Athenian Blog & News

Jess McKay ’20 started at Athenian in sixth grade, and she knew it was the right fit immediately. “Focus Fridays are what really sold me on the experience,” she recalls. “I enjoyed being in the classroom, but what brought me the most joy was applying what I learned from books and my teachers to hands-on experiences. That way of learning carried through my high school years as well.”

For Jess, it was a combination of Athenian’s experiential lessons and the way learning wasn’t just confined to the classroom that shaped her continued approach to learning and her career. “Even simple things, like having classes held outside, were something I really valued,” she says. “When I went to college and met people from other schools, I realized how unique that was. For me, it had become the norm, how I saw education as a whole, but looking back, I see now how special it was.”

Athenian also sparked Jess’s passion for the outdoors and her commitment to environmental stewardship. “I didn’t grow up super outdoorsy, which some people find surprising,” she admits. “My first camping trip was with my sixth-grade class, and AWE [Athenian Wilderness Experience] was my first backpacking trip. My time running with the cross-country team also became another way for me to connect with the outdoors. ”

It wasn’t until her junior year AWE experience—and her subsequent role as a “logi” [logistical support for AWE]—that Jess began to understand the importance of environmental preservation. She also learned that the outdoors can be a wonderful place for self-care. “AWE taught me the importance of balance. You can work really hard in school and push yourself, but if you’re not doing things outside of that to bring meaning, it can be really draining—especially in junior year, when college starts to come into focus. AWE felt like a much-needed break, allowing me to reinvest in myself and connect with my community.”

Athenian also gave Jess the opportunity to explore a wide range of science classes, which prepared her for her environmental science degree at UCLA. “I entered UCLA as an environmental science major and stayed the course,” she explains. Her path, however, wasn’t linear. “There are so many directions you can go within environmental science, each leading to different career paths. Ultimately, I focused my coursework on geography, a field that explores the connections between people, places, and the environment through physical landscapes, spatial patterns, and human interactions.”

Jess found the holistic nature of geography appealing, and by the end of her time at UCLA, she was engaged in independent study and research using GIS (geographic information systems). Initially considering a career in field research, she spent her weekends as a backpacking guide for UCLA’s backpacking club, where she drew from principles she learned on AWE, such as community building and helping others overcome challenges in the wilderness, while also sharing her knowledge of native plants, animals, and ecological systems from her environmental coursework.

Despite a clear commitment to working in the environmental field, transitioning from college to a career proved challenging. “I had regular summer jobs in college, but I only started looking at career-oriented internships between my junior and senior years,” Jess says. She applied to over a dozen internships but received very few responses. “It was humbling,” she admits.

One night, scrolling through job postings, she applied to ESA (Environmental Science Associates) on a whim—and got a response. Jess ended up juggling two internships: one with Trout Unlimited, conducting trout and salmon habitat surveys across coastal California, and another at ESA, where she focused on GIS work for various environmental projects. “Both were rewarding, but I realized being out in the field ten hours a day, every day, was exhausting. ESA offered a balance—I could still do fieldwork but it was not my every day, which I really appreciated.” Jess’ internship with ESA ultimately led to a full-time role in environmental consulting, a career path she hadn’t previously considered. 

Now, Jess spends much of her time using spatial data to create maps for resource management and land-use planning. “I help set up field data collection and survey forms for our biologists and archaeologists, and then I analyze the data to create figures for our reports.” Her projects range from mapping raptor behavior and flight patterns for San Diego County to creating water mitigation models to select local alternative storage options for Marin County.

Jess also enjoys time in the field. After earning her commercial drone license, she recently spent five days near Tahoe capturing aerial imagery of areas affected by wildfires to assess landscape and vegetation changes. “I love the variety of my work—switching between desk and fieldwork and balancing multiple projects keeps things exciting, which is also something I learned to do well at Athenian.”

For current Athenian students, Jess offers this advice: “Don’t be afraid to pivot and change direction. Like many Athenian students who hold themselves to high standards, it can be challenging to stop and reevaluate. But I’ve grown the most in those moments. Be open to opportunities as they come and give yourself grace to reassess and adapt.”

While Jess’s journey may look linear from the outside, she emphasizes that the reality is often more circuitous. “People don’t see everything that happens in between the major milestones. It may look like a straight path on a resume, but it really wasn’t.”

