Meridian - The Magazine of Mirman School, 2013-2014

the magazine of mirman school 2013–2014

2 mirman.org meridian 1

mission Statement:mirman School is passionately committed to the education of highly gifted children.

We are dedicated to:academic excellence; the social, emotional, and physical development of the student; depth, complexity, and differentiation tailored to each student’s needs and abilities; and developing creatively productive and ethical world citizens.


ContentS

meridian4 a message from the Head of School

5 a message from the Board Chair

6 Strategic Plan 2015–2018

9 old School, new School

10 mirman Students Build a Helping Hand

12 Two Bit Circus

14 Faculty Updates

16 Faculty achievements and reflections

18 2013–2014 Highlights

42 alumni notes and Highlights

46 alumni Events and involvement

48 The impact of giving

annual report21 2013–2014 annual report

23 Why We give

25 Finance and advancement reports

27 annual giving Statistics

28 annual giving

36 Endowed and restricted giving

38 annual giving Volunteers

39 Leadership

40 matriculation List

Credits

Mirman School’s Advancement Office is pleased to present the meridian and annual report for 2013–2014.

Dan Vorenberg Head of School

Joy Kliewer Director of Advancement

noah Kaufman Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations

geoffrey gardner Director of Communications

alec Colantonio-ray Data and Advancement Coordinator

Feature artiCleSLeslie mirman geffen alan mirman marc Zachary ’78–’83 Eric gradman ’87–’93 Frank Weeks

deSign and layout Coopersmith Design

editorial Ellen Brown Dora Dalton

Printing ColornetPress

On the cover: artwork by alyssa Kam, US3

On the back cover: artwork by ramona otto


a message from the Head of School a message from the Board Chair

as you open the pages of this year’s Meridian, it will not take long to glean the themes of innovation and change. The visuals and written narratives that follow are literary testaments to the powerful intellectual and social restlessness that led to our visionary founding 52 years ago. our ongoing initiatives, as outlined in the enclosed strategic plan, are boldly designed to deepen our institutional identity and propel mirman on a continued path of innovation and excellence. our commitment to match mirman’s students’ unlimited potential with a purposeful and creative curriculum can be viewed not only in and among these pages but, more importantly, witnessed directly by a simple walk through our campus. Few of the mechanisms that enable mirman students to explore, discover, and master our varied and challenging curriculum would be institutionalized if not for the collective and generous support of our families and friends who recognize that philanthropic support of mirman is an investment in our collective future. i thank you all for taking the time to optically tour this sampling of who we are and i offer my heartfelt appreciation to all of you who recognize the specialness of our legacy and the possibilities that lay ahead.

respectfully,

This has been an exciting and transformative year for mirman and, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, i would like to thank you for your engagement and for your support for all that we are seeking to accomplish. at the heart of our efforts is the commitment to ensuring that our students are well prepared to not only enter but, more importantly, enrich our world in their own unique way. our roadmap for the next few years, as outlined in the Strategic Plan, is an ambitious one. With our visionary Head of School, dedicated Board of Trustees, forward-thinking administrative leadership, talented faculty and staff, committed parents, and hardworking volunteers, mirman is well poised to nurture the passions and dreams of its young people. The mirman Trustees feel privileged and humbled to be a part of this pivotal chapter in mirman's history.

Warmly,

Dan VorEnBErg

SUSan BErman, PH.D.


DEEPEn CommUniTy ConnECTionS.articulate clear objectives and define, where appropriate, new approaches to ensure an inclusive, diverse, vibrant, and connected community of learners, families, alumni, faculty, and staff.

imPLEmEnTaTionCreate a standing Diversity Committee within the Board to recommend both policies and protocols that deepen our community outreach and focus our internal efforts on inclusion and connectivity.

identify and implement new avenues of communication and interaction that foster connectivity between both on-campus and off-campus constituents.

Explore and define means of inclusion and multiple perspectives with the goal of embracing all voices in mirman’s culture.

DEFinE mirman’S inSTiTUTionaL iDEnTiTy.Strive to ensure that our mission, incorporating the values and educational philosophy of our founders, reflects our educational goals and vision, and at the same time, increases awareness of our institutional identity and impact, both locally and nationally.

imPLEmEnTaTionreview and, where appropriate, refine and strengthen mirman’s mission statement, goals, and objectives to reflect the institutional values and vision for the school.

Develop strategic messaging methodologies, including a comprehensive branding process, that ensure that we fully and broadly communicate mirman’s mission and institutional values to both internal and external constituents.

CrEaTE a ConTEmPorary LEarning SPaCE.actively implement and finance the first phases of a fully approved Campus master Plan that ensures the creation of the most contemporary learning spaces serving the intellectual, kinesthetic, and artistic development of our school’s unique and diverse learners.

imPLEmEnTaTionFinalize the construction of the athletic field and begin the process of exploring facility expansion in the areas of STEm and the performing and visual arts.

Undertake the renovation of mirman’s current facilities in line with the Campus master Plan to accommodate the academic, after school, and summer programs.

assess institutional needs to accommodate current and projected enrollment, and to evaluate the feasibility of a mirman High School.

ExPanD innoVaTiVE CUrriCULUm.Develop and deliver an inspirational, innovative, and integrated curriculum for highly gifted students that is personalized in a manner that ensures the realization of each student’s full potential.

imPLEmEnTaTionDesign and implement a comprehensive STEm curriculum that both inspires and challenges all mirman students, across age levels, and recognizes the necessity of creative thinking and aesthetic value.

articulate and integrate a meaningful and sophisticated curriculum that fully supports the overall social and emotional development of our unique and diverse students.

Ensure that a clearly articulated and transparent curriculum is aligned both horizontally and vertically and is available for review by all institutional stakeholders.

rECrUiT anD SUPPorT FaCULTy anD STaFF.Promote, retain, and attract the highest-qualified faculty and staff who are empowered to advance and promote mirman’s unique educational mission.

imPLEmEnTaTionThrough the utilization of professional publications and contacts, both regionally and nationally, actively raise awareness and promote the professional opportunities available at mirman.

improve overall professional compensation and benefits to ensure mirman’s ability to retain and attract the highest-quality teachers and leaders in their respective fields.

Create and support a comprehensive program of professional development that encourages contemporary and sophisticated curriculum design and fosters collaboration between and among mirman’s faculty and staff.

DEVELoP a STrong FiSCaL STraTEgy anD EnDoWmEnT PLan.Develop a comprehensive financial plan that implements the strategic plan, funds new initiatives, and expands the endowment.

imPLEmEnTaTionanalyze tuition with respect to providing value while ensuring economic diversity.

assess our institutional capacity for philanthropy to fund future programs and capital projects.

Explore alternate financing vehicles such as long-term debt financing to fund capital projects.

Strategic area #1mirman’s mission

Strategic area #4Program and Curriculum

Strategic area #2Community

Strategic area #5Campus and Facilities

Strategic area #3Faculty and Staff

Strategic area #6Finances and Planning

Forging our Future, living our legacy mirman SCHooL STraTEgiC PLan 2015–2018

In May 2014, Mirman School stakeholders gathered to identify and codify the thoughts, vision, and commentary of the Mirman community in an effort to develop a blueprint that would define the next three years of strategic institutional development for the school. We believe that the full community deserves an opportunity to contribute to our ambitious agenda, so we are distributing our Board-approved plan in hopes that you will find opportunities to engage with us as we work collectively to move Mirman School forward.


i was 8 years old. Lower School started with room 6 and ended with room 4 (don’t ask). i was the “new kid,” but everyone was nice to me, and for the first time, i was challenged by my schoolwork. Looking at the areas i pursued throughout my academic and professional career—math, public speaking, theatre, computer science, and more—it is clear that the foundation for all of these passions was built at mirman. When our son Joel was born in 2003, it didn’t occur to me that he might attend mirman. We had moved to an area with good public schools, but when the preschool teachers were having Joel read to the other kids, we realized that we needed to consider other options. We described our son to admissions officers at other schools, and they all said the same thing: “Talk to mirman.” i still have flashbacks whenever i’m on campus. When i walk into the administration building, i half expect to find mrs. martinez sitting behind the reception desk and to hear Dr. Sheila Vaughn testing kids in her office to the left of the entrance. i’m still occasionally surprised to see the Upper School building (built long after i graduated) and wonder why everything seems so much smaller now. as extraordinary an experience as my mirman education was so many years ago, i marvel at how far the school has come. When i was a student, we had one apple computer—for the entire school. now every student has their own macBook that they can use at school and home. in 1981, i was writing simple low-res computer games, and in 2014, my son and his friends are creating worlds in minecraft and learning how to design and code apps. in the early 1980s, the school musicals had mrs. roz goldberg accompanying alone on piano. now we have first-class productions directed by mr. Jeff maynard, and the incomparable Winter Concerts directed by mr. Paul Kay. When i was at mirman, student presentations were done via the chalkboard, with maybe a photo or two to pass around. now all the kids create dazzling PowerPoint and Keynote presentations and display them on the interactive Promethean boards in every classroom. in the early years of mirman, there were no sports teams. The biggest athletic event was the students vs. faculty softball game before graduation. now we have a variety of teams in a growing athletics Department, and many of the kids play intramural sports throughout the year.

old School, new School

Mirman School has been an important part of my life for over 35 years. When my family moved to Los Angeles in 1978, a family friend suggested we look at Mirman. I still remember my interview with Dr. and Mrs. Mirman. I certainly didn’t know then how that brief meeting would change my life forever.

20092008 2010

2013 20142012

Marc and his son Joel, US2, on the first day of school.

By marC ZaCHary ’78–’83

While we did have electives back in the day, i am amazed by the plethora of choices the students have today—from computer coding to film analysis to forensic science. my son also looks forward every week to LEaP (Learning Enhancement and achievement Program), where he can learn to play the ukelele, earn community service credits, or spend individualized time with his teachers to work on a project or prepare for a test. one thing has not changed over the past 35 years: the sense of community. Some of my parents’ closest friends are those they met while i was a student at mirman, and i have no doubt that some of ours will be those we see every week at school. my son, in turn, is building enduring friendships with kids who engage and inspire him. Joel, now in Upper School 2, is thriving at mirman. it gets better every year, and i can’t imagine him having gone to school anywhere else. He loved the brand-new Camp mirman over the summer more than any other camp he has attended. i have no idea what further academic and career choices my son is going to make. What i do know is that whatever he chooses to do, mirman is preparing him in every way—mind, body, and spirit—to succeed. my business school graduating class at Stanford had 360 students, and three of them came from mirman. Classmates were amazed when they found this out: certainly no other primary school had three kids in our class. “What kind of school is this?”, they asked. The answer was simple: “a very special one.”


