A Veteran Veterinarian
Jacob Head, cousin of our beloved math teacher, Bryan, travelled from Hawaii to discuss his practice as a small animal veterinarian. Jacob now works mostly with cats and dogs, but emphasized that vets have many possibilities. Initially, he worked with horses in Santa Maria. Later, he expanded his resume with work as an emergency vet. In the course of his work, Jacob’s tasks have ranged from comical to revolutionary, including the removal of everything imaginable from dog stomachs and … Read more
Creativity on the Coasts: Bioengineering with Common Marine Organisms
Everyone living in Santa Barbara has seen barnacles, mussels and sandy tube worms, but most people don’t think about them as engineering marvels. Christoph Pierre, collector and naturalist at UCSB, reminded Anacapa students and faculty about the important role these common creatures play in our lives and in current science research. For example, the byssal threads of mussels were the inspiration for super glue and continue to be studied as materials scientists search for the elusive, one-part underwater glue. Sponges, … Read more
Paying for College with the Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation
Naree Sorich brought a valuable opportunity for Anacapa students nearing their college careers. The Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation offers both free financial aid advice and generous scholarships to students in Santa Barbara County. With both general scholarships and specific awards, there are funds available for many students (and Anacapans have been very successful in the past!) Naree encouraged all seniors to apply and continue to reapply for four years while in college. Last year alone, the foundation gave away $7.3 … Read more
Practicing Democracy with JSA
Tracy Thomas, manager of the Southern California Junior State of America (JSA) chapter, spoke to Anacapa students about the benefits of participating in JSA, the largest student-run organization in the nation. JSA’s mission, says Tracy, is to provide students with the skills and opportunity to “practice democracy” by engaging in intelligent and thoughtful conversations about the issues that matter most to them. JSA is active on over 500 campuses across the country, with opportunities in the spring and fall to … Read more
Electing the President: An Elector’s Experience
Bob Handy has accomplished many things in his life. He became an active advocate for Veterans’ rights after a career in the Navy that included both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Compared to these things, casting his vote as one of California’s representatives to the Electoral College in 2008 seemed routine; it was all very organized and mechanical. After speaking at Anacapa’s Breakfast Club, however, Bob realized that, as he put it, he is a “pretty significant old fart.” While … Read more
Building Confidence Through Sports
Curt Pickering, coach of local basketball team, the Santa Barbara Breakers, spoke about his journey from self-conscious teen to internationally-known basketball coach. He grew up in Michigan, where his love was organizing basketball games in his community. Despite these early leadership experiences, Curt’s hopes for himself remained low. He never considered college for himself until his first job out of high school in a car factory. He knew that the work was not his passion and was inspired to attend … Read more
Diamond in the Rough: Using Diamond Flaws in Nanotechnology
Ania Blaszynski Jayich, award-winning research scientist and Assistant Professor of Physics at UCSB, kicked off Anacapa’s 2012-2013 First Thursday Breakfast Club series with an engaging discussion about the future of diamond-based nanotechnology. Ania’s path to nanotechnology started with a joint love of physics and biology in high school. She was always attracted by the rigor of science and the potential for concrete answers and solutions. During an impressive undergraduate career at Stanford University, where she also played on the varsity … Read more
Visualizing Culture: The Importance of Art History
Carole Paul, professor of Art History and Art Historian, has always been interested in art. She grew up spending time in the stellar museums of Philadelphia where she used art as a way to visualize history. Carole demonstrated how art helps us analyze and interpret both ancient and modern images to reconstruct and reflect cultural contexts. For example, the prevalence of mathematics and proportional relationships in ancient Greek art parallels the rise and importance of science and math in Greek … 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
London Bridge is Falling Down: The Importance of Earthquake Engineering
Mustafa Mashal has studied earthquakes for many years. Now living in Christchurch, New Zealand, site of a destructive quake in early 2011, he sees first hand the importance of designing structurally-sound bridges that can sustain damage yet remain functional in the event of an earthquake. Mustafa spoke with Anacapa students about the lessons he has learned, including the role of geology in the design of bridge foundations, as well as recent advances in bridge design, such as rapid assembly bridges … Read more
Empowering Survivors of Genocide
Rebecca Tinsley has spent her career campaigning for human rights in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions. She is the founder of the Waging Peace and Network for Africa charities. She was at Anacapa for a special Open Breakfast Club to share her passion for affecting change in Africa. She brought her novel, “When The Stars Fall To Earth,” which is based on her interviews with survivors of Genocide in Darfur.
After an eye-opening Breakfast Club presentation, Rebecca turned … Read more
Sculpting ‘Dolphin Family’
Famed local artist James “Bud” Bottoms stopped in to Anacapa’s season finale First Thursday Breakfast Club to share his life journey from World War II soldier to commercial artists to revered bronze sculptor. Bottoms is a native Californian with a lifetime of experience swimming and diving in the
Santa Barbara Channel.
