350 Prospect Street Belmont, MA 02478
Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage Permit #58555 Boston, MA PAID
Pilgrim Rd Boston, MA 02215
winsorpanel.org
bhpanel.org
Volu m e 6 4 , Issu e 6
A Student Publication of the Belmont Hill School
Sleep: A Second Priority but a Primary Concern By Susy Liu & Claudia Meyer Panel Staff Beep-beep! Beep-beep! Beep! You groan and grope blindly for the snooze button. The mechanical voice falls into silence and yields to the first thought of your day: “I really should have gone to sleep earlier last night.” We recognize this moment all too well - when we are most aware of the widespread disease called sleep deprivation. Sleep seemingly eludes the majority of students in our generation. People today sleep 20% less than they did 100 years ago, and 70% of high schoolers get below the minimum of the 8-10 hours of sleep that teenagers need to function best (The Sleep Foundation). We accept lack of sleep as a fact of life. It’s not that we don’t understand the importance of rest - we feel and hear about the consequences of sleep deprivation on a daily basis, rather, we are convinced that nothing can be done to fix the situation, as our lives seem to be under ever increasing pressure as school and society continually expect more and more of us. However, after surveying the Upper School’s sleep habits and attitudes, it seems that the mentality
around sleep itself is also a large culprit behind sleep deprivation. Survey responses conveyed Winsor students’ dilemma of choosing between homework, school, and sleep. One of our poll questions, which asked students to describe what they could possibly do to go to bed earlier, received responses such as, “nothing,” “I don’t know,” or even, “pray, drop out of school, or learn to sleep work.” These responses are completely relatable for all of us, but they do convey the attitude that, at this point, increasing the number of hours of sleep each night seems like a hopeless cause:
getting more sleep is impossible so long as school exists. The majority of students actually suggested that procrastinating less on homework and thereby cutting out more time to enjoy themselves would be a good solution, indicating that homework is not only an enemy against sleep, but
also against leisure and relaxation. As shown by the open comment space at the end of our survey, students love sleep- saying simply, “I just want more of it,” “I love it,” “Sleep is life. Literally,” and, one of our favorites, “I dream about getting more sleep.” But although students are constantly reminded of the importance of sleep, they still, as one student commented, “often de-prioritize it in the face of school work and other commitments.” As another student summarized, “When you have an overwhelming amount of commitments, what else can you sacrifice? You have to eat, you have to shower, you have to do your work. So losing a few hours of sleep is not seen as too bad in the long run.” The fact that sacrificing sleep can be detrimental to our physical and mental health is inescapable, but nonetheless we’re all guilty of making this mistake in order to fulfill our responsibilities. Sleep is evidently not a priority at Winsor - education takes precedence over everything. Each student works insanely hard to achieve lofty goals and often unrealistically high expectations set Continued on page 4
Febr u ar y 1 1 , 2 0 1 6
BH Panel Now Online! www.bhpanel.org (Read more on Page 3)
Crossing the Line:
Outrage Over Senator Cruz’s Insult of New York Values By Isabel Isselbacher Staff Writer “I think people know exactly what New York values are.” Despite previous cordiality between the two candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz went head to head in the January 14 GOP debate hosted by Fox Business Network. Likely feeling the threat of Cruz’s rising poll numbers, Trump had begun questioning Cruz’s eli-
stands,” he continued, “that the values in New York city are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage ….[and] focus around money and the media.” It was clear that Cruz was trying to alarm the largely-conservative audience by framing Trump’s hometown as the antagonist of the Republican party. He depicted the city as shallow and materialistic, going to such lengths as calling it “pro-abortion” despite the fact that the Democratic
theintercept.com gibility in the presidential race due to his birth on Canadian soil. In response, Cruz attempted to discredit Trump in the eyes of the Republican Party by attacking New York City, home of Donald Trump and another 8.3 million Americans. “I think people know exactly what New York values are, Cruz stated. “Everyone under-
party champions a very different platform of “pro-choice.” Trump responded immediately with uncharacteristic calm: “When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York.” Cruz hastily nodded and clapped along with the Continued on page 4
Mr. Murphy Becomes Interim Director of Middle School Look Inside MLK Chapel pg 2 BH Scoreboard pg 7 Winsor Sports Team Updates pg 8 Socioeconomic Status at Winsor and BH pg 10 BH Politics Poll Results pg 16
By Ishaan Prasad Panel Staff As boys returned to campus rested and ready to embark on the few remaining days of the first semester, the beginning of 2016 saw a change at the top of the Middle School, with Mr. Murphy taking the helm as Director of the Middle School while Mrs. Hamilton prepared for a well-deserved sabbatical. Having joined the faculty in 1995, Mrs. Hamilton has been immersed in almost all aspects of the Belmont Hill community, whether coaching Cross Country, teaching English, or acting as advisor to First Form boys (and I’ve had the pleasure of learning from her in all three settings!). While we will surely miss Mrs. Hamilton this semester, we hope she has a great time off-campus, and can’t wait to hear about her experiences and stories! Mr. Murphy, who gradu-
ated from Belmont Hill in 1998, has been teaching Mathematics here since 2006, in addition to serving as Assistant Athletic Director and Head Coach of the Varsity basketball team. Although Mr. Murphy works with Middle Schoolers throughout the year, teaching seventh grade Pre-Algebra and coaching Fifth Soccer in the fall, he took up the position in
an effort to “get to know the boys better and from a different perspective.” With an already busy schedule to begin with, Mr. Murphy is aided by Mr. Davis ’07, who joined him as Assistant Athletic Director this year; however, serving as head is no easy job itself. As Mr. Murphy explains as we sit in his office in the Melvoin Academic Center, “there are so
many different aspects of the Middle School, and the position is definitely as busy as I expected it would be. It really does show me just how involved Ms. Hamilton has been every year as Middle School head!” With the door to his office, across from the second form study hall, almost always open, Mr. Murphy mentions that he really enjoys having “the kids stop by: it really makes my day hearing their stories and whatever else they have to say.” For Mr. Murphy, his primary goal is to have “as smooth a spring as possible. The boys already know that this semester is business as usual, and I’m not hoping to make any crazy changes.” As an alumnus and longstanding member of the faculty, Mr. Murphy has been integral to Belmont Hill for many years, and is well-prepared in leading the Middle School to another great semester!☐