Featured
April 18, 2019
Kate Parker ‘85 honored with the 2019 Hope Award
Every year, the Santa Barbara Education Foundation honors individuals and organizations that make great strides for literacy. This year, Cate alumna and McBean Library Director, Kate Parker ’85, will be celebrated at the 2019 Hope Awards for her years of service on the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board and her advocacy work on the …
April 16, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook — No Problem
We held our second set of community conversations this week. In lieu of convocation we met in groups of eight to share a meal and a story (no more than three minutes long) that guides us in our lives. There were several compelling ones in my group: stories about life without the internet (it is …
April 14, 2019
The 100th Annual Russell Cup
On Saturday, April 13, the 100th annual Russell Cup took place at Carpinteria High School. The Russell Cup is the oldest track meet in California. Since its inception in 1913, the meet has brought together some of the best “small” school competition from around Southern California. The event has played host to some very talented …
April 5, 2019
Cate Senior Named Scholar-Athlete of the Year
April 1st might have been April Fools’ Day, but the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table (SBART) proved that Cate’s Rivers Sheehan ’19 is no joke. The senior track star was awarded the school’s representative for the SBART Scholar Athlete of the Year at the weekly Round Table luncheon at Harry’s Plaza in Santa Barbara. “I …
April 5, 2019
An International Affair
International Convocation this year was truly an international affair, showcasing the talents of many Cate students as well as offering performances by the Copenhagen Girls Choir and Afenginn, an Eastern European folk-rock band. To open the show, Tesfa Amara ’21 and Kobby Nimako ’22, along with John Knecht, director of Cate’s music program and Mamadou …
April 5, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook — Finding Our Place
I was talking with one of our seniors this week about the things he has learned at Cate in his four years. The young man is currently trying to decide where he will go next. Pretty much every school to which he applied wants him, and with good reason. He is brilliant and kind, generous …
March 22, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook — Good News
I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point in my life the idea of sitting down with the newspaper became really enticing. I was a pretty normal kid (or so I thought) which means I didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the world when I was growing up. And then suddenly …
March 8, 2019
Convocation Series: Baroness Caroline Cox and HART
Baroness Caroline Cox stirred up the Cate community on Monday, February 25, with her impassioned presentation on HART: Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust. Baroness Cox received her title when she became a member of the House of Lords, Britain’s appointed Parliamentary House. She was an engaging and down-to-earth speaker; as she quipped, “I was the first …
March 8, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook | Mary Queen of Scots
Ginger and I watched Mary Queen of Scots this weekend. We knew the story, generally, but we weren’t really ready for what we saw. It is hard to imagine an 18-year-old widow arriving in Scotland to claim her throne in any context, but in the 15th century the array of forces mobilized against Mary were …
February 22, 2019
A Night at the Museum
Cate’s recent Dance Convocation was a dazzling display of creativity from the conception of the performance as “A Night at the Museum” through the choreography to the wide variety of dances performed by solo dancers and ensembles. The first curtain opened with a projection of the well-known Andy Warhol painting “Queen Elizabeth II 336.” With …
February 22, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook | What Makes a Good Cate Student?
What makes a good Cate student? For the fourteen members of our Admission Committee, that is not simply an existential question. Over the last six weeks the faculty members and admission officers who comprise that committee have been poring over every detail in somewhere north of 700 applications, trying to get a sense of each …
February 8, 2019
Leading Los Niños with Oscar Vasquez ’20
Cate students set out on the second Los Niños trip of the year last Wednesday. For junior Oscar Vasquez, the trip’s student leader, the service-learning sojourn to Mexicali was filled with additional responsibilities, deeply personal and emotional interactions, and a renewed sense of self. In his role as student leader, Oscar was determined to keep …
February 8, 2019
Round Square Exchange Student on the Mesa
This time last year you would find Camila Calderon, our most recent Round Square exchange student, exploring the many cathedrals in her hometown of Lima, Peru, or delving into a warm plate of Lomo Saltado, a Peruvian dish of sliced steak, onions, tomatoes, fries, cilantro, and brown rice. When she wasn’t whetting her appetite for …
February 7, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook | Present in Our Thoughts
I have a nostalgic streak in me which seems to be gaining influence as I age. There is more to be nostalgic about now than there was ten, twenty or thirty years ago. But volume of memory isn’t the only change. The memories themselves seem to have more meaning. Maybe I understand the past better …
January 24, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook | Love and MLK
Many of us on the Mesa have been talking about an editorial that David Brooks wrote last week in the New York Times. “Students Learn from People they Love” it’s called. Hardly a revelation, especially if you are a boarding school teacher or student or parent, but it’s a potential lightning bolt to mass market …
January 24, 2019
The Week in Sports
About a week ago, the Carpinteria area was hit with a week-long rain storm that left this community pretty wet. Fortunately, there were no flooding incidents, but the storm did leave the athletic fields throughout the area unusable, prompting Athletics Director Wade Ransom to joke during an assembly that Savage Field (commonly referred to as …
January 10, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook | Welcome Home
On our way back from Montana we were stopped by the Highway Patrol at the Nevada border with California and turned around. An accident closed the freeway at Primm for over twelve hours. So we improvised, traveling the highways and byways of Nevada to make our way slowly back to the Mesa. Two of our …
December 21, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Holiday
I was in Washington, D.C. this year on the evening that the White House Christmas tree was lit, and I walked by it shortly after Cate’s D.C. Reception. Strangely, it’s not a tree at all. It’s a tall post with fabric and light-bedecked panels that form the traditional cone shape of a Christmas tree. Though …
December 20, 2018
The Week in Sports
There is one thing near the top of each and every Cate student’s holiday wish list… a long and relaxing winter vacation. Fortunately for them, their wish will indeed come true and for all of the work, academically and athletically, it’s certainly well earned. Before the Rams head off to every corner of the globe, …
December 17, 2018
Convocation | Advanced Chemistry Hard Rock
The Advanced Chemistry Hard Rock Convocation opened with a bang! And whiz-pop bubbling! And flame! In a one-of-a-kind event, students from Cece’s advanced chemistry class shared exciting chemical reactions with their peers, with their moves choreographed to a changing line-up of student musicians. Carson Williams made fire accompanied by Pierce Thompson on the piano, and …