In honor of the birthday and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Viewpoint School presented its second production of Healing through Music on January 21, bringing students, faculty and staff, parents and guardians, alumni, and community members together to explore the unifying and restorative power of music.

Held in the Carlson Family Theater, the day featured two student assemblies and an evening community performance, presented by the Office of Community Life in collaboration with Viewpoint’s Music, Theatre, and Dance Departments. Building on its original production, this year’s program introduced new contributions from students, faculty and staff, parents and guardians, and alumni, along with an accompanying art gallery curated by Visual Arts Department Chair Nell Yates.

“Music is transformative,” said Patricia Jackson, Chief Belonging and Community Officer at Viewpoint School. “It can touch our souls, offering healing benefits, making it a powerful tool in the reduction of stress and also, for bringing people together in building community. Dr. King’s oratory was rich with meaning and rhythm. He viewed music as a powerful instrument of change.”

The performance opened with a medley by Voices Now, Viewpoint’s Upper School vocal ensemble, joined by Smooth Mahogany, a group of FAAV moms. Music teacher Marisa McLeod followed with a stirring rendition of “Battle Hymn of the Republic (Glory, Hallelujah)” on violin before introducing her musical interpretation of “This Little Light of Mine,” accompanied on piano by Kyle deTarnowskyon.

Los Angeles-based musician and educator Jason Lee Bruns offered storytelling and led an interactive African drum circle with students and faculty, while composer and arranger Bill Brendle and student Jack Lawson ’29 performed Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag.” Additional highlights included Viewpoint teacher Corey Henderson’s rendition of “Let It Be” and a bilingual performance of “Endless Love” in Mandarin and Korean by students David Wang ’27 and Rachael Chun ’27.

Notable guest artists included Viewpoint alumni Randy White ’16, an R&B singer-songwriter and music therapist, and Jen Hirsh ’04, an R&B singer-songwriter and American Idol semi-finalist. The evening concluded with a powerful rendition of We are A Family, from Dreamgirls, by a nearly 100-member Viewpoint Community Choir.

In his closing remarks, Mark McKee, Viewpoint’s head of school, spoke to the sense of belonging and shared purpose reflected throughout Healing through Music.

“At Viewpoint, family is a value that is enshrined in our vision,” McKee said. “Each of you is part of a family, and family means you love one another and accept one another without condition. That you belong. You are part of the Viewpoint family, united by our traditions and community and purpose. And you are part of the family of humankind, this interconnected web of mutuality. We are stronger together.”

Watch the ABC7 Los Angeles segment featuring Healing through Music here.

The Ceramics Studio is typically filled with students immersed in a wide range of creative projects throughout the school year. On Tuesday, January 27, that creative energy extended beyond the classroom, as faculty, staff, and students gathered for the annual Empty Bowls Open Studio to craft ceramic bowls in support of a meaningful cause.

“Empty Bowls is a worldwide community event that different art studios and organizations host,” said Nell Yates, ceramics teacher and visual arts department chair. “The whole mission is using local art to support food banks and to support this idea of outreach for hunger and for people who are food insecure.”

Empty Bowls is a global grassroots movement of artists addressing hunger, with events hosted by schools, potters’ guilds, and studios around the world. Yates brought the initiative to Viewpoint eight years ago, weaving it into the ceramics curriculum as a service-learning project. Each ceramics student creates at least one bowl, and often several, as part of their coursework, while also reflecting on what it means to use art as a form of service.

“It’s not just about their ability to make a bowl,” Yates said. “They do a reflection and think about what it means to give art in a different way. To have art benefit people they haven’t even met and to understand this idea of art for service is a whole new concept for them.”

In addition to ceramics students, the school’s CORE (Community OutReach for Everyone) program plays a key role in bringing the event to life. CORE students earn service hours by helping sell tickets, scoop ice cream, and support event logistics, while also gaining exposure to service in a creative context.

