Fourcast November 2012

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL • DALLAS, TEXAS 75229 • VOLUME 63 ISSUE 2 • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2011.

visit us at hockadayfourcast.org, follow us on twitter @fourcastnews and find us on facebook

SURFACING

Shedding Light on a New Measure of Success and Failure

Fourwarned November news

our lives

Diminishing dependence on What attracts boarding sweatshop and slave labor. students to the Hockaday »5 »8 community?

artstyle

sports & wellness

perspectives

Christin Urso divulges the art of the Thanksgiving » 14 leftover sandwich.

Cross Country brings home an SPC win for the first time » 18 since 1997.

How to win the love and adoration of your friends’ » 21 parents.

news our lives photo essay in focus artstyle sports & wellness perspectives

2-6 7-10 11 12-13 14-17 18-20 21-23

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY HAILEY WINSTON

see page 12 for story

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Dubsky’s Lessons Continue lem had a beauty and an aesthetic component,” Fine Arts Department Chair Ed Long said. “He let mathematics resound through all parts of the school.”

“The donation supports the commitment of faculty to students,” Mr. Long said. “I think particularly that since it was made for scholarships for middle class students, it’s a high honor for the whole faculty as well as the memory of Mr. Dubsky.”

After initially applying for a position in the physics department, Dubsky was encouraged to work in the math department, staying for a total of 21 years at Hockaday. The beloved Math Department Chair devoted himself to students in all age groups and levels of mathematics.

Upper School math teacher Jackie Girard joked, “He really challenged the advanced students, but he would come back, laugh and say ‘I taught the preschoolers calculus!’ He was the math man around the school and everyone knew him.”

Dubsky lived passionately and invested himself totally in each student. With his daughter Diane graduating in 1996, Dubsky developed a special empathy and understanding for each girl, not just for the student. He became the go-to teacher not just for math problems but also for a chat.

“You never knew whether he gave his best service to the most advanced math students doing multi-variable calculus, or those who were floundering in difficulty,” Long said of his close friend.

Dubsky cared deeply not

only for students but also for his fellow teachers. Throughout his entire career at Hockaday, Dubsky made it a high priority to make those new at the school feel welcome. Before founding the mentoring program for new faculty, Dubsky took this responsibility upon himself, mentoring every new faculty member that arrived in the Upper School.

“He really just liked sitting down one-on-one with people. He would drop everything and listen, knowing immediately if something was wrong,” Girard said.

He never limited himself (he decided to teach Algebra I one year and did not let anyone stop him), and through this, encouraged girls to do the same.

“He soon decided he was a better fit for advanced classes, but was never afraid to try,” Girard said.

Dubsky remained committed to his students until his death in 2008, leaving a legacy that endures in the thoughts of his students, a legacy celebrated with this recent donation.

“Mr. Dubsky always challenged us and pushed us beyond what we thought we could do,” Emily Campbell ‘04 said.

“His effectiveness as a teacher can be seen in the fact that every single student in his AP BC Calculus class in 2003-04, of which I was a part, got a 5 on the AP exam. But to us, his students, Mr. Dubsky meant much more than that.”

Long put it best in his speech at Dubsky’s memorial

PHOTO PROVIDED BY CORNERSTONES

A

s Hockaday edges closer to its centennial, students and faculty have begun to reflect on individuals deserving of recognition. With such a vast history, Hockaday could choose to acknowledge the impact of hundreds of people over the years.

But ask any faculty member, and late Math Department Chair Richard Dubsky would definitely be their shining example of a person who truly changed the school for the better.

“It’s only fitting to honor him and his legacy,” Upper School math teacher Janet Reeves said.

On Sept. 29, 2011, the administration announced to the board of trustees, faculty and staff that an anonymous donor had pledged a $1 million contribution in honor of Dubsky, who died from a battle with lymphoma in late Sept. 2008 after a twentyone-year career at Hockaday.

The gift was fulfilled over the summer and will benefit the financial aid of middle class students.

“Financial aid is one of our big pillars moving forward for fundraising. We give over three million dollars for financial aid every year and hope to continue that,” Director of Annual Giving Keturi Beatty said.

The anonymity of the gift serves to place the focus on its honoree and the opportunities it will provide girls.

“His vision of math embraced all of the departments. He would be the first to say that a math prob-

THE DUBSKY DANCE Mathematics department chair Richard Dubsky and math teacher Jeri Sutton perform in the fall ‘06 SPC pep rally.

service on Nov. 19, 2008: “I had the compelling feeling that it was always Richard extending his hand as he always had–extending his welcome, extending his vitality and his oh-so-animated self,” describing a person who truly educated others simply by being a role model.

As a teacher, Dubsky taught more than functions and derivatives: he also showed his students and peers that compassion does not discriminate but extends fully to embrace everyone, just like he did.

Katie Payne

Texas Politicians Past and Present A year out from the presidential election, Texan politicians are making headlines. Not familiar with the representatives, past and present, of our great state? Here’s an easy guide to the names you should know.

Horizontal Axis: A politician’s views on social issues such as abortion, gay marriage and gun control.

With the exception of gun control, social liberals favor personal choice on these issues while social conservatives prefer government regulation.

(-5, 5) Molly Ivins, political columnist

Politics: pro-Occupiers, anti-Wall Street Texan claim to fame: spoke colorfully, nicknamed Rick Perry “Governor Goodhair”

(-3, 5) Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President

Politics: passed Civil Rights Act of 1964, entered Vietnam “military engagement” in 1964 Texan claim to fame: owned and managed a cattle ranch, aggressive persuasion tactics

Vertical Axis: A politician’s views on economic issues such as taxes, subsidies and other market interventions by Washington. Generally, economic conservatives prefer to minimize government intervention in markets (lower taxes and lower spending) while economic liberals prefer to increase it.

(-1, 3) Ann Richards, 45th Governor of Texas

Politics: passed Robin Hood Act for school finance, progun control Texan claim to fame: big hair, voice of Annie in the Disney film “Home on the Range”

(2, 1) Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Senator

Politics: pro-choice, pro-earmarks Texan claim to fame: University of Texas at Austin graduate (B.A. and J.D.), received more donations from oil and gas companies than any other US senator in 2006

(3, 2) George W. Bush, 43rd President

Politics: passed No Child Left Behind Act, entered Iraq War Texan claim to fame: first worked in the oil business, daughters briefly attended Hockaday

(4, -4) Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas, current Republican presidential candiate

Politics: pro-life, anti-income tax Texan claim to fame: A&M graduate, briefly supported secession

(2, -2) Pete Sessions, House Representative

Politics: anti-universal healthcare, pro-tax cuts Texan claim to fame: Hockaday’s house representative!

Write him letters.

(-5, -5) Ron Paul, House Representative and current Republican presidential candidate

Politics: pro-constitution, anti-everything else Texan claim to fame: a true “lone ranger,” he cast two-thirds of all lone negative votes against House bills between 1995 and 1997 ART BY KATHARINE LIN

(?, !) Kinky Friedman, musician and 2006 gubernatorial candidate

Politics: anti-smoking bans, answered “pro-football” when asked about abortion views Texan claim to fame: never appears in public without a cowboy hat Kay Dannenmaier

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY

NEWS

November 16, 2011

Coming Soon to a City Near You Occupy Dallas: it’s not just for Wall Street protestors rallying for drastic modifications in our government system.

Because the protestors represent such a large portion of the population, they come from different walks of life and have vastly different agendas.

Blythe herself admits that she “doesn’t expect there to be a huge change,” but she wants people to realize that they can each make a difference. “Every time that someone understands why we’re here, and every time that we are informing them and making them aware of what’s going on around them is already in and of itself a victory.”

Lynn Kaneps, economics teacher, said, “It’s kind of a reaction to the Tea Party in that the Tea Party was not a single movement either. Everyone in the Tea Party had different goals…for the last twenty years, politics and economics are so closely aligned that economic issues have become the main political issues.”

Kaneps, however, points out that for the last few decades, public protests have been few and far between, “I have not seen a lot of public protests since the Vietnamese War.” She laments, “I have often tried to get my students to care enough about something to protest.”

PHOTO BY RUPSHA BASU

O

ccupy Dallas protestors have created their own little world on the field behind City Hall.

Tents provide everyday amenities such as a kitchen tent preparing three meals a day, an art tent boasting a plethora of supplies for poster-making, and a library tent containing a wide selection of books organized by the Dewey Decimal system. For over a month now, they’ve spent hours rallying and marching while maintaining normal day to day routines.

Whytney Blythe, a 22 yearold working three jobs, wakes each morning at sunrise and within seconds, tweets updates of the day’s rallies. Dallas’ answer to Occupy Wall Street, these protests fight to end corporate influence on government which favors the wealthy—the so called “1 percent” who earn over $347,000 annually.

“There are too many of us to say we are unimportant...

We make up the majority,” Blythe said.

Dallas, however, is only part of the “occupy movements,” which now take place in hundreds of United States’ cities as well as internationally. Occupy Wall Street has grown from 20 people to tens of thousands of

OCCUPIED Dallasites set up shop behind City Hall to protest corporate influence in the city government.

English teacher Janet Bilhartz believes that economic inequality in the United States is a growing concern.

“These are tremendous issues for the security and safety of our country,” she said.

Even without the ability to vote, movements like Occupy Dallas allow young people to voice their opinions.

“Occupy Wall Street is testifying to the fact that people can still organize and are aware and conscious of what’s happening in their government. [It] shows that people are actually willing to go out there and voice their opinions,” senior Leila Safavi said.

Oddly enough, only about one in seven occupiers are

women. A movement that is supposed to represent 99 percent of the population does not attract a demographic that makes up 51 percent of the population.

“It’s very disheartening to hear my female friends not know about ‘occupy,’” Blythe said.

Bilhartz posits that the men’s workforce being hit harder than the women’s could explain the lack of female presence on Occupy grounds. With our shrinking middle class, most of the job losses have affected construction projects or factories which mostly employ men.

Male or female, more and more people have been personally affected by the slumping economy each day, more and more have joined in the movement.

Bilhartz said this is true because “most people know someone who is out of a job.

And there’s been no other time in my life when that was true.”

Regardless of whether a Hockadaisy falls in the “99 percent” or the “1 percent,” they have a social responsibility to listen to these voices. “‘To whom much is given, much is expected,’” quoted Kaneps. “I think that would apply to Hockaday.”

Anisha Anand and Rupsha Basu

iNfluenced

Steve Jobs’ impact within the land of Toshibas

40.9%

72%

iPad

iPhone

40.9% Mac

92.5% 48.4% iTouch

iPod

Percent of Hockaday Upper School girls who own Apple products (of 93 surveyed) GRAPHIC BY EMILY WECHSLER AND ALAINA RODRIGUEZ

A

t Hockaday, new technology is usually no more than an arm’s length away.

The burgeoning world of technology holds a clear and prominent place in the halls and classrooms of this school. So when Steve Jobs passed away on Oct.5, the repercussions were evident.

Whether “a fantastic model for creativity, innovation and success in business,” as he is to junior Natalie Pasquinelli, or simply “the Apple guy,” as he is to junior Grace Greenblatt, Steve Jobs left an indelible mark on Hockaday and the lives of its students.

Out of a survey of 93 random Hockaday Upper School students, only one did not own an Apple device. Results went on to show that every Hockaday student surveyed had, at some point, owned an Apple device.

But how did Apple Inc., in under a decade, develop from a shaky, under-the-radar company to become a massive, multi-million-dollar corporation and a leader in techno-

logical innovation? It seems the only thing Apple doesn’t have is viable competition.

The answer: Steve Jobs.

Jobs introduced the iPod in 2001, at a time when Apple was known solely for producing personal computers and had not met much success.

Today, 92.6 percent of Hockaday students own or have owned an iPod. “I take my iPods everywhere. They’ve enabled me to be much more involved in the music world,” said sophomore Kellen Weigand. Everywhere, girls are plugged in, whether studying music samples for History of Art and Music, exercising to upbeat tunes or adopting a sort of music zen while napping or doing homework.

“My iPod carries music in a small, convenient package, which is really nice. This does, however, attach me to my electronics—our nation is addicted to Apple,” said junior Evi Shiakolas.

Many Hockaday girls carry their iPhones in their front pockets, a phenomenon that

just a decade ago would have been considered strange, let alone against school policy.

Now, even teachers utilize this dependence on technology. If a student is missing, it is safe to assume her phone is nearby, and that she will likely receive a quick text or call informing her of where she needs to be.

“I have no issue with phones being around all the time unless students are using them inappropriately—texting during class, etc.,” said Rebekah Calhoun, Director of Health Curriculum. “I like that students have the option of using their phones but also feel there must be commitment on the students’ part to use phones only as allowed by the teacher.”

Senior Daly Montgomery, one of the 72.3 percent of Hockaday students who own iPhones, said, “I love my iPhone. I’m addicted to it; it has definitely and completely changed my life.”

Senior Jane Song even reports getting “anxiety attacks” when separated from her iPhone. This is nothing new. According to a recent study by Stanford University, where students were asked to rate their addiction to their iPhones on a scale from one (“not at all addicted”) to five (“fully addicted”), 44 percent of students answered with a four or above. Only six percent of students said they weren’t at all addicted to their device.

If nothing else, this serves as a clear sign of Jobs’ success.

He made technology accessible, just as he did for music, and people were hooked.

“To me, Steve Jobs changed the world. He revo-

lutionized technology and brought it to the common person instead of your typical computer nerd,” said sophomore Tai Massimilian.

But not all are so optimistic. For instance, junior Katie Bourek said, “I really dislike Apple. I feel like once you buy one of their products, you can only buy their products…Plus, the never-ending stream of updates, whether it be iTunes or the frequent new versions of iPhones/iPads that come out, only over-complicates things.”

Yet the future of Apple, without the innovative genius Steve Jobs at its helm, hangs in the air.

“I think that the future of Apple is very bright,” said senior Erin Turner. “Steve Jobs has left a wonderful legacy of incredible products, and there will be others like him who will continue his legacy at Apple.” But others are not so optimistic.

“It’s all downhill from here. They need another genius fast,” said Montgomery.

Or maybe, as Pasquinelli said, the future of the company depends on whether or not “they continue inventing and improving, and don’t get hung up on making 53 minutely different models of the iPhone.”

Either way, Steve Jobs was a pioneer in the new-fangled region of personal technology.

He spurred the technological advances responsible for moving Hockaday into a new age of technical savvy. Now, Hockaday students have only to anticipate that day when they can trade in their Toshibas for spiffy new paper-thin Macs.

Annabel Lyman

NEWS

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Sowing Seeds of Peace In Arab Spring Women of the muslim world garner Nobel nods

O

ne -fifth of Nobel Prizes ever awarded to women were awarded this year.

After a seven-year hiatus between the last female recipient and the current recipients, the Nobel Peace Prize turns a new page. For the first time in history all three awardees this year were women: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Twakkol Karman.

Since its founding in 1901, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 124 laureates, 109 of them men and 15 of them women.

Four years after its founding, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a woman, Bertha Von Sutter, for her involvement in the Austrian Peace Society.

Sirleaf, Gbowee and Karman were awarded the prize for “their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work,” according to the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize press release.

Jeanie Laube, former Director of Community Service at Hockaday, attended the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony when

her father received the award in 1970 for his efforts to free the world from hunger.

She says that times have changed since her father received the award over 40 years ago. The award now has increased political implications, as shown this year by the influence of the announcement of the recipients on the recent presidential election in Liberia and whether or not Sirleaf will be re-elected. It is predicted that the recent announcement will provide Sirleaf with an edge.

Laube believes that the prize was awarded to three women from the Arab world in order to make the Arab world “take notice that women should have equal rights.”

The three women recipients illustrate the world’s “new interest in equal rights for women,” Laube said. She hopes that the prize will act as an “avenue for awareness” about women’s rights and will help stimulate women to become proactive and practice humanitarian deeds.

“Gender should not restrict [the deserving] from receiving the prize,” said sophomore Kendall Ernst, also a member

Women Nobel Prize Recipients

of the Human Rights Committee. She commends the recipients for their non-violent protests against the restrictions of women’s rights.

Committee member senior Tita Peña says the Nobel Prize is a way to “praise the women’s rights movement.” “It also gives hope to women’s right movement and recognizes their accomplishments,” says Peña.

History teacher Tracy Walder, believes that “women are more involved in politics” than before and hopes that more women, because of their recent roles in the Arab spring, will start receiving the prize. She predicts that “women will continually become more prominent in politics and peace.”

Sirleaf, the current president of Liberia and a previous World Bank economist, has helped improve both peace and security during her presidency.

