OHS connection

OHS
September/October 2014
connection
Starting out the year together with Start Up!
pg. 10
welcome
to the
new
Launching a
new Tool for
OHS Students!
Take a trip to
Argentina
pg. 28
Ask Pixel
Planet!
pg. 26
Ne
The Online
High School
Newsletter
makes a
change
based
on your
input!
pg. 16
w
&
Meet
the New
Instuctors
& Staff!
Im
ov
pr
See the Results of
the Communications
Survey
pg. 7
ed
Ar
ti s
tS
p o tl
i g h t p g. 3 3
pg. 20
September/October 2014
5
Letter from the
Director
Welcome to the 9th
school year!
6
Director’s
Notes
New Communications
Policies
7
The Results
of the OHS
Communication
Survey
We asked YOU about
communications at the
Online High School
10
Start Up!
The OHS community
started the year
together—around the
country
13
Tips for a
Successful Year
The Counseling &
Advising team share
their advice for students
to succeed: this month’s
tips—calendars
15
Five Minutes
or Less with
College
Counseling
Dr. Lips & Ms. Rossetti
explore the art of essay
writing for graduating
seniors
16
34
Launching a new tool for
OHS students
Nicole, Siddhartha,
Mack, Sangeetha, & Jake
have been up to some
amazing things
17
37
OHS Writing
& Resource
Center
Our Goals for
Graduates
Discussing the Expected
Schoolwide Learning
Results
20
New
Instructors &
Staff
The newest members
of the OHS community
share their thoughts
23
OHS Summer
Program
This summer marked
a new record for
attendance
26
Pixel Planet
Ask Pixel Planet about
this year’s enrollment
statistics
28
Student News
From the OHSPA
The 2014–15 Officers
share their stories
38
OHS & the Arts
View an array of amazing
student artwork
40
Admission
Season Kickoff
Find out how to get
involved
41
Student Views
Ayla shares her
experience working at
the US Senate Page
Program
43
Science Happens
Lots of science
happened at the OHS
Summer Program
Hola Argentina
Take a trip with OHS
Spanish Cultural
Exchange & Language
program
32
OHS Student
Government
Meet the President and
the rest of the Student
Officers
2 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
Photo & Cover By:
Maxwell Chung,
Digital Photography
@
#StanfordOHS
Like us! Follow us! Hashtag us!
Connect
with us!
We invite you to follow and connect with Stanford OHS! Find us on
 Like us on Facebook:
facebook.com/stanford.ohs
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Join the conversation by using
 And Friend the Pixel:
facebook.com/OHS.Pixels
#StanfordOHS on your photos and tweets, and you will be featured on
the official Stanford OHS Tumblr!
1
 Follow us on Twitter:
@Stanford_OHS
2
 Follow us on Instagram:
@stanford_ohs
 Follow us on Tumblr:
stanfordohs.tumblr.com
Favorite
recent tweets
3
Stanford OHS
@Stanford_OHS
Photoset: Highlights from
Summer Program 2014
#stanfordohs http://
tmblr.co/ZTroco1OKcjiR
4
(1) The #StanfordOHS Pixel wins a chair race
tournament with Mr. Salvador @stanford_ohs.
(2) His adventure begins! @ashleymkilpatrick.
(3) At the 2014 #stanfordohs summer program! @not_red.
(4) So Proud of #MyDaughter @Stanford campus.
U make me proud. @sassymissclassy @skibum4eva.
Morgan Wallhagen
@morganwallhagen
 Fun gift from one of my
students.
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 3 Contributors
Editorial Team
Summar Aubrey
Director of Student
Life & Community
summar.aubrey@stanford.edu
Staff Contributors (cont...)
Kimia Habibi
Admissions Officer
khabibi@stanford.edu
Stephanie Griffin
Graphic Designer
Darlene Jacokes
Middle School Counselor
& Advisor
sjgriffi@stanford.edu
darlenef@stanford.edu
Ryan Salvador
Academic Advisor
Adam Lips
Director of College Counseling
ohscommunications@stanford.edu
alips@stanford.edu
Student Contributors
Ayla Besemer, 2015
Sangeetha Bharath, 2018
Jake Chasan, 2016
Siddhartha Jagannath, 2018
Mack Meller, 2018
Nicole Reed, 2016
Jenny Nadaner
Spanish Instructor
jnadaner@stanford.edu
Kendra Peterson
Academic Advisor
kendramp@stanford.edu
Kate Rossetti
College Counselor
katerossetti@stanford.edu
Parent Contributors
Amy Carlisle, OHSPA President
David & Kathy Cordeiro
Jenny Ito
Tony Rojko
Joe Rose
Cynthia Saitta
Rebecca Voigt
Staff Contributors
Chloe Benjamin
Counselor
chloebe@stanford.edu
Claire Goldsmith
Director of OHS Admissions
& SPCS External Relations
cpgoldsmith@stanford.edu
Kathlyn Gray
Director
kgray2@stanford.edu
Jeff Scarborough
Director of Curriculum
jpscarb@stanford.edu
Rebecca Shields
Associate Director,
Writing & Resource Center
rebeccashields@stanford.edu
Tracy Steele
Director of Counseling
tmsteele@stanford.edu
Thomas Tessier
Admissions Officer
ttessier@stanford.edu
Kalee Tock
Science Instructor
kaleeg@stanford.edu
Letter from the Director

Welcome to the ninth school year of Stanford Online High School!
I hope that the excitement generated during this opening month from our hub in
Northern California is reverberating across the country and the globe, including to
the 10% of this year’s student body that lives outside of the United States.
Adobe Connect
Classroom
Upocoming
Opportunity to
Connect at the
MIT Splash
Meet-Up! Find
out more
on pg. 37!
New Classrooms
The energy that was created by the 131
Stanford OHS middle and high school
students (the largest group ever!) attending this year’s Summer Program flowed
directly into the liveliness of the start of
classes seven days after the departure of
the high school students from Stanford
campus. We have been delighted with
the responsiveness of students and families alike to our orientation programs,
including the training for our new virtual classroom, Adobe Connect. Our instructors will continue to explore the
potential of this new resource as they
collaborate to solve the expected and
surmountable blips that some have been
experiencing. In many ways, we feel that
we have come back to a completely rebuilt school and are familiarizing ourselves with the new electrical switches
on the walls, the powerful sound system in the auditorium, and the fact that
all instructors now have their own classrooms, which they can design and manipulate to their hearts’ content!
Touchstone of Openness
We have chosen the concept of Openness
for our touchstone this year. We are eager to focus on such skills as listening,
celebrating difference, and trying new
initiatives. Stanford OHS faces the challenge of uniting a multitude of perspectives brought by different cultures, geographies, age ranges, and student pursuits,
as well as the varying viewpoints of students, instructors, and parents, while creating user-friendly and successful commu-
nication venues in which all members of
our community feel comfortable to express their thoughts and have them valued. In and out of the classroom we want
our students to take full advantage of our
global community by developing open
minds to diverse new ideas and experiences, as they grow and mature intellectually and personally. As a school, we want to
respect everyone’s perspectives, develop
empathy and collaborate in our continual quest to improve in all possible ways.
Venues to Connect
The generosity of our families continues
to expand our connectedness. We began the school year with five different
Start Up! meet-ups in Texas, New York,
Minnesota, and Northern and Southern
California, with yet another Stamford,
Connecticut meet-up later in September.
You will see the enthusiasm generated
at these events elsewhere in this newsletter. Also, to help facilitate connectedness, we have a shiny, new Family Directory on the Gateway site (right side bar
under Connect) that can be shifted and
sorted in many different ways, an improved and more comprehensive listing!
We hope you have found our expanded
Family Handbook and OHS Family Resource Page helpful in answering questions and supporting the transition to
the new school year. We are grateful to
your responsiveness in acknowledging
receipt of the revised Family Handbook.
This acknowledgment is mandatory for
all enrolled students and families.
