May 2021 Panel (Vol. 70 Iss. 1)

350 Prospect Street Belmont, MA 02478

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A Student Publication of the Belmont Hill School

Volume 70, Issue 1

May 13, 2021

LUKE CARROLL RE-ELECTED

President Carroll Aims to Facilitate a Return to Pre-pandemic Daily Life

By Daniel Rashes ’22 Panel Staff

Luke Carroll ’22: 2021-2022 All School President

Luke Carroll was recently re-elected to his post as president of the class of 2022 and now faces a larger responsibility: being a leader not just for his classmates but the entire student body. Looking ahead to his position next school year, he and I hopped on a late-night Zoom to discuss his BH career leading up to this point and his goals and anticipated challenges regarding next year.

If you ever get to talk to Luke, you will quickly understand that he is nice to a fault. Our meeting began with him profusely apologizing that his lamp was broken, despite my insistence that it was not an issue.

When I asked him if he thought he was too nice for politics, he claimed that if he had to choose between being nice and getting the job done, it wouldn’t be the career for him.

“Luckily,” he says, “the two coincide here.”

In a world of increasingly polarized politics, Luke finds inspiration in leaders who are willing to cooperatively work across the aisle, pointing to former Belmont Hill parent Mitt Romney as one such example.

He has recently been following the career of Laura Kelly, the governor of Kansas, a state where Luke has family. She is a Democrat in a red state that has, in Luke’s opinion, Drew Dummer ’22 Continued on Page 4

BH Required Vaccination Wrestling at Prep Nationals

becoming increasingly available for younger

By Daniel Bittner ’22 age groups, as evidenced by the FDA’s recent Panel Staff approval for the use of the Pfizer vaccine for ages 12-16, most students will likely have the Over the weekend of May 1-3, 7 Belopportunity to receive the vaccine this year. mont Hill wrestlers traveled to Wilkes-Barre, In recent months, with vaccines from This month, the Belmont Hill Pennsylvania, to compete in the annual at least three major manufacturers becomHealth Office sent out a survey to the ing widely available to the public, debates regarding whether schools should require school sounding out student interest in an vaccinations among students have grown. on-campus vaccine clinic. Furthermore, Due to the recent news that more than 100 while everyone on campus would cercolleges and universities have required stu- tainly like to be immune from contractdent vaccinations, many individuals have ing COVID-19, Belmont Hill’s policy on suggested that vaccines be mandated for vaccine requirements for next school year the 2021-22 school year. This question re- should depend largely on how vaccinations garding how schools should handle vaccine appear to be going in the coming months.

Due to requirements the relative directly applies lack of inforto Belmont mation regardHill, where ing how vaccimost of the nations affect faculty have minors, the full received some array of potenform of the tial side effects vaccine, yet the for this age majority of stugroup is likely dents haven’t still unknown. been vaccinatContinued ed. However, on Page 10. Wrestling Team at Prep Nationals CDC Vaccination Record Card Getty Images with vaccines

By Daniel Bittner ’22 and Luke Hogan ’22 Panel Staff

Look Inside The Issue

News 2 Plans for The New Maker Space

News 3 Death of Prince Philip

A memorial on the late Prince Philip by Panel David Cho ’23 explains Belmont Hill’s new plan Staff Alex Lo ’23 and Cooper Nelson ’23 for a state-of-the-art maker space.

Arts 6 Music Program

Find out more about the upcoming changes to Belmont Hill's music program and curriculum from Andrew Bittner ’24.

Opinions 9 Critiques on the vaccine rollout

Prep Nationals tournament typically hosted at the end of every wrestling season. While the circumstances for this event were drastically different than normal, this tournament felt as normal as possible given the situation.

Continued on Page 14

Sports 13 Lacrosse Update

What could have made the vaccine rolllout Mac Bobo ’23 gives us better? Cam Carey ’23 answers this question in an update on the lathis article. crosse team's successes

Sports 12 Sailing Update

Learn about the sailing team’s season from Wilton Lawton ’22

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Belmont Hill Embarks on New Makerspace Plans

By David Cho ’23 Panel Staff Belmont Hill will embark on an exciting project in which the Bolles House, currently serving as the main office, will be transformed into the school’s new makerspace. The Bolles Makerspace is planned to be completed before the start of the next school year.

Driven by their vision to develop the school’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) program and longterm master planning process, the Belmont Hill Board crafted a plan to create a space to achieve these visions. And with administrative offices moved to Howe House after Mr. Schneider’s family moved across the street, the Bolles House was available to serve as the backbones for the new makerspace.

Though the newly available space came this year, the planning process began with the trustees before Mr. Schneider’s arrival. They worked with an outside group who worked on Belmont Hill’s master plan as well. Mr. Schneider, in his first year at Belmont Hill, had the opportunity to visit similar spaces designed by the group in nearby areas.

Though aware of the similar spaces at other schools, Belmont Hill desired a space ingrained with Belmont Hill’s culture and suited to the learning practices for its students.

And so, with Mr. Schneider’s arrival, the process of incorporating this space began.

The Bolles Makerspace has a bright future ahead. The space will be under the guidance of Mr. Ziff, the Director of Makerspace. Mr. Ziff “has a deep background in running the related equipment as well as robotics work.” As the director, Mr. Ziff will “help facilitate new faculty ideas while also making connections with our [Belmont Hill’s] boys who really love to make things.” Knowing that “people are always more important than spaces’’ from experience, Mr. Schneider is excited about the addition of Mr. Ziff. He is looking forward to having “someone with his skills and energy coming to campus next year.” More information regarding Mr. Ziff can be found on the school’s website, in which he outlines his background and visions in more detail.

The new makerspace will provide many exciting opportunities with its central location near Robsham. When asked about what he was excited about the makerspace, Mr. Schneider responded that “I am most

looking forward to seeing what our boys want to do with this new opportunity.” A space designed with flexibility, the Bolles Makerspace will provide many opportunities for students to lead the direction of their interests and show leadership. The space will host many new projects that will

podcasting rooms there will allow students to express their creativity in other ways.

Belmont Hill has strived to further its depth in all fields with its dedication to investing in projects like the Bolles Makerspace. To end his description of the makerspace, Mr. Schneider said, “I suspect this will

Interior of the transformed Bolles Makerspace

BH Communications

add to Belmont Hill’s tradition of panels, take some patience and flexibility, but I have boat building, and toboggans in the wood- no doubt that this new program will add shop. Additionally, the green screen and great vibrancy to school life over time.” ☐

Johnson and Johnson Vaccine Recalled Amid Concerns

By Daniel Bittner ’22 Panel Staff Throughout the past months, American sentiment regarding the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines has remained greatly mixed, with many individuals eagerly awaiting their opportunity to receive a coveted dose, while others remain skeptical regarding its potency and potential harmful side effects. Although America’s top federal officials and doctors have greatly encouraged Americans to receive the vaccine as soon as possible, assuring the public that these thoroughly-tested vaccines remain overwhelmingly safe for use, a large section of the national population remains hesitant to get vaccinated as vaccination rates have begun to decline across the country in recent weeks, often frustrating those longing for a return to normal society. Nevertheless, while America’s early execution of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout proved encouraging throughout its first few months with nearly

40% of the total population having received a vaccine as of the beginning of May, this progress for one version of the vaccine took an unexpected turn when the federal and state officials announced the halted the distribution and administration of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine on April 13th.

First made available to the public a few weeks after the two other major vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer and Moderna, the J&J vaccine remains the only one-shot vaccine currently available to the public.

This ability to require only one shot derives from its more conventional composition, as the vaccine contains the actual weakened coronavirus in a way similar to flu vaccines as opposed to the other two manufacturers, whose products have introduced to the public an newly innovative m-RNA technique. Furthermore, due to both its single-shot requirement and its more traditional makeup, the J&J vaccine initially met great praise and enthusiasm from the public. Authorized for emergency use by the FDA on February 27th, this vaccine

had successfully passed numerous phases of testing prior to authorization for use.

Yet when a worrying total of six individuals were found to have obtained blood clots coupled with low platelet count following their injection, federal and national authorities decided to cease the distribution of these vaccines momentarily. Notably, all the patients who experienced these symptoms were women under the age of 50. Nevertheless, this development has proved to be incredibly rare and infrequent, as out of the over 7 million people who have currently received the J&J vaccine, only a scant few have exhibited these peculiar symptoms.

Ultimately, after ten days of deliberation the nation’s top immunologists announced just ten days after the initial recall of the J&J vaccine that the vaccine had been re-approved for public use. Citing its overwhelmingly positive effects compared to the incredibly infrequent occurrences of such side effects, these officials once again encourage the public to receive the J&J vaccine as an optimal al-

ternative to the other two-shot vaccines.

Nevertheless, while the effect of this brief stoppage in the distribution of the vaccine would seem to have negligible consequences, such hesitation regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in general will likely only push skeptics into distrusting the vaccine more. Furthermore, individuals who were formerly vacillating on whether they should receive the COVID-19 vaccine will likely use this stoppage as evidence to not get vaccinated. Although recent scientific evidence suggests that vaccines may not ultimately be able to create ‘herd immunity’ as once thought due to the slowness of the vaccine distribution and the rapidly changing nature of the virus, such delays will only continue to hamper any progress made by the public. Thus, while the re-approval of the J&J vaccine for the American public is certainly encouraging news, it may ultimately prove to have a much more significant impact of delaying any form of a national return to normalcy as individuals delay longer to receive a vaccine. ☐

BHS Tackles Asian Hate Peer Leaders in Pandemic

By Lawrence Tang ’22 Panel Staff On April 10th, students Lawrence Tang ’22 and Alex Lo ’23 presented a video on the Asian Hate and Anti-Asian Bias present in America today. In their video, the two students focused on their individual and family experiences with Asian hate. As Lawrence mentioned, “When COVID first started rising, I remember talking to an adult about the virus, and I remember how he repeatedly kept using the word ‘Asian’ virus. Things like this are not ok.” Alex added that, “With the onset of anti-Asian Hate, my grandparents are fearful for their lives to leave their home.

My parents have to bring them groceries and common goods because they are too scared to leave their homes. This poses the question, is this a humane way to live?”

After Lawrence and Alex’s speech, advisor groups were presented with a group of videos and discussion questions. Lawrence explained about the purpose of the discussion, “What we hope to get out of this is sim-

ply talking about anti-asian bias and hate crimes and gaining more recognition. Conquering Asian hate is a large mountain and we are just at the beginning.” Furthermore, Alex added on, “Tackling the issue can start small. We all can take part in this effort as long as everyone understands the issue and decides to be mindful of those around them.”

Furthermore, there has been the addition of a new club called Asian-Students Club. In this club, headed by Lawrence and Alex, Asian students come together and discuss issues and their experiences overall at Belmont Hill. The club creates a safe environment for Asian students at Belmont Hill, and has met several times this year.

Overall, the talks about Asian Hate have been trending in the right direction, with more to come this year and next year. ☐

By Howard Huang ’22 Panel Staff The Peer Leaders Program has long been a critical component of Belmont Hill’s mission to educate its students. The Junior and Senior Peer Leaders have frequently met with younger students in events, discussions, and fish bowls that can be important and informative in their development into the future generation. However, the pandemic has hit the Peer Leaders hard as many past programs which would have involved large group gatherings can no longer happen because of the risk of viral spread.

Timmy McCormack ’21, one of the Head Peer Leaders, noted that “we were still able to organize some in-person, outdoor events with Forms I, II, and III throughout the year, but workshops like Form III and V fishbowl had to be moved to a virtual format.” This shift to virtual events has been rough, especially with it being more difficult to engage students in the fish bowls; however, the Peer Leaders have handled it well by making the best of the circumstances.

