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The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

President Rick Commons and Head of School Laura Ross sent out an email to parents at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday informing them of a student's arrest.

Student arrested at upper school campus

Hannah Shahidi, Assistant News Editor
February 29, 2024

A student was arrested at the Upper School by a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective Wednesday morning, according to an email sent to parents by President Rick Commons and Head of School Laura...

Associate Head of School Laura Ross will begin serving as Head of School in July. Prior to becoming Associate Head of School in July 2020, Ross was Head of Upper School from 2017 to 2020.

Ross to become Head of School

Davis Marks and Chloe Park
January 3, 2023

Associate Head of School Laura Ross will become Head of School in July, according to an email sent by President and Head of School Rick Commons on Jan. 3. Following the change, Commons will serve solely...

LAUSD experiences enrollment decline

LAUSD experiences enrollment decline

Saisha Kumar and Tate Sheehy
August 29, 2022

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools face low enrollment numbers as students transition to private schools, families move to less expensive areas and students move into full-time employment,...

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education Vice President Nick Melvoin ’04 spoke to the Directed Study: Public Education in America.

LAUSD Board of Education VP speaks to directed study

Will Sherwood
February 12, 2022

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education Vice President Nick Melvoin ’04 spoke to the Directed Study: Public Education in America—Ideal to Reality course Feb. 9. Before his work...

HW Visions Progress report released Sept. 15 highlights five administration goals set in 2015 and how the school will implement change based on student opinions in the community to better student life, local communities and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Commons develops new Visions

Tessa Augsberger and Milla Ben-Ezra
October 14, 2021

The school published its first Visions progress report and released its broad-based Visions survey for its next report in an all-school email Sept. 15. The report highlights five overarching categories...

President Rick Commons presents in front of parents in the Saperstein Theater, beside a slideshow image of upper school students on the Quad.

Administrators reflect at State of the School Address

Will Sherwood
September 22, 2021

The school ushered in the 2021-2022 school year with a presentation for parents at the State of the School address in one of the first in-person events since the pandemic began. Head of Harvard-Westlake...

Adam Luse '23 prepares to receive a COVID-19 nose swab test from a Mend Urgent Care representative at the school's drive-thru rapid testing facility Friday.

Administration announces COVID-19 safety protocols as both campuses reopen at full capacity

Tessa Augsberger and Milla Ben-Ezra
September 2, 2021

President Rick Commons released COVID-19 protocols and other reopening guidelines for the upcoming year in an all-school email sent Aug. 17. Both campuses will reopen at full capacity, resuming all campus...

Photo Credit: Kyle Reims/Chronicle

‘wokeathw’ responds to anti-racism initiatives

Kyle Reims and Ethan Lachman
October 22, 2020

Certain members of the community, dissatisfied with the school’s new anti-racism and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, created the Instagram account @wokeathw on Sept. 7 to highlight...

Photo Credit: Kyle Reims/Chronicle

‘wokeathw’ responds to anti-racism initiatives (Print Edition)

Kyle Reims and Ethan Lachman
October 20, 2020

*Note: A longer, more in depth version has been published here. This version is published as it appeared in the print edition of the second issue of The Chronicle.  Certain members of the community,...

Photo by Ethan Lachman | 
Construction for the new upper school cafeteria, which aims to account for the new schedule’s common lunch period for all students, is nearing completion.The cafeteria has an outdoor sitting area nearby and is located near the steps of the Mudd Library.

Outdoor cafeteria undergoes construction

Tanisha Gunby
September 4, 2020

In an effort to efficiently provide lunch to the school community,  the administration  decided to build a cafeteria annex at the flag court. Associate Head of School Laura Ross said that while the...

Illustration by Alexa Druyanoff

School responds to ‘blackathw’ Instagram account

Hannah Han
September 2, 2020

In light of the racial justice movement sweeping across the nation, members of the class of 2019 created Blackathw, an Instagram account highlighting the experiences of Black students on campus. After...

Illustration by Alexa Druyanoff

Going The Extra Mile

Tanisha Gunby
August 27, 2020

When John Szijjarto '21 opened an email from College Board on Aug. 29, he was disappointed to find out that his SAT exam had been canceled for the fifth time. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, test centers...

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