V41 Issue 5

Photo by Charlotte Tomlin, Elliot Lovitt and Brooke Ebner

DFW metroplex experiences a once in a lifetime event

On April 8, for the first time in around 150 years, a total eclipse will pass over Dallas

By Anoushka Sinha | Staff writer

For the first time since July 29, 1878, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex will witness the sky go as dark as if it were dusk in the middle of the day. On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, beginning at 1:07 p.m. CST at Mexico’s Pacific coast, stretching from Texas to Maine and exiting the continent at 2:46 p.m. CST in Newfoundland, Canada, according to NASA.

“[A total eclipse] is where the Sun is blacked out,” science department chair Amy Henderson said. “The Sun, the Moon and the Earth line up, and the Moon blocks out the Sun's rays. Normally because of the Earth's tilt and the Moon’s rotation, it doesn't line up perfectly which happens to be why this [eclipse] is a big deal.”

The peak length of this eclipse across the entirety of the path will last four minutes and 26 seconds and in Dallas, it will take place from around 1:40 p.m. to 1:44 p.m. CST, according to AP News and NASA. The duration of totality across the path is doubled compared to the eclipse that crossed the U.S. on Aug. 21, 2017.

“By a cosmic stroke of luck, the Moon will make the month’s closest approach to Earth the day before the total solar eclipse,” journalist Marcia Dunn wrote on Feb. 8 in an article published by AP News. “That puts the Moon just 223,000 miles away on eclipse day. The Moon will appear slightly bigger in the sky thanks to that proximity, resulting in an especially long period of sunblocked darkness.”

The entire United States will be able to view a partial eclipse, with cities such as Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington seeing about a third of the Sun covered by the Moon. However, only parts of three countries, including 13 U.S. states, will have a view of the total eclipse: central Mexico, parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire,

Maine and southern Canada. Around 44 million people across the continent live inside the 115-mile-wide path of totality, according to AP News.

“Because of the Earth's tilt, the path follows whatever it's going to be lined up perfectly and will hit certain cities,” Henderson said. “However, those cities [not in the path] will probably have a partial eclipse, but they won't have a total eclipse.”

While total solar eclipses are much rarer, only occurring every 18 months or so, partial or annular eclipses happen two to five times a year according to the Natural History Museum. They seem less common because they are only visible at certain locations on various paths across the planet.

“ This doesn’t happen very often, so that's why it's a big deal. We may not have another one for another 30 years, and it only hits certain cities, and only they are going to get that total [eclipse].

Amy Henderson Science department chair

“A partial solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth but the Sun, Moon, and Earth are not perfectly lined up,” NASA wrote in a recent article about solar eclipses published on science.nasa.gov.

“Only a part of the Sun will appear covered, giving it a crescent shape.”

Even though the Oct. 14, 2023 partial eclipse occurred on a weekend, middle school science

teacher Scott Goetsch and lower school science teacher Laura Talbot provided students with the opportunity to safely view the eclipse.

“We were on campus for Homecoming setup, and we ran into Mr. Goetsch who had glasses and telescopes, and they let us look through them and see the eclipse,” sophomore student council officer Stella Wynne said. “We could see the Moon [passing] over the sun and Mr. Goetsch pointed out that when it shone through the trees, you could see the eclipse change the shape of the shadows.”

Taking proper safety precautions is vital when viewing the eclipse. During the entirety of the partial eclipse, except for the brief phase of totality, you must wear special eclipse glasses, which are thousands of times darker than regular sunglasses.

“You cannot look up at the eclipse without some protective eyewear,” Henderson said. “It can harm your eyes [and] affect your vision because you're partially covering some of it, so the [Sun’s] rays expand out differently.”

If you don’t have access to these solar eclipse glasses or any form of safe solar viewers, you can still observe the eclipse’s effects in an indirect way that doesn’t involve looking right at the Sun. Items with circular holes, such as colanders, project the crescent shape of the Sun on the ground as the partial phase progresses.

“One way is to use a pinhole projector, which has a small opening, for example, a hole punched in an index card, and projects an image of the Sun onto a nearby surface,” NASA wrote in a recent article about solar eclipse safety published on science.nasa. gov. “With the Sun at your back, you can then safely view the projected image [but] do not look at the Sun through the pinhole.”

While there are various ways to see the effects of the eclipse, it is crucial not to look directly at the sun with the naked eye or even through a camera that has not been equipped with proper gear.

“If people look without the proper protection [at the sun], they run the risk of injuring their eyes,”

Dr. B. Ralph Chou, president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and former optometry professor, said in an interview with Time. “And if they get an injury, depending on how often and how long they look at the sun without the protection, they do have a substantial risk of developing a permanent loss of vision.”

For the day of the eclipse, the science department has arranged a special programming day for the school and has bought everyone eclipse glasses to safely view the eclipse. Also, during the weeks prior to the eclipse, students, faculty and staff will be given opportunities to learn more about the eclipse.

“We will be doing a chapel talk beforehand to kind of get everybody excited about the eclipse, and we will be talking about the eclipse in every single science class [and] let the students know what a big deal it is,” Henderson said. “We'll go outside, and you will be able to see the partial eclipse, and then we'll stay out there for the total eclipse.”

According to the website greatamericaneclipse.com, Texas will be the top destination for people traveling to see the eclipse, with more than a 1 million visitors expected to travel to the state.

There will not be another total eclipse going over the United States until 2033 with it only crossing Alaska. After that, the next one to span coast to coast will be in 2045 going from northern California to Florida according to AP News.

“Hopefully, it's not cloudy here or raining but we have some fun things planned for the week before in the science classes and chapel and then that day having to make a kind of a big celebration,” Henderson said. “This doesn’t happen very often, so that's why it's a big deal. We may not have another one for another 30 years, and it only hits certain cities, and only they are going to get that total [eclipse].”

Puppy on campus

Directory of Security Jody Trumble brings therapy dog in training to campus.

Moscow attack

On March 23, 137 people died and 180 were injured in a terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow. The four terrorists were affiliated with the Islamic State Group, but Putin initially placed blame on Ukraine.

March 4 was designated as a national mourning day in Russia, where citizens created memorials to honor the victims. March 4 also marked the suspect’s hearings, who arrived at Basmanny District Court in poor condition, admitted guilt, and will be given a life sentence as a maximum punishment.

UN Security Council demands ceasefire

On Monday, March 25, the U.N. adopted a resolution demanding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The U.S. abstained from the vote and caused the Israeli government to cancel a visit to Washington by a high-level Israeli delegation. The U.S. and Israel had planned to discuss during the visit the Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafa. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. failure to veto the resolution would hurt Israel's war efforts. But White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that day that, "Our vote does not, and I repeat that does not represent a shift in our policy. …Nothing has changed about our policy. Nothing." Fourteen U.N. Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, the U.S. abstinence allowed the resolution to pass.

Attempted resolution

Thomas-Greenfield,

Trump's social media merges

Former President Donald Trump merges his social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group (holding the Truth Social app), and the Digital World Acquisition Corporation, a deal that could pocket Trump $3 billion. The resulting company is Trump Media and was opened to public trade on March 26 under the acronym DJT.

Trump owns 80 million shares, but he will not be able to sell his shares for six months, unless the Board of Directors overrules this stature. Some speculate that Trump is merging his company to collect cash, to pay bills from his recent criminal and civil cases.

App changes hands

Tied up trade routes

Tourists stroll the deck, snapping pictures and enjoying the sun. The sea is a bright blue, and the sky is clear. If there were not any men patrolling with assault rifles, the scene might be reminiscent of a cruise ship. The ship in question is the Galaxy Leader, a car carrier that was hijacked near the Aden Strait by heavily armed rebels in a helicopter on Nov. 19, 2023. The heavily armed militants took the 25 crew members hostage and sailed the ship to Yemen, where pictures taken by the BBC and Reuters depicted tour groups exploring the ship.

The rebels, known as Houthis, are members of a Yemeni faction that has been designated as a Global Terrorist Group by the U.S. Department of State since Jan. 17.

“The Houthis are, I believe, maybe just barely a minority [in Yemen], so it's kind of a 50/50 split between the Houthis, who are a branch of the Shiite sect of the Islamic religion [and everyone else],” Marc Salz, AP World History teacher, said. “The Houthis have one-half [of] the country under their control without any kind of official government, but they collect Houthi taxes, and they offer Houthi services and things like that. And then the southern half of the country is under the official government. But it's [the Houthis’] location and the fact that it's a failed state which allows them to engage in a foreign policy that is not under the normal constraints of, let's say, a UN-guided country.”

“When you can't get your head around what a state is doing, that's when they're a non-rational actor.

Marc Salz AP World History

teacher

The Houthis, though, are a relatively small group with few resources when compared to the militaries of actual governments.

“I think that they have an outsized impact because of where they are on the shipping lanes and the fact that they've been in essentially a broken country [since] around 2005 or 2006,” Salz said.

Therefore, the Houthis lack the military strength to pose a serious threat to the United States and other global powers.

“Hamas does not even have the military budget of the NYPD,” Travis Gilmore, World Cultures teacher, said. “I doubt [the Houthi military budget] is going to be that much better than Hamas, and Hamas is tiny. Geopolitically speaking, Yemen is not a major player in the world. But they do have this: they control the Gulf.”

The Houthis are aided by cheap, fast production and unconfirmed Iranian aid.

“Iran denies it, but it's an amusing kind of denial,” Salz said. “They’ve got Iranian missiles, they’ve got Iranian drones, and there's no way the Houthis would be able to have their own weapons systems [without help].”

The attack on the Galaxy Leader would become the first of many on international ships passing through the Bab-el-Mandeb or Gate of Grief, a chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea on their way to or from the Suez Canal. The Houthis, who claim to be acting in support of Hamas, have used drones and missiles to harass and damage ships trying to access the Suez Canal, along with the piratestyle takeover they employed on the Galaxy Leader. No passenger ships have been targeted so far, but three crew members on the Greekowned True Confidence were

killed in an attack on March 6.

“More than 50 nations have been affected in 27 attacks on international commercial shipping,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement published on the White House website on Jan. 11. “More than 2,000 ships have been forced to divert thousands of miles to avoid the Red Sea—which can cause weeks of delays in product shipping times.”

Because of the attacks, shipping companies have to choose between braving the Red Sea or detouring around the Cape of Good Hope, a much longer journey through often unpredictable seas. The former comes with increased insurance costs and higher crew salaries, while the latter saddles companies with the corresponding fuel costs.

“It’s a temporary bump to inflation, but once that inflation’s baked in it stays the same,” Salz said. “We could literally close down the Suez Canal, and it would just be X number of dollars tax on world trade.”

That being said, governments worldwide have taken an interest in the situation. U.S. and British militaries began a series of strikes against the Houthis on Jan. 12, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.

“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes,” Biden said. “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a trade analysis organization, approximately 9 percent of the world’s oil passes through the Suez Canal every year. In addition, the canal is the fastest sea route between countries like India and China in East Asia and Europe. The economic implications alone could be enough to push countries to get involved.

“That might be where it ends, [countries] just have economic interest, and therefore, they will use military might to make sure that their economic interests are at play,” Gilmore said. “Now, a lot of people want to reduce almost everything that people do to economic interests, like Marx does. That's probably not completely fair. There might be a political reason beyond an economic one. America wants to support democracies, for example.”

Despite any interest the U.S. and other countries may have in opening access to the canal, they are limited by fear of provoking Iran.

“I think it's a spoken word out of the Biden State Department that they are trying to thread a needle between stopping Houthi aggression and avoiding a war with Iran,” Salz said. “I do not think that the Houthis are remotely near a situation that is going to call for land intervention. They're not sinking ships. They're damaging ships. They're disrupting traffic. But we are conducting airstrikes.”

Houthi rebels disrupt global shipping routes, prompting military response

By Maggie Chein | Business Manager

Belly Up

A Rubymar cargo ship is partly submerged off the coast of Yemen, on March 7. The bulk carrier went down off Yemen after a Houthi missile attack and posed grave environmental risks as thousands of tonnes of fertilizer threaten to spill into the Red Sea, officials and experts warn.

Photo and caption credit Khaled Ziad/ AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Attack on Moscow Emergency services arrive at the Crocus Center after the attack on March 23 2024.

Photo by Stringer/AFP via Getty Images/TNS

Linda

the U.S. UN ambassador, speaks at the UN Security Council meeting on March 22 in New York City.

Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images/TNS

The Truth Social app will be owned by Trump Media, after Trump Media and Technology Group merges with Digital World Acquisition Corporation. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

New year, new look for sports and uniforms

Upper school sports credits and uniform bottoms to change next year

By Sophia Sardiña | Life Editor

As students prepare for the new school year, they load up on pens, pencils, papers and notebooks. However, in the upcoming school year, due to a change in school uniforms and policies, students will add a new skirt and maybe even new sports equipment to that list.

In preparation for the 2024-2025 school year, the administration is discussing the new uniforms and also new community/sports credits to focus on uniformity and community.

“Next year it is our 50th anniversary year, so we thought it would be a good time to consider a change in the uniforms because we’ve had the same uniform from the onset,” ESDPA Associate Head of School Ruth Burke said.“We wondered how we could get more consistency and put ‘uniformity’ back in our uniform.”

The first part of the uniform transition was implemented at the beginning of this school year with the new polos; navy blue polos for the middle school and white ones for the upper school. The new 2024-2025 changes are primarily focused on uniform bottoms. Skirts will be “skorts,” skirts with sewn-in spandex, but they will have the same plaid design. There will also be pants with a feminine cut available for girls. The boys will be required to wear shorts and

Opportunities to fulfill sport/ community engagement credits

Graphic by Sophia Sardiña

A Brief Breakdown

The latest events around the ESD campus— in brief

pants provided through DENNIS uniforms only.

“You can look around, and as students are walking, you can see a lot of different colors of gray on the shorts,” Burke said. “And actually, on the skirts, you see where the plaid is a different pattern, and not to mention the skirt lengths are a bit concerning.”

The one main focus of the uniform change, besides consistency, was comfort for the students. The skirt’s spandex and the boy’s shorts/pants dry fit material provide an athletic feel.

“Upper school students are pretty active and are constantly moving around, so we considered all those things; this is one of the reasons why we switched to polos,” Burke said. “We wanted to leverage new kinds of fabrics and new styles that are available to us now that weren’t 20 years ago.”

However, some question whether or not the skirts are actually a good switch for the uniform changes as they might present their own issues.

“[The skirts] have sewn in spandex, and they were nice because they are athletic material,” senior Addison Page said. “And I also think that the new design of the skirts are cuter than the ones we had since they’re changing the plaid design.”

In addition, some juniors are concerned that the change in

skirts means they will be required to purchase all new skirts for their last year at ESD.

“I do think that getting new skirts as a senior is a little bit of a burden because I have had the same skirt since fifth grade,” junior Ivy Runyon said. “I wish I didn’t have to buy a bunch of new skirts in only one year. Besides, I have a feeling that they won’t look as good as the ones we already have, and I like the skirts that we wear.”

But the uniform is not the only change coming to campus. The sports credits and the different types of sports offered are also changing. The main focus of the change in sports credits or the new addition of sports is due to the idea of increasing community engagement between upper school students. Next year there will be a ‘community activity credit’ which is equivalent to a sports credit.

“The whole background of what we are trying to do with our community activity credits is connected to our strategic plan initiative around the community,” Chief Academic Officer Rebecca Brady said. “We know from research that having a sense of belonging and being part of a community is really good for students' well-being and mental health.”

Each trimester will have

different opportunities for community engagement. In the fall there will be racket sports such as pickleball and badminton, and robotics will count as a credit as well as it requires team effort. In the winter, the mountain biking program will still be an option, and in the spring yoga will be offered along with participation in the musical, play, or tech theater.

“We are moving into those activities that make students feel like you’re a part of a group,” Brady said. “We want students to have that sense of community and sense of belonging with their ESD peers, and that’s our main goal for these activities.”

