VOL. CX
September 20, 2016
W. Kamau Bell jokes, educates and stuns
By Jackson Brex ’18
NO. 1
Berkshire welcomed Mr. W.
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ latest literary work. In Kamau Bell, a renowned stand-up comic and television host, to Allen his novel, Coates digs deep into Theater for an afternoon of comedy racism in the modern world and how it will affect his young son, and racial awareness, on Septemwhom the book is addressed to. ber 12. After a brief (yet impressive) introduction, Bell entered the Growing up in Baltimore, Coates stage and delivered a fast, comical, uses his experiences as a teenager and deep performance about racism and the symbolism of the human body to educate and inform today’s and how it still persists. society that racism is still prevaAccording to a few during an lent, and that America is still steps afterword group discussion, Bell’s away from bringing it to an end. clever humor even showed students that racial differences should Bell took a topic that is often avoided at the dinner table and be celebrated rather than ignored, made people laugh about it while changing their perspectives on the also making them think. This abilmatter entirely. ity to educate and entertain at the Between jokes, Bell provided posame time is not found in many, litical commentary and anecdotes yet Bell does it wonderfully. similar to those found in
Veracross or Haiku? See what students have to say... By Maggie Zhu ’17
Students and faculty express mixed feelings about Veracross, Berk-
shire’s new online academic information system. “I have to have more time working with it before I can tell you what I think,” says RG Meade, history teacher. Continued on page 4...
New Faces Around Berkshire By Charlotte Childs’18
The new faces of the faculty come from
all walks of life. Each are here to support us, whether it be in the Math or English department, or even as a new Assistant Dean of Students. A selection of five new faculty from the group have let us know what they are most looking forward to at Berkshire! Continued on next page... Front row: Ms. DelGuercio, Ms. Carew-Miller, Mr. Mohammed, Mrs. Cooper. Back row: Mr. Davis, Mr. Doyle, Mr. Johnson, Mr. West, Mr. Cooper.
Mrs. Cooper
Position: Assistant Dean of Students What she is most looking forward to at Berkshire: “I would say that I am most looking forward to exploring the Mountain!”
Ms. Carew-Miller
Position: English Teacher What She Is Looking Forward to at Berkshire: “I’m most looking forward to the beginning of December on campus, when I’ll first see the camps covered with snow and when the Third Formers will be presenting their video projects for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!”
Fresh Faculty Faces Mr. Mohammed
Position: Associate Director of Admissions, Head Coach Varsity Boys Soccer , Head Coach, Thirds Boys Squash. What he is looking forward to at Berkshire: “During my interview process i was overwhelmed by the school community, glowing the pride and inclusive in every possible way. What struck me most was the students, each with their own unique talents. I am looking forward to fostering the success of our students by helping them define their passions and work toward their best possible selves.”
Mr. Mohammed and family
New student highlights
By Charlotte Childs ’18
By Morgan Heilshorn ’18
T
his year Berkshire welcomed 132 new bears to campus in aggregate of 397 students under the mountain. While some come from countries thousands of miles away like Chile, Egypt, Trinidad, and Australia, others live only minutes away from campus. Among this group of talented individuals are 3 Godman Girls: Amelia Schelle (III form from Baltimore, Maryland), Rylie Griffith(III form from West Hartford, Connecticut) and Brooke McClanahan (IV form from Bedford, NY).
Mr. West
Position: History Teacher, Eipper Dorm Parent, Head Coach J.V. Boys Basketball, Asst. Coach J.V. Boys Lacrosse. What he is looking forward to at Berkshire: “There are lots of things that I’m looking forward to, but if I’m forced to choose one, I guess I would have to say Winter Carnival.”
Mr. Doyle
What are you excited for?
Amelia: The new people I will meet Rylie: Hockey Season Brooke: Winter carnival (go Godman!!!)
Why did you choose Berkshire?
Amelia: I wanted to meet new friends and experience another adventure outside of Baltimore. Rylie: Berkshire was more supportive of others successes than the other schools I looked at. Brooke: I felt an immediate sense of community and I knew I would feel comfortable living with the students on campus.
What are you nervous for?
Amelia: The work load. Rylie: Living away from home. Brooke: My first assessments.
Position: Math Teacher, Senior House House Head, Asst. Coach Varsity Boys Hockey, Asst. Coach Varisty Baseball What he is looking forward to at Berkshire: “I am looking forward to exploring new ways to make the classroom environment fun for all students, especially as a first year teacher. Also, getting on the ice with the hockey team and baseball field as a coach in the Winter and Spring to compete for a championship!”
