October 2015 (64, 3)

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350 Prospect Street Belmont, MA 02478

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Volu m e 6 4 , Is su e 3

O c tob er 9 t h , 2 0 1 5

A Student Publication of the Belmont Hill School

Sophomore Ishaan Prasad Attends Elite Developers Meeting BH to Go BYOD By Mack Perry Panel Staff Most fifteen year-olds spent their first week of summer at the beach, or binge-watching Netflix in recovery from exams. Ishaan Prasad is not an ordinary fifteen year old. In June, Ishaan spent a week in San Francisco as a personal guest of Apple at their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the tech giant’s showcase for their new products and a destination for the world’s top software developers. Ishaan was one of 350 scholars selected to attend WWDC, chosen through a strict application process. The opportunity to go to this coveted conference is new for high schoolers; the scholar program has been around since the Eighties, but was traditionally only available to graduate school students. Four years ago, a then-sixteen-yearold developer applied and was accepted under his dad’s name, prompting Apple to rethink their age policy. Now, the scholarship is available to anyone thirteen years and up. About 100 of the 350 students were high schoolers, estimates Ishaan; the rest were in college and graduate school. His week and story was additionally chronicled in Business Insider in June. “There’s an app for that” has never been more accurate than today. You can measure your heart rate, stream a movie, and order dinner, all with the touch of your phone. App developing and computer language have both emerged as vital 21st century skills, with teenagers and young adults spear-

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heading technological advances for everyday life in this new age of apps. Ishaan’s love for computers started when he was ten, learning Scratch and making games. At 12, he taught himself Objective-C from Youtube videos over March break, releasing his debut app Pet Run a few weeks later. Now, his focus in apps is on pro-

here is it forces applicants to learn and master Swift, Apple’s language, therefore popularizing it. WWDC ran from Monday, June 8 to the following Friday at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. On Sunday, the scholars were invited to an orientation at the Four Seasons that mimicked the Keynote address, the confer-

ductivity and education, and he has over 60 thousand downloads. Instead of consisting of the usual “Tell us about yourself…” questions, Apple’s atypical application required students to build an interactive resumé app to showcase their developing skills and creativity. The innovative application was announced in Mid-May, and applicants are given a week to create the app; Ishaan recalls working on the app in addition to studying for finals, and receiving an acceptance letter during the exams. Part of Apple’s genius

ence’s most anticipated event that would come the next day. Ishaan lined up at 1:30am that morning outside the convention center in hopes of securing a good spot for the Keynote. “I missed the email that said the scholars had VIP access,” laughs Ishaan. His dedication paid off; he was first in line, and there were pictures on Apple’s website to prove it. The Keynote was traditionally held by Steve Jobs, and now features CEO Tim Cook and other Apple executives announcing new products. This year, the

Best Burrito in Boston pg 5 Salsa vs. Guac pg 7 Best 2000’s Country Albums pg 9 Deflategate Analysis pg 10

By Ishaan Prasad Panel Staff For years, Belmont Hill has held steadfast on its device policy, providing students with access to iPads, Chromebooks, and computer labs, while also permitting boys to bring their own devices to campus. In a world increasingly dominated by “smart” devices of every size and shape, faculty and administrators on campus began to recognize that the device policy at school was in need of a drastic update, in order to keep up with the ever-changing technological world. From Form I to Form VI, boys are increasingly requiring a computer to complete even the most basic assignments. Signs of this new era of technology are scattered around campus: from smartboards, to online textbooks, and even the iLab in the Melvoin Academic Center. After more than three years of pilots, testing, and surveys, the Belmont Hill community will be embarking on an entirely different approach to electronic devices on campus next year; students will be required to bring their own device. The basic principles of a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy are of relative simplicity: from now on, all students will have access to a personal computer for the entirety of the day. But what does this policy actually mean for the 441 students and 73 faculty at Belmont Hill? Since 2012, Belmont Hill has been conducting various tests to see what policies would work best for the school. As a First Former during the iPad Pilot in 2012, I had a firsthand experience in technology through a continued on page 6

