Vol. LXXXVI, No. 1
JOHN REESE RESIGNS
DEERFIELD ACADEMY, DEERFIELD, MA 01342
April 27, 2011
IMAGINE DEERFIELD: Roadmap for the Future
By SARAH WOOLF Front Page Editor After 27 years, Theater Director John Reese will resign at the end of this school year. When he began teaching here, play rehearsals took place after classes and an afternoon of sports. That schedule proved too taxing for both him and his students, so Mr. Reese pushed for a co-curricular theater spot. The productions and students’ academic work improved dramatically. Mr. Reese came to the school in 1984 because former Headmaster Robert Kaufman wished to enhance Deerfield’s theater and music programs to offer a more fully rounded liberal arts education. Mr. Reese is now concerned that scheduling complications may edge out the value the school places on a liberal arts education. “It is becoming increasingly difficult for students to add performing arts to their schedules,” he said. During his first seven years, Mr. Reese taught five classes every term and directed extracurricular productions while being an associate in a dorm. He also contributed ideas towards plans for the new theater wing— the Reid Black Box. Mr. Reese hopes that, in the future, it will become easier for students to enroll in a performing arts course. “These classes give students confidence, and enhance their presentation and communication skills,” Mr. Reese said. He believes that “the arts cut across all disciplines and viscerally enrich students’ lives. They provide new ways of learning about themselves and the world in which they live.”
By SARAH WOOLF Front Page Editor
Another major initiative underway is the expansion of the faculty. “The more faculty As positive trends emerge members we have, the more time in the economy, the Imagine we can allocate for their own Deerfield strategic plan is back in learning and renewal,” said Dr. action with the recent publication Curtis, “ensuring that they remain and distribution of the first vibrant in the classroom, on the Ashley So set of implementation plans. playing field, in the studio, or in a Imagine Deerfield began dorm throughout their careers.” There are also tentative with the appointment of Head For a brief moment in time, the sun graces us with its presence. of School Margarita Curtis. plans to build another dorm “It was a good moment to and to expand global faculty take stock and get organized,” intiatives by sending members to said history teacher Thomas overseas enrichment programs. Some, however, feel that a Heise, co-chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. In 2009, strategic plan brings the school forever staining the Clinton when the board of trustees read too close to the corporate By JOSH MARX administration. Mr. Obama’s over the finalized plans, they world that is so different Contributing Writer critics suggest that fear of a were unanimously approved. from the world of education. “People view systematic “It’s an attempt to sustain What began as a peaceful similar humanitarian tragedy protest against a dictator, one of led America into the air strike. excellence, whether in the planning and focus on outcomes many recently in the Middle East, The president stated that he classroom getting a liberal arts as corporate,” responded Dr. evolved into a multi-national will take “all necessary measures education, at a sit-down meal Curtis, “but I don’t see the military conflict when United to protect the Libyan people.” building character, or partaking dichotomy. You can be a warm The Republican Party opposed in the DAPP program and nurturing community while States armed forces fired 120 Tomahawk missiles at Libyan the conflict in Libya, arguing that developing an ethic of service,” ensuring the delivery of a topground forces on March 19. its growing cost is unsustainable said Dr. Curtis. “We are quality experience.” In fact, In late February, President for the U.S. in light of the recent examining the core traditions of according to Mr. Heise, Deerfield Barack Obama abandoned his budget disputes. Many of the Deerfield, affirming the best of is one of the last of the major prep impartial stance on the conflict same politicians who resist our past, while preparing for the schools to implement such a plan. “A way to think of it is to in Libya and moved to freeze the American intervention in the exigencies of the new century.” “The world is changing rapidly, compare it to a classroom,” Dr. country’s assets in U.S. banks, conflict remain loyal supporters seizing over $33 billion. As world of the Iraq war, which has cost and in order to remain true to our Curtis continued. “The teacher leaders convened to discuss U.S. taxpayers over $900 billion mission, we must consider the creates a syllabus and course further action, Colonel Muammar dollars since September 11, 2001. definition of citizenship in the structure. Goals are defined The president met challenges 21st century. We want to ensure and students are expected to Qadaffi, dictator of Libya, announced that he would have in defending the Libyan that our graduates are morally achieve them. The teacher globally literate, puts into place a sequence “no mercy” on his own people. intervention. Each Tomahawk grounded, adept, and of activities and assignments Unable to risk waiting any missile fired costs an estimated technologically responsible,” that will get them there.” longer, Mr. Obama ordered $1.41 million, setting the total environmentally “In running a school, as in Curtis continued. an attack on Libya in order cost of the barrage on March 19 Dr. A major advancement running a classroom, we have put to establish a “no-fly zone.” at $169 million taxpayer dollars. Obama has yet to already in effect is a boost in forth a roadmap for our future in Seventeen years ago, America was blamed for allowing the publicize plans for the end financial aid. In the fiscal year order to achieve our goals,” she mass murder of 800,000 civilians of the conflict, while Qadaffi 2012, $300,000 was added said. “And because it’s a school, it’s in the Rwandan genocide, continues to cling to power. to the financial aid budget. ultimately all about the students.”
NEWS UPDATE: LIBYA
Balancing Gender on Student Council By CHARLES JONES Staff Writer The newly-minted Culture Club wrote and submitted three proposals that tackle the problem of genderimbalanced representation on Student Council. These plans range from establishing dual gender co-presidents with the elimination of the Chair position to a more moderate gender equality mandate that would maintain the current president/ chair system while requiring that each class’ representatives be gender balanced. Science teacher and Culture Club founder Brian Fry lauded the club’s stance. “I believe gender issues on campus are
Results from the April 18 Gender Proposal Survey
manifested in leadership roles,” he said. “Statistics show over the last ten years the breakdown has been roughly 70% male, and we’ve only had one female president in that time,” Mr. Fry continued. At a Culture Club meeting earlier this month, club advisor and health teacher Kristin Loftus commented, “Student Council is a representative body; perhaps its membership should more accurately reflect the equal gender breakdown of the student body.” Currently, the fifteen-member council is composed of ten boys and five girls. That imbalance
does not stretch into the highest level of leadership, however. “The President and Chair are on an equal plane, and are often gender balanced,” said Student Council Chair Ellie Parker ’11. “The two positions are differentiated by delegation of duties and not by prestige.” Parker continued, “I support the trickleup proposal, in which all classes elect both a girl and boy rep, while ensuring the presidential and chair elections remain organic.” Another, more restrained counterproposal came in light of the discovery that female students
are indeed elected despite representing only a small fraction of the candidate pool on election day. Council representatives are now working to encourage untapped yet qualified girls to consider running for election. “I would be really impressed if Council, leaders in the community, and adults could sustain an effort to encourage girls to run… but I realize it might be more effective to model a balanced council first,” said Parker. Some members of Culture Club and Student Council argued that socially engineering
student government removes the democratic element, and thus reduces its symbolic weight. At the Culture Club meeting, various versions of the claim “we want the best council possible, regardless of gender breakdown,” were heard early and often. This cry for meritocracy will need to be weighed against the nearly unanimous agreement of the Student Council with student body President Charles Giannini ’11, who said, “Gender equality must be a top priority in leadership positions. The question that remains is how best to achieve it.”
