Fourcast November 2015

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e HoCkaDaY SChOOl INSIDE

THE ROOSEVELTS AT HOCKADAY Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on the life and legacy of the Roosevelt family featured 80 years of Roosevelt history. Part of this history intertwines with The Hockaday School p7

ARE GIRLS SMARTER THAN BOYS? Research shows that girls are outperforming boys in school

FRESHMAN IN CHINESE COMPETITION Hockadaisy went to China for an international contest p10 FINE ARTS MOVES TO PORTABLES With renovations finalized, fine arts start moving to portables p15 SPC CHANGES Division II of SPC has been eliminated, leaving some teams sitting on the sidelines p18

PHOTO PROVIDED BY HOCKADAY ANTHOLOGY

Friday, november 7, 2014

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11600 Welch Rd. Dallas, Texas 75229

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Volume 65 Issue 2

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news p2 features p7 photoessay p11 infocus p12 arts & entertainment p14 sports & wellness p18 perspectives p21

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

An OutBreak of Fear The Hockaday Fourcast ventures into the psychology behind the Ebola hysteria, the media’s role in fueling the flames and how the Hockaday administration has dealt with the crisis in order to minimize its participation in the hysteria.

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ILLUSTRATION BY WENDY HO

H

ere we come, Neverland. Hockaday Dance is bringing the magic of Peter Pan to the Hockaday community this November. This will be the first time that Hockaday Dance performs Peter Pan in Hoblitzelle Auditorium, and also the last.

Performing Arts Chair and dance teacher Beth Wortley and fine arts dance teacher Christie Sullivan agree that Peter Pan is the “perfect” choice for a ballet.

“I think everyone relates to the joy of escaping into a fantasy,” Wortley said. “[Peter Pan] is kind of beautiful in that it gives the audience an escape.”

Hockaday Dance will be spreading the magic of Peter Pan to the Dallas community as well.

Peter Pan continued p14

Teacher Gets Schooled

PHOTO BY MADISON SMITH

Dancing to Neverland

Hockaday teachers work to earn their Ph.D.s At the end of the day, when he finishes teaching his classes at Hockaday, Upper School history teacher Lucio Benedetto grabs a quick bite to eat, reads his notes from the day before and heads off to his 7 p.m. class. This class, however, is not one he teaches. It is one of the many he has been taking to fulfill the 60 hours of coursework required to obtain a Ph.D. in Humanities.

The Ph.D. process itself var-

ies depending on the field, school and the student’s previous education. But the one thing all Ph.D. programs have

in common is the completion of the required coursework hours.

Ph.D. continued p7

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HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL NOVEMBER 7, 2014

NeWs Day of Service Becomes Tradition PHOTO BY CLAIRE FLETCHER

Single-Sex Schools: To Close or Convert With a decrease in the popularity of single-sex universities, women's colleges face change.

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s the years have progressed and women have taken significant steps towards achieving gender equality, the oncehigh interest in pursuing single-sex education has petered out into a slow decline. An article from U.S. News cited a study revealing that nowadays only three percent of collegebound high school girls even consider including all-women’s colleges on their lists.

Due to financial constraints from a decline in applications, many women’s schools are faced with the decision to either close or convert to co-education.

Director of College Counseling Carol Wasden, a member of the Association of College Counselors, can attribute this shift in applications to women’s belief that a singlesex college education equates to no interaction between the sexes.

“There is this common misconception that there will be no men, even though many men from neighboring universities visit and even take classes on campus,” Wasden said.

But Wasden has noticed there exists a “relatively small number of girls” each year who continue to find the prospect of attending a women’s college appealing, often because of their experiences at Hockaday.

Senior Lily Ramirez, among the few considering attending a women’s college, can see a silver lining to this decline in applications, pleased at its indication that girls now have a larger foothold in the educational world. Nonetheless, she remains a firm believer that “society definitely still needs single-sex schooling.” Having attended all-girls schools since sixth grade, Ramirez sees value in the plentiful opportunities for girls to take charge.

“There are no guys blocking that space,” Ramirez explains. “It makes you think, ‘Why shouldn’t it be me?’”

She can see in herself evidence of confidence and courage that she had once craved in elementary school.

Single-sex continued p6

T

he 100th anniversary of both this year’s and last year’s Hockaday was a trek back Day of Service. According to her, in time marked with as- the wide range of activities that semblies, a whole lot of took place last year at this event hockapunch and the unforget- helped the Board narrow down table Cen“TENT”ial. But last year where they could go to make the wasn’t merely a celebration of largest impact for the second Day the past; it was the start of some- of Service. thing new: Hockaday 2.0.

“It’s great if everybody can One of the many activities go to a lot of different places, but introduced during the Centen- there’s only so much one group of nial was the first Day of Service. people can do in one place,” MiOn Nov. 13, 2013, more than 1,000 chel said. “It’s better this year that students and 200 faculty mem- we can focus on one thing and rebers partnered with 16 different ally make a difference.” organizations in the Dallas area The 2014 Day of Service will to conduct various service learn- focus on the theme of literacy—a ing activities. But this project type of service learning that about wasn’t simply 150 Upper School stuplaced in a dusty dents are already box like most of participating in durthe Centennial ing their free time. gear. Instead, DiCurrently, Hockaday rector of Service students travel to six Learning Laura different elementary Day has worked schools in the Dallas alongside EuIndependent School gene McDermott District and solely foThe number of Upper Headmistress cus on ameliorating School students who Kim Wargo to literacy skills. are working daily to plan Hockaday’s “I think educaameliorate literacy skills second Day of tion is most needed in DISD elementary Service in hopes in our community schools of making it an because if you can adannual tradidress that, then you tion. can address so many of the other As one of the Community issues that we try to deal with,” Service Board Representatives for Michel said. her class, senior Elizabeth Michel Both Wargo and Day agreed has also participated in planning that focusing on work that is al-

COMMUNITY KICKOFF The Day of Service will begin with an assembly featuring guest Mike Miles, superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District.

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ready being done is beneficial for not only the community, but for Hockaday as well. According to Wargo, this year’s theme-based Day of Service will create a lasting impact, prompt conversation and motivate students to seek additional service learning opportunities after just the one day.

“It was really important to us to find a way to do [the Day of Service] again and to do it in such a way that we felt we could sustain on a regular basis,” Wargo said.

“We’re going to focus on education; we’re going to make the opening assembly about education, we’re going to make what the girls do during the day about education, and we’re going to make the reflection about education because we are an institution of education.”

Junior Rajya Atluri, who has been tutoring at Sudie L. Williams Elementary for the past few years, appreciates the literacy-based theme due to her personal experiences.

“I'm really excited that this year's theme is literacy because I've witnessed how important it is firsthand,” Atluri said. “Last year, the little kindergarten boy I tutored at Sudie started off needing a lot of help to get through a book.

Service continued p6

STUDENT COUNCIL

The Student Council implemented its first Spirit Week as part of the first phase of the Mindfulness Movement, whose goal is to create a healthy environment for every student to thrive in. Spirit week, a series of events leading up to the Southwest Preparatory Conference tournaments at the end of each sports season, was introduced to Hockaday in response to feedback from last year’s surveys that showed students’ desires for more opportunities to bond as a community and support each other in activities. The Student Council established Spirit Week to energize the community. The first Spirit Week kicked off on Monday, Nov. 3 with a whipped cream and M&M eating contest. Tuesday was a Serendipity Day themed Dress like a Boy, and it was also the day the Head of

Upper School John Ashton hosted a bingo game with Upper School students. Wednesday was free-for-all ping pong, and on Thursday, there was karaoke during lunch. Some activities held opportunities for form points. First place in form points for Spirit Week was awarded a free sock day, and second place was awarded the opportunity to control music in the cafeteria for a day. To press date, form points for Spirit Week are not available. There will be two more Spirit Weeks this year, one before each SPC tournament. F Courtney Le and Charlsea Lamb Managing Editor and News Editor

NEWS: How ISIS Affects U.S. / Page 5 • Hockaday Alumna Creates Travel Program / Page 6

PHOTO BY CLAIRE FLETCHER

HOCkABrIEFs

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

THE FOURCAST 03

NeWs

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

Girls Outform Boys in Classroom Recent research shows that the intelligence level of girls may be higher than that of boys

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n August of 2011, fashion retailer Forever 21 began to sell women’s shirts with the slogan “Allergic to Algebra” emblazoned across the chest; however, no such shirts were sold in the men’s department.

These shirts have perpetuated the stereotype that girls underperform in educational subjects, especially those of math and science. But is this stereotype true?

Research says the opposite. University of New Brunswick, located in St. John, New Brunswick, released a study in which over one million girls and boys from over 30 different nations had their academic performances tracked.

Across the board, the findings were clear: girls all over the world are outperforming their male classmates, even in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects.

Higher education is affected as well. According the to the Pew Research Center, 71 percent of females went on to pursue university level schooling, while only 61 percent of males did the same.

Research links success in the classroom to “self-regulation characteristics.” These characteristics include waiting for a turn to speak, raising hands, listening to instructions and attentively listening.

More often than not, girls would exhibit exceptional self-regulation characteristics, while boys were a full year behind the girls in developing these characteristics at the kindergarten age. With these traits put into use at the kindergarten age and up, girls were more likely to be seen as meticulous note-takers and efficient students while they continued with educational studies. Boys, however, seemed to have a more playful and relaxed attitude in the classroom.

These attitudes of students have been noted for many years. Director of Counseling Margaret Morse said, “[In the television show The Little House on the Prairie,] I remember episodes of the girls being dutiful and following directions, and the boys getting in trouble. I think this has been a centuries-long difference.”

On the educational front, Upper School math teacher Howard Hand, who taught at the St. Mark’s School of Texas for 13 years, noted key differences in the classroom between both boys and girls.

“I think a lot of guys tune out for one reason or another.

And I don’t see the girls tuning out. They all seem to be engaged, trying to learn. And I think these are gender differences, not differences in the

school, but there are lots of viewed said that these findings boys trying to learn everything were not surprising, girls have they can,” Hand said. been seen as less advanced Junior Demre Inano- than their male counterparts glu, who previously attended in math and science-related Plano, Texas’ Shepton High fields. This is due to previous School, a coeducational school, neurological research. attests to this idea: “Boys defi“There were activities in nitely liked to play, goof and the [boys’] brain with spatial mess around more, whereas reasoning showing that boys girls were [more fowere more active cused on school],” Inand better in that anoglu said. way. But conversely, However, this for girls, their verbal doesn’t necessarily centers were more mean that one genhighlighted, so for a der is more intellilong time, there was gent than the other. a stereotype that I don’t think Junior Vivian Zhou, girls were better that either who has also attendwith language, relaed a coed school in tionships and Enggender is the past, said, “I don’t lish and that boys smarter. It’s think that either genwere better at math der is smarter. It’s just just the way and science,” Morse the way we approach we approach said.But why are school work, and I school work these stereotypes think that a lot of Junior Vivian Zhou times girls are more still so pervasive? of perfectionists and Societal issues may they are more detail-oriented.” be at play. Historically, boys Additionally, it may be be- have been pushed towards cause girls focus on long-term math and science work, while goals, while boys focus on girls have not. short-term goals.

“I think a lot has been “We know how to priori- done to debunk those ideas, tize, and we know that doing saying ‘Is this really biologiwell in school is important be- cally determined or has this cause of our future, but some been constructed socially?’ of the guys don’t [prioritize] Even with the brain work, that,” Inanoglu said. they could say that boys’ Although many inter- brains are more active in

“

71% of females pursue university level schooling

[math and science areas] because they’ve been pushed into those areas,” Morse said.

“There’s been a lot to say that girls can learn and strengthen those skills if you just push them.”

Additionally, “there might be some gender stereotypes that are perpetuated by parents. Parents may expect different things from their daughters than from their sons,” Hand said.

Even with these gender stereotypes in mind, all-girls education breaks down gender roles. Many schools, including Hockaday, offer STEM subjects to their students, pushing them to become interested in those areas, which are usually fields dominated by men.

Single-sex education helps girls become more outspoken in their academic performances.

“I think not having guys actually encourages girls to raise their hand more,” Zhou said.

Additionally, single-sex schools push girls to work harder. “I think all-girls education is great because we can do it all,” Morse said. “We’re not socialized into gender specific roles. We’re harder workers because we have something to prove.” F

Single-sex continued p6

opposition, peeved alumnae and protests. Sara Grey, an Through her eyes, “if in alumna of Chatham Universisix years [she’s] changed so ty, revealed to CBS Pittsburgh much, another four could that many fellow alumnae only be so much better” in planned to use social media to network with no official ties terms of personal growth.

While most of the schools to the university, having felt Ramirez intends to apply to excluded and been repeateddo not significantly struggle ly dismissed throughout the decision-making with finances, process. including but The changnot limited to ing times threaten Mills College, the once-heralded Smith College, single-sex environBarnard Colments at women’s lege and Mount universities, meanHolyoke Coling they now must lege, the change choose between in tides in the The percent of collegeadapting, exemplicollege applicabound High School girls fied by Chatham tions world has who do not consider allUniversity’s implebegun to work women's colleges when against other searching for higher level mentation of additional co-educaa l l - w o m e n’s education tional programs, universities. or facing the posSource: U.S. News Although it sibility of eliminais common for tion. While some men to partake women’s colleges in everything from academic courses to dangle in the balance between exchange-student programs remaining single-sex or beto summer programs at wom- coming co-educational, others en’s schools, the decisions to remain afloat for now, begging officially allow men to enroll the question of what is to come at Pine Manor College start- for even the most stable of alling in 2013, Wilson College women’s schools. F starting in 2014 and Chatham Hufsa Husain University aimed to start in Staff Writer 2015 were faced with much

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61% of males pursue university level schooling

GRAPHIC BY MANISHA RATAKONDA

Sunila Stephen Staff Writer

Source: PEW Research Center

WaRd Nov. 7-8 SPC Championships in Dallas

Nov. 12 Day of Service

Nov. 17-18, 4:15 p.m.

Winter Play Auditions

Dec. 8-17 Art Impact Exhibit

Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.

Fall Play at St. Mark's

Nov. 13, 3 p.m.

Feast of Sharing

Nov. 17-20 McDonald's Week

Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m.

US Choir Concert

Nov. 9, 2 p.m.

Fall Play at St. Mark's

Nov. 14-15 Debate Tournament

Nov. 19 US Parent's Day

Dec. 16, 11:45 a.m.

Choir Assembly

Nov. 10-11, 4:15 p.m.

US Musical Auditions

Nov. 17, 11:45 p.m.

Dance Assembly

Nov. 24-28 Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 18, 12 p.m.

Early Dismissal

04

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

NeWs

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

3D Printer Generates Funds JETS girls are utilizing the new Hockaday technology to bring change to the world of science for girls across Dallas is optional, STEM learning is not. This Hockaday science club wants to give girls and young women in the Dallas community the same opportunities that the JETS girls have had.

Randolph said that the idea for selling these cases started with a need for additional funding for the JETS of Dallas Best competition.

“We always get docked because we have a school allocated budget so we thought that we could do some fundraising.

But, we ended up not needing the funds so we decided to donate them,” said Randolph.

Club sponsor and physics teacher Leon de Oliveira agrees with the opportunity to give other girls and young women in the Dallas community the chance to learn with STEM education.

“The JETS girls want to use the phone cases for fundraising so that they can help support a STEM group outside of school, while participating in a robotics competition,” de Oliveira said.

According to Randolph, Hockaday is lucky to have these resources; although, the JETS girls are not allowed to use the technology in the construction of their robots for competitions. Only props are allowed to be made from the printers.

Junior Gillian Meyer, the current president of JETS, assures everyone that these cases are relatively simple to create

PHOTO BY GRACE VOORHEIS

J

unior Alexandra Randolph enters the Idea Lab of the new science building; glass windows and walls outline the creative space. She approaches a small, glass box and swings its glass door open.

She then proceeds to thread the plastic threading through a spool. Assuming her position in the lab chair, Randolph types away at a program on a computer that connects to the box—the box starts to pulsate with energy and the unique smell of melting plastic engulfs the room. The familiar rolling sound of a printer is expelled from the box and, after 26 minutes, the printed piece is finally revealed.

An iPhone case, with the initials “AR” cut out of the back, has just been printed.

A tray rolls out with the warm piece of plastic. Randolph takes a spatula looking instrument from the table beside her and prys the case off of the metal bed.

“It’s warm,” warns Randolph. “Don’t touch the metal!”

With the help of the new 3D printers on the third floor in the new lab, Randolph and the girls in her JETS, or Junior Engineering Technical Society, team will design and print iPhone cases for profit. They will conduct a community outreach program to support STEM learning in the less fortunate areas of Dallas and sell their newly produced smartphone cases.

While joining the JETS club

and will yield a profit.

“We use a template that we found online. There is an online website where people post their own designs that they make so we know that it fits, and then we just take a JPEG of whatever image we want to put on the phone; we just drag it into design and you basically press print,” Meyer said.