In addition, two sports/ community engagement credits will be required for each year of high school. In years past, only freshmen and sophomores needed two sports credits, and juniors and seniors only needed one. However, starting with the class of 2027, upper schoolers will now be required to participate in two sport credits.

“The reason why we chose to require two sports credits is because we wanted to increase opportunities for students to be in community with one another,” Brady said. “We are broadening the way that we are thinking about some of our after-school activities and community involvement.”

Source: Chief Academic Officer Rebecca Brady

A Cinematic Celebration

Film students have been writing, shooting and editing their films in preparation for the annual film festival, which was organized by film teacher Nicole Mason along with senior Alex Habeeb and sophomores Aaron Sada and Elle Williams. The festival will take place on March 21 at 7 p.m. in the Bray Theater. The event will be free and open to the community.

“The students are running the whole festival,” Mason said. “They told me what they wanted, and we collaborated on ideas, but it’s a student-run festival.”

The four organizers went through an extensive brainstorming process to eventually decide on this year’s theme; James Bond. ESD’s annual film festival has been long running with a rich history, but Mason said they were excited to do something a little different than years past.

“It was initially Aaron’s idea, and after that, everything just started flowing,” Mason said. “We tried to do something a little fancier this year while still fun and really connected to movies.”

Film students showcasing their films will dress up as either James Bond spies or James Bond girls. The film students will also film a sneak peek “junket” of the festival in their costumes to present the theme. There will be a total of 13 films shown and the average length of the films are approximately two and a half to five minutes long.

“It’s going to be very exciting to make such an elegant festival,” Sada said. “We’ll be giving out [prop] martini glasses, along with other things like food and drinks.” Beginner to advanced film students will be featured and refreshments will be served after the screenings.

Diplomatic Debates

Model United Nations, a newly created foreign affairs club led by Claire Mrozek, junior class dean, and AP US History teacher, is for students interested in countries around the world, international relations, current world issues, and areas of diplomacy.

“It is great practice in research, speaking extemporaneously and problem-solving,” Mrozek said. “The goal is for the students to understand how complicated world events are. It allows them to think outside their own perspectives…a good chance for students to not think like an American teenager.”

Learning about international relations and how to argue intelligently has attracted students as they are tasked to research and argue compelling arguments concisely and improve their networking abilities.

“It is an attempt to allow kids to pretend to be diplomats,” Mrozek said. “They are assigned a country, a group, and a series of issues, and apply their research and try to create an opinion about the topic consistent with that country.”

Model UN has already taught students about the complexity of world affairs beyond the United States. Junior Daniella Woodhouse said that Model UN has already impacted her, and she believes it will benefit her in the future.

“Model UN has taught me to be more worldly and knowledgeable,” Woodhouse said. I get to learn about different foreign issues and not be so tunnel-visioned on specific issues around the world. It has made me more aware of situations going on worldwide and foreign-related issues and diplomacy.”

Le Grande Showdown

On April 4, seniors Dalyan Prieto-Akmansoy and Will Grogan will sit down in French class to take part in the National French Contest, Le Grand Concours. Along with students across the world, Prieto-Akmansoy and Grogan will be tested on the most relevant topics and will be rewarded based on performance compared to other students. Le Grand Concours was started in 1935 and tests first through 12th grade students of French on culture, personalities, current events, regions of France, French history and more.

“Le Grand Concours is a way for [French] language students to get recognition,” Geraldine Owens, upper school French teacher, said. “Students from the 50 states and abroad take the test and compete against students with similar backgrounds for prizes.”

To be involved, students must be registered by their teachers and are given time to prepare and practice on the Lingco website, where they can take tests on their listening and reading comprehension. Students use this opportunity as a way to improve their knowledge of France.

“I'm pretty confident going in; I'm already fluent in French,” Prieto-Akmansoy said. “It'll help me further develop my writing and more ‘professional’ skills in French.”

The actual test has two parts: the first is listening comprehension with a compilation of video and podcasts. The second half is reading comprehension with two articles and corresponding questions.

“It is a fun and nonintimidating way to have fun while learning French,” Owens said.

Movie Magic ESD hosts its annual film festival where it features movies/ films created by upper school students.

Poster by Alex Habeeb

Model United Nations Students a part of model UN learn about international relations and how to agree on common worldly issues.

Photo source: Wikipedia

French Etudiants Seniors Will Grogan and Dalyan Prieto-Akmansoy during the Business French class in late February.

Photo by Lauren Shushi

ESD's new soon-to-be-certified therapy dog, Lukas

As a crowd forms in the hallways, senior Margaret Shirey wonders what all the commotion is about. When she nears, she sees a fluffy, wagging tail, huge paws and a huge head adorned with a smiling face, almost like a giant stuffed animal. She soon realizes that Lukas is finally back on campus.

“Seeing Lukas feels like something you can look forward to in your day,” Shirey said. “If you’re having a bad day and Lukas is making the rounds, it just gets better, so I really like having him around.”

Lukas, a Bernese Mountain dog born on Feb. 11, 2023 and who was adopted by Director of Campus Security Jody Trumble in April of the same year, has been making regular visits to campus for the past few months.

“After we had the service dogs here last year, I talked to the emotional wellness folks,” Trumble said. We talked about whether it would be a good idea for us to have [a service dog] here.”

When she first adopted Lukas, it was not intended for him to be a therapy animal.

“His personality just sings for it,” Trumble said. “He was born for that purpose, I think. [He was a] very calm puppy, great dog.”

After deciding to pursue the path of training to be a therapy dog, Trumble contacted Cindy North, an ESD parent with connections to the Alliance of Therapy Dogs. ATD works on testing, certification and registration of therapy dogs.

“I made contact with them and got an idea of the process and training requirements,” Trumble said. “They won't certify a dog until the dog is one year old. So, we have been doing the practice leading up to then.”

Lukas and Trumble practice a few minutes each day. Because Lukas has a sensitive stomach, he is not rewarded with treats, but with affection.

“Seeing Lukas feels like something you can look forward to in your day. If you’re having a bad day and Lukas is making the rounds, it just gets better, so I really like having him around.

Margaret Shirey Senior

“When he was a puppy, [we did] a lot of obedience work,” Trumble said. “Every puppy is going to test you, but they call them Stubbornese, so he is a little hardheaded.” Trumble uses voice commands and hand signals to communicate with Lukas.

“[I use them] to eventually get to the point where if I needed to do something without him hearing me, he would be able to respond,” Trumble said. “Normally, if I call him and he doesn’t come, I do the hand signal, and he will come right in or come to me.”

Lukas has worked very hard to become obedient. Training involves a lot of repetition. He has learned a lot, but no one is perfect, not even Lukas.

“Not using his feet [when] he wants to touch you is sort of his

biggest issue,” Trumble said. “So with elderly folks you can’t have him pawing. We are still working on that. They are not allowed to use their mouth for anything. So a lot of people, especially kids, are like ‘oh I want kisses.’ So just trying to work on whether or not he can do that. It is not like it fails him, it’s just we would prefer him not to do that.”

There are lots of requirements to certify a dog. It requires a background check, paperwork, submitting health records, fees and testing.

“The testing involves a lot of obedience stuff,” Trumble said. “They do a few things that make sense within the therapy world. They have a person walking like an elderly person or devices like wheelchairs, walkers and canes [to see how the dog will react]. They touch the dogs on their feet, ears and eyes, all the places a little kid might touch them to make sure they’re not going to react.”

The ATD will not only test Lukas, but Trumble as well. They ensure her handling skills are up to par. They also ensure Lukas is well groomed and healthy. The application list is long, so Lukas and Trumble’s test has yet to be scheduled. After completing the test portion in the controlled environment, Trumble and Lukas must complete three visits to different sites; two of the visits must occur at a medical facility and one will be at a location of Trumble’s choice. She will likely choose ESD.

“They observe us on everything from how we get out of the car at the test site, to making an entry, going up stairs, being in an elevator,” Trumble said. “Just how he responds to everything around him and how I am making sure he is going at it the right way.”

After Lukas completes his test,

New CV policies implemented

The new upper school administration has changed the norm. In their new positions, Clark Family Head of Upper School Matt Peal and Assistant Head of Upper School Max Augé implemented stricter community violation policies than in previous years.

The previous CV policy gave students a lunch detention if they received two CVs in one week. During lunch detention, a student would report to the team room immediately after chapel to check in, go get lunch and then come back to do any non-electronic homework. And if a student accumulated five CVs in one month,they would have to serve a Saturday morning detention.

The new policy is stricter, but it has proven to be more effective, according to Augé Under the new guidelines, if a student receives three CVs in a semester, they have to serve a before school detention. That is where a student has to check into a detention room before school starts and either work on school work or sit in silence. If a student receives six CVs in a semester, the student has to serve an after school detention. And if a student accumulates nine CVs, and according to Augé only four students did so last semester, disciplinary consequences can range from multiple after school detentions to one day of community separation.

This change was implemented by Peal and Augé in hopes of issuing less CVs and an improvement in behavior.

The change in policy has decreased CVs. By the end of the first semester, CVs decreased 13 percent compared to last year, and tardies decreased 41 percent according to Mr. Auge. Many believe the changes signify an improvement in behavior because students want to avoid the

consequences. Teachers have also seen a difference.

“It is less disruptive when people come on time to class versus walking several minutes late,” Latin teacher Anne Fahrenholz said. “Behavior is better, because people are actually afraid of consequences. And since they're enforcing detentions, people do not want CVs.”

Fahrenholz also brought up the fact that students did not care about receiving CVs last year because they felt they were insignificant. She would write in the CV form comment section that the student said they did not care about receiving the CV. Her observations, as well as other teachers, led to the push for a new disciplinary initiative.

“It's very important that the students understand that every time that someone receives a CV, we get a copy of it,” senior Dean and Spanish teacher Marcela Garcini said. “The [CVs] filled my mailbox, and now I think the kids are getting on time to class. It's not just the CV, it is the fact that when you are a faculty member and people are getting late to your class every day, it's a pattern.”

Garcini has seen a massive improvement in behavior because of the new policy. She thinks students have been sharper with their uniforms and attendance. Overall, she thinks students are much more well-ordered.

Augé, who deals with the majority of behavior incidents, appreciates the new policy.

“Life is a lot more rewarding,” Augé said, “I actually have more time to think it through and think about how to coach the student and how to partner with the advisor or the teachers [so] the student is better for the incident.” Students, on the other hand, are not too fond of the new policy.

Senior Parker Hall racked up

he will get to wear a certification tag and will be covered by insurance, in case of an accident.

Lukas and Trumble have visited multiple beginners classes. They visited Monica Frymire’s beginners class on Feb. 16. All 16 beginners listened as Trumble read ‘Berner Bane Lends A Helping Paw’ by Winston and Julia Smith, which features a Bernese mountain dog, the same breed as Lukas.

“The kids were so excited to see Lukas,” Frymire said. “They could not believe a big dog was in the school. They just wanted to pet him the entire time.”

While Lukas has been around small children before, Trumble was a bit unsure of how he would react to needing to sit still for such a long period around so many small children.

“He was perfect,” Trumble said. “He rested at my feet and only occasionally scooched a little closer to the kids who were busy scooching a little closer to him. By the end of the book they were only a few inches apart but he was still being a good boy and not touching them."

ESD's first emotional service dog works hard to best serve the community

By Iris Hernandez | Managing Editor

Lukas comes to visit Lukas, a Bernese Mountain Dog that belongs to Director of Campus Security Jody Trumble, visits the yearbook class in early March.

"Seeing Lukas is always the best part of my day," junior Jane Herburger, who is sitting on the floor, said. "The staff loves having him visit, especially when we are busy and sometimes need a break. He always leaves us feeling better.

an excessive amount of CVs in the first semester. However, the majority of these CVs were not due to behavior; they were due to tardies.

“I think that the new CV policy is okay if they were to take out the tardies,” Hall said. “The reason I got all my CVs is because they were all tardies. Because sometimes you have unavoidable instances, I feel like tardies should be in a different category.”

Hall suggested that instead of each tardy being a CV, two tardies would equal a CV. He believes that would be a fair compromise because being tardy is not due to bad behavior. Hall also feels that the before and after school detentions are too strict.

“We're not even allowed to have water in the room,” Hall said. “You have to leave your backpack and water outside. You're only allowed to have paper that you have to have ready for study hall, [and] you have to have your stuff printed out before you get there. So that's ridiculous.”

Despite such grievances, Hall thinks the new policy has improved students' behavior this school year.

“I feel like it's good that the new administration is trying to crack down on some behavior stuff,” Hall said.

Along with Hall, junior William Stahl feels that the new policy is a good implementation this school year. Stahl had an excessive amount of CVs last year; however, he hasn’t gotten many this year.

“I definitely improved my behavior a lot from last year to this year,” Stahl said. “Some of that comes with me maturing, but also this new rule. I think the new rules definitely make students more scared to get a CV, which is also a big reason I improved my behavior.”

Students and teachers voice their opinion on the new CV policy changes

By Ethan Pham | Staff writer

Photo by Kate Eastin and Kristin Doebele

Life

School dance dilemma

Students tend to leave school dances drastically early. Page 8

Scrolling to shopping: Temu and TikTok Shop uproar

Apps like Temu and TikTok dominate the online shopping market with their heavily discounted products

By Val entina Boltchi and Reese Rawson | Staff writers

Sophomore Stella Wynne eagerly opens her highly anticipated package from the TikTok Shop that she purchased a few days before. Unaware of where it came from or how it shipped so quickly, she takes out her Chamoy Pickle kit from the box and starts to assemble it.

On Sept. 12, TikTok launched the Creator Shop, where vendors can list their items directly on TikTok, and buyers can purchase and checkout through the app. Unlike Amazon or Shopify, with the TikTok algorithm sellers are able to put their products in front of people without having to pay for ads.

As a consequence, customers no longer need to use an external site to purchase items they see on TikTok. Sellers can also place a commission structure on their items, where TikTok creators or ‘influencers' can earn a cut of the commission if they help sell the product.

“I think the TikTok Shop is a great resource to buy trendy things, and I find myself constantly finding new items,” sophomore Drew Dundon said. “[TikTok] makes it so easy to buy these products anytime I want to.”

A vast array of items have been blowing up on social media platforms by users reviewing and recommending products. Some of the most popular products on the TikTok Shop right now are the Chamoy Pickle Kit, a giant pickle stuffed with spicy sweets and wrapped in a fruit roll-up; Carbonara Ramen, a cheesy and spicy ramen noodle flavor; the Wavytalk, a curling iron that helps make styling hair easier; and an LED light facial tool that claims its light therapy gets rid of wrinkles.

According to Root Digital, a UK marketing and PR agency, brands on TikTok Shop can receive 200,000 content views per post, allowing vendors to make an immense amount of money off

of the app’s users. Junior Luke Mauser recently purchased freeze-dried Skittles from the TikTok Shop as videos about them kept popping up on his feed, and he wanted to see if they were worth the hype. According to Mauser, his entire For You Page consists of products and users advertising them, so people like him are sucked into purchasing something.

“

The TikTok Shop is a great resource to buy trendy things, and I find myself constantly finding new items. [TikTok] makes it so easy to buy these products anytime I want.

Drew Dundon Sophomore

“Honestly, I don’t think the TikTok Shop is a scam,” Mauser said. “They regularly offer discounts that help persuade people to buy from it, which I think is a pretty good tactic.”

However, many TikTok users have expressed their irritation at how the new feature has taken over the app. Many users say that they cannot catch a break from the ads and sellers as their whole For You Page now consists of TikTok Shop products.

“I think that one day, everyone's credit cards are going to get hacked if they continue buying from the TikTok Shop,” sophomore Riley Morrison said. “I would never buy anything from there, and I think that soon, people will realize that it is a scam.

Chamoy Pickle

It’s easy to fall into the trap of spending more and more money through the app with the constant promotions. The advertised low prices trick people into spending more money.

“I will see a product on my For You Page multiple times a day that I am prompted to buy,” Dundon said. “I think that as long as you're careful with what you buy and you check how many products are sold for each item listed, then it is safe.”