Athenian’s experiential approach gave Jess the tools to navigate those twists and turns, ultimately preparing her for college and a meaningful career in environmental consulting.

Emily started making the daily 75 mile trek from Modesto to Athenian in 8th grade alongside her younger brother who simultaneously started in 6th. She credits her parents for finding Athenian as they were looking for a school that would challenge them academically. For their family, Athenian offered the right amount of challenge while also being a philosophical match.

During her five years at Athenian, Emily dabbled in just about everything – something she encourages today’s students to do. “You never know what you’ll find interesting," she said. She ran track and cross country, something she admittedly joined to avoid taking PE. She recently returned to running for health, connection and stress relief, and credits her high school experience for helping her to discover the sport.

Robotics however, was Emily’s main passion in high school. “I always loved to build things,” she explained. She was the captain of the Robotics Team and by the time she applied to college, was certain she wanted to major in mechanical engineering. She ended up at Columbia where she quickly noticed that her mechanical engineering major peers were gearing up for careers in the automotive industry or preparing to pursue an advanced degree–neither of which appealed to her. Serendipitously, as Emily was questioning her major, she enrolled in a computer science class–a graduation requirement at Columbia. “I thought I had zero interest in computer science, but immediately loved it,” she said. Adding, “computer science has become like a general liberal arts degree but for STEM.”

Once realizing that computer science would prepare her for a variety of careers, including consulting and finance, she made the switch. She had always loved puzzles and problem-solving, and computer science was just that. “In a class you’d be given a problem with a number of possible solutions…I loved that every line of code was like a unique signature, like the way you would write an essay and I would write an essay are different” she explained. “Any job you might end up in has an element of that kind of creative problem solving.”

Now,  three years out of college, Emily works in finance for Bank of America where she does equity derivatives sales trading. She explained, “equity derivative products are essentially financial instruments whose values are derived from movements in an underlying stock/etf--its calculus in real life.” Much of Emily’s day-to-day is spent working with institutional clients to help find the right solutions to meet their equity exposure goals and she uses math daily in pricing these structures.

Thinking back to her classes at Athenian, Emily is grateful for the teachers' approach, noting, “their way of teaching you to think is exactly what you need for applied math,” which was instrumental in  studying computer science and now in her job. “In class, you were sometimes given exceptionally difficult problems that you might not be able to solve, but that allowed you to show what and how you were thinking, and that is what the teachers were most interested in.”

Though naturally drawn to STEM, Emily also credits her Athenian history and literature seminars with encouraging “free-thinking” and problem-solving. She noted, “When you get to college and in real life, where you really add value is having differentiated thoughts. There are many different solutions to a problem and you can’t be afraid to have an opinion, even if that means being wrong sometimes. The real world is open-ended, and Athenian prepares you for that.”

While his dream of playing high-level college baseball may not have come to fruition for Nathan Ackerman ’18, his time at Athenian–in the classroom, on the field and court, and rallying the spirited “Nest,” helped him land a dream job soon after college as Digital News Editor for NBC Sports.

The journalism route surfaced towards the end of Nathan’s time at Athenian. He didn’t write for the school paper, but had enjoyed writing from a very young age. Athenian’s Middle School then Upper School humanities classes and teachers helped him keep that interest alive. When asked about some of his classes, Nathan’s face lit up, listing a number of standout classes including Alex Mattraw’s Poetry and Radical Love seminars.

When it was time to apply to college, Nathan remembers thinking, “I knew I loved sports and I loved to write and I asked myself how do I combine these things?” Nathan found out he got into the USC School of Journalism on April Fools Day–a day he won’t forget. Not only was it his first choice journalism program, but he was drawn to the school and its spirited sports culture. He wondered how he’d adjust to such a large school and remembers being surprised by how well Athenian had prepared him, noting that by design, “Athenian forces you to build deeper relationships with people, and I found that to be a good way of making a huge school feel smaller and closer.”

While at USC Nathan got a taste of all forms of media/communications, even broadcast journalism. He spent time at the Annenberg Media Center and one of his favorite college experiences was working for The Daily Trojan, USC’s student paper, first published in 1912. He worked his way up from a staff writer to managing editor. Nathan did not waver from his sports writing interest, pursuing a minor in Sports Media Studies in addition to his journalism major and landing an internship with Fox Sports the summer before he graduated. While much of the internship was supporting other production departments, he learned a lot and must have impressed someone, as he was offered a job there upon graduating.

