John Harnetiaux on magic, memories and mountains | Humans of Catlin Gabel

By Margot Camp, ‘23

Young John

Upper School Dean of Students John Harnetiaux grew up in Los Angeles, California until age seven with his two parents and younger brother before moving to Spokane, Washington. Harnetiaux went to elementary, middle, and high school in Spokane where his father worked as a nurse practitioner and his mother worked at a community college. 

“I have really positive memories of childhood, I played a lot of soccer. I started playing soccer at a pretty young age, and… like a lot of students my weekends were taken up by soccer tournaments and practice and all of those things,” Harnetiaux expressed.

Taking part in YMCA summer camps was also very impactful for Harnetiaux, specifically one overnight camp which he worked at through college, where some of his oldest friends were made. 

After graduating from college, Harnetiaux moved to Japan, where he went to a professional magic school, eventually winning second place in a national magic tournament. 

Harnetiaux became “hooked” on magic during highschool, after he saw a magician perform at a family event. Soon after he started researching magic and going to magic stores. 

“I would go into Tokyo once a week and take magic lessons, and I would perform in these tournaments.” 

This experience of living in Japan opened his eyes to his “cultural blind spots.” 

“When you live in a foreign culture you start to understand how your home culture influences everything that you see. I remember being constantly challenged by things that were very new to me, and trying to resist the urge to say that they're bad or that they're not as good.” 

While living in Japan, Harnetiaux met his wife and many close friends which he described as a very meaningful and important part of his life.

After Harnetiaux and his wife had their first child they decided to move to Portland, Oregon. His parents had recently moved there, and he felt he wanted to be closer to his parents while having young children. As a child, Harnetiaux visited Portland with his family often so he knew it was a place he liked. Harnetiaux, his wife, and two children have been living in Portland for six years now. 

One of the things he looks forward to most in the day is spending time with his family, and one of his main pastimes is involving himself with what his children are interested in at the moment. 

“I have two little kids that are very rambunctious and super enthusiastic about everything,” he described. 

Harnetiaux emphasized that often, his hobbies depend on what his childrens’ hobbies are. However, one of his main personal interests which developed during the pandemic is records and music. 

“I started buying a lot of records and now I'm like totally obsessed!” he joked, saying sometimes he spends too much time looking at records on websites. 

Along with music, Harnetiaux also has a passion for rock climbing and spending time in nature. One of his favorite jobs was working for National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) where he got to enjoy meeting interesting people and visiting compelling places in nature. 

“I’d go out for anywhere from like two weeks to three months at a time with a group of young people and we’d teach them skills about leadership and [rock] climbing and backcountry living,” Harnetiaux explained. He had this job at NOLS for 2 years and connected the community environment to the one at Catlin Gabel School (CGS). 

“I spent a lot of years teaching rock climbing so it's probably the sport that's most fulfilling to me.”