Oasis
The ESA Experience Winter 2020
Sculpture by Emma Cascio, ’21
Happy 40th, ESA!
We have been celebrating ESA’s 40th anniversary all year, and I’ve had the chance to catch up with many of you at events such as our bingo and tribute to founding faculty member Cabell Tutwiler in September (videos on vimeo. com/esacadiana) and our volleyball reunion in January. As we look back on 40 years, we are grateful to the visionaries who founded ESA in 1979 with plans to establish a worldclass college preparatory school in Acadiana. We also owe a great debt to the amazing people (students, faculty, staff, parents and grandparents) who have walked beneath our oaks over the years. They are truly what makes this place so special. And they are the ones who have maintained the vision and philosophy of ESA. A few things have changed at ESA over the years. We have wifi access over the entire campus and students bring their own technology. We have added a MS gym, and air conditioned the US gym. Many beloved faculty members have retired, but we have a new group of teachers working to inspire students’ curiosity and sense of wonder. We now have a Lower School that matches what we do in Cade and pushes us to be even better. But even with all of those changes, ESA is still the same quirky place where amazing faculty meet with energetic and curious students in the pursuit of excellence, scholarship, and honor. The quality of the ESA experience in terms of the interaction with our amazing faculty is as strong as or stronger than ever, but our aging facilities – including the temporary buildings that we put on the Cade campus 39 years ago – are not supporting that strength and are actually making it more difficult. The time has come for us to set a new cornerstone for the future. Many of you took part in the process of developing a Cade campus master plan that creates spaces to enhance the world-class teaching that happens here while maintaining the unique outdoor, nature-centered campus feel. It’s the first step in preparing ESA for the future. On this, our 40th anniversary year, we look back, we look forward, and we ask what will ESA be at 50 or 60 years. The future is now—Aréte!!
Paul Baker, PhD Headmaster
2020 LSU Statewide Juried High School Exhibition Eight works by ESA artists have been selected for the LSU School of Art’s 6th Annual Statewide Juried High School Exhibition. The works will be on display February 7–March 7, at the Foster Gallery on the LSU campus, and winners in various categories will be announced at a closing reception on March 7th. This prestigious art show highlights the best work of high school artists from throughout Louisiana. View additional selections on ESA’s Facebook page: 40 Moons Tapestry by Isabelle Berthelot, ’20, mixed media Book Interior by Madi Stelly, ’20, hand sewn book, mixed media A Study of Bugs, Mushrooms, Leaves, Slugs, and Berries by Isabelle Berthelot, ’20, video Neal by Jaya Kasturi, ’21, archival pigment photograph Capture by Jaya Kasturi, ’21 archival pigment photograph
Brent: Home by Collin Pooler, ’20 silver gelatin print
Bottles by Madi Stelly, ’20 watercolor and gouache on watercolor paper Floral Healing by Christiaan Thibodeaux, ’20 stoneware and glass
Will Bako, ’20 When Will arrived at ESA as a freshman, he took a photography class that introduced him to the dark room and the digital lab. The next year, he enrolled in the Exlabs creative communications course, and he quickly fell in love with filmmaking. As Will moved into ExLabs II and III, he grew as a filmmaker and storyteller. His film Fallen Angel received honorable mention at the Hollywood New Directors Film Festival, and was accepted to the 5th annual Reading Film Festival in Pennsylvania, the All American High School Film Festival in New York City, and the StuffIt Film Fest in Queensland, Australia. A client piece that Will created for the ESA Admissions team is currently showing before movies at the Celebrity Theater in Broussard. Will’s creative and detailed approach to his craft has earned him a spot in NYU’s Tisch School of Arts’ Class of 2024.
ESA is one of Newsweek’s Top 500 STEM High Schools in America Ranked #307 overall and #109 among private schools across the nation, ESA tops the list of STEM high schools in Lafayette and is ranked fourth in Louisiana. STEM at ESA means so many different things: the PK4 anatomy fair; the Girls’ STEM Club through which upper school girls share their love of science with fourth and fifth grade girls; egg drops; spaghetti towers; water quality analysis; pumpkin math; java programming; dissections of sheeps’ eyeballs, chicken wings, frogs, and pigs; and so much more.
