This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Thailand with Cate School alum, Mac Bakewell ’65 and one of my classmates, Willem Vorster ’12. The Thailand experience is one that is coordinated by Mac Bakewell ’65 and sponsored by Cate. Each summer, Mac takes a number of students from Cate as well as other independent schools in California to he and his wife’s village in Pah Leurat, Thailand. Prior to arriving at the village, which is in the northern part of Thailand, Mac takes us to Bangkok where we are able to experience the city life for a few days before heading to the rural village where we will spend the bulk of out time.

Our focus during the experience is to exchange culture, learn and be of service by way of teaching English at the same village school where Mac’s wife attended as a child. Spending a month in a foreign country with a Cate alum was awesome! We got to hear a first hand perspective on an older Cate. It was easy to connect because although Mac attended a Cate with no girls and less diversity than we enjoy today, the morals and principles that make this a special place seem to have been maintained. Willem and I would ask him many questions about life at Cate back in the day. We were very curious about dorm life back then, formal dinners, athletics and Mr. Cate himself. Mac actually met Mr. Cate, and frequently shared meals and enlightening conversations with him each Sunday at Mesa House.

Teaching was an amazing experience in and of itself. Each morning, after presenting alms to the monks and receiving our daily blessing, we would teach three classes (K-9) of about 15-20 students. We would teach vocabulary and basic sentence structure as well as exchanging culture in open conversation with those whose English was strong. The teaching experience didn’t end there.

After we were done teaching at the village school, we went back to Mac’s house or to the temple. Often times, we would plan our next lesson or play with the local village children. By 4pm, Mac’s house would fill up with all the school children returning home and excited to see and spend more time with our group.

They were very inviting and urged Willem and me to come play football, Ta Kaw (a traditional Thai game close to volleyball but played with the feet), or go to the river for an afternoon swim. I most enjoyed playing Ta Kaw or really anything after school with the kids. Going to the local river was a blast too.

A highlight of my summer was attempting to climb a coconut tree (unsuccessfully)! I also learned to make fish baskets from the elder women in the village. Mine didn’t look that great, but it was a neat experience and talent to bring back to the United States. Before we left, Willem and I had an opportunity to stay in the temple with the Monks and another Thai boy our age.

My experience in Thailand was one I will never forget. Being immersed in the Thai culture, learning and sharing with a Cate alum and fellow classmate while exchanging culture and experiencing new things was something I am truly grateful for. I’m fortunate to attend a school that presents these opportunities to me.

Nevada City, CA

Schoolhouse Dorm / Varsity Squash / Varsity Cross Country

It’s mid-August and I have just returned from what will go down as one of the most amazing and influential experiences of my life thus far. It was an epic experience void of the modern marvels of mass communication, computers, cell phones and television that we are so accustomed to in our daily lives. I engaged with and got to know amazing individuals, including world class athletes such as Lornah Kiplagat, Vivian Cheruiyot, and various Kenyan runners who are not household names in the United States, but they have quite a large following abroad. I participated in an intensive training camp for distance runners at the High Altitude Training Center located in Iten, Kenya which is just outside of Eldoret. HATC is owned and operated by the aforementioned Lornah Kiplagat. It is an extraordinary place with comfortable accommodations. The food was impressive, and less exotic than I had imagined. Here we had daily turn down service, warm water for showers (providing that it was sunny and warm outside), a gym, a pool and sauna.

While we were there a group of Kenyans my age were training and studying at the HATC in preparation for the application process to American Colleges/Universities this fall. They were part of a program called KENSAP- Kenyan Students Scholarship and Athletics Program. This program interviews and selects the highest achieving student-athletes from the Rift Valley region to test their athletic an aptitude. 12 student-athletes are chosen from an original pool of 100. Those who are invited into the program go on to attend universities in the United States such as Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Williams and a host of top tier academic institutions with equally impressive athletic programs. We spent significant time with these student-athletes. They were incredibly friendly and excited to learn about our culture in the United States. This was a particularly fulfilling time for me because we actually had space and opportunity to hang out with Kenyan teenagers exchanging culture and finding that while we live on opposite sides of the globe, we share many things in common.

Our schedule varied drastically day to day in terms of the amount of work required of us. Some days we spent 6-8 hours painting, teaching, or covering books for schools while on others we had more time to ourselves. However, each day we were up and running by 7am. Breakfast was at 8AM, followed by a service project scheduled for the day beginning at 9:30AM. We would return for lunch midday and then leave for a second session of service at 2PM. Most student-athletes would run again around 4:30PM or 5PM, and then hit the gym until dinner at 7:30PM. I can’t speak for other students, but my friend Adrian and I were in bed by 9PM at the latest. Especially in the first week before we adjusted to the altitude and insane amount of training. I am certain that I have never been so physically active in my life. On my “days off” I ran six miles. That’s more than I’ve ever run during an off-season workout. In the end, I accumulated a total of 200 miles in 19 days of training. That feels pretty good!