When asked how Athenian most prepared him for college and his current career, he quickly listed the usual things we hear from alumni–writing and time management–before pausing as he searched for the right words to describe something else, something less concrete. “Athenian showed me that being unconventional can totally fly,” he said. “Athenian, the teaching style, types of classes, and the small classes, teach you to go your own route, even if it's a little out there. It helped me stand out in a good way.” In the college environment he was often the first to go up to his professors after a large lecture hall class to talk to his professors and even question some of what he’d just learned. He noted, “my professors welcomed this, but other students just didn't know that.” In the work setting Nathan still relies on those skills though his approach may be different. He doesn’t hesitate to suggest a new idea or modification to how things are being done.

Now in his 20s, Nathan has some advice for those just starting their Athenian high school journey. “Dive right in…there can be a desire to plan it all out, focus on your studies first before trying things…don’t wait or your time at Athenian will be over–throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.” Nathan regrets not going on Round Square and encourages every student to try a sport. He also cautions against spending time comparing your Athenian experience to a standard high school experience. ‘“It has to be hard to be a 9th or 10th grader and to see the big picture…but know you are surrounded by amazing and talented students and teachers, and while there may be a little more homework, take advantage of all of the opportunities and develop relationship with your teachers, it will make your experience more fulfilling and give you those skills that help you in college and life.”

See some of Nathan’s reporting at: Nathan @ NBC Sports  and here.  

She credits Athenian with nurturing her enthusiasm and providing meaningful opportunities to take action. “Athenian gave me a lot of space to explore environmentalism and learn about its real world impacts,” Karen says. “I encountered so many sustainability-minded peers and teachers, and I learned a lot from them.”

Her Athenian Wilderness Experience (AWE) in the High Sierra was a formative event that shaped her views on the importance of stewardship. “It was my first time being out in the country and learning the principle of ‘leave no trace’ and understanding why that’s important,” Karen says. “When you’re out in the backcountry, you see the consequences of your actions.”

Faculty members noticed Karen’s passion for environmentalism and encouraged her to pursue leadership opportunities on campus. This inspired Karen to reinvigorate the environmental club to advocate for community-wide sustainability initiatives. As a senior, she and a classmate conducted a year-long independent study. Their research culminated in a proposal for how to make Athenian a zero-waste, net-zero energy campus. While their plan was never fully realized by the school, the opportunity to engage with faculty and school leadership––past and present––provided an invaluable learning opportunity.

While Athenian’s environmental pillar played a defining role in Karen’s experience, it wasn’t what first attracted her to the school. She grew up in France and considered a number of American boarding schools on both the east and west coast. “When I was looking at schools, I was looking at what kind of advanced science and math programs they had, and if they had hands-on learning opportunities,” Karen recalls. 

Visiting the Carter Innovation Studio and learning about Athenian’s robotics program influenced her decision to attend. She had never before considered robotics as a possible activity, but she had a general interest in pursuing engineering as a career. “I thought [robotics] could be cool to explore down the line since Athenian has a lot of hands-on offerings and I like working with my hands instead of just learning from a textbook,” Karen says. 

She spent four years on the robotics team, eventually moving into different leadership roles. “Through robotics I was able to learn some of the fundamentals of engineering,” Karen says. “How to CAD [computer-aided design], how to design things, and how to integrate systems together.” As she developed an aptitude for these skills, she saw a path for how she could apply them to a future career that connected to her passion for environmentalism.   

At Olin College of Engineering, she joined the electric motorsports team, colloquially known as Formula SAE. She loved collaborating with her peers to build electric race cars, and she gravitated towards working with batteries because she saw how relevant they were to sustainability. “I learned a lot about how batteries work and how to design them,” Karen says. “That’s a big part of how I got my current job.”

She is currently a mechanical design engineer at Lunar Energy, a company that builds home battery systems and offers a range of sustainable energy products. “Everything in my career is driven by the goal of helping mitigate or adapt to climate change,” Karen says. Many of the skills she uses on a daily basis––such as communication, project management, and critical thinking––are skills that she honed at Athenian.