A Project that Leads the Way Lower School students tackle many of their STEM projects in the Idea Lab, the makerspace housed in the Lafayette Campus Enrichment Center. New signs point the way to the Idea Lab – the result of a design thinking challenge given to last year’s fifth grade students by art teacher Claire Caffery and Idea Lab coordinator Ashleigh D’Aunoy. The two teachers tasked the fifth graders with designing a logo for the space, and took them through the process that would be followed by a professional designer. Susie Gottardi, a professional graphic designer who is the manager of marketing and design at the Hilliard Museum, along with Ms. Claire, introduced students to logo and graphic design and to the idea of working for a client. The student groups met with their client, Ms. Ashleigh, and asked her questions about her design preferences and her needs for the logo. Finally, the students created several drafts of their designs and met with their teacher and their client to discuss each iteration. A panel of judges selected some of the designs to be converted to digital images, and a local sign company manufactured and installed the signs – one pointing up the stairs, one on the wall outside of the Idea Lab (complete with LED lighting), and one decorating the soffit inside the lab. This past fall, the students were invited back to the Idea Lab to see the results of their work. Light up sign: Parker Vice, John Henry Fitzgerald, Cooper Gates Pencil sign: Gracie Klemp, Olivia Plaisance (center), Camille Loughlin Stairs arrow: Jack Cowan, Turner Gachassin (bottom left with brother Benjamin)
Recognizing Excellence Congratulations to ESA’s 2019-2020 National Merit Semifinalists: Anna Claire Rader, Michael dela Rosa, and Hannah Kitakule (right). These three students are among the top scorers on the PSAT, a standardized test taken during junior year. Each semifinalist has the opportunity to apply to become a finalist and to be awarded a National Merit Scholarship. The fall issue of The Eclectic, ESA’s literary magazine, is available online. Find the link at ESAcadiana.com/TodayatESA. The magazine showcases ESA writers and artists in 6th through 12th grades. At ESA’s first annual Social Studies Conference held on January 30th, panelists from the Class of 2020 – (left to right, below) Sarah Humble, Braxton English, Lawrence Bourgeois, and Will Bako – presented to ESA and UL Lafayette faculty, parents, and community members. In their AP Government class, the students were given the theme of citizenship for their research papers, and chose topics such as immigration, LGBTQ rights, citizenship in space, and robot citizenship. Lawrence’s work about citizenship in the Old West was chosen for the top prize this year.
Tori Wilson, ’22 ESA’s 2020 Poetry Out Loud competition was held in chapel in Cade this January. In the fall during their English classes, upper school students memorized and recited poems as part of a program created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Ariana Felton, ’23, placed second, while Charles Blem, ’23, and Tori Wilson, ’22 (above), tied for first. Last year, Tori placed second in ESA’s competition and third in the regional contest held at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. In this year’s regional, held on February 1st, ESA swept the top three, with Tori placing first, Ariana second, and Charles third.
Capturing Louisiana Stories
Last fall, Anna Claire Rader, ’20, and Sadie Fuller, ’21, took part in National Geographic’s Photo Camp. Based at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), the camp gave students the opportunity to explore the marshes and communities around Chauvin, Louisiana, and to learn the tools of photojournalism as they documented the environmental challenges of the coastal areas of our state. In the four-day camp, the students took hundreds of photos. Anna Claire, who took the photos on these two pages, plans to expand on her work through an independent photography project this spring. In her proposal for the project, she wrote: “We’re surrounded by life that we take for granted. Life that we don’t stop to see, just hiding in plain sight. I want to capture the parts of our world that we don’t give a second thought to. The small things that we pass up because we’re busy.”
Leadership and Service Lower school students look forward to opportunities to serve throughout the year. In December, first graders worked with local agencies to prepare and deliver snack bags to the homeless and to make tie lap blankets (right) which they delivered to Meals on Wheels recipients. The Community Service Club has created an annual tradition of bringing cheer to the residents of School Days Apartments in New Iberia. The Christmas party – featuring dinner, music, and dancing – is cherished by the elderly residents. Advisories and other ESA groups prepare gifts for the residents as well. Lauren Gachassin, ’21, has reintroduced Leadership Lunches, a way for students to connect with and learn from local leaders. Lauren’s first guest was Kacee Schexnayder Thompson, the Foundation Director of Hospice of Acadiana (bottom right with Lauren). This month, the group welcomed Sarah Berthelot, President & CEO of Louisiana Association of United Ways and wife of ESA Admissions Director Jon Berthelot.
