As an orthopedic surgeon, Kali Arnold '94 liked helping people walk or dance or play sports again, but she was disillusioned by a medical system that she felt was driven more by financial considerations than patient care. In 2019, she co-founded The Namaste Project, teaching meditation, mindfulness and yoga techniques to corporations and to students and staff in public schools.
Featured Alumni
Shady Side Academy alumni have built successful careers and made an impact in their communities around the world. Read some of the profiles of SSA alumni that have appeared in recent issues of Shady Side Academy Magazine. Or, visit our Notable Alumni page.
SSA Magazine Alumni Profiles
More than 2,500 miles sit between Marc Lhormer ’78’s current home in Sonoma, California, and Shady Side Academy, but his connections to his alma mater still run deep. “Some of my closest friends are my Junior School friends,” Lhormer says.
A double-major in Theatre and Music, Eliyah Roberts ’20 has authored research papers on music theory with her advisor, performed in campus stage productions, and over the past year, worked closely with her Honors project advisor to develop a deeply researched foundation for a passion project: a full-length Afrofuturist musical.
When Elizabeth Patterson ’93 walks across the quad to her classroom in Croft House, faculty and students encounter a friendly face with a vibrant energy and the determination to make a difference. Finding herself drawn to SSA’s focus on relational teaching, she knew it was time to make a transition. So this alumna returned home to Shady Side Academy as a Wellness Teacher and Varsity Field Hockey Coach 30 years after graduating.
Shady Side Academy alumnus Tunde Adebimpe ’93 is featured in the 2023 short film “The Heart,” written and directed by Malia Obama.
Daniel G. Kamin ’60 and his wife Carole L. Kamin—past Shady Side parents—gifted a historic $65 million to the Carnegie Museum’s Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore.
Starting February 12, Jatara McGee ’11 became WPXI’s new weekend morning anchor and weekday investigative reporter.
Neely Nicholson ’23, a freshman at Boston University, and Gwynn Philips ’19, currently in her fifth year at Northeastern, competed on opposing ice hockey teams in the Women’s Beanpot Championship on January 23.
Emory Anderson ’21 traveled to Dunedin, New Zealand this summer to volunteer with the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. In her own words, she recounts her month of inspiration and empowerment.
With an estimated 115 million people watching in the United States alone, Skyy Moore scored his first career touchdown, vaulting the Kansas City Chiefs to a 38-35 win in Super Bowl LVII.
This May, Courtney H. Bress reached a milestone in her musical career when she played the world premiere of Grammy award-winning composer Michael Daugherty's concerto, Harp of Ages, at Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver, Colo.
Combining her love of sports and science with her own experiences, Lia Winter became a biomedical engineer and entrepreneur. Through her company, Winter Innovations, she invented the EasyWhip, a patented new surgical needle designed to make stitching easier for orthopedic surgeons.
Josh Kalla '09 specializes in using data and randomized field experiments to research political persuasion, voter decision making and prejudice reduction. For the political science professor, it’s an endlessly fascinating field of study because it touches on so many facets of daily life.
Zac Coughlin created his own chocolate company, Zac's Sweet Shop, at age 13. His online dessert company received a boost when Beyoncé added it to her website’s directory of Black-owned businesses in June 2020.
Catherine Heald '80 was working on Wall Street at LF Rothschild when she completely upended her life to move to Hong Kong, sight unseen. Today she helps other other adventurous spirits through her company, Remote Lands, which sets up customized luxury journeys throughout Asia.
As an orthopedic surgeon, Kali Arnold '94 liked helping people walk or dance or play sports again, but she was disillusioned by a medical system that she felt was driven more by financial considerations than patient care. In 2019, she co-founded The Namaste Project, teaching meditation, mindfulness and yoga techniques to corporations and to students and staff in public schools.
As vice president of psychiatry and behavioral health at Allegheny Health Network (AHN), Dr. Doug Henry '87 is innovating solutions to help people with mental health treatment in the middle of a pandemic, when anxiety and depression rates are spiking.
Alison Fragale '93 is an an organizational psychologist and expert in human behavior. Women's reluctance to negotiate for themselves – and the resentment they face if they do – is one of the topics she studies as a professor at the University of North Carolina Kenan- Flagler Business School.
Heading up the agricultural department a second time, Vilsack's priorities have shifted to promoting initiatives to combat climate change.
Emily Modoono Sadler ’97 spent the spring working in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at Ahuja Medical Center a community hospital in Cleveland. Sadler worked in the ICU during the first wave of COVID-19 when there was little information on how to treat the virus.
Nurse Bahra McConnel Fisher ’76 credits Shady Side Academy with giving her the drive to rise to a challenge and the ability to get along with all types of people.
As a Black educator, Rashaad Phillips '12 believes it is important for students of color to see themselves reflected in their teachers and administrators at private schools. He hopes to develop the kind of bonds that he still has with his many teachers at Shady Side Academy, whom he still corresponds with regularly.
In March 2020, Maddie Taylor '14, her sister Claire Taylor '21 and Souki Eljamri, Maddie's friend, started Feeding the Frontline PGH to raise money to help struggling restaurants while serving food to those taking care of COVID-19 patients.
As the pandemic hit in March 2020, her top priority was safety, and she quickly instituted CDC guidelines for social distancing, mandatory mask-wearing and sanitation practices. As restaurants closed and more shoppers poured in, she pitched in at the stores. Some days, she was a cashier and other days she helped stock the shelves.
As an infectious disease specialist, Dr. Curt Beckwith ’88 had worked on finding treatments for devastating viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C virus. But when COVID-19 patients started arriving at Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I., in March, Dr. Beckwith had never seen anything like it.
Dr. Basta is an infectious disease epidemiologist, vaccinologist and associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health in the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.