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Randi Kramer Named Editor-In-Chief
The launch of the Dial website
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The Dial staff has recently appointed junior Randi Kramer as Editor-in-Chief for the 2011-2012 school year. Randi’s current position is assistant managing editor. She has brought tremendous leadership and creativity to the Dial this year. She’s thrilled to have recieved this honor and is looking forward to filling John Rapisardi’s shoes next year.
The new Dial website consists of printed Dial articles and news, graphics and video clips never seen before. Even though the website isn’t yet fully completed, students can still access great information and articles that haven’t been in printed issues before. SEE PAGE 3
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an inside look at the College board and the SAT itself randi kramer - assistant managing editor A he correct answer is (e). To B be fair, psychometricians C aren’t the people who write D E the actual questions, but their impact on the SAT is both significant and largely unnoticed by the students who sit for some 1.5 million exam administrations each year.
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Dr. Wayne Camara is one of them. The Vice President for Research and Development at The College Board, he has around 75 psychometricians and educational psychologists working under him. Psychometricians devour the data from test administrations, regardless of what a particular exam is testing. “For example, I don’t know anything about accounting, but I do work on the Certified Public Accounting exam. I don’t know how to answer any of those questions, but I don’t even care what the questions say,” Dr. Camara said. “I just want to see the data.”
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sychometricians want to know how many people got D an answer right, how many E got it wrong, and who those people are. “Consider the people in your class,” Dr. Camara said. “Some are extremely bright, some not so bright. Let’s say we administer a test to every kid in eleventh grade at your A B
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students coming from a family income of $200,000 or more received scores around 100 points higher in each section than students coming from a family with an income of $20,000 or less.
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school. [If] 95% of kids get an item wrong, that is not a hard item—that is a bad item.” In that case, there must be something wrong with the question itself. Similarly, if 95% of students get it right, then the question does not help differentiate and is therefore also a bad question. Psychometricians are the people who gather and interpret this data and who make sure the questions on a test really work. At his current position, Dr. Camara is “involved in the scientific, educational, public policy, media relations, and business aspects” of the large testing programs such as the Advanced Placement, PSAT/NMSQT, and SAT tests.
inside testing and the SAT itself
Testing dominates most teenagers’ lives. From assessments in school, the road test, medicinal tests, to the SAT or ACT itself, teenage testtakers support a system whose validity has been debated by teachers and psychologists alike. Hackley students have not missed that point. Junior Aja Faranda identifies a fundamental variability in student emotional response to high-stakes
asians who take the SAT perform highest: with an average of 1623 total points, whites have an average score of 1580
March 2011
Vol. 112, No. 5
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testing. “You can be book smart, but how you feel on the day of a test can completely alter your score,” she said. “Testing is unfair,” junior A.J. Wolf said. “You can be a good student and not get a good grade, but, unfortunately, it’s the only way to judge.”
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owever, Dr. Camara disagrees that emotional facC tors undermine a test’s D E purpose. “Tests engender significant emotional reactions from many individuals and groups, yet there is a strong research base that supports their validity, utility, reliability and fairness in education and psychology,” he said. A B
While studying psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Dr. Camara became interested in the use of assessments to provide empirical evidence to support judgments. He focused on the individuality of testing to determine “exactly what a student does or doesn’t know.”
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he use of testing, Dr. Camara argues, provides an C objectivity that is informaD E tive to both students and colleges. “I’ve always been interested in what differentiates individuals,” he said. “It’s really about individual differences. What are the factors that A B
if the college board encounters a question correctly answered by many white students that is incorrectly answered by many black students with similar scores, they will throw out that question.
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What do you call the men and women who created the SAT?
A. Evil geniuses B. Life-ruiners C. Brilliant D. Psychometricians E. All of the above we can understand to better prepare kids for their transition to college?” The SAT test itself, however, is much more than any of the one-onone individualized tests Dr. Camara had studied. A lot of effort goes into each math, writing, and reading question in order to ensure each is an accurate judge of aptitude.
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he writers of the math questions usually hold a C Ph.D. or a master’s degree D E in mathematics, statistics, or sometimes a scientific subject. Eight to ten staff members then review the completed question before it is even pre-tested. A B
The pre-testing system allows for questions themselves to be tested by students. One section, commonly known as the “experimental” or “pretest” section, is placed in each actual SAT. The section is not graded, but the psychometricians work with the data collected from those sections. The data determines the validity of the proposed questions and the equality of difficulty level between questions, to ensure each SAT test is not more or less difficult than another.
Dr. Camara cited recent trends that “students who take the ACT generally have lower grades and go to less prestigious schools.”
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your ability to read critically and your problem solving skills will determine your success in college almost as much as your SAT score will.
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English doesn’t make the grade
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s we approach the end of the second trimester, students have learned how to graph polar equations, balance chemical reactions and conjugate verbs in several m o d e r n l a n g u a ge s . W h at we h ave n ’ t learned to comprehend is the grading st ra te g y o f t h e E n g l i s h d e p a r t m e n t . Students are at a loss to understand the process that leads to their English grades. Many common themes appeared when students were asked to give their opinions on the English Department ’s unclear system of grading. Students felt that they cannot distinguish between what they do well and what they do poorly. Because of the obscurity of the teacher’s commentary, students are not sure how they can improve. One student stated that her teacher ’s annotation was ambiguous because her “[essay] only had crossed out lines and a few tips here and there, but after I read through my paper again, I had no idea how I could improve my mistakes.” For other students, grammar errors tend to be a reccurring issue, due to what many students described as the brief amount of time spent on grammar. Others stated that these types of varying faults were only corrected on their papers and never reviewed in class. One student explained that when she started her SAT tutoring junior year, she realized “I was screwed, I barely knew any of the grammar rules.” Conquering grammar is one of the main components that allows a student to write a smooth and fluent essay, but this subject is only included in the curriculum for the ninth grade. Addressing more than just the overall grade given to an essay, this grading grievance questions the inconsistent process that leads a teacher to a result.
The student body’s unhappiness originally spurred from the lack of detailed comments and clarity provided by English teachers on the rough and final drafts of their students’ papers. So why is this predicament focused solely on the English department? Both English and History courses consist o f a s i g n i f i ca nt a m o u nt o f e s s ay a n d composition writing. When contrasting the two departments, however, it becomes e v i d e n t t h a t w r i t i n g a s s i g n m e n t s fo r H i st o r y ex p re s s l e s s s u b j e c t i v i t y a n d opinion, and are graded on fact-based information, while English pieces are more analytical and graded based on student interpretation. Many students mentioned inconsistency between teachers. Of course all English teachers will grade through their own eyes, but ideas such as, “a grade wide rubric,” which one student recommended, “could easily help keep all students on the same level” whether they have a teacher who grades easily or harshly. By giving all students a similar and fair grading rubric, each member of the grade can move on to a higher level of English feeling as prepared as each of his or her peers. Even though rubrics have been used in the past and even this school year, none seem to solve this student-oriented issue. Many teachers have adapted to using a number scale on their rubrics. While this may be an easy way to show their students how well they are doing on each section of an essay, it doesn’t help their final grade. “On my most recent paper I scored a four out of five in each of the six sections,” one sophomore explains, “and
my final grade was a B- (80%). I was very upset because to students, a four out of five shows that you did a great job and were almost perfect. In a percentage, however, it comes out to a low B-.” From a student’s point of view, this confusion seems perfectly legitimate, but from a teacher’s perspective, there isn’t going to be a satisfying solution. Students have to make more of an effort to meet with their teachers outside of class. Whether to demand more detailed and clearer corrections either before or after their final copy, improvement is possible with a more proactive mindset. Some students wish for new formats on a grading rubric, others desire more clarification on assignments during class, some need a more detailed commentary and annotation on their essays, and many other students request more one-onone time with teachers outside of class. However, all of these students share a common complaint. Although teachers push their students to extract more outside of their classes in order to learn more, it might also be necessary for the students to demand further explanation from their teachers in return. We have shown ourselves to be a powerful, grade-driven school, and one path to satisfaction is to ask questions and show our teachers an extra effort.
Students judge evidentials Evidentials are a gift from our teachers. Previously an integral p a r t o f t h e f i rst a n d t h i rd quarter report cards, with the introduction of the trimester system evidentials were not written and distributed until the middle of January. Evidentials let us know what we are doing well and what we need to improve. Whether it is a lack of constructive participation in history or too little preparation before math tests, evidentials help students c o r re c t t h e i r p e r fo r m a n c e before it is too late. But with the new schedule, students do not see their evidentials until halfway through the second trimester. That means four and a half months pass without
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constructive written feedback from our teachers, and only four and a half months remain to improve. Almost half of the yearlong grade has been finalized, and the students do not know what they need to do to improve. In the new system, the only feedback students get e a r l y i n t h e y e a r, b e s i d e s first trimester grades, comes on progress reports. These include approximate grades that give a rough estimate of the student’s performace. This has replaced the old pass/fail system, but these grade estimates are unreliable, particularly in classes where the grades were calculated on fewer than four assignments. These approximate grades can
give a very false impression of a student’s overall performance. Teachers give other feedback on the progress reports, including whether a student is completing work on time, p a r t i c i p at i n g i n c l a s s , a n d understanding the material. Teachers can give marks of “consistently,” “inconsistently” or “rarely.” These do little for the student because they are not tailored to individuals. There is also no middle ground b e t w e e n “c o n s i s t e n t ” a n d “inconsistent.” A student who misses two homework assignments may get the same mark as one who missed seven. It goes straight from a good grade to a bad grade to a worse grade. That is like either giving an A or a D
with nothing in between. Instead of these feeble attempts at feedback, e v i d e n t i a l s w o u l d b e m o re beneficial to students’ progress if they were sent out with the complete first trimester grades. This would give students two full trimesters to improve their performance based on their teachers’ advice and would also give teachers ample time to get to know their students b efo re h av i n g to s e n d o u t evidentials. Teachers would still only have to write one set of evidentials instead of two. Te a c h e rs a l ways s ay t h at their goal is for students to do well, and the best way to do this is to send out evidentials earlier.