W hen entrepreneur richard van as visited mirman School in January, what he set in motion would reach through mirman classrooms, all the

way to South america. mr. Van as lost the fingers on his right hand in a carpentry accident in 2011. after learning about the high cost of professionally made prosthetics, he set out to design and build his own. This objective led him to long-distance collaborations with other prosthetic innovators and, after several prototypes and trial versions, the robohand was born—a functional prosthetic made with a low-cost 3-D printer. mr. Van as now creates the advanced but inexpensive prosthetic limbs for people around the world. Hailing from South africa, mr. Van as was well aware of the plight of people who have lost limbs in nearby african nations, such as war-torn South Sudan, where poverty runs deep and quality health care is often hard to come by. now, he reaches out to these communities to provide adults and children with robohands—and robofingers and roboarms and soon a roboleg—to help them regain functionality and quality of life. He also provides them with the training needed to build and fit robohands for others. indeed, the principle “enable one, enable many” has become a cornerstone of the robohand organization. robohand has received considerable publicity around the world for its inspirational story and its pioneering technology. That inspiration remained with several mirman students who heard mr. Van as tell his story.

an inSPired teamafter seeing mr. Van as’ presentation, Upper School 4 students Lola rice, Joelle rubeli, Jackson novick, and Ben Cakir wanted to make a robohand for someone in need. all were students in Dr. Diane Flannery’s innovation and Design Thinking class, which helps to foster students’ creativity and problem-solving, with a vision spanning from the personal and local to the global. an important facet of the innovation class is empathy. “Part of designing things for people is understanding who it is you’re designing for,” says Dr. Flannery. “We spent time talking about what it would feel like not to have a hand, and completed exercises where the students couldn’t use their hands, all to answer the question: What does it feel like from that person’s perspective?” The students already had opportunities to get comfortable with the school’s new 3-D printers by making comps and simple toys, so they were prepared to use the printers to solve a complex real-world problem. mirman parent and licensed architect mr. Frank Weeks offered to serve as their mentor. With all that in place, the project seemed straightforward enough, but, like many worthy goals, it presented a number of obstacles along the way. one challenge: finding a suitable recipient. While mr. Weeks was corresponding with mr. Van as to find a candidate in africa for the robohand, mirman technology assistant ana nallar approached the team about her 10-year-old nephew, andrés, who lives in Bolivia and, due to a condition called amniotic band

syndrome, was born without fingers on one hand. The team grew more enthusiastic as they learned more about andrés—that he loves to play guitar, the ways he must rely on others to complete everyday tasks, and that his family had been unable to afford any previously available prosthetics. now, however, the family could raise the relatively small amount needed to purchase the necessary screws and sheets of orthoplastic to create a robohand. atlanta-based robohand USa supplied the mirman team with the necessary medical-grade hardware.

Putting it togetHerThe mirman students enthusiastically dove in. in weekly meetings during LEaP time, the students learned tool safety and began conducting printing tests to observe how the pieces of the prosthetic hand fit together. They carefully configured the accurate size and functionality that andrés would need, printed all of the elements, and worked together to build the hand. “The students got to experience firsthand the challenges of making something that must continue to function day after day—like prototyping a product,” says mr. Weeks. “To address the empathy component of the project, i kept reminding them as they worked, that they were making something that would be a very personal and intimate part of someone’s everyday life.” after many, many hours of work, through frustration and achievement, trial and error, the team completed a robohand customized for andrés on the day before their middle school graduation. in the process, they gained exceptionally useful skills, from the practical to the technological: drilling, tapping, sanding, knot tying, thread locking, latex application, forming orthoplastic (a polyethylene used for medical applications), 3-D digitizing, and 3-D printing. They also forged a connection to a faraway family and felt the gratification that the hand they had built would bring joy to a guitar-playing boy. in June, ms. nallar delivered the robohand to her nephew in Bolivia.

From Kid to Canineas news of their work spread, the team was soon asked to build another prosthetic—this time for Bubba, a friendly Chihuahua/Jack russell mix who was born with stubs for front legs. Through the enthusiasm of animal lover Lola rice, who convinced the team that they could make the robohand model work for a dog, they spent the final weeks of the school year developing possible solutions to improve Bubba’s mobility, with help from mirman parent and veterinarian Dr. Jenny Johnson. The work of the team from the class of 2014 is being continued by the class of 2015 (who will also find another human recipient to build a hand for this year). So, hang in there Bubba—they’re working on it.

To learn more about Richard Van As and his incredible organization, visit robohand.net.

MirMan StudentS Build a Helping Hand

a functional, affordable Prosthetic

A Robohand is made using 3-D composite printing and stainless steel hardware. The necessary sheets of medical-grade orthoplastic cost as little as $50. A prototype (above) helped students work out the kinks before creating the fully functioning hand (pictured grasping an object below).

Using their existing joints, a Robohand wearer can mechanically move the custom-made prosthetic without motors or batteries. Wearers can grip objects, use tools and scissors, and even swim and bathe.

by dora dalton


What is two Bit Circus?Two Bit Circus is an engineering entertainment company. We’re inventors, performers, builders, and other amazing people, and the company grew from our desire to do what we love, which is making fun stuff. options for out-of-home entertainment have stagnated in the last couple of decades. you can go bowling, see a movie, maybe play laser tag, but there just isn’t much left. yet there’s so much amazing technology available. We make entertainment that hasn’t been seen before and deliver it in unexpected ways.

How are you getting kids engaged with science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (Steam)?Before my co-founder, Brent Bushnell, and i founded Two Bit Circus, we had a company where we made crazy inventions for TV and advertising, including a rube goldberg machine for a music video for the band oK go, which got a lot of attention. The things we were inventing were coming to the attention of teachers and parents, who told us that we were inspiring their kids and making engineering cool. We inspire kids to get excited about science, technology, engineering, arts, and math because we’re excited about science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. We use them every day.

What is the Steam Carnival?The STEam Carnival is an event aimed at kids and parents that features lots of ways for kids to engage with technology. Everyone who came to our first carnival in october had a great time and got to play with amazing games. They learned about design principles, basic fabrication, basic electronics. We tapped into kids’ passion for things like fashion, art, and music. For example, we had a musical instrument made with cameras, a treadmill, and pieces of felt. Kids are attracted to it because they love music, but they leave wondering how it was built. We also had wearable technology, traditional carnival games turned on their heads with technological twists, and interactive games of all kinds. our goal is that some of that will rub off, that kids will say, “i want to do that!” if you were advising our school on what training, tools, and technology kids need, what would you tell us?you already have cutting-edge modular classroom space as part of your innovation Lab, where all sorts of technologies are available to kids—that’s ideal. Don’t constrain students with any particular technology. give them open-ended challenges and then let them figure out how to do it and which tools are most appropriate. Having a huge range of tools available gives people a comfort level with picking up any one of them and making something cool.

Eric Gradman ’87–’93—artist, inventor, programmer, fire dancer, and competitive whistler—talks to the meridian about his time as a Mirman student and how he fashioned a career out of making cool stuff.

Can you tell us about some formative experiences you had as a mirman student?i remember working with mr. michael Sewell in the computer room, such as it was then. We programmed Logo and even went to a Logo programming competition. We programmed HyperCard to make interactive stories—it was a perfect tool for tricking kids into learning programming! Those were very formative programming experiences. i took history with mr. Darrel Lee, who later became interim Head of School, and he had us do the most in-depth research project. We learned how to find information, how to process it, and how to synthesize it into something logical and readable. Those were skills that have stuck with me, as has the name of the ape we researched—Australopithecus. We were required to take theatre and i was not into it. i begged and pleaded with our theater teacher, mrs. martha Wheelock, not to have to be on stage, so she put me in charge of tech theatre—i was building sets, figuring out lighting, sound, rigging, all the technical things that go into making a production. it was awesome. That’s where a lot of my interest in creating entertainment from the technical side began, and i use those skills constantly. and though i had terrible stage fright then, now i’m a total ham and i perform in front of people all the time.

How did your experiences at mirman help shape your approach to artistic and intellectual challenges?First, my parents gave me a lot of freedom to explore. Then, mirman really instilled me with creativity, a willingness to explore, to follow my own ideas. We learn a lot of things in school, but the lesson that lasts forever is how to figure out which tool or skill you need and not be afraid of picking it up. mirman gave me the intellectual tools to get a deeper understanding of things i was interested in and the freedom to figure it out in my own way. From that time on, i wasn’t scared to learn new skills.

What’s next for two Bit Circus?We’re getting ready to take the carnival on the road; we’ll be in San Francisco next year. We’re also developing our own 3-D, 360-degree, video-capture system and putting it in strange places, like underwater, skydiving, and in race cars. We’ve created a haptic car that you get into while wearing the oculus rift, a virtual reality headset, and you feel as though you’re driving down the street at 160 miles per hour—you even feel the wind in your face. We’re also working on immersive story rooms and all sorts of high-tech entertainment that’s designed to blow your mind. There’s a whole class of fun that lies beyond the couch, and we’re exploring that.

Two Bit Circus is based in Los Angeles, where Eric, his co-founder, Brent Bushnell, and their interdisciplinary team of artists, engineers, and entrepreneurs develop spectacular productions with the goal to inspire, engage, and reinvent the way people play.

Find out more at twobitcircus.com


mr. michael Taggert joined mirman as Director of Technology in the summer of 2014. He most recently served as the Technology Director at Princeton academy of the Sacred Heart in Princeton, new Jersey.

michael is a magna cum laude graduate of Ursinus College and holds an m.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania. about his new adventure at mirman, michael says, “it's a rare privilege to work with students in a culture that so values curiosity and exploration. moreover, i'm thrilled to be part of a school with such a rich heritage of excellence as well as amazing capacity for growth. mirman has the potential to become a thought leader in education technology, and i'm excited to contribute to that future.”

Dr. Joy Kliewer was appointed Director of advancement at mirman School in 2013. Joy oversees the school's fundraising, alumni and parent relations, and communications team. She has spent two

decades in educational leadership, teaching, and research. Joy previously served as Director of institutional advancement at Fountain Valley School of Colorado, associate Vice President for advancement at Pitzer College, and Director of alumni and Donor relations at Claremont graduate University, where she received her Ph.D. in Higher Education.

mr. Vladimir Duran joined the Upper School math Department in 2014. He has spent the last five years teaching high school math at the maybeck High School in Berkeley. Vladimir is completing his m.a. in mathematics at San

Francisco State and holds a B.a. in mathematics from University of California (UC) Berkeley.

originally from Venezuela, Señora gian molero recently taught Spanish at Exploring minds montessori in Los angeles. Before moving here, she was an elementary school teacher and also taught a class in Social

Leadership at the university level. gian would like us to know: “in my classes i will try to cover all areas of learning a new language. i will devote time to listening and understanding, writing, reading, and math, but mostly the development of the conversational skills. We will have tons of project-based activities to create a meaningful learning environment.”

our new room 5 teacher, mrs. Suzanna Zifkin, previously taught at Baker Demonstration School, in Wilmette, iL. During her time at Baker, she taught preschool, third grade, and fourth grade. What are Suzanna’s

favorite aspects of her job as a teacher? “The students and school community, of course! When i was growing up, i swam competitively and played water polo. i was always a part of a team. now that i'm a teacher, i still feel that i am on a team—the only difference is that now i am one of the coaches.”

our new Upper School Technology teacher, mr. Jeffery Flagg, comes to us from Los Encinos School where he was the Director of academic Technology for six years. Before that, he spent 12 years in technology and

creative design integration at SiaTech Charter High School, South Pasadena Unified, and La Cañada Unified School Districts. Jeffery finds the atmosphere here at mirman to be "full of possibilities for challenging such gifted minds." He is excited “to work side by side with talented and passionate educators, and be a part of something new and progressive when it comes to design/thinking projects. not just in innovation and Design Thinking—these ideas can be spread into other disciplines for integrated learning.”