Varsity Soccer Defeats BB&N in a Well-Fought Match showered up, and headed to the mall for some dinner and the 7:30 showing of Black Mass. This overnight experience alThe Varsity Soccer team is off to a lowed the new teammates to grow closer great season start with an overall record and spend some quality time together of 5-0-1 and an in-league record of 3-0-0. off the soccer field. The next morning, After the final round of cuts on September 12th following the preseason jamboree, the team hosted their first regular season game, at home against Bridgton Academy, a New England Class A school. All class A games count towards the team’s overall New England record, meaning, at the end of the season, if they win a certain number of these games, the team qualifies for the New England playoffs. With this in mind, the Belmont Hill Varsity squad came out firing, scoring the first goal and never looking back, going on to a 5-1 win, with goals from Diego Pereira, Al Zenati, Robbie Cronin, Evan Ricci, and George Hu. On that Friday, the team traveled 2 hours down to Barrington, Rhode Island to take on two non-league opponents, following a buffet-style breakfast, all the the Rocky Hill School and St. Andrew’s team members packed up their bags School. Despite having suffered through a and boarded the bus for their 1:30 p.m. two hour bus ride, the Belmont Hill boys game time start. Against St. Andrews, didn’t show any signs of slowing down, the defense had their hands full, as they dominating Rocky Hill School in a 7-1 vic- were facing two Division-1 caliber striktory. The team then returned to their hotel, ers with speed and talent. Going into the By Chip Daley Staff Writer

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company premiered Apple Music, their response to Spotify and the growing demand for subscription-based music streaming. The Weeknd debuted his first hit single “Can’t Feel My Face” after Cook’s lecture. This itself was awe-inspiring, recalls Ishaan. “The Keynote was held in the biggest room I’ve ever been in”, a testimate to the tech giant’s grandeur. The scholars sat in a VIP section at the very front of the room, only feet away from heads of the world’s most influential tech company. After the address, Ishaan and his fellow scholars were pulled on stage for photos in front of the crowd. During the conference, Ishaan observed several strategies of Apple’s, especially on their PR front. For example, any time there was a photo op, workers would place minorities and girls (Apple was scorned for not attracting enough women at the conference) front and center. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent milling around the conference center, mingling with fellow software developers, media, and Apple executives. Ishaan estimates that in addition to the 350 scholars, there were around five thousand developers and another thousand Apple engineers. Add the media and Apple workers to get approximately seven thousand conference attendees quite the hectic scene. The scholars were given VIP passes that gave them all-access to the conference; Ishaan’s is autographed by Tim Cook. “There was no separation or superiority with the top continued on page 3

final five minutes, Belmont Hill held the lead 2-1, but yielded a devastating goal with inside 5 minutes left in the game, resulting in a 2-2 tie. However, up to this point, none of the games had mattered in regards to our league standings.

The team ached to play their ultimate rival school in BB&N on Saturday, September 26th, in their first real league game. The week of practice before BB&N included the Circle of Death drill, in which players sprint in a large circle for 1-minute, 30-second, and 15-sec-

ond increments, skill work, push-ups, sit-ups, and formation-style exercises, in order to fully prepare the team for this biggest game of the season. Coach Señor Montoya regarded the BB&N game as a “springboard for our season.” If the team could take down the league rival Knights, it would propel them into a fantastic spot for the rest of the season, giving them the necessary momentum to defeat other league teams. Finally, on Saturday at 12 p.m, the moment finally came to show the league what Belmont Hill soccer is really made of. Just 7 minutes into the game, Evan Ricci tapped the ball in the back of the net, giving the team a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, Chad Meyers picked up his second yellow card with 15 minutes left in the first half, forcing Belmont Hill to have 10 men for the rest of the game. The team rallied around Chad, and everyone worked a little harder in the second half. The final whistle blew and the team celebrated a huge 1-0 victory against a league rival. The game really exemplified the definition of a team effort, and every player and coach couldn’t be more excited to see what the rest of the season has in store. ☐


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