Editor-in-chief johnrapisardi
Senior Editor maddieberg
Politics Editor mattmacfarlane
Lifestyles Editor ariannafirpo
Copy Editor Policy annatskhovrebov Opinions expressed in staff editorials reflect the majority view of
Managing Editor alexbarg
News Editor marcbyrnes
Sports Editor jasonyang
Arts Editor danielhoffman
Adviser jennielyons
Assist. Managing Editor randikramer
Feature Editor bensheng
Sports Editor peterbarrett
Design Editor willginsberg
Op-ed Editor maddiginsberg
Adviser scottboehnen
Feature Editor jackieyang
Assist. Sports Editor shaneweisberg
Photo Editor paulrapisardi
The Dial Editorial Board. Opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the author and do not represent the views of Hackley School, its administration or its staff. The Dial invites and encourages its readers to write letters to the editor or submit contributions. We reserve the right to edit any submission for clarity and brevity, and to correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation when necessary. We refuse to publish submissions which are unsigned, libelous, or plagiarized. Letters and submissions can be emailed to dial@hackleyschool. org. The Dial is the official student newspaper of Hackley School.
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The Dial launches its new website on HOL maxparauda
A student checks out the Dial website in the Library during her free. Students can access the website through HOL to check out Dial articles and photos. Photo by Melissa Warshauer.
voices.hackleyschool.org/dial
staff writer For over 100 years, students have known the Dial as an informative, printed newspaper available exclusively at the Hackley School. But now, the “voice of the student body” can be accessed online. The new Dial website consists of printed Dial articles and news, graphics and video clips never seen before. Even though the website isn’t yet fully completed, students can still access great information and articles that haven’t been in printed issues before. All one has to do is search voices.hackleyschool.org/Dial and click home to logon to the site. “The website is definitely still a work in progress, but my vision is that it becomes an up-to-date news source for student, with lots of videos and cool pictures,” said newly appointed Dial OnLine Editor Marc Byrnes, who created the site. One feature of the website is the Twitter widget, where “tweets” can be posted during games with live-time news on scores, big plays, and other parts of the game a student might want to know about if they couldn’t make it to the game. The sports page will be a big benefit of the site. “The sports section will have the scores, stats, and videos of big plays and post-game interviews of recent games at Hackley,” Marc said. These features for sports are expected to start sometime next month. Other pages, such as politics and arts, will benefit from the site as well. For arts, videos and pictures from the school play, such as the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, will be put up, along with pictures of artwork from the Art Department. For politics, “tweets” will ideally be posted from the community council on decisions they make, such as the timing of the distribution of The Hive t-shirts. The Dial anticipates that the new website will have a huge impact on students. “We hope that the Dial site will bring students closer to news and what’s happening on campus,” said senior Editorin-chief John Rapisardi. When asked about the website, Dial advisor Jennie Lyons said, “It’s awesome. We’ve waited a long time for this.”
Treglia looking to ful-Phil Coach Pick’s legacy peterbarrett
sports editor After 40 years Hornets fans will see a new face manning the sidelines for the Varsity Football team as Phil Treglia succeeds Coach Robert Pickert this coming fall. Coach Treglia comes from Woodlands High School, where in the last two years he turned the program around, moving the team from last place to being a serious contender. He led Woodlands to a six-win season – a feat that had not been accomplished in 30 years – as well as to their first ever playoff victory. Coach Treglia was honored as the New York Giants coach of the week after a Woodlands week-one victory in 2009, and he was voted as the “Coach of the Year” by his fellow section coaches last season. A guidance counselor at Iona Prep, Coach Treglia notes that his job has given him extensive experience working through tough situations with high school students. “I feel Coach Treglia will be able to connect with high school players more easily because he is younger and deals with young people everyday,” junior kicker James Sheldon said. Coach Treglia has previously worked as the JV Football coach and Varsity Offensive Coordinator at Iona Prep.
BLOCKING AND TACKLING Although the defense may remain the same in the 2011 season, the offense is sure to change. Coach Treglia believes that whatever system you employ, it all comes down to the basics. “Whatever offense or defense you run, football is about blocking and tackling. That’s how you become a successful football team.” Though they are still in discussions about what defense to pick, he pledges it will be simple. “Whatever defense we run, we will know what we are doing. It won’t be so complicated that we don’t know our responsibilities,” Coach Treglia said. Coach Treglia and his not yet announced staff will work hard with the team in minicamp and preseason to implement “the spread” offense, an offense made popular by top college teams Florida and Oregon. “It’s something new, exciting and fresh and something that can give our athletes space to make it exciting,” Coach Treglia said. Freshman QB Joey McDermott agreed. “It’s a very effective, fun, and exciting offense. We have the available athletes to run it effectively,” Joey said.
FIRM, FAIR AND CONSISTENT
THE PLACE FOR HIM
Coach Treglia comes with his own coaching philosophy: fair, firm, and consistent. “I am going to be firm with you, fair with you and our approach is going to be consistent each and every day,” Coach Treglia said. Coach Treglia is currently working with Hackley coaching legend Robert Pickert to learn about the team and how things at Hackley run. “I am excited to be working here in a school with such tradition and such a storied football program. And I really am embracing working with Coach Pickert and moving forward with the transition to next year and years to come.”
From the minute Coach Treglia stepped in the door for his first interview he knew Hackley was the place for him. “I am extremely excited to be a part of this program. I want to be part of the tradition here at Hackley. Walking the halls, looking at the pictures on the walls, the feeling I get entering the building, it’s something I knew in my first interview, I wanted to be a part of,” Coach Treglia said. As with any new coach, there are significant changes. Instead of the four hour practices, lasting until the sun goes down, Coach Treglia’s practices will be limited to two hours. In his opening address to his team, he explained. “I think it’s important to create
a balance between football, academics, and your social time,” he continued, “I am not going to keep you out there for 3-4 hours; I don’t think that’s productive for either of us.” The team, accustomed to the 3-4 hour practices Coach Treglia alluded to, are excited about the new balance Coach Treglia is going to create. “Doing things faster and more efficiently will help us, because we will be able to put 100% in every play, knowing we will not have to save anything in the tank for the next couple of hours of practice,” sophomore Jake Israel said. “The previous practices were too long and toward the end the players would start losing concentration. Shorter practices will help keep us concentrated on our goals each week and to have a more effective practice,” Joey said. Coach Treglia is trying to build a program that can have successful JV and Varsity programs since both are vital to achieve
long term success. “Every guy counts in our program, we want to build the numbers, we want to build a JV team, a modified team for the future. Let them hear what we are building, let them hear what we are doing,” Coach Treglia said.
coach treglia’s daily plan monday: match up game plan tuesday: full pads defense wednesday: full pads offense thursday: shoulder pads friday: walk through plays
Next year’s football coach Phil Treglia met with prospective team members. Football players are looking forward to working with him, but it’s going to be a big transition from the long known and respected Coach Pickert. Photo by Melissa Warshauer.
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Students confused by “third trimester projects” Ideas for “alternative assessments”
Design your own lab
There is a possible project for science classes involving student making their own labs.
Bringing history to life
History projects at other schools include historically acurate reenactments. Students are required to base their projects on primary sources from the period.
Running for President
One of Hackley’s former history Teachers Walter Schneller used to run for President every four years to show his Government Class the process of running for public office.
news bites Relay for Life Kickoff
Relay for Life started with a bang earning over $400 selling baked goods and Relay for Life memorabilia. Start or join a team now at www.relayforlife.org/hackleyschoolny. The Relay will take place on Akin Common on May 15th from 7pm to 7am. Contact Director of Physical Education Patricia White for more details.
Spring Sting Saturday with five sports events
On Saturday April 30 there will be five varsity home games. The HPA decided it would be up to the students to create a name for this event. The winner recieved $50 to the Hornets nest and the senior grade will recieve a dress down day. All students were encouraged to submit a name which they feel embodies the spirit of Hackley and its athletes. Look out for a special four page issue of the Dial for this event.
