The Fourcast April 2019

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THE FOURCAST

The Hockaday School

11600 Welch Road

Dallas, Texas 75229

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214-363-6311

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REDACTED C*NS*RSHIP IN THE PR*SS

The Evolution and Impact of Freedom of the Press Read full story p12 Illustration by Karen Lin

Volume 69 • Issue 04

A LOOK

INSIDE

03 upper school head 15 THE HUNT FOR AN

To a prospective faculty member, Hoak Portico and the rest of the Hockaday campus begs for attention, with four large marble pillars, an array of striking glass windows and a white dome rising above the landscape. If the buildings weren’t enough, the environment and love of learning at Hockaday compels any person who walks through the doors to join the faculty and help to educate and mentor young students. For the upcoming 2019-2020 Hockaday School year, there are 15 new faculty positions available, ranging from Upper School Learning Specialists to Upper School Writing Center Director. The largest position to fill, however, is that of the new Head of Upper School.

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BEHIND the books

The Liza Lee Academic Research Center is Hockaday’s state of the art, three-story library, where students can be found at any given hour, working diligently in one of the many nooks of that the vast space has to offer. A student can always count on the fact that they can utilize the library, whether that be to quietly work or to find a book for the infamous JRP. There is certainly someone behind the curtain to which the success of the library can be accredited to; or rather, three women.

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THE COMING OF

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(COLOR) RUN like the wind

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PUTTING A PRICE on admissions

a cultural celebration

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The Hockaday School

April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

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I want the students to know that they are the reason I came here in the first place.

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PHOTO BY ALEXA MAY

Saturn V Girls Blast off to the World Festival

➝ Story by Kate Woodhouse • News Editor ROBOT REVISIONS • The Saturn V Girls robotics team makes the final edits to their robot before the competition, which is to be held April 17 to April 20. The team will run their robot and present their project at the FLL World Festival in Houston, Texas.

Houston, the Saturn V has landed. Five middle schoolers will be in Houston, Texas April 17 to 20 competing at the FIRST Lego League World Festival. The Saturn V Girls robotics team, comprised of eighth graders Sydney Slay, Jayna Dave and Nina Dave and sixth graders Celine Ebert and Anika Kapoor, will go for the gold in the four-day competition.

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I can’t wait to compete at the World Festival this year. Our team is looking forward to celebrating everything we have accomplished this season,” Jayna Dave said.

FIRST Lego League (FLL) is the second level of the FIRST competitions, geared towards middle school students developing their coding and problem-solving abilities.

The most well-known facet of the FLL competition is the Robot Game. In this event, the robots that students build and code need to complete certain missions, like picking up a block or throwing a ball across the table, in order to gain points during the allotted time.

However, this is not the only event.

There are three presentation-based components, the innovative project, Core Values— or how the team worked together during the design process—and robot design to determine the champion.

To accompany their robot, teams also design a project around the theme for the year—space and making life better for astronauts. Middle School science teacher Lisa Dwinal and Middle School math and science teacher Laura Baker, the Middle School robotics advisors, arranged for the five Hockaday robotics teams to speak with two astronauts, four aeronautical engineers and the Dean of Engineering at Southern Methodist University in order to gain inspiration and improve their proposals. Along with imagining a solution, the girls also have to prototype their product and present their idea to a panel of judges for scoring.

“It’s almost like Shark Tank. They need to sell their project,” Baker said.

The Saturn V Girls designed a solution to ameliorate the issue astronauts face as they are unable able to taste their food. Because people’s sense of taste is based 80 percent on their sense of smell and because astronauts cannot smell the food they eat very well while on the International Space Station, they cannot taste or enjoy their meals as much as they otherwise could. In order to solve this problem, the Saturn V Girls created scratch-and-sniff

stickers to attach to the food packaging for astronauts. When they eat the food, the astronauts can smell the sticker and therefore improve their experience by tasting their meal better.

This was not the only problem the Saturn V Girls fixed with their stickers. They proposed that putting a lavender-smelling sticker in their mask before bed would help astronauts to sleep better and longer. The Middle Schoolers also thought that if the astronauts were able to put a sticker of their choice in their mask while cleaning the bathrooms on the space station, they would be able to block out the foul odors. The final prototype required lots of collaboration and imagination to conceive.

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They are a very dedicated group of girls, and they are always looking to take their robot and project to the next level.

They take advantage of every opportunity to learn new things, and they have been super fun to mentor over the past few years.”

Meghan Shimer Junior

“We went through a lot of ideas before we settled on [the scented stickers],” Jayna Dave said.

In order to perfect their robot and presentation, the Saturn V Girls worked together during their elective periods two times a rotation, during lunch time once a rotation, after school every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and on Sunday afternoons, totaling about nine hours a week.

Over breaks the girls also take the equipment home and dedicate additional time to their robot and project.

“Their time invested shows their strong

commitment to robotics and the FLL program, and I hope that their hard work pays off and they reach the goals they have set for the World Competition,” Dwinal said.

In order to attend the FLL World Festival in Houston, most teams have to compete three different times, in a preliminary qualifier, secondary qualifier and regional championship.

However, the Saturn V Girls placed high enough in the preliminary qualifier to bypass the secondary qualifier and go straight to regionals. At their first competition in December, the team won the First Place Championship award, the overall winner of the competition, and second place in the Robot Game, meaning they had the second most points of all the teams in that aspect of the competition. All five Hockaday FLL teams, the Saturn V Girls, the Intergalactic Unicorns, the Hockanauts, the Space Daisies and the Shooting Star Daisies, advanced to the regional championship. “[All of the teams] did an incredible job.

Everybody was so impressed and amazed with how they performed at the championship,” Baker said. “I’m really proud of how hard the girls have worked and how far they’ve come.”

The teams did not do it alone. Juniors Sidney Wang, Meghan Shimer and Anoushka Singhania mentored the Saturn V Girls and the rest of the robotics teams once a rotation during conference and lunch. They also provided practice judging sessions right before the competition. Jayna and Nina Dave supported their mentors at their competition and even plan to join their independent high school robotics team next year.

“They are a very dedicated group of girls, and they are always looking to take their robot and project to the next level,” Shimer said. “They take advantage of every opportunity to learn new things, and they have been super fun to mentor over the past few years.”

As the competition nears, the Saturn V Girls have been hard at work to make the final modifications to their project and robot. They tweaked their robot attachments and code in order to gain the most points possible during the Robot Game. To improve their stickers, the

Saturn V Girls contacted more experts in the field for their opinions and researched the process to make stickers with their desired smells for the food packaging.

Saturn V Girls’ team captain Slay cannot wait to meet teams from around the globe and explore the different ways FLL affects various countries. Teams from 45 countries, including the United States, will be competing in the FLL World Festival. Slay also hopes to grow closer with her teammates as they work towards the common goal of taking home the first place trophy.

“I really hope to have fun with my team at the World Festival, and we are striving to win an award at the festival to display how hard we have worked this season and how proud we are of all the work we have done as a team,” Slay said.

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Average Hours the Saturn V Girls Work Per Week

Middle School Robotics Teams

Countries Represented at the World Festival

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Looking ahead

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news

The Hunt for an Upper School Head

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The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

Your World Today vs.

100 Years Ago

Hockaday Impact Is IN

The Hunt for an Upper School Head PHOTO BY RIYANA DAULAT

Hockaday searches for a new Head of Upper School to start next fall.

ADVISORY TIME • Head of Upper School Terry Murray chats with three members of his advisory, (pictured left to right) seniors Alexa May, Dominique Bufford and Ariyanna Easter.

After four years of employment at Hockaday, Murray will join the Visitation School as the Upper School Principal next fall.

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erry Murray, current Head of Upper School, is stepping down after four years at Hockaday. Murray hopes to leave the Upper School students with the passion to pursue their dreams and immense amount of spirit and excitement from a new Head of Upper School.

“I want the students to know that they are the reason I came here in the first place. When I met the students, I was so impressed and so excited to work with them, and that has only been reinforced every day that I’ve been here,” Murray said. “I love this community and I love the work that the kids do. As I leave, I want the girls to continue being women of impact and make sure they’re always looking to find their voice in the community that their living.”

The search for the new Head of Upper School has many steps that must be executed.

The candidates must first submit a cover letter expressing their interest in the position, a current resume and a list of five professional references, which they present to either the Hockaday administration or an outside firm.

Blair Lowry, Assistant Head of School, runs the searches and hires the firms depending on the type of faculty member needed.

“When I run a regular search, say if I’m hiring a math teacher, I might get in touch with difference agencies and list it with them and list in on our website. If I source a candidate through them they get a fee, if not, they don’t,” Lowry said. “Sometimes we hire a firm to do a retained search and that means that we pay

them a bigger fee and they’re the ones who really manage the receiving the resumes and they have a really big pool of candidates all across the country and even internationally, so they know who’s in the different spots.”

In the case of finding a new Head of Upper School, Dr. Karen Warren Coleman, Eugene McDermott Head of School, and Lowry are using a retained search with the company Carney Sandoe & Associates.

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One of the things that’s very helpful in any interview process is it’s very important to get a range of candidates. We want people that have different kinds of experience, professionally, and who have different kinds of life experiences.”

Blair Lowry Assistant Head of School

Carney Sandoe & Associates works to help prospective candidates find jobs by connecting them with schools that are looking to hire. The company actively recruits for Hockaday, as well as narrows down the resumes. Through conversations with the Hockaday administration, the

company understands the qualifications Hockaday demands.

After the candidates pass through the first set of hurdles, their applications are handed to Coleman and Lowry. From there, they are contacted through a Skype call and asked to visit the school. They stay in Dallas for one to two nights.

Lowry reads every resume that makes its way through Hockaday and works with the department chairs and many others to find the perfect candidate. To identify an excellent candidate for Head of Upper School, she makes sure the candidates interact with many different people when they visit Hockaday.

“For an administrative position, we try to put them with as many groups as possible, so if you’re the Upper School Head, you have to think about how many people they’re going to work with: form deans, Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. Wilson, students, etcetera,” Lowry said.

Tresa Wilson, Director of Inclusion and Community, and Lowry meet with every single candidate. They also attempt to get as many students involved as possible in the process.

After the candidate has met with all possible groups of people, a survey is sent out to the faculty members involved. The faculty members share their opinions and also have the opportunity to give in-person feedback to Coleman and Lowry. Then, ultimately, Coleman has the final word on all hires.

So, where is the administration currently in the process of choosing the new Head of Upper School?

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So far, Lowry has interviewed three candidates on campus and a couple off campus through phone call or Skype.

Even though the process is nearing an end, the administration can never truly be sure their work is done until there is someone signing their name on the dotted line.

“The process [of picking the new Head] will hopefully be over in a couple of weeks, and we’ll finally be able to tell [students] the new name,” Lowry said. “I never want to say a specific name because you just never know what may happen, but so far I feel really good about the people that we’ve interviewed.”

Lowry also pointed out that all of the prospective candidates have a wide range of backgrounds and experience.

“One of the things that’s very helpful in any interview process is it’s very important to get a range of candidates. We want people that have different kinds of experience, professionally, and who have different kinds of life experiences,” Lowry said.

“Diversity and inclusion is an important piece of it because we have a diverse community here, and we want the needs and the voices of all of our girls to be reflected.”

This means that a lot of time and commitment is dedicated to finding the perfect candidate since as the administration wants to find the best possible fit for Hockaday.

For the Head of Upper School, the most important thing that the administration looks for in a candidate is someone who has an abundance of experience, is hardworking, high achieving and can lead a group of adults and students.

In the current process of choosing the new Head, there have yet to be any major setbacks. However, the most common setback is a candidate’s preconceived notion of Dallas and the Dallas stereotype. Even more, a candidate could have a change of heart at the last second and decide to stay at their current school. But so far, it has been smooth sailing for Lowry and her coworkers.

As the whole Upper School anxiously awaits to hear who their new Head of Upper School is, Menaka Naidu, junior and rising President of Student Council, addresses her feelings on the changing culture and what she hopes to see in her new Head.

“To help us have a successful school year, our new Head of Upper School should be willing to listen to the ideas of the students,” Naidu said. “I am excited to see how a new Head will bring a fresh perspective to the job, while also upholding the same Hockaday traditions and values that have been in place for years.”

by Ava Berger • Staff Writer

TIDBITS AND TALES

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Graduation Season Is Here!

A Much-Needed Break

Golf Goes for Gold

A Night to Remember

April is upon us, and spring has sprung. That means it’s graduation season. Commencement practice kicks off on April 10. Are the seniors excited? Getting a little jittery? Either way, the countdown is on, and the rest of the Upper School is all practicing for your special night.

The month of April is one filled with short but much-needed days off. While some students are off at the Independent School Association of the Southwest Arts Festival showing off their art from April 11 to April 13, those not attending the festival will be enjoying a day off for an Upper School faculty workday on April 12.

Golf will be teeing off at the Southwest Preparatory Conference on April 29. Last year, varsity golf coach Rodney Skaife and his team placed third out of 12 teams. Practicing at Brookhaven, the golf team is getting ready to bring down the competition for the second year in a row. Go golfers!

On April 27 at 7 p.m., the long-awaited senior milestone will take place: senior prom. The prom chairs, have been preparing ever since Allaso Ranch in August and are getting ready to show off all their hard work. In a form meeting on April 8, the seniors learned that the theme would be “Eyes on Us,” a play on the song “Scream & Shout” by will.i.am and Britney Spears.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY MOLLY FORD, SALLY HUDSPETH AND KATIE O’MEARA

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The Hockaday School

April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

Your World

TODAYvs.100 YEARS Ago

FIGHTING FOR ENFRANCHISEMENT • Suffragettes paraded down Fifth Ave. in Oct. 1917. They carried with them the signatures of more than 1million women from New York who desired the right to vote. Thanks to the efforts of suffragists like these, women gained the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

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t is the 21st century and the year is 2019. Turn back the clock, and your world today would not look the same as your world 100 years ago. In the early 20th century, movies were silent and there was no national anthem. Children were dropping out of school because there were not any federal laws against child labor. World War I, the war to supposedly end all wars, had recently concluded after four years of gruesome fighting. The U.S. population was a mere 104.5 million people compared to the 326.8 million people now.

It seems that in the past 100 years, our world has changed drastically. But one of the biggest differences between 1919 and 2019 is the ways in which voting rights in the U.S. have changed.

Only 100 years ago American women were still not allowed to vote in the U.S. We declared independence in 1776, yet it was not until 1920 when women were finally able to declare their independence and have the right to vote. Thanks to the 19th amendment, “citizens of the United States...shall not be denied or abridged [the right to vote] by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Today, many people take for granted that the U.S. Constitution does not allow the restriction of voting based on race, sex and age. A women living 100 years ago would be looked down upon by society and not allowed to have a say in the government.

Senior Eloise Sinwell is very passionate about women’s rights and identifies as a feminist. As a result, she strongly believes that the unequal voting rights that for so long existed in the U.S. were unjust.

“I feel like [not having the right to vote] would be such a dehumanizer,” Sinwell says.

“Not having the ability to have a say in the policies that directly affect us—that is not how people should live.”

