The Late Start Show

In Episode 8 of Season Three of The Late Start Show , we sit down with James Mason Jr., a senior house prefect, a leader in the Pembroke Society, and one of six student speakers at TEDxHuntingValley this summer. James takes us back to Tremont Montessori, where a teacher saw him speeding past the work and recommended US to his mom, and to a fourth-grade start that was harder than he expected. He ex...

In Episode 7 of Season Three of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Mrs. Jessica Strawbridge, Director of College Counseling and a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of Chicago. Mrs. Strawbridge takes us back to Bay Village, where she was a huge reader and her high school had no dedicated college counselors. She explains how a junior year with a host family outside...

In Episode 6 of Season Three of The Late Start Show , we sit down with James Harmon, a senior from Bay Village, a member of the US hockey program, and co-owner of Aqua Shine, the six-figure window cleaning company he started with his friends. James takes us back to Bay, a tight-knit community where he played every sport he could. By middle school he was mowing neighbors’ lawns because he knew he d...

In Episode 5 of Season Three of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Mr. Aaron Sayre, Upper School learning specialist and head varsity golf coach. He just led the Preppers to a seventh-place finish in their third straight trip to the Division I state championship. Mr. Sayre takes us back to Green High School, where baseball was his identity and gym was his favorite class. He explains how follow...

In Episode 4 of Season Three of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Dr. Scott Boehnen, Assistant Director of College Counseling, longtime English teacher, and member of the US faculty since 2012. Dr. Boehnen takes us back to snow days in Fairview Park and to Mrs. Elrick, the sarcastic English teacher who told him his first college essay "made me wanna vomit" and then helped him find h...

In Episode 3 of Season Three of The Late Start Show , Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson sit down with Tylar Robinson, senior captain of the varsity football and basketball teams, leader of FOCUS, and the man who scored the game-winner against Gilmour this past Saturday. Tylar traces his path from Euclid City Schools to arriving at US in eighth grade after several attempts to get in, the culture shock...

In Episode 2 of Season Three of The Late Start Show, Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson sit down with Thomas Lodowski, our first student guest of the year, varsity track and cross-country captain, Ohio state record holder in the 600 meter, and two-time state runner-up in the 800. Thomas traces his path from a six-person class at Cleveland Montessori to earning a Jarvis Scholarship at University School...

In Episode 1 of Season Three of The Late Start Show, we open the new year with Mrs. Betsy Coy, Upper School Dean of Students, Freshman Class Dean, business law teacher, and a lawyer turned educator who has been on the US faculty since 2009. Mrs. Coy takes us back to a suburban street in South Euclid, where five people shared three bedrooms and one bathroom and where she stayed outside with her fri...

In Episode 38 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Mr. Stephen Murray, the seventh headmaster of University School, namesake of the Murray House, and current Head of School at The Lawrenceville School. Mr. Murray reflects on his journey from growing up as the fourth of six kids in northern New Jersey to becoming a lifelong educator, shaped by the public-school teachers who inspired him and by...

In Episode 37 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Mrs. Lori Baris, the beloved longtime third-grade teacher at University School who spent eighteen years on the lower-school campus and still returns regularly as a substitute. Mrs. Baris takes us back to growing up in a freer, unscheduled Cleveland of the 1950s and '60s, riding the Rapid downtown to Indians games and playing outside until the...

In Episode 36 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Mr. Peter Sweeney, University School upper school math and computer science teacher, founder of the US Robotics Team, and longtime veteran of both the tech industry and education. Mr. Sweeney reflects on his journey from a 12-year-old teaching himself to code on an Apple IIe in Belgium to a decade in corporate tech, sharing how an early love...

In Episode 35 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Deacon Nelson, University School McKinley House prefect, baseball captain, and Auburn commit. Deacon reflects on his journey from a young athlete shaped by family and a deep love for the game to becoming a leader of a rising baseball program at US. He shares what drew him to the school, from the meaningful relationships between students and t...

