Lakeside Magazine
“Reflecting on Civil Rights”
The cover image for this issue captures Rahamatou Maurou-Dikeni ’25 in a moment of reflection on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, during the school’s inaugural Civil Rights tour of the American South. The bridge — named after a Confederate brigadier general and grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan — was the site of the “Bloody Sunday” police attacks against Civil Rights Movement demonstrators attempting to march to the Alabama state capital, Montgomery, in March 1965. Inside the issue, photographs from the extraordinary five-day “field trip” tell a powerful story of exposure and immersion.
“The gravity of the moment demands your attention, and in that silence, history speaks louder.”— Efe Elaiho ’25, from “From Seattle to Selma”
Elsewhere in the issue
Bookends of a sort, an excerpt from the recent memoir of Bill Gates ’73 (“Solving the Schedule Problem”) and a report on the current “Andromeda Project” tell similar stories of students out ahead of the adults in unlocking the potential of new technology. Shown in the accompanying photo are Andromeda Club leaders Kellan H. ’26, Julia H.’27, Michael W. ’27, and Chase C. ’26.
Journalist Wudan Yan asked nine Lakeside alums working in different spheres what it will take for the planet to avoid the worst impacts of a rapidly warming climate. We present her multidimensional, worrisome, hopeful report.
Lessons lurk in unexpected places — from Lakeside’s eight(!) aquariums to a rehearsal room downtown at the Seattle Opera. Plus a report on Lakeside’s newest sport, flag football.
Alum spotlights include the industrial art of Ries Niemi ’72; the important labor and grassroots organizing being done by Andrea Dehlendorf ’90; and the story behind the stunning Douglas fir ceiling (see photo) of the new main terminal at the Portland airport. Wood came from the sustainable family-owned forest managed by Ben Hayes ’07.
Contributors
Portrait photographer and Lakeside parent Katie M. Simmons (“Warm Tones,” Page 9; “The Andromeda Project,” Page 20), is a frequent contributor to the magazine. She is best known on campus for her tireless work as a parent volunteer — notably on the school’s famous, now-retired Rummage sale — and for her stylish black-and-white senior portraits, which for years have graced a wall each spring in the WCC and gone on to appear in the pages of the Numidian yearbook.
Wudan Yan (“Lakeside’s Climate Catalysts,” page 22) is a journalist, podcast producer, and professional fact-checker based in Seattle. She says, “As a narrative journalist, I specialize in covering systemic solutions to seemingly intractable issues, unlikely connections, and contrarian characters.” In May, she came to campus to speak about fact-checking with members of the Tatler newspaper staff.
Three talented photographers documented the school’s Civil Rights tour in February (“From Seattle to Selma,” Page 28). One of them, Rickchele Malone, is an Alabama-based media professional whose commercial clients have included The Walt Disney Co., the National Football League, America’s Got Talent, and Food Network.
Two of the photographers on the trip were students. Efe Elaiho ’25 (at left in photo) graduated from Lakeside in June following a stellar athletic career (a three-sport captain in football, basketball, and track and field) and positions of leadership in the Black Student Union and the Student Awareness Council. Cailyn C. ’26 (in photo, at right) serves as Tatler’s design chief, the editor of the student literary journal Imago, and leader of the LAPS (Lakeside Asian-Pacific Students) affinity group. One of her images from the Civil Rights trip was awarded fifth place in the documentary category of the 2025 Washington State High School Photography Competition.
One other student, editorial assistant Lorelei Schwarz ’25, says farewell after three years of writing and editing for the magazine. An accomplished equestrian, knitter, and former TeenTix newsroom writer, Lorelei served as copy editor and multimedia manager on the Tatler staff and created the paper’s YouTube video interview series, “Coffee Break.” Following a summer working for the Seattle Mariners, she’ll attend Georgetown University in the fall. We thank her for her stellar work and wish her all the best.
Editor: Jim Collins
Director of Communications: Amanda Darling
Alumni Relations News: Amanda Campbell
Art Director: Carol Nakagawa
Editorial Assistant: Lorelei S. ’25
Copy Editor: Mark Watanabe
Proof Readers: Judy Bauer, Kathleen Triesch Saul
Spring/Summer 2025 issue writers: Kai Bynum, Timothy D. ’27, Brian Crawford, Mike Lengel, Reagan Ricker ’25, Leslie Schuyler, Rohan Dhillon ’25, Wudan Yan, Bill Gates ’73, Vivian Anderson ’24, Amanda Campbell, Emerson K. ’27, David Halpern ’73, Astra Taylor, Matthew K. ’28
Spring/Summer 2025 issue artists and photographers: Rickchele Malone, Eliaichi Kimaro, Jennifer Kienzle, Tom Reese, David O. Smith ’04, Katie M. Simmons, Daniel Wang ’25, Lia Shepler ’25, Fred Birchman, Cailyn C. ’26, Efe Elaiho ’25, Paul Dudley, Beniam Yetbarek, Chi Krneta, Ema Peter, Matt Lever, Jordan Kines
Lakeside magazine is published twice yearly, in winter and summer, by the communications office of Lakeside School. To view past issues, visit us on issuu.
Circle of Excellence Awards from the Council for Advancement & Support of Education
| 2024 | Independent and International School Alumni Magazines BEST OF CASE DISTRICT VIII |
| 2023 | Independent and International School Alumni Magazines GOLD MEDAL |
| Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year FINALIST |
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| 2022 | Single-Topic Issue, CASE District VIII GOLD MEDAL “Black @ Lakeside” |
Send Us Your News.
Keep in Touch With Your Past — And Your Present
You will never again be a high school student, but you can stay connected with that formative part of your life by sharing memories and news with those people who went through it with you. We’re interested in hearing all your news, big or small — not just impressive or “successful” accomplishments. Tell us about your professional lives, chance meetings, recent adventures, new hobbies, new babies(!) — and we’ll print it in soy-based ink on FSC-certified 70# Accent Opaque Text* for all of the Lakeside family to see. Connect with your classmates, including those you’ve thought about over the years but have lost touch with. We’ll tip our cap to you.
Share it with us at alumni@lakesideschool.org. Our Fall/Winter issue issue deadline for “Class Notes” and “In Memoriam” is Oct. 6, 2025. Photos, too. (And remember: If you send in your baby announcement and photo, we’ll outfit your little lion with a Lakeside bib.) Thanks for sharing!
* That’s a pleasing, uncoated paper stock made from responsibly managed forests. Photos on this stock are reproduced with especially high fidelity.
Talk to us!
Lakeside magazine welcomes your suggestions and letters to the editor. Please send them to magazine@lakesideschool.org or via social media.