Women’s suffrage was the female struggle for equality that ultimately united women across the United States under the same motivation: in this case, to gain the right to vote. This struggle started in the 19th century.

Upper School history teacher Dr. Elizabeth Bennett believes that the suffrage movement was a powerful movement, especially given age in which it occurred.

“The early women’s rights movement was a remarkably progressive call for equality,” Bennett said. This time was marked as the Progressive Era, a time of widespread social activism, sometimes also referred to as the Women’s Era.” In 1890, the National American Suffrage Association (NAWSA), led by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone, was created by merging two rivalry women’s organizations—the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association.

The union of the two groups became a pivotal movement for the push of the 19th Amendment. NAWSA held annual conventions, participated in marches and published suffrage pamphlets, broadsides and books to try to gain

the equality of gender.

“I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand,” Anthony said when she spoke publicly about women’s rights at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Syracuse, New York on Sept. 10, 1852.

Furthermore, World War I concluded in 1918. While the war was full fledged, many men were off, leaving women to work and supply for their family. This gave women the opportunity to prove and demonstrate their independence and ability in professional fields.

Although women were showing off their independence and power, the war actually derailed the movement’s focus.

“ Women are not only imagining themselves capable of entering professions dominated by men, but they are doing it in greater numbers. And it’s exciting to see that.”

Elizabeth Bennett Upper School History Teacher “People don’t really like change during upheaval,” Bennett explained.

However, as soon as the war was over, women had proven that they could hold powerful positions, and the battle for woman’s right resumed.

The 19th Amendment required one year, two months and 14 days before it was ratified in 1920. But, what finally allowed the passage of the amendment ultimately granting women the right to vote? It was a combination of powerful females, the growing popularity of the women organizations and the growing female workforce.

Finally, women’s struggle for the legal right to vote concluded; however, as we all still know, 101 years later, the fight for equality is still in full force.

Bennett thinks that a prominent issue that women are currently fighting is the underrepresentation the professional workforce, where women are also struggling to gain equal pay.

While women are battling these societal problems, change is also occurring. For instance, women currently make up a quarter of the U.S. Congress, which is the highest percentage in our history, demonstrating the increasing respect for women.

Demonstrated by the NAWSA, when women come together, change is possible.

“It is so inspiring to see a huge sisterhood of people working together. They are each so different and come from different backgrounds, but they have [the fight for women’s equality] in common,” Sinwell says.

Change is even happening in the immediate Hockaday community. Junior Celese Gierhart is one activist who is using her voice to try to affect change regarding still-existing voting issues.

“Voting is not always encouraged [by society],” Gierhart explained.

So, in October 2018, Gierhart, a member of the Dallas Youth Commission, hosted the first voting registration at Hockaday, encouraging young women to vote.

“Everyone should have the right to vote,” Gierhart said. Taking her words into action, on April 18, she is planning to host another registration for the mayoral and city council election, again encouraging the Hockaday community to vote.

Though there is still a long way to go

PHOTO PROVIDED BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

since women gained the right to vote, change is happening.

“Women are not only imagining themselves capable of entering professions dominated by men, but they are doing it in greater numbers,” Bennett said. “And it’s exciting to see that.”

by Kate Clark • Staff Writer

news

The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

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PHOTO BY KATE WODHOUSE

hockadayfourcast.org

Hockaday Impact is IN

DISCUSSING THEIR IMPACT • Dr. Barbara Fishel chats with Form I Dean Jordan Innerarity. Fishel is working on combining her Microbiology and Human Diseases class with Burnet Elementary’s The Doctor is IN program.

Hockaday helps Dallas Independent School District implement a new virtual doctor program.

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lanning, dedicating classes to hands-on work and behind-the-scenes fundraising, Hockaday faculty and students are taking the initiative to ensure that nothing prevents the students at David G. Burnet Elementary School in North Dallas from attending school.

Primarily composed of students with low income backgrounds, Burnet Elementary struggles with their attendance records. Not only is this detrimental to their students’ education, but also funding for public schools is based off the school’s attendance record, and therefore having low attendance impacts the overall school.

One of the primary causes of the students missing school is children who suffer from illnesses.

Director of the William B. Dean Service Learning Program Laura Day spoke to the principal at Burnet about this subject.

“The principal at Burnet was talking to me about her biggest issue when battling the school’s attendance records is that when a kid gets sick, the parent can’t get out of work to take them to the doctor or else they will get fired. Therefore, the kid’s older sibling has to miss school and stay at home with them. So what happens is a fourth grader has to stay home with their first grade sibling and miss school,” Day said.

This can also be an issue in terms of the school’s funding, as the amount of funding a school receives is based off of its overall average daily attendance record.

In the Children’s Health article “SchoolBased Telehealth: The Doctor is IN” which discusses how the program works, Superintendent of Lancaster Independent School Dr. Michael

McFarland explained the direct impact the program has had on schools that virtual doctor has been implemented in.

“The metrics are clear. Since we began telehealth in 2014, our absenteeism rate has dropped two percent, resulting in $500,000 of increased funding for our school district,” McFarland stated.

Upon learning this news, Day began looking at ways to remedy this problem eventually stumbling upon the Children’s Medical Hospital’s School-Based Telehealth: The Doctor is IN program.

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What’s amazing is if a student gets sick at school, they go to the nurse and the virtual doctor completely cuts out the entire process of the parents having to leave work to go take their kids to the doctor.”

Laura Day Director of Institute for Social Impact

The Doctor is IN program installs a virtual doctor into school nurses’ offices. While a doctor sits at a desk at the Children’s Hospital, he or she is able do a virtual check up on the students and diagnose them. The doctor then goes through the secure, electronic medical record collection and prescribes the student the needed medication found the closest drug store. Therefore, all the parent has to do is stop by the drug store and pick it up after work.

Day set up a meeting with the director of the program at the Children’s Medical Center to inform them about the attendance issue at Burnet and to request that the program be installed at the elementary school. The director ultimately approved Burnet Elementary and began the installation process.

“What’s amazing is if a student gets sick at school, they go to the nurse and the virtual doctor completely cuts out the entire process of the parents having to leave work to go take their kids to the doctor,” Day said.

Meanwhile the nurse at Burnett still checks the students’ vitals and provides the students with human-to-human contact instead of there just being a computer that the students come to see.

However, each visit with the virtual doctor costs the family of the student $32 if the family does not have Medicaid, the national public health insurance program for people in the low income range.

“This can be a huge burden on some of the families, as many of them are living paycheck to paycheck,” Day said.

Day spoke with junior Phoebe Sanders about this worry. Sanders then had the idea to organize a fundraiser to combat this issue at a yoga studio that she frequents, Black Swan Yoga.

“When Mrs. Day brought up the money issue with regards to the Burnet project, I thought about the yoga studio that I go to and how they do a fair number of community service yoga classes, and I thought it would be the perfect way to bring my two communities together,” Sanders said.

Sanders then spoke with the owners of the yoga studio and hosted the fundraising class.

“The money from the fundraiser and future Hockaday fundraisers for the cause are so that none of families have to pay the $32 and so that every student can go see the virtual doctor, no matter what family they are from,” Day said.

Even more, Dean of Studies and science teacher Dr. Barbara Fishel is currently working with Day to merge Fishel’s Microbiology and Human Diseases class with Burnet’s virtual doctor program for the upcoming school year.

“We are planning for students in the class to work in the clinic with the nurse and observe the virtual doctor and the diseases that the children come in with,” Day said.

Both faculty members hope it will be mutually beneficial for students at both of the schools.

“The emphasis in merging the two programs is so that my students will not only hopefully help Burnet, but they will also realize that the diseases we are studying aren’t just overseas but that they are happening right here in the Dallas community,” Fishel stated.

If the project is a success, Day plans to implement similar programs into other schools that Hockaday works with.

“I plan to track the data to see if the students’ scores go up. If this virtual doctor shows good results with regards to the school’s overall academic success, then we know this is an answer to educational success,” Day said.

by Ashlye Dullye • Business Manager

PLAN ON IT Alumnae Day April 26

Easter Break April 19-22 Commencement Practice Form I April 10

SPC Golf April 29-30

Senior Honors Assembly April 25

ISAS April 11-13

Senior White Dress Photo April 25

Senior Prom April 27

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY SHEA DUFFY, KATIE O’MEARA, SALLY HUDSPETH, ERIN PAROLISI, ELIANA GOODMAN AND WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

rts & life

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The Hockaday School

I admire Eilish’s ability to say whatever she wants to say in her songs, but after a few listens, it’s hard to find meaning in her lyrics.”

Bold and Bolder p08

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANGEL CITY CHORALE

Twelve Million Viewers Agree ➝ Story by Paige Halverson • Managing Editor

MAKING IT BIG •The Angel City Chorale performed during America’s Got Talent’s 13th Season, wowing the audience with their moving performance, awe-inspiring unity and Simon Cowell-approved song choices. Marian Higginbotham Niles ’62 was one member of the 116-member choir.

If you look hard enough, Hockaday alumnae can be found all over the globe: making breakthroughs in the field of medicine, exploring the vast reaches and archaeological sites throughout our planet and making their mark in male-dominated professions.

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t’s safe to say, Hockadaisies are known for their determination, dedication and natural spunk. So, when Marian Higginbotham Niles ’62, along with the Angel City Chorale, took “America’s Got Talent” by storm in 2017, one wouldn’t have to look too hard to see just what a former Hockaday student can accomplish.

Before Simon Cowell hailed the group “one of the best choirs he’d ever had,” Niles wasn’t always garnering a crowd of around 12 million viewers each performance.

“Since my days with the Hockaday Glee Club and Mr. Merriman, I have always loved to sing with a group. However, after high school I didn’t pursue that interest in any formal way,” Niles said.

“A friend of mine who sings in the choir knew of my love of singing and encouraged me to try out for Angel City. About five years ago, I mustered up my courage and decided to audition. I got in and was immediately surrounded by an incredible group of warm and welcoming people.”

The Angel City Chorale was started

by Director Sue Fink to give her voice students a place to sing together. From the beginning, the mission was to “build community one song at a time,” according to Niles. Twenty-six years later, and now one of the premier singing groups in Southern California, Angel City Chorale has over 150 singers from all over Los Angeles, ages 18 to 88, representing the city’s many diverse cultures.

Michael Lever, a representative and press contact for Angel City Choral, has watched the group grow and evolve.

“Angel City Chorale reflects the spirit and diversity of Los Angeles in its membership, its music and its outreach activities,” Lever explained. “Equally committed to good music and good deeds, the chorale is dedicated to ‘building community one song at a time.’”

Anyone with a passion and appreciation towards music with a heart for building community is welcomed and encouraged to audition, regardless of age, race, religion, sexuality or political views.

“The music director wants everyone to feel the joy of singing and doesn’t like to turn anyone away,” Niles said. “However, it is important to be able to carry a tune and read music.”

Before their “America’s Got Talent” debut, the choir had been busy with two concerts a year in a variety of music genres, such as classical, pop, jazz, world music and gospel.

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Being a part of Angel City Chorale has widened my horizons tremendously, which at my age is a particular gift.”

Marian Higginbotham Niles Class of ‘62

“I soon found out that many were singers at about my level but a remarkable number were highly trained and very talented,” Niles said. “I was immediately immersed in learning a piece by Christopher Tin called ‘The Drop that Contained the Sea,’ a cycle of songs inspired from music around the world and written in languages such as Urdu, Bulgarian, Mandarin and Swahili. It was a challenge to be sure but we conquered it and eventually took it to London, where it was Premiered at Cadogan Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.”

In late 2017, the group received a call from The National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC) top-rated talent competition, “America’s Got Talent,” asking them if they would audition for their upcoming thirteenth season, after seeing the group on YouTube. The show urged the group to sing their version of Toto’s “Africa,” which had gotten over 30 million views.

Saying that the group was a hit would be an understatement.

“We thought it would be a fun experience but fully expected it to be a

one shot deal—we would perform once and be done,” Niles said. “Well, that was the beginning of a seven-month odyssey involving hours of rehearsal time, hiring a choreographer, costume fittings, make-up sessions and, of course, performing on live television.”

Angel City Choral ended up earned the coveted Golden Buzzer and reached the Semi-Finals, touching over 20 million viewers with their rich sound and compelling message of unity and diversity.

“On our second round we got the ‘golden buzzer’ when sirens went off, lights flashed and golden confetti poured down on our heads,” Niles said. “It meant that we automatically advanced to the final rounds, which would be broadcast live from the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, home of the Academy Awards.”

Unfortunately, the group was shockingly eliminated during the semi-finals, after performing “The Rising” by Bruce Springsteen in honor of the heroes from 9/11, but for Niles and the rest of the choir, the gift of performing was all the prize they needed.

“We made it to the semi-finals which was way beyond our dreams and gave us a publicity boost which we could never have gotten otherwise,” Niles said. “We learned that the world of television is one of patience and repetition, but it was new and exciting as well and such a thrill to be in the middle of myriads of lights, sound systems, stage hands, props and T.V. stars.”

After captivating a wide American audience, Niles may have a fan a little closer to home—her niece, Alice Roberts, a current Hockaday junior.

“I admire how she’s found a group of people that, no matter how diverse, has come together to create amazing music,” Roberts said. “We were really excited for her when they made it to ‘America’s Got Talent.’ You can spot her on stage because she is very tall, so she stands out.”

Although their foray into television pushed the group into the limelight, allowing them to sing at higher profile gigs such as halftime entertainment at a

Rams football game, they remain dedicated towards service and works in their community. Continuing with this theme, they plan to embark on their annual Tour of Hope program, in which the singers perform concerts for the homeless, the elderly and others whom the group hopes would benefit from an infusion of holiday spirit.

“Being a part of Angel City Chorale has widened my horizons tremendously, which at my age is a particular gift,” Niles said. “I’ve met and gotten to know a new and diverse group of people I wouldn’t otherwise have known and more than anything, I think, I have reaffirmed my belief in the power of music to bring people together, break down barriers and build community.”

With a plethora of performances in the works, and talent seeping from every singer’s mouth, the chorale is on its way up. Unmistakably, for Niles and her group of talented fellow performers, the spotlight has proved beneficial, and as judge Simon Cowell perfectly stated, after hearing the group sing, “if this is heaven, I’m happy, because this is what it felt like.”

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NUMBERS

116 1962 13 Members in the Choir

Year of Graduating Class of Niles

Million Views on Youtube of “Africa”

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Looking ahead

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arts & life

Age of Digital Love

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Hats Off to the Class of 2019

It’s 90 Degrees Somewhere

Stealing the Stage at Kidchella

PHOTO BY ELIANA GOODMAN

Hockaday Community Service Board Hosts Service Event At Gooch Elementary

BREAKING IT DOWN • Hockaday Show Choir warms up in preparation for their performance of “Wings” and “Brave” for the guests at KidChella. Junior Chloe Johnson centers the stage, helping to lead their dance. The event took place on April 6 at Gooch Elementary School and was jointly run by Hockaday and St. Mark’s students.

