Features

How does it feel to succeed beyond your wildest dreams while doing the best, most soul-satisfying work of your life? Ask Heather Raffo ’98 (M.F.A.), who takes audiences on an extraordinary journey in her critically acclaimed, off-Broadway one-woman show, “Nine Parts of Desire,” which explores the lives of Iraqi women. No overnight sensation, it took Raffo over a decade to research, write and hone her play, which had its genesis at USD.

High school doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all learning model of droning lectures and rote homework; at High Tech High, students are thriving under a new educational paradigm. Every kid who attends the school is expected to go to college, and those high expectations are working: 85 percent of graduates are at four-year schools. And USD deserves some of the credit; more than 10 percent of the teachers and professionals of High Tech High are alumni.