Faculty updates

On June 5, the entire Mirman community came together to honor retiring faculty members Ms. Ramona Otto, Señora Ana Genzon, and Mr. Darrel Lee at the Mirman School Retiree Farewell. Alumni, students, parents, teachers, family, and friends gathered to reminisce and celebrate the legacy of these special teachers. One alumna traveled all the way from Australia to take part in the festivities.

mr. Jimmy Lindsey joins the Physical Education and athletics departments at mirman after serving as an Exercise Specialist for the goldman Sachs Corporate Wellness program in new york City. Prior to that,

Jimmy was head basketball coach at The School at Columbia University for the grade 7 Boys team as well as Jr. Knicks coordinator for the ymCa of greater new york. He also taught middle school mathematics in the South Bronx for a bit. Jimmy tells us, “i’m excited to teach at mirman School for several reasons. i’ve always liked to surround myself with individuals who are smarter than me…done! The creative energy here is perfect for me because i’m always thinking and designing.” He is also excited to help develop a new vision for both the athletics and Physical Education programs here.

mr. Brad Barry joins us this year as a room 4 teacher. Before moving to California this summer, he was the Head of the Elementary School at aCE academy in austin, Texas. aCE serves a population of gifted students, and

Brad says he really enjoyed working with those kids. Brad is excited to join mirman. "First and foremost, i’m very excited that i’ll be able to continue working with highly gifted students. mirman also provides the opportunity to work with teachers and administrators who are not only dedicated to understanding and supporting the needs of this population, but are pretty fun to hang out with, too."

as the incoming Head of Lower School, mr. Daniel Sussman has worked hard to prepare for what promises to be a dynamic year of learning and exploration. Daniel comes to mirman after seven years as the

Lower School Principal of San Diego Jewish academy. Daniel held previous positions as an assistant principal, a staff development specialist, a curriculum writer, and as a classroom teacher for gifted children in grades K-5. Daniel earned a B.a. degree from mcDaniel College in Westminster, maryland, and an m.a. in Educational Leadership from The College of notre Dame in Baltimore.

our new Upper School history teacher mrs. Suzy Hertzberg’s teaching career has taken her to USC’s College of Letters, arts, and Sciences Writing Program and marshall School of Business Center for management

Communication, to the archer School for girls, and to yeshiva University of Los angeles High School before arriving at mirman. Suzy tells us, “Coming to mirman is, literally, coming home. mirman nurtured and shaped my two children and thus also nurtured and shaped me, as a parent and an educator. my son entered mirman 20 years ago in what is now room 4. He thrived here—intellectually, creatively, socially, and emotionally—as did my daughter, who entered room 1 when her brother was a senior. as a teacher, i have held mirman as the gold standard for combining rigor with rich opportunities for students to spread their wings creatively, artistically, and academically.”

our new School Psychologist, Dr. Dena Scott, has a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Wright institute in Berkeley. She has worked with programs focusing on youth development in settings ranging from

non-profit community-based organizations, group homes, and public schools. Dena tells us, "my greatest attraction to mirman was being able to work in a school environment where i could access the children and parents directly again. also, in looking at mirman and the dedication to support the whole child within a supportive and nurturing environment, it was very exciting for me to be able to walk onto a campus where children could focus on learning.”

mr. Drew Brody is mirman’s new math Specialist, working with kids from rooms 1 up to US 4. Drew is excited to be here because, in his words, “The school has been around long enough that there's a terrific foundation,

with some of the best and most experienced teachers in L.a. at the same time, there's an energy about what we're building that is usually only found at brand-new schools. For my part, it's an extraordinary opportunity to have faculty, administration, and parents all on the same page in support of making meaningful changes to our math curriculum, and of doing so in ways that build on our core strengths as a school in conjunction with international standards and the most current research on effective mathematics education for the gifted.”

Jimmy lindsey

Brad Barry

Suzy Hertzberg

daniel Sussman dr. dena Scott

Señora gian molero

Suzanna Zifkin

drew Brody

Jeffery Flagg

dr. Joy Kliewer michael taggart

Vladimir duran


mr. norm Brennan, US ScienceWhen i was notified that i was a finalist for the California State Science Fair Teacher of the year award, i started to think about how i would prepare for the interview. This gave me the

opportunity to reflect upon my 20 years in education—14 of them here as a teacher at mirman. including science fair in my curriculum aligns with one of my core beliefs of science instruction—the emphasis is placed on the students. They are asked to become active participants in their learning rather than passive recipients in a lecture model of instruction. They bring their own personal passions through topic selection and take ownership for their education, driving the direction of the curriculum. This type of instruction involves a level of risk-taking by the students. There can be no inquiry-based teaching if the students do not feel comfortable enough to ask questions. it is imperative that i create a safe and supportive classroom environment that allows students to take the necessary risks, to become active discoverers, to take ownership of their learning. The beauty of teaching is that each year is unique—while the concepts remain the same, each group of students brings with them a dynamic that is different from year to year. Each year is unique—and my passion for being in this setting hasn’t waned in 20 years.

Norm went on to win California State Science Fair Teacher of the Year, in recognition of his outstanding commitment to improving Mirman’s science program.

Faculty achievements and reflections

ms. mari Cueno-araiza, Room 1 ms. Cueno-araiza began a reading Certification Program at UC irvine and completed two of the required courses. mrs. Jessica Crain, Room 5 mrs. Crain took UCLa's introduction to mindfulness course. The six-week program provided insight into the basics of how to develop tools and techniques to support the social and emotional growth and well-being of students. mrs. Crain also attended the responsive Classroom Summer institute at Westside neighborhood School. responsive Classroom is a research and evidence-based approach to education that leads to greater teacher effectiveness, higher student achievement, and improved school climate.

mr. michael Coleman and mr. luis rodriguez, Athletics mr. Coleman and mr. rodriguez headed to a physical education conference entitled Common Core, The Heart of the matter. This was a California middle School Physical Education Workshop at Cal State Fullerton.

dr. diane Flannery, Innovation and Design ThinkingDr. Flannery took part in the Summer institute at the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at the University of georgia College of Education. The institute “explores the principles of creative thinking as a framework for curriculum development, classroom teaching, and assessment.” Participants left with practical creative strategies for enhancing their overall classroom instruction.

mr. Jeff maynard, mr. maynard directed neil Simon’s Broadway Bound at the La mirada Theatre of the Performing arts. in march 2014 he directed meredith Willson’s The Music Man starring Davis gaines with musical Theatre West at The Carpenter Center for the Performing arts in Long Beach. Both shows received excellent reviews and Music Man was a sellout for its entire run!

mrs. Jacque myers, Latinmrs. myers was an instructor at the Biduum Latinum angelipolitanum (Los angeles Latin Weekend) held at the getty Villa. This event was designed for students, teachers, and professors of Latin, many of whom have learned to read the language, but may have very limited experience speaking it.

mrs. Velear Schrupp, Librarian mrs. Shrupp honed her skills at the american Library association (aLa) Conference. Librarians from all over the world gathered to discuss topics concerning the field of Library and information Science.

oUr FaCULTy SHinES DUring THE SUmmEr

Check out what some of Mirman’s talented faculty were up to while school was out!

ms. Wendy Samson, US EnglishEvery year there are a few students who dig themselves a hole in the beginning of the school year. They are still in the summer swing of things and don’t necessarily see the importance of directions and deadlines and the like. one mention of the word proofreading and they are remembering lazy days and the pursuit of whimsy. one of these students was in my US1 class. after some repeated intervention during the first few months of the school year, she commenced an impressive transformation. Her effort became consistent, she listened to directions, she responded to feedback, and all of that enabled her to raise her grade 12%, which is no small feat. i think often we become so fixated on a student’s ultimate grade in a class that we forget that those grades are the product of a year’s worth of work, and, even if that final grade is not the one we might want, we need to focus on how that grade reflects a child’s concentrated effort. This particular child showed great character. Her persistence and dedication over the long haul of the last half of the school year prove we can all dramatically improve. it is this student and her efforts that i am proud of, just as much as i am proud of the student who received the holy grail of a grade.

ms. Stephanie rourick and ms. mari Cueno-araiza, Rooms 1 (below) The best part about teaching young children is observing the unbelievable speed in which they learn, progress, and improve. Each year, we are left with awe as we put together student portfolios for open House. Students write one-sentence stories at most in September, but are ready to leave to go to room 2 by may writing stories with elaborate plots, integrating impressive vocabulary, and utilizing amazing adjectives. While these changes truly inspire us to keep planning interesting and inventive lessons for our students, what drives us to come to mirman each day armed with new interesting facts and exciting lessons are those moments when students start to realize their potential: when students begin applying concepts to their daily thinking. We love seeing the change and growth in our students throughout the year.

Señora giselle grams, US Spanishin 2014, i experienced my first graduating class that i had taught from US1 through US4. i decided to go back in time and look through the hundreds of pictures i had accumulated of my students and made a collage of this class that i proudly posted in my room. While i was looking at these pictures, i was amazed at their journey, looking at their growth, remembering their falls and triumphs. For one of our projects, my students created a short yearbook. one of the comments from my students read, “During our years at mirman, profesora has taught us many things about Spanish, but also about life in general.” Well, i guess that sentence sums it all up. Teachers have a great influence and a great responsibility to teach the whole child, and i feel i have accomplished that goal.


ColumBia SCHolaStiC PreSS aSSoCiation: CroWn aWard mirman School’s yearbook was one of eight middle school yearbooks across the country to be recognized with a Scholastic Crown award by the Columbia Scholastic Press association. The Crown award is the highest recognition given by Columbia University to a student print and digital medium.

Co-ed VolleyBall goeS undeFeatedour co-ed volleyball team spiked the competition and served up win after win to go undefeated!

mirman’S ViSit to tHe WHite HouSe SCienCe Fair a group of mirman School alumni were selected to present at the 2014 White House Science Fair on may 27. Johnny Berman ’04–’13, maya Flannery ’04–’13, and arjun mahajan ’05–’12 developed a bracelet that senses when autistic children engage in stereotypy, one of the most common behavioral issues for children with autism.

Start oF dan’S tenure it was certainly a new day at mirman as Head of School Dan Vorenberg kicked off his first year by welcoming students and their families back to campus.

ConCert SingerS Sing antHem at laKerS game music Director Paul Kay led mirman’s Upper School Concert Singers in a stirring rendition of the national anthem at a Los angeles Lakers game.

Winter ConCert “Flurry of Fun”Brrr! The mustang Choir and Concert Singers gave us goosebumps with a lively, rollicking winter performance extravaganza.

Parent SerViCe league eVentS Each year, PSL’s volunteers organize a wide range of engaging campus events and activities! mirman wouldn’t be the same school without their unending support and generosity.

CHoir in montreal mirman School's Concert Singers, directed by mr. Paul Kay, performed at the Heritage Festival in montreal and won the outstanding Choral award for the highest score of all choirs participating in the competition. This is particularly amazing considering that mirman was the only middle school choir in the festival.

CamP mirmanin our first-ever Camp mirman, counselors served up STEam-based enrichment classes and a wide range of outdoor activities to all K-8 students.

SCHolaStiC artS aWardS The Scholastic art & Writing awards announced their gold Key winners on march 17, 2014. mirman had 23 regional gold Key winners and Joelle rubeli, US4, won a Silver medal at the national level for her photography piece, "Which one's the Clown?"

matH day Figures, digits… and pi! math Day was a delicious adventure in numerical wizardry as both the Lower and Upper Schools increased their math knowledge by several factors.

MIDSuMMEr/JErSEy and ThE BOy frIEnD our Theatre arts Department put on a pair of riveting productions last year. Midsummer/Jersey was a modern, East Coast take on Shakespeare, while The Boy Friend took us back to a 1920s boarding school where everyone was looking for love!

3-d PrinterS arriVe at mirmanUpper School students gained valuable hands-on experience with mirman's new 3-D printers. Currently, mirman has six 3-D printers, serving both the Upper and Lower Schools.

Vittorio grigolo SerenadeS SCHoolrenowned italian tenor Vittorio grigolo gave a sensational and moving performance at mirman School. Vittorio, a world-class opera star, has performed at La Scala, the royal opera House, the metropolitan opera new york, Washington national opera, and now mirman School. Thank you to parent Wolfgang Puck for bringing Vittorio to our school.

uS SCienCe FairDisplay boards couldn’t contain the science this year—students constructed a hydro-solar vehicle, experimented with meat bacteria, and developed a “nav hat” (above) that helps you get around.