Grant Suire, ’21 Grant arrived at ESA as a sophomore in 2018, and quickly found a home on the laid-back Cade campus. However, he’s just as comfortable wearing a suit and tie and standing at a podium to deliver a speech or argue a point. In the fall, Grant joined several other upper schoolers at the annual Youth Legislature conference in Baton Rouge. In the mock legislative session, students present and debate bills, vote, and more – all in the House and Senate chambers of the State Capitol. The ESA students who ran for office to serve at next year’s conference were all successful: House Floor Leader, Anil Cacodcar; President of the Senate, Corbitt Driskell; Chief Supreme Court Justice, Bridger McCasland; and Governor, Grant Suire. Grant was also selected to attend the Legislative Youth Advisory Council as one of three representatives from his congressional district. Created by the State of Louisiana, the Council is composed of high school students who represent the voices of young people across the state as they communicate with members of the legislature. In addition, Grant hones his international relations skills as a member of ESA’s Model UN team and his leadership style as co-captain of ESA’s varsity Quiz Bowl team and as President of the junior class. As Grant continues to develop as a leader, we expect to see him at many more podiums in the coming years.
Spiritual Journies Cade Campus Chaplain Dr. Andrew Armond was ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacons on December 14th as part of the process of becoming an Episcopal priest. On June 20th, Dr. Armond will celebrate his ordination to the priesthood. He will be ordained at the Church of the Epiphany in New Iberia. For the 2019 ESA Abroad experience, three teachers and 15 students completed the last 100 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Enduring blisters, sore knees, and tired bodies and minds, the travelers also marveled at the sites, and learned about themselves as they supported each other in reaching their goal.
Designing with Purpose In the spring of 2019, students in Digital Design with teacher Jennifer Graycheck, ’01, used SketchUp to design a foyer for the entrance to the upper school gym in Cade. The students – Jack Osborne, ’20, Collin Pooler, ’20, Jacques Plauche, ’20, Ethan Littlefield, ’20, Addison Chrysler, ’19, Parrish Anderson, ’19, and Andreas Atwi, ’19 – met with the maintenance crew and Business Manager Christy Harson to discuss the needs of the space. Their designs met the basic needs and made the space more appealing. Last summer, Collin worked on the summer maintenance crew and helped to build the foyer, which brings the guest bathrooms inside, minimizes dirt tracked into the gym, and serves as a trophy display area. This year, Jack, Collin, and Ethan, along with Keegan Riley, ’20, are addressing a new problem – erosion on the play area of Lafayette Campus. They recently examined and measured the property with landscape architect Andrew Graycheck (Mrs. Graycheck’s husband), and will work to design terraces or other structures that will minimize runoff and include features for the students who will continue to play there.
Letting Grow This year, Lower School teachers are exploring alternatives to homework to give students more opportunities for unstructured play and family time. In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, all homework was suspended and instead students were challenged to complete independent tasks they hadn’t tried before, such as feeding pets, folding clothes, and helping to prepare meals for themselves and their families. The teachers provided a list of suggestions inspired by the Let Grow Project at LetGrow.org. The list includes a range of tasks so that students from PK3 through 5th grade can find things they are capable of doing. When students completed tasks, they made paper oak leaves, wrote the accomplishments on them, and hung them on the tree in the Enrichment Center. Students enjoyed the feeling of pride so much that one first grade class asked for a tree in their classroom to continue the project into the spring. Read about the benefits of less homework and suggestions for what to do instead at ESAcadiana.com/ESASpeaks.
Coming This Spring
Lower School Enrichment Cluster Expo March 18th
April 5th, 4pm
Enrichment clusters bring students together in interest groups across grade levels to explore a chosen topic in depth. All are invited to this showcase of 2019-2020 enrichment clusters.
The Lower School musical, performed in the Henton Chapel in Cade, features 4th and 5th grade students, as well as the work of 3rd through 5th graders on set and costume design.
ESA Quiz Bowl’s Trivia Night April 4th
Get your team of six together to compete in this adults-only fundraiser for ESA Quiz Bowl’s 2021 trip to Nationals. Registration information coming soon!
ESA Performing Arts presented the 2020 Cade Campus Musical, Chicago - High School Edition, on February 6th, 7th, and 8th.