Despite the high unemployment rates in Liberia, Sirleaf has led her people and ended 14 years of war, bringing peace to her country. Elected in 2005 as Africa’s first female president, she stated in her inaugural speech her hopes to “empower

Nobel Peace Prize Receipients Economic Sciences: 1

Nobel Prize Receipients Women: 15

Physics: 2 Medicine: 10

Women: 43

Men: 124 Literature: 12

Chemistry: 4

Peace: 15 Men: 509 GRAPHIC BY EMILY WECHSLER AND ALAINA RODRIGUEZ

women in all areas of our national life.”

Gbowee, who has fasted and prayed for peace in Liberia, protested in 2002 to end the abuse of women and the fighting that ravaged Liberia.

The following year Gbowee led women protestors to Monrovia’s City Hall protesting against the war. This protest led to the signing of the Accra Peace Accord which helped end the Liberian war. Currently, Gbowee is the executive director of the Women in Peace and Security Network which promotes peace, literacy and women in politics.

As referred to by the Yemen protestors the “mother of the revolution,” Karman participated in the uprisings that occurred in Yemen last spring.

At the age of 32, Karman has fought to overthrow Yemen president Saleh and has been sent to jail numerous times.

She is a journalist and human rights activist and has helped lead the women of Yemen away from tradition and encouraged them to voice their views.

Limited to a maximum of three recipients, the prize honors people who seek “fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” as stated in Alfred Nobel’s will.

“I don’t know what the future holds,” Laube said, “but hopefully the recent events will open a lot of doors for women and that more and more women will be out there doing humanitarian missions and helping others.”

Alaina Rodriguez

Source: DePauw University

Field Work

Y

JETS hampered by challenges late in the construction process

“

our mission is to design a robot that will assist in the return of these prized insects.”

Passers-by overhearing this computerized voice sounding from Hicks on Sept.

17 may have been concerned PHOTO BY HAILEY WINSTON

CONSTRUCTING AND COMPETING Sophomore Elizabeth Krenek drives the JETS team’s robot at the Dallas BEST competition (right).

Club President senior Natalie Gow and senior Suzy Kim, construct wheel mounts (below).

about some unfortunate, Jurassic Park-like scenario, but the orders they heard were in fact describing the objective in this year’s Dallas BEST challenge, held at the University of Texas at Dallas on Oct. 29.

Boosting Engineering Science and Technology, commonly known as BEST, is an organization devoted to supporting engineering education for high school students by hosting competitions throughout the U.S. each year.

The Hockaday Junior Engineering Technical Society team ( JETS) competes annually in the Dallas branch of the competition in which each team constructs a robot to complete a given task. This year, the objective was to collect “insects” made out of materials such as Styrofoam and move them to holding areas while navigating obstacles such as pieces of wood, cones and PVC pipes.

At last year’s regional competition, the team barely

missed advancing to the final round of regional competition, placing 8th among Dallas teams.

Thursday night the arm breaks and you have to fix it.

HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL JOHN ASHTON

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MEGAN NEAL

“The competition last year was harder than usual because the objective was so complex,” said senior Giovanna Diaz, who has been in JETS since her freshman year.

This year, the team faced even greater challenges.

When the robot’s arm, which picks up the bugs, broke just days before the competition, the team had to improvise and engineer a new arm on short notice.

“Having to deal with the adversity, like how Thursday night the arm breaks and you have to fix it—it’s all that problem solving skill that I think is… one of the greatest things about this whole program,” Head of Upper School John Ashton said. He attended the competition to cheer on the Hockadaisies.

Despite their best efforts and many nail-biting moments, including getting an insect only a foot or two from the holding area in one round, the team was unable to pick up insects effectively with the new arm and did not score points in the contest.

There was an important team win however.

Pete Lohstreter, a teacher spon-

sor for JETS, received the Outstanding Teacher Award, having been selected for the honor based on nomination letters sent in by students.

“We know he has a lot on his plate right now, but he still takes the time to help us out,” Diaz said. Lohstreter would often come to the team’s meetings multiple times each week to help them design and build their robot.

Despite the team’s struggles, it remains an integrel component of Hockaday’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program. “[ JETS is] the only engineering group we have, operating outside of the one engineering class that we have,” Science Department Chair Dr. Beverly Lawson said.

“We have this big STEM initiative, and engineering is a key piece of that.”

JETS president Natalie Gow has high aspirations for the future of the club. “Hopefully JETS would expand to be a year-round program, because right now we focus mostly on [BEST] in the fall,” she said.

“This year we’re attempting to enter a competition called ExploraVision and hopefully that will carry over through the winter. We want to… have the spring semester be training time, a time when we can recruit freshmen and teach them new skills so that when we enter into the following year, the leadership is already in place.”

Mollie Cowger

NEWS

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Community Organizer Community Service Board takes on new responsibility in regulating clubs signing up for,” senior Laura Roberts said.

But the community service club fair “[gave] a connection between the Community Service Board and the clubs” at a level that did not formerly exist, junior Catherine Gobran said.

These service clubs are now under entirely different leadership— the Community Service Board, rather than the vice president of Student Council. In order to fulfill these new leadership positions, the School Club Relations subcommittee was created last year, headed by senior Ellen Cohn.

“We’re taking on more responsibility,” Cohn said.

Service clubs must now follow regulations set by this subcommittee designed to make sure that the clubs remain active in the community as well as enforce monthly in-school meetings.

“So, now we make sure that they email us about their meetings, give us their minutes and [tell us] when they do events,” Cohn said.

The changes are also affecting Director of Community Service Laura Day. “I’ll try to visit every single one of the groups at some point,” Day said. “That way I’m a little more of an active presence in what they’re doing.”

These changes give Day new responsibilities that were not in the job description for the Director of Community Ser-

Sweatshop Sweatshirts

I

pregnant woman, a 40-year-old man and a grandmother.

“They’re very nice people who are married and want to live a life, but there aren’t many options, so this is what they’re doing,” Day said. “They told us they wanted a voice and that we have the buying power, so they want us to notice [their struggles] and maybe change it.”

However, there is hope: Alta Gracia.

Alta Gracia, a factory that makes apparel using humanized labor (they don’t use sweatshop labor) in the Dominican Republic, offers good working conditions and pays their workers a living wage, enough for the workers to actually survive and do other things besides just putting food on the table.

When Day visited Alta Gracia, she observed the huge contrast to other sweatshops. The factory was well-lit, there were fans to allow fresh air to flow through and ergonomic chairs with padded seats. She said that people were generally happy: their children go to school, they have medical insurance, have a house, work a regular workday—eight or nine hours with a one-hour lunch break—and make about $510 per month, which is about 338 percent more than minimum wage, according to Alta Gracia’s website.

When Day came to Hockaday this year, she told the Human Rights Committee about her trip to the Dominican Republic.

Moved by her story, the HRC decided to take action. Project managers juniors Michelle Shang and Renee Cai said HRC is planning on creating a shirt to sell in the bookstore using Alta Gracia.

“When I heard about the idea from [Shang] I thought it was a great idea for a project because we can make such a direct impact on people’s lives just by doing something so small,” Cai said.

Shang hopes other clubs will be aware of Alta Gracia when buying shirts. “If they know that that’s an option, then

WRITING FOR THOUGHT Under Hockaday Community Service Board regulation, Words Across the World club members write letters to soldiers fighting overseas.

vice in previous years.

As she begins to experience the new regulations with her club, co-president of Club for Children’s Hannah Crowe witnesses how closely she works with the Community Service Board now.

One of the biggest changes she noticed was a shift in who sponsored her club. Instead of going to any faculty sponsor, Crowe is required to get service sheets signed by Day and to report to her with any questions or concerns regarding the club.

The greatest benefit to Crowe, though, is the effects that greater monitoring of the club may have.

“I think that a lot of [clubs] will try to have more activities more frequently to make sure they’re keeping active,” Crowe said.

Supporting Our Troops club co-president senior Sarah Stites agreed.

we hope that in future years, more clubs will buy from Alta Gracia as well,” Shang said. “It would be great if we could get all of Hockaday stuff to be made from Alta Gracia.”

Alta Gracia already manufactures apparel for numerous institutions. Harvard, Columbia and Duke are some of its clients.

“A lot of us don’t realize the conditions people live in so through [designing a shirt], we’ll raise awareness about Alta Gracia so people are more conscious about where they buy their clothes from,” HRC president senior Tita Pena said.

The Hockaday bookstore currently orders items from a variety of companies, including Nike, College House and MV Sports.

According to their website, Nike has improved their factory conditions over the past decade, even releasing a list of factories they use worldwide.

College House’s Texas sales representative Mike Freeman said “sweatshops are a problem, and I know [College House] is opposed to it…we don’t have any sweatshop labor conditions.”

MV Sports is a member of the Fair Labor Association, a nonprofit organization devoted to ending factory sweatshop conditions worldwide, and uses FLA’s Code of Conduct for manufacturing goods.

Bookstore manager Dara Williams said she has previously not specifically looked for companies which used fair and humane labor, but “now that that’s been brought to my attention, I will definitely start thinking about that more.”

By buying Alta Gracia apparel, a student allows “the workers to live,” Day said.

However, in doing so a student also shows her disagreement with sweatshop labor, giving what sweatshop workers in the Dominican Republic and across the globe what they need—a voice.

Tiffany Le

“I think we’re more motivated,” Stites said. “We want to advance the [club] as much as we can.”

But the benefits seem to extend beyond the now. In preparation for the longevity of clubs in the future, this new system sets requirements that will provide strong foundations for a continuation of all service clubs.

To ensure this, Day believes that over time, the Community Service Board will add liaisons for popular and active service clubs at Hockaday.

“That way we will evolve in the interests of the girls,” she said.

“I think it’s a great thing.”

Cohn said. “Clubs will be able to withstand time, and that’s the point of our subcommittee, making sure that these clubs succeed in the future.”

Caitlin Smith

What’s your number?

Orange: .1 Slaves

T-shirt: .9 Slaves

Smart Phone: 3.2 Slaves

Laptop: 3.4 Slaves

ART BY ASHLEY CHEN

magine sitting in a rigid metal chair, the sides digging into your skin. The lights above you are so dim you have to squint; the air is damp and hot. The person next to you sits so close that even though your elbows are pinned to your sides; they touch. A dank smell penetrates your nostrils. Hunger gnaws at your stomach and your fingers ache from stitching the same white tag onto the same black sweater for hours on end. You want to get up—but you can’t, or you might get verbally, even physically abused—maybe not even paid.

This is the life of a sweatshop worker, the life of the person who made your sweatshirt—yes, the sweatshirt you might be wearing right now— did you ever think about that?

Probably not.

This past summer, Hockaday’s new Community Service Director Laura Day, along with 20 other selected teachers from across the nation, visited the Dominican Republic as a part of the Friends Beyond Borders program.

Day witnessed the poverty of many Dominican Republicans. She also observed the struggles of those working in sweatshops and said their working conditions were “awful:” thousands of workers crammed together work 14 hours a day with no breaks.

They earn only about 70 cents an hour (the living wage is $2.83 an hour) making the clothes Americans buy at malls—and they are not allowed to buy the very clothes they make. At home, their children don’t go to school as they can’t afford uniforms, even though uniforms are only a couple dollars.

“They would rather feed their children,” Day said.

“They’re barely making it by.”

When Day joined sweatshop workers for dinner, they told her of the physical and verbal abuse (although she did not witness any) and the economic troubles they dealt with. Workers varied: Day met a 22-year-old

PHOTO BY CAITLIN SMITH

S

tepping onto Metzger plaza the day of the yearly club fair, it’s nearly impossible to attack the mass of posters covered in bubble letters, bags of candy and aroma of baked goods in an orderly fashion.

This year, in place of the overwhelming concentric circles of girls advertising signs and handing out candy that usually accompanies the club fair, there were two smallerscale events, reflecting a new system for club organization and leadership.

To create an easier and more structurally sound system for the expanding list of clubs, Hockaday has implemented a new form of organization, separating the community service clubs from the recreational ones.

Having split up the club fairs by topic, the community service club fair was able to provide more than just information about student- run service clubs but also about organizations active in the Hockaday community, such as Mentors in the Community, Legacy and Jubilee.

They even provided information from programs that Hockaday is not regularly affiliated with, such as Meals on Wheels, to try and attract more students.

This new set up “gives a lot more focus to community service clubs and makes people consider more what they’re

How many slaves work for you? Find out at www.slaveryfootprint.org. “[Slavery Footprint] is a way to educate students,” HRC Vice-President junior Emily Nguyen said. After taking the survey on the website, students can discover approximately how many slaves work for them.

Many do not realize that slavery still exists today in the 21st century, thinking of it as a thing of the past. “It’s a very tangible way for girls to realize how big of a problem [sweatshop labor] is,” HRC Alta Gracia project manager junior Michelle Shang said.

SOURCE: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/what-is-the-slavery-footprint-of-your-kitchen-159763 ]http:// www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/what-is-the-slavery-footprint-of-your-kitchen-159763

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

NEWS

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Follow Me

Students discuss the addictive appeal of Twitter vs. Facebook

A

s a tech-savvy generation, we’re subject to the constantly changing computer lingo, but never did we think we’d see the day when people actually use the word “hashtag” or “prof pic” in conversation.

From its early origins in the Harvard community, Facebook truly began the social media revolution with a bang, connecting not only friends across campus but also family across the world—all on one website.

Contrary to the inception of Facebook, Twitter remained relatively under the radar for years, a techie haunt after its 2006 founding. Until, led by Ashton Kutcher, celebrities

I complain about the funny things that happen to me because I know others will appreciate it.

JUNIOR CAMILLE HUNT

(and their millions of followers) joined the ranks of tweeters, skyrocketing Twitter to international fame. Point in case: Kim Kardashian, a devoted Twitter user, is the fifth celebrity to pass the 10 million follower mark.

Freshman Cameron Malakoff said, “On Twitter, there are no limits to how many followers a person can have. That must be appealing to a celebrity who is trying to broaden their fan base.”

Proletarian users have followed suit, seeking to gain voice and a dedicated audience. Here at Hockaday, Twit-

ter accounts opening are springing up like, well, daisies.

Girls with the ability to capture the hilarities and woes of being a Hockaday student in a humorous way have gained instant fame in the Upper School.

This space to laugh, reflect and relate to one another fulfills a purpose that Facebook has never been able to do.

Junior Camille Hunt said, “I complain about the funny things that happen to me because I know others will appreciate it, some having been in the same situation before, and Facebook just isn’t the place for that.”

The stakes when posting a status seem to be much higher on Facebook as a person’s social network is twenty times as big. The average amount of Twitter followers ranges from 40 to 50 for a normal Upper School student, whereas on Facebook, students have an average of 550 friends.

Junior Ellen Crowe said, “It’s okay to be a little annoying over Twitter. It’s basically implied if you’re going to make the effort to tweet.”

As Facebook posts become trite, Twitter serves up a new recipe to make the “status” update relevant again.

“It’s a more casual type of updating to share with your actual friends. I feel as though people rarely follow those who they have no idea who they are,” said frequent Twitter user sophomore Tai Massimilian.

Still, Facebook users admit to the secret excitement they get when a “friend” likes their status or profile picture.

“Everyone loves compliments, and you’re always flattered when you get one in person, but when you get one on Facebook, it is there forever and all of the Facebook world can see it,” Crowe said. “While the face-to-face compliment may be more sincere, the surface-level Facebook compliment is known to all who stalk. Though it only shows one little part of your life, it the part of your life you want others to see.”

But not everyone gets 72 “likes” on their Facebook profile picture. Most girls get only a few.

“If someone already has a million likes on a profile picture they uploaded 34 seconds ago, it’s difficult to not get down on yourself because yours doesn’t,” junior Hannah Bush said.

For most girls, their confidence level depends on how many “likes” they get on their status or profile picture.

Many constantly check their notifications, hoping for one from that boy down the street they were crushing on.

To an outsider, the number of “likes” someone has direct correlates to their popularity.

Facebook profiles reflect their owners’ identities, and girls find it hard not to pass judgment based on Facebook walls.

But Twitter eliminates the pressure of “fitting in” or trying to create an attractive image of oneself for others to see.

“Twitter is the best. It’s like an online diary where you can post embarrassing things and pretend people don’t judge you,” Bush said. “Comments and likes on Facebook are great and all, but when Justin Bieber retweets you on Twitter, it’s better than Christmas.”

Katie Payne

ART BY EVI SHIAKOLAS

Operation Smile Senior Avery Hall ventures to South America to participate in Operation Smile

W

e all know the value of a smile and how much an unexpected smile can change the course of a day. What we sometimes take for granted is having the ability to smile. This summer, in clinics in South America, Senior Avery Hall helped many children gain the ability to smile.

One in 700 children is born with a cleft lip or palate. Left

untreated, the condition has debilitating consequences. Although easily treated by surgery in early childhood, the problem is more acute in developing countries, where many of the affected children cannot afford or access the treatment.

