Author: Kim Palacios

When a Tree Falls: Giving Founder’s Oak a Second Life

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The response to the fall of our mighty oak was swift and resounding: first, grief, then grit. How could we find a way to honor this tree by giving it another life? Alongside an outpouring of memories came a slew of ideas. Could its wood be crafted into something usable? Could those who loved the tree take pieces for themselves? 

A team was assembled to discuss exactly that. Chief Operating Officer Keith Powell, Middle School Head Lauren Railey, Carter Innovation Studio Director Cassie Kise, and Middle School English Teacher Charlie Raymond spent several weeks exploring how best to honor our beloved tree. Beyond this introduction to our first careful steps in repurposing the tree, a blog series will keep you informed around the status of Founder’s Oak.

The Science of Reclaimed Wood

An essential early step in the reclaiming process is curing. Wood tends to twist and check as it dries. A robust curing process allows wood to wick moisture and settle into its final shape and hardness, all while protecting against rot. Proper curing will yield bone-dry wood that won’t continue to change–wood that is ready for cutting.

“We think of wood as dry on the inside, but it’s actually pretty wet,” said Charlie, who worked as a furniture maker prior to becoming a teacher. “When you go to a store and buy a milled piece of wood, you’re relying on that wood to be straight so you can build something out of it. The best pieces will stay straight only if they have gone through a careful drying process.” 

A tree as large and complex as Founder’s Oak will yield cuttings of different thickness. While the smallest pieces are expected to dry over the course of a single season, the trunk and large branches might need to be stored for five or more years. At the end of this process, the dimensions of the cuttings will have changed. Additionally, some of the pieces we set out to cure may have been lost to rot.

“Our particular kind of valley oak–quercus lobata–can be difficult to work with,” Charlie continued. “We can’t predict how much usable wood our tree will yield. Every piece of it is important to try to get as much as we can out of it.” That’s why it’s so important that we be strategic at this stage in where and how we cut the logs to cure. 

Enter Nick Harvey of Bay Area Redwood, the expert we’ve hired to oversee the harvesting of the tree. Nick has been on campus managing a process that could span two months. “At this point, most of the smaller limbs have been separated from the main trunk. The branches off the main trunk are called “secondaries”. The largest ones are as wide as tree trunks themselves and will take years to cure. The smallest pieces will be the first pieces ready for processing.” 

Once all of the smaller branches have been strategically cut and cleared away, Nick will partner with Kyle Dowd from Golden State Portable Milling on the milling of the main trunk. “Milling day will be a big day. Maybe a big two or three days,” Charlie commented. “The actual cutting of the main trunk will be noisy, but we won’t schedule it for a weekend. We’ll schedule it for during the week so that the community can see and be a part of what’s going on. It will be part of student learning.”

A photo of Founder's Oak Tree taken at The Athenian School in Danville, CA
A photo of Founder’s Oak taken circa 2020

Speaking of Student Learning…

Summer conversations also focused on how to involve students in all aspects of recycling the tree, from these early harvesting steps, to curing, to cutting smaller pieces, and–eventually–to crafting. Though the viability of many ideas still needs to be assessed, one suggestion is to enlist students to help create proper storage conditions on campus and to have them oversee the curing of parts of the tree. 

“Rain is not an enemy of this process, but sunshine is. It can twist and warp the exposed side and not the other. A better technique is to find a shaded area to stack the wood with space between each slab so that air can flow. Sometimes, slabs need to be treated against insects. We could involve students in discussing what chemicals might be used to treat the slabs against decay,” said Charlie.

Carter Innovation Studio director Cassie Kise shared similar thoughts about timing for next steps. “People don’t realize how time-intensive fabrication is. As Americans, so much of the supply chain process is taken out of our purview that we don’t understand how long things take to make. It’s important that we employ patience and instill those values in our students as well.” 

Small branches from early cuttings, staged in front of the Carter Innovation Studio at The Athenian School
Small branches from early cuttings, staged in front of the Carter Innovation Studio

Though fully recycling the tree will take a series of years, discussions of early craft projects are also underway, as are more general discussions about how to better integrate woodworking into the curriculum. “Ultimately, the tree will dictate what we do with it,” Cassie continued. “Once we gain an understanding of the materials we have to work with, it’s our job to expand the conversation to other members of our community, especially students. We also need to emulate our values as an institution. For example, wood that isn’t used to craft an item might integrate with our ecosystem in the form of mulch. Finally, we need to honor the spiritual legacy of the tree–the nostalgia and love encapsulated within it and how that should play into its second life.”