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s the winter wanes and sunnier weather pervades, thousands prepare for 2019’s music and arts festival season, equipped with glitter tattoos and memorized lyrics on hand. Coachella, arguably most popular of these festivals housed in southern California, had some Texas-sized competition this April: Kidchella, an arts festival organized by Hockaday’s Community Service Board for students at Chapel Hill Elementary School and Gooch Elementary.

On April 6, roughly 30 students from Hockaday and the St. Mark’s School of Texas gathered in Gooch’s hallways to provide an artistic experience for the students Hockaday already tutors.

Members of Hockaday and St. Mark’s’ fine arts clubs and activities, such as the improv troupe and Hockaday Show Choir, came ready to sing, dance, improvise, hold workshops for and provide food for the kids at Kidchella.

Bianca Schwimmer, the Head of Hockaday’s Community Service Board, conceptualized and planned this festival along with other members of

PICTURE

Heusinger, a member of Hockaday’s Community Service Board, commented on the abrupt change of plans.

“We had to be a little flexible, but we are all set up and super excited,” Heusinger said at the event.

Kidchella was a completely free event that welcomed the entire families of Gooch and Chapel Hill students to enjoy the chef’s grilling station and booths run by Hockaday and St. Mark’s artists.

Kidchella’s roughly 40 guests were also be able to watch performances decorate, do hands-on crafts, make balloons and design T-shirts.

Upon hearing that she’d get to make slime, a six-year-old Gooch student squealed with excitement.

“I am going to make pink slime and name it Cosmo,” she said.

The Hockaday Show Choir also performed on stage for Kidchella’s audience. Show Choir member and rising Community Service Board Chair Gina Miele reflected on her excitement about Kidchella.

“We are planning on performing two songs: a bit of a faster one and a little slower one to mix it up. I think that we are going to do “Wings” by Little Mix and “Brave” by Sara Bareilles,” Miele said. “I am so excited because these kids don’t get many chances to get involved with fine arts.”

After Show Choir sang and danced to their two songs, the Improv Troupe played two acting games. During their second game, where they acted out various fairy tale plots under strict time constraints, the improv-ers invited kids from the audience to perform with them.

Roughly 10 little girls excitedly aided the improv troupe members in their impromptu performance of “Cinderella,” playing Cinderella, the fairy godmother and animal helpers.

The kids had one more opportunity to brave the stage: after improv wrapped up, students sang “Reflections” from “Mulan,” a Spanish song and “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana.”

Their performances were loudly applauded and the happiness in the auditorium in the room was tangible.

Art programs have been systematically underfunded at public schools in America, and many kids from lower-income neighborhoods in Dallas and across the nation do not have access to art-related extracurriculars. Day relayed her excitement about the importance of exposing art and creativity into everyone’s lives.

“I’m most excited to see kids at the public schools doing things they’ve never had access to. They’ve never seen improv games or a show choir. I love the idea of bridging the opportunity gap through art and getting kids who don’t have access to things access to them,” Day said.

According to studies conducted by many organizations such as PBS and arts.gov, a federal agency whose goal is to promote creativity through the arts, childhood exposure to artistic activities boosts kids’ self-esteem and encourages more advanced childhood development.

By giving Kidchella’s guests access to the arts, Schwimmer hopes to facilitate the positive benefits of creativity in those kids.

“Creativity and crafts were some of my favorite parts of growing up and are just important parts of being a kid,” Schwimmer said.

“I hope that they’ll be able to use creativity as an outlet to express their emotions and also to use it as a way to further education. I read and believe that creativity goes hand-in-hand with organizational skills.”

by Eliana Goodman • Magazine Editor

Since Hockaday’s roots in 1913, the school has housed priceless art pieces. Ela Hockaday herself was an art collector and befriended famous artists such as Gertrude Stein. Even after the move to the current Welch Road Campus, Hockaday owns a lot of valuable art, a little-known fact that can often come as a surprise. Here, The Fourcast is giving an insider look at the history behind some of Hockaday’s most beloved art pieces. Upon reading the inside scoop regarding art pieces at Hockaday, The Fourcast encourages its readers to walk around campus and admire the beautiful paintings.

PHOTOS BY ELIANA GOODMAN

PERFECT

the board and Director of the William B. Dean Institute for Social Impact Laura Day. “It was Bianca’s idea at the beginning of the year; she thought it would be cool to do Coachella for one of our partners. It is such a new, cool idea,” Day said.

After meeting with Day to plan over logistics, Schwimmer and the rest of Hockaday’s Community Service Board coordinated with St. Mark’s to plan the event. Artists, Community Service Board members and volunteers from both schools agreed to help plan Kidchella and work with the kids.

“We are going to go to Gooch and tutor in the morning and then provide lunch. Then, there’s going to be a stage that will have productions, singing, dancing and improv that the kids can watch and interact with,” Schwimmer said.

Originally, the Community Service Board planned to hold Kidchella on one of Gooch’s fields,but because of heavy rain and stormy weather on April 6, they moved the festival into the school’s auditorium and main hallway. Grace

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The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

Spectacular Stripes Hanging in the Whittenberg Terrace sits a prized Ellsworth Kelly. The art piece, which is striped with color blocks, characterizes Kelly’s hard-edge period style which emphasizes lines, color and form. His piece, titled Blue/Yellow/Red is located to the right of the fireplace in the teacher dining room and often goes unnoticed. Kelly’s piece was gifted from the class of 1958 after it was painted between 1970-1973. It is a small piece with three bars of color and resembles other Kelly works in prestigious museums like the Museum of Modern Art. Kelly belonged to the color-field movement in American painting and gained inspiration from painters like Rafka. The goal behind many of his paintings, including this one, is to evoke emotions in his viewers using color.

First Impressions

Delicately stroked lines of a woman wearing shaded white blouse catch guests’ eyes as soon they enter the Memorial Dining Room; esteemed painter William Merritt Chase’s “Portrait of a Young Lady in a White Blouse” is arguably one of Hockaday’s most famous paintings. It highlights Chase’s perceptive use of color, fleshy tones and portraits of sitting men and women. Chase, who was prominent during the Impressionist movement, is known to be one of the most famous American artists. Many art scholars often travel to Hockaday just to see this piece to study Chase’s techniques.

Beautiful Bluebonnets Nicknamed the “Father of Texas Painting,” Julian Onderdonk was an impressionist painter known for his landscape pieces in the early 20th century from around 1911 to 1922. Hockaday houses two of his paintings of bluebonnets, located in the Memorial Dining Room and Whittenberg Terrace. He has a small painting, which looks completely blue from afar in the Memorial Dining Room and a larger one above the fireplace in Whittenberg. In his work, Field of Bluebonnets Under a Cloud Sky, the painting above the fireplace, Onderdonk uses color techniques to highlight a glorious, classic Texan bluebonnet field. Hockaday also owns similar paintings by Texas painter Frank Reaugh.

by Eliana Goodman • Magazine Editor

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The Hockaday School

April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

Reviews & Reflections

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of Penny. Penny and Sam start a friendship after Penny helps Sam when he has a panic attack in the middle of the street, thus coining the moniker “emergency contact.”

The words “emergency contact” take on a different meaning with Penny and Sam, who quickly become each other’s texting go-tos and form an unusual friendship where they only text, but don’t make an effort to see each other in real life. Nevertheless, Penny begins to quickly fall for Sam. In between this odd virtual relationship, Penny deals with her mom’s drama, her strained relationship with Jude and a story she’s writing for her creative writing class. Sam struggles with his demonic ex-girlfriend and shooting his first documentary. But they still come back to each other, sharing their deepest and darkest secrets.

The book ends with Penny and Sam finally reconciling in person and Sam realizing that he’s also fallen for Penny. A sort of stereotypical ending, but it doesn’t matter because after reading the book, you want them to be together so bad.

Choi has a talent for creating characters so real, they almost feel like they could be someone you know. She includes the tiniest details, like Penny being lactose intolerant.

Sometimes, characters in books can be pretty one-dimensional, but not Penny and Sam. Why do I know that Sam’s mom’s favorite tart flavor is plum?

Choi doesn’t shy away from the big issues, either. Penny is Korean, and throughout the novel she is constantly fighting racist remarks made by her roommate’s best friend or someone else. And when Penny finally shares with Sam that her old tutor raped her, Choi weaves a scenario so heartbreaking that you want to reach through the pages and give Penny a big hug.

Overall, the storyline, while being pretty plain, is highlighted by Choi’s storytelling skills and ability to embellish mundane scenarios. If you’re into YA books, witty humor and scenes so touching that you’ll emit a sincere “aw,” give “Emergency Contact” a read.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY WIKI COMMONS

If I had to guess, I’ve probably read around 300 books in my lifetime. And while many of those were akin to “Magic Treehouse” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” the bulk of the books are in the Young Adult genre. So, I guess you could say that I know a good YA book when I read one, and “Emergency Contact” by Mary H. K. Choi definitely fits under that category.

“Emergency Contact” was published on March 27, 2018, and has amassed reviews from esteemed authors such as Rainbow Rowell and awards like the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fiction award.

I was first drawn to this book because of the beautiful cover art, which is light pink with black illustration and gold lettering. In this case, you should judge a book by its cover, because it’s truly one of the prettiest covers I’ve ever seen.

As for the actual storyline, it’s pretty realistic—the two main characters, Penny and Sam, live in Austin, Texas. Penny is a freshman at the University of Texas and is adjusting to living alone, and Sam is an aspiring documentary filmmaker and college dropout who works and lives at a coffee shop.

The two meet through Penny’s boisterous roommate Jude, who is basically the opposite

AGE OF DIGITAL LOVE

4 stars

by Ponette Kim • Copy Editor

CHOICES FROM CHOI

OTHER EMO TUNES FROM BILLIE EILISH

1. “bury a friend” 2. “when the party’s over” Oh Never Mind

Zapped

Permanent Record

Eat Pray Roll

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY WIKI COMMONS

3. “ocean eyes” 4. “COPYCAT” 5. “idon’twanttobeyouanymore”

BOLD AND BOLDER

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6. “come out and play” 7. “party favor”

A Review of Billie Eilish’s New Album

It wasn’t a long time ago that suddenly everyone around me knew the name of Billie Eilish, the 17-year-old younger-than-me pop star whose songs took over all of my friends’ Spotify playlists. Even my 12-yearold sister sings along to her songs.

Overnight, Eilish somehow became the definition of the cool girl. From baggy, eccentric clothes to spiders that crawl over her face in a music video, every aspect of her breaks the stereotype of what a teenage pop star should look like. But no matter how unique Eilish is, what really decides whether her success is long-term will be the quality of her music.

On March 29, Eilish released her much-anticipated album, “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” To many, this collection of 14 tracks will determine if Eilish is here to stay. The album includes four pre-released singles, “wish you were gay,” “bury a friend,” “when the party’s over” and “you should see me in a crown,” all of which made the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

Much of Eilish’s popularity can be attributed to the eccentric persona that she has cultivated on her social media, interviews and songs. It comes to no surprise that “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” is full of this personality, or rather, personalities. This album is Eilish’s playground, where she takes on a collage of different personas that offer a glimpse of

what it’s like to be 17 and famous.

The album opens with a goofy intro, where Eilish says, “I have taken out my Invisalign and this is the album,” a line that reminds listeners that the singer is still a teenager. Then, Eilish dives into the first song, “bad guy,” and uses the whole track to define the persona that she’s creating.

Though the song itself is catchy and the instrumentals are easily enjoyable, the message of “bad guy” goes little beyond Eilish’s attempt to reiterate her bad girl persona.

For that reason, it’s hard to take the track seriously. But again, pointlessness is part of the attitude that Eilish is selling, so there’s no doubt that those who love the singer’s personality will enjoy “bad guy.”

As if a whole song dedicated to her rebellious personality is not enough, Eilish makes her statement louder in “all the good girls go to hell.” This track is full of sensational lines such as “my lucifer is lonely” and “even God herself has enemies.”

At a closer glance, however, the lyrics are incoherent and confusing. I have no idea why “Hills burn in California” is followed by “My turn to ignore ya” other than the fact that they rhyme.

This is what I find the most fault with on the album. Many of Eilish’s songs are sensational but fail to speak beyond surface-level fun. I admire Eilish’s ability to say whatever she wants to say in her songs, but

after a few listens, it’s hard to find meaning in her lyrics. In some cases, the lyrics are unnecessarily gruesome, such as the line “cannibal class, killing the son” in “bury a friend” that is very disturbing but has little to no relation to the rest of the song.

In the quieter moments on her album, however, Eilish is able to speak on serious issues. While “xanny” addresses the dangers of recreational drug use, “listen before i go” is a raw ballad about thoughts of suicide. In these highlight moments, Eilish is able to step out of her tough persona and present a more vulnerable and insightful version of herself.

Eilish also shows her vulnerable side in the many love songs that are featured on this album. In a good number of the tracks, Eilish struggles with complicated romantic relationships. Of these songs, “wish you were gay” is popular amongst the singer’s fans.

Although Eilish has stated that the song is not meant to be offensive to the LGBTQ+ community, I personally find fault with wishing somebody’s gay just because they don’t return your love, when being gay in America is so much more complicated than a 17-year-old’s “wish.” But these love songs become repetitive as they ultimately touch on similar emotional themes, and by the end of the album, it was hard for me to distinguish one of Eilish’s relationship problems from another.

And yes, the 14 tracks on the album

became very repetitive as I listened.

Although Eilish is known by her signature sound of feathery-light vocals (which are lovely, by the way) backed with heavy bass, I expected to hear more variations on her voice in the album. To my disappointment, not only did she practically sing all of her songs in the same way, but even some of her melody became repetitive and boring.

Overall, “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” is unmistakably Billie Eilish—youthful, unapologetic and often cynical. If you’ve always been a fan, chances are you’ll love it; but if you’re not, it appears that the 17-year-old pop star failed to bring anything new to the table this time.

4 stars

by Michelle Chen • Web Editor

arts & life

The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

PHOTOS BY PAIGE HALVERSON AND BALDO’S ICE CREAM

hockadayfourcast.org

1 Baldo’s Ice Cream 6401 Hillcrest Ave, Dallas, TX. 972.913.4001

It’s 90 Degrees Somewhere

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From the ashes of one of Dallas’ most iconic and mourned burger joints, rises another, like a blazing, swanky, succulent-filled phoenix. Although hot dogs, patties and Wiener Schnitzels aren’t on the menu this time, Baldo’s Ice Cream and Coffee promises just the same amount of fun and prominence on Hillcrest Ave. Ice cream is delicious. Coffee is delicious. Ice cream and coffee? Divine. So, with the death of the frozen yogurt trend—one long overdue, in my opinion—Baldo’s strategically opened in the peak of the summer of 2017. With it came the crowds, eager to experience a new phenomenon: a Scoop Shop Café.

Baldo’s isn’t simply a marriage between Dairy Queen and Starbucks, and don’t expect to find any mundane vanilla ice cream in their freezer. Its owners, three Southern Methodist University graduates, and its chef, Aldo Sandoval, strive to bring quality handmade ice cream with a coffee shop atmosphere, rotating a selection of ice cream, cookie dough, pastries and coffee. From day to night, coffee to ice cream, Baldo’s is becoming a new hot spot in the Highland Park vicinity.