“Athenian broadened my horizon for how to perceive the world and how to take action,” Karen says. “If there’s one thing I could tell students right now, it’s that I hope they find something in the world they really care about.”

Howard University
March 26, 2024

Esther began to build her college prospect list in the spring of 2020. Like many high school juniors at the time, her college discovery process was coming into focus just as COVID shook the foundation of what to expect for college and so much more. Until then, Esther, a native northern Californian, hadn’t considered venturing out of state for college. Her entire family lived in California and being close was important to her. However, having gone to Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) for the majority of her life, Esther broadened her search as the increased media coverage of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) encouraged her to look beyond her home state of CA. In particular, Beyonce’s Homecoming highlighted for Esther the rich culture and community at HBCUs. She reflects, “It truly opened my eyes to the diversity of a college experience at an HBCU.”

Esther knew she wanted to study business and wanted to go to an HBCU so when she found out that Howard had one of the top business schools, it all came together. Indeed the program has been appropriately challenging, but Esther felt well-prepared. She has enjoyed learning about every aspect of business from organizational behavior to accounting. Howard’s business majors are grouped in small cohorts as freshmen, and her cohort/team has been central to her college experience. From group projects to a close knit friend group, Esther credits her major and the program’s small feel for creating a meaningful college experience, providing leadership opportunities and serving as a launching pad for summer internships. Now a junior, Esther serves on an executive board that manages the freshman Team Leaders and the overall team program. With companies coming to campus to interview for summer internship opportunities, Esther will be returning to EY-Parthenon for a second year internship this summer. Last year she joined a team working on a merger and she is looking forward to taking on even more responsibility on her new assignment this summer.

Esther was surprised by how much group work there was in college, at least for business majors. She says, “the amount of group work at Athenian really prepared me for college, especially that first year where we worked so closely with our teams of 15-20.” Esther felt she was more prepared than some of her classmates to collaborate, divide up work, and help hold herself and others accountable for their parts of a project. In general, Esther feels her ability to stay organized and manage her time (a skill she gained being very active at Athenian), helped make her adjustment to college much easier than it was for some.

Having hesitated at first to leave California, Esther says, “don’t be afraid of big changes. Even if it is not what you thought you’d do, be open. Being at Howard and in Washington DC has brought so many cool things into my life that I’ve embraced and I continue to grow through the new.” Esther also recommends finding your people and community through common interests. She has joined the Howard University Community Choir, found a local Church, and created a community of friends that have become family. 

Many high school juniors and seniors navigate the college search process without knowing what they want to study. This was the case for Will Carey ’19. Not sure what he wanted to major in, he cast a wide net and chose a school without a particular program in mind. Ultimately, University of Denver–the first school he visited–felt like the best fit.

COVID hit midway through Will’s first year which serendipitously gave him more time (and less pressure) to figure out what he wanted to study. During his months of remote school, Will focused on fulfilling his general education requirements. Knowing that University of Denver had a strong business school, he decided to take various business courses in hopes of finding something that interested him. He was surprised to find that accounting clicked with him, despite not having any prior experience in the subject. He noted, “Accounting wasn’t immediately exciting like some other majors might have been, but I saw something in it. I decided to take a leap and give it a try.” A few courses in, Will saw a path forward– one that would allow him to get both a bachelor’s and master’s in accounting in less than five years through DU’s 4+1 MAcc program. 

Will’s chosen major has provided  great opportunities for professional experience including several internships. He will begin a full-time job at a large accounting firm this summer. He is also pursuing his CPA license. In reflecting on his college experience, Will said, “While this wasn’t the career path that I expected when I applied to college, I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out.” Will is also minoring in philosophy, an interest discovered at Athenian. Having a minor in something totally different has created balance for Will. He said, “I enjoy my philosophy classes…they help you think more analytically and creatively, skills can be applied to every aspect of life. While my major and my minor are very different, they compliment each other in unexpected ways.” 

While Will mentioned time-management and personal responsibility as important skills instilled at Athenian, he said, “The single most valuable skill from my time at Athenian was my ability to write. It was not the easiest thing for me in high school, but my classes pushed me to improve. I have seen a lot of people really struggle with writing in college. Regardless of your major, you need to know how to write..it is important to know how to analyze information and also how to convey it to others. I think Athenian really set me up for success in that regard.”