I met some interesting people other than just the athletes and foremost among them was Toby Tanser, a former professional runner, now head of a charity called Shoe4Africa, of which he is the only employee. His organization, as well as the story of how it got started, is incredible. Toby spent two hours one afternoon describing to us how he was attacked by two men with machetes and baseball bats on a beach in Tanzania. They wanted to steal his shoes. In the end, they would only manage to take one shoe from Toby. Toby explained that this is why he used the singular in naming his charity. My running partner (Adrian) and I also made friends with a young lady named Gladys and her family who lived along the route we ran everyday. We met Gladys because she went to Kamarin, one of the primary schools we visited, and on one of our morning runs she invited us in to have tea (they LOVE tea in Kenya, almost as much as they love President Obama). She lived in a one-room house made of wood with a corrugated tin roof. The walls were decorated with newspaper clippings and odd calendars promoting a random array of products. Sheets hung down the middle separating the seating area, where we took our tea, from the single bed they all shared. Throughout our trip we were frequently stopped during our run and invited in for tea, or sometimes for huge meals from which we were not allowed to walk away from until everything had been eaten. Before we left we went and said goodbye to Gladys and her family and they gave us their P.O. box number, insinuating that they would be offended if we didn’t keep in contact.

At the close of the trip we drove nine hours from Iten to Massai-Mara. My last two days in Kenya were spent driving around amongst Lions, Zebras, Wildebeest, Giraffes, Elephants, Leopards, Cheetahs, Hippos, Crocodiles, Hyenas and Water Buffalo. It was amazing! I even got to see a Lion take down a Wildebeest, which was worth the long 9 hour trek through the Kenyan back country.

By this point of the experience I was ready to get back home to the United States (to Mc Donald’s in particular) but I would recommend this trip to anyone seeking a challenge who has the willingness to push their mind & body to it’s limits.

As I mentioned, this was an epic experience. I have never run or pushed myself harder than I had through this experience. This has been a summer to remember and I am thrilled to return to Cate School with a new energy, a greater understanding of the world and an experience I expect to continually learn from. What an experience!

Hillsborough, CA

Schoolhouse Dorm / Writing Club / Varsity Cross Country / Track and Field

The most exciting part of my summer was interning with the Philadelphia Phillies. After the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, they began getting national recognition. It was an amazing season and they continue to lead their division in the NL.

Working for the Phillies organization has been a valuable opportunity I’m honored to have. It was not as luxurious as people like to think but it was exciting. To my knowledge, I was the youngest person working the stadium. Given my age, I’m certain that I secured the job because of the support and referrals from the Cate School Family. My advisor, Ms. Brownlee, knew that I was in need of a job for the summer and she began helping me find something that I could do. There is a student at our school whose family is connected to the Phillies organization and Ms. Brownlee immediately saw the connection.

See, I live in Camden, which is just across the bridge from Philadelphia. Knowing this, Ms. Brownlee made a few calls to help me out. What I appreciate most about this situation is that she didn’t just readily ask them to give me a job; she assisted me in the process. Ms. Brownlee wanted me to do the hard part on my own. With confidence and excitement for my first real job opportunity, I made an appointment for an interview. I felt the interview went over well and apparently it did, as this is my second year working there.

During my first summer with the Phillies, my job was in the office helping other employees with their errands and simple clerical duties. This summer, my job was in the stadium. I was able to work in the Phunzone and supervise children in our playground. The work was pretty simple but one of the most challenging parts of my job was when a child would get lost I would have to find them. It made me feel like a hero. Also, there was a space called the bubble where we would sit and make sure the children didn’t go down the slide too frequently. On hot days, I would estimate the bubble to be ten degrees hotter than what it was outside. I had to sit there for thirty minutes at a time in just bearable temperatures and get smart talked by children who thought that I was too big to be in the “bubble.”

All in all, I had a great summer, met some interesting people and I was compensated well. I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of my advisor and the Cate community. Ms. Brownlee made the connection that I never would have and that is what Cate helps us do, make connections. Thanks to Ms. Brownlee, I have a steady summer job for well into my college summers.

Camden, NJ

日本は　すごかったです。Two years ago, I would not have been able to understand any of that. Today, I can read, understand and elaborate on it. It’s amazing how much I’ve learned in only two years of Japanese language study. While two years of Japanese study doesn’t allow you to master the language completely, it certainly gives you the capability to travel to Japan and immerse yourself in the culture and language. This summer I was fortunate enough to go to Japan for a month with my Japanese Language teacher and a number of my peers from Cate School. During my time in Japan, I attended Yakumo Academy, Cate’s sister school in Japan, while living with a Japanese host family and enjoying the beautiful geography, language and culture that make up this amazing country.

