PSCS alum Lauren Head graduated with the PSCS Class of 2010, and then from Quest University in 2014. During their sophomore years, Quest students write a “Question Proposal,” which serves as their academic concentration and interdisciplinary major for the final two years of their undergraduate education.

Lauren’s question was, “What is the role of empathy in community?”

Theo Sofia Martin ‘18 (THEY/THEM) is currently in their senior year at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. Their PSCS culminating Senior Project was to complete a full length, full color, digitalcomic book, which they conceived, drew, and wrote themself. Sofia presented their processes, highlights, and challenges at Showcase where guests could also peruse the final product.

Kellen Frodelius-Fujimoto is a PSCS alum (’09) and Past Treasurer of the PSCS Board of Trustees. He’s the eldest of four (!) family members who attended PSCS.

Throughout his years as a PSCS student, he became a strong advocate for the community, served on several admissions committees, and eventually served as a student representative on the Board his junior year of high school.

“The value of PSCS is a deeply personal one for me. Many of the core beliefs that I hold most dear were both taught and cultivated in my time as a student, and I want the school to both be strong for generations to come—for my children to experience the same community I did.”

Kellen is a freelance photographer and web developer who lives in Germany with his wife Noelle.

For PSCS alum Jostin Darlington, it all started with a bit of adolescent fun at McDonald’s.

“We had a group of friends sitting at a booth, video taping me as I ordered a large meal,” he remembers. “The plan was that after receiving my food I would trip myself and spill it in front of the rather busy restaurant. It went according to plan, and everyone laughed a lot.”

Jostin was a high schooler at PSCS at the time. After editing his skits into a montage of funny scenes, he wanted to share it with his friends via the Internet. He asked a PSCS staff member to teach a web design class.

For Grace Morton, the most important lesson she learned at PSCS had nothing to do with an academic subject. It was about self-discipline.

Grace had been enrolled in a public high school, and admits that she had given up on her education.
“Growing up, I struggled with a learning disability,” she says. “It took me twice as long as everyone in my class just to finish a test. I was constantly nervous and uncomfortable. My doctor prescribed me ADD and anxiety meds to ‘solve’ the problems I was facing in school. I worked so hard in elementary and middle school and I still ended up with average grades, and sometimes barely passing.”

After high school, Tesha Karpoff (PSCS Class of ’05), graduated with a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, with a concentration in sculpture, photography, and printmaking.

Tesha remembers fondly her time at PSCS.

“Any experience that comes to mind is laced with feelings of liberty, excitement, and exploration held in balance by the fact of responsibility—for one’s self, for one’s impact on the environs. This is something I cherish, that continues to guide me, and has played a large part in how and where I am right now.

“And, where else can you carve a carousel horse head for your senior project?”

Tesha now owns Lepus Studios, and produces hand thrown and slipcast ceramics with simple geometric shapes and bright, earth tone glazes.

While growing up, PSCS alum, Johnny Spangler, was never sure why he needed to take a math class. After all, that’s what calculators are for, right?

Then he got excited about taking scuba lessons.

“You can’t do math on a calculator when you’re under water,” he remembers thinking. “You need to be figuring out how many pressure zones you are under water, compared to how long you’ve been under water, so you should know how long you should take going up so you don’t get the bends.”

He adds, “This is very important stuff.”

When Jared Laird came to PSCS as a student in 2009, he was tired of being just another face in his old school of more than 1000 students, and frustrated with classes that moved too slowly.

“I felt more at home at PSCS then I ever did at my old school,” Jared says. “I didn’t feel like a number. I felt like a part of the community and I was always treated with respect.”

PSCS encourages students to expand their notion of when and where learning can happen. While he was a student, Jared seized on this idea and submitted an application to be a student representative on the Board of Trustees.