T O D A Y - Berwick Academy

Students from all grade levels participated in this year’s winter musical, The King and I.
arts program and beyond was that they encouraged
students to aggressively pursue whatever it was that
inspired them, whatever they were passionate about.
That process of exploration led me to realize how
much I enjoy breaking down core business processes
into their individual components and looking at how
each could be improved to help individual contributors
work more efficiently. Through our partnership with a
software company focused on process mapping tools,
I took a few classes in process modeling and became
involved with our Business Process Improvement team,
which does process modeling for our clients, another
area where design, composition, seeing patterns
and relationships has helped a great deal. This year,
I became the Director of Wimmer Solutions’ Project
Management office.…Some of our current projects
involve a co-branding and communications effort to
support Microsoft’s integration with Yahoo; a ‘Tweet
Team’ that acts as a Twitter-based user support center for
Xbox Live; a datacenter migration for a local healthcare
client; and business process modeling and analysis for
Microsoft’s two retail stores in Mission Viejo, CA, and
Scottsdale, AZ. Our work is collaborative and reactive
as our clients’ needs change, something I was wellprepared
for by Reagan Russell’s painting assignments
as well as the classes that pushed my boundaries in
terms of techniques and materials.
“Berwick’s community-based learning, both
within the arts program and in the rest of the curriculum,
taught me how to be a ‘whole person’ in the world in
the way no other experience has. To have an identity
that spanned scholarship, the arts, and athletics wasn’t
a concession, it was a responsibility, and it didn’t end
there; I also spent my years on the hill learning that
social responsibility and participation in the life of
the community meant as much, if not more, than the
other skills I could bring to the table. I’ve become
very involved in the life of the community here in
Seattle. At Wimmer, beyond the scope of my normal
job, I designed and currently manage our corporate
giving initiative, which matches employees’ gifts and
time (i.e. volunteer hours) to charitable organizations,
and also serve as our company’s ambassador to the
Corporate Volunteer Council, an organization that gets
together quarterly to discuss how to scale giving within
companies and among community members at large.
Almost every day after school for the past three years,
I’ve been a tutor-mentor to two 14-year-olds, with
whom I work in French, history, math, and science.
This is my fourth year on the scholarship committee
for Pride Foundation.
“Being involved in so many things doesn’t give
me a lot of free time, but just as it did at Berwick, it’s
helped me learn what I’m most passionate about and
what I can offer; make important connections between
my activities, and think ahead to what’s next.” (Email
Interview. 21 May. 2010)
And so, after 25 years, one can readily see
from the witness of both alumni and faculty that Mr.
Dunnan’s wish expressed at the dedication of the
Patricia Baldwin Whipple Art Center that her influence
“take root in this place” has indeed come to pass.
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