Menlo School has opened a new, two-story 40,000 square foot facility for art, music, drama, photography and movie-making. The Creative Arts and Design Center, previously housed in the oldest buildings on campus, now features 14 creative arts teaching spaces.

The circulation spaces are designed to act as a showcase/gallery space for the work of students in the visual and performing arts. The ground floor features a central gallery, studio and a ceramics classroom. The building has three vaulted ceiling music rooms designed for superior acoustics with practice rooms and a vocal teaching studio.

The second floor offers a drama room, a digital design center, a yearbook/journalism room, a recording studio, open plan faculty office space, conference room and a photography studio, classroom and darkroom complex. A full basement provides space for set storage, mechanical systems, storage and a computer server room. The building also features a spacious outdoor studio/ceramics/teaching patio.

The opening is also a celebration of the completion of the Challenge Menlo: Investing in the Vision capital campaign. The campaign surpassed the $55 million goal and funded two key facilities, the Athletic Center (opened two years ago) and the new Creative Arts and Design Center. In addition, the campaign funded needed infrastructure improvements and added important dollars to Menlo’s endowment.

Graduate from Stanford with honors in June  — check. Get a job that comes with a 12th floor office in Hoover Tower — check. It’s no wonder that Jack Mosbacher is smiling.

The Menlo School grad grew up in Woodside with Stanford Cardinal blood in his veins. Granddad Jack Ditz started the Buck Cardinal Club. Mom, Nancy Ditz (a marathon runner who competed in the 1988 Olympics) and Dad, Bruce Mosbacher, are also Stanford grads.

But, that lineage did not lead him to his lofty office with a view. Nor was it that heritage that initially lured him to the Farm. Instead, it was the chance to play baseball for Coach Mark Marquess. “He gave me the opportunity to come here,” said Jack. “I played for three years but am the first to admit that my playing days were far from impressive.”

Jack had noticed other former athletes wandering around campus trying to figure out how to fill the 30 hours they’d been given back to their week. “I hadn’t come to Stanford just for baseball,” he said. “I really wanted to take advantage of all the academic resources available at this amazing place.

“I’d always liked the idea of exploring policy making or some other kind of public service. I believe finding ways to do innovative things is a huge challenge for my generation.”

Jack had the good luck of having Condelezza Rice as his undergraduate advisor, which meant for him, that even with his athletic career, academics were always on top of his mind. Then with his baseball playing days over, he stumbled into a class taught by Larry Diamond (who’s lofty office he now shares) called Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. [Note, there is a Center on campus of the same name.] It was co-taught by Katherine Stoner-Weiss, who he also cites as a major influence. He applied for and received a grant as a undergraduate.

That led him to travel to Uganda in the summer of 2011 where he conducted his first research project that focused on how a developing country deals with natural resources that could have a major (or not) impact on the country’s economy. His resulting thesis project was honored as the CDDRL Department Best Thesis Award.

Now ensconced for a year as a Research Assistant to mentor Larry Diamond, Jack realizes his good, but well-earned, luck. “People here are creating knowledge that makes the world a better place,” he said. “I had a stereotype of academics doing research that didn’t always translate into making a difference. But, now I see academics dedicated to the shared belief in the universal value of democracy. And, they are making a real difference around the world by putting research into practice.

“I am really passionate about all of this. There are so many things happening in the world that are underreported. The worst tragedy is the inequality of opportunity. That is something I believe my generation must tackle.”

Nathaniel (Than) Healy has been appointed Head of School at Menlo School in Atherton, effective July 1, 2013. Healy comes to Menlo from the Lakeside School in Seattle where he currently serves as Assistant Head of School and Upper School Director.

Healy will succeed Norman Colb, who last spring announced his plans to leave at the end of the 2012-2013 school year following his 20th year as Head of School.

“We are confident that Than will build on Norm Colb’s 20 years of outstanding leadership and lead us to continued success as one of the premier independent schools in the country,” said Susan Ford Dorsey, Chair of Menlo’s Board of Trustees. “During the search process, Than impressed our trustees, faculty, staff, parents and alumni with his energy, insights, collaborative leadership style and understanding of what good schools must do to prepare students to be global citizens. An innovative thinker, he demonstrates high integrity and a wonderful sense of humor — both central to the Menlo spirit.”