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 5 
Dir ector’s
Notes
New
Communications
Policies
Two new communication policies have
gone into effect this year at Stanford OHS:
Social Media Guidelines
Following the thorough review of the
Stanford OHS Family Handbook done in
conjunction with Stanford University over
the summer, new social media guidelines are now in place for Stanford OHS
staff. Henceforth, OHS staff will be no longer use Skype for working with groups of
students; these group meetings will only
take place in Adobe Connect or other educational software. Skype communication is still available for one-to-one con-
First (and Second!)
Annual Fund Drive
At Graduation Weekend last year, we celebrated the closing of the first-ever Stanford OHS Annual Fund. I am delighted
to announce that the generous $128,000
raised by 50% of our families will be
used this school year to support:
▶▶ Instructor/Staff Professional Development (35%);
▶▶ Adobe Connect Technology (10%);
▶▶ our new Writing & Resource Center
(read more about it on pg. 16); and
▶▶ our budding Student Travel projects
(55%).
You will soon hear about the 2014–15
campaign, which will occur in the late
fall, and has as parent co-chairs, Kathryn Besemer (mother of Ayla ’15) and
David Corderio (father of Jacob ’15 and
Adam ’18).
ferencing between students/families and
Fundraising
Brochure coming
to a mailbox
near you!
instructors.
In addition, staff will not be making
new social media connections with former students under the age of 18, with
current students, or with parents of current students.
Agreements Regarding
Email Communication
It is especially important for students and
parents to review “Communicating with
Stanford OHS” in the Family Handbook
(Part 10). When followed, these newly articulated agreements will allow students,
families and instructors to communicate
smoothly and effectively.
Social-Emotional Learning
To return briefly to our touchstone of
Openness, we are very excited to be
initiating a multi-year project focused
on the tools needed to establish empathy, listening skills, and the understanding of the perspective of others, which
6 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
one acquires through Social-Emotional
Learning (SEL). We are partnering with
SixSeconds, an international network
that supports people in practicing the
skills of emotional intelligence to create positive change. Together we will investigate how to bring these skills into
the virtual medium. We began this process at Summer Program when our Upper School students actively explored in
a face-to-face medium “What’s In and
What’s Out” in OHS virtual classrooms
for students and instructors, providing
insight into behaviors that enhance and
detract from the online environment.
Over the course of the year, a core group
of OHS instructors and staff will be designing a plan and laying the groundwork for this new venture for Stanford
OHS in the world of SEL.
I invite you to be in touch with me
throughout the school year to let me
know how the fervor of the fall carries
on into the months ahead. Our goal is
that each of our 610 students experiences the enthusiasm our 70 instructors and
staff feel in challenging them to reason
analytically, think creatively, and argue
critically at this school, which is unlike
any other.
Kathlyn Gray,
Director
The Results
Of the OHS Communcation Survey
How often do you read the newsletter?
What type of content do you like?
These are a couple of the questions we asked students
and families about OHS communications.
By Summar Aubrey
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 7 As
The Weekly Bulletin
an online school,
one of our highest priorities beyond the classroom is to create
a sense of community among our students, parents, and staff. One of the ways we try to bring
our community together is by providing communications that are meaningful and useful.
Our primary forms for doing this are regular
emails, the Weekly Bulletin, and this newsletter.
In mid-August, we sent out a communications
survey to get your impressions of these publications. Over 300 parents and students responded, including 215 returning parents and students. We’ve focused our analysis of the results
on returning families, as they had experienced at
least a year of OHS communications. The results
have been incredibly useful and will guide some
changes in these communications as we move
forward this year.
We initiated the Weekly Bulletin two years ago to keep our community
in-the-know on a weekly basis. Changes this year include adapting the
bulletin for mobile devices and making the overall format more aesthetically
pleasing. The results from the Communications Survey will guide further
improvements.
Eighty percent (80%) of parents and fifty-six percent (56%) of students
who completed the survey read the Weekly Bulletin either “every week” or
“most of the time.” This is an impressive percentage and reveals that this has
been an effective communication for our families.
The most common reason reported for not reading the bulletin was being
too busy or not having enough time. Other feedback we received was concerned with the difficulty of having links to documents or additional information on Gateway, which requires students and families to login with their
SUNet ID to access the information. Because we publish and collect information about our students, it will always be necessary for us to maintain a
private site. We understand that Stanford University’s two-step authentication process can make logging in to Gateway cumbersome. This is part of
University IT security and will continue to be a frequent extra step. However, we are going to put more information directly in the bulletin this year so
that fewer logins to Gateway will be necessary.
How Often do You Read the
OHS Weekly Bulletin?
190 Responses Total
Every Month
78 responses / 41%
Most of the Time
Sometimes
54 responses / 28%
23 responses / 12%
Occasionaly
Never
24 Responses / 13%
11 responses / 6 %
8 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
How Often do You Read the
OHS Monthly Newsletter?
196 Responses Total
Every Month
76 responses / 39%
Most of the Time
Sometimes
Occasionaly
Never
55 responses / 28%
22 responses / 11%
22 Responses / 14%
15 responses / 8 %
The OHS Newsletter
New Names
The OHS newsletter has existed as a monthly publication since 2011. While
the bulletin focuses on timely announcements and action-items, the newsletters focus is on broader articles about what’s going on in the community:
curriculum updates, alumni and student news, reports from school events,
and more. Over the last few years, we’ve seen the newsletter develop from
an all-text document to a beautiful publication full of images and news
about our community.
The percentages of readers for the newsletter were quite similar to those for
the bulletin: 75% of parents and 56% of students who completed the survey read the monthly newsletter either “every month” or “most of the time.”
We were pleased to learn that the newsletter is so enjoyed by our community.
Based on the amount of work required to create the newsletter each month
and the demanding publication schedule, we had been considering making
the newsletter quarterly. However, when we asked about changing the frequency of the newsletter in the survey, a large majority of respondents—
70%—preferred that the newsletter remain a monthly publication. To strike
a balance between this preference and the time-intensive nature of the production, this year, we will be publishing the newsletter every other month
(October, December, February, March, May, and the Graduation edition in
June). All of the types of content in the newsletter received a positive response, but the most positive response was to Student News, curriculum updates, and news about instructors and staff. We will work to enhance these
areas of the newsletter and to continue to include all the content that is so
appreciated by the community.
Another finding from the survey is that there is
some confusion between the newsletter and the
bulletin. To help distinguish the two, we’ve unveiled brand new names for each publication.
The Weekly Bulletin is now the Pixel Weekly,
and starting with this issue, the newsletter is now
OHS Connection.
Publication
Archives
Both publications are archived on the Gateway
site, so you can always look back to reference
announcements and articles. You can find these
archives from the top of the Gateway homepage
or at the links below:
▶▶ Bulletin Archive
▶▶ Newsletter Archive
Thank you all for your responses to the survey.
If you have additional questions or comments
about OHS Communications, you can contact
us directly by email at:
ohscommunications@stanford.edu.
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 9 Start Up!

Intro by Tom Tessier
In total, over 150 members of the Stanford OHS community assembled on
Saturday , September 6th in California, Minnesota, New York, and Texas for the first annual
Start Up! Starting at 9:00am, groups opened their emails to find a list of objectives they had
to complete in six hours. Students found themselves building models of Stanford’s iconic
Hoover Tower, re-enacting famous album covers, and lip-syncing to songs old and new, to
win the most points for their Start Up!
With clever puns, group involvement, a mash-up music video, and selfies upon selfies
upon selfies, Start Up! New York was this year’s victor. It was a close race, however, as the
second place team, Start Up! NorCal came in second by a mere five points. Scoring points
for an uncanny imitation of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and creative use of golf course scenery, the 65-person Start Up! (the largest of the five), gave a great showing of competition
and camaraderie. Other highlights include a 75-inch representation of the Hoover Tower
by the 22-person (and 2-cat) team of Start Up! Texas and hilarious album covers and pixels
from some Minneapolites and SoCal OHSers.
We hope you enjoy some of our favorites shots from these events and the reports from
our hosts.
