Workshop Descriptions for Upper School Students and Faculty/Staff

Sourosh Amani was born in Iran and raised in the Netherlands. As a global citizen and experienced educator, he values teaching history and literature from multiple perspectives and enjoys engaging students in thoughtful discussions about complex and challenging topics. Sourosh has experience teaching a wide range of core courses, such as History and Humanities, as well as electives including Middle Eastern Studies and Race, Class, and Gender. 

A Seminar Model for Exploring the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict 

This workshop highlights a seminar held at Sonoma Academy on the historical roots of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which brought together alumni, students, and parents for a four-part series exploring the topic chronologically from ancient history to the present. The presenter will share the structure of the seminar, outline each session, and provide a sample assignment. Designed for faculty, the workshop offers a model for facilitating thoughtful and productive conversations about complex and challenging topics, along with time for Q&A. 

• This workshop is designed for faculty/staff participants, but all participants are welcome to attend.

Wyatt Erickson and Ian Tung are students who attend Crystal Springs Uplands School.

Hello! I’m Wyatt, a current junior at Crystal Springs Uplands School who identifies as non-binary and gay. Outside of co-leading my school’s LGBTQ+ Affinity Space, I’m an avid theater enjoyer and actor, having been in productions like Legally Blonde, The Prom, and Something Rotten. I’m always looking to raise awareness about queer issues and meeting more members of our community; growing up queer in this country has never been easy (especially now), so I hope our workshop can foster solidarity and help us identify moments of action across districts. 

Hi there, you can call me Ian. I’m a trans, bisexual man and a current senior at Crystal Springs Uplands School. I usually spend my time painting, playing music, and performing for Crystal Theater, but I also co-lead our LGBTQ+ Affinity Space with Wyatt. I believe it’s more important than ever right now to connect with fellow youth who share similar life experiences and care deeply about advocacy and queer rights, which is why I’m helping put on this workshop. Although the state of our nation looms large across social media and news outlets, change is seeded by the work we do in our local communities – please consider joining us in growing a cross-school endeavor at SDLG. 

Collectively Queer 

This workshop is focused on creating bonds across schools in order to build a wider community for queer students in the Bay Area. This space aims to facilitate a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive environment for students to freely collaborate and honestly discuss both personal and national issues from their own perspectives. 

• This workshop is designed for upper school student participants who identify as LGBTQ+, but all participants are welcome to attend.

Anastasia Broumas is a sophomore at The Harker School and a member of her school’s Honor Council. She is interested in how emotional well-being connects to broader questions of equity, belonging, and access, with a particular focus on the role of empathy in shaping individuals’ relationships with themselves and others. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, listening to music, and exploring different foods. 

Living vs. Surviving

This workshop draws on personal experience to explore how well-being, choice, and healing are shaped by factors such as equity, access, and belonging. Rather than framing happiness as something determined solely by individual willpower, it examines how systems, cultures, and environments can either support individuals or keep them in survival mode. Participants will reflect on what it means to reclaim a sense of peace while still acknowledging pain, and consider how that process can function as both a personal practice and part of a broader effort toward justice. 

• This workshop is available to upper school students, faculty, and staff participants.

Preston Pollard is a former professional skateboarder turned motivational speaker from Alaska who helps students build resilience, confidence, and purpose. Through powerful storytelling and interactive workshops, he inspires young people to create belonging and take action in their communities. 

From Awareness to Action: Creating Change in Your Community 

This interactive workshop invites participants to explore how awareness can lead to meaningful action within their communities. Drawing on his public policy project in Kwethluk, Alaska, Preston shares how he partnered with a Native Alaskan community to restore a youth center and support cultural preservation, offering a real-world example of community-centered leadership.

Through a guided Community Impact Mapping exercise, participants will identify an issue in their own school or community, determine a realistic first step they can take within 30 days, and map out a circle of support to help bring their idea to life. Students will leave with a clear leadership framework and a tangible plan for creating positive, actionable change.

• This workshop is available to upper school students, faculty, and staff participants.

Antonio López is an educator, scholar, and community leader whose work focuses on storytelling, identity, and civic engagement. As a 2025–2026 Obama Foundation USA Leader, he serves as Associate Director of Research and Advocacy at Ayudando Latinos A Soñar (ALAS), where he supports farmworkers and immigrant families through culturally rooted mental health, education, and advocacy programs. His work informs his workshop, “From Fear to Community: Immigration, Healing, and Collective Action,” which explores the intersection of immigration, community well-being, and access to resources. 

From Fear to Community: Immigration, Healing, and Collective Action

In this interactive workshop, we will explore how immigration policies and enforcement can shape the emotional and mental well-being of students, families, and communities. Drawing from real experiences working with youth and families through ALAS (Ayudando Latinos A Soñar), a community-based organization supporting immigrant families on the Coastside, as well as reflections from a recent trip to Minneapolis where communities were organizing in response to immigration enforcement, we will think together about how fear, uncertainty, and stress show up in everyday life—and how communities respond with care, solidarity, and action.

This session will also highlight how young people are already leading the way in creating change, and how storytelling, poetry, and cultural expression can be powerful tools for healing and self-determination. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect, share, and engage in a short creative writing activity centered on identity, belonging, and voice.

Together, we’ll ask: What does it mean to show up for one another in difficult times? And how can we move from connection to change in our own communities?

• This workshop is available to upper school students, faculty, and staff participants.