Discover Rowland Hall, an independent private school near Millcreek, Utah, that empowers students intellectually, socially, and emotionally.

When Rowland Hall alum Parker Bushnell ’12 began collecting sports jerseys as a teenager, he never imagined it would be the start of a successful career, but he’s certainly happy it turned out that way.

As the senior director of retail for Rank + Rally, Parker oversees the creation, distribution, and sales of merchandise for the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club. Every decision he makes influences the next generation of fans.

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“In the modern world of sports there’s not a better way to engage with your fan base,” he said. “Tickets are digital now, you can’t take your food home, so merch is how memories are collected and kept.”

Parker oversees the creation, distribution, and sales of merchandise for the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club. Every decision he makes influences the next generation of fans.

It isn’t easy creating the perfect merchandise. It isn’t just about slapping a logo on a shirt and putting it up for sale. As a graduate of economics from the University of Utah and a 13-season veteran of sales, Parker has learned that getting fans to buy is part art and part science.

“You have to make items unique so there is an obligation for fans to come purchase at our store or on our website and support the teams,” he said. “At the same time, you have to go over every piece of data to learn everything you can about the sizes that sell and whether people prefer V-necks or crew necks.”

There are also unexpected factors that sometimes come into play—like the purchase of a hockey franchise. In April of 2024, coming off an already busy Jazz season, Parker and his team had just eight days to prepare for the announcement that Utah was getting a professional hockey team. As if that wasn’t stressful enough, there were the added issues—no one knew what the hockey team would be called, what the colors would be, and what logo would be used. They knew one thing, though: there are no sports fans like those in Utah, so they readily embraced it as a challenge.

“I remember sitting down with Chris Barney, Smith Entertainment Group president of revenue and commercial strategy, and saying we need to have merch for this. I don’t care if it’s an NHL shield, we need to commemorate this moment so that people can remember exactly where they were for this announcement,” Parker said. “We worked pretty long nights, but within two or three days we got the product in for the party.”

The breakneck speed for building the retail offerings for the Utah Hockey Club slowed between the initial announcement and the first home game, but not by much. Parker’s team had two weeks to prepare for the draft party, and then only a handful of months to design, order, and stock all the merchandise needed, from shirts and hats to hockey pucks and everything in between. On October 8, 2024, as the club took to the Delta Center ice for the first time, fans showed their appreciation for all the hard work by buying and proudly wearing the new merchandise—symbols of the state's newest fandom, and a way for attendees to hold onto the memories and camaraderie of the historic moment.

“We broke the Delta Center record for sports revenue, and frankly we almost doubled it,” he said. “And the exciting thing is we get to do it all again next year when we change the name again.”

The hours are long, and the challenges are many, but Parker loves what he does—and he’s well suited to it, due partly to skills he gained at Rowland Hall.

The hours are long, and the challenges are many, but Parker loves what he does—and he’s well suited to it, due partly to skills he gained at Rowland Hall more than a decade ago. “The ability to understand the intensity that’s required to be successful is probably the thing I took away the most from Rowland Hall,” he said. “That’s something I use now in every application of life.”

And it’s something he passes on to others now that he is in a senior management position and beginning to mentor people on his team, as well as those who want to get into the sports field but aren’t sure where to start.

“You cannot be picky in the sports world about your entry-level position. You need to get into it and then from there you can define your path,” he said. “You need to make a lasting impression on those you meet so they want to give you opportunities to grow.”

Parker has already made a lasting impression on the world of sports retail and will continue to do so for years to come. And it all started with a love of jerseys.

Alumni

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Banner photo: Parker Bushnell ’12, center (in blue suit), and team at the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City.

Breezy Johnson ’13 is on fire!

The Rowland Hall/Rowmark Ski Academy alum etched her name into ski-racing history on February 8 when she took gold in a stunning downhill performance at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Saalbach, Austria.

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Despite stiff competition, as well as a demanding downhill track, Breezy blazed to victory, clocking 1:41.29—a mere 0.15 seconds faster than the next competitor—to secure her first downhill world champion title.

“This victory means everything to me,” Breezy said in a post-race interview with Eurosport. “I’ve been working toward this moment my entire life, and to achieve it on this stage, with my family and teammates here, is a dream come true.”