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Ties: Taste or Torture?
whomp whomp whomp
Tossin’ Some Disc
2 The Deerfield Scroll
VOL. LXXXVI, NO. 1
OPINION/EDITORIAL
APRIL 27, 2011
Editor-in-Chief ANNA GONZALES Front Page SARAH WOOLF
Video Editor KEVIN TANG
Opinion/Editorial ELIZABETH WHITTON
Layout Editor DANIEL HAN
Arts & Entertainment HADLEY NEWTON Features DANIELLE DALTON Sports CLAIRE HUTCHINS Photo Editor BEN BOLOTIN
Online Editors
JAKE BARNWELL MARLY MORGUS Editorial Associates SAMMY HIRSHLAND KRISTY HONG CASEY BUTLER JOHN LEE
Advisors SUZANNE HANNAY & JOHN PALMER
STAFF REPORTERS: Charlotte Allen, Delaney Berman, Nolan Bishop, Caitlin Cleary, Charlie Cory, Ross Gordon, Charles Jones, Joshua Kim, Caroline Kjorlien, Stephanie Kuo, Maddie Lane, Henry Lewis, Sha Li, Ryan Logie, Miranda McEvoy, Eliza Mott, Emily Ng, Nicky Rault, Carly Reilly, Justin Schlacks, Nina
April 27, 2011
Letter from the Editor
The Deerfield Scroll this year aims to be a tool in creating awareness, stimulating discussion, and generating action in the student body. To this end, we wish to work closely with the Student Council, reporting on changes in administrative policies and new proposals that directly affect students. As Imagine Deerfield is phased into effect, we will cover and interpret key aspects of the school’s strategic plan, examining their significance in our lives in the classroom, the dormitory, and the athletic fields. Recognizing the student body’s collective membership in an increasingly politicized and technologically changing world, we will also look outside of Deerfield for news. With well-researched reporting on current events, such as budget cuts on Capitol Hill and air strikes on Libya, both included in this issue, we look to inform students, arouse their curiosity, and incite debate and opinion formation on these topics. To do this, we will rely upon our staff writers, who, in writing passionately about topics that excite them, carry the responsibility and honor of informing our readership. The Scroll’s goals would be impossible without building upon the strong tradition of tactful and intelligent reporting, writing, editing, tough decision-making, and Glee-soundtrack-listening that we now inherit from former Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Strayer ’11 and her staff, and continue under the brilliant, endlessly patient advisory of Ms. Hannay and Mr. Palmer. I would also like to thank the new editorial board for the diligence, fearlessness, grammatical and technological skills, and willingness to receive an incredible number of emails that they have shown thus far. We cannot succeed without readers, of course, and so by distributing The Scroll directly to dormitories and mailing it home again to parents we want more people to see the paper and enjoy its contents. We hope that other students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff will feel inspired to send something to The Scroll themselves, responding to or writing articles and adding their voices to the ongoing conversation. If you have an idea about something you’d like to see in The Scroll, an opinion, a question, or even an exclamation, please share it with us at scroll@deerfield.edu or agonzales@deerfield.edu. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and your voices! PAX. -Anna Gonzales Editor-in-Chief
Shevzov-Zebrun, Sharon Tam, Tabata Viso, Kyle Wellner, Elisabeth Yancey, Hyun Yang, Nicholle Yu STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Sarah Cox, William Fox, Lena Mazel, Louisa Schiefflin, Ashley So
The Deerfield Scroll, established in 1925, is the official student newspaper of Deerfield Academy. The Scroll encourages informed discussion of pertinent issues that concern the Academy and the world. Signed letters to the editor that express legitimate opinions are welcomed. We hold the right to edit for brevity. The Scroll is published eight times yearly. Advertising rates provided upon request. Opinion articles with contributors’ names attached represent the views of the respective writers. Opinion articles without names represent the consensus views of the editorial staff.
Graffiti on the Koch: Shame and Respect None of us will ever forget the shame of having a Second Visit Day soiled by the cowardly act of one or more protestors. We are all for freedom of speech and we understand that individuals in our community may at times strongly disagree with the actions or decisions of others. But defacing a building with rants and accusations right before one of our most public occasions is not an action worthy of Deerfield students. When we all gathered before Sunday sit-down dinner to face this situation, the room was absolutely silent as Dr. Curtis reminded us of the importance of character and respect. Mr. Emerson had never appeared so disappointed. And Mr. Flaska, who along with the other deans has to balance his roles as friendly mentor and ultimate rule enforcer, spoke about his abiding commitment to Deerfield and to all its students. This situation should make us all re-examine our commitment to respecting the beautiful campus and community in which we live. How many times have we walked by overflowing trash cans in a stairwell, ignored the pile of dirty plates in the Greer, or left our weights scattered on the floor of the new fitness center? If we pretended every day was a Second Visit Day, we might treat our Deerfield world a little better. As spring arrives and flowers bloom, let’s do our own spring cleaning in big and small ways, and demonstrate that we all are worthy of our heritage.
No Pain, No Gain Debates about federal budget cuts dominated the political realm recently. President Obama and congressional leaders narrowly avoided a complete government shutdown by finally agreeing to a plan that should reduce the federal deficit by nearly $40 billion from this year’s budget. But elected officials remain fundamentally divided over the direction of national priorities, with Republicans pushing for more cuts in social programs and Democrats petitioning for higher tax rates for the wealthy. Most Americans have experienced financial losses or uncertainties recently. Deerfield has not been immune, with our endowment lower and the need for financial aid higher. No one wants to face further pain through more taxes or cuts. But the reality is that we will all have to make further sacrifices so our nation can “live within its means.” As we become eligible to vote, it is imperative that we make an effort to stay intelligently informed, and then select leaders who will protect individual rights and those who truly need help, while holding all Americans accountable in building a sustainable future.