2013–2014 Highlights

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mirman School 2013–2014 annual rePort


growing up in the nurturing and loving mirman household in the 1950s and 1960s, among the many lessons that our parents reinforced was to honor the human instinct—grounded in ethical, moral, and religious tenets—to give time and money to help the common good. although mirman School was founded after we were beyond the age to attend, a major focus

of attention during our teen years was the school—it was our parents’ new “baby.” From the days when students attended school in our house, then at the converted motel on Pico Blvd., and finally at the glorious campus on mulholland, our parents’ devotion to excellence, abhorrence of complacency or mediocrity, and desire to create a universe of opportunity for mirman School students were constant themes. our own children all attended mirman School, and received the benefits of this extraordinary attention to excellence. We supported annual giving when we were parents of mirman School students primarily because we knew that it served a crucial purpose, and our children would reap the rewards of our contributions. our children are grown now, but we continue to support annual giving at mirman School each year. The support that comes from tuition ensures that our teachers and administrators receive competitive salaries—critically important in view of the challenges presented to them daily as educators of the highly gifted. Tuition also ensures that our facilities and grounds are kept in top condition, that we incorporate continual advances in technology and sustainability, and that curricular materials are of the highest quality. Why does the school need us to give more? Because we are getting more. much more. The funds that come from annual giving allow the school to venture outside the box to provide the extraordinary learning opportunities that our children need and deserve. annual giving allows us to take advantage of unique and cutting-edge learning

adventures—robotics, entrepreneurship, inspirational speakers and programs, technological tools, and learning specialists. it allows teachers to go beyond the usual curricular design and to think big, to dream, to design new and innovative ways to encourage and enrich their students’ lives. With annual giving funds, teachers, administrators, and staff are given additional professional development opportunities, and chances to share their experience and expertise in working with the gifted with other professionals. These programs and opportunities are critical to the school’s pursuit of its mission. The two of us came from gifted programs in the Los angeles Unified School District. They were pullout programs, at most an hour per week—and not much has changed since then. many schools, even private ones, still marginalize highly gifted students and have minimal programs to meet their needs. one reason our parents founded mirman School was because they understood that gifted children are not gifted for two hours a week or two days a week; gifted children need a daily environment designed specifically for them that is creative, continually evolving, geared toward instilling in them the joy of learning, and that gives them the support, understanding, and tools to make that joy a permanent part of their lives. We have been blessed to see the results of this life-changing environment on our own children. They have grown to be confident, productive, caring, creative, passionate learners, determined to make the world a better place. mirman School has given them this lifelong gift. our parents came from public school backgrounds. it was hard for them to ask for money, knowing that parents were working hard just to pay tuition. yet they understood that annual giving would provide that extra margin of excellence that would help gifted students reach their full potential, which would help fulfill the school’s mission in the deepest sense. The growth of annual giving in recent years, guided by the passion and commitment of the mirman community, has helped make this happen in a very concrete and meaningful way. This is why we, personally, support annual giving and other opportunities to contribute to the financial health of mirman School. Please join us—for your own children and for the children who follow in their footsteps.

Why We give

leslie mirman geffen and alan mirmanChildren of Mirman School founders Norman and Beverly Mirman


2013–2014FinanCe and inVeStment CommitteeBarbara rosenbaum, Co-Chairallan Schare, Co-ChairClaire Cuiirfan FurniturewalaHoward Deshongmodi WiczykSusan Berman, ex officio

adVanCement CommitteeDeborah Beckmann Kotzubei, Chairanessa Karneyalan mirmanLeslie mirman geffenSusan WolfSusan Berman, ex officio

Finance and advancement reports

operating revenue: $12,096,563 Tuition and Fees $9,714,579operating advancement $1,284,635ancillary Services $625,861interest, investment income $471,488 and Endowment Support of operations

operating expenses: $11,263,948Salary and Benefits $6,802,620Curriculum $1,221,488Financial aid $1,033,099Facilities $1,400,400general and administrative $806,341

operating advancement: $1,284,635annual Fund $1,113,647Parent Service League (PSL) $170,988

Capital Campaign $2,288,633 and endowment: Capital Campaign gifts $1,723,751Endowment gifts $3,131Endowment Earnings $561,751

total Fundraising revenue: $3,573,268


in the 2013–2014 school year, mirman School achieved an industry-leading 99% parent participation rate, with 100% of our Board of Trustees and employees also contributing to the annual giving fund. it is through the work of our dedicated volunteers and the support of our community that mirman School is able to uphold the vision of our founders, and achieve our unique mission and goals. mirman School greatly appreciates the generosity of the parents, alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents, employees, and friends who devoted their time, effort, and resources to the school.

annual giving Statistics

Supportarea of greatest need 84%academic Programs 8%Financial aid 5%Faculty Development 3%

areaS oF SuPPortDuring 2013–2014, donors to mirman School were given the option of directing their annual gifts toward four different areas of support: the area of greatest need, financial aid, academic programs, and faculty development. The majority of donors chose to designate their gifts to the area of greatest need, allowing the school to allocate funds where they will make the most impact. This chart illustrates the distribution of directed support as a percentage of the total annual giving dollars raised.

Parent Participation Comparisonmirman 99%CaiS 86%ESHa 83%naiS 67%

employee Participation Comparisonmirman 100%CaiS 100%ESHa 100%naiS 92%

CaiS – California association of independent SchoolsESHa – Elementary School Heads associationnaiS – national association of independent Schools


annual giving donors by recognition gateways

legaCy gateWay($50,000+)Brigitte and Donald Bren ★The Diadames of the Child Care League ★Christine and rikard Ekstrand The musk Family The robinov Family

mirman gateWay($20,000–$49,999)anonymous gelila and Wolfgang Puck rachel and Eric Stern ★

FounderS’ gateWay($10,000–$19,999)The Cincotta-mcDermott Family ★ Karen and Ted Coyne ★ Claire Cui and Jason Peng Jeannette and Howard Deshong ★ The Fluent Family asma and irfan Furniturewala ronit and Todd gravori ★ mr. and mrs. mark Hancock The Karney goldstein Family ★🎓Deborah and Jacob Kotzubei ★ The Landecker Family Padma and Sushil madhogarhia Leslie and Brett marley ★ Sunjoo moon and Stephane Emeret Zina and Peter Pistor ★ Jacklin rad and Farshad rastegar Kimberly and Dale reed

The greene Family The gurudevan Family The Haley Family The Hirooka Family ★Laura Jamét and Shawn Kuhne Sonali and Dilip Jeste Cassie and Joel Kam Jung Kim and Danny yoon mrs. Junga Kim and Dr. Steve Kim ★The Klein Family The Kurgan Family Caroline and Paul Lee ★ Linda Linham and Ed nicoletti ★ Davina and Edward massey The mcBride Family The mcLeod Family Chitra mojtabai and Clayton Townsend Family ★ The motakef Family Karen and Stephen newman Brenda and glen reynolds ★ The Saito Family natasha and Kamyar Shabani Katherine and Daniel Spilo Shafali Spurling Jeste, in honor of Nischal Spurling The Volokh Family 🎓Dan Vorenbergian C. Wiener Lisa and marc yassingerazine and Dariush youshaei

Patron gateWay($1,000–$1,999)anonymous Lisa anderson and Bill Colitre ★ 🎓The anderson Family annaLea and Evan arnold

The Barnouw Family Carol and Terry Becker ashley, Jann and Saul Berman ★ 🎓 Drs. Ellie and Kamran Broukhim ★ Dr. and mrs. ramin Davidoff ★ ms. roxanne a. Davis and mr. James a. gavsie Corinne Deurdulian and Donald Eknoyan The Eidelman Family Drs. Bonnie and alex Freitas ★ Drs. Devi and Daniel Friedlich 🎓Eric and nancy garen Lois grace golde ★ Elli and Jonathan goldrich Leana golubchik and Bill Cheng ★ Julie and Brian goodman ★ Susan and David Heckerman ★ Jennifer Heitz Schulte Christina Ho and Stephen Farkas angelina Huang and Behzad razavi ★ Cary and Hillary Kim Katie and Bill Kleiman, in honor of Beverly and Norman Mirman ★ 🎓Shareena and Sagar Kumar The Lancer Family Jesse and Chad Langley Seung mi Lee and Joo Seo Kim ★ Lynn Lempert The marcus Family Carol and Wally marks ★Deborah and Henry mayhew The milam Family ★ Susan murdock and Jim Sington ★The murray Family rashmi nigam and Vic Parekh The oh Family ★ The osovski Family The oxyzolou Family, in memory of Vassilios Oxyzolou

Dr. and mrs. Scott D. Picker, in memory of Joel S. Picker ★ Darcy and Jeff Pollack ★ Carrie and David ring Barbara and Jeffrey rosenbaum ★allan and Laura Schare ★The Shurman Family margaret Sigel and michael Daugherty Elizabeth and michael Song Family rozalin and Houman Tehrani Drs. michelle To and roger Lim The Trajanovich Family Connie and Victor Wang June Wang and J. Lee ★ Dana and Jon Weisman Sheila and Wally Weisman The Wolf Family ★Dana and amir yariv ★Woo Ja yoon and moung Chun yoon, in honor of Eric Yoon The Zaidel Family ★

donor gateWay(up to $999)anonymous Claire abramowitz 🎓nahal agahi nazy and Farid amid ★ Tilly Bagshawe-nydes and robin nydes Barbara and Ted Barkow ★ Judith Baxter and Eleanor mercado ★ adrienne and John Beckmann, in honor of Paul Kay Brittany Beer Langer 🎓andrew Bloomgarden 🎓george and Clarissa Borkowski David Briggs

nataalia rey and Leonard ross ★The rhee Family Shoko Sakai and matthew malkan Derek Schneider and Wisdom Lu ★amrita Sen and ravi ahuja Kimora Lee Simmons-Leissner and Tim Leissnerrussell Simmons The Stubbeman Family Lauren and Bobby Turner ★

Head oF SCHool gateWay($5,000–$9,999)anonymous Lori and michael aramian Kimberly and roy ashton Judy and John Bedrosian yu-Tsun and marc Brown Cynthia and Peter Csato ★ Lyre and David Fribourg ★ 🎓The gordon Family ★ Charles Ho Sandra Hoffman Catherine and albert Huang The Kandler Family ★ mrs. Sharmini and Dr. Kain Kumar ★ Learn Foundation Sabina Lippman and mark Jungers Susanne meline and John Francis ★nancy and alan mirman ★robyn and Dean norris ★Dr. and mrs. James Peace, in memory of Mr. and Mrs. James Peace Sr. anita and michael rice Jacqui and Todd rosen The Saada Family azadeh and David Shladovsky ★Blen and amanuel Sima Jody and Jacques Stambouli Jaynee Strickstein-Beckman and Eric Beckman ★aparna Sulé and raj iyer nina and yaniv Tepper ★The Wallis Foundation Jill Ward and Joshua green Jewels and Kiko Washington grace Wen and John Wang ★ Juan Wen and David Quinto ★ Wendy and alex Wuo The yeh/Hsieh Family Vivian and marc Zachary ★ 🎓mark S. Zucker ★

CamPuS gateWay($3,600–$4,999)anonymous Dr. robert J. and mrs. andrews anna Barber Janet and alan Block The Camacho Family ★ Kimberly and michael Copeland ★ Leslie and Jonathan Fram ★ Tory gong and Steve newsom The gor Family Sungmi Jung and David moon Tyler Kelly and Jay Belson mr. and mrs. Kosten Emily and marc Levine, in honor of Joshua and Kayla Levine ★ Debra and David Lewis Julie and giulio maresca The morrell Family gregory rovenger marcia and Bennett Schneir, in memory of Dr. Mirman ★Haleh and Howard Shapiro annie Suh and Paul Chung ★april and David Tausik ★Cynthia Watts Jen and andrew Jen The Zumbrunnen Family ★

BeneFaCtor gateWay($2,000–$3,599)anonymous anonymous, in honor of Ms. Ellen Brown monica and ashish ajmera The Berman Family ★ Jerome and marilyn Bidinger, in honor of Lilly Ray Stobo Hilary Bidwell and Eric Weinberg, in memory of Sue Weinberg Cindy and michael Bowse The Cakir Family mia and Henry Capanna Susie and Stephen Cha ★ Li Chen and Zhihang Chi The Davidov Family ★ The Fattahi Family Shaheen and David Felts robyn and Jonathan Fener, in honor of Sydney and Jack Fener ★ mayee and marc Futterman mr. and mrs. Eden and nicola gaha Kalpa and manu gargi isla garraway and David Shavelle The goldsmith Family