When I arrived around 8 p.m on a Wednesday, the line was practically out the door with SMU students, older couples on dates and parents with their young ones in tow. Each and every seat was filled with satisfied Dallasites remarking on the room’s modernity, their ample ice cream portions or the handmade waffle cones being crafted right before their avid eyes. I physically had to drag my brother through the crowds, but honestly he would probably endure just about anything with the promise of free ice cream.

As a versed coffee connoisseur with a slight, self-admitted addiction to caffeine, I ordered a 20 ounce latte. I don’t claim to have superior taste buds, but this specific cup hit the spot, much better than its Starbucks alternative. I may have found a new location to fuel my coffee cravings, which I plan to test upon the eve of my upcoming math test.

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I ordered my favorite—a single scoop of pistachio on a waffle cone—but was promptly ridiculed by my siblings for embarrassing them and “being 40.” My brother ordered a double scoop of cookies ‘n cream and peppermint bark on a waffle cone, and when I preceded to inquire on the taste he informed me that it tasted “just how you would think,” so I guess we’ll never know.

My ice cream and waffle cone on the other hand was truly delicious, with an equally satisfying price of $4.50. With the still-warm waffle cone in my hand, I chose a free leather, mid-century sofa and examined the dessert’s flavors and the room around me. Every wall was adorned with pieces of modern art, most notably a replica of the England-based street artist, Banksy’s “Balloon Girl.”

With broken down Top 40 hits accompanying me and my ice cream, I felt transported from my seat in Dallas to an alternative, trendy SoHo cafe, surrounded by an appropriate amount of succulents for 2019.

When I fall in love with a new restaurant or Dallas spot, I always claim to return and reshare in its wonder, but in the end, I fail, sliding back into my routine. This might not be the case for Baldo’s Ice Cream and Coffee.

The overall mood and superb ice cream and coffee just cannot be beat, and I am anxiously awaiting my next visit to finally find out what the combo of cookies ‘n cream and peppermint bark tastes like.

5 stars

by Paige Halverson • Managing Editor

From the FOURCAST Kitchen Managing Editor Paige Halverson’s Affogato al Caffè

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Double Scoop of Cookies ‘n Cream and Peppermint Bark, $6.00 Mini Cone Flight, $7.00 Double Scoop of Lavender Ice Cream, $6.00

Ingredients:

Directions:

Topping Inspiration:

1. One scoop of vanilla ice cream 2. One shot of hot espresso

1. Place the ice cream in a serving glass, dish, etcetera, as long as it is clear glass.

2. Pour the hot coffee over the ice cream.

3. You may decorate the affogato with cream, chocolate, etcetera.

4. Enjoy immediately!

1. Coffee beans 2. Chocolate chips 3. Whipped cream 4. Sprinkles 5. Caramel syrup

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April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

IN THE POP CULTURE WORLD

HATS OFF TO THE CLASS OF 2019

Shop ‘til You Drop At the end of March, Instagram launched a new shopping feature that allows users to buy items from over 20 brands and checkout directly through the app. Previously, users could click a product to shop, and the app would take them to an external website for checkout. The popular social media company launched the new update through an invite-only beta test, partnering with beauty brands Anastasia Beverly Hills, ColourPop, Kylie Cosmetics, M.A.C. and more. The participating brands pay a fee, and Instagram will cover the companies’ purchase-protection policies. This means that if something is lost or damaged during shipping, Instagram will cover the company’s cost. Now, when users tap on a product tag, they will have the option to check out on Instagram, which will save their contact and shipping information for future orders. Users can also add a pin to secure their transactions. Currently, Instagram only allows one-item purchases, but the team plans to introduce multi-item purchasing in future updates.

One hundred and nineteen seniors will process through Graduation Terrace next month, and with that, exactly 119 hats shall and must adorn their collective heads.

Even though the seniors are graduating, and yes, that’s important, life-changing, the best moment of their lives and all, arguably their floral arrangements are destined to steal the show. From the classic choice of a Hockaday daisy to the inevitable succulent or two or 20, the senior graduation hat often represents each individual’s unique personality for their special day. Here’s a list of The Fourcast-approved, Dallas-based florists to help your floral desires become a reality on graduation day.

Apples to Zinnia

DIRT Flowers

417 N Bishop Ave., Dallas, Texas 75208 214-242-9533

4024 Villanova St., Dallas, Texas 75225 214-361-2200

Dr. Delphinium

Cebolla Fine Flowers

4415 Lovers Lane, Dallas, Texas 75225 214-369-7673

Take a

Look

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Spring Has Sprung With the beautiful blooms of spring comes the all-too-frequent bad weather.

by Angelina Choucair • Staff Artist

Bows and Arrows

4908 Bryan St., Dallas, Texas 75206 214-828-2697

by Charlotte Dross & Paige Halverson • Editor-in-Chief & Managing Editor

PHOTO BY CHARLOTTE DROSS

5806 W Lovers Lane, Dallas, Texas 75225 214-522-9911

Kardashian Number Four Power couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are expecting a new addition to the family via surrogate, a baby boy who will join siblings Chicago, Saint and North to make a family of six. The mom-to-be appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live with sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian April 1 when she shared her name-choosing process with Kimmel. “We all weigh in [on the name]. I definitely take a family survey but it’s usually after the baby is born. We’re trying to figure out what the baby looks like,” Kardashian explained. “I usually go about three or four days nameless until I feel like it really connects with the baby.” She also confessed to “googling Armenian boys’ names last night” but couldn’t settle on the perfect name. Although Kardashian is considering the name Rob, after her brother, she believes it doesn’t fit with the names of her first three children.

“It’s like North, Saint, Chicago, Rob,” Kardashian said, “It doesn’t really go, but that’s the one name I was really feeling, and my brother approved it.”

Looking Into the College Scam Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman began their hearing April 3 for the high-profile college-admissions scandal in the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse. The actresses face a potential sentence of five years, but some reports are expecting a penalty of somewhere around six months to two years. In front of Judge Page Kelly, Loughlin and Huffman waived their right to a preliminary hearing, turned over their passports and agreed to a number of conditions. The Full-House actress allegedly paid half a million dollars in bribes to have her two daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli, recruited to the USC crew team. Her counterpart, Huffman, was accused of $15,000 in bribes and meeting a confidential witness who arranged for someone to correct her daughter’s SAT. As of April 3, neither of the two have entered plea deals.

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CITY SLICKER Creative Minds Spring is coming! Looking for something fun to do with family or

friends in Dallas? Check out these galleries featured during Dallas Arts Month. Each exhibit is open for only one month. Its precursor, Arts Week in Dallas, was first launched by Mayor Mike Rawlings in 2013. The purpose of this celebration is to build awareness and appreciation for artists and organizations in Dallas and to support creative activity and learning in the city. There are many free community events like the “Mayor’s Creative Conversation” and “D’JAM Jazz Open House.” Out of all the options, The Fourcast has narrowed down the list of the galleries that are worth a view. From 3-D clouds to Berthe Morisot impressionist paintings of women, there are many options to choose from all over Dallas.

PHOTOS BY JULIA DONOVAN

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The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

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A Walk in the Park Ro2 Art Scott Winterrowd: Space 1501 S. Ervay St. Dallas, Texas 75215

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That 1969 Show(case) Bivins Gallery 1969 Get Back to Where You Once Belonged 300 Crescent Court, Suit 100 Dallas, Texas 75201

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Ruby Red Nasher Sculpture Center Sterling Ruby: Sculpture 2001 Flora St. Dallas, Texas 75201

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First Impressions Dallas Museum of Art Berthe Morisot, Woman Impressionist 1717 North Harwood St. Dallas, Texas 75201

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Cloud Watching Crow Museum of Asian Art Jacob Hashimoto: Clouds and Chaos 2010 Flora St. Dallas, Texas 75201

by Julia Donovan • Staff Writer

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in focus

April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

OPPRESSION OF THE PRESS

Story by Niamh McKinney and Eugene Seong

“I can’t remember exactly what the woman said but, it was something like, ‘Ma’am, are you trying to tell me that the [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] is ringing your doorbell?’” recounts The New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi in her podcast, Caliphate. The well-known journalist received frequent threats from ISIS due to her reporting on the terrorist group and had been told by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to call the police if she ever felt unsafe. She tells the story, laughing at the absurdity of a 911 call in response to someone’s attempt to inform Callimachi of a neighborhood water main break.

However, such an anecdote is only one example of the violence journalists face increasingly often. In addition to the many threats war correspondents endure, leaders of nations from authoritarian regimes to democracies criticize the press endlessly.

Dangers of Being a Journalist “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” The Washington Post’s slogan reads. To shed light on the darkness, journalists head out to war fronts, legislative buildings and open their computers. Constantly facing challenges, they work to provide the people with facts and hidden information. Governmental pressures, potential violence and physical threats all make journalism an increasingly difficult profession. In one of the most recent and publicized cases, Saudi Arabian dissident Jamal Khashoggi’s kidnapping and murder well-illustrated the sometimes extreme dangers of being a journalist. As a harsh critic of Saudi government, the absolute Saudi monarchy saw him as a threat to their power; to silence him, the Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi at a consulate in Turkey.

The strange circumstances around Khashoggi’s disappearance and the uncooperative Saudi officials resulted in great speculation over the case. The Saudi authorities’ clear violation of human rights and the U.S. government’s soft treatment towards Saudi Arabia raised many questions regarding the freedom of the press.

There are less extreme cases of government censorship around the world, albeit still important. According to Reporters Without Borders, an international journalism organization that advocates for freedom of the press worldwide, 168 journalists and 152 citizen journalists are incarcerated as of April 2019. However, being a war correspondent presents a more imminent danger than the average local journalist. The violent nature of war draws readers in, but also risks journalists’ lives while they attempt to capture the war.

Rukmini Callimachi, an American-Romanian journalist collects ISIS documents in abandoned bases at war-stricken Syria. Currently, she specializes in covering ISIS matters, analyzing her gathered documents—ranging from prophecy pamphlets to birth certificates—and finding the technical side of the feared terrorist group.

However, diving right into the heart of ISIS has resulted in not only in her reputation as a resourceful journalist but also her constant peril derived directly from the group. In an interview with Chicago Tonight under WTTW, a broadcasting service, she commented on her work that she receives “death threats...where journalists are no longer seen as objective witnesses to conflicts.”

Civilian journalists in war zones have much less resources provided to them compared to any other journalists around the war. Because freelance war correspondents receive low pay compared to the hazardous conditions, they often have to risk their safety to cut down expenses, such as staying in a cheap hotel or not hiring a guide, which both compromise one’s safety. Tracy Walder, Upper School history teacher and ex-FBI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent, has experienced fighting in war zones such as Afghanistan and considers journalism to be a very endangered profession. “I think it would be, in my opinion, even more dangerous to be a journalist in those places than a CIA operative. I think that because they don’t have the same production, and they don’t have the same training,” Walder said. “They’re not always armed, and they’re not always going in armored vehicles, so I think sometimes it’s more dangerous for them, particularly for a female.”

History of American Laws

Illustration by Karen Lin

Since the passage of the First amendment, freedom of press has had a complicated legal history in the United States. In 1798, John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts to stop harsh criticisms against him; these acts made it illegal to criticize government officials without testifying about these criticisms in court. However, Thomas Jefferson pardoned the 25 citizens who were arrested due to these acts when he won the 1800 presidential election against John Adams.

Fortunately this somewhat petty approach to press freedom is not often repeated throughout history. Perhaps as a consequence of this harsh form of censorship, John Adams’ party, the Federalist Party, never won another election after his administration.

Sudeep Reddy, a journalist and Managing Editor of Politico, believes that politicians have always worked in relation to the media. “They all operated differently in that framework but there’s always been a mixture of politicians trying to get their message directly to the people... amplified through media organizations and trying to avoid being undermined by criticism from the public through the media,” Reddy explained.

During the Civil War, Lincoln was often criticized for censoring multiple rebel newspapers.

This use of censorship may be largely ignored because the rebel newspapers were not technically publishing in the United States and therefore not protected by the First Amendment. Throughout the 20th century, the Supreme Court ruled on several landmark decisions about freedom of the press. In the case of Near v. Minnesota in 1931, the Supreme Court’s ruling allowed for a kind of loophole for the federal government to use prior restraint during war time, which the U.S. would attempt to use in the future, occasionally with success.

Decades later in 1964, the historic case of New York Times v. Sullivan ruled that journalists cannot be prosecuted for publishing material pertaining to government officials unless it has an intent of malice. The case established the standard of malice, ensuring that publications must have malicious intent for reporting about public officials to be classified as libel.

Then, in 1976, in Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, the Supreme Court again expanded freedom of the press by virtually eliminating the power of local governments to censoring newspapers from reporting about criminal trials, under the idea of jury neutrality. More recently, however, freedom of press seems to have become more consistent, at least in terms of legal rights in the United States. “That in the United States, [freedom of press] has been fairly constant, but in parts of the world there are certainly more pressures on freedom of press, but I don’t really feel that the fundamental freedom of press in the United States has changed much,” Reddy said.

in focus

The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

International Journalism and Censorship The United States generally ranks very high on international scales of personal liberties. However, the organization Reporters Without Borders put the nation at 45th out of the countries in the world for the most press freedom. According to this ranking, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands rank as the top three countries for extensive freedom of press, while Vietnam, China, Syria, Turkmenistan and Eritrea rank as the countries with the least amount of press freedom. The organization, in its analysis of the report, talked about an overall decrease in freedom of press around the world. It stated, “More and more democratically-elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy’s essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion.”

In 2017, The Guardian reported that global press freedom decreased to the lowest level of the 21st century and that freedom of expression, including freedom of press, is at risk in both authoritarian nations as well as democracies. Decreasing levels of press freedom are frequently attributed to a rise of violence against journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) found that between 2002 and 2012, 506 journalists were killed, whereas 390 were killed in the previous decade. CPJ also found that, even in extremely violent war zones, such as in Iraq and Syria, journalists are often murdered, not accidentally killed by unrelated combat. The study attributed this to a shift since Sept. 11, 2001. Journalists are no longer seen as neutral members of the media but now as potential targets in conflicts.

Ethics of Journalism Many challenge the current press freedom in the U.S. by arguing that it should be monitored when concerning sensitive government or national security information. Currently, the government cannot censor articles containing classified information, even if the information has been illegally obtained. A wellknown case of Edward Snowden, a former CIA agent, publicized the conflict. After he leaked confidential National Security Agency (NSA) materials regarding NSA’s aspirations of global surveillance to the public, overwhelming reactions around the world praised Snowden as a hero for shedding light on the agency’s grand scheme. However, he faced harsh criticism as well, with some believing that he committed a felony as a worker employed by the government.

Walder, having worked under both the FBI and the CIA, believed that Snowden should not be praised for his actions. Before he became a whistleblower leaking critical information, Snowden was a CIA employee; he was under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government even after his leave, and his actions were technically illegal. “I personally do not find people who leak things to be heroes because you sign something called a non-disclosure agreement, or an NDA, when you leave those organizations,” Walder said. “And you know [that] whether you like it or not, it is what it is, and if you leak classified information, people overseas could be killed. So in my opinion, you’re putting other people’s lives at risk.”

