{"id":984,"date":"2019-06-10T14:06:33","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T21:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/?p=984"},"modified":"2019-06-11T09:35:58","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T16:35:58","slug":"all-eyes-on-hillbrook-alumni-15-impact-purpose-and-reaching-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/2019\/06\/all-eyes-on-hillbrook-alumni-15-impact-purpose-and-reaching-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"All Eyes on Hillbrook Alumni (\u201815): Impact, Purpose, and Reaching Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Mary Hammers, Hillbrook Writer, Current, and Alumni Parent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The value proposition of Hillbrook has never been just reading, writing, and arithmetic; the goal is for students to also leave Hillbrook with the skills, confidence, and desire to go out and make a difference in the world. Hillbrook\u2019s Class of 2015 is an example of the impact of a Hillbrook education, not only because of the impressive scholars it has turned out, but also because of the caring human beings they\u2019ve become.
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From fundraising for refugees, refurbishing a house for foster children, tutoring under-resourced middle school students, making micro-loans to low-income entrepreneurs, and feeding the homeless, our Hillbrook graduates are making a difference in a myriad of meaningful ways.
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Joseph Vaughn<\/strong>, an incoming football recruit at Yale University, has volunteered extensively over the last four years with Food Not Bombs, which serves food to the homeless and provides them with free groceries and organic produce. Says Joseph, \u201cI mostly helped prepare and serve food to the homeless. The experience really opened my eyes and gave me a new perspective on the world. It showed me how something as small as a home-cooked meal can save a life.\u201d
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Lilah Penner Brown<\/strong>, who is headed to Harvard University, spent many hours at Castilleja High School tutoring under-resourced middle school students via Dreamcatchers as well as leading a reading buddy program for young students at Brentwood Elementary School. In addition, Lilah worked with an ACLU Summer Advocacy program raising ten thousand dollars for migrants in the Mediterranean. Asked why she devotes so much time to helping others Lilah says, \u201cHelping others is where I find the most fulfillment because it helps me get out of my own head and feel more connected to the world around me. It\u2019s easy to see all the problems in the world and feel defeated or helpless, but when I\u2019m participating in service projects I\u2019m reminded of how many people are trying to do good in the world.\u201d
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Jeffrey Edsall, Wesley Elliot, and Luke Hammers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Jeffrey Edsall<\/strong>, an incoming freshman at Stanford University, giving back has gifts of its own. \u201cKnowing that I am responsible for making someone\u2019s day brighter or easier is extremely rewarding,\u201d says Jeff. He and Wesley Elliott<\/strong>, who will be attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo to study viticulture, both volunteered with Boys Team Charities during all four years of high school, doing a variety of service ranging from helping in soup kitchens and elderly care facilities,  to building bikes as holiday gifts. Their senior project involved completely refurbishing a group home for at-risk teenagers.
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Emma Skeet<\/strong>, who will be studying theater at Loyola Marymount University, says a summer service trip to India last year with Archbishop Mitty High School left her profoundly changed. \u201cIt changed my perspective. With every decision I make I carry with me the awareness of what it\u2019s like to live on the other side of the world. I carry with me the awareness that even if I can\u2019t change the world as a whole, I do have the power to change individual worlds.\u201d
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Charlie DiNapoli<\/strong>, who is attending Santa Clara University to study business, worked with cerebral palsy patients in South Africa last summer and said he felt both humbled and inspired by the work, \u201cAmong other things, I spoon-fed meals to people and that experience was really moving. I felt grateful that I could help in a small way, and also just so genuinely welcomed by them. They treated me like family and would happily go back and do it all again.\u201d
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Alejandro Wilcox<\/strong>, who is headed to Cornell University, spent the summer between his junior and senior year at Thacher School helping Breakthrough Silicon Valley. Alejandro taught two sections of math and an astronomy elective, and also worked with middle school students as a mentor. \u201cIt was not at all always rainbows and sunshine, says Alejandro. \u201cIt was hard work matching the kids energy and working long hours to make every day special, but it was worth every second. It was truly enlightening to see them open up to us as the summer progressed and to hear their stories and their aspirations for the future. Making a difference in their lives and hopefully serving as a role model to some of them gave me an entirely new perspective on what I was going to do in my life.\u201d
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For the Class of 2019, volunteering began years ago as service learning at Hillbrook. It was a part of their education from their earliest days at the school, much like Reach Beyond efforts today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Says Joseph Vaughn who started at Hillbrook in junior kindergarten, \u201cHillbrook taught me at a young age the importance of service and the reality of the work that needs to be done.\u201d  In the Lower School, these students did everything from making blankets through the Linus Project, to baking homemade dog bones, visiting Alzheimer\u2019s patients, and becoming pen pals with disabled children. Their service learning efforts intensified as the students grew to include collecting books to start a library in Malawi, helping plant community gardens, sorting donations at local food pantries, and tutoring young students at underserved elementary schools. The exposures gave students hands-on experience making a difference from their first days at Hillbrook until their last. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jeff Edsall<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom helping in the classroom at Ann Darling and Brett Harte Elementary, to sorting audiobooks for the visually impaired, Hillbrook\u2019s emphasis on service showed me that I can have a positive impact,\u201d recalls Jeff Edsall. He continues, \u201cthose monthly service excursions exposed me to the joy and value of giving to others,\u201d Joseph agrees, \u201cOne of the most memorable days of service for me was working with children who spoke English as a second language and needed extra help in school. The kids were so kind and similar to us yet so different at the same time. I realized how fortunate I was, and how a few hours in a day was enough to have a big impact in these kids.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Luke Hammers at his High School Graduation from Bellarmine College Preparatory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Luke Hammers<\/strong>, who will be a business student at Cal Poly, recalls a service trip to Nicaragua with Hillbrook where he and others helped construct the foundation for a school, \u201cIt was tough work. We were digging, hauling dirt and cinder blocks in the heat and humidity, but I loved it. It was exciting to be making a real difference. We bonded as classmates working on a common cause, and we bonded with kids from the village, too.\u201d
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Four years out of Hillbrook and now embarking on college, many of these graduates say they plan to continue service and social impact work in college. Luke, who was President of the Microfinance Club at Bellarmine College Preparatory, plans to keep the small loans going in college. \u201cDefinitely,\u201d he says, \u201cif there isn\u2019t a microfinance club at Cal Poly already, I\u2019d like to start one. Every loan we made over my four years at Bellarmine was paid back in full by people who used the money to start small businesses. The loans are small but impactful and as a business student, I like the idea of supporting other people\u2019s dreams.\u201d Jeff Edsall is also eager join a service group at Stanford that takes underprivileged high schoolers on hiking and camping trips. \u201cI have always loved being in nature and being able to share that interest with others is very exciting,\u201d says Jeff. When looking at Yale, Joseph Vaughn discovered there was a chapter of Food Not Bombs in neighboring Hartford, so he is looking forward to continuing to work with the charity while in college.
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The stated vision of Hillbrook School is to inspire students to achieve their dreams and reach beyond themselves to make a difference in the world. As we look back on the experiences of these alumni and look ahead to  the newest graduating class of 2019, their achievements, their ambitions and their heart, it is clear that Hillbrook\u2019s Vision is being realized. Hillbrook\u2019s young people are already making a difference in the world and are just getting started.
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by Mary Hammers, Hillbrook Writer, Current, and Alumni Parent The value proposition of Hillbrook has never been just reading, writing, and arithmetic; the goal is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=984"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1021,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions\/1021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}