Leading the State Boys and Girls Cross Country brought home ESA’s 86th and 87th State titles in the fall. The boys’ team won its sixth state championship in a row, and senior Oliver Nickel won his second individual cross country state championship. ESA girls won their fourth state championship in five years, with five runners in the top ten. Aline Malek, who placed second in the state, made the Louisiana Track and Field Coaches Association’s Top 25 among runners in every class from C to 5A. ESA’s small swim team had a huge season, with individual state championship wins by Michael dela Rosa (100 breast) and Regan Manning (500 free), who both set school records in their first place finishes. Other school records set this year include: Regan Manning in the 100 fly; Michael dela Rosa in the 200 IM; and the girls 200 free relay team of Elena Alvarado, Lily Pillaro, Malaika Subramanian, and Regan Manning. Michael and Regan, along with Elena, who placed 2nd in 200 IM and 3rd in 100 breast at state, were among the top 18 boys and tops 18 girls honored at the All-League Banquet last month.
The jurors were unable to select just one student to receive top honors in the exhibit. They chose Carter Broussard (whose photographs are on the cover and on page 5) and Tana Gauthier, who works in both 2D and in large-scale ceramics (above). Of Carter and Tana, the judges wrote: What really stood out with these two is their individual vision and their ability to recognize ‘mistakes’ and turn them into great successes. What also appealed to us was the sophisticated manner in which they addressed their work and the concepts underlying it, and the professional manner in which they made choices and articulated them as they presented their work.” Read more about ESA’s artists at ESAcadiana.com/VisualArts.
Coach Dione Leger led Girls Soccer from 2000 to 2008, and ESA welcomed her back in 2019. Coach Leger took the Falcons to the State finals in 2004. A graduate of LSU, she was a member of the university’s first women’s soccer team, served as captain, and scored the first goal in the history of the program. She is currently leading the Falcons into the playoffs. Coach Adam Glover joined ESA as the boys’ varsity soccer coach and as a P.E. teacher in 2019. He is originally from England, where he played and coached soccer and ran youth physical education programs. Coach Glover previously coached at Catholic High, N.I., and led club teams with Dynamo Juniors. Boys Soccer began playoff competition earlier this month.
Coach Dione Leger Girls Soccer
Coach Sara Robichaux became a member of ESA’s physical education team this January, and will coach upper school volleyball as Coach Ursula Quoyeser moves into coaching middle school sports. Coach Robichaux played volleyball at UL-Lafayette from 2012 to 2016 and ranks in the all-time top 3 for points scored and top 5 for kills. She coached at both New Iberia Senior High and Teurlings, and launched Cajun Elite’s first beach volleyball program.
Coach Sara Robichaux Volleyball
Coach Adam Glover Boys Soccer
Alumni Notes 1989
Henry Kaufman has been carefully tending to the bees on the Cade campus. His wife, Kelli Broussard Kaufman, documented the first honey harvest last fall.
1990
Monique Boutté Christina has released a new cookbook, Let’s Party at Mulate’s.
1996
In January, Dr. Ashley Guidry Lemaire opened a new clinic, Veterinary Associates
of Acadiana, for small animals and exotic pets, on Southcity Parkway in Lafayette. Ashley graduated from LSU in 2003 with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree and has been in small animal practice in Acadiana since 2004.
1999
Marie LeBlanc Collins is keeping Acadiana families healthy as Executive Director of The Family Tree. She was a recent guest on the Nourish Your Health podcast to talk about active listening.
Elise LaPointe Kohan trained and competed in two bodybuilding competitions in May 2017. She won First Place in three categories at the Old Glory Classic in the Classic Bikini division, becoming a pro natural bodybuilder in the ANBF (American Natural Bodybuilding Federation).
The Class of 2009’s 10th Reunion December 2019
William Ness has been named one of Acadiana’s 20 Under 40. Will is Chief Information Officer for Lafayette Economic Development Authority.
2002
Dr. Lauren Jindia, ’08, married Dr. Ashwin Narayana in May 2019. ESA alumni celebrating at the Florida wedding: Nick Jindia, ’11, Samantha Jindia, ’18, Jonathan Jindia, ’09, Lauren, Annie Cormier, ’08, Alicia Dietzen, ’08, Clara Little Frugé, ’08, Michael Jindia, ’17, and not pictured, Paige Kennedy, ’08, and Daniel Frugé, ’08.
2004
Stuart Breaux has also been named one of Acadiana’s 20 Under 40. Stuart is General Counsel for Southern Lifestyle Development. Leigh Godchaux is back on the soccer field at ESA, this time as assistant coach to Dione Leger, who returned to coach Girls Soccer this winter.