We wish to extend our deepest sympathy to
Nancy Chunglo and to her family on the death of her father Richard Lanen
More Leadership...“Nothing to Lose” Mentality Starting next year, the Disciplinary Committee will be restructured and members will meet on a more regular basis. These reforms expand the role and responsibilities involved with being a committee member. Yet the election process for DC remains unchanged this year: students only need to self-nominate by highlighting their names. With a multitude of standardized tests to prepare for and applications to fill out, spring term is busy enough as it is. However, by allowing students to simply highlight their way onto the ballot, the process does not encourage students to carefully consider before applying. Students are not forced to contemplate whether they will devote the time or if they will be good candidates. Instead, the only question the process seems to ask is: Do I have anything to lose by highlighting my name? For most students, the answer is no. Perhaps, in order to run for election, a required paragraph about what makes a good DC member may change this “nothing to lose” mentality.
Koch Graffiti Commentary: As Tyannis Carter ’11 so boldly put it, “This is not what Deerfield is about. This is not what my four years are, or what I want them to reflect.”
A Place Where Dreams Come True
By KEVIN TANG Video Editor
your ambition. Yet behind all the fireworks, you must eventually arrive at a A cloud of sickly green smoke bold statement: the only reason filled the stage and a maniacal why your dreams didn’t come laugh pierced the sunny morning. true is because you didn’t believe Maleficent arrived to proclaim in them hard enough. As I stood there listening that Disney World was now “a place where nightmares come to the applause, I looked over at my dad, who was taping the true.” Obviously, our valiant hero performance. I wondered what Mickey Mouse wasn’t going to he thought of the whole thing. let this happen. He pleaded with “Don’t make mistakes,” he would the audience to believe in their always tell me. My dad’s doctrine dreams; Maleficent could only be always focused on reducing defeated if they believed in their mistakes. Being meticulous and dreams hard enough. “Let’s say preventing mistakes ahead of it together now. Dreams come time was the only way to reach true, dreams come true, dreams your goal. Anything worth doing is also worth checking. come true.” My parents learned this The crowd, however, didn’t respond to the participation philosophy firsthand growing element. I heard more of the up in China. The school system recording than anybody actually they attended was completely chanting. With a boom, fireworks performance based. Grades shot out and Maleficent was were based on mid-term and final exams; the college process vanquished. From the moment you walk hinged around a single, long, onto Main St. in the Magic comprehensive standardized test. Kingdom, you enter a fantasy A mistake meant you wouldn’t land where “if you can dream it, get into the college that you it can happen.” All Mickey asks dreamed of. Oddly enough, after is that you believe in your dreams all those stressful teenage years, and the magic will take care of my parents opted for the medical field, where their decisions the rest. Disney, through its influence carry serious consequences. My on the lives of children growing parents succeeded by practicing up in America, lends its voice a lot of self-discipline, double to the American dream. Rather checking work and minimizing than the “roads paved with any chance of error. My parents’ model offered gold” that immigrants heard about before they arrived at a different answer from that Ellis Island, the dream has of Disney. If I fall short of morphed into a road of infinite my goals, it would be because I possibilities, determined solely by wasn’t meticulous enough, simple
as that. “Don’t make mistakes,” my dad would always tell me. How could my dad stand there, smiling as he taped this performance? Didn’t he see the apparent differences in philosophy? There was Mickey, smiling his unwavering smile and waving at the audience, offering his message of faith. Then there was my dad, urging self-discipline as the only way to success. No matter which way I rotated or flipped the two doctrines, they wouldn’t mesh. Yet there was my dad, fully able to reconcile what he saw with what he preached. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that they are actually responding to different questions. Disney is trying to distill what the American dream stands for. My parents actually subscribe to Disney’s philosophy; the reason why they left their families and ventured halfway around the world was because America represented opportunity. Belief plays an integral part in furthering the dream, because you must first recognize the opportunity is there. My parents are simply trying to teach me how to take advantage of the dream, what it requires, and what will aid me. The two philosophies didn’t represent two roads heading in different directions, but they are pieces of the same puzzle, which, if pieced together, gives us a way to fulfill our dreams. This is Kevin Tang’s Junior Declamation.
The Deerfield Scroll
OPINION/EDITORIAL
April 27, 2011
3
Race to Somewhere: DA Speaks Out About Success and Stress
Redefine Success! By EMILY GALINDO ’09 Contributing Writer
Ring! Ring! Ring! Almost every morning at Deerfield starts with the same loud alarm. Rarely, if ever, is there the opportunity to wake up when one feels like it. Then there is the rush to a seven -hour-day of classes, an hour or two of practice, a forty-five minute sit-down dinner, some free time and then two hours of study hall before a break for Hadley Newton a feed, followed by some more work before bed. Assuming, of course, that you aren’t a president of a club, proctor, or someone who has hobbies. Your two AP classes, team, club, proctoring, hobbies, and feeling pressed and stressed. The limited free time for friends are introduction of a Residential Life all worth it, though, because the Curriculum may also prove to be well-rounded student you strove a positive step toward addressing to become for three years paved the complexities of dorm living. the way for your acceptance Some of these solutions are into an Ivy League college or intended to be proactive (8:30 its equivalent. Your late nights start) and some are reactive of staying up, sacrificing Greer(recuperation at the Health time for study-time, doing work Center). These efforts and for a class you possibly care little limits are necessary —but not about, and going to the gym to sufficient—as stress-reducers. train for your sport off-season Tackling this issue and were all worth it! Or were they? its attending challenges in a Recently a documentary came meaningful way is well beyond out that makes me question the what I can discuss here. How value of those sacrifices I made does the college admission at Deerfield to be the perfect process play in this quandary? college candidate. It is called Do Deerfield’s pace and demands Race to Nowhere (a play on “Race appropriately prepare students to the Top?”) and was made for college and adult life? Are APs by a filmmaker/mom, Vicki a culprit? Are we, parents and Abeles, who asked herself that teachers, modeling healthy adult very question when she saw her lifestyles? Might we choose to children getting physically sick build into the daily schedule time from the stress they accumulated for reflection and meditation? in school. Especially shocking to What is our collective experience her was a 13-year-old friend of of “community”? her daughter who committed What happened to the “less- suicide after failing a math test. is-more” movement? How much Abeles asks herself why this of the stress is self-imposed as girl would commit suicide when students push themselves to kids have failed math tests since achieve at the highest levels (being math tests came into existence. “pretty good” at something The answer is pretty simple. It doesn’t seem to cut it anymore)? is not the math tests that have Isn’t this a cultural changed; it is our attitudes Emily Galindo ’09 is a sophomore phenomenon, a problem shared toward them that have. Kids feel at Middlebury College. by, at the very least, all of our peer schools? We should be willing to look at and talk about how and why we do what we do. Focusing on Responses to Race to Nowhere the topic of stress will advance the conversation.