When Hall learned of this problem, she was immediately interested in helping.

She expressed this desire to her grandfather, who told her about a man he knew that was PHOTOS PROVIDED BY AVERY HALL

ALL SMILES Hall poses with a patient, Felipe, before he goes into surgery. She stayed with him throughout the procedure and celebrated the successful outcome with his mother after.

involved with Operation Smile, an organization that performs surgeries on children in need.

He put her in contact with DeeDee Sides, the director of Operation Smile in New York.

Hall said, “she told me the way I would have the most impact was by raising money to fund a trip that wouldn’t otherwise happen.” This was the only encouragement Hall needed to launch her fundraising campaign.

Hall wrote letters soliciting funds for Operation Smile, eventually raising over $40 thousand dollars. The money she raised funded a trip to Peru and part of another trip in Brazil. Combined, these trips helped 145 kids.

While Hall says the most important thing she did was raising the money, Hall said the experiences she had on the trip were moving. The only student on the trip to Peru, Hall helped in post-op, playing with the kids, and she used her Spanish to try to explain aspects of the operation to the parents.

“It was great to be able to see what the money I raised went to, and how much the surgery meant to the children and their families,” Hall said.

What it meant has more than just cosmetic appeal.

Kids born with a cleft lip or cleft palate often suffer from malnutrition and face ridicule and rejection from society.

“When the kids first looked in the mirror, they could hardly recognize themselves,” Hall said “even though they were still in pain from the surgery

they were so happy”.

Hall’s continued her work with Operation Smile back at home.

“We’re actually working on starting a youth board and growing the Dallas chapter of Operation Smile. I think it will be a great way to help more people,” Hall said. Hall has literally helped put smiles on the faces of dozens of children through her life changing work.

Anna Brito

OUR LIVES

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

The Way to Hockaday The many paths that lead boarders to Hockaday

S

uitcase rolling behind her, perhaps a bag or two in her hand, she stumbles into a well-lighted lobby as a chorus of welcome-to-your-new-homes greets her… and so starts the life of a Hockaday boarder.

Each year, Hockaday receives a new batch of boarders from all over the nation and world, with students representing countries and regions including Korea, Thailand, Norway, Nigeria, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Spain, Mexico and Germany. But with these girls spread out all over the map, how are they zoning in on Hockaday?

For junior Luise Von Kugelgen, a German boarder, the search was simple. “I found ASSIST. I won their scholarship, and they chose Hockaday.”

ASSIST is a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships for international students to study at the finest American independent high schools for a year. According to their website, the program selects the “best students in their respective countries” through a series of competitions with the mission to “promote mutual understanding, cultural interchange and a more peaceful world.”

The program matches the interests and goals of students to a high school best suited for their needs, with Director of English for Speakers of Other Languages Elizabeth Smith serving as the point person between the organization and Hockaday.

“I wanted to study a year abroad, but I did not want to lose a year of high school,” said Von Kugelgen. “Hockaday was the perfect school because it had Latin and dance.”

Junior Alice Borja, an ASSIST boarder from Spain, on

the other hand, felt like “it was probably because of fencing or Chinese, the things I wanted for this year, that I was at Hockaday.”

But for most other boarders, the internet and word-ofmouth advertising led them here. In a recent survey for Upper School boarders, almost half the girls reported that they discovered Hockaday through online websites, such as boardingschoolreview.com or through the verbal line—via family members or friends.

But Hockaday’s recruitment of overseas students does not stop at the web or scholarship programs.

Each year, representatives from Hockaday travel abroad to promote Hockaday at boarding fairs, information sessions for students interested in boarding

schools, with stops this year in China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

“After going to a boarding fair [in China], I was very impressed with the quality of what Hockaday had to offer,” said senior Tannie Lin. “It is a process where the school gets to know you, and you can know the school better.”

For the past three years Hockaday has built a partnership with the Beijing National Day School in China, where students from both countries get the opportunity to be temporary exchange students. The school has sent three delegations to Hockaday. The recent Chinese delegation at Hockaday represents one of many scouting missions of the Beijing National Day School to learn about American teaching strategies.

“Their faculty is very in-

DESTINATION HOCKADAY Hockaday has boarders from 12 different countries across the world.

Model Citizens

terested in observing our classroom environments,” said Dean for Student Affairs Meshea Matthews.

And Hockaday has swapped with the Beijing National Day School as well. “Our college counseling office went to Beijing National Day School and spent a month there last summer, working with their students and explaining the college counseling process,” said Matthews since many students have interest in applying for an American university in the near future.

Moreover, Head of Upper School John Ashton recently returned from a boarding fair in Saudi Arabia hosted by the oil company Saudi Aramco. The fair lasts about six days where countries around the world such as the US, Canada and those in Europe present information about their school to Saudi Arabian students.

Saudi Aramco hosts four living camps complete with medical programs and education, but the school systems only last until ninth grade. To help students continue with their studies, the company hosts fairs to help them find boarding schools to attend.

With Hockaday’s last Saudi Arabian visit dating back almost 20 years ago, Ashton thought the trip went “very well.” Already, there seemed to be about eight girls that showed interest in the boarding program here.

Ashton believes that “interest in Hockaday will increase the longer we go and…when [students] become more familiar with Hockaday.”

“I think [Hockaday] was the best choice,” said VonKugelgen, and it is perhaps that feeling that draws girls from all around the world here to Hockaday.

Kathy Qui

Model UN club gets serious this year

W

hether they just find the whole process enlightening or seek to gain the experience for future leadership experiences, the Model UN club at Hockaday has soared not only in membership, but in commitment and recognition as well. The club has covertly moved from the background of Hockaday life to a very dominant feature in many Hockadaisies’ lives.

“It was really nerve-racking at first,” junior Hannah Bush said of her first Model UN conference. “I walked in incredibly intimidated by everyone in the room, but once the discussion started a lot of the tension faded away as I became more entranced by the debate going on.”

When putting yourself into the shoes of another country, however, it can be hard to remain impartial and focused on the country’s views—not just your own.

“When you are representing a country like North Korea on something like your opinions of nuclear weapon usage it can be very challenging to put your views aside,” Model UN President senior Jessie Bluedorn said, “especially when you are used to a place like Hockaday where you are encouraged to express your opinion.”

In past years, Model UN was a quiet group at Hockaday and did not attend many conferences. However, this year’s group is the largest it’s been with [number] members and boosts a string of recent successes.

“We’ve worked very hard

on expanding membership and knowledge of the club,” Bluedorn said. “Last year we traveled to Georgetown for the NAIMUN, North America Invitational Model United Nations, Conference which is recognized as one of the more prestigious conferences.”

The club will be traveling to the Georgetown University conference again this year as well as traveling to Chicago, Ill. for a Northwestern University conference.

These recent successes are greatly influenced by the higher numbers of active members. Although the number of members has not drastically changed, the dedication and involvement of the members has greatly increased.

The tension faded away as I became more entranced by the debate.

JUNIOR HANNAH BUSH

At the Colleyville conference, Bluedorn won best delegate overall and at the Baylor conference on October 8th, Bluedorn and senior Alexis Johnson won best delegates once again. Senior Caitlin Garcia and sophomore Anna Herbelin were also recognized at the Baylor conference.

“Because our resolution about genocide, which was the main topic of the conference, almost got signed by all the delegates we won the best delegate overall,” said Johnson.

“The United Nations has a lot of different, little com-

mittees that talk about issues ranging from environmental protocol to war conflicts and different conferences have different committees,” explains Bluedorn. “You represent a country as a delegate in those committees.”

The girls are assigned countries a couple of weeks before the conference and are given the opportunity to research about the country and its different views. The country they are assigned to changes every conference and can range from major countries like China to less influential countries like Uganda. Girls are expected to come prepared and knowledgeable about their designated country.

“In this version Model UN it doesn’t matter what country you are, it all depends on the quality of your argument,” stated Johnson, “It can be more challenging to find information about a less influential country, but you do not get an upper hand in the conferences depending on the size of your country.”

“Before a conference there is a long process you must go through to get to a comfortable point,” Bush said. “You must meet with your committee, research the country and write a position paper.”

For the Sept. 24 Colleyville Heritage Model UN Conference, students did not have a partner to collaborate with, but usually members are paired up for researching.

“The conference provides you with some background information in a packet,” explains junior Zoya Afridi. “Then you

really have to go into depth about every country. It’s helpful to know their allies and their policies on general issues so you can infer their views on certain topics.”

Most Model UN conferences start at 8 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. After the opening assembly the attendees quickly separate into their committees and begin debating about the topics, trying to pass resolutions.

Walder helps students determine what countries they want to represent, what issues they want to debate, read their position papers and organize conferences for them to attend.

“Model UN started along with the birth of the United Nations,” explains Walder, “so this program has been active in both a high school and college setting for over 50 years.”

“Without Ms. Walder’s support, the club wouldn’t be nearly as successful,” Afridi said. “She is really involved and has stepped it up by signing us up for several conferences and helping members develop our skills as well as outline our procedures.”

Model UN conferences supply girls with an idea of what political debates are like with proposals, debates and resolutions. The experience not only helps general skills such as research and public speaking but prepares them for future jobs in politics. Who knows? A Hockadaisy might end up being the President one day.

Sydney Wilkins

OUR LIVES

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

The Candyman Can Behind the scenes of Hockaday’s Halloween tradition

FIZZY LIFTING Seniors collected plastic bottles over the course of October in prepartion for creating the bubbly effect of the fizzy lifting junior hallway.

PHOTO BY MARY CLARE BEYTAGH

Striking Gold

tears and afraid to walk to class.”

Another dissimilarity in this year’s Halloween was the planning and execution of the theme.

“Our process was completely different from normal years,” Durkin said. “Normally people present themselves with the theme and then you pick the theme and the person together as a unit.”

This year, however, the senior class elected Megan Gross to plan Halloween during the senior retreat prior to discussing themes.

Gross wanted to create a legacy that would last well beyond graduation and implemented a different planning process than years past.

“We’ve kind of discovered the process as we’ve gone,” Gross said. “It’s definitely different from anything any class has ever done before.”

The difference lies in the decorations. Never before have seniors rolled out 100 yards of bubble wrap in the hallways, painted the majority of their grade’s faces orange or chewed over 600 pieces of gum to stick to the bathroom walls.

“I really liked the decorations,” junior Natalie Pasquinelli said. “They really made the theme come alive. I just hope that my grade does as good of a job next year!”

PHOTO BY MARY CLARE BEYTAGH

W

alking into the Upper School on Halloween morning, students felt chills run up their spines as they anticipated the terror they were about to encounter. They expected spiders, ghosts and zombies perhaps, but instead they found… chocolate bars?

This year’s Willy Wonka theme surprised many with its lack of scare-inducing tactics.

In years past, seniors have employed grisly props, blood-spattered costumes and startling pop-outs to frighten the underclassmen.

There was little of that this year. Instead, Upper School students found gumballs, chocolate rivers and fizzy lifting drinks galore.

Many students objected to this change.

“The theme wasn’t scary enough. It was definitely cute but I wish it was scarier,” senior Coco Freling said.

According to a recent Hockaday Upper School student body poll, 68 percent of seniors agree.

Some, however, think that the change in tradition is a good thing.

“The scary themes are sometimes a little off-putting for people,” senior sponsor Colleen Durkin said. “I think that Halloween should be a fun thing and we shouldn’t have people in

SENIOR DREAM The chocolate river led to the senior hallway, covered in greenery and colorful candy.

Catherine Hicks

Dr. Katie Croft brings her research skills and a new lab called Gold Rush to fifth grade science halls. Specifically, she studied behaviors of patients with frontal lobe damage from tumors and aneurism resection.

She then did a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for Brain Health, a research satellite of the university, where she studied adolescent learning and reasoning abilities, trying to teach kids how to learn more globally and abstractly.

But like most philomaths, Croft’s previous studies ultimately had to culminate in a real job. Fortunately, her job search coincided with a similar job search of Hockaday’s, and Croft secured a position as the fifth grade science teacher.

Though it may not seem so, Croft’s lab work and teaching Middle School science are one in the same: “you’re actually doing science,” Croft said, because the two are so hands-on.

With her “fresh eyes and insight,” Croft brings the “latest ways of doing things in the world of research and science,” Lead Science Chair and close colleague Richard Abbondanzio said.

Some of the more hands-on activities Croft has brought to the classroom include an Event Based Science Module called Gold Rush, which provides historical context and practical applications to a lab about the extraction of gold and other minerals. In all such activities, she expects precision and accuracy from the girls, for them to be conscientious of each step of the lab work. She makes you “want to work harder in her class,” Croft’s advisee fifth grader Ashna Ahuja said.

The girls really enjoy this approach. “She shows us reallife examples that relate back to history, and makes science fun,” fifth grader Margot Bradshaw said. “It makes me more interested to learn about science,” Ahuja said.

Her most noteworthy attribute is that she has experience in the scientific field. She

PHOTO BY MARY CLARE BEYTAGH

U

pon entering fifth grade science teacher Dr. Katie Croft’s classroom, nothing appears out of the ordinary. There are various projects hung on the walls and sitting on the back counter. There are desks and 15 fifth graders seated on stools. As any teacher would, Croft starts her class with a “good morning, girls,” but that’s where the similarities end.

Her teaching style of using the Socratic Method to elicit information from the girls rather than lecture them hearkens to her background as a research scientist.

During her undergraduate years as a Microbiology major at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Croft worked on an honors research project with the guidance of her professor, Dr. David Prescott. Not only a mentor, he was also like a grandfather, Croft said as she spoke of her recently deceased professor.

“He is one of the reasons that made me want to go into science,” Croft said.

With his help, she studied DNA processing with ciliates, a type of microorganism in pond water.

However, this “rewarding and powerful experience” was only the beginning of Croft’s education in science.

As a senior in college, she took an elective called Brain Thought and Action, which sparked her interest in neuroscience.

“I just got hooked,” Croft said.

An undergraduate program for neuroscience didn’t exist at the time, but she liked the idea of pursuing that field.

After a few years off, she went to the University of Iowa to pursue a PhD is neuroscience. Because her office was in the neurology department of the university hospital, her work was completely hands-on: she actually got to study the patients who walked down the

BRAINIAC Dr. Croft leads her fifth grade class her class through a lesson. She brings her experience as a researcher to the classroom.

welcomes questions and fosters learning, not just the acquisition of knowledge, but of “new knowledge,” Abbondanzio said. She wants to make science accessible and relatable.

She advocates STEM as a career path for her girls and “shares her experiences as a goal,” Abbondanzio said.

Above all, Abbondonzio praises Croft’s work ethic. “No matter how much you know or how good you are at teaching, you need to have that work ethic to make things happen,” he said.

Mary Clare Beytagh

OUR LIVES

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

It’s Never Too Late

I

n a poll of 100 Hockaday upper school students, 87 said that they liked late start days.

However, only 48 percent reported that they get a considerably more sleep on the late start days. Most girls use the extra time to finish work, either by staying up later or waking up at the normal time to work before school.

On Oct. 25, students had their first late start of the 20112012 school year. Class did not begin until 9:55 a.m. on these days. This presents a problem for some students but most believe it is a fair trade off for the extra sleep they get on late start days.

“The day starts better when it’s later and the extra sleep goes a long way,” freshman Katherine Dau says.

Many students also realize the health benefits of extra sleep.

Senior Megan Neligan

Do you actually get more sleep on late start days?

Do you actually get more sleep on late start days?

Yes, a little bit more

13%

Yes a lot more

48% 42%

No, I stay up later or wake up at the normal time do homework

* Data gathered from a survey of 100 Hockaday upper school students.

Fired Up

By the end of freshman year, I never wanted to stop.

SENIOR EMILY HORTON

her fine arts credit out of the way. She recalled, “I liked doing stuff with my hands” but, to her surprise, “by the end of freshman year I never wanted to stop.”

For Horton, what started as an obligation evolved into a meaningful hobby. Horton has won various competitions including one at Royal Lane Baptist Church where she won first place for student art work.

In addition to medals, she has grown her fan base to include a popular collector in Dallas who discovered one of her winning pots at a competition.

Horton stumbled upon her signature early on. She began drawing embellished hands on her pots when she first sat down at the wheel 4 years ago.

When she found that people liked the design, she incorporated it into most of her works.

Instead of finding inspiration for her designs and working off a specific influence, she works with “whatever comes out of the wheel.”

Horton is unafraid to push the boundaries of her knowledge and experience. One of her most recent creations is one that she’s never made before: a teapot. Hockaday ceramics teacher Kevin Brady believes that these latest additions to

her pottery collection are her best pieces.

Teapots “are very challenging to make and she’s done well so far with that,” Brady said.