Ezabel and Dr. Benjamin Broukhim, Blake and Tatiana Broukhim 🎓 mr. and mrs. maurice Buckley David Carpenter 🎓The Cespedes Family Harold Cohen and ann Van Dormolen Joy and Phillip Cotton ★ marta Cunningham and James Frain rachel Davies, in honor of Sage Miller gabrielle Davis 🎓rosalyn Davis, in honor of John T. West III ★alice De guzman ★The Demko Family The Dietrich Family Barbara Dischler The Dobbs-LaPlante Family, in memory of Mrs. Barbara E. LaPlante ★The Donenfeld Family Kathy Ebel and John Crooks The Ekholm Family The Etessami Family, in honor of Giselle Shiva Falsafi and rahim Shayegan Lindsay Fisher newlove 🎓marylou and James Francis, in honor of J.P. Francis ★ Dr. and mrs. David m. Fung ★ Chris Funk rebecca F. ganz 🎓mariko and Todd garfinkle, in memory of Dr. Jack and Shirley Garfinkle ★ 🎓Svetlana gayduk ★ ms. Talia geffen and mr. matthew arnold, in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Mirman 🎓Bradley gellman 🎓Teri and robert geske ★ Elise and michael gold The gould Family ★ The gower-Samples Family andrew gradman 🎓The green Family ★ nicholas greif 🎓The Hatch Family ★ Jonathan Heckerman 🎓robert Heckerman 🎓Barbara Heitz Jacqueline Hernandez

The Simshauser Family The Sina Family ★ Beverly Sinclair Kerry and Kevin Sinclair ★ 🎓Coral Sington ★ Kay Sloves and matthew newman, in honor of Charlotte Newman ann Stark and Court Smith, in honor of Sinclaire and Beckett LedahlThe Stark and Ledahl Family ★ Quinn r. Stills The Stobo Family mr. and mrs. Joon and young y. Suh ★ nancy and Eric Sussman Helene and David Toomey ★ Brigitta Troy and alden Lawrence Elinor Turner gregory r. Urfrig 🎓The Vaclavik moreno Family Patsy Vaclavik, in memory of Richard Vaclavik Dr. marina Vaysburd and Dr. Henry yampolsky ★ Leslie Vermut and Thomas Weinberger Dr. Eric Vilain ★ The Villarama Family ★ yufen and Deji Wang, in honor of Alyssa and Alexis Kam odetta and Terrence Watkins ★ Kenneth W. Weeks, Jr., in honor of Finneas Manjarres Weeks and Eames Manjarres Weeks Weeks Family ★ annabeth and Steven White ★ gwendolyn and Carl White The Willard Family ★ William and Sonia Pindler Family Foundation ★ Susan and David Wolf Shiho and nobu yamamoto ★ miok and michael yoo alan Zachary 🎓anita Zamora and Jesse rissman The Zelkin Family The Zeltser Family Esther Zuckerman 🎓

Joanna n. Huey ★ 🎓Kathryn E. Jackson Ed, yolanda, and rebecca Jacobs ★ 🎓 Dr. Jenny E. Johnson, V.m.D. ★ Dr. Leila Kaghazian and Dr. Jafar adibi Darlene Kaplan and Stephen Zuckerman The Karambelas Family, in honor of Anthony natalie Karl 🎓Dr. and mrs. Franklin Kase ★ Lynn and michael Kaufman Kimberly Kelly, Dara Ditsworth, and Dahlia Ditsworth 🎓 mr. and mrs. Barnabas Kerekes ★ Erika and michael Kerekes ★ mary Kincaid Shirley Kleiman ★ gabriella and Stanley Kleinman, in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Mirman ★ gayla Kraetsch and Jeffrey Hartsough Katherine J. Kuchenbecker 🎓Juliet La mers-noble 🎓Bellini Lacey The Ladge Family nicole and Jeffrey Lake ★ Jim and Kris Langley, in honor of Oliver Langley Valerie Lau 🎓marc Lebovitz 🎓inge and Jim Ledahl Carol and gerold Libby rachel madhogarhia 🎓The Taylor maffitt Family nicole malick 🎓Steven marcus 🎓Larissa markevich and igor Shlimovich ★ magdalena and mariusz mazurek Dr. D. mcClain mathews and mr. Terence mathews Lynn and Bryan mcmullen ★ Caroline and robert meer ★ Daniel meer ★ 🎓Elana meer ★ 🎓alan meyerson ★ ally miller and Daniel Pehle 🎓Dawn and Earle miller 🎓

Leslie mirman geffen, in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Norman J. Mirman ★ The miron Family ★ marilyn mironJessica and marc mitchell ★ 🎓Vance monet 🎓montañez-garay Family The montenegro Family ★ The moore Family ★ mary and alfred moreno, in honor of Nathaniel Moreno The morris Family ★ Lisa and ronald moy ★ mr. and mrs. Kenneth H. murdock ★ The nall Family ★ Shirley B. newell, in honor of Julia Yariv ★ Frani J. newman gregory and Stephanie nortman 🎓Holly novick, in honor of Jackson ★ Tara novick, in honor of Jackson ★ Lois o’Brien The omotayo Family, in memory of Goldie Harris David K. and Joyce a. oppenheim rene and Dorothy osman The ostergrens ★ robert ouriel ★ Sirie Palmos 🎓mary and Bill Perry ★ nick and Hillary Peterson Claire Petrus 🎓Linnea Pyne and michael Jaeger Deron Quon 🎓Samantha rawlins and Family 🎓 Linda reynolds, in honor of Zoe and Charlotte Reynolds The rider Family ★ Camille roberts ’13 🎓Jeanne and William roberts ★ The rogers Family The roque Family Chelsea W. rosenthal ★ 🎓robert, genie, and alec rosenthal 🎓 Ted and nadine rosenthal John rubeli ★ The rusmeepongskul-arellano Family Thomas Safran ★ Beatrice Samples, in honor of Cooper Gower Samples melissa Saphier 🎓The Saviano Family ★ ariane and Ethan Sawyer ★ 🎓Pam and David Schaller ★ Fredi and Paul Seraydarian, in honor of Beth, Mark, and Lia mark Seraydarian 🎓The Shao Family The Shek Family David Shelley 🎓isaac Shladovsky rita Shladovsky, in honor of Jonas Shladovsky Chao Shuo and Hsin Chang Huang, in honor of Owen Huang Devin Sidell, in memory of Señor James Hinton 🎓


truSteeSanonymous The Berman Family ★ Karen and Ted Coyne ★ Claire Cui and Jason Peng Jeannette and Howard Deshong ★ asma and irfan Furniturewala The Karney goldstein Family ★ 🎓Deborah and Jacob Kotzubei ★ Carol and Wally marks ★ Leslie mirman geffen, in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Norman J. Mirman ★ nancy and alan mirman ★ The nall Family ★ Dr. and mrs. James Peace, in memory of Mr. and Mrs. James Peace Sr. Barbara and Jeffrey rosenbaum ★ allan and Laura Schare ★ Dan Vorenberg

ParentSanonymous nahal agahi monica and ashish ajmera nazy and Farid amid ★ The anderson Family Lisa anderson and Bill Colitre ★ 🎓Dr. robert J. and mrs. andrews Lori and michael aramian

annaLea and Evan arnold Kimberly and roy ashton Tilly Bagshawe-nydes and robin nydes anna Barber The Barnouw Family Judith Baxter and Eleanor mercado ★ Hilary Bidwell and Eric Weinberg, in memory of Sue Weinberg Janet and alan Block george and Clarissa Borkowski Cindy and michael Bowse Brigitte and Donald Bren ★ David Briggs Drs. Ellie and Kamran Broukhim ★yu-Tsun and marc Brown The Cakir Family The Camacho Family ★ mia and Henry Capanna The Cespedes Family Li Chen and Zhihang Chi The Cincotta-mcDermott Family ★ Kimberly and michael Copeland ★ Joy and Phillip Cotton ★ Karen and Ted Coyne ★ Cynthia and Peter Csato ★ Claire Cui and Jason Peng marta Cunningham and James Frain Dr. and mrs. ramin Davidoff ★

The Davidov Family ★ ms. roxanne a. Davis and mr. James a. gavsie rosalyn Davis, in honor of John T. West III ★ The Demko Family Jeannette and Howard Deshong ★Corinne Deurdulian and Donald Eknoyan The Dietrich Family The Dobbs-LaPlante Family, in memory of Mrs. Barbara E. LaPlante ★ The Donenfeld Family Kathy Ebel and John Crooks The Eidelman Family The Ekholm Family Christine and rikard Ekstrand The Etessami Family, in honor of Giselle Shiva Falsafi and rahim Shayegan The Fattahi Family Shaheen and David Felts robyn and Jonathan Fener, in honor of Sydney and Jack Fener ★ The Fluent Family Leslie and Jonathan Fram ★ Drs. Bonnie and alex Freitas ★ Lyre and David Fribourg ★ 🎓Drs. Devi and Daniel Friedlich 🎓asma and irfan Furniturewala mayee and marc Futterman mr. and mrs. Eden and nicola gaha mariko and Todd garfinkle, in memory of Dr. Jack and Shirley Garfinkle ★ 🎓Kalpa and manu gargi isla garraway and David Shavelle Svetlana gayduk ★Teri and robert geske ★Elli and Jonathan goldrich The goldsmith Family Leana golubchik and Bill Cheng ★Tory gong and Steve newsom Julie and Brian goodman ★The gor Family The gordon Family ★The gould Family ★The gower-Samples Family ronit and Todd gravori ★The green Family ★The greene Family The gurudevan Family The Haley Family mr. and mrs. mark Hancock Jennifer Heitz Schulte The Hirooka Family ★ Christina Ho and Stephen Farkas angelina Huang and Behzad razavi ★

Catherine and albert Huang Laura Jamét and Shawn Kuhne Dr. Jenny E. Johnson, V.m.D. ★ Sungmi Jung and David moon Dr. Leila Kaghazian and Dr. Jafar adibi Cassie and Joel Kam The Kandler Family ★ The Karambelas Family, in honor of Anthony The Karney goldstein Family ★ 🎓Tyler Kelly and Jay Belson Erika and michael Kerekes ★ Cary and Hillary Kim Jung Kim and Danny yoon mrs. Junga Kim and Dr. Steve Kim ★ Katie and Bill Kleiman, in honor of Beverly and Norman Mirman ★ 🎓The Klein Family mr. and mrs. Kosten Deborah and Jacob Kotzubei ★ Shareena and Sagar Kumar mrs. Sharmini and Dr. Kain Kumar ★ The Kurgan Family Bellini Lacey nicole and Jeffrey Lake ★ The Lancer Family The Landecker Family Jesse and Chad Langley Caroline and Paul Lee ★Lynn Lempert Emily and marc Levine, in honor of Joshua and Kayla Levine ★Debra and David Lewis Linda Linham and Ed nicoletti ★Sabina Lippman and mark Jungers Padma and Sushil madhogarhia The marcus Family Julie and giulio maresca Larissa markevich and igor Shlimovich ★Leslie and Brett marley ★Davina and Edward massey magdalena and mariusz mazurek The mcBride Family Dr. D. mcClain mathews and mr. Terence mathews The mcLeod Family Lynn and Bryan mcmullen ★Susanne meline and John Francis ★ alan meyerson ★ The milam Family ★ The miron Family ★Chitra mojtabai and Clayton Townsend Family ★montañez-garay Family The montenegro Family ★ Sunjoo moon and Stephane Emeret The moore Family ★ The morrell Family The morris Family ★ The motakef Family Susan murdock and Jim Sington ★The murray Family The musk Family The nall Family ★Karen and Stephen newman

annual giving donors by constituency

rashmi nigam and Vic Parekh robyn and Dean norris ★ Holly novick, in honor of Jackson ★ Tara novick, in honor of Jackson ★ The oh Family ★ The omotayo Family, in memory of Goldie Harris The osovski Family The ostergrens ★ robert ouriel ★ The oxyzolou Family, in memory of Vassilios Oxyzolou Dr. and mrs. James Peace, in memory of Mr. and Mrs. James Peace Sr. nick and Hillary Peterson Dr. and mrs. Scott D. Picker, in memory of Joel S. Picker ★ Zina and Peter Pistor ★ Darcy and Jeff Pollack ★ gelila and Wolfgang Puck Linnea Pyne and michael Jaeger Jacklin rad and Farshad rastegar Kimberly and Dale reed nataalia rey and Leonard ross ★ Brenda and glen reynolds ★ The rhee Family anita and michael rice The rider Family ★Carrie and David ring The robinov Family The rogers Family The roque Family Jacqui and Todd rosen gregory rovenger John rubeli ★The rusmeepongskul-arellano Family The Saada Family The Saito Family Shoko Sakai and matthew malkan The Saviano Family ★Pam and David Schaller ★ Derek Schneider and Wisdom Lu ★ marcia and Bennett Schneir, in memory of Dr. Mirman ★ amrita Sen and ravi ahuja natasha and Kamyar Shabani The Shao Family Haleh and Howard Shapiro The Shek Family azadeh and David Shladovsky ★ The Shurman Family margaret Sigel and michael Daugherty Blen and amanuel Sima Kimora Lee Simmons-Leissner and Tim Leissnerrussell Simmons The Sina Family ★Elizabeth and michael Song Family Katherine and Daniel Spilo Shafali Spurling Jeste, in honor of Nischal Spurling Jody and Jacques Stambouli The Stark and Ledahl Family ★ rachel and Eric Stern ★Quinn r. Stills

