PAGE 2: Preview of Little Shop of Horrors and Riverside Drive, Winter Theater Productions
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Vol. LXXXVII, No. 7
PAGE 3 Travers Nisbet ’13 To Release Two Original Documentaries
DEERFIELD ACADEMY, DEERFIELD, MA 01342
“Pace of Life” Tops NEASC List
Yearbook Faces Budget Cut
By Garam noh Staff Writer
By Tara Murty Editorial Associate According to Director of Communications David Thiel, after the previous representative of the Pocumtuck Yearbook’s printing company allowed unauthorized expenses last year, this year’s budget had to be cut. Editors Victoria Buckman ’13 and Laura Quazzo ’13 face a lower budget for the 2013 yearbook and must change its layout. “When we got the bill with the books this fall, something wasn’t right,” Mr. Thiel said. “It wasn’t this year’s or last year’s editors’ fault. The company ended up paying for a lot of things because there was a budget abnormality.” Mr. Thiel added, “Generally speaking, last year’s book was over budget by about $20k. Because this year’s group had done their planning based on last year, they had to suddenly tighten the budget. They will still be above budget a little bit, probably coming in at around $55k. I’d like to get the yearbook down to less than $50k for the future.” Now Quazzo and Buckman have a set budget, when in the past, “it hasn’t always been clear,” Quazzo said. Quazzo and Buckman developed an amended plan for the 2013 yearbook in meeting with Mr. Thiel. “Mr. Thiel is trying to work with us and is really encouraging,” Buckman said. Quazzo added, “Mr. Thiel helped us determine what was most important. We could have pretty much all of the things from two years ago. Compared to last year’s yearbook, it was an issue of what we wanted and what was extravagance. We need to prioritize. We have become more money-conscious.” Mr. Thiel said, “I think if you compare our book to other schools, you’ll find that it’s unusually large; a reduction in page count, which could be accomplished without eliminating content, is probably the best way to reduce the cost of the book in the future and save the planet a little too.” Buckman said, “All the changes are taken care of, but it did set us back a little.” The budget of the yearbook, though more clearly defined, has not greatly affected the editors’ vision, Quazzo said. Contrary to rumors circulating around campus, the yearbook will not be paperback. It will, however, be without senior collages. Of Quazzo and Buckman, Mr. Thiel said, “I can’t praise them enough for how thoughtfully and professionally they handled this budget information.” “The 2013 yearbook will reflect what we want, which is a more traditional book,” Quazzo said. “Students’ photos and our hard-working staff are far more valuable than a larger budget.”
December 19, 2012
Ashley So The Step Team, led by Daniel Rivera and Tasnim Elboute, practice in the Chapin Common Room.
Step Team Must Step Off Stage: Forced to Practice in Chapin Dorm
By ANNA AUERSpERG Staff Writer This winter, the Theatre Department will put on its first musical, using the main stage. However, this move from the Black Box leaves the step team with no place to practice. CoCaptain Tasnim Elboute ’13 said, “Nobody organizing the play realized that it’s the step team’s practice space until we started our season and suddenly we found out that we wouldn’t be able to use the stage.” The step team needs somewhere to practice where they can hear their stomping, a crucial element in step, which posed a problem in finding a new rehearsal space. “We couldn’t use the Black Box because the set is being built there,” Elboute said. “We couldn’t practice in the lobby because that’ll be too loud while the play rehearsals are happening. We can’t wear shoes in the dance studios, and even if we could we would have to work around the dancers’ schedules.” Co-Captain Daniel Rivera ’13 added, “It’s hard not having any notice that this would be a
problem before our season, and then receiving little help finding a new practice space.” Even before the musical, the step team faced complaints from Art Teacher David Dickinson, whose art classroom is directly below the stage. “You would have all these people stomping their feet,” Mr. Dickinson said about the noise. “And there’s nothing to buffer it and sometimes dust was falling from the ceiling down on the paintings.” In response, the step team moved out to the thrust of the stage, which minimized noise and disturbed the art students less. The step team will practice on the stage while the play is doing singing rehearsals. For the duration of the season, they will use the Chapin common room for daily practices. Advisor to the Step Team and Science Teacher Johnathan Chittuluru said of the move, “Though we are still in the earliest stage of utilizing the space, our move to the Chapin common room has been a welcome one. We will be able to rehearse in this location on a daily basis, and its size and organization suit our