The website, called Thingaverse.com, contains any kind of 3D printing prototype imaginable. Users on this website are able to share their templates with others.

As of now, the cases are only being made for iPhones 4s, 4, 5 and 5s. The girls have not yet developed or located a template for the iPhone 6 case.

The cases will be sold for around $10. Students who wish to order cases can contact Alexandra Randolph at a r a n d o l p h @ h o c k a d a y.o r g .

Customers will be able to customize these cases with their own monogram or image.

Customers will also have the opportunity to select the font they wish to have on their personalized case.

“We hope that the money we donate will help give other girls and young women the opportunity to experience and become interested in engineering just like we have been able to,” said Meyer. F Mary-Claire Wilson Staff Writer

FUN FUNDING Sophmores Cameron Blotcky and Emily Stallings experiment by creating a jack-o-lantern with the 3D printer in the IDEA Lab.

Science Department Sponsors Sleepovers Upper School Headmistress Kim Wargo and the Hockaday Development Office sponsor sleepovers for students in the new science building

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sleepovers received very high rates of participation. One fourth grader who attended, Kate Stevenson, noticed that “almost all of [her] grade was

science experiments, a flashlight tour of the campus led by Wargo, a movie and a snack, a bedtime story read by Wargo and a sleepover in the lobby of

linked to Hockaday science classes, Banks commented, “There was really no classroom connection, except for the fact that our kids love hands-on PHOTO PROVIDED BY HOLLY HOOK

eady, set, go!” Science department head Marshall Bartlett, Ph.D., yelled as he dropped a whole watermelon from the balcony of the new science building.

High-pitched shrieks echoed through Metzger Plaza as the watermelon soared through the air and exploded on the ground. Fifth graders dodged the watermelon, trying to avoid getting splattered by juice and exploded chunks of red fruit.

Ten minutes later, this same mob of excited fifth graders crowded around a Perot Museum volunteer to watch her carefully pipet drops of water onto kale and cabbage leaves.

Although the fifth graders had done experiments and attended classes in the new science center before, the Oct. 3 science building sleepover hosted

by Eugene McDermott Headmistress Kim Wargo and the Development Office allowed them to explore the building on a whole new level.

The Mad Science Sleepovers with Wargo were sold in the Centennial’s Live Auction last year; second, fourth and fifth grade families purchased them for their respective grades. Above all, students looked forward to spending a night together with their friends and exploring all the new features of the building.

Both Holly Hook from the Development Office and Lower School science teacher Amy Banks were instrumental in planning the sleepovers. “I would guess that their favorite part was simply being at school together with their friends after hours,” Banks commented.

For this reason, all three

SLUMBER PARTY Kim Wargo, members of the Hockaday administration and Hockaday science teachers planned the Mad Science Sleepovers in the science building. at the sleepover.”

Staff members from the Perot Museum performed experiments with the girls in the Hockaday science building labs during both the second and fourth grade sleepovers.

The evenings included a dinner from Goff’s Hamburgers,

the science center.

The main purpose of the sleepovers was to help students become familiar with the features of the building, to spend time with Wargo and to just have fun.

When asked whether or not the sleepovers had a purpose

science like the Perot presented because we do hands-on science in our classrooms.”

The new planetarium, which features an LED lighting system and unparalleled acoustics, was a favorite amongst the girls. Led by Bartlett, the fourth and fifth graders enjoyed gaz-

ing at the stars, pointing out constellations in the simulated night sky and watching a short documentary about the Apollo missions during their visit to the planetarium.

Fourth grader London Rhodus was a huge fan of the planetarium and said that “actually getting to go in [to the planetarium] for the first time was so exciting.”

Although the sleepovers went smoothly, the coordinators of the sleepovers did encounter a few challenges along the way.

Although the second and fourth grade girls slept in the IDEA Lab, this was not feasible for the 80 fifth graders who attended the sleepover. “It was a bit challenging to figure out the sleeping arrangements for the girls. The building is not really designed to accommodate 40-60 small bodies in any one of its spaces,” Bartlett said.

However, the coordinators were able to overcome the space constraints for the fifth graders by accommodating students into the main lobby of the building.

All in all, Banks believes that “the girls had a great time at the sleepovers,” mainly because of the combined efforts of Hockaday’s staff, teachers, administrators and Perot Museum partners.

The new science building has the ability to get even Hockaday’s youngest girls, like fourth grader Alexa Welch, interested in science.

Grinning broadly, Welch said, “I love the new science building so much! It makes science really fun.” F Eshani Kishore Staff Writer

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

THE FOURCAST 05

NeWs

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

YOUR WORLD TODAY: A Look Into ISIS and its Impact on the United States

How ISIS Affects U.S. The radical Islamic group has dominated and attacked parts of the world; what are the facts we need to know?

Turkey

Syria Iraq

Israel

Le ba no

n

Iran

PHOTOS BY NORDNORDWEST, SPESH531, via Wikimedia Commons

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ollege student Kareem Sharba was sitting in his house in Homs, Syria, two weeks ago, when he started to feel the ground shake below him. He noticed a huge cloud of smoke looming near his house complex and ran to the site. Only 500 feet away from an elementary school, a bomb car had exploded, resulting in the death of 40 children, 13 adults and over 400 casualties.

“The first thing I saw was a kid’s leg,” Sharba said.

This is one of the many attacks that have occurred as a result of ISIS, short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

ISIS has made many headlines this year and continues to be broadcasted as the principal part of many televised news networks’ “Breaking News” segments. The name evokes a sense of concern for humanity.

Jordan

What is ISIS?

How Does ISIS Affect others?

Areas Controlled by ISIS (as of Nov. 1, 2014) Territories Claimed by ISIS Rest of Iraq and Syria PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK

ISIS, which formally split from the radical Islamist group al-Qaeda earlier this year, aims to take over and establish a Sunni caliphate in Iraq, Syria and parts of Lebanon, oppressing the other branch of Islam, the Shia.

The Sunni make up the minority of the population of Iraq, while the Shia is the majority. Most of the population is Arab Muslim, but there is also a small Kurdish population that includes Sunnis and Christians.

In fact, three percent of the population in Iraq is Christian, according to the CIA’s 2007 World Factbook.

This group, with approximately 50,000 members, funds itself through the oil it acquires from controlling territories and raiding banks, acquiring over a million dollars per day, making it the richest terrorist organization on earth.

ISIS acts through violence and terror, killing many groups of people through public execution, amputations and crucifixions. In fact, ISIS beheaded two American journalists, James Foley in August and Steven Sotloff in September.

ISIS’s attacks on civilians prevents Sharba from attending college.

“It's by far a lot worse than al-Qaeda because they have a lot of money, modern weapons and support from big countries and foreign governments,” Sharba said.

ernment officials?

In 2003, the United States intervened and attacked Iraq because of its alleged connection to weapons of mass destruction and nuclear arms. As a result, the government in Iraq collapsed, creating a lack of central authority.

“The problem is when you go to war in a somewhat unstable country and then remove their leader, it can create a power vacuum, and terrorists love that, because it breeds instability,” Walder said.

Senior Ariella Stromberg takes Walder’s comparative government class and remains informed on these issues.

“We didn’t act fast enough and, as a result, [ISIS] has taken advantage of both Iraq and Syria,” Stromberg said.

So in a tragic result of irony, the U.S. created further violence that it tried to suppress in 2003.

REFUGEE CRISIS A girl and boy play in a refugee camp, liberated from ISIS in Azaz, Syria. Since the outbreak of civil war in March 2011, many Syrians have been displaced from their homes.

While Sharba’s parents live in Tartous, which is relatively safe, his brother lives in Damascus, the capital of Syria, where ISIS’s rockets sometimes target.

“I am worried about my brother, but there is nothing that we can do about his or our safety,” Sharba said.

Upper School history teacher, Tracy Walder, teaches her Spycraft class about global issues, including ISIS. “This problem could have been stopped if we had kept a closer eye on the leadership of Iraq,” Walder said.

The Reason Behind the Violence ISIS’s motto is “convert or die.”

“Basically, what they’re doing is going to villages and completely slaughtering the people who won’t convert to [Sunni] Islam,” Walder said.

But what stirred the initial conflict amongst the Iraqi gov-

Junior Nathalie Naor has family that live in Israel and is impacted by ISIS. Israel lies on the southern border of Syria and is a constant threat to the country’s security. It also shares a border with Jordan, ISIS’s next possible target.

As for her family who lives in the U.S., Naor also finds ISIS to be a threat.

“The impact on my family in the U.S. is the increased risk of terrorist acts, whether directly by ISIS or by any homegrown terrorists radicalized by the ISIS ideology,” Naor said.

Additionally, ISIS has tried to contact people from the U.S. and Europe for recruitment purposes and has even proposed marriages through social media including Twitter and Facebook, often targeting students 21 and under.

“My concern is that I have never seen so many people in the U.S. that have been captured. It’s a little disturbing to see how many people we’ve deterred,” Walder said.

Recently, three girls from a high school in Denver attempted to fly to Turkey and later Syria to join the ISIS efforts over there. The fifteen and sixteen year old students were caught, however, in Germany, after one of their parents notified the police.

Similar situations have occurred in Minneapolis as well as many other cities across the US. “Social media has played a very significant role in the recruitment of young people,” FBI spokesman Kyle Loven said.

In order to combat this surge of terrorism, the U.S. has implemented air strikes into the region and is even considering partnering up with Iran.

‘I think that one of the most dangerous things is that it surprised us and it caught ourselves off guard,” Stromberg said.

ISIS continues to terrorize people and create further violence, with no end in sight.

“No one in Syria cares any more,” Sharba said. “We've been living like this for four years and we're used to these kinds of things.” F Noor Adatia Staff Writer

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THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

NeWs

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

Hockaday Junior Publishes Second Book A look at Junior Juliette Turner’s new book, “Our Presidents Rock!”, a sequel to “Our Constitution Rocks!”

J

unior Juliette Turner isn’t your average high school student. She is a dancer, singer, honor student and the National Youth Director of Constituting America, an organization dedicated to educating Americans about the Constitution. She also happens to be an expert on the United States Government, and she was a guest on Fox News on Oct. 10, 2013.

And the list doesn’t end there—she has also written and published two books on our government.

Her first book, “Our Constitution Rocks!”, is used by law students around the country, and she’s recently seen the publication of her second book: “Our President’s Rock!”.

“We are the future generation of our country,” Turner said. “We have to know our history in order to preserve it.”

Juliette first became successful after its publication politically aware at the age of 12 on Sept. 8, 2012, Barnes and when she read 90 essays written Noble directly requested for by scholars from around the another book. Her second country on the Constitution. Her book, “Our Presidents Rock!”, passion for politics and affable was released on Sept. 30, 2014. personality made her The style is greatly a perfect fit for the the same as the first, position of National described as “chockYouth Director for full” of information her mother Janine

by Janine and filled Turner’s organization, with fun facts to keep Constituting America. readers interested.

Janine, who “Kids love it I think doing is a published because it’s written the research author herself as by a kid,” she added. is the best well as an actress, “And the adults love explained that it because it’s an easy part about “[Juliette] became yet informative read.” the writing. very intrigued with Janine, who the Constitution.

Junior Juliette Turner raised Juliette on She rewrote the her own, knows 90 essays in the way she something about working at a interpreted them, as a kid, and young age: she was modeling Harper Collins picked it up.” in New York by the age of When “Our Constitution 15 and was in Hollywood Rocks!” became commercially by 17. Both Turner women

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are somewhat of celebrities with Juliette having her book endorsed by prominent political figures Karl Rove and Donald Rumsfeld.

However, her mother doesn’t worry about it getting to Juliette’s head.

“I’ve been in show business my entire life,” Janine said. “It seems much more glamorous than it actually is. [Juliette] is always doing chores and helping me out; there’s a lot to keep her humble.”

Coincidentally, Janine also released her second book on the same day as Juliette, titled “A Little Bit Vulnerable: On Hollywood, God, Sobriety & Politics”.

Upper School Government teacher Kathryn Hodgkinson commented, “it’s a good example of the ambition our girls have…[at Hockaday] we teach independent thinkers and go-getters.”

But life as a published author isn’t easy even for the toughest of the go-getters.

With the combined difficulties of marketing and writing her books and completing her school work, Juliette only gets about five hours of sleep a night, if not less; however, she dismisses the struggles as a small price to pay.

“I just love learning about history,” she said. “I think doing the research is the best part about the writing.” Turner writes every single book on her own, and her mother sees them only when they are sent off to publishing.

Juliette’s latest book, “Our Presidents Rock!”, is available for purchase online and anywhere books are sold. F Amanda Kim Staff Writer

Alumna Returns Service to Community Hockaday travel program connects with alumna Kimberly Haley-Coleman’s organization Globe Aware

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of connections within the cities because people had gone there before us, people were waiting for us to help. If we had just gone to Peru and said ‘Oh, we are going to go help this place” no one there would have known us. It was nice because they already had an established organization there that we could help without intruding,” Charlton said.

According to Haley-Coleman, around 15 to 25 percent of those who participate in Globe Aware programs outside of their school community are teenagers.

“I think it’s critical that in order to be a really involved, successful person, I feel it almost requires that one be a globally aware citizen. It helps find resolutions, on a global scale, to conflicts that are important, whether it’s political peace or bringing groups and different nationalities together to find a solution to problems that we all face,” Haley-Coleman said,”But it’s also a huge source of joy for someone for their whole life, to have those wonderful moments of cultural understanding.”

Community Service Director Laura Day felt that students learned similar valuable lessons from their experiences with peruvian culture.

“I think the girls learned what you really need to be happy. I think we learned about material possessions and what people, in general, need to be happy, because we saw people who didn’t have anything who were having happy and wonderful lives,” Day said.

The Peru trip, still in connection with Globe Aware, is

AROUND THE WORLD Alumna Kimberly Haley-Coleman ‘88 on one of her Globe Aware trips to Ghana.

Service continued from p2

sies will stay on campus, Middle and Upper School students will be travelling to nine different elementary schools: Nathan Adams Elementary, Everette L. DeGolyer Elementary, Jerry R. Junkins Elementary, Herbert Marcus Elementary, Walnut Hill Elementary, Stephen C. Foster Elementary, Leonides Gonzalez Cigarroa MD Elementary, Sudie L. Williams Elementary and the K.B. Polk Center for Academically Talented and Gifted.

Due to the great number of students in the Middle and Upper Schools, only grades six, eight, 10 and 12 will be travelling off-campus. The remaining students will work on writing letters to elementary school students, creating takehome homework-helper kits for parents, and doing other hands-on projects that will support the service that is be-

ing done off-campus.

The Day of Service will be a beneficial learning opportunity for avid community servicegoers, as well as for students who are still trying to find their niche in the broad spectrum of service learning opportunity.

“This day will force every single student to have an experience; many students will get to learn someone’s story or meet a kid that touches them,” Day said. “Maybe it will inspire them to want to give back.”

Wargo hopes that the Day of Service will have both internal and external impacts. According to her, Hockaday is a school that’s well-known for it’s rigor and academic success, but she believes that Hockaday girls succeed in ways that are far beyond what goes on in the classroom setting.

“I hope that it is a really

He strengthened his reading skills week by week, and by the end of the year he was reading books by himself.”

By focusing on this one theme, students will leave behind something truly sustainable.

“We’re doing a lot of transformations of libraries, so our students will not just work with the kids this time but will actually leave a sustainable thing behind for the school, which is really meaningful and has a long-lasting effect,” Day said.

The Lower School will relate their Day of Service projects to grade-specific themes.

Kindergarten will focus on the elderly, first grade on animals, second grade on the environment, third grade on hunger and fourth grade on the youth.

While the youngest Hockadai-

PHOTO COURTESY OF KIMBERLY HALEY-COLEMAN

hen alumna Kimberly Haley-Coleman ‘88 was a Hockaday student, she was involved in many local community service projects from candy stripping at hospitals to working in women’s shelters. Today, she is giving Hockaday the opportunity she never had: to do community service abroad.

Haley-Coleman found interest in other cultures and languages from a young age, and her five years at Hockaday “helped wet [her] appetite for learning about and understanding other cultures,” Haley-Coleman said.

After graduating, HaleyColeman continued her education in international cultures and held many jobs that required her international relations skills. She received her masters in French and Art History and got her MBA in international business.

“It was all related to other cultures from the earliest I can remember, and Hockaday was certainly an integral piece of that,” Haley-Coleman said.

From this foundation, Haley-Coleman founded Globe Aware in 2000.

This past summer, 13 Hockaday Upper School students traveled to Peru, in connection with Globe Aware, to expand their learning about other cultures through hands-on service while visiting two communities, San Pedro and Cuzco.

Junior Allie Charlton, one of the students who traveled with the program, found the organization’s guidance crucial to her trip experience. “[Globe Aware] had a lot

strong message to the outside world that to be a Hockadaisy is to care about your community and to be successful in that arena as well,” Wargo said.

Similarly, Michel would like to make use of the numerous resources and advantages that Hockaday has to offer, as well as help her peers have an eye-opening experience.

