ST. JAMES’ EPISCOPAL SCHOOL • CHRISTMAS 2014 Husky Highlights Alumni Honor Mrs. Kammula at Reunion Event BY LUCY NORLAND mother of fifth grader Jack Back in 1983, when Paru Kammula, then a Kin- dergarten teacher, wrote “Must try harder...” in Elisha Riggs’ report card, she never imagined that 31 years later, she’d be writing report cards for Elisha’s first grade daughter Ella. Nor had she imagined that 35 years after start- ing her teaching career at St James’ Episcopal School, she would be standing next to Elisha – now Elisha Riggs Hall – in the front of St James’ Church, staring out at a sea of familiar faces, being honored at a ceremony to celebrate her long career. On November 1, St James’ hosted its first ever alumni event, an initiative begun by Elisha and the school’s Advancement Committee. Given that the school first opened its doors in 1968, it was certainly time, and what better excuse to bring everyone back than to celebrate the career of the school’s longest serving teacher? “Your loyalty to the school has been exception- al,” said the Rev. Charles Rowins, former St. James’ headmaster, who flew from Baltimore especially for the event. “You are a mentor to all of us,” added Head of School Deborah David. “You have touched our hearts, our children’s hearts, and the hearts of our children’s children.” Watched by her family, and a crowd of near- ly two hundred, Mrs. Kammula was visibly moved by the presentation. She has taught over 700 students during her career at St James’. She has watched it grow out of a small apartment on Gramercy Place, into premises on St. Andrews and expand into what it is today. “If you do what you love, then you never have to work a day in your life,” she said in a speech. “Once the lightbulb goes off on the faces of children when they discover reading, that’s the reward. And it’s wonderful.” In the crowd, old school friends found each oth- er again – and parents, too. “is school has always had a sense of community; it’s fabulous to still feel part of it,” said, Lyn Russell, parent of David (1992) and Lauren (1995). “Coming here brings back here so many mem- ories,” added Sally Park, parent of Elizabeth (1991) and Richard (1993). “And to come back and find old friends is just wonderful. Diane Gilmore recalls the school when it was on Gramercy Place. Her boys Sean and Glenn graduated in 1986 and 1987. “Walking through the science lab and looking at wall-sized com- puters – wow! How St. James’ has grown.” Top – Head of School Deborah David, leſt, presents a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles, to Paru Kammula, right, honoring her three-and-a-half decades of service to St. James’. Bottom (leſt to right) – Paur Kammula addresses the crowd; Elisha Riggs Hall checks in for the event in St. James’ Parish Hall; a birds-eye view of the luncheon; the Rev. Charles Rowins honors Mrs. Kammula; Ted Fourticq (alumnus, 1986, and parent of two current stu- dents) reflects on his St. James’ experiences.
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S T . J A M E S ’ E P I S C O P A L S C H O O L • C H R I S T M A S 2 0 1 4
Husky Highlights
Alumni Honor Mrs. Kammula at Reunion EventBY LUCY NORLANDmother of fifth grader Jack
Back in 1983, when Paru Kammula, then a Kin-dergarten teacher, wrote “Must try harder...” in Elisha Riggs’ report card, she never imagined that 31 years later, she’d be writing report cards for Elisha’s first grade daughter Ella.
Nor had she imagined that 35 years after start-ing her teaching career at St James’ Episcopal School, she would be standing next to Elisha – now Elisha Riggs Hall – in the front of St James’ Church, staring out at a sea of familiar faces, being honored at a ceremony to celebrate her long career.
On November 1, St James’ hosted its first ever alumni event, an initiative begun by Elisha and the school’s Advancement Committee. Given that the school first opened its doors in 1968, it was certainly time, and what better excuse to bring everyone back than to celebrate the career of the school’s longest serving teacher?
“Your loyalty to the school has been exception-al,” said the Rev. Charles Rowins, former St. James’ headmaster, who flew from Baltimore especially for the event.
“You are a mentor to all of us,” added Head of School Deborah David. “You have touched our hearts, our children’s hearts, and the hearts of our children’s children.”