HIGH SCHOOL SURVIVAL GUIDE:
DON’T LET STRESS KEEP YOU FROM THRIVING By STUART BICKNELL Contributing Writer Is stress a problem here at Deerfield? Truth be told, stress is a fact of life. Some degree of stress is expected, living in a world with high expectations and multiple responsibilities. It can be neutral, positive, or negative. In many school environments, the ethic seems to be that if you aren’t stressed and overworked, you’re not working hard enough. The talk among students and adults is how much work they have, how little time they have to do it, and how low their reserves are (lack of sleep) when it comes to managing it. Stress is a timely topic, one that has received a heavy dose of attention with the release of the documentary film Race to Nowhere. The New York Times and other national publications recently paid their respects to the issue. Highly stressed secondary school and college students are a popular topic of conversation in the lay and professional press. Research for stressfocus.com reports that school work and parents top the stress list for 78% of teenagers. In our environment, anxiety about college admissions rises to the top of the list of stressors late in the junior year. Additionally, some students feel stressed about social concerns including friendships, dating, appearance, and family financial circumstances. While stress can be a positive motivator, too much stress can be physically and emotionally draining. Many Deerfield families choose this school because it is a competitive, action-packed
environment with the potential to bring out the best in their sons and daughters. Parents and teachers talk about wanting students to thrive here, not merely survive. For many, that’s indeed what happens —the stress they experience is functional—and they thrive. For others it can feel like a survival ordeal. Knowing when stress is out of control, and then determining how to back it down, can be difficult to determine. The right amount of push-and-pull for one person may be too much for another. Students wonder whether their experience of overload is a personal problem or generated by an institutional or community norm. What else can we do as a community to make thriving everyone’s experience? In 2009, we delayed the start to the academic day. That was a significant move in the right direction, an appreciation of the importance of sleep for growing adolescents. We try to be sensitive to minimizing addons. We have rules about length of assignments, clustering of tests, and enforced quiet times in the dorms. Some of those rules are more respected than others. Winter massages and dress-down days are a modest nod toward shifting from a crazy pace. Deans, advisors, and teachers are available for extra help and support all day and into the night. Proctors and peer counselors work hard to support students experiencing social and emotional distress. The Health Center provides a safe retreat for the overwhelmed. Counselors are available to respond to students
FACES IN THE CROWD:
English teacher Frank Henry says... “I spoke to an advisee about her course of study. She picked out every single class based on how it will look on her transcript.”
Stuart Bicknell has been a psychologist at Deerfield since 1985.
SILENCED BY THE COLLEGE BOARD
By MEGHANA VUNNAMADALA Contributing Writer
More often than not, students choose to write an essay arguing the side with more evidence rather than the one they truly America was founded on the believe in. Democracy allows for the fundamental principles of freedom of expression, equality of opportunity, voice of every citizen to be heard. Yet the College Board, and democracy. Each year, the SAT forces a corporation, has a louder millions of students to sit in voice and greater impact on our gyms and press microscopic college admissions than our own layers of graphite into a bubble. accomplishments. Moreover, the To a certain extent, the SAT puts youth of America are not silent high school students in a box because they are too distracted and hands them a number that by music pulsing through their represents their “net value”— eardrums or videos blinking in their eyes, but because they what they’re worth. The 21st century is marked by have been silenced by the soexperimentation and innovation. called “reputable” and “reliable” Why does the SAT—a rigid, colleges that choose to use this objective test—still hold great faulty marker, the SAT, to map value in the academic society and, our intelligence and potential. Education is known as the moreover, the college admission great equalizer, bringing social process? When it comes to expressing classes closer together without yourself on the SAT, you’re given completely amalgamating them. a meager 25 minutes to address America is known for having a your opinion on a given topic. large middle class. America is
now that they must not only excel at every test, but complete them perfectly; as one girl interviewed in the documentary asks, “How do you expect us to do well when we can’t even make mistakes?” “The pressures come from the colleges, from the parents, from the government. It has to stop,” says a teacher from the documentary. I agree. College advisors say that “reach” schools won’t become “probable” until we take another AP, and add on another club. Parents are no better, repeating the same message at home, and often much more frequently then our advisors do. Ultimately we must ask ourselves, is this worth it? One official in the documentary clearly answered this question by apprehensively stating that she’s afraid “children are going to sue us for stealing their childhoods.” This might be a bit of an overstatement, because we can’t possibly hate all of our commitments; firing quick comebacks to Mr. D during my art exemption or sitting in Francoise’s apartment after a long night of proctor duty make up some of my best memories at Deerfield. But what about my failed attempts at Calculus and chemistry? Did I really need to put myself through those pains? Do you? Deerfield, I ask you to redefine “success!” Is it staying up until two in the morning for the class that makes your head hurt, or is it throwing around a Frisbee on the lower levels? Is it signing up for your third club or having time to read Twilight? Only you can answer the question for yourself, but perhaps it is time to open the discussion to the Deerfield community and not only redefine personal success but redefine the images of the ideal “Deerfield Boy” and “Deerfield Girl.”
known for having a structured education system where “no child is left behind.” Yet the SAT, a test meant to reflect the ideals of American education and promote a middle class, is only driving social classes apart. Is it reasonable that the future of America pays $44 to take a test that doesn’t even promote the ideals of American society? We should rise above the SAT, and embrace tests such as “The Rainbow Project,” created by Yale psychologist Robert Sternberg that aims to test problem-solving and creativity rather than analytical skills. Although unlikely to be adopted by colleges in the near future, “The Rainbow Project” and other similar tests account for the principles of democracy, freedom of expression, and equality of opportunity. This is Meghana Vunnamadala’s Junior Declamation.
Rachel Gibson ‘11 says... “I brought the film to Deerfield so that students and faculty could see different opinions about the stresses teenagers endure. The pressures and stresses that some students feel are not unique to Deerfield.”
Academic Dean Peter Warsaw says... “Deerfield Students are by far the happiest students I’ve ever known. But I think Race to Nowhere makes us question how important homework is.”
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4 The Deerfield Scroll
Ties: More Than Just Class Dress
Ben Bolotin Tim O’Brien ’12 sports his favorite tie, a gift from his brother.