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Class of 2017 Prefects and new students
What is it like being NEW??? By Darran Shen ’20
There are times in life when you suddenly reach an epiphany, a
moment of ‘oh my god, am I actually doing this’, when experiencing a major life change. For me, the most recent time this happened was just 2 weeks ago, walking up the steps for the second, and soon to be one of many times, to Berkshire Hall. The entire day was marked with a variety of emotions, from excitement to apprehension and nervousness. This was the day so clearly labeled on my calendar many months ago, and now, the wait had been drawn to an end. And so, with butterflies in my stomach, I walked up the stairs and opened the door, instantly greeted by person after person, shaking hands after hands. Here, I met my advisor for the first time, my form dean, my interviewer, and many other soon to be important people in my life.
Gallery Opening: America’s Political Cartoons
The next few hours flew by in a blur. I met some of the people living in my hallway, I had my first ever dinner at Berkshire, and I moved in. It felt so artificial, taking furniture and rearranging it until it was mine to use; taking the bare wall and decorating it until it was distinctively mine and no one else’s. During this time, I began to meet other people, to talk with the other international students, who were from all around the world, from places such as Egypt, Kazakhstan, and the Costa Rica. Until this point, I has considered myself American, per my passport, but now, I felt like a stranger, unaccustomed to the different handshakes and greetings, the etiquette and the culture. I was at the tip of the iceberg, and there was still much to mine.
By Sophia McCarthy ’18
Today I sat down with Mr. Banevicius to talk about the current art display in the Warren Family Gallery, which includes a large array of political cartoons; ranging from original publications, sketches, and prints of magazines. R: reporter; B: Mr. Banevicius.
For orientation, we played games and got to know each other. Although juvenile at first, the games grew on most people, and by the end, the spaces would always be filled with energy. We would have kickball tournaments, hikes in the mountains, and s’mores over campfires. With Berkshire’s friendly, inclusive atmosphere, it wasn’t long before everyone became fast friends – and as soon as that happened, a feeling of relaxed ambience came over me. Even as everything else failed, I would have people to fall back on, people that would help me.
R: What made you decide to start off the school year with a historical collection of political cartoons? B: It seemed like a good idea. I had been thinking for a while about how to share some of my cartoonist sketch collection with the community, and it seemed like this would be the perfect time with the exciting presidential election taking place. I decided what better time to focus on political cartoons. As I said I have a very extensive sketch collection from cartoonists, and that includes political cartoons and comics, comic book caricatures, everything. Perfect time
Dorms seemed like a different matter entirely. Not only do you not know your roommate, it is harder still to live a group of people to whom you are complete strangers. To share a bathroom – a toilet, shower, and sink with complete strangers once seemed unconventional, but at Berkshire, I quickly found that people were treated with respect, and so there was nothing real to be worried about, aside from myself.
to focus on political cartoonists and how they look at presidency. R: How were you able to obtain all of these pieces; Did you have to ask permission to display the printed out versions of some magazines? B: There are four basic parts of the show there are sketches, original cartoons, and some old tear sheets like the newspaper covers, and then there are the reproductions. The sketches I have been mostly collecting for a long time mostly from writing to cartoonists, starting when I was in 6th grade. You know it take a lot of persistence. Some of the cartoonist I have written to I have contacted to in different ways ten different times. The older stuff is not copyrighted and the newer stuff I’m not publishing it. I’m not making money off of it, so nobody would mind for an educational purpose like this.
Two weeks ago, I hit a major turning point, one where I set out myself, without my parents, to carve a place in the world. Where that journey will take me, I know not, but I do know that at Berkshire, even by entering as an international student, I will thrive. And so will everyone else in the class of 2020.
R: What is one piece you think tells the exact story of the event? B: I mean there are a lot of different ones by a lot of different artists One that I think speaks very well would be A.) an excellent character telling a very powerful story that’s almost foreshadowing what happens in the future would be this cartoon by david leveen oh lyndon johnson because he drew this cartoon in 1966 and this was based on a famous photograph of him showing off a gall bladder surgery scar. And so david leveen created this cartoon where instead of showing his scar drew a map of vietnam. Now this is 1966 so I think it’s a particular affective cartoon because it doesn’t just say what’s just going on , but it’s really a couple year before it really becomes a problem. And it’s really the thing that drove him out of office. He didn’t run in 1968 because he was so unpopular .
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Varsity Soccer goes to London, receives honors.
