Content published under the contributor Erica Bailey, written by guest Líto Leirado for the LA Wire
This opening quote is the first thing I ever asked the administration of the most prestigious college preparatory school in Los Angeles. Watch ‘Harvard-Westlake High’ now on YouTube to see a documentary where it’s possible to hear about personal experiences from H-W students from 2014. For any further information, please contact harvardwestlakehigh@gmail.com
“Would you let a girl play football?”
Harvard-Westlake Alumni Chad Kanoff went to play football for the NFL, but he practiced on the tackle football team with me. Being known as the girl on the football team immediately after entering 7th grade, I was not one to make many friends. I found refuge at the nurse Ms. Simon’s office and with a group of kids who rode the bus with me every day. At the high school, I would catch up on sleep at the back of the bookstore and talk my feelings out with Mr. Preciado.
Forbes magazine has repeatedly rated Harvard-Westlake as a top private school district, and West Los Angeles parents are scrambling to get their children enrolled into the school with the arguably best elite college preparatory program west of the Mississippi. The school provides excellent education and an unmatched network of influential alumni. The school’s reputation precedes it, with two campuses that span more than 22 acres. Ninth-year students arrive at the Upper School after their final year since seventh grade at the Lower Campus.
I wasn’t a legacy, and I didn’t have any connections to the school or its board of trustees. Hardly are there legacies at Harvard-Westlake, but it is full of children who are “Nepotism Babies,” as coined by a series of the recent Vulture article. Harvard-Westlake happens to be the school most frequently mentioned in the recent Vulture articles regarding Nepotism. ‘How a Nepo Baby Is Born’ goes into the matter of fact in which, by nature, famous parents send their kids to this school.
Not all of Harvard-Westlake’s graduates have gone on to the NFL. The school has produced a number of well-known figures, including Jean Paul Getty, the Gyllenhall siblings and Shirley Temple; also television star Mark Harmon. Recorded interviews from 2014 quotes Suzanne Somers’ granddaughter Camelia Somers saying, “They’re going to take care of you, like, because you’re a Harvard-Westlake student and for no other reason,” during a documentary released under the name ‘Harvard-Westlake High’ on YouTube. Statistics on Harvard-Westlake being released are rare; documentaries on Harvard-Westlake have been slim.
2014 was not just the year I graduated; it was a year of thorough notes. Secular, private, college preparatory, day school, G20 Association Member (international), 1600 students, Student to Faculty Ratio 8:1, and Average Class Size: 16. Some things haven’t changed. Mascot: Wolverine Colors: Black, Red, White, Gold Public Sphere. Other things cannot change, like the recognition pre-2014 #12 on Forbes America’s Best Prep Schools’ and #3 on Business Insider’s ‘Smartest Private Schools in the US’ and being listed on Business Insider’s ‘Elite Schools Where Celebrities Send Their Kids.’
Yearly tuition has been raised consistently but not incrementally. Today, the annual tuition is $44,500, with $2,000 in new student fees and bus service being $2,800 – $3,000. Yearly tuition 2014-15 was $33,500, yearly tuition 2013-14 was $32,300, Yearly tuition in 1999 was $14,400, yearly tuition 1983-84 was about $5000, yearly tuition in 1980 was almost $4000… Again, the rise has not been something regular, and USD has had an average inflation rate of 3.13% with a cumulative inflation of 23.22%. Fifteen percent of the students in my year went on to Ivy League schools. Major figures in 2013-2014 were outstanding as well; the operating budget was $60,221,000. Annual giving from alumni together generated $7,291,936. Major figures just nearly fifteen years before that in 1999 were hardly below half of those. The operating budget made up $25,000,000. Annual giving? Less than $2,500,000. Something not brought up previously in these statistics was the 1999 median salary: $50,000. Since 2023, the Harvard-Westlake website has retracted this information.
HW.com has a page named “HW at a Glance,” where I studied 2013-2014 statistics from at the time: 18% of students were on financial aid, $8.9 million [so 13% of the budget] was put into financial aid, and the average financial aid package was $29,000. According to the Harvard-Westlake website, which has now replaced where the information was, about 20% of their students receive financial aid as of 2023. This shows only a 2% increase over almost a full decade. The average tuition grant is now $32,500, and that means hardly a milli-dollar over a whopping 12 percent increase.
As previously established, Harvard-Westlake is a prestigious institution. Many people do not realize that there are a lot of problems at this school that need to be addressed. Problems exist, including discrimination, bullying toward students who are not the so-called nepotism babies and for those who come from underprivileged backgrounds. It is important for these issues to be brought forward so progress can be made in order for all students to feel welcome at Harvard-Westlake and for the school to have a more inclusive environment.
Harvard-Westlake is a school well known for its prestigious reputation and incredible facilities, but what else goes on behind those walls? It’s almost impossible to capture the spirit of Harvard-Westlake High School on film, but I think I have done just that. This is an educational documentary about everyday life at Harvard-Westlake and aims to show the perspective of students who attended and graduated from this institution, as well as their own personal experiences while they were there. ‘Harvard-Westlake High’ is a look into what it’s like to be a student at this academically competitive institution.
H-W proves to be a refuge for many. In the real world, discrimination and reputation are everywhere… Maybe high school never ends, and we want our money back.