By ELISABETH YANCEY Staff Writer On a campus filled with personalities both creative and individual, it is no wonder that, despite the dress code, one article of clothing shines through with colors, patterns, and designs equally as unique as the people sporting ties. Some welcome the notion of a tie with special vigor. “In a world of such precedent styles and predefined overworn name brands, the depth of a man’s tie collection can provide a window through which the world may glance at one’s creative individualism…that’s basically what it boils down to,” commented Adam Coppola ’12. Coppola is known for his signature fish tie, a classic piece he discovered in his attic. Equally enthusiastic about ties, Sarah Sutphin ’13 stated, “Ties
are terrific … I like funny ties. I always compliment someone with a funny tie.” One such tie can be found in the collection of Laddie Trees ’11. “My favorite tie is purple with zebras on it,” he stated. However, Trees is not the only one to appreciate a bold choice of color when it comes to ties. Tim O’Brien ’12 enjoys a tie given to him by his brother, not only for the iPods dotting its surface, but also for the electric blue background that, O’Brien said, “matches my pastels.” But the ties one generally sees around campus may not be exactly what they appear to be. Math teacher Nils Ahbel, known for his signature quirky bowties, replied when asked about his preference for bowties, “What I’m wearing, in fact, is a regular tie. What most people wear are called four-in-hand ties, so I would ask the question, ‘Why do people wear four-in-hand ties?’” Mr. Ahbel himself wears ties corresponding to events, such as his tie with a donkey and elephant on either side of a seesaw, which he wears “on days when there’s a really important political decision.” Some consider ties a much more serious art form. Chuck Jones ’12 spoke of his favorite tie, “a Dominico Vaca, seven fold, beautiful red with horizontal silver stripes, my most powerful power tie.” Then again, some choose to forgo ties altogether. Julian Gonzalez ’11 said, “I don’t like ties. A tie reminds me of a noose.” Sarah Woolf ’11 commented, “I’m glad I don’t have to wear a tie. My neck relishes its air.”
More Than a Numbers Game: Admissions 2011 By NICKY RAULT Staff Writer Reading an incredible 2,207 applications, a 17% increase over last year, the admissions office composed an incoming class of students that represent the school’s diversity in the classroom, on the fields, and in the arts. With the lowest acceptance rate ever, the admissions office faced a difficult decision season, accepting only 13.5% of applicants. After issuing just 299 acceptance letters to the candidates, 63.8% of students yielded, meaning that 190 new students will join the community next year. Applications could be submitted entirely online this year for the first time, marking the end of the traditional hand-written essay, which Dean of Admissions Patricia Gimbel was reluctant to give up. The traditional mailing system, however, of the acceptance envelope, poster, and M&Ms remains in place. Among those coming next year are 17 post-graduates. Every team will be well represented with new, skilled athletes, but boys’ ice hockey did have trouble solidifying its recruits. The theatrical and arts programs will also be filled with talented performers. Of the twenty-six new day students, sixteen are children of faculty or staff, creating a total of seventy-nine day students, one more than target and five more than this year. The new students alone will represent twenty-six different states and twenty-one nations including India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, and Mozambique. Thirty-one new international
students will enroll next year, bringing the total to ninety. There has been an increase in interest over the last few years from abroad and the public school system, which Mrs. Gimbel attributes to the spread of the school’s reputation as a host to “lots of new opportunities to try here” which may not be available to students elsewhere. Parents want to send their children to Deerfield because they are seeking stability in an uncertain economy that holds great education proportional to future opportunity. With students applying from more diverse backgrounds, the need for financial aid this year became more crucial than ever. Forty-eight percent of all applicants applied for financial aid, a percentage that has slowly climbed. This year 35% of students receive aid, and that will increase next year. Next year’s tuition of $45,450, which can be afforded by less than 2.2% of American families, shows the need for the strong aid program. The school will maintain the heavy northeast concentration. Massachusetts with 144 students, New York with 127, and Connecticut with 84 currently compose 56% of the school. California will increase from 34 students this year to 37 next year. Additionally, Deerfield will welcome six new students from Illinois, five each from Florida and Pennsylvania, four each from Texas and Virginia, three each from Colorado and North Carolina and two from Arizona. Applications will continue to rise over the next few years as educational stability becomes paramount, and the appeal of the academy spreads to the corners of the globe.
April 27, 2011
N o t A n o ther Tragedy... By CAROLINE KJORLIEN Staff Writer “Just imagine the audience in their underwear,” goes the ageold saying that many jokingly cite as the key to delivering a public speech. Many are simply troubled when deciding what to say, or, as is the case for sophomores, selecting an appropriate piece of literature to present to their English classes. Sophomore English students are allowed to select a declamation piece from “the world of literary merit”: novels, plays, speeches, poetry…their options are limitless. So how should students go about narrowing down their pieces? English teacher Michael Cary knows what makes a text suitable to declaim. “It needs to do two things: it needs to reflect who you are….It ought to be something that is good enough to engage or interest the people who are listening.” This is where imagining the audience in their underwear won’t help improve one’s declamation. One way to engage the
audience, as Assistant Academic Dean, Study Skills Coordinator, and English teacher Peter Nilsson suggested, is to select “a text that allows room for oral interpretation.” Popular and, some may say, somewhat overused selections in the past have been from The Lovely Bones, The Glass Castle, The Catcher in the Rye, and To Kill a Mockingbird, all very dramatic novels with a fair amount of tragedy involved. As English teacher Karinne Heise exclaimed, “There’s not enough humor!” Every student wants to recite a piece with a degree of drama present, but are all dramas tragic? English teacher Suzanne Hannay’s experience begged the more interesting question: are all tragedies dramatic? “In both instances where you have either something that’s really tragic, or something that’s really bright and witty, they can be very obvious and maybe overdone, and I always find them kind of cloying,” Ms. Hannay confessed. So how are sophomores navigating the rich world of literature? “I’m doing a section
from The Things They Carried,” said Marina Hansen ’13. Like many students as well as their audience, Hansen believes “that declamations that have more of a somber topic move people more than happy declamations.” Brave enough to take on the challenge of reciting a famous speech, Kyle Wellner ’13 decided to tackle Martin Luther King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Wellner chose it because “it speaks to the audience; its words are powerful.” Though students are held to the highest standards, it is important to keep in mind how difficult it is not only to speak in front of an audience, but to deliver a piece with just the right amount of drama. Mr. Cary would choose John Keats’s poem, “To Autumn.” He explained, “I think it is an interesting challenge to recite a poem. It’s different from reading a page of dialogue or a description from a short story because poetry is condensed language, compressed language, and every word counts.”