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For the History Department Chair William Davies the plan is that “Freshmen, sophomores and juniors will be doing research projects at the end of the year.” These papers are business as usual, but moved back a month or so to accomodate March exams. The Modern Languages Department does not have a distinct plan yet, but Head of Department Danny Lawrence said that a discussion will take place in the future. While there is no consensus in the Science Department, one idea is to have students design their own labs in the third trimester. “We’re still bouncing this idea around a bit,” Head of the Department William McLay said. There should be a decision after spring break. But not all of the teachers are lacking in imagination for projects. history teacher Kathryn Bowers has an idea for her students to choose an event in history and report on it in a fun and imaginative way, possibly involving videos and other mulitmedia. This would be a short project for the last week or two of school though, not a large project spanning the entire third trimester as many students imagined would happen.
Niemczyk wins Hackley Shakespeare Competition, moves on to regionals
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The end of the year has been predictable with exams, awards and diplomas, but this year upper school students are experiencing some confusion. “I was under the impression we would have fun projects at the end of the year instead of exams,” junior Ronnie Medure said. Junior Jackie Yang said, “Being Hackley students, we assume that our teachers will continue to push us to the end of the year, and without exams, we thought it would be some big project.” This seems to be a general consensus among the student body. Even some of the teachers had this impression. “With the third trimester and moving away from June exams, this created an opportunity for teachers to do some sort of, what we call in educational jargon, alternative assessments,” said Upper School Director Andy King. Alternative assessments are ways of gauging a student’s performance with things other than tests or essays. But as of now, these alternaive assessments have not made a part of the curriculum. “We have not mandated that there has to be a separate distinct project,” said Mr. King
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He was perfect for that Macbeth monologue.
On Wednesday Feb. 9, Senior Peter Niemczyck won the school-wide He just really has a great Shakespeare acting competition. Senior Kyle Kallman said, “He was voice for it, and that’s just perfect for that Macbeth monologue. He just really has a great voice his natural voice.” for it, and that’s just his natural voice.” Junior Arielle Gordon came in second place doing a monologue from The Merchant of Venice. Peter will go on to regional competitions in New York City in early March to compete to qualify for the English Speaking Union’s National Competition.
Hackley swimming places second at Ivies
Mr. Storckman: When you get to college, and you’re at a party and someone offers you something, saying ‘this will send you to space,’ say no. You’ve already been to space in Mr. Storckman’s jazz band. When talking about Nia Yancopoulos, Marquis Wilson: She was in a six car accident, and she was the only one driving. Mr. Davies: The person who writes the best essay wins an award at the end of the year. Will Johnson: I want to win that, so when I go to parties I can go up to people and say ‘Yeah, I won the junior grade History Essay Award. Oh, you want to read it? Good thing I keep a copy in my back pocket.’ Mr. Van Leer: Students driving together is almost as bad as an old person driving alone. As Dan Hoffman rubs Bryan Yu’s head, Mr. Clark: There’s no touching in Advanced Pre-Calculus! Dan: But his hair is smooth one way and prickly the other. Mr. Clark: My hair is smooth both ways!
Will Johnson: Is it true that in bad areas people knock you out and take your kidneys? Mr. Gillard: It’s true. I saw it in a movie once.
Kim Walker: Yeah, my friend’s from Berlin.
Senna Oh: Wait, I thought she was from Germany?
Tucker Wright: Ms. Kaplan, you’re a witch! Ms. Kaplan: Excuse me!? Tucker: I don’t mean like witch
with a “b!” I mean, like a sorceress!
Hackley Varsity Swimming came in second at Ivies, losing by three points to Poly Prep. The girl’s 400 free relay won, with Freshman Nia Vogel beating the girl from Poly.
Ms. Kaplan: I think we’re in a fight.
Jhordane McNab: I wonder if
countries like Alaska have snow days?
Hackley set to receive French foreign-exchange students
Over spring break Hackley will be sending 18 students to France. They will be participating in a homestay with students from the Lycée Fabert in Metz. At the end of April and beginning of May, thirty students from the Lycée Fabert will come to the U.S. Students will be at Hackley, and at the Masters School.
Spring sports season starts before finals.
The spring sports season will start on Tuesday, March 1. To participate in practices, athletes must turn in their interval health forms.
Boy’s and Girl’s Varsity squash teams competed at the 2011 High school Squash nationals at Trinity College and Wesleyan University. The boys placed 11th in their division and the girls placed 15th. Junior Joshua Konner won all four of his matches.
Freshman Sienna Mori skated at the 2011 Greenwich Town Competition and she was awarded the Dorothy Hamill Cup. This cup is awarded to the skater who, in the opinion of a special awards judge panel, based on the skater’s performance at the annual competition shows the most overall potential as a competitive skater. The criteria for selection was : technical proficiency, confidence in skating, tehnique, artistic ability and the ability to skate a strong competitive program. Sienna skates six or seven days a week, sometimes twice a day. “She is extremely devoted and passionate to this sport,” Sienna’s mother, Nina Kalola said.
only works on nice governments; it probably would not have worked against Hitler. John DiLorenzo: France tried anyway.
Dr. Boehnen, when referring to Tucker Wright: Tuckleberry Finn.
Hackley places top 20 at Squash Nationals
Freshman skater Sienna Mori wins Dorothy Hamill Cup
Mr. Davies: Passive resistance
Sign up for AP’s
The deadline for signing up for optional AP’s is March 14. Talk to or e-mail Ms. Nadell at JNadell@hackleyschool.org.
John Rapisardi: Barg, come over
here, you’ve gotta see this. Alex Barg: It better not be an ugly picture of me.
If you want Dial Quotes, remember to submit to Dial@ hackleyschool.org or drop them off in the Dial Quotes Box in Ms. Coy’s office.
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Snow day slump jasonyang
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Sports Editor lanketing the campus in its wonder, the first major snowfall of the year immediately brings to mind the one thing that makes the cold weather and muddy floors all worthwhile—a snow day. Students and teachers alike wait anxiously to hear the weather forecast and celebrate the friendly day off once the phone call is made or the email is received. Commuters get to sleep in, and boarders can look forward to a day of snow football and movies. The next snow day is just as gloriously unexpected yet harmless to the academic schedules. In fact, it can even be beneficial to the sleep-deprived. Another snow day is just as exciting, but now requires a little bit of work, so as not to fall behind. The next one after that is nice, but it can introduce moments of stress for students and teachers, particularly in syllabus-driven courses such as the APs. And what if there are still two more, for a total of six? h e n s t u d e n t s ’ Fa c e book statuses change from “SNOWWWWW DAYYYYYY!!!!!” to “When are we going back to school?” or “Enough of this snow already,” something has gone terribly awry. For the typical student, snow days are magical, but only to a certain extent. According to senior Dan Laufer, an excess of snow days can result in unnecessary stress and even more difficult coursework. “We’ve had so
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many that it’s becoming disruptive, and it becomes difficult to concentrate when you have a snow day every three or four days,” he said. “We can’t have any consistency in the schedule.” Dan also added that his AP Physics teacher, Seth Karpinski, has considered lecturing on drop days and even possibly some weekends just prior to the AP exam in order to make up for the deficit. As an AP teacher, Mr. Karpinski is constantly thinking about timing. “I like snow days,” he said, “but not six.” P Chemistry teacher Kurt Boluch shares Mr. Karpinski’s annoyance with the snow days, but to a much greater extent. “Snow days are painful, like a root canal or crown,” he said. “Wait a second-those aren’t so bad.” Mr. Boluch anticipated about three snow days for this year (which is the number of snow days Hackley had last year), and he planned his schedule around them. Thus, for him, the impact hasn’t been too bad, but the three unanticipated snow days have taken their toll. In response to the extra days off, Mr. Boluch was forced to drop a lab and adjust his curriculum accordingly, using what was supposed to be Professional Development Day to its full advantage as an instructional day. “We will finish the program before the AP cycle begins,” Mr. Boluch said, “but we may or we may not have review days, and that’s a huge impact.”
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Mr. Boluch’s solution to the overall problem lies not in how to respond to snow days, but in how classes should be taught on normal days. “Snow days really put you up against the wall, especially with the new schedule,” he said. “We need to meet more frequently, and that way, snow days will not have as large an impact.” Mr. Boluch expressed his disappointment with an appropriately wintry metaphor. “Basically, [snow days] and the seven-day cycle reduce coverage. How much material and knowledge do we cover? I’m aware of the current attitude that ‘less is more,’ but if you shovel your driveway less, is it easier to move your car?” he asked. “It’s such utter nonsense.” Even for boarders—whom many assume to be the luckiest when it comes to snow days, as they are already with their friends and have the entire snow-covered campus as their playground—snow days have become repetitive and tiresome. According to senior boarder Yuna Tsuji, “There are morning and afternoon activities such as sledding, snow football, movies, snacks, and games. They’re fun for the first couple of snow days, but then it gets boring, and the teachers who [volunteer] themselves to help us have to rotate.” ut boredom is not the only problem that boarders face when it comes to snow. “It’s really hectic when the snow day in question is undecided for a Friday,”
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Yuna said. “[Director of Boarding Mark] Green uses his best knowledge, but in the end, it’s our decision to either go home the night before or stay at school, depending on whether we’re willing to take the risk. “If we go home and there is school, we have to make an effort to drive back, and if we decide to stay and there’s no school, our parents have to come pick us up. It just becomes a hassle for both the students and the parents.” nother niche in the Hackley community that is frequently overlooked but greatly affected by snow days is the kitchen staff. For staff member Adriana Rivera, “When there’s a snow day, I get a headache.” For those who come earlier, cooking starts at 6:00 in the morning so that breakfast may be served at 7:00 to boarders and essential staff, regardless of snow-day status. Ms. Rivera does not come in at all on a snow day—but for her, that is the problem. “My boss calls and says ‘No school today,’ and we go, ‘Oh my God, we lost our hours,’” she said. She and her coworkers must fulfill 40 hours per week, and she is not compensated for lost time when school is cancelled. Speaking in a way that might also describe the life of students after a snow day, Ms. Rivera added, “The next day is even worse, because we have to come—even though there is ice everywhere—and then work a lot.”