New York
By host, Joe Rose
The New York City 2014 Start Up!
event was a dense, boisterous, fast
paced celebration in keeping with the
tenor of its host city. The 30 OHS students who attended participated with
gusto in all the scheduled Start Up!
activities and enjoyed the varied culinary options of the Madison Square
Eats food festival. The highlight of
the day was definitely an intimate
two hour group conversation with renowned astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse
Tyson who stopped by to spend time
with the group.
10 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
NorCal
By hosts, Cynthia Saitta & Rebecca Voigt
SoCal
Northern California OHSers had an
amazing time at Boomer’s! We had 65
people who were able to attend and
spend the day together! The ice-breakers were a terrific way to help the students get to know each other better. Our
favorite was the Human Knot! After finishing the ice breakers, students split off
to accomplish the other items in groups
as well as hitting all the fun attractions—
Go Karts, Miniature Golf, Bumper Boats,
Laser Tag, and video games. Some of
the parents enjoyed the attractions
while others visited and helped take
pictures for the photo scavenger hunt! A
great day was had by all!
By host, Tony Rojko
Fifteen spirited students gathered at our
home in Manhattan Beach, CA for the SoCal Start Up! meet-up. Katherine Samuel,
Sydney Little, Ricky Grannis-Vu, and Tony
Rojko lip-synced “How to Build A Snowman.” Edward Park, Dennis Chen, and
Nicholas Machado designed and built two
different Lego renditions of the OHS Pixel
Mascot. Bryce Robinson, Luke Kwong, Aiden Hobson, and Anthony Mosavi acted out
the Abbey Road Album cover. Becca Rose,
Sydney Little, Katherine Samuel, and Tony
Rojko built an impressive Hoover Tower.
Lily Shao helped keep everyone on task.
Isabelle Fuhrman stole the show with her
cameo reprisal performance as Clove from
The Hunger Games in which she pretended to finish off most of the attendees with a
pool cue, which she had to pry away from
Anthony Mosavi and Daniel Nunez who
theretofore had been enjoying the run of
the house pool table.
Minneapolis
By host, Jenny Ito
The Start Up! Minneapolis team had an
afternoon picnic on a beautiful fall day
on Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. Twenty-five pixels were in attendance, from
Canada, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The group really enjoyed construct-
ing the Hoover Tower and recreating the
album covers for the scavenger hunt,
but their favorite part was just visiting
and hanging out together. They dove
into the activities and enjoyed the company of their pixel friends, old and new!
Texas
By hosts, David & Kathy Cordeiro
Hello from the Cordeiros, David and
Kathy! We served as hosts for the Texas
Start Up! event and were pleased with
the turnout of 22 OHSers and their families, some veterans and many new faces. The participants seemed to enjoy
the ice breaker activities most of all and
learned a great deal about their school
mates. We’ve hosted events in the past
and it is always refreshing to see how
quickly the kids connect. Even though
they all have different backgrounds and
interests, the common thread seems
to be that they enjoy thinking deeply
and critically as well as have great humor and spirit. This is a group, students
and parents alike, who are interested in
sharing ideas and discussing them thoroughly, which made for a fun and enlightening time all around.
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 11 Do you have
your own
calendar tips?
Tweet them to
@Stanford_OHS
with the hashtag
#OHSPixelTips
Photo By:
Anastasia Gracheva,
Statues in Kyoto,
Digital Photography
Sep
t
Tips
er
emb
2014
successful year
From OHS counseling & Advising

Intro By Chloe Benjamin
Tips on Calendars
As the school year begins, it’s time to adopt a calendar for keeping track of time commitments. Stanford OHS Advisors and Counselors would like to share some pointers to help you get started. The following tips are important whether you are using a
hand-held planner, digital calendar, or a combination of the two.
Add padding to deadlines. Set your own
deadlines, and when possible, make them earlier than the ones set by your instructor. For
major assignments and tests coming up, what
“goalposts” has the instructor recommended
you finish by this week or even assigned (e.g.,
paper outline or rough drafts)? Be sure to put
these on your calendar. Can you create any of
these “goalpost” assignments for yourself? For
example, study chapters 1–2 this week, 3–4
next week to be prepared for the big test on
chapters 1–4.
Prioritize your to-do lists each day.
For example, you can prioritize your tasks into “A”
tasks (task you need to get done today), “B” tasks
(tasks that are important but that can wait if necessary), and “C” tasks (tasks that you’d like to get
done, but that you can postpone).
Dedicate time to calendaring. Every week,
set aside some dedicated time to review and update your planner/calendar. For each class, review eCollege pages and instructor emails. Update minor assignments and check ahead on the
due dates of major assignments.
Find More Tips on the next page
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 13 Benjamin’s Pick
Ms.
Choose the Calendar
that is right for you
Ms. Benjamin:
Franklin Covey Calendar
If you want to use a physical calendar, it
is important that you pick a useful one.
Here are things to consider when choosing a hand-held calendar: Hours in a day: OHS classes can run between 6am–9pm Pacific time. That is a long day! If you are using
your hand-held calendar for tracking daily commitments, make
sure yours gives sufficient space to mark off times throughout your
school day. Space for a long to-do list: Some calendars only have
a small amount of space and may not offer enough room for all of
your assignments. Weekend planning: Some calendars only have
small slots for booking work on weekends. Try to pick a calendar
that has full slots for weekends. You’ll need that time. A Franklin
Covey Calendar has enough room to fit in the unusually busy life
of an OHS student: to
do lists, hours in the
day, planning notes,
and weekend days.
Breaking up large assignments into smaller ones is easy with
this system. Students
seem to like it!
Get a Franklin Covey! 
teele’s Pick
Dr. S
Dr. Steele: Epic Win
Many of our OHS students enjoy the adventure and thrill of gaming, and this app
works to combine the necessity of getting
organized and managing time effectively with the fun of gaming. Features include
adding tasks and
dates of completion and choosing an avatar to represent
you. Collect rewards that will move you up
the game map and share with your friends
on social media to help you receive additional encouragement. Get organized and
manage your time with fun and humor!
Get Epic Win! 
14 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
. Jacokes’ Pick
Mrs
Mrs. Jacokes:
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a powerful time management and organizational tool. Track
school assignments all on a single calendar, or create different, color-coded calendars for each course and each of your outside activities. Set weekly assignments as recurring events. Reminder notifications are some of the most powerful features. Google Calendar can
send you email, text message, or popup reminders for upcoming events. You
can set up a default reminder for all
new events (Settings::Calendars::Reminders & Notifications), or when you
create each individual event, set the
type of reminder you want, and how far
in advance (e.g. “DFRL essay due”, set
multiple email reminders 7 days in advance, 2 days in advance, 3
hours before exact due time). You can even have Google Calendar
send you a daily agenda each morning!
Peterson’s Pick
Ms.
Get Google
Calendar! 
Ms. Peterson: Timeful
Timeful is a free app for iPhone users (Android and web versions to be announced
in the future) designed to work like an automated personal assistant. The unique
thing that makes Timeful exciting is that it
employs machine learning to get to know
its users habits and make recommendations to help them meet
their goals and get things done on time. Timeful can sync to Google Calendar and iCal and users are encouraged to include their
habits and personal
tasks as well as work
deadlines so that
Timeful can help
you set aside time
for your habits, and
encourage you toward your personal
and academic goals.
Get Timeful! 
5
Minutes W i t h
(or Less) C o l
By Adam Lips & Kate Rossetti
lege
Counseling
Essay Writing for Graduating Seniors
College application season is in full swing and most seniors have moved beyond the creation of their college lists and on to the task of actually completing their college applications. The task that students find most challenging when applying to college is the writing
of college essays and personal statements. With that in mind, we thought this would be a
good opportunity to offer some suggestions that might help you move past the intimidating blank which lies below the essay prompt.
Understand the opportunity . . .
The first step in writing a strong and representative college essay is to understand the
purpose of the exercise. Students should
keep this fact in mind—in the time leading
up to the day the application is submitted,
the essay is the only item in the application over which you have complete control.
Grades and test scores have been recorded, activities have been completed, and instructors have written their letters. Additionally, the essays you write for a college
are your chance for them to get to know
you and for you to convey aspects of your
personality that cannot be captured in any
other part of the application. Students who
experience success writing college essays
are those who embrace the opportunity to
express themselves and put their personality on display.