By Ahria Simons ’18
The Berkshire Boys Varsity
Soccer Team are on a mission. Having been robbed a chance to defend their New England’s Class A Boys Soccer trophy by a determined NMH team in a heartbreaking semi-final match, the team is back and are playing soccer at another level. The Bears started their season off with a trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Surrey, London. For many of the boys on the team, it was their first time traveling to Europe. The team spent a total of seven days in England and left England with a two and one record, beating team 1-0 and 5-1 respectively. The team’s only loss came on the hands of a professional academy in Crystal Palace where they lost 3-0. The team walked away with many positives from this result and have started their season back in the United States strong. Although they have only played scrimmage games, they have recorded ten goals in two games which means the team is doing well with scoring goals. Along with this, the team has also kept two clean sheets in the process. Captains for this year include: Quentin VanDerLee, Noah Abrams and Jules Oberg, all in the class of 2017. In the preseason issue of the New England Soccer Journal, both Quentin VanDerLee and Ryan Jewell have been regarded as “the players to watch” in the upcoming season. Along with this honor, Ryan Jewell has also been placed on the All-American Watch List for this upcoming season. The Berkshire team as a whole has also been ranked as “Number Two” in the New England Soccer Journal Preseason Polls and on TopDrawerSoccer.com. The team hopes to return the championship back under the mountain.
Staffers: Faculty Advisors: Mr. Perkins, Ms. Woodworth.
Volleyball season starts By Alanna Smith ’19
Varsity Volleyball team opens their season at Westover on Saturday,
September 17th, led by senior captains Abbey Turner (Bethlehem, CT) and Moet Masuoka (Tokyo, Japan). The Bears faced a tough Hotchkiss squad in a scrimmage on Saturday, September 10th, falling 0-3. Some highlights included a kill by Alanna Smith ’19, stellar servings by Moet Matsuoka ’17 and Genesis Paulino ’17. As you would expect, with every new seasons there are a ton of new faces. There have been a lot of girls who have moved up the Berkshire Volleyball ranks and find themselves as key members of the Varsity team. Last year the JV team was spearheaded by Silvana Gomez ‘17 and Gracie Kraft ‘17 who now find themselves as members on the Varsity squad. Through the years, the volleyball team has been an extremely close knit group, showcasing their tightness with their hilarious performances at the Pep Rallies year in and year out. Other new faces on the team include: Adriana Jovsic ’18, Alexis Moragne ’19, Giang Le ’20, and manager Jeanna Willis ’17. The team is lucky enough to be the first team using the new gym. Varsity Volleyball looks to make it to the Class B New England Championship Tournament this year.
Veracross or Haiku, see how we feel.
Editor in Chief: Maggie Zhu ’17 News Editor: Jackson Brex ’18 Feature Editor: Charlotte Childs ’18 Arts Editor: Lydia McBride ’18 Sports Editor: Ahria Simons ’18 Copyeditor: Jackson Brex ’18 Holly Cao ’17 Morgan Heilshorn ’18 Victor Li ’18 Sophia McCarthy ’18 Elizabeth Nutting ’19 Roman Panibratyuk ’17 Hannah Rogerson ’19 Alexander Saslove ’18 Darran Shen ’20 Aichen Yao ’19 Photo Coordinators: Simi Chatani ’17 Maddie Devost ’19
Haiku Veracross By Mandy Morgan
Haiku? Veracross?
Which is a better system? It is a toss up.
By Maggie Zhu ’17
Students and faculty express mixed feelings about Veracross, Berkshire’s new online academic information
system. “I have to have more time working with it before I can tell you what I think,” says RG Meade, history teacher. “I like Veracross because it keeps me much more organized than haiku,” says Kelly Mauer ’18, who is spending her third year at Berkshire. Some teachers express that Veracross is good for grading but not good for posting assignments, etc. “I don’t like Veracross because you can’t see the upcoming assignments as easily,” says Andrea Cass ’17. “I think Google Classroom, which I used at my old school, is better than Veracross, because it has a better interface,” Kent Pendergast ’19, a new student, comments. “Veracross is definitely harder to use than Haiku, for example, changing the due dates on homework,” says Mandy Morgan, chemistry teacher, “and there are glitches in the system. They are ironing them out, though, and there’s definitely a learning curve to it.” For the first week of school, there seem to be problems with attaching worksheets, links, or simply posting assignments on Veracross. Some classes have resorted to using Google Docs as an alternative method. Teachers also have to post assignments multiple times for one class consisting of different levels, as opposed to only having to post it once on Haiku. Veracross is an online school information management system that uses “one database across all areas of school,” according to its website. Schools such as Williston North Hampton and Taft also use Veracross. “Some schools use Veracross but also keep Haiku for academics,” says Mike McCabe, latin teacher.
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