Where Does the Tuition Money Go? BY TABATA VISO Staff Writer
Read the full article “Where Does the Tuition Money Go?: Business Manager Keith Finan Breaks Down the Numbers” at scroll.deerfield.edu
needs. Since this will be the first time we have been able to call a space our own, we are looking forward to the luxury of having a permanent rehearsal room for our team on campus.” Rivera said, “Everyone on step was a trooper. They met the situation with humor and didn’t let it bother them. They are amazing, and I think this whole situation says a lot about them as people—tell me a teenager who wouldn’t be upset.” Theatre Director Catriona Hynds said, “I am thrilled that they are now in a location that has more space, a much needed water fountain near by, and a bathroom. They also have the liberty to make more noise without the sound disrupting others in the Memorial Building.” However, this solution is far from ideal, Elboute said. “We’ll be a team using an abandoned dorm for practice—this would never happen to another team. Can you imagine if they took away the gym from the basketball team? Not only is it isolating, but the team needs wooden floors and we had to settle for a carpeted area.”
A group of visiting headmasters, led by Rick Melvoin, former Deerfield faculty member and current headmaster at Belmont Hill School, visited Deerfield last term to assess whether the school’s reaccreditation selfstudy matched up with reality. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) must reaccredit the school every 10 years, and last year faculty prepared a report addressing nearly every aspect of academic and residential life. Here are the commendations and recommendations from the Visiting Committee.
MAJOR COMMENDATIONS The Visiting Committee commends Deerfield Academy for 1. its thorough preparation of the self-study and openness in looking at school issues, and its warm, open engagement with the Visiting Committee, as all constituencies—students, faculty, staff, administration, parents and trustees—were friendly, thoughtful and candid 2. its continued commitment to a strong community, seen in the spirit, loyalty and pride of the students, and particularly in close student/faculty relations—to use the school’s phrase, dedication to “high touch”—throughout school life 3. the creation and ongoing implementation of a substantive strategic plan, honoring Deerfield’s past yet focusing on 21st century teaching and learning, and the commitment to provide the resources to make the plan a reality 4. the hiring and retention of faculty who are talented and dedicated, and an ongoing commitment to their professional development 5. a remarkable campus that is beautifully maintained and constantly enhanced
MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS The Visiting Committee recommends that Deerfield Academy 1. continue to examine issues of pace for faculty, acknowledging the ongoing changes in expectations and pressures that faculty today face while also recognizing that these expectations are part of both Deerfield’s heritage and broader societal changes and challenges 2. continue to examine issues of pace for students, balancing the talents, energy and drive of many students and the pressures they face to excel with the school’s avowed goal of providing a balanced, well-rounded education 3. acknowledge, honor and continue to examine the tensions and dynamics of a school with a rich history and strong traditions that also seeks to embrace the
future and the rapid rate of change today 4. examine even more deeply the notion of a “dominant culture” in the school and consider what changes might be desired, if any, and what the cost of changes might be 5. continue to ensure that faculty participate in the processes of strategic planning and implementation 6. explore more fully the staffing, visibility and authority of those charged with diversity work at the school 7. continue to address the vexing challenges brought on by the rising pressure of specialization, looking at its impact on students and faculty alike
FEATURES The Deerfield Scroll
December 19, 2012
Current Events, JSA, Arabic Clubs Host IsraeliPalestinian Discussion By Emily Ng Editorial Associate
Snapshots from Algo Más, Nisbet’s documentary on the education system in Columbia.
