WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY STUDENT EARNS TOP FIELD HOCKEY HONORS
Athlete Named Among Top 15 Players in Ohio
HUDSON, Ohio – Western Reserve Academy student Emily Clegg was named an All-Ohio field hockey player for 2009 by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The 17-year-old varsity Pioneer player was also selected as this year’s Most Valuable Player by the Northeastern Ohio Field Hockey League and was awarded the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Best of the Best Award for the second year in a row.
Clegg, who was recruited by Division I schools, plans to play field hockey in the Ivy League when she graduates from Reserve next year. “My favorite thing about playing field hockey is that it is not just a game that requires athletic ability but a game which requires a lot of thinking. This makes it both a challenging and fun sport,” she says.
Clegg also plays for a club team based in Columbus, Ohio, for which she travels to several tournaments a year. For the past six years she has participated in the USA Field Hockey Future Program and was selected for the U14, U16 and U19 National Future teams.
Clegg began playing field hockey in the seventh grade at Hudson Middle School. A club soccer player, Clegg at first didn’t have any interest in field hockey. But a try-out for the school team led to a lifelong passion. “Honestly, I never thought I would end up playing field hockey in high school, but I fell in love with the game,” she says.
Reserve’s field hockey coach Marie Fiedler has coached Clegg for four years, beginning freshman year when she played varsity. She says it was clear right away that Clegg was “a natural” who “quickly translated previous soccer experience into an awareness of field sense.”
Voted the Reserve team’s Most Valuable Player this year, Clegg “can beat most opponents to the ball and move quickly out of their space with great agility,” says Fiedler. More importantly, Clegg was team MVP “because she controlled the mid-field, initiating most attacks by finding holes in the opposition’s defense and placing the ball in a position so that the forwards could mount a swift attack.”
This year the Pioneers faced down early uncertainty – with only four returning players – to post a winning season. Clegg, one of three captains, provided experience to a young, inexperienced team. Members quickly gelled to form a formidable squad.
“The key to our field hockey team’s success this year was the special bond we had as a team on and off the field. We truly were each other’s best friends. This created a good chemistry on the field and allowed each of us to play our best,” says Clegg.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Will Speck ’88: Alumni Spotlight
By Aubree Galvin Caunter
It’s a common fantasy: you’re walking down the red carpet, parting a sea of A-list stars, at the Academy Awards. But, for one Reserve graduate, that dream became a reality.
Will Speck ’88 was nominated for an Oscar in 1999 for the short film Culture starring Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Speck co-wrote and co-directed the piece, which was nominated for the Best Live-Action Short Film award.
Speck, now a well-known Hollywood director, says the experience was enlightening. “It was really great, but odd also, because it was a short film so you kind of felt like a sophomore at senior prom.” Though, the then-newcomer did have a chance to rub elbows with the industry’s elite, even if they didn’t know who he was. “The best part was the nominee lunch, where I sat between Steven Spielberg and Gwyneth Paltrow, who had no idea why I was there.”
Speck has since gone on to co-direct, with his business partner Josh Gordon, hundreds of projects, including award-winning commercials and Hollywood films. He is currently in production on The Baster starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman about a 40-year-old woman’s unconventional attempts to become pregnant. The movie began shooting in early April and is due for release in 2010.
It is not the first major studio comedy for the duo. In 2007, the team of Speck/Gordon directed the ice skating movie Blades of Glory for Dreamworks/MTV Films. The film stars Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler, and was produced by Ben Stiller, who the team is planning to work with on another project.
“It was an incredible first experience,” says Speck. “I was always a huge Will Ferrell fan and it was great getting to work with him day in and day out.”
Between larger projects, Speck and Gordon have directed hundreds of commercials, which were short-listed at the Cannes Film Festival for three consecutive years from 2003 to 2005. Two campaigns are in the permanent collection of Excellence in Advertising in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
The team also has won numerous awards in the United States and Europe for clients like Levi’s, Coke, Pepsi, Visa, Samsung and Geico, including creating the Cavemen and Gecko campaigns. The Cavemen commercials became so popular that Speck sold the idea to ABC as a television series, which the Speck/Gordon team directed and executive produced.
Speck enjoys the freedom afforded by the commercial format. “It’s great to take on smaller projects. Movies take so long to come together so it’s a great learning curve in the interim,” he says. “I also get to work with amazing crews and try all new genres.”