“When you go to the other schools, you see how much they appreciate every little thing, and it really makes a difference,” she said.

Day believes that externally, this year’s project will have a huge impact because Hockaday is working to further develop the public-private school partnership, one that isn’t quite common.

Within the gates of the school, the Day of Service will be a time to reflect and accomplish

offered again in Hockaday’s travel program for next year.

For Haley-Coleman, this recurring trip connects the school community in which she formed the foundations of her passion for international cultures, and the organization she founded to facilitate this passion for others.

“It’s such a wonderful, full circle feeling of kind of a bit alpha-omega to get a chance to come back to a place that was so instrumental in shaping my life,” Haley-Coleman said. “It’s such a wonderful feeling. I’m so grateful.”

Other projects Globe Aware is organizing include assembling wheelchairs in Cambodia, building adobe stoves in rural Peru, installing concrete floors in single-mother households in Guatemala and working with elephants in Thailand.

Students who are interested in getting involved with Globe Aware besides through a travel program can apply for internships. Globe Aware will find ways to help based on the applicant’s interests and strengths.

“We are really open to creating various internships and volunteer opportunities that can be done either at home or in our offices as well. We try and structure it based on something that the student is already interested in,” HaleyColeman said.

Contact Haley-Coleman at kimberly_haleycoleman@yahoo.com to learn more about the internship opportunities. F Megan Philips Features Editor something as a community.

“That’s where the learning part comes in: it’s not just about going out and doing good in the world,” Wargo said. “It’s also causing us as a community to think about the world we live in and how we can create an impact that is worthy of our time.”

Nov. 12 won’t be an average day at Hockaday—it will be a day of eye-opening experiences, a day of consolidation and a day of dedication to serving the Dallas community.

“People may look different or have different socioeconomic statuses, but all of those kids are just as interested in learning,” Day said. “I think the Day of Service will show Hockaday students that there is a completely different world just two streets down.” F Inaara Padani Copy Editor

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ffatUres A Rosy Time at Hockaday

FeatUReD

The Roosevelt family has been intertwined with Hockaday for almost 80 years

THE BIG BURRITO ON CAMPUS College Counselor Chris Blackwell is your typical father, husband, college counselor and Master Burrito Ambassador. Yes, he is an ambassador for Chipotle. But how did he get there?

Blackwell grew up in Columbus, Ohio and ate Chipotle once a week throughout his junior and senior year of high school. After deciding to attend St. Louis University in St. Louis, MO, he was disappointed to hear that there was no Chipotle in town.

Blackwell began a quest to bring Chipotle to St. Louis by sending an email to Chipotle each week.

“I was actually training to be a pilot at St. Louis University. One day, I was craving a burrito so badly that I flew a family friend’s airplane to Columbia, MO, which was the closest Chipotle,” Blackwell said.

After sending an email every week for five years, Blackwell finally received a response. Chipotle listened and was adding a location in St. Louis, and they wanted Blackwell to be its first customer. He was then named a Master Burrito Ambassador.

Chipotle has continued to be a crucial part of Blackwell’s life. After his wedding, their entire party stopped at Chipotle before attending the reception. He even has pictures of his son laying in a Chipotle burrito bag at just 2-days-old.

The Cultivate Festival, an event with live music and different Chipotle foods, took place on Oct.18 in Irving, Texas.

“They had the Cultivate Festival [in October] and I accomplished my goal in life: to shake [his hand] and have a conversation with Steve Ells, CEO of Chipotle,” Blackwell said.

Blackwell said he never plans on working for Chipotle, but he will continue to be a loyal costumer. In fact, he carries his laptop and other books in a Chipotle bag every day.

"Most people who know me,” Blackwell said, “associate me with Chipotle.”

PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL AN ANTHOLOGY OF VOICES AND VIEWS 1913-2013

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ANOTHER FIRESIDE CHAT The day before Chandler Roosevelt Lindsley's Hockaday Graduation, she talks with her grandmother Eleanor Roosevelt in 1952

Ph.D. continued from p1 At the University of Texas at Dallas, the 60 hours required for a Ph.D. in humanities include independent studies. In this coursework, “you’re taking higher-level graduate work in whatever field it is that you’re in,” Benedetto said. “I’m doing humanity studies and literature, so most of my courses are in literature. At UTD, however, you are also required to take some courses outside of that as an interdisciplinary program.” Benedetto thus takes not only literature classes, but other courses in history and aesthetics as well.

After completing the requirement of a certain amount of coursework, the student takes an examination in which they must display advanced proficiency in reading a foreign language.

Then, they start researching for his or her dissertation paper, a formal,

as a girl because they couldn’t be seen together out in public.

“I loved the picture of Franklin wearing the hat [girls costume] when they were out yachting before they announced their engagement,” Ruthie said.

Hockaday eighth grader Swiler Boyd, the great-great-granddaughter of Franklin Roosevelt, learned about her great-grandfather after watching the documentary.

“I learned the most about Theodore, because I didn’t know a lot about him besides what we learn at school,” Boyd said.

Ken Burns has produced over 20 documentaries and has exposed countless parts of American History. “He never stopped exposing people’s weaknesses, which was successful in this documentary because he showed them [Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor] as they truly were,” Chandler ‘52 said.

As the documentary covers 100 years of the Roosevelt family, Hockaday has been a part of the Roosevelt family for over half of that century. In 1937, Eleanor Roosevelt was invited by the Dallas Business and Professional Women’s Club to give two speeches on March 21.

One of the speeches, on the topic of “Problems of Youth”, was held at The Hockaday Junior College.

Roosevelt and Ela Hockaday dined at her cottage on the old Hockaday Greenville campus, where Roosevelt signed the official Hockaday Guestbook in 1937.

Twelve years later, Chandler’ 52 became part of the Hockaday

usually very long paper that defends a particular thesis on a certain subject with multiple arguments. For this, a student must go through a reading committee, which assigns the student a group of books to read based on his or her dissertation research.

The student then also must take an oral examination based upon the information from the readings assigned by the reading committee. “It’s essentially where you sit and they question you based on all of these things. I mean, you’re prepared as you can be,” Benedetto said.

To an average observer, the process seems demanding and difficult. But Benedetto doesn’t see it that way. “The process to me isn’t so bad, but being a teacher and getting a dissertation at the same time does sometimes feel a little overwhelming, like teaching here at Hockaday and then having a lot of reading or outside writing to do my-

boarding department in 1949, because there were no private schools where she lived in Ft. Worth, Texas.

“Its interesting because on my husband’s side, Ruth Bower Lindsley was one of the people who brought Miss Hockaday to Dallas. Little did I know that my husband was involved with Hockaday before I was,” Chandler ‘52 said.

Eleanor Roosevelt attended and spoke at her granddaughter’s Hockaday Commencement in 1952, where she stressed her ideas of women being involved in the community.

“She would always come when she could for a special occasion for her grandchildren,” Chandler ‘52 said.

Chandler had a close relationship with her grandmother, going on countless trips to the Roosevelt’s estate in Hyde Park, NY to dine with Eleanor. “She was a great entertainer. One of my lasting memories was never sitting down at a meal without guests, even at lunch,” Chandler ‘52 said.

From spending time with Roosevelts, Chandler ‘52 observed that “[Eleanor Roosevelt] was very conscientious about answering letters, she got around 300 a day. The only thing she asked for after Franklin died was to be able to mail her letters without stamps, so that she could answer as many as she could.” F Claire Fletcher Photography Editor

self,” Benedetto said.

However, Benedetto thinks that his experiences with the Ph.D. process is beneficial for his students, too.

“One thing is that I’m regularly writing papers, turning in either one to two JRP-length kind of papers during a semester, 10 to 15 sometimes 20 pages long,” Benedetto said.

He feels that his regular practice of writing essays, similar to the papers Hockaday students write during the school year, can help him advise students when they go through similar experiences.

Junior Demre Inanoglu, a student in Benedetto’s AP US History class, agrees.

Inanoglu couldn’t decide between two topics, but after discussing with Benedetto about which topic would be better suited for her, she finally narrowed her topic down to the evolution of blues into rock and roll in the 1950s.

“He helped me narrow down my

FEATURES Alumna Mandy Ginsberg Finds a Perfect Match / Page 9 •

Austria ArnoldStaff Writer

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PHOTO PROVIDED BY CHRIS BLACKWELL

t’s no secret that the political power couple, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, left a lasting impact on America; however, the lesser known fact is that Eleanor spread her influence to The Hockaday School in 1937.

Upon the recent release of the PBS documentary, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” by Ken Burns, which chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Hockaday has uncovered its 50 year relationship with the family.

The documentary interweaves the stories of the three Roosevelts as they became the most influential political family in America. Beginning with the birth of Theodore Roosevelt in 1858, and ending with the death of Eleanor Roosevelt in 1962, the documentary follows a century of American politics.

Chandler Roosevelt Lindsley, a class of ‘52 Hockaday alumna and granddaughter of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, credited the documentary by Ken Burns as “absolutely fantastic, a beautiful job. It really is a great gift to our country.”

Great-granddaughters of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Ruthie Lindsley, Hockaday class of ‘75, and Chandler Lindsley, class of ‘82, attended the family sneak peak preview at a family reunion in Warm Springs, Ga. last November and watched the full 14-hour program.

“It was amazingly put together, no one had brought factions of the family together in a historical sense before,” Chandler ‘82 said.

According to Liz Kelly, another great-granddaughter of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and cousin of Ruthie ‘75 and Chandler ‘82, Burns revealed the historical side of the Roosevelts, and did not spend much of his time interviewing family members. The documentary revealed pieces of information that even the relatives of Eleanor and Franklin had not heard before.

“I learned a great deal about all three of the Roosevelts and the times in which they lived. That time period is so important to our American history and I think that Ken Burn’s documentary gave us all a gift and great educational tool. I imagine that segments of his documentary will be used in classrooms for years to come,” Kelly said.

The documentary reveals parts of the relationship between Franklin and Eleanor and how they kept it private, including the time when Franklin dressed up

topic and was really knowledgeable in [the evolution of blues] and had several great books on it,” Inanoglu said. “He is very knowledgeable about pretty much everything related to history, which really helps the students in writing their JRP.” Benedetto feels the Ph.D. process has been a positive effect as a whole, not only for his own academic and personal growth but also as a way to better support his own students.

“It gives me some insight into what my students are going through; it keeps my writing fresh, so I feel like I can be a better guide to them. I can be a better guide to them with their research too, for their research projects,” Benedetto said. “I think it’ll be ultimately beneficial.” F

A Day in the Life of JT Coats / Page 10

Jenny Zhu Staff Writer

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Seniors Get their Spook On The Class of 2015 turned the Upper School halls into an American Horror Story PHOTO PROVIDED BY CHARLOTTE HOSKINS

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ith the hallways of Upper School adorned with fake blood and girls dressed as clowns, the senior class’ theme for Halloween, American Horror Story, left Hockaday’s students and faculty both impressed and terrified.

“The quality of the decorations and costumes was amazing and it also had that frightening aspect to it,” Junior Felicity Henderson said.

Seniors Laura Nagy, Katherine Banks, Katie Miller and Sydney Thomas were in charge of decorating the hallways, and, along with the rest of the senior class, they were successful in scaring underclassmen, leaving many girls terrified to be in the dimly lit hallways.

Freshman Bailey Brand said that one of her friends was fearful when seniors put her on a table and casted fake ‘spells’ on her.

She added that this year’s hallways exceeded her expectations and were more creatively put together than she had expected.

However, Brand herself was too scared to go through the hallways in the morning. “When I saw one of the masks, I was so scared that I couldn’t go in,” Brand said.

One of the seniors stationed in freshman hallway, Suzanne

SILENT STARES Seniors Snow Zhou,Shriya Das, Sarah Zhou, Leah Cohen and Mary Zhong are dressed as dolls to portray the American Horror Story theme.

Schmitz, confirmed that many of the freshmen were terrified and even ran off crying.

“They got really scared when we unexpectedly moved

or made noise. I think that was the main source of the tears,” Schmitz said.

Senior Sam Toomey, who was dressed as a clown, said that

the seniors’ goal for the theme was “physiological terror.”

“At first, I wasn’t sure about the theme because I don’t watch the show, but once it hit 8 p.m.

[the night before Halloween] the hallways started to come together and look awesome,” Toomey said.

She stood near the cars as underclassmen were dropped off, and even made two freshmen cry when she “invaded their personal space and cocked [her] head at them.”

Toomey then made her way to freshmen hallway where many girls who saw her screamed and scattered; others began to cry due to their fear of Toomey’s persona.

This was the first Hockaday Halloween experience for Spanish teacher Alejandra Suarez. She said that it was both frightening and enjoyable.

“It was spooky, it was scary, it was great. The girls really did a nice job, and I had a lot of fun,” Suarez said.

The dark hallways and creepy costumes were what terrified her the most, but according to Suarez, even though the the girls were prodding underclassmen, everyone was having a good time. F Manisha Ratakonda Graphics Editor

Mandy Finds a Perfect Match Mandy Ginsberg, former CEO of Match.com, matched herself up with the Princeton Review be another really cool journey,” Ginsberg said. This is where Tutor.com came into play.

Tutor.com originally started out as a company that aided children of deployed military soldiers. Last year, they expanded the company for public use so that students all over the world could get academic help when they need it. In August of this year, Tutor.com expanded to include the Princeton Review. This added business gives Tutor.com an edge over all other websites like it, and helps further develop the education of its customers.

“Parents don’t usually gravitate to the new, sexy thing when it comes to their kids’ education.

We thought if there is this fantastic brand out there called the Princeton Review, that has really high awareness and people really trust it, and it’s really great high test prep, and its got this budding college admissions business, if we could take tutoring, test prep, and college admissions, we’d really have an equation to help kids,” Ginsberg said.

Even though this is a particularly busy time in Ginsberg’s life, she always makes time for her daughters. And Meidan is aware of that.

“She motivates me to be successful and to never be dependent on anyone else,” Meidan said. If you remain independent you “always have yourself to back yourself up on.”

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BRANDON THIBODEAUX

com and many others.

Working her way up within InterActiveCorp, Ginsberg became the CEO of Match.com.

During this busy time in her life, Ginsberg always tried to make a balance between her personal and work life.

Because her main office is based in New York, Ginsberg has to travel many times each month, although she always makes sure to stay in touch with her daughter. “We have always just had this, you know, connection. And I’ve always been kind of independent; she always calls me everyday,” Meidan said.

During her time at Match, Ginsberg remarried Madhu Rajendran and Maya Rajendran, Ginsberg’s second daughter was born. Today, she is a primer student at Hockaday.

Using her background in marketing, Ginsberg was able to turn Match.com into a highperforming company.

“I came in, brought a team and grew the business meaningfully,” Ginsberg said. “I didn’t know I could do what I had done because I had never done it before.”

After many years at Match. com, Ginsberg decided it was time for a big change.

“It was really an exhilarating ride. There was a group of us that said that if we could do what we did to Match in the education space, then it could

1

2

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Ashna Kumar Staff Writer

GET A ClUe Match the beard with the faculty member.

Ginsberg did not always have such a clear idea of what she wanted to do. In high school, she didn’t know what she wanted to pursue in the future. Ginsberg credits Hockaday for her confidence and can-do attitude that made it possible for her to reach the position she is at today.

“Being pushed in learning in classes like [Steve] Kramer and Ed Long’s class, we were pushed hard but learned a lot along the way,” Ginsberg said.

Having a core group of friends also played a part in her “incredible” experience at Hockaday, so that even 25 years later, she still has someone to rely on.

Long agreed that Hockaday plays a huge part in the development of girls and helps them grow further. “It’s not a teaching style but the overall school environment that leaves itself to female leadership and a confidence,” said Long.

Hockaday taught Ginsberg that there was nothing that she couldn’t do. After figuring out what her strengths and weaknesses were, she was able to adapt her assets for any job, all the while remembering her mother’s advice: “If you want something, you have to open your mouth and ask for it, the worst thing that can happen is they say no.” F

4

A) Lee Haller B) Brian Hudson C) Chris Blackwell D) Kevin Brady

Answers:1C, 2D, 3A, 4B

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he starts out the day like any parent; she drags her kids out of bed and gets them ready for school.

But after dropping them off, she puts on a different hat and continues her day as the head of two multi-million dollar companies.

Hockaday alumna Mandy Ginsberg ‘88 is the CEO of Tutor. com and the Princeton Review.

After graduating from Hockaday, she went on to play soccer for U.C. Berkeley, where she majored in English literature.

After working for a marketing company for five years, Ginsberg, a risk-taker and single mom at the time, decided she wanted to understand all the different disciplines of business.

“I got to this point where I was looking at everything around me and there was just so much opportunity,” Ginsberg said. For this reason, Ginsberg decided to go to business school and was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Ginsberg returned to Dallas after graduation with her daughter, Talia Meidan, who is now a junior at Hockaday, and a newly acquired business deal in tow.