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photo by Melissa Warshauer
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Aside from school, freshman Ben Caulkins spends time building models with Lego bricks. His work will soon be featured at a national convention in Chicago.
annatskhovrebov
Copy Editor A sleek, modern skyscraper rises out of the ground and towers over the city of New Alexandria. He shuffles around his masterpiece, planning, recalculating and scrutinizing every wall of the building. All that’s left is the finishing touch—he reaches up and carefully places atop the tallest spire one final Lego brick. Ben Caulkins may seem like the average Hackley freshman, but he has an unusual hobby: constructing anything that comes to his mind out of Legos. Beyond the walls of the school, he is part of a community of thousands of avid Lego builders across the world. This June, his work depicting the fictitious city of New Alexandria from the video game Halo will be on display at Brickworld, one of the largest Lego conventions in the country, held in Chicago. Ben has been building with Legos for as long as he can remember. When he was younger, his inspiration was an accomplished builder named Crimson Wolf, but now most of his work replicates things he see in video games or movies he finds interesting. He doesn’t call himself an artist, however. “I’m one of the builders who doesn’t consider what I build art, but just some-
thing that looks cool,” Ben said. “And that’s what I do: build cool-looking models.” Every weekend, Ben spends up to four hours a day working on a model, each of which takes around two weeks. “I don’t really plan something through on paper before I start building, but I usually have a rough idea of how I’m going to go about it,” he said. He works on his living room floor with the support of his parents. “Yes, my parents do supply the funds,” acknowledged Ben. “But they’re appreciative of how much work it takes to build a good model, which is good because it’s an expensive hobby—I spend about $100 a month.” He gets his individual pieces on a website called Bricklink.com, which has a selection of every Lego piece ever made for bargain prices. But he orders sets directly from Lego. The store in Rockefeller Center is not up to his standards. “Although it’s huge and has a good selection of sets,” Ben said, “I’m still not impressed with the Pick-A-Brick wall, which is that wall in Lego stores where people can choose from a selection of spare parts. It doesn’t have a very diverse selection.” When Ben is done with a creation, he takes several photos, Photoshops them, and uploads them to the Internet. “Presentation is actually half of making a Lego creation look good, particularly over the Internet,” Ben said. “In order to be a popular builder, you also need to be a good photographer, because a nice-looking picture is what
draws attention.” Ben puts his work on public display only occasionally, because he doesn’t think he’s very good at it. He said that he has seen “some very impressive displays at conventions, enhanced by music and lighting.” However, Ben has no lack of audience with such an established online Lego community. According to Ben, many Lego builders use the photo-sharing website Flickr and there are numerous other fan sites and forums. Individuals frequently hold contests over the internet, but Ben has yet to enter one. Currently Ben is building a costume of the Halo character Master Chief. His favorite creation—and his most popular—is part of this costume: the helmet. It is clear that Ben is passionate about his hobby and extremely talented. But why Legos specifically? “Lego is one of the most diverse toy systems ever invented, with over 20,000 different types of parts and a wide variety of colors,” he said. “The bricks can be connected in ways that the designers might not even have thought of. The quality of the plastic is much greater than say, Mega bloks.” But the biggest reason? “Try and imagine building a spaceship out of Lincoln Logs,” Ben said. “It’s not pretty.”
Hackley Spanish students love their neighbors jennygelbman and randikramer
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contributing writer and assistant managing editor hile planning for a serviceby actively enhancing the healthy integration learning project with his of recent immigrants while helping them to fellow Spanish VI students maintain their cultural roots. this year for recent Hispanic The Spanish VI class developed educational immigrants, senior Alec materials for the Neighbors Link Health Fair Sinatro expected their community would “not and worked there with the immigrants. Students be responsive to our help.” But he was happy researched topics including cardiac health, dento say they “were excited to learn and were tal health, nutrition, diabetes, Lyme disease, and open to the recommendations we provided.” health and safety for day laborers, such as ways The challenges of working with people from of protecting the eyes or back. different cultures resulted in success beyond exIn class, they studied Spanish vocabulary and pectations for students of Emily Demarchena’s grammar for giving advice, making commands, Spanish V and Spanish VI classes. and using language to make recommendations Senior Margaret Blackburn expected to have and to provide vital information for the adults little interaction with people on a personal level, and kids of Neighbors Link. while junior Nadya Klimenko doubted that her Service learning differs from community ability to speak Spanish would be changed. service in being curriculum-based, according But Margaret said she learned to be confi- to Ms. DeMarchena. dent when talking to people regardless of their “The Spanish VI project was the best manilanguage, and Nadya said the project increased festation of a service learning project,” she said. her willingness to speak in Spanish. “Honestly, “You study the theory in the classroom and it’s been like the floodgates have opened,” she then apply it to a service or a NPO [non-profit said. “And now I’m trying out every new word organization].” or phrase I can.” While the Spanish VI students worked with Senior Sarah Moritz also learned that many the parents at the Health Fair, the Spanish V people do not have access to the resources that students held the activities for the children, we generally take for granted. Likewise, senior which included coloring pictures, making ornaKyle Kallman realized that “our community is ments, and reading stories they wrote in class. bigger and more diverse than he had previously The Spanish V students worked in class thought.” to create childrens’ books in Spanish to share Ms. DeMarchena’s Spanish V and VI stu- with the kids at Neighbors Link. Recently imdents spent a Saturday at Neighbors Link in Mt. migrated Hispanic parents have begun to notice Kisco. Neighbors Link is a program that aims their children quickly losing touch with their to strengthen the local Hispanic community roots, according to Ms. DeMarchena. Show-
ing the kids there that American students are interested in and actively studying Spanish was an effort to help the kids at Neighbors Link see how important their culture really is. Sometimes the stories taught more than an appreciation of the Spanish language. “Each story had to have a moral, and it just happened that most of the [Spanish V students] wrote about being nice to people who are different,” Ms. DeMarchena said. Junior Nikki Miller took her role as storywriter and story-teller seriously. I felt a lot of pressure for my story to be good, [and] from
what I hear, the kids loved the Hackley students,” she said. Ms. DeMarchena hopes to expand the partnership with Neighbors Link, and is planning to invite her students to make presentations on taxes and college preparation for Neighbors Link parents and their children in upcoming years. Any such project benefits the Hackley students as much as those at Neighbors Link, according to Ms. DeMarchena. Service learning is the “true meaning and validation of Spanish learning,” she said.
Senior Sojourner Elleby enjoys reading children’s books to the younger members of Neighbors Link, located in Mount Kisco. Photo courtesy of Ms. DeMarchena.
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Between the pages of Hackley’s publications bensheng
Feature Editor
The Hilltop When a Dial class is in session, the newspaper’s headquarters at Goodhue 201 becomes a center of organized chaos. Reporters come and go to collect information for their articles, and editors try to navigate their way through a maze of swivel chairs to talk to their writers. The computer lab fills with conversation and laughter, as staff members call to each other from across the room and crack jokes with their neighbors. Through it all, senior Editor-in-Chief John Rapisardi supervises the action from his office near the door. “It’s just a total blast,” John said. “I mean, we’re formal about deadlines, and we’re serious because we have to get a publication out, but everything in between is a lot of fun.” Not including John, the Dial has two faculty advisors—
The Vision
It is Day 1, Period 3. As most of the school enjoys a free period, members of the Hilltop staff converge in the basement underneath the lunch room. In the narrow confines of the photo lab, they toil away on Hackley’s most extensive publication. Led by photography teacher Thomas Chin and senior editors Perri Weiss, Melissa Jelaso, Gentry Torell, and Brandon Alini, the staff splits up into pairs, each assigned a section. Sharing seven iMacs, they arrange photos, organize pages, and compile a comprehensive index of every student’s appearance in the yearbook. According to Perri, the staff ’s workload varies from class to class. “Sometimes we have no new pictures, and if you have no new pictures, you really can’t work on anything,” she
said. “Sometimes we have five new sports, and we have to put all those pictures in. It just [depends] on the week.” Despite the room’s cramped dimensions, the staff is in constant motion. The editors confer with one another, and Mr. Chin, from his office adjoining the lab, offers advice and technical help to the students. Everyone has a job to do, and the staff works largely without distraction, except when someone laughs at a funny baby picture. Perri described her three years on the yearbook as “amazing,” and when asked her favorite part of her work, she answered without hesitation. “Putting together my senior yearbook,” she said. “Choosing the pictures that you want to be put in, the theme of it, everything. Because you know that you’ll have this forever.”