A graduate of Williams College, Healy holds an MA in Educational Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University. After graduating from Williams, he began his career in education at the Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, CA, where he taught history and psychology and served in a number of roles in the life of the school. Continuing his collegiate athletic career, Healy coached basketball and water polo and directed the summer athletic program. Stevenson honored Healy with the McNeely Chair for Outstanding Educator; he was the youngest faculty member to earn this recognition.

In 1995, Healy took a yearlong hiatus from education to play professional basketball in Frankfurt, Germany, which he says, “taught me resilience — how to get back up and go back in.” He then returned to his own high school, Punahou School in Honolulu where he taught history, chaired several academic departments and helped lead the girls’ varsity basketball team to the state finals.

As Upper School Director of Lakeside School, Healy has primary responsibility for all aspects of the program for over 500 students and nearly 100 faculty members. As Assistant Head, he has helped to oversee a wide variety of programs and initiatives, including the creation of the Global Service Learning Program and the Global Online Academy, which brought together the programs and  teaching of 24 partner schools from around the world.

In accepting his appointment, Healy said, “The opportunity to join Menlo School is humbling and inspiring. I’m excited by Menlo’s engaging program and joyous environment, and by its mission to develop students who will go out in the world and make a difference. I look forward to continuing Menlo’s tradition of excellence.”

How often can you attend a play — and eat dinner? That’s what happens during the Menlo School production of The Wedding of the Year, which has three performances this weekend.

“We start out in the Florence Moore Theatre, which is transformed into a wedding chapel,” explains drama teacher Beth Orr. “Then, the bagpipes lead us to the new Creative Art & Design Center for the banquet. There will be tables set with flowers just like a real wedding banquet. Some of our Moms have even made us little bags of Jordan almonds. We promise lots of interaction between the actors and the audience.”

The play’s premise is that the Fantastikini family of New Jersey is hosting their oldest son’s wedding to the daughter of the Tenchmores of Atherton. The food is Italian, and the entertainment is provided by the Rat Pack Band. While the first act (wedding) is largely scripted, the second act (banquet) is improvised.

Nicki Williams plays the mother of the groom. “She’s clingy and sad and sings Ava Maria in the toast,” Nicki says. “She’s fun to play.”

The bride, Buffy, as played by Nicole Crisci, is a bit of a stereotypical Atherton girl. “That’s the challenge,” says Buffy, “being uptight and snobby and still finding the right balance of what’s funny and not going too over the top.”

As the groom, Jordan Vasquez struggles to keep both his bride and Mom happy. “I’m pressured to join the family business while at the same time urged to leave it behind,” he says. “The way I get through it is by adding in a lot of jokes.”

Senior Ryan Bowman is appearing in his seventh production at Menlo, not counting improv shows. He considers acting his extra-curricular activity and plays the grandfather Enzo in “Wedding.”

“It’s interesting playing an older person,” he says. “When Beth was casting, she knew there would be a bride and groom but not who the other characters would be. So, for my audition, I came up with this old guy from Sicily who gripes about things. The role changes each time I do it. That’s the thing about improv, it keeps you on your toes.”

The two evening performances on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17 are sold out. $10 tickets for the Saturday matinee at 2:00 pm remain and can be reserved by emailing tickets@menloschool.org

Photo of cast in costume by Paul Gralen; photo of class in rehearsal with Beth Orr and Jan Chandler by Linda Hubbard

The Public Service Announcement (PSA) on water conservation that Menlo School seniors Alec Oswald and Jeremy Stern produced and directed  last summer was selected to be screened at the 2nd Annual Social Change Film Festival & Institute (SCFFI) held recently in New Orleans.

The students, both Woodside residents, worked on the project for their Senior Community Service Pact, combining the water conservation theme and their interest in filmmaking with their service learning project. The classmates also volunteered at a local water nonprofit during which they learned the practical challenges of delivering quality water to residential homes.

Jeremy and Alec attended a youth workshop sponsored by SCFFI that targeted filmmakers, activists and social entrepreneurs who were interested in using film and media to raise awareness and enact change around water issues. Michael Nash, award-winning filmmaker of Climate Refugees, and Charles Hambleton, producer of The Cove, were panel participants. They worked with mentors to interview, film and capture the event in a short video that was produced and shown at the festival conclusion. The video, So Let’s Start Doing  It, can be viewed online.