Raised in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Breezy, who specializes in the downhill and super-G speed disciplines, refined her skills at Rowmark before joining the US Ski Team in 2014. Since then, she’s represented the United States in multiple World Cup seasons (in addition to this year’s victories, she has seven World Cup podiums to her name) and was a member of Team USA at the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Games.

And even after being crowned a world champion, Breezy wasn’t done. On Tuesday, February 11, she teamed up with fellow US Ski Team member Mikaela Shiffrin for the women’s team combined event, where Breezy had a strong downhill performance, finishing in third. Mikaela then followed with a slalom run time that allowed the duo to secure gold for the US. What a week!

“All of us at Rowmark are so proud of Breezy,” said Todd Brickson, program director, who has for years watched this former Rowmark athlete inspire others with her dedication, persistence, and passion for alpine ski racing.

“Ever since she was at U16 at Rowmark, she had a dream to be a world champion,” Todd continued. “After many years of commitment, injury, blood, sweat, and tears, she has reached this huge milestone. Her perseverance and work ethic are second to none, and now that she has broken through on the highest stage, this likely is the tip of the iceberg for her.”

Congratulations, Breezy! We can’t wait to see what you’ll do next.

Alumni

As a person who’s always wanted to work with kids and mentor other educators, it seems only natural that alumna Harper Lundquist ’16 would end up in a position like director of SummerWorks.

A Rowland Hall Lifer (she attended from 4PreK through 12th grade), Harper got to know the school’s day camp program when she was hired as a counselor for summer 2016. That season, she discovered a fondness for SummerWorks, and she chose to return as a counselor, then a program lead, every summer while attending the University of Utah. She loved the continued connection to her alma mater and, as an elementary education major, that the program allowed her to work with kids and hone her educational and teaching skills under the expertise of the program’s then director, Beth Ott, and assistant director, Alec Baden.

“I learned so much from them that helped me not only as a counselor, but during my time in the classroom as well,” said Harper.
 

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Harper’s positive, can-do attitude, her care for every student, and her appreciation of the SummerWorks program has been a joy to watch and support.—Jennifer Blake, associate head of school

After graduating from the U, Harper taught fourth grade at Plymouth Elementary, where she’d done her student teaching. But during her second year at the school, she recognized that kicking off a full-time teaching career during a pandemic was burning her out, so she decided to take a breather from the classroom. She continued to work with children as a part-time tutor and in various roles at Rowland Hall, including equity and inclusion intern. It was while in this role that she learned Rowland Hall was looking for a new SummerWorks director.

While many of Harper’s coworkers, who knew her history with the program, encouraged her to apply, she remembers feeling nervous about pursuing the directorship. She worried she didn’t have enough experience. But after conversations with trusted colleagues, Harper realized that the value of her SummerWorks knowledge could benefit the program, and that she could build other skills as she went. She decided to apply, and when she was named director in January 2024, Harper quickly learned that her experience was indeed the asset the program needed.

“Harper's long history at SummerWorks was invaluable in her approach to planning and iterating for the summer of 2024,” said Associate Head of School Jennifer Blake, who met with Harper weekly to plan for the season and said Harper’s deep knowledge of SummerWorks enabled her to jump into that planning without missing a beat. “She had experience working with the last three directors of the program and had ideas about what was worth keeping, shoring up, or creating, and she did all of that work thoughtfully and inclusively.”

And as a former counselor and program lead herself, Harper can relate to her counselors, allowing her to build a close-knit team. Like her own SummerWorks directors, she focuses on helping her staff grow as teachers and mentors. She’s also pulling from her other experiences as a Rowland Hall team member in shaping the future of SummerWorks. This includes her time as equity and inclusion intern, where—under the guidance of Dr. Chandani Patel, whom Harper called a trusted mentor who models diligent and thorough work—she learned to think about DEI in all aspects of the school, and where her confidence and courage grew. She continuously taps into these qualities and experiences in her new role to further benefit SummerWorks—and is already making an impact.

“Harper’s positive, can-do attitude, her care for every student, and her appreciation of the SummerWorks program has been a joy to watch and support,” said Jennifer.

We recently sat down with Harper to chat about her first summer as program director and what she’s looking forward to in summer 2025.