English teacher Scott Boehnen and Upper School Computer Coordinator Jennie Lyons—and twelve editors, each in charge of a certain section of the paper. The editorial staff sometimes convenes on Saturdays for weekend layout sessions, which often involve music and snacks. Although the newspaper may be the most labor-intensive publication on campus because of its monthly printing schedule, the hours of commitment are not without an upside. No member of the staff puts in more time than the editor-inchief, who believes that the Dial has reached new heights. “In the last two years, I’d say, we’ve really had a renaissance,” John said. “Our layout’s on another level, our writing’s on another level, and we’re launching a really dynamic online platform that we hope will change the game again.”
When they arrive at the computer lab in H1A, the Vision staff gets right down to work. After going over the goals for the class, each of the 11 staff members, including senior editors-in-chief Molly Donovan and Regina Chan, begins his or her assignment. During a single class, students may be laying out a page of the magazine, creating an advertisement to place in the hallways, or tallying the staff ’s votes for a particular submission. “Usually people really do know their jobs, and they’re excited to do them,” Molly said. “We’re diversified in the sense that we can explore the parts, the aspects of it that we all like, while still working at the core for the magazine.” The 2010-11 school year is the first in which the Vision has met as a class, as opposed to an extracurricular. The
The Dial literary magazine has already received tremendous support from the Hackley community, thanks to an extensive poster campaign and an online edition. The new section on the Hackley website makes the magazine a pioneer among campus publications. “[Senior] Sarah Rosenthal actually was the catalyst for making the Vision go online, and we’ve never had that before,” Molly said. “I hope it’s worked out really well—I think it has—and I hope it’s the way that she wanted.” Molly adds that her time on the Vision has provided her with more than just responsibilities. “It’s not even like a class,” she said. “You can go there and sit down with your friends and talk about whatever you need to talk about that day.”
Anonymous donor funds new and improved Allison trails benrosen and katierand contributing writers
In the coming fall season, Hackley will unveil new cross-country trails that are slated to be some of the best in the entire New York City area. These trails will give Hackley worldclass cross-country facilities and enable it to hold large invitational races. Best of all, the new trails will not affect the continuing experiments conducted by upper school ecology students, as previously thought. Director of Finance Peter McAndrew is heading up the construction effort for Hackley. He explained that he has been working with John Morton of Morton Trails, who was hired to plan, design and construct the new trails on campus. The current trails at approximately 1.9
miles are not long enough to hold a 5-kilometer race. The new, longer trails are designed to host a 5K race, with an additional 1.6 miles for recreational practice. Funded by an anonymous gift, the new trails will cost from $70,000 to $90,000 depending on the time spent on the project and the materials used. Construction is scheduled to begin in March, when the trees and shrubbery are bare and easy to remove. The trails should be finished by fall 2011, in time for cross-country season. Cross-country runner and freshman Ally Mueller described the current trails as “too narrow, unkempt and crowded.” She is happy that she will finally be able
to practice her speed work without taking a bus to Rockefeller Park. When asked about what he thought of the trails, cross-county coach Seth Karpinski said that he is “ecstatic” about the whole idea. “This season, I would have to take cross-country runners out to Rockies [Rockefeller Park] four times a week,” Mr. Karpinski said. “Now we have these amazing trails right in our backyard. It’s a lot more convenient.” Unknowingly, the Hackley athletics department had planned the running trails to go through an area of the campus used for scientific research. This plot of land is home to vernal pools, or seasonal bodies of water with high biodiversity. Science teachers use this
field to conduct testing for salamander abundance, micro-invertebrate life and bird feeder studies. The muddiness would have caused difficulty for the runners. According to ecology teacher Tessa Johnson, “rubber boots are a requirement” due to the wetness of the area. The new area that the athletic department has chosen for the trails has a higher elevation and will not affect ecology experiments in the wetlands area. The trails will remain the David Allison Trails, named for the teacher and coach who served Hackley for 30 years. He ran high school cross-country and retained a love for the sport throughout his career.
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Max Morant senior
commutes from: bedford commutes distance: 20 miles (35 minutes) impact on social life:
“It restricts it [his social life], because I need to choose meeting points for a lot of friends.”
Mitchell Towne junior
commutes from: rye brook commutes distance: 12 miles (25 minutes) impact on social life:
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“Yes [it affects his social life]. Not a lot of people live near me who I’m friends with.”
Paula Stone
Sarah Moritz
sophomore
senior
commutes from: bronx commutes distance: 20 miles (1.5 hours by bus) impact on social life:
commutes from: croton commutes distance: 27 miles (40 minutes) impact on social life:
“I board, and it is hard to go to people’s houses on the weekend from mine.”
“It restricts who I can see and when I can hang out with people.”
Laurel Cassidy Sarah Cassidy Trish Groman Kelly Gorman Ally Mueller Katherine Sade Julie Piscina Sam Alabaster Sydney Alabaster
15-20 miles Pelham
Melissa Chervin Chandler Keller Xiaoling Keller Tommy Heffernan Josh Pedowitz Rebecca Slutsky Jonah Stanley Cameron Voss
Cara Petrucci Miyuki Sasada Emily Teall Liam Gray Isabelle Berland James Curland Sojourner Elleby Alex Goddard Dan Graap
20-25 miles Bedford
Over 25 miles
Connecticut New Jersey New York
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he wakes up the cold out stumbles in the sink. Sh light switch, light blinds she looks for her toothbrus knocking over bottles of pe the muffled sounds of her hurry up. She quickly comb on her clothes and sprints d late to eat breakfast, so she This could be any Hackle rush to get to school in the “It takes about an hour to I do drive, and my train le morning,” sophomore Ale He has one of the longest day student at Hackley. He N.Y.—a whooping 43 mile rytown. ackley students co the tri-state area average Hackley miles away. Senior Sojourn longest day commute of an lives 44 miles away and dr day to Hackley. Approxima school students live in Bri most popular town for H Each day, 5% of upper commute from New Jersey board. “One time I was driving t on the weekend and I tot deer,” senior David Sterna He commutes an hour eve Springs, N. Y. “If I lived cl
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percent of students who live in Briarcliff Manor, the most popular town for Hackley students
5.2
percent of students commute over the Zappan Zee bridge from New Jersey boarding students total upper school students
Article by Paul Rapisardi Design by John Rapisardi
Yonkers
top five hackley towns
24 383
boarding students
Briarcliff
Data obtained from the Hackley demographic information database. Average commute distance was the average of a fifty person sample.
Harrison
10-15 miles
upper school students
5- 10 miles Hackley
Rye
Bedford
Allyson Blackburn Margaret Blackburn John Blackburn Will Walker Tess Cavanaugh AJ Wolf Andrew Wolf Alex Wolf Mary Medure
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miles is the longest commute for a day student
the Tappan Zee Bridge in rush hour traffic.” lthough students can cope with long distances by driving themselves, they still cannot make up for lost time with local friends. “I think if I went to school in Cornwall I would have better friendships with people who live near me, rather than my friendships at Hackley,” Alex said. Luca has similar feelings. “I have a few friends from Sea Cliff, but it’s tough to be close with them when you’re not in school with them,” he said. “I can’t just stop by their houses when I’m in Westchester—I have to make a decision of who I want to hang out with on weekends. Most of the time it’s my Hackley friends”. In retrospect, some students would reconsider their decision to attend Hackley, given its demand for “long-distance friendships.” “I regret attending Hackley—don’t get me wrong, I love Hackley—but I would rather attend school where my friends live a lot closer, Teddy Seem said. “It just makes everything easier.”
Ossining
to a friend’s house taled my car on a au said, laughing. ery day from Cold loser to Hackley I
would definitely would consider attending more Hackley events, but when I’m in the car for two hours, it’s really troubling,” he said. Many Hackley students feel the same the same as David; the attendance at Hackley events would be much higher if students lived closer to school. Marcus Todd, a sophomore from Chester, N.Y., believes that distance takes a toll on his social life: “If I lived closer to Hackley I think I would be able to see my friends on the weekend,” he said. “Most of the time I can’t go to parties or my friends’ [houses] because they are too far away and I would get home too late at night. This causes me to miss out on certain things, which distances me from my friends.” ut some students have found a way to cope with the distance. “Most of the time I’ll come to Westchester on the weekends and sleep at somebody’s house,” senior Luca Ameri of Sea Cliff, N.Y., said. He drives a staggering hour and fifteen minutes every Friday and Sunday night when returning to Hackley for boarding. “Since I got my license I can drive myself to my friends house,” Luca said. “Although the drive is still long, it’s much more convenient for me and my parents.” Another senior, Teddy Seem from Saddle River, N.J., has a similar experience: “I drive about an hour twice a weekend to see my friends, and I usually end up sleeping over because it’s a very long drive,” he said. “Since I’ve been driving I’ve been able to go more friends’ houses and Hackley events. However, it’s still aggravating trying to drive across
Dan Hoffman Jill Horing Jenny Horing Alex Barg Maddi Ginsberg Will Ginsberg Robert Scherl Dominique Alpuche Caroline Chmiel
ome from all over and beyond. The student lives 19 ner Elleby has the ny day student; she rives an hour each mately 6% of upper iarcliff Manor, the Hackley students. school students y and 24 students
44 6.3
The average Hackley student commutes about 19 miles. What does this mean for student life and Hackley’s social dynamic?