If you think older adults are not digitally connected, you’re wrong. Nearly 70% of adults 65+ use mobile phones, more than half use email, and a third of older Internet users are on Facebook, according to statistics supplied by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. With all of that connectedness comes a lot of questions, and that is why Menlo School junior Josh Lauder will be at Moldaw Residences tomorrow (1/17) along with 10 of his friends, holding one-on-one tutoring sessions.

The sessions are part of Menlo School’s PACT project. Beginning every spring, each sophomore develops his or her Personalized Action-Community Time (PACT) proposal for a project to be carried out during his or her junior and senior year. “The PACT enables juniors and seniors to build on the skills they developed as freshmen and sophomores and gives them the freedom to create a service project related to a social issue of personal importance,” explains Jill Kasser, who is is a PR consultant for the school.

In addition to carrying out a successful PACT, juniors and seniors are required to participate in at least three Menlo service opportunities.

“I’m doing this as my PACT project with my friend Brock Cozad,” explains Josh. “I’ll most likely be doing four sessions at the Moldaw Residences. I did an almost identical project about two years ago at the residences with five Menlo friends, and it was a great success.”

Josh developed the idea after successfully helping his grandparents navigate their Apple devices. He set up his grandfather’s iPhone, taught him how to text and email, play chess, and read his favorite newspapers. Josh found that enlarging the text was extremely helpful. His goal is to teach seniors how to be self sufficient when using today’s tech gadgets. (Josh is pictured with grandfather Bill Heller and his iPad.)

“I know that family members can get frustrated when trying to help their loved ones learn how to use technology,” he says.  “When we visit Moldaw, we will be extremely patient, and I hope that the seniors get a lot out of the sessions.  I find it very rewarding to volunteer my time, and I’m sure we will all have a lot of fun.”

Menlo School’s Upper School Drama Department is presenting The 39 Steps directed by Mark Newton this weekend at Florence Moore Auditorium. In the production, “Hitchcock meets secret agents who plot to prevent critical information from leaving the country. Mishaps and crazy characters make this a great comedy for the entire family.”  The play premieres Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 pm. There are also evening performances at the same time on Friday, Feb. 1 and Saturday, Feb. 2 plus a matinee on Saturday at 2:00 pm. Tickets, which are available online or through tickets@menloschool.org, are $5 students and $8 adults.

Menlo School sophomore Shea Ketsdever, the Upper School’s Orchestra Assistant Conductor, directs the first-ever Menlo Invitational Orchestra Festival on Saturday, March 9. School orchestras from around the Peninsula —five visiting ensembles including Menlo’s Orchestra and over 100 musicians —vwill rehearse, receive instrumental coaching from area professionals and perform together in a free concert to be held the same afternoon from 4:30 to 6:00 pm in Menlo School’s Creative Arts and DesignCenter.

According to Shea (pictured above conducting another performance), “The idea behind the festival is to provide an opportunity for young musicians in the peninsula to collaborate and perform together. The highlight of the festival is the massed ensemble, composed of all participants performing together in the final two pieces. There will also be performances by several individual group ensembles.”

Participating in the festival are the following school groups/ensembles:

• Menlo Chamber Orchestra
• Lick Wilmerding Orchestra
• CastillejaSchool Ensemble
• Topaz Ensemble
• CommunitySchool of Music and Arts Ensemble
• EganSchool Ensemble
• MenloMiddle School Chamber Ensemble

Menlo Upper School’s drama department presents Spamalot as its annual Outdoor Spring Musical this year. Performances are scheduled for May 3, May 4, May 5, May 10 and May 11, all starting at 8:00 pm — students $8, adults $10. Dress warmly, bring blankets, picnics and low lawn chairs.

More than50 Upper School Menlo students comprise the cast and crew for this hilarious Broadway hit musical, “lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Come see live and onstage the killer rabbit, the flying cow, the Knights of Ni and the antics of King Arthur, Guinevere and The Knights of the Round Table.

“This is purely comical insanity!” said Elizabeth Orr, Menlo’s Drama teacher and the Director of the show.  “We’ve been having a lot of fun rehearsing it, even though the audience will never know how much work the cast and crew put in to learn all of the songs and dances, set up the stage and lights, gather the props and costumes.”