. . . but put it in perspective.
One thing we commonly see is students
psyching themselves out about the essay
and thinking that it is a “make or break”
piece of the application. The fact is that a
student’s writing is only one of many pieces
of the application that colleges use to make
admission decisions. While it can help your
cause, even the most amazing essay will not
singlehandedly get you into college, and
only a horrendously bad one will keep you
out. Knowing that you always have your academic and extracurricular record to stand
on should help remove some of the stress
and anxiety and free you to write.
Know what colleges want.
The most common question we get during
essay writing season is “What do the colleges
want?” The answer is actually fairly simple—
they want to know what you believe is important to tell them. Remember that they
are using these short pieces to get to know
you better, and after reading your essay they
should know more about your distinctive
traits, values, beliefs, and interests than they
did when you started. The best essays are
those that are genuine and authentic, and
communicate your personality in your own
voice. Finally, they want to get a sense of how
you will contribute to their campus community, both in the classroom and out. What
they don’t want is you telling them what you
think they want to hear.
Understand the real
topic and its importance.
Regardless of the number of essays that
you will have to write for any given college, they will all have the same topic—
you. Whether you are relating a childhood
vacation, discussing your stamp collection, or reflecting on your research experience, your goal is to use that experience to
tell your personal story. This type of writing
tends to be difficult for students, who are
often uncomfortable talking about themselves. Do your best to avoid simple description of a situation, and keep the focus
on you. If your writing seems self-centered,
you are probably on the right track.
Start early and write
multiple drafts.
Because this is a new type of writing for students, it takes a fair amount of practice to
do it well. For this reason, the best advice
we can give to students is to start early. Begin by identifying topics (in addition to you)
that are meaningful. In our experience, students who experience the most success
with their essays are those who begin well
before applications are due and can put the
effort into five or more drafts, seeking feedback from those who know them along the
way. Allowing those close to you to read
over your work will help you in your quest
to convey your personality in your writing.
Whether you attend OHS full-time or also
attend another school, your college counseling office is available to support you as
you write your college essays. Additionally, we are excited that the new OHS Writing Center will soon offer some sessions on
college essays that can help you with your
writing, so be on the lookout for those announcements. As always, if you have questions please let us know. Happy writing!
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 15 OHS Writing &
Resource Center

Launching a new tool
for OHS students
Tweet It!
@WriteOHS
Ask Us!
by Rebecca Sheilds
The OHS is pleased to announce the launch of the
Writing & Resource Center,
which is dedicated to creating an academic community of strong and confident
writers and to advancing
the collaborative learning
of OHS students across disciplines.
The concept of the Writing & Resource Center was
developed by Dr. Meg Lamont, Division Head of English, who explains, “We
wanted to create an OHS
Writing Center to support
OHS students and instructors since the school began
in 2006. We are so excited
this year to finally launch
this long-awaited resource,
expanded to also include
student tutors across all
subjects and workshops on
study skills, time management, and other key elements of student success—
in addition, of course, to
copious resources for student writing!”
The Writing & Resource
Center is staffed by writing instructors Rebecca
Shields, who serves as Associate Director of the center, and Anthony Bennette.
The center is home to a
growing number of programs, courses and, resources, including a robust tutoring center staffed
by writing instructors and
nearly 70 student tutors
representing all OHS disciplines, year-long writing
labs to support students’
writing in foundational
courses, a variety of writing
and study skills workshops,
and The OHS Writing & Resource Center Student Advisory Board.
Already, the program
has received praise from
students for its effective
writing labs and tutoring
sessions. To learn more,
connect with the Writing &
Resource Center today!
16 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
Visit our website at
ohswritingcenter.stanford.
edu to book tutoring appointments and to access
a variety of writing-related
resources.
For last-minute appointments and upcoming workshop announcements, follow Stanford OHS Writing
@WriteOHS on Twitter.
For questions and comments, email ohswriting@
stanford.edu.
ohswriting@
stanford.edu
Visit!
ohswritingcenter.
stanford.edu
Our Goals for Graduates
The Director of Curriculum discusses the
Expected Schoolwide Learning Results
By Jeffrey Scarborough
While the mission of Stanford OHS is prominent in our discussions of what the school seeks to accomplish, another set of goals is reflected daily in our classrooms. Developed in the first year of the school as part of our accreditation process and most recently revised in 2014
by OHS staff, the Expected Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLRs) are a distillation of the school’s goals for students upon their graduation.
Despite the acronyms and newly streamlined phrasing, the underlying skills and values will sound familiar to OHS students:
Results of the First
Alumni ESLR Survey
Theoretical & Applied
Knowledge
Reasoning
Skills
Understanding
Diverse Materials
Effective Written &
Spoken Language
Preparation for Responsible
& Productive Citizenship
Preparation for
Life-Long Learning
KEY
Achieved Very Well
Achieved Well
Achieved Somewhat
Upon graduation from the Online High School,
• Students will possess theoretical and applied knowledge
of diverse subject areas and disciplines.
• Students will be practitioners of the critical reasoning skills
necessary for abstract and practical problem solving.
• Students will be able to interpret and synthesize with insight and creativity.
• Students will employ written and spoken language to communicate
effectively across a range of audiences, purposes, and media.
• Students will be equipped to act as responsible and productive citizens in a global
community, with an understanding and appreciation of diversity and its possibilities.
• Students will be committed to a lifelong pursuit of knowledge.
OHS teachers and administration have affirmed repeatedly that these are indeed the
goals we’re working toward on a daily basis
across the curriculum. If this is the case, then
one of the best ways of refining our courses
and teaching is to look at our success in addressing and meeting these goals. Watching our seniors graduate each year is always
an affirmation when we see their poise, accomplishment, compassion, and ambition.
We’ve had more quantifiable encouragement through our first alumni survey last
year, in which sixty alumni expressed strong
confidence that their OHS experience had
equipped them in the manner envisioned in
the ESLRs.
But in seeking constantly to challenge ourselves to creativity and improvement in help-
ing students achieve our common goals for
their education, we are making a concerted
effort this year to be more explicit in linking
our daily practices and larger course design
to these goals. In particular, we are discussing
as a staff how to (a) articulate how our courses
address the goals outlined in the ESLRs, and
(b) identify and develop ways of characterizing students’ progress toward those goals. Finally, this article is itself part of the project we
envision for our work on these learning goals
this year, in the sense that we think it’s essential that students and the broader community be both aware of these goals and engaged in considering how the school helps
to achieve them. We look forward to sharing
more of our ESLR project, and enlisting the
community in it, as it develops.
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 17 We love these
photos taken by
Maxwell Chung (’17)
during the Stanford OHS
Summer Program. See
more student artwork
on pg. 38 & the
Gateway.
The
New
Welcome to the First issue of
OHS Connection—The New Newsletter.
In rethinking the newsletter format,
we wanted the design & content to
reflect our Community—Intelligent,
Quirky, Artistic, Foward-Thinking, & Bold.
We hope that this first issue Captures
just how amazing our School is.
Intro By Stephanie Griffin
New
Instructors & Staff
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
The newest members
of the OHS community
share their thoughts &
excitement in joining
our unique school!
1 Will Beals, Core
5 James Fredericks, Math
I have come to OHS for many reasons, but I was most attracted
I am really looking forward to working together with my
by two things. First, the kind of students OHS draws—people
students to help foster a deep appreciation for mathematics—to
who really love learning for its own sake. Second, the emphasis
understand that mathematics involves a great deal of creativity.
on philosophy as a core part of the curriculum. As a philosopher,
I want them to not just be able to find the answers to problems,
how could you not love that!
but to also have a fundamental understanding of why everything
2 Anthony Bennette,
Writing & Resource Center
I am looking forward to developing the OHS Writing and Learning
Center with my long time colleague Rebecca Shields. I am curious
and eager to see how it grows and changes over time through the
influence of students and staff.