Ginsberg had the opportunity to be the manager of a startup company, Chemistry.com, which was part of InterActiveCorp, the parent company to Dictionary.com, Tinder, CollegeHumor, Match.

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A Day IN the LiFe The Fourcast takes a look into the life of Chief Financial Officer JT Coats 5 a.m.

12 p.m.

Before her kids wake up, JT Coats gets up to go to boot camp and workout three days a week. “Being a working mom, I don’t want to work out when my kids are awake because that time is so precious with them.” After breaking a sweat, Coats rushes home to help her husband get their three kids ready for school. While her husband has the job of getting the kids fed and dressed, Coats is responsible for hair and teeth. “It’s a mad dash to get ready,” she said.

Coats attends more meetings about the Fine Arts building and discussions with people around the school to get an update of what is going on. This is a “meeting-intensive” time for the Fine Arts building construction, but Coats’ job extends to attending meetings about health care, human resources, security incidents and going through daily reports of which girls attend the infirmary.

“Meetings are where people come together to collaborate and say ‘Is this what we want to do?’ and there are just so many little meetings that have to happen. Every decision point requires a gathering of the minds.”

8:15 a.m

Coats arrives on campus. First, she goes through the Lower School carpool line to drop off her daughters Hannah, who is in second grade, and Callie, who is in kindergarten. After dropping them off, she then takes her 2-year-old son, Josh, over to the Child Development Center.

Before she starts her meeting-filled day, she schedules a little bit of time to check her email and talk to people around the office. On Fridays, she usually schedules time in the morning to go around to all of the offices so she can “make sure that [she] is walking around and talking to the people on the operations side.” Some of these offices include maintenance, the health center, security and the kitchen.

6 p.m.

Coats wraps up her meetings and leaves campus. While her husband picks up Josh from the CDC, Coats picks up her daughters from Happy Haps, the Lower School after-school program. “I have a village here that helps me sometimes if I think a meeting is going to be late. I will ask my business office friends to pick up my son from the Child Development Center and he will play in the office and eat snacks...he thinks he owns this hall.”

She then rushes over to soccer practice or soccer games. She remembers one time “running from a board meeting to see the last part of Hannah’s soccer game and dragging a two-year-old into the car saying ‘I don’t want to miss it!’”

9 a.m.

The core part of Coats’ day can range anywhere from an off-campus seminar to a construction day to a committee meeting. These all-day seminars could be “trust meetings” about health care benefits. A construction day would include three hour meetings before and after lunch about the design and budget of the Fine Arts building. A committee meeting topic could be about Hockaday’s selfstudy. “I will be usually running from one meeting to the next or grabbing 10 minutes in between to talk with someone I need to talk to that I haven’t seen.”

8 p.m.

PHOTO BY NICOLE KLEIN

Her family always sits down to eat dinner together and plays the “high-low” game so Coats can hear about what is going on in her kids’ lives. Then, Coats will help her kids with their homework and have them in bed by 8 p.m. “It’s a balance, and what I have learned is that you can’t do everything perfectly. You have to say this is the time I have and these are the things I have to do and here is how I am going to allocate my time.” Her life is a juggle, she says, but “I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.” F Charlsea Lamb

News Editor

Taking Language to a New Level Freshman Ameya Chavda will participate in the final round of the “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition

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about the culture and language,” Ameya Chavda said.

There are three rounds: local, regional and world.

Ameya Chavda won the first and second rounds, which included talent, speech and cultural elements. The third stage, which took place the last two weeks in October, added more aspects including Chinese trivia and idioms. Although she was nervous, Ameya Chavda enjoyed the final part of the competition.

“The competition was great,” Ameya Chavda said. “After I won the second round over the summer, I started taking Chinese classes every day after school, I travelled to China and I really dedicated myself to the language more so than before.”

In the third stage of the competition, Ameya Chavda said that while her speech and talent scores were high, her culture test score was not high enough for her team to win. She did, however, get to participate in the closing ceremony and, despite her loss, walked away proud.

“I enjoyed [the competition] and there is no doubt in my mind that this was an amazing experience,” Ameya Chavda said. “I’ve made friends from Canada to Mongolia to Germany and my Chinese has moved so much. I will definitely be going back!”

While qualifying for this kind of competition is not a simple task, Aarav Chavda insists that anyone can and should try and learn more about the Chinese language.

“I would encourage everyone even marginally interested to take Chinese,” Aarav Chavda said. “It is a beautiful and

poetic language, not to mention fun and extremely rewarding.”

While Ameya Chavda hopes to win the competition, she agrees with her brother that knowing the language itself is a great reward. The competition helps her not only learn the language, but also branch out to

another country.

“I just want to be able to connect with people of other cultures,” Ameya Chavda said.

“This competition is all about connecting us here in the U.S. with people in China. It’s bridging the gap.” F Alexis Espinosa Editor-in-Chief

ILLUSTRATION BY MIRANDA HELM

unched over her language very quickly. kitchen table late one “[Ameya] has always had an night, Ameya Chavda affinity for languages and is flipped through flash- quite an independent person, cards of Chinese vocabulary. so I’d love to say I was incredHer own self-motivation, not ibly helpful, but beyond anthe orders of her teacher, drove swering the occasional quesher to do the extra studying. tion and encouraging her to But to Chavda, it’s worth it. practice conversing, once she In fact, it’s that perseverance found her footing, Ameya just that garnered her a spot on the ran with the language,” he said.

USA team of the “ChiKahan Chavda nese Bridge” Chinese noted how much Proficiency Compehe admires Ameya tition, a contest that Chavda’s progress. judges participants “I’m so proud of based on their knowlher,” Kahan Chavda edge of the Chinese said. “Her drive and language and culture. self-motivation are I really Chavda, a freshactually quite inspidedicated man at Hockaday, is rational to me.” in the third year of But Ameya Chavmyself to the her Chinese studda didn’t just stop language. ies. She takes lesat learning the lansons from the Chiguage; she put it to nese teacher at the use. Ameya Chavda Freshman Ameya St. Mark’s School of entered the Chinese Chavda Texas, Lei Zhang.

Bridge Competition She decided to pick it for 9th through 12 up because her two grade students. Soon brothers, Kahan Chavda and enough, she found herself as Aarav Chavda, were also taking one of only two members on Chinese. the USA team. The other mem“It was basically like [my ber is St. Mark’s freshman Blake brothers and I] had a secret Daugherty. There are two USA language that our parents teams, each with two members couldn’t understand,” Ameya and two alternates.

Chavda said.

“I love Chinese and I wanted Aarav Chavda said that to get involved in the competiAmeya Chavda grasped the tion so that I could learn more

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

THE FOURCAST 11

PhOtOESSAY

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

PhOtOESSAY

Tis’ the Fall Season FRESHMAN PALOMA RENTERIA DESCRIBED HER FAVORITE MOMENTS OF THE FALL SEASON AROUND DALLAS WHILE PREPARING FOR HALLOWEEN AND 1 THANKSGIVING WITH HER FRIENDS AND FAMILY. 1. Vibrant Colors are my favorite part of autumn, I love the bright orange in these flowers.

2. While at a pumpkin patch, my cousings and I searched for the great pumpkin.

3. One important part of fall is giving thanks during Thanksgiving, I love this sign.

4. These bright yellow Chrysanthemums have been my favorite types of flowers for the past 3 years.

5. My brother’s birthday is ten days before Halloween, and every year we throw a costume party to celebrate.

2

3

To see more of Paloma’s pictures, scane the QR code or visit the Fourcast website, www.hockadayfourcast.org

4

5

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THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL NOVEMBER 7, 2014

InFOCUs

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

Over 50 years ago, Dallas made international headlines for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Last month, the city made international headlines again. The first case of Ebola in the United States was diagnosed at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. reaction and hysteria erupted across the country.

The Facts Behind

ON

Oct. 2, Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas, denied admission to Nigerian applicants solely due to the Ebola outbreak in their country, according to press reports

by CNN. However, at the time the rejection letters were sent to these applicants, Nigeria had not reported a case of Ebola in more than 21 days.

On Oct. 16, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 2325 from Dallas to Chicago, who vomited into the aisle of the plane, was ordered to stay in the lavatory to keep her isolated from other passengers.

In the month of October, several businesses and schools in Ohio were closed in what government and university officials said was an “abundance of caution” in response to nurse Amber Vinson’s Ebola diagnosis and a knowledge of her possible contacts in Ohio.

These are just a few examples of the public’s reactions brought by a fear of Ebola.

Elaine Whittaker, M.D., who specializes in internal medicine and works at Presbyterian Dallas, was involved in the care of the first diagnosed Ebola patient in the U.S., Thomas Eric Duncan. Duncan contracted the disease while caring for a pregnant woman stricken with Ebola in Liberia. Within five days after flying to Dallas on Sept. 20 from the West African country, Duncan developed early symptoms of Ebola.

Elaine Whittaker’s daughter, Hockaday senior Olivia Whittaker, said that her mother had to sign a contract “that basically says they’re not allowed to fly for a period of time and they’re not allowed to go to places where people congregate such as grocery stores, or schools, parks, movie theaters, things like that.”

As a result of Duncan’s diagnosis, it was reported by CNN on Oct. 17 that there were 600 empty hospital beds at Presbyterian Dallas. The hospital has been losing patients and money as a result of the public panic. It recently hired Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm, to help reestablish the hospital’s image and restore trust after its handling of the U.S.’s first Ebola case.

Texas Health Resources Public Relations Manager Stephen O’Brien recently said that he could not talk about how the hospital is doing currently, but he said, “I would just say this. Any hospital that deals with any kind of crisis may suffer some slippage, but they always come back.”

Hysteria surrounding the Ebola epidemic has been alarming, according to healthcare professionals, who are more aware of the science behind the medical condition than the general public. President Barack Obama recently hosted at the White House a group of volunteers who treated Ebola patients in Africa and delivered a message to the public asking people not to panic. He also expressed confidence that Ebola could and would be controlled.

A Psychological Viewpoint: Diagnosing the Hysteria A psychological complexity belies the public anxiety.

Kristen M. Ohlenforst, Ph.D., a therapist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy at Therapy Dallas, said that the public hysteria is a result of catastrophic thinking.

“Although what’s happening in the U.S. is, by psychological definition, not mass hysteria, we’re seeing lots of catastrophic thinking,” Ohlenforst said. “Catastrophic thinking is a type of cognitive error in which we assume that the worst outcome will come to pass. In this sense, catastrophic thinking is actually a defense against our fears of the worst possible scenario. We like to think that by assuming the worst, we can be prepared for the worst even though this is not necessarily the case.”

Ohlenforst said that people tend to feel more fearful when there are only a few readily identifiable victims.

“Research has shown that our fear tends to be higher when we can put a face or name or photograph to a small number of identifiable victims, as compared with simply envisioning hundreds or thousands of nameless or faceless victims,” Ohlenforst said.

In addition, according to Ohlenforst, people are able to feel a con-

nection and draw inferences about similarities with those few readily identifiable victims, and thus, feel that they are much closer to the threat than they may actually be.

And this is why Americans panic more about the four individuals in the U.S. who have contracted Ebola than about the 4,400 and counting who have died from the Ebola outbreak in Africa.

The hysteria is a result of people having inherent fears of the unknown.

“Anxiety about the unknown can often be more uncomfortable and debilitating than actually dealing with what’s known,” Ohlenforst said.

Before Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola, there was not much fear in the U.S., even though thousands were dying in West Africa.

“We tend to be very like, I don’t want to say ‘me me me me,’ but we tend to be more concerned when something’s at our doorstep,” history teacher Tracy Walder, who discussed the topic of Ebola in her AP Comparative Government and Spycraft classes, said. “It’s sort of like ‘out of sight, out of mind.’"

This lack of concern is driven by a lack of fear for a virus that has afflicted so many “faceless, nameless” people in a distant part of the world, which Ohlenforst said makes the crisis feel “less overwhelming, less personal, more detached.”

Ohlenforst said that once a person infected with Ebola arrives in Dallas “you begin to fantasize that the connection will actually put you in danger, even though it may be just as unlikely that you would come into contact with the bodily fluids of a quarantined patient in Presby Dallas as it would be that you had come into contact with the bodily fluids of a person in Africa.”

For Elaine Whittaker, the hysteric reaction was a result of the characteristics specific to Ebola.

“Ebola Virus Disease has the perfect ingredients for creating hysteria: infectious, nasty symptoms, high mortality, no cure,” Elaine Whittaker said.

And, according to Elaine Whittaker, the Ebola epidemic reminded many people of the AIDS epidemic, which years ago was also a cause of hysteria.

“These events brought the images close, too close, reminds me of HIV/ AIDS 20 to 25 years ago before effective antiviral treatment was available to most patients,” she said.

The public frenzy can lead to a lack of proactiveness.

In her AP Comparative Government class, Walder said the topic of Ebola came up in a discussion about the government of Nigeria, one of the six core countries that the class covers.

A student had tweeted an article to the class Twitter page about Nigeria controlling Ebola, and the class discussed the government’s methods in controlling Ebola and its proactiveness, “versus how some first world countries cannot figure it out.”

Walder said that U.S. agencies “tend to be proactive as a result of a reaction,” while in Nigeria, “the minute that people started to become sick with Ebola, they took very, very, very drastic measures,” as there had been multiple Ebola outbreaks there before, and for Nigeria, Ebola had become a “reality” rather than a “fear.”

A Medical Viewpoint: Looking at the Bigger Picture From an epidemiological point of view, Ebola is difficult to catch.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ebola is spread through direct contact with blood or body fluids of a person who is currently sick with Ebola, objects contaminated with the virus and infected fruit bats or primates.

The risk of contracting Ebola, Elaine Whittaker said, is zero, unless someone has come into direct contact (skin, mouth, eyes and nasal mucous membranes) with the body fluids of a person infected with Ebola or items contaminated with those bodily fluids.

“The more ill the person is with EVD, we believe the more infectious

they are,” Elaine She said that travel to West A Olivia Whitta class, posted an is listed ninth, w cidents are liste disease and can While only on than 4,400 indiv flu virus and its alone. Upper Sc tracting the flu “And yet, this the case, becaus getting a flu sho According to able, 55 percent adults ages 18 to an influenza va And this, Ohl are not as anxio ily identifiable.

According to dents who respo they were “a litt life.”

These results about the detail tant to be inform

The Media's Ro

The media pl mation to the g “Knowing the vidual more acc ing the disease, Fishel agrees ”The more yo the more you ca or not,” Fishel s doesn’t make se Ohlenforst sa drastically redu However, the on and emphas Eugene McDe elor’s degree in a 24/7 news cycl and there has to viewers, becaus what pays the b profit.”

“I think the m sarily focusing led to a lot of, w lot of fear out th Ohlenforst ag “At times, ver tionalist, and w Some media sou ist fashion that Ohlenforst said

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

THE FOURCAST 13

InFOCUs

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

the fear

e Whittaker said. the worry level should be low unless somebody plans to Africa or a country with widespread cases of Ebola. aker, who takes Walder’s AP Comparative Government n article listing the threats to an average American. Ebola while “tip-over,” the flu, climate change, and traffic aced eighth, sixth, fourth and second respectively, with heart ncer topping the list. ne Ebola patient has died in the United States and more viduals have died in Africa and Europe, in some years the s complications kills more than 30,000 people in the U.S. chool science teacher Barbara Fishel, Ph.D., said that conduring the flu season is easier than contracting Ebola. s causes significantly less anxiety, and we know this to be se there are millions of people who could benefit from ot, and choose not to,” Ohlenforst said. the CDC, in 2012, the latest year that statistics are availt of children ages six months to 17 years, 74 percent of o 49 and 57 percent of adults ages 50 to 64 did not receive accination. lenforst said, ties back once again to the idea that people ous and fearful when the victims are many and not read. a survey sent out to the Upper School, 47 percent of stuonded said they were “not scared at all,” 49 percent said tle scared,” and 4 percent said they were “scared for their

s show that Hockaday students are more well informed ls of Ebola than the general public. However, it is impormed from reliable sources.

ole in the Hysteria

lays a significant role in providing a wide variety of inforgeneral public. e facts about how the disease is spread can help an indicurately assess whether they are at any risk for contract,” Ohlenforst said. with Ohlenforst’s statement. ou know about something, the more you are informed, an decide for yourself whether you have to be worried said. “To just be scared because you heard a rumor, that ense.” aid that researching and finding facts about Ebola can uce one’s anxiety and reshape one’s thinking. e media has exacerbated the public’s anxiety by focusing sizing what cannot be controlled. ermott Headmistress Kim Wargo, who earned a bachjournalism from Louisiana State University, said that in le, “there are news channels that are on all day, every day, o be something to put on those news channels to keep se viewers are what bring advertising, and advertising is bills, and advertising is what makes these companies a

media sort of played on the scary numbers without neceson the actual facts about how it’s transmitted, and that what I would call, irresponsible journalism, and there’s a here in the world,” Wargo said. grees with Wargo’s statements. ry different media sources can be more or less sensawith the wish to profit and garner additional viewers. urces may present information in a more sensationalt capitalizes on fear, anxiety, curiosity, confusion, etc.,” d.