Although an outsider may think running an event virtually seems pretty simple at first, especially with popular applications like Zoom and email, Timmy remembers that “the task of collecting all of the parents’ emails, using a Google form to collect fishbowl questions, and making sure no technical difficulties occurred was laborious.” Organizationally, making sure the correct information is disseminated through email was difficult as parents and students could easily fall through the cracks.

But in the end, the Peer Leaders arguably gained more than they lost with their increased adaptability being incorporated into all of its programs during the pandemic. Timmy thinks that “that this year’s group of Peer Leaders will be able to carry that mentality of ‘adaptation’ with them for their future leadership positions.” The gains in experience navigating hardship in during a pandemic can be carried on by the Peer Leaders for a long time. The Peer Leaders next school year will hopefully not have to follow the same restrictions, and the group will also be expanded by a new set of applicants this month. ☐

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Poetry Fest Entertains BH AAR Thrives in Pandemic

By Duncan Kilbride ’24 Panel Staff

of those participating were in person. However, the new chapel was a much-improved space with better acoustics and lighting.

Dr. Tift “ admired how the whole school rallied to find creative ways to hold Poetry Fests in English classes this year; it was also exciting to have the finals feel almost normal again, with the students filling the new-and-improved chapel with their excellent performances, met by enthusiastic applause from the live audience.”

The process of familiarizing, truly understanding, and then performing a poem is an incredible experience that represents Belmont Hill as a school and community. ☐

On April 16, the annual Belmont Hill tradition of Poetry Fest was held. This 25-year custom was just as captivating as ever despite Covid-19. Every student competing demonstrated their respective poems with zeal and composure. The finalists were as follows: Brathes Sanchez (Form VI), Nathan Zhang (Form I), Timo Simonin (Form V), Michael Ahonen (Form V), Daniel Bittner (Form V), Nolan Henehan (Form IV), Arec Keomurjian (Form V), Luke Hogan (Form V), Brian Lee (Form III), Wesley Lindstrom-Chalpin (Form II), and Jack Shah (Form IV).

While all the performances were fantastic, three were distinguished as winners: Daniel Bittner with the incredibly long poem Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats, Arec Keomurjian with both an Armenian and English version of Scales by Hovhannes Shiraz , and Brathes Sanchez not only demonstrating the poem Short Speech To My Friends

by Amiri Baraka but also bringing attention to Adam Toledo , “a 13-year-old boy shot and killed by police.” This year was slightly different than usual as only the advisories Poetry Fest 2020-2021 Winners

By Charlie March ’22 Panel Staff

findings. Within the presentation, the students found what worked and did not work within the new DEI program, what students think about the history curriculum, and if the school is genuinely a race-neutral environment. Additionally, the members discovered how accessible the mental health resources at Belmont Hill are, how students decide when to seek help, and how often students show how they actually feel.

Dr. Tift, when asked about how the group worked all year long, said, “In a pandemic year, this group came together starting in August with high energy and positive attitudes, and they worked all year resulting in an excellent and deeply meaningful presentation that will help our school continue to grow in crucial ways.” AAR did great work this year, and the next AAR team will build off their presentation. ☐

Mr. Schneider recently sent out an email about the Advanced Action Research group, formerly known as SPARC. AAR is a group of 14 juniors (Michael Ahonen, Chris Aufiero, Daniel Bittner, Luke Carroll, Sebastian Costantini, Adam Figler, Owen Gerah, Dietrich Jacobs, Charlie March, Matt Martines, Albert McField, Ethan O’Neill, Lawrence Tang, and Salman Yonis) led by Dr. Tift, with the goal to research the school and make it a safer environment for everyone.

This year, they decided to split up into two groups and research issues of BIPOC student experiences of stress on the campus and the mental health of students.

In the winter, the group sent out a confidential Upper School survey with questions regarding mental health, racial climate, and political climate. From the results of the survey, the group meticulously analyzed data and came to conclusions. Next, they conducted in-person focus groups that delved deeper into the results. On April 25th, the students convened at Belmont Hill to watch other schools’ online presentations, as well as give a presentation on their BHS Attending SPARC Roundtable

Grammy Award-Winning Saxophonist Performs at BH

By Arec Keomurjian ’22 and Timothée Simonin ’22 Panel Staff On April 2nd, the Belmont Hill community was graced by the performance of jazz musician Branford Marsalis, a Grammy Award-winning saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. Born in New Orleans to a family of musicians, Marsalis grew up under the influence of his parents, Ellis Louis Marsalis Jr., a pianist and music professor, and Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis, a jazz singer. His brothers Jason Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, and Delfeayo Marsalis are also jazz musicians.

The first-ever performer to play in the newly renovated Hamilton Chapel, Branford Marsalis came to Belmont Hill through a connection with the Wilkins Family. Ann Marie Wilkins, the mother of alumnus Brian Wilkins ’20, is Marsalis’ manager and was able to book him for a jazz performance and chapel talk. Originally set for April of last year, Marsalis’ visit was pushed back due to the pandemic. Marsalis’ visit was meant to introduce the concept of a “band clinic,” which would have provided Bel-

mont Hill student-musicians the chance to play alongside Marsalis, Mr. Fiori, and other musicians; but alas, the clinic was cancelled due to pandemic protocols.

The school rescheduled the performance as Marsalis still wanted to play for the Belmont Hill community. A week before the rescheduled concert, he reached out to Mr. Fiori to choose their repertoire.

Mr. Fiori suggested several songs he felt would suit the contrast of the tenor saxophone’s rich Branford Marsalis and deep notes with the brighter piano. They settled on Night Dreamer by Wayne Shorter, a mellow piece led by Marsalis on the tenor saxophone. Mr. Fiori believed that Marsalis would have a

connection with Shorter as Shorter was one of the best tenor saxophonists of his time.

Marsalis, Headmaster Schneider, and Mr. Fiori also performed Ladybird by Tadd Dameron.

This song, chosen by Mr. Schneider, exudes vibrant melodies that allowed him and Marsalis to harmonize and exchange parts as they played. Both pieces filled the campus with jazzy tunes and warmth.

Marsalis also addressed the school with a powerful speech con Marsalis Music cerning excellence, diligence, and perseverance. Marsalis spoke about pursuing his education and music simultaneously and highlighted his work ethic through an anecdote about him and

his brother when they were in their musical classes. Having been assigned forty harmonies from a workbook for their class, Marsalis and his brother, after realizing the extent to which they both improved after playing together, spent the rest of the year learning every piece in the book. Though a tedious and difficult process, Marsalis explained that their dedication to the music greatly heightened their performances, and that spending time on the little things made him a better musician overall.

About the performance, Mr. Schneider noted that, “I felt that we were so incredibly fortunate to have Mr. Marsalis as our first outside performer in our new chapel, and his talk about the pursuit of excellence was inspirational in so many ways. On a personal level, the fact that I was asked by the Wilkins family to perform with him for one song will always be one of the most memorable and nerve wracking moments of my lifetime” The school is incredibly grateful for Mr. Marsalis’ performance and accompanying speech, and The Panel hopes he will return to our chapel stage so that we can listen to his music again in person as a community. ☐

Prince Philip of England Passes Away at 99 Years Old

By Alex Lo ’23 and Cooper Nelson ’23 Panel Staff The Panel mourns the loss of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and wife to Queen Elizabeth. He died on April 9th at the age of 99. He had been married to Queen Elizabeth for over 70 years and together, they had four children, Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward. As the firstborn, Charles became the heir to the throne, followed by his son William.

The Duke was born in Greece but was educated elsewhere. At the onset of World War II, he joined the royal navy and received commendations for his service in the Indian Ocean and the Meditteranean Sea. He left the active service in the navy in 1951; however, he continued to rise through the ranks, eventually achieving the rank of Lord High Admiral, honorary leader of the Royal Navy, in 2011. Prince Philip

He was married to the then-heir to the throne Elizabeth in 1947 at Westminster Abbey at a ceremony watched by over 200 million people. After his marriage, Prince Philip happily engaged in his royal activities. He went to places with the queen and

personal beliefs. He was a virulent believer in climate change and spent great efforts to defend the environment. He hated the media coverage of the palace and was deeply affected by Princess Diana’s divorce and death. However, he still tried to find a positive spirit and continued to serve his duties.

In 1956, he founded the Duke of “In 1956, he founded the Duke of EdinEdinburgh’s Award, which is awarded in burgh’s Award, which is awarded in 144 144 nations today and recognizes teens nations today and recognizes teens and and young adults for self-improvement young adults for self-improvement and and community service. His impact on community service.” many generations of youth in Great Britain and elsewhere is immeasurable. Prime represented her when she was not present. Minister Boris Johnson mentioned in a After sixty-five years, Prince Philip became statement that Philip “was the man who the longest-serving royal consort in history, inspired countless young people.” ☐ performing over five thousand speeches. A sense of normalcy concurrently remained in the Duke, where he carried his own suitcases, and he sent his children to real schools rather than homeschooling them.

The Duke was very passionate about his

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The Ever Given Ship is Released from Suez Canal

By Luke Guleserian ’24 Panel Staff On March 23, the Ever Given container ship became beached in the Suez Canal.

Stuck at a point almost perpendicular to the flowing of the Nile River, the 1300 foot container ship remained with little hope of extraction for several days. The estimated value of the ship alone is estimated to be north of $170 million. Evergreen Marine has a flotilla of around 150 ships in operation.

Leading up to the incident, Egyptian officials released a statement warning inclement weather due to sandstorms across the desert nation. The immediate effects of this would be poor visibility and dramatic shifts in temperature; the former would be very important to what happened next. With terrible visibility, it would be very difficult for the helmsman not to set a point that would end with them beaching the ship or colliding with another ship passing through the canal. Wave heights were also expected to reach around 10-

13 feet, making it quite a difficult journey. of the world’s premier shipping routes and Since there was low visibility, the ship’s costing the world billions of dollars per day. crew did not know exactly where they were Primarily using tugboats, with the exin the caception of nal.

As the little such, they excavaexceedtor that ed 8.6could, knot max the resspeed by cue effort going 13.7 took lonknots. ger than Tr a f f i c anticicontrol pated to told them dislodge that they the bew o u l d Ever Given cargo ship in Suez Canal h e m o t h.

CNBC-TV18 have no Dredging choice but to speed up the ship due to the ships were utilized to remove silt and sand combination of the 40 mph gusts pushing from underneath the bow where the excathem to shore, as well as the inability to slow vator could not reach. Additional measures the ship down before they would hit the were taken, such as emptying the fuel tank bank. Minutes later, the bow became stuck to decrease the weight of the ship among in the bank of the river. Trade halted as the others. It took around a week for the ship position of the ship would allow no safe to be removed from the shoreline, but this travel through the canal, blocking off one saga of events has not concuded just yet.

Trade was not back to normal after the ship had been freed. Approximately 400 ships were caught in a backlog ever since the ship became stuck, meaning that it would take a couple of more days for traffic through the canal to return to normal. This could lead to shortages of supplies in certain areas. According to the BBC, the blockage of the canal cost roughly 9.6 billion dollars per day; this was a catastrophe for the global economy.