3 Bruce Burge, Math
Even in the few weeks I’ve been here, it’s been great to get
introduced to some of the OHS students, and I’m really looking
forward to getting to know them better in my homeroom, in my
math classes, and any other way that I can. I have the chance
to teach both multivariate and “traditional” calculus. I enjoy the
transition to these classes where we continue to expand the
boundaries of what we're interested in with math.
4 Jim Doherty, Science
I look forward to introducing students in Earth, Environment, and
Energy to the big and very topical concepts of climate change
and alternative energy. I’m looking forward to working with very
bright, motivated students.
functions in the way it does.
6 Shannon Hays, English
I came to the OHS because I am excited about the fusion of
technology and education. I view teaching as among the most
important responsibilities of the citizen to society.
7 Nicole Huber,
Assistant Registrar
I previously worked at Stanford in the Registrar’s office and
really appreciated this great community of people dedicated
to learning. I was excited to find that same dedication and
innovation at OHS. I look forward learning more about this
amazing group and becoming a part of the OHS family!
8 Anne Hruska, English
I love the creative freedom that teachers and students are
afforded at OHS.
9 Margarita Kanarsky, Math
Teaching at OHS will let me experience what it is like to be a
part of an innovative school that is referred by some as “the
best school in the world.” I look forward to helping students to
strengthen their appreciation of and interest in mathematics!
10
11
12
13
14
10 Kristina
Mead Vetter,
Science
I am most looking forward to getting
to know more people in the OHS
community. I have been working on a
book at home, and miss hanging out
with colleagues! In terms of teaching,
my favorite topics are physiology,
neuroscience, and the environment.
11 Grant Rozenboom, Core
13 Lesley Stanford, English
I love introducing students to important philosophical questions
It’s the curiosity and energy of middle school students that really
and showing them how they were already asking themselves
excites me as a teacher, coupled with my love of literature. Young
those questions, often without realizing it! And I am looking
students are capable of appreciating 14th and 17th century language,
forward to seeing the collective intellectual progress my classes
especially when the issues are as timeless as those of Chaucer and
can make over the course of the year, given the intelligence and
Shakespeare. I am anticipating some lively discussions with my
energy of OHS students.
middle school students during this coming year.
12 Rebecca Shields,
Writing & Resource Center
After teaching at the OHS during its inaugural year, I am delighted
to return to the OHS to serve as the Associate Director of the
Writing & Resource Center. This year, I look forward to working
with OHS Student Tutors, the OHS Writing & Resource Center
Advisory Board, instructors and staff to establish a program that
is a vital part of the OHS community and experience.
22 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
14 Heather Walker-Dale, Core
I am looking forward to seeing the approaches and attitudes
students develop in response to philosophical questions, and
similarly look forward to discussing some of the most significant
theories and experiments in history (for the History of Science
course). The intellectual flexibility and openness to varied
perspectives among the student body was certainly a draw for
me, and their great enthusiasm is a welcome bonus!
At the beginning of August,
131 students came
together to spend two action-packed weeks together here on the
Stanford campus. Some traveled for twenty minutes, others traveled
for twenty hours, coming from as far away as Australia and Hong
Kong. As students unpacked their bags into a record five Stanford
residential houses and spilled off the lawn for our traditional
Welcome BBQ, it was clear that this was going to be the biggest
(and best) Summer Program yet!
“I absolutely loved
my classes. I felt like
I learned so much in
the small amount
of time we had.”
F
or most high school students, the central activity for two
weeks was the mini-course program. A number of popular
courses from previous years returned and were joined by
some new favorites, including Amusement Park Physics; Performing Justice: A Case Study of Antigone and Merchant of
Venice; Transporters, Time Travel, & Artificial Intelligence:
Philosophy of Science Fiction; and Very, Very, VERY Large
Numbers. The short time frame, unique topics, and in-person nature of these courses make them a special experience.
As one student put it, “I absolutely loved my classes. I felt like
I learned so much in the small amount of time we had.” The
real joy for many students comes from working with their
OHS instructors, who are described as “enthusiastic,” “wonderful,” and “awesome” throughout the student survey.
In addition to the mini-course program, thirty high school students participated in
intensive science laboratory courses. We were thrilled to have three lab courses this
year: AP Biology, AP/Honors Physics, and AP/Honors Chemistry. Students in these
courses engaged in a wide variety of hands-on experiments, from growing bacteria to igniting thermite to riding roller coasters. One student summed up the experience beautifully, saying, “I loved how close we all became, how engaging and funny
our instructor was, how educational the labs were, and how many real-world science
skills we learned.”
All high school students participated in Pixel Projects, four three day long activities
organized by students in the Summer Program Student Working Group. There were
four vastly different projects, each lasting three days. While one group played frisbee
and capture-the-flag, another group learned about poverty and hunger and packaged
meals for the nonprofit organization Stop Hunger Now. While one group watched
and discussed Alfred Hitchcock films, another group created an OHS-themed mural.
Our Student Working Group did a fantastic job creating and executing these activities that added some extra spice to Summer Program.
24 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
E
vening activities such as the traditional OHS Talent Show, a
Science Bowl event, endless frisbee games, and of course, a
dance (called GlowHS) rounded out the class days for our
high schoolers. Weekends brought field trips to museums in
San Francisco, the beach in Capitola, and a ropes course at
UC Berkeley!
This year also saw the launch of a brand new Middle School
Program. Twenty students entering grades 7 or 8 participated
in their own Summer Program from August 5 – 11. The theme
of this program was Renaissance, so in addition to OHS orientation sessions, the students explored this theme from every
angle. They learned about Renaissance art by visiting the Cantor Center for Visual Arts here at Stanford and by constructing their own Renaissance-style domes. They found their way
around campus and measured the height of the Hoover Tower using Renaissance navigation and math techniques. And of course, they practiced their Shakespearean verse and attended a Shakespeare production. But as any student in this
program would tell you, the highlight was LARP (Live Action Role Playing).
A local troupe taught the students about Renaissance social class systems,
warfare, and weaponry, and then engaged the students in a simulation. We
heard nothing but, “LARP was awesome!” for the rest of the program.
All of the amazing activities and classes make up Summer Program, but it is the personal connections that make it special. As Bryce Robinson (’18) put it, “My favorite
thing about Summer Program was the people. I got to meet new people and become
much closer to the friends I already had...You get to meet teachers you’ve had during
the year or teachers you’ll have next year. You get to make relationships with them
that are different than you can do on mic.” We couldn’t have said it better, Bryce.
Both the middle and high school programs set a solid foundation of friendship, academic community, and intellectual enthusiasm for the school year. We can’t wait for
next year and hope to see you here!
We heard nothing but,
“LARP was awesome!” for
the rest of the program.
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 25 What are the Stanford OHS Enrollment Statistics for the 2014–15 School Year?
Pixel Planet Search
I’m Feeling Lucky
Total Number of Students
610 (increase of 17.5%)
Returning Students / New Students
335 returning students / 275 new students
Female / Male
50% female / 50% male
Middle School / High School
142 middle school students / 468 high school students
26 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
Full-Time
286 students = 47% (increase of 28%)
Part-Time
102 students = 17%
Single Course
222 students = 36%
Full-Time Equivalent
392 students (increase of 22.8%)
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 27 a
l
Ho tina
n
e
g
r
A
The OHS Spanish Cultural Exchange
& Language Immersion Program
Takes a Trip to South America
By Jenny Nadaner
I
was inspired to initiate the Spanish Immersion Program upon ex-
periencing my OHS students’ strong motivation to deepen their language
skills through face-to-face interaction with the native speakers of Spanish,
in the context of the native landscape, culture, and daily life. The program
lasted five weeks, from June 21 to July 26. Students stayed with host families in Mendoza, Argentina. The host families selected had children close
in age to the OHS students participating in the program, providing excellent opportunities for peer interaction. Given that this was a pilot program,
only five students participated, allowing for individualized interaction, experiences, and language learning. I had selected Argentina because of my
extensive experience both living and working in this country, and specifically because of my knowledge of the Universidad Nacional de Mendoza and
this university’s proven track record of offering both Education Abroad and
Language Learning programs to students from a variety of academic institutions in the U.S.