Horton estimates that she has made over 50 pieces over the course of her ceramics studies. Instead of collecting all of her pots in her house, she gives them as holiday gifts to her family. She gave the aforementioned teapot to her mom and frequently ships off other works to her brother in college.

“I keep a bunch of [my pots] because my family loves them… my brother actually just went to college this year and he took several of my pieces. He’s like, ‘this is a cool conversation piece and also I love it,’” Horton said.

Brady said that Horton “is very focused on her success” and that her talent could take her to the professional realm of ceramics. He believes that “she definitely has a passion for expressing herself through clay.”

While she enjoys ceramics and would like to continue making more pieces, she does not intend to make a career out of it. “I don’t know if I’m talented enough to make it a career,” admitted Horton. She

Sarah Simmons says. “Any Hockadaisy can appreciate a little extra sleep.”

Megan Porter does, however, plan to minor in ceramics in college.

Just as each pot emerges from her wheel as a creative and welcome surprise, Horton’s penchant for ceramics has blossomed from a newly-discovered hobby to an advanced talent 4 years later. But as Brady said, it has not only been her abilities that define her skill. What has propelled her and what will further her career in ceramics is her focus and dedication.

Ansley Carlisle

SCULPTING HANDS A few of Emily Horton’s pieces are displayed on a table in the ceramics room.

PHOTO S BY ANSLEY CARLISLE

E

ight o’clock in the morning every other day at school, senior Emily Horton sits down at her pottery wheel, prepared bright and early to craft another of her unique ceramics creations. Throwing a large chunk of clay down, pressing her pedal to speed up the wheel, splashing water on her clay, Horton begins her day. With no direction and no inspiration, she allows each masterpiece to become whatever her clay grows into, whatever her hands create.

Horton began taking ceramics at Hockaday not to become a master potter, but to get

points out that, “when I’m too tired to work and focus, Y-periods are worthless because I’m falling asleep. If I get an extra hour or so of sleep, I’m more productive.”

The later start time also helps students avoid traffic.

With the start time almost two hours later, Junior Madeleine Howells, who lives in Plano, says that, “I get around three extra hours of sleep because I don’t wake up as early to avoid horrendous traffic or lower school moms in the parking lot.”

Although they have more time to do homework before school, students miss out on time to meet with teachers with the loss of a Y period.

“I don’t really like late starts since I don’t sleep in,” junior Ramie Payne says, “I feel like I need to use that time to do the homework that I won’t be able to get done during the school day since our Y-Period is taken away.”

Also, late start days create problems for girls who carpool or have working parents. Girls often must plan a new carpool system for late start days, or come to school at the normal time and thus are not able to reap the benefits of the late start.

However, 85 percent of students believe that two late starts each year are not enough.

In previous years, there have been up to six.

“Late start days give us the opportunity to catch up on much needed rest,” junior

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

PHOTO BY ZOE BLUMENTHAL

PHOTO BY AVERY HAUGEN

PHOTO BY DANIELLE LAMOTTHE

AND

DREAMS NIGHTMARES PHOTO BY EMILY YEH

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE Photography teacher Janet Yoshii-Buenger assigned a project with the theme past, present and future to her advanced photography students. Since the project was so focused, they had to plan each photo and sketch their ideas as thumbnails on paper before they began shooting.

The past photo focused on the technique of collage, using an old photo and a background picture that connects in some way. The present photo was a basic studio shot. The future photo was a depiction of either the best or worst scenario 10 years later in life and could also be a studio shot.

Sophomore Emily Yeh said the fact that we needed to be able to depict our ideas realistically eliminated a lot of possibilities. The assignment was pretty restrained compared to our previous work in photography. The future photo was difficult because it was hard to imagine yourself 10, 20, 50 years from now. Some of the photos were just really funny.

Sophomore Anita Wang agreed that when it was time to get down to one idea, coming up with a scenario could be hard, but that the studio shots and imagining your own future were cool.

PHOTO BY PAIGE GOODMAN

PHOTO BY ANITA WANG

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

UNDER

PRESSURE She

slid her water bottle from the left to the right side of her desk.

And then test. And then

then back again.

back.

And back. And my grade—I

She shifted her scrap paper to lay on top of her then back again. “It was the last test of the quarter. It would make or break was hanging onto an A-. And I couldn’t have a B. I went into the test, and there were two sections I couldn’t do. And I knew that if I didn’t get those right I would get a B. I was freaking out that I was going to fail,” junior Anase Asom said. “I didn’t do as well as I needed to.”

Nearly 60 percent of Upper School students cite academics as their number one source of anxiety (October survey of 100 Upper School students by The Fourcast). Some perform well under pressure, thriving in make-it-or-break-it situations. But many, like Asom, falter, succumbing to a fear of failure.

New to Hockaday as a seventh grader, junior Eliza Schreibman arrived accustomed to receiving top marks without putting forth much effort.

But after earning failing grades on her first two major assignments, her academic confidence lay in tatters. Fear and anxiety took over where security and assurance had once reigned.

“It was devastating. I didn’t even know I could do that badly,” Schreibman said. “It was overwhelming, that mentality that no matter how much I study I’m still going to fail—that kind of mindset when you think ‘I’ve failed so many times. It’s just not worth it. I give up now.’”

Psychologist Amy Sheinberg, Ph.D. ‘82 explains that this fear of failure stems from a strong desire to succeed and a self-esteem based on the reactions and praise of others. “While I think the pressures on all teenagers are high,” she said, “they are particularly high in competitive environments like Hockaday where success is not just encouraged, but expected.”

Sophomore Emily Yeh attributes academic fears to the high value placed on a “perfect” transcript. “The environment here promotes being your best and working hard,” she said. “I think bad grades can feel like a representation that you didn’t work hard enough.”

But what if we had a new way to measure our success?

In beginning her term at Hockaday, Eugene McDermott Headmistress Kim Wargo aimed to instill just that. She asked parents and teachers to read Ph. D. Carol Dweck’s “Mindset,” which examines two different outlooks on life: the growth mindset and the fixed mindset.

The fixed mindset is based on the belief that personal qualities are rigid, that one’s abilities are immutable. This creates an urgency to prove oneself over and over in evaluations. “If you only have a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality and a certain moral character,” Dweck wrote, “well, then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them.”

The growth mindset, on the other hand, takes the stance that ability can be cultivated—everyone can change and grow through application and experience. People with a growth mindset tend to focus more on the process as opposed to hard and fast labels such as smart or dumb, winner or loser, accepted or rejected.

Naturally, their fear of failure is diminished.

“The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset,” Dweck said. “This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.”

While only 32 percent of surveyed students admit to fixed mindset tendencies, 95 percent feel fear of failure permeates multiple areas of their lives.

Are we being honest with ourselves?

The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset.

CAROL DWECK

Senior Maddie Mount admits to struggling with her propensity for the fixed mindset. “I worry more about the grade, because I feel like the grade is more important,” she said. “It’s what you’re studying for. You’re not studying to have a learning process. You’re studying to make good grades.”

Freshman Lauren Axmann fights the same battle. “Last year in history I thought I was going to get a really good grade on a test; I prepared myself for that, and then I didn’t do well at all,” she said. “I thought maybe there was something wrong with the way I learn. I started thinking maybe there was no use in studying, because I’m going to get a bad grade anyway.”

Heeding the advice of her teacher, Axmann used her disappointment to “buckle down and force a change.” And after she put the effort in to reform her habits, she received better results on subsequent tests.

Director of Counseling Dr. Margaret Morse ’93 said the most frequent

E

Ev ON

be GIV

fear brought to her office is that of failure in academics—she tries to help students overcome the belief that grades are the ultimate measure of their success. Morse hopes students will learn to recognize the difference between excellence and perfection.

“In the mind of a Hockadaisy, doing their best is: ‘if I keep working hard, I’m going to get the A,’” she said, “so I’m going to keep working, working, working.”

But in reality, failure, or at least disappointment, is inevitable. And when disappointment does strike, Morse encourages students to see it as not the end of the road, but the launching point for growth.

“I worry a lot that if you are constantly looking for external gratification, for other people to tell you that you’re okay, you’re not going to know who you are inside,” she said.

“I think you really have to work on how you view failures and restructure how you respond to them.”

This refocusing is especially crucial during the time of year when seniors are applying to colleges. “It’s about the opportunity of where you are going and what you can contribute at a place that wants you to be there,” Wargo said.

“But that’s not to say I don’t want girls applying to the most selective colleges. I do. I want them to go and to grow and to achieve. And I want them to recognize that [where they go to college] doesn’t define their value as a person. And that’s a culture shift.”

Clare Sakovich ’11 initially lacked this outlook when she was not accepted to the Air Force Academy, a rejection that appeared to be the end to her lifelong goal to become an astronaut. “I thought it was the end of the world,” she said. “I had this whole life plan set out, and it was just gone.”

Sakovich accepted a spot as a physics major at Texas A&M University. But after attending “Fish Camp,” a four-day orientation program for incoming freshmen to learn about A&M and meet classmates, Sakovich was able to happily envision herself there.

“I realized I can still get to where I want to be,” she said. “I’ve gained an appreciation for the fact that you can’t plan out your entire life. You don’t know what’s going to happen, and whenever you go somewhere, you have to be open to the possibilities.”

Putting Dweck’s ideas into practice, Hockaday teachers strive to create a classroom where the opportunities to grow and learn are emphasized over the possibilities to succeed or fail. To Upper School history teacher Lucio Benedetto, a fear of failure ultimately equates to a hesitancy to take risks.

“If the competition becomes so great that you’re afraid to express your own passion or your own take on something you’re learning about, then it becomes harmful,” Benedetto said. “I think we teachers can talk about it, but we really have to model it to make students feel that they can take a risk and not be kicked to the ground for it.”

Benedetto takes the willingness to push one’s boundaries into consideration when grading and encourages other teachers to do the same. “Don’t just say ‘this isn’t a good paper.’ Say ‘this person is really trying to go a different route’ and encourage that,” Benedetto said. “I think we really have to promote that as teachers, as a school and as a community.”

Known for the mantra “I’ve studied hard. I know this. I can do this” that she says with her students before each test, history teacher Colleen Durkin also aims to aid students in framing a positive mindset.

“You’re never failing if you’re constantly learning,” Durkin said. “I think there’s a value in making mistakes. What I tell people is: when you were little, you didn’t just stand up. You fell, and you probably fell really hard. You made your parents gasp, and then you probably just sat back down and laughed at yourself.”

In Durkin’s classroom, there are no lucky charms, no frantically arranged and rearranged water bottles or test papers.

It’s an environment where students find security in knowing that when they fall, they can take a moment to learn from their mistake. And then they will get back up, and they’ll keep moving forward.

Inspired by Jorge Oliveira’s work

An

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Whats the^

P O IN T I N

HING PUS It’s just not my MYSELF?thing.

EVEN IF I try

HARDER,

I’LLSTILL

GET THE

Spotlight: Mindset in Athletics

same result.

I’ll NEVER

BE GOODENOUGH,

WON’T BOTHER so Iwasting my

ENERGY.Wait. ven if it’s not perfect N THE FIRST TRY, I WILL by virtue better

e of having VEN IT ALL I’VE GOT. .

IN THAT ^ d ndI WILLiBfEie grat

In the spring of her sophomore year, junior Jackie Choucair ran in the New Balance National Track and Field Championship. The rigorous event included a one mile race in the morning and a two mile race in the evening. She went into the one mile event ranked number two in Texas. But even the most diligent athlete can experience a lapse in confidence.

“For the mile, I didn’t go in with a plan, because I was just so nervous,” Choucair said.

“I didn’t know how to get rid of the nerves and just focus on the race.”

After placing sixth, a disappointing finish for Choucair, she vowed to rebound from her mistakes earlier in the day by coming into the two mile race with a plan, executing it and winning first place.

This she did.

“If you don’t go in there knowing what you are going to do, knowing what the course looks like, then you can easily choke,” Choucair said. “And if something goes wrong, you have to be able to make a move when you need to.”

Jackie Guevel ’10, Carnegie Melon University track team member and a runner since the seventh grade, also struggles sometimes to keep a cool head while she waits to take up her position on the starting line.

“I usually try to stay calm and collected and focus on what I need to do before a race, but at last year’s Nationals, in the second to last race there was a strong head wind, and I knew that I wasn’t really strong in going against headwinds in hurdling,” Guevel said. “Because I was focused on that, I ended up clipping one of the hurdles in the final race at Nationals.”

But Guevel too found resilience in her disappointment. “I was upset for a couple of minutes,” she said, “but then you have to push it out of your head, push it out of your thoughts. That race is over—move on to the next one. I ended up placing seventh in the next race, and I was very happy with that.”

Hockaday Director of Physical Education and Interscholastic Athletics Tina Slinker proposes a growth mindset in overcoming difficulties of the type that Choucair and Guevel experienced.

“There’s no doubt that fear of failure breaks down your confidence and your self esteem,” Slinker said. “So then you start focusing on every little thing instead of focusing on controls that you have, like the two things I think you can always demand out of yourself: your focus and your effort.”

Encouraging athletes to concentrate on the “controllables” and advancing in the skills of the sport, Slinker pushes athletes more in the process of improvement than the win-loss record.

“People think that all I care about coming from college coaching is winning, but what I really care about is self confidence, that you think you are greater than you were yesterday because of the discipline and effort you gave,” Slinker said. “And there is nothing better than that.”

Spotlight: Mindset in Relationships

PHOTO AND GRAPHIC BY HAILEY WINSTON

Rejection. It’s universal, inevitable and arrives not only in the form of letters from faceless admissions officers. It comes directly from the people who we care about most, who we invest in relationships with, who we trust.

Junior Ashley Deatherage knows this all too well.

“I had a bad experience in eighth grade at my old school where I felt ostracized,” she said. “My biggest fear when I came to Hockaday freshman year was that I was just going to screw everything up and end up alone again.”

Deatherage found fulfillment in turning her disappointments in middle school into an opportunity for growth, a springboard for success at her new school.

“My bad experience was actually good for me because it taught me how to be a friend,” Deatherage, now Form III President, said. “It showed me certain parts of myself that can come off rude, like giving unsolicited advice.”

Wargo specifically cites the ability to confront, push through and learn from conflict as essential.

“Girls in particular are afraid of dealing with something directly,” she said. “We might just internalize it and blame ourselves for whatever we’re feeling, but we won’t talk to the person who it’s really all about and figure out what it is that’s going on.”

Wargo encourages the growth mindset in seeing failures and conflicts not as the end of a friendship but as an opportunity to “create a scab.”

“We’ve let the problem happen and we’ve let it get well and then our skin is actually tougher where there is scar than it was before,” she said. “I really think that you don’t know how good a relationship can be until you test it.”

Among students surveyed, only 36 percent claim to experience a fear of failure in their friendships with other girls. Over twice as many cite a fear of failure when socializing with guys.

“You’re stepping out of your comfort zone to meet a new group of guys,” sophomore Tai Massimillian said. “It’s really hard to get rejected.”

Morse hopes that girls will put these types of disappointments into perspective.

“Yeah it hurts. You got rejected. Let’s sit with that,” she said. “But don’t see it as a defining moment that just because one boy turned you down, no one wants to date you. To counteract that thinking, I try to help girls realize that they are accepted in many areas. I tell them to think of who their friends are, when someone paid them a compliment. Get them to see that they have had positive interactions.”

Aiming to ease fears in socializing with members of the opposite sex, Dweck points out that in the same way that one academic failure doesn’t define a person, neither does one blunder with a boy.

She explained that, when faced with a perceived failure socially, those with a growth mindset “tried to learn something useful about themselves and relationships, something they could use toward having a better experience in the future. And they knew how to move on and embrace that future.”

A new framing of failure presents the freedom to look at social interactions not as an opportunity for mistakes or awkwardness but as an opportunity for growth—an opportunity to be better the next time.

Hailey Winston

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

I Have a Dream, A Song to Sing

A

“Annie,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Oliver,” “The Boyfriend,” “The Music Man.”. An overwhelming majority of upper school students think that the shows chosen for the eight grade musical are decided by strict rotation that adheres to some mysterious pattern that can be figured out. Others, like freshman Katie Miller, think that “if the grade is good at a certain thing, then they can change it.”

Not so, said Susan Hubbard, director of the eighth grade musical: “There’s not, as everyone seems to think, a set, secret rotation.”

Instead, she said, there is a master list of eight or so musicals which the directors narrow down to around two or three each year, based on what shows have not recently been performed.

As for tailoring the show to the grade, Bonnie Jean Coleman, middle school drama teacher and director of the musical, said they really do not know much about the girls un-

til auditions.

Hubbard, Coleman and performing arts chair Beth Wortley, teach about half the girls through seventh grade fine arts classes, but other than that, have no real way of judging their abilities.

“You don’t know until auditions what talents you’ve got,” Coleman said, “and you can be extremely surprised.”