Senior Ryan Bowman who plays Arthur said, “We’ve been waiting to do Spamalot since before we were in High School!”

Photo by Paul Gralen; pictured  JB Horsely (bottom), John Welch (with crown), Manny Walton (finger in mouth), Sydney Boal (white cap); Peter Osborne (pink robe); Maxwell Coleman (sitting), Ahladini Veerina

Menlo School is launching the inaugural season of SummerArts@Menlo, offering classes in a variety of creative arts disciplines, include collage, sculpture and photography, iPad art, rock band, hip hop and clowning. Courses run June 24-28, 9:00 am-2:00 pm. Enrollment open to students from Menlo and the community at large, ages 13-18. Tuition: $375 plus materials. Class descriptions and program details are available online.

“The idea behind doing this summer school is that the new arts building at Menlo is so fantastic that we wanted to make it open to the community over the summer,” said Kerry Rodgers. “I’m a former Menlo faculty member (I used to teach photography in 2004-06), so with permission of the current photo teacher I proposed teaching a photo class there this summer. But since there is no Summer program they asked me if I wanted to start one, so I jumped in!

“One of the things we are trying to do differently with our summer classes than the typical “summer arts” classes is that in addition to the Menlo faculty (and former faculty like myself) who are teaching many of the classes, we are also hosting a number of professional artists as guest teachers. So the idea for this is that students will get exposure to artists who are really active in the field.”

Menlo School is inviting the community to a fundraiser for the school’s orchestra’s travel scholarship fund. The violin recital, with music by Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, featuring Alexander Barantschik, concertmaster for the San Francisco Symphony, along with Alona Tsoi will take place on Sunday, August 25th at 2:00 pm at Stent Hall on the school’s campus. Admission is $25.

Alexander Barantschik joined the San Francisco Symphony as concertmaster in September 2001, having served as concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. Through an arrangement with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Barantschik has the exclusive use for three seasons of the 1742 Guarnerius del Gesù violin once owned by Jascha Heifetz.

Alona Tsoi has made numerous concert tours throughout Europe and United States, and studying and performing at such Music Festivals as Aldeborough and Tanglewood, where her mentors were Benjamin Britten, Alfred Schnittke and Seiji Osawa. Currently a free-lance musician, she takes part in the major recording projects and tours with the San Francisco Symphony.

Broadway director and choreographer Steven Minning brings more than 30 years of professional experience to direct the high school musical production of Little Shop of Horrors at Menlo School this weekend.

Minning was resident director for such famed productions as Billy Elliot, The Lion King, and Showboat  and director/choreographer for such classics as My Fair Lady, The Will Rogers Follies, South Pacific,  and Annie before moving to Portola Valley to become the new drama director at Menlo School. He also directed numerous corporate and special events, including the 1994 World Cup opening ceremonies in New York and Boston and the 1994 Coca-Cola Olympic reception in Atlanta.

For his first production at Menlo School, Minning felt Little House of Horrors was an “appropriate” introduction, noting that the school’s “talent pool is very strong.”

Little Shop of Horrors is “a very well-constructed show that’s become a classic in musical theatre history,” he says. “Timelessness translates beautifully in a wide range of scenarios.”

The musical is the story of Seymour Krelborn, a nerdy employee at Mushnik’s Skid Row Florist Shop, his coworker and love interest Audrey, and a mysterious plant that attracts business to the shop.

Junior John Horsley says he enjoys playing Seymour, “with all his flaws and strengths,” adding that the musical is driven “by the character’s motive.”

Senior Tara Saha, who plays Audrey, says, “The characters are serious about and live completely in their own little B movie…It’s taken a lot of work to build the different layers of (Audrey’s) character and make it … something the audience can sympathize with.”

Senior Sean Morgenthaler, who plays Mr. Mushnik, is “having fun transforming myself into Mr. Mushnik.” Morgenthaler, a first-time musical performer, credits the new director for his “great learning experience.”

Senior Jordan Vasquez, who plays multiple roles including Orin the dentist, admits it is challenging to play many characters, adding that he needs to “make sure they don’t overlap with each other.” The cast members share an enthusiasm and excitement over the new production.

Tickets are available at the door. The show is presented in the Florence Moore Theater on the Menlo School campus (50 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton) on Nov. 1 at 7:30 pm; Nov. 2 at  2:00 pm and 7:30 pm and Nov. 3 at  2:00 pm.