Similar to TikTok Shop, in July of 2022, a Chinese e-commerce company called Temu quickly took over TikTok trends. Temu offers heavily discounted goods to consumers, most of which are shipped directly from China. Their slogan for selling goods is, “shop like a billionaire,” indicating their extremely low prices. They also offer a wide variety of goods, from beauty products to trampolines.

“[Temu] might be a scam,” sophomore and Temu user Bauer Berkley said. “The stuff is not great quality and is cheap, but that’s what I expected.”

Attention was further drawn to Temu recently after a series of Super Bowl LVIII commercials caught people's eyes throughout the game. According to U.S. News, the price of an average Super Bowl commercial in 2024 was $7 million per 30 seconds. Temu bought air time for three commercials during the game and two after it, potentially costing $35 million, according to Forbes. These commercials seemed to be a success, as Temu has been ranked the number one downloaded free app in the app store since the Super Bowl on Feb. 11.

But with such low prices, the commercials have raised questions and controversy on how and why Temu displayed so many commercials.

“Temu is obviously funded by the Chinese government, which is how they were able to have

four slots in the Super Bowl,” sophomore Josh Ramirez said. “TikTok always has a bunch of bots pushing it because they want more and more data from the U.S.”

Conspiracy theories on the internet have been surfacing, stating that the company is stealing buyer's information and selling it to other companies to make more money. Even rumors that they use child labor to meet production expectations have been brought up.

And Temu’s parent company, PDD Holdings, has reinforced these conspiracies. PDD Holdings had another app called PinDuoDuo, which was banned from the Google Play Store because it was spying on what users did on their phones. The same 100 developers who helped build PinDuoDuo now work at Temu. The company has also faced countless allegations against them for alleged horrific working conditions, according to CNN.

The TikTok Shop and Temu both use dropshipping, the method where an online store does not keep the product it sells in stock, but instead, when a customer places an order, the store purchases the item from a third-party supplier and ships it directly to the customer. As a result, the seller does not have to handle store inventory or the product directly but still earns a profit by marking up the price of the item above the supplier's wholesale price. This method is arguably the reason why these industries have been so successful and curated a lot of money.

“From my personal experience, I do not think [TikTok Shop and Temu] are scams,” Mauser said. “Even though I’ve heard controversy about them, I’m not going to stop ordering from them because I’ve had nothing but positive

The Eagle Edition reviews popular TikTok Shop products

As much as the internet had gotten our hopes up that this was delicious, they were very soon proven very wrong. The ingredients that we put inside of the pickle, Takis, Hot Cheetos, Gushers, a fruit roll-up and more sweet candies, all taste good by themselves, but a combination of them in the pickle did not go well together at all. The taste was so bad that we even had to spit it out! The only reason it gets any points is because the snacks we put inside of it helped us get the gross taste out of our mouths after trying the pickle. Even though it was a fun experience setting up the Chamoy Pickle, we definitely do not recommend this product and will not be trying it again. We rate the Chamoy Pickle a 1.7/10.

it to be less spicy as, after a few bites, it became overbearing. But someone who loves spicy foods and has an even higher spice tolerance would love it. Next time, we will be sure to make this ramen with less of the spicy sauce that it came with. In the end, we prefer the “normal” grocery store Ramen Noodles over this. We rate the Carbonara Ramen a 7/10.

the hair gets stuck while the heat is still on, which can create a stressful situation because of heat damage. But overall, for the price and functionality, this is one of our favorite hair tools.

We rate the Wavytalk a 9/10.

HEARD BIRD by the

I LOVE THE SLEEPY GIRL MOCKTAIL BECAUSE EVERY TIME I DRINK IT I GET REALLY GOOD SLEEP. THE DRINK HAS A LOT OF SCIENCE BEHIND IT THAT HELPS YOU SLEEP, AND I FIND IT VERY INTERESTING.

Alex Eastin '26

I like the Sun Bum spray because it's easy to put on and it smells good, and I use SPF 50 so I don’t get burnt but I still tan.

Chambers Jones '26

“I didn't know they let fifth graders play lacrosse!”

I hit a jump and landed on my collarbone while Drake hit a jump going really fast and landed running into a gate and tumbling down the hill. On two different mountains in the country, we had the same accident at the same time.

Charlie Rawson '29 to Xavier Monteiro '24

I like march madness because it brings my friends and I together when we watch the games and seeing who has the best bracket is always fun.

Josh Logan '26

Drake Royall STUDENTS PREFER ONLINE

SCHOOL STUDENTS PREFER SHOPPING IN PERSON

SOURCE: March 25 poll

Dance floor dash: the mystery of early departures

Concerns about students leaving school dances early is brought up

By Reese Rawson | Staff writer

After spending hours preparing for the Winter Dance, working out the logistics for a DJ, contracting Flash Photography, deciding on the lighting and finding the location and time for the dance, sophomore Class President Cate Stephenson is excited for Feb. 3. Students begin to arrive at 8 p.m. in their costumes to the decorated Haggar Gym. But 20 minutes later, she is shocked and in disbelief that by 8:20 p.m., the majority of attendees have left the party. Movie Mania, this year's Winter Dance theme, attracted students who came dressed as their favorite movie and TV show characters. Even though students dressed up as characters like Harley Quinn, the Joker, Daphne, Fred, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Barbie and Ken, this did not stop almost everyone from leaving quickly. Because there are no requirements for students to stay at school dances, they usually are eager to go to their own after-parties.

“I was sad to see everyone leaving when we paid the DJ for

two hours, especially when he had only played around three songs,” Stephenson said. “I feel like this happens every year, but honestly, this dance was probably longer than dances have lasted in the past.”

According to Student Council sponsor Marrisa Infante, with the amount of time and money the Council puts into these dances, it is not a good use of ESD’s resources, especially when students only stay for a few minutes.

“I think we need to be better stewards of our money,” Infante said. “It is a waste to spend all of that money just for [dances] to not last long at all.”

Not only does the school put thousands of dollars into hosting these dances, but most students put in great effort to prepare as well. For the recent Winter Dance, sophomore Ruby Cuccia, along with her friends, bought costumes, makeup and props, while also spending hours getting ready.

“I pretty much spent a full day preparing for the [Winter Dance],” Cuccia said. “On top

of this, it took me a long time to come up with a costume for me and my date and order one that would ship in time.”

This year was freshman Jordan Johnson’s first time attending the dance, and she was excited to dance with her friends and see everyone in their costumes. But the dance ended a lot earlier than she had expected, leaving her with most of the student body gone.

“I was a little confused at first because the dance wasn’t supposed to end until 10,” Johnson said. “But, I discovered it was because everyone was going to after-parties. I thought the after-parties came after, but it was still a fun experience.”

After-parties are a significant factor in urging students to leave. Plus, when younger grades see upperclassmen begin to leave, this causes them to follow these actions. This cycle causes dances to get shorter each year due to grades thinking that this is the norm.

“At the Winter Dance, every student that I’d talked to said that they were excited, and 98 percent of the people were in a costume,” Clark Family Head of Upper School Matt Peal said. “So, part of me is disappointed, and the other part is that I don't understand. [Students] have time to do the other things, and they should enjoy themselves at the dance and worry about the stuff after.”

Discussions regarding strategies to make students stay longer at dances have been brought up recently among administrators. Peal feels that policies at dances need to be implemented to make students stay at the dance for at least an hour, preventing them from leaving early unless it is an emergency. “I feel very strongly that we're going to move in some sort of direction like that,” Peal said. “And if that means fewer people

attend the dance, so be it. The people who attend are going to have a really good time.”

A reason why some students might begin to leave early, causing everyone else to follow suit, may be because upon walking into every ESD dance, students are required to roll a die, and if they roll the particular chosen number, they are breathalyzed.

This no-tolerance policy often prevents students from drinking alcohol before dances. Students who arrive intoxicated are faced with serious consequences. This rule is not favored by a handful of the student body and is part of the reason why many are eager to leave dances so quickly.

“I feel like if [administrators] didn't breathalyze us and if dances were at a venue instead of at the school, it'd be a lot more fun,” upper school student David Walters* said. “If I were a Student Council member and wanted students to stay longer, I would also make sure the DJ played better music or even hire an ESD student to DJ the event.”

Other schools in Dallas, such as Greenhill and Bishop Lynch High School, have policies implemented at school dances to keep students from leaving after a few minutes. According to Ava Holy, a sophomore at Bishop Lynch High School, doors are locked for at least an hour to keep students from leaving the event. This policy ensures that students do not feel pressured to leave early and enjoy the dance.

“I like that they do this so we can enjoy our dances and interact with one another,” Holy said. “They are fun with a good DJ, but sometimes they can get overwhelming because there’s always a lot of people.”

*Name changed because student asked to remain anonymous

Where did everybody go?

Sophomore Student Council was left alone at the Winter Dance. By 8:35 p.m. the entire student body who attended had left. "I wish people had stayed a little bit longer," sophomore Cate Stephenson (standing second from left) said. "The DJ still had so many more songs left that he wanted to play!"

Photo by Tolly Salz

Let's talk about...

How do you currently prioritize your tasks and responsibilities as a junior?

Libby Miller:

I feel like Schoology is very helpful because I like how the teachers can put the stuff in the calendar and then we can also add things in if we need to for our personal life or just different tasks around assignments.

‘‘

Ivy Runyon:

Also, Schoology Plus is good because you can check things off, so if you don't have that, I really recommend it.

Ella Ferguson: And you can put in grades. If you have an assignment or a test coming up, you can put in [a grade]. If I get 86 on this, it will show how it changes your grade.

Benjamin Moorman:

I think just making sure you're communicating, and if you're running behind on an assignment, ask the teacher and they might give you an extension if you have a valid reason.

What strategies do you use to balance schoolwork, extracurricular activities and personal time?

IR: I do cheer, and usually in the fall, I get home around 6:45. I just try and get out all my homework right when I get home, so then I can have dinner and then shower or lay down, whatever I need to do before bed. I have time to myself so that I'm not stressed out because that's very important, especially as a junior.

EF: I also play a sport in the fall and usually since we have a lot of breaks

during the school day I try to get work done then – during study hall or during big flex when we have a lot of free time to get work done.

LM: I think study hall is a really important thing to have if you can because it gives you obviously a break in the day from your normal like activities, but it also gives you time to do the work either that you couldn't do the night before or that you have in the coming weeks and preparing for even bigger assignments that are in the future.

Do you have any specific methods or tools you use to organize your schedule and keep track of deadlines?

BM: I use Schoology calendar. I like to add personal events to it and set reminders in my calendar. So that can be really useful if the teacher says something in class, but it might not always be on Schoology. So, I think it's useful to have everything in one place versus having multiple calendars for personal and school things.

IR: I like to use my notes app. While I'm at school, I schedule my minuteby-minute when I'm home, what assignments I have to do, and I try to set a goal on how much time I could get it done without looking at my phone or procrastinating. It helps me not be stressed out when I get home and it's time to study. That way, I can break it all up, especially if I have a test.

LM: I look ahead on the weekends to make sure I'm not cramming

Senior hits all the right notes

For the first time in ESD history, a student was offered a spot in the Texas Music Educators Association tenor bass Choir on Jan. 6 at Midway High School in Waco.

Senior Brayden Girata advanced through four rounds to win his title of fifth chair overall.

TMEA is a competitive choir competition that over 14,000 students, from both private and public schools, auditioned to be in. The rounds, in chronological order were: District, Region, and pre-area. At each audition, Girata was handed a sheet of music for the day and had to prepare the whole song but would only be asked to sight-read or sing a certain part.

“Last year when I did it, I made it to the final round and did not move on to state and did not qualify,” Girata said. “But this year, I went through that entire convention process last weekend, and it was definitely an experience. You obviously have to be very good to make state, and so all of the singers there were great.”

This fourth and final round is called Area, and he competed in Area D. The top seven singers in each area advanced to State. Girata spent the next weekend in San Antonio, where the state clinic was held.

“Our clinician was very good, but the clinic as a whole was like 22 total hours of rehearsal over four days plus our performance,” Girata said. “It was intense. But everyone was up for the challenge, and everyone was really flexible.”

Since Girata was the only student from ESD, Joe Snyder,

upper school choir teacher, and Monica Awbrey, lower school music teacher, went to the clinic with him.

“Mr. Snyder was there the entire time, but they were just kind of there in case an emergency happened more so than just constantly checking up on me,” Girata said. “I have more freedom than I have in the private school state, so that was nice.”

Along with learning and singing the songs, those auditioning were required to sight-read to demonstrate their music-reading abilities.

“So by the time you got to all the rounds, you'd have learned all the music,” Snyder said. “It's a high level of difficulty of music, and then they also — not the first round but the rest of the rounds — do sight singing, so it kind of gives it another dimension of competition and ability.”

ESD was able to put our students into the public school competition pool after they competed in the private school competition.

“Compare private schools in Texas to public schools in Texas,” Snyder said. “The size is just enormous. They do allow private schools to enter into this, but the private school doesn't allow public schools.”

ESD students were placed into the public

everything into one night and spacing things out if I have a ton to do one day, or even just putting [things] on my calendar [or] on my phone reminding me to get things done. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your workload and if so, how did you overcome it?

BM: In AP Computer Science A, we have a lot of work. Usually [we have] multiple assignments due every night, including break. I think it's really important that in order to stay on top of things that you work ahead instead of waiting till the night is due.

EF: I also take computer science, and it is a very coursework heavy class. We usually have four assignments due every night, and oftentimes when we have a project we're on a zoom until midnight with him to try to get it done. Starting projects early is definitely something that's helpful.

LM: I would say for the harder core classes you just have to balance out the time that you have for homework versus essays or even tests. And even taking responsibility to accept that you might need help and go to a tutor and get extra help if you have access to it or even just meeting with the teacher really helps clarify instructions and take ease to your mind.

IR: Right before spring break in Mrs. Mrozek’s class I almost got put into proctored study hall for missing a few too many days of school. I met with her four times in one week just to get that grade up, and I got it up to 79.7 and was able to stay out of proctored. I feel

like having the proctored versus nonproctored grade check really helps me stay motivated and continue to do well in my classes because I'm scared of getting put in proctored.

Are there any particular time management techniques or principles that you've learned that you find helpful?

BM: Asking for extensions is definitely a big thing. [They are] not always given, but always good to ask just in case.

IR: I think it's very important where you're studying. If you're studying from your bed with your phone next to you, you're not likely to get things done, but if you go upstairs to the dining room table and put your phone in your room while you're doing that, you're way more likely to get stuff done. It's just about getting the motivation to get up and set up there.

LM: I would say a change of environment and not studying somewhere like that you're sleeping obviously or setting time away and then giving yourself breaks is helpful and not to cram everything into a few hours. Maybe do one thing on a Saturday when you have nothing to do, even though it's a Saturday and then on Sunday you only have two other things to do.

EF: Using all of your time to the best of your ability. If you have a class that is a study hall just making sure you're using all that time or in flex [take] advantage of the time given.

school pool which allowed for a more competitive environment and also exposed them to a diverse group of opponents.

“Basically, both Mr. Snyder and Ms. Awbrey have worked in the public school system, and so they knew how to navigate it. That's kind of the best,” Girata said. “I don't really know all the logistics behind that. But because they had worked in that space, they were able to make connections because ESD kids have gone through the process before, but it's been a while.”

Girata has been singing since first grade and has also been involved in school musicals since middle school. However, singing and acting are hard careers to manage and continue, so he is unsure whether he wants to pursue it in college. “In terms of college, I am planning to at least join an ensemble of some kind of a choral ensemble….It's still an option if I double major,” Girata said. “I wouldn't be surprised if I majored or minored in music, but it's not necessarily the priority. I will say I am at some schools auditioning for some scholarships because only certain schools allow that for nonmajors but might as well do it if I can. I have gone to a few schools just kind of around it in my college search process to do that. But I will do music in some capacity, even if I don't major in it.”

Senior Brayden Girata wins fifth chair overall and advances to the final round of the TMEA competition for the first time in ESD history.

