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Board Member

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Nalini Kotamraju

Nalini P. Kotamraju, Ph.D. is a sociologist who has spent the past 25 years in academic and corporate settings, researching people’s use of technology in their professional and personal lives. She is currently Senior Vice President, Research & Insights for Salesforce, leading a cross-functional team driving product insights. She previously led research teams at Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and assorted, long defunct dot.com companies.

 

Born in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, Nalini grew up in the economically and ethnically diverse Uptown neighborhood of Chicago and attended Academy of the Sacred Heart for Girls. Nalini earned her B.A. cum laude in Social Studies and her B.A. cum laude in Women’s Studies from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley. Nalini’s interest in technology solidified when she worked in the organizing NGO office for the historic 1995 United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing and witnessed firsthand the Internet’s global influence. After completing her Ph.D., Nalini held positions of Associate Professor at IT University of Copenhagen in Denmark and University of Twente in the Netherlands, focusing on digital technologies, design practice, and research methods.

 

In addition to the Hamlin Board of Trustees, Nalini also co-chaired Hamlin’s Task Force on Financial Assistance and Economic Equity, and she serves on the Board of the People’s Music School of Chicago and as an Expert Review for the MacArthur Foundation’s Lever for Change. Nalini lives in Oakland, California with her daughter, Anya (Class of 2025).

Dear Hamlin Community,

As the new Chair of the Board of Trustees, I am thrilled to welcome you to the 2024-2025 school year. It is an honor to take on this role, and I feel a profound responsibility to serve our school and ensure a bright future for our students and community. Hamlin’s unwavering dedication to fulfilling its mission remains at the heart of all we do.

From the very beginning, Hamlin has felt like home to my family. David, Olivia ('27), Juliette ('28), and I were wholeheartedly embraced by a community that cherishes excellence, authenticity, and upholding its core values. As Hamlin enters its 161st year and Wanda Marie Holland Greene begins her 17th year as Head of School, our strength lies in honoring our founder’s mission, preserving enduring traditions, and respecting those who paved the way. Our collective aim is to ensure Hamlin continues to thrive for future generations.

Under Wanda's leadership and in collaboration with the leadership team and Board of Trustees, we have achieved significant milestones over the past five years. We successfully navigated the onset of a pandemic, oversaw a campus rebuild, and reunited our community in person under one new solid roof. Our ambitious strategic plan, Lead with Love, was launched and we earned a second accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). These achievements are a testament to our resilience, vibrant community, and dedication to serving our mission. Let's remember to celebrate all we've accomplished!

We are privileged to educate the 440 remarkable children who join us each year. The devotion of our faculty, administration, and staff enriches our community; our people are our greatest asset and the cornerstone of our institution. Our strategic plan, Lead with Love, places our people at its heart, guided by a steadfast commitment to mental health and wellness, professional development, investment in our curriculum, partnering with our community beyond Hamlin's walls, and strengthening the community inside our school.

As Chair, I am committed to being fully engaged and listening to the needs of our school and community. Our board members are focused on open communication and collaboration, ensuring we address challenges, seizing opportunities, and supporting initiatives that benefit our students, faculty, and families. Your input and involvement are vital to our decision-making process. We encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas with us as they shape the future of our school.

As we look ahead to the fall, the start of a new school year brings renewed energy and anticipation. We welcome a new kindergarten class and new families into our vibrant community. As we embark on this new journey together, let us also acknowledge the challenges we've faced and the resilience we've shown. These shared experiences have strengthened our community and our commitment to our shared values, the pillars of our CREED: compassion, courage, honesty, respect, and responsibility. These ethical principles guide our daily actions and decisions, reminding us, "The Hamlin School educates girls to meet the challenges of their time and inspires them to become extraordinary thinkers and innovators, courageous leaders, and individuals of integrity."

It is a joy to be part of a lioness pride that embodies boldness, inclusivity, and a strong commitment to our CREED. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you—parents, students, faculty, staff, and alumni—for your unwavering support and dedication to Hamlin. Your passion, generosity, and partnership form the foundation of our community, ensuring that our mission and values remain at the forefront of everything we do. I also want to extend my appreciation to our alumni, whose ongoing support and involvement enrich our community and contribute to the legacy of Hamlin. Your contributions are deeply valued and make a significant impact on the life of our school.

