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Alumni Spotlight

Maxwell Love '19

Maxwell Love’19 is a vibrant, well-rounded learner whose resume-to-date belies his youth. As a junior at Oakwood School, he recently completed a research summer internship at UCLA into the analysis and remediation of cytotoxicity of cigarette smoke in the lungs. He will submit his resulting research report to the nationally renowned Davidson Fellow Scholarship and the Regeneron Science Talent Search. Maxwell also testified to the San Jose City Council on a high schooler’s perspective of the vaping epidemic, assisting in the successful effort to pass legislation banning flavored e-cigarettes.

 

During the height of the pandemic, building on the 3-D courses he first took at ACDS then at ID Tech, Maxwell designed and printed child-friendly face mask extenders. He also designed and 3-D printed a novel GoPro cradle device in 2021 to assist a local Real Estate company in making time-lapse videos of ongoing construction projects.

Maxwell Love Mask Extender
Maxwell Love GoPro Cradle

Away from the classroom, Maxwell is a successful snowboarder and is currently ranked 19th in the nation in his age group in the boardercross and slalom events, and 23rd in giant slalom. During the last six years, he has won 12 gold medals, multiple other medals, qualified for the Nationals every year, and earned sponsorships from four companies: Academy Snowboards, Khuno Optics, Demon United, and Humanity Apparel.

Having played piano for eleven years, Maxwell took part in the San Francisco International Innovative Music Competition last October. He received a 3rd place award in the Advanced Piano category for ages 15 – 24. In addition, Maxwell has played guitar for seven years, and recently formed a rock band with friends, The Elementals, performing at local public events.

Being fluent in English and Mandarin, Maxwell gave back to his community in 2021, helping to teach classical piano to children aged 4-11 at a local Chinese school. He also assisted them with Chinese reading and writing activities and tutored them in Math and English assignments.

Maxwell says that his time at ACDS taught him to enjoy learning and credits Mrs. Johnson, his middle school science teacher, for instilling a passion for science. Field trips were memorable, and he especially enjoyed the 7th grade trip to Catalina. His advice to current ACDS students is that “success looks different for everybody. Don’t compare yourself to other people.” To prospective families Maxwell shares that “ACDS provides a friendly environment with a strong sense of community that gave me a quality foundation to pursue academics.”

His latest endeavor? Maxwell has just joined San Jose Council Member Matt Mahan’s campaign for mayor team, where he will help with statistical analysis.

ACDS is proud of our alumni and their accomplishments. Below are a few more alumni spotlights that show just a small sample of the exciting paths they forged after graduating from ACDS.  Please contact us to share your ACDS alumni story.

More Alumni Spotlights...

Matt Hunt '12

Meaghan Schapelhouman ’14 attended ACDS from Begindergarten through 8th grade. Upon graduation from Presentation High School, she next enrolled at Marymount Manhattan College, New York City, where she pursued and obtained a degree in musical theater. To the delight of all who know her, Meaghan completed the circle and recently returned to Almaden Country Day School to join the staff as a teacher in the arts.

Matt Hunt '12

Matt Hunt attended Almaden Country Day School from Kindergarten through 8th grade and is a member of the Class of 2012. He attended Archbishop Mitty High School and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Motorsports Engineering with a minor in mathematics from Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in 2021.

Matt’s proudest professional accomplishment is being part of the Indianapolis 500 Car Race this year (2022) and winning the IndyCar championship in 2021 with Chip Ganassi Racing. He worked on each car as a mechanic and engineer. 

Deena Shakir '00 and Laith Shakir '04

Deena Shakir is a successful business professional. She and her husband Mehdi have two children, 6-year-old Lana and 4-year-old Adam. She earned a joint BA in Social Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard, and an MA from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, funding her education through a variety of merit scholarships and side ventures, including co-founding her first company while in college. She is currently a partner at Lux Capital, a venture capital company focusing on emerging, futuristic ideas in science and technology investments. In addition, she is a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

Maxwell Love Snowboarding

Maxwell Love’19 is a vibrant, well-rounded learner whose resume-to-date belies his youth. As a junior at Oakwood School, he recently completed a research summer internship at UCLA into the analysis and remediation of cytotoxicity of cigarette smoke in the lungs. He will submit his resulting research report to the nationally renowned Davidson Fellow Scholarship and the Regeneron Science Talent Search. Maxwell also testified to the San Jose City Council on a high schooler’s perspective of the vaping epidemic, assisting in the successful effort to pass legislation banning flavored e-cigarettes.

Hannah Conradt '12

Hannah Conradt ’12 graduates from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a BFA in Special Occasion Fashion Design in 2022, but has experience and accolades that would rival a professional 10 years her senior. She has sewn costumes for Twenty Pilots including the iconic red cloak in their 2018 video Jumpsuit, and for Hailey Williams of the rock band, Paramore. Hannah has worked as a wardrobe assistant for a Lifetime movie in LA, helped costume an entire two-cast NYC-based production of the opera The Barber of Seville, and completed a summer internship in the Seattle Opera's costume department.

Hunter McKown

Hunter McKown '15 attended ACDS from the four-year-old program through 7th grade but left early to pursue high-level ice hockey. His greatest accomplishment to-date was earning a spot on the US National Development Team, a two-year program in the United States Hockey League. Their team won the gold medal at the 5-Nations tournament in Sweden in 2019. He earned a full-ride scholarship to play Division 1 hockey at Colorado College.