Echoing those ideas, Ohlenforst said she even advises her clients to not do any Internet research unless the research is from a reliable source.

Hockaday's Approach to the Ebola Crisis In the past few weeks, the Hockaday administration sent out three letters to the Hockaday community sharing what it knew, referring parents for more information to medical experts and assuring parents it was following the advice of experts.

“What we tried to do in all of our communication was to focus on what we are expert at, which is working with kids, and handling situations that involve students, not trying to present ourselves as medical experts,” Wargo said.

Wargo also believes that having classes, such as Microbiology and Human Diseases, AP Comparative Government and Spycraft, discuss Ebola from different perspectives helps educate Hockaday students about current world events.

“We’re getting into the nitty gritty of viruses, bacteria, just things like that,” Olivia Whittaker, who also takes Fishel’s Microbiology and Human Diseases class, said. She believes that because she is more educated on the topic of Ebola she is “less scared about it, and more secure about it.”

According to the same survey sent out to the Upper School, 54 percent of those who responded that they had taken a class that offered discussion about Ebola said that they were “never scared of Ebola, and taking the class has still made [them] not be scared of Ebola,” 25 percent said that they were “scared before, but taking the class has alleviated [their] fears,” and 21 percent said that they were “still scared.”

Wargo said that in Lower School, she did not hold an assembly because she knew that each family had different policies on how much media their child was exposed to.

“We felt like there would probably be students for whom this would be scary and new information, and we didn’t want to increase anxiety among young children by sharing information,” Wargo said.

Rather, Wargo said that the administration tried to equip the teachers with the ability and knowledge to answer basic questions.

“Our job as teachers is to answer the question that the student asks, but also to recognize what our role is, and what is not, and again I think none of our teachers felt equipped to be medical experts about something like Ebola, so we didn’t want them to be placed in the position of having to teach a lesson on how Ebola is transmitted,” Wargo said.

While older students had more analytical conversations than the younger ones, there was no strict edict given out to teachers. Ebola in Dallas was a learning experience for students and teachers alike.

“I think the approach was really about doing what we do best, which is education, and so that’s going to look different between Lower, Middle, and Upper School, but there wasn’t, I would say, a separate direction given to teachers and the three divisions,” Wargo said.

Dallas is now a city in recovery. It carries the weight as the Ebola capital of the U.S. and the location where a U.S. Ebola patient died. At press time, no other cases of Ebola had been reported in Dallas. The 21day quarantine period for Duncan’s family and for the people who had contact with him while he was sick, and for the two infected Presbyterian Dallas’s nurses, is over, and the CDC and local health officials believe Dallas to be Ebola-free.

In a recent weekly address to the general public, President Obama said, “If we take the steps that are necessary, if we're guided by the science — the facts, not fear — then I am absolutely confident that we can prevent a serious outbreak here in the United States.”

And that confidence is now justified. F Catherine Jiang Sports & Wellness Editor

1

Number of U.S. Ebola patients that have died from the virus. The first diagnosed U.S. patient Thomas Eric Duncan died from the virus on Oct. 8.

4

Number of people d iagnosed with Ebola in the U.S.

9

Number of Ebola patients that touched U.S. soil in the past few months

124

Number of Ebola contacts and possible contacts that were monitored in Dallas.

53 are currrently under surveillance, according to the CDC.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ABC News.

14

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL NOVEMEBER 7, 2014

ARTs & EntERtaInMEnT Females in Film Adjust the Focus As many industries have promoted more gender equality, one sector, which has made a large portion of its revenue from portraying women, is still leaving women out of positions of power.

PHOTO BY BETH WORTLEY

Dancing to Neverland

FLY TO NEVERLAND Senior Kathryn Shultz as Peter Pan and Senior Ripley Mayfield as Tinkerbell pose in Neverland’s woods.

Peter Pan continued from p1

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JI

F

ilm and television have stories that are intrinsically always been skewed masculine, such as the genres toward a man’s point of of action, horror, and sci-fi. view, because of their Producer and Alumna domination within the indusAthena Wickham ‘98 works at try and as evidenced by the Bad Robot, a film and television disparity between men and production company owned by women in producing, directthe Academy Award-winning ing and writing roles. This has filmmaker J.J. Abrams. As a never led to a lack of female producer for shows like sci-fi characters on screen, but rather legend Abrams’ “Fringe” and has caused their stories to be Eric Kripke’s, creator of “Supershaped under the “male gaze,” natural,” “Revolution,” Wickas described by ham mainly works in Upper School Film a genre that, as she teacher Glenys said, is “pretty sexist.”

Quick.

“The question According to a isn’t whether there is study by the Unior is not a gender gap versity of Southin the entertainment ern California’s industry, it’s where Annenberg School the gap lies,” Wickham of Journalism, said. Wickham and The percentage of the percentages many of her female female producers of females in the colleagues see the gap is hase risen but field of entertainoftentimes they are still especially in the “inment were signifitrinsically masculine” undercredited. cantly lower than genres, for example those of males: sci-fi, thriller and only seven percent of direcaction storyteller. “Male executors, 13 percent of writers and tives and producers often as20 percent of producers were sume that only a man can write female in the top 500 grossing or direct stories like those,” she films between 2007-2012. Simply said. This preconceived notion put, for every five men behind permeates throughout both a camera, for every five men film and television. in a writer’s room or for every A review of past winners of five men developing a concept, the Academy of Motion Picture there is only one woman.

Arts and Sciences’ awards for There is still a perception directors and writers reveals that women cannot develop this disproportion. Since a

20

pOpCharT TELEVISION

Parks and Recreation

MOVIES

Seven seasons after our introduction to the ever-indomitable Leslie Knope, NBC’s hit sitcom is drawing to a close. Fans of the show know the ending will be a bittersweet goodbye to Pawnee, Indiana.

BEHIND THE LENSE Female producers, directors, and writers underscore men in the film and television industry. But that does not mean that they are undervalued.

Mocking jay, Part 1

This fall, movie-goers are anticipating the release of Mocking jay, Part 1, adapted from the last book of Suzanne Collins’ dystopian-action series: The Hunger Games, transitioning from manufactured violence to a real war in Panem.

MOVIES

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies After 1,093 minutes of film expanding on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantastical world, the last installment of the Hobbit movies will end the dynasty of fantasty film this December.

A&E: Dog Friendly Dallas/ Page 16 •

Taylor Swift’s 1989 / Page 17

woman was first nominated for the award in 1976, only one woman has ever won the Academy Award for Best Director.

Kathryn Bigelow, who won this prestigious award in 2009 for “The Hurt Locker,” defied the idea that a woman could not direct an action film. “The Hurt Locker” was a film about an American bomb squad during the Iraqi War. When it comes to writing, there are two award categories: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay.

The first time a woman was nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category was in 1928, which was the second year the award was given. Hockaday Alumna Jay Presson Allen ‘40 was nominated twice: once for “Cabaret” in 1973 and once for “Prince in the City” in 1982. The first time a female was nominated for Best Original Screenplay was in 1943. More women have won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (eight) than for Best Original Screenplay (seven) in the 65 years of the Award’s history.

Behind the Camera continued p16

BOOKS

The Blood of Olympus

PHOTO BY NOOR ADATIA

With the help of Director of Service Learning Laura Day, Wortley organized for 80 students from Sudie Williams Elementary to come to Hockaday for the afternoon assembly performance of Peter Pan. “We love sharing the talents of our Hockaday dancers with children who rarely get the opportunity to get to see live performances,” Wortley said. “We would love to always include a community service component to all our performances.”

Wortley believes that Peter Pan has been the “most difficult” performance that Hockaday Dance has ever had to prepare for.

“We totally started from scratch,” Wortley said. “It’s been a good challenge, and it’s good for us to push ourselves.”

Casting and choreographing occurred in early September.

“I was looking for the acting ability, the ability to portray a character, and that kind of stage presence,” Wortley said.

The main cast of characters was chosen from Dance Theater with senior Kathryn Shultz as Peter Pan, junior Heather Xiao as Wendy, and senior Ripley Mayfield as Tinker Bell.

“I knew that [being a main cast member] would not only require dancing but also storytelling,” Mayfield said. “You essentially have to become an actress on stage.”

“Big productions require lots of preparation and rehearsals,” Xiao said. “I’m actually extremely impressed that [Wortley and Sullivan] have managed to put together an entire production, like Peter Pan, in just a few class periods.”

Peter Pan will be performed on Nov. 17 at 11:40 a.m. and Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Hoblitzelle Auditorium. F Faith Isbell Asst. News Editor

In this final installment of Rick Riordan’s second book series about Greco-Roman mythology, we now bid farewell to the world of demigods, dangerous quests and death, as well as Percy Jackson himself.

SOURCE: ZAP2IT , FLICKR, H-D WALLS

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

THE FOURCAST 15

ARTs & EntERtaInMEnT

NOVEMEBER 7, 2014

Hello to Ello Hipster quirk’s answer to Facebook’s privacy violations gains popularity

U

se Instagram, Whatsapp, or the company that owns both, Facebook? Paul Budnitz thinks you’re the victim of theft and privacy violations.

In order to combat this, Budnitz, the 47-year-old owner of Budnitz Bikes, Kidrobot and several other businesses, founded Ello, described as “a simple, beautiful and ad-free social network.”

Though Ello shares many qualities with Facebook, it was spawned in response to that

AD-FREE Sophomore Jenny Zhu uses her Ello account to post pictures and keep up with friends , without the distraction of advertisements.

media giant. Whereas Facebook monitors its users and individualizes advertising, it also sells its users’ information to third parties. Ello has no ads and the creators’ manifesto maintains that those who use Ello are “not a product” and their information won’t be sold to data brokers.

Unlike social networks Tumblr and Instagram that broke their promise, Ello assures users that they will not break their promise of keeping the site ad-free. English teacher Jennifer Boulanger, Ph.D., whose students use class Twitters, doubts that Ello will retain its promise. “I think that is a good, noble goal …[but] Facebook started out initially saying that they were going to try to protect our privacy, and then as soon as it went public, I think it broke our trust.” Ads on social networks pay for the costs of running the site, but Ello is free, making money by offering unique features people can buy to customize their Ello pages.

The information that Ello collects from its users - including language, country, location and amount of time spent on site - stays within Ello’s database, and is never seen by a third party. Even so, this collection of data is optional: users can opt out of sharing their information using a technology

called Do Not Track (DNT), the online equivalent of the Do Not Call list. Ello honors this program: if an Ello user uses DNT , Ello will not access their information. Facebook ignores DNT. Sophomore Ello-user Abigail Spencer is “not a fan” of Facebook’s ability to see its users’ information.

“I think Ello is much better because they do not [monitor their users],” she said.

Though it was created in April 2014, Ello’s popularity skyrocketed in mid-September when Facebook’s Real Name Policy, which asks users to supply their legal name to the website, was contested by many users. Eleven million people have left Facebook since 2011, with 31,000 people per hour joining Ello on Sept. 25 2014, according to Vox.com.

Senior Lily Ramirez, a student in U. S. Government, has strong opinions on the Real Name Policy and wrote a paper for the course this September against the National Security Agency. Even after Facebook’s eventual apology, Ramirez still felt strongly about the many wrongs the social networking site had committed. “[The policy] angers me. I think that’s horrible,” Ramirez said, before elaborating that while she does use Facebook, she appreciates how Ello is making an effort to respect people’s

privacy. Keeping Facebook’s is- ing that social media as a netsue in context with her paper, working tool.“I don’t know if I she asked, “Is Facebook an im- would be that tempted to leave, portant power in the world?” despite the problems with Ello also boasts Facebook, because a feature that FaceI’m so plugged-in book does not: the with colleagues and ability to separate with friends all over contacts into Friends the world through and Noise. This keeps Facebook, and it’d the dashboard of the be a real hassle to ... app clean, while still switch all that over I think Ello allowing users to foland to guarantee is much low many accounts. that everybody else But Ello still has a would be switching better few problems. over as well.” because “It’s sort of conSpencer disfusing,” Spencer said agrees. “I think it’s they do not as she set up her Ello of cool that it’s monitor their kind account, trying to invite-only,” she said. find more people to “It’s like I’m part of a users add to the Noise secselect club.” Looking Sophomore Abigail tion. “I think that at her short, for now, Spencer once I get used to it, Friend list, she added, it could potentially be “However, this select cool.” club has only one friend.”

While Ello is still in beta Nicole Klein, a sophomore mode and thus by invitation who also took Ramirez’s posionly, Ramirez said that she tion for the NSA opinion paper, would move to Ello if more disagrees with her classmate people joined and the site be- and said that she would get an came more popular. “Everyone Ello. However, she doubts that I know is on Facebook. If I move Ello will stick with its promise to Ello then it’s just going to be not to monitor their users. me on Ello and I might as well “It’s there, and they could not have a Facebook or any- still do it if they wanted to,” she thing. So it depends,” she said. reminded Ello users.

Boulanger agrees, pointSee Sophomore Jenny Zhu’s ing out a generational gap that Ello profile on the left. F would represent a paradigm shift for older Facebook usMaria Katsulos ers who are committed to usvideo editor

“

New Spaces, New Places The Board finalizes renovations to the fine arts building, which will affect all Fine Arts

O

n Oct. 7, the Board of Trustees discussed Phase II of the Centennial Center, the upcoming fine arts portion that will be added onto the newlybuilt science building Given that 95 percent of the cost of both the science and fine arts portions of the Centennial Center has already been raised, the Board authorized the decision to go forward with Phase II and with renovations to the fine arts building.

Portables are already being prepared as temporary housing for the arts classes during construction. Upper School studio art teacher Juliet McCullough is one of these affected faculty members. Studio art students will utilize one portable for their art and another for storage and printmaking space.

“I actually find the portables surprisingly large in size,” McCullough said. “It will just be a different space, but still room enough to do all that we need to do.”

McCullough views the move as potentially beneficial, though it will require a lot of cleaning and decision-making on what needs to be thrown away. “Endings always precede new beginnings, and I think we are ready to re-birth the Studio Art space,” she said.

The move to the portables will also provide an opportunity for art students to get more involved with the outdoors and with nature during their art classes.“The portables will give us opportunities for art activities that we are missing in the present space, like working messy sculptural installations outdoors,” McCullough said.

Orchestra, and possibly the ceramics classes, plan to move into their portables in early December, while all the other art classes plan to move during Winter Break. This is right before the completion of major performances, such as the upcoming Upper School musical “The Sound of Music”.

The Sound of Music, which will open the first week of February, will be the last musical

held in the existing auditorium. Upper School choir teacher Bonnie Jean Coleman directs the musical.

Though she did keep in mind the significance of the timing of this year’s musical, she said that “The Sound of Music” was chosen “mainly because it fits the grade very well and is a beautiful musical that hasn’t been done in many years.” However, Coleman also said, “We also kind of thought since it was so popular, it would be kind of neat way to end our time in this particular auditorium.”

Upper School Fine Arts board chair Baker said, “There’s always a sense of like...it’s the last one and that’s always kind of a significant thing.”

Planned to be completed in June of 2016, the renovation will add 15,000 square feet to the north side of the existing fine arts building and interior expansions as well.

These interior expansions include a new auditorium that will seat a total of 750 people, including 100 seats on the balcony.

Chief Financial Officer J.T. Coats, who is in charge of the financial aspect of the new renovations, is optimistic for the outcome of the new renovations.

“The performance space will be awesome! It will consist of a full sized stage, a full fly tower, wing space, a studentssafe catwalk, continental seating, upgraded technical equipment, etc etc.,” she said.

Other renovations include a permanent space for the orchestra, as it has been housed in a temporary portable for more than decade, a new choral hall and a Black Box theater.

There will also be an amphitheater, with tiers similar to that of Graduation Terrace, placed between the fine arts building and main classroom building.

“Middle School drama will have a dedicated space. [There are] so many new and upgraded spaces,” Coats said.

Baker said, “The renovations are going to be beneficial in all areas. Choir has gotten so big over the years, and the space is just so cramped. Or-

chestra is finally going to be moving out of that awful portable, and there are going to be so many new spaces for dance and visual arts.”

“It’s going to be a lot like the science building transition...I think we’re going to have to remain positive

According to McCullough, the transitions this year to the portables and then to the new science building will prove ultimately opportunistic for not only her art students, but herself as well.

“The spaces we live in define us in so many ways,” Mc-

Cullough said. “I look on this as a new opportunity for myself and my students to explore our creativity in new and exciting ways.” F Jenny Zhu Staff Writer

16

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

ARTs & EntERtaInMEnT

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

PHOTOS BY CLAIRE FLETCHER AND THE DALLAS PARKS DEPARTMENT

1

Dog-Friendly Dallas Follow the Fourcast around Dallas to find fun places that to visit, you don’t have to leave your best friend at home Megan Phillips and Mary Claire Wilson Features Editor and Staff Writer Park Village 1 Highland Shopping Center Highland Park Village, a shopping center that is renowned for its high-end retailers and delicious eateries that call its ground home, allows leashed, trained pets on the premises. The Italian eatery, Patrizio’s, which is frequently visited by many Highland Park 2 natives opens their patio to our pooches. The Starbucks in this center is also a popular hangout for our four-legged friends.

