists were merely allowed the occasional bus ride through the countries in crisis. At that point, his doubts about journalism began to surface.

Upon returning to Spain, things did not improve much for Escalona. He began covering local political news again, eventually hitting a big story about a politician that was set to air on prime time news. But just an hour before the show, the station shut the story down after receiving a phone call.

That marked the beginning of the end of Escalona’s journalism career; after that day, he worked in weather information for close to a year, by which time his fifth and final year of journalism school was over.

“By the end of my fifth year I found myself in a place where I didn’t believe in what I was doing anymore,” remarks Escalona. “I didn’t believe in the function of journalism anymore—I was very [idealistic].”

The issue of the story-ending phone call was not an isolated incident. “Everything was pretty much given to interpretation; it was a product that you could pretty much manipulate following the political directives of the place you were working at.”

So Escalona switched career paths entirely, and left Spain to pursue a masters in education at Stony Brook University in New York. At first, he intended to teach journalism, and to share his own experiences with corrupted media with his students. But when an offer to teach Spanish arose, he took it, and loved it so much that he decided to focus on linguistics and become a Spanish teacher.

Ultimately, journalism lost its appeal and its magic for Escalona. As a child growing up under the waning years of the Franco regime, he saw journalism as “some sort of a guard for democracy.” After Canal Sur TV, he felt that guard’s power hadn’t lived up to its potential.

But for Escalona, his current profession pursues much the same goal: “teaching is another pillar, another cornerstone of democracy, of freedom, and of well-being,” he says. “And besides, it’s way more fun.”

Despite the “bitterness” Escalona once felt for news reporting in Spain, he feels the media has turned a corner, and has begun to rightly expose politicians and bankers instead of following orders from higher powers.

While he acknowledges the “barriers and obstacles” that still remain in achieving objective and honest reporting, Escalona feels that “it’s gloriously necessary for [journalism] to keep existing, and not to be afraid of communicating anything that needs to be said, that needs to be taken to the public.”

“It’s an extremely important part of who we are as a democratic society. It’s probably the sharpest weapon to keep democracy at its best.”

On April 18th, Catlin Gabel was the host of the first ever TEDxPortland preview event.

TEDxPortland, an independently organized group of speakers discussing topics and telling stories, has been around since 2011. The night was run by a collaboration of the Knight Family Scholar Program and the advisors of TEDxPortland.

The event, hosted by Catlin sophomore Jubilee Lopez and Catlin parent Renny Gleeson, focused on aspects of youth culture and how people can do something good, no matter how small. These topics were a lead in to the major theme of “What If?” which will be present in the main TED event.

Meredith Chase giving her lecture at Catlin Gabel (Source: Marley Lopez)

The evening’s speakers included Devin Kelly, Julien Leitner, Lou Radja, and Meredith Chase. Devin Kelly is the founder of Oregon Active, a non-profit organization that provides adventure therapy for people with life threatening conditions.

Julien Leitner, a freshman at Catlin Gabel spoke on behalf of Archimedes Alliance, a charitable organization he founded in which people give a minimum of two dollars to try and change the world.

Lou Radja is the co-founder and executive director of EDUcongo, which enriches the lives of underprivileged children in the Democratic Republic of Congo through education.

Meredith Chase is the principal at Guidance Counsel, a strategic brand communications firm in Portland. She formerly worked for Wieden + Kennedy and for Nike, where she was responsible for advertising for the 2008 Olympics. She is also a 1988 Catlin Alum.

The night also included a performance by the Grant High School choir group, the Royal Blues.

The main TEDxPortland event will be at the Portland Art Museum on April 27th. Unfortunately, tickets are sold out but a live stream of the event will be on the TEDxPortland website.

The annual Director’s Festival of One-Acts unveiled Friday, April 12, in the Cabell Center Theater. The festival featured nine short plays, each with a different student director, including everything from a trial over Santa Claus’s murder, an overly unhelpful DMV employee, and a construction worker claiming to be Charles Lindberg’s long-lost child.

“I’m very happy with how [my actors] did,” senior Nick Elliott, who directed Luigi Perandello’s The Vice, said. “We can have a lot of rehearsals, and we can say that we want to do a lot of things, but ultimately it really shows when they go, and they do the preparation, and they learn their lines, and they commit to all the acting and blocking choices.”

The festival was unique in the dual roles of many of the participants. Seven actors appeared in multiple shows, while five of the festival’s eight student directors also acted in each other’s productions.

“You really get to see both sides of the chaos, in front of the stage, on the stage, backstage.” Elliott, who acted in two other productions himself, said. “You also really get to see what goes on when it comes to making shows happen and actually what goes into the work both as an actor and as a director.”

 The festival also featured a performance of Tom Stafford’s The Fifteen Minute Hamletfrom the Catlin Gabel acting class. The play, directed by class instructor Elizabeth Gibbs, retells the Shakespeare classic in an abbreviated short, before retelling the entire story once again in a 90-second encore. Several of the actors from the class also doubled in the student produced shows.

Actors performing in one of nine plays in the festival. (Photo: Cody Hoyt)

On Friday, April 12, the second annual Tuition on the Track fundraiser successfully brought together the Catlin Gabel community to raise money for financial aid.

While the final fundraising numbers won’t be known until next week, the event itself could not have run more flawlessly.

“I thought the event went really well,” co-event chairman and Catlin Gabel senior Mira Hayward said afterwards. “It seemed like people were having a good time, and people were really racking up the laps. It’s so exciting to see the entire school out to support a cause like this, and I had a lot of fun.”

