“Respect," the new biographical film depicting the life of singer Aretha Franklin, is fantastic, balancing both originality and historical accuracy with a keen storytelling eye. Actress Jennifer Hudson stars in the film and was hand-picked to play the role by the "Queen of Soul" herself before Franklin's death in 2018. Hudson shines brightly from her first moments on screen. She...

Cate Greenman ’22 studied Arab and Muslim youth in Southern California and created a podcast entitled "Of Two Minds: An Exploration of Identity Among Muslim Youth" for her Junior Fellowship this summer. Greenman recorded interviews with young people in Los Angeles and Orange County. Her project was initially geared toward adolescent participants, but she later shifted her focus to college-age...

kk done">kk done" class="inline-comment collapsed">Millions of Californians, including many in the senior class, can now find mail-in ballots atop their dining room tables. The helm of our state government hangs in the balance. Recall organizers garnered more than 2 million signatures in their campaign to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom, reaching the necessary threshold to trigger a recall election Sept. 14....

Queala Clancy joined the Upper School Performing Arts Department as a dance teacher this school year. Clancy will teach The Art of Dance, Advanced Dance I: Choreography and Advanced Dance II: Performance and Production, and she will direct the annual end-of-year dance showcase has no name as of now, it just says u.s. dance concert in the calendar">has no name...

The Upper School improv groups hosted one-hour performances over Zoom on May 14. The Jackanapes, made up of sophomores and juniors, and the Scenemonkeys, composed of mostly seniors, went live at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.from what i understand she doesn't work at the school officially">from what i understand she doesn't work at the school officially" class="inline-comment collapsed">Actress Lisa...

The Harvard-Westlake Parents Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee hosted Senator Cory Booker, author of “Redeeming Justice” Jarrett Adams and Founding Faculty Director of Loyola Project for the Innocent (LPI) Laurie Levenson (Solly ’06, Havi ’08, Dani ’17)to discuss Ava DuVernay’s critically acclaimed documentary “13th” on May 4. After showing a portion of the film, which is centered around racial...

Upper School Performing Arts Chair Shawn Costantino will depart after 14 years of teaching instrumental music to become the founding Head of Arts at Ransom Everglades School in Miami. Costantino directed all of the bands, jazz combos and smaller audition-only jazz groups at the Upper School. He said his favorite part of working at the school was the opportunity to...

In light of worsening mental health issues among the student body at home, the school has worked with teachers and students to help facilitate a healthier community. After students returned from winter break and schoolwork began to accumulate, faculty noticed increased stress and anxiety. In response to increasing COVID-19 statistics as well as the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol,...

Conservative PBS host Margaret Hoover and her husband, CNN Senior Political Analyst and registered independent John Avlon, spoke to the school about managing political polarization and how it relates to discussions in school during Community Flex Time on Feb. 3. Hoover and Avlon stressed the importance of open dialogues with those across the political aisle, referencing Hoover's parents' response to...

The South Asian Students’ Alliance (SASA) hosted an online event Nov. 20 that would kind of make it seem like I was saying people around the world all celebrate Diwali on November 20. lmk what you think">that would kind of make it seem like I was saying people around the world all celebrate Diwali on November 20. lmk what you...