2008
Alicia Dietzen is General Counsel for KnowBe4, a provider of security awareness training and a simulated phishing platform. She was selected by Tampa Bay Business Journal as a 2019 Top Corporate Counsel Honoree.
2011
Walker Gates earned a degree in petroleum engineering from Colorado School of Mines in 2015. He currently lives in
Taylor Waddle is teaching English in Manchester, England. She was featured on citygirlnetwork.com in September.
with a degree in biology and a psychology minor. She now works as a medical assistant/scribe for a private doctor in Memphis, Tennessee. Last month, Meredith began the Physician Assistant graduate degree program at Christian Brothers University in Memphis.
2013
2015
Dickinson, North Dakota, where he works in regulatory compliance for independent oil and gas producer Enerplus.
Elizabeth Shensky has returned to New Iberia, where she is a pastry chef and sells her sweets through her parent’s business, Caribbean Ice Company. She recently shared a galette des rois, a traditional French king cake, with Madame Maggini’s French students. Elizabeth trained for a year at an international pastry school in Florence and worked as a pastry cook at SoHo House in Manhattan.
2014
Meredith Gates graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2018
Victoria Andry graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce & Business Administration. Mary Katherine Loos is in her second year at LSU Law. She and her partner won the 2019 Tullis Moot Court Competition.
2016
Brittany Chen is a senior at the University of California at San Diego. She will graduate from UCSD in June 2020 with a degree in cognitive science and a minor in art.
Maya Loney graduated from George Washington University with a degree in political science and government in December. Sarah Pierre graduated with the highest distinction of Summa Cum Laude from Alcorn State University in December.
2017
Sam Hebert, a junior at the University of Chicago, is an English major with a focus on Medieval Studies. He enjoys researching and working with old manuscripts, and plans to pursue a PhD in English literature. Sam spent last summer learning Latin.
Mikaila Kinsland is a junior at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she is majoring in psychology with a minor in Spanish. Her focus is Social Psychology, and her goal is to work at the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences in Honduras to study dolphin interaction and behavior.
Coach Brenda LeBlanc (center), who led ESA Volleyball from 1982 to 1994, caught up with former players Rebecca O’Rourk Voyles, ’84, Angel Estis, ’83, Ashley Smith Kennedy, ’83, and Valerie St. Dizier, ’83, at ESA’s 40th Volleyball Reunion held on January 18th in the main gym in Cade. Alumni from the earliest years to the most recent got out on the court to play. Thanks to Coach Ursula Quoyeser and her many volunteers for a fantastic day of reconnecting and remembering! Many more photos on the ESA Alumni Facebook page.
Nick Schutte interned with the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette last summer. He is a junior studying commercial photography at Savannah College of Art and Design. Hannah Theriot is a junior at Tulane and is majoring in International Relations and Linguistics. She spent the summer as an intern at the World Trade Center of New Orleans. Hannah is studying abroad this year, spending five months in Tokyo and five months in South Korea, with a focus on comparative culture.
2019
Matthew Huval starred in David Mamet’s American Buffalo, presented by the Lauren-Reilly Eliot Theatre Company at Cité des Arts in Lafayette last fall. Hailie and Kailie Williams are enjoying their first year at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. The twins are biology majors, with plans for medical school after college. Both were starters on the Wildcats volleyball team. Hailie earned an Honorable Mention on the All-Conference team for the Red River Athletic Conference, and Kailie made Second Team All-Conference. Both actively serve the community as Rotaract Club members – Hailie as Vice President and Kailie as Secretary/Community Service Director.
Visit the ESA Alumni page on facebook for alumni news throughout the year. Send your news to communications @esacadiana.com.
Morgan Bares, '09, married Blake Waters on October 5, 2019. Dr. Baker and classmates Roshan Jaikishen, Annie Bares, and Jewel Borel Centanni celebrated with Morgan, who is Executive Director of Digital Merchandising and Events at Stuller. Future Falcon: Holly Vaughan Trant, ’00, and Ben Trant, ’04, welcomed Betsy Claire in October 2019!
P.O. Box 380 • Cade, LA 70519
www.ESAcadiana.com
Second and third grade art students designed their own constellations using color pencil, chalk pastel, and tempera paint. This one is by Nora Manganello, ’30.