Dear Families,

It is so lovely to be writing to you with our regularly scheduled monthly newsletter! While you heard so often from me in January, you heard so little from me about the ongoing work on campus to make academics, co-curriculars, and student & residential life so amazing for your children. I am happy to pivot back to that news today.

This past week we had our Spring Clubs Fair, where students selected the club(s) or sport they will focus on for the spring season. I absolutely love the variety of options for how students can spend their after school time, and I adore seeing students demonstrate their passion and commitment through co-curriculars.

In the spring sports season we will be running a record number of teams, including launching boys golf and tennis for the first time. Please note that because we did not have suitable interest to launch girls golf or tennis this past fall, per CIF guidelines, any of our girl golfers or tennis players are able to play on our boys teams this spring. We do hope to soon be able to add girls golf and tennis to a future fall season! Our full slate of spring sports includes the following five varsity teams:

• Boys volleyball

• Girls beach volleyball

• CoEd Badminton

• Boys golf, with girls participation permitted

• Boys tennis, with girls participation permitted

Our e-sports team is gearing up for their competitive spring season beginning in February after an impressive Fall 2024 season. Our EF Academy team made an awesome leap, finishing 5th out of 20 teams in the CIF NASEF league—an incredible improvement from their first season in Fall 2023! In addition, I am proud to share that the team’s coach, Mr. Rene, has been recognized as the newest member of the PlayVS Super Coach program, representing both California and EF Academy! Super Coaches are dedicated leaders who go above and beyond to grow e-sports, help other schools launch their programs, and showcase their home teams in media events as standout programs in scholastic e-sports.

Meanwhile, casting for our spring musical, High School Musical, has concluded and we will have a record number of students involved. In addition to the actors, directors, set builders, and stage crew we will also have our full Varsity Boys Basketball team and EF’s Cheerleading squad performing in some scenes. And the role of basketball coach will be played by our very own Coach Garay! It promises to be a really fun spring of rehearsing for this group, and I look forward to performances in May.

Our other high commitment clubs are gearing up for their competition seasons with our Model United Nations group preparing for two upcoming contests: the first in February at Los Alamitos High School, followed by a return to USC in April for the "SCMUN" conference. Our Robotics Team will be returning to the AeroSpace Valley competition in early April, competing in this year’s “Reefscape” themed challenge (watch here to learn more about the specifics of this year’s contest). And, of course, our Yearbook committee is hard at work capturing our amazing year and producing our 2nd annual Yearbook.

In the classroom, students are well on their way towards evidencing competencies in their year-long classes, and we look forward to our upcoming second round of family/advisor conferences on April 1. Please save the date, as these conferences provide a crucial opportunity to reflect on progress and set goals for a strong finish to the school year. We are also pleased to be launching two new semester-length courses this spring: Foundations of Music and AP Microeconomics.

Beginning in February, our returning students will start their course selection process for next year in meetings with their UAC. Please find attached the Curriculum Guide for the 2025-2026 School Year. Students and families are encouraged to review the guide together to make informed and strategic decisions about how to maximize engagement and learning across our awesome collection of courses at EF Academy. I strongly recommend that you consider the value of taking one of our Online Summer School courses to increase your overall access to our curriculum!

Our Activities programming is robust as always, with awesome events and excursions planned across February. The highlights include:

• Gentle Barn, rehabilitation center for animals - 2/1

• LA Kings Hockey Game - 2/7

• Ski Trip to Big Bear- 2/8

• Lunar New Year Festival in Alhambra - 2/8

• Top Golf - 2/14

• Whale Watching (Monthly Outdoor Education Programming) - 2/15

• Black Heritage Month Cookout - 2/17

• Culture Fair - 2/22

We had an amazing Lunar New Year celebration in our dorms this past week, led by our Mandarin faculty, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Ju. Thanks to their efforts, nearly two-thirds of our student body came together to hand-make dumplings, practice calligraphy, and play mahjong, immersing themselves in the rich traditions of the holiday. As we move into February, we are especially looking forward to our 3rd annual Culture Fair. Students are hard at work with their country groups preparing a way to share their food, language, and culture with our community!

As you can see, life is busy and joyful on campus, and it has been my pleasure to provide you with these updates. Below you will find letters from this month’s featured authors Jim Sargent and Kyle Kurfirst. Representing the hard work of our University and Academic Counseling team, Jim and Kyle will share some early news about the college admissions outcomes for our Class of 2025 and some updates about our spring college counseling programming for Grade 11 students.

As always, I love to close with my deep gratitude and appreciation for sharing your children with us. Our school community is comprised of students who are kind, inclusive, curious, and adventurous, which makes for rich and robust learning for all!

With appreciation,

Co-author note:

Dear EF Academy Families,

It’s an exciting time on campus as our senior class celebrates their first round of university offers! We are thrilled to share that students have already received admission offers from a range of excellent institutions, including NYU, Tulane University, USC, the University of Rochester, Chapman University, UMass, and many more. Some of our seniors now know where they’re headed after graduation, others are still deciding, and still more are eagerly awaiting the decisions that will arrive this spring. Every one of them is right on track to find their best-fit university and have an amazing destination for next year.

What’s more, this Class of 2025 has done a tremendous job of navigating this process with a sense of joy and togetherness. As our second graduating class, they are taking the rites of passage of senior year and shaping an EF Academy Pasadena culture that we are so honored to be a part of. As we celebrate each admission offer and each enrollment decision, we are also aware that we’re at the beginning of their last semester of high school, and before long we’ll be celebrating these seniors at graduation.

Now, on a personal note: Thanks to EF’s generous parental leave, I will be spending most of the fourth quarter caring for my three-month-old son, Felix. One of the reasons I feel so good about taking that time away from campus is because our students and UAC team will be supported by an excellent Interim Director of University & Academic Counseling in Kyle Kurfirst. Below, he will introduce himself and share a bit about what’s in store for students as they approach the university search and application process.

As always, thank you for your trust and your partnership. I look forward to celebrating our Class of 2025 with you at graduation!

Best,

Co-author note:

Hello, EF Academy!

It is a joy and privilege to be part of our students’ academic journeys and to counsel them as they consider their next steps beyond our campus. This is my second year as part of the EF Academy team, and I’m excited to integrate years of selective college admissions experience with guiding our students’ holistic educational journeys as they navigate the university admissions process. In addition to university and academic counseling, I am also proud to coach the Boys Varsity Soccer team.

I have been so impressed with our Grade 12 students’ hard work, perseverance, and dedication in the university admissions process this year. They have set an admirable example for the rest of our school community.

As we enter the second semester, the University & Academic Counseling office is also kicking off the university search process with our Grade 11 students. We have begun our university counseling class for all students in Grade 11, which takes place on Wednesdays before school at 8:45am and covers various topics as we prepare students for their university application process. One of the highlights will be our annual Model Admissions Committee, during which EF Academy students practice being Deans of Admissions, reviewing fictional, yet realistic, college applications and discussing the admissions decisions with actual admissions representatives we invite to campus. In addition to hosting more university visits on campus, we also look forward to a Grade 11 local college visit excursion to multiple institutions in February.

We are thrilled to be able to offer so much university preparation for our grade 11 students, and I can’t wait to support an amazing team of UACs as we help students along this journey!

All the best,