So how, then, is the eighth grade musical chosen? First and foremost, Coleman said, “you have to think of something that’s appropriate for that age.”

Secondly, with a cast of ninety girls, they look for a show with lots of big chorus numbers.

Costumes are also an important consideration, Hubbard said. “You’re not just going to walk into Goodwill and find yellow Who outfits all over the place.” They look for shows that involve simple costumes that can be found in attics or used clothing stores.

While romantic plotlines aren’t necessarily bad, they can be problematic.

Coleman said, “Sometimes it’s hard to get them to look each other in the eye.”

And in terms of stage crew, technical director Robert Kallos said the directors look for a show with plenty of set changes to “keep the crew busy.”

After all, all four directors said that the eighth grade musical is about getting everyone involved.

“For me,” Kallos said, “Theater is about everybody.”

And he really means everybody, from the actresses to the crew to the parents.

Coleman cites the importance of the girls gaining selfesteem and confidence in their abilities. Like Kallos, she also wants them to learn to work with their classmates and build a sense of community.

With all these things to consider, choosing the eighth grade musical is quite an undertaking. But, Hubbard said, “Every year it ends up being the right choice.”

That choice is made easier by the fact that there just aren’t too many musicals to choose

from, since the list has stayed the same for many years.

Almost 80 percent of upper school students, however, think that new shows should be added. Junior Sophie Lidji suggested Grease: “It’s literally all I’ve ever wanted,” she said.

All the constraints make it difficult to add new shows, but there are various possibilities.

Both Hubbard and Coleman said they’re considering “Seussical the Musical,” which was performed in Upper School last winter.

Wortley said they have a few new musicals in mind, but when asked what they were, she just smiled , “I don’t think I can tell you.”

Kallos was more forthcoming with suggestions. He thinks “Mulan” would be a great eighth grade show, as would the everpopular “High School Musical.”

“It’s just a goofy show,” he said, “I actually met Zac. That was exciting.” Future eighth graders will almost certainly agree.

Lizzie Vamos PHOTO BY EMILY WECHSLER

PHOTO BY EMILY WECHSLER

PHOTO BY EMILY WECHSLER

A BALANCED EQUATION Sing-along lyrics, a strong female lead, and a large chorus equal the perfect eighth grade musical. (L to R) : Julia Pasquinelli and other girls perform the “Sur La Plage” dance. Juliette Turner and Virginia Beshears sing and dance to “I Could Be Happy With You.” Musical cast performs onstage in Act One of The Boyfriend.

Friday Night is Leftovers

Christin Urso shares her secrets to transforming Thanksgiving leftovers into tasty sandwiches

I

s there anything on Earth better than a Thanksgiving sandwich?

If you said yes, please stop disgracing this article with your eyes. The answer is no, there most certainly is not.

For me, the end of November isn’t exciting because of the break from school or carols on the radio.

No, what makes it special is that fourth Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the day on which delicious reaches new levels.

Why, you ask, do I prefer the day after the hallowed American holiday? While I’m all for honoring the “friendship” between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, there’s nothing too special about a Thanksgiving dinner. Anyone can

make the requisite turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc., but what really matters is what happens to the leftovers. Never in history has there been a more glorious combination of flavors and ingredients than what’s found on a Thanksgiving sandwich.

Each year on Black Friday, my family forgoes stampeding WalMart sales in favor of crafting sandwiches, a sacred annual ritual.

Our greatest family conflict occurred in 2009, when my mom tried—and failed—to fry a turkey.

While we achieved the perfectly crispy skin that we had been promised, the meat didn’t fully cook, and we had to make a pivotal decision: turkey on Thanksgiving, or turkey

on sandwiches. We had a vegetarian meal that night.

In my years of sandwichcraft, I’ve learned a few fundamentals.

First of all, you must use good bread—something rustic, crunchy, chewy. You’ll be sorry if you use anything from a flimsy plastic bag.

If you dare, consider smooshing some stuffing into makeshift patties and pan-frying them in butter. Never will carbs taste so good.

Second, do not skimp on the spreads. Whether you use fresh or canned cranberry sauce, load it on, and don’t forget things like gravy, mayo, Worcestershire, ranch dressing, pesto, barbeque sauce, even cream cheese. Maybe spread some goat cheese on there, or—while

we’re talking about cheese—a slice of sharp white cheddar. Better yet, throw some brie on a turkey-applecranberry-honey-mustard sandwich, slip it under the broiler until it bubbles, and you’ve got yourself a Croque Monsieur, Thanksgiving style.

If you want some dessert after your glorious creation, consider making a Pie Shake—two scoops of ice cream, half a cup of milk, and a slice of your finest pumpkin, apple, or pecan. You’ll never think of pie à la mode the same way again.

This year, when your family is going around the table saying what everyone is thankful for, remember what really matters—leftovers.

Christin Urso PHOTO BY CHRISTIN URSO

LEFTOVER CLUB A leftover roll with crispy lettuce and turkey, spread with a layer of sweet potatoes and ranch dressing

STUFFING BENEDICT Butter-seared stuffing patty with dijon mustard, ham and a fried egg

TURK MONSIEUR Toasted rustic bread with honey mustard, Granny Smith apples, turkey and cranberry sauce, topped with brie and broiled until melted

ARTSTYLE

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Orffaned No More Orff adopts thirty new members into the family

O

of its own xylophones in Kessee’s room, as well as access to 16 of Kessee’s. To deal with this problem, Orff wants to buy more xylophones. But at a $200 to $700 price range, even a second successful bake-sale this year will only buy two to four.

Instead, the club presidents, Gross and Shiakolas, worked with Kessee to recycle a concept developed last year: “Last year we split up in terms of level,” Kessee said.

There were two groups of Orff, one for girls who had been in Orff before and knew the songs, and another for those who were new and working to catch up. They recycled this idea but ultimately split the group solely because of size.

Now randomly selected, one group meets in Kessee’s classroom Wednesday and the other Friday, both at 7:00 a.m. Level isn’t an issue this year, since no one has prior experience. They will both play in the same concerts, though they will have learned different songs.

“The issue with Orff in the past has been it has been getting smaller and smaller, but this year, it exploded!” said Gross. “We felt bad, but we actually had to make Orff seem less appealing so people would drop out.”

Although Orff wants everyone to be able to play, Gross and Kessee agree that attendance is critical.

“We want everyone to understand there is a commitment factor,” Gross said. By stressing this, and the fact that Orffans do have to get up early for their 7:00 a.m.

meetings, they convinced a few girls to drop out.

The instruments take some practice, and with groups like these, a little time each week is required.

This is especially true because Orff is very much like an Orchestra, not only because it has conductors, but because the girls split into small groups that each play a different part at the same time.

“The first two Orff meetings, we played all the parts,” said freshman Aashima Garg, a new Orff club member. This gave members an opportunity to try all the instruments before the performance, finding “which one we felt more confident with,” Garg said.

After the first meeting, Garg adds,

“I knew I wanted to stay in the club because not only was it fun to play the xylophone and learn the songs, but the people in the club make our meetings so much more memorable.”

For those who are unfamiliar with Orff, books of music are the basis for many songs. However, Gross and Shiakolas are translating songs onto the xylophone by themselves.

“We’re trying to figure out some music to more popular songs,” Gross said. The rendition of “Shots” should be the first of several.

Emily Wechsler PHOTO BY CAROLINE SYDNEY

rff Orff Orff…EVERYBODY!” At Coffeehouse Saturday, November 5, the audience was treated to a new rendition of the popular song “Shots.”

Thirty new Orff club members belted it out, with their two conductors in the lead. No one could have guessed that at the end of last year, those two conductors were the only members of the club.

Senior Megan Gross and junior Evi Shiakolas found that at the end of last year, the seniors who had made up almost the entire club had all graduated, leaving just the two of them behind. The surprising thing? The two were never fazed.

As Sabrina Kessee, the club’s sponsor and a Lower School music teacher, said, “It’s definitely a success story.”

Both Gross and Shiakolas contacted Kessee separately about their interest in keeping the club alive. Later, the pair came together and did their best to publicize the club, expecting that they would need as many sign-ups as they could get.

The first morning meeting revealed that their efforts had paid off beyond their expectations.

“I came in here and there were people spilling out of my room!” said Kessee.

Rather than struggling from lack of musicians, the club has outgrown its supply of instruments, having climbed to a total of about 30 “Orffans.”

Right now, the club has three

LEARNING THEIR A, B, C, D, E, F, G’S Sophie Lidji, Ashley Chen, Lindsay OpokuAcheampong and Daly Montgomery, all new to the club, perform at the first Coffeehouse of the year on Nov. 5.

Pride & Performance

St. Mark’s and Hockaday students learn to “act” British in preparation for the fall play.

PHOTO BY MARY CLARE BEYTAGH

MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE? Mr. Darcy (St. Mark’s freshman William Sydney) and Elizabeth (Junior Natalie Pasquinelli) exchange terse words at a ball.

PHOTO BY MARY CLARE BEYTAGH

HOUSE OF CARDS St. Mark’s junior Charles Thompson (left), senior Regen Routman, junior Natalie Pasquinelli and St. Mark’s senior Taylor Wilson (right) converse over a game of cards. Junior Jenny Moroney plays piano in the background.

O

dds are you heard a slew of wildly flamboyant British accents as you passed through the Hockaday hallways last month. No, we didn’t start an exchange program with Hogwarts. In fact, if you listened closely, these British accents were quite fake, mere portrayals of the accents of landed gentry of 19th century England as the cast of Pride and Prejudice practiced their lines.

This use of a British accent was an integral part of getting into character. Each student had a different way of preparing for their part, no matter how large or small.

Junior Natalie Pasquinelli said she was “strangely prepared” when the time came for her to adopt a British accent.

“Since my friends and I joined studio art freshman year, Ms. McCullough has given us countless tips on how to speak in a true English accent,” Pasquinelli said.

Junior Kate Hoffman felt quite differently as it was her first time to participate in a St. Mark’s/Hockaday drama production. “I was thrilled when I was cast,” Hoffman said, but “when I learned that we would have to speak in British accents in the show, I was terrified.”

Freshman Avery Baker was also “a little nervous” about her accent. She took a different approach, however, and watched the Pride and Prejudice movie. “I copied the phrases the actors said and app[lied] it to my own lines,” said Baker.

At rehearsals, St. Mark’s drama teacher Rod Blaydes spoke in his own British accent and asked the actors to do the same in order to fully immerse themselves in 19th

century England.

“We just kept trying no matter how badly [our accents] sounded,” Hoffman said.

With this British language barrier as an extra obstacle to success, “hell week” (the week before the show) was more like a “bloody hell week.”

The play was comedic on many fronts. Snide remarks in British accents drew a good few chuckles from the audience, but staying in character during these moments was a challenge for some of the boys, who had to conceal their laughter with a tight lipped smile.

The costumes also added to the authenticity of the scene, from the dapper boys in their three piece suits and top hats to girls looking prim and proper in their lace getups and gloves with their flapping fans.

The dancing, however, proved difficult in the tiny St. Mark’s Black Box. What should have been elegant waltzing manifested itself as stiff sidestepping – definitely not up to par with the dancing of the era.

The players’ British accents were sharp and on point, which helped the delivery of many punch lines. Pasquinelli’s accent was flawless as she warded off the pursuits of Mr. Collins, played by junior Charles Thompson, and jested with her lover Mr. Darcy, played by freshman William Sydney.

As the lead, Sydney held his own against the more experienced actors in the cast, namely Pasquinelli, who he met halfway for the kiss that sealed the play.

Mary Clare Beytagh

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY

ARTSTYLE

November 16, 2011

Yah Nailed It

Sophomore Caroline Cotten wears her art on her nails

A

ent and I painted them to fit the monopoly theme. It’s really fun and a de-stresser, it doesn’t feel like work. ” What can be hard for Cotten is coming up with ideas for her nails. She uses other nail blogs for inspiration as well as the latest fashion trends.

“The more you do it, the more you realize how far you can go beyond nail polish. I use other materials like craft glitter and acrylic paint, as well sequins that you just stick on,” says Cotten.

“You also realize that you don’t need to have long nails to have pretty nails, I’m so tired of people telling me they don’t paint them because they’re ‘short and stubby’” Impressing many, her blog is followed regularly by a large portion of the high school.

“I stalk her blog all the time,” jokes sophomore Meredith Mihalapolous “I could never imagine being able to do something like that.”

Cotten is also known for helping out girls before dances or special occasions, and doing their nails for them. She even aspires to potentially do it as a career.

“I really would love to make a profit [off] of doing nails. During the summer I don’t have time to get a job with all my track workouts, and painting nails would give me the freedom I need. Why not make a business out of something I love?” Cotten said. “It would be especially

great because anytime I got to a place like Ulta, I just can’t help but buy a ton of polish. I’m like a kid in a candy store!”

Cotton also jokes that she’s worried she might go insane from the smell of the paint. “I

mean worst case scenario, I’ll end up like Van Gough after eating paint for years. But you do what you gotta do for what you love.”

profit. Since then, Koerner has sworn off Urban Outfitters and all other stores owned by that company (Free People and Anthropologie).

Senior Megan Neligan had a negative experience with Urban Outfitters when ordering this exact necklace. After ordering one online, Urban Outfitters sent her something completely different.

She laments, “I never got the right necklace after all that— shipping made it even more difficult—so I just returned it. I

then got the Texas one but that was broken. I was able to get a refund but the whole situation was ridiculous.”

Urban Outfitters, with their history of fallibility and breaching of copyrighted designs, cannot even make up for their faults by providing quality clothes.

According to senior Hannah Cyr, it is “not surprising at all that they have dealt with copyright infringement lawsuits. Urban [Outfitters] tries to have the appearance of a small, locally owned business when really it’s just a chain. Everything about the store is pretty fake.”

On top of that, Cyr states that their clothing is “not worth the money.” “Zippers have broken, clasps have broken, clothes have shrunk, fabric is flimsy. Everything rips, tears, breaks,” Cyr said.

Despite this, Cyr still feels like she has no choice but to shop there. “It’s hard to find clothes like theirs anywhere else,” she explained.

Though most opinions of Urban Outfitters through Hockaday have been incredibly negative, one girl offers a different perspective.

Junior Evi Shiakolas has “never had any issues with the clothes” and believes that since “it lasts for a long time, it’s worth the extra cost.

“For me, it doesn’t break and I don’t have to go buy another one,” she said.

With her positive view of Urban Outfitters’ clothes, Shiakolas is shocked to hear that they have dealt with many copyright infringement issues. Still, after hearing this, Shiakolas states that “she doesn’t want to shop there as much anymore” because she “[realizes] that Urban isn’t as original as they appear to be.”

Molly Montgomery PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CAROLINE COTTON

ll of us at Hockaday have a creative outlet— writing, dancing, singing, etc. For sophomore Caroline Cotten, it’s painting her nails.

The phrase painting her nails doesn’t do Cotten justice.

Known for her eccentric designs, her nails are common talk around the school, and are followed by many on her tumblr, Naildreams.Tumblr.com.

“When I started [the blog] I used to do it two or three times a week, but when school gets busy it usually slows down from there to about once a week,” says Caroline.

The blog’s design can be described as minimalist-- it has little distraction from the artwork of the nails.

“I love the simplicity of design, since there are no distraction to take away from the content it really showcases her talent,” Fellow blogger and Hockaday student (form?) Tai Massimilian said “It’s so different than the typical content of tumblr, its much cleaner if that makes sense,” Designs vary from tuxedos for formal dances to sailboats in the sunset, but all are a time consuming endeavor. Not to mention that the photography has to be done in a certain way in order to maintain the consistency of her style.

“The longest it ever takes me is about two hours. For homecoming, all my nails were differ-

It Was Already Cool

Urban Outfitters steals ideas for designs

M

ost Hockadaisies wear clothes from the popular chain store Urban Outfitters because it has chic, hip clothes for yuppies (young professionals) and teens.

However, what many do not realize is that Urban Outfitters, although chic and hip, is often unoriginal and dishonest. Currently, Urban Outfitters is facing multiple lawsuits in which they have been accused of stealing ideas and designs from independent designers for apparel, jew-

elry, and knick-knacks.

Theirplagiarism reached the public eye when Urban Outfitters stole jewelry designer Stevie Koerner’s necklace designs off her online store through Etsy—a website in which handmade/vintage items and art/ craft supplies are created, sold and bought by users. Koerner has sold these necklaces, each shaped like a different state, since 2005.

However, Urban Outfitters copied them exactly and began selling them for their own

Travel Abroad with Hockaday Argentina:

Spring Break 2012

Register by December 1, 2011

China:

May 30- June 13

Register by January 10, 2012.

