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Ann Colburn, Former Upper School Director, 2020

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Ann Colburn, Former Upper School Director, 2020

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“I look at what Bob is hoping to accomplish with the Equity & Justice Institute and that’s the trajectory of the School. It’s innovative. It’s creative. It’s serious. It takes you to the heart of why we educate people. We educate them for their own selves, but we also educate them to make the society that we live in a better place.”

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“So what is a Crossroadian? What does it mean to be a product of Crossroads? A true Crossroadian is not defined by wearing roadrunner gear, it is defined by the moral compass that Crossroads builds. You come in, at any age, you (a little rough around the edges but definitely with some potential), and upon graduation you are you with your best traits amplified.”

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“Crossroads made me feel anything is possible. It taught me the power of creativity.”

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Jill (Gordon) Rosenberg ’84, Alumna, 2007

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Jill (Gordon) Rosenberg ’84, Alumna, 2007

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“My Crossroads community service experiences directly impacted my decision to get into the social work field. In fact, I often tell people that I really have been in the field for 25 years, since I was 15!”

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Lindsey Gilbert, 12th-Grade Student, 2007

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Lindsey Gilbert, 12th-Grade Student, 2007

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“That is the beauty of you, Crossroads. A student has the ability to test out everything. Whether he or she wants to experiment with the arts or academics, every option is available.”

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“It’s easy to take care of something when you love it, and EOE [Environmental and Outdoor Education] teaches students to love the outdoors.”

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Brenda Hipp, Kathy Givner and Kristie Hubbard, Parent Association Co-Presidents, 2002

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Brenda Hipp, Kathy Givner and Kristie Hubbard, Parent Association Co-Presidents, 2002

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“Perhaps the most important distinguishing characteristic of Crossroads School is the lesson instilled in each child that life is to be celebrated, that success is measured in many ways and that no one should ever settle for something less than happiness while searching for his or her niche in the world.”

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Michelle Hickey, Parent of Alumni and Director of Development, 2002

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Michelle Hickey, Parent of Alumni and Director of Development, 2002

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“[Crossroads] was a funky place where people sent their very best hopes, their very own children.”

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“But I see here [at Crossroads] what I didn’t see on those other campuses: the energy of talented students and faculty building to an explosive critical mass. On some days, I may just feel the heat, and I’m exhausted from it. On others, though, there are these terrific bursts of light. Then I’m ready for another year.”

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Sarah Walton, Assistant Kindergarten Teacher, 2002

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Sarah Walton, Assistant Kindergarten Teacher, 2002

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“I’m thankful to be at a place where we are constantly asking ourselves the question, ‘Is there a better way to do this?’”

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“[Co-Founder Paul Cummins] believes in what I call ‘the self-propelling good idea.’ That is, if you get a good idea, you just launch it and somehow it propels itself into success. So he would generate all these ideas and, we still suffer from this, we can’t say no. We can’t say no to a good idea.”

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Adam Chiamulon, 12th-Grade Student, 1999

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Adam Chiamulon, 12th-Grade Student, 1999

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“Without the guidance and teaching of Crossroads' remarkable coaches, our amazing athletic experiences just wouldn’t be as amazing.”

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“What’s most important to me is that I feel valued as a teacher here, where I am given real respect for my professional and personal growth.”

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Steven Kaminsky, 12th-Grade Student, 1983

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Steven Kaminsky, 12th-Grade Student, 1983

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“Since its conception, Crossroads has been in a state of continuous growth and change. I believe that it is this continuous growth which makes Crossroads such a unique place.”

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“It’s a lousy place for a school, but we try and make the most of it anyway.”

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Crossroads changed my life, and there is really no other way to put it. I was never a good student and school was always a place where I was made to feel insecure, unsure about myself — and coming from a pretty intellectual family that was really hard. When I got to Crossroads, my whole world changed. People like Rhoda Makoff, Paul Cummins, Steve Morgan, and Terri Darrow changed the way I thought about myself: and the environment there — which was, at that point, basically one building and a parking lot — somehow made me love school and literature. It was at Crossroads where I realized that I loved analyzing stories, and, not just that, but I was good at it! I remember sitting on top of desk while Paul read and interpreted “All the King’s Men,” I remember Rhoda talking to me and Nancy Grinstein — my best friend, then and now — about sex education (we already knew everything, believe me), I remember the backpacking trips and acting in “Up the Down Staircase.” I remember starting to like myself better; I remember becoming intellectually curious. I remember graduating in the Grinstein backyard, being the first class to actually graduate from the school our graduation ceremonies were still a bit ad hoc. And from Crossroads, I ended up at UCLA studying international relations, marrying a journalist and playwright, and having a now-21 year old son (who is the apple of my eye). Clearly putting my major to good use after college, I leapt at the chance to work in the movie business, my passing knowledge of Chinese foreign relations no match for the pull of compelling stories that began in Paul’s makeshift classrooms. I still produce movies, and I still live in Los Angeles. And I always will, no doubt in part to the joy that I still feel driving down Olympic Boulevard and passing the school that shaped me to my core.