By Jamie Henderson | Arts Editor and Social Media Manager

Each issue, the Eagle Edition gathers four ESD students to have a round table discussion about a relevant and timely topic. This issue, the topic is Time Management.

Views Editor Lauren Shushi talked with juniors Libby Miller, Ivy Runyon, Ella Ferguson and Benjamin Moorman about their time management skills.

Libby Miller '25 Psychology and PAWS Club

Ivy Runyon '25

Varsity Cheer and AP Art Student

Ella Ferguson '25

Varsity Soccer and Field Hockey, One Love Grade Leader, Student Ambassador, and Community Service Council Representative

Benjamin Moorman '25

Honor Council Representative, Ambassador, Vestry Member, and Itinerary Staff Member

Eagles Nest goes on a shopping spree

Eagles Nest's manager and specialist attend trade shows to dispense the school's store

By Emma Allen Staff Writer

The Eagles Nest has not always operated how it currently does. The school store’s assistant manager Jenny Winton’s mother, Isabel Brooks, began the business with a few other ESD mothers in 1981-1982.

“Mrs. Winton, our senior buyer and assistant store manager, is a member of ESD’s third graduating class,” merchandising and inventory specialist Gabrielle Harrington said. “Her mom, along with a small group of other moms, purchased a few items at Father Swann’s request to sell. They operated out of a closet. Her mom, Isabel Brooks, was a volunteer. We are uncertain when it was officially named ‘The Eagles Nest.’”

The careful selection of the inventory of snacks and products at the Eagles Nest is a wellthought-out process. There is plenty of unseen work that goes into ensuring the selection of products that vary from a simple paper clip to a Nike sweatshirt that will satisfy the entire student body.

On Jan. 24, Harrington and Winton went to the Sports Licensing and Tailgate Show, a trade show in Las Vegas, where they purchased merchandise for the Eagles Nest. The two of them usually go to shows armed with both a set list of products they will buy and an open mind to new products they may

encounter.

“There are many factors we consider when purchasing [inventory],” Harrington said. “We look at trends and what is doing well on college campuses. We are open to customer feedback and needs. We attend trade shows and go to Dallas Market. Vendors come to the store and show us their lines every season. We go with what we know, what does sell and what doesn’t.”

At the show, there are appointments with national and international exhibitors available for buyers to attend. Attendees have the ability to shop from nearly 400 exhibits. More than 24 sports leagues and licensors are represented in the show and products range from apparel to souvenirs.

“At the convention center, there are thousands of vendors and everything we can dream of is in there,” Harrington said. “They carry basically any brand you can think of. We talk to the vendors there and get to see what’s going to be on trend.”

But not everything in the Eagles Nest is about purchasing merchandise. Sometimes, along with managing the process of selecting inventory, Harrington and Winton also put a lot of time into deciding what to do with extra inventory or what items to add to the sale rack.

“When we get down to one or two of an item, we will likely

put it on sale,” Harrington said. “If the item has cycled through a school year or two, we consider the item for sale. Overall, our sale days help us move merchandise.”

“

"The Eagles Nest is so convenient, especially when I don't have time to grab food at home when I'm in a rush. I go get a snack from the nest pretty much every day."

Saanvi Maddi Sophomore

When there is extra merchandise, such as clothing items, those items get donated. However, when there is an immense amount of food products, the Eagles Nest removes the expired or soon-toexpire food. “The Eagles Nest sells a high volume of snacks, and we do not have many items that go bad or

expire,” Harrington said. “We will remove those items in the event it expires.”

Although the Eagles Nest is always pretty busy, it gets busiest during back-to-school time. This is when the highest amount of sales are made.

“We are so proud that all of our proceeds go to tuition assistance,” Harrington said. “Every day is a good day in the Nest.”

Some students visit the Eagles Nest more often than others. Some go every single day, that is the case for sophomore Saanvi Maddi.

“The Eagles Nest is so convenient, especially when I don’t have time to grab food at home when I’m in a rush,” Maddi said. “I go get a snack from the nest pretty much every day. I always get the muffins because they are quick to grab and probably my favorite snack they carry.”

Harrington and Winton try to have a wide selection of snacks to please students who enjoy the Eagle’s Nest as much as Maddi does.

“We get what we think the kids will like,” Harrington said. “We have some specialty vendors we work with and we also try to work with the smaller vendors. We have ones like Cade’s Cakes, Sage and our very own Kline. So we just try to be inventive and think about what the students will really like.”

CULTURE

CRASH

1 Producer of Nickelodeon fosters a hostile work environment.

Following the release of a four part docuseries, Dan Schneider, producer of Nickelodeon, has been shown to have created a hostile work environment for his actors who were primarily minors. The docuseries, “Quiet on Set: the Dark Side of Kids TV” which aired on Investigation Discovery on March 17 and 18, features former child actors withstanding bad and inappropriate behaviors shown by Schneider. The docuseries further investigates these claims of sexual harassment made on set. The show features actor Drake Bell, former writer for Schneider, who claims that he was sexually abused by his former acting and dialogue coach. Similarly, Alexa Nikolas who was on “Zoey 101” says in the docuseries that she felt uncomfortable being put in sexually suggestive scenarios on the show. Although there’s no firm evidence, many believe that Schneider had created these scenes and environment for his young actors.

Beyonce's Act II: "Cowboy Carter"

2

The rise from prep to podium

After hours of research, preparing for every argument possible, and becoming an expert on different topics, sophomore Arya Ajith placed second at the Barkley Forum National Speech and Debate Tournament at Emory University in an impromptu speech on Jan. 28th.

“I've been competing on the national circuit since I was in sixth grade,” Ajith said. “So, I've attended almost every national speech and debate NSDA tournament since the sixth grade. Within the national circuit, different colleges host prestigious tournaments. Emory University is an exceptional tournament only held for high school students.”

The Barkley Forum is an invite-only tournament for the highest-ranking competitors. Ajith had gone to the quarterfinals in Program Oral Interpretation, placing high enough to be invited to compete in the Barkley Forum tournament because of her track record.

“As a high schooler, I was able to do it this year,” Ajith said. “It's based on an invite-only tournament, meaning you get invited based on your reputation in the speech and debate community.”

second in the other and went to the Lone Star District tournament to qualify for the main national circuit tournament through the National Speech and Debate Association.”

ESD’s Speech and Debate team has had 15 successful tournaments this year, including several achievements in local tournaments for the first time. The team reached new heights by advancing to the rounds and breaking into eliminations in Congressional Debate and Domestic Extemp. Todd Kessler, former speech and debate coach and history teacher, took over the program in 2018 and has brought several state and national qualifiers in multiple events ever since.

“ Prepping is letting everyone around you think they are two steps ahead. But you prepare yourself, so you are 10 steps ahead.

Sophomore Arya Ajith places second at national speech and debate tournament

By Maggie Pickens | Staff writer

3

After her 2022 album “Renaissance,” Beyonce is now ready to release “Act II” which is part of the album. It was later confirmed that the new album will be titled “Cowboy Carter.” This will be Beyonce’s eighth studio record. It will also vie to become her eighth straight No. 1 album on Billboard 200, because all seven of her previous long plays have debuted top of the chart. Fans are excited to listen to her new album which is planned to be released on March 29.

Tik Tok may be banned if bill is passed

Rumors are afloat that the House of Representatives plans on passing a bill to ban one of America’s most used apps: TikTok. The issue with TikTok is the ownership of the app; TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company. U.S. officials say that ByteDance could hand over the personal information of the 170 million American users according to USA Today. The legislation calls for either banning or for ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American owned company. However, this is not the first time an attempt has been made to ban the app. In 2020 President Donald Trump tried to ban the app by executive order but the Courts blocked his efforts according to USA Today. But, nothing is set in stone. TikTok says it will exercise its legal rights before it considers a sale, nevertheless the ban of TikTok in app stores in phones is still a possibility.

4Dune: Part Two Dominates Industry

Released on March 1, 2024, “Dune: Part Two,” is smashing the box office. The movie has grossed roughly $500 million globally. The movie, based on the second half of Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel, continues the journey of Paul Atreides who seeks safety in the desert after the betrayal of his family.

Although it is early in the year, “Dune: Part Two” is currently the highest grossing film in 2024 according Today. Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment co-produced and co-financed the movie which cost $190 million to produce and around $100 million more to promote to audiences.

Where in the World is Kate Middleton

On March 22, Princess Catherine of Wales announced her cancer diagnosis and plan for treatment in a video message released by Kensington Palace. This announcement followed weeks of speculation because the princess disappeared from the public eye after a Jan. 16 abdominal surgery. Middleton is planning to undergo chemotherapy, and the type of cancer she was diagnosed with has not been released to the public.

Ajith began her journey in Speech and Debate in sixth grade and recently broke into the finals at most of her current tournaments in her events. She has continued to succeed at a high-achieving level throughout her career. This requires her to spend hours preparing for the debate, becoming an expert in multiple topics, and gathering as much research as possible.

“Prepping is letting everyone around you think they are two steps ahead,” Ajith said. “But you prepare yourself, so you are 10 steps ahead.”

She was state-qualified in the Congressional Debate earlier in the year after accumulating enough state points throughout this year, allowing her to qualify for TFA State in the Congressional Debate. She earned two bids in NIETOC Dramatic Interpretation and qualified for the National Tournament in Omaha later in the spring this year.

“This year, I was invited to compete in two events,” Ajith said. “I got to quarter-finals in one of them, and then I got

Arya Ajith Sophomore

“Speech and debate is an excellent way for students to develop and enhance their public speaking and critical thinking skills while gaining confidence that can put them on a whole other level than their peers,” Kessler said. “They also evolve into strong leaders and can set and reach new goals on a routine basis.”

The speech and debate program continues to grow and become more popular, as many students have multiple opportunities to travel around the state and across the country to compete.

“I'm hoping this program stays strong and continues to grow next year,” Kessler said. “The speaking skills and personal growth the students get out of it crossover into their academics and future careers.”

Award Acceptance Sophomore Arya Ajith receives a second place award in Impromptu in a field of 55 competitors from across the country at Emory University's Barkley Forum National Speech and Debate Tournament on Jan. 28. "It felt surreal," Ajith said.

Photo by Archana Ellath

Featured Artist

Sculpting success: a look into ESD's 3D art program

Visual arts department chair and sculpture teacher Dane Larsen expands on his hopes for sculpture's future.

By Anoushka Sinha | Staff writer and Maggie Chein | Business Manager

Walking through the main door of the Susan M. Frank Center, visitors to ESD are immediately greeted by the Jennifer and John Eagle Gallery and the art within. All kinds of art are housed within the gallery in rotating exhibitions, but the sculptures are often the easiest to spot from far away. In room F108, Visual Arts Department Chair and sculpture teacher Dane Larsen presides over his kingdom of tools and art supplies. From work station tables made by Larsen himself to shelves filled with piles of supplies or student projects, the space overflows with creative potential.

“The building was almost 8 years old when I arrived, so as it has aged and as the sculpture program has grown or the 3D program has grown, it’s expanded and expanded,” Larsen said. “This building was designed without input from 3D teachers, to my knowledge, because we hadn't hired anyone, the ceramics program began when this building was opened.”

For a long time, the current sculpture room was split between sculpture and ceramics, which was difficult for everyone in terms of safety and space.

“Ceramics and I shared this space, and things like plaster can make a ceramic piece explode,” Larsen said. “So, in part because of that, we closed the partition, but then I didn't have access to the outdoors, and this room was becoming dangerously dusty. It was definitely, at that time, breaking OSHA air standards. You really need an outdoor space and pad for kilns. Some of those things made it into the plans, but nobody was there to push them through and make them happen.”

A series of departmental changes and program restructuring led to the current arrangement: Larsen has both sides of F108, while ceramics is now across the hall in F103. The newfound space allowed Larsen to expand his offerings in the program.

“Once I got to high school, [Mr. Larsen] doubled the size of his room,” advanced sculpture student and junior Vaughn Langston said. “Each year he gets

to bring in new materials, and gets to add new stuff to different criteria whether it's intro to sculpture, intermediate sculpture or all the way to AP.”

The hiring of middle school sculpture teacher Zach Allen this school year will likely drive some changes to the upper school program in the future, especially to the beginning and intermediate sculpture classes where Larsen aims to teach more fundamental aspects of sculpture to students.

“I know that what I'm doing in upper school will have to respond to what Mr. Allen is doing in middle school,” Larsen said.

“I built Legos as a kid and so I felt I could expand into the fine arts department through sculpture. It's helped me get away from academics and just be myself.

Vaughn Langston Advanced sculpture student and junior

“[Mr. Allen’s] kids are arriving in my classroom already knowing how to sew, for example, and that's not something I'm great at teaching. Once I have kids arriving in the room who’ve been sewing for three years, what I do in [beginning sculpture] will begin to change and we may introduce soft sculptures and different things that are building on what they've already done.”

Larsen offers his students a lot of freedom to explore different processes and materials with his assignments. As a student continues through the program, they are given many more opportunities to delve into certain features of the art that they are more interested in.

“He gives you free rein with the sculptures you can do, he gives you criteria, but he lets you pick and choose the materials

you want,” Langston said. “I was in intermediate sculpture as a sophomore, [and] we got to build a chair out of any material we wanted. So I just went around the room and picked different materials out from the shelves. He has a bunch of different wood that we can use and I got to pick and choose based on what I wanted my chair to look like. Mr. Larsen has so many materials in there, and you get to work hands-on with all those different materials.”

With countless different tools, machines and materials, as students progress through the sculpture program, they are exposed to new methods so that when they get to AP or advanced sculpture, they have the skills to construct anything and everything they can think of.

“I'm trying to teach the major dangerous tools during intermediate sculpture and will occasionally have kids use [the miter saw and the band saw] but never the table saw [during beginning sculpture],” Larsen said. “Intermediate sculpture is designed around teaching them how to use those two saws, the miter saw and the table saw so that they have that as a skill set as they move into advanced and AP sculpture.”

The miter saw is Langston’s favorite tool out of the many offerings in the sculpture room.

“It's a saw that’s super, super accurate,” Langston said. “I mean, it gets down to millimeters. There's so much different equipment in there that serves different purposes. I feel if you can find the right way to use that equipment to implement it into your project, it can greatly improve your project.”

ESD’s sizable fine arts budget is what enables Larsen to provide numerous opportunities to the students.

“I'm not sure many of y'all students realize how lucky you are,” Larsen said. “I have just an amazing budget. It's not even the biggest program budget in the school. We are incredibly lucky. It is a little weird to say that my favorite thing about the program is money, but what I really like is the fact that a kid can want to do something, and I can say yeah, let's do that.”

Good for a Girl

By Lauren Fleshman

Review by Charlotte Traylor | News Editor

Tim Woodward, my history teacher and cross country coach, and I often share book recommendations, but his enthusiasm about “Good for a Girl” was incomparable to his other recommendations. Intrigued, I promptly began reading one of my now favorite books.

In her memoir “Good for a Girl,” Lauren Fleshman details her development as an elite distance runner, sharing her successes and the many flaws of the running world. As a young female runner, I was transfixed by Fleshman’s story, but “Good for A Girl” was written for individuals beyond this narrow audience.

This is a book for athletes. Fleshman expertly articulates the inner monologue of selfdoubt and the mental battle against physical pain during her races, a phenomenon experienced by any athlete. It was validating to see these challenges described with such clarity and respect.

This is a book for ambitious individuals. Although Fleshman is a decorated distance runner, her other lifelong dreams remained unfulfilled, despite her unwavering dedication to success, which stresses the importance of separating one’s accomplishments and selfworth.

But, above all, this is a book for girls. By sharing her experience on the Stanford cross country team and citing relevant physiology research, Fleshman warns against eating disorder culture. Specifically, she describes the all too common “female triad” of injuries, including low bone density, lack of energy and menstrual dysfunction that results from eating disorders. Fleshman experienced a fair share of injuries and unhealthy eating habits, but promises her greatest successes and happiness were in times of proper treatment of her body.

