To get a sense of what Lakeside and “Tatler” were like just over a decade ago, I spoke with Mr. Verzuh ’15, Upper School history teacher and Lakeside alum. In this interview, Mr. Verzuh looks back on the athletics environment of the early 2010s as a multi-sport athlete and recalls a favorite class that is no longer offered. He also reveals why he left “Tatler” after being on the staff for only a year.
Nara C. ’25 (NC): What is your favorite memory from your time attending Lakeside?
Jack Verzuh (JV): The first thing that comes to mind is the ultimate team. The culture of the team has always been very strong; older players on the team really welcomed and celebrated the younger players. In my freshman year, we barely made the quarterfinals of state. And then my junior year, we made it all the way to the finals. We were really proud to have that kind of growth in just a couple of years. The finals were played against Ingraham, and a lot of students and adults came to watch. It felt pretty special that people had come to support us in this big game.
The other memory that comes to mind is from when there was a class called Quest, which has since morphed into Outdoor Leadership, when I was at Lakeside. Quest was an English class that involved a three-week canoe trip down the Green River in Utah. That whole experience was a pretty big highlight for me.
NC: I know you also ran track and field and cross country in addition to ultimate frisbee. What was your experience with Lakeside athletics like?
JV: I definitely found the sports teams to be a really meaningful community where I was excited to show up, and I felt like other people were excited that I was there. It made a big difference in my high school experience. I’ll give a shout out to the cross country team because [Running Program Head] Sally Revere is still coaching there. By my senior year, I ran on varsity a few times, but I wasn’t an outstanding runner. And there were a ton of runners. We had almost 100 runners. I vividly remember one day coming to practice, and Sally was like, “Are you feeling okay? Your color’s a little off.” And I was like, “I’m feeling fine, I think.” And then the next day I got sick and was out sick for a week. Even with all the other runners there, she noticed before I did that I was going to get sick. That speaks to who Sally is as a person but also to the ethos of the cross country team, which valued people for showing up and checking in on them.
NC: What was your impression of “Tatler” during your time as a student?
JV: I actually wrote for “Tatler” my freshman year. I remember there being a balance of people writing silly things, people writing serious things, and people taking themselves too seriously. In my time as a student, I felt that one of the most important jobs of “Tatler” was to give students a platform to name the issues that needed to be talked about more and the topics important to students. A question that “Tatler” was engaging with then was of being able to discern if they were unhappy about an issue because it was inconvenient for students or because it was unjust.
NC: Did you leave “Tatler” after freshman year?
JV: I think I only wrote for that year. My experience on Tatler as a ninth grader was that I didn’t feel like the upper class students were particularly friendly or welcoming. I think that I was the only ninth grader there. I assume that things are better now.
NC: What’s something you’ve seen change for the better at Lakeside?
JV: It has been my observation that when it comes to queer identities, students are bringing greater comfort, understanding, and celebration of a larger variety of identities. And there’s more vocabulary and ease in talking about a wide range of different experiences. I wonder if students having access to social media and the internet has been a part of that; it’s a huge part of our lives.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