Nisbet Travels a New Path for Co-Curriculars BY CHARLOTTE ALLEN Editorial Associate Travers Nisbet ’13 has taken advantage of the art exemption program both this winter term and last winter term to edit two self-produced documentaries. “I started planning the [first] film in the winter of my sophomore year,” Nisbet said. We filmed for two weeks in Colombia that June. After filming I started editing. I used my exemption to do most of the editing in the next winter, though I still had to do a large portion outside my exemption. After about a year and a half, I finished the film in July 2012.” This was no small project, for Nisbet had to “compress 24 hours worth of footage into a 70-minute film.” He co-directed it with a friend from The Taft School, but edited it and produced
it himself with guidance from second documentary this summer Visual and Performing Arts on 9/11 and architecture. It Teacher Tim Trelease. He even “explores September 11th and got alum Simon Moushabeck ’12 memory, essentially how we use to compose two pieces for the memory as a form of reparation musical score. from a traumatic event. The “The documentary is a film film uses 9/11 as a foundation that explores the “At a deeper level, to explore how education system in however, the film societies react to Colombia,” Nisbet seeks to confront the trauma and how said. “The goal of question of happiness they [not only] the film is to raise and the degree to use cultural and awareness about which education individual memory the difficulties the determines success together as a form educators have in life, whether that of healing, but in Colombia and means socioeconomic also, sometimes, hopefully promote success or merely as an aversion to change in some way. the reality of that happiness.” At a deeper level, trauma.” -Travers Nisbet He had the however, the film seeks to confront the question opportunity to interview David of happiness and the degree Childs, “the lead architect at the to which education determines international firm Skidmore, success in life, whether that Owings and Merrill and the means socioeconomic success or architect of the new World merely happiness.” Trade Center, as well as Paul Continuing to delve into Goldberger, an architect critic important social and cultural for the New York Times, The New themes, Nisbet began filming a Yorker and Vanity Fair.”
Nisbet has his work cut out for him this upcoming term, putting the finishing touches on his first documentary and editing down the second. Mr. Trelease, his exemption advisor, said, “Travers is exceptionally motivated and determined to see his projects through to completion.” He continued to say how “some of the most ambitious, community-based work in recent memory has sprung from the art exemption program. Peter Krasznekewicz’s Little White House Project, Ashley So’s ‘Not Just a Face’ project and Travers’ documentary have established a high standard for what is possible when Deerfield students are allowed creative space to pursue their artistic ideas.” Mr. Trelease is working on a documentary film festival for this upcoming spring, when students will be able to see Nisbet’s documentaries along with the work of other students.
Staff Editorial: College Admissions
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As college letters arrive and campus leadership positions begin getting distributed, it is important for the student body to act with sincerity and empathy when discussing these topics with peers. In the past, the politics of ethnicity, legacy statuses and other similar qualities have been used to explain why certain students get into college or receive leadership positions. These comments are not only unfair speculations, attributing one’s successes to things other than their determination and commitment, but they are also disrespectful and insulting. Our community attempts to be one of support and camaraderie, and we should congratulate those among us who succeed because it contributes to our school’s success as a whole. The college admission process can be particularly disappointing at times, but we should not resort to making petty excuses about another’s successes. Seniors must realize that the decision is not in their hands. Many applicants are equally qualified, but there are only a limited number of spots for each incoming class. Comparisons do not help because everyone is different. Finally, we should be careful about spreading college admission and rejection news around campus. It’s natural for news to scatter quickly, but we have to remember that what may seem like gossip to one person is someone else’s life. To a certain extent, it’s not everyone’s business. Good luck to everyone in the college process and please pay attention to the feelings and concerns of others in the upcoming months.
