Alumni Panel Shares Experiences with Class of 2019  

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Seven Seattle Academy alumni shared their time, wisdom, and life-after-high-school experiences with our seniors on Friday, May 17th. They collectively urged our future Seattle Academy graduates to follow their passions and visions while seeking fun and joy. 

We enjoyed hearing stories and experiences about alumni time spent during college and in their current professional and personal life. 

In the above photo from left to right:

• Adam Stelle ‘05 is the COO & co-founder at Loftium. He earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of British Columbia.
• Aaron Strauss ‘03 is Seattle Academy’s Alumni Board President and is a program manager at Amazon. Aaron earned a BS in Political Science and Government at the University of Washington. 
• Dori Scherer ‘04 is an artist and design professional. She is a commercial manager at Artspace Projects. Dori earned her BFA in Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 
• Nathaniel Hudson ‘03 is the SAAS Alumni Board Co-vice President and a recruiting coordinator at Facebook. He earned his BS in Secondary Education at Arizona State University. 
• Phillip Berry ‘06 is a Certified Personal Trainer at Athletic Form. Phillip earned his BS in Kinesiology at Washington State University.
• Zach Laster-Hazzard ‘06 is the owner of Rainier Valley Partners. He earned a BS in Political Science at DePaul University. 
• Andi Alhadeff ‘07 is an actress working in Musical Theatre. Andi attended Northwestern University and earned a BA in Theater and Certificate in Musical Theater.

Below are a few questions our Alumni Panel answered and topics they spoke about: 

What’s it like being back on campus? “It’s the same, and it’s totally different” - Andi Alhadeff ‘07

What do you look for when hiring a person? "We look to see if a person can deal with ambiguity and solve their problems independently?” -Aaron Strauss ‘03 

How can you make the most out of your college experience?

“You get out what you put in. Be really intentional about what you want to get out of college.” -Adam Stelle ‘05 

“In a college setting, you might think teachers are less approachable [compared to our relationships with teachers at SAAS] ... when teachers are so approachable and people don’t utilize them.” -Phillip Berry ‘06 

“It’s important to figure out what you need, not what you want, not what your parents or friends want for you.” -Nathaniel Hudson ‘03

Check out more photos on the 2019 Alumni Guest Speaker Panel Photo Gallery.