Bringing your dog into the

extensive retail shops, some of which include Tory Burch and Chanel, is up to the retailers entirely and may depend on how busy their store is.

47 Highland Park Village, Dallas, TX 75205 North Bark Park For outdoor lovers, the off-leash North Bark Park provides a great way to escape with your dog.

Behind the Camera continued from p14 Female producers seem to be more recognized. Since 1973, of the 227 Academy Award Best Picture Nominees, 26.9 percent have credited at least one woman as a producer. Many women in the industry have attributed this disparity to the idea that large companies are often averse to hiring women, according to the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and are more likely to hire a male writer or director.

However, studios and networks are now recognizing that these statistics are a growing problem and trying to change it.

CArtOon

4

2 The 22.3 acre park, entirely enclosed, is split into three sections. The park has separate play areas for large and small dogs lined with trees, trails and even a doggy shower. But, the amenity that makes North Bark unique is the dog beach and lake. Open to all sizes, the lake, with a gradual slope to provide both deep and shallow depths, provides a way for your dog to cool off on a hot afternoon.

According to dallasparks.org, North Bark Park is the largest in the area for your pup. Other parks in the area include Bark Park Central, Mockingbird Point and Wagging Tail.

4899 Gramercy Oaks, Dallas, TX 75287 W- M 5 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Closed Tuesdays for Maintenance and on rainy days

3 Murray Street Coffee Shop

This cozy coffee shop is the perfect place to walk your dog on a lazy weekend day. Hot coffees, iced coffees, freshly pressed juices and delicious sandwiches are just a few of the treats that the Murray Street Coffee Shop has to offer to its customers. Seating is offered both indoors and outdoors.

Puzzles and board games are scattered around the café to add to the comfy atmosphere.

“Whenever they [studios and networks] are hiring their writers for each season or directors for each episode, many are starting to go out of their way to make sure a larger percentage of them are women,” Wickham said. In addition, the amount of women and men who work at her company, Bad Robot, is relatively equal.

For many networks where the “white old men” hiring have “old-fashioned” views, the gap remains disportionately large.

Despite popular belief, a woman’s work in film is indiscernible to that of a man’s, based on results from a Fourcast survey. In the survey, girls were asked to determine whether or not a movie was

Nicole Klein

In addition to the comfortable amenities and cozy atmosphere that this café offers, they are rumored to keep dog biscuits by the door for their furry customers.

103 Murray Street, Deep Ellum Monday-Friday: 7 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Sat: 8 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Sun: closed

4 Mutts Canine Cantina

For dog enthusiasts, Mutts Canine Cantina has all the amenities. Equipped with a one-acre dog park with separate areas for small and large breeds, a patio garden and a full-menu restaurant, Mutts offers many different ways to accommodate you and your pup. Although the dog park requires an entry fee of $4.95 per visit or one of their membership packages for long term use, the Patio and Lawn and access to the food menus do not. You can bring your furry companion with you while you have breakfast, burgers, hot dogs, shakes or custard. You can even include your dog by ordering one of the treats off the dog menu.

2889 CityPlace West Blvd, Dallas, Texas 75204

produced by a man or at least one woman. Many made logical guesses, based on the female roles in the movie, genre, when the movie was made, level of misogyny/sexism and plot of the movie.

Why should anyone care whether a man or woman creates a story? Realistically, because, who better to tell a woman’s story than a woman herself? Are women being portrayed by men in an authentic light or as they [men] would hope or want women in their idealistic way to appear?

“Especially in dealing with male creators, you have to remind them to not just create a sexually compelling woman or an object to aide in the male

5 Dog Park Daily - 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Restaurant & Bar M-F- 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Sat–Sun 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

KITCHEN OPEN UNTIL 9 p.m. DAILY

5 Lucca Bella Doggie Spa After taking your dog on all of these adventures, he or she will definitely need some relaxation. The Lucca Bella Doggie Spa offers many services to pamper your pet.

Services include all natural

protagonists’ ‘quest.’ Sometimes you have to ask what is she feeling and remind them to put just as much value into making her a real person,” Wickham said, referring to her work with Abrams, Kripke and Oscar Award-winning director Alfonso Cuaron.

Men will always write and create female characters, but a statistic published by Entertainment Weekly affirmed that females in entertainment are more likely to write a realistic female lead because creators, directors or writers who are male often view their female characters from an “outsider’s” point of view. This echoes the viewpoint of an anonymous Hockaday senior who respond-

bath and grooming procedures that can be elevated with speciality shampoo and conditioning options and even fur coloring treatments. Other services include pawdicures with paw moisturizing treatment, canine facials made from “a refreshing blend of vanilla and blueberry” according to their website and 45 to 60 minute doggie massages. Lucca Bella also has a boutique and boarding program for your pup.

2512 Oak Lawn, Dallas, TX 75219 M-F 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Sat-Sun 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

ed to the Fourcast survey. “I don’t think anyone can really tell which movies are produced by females because it’s probably not directly reflected in the content of the movie,” she said. “However, I think that female producers are more likely to write a realistic female character than a man.”

Advanced Film class student Lexie Chu agreed.

“There’s nothing right or wrong about men writing women,” Chu said. “Women just seem to focus on different things than a male would.

They see the small details that make something ‘real.’” F Kate Clement A&E Editor

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

THE FOURCAST 17

ARTs & EntERtaInMEnT

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

REVIEWS: LYFE Kitchen • Productivity Apps • Taylor Swift’s 1989

LYFE is Good

Turn Down for Taylor Swift PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA.ORG

PHOTO BY KATE CLEMENT

1989 Taylor Swift

LYFE Kitchen 8315 Westchester Drive

Boasting a vast array of delicious food choices, LYFE Kitchen, with locations in Dallas, University Park and Plano, promotes healthy eating through its motto, “you chews.”

For starters, all dishes are fewer than 600 calories. That’s right, you read correctly. And instead of stripping down the portion size to decrease the number of calories, LYFE uses locally and sustainably sourced ingredients to make healthier food.

The $7.99 quinoa crunch wrap is the essence of healthy food. It consists of quinoa tabbouleh, fresh avocado and edamame hummus wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. I’m not going to lie--it’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

But the quinoa crunch wrap isn’t the only thing that sets LYFE apart from most restaurants. In order to serve a wide variety of customers, from carnivores to vegans, LYFE has five available menus -- starting with everything, gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian, wine and beer and lastly seasonal items, including chicken and kale soup, squash lemongrass, spicy eggplant flatbread and more.

As a vegetarian myself, I was incredibly delighted to find out that LYFE has a menu specifically designed for people like me. They care about their customers and community.

That said, it didn’t come as a surprise when I found out that LYFE’s goal is to give back to the community.

Not only does LYFE provide healthy food choices, but it also exhibits inspiration through motivational quotes scattered on the walls.

A quote by motivational speaker Jim Rohn reads: “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” Other quotes come from members of the LYFE leadership team, food critics and famous people in history.

These quotes, combined with the welcoming atmosphere, only added to my experience.

On top of that, the employees are phenomenal. The servers exhibited positive attitude and ensured that my food was delivered promptly.

LYFE also caters for parties and other special events. You can reserve a private room that seats 32 people, or a conference room that seats 10.

Ordering online is another convenient way to access LYFE’s food. Once you make an account, it’s easy, efficient and ready for pick-up at the time of your choice.

And just like the brand new Hockaday science building, all of LY-

Keeping App With Assignments We have all been there.

You sit down, ready to knock out that eight-page APUSH paper. You write your name, class and date at the top of the page, and next thing you know, you’re halfway down your Facebook newsfeed.

While it is completely alright to check social media or visit your favorite website to take a break from homework, doing so in the middle of a Webassign question or a DBQ is not particularly helpful. But sometimes, and everyone can admit it, you just cannot help yourself.

SelfControl and StayFocused are two different computer applications created as deterrents to distracting websites. They allow you to “blacklist” certain websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or any other site that distracts you, then select an amount of time you would like websites blocked for.

But be careful: once you start the time, you cannot stop. The entire session has to time out, even if you restart your computer.

SelfControl is available for free on all MacIntosh computers through the Application Store. StayFocused is a free extension for the Google Chrome web browser.

These apps have proved extremely helpful in keeping wandering minds in their place. If only they had these sort of applications for iPhones and Androids…

The Pomodoro technique was created as an attempt to remedy the dreaded “burnout.” According to the Pomodoro website, working for longer than 25 minutes straight will lead to burnout, and it is more difficult to perform better on an assignment.

This is how the app works: It sets a timer designed to go off every 25 minutes. Once a

CRUNCHY AND CRISPY The quinoa wrap offers a refreshing taste that satisfies the taste buds.

FE’s restaurants are LEED-accredited, meaning that its purpose is to conserve and sustain the environment.

LYFE does this with low-voltage lights, chemical free paint and 100 percent recyclable chairs and tables.

Through their healthy food and genuine concern for the environment, LYFE strives for influencing the lives of not only their customers, but also those who do not have easy access to food, by donating meals to local food programs.

LYFE says, “you chews.” I say, “chews LYFE.” F

Erin Thomas Web Editor

$$ 214.361.5933 Monday-Wednesday 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Thursday-Friday 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Saturday 8 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Sunday 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Pomodoro Self Control Stay Focused Pomodroido

25 minute period is up, you get a five minute break to refresh yourself. Don’t know what to do in only 5 minutes?

The website has a list for that!

After three “Pomodoros”, you get a 10 minute break. All of this is so you can periodically take a breather from that load of work and return with a set of fresh eyes. Even if you are working on a math worksheet, and you are halfway through in 25 minutes, and the timer goes off, do not disregard the timer and finish it. Put your pencil down and take a break.

The app also tracks how many Pomodoros you have completed in the past however-many days.

The full, paid-for version of the Pomodoro app allows for a little more customization. You can adjust Pomodoro and break length, as well as set goals for yourself. You can also change the timer colors!

This is an ingenious app. It

usually takes around 30 minutes for me to get pretty distracted while working on one assignment. And after such a long time looking at the same paper or assignment, I feel a little dazed and drained. These incremental breaks, though short, are so helpful in reducing stress levels, and working with time has definitely made me feel less rushed.

The Pomodoro and the Pomodroido apps are available in the app stores for iPhone and Android. The Lite versions are free. Pomodoro is also available for download in the app store on Mac computers. F

Sydney yonack Social Media Director

The first time I listened to Taylor Swift’s new single, “Shake it Off,” all I wanted to do was “Turn it Off.” But after the song reached the US Billboard’s Hot 100, it was almost impossible to avoid; after a twenty minute car ride, and the radio station playing it at least three times, I finally accepted my secret affection for the song, and it’s safe to say that I eagerly awaited the debut of her album, “1989.”

Unfortunately, while Swift’s album does have some jammin’ singles, the majority of her songs are mediocre at best.

Songs such as “This Love” made me feel very uncomfortable with Swift quietly whispering in my ear to the melody of a mellow guitar. In another one of her songs, “Out of the Woods,” the only lyrics she sings are, surprisingly, “are we out of the woods yet?” After spending two years putting this album together, Swift must have worked very hard on these lyrics.

This album, released on Oct. 27th, clearly shows Swift’s transformation as an artist from her past album, “Red,” released in October of 2012.

While she was previously known as Taylor Swift, the country-pop princess, with this new album, Swift has created a new reputation and placed herself in the category of 80’s style pop.

The first song of her album, “Welcome to New York,” was the perfect opening to her album and lived up to my expectations that were set by “Shake it Off.” These two tracks, out of the 13 in her album, were the only ones I was fond of.

But I was pleasantly surprised to find that Swift did happen to include a couple of bonus tracks, “Wonderland” and “New Romantics.” “Wonderland” was dull, but “New Romantics” ended up being my favorite track of her album because of its poppin’ beat.

So rather than spending $12.99 on iTunes for the album, I would recommend driving to your local Target and purchasing the deluxe edition for $13.99., which includes the bonus tracks.

But after all this hassle, is buying her album REALLY worth it? After all, it’s only a matter of days before every radio station in the country will be playing her music on constant replay, and who knows— maybe it will grow on us?F Manisha Ratakonda Graphics editor

18

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THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL NOVEMBER 7, 2014

spOrts

2-1

Sitting is the New Smoking Studies show that spending hours sitting in a chair is shortening lives.

Varsity volleyball’s winning score against a few members of the faculty and staff in the Faculty Match on Oct. 20. Steve Kramer, John Ashton and Chris Blackwell were three of the teacher players.

60 19.5 Number of minutes junior varsity cross country member Tala Vaughn, took to run a 5K at the McNeil Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 4 in Round Rock.

10 Number of gold medals varsity crew earned at its first regatta of the season, Head of the Brazos, in Waco on Sept. 27

The Story behind the Sugar Sports Editorial

ILLUSTRATION BY Sofia Mira

Number of goals that JV field hockey scored this fall season. This number broke the previous record of 54 goals that was set in 2012.

I

t is 8:30 in the morning merous health issues and is and almost anywhere on working to find solutions for campus hundreds of stuthese issues. dents can be spotted sit“Today, our bodies are ting in classrooms. At 11:45 breaking down from obesity, a.m. the Upper School gathers high blood pressure, diabetes, in an assembly to sit and liscancer, depression and the casten to a speaker. Then, at 3:15 cade of health ills and everyp.m. the halls are lined with day malaise that come from girls sitting on the floor and what scientists have named working on projects. At al‘sitting-disease,’” Levine said. most any moment of the day, With new studies conthere are girls sitting within stantly emerging, scientists the buildings at 11600 Welch at The American Institute Road. The reality is, howfor Cancer Research are also ever, that sitting has become finding a more direct connecas deadly as cigation with sedentary rettes. lifestyles and cerAccording to tain forms of canJustStand.org, the cer, including breast average human cancer. A 2013 study sits for 7.7 hours showed that woma day. Between a en who sat for nine typical Hockaday hours or more daily girl’s schedule were far more likely of commuting to to be depressed than POOLING OUR school, learning women sitting less RESOURCES in the classroom than six hours a day.

Construction workers and studying at The negative health renovate the pool night, hours of effects of sitting is located between sitting soar bemassive. located between yond eight hours Director of to around 10 hours a day. If Health Services Erika Herridge sitting is posing a serious shows concern about these health threat, then Hockaday negative effects to both the is certainly a potential candiphysical and mental parts of date for problems. the body.

James Levine, M.D., Ph.D., “I think there are a lot of specializes in obesity solutions students that might be diagat the Mayo Clinic. He believes nosed with learning differencthat sitting is the cause of nues just because they can’t sit for

DANGERS OF SITTING Sitting for an excessive number of hours induces many health issues, such as depression.

29

S

enior Claudia Hammond has just finished her run around Hockaday’s campus for cross country practice. Sweating, she slows down to walk over to the bench and grab her bottle of orange Gatorade. Taking a sip, she doesn’t know the impact of the sugary formula on her health.

“I drink Gatorade because it has a great taste and comes in different flavors, which I love.

And it helps replenish the stuff I sweat out,” Hammond said.

Gatorade has been around for almost 50 years, and the creation of this carbohydrateelectrolyte sports drink has become a phenomenon. Recent

research, however, suggests that this once innovative formula is actually detrimental to athletes.

According to a study done by the University College London, sports drinks are causing runners, in particular, to have slower competition times bercause it causes poor oral health.

The high sugar content of sports drinks is one reason why junior Jasmine Jin will not drink them. Although she is a three-sport athlete, Jin said that she doesn’t “use sports drinks because your body doesn’t recognize the processed sugar; It is bad for your teeth and it is very easy to underestimate how much sugar the sports drinks have.”

SPORTS: Queen of the Court/ Page 19 •

But head varsity cross country and track and field coach Laboris Bean believes that despite the sugar content, “athletes should still drink sports drinks because of the electrolyte replacement they provide.”

Since Gatorade and Powerade have so much sugar, Bean said that chocolate milk, coconut water and Pedialyte are several other recovery drinks that are just as good and have less sugar content. Bean also noted that chocolate milk is especially good because of the protein it contains.

Although sports drinks are bad for your health, they

How to Learn to Love Running / Page 20

too long,” Herridge said.

Standing more often is the only way to solve this major health crisis.

Upper School Mathematics Teacher Andrew Brown has spent time listening to discussions on the importance of standing throughout class and taking breaks for one’s brain.

“For example, instead of going to the student and giving them help if they are working have them come to you,” Brown said. Brown has implemented a number of ways to keep his students moving during class including a required stretch break.

As an experiment, a Hockaday Upper School Health Class was asked to stand for one 80-minute class period and then asked questions based on their experience.

The participants disagreed on the way standing physically affected their bodies, but the majority of the participants felt class went by quicker while standing.