This was the second year for the now-annual Tuition on the Track fundraiser. The event originated in 2012 as the result of an Agents of Change project of then-senior Kate Rubenstein. The inaugural event raised double the original fundraising goal of $25,000 towards the school’s financial aid fund.

The Tuition on the Track leaders after a good day’s work. (Photo: www.catlin.edu)

 Following the success of the inaugural fundraiser, the Catlin Gabel decided to make Tuition on the Track a permanent fixture on their calendar. Rising seniors Max Meyerhoff and Hayward were selected to serve as co-chairs for the 2013 event, and they set an initial goal of $50,000 for the event’s proceeds.

 “Overall, the event ran incredibly smoothly, with barely any miscues,” Meyerhoff commented. Both co-chairs also gave deep praise for the event’s sponsors.

 As with the inaugural event, the fundraiser benefited from corporate sponsors as well as pledges and donations. Washington Trust Bank provided several volunteers, while Hotlips Pizza donated the day’s food. Twist Frozen Yogurt and Portland Knee Clinic also sponsored the event.

 The only hiccup for the organizers came at the very beginning. “[A group] of middle schoolers showed up for the pizza, but we weren’t set up yet,” Hayward explained, “Thanks to a great group of seniors we really rallied and [they] didn’t have to stand around for long.”

 “While the setup was a bit tumultuous,” Meyerhoff said, “it was also exhilarating knowing that all of our hard work and dedication to the process was about to pay off.”

 Over 500 students were at Murphy Athletic Complex at one point during the afternoon. Middle School students walked laps from one to two o’clock, while most Lower School students were at the track from two to three. The exception was the first grade students, who made a guest appearance at the start of the event to run the opening lap with their senior buddies.

 “At Catlin, we very rarely hold events that result in such cross-divisional interaction and community unification,” Meyerhoff remarked, “so to me, that was a really special moment.”

The senior contributed by facilitating the event. A committee of twelve seniors headed up small staffs of volunteers performing tasks from check-in, to food handling, to face painting. The senior class, in conjunction with Catlin Gabel facilities, was also responsible for most of the event set up and teardown.

Seniors and their first grade buddies ran the opening lap of the event. (Photo: www.catlin.edu)

“Seeing the event come to fruition and watching everyone enjoy themselves was by far the best moment,” Meyerhoff reflected, though he also mentioned his pride in finally being able to drive a Catlin Gabel Gator.

For Hayward, the event triggered a far more emotional reaction. “I went up to the top of the hill behind the bleachers at one point while the middle and high [school students] were walking and looking down at the mass of people, and knowing that they were all there to support financial aid — I really can’t say how much that means to me.”

 “It’s just so beautiful, and so powerful, to end our time at Catlin by seeing the entire student body supporting the school.”

 Regardless of the final financial outcome, the sense of dedication to the school from Catlin Gabel students was once again seen on the track. Faculty members were running alongside sophomores and second graders, all for the common goal of giving back to their community.

 “I believe that next year’s event can achieve new aspirations, reach new heights, and continue building on a wonderful tradition,” Meyerhoff said. “[It] has the potential to achieve great things in the years to come.”

 Last Saturday, April 13, Catlin Gabel’s Middle School and Upper School Science Olympiad teams competed at the Oregon state tournament.

Sixteen high school teams and thirteen middle school teams went to Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Ore., for the tournament.

For those unfamiliar with Science Olympiad, the basic premise is that students compete in a series of live science challenges, for which they have prepared beforehand. Some events require lab work, some entail building things, some have written tests – on the whole, the competition is designed to measure science, engineering, and math skills in middle school and high school students.

At the Oregon state tournament, the Upper School placed fourth, with the following students receiving silver medals in their events: Anna Dodson ’16 and Lewis Fitzgerald Holland ’14 in forestry, Trevor Luu ’13 and Conor Oliver ’13 in anatomy and physiology, Anna Dodson ’16 and Eric Wang ’15 in circuit lab, Lewis Fitzgerald Holland ’14 and Iman Wahle ’16 in remote sensing, and Lianne Siegel ’13 and Trevor Luu ’13 in dynamic planet.

Katie Zechnich ’15 and Iman Wahle ’16 also earned a bronze medal in Fermi questions, and Erin Wynne ’16 and Katie Zechnich ’15 received an honorable mention in water quality.

“When I was waiting for my next event I would find entertainment sitting in the classroom watching people return from their own events,” explains Naomi Iverson ’13. “People walked through the door with either an expression of exuberance along with the statement ‘Ha! that was so easy’ or an expression of complete despair while saying ‘Wow … I think I totally bombed that.’ No one walked in feeling so-so. I still don’t know if that is a good or a bad sign … Either way, it was quite an exciting day!”

The Middle School fields two Science Olympiad teams each year. The more experienced Blue team of primarily eighth graders placed second overall, with five gold medals, five silver, and two bronze. The White team of younger students placed ninth, with one gold medal, one silver, and two bronze.

Eighth grader Sahil Nerurkar ’17 received a gold medal in shock value with Drake Warren ’17. “You always want to have your event, the event where you’re the main guy,” says Nerurkar. “And everybody does have one of those. And it feels good to win on your event.”

Catlin’s Middle School Blue team placed second, which normally would not qualify them for advancing beyond state. However, the first place team from Franklin Middle School elected not to go to the national competition. This means that the Catlin team’s next stop is Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, for the national Science Olympiad tournament, May 17-19.

While the Upper School team and the other Middle School team will not be advancing to the national competition, they still left the state tournament looking forward to next year.