In this Special Annual Fund Live Episode of The Late Start Show , we bring something a little different to the table, three conversations, three perspectives, and one shared purpose. In front of a live audience of students, parents, faculty, and alumni, we sit down with Ms. Kimberly Konrad, kindergarten lead teacher and longtime elementary educator, Mr. Keith Kneisel, middle school math teacher an...

In Episode 33 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Mrs. Melissa Hamburg, eighth-grade English teacher, middle school English department chair, and varsity soccer coach at University School. She takes us back to her childhood in Georgia, where she grew up as a curious kid who questioned everything, and traces her remarkable journey to becoming one of the school's most influential educators...

In Episode 32 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Dr. Doug Smith, University School alumnus (Class of ’79), longtime leader of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, and former senior wildlife biologist at Yellowstone National Park. He takes us back to a childhood shaped by the outdoors at his family’s Red Raider Camp and his early years at University School, where small classes, close mentorship, an...

In Episode 31 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Tommy Nook, US Class of 2017 alum, former two-time Boston University lacrosse captain, Project 25 marathoner, and founder of Half Hitch Pretzels. Tommy takes us back to a childhood spent just outside Cleveland, growing up in a competitive yet deeply formative household alongside his siblings, including a brother with special needs who shaped...

In Episode 30 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Mrs. Ashley Worthington, University School English teacher, Head of McCarraher House, and Anderson Scholars and Humanities advisor. She takes us back to a childhood spent between Virginia, Boston, and Ohio, growing up with her twin brother in a close-knit family led by a remarkable single mother, and to the books that first shaped her imagina...

In Episode 29 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Coach Michael Perrino, University School’s new head varsity lacrosse coach and assistant to the athletic department. He takes us back to growing up in Solon, Ohio, in a deeply supportive family with his twin brother, and to the humbling first lacrosse practice where the ball flew straight up and hit him in the head. From there, we trace the r...

In Episode 28 of The Late Start Show, we sit down with Danny Sullivan, senior diver on University School’s five-time straight state champion swimming and diving team, Anderson House prefect, golfer, skier, and musician. Danny reflects on growing up as a quiet kid who slowly grew into himself, arriving at US in seventh grade unsure of whether he belonged, and how that uncertainty quickly gave way t...

In Episode 27 of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Adonis Wazni, senior, captain of the Public Forum debate team, president of the Student Investment Committee, and science researcher. Adonis reflects on growing up at University School as a lifer, what it’s been like finally sharing campus with his younger brother, and how joining debate in eighth grade helped him grow from an introvert into...

In Episode 26 of The Late Start Show, Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson sit down with David “Russ” Nobles, University School rapper, track athlete, and winner of the Sherman Prize Speaking Contest, for a funny, honest, and surprisingly deep conversation about identity, confidence, and chasing what you actually love. Starting with Russ shadowing Charlie back in 5th grade (and famously being most impre...

In Episode 25 of The Late Start Show, Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson sit down with Mr. Robert Sherman, University School alumnus (Class of 2014), NewsNation international correspondent, and bestselling author of Lessons from the Front, for a wide-ranging conversation that starts in Northeast Ohio and spans the world. Calling in from Abu Dhabi amid major Ukraine–Russia–U.S. negotiations, Sherman re...

In Episode 24 of The Late Start Show , Charlie Martin and Jack Nelson sit down with Mr. Jeff Pierce, University School’s Jr. K - 8 enrichment specialist, middle school speech & debate coach, and history specialist, to trace the winding path that shaped his life in education. From growing up in Columbus and thriving as a student, to studying history at Harvard, to a formative stint volunteering...

In Episode 23 of Season Two of The Late Start Show , we sit down with two University School seniors who took different paths to US, and found their place in the same community: Colin Milbourn, a two-sport athlete in football and basketball who transferred in looking for a bigger challenge, and Kingston Oliver, a varsity basketball player and cellist whose move to US brought an early culture shock...

In Episode 22 of Season Two of The Late Start Show , we sit down with Mr. Terry Lipford ’98, University School alum, middle school teacher, basketball coach, and Director of the REACH Program. Growing up on Cleveland’s east side in a family of educators, Mr. Lipford reflects on the early influences that shaped his values, community, discipline, and pride in identity. He shares what it was like arr...