However, Reddy argued that journalists should decide to reveal certain information while keeping the concern of national security in mind, and the government must not interfere in this process. He places emphasis on the journalists’ judgment on the repercussions of their article and the audiences’ right to information. “There are obviously some cases where it is incumbent upon journalists to think about the implications of their actions, and it is not unusual for government officials to make an appeal to journalists to withhold certain information that may pose a safety risk to government officials or to members of the public,” Reddy said. “But again, that is up to the journalist to decide what to reveal and what not to reveal.”

Along with the advancement of technology and an increase in accessibility to the internet, a new form of yellow journalism and disinformation arose.

However, the “fake news” has had a long history before its recent publicization by President Donald Trump. The definition of this word is debated among many experts, but Cambridge dictionary defines fake news as “false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke.” Facebook especially, out of all social networks, fosters a breeding ground for misinformation; sponsored political contents, often heavily biased, and news stories posted by unverified users have been rapidly shared by Facebook users, especially those ages 65 and up. Buzzfeed journalist Craig Silverman found that during the 2016 election, Facebook shares of top 20 disinformation stories exceeded those of the top 20 verified news, with 8.711 million shares compared to 7.367 million. Walder felt that fake news should be restricted since the misinformation presents a potential danger. “Freedom of speech is protected unless it is a clear and present danger. I personally view fake news as a clear and present danger, but not everyone does,” Walder said.

However, Reddy thinks otherwise, as he believes that it should be on the hands of the audience to determine and regulate the information they consume, not the government. He further suggested that fake news offers opportunities for users to take extra precautions to become an educated news consumer.

“News organizations have a professional obligation to ensure they’re delivering true information to their audiences. Websites and other media that deliberately supply false information – the original meaning of “fake news” outlets – are not news organizations.” Reddy said. “[This] is a reason for the audience to become discerning news consumers and it’s a reason for audiences to critically think about whatever message they’re being told, whether it is a news organization, a politician, or their facebook feed.”

Offering a different aspect towards disinformation, Jacob Palenske, Gold Key recipient from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, an association that honors the improvement of student journalism, shed light on the threat of fake news to substantiated news. “When [liberal mainstream publications] make a big mistake in reporting and don’t take swift action, and even if they do take action, it is just foddered for people to want to so doubt in a free press to use,” Palenske said. “If you give people ammunition to disparage and to disintegrate the free press, they are going to use that, and that’s because the free press is so damaging to them. They then don’t have any accountability if there is no free press to check them.”

Press Freedom Today Today, press freedom is sometimes hard to quantify. American publications are legally extremely free, but they face new issues, such as the digital age and a lack of trust in media. The current federal administration of President Trump has a complicated relationship with the press and consequently raises questions about freedom of the press in the United States. Additionally, in the digital age, new issues related to journalism constantly abound.

While cases of outright censorship from the United States government are rare today, and the Supreme Court cases of the 20th century protect publications from most lawsuits, the public’s fear of fake news, an overabundance of news sources and a more distracted audience generates uncertainty about freedom of the press in the future. The institute of journalism also faces different, undermining tactics by Trump and his administration. President Trump has frequently decried the press, whether through tweets or at his rallies, but for supporters of freedom of the press, one of his most worrying approaches to the media is blocking certain journalists from press conferences at the White House. “Obviously [president Trump’s actions are] very unprecedented, we haven’t really had that before,” Walder said. “I personally think that that violates freedom of the press because the only reason he’s blocking them is not because they’re presenting a danger, it’s simply because he doesn’t like their reporting perspective. That’s wrong.”

Trump’s rhetoric around the press when he addresses his supporters is also a new type of challenge the press faces. “The media at large, what the president has done is, is he has trained his most die-hard supporters to not think about the world in the same way the majority of the country thinks about it,” Reddy said. “So we have a subset of the population that sees him as the source of information and that is not different from what we’ve seen in other countries over time, where the independent judgment of audiences can be diminished by the repeated attacks by the leaders against the media.”

In one of his most striking instances of critiquing the press, Trump called journalists the “enemy of the people” at the Conservative Political Action Conference in early 2017. Many publications were immediately concerned with the history of this phrase, as the term “enemy of the people” was frequently used by Stalin against groups like the media that threatened his power. This type of rhetoric has proven to be fairly effective in shaping Trump supporters’ opinions on the press. In one major instance of anti-press, on Feb. 11, 2019, a BBC cameraman was attacked at a Trump rally in El Paso. The attacker, wearing a MAGA hat, seemed to be responding to Trump’s urging from on stage to boo the media. As he was dragged away by security, members of the crowd chanted, “CNN sucks! CNN sucks!”.

Whether or not politicians’ approach to the media changes, the digital age remains a major obstacle to publications. “It is much harder for a journalist in America today to maintain attention from a wide audience and that has significant risks for our democracy, because as attention spans shrink, so do the levels of awareness of most citizens about the world around them,” Reddy said.

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April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

The Hockaday School

By having a celebration just for Asian students or Asian heritage students, it is so important because we get to embrace our culture equally and we get to be recognized by our culture.

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The Coming of a Cultural Celebration p17

PHOTO BY ARUSHI MUKHERJEE

Dallas Teens Debate City Curfew ➝ Story by Shea Duffy • Sports Editor

IN THE SPOTLIGHT • Junior Celese Gierhart poses at the United States Senate on her trip to Washington District of Columbia through the Dallas Youth Commission. Through her involvement in the Commission, Gierhart works to advocate for issues that she is passionate about, such as fighting against the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance.

On Feb. 13, when most 17-year-old girls were finishing their homework or wrapping up a sports practice, junior Celese Gierhart, Vice Chair of the Dallas Youth Commission, stood before the City Council alongside Dallas citizens to fight against Dallas’ Juvenile Curfew Ordinance at a public hearing hosted at the Dallas City Hall.

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he ordinance allows for police to stop, question and cite minors during school hours and late in the night and was initially an attempt to lower crime rates amongst juveniles. At the time, the ordinance was under review by the Dallas City Council after it unexpectedly expired on Jan. 18. After much consideration, however, the City Council voted to renew the curfew, which took effect on March 4.

The juvenile curfew has long had a controversial history with the City Council and Dallas citizens. In the 1990s, the curfew ordinance was welcomed in Dallas, especially in communities such as Oak Cliff where the legislation helped reduce crime rates and violence amongst teenagers. However, the times have changed immensely in the 29 years since it was first enacted, and it came under fire in recent years by activists and organizations pushing to help Dallas teenagers rather than punish them. The tendency for police to heavily target minority teenagers in underprivileged communities adds another layer to the argument against the curfew.

The curfew was introduced to Gierhart after a series of Youth Commission meetings. When she first became involved with the Youth Commission, she applied in the hopes of having input in her community and to further her love for politics. After serving for a year, she has become particularly involved in advocating against the curfew ordinance, as the issue has affected many of her fellow commissioners who represent the various districts around Dallas.

“At our commission meetings, we had a series of speakers come to talk to us, including the Dallas Deputy Police Chief, Judge Williams, and others who really helped me understand the issue at hand and develop my own opinion,” Gierhart said. “I immediately went home and started writing my own position paper. I was shocked by the harsh punishments many Dallas youth were facing that didn’t seem to match their accused crimes.”

The curfew, which was installed in 1991 as a tool to protect the youth of Dallas against criminal behavior and danger, has been renewed every three years by the

City Council. With the curfew in place, youth younger than 17 are forbidden from being outside without an adult between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights and between 12:01 a.m. and 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. In addition, kids are not allowed to roam the streets between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on weekdays.

A violation of the ordinance is a Class C misdemeanor that costs up to $500—a fine that many accused struggle to pay off. One of the adjustments made to the curfew ordinance was a reduction of the fine, lowering it to $50, but those fighting to get rid of the curfew want to see the fine and the ordinance gone forever.

“Students ages 10 to 16 are the future of America and should sparingly be saddled with tickets, court time or a criminal record,” Gierhart said. “It is illegal to ticket students for truancy in the state of Texas, but yet they can be ticketed through the curfew ordinance. And getting ticketed with a violation of the curfew means that they not only gain a criminal record, but are also sent to municipal court and fined.”

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I was shocked by the harsh punishments many Dallas youth were facing that didn’t seem to match their accused crimes.”

Celese Gierhart Junior

The ordinance creates an unnecessary touchpoint between vulnerable teens and the police, as the statistics presented at the hearing show that the majority of those indicted live in underprivileged districts with high minority populations. This aspect of the curfew attracted Council Member Philip Kingston to the issue. Kingston, who has represented District 14 in Dallas’ City Council since 2013, hopes to make changes in the way that people are policed in Dallas.

“What the juvenile curfew does is give police the right to investigate children for crimes without any reasonable suspicion to initiate an investigation,” Kingston said. “Everyone else in America has the right for police to prove they

have probable cause for investigation before they are charged with a crime. These teenagers do not.”

District 14, which includes Downtown Dallas, Uptown, Historic East Dallas, Turtle Creek and Oak Lawn, is no stranger to police intervention. Especially having represented a district with a large minority population, Kingston wants to see the curfew vanish in the coming years.

“The curfew can impede on police work because it can create [in certain communities], especially in communities of color, a distrust between police and children,” Kingston said. “The way we police in the United States and in Dallas is that the police tend to be in contact with communities of color more than others, as they typically tend to have fewer resources than others.”

With the heavy policing in underprivileged areas, as well as the lack of probable cause necessary for police to ticket teenagers for violating the curfew, Kingston has noticed that the curfew doesn’t do much but prevent particular groups of Dallas teenagers from enjoying their youth, while teens of middle class families can get away with the same things and more.

“Young people in communities of color don’t tend to have places to exist, to enjoy out-of-school time or to practice sports or to take up a hobby,” Kingston observed. “So many of these tickets were written outside apartment complexes in West Dallas where these kids were just trying to live.”

Junior Nirvana Khan is another passionate advocate against the curfew ordinance.

Through her work as a community organizer for the local organization Mothers Against Police Brutality, she became aware of the issue at hand. Her involvement with the issue was broadened upon her discovery that only a handful of people in the Hockaday community were even familiar with the curfew. After becoming involved in the cause, she began gathering support from the Hockaday community by spreading awareness for Dallas City Hall public hearings to her fellow peers.

“The problems with it were pretty clear to me off the bat, especially because of the fact that I had never heard of it before, and I’m confident many who go to schools like Hock-

aday haven’t either,” Khan said. “Talking to teens who live in more underprivileged areas who are affected by it confirmed my thoughts and gave me a whole new perspective.”

Typically, the public hearings hosted by the Dallas City Hall are rarely attended by citizens younger than 20 years old. Therefore, the youth who do attend the hearings, even those serving the Dallas Youth Commission, often feel that it is difficult to make their voices heard while in the presence of council members and influential Dallas figures.

However, the fight against the curfew invited a generational takeover to the City Hall as more and more youth began to protest for their rights. Some of the teenage speakers, like Gierhart and Khan, advocated against the curfew seeking change in their community; others brought their personal experiences to the table in order to make their beliefs clear.

“I think that the youth voice in the public hearings has truly made an impact on both the council members and the ordinance itself,” Gierhart said. “The council voted to renew the curfew, but the public’s increased awareness of the issue has been a major step in the need to address the problems with the curfew overall.”

Khan believes that the ability for teenagers to speak up and use their voices to make change has brought a new aura to the City Council, one that she hopes will encourage them to reconsider their decision to renew the curfew. Despite the fact that their efforts were not successful, the adjustments the City Council made to the curfew as a compromise leave the curfew opponents optimistic for the future.

“The tide of public opinion is definitely in our favor, and the people in favor of the ordinance are overwhelmingly from older generations,” Khan noted. “But more and more power is being shifted into the hands of the youth. I think that’s a good sign.”

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The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

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faces & places Continued from p01

BEHIND THE BOOKS.

3 1. Upper School librarian Kate Late shelves books that have

been returned from Upper School students.

2. Upper School librarian Corey Lott searches online for new books to purchase for the library collection.

3. Residence Department librarian Elasa Drogin checks out a movie for a student to take home.

4. Lake organizes books that have been returned by students in preparation for the shelving process.

PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE DROSS

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Katy Lake, Corey Lott and Elasa Drogin are three Hockaday Upper School librarians who dedicate their time to ensuring that students have the best possible experience in the library.

Lott, a Hockaday librarian veteran of sorts, will finish up her fifteenth year as a Hockaday librarian this May. Although starting out her career in the financial industry, it didn’t take Lott long to find her true calling.

“At the time, we were living in the Massachusetts, and I was actually volunteering in the Newton Public Library as a way to relieve stress. So, my husband one day said, ‘Why don’t you just go try and see if you can find a job in the library because that seems to be what makes you happy, and we’ll just go from there.’” Lott said.

After her employment as a librarian at a handful of libraries, such as those at Boston College, Southern Methodist University Law School and the St. Mark’s School of Texas, she came to Hockaday, where she has been ever since.

At the Hockaday library, there is no typical day, according to Lott. However, one aspect of her day-to-day life does remain constant: “Every morning, I make a sticky of the three things that I want to get done, and then everything else that may get done because you just never know what is going to come in and interrupt you, and then you just go down that rabbit hole,” Lott said. “It’s hard to pinpoint, but obviously, the patrons come first, so whatever we are doing in the back office gets put on the backburner so that we can take care of the immediate needs.”

Common tasks that Lott performs include placing large book orders, going through book reviews in search of new finds and helping students search for items. Furthermore, the library staff is currently working on a project to put in all the tables of contents into all the books’ catalogs to make locating resources relatively easier.

Lake is nearing her seventh year as a Hockaday librarian. She always gravitated towards libraries, and as a result, went to graduate school for Library Science, where she further refined her skills. Prior to coming to Hockaday, she worked in public libraries.

“I really like helping people,” Lake said. “So helping people paired with learning new things and doing research seemed like a good fit.”

Much like Lake, Lott would agree that there is no daily agenda when it comes to her job—she responds to situations as they arise. However, when not working on the tables of contents project, she often shelves books or helps find new picks for the Hockaday collection.

Her favorite part of her job, however, is the interactions with the students.

“I really love helping students,” Lake said. “The JRP is really fun for me because I enjoy history and helping students find what they need for their projects. I also really like helping students find ‘fun’ books that they’ll enjoy.”

When Lake and Lott leave for the day at 4 p.m., Library Residence Department Librarian Drogin’s job has just begun.

Arriving at 4 p.m. and leaving at 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Drogin is the librarian who oversees all library activity during the nights so that students can study there during the evenings, should they choose to. She even comes in on Sundays, 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., to ensure that students have access to the library whenever they need it.

This year marks Drogin’s sixth year working in the library, but before starting there, she worked two years as a dorm mom. However, she has not always been a librarian. In fact, she has worked at a variety of different jobs, such as an administrative assistant, as a fundraiser for the University of Dallas and at a non-profit organization.

In addition to the standard shelving and cataloging books, Drogin is also tasked with keeping tracks of the boarders in the library and ensuring that they have fulfilled their required two hours of study hall per week. She does so through a system called Boardingware.