Though he acknowledged the tragedy of losing the tree, Charlie also underscored that Founder’s Oak deserves our respect. “Overall, this should be seen as a great opportunity to build our profile as an experiential school. We’re already doing that in the Carter Innovation Studio, in the art department, in our middle school Focus Days, and in our electives. Working with Founder’s Oak represents a huge opportunity to reinforce this.”

Introducing Amy Rasner Clulow, Director of People and Culture

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Just over halfway through her first year at Athenian, we sat down with Amy Rasner Clulow, Director of People and Culture, to learn more about her role and how it was created to support the school’s strategic priorities. The idea for a dedicated People and Culture position grew from the multi-year work on our strategic vision, Boldly Athenian and was formalized in parallel with a cultural assessment conducted last year. Amy joined the community in July to support the school’s culture work, namely the support, growth and continued development of our adult community. When asked about her priorities in this first year, Amy says, “I’ve been listening and seeking to understand the historical context and underpinnings of current employee experiences and organizational structures through an equity lens. My focus also includes supporting the retention and professional growth of our adult community and outreach and hiring efforts.” Amy has spent countless hours in listening sessions with faculty and staff and evaluating current systems and practices in both hiring and retention. She adds, “the path forward will require a combination of introspection and collective effort to dismantle systemic barriers to building and sustaining an authentically equitable and inclusive community.” 

While Amy’s role is focused on how our campus adults – faculty and staff – contribute to our school culture and sense of community, many stakeholders contribute to the culture of Athenian. “While my initial efforts focus on culture and community building for our campus adults, this extends readily to the broader Athenian community of parents and guardians, alumni trustees and former employees.”
As we begin hiring season, Athenian welcomes alumni partnerships in sharing job postings and referring candidates to our job board. Please join our Alumni LinkedIn group and watch for job postings in the coming weeks. 

More About Amy

Amy joined the Athenian community in July 2021 as the inaugural Director of People & Culture. She joins us most recently from The Hotchkiss School, a boarding and day high school in Connecticut, where she served as the Director of Multicultural Outreach for the admission office. In addition to her enrollment responsibilities, Amy served as a faculty mentor and student advisor and contributed to several working groups and committees, including Student Support, All Gender Housing, DEI Curriculum Review and Mission Review. Amy also served as the project manager on an institutional research partnership to reveal market position, utilizing the data to improve admission outreach and brand positioning efforts. She went on to lead the development and launch of the Hotchkiss Bridge program which provides transitional support for historically underrepresented students. 

Amy spent her early career working in human resources, specializing in recruitment and organizational development. She has carried her HR experience forward into each of her various roles since. Amy’s commitment to equity and inclusion has been a constant, anchored by her own interest in continued growth. Among her DEIS commitments, Amy launched and co-facilitated SEED for Hotchkiss and extended the program to neighboring public and private school educators. She also initiated and co-facilitated a white antiracist affinity space for Hotchkiss adults and serves as an affinity group leader for NAIS. Her past non profit engagement has included support for low cost K-8 enrichment programming (SOAR) and awareness building and support for victims of relationship violence (Women’s Support Services). Amy also serves as a mentor for families of transgender youth.

Amy received her BA from University of California, San Diego and her M.S.Ed. in School Leadership from University of Pennsylvania. She presently lives on campus with her partner, Mike, their youngest daughter, Frankie ‘25, and their older children, Hudson and Charlotte, when they are on break from college. 

Tané Remington  ’06 on Bold Career Moves and Aligning Career to Purpose

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If you’d asked the 9th grade version of Tané Remington where she would end up in life, a career in STEM might have seemed out of reach. She failed her first chemistry exam junior year and struggled with basic concepts, despite seeming to grasp some of the more difficult ones.

Then, teacher Eugene Mizusawa made her a deal that would change her life’s trajectory: he promised her a passing grade if she joined robotics. Fifteen years later, Tané still likes to come to campus and play with robots, this time as a volunteer advisor to the current robotics team. And she doesn’t just inspire students with her knowledge. Stories of her circuitous path, which was paved with stones she collected at Athenian, tell of how she landed some of the most fascinating—and socially important—professions in the world.