Evident in the title, Fleshman wrote “Good for a Girl” to reveal the injustices faced by women in sports. In other words, “women [are] running in a man’s world,” where female athletic development must occur in tandem with men’s drastically different developmental process. “Good for a Girl” is a call to remedy illogical expectations for ambitious women in sports, a process that takes time and begins with works like “Good For a Girl.”

Photo by Elliot Lovitt

Sophomore Abby Stacy talks about her journey within the sculpture program and some of her favorite pieces.

The

Vibrant Creations Molded into Excellence Abby Stacy '26

By Margot Cathey | Staff writer

Sophomore Abby Stacy’s abstract sculptures were sent to the sixth annual Blue Book Gallery by sculpture teacher and Visual Arts Department Chair Dane Larsen, where young, highly skilled artists present their top tier work. Stacy has been taking sculpture classes since fifth grade and since then has developed a greater appreciation for the course.

“In middle school, I was in sculpture all four years,” Stacy said, "We could only take it one quarter a year, so I was in that elective every year, and it had always been my favorite going into upper school.”

Stacy has always had a passion for sculpture; it serves as her “brain break” and is a fun class where she can use her imagination while designing all kinds of artwork.

“Sculpture is my relaxing time, and since lots of the projects are open-ended, you kind of do what you want to do, which is fun,” Stacy said. “Some of my favorite pieces that I've done have been pieces that I completely just randomly came up with, it's fun to experiment with new materials.”

Due to Stacy's long involvement in sculpture, she plans to continue in the course and move up to APlevel art, where she will adopt further skills.

“Last year, I took beginner sculpture and ended up loving it, so I decided to continue,” she said. “It's always fun to take some sort of art class, and it's given me an opportunity since I've never considered myself an artist or someone like that before this, [but sculpture] has made me realize not everything has to be perfect [in order to be considered art].”

Stacy’s unique, creative intake on her artwork has given her the opportunity to be featured in the Dallas Blue Book exhibition, where her “playful” and fun designs are on display.

“[Mr. Larsen] picked two artists to get sent to Blue Book, which is our place downtown, and so picking one of [my pieces] to represent ESD is really cool,” Stacy said. “One of [my pieces featured] reminds me of Dr. Seuss, [and] is meant to remind others of their childhood and things that are minimalistic. I just find these interesting and all the different things art can resemble awesomely.”

Stacy Believes that sculpture is a way to express her creativity.

”After being in all of these academic classes like math, science, etc ,it's something different that works my brain and is a great [way to relax]."

tedious, [but] was really

Carved Rock

"From the beginning I knew wanted to use pom poms since they are such a fun material. took a piece of wood and hot glued colored pom poms covering the wood. Then placed and rock on top finishing the piece.”

Sketch Up

"For this piece took a standard cube model that we had learned in class and modified it to create my own unique sculpture. This piece allowed me to become familiar with sketch up which proved to help me with pieces in later semesters."

Casted Hands

"The very first thing we did was pick an object [with the] alginate material, chose a light bulb because I thought it would be fun and different that wouldn't traditionally be used in this type of project."

Story and photo by | Web Editor Brooke Ebner Copy Editor Elliot Lovitt and Sports Editor Charlotte Tomlin

Food fight: a silent struggle

The Eagle Edition staff aims to raise awareness about a serious and prevalent disorder for many teens and adults. Eating disorders know no bounds, and can affect anyone — no matter their race, class, age, gender or creed. Social media has augmented the problem of disordered eating. However, we understand that this article only scratches the surface of the topic of eating disorders. If you or a loved one are struggling with an eating disorder, please contact a trusted adult or call 888-375-7767 for more guidance.

Breaking Down Biology

For upper school student Eloise Samson*, counting her calories is no longer a bad habit but an obsession. Not a meal goes by without looking at the nutritional facts and meticulously calculating the amount of calories needed to stay under her maintenance caloric intake. Like many teenagers, Samson found herself struggling with both anorexia nervosa, or restrictive eating, and bulimia nervosa, which is associated with self-induced vomiting.

“I first developed anorexia in early middle school around the age of 12,” Samson said. “It began as me counting calories — I don’t remember why I did that at such a young age — and developed into eating as few calories as possible. I don’t remember a lot of this time, but do remember a kind of breaking point after I collapsed in a mall.”

Along with psychological effects, eating disorders can be detrimental to one’s physical health. Although restricting food intake can initially result in weight loss, restricting food for a prolonged time period can permanently damage the brain and body.

“Skipping meals or making yourself sick may seem like easy ways to lose a few pounds, but this is really serious and a slippery slope,” registered dietitian and nutritionist Katie Lovitt said. “[Long-term effects] can vary from person to person based on genetic predisposition of certain conditions, extent and duration of malnourishment, as well as other underlying health conditions. These long-term effects can include osteoporosis, heart arrhythmias and heart failure, kidney damage, poor memory, concentration, and decision-making ability, infertility, as well as mental health and chronic digestive problems.”

According to Dr. Regina McFarland, a Board Certified Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist and ESD parent, who completed a child fellowship at UT Southwestern in Dallas at Children’s Health, young women with anorexia are 12 times more likely to die than young women without the disorder. Additionally, anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. Lovitt’s younger sister Dani suffered from a serious eating disorder in her late teens, triggering epilepsy and ultimately contributing to her death in 2012.

“It is my parents’ and my belief that the eating disorder triggered her to have epilepsy, which ultimately killed her,” Lovitt said. “Once I was in college, she started outpatient therapy and treatment in Amarillo but never got a handle on it. I wasn’t around for any of this, but it was horrific. She couldn’t drive when she turned 16 because of the seizures, so it was really sad.” Not only did her eating disorders cause several seizures, but also permanent damage to her teeth. The self-induced vomiting, or “purging,” after binge eating — a characteristic of bulimia — can erode tooth enamel as vomit contains stomach acid. Compared to people without bulimia, those who purge their food are 5.5 times more likely to experience dental erosion, according to a 2020 study published in the Journal of Public Health.

“She ultimately would skip dance classes as a senior to go binge/purge and couldn’t dance in her senior solo for a dance recital,” Lovitt said. “Her relationship with many friends and my parents was severely damaged. It’s truly heartbreaking.”

When Samson eats below her maintenance calories, she feels dizzy, nauseated, tired — and, above all, hungry. Her extreme fatigue and lightheadedness sometimes even lead to hallucinations.

“The relapse that I last struggled with was one of the worst I can remember,” Samson said. “I was having issues with reality and false memories. I remember being at a lunch where I ordered a sandwich, and I only allowed myself to eat half despite wanting more. Later that day, I kept having visions of myself eating the whole sandwich, and it became more and more difficult to remember exactly how much I really ate.”

Eating disorders are not limited to restricting or purging food intake; orthorexia nervosa is the obsession with clean or pure eating in pursuit of a healthier lifestyle. Many teenage boys, like upper school student Winston Muller*, become fixated on gaining weight through developing muscle and eating clean foods.

“Sometimes, I’ll eat so much that I throw up because I want to gain weight,” Muller said. “My goal is 5,000 calories per day, but I don’t like getting my calories through junk food, so I stick to

percent of students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder

a pretty strict diet of protein and healthy carbs.”

According to “The Impact of the Media on Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents,” a 2003 study done by Anne Morris, MB, and Deborah Katzman, MD, 2.7 to 4 percent of high schoolers struggle with an eating disorder. The study also goes on to say that the average age for one to develop anorexia is 18, whereas the average age for one to develop bulimia is 21. Additionally, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in wealthy and industrialized countries, like the U.S., of those affected by an eating disorder, the percentage of eating disorders that last for a lifetime is estimated to be as high as 8 percent.

“As a teenager, your body is developing, growing and changing at an incredibly fast rate,” Lovitt said. “But this makes the stakes even higher in the nutrient needs your body has, and if you aren’t getting those nutrients because of an eating disorder, your body will not be able to grow and develop to its full potential. The teen years are when major brain development is happening — logical reasoning and decision-making areas of the brain that you really need as an adult are formed. Your body is also dramatically increasing its bone, muscle mass and body fat to function as an adult — without key nutrients required for this development — you will not grow as you should.”

Furthermore, there are multiple psychological factors that can cause people to develop eating disorders, but genetics can be a factor as well. According to Psychology Today, if one has a relative with an eating disorder, they are 7 to 12 times more likely to develop anorexia or bulimia. Moreover, other factors that can lead to the development of an eating disorder include depression, substance abuse, anxiety and traumatic events.

“The age ranges of people struggling with eating disorders vary widely — we typically see an uptick at 2 major points of change in a person’s life: teen years and middle age,” Lovitt said. “Both of these times come with a lot of physical change that can feel out of control, as well as other changes and pressures. Because many eating disorders stem from the need to exercise control, it truly can be a perfect storm.”

A common factor that causes one to develop eating disorders is wanting a sense of control. Samson developed an eating disorder due to this very reason.

“For me, eating disorders have been about craving control in my life,” Samson said. “So when I lost control and ate too much, I could take that power back by purging the food. The issue with eating disorders though is that you have no control and it will only ever worsen and spiral. I started by saying I would only throw up when I ate so much I was in pain, but soon found myself craving to throw up after eating anything.”

Eating disorder recovery can be self-guided or facilitated by professionals. For Samson, speaking to a psychiatrist helped ease the temptations that come with eating disorders.

“Recovery is a slow and difficult process,” Samson said. “I have definitely found it to be worth it and my anxiety and general fear have lessened. I am now able to practice intuitive eating and no longer feel a need to count calories; this new mindset is a weight lifted off of me and is very freeing. I recommend it if you are struggling to seek professional help.”

Media Matters

“Unrealistic beauty standards on social media contribute to body dissatisfaction.

Senior Gwyn Moore stands in front of the casting board at Tommy Hilfiger during New York Fashion Week on Feb. 7, scanning the multitude of photographs of bodies pinned up on the board with thumbtacks. Sixty pictures portray straight-size models, with only five pictures displaying models larger than a size 2. With only a few days before the New York Fashion Week show, Moore, a mid-size model, envisions herself walking down the catwalk alongside fashion icons like Paloma Elsesser, named Model of the Year in 2023 — as long as her look isn’t cut. In the end, 50 models walked in the show, two of which were mid to plus-sized models, Moore included. In an industry where body image is vital to success, it’s difficult not to focus on what faces you in the mirror.

Dr. Regina McFarland Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist

“Nowadays, I am more of a mid-sized model,” Moore said. “If a casting director says, ‘We need plus-size models,’ they’ll look at me and maybe five other girls. It takes more money to make bigger clothes, so brands will put plus-size girls in the knitwear because it’s easier to make bigger sizes. We’re always the ones who are covered up. But at least we’re there.”

Moore began modeling professionally at the age of 15 and has seen firsthand the changes in body norms and idealized body types in the modeling and fashion industry.

“In recent years, I think body diversity has gotten better, seeing plus-size models,” Moore said. “Seeing normal-sized characters cast in movies and TV shows gives our generation and younger generation better role models. Younger ages see these actors and actresses and say, ‘Oh, that looks like me,’ so they feel comfortable in their own skin. That being said, there’s always a million likes on the TikTok of the girl who looks a certain way. There are more likes on posts with skinny girls than you would see on a plus-size girl. It’s shifting to having more normal body content— there’s still a long way to go, but it’s shifting.”

According to a study done in the UK, 95 percent of 18-year-olds and younger reported that they would change their appearance, and 13 percent of younger people experienced an eating disorder by the age of 20. The research done in the study emphasized ‘for you page’ algorithms and easy access to, as well as the proliferation of, eating disorder-promoting content as major factors in the staggering numbers of body dissatisfaction.

“I think women are more susceptible [to comparison] because the media pushes that narrative onto us from early age that we have to look a certain way,” Moore said. “The idea that these women are beautiful because they look like this. We’re constantly being fed imagery of girls who are smaller than us and have the thigh gap and the abs. Whether it’s ‘heroin chic,’ the Kate Moss era, or the Kardashians now, where everyone wants to have a big butt, beauty trends fluctuate, and since we’re always on our phones and always looking at this, we’re just internalizing those expectations. Men also have ideal body types, like being more buff, but boys tend to place those expectations on us more than girls do to guys.”

However, these trends are not only seen in the UK. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, 69 percent of American

elementary school girls who read magazines say that those magazines influence their body image, while 57 percent say that those magazines make them want to lose weight. The NEDA also reports that American high school students who use social media for two or more hours daily are 1.6 times more likely to develop an eating disorder.

“Being a teenage girl, I’m faced with so many feelings about my body,” Moore said. “Weirdly, body norms affect me more in this realm of my life: in school and being a normal teenager. When I’m modeling, I don’t feel it whatsoever because I know I’m there for a reason and I have a purpose. When I’m here, I feel like my body is less valued.”

Through Dr. McFarland’s work, she has witnessed countless cases of eating disorders and the effects of social media on such afflictions.

“Unrealistic beauty standards on social media contribute to body dissatisfaction,” McFarland said. “Plastic surgery, Photoshopping and distorted standards of beauty make many healthy and normal women develop poor self-esteem and poor body image.”

McFarland also attributes the presence of eating disorders in the media to the activities of influencers across various social media platforms.

“Influencers advertise fad diets and discuss how weight loss changed their life,” McFarland said. “Eating disorders can get worse in a group setting where competition can spur on perfectionism and further disordered eating. Influencers don’t typically reveal their surgeries, augmentations or liposuctions [which] leaves teens feeling inadequate with their unaltered bodies.”

Like McFarland, Moore recognizes the importance of social media on adolescents and the important role that she has, as a model.

“Models, whether they’re straight-sized models or plus-sized models, want to have healthy bodies and promote healthiness — whether you’re a size 10, 12, 14, 16 or a 0, 2, 4,” Moore said. “But disordered eating on either end, whether it’s anorexia or binge eating, isn’t healthy. So as a model you want to be working out, but keeping in mind that you need to love yourself and not let the industry’s perception of your body type push you towards either end.”

Moore herself has felt the pressures of the media from a young age, leading her to develop an eating disorder. However, she knows that self-love is incredibly important, no matter your situation.

“I did struggle a lot when I was younger with a binge eating disorder, and I’ve since recovered,” Moore said. “But it’s hard when it ebbs and flows to mesh the two worlds of my life and love my body all throughout. It’s hard to find that confidence, but you just have to because, at the end of the day, health is what matters, and loving yourself is what matters. What everyone else says about your body doesn’t matter whatsoever.”

Road to Recovery

After suffering from anorexia and being insecure about their body, ESD student Amber Morales* became aware one day of her condition and decided to get help and go into recovery, a challenging process for one suffering from an eating disorder.

According to Mayo Clinic, eating disorders are not preventable. One, however, can take healthy eating habits to lower their risks. The Mayo Clinic recommends that adults should choose a healthy diet, not use dietary supplements, get at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity a week and seek help with mental health issues when needed. For parents to help create healthy eating habits for their children, the Mayo Clinic suggests that parents should avoid dieting around their kids, discuss with their kids, emphasize a healthy body image and get assistance from a health care provider.

Morales’s recovery process was long and challenging, just like it is for many.

“I think I decided to recover when at one point, I kind of cracked and I became self-aware of my issue, which took a while, and I worked with a therapist and a nutritionist,” Morales said. “Then, I also just had to realize how unhealthy it was and try to remove things from my life that were exacerbating my condition. I also began to block out things on social media that were promoting unhealthy eating habits and unhealthy things like that.”

Samson also found recovery to be a challenging process. Having come out of her eating disorder, she recommends people struggling with the disorders to get help and not be afraid to speak up.

“I recommend it if you are struggling to seek professional help,” Samson said. “I told my parents I was struggling with stress at school in order to get help because I was too scared to tell my parents the truth of my disorder. It is OK to be scared, eating disorders are comforting and a coping mechanism and it is very difficult to let go of that, but you need to know that it gets better.”

*These names have been changed to protect the anonymity of the source.