Watched by her family, and a crowd of near-ly two hundred, Mrs. Kammula was visibly moved by the presentation. She has taught over 700 students during her career at St James’. She has watched it grow out of a small apartment on Gramercy Place, into premises on St. Andrews and expand into what it is today.
“If you do what you love, then you never have to work a day in your life,” she said in a speech. “Once the lightbulb goes off on the faces of children when they discover reading, that’s the reward. And it’s wonderful.”
In the crowd, old school friends found each oth-
er again – and parents, too. “This school has always had a sense of community; it’s fabulous to still feel part of it,” said, Lyn Russell, parent of David (1992) and Lauren (1995).
“Coming here brings back here so many mem-ories,” added Sally Park, parent of Elizabeth (1991) and Richard (1993). “And to come back and find old friends is just wonderful.
Diane Gilmore recalls the school when it was on Gramercy Place. Her boys Sean and Glenn graduated in 1986 and 1987. “Walking through the science lab and looking at wall-sized com-puters – wow! How St. James’ has grown.”
Top – Head of School Deborah David, left, presents a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles, to Paru Kammula, right, honoring her three-and-a-half decades of service to St. James’.
Bottom (left to right) – Paur Kammula addresses the crowd; Elisha Riggs Hall checks in for the event in St. James’ Parish Hall; a birds-eye view of the luncheon; the Rev. Charles Rowins honors Mrs. Kammula; Ted Fourticq (alumnus, 1986, and parent of two current stu-dents) reflects on his St. James’ experiences.
BY MEARA DALYmother of fourth grader Audrey
Every year, Grandparents and Special Friends day gets bigger. This year’s event – which took place on Tuesday, November 25 – reached the record books, not just in terms of numbers who came, but also in accolades from visitors.
“We’ve always appreciated being included in St. James’ Grandparents and Special Friends Day,” say Susan & Kevin Daly, grandparents to fourth grader Audrey Perkins, who have come every year since Audrey came to St. James’. “It is great to see for ourselves how much St. James’ lives up to Audrey’s passionate enthusiasm.”
Sixth grader Rex Rath and his fourth grade brother Quinn invited special friends Dan La-very and Scott Warren. “I enjoyed seeing how and where Rex and Quinn spend their school days. It’s especially fun to hear how much they enjoy their classes and classmates at St. James’,” says Lavery, while Warren was inspired by the fun arts & crafts project and uplifting sermon delivered as part of the day’s All-School Chapel service in St. James’ Church.
Emma Jacobson-Sive has been coming to St. James’ since Willa Jackson, now a fourth grader, started Kindergarten. “I’ve known Willa since the day she was born and when she started going to school,” says Emma.
“There was this whole part of her life that I nev-er knew about-- I couldn’t even picture where she spent her days. Grandparents and Special Friends Day has not only become a lovely ritual for us as friends, but also a way for me to see this huge part of her life – her teachers, where she runs around and learns every day.”
A perennial feature of the day is the Library Media Center’s book dedication station, at which grandparents and special friends not only leave behind a book inscribed with their loved one’s name, but also help to build the future of St. James’ literacy programs. This year, proceeds from over 150 dedications went toward bring-ing the nationally acclaimed Accelerated Reader program to St. James’.
Strengthening bonds within the entire St. James’ community is a result of the inspiring program. As Kevin Daly notes, “We appreciate all the ef-fort that everyone puts in to help us share a part – even for a short time – of our granddaughter’s world. We look forward to this day each year. It helps us fell a part of this vital and vibrant community.”
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Grandmas Never Run Out of Hugs or Cookies......AND NEITHER DO GRANDPAS OR SPECIAL FRIENDS!
Christmas 2014 » Husky Highlights » 3
Practically Perfect in Every Way!
BY CLARE RICHARDSONmother of fifth grader Lily
Last year, we followed Dorothy down the yellow brick road. This year, in two remarkable perfor-mances at the Barnsdale Theatre in Hollywood, we were dancing on the rooftops of London with Mary Poppins. And in both productions the thespians at St James’ were embarking on journeys of their own.
“Everyone is in agreement that incorporating arts in school helps with learning,” explains Di-rector John Staley. “We have seen great growth, happiness and confidence in the children during Mary Poppins.”