Chappaqua
p at 6:00, wiping t of her eyes as she the dark towards he reaches for the , and as the bright her, he squints as sh and toothpaste, erfume. She hears parents telling to bs her hair, throws downstairs. It’s too e jumps in the car. ey student in the e morning. o drive to school if eaves at 6:37 every ex Goddard said. commutes of any lives in Cornwall, es away from Tar-
19
miles is the average commute for upper school students
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article by Arianna Firpo
‘70s glamor
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lthough it may seem as though warm weather will never come, it is time again to make the transition from winter to spring… in terms of fashion, of course. With Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week over, (spring) fashion is ever so prevalent, even if the weather is not in agreement. Two key looks that haven’t made a bold appearance in the fashion world since the ’70s are sophisticated glamour and bohemian-style clothes, otherwise referred to as ’70s glamour. On the other hand, a look that has been partially present for a while, biker clothing, is more popular than ever. This includes the transition from the military trend of the winter including military jackets and cargo pants to a sleeker look, including leather pants or leggings, motorcycle jackets and motorcycle inspired boots. Related to this “bad boy” look is another popular trend this spring, punk fashion. This includes elements such as studs and heavy boots. On the other hand, a new look comprising of the accentuation of curves and the emphasis of femininity is the ’60s ladylike trend. While these four styles are the key looks for this spring, there are many other elements (both related and unrelated to the top trends) that will be highlighted this season. Some of these essentials include lace, crochet and macramé. Since these three materials can become overwhelming when an entire piece of clothing is made up of them, they should be worn instead as small details on shirts, skirts, dresses and accessories. In relation to the ’70s glamour trend, both high waisted pants and bell bottoms/flared pants will be in this spring. In terms of pants, although the normal length is of course a timeless trend, capri pants will also be very popular this season. Mixed prints are another essential for this spring. To liven up the gloomy, winter moods we all find ourselves in, try wearing shirts, skirts or dresses with brightly colored, charming prints. When wearing these prints, though, try not to go too overboard by remaining in the same range of color when mixing and matching them. Another trendy pattern that has been present through previous seasons are stripes, preferably horizontal! Although these next few spring styles may not completely correspond with dress code, they are definitely worth the try. One of these spring must-haves is a crop top. You saw them last summer and you will see them again this spring! Although crop tops may be a bit revealing, wearing them with high waisted pants or with a tank top underneath will still result in a trendy look. Another spring trend that may be easier wear over the weekend are sheer layers (emphasis on the layers). Although layers will minimize sheerness, pairing this look with a tank top underneath will diminish all sheerness. Lastly, for our benefit, comfy clothes are in! This spring, you will be seeing a lot of looser, easy-breezy shapes. This does not necessarily mean sweatpants or sweatshirts, but baggy, billowy blouses and looser fitting skirts and dresses. Colors and accessories come in a wide variety this spring. Trendy colors this spring include anything from citrus to neutrals and nudes. In terms of accessories, big bangles or just a lot of little ones are stylish this season. Preppy accessories are in this spring as well. These consist of elements such as ladylike watches, woven bracelets, and loafers.
biker clothes
Here are the latest trends for this spring that will keep you in style through the season!
punk fashion
Spring Fashion.
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‘60s ladylike
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Students and teachers enter the blogging world dominiquealpuche
O
staff writer nce the domain of avid politicians or narcissists, blogging has hit Hackley, extending right into the curriculum itself. But student bloggers and their followers give the trend mixed reviews. History teacher Kathryn Bowers tried using blogging this year in teaching her 20th-Century World History course. “I like to play around with new ideas,” said Ms. Bowers, who had never blogged before. She admitted that her first attempt at using blogging as a class assignment did not turn out very well. She originally had her students blog about class, but “it was boring for them to write, and boring for me to read,” she said. In the second trimester, Ms. Bowers changed the assignment to having her students find an article, read it, and write a response to it in their blog. “It’s designed to work on argumentative writing,” she said. Her students, who have to complete a blog every week and sometimes have to use articles that pertain directly to the course, seem to like this assignment better than the original. “It’s a lot more interesting,” junior Maria de la Piedra said, though she added that “for people who don’t read the news, I can see how they don’t like it that much.” A student who wished not to be identified, fearing he would seem churlish, said, “I think it’s a cool thing to do, but at the same time we’re not really learning anything.” He also argued that the blogging was too frequent. “Instead of making it weekly, it should be monthly,” he said.
But Hackley blogging flourishes far beyond particular courses. One student blogger, who would like to remain anonymous, said he likes to blog about a variety of topics, especially music and the “occasional personal thoughts.” He started blogging on a snow day when he was trying to devise a topic to add to the dreaded college application. True to its origins, this student’s blogging may affect his academics, he admitted. “Sometimes I may slack a little bit on that whole homework thing, so if I end up writing a thing or two for the blog I internally justify my lack of schoolwork by saying I at least did something,” he said. There are also some faculty members who enjoy blogging, especially as a way to gain and share information about their careers. For example, athletic trainer Doug Sawyer has two blogs about running, triathlons and injuries. He said he got started after he changed his running style and was getting a lot of questions about the new “toe-shoes” he was wearing. “I thought it would just be easier to write it once and refer them to the site.” Ms. Bowers agrees. “It [using a blogging site] is easier than having to carry around a bunch of papers,” she said. Another faculty blogger, librarian Laura Pearle, uses her five blogs and her Twitter account to share information about what is going on in all aspects of her life. In her blogs she likes to talk about what’s going on in her Quaker community, her cats, and books, among other things, but she says she has
“I internally justify my lack of schoolwork by saying I at least [blogged].”
of
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found, since starting in 2004, it is important to keep her “professional and personal life separate.” She also commented on the different blogging sites she uses, such as Wordpress.org and Blogspot.com. “There are things I like about each of them, and I wish the good aspects would all merge,” she said. One thing that many bloggers enjoy about sites like these is the ability to add links and pictures to their blogs. Latin teacher Rowena Fenstermacher finds this particularly useful. “I am absolutely astonished….you can create a place for people to get information with pictures, sound, and links where people can get an idea of what I’m talking about,” said Ms. Fenstermacher, who describes her blog as a place where she “can explain bits of Latin, or Greek or classical references that I encounter in my everyday life.” She also thinks that the links added by bloggers are helpful, because they provide her sources that she can use in her teaching. The anonymous student blogger has a different opinion on the visual and auditory “add-ons” to blogs. “I don’t think the design matters that much, as long as it’s readable and simple. At the end of the day, as long as your content is interesting, I think readers will come back.”
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BERG
Writing about my classmates’ talents—some astounding, some inspiring, and others just plain bizarre—has been one of the pleasures of being the Tip of the Berg columnist and writing for the Dial. My second-to-last and last columns will spotlight the lesser known talents and passions of my classmates—all 96 of them. Hackley School Philharmonic I could easily write 10,000 words, let alone 500, about Sydney’s piano playing, for few know that she can master a Beethoven or Mozart in no time at all. Unlike most other fish, Lucas can leave an audience starstruck with his jazz trombone. And Martha may be known for cracking jokes, but you will never hear her beautiful voice crack. Nor does Margaret’s, as this girl has pipes that will blow you away. It’s hard to believe, but Marie’s violin playing is sweeter than her lemon bars. And Caroline not only knows everything about classic rock, but also how to rock out on the guitar. Will joins the music ensemble, spinning his own beats and making a certain girl swoon with his piano playing. One may picture Emily G. with a lacrosse stick, but she is just as talented with a violin bow. And if Hendel’s magic foot didn’t make you cry with laughter, I’m sure his voice made you tear up a little. Julia H. also has quite the voice, but it is her knowledge of Broadway everything that makes her stand out. Drew K., well, is there an instrument he cannot play? But if you
ask me, his Michael Bublé covers are Grammy worthy. Ruri may be quiet at first, but maybe that is because her cello skills speak for themselves. Conor’s musical knowledge may surprise people, as he knows just about every DMB song. And while many know that Aspen can play piano with the best of them, few know that he actually taught himself. Peter N. may not have taught himself the French horn, but it was his own passion for classical music that allowed him to master it. Jonathan has also mastered a unique instrument, as he can play the timpani drums as well as any professional. Andy P. must have great lungs from running, and this only becomes more obvious when you hear his singing voice. Austin’s guitar strumming makes a great accompaniment to any voice, especially when he is playing country, his favorite genre. It must be fate that he is named J. Rap because he’s made beats for rappers such as New Jersey rapper I.M.G. Kate is sweet as an angel, especially when she plays the most angelic instrument of them all, the harp. Rashana may not perform at the coffeehouses, but she definitely should with the beautiful voice she has. And her fellow boarder, Yuna, can go where no one has ever gone before with a viola: Lady Gaga. Marquis would easily stump the competition in a rap battle—he knows how to drop rhymes and beats like no other.