Speck began his career just after graduating from Reserve. “I spent a winter internship working for a producer and after that I knew that I wanted to work in film,” he says. Speck then began attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts film program, where he met Gordon. Together, they wrote and directed their senior thesis film Idyllwild which was a finalist for the 1995 Student Academy Award.
Following their nomination for the Oscar for Culture, the two joined the Directors Guild of America as a directing team through uber-producers Ridley and Tony Scott’s RSA/USA Productions. Tony Scott, in fact, was a signature on their original application for membership in 1998-99.
These days, he is hard at work, living between New York and California for production meetings and giving direction to America’s sweetheart Jennifer Aniston. Although Hollywood is a long way from Hudson, Ohio, Speck looks back on his time at Reserve as a stepping stone to success. “I had a great experience there,” he says. He even credits some of his production habits to the school. “I still dress the same – it’s a little disturbing.”
By Aubree Galvin Caunter
It’s a common fantasy: you’re walking down the red carpet, parting a sea of A-list stars, at the Academy Awards. But, for one Reserve graduate, that dream became a reality.
Will Speck ’88 was nominated for an Oscar in 1999 for the short film Culture starring Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Speck co-wrote and co-directed the piece, which was nominated for the Best Live-Action Short Film award.
Speck, now a well-known Hollywood director, says the experience was enlightening. “It was really great, but odd also, because it was a short film so you kind of felt like a sophomore at senior prom.” Though, the then-newcomer did have a chance to rub elbows with the industry’s elite, even if they didn’t know who he was. “The best part was the nominee lunch, where I sat between Steven Spielberg and Gwyneth Paltrow, who had no idea why I was there.”
Speck has since gone on to co-direct, with his business partner Josh Gordon, hundreds of projects, including award-winning commercials and Hollywood films. He is currently in production on The Baster starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman about a 40-year-old woman’s unconventional attempts to become pregnant. The movie began shooting in early April and is due for release in 2010.
It is not the first major studio comedy for the duo. In 2007, the team of Speck/Gordon directed the ice skating movie Blades of Glory for Dreamworks/MTV Films. The film stars Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler, and was produced by Ben Stiller, who the team is planning to work with on another project.
“It was an incredible first experience,” says Speck. “I was always a huge Will Ferrell fan and it was great getting to work with him day in and day out.”
Between larger projects, Speck and Gordon have directed hundreds of commercials, which were short-listed at the Cannes Film Festival for three consecutive years from 2003 to 2005. Two campaigns are in the permanent collection of Excellence in Advertising in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
The team also has won numerous awards in the United States and Europe for clients like Levi’s, Coke, Pepsi, Visa, Samsung and Geico, including creating the Cavemen and Gecko campaigns. The Cavemen commercials became so popular that Speck sold the idea to ABC as a television series, which the Speck/Gordon team directed and executive produced.
Speck enjoys the freedom afforded by the commercial format. “It’s great to take on smaller projects. Movies take so long to come together so it’s a great learning curve in the interim,” he says. “I also get to work with amazing crews and try all new genres.”
Speck began his career just after graduating from Reserve. “I spent a winter internship working for a producer and after that I knew that I wanted to work in film,” he says. Speck then began attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts film program, where he met Gordon. Together, they wrote and directed their senior thesis film Idyllwild which was a finalist for the 1995 Student Academy Award.
Following their nomination for the Oscar for Culture, the two joined the Directors Guild of America as a directing team through uber-producers Ridley and Tony Scott’s RSA/USA Productions. Tony Scott, in fact, was a signature on their original application for membership in 1998-99.
These days, he is hard at work, living between New York and California for production meetings and giving direction to America’s sweetheart Jennifer Aniston. Although Hollywood is a long way from Hudson, Ohio, Speck looks back on his time at Reserve as a stepping stone to success. “I had a great experience there,” he says. He even credits some of his production habits to the school. “I still dress the same – it’s a little disturbing.”
WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY STUDENTS INTERN AT
CLEVELAND CLINIC RESEARCH LAB
Student Research Seeks to Contribute to Medicine’s “Translational Research”
HUDSON, Ohio – Three Western Reserve Academy students interned this summer at the Cleveland Clinic’s Learner Research Institute. Joseph Marmerstein of Beachwood, Ohio, Sarah Foster of Ashland, Ohio, and Oliver Curtiss of Hudson worked with renowned researcher Dr. Vincent Tuohy in his lab which is part of the Clinic. Under the guidance of Touhy and Reserve science faculty member Robert Aguilar, the students worked on research that seeks to make contributions to the practice of medicine sometimes known as “transitional research.”