Peer Counselors & Proctors: No Longer One In The Same By NICHOLLE YU Staff Writer Peer counselors will no longer be eligible for proctorship beginning next year. The decision, the result of collaboration between Head of School Margarita Curtis, the Residential Program Committee, and the Health Education and Wellness Group, was designed to have peer counselors become a part of the upperclassmen residential program. Last year, Deerfield students participated in a survey, the results of which revealed that the community does a great job supporting underclassmen but that the support system for upperclassmen is lacking. “It really drops off with our juniors and seniors who are just as in need of a safety net,” said science and health issues teacher Kristin Loftus, “The new residential program will look
to provide that support to the upperclassmen dorms.” Dr. Curtis agreed when she observed that several boarding schools have proctors in all dorms, even in upperclassmen dorms. She believed that the new peer counselors would have “enhanced roles, increased responsibilities in the dormitories and the opportunity to work closely with the faculty.” Proctors are expected to remain engaged in the dorm throughout the year and be aware of their proctees’ behavior. They have to provide guidance and keep dorm rules consistent and enforced. Meanwhile, peer counselors are expected to run bi-weekly freshmen discussion groups and be accessible to peers. Current proctor and student member of the Residential Program Committee Jennifer Chu ’11 remarked, “Some students are really good in peer
counselors and proctorship roles. However, there is an issue of time commitment. This was definitely a factor contributing to the new residential status of peer counselors.” Some peer counselors welcome this new idea as it will “spread leadership opportunities around campus and have people take on different roles,” said peer counselor Daniel Rivera ’13. “The new residential status of the peer counselors would give it more teeth, potentially give it more status and really have [the counselors] more available for their peers. Their job description will be the same, but the new program will emphasize their accessibility and availability in the upperclassmen dorms,” said Ms. Loftus. Current peer counselor Willa Gustavson ’12 agrees. “Peer counselors would be relied upon when put in leadership positions in the dorms.”
Arriving as a Stranger & Leaving as a Member of the Community
BenBen Bolotin Bolotin Students and faculty talk to admittted students about the many opportunities available to Deerfield students while enjoying cookies and lemonade in the Memorial Building Lobby.
By CHARLOTTE ALLEN Staff Writer One would think that the few inches of slushy wet snow that made an appearance on the first revisit day would have affected not only the mood, but also the general feel of the day, but this was proven wrong in the comments of visitor Signe Alh, a student admitted to the class of 2014. “Everything about it was great,” she said, “from the sit-down lunch to the
student panel to the welcoming students. I couldn’t tell you anything negative about my day!” Each spring, admitted students pour onto campus, eagerly awaiting a sneak peek of a day in the life of a Deerfield student. Many current students may forget how terrifying it was to leave their parents behind to follow a complete stranger around for four hours, recalling only the excitement that caused them to leave the fear, and home, behind. This year the academy
hosted three successful revisit days early this April. Potential students could not stop talking about the student panel that featured current students and perfomances by the Mello-D’s, Rhapso-D’s, and the acting tutorial class. Margaret McGraw, younger sister of Maddie McGraw ’12, commented, “The whole day was very well-run and organized and made you feel like you were already a part of the Deerfield community.”
The Deerfield Scroll
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Supplying Fresh Talent By SHARON TAM Staff Writer
The heads of the arts department look for experience and talent in students applying for admission. When recruiting for the arts department, the Admissions Office encourages prospective students to send in their portfolio and other previous work to be reviewed. John Reese, fine arts teacher and director of theater explained, “You look for genuine interest in the art. It is not hard to train a novice actor who is committed and determined to succeed.” Some of the current theater recruits are Aaron Cyr-Mutty ’11, Jem Wilner ’11, Sarah Woolf ’12, and Thomas Shuman ’13, who all demonstrated interest in theater in their applications. Mr. Reese directs theater productions with these four students, but he also casts students who have never before set foot on stage. “There should be an opportunity for anyone at Deerfield to improve their area of art, regardless of their experience,” added Music Director Dan Roihl. Depending on the department
of the arts one is interested in and the year one applies to Deerfield, the process can also be extremely competitive. “Since 2004, the number of portfolios sent to the visual arts increased exponentially,” said art teacher David Dickinson. Over the past three years, Mr. Dickinson has reviewed anywhere from fifty to seventy portfolios of both international and domestic prospective candidates, and only about three to seven of those portfolios received noteworthy recognition, including those of Sonja Holmberg ’11, Grace Murphy ’11, and Laura Whitehill ’12. In addtion, the Deerfield arts requirements are particularly modest, so the popularity of the department stems mainly from current student interest, rather than from recruits. “There are many students admitted to Deerfield who are extremely enthusiastic about the arts, and the talent level is remarkably high,” commented art teacher Timothy Trelease. Academic Dean and music teacher Peter Warsaw explained, “The river must keep supplying fresh talent; the experienced must show the way for the less experienced.”
Ben Bolotin
Artist of the Issue: Kelsey Janik ByTABATA VISO Staff Writer
Kelsey Janik ’11 “is one of the smartest young women I have met on this campus,” declared French teacher and Mather resident Francoise Ellis, who has known her for almost four years. “It is so hard to put Kelsey into words. Kelsey is Kelsey,” Mrs. Ellis continued. This talented girl spends her afternoons in the art studios drawing and painting. Janik was awarded a Richmond Scholar Award this February after applying to the University of Richmond. “The award is a fulltuition scholarship with other benefits,” explained Janik. After making it into the semi-final round, applicants submitted supplementary materials under specific designations, including art, English, and community service. Soon after submitting the art portfolio that she created during her years here at Deerfield, Janik interviewed as a finalist on the Richmond campus over spring break. She subsequently became a Richmond Scholar with the designation ‘Artist Scholar.’ “She won it all,” summed up art teacher David Dickinson.
Interested in art as a child, Janik recounted her fourth Christmas, when she received her first art set. “I was so happy, I slept with it that night! But it was a wooden box, so it was kind of uncomfortable.” Her love for art has grown since then. Janik uses a variety of materials–-from watercolor to acrylics to charcoal-–but she prefers drawing, especially still life. One of Deerfield’s finest artists, Janik always has pieces included in exhibits of advanced student work in school galleries and also appears in Albany Road. Her patience and gift for art is clear with every piece she completes. Mr. Dickinson explained, “There are three distinct areas that help Kelsey to raise the bar in her skills: Number one, she focuses very well on detail. Number two, she has a very solid sense of what makes a good composition. And number three, she is very independent in the studio.” Arriving at Deerfield with raw potential but little training, “Kelsey is a good example of someone who has achieved a high level in a discipline that requires a lot of time and effort. And she did it in spite of the demands of all of her core subjects,” said Mr. Dickinson.
