Alumni Spotlight
Frostig is proud of all our alumni. Every Frostig graduate has their own story tell. Every day they are celebrating the values that are unique to Frostig – community, achievement, individuality, dignity, and kindness. The following graduates exemplify these important traits, each in their own special way. We look forward to featuring more alumni and celebrating the unique gifts that our students are sharing with the world.
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Sabastian Youngblood (Class of 2017) didn’t let a pandemic get in the way of his dream of living in Japan. He arrived in Tokyo on Jan. 3, 2021, the day before Japan closed its borders to visitors due to COVID-19. Sabastian ventured to Japan as a student at Temple University Japan Campus, where he is majoring in Japanese. He is now enjoying his second year of study in Japan and building his fluency in the language. “I love this country so much,” Sabastian said in Zoom call from his apartment outside of Tokyo. “I remember I was 12 when I first wanted to live and work here and nothing has changed.” Sabastian’s love of anime and videogames sparked his interest in all things Japanese and he started studying the language in 8th grade. While attending Pasadena City College, a classmate told him about the Temple University program in Tokyo. He jumped at the opportunity to live and study abroad. Sabastian lived in a college dorm for the first seven months, then found an apartment about an hour outside of downtown Tokyo. He takes the train to campus for his classes. Throughout the pandemic, life has carried on without too many restrictions, Sabastian said. “The stores are open, we have in-person classes. It’s not too bad. Something is always happening.” “The best part about living here is that there is always something new and different,” Sabastian said. “The people I meet and the conversations I have are always interesting. “The hardest part is being an adult–paying for rent and transportation, and trying to do this independently,” he said. To help make ends meet he works in an afterschool program helping Japanese children learn English. Sabastian is the middle of three brothers who attended Frostig. Pariss (Class of 2012), the eldest, is a husband, father and member of the United States Air Force. Aramiss (Class of 2019) is going to Pasadena City College with hopes of becoming an engineer. Sabastian, who has ADHD, credits Frostig with helping him grow and giving him the confidence to express his passions for anime, videogames and Japanese. It takes confidence to pursue one’s dreams far from home and family. Congratulations Sabastian—your friends at Frostig are following your journey with interest and pride! |
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Chloe Howorth and Victoria Hodgdon, best friends since they met in fifth grade at Frostig School, will soon be graduating from Pasadena City College and heading to Cal State Long Beach in the fall.
Victoria and Chloe didn’t plan it this way, but these confident, vivacious women have travelled remarkably similar paths since high school. They both enrolled at PCC in 2017 and majored in early childhood development. Each pursued her degree at a pace that was comfortable for her, taking two to three classes each semester, and both plan to become teachers. The friends credit Frostig with teaching them to advocate for themselves and to ask for help when necessary. “Whenever I’m stuck at school, I think back to what I learned at Frostig about how to be pro-active and advocate for myself,” Victoria said. These skills gave the women the confidence to make the most of the accommodations available through PCC’s Disabled Students Programs and Services, which they consider key to their college success. “Everyone at DSPS is very understanding, helpful and supportive ,” Victoria said, adding that no one should feel awkward or self-conscious about seeking help. “Use as many free resources as you possibly can,” Chloe advised. In addition to taking advantage of DSPS services, Chloe participated in Frostig Beyond, which provides individualized services for young adults with learning challenges. Chloe worked with Transition Director Danette Winslow at Frostig Beyond. “Danette would come to my PCC classes,” Chloe said “She came to meetings that I had with my counselor. If you can do Frostig Beyond, do it. It was so helpful to have the support.” “And be yourself,” Victoria added. “You have people who will help you. You always have Frostig. You can go to Danette with any question, and you can reach out to alumni.” Now they are counting the days until they move out and begin their college lives in Long Beach. Chloe will be living in an off-campus dormitory while Victoria will live with a roommate in a house 10 minutes from campus. “I’m excited to meet people and have the true college experience,” Chloe said. For her part, Victoria is looking forward to living on her own, working toward her degree and having fun with her best friend. “I’m going to come to all of the parties at Chloe’s dorm,” she said. |
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Hilary Hull Dix loves teaching first grade. She loves her students’ curious minds. She loves seeing how much they learn in just one school year. And she loves sharing with them the lessons she learned as an elementary school student at Frostig School.