Out of all of the books in the library, Drogin has a few favorites. First, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.” However, she has also recently taken up a different genre: children’s literature.

“In the fall I decided to start reading children’s literature—classic children’s literature—because I have a 10-yearold granddaughter, and the two of us have a bookclub going,” Drogin said. “So, we went through C.S. Lewis, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ Tolkien and ‘Anne of Avonlea.’”

Ultimately, as both Lott and Lake expressed, Drogin’s time at Hockaday has been made all the more enjoyable by the people that surround her every day.

“I love books, and it’s just been a real learning experience for me and a real joy to get to know some of the students in the time that I am here” Drogin said. “...And the staff too. I’ve worked in a lot of places, but Mrs. Lott and Ms. Lake and Jason Curtis are a wonderful bunch of people that I have been able to work with.”

by Charlotte Dross • Editor-in-Chief

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The Hockaday School

April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

A Day in the Life of

Stevi Alexander Situated beside the Morgan and Trent dormitories, the ongoing construction of the Child Development Center has become an important piece in the students’ daily lives. In this issue, The Fourcast featured a day in the life of Stevi Alexander, the construction manager for the ongoing construction of the new Child Development Center.

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5:30 A.M. Emails Before Coffee | Alexander wakes up, checks her email and makes phones calls to ensure everyone is on site for the day. Being the manager of the entire construction project, Alexander must do this to ensure that things run smoothly.

Rise & Shine!

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8:00 A.M. ARRIVAL AT HOCKADAY | Alexander arrives to the jobsite and checks her emails again. She then meets with the project superintendent and gets the subcontractors’ tasks lined out for the day. In order to make sure that she stays on schedule, Alexander always prioritizes her tasks to make sure that she gets to the most important ones.

5:00 P.M. AFTER-HOUR HELP | On normal evenings after work, Alexander attends a function relating to construction. Being a member of the TEXO Young Constructors Council, various partners in the industry will have networking happy hours. Additionally, she is also a mentor for the high school students who are interested in architecture, construction or engineering.

4:00 P.M. STAY ON GUARD | Although most construction workers have already left the site by this point, Alexander continues to stay to inspect the progress of the day. Being the project manager, she is always one of the latest to leave and one of the earliest to arrive.

w 3:00 P.M. MANAGING THE FLOW | When the afternoon rolls around, Alexander spends time meeting with subcontractors to ensure that they installed their work properly and everything is on task for the next day.

9:30 A.M. REVIEW AND REPEAT | Alexander reviews construction plans, documents any changes that need to be made and contacts subcontractors to provide anything necessary for the changes.

8:00 P.M. WHEN THE DAY ENDS | Alexander returns home after a long day of overseeing and managing the all activity on the CDC construction site.

10:00 A.M.

Goodbye!

TIME MANAGEMENT | Alexander makes sure that all of the products are in line for building so that the installation can be on time. If there’s a discrepancy with the architecture drawings, Alexander also communicates that with the architect. If necessary, Alexander will write contracts for all the subcontractors throughout the rest of her day.

1:30 P.M. FOCUS ON THE FUTURE | Alexander attends a meeting regarding a future project at Hockaday. Previously working as the project manager for Hockaday’s Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family Center for the Arts, Alexander is very familiar with Hockaday projects and will continue to oversee future constructions.

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11:00 A.M. 12:00 P.M. PROGRESS REPORT | To ensure items are being installed in accordance with the plans, Alexander walks around the construction site and examines the construction progress. Although the construction site of the Child Development Center doesn’t take too long to tour around, it is still a large responsibility to cover all progress in detail.

LUNCH BREAK | Alexander grabs lunch at a nearby restaurant and takes a temporary break from her morning hecticness.

PHOTOS BY EMILY WU

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Evening uel

by Emily Wu •Views Editor

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The Fourcast • April. 11, 2019

The Coming of a Cultural Celebration

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PHOTO BY SAHASRA CHIGURUPATI

Hockaday hosts its first official Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Senior Reception.

HONORING HERITAGES • Seniors with Asian or Pacific Islanders heritages gathered in the Hicks Meeting Room to celebrate their identities. Hockaday held its first annual Asian and Pacific Islanders Heritage Senior Reception on April 7, a new tradition that will continue to honor those with Asian or Pacific Islander background.

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bout fifteen years ago, Hockaday had its first official African American senior reception, and last year, the first Latinx/Hispanic senior reception took place. However, this year, for the very first time, an Asian and Pacific Islander senior reception will took place on April 7.

Senior receptions have historically been a time for students to reflect on their past years as members of the Hockaday community. These particular students that are a part of marginalized cultures within the Hockaday community all come together to hear their fellow peers, teachers and an alumnae guest speak and celebrate the respective senior’s time at Hockaday.

Senior Emily Ma first proposed the idea for the Asian and Pacific Islanders reception after noticing Hockaday’s lack of one. Observing the other cultural receptions that already took place, she wanted to make one for her own identity of Asian.

“Why don’t Asians have one because we are also a part of the marginalized group?’” Ma asked herself.

Ma approached Form III Dean and math teacher Jessica Chu and shared her ideas with her.

“Last year Emily Ma came to me around

April and May and asked me about the history of all the receptions, and she was wondering why there isn’t one for Asian American heritage,” Chu said.

Chu saw the passion that Ma had for the reception and helped her to make it into a reality. Both approached Tresa Wilson, the Director for Inclusion and Community, and suggested the idea. Wilson was enthused at this prospect and therefore, planning for the first senior Asian American reception went underway.

The reception celebrated girls from a certain heritage in Hockaday that might not always be celebrated. This year’s keynote speaker was Nikky Phinyawatana, founder of the popular restaurant Asian Mint, which allowed the seniors to hear from one of their fellow Hockadaisy’s that identifies with their culture. “[The reception] is taking time to celebrate you as you identify culturally, so it is taking time to process you as a student with this cultural valve,” Chu said.

The senior reception put an emphasis on celebration and aims to celebrate students of a specific background. Their culture is celebrated with those that share it with them. At the reception, the students were presented with gifts of significance to their culture, allowing them to

reminisce on their time at Hockaday and how Hockaday has celebrated their Asian and Pacific Islander cultures in the past.

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[The reception] is taking time to celebrate you as you identify culturally, so it is taking time to process you as a student with this cultural valve.”

Jessica Chu Form III Dean

“By having a celebration just for Asian students or Asian heritage students, it is so important because we get to embrace our culture equally, and we get to be recognized by our culture,” Ma said.

Therefore, the celebration not only commended students for their senior status but for their Asian and Pacific Islander identities as well.

It celebrated their heritage, and for some boarders like Ma, it celebrated their home.

Being a boarder, Ma often misses important holidays such as Chinese New Year that fall over the school year. Celebrations like this reception

will help to support the heritages of students like Ma that are unable to take part in celebrations of their culture during the school year.

“There are certain parts of my culture that I miss because I am away from home,” Ma said.

These receptions add to Hockaday’s goal of promoting inclusivity of all cultures, particularly with the new establishment of the Asian and Pacific Islanders celebration.

“I think people forget how much that culture piece plays into the role of the school,” Chu said.

“All those different aspects play into your dayto-day experience as a student when we want to celebrate these cultures.”

Ultimately, these celebrations help Hockaday students to embrace and honor parts of their culture together over the shared identity.

“There are so many moments that not only celebrate you as a student, but also you as an Asian or Asian American,” Chu said.

by Sahasra Chigurupati • Castoff Editor

BOARDER LINE Every Friday evening after dinner, one can always hear bursts of laughter and frustrated groans behind juniors Sohee Chung and Mohana Ghosh’s door.

Along with Ghosh and Chung, other juniors Tarini Gannamaneni, Lily Zhou and Jenny Choi all gather and play board games, and consider it one of their favorite activities in boarding. The Fourcast interviewed them to find out more about their special board game nights.

FINE PIE FINER FRIENDS

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How did you all come to play games on Friday night?

Tarini Gannamaneni: It just came to be because none of us wants to do homework Friday night, so we just gathered and play games. We used to go out…

Lily Zhou: We would go to Braum’s [Ice Cream], come back and play board games.

Mohana Ghosh: Straight away after dinner, we come back to this room, and we sit down on the floor and play various board games, usually Monopoly.

On Mia Xia’s bedside shelf lies a series of knick-

knacks, consisting of plushies and items that she holds dear to her heart. All but one are gifts from close friends and family—some are from Xia’s best friend from 2nd grade or her sister. Out of all her collections, only the No-Face plushie from the movie “Spirited Away” wasn’t gifted, but she bought it for herself. Because the character not only was her favorite character but also reflected her mood as well, Xia granted it a space in the collection.

Her favorite item on the shelf, a light bulb jar filled with paper stars, has a special story: her mother folded every single paper star before Xia left for Hockaday. “I have a very soft feeling in my heart because I know my mom worked hard to make those stars for me,” Xia said.

What are some of your recent games?

Sohee Chung: Cheater’s Monopoly!

MG: We all pitched in a couple of dollars each, and we bought Monopoly Cheater’s Edition. It’s Monopoly but the point is to cheat.

LZ: So the point is to cheat in order to win.

Jenny Choi: And you have certain ways to cheat [set by the game rules], and Lily’s really good at cheating.

SC: That makes us rethink her honorableness.

TG: We also really like playing pool and air hockey downstairs! It’s a new thing, but it’s a fun thing. The pool-air hockey table is a recent addition to Tarry House where boarders can go play air hockey and pool.

What games are your favorites?

MG: We really like Quelf. It’s a really silly game where you have a bunch of rules you have to adhere to, and they are all nonsensical.

TG: And we all play Monopoly and other card games like Apples to Apples. We tried playing blackjack once, and it was awful.

MG: We try out on a lot of different board games.

Delicious Dinner On April 6, the Residence Department

held its annual dinner at Pizzeria Testa. A night out with salads, pasta and yard-long pizzas fostered a fun and relaxed environment that helped students to take their minds off of school. After a strawberry-nutella dessert pizza, the residence faculty marked the end of the dinner by surprising the borders with gift cards under their seats.

KNICK KNACK COLLECTOR

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by Eugene Seong • People Editor

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The Hockaday School

By increasing the number of competitions, we are going to feel more comfortable and experienced. I hope to see some girls winning by the end of the next season.”

En Garde, Prêtes, Allez p.19

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SCOTT PEEK

(Color) Run Like the Wind ➝ Story by Kelsey Chen • Staff Writer

RUN, DAISIES, RUN• Hockaday lower, middle and upper schoolers sprint alongside their teachers, friends and families as paint flies through the air, bringing a colorful element to the athletic fields. The event allowed for the entire Hockaday community to come together in the pursuit of athletics and unity.

The horn blares, and tiny cups fly into the air as streams of green and blue and pink paint the sky. Laughter fills the air as hundreds of runners trample through the grass, marking the beginning of Hockaday’s first color run on March 27. The run was the culmination of an athletic administration meeting back in the fall.

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irector of Athletics Deb Surgi met with Coordinator of Athletic Operations LaBoris Bean and other athletic directors to plan a schoolwide event celebrating athletics.

“The intent was to come up with a fun, community event that was also going to be a nice culmination for the cross country season where we could publicly honor our cross country seniors,” Surgi said.

The directors brainstormed many ideas, including an obstacle course and a mud run, but ultimately settled on a color run, a manageable activity that would appeal to a large age group.

However, the event, originally scheduled for the fall, was canceled due to bad weather.

Sophomore cross country runner Emily Stevenson had planned to participate in the run with her team.

“I was disappointed since a lot of people go to games for other sports, but cross country meets are at 7 a.m. on Saturday mornings in the middle of nowhere. Besides [the Southwest Preparatory Conference], people never come to the meets,” Stevenson said.

According to Athletic Board Chair Meredith Jones, Surgi carefully rescheduled the run, specifically picking a day that wouldn’t conflict with sports games. This allowed all seven spring athletic teams to participate in the color run.

Not only did Surgi have to manage rescheduling the run, but she also had to pay close attention to each detail in organizing the event.

“How do you manage a color run? You have to get the nontoxic color, you have to buy the proper bottles to squirt color, you have to have people who are managing color run stations, decide on the optimal placement for color run stations,” Surgi said.

In fact, Surgi estimates that there were 48 squirt bottles at each color station, totaling about 288 bottles total.

Her long list of duties also included organizing the sound station and food trucks, which offered sliders and popsicles from Steel City Pops. Surgi and Bean both studied docu-

ments on how to manage a color run to help them plan every little detail.

In addition, Surgi had to arrange a way to honor the cross country seniors, eventually deciding to give them flowers at the beginning of the race and to have them lead the runners.

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The intent was to come up with a fun, community event that was also going to be a nice culmination for the cross-country season where we could publicly honor our cross country seniors.”

Deb Surgi Director of Athletics

“Whenever you have a race, when people are running, or walking, and they’re tired, you don’t want them to think about direction.

Everything needs to be clear,” said Surgi. This prompted her to add signs directing runners and a green fence that prevents people from crowding the finish line.

Moreover, Surgi ordered branded split-H flags, green and white flags and a solid green mesh fence, so that as people drive by the school, they would see an abundance of Hockaday’s colors.

She also drew inspiration for the onemile color run route from the Daisy Dash, a 5K hosted during Hockaday’s centennial year.

Working with Creative Director Elizabeth Malakoff, Surgi drew up a detailed map of the route, with rainbows marking each of the color run stations.

Another key factor was communicating with and placing the 24 marshals, who were positioned at six color stations along the route to squirt runners as they passed by and to facilitate the event.

They were given a detailed list of instruc-

tions that included covering both sides of the course, aiming below the shoulder, wearing their designated shirts and more.

“Marshals in a race set the tone. If somebody’s in trouble, we want to make sure that there’s a radio at each of the color stations so that if anyone needs assistance, we can get to them quickly,” Surgi said. “That would be the case in any type of event we manage. Safety is first.”

Although the athletic department did not post the finish times or list the order of finishers, they hope to add a time clock in the future so participants would be able to access that information if they are interested.

Surgi expressed that she would like to get the whole Hockaday community involved in refining the color run. “We are already thinking about how we can improve the event and welcome feedback from the community,” Surgi said.

In addition to the time clock, the athletic department hopes to have more food trucks, stations for registration, a DJ and more color.

However, Surgi was not alone in managing every detail of the color run. Bean directed the race and set up the course, cross country coach and Upper School science teacher Jen Fore managed registration, Head Athletic Trainer Jeanne Olson kept everyone safe by preparing the wellness center and Malakoff designed fliers and communications for Daisy Mail.

Surgi also appreciated the efforts of all the coaches who gave up practice to participate as well as the security and maintenance teams that worked the event.

“I knew we were going to have fun when I witnessed Coach Stanfield and Coach Rowe spraying each other with color at their color stations prior to the race,” Surgi said.

Furthermore, track managers Sophia Kim and Amanda Peppard were delegated minor duties, such as filling paint bottles. The Athletic Board, although not managing the run directly, participated in support of the run and gave their input on the event.

“Anything that we need, we know we can go to the board and say, ‘We need help

with this,’” Surgi remarked.

The board also promoted the color run by posting updates and reminders on their Snapchat story, hoping to encourage students to run.