“When picking something you want to do with your life, be open minded, the thing you might be most qualified for or enjoy most might be something you don’t even know about yet,” Will said. He added, “You aren’t always going to be immediately passionate about something…sometimes interests develop over time and you need to put in some work before you are able to enjoy them.” And to those thinking about a possible major, Will said, “It took me a while to recognize that I wasn’t going to find a major that fully defined who I was. While it is important to choose something that truly interests you, developing other interests and hobbies that don’t directly correspond with your major or career are really important in life.”

Emily von Zedtwitz ‘22, spent her early school years in Shanghai, China, where she attended a German school, learning German, Mandarin, and English. With a Swiss father and Taiwanese mother, Emily’s interest in international relations preceded her time at Athenian. She shared, “While I lived in Shanghai until I was ten, I often visited my grandparents in Switzerland, and was fascinated by the different forms of governments I have come into contact with (China, Switzerland, and the US mainly), including differences in economic regulations and trading policies that generated an interest in the way these countries interacted with one another.” This marked the beginning of Emily’s interest in foreign policy and affairs. Once at Athenian, Emily started acting on her passions, embracing Athenian’s Pillars of both Internationalism and Democracy, by selecting courses that concentrated on current events, political philosophy, government structures and how nations interact with each other.

When Emily began her college search process she was looking for schools with strong foreign affairs and law programs. Although UCSB does not offer an international relations major, Emily knew this was the right school for her just after one visit. She did her research and determined that a major in political science (with two minors in German and Chinese studies) would give equally as much of a foundation for law school and would provide course offerings to support an international relations specialization. Through her course selection, she has been able to fuel her interest in comparative politics, and get a taste of the subject matter she would like to pursue in law school–international transaction law. Last summer, Emily even had the opportunity for hands-on law experience serving as a judicial intern for the Hon. Clifford R. Anderson III at the Superior Court of California, Santa Barbara County.

Emily credits Athenian for providing her the foundation for enacting change. “Athenian encourages students to take the lead on their own learning and provides a platform for student voice through community outreach such as Town Hall and the faculty’s exceptional approach to teaching.”  While at Athenian, she co-founded the student store and learned to take an idea to fruition. She saw a need and opportunity for service, and worked alongside classmates, community service directors, and nonprofit organizations on developing a proposal that outlined a permanent location, the logistics as well as funding and staffing plans. Emily now serves in student government at UCSB where she holds a legislative role as a Senator– an elected position responsible for directing the $13 million UCSB receives in student tuition and fees. “Had I not gone to Athenian, I would not have had the confidence to run for this position. Because a campus-wide election takes place to finalize the vote, I experienced a lot of pressure to run a campaign against my competitors who wanted the same position [which she did in the spring of her sophomore year].” Emily is looking to take on a higher role in student government next year, but for now is busy drafting bills and resolutions to enact change around campus. She is most proud of the work she did on representing student concerns about the addition of a new and controversial dorm on campus. Working on behalf of the student body, the UCSB Senate advocated for student concerns and helped halt further planning of construction. 

While Emily appreciates the opportunities provided by Athenian to further cultivate her passion for international relations, she never went on a Round Square trip or exchange. She said, “My biggest regret was I never took full advantage of Athenian’s international opportunities through Round Square.”  Emily plans to study abroad next year though, deciding between a political science program in either Geneva and Paris–both with incredible programs that directly connect to her course of study.

Ayush Bakhandi '22
University of California, Berkeley
January 23, 2024

Ayush joined Athenian in 10th grade. Coming from a large public school, he was quick to take advantage of Athenian’s many opportunities. When Mark Friedman shared an internship opportunity at John Muir Hospital early in his first year, Ayush jumped at the opportunity, committing three hours a week to volunteering through his senior year of high school. Though he aged out of the youth internship program upon graduation, Ayush is now a volunteer in John Muir’s adult program where he works in the surgery unit. 