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What appealed to you about becoming SummerWorks director?

I have a lot of fond memories from working at SummerWorks, and I realized that for my career I wanted to work with kids and be able to teach and mentor others to work with kids, so this seemed like an amazing opportunity that combined both of these things.

What are you most proud of from your first summer as director?

I am most proud of the amazing team of folks I got to work with—I couldn’t have done it without them! From the admin team to the counselors, we all worked well together.

What did you learn about yourself this summer?

I learned that I am more capable than I give myself credit for (I tend to be my biggest critic). I think we all have moments of imposter syndrome, and I had these feelings come up throughout the summer. I also learned that I can delegate tasks better than I thought I could—I was worried about that initially!

What do you want others to know about making the move to a higher-level position (especially if they, too, may be dealing with imposter syndrome)?

I think we can talk ourselves out of applying for something new when we don’t meet all the requirements. When I was contemplating whether to apply or not, I asked Ryan Hoglund for advice and he helped me understand that meeting 60% to 70% of a job description is totally fine—the employer knows you’ll need to learn some tasks on the job and will grow into the role. My advice is, if you’re interested, go for it! Who knows where it’ll take you? Even if you don’t get it, you’ll have valuable interview experience. It’s a win-win situation.

I love to see kids having fun, but it’s the best to see when kids are anxious or shy on their first day of camp and make new friends by the end of the week, or are nervous to try something new and discover that they love it! I love that kids get to have these experiences at SummerWorks.—Harper Lundquist ’16

What do you want people to know about SummerWorks that they may not already be aware of?

A question I get asked a lot is if SummerWorks is just for Rowland Hall students, and no, it’s not. We have students from all over! We have even had families join us from out of state and internationally. Our camp welcomes kids from ages four through 13, and we have wonderful counselors who are enthusiastic and excited for each day.

What do you look forward to doing with the program in the future?

I have several ideas that I would love to implement in the program that I didn’t have a chance to do last year. I got lots of helpful feedback and suggestions from campers, families, and staff. I would love to offer a wider range of special activities that special instructors would lead.

Why is summer camp important, and what does it mean to you to bring this kind of experience to kids?

I believe summer camp allows kids to be kids and have fun. Our philosophy at SummerWorks is that kids build curiosity, confidence, and character. SummerWorks is a fast-paced environment that always keeps you busy and guessing, and it always makes my day when I get to check in on age groups and chat with the campers. I love to see kids having fun, but it’s the best to see when kids are anxious or shy on their first day of camp and make new friends by the end of the week, or are nervous to try something new and discover that they love it! I love that kids get to have these experiences at SummerWorks. 

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 Interested in SummerWorks? Visit the camp website to learn more about the program, and keep an eye out for announcements—registration will open in early 2025.

   Alumni

Author's note: Daisy's pronouns are she/they and have been used interchangeably throughout this article. Learn more.

Staring at her phone, Daisy Innis ’23 almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

It was a June morning, and Daisy was busy at her summer job as a camp counselor. Just moments before, while preparing to wrangle a group of children and their gear onto a bus for that day’s field trip, Daisy had seen a notification from The New York Times Learning Network in their inbox. The winners of the 2023 Student Editorial Contest, to which Daisy had entered an original essay (shared at the end of this story), had been announced.

This year, students from around the world submitted 12,592 essays to the New York Times Learning Network’s annual competition, and only 151 were chosen for recognition.

Part of Daisy’s mind remained on their inbox as she got campers seated and ready for the drive. When that task was accomplished, Daisy settled into a seat, clicked the announcement, and began scrolling. Suddenly, their heart gave a leap of recognition: her own name was among the contest’s 33 honorable mentions. She almost couldn’t believe it. “I was a little bit in shock,” she remembered.

That emotion was understandable. This year, students from around the world submitted 12,592 essays to the New York Times Learning Network’s annual competition, and only 151 were chosen for recognition: 11 top winners, 12 runners-up, 33 honorable mentions, and 95 round-four finalists. Daisy was also the only student from Utah to be recognized in this year’s contest.

For Daisy, the recognition was huge, not only because so few entries could be honored, but because the moment marked an important milestone in a months-long process of reflection and healing.