Google Images
LOOK OUT! This year’s Lambert Fellow, Paul Mayewski, will be on campus next week. He will be sharing his experience with us at school meeting and in various classes on Wednesday, 19, 2012. Google Images December
History Repeats Itself in The Lyons Family: Three Brothers, Three Schools, Shared Passion for the Past about the study of history that engages all of us. We’re all interested in trying to understand the world in which we live,” Mr. Lyons explained. “Ken Burns said the other day, ‘If you don’t know where you’ve
they are, and history has been the discipline that has helped us explore that question.” Mr. Lyons is most interested History Department Head in nineteenth and twentiethJoseph Lyons grew up with a love century history. He has taught a of history and shares his passion wide range of topics, including with his two brothers, David courses on the Supreme Lyons and John Lyons. David Court, dissent in America, Lyons has been the Head of “It’s the life we grew up in, colonial history, and European the History Department at St. and it’s a good life. We talked History in the International Mark’s since 1995, and John a lot about politics and history Baccalaureate. He currently Lyons was the Department in the house, and there’s just teaches Modern Times and Head at Groton for six years. something about the study of U.S. History at Deerfield. They all followed in the history that engages all of us.” “I think in history you footsteps of their father, -Mr. Lyons have to wrestle with facts and Thomas Lyons, who was a various perspectives, and try history teacher at Andover. to come to a sound, logical All three brothers spoke at been, you don’t know who you synthesis of them ultimately their father’s memorial service a are, and you don’t know where leads to the ability to make few weeks ago. you’re going,’” Mr. Lyons said. good judgments,” Mr. Lyons “It’s the life we grew up in, “I think that really resonates with said. “Without memory you and it’s a good life. We talked a lot all of us, and there’s just a sense would have no identity. How we about politics and history in the of curiosity in our household remember the past helps shape house, and there’s just something about why things are the way our identity both individually and
By Cameron Carpenter Staff Writer
In an effort to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, the Current Events Club, Arabic Club and Jewish Student Association (JSA) collaborated for a meeting on December 5. Club heads Andrea Fleming ’14, Dave Keith ’13, Annie Klink ’13 and Jon Victor ’14 gathered a classroom full of students, along with some attending faculty members. Q: Where did the IsraeliPalestinian conflict begin? Keith: When ruled by the Ottomans, the people in Palestine were nearly all Arab, but in the late 1800s, Zionism spread and advocated for Jews across the world to form a nation where Israel is today. Fleming: To add onto Dave’s point, the Palestinians have lived there for thousands of years, but in the 1800s, the Jewish people decided on Palestine as a homeland because it was their “promised land.” Q (Nolan Bishop ’13): Isn’t building settlements on the Palestinian-Arab side of the Armistice line a violation of the treaty signed half a century ago? Klink: Yes, the treaty was violated, but Palestine wasn’t recognized as a state, so they couldn’t do anything about the violation on their own. Q (Hannah Antonellis ’14): If Palestine existed as a country before Israel, why did Israel make it into the UN but not Palestine? Klink: A lot has to do with the allies that chose to support Israel’s inducting. Big powers like the British, French and United States supported the country in the process. Fleming: Now, the United States still supports Israel politically and militarily. Klink: Most of [The United States’] foreign aid goes to supporting Israel. Sam Savage (faculty head of the JSA and Current Events Club): It was also part of a global moral issue too after the Holocaust. There was a tremendous amount of support for a homeland for Jews throughout Europe and Asia who were persecuted in extreme fashion. It played in that the world was still grappling with that moral outrage. collectively.” Mr. Lyons and his brothers are bringing their passion together and are taking students from St. Mark’s, Groton and Deerfield to
“Without memory you would have no identity. How we remember the past helps shape our identity both individually and collectively.” -Mr. Lyons Europe this summer where they will tour the western front in World War II. Of his brothers Mr. Lyons said, “In terms of our passion for history, interest in politics and political outlooks, we’re pretty much the same. Not surprisingly, we’re all best friends too.”