“My department tried to understand how we might deflect asteroids that were coming toward the earth,” Tané mentioned casually when asked about her former role at Lawrence Livermore Labs. She went there as a postdoc after earning a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from UC San Diego. “I got to run simulations relating to asteroids with a range of attributes—rock, metal, bollides, etc.” It was Tané’s first professional job.

Following a two-and-a-half year stint in planetary defense, she was offered a full-time position at Lawrence Livermore, this time working in a nuclear forensics unit with adjacency to the Stockpile Responsiveness Program, an effort that fully exercises the capabilities of the US nuclear security enterprise. But after more than three years with the lab, an opportunity that felt supremely meaningful drew her to a new path.

“It just so happens that I’m obsessed with water,” Tané explained as she talked about Maelstrom Water, a high-tech desalination company of which Tané is a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer. “It comes from being Californian, and also being Turkish, as we had a lot of water shortages.”

Desalination refers to processes that remove the salt content from water. Reverse osmosis is the most well-known approach. But Maelstrom endeavors to use a different method: cavitation. By reaching the temperature of the sun in a matter of microseconds, it can change the properties of its targets. Though a working desalination solution is not yet ready, Maelstrom has confirmed other applications of its technology (e.g., waste water, medical waste, soil remediation, the worldwide oceanic and fresh water algae bloom) and has numerous patents pending.

Tané spent all of middle and upper school at Athenian, except for one year she spent abroad. She attributed her spirit of innovation and curiosity at least partially to her Athenian teachers. “When I was in middle school, Sven and Ted really taught me how to love learning.” Beyond traditional classroom fare, Focus Fridays and volunteer service provided opportunities for perspective.

“I think Athenian’s values had an enormous impact on the person I became. I gave up a tenured position for less money, no stability. It’s risky, but it keeps me up at night thinking about our future with water.” She also mentioned her daughter as a driving factor behind her decision to make a move. “When my daughter asks me when she’s older what I work on, I can tell her how proud I am to have taken on an issue like desalination and committed to it as part of my legacy.”

Alumni Parents Rally to Support Boarding Students

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Led by Molly Andrus, parent of Emma ’12 and Izzy ’20, the Athenian Parent Alumni Group launched this fall. Its mission? To continue supporting current Athenian students, even after their own children have left the nest.

Its focus this year was the boarding community. Molly and team worked closely with Director of Residential Life, Emily Shinkle, to learn how they could serve this group. Many, due to COVID, were unable to travel home.

Julia Borchers ‘20 and Lexi G. ’22 made cakes for students celebrating birthdays and the parent group delivered the cakes to campus and provided festive décor. Birthday boarders also got candy vases and small gifts. The group sponsored catered dinners that allowed students to choose meals that served up flavors from home. Individual dessert boxes were also delivered–a student favorite!

The parent group is also underway with seed transplants and plant beds for a boarding community garden. A final event will take place in May, one which will allow members of the parent group to interact more with boarding students given the easing of COVID restrictions.

“This parent group has been amazing,” said Emily in praise of the program. “Molly does an incredible job mobilizing parents. I’m so excited the boarders will get to see the program volunteers in real life this time. They’ve been wondering who these generous parents are!”

Plans are underway for a final event of the year at the home of Board President Beth Borchers, and the parent group is already looking forward to expanding the scope of thier activities to a broader set of students on a reinvigorated campus in the fall.

The group is always open to new members; please reach out to alumni@athenian.org for more information if you would like to get involved!

Alumni Spotlights: Celebrating Athenian Black Excellence

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In recent weeks and months, our school community and our nation have been deep in conversation about the importance of Black lives. In America, and at Athenian, conversations have focused primarily on social injustice, and on Black pain. One consequence of such conversations is that the joy of Black lives can be easily forgotten. It was the wish of the current BSU, led by Esther A. ’21, Hudson S. ’21, and Chad M. ’22, that we not allow February to pass without acknowledgment of the amazing, purpose-driven lives pursued by members of our own Black Athenian community.

For the past three weeks, we profiled more than a dozen members of our community, from current faculty and staff, to current students, to alumni. In this spotlight, we celebrate the lives, loves and contributions of several Black alumni. Please take the time to read these profiles, to enjoy this series, and to appreciate the members of our community who are doing amazing things in the world!