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I was one of the original 18 students (I think it was 18!) in the founding 7th Grade class of The Crossroads School.  The whole school was just 7th and 8th Grades, approximately 32 kids, and our campus consisted of three classrooms in the back of a church on Pico Blvd.  Our “playground” was the parking lot.  I loved it.  I came from 3rd St Elementary School in Hancock Park, an excellent public school academically, but while there I had encountered a lot of Anti-Semitism, so it was a revelation to come to an entirely accepting environment.

I was one of the few students who was not based in Santa Monica.  There were 6 of us who came from Hancock Park, Hollywood, and Mid-Wilshire:  me, Miles Dale, Susie Safyan, David Arshawsky, Murray Koodish, and Carrie Morrow.  My Progressive parents were on board with this exciting new educational venture.  I felt immediately at home and loved our teachers “Nord” for English and Humanities, and Art Tuller for Math. We were encouraged to be ourselves and supported in how we learned. We had wonderful electives:  we went to a pottery studio one semester, and then a stained glass studio.  I seem to recall our French teacher was fresh out of school, and we gave her a nervous breakdown insisting that she teach us all the French swear words. I broke my wrist playing Kick the Can in the parking lot with Mike and Miles and the other guys, so I felt terribly cool.  Piece of Pizza was across the street.  Liesl and Sara and Amy and Abby and Maria and I discovered the racy page in The Godfather and giggled about that forever.  Our nicknames were Baskin & Robbins ice cream flavors.  Our amazing Spring trip was to Yosemite, hiking up Vernal Falls.  It felt like a family.  It was an innocent time, with corduroy Levi’s and hiking boots, flannel shirts and long hair.

My 2nd year the school moved to the “New” Campus on 26th St., just one bare- bones 2 story industrial building.  9th Grade was added, so we were about 64 kids in all.  A couple classrooms had been carved out with temporary walls, the rest was pretty raw open space.  We had Math and electives like Sewing, which my Mother taught, on the 1st floor, and English and Humanities upstairs.  My Father would watch the Watergate Hearings with the faculty on a little TV upstairs in the Administrative room.  Wonderful Steve Morgan was our English teacher, and we read Vanity Fair.  Spring Trip was a week on the far side of Catalina Island, where the massive wild boars ransacked our platform and sleeping bags for snacks. I still loved it.  It was the quintessential ‘70’s school experience, “Alternative” in the relaxed way it looked on the outside, but rigorous in its educational standards and expectations.

It is hard for me to remember exactly why I left Crossroads.  My parents had some issues with some things that took place that they were not happy about, there was some disagreement with one of the Administration, so I found myself leaving Crossroads.  I have always kept what I learned there, kept the experience in my heart, and the friends that I made there have been lifelong ones. I’ve always been very proud that I was there at the beginning and have enjoyed watching the school grow and flourish into the wonderful institution it has become.

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Recently an acquaintance asked me whether I was a cheerleader during my teens. Suddenly I was flooded with memories of cheerleader try-outs in 1971, during Crossroads' first year. What drama ensued that fateful day! A gaggle of 7th and 8th grade girls preparing for try-outs: warming up, bouncing around, kicking up our legs, shouting the one cheer we knew ("We are the Runners who don't get nervous. Since you are here we will make you serve us"- which as I recall, was based on the Paul Revere Jr. High cheer) all in preparation of the life-altering tryouts about to unfold in the front of the faculty and entire student body, all 34 of us. At the appointed start time, all the girls found themselves frozen in terror; nobody could muster the courage to start the process. Finally, one brave soul began - but, moments into her routine, she turned to see the boy she had a crush on gazing up at her, and she fled in embarrassed horror and spent the rest of try-outs hiding behind the lockers. Eventually, another brave candidate began her routine and try-outs successfully followed. Of course, we were all atwitter in our attempts to handicap who would, and who wouldn't, make the cut. An hour after, staff assembled the candidates in to announce their decision: We ALL made the squad! What? That possibility had never crossed our minds but we were all so relieved! Soon after, we lucky cheerleaders got down to work, all 10-or-so of us, perfecting the one cheer we knew. My recollection is that we cheered for one football game, sans uniforms and pom-poms. Then after that one game, the squad fizzled. And to my memory, it was never evoked or referred to again. Anybody else from the original 34 remember this event? (P.S. Fifty years later, I found myself doing the first part of that one cheer we all learned. Not as easy to do those high kicks as it was in 1971 - but I landed on my feet and I'm still standing!)