From a GoPro founder to a guitarist for The Doors, the range of Menlo School graduates says something useful about the school itself.
In This Guide
Quick Answer for Busy Parents
Menlo School graduates have gone on to found a global technology company, write songs for one of rock’s most enduring bands, direct documentaries on sustainability, conduct field research as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, and race professionally before moving into national sports broadcasting. The list is notable less for its size than for its spread, which reflects a school that has never pushed students toward a single definition of success.
The Entrepreneurs and Builders from Menlo School
The best-known name on Menlo’s alumni roster is Nick Woodman, class of 1993, the founder and chief executive of GoPro. Woodman built the action camera company from a wrist strap and a prototype into a business that changed how an entire generation records its own life. Menlo has brought him back to campus, seating him on a student assembly panel about careers in action sports alongside several other alumni from the early 1990s classes.
That detail is worth pausing on. A school that invites its alumni back to talk to teenagers about unconventional career paths is signaling something about what it values. Woodman did not graduate and proceed along a marked track. He tried several ventures that did not work before the one that did, which is a more honest picture of entrepreneurship than most schools are comfortable presenting to families.
The Menlo School Scientists and Storytellers
Robby Krieger is the guitarist and songwriter for The Doors, and co-wrote several of the band’s most recognizable songs. His work sits permanently in the history of American rock music.
Chris Paine is a filmmaker and director whose documentaries examine technology, sustainability, and the future of transportation, bringing complicated questions about energy and innovation to general audiences.
Maria Fadiman is an ethnobotanist and a National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer, recognized for her research into the relationships between people and plants in tropical ecosystems and for her work in conservation and environmental education.
Jon Beekhuis raced professionally in American motorsport before moving into broadcasting. He is now a pit reporter and analyst for NBC Sports, where his commentary draws directly on his own time in the car.
| Alum | Field | Known For |
| Nick Woodman ’93 | Technology and entrepreneurship | Founder and CEO of GoPro |
| Robby Krieger | Music | Guitarist and songwriter, The Doors |
| Chris Paine | Film | Documentaries on technology and sustainability |
| Maria Fadiman | Science and conservation | Ethnobotanist; National Geographic Emerging Explorer |
| Jon Beekhuis | Motorsport and broadcasting | Former race car driver; NBC Sports pit reporter |
Thinking About Menlo for Your Child?
We help Peninsula families understand whether a school’s culture actually matches the child they have, not the applicant they could assemble.
What the Alumni List Actually Tells Parents
It is easy to read an alumni list as a promise. It is not one, and any consultant who implies otherwise is selling you something. What a list like this does tell you is what a school has historically been comfortable producing. Menlo’s graduates cluster in no single industry. A camera company founder, a rock guitarist, a documentary director, a field scientist, and a racing driver turned broadcaster is not the output of an institution funneling students toward one prestigious destination.
That matters when you are choosing a school for a child who has not settled on anything yet. Menlo’s program is broad by design, with an interdisciplinary scholars pathway, a dedicated project term, and an arts department carrying the same weight as the sciences. Students who arrive curious and undecided are not treated as a problem to be solved.
Where This Leaves Your Family
If your child is drawn to Menlo because of a name on this list, that is a fine starting point and a poor finishing one. The more useful question is whether your child would thrive in a school that expects them to pursue something seriously without telling them what it should be. Our admissions consultants can help you discover that.
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