“Service can look all different ways,” Yates said. “Making art isn’t necessarily something students would link to being an act of service, so it’s powerful for them to see that connection.”

Sadie Kieffer ’26, a board leader of CORE, said the Open Studio highlights how widely the event brings people together.

“I think this aspect of the open studio is so wonderful to see, everybody from the community coming together,” Kieffer said. “Alumni, parents, faculty, usually some admin will come. And also people who aren’t necessarily super involved in the arts get a chance to do something fun for an afternoon. And it’s for a good cause.”

The Empty Bowls project culminates in a campus-wide ice cream social and fundraiser, scheduled for March 17. Tickets will be sold in the two weeks leading up to the event, with all proceeds benefiting West Valley Food Pantry. 

For those who were unable to attend the Open Studio on January 27, Yates encourages community members to reach out.

“It’s all I want in the world for people to come and feel like they can try it,” she said. “Especially if they come with a student who does ceramics, it’s so meaningful to have that role reversal and let students teach something they care about.”

For Derek Kessler ’26, creativity has never lived in just one lane. A member of the Viewpoint community since Kindergarten, Kessler has spent the last 13 years discovering how his passions in film, STEM, and athletics don’t compete with one another, but instead fuel each other.

“I always like to combine my passions,” Kessler said. “At Viewpoint, I’m able to use skills from all over the place and bring them together into a film or a game.”

Kessler is currently enrolled in Film IV and Documentary, where he is working on a project centered on the cross country season alongside three teammates. He is also developing a personal short film, “The Real Love Cafe,” which follows a character who goes on a date with a robot. The project merges storytelling with engineering, as Kessler is building the robot himself through his engineering class.

“Having the engineering background allows me to make my films more believable,” Kessler said. “It helps break the barrier between what feels like a student film and something that really pulls you into the world of the story.”

Beyond film, Kessler has been programming video games since Third Grade, beginning with Scratch, a beginner-friendly coding platform, and later teaching himself the Unity game engine in Middle School.

“I’m working on a game called ‘Snow Games,’ where polar bears are on a snowy landscape and you throw snowballs at each other,” Kessler said. “You can build forts, dig trenches in the snow, and protect a campfire.”

Kessler credits his coursework in physics, calculus, computer science, and engineering with strengthening his game development skills.

“All of my STEM classes at Viewpoint have helped me on this journey,” Kessler said.

Alongside his work in film and game development, Kessler is a dedicated member of the cross country and track teams, which he plans to continue with in college. This fall, Kessler will attend Chapman University, where he will major in film and television production with an emphasis in cinematography while competing in cross country and track.

“I want to learn how to tell stories better,” he said. “No matter what path I take, studying film will help me do that.”

Curiosity, creativity and discovery took center stage at Viewpoint on Thursday, January 22, as students, faculty and families gathered for the annual Community STEM Fair.

“The goal was to bring our community together to celebrate this work and give it a visible and communal moment of recognition,” said Nancy Argano-Rush, computer science and design chair and STEM coordinator.

Led by the STEM Club alongside faculty and student club leaders, the fair featured a broad range of student- and faculty-led experiences, including arts-integrated offerings such as Water Drop Photography and Alginate Hand Casting.

“Hands-on engagement is central, and we work with presenters to encourage them to include some sort of hands-on component,” Argano-Rush added.

Other activities ranged from AI-focused explorations to design and engineering challenges, including XP Boost: AI Learning Lab, Common Threads with the addition of a sewing machine, and Engineering Design: From Idea to Innovation, which featured original projects designed and built by students.

Joe Abdou ’26 also presented his AI chess bot, created as part of his STEM Scholars Honors Project, giving students the opportunity to compete against one another or challenge the student-built AI during Speed Chess with Mr. Azhar.

“This event would not be possible without the enthusiasm and generosity of faculty and students who volunteer their time and expertise, and the leadership of the STEM Club in bringing the fair to life each year,” Argano-Rush said.