Even though travel through the canal has returned to normal, the Ever Given and its owners are not out of the woods quite yet. The Egyptian government seized control of the ship on April 13 and still has possession of the ship as of the writing of this article. The government is demanding that the owners of the Ever Given pay a restitution fee of 1 billion dollars. Evergreen Marine has balked at this number, leading to a standoff between the two, with some of the crew of the Ever Given remaining on board more than a month after the initial disaster. With all the memes and attention surrounding its grounding, this event will be remembered for years to come. ☐

“Poem a Day” Enlightens Continuing to Serve Others

By Kevin Weldon ’24 Panel Staff

On April 1st, everyone received an email from Dr. Tift including a poem and a set of rules. In that email, she explained that for every day in the month of April she would be sending out a poem to the community written by a student. Over the next 30 days, we saw haikus and 10 stanza poems, written by fellow students spanning from Form I to Form VI. When asked about her favorite part of the “Poem of the Day” experience, Dr. Tift said, “The best part of the experience was seeing the emails and hearing the comments from people around the community that were then shared with the poets, and seeing the students get the recognition and the positive feedback they deserved.” Over the years, our students have consistently gotten awards for their stellar writing, and Dr. Tift said she experienced this skill in her English classes time after time. But this year, the “Poem of the Day” provided an opportunity for students to

show their extraordinary talent in front of the whole school in a way unlike the traditional Poetry Fest. In Poetry Fest, students memorize and perform famous poems written by professional poets, but these poems only gave a chance for students to interpret written art. The poems from The “Poem of the Day” allowed students to create their own original work to express themselves.

The “Poem of the Day” may have seemed like a small thing to most of the community, but for the people who saw their poems, it was a fantastic way to bring poetry into our community. Promoting such a positive impact, The “Poem of the Day” will definitely be returning next year. ☐

all at once, and we ended up with more

By Andrew Bittner ’24 and Alex Lo ’23 items than expected for all four drives.”

Panel Staff But this success did not occur from the efforts of only a few people. In It has been exceptionally important in addition to families providing the items for the past year that the Belmont Hill Commu- the drives, this effort was aided by a numnity serve others and helps to support com- ber of organizations with whom Belmont munities which are less fortunate than our Hill has worked before and a small group own. Although public safety guidelines have of student volunteers, to help manage the led to the cancellation of events in which drives. “One highlight for Mrs. McDonBH students would participate in a normal ald and me was the way each team stepped year, many members of the community up and got the work done that was needed have come together as a community and we to make this event work,” Mr. George exhave sought alternative ways to help others. plained. “Another highlight was the enthuOne such way of helping the community siastic assistance from several parents who was through the “Giving Week” initiative helped deliver the items to our partners.”

Despite the success of the Giving __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ led by Mr. George and Mrs. McDonald.

Giving Week began when, over the Week, the question still remains as to what winter and early spring, Mrs. McDonald the future holds for community service Poem of the day from April 22, 2021 was confronted by students with a num- at Belmont Hill. While it looks like we ber of different ideas for donation drives. will have to wait and see if events such as Untitled Haiku “We felt it made the most sense to com- freshman trips to the Butler School and

by Anonymous ’22 bine them into a single effort, and that Christmas in the City will resume, hopeImagination gamble ended up paying off,” Mr. George fully many of the creative projects which Home to marvellous wonders said in an interview. “Families were able Belmont Hill students have worked on And my greatest fears to bring in items for more than one drive this year will continue into the future. ☐

Cont. Luke Carroll Becomes New School President

By Daniel Rashes ’22 Panel Staff

Continued from the Front Page. ...well handled the pandemic by “appealing to a sense of logic and a sense of reason in her constituency.” He acknowledges that he is working under completely different circumstances, but he hopes to “try to appeal to people not based on lofty promises or extravagant campaigning” but by taking a similar approach to Kelly, honing in on logic and reason. That strategy, he believes, is “what all public officials should do.” Luke has his personal style figured out.

Luke made clear throughout our conversation that, next year, Belmont Hill mainstays like the prom and Party With a Purpose are “a go.” Luke is sincerely excited to get back these large-scale events, especially those geared towards the senior class.

Camp Cody is on the docket, and he also looks forward to the senior prank. These senior traditions absent from the last year will be back, and he is even considering a venue change for prom. The incoming president is excited for some sense of normalcy and communal cheer after a tough year of distance. Also on his mind is the legacy

of his senior class, calling to attention the class gift as something “that should last.”

He looks forward to, most of all, carving panels together: “There is a reason why this school has held this tradition so closely and in such high regard for nearly a century now. Not only is it a way for students to leave their legacy, but it also fosters a sense of collaboration.” Reflecting on his class as a whole, he states, “Collectively, we’ve definitely been prepared for a difficult senior year. I know that this class is exceptionally capable of handling whatever comes their way, evidence being laid bare right in front of us throughout this pandemic.”

In terms of getting back to normal, Luke aims to get as close as possible to a pre-pandemic daily life for students. According to him, there were big things in the works for lunch before COVID hit, and he hopes that those ideas (hot bars, weekly themes, etc.) could be implemented next year. He is hesitant to say lunch will be totally back to normal but hopes to leave its current status as a “relic” of the past year.

Another change the young president has his sights on is increasing dress code flexibility.

Much like the sneakers victory six years ago, Carroll hopes to make blazers and ties a seasonal occurrence, though he wants to gauge

the opinion of the community before making a push. His insistence on consulting with his peers first is consistent with what he considers the key to leadership: approachability.

He feels that while this skill may be a “tough value to pin down or define, people know it when they see it.” As a class officer, he has considered his multiple channels of communication with his peers to be his greatest tool. He sees texts, emails, and encounters in between classes as not only great ways of familiarizing himself with what people want but also imperative to maintaining friendships over the past year. In conversations, he has heard a positive response to the DEI work throughout the year, though some still feel more action needs to be taken. He observes, “We don’t have to look far to understand what will be and what won’t be on the right side of history in these issues. As limited as the school sphere is, it is meaningful if and when the school takes a firm position on those issues.” Luke looks forward to expanding work against inequality and pushing the community towards more dialogue.

While Luke may now be at the top of the food chain at Belmont Hill, he has always been a single fish in a large pond in his family. Being the fifth in a family of nine kids, Luke knows what it’s like to have to

fend for yourself. “I’m incredibly fortunate to have the siblings and parents that I do,” he assured me, “It is admittedly a little chaotic in our household at times, but I never take that for granted.” With eight siblings, Luke has always had to be on top of his schedule, planning so that he can be everywhere he needs to be and do everything he needs to do while helping to “take stuff off his parents’ plate.” Luke has been diligently planning and strategizing his whole life to make things easier on his family, so doing so for the student body seems like a logical next step.

As far as post-Belmont aspirations, Carroll is considering remaining in the political ring, but not quite as a politician.

Right now, he has his eyes set on conducting public policy research for think tanks or private institutions. He is confident that whatever he does, he “wants to serve the public in some way.” He sees the Congressional Research Service, which helps to inform congress before they write bills, and the RAND Corporation, which consults leaders in the pentagon, as ideal places where he could conduct research to truly make a difference and a better country. For now, he’s just looking forward to serving our community as best he can, and in this author’s opinion, he’s well equipped for the challenge. ☐

B elmont HIll news

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Belmont Hill's Online Presence: A History of the Website

By Luke Hogan ’22 and Howard Huang ’22 Panel Staff Did you know that you can view Belmont Hill’s old websites as far back as 1997? Upon a quick search on the Wayback Machine (web.archive.org), The Panel reviewed the saved archives of one of Belmont Hill’s first contributions to the World Wide Web. The earliest versions available were simple HTML webpages that were run by students interested in the nascent internet. What prompted this discovery, though, was the news that Belmont Hill’s current website will be replaced in August of this year. For information about this new website, we interviewed Belmont Hill’s Director of Communication, Mr. Mahoney.

When asked about what changes to

expect on the new website, Mr. Mahoney stated that “The new site will feature a far more robust homepage that uses a “hamburger” menu to give the page a more open and clean look.” There will also be “an animated opening, creatively displaying the words ‘Always Character/Always Together/ Working Together,’ and as you scroll down the homepage, you will see an innovative use of the sextant to highlight ‘points of distinction’ of the school.” Currently, Belmont Hill uses Blackbaud software to host its current site but is partnering with FinalSite, another provider that specializes in Independent School marketing and website development. Many peer schools (over 5000) across the globe utilize FinalSite’s services, and an example site shown on FinalSite's webpage is depicted to the right. Mr. Mahoney aims for this website to become an

“effective tool for prospective families to get an in-depth look at the school.” Similar to the current site, there will also be profiles, social media and news posts, a drone video of the campus, a 360 virtual campus tour, calls to action, and more.” As school returns to a state of normalcy, the communications office hopes “to add more videos

to tell the story of the life of the school.”

The Panel looks forward to this new chapter in the school’s online presence and hopes the website will highlight our community.

Take a preview below of how Belmont Hill’s previous websites looked. It is amazing what technological advances can do. ☐

An example website created by FinalSite for another Independent School

Belmont Hill's current website to be replaced over the summer

Belmont Hill's new website used in the early 2010s

Editors-In-Chief Online Editor

Faculty Advisors

Alex Lo '23

Executive Editor

Digital Media Editor

Arec Keomurjian '22

David Hegarty Juliette Zener

Graphics Editor

News Editors

Kevin Jiang '22

David Cho '23

Photo Editors

Opinion Editor

Cooper Nelson '23

Arts Editor

Daniel Rashes '22

Sports Editor Daniel Bittner '22

The homepage of www.belmont-hill.org in the late 2000s

Drew Dummer '22 Alex Sousa '22

Digital Design Editor Chris Brusie '23

Andrew Bittner '24 Merhawi Ghebrelul '23 Daniel Moran '23 Igaju Agba '22 Luke Guleserian '24 Anton Schmitt '22 Lawrence Tang '22

The homepage of www.belmont-hill.org in the early 2000s

Luke Hogan '22 Howard Huang '22

Assistant Editors

Mac Bobo '23

Back Page Editors Jackson Kendall '22 Tommy Madden '22 Charlie March '22

Daniel Cho '23 Aidan Lee '24 Luke Trevisan '24 Daniel Xie '24

Noah Farb '24 Brian Lee '24 Kevin Weldon '24

Cam Carey '23 Matthew Flaherty '24 Timo Simonin '22 Lev Tolkoff '24

Jarrett Chen '22 Duncan Kilbride '24 Aaron Stanger '24 Luke Wagner '22

Staff Writers

The Panel, founded in 1953, is the official school newspaper of the Belmont Hill. The Panel is the voice of the student body. We publish articles that are of consequence to the students, as well as the school communities. The views expressed in The Panel belong solely to the authors and editors and do not necessarily represent the student body, faculty or administration of either school. Any comment about the content should be addressed directly to the editors. The Panel encourages responsible opinion in the form of Letters to the Editor. We reserve the right to edit all submissions for length and content. Copyright © 2021 The Panel. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission of the Editor-in-Chief. Published by the Belmont Printing Co., Belmont, MA 02478.

B elmont Hill Arts

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T he Panel

The Panel’s Artist of the Issue: Matthew Travaglini ’21

By Arec Keomurjian ’22 Panel Staff Matthew Travaglini, Belmont Hill Class of 2021, has graced the stages of the Hamilton chapel and Kraft theater with his acting and singing alike. With his talent, one would expect Matt to be a seasoned performer with years of experience; however, Matt’s endeavors in the performing arts started relatively recently.

Matt first tried out visual arts, taking a ceramics class in the third form with Mrs. Kaplan. After retiring from competitive gymnastics that same year, Matt “didn’t know where to go or what to pursue.” He felt his “place on campus was unapparent.”