Junior Tajanae Harris participated in the 80-minute standing experiment.“It was easier to pay attention [while standing up],” Harris said.

The benefits of standing are extensive.

Sitting continued on p20 are necessary.

Hockaday trainer and athletic operations manager Jeanne Olsen said, “If you are a hard-working athlete, the sports drinks replenishes your electrolytes and vitamins you lose when you sweat. Regular water does not have the electrolytes and vitamins your body needs.”

For practice, both Bean and Olsen agree to try to drink water before and after sipping any sports drink to dilute the sugar content of the Gatorade and, as a result, to prevent bad oral health. F Charlsea Lamb News Editor

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

THE FOURCAST 19

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NOVEMBER 7, 2014

Queen of the Court Sophomore Jessica Wang travels to China over the summer to refine table tennis skills PHOTO PROVIDED BY JESSICA WANG

S

he trains for at least 10 hours a week. Her practices do not consist only of matches, but working out as well. And before she starts her practice match, she runs with sandbags on her legs. Her sport? Table tennis.

Sophomore Jessica Wang did four different sports: gymnastics, karate, swimming and dance, before finding her niche.

As a child, Wang would always attend her brother Charlie’s table tennis practices and pick up the balls for him. Seeing that her brother had fun with it, she also decided to try it out and began playing in sixth grade.

The sport of table tennis requires much more than hitting a small ball over a net.

Although it does not require as much power as tennis, planning a move is everything. Before she hits the ball, Wang has many factors to consider – where to hit the ball, the speed and the spin on the ball.

Strategizing and discovering the weak points of the opponent are significant parts to the game.

“It’s such a small table, so if you just hit with no tricks, it is obviously really easy for the opponent to return,” Wang said.

According to Wang, a match is won when a player wins three out of five games.

Each game is won by whoever scores 11 points first. If there is a deuce, or a score of 10 points to 10 points, the players continue until one wins by a two point margin.

Every two weeks or so, Wang attends local competitions that allow her to boost her rating, which increases every time an opponent is defeat-

PLAYING TO THE TOP Sophomore Jessica Wang plays in an intense ping pong match at the USATT Junior Olympics in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2011. ed. Towards the end of the year, Wang attends the U.S. National Championships for Table Tennis. This past year at Nationals, which took place in Las Vegas, she won second place and is currently training again for this competition, which is go-

ing to be held again in Las Vegas this December.

For the past two summers, she travelled to Hunan, China for a month to train at Shen Dui, a school solely dedicated to ping pong.

“Those kids are super intense,” Wang said.

However, Zhong An Wang, her coach of almost four years, is very impressed on how drastically Wang was able to improve. Coincidentally, they share the same last name but are not related.

“She was able to perfect and learn new tactics and skills,”

Zhong An Wang said.

Wang’s commitment to table tennis has affected her schedule in many ways. With traffic, it takes her an hour to get from school to her club, QD Academy, located in Plano, Texas.

“It is always hard to fit [ping pong] in and my homework in, but I still do it because I love it,” she said.

According to her coach, her busy high school schedule has allowed her to become more “concentrated and eager.”

Wang even plans on playing in college, similar to her brother who is in the table tennis club at the University of Texas at Austin. She is excited that more and more colleges are forming clubs and becoming more serious about this sport. However, in many aspects, Wang strives to surpass her brother.

“She always compares herself and her skills to her brother,” Zhong An Wang said. “Jessica would get frustrated if she didn’t achieve a certain movement or stroke at the time her brother achieved it, or if she didn’t win the same titles as he did.”

But her brother thinks differently. “I was able to get closer to my sister,” Charlie Wang said.

To avoid conflict, they usually choose to enter different events.

Wang found ways to battle this challenge. Her coach said, “She realized that in order for her to get better she would have to stop comparing herself and start to learn that she should play to please herself, not in order to beat others.” F Sonya Xu Staff Writer

The Digital Health Age The Health Department offers a new online health course, which has garnered much support from the student body

W

ith all the hustle and bustle of every Hockaday student’s school day, it is hard to be excited for another 80-minute class period learning about “how to be healthy.” As a result, the Hockaday Health Department has decided to offer not only the traditional health class but also an online course this year.

An online section of Health III will be offered every quarter, rather than only during third and fourth quarter as in previous years.

Form II students will get to experience both online and offline health activities, while Form III students have more control in choosing how they would like their health class to be administered.

This online course will allow more flexibility, especially for students who have scheduling issues. Head of Upper School Health Rebekah

Calhoun hopes that the new option will be a successful in teaching the course in a way that is best for everyone.

“It gives you kind of an option as to how you think it would work best for you. It allows you to make the choice of what is best for you,” Calhoun said.

According to Calhoun, the students have welcomed the new online course with open arms; about half of the students have taken advantage of this new opportunity or have expressed preference to it.

Sophomore Lily Johnson enjoys how online health allows her to manage her time in the way she chooses, thus alleviating a great deal of stress.

“I like online health better because it gives me flexibility in my schedule by allowing me to do the readings and assignments at my own pace and giving me time to work on other classes’ assignments, while still

getting the benefits and lessons of the health course,”Johnson said.

Calhoun stated that though half of the student body enjoys having flexibility, the other half prefers having teacherstudent interaction. Johnson’s fellow classmate Grace Cai has a much different opinion about online health.

“I find it difficult to study on my own without a teacher clarifying things for me and instructing me directly,” Cai said.

As a result, the Health Department is going to continue offering both a classroom and online course. It hopes to find an easy, accessible way for everyone to complete their health course, while also figuring out how to suit each student’s learning needs and styles. F

TWO HEALTHY OPTIONS Junior Jemma Nazarian works her mind and her body while completing her Health III Online course.

Heidi Kim Staff Writer

WaRd Field Hockey and Cross Country

Basketball

Soccer

Swimming

Nov. 6 Fall SPC Tournament in Dallas

Oct. 27 - Nov. 5 Basketball preseason in Penson

Nov. 3-Nov. 5 Soccer preseason on Upper Fields

Nov. 10 Swimming tryouts begin

Nov. 7 Fall SPC Tournament in Dallas

Nov. 10 Basketball tryouts begin

Nov. 9-Nov. 13 Soccer tryouts begin

Nov. 8 Fall SPC Tournament in Dallas

Nov. 14 Scrimmage vs. St. Johns WHERE?

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NOVEMBER 7, 2014

How to Learn to Love Running Here are ten ways to positively alter your opinion on running.

I

n our society, running is often seen as a form of punishment. This is clearly shown through exercises, such as suicides and sprints, which have become infamous to both athletes and anyone who has been forced to complete them. However, this view is misconstrued because, according to organizations such as ACTIVE that specialize in fitness, running daily can reduce stress levels, ward off feelings of depression or anxiety, improve sleep patterns and even help raise self-esteem. Hockaday alumna and former Stanford racer Jackie Choucair, avid runner and former racer Glenys Quick and sophomore runner Eleanor Wilson said they have developed a deep passion for this misunderstood pastime over the years. “To me, running is like water; everybody needs it,” Choucair said.

Luckily, there are ways in which one can alter his or her opinion about running and learn to see it as a source of relief and even a source of enjoyment.

1. Location, location, location! Find a fun location. Pick what environment suits your running style best. Are you the adventurous type who wants to run free in the thrill of nature,

or are you more of an inside girl who prefers the comforting feel of air conditioning? Choucair said she prefers running outside because “it clears my mind and reconnects me with nature and what matters in life; it’s a huge stress reliever.”

2. Buddy up! Run in a group. Decide whether you would like to run solo or in a group. Friends are a great way to keep yourself interested and an effective way to push yourself to keep going even when you want to give up; however, running alone can help you concentrate, thus allowing you to devote your full attention on a satisfying run.

“Find what works for you. There is always going to be one environment that works for one person but not the other,” Choucair said.

3. Keep the beat. Figure out whether listening to music while you run is effective or just distracting. If music motivates you, make a playlist with songs that pump you up and get you excited for your run. Do what works for you.

4. Run for fun. Participate in fun runs and let out your competitive side! Dallas offers a multitude of races throughout the year that will both challenge and excite you. Most of the racers in these runs show up either to promote awareness for a good

cause or simply for the love of running. “The environment in runs like the Color Run is great because everyone is supporting each other, motivating me to enjoy it even more!” Wilson said.

5. Mix it up! Try to mix in other workouts with your run.

There are many workouts to choose from: yoga, cardio sessions, Zumba and sports. “I run every day and then layer things on top of it. I like to do weight lifting sessions, swim or do yoga. Those are my main go-tos,” Choucair said .

6. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Although finding what suits you is a key part in learning to love running, it is also important to remember to take care of yourself while doing so. Rather than carrying a water bottle while you run, simply have one glass of water beforehand. Veer away from sports drinks. “Drinks like Gatorade are far too concentrated; they can cause upset stomachs and the amount of energy used to digest them could be used instead for running,” Quick said . Also, be sure to keep a look out for how you are running. “The key to a good run is to take your time and to remember to run with your arms loosened so that your thumb brushes your pant leg. By doing so, you allow your lungs to increase properly, making it

easier for you to breathe,” Quick said. If you remember to pay attention to these details, your endurance will increase, while your tension will be alleviated, ultimately allowing yourself to have a more enjoyable run.

7. Go on an adventure! Every year, month or even week, plan a run in a unique location. It can be at a place that has special significance to you, or even just somewhere you have always wanted to run. Dedicate this time to yourself and allow yourself to soak in the beauty of nature and let out your stress.

8. Enjoy the journey. When you are running, pace yourself and don’t push yourself too much.

Start slow and progressively increase your pace and running time. “If you start out running really intensely, you’ll just burn out, and it won’t be fun anymore.

I say ‘run for fun,’ not for fitness,”

Wilson said.

9. Treat yourself. Cut yourself some slack! Although staying healthy is important, let yourself indulge in something special as a reward for your hard work.

You deserve it!

10. Don’t worry, be happy. Although you can get advice on to how to learn to love running, the only true obstacle stopping you is yourself. Convince yourself that you love running and soon enough you will. It’s all about keeping a positive mindset. “All you gotta do is tie your laces, go out and run. You have to stick with it. That first, second, and even third run isn’t always fun,” Choucair said. “To get to that point of comfort, you have to just keep going until you see that light at the end of the tunnel.” F Heidi Kim Staff Writer

SPC Makes Cuts

SPC has removed its Division II Championships, decreasing the number of teams allowed to play.

T

he phrase of athletes “playing as if the season was on the line” has never been more appropriate. The Southern Preparatory Conference changed the rules to the SPC tournament, and now four of the 16 teams that could have participated will not participate at all.

In the previous SPC tournament system, the top four teams from the North Zone and the top four from the South Zone competed against each other in Division I during SPC for the overall championship; the bottom four from each zone played in SPC for the Division II championship title. Seeding is determined by regular season records. Every team plays “counters,” which are games against teams in the same zone.

Athletic Department Chair Jennifer Johnson said that this change was a “shift in philosophy” in the SPC tournament.

“With the old system, there used to be two champions for two different tournaments,” Johnson said.

Under the new SPC changes, Division II has been completely eliminated.

“It was a little bit confus-

ing having two tournaments and two champions,” Johnson said. “You could be a Division II champion but it was really 9th place in the overall conference.”

Since Division II has been eliminated, there will only be one tournament that teams can play in. The top six teams from each zone will compete in SPC, and the teams that do not make it into those top six spots will not play at all.

This new system will first affect field hockey and volleyball this season. Senior volleyball captain Sam Toomey said that the changes create more pressure to perform during the regular season.

“If you don’t play your best, you’re not going to get in it,” Toomey said. “I think that the changes are a good thing because it’ll up the competition for and in Division I. It’s definitely more motivation to play hard, work hard and practice hard.”

In order to accommodate the increase of teams in the tournament, an extra day was added to the tournaments. Teams seeded third to sixth will play on Thursday. Only teams seeded first and second are exempt from playing that Thursday.

“It’ll be interesting to see how an extra day in the tournament affects teams,” Johnson, also the varsity field hockey coach, said. “From a conditioning standpoint, it’ll definitely be tough.”

Hockaday teams are in the North Zone with Casaday School (Oklahoma), Episcopal School of Dallas (Dallas), Greenhill (Dallas), Holland Hall (Oklahoma), All Saints’ (Houston), Trinity Valley (Fort Worth), Country Day (Fort Worth) and Oakridge (Arlington). The South Zone consists of Kinkaid (Houston), St. John’s (Houston), Saint Mary’s Hall (San Antonio), St. Stephen’s (Houston), St. Andrews (Austin), Episcopal (Houston) and Houston Christian (Houston).

Since there are nine teams in the North Zone and only seven in the South Zone, three teams from the North Zone and one team from the South Zone will not make SPC. This year, SPC is centered in Dallas. Cross Country SPC will be held at Norbuck Park.

Volleyball SPC will be hosted by the Episcopal School of Dallas. Field hockey SPC will be held at Hockaday.

“The last time it was at

Hockaday we won the championship,” Johnson said. “So there’s some pressure from that but hopefully some excitement too to bring it back.”

Hockaday last won the SPC Championship for field hockey in 2010 when field hockey SPC was held at Hockaday. Junior Field Hockey Captain Frances Burton said that the SPC changes, coupled with the pressure of hosting the tournament, makes this season more important than ever.

“I think we all want to make it to SPC since it’s at Hockaday and it would be on all of us to be sitting here and not being able to play in the tournament,” Burton said. “Every season, it’s important to win, but this year since it’s at Hockaday where we’d have home field advantage with fans and support, it just adds that element where we don’t want to let people down.”

Cross country last won the SPC championship in 2011, and volleyball last won the SPC championship in 2008.

Volleyball did not make the cut for SPC this year. “Even though we didn’t make it this year, we had a great season,” Toomey said. “I know we’ll come back stronger than ever

Sitting continued from p18 According to an article in Runner’s World, between increasing blood flow, boosting metabolism and strengthening muscles, standing provides countless health benefits. bike in the teacher’s lounge.

Other creations include standing desks and yoga balls, but most classes still do not offer these alternatives.

Health Instructor and Form IV Dean Rebekah Calhoun has shown concern towards the inactivity of many students and, as a result, she has begun offering yoga balls as a replacement to chairs during her class. The yoga balls work abdominals and other muscles and are an improvement from a standard chair.

“I certainly think we could do more,” Calhoun said. “How are we as the educators going to change the delivery of our content to be one that helps promote less sitting?” F Austria Arnold Staff Writer

next year.”

Athletic Board Chair senior Jessica Savage said that hosting SPC is a “special thing” and has been working on the Student Council to help implement the first Spirit Week to generate more excitement.

“We have Spirit Week, which will happen before every SPC. There will be fun activities and Serendipity days,” Savage said.

“It’ll be awesome just to get the spirit going and get the school really pumped up for SPC and to support the athletes and to really make a community feel before big tournaments.”

In the winter, basketball and soccer will play under the new rules as well, and in the spring, softball and tennis will also be affected. Lacrosse does not have 12 teams to make the switch and it will continue under the eightteam bracket championship methods. All other individual sports such as cross country and swimming will continue with their own systems.

For more information on schedule times, game results and team seeding, visit http://www. spcsports.org. F Courtney Le Managing Editor

Stand Up, Hockaday!

1.

Do not shy away from overflow parking. Get a further walk into the building at the beginning and end of each school day.

2.

3.

4.

Set timers when studying and make yourself get up and move around for a minute or two.

5.

Stand up while talking on the phone or responding to a text.

Stop texting your friends who are two rooms over.

Instead, get out of your chair and walk over to see them.

When watching your favorite TV show, stand up and do something during commercials.

6.

Stand up while memorizing flash cards or quizzing a friend.

7.

8.

9.

Do not sit down in the lunch line. It is the perfect place to get in some standing time.

Stand up and cheer for your friends at athletic games.

When you teacher gives you the opportunity, go do your work on the board.

Stand up while chatting in advisory, although, laying on the floor can be appealing.

10.

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THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL NOVEMBER 7, 2014

PersPectLves StudentView

11 % 43 % 32

%

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Hot Chocolate

Peppermint Mocha

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%

Senior Avita Anand

A

s a senior in self-defense, the perils of the real world have never seemed closer. Rape and sexual assault, problems whose magnitude I hadn’t been aware of before, seem like an inevitable reality. Now, as statistics show, one in four girls is assaulted their freshman year of college.

In self-defense, I was taught to think of the world as a battlefield. If I am ever alone or in an isolated location, I need to be engaged and aware, prepared to be attacked at any minute.

That’s the world we live in.

Recent laws have been working to combat this problem on college campuses. On Sept. 28, California legislators signed into law the SB 96 nicknamed the Yes means Yes Law, which set a new protocol for how administrators in Califor-

nia Universities are to handle rape and sexual assault claims.

Before, when a student reported sexual assault or rape, the administration was able to interpret the situation without standardized protocol. Under this law, a new deciding standard has to be followed—whether or not verbal consent was given by the victim. If not, then the campus has to proceed to trial or some disciplinary action.