“If students can see that science is alive, meaningful, and if we can immerse them in this culture, it will change them forever,” said Tuohy, an adjunct faculty member at Reserve.
This is the second year that Reserve students have interned at the clinic. The program – now dubbed the WRA Cleveland Clinic Molecular Research Internship – became formalized after last summer’s successful test year. The internship is a for-credit course designed to expose students to a hands-on research experience in a state-of-the-art National Institute of Health-funded laboratory involved in cutting-edge research on a variety of immune-related human diseases.
Currently Tuohy is working on a prophylactic vaccine that has succeeded since 2002 in keeping female mice from developing breast cancer.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to work with scientists who were working on goal-driven research,” said Foster, who was paired with a researcher investigating the breast cancer vaccine. “Seeing work like hers, which has the potential to do so much good, adds a whole new dimension to science. It is very different than simply doing projects in a classroom just for the sake of seeing how something is done.”
Each student was formally partnered with a post-doctoral researcher who supervised day-to-day work. “We were made to feel like active and integral members of the staff,” said Curtiss. The intimate research experience may have influenced Marmerstein’s future. “I had not considered a career in medicine before this internship,” he said. “However it is a huge possibility now.”
Aguilar has been a part of the science faculty at Reserve since 2006 and is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in regulatory biology with a specialization in molecular medicine through Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Clinic.
Tuohy, who was honored this year with Reserve’s Knight Fellowship, also teaches at the Lerner College of Medicine. He earned his own lab at the Clinic following an initial breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis research. His lab is receiving $1.3 million to further fund his cancer research.
Founded in 1826 and located in historic Hudson, Ohio, Western Reserve Academy is a private, mid-sized coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 to 12. Reserve draws its 385 students, attending from 24 states and 23 countries, for its fine academic, art and athletic programs, and for the school’s commitment to a set of fundamental values: excellence, integrity and compassion. Reserve’s online media gallery is available at www.wra.net.
CLEVELAND CLINIC RESEARCH LAB
Student Research Seeks to Contribute to Medicine’s “Translational Research”
HUDSON, Ohio – Three Western Reserve Academy students interned this summer at the Cleveland Clinic’s Learner Research Institute. Joseph Marmerstein of Beachwood, Ohio, Sarah Foster of Ashland, Ohio, and Oliver Curtiss of Hudson worked with renowned researcher Dr. Vincent Tuohy in his lab which is part of the Clinic. Under the guidance of Touhy and Reserve science faculty member Robert Aguilar, the students worked on research that seeks to make contributions to the practice of medicine sometimes known as “transitional research.”
“If students can see that science is alive, meaningful, and if we can immerse them in this culture, it will change them forever,” said Tuohy, an adjunct faculty member at Reserve.
This is the second year that Reserve students have interned at the clinic. The program – now dubbed the WRA Cleveland Clinic Molecular Research Internship – became formalized after last summer’s successful test year. The internship is a for-credit course designed to expose students to a hands-on research experience in a state-of-the-art National Institute of Health-funded laboratory involved in cutting-edge research on a variety of immune-related human diseases.
Currently Tuohy is working on a prophylactic vaccine that has succeeded since 2002 in keeping female mice from developing breast cancer.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to work with scientists who were working on goal-driven research,” said Foster, who was paired with a researcher investigating the breast cancer vaccine. “Seeing work like hers, which has the potential to do so much good, adds a whole new dimension to science. It is very different than simply doing projects in a classroom just for the sake of seeing how something is done.”
Each student was formally partnered with a post-doctoral researcher who supervised day-to-day work. “We were made to feel like active and integral members of the staff,” said Curtiss. The intimate research experience may have influenced Marmerstein’s future. “I had not considered a career in medicine before this internship,” he said. “However it is a huge possibility now.”
Aguilar has been a part of the science faculty at Reserve since 2006 and is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in regulatory biology with a specialization in molecular medicine through Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Clinic.
Tuohy, who was honored this year with Reserve’s Knight Fellowship, also teaches at the Lerner College of Medicine. He earned his own lab at the Clinic following an initial breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis research. His lab is receiving $1.3 million to further fund his cancer research.
Founded in 1826 and located in historic Hudson, Ohio, Western Reserve Academy is a private, mid-sized coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 to 12. Reserve draws its 385 students, attending from 24 states and 23 countries, for its fine academic, art and athletic programs, and for the school’s commitment to a set of fundamental values: excellence, integrity and compassion. Reserve’s online media gallery is available at www.wra.net.
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