Alumni Stories

With its close ties to Stanford University and Silicon Valley, the city of Palo Alto places a high value on learning and is recognized worldwide as a hub of innovation.

The city’s new mayor, Principia Upper School graduate Nancy Shepherd (center, above), is herself an avid proponent of ...

What could be easier or more natural than leaves blowing in the wind? That’s the problem, actually. Getting animated objects to move naturally isn’t easy! But Jonathan Gibbs (US’90, C’94) won an Academy Award last month for doing just that.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ...

The 2014 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance went to Brad Wells (C’84, pictured fourth from the left) and Roomful of Teeth, the eight-voice ensemble he founded in 2009. “The idea for this type of project began during my student days as a music major at Principia ...

By the time Amanda (Blaikie) Sparfeld was seven, she had developed a deep love for flute music— and opera. So it’s fitting that this Upper School (’02) and College (’06) alumna is today in her third season as Principal Flutist for the Michigan Theatre Opera, which performs at the ...

Since graduating from the College, Bethany Boyer-Rechlin (US’04, C’09) has dedicated herself to helping others and the environment. Now midway through a Peace Corps assignment in a small village in northeastern Benin, in West Africa, Bethany promotes environmentally sound agricultural practices.

“I wrote my senior capstone on women’s roles ...

Students at the College got to peek behind the scenes of the film and publishing industries recently when two distinguished alumni spoke on campus. Animation film producer David Lovegren (US’73, C’77) visited theatre and mass communication classes and spoke with students during lunch. His main message to them was to ...

If you know where to find Bishkek on a map, that’s pretty impressive.

Now, can you find Point 5318? No?

Well, that’s understandable . . . because, thanks to Upper School alum Austin Lines (’07) and five of his climbing buddies, the 5,318-meter (17,500-foot) peak in the Central ...

BAs, BBs, BKs, HRAs, RBIs . . . it seems that baseball was just made for statistics (and vice versa). And like any announcer worth his salt, the Seattle Mariners’ newest broadcasting recruit knows and loves statistics, with one major exception—himself!

Referring to early employment challenges in his chosen ...

Students and the wider Principia community were recently introduced to a unique and healing concept of justice from a rather unlikely source—a tiny, impoverished nation that many here had barely heard of.

The thought-expanding encounter was led by former Principia College political science professor Libby Hoffman, founder of Catalyst ...