T
he activities offered to the students were many and diverse. Some of
the highlights included skiing at Las Leñas in the northern tip of Patagonia,
hiking in the Parque de Horcones at the base of mount Aconcagua (the tallest mountain in South America), river rafting down the Río Mendoza, hiking
throughout the Andes, horseback riding, zip-lining, and learning about the
production of olive oil and wines in the province. The students were able to
sample traditional Argentine cuisine, including the famous Argentine asado
(grilled meat), empanadas, and pastas caseras (homemade pasta). Their favorites included anything with dulce de leche (homemade caramel), including alfajores and pastelitos (a fried dessert). They also were introduced to
the traditional Argentine green tea, Yerba Mate, which is a social experience,
as the tea is drunk with friends and family members.
M
d
e
it
c
x
e
o
s
ts
n
e
d
tu
s
y
m
e
e
“ It was wonderful to s
...”
h
is
n
a
p
S
g
in
k
a
e
p
s
d
n
a
and cheering
y favorite personal memory is getting together with the stu-
dents to watch the World Cup matches and partaking in the celebrations
that followed. It was wonderful to see my students so excited and cheering and speaking Spanish to learn more about the variety of players and the
games, and having a true cultural experience in Argentina.
30 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
OHS
Student
Government
Meet the
Officers
Student Body
President
Jing Liu
Senior Class
President
Daniel Sutkowski
Student Body
Secretary
Laura Rouse
Junior Class
President
Jango McCormick
Senior Class
Vice President
Cherry Ng
Student Body
Vice President
Emma Drewry
Junior Class
Vice President
Mace Anderson
Sophomore Class
President
David Shuster
Sophomore Class
Vice President
Luke Kwong
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Representative
Rebekah Agwunobi
Freshman Class
President
Arya Rao
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Representative
Anthony Mosavi
Internal Review
Board Chair
Nathaniel Mahlum
Board of the
Arts Chair
Chloe Clougher
Board of Club
Relations Chair
Godwin Pang
Board of
Events Chair
Tia Mansoor
Freshman Class
Vice President
Louis Gosart
Board of
Communications
& Outreach Chair
Ari Sokolov
Student News
Nicole Reed
Type 1 Diabetes Charity
Nicole Reed (’16) is a full-time junior living in the Atlanta area. At the
age of nine, Nicole’s life changed forever when she was diagnosed
with Type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s
pancreas loses the ability to produce insulin, a hormone essential to turning food into energy. It strikes both children and adults
suddenly and is unrelated to diet and lifestyle. Nicole’s life involves
checking her blood sugar up to ten times per day, injecting insulin, counting carbohydrates, carrying supplies with her at all times,
and more. Since her diagnosis, she has endured over 15,000 blood
sugar pricks and thousands of needles.
Nicole has worked to increase awareness about Type 1 diabetes
by speaking at her previous elementary and middle schools as well
as at Girl Scout meetings. In October, she will speak to her local
chapter of the National Charity League.
Since her diagnosis, Nicole has also been involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). She would like to invite
all OHS students in the Atlanta area to a charity meet-up supporting the JDRF. “Team Nicole” will participate in the JDRF One Walk,
a 5K family walk held on October 18, 2014 at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. No donation is required. Her team was formed
only weeks after her diagnosis as a way to help fund research for a
cure as well as bring awareness about the disease. This year will be
her 7th year participating in the JDRF One Walk. “Team Nicole” has
raised over $35,000 thus far!
Nicole has made good friends with others diagnosed with Type 1
diabetes through her involvement with JDRF. The JDRF Walk is the
one day all year that she is happy to have Type 1 diabetes because
of all the support from family and friends! We encourage you to join
us and make a difference!
Siddhartha Jagannath
Sanskrit Instructor
Siddhartha Jagannath (’18) spent the past summer teaching Sanskrit, the ancient Indian classical language, in the Indian cities of
Chennai, Coimbatore, and Bangalore. Siddhartha has been a student of Sanskrit for over seven years and has recently embarked on
teaching Sanskrit.
Siddhartha is a volunteer teacher for Samskrita Bharati, a
non-profit organization that teaches conversational Sanskrit. The
mission of Samskrita Bharati is to revive Sanskrit as a mass communication language and facilitate universal access to its vast
treasure of knowledge, regardless of caste or creed. Siddhartha
participates in organizing and teaching the 10-day spoken Sanskrit camps for beginners.
Siddhartha enjoys teaching Sanskrit because teaching makes
him a better student. As a teacher, he has learned to be quick on
his feet and to devise ways to keep young children involved and focused while keeping his classes fun. In this role, he can inspire people from all walks of life to learn Sanskrit literature and traditional
sciences.
Contact Nicole at nreed9@ohs.
stanford.edu to join Team Nicole!
34 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
Mack Meller
SCRABBLE
Share your
news with us!
Find out how
on pg. 44!
Mack Meller (’18) took 7th Place at the National SCRABBLE® Championship held in August in Buffalo, NY. Mack competed in Division 1
against 91 other expert-level players.
In a field of mainly adults, 14-year-old Mack was the youngest competitor in Division 1. His favorite words played were “subdwarf” (a small
star of relatively low luminousity) and “formyls” (univalent chemical
radicals). His highest scoring play was “islander” for 140 points.
Mack finished the tournament with a new rating of 2023 and a
national ranking of 7th for all players competing in North American
SCRABBLE. This is Mack’s second National Championship tournament; he also placed 7th in 2013 in Las Vegas.
Photo by Patricia A. Hocker, NASPA
Sangeetha Bharath
Broadcom Masters
Science Fair 2014
Sangeetha Bharath (’18) is a part-time freshman aspiring to study
physics, English, and higher level math. Her “Piezo Power” science
fair project demonstrated the capability of piezoelectricity, electric
charge that gathers in materials in response to a mechanical stress
(e.g. pressure).
Sangeetha found that it is possible to channel the energy applied
to a standard keyboard while typing with the goal of reducing the
world’s carbon footprint one keystroke at a time. The purpose of
this experiment was to utilize the beneficial powers of naturally occurring piezoelectric materials to power LEDs.
The industry of piezoelectricity is expanding and blossoming,
and Sangeetha wants to contribute to the movement. She wanted to create an original design that many people could expand on
for the benefit of others globally. Her display includes a set of LEDs
connected to piezoelectric discs with keys from a standard computer keyboard attached. Pressing on the keys generates energy
and powers the LED. This invention could potentially be used in
millions of homes where computer keyboards are used on a daily
basis. If electricity could be generated from nothing but movement
and pressure, much energy could be saved.
Sangeetha was featured in a segment in KCRA 3 Sacramento
News and won several awards in the 2014 Synopsys Sacramento
Region Science and Engineering Fair. She is now a semifinalist in
the Broadcom Masters competition and will be entered in the finals.
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 35 Jake Chasan
House STEM Academic
Competition
Jake Chasan (’16) was the winner of the House STEM Academic Competition from the 52nd District of California. The following is
a press release about the contest and Jake’s app, which is called
“Path to Eagle Scout.”
Rep. Peters Announces Jacob Chasan as
Winner of Inaugural ‘App’ Contest
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Congressman Scott Peters (CA52) announced Jacob Chasan as the winner of the inaugural House STEM Academic Competition from the 52nd Dis-
trict for his application entitled ‘Path to Eagle Scout.’ Rep.
Peters met with Chasan and his family in the Washington,
D.C., office today.
“With our region’s innovation focused economy, an app
contest that challenges local students to think critically and
creatively is a perfect fit,” Rep. Peters said. “I’m excited to
announce Jake as our first winner. His app is a testament to
the skills in science, technology, engineering, and math that
our country will need to stay competitive in coming years.”
“Participating in the House App Challenge taught me important lessons in customer service, video editing, and coding,” Chasan said. “I am glad I devoted the time to build this
app and participate in the Challenge.”
‘Path to Eagle Scout’ provides a guide for Boy Scouts to
keep track of their progress on merit badges and through
the ranks all the way to the top rank of Eagle Scout. In addition to the progress tracker the app features checklists for
each rank and a quiz to prep the Scout before the Board of
Review.