The Stobo Family Jaynee Strickstein-Beckman and Eric Beckman ★ The Stubbeman Family annie Suh and Paul Chung ★ aparna Sulé and raj iyer april and David Tausik ★ rozalin and Houman Tehrani nina and yaniv Tepper ★ Drs. michelle To and roger Lim The Trajanovich Family Lauren and Bobby Turner ★ The Vaclavik moreno Family Dr. marina Vaysburd and Dr. Henry yampolsky ★ Dr. Eric Vilain ★ The Villarama Family ★ The Volokh Family 🎓June Wang and J. Lee ★ Jill Ward and Joshua green Jewels and Kiko Washington odetta and Terrence Watkins ★ Cynthia Watts Jen and andrew JenWeeks Family ★ Dana and Jon Weisman grace Wen and John Wang ★ Juan Wen and David Quinto ★ annabeth and Steven White ★ ian C. Wiener The Willard Family ★ The Wolf Family ★Wendy and alex Wuo Dana and amir yariv ★Lisa and marc yassinger The yeh/Hsieh Family miok and michael yoo azine and Dariush youshaei Vivian and marc Zachary ★ 🎓The Zaidel Family ★ anita Zamora and Jesse rissman The Zelkin Family The Zeltser Family mark S. Zucker ★ The Zumbrunnen Family ★


alumnianonymous Claire abramowitz Lisa anderson and Bill Colitre ★ Brittany Beer Langer ashley Bermanandrew BloomgardenBlake and Tatiana Broukhim David Carpenter gabrielle Davis Dara and Dahlia Ditsworth Lindsay Fisher newlove Lyre and David Fribourg ★ Drs. Devi and Daniel Friedlich rebecca F. ganz mariko and Todd garfinkle, in memory of Dr. Jack and Shirley Garfinkle ★ ms. Talia geffen and mr. matthew arnold, in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Mirman Bradley gellman andrew gradman Lana graham ★nicholas greif Tess ’05 and michael Hatch ’13 Jonathan Heckerman robert Heckerman Joanna n. Huey ★rebecca Jacobs natalie Karl The Karney goldstein Family ★Katie and Bill Kleiman, in honor of Beverly and Norman Mirman ★Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Juliet La mers-noble Valerie Lau marc Lebovitz rachel madhogarhia

ronna Perel ★Carlo reyes Becky riley Fisher and michael Fisher ★Ken roberts Luis rodriguez ★Stephanie rourick ★Lurie and David royal ★Judith Sacks ★Cassandra Salazar Wendy Samson ★naomi Schatz Lacy Schmidt mike Sewell ★rita anne Smith ★Veronica Stensby Shannon Stevens romulo and Cornelia Tecson ★Schuyler Thomas ★Latu Tupou ★Eva Vega-olds and grant olds Dan Vorenberg Tracy Walker Jamie Weissmann michelle Weng annick and Larry Wiener ★guang yu yuan marjorie Zinman ★

PaSt ParentSanonymous anonymous, in honor of Ms. Ellen Brown Carol and Terry Becker Jann and Saul Berman ★ The Berman Family ★ Ezabel and Dr. Benjamin Broukhim, Susie and Stephen Cha ★ rachel Davies, in honor of Sage Miller Barbara Dischler Diane Flannery ★ Dr. and mrs. David m. Fung ★ Chris Funk Eric and nancy garen Elise and michael gold Lois grace golde ★ The Hatch Family ★Susan and David Heckerman ★ Jacqueline Hernandez Ed and yolanda Jacobs ★ Darlene Kaplan and Stephen Zuckerman Dr. and mrs. Franklin Kase ★ Lynn and michael Kaufman Kimberly Kelly Shirley Kleiman ★ gabriella and Stanley Kleinman, in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Mirman ★ gayla Kraetsch and Jeffrey Hartsough The Ladge Family Seung mi Lee and Joo Seo Kim ★ Carol and gerold Libby Carol and Wally marks ★Caroline and robert meer ★Leslie mirman geffen, in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Norman J. Mirman ★ nancy and alan mirman ★ Lisa and ronald moy ★

The rawlins Family Jeanne and William roberts ★Barbara and Jeffrey rosenbaum ★robert and genie rosenthal Ted and nadine rosenthal Thomas Safran ★allan and Laura Schare ★Fredi and Paul Seraydarian, in honor of Beth, Mark, and Lia The Simshauser Family nancy and Eric Sussman The Taylor maffitt Family Helene and David Toomey ★ Elinor Turner Leslie Vermut and Thomas Weinberger Connie and Victor Wang William and Sonia Pindler Family Foundation ★Susan and David Wolf Shiho and nobu yamamoto ★

grandParentSanonymous Barbara and Ted Barkow ★ adrienne and John Beckmann, in honor of Paul Kay Judy and John Bedrosian Jerome and marilyn Bidinger, in honor of Lilly Ray Stobo mr. and mrs. maurice Buckley Harold Cohen and ann Van Dormolen alice De guzman ★ marylou and James Francis, in honor of J.P. Francis ★ Barbara Heitz Charles Ho Sandra Hoffman Kathryn E. Jackson Sonali and Dilip Jeste mr. and mrs. Barnabas Kerekes ★ mary Kincaid Shirley Kleiman ★Jim and Kris Langley, in honor of Oliver Langley inge and Jim Ledahl Deborah and Henry mayhew marilyn miron mary and alfred moreno, in honor of Nathaniel Moreno mr. and mrs. Kenneth H. murdock ★Shirley B. newell, in honor of Julia Yariv ★Frani J. newman Lois o’Brien David K. and Joyce a. oppenheim rene and Dorothy osman mary and Bill Perry ★Linda reynolds, in honor of Zoe and Charlotte Reynolds Beatrice Samples, in honor of Cooper Gower Samples isaac Shladovsky rita Shladovsky, in honor of Jonas Shladovsky Chao Shuo and Hsin Chang Huang, in honor of Owen Huang Beverly Sinclair

Coral Sington ★Kay Sloves and matthew newman, in honor of Charlotte Newman ann Stark and Court Smith, in honor of Sinclaire and Beckett Ledahl mr. and mrs. Joon and young y. Suh ★Brigitta Troy and alden Lawrence Patsy Vaclavik, in memory of Richard Vaclavik yufen and Deji Wang, in honor of Alyssa and Alexis Kam Kenneth W. Weeks, Jr., in honor of Finneas Manjarres Weeks and Eames Manjarres Weeks Sheila and Wally Weisman gwendolyn and Carl White Woo Ja yoon and moung Chun yoon, in honor of Eric Yoon

BuSineSSeSabacus Diagnostics Bank of america Charitable gift Fund Bank of the West ⚑ Boeing matching gifts Program ⚑ California Community Foundation ⚑ Capital group Companies ⚑ ★Culver City motor Cars, inc. Deshong Family Living Trust Deutsche Bank Securities ⚑ The Diadames of the Child Care League ★Donald Bren Foundation Edison international ⚑ Fidelity Charitable gift Fund First Pacific advisors LLC ⚑ The Fuller Foundation iBm matching grants Program ⚑Karisma Foundation ⚑Kayne anderson Capital advisors Foundation ⚑Learn Foundation The Lovedale Trust medtronic ⚑musk Foundation network for good northrop grumman Foundation ⚑Salesforce.com ⚑Schwab Charitable Fund Sony Pictures ⚑Time Warner ⚑University Sports medicine & orthopedic Surgery The Wallis Foundation The Walt Disney Company Foundation ⚑Wells Fargo Foundation ⚑ William and Sonia Pindler Family Foundation ★

★ Donors with 5–9 consecutive years of giving★ Donors with 10+ consecutive years of giving🎓 Alumni donors⚑ Matching gift donors

nicole malick Steven marcus Daniel meer ★Elana meer ★ally miller and Daniel Pehle Dawn and Earle miller Jessica and marc mitchell ★Vance monet gregory and Stephanie nortman Sirie Palmos Claire Petrus Deron QuonSamantha rawlins Camille roberts ’13 alec rosenthal Chelsea W. rosenthal ★melissa Saphier ariane and Ethan Sawyer ★mark Seraydarian David Shelley Devin Sidell, in memory of Señor James Hinton Kerry and Kevin Sinclair ★gregory r. Urfrig The Volokh Family alan Zachary Vivian and marc Zachary ★Esther Zuckerman

FaCulty and StaFFanonymous gladys avila Elaha Bahadori Peter and Vanessa Brady ★ norm Brennan ★ Ellen Brown ★ Jessica Butterfield

michael Coleman ★ Jessica and Jared Crain ★ mari Cueno-araiza ★ Joshua Dahn alison H. Denner ★ Karin Durup ★ alison Elliott Elyssa Evans Craig Fine ★ Diane Flannery ★ Samantha Fuszara Jennifer gaillard geoffrey gardner ana genzon ★ aida gharapetian Veronica gonzales ★ Lana graham ★ 🎓giselle grams Shaina House Sarah Jensen Harte noah Kaufman Paul Kay ★ Toy and marc Kelly ★ Joy Kliewer Seamus Landry ★Jackie and Darrel Lee ★Lucy Leonardi ★mr. and mrs. David Lutzky ★Jeff maynard ★Valerie mazzanti Sheila mcHugh Simmons ★Deann michiels ★Jacque myers ★ann marie nagel ana Sofia nallar-Zuleta ★Jennifer ordoñez ★ramona and Steve otto ★


endowed and restricted giving

dr. norman J. and BeVerly m. mirman endoWed memorial Fund Established in honor of the founders of mirman School, the Dr. Norman J. and Beverly M. Mirman Endowed Memorial Fund reflects the mirmans’ commitment to developing the campus as a beautiful natural setting, which inspires the intellectual, creative, physical, and emotional growth of the children at mirman School. This endowment provides necessary funds for the continued beautification and enhancement of the physical campus as an extension of the school’s educational space and mission.

Deborah Davis, in honor of Leslie Mirman Geffen ★ Sirie Palmos ’79–’87 🎓Ken roberts

FaCulty ProFeSSional enriCHment endoWmentEstablished by the mirman School Board of Trustees in 2006, the Faculty Professional Enrichment Endowment provides funds annually for professional development opportunities for mirman School faculty.

great teaCHerS oF mirman SCHool endoWed FaCulty deVeloPment FundThis fund supports ongoing professional development opportunities for mirman School faculty, while also honoring inductees of mirman School’s wall of “great Teachers.”

mCdaniel Family endoWed SCHolarSHiP FundEstablished in 2006 with a grant from the Flora L. Thornton Foundation, the McDaniel Family Endowed Scholarship Fund honors the legacy of marilyn and glen mcDaniel’s commitment to mirman School.

mirman endoWed SCHolarSHiP FundEstablished by the mirman School Board of Trustees in 2006, this fund provides financial aid to qualified students who might not otherwise be able to attend mirman School.

tHe riCHard a. Boolootian endoWed SCHolarSHiP FundEstablished in 2005, gifts to this fund honor Dr. richard Boolootian’s 30-plus years of dedication to mirman School.