“My experience at Frostig has made me a better teacher,” said Hilary, who works in a low-income school in San Jacinto in Riverside County. “At Frostig there was an understanding that not everyone learns the same way,” says Hilary. “So when I see a child isn’t learning one way, it’s natural for me to try another way. If I think a child is a kinesthetic learner, I try to provide them with something where they get up and move. If I think a child is a visual learner, I try to accommodate that.” Hilary attended elementary school at Frostig and returned to her public school in La Canada-Flintridge for 5th grade in 2002. She is forever grateful that her parents recognized that her early struggles with reading were out of the ordinary and intervened early. “I benefited from learning new techniques when I was very young,” Hilary says. “It’s tougher for older kids to change their ways.” “I never overcame my learning disability, but I learned how to work with it,” says Hilary, who was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder. “At Frostig I learned to be vocal, to be my own advocate. I also learned techniques that helped me cope with it. I was a good student in high school and college because I knew what I had to do to overcome a problem.” Hilary, who lives with her husband in the Temecula area, graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2014 with a dual degree in Special and Elementary Education. She feels she has found her calling teaching the “littles one.” She dreams of going back to school to earn a master’s degree in reading. “I have fallen in love with reading, which is ironic because that is the one thing I couldn’t do as a kid,” Hilary says. “I can never tell you how much Frostig impacted my life. I would not be here today teaching little minds if it wasn’t for the school.” |
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Brendan Finnegan loves the ocean, fishing and a good adventure. He put it all together when he landed a job as a deckhand aboard a sport fishing boat based in San Diego.
Brendan (Class of ’13) spent much of the last two years trolling the waters off San Clemente Island and Ensenada, Mexico. A skilled fisherman thanks to summers spent in Newport Beach, Brendan helped passengers reel in yellow tail, yellow fin and the powerful Pacific blue fin tuna. For extra thrills, he worked on great white shark cage diving excursions to Mexico’s Guadalupe Island. Naturally, Brendan took a dive himself. “It was eerie in the cage,” he said. “At first there was nothing but darkness. Then suddenly a shark comes up from the deep right towards me at full speed and breeches out of the water. It was a rush.” Brendan, 25, started working for Islander Charters shortly after graduating from Northern Arizona University in December 2017. He majored in parks and recreation management with an emphasis on outdoor education. College was tough, Brendan said, especially his first two years while he searched for the right major. With his parents’ unflagging support, perseverance, and a new willingness to accept his learning differences, Brendan succeeded. “When I was younger I was always comparing myself to others and wishing I could be them and not have to deal with learning problems,” said Brendan, who has dyslexia and ADHD. “That changed in college. My learning disabilities are part of who I am, and I finally embraced that.” Brendan came to Frostig in elementary school and stayed through graduation. He was dual enrolled at Frostig and Maranatha High School throughout high school. He has fond memories of Frostig and is profoundly grateful to his educational therapist, Marilyn Nerenberg. “If it was not for Marilyn and my mom, I would not be where I am today,” he said. Brendan is pursuing new adventures and opportunities in Pasadena. In January he started working for a small company that specializes in refurbishing vintage cars. He loves working with his hands and learning new skills. “Having learning differences and having to grind through the difficult challenges from a young age has made me who I am,” he said. “If you give me a problem I’m going to find the best way for me to break through the problem.” |
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As a boy attending Frostig School, Christopher Katoh set his sights on working at a theme park. They don’t get much bigger than Universal Studios, where Christopher, 24, is part of the team that built the new Jurassic World attraction.
Christopher works as a show coordinator for Universal Creative, the division that plans and builds all of the attractions for Universal Parks & Resorts. He runs down anything and everything his show producer needs—design drawings, vendor records, requests for proposals and much more. He clocked his first 85-hour week in the hectic run-up to the grand opening of Jurassic World in July 2019. “Frostig has been a big part of my career success,” he said. As a student at Frostig he learned to accept his disability, which is auditory processing disorder, ask for help, and build relationships. Most importantly, he learned to persevere and never take no for an answer. (All of these lessons are what today we call the Success Attributes.) Perseverance paid off at Universal. Christopher said he applied to the theme park several times before he was offered a retail job in 2016. Once inside the gates, he built his network, attended industry mixers, worked his way up the job ladder, and landed his current job in December 2018. “To get to this point has been an uphill battle,” Christopher said, “but Frostig gave me the tools to get here.” He attended Frostig in elementary school, then transitioned to the public middle school in Diamond Bar. He went to Cal State Bakersfield on a swim scholarship, but came home after a year and attended Mt. San Antonio College while he sorted out his goals. After a mentor advised Christopher that theater was the best route to a career in the themed entertainment industry, he transferred to Cal Poly Pomona and graduated in 2018 with a degree in Theater Arts –Scenic and Technical Design. How does Christopher handle his disorder at work? Most important, he said, he’s honest with his managers about his challenges. He isn’t shy about asking people to repeat what they’ve said. And he takes lots of notes, just as his Frostig teachers taught him. “Most of the time people are very understanding and are willing to help you.” |
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When Heather Cowles performed in her first play at Frostig School as a young girl, she discovered her passion and her future career.