France:

May 29-June 12

Register by January 10, 2012.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Smith Director of ESOL esmith@mail.hockaday.org (214) 360-6373

Hunter Folsom

ARTSTYLE

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Princi Italia 5959 Royal Lane

“Toast” S.J. Clarkson

W

ho said that boys can’t cook? Toast, the UK film based off food journalist Nigel Slater’s autobiographical novel, proves that this stereotype is indeed incorrect. As a young boy growing up in 1960s Britain, Nigel (Freddie Highmore) becomes mesmerized by food and cooking despite (perhaps because of) living in a household with a mother whose only successful dish was toast. Watching the young Nigel Slater, played

by British actor Oscar Kennedy, stimulate his culinary side by helping his mother cook takes us back to our fond childhood memories of baking cookies with Mom. As Nigel’s gets older, cooking becomes a way for him to win the affection of his gruff and temperamental father (Ken Stott) who shows more affection toward their cleaning lady, the chain-smoking and garish

before, but their unique flavor, with delicate spices that emphasize rather than overpower the taste of the meat, makes them delectable. Most of the pasta dishes are simple, with few ingredients, and let the sinCamp gularly delightful texture and taste of the homemade pasta Childish Gambino shine. The restaurant also has its own wood-burning stove for pizzas and flatbread. So you can’t go wrong with any pasta, meat-based or pizza dish, which is most of the menu.

“Save room for dessert,” the menu orders (in bold print at the bottom of the page). And you should. I tried the lemon tart, and though I usually prefer chocolate for dessert, I would choose that over chocolate cake any day. The lemon filling has a texture almost like whipped cream and practically melts in your mouth, nicely balanced by the soft graham-cracker crust.

So stick around, even if there is a long list of names on the hostess’s list—the food’s worth the wait.

Caroline magee

Mrs. Potter (Helena Bonham Carter) who manages to win her way to Mr. Slater’s heart through his stomach. Whether you’re a gourmet or a chef, a foodie or a baker, or someone who simply enjoys eating as a form of pleasure, you’re bound to have your mouth watering by the end of the film. Freddie Highmore successfully plays the teenage Nigel Slater with his quiet charm and gentle demeanor, while Helena Bonham Carter manages to seduce the audience portraying the sensual Mrs. Potter –a character whom we all learn to disdain, but also appreciate after seeing her one sumptuous dish after another- most notably, a lemon meringue pie. With 1960s period charm and lovely British accents, those who see Toast will be in for a real treat.

Blair Johnson

If the 661,509 visitors to “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art made one thing clear, it was this: fashion caters to the aspirational fantasies of museum goers and, most importantly, sells tickets. Though it doesn’t look like the McQueen exhibit will be touring anytime soon, The Dallas Museum of Art has taken a cue from the blockbuster exhibit, presenting “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk” which opened Sunday. Featuring sketches, film clips, photography and, of course, 130 looks off the runway and the backs of celebrities (Madonna’s signature corsets are on display), the exhibit is the DMA’s first with a focus on fashion.

Though I’ve visited the DMA countless times over the years, the gallery space at the Thursday night member preview was virtually unrecognizable, fitted with nooks displaying haute couture vignettes and painted with graffitied walls. The exhibit is divided into six themed rooms: “The Odyssey of Jean Paul Gaultier,” “The Boudoir,” “Skin Deep,” “Punk Cancan,” “Urban Jungle” and “Metropolis.”

Many mannequins wore animated projected faces which spoke to visitors as they passed through the various rooms, adding a chatter that recreated the minutes just before a fashion show. Gautlier has mastered the trompe-l’oeil effects of the French tradition and his fierce interpretations of classic looks have garnered him a fan base including Carla Bruni, Lady Gaga and, of course, Madonna, all of whom have lent pieces for the exhibit. Regardless of your views on horizontal stripes, the exhibit is worth a visit.

Caroline Sydney

The Whole Damn Deal Gavin Degraw

T

he music video for “Bonfire” off Childish Gambino’s (Donald Glover) “Camp” stands out among others in the rap genre, for one, because Gambino wears less clothing than the girls featured.

For another, it depicts a perverse lynching scene.

“Man, why does every black actor gotta rap some?/ I don’t know, all I know is I’m the best one,” he asks with his signature self-assured bravado. This attitude permeates Gambino’s first official album, released Nov. 15, reminding the listener of the complexity of the black experience in America today. His lyrics play in the space between growing up in the projects and his current life in his role as Troy Barnes on “Community.”

For this reason, the album is intensely personal, with a voice and a message only Gambino can deliver.

It’s tracks like this that rapgenius.com exists for, listening to his lyrics is like playing auditory “I Spy,” with each replay revealing yet another allusion from his vast store of cultural references past and present. Off of Bonfire, exhibit A: “It’s Childish Gambino, homegirl drop it like the NASDAQ.” The album runs a fast paced 56 minutes but the last five, a monologue flashback to summer camp as a 13 year-old told over a surprisingly delicate arrangement, is absolutely the highlight.

eticulously endnoted and extensively researched “The Whole Damn Deal” can only be described as exactly what one would expect from the author of a 2002 Best Junior Research Paper. Kathryn McGarr ’03, paints a loving but thorough portrait of her great uncle and Democratic heavyweight, Robert Strauss. As she traces the history of the Democratic Party through the eyes of Strauss, she offers anecdotes that reveal

not only his unwavering political views but also the unique character that allowed him the maintain his relationships— both personal and political— across party lines. Calling his friend Bob Dole two nights before his 1995 loss to Bill Clinton, he told him, “Dole, I just can’t wait another 48 hours to get up and vote against you.” It’s the little gems like this that makes this 400 plus page JRP fun to read.

M

Caroline Sydney

Caroline Sydney

PHOTOS BY C AROLINE SYDNEY

Gautlier

P

rinci Italia, the Italian restaurant on the northwest corner of Preston and Royal, has been open for about a month and if at 6:15 pm on a Saturday evening the place is completely full, with at least 20 people waiting to be seated, they must be doing something right.

The restaurant is reminiscent of a rustic cottage or beach house—light and open, dominated by a sophisticated color combination of pale wood and pale blues, and accented with blown glass, mirrors and dark wood. Considering this, Princi Italia would seem like a restaurant no casual, jeans-wearing diner would enter, but the two TVs at the bar make it a little less formal.

The food, also, is quite good. Princi Italia, in keeping with a goal of creating authentic Italian food, makes its own meatballs (chicken, lamb and beef), sausage and several types of pasta, including fettuccini, tagliatelle and ravioli.

Those meatballs, which I tried in the Italian Wedding soup, taste like no meatball I’ve had

ENFANT TERRIBLE “The Metropolis” (left) features outrageous animal prints and incredible hair styling. The dress (right), from “Skin Deep” was modeled on the runway by Carla Bruni.

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Volleyball and Field Hockey and Cross Country Oh My! A recap of 2011’s field hockey, volleyball and cross country’s Southern Prepatory Conference

A

t 9 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, the Hockaday Cross Country team stepped off the bus at Norbuck Park and braced themselves for a blast of 30-degree air.

Three miles later, the ecstatic group accepted their Southern Preparatory Conference Championship trophy. Their achievement marks Hockaday’s first win in cross country SPC since 1997.

Senior captains Erin Turner and Ellen Cohn led the team to victory. In order to promote a strong sense of unity among the team, they organized team bonding activities such as breakfasts, dinners, car painting and an outing to Jumpstreet throughout the season. Turner attributes much of the girls’ ultimate success to these strengthened bonds.

“It wasn’t just about cross

O

Even though only the top ten runners--senior Turner; juniors Lexie Hood, Jackie Choucair, Sarah Simmons, Renee Cai and Lauren Pennington; sophomore Wedderburn-Pugh; and freshmen Harper Clouston and Claudia Hammond--actually participated in SPC, the whole team traveled together to encourage and support the runners.

As the runners crossed the finish line, junior Ellen Crowe said, “It was really intense because they all looked really tired and beaten down...they had almost no energy left in their bodies.”

Juniors Choucair, Hood and Burke won first, third and fourteenth place, respectively, all earning All-SPC titles.

“It was a relief [to win]. There was a lot of pressure to win first this year because two years ago, PHOTO BY FLOR MANZANERREZ

ALL SMILES Juniors Mollie Anderson, Lexie Hood, Jackie Choucair and Ellen Crowe celebrate winning SPC for the first time since 1997

we go third and last year, we got second, so it was really exciting to finally get first,” Crowe said.

“The key to success is just loving your teammates and wanting to run well for the team,” Turner said.

Varsity cross country coach LaBoris Bean agreed that this triumph was a team effort.

“It was a wonderful season.

I really enjoyed the energy and hard work from the ladies,” he said. “I’m looking forward to next year.”

Audrey Cockrum PHOTO BY FLOR MANZANERREZ

PUSH IT Sophmore Catherine McGeoch passes the ball upfield during the championship game at SPC against Trinity Valley

T

he 2011 Hockaday Varsity Field Hockey team was placed in Division II for SPC this year, a placement that was both surprising and upsetting for the team after winning Division I the previous year. With a 4-3 record during their counter games, the team was borderline between the divisions, but was placed in Division II after Holland Hall beat Casady.

“All the teams were basically at the same skill level, and it honestly just came down to who got lucky,” senior Kate Mosle said.

“Unfortunately, we just weren’t one of the teams who made the cut for [Division I].”

Despite their disappointment, the team was able to rally and won the division’s title.

“We were upset that we were in Division II, but we knew that even if we were in Divsion II, we would have to win it,” junior Ramie Payne said.

After sixty minutes of game play, Hockaday was able to beat Trinity Valley 2-0, and the team was awarded the Division II championship trophy. Payne and senior Maggie Fobare earned AllSPC titles.

“It was probably our best game of the season. We all really stepped up our game and played our best to end the season strong,” sophomore Meredith Mihalopolous said.

The graduating seniors have high hopes for the remaining players in future seasons.

“I would love to see a [Division I] championship come out of Hockaday next year--I know the team can do it,” Mosle said.

“We have to keep our winning record, because Hockaday has been in an SPC championship every year since 2007.”

Molly Montgomery

ing able to play. Every part of me wanted to be out on the court playing with them,” Straubel said. “Just having to sit there and watch was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.”

Coach Adaku Achilefu said, “Because Cailyn’s been on varsity all four years, [the team] has learned from her and seen how hard she works, and for her to not be able to play also helped them to play for her too, because they knew how badly she wanted to play on the court.”

At various points throughout the tournament, Hockaday would be at game point. Sometimes they won the point—other times, they lost it to the other team.

“Especially when we lost a point, it was hard knowing that there was nothing I could have done,” Straubel said.

Competing in Division II rather than Division I slightly relieved Straubel’s anxiety. “If we were in Division I and had lost, I would have felt it was my fault because I was hurt,” she said.

Not one to simply sit on the sidelines, Straubel coached the team for a part of the game.

“That was a cool experience,” Straubel said.

Freshman Samantha Toomey, who played her first year on Varsity Volleyball, said “[Straubel] was an amazing coach—probably one of the best I have ever had. She really helped me with my blocking...I’m really proud to call her my coach.”

Despite not playing, Straubel believes the team did a great job at SPC. Straubel said, “I was surprised at how they stepped up, but I’m really proud of them.”

But Straubel will be back on the court in no time. She plans to play on a club volleyball team this year and beyond, as she intends to play volleyball in college.

Clearly, this injury did not prevent Straubel from playing volleyball altogether. Nothing can stop a person from loving what they do, can it?

Tiffany Le

NOT IN OUR HOUSE Junior Maisey Horn denies a serve during SPC against St. Mary’s Hall PHOTO BY TIFFANY LE

country anymore—we were actually friends, all of us. We were a team, but more like a family,” Turner said.

At the start of the season, Cohn created the Facebook group “HXC 2011” for the team. This unique approach to team bonding proved best of all. “[The Facebook group] was amazing,” sophomore Kaylee Wedderburn-Pugh said. “The communication was awesome.”

In the two weeks leading up to SPC, the runners posted inspirational videos and songs every night to motivate each other for the big day.

f their three SPC matches, Hockaday Varsity Volleyball won against St. Mary’s Hall and lost against Kinkaid but ended with a win against Trinity Valley, clinching third place in Division II on Nov. 4.

Throughout the tournament, however, a brunette girl sat at the end of the bench, dressed in a black jacket and sweatpants, looking on as she watched her teammates play.

That girl was co-captain senior Cailyn Straubel.

Just three days before SPC, Straubel was in practice playing Queen of the Court. When she went up to the net trying to block a ball, she landed on a teammate’s foot, coming down from her jump at an odd angle onto her ankle.

“I felt it pop,” Straubel remembered. Further examination revealed she had sprained her ankle.

Straubel’s injury took her off the court for two weeks: a week on crutches and a week in a boot.

When the doctor told her she couldn’t play, Straubel was disappointed. “I was thinking, ‘go figure—this had to happen senior year SPC.’ But at the same time, I was happy I hadn’t broken my ankle and we weren’t in Division I.” Sophomore Claire Coker said, “[Cailyn] took it really well and was really encouraging to us at SPC. She is a big contributor and a really good player, but her not playing made us all really step up our game.”

Straubel has been playing volleyball for ten years—four years on Hockaday’s Varsity team—and said this was the worst sprain she had ever gotten.

“It was kind of bad timing,” Straubel said. “I was upset because it’s my senior year and I didn’t get to play in my last SPC, but these things happen and you can’t stop or change it.”

Watching her teammates play, Straubel wished to be on the court alongside them.

“It was really hard not be-

SPORTS&WELLNESS

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Selected

W

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MAGGIE FOBARE

O

n the first day college coaches were allowed to contact high school players under NCAA regulations, Kelly Amonte-Hiller, head coach of Northwestern University lacrosse, emailed senior Maggie Fobare. That was Sept.

1, 2010 when Fobare was only a junior. On Nov. 10 the following year, Fobare officially signed to Northwestern to play lacrosse in the fall of 2012.

Fobare has been committed since Dec. 6, 2010 when, after attending Northwestern’s lacrosse winter camp, Fobare met with the coaches and “they offered me a spot on their team,” she said.

Northwestern has won two consecutive NCAA National Championships, and Fobare knows she’ll “be ready to fight for a national championship.”

She is especially excited to join three good friends already on the Northwestern lacrosse team, whom she has previously played with throughout her high school career: Taylor Thornton’09; Jess Carroll, St. Johns ’11; and Haydyn Anigian, Highland Park ’11.

“It makes me feel better since I won’t be alone,” Fobare said.

Fobare looked up to Thornton from a young age and got to know her during her freshman year on the Hockaday Varsity Lacrosse team.

“Taylor will be a senior once I get there as a freshman so she’ll take care of me,” Fobare said.

“Your team really becomes your family, your closest friends.”

Gabriella Flibotte, a junior lacrosse player at Northwestern and Thornton’s roommate, coached

PLEDGING WILDCAT After a year of verbal committment, Fobare signed to Northwestern on November 10th.

Fobare at the Northwestern camp this summer and said, “it is clear that she is definitely going to thrive here.” Flibotte sees Fobare’s strengths in her “unbelievable ability to change directions quickly,” her scrappiness and her capability to score goals.

“Overall,” Flibotte said, “life is good when you’re rolling with two daisies on a team!”

Fobare, who has played lacrosse since sixth grade, always wanted to pursue athletics in college.

Fobare looks forward to the colder weather in Chicago along with the freedom of college life. She plans to prepare for the change to college lacrosse by following their summer workout schedule and “buying some more jackets.”

While preparing to create a new legacy at Northwestern, Fobare will leave a lasting impression on the Hockaday Lacrosse team.

“Her skill and threat to the goal always make more op-

portunities,” junior Ali Purnell, who has played with Fobare for two seasons, said. “She leads the team with confidence.”

Fobare has won numerous awards over her high school years, including All-SPC, All-District, All-State, and All-Star Recognition for both her sophomore and junior years. She was also awarded Player of the Year by the Dallas Morning News in 2010.

Fobare will continue preparing over the next year for the awaiting challenge, but said she is “so honored to have been given this opportunity to play lacrosse at such a high level. I’m definitely nervous but so excited to step out onto the field as a Wildcat for the first time.”

And no doubt the experiences and lessons learned at Hockaday will help this Killer Daisy blossom to perform as a ferocious Wildcat next year.

Megan Porter

The choice between pursing Select Soccer, Hockaday Soccer, or Both

HUSTLE HARD Senior JJ Hayes moves the ball up the field for her select soccer team

hen it comes to sports, soccer is the most popular on earth and it is gradually gaining more popularity in the U.S. When it comes to Hockaday, soccer is one of the most played sports by its students.

Although the majority of Hockaday girls quit playing recreational soccer after fourth grade, according to a recent Upper School student survey, about 20 percent kept with it and joined a select soccer club team in fifth grade in order to develop stronger technical skills and gain a better understanding of the game.