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT The Deerfield Scroll
December 19, 2012
First-Ever Student Run Play In Production
by STEFANI KUO Staff Writer After attending the summer film program at Northwestern, Sofi Taylor ’13 said initiating Deerfield’s first ever student-run theater production was nothing short of a gamble. “Many schools, like Andover, have student-run productions, and I have been visiting colleges where they emphasize studentrun theatre as well, so I thought, ‘It’s my senior year; why not?’” Taylor said. Her idea came after she made her own short film over fall term. She realized she wanted to dedicate more time to directing, and there began the hurdles of choosing and planning a new and approved co-curricular. With the help of Director of Theater Catriona Hynds, who will direct the winter musical, Little Shop of Horrors, Taylor chose Riverside Drive by Woody Allen. She explained that she wanted a contemporary play, so when Mrs. Hynds gave her the Woody Allen collection, it was, Taylor said, “everything I wanted.”
A tight-knit ensemble with only three actors—Stefani Kuo ’13, Michael Beit ’15 and Dorie Magowan ’15, along with Assistant Director Ayesha Kapur ’13 and Stage Manager Tabata Viso ’14—Riverside Drive represents an alternative. “As not every actor is suited to musicals, it makes sense to keep those experienced actors not in Little Shop of Horrors working this term,” Mrs. Hynds said. “In theatre, you learn by doing, and I think it is going to be a lot of hard work, but the team Sofi has assembled is very motivated.” With every first come difficulties. As Viso, new to the theatre program, said, “I hope the Deerfield community will become more interested in the arts after watching a production completely run by students and seeing how talented, responsible and capable the students are.” With the goal of paving the way to future student-run productions, Taylor expects the play to open the weekend of February 8, preceding the musical, in the Reid Black Box Theater.
Ashley So
Ms Hynds starts off rehearsal by talking to the cast. Henry Cobbs
Brandon Coloumbe ’13 and Andrew Bishop ’14 work on the set with the rest of the tech crew.
Henry Cobbs
Will Darling ’15 and Austin Parentau ’15 practice their lines.
Little Shop of Hor r ors B r i n g s “Skid Row” to Main Stag e
by emily ng Staff Writer Acadia Brooks
Dorie Magowan ’15, Michael Beit ’15 and Stefani Kuo ’13 practice their lines for Riverside Drive as Sofi Taylor ’13, Ayesha Kapur ’13 and Tabata Viso ’14 look on.
Artist of the Issue: Betsy Alexandre by Sharon Tam Staff Writer
Recently cast as the female lead in the winter musical Little Shop of Horrors and selected to dance four pieces in the dance Margaret Chapell showcase, Betsy Alexandre ’13 Alexandre strikes a pose. is looking forward to expanding at it, but because it’s just a lot her artistic range. The upcoming comedic of fun and the audiences here —though blackly comedic— really enjoy it,” she added with a musical requires Alexandre to chuckle. Alexandre said she enjoys act, sing and dance. After her speaking parts in Deerfield plays, the performing arts in general Dark of the Moon and Voices in because she likes working with Conflict, Alexandre said she looks other people and expressing herself. She especially enjoys forward to singing again. because “it’s a “I haven’t sung in a musical dancing in a while,” she said. “I think it combination of all the arts: it’s will be quite refreshing. Musicals musical, physical and athletic. It’s are really fun, and I don’t think also really fun and it makes me the Deerfield audience is used to feel good.” She devotes most of her time seeing one in this setting. I’ll be to modern interested to see how they “You can never be totally dance. “I like perfect. [Dance] pushes you the process react to it.” learning While she to become better, which I of practices acting think is applicable to other modern dances most,” and singing parts of your life as well.” the -Betsy Alexandre she said. “The this term, more abstract a Alexandre is also dancing eight hours per dance is, the more it can come to week, not including the extra represent something.” Alexandre added that dance rehearsal time to prepare for the dance showcase. She is part can sometimes be frustrating but of Director of Dance Crystal also motivating. “You can never Nilsson’s Advanced Dance be totally perfect,” she said. “[Dance] pushes you to become Ensemble class. Alexandre became interested better, which I think is applicable in dance when growing up in to other parts of your life as London, where she began taking well. It’s fun and gratifying—I really like being on stage and ballet lessons at eight years old. “Now, I enjoy dancing hip- performing. I like to be the center hop—not because I’m good of attention.”