Photo of Steven Minning by Scott Forstall; cast photo courtesy of Menlo School

The Menlo School Drama Department is presenting Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Our Town, in the Florence Moore Auditorium on the Menlo School campus, 50 Valparaiso Avenue, Atherton, from Feb. 6th to 9th. The performances are at 7:30 pm on Feb. 6-8 and at 2:00 pm on Feb. 9.

“Our Town is not a play about the evaporated glory of simpler yesteryears. On the contrary, it whispers to us the urgent necessity of living in the here and now — which is all anyone, anywhere, be it Grover’s Corners or the Bay Area, really ever has,” says Menlo’s new drama director, Steven Minning.

The production’s contemporary staging reflects this theme.

Junior Miles Fowler, who plays the role of George Gibbs, is thrilled to be a part of the show: “I’m looking forward to this production because the play is revered worldwide as an American classic. I’m honored to be one of many thousands of talented actors and actresses, including this cast, who can say they took part in a production of Our Town.”

As part of the experience, the Menlo School Drama Department plans to support the message of the play by raising funds to give back to the local community, including InnVision Shelter Network of Menlo Park, with which Menlo has had a long-term relationship. InnVision Shelter Network helps homeless families and individuals in our community return to permanent housing and self-sufficiency.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students. They are available online  or by emailing tickets@menloschool.org.

Photo caption: Matthew Bates of Menlo Park (Mr. Webb), Jessie Guthrie of Atherton (Emily Webb), Hannah Lambing of Burlingame (Mrs. Webb), Miles Fowler of Redwood City (George Gibbs), Teagan Nibbi of Woodside (Dr. Gibbs) and Nicole Crisci of Hillsborough (Mrs. Gibbs)

Menlo School’s Mock Trial team won the Constitutional Rights Foundation California State Competition this past Sunday. Menlo’s prosecution team beat out three-time defending state champions LaReina High School from Ventura County and will move on to the national competition in May.

This year’s competition case, People v. Concha, concerns felony counts of second-degree murder and possession for sale of a controlled substance. The pretrial issue centers on the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure.

In the final round, Menlo’s victory was cemented when its prosecution team made a series of objections that overwhelmed the opposing defense team and disrupted the flow of its argument.

“Menlo’s victory was an amazing testament to the unity of the team, led by seniors who supported each other throughout the year. I’ve worked with high school mock trial teams for over 20 years, and this is the first time I’ve had a team reach this level,” said Dan Devitt, Menlo teacher and Mock Trial team supervisor.

Menlo’s winning prosecution team consists of Andy Parker ’16, Mackenzie Bressie ’15, Jamie Redman ’14, Christina Wadsworth ’14, Meera Kumar ’14, Kate Park ’14, Colton Conley ’17, Kathryn Hurd ’14 and Chris Crouch ’15.

The Menlo School boys’ tennis team is closely tracking its aces this year — and not for statistical reasons. The Knights are holding their inaugural Menlo School Ace-athon, a season-long benefit for East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring (EPATT).

Menlo players will be gathering sponsors — from friends to family to businesses to the community — to pledge per ace or give a fixed donation of any amount. The goal is for the overall team to serve 100 aces (or more) during their 18 regular matches, and up to 10 postseason events.

Sophomore singles player Lane Leschly (pictured top and at bottom with coach Bill Shine) spearheaded the idea, conceived on a holiday break from school. “I was trying to think of some cool things to do with the team to bring some energy in and find a way to give back to the community,” he said.

Lane has toured EPATT with executive director and tennis director Dave Higaki and his mom, who has been involved with the program in the past. “We got to see all the programs, and it struck me then that we should support that cause,” he said.

EPATT is an afterschool program that provides youth development for students who are from local under-resourced communities. Since 1988, EPATT has been using academic tutoring, group tennis instruction, parent education and accountability to help students “make success a habit.”

For the Ace-athon, every Menlo player will have an index card with opponent and date so every ace will be tallied for each match. At season’s end, the aces will be counted and the players will collect pledge donations to give to EPATT.

“We moved toward sponsoring the whole team rather than sponsoring individual players because the goal is to get the whole team going, and that’s where the emphasis is going to be,” Lane said.