His friends told him he should try out for a show, and after being cast in A Raisin in the Sun, his love for theater was ignited. Since then, he has been a yearly participant of the school’s collaborative spring musical with Dana Hall and an active member of the B-Flats, which allow him to perform at various shows and school events.

Matt cites A Chorus Line, the 2019 col-

laborative spring musical with Dana Hall, as his favorite production to date. While being the last show he was a part of before the pandemic, A Chorus Line also gave Matt the chance to showcas e his acting c ap a b i l i Belmont Hill Communications ties as the musical’s lead. Thus, it holds a special place

in his heart. When I asked him what he enjoyed about participating in A Chorus Line, he responded, “I was able to work with an incredibly talented group of actors and advisors, and the show that was a culmination of our hard work was really special.” Matt’s love for musical theater shines through his devotion to Belmont Hill’s program.

While he has explored the realm of theater and music and broadened the boundaries of his artistic expression at Belmont Hill, Matt strives to continue to pursue both singing and acting in college. He hopes to join one of Harvard’s many A capella groups and explore the plethora of musical theater outlets in Harvard Square. The Panel wishes him the best and is excited to learn about Matt’s future artistic endeavors. ☐

Godzilla vs. Kong Review Changes to Music Programs Verse films, I think that Godzilla vs. Kong ranks second after Kong: Skull Island. The movie had big hype coming in, as many fans have enjoyed and continue to enjoy the series, and the movie had to tie it all together.

Like all of the other MonsterVerse franchise films, it did its job, providing an exciting, action-packed experience. But don’t expect m u c h m o r e t h a n hard hits and fire beams.

Godzilla vs. Kong focuses more on thrilling battles than on develo p i n g the cinematic universe’s storyline further, which leaves room for future movies to fill in gaps or add more. The film follows two entirely different storylines and characters, which made most of the movie quite confusing. But the ending brings all of the characters onto the same scene in semi-plausible ways. Overall, I think the movie was good, but don’t come looking for hidden meanings or underlying metaphors.

I give this movie a rating of 4/5 stars. ☐

quirement. With the members now receiving class credit, the B-Flats and Jazz Band will begin to meet during a class block, and The 2020-2021 school year has been a members will receive a grade just as they unique experience for the B-Flats and Jazz would in any other hands-on art class or art Band. While restrictions imposed on both appreciation class. However, even though groups preventing in-perJazz Band and the B-Flats sonrehearsals have been now fill the role of art classfrustrating, they have also es, members of these groups allowed the musicians are still encouraged to take to work on and present part in other art classes pre-recorded performancif their schedules permit. es. As a Jazz Band memAdditionally, thirdber, I can say that taking form students will be the time to record and lisable to participate in the ten to myself playing has B-Flats and Jazz Band next been immensely valuable. year. Previously, they were But I am eager to resume only allowed to be memplaying in person. While bers of the middle-school it is unsure whether the ensembles. This change B-Flats and Jazz Band will will enable them to join have in-person rehearsals higher-level groups. In next year, Mr. Fiori, Mr. addition, the addition of Patterson, Mr. Kaplan, and Belmont Hill Comunications third-formers will strengthcountless others have orgaen the B-Flats and Jazz nized changes that are sure to improve the Band by increasing the groups’ numbers. experiences of members of both groups.

In a year where every new I spoke to Mr. Fiori about these changes change appears to be negative, the upcomand have highlighted some of them below. ing changes to the Jazz Band and B-Flats Taking part in Jazz Band or the B-Flats are finally positive. I would like to thank for a full year fulfills the hands-on art re- the art department and everyone else quirement; beginning next year, a second who worked hard to make these changyear of membership in one of these ensem- es possible. Hopefully, we’ll see many bles will also satisfy the art appreciation re- new faces in these groups next year! ☐

Mortal Kombat: BH Review

lion’s share of any emotional weight present.

But I hear you, who cares about the script or the performances? You watch a movie like this for the action. I agree, and I can report that overall it’s fine. I expected some intense and bloody action, which does occur, but mainly through the franchise’s signature fatalities. These creative and, for the morbid viewer, entertaining scene-enders are the mainstay of the franchise and certainly the best part of this movie. Unfortunately, they are few and far between and the action leading up to these moments is often dull and poorly shot. McQuoid rapidly cuts between different coverage during fights, making it difficult to track momentum and the current standing.

They’re fun to watch but don’t reach the same visceral levels as other R-rated fare.

Do I recommend Mortal Kombat?

Here’s what I’ll say, if you can sit through some dreadful dialogue and think you’d be entertained by a big bat lady being sawed in half by a hat, go for it. If you want some cheap thrills and already have an HBO Max subscription, watch it; you won’t be disappointed. Mortal Kombat is a lot of noise and very little substance. I don’t regret watching it, but I certainly wouldn’t risk anyone’s health to view it in a theater at the moment. If you want to give it a look, it’s currently in theaters and playing on HBO Max until May 24. ☐

By Luke Trevisan ’24 Panel Staff Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) is the fourth installment in Warner Bros’ and Legendary Entertainment’s MonsterVerse. The current climax of the franchise, the movie ties together the plots from Godzilla (2014), Kong: S k u l l Island (2017), a n d Godzilla: King of the Mons t e r s (2019).

The previous f i l m s explore the backgrounds Warner Bros. Pictures of Godzilla and King Kong and their introductions to the human race.

Godzilla vs. Kong starts on Kong’s Skull Island, where a storm has taken over, forcing Kong to remain in an enclosed facility run by scientists. Eventually, after a series of many twists and turns captured by some mesmerizing camera shots, Godzilla meets Kong, and the two titans clash in a battle for the ages.

Having watched all four Monster-

By Daniel Rashes ’22 Panel Staff Mortal Kombat follows Cole Young, an out-of-his-prime boxer whose lineage and dragon birthmark bind him to an ancient tournament. He soon finds himself on a team that will determine the fate of the world. I know next to nothing about the Mortal Kombat franchise. Going into this movie, I could probably name three characters and tell you nothing of the concept. After watching the movie, I still have little knowledge. For the uninitiated, this film is based on a long-running series of fighting video games dating back to 1992. The series is known for its brutal “fatalities,” colorful cast of characters, and, from what I can gather, unfathomable lore.

This adaptation offers very little explanation of its world’s parameters. There is something admirable about its unapologetic fantasy elements, but it ultimately leads to a muddled plot. After the film’s fantastic opening sequence—nothing in the film achieves the same heights as the opening ten minutes—a brief title card introduces the conflict between Earthrealm

By Andrew Bittner ’24 Panel Staff

I don’t like to place blame on actors, especially when they are working with material like this. Acting is not an easy job, and and Outworld. Outworld has won 9 out of they are not always making final decisions 10 “tournaments” needed to justify an inva- regarding their characters. With that besion of Earth, but it is also made clear that ing said, most leading performances in this they cheat every time. I have never touched movie leave a lot to be desired. Lewis Tan, a Mortal Kombat game, but I shouldn’t who stars as the protagonist Cole, is utterly have needed to in order to understand this banal. While great action heroes need not movie. They never even get around to the be great thespians, Tan offers an uncharisactual Mortal Kombat, despite buildmatic performance. Another letdown is ing up to it. All of the conflict is Jessica McNamee, who plays exresolved before the “official” US marine Sonya Blade. The tournament kicks off. It’s all Australian can’t quite crack the very vague, and the film American accent and delivers doesn’t compensate for the one-liners with the impact of plot with its characters. a feather dropped from an The script is bad. inch above concrete. The clear Like, really bad. Aside standout is Josh Lawson, who from the evident plot failis allowed to keep his Austraures I discussed, the dialogue lian accent as the morally-flexible is laughable. For a franchise Kano. Lawson is on a different playwith catchphrases so ingrained Luke Trevisan ing field; he seems to be the only one in its identity, there is very little who understands the genre. Kano is in the way of clever prose. The film has a boisterous caricature and, unlike the othtwo “written by” credited scribes, one of ers, Lawson is able to rebound from painwhom boasts this film as his first project. ful dialogue with comedic chops. He chews The same is true for director Simon Mc- the scenery until there’s none left for his Quoid. This movie oozes inexperience. co-stars. Other pros are Joe Taslim and HiWhen people aren’t punching, stabbing, or royuki Sanada as mortal enemies Sub-Zero dismembering each other, it screeches to a and Scorpion. They don’t have much to do, halt. Action movies should not be boring. but their interactions sufficiently carry the

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T he Panel

Class Election Results Show Promising Student Leaders

By Brian Lee ’24 and Aaron Stanger ’24 Panel Staff Due to the pandemic, class elections were slightly different from other years.

Speeches were given via Zoom with all the advisories in their respective homerooms.

After the candidates gave their speeches, a google form was sent out with ranked voting of each candidate, a method that was newly implemented this year. Students ranked the candidates in their order of preference, and if a single candidate did not garner more than 50% of the 1st place votes, the process would move to 2nd place votes to continue sorting

the candidates until one had a 50% majority.

In this way, elections were supposed to capture a more accurate representation of the form’s overall opinion and serve as a logisti-

“Luke Carroll and Adam Figler were elected as the President and Vice President, and Tommy Madden, Ben Trotsky, and Shane Kelly as the Senators.” cally more effective method of getting votes quicker due to the online voting format.

Results are as follows: In Form I, Will Achtmeyer and Nathan Zhang were elected as the President and Vice President

respectively. In Form II, Evan Dresser and Sam Caulfield were elected as the President and Vice President, and Christopher McEvoy as the Senator. In Form III, James Mullowney and Nolan Bibbo were elected as the President and Vice President, and Zachary Khozozian as the Senator. In Form IV, John Goguen and Daniel Drucker were elected as the President and Vice President, and Dan Moran and Joe Puglielli as the Senators. Finally, in Form V, Luke Carroll and Adam Figler were elected as the President and Vice President, and Tommy Madden, Ben Trotsky, and Shane Kelly as the Senators. In Forms III, IV, and V, there were also elections for Form Disciplinary Com-

mittee representatives, and results for these elections are as follows: In Form III, Brian Lee was elected as the DC representative. In Form IV, William Kelly and Brogan Chitkara were elected the DC representatives.

In Form V, Brian Gallucci and Jack Albers were elected as the DC representatives.

We are excited to see how the newly elected student government members will tackle various issues next year, including the transition out of the pandemic, welcoming new students into the form with different activities (a practice that was brushed over this past fall due to COVID), and discussions around race and identity, which have been increasingly prevalent in recent months. ☐

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Volume 70 New Staff Positions Looking to Lead

By The Executive Staff From all of us here at The Panel, we are excited to welcome you to Volume 70! With nearly ten percent of the school joining our publication for this upcoming school year, we have great ambitions for our staff and the future

of The Panel. This is the largest staff group The Panel has had in recent years.

While Covid-19 restrictions have hampered our ability to publish in print this last year, we are thankful that restrictions have eased, and we are able to offer our staff ’s hard work through paper and digital means now.