For Ayush, going to a UC made economic sense. He said, “Berkeley ranked high, was affordable and close to home. I knew I’d get a great education and would be in a good position to apply to medical school.” And yet, UC Berkeley was not on Ayush’s college list until late in the process. He admits to having made some assumptions about the school that he began to reconsider after his father encouraged him to make an informal visit while at a nearby appointment. He applied to and was accepted at the College of Natural Resources, which would support his interest in pursuing  a pre-med track. Now in his second year, he is majoring in Molecular Environmental Biology with a declared concentration in Human Health. Ayush has found the College of Natural Resources to feel a lot like a small college within a large University.

Ayush feels Athenian prepares students to do well in any college environment. “I didn't realize how self-sufficient I’d become until I started college. I knew how to study for classes that don't require homework for example. I knew how to use the resources around me to the best of my ability – that is just something Athenian fosters,” shared Ayush. He added, “the method and approach to education at Athenian is similar to what I’ve experienced in college – so much is up to you and how much you want to learn.”  In addition to the academic skills, Ayush credits Athenian with helping him develop the skills to find his community in college. He knew how to connect with clubs and other interests outside of academics, and knew the value of striving for balance between academic and non-academic pursuits. As a former member of the Athenian hOWLers, Ayush has intentionally sought out ways to continue with his high school interests, including participation in an Acapella group.

“Something I'd tell myself and everyone in general is be yourself and have fun,” said Ayush. For those beginning to think about college, Ayush said,  “A lot of the time people come into high school with a pre-conceived notion of what college they want to go to. It’s good to have intention, but don’t limit yourself and be open.”

Athenian Alumni Stay Connected Through Summer Affinity Camps
January 17, 2024

Micah Ross ’20 spent six weeks over the summer of 2023 working at a refugee camp in northern Greece (through the NGO Lifting Hands International). She lived with eight other volunteers, mostly from Europe, and spent her days teaching English to Yazidis refugees who had fled ISIS in Iraq. Micah put her Arabic skills to the test, working with teens as well as 2-12 year olds. She witnessed both the impact of trauma and the resilience of the young girls and women who had survived horrific events in their short lives. 

Returning in the fall for her senior year at Emory, Micah began writing a year-long honors thesis, studying ISIS’s manipulative references to sexual slavery in Abbasid Baghdad and the Jihadi organization’s use of this historical precedent to justify the sexual enslavement of Yazidi women between 2014 and 2016. The experience certainly added a new dimension to Micah’s academic focus.

Micah serves as an admission ambassador for Emory University so was practiced at articulating her reasons for choosing Emory. She said, “I wanted a school big enough to meet new people and small enough to run into people I knew every day. I wanted proximity to a major US city while also having the type of community that a suburban campus fosters. And, I wanted an intellectually rigorous but also collaborative and balanced environment.” She added, "I also knew I wanted a school with a strong Jewish community and a strong Middle East program.” 

Micah was clear on her interest in the Middle East going into college, but had declared political science as her intended major. After finding herself mostly enrolling in Middle Eastern Studies classes, she soon changed her major to Middle Eastern Studies, Arabic Language and Literature.

Micah credits her time at Athenian for preparing her to pursue her major. “Because of Athenian’s international programs, I had firsthand experience interacting with and relating to people from different backgrounds. I went to Peru on a Round Square exchange where I met a student from Jordan. This connection really helped spark my interest for my future studies too,” she said. 

As far as academics, Micah felt Athenian really taught her critical thinking skills. The high-value placed on analytical skills at Athenian, especially in the literature classes, prepared Micah for the expectations of college academics. “I felt prepared to analyze text and draw historical connections,” said Micah, adding “the student-teacher connections at Athenian also made me feel really comfortable engaging with and challenging my professors, especially in comparison to my peers from other schools.”

Micah has had a full plate during her time at Emory. From serving as a Research Assistant to Deborah Lipsatdt (current US Envoy to Combat and Monitor Antisemitism) and interning with the UAE-Israel Business Council in Jerusalem, to creating a Holocaust education curriculum which she teaches to students every semester, Micah has found a way to integrate service and learning. Next year, Micah will be moving to Chicago to work as an analyst for RISC, a University of Chicago institute headed by Freakonomics author and UChicago professor Steve Levitt. When asked what advice she’d give her younger self, Micah said, “Appreciate how incredible it is to attend a school with a tight-knit community on a gorgeous campus with supportive friends and teachers. You are so lucky for all that you have.”

Chad McElroy '22
Claremont Mckenna
December 13, 2023