Sophomores Dalton Youngblood and Evie Peña and seniors Brittany Blakey, Aleksandra Fuller and J.J. Hayes, began playing select soccer in fifth grade.

While the majority of them quit, PHOTO PROVIDED BY JJ HAYES

Youngblood and Fuller stayed with their teams.

Peña, who played center and outside midfield for Sting and later for the Dallas Texans, quit after her freshman year.

“Select soccer requires a huge time commitment and I didn’t feel like it was worth sacrificing my time for soccer when I don’t have any plans to play in college,” Peña said.

For Peña, quitting was no problem at all. “I still get to play at school without the yearlong commitment,” she said.

Like Peña, Blakey quit because she did not want to play competitively in college but also because playing both select soccer and Hockaday soccer was too stressful.

“I remember having to sprint from Hockaday soccer straight over to club…It’s pretty exhausting, and having to come home at nine to a pile of homework and chores to do was pretty time draining,” Blakey said.

However, Blakey misses select soccer because “it really shaped [her] personality,” but she adds that quitting was the right decision.

Hayes dropped soccer this past June because she was forced to. The new Southwest Preparatory Conference rule states that a student cannot play under the coaching of both her club and school team if both are involved in SPC. Hayes quit because her coach, Alan Platts worked for Hockaday as a seventh grade soccer team coach. Even though he had no influence on the varsity team, she was still forced to quit because he worked at Hockaday.

“It was very frustrating.”

Hayes said “I loved club soccer and the girls on my club team.

I decided that I didn’t want to play club soccer if I couldn’t play for Alan or be with my other friends…so I just quit altogether.”

Although still upset by the new SPC rules, Hayes continues to go to club soccer practices

with her teammates just to keep up her skills and also reunite with her friends from other schools.

Some players, however, have continued with their commitment to their select teams.

Playing on the Hockaday team and on her select team, Sting ‘96 ECNL, Youngblood has remained devoted to her select team since fifth grade.

Youngblood has played soccer ever since she could walk.

She enjoys it because she can get her “fitness in without it being really boring.” Youngblood chose not to quit because she feels as though she has a responsibility, not only to her team but to her teammates, to be there on the field playing her best soccer.

“It will help me out in college,” she said. Can you explain how that will help her in college?

Fuller has also stuck with her club team for the past eight years. Fuller plays for the fun of playing but also “to stay in shape and follow through with my commitment.” However, she wishes she had “more time to find other things I love to do.”

One thing everyone agreed on was that they enjoyed the experience of playing on a select soccer team, learning the values of working together and bonding with girls from other schools.

“I really miss the girls on my team and strangely enough, driving an hour every Saturday morning to play games,” Hayes said.

While most of the girls who did quit miss their friends and traveling across Texas to play soccer, Hayes also said, “I think that the Hockaday soccer program is probably one of the most successful athletic programs at Hockaday…no one on the varsity team is just playing to get out of PE –everyone really cares about the team and the sport.”

Gretchen O’Brien

Bent Into Shape

Megan Neligan reviews varius yoga and Pilates studios in town Whether trying to find her center or enjoying following fitness trends, many Hockaday girls have tried yoga or Pilates at some point or another; however, unless you’re a diehard yogi or really into exploring new ways of staying in shape, it can be hard to hit your stride with yoga or Pilates.

Yoga can sometimes be too slow for some people to qualify as a workout, rather than nap time; but for others who try hot yoga, attempt power yoga, or see a huge Pilates machine, an intimidating first experience can scare them away forever. With these yoga and Pilates studios, however, you feel welcome from the very first time, will get a good work out, and won’t pass out from heat exhaustion.

Karmany Yoga Studio

Located on McKinney Avenue, just south of Mockingbird Lane, just a 10 minute drive from Hockaday. Rated as the Best Yoga Studio in Dallas two years in a row

by D Magazine, Karmany strives to make their classes accessible for those at all different levels.

The studio is comprised of one very large yoga studio, which can be packed with as many as forty or more people or as few as five, and one smaller room used for Barre classes taught a few times a week. Teachers range from the stereotypically mellow teachers to the more intense teachers who really push you: either way, you will sweat just as much as you would while running several miles in the heat so make sure to bring a towel. Another great thing about Karmany is that the studio is donation-based; this means that if you can only contribute five dollars that week, that’s alright! It’s not free, of course, but it makes working out cheaper and more feasible for students.

Park Cities Pilates For a more traditional look at Pilates, try Park Cities Pilates, also located on Lovers Lane near the toll road. The teachers stick very closely to Joseph Pilates’ teaching style and increase student’s flexibility without straining muscles. If you are worried about making mistakes in a big class setting, do not fear. Though Park Cities Pilates does some classes, much of what they do is for private appointments or semi-private appoints which you can set up with friends to fit with your schedule and really personalize the workout to fit your needs.

Park Cities Pilates offers both mat classes and classes using Pilates machines.

Beyond Pilates Beyond Pilates Studio, located on Lovers Lane just west of the toll road, offers Pilates and barre classes, as well as a class mixing both together. Teachers use upbeat music to really get your heart rate going and encourage you to stretch yourself to your limits during workouts. Implementing Pilates machines, the classes address almost every muscle in the body by using low weights and high repetition.

Their clientele includes young, female professionals for the most part and so Hockaday girls can slide right into the mix and enjoy their workout. Non-slip Pilates socks are required and can be purchased on site; however, if you’re just trying it out for the first time, you can get away with not using them. With the high energy of the studio and its teachers, you will be surprised how fun Pilates can be.

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY

SPORTS&WELLNESS

November 16, 2011

Support in the Stands, Strength on the Field The impact of the lack of fans at sporting events

PROFESSOR NORMAN O’REILLY

“Our team plays better when there are a lot of fans,” sophomore varsity volleyball player Mary Landry said. “Our team gets really pumped and we have more encouragement from the bench and everyone plays with a lot more energy.”

The consensus among the athletic community is that fans improve team performance.

According to varsity volleyball coach Adaku Achilefu, “the girls feel good that they have support from [students].”

Her colleague Coach Jennifer Johnson said, “I think the Hockaday fans provide a big boost to our team’s performance. It’s always nice to hear your name called from the sideline…When you’re tired and don’t think you have anything left, fans can give you that little extra push.”

Research confirms these beliefs. A survey composed by

IMr.Work Out Brown explains his strength training regimen

T

he first workout that comes to mind when a Hockadaisy goes to the gym is not lifting a 100-pound bar above her head. Olympic lifts, however, prove to be an excellent strength exercise as well as a cardio workout.

Hockaday math teacher Andrew Brown has been training with Olympic lifts since high school. Starting out as conditioning for football, lifting became more than just an accessory workout for Brown.

“I always treated lifting weights as a means to an end,” Brown said “but now that I concentrate just on the lifting sports, I treat everything like a competition.”

Brown believes setting goals is an essential part of working out. In his private workout lessons, Brown sets goals for his students and works

hard to achieve them. Brown used to train many sports teams and now mainly trains professionals as well as beginners.

Technique is key to being successful at Olympic lifts, no matter the level of the athlete. The two kinds of lifts, the clean/jerk and the snatch, are not ones you can simply pick up in one work out. The clean and jerk involves two phases of the lift: lifting the bar to the chest and then over the head, whereas the snatch is one single motion over the head.

“I spend six months to a year teaching my students technique,” Brown said. “Then we start to add weight.”

For those who are not looking to compete in Olympic lifting competitions, these types of lifts serve as a full-body work out as well.

“These lifts teach your body to work as one unit,” Brown said.

PHOTO BY CAILYN STRAUBEL

Crowd support is intergral part of competition

Professor Norman O’Reilly of Laurentian University found that more than 66 percent of the 24 member national female Canadian hockey team believed a supportive crowd encouraged them to do better.

History teacher Colleen Durkin, a devout Hockasport fan, said that she notices a correlation between the action on the field and student attendance.

“When you go to a Greenhill game and it’s five parents and me, they play differently than when you go to the ESD game that decides the state championship and half of Hockaday Upper School is there and a bunch of St. Marks guys – that’s definitely a different feeling,” Durkin said. “I think it motivates them; it would motivate me.”

Professional team coaches agree that players perform better with boisterous fans. St. Louis Cardinals coach Tony LaRussa told the Wall Street Journal that the immense noise level from the Rangers Ballpark decided the Game Four win for the Rangers.

“Crowd support is an integral part of competition and has the ability to play a supporting role in changing the outcome of a game,” O’Reilly said.

As a result of low Hockaday fan numbers, junior Renee Cai said she pretends that the fans who are cheering for other teams are actually cheering for her.

“Last time there was this old granny who had green pompoms,” Cai said. “She was cheering for Greenhill, but I mean they were green pompoms so why not cheer for Hockaday?”

This isn’t always the case, however. To some players, a large number of onlookers can cause anxiety, and crippling effects, especially among athletes who are not accustomed

PHOTO BY EMILY WESCHLER

P

arents dot the bleachers alongside the fields, chatting with one another about the latest Hockaday gossip and sipping from Starbucks cups. Occasionally they look over onto the field and, temporarily halting their conversation, aim supportive cheers at their daughters.

A regular home game. So what’s wrong with this picture?

The problem is the dearth of plaid. Hockaday students, if any, are vastly outnumbered by the prevalent parents in roughly a one to six ratio. Many athletes feel that school spirit among the high schoolers is drastically low, and they are the ones feeling the loss.

STANDING ROOM ONLY: While the Coffeehouse on November 5 was packed (above), field hockey’s SPC game’s only cheer leaders were team mates on the bench. (right)

to many people attending their games.

“At first it can get kind of nerve-racking. You get nervous but then you get real excited,” freshman Staci Shelby, who plays basketball, said.

The elusive male cheerleaders, when present, have been known to dramatically alter nerves among the female players.

“When the St. Marks boys come, [the girls] get a little shakier,” observed Achilefu. “Or they play out of this world, so it could go either way. But we seldom have male fans at our games, unfortunately.”

Despite an impressive-sized congregation of girls at almost every St. Mark’s event, few, if

While training for a sport, an athlete would benefit from working out with these lifts.

“Most sports that require power train with these lifts, modify them or should be doing them,” Brown said. The two Olympic lifts build power and strength, a combination key to a successful performance in any sport.

An avid lifter himself, Brown tries to lift five day a week.

“Research has shown that it is more effective to get three short lifts in per day,” Brown said “rather than spending two hours in the gym at one time.”

But you don’t have to do Olympic lifts. There are small things you can do around the house to improve your strength.

“Something as simple as doing ten push-ups every time you walk past the living room can improve your strength over time,” Brown said.

EASY AS 1, 2, 3: Brown suggests doing these exercises to help improve strength training. Follow the pictures above and adjust weight accordingly.

any, of their students grace the campus for a Hockaday home game. This lack of boys has led to many a disgruntled daisy.

“They never cheer for us and we always cheer for them,” lamented cross country runner senior Erin Turner.

An overall indifference, combined with lack of time, has deterred busy Hockaday students from foregoing their trip home to stay and support their peers. Additionally, when searching for amusement, many girls prefer the refined fine arts to athletics.

Coach Elia Kochan also blames the lights in the outdoor fields – or lack thereof. As night falls earlier and earlier, games are being scheduled on top of each other to preserve daylight at the expense of fans who are torn between the JV and Varsity bleachers.

The results of a large fan base were certainly visible at varsity field hockey’s SPC. That extra push helped the team to clinch the Division II SPC Championship. As the final seconds ticked down, a roaring noise echoed across the fields and, at the end of the game, daisies of all grades and degrees of athletic interest rushed the field.

Why can’t all games be like that?

Laura Reifsnyder

Olympic lifting has gained popularity among women in recent years. While most girls think they will bulk up if they lift, this is not the case.

“You end up not gaining a lot of muscle weight,” Brown said “because the key is to optimize strength without building a lot of muscle.”

Women should be aware of the benefits that come from strength training. One of the leading causes of Osteoporosis is a lack of exercise in women 30 and older. A disease of the bone, Osteoporosis weakens the bones which lead to many injuries. Studies have shown that lifting weights helps prevent Osteoporosis and is a great way for young women to stay healthy throughout their lives.

After all, no one wants to be a flabby old lady!

Nina Quirk

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Parent Trap

Claire Banowsky Form IV

I

pride myself on knowing how to handle most awkward situations. But there is one situation that I am never prepared for: when my friend’s mom or dad pulls out the “Call me Deb (or Dan, I guess).”

It’s happened a few times, and every time I laugh awkwardly (that laugh with the nervous smile, tense shoulder movement and frantic eye movement, you know the one) and mumble an awkward “okay…”

Having a best friend, more often than not, means having a new family as well. Whether watching “South Park,” crammed on their living room sofa or

tagging along on a family vacation, you spend a lot of time with them. After a while, you’ll start to feel at home with your second family. In my experience, they’re not just nice to me: I can always count on them to playfully make fun of me in the same way my own parents would.

For the most part, I get along with my friends’ parents, and I’ll let you in on the secret: be polite.

I know that everyone at Hockaday is polite and respectful already, of course, but if there’s a mom or dad that’s always on your case or thinks you’re a “bad influence” (whatever that means), they’ll have nothing bad to say about you if you always greet them when you see them and thank them after letting you stay over for dinner or spend the night.

You’re probably all saluting me as Captain Obvious for telling you what you believe to be a given, so now extend your manners

to less obvious things. For one thing, unless you actually are a part of the family stop rummaging around the fridge like it’s yours (unless of course it’s been established that it actually is yours). Nobody likes an entitled teenager…or an entitled adult. Basically, nobody likes entitled people.

A good rule of thumb is to take cues from how your friend behaves around their family. Within reason. Just because your friend uses colorful language in front of her parents doesn’t mean you should. But, if your friend always sets the table before dinner, offer to do the same.

Don’t be afraid to ask your friends’ parents about their day and make conversation. If at the beginning things are a little awkward, just know that your friendliness will soon ease the tension and they will love you. I’ve got an ongoing joke with a certain Hockadad about his broken sink because I once

asked him about his day and he, very honestly, answered that he had had an awful day because his sink broke. Every time I see him now, I still make a joke about his broken sink and am able to hold a conversation with him after cracking a simple joke.

Being respectful and having a good sense of humor (which is different than being funny all the time) goes a long way with parents. Your relationship with a friend’s parent can become kind of like the one you might have with cool, living-in-the-past Uncle Rico—he’ll give you good advice without ever overstepping.

And if you ever do say something out of place or make a total faux pas, don’t be afraid to apologize, because taking responsibility for your actions is “very mature” (not a sarcastic use of quotation marks). Nice guys may finish last, but nice girls are loved by parents all over.

Lighten the Load

We Love It, We Love It Not

11/11/11 AT 11:11:11.

Has your wish come true yet?

Cheesus, we love NATIONAL FRENCH WEEK

This month, Dr. Downey’s junior English class wrote argumentative papers responding to “Homework’s Diminishing Returns,” an article by Dr. Harris Cooper in the “The New York Times.” Each student took positions, either for or against homework, argued their side, and provided a solution to whichever side they chose. The Fourcast decided to feature Maisey Horn’s paper this issue.

I

am a 16-year-old junior at an elite prep school, a recruited varsity athlete, nearly straight A student, and have not slept more than five hours on a school night since

Good grades, a social life, varsity athlete, enough sleep. Pick three.

JUNIOR MAISEY HORN

the start of my junior year.

When I first entered the upper school, my senior “big-sis” left a note on my locker that read “Welcome to Hockaday. Good grades, a social life, varsity athlete, enough sleep: pick three.” A mere five weeks into my junior year and all I have go-

ing for me is varsity athlete.

I can see disappointment in my teacher’s eyes when I come to class half-asleep and shamefully tell them that I could not finish the last ten math problems.

The token sigh and head-shake reeks of judgment and disappointment.

Most of the teachers follow this with gentle smile and a dismissive nod. It is not so much the amount of homework that is the problem, rather the quality and type of work assigned.

Whenever someone tells me they only slept for three hours, I always ask, “What were you doing from 6:00 to midnight?” The usual response: a long list of required vocabulary flashcards, map coloring, rewriting messy assignments,

or editing video projects.

These are the type of assignments that have such little value to the students’ overall understanding of the material. They are low quality assignments.

Many people might argue that requiring students to make vocabulary cards and fill out maps and do a superfluous number of practice problems is the only way to improve test scores. But the students who struggle and need to raise their test scores end up frustrated after the hours of homework, and do not seek out help or take time to truly understand the subject. Higher test scores come from true understanding, and if students spend all their time just solving problems be-

tween the plethora of other activities, then they never have time to absorb what the teachers are saying.