We have also created some new editor positions to help redefine roles with-

in The Panel to support staff that have an increased workload. Our new Article Support editor will be replacing the previous Copy Editor position to support staff throughout the writing and editing process. Along with the Article Support editor, we have added a Digital Media assistant editor. The Digital Media staff will be at the forefront of our new ambitions by creat-

ing The Panel as an improved student hub. With video content, podcasts and social media posts on the horizon, we look forward to this increased online presence. As the school enters a new phase in its future, The Panel looks forward to continuing its role as the traditional voice of the student body and an important tool for recording the history of Belmont Hill School. ☐

Volume 70 Editor Photo Masthead

Luke Hogan '22, Editor-In-Chief

Howard Huang '22, Editor-In-Chief

Arec Keomurjian '22, Executive Editor

Alex Lo '23, Online Editor

Cooper Nelson '23, DM Editor

Daniel Rashes '22, Arts Editor

Mac Bobo '23, Opinions Editor

David Cho '23, News Editor

Daniel Bittner '22, Sports Editor

Kevin Jiang '22, Graphics Editor

Drew Dummer '22, Photo Editor

Alex Sousa '22, Photo Editor

Chris Brusie '23, D. Design Editor

Jackson Kendall '22, Backpage Editor

Tommy Madden '22, Backpage Editor

Charlie March '22, Backpage Editor

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B elmont Hill Opinions

T he Panel

Cont. Should BH Require COVID-19 Vaccinations? year olds and under, would there be worth lowed. Belmont Hill should not be requirrequiring students over this age group to ing families to receive the vaccine if they receive the vaccine? Also, a clear factor in have a clear and reasonable objection to it. this decision would be about conscientious More than likely, families have alobjectors to the vaccine. In many religions ready been receiving vaccinations and most Continued from Front Page. Furthermore, and communities, vaccinations are not al- eligible students by the end of the summer if a significant development regarding the side effects of young individuals receiving a particular vaccine emerges and remains unresolved, Belmont Hill should certainly not jeopardize the health of their students by receiving an unsafe vaccine.

Interestingly, universities across the country have created a mandate that students, faculty, and staff alike will be required to be vaccinated to return to campus. Should universities be setting this standard already?

In comparison to high schools and especially Belmont Hill, universities normally don’t have students under the age of 17. Currently, this would create an issue for K-12 schools as students under the age of 16 are not able to nor allowed to receive any vaccine at this BBC time. If a vaccine is not approved for 15 Pfizer Vaccine for 12-15 Approved in Canada

will be fully vaccinated. The decision about including Covid-19 Vaccination as a requirement to attend school might give Belmont Hill more leeway in Covid restrictions and allow for a more normal return in the 20212022 school year. Belmont Hill may not even have to independently request the vaccine if the Massachusetts government requires it for all school aged children under law as they did with the flu vaccine for this year.

Yet, if the vaccines continue to prove safe and unharmful to students as is most likely to be the case, Belmont Hill should require a vaccine at some point during the next school year in order to protect students and faculty alike. In order to help appease hesitant individuals regarding the safeness of the vaccine, however, perhaps delaying this requirement would prove beneficial for all members of the community. Nevertheless, once the public has generally accepted that the vaccine is fully safe for minors, Belmont Hill should face no opposition in requiring a vaccine. ☐

tainly proves to be a tiring endeavor. long. However, since it has become Another advantage to the new the norm, these longer blocks do not schedule is the amount of homework feel nearly as bad. Although the long each night. Due to classes only meet- blocks can be a pain, each in-person ing three rather than four times a week, class’s extra class time offers additional and since classes meet every other day, there is significantly less homework each night. As many students transition into higher-level courses, the amount of homework per class exponentially increases.

Moreover, with extracurriculars and sports, homework can pose a significant challenge in time management. However, the new schedule allows students Current Belmont Hill Class Schedule BH Communications to have more room to complete their homework each day. time to rush less and dive deeper into Furthermore, the 75-minute the topics. Compared to last year, the blocks allow for much more time in number of times where the bell has the classroom. Many argued that the abruptly stopped teaching is far less. long blocks were too tiring at the beMoreover, the remote Wednesday ginning of the year and went far too is another pro of the new block sched-

ule. For many students, these days offer an excellent time for a relaxed mid-week day. Getting the extra hour of sleep and having a more relaxed and laid-back day has been very beneficial in getting through the week. Unfortunately, the school has transitioned to entirely in-person classes on Wednesdays.

These in-person Wednesdays have been rushed and not well thought out. With the addition of study halls and classes in the Jordan Athletic Center, students are now forced to make multiple trips a day. When they arrive late to classes, these already shorter blocks become far more limited. The day is also longer, far more exhausting, and rushes constantly.

Over Zoom, this schedule is more lowkey and a relaxing day where students can touch base in each of their classes while in the comfort of their homes.

As the year has progressed, opinions of the new block schedule have varied considerably. When comparing the pros and cons, it ultimately comes down to the norm and basic logistics. With those in mind, as long as COVID is staying around the long block schedule with a Wednesday zoom is evidently the best option. ☐

spread practice of redlining (and its evil twin, restrictive covenants), which has had a cascading effect on generations of Black families; the de jure and de facto racist policies permeating every corner of America, whether in the public or private sphere; the grotesque racial wealth gap and shocking dearth of resources and opportunity in communities of color; the blatantly separate and entirely unequal public school system; the near ubiquity of police brutality toward people of color; the horrific impact of harsh sentencing laws suffused with racial bias and applied by overly-zealous prosecutors with all the power and resources on their side; the general criminalization of poverty (including pre-trial imprisonment); the extensive over-policing of communities of color; and the prison-industrial complex, which has been abundantly fed by the “school to prison” pipeline into which so many young men and women of color are funneled.

This, of course, is just a partial list.

Unlike most states, the Consti-

gressive politics that our state has consistently sponsored to level racial inequality have been unsuccessful in the sphere of education, arguably the most important access point to opportunity writ large. While the issue is far more embedded anywhere in society than adjusting funding might solve alone, it would offer relief to public education where it's most badly needed. If the state covered the basic expense per student -- or, at least, covered a greater share than it currently does -- the poorest towns and cities in the state would finally experience the relative financial security that so many other districts enjoy in abundance. This change alone (among a long list of other funding options), ones that our state is certainly capable of making, would encourage higher graduation rates, a better quality of education for the average student, would begin to address the enormous disadvantage into which many Black and brown students are born, and help to provide every other benefit we know to be true of a fulfilling education. ☐

By Daniel Bittner ’22 and Luke Hogan ’22 Panel Staff

Is this Year’s Block Schedule Better or Worse?

By Brian Lee ’24 and Aaron Stanger ’24 Panel Staff

As we all know, the schedule has changed ever since Belmont Hill went hybrid in the fall. Instead of having three “normal” class days and two long block days every week, the current schedule has three long block classes every day except for one virtual class day (which has transitioned to entirely in person) in which all classes meet for just 40 minutes.

We wholeheartedly believe that the new model is considerably superior to the old five classes per day schedule. The first benefit of the new model primarily rests with the reasoning behind the new block schedule. Since there are only three classes each day in contrast to 5 classes, there is less movement between classes, which reduces the risk of exposure between students in different classes. Obviously, most people would prefer to walk as little as possible between classes.

Schoolwork takes a toll, and constantly walking across the campus cer-

Massachusetts’ Unequal and Underfunded Public Schools

By Luke Carroll ’22 Panel Staff Massachusetts is lauded for its extremely successful and highly-ranked public school system (and schools in general, such as our own). Yet public school funding -- almost always directed from local property taxes to local public schools -- is hugely uneven.

De facto school segregation and incidents of “intensely segregated” public schools have barely improved in the last fifty years (save for progress made by a few rare programs, like Metco, and independent schools with resources to reach out to and recruit students from a range of locations). Perhaps unsurprisingly, poorly-funded schools and areas with higher concentrations of students of color overlap with striking precision.

It would be an impossible effort to trace the entire history of inequality and racism to present in order to attribute it exactly to public schools and, by and large, the opportunity that follows.

But the record is undeniable: the wide-

tution of Massachusetts requires that the state guarantee a certain level of funding per student per year ($11,448 most recently). Most of this funding burden, though, lies on the local administration; the state itself (and all of its revenue) only provides up to 17.5% of the basic cost per student with certain higher exceptions.

The result, of course, is largely separate James Peyser, MA Sec Edu and plainly unequal public education, the kind that the Civil Rights Act sought to end through law.

In many ways -- hardly more than fifty years beyond the Jim Crow Era -- the system of public education in Massachusetts (and in the country) is still in its infancy. The laws and pro-

B elmont HIll Opinions

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The Chauvin Trial and the Shooting of Daunte Wright

By Igaju Agba ’22 Panel Staff As we all know, the trial over the murder of George Floyd was over police officer Derrick Chauvin kneeling on protestor George Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes. As the recent trial over the death of George Floyd concludes, several questions emerge. These

Associated Press include, but are not limited to, “Are we finally at peace?” and, “Has the United States progressed in terms of Justice?”

Although to some, at first glance, the

trial over the murder of George Floyd may have seemed like an open-shut case with a predictable outcome, in reality, this was a pivotal trial. This trial gave hope to many, not only in the Black community, but to people all around the world longing for justice. With the majority of police brutality cases resulting in little to no jail time for the officer, many are hoping this trial can stand as a precedent for future cases.

While the verdict of this case does bring the United States one step closer to justice, ultimately, this case will mean nothing unless cases like these continue to rule in the same way. These rulings need to become a trend before our country can progress in terms of our justice system. While this trial does bring the United States as a whole one step closer to justice, it is essential to note that police brutality has not declined since the trial, and injustice against black and other minority groups is still occurring. On the day of the trial’s closing, a 16-year-old black girl was shot multiple times in the chest after calling police to protect

her against bullies. A few days before this black girl was shot, on April 11th a Minnesota police chief claims she confused her gun for a taser and shot Daunte Wright, an unarmed black man,

at a traffic stop. While it is easy to look at the good that has occurred recently, it is essential to pay attention to the bigger picture and to be mindful of everything that is going on in the world.☐

Police Shootings in the United States

Statista

Vaccine Rollout in Massachusetts and Across the Country

By Cam Carey ’23 Panel Staff While the vaccine rollout has picked up significantly in the last few months, there are still many facets of the operation that the government can improve on. Biden blew past his goal of 100 million vaccines given in his first 100 days and that number has risen to 220 million so far. One of Biden’s core promises on his campaign was to improve vaccine distribution, and in the first few days of his presidency, he prioritized getting more vaccines across the country. One of the main reasons Biden was able to increase vaccinations across the country was the early-March release of the J&J vaccine.

Following the short distribution pause in April due to concerns about rare instances of blood clotting, the J&J vaccine is back to being distributed across the country which is a huge reason for the increased number of vaccinations. One crucial reason that the J&J vaccine is important, is that it is a one shot only vaccine, different from Moderna and Pfizer which eliminates the issue of some people not returning to their second vaccination. The US has lagged behind other countries with relation to percentage of vaccinated persons, with countries like Israel (60% vaccinated) leading the way.

The US (with 32.8% of the country fully most effective and safe vaccines created, In addition, social media disinformavaccinated) has gained ground on the UK and hopefully, the government can work tion campaigns have further fueled vaccine hesitation and skepticism. In a recent interview, Facebook vice president of global business, Carolyn Everson, said that the company is taking “aggressive measures” to remove vaccine misinformation, noting that the company has taken down over 2 million related posts since February. In March 2020, Facebook launched a Covid-19 Information Center, which initially to give accurate information about the virus, but has since transitioned to a hub of information related to the vaccine. If the government wants to continue the trend of getting people vaccinated, other companies and social networks, such as Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter need to follow Facebook’s lead and continue to crack down on misinformation campaigns and increase the number of posts related to accurate information about Vaccine Clinics Pick Up Where Mass Vaccination Sites Left Off NPR the vaccine. By giving users easy access to and surpassed France, Chile and Hungary. to end the distrust of the vaccine and get information related to the vaccine it will Vaccine distrust has slowed the pace more eligible people vaccinated. One way increase trust within the nation and lead of vaccinations. In a recent poll conduct- they can do this is by continuing to nor- to more residents becoming vaccinated. ed by NPR, 1 in 4 persons say they would malize getting vaccinated and having comBy lowering distrust of the vaccine, turn down a vaccine if offered one. One way munity leaders step up and promote vacci- the United States can begin to look towards the government could combat this fear is nations. As we saw during the NFL Draft, a pre-Covid sense of normalcy sooner than by holding educational town halls or other multiple times they mentioned the advan- many may think. While there is still a long events to convince groups that are hesitant, tages of getting the vaccine and showed a way to go, by fixing these slowdowns and to get their vaccine. Studies have shown glimpse as to what life can return to if the continuing to administer vaccines at a high that the Covid-19 vaccines are some of the majority of people become vaccinated. rate, there is light at the end of the tunnel. ☐

Debate of the Issue: Is Baseball a Sport or a Pastime?

