Three Billion Seconds in an Age of Consequence [video]
Dr. Chris Funk, professor of geography at UCSB, Anacapa alumnus and former Anacapa science teacher, challenged Anacapa students to evaluate the significance of the moments of their lives in the context of a changing world. Chris argued that the current age represents a time of opportunity, with an exploding population and unparalleled access to data and information, but also a time of consequence, with consumption rising to match the demands of a growing population. With references to historical ages of … Read more
The Anacapa Alumni Experience
Brenda Renteria, Anacapa class of 2011, returned to Elliot Hall to share stories of her ongoing college days at CSU Channel Islands. Her famously bubbly laughter resonated as she gave her top tips for life in college: sleep, shower and eat. She warned against the perils of all-nighters and recommended strong time management skills to deal with the increased responsibilities of college. Brenda is succeeding at Channel Islands, balancing work with studying and her social life while still maintaining great … Read more
A New York Get-Together for Three Anacapa Alums
Chloe Chatenever and Bethany O’Donnell, both Class of 2006, traveled back East recently to visit Lily Rosenthal, Class of 2008. Lily, a senior at Bard College, plans to move to New York City after graduation this spring. Chloe and Bethany both live and work in Boulder, Colorado.… Read more
Shamus O’Donnell Has a St. Patrick’s Day Baby!
Shamus O’Donnell, Class of 2000, and his wife Terri welcomed daughter Riley Shay into the world on Saturday, March 17. Arriving at 4:14pm, Riley was “a beautiful 7 lbs. 8oz., 19.5 in.,” according to her proud aunt, Bethany O’Donnell, Class of 2006.… Read more
Tom Sichi’s Long Journey to Emergency Medicine
After a long journey through graduate school (Master’s degree in public health), medical school, and now a four-year residency, I’m realizing my long-term goal of becoming an emergency physician, able to give back to underserved people in the world. I love the variety of patients and disease; no two days are ever alike. Emergency medicine (EM) is currently in a unique situation within our complex American medical model. My salary is not based on the payments of the patients, and … Read more
Sami Eve Bakes and Performs!
Samantha Eve, Class of 2003, graduated from New York University with a B.F.A in Theatre Arts through the CAP21 Musical Theatre program. She worked for two years as a performer for Little Maestros, a children’s music class, at various locations in New York and New Jersey before returning to Santa Barbara. Here, she has started a small dessert catering business known as Violette Bakeshop as well as her own theatre company, Out of the Box Theatre Company, which specializes in … Read more
Life is Rewarding for Nick Koonce
After graduating from Anacapa (Class of 1988), Nick received certifications in Visual Communications, Graphic Design and Internet Web Mastery from UCSB Extension. He was a partner at SpiderSide Web Production through the dot-com era. Just before the “bubble popped”, he was fortunate enough to be approached by an IT recruiter on behalf of Yardi Systems. Nick took a position as their corporate Webmaster and over the years his role has changed many times. Today he is a Technical Project Manager … Read more
Dillon Yuhasz Shares Improv Comedy with Anacapa!
Dillon Yuhasz, Class of 2009, attends UCSB as a theater major. This is a picture of him with his improv team, Improvability. He says, “We’ve had a really great year and we’re looking forward to our 24-hour show at the end of May. It’s also been a lot of fun coming back to Anacapa to teach the Improv Club, aka ‘Battlestar Improvica’. Improv comedy has been a perfect fit for Anacapa and I’m excited to see where we can take … Read more
Chloe and Bethany Enjoy Colorado!
Bethany O’Donnell and Chloe Chatenever, both graduates of the Class of 2006, got to know each other hiking through the Zion Narrows on an Anacapa camping trip in Utah and have been fast friends ever since.
After graduating from Chapman University with a degree in Peace Studies, Bethany moved to Boulder, CO, where she has been working as an office manager at a local company. She hopes to attend culinary school in the near future to pursue a career in … Read more
Time Flies for Sharone Story
Sharone Story, formerly known as Sharone Haklai, Class of 1989, lives in Carlsbad, CA with her husband, Matt, and daughter, Talia. Sharone is a sales and marketing executive for a food company, servicing budget constrained end users nationally – food banks, correctional facilities, schools and universities. When not working, Sharone loves to travel, cook, play outdoors, and enjoy the beach. Quality family time trumps all, especially now that Talia will be starting high school next year. “Time flies by, and … Read more
Jason Barbaria is having a blast in Santa Barbara
Jason Barbaria, Class of 2004, graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Business Management Economics. He worked for 2 years as the Director of Sales & Marketing at Santa Barbara Signs & Graphics. Now he is working as the Director of Marketing at Dermagenics, a new skin care company located in Santa Barbara. He has been there since last October, and is having a blast.
Tristin Tracy (Anacapa Class of 2004) is Jason’s wife, and they were married … Read more
Eric Christeson Works in Biotech in San Francisco
Eric Christeson, class of 1987, went on to Sonoma State University after Anacapa, graduating with a degree in Chemistry. From there he went into process development for a major enzyme manufacturer in South San Francisco California where he was responsible for the scale up to manufacturing. He now work as a Facilities Manager for a biotech company in San Francisco.