The House STEM (science, technology, engineering, and
math) Academic Competition, this year focusing on software applications, or ‘apps,’ for mobile, tablet, or computer devices was open for submissions earlier this year. The
winner was chosen by a panel of local tech and innovation
leaders.
You can read the full article on Congressman Peters’ website.
Congressman Peters serves the 52nd District of California which covers much of central San Diego County including Poway, Coronado,
and large portions of the City of San Diego. He is a member of the
House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on
Science, Space, & Technology. He was named the fourth most independent Democrat by National Journal last year. The Congressman is a former environmental attorney, City Council President,
and Port Commission Chairman.
Watch a Video
about Jake’s App!
Download ”Path
to eagle Scout”
36 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
From the OHSPA
Welcome new and returning families to
the 2014–2015 school year. The goal of the
OHS Parents Association is to enhance and
strengthen the OHS community in conjunction with the OHS administration, instructors, and staff. We work to achieve this
goal in several ways, and we hope you will
join us in these different settings. We host a
monthly meeting in Adobe Connect where
MIT Splash Meet-up
The MIT Splash meet-up has grown
into a unique East Coast OHS tradition over the past few years. Last
year, it broke meet-up records with
an attendance of over 75 people.
Join OHS families the weekend of
November 21st to 23rd in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. High school students may attend classes at MIT
Splash during the day on Saturday
and Sunday. Younger students and
siblings will have activities such as a
trip to the New England Aquarium,
Museum of Science, the Freedom
Trail and/or the Tea Party Museum.
We will gather for a fun evening on
Saturday Night at Flat Top Johnny’s. Families will also be planning
coordinated college visits. RSVP by
completing this survey. The survey
is for both families who know they
are coming and those that are considering it, as we need to know how
many “maybes” we have. You can
also feel free to email Amy Carlisle
at amyc@maine.rr.com for more information or if you would be interested in helping to plan the event.
For details on all meet-ups,
please go to the Regional
Meet-Ups page on Gateway.
parents join members of the administration and faculty to hear directly about the
latest programs, policies and upcoming
events. We host a Google Group where parents share ideas, concerns and articles, ask
questions and plan gatherings. You may
request membership by introducing yourself here. We co-host the OHS Parent-Staff
Book Club meetings which were a very suc-
cessful addition last year. New this year will
be Coffee Talks, informal parent gatherings
in Adobe Connect at times designed to allow more participation from our international community. Lastly, we recruit regional volunteers to help organize meet-ups
across our community. We look forward
to getting to know our new OHS families in
our forums.
Amy Carlisle, President
Gina Chaffin, Vice President
Susan Smith, Secretary
Nov
21 –23
Meet the Officers
Amy Carlisle was looking for an educational alternative for her then 6th grade
daughter, Avery, back in 2011 and was
thrilled to find that the Online High School
offered a middle school. Her family unanimously agreed that it looked like it might be
the solution. Months later, after Avery matriculated, OHS exceeded all of her family’s expectations. One of the things they
did not expect to find in an online school is
the vibrant community of families that exists at OHS. Avery is now in her fourth year
as a full-time junior and is joined by her sister, Elliott, who is a part-time middle school
student. Amy served as Vice President of
the OHSPA last year and hosts the annual
MIT Splash meet up in November. She looks
forward to another year of connecting our
OHS community through the OHSPA.
Gina Chaffin, while at home educating
her children in 2007, saw that an email
entered her inbox about the OHS. Since
that time, three of her kids have graduated from the school and headed off to college, carrying with them their thanks—
for the training from their OHS instructors
and the inspiration of the administration
and counselors. Gina’s daughter Rachel is
currently a full-time junior who is enthusiastic about the coming two years. Gina
has been part of the community on the parent forum, at meet-ups, by serving on the
WASC Accreditation Working Group for student support, and as a New Parent Ambassador. The school has served her family in
education and mentoring, and she hopes,
as the OHSPA Vice President, to give back
by encouraging parents to enjoy this short
season with their kids and to bring the
Stanford Online High School families together in support of one another.
Susan Smith says when her son started
at OHS in 2012, her long search to find other parents of intellectual teens ended. The
OHSPA Forum provided a springboard into
that community, and the members generously shared a wealth of information
as well as their friendship. When asked to
serve as the Secretary of the OHSPA, Susan
jumped at the chance to help others find a
deeper connection to our unique school.
Susan is the mother of Warren (’16) and
Elle (’20). She has served as the Southeast
Regional Coordinator since 2012 and as a
New Parent Ambassador since 2013.
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 37 OHS & the Arts
1
3
2
1
Maxwell Chung,
Lab 2,
Photography
2
McKensie Sherlock,
Pug Sketch,
Pencil
3
Ayla Besemer,
Bear at AnAn Creek,
Photography
38 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
Share your
artwork
with us!
Find out how
on pg. 44!
4
4
Belle Lim,
Sailor's Delight Mountain,
Watercolor
5
Anastasia Gracheva,
Caterpillar in Australia 1,
Photography
6
Caterina Mrose,
Diet Coke,
Colored Pencil
5
6
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 39 Admission
Season Kickoff
By Claire Goldsmith, Kimia Habibi, & Thomas Tessier
As the new students are just joining the OHS
community, it is already time for the Office
of Admission to begin our recruitment efforts for the next school year! By this week,
the revised 2015–16 online application
will become available on the OHS website. There will also be numerous updates
to the Admission pages of the website, including a re-imagined version of our staple
Virtual Open House. In the same spirit as
our beloved OHS classes, the Virtual Open
House will now be “flipped,” with the informational pieces of the event prerecorded
and posted on the website. During the live
events, there will now be more time for a
longer, interactive sample class and for our
Student Ambassadors to share their OHS
experiences. Admission Q&A and informa-
tion sessions will also be prerecorded as
content for the school’s external social media pages. In addition, we will be presenting a new live event, “A Conversation with
the Director,” which will afford families an
opportunity to hear Ms. Gray’s thoughts on
leadership, curriculum, and all things OHS.
We have also added 18 Student Ambassadors to the remaining 22 from our previous
cohort, to further our effort to provide prospective families with the best understanding of the academic and social community
at Stanford OHS.
On January 16th, the initial round of application reviews will begin. Our Admission Committee of OHS Admission Officers, administrators, and instructors will
read student applications and make deter-
minations on which students best fit our
community. The OHS “fit” is a particularly
multi-faceted concept, and ensuring students meet the criteria is the essence of the
admission review process. Each application is read holistically, and elements such
as grades, test scores, essays, work samples, and letters of recommendation are all
taken into consideration. No one factor is
deciding. As the Admission Committee selects new students, they look carefully for
applicants who demonstrate intellectual
curiosity and dedication to their academic
pursuits, with special emphasis on identifying prospective students who will contribute positively to the OHS community, both
inside and outside of the classroom.
would love for you to communicate with
them about your OHS experience, or let
our office know, and we would be happy to
contact them directly.
Prospective families who want to know
more can be referred to our website at ohs.
stanford.edu and to the Admission Office
email address, ohsadmissions@stanford.
edu. We appreciate the contributions our
current OHS students and parents make
to the future OHS community and look forward to hearing from your friends, classmates, and teammates. Please contact Admission Officers Kimia Habibi (khabibi@
stanford.edu) or Thomas Tessier (ttessier@
stanford.edu) with any questions about
the admission process or for more details
about how to get involved in our recruitment efforts.
Get Involved
Each successive year, Stanford OHS receives a steady stream of applications from
well-qualified students. The Stanford OHS
Admission Office has many outreach initiatives planned to contribute to our applicant pool. However, word-of-mouth from
current Stanford OHS families is consistently featured as one of the most common
ways prospective families hear about our
school. We continue to rely on our current
families to recruit prospective students in
their communities, local and otherwise.
Families often recruit potential Stanford
OHS students from gifted and talented
programs, schools, sports teams, arts programs, and other extracurricular occupations. Therefore, if you know students who
might be a good fit for Stanford OHS, we
Have families Check out
our online Brochure!