By Luke Trevisan ’24 Panel Staff The National Baseball League or the MLB as we know it today was officially founded in 1876. Baseball is played throughout the world and has many notable appearances and titles, such as the Olympics and the American World Series, which, despite the name, only includes teams from the United States. The game is definitely one of the most well-known sports along with football and basketball. However, baseball doesn’t even come close to the attention that football gets, with 92 million spectators watching the Super Bowl and only 9.8 million on average tuning in for the world series games. If anything, football is THE pastime of America.

A pastime is considered to be

a hobby that one does other than work. This may apply to kids and highschoolers, but almost all major league players get their main source of income from baseball. Some of the big shots, like Mike Trout, are earning upwards of 35 million dollars.

Despite being inaccurately deemed a pastime by definition, the Forbes definition states that a sport is “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess” -- a perfect description of baseball. Not everyone can properly field a ground ball or successfully pitch a curveball; even the professionals mess up now and again.

Baseball players must push themselves through physical and even mental strain to succeed in the sport, and I can’t say that I would do that grueling work for my personal enjoyment. ☐

By Lev Tolkoff ’24 Panel Staff Since the 1840’s baseball has been widely considered America’s national pastime, and for great reason. Baseball is not a vigorous activity like football, basketball, or hockey. You often do not see many baseball players sweating as they come off the field, with the only exception being a pitcher now and again. By no means am I downplaying the difficulties of baseball, but I believe that hitting a 100 MPH fastball is one of the hardest things a human can do, but it is not enough to be dubbed a sport.

Another component is the game’s length. Without intensity, three to four hours for one game is simply too long; in that span, roughly 18 minutes of that time is the actual game.

Baseball also has the longest season of any major professional sport with 162 games, which is eighty more than basketball and hockey, and ten times the amount as football. The reason for this, playing baseball games is proven to not be exhausting, watching players like Jimmy Butler in last year’s NBA finals, limping after four grueling quarters leaving everything on the court, it is a reminder that this is not the case for baseball.

When I sit down to watch a Red Sox game in the summer, there are just three or four times during the game when something interesting happens. During that time however, it is extremely fun to watch. With all this in mind, I do love the game of baseball, but in the end it is a pastime and absolutely NOT a sport. ☐

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The Panel’s Athlete of the Issue: Zach Travaglini ’21

By Mac Bobo ’23 Panel Staff Ever since he started playing in the first grade, Zach Travaglini ‘21 has stood out on the lacrosse field. By utilizing his quickness and immense toughness, Zach caught the attention of several programs, namely Laxachusetts and eventually Belmont Hill. Moreover, Zach also found ways to take advantage of his athleticism in other sports. As a middle schooler, Zach and several of his friends comprised some of the most talented football teams the school has ever witnessed. In eighth grade, Zach decided to switch from hockey, which he had played most of his life, to basketball, a move that truly displayed the extent of his athleticism. Not only did

Zach hold his own in the new sport, receivers on a depth chart overflowbut he made significant contributions ing with unbelievable talent. What to the team as a surprisingly proficient stood out most during his years as a shooter and reliably scrappy defender. member of the varsity football team When in the Upper School, Zach was his consistency and reliability. focused on football and lacrosse. DeUnfortunately, the auspicious spite his outstanding success in middle start to his varsity career was haltschool sports, ed because of the Zach showed COVID-19 panthat he would demic. His junior continue to exlacrosse season was cel athleticalcanceled and his ly through his last year of footmany eye-openball would evening perfortually be canceled mances on varin favor of the safsity teams. As er, more socially a junior, Zach distanced 7-on-7 demonstratformat. While the ed that he was pandemic was cer Adam Richins tainly not ideal, among the best

Zach made the most of it, returning his senior year for an outstanding final lacrosse season. Just in the first seven games, Zach has 21 goals and 11 assists.

But his jaw-dropping performances are not what gets Zach most excited about being back as a team. When asked what he loves most about Belmont Hill lacrosse, Zach said, “What makes BH lacrosse so special is the winning culture and the energy that comes with that day in and day out.”

Next year, Zach will play for the Boston University Terriers, alongside Belmont Hill teammate Trey Brown ‘21.

This weekend, the varsity lacrosse team beat Roxbury Latin, continuing their undefeated record for the fourth game of the regular season.

The Panel wishes the team the best of luck in their upcoming games. ☐

games left to play, the team is confident that they can finish the year out strong.

Mr. Grant enters his tenth season coaching the varsity team, and he is assisted by Coach Cunningham and Coach Horwitz in their second and first seasons, respectively. The team is also led by captains Peter Jones ’21, Caleb McGrath ’21, and Anthony Pellegrini ’22. Aside from these older leaders, the team also has a number of talented upperclassmen, including Jack Winnay ’22, Drew Blackwell ’22, and Lawrence Tang ’22. As Coach Grant often says, “Baseball is an individual game not meant to be played individually.”

The team hopes to rely on its strong leadership and talented younger players to continue the 10-year streak of finishing first or second in the ISL. ☐

Dooley and Fiona Ahearne have worked tirelessly to ensure that the entire team is prepared for the competitions or practices that lie ahead. From the smooth bay sailing of the Cape to the brutal Maine chop, you can count on the devoted coaches to walk the sailors through the game plan. Season highlights to date include, but are not limited to: Dietrich heroically saving skied halyards, Dietrich and Alex running aground, geese laying several eggs on our boats, Michael Salvatore falling in the water while being attacked by a goose, and lastly, Quinn and Panos running aground before capsizing. ☐

Baseball Season Continues Successful Sailing Season

By Cooper Nelson ’23 Panel Staff

The spring season has been a challenging but productive season for Belmont Hill’s varsity baseball team.

Plagued with COVID scares and general uncertainty early on, the team has since pushed through adversities and been able to compete interscholastically. Because of the spread-out nature of the sport, it is somewhat easier to socially distance on the baseball field than in other sports. This allowed the team to serve reduced quarantine requirements after exposures during spring break practices.

This season differs from previous ones in terms of scheduling as well. Instead of playing games on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, the team is now following a schedule of playing a Friday game and a Saturday doubleheader against the same team. So far, the team has yet to see the level of success that it strives for but has had several notable wins, including a comeback victory against Exeter. However, with many

Adam Richins

By Wilton Lawton ’22 Staff Writer

Varsity sailing is off to a great start this year! While the number of regattas has significantly been reduced due to COVID-19, the team was still able to race against Tabor Academy. It was a great first race, full of energy and enthusiasm from both teams.

While Belmont Hill did not bring home the trophy, they all had a fun time sailing down in Marion. So far, practices have been held on Mystic Lake, and the team has spent a great deal of time working on the technical aspects of sailboat racing such as sail trim, boat positioning, starts, high wind strategy, and much more. The younger competitors, Michael Furey ’25 and Panos Gianoukos ’26, have seen considerable improvements in their boat handling abilities. Abe Tolkoff ’21, the team’s only Sixth Former, has also done a great job mentoring the younger kids and being a solid skipper. Alex Lo ’23 and Quinn Healey ’23 have proven to be quite successful at mounting boat speed and roll tacking. Dietrich Jacobs ’22 and Michael Salvatore ’22 always know how to keep the team laughing and upbeat. Coaches Kevin

Drew Dummer ’22

Sports Cards NHL Playoffs Thoughts and Predictions

By Luke Wagner ’22 Panel Staff

By Cam Carey ’24 Panel Staff

Over quarantine, the sports card hobby resurged to the heights it had many years ago when collecting sports cards was a popular pastime. I first got into sports cards when I was an avid baseball fan at the age of 8. I had every player’s cards, everyone’s rookies, and I loved collecting binders of all the players. As I grew older, I grew out of the hobby and did not enter back into it until this year when I saw Gary V. videos about collecting cards and found myself bored out of my mind while locked in my house.

Ever since I got back into my hobby, its value has exploded, with many cards increasing over ten times in price.

This year, some recent record sales have been a Luka Doncic Logoman RPA sold for $4.6 million, and a Lebron James Exquisite RPA sold for $5.2 million.

Sports cards have grown immensely in popularity, and with the introduction of new collectors and new money, it continues to expand to this day. The cards’ future depends on the performances of current athletes and the popularity of the sports which the athletes play. I, with others, am excited about the future of collecting sports cards. ☐

The NHL playoffs are going to look a little different this year, which means we could see some unlikely matchups in the Stanley Cup Final. The bracket is set by the top four teams in each of the newly formed divisions, the East, North, Central, and West divisions (Keep in mind only Canadian teams are in the North division due to travel restrictions). In addition to the new divisions, the NHL this year has opted to move away from an Eastern and Western Conference final, meaning we could be seeing two teams previously in the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final. This means after the first two rounds of competition, the semi-finalists will be reseeded based on their regular-season record, a new rule in 2021. In order to advance

Golf Success

By Charlie Wells ’21 Contributing Writer

The Belmont Hill varsity golf team is off to a strong start and is excited to compete this year! Their schedule includes competitions against other

to the semi-finals, instead of getting seeded based on overall record within your conference, this year, the seeding goes on within the division. Each division runs its own tournament where the winner advances to the semi-finals.

Right now, the defending champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning are sitting in third place of the central division, comfortably having clinched a playoff spot. Although, their road to repeat is much harder this year as they have to beat the likes of the Carolina Hurricanes who are currently atop of the division at 71 points. There is no clear-cut favorite as we enter May and the start of the playoffs is days away, as teams such as the Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Vegas Golden Knights all sit atop of their respective divisions. However, in the East, Central, and West divisions, the top team’s lead over second-place is less than 4 points.

What this means is we could see a ton of competitive series in the first two rounds of the playoffs, as the expanded format and changed divisions mean we will be able to see playoff matchups that many have never seen before.

What is especially interesting is that in order to advance to the semifinals, a team must win their divisional bracket. Winning two series back to back against divisional opponents is no easy task, especially when the teams have met each other over 10 times during the season. I think the team with the best chance to come away with the cup is the Colorado Avalanche, who currently sit in second place of the west division behind Vegas. The Avalanche have boasted a +47 goal differential this season and are top 10 in the league in scoring. Led by Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche are poised to have a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which start on Tuesday, May 11th. ☐

ISL teams and even a few non-league opponents. They started the season with a match against Phillips Exeter Academy which resulted in a tie. They played two subsequent matches against St. Sebastian’s, both of which resulted in BH victory, and also secured the win over Nobles. Following their string of victories, the golf team played against

Deerfield, which resulted in the only loss thus far in the season. Deerfield is the the only competition to the team.