Higaki said the ace-athon goes far beyond the monetary contribution. “That the younger students are engaging and giving back to the community is such an exciting thing.” he said. “It’s just awesome to see.”

For more information on how to pledge, contact Menlo School Athletics 650.330.2001, ext. 2758.

Photos courtesy of Menlo School

Three Menlo School spring sports teams were named Central Coast Section Scholastic Champions and four other teams made the top five of those with the highest collective grade-point average in their respective sports. Menlo baseball, boys’ swimming and boys’ track and field each had the top GPA during the 2014 spring season.

Menlo baseball amassed a 3,6176 GPA, boys’ swimming with a collective 3.7669 and boys’ track and field took first with a 3.6707.

The Knights football and boys’ soccer also were named 2013-2014 CCS scholastic team champions as reported after the fall and winter seasons. Menlo School had three scholastic championship teams in 2008-2009 and in 1987-88, but this is the second time since the awards began in 1985 that three Knights teams achieved the honor in one season. Football, boys’ water polo and girls’ golf all were CCS scholastic champs in fall 2012.

The awards handed out since 1985, with a hiatus in 2011-2012, recognizes the top five varsity teams from each CCS sport.

Caption: CCS Scholastic Champion spring teams pictured (from top left): Track and field coach Jorge Chen, captain Paul Touma; swimming coach Matt Jones, captains Ryan Hammarskjold and John Wilson; baseball coach Craig Schoof and captain Sam Crowder. Not pictured: Captains Matt Myers (track), Mikey Diekroeger and Graham Stratford (baseball).

Nearly two months after the Menlo School boys’ tennis players brought home the NorCal team title, they gathered to make one more delivery. This time, they were at Stanford for the Bank of the West Tournament to present a $10,000 check for East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring.

On opening night of the tournament, the boys and Coach Bill Shine were brought to the court and thanked for their ace-athon, a fundraiser based on how many aces the players delivered during the season. Though several Menlo players were on vacation, six were on hand to present the check: Nate Safran, Jake Rudolph, David Roy, Kylee Santos, Michael Quezada and Lane Leschly, who drummed up the idea last summer.

Menlo players gathered sponsors — from friends,  family and businesses in the community — who pledged per ace or gave a fixed donation. The boys surpassed their goal of 100 aces with 345 for the season.

“It definitely blew by our expectations for both the amount of money and the number of aces, ” Leschly said. “Overall, it was a huge success with the team, and we’ve all gotten really engaged in the idea, so we’re hoping to continue the fun next year.”

EPATT is an afterschool program that provides youth development for students who are from local under-resourced communities. Since 1988, EPATT has been using academic tutoring, group tennis instruction, parent education and accountability to help students “make success a habit.”

Photo courtesy of EPATT

Menlo School’s Robert Miranda, who is coming off a sophomore season in which he had a podium finish at state in cross country and took fourth in the 3200 at CCS, has been preparing for his next run for months.

This Sunday, Robert will run the Summer Scamper at Stanford to benefit Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. He has been raising funds for months to help the hospital, specifically for the launch of a music therapy program which his 12-year-old sister loves.

“I run to support my sister Isabel, who has epilepsy and is cognitively disabled,” Robert said. “She is a patient at Packard Children’s, and the hospital does so much for her.”

Isabel has been participating in a music-therapy program run at a local school for three years. “It’s one of the highlights of her week,” Robert said. “Music therapy is very different in that its goal is to get the patient to connect with the music, making it both enjoyable and stimulating but also engaging and working on the patient expressing herself or himself.

“Music therapy gives her an opportunity to do something she loves while spending time with some of her friends in the class, and also working on several key developmental areas, specifically, in her case, sticking with a song all the way through rather than switching between tasks without completion, and self control in not touching the guitar, and giving all of the other students personal space.”

Last year, Robert was the second overall finisher in the 5K. After the Summer Scamper, he is headed to the Junior Olympics 1,500 and 3,200 trials in Sacramento where he will vie for bid to nationals.

Menlo School freshman Aaron Morgan is a semifinalist in the Breakthrough Prize Junior Challenge. The community is asked to vote  on Facebook to help him reach the finals.

The Breakthrough Prize Junior Challenge is an international math/science video competition founded by technology leaders including Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Sergey Brin (Google), and Sal Khan (Khan Academy) to inspire creative thinking about science.