For the first time in many years, the theater department will produce a musical—the seminal comedy-rock-horror musical Little Shop of Horrors, which features a blood-craving plant. The demanding production requires a full set, many technical changes and student performers who can sing, dance and act. The primary change is that the musical will be held in the Large Auditorium in the Memorial Building instead of the Black Box Theater. As one of the last events in the auditorium ever, the musical will be held in part as a goodbye to the space that has held so many student memories. Another reason for the change of location is to allow larger audiences to see it. Since the musical will be running for three nights, there will be room for around 1600 people to attend
this large production. “We’ll be creating Skid Row on the stage for the set, and having the set of a street would be difficult to logically create in the Black Box,” Stage Manager Hailey Nuthals ’14 said. “The stage in the Large Auditorium is also very different because it’s a proscenium thrust stage instead of the simpler black box,” Light Designer Andrew Bishop ’14 said. A screen will be set up in front of the band, which will play the musical’s score. It will be part of the set—hidden in specific scenes and revealed in others. As a musical, The Little Shop of Horrors will be combining the disciplines of music, dancing and singing, which is a new concept for many cast members. “In rehearsals, we’re going to build a foundation of singing, then add on acting and finally dancing,” Assistant Director Thomas Shuman ’13 said. “These specialties build on each other, and we have different faculty
members helping us out in the various areas.” Catriona Hynds, Daniel Roihl, Crystal Nilsson, and John Van Eps, directors of theater, music, dance and band, respectively, will be coaching the cast. “I’ll be especially busy the first couple of weeks working on vocal training with the cast members,” said Music Director Daniel Roihl. “There will be a rotation of the three areas with Mrs. Hynds and Mrs. Nilsson, and these areas will all congeal and work together.” In a small school of around 630 students, it is difficult to find the triple-threat student who is a singer, dancer and actor. However, Mrs. Hynds wasn’t daunted by this challenge. “When we were auditioning, we based our selections on how well the students fit the role,” she said. “We also took into consideration who looks right for the part and what they will bring to the table for the production.”
MIRANDA’S VOL. LXXXVII, NO. 7
December 19, 2012
Editor-in-Chief KRISTY HONG Front Page CASEY BUTLER Opinion/Editorial SAMMY HIRSHLAND Arts & Entertainment MIRANDA MCEVOY Features CAROLINE KJORLIEN Sports SARAH SUTPHIN Photography & Layout ASHLEY SO
Graphics TATUM MCINERNEY Online JOHN LEE Online Associate DAVE KIM Editorial Associates CHARLOTTE ALLEN COLE HORTON TARA MURTY EMILY NG JON VICTOR
Advisors JULIANNE SCHLOAT & ADA FAN 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.
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SPORTS
Ally Benedict Pursues Olympic Dream
Megan Moorse Ally Benedict springs into a front flip.