Shaking It Up

Staff Stance

ESD students must appreciate their right to vote by exercising this right in upcoming elections

Younger voters must increase turnout

The staff stance reflects the opinion of the Eagle Edition staff, and it does not reflect the opinion of the school, newspaper adviser, faculty or staff.

As election season approaches, many seniors and juniors will have the opportunity to vote. However, this milestone is not appreciated among youth, who have the smallest voter turnout compared to other age groups. Only 10 percent of 18-25 year olds vote according to a Pew Research Study conducted after the 2022 elections. Many experts believe “nonvoters” truly sway the ballot, opposed to extremists, stressing the value of young voter participation.

Beth Van Duyne, the Texan congressional representative of district 24, spoke on Feb. 22 to ESD government and ethics students on her role in the government and the value of young voters in presidential, congressional and local elections. Duyne described her methods to gauge public opinion to most accurately reflect her district’s concerns, such as polling calls and attending local roundtables or interviews. She cherishes her time in her district, such as when she can converse with members living thei, as she did as a mayor prior to being a congressional representative.

“Everybody comes out for a presidential election, but how many of you have the President's cell phone?” Duyne said. “I will tell you literally thousands of our residents have my cell phone, so when I was a mayor, [people] would call me up.”

Students must engage in all levels of politics, including less publicized elections, because

such representatives are dedicated to a smaller group of citizens. Researchers at Portland State University found that 15 percent of citizens vote in local elections, leaving local decision making up to a limited group of voters.

Moreover, many voters are deterred from the current 2024 presidential election due to the overwhelming primary results. Donald Trump has dominated primary elections, but voters must remember the primaries do not dictate the final results.

Duyne explained that many “extreme” voters participate in primaries, electing far right or far left candidates. There is still hope that a more “moderate” candidate will win later elections. Therefore, citizens must retain hope for their candidate’s success, and cast their votes, even if their preferred candidate is losing primaries.

Citizens also undermine the influence of their vote, yet many elections have been determined by minor differences in votes. According to National Geographic, Al Gore lost the electoral college vote to George W Bush by 3 million votes, determined by a small pocket of voters in Florida. Five hundred thirty seven votes led to Bush’s victory, but there were 5 million other citizens who chose to not vote, and could have swayed the election in the opposite direction. This phenomenon could be true to the 2024 election if individuals, and youths, opt out of voting.

Voting is not a difficult process. One must register to vote 30 days prior to voting, but

registration is a simple, online process. Further, there are voting centers across the county that are convenient for any citizen.

In a Feb. 26 New York Times article by Marcela Valdez, Valdez asks “Which voters are going to be most provoked into action?”

And when it comes to us, here at ESD, according to a Mar. 25 poll of 87 students, only 10 percent of 18 year old students voted in the primaries on Mar. 5. ESD students must take action by voting in November for the presidential elections, as well as local, state and congressional elections, to fulfill their duty as U.S. citizens.

A Music Moment with Iris and Lauren

Lauren Shushi and Iris Hernandez discuss the value

One of the most highly anticipated music award shows of the year, the Grammys, took place on Feb. 4. and Victoria Monét took home multiple awards, Best New Artist being the most notable. Before this, I had never heard of her or any of her music, so the decision to give her Best New Artist really confused me. I initially thought that other artists were more deserving. Noah Kahan, Gracie Abrams or Ice Spice felt like a better pick in my ears. It wasn’t until I saw a few TikToks relating to the issue that I realized my lack of knowledge was due to the fact that I am not well-versed in the world of rhythm and blues, which is Monét’s genre. This has prompted me to take a journey of listening to more R&B.

I have always believed that it is important to have a wellrounded music taste, and keeping your taste refined to a few genres closes you off to so many communities, sounds and people. I mainly listen to indie or indie pop. I also listen to rock, rap and hip hop. But R&B has always felt so far away from me. It is one of those things I had always wanted to get into but didn’t know where to start. So, I started the only way I know how: asking questions. I started asking a few friends about their R&B recommendations. I searched

until I found the right person. Tucker gave me a whole playlist full of suggestions. Some of the names I already knew. Etta James, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin were all familiar, but artists like Lenny Kravitz, Dionne Warwick and Candi Staton were all new to me. All of the songs that I have listened to have been incredibly heartfelt. Whether the song is upbeat with a heavy beat or slow with elegant instrumentals, each and every artist sings with emotional depth in their voice. After talking to my friend Tucker, I was introduced to “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” by Lauryn Hill. I had heard about this album here and there but thought that I had never heard a song on the album. After listening, I realized that I knew a few songs: “Ex Factor” and “Doo Wop (That Thing).” But many songs on the album I had never heard. This album is astounding. Each song is so different to one another and yet so similar, creating such a beautiful, cohesive and interesting album. All of the songs are too good to put into words, but one that has been on replay this month has been “I Used To Love Him”(feat. Mary J Blige). The lyrics are poetic. It showcases a woman's love and depicts her decision to leave a man. Not only is it

lyrically engaging, but the music is catchy yet so in tune with the song's meaning.

None of the artists I was listening to were very current. While their music is still loved and integral to R&B’s culture, I wanted to find something more modern. So, I looked into Beyoncé. While I listen to her every once in a while, she is not a part of my usual listening regimen. So, I decided to listen to one of her albums I have heard a lot about but have never listened to: “Lemonade.” With this album, Beyoncé details her spouse's infidelity and surprised the world with its visual release in 2016.

of her many hits. I started with ‘Ghost in the Machine’, partially because it won a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and partially because it features Phoebe Bridgers, one of my favorite artists.

I have always heard this album being referred to as groundbreaking. That sentiment was something I didn't really understand until I sat down and truly listened to it. And after doing just that, I now know that those are the only appropriate words to describe the album. It is packed with emotion and deep meaning. My favorite song on the album is “Love Drought.” It possesses a vulnerable, personal song and is such a clear view into her emotions surrounding the infidelity. After appreciating the “Lemonade” album, I decided to venture further into current R&B artists. I started with SZA. I have only listened to one or two songs

I feel my actions in not listening to this song sooner were idiotic, because it now has me hooked. It has been on repeat, and while I'm sure my friends and family are sick of the catchy tune, I don't think I ever will be. One thing that surprised me was that Bridger’s part was nowhere close to my favorite. SZA really does a great job vocally and lyrically in this. My modern R&B listening did not end there. I have since begun listening to more Kanye, Frank Ocean and Daniel Cezar. All artists who have uniquely beautiful work.

After this journey of listening and learning about R&B, I have come to have a higher appreciation for the genre. While I am still not a huge fan of Victoria Monet, I have come to understand the Grammy’s decision and feel that my music taste is more wellrounded, which is something I strive for and think everyone should do as well. If you ever find yourself listening to the same genre, sound or artists, don’t be afraid to branch out. It can lead you to find a new favorite song or album and lead you to seeing a different perspective.

SOURCE: Mar. 25 poll of 87 students.

HEAD TO

HEAD

Using an itinerary maximizes time and money on a trip

By Jamie Henderson | Arts Editor

Seven countries, 16 days, six family members; this trip was one I would remember for life. I went to Europe on a cruise in the summer of 2022 with my parents, grandparents and brother. I truly believe that this trip was more impactful, memorable and enjoyable because of the day-to-day activities carefully planned by my mom months before. I had never stepped foot on the continent, so for me to be able to see everything that is at the heart and soul of each country we visited was extremely special.

Although waking up early is a pain, the reward of seeing a sunrise over the water or the Colosseum while it’s still not too hot overrides the one hour of sleep lost. The cost of an elaborate trip, or even just a simple one, is always a shocker; travel, food, housing, activities and souvenirs all add up. Booking ahead ensures that you can pick a day, like a Tuesday or Wednesday, to fly out instead of a Friday or Saturday, allowing you to avoid upcharges. CNN suggests that booking three to seven months in advance is best to be in the “Goldilocks” period where flights are cheapest. Itineraries allow for the cost of daily activities and food to be considered in advance.

According to a National Geographic article that explains why planning is beneficial to mental health, humans spend a lot of time mentally living in the future, and it can make us excited and happier; planning vacations gives people something to look forward to. A trip is designed to bring new experiences, open our minds and expose us to other cultures. Each place visited has particular attributes that differentiate them from other places and make them stand out. Italy is the home of pasta, pizza and the Leaning

Percent

Tower of Pisa, and France is the home of croissants, macarons and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. Planning to go to these places suggests that one would do the ‘tourist’ activities to get a feel for the place and truly explore it. To do this, you need to make reservations, have a means of transportation and schedule out times so nothing overlaps, gets booked up or you don’t get scammed. This requires a lot of planning ahead of time to make sure that when you get to the actual place and time, everything runs smoothly.

Travel is very often linked to happiness and excitement because you get to experience change. But at the same time, since the change is not permanent, it gives us sense of safety. Safety can also be found in having a plan because you know what to expect at each point in the trip, which can be comforting when in a foreign place. People are also often asked how their trip was, and the answers of “We just relaxed and shopped” does not make for a stimulating conversation, but the answers of “We saw the Colosseum!” or “We took a tour around the MET” creates more connection and offers more subtopics to continue the conversation.

Another appeal to having an itinerary is knowing what to pack. If you are going on a trip on which you have planned a hike, you know to pack hiking boots and gear, and if you go somewhere where you have scheduled scuba diving, you know you need to pack scuba gear.

While going on a trip without plans seems appealing because of the spontaneity it brings, having a set itinerary is ultimately better because of the money saved, the fun activities planned and the absence of stress knowing everything is already taken care of.

WPlanning a trip creates stress and a lack of spontaneity

By Lauren Shushi | Views Editor

hen I think about trips I have been on in the past, the first thing that comes to mind is never the destination spots I visited. When I went to San Francisco in the spring, driving along the Golden Gate Bridge, while it was an extremely beautiful sight, was not in fact the most memorable part of the trip. Instead, it was the new experiences, food and culture I was immersed in while eating in Chinatown with friends. I remember fondly our 15-minute walk from the hotel across the hilly terrain of San Francisco while the sun was setting over the pastel-colored townhomes, our group finally breathing a sigh of relief at seeing Dragon’s Gate and knowing that Google Maps had not led us astray.

It is clear then that often the best parts of a trip are not solely sequestered to a place you visit, like the Colosseum in Rome or the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but rather what happens in the moments in between. It is the time spent lounging on a scenic beach, racing down skis on a mountain or walking aimlessly around a city that make us want to come back. By trying to plan every minute of a vacation to hit all of the good restaurants or tourist attractions, you can miss the true feel of a place and simply stress out over the details.

According to a poll conducted by Travel Agent Central in 2017, 67 percent of vacationers have become stressed due to ‘information overload’ about their vacation destination and are paralyzed with too many choices when researching and planning.

Moreover, 41 percent get stressed about scheduling things to do during their trip. These numbers show how the pressure of planning the details can create negative feelings about a place before ever even getting there.

That is not to say that I believe you should go in blind. On the contrary, I think having some ideas of what you want to see or do while on a trip is a good thing, but getting tied down by trying to create the “perfect trip” or itinerary can lead to disappointment and stress when the point of a vacation should be an escape from those very feelings. When you do not have a plan going into a trip except for some ideas floating around about where you want to go, then you can do whatever you want while there, and not what you feel obligated to do something because of a meticulous itinerary.

Especially when traveling to an area where the culture is not the same as yours, you can get a feel of the locals’ experience by asking someone there where a good place to eat is or what the best things to do are. By letting go of the strict planning, you can create a valuable and unique experience that could not be replicated on a tourism website.

One of the best things about not following an itinerary on a trip is that time feels like it moves slower. Without the stress of following a worklike schedule, you can truly relax and later remember the trip more fondly. What makes a vacation special is not the places you visit but the memories you make in that place, the people that are with you and the energy you have by being there.

Percent

of students believe that using an itinerary to plan a trip is beneficial

Illustration by Lauren Shushi | Views editor

of students believe that using an itinerary to plan a trip is not beneficial

CENTRAL MARKET

Central Market has always been one of my favorite places to get healthy, high quality and good-tasting food. So, when I realized that I had never had their queso, I knew I needed to try it. I got their blanco queso, prepackaged and prepared by a chef. It is stored cold so I took it home and heated some up in the microwave, which was very easy. I used chips that I had at home. The queso’s main ingredient is American cheese, which, while delicious, caused the dish to have an awkward, almost plastic texture once it cooled a bit. The New Mexico hatch chilies give a good flavor and a pleasant, mild kick of spice. Overall the dish was good and definitely something I would get again. It was well priced ranging from about $7 to $9, depending on the weight of the one you choose, but it does not include the tortilla chips. I would recommend this to anyone looking for

MIA'S TEX-MEX

I have always absolutely loved Mia’s Tex Mex. I often get Mama’s Quesadillas and tortilla soup, but to my memory, I had never had their queso. After having it, I feel completely cheated to have gone years without it. It is the best queso I have ever had. It has a consistency that makes dipping easy and was fervent when served. It has a good pepper-to-cheese ratio, so the peppers don't overwhelm the dish yet there is enough that they don't get lost in the sauce. This queso has a flavor that is full-bodied and well-seasoned. Mia’s has nice crunchy chips to go along with the queso. They are not well salted, but when dipped in queso it is evident that they don’t need it. I would not change a thing about this queso. It was a bit expensive at $9 for a bowl, $6 for a cup and $3 for a side, but well worth the price. I highly recommend this

4334 Lemmon Ave, Dallas Tx

THE QUEST FOR QUESO

Managing Editor Iris Hernandez is on a quest for the best queso in town. The review focuses on consistency, taste and spice.

above some of the others is the beautifully hidden glob of guacamole in the center. It added a different texture and temperature to the queso, elevating the dish. It was fairly priced at $7.75. I highly recommend this queso to any spice lovers. 3/5

5921 Forest Ln, Dallas

going on. It was stocked full of peppers and seasoning, so much so that it was overwhelming. It was also very spicy, which would have been fine if the flavor had been superb, but since the flavor was not there it was unpleasant. It also came with a very bitter aftertaste that was detrimental to my eating experience. But the thick, crunchy chips were above expectations and also the best part of the dish. At $7.30, the price did not match the quality. I would not recommend this queso. 2/5

4235 W Northwest Hwy, Dallas

Photos by Iris Hernandez | Managing Editor

Spring cleaning is necessary for physical, mental health

As spring brings longer days and blooming flowers, it, more importantly, brings rolling up your sleeves and tackling the annual ritual of spring cleaning.

From decluttering to deep cleaning, spring cleaning provides ample opportunity to tidy up and eliminate unnecessary clutter. As someone who participates in spring cleaning every year, along with summer, fall and winter cleaning, I can testify to the outstanding benefits of taking charge of your space.

But before I get into the many benefits and the “why” behind spring cleaning, the process looks different for everybody. I, for instance, like to do a deep clean and tidy of my space at least once a season, almost like a ritual to prepare me for the new season. I usually tackle my room and closet first, as that’s what tends to get the most disorganized. I start by going through my clothes and getting rid of everything I haven’t worn in over a year or anything that isn’t flattering anymore. I usually end up with a pile of clothes outside of my closet, which I donate to my local church or give to friends/ family. With the clutter out of my way, I can now go through and reorganize.

I often find myself just throwing clothes aimlessly into my drawers, which creates disorganization. This process not only makes it harder to find what I am looking for but can also wrinkle my clothes. I like to reorganize each of my drawers by folding and rolling, keeping the clothes I wear

the most at the top so they are the most easily accessible. Spring cleaning goes far

“

As a person who becomes distracted easily, I’ve found that participating in spring cleaning can help sharpen my focus.

beyond just recognizing your closet, as I like to reorganize my entire room, car, backpack and even phone. I am spending just as much, if not more, time around those things every day than I am in my closet, so I believe they should be cleaned up as well.

Physical spring cleaning can also induce health benefits, such as decreased anxiety. A 2020 study by the University of Connecticut found that removing clutter can directly reduce stress and cause us to feel happier, less anxious and more confident in ourselves.