Jamahn Lee ’94

Alum Jamahn Lee attended Athenian throughout middle school and high school, went on to earn a B.A. in Spanish from Tulane and, later, a M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Passions for youth services and multiculturalism led him to the nonprofit world. He has worked with the Spanish Speaking Citizen’s Foundation on afterschool programs; with the Fred Finch Youth Center on in-home and therapeutic programs; with Policy Link,  a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity, on programs for Black boys; and with the  Oakland Unified School District as its community school program manager. Jamahn is now nearing his fourth year as a Program Coordinator with  SFJAZZ, where he shares his passion for jazz music with middle schoolers in Oakland and San Francisco. In response to challenges presented by the COVID pandemic, he has adapted and developed virtual jazz education programming that is now accessible to students throughout the country.

Britney Davis ’04

Britney has played integral roles in some of the music industry’s biggest recent successes, and has emerged as a strong voice for industry change. She has led marketing and artist development for Lil Baby since he signed to Motown Records. Now at Capitol Records as the VP of Marketing, Artist Relations and Special Projects, she has worked with artists like Migos, City Girls, Queen Naija, and on the “Queen & Slim” soundtrack. She was recently named as one of Billboard’s Hip Hop Power Players, 40 under 40, and as a Variety Magazine Woman of Impact. Britney graduated Summa Cum Laude from Howard University’s John H. Johnson School of Communications.

Pen Harshaw ’05

Pendarvis Harshaw ‘05 is the host of KQED’s, Rightnowish, a radio show and podcast that highlights artists and activists on the frontlines. The show focuses on Black artists from across the East Bay. In 2020, he received a $50,000 grant from the Oakland-based Akonadi Foundation, which partially funds the show’s production. He is also the author of OG Told Me, a coming of age memoir about a kid from Oakland who listened to his elders. “Pen,” as he is known among friends, seeks to increase community understanding and awareness of Oakland’s Black cultural diaspora.

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Kelia Human ’15

With a goal of improving healthcare and its accessibility, especially for underserved and minority communities, Kelia currently attends Columbia University, where she is pursuing her Ph.D. “Healthcare is moving towards more personalized service and providing access outside of the hospital and clinic. I think this provides an excellent opportunity to explore ways to break down the barriers that have made healthcare difficult to access for underserved populations. Additionally, by focusing on patient-centered devices there is an opportunity to give control and better understanding about one’s own health, further empowering people to engage with their healthcare providers.” Kelia’s study of biomedical engineering has been applied to two projects this year: the first was a fast diagnostic test for COVID. The second is a bioactive patch to accelerate wound healing. She is a staunch believer in mentorship, which she says “can really help people see new possibilities; I was on the fence about pursuing grad school and being able to talk it out with older students was helpful.”

Eli Feierabend-Peters ’16

Eli “Feier” is a Black mixed-race, gender-questioning musician and Stanford alumnus who believes in the power of art to foster radical healing, change, and love in ourselves and our communities. They were a 2020 recipient of Stanford’s VPA Senior Grant. Their project–the production of their debut album–found them quarantined in California, turning closets into makeshift studios as they worked on music steeped in the traditions of hip-hop, R&B, gospel, and indie-pop and informed by their academic studies of sociology, poetry, fiction, climatology, and history. They guest-taught hip hop and social justice to Advanced Choir students this year and will return again to Athenian this month for a broader conversation on social justice.

Nia Warren ’16

Nia Renee Warren is an African-American filmmaker, photographer, and actress who recently graduated from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. While studying at USC, she became an active force in the black community, serving as the Co-Director of the Black Student Assembly and member of the African American Cinema Society. After graduation, she completed a film titled “Son of Oakland: A Tribute to Victor McElhaney” where she served as the Co-Director and Producer. The film is a dedication to her friend and fellow Oakland native, who she lost due to gun violence near-campus in 2019. It has since been featured in, as well as won awards, in multiple festivals. She looks forward to the film officially premiering at the Pan African Film Festival this month. While enjoying the journey this film has allowed her to take, Nia has been focusing on furthering her acting career and has recently signed with Central Artists Agency for commercial/print work.

More Excellence to Come

Black History is not limited to the month of February, and our Black Excellence series will be ongoing. Look out for periodic profiles posted in various places online throughout the end of this year. We know there are more Black members of our Athenian community who could and should be highlighted! Please nominate or self-nominate by reaching out to us at alumni@athenian.org!