BY JOSH KIM Staff Writer Ally Benedict ’13 decided to spend her senior winter skiing at Killington Mountain School (KMS), a Vermont ski academy. “At KMS, I have the opportunity to attend camps for preseason training, train multiple days prior to the competition and compete in all competitions, including ones far away and during the school week,” Benedict said. Benedict is a freestyle skier who has competed in numerous competitions for moguls racing, dual moguls and other types of freestyle skiing. KMS provides Benedict with personal trainers who help in maintaining and building strength for skiing. Off the slopes, academic tutors conduct one-onone classes with her. Although Benedict said she is receiving a “somewhat-Deerfield” education away from campus, she spends less time on work and is able to concentrate on skiing. Benedict said her dedication and love for the sport have been with her throughout her life. She first learned to ski at the age of two and has been part
of Killington Mountain’s Freestyle Mogul Team since the age of seven. Through high school, Benedict’s interest in freestyle skiing has not wavered. Every single weekend of the winter term since she first arrived as a freshman, Benedict has left campus in order to train and compete. In the past three years, Benedict has placed 5th for moguls and 6th for dual moguls in the 2010 Australian National Freestyle Mogul Championships, 19th for moguls and 25th for dual moguls in the 2011 U.S. National Freestyle Mogul Championships, and she is a recipient of more than 75 placement awards in USSA freestyle mogul competitions and a member of the 2012 USA FIS Junior World Championship Freestyle Mogul Team. Benedict will be attending Dartmouth College next year, “my dream school,” she said, where she will continue pursuing her skiing aspirations. As for what these aspirations entail, Benedict said, “I want to make the U.S. ski team, but the ultimate goal is obviously the Olympics.” While Benedict has achieved success in skiing, she has faced many challenges along the way. “It definitely hasn’t been easy,” she said. “I missed many days of school, moved my final exams multiple times and missed a lot of social events.” And on the skiing side, she has faced hardships. Because of the academic rigor and the class schedule of a boarding school, Benedict has had no choice but to show up days after her competitors for many competitions. She said, “It is an extreme disadvantage to show up the night before a competition when my competitors have been training on that same exact venue for a better part of the prior week. Most of my competitors attend ski schools so they have more time.” But Benedict does not regret coming to Deerfield rather than joining her peers at a ski school like KMS. “Yes, there are times when I think about where I would be in my ski career if I had had the time to train as much as my competitors and attend the high-level competitions during the school week,” Benedict said. “However, I would not have given up what my high school experience has given me for that knowledge and possible success.”
New Yoga Co-Curricular Well-Received
Annie Blasberg Last winter, Madyn Field ’13 (front, second from left) attempted to create a yoga co-curricular, but was granted an individual exemption instead. Thanks to Field, yoga is now a full-fledged, popular after-school option this season. The activity not only reached its twenty-member maximum, but also had a long waitlist.
The Deerfield Scroll
December 19, 2012
Rotating the Choate Day Tradition BY COLE FAULKNER Staff Writer After nine losses, two ties and zero wins on this year’s Choate Day, some students have been debating how the final scores would turn out if Choate Day were held in the spring. “There’s a cheer that goes something like, ‘You won, but wait until lacrosse season,’” Brenna Schroer-Lundeen ’13 said. Some students have suggested rotating the annual celebration of competition against Choate. “I think Choate Day fosters a great sense of school spirit, and it’s kind of sad that it’s only in the fall,” Miranda McEvoy ’13 said. James Chung ’15 added, “Having a Choate Day in the spring would give us a better chance of getting more wins. It also seems more fair [to us] since the fall is probably Choate’s best season.”
Sam Armstrong ’15 said, “I think the only people who really wouldn’t want a rotating Choate Day would be Choate kids.” However, the rotations may require rescheduling with other schools. “Choate has expressed interest as well, so it’s definitely not a bad idea,” Athletic Director Charles Davis said. “It’s just that it would require other schools to make concessions—there’s a domino effect.” Some students think the tradition of Choate Day should remain the way it is. “I think Choate Day is a fall tradition,” Sloan Damon ’13 said. “We have lost some games in the past, but we’ve also won games, and I think in the long run it will just be a trend where sometimes we’ll lose and sometimes we’ll win.” Damon added, “Everybody plays Choate no matter what. In my opinion, having more than one Choate Day or rotating the season in which it occurs would take away from its significance and tradition.”
Tess Donovan Patrick Hadley ’14 and Ryan Haleski ’13 wear their game faces as they take the ice against Kingswood Oxford on December 7. The final score was 4-0.