We play sports, we have SAT prep classes, we have chores, and that pesky, inherent need to socialize and laugh every. How do we choose what to sacrifice? At my school, the trend seems to be eating and sleeping. It stands to reason, that given less homework but higher quality assignments, the work the students do on it will also be higher quality since they do not have to rush. I am tired of skipping lunch and dinner, going to bed at 3 am only to wake up at 7 am and then be chastised for not finishing the assignment. Please, let me be a teenager.

NO SHAVE NOVEMBER. at least we have an excuse for one month out of the year...

BATTLE OF THE CAR WASHES #thatawkwardmomentwhen St. Mark’s and Hockaday plan back to back car washes

As the temperature drops, we resent the EXCLUSION OF OUR BELOVED BLANKETS from the uniform

PERSPECTIVES

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Jumping on the Bandwagon... Or Not

Kristin Lin Form IV

F

or once, I might have to side with the hipsters: the mainstream can be overrated.

I’m referring to a recent trip to Barnes and Noble during which I stumbled upon an entire section of the store esoterically labeled “Teen Paranormal Romance.”

At this point, two questions ran through my mind: first, Barnes and Noble actually spent money to have the words “paranormal” and “romance” professionally printed together? And second, why do all of these books look like the “Twilight” Saga?

Unable to answer the first

question without calling over customer service, I decided to spend a moment pondering the second anomaly. I stood before three entire shelves of books with black covers, squiggly typography and illustrations of pale people holding apples among other random red objects.

The authors of these books, which, I’m sure, all have distinctly different plot lines, clearly did not actually like or read “Twilight.” If they did, they would know that adolescent girls don’t like “Twilight.”

But they like the idea of being in relationships with vampires and werewolves, only because Edward has golden eyes. Come on, people! How many times in literature or real life do you see someone with golden eyes?

The vice of conformity: it has been the subject of many books, movies and poems, but I have never seen it played out in real life as well as I did standing in Barnes and Noble that day. Rarely is it wise to jump on a bandwagon, yet we do it all

the time.

I have nothing against buying or doing things that suddenly become popular. I too was once a team Edward twi-hard who insisted on the literary merit of the saga by strategically overlooking the three misplaced modifiers on the first page of the book. The problem isn’t the types of trends that we follow; it’s the fact that we rarely question the credibility of their popularity.

It’s this lack of reflection that causes things like pet rocks to become popular. I suppose no loss or gain comes from a culture that is okay with spending their disposable income on something that could be found on the side of a street, but I think that we could all benefit from trends if we just choose better ones.

No matter how much hipsters may look down upon it, the majority is powerful. Our Founding Fathers created the Electoral College to counter a mob mentality; Nixon won 49

out of 50 states in his election because of the “Silent Majority.” The Arab Spring would not have been possible without a significant amount of unhappy citizens. Trends have the power to change the course of history, of the world—if chosen wisely.

Yet we waste this power to propel ephemeral marketing campaigns for Silly Bandz and Webkinz. If we all just spent a few extra seconds to understand the reasoning behind the popularity, or lack thereof, the trends we create would become more logical and longer lasting.

While the “Twilight” hype has waned, dystopian romances have risen to take its place. “The Hunger Games” trilogy has become a bestseller and awaits its debut as a movie franchise— and the trend is catching on.

And if after some reflection people decide that “Dystopian Romance” is worth a new, professionally printed Barnes and Noble sign, then by all means, go for it.

That’s What She Said I heard Hicks was nuclear power proof!

Ashley Deatherage III

I hate Christmas because I'm a ginger...

Grace Gilker II

cut off while saying "ginger bread man" during an improv performance at coffeehouse

You gotta learn how to play the game, ladies.

Tracy Walder

in reference to not answering a phone call from her husband on her birthday

I was sitting in the stall at the YMCA and this naked baby crawled in..."

Laura Harvey III

Aren't we all double breasted?

Lindsay OpokuAcheampong IV

in reference to single-breasted versus double-breasted blazers

Scaredy Cat

Amy Tao Form II

horror movie as a thriller, slasher or sci-fi terror, to name a few of the many. However, Wikipedia describes the horror movie genre collectively as “elicit[ing] a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience’s most primal fears,” and further elaborates that “horror films deal with the viewer’s nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown.”

In conclusion, to simply answer the question of why people watch horror movies in a few, short words: it’s fun, unexpected and totally thrilling.

After all, it seems like a new horror film is being released weekly at theaters. Though not too many of us are fans of them, they’re admittedly a huge part of the film industry, so we might as well tune into them every once in a while.

ILLUSTRATOIN BY KATIE BOUREK

I

have always speculated as to why people would purposely choose to watch a horror movie over some other movie of a different genre (i.e. action, rom-com, mystery, etc.).

Watching a scary movie is anything but pleasant. After all, in general, people watch movies to escape reality, to step into someone else’s shoes for a few hours: so why would anyone choose to vicariously live through people who are running for their lives from psychotic killers or merciless monsters?

Putting myself to the test to answer that question, I spent my Friday night venturing into the world of horror by watching a “A Perfect Getaway,” a psychological thriller following a couple on their honeymoon on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, where they learn of another honeymooning couple murdered just a couple weeks before they arrive. “A Perfect Getaway” may not even be considered a legitimate horror movie to some people, but for me, the fear didn’t end at the start of the credits, or even in my nightmares, but actually encroached upon real life. Half of the time, I was convinced that someone was following me or lurking under my bed.

Of course, I had known

about these risks of the lingering paranoia and perpetual suspense that horror movies pose when I tentatively chose to watch one.

Psychologists have proposed numerous theories as to why horror movies are strangely fascinating to people. Most of these reasons overlap and are overall related to each other, summed up by one word: adrenaline. Two hours of this kind of adrenaline seems much more risky than what a 30-second ride on a roller coaster has to offer.

And to further emphasize this claim, I did enjoy watching the near-horror movie. Something about the thrill incentive and euphoria of successfully sitting through it made it strangely entertaining.

Sophomore Raheela Ahsan, an avid horror movie-watcher, claims that “horror movies are fun to watch and really thrilling. I find it amusing to watch them try to scare people.” She maintains this opinion because she knows that a movie is only a movie, no matter what genre, and that it isn’t real: “It’s fictional. Movie makers try to use your worst fears against you.”

Even if most of us aren’t really into scary movies, there are enough people to make them prominent in the Hollywood film industry since the 1930s. For example, Paranormal Activity 3, the spooky prequel to the series’ previous two installments, was released in late October and had broken the box office record for a fall release during its opening weekend, earning an approximate $54 million. The box office can attest to the fact that horror films are successful now more than ever.

One can further classify a

PERSPECTIVES

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

Perfectionist Paralysis

Allie Heck Form IV

O

ne hour and three coffees later, my socks are ironed, my saddle oxfords are polished and my loose change has been neatly organized, but the ominous blinking of the cursor on the blank screen haunts me. I have, yet again, productively procrastinated, doing everything in my power to avoid completing what actually needs to be done and succumbing to my least favorite alliterate expression: perfectionist paralysis.

My desire for perfection probably started around the time that “checks” and “checkpluses” were replaced with actual letter grades circa December of sixth grade. I had an abrupt realization that what I had considered completely satisfactory grades, my peers considered completely insufficient.

No longer was I elated with a tiny plus sign or eased with a solid “check,” but my nitpicking brain would refuse to be okay with the descriptors competent, good, or anything but absolutely excellent.

Through years of working hard or giving up, I realized that perfectionism is a one-way road to self-deprecation and a step backwards in the way of knowledge. I either wanted to try and be the best, or surrender and claim justified disqualification, but what I didn’t realize is that’s not how life works and that’s not the type of person I want to be. But more importantly, I began to realize that I was far

T

from being the only person who suffered from this paralyzing disorder.

Upper School English teacher Kyle Vaughn, a frequent witness of Hockadaisies’ fear of failure in English, believes that our fault lies not in our abhorrence of failure, but more in our affinity to the letter “A.” He believes that we have stumbled off the right path, falling in love with a grade instead of falling in love with the process of learning.

“You have to allow yourself to have that bad, first draft and not let that critical voice take over,” said Vaughn. “You must love the process as much as the product.”

In his creative writing class, Vaughn especially forces us to explore the habits of the mind. Vaughn’s encouragement of stream of consciousness, free writing and meditation has really helped me suppress my need for perfection and enjoy the practice of writing. Writers, especially Hockadaisies, don’t have time to await the perfect first draft; all writers must try and try again, until you achieve that excellent—not perfect—final paper.

I think that practicing certain techniques to overcome perfectionist paralysis is incredibly important, but I think the real issue is the emphasis that students, and parents alike, place on the college process. Throughout my high school career, there have been times where every grade felt like a building block (or the crumbling key stone) to my future existence, and that’s the type of view that we need to get away from.

“I try to get [students] to look beyond what the test and the grade and the college means because your life is hopefully a span of about 100 years,” said Margaret Morse, Upper School Counselor. “College is four years

of your life. If all your eggs are in one basket, such as I’ve got to make all A’s and get into this one college or my life is going to be terminated, that’s really faulty thinking.”

As I sat on a plane, waiting to depart for California and visit colleges, my mom began to read me excerpts from the book that Eugene McDermott Headmistress Kim Wargo asked faculty and parents to read: “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Dr. Carol Dweck.

Realizing the characteristics of both open and fixed mindsets that I embodied, I decided that this information was incredibly helpful for me to apply in my college search but would’ve been even more helpful earlier in my education.

Striving to be your best and striving to be the best are two totally separate things; one you can help and the other you cannot. Open discussions and assemblies where alumnae proclaim that the “B-” they got in Chemistry didn’t define their lives or stifle their love for science is refreshing. Wargo agrees that literature like Dweck’s should be read by Hockadaisies, but hesitates to require another thing in our already responsibility-ridden lives. Personally, I would much rather take a little time to learn about the inner workings of my mind than have my mom forever deem me a fixed mindset without a chance to change.

As I do my college interviews, write dozens of application essays that can’t afford to be stalled by perfectionist paralysis and wait to receive a “yes” or a “no,” I have faith that, as a Hockadaisy, I will succeed in any environment. I won’t forget “wobbling” in the hallway with Mr. Ashton or fist-bumping Mrs. Wargo, but I can’t say that I’ll remember that “C-” I got on my webassign.

: Deep in Our Hearts

exas Forever. This saying from “Friday Night Lights” accurately describes the state pride felt by all Texans. What other state has socks, shorts and sports bras with their state flag on it? What other state can claim the invention of hamburgers and margaritas? What other state produces 174 million results when you google “why is [insert state here] so awesome?”

The hamburger was created

by Fletcher Davis during the 1880’s in Athens, Texas. You’re welcome, rest of America. In 1971, the margarita was invented by Mariano Martinez. His original machine is now in the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington D.C. We’ve noticed that Texas has been getting a lot of attention in the news recently, and it’s not all good. When your baseball team loses in the World Series two years in a row and your football team has a not-sohot record, we’re starting to feel pretty beat up. So we wanted to come out and defend our home state, as well as uncover why Texans (should) have so much pride for this great state.

In Texas, we get the best of both worlds. We are southern, but sophisticated. We have an accent, but (most of us) are not redneck. And we have a lively culture and community.

We are surrounded by country music, and yet home to Austin, the Live Music Capital of the world. And we know they didn’t earn that title by only playing “hillbilly” country music. The

best Tex-Mex restaurants are in Texas, but we also have plenty of restaurants for every palate.

And our Tex-Mex has spread across the world, even to places like France, England and Japan.

That’s definitely something to be proud of.

However, many stereotypes about Texas remain ingrained in the minds of many outside our expansive borders. We have all encountered questions like “do you ride a horse to school?” or “do you live on a farm?” First of all, don’t let them get to you.

They’re just jealous, we promise.

Second, we’re here to set those rumors straight. Yes, there are farms and ranches in Texas. But no, not everyone lives on one. In fact, Texas has three of the top 10 most populated cities in the U.S.: Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Texas is also the only state that has been under six different flags, hence the name of the popular amusement park. These flags include Spain (twice), France and Mexico, as well as the current United States flag and the short-lived Confederate flag. Talk about a cultural mixing pot. The most famous flag, however, is the Republic of Texas. After existing as its own Republic for nine years, Texas joined the United States in 1845 “with the understanding it could pull out,” Governor Rick Perry said in an interview with the Huffington Post. However, the Huffington Post found in the Texas State Library that Texas would divide into four additional states if it wanted, but could not secede. Either

way, we’re still a pretty powerful state in the grand scheme of things.

From an economic standpoint, Texas is a really nice place to live. Our economy by itself is ranked fifteenth largest in the world based on GDP. Fifteenth in the world! And in 2008, of all the jobs created in the United States, almost half were created just here in Texas.

Not a bad place to be during a recession, huh?

But yes, it is true that everything is bigger (and better, if we may go that far) in Texas. From the world-famous Texas State Fair, to the Dallas Cowboys, who have often been called ‘America’s Team,’ to the iconic Friday night football, Texans maintain many famous traditions that we all love and couldn’t be more proud of. In what other state is it acceptable to literally deep fry everything (see: pickles, coke, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bubble gum… How they accomplished that last one is still a mystery to us).

Not to mention the size.

New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois could all fit inside the great state of Texas. Or 220 Rhode Islands.

Your choice.

And hey, remember that time the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Championship?

So next time some Northerner asks you a stereotypical question about “redneck” Texas, stand up tall and explain to them why “y’all” are proud of Texas.

And continue wearing those Texas flag shorts with pride, because Texas deserves it.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Caroline Sydney

MANAGING EDITOR

Caitlin Smith Asst: Anisha Anand

BUSINESS MANAGER

Megan Porter Asst: Amy Tao

COPY EDITOR Tiffany Le NEWS EDITOR

Hailey Winston

OUR LIVES EDITOR

Caitlin Smith

ARTSTYLE EDITOR

Katie Payne

SPORTS & WELLNESS EDITOR

Molly Montgomery

PERSPECTIVES EDITOR

Megan Porter

CAST-OFF EDITOR

Gretchen O’Brien PHOTO EDITOR

Caitlin Smith Asst: Mary Clare Beytagh GRAPHICS EDITORS

Alaina Rodriguez Emily Wechsler WEB EDITOR

Hailey Winston Assts: Ansley Carlisle Laura Reifsnyder CONTRIBUTING ARTIST Katharine Lin CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Claire Banowsky, Rupsha Basu, Anna Brito, Audrey Cockrum, Mollie Cowger, Kay Dannenmaier, Hunter Folsom, Everest Goldstein, Allie Heck, Catherine Hicks, Blair Johnson, Kristin Lin, Annabel Lyman, Megan Neligan, Kathy Qiu, Nina Quirk, Michelle Shang, Christin Urso, Lizzie Vamos, Emily Williams and Sydney Wilkins FACULTY ADVISER

Ana Rosenthal

EDITORIAL POLICY The Fourcast is written primarily for students of the Hockaday Upper School and its faculty. The Fourcast has a press run of 1,000 and is printed

by Dallas Offset, Inc. It is distributed free of charge.

Businesses who wish to advertise in The Fourcast should contact the Advertising/Business Editor at 214.360.6360 or ads@mail. 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 on the opinions pages.

Commentaries and opinion columns/ editorials are the expressed opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those 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.

Corrections and clarifications from previous issues will be found on the editorial pages or as designated on other pages.

Letters to the Editor must be signed. The deadline for submission is two weeks prior to publication. Please email your letters to csydney@ mail.hockaday.org or mailed to The Hockaday School, attention: The Fourcast, 11600 Welch Road, Dallas, Texas, 75229. All 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.

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.

THE FOURCAST HOCKADAY November 16, 2011

when “yours truly,” just doesn’t cover it:

fourcast’s favorite middle school first class signatures keep calm and love the beibs.

Today, the whole world came crashing down on me, so I got some tape and stuck the map back onto the wall.

MLIA.j j

If life gives you melons, you’re probably dyslexic.

The past is history; the future is a mystery; but the present is a gift, that’s why they call it the “present.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Q: Volleyball or Love?

A: Aren’t they the same thing??

Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, got ran over, kittty went kitty went SQUAAAASH!!!!!

WHEN NOTHING GOES RIGHT, GO LEFT

without me, its just awso

when i get sad, i stop being sad, and be AWESOME.”

If dance were any easier, it would be classifed as a sport

Come to the Darkside…

We have cookies

Friendship is like peeing in your pants, everyone can see it but, only you can feel it’s warmth.

a day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

when life gives you lemons, throw them over your shoulder and look for an orange

Stop scrolling down. I’ll come up with more signatures later!

Patience is the ability to count down before blasting off. --Unknown

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

I hope life isn’t a joke, because I don’t get it.

Flying is simple. You just throw yourself at the ground and miss. ,___, [O.o] /)__) -”--”- O RLY?

,___, [¬.¬] /)__) -”--”- YA RLY

||_|| [O.O] /)__) -”--”- NO WAY !!!!