For the project, Aaron created a video explaining how the Fourier Transform — a discovery 200 years ago by Baron Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier, a French mathematician and physicist — provides the foundation for online video, audio, and photo sharing as we know it today. Out of thousands of entries globally, Aaron was named one of 30 semifinalists and is the youngest of the 12 Americans who qualified for the semis.

“I have a passion for filmmaking, and have always loved science,” say Aaron. “Since I enjoy the process of making videos, educational or not, I figured I’d take a shot at the Breakthrough Challenge.

“I really appreciate everyone’s support in this undertaking. No matter how slim you think your chances are, you should always try for things. I never thought I’d even have a chance of reaching the semifinals of this contest, but here I am! I think that’s a testament to the fact that you should just try your best at everything and you might get farther than you expect.”

The semifinals include a round of Facebook voting, and the vote tally is a key part of making the finals as the video with the most combined likes, shares, and positive reactions will progress to the final. The winner will earn a college scholarship. And, should Aaron, take the prize, Menlo School would also benefit as the winner’s school will receive $100,000 to invest in its science lab plus a cash prize for a teacher of the winner’s choice.

Voting is open now through Wednesday, November 9.

Menlo Drama is presenting the five-time Tony Award-winning interactive, musical whodunit The Mystery of Edwin Drood, based upon the unfinished Charles Dickens novel of the same name.

Performances run Friday, November 11 at 7:30 pm, November 12 at 2:00 and 7:30 pm and Sunday, November 13 at 2:00 pm in Florence Moore Auditorium at Menlo School. The community is welcome and encouraged to attend; tickets at $10 for adults/$5 for students are available online  and at the door. This production is appropriate for middle school and above.

In Chesterham, England, a charming young Edwin Drood has been murdered in the unfinished final novel by Charles Dickens, who passed away before revealing the story’s end. Ruper Holmes’ musical solves this dilemma by allowing the audience to choose which character is the killer by popular vote. All actors play two parts, an actor of the Music Hall Royale and also the character he or she plays in the production of Drood. With multiple possible endings, the actors, all Menlo school students, must be prepared to perform all possible endings the audience may choose.

“I love that the show has so many components and that it will really challenge every cast member and the audience involvement makes the show extremely special” said senior Anika who plays Alice Nutting and Edwin Drood. Senior Kate Lucas, who plays actress Deirdre Peregrin who portrays the character Rosa Bud, agreed, ” It’s the most complex show we’ve ever done. The audience sees one show, but the actors have rehearsed and know 20 different shows.”

Staging his tenth performance for the Menlo Drama Department, director Steven Minning chose this production for the fall musical “because of its message. The musical is about making your life worth something, hanging on to every breath of life and making it count!”

Minning, head of the Drama Department, was also named Creative Arts Director this fall. “The Mystery of Edwin Drood is about the mystery and the challenges in life,” he said.  “Combine the genius writing of Charles Dickens and Rupert Holmes, and the result is a rich tapestry of theatrics surrounded with joy and humor.”

In addition to his professional skills and experiences, Minning has imported another Broadway tradition to the Menlo School Drama Department, one of philanthropy. Each of his last nine productions has been tied to a specific non-profit organization, chosen by the cast, whose work correlates to the message or themes of the production. Over $18,000 has been raised over the last three seasons, primarily from donations collected from the audience after each show.

While Drood is a true comedy, the play does deal with the subject of drug addition. Delancy Street Foundation is one of the leading residential self-help organizations in the United States that works with ex-addicts and ex-convicts to teach them new skills. Their unique model of social entrepreneurship, education and rehabilitation led the cast to choose this organization to be the recipient of this production’s donations.

Drood kicks off a year of Tony-Award productions staged by the Menlo Drama Department, which will include The Diary of Anne Frank and How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. 

Photo courtesy of Menlo School..Front row: Ari Troper (in hat and yellow scarf) Anika Padwekar (purple coat) Kate Lucas (pink dress) Diego Mejia (black cape)
Middle row: on piano Maya Donatio (in red dress) Ben Glazer (in brown suit)
Back row: Jeff Frenkel-Popell (in black hat) Colin Raab (in purple/gold jacket) and Jordan Gold (in white headdress)