But spring cleaning doesn't just have to be physical cleaning. There is also a certain aspect of spring cleaning that is mental for me. This can be through decluttering your mind from unhealthy things or starting healthy habits that contribute to your mental wellness. My spring cleaning process subsequently

the consistency of writing in a diary on a regular basis, I have allowed myself to be lenient, striving to write once a week instead of forcing myself to write every day. I also don’t restrict myself to writing about certain topics; rather, I start by recapping my day and then let myself go from there, encouraging myself to get lost in my thoughts. Through this “challenge,” I have gained a deeper understanding of myself and how I can alleviate stress. By journaling, I’m able to discover the root of my stress instead of trying to solve my problems through rants. In an article in USA Today, according to clinical psychologist Dr. Carla Manly, “Journaling also improves mental health and allows for stress relief because it can provide a safe space to unload your pent-up thoughts and feelings.”

Harvard professor and clinical psychologist Dr. Sabrina Romanoff claims that journaling allows us to approach our feelings in an objective way, giving an “outsider” perspective to our thoughts.

lines up with Lent, so I try to introduce new healthy habits during this time. This year, I put screen time on my phone and set a goal to go to bed earlier, as a part of both my goals for lent and my mental spring cleansing process. Since implementing these habits, I've noticed I’ve felt a lot more mentally clear and sound.

As a person who becomes distracted easily, I’ve found that participating in spring cleaning can help sharpen my focus.

According to a 2021 study by Princeton University, researchers discovered that our physical environment has a huge impact on our ability to complete tasks. Clutter is messy, chaotic and

distracting. Simplifying spaces give a sense of organization that helps one stay on track and complete tasks. I’ve found this especially useful; a tidy space leads to a tidy mind, allowing me to focus properly.

By reducing anxiety and sharpening focus, spring cleaning also encourages productivity and allows us to live our lives to the fullest extent. Spring cleaning serves as a therapeutic process, as I always feel so much better both mentally and physically after cleaning the unnecessary things in my life.

Taking time to declutter and clean sets you up for a healthy, happy spring season

over a two-week period. Half of the students were asked to write about their feelings about coming to college, while the other half wrote about their day. At the end of the period, the experimental group’s working memory, measured through memory tests, improved, while the control group had no measured improvements.

As upper schoolers, juggling the overbearing load of schoolwork, clubs and activities outside of school and college applications can cause us to internalize our stress without an outlet — I have found that journaling can be the perfect outlet. To get started, I suggest writing in a physical journal rather than digitally and beginning the entry by recounting both the positive and negative parts of the day or past week. I also recommend setting a certain time of day, like when waking up or before bed, for a set amount of time to stay consistent.

I love journaling, and you should Lovitt too.

By Valentina Boltchi | Staff writer

Mess Overload Sophomore Riley Morrison's bedroom floor on March 20 in desperate need of some spring cleaning. "I am a pretty messy person, and just find no motivation to tidy up," Morrison said. "It stems from not putting clothes away immediately after I wear them, which usually results in a big pile of mess on my floor."

Photo by Riley Morrison

LETTER EDITORS from the LETTER EDITORS to the

How to combat the second semester slump

By Charles Liu | Senior

Senioritis crushes the soul

With only a few weeks left this school year, I have heard more and more of my peers describing their “symptoms” and the effects of senioritis in the hallway and commons.

Because of these chatters, I thought writing this letter to dive deeper into “senioritis” and help find “cures” for those suffering from it was necessary. Before I begin, I would like to admit that I also suffer from the symptoms of senioritis as well. I mean, it took two hours of YouTube and Instagram Reels for me to actually start writing this letter. So, I sincerely hope that the readers and myself will find the motivation we once had after reading this letter.

So, what exactly is “senioritis”? It's a term that many of us seniors are all too familiar with. According

to Merriam-Webster, senioritis is defined as the loss of motivation, as shown by procrastination, absences, tardiness and lower grades.

Some common symptoms are pushing off assignments, being late to classes, caring less about assignments and getting worse grades. This is a shared experience among seniors, as we've been accepted to colleges and lost the motivation to do well or care in school.

There are many other causes of senioritis as well, such as boredom with classes and assignments, anticipation for summer break or college life and the number of assignments one has overdue when one has procrastinated for way too long. However, despite these temptations to slack off, keep looking forward to your end

goal, and there are fortunately many cures for senioritis.

One of the best cures is simply taking breaks during study sessions or when working on assignments. By taking breaks, we can ensure we don’t burn out, and it can also help us recharge and allow us to replenish our energy to continue with our tasks.

Another good cure for senioritis is to try to join new activities and challenge yourself to learn new skills before the school year ends to regain motivation and redirect that motivation toward academics.

Something you could try is to also be organized. It is not only a great skill to have in general but also a great way to combat the symptoms of senioritis. For example, creating a schedule and keeping an agenda on a calendar

can help one with procrastination and overdue assignments piling up.

Last but not least, another great cure is mentoring underclassmen, to help them succeed and persevere through hard classes like you once have. Sharing these tips will not only help these students but it will also show you how far you’ve come to regain motivation and confidence to power through the rest of the school year.

As we journey through the last quarter of this school year, I hope you will remember these cures whenever you begin to feel the symptoms of senioritis again. Whether you have senioritis or early-onset senioritis, I hope you will never give up and continue to work hard to finish the year strong. You have all done great so far, and let’s end on a high note.

How we're approaching sorority recruitment

Our views on Greek life at our respective schools

By Easterly Yeaman and Abby Baughman | Co-EICs

March Madness |

Greek life often gets a bad rap for exclusivity, vanity, hazing incidents and more. However, whether or not you have a positive experience with your sorority or fraternity is often dependent on the school you choose to attend. That's why we believe it is important to consider the environment you want to surround yourself with when choosing a school.

Easterly:

Both Abby and I applied early decision to our respective schools, meaning we are contractually obligated to go. Before submitting the application, though, we needed to be 100 percent sure we wanted to go there. Since we are both interested in joining a sorority, it was important before making this decision to understand Greek life at our schools.

At Washington and Lee University, where I will be attending, since the school is so

By Morgan Amison

small, a majority of students are involved in Greek life. Unlike larger schools, sorority recruitment, or rush, is in the spring, so it's much more relaxed. Students have all fall and winter to get to know the different sororities/fraternities and ultimately see what is best for them.

In addition, I like how there are fewer Greek life organizations at W&L because it feels a lot less overwhelming. At bigger schools, girls sometimes hire a rush consultant to help them navigate the many sororities, get letters of recommendation and meet other requirements for each.

Abby: I will be attending New York University for the next four years. I am beyond excited, and I think I will find a lot of people who are similar to me. When someone talks about NYU, Greek life rarely comes up, as only about 10 percent of students are a part of it.

When I was looking around for schools, I had a few requirements —

1: big city, 2: academically rigorous and 3: small but present Greek life. The third seems so specific, but I have my reasons. My sister is currently a senior at Tulane University and is also a Kappa Kappa Gamma there. While 42 percent of Tulane students are in Greek life, my sister is friends with girls across many different sororities and girls who are not in Greek life at all. Every time I’ve visited her and her friends, they have reassured me that the sorority you are in truly doesn’t really affect your social life. However, my cousin, a Zeta Tau Alpha at Louisiana State University, has had a much different experience. My cousin has loved her time at LSU. She is one of the most outgoing and likable people I know, but even she sometimes struggles with the pressures of keeping up with Greek life. She advised me to stay away from the big southern schools because she feared I would be anxious about the sorority landscape.

I have always hoped a sorority would be a fun and easy way to make friends and even accomplish some networking. According to a 2021 poll done by The Hechinger Report, more than 50 percent of college graduates who had participated in Greek life had jobs immediately after graduation, while only 36 percent of non-Greek life graduates had jobs lined up. I have been super lucky to have been able to talk to an ESD alumni who is a current NYU student. She praised her sorority and encouraged me to rush as a way to meet people and have fun.

Students often get way too wrapped up in the academic prestige of a school. But it's equally as important to think about the type of students you want to surround yourself with and the culture of the college you are entering. Greek life is one of many aspects that can make up a college experience, and should be carefully considered when choosing a school.

Sports

New coaches bring energy to girls sports

Girls lacrosse, tennis and strengthening receive new coaches

By Emmy Moss | Staff Writer

Girls Lacrosse Program Director, Faith Renner, and the rest of the girls lacrosse team walk off the field after their first victory of the season, scoring 13-6 against Highland Park on Feb. 27. Except something is different — this is Renner’s first season as head coach.

This spring season, three new coaches have joined the athletics team, all focusing on different sports: Girls Lacrosse Program Director Faith Renner, Girls Tennis Program Director Neil Kenner and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Abbie Ongaro.

“With the new coaches, I always want them to feel good about working at ESD,” Director of Athletics Thad Lepcio said. “So what I ask our staff is to make sure we support [the new coaches], and I'm still learning about ESD every day. I've only been here about six months.”

Renner has a past with ESD girls lacrosse, as she was the assistant varsity coach last year and helped coach two years before that. Although this still new position is a big change for Renner, a past of working and knowledge of ESD has made the process smoother.

“I think the main way that [being assistant last year] made [the process] more clear was because of the relationships I already had with [the team],” Renner said. “I wasn't as involved with the administration last year. I was really just focusing on coaching, so I was really pleasantly surprised when I started meeting the administration and faculty.”

Renner’s coaching approach involves building on everyone's individual skills and zoning in on a particular aspect where each athlete excels. Her approach also includes keeping a good relationship between both the coaches and players and between players.

“If we do the little things and do them well, and we're disciplined and we treat each other well, then the bigger things will kind of work themselves

out, and we'll see success on the field,” Renner said. “But the most important thing is [that] we're being kind to each other and honoring God with all that we do in practice and games.”

Along with the new position, Renner also brought in multiple goals and hopes she has for the players. One main goal for her is to make sure that everyone on the team has a spot and is able to show off their individual talents while also getting to know the past traditions of the team.

“ We want to become better human beings through our time together on the court.

Neil Kenner Girls tennis Program Director

“[My goal is] learning how they want to have their influence on the program as well,” Renner said. “So [then] we can ultimately have every unique personality on the team feel like they're making an impact, and then how to put that together to win games is the goal.”

As a senior and captain of the varsity girls lacrosse team, Caroline Cole knows that the relationship between the players and the coach is a very important part of the team. Between last year and this year, Cole has been able to watch how Renner has grown and bonded with the team.

“Since Faith became head coach, I believe that the excitement of all of the players on the field has grown exponentially,” Cole said. “You can tell new players feel comfortable with the environment she has created, and returning players are even more excited to get out there to play every day.”

The tennis program also has a

new face this year: Neil Kenner. Although this is his first year at ESD, Kenner has had a past full of coaching, including Southern Methodist University, the TBarM Racquet Club, Seay Tennis Center and Lake Tennis Academy, most of which he spent his time with highperforming juniors.

“Tennis has been such a huge part of my life and has helped me in so many ways,” Kenner said. “But what I love most is the way I feel while I am playing — provided that I allow myself to be fully present.”

From a young age Kenner has been immersed in tennis, whether it was ranking first in the United States Tennis Association or playing at the pro level later on. He also devoted himself to tennis during college, playing all four years.

“I played my freshman year at Washington University in St. Louis [where I] received Freshman Athlete of the Year Award [and] All American in Singles and Doubles,” Kenner said. “My final three years at Indiana University [I was] team captain junior and senior year.”

For Kenner, tennis is more than just a game; it is a way to improve character and learn life lessons. Both of these are goals he has for the season, along with improving individual skill and focus.

“I believe that tennis can be used to help prepare us for the many challenges we will face throughout our lives,” Kenner said. “My programs have always strived to emphasize the development of character — we want to become better human beings through our time together on the court.”

Sophomore on the girls tennis team Cate Stephenson has also noticed the passion Kenner has for tennis and how he has implemented it into his coaching. In the short time he has been here, Stephenson has already picked up on the energy and improvement that Kenner has brought to the team.

“Even though it's only been a week or so, I definitely think we have all gotten better,”

The Episcopal School of Dallas

Dashing dogs dance

One Love Game

The ESD community comes together on the lacrosse field to educate and honor the One Love Foundation. Page 26

Stephenson said. “[Kenner] has incorporated a lot of new drills, more matchplay and more fitness into our practices.”

Abbie Ongaro, the third new addition to athletics, has coached at other schools, mostly focusing on girls sports and injury prevention.

“I want to get the females in here more; I think one of my goals [is for them] not to be intimidated with the boys,” Ongaro said. “And I want the girls to kind of get in here and rule the weight room a little bit more.”

Ongaro found her love for strength training during her time in high school sports, including club soccer, track, cross country and swimming, and continued her career in soccer and track at Southeastern University. After college, she went on to get her master’s degree at Oklahoma State University, where she worked as a graduate assistant coach with primarily soccer, softball, equestrian and cheer.

“I tore my ACL my senior year, and I was wondering what could I do to have prevented that or strengthen it,” Ongaro said. “That kind of took me more into the realm of strength and conditioning.”

Ongaro’s philosophy and approach to training revolve around injury prevention and taking the time to learn the right form. This also involves specialization among different sports and narrowing down on injuries.

“We want you to lift heavy, but we want to make sure that we have perfect form,” Ongaro said. “We want you to be safe, so I always say form over weight for sure.

Every new coach was hired by Lepcio, who had to go through thorough processes to make sure that each coach was the right fit for our community.

“It sounds cliche, but my number one goal is to find what I think is gonna be a good fit for ESD,” Lepcio said. “Someone who ultimately is going to understand our mission and treat studentathletes the right way and support them.”

Perfecting Practice

From left: New girls lacrosse coach Faith Renner walks through a drill with her team while implementing her new coaching strategy.  New girls tennis coach Neil Kenner shows his skills during practice, inspiring players. "I want every single player on the team to feel like they have individually improved by the end of the season. I'd like to get them all quicker at seeing the ball/recognizing what is coming and when they have opportunities to attack."

Photos

Walking through the weight room at any given point during the school year, you’re bound to hear student athletes talking about their bodies. Whether it’s guys shouting about “bulking season” or girls lamenting about fitting into their homecoming dresses, body image is a constant motivator for many studentathletes, not just at ESD.

Sports and athletics are a great way to develop healthy exercise habits from a young age, but those habits can also develop into something more severe.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, the pressure to excel in a sport and emphasizing body shape and weight can manifest itself in an eating disorder, which is why Ethan and I both believe that coaches and trainers should be mindful to watch for unhealthy eating and mindsets in athletes and be cautious of what they are asking their athletes to do.

In sports, eating disorders are more common when there is an “ideal” body image like gymnastics, diving, bodybuilding and running-based sports. This disorder is more common in female athletes than in male athletes. According to the Journal of Clinical Sports Psychology, up to 45 percent of female athletes struggle with an eating disorder, while up to 19 percent of male athletes do. Also reported by the Journal of Clinical Sports Psychology, in high schools, 7.3 percent of athletes have an eating disorder, compared to 2.3 percent of non-athletes. The evidence is there: sports can be a trigger for the development of disordered eating.

The NEDA asserts that risk factors for athletes include sports that focus on the individual, an environment in which there is pressure to maintain a certain body composition or modify weight and having coaches that focus solely on athletic performance rather than on the athlete as a whole.

In fact, eating disorders in female athletes are so prevalent that the symptoms have a name: the “Female Athlete Triad.” The three symptoms are disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction and low bone mineral density. In the most severe cases, females can develop osteoporosis. Not only does the Female Athlete Triad harm the athletic abilities of the females, but it also endangers their health significantly.

The danger of eating disorders in athletes comes from the physical dangers and also from the fact that they often go undetected. According to the NCAA, eating disorder symptoms might be ignored by coaches and teammates because they can be the marker of a “good athlete.” Exercise, weight loss and dieting are good in moderation for athletes, which is why the line can be blurred between a healthy athlete and an athlete with an eating disorder.

In order to help athletes remain healthy, coaches and trainers should work hard to recognize the signs of disordered eating early and help their athletes receive treatment. Not to mention, they should also educate athletes on the dangers of unhealthy eating habits and obsessions, emphasizing that being fit doesn’t mean excessively exercising or starving oneself, etc.