Interest in Boys’ Varsity Hockey Burgeoning in “The Barn” BY SAM ARMSTRONG Staff Writer Boys Varsity Hockey, having defeated Taft, Groton, Kingswood and NMH in the first four games, looks promising this season with an abundance of new talent taking the ice. Thirty-four players participated in preseason this year—a substantial leap from last winter’s twenty-six. Last year varsity went 11-14-1 with a young team. Only two players graduated last year, leaving sixteen returning athletes. “We usually expect around six to eight kids to graduate per year,” Head Coach Brendan Creagh said. “We just had a year where we didn’t have many seniors.” The team was also relatively small last season, around four or five players short. This year, recruits have filled the gap. “We were very thin last year. We only had six defensemen and ten forwards, and we usually carry about eight defensemen and twelve forwards,” Mr. Creagh said. Co-captain Jordan Jancze ’13, when asked how the atmosphere differed at preseason this year compared to last year, said, “It was much more competitive. This year we had recruits who came in and
realized that they would have to compete to make the team and for more ice time.” While some were worried that the boys hockey team would over-extend itself again this winter, the total number of players who tried out was similar to that of earlier years; last year was the exception. The team typically has about 30 players at preseason. Co-captain Adam Ellison ’13 added, “This was the first time in a while that of the 34 kids, most of them were hockeyfirst kids.” Since so many players came to the school to play hockey as their principal sport, other students have found it difficult to make the leap from JV to Varsity. Co-captain Jake Thoubboron said, “It’s definitely difficult because kids who play hockey as their primary sport play eight to nine months out of the year. You’re definitely a leg down if you don’t, but it is still possible to succeed.” Jancze added, “As a captain, I want to be able to take us as far as we can go. We take it one step at a time. As the meat of our schedule gets going, we want to win twenty games—and the Large School Tournament, which is just one step on the way to the New England Championship.”
Three Incognito, Talented and Dangerous Student-Athletes Revealed BY DAVE LUCENTE Staff Writer
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When Cole Faulkner ’15 came from Alaska to Deerfield Academy, he brought a long list of achievements in the art of fencing. Sparked by pure interest in the idea of the sport, in the fifth grade Faulkner began working with a former two-time Olympian. Since then, Faulkner has won various tournaments on statewide, regional, and national levels, including the Alaska State Championship and Pacific/Northwest Regionals; and he has qualified three times for the National Championships. At Nationals, he consistently has placed within the top 100 of 400. Of that experience Faulkner stated, “I was young and let my emotions get to me.” His growing maturity within the sport was
evident when he placed 42nd in the North the sport came from her brother. She said, American tournament for his age group in “It looked intense…I fell in love with it.” 2010. After only two years of experience, Faulkner currently has a sport Bilirgen claimed two East Coast exemption and fences three times a week Championships. More impressively, at a club in Hadley. Faulkner says this is she placed 2nd nationally for girls’ Jiuthe year that he has to decide Jitsu. Yet due to difficulties “The school and whether he is going to pursue training at school, Bilirgen the team were a collegiate career in fencing. is experimenting with very accepting of Faulkner is not the something new this year: only student-athlete who a girl joining their wrestling. has achieved national ranks…I am excited “The school and the recognition for a sport that to see how the season team were very accepting of is not offered competitively a girl joining their ranks…I unfolds.” on an interscholastic level. -Asu Bilirgen am excited to see how the Asu Bilirgen ’15 and Georgi season unfolds,” she said. Dumanov ’14 are nationally While Faulkner and and internationally recognized specialists Bilirgen have both entered their second in also martial arts. year on campus, new to the community Bilirgen’s field of expertise is mixed this year is another martial arts expert: martial arts (MMA), or more specifically, Dumonv. He is gifted in the art of Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing. Her interest in Taekwon-Do ITF (international level). He
became interested in the sport because of “the values that it teaches and the potential of becoming good at a sport so extremely hard to master.” Over the course of an on-and-off career over the past ten years, Dumanov has received high acclaim. He holds multiple Bulgarian Championships, three silver medals from the European Championships, and a fourth place medal in the World Championships. Like Faulkner and Bilirgen, Dumanov finds it difficult to maintain his training while at school. Although he trains on some weekends, Dumanov said, “it is very hard with so little time and without a trainer or a sparring partner.” Like Bilirgen, Dumanov will try wrestling this season, which will help him maintain his high level of fitness.