Senior United Nations Everyone knows Brandon can play tennis, but not everyone knows that this player is fluent in Français. And Luca not only travels to Italy each summer, but also speaks fluent Italian (and probably makes a mean pizza). Of course, Marta is fluent in Spanish and a natural soccer player, but did you know that she is known to shed a tear over her home country’s team, Real Madrid? To round out the members of our grade fluent in foreign languages, Senorita Batista speaks fluent Spanish and is also pretty good at French! Barg may be known for her foray to Hong Kong, but few know that this avid UNITY member is brining the club to the middle school via her senior project. Joi may not be Japanese, but her love of anime and her ability to draw these comics would have anybody fooled. 2011 Goes X-Treme Khelsi’s height certainly helps her when she leads the epee team to victory meet after meet. Dani shows off her extreme side, too, when she flips and jumps on water skis. Everyone knows that Dipi can create a masterpiece when it comes to either art or music, but this champion artist is also a nationally ranked champion diver. Her hair may be red, but Danielle’s belt is black when it comes to tai-kwon-do. And when Kendra is not busy doing gymnastics, you can find her underwater scuba diving. Jill
joins the outdoors crew by farming and hiking. And Kyle whites out the competition when he skis; he even teaches kids the old pizza and French fry trick. Kyle’s partner in crime, Jared, has some skills of his own. He gives Tiger a run for his money on the golf course. Nick K.’s extreme hobby may be a little more expensive than most, as he loves and knows all things automotive. While Nick prefers luxury cars, Chandler prefers a fire engine, which is perhaps one of the reasons that he is a volunteer firefighter. Julia K. shows similar toughness when she rows crew, competing in nationals after just three years of rowing. And Krista seems like a jack-of-all-trades, because whether she is pitching in softball or slamming the ball in squash, she is sure to be winning. While most of us can barely touch our toes, Iman, a talented gymnast, can do flips and tricks of all sorts. And Metika may be a track star at school, but outside of Hackley, she shows he aptitude for dance, especially the challenging ballet. When it comes to fish, Alex knows more than what he learned in bio—he is a phenomenal fisher. Jonah also may surprise some with his national ranking in tennis. Ricky rounds out this outdoorsy bunch, as he spends summers doing some old school ranching in Idaho. There are another 50 extremely talented and interesting members of the senior class, so keep an eye out for the next Dial!
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contributing writer They aim for invisibility, perched high above the action onstage. If they do well, no one will notice. If they make a mistake, hundreds will see it, moving uneasily in their seats—or, worse, laughing at an actor shrouded in darkness when he should be flooded in light. They are Hackley’s nine-member tech crew, and they make possible every production—whether a play, musical, or assembly—staged in the Performing Arts Center. The operation of the sound and lights systems is a big part of any production. “If things go well, no one really notices, but if
they don’t, everyone notices,” junior Maddy Spencer said. “It’s harder than it sounds to actually do the job.” Maddy, who learned the ropes of theater tech at a camp, decided to take the Tech Theater class her freshman year and “fell in love [with it].” Freshman Corinne Alini, however, learned to operate the tech equipment through experience. She described the equipment as “fairly easy to operate, but if I didn’t know how to work something, Mr. McNaughton or someone on the headset would help me out.”
But the tech crew does more than just operate lights and sound. For the plays and musicals, they also build the sets. “That pool in Metamorphoses?” Maddy said proudly, “We built that.” And just like the actors onstage, the tech crew rehearses before a show as well. “We rehearse for a week with the cast practicing cues,” Corinne said. “You really have to pay attention to the play, otherwise a cue might be missed, and that’s really bad.” Every member of the tech crew sees the play, in whole and in part, many times
before opening night. Yet, according to Corinne, the work never gets boring. “By watching the play carefully and watching it many times [...] the play becomes much more familiar and much more enjoyable,” she said. And how does Hackley’s tech equipment measure up? “Hackley has good equipment for what we do,” Maddy said. “Our equipment works for us, even though that spotlight can be a little faulty,” she said, referring to an unfortunate tendency to spotlight parts of the actor, rather than the whole person.
Review: Spelling Bee musical is a success rolandrizzi
staff writer As Senior Drew Kilman sang about an unfortunate “distraction” (an erection) at the performance of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, it’s hard to deny how unique this year’s musical was. The Feb. 11-13 production was funny, smart, and well executed. The casting and acting in the musical were its greatest strengths. All of the major roles were acted flawlessly, in particular sophomore Helen Ballentine as the play’s protagonist. As the adorable, underconfident, yet optimistic little speller, Helen’s singing, acting, and dancing talents were on full display. The more comedic roles were equally well executed. Senior Michael Hendel’s role as the overconfident, nerdy William Barfee was hilarious. Each time after his character was told he had correctly spelled a word, he would shout, “I know!” But a majority of the one-liners came from junior Marc Byrnes as the school’s vice principal. Every time a speller asked for the use of a word in a sentence, a hilarious line would result. Jokes like “Guacamole, the Mexican pudding” and “Son, we aren’t intolerant, just racist” resulted in boisterous laughter from the crowd. Even with over a dozen songs, the play’s pace was incredibly fast, making the short intermission seem unnecessary. The only “slow” part was the touching ending. Yet this was arguably one of the best parts of the play: Helen’s and Michael’s duet as they spell in a sudden-death final was powerful and poignantly sung. Apart from its frequent laughter, the audience also played an important role. At each showing four audience members were chosen to spell words onstage as contestants. From English teacher Scott Boehnen to freshman Andrew Wolf, these impromptu spellers were given hilarious words. Before each spelling, a “fun fact” was given about each speller; for example, English teacher Cindy Jean was told she “was thrown off Project Runway for her outfit.” All of these contestants were eventually eliminated, then given a juice box for their good-humored participation.
Senior Michael Hendel performs his main song, “Magic Foot,” as the rest of the cast, junior Angela Link, senior Drew Kilman, junior Caroline Granoff, sophomore Helen Ballentine, and junior Victoria Tarantino (from left) dance on stage. Photos courtesy of Chris Taggart.
Juniors Nadya Klimenko and Marc Byrnes, and seniors Michael Hendel, Molly Donovan, and Drew Kilman (from left to right) played Rona Lisa Peretti, the Vice Principal, William Barfee, Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, and Chip Tolentino, respectively.
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Hackley stomps the yard with Mount Vernon
This past Thursday’s Community Time presented quite a “Vision.” In a combination of honoring Black History Month and a presentation of the Unity club, the Vision Steppers and the Gospel Knights travelled to Hackley from Mt. Vernon to entertain Upper School students. Ranging from silly jokes, such as the “n” in Vision standing for “nerds,” to more serious themes, such as the monologue relating the barbarity of the slave trade, both the Vision Steppers and the Gospel Knights were thrilling to watch and to listen to according to many students. Junior Kallie McAndrew called the dancing “fun and entertaining,” and the monologue “obviously powerful.” Both groups have performed in various venues ranging from competitions to charity performances, and there are plenty of videos of both to check out on Youtube.com. To show support, the Vision Steppers will be competing at the MC Steppers 6th Annual Take it to the Floor Step Competition at Manhattan College on March 4.
Clockwise from top: Senior Sojourner Elleby follows one of the Vision Steppers. Junior Greg Travarez introduces the groups. Junior Nia Yancopoulos laughs while trying to execute a complicated move. A whole crowd of Hackley students try their hardest to learn the steps.
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Years after the
MELTDOWn
harrisonwetzler
Staff Writer It’s been almost three years since the financial sector collapsed and the U.S. economy stalled, but the country is still feeling the impact: 9.1% of all Americans are jobless as of December. The Dial conducted a survey asking students questions about their parents’ current employment, past educational background, and whether they’ve been personally affected by the “Great Recession.” As the results trickled in, a common trend emerged: the recession affected Hackley families to a lesser degree than it did the average of families and individuals across the nation. Of the students surveyed, only 6% said that their father is unemployed and 14% said their mother is unemployed, compared with the high 9.1% throughout the country. (The relatively high maternal unemployment may be a result of mothers being married to a well-off spouse or wanting to devote more time to their children.) These low rates are probably the outcome of having well-compensating jobs. A few parents were CEOs, and many respondents’ parents work in the financial industry or as bankers. Other common responses for both parents were lawyer, bond salesman, engineer, and teacher. Other students have a stay-at-home parent and an affluent parent. Even in a recession, most Hackley parents continue to have well-paying jobs. However, as junior A.J. Wolf noted, “there certainly are a number of kids whose families come from less fortunate backgrounds.” Along the way to being hired at these jobs, many Hackley parents attended colleges that are considered to be among the best in the nation. Hackley parents have attended Harvard, Yale, Brown, Duke, Rutgers, Boston University, to name just a few of the many colleges from all over the country and world that have alumni who pay Hackley tuition. Many respondents also noted that their parents attended graduate school.
Top professions among Hackley parents Doctor 4.2%
CEO 5.6%
Real estate 6.9%
4% 3% 2% 1% US national unemployment rate However, this does not mean that Hackley students or their parents are ostentatious, although many own expensive cars. Sophomore Marcus Todd said, “That person worked hard to be able to afford that car, power to them, but it’s not show-offy.” Other students concurred. Junior Dolan Kneitz remarked, “I wouldn’t mind driving a Porsche or other nice car, but I don’t think the person driving thinks they’re better than everyone else.” The combination of a quality education (many parents are Hackley alumni themselves) and a wellpaying job probably helped some families endure the financial crisis. Less than half of the students polled said that the recession affected their families; 62% said that their family was not affected substantially.