Leaving your home and native language can be a daunting experience to say the least. Even still, I grew out of my fears and anxieties associated with leaving my comfort zone and jumped on a twelve-hour flight to Japan with my Japanese language teacher and 6 fellow classmates. Getting off the plane was like walking for the first time, literally. Sitting on an airplane for twelve hours is not easy! In addition to the physical discomfort one endures from a 12-hour flight in close quarters, Tokyo was extremely humid! I had never been in such humidity in my life. I was amazed at how clean everything is there! This is one characteristic I will never forget! Japan is insanely clean. Despite the weather I was able to take in this sanitized country and have the time of my life.

My home stay was amazing. Initially, I was nervous to stay in the home of a family whom I didn’t know and who didn’t speak my language. All that worry disappeared the minute I met them. The Miyagawa family treated me like another member of their family; they were patient and caring to all of my needs. My favorite experience with them was probably when we went crab fishing. It was a simple family outing that really helped me get to know them as people. I was fortunate to have met them. School was most interesting. It’s definitely different from what I am used to. Classes were only in Japanese, so I had to be patient and attentive at all times. It was a bit intimidating at first. Not to mention, I had to wear a uniform and take the bus to school every morning. Subsequently, those weeks went by incredibly fast!

After two weeks, I said good-bye to my host family with tears in my eyes and set off to explore more of Japan with the rest of my classmates. We traveled to Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Takayama. We did all of our traveling through the shinkansen, or bullet train. Eating Japanese food for the first time was one of the most enjoyable experiences. I tried everything! I couldn’t eat everything but I certainly tried! During one of our Ryocan style dinners, one of the girls ate a fish head in one bite! Talk about being adventurous! I wish I could talk about everything I did while I was in Japan. Even so, my most memorable and lasting experience had to be my home-stay; it definitely made me immerse myself completely in Japanese daily life. If I could spend another two weeks with the Miyagawa family again, I would do it in a heartbeat.

My time in Japan was one of the best experiences of my life thus far and for that I must thank Cate School for giving me the opportunity to take part in something so amazing, enriching and memorable.

Los Angeles, CA

I’ve had some of my greatest life experiences during the four and a half weeks I spent on a Round Square exchange program in India. Through Round Square, Cate arranged an exchange with Daly College in Indore, India. Last spring, Rishika Maheshwari came to Cate for roughly a month, and then I completed the exchange from mid-July to mid-August this summer. Every day in India was an adventure.

At Daly College, I was considered a student—I followed their strict schedule, I participated in the athletics and even dressed in their school uniform every day. Though I spent the majority of my time as a boarding student on campus, the school provided me with many opportunities to visit historical sites and explore India. I frequently took day trips to the museums, temples, and of course local markets around Indore. Additionally, the most memorable part of the exchange was the week I spent travelling to Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur with six other exchange students that I met at the school.

What made this experience so unique was that not only did I meet Indian boys and girls my age, but I also made incredibly valuable relationships with the exchange students from across the globe. Including myself, there were two Americans from California, two Germans, two Canadians, and a gap student from Colombia. Other than spending time together at Daly College – comparing our lives back home, and sharing the mutual experience of being in a foreign country—we spent a week together on the tour of India, from the Amer Fort to the Taj Mahal, and from riding camels to holding cobras. In Jaipur, we spent lots of time in the markets, bargaining frequently. In Agra, we learned about the history of the Taj and the Agra Fort. In Delhi, we were given an exclusive tour of the Rastrapati Bhawan, the President’s Estate, arranged by the former principal of Daly College who now works for the government. We didn’t get to meet the President, but we were only about ten feet away from her bedroom.

Another component of the exchange that I absolutely loved was my Hindi class, which took place at least three times a week. During the short time that I was in India, I learned tons of useful phrases, some of the written alphabet, and the National Anthem. The National Anthem was sung everyday at the school, so I was able to sing along with my friends. I also learned how to sing a beautiful Sanskrit prayer, which I hope I will remember for the rest of my life. It was amazing to communicate with my peers using phrases I had just learned from my Hindi class; immediately after stepping out of the classroom, I was able to utilize my Hindi vocabulary wherever I went. Because I was so intrigued and passionate about learning Hindi, the girls of my dorm (called Bharati House) decided to cast me in their Hindi play.

The hospitality of the girls I lived with was a type that I’ve never experienced before. I had little trouble adjusting to their school and their lifestyle, because of the genuine kindness that the students and teachers of Daly College possessed. My exchange to India was absolutely the best possible way I could’ve spent the summer of my junior year.

Vallejo, CA

Football season has been a huge success. The football team is the only team that comes back to school early for pre-season practices, and all our hard work has paid off in the last four games. We’ve mercied 3 out of the 4 teams we’ve played and scored 180 points this season with a 4-0 record. Everything has been going well, and our team has been very strong. We might be able to go all the way this year if we keep playing with the same amount of skill and intensity. Personally, I am having a great time with football because in the last three games I’ve had fifteen touchdowns.

Lafayette, CA

Head Prefect / Freshmen Prefect in Longhouse / Varsity Football / Varsity Soccer / Varsity Lacrosse