I made a quick trip to Denver during the middle of the week to, of course, talk to families about boarding schools.

Interestingly, during my 24 hour trip, I came across two boarding school alumni- in different media- doing different work- but both achieving at the highest levels of their professions.

First fashion designer Jason Wu (a graduate of Loomis Chaffee).

I sit down in my seat on a Delta flight and, with a few minutes before take-off, I pull out Sky Magazine and there’s Wu on the cover- the subject of a piece exploring who he is and where he’s going.

The article is full of interesting biographical detail and Wu’s own observation on his work and where’s he’s going.

“At 29, Wu is poised to become a powerhouse brand of first-name magnitude—like Tommy, Ralph or Calvin…

‘A lot of my peers don’t think about collaborating the way I do,’ Wu says. ‘My approach is to imagine my world. The Jason Wu woman isn’t just floating around in a beautiful dress. I like to know where she’s going, what she likes. I’m not just in the fashion business. I’m in the lifestyle business. I believe in making good product.’

…But the whirlwind doesn’t appear to impede his artistic inclinations. ‘I can always find time to sketch,’ he says. That might be late at night, on the weekend or in the middle of a photo shoot. You could call him a workaholic, in the sense that he works a lot—as much as necessary (and in fact, he conjures up the term himself). But the word carries a certain negativity that bothers Wu.

‘I don’t feel stressed,’he says. ‘I’m organized. I’m inspired. I like what I do.’”(SM)

From fashion to hockey, Corey Schneider, Philips Andover Alumnus was in the net for the Vancouver Canucks while I was eating my salad in the hotel restaurant. I couldn’t hear the play by play or color analyst too well, but they did mention that Schneider was an Andover product.

Two successful boarding school alumni in the media on a quick April trip to Denver. Go figure.