April 27, 2011
5
Song for the Dead, Very Much Alive By KRISTY HONG Editorial Associate “Like open books,” began Daniel Roihl, music director, “our student musicians have been especially receptive to musical ideas and approaches, grappling with the technical and emotional challenges in a piece of such immense scope as Fauré’s Requiem.” Student musicians, members of Deerfield’s chorus and orchestra, combined forces with ten faculty members to perform a major choral work inspired by the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead on Friday evening, April 15, 2011, in the Brick Church. Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in D Minor Op. 48 is “one of mourning and petitioning on behalf of the souls of the departed, and by extension, for themselves as
Daniel Han Chorus and faculty members joined forces at the Fauré Requiem.
mortals,” explained Mr. Roihl. “We look at a small section of the repertoire at a time, working with one or two isolated elements—whether it be intonation, diction, or ensemble sound,” commented Mr. Roihl. “My hope is that at the end of rehearsal, we put it back together and sum up the progress.”
“I was excited when I heard we were performing the Requiem, because it’s not the type of music most choruses have done,” said Sierra Janik ’13, soloist for the notable Pie Jesu movement (No. 4). “It is great to perform music most people haven’t heard of before to show them that it is out there.”
Hannah Pittard ’97 Writes Novel of Fates, Fantasies and Youth By ELIZA MOTT Contributing Writer The Fates Will Find Their Way, the first novel by Hannah Pittard ’97, combines lyrical prose with a natural, convincing tone to weave a collective tale of suburban youth. The novel is centered upon the disappearance of teenager Nora Lindell. Writing from the perspective of a group of neighborhood boys, Pittard impressively tackles an unconventional narrative method. Her writing style is reminiscent of Jeffrey Eugenides’ first-person plural style in The Virgin Suicides. Yet Pittard is unique in her divulging of the boys’ and others’ stories and in her sharp psychological analysis. At the end of the twohundred-plus page novel, Pittard has revealed more than ten lives, all of which feel fully realized.
There’s Trey Stephens, “the only public schooler among [them]”; Sarah Jeffreys, who hangs out with the boys after Nora’s disappearance “to avoid the clingy sadness of the girls, their willowy voices, their insistence that ‘It could have been me!”; Sissy Lindell, Nora’s younger sister, who transforms “in one summer, from a middle schooler, a complete annoyance, to a full-blown nymph, a dewymouthed ninth-grader whose mere promenade down a hallway drove varsity captains wild with boyish lust”; and many more vividly depicted characters. Pittard not only makes one forget that she herself did not go through puberty as a male, but forces us to imagine ourselves sitting in a circle in Trey Stephens’ basement, “with neon beer signs and stolen street signs,” waiting for Danny Hatchet to pull out the weed and hypothesizing as to the cause of Nora’s
disappearance, her possible current life and whereabouts, rumors of where she was last seen, and fantasies of her return. In the end, Pittard’s story is about that which has gone missing, that which eludes the boys—and us. The desire for what is now unattainable—whether it is a childhood playmate who has died in a car crash, a missing teenage girl, or our adolescence—and the acceptance of the impossibility of these desires is what Pittard so poignantly captures. The transition from childhood to adulthood, and from fantasies to reality is romantically chronicled. However, it does not come off as depressing or cynical. And although the narrative does wander, sometimes aimlessly, and lacks a satisfying conclusion, this ambiguity of objective seems in correlation with the elusiveness of Nora Lindell, fantasies, and youth.
Dubstep with Kochmen
By DELANEY BERMAN Staff Writer
If you attended any recent dances or ever visit the DA-student-run blog soundabovetheseal.com, you are most likely familiar with dubstep. If not, dubstep is a combination of beats, occasional vocals, and heavy drums with a deep bass born from reggae and London garage rock. Slightly less known, triphop is a pattern of hip-hop beats sans vocals, founded in England around the same time as dubstep. This term marks one year since Deerfield seniors Aaron CyrMutty ’11 and Justin Kwok ’11 started making music together. Last spring, they started mixing beats and song clippings to create dubstep and triphop. Kwok and Cyr-Mutty enjoy these two genres because they rely upon creativity and individuality. Cyr-Mutty enthusiastically described, “Dub and triphop are pretty minimalist and, therefore, require less engineering than more mainstream genres like pop.” So, how does one actually create electronic music? “It’s a little like DJing, sort of making a mash-up of songs but instead of just using a section of the song you can use all of the parts individually,” Cyr-Mutty
explained. “And it’s all done live, like improv,” Kwok clarified. The pair divide up the different aspects of the music making. “Kwok is in charge of the instrumentation and the guitar, and I manage the production,” said Cyr-Mutty, who uses virtual synthesizers on a computer program. “Essentially, you repeat a beat or sound and then layer other beats or parts of songs on top. Some artists use sample tracks as bases, but we just use recordings of Kwok playing the guitar,” he said. “We change up our methods all the time. Whenever either of us comes up with an idea, we
just go with it,” he continued. One year from their start, the duo, officially called “The Kochmen,” is getting more serious about their work. This spring they secured an athletic exemption to work on their music in the hopes of producing a CD by the end of the year. Cyr-Mutty confided plans of their future: “Once we have a CD done, we can send some of the songs to music blogs. If they like it, hopefully they’ll post it.” “Great free publicity,” Kwok interjected. Cyr-Mutty quickly concurred, “Hopefully, it’ll lead to a live gig sometime this summer!”
Becca Cooley Seniors Aaron Cyr-Mutty and Justin Kwok lay down some beats.
6 The Deerfield Scroll
SPORTS
April 27, 2011
Wayne Berger Has Entered the Building By MARLY MORGUS Staff Writer
D.U.C. Logo Sonja Holmberg
Ultimate Frisbee Makes the Scene By ROSS GORDON Staff Writer
Basketball, hockey, field hockey, soccer, football and lacrosse are the common sports we all know and cherish as a part of Deerfield’s athletic tradition. While these conventional cocurriculars require great skill, strength, and athleticism, there is a new team in the mix, one which proves that, in order to play, all you need is a plastic disc and the will to compete. Jem Wilner ’11 worked for most of his junior year and most of his senior year, to date, to accomplish a relatively simple goal: create a recreational Ultimate Frisbee team. It was in fact quite difficult, as a team must have a certain number of players and permission to play Ultimate instead of an established Deerfield cocurricular. Unlike Taft, Hotchkiss, Frontier, NMH, Amherst High School, and Andover, prior to this spring, Deerfield did not have any pre-existing team. This is how Deerfield’s new Ultimate Frisbee team
will be training. With practices that include running, sprinting and scrimmaging, all the team can do is move upwards. “Frisbee isn’t team versus team,” said Wilner, “it’s everybody having fun all the time.” At a collegiate level, Ultimate grows progressively more intense. Athletes can be recruited to top Frisbee schools such as Cornell, Brown, Texas, UC Santa Barbara, Colorado, Stanford, and Wisconsin. Commenting on his hopes for the season, Wilner said: “My goal [was] to bring this team from a competitive recreational team to an established varsity sport, like the team of almost every other school we play.” Although the athletic department has yet to recognize the Ultimate group with an official varsity title, the dream continues as the team grows; in a matter of days it went from 12 to 28 players. The members of the D.U.C., or the Deerfield Ultimate Coalition, look forward to an exciting season after soundly defeating the first opponent, Frontier Regional High School.