He is the creator of the Stearns Wharf centerpiece “Dolphin Family” sculpture as well as countless other sculptures and monuments around the world honoring marine mammals. His admiration for … Read more
The Secrets of Sleep Architecture
Dr. Glenn Miller, who visited Anacapa earlier this year to discuss today’s generation of multitaskers, returned today to describe the nuts and bolts of healthy sleep. According to Dr. Miller, sleep comes in cycles. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, light sleep and deep sleep occur at different stages throughout the night. Each of these cycles has a unique, restorative purpose. The human brain develops and grows during deep sleep well into a person’s 20s, emphasized Dr. Miller, with key developments … Read more
DAWG Helping Dogs
Emily came to speak to the school about an organization in Santa Barbara called DAWG (Dog Adoption Welfare Group). DAWG is an adoption service for dogs needing homes. The organization has placed many dogs in the Santa Barbara area who have come directly to them or have come through the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter. DAWG has a “no-kill” policy and they keep dogs until they are placed. One dog in particular at the facility has special needs and has … Read more
Lessons for Riding Through Life
Champion surfer Shaun Tomson was on hand for April’s First Thursday Open Breakfast Club to share his powerful message of courage and perseverance with Anacapa. His powerful and enlightening presentation focused on the influence of positive values on success in life, based on his own experiences of overcoming challenges both in and out of the ocean.
Shaun is the best-selling author of “Surfer’s Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding through Life” and award-winning documentary filmmaker of “Bustin’ Down the Door.”… Read more
Living Voices: Our Revolution
Jermaine Small, an actor in the mobile theater company Living Voices, helped Anacapa students imagine the American Revolution through the eyes of Peter Freeman, a young, black soldier. The piece – a combination of recorded audio, video and live acting – expressed the confusion of the black community fighting for American independence by raising the question: Whose freedom were they dying for, all men’s or just black men’s?… Read more
Sounds of the World’s Smallest Guitar: Experiments with Graphene
Benjamin Alaman, a post doctoral student at UCSB, spoke about his research in the applications of nano-scale chemistry. Benjamin’s work focuses on the potential uses of a world that operates under different laws than our own, in which objects have the ability to be in multiple places at once. For example, graphene, a sheet of carbon atoms only a single atom thick, can serve as an archival memory system that would last for billions of years or be rolled into … Read more
Art Career Day
Dug Uyesaka, art teacher at Laguna Blanca School, presented an opportunity for the artists of Anacapa. Art Career Day is a chance for students interested in pursuing careers in art-related fields, such as graphic design, film, painting, and theater, to interact with industry professionals. Students can participate in question and answer breakout sessions with professionals in their desired field to find out how to make it in these tough fields. These sessions, combined with food and live music, make for … Read more
Finding Goodness of Fit
Robin Mize, a marital and couples therapist, shared her path to a career in therapy with students and staff. She encouraged students to think about what happiness is, which she defined as a “goodness of fit.” She says it is when what you think, what you say and what you do are all in sync. She found her passion for helping people find their fit through her love of theater. She originally studied acting, but did not enjoy being on … Read more
Mindfulness and the Art of Non-Distraction
Mike Mrazek, a friend of Anacapa’s calculus teacher, Rachid, and PhD student in experimental psychology at UCSB, visited Anacapa to discuss his studies in “mindfulness” and “mind-wandering.” Mike took 50 UCSB undergraduate students and gave them mindfulness training in order to improve their focus. The students who received the training saw an increase in a GRE-like test scores as compared to students who received the “control” training in nutrition. Mike even shared some mindfulness exercises with students and staff to … Read more
Behind the Scenes With a Film Director
Academy Award-winning film director and Anacapa parent Joe Johnston is probably best known for his directing work on such effects-driven hits as “Jumanji,” “Jurassic Park III,” and “Captain America: The First Avenger” as well as the critically acclaimed drama “October Sky.” Joe took time out of his busy schedule to speak at the First Thursday Open Breakfast Club in March with his director’s reel in hand. After seeing his work, students seized the opportunity to ask Joe all about the … Read more
Rustic Pathways
Harry and Maggie, representatives for the Rustic Pathways program, spoke about the opportunities available for Anacapa students through Rustic Pathways trips. The company offers a range of programs for domestic and international travel, focusing on service projects. Participants engage in a range of programs, from conservation projects with Pandas in China to education projects with orphans in Thailand. They also offer some skills-based programs in soccer, surfing and language-immersion. Anacapa student, Ila, spent part of the summer of 2011 in … Read more
Ingredients of a Democracy
Paul Chappel, author and spokesman for the Nuclear World Peace Foundation, challenged students and faculty to consider what a successful democracy needs. He brought up instances such as WikiLeaks, in which the government was not portrayed as honest and posed the question: What do citizens have a right to know? He also made students aware of an upcoming opportunity to meet Daniel Ellsberg and hear about his experiences as a U.S. military analyst who leaked government information regarding the Vietnam … Read more
World Healers in Santa Barbara
Jennifer, Carissa and Larisa, representatives from UCSB’s chapter of the World Healers Organization, discussed opportunities for young people in Santa Barbara to get involved with global issues. Their local chapter, called the Global Awareness Club, organizes and conducts seminars in local elementary and middle schools to help raise awareness about global issues. High school students can also be involved in mentorships that allow them to conduct their own seminars on issues about which they are passionate.… Read more