Here's to an outstanding school year filled with new opportunities, growth, and success!

Warmly,
Kelsey Lamond P’27, P’28

 

 

 

As a culminating class project, Grade 8 students collaborate creatively on a scripted or devised performing arts production to perform for the Hamlin community in June before their graduation. This musical production offers students an opportunity to develop and share their skills in music, dance, acting, and visual design (with set, props, costumes, and lighting) while bonding together as a class. Students work on their performing arts project over the course of the spring semester. These annual Grade 8 musical productions are based on meaningful content aligned with Hamlin’s mission and Creed and have been a favorite school tradition, and are now even better on the stage in our new performing arts center!

 

Rise to the Challenge (RTC) is our Grade 7 capstone project that encourages students to think deeply about and explore solutions to the challenges of their time. As part of this project, they take service learning field trips throughout the year to volunteer and learn more about the issues facing our local community and our world, and work in small teams to identify, research, and propose solutions to a specific challenge that they are passionate about.

 

Grade 6 ends the school year with an interdisciplinary project focused on presentation skills, team building, and self-reflection, where students create a range of pieces to share their learnings and educate the community on social issues through research, presentations, and art. The project, typically called the Symposium, shifts its format and focus from year to year, but it will remain a multi-disciplinary research and performance project that builds on and extends the skills learned throughout the year, concluding with various performances on historical and current topics to deepen students’ understanding of the challenges in the world and encourage them to be agents of change, as they take action to improve their community.

 

The U.S. Magazine Research Exhibition is Grade 5’s project-based culminating venture, which demonstrates the depth and range of skills and knowledge students have acquired during the school year. Each student writes a unique article about some aspect of their group’s region of the United States, with a variety of focal points including the sciences, arts, history, economics, athletics, and more. By creating and publishing a magazine together, students integrate research, writing, collaborative teamwork, creative risk-taking, and academic skills. Finally, Grade 5 students proudly display their public speaking skills in the projects’ exhibition to the community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Jan Micha Influential Women in History Program is a way for Grade 4 students to learn about women who have made significant, positive, and often overlooked contributions that have changed the course of American herstory. Research, public speaking skills, and learning about different experiences through influential women’s stories are core principles of this project. Originally called the Famous American Women Program, it was renamed in 2015 to honor one of the program’s founders and beloved member of Hamlin’s faculty for over 30 years, Jan Micha.

In Social Studies, Grade 3 students spend the year focused on California: its people, its geography, and the events that have shaped it. Students study the state’s geography by looking at different regions and resources, as well as the often untold stories of California’s Indigenous People both past and present. They end the year by analyzing the movement of people throughout California and reading books about immigration.

 

Grade 2 students see a mini golf course through from ideation to completion. As part of this project, students work in teams to design a golf hole - they name it, make it challenging using angles, ramps, and obstacles, and even pick its par before creating a presentation for classmates using photos and videos about their design. They also visit local mini golf courses to practice their putting and learn more about the craft. Finally, students bring their visions to life and then invite parents and other grades to come try out their mini golf course! Through this project, students are able to get active while developing skills in math, robotics, creating and delivering presentations, and teamwork!

 

Grade 1 spends the year studying community and neighborhoods. Students ask themselves essential questions such as: What is my role as a community member? How can I help my community or neighborhood? What are my responsibilities as an individual and group member? What does safety within a community look, feel, and sound like? The study culminates with a hands-on project in which students build a model of the surrounding neighborhood, interview community members that contribute to the greater whole (i.e. librarians, mail person), and integrate the interviews directly onto the model using QR codes. Through this project, students learn about the physical aspects of neighborhoods, cardinal directions, community jobs, and developing interview skills.

 

Every spring, our Kindergarten classes begin their Emergent Units. The themes of these units are completely student driven, different between the classes, and vary every year. Themes are based on class discussions around interests and curiosities. Once the theme is determined, homeroom teachers get to work connecting with outside specialists and our in-house specialist teachers to integrate local and diverse activities and guest leaders to heighten the learning experience. The culminating project is then shared with the larger community through performances, public speaking, and interactive, hands on opportunities.

 

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