However, the NCAA claims that athletes need specialized approaches to treatment for eating disorders. Many athletes might be hesitant to receive help because they don’t want to lose playing time or gain weight that could interfere with their performance, or they don’t want to disappoint coaches, family members or teammates. It’s important for treatment staff to recognize the importance of the sport in the athlete’s life.

Thus, in order to make sure every athlete stays as healthy as possible, we encourage coaches and trainers to equip themselves with the necessary knowledge to help their athletes if they notice disordered eating symptoms. Eating disorders can be more easily treated the earlier on they are diagnosed. Additionally, the NEDA contends that having a strong coach to athlete relationship can help protect against the development of an eating disorder.

But both the NCAA and Eating Disorder Hope, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about eating disorders, emphasize the importance of eradicating the stigma around eating disorders for athletes and non-athletes alike.

Coaches and trainers should develop strong relationships with their athletes and create a healthy practice and game environment in order to help their athletes stay as healthy as possible.

Sports Editor Charlotte Tomlin and Staff writer Ethan Pham join forces to share their perspectives about being student-athletes at ESD. Read their opinions in every issue, or tune in to the biweekly podcast!

Founders Field switching to turf in summer of 2024

After years of Eagles sports teams advocating for change, this summer, the Founders Field will switch from grass to turf. The field change brings about a new era for ESD athletics.

Parents Association Associate Head of School Ruth Burke is eager for this change. With the new addition, practices and games will take place on both fields rather than just the Gene and Jerry Jones Stadium and will be useful for all sports teams.

“This project has been on our radar for a long time, for many years,” Burke said. "It will help accomplish a lot.”

Due to financial constraints, the administration was not able to make the change on the field, but after planning , the project was allowed to start up this summer.

“Mr. Baad mentioned in the community meeting with parents, [speaking about] gender equality, because the girls in lacrosse and field hockey practice on Founders Field a lot,” Burke said. “[Even though] the rotation of the turf has gotten a lot better over the years.”

The girls sports who use the grass field have been lobbying for years to get this change implemented, and with it finally becoming a reality, athletes believe it will benefit every sports team. Tatum Reynolds, varsity girls lacrosse player, finds the change essential and exciting.

“Although the splitting of the Jones Stadium field has gotten better, I think it's awesome that we are getting turf on the Founders Field [because] we are usually left playing on the grass fields,” Reynolds said. “I think putting turf in is really nice because the Founders Field always has holes and dips in it, which makes it really difficult to practice and play on.”

Due to weather and maintenance, the Founders Field has had recurring issues; the field often gets more difficult to play on compared to the turf.

“You don't have as much

downtime with turf as you do on grass,” Burke said. "If you have bad weather [and] play on wet, soggy fields, you ruin the grass, and you have to stay off of it to be able and give it time to regenerate. Three times [in the year], we have to re-seed where you can't even step on it for about three weeks. We don't have that downtime [on Jones].”

All the school’s athletic fields are utilized a lot, and with the limited fields on campus, Athletic Director Thad Lepcio believes making them all turf will continue to build athletic programs. Although he is new to ESD this year, Lepcio immediately agreed when the idea was brought to him.

“ This project has been on our radar for a long time, for many years. It will help accomplish a lot.

Ruth Burke Parents Association Associate Head of School

“Turf is one of those surfaces that can take a lot of wear and tear,” Lepcio said, “I think [all teams] should be practicing on the surfaces that they are going to play on. For me, it was also about gender equality, that the girls' sports have access to turf as much as the boys do.”

For several years, the Jones Stadium’s field did not have girls lacrosse or field hockey lines, but after years of advocating, the lacrosse lines were painted. During field hockey season, the lines are painted on a weekly basis. Once the Founders Field is finished, it will consist of all girls sports lines. Senior lacrosse captain Caroline Bagley finds the change beneficial to both boys

and girls sports.

“I believe that it is important for the Founders Field to be turfed because it will allow athletes that use the fields to have a more consistent practice environment instead of switching between grass and turf every day,” Bagley said. “Most fields that we play on are also going to be turf, so it is important to practice in a similar situation that you are going to be playing in.”

Girls head lacrosse coach Faith Renner is fond of the Founders Field, but finds the change to turf essential.

“Our facilities and staff do a fantastic job caring for the grass field," Renner said. “But ultimately, the weather dictates if/when many of our sports are impacted by the field conditions. Having [a] synthetic turf surface will take out all of the guesswork when it comes to hosting district games, out of town teams as well as practices for Eagles teams at all age levels.”

Both athletes and coaches alike believe the change will provide greater opportunities, due to the flexibility the turf provides.

“Having field turf on Founders Field will positively impact the girls lacrosse program,” Renner said. “It will enable us to continue to work closely alongside our boys program and youth Eagles program in order to provide a consistent schedule for all teams that will not be fully reliant upon weather. We will also be able to host non-local teams on more of a regular basis, which strengthens our program immensely.”

Burke too believes the final decision to change the field into turf will better the athletics at ESD for all ages.

“[With the new change], we’ll have beginner and Pre-K students practicing soccer, and we'll be able to have varsity level teams out there, boys and girls as needed,” Burke said, “So every student will be able to benefit from it.”

Change brings excitement to all field sports

By Margot Cathey | Staff writer

Traced and Lined

The Founders Field, currently a regular grass field, will be transformed into a larger turf field lined with every sports lines, rather than just one soccer line Turf field layout, sports indicated by color: Football: white

Soccer: yellow

Boys Lacrosse: navy

Girls Lacrosse: gray

Field Hockey: red Chart provided byThad Lepcio

One Love brings the lacrosse community together

ESD girls and boys lacrosse teams support the One Love Foundation

By Beau McKnight | Staff writer

Sophomore Ryder Sands ran out behind her teammates in the annual ESD Women’s Lacrosse “One Love Game.” With ribbons decorating her hair and a One Love T-shirt over her uniform, Sands is ready to play — not just for a win, but for a great cause.

This year, ESD's lacrosse teams played their One Love games at home on Friday March 22. The girls team beat St. Stephen's 19-4 while the boys team lost 11-10 to Portland Jesuit.

Despite the high levels of competition in the air, Sands and the rest of the team played to promote One Love’s message and bring awareness to relationship abuse. Sands reflected on last year's game, sharing the significance of it to players on both teams.

“These games are so special because we might be rivals at the end of the day, but we come together to support something we all think is important,” Sands said. “We play for something bigger than ourselves. We all are women, and it is important to share the same values.”

The One Love Community at ESD

On February 15, Former University of Virginia women's lacrosse coach and head of the non-profit organization, "One Love", came to speak with both the ESD womens and mens lacrosse teams on relationship and domestic violence. “I think it’s an important message to kind of spread around and not just for athletes, but for everybody,” womens lacrosse captain Caroline Cole said.

One Love is a non-profit organization run by former lacrosse player and head coach at the University of Virginia, Julie Meyers. The program educates students starting at 11 years of age all the way to 24-year-olds on relationship abuse and domestic violence. The organization was started by Sharon Love, the mother of Yeardley Love, who was a player for the University of Virginia’s women’s lacrosse team. Love was in what appeared to be a healthy relationship with her boyfriend at the time, yet it was far from it. In 2010, Yeardley was tragically killed by her boyfriend in an argument.

“We were all shocked on May 3, 2010,” Meyers said. “We were all shocked that this was even possible I don't think it was on anyone's register that this was even in the universe.”

On Feb. 15, Meyers visited ESD to speak to both the ESD boys and girls lacrosse teams about the organization. This year was Meyers’ first year as the head of the organization and her first year since 1986 not on the sideline of the Virginia lacrosse field. Meyers

shared her personal interpretation of One Love’s goals and the importance of educating people on relationship abuse, regardless of what type of relationship. Although domestic/relationship abuse is oftentimes perceived as violent and physical, it also comes in the form of verbal, emotional abuse.

“Relationships are around you,” Meyers said. “And thank God [they’re] unavoidable because relationships are the number one thing that makes you happy in life. So what we want to try to do is influence, in positive ways, all of the relationships that you hold.”

At One Love games in the past, One Love Club representatives for both competing teams have given a speech at halftime to raise awareness in the school communities. This year, senior lacrosse captains Caroline Bagley, Charlotte Tomlin and Caroline Cole and junior One Love Club representatives Katherine Clark, Ella Ferguson, Ethan Pham and Vaughn Langston are working collaboratively to turn this game into a bigger event. This year, the

ESD Lacrosse Program looks to take a step forward and reach a broader audience by sharing the importance of One Love. After Meyers’ visit, the representatives are further inspired to spread the message of the organization.

“We're going to try and sell T-shirts and hats the day of the game at school during flex and lunch, before and after school and at the game,” Clark said. “We're gonna get parents involved, and we're planning on getting the shirts and donating our profits to the One Love Foundation.”

The profits from the One Love merchandise go to the foundation so they can keep their educational videos and programs up to date and continue to spread their message to people, not just in the lacrosse community but around the world.

“We need to raise awareness,” Meyers said. “We also need some funding to be able to continue to do it. So that's probably the biggest challenge is making sure that we can keep it accessible to all communities.”

Yeardley Love’s story continues to echo throughout communities all across the country with 760 student leaders of One Love clubs, more than 41,000 volunteers and over 2.2 million people who have participated in a One Love workshop. ESD plans to be one of the many communities to help make an impact and bring attention to this cause that often goes unnoticed.

“We're so grateful Julie Meyers came,” Bagley said. “We really enjoyed getting to meet with the CEO of One Love with both the boys and girls lacrosse team. Her presentation to us was really impactful and really showed us more about what One Love is all about.”

The Dallas Open is set to expand in coming year

Southern Methodist University hosts the 49th Annual Dallas Open

By Lauren Shushi | Views Editor

Each season the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour ignites with fierce competition as players battle it out on the court for titles across more than 60 tournaments in 30 countries. For sophomore varsity tennis player Cate Stephenson, seeing some of these players compete in Dallas and interacting with them was incredible.

The Dallas Open ran from Feb. 5 to Feb.11 and was hosted at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex on the campus of Southern Methodist University. The Dallas tournament is one of only 10 United States tournaments on the ATP Tour. The ATP Tour will culminate in the ATP Finals, which will take place in Turin, Italy in November, and feature only the world’s best eight qualified singles players and doubles teams, according to atptour.com.

“I usually go [to the Dallas Open] every year,” Stephenson said. “The past few years, I've just been paying more attention because I play tennis, so it was amazing for me to see all the cool players.”

Stephenson had the opportunity to sit in on the post-game interviews with players through Tony Fay PR, a prominent Dallas-based communications firm specializing in sports, entertainment and megaevents.

“I asked around to see if I could volunteer there,” Stephenson said. “And so I volunteered with this PR firm and kind of shadowed the people there. I got to walk around with them, sit in on the interviews for the players and ask a few questions. The questions were about their experience in Dallas, their different game strategies, what they were planning on for the next games, how SMU has been and other things like that.”

The winner of the Dallas Open was second-seeded player Tommy Paul, the 26-year-old American who just secured his second career

ATP title and moved up to the 14th-highest player on the ATP Tour rankings, according to espn. com. For senior tennis fan Hunter Perez, seeing Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton, the 16th highest-ranked player on the ATP Tour, compete at the Dallas Open was a memorable match.

“It was really exciting to watch [the players],” Perez said. “I've never really played tennis, but Ryder, my brother, played, and so I would hit with him sometimes. It's really cool seeing it in person, though, because my mom watches a lot of tennis on TV, so I see it a lot at home. But [on TV] it's hard to understand how athletic the players really are and how fast the ball is moving, but seeing it in person helps you understand really how great of players they are.”

Perez recalls the atmosphere at the Dallas Open as an environment of excited cheering mixed with the focus of the players during the points. Whether you are a casual spectator or a die-hard tennis fan, attending a tennis match can be an enjoyable experience. However, because tennis is an intense game that requires much concentration, it is vital that during play spectators are silent. Though, once the point is over, there is nothing wrong with cheering for your favorite players.

“For the most part watching tennis is quieter for a sports game,” Perez said. “I mean tennis compared to football for example, there is a big difference, but there was a good bit of cheering, especially for Ben Shelton. There was this one lady specifically who was in the stands and kept cheering, ‘I love you Ben!’ after the points. So, in-between points, the ends would get a little rowdier, but then it would turn relaxed.”

A big change to the Dallas Open is that starting in 2025, the tournament will be upgraded to an ATP 500 level tournament from an ATP 250. This increased level means it will now award over $2.8 million in prize money, attracting

even more high-level talent. It will also be relocated to the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, the world headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys. About 20 miles north of SMU, The Star will have a fan capacity of about 6,000 people, up from around 2,100 at SMU, according to ESPN. “I think it's awesome that they can bring in higher-level players and everything [with the upgrade],” Perez said. “I feel like SMU is pretty convenient for a lot of people in Dallas, though, so it might be a little less convenient going to Star, but it will definitely attract more players. I'll probably go again if my mom goes.” Stephenson agrees that the ATP

Tour upgrade only means great things for Dallas and believes that everyone should try to go because of the incredible experience and atmosphere of the Open, even if you do not know tennis that well.

“Even just the past few years, the Dallas Open has gotten so much bigger,” Stephenson said. “I think the first year we hosted, there was only like one big name and now there is Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul and some of the biggest names, so it's grown a lot already. I also feel like everyone in Dallas loves it because even if you don't know tennis that well, it's so fun to just go and see the famous players, and it is just an amazing experience.”

Photo provided by Faith Renner

Photo by Easterly Yeaman

The Episcopal School of Dallas

eagledition=crossword

Across:

1: Popular card game and comes before 2 down

2: You might check this before deciding to go off campus

3: Popular Broadway musical or monthly payment

4: Type of beers

5: Sports team of page 26 story by Beau

6: Take without permission

7: Opposite of minus

8: You sign this if you need to keep quiet about something

9: Non-married womans title

10: Organize or arrange something

11: Snowman from the movie Frozen

12: Online shopping site in page 6 story

13: Moving visual media

14: Believe it or ___

15: If you eavesdrop you...

Down:

1: Long strings of numbers and letters in search box

11: Latin prefix meaning egg

16: Clean

17: Nickname for Olivia

18: ____ upon a time

9: ____ in China

19: If you don't like the college you go to you can always

20: Opposite of young

21: __ no

2: Spanish word for more, can come after 1 across

22: Suitable or appropriate

23: 11 across creator

24: Dr. Charles ____

25: Not a want but a...

26: Love in Spanish

27: United States

28: Homer Simpsons favorite food

The first person to fill it out correctly and send a picture to yeamane@esdallas.org gets their name published in the next issue. Last issue's winner: Senior Brayden Girata!

FlashBack

Each issue, the Eagle Edition staff goes through the archives searching for relevant photos to share with the community. In honor of ESD's retired maroon color, we are using it in our Flashback.

As the traditional Senior Rally Days come to a close, the Eagle Edition flashes back to Senior Rally Days in 1999.

Fifth Grade Buddies

Seniors enjoy fried chicken with their fifth grade buddies during one of their earlier rally days in the year.

Retreat Rising seniors prepare for their lower school campus retreat. Photo from

Party Time Seniors Adam

Photo from the 1999 Carillon yearbook

 Climbing across the river A group activity where seniors must climb on another to carry each other to the over side of the "river".

Photo from the 1999 Carillon yearbook

Babies to Seniors

Seniors with birthday's in November celebrate together during a rally day by eating cake made by moms and other seniors. Photo from the 1999 Carillon yearbook

1999 New Yearsu Seniors Meredith Fowler and Megan McCoy celebrate the new 1999 New Year.

Photo from the 1999 Carillon yearbook



The entire senior class cooperates to get a single

hoop all the way around the circle made up of students. Photo from the 1999 Carillon yearbook

The Eagle Edition's

Prinz and Jessica Drew swing at a pinata with a field hockey stick trying to get candy.

Photo from the 1999 Carillon yearbook

the 1999 Carillon yearbook