SHerWindt Family endoWed SCHolarSHiP FundFounded in 2007 by mr. Jed Sherwindt and ms. Joanna gardner, the Sherwindt Family Endowed Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance to mirman School students in perpetuity.

StaCy PHilliPS endoWed SCHolarSHiP FundThis fund supports female students at mirman School who come from socioeconomically disadvantaged single-parent families.

anonymous Judith Bain, in honor of Stacy Phillips Leah m. Bishop and gary m. yale, in honor of Stacy's birthday Sara Chenetz, in honor of Stacy Phillips Libby gill Karen and Thomas Higgins Hollye and Jeff Jacobs Jennifer and rodger Landau Tricia and roy nelson Stacy D. Phillips, in honor of her children, Alison Bloomgarden and Andrew Bloomgarden ★ mark and Lisa Schwartz Charitable Fund, in honor of Stacy Phillips Lisa Specht, in honor of Stacy Phillips Jocelyn Tetel, in honor of Stacy Phillips Eleanor and Barry Weinstock

reStriCted giFtSanonymous Scott Becker ’96–’99 🎓The Cincotta-mcDermott Family ★ Bat-ami and gerald Cohen Diane Deshong ★ Christine and rikard Ekstrand ann Korban Barbara and Jeffrey rosenbaum ★


annual giving Volunteers leadership

CHairSVivian and marc Zachary ’78–’83

loWer SCHool CHairSLeslie and Brett marley

uPPer SCHool CHairSmona and Steve oh

team leaderSandrea BerloffDeborah CincottaKamran FattahiLyre FribourgLeana golubchikJunga Kimmelissa Larsen EkholmDavina masseySushil madhogarhiarobyn norrismarcia Schneir

CoordinatorSravi ahujaLori aramianannalea arnoldKimberly ashtonJaynee Beckmanmia and Henry CapannaDominique CespedesCynthia CsatoLaurie DeerJamie DonenfeldStephane EmeretChristina EricksonKamran FattahiLaura Fishermarc Futterman Faisal gillJulie goodmanChrissy HsiehElizabeth KimBill Kleiman ’70–’79marina Kostenyassi Lancerrenelle LaPlanteDavid and Debra LewisSabina LippmanWisdom LuJulissa mcBrideian moffittChitra mojtabaiKelly and rosalyn morrellZina PistorJacklin rad and Farshad rastegarBrenda reynoldsglen reynoldsHoward Shapiroannie Suhaparna Sulé and raj iyeryu-Tsun Tseng-BrownKathryn VaclavikDana Weismanoren Zaidel

PSl PreSidentannabeth White

PSl ViCe PreSidentmayee Futterman

FaCulty and StaFF liaSonSJocelyn BalabanPaul Kay

2013–2014 Board oF truSteeSSusan Berman, ChairKaren Bedrosian CoyneClaire CuiHoward Deshongirfan Furniturewalaanessa Karney ’77–’82Deborah Beckmann KotzubeiWally marksalan mirmanLeslie mirman geffenyvette nallJames PeaceBarbara rosenbaumallan SchareDan Vorenberg, ex officiomodi Wiczyk

2013–2014 alumni CounCilLisa anderson ’76–’84Jocelyn BalabanJennifer goldstein Barnes ’80–’86Talia geffen ’88–’97nicholas greif ’95–’01anessa Karney ’77–’82Bill Kleiman ’70–’79Brittany Beer Langer, ’90–’97Leslie mirman geffenmarc mitchell ’82–’90Kevin Sinclair ’89–’97reagan Smith Smutny, ’92–’00Kristy Wu ’93–’96

2013–2014 Senior adminiStratorS

Dan Vorenberg Head of School

Jocelyn Balaban Interim Head of Lower School; Director of External Gifted Relations/Administrative Liaison

alison Denner Assistant to the Head of School

Becky riley Fisher Director of Admissions


grant olds Director of Information Technology

David royal Chief Financial Officer

Sheila Simmons Assistant Head of School/Head of Upper School

2014–2015 oFFiCe oF adVanCement


noah Kaufman Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations

geoffrey gardner Director of Communications

alec Colantonio-ray Data and Advancement Coordinator

Thank you to all of our donors and volunteers for their participation, generosity, and ongoing support of our students.

If your name has been accidentally omitted, misspelled, or listed under an incorrect heading, please notify us by calling (310) 476-2868.


matriculation list

mirman SCHool StudentS entered tHe FolloWing SCHoolS in 2014–2015

The archer School for girlsBrentwood SchoolCalifornia State University, Los angeles Early Entrance Program Campbell HallChatsworth Hills academygarfield High School, SeattleHarvard-Westlake Schoolmarlborough Schoolmarymount High Schoolmilken Community SchoolsPalisades Charter High SchoolPaul revere Charter middle SchoolPhillips academy, andover Phillips Exeter academyThe Thacher SchoolViewpoint SchoolWindward School

mirman SCHool alumni entered tHe FolloWing CollegeS and uniVerSitieS in 2014–2015

Barnard College, Columbia University (1)California institute of Technology (1)California Polytechnic State University, San Luis obispo (1)California State University, northridge (1)Carnegie mellon University (1)Dartmouth College (1)new york University (1)northwestern University (3)Stanford University (4)Syracuse University (1)Tufts University (2)Tulane University (1)University of alabama (1)The University of British Columbia (1)University of California, Berkeley (1)University of California, Davis (1)

University of California, merced (1)The University of Chicago (1)University of miami (1)University of michigan (1)University of Southern California (2)University of Virginia (1)Vanderbilt University (1)Washington University (2)Washington University in St. Louis (1)Wesleyan University (1)Williams College (1)yale University (3)

graduating Class 2014


alumni notes and Highlights 2013–2014

endre Balogh ’65–’67 has enjoyed a long career as a concert violinist, performing in some of the most prestigious venues of the world as a soloist and chamber musician. He also enjoys a flourishing career as a

fine-art photographer, portrait photographer, and graphic designer.

Jamie altshule ’75–’82 is an Educational Consultant and Founder of academic Success, inc., an academic coaching and test prep company. academic Success is dedicated to providing outstanding in-home

coaches to support every type of student while empowering parents with customized feedback after each session.

Benjamin Karney ’76–’80 is a professor of social psychology and co-director of the relationship institute at UCLa. For the past 20 years, he has been studying marriage and intimate relationships, focusing in particular

on how couples maintain intimacy under conditions of stress. in February, his book Love Me Slender: How Smart Couples Team Up to Lose Weight, Exercise More, and Stay Healthy Together was published by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.

anessa Karney ’77–’82, is mother of three children: two mirman students, and one alumna. Following careers practicing labor and employment law, and working in politics on Capitol Hill and in new york City, anessa spends much of her time giving back to her community, namely her alma mater as a member of the mirman Board of Trustees, the Chair of the advancement Committee, Co-Chair of the School's Capital Campaign, and a member of the alumni Council.

alex levine ’78–’81 currently holds appointments in the departments of Physics & astronomy, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Biomathematics at UCLa. He is also the director of the UCLa

Center for Biological Physics.

alex Cohen ’78–’86 is co-host of KPCC’s Take Two and former host of All Things Considered. alex is an award-winning journalist and roller derby maverick. Earlier this year she interviewed fellow alumnus actor Crispin glover about his career and role in the film Bag Man.

alan Zachary ’80–’86, has been writing with his collaborator michael Weiner since high school. He co-wrote First Date, a romantic comedy musical that played on Broadway in 2013. His musical Twice

Charmed will celebrate its 10th anniversary on the Disney Cruise Line in 2015. His newest show, Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees, plays daily at "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" at Universal Studios Florida.

Kari neumeyer ’81–’87 has published Bark and Lunge: Saving My Dog from Training Mistakes, a memoir about raising a german shepherd named isis. The book was a finalist in the 2013 Pacific northwest Writers association literary contest.

Chris yeh ’82–’86 co-authored The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age with Linkedin founder reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Ben Casnocha. Chris invests, mentors, and writes about startups in

Silicon Valley.

devin Sidell ’85–’92 is an actress currently living and working in Los angeles. Her recent appearances include nBC’s Parks and Recreation with amy Poehler, About A Boy with minnie Driver, and Fx’s Anger

Management with Charlie Sheen.

Jens erik gould ’87–’94 was interviewed on mSnBC’s The Cycle about his series Bravery Tapes. Jens hosts and produces the show, which profiles people who perform acts of courage.

adam Frank ’87–’95 has been living in new york since 2001. after 10 years in the art world, he opened Cochinita, a mexican restaurant in Brooklyn. He opened his second location in manhattan’s Lower East Side this past may.

This past summer, lana graham ’88–’95 relocated to arizona with her husband, where she will continue her teaching career. For the last five years, she has been inspired by many of her former teachers as

an assistant Teacher at mirman School. She will be moving on to teach fourth grade math and Social Studies classes. although she is sad to leave mirman, it will always be her second home.

Earlier this year daria Somers ’88–’96 played giunone in La Calisto with Pacific opera Project at the Ebell Club in Highland Park. This past summer, she performed Butterfly in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with High

Desert opera in Colorado. in the fall she also sang Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata with Heartland opera Theatre in Joplin, mo.

Jessica Scillieri Smith ’90–’98 is living in Canton, ny, where she is Senior Extension Veterinarian with Cornell University. She manages a regional laboratory, which is part of the Veterinary School’s animal Health Diagnostic Lab, and specializes in bovine mastitis and milk quality.

(Stephanie) rosalyn mitchell ’90–’99 is currently living in London, where she acts, writes, and edits. recently, she performed in a repertory season of three obscure Jacobean plays, two of which

had never been produced before; she also shot a short film and has another coming up. When she isn’t acting, she occasionally writes for Examiner.com about Shakespeare quotes and their relevance in modern life.

yoni geffen ’91–’99 taught for 6 years in the Denver, Co, school system and co-founded First ascenders, which takes inner-city youth rock climbing to build motivation, perseverance, and other life skills. yoni has been hard at work creating the adventure Forward Service Corps, the country’s first service corps that integrates academic support, mentoring, and experiential adventure education for underserved youth.

ashley Felts ’92–’96 is a Digital Strategist at PmK*BnC, an entertainment public relations firm based in Los angeles.

This past spring, elizabeth nicole abrams (pka liZ) ’92–’99 released a critically acclaimed seven-track EP on mad Decent titled Just Like You, including “Don’t Say (feat. Tyga)” and “all Them Boys.”

LiZ recently toured with Charli xCx, opened for Blondie at this year’s SxSW, and is a part of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack on a track titled “That’s my man” (produced by Pharrell Williams). LiZ is currently working on her debut full-length album, which will be released on Sony/Columbia records.

monica Steinberg ’92–’01 is in her final semester in pursuit of an m.a. in art Business from Sotheby’s institute of art and Claremont graduate University. monica has been working in the art world since

moving back to Los angeles and is currently interning at ovation TV, a television network dedicated to the arts. monica looks to combine her passion for art and her interest in the entertainment industry, while completing her master’s project this semester.

Vance monet ’93–’98 joined the navy in 2012. Currently living in Everett, Washington, 2014 will mark his last year of service. He has fond memories of playing “D and non-D” on the green board at the playground and getting into trouble for playing too long after school.

mattias lehman ’94–’03 has been writing about e-sports and game design for the last two years, with a focus on League of Legends. He is currently working at riot games as an e-sports journalist,

but he hopes to work in game design in the future, whether it be in creative content or competitive balance.

adrienne Sabety ’95–’98 recently received a national Science Foundation grant that will help support her Ph.D. studies in economics and health policy at Harvard University. She is currently a research analyst at the national Bureau of Economic research in Cambridge, massachusetts.

after a four-month backpacking trip through Southeast asia, nick greif ’95–’01, joined Los angeles mayor Eric garcetti’s office covering economic policy and the aerospace, bioscience,

and health sectors. He currently lives with his girlfriend in Palms, Ca, where he sits on the neighborhood Council.

thomas Kotcheff ’95–’01 is currently pursuing a Doctorate of musical arts in composition at the University of Southern California. During their renowned summer event, Thomas received the Hermitage Prize, presented by the Hermitage artist retreat and its partner, the aspen music Festival and School. The award is given annually to a composition student participating in the summer program at the Susan and Ford Schumann Center for Composition Studies with the american academy of Conducting at aspen.