Heather is a professional actor who has collected a long list of commercial and television credits. She works primarily as a background actor, playing characters who are seen but never heard. The 30-year-old actress has portrayed a student on a hi-jacked school bus, a troubled teen in a juvenile camp, and a woman in a bar, to name just a few of her roles. Her TV credits include Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, Hannah Montana, 7th Heaven and many others. Heather scored her first speaking role in a 2012 Skittles commercial, which continues to run today. Her second speaking role, and first on-screen kiss, came in the 2016 low-budget movie, Laid in America, in which she played a high school stalker. “Frostig gave me my first acting experience, and I just loved it,” Heather recalled. “I loved being with my friends and I liked it when parents and friends came to the shows.” Heather has not stopped acting since that first Frostig production. She performed in three more shows while attending elementary and middle school at Frostig. She left Frostig in 2000 to dual enroll at Pasadena High School and Hillside Learning Center in La Canada. Neither school offered her opportunities for acting, so she pursued her passion through community theater. Once she completed high school, Heather began auditioning for roles. Her acting coach, Mae Ross of 3-2-1 Acting Studios, said the camera loves Heather. “I have seen many of her shows and they place her right next to the star, like Selena Gomez in Wizards of Waverly Place and Simon Baker in The Mentalist.” After 12 years of working in television, does Heather have a dream role? “To be on Law and Order, Special Victims Unit. As anything!” she replied. “I love that show.” |
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After receiving a camera for her 22nd birthday, Julie Horton visited the Los Angeles County Arboretum nearly every day to teach herself photography. She started by taking pictures of the ducks that populate the arboretum’s lakes and ponds, but soon discovered she had a special talent and love for hummingbirds.
Julie has spent the last seven years building a portfolio of stunning photographs that she sells at art fairs and online at juliehortonphotography.com. “I was so happy with how those first pictures came out,” said Julie, who graduated from Frostig School in 2007. “It made me want to keep shooting hummingbirds.” She enrolled in photography classes at Pasadena City College to learn lighting, composition and other techniques. Two years later, in 2014, Julie and her mother, Elizabeth Horton, made their first trip to Latin America to feast her lens on the brilliantly colored hummingbirds of Costa Rica. On a recent trip to Ecuador, home to more than 130 species of hummingbirds, Julie took a workshop to learn more of the intricacies of nature photography. Then she spent her days in the field, from sunrise to sunset, shooting the endless variety of these shimmering, energetic creatures. “I sit and wait in a certain spot, and when the bird comes into focus, I start shooting,” said Julie, making her extraordinary accomplishments sound easy. Julie and her mother are business partners as well as travel companions. Together they develop and print the pictures, note cards and calendars that they sell online and at arts and crafts fairs. You may see her beautiful line of products at juliehortonphoto.com and at https://www.zazzle.com/store/juliehortonphoto/products Julie and her parents continue to live in Pasadena. Julie graduated from Frostig with fond memories of her teachers and the support they gave her. |
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Frostig School alumna Lesley Fisher thought the mountain of assigned reading at University of La Verne was tough. Then she entered the graduate program at Mount St. Mary’s University, where her professors required even more reading, more research and more essays.
Ms. Fisher succeeded at both universities because of the skills she had learned at Frostig to manage her dyslexia and her remarkable work ethic. Ms. Fisher graduated from Mount St. Mary’s in May 2014 with a master’s degree in psychology and today is a therapist in the mental health program at David & Margaret Youth and Family Services in La Verne. The marriage and family therapist has come a long way from the young girl who struggled in school. “I was a slow reader and I couldn’t do math,” Ms. Fisher recalls. “My mom and I would do the times tables over and over. My mom wouldn’t get mad, but she’d ask, ‘Why don’t you get it?’” Ms. Fisher entered Frostig School in 2000 as a sixth-grader and soon learned why she didn’t “get it.” Frostig staff quickly identified her dyslexia, a learning disability that causes difficulties with language skills. Over the next three years, Ms. Fisher learned strategies to work around her disability. Just as importantly, Ms. Fisher’s teachers exhorted her to be proactive—to make decisions, to engage with the world, and to advocate for herself. “My teacher always said to be proactive and that’s still in my mind,” Ms. Fisher says. “She said to do things for myself and try hard. That was good to hear.” By the end of middle school, Ms. Fisher felt ready to, “go into the real world, so to speak.” She graduated from Southwestern Academy in San Marino, then headed off to University of La Verne. With the words of her favorite Frostig teacher still ringing in her ears, Ms. Fisher arranged accommodations for tests and quizzes, became a resident assistant in the dorms, and pursued her dream of becoming a therapist. Ms. Fisher says she had to work harder than most students because of her dyslexia. “I used to stay up really late because it took me longer to read. And I did a lot of homework on weekends. I have a lot of discipline. I was never the kid with the messy room.” What would she tell young people with learning differences? “Try your best. And parents, be patient. Everything takes longer, but if you keep moving forward, everything will be OK and it will get done.” |
“I have learned a lot about myself at Frostig and feel that I have come a long way. In my classes like Math, I remember not knowing Algebra when I first started, and now I understand it and am even doing physics— something I never thought I could do.”
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