In the production, sixty St. James’ students of all
grades and levels of experience performed sev-en musical numbers. With that many musical numbers involving so many children, the chal-lenge was not only teaching the complex song and dance routines, but also fitting everything in. “There’s so much going on and so many moving parts,” says fifth grader Lily Richardson, who plays Mary Poppins.
“The complexity of the show has provided an enormous learning experience for everyone in-volved,” adds Head of School Deborah David. “The students demonstrated the ability to work with others toward a common goal.”
St. James’ production of Mary Poppins was an adaptation of Disney and Cameron Mackin-tosh’s 2004 Broadway show; the production bor-rowed heavily from both the 1964 Disney movie and the stories of P. L. Travers – not forgetting the imaginations of John Staley, musical director Thomas Shepard, choreographer Liz Vacco, and costume designer Sherise Shields.
“It does not matter if your part is big or small,” says fifth grader Camille Roth, who plays one of the “bird ladies,” who sell birdseed for twopence a bag. “You are as important as the main charac-ter. Everyone does their part.”
Many students describe the experience of learn-ing their songs and steps as rewarding. “The most fun part is working out all of the dances,” says fifth grader Ryan Younger, who plays Ernie, a new character and sidekick to Bert, the jack-of-all trades played by fifth grader Santiago Kelly.
“And learning how to say all of your lines with an English accent isn’t easy,” adds fifth grader, Thea Davidson, who plays Winifred Banks, the gentle but frazzled mother of the Banks family.
MARY POPPINS SHOW IS SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!
BY MATTHEW REDFORDsixth grade student
On October 8–10, 2014, St. James’ sixth grade students went on their annual field trip to As-trocamp, which is described on its website as “a unique outdoor science school” with a “focus on hands-on experiential science, utilizing state-of-the-art labs and equipment.”
Astrocamp has a beautiful campus near Idyllwild, Calif. We started out with some games that re-quired us to work as a team and try to figure out a solution. Then, once it was dark, we looked through telescopes and saw Neptune, Mars, the full moon, and lots of constellations and neb-ulae.
The next day, we went ziplining and had a lot of fun with it. We then did some rock climbing on Mars, followed by the Lights and Lasers class. In Lights and Lasers, we learned all about differ-ent wavelengths for different colors and how our eyes perceive the world upside-down. At night, we did an experiment involving chewing winter-green lifesavers and seeing how sparks were cre-ated, followed by an astronomy scavenger hunt and a trip to the gift shop.
On our final day, we spent most of our time building and launching rockets we built from soda bottles and cardboard. We saw how differ-ent fin designs and nosecones affected how high the rockets could go, and learned the formula for calculating how high it went without hav-ing to measure by hand. Our final activity was crawling through a very small, lightless tunnel. It was difficult to know which way to go with-out being able to see, and I bumped my head on multiple occasions, but I enjoyed it.
To Astrocamp...and Beyond!
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WHY ST. JAMES’ K & 5 BUDDIES MEAN SO MUCH TO EACH OTHER...
BY CARINA MILLERmother of first grader Henry and Kindergartener Ethan
The Kindergarteners and their fifth grade bud-dies went on a field trip together in October to the Kellogg Ranch pumpkin patch. The fifth graders dutifully followed their Kindergarten buddies around, keeping them within arms reach and helping them each pick out a pump-kin. Each student brought home a pumpkin to keep – the highlight of the day, for many.
“What I like about having a Kinder-garten buddy is that they pull you into things you don’t want to do, but it turns out to be fun.” –Ryan Younger
Other students loved the corn maze. Even in the sweltering heat, screams of joy and excite-ment could be heard as students raced through corn stalks reaching over six feet in height.
After a picnic lunch in the shade of a large tree, the fifth graders organized lawn games. They were responsible and respectful in their inter-actions with their Kindergarten friends and seemed to have fun being role models. The Kindergarteners looked up to the fifth grad-ers: holding their hands, gleefully chasing after them, and looking for them whenever it was time to move on.
“What I like about having a Kindergarten bud-dy is that they pull you into things you don’t want to do, but it turns out to be fun,” Ryan Younger said.
“I love my fifth grade buddy so much,” Aria Finch responded.