Whether it be marketing, actual management or brainstorming, the athletics department looks to the board for all things leadership regarding athletics, according to Surgi.

Jones noted that while there are many athletic teams in the spring, practices are often spread out, with crew practicing off campus and fencing practicing indoors.

“Even sports games are all pretty spread out,” Jones said. “There isn’t a day that every team has a game, so I think it’ll just be fun to see all the teams there together.”

Stevenson looked forward to celebrating the cross country seniors, especially because it would be their last year.

“Honestly, I love everything about color runs. I get to hang out with my friends while being active, and I end up looking like a rainbow fell on me,” Stevenson said, “I expected a good amount of upper schoolers to come, but did not expect so many middle and lower schoolers to show up. It was cool to see the school come together outside of One Hockaday events.”

Surgi also noted that she was surprised when over 100 people showed up to register on the day of the run. Cross country coach and Upper School math teacher Rachel Grabow and Fore worked hard to register everyone in order to start the run on time.

For Surgi, the greatest satisfaction comes from the people. According to her, she enjoys seeing everybody come out with their families, supporting one another and having a good time.

“My favorite part of the run was the start and the color toss. There was so much excitement and I particularly enjoyed seeing our full community participate,” Surgi said. “As I cheered for people at the finish line, it was so wonderful to see all divisions, faculty and staff, parents, coaches and teams participating in one event.”

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p.19 p.20 Looking ahead

Tips & Tricks on Practicing Body Positivity

The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

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Oh Captain, My Captain

En Garde, Prêtes, Allez PHOTO BY EMILY WU

Hockaday Fencing welcomes Amgad Badawi as the new head coach and instructor.

ON-PISTE • New épée fencer freshman Carlota Fedorko lunges and attempts a counter-six attack guided by fencing coach Amgad Badawi during an after-school practice. This year marks the second year that the fencing team has practiced on campus instead of at St. Mark’s School of Texas, as they have in the past. This convenient location allows for fencers to spend more time working on their skills and improving their team bond.

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s the spring sports begin to progress throughout the season, many teams are not only passing down the torch from previous years, but also embracing new beginnings. The Hockaday fencing team, having undergone lots of change in the past few years, is now experiencing another significant leadership adjustment as Amgad Badawi assumes the position as head coach.

Badawi officially began his position at the beginning of the 2019 spring season, and is now fully in charge of the Hockaday Varsity Fencing team. Having originally practiced at the St. Mark’s School of Texas, Hockaday fencing was moved back to Welch Road during the 2017-2018 school year.

Fencing is a complicated sport that has three subdivisions of weapons: épée, foil and sabre. Épée has the longest sword length of 110 centimeters and the heaviest maximum weight of 750 grams. Foil, with 110 centimeters length and 500 grams weight, is the lightest of all three weapons. Sabre is the only weapon that allows thrusting and cutting, while épée has the valid target area for as much as the entire body. The Hockaday fencing team currently hosts all three categories of fencing weapons with nine épée fencers, ten foil fencers and six sabre fencers.

Having experience with all three categories of weapons, Badawi is a United States Fencing Coach Association (USFCA) certificated Master of Arms and also a certificate referee instructor and observer of USA Fencing. Badawi also previously coached the Leb-

anon National Fencing team during the 2012 Olympics held in London.

Badawi has experienced a combination of both challenges and excitement as he has taken on this leadership role within the Hockaday fencing program. While most Hockaday fencers are highly motivated and willing to learn, their accumulated knowledge and experience from the past two years is not as abundant as Badawi expected.

“The biggest challenge when I came here was [Hockaday fencers] lacked information about fencing,” Badawi said. “I had to start from the beginning and teach the team from the most fundamental knowledge.”

As a matter of fact, Badawi has taken on a different type of coaching style to help the Hockaday fencers advance. The team’s training is currently being separated according to weapons, while fencers with each weapon will rotate on a daily basis to receive an hour of private lessons only focused on their weapon-related skills and knowledge.

The team, on the other hand, is also busy adjusting to the new coaching style having already been through a handful of changes in the past two years. Having been paying attention to the attitude of the team in general, junior and captain Abby O’Brien feels like there’s also obstacles on the team side. “[Fencing] was different from last year,” O’Brien commented. “Coach Badawi seemed like he was going and also has been pushing us a lot.”

Although there were initial concerns about adjustments to the new coaching style, the Hockaday fencing team accepted the dif-

ferences with open arms. The team soon discovered that they were not disappointed by the new changes after overcoming the new adjustments and difficulties. Junior Shalini Kishore, having been on the team since her freshman year, is very enthusiastic about the new teaching methods.

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I have to start from the beginning and teach the team from the most fundamental knowledge.”

Amgad Badawi Varsity Fencing Head Coach

“I was a bit nervous because we’ve had the same coach for a long time,” Kishore said.

“The style is very, very different coaching wise, but I would definitely say that I’ve been enjoying it and It’s been a really fun experience overall.”

Badawi is currently planning on pushing the team into more competitions and tournaments. While many team members are feeling pressured into competitivity, many also enjoy the experience of learning through competing.

“By increasing the number of competitions, we are going to feel more comfortable and experienced,” Badawi suggested. “I hope to see some girls winning by the end of the next season.”

Following Badawi’s lead, many Hockaday fencers are now competing in bigger and

more competitive tournaments. On March 30 and 31, USA Fencing’s Regional Open Circuit tournaments were held in Carrollton, Texas.

Five girls from Hockaday participated in Division II and IA competitions, and they were all ranked with significant improvements. Since Division 1A is opened to any fencers with any rankings, it is naturally more challenging with more diversity or skills of the opponents.

With three out of the five girls having no or very few experience at competing at this level, Hockaday fencers gained not only experience, but also reward from their efforts.

With freshman Angela Yuan placing eighth in Women’s Foil Division 1A, Sohee Chung placing ninth and Mohana Ghosh placing sixteenth in Women’s Épée Division II, Hockaday fencers achieved incredible accomplishments and were very proud of their success.

While fencing is becoming more competitive for many fencers, others also enjoy the close-knit community that is a product of the team.

“I like how we are at different experience levels and with different backgrounds of fencing,” O’Brien said. “As the captain, I wish to emphasize on community and to maintain a strong bond. If people enjoy coming to practice, there will be more willingness.”

by Emily Wu • Views Editor

TIPS & TRICKS: Practicing Body Positivity

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You Are the Company You Keep

Be Yourself—Everyone Else is Taken

Put Yourself Out There

Confidence is Key

Surrounding yourself with people who radiate positivity will make a huge difference in the way you view yourself and others. Everyone needs support, so the more you have, the happier you will be. The support can come from family, friends or even online support groups. In addition, surrounding yourself with people who build you up will impact the way you treat others. Take time to focus on your amazing attributes, but always remember to acknowledge the greatness of others as well.

Comparing yourself to others is human nature, so you are not alone when you find yourself doing it.

Through social media, it is easy to believe that others are living a glamorous and perfect life. However, comparing yourself to the “perfection” on Instagram or Snapchat will only make you feel worse. It may seem as if these people have it all under control, but they most likely don’t—not many “influencers” do! Everyone follows their own path to find themselves.

One of the hardest parts of accepting yourself is taking risks. It’s easier said than done, but don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and show everyone the shining star that you are. Embrace your unique attributes and do something you would never think to try, like a dance class, try out synchronized swimming or be bold and go skydiving. After all, the sky’s not the limit when there are footsteps on the moon.

Being confident is key to realizing your self worth.

Don’t let self-limiting thoughts drag you down. Remember to constantly be positive with yourself. Everyday, remind yourself that you can do it. Always hold your head high, wear what you want and realize that every body is a ‘bikini body.’ You have control over everything you do, so express yourself in any way you feel fit. Confidence will come as you become more comfortable with yourself. You know who you are, so don’t let anyone bring you down.

PHOTOS BY SHEA DUFFY & GETTY IMAGES

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April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

PHOTO BY VARSHA DANDA PASSING THE TORCH • Senior Maddie McBride, 2018-2019 varsity volleyball captain, meets with Erica Hulsey and Mia Weathersby, the varsity volleyball captains for the 2019-2020 school year. The past captains’ initiative in guiding the future captains of their sports teams before the season starts is designed so that each varsity captain feels confident in their role as a leader on the team.

Oh Captain, My Captain Former team captains pass the torch of leadership--and their legacy--to their successors.

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very year, Hockaday students, parents and coaches gather at the annual Athletic Banquet to reflect over the year and celebrate all of the athletic achievements. However, this year Hockaday athletics focuses on the future as well by having current captains symbolically “pass the torch” to the incoming 2019-2020 sports captains.

The Athletic Banquet will take place on May 7. Athletic Director Deb Surgi, the Athletic Board and the Athletic Department hope that through these changes in the captain process that the Hockaday community will come closer while celebrating student leaders in athletics.

As a change in the captain selection process this year, athletes and coaches will select a captain at the end of each sports season for the next year. Through creating a more coherent structure, the captain system will be more unified and consistent which will allow all sports teams to be easier to manage.

By implementing this, the Athletic Board is able to introduce incoming captains to their leadership positions and allow them time to think about the legacy they want to leave on the team. This also gives the previous captains the opportunity to set a precedent for the next seasons.

The Athletics Department believes that mentor-ship is key, and by implementing these changes to the captain program and the Athletic Banquet, captains will be able to work together and learn from their past predecessors. Also, this allows coaches to spend more time with incoming captains and planning the future seasons.

Surgi believes that captains value the legacy that they leave and how they can impact

the team in their season and the future.

“I think my inspiration [for the ceremony] is just being able to experience the importance of creating legacy,” Surgi said. “In meeting with the Athletic Board and meeting with students here and talking about what it is that they value about Hockaday and I think they value the past, their impact on the present and their aspirations for the future.”

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I think it will have people look up to the captains more or have people say, ‘Oh I want to be a captain’ and realize that it does take a lot of work and you do need to be a good teammate and support everyone.”

Meredith Jones Athletic Board Chair

Throughout the planning process, the Athletic Board and Surgi thought it was important to be able to create a ceremony to honor captains and allow them to share their knowledge with incoming leaders.

Athletic Board Chair Meredith Jones thinks that the ceremony will recognize captains and all that they do for their respective sports teams.

“We thought it just be a symbolic but also to have people take responsibility for being captain and to put more meaning to it,” Jones said. “It is something we wanted to add to the Athletic Banquet to make it more special, to recognize people, and have other people know

who their captains are because that’s a big accomplishment to have your peers vote for you to lead them.”

By implementing this ceremony, the Athletic Department is hoping that captains will be acknowledged more broadly by the Hockaday Community. In the past, captains have never had a specific celebration that welcomes them to their position or received recognition for being captain of a sports team.

Surgi as well as many other coaches, students and athletes want the captain position to become known as a student leadership position. Through this ceremony, Surgi and the athletic community are pushing for the acknowledgment that athletes deserve.

“I think for the people going out as captains, [the ceremony] will be nice, and it is kind of like handing off the team to the next people,” Jones said. “I think it will have people look up to the captains more or have people say, ‘Oh I want to be a captain’ and realize that it does take a lot of work and you do need to be a good teammate and support everyone.”

During the banquet, a shiny Split-H pin will be handed to each incoming captain and they will also receive a description of their job as captain. Surgi and the Athletic Board thought it was important for leaders to pass on their knowledge from being captain so that the incoming team leaders have a better understanding of how to perform as captain.

By passing down knowledge from existing captains, incoming captains can examine what worked for them and what didn’t so they can improve upon their challenges during the next season.

To ease the transition between incoming and outgoing the captains, Surgi and the Athletic

Board are implementing a leadership seminar for incoming captains and the end of the school year. This seminar will prepare captains for their positions and help them understand how to lead a team.

It is important to many captains that they leave their team in “good hands” for the years to come. Hockaday senior and varsity tennis captain Morgan Lutz hopes that she will leave a lasting legacy on the tennis team.

“I think that I would love that everybody after [me] would be really inclusive and try to unite the team and do a lot of things just outside of playing tennis so that the team can have fun together and trust each other,” Lutz said. “Everybody is fostering that community together.”

Community is becoming a huge part of Hockaday athletics. By hosting new ceremonies, activities and athletic opportunities, Surgi and the Athletic Board are trying to build a community of people by joining them together in traditions. This gives people events to look forward to every year and will expand upon the community.

Tradition is an important part of building any community. By implementing this ceremony, Surgi and the Athletic Board hope that they can build culture by creating traditions to celebrate the success within the athletic community.

“I think you have to be progressive and forward thinking, but I think there is value in ritual and tradition because it helps to build a culture,” Surgi said.

by Erin Parolisi • Staff Writer

FOUR WARD Varsity Lacrosse Senior Night vs. Mckinney April 18

Texas Rowing Championships Austin, Texas April 12-14

Varsity Golf vs. Trinity Valley April 15

Varsity Fencing Senior Night and Exhibition April 18

Varsity Tennis vs. Trinity Valley April 23

Track and Field North Zone Meet at Greenhill School April 18

Varsity Softball vs. Oakridge April 26

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE FOURCAST & ELIZABETH MALAKOFF

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The Fourcast • April 11, 2019

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What kind of message does this portray to the youth of today’s society? To the honest, hard-working students who don’t have the luxury of depending on a check to get them places in life?

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Putting a Price on Admissions p23

Bridging the Gap with a Gap Year Story by Michelle Chen • Web Editor Ever since I became a senior, I knew that in the fall of 2019, I would be moving into a college campus and saying hello to new friends and a new chapter in my life. Refreshing my Instagram feed every day, it only seemed natural to me that I would soon become the girl in the photo, proudly flashing her school colors in a cool pose. This dream was what got me through application season.

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verything changed after a letter in December forced me to confront the fact that I may not be able to attend my top choice college. In my determination to find joy in the weeks following my disappointment and to distract myself from the exhaustion of writing regular decision applications, I hiked, tried out new cuisines, read and wrote poetry, looked through my pictures from a trip to Antarctica and spent extra time with my family. Through these few weeks, I reminded myself of several truths: 1. My happiness does not depend on a college decision.

2. No college can determine my self-worth.

3. My life exists outside of the college process.

In early January, I announced to my family my intention of taking a gap year. I wanted to remind myself of my life outside of everything that has been weighing me down this year.

In the months that followed, the first word everyone said when they heard of my decision was, “Why?” Well, here’s why.

All of my life, I’ve been told to succeed in order to succeed more. If I don’t go to a good school, I’ll never go to a better school, then I’ll never go to a good college, never get a good job, never get a better job, never be able to provide for my family, never have enough money, never die happy. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating, but I’m sure many have felt this fear to be very, very real. There seems to be only one way for us to become successful, and that is to win the next trophy and to get the highest paying job..

I decided to take a gap year because I want to take a break from the seemingly one-way path that “determines” my life’s worth.

This doesn’t mean that I’m lazy. Instead, my gap year is a declaration of independence from the voice that has been telling me what to do for 17 years. It’s a breath of fresh air above the quickening currents that push us to the next mark in the rat race.