He writes, “I chose chemistry as a major in college because of the inspired teaching I received from our chemistry … Read more
Tom Burgher the South African lap dog
Tom Burgher III was born in the summer of 1978 somewhere on the east coast. He moved to Santa Barbara when he was 13 and soon found Anacapa High School. Alumni of the class of 1997, BA in Sociology at CSUS in 2003. Currently he works in the Research and Development Department of UGG Australia as a Product Developer for UGG Apparel Clothing here in Goleta. He’s required to visit his manufacturing bases in Asia twice a year, as well … Read more
Tuesday Soetaert Teaches Art
Tuesday (Kolsbun) Soetaert, Class of 1985, shares: “This year, I am enjoying my new job as an elementary art teacher in Pajaro Valley. Previously I taught at the middle school level. My young students are so much fun to work with. Since my school hasn’t had arts funding for many years, it is exciting to be providing children opportunities to draw, paint, and sculpt. Some of my best Anacapa memories are from Suzie’s art history and studio art classes. On … Read more
Jorge Ibanez is Busy with Business
Jorge Ibanez, Class of 1993, lives in Marbella, Spain, with his wife, Elvira Vazquez (who taught at Anacapa from 2000-2004), and their two children. Jorge recently checked in to tell us about his business that sells kitchen products on the web: http://www.cuisineparadiso.com/. They also recently opened a small physical store in Marbella too! The family is very busy with their children and businesses.… Read more
Ian Stocker Develops Indie Games
Ian Stocker, Class of 1997, was recently at the Game Developer’s Conference, where he got to attend as a speaker. The talk was called “Success in XBOX Live Indie Games” and he was invited to speak on a panel with three other developers who had published their own games last year. After working as a contract musician for games for over 8 years, he has moved into making his own games independently. In 2010 he released Soulcaster and Soulcaster II… Read more
Alexis Kirsch Specializes in Japanese Media
Alexis Kirsch, Class of 1996, moved from Los Angeles to the San Francisco bay area in 2009 where he currently works as a book editor for an international company that translates and releases Japanese entertainment in the US. He works on Japanese comic books called “manga” and other entertainment products.… Read more
Maurie Lord Poses with Posey
Maurie Lord, Class of 1989, shared a recent photo taken backstage at his most recent production “Curse of the Starving Class” by Sam Shepard. He says, “Yes, we had a live lamb on stage in a few scenes. The production went well and was a great experience. It was my fifth Sam Shepard play and probably the best one so far. The lamb was a crazy challenge but well worth it. Lambs need lots more attention than actors and are … Read more
Piper Norwood Enjoying Motherhood
Piper Norwood, formerly known as Piper Scroggie, Class of 1987, is living life to the fullest. She says, “My life is amazing and wonderful right now. My husband Thad Wadleigh, our children Tristan and SummerAnne, as well as myself, are all healthy and happy. We just purchased our ‘dream home’ in Topanga Canyon and are really enjoying the process of getting it ready to move in. Thad is a constantly working Director of Photography and I am currently doing the … Read more
Brett Jackson Continues Work and Study at Trinity
Brett Jackson, class of 2005, is working as an Area Coordinator at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Trinity in 2009 with a double-major in English Literature and Ethnomusicology. He oversees the Resident Assistant staff, hears residential judicial cases, and manages a small coffee shop on campus. Brett is also working on a Master’s degree at Trinity in Public Policy, but says he learned more about policy in Gordon’s American Society class at Anacapa!… Read more
Carolyn Chrisman is a Senior at USC
Carolyn Chrisman, Class of 2007, started animating when she was 11 years old, attending the animation classes taught by John Teton at the Anacapa School. During her time at Anacapa, she honed her skills and animated two short films. She’s currently enrolled in the Division of Animation and Digital Arts at the USC film school, hard at work on her senior thesis film.
Check out these links to her films:
Evenfall (junior year): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzTyicj6L5o
Hacky Sack (junior year): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsKh2Ejp4EE
Paper … Read more
Rachel Kulchin continues climbing
Rachel Kulchin, Class of 2006, stopped by the campus to say hello. She’s a recent UC Santa Cruz graduate with an agricultural sciences degree. Since graduation from college, Rachel has been pursuing her passion of mountain climbing. When she was an Anacapa ninth grader, she climbed Half Dome with the school up the cable ladder. Now she’s climbed Half Dome up the south side and the face! She’s been residing on the Eastside of the Sierra and climbing various peaks, including Cathedral … Read more
Katie Ferry on studying abroad in Spain and Mexico
It’s always interesting to see what Anacapa graduates have been doing with themselves after high school, and today’s visitor may have opened the eyes of some of our students to a potentially new path in life. Katie Ferry graduated in 2003 and went on to study linguistics at U.C. Davis, but she did not spend her entire college experience in “cow town” (as some people lovingly call the small Northern California city). Katie took advantage of the U.C. Education Abroad … Read more