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Daisy’s journey to New York Times recognition kicked off in a somewhat unexpected way: with a trip to Utah’s Capitol Hill.

On January 24, 2023, Daisy attended a House Health and Human Services Standing Committee meeting for House Bill 132 (later Senate Bill 16) during the Utah State Legislature’s 2023 General Session. As an experienced peer educator for Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, a lobbyist during this year’s session, and a devoted community advocate, Daisy had a clear understanding of the impact that this bill, designed to prevent all gender-affirming care for minors, would have on young Utahns.

“This sort of legislature affects so many people in the state of Utah, in a way that is overall life-changing,” she explained.

As she sat in the meeting, Daisy watched, frustrated, as the bill’s sponsor introduced witnesses who argued against gender-affirming care but were unable to provide evidence of their claims. This was a high-stakes legislative session, Daisy thought, and would affect people’s lives. How could it be that students like her were held to far higher standards in the classroom than legislative witnesses were in committee meetings? “I have been taught that you need to have sources, evidence—you need to back it up, you need to list your sources,” said Daisy.

This lack of sources made the passage of the bill three days later especially upsetting for Daisy. “I was so angry,” they remembered, and that anger, as well as the fear Daisy felt for those affected by the bill, stayed with them. Come spring, said Daisy, they still found themself reflecting on the experience. The anger hadn’t dimmed.

It was at this time that Daisy’s AP Literature teacher, Dr. Carolyn Hickman, introduced a unit titled What Makes Us Human?, an opportunity for students to read works such as Ted Chiang’s Exhalation, Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Existentialism Is a Humanism,” and Megan Garber’s “We’re Already Living in the Metaverse” while collectively trying to process broader hot-topic conversations around generative AI and ChatGPT, which had been picking up in earnest since OpenAI launched their chatbot in November 2022. Dr. Hickman asked students to reflect on these in-class conversations, then find ways to share their own commentary with real-world audiences. As she reflected, Daisy kept thinking back to the misinformation leading states, including Utah, to pass bills limiting or blocking transgender youth health care—and realized she wasn't as worried about AI and ChatGPT as others. What she was actually afraid of were politicians who share propaganda and misinformation that impact human lives.

“What I was afraid of was the legislation being passed. To me, it feels more tangible,” Daisy explained. “At least if you use ChatGPT you can ask it to give you sources.”

Daisy decided to tackle this topic, choosing for their real-world audience The New York Times Learning Network, which had recently opened its 2023 Student Editorial Contest, an annual opportunity for middle and high school students between the ages of 13 and 19 to share original opinion pieces on the issues that matter to them. Student writers are asked to use at least one source published in the Times and at least one source from outside the Times, and to limit arguments to 450 words, with winners chosen from those who “not only ground their claims in strong evidence, but also engage [the judges] with voice and style.”

Once she had picked her topic, Daisy remembers sitting down in English class, putting on her headphones, and letting the words flow onto the page. It was as though all she had been ruminating on had been ready to come out, and she remembers the writing process as cathartic and healing. “It was an honest expression of what I’d been reflecting on for months, and probably a good exercise in writing for me,” Daisy remembered. The process also helped Daisy feel renewed passion for the often exhausting work of community advocacy, as well as helped her better understand, learn from, and harness the anger she’d been feeling.

Daisy's opinion piece asked readers to focus not on how the writing is produced, but instead on all the ways we fail to hold others accountable for the information they disseminate.—Dr. Carolyn Hickman, AP English teacher and Upper School English Department chair

“This was a reminder of the passion piece of advocacy—I was so angry, and being able to channel that anger into this piece helped me to think through it and reflect on it, and also to sort of share that anger, because it can be hard to be angry by yourself,” said Daisy.

Importantly, sharing that anger also helped Daisy realize she wasn’t alone. The New York Times recognition showed her that her perspective had struck a chord, providing a necessary perspective in ongoing conversations about not only AI but human-generated misinformation.

“Daisy's opinion piece asked readers to focus not on how the writing is produced, but instead on all the ways we fail to hold others accountable for the information they disseminate,” said Dr. Hickman. “It doesn't matter if it's generated by AI or simply fabricated out of thin air, she challenged, if we don't insist on careful sourcing of facts, data, and opinions as others wield information in ways that affect us all.”