What Jack Norland likes about having a Kinder-garten buddy is “experiencing what it’s like to be in Kindergarten again.”
“Yeah, I like making projects with him,” Atlas Tupper, Norland’s Kindergarten buddy, added.
Ava Horowitz, who has two Kindergarten bud-dies, piped up, “It’s hard when one wants to go climb on the haystacks and the other wants to go sit in the shade, but they are just so cute to look at.”
Dusty and dirty, the students piled back onto the buses, taking with them new memories of a good time and having forged stronger bonds of friendship with their buddies.
Best Buddies!
Christmas 2014 » Husky Highlights » 5
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AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR AARON BECKER VISITS ST. JAMES’
BY CARINA MILLERmother of first grader Henry and Kindergartener Ethan
There was a buzz of excitement as a mass of St James’ students stood up in St James’ Hall, thought of their favorite color, and using a pre-tend marker, drew a pretend doorway. Next they drew a key in the air, inserted the key into a lock, opened their door, and stepped through the doorway into a lantern forest. All of the stu-dents gazed around and up toward the ceiling in wonder at the enchanting sight in their imagi-nations.
They were embarking on a guided meditation on imagination, led by the New York Times best-selling author Aaron Becker, who was visiting St James’ to promote his books – the
2014 Caldecott Honor Book Journey and its se-quel, Quest.
With unabated enthusiasm, the students then drew a circle in the air, put that circle on their finger, began spinning it, and it became a ball. Turning toward the back of St. James’ Hall, Mr. Becker said, “Shoot!” And they all shot a basket. “Did anyone miss their shot?” Mr. Becker asked, and no one did.
Mr. Becker read from his books – a feat in it-self, since neither Journey nor Quest include any words, but instead feature beautiful illustrations and an invitation to tell the story in your own imagination – after which, he shared photos of the office space where he works and drafts of his work in various stages.
These included preliminary penciled drawings,
“just like you can do,” Mr. Becker said. When Mr. Becker showed the students books he used to make when he was a kid, the students seemed delightfully surprised that his childhood draw-ings looked just how they draw.
“Lots of these kids want to be authors or artists one day”, says Christina Olague, St. James’ Li-brary Media Center Specialist. “Actual authors in front of them show them that they can do it and demonstrate how far their creativity could take them someday.”
You can find out more about Mr. Becker and his work online at http://www.storybreathing.com
The Power of Imagination
Christmas 2014 » Husky Highlights » 7
INTERVIEW WITH JIM CASEYSt. James’ Music Teacher
Performances by the St James’ Handbell Choir are the highlight of so many special events at St James’, none more so than the forthcoming Christmas Pag-eant. Here, Mr. Casey explains what it takes to be part of it.
Husky Highlights: What do the students who join the handbell choir learn by signing up?
Jim Casey: The audition requires students to take a substantial risk, as only twelve are select-ed. Students are given the opportunity to prac-tice the clapping and counting exercises during the classes that lead up to the audition, but their ease in mastering the exercises reflects the quality of class participation they have maintained over the years.
HH: What is the history of the handbell choir at St. James’?
JC: The first choir was formed in the early 1990s under the leadership of former music teacher and director of music for the church, Dr. David Falconer.
HH: Is it hard to do?
JC: The unique challenge to ringing in a bell choir is learning to understand exactly when your assigned bells play and do not play. So, counting is crucial. We count out loud as much as possible during rehearsal, so that their count-ing will be internalized during performances.
HH: What do the students say it means to them?
JC: Many of them say it was something they felt determined to do since they were in Kindergar-ten. This is no surprise, since their tables are placed right in front of the Kindergarten pews!
HH: How many performances do they do during the year?
JC: Five or six times, including Grandparents and Special Friends Day, the Christmas Pageant, Baccalaureate, and Commencement.
HH: What do you personally love about it?
JC: I love being able to work closely with a smaller group of students. It gives me a chance to get to know them better and see their progress more clearly.
Mr. Casey has been the music teacher at St. James’ since 1997. He holds a Bachelors of Music from Drake Univer-sity; a Masters of Music from Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music; and a Kodály Certificate from Texas State University.
