TABS Brochure to parents

WHAT’S
in the neighborhood?
Stevenson is located on the Monterey Peninsula, in Pebble Beach, a commu-nity bounded on the south and east by Carmel, on the east and north by the city of Monterey, on the north by Pacific Grove, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. From our campus it is a 10-minute walk to the ocean across Spyglass Golf Course and a 10-minute walk to the famous Lodge (and Mar-ket!) at Pebble Beach.
Our location gives us easy access to thriving art, music, and professional communities; state and national for-ests and preserves; ocean and coastal research programs; opportunities for community service; and three institu-tions of higher education, all of which are within ten minutes to an hour of our campus. Further away, but used by our students and teachers on a regular basis, are camping and climbing op-portunities to the north, east, and south; and the resources of two major cities: San Francisco and San Jose.
Because we are a seven-day boarding school our definition of community extends well beyond our immediate geographic area.
Through their classes and in their personal lives, our teachers are advo-cates for and examples of the value of “real life” experiences in the learning process. Too, we have a few hundred day student parents who are involved in vocations and avocations that
relate to Stevenson’s co-curricular and extra-curricular programs. With this stimulus, and a media that does an
excellent job of informing us, it is easy for students and teachers to identify, utilize, benefit from, and give back to
programs and resources that inform our students and enable them to serve others.On weekends the School provides bus
service to Carmel and Monterey; stu-dents are ten minutes from shopping, movies, beaches, and other recreation-al activities.
Following are some examples of resources used by our upper school students and teachers.
On a regular basis, art students visit galleries and museums in Carmel, Big Sur, San Francisco, and the di Rosa Preserve in Napa; and artist’s studios both locally and in the Bay Area. They participate each year in “Portfolio Day” in San Francisco, and they par-ticipate in art shows at the Monterey Museum and in local competitions. The art department also invites archi-tects, curators, and historians to come talk to the art students.
Our music department uses the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Bach Festival, Youth Music Monterey, and the Monterey County Symphony as resources for instruction and perfor-
mance. Each year some of our own
graduates who are professional musi-cians return to talk with and perform for students. In addition, tutors come weekly to the campus to instruct students in vocal and/or instrumental music. Students are encouraged to au-dition for regional, state, and national orchestral, vocal, and jazz groups. A member of the Class of 2002 was cho-sen for the National Youth Orchestra and played in Carnegie Hall, and it
is not unusual for six or so of our music students to be chosen for the state orchestra or chorus each year. Groups sing and play at local hospitals and other long-term care facilities, and each spring the chamber singers sing the national anthem at a San Francisco Giants baseball game. Some students participate in the Jazz Masters Workshop in Carmel, where they get lessons from professional musicians. Stevenson has active drama and radio programs. KSPB FM 91.9 is a 24-hour 1,000 watt station run by our students that also provides the BBC World Service and broadcasts from the Com-monwealth Club of San Francisco. Every two or three years the Stevenson Players annual musical production travels to the United Kingdom or Ha-waii; some productions are staged at the famous Forest Theater in Carmel. Guests visit the school on a regular basis (including our own graduates who are in film and theatre); radio students attend the College Media Journal convention in New York each year, and this year will also participate in the National Association of Broad-casters convention workshop in Las Vegas. Numerous guests have visited our KSPB facilities, including ESPN broadcasters, community dignitaries, and performers. In 2001 our student program director met with the United Nations programming director to talk about putting UN radio programs on KSPB.
Our Spanish honor students trade vis-its each year with children of migrant workers in the early grades in nearby Salinas. They spend a day with them
in their environment and a day with
them at Stevenson. Mathematics stu-
dents at all levels compete each fall in
Santa Clara University competitions
held in San Jose. They also participate
in Mathletics - regional math com-
petitions held each year at Monterey
Peninsula Community and Hartnell
Colleges. Stevenson also sponsors
three mathematics competitions on
campus for local schools.
AP Economics students use the Fed-
eral Reserve Bank of San Francisco;
the Business and Education Alliance
of Monterey, the Internal Revenue
Service; local economists, financial
planners, and international business-
people; and local attorneys specializing
in business law, taxation, and estate
planning.
Trips to historical and literary sites
such as Carmel Mission, The Stein-
beck Center, Tor House (the Carmel
home of Robinson Jeffers), Colton
Hall, and the Customs House are a
regular part of the school year.
Our outdoor education program
makes extensive use of the Ventana
Wilderness, an hour to the southeast,
but it also uses several public access
points, primarily Stillwater Cove,
the Carmel River Beach, Del Monte
Beach, Lovers Point, and Elkhorn
Slough for ocean kayaking and surf-
ing. They also use Sanctuary Rock
Gym in Seaside, Pinnacles National
Monument near Soledad, several
“bouldering” areas down the coast,
the Joshua Tree National Monument,
and some spots in the Sierra Moun-
tains for climbing. And each spring
students can take day trips to nearby
Point Lobos to enjoy the wildlife and
observe the migrating whales.
The Pebble Beach Company provides
Spyglass Golf Course abutting our
campus as the home course for our
boys’ and girls’ golf teams, and the
Peter Hay par-3 course half a mile
away for practice on a regular basis, in
exchange for student labor on course
maintenance; and many golf courses
in the area offer their facilities for
competition. The school also owns six
Flying Junior sloops that are kept on
rolling dollies on a floating dock in
the Monterey City Marina for use by
the Stevenson sailing team.
Throughout the year our infirmary
staff uses the Monterey County Health
Department for questions concerning
health issues. Blood drives are held
on campus twice each year, and beach
clean-ups are part of the community
service effort.
Many resources exist locally and
regionally to support the teaching of
science. They include the Monterey
Bay Aquarium, Moss Landing Wildlife
Area (through the Packard Founda-
tion), Andrew Molera State Park,
Garland Regional Park, Carmel River
State Beach, the SPCA of Monterey
County, Great America, and the Ex-
ploratorium. Students are also actively
involved in county, regional, and
national science fairs. The Monterey
Peninsula is a haven for migrating
birds; each fall a member of our sci-
ence department conducts a mini-
course in ornithology and an annual
competition involving students in bird
identification. On field trips through-
out the immediate area, this year’s
winner identified 79 of a possible 80
species from photographs.
Written by Frank Stephenson, Steven-
son’s Director of Alumni Affairs Painting by Kristen Lee
Stevenson Student。