Daisy said their New York Times recognition has given them more confidence in their writing—and that being recognized by a national paper of record isn’t too shabby, either. “It’s pretty cool to be picked out of 12,000 entries, and it’s also really cool that my name is in the New York Times, especially as an avid New York Times reader and crossword-doer,” she said.

Daisy is currently attending the University of Puget Sound, where she’s planning to pursue a degree in the school’s Science, Technology, Health & Society program, with a minor in bioethics, and is contemplating later earning a master of public health. As a Matelich Scholar, Daisy is also working to build community on the Puget Sound campus and said they’ll continue to draw on this experience to stay passionate about this important work.

“I intend to continue working in the same vein that I have been doing,” said Daisy, “and it’s really important to me to remember my values, and my anger, because that is really going to fuel me, that passion and anger and desire, but also the joy that I feel doing work in the community. Finding that balance, but also remembering the fact that I feel emotions about it, whether good or bad, is the best motivator.”

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We invite the Rowland Hall community to enjoy Daisy’s essay, shared below.

When It Comes to Secondary Education, Are We Fearing the Right Things?

By Daisy Innis, Class of 2023

In the wake of ChatGPT’s release, I cannot quite find it in myself to care as much as my parents and teachers. My mother says I’m a fatalist, and my teachers want to know why. But my question is: is generative AI and ChatGPT the right thing to fear?

Much like Mr. Aumann, a professor interviewed for the New York Times’ reflection on ChatGPT and education, my teachers are considering methods to discourage use of this technology. They’ve considered hand-written assessments and detection programs. They have, like many, spent a significant amount of time trying to outwit AI. For them, the possibility of AI-generated student writing is one of their biggest educational concerns.

But it isn’t mine. It is difficult for me to be concerned about the possibility of academic dishonesty in classrooms when I see much more pressing issues within the (mis)use of information. As a student in Utah, I have watched state legislators—in my state and others—be held to a lower academic standard and pass legislation with disastrous consequences.

As a high school student, had I submitted a paper without sources, or even used an AI tool, I would have been failed, and further disciplined in the case of the latter. That disciplinary action would likely follow me for the rest of my education.

During this year’s legislative session, S.B. 16, a bill preventing all gender-affirming care for minors, became law. I attended the committee meeting of a prior iteration of the bill, H.B. 132. I watched Representative Shipp introduce witnesses who spoke without regard for the desires of trans kids and without clear evidence for their claims. Most memorably, when asked for his sources, Dr. David Boettger replied that he didn’t remember, and that he didn’t have them with him.

As a high school student, had I submitted a paper without sources, or even used an AI tool, I would have been failed, and further disciplined in the case of the latter. That disciplinary action would likely follow me for the rest of my education. Dr. Boettger’s testimony was accepted without consideration of his sources, and used to later pass S.B. 16. His choices won’t follow him. This bill, backed by unnamed sources, endangers the lives of trans kids across the entire state of Utah—a state which already boasts a consistently higher suicide rate among the LGBTQ+ community than the national rate. This bill, which has been held to a lower standard of research than a high school English paper, deprives people I love of care crucial to their livelihood and survival.

So no, I am not terrified about the use of generative AI in classrooms. I am no more afraid of plagiarism than before. I am terrified of the world we live in, where I have been held to a higher standard of academic honesty than my legislators. I am terrified for those who are going to die because of the choices they have made.

Works Cited

Huang, Kalley. “Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach.” New York Times. January 16, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/technology/chatgpt-artificial-intelligence-universities.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare.

“LDS Church and Suicide Prevention.” PFLAG. https://pflag.org/resource/lds-church-and-suicide-prevention/.

“Minutes of the House Health and Human Services Committee.” Utah Legislature. January 24, 2023. https://le.utah.gov/interim/2023/html/00000887.htm.

Schott, Brian. “Blocking Gender-Affirming Care in Utah Could Be Found Unconstitutional, a Legal Review Found.” Salt Lake Tribune. January 26, 2023. https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2023/01/26/breaking-bill-blocking-gender/.

Wen, Anne. “ChatGPT and Plagiarism: Student Cheating Concerns May Be Overblown.” Teen Vogue. February 13, 2023. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/chatgpt-plagiarism-cheating-students.

Student Voices