Carol ofthe (Hand)Bells
There’s one thing that Vanessa Herman, mother of fourth grader Simone, loves more than children’s books, and that’s reading them with her daughter. Here, she shares some of her favorites.
It’s a Secret by John Burningham (ages 3–8)
Where does your cat go at night when you are asleep? Yours may not tell you, but in It’s a Secret, one lucky kid’s cat takes her on a thrilling nighttime ad-venture. Marie Elaine must first “get small” and put on a party gown before sneaking
out of the house with Malcolm the cat. The nighttime escapades are beautifully illustrated by Burningham with a combination of painting, drawing, and photography.
Betsy-Tacy by Maude Hart Lovelace (ages 8–12)
Are you allowed to pack your own pic-nic and walk in to the hills with your best friend? Can you imag-ine a time when there were no cars whizzing through the streets so that all you had to watch out for was an occasional horse carriage? One of the greatest charms of Bet-
sy-Tacy is that the children of Deep Valley, Min-nesota are free to make their own fun, with no parents arranging playdates. As the reader, it is fun to enter into this 100-year-old world.
The Twins at St. Clare’s by Enid Blyton (ages 8–14)
The first of a six-book series, Twins takes its readers on a “jolly fun” trip to England with the help of the O’Sullivan twins, Pat and Isabel. The girls are forced by their par-ents to go to St. Clare’s boarding school, and they are sure they will hate their new school and won’t fit in. Once
they stop being such “horrid snobs,” they dis-cover they quite like the school and their new classmates.
Husky BooksFOR DECEMBER 2014
Husky MoviesCHRISTMAS 2014 EDITION
BY CLARA MARTINmother of second grader Bennett and preschooler Nathaniel
Did you stop by the school’s booth at the Larch-mont Fair on Sunday, October 26? So much work goes into creating and running this event that showcases our school to the neighborhood. Many thanks to Hyacinth Leus and Jonathan Leus, who co-chaired the barbecue; Jess Hill, who chaired the games booth; and Phelondra Clifford, Brenda Brown, Asha Hassan and Mar-ketha Floyd, who ran the bake sale. We are grate-ful to Father Koh, who stayed all day to make sure everything ran smoothly. Thanks also to our many volunteers. We appreciate your hard work!
We sold about 300 plates of Korean barbecue and teriyaki chicken! It was our first time offer-ing Korean fried chicken, and it was a big hit. The food booth is a huge production – from renting the grill, to amassing and bringing the supplies, to cooking and serving the food all day.
The bake sale looked absolutely gorgeous, like a cookie jewelry show, with packaging just too pretty to eat! Brenda Brown and the bake sale team created a Halloween theme with spar-kled cake stands and cookies hanging from tree branches. Thank you to all the parents who con-tributed baked goods!
The game booth was a great success as always, and we are looking for a parent or two to take over from Jess Hill as games chairperson when William graduates this year.
Jennifer Kim and Lois Park are the Parent Asso-ciation representatives who oversee this event. If you would like to be involved next year, if you want to learn more about our open games chair position, or if you have ideas for next year, please get in touch with them!
Parent Association News
One of the most heartwarming films of all time; directed by Frank Capra in 1946, starring James Stewart.
Irrefutable proof that sentimentalism can work without resorting to treacle, this 1947 classic about the real Santa Claus stars Natalie Wood, and remains a holiday movie for the whole family.
Arthur Christmas at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child’s ques-tion: ‘How does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?’ Hilarious animated movie about the Christmas spirit.
Charming, wordless, book-based holiday fable for all ages. Beautiful animation, and enchanting music.
Husky HowlersQ: What happened to the cat who swal-lowed a ball of wool?
A: She had mittens.
Q: What do you get if you cross a snowball with a shark?
A: Frostbite.
Jokes provided by fifth grader Jack Norland.
ST. JAMES’ EPISCOPAL SCHOOL625 S. St. Andrews PlaceLos Angeles, Calif. 90005
Husky Highlights is always looking for budding writers and artists. If you have a joke, a story, a cartoon or anything to contribute to the mag-azine, please send it to Husky High-lights editor Lucy Norland by email at [email protected]. Thank you!
