A production of Harvard-Westlake School. The Supporting Cast features long-form interviews with individuals sharing compelling life stories, passions, and interests, but with an acute focus on one’s teachers, coaches, and mentors—transcending simple biography to highlight one’s “supporting cast” and how their influence mattered. Hosted by Eli Goldsmith.
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A production of Harvard-Westlake School. The Supporting Cast features long-form interviews with individuals sharing compelling life stories, passions, and interests, but with an acute focus on one’s teachers, coaches, and mentors—transcending simple biography to highlight one’s “supporting cast” and how their influence mattered. Hosted by Eli Goldsmith.
In June of 2025, Dr. Jon Carroll will depart Harvard-Westlake after thirteen years—the first three leading HW Aquatics and the last ten as a middle school dean. Jon is not departing to join another school community, however—but to build one. In the fall of 2026, Jon will open Jabali Academy, a K-8 independent school centered in Inglewood with the mission of inspiring excellence in students and preparing them for places like Harvard-Westlake. Jabali, which means “rock” in Swahili, is emblematic of the foundation that education provided in Jon’s own life—growing up in West Philadelphia as the child of educators, attending both private and public schools, before college at the University of Pennsylvania and then a PhD from UCLA. Lastly and most affectionately, Dr. Carroll speaks about the excellence and influence of his wife, noted TV writer and showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll. In addition to Nkechi, Jon references Paul Lindenmaier and Roy Farrar of Germantown Friends School, Tyrone Howard of UCLA, and Howard Stevenson of UPenn as profound influences on his life and career.
The Supporting Cast
A production of Harvard-Westlake School. The Supporting Cast features long-form interviews with individuals sharing compelling life stories, passions, and interests, but with an acute focus on one’s teachers, coaches, and mentors—transcending simple biography to highlight one’s “supporting cast” and how their influence mattered. Hosted by Eli Goldsmith.