John Broderick ’22 remains the only undefeated golfer on the team. Under the leadership of captains Conner Willett ’21 and Henry Harrison ’21, the golf team hopes to continue their successful season. ☐

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Belmont Hill Crew Continues a Successful Season

By Mac Bobo ’23 Panel Staff With just four weeks left in the season, the varsity crew team is well into the home stretch. Starting the season with all eight-man boats, the team scrimmaged BC High on the Charles River, followed by additional scrimmages with Nobles and Community Rowing Inc. The first official race of the season was against BC High, with each eight-man boat rowing in the basin just beneath the city of Boston. The results of the first race of the season were

promising. The first, third, and fourth boats all placed first, with the second boat coming in a very distant second.

The second race of the season turned out to be perhaps the most important so far, maybe even the most important all season. All of the BH crews raced Nobles for the Bassett Cup, which is awarded to the winning crew, either Belmont Hill or Nobles, every year. Belmont Hill has kept the cup for almost 16 years, so the stakes were high leading up to the race. The start to the day was auspicious, with both BH eight-man crews defeating the Nobles crews, and the victories continued with

the fourth four-man crew finishing in first. As the day went on, the third and second boats finished second, with each race being extremely close. The deciding race, however, was between

Nobles’ and Belmont Hill’s first boats.

In the first half of the race, it looked as if Belmont Hill would pull ahead.

But Nobles soon caught up, making it a very close race. In the last minute or so, the Nobles crew pulled ahead and finished before the BH boat. Unfortunately, this meant that Belmont Hill lost the Bassett Cup. Regardless of the result, it was a great day of racing with extremely close races and all crews putting out their best effort.

The Belmont Hill crew team hopes to carry on their initial successes in the coming weeks Adam Richins and finish the season strong. ☐

The Lacrosse Team Paves its Way to a Strong Finish

By Mac Bobo ’23 Panel Staff As infections and positive cases have diminished over the past couple of months, the Belmont Hill spring teams have enjoyed seasons as close to normal as possible. The varsity lacrosse team is no exception. The team started off strong in the preseason, beating Taft, Andover, and Exeter. The Brunswick varsity lacrosse team served as some of Belmont Hill’s best competition, resulting in an 11-10 loss. However, Belmont Hill soon rebounded, beginning the regular season with a decisive 15-5 win over Rivers. The next couple of games against school rival St.

Sebastian’s proved to be very competitive, with Belmont Hill winning by one goal in the first game. However, the second game against Sebs was not as competitive, with BH pulling ahead by four at home. Finally, in the fourth game of the regular season, Belmont Hill defeated Roxbury Latin by four.

Though the season has been filled with success thus far, the

Adam Richins most noteworthy aspects have been the incredible performances games, Zach Travaglini ’21 has 21 goals from some of the seniors. In just seven and 11 assists. Mike Marinello ’21 has

had multiple eye-opening performances in the net, complimenting Belmont Hill’s high octane offense with a steady and reliable presence at the opposite end of the field. It is also no surprise that defensemen Grant Litchfield ’21 and Trey Brown ’21 have lived up to the expectations and then some. Seniors have recently been permitted to attend games, so the athletes’ incredible performances have been accompanied by loud hollers and shouts from their classmates along with the support of parents who were also present. The varsity lacrosse team has set the bar very high with their first four games, and it will be hard to exceed those expectations.

The Panel wishes the lacrosse team good luck in their future games. ☐

Debate: Should Julian Edelman be a Hall of Famer?

1117 yards per 16 games. In Michael Thomas’s entire career, 2016-2020, he has averaged 150 targets, 117 receptions, and 1360 yards per 16 games.

While Michael Thomas doesn’t have The Case Against (Farb): the postseason success of Edelman, I While I love Julian Edelman would consider his single-season re(he’s one of my favorite players from any sport), he doesn’t deserve to be a Hall of Famer. Edelman simply does not have the regular season statistics to back up his stellar postseason performance. Edelman never made a Pro Bowl in his entire career. Edelman also doesn’t stack up statistically anywhere near other “borderline” Hall of Fame wide receiver candidates. Steve Smith, Anquan Boldin, and Reggie Wayne all have at least 6,800 more regular-season yards and 45 more regular-season touchdowns. They are all also within 450 playoff yards of Edelman in either a similar number of games or fewer games played. While Wayne and Smith will likely eventually get into the Hall of Fame, chances are Boldin won’t, and therefore Edelman shouldn’t either.

Edelman’s peak was nothing compared Julian Edelman to these other receivers as he only had ception record to hold the same weight three 1000-yard seasons. Even then, all as Edelman’s Super Bowl MVP in terms were during seasons in which he had of HOF voting. His first five seasons 150+ targets and wasn’t very efficient, since entering the league are way betaveraging a meager 7.08 yards per tar- ter than any of Edelman’s five seasons. get in those three seasons (in compar- Would Michael Thomas make the HOF ison, Jakobi Meyers averaged 9 yards if he retired today? I don’t think he per target this past season even with would. Edelman is one of the greatest Cam Newton as his quarterback). A postseason receivers of all time, and more current comparison to Edelman you can’t tell the story of the NFL withwould be Michael Thomas. While Mi- out him, but he doesn’t deserve to be chael Thomas is the alpha receiver on in the Hall of Fame when many others the Saints compared to Edelman being better than him can’t get in. the slot receiver on the Patriots, both of The Case For (Bittner): them played with future HOF quarterIn recent years, HOF player evalubacks in the later stages of their careers ations have emphasized not only player and mostly did short routes across the statistics but also overall performance middle of the field. In the prime of and impact on the game. Many experts his career, 2013-2019, Edelman aver- argue that Julian Edelman should not aged 153 targets, 102 receptions, and be a Hall of Famer as his regular-season

By Daniel Bittner ’22 and Noah Farb’24 Panel Staff

stats underwhelm compared to other contemporary players; however, Edelman’s impact on his team has matched, if not surpassed, all of the “greats” whose statues decorate the NFL Hall of Fame.

In terms of an overall impact on their team’s success, very few individ-

uals at any position can match Julian Edelman. Take, for example, the Patriots’ 2014 Super Bowl run. Having not earned a championship since 2004, the Patriot’s claim as a “dynasty” was coming into doubt entering the 2014 season. Although Brady and Belichick certainly led the team into a position to compete each playoff week, the key plays by Edelman through the postseason turned the Patriots from simply a perennial contender into legendary Super Bowl champions. First, in the divisional round against the imposing reigning champion, the Baltimore Ravens, Edelman was responsible for the unarguably most important play of the game. With the Patriots losing by a touchdown late in the third quarter, Edelman, a former college school

quarterback, threw a 51-yard touchdown to Danny Amendola. This play not only shocked the Ravens but also gave the Patriots the motivation to take the lead. In addition, Edelman led the team with eight receptions for 74 yards.

Though Malcolm Butler’s game-winning interception is rightly remembered as the key play of the infamous Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl, it was Julian Edelman’s clutch route-running and catch with just 2:02 left in the fourth quarter that gave New England the lead and forced the Seahawks to be overly aggressive on the following drive. Leading the team with 109 yards, Edelman’s effort was indispensable for the Patriots’ Super Bowl victory.

However, Edelman’s clutch performances were not limited to 2014.

Just two years later, in the 2016 Super Bowl comeback victory against the Falcons, Edelman once again demonstrated his ability. Although Edelman didn’t put up the ‘best’ stat line of the night, his one miraculous and unforgettable catch, where he snatched the ball a mere inches above the ground with four defenders covering him, proved to be a massive shift in momentum in the game. It helped New England realize that a comeback was possible and demoralized the Falcons. Finally, in the 2018 Super Bowl victory against the Rams, Edelman led the team with ten receptions for 141 yards despite the low scoring.

Ultimately, without Edelman’s efforts in each of the most recent Patriots Super Bowl championships, the Patriots would likely not have won three Super Bowls in the 2010s. Edelman’s efforts in clutch moments proved indispensable, as he became the only wide receiver since Santonio Holmes to win Super Bowl MVP. Edelman’s impact on the NFL has been immense, so he should undoubtedly be a Hall of Famer. ☐

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Cont. Wrestling Team Prep Nationals Varsity Tennis’s Successful Season

By Daniel Bittner ’22 Panel Staff Continued from the Front Page. Over the weekend of May 1-3, 7 Belmont Hill wrestlers traveled to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to compete in the annual Prep Nationals tournament typically hosted at the end of every wrestling season. While the circumstances for this event were drastically different than normal with no qualifying tournament or regular season beforehand, this tournament felt as normal as possible given the situation.

Furthermore, with ample safety precautions having been taken including numerous COVID tests, quarantining, social distancing, and mask wearing among other precautions, the Belmont Hill team would remain could enjoy the opportunity to its fullest extent. As the first competition that the Belmont Hill wrestling team was able to compete in in over a year, the Belmont Hill wrestlers were eager to take part in this unique event, and accordingly Belmont Hill performed very well throughout the lineup.

After two long days of competition, two Belmont Hill wrestlers - Cord Vallis (Form III) and Jimmy Harrington (Form V) - emerged as All Americans.

Furthermore, while Cord became only the 6th freshman in Belmont Hill history to

achieve All American status, Jimmy became only the 3rd Belmont Hill wrestler to ever become a national champ having won the entire tournament. These two wrestlers highlighted a series of great performances by Belmont Hill wrestlers, all of whom were grateful for even the mere opportunity to be able to compete. Furthermore, while this first tournament concluded the season of Belmont Hill wrestling, all members of the team including both the Prep National attendees and those who were unable to participate eagerly look forward to a hopefully more normal season next year. ☐

Harrington ’22 (left) and Vallis ’24 (right)

By Jarrett Chen ’22 Staff Writer

ence the team spirit that we all missed while quarantining. On behalf of the team, I would like to thank all of the administrators at Belmont Hill and in the ISL who worked tirelessly to navigate the challenges presented by the pandemic to give us the privilege of playing and competing this spring.”

Belmont Hill played against a formidable team from Roxbury Latin this past weekend, winning two matches (Chen ’22: 6-2; 6-4; Sidman: ’24 6-4; 0-6; 10-2) but losing overall. Despite the loss to RL, the team

With the start of the tennis season underway, Coach Katie McNamara returns once again to coach this young and promising team. Coach McNamara looks to continue Belmont Hill’s dominance in the ISL with her impressive record as a coach, which includes 17 ISL titles, qualifying for the New England postseason tournament every year, and never finishing outside the top 4 in the ISL standings.

Despite COVID restrictions, the team has put up some great work altogether in recent matches and practices. The varsity tennis team has also recently welcomed several new star players such as Ethan Sidman ’24, Jackson Rich ’25, and Ernest Lai ’25. Captain Aaron Belluck ’21 is excited to lead the team this season and

Adam Richins is grateful to be able to play: “After 22 months, it looks to feed off their wins against feels incredible to be back on the Bel- St Sebastians (4-3) and Dexter (7-0) mont Hill tennis courts and experi- as they prepare for rival Nobles. ☐

National Football League Draft Winners and Losers

By Noah Farb ’24 Panel Staff Winners: Lions: Sewell fell into their lap at seven giving them a cornerstone piece for this new coaching staff and front office to build around.

Vikings: The NFC North (excluding the Packers): The Detroit Lions picked up a cornerstone piece in offensive tackle Penei Sewell, the Bears got their quarterback in the future after trading up for Fields, and the Vikings pulled off an amazing trade going down from 14 to 23, picking up picks 66 and 85 and selected Christian Darrisaw with the 23rd pick, who I would’ve taken for them at 14 anyway. Kellen Mond with one of their FOUR 3rd round picks was also a great move as a potential successor to Kirk Cousins.