Ben Bram ’95–’02 is co-founder and director of a Cappella academy, a summer music intensive for high school students. Ben graduated from USC and has been doing vocal arrangements and

coaching for The Sing-Off, Pitch Perfect, and Glee, as well as for the popular vocal group Pentatonix.

ariadne greif ’96–’99 is an opera singer based in new york. after a fun-filled spring, which included a residency at mirman on tour with the chamber music group SHUFFLE in april, she premiered a new song

cycle by albert Behar at John Zorn’s The Stone, and starred in the georg Friedrich Haas opera Atthis at The Kitchen in new york in June. She has also performed in ottawa, israel, and Spain.

emily thomas ’96–’05 has been attending The University of the arts in London since 2010. She studied illustration for two years and is currently enjoying a course in Set Design for Film.

Katie liptrap ’97–’06 graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC irvine with a major in Psychology and minor in Education. She is a behavioral specialist and researcher at the Childhood Development Center, a lab school under the auspices of the UCi School of medicine. She is engaged to her longtime love ayllon giladi.


nick lieberman ’02–’08 and alexander tsebelis ’05–’08 recently released a music video for an up-and-coming Los angeles rapper through their newly formed production company, ready made Pictures. ready made Pictures is currently expanding to represent and produce the work of new directors creating commercial, web-based content.

This past summer, nicholas abouzeid ’02–’09 worked at two internships—one at a real estate development firm, and another at an aerospace parts manufacturer. He is also leading a team to plan an

“entrepreneurial incubator” at Harvard-Westlake.

nicole Haley Cohen ’02–’10 recently appeared as Sydney on aBC’s The Middle, and has three national commercials currently running: Clorox, PnC Bank, and nike. She is a freshman at UCLa, and is the writer/

director of the short film, The Clockmakers (in production). Check out her original song on iTunes, “gone.”

Chloe gauthier ’02–’11 is in her senior year at Chaminade College Preparatory, further developing her creative talents by taking aP Studio art and 3-D Design classes. This past summer, Chloe thoroughly enjoyed being a Camp mirman counselor, working alongside the teachers who once taught her. She also continues her active volunteer support of blindness-prevention programs.

Veronica irwin ’02–’11 is in her senior year at notre Dame High School where she has started a STEam Club inspired by ms. Jocelyn Balaban’s STEam and Women in math and Science programs. This past summer, she

participated in a research fellowship at the UCLa neuroscience Department, studying stem cell recovery in ischemic strokes. She looks forward to continuing medical research at the university and professional levels.

on may 27, Johnny Berman ’04–’13, maya Flannery ’04–’13, and arjun mahajan ’05–’12 participated in the White House Science Fair, where they presented their award-winning “innovation in autism” project. This project, conducted while the students were attending mirman, developed a bracelet that autonomously senses when children are engaging in stereotypy, a common behavior in autism. The bracelet responds with vibration, cueing the child to stop engaging in that behavior. “innovation in autism” won first place in the 2012 eCyBErmiSSion competition and was recognized as a regional Finalist in the google Science Fair. Prior to the science fair, Jonathan Berman was interviewed by KPCC.

This past summer, emery Kerekes ’04–’13 studied at Kinhaven music School, a non-profit organization located in the rolling green hills of Weston, Vermont, that fosters high-level music-making experiences.

declan Saviano ’04–’13 joined mirman School’s iT department as a summer intern. He also attended astro Camp, practiced the sport of squash, and took an online advanced Java Programming course with the Johns Hopkins

Center for Talented youth.

emma Wernig ’05–’12 was one of only five students under the age of 18 to be accepted to the international Summer Campus program at the royal Danish academy of music in Copenhagen, Denmark. The program

involves intense viola studies with the rDam string department chair and violist Tim Fredriksen.

luca Pistor ’07–’13, is Founder and Co-Director of JSES (Junior Social Entrepreneurs Summit). Luca created a week-long summer day camp for students 11 to 16 years old, taught by professors from

USC’s Lloyd greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab. Whether attending to be inspired, or to realize a fully formed idea, each JSES student will complete a business concept plan, learn a project pitch, gain mentor support, and have fun!

maisie lynton ’08–’11 is an active volunteer for United in Harmony, a foundation that focuses on bringing new opportunities to impoverished children in Los angeles. She both plans events throughout the

year and is a counselor at the foundation’s sleepaway camp in the summer.

Having graduated from nyU this past may, Cathryn Shelton ’97–’06 spent the summer backpacking through Central america. This was the third summer Cathryn has devoted to traveling. She has seen

over 20 countries in the last four years.

after graduating from UC irvine with B.a. degrees in Psychology and Japanese, Katrina leonoudakis ’98–’05 moved to Japan to teach English with the JET Programme. Currently living in a tiny mountain village

near mt. Fuji, she plans to return to the U.S. soon to attend Kent State University to pursue an m.a. in Japanese Translation.

Jared Spile ’99–’03 is in his fifth year at UC Berkeley. Jared currently handles the social media activity for Wecudos, a San Francisco start-up company. He produces music under the name Brother Board and has

had the opportunity to perform alongside a number of EDm artists including Pete Tong, adrian Lux, and 3LaU.

Jacqueline Hernandez ’99–’08 is currently studying abroad in Brisbane, australia. She is also a recurring guest DJ and co-commentator on Wonder World, a natural science-oriented program on australia’s oldest Fm community radio station, 4ZZZ.

michael richman ’99–’08 is living in munich for a year to study german culture, language, and music. as a double major in german and music at Lewis & Clark College, he will be attending both the University of

munich and the prestigious musikhochschule.

This year Brandon Fong ’09–’13 participated in the north american Computational Linguistics olympiad, a contest in which students learn about the diversity and consistency of

language, while exercising logic skills by solving linguistic puzzles. Brandon’s open- round score was in the top 10 percent and qualified him for the invitational round. He is currently a junior at Kent School in Connecticut.

ryan navi ’00–’03 recently accepted an offer to work at KKr asset management in San Francisco, starting July 2015.

Sarah Stegman–Wise ’00–’04 currently attends UCLa where she is pursuing her B.S. in anthropology. She is highly involved both on and off campus, working as a Brain Coach, serving on the executive board

of a prestigious mentoring organization, and competing nationally for the UCLa figure skating team. Upon graduation, she plans to attend medical school and dreams of becoming the team doctor for the U.S. Women’s national Soccer Team.

Jackie altschuld ’01–’07 has completed her freshman year at the University of San Diego. She plays on the women’s soccer team where she started in all 20 matches at defense, tallied seven points, which tied for

third-best on team, scored two goals, and tallied three assists. She was recently named rookie of the year, co-defender of the year, and a team captain.

Samantha rawlins ’01–’07 received the prestigious honor of being selected as a member of the 2014 naSa Student ambassador Virtual Community. as one of only 105 student ambassadors selected

from hundreds of naSa interns representing 29 states and 67 universities, Samantha will engage undergraduate and graduate students in naSa science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEm). Together with her fellow ambassadors, Samantha will collaborate with (and inspire) her peers, make professional connections, and represent naSa to the public.

michael Zaks ’01–’07 is currently studying math and Economics at Columbia University. He plans to graduate in may of 2017 and has an interest in finance.

divya Siddarth ’01–’08 was named by Society for Science and the Public as one of its semifinalists in the intel Science Talent Search. This science competition is one of the most prestigious in the country. She will

receive a $1,000 scholarship for her original research. Divya is a student at Harvard-Westlake.

Solange etessami ’01–’09 and elana Zeltser ’00–’09 volunteered their time at mirman School where they worked backstage with hair and makeup for this past year’s musical production of The Boyfriend.

adam Schare ’01–’10 is in his freshman year at Tulane University in new orleans. This past summer, he interned at Sander moses Production company in Hollywood, where he worked primarily on social media outreach

for CBS’ new legal drama Reckless. adam plans to study Environmental Biology with minors in marine Science and possibly Film at Tulane.

have your own alumni note to share? Email [email protected] with your achievements, accolades, and updates.

We’d love to hear from you!


Alumni Events

and Involvement

Josh Lockman ’89–’96 led a discussion with mr. Peter

Brady’s Global studies class on the subject of the key

challenges the obama administration is facing overseas,

specifically in northern africa and the middle East.

on may 10, alumni joined ms. JocELyn BaLaBan

for the annual Revlon Run/Walk for Women.

at our annual Giving Donor Leadership Dinner last

spring, kEvin sincLaiR ’90–’97 spoke passionately

about the importance and impact of giving.

our annual alumni Thanksgiving Breakfast

brought alumni from all over back to campus

to celebrate and give thanks for good food,

friends, teachers, and fun!

our high school Graduates Reception reunited alumni

graduating from high school with their former

teachers and classmates. a good time was had by all,

which included an impromptu game of matball!

Fourteen alumni volunteered their time as counselors for camp mirman and contributed

to the success of its inaugural session.

aRiaDnE GREiF ’96–’99, a member of the chamber

music group shUFFLE, performed for a delighted

mirman school audience last april.

on april 6, mirman alumni and friends joined

head of school Dan voREnBERG, Board chair

sUsan BERman, and host and alumnus scoTT

BEckER, vice President, Enterprise Products at

schrödinger, for a fun and informative mixer and

lunch in midtown manhattan. in addition to the

over 30 alumni in attendance representing over

40 years of mirman history, two sets of mirman

grandparents and one uncle were present.

EsThER ZUckERman ’95–’04 and mELissa saPhiER ’99–’02 returned to mirman for a special visit with ms. Jocelyn Balaban and to pick up some cool mirman apparel.

alumni returned to mirman for our annual PsL spring Fair on april 26. This year’s theme was mardi Gras!

alumni mentors saBa amiD ’05–’13, Johnny BERman ’04–’13, BEn koTZUBEi ’06–’12, and aRJUn mahaJan ’05–’12 volunteered their time to work with our first-ever mirman school Robotics team and prepare them for competition.

alumni and friends joined head of school Dan voREnBERG,

Trustee LEsLiE miRman GEFFEn, and mirman faculty,

former faculty, and staff on June 19 for our alumni

summer mixer: an evening of fun and memories at the

craft and Folk art museum in Los angeles.

DaviD ULick ’82–’84 and GREG URFRiG ’82–’89

returned to campus to judge the annual mirman

science Fair.

over the summer, DEcLan saviano ’04–’13

interned with the mirman iT department.

he was an invaluable member of the team!

During the 2013–2014 school year, alumni

enjoyed coming back to campus to attend our

renowned school plays, memorable concerts,

and lively school dances.

48

the impact of giving

“your support ensures that the incredible abilities of our unique population are nurtured, challenged, and never limited.” —Dan Vorenberg, Head of School

innoVatiVe deSign ClaSSeSa program to teach students the principles of 3-d modeling, rapid prototyping, and design thinking.

FaCultyremarkable faculty who are thought leaders in their fields, committed to the academic, social, and emotional well-being of children.

atHletiCSour expanding athletic program features 23 teams in 5 different sports, new approaches to training, and additions to our coaching staff.

FinanCial aidFinancial aid opportunities for our students who are unique, curious, creative, and passionate about learning.

leaPin the learning enhancement and achievement Program, students are challenged to pursue their passions, like analyzing the brain, exploring entrepreneurism, or studying greek.

Please make your gift or

pledge today!mirman.org/makeagift

16180 mulholland Drive Los angeles, Ca 90049

(310) 476-2868mirman.org

PrSrT STDU.S. PoSTagE

PaidLoS angELES, CaPErmiT no. 1494

Meridian - The Magazine of Mirman School, 2013-2014

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Transcript of Meridian - The Magazine of Mirman School, 2013-2014