Colleges Hackley parents attended Fordham 4.6%
Harvard 4.6% Boston College 4.6%
Lawyer 12.5%
Columbia 4.6%
Pace 5.7%
NYU 3.4%
Other 70.8%
Has your family been personally affected by the crisis?
38% 62%
of Hackley families have been affected by the crisis
of Hackley families have not been affected by the crisis
Brown 3.4%
Median household income of towns near Hackley Harrison $100,681 Rye $110,894 Briarcliff $133,272 Yonkers $44,663 Bedford $100,053
The fact that 38% of students were affected is a testament to the potency of the recession. Hackley parents’ often steady financial position enabled most to remain unaffected, but many were still hurt. The recession has been long and difficult for many people. Hackley is no exception. However, the Hackley community has been insulated to a greater degree than the rest of the country. Hackley parents (not all, but many) have wellpaying jobs, went to good colleges, sometimes graduate school, and occasionally are Hackley alumni, which has allowed most of the community to stay relatively unaffected by the economic downturn.
National employment, by sector Education / Health Services 13.8% Trade, Transportation, Utilities 19.2%
Government 16.4%
Methodology
Professional Services 13.0%
Manufacturing 9.8%
Other 27.8%
65 high school students were surveyed for this article. Respondents were notified via Facebook, and were instructed to follow the appropriate link to the survey. This survey has a margin of error of ±11%.
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Nikki Miller: Hackley star swimmer halleyweinreb
Staff Writer As she races through the water, with one more lap left in a 100 yard swim, excitement builds as the competition for first place mounts. Junior Nikki Miller, trying to win in her favorite stroke, breaststroke, sees her opponent in the lane next to her. She seizes the opportunity and pulls away, and in the final five yards she pushes herself and outtouches her competition for the win. Nikki lives for moments live these. Nikki, who started competitively swimming at 7: “I started swimming for a couple of reasons. One was that I always loved the water.” Another reason had to do with her health. “The doctor said I had to lose some weight (because as a child I was a tad overweight) and swimming was the best way to do it.” After originally joining the Condor Swim team, then the Silver Streaks, and after enjoying much success on these teams, Nikki switched to Empire Swimming this year. Some of Nikki’s personal best times include a 1:07.35 in the 100 breast, a 2:28.01 in the 200 IM, a 25. 62 in the 50 free, and a 2:20.18 in the 200 IM. She endures rigorous and demanding practices Sunday through Friday for two and a half hours each day. With much of her time preoccupied with swimming, Nikki notes the difficulties with balancing swimming, school and friends, “I think it
Junior Nikki Miller swims freestyle in the Hackley pool. Some of Nikki’s personal best times include a 1:07.35 in the 100 breast, a 2:28.01 in the 200 IM, a 25. 62 in the 50 free, and a 2:20.18 in the 200 IM. Photo by Paul Rapisardi.
topperformances Ignacio Mejias won tournament MVP in the Ivy League tournament. Mitchell Towne broke Alex Gianino’s record in the 500 meter freestyle. Khelsi Clarke went undefeated in girls’ epee this year and led the team to an undefeated season. A.J. Wolf won the shot put in the NYSAIS championship meet.
seasonrecords doc’soffice Boys’ basketball: 5-15 Girls’ basketball: 15-5 Boys’ Squash: 8-6 Girls’ Squash: 4-6 Boys’ Swimming: 6-0 Girls’ swimming: 5-1 Wrestling: 9-8
Trish Gorman injury: torn ACL projection: ready for spring lacrosse season Conor McDermott injury: Torn Labrum projection: ready for spring baseball season Brandon Alini injury: Thrown knee projection: ready for spring tennis season
stat corner
Compiled by the Dial Sports Staff
11 303 1
Rank of Boys’ Varsity squash team in Division III Nationals. Games won by Girls’ basketbal coach Amann in her career.
Senior on the Girls’ Varsity basketball team this year.
2 100 7
Overtimes in the Boys’ basketball game against Dalton Wins in the career of wrestler Justin Seim.
Fencers on the new Varsity Sabre Team. stats accurate as of 2/23/11
can be extremely difficult at times, but it teaches good management. I always plan out what I have to get done before practice and what I can do after practice.” Nikki, known for her powerful and dominant breaststroke, this year set the Fieldston Pool Record, previously held by Abby Hahn, and at the same time reset her personal record at Hackley. With the dedication and natural talent Nikki exhibits for swimming, it was no surprise that Nikki found much success in the pool this year. On the weekend of December 9, Nikki traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts for the NSSC Invitational, also known as MIT. Swimmers had to qualify for this meet, achieving certain times for individual events. It was swum in two parts, preliminaries and finals. With her hopes high and her goal in mind, Nikki was determined to make a splash that weekend, especially in her favorite event: the 100 breast. As this race approached, she felt a lot of pressure from herself to perform well and make a Junior Nationals cut. “Making finals at MIT, while going my best time in the 100 breast, was definitely a highlight of my year and swimming career,” Nikki said. “Now I am only one second away from the cut, and I’m even more determined to make it.”
mostvaluableplayers Basketball Austin Pidoriano
Allie Coppola
Fencing
John DiLorenzo
Yolanda Li
Squash Joshua Konner
Krista Lancione
Swimming Lucas Avidan
Nikki Miller
Wrestling Ignacio Mejias (Left) Junior guard Matt Goldman
Justin Seim
***The most valuable players were selected by Dial sports editors
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things to know about a
FENCER
Fencing, fencing, or fencing? 1. “There are three different types of fencing: epee, foil, and sabre.” –Vivi
Ren ‘13
2. Keep it creative “You can’t just be predictable, or your opponent will know what to expect. Spontaneity is really important.” –Angelina Xing ‘13
3. Timing is key “Timing is really important in fencing. It makes the difference between an
attempted attack and a point; the best fencers have the patience to wait for the perfect time for their attacks.” –Clara Engle ‘11
4. Survival of the fittest “You have to size up your opponent to figure out their strengths and weaknesses, and then adapt accordingly.” –Ben Sheng ‘11
control 5.“YouWrist really have to not only control your own blade, but your opponent’s [too].”–Phillip Yoo ‘14
6. Matches may result in burn out “Fencing matches are longer than you would think. They last around 15 minutes sometimes.” –Dylan Ophir ‘13
7. Find holes in the fence “Precision is pretty important- the best fencers can hit their target every time.” –Juliet Kim ‘14
Fencing is a touchy subject 8. “Don’t worry about winning or losing, just focus on the next touch.” –Ben Sheng ‘11 List by rolandrizzi and jasonyang
Hackley wrestling finishes the year strong maxparauda
M
Staff Writer
any students are used to walking up the steps of the Zetkov gymnasium to the sight of Coach Frolo and Coach Amann coaching their respective basketball teams, but on Saturday, Feb. 5th, it was a little different. On this date, seven schools, including Poly Prep and Horace Mann, gathered in the gymnasium for the Ivy League wrestling tournament. Hackley wrestling finished second place overall with 144 points, behind perennial powerhouse Horace Mann. Senior captain Ignacio Mejias, called the “heart and soul” of the team by the coaches and players, took first place for his weight class. Freshman Dan Shaw, junior Matt MacFarlane, sophomore Luke Sweeney, junior Will Johnson, and freshman Xavier Carmona all placed second for their respective weight classes. Sophomore Ben Jurcic and junior Chris Breen also placed third. “I knew we were top five [in the Ivy League]. However, I did not expect second place. They have worked so hard this season and I am extremely proud of the team,” said head coach Fran Stanek. Freshman wrestler Xavier Carmona’s run to the finals was particularly impressive. In his match in the semi-finals, he faced a wrestler from Poly Prep who was a two-time state champion. Xavier was down in the third period, but had a miraculous comeback and was tied towards the end of the match. Xavier was able to perform a “throw” move on his opponent and won as time expired. “I think my win in the semifinals was a combination of my opponent tiring out, and the fact that I was extremely motivated because of all my teammates cheering me on,” said Xavier. Unfortunately, junior captain Justin Seim was not able to wrestle at the tournament due to his ankle injury. However, he did come back for the New York Private School State championships at Long Island Lutheran on February 12th and defended his title as state champion for the fourthstraight year. Thirteen wrestlers went to states and twelve of them placed. Sophomore additions Andre Newland and Luke Sweeney placed fourth and sixth respectively at States, and senior Nate Oh placed third, even though he weighs only 170 pounds and wrestled in the 189 pound weight class. Ignacio Mejias also placed first for his weight class.
“It was a full team effort. Even the students who did not participate at States were at every practice every day helping the team succeed,” Coach Stanek said. The wrestling team has high expectations for next year even though they will be losing vital senior wrestlers. Juniors Justin Seim, Mike D’Alessio, Matt MacFarlane, Chris Breen,
and Will Johnson will be the leaders next year. “Our goal is to beat Horace Mann next year. Horace Mann has won 10 straight Ivy League titles and I’m hoping our strong core of seniors next year will help us get over the hump,” said Coach Stanek.
Senior Ignacio Mejias finished off his Dalton opponent on Feb. 5th on his path to become the first place winner in his weight class, as well as the Most Valuable Player of the Ivy League Tournament. Hackley went on to place second overall behind Horace Mann. Ignacio also placed first in his weight class at the New York Private School State championship. Photo courtesy of Fran Stanek.