In the full year ahead, I want to explore the things that I love but never had enough time to do. I want to try new things and learn that I hate them—all without the pressure of doing what will earn me the highest salary after graduation. So often we hear stories of people who “sell out” in college, abandoning their dreams to chase after the best-paying jobs. But risking happiness for money? Is that an investment we want to make?

I believe that my gap year can help me find the answer to some of these questions. Of course, one year of free time can’t solve all of

society’s problems, but I believe that once I enter college in the fall of 2020, at least I will be equipped with a better knowledge of what I would like to study and why.

There are many ways I can explore my passions during the year to come. Although my plans are not finalized yet, I have decided to apply for a semester gap year program.

Many organizations offer such programs, each with its unique emphasis. While Where There Be Dragons is known for cultural exchange and immersion as well as independent study, organizations like ARCC offer community service opportunities across the world. Notably, Winterline Global Education offers a full year program focused on resume-building and learning skills from social entrepreneurship and robotics to circus movement.

Although I’m ecstatic about the year to come, I’m also prepared to make some big mistakes. Planning a whole year to perfection is impossible. There will be days when I don’t get up from bed because I don’t have to; there will be weeks that I feel like I’ve wasted. I’m afraid to wake up on my birthday in the summer of 2020 and feel like I have grown one year older, but not one bit wiser. But thankfully, I know that that won’t happen. Even if end up wasting a whole year, at least I can learn from my mistakes.

And that’s the beauty of a gap year—

it’s a chance for me to fall, without the worry of crashing.

So when I look at the coming year, I see a blank canvas on which I can splash any color I want, and if I don’t like it, I can paint over it and start over. I approach this new stage in my life with a quote from one of my favorite painters, Bob Ross, who said: “there are no mistakes, just happy accidents.”

MIND THE GAP • A Hockadaisy plans to take a break from academics and take a gap year full of enriching and unconventional experiences. Web Editor Michelle Chen recently decided to take a gap year after graduation before starting as a freshman in college so that she might have more time to pursue her own interests.

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I decided to take a gap year because I want to take a break from the seemingly one-way path that “determines” my life’s worth. ” Michelle Chen Web Editor

If traveling abroad with a gap year program is not your thing, you can always travel alone or backpack. Websites like gooverseas. com also provide useful resources on volunteer or immersion opportunities wherever you want to go. The year off is also a great time for internships in the fields you’re interested in or working to save up money for college. But the year is yours, so do whatever you want with it.

But why take the gap year now?

Many believe that the best time for a gap year is between high school and college.

Not only do most gap year programs target students of this age, colleges themselves even encourage a year off. Schools like Duke University may offer to fund gap year students if their plans impress the school. Not to mention that Barack Obama’s daughter took a gap year, too, before she headed off to Harvard. Yes, Malia, you go girl.

I know it is easier said than done, but

by Taking the year off during or after higher education, however, is much harder to execute.

A gap year during college may serve as a distraction from a student’s academic life, while taking one before work can lead to missed job opportunities and struggles with funding.

ILLUSTRATION BY VERONICA FANG

LIKE AND COMMENT

Senio Jones r Meredith during fights brave attack the stimula ly semest in her seco ted nd defenseer selfclass.

Soc ia Med l Spo ia tligh t Ma, along Senior Emily erio d with her C-p smates, AP Stats clasafternoon enjoyed themath by learning eriments. through exp

GRAPHIC BY SHREYA GUNUKULA

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The Hockaday School

April. 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

STAFF STANDOFF

Necessity of the Interview The college admissions process is long and arduous. Applicants have juggle their Common Application essay, specific supplemental essays for each college and sometimes interviews. The first two and nonnegotiable—they’re viewed as an intrinsic part of the application process. But the last one is debatable. In this issue, The Fourcast debates whether or not college interviews are actually necessary and beneficial to your application.

Helpful Addition

Tapping my right foot on the floor of the Panera Bread in anticipation, I leaned back in my seat to try to calm my nerves. Although not all colleges offer one, I was about to experience one of the most crucial aspects of the college admissions process: the interview.

For those who have not gone through the college process yet, college interviews are generally conducted by admissions counselors or alumni at either the campus itself, public settings that are in the area (i.e. Panera Bread) or online via Skype.

With the aid of today’s technology, in order for an applicant to have a college interview, it does not matter whether an individual lives in a city or in a rural area. Therefore, when it comes down to interviews, every prospective student has an equal chance to make an impression on their potential college.

Colleges who offer interviews when evaluating candidates either require an interview or strongly recommend it. Those who strongly recommend the interviews, however, often present them as optional.

While colleges who require interviews are generally using those interviews for evaluative purposes, those universities who strongly recommend interviews primarily use them as a way to get to know the candidate as a person rather than just what they are on a piece of paper.

Interviews are meant to be a conversation between the interviewer and interviewee rather than just a question and answer system. Through these conversations, universities are able to discover candidates’ personal interests, goals, personalities and truly get to know the candidates.

If a candidate feels as if she or he was unable to express something in their application, interviews offer the chance to do so, giving each and every candidate a chance to shine apart from their application.

Therefore, instead of only judging candidates based on test scores, grade point averages (GPAs) and writing samples, college admissions officers can better advocate for the prospective student in the admissions committee after meeting the candidate and knowing their personalities.

Meanwhile by facilitating a dialogue between the college admissions representative or alumni and the candidate, interviews offer a chance for the candidates to ask questions and learn more about the school to decide if it is the right fit.

For students who have already decided that the university that they are interviewing at is their top school, interviewing gives them the chance to show strong demonstrated interest.

While a common concern about interviews is getting an interviewer who dislikes the candidate for no particular reason, colleges are aware of this issue and strive to do their best to choose unbiased interviewers that want to view students holistically for are who they are as a person.

Ultimately, interviews play an important role in the college process as they give prospective students the opportunity to showcase who they are as a person, set applicants apart from the rest of the applicant pool, give more information to the interviewee about the school and help to display demonstrated interest.

by Ashlye Dullye • Business Manager

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Unnecessary Proponent

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In the professional world, your interview is the main determining factor in whether or not you will get the job. But in the world of college admissions, most schools don’t even require an interview. Personally, I applied to eight different colleges and interviews weren’t necessary for any of them. Even Ivy League colleges don’t require interviews, with the exception of some programs at Cornell.

If some of the top colleges in the U.S. don’t require interviews, are they really that beneficial? Just as a small number of schools are starting to get rid of their standardized testing requirements, the college interview is slowly becoming more and more unorthodox.

The main point of an interview, whether it be at the college or with an alumni, is to personalize your application; to put a face to one of the tens of thousands of applications colleges receive per year. And of course, this can be helpful, and in rare cases, be the deciding factor on your application if you’re on the cusp.

I personally feel that an interview with someone who isn’t even on the admissions board is useless. How heavily weighted can one person’s opinion be? Is it really fair if you’re penalized for not wearing professional attire, arrive late or just simply aren’t good at small talk?

College interviews are also discriminatory.

Sometimes, it’s hard for people of a lower socioeconomic class to get to the interview location, whether it be in their state or at the campus itself. Some families can’t afford to shuttle their kids thousands of miles away just so one person may or may not be a deciding factor on their application.

If you’ve applied to college already, you know that the questions they ask are purposefully invasive, so they can really know you from the inside out. I mean, they even ask for where your family went to college. And the actual essay questions are meant to prompt thoughtful, telling responses.

So, colleges already know enough about you. And most colleges receive thousands of applicants. It’s not realistic to expect every single one of them to be able to attend an interview, and it causes applicants to stress about something that doesn’t even carry much weight in the overall college process.

In an article from Forbes titled “Do College Interviews Really Count?,” it states three reasons why Amherst College stopped offering college interviews over 20 years ago: “location,” “impact” and “socio-economic status.” Location meaning that Amherst is somewhat hard to get to, impact being that they don’t make a big impact in the overall decision and socio-economic status meaning that applicants of lower socio-economic status can’t easily get to the interview site.

In the article, Veteran Dean of Admissions at Amherst Tom Parker said that “we agree with a study by Warren Willingham at the College Board study that argued that interviews predicted nothing about college success.”

If the actual College Board agrees that interviews are useless, then I think it’s safe to say that they aren’t that important. So, juniors, if you get the option to do a college interview, definitely do it. But if it goes badly, then don’t worry too much about it—it won’t significantly affect your decision.

ISAS We couldn’t imagine a better combination: warm sunshine, flower-infused breezes and good tunes!

Easter Whether you’ll enjoy the long-weekend at mass, participating in an Easter egg hunt or taking advantage of a well-needed break, everyone is excited to welcome spring with this holiday.

Watermelon Cooler ‘Tis the spring season! Time to appreciate another cup of colorful joy from Fat Straws.

Seniors....

Your days spent in the Hocka-halls are numbered, seniors, so spend them wisely, whether it be flaunting your new college merch or cherishing your old Hockaday ones.

by Ponette Kim • Copy Editor

Allergies Yes, the spring weather is beautiful, but the congested noses and tearing eyes are most definitely not.

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hockadayfourcast.org

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Charlotte Dross

MANAGING EDITOR Paige Halverson WEB EDITOR Michelle Chen COPY EDITOR Ponette Kim MAGAZINE EDITOR Eliana Goodman BUSINESS MANAGER Ashlye Dullye NEWS EDITOR Kate Woodhouse PEOPLE EDITOR Eugene Seong ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Niamh McKinney SPORTS EDITOR Shea Duffy VIEWS EDITOR Emily Wu CASTOFF EDITOR Sahasra Chigurupati PHOTOS & GRAPHICS EDITOR Kate Woodhouse STAFF WRITERS Ava Berger, Kelsey Chen, Kate Clark, Julia Donovan, Erin Parolisi STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Sawyer Bannister, Varsha Danda, Arushi Mukherjee STAFF ARTISTS Juliana Bush, Karen Lin, Cindy Pan, Anoushka Singhania FACULTY ADVISER Nureen Patel

EDITORIAL POLICY The Fourcast is written primarily for students of the Hockaday Upper School, its faculty and staff.

The Fourcast has a press run of 1,500 and is printed

by Greater Dallas Press. It is distributed free of charge to the Hockaday community. Businesses who wish to advertise in The Fourcast should contact Ashlye Dullye, Business Manager, at adullye@ hockaday.org. We reserve the right to refuse any advertising which is deemed inappropriate to the Hockaday community. Opinions will be clearly marked and/or will appear in the perspectives section. Commentaries are the expressed opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect that of The Fourcast staff, its adviser or any member of the Hockaday community. Unsigned editorials that appear on the opinions page will reflect the official position of The Fourcast, but not necessarily the position of the Hockaday community.

The Fourcast staff may cover student, staff, faculty or alumnae deaths as the staff is made aware. We reserve the right not to cover a death based on relevance, timeliness and circumstance. Corrections and clarifications from previous issues will be found as designated in the news section. Any questions or concerns about should be addressed to Charlotte Dross, Editor-in-Chief, at cdross@hockaday.org.

ILLUSTRATION BY KYLEE HONG

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The Fourcast • April. 11, 2019

AC”CREWING” ADMISSION • In March 2019, a college scam broke revealing the unjust admission of unqualified candidates to high-profile schools across the country. One of such candidates is Olivia Jade, social media celebrity who was accepted into the University of Southern California off the false claim that she was a crew team recruit.

Putting a Price On Admissions

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n the eyes of a high school senior, the month of March is often notorious for one particular reason: college decisions.

By April 1 of any given year, the majority of colleges have notified their regular decision applicants of their admission status, be that accepted, waitlisted or rejected.

However, this past March, the typical buzz surrounding the college scene found shape in a new form—the college scandal.

In March of 2019, federal prosecutors charged 50 individuals of having participated in a college scheme in order to secure spots at schools for candidates who, otherwise, would not have the credentials to be accepted. The scandal has brought to light countless individuals—parents, coaches and those working behind the scenes—all involved in the process of granting unqualified candidates admission to some of the nation’s top schools.

The scandal truly gained attention when high-profile and well-loved faces were exposed as partaking in this gross obstruction of the truth. Most notably, actresses Lori Loughlin, star of the television series hits “Full House” and “Fuller House,” and Felicity Huffman, who held a role on the series “Desperate Housewives,” are two of the more recognizable names.

In today’s society, the process of applying to colleges is extremely competitive. With the number of applicants applying to a given school increasing every year, admissions officers must attentively review each candidate’s application, ultimately making only the most thoughtful decisions about which students to admit to their incoming class.

So how exactly were 33 parents able to so expertly maneuver their way around this system of thorough review? The answer is William Singer: college guidance counselor of 30 plus years and mastermind of the entire effort. Singer charged his clients inordinate

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What kind of message does this portray to the youth of today’s society? To the honest, hard-working students who don’t have the luxury of depending on a check to get them places in life?

Charlotte Dross Editor-in-Chief

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sums of money, and in exchange, he engaged in countless illegal activities—bribing college coaches and test proctors, falsifying test scores and even fabricating student biographies.

The general public’s immediate reaction was disgust at this immoral abuse of the system that college applicants put so much faith and hope into. And rightfully so. The actions of Loughlin, Huffman, Singer and the countless other individuals involved in this scandal are criminal, and they should have to face the consequences of their actions.

The process of applying to colleges is stressful enough by itself. The idea that you are a mere name on a page competing against thousands of other applicants much like yourself can be a debilitating concept to try and wrap one’s mind around. One thing that has brought me solace, however, is the fact that admissions counselors, for the most part, conduct holistic reviews of candidates, deliberately analyzing each aspect of a student’s application to ensure that they admit the best possible fits to their respective institutions.

So, however taxing the college process may be, it calms my mind to know that I am being judged fairly and equitably against my peers.

The recent college scandal completely derails this notion.

Essentially, what Loughlin, Huffman, Singer and the numerous other parties involved in this crime epitomize is the idea that the college admissions process, however “holistic” it may be, it a process that can be manipulated. Rigged.

Cheated. That all it takes to gain admission to the most competitive institutions across the country is to write a check. That no matter how much effort and time you dedicate to your studies and extracurriculars, it will never be enough. There will always be another Olivia Jade, prepared to falsify whatever documents or fabricate whatever lies she may have to in order to secure a spot in an incoming class.

So to all of the individuals involved in this scam of the century, I ask you this: what kind of message does this portray to the youth of today’s society? To the honest, hard-working students who don’t have the luxury of depending on a check to get them places in life?

Our country was built from the ground on principles of ethics and hard work. There used to exist a time in which rags to riches stories were plentiful, in which one could depend solely on their dedication and drive to go far in life. But now, society continually suggests that those on top will always prevail in the race that is life, no matter the circumstances at hand.

There is no denying that the college process is competitive and cut-throat, and only continues to grow more and more competitive each year. It is sure to be riddled with its setbacks, its defeats.

But that is simply a part of life.

What is unethical, however, is the acceptance of a student based on falsified information and devised lies. Through these attempts to get their children admittance into college, these parents may be doing the exact opposite: robbing their children of their maturity, sense of self-respect and acquired adulthood, all of which are developed through the natural college process.

by Charlotte Dross • Editor-in-Chief

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April 11, 2019 • The Fourcast

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by Sahasra Chigurupati • CastOff Editor