40 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
Or Request a
Printed Version!
Student Views
Paging Optimism
By Ayla Besemer
I was working on the floor of the United
States Senate late one evening after a tumultuous few months that included a government shutdown, when a bicameral, bipartisan appropriations bill was finally
passed. Senators and their staff members,
many of whom had worked for months on
this very agreement, erupted into celebration: hugs, applause, and shouts of triumph
echoed around the chamber, as I watched
in awe. At 17-years-old, I was being exposed to the Senate most people don’t
see—the Senate that values forward-mo-
Ayla (right) with President Obama
tion, and pushes onward despite the arguments that threaten to overwhelm it on a
daily basis. Though the five months I spent
between two, polarized sides. Though my
conflict that permeates the news cycle—
the most disheartening in recent history, I
job as a Page was to fetch water and open
with a fundamental belief in United States
walked away feeling optimistic.
doors, I still had a front row seat to an ex-
democracy and its potential to meet the
hausting and enraging (and, yes, exciting)
challenges of the 21st century with grace
five months.
and enlightenment. Senators on both sides
working in the U.S. Senate were some of
When I arrived at the Capitol to participate in the Fall 2013 session of the U.S.
Senate Page Program, my perspective of
With the above in mind, it comes as no
of the aisle hold our government to its high-
politics had primarily been shaped by The
surprise that I experienced some intense
est standard, and though they recognize its
West Wing. Idealistic, I was unprepared for
moments of disappointment. However,
current issues—most Senators I spoke with
the months that would follow. From Sep-
the more hours I spent in the Chamber,
said they had never seen the body more
tember 2013 to January 2014 the Senate was engaged in a war with itself. Three
weeks into my time, Senator Ted Cruz filibustered for twenty-one hours. Less than
However, the more hours I spent in the
Chamber, the more hopeful I became.
a week later, the government shut down
the more hopeful I became. The combina-
polarized—they do not doubt its ability
for the first time in seventeen years, and
tion of an outspoken minority and the 24-
to overcome them. Though the 24/7 pre-
stayed that way for over two weeks. Over
hour news cycle creates a deep sense of
sentation of conflict sets a national tone
the next months, debate seethed, and ten-
disillusionment within our country. How-
that exaggerates divisions instead of ap-
sions rose between the parties. Republi-
ever, away from the public eye, levelhead-
plauding unity, for every fiery debate seen
cans adamantly filibustered judicial nom-
ed, passionate Senators who comprise the
by the public, there are quiet moments of
inations, and Democrats countered with a
majority of the Senate are creating a pow-
statesmanship. The media reports Sena-
rare change in Senate rules. The “greatest
erful future. As one Senator put it, the pub-
tors fighting and filibustering, yet the ca-
deliberative body in the world” (as it has
lic sees only around fifteen Senators on a
maraderie and celebration seen when a
been called) had ceased to deliberate, in-
consistent basis; The other eighty-five are
new Senator is sworn-in (Senator Booker,
stead spiraling into an anger-fueled clash
working behind the scenes—away from the
in this case) is a sidebar; the public sees ha-
September/October 2014 • OHS Connection 41 Daniel Schwen
We must find respect for a
difference of opinion, and
bring that to the future.
tred between Senators, but they don’t see
the moments of friendship as political adversaries discuss their Thanksgiving dinner, or celebrate their kids’ most recent accomplishment; while politics dominate
the dialogue, human relationships are the
foundation for progressive dialogue when
Senators don’t otherwise see eye to eye.
It is a symptom of our increasingly divided time that hope and inspiration are often
lost to more sensational stories of the Senate’s ongoing battles.
I have no delusions: politics in our time
are partisan, and we have a long way to
go before statesmanship returns. It will always be difficult—it was designed that way,
to prevent rapid change from throwing us
into chaos—but we will eventually return
to deliberation as progress, not as impediment. Often, it looks as if that day is far
away: I did spend a great deal of time frustrated, but optimism eventually won out.
Party lines divide friends and force debate,
but on an individual basis, most Senators
can find something on which to agree,
whether it’s the budget, the environment,
or something as small as parenthood. At
a core level, most Senators are there for
the same reason: to progress, to move forward, and to craft policy that will positively affect not only their constituents, but the
whole country. The needs of people in the
marshes of South Carolina are different
than those in the plains of Texas, which are
different needs than the industrial towns
of Michigan, or the port towns of Maine. In
the Senate, fierce pride in one’s own state
and beliefs sometimes clash with the contradicting needs of the country. Navigating that conflict with poise and success is
no easy task, and the big picture is too-often lost in the floundering that occurs on
the journey from idea to end-goal. But fear
not: we have a group of distinctive Senators that, despite some issues, are coming
out the other end of a long winter.
Bringing our country out of such intense
turmoil cannot be left to only the voices of
the House and the Senate; it is our—citizens’ and voters’—responsibility as well.
Political disagreements between family
and friends can leave our personal lives as
shattered by partisan politics as the Senate itself, but I’m here to say that not all is
42 OHS Connection • September/October 2014
lost. With the same passion, grit, and raw
belief in America that our Senators have,
we can all face the facts of modern politics, and work to evolve. I sat in the Chamber of the U.S. Senate for some of the angriest five months in most Senators’ living
memory, but I emerged from it with the
conviction that we’re ultimately headed
in the right direction. The friendships seen
between Republican and Democratic Senators (against all odds) can be reflected in
how we see those who disagree with us.
When you have friends that span the scale
from right to left, and everywhere in between, it becomes difficult to rail against
someone simply because of where they’re
from or what they believe. We must find respect for a difference of opinion, and bring
that to the future. It would inevitably be
easier if we all agreed, but it is more valuable that we don’t.
When I saw the Senate in celebration
that evening after passing the budget, I
found confidence in its ability to tackle the
oncoming issues in a way that shows a little more hope, and a little less fighting. I
am also optimistic that in the long run the
American people will see past the veneer of
conflict, and embrace quiet statesmanship
as a more productive form of governing.
Science
Happens
The Summer Program science labs were a lot of fun!
Students got deep into hands-on science, with topics as diverse as probing the antimicrobial characteristics of nanoparticles, isolating the bacteria that turn
milk into yogurt, and investigating the startling properties of ferrofluids and liquid nitrogen. They heard
from Stanford researchers in microfluidics, built foldscopes, placed improbable objects on a bed of nails,
and uncovered the physics of The Grizzly at Great
America. And, of course, there were explosions!
Alyssa Roller and Rilla Taylor with their
Fold-scope in the Chemistry Labs
Chloe Clougher in the Biology Lab
Maxwell Chung and Greyson Gerlich in Labs at Summer Program
Daniela Zaks and Cameron Alred in
the Summer Program Physics Lab
Now that Summer Program is over, we are all getting
back into the rhythm of science at home and sharing
results digitally with classmates. Below are some images of a recent experiment from Kalee Tock and Raphey Holmes’ Foundations of Science: Energy & Matter
class, in which students measured the speed of light
using chocolate in a microwave. Many of their calculations came impressively close to the accepted value
of 3.0 x 108 m/s!
Roller Coasters at Great America
Evan Lee cutting materials
Hudson Hooper, mid-experiment
Chloe Snellgrove with her chocolate and
Nina Holloway e njoying her experimental results with strawberries!
Thermite Explosion!
Contribute to OHS Connection
Share your News
Students, we’d love to share news of your endeavors and
accomplishments beyond the classroom with our community in
future issues of the OHS Connection. We invite your submissions
whenever you have something interesting to share. To be included
in the next issue, please submit your news to OHS Communications:
ohscommunications@stanford.edu.
Call for Artists
Do you have a piece of artwork that you would like to share with
the OHS community? Please send us your photography, paintings,
drawings, and digital art, and your work may be highlighted in our
next issue and will be posted on the Artists’ Corner on the Gateway.
To submit your artwork, send high resolution photos or scans to our
graphic designer, with your name, title of your piece, and medium
used. Send submissions to Stephanie Griffin: sjgriffi@stanford.edu.
Photo By:
Maxwell Chung,
Digital Photography