University of Illinois  

Laboratory High School   

 Alumni Newsletter

January 2016
 
Calendar

April 16, 2016
Uni Gala 
Location: New ECE building at University and Wright; Kavita and Lalit Bahl Meeting Room

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Max Beberman Outstanding Alumni Award Dinner
May 19, 2016

Class of 1966 reunion
June 4, 2016
1-4 p.m.
Contact Tom Koehler

Class of 1986 reunion
TBA 2016
Contact Brent Lyles

Class of 1967 reunion
April 2017
Contact Dan Brodsky

Classes of 1950-59 Grand Reunion
April 2017

Join us!
From the Advancement Department
New Assistant Director of Advancement
Assistant Director of Advancement Joshua Hall

The Advancement Office has hired Joshua Hall as Assistant Director of Advancement for Uni High. Hall's main priority in this position will be to oversee the annual and parent funds, where he will provide information about giving opportunities for parents and alumni.  He will also oversee events, such as the annual Gala, reunions and other events. 

Save the date
Please plan to join us at Uni's 2016 Gala on April 16 in the new ECE building on campus.  We will be honoring past recipients of the Tobin award, given to outstanding Uni Social Studies students. 

Status of gifts
The UI Foundation is in the middle of switching to a new computer system, and they are working to enter recent gifts in the system. If you have already submitted your gift this academic year, it may not be entered in our record yet.  If this is the case, please accept this note of thanks from all of us in the Uni High family

Uni in the news
Uni High junior and seniors, with Chemistry teacher Dave Bergandine, have been bringing science to elementary school students at King School each week.  They were featured in a recent News-Gazette article talking about their experiences. 

Call for nominations: Max Beberman Distinguished Alumni Award
Please share your nominations for the Max Beberman Distinguished Alumni Award. The award was established in honor of the late Max Beberman, whose distinguished career as a math educator brought him international renown. During his tenure at University Laboratory High School from 1950 to 1971 he founded and developed the University of Illinois Committee on School Mathematics (UICSM) which significantly altered the teaching of mathematics around the world. Max is remembered as being a fantastic teacher whose forte was enabling students to discover for themselves the new math ideas for which he is famous. 

To nominate someone for the award, please contact Advancement Director Marianne Downey for a nomination form. You can view previous award recipients here.
 Alumni spotlight
Will Fernandez with fellow Uni alum and volunteer Ruthie Welch.

Uni alum Will Fernandez ('11) is serving in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica following his graduation from the University of Chicago. You can follow his Peace Corps experiences on his blog, To Laugh Often and Love Much. 
 
Fernandez also recently launched a writing project, Error of Opinion, a group of young professionals writing on politics, business and culture.

This is an excerpt from one of his recent updates:
 "On July 6th, I started my adventure in Costa Rica with 19 other diverse and
talented young people from across the country as we arrived in San Jose for the beginning of our training. We were all selected to be Youth Development Volunteers based on our experiences working directly with youth and community development service providers back in the States. Over the following three months, we would go through an intensive full-time training program that gave us both a greater understanding of Costa Rican cultural as well as the specific tools and techniques needed to best engage in substantive projects on the ground...
 
"My site, Guadalupe de Cartago, is the Western suburb of Costa Rica's former capital. While maintaining many urban amenities, Cartago has seen years of economic turbulence. Specifically, the population that I work with come from a temporary housing settlement called Los Diques (The Dikes) and has been a center for urban poverty and health inequity for over forty years...
 
"Throughout the first three months on the ground we are asked to work on evaluating our community through focus groups, survey work, informal activities, and other forms of targeted integration and data collection. From that work we then are advised to compile our findings into an integrated document which also lays out our projected work plan for the upcoming year."

We wish Will all the best in his latest adventure!


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2003 Uni graduate Molly Goldwasser returned to Uni in January to present at the faculty in-service. She spoke on "The Intersection of Technology and Critical Thinking Skills to Reduce Student Stress."

Goldwasser earned a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership and Instruction from Vanderbilt University, and completed both the Harvard Graduate School of Education Management Development Program and the Duke Leadership Academy.  She is currently the manager of Institutional Assessment and Accreditation at Duke University.
 From the Director
Innovations in Learning
Our initiative to promote what is called Active Learning (student-directed, hands-on, collaborative, interdisciplinary, technologically-facilitated inquiry) involves both professional development for faculty and the renovation of spaces.
 
Professional Development:  At the Faculty Institute on Jan. 4, we were lucky to hear an alumna of the school, Duke Education professor Molly Goldwasser ('03), share with teachers active learning techniques, one of her research interests.  Upcoming faculty meetings will allow experts in our own faculty the opportunity to present on what they do with active learning. 
 
Facilities: Now that Rm. 106N is largely complete, we are focusing on the Chemistry Lab and Chemistry classroom as the next area to renovate.  It would include a Makerspace-a location for building, such as 3-D printing, robotics, audio-visual productions, art, and sewing.   More details to come.
 
As an example of Active Learning, the photo at the right depicts a recent project in  Uni alum Ben Leff's World History class.  As Ben describes the experience, "[This is] part of a group project in which they are making a video on explaining the "fall of Rome" (which is one of those classic historiographical debates).  They just finished research, and today was brainstorming day to map out the video. The boards in the library [new glass boards that show markers clearly and are easy to erase] were awesome for this."  

Faculty Offices Update
As you know, faculty offices currently in the adjoining houses will be moved into the main building before the houses are razed this summer.  A Space Committee of UI, Uni admin, and Uni faculty members set the following goals, among others, for any solution:
 
            ▪   Have a minimum impact on scheduling.
            ▪   Have a minimum impact on student spaces for study, relaxing etc.
            ▪   Allow for confidentiality for teachers and for teacher-student meetings.
            ▪   Keep departments in proximity as much as possible.
            ▪   Avoid repurposing storage areas such as closets and provide aesthetic improvements to any affected rooms. 
 
The Space Committee has developed a plan and two alternatives that they believe satisfy the above parameters.  UI architects are drawing up the plans now for upcoming presentations to the faculty.
 
Alumni Association
The new Uni Alumni Association is making good progress.  They plan to hold their second steering committee meeting in conjunction with Uni's April Gala.  Some of the goals of the group's subcommittees are developing class agent systems, a week each year during which all Uni class reunions would occur, Uni events for graduates in various cities throughout the country, and connections between alumni and current Uni classes.  

Uni Director Jeff Walkington is always happy to hear from you!