Ravens: The Ravens unnecessarily received hate for their trade with the Chiefs which was centered around the 31st pick for Orlando Brown. I think they made a great pick with edge defender Jayson Oweh, and also got one of the steals of the draft so far in my opinion in Rashod Bateman at pick 27, making them clear winners.

Bears: The Bears got their quarterback of the future in Justin Fields and a likely left tackle of the future in Teven Jenkins, making them a winner even though they gave up a significant

NBA

price to trade up for both of them.

New York Giants: While the Kadarius Toney pick was a massive reach in my opinion, they made up for it with taking Azeez Ojulari in round two and their trade down with the Bears.

Losers: Packers: The Packers are the biggest loser of the draft for multiple reasons.

They took the biggest reach according to mine and many others big boards in taking cornerback Eric Stokes at 29th overall and then took center Josh Meyers at 61st overall when consensus better centers Creed

Humphrey and Quinn Meinerz were still on the board. The biggest loss of the whole draft process however was the bombshell news report at

Playoff

By Anton Schmitt ’21 Panel Staff With less than 10 games to go in the NBA 2020-21 regular season, many uncertainties remain. After an irregular and fast-paced season riddled with fatigue and injuries, the standings have been full of surprises. Many teams that made it farther in the bubble last year, like the Heat, Celtics and Lakers, have put on underwhelming performances so far, much of which can be blamed on the lack of rest time. Other teams, like the Suns, Knicks and Jazz, have capitalized on the unusual season by sur-

around 6PM Thursday night about how 2020 MVP Aaron Rodgers desperately wants to leave the Packers. It doesn’t seem like he will ever play for the Packers again as he likely is traded to the Broncos, Raiders, or retires.

Steelers: The Steelers were horrible running the football in 2020, and while their running backs were horrible so was their offensive line, which actually is much more important for rushing success than the actual running back. While Najee Harris is a great player, taking an offensive tackle would actually be a lot m o r e helpful i n

having a successful rushing attack.

Their second rounder Pat Freiermuth was at a position of future need which is

Thoughts

prising everyone with their performances.

As of now, Brooklyn is the favorite to win the title (+220 on Fanduel) with the Lakers in second (+350) and the Clippers in third (+600). It’s easy to see why the Nets are favored given their star-loaded roster but we have yet to really get a sense of just how good Durant, Harden and Irving will be as a trio. Injuries have limited them to only playing 7 games together. Given these uncertainties, it’s hard to not stick with the Lakers as the favorites who have already proven themselves in the playoffs. The combination of Lebron and AD make the Lakers a really hard team to beat in the postseason, and one that has a decent chance of repeat-

Luke Trevisan ’24

and

ing, especially with the upgrade of Schröder in the backcourt. Other teams which have a shot in my opinion include the Clippers, Philly and Milwaukee, although many seem to have already written off the Bucks given their playoff disappointments. Phoenix and Utah may sit at the top of the western conference but I can’t bring myself to bet on them given their lack of playoff experience/success. As for our Celtics, it would be surprising to see them make a run at a championship. The talent is there but their inconsistency, lack of an identity on the court, and other faults point to an early exit.

There’s no clear-cut favorite this year and the title seems to be up for grabs. Every

usually smart to do, but not when you’re a team trying to compete with as many needs as the Steelers do.

Jaguars: The Jaguars are also a loser because while there was no debate in taking Trevor Lawrence with the top pick in the draft, selecting Travis Etienne with their second first round pick that they got from the Rams in the Jalen Ramsey trade. The Jaguars are a team with many needs, and there were many players that would have been considered smart picks at 25th overall, but Travis Etienne wasn’t one of them, and the Jaguars really could have benefitted from taking literally any other position. They then took cornerback Tyson Campbell at 33 which was considered a massive reach although they made up for it with the Walker Little selection at 45.

Houston Texans: The Texans only had one top-100 pick and used it on quarterback Davis Mills at 67th overall. While Mills himself isn’t a bad pick at that price, this would seem to confirm that Deshuan Watson will not be playing for the Texans or anyone else in 2021, which is the worst case scenario for the Texans.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah: Owusu-Koramoah lost out on millions of dollars after being selected at 52nd overall by the Browns after being a top 20 player by both fans and media.

It later came out that he fell because of a heart issue but I don’t think anyone predicted that he’d fall this far. ☐

Predictions

team has its flaws and you can talk yourself out of pretty much any of them. The biggest question once the playoffs arrive may be which teams are healthy. Is KD going to be 100%? Should we be worried about Anthony Davis’ nagging injuries? How about Embiid? If any of the star players aren’t fully healthy entering the playoffs, or get injured during them, their teams’ chances will drop significantly. Hopefully, the NBA’s fast-paced regular season won’t cause this and instead, the postseason will live up to its exciting and star-studded potential. ☐

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Which Boston Pro-Sports Team Will Win Next?

By Noah Farb ’24 Panel Staff Since the start of the 21st century, there have never been three consecutive years in which none of the Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, or Patriots have won a championship in their sport.

When including seasons in which one of the teams made their championship but lost, there hasn’t even been a stretch of two consecutive years where no Boston team played in the championship since 2005-2006. Both of these streaks are in danger, as none of the four teams have won a championship since the Patriots and Red Sox in 2018, and no Boston team made their respective championship since the Bruins in 2019. All four teams are in different aspects of team building as the Patriots are figuring out how to rebuild their roster post-Tom Brady, but if they can get a quarterback, they should be contenders soon; the Celtics need a third piece and some depth but have one of the best young duos in the NBA in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to build around; the Red Sox are in-between contending and rebuilding after a few years of not being great; and the Bruins are in their likely final year or two of contention as their current group of stars gets older.

#4: Boston Red Sox The Red Sox are at a turning point in their rebuild as they started out the gate extremely hot to the 2021 season. General manager Chaim Bloom has completely reset the roster except for certain key pieces since his hiring during October 2019, with the most significant move, of course, the Mookie Betts trade. The Red Sox have a solid group of core position players and some up-and-comers in the minor leagues, but there isn’t much pitching talent on the major league roster or in the minor leagues, and their bullpen is especially weak. After finishing 2436 last season, the Red Sox “earned” the 4th overall pick and are going to add

Varsity

another top prospect to hope to make an impact on the major league roster in a few years. Chaim Bloom has taken an interesting approach in building the roster by signing and trading for many “positionless” players that can play almost anywhere on the field. Guys like Marwin Gonzalez, Enrique Hernandez, and Christian Arroyo are playing well now, but they likely will regress. The pitching will end the season better than preseason projections, but they are not a serious contender for a few years.

The key for the Sox to seriously compete in the future is to acquire pitching talent both for the rotation and the bullpen either through the draft, trades, or free agency. If Chris Sale comes back from injury and is still an ace like he was pre-2019, then the timeline f o r

The Belmont Hill varsity track team has had a strong season thus far.

The team first participated in a dual meet against Roxbury Latin. Despite a large portion of the team being unable to attend, Belmont Hill athletes still performed well, winning about half of the events. Fielders Casey Rockett ’21 and David Carter ’22 won in shot put and discus throw, respectively, and Miles Sandoski ’23 and James Donahue ’22 excelled in long-distance, placing first in their events. Two weeks later, the team, now in full capacity, held a rematch and dominated the meet. Belmont Hill placed first in several field events, including the pole vault, javelin throw, high jump, discus throw, and shot put. In terms of track events, Belmont Hill won the 200m sprint, the 400m sprint, the 4 x 100m relay, and the 4 x 400m relay. Furthermore, James Donahue broke the school record when he placed first in the 800m race with a

Bruins have been one of the most successful teams in the NHL over the past few seasons, winning at least one playoff series in each of the past three seasons, including a Stanley Cup Final loss to the St. Louis Blues in 2019. Two of the three members of the “p e r fe c t i on line” in Patrice

Drawing by Luke Trevisan ’24

contention will Bergeron and be moved up Brad Marcha little, but for and are aging now, it’s unlike- along with star ly the Red Sox win goalie Tuukka Rask, a championship any- and many have pegged time soon without a com- 2021 as the last season the Bruins can plete overhaul to the pitching staff. genuinely contend with this current roster. At the trade deadline, general #3: New England Patriots manager Don Sweeny went all in tradThe Patriots roster is improved ing for two expiring contracts in Mike after spending $159.6 million guaran- Reilly and Taylor Hall for a playoff teed in free agency, which leaves the push (although they might sign Hall roster with little holes, but not many long-term). While the Bruins have high-end players. To be successful, a few promising young players who they need Mac Jones to become a good could break out in the future, it is unNFL QB. The Patriots roster is signifi- likely all of them end up being anycantly better than it was the past two where near as impactful as the current seasons, and even if the QB play isn’t iteration of Bruins stars. The Bruins

Track

By Arec Keomurjian ’22 and Timothée Simonin ’22 Panel Staff

great, the Pats will not likely be able to grab a quarterback through the draft for at least a few years. Hitting on the quarterback position is not an easy thing to do, and if Jones doesn’t work out, the Patriots will be set back for a few years. But if Jones is successful, then the Patriots will be the mix as a fringe Super Bowl contender, but I doubt that they will win one in the next few years unless Mac Jones becomes a star, as there aren’t many true studs on the roster which is mostly built out of solid players.

#2 Boston Bruins T h e

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likely only have at the most two years of contention left. Still, they are significantly better positioned to win a championship right now than either the Red Sox or the Patriots. They have a shot in 2021 if defenseman Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelyck can get healthy in time for the playoffs. The NHL playoffs are known to be pretty random, and all it takes is a hot stretch from any of the top teams to win the Stanley Cup, and chances are that team won’t be the Bruins, and time is running out before they likely have to rebuild.

#1: Boston Celtics Unlike in the NHL, the NBA playoffs are not random at all, and the favorite at the beginning of the season usually wins the championship or at least plays in it.

While the Celtics in 2021 do not look like a team that has made the Eastern Conference Finals in three of the past four seasons (losing all), they have one of the best young duos in the NBA in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Stars drive the NBA, and if Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue their ascent, the Celtics will likely have two top 20 NBA players in a few years, which always keeps your window of contention open. Finding the third star which better fits the timeline of Tatum and Brown to replace Kemba Walker should be the goal for Danny Ainge over the next few seasons as the Celtics will likely need a third piece to take the offensive load off of Tatum and Brown. The Celtics earn the top spot as they plausibly could win a championship in the next few years (unlike the Red Sox and Patriots) if they can acquire a third star and (unlike the Bruins) have a championship window open until the 2024-2025 season when Jaylen Brown is a free agent. While not currently as threatening as the Bruins, the Celtics should be guaranteed to be in the mix of the top 8-10 teams in their league for the next few years, something no other Boston teams can say. ☐

Break

Records

time of 1:54.68, 3 seconds faster than the striving individually and as a group to lence.” The Panel continues to cheer on previous time held by Quin McGaugh. lower times, improve marks, support the track team and hopes that the ath The following day, the team their teammates in quests for excel- letes excel in all future competitions. ☐ faced Rivers and Lawrence Academy in a triple meet.

Although most of the team was resting from the prior competition, the Belmont Hill athletes were still able to win every event in which they participated. The most recent meet was another triple meet against Roxbury Latin and Nobles, in which the team performed very well, winning several events. James Donahue broke another school record when he placed first in the 1500m race with a time of 3:59.72, replacing James McGaugh’s record yet again.

Coach Harder looks forward to the rest of the season and appreciates the team’s effort. He says, “We Adam Richins coaches are very proud of the athletes’ efforts; they are

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