While this idea of “Yes Means Yes” is not new (it had been implemented in a few other campuses across the nation), it is the first time it is now a state-wide policy. A highly intoxicated yes or the absence of a no will no longer legally be seen as consent. According to the law, consent has to be given verbally and can be retracted at any point during the encounter.

This law will hopefully make it easier for women to come forward, diminishing their fear of being dismissed for being intoxicated at the time of the assault. Additionally, the law will minimize the fear of resisting.

The common misinterpretation that I’ve heard from my peers is that this law makes a rapist out of everyone. Many couples or people, depending on the situation, do not feel the

You

know, not everywhere is your personal karaoke bar.

NEXT ISSUE: What’s your favorite drink at Fat Straws?

Check your email soon for the survey!

Photos courtesty of Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health Magazine, Peppermintos and Trans-High

need to give verbal consent every single time. This law doesn’t create a police force to go hunt these people down. Rather, the law enables people, who feel like they have been assaulted in any way, to come forward.

The larger nationwide impact of this one state law is the way it forces society to look at sexual assault. It’s teaching the world that silence doesn’t mean yes, a lesson in respecting everyone’s voice and worth.

Potential perpetrators, instead

of listening for a no, might wait for a yes. If laws like this one continue to be passed around the nation, as the discussion grows, sexual assault could move away from being a ‘controversial’ crime. Just like theft or murder, the blame should go to the assailant and the victim shouldn’t be questioned or doubted to the point of being too afraid to come forward.

This law is the beginning of that mindset. F

THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID

Hot Apple Cider

A) Green tea lemonade B) Lychee C) Peach green tea D) Strawberry banana

GRAPHIC BY MANISHA RATAKONDA

The Fourcast asked readers “What’s your favorite winter Starbucks Drink?” Here are the results based on a poll of 180 responses.

Yes to Yes Means Yes

Senior Katie Mimini, in reference to Miranda Helm singing during English class

I’m glad to know 5% of St. Mark’s kids are living in the early 1900s!

Senior Harper Clouston, in reference to the Remarker’s recent feminism poll

TWITTER

When you are a day student and the librarian says “see you tomorrow night!” that’s when you know your life stinks.

Junior Electra Thomas (@electrathomas) recounting her late nights spent at Hockaday

TWITTER

TWITTER

My cat hates me and the entropy of my life is increasing at a rate of infinity joules per kelvin per second Senior Phoebe Smith (@phobi_wankenobi) tweeting about her current misery

Death by emails that begin with ‘sorry I know this is annoying but...’

Senior Mimi Asom (@MimiAsom) tweeting about her email angst

STAFFSTANCE agree with.

At Hockaday, we read books that challenge our mind and our beliefs; and sometimes those books can make us uncomfortable or even provoke extremely strong responses. Take for example the sexual content in “July’s People,” a book for sophomore year English or the domestic abuse inherent in A Streetcar Named Desire, a book for junior year English. Should we have been forewarned of the risqué content before delving into these novels?

A warning might have been helpful. Such warnings, now termed as “trigger warnings,” are becoming customary on college campuses. The purpose of these is to make those,

who may have a damaging emotional response, aware of the content they will encounter. Therefore, students know what to expect and can choose to not read the specific triggerrelated content if they desire.

Trigger warnings are not over-protective or shielding people from the real world.

They are simply a caution for what to expect and a way to respect other people’s emotions and past experiences. There is a huge difference between a warning and an all out censure.

Just last month, Highland Park High School banned seven books after parents expressed their concerns over the books’ contents and letting their children be exposed to the controversies of adulthood. In “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein, a sex scene made parents uncomfortable. The author of another one of the

books suspended, Jeannette Walls who wrote “The Glass Castle,” was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at Highland Park’s literary festival in February. She will no longer be speaking at the event.

Unlike banning books, trigger warnings let the students decide what their limits are and how to protect themselves. With all of this being said, our literature should not be censured. We don’t want a book banning. However, a consideration for people who might be sensitive to certain content could be helpful. Already in some Hockaday English classes, teachers warn students of the upcoming subject—to keep them from feeling blind-sighted. Even an email sent out before a reading assignment, as simple as “TRIGGER WARNING This section contains information

PHOTO BY CLAIRE FLETCHER

W

arning: what you are about to read contains opinions which you may not

about domestic violence and/ or rape, which may be triggering to survivors,” is helpful. A warning, simple to put

in place, can save students the discomfort of reliving a traumatic experience. F

22

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

WE LOVE IT, WE LOVE IT NOT

Only two more weeks until THANKSGIVING BREAK!

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

PersPectLves

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

STAFFSTANDOFF

O

Reality Television

Vs.

n any given evening after a long, tiring day at school, we come home to mountains of homework. Instead of treading through this pile of papers, what better way to waste time than to watch people battle it out on a favorite reality TV show?

Despite their name, reality TV shows are not there to showcase reality. In fact, they serve as the exact opposite, a time to relieve ourselves from our realities.

A time to take a step back and watch people thrive in an environment we might not have imagined before.

Shows like “American Idol,” “the X-Factor,” “America’s Got Talent,” “America’s Next Top Model,” “Top Chef” and countless others help ordinary people who have not yet reached celebrity status to develop their talents and give them a chance to succeed in the big leagues. As watchers, we can see how actors can overcome tough obstacles and perhaps apply these situations to our own lives. In the show “Supernanny,” for instance, a lady comes into a family’s home and attempts to help the parents handle their undisciplined kids. Parents watching the show can use the show’s advice and apply it to their own lives.

There is something magical about an unscripted TV show. Despite their dramatization, reality TV shows seem less forced and show real actions of real people, making them more relatable. Watching people in their natural habitat shows us critical points about human nature and helps broaden our experience by allowing us to live vicariously through them.

Reality TV shows instigate new conversation about what one would do in that specific situation.

In shows like “Survivor,” participants are transported into the desert, or the middle of the forest, and faced with the question: If that were me, what would I do?

Rather than insulting reality TV shows and claiming that they are instilling bad values into the younger generation, we can look at them in a more positive way. People are becoming more educated on topics that they wouldn’t have had access to before. Teenagers can directly see the repercussions of their actions in shows such as “16 and Pregnant” and be influenced not to do something that could be potentially harmful to their own lives.

While they are traditionally considered a bad form of media, reality TV shows have so much more to offer than what first meets the eye. What’s the harm in letting loose and taking in the drama of your favorite reality TV show once in a while? F Ashna Kumar Staff Writer

We’re excited to send our athletes off to SPC! Go daisies!

SPIRIT WEEK was pretty jammin’! Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened :’)

I

’m not here to lie to you: I watch my fair share of TV too. Over 96 percent of American families own a TV, and the majority of those families have more than one set. But unfortunately, the rise of the television has brought with it the large and frankly unavoidable genre of “reality” television.

It used to be that if you made a mistake, you learned your lesson. Nowadays, make a big enough mistake and you get your own television show and two million plus followers on Twitter. We, as a nation, provide fame and fortune to those who have done nothing to earn it. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi made almost $3 million a season in her time on Jersey Shore.

Can you imagine being paid that much money just to make a fool of yourself on television? In April of 2011 she was paid $32,000 to speak at Rutgers University.

She provided the more than 1,000 people that came to see her with this moving advice: “Study hard, but party harder.”

Even more infuriating are the infamous Kardashians, who make $10 million a season, not including all of the money they’re paid to attend red carpet events. I’ll admit I’ve seen many episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, something I’m not too proud of, and I swear I’m losing brain cells as I watch.

The Kardashians and the Jenners are the perfect examples of people who are “famous for being famous”.

They have not shown evidence of any real talent yet they live their lives at the top of the ladder, mingling amongst and befriending actual artists.

Not only do reality shows shower riches upon the undeserving, but the term itself is a complete misnomer. In shows such as Big Brother, Survivor or the Amazing Race, the producers will propose what is called a ‘shooting script,’ or an outline of the episode plan. Shooting scripts provide the cast with things such as storyboards or even flat out conflicts that are to be aired in the episode. Furthermore, many reality shows use a method called ‘frankenbiting,’ where sound and video editors work together to merge random soundbites and/or excerpts from other conversations to create whole new ones: ones that never happened. These are the things we as an audience see and perceive as pure, unscripted “reality.”

Reality television presents to us what is far from reality. If we are to continue turning an everyday ignoramus into a glamorous celebrity, then we must stop and ask ourselves: what kind of message are we sending here? F Amanda Kim Staff Writer

Confessions of a Teenage Scholar, Athelete and Artist

The kerfuffle over FROYO FLAVORS, when will chocolate and vanilla return for good?

Contributing Writer Junior Jemma Nazarian

Saying goodbye to MR. BLACKWELL, we’ll miss you!

L

et’s be real. Many of us can admit that at some point in our high school careers, we have picked up a ballpoint pen and written our name, form and email address on a club roster, thinking to ourselves, “This will look great on my college application!”

I’ll admit that as a high school student, I’m guilty of

trying to boost my qualifications. I’ve seen fellow students doing the same. But are we really to blame for attempting to look accomplished when colleges expect so much?

Keep up your GPA. Do well on your SAT. Do well on your ACT. Take as many AP classes as you can. Take some subject tests.

But wait! Don’t forget to be a well-rounded human being!

Be athletic. Be artsy. Join a club.

Start a club. Do community service. Be interested in politics.

Get a job.

But wait! You get three months off from school? That gives you even more time to be a scholar, athlete, artist, and humanitarian! Take some summer classes. Do an internship.

Travel the world. Change lives.

But wait. What about what I want to do?

By setting the standards so high to the point where stu-

dents feel like they have to do and be everything, colleges have created a situation in which it’s difficult to fulfill all our goals and still enjoy what we are doing.

It makes sense that a school would seek out hardworking students who will contribute to their community. Colleges do not only look for students who can maintain their grades and high test scores, but rather they focus on students who can do so while partaking in extracurricular activities.

While this may not seem like a terrible burden, balancing school with activities becomes increasingly problematic as homework and fatigue pile up. It doesn’t help if we are participating in activities we may secretly dislike. But at least we have the summer to relax, right? Wrong.

College Board’s website

specifies that schools look at a student’s summer pursuits while reviewing their applications.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that a summer job can be enjoyable, but the thought of College Board telling me I should have some kind of occupation during my vacation just makes me want sit down and watch Netflix until my eyes bleed.

Colleges need to consider this: when we feel like our acceptance depends upon our participation in multiple activities, those activities start feeling like heavy textbooks weighing us down, like countless assignments on our to-do lists. While signing up for an activity, we should be thinking, “This will be fun,” rather than, “This will look great on my college application!” F

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

THE FOURCAST 23

PersPectLves

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

Seeking New Ways for Acceptance

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Alexis Espinosa

ILLUSTRATION BY KATE COOPER

MANAGING EDITOR

Courtney Le

WEB EDITOR

Erin Thomas

BUSINESS MANAGER

Avita Anand

SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR

Sydney Yonack

Senior Elie MacAdams

COPY EDITOR

Inaara Padani

T

wenty-four hundred SAT score, 4.0 GPA, 36 ACT score, one common app, too many supplements. These numbers are guaranteed to generate immediate stress for any college applicant. But what if the college process was less strict and less number-based?

Some colleges have started seeking out new ways to make the application process more multi-dimensional in order to understand the prospective student behind all of the numbers. Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland now has the option for prospective students to submit a video, in which they can articulate “Why Goucher?”

If students choose to submit the video, it takes the place of the traditional college requirements—including standardized testing and transcript.

Even more lenient, Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont allows applicants to decide what they want to send; high-school transcripts and recommendations are optional. The college asks students to “consider how you wish to demonstrate your academic achievement over time, your writing ability, your contribution to your classrooms and your community and your capacity to make and revise work. Portfolios, research you designed or experiments you engineered, reflective and analytical writing, transcripts, letters of recommendation—all and more are welcome.”

This new approach to college applications, possibly seen as a relief for some applicants, may be viewed as far too relaxed for many—includ-

NEWS EDITOR

Charlsea Lamb ASST. NEWS

Faith Isbell

FEATURES EDITOR

Megan Philips

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Kate Clement

SPORTS & WELLNESS EDITOR

Catherine Jiang

PERSPECTIVES EDITOR

Elie MacAdams

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Claire Fletcher

GRAPHICS EDITOR

Manisha Ratakonda

ing me. We spend most of our teenage lives in the classroom, studying for standardized tests and writing essays for our various classes. So why shouldn’t these three areas be a part of our applications? Although I can understand the belief that certain schools, such as art schools, shouldn’t require a writing supplement, I believe that writing is a necessary skill regardless of a student’s major/career path. The fact that some schools are beginning to make the writing supplement optional confuses me. Almost all colleges require a freshman writing course for incoming students; wouldn’t the school want to see a student’s writingproficiency level before plac-

ing her into a class?

I also can see how this new approach welcomes a more personal take on the college process and is helpful for those who view their transcripts as not a true reflection of their intelligence. However, I’ve had to write seven supplemental essays, and with each new supplement I was prompted to share something about myself— unrelated to my SAT score or transcript.

There are some admirable qualities of this new application approach, however. In particular, I like the idea of students showcasing their strong suits and intelligence in various areas. College admissions will be able to understand

more about the applicant, seeing them as well-rounded rather than just flat on paper.

I believe these colleges are conveying that intelligence isn’t limited to transcripts or standardized testing.

Perhaps the existing happy medium between these two extremes is the “holistic approach,” in which no maximum or minimum GPA exists—the admissions look at the applicant as a whole. Much like the holistic approach advocates, I like the addition of the videos or various supplements, but I’m not a proponent of the complete replacing of the traditional requirements. F

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

W

e encourage anyone from the Hockaday community— alumnae, parents, faculty, staff and students—to submit Letters to the Editor. Selected letters will be published each issue in regards to the previous issue. We regret we cannot acknowledge all submitted letters, but we sincerely appreciate them.

Letters to the Editor must be signed.

Please email letters to aespinosa@hockaday.org or mail to The Hockaday School, attention: The Fourcast, 11600 Welch Road, Dallas, Texas 75229. All of the letters must be typed, double-spaced and must not exceed 200 words in length. The Fourcast will not alter the meaning or intention of any letter to the editor, but may edit for grammar, spelling and space.

CASTOFF EDITOR

Sunila Steephen

VIDEO EDITOR

Maria Katsulos

STAFF WRITERS

Noor Adatia, Austria Arnold, Hufsa Husain, Amanda Kim, Heidi Kim, Eshani Kishore, Ashna Kumar, Mary Claire Wilson, Sonya Xu, Jenny Zhu STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS

Yuhan Jiang, Erica Jones, Nicole Klein, Nina La Barba, Cher qin, Madison Smith, Molly Waring STAFF ARTISTS

Mahima Agrawal, Kate Cooper, Wendy Ho, Lily Sumrow ADVISER

Ana Rosenthal

www.hockadayfourcast.org Better news than your newsfeed.

Updated daily.

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 1,200 and is printed by Dallas Offset, Inc. It is distributed free of charge to the Hockaday community.

Businesses who wish to advertise in The Fourcast should contact Avita Anand, Business Manager, at aanand1@ 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 should be taken up with Alexis Espinosa, Editor-in-Chief, at aespinosa@hockaday.org.

The Hockaday School 11600 Welch Road Dallas, Texas 75229

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24

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL NOVEMBER 7, 2014

CAStOFF DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS: what words really mean at Hockaday

pression.) x e ( ? it is y pression to What da x e d e s u ly on n: Commm io it n fi th. e d l a u e 1. Act e the date of th on pression to x e d determin e s u ly on ion: Comdmay rotation. it n fi e d y a d 2. Hocka e the day of the six determin y? blazers toda d e e n e w id See also; D

Chicke n

Fourcast ( c

ommonly

spelled as Forecast) 1. Actual d (noun.) e fi n it ion: A pred events iction of fu ture weath er 2. Hockad a of the Hoc y definition: The o kaday Sch fficial stud ool ent newsp aper See also; t he best ne wspaper in print

Parmes a

n (noun 1. Actu .) topped al definition: I with to mato staalian dish wit hb uce and 2. Hoc cheesereaded chicke kaday d n, efinition : Omen See also of incle ; the be ment w st lunch eather at Hock aday

Boy (noun.)

: Young male human 1. Actual definition day en outside of Hocka se y el ar R : on ti ni fi 2. Hockaday de ythical in status natural habitat, m See also; Unicorn

Daisy (noun.)

1. Actual defin ition: Flowers family within the 2. Hockaday d

Asteraceae

See also; othe

efinition: A kille

r threatening sc

r mascot

hool mascots

hog a m ro eat f m f o ic Mus .) d cut n d e u r n o u a c (n rt 2015 of A on: A i Ham y t 4 i r 1 n o t 0 fi : His al de og, 2 l n u a t o i t c t a i 1. A defin rse C u y o a d C l ocka choo S 2. H r e ; Upp o s l a See

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANNABELLE FOLSOM