Names like Kryzewski and Paterno are thrown around the college basketball and football worlds as symbols of success and evidence of great coaching. Imagine if, as a member of the basketball or football teams, you were informed that one of these all-time greats was coming to coach at Deerfield. That is how members of the crew team felt when Wayne Berger ’84 joined the school’s varsity rowing program. Mr. Berger began his coaching career at Groton School, founded the now enormously prestigious Boston Rowing Club for high school rowers and finally made the leap to coach at the collegiate level with Harvard University. He has coached boats to the most sought-after prizes in rowing, including the Eastern Sprint Championships, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships, US Club Nationals, the Royal Canadian Henley, the Cromwell Cup, and the Royal Henley Regatta. The Scroll caught up with Mr. Berger to ask him about
Compiled By CHARLIE CORY Staff Writer Girls’ Tennis: Hotchkiss, 4/30. “I guess it would be Hotchkiss. For over a decade we consistently defeated Hotchkiss. They have aggressively recruited the last 5 years and now rank about #2 in the Founder’s League. DA was soundly defeated by them during seasons ’09 and ’10. What will ’11 bring?” – Mr. Dickinson Track: New England’s, 5/21. “[The] meet we work toward throughout the entire season across all our events is our only
for a Remarkable Season Daniel Han Hannah Broadhurst ’11 and Liza Bragg ’13 practice pumping the ball during a recent practice.
Most of Deerfield’s students and faculty rejoice at the thought of being outdoors again in the spring. But for some, the spring brings another season of hard work in the pool. Such is the case for the varsity girls’ water polo team, a hardworking group with both the talent and the desire to have a remarkable season. “This year we have a very young team. We lost [with last year’s graduation] four of our seven starters. However, we have a lot of new girls who are great swimmers, so it will be really exciting to see them improve and in turn improve the team,” said Liza Bragg ’13, a starter and second-year member of the team. While many on the team are swimmers who converted to water polo, one new girl is a seasoned “wopo” veteran.
“Water polo in California is the equivalent to lacrosse or field hockey at Deerfield: everyone plays it. At home, people use swimming as a conditioning season for water polo, whereas here, the majority of the team is made up of swimmers learning to play water polo,” explains Lizzie Jeffrey ’13. Jeffrey is new to the team, but not to the sport, and she demonstrates her skills as a starter and key contributor every game. Jeffrey explained her love for the sport and her role as a largely intuitive player: “What I like about water polo is that it’s a fast game which is all about improvisation. It’s not as much about plays, but more about knowing how to respond to certain guarding and thinking quickly. It is much harder to move around someone in the water than it is to run around them.” Because the team has such a
Wayne Berger recaps the events of a girls’ varsity crew scrimmage against Winsor.
championship meet. Not only is it our goal as a team for the entire season to perform well at that meet, but it is also a great showcase for the sport of track and field that takes place right here at Deerfield.” – Mr. Schloat Golf: Andover Invitational Tournament, 5/25. “For the varsity golf team the highlight of the regular season is the Andover Invitational Tournament, a five-member,18hole team competition with eight of the strongest New England boarding schools, played at the historic Newport Country Club, one of the oldest courses in America. We won the event three years ago, setting a team scoring record that won’t soon be broken. – Mr. Albertson Boys’ Crew: NEIRA’s, 5/28. “All of our racing during the season is in preparation for the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association meet… Based on a season of
comparative results and margins the NEIRA seeding committee invites the top crews from New England to compete. This is the most important race for us because all crews in the league get much faster throughout the season and this is the final opportunity to demonstrate our speed.” – Mr. Hamilton Boys’ Lacrosse: Salisbury, 5/18. “Our perfect season has hinged on this game for the last two years and both years we have lost. We have to be prepared for every game, but revenge against Salisbury is definitely motivation.” – Captain Bobby Osgood ’11, Girls’ Softball: Stoneleigh Burnham, 5/16.“The Stoneleigh game is always really fun and exciting... my freshman year we won after 13 innings (our games usually last 7)! Hotchkiss was also very close in extra innings last year, so I’m excited to take a few more swings at their pitcher.” – Willa Gustavson ’12
Claire Hutchins
be perennial contenders for NEIRAs and nationals, and I’d love to take [crews to the Henley]. Berger’s arrival at the boathouse has come with a wave of focus and productive intensity. Dance parties have turned into “movement prep” sessions, up-to-date video from each practice has made its way to the official team Facebook page. The hardworking team has caught on to Berger’s powerful enthusiasm, and they eagerly await a season of racing under such renowned coaching.
“It’s not Choate this time, but...” The Biggest Sporting Events to Watch for This Spring
With Talent and Desire Water Polo Shoots
By RYAN LOGIE Staff Writer
his coaching history and his hopes for the future. Scroll: What’s the biggest difference between coaching collegiate men versus high school women? WB: Interestingly, there aren’t that many differences...Technically, it’s very similar…I would say that girls aren’t as strong in their upper bodies as men, but I do think that women are inherently more able to relax and are actually more coachable than men are. Scroll: What are you looking forward to this season? WB: I’m looking forward to getting better every week and the squad becoming a team and the boats becoming crews, and I’m looking forward to people trying to do something they haven’t done before, row harder, row better, row faster, and if that means winning some races, great, but I’m a lot more about the process than the product. Scroll: What is your vision for the future of the program? WB: My hope for the future of the program is to go to [a higher] level, and that [means] building a culture where people are willing to go outside of their comfort zone and make the necessary sacrifices to produce fast boats. I would love to see Deerfield
solid foundation in swimming, they are able to focus primarily on water-polo-specific skill work in the water, which sets the bar higher for their season. “Last year our team lost nineteen to three against Choate in the New England finals. This year, however, if you compare our records, we have a chance at beating them, which is really exciting because Choate has such a good program,” added a hopeful Bragg. Although a successful record is an important part of the team, it isn’t everything. Accompanying the hard work displayed on the scoreboard and the many hours together in the pool, every Tuesday the team participates in community service events such as giving faculty children swim lessons. With guidance, experience, and team dedication, the girls have much to be excited for this season.