The Insight | June 2016

Friends Seminary

Edition 3

May 2016

An Interview with Chelsea Clinton

By ZARA SCHREIBER ’17

Campus Redevelopment Underway

By NAHID MAHMUD ’17

Among the numerous treasures in Bo Lauder’s office — rows of textbooks, stacks of newspapers, colorful artwork and a couple of exotic birds — sits a model of the Friends campus, incredibly detailed down to the black, wrought iron fence that borders Fifteenth and Sixteenth Streets and Rutherford Place. The model is a representation of how the school’s campus will look after a three-year, $69 million renovation project.

After being sent to the repair shop several times over the past few months

due to several adjustments, the model now sits complete under an office window that looks out onto the scaffolding that has recently been installed along the exterior of Hunter Hall — a sign that the school’s long-awaited renovation project has begun. There have been several hurdles along the way since development began in 2003.

“This important academic redevelopment went through a rigorous public review

process, and was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously last May,” Principal Bo Lauder said. “It was carefully designed to meet the needs of our approximately 1,000 students, teachers and staff, including making our facilities 100% ADA accessible (in accordance with Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility standards), while still remaining faithful to the architectural and historic character of the

Inside

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WHO IS FRIENDS VOTING FOR?

TALKING WITH “BOB THE SUB”

PRANKS AT FRIENDS

R.I.P. MARIELLA’S

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Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and a board member of the Clinton Foundation, recently visited Friends Seminary as the featured speaker of Peace Week.

Clinton graduated Sidwell Friends in 1997, attending school there during Bo Lauder’s tenure as Dean of Students. She went on to Stanford, and more recently has published a children’s activism book entitled It’s Your World, which educates young readers about major world issues such as poverty, gender equality, and climate change, and advises them on how they can contribute to society.

During her talk at Friends, Clinton discussed her novel, her plans for the future, and encouraged students to pursue their passions. Before her speech, the editors-in-chief of The Insight were able to interview her alongside Lauder.

Bo Lauder: Twenty years after we were both at Sidwell Friends, why do you think your parents chose a Quaker school?

Chelsea Clinton (CC): I think my family, it was really a family decision, chose Sidwell for a couple of pretty simple reasons. When my mother and I came to Washington to look at schools and we took a few different tours, Sidwell was the place where we just felt most comfortable and where I could really envision myself being able to be treated as a student and not primarily as my parents’ daughter, where I really liked the group of kids who took me on my tour and I could imagine or I hoped I could imagine being friends with them one day. So it was really, I think, the environment and the students and clearly my parents thought I would get a good education scholastically as well as ethically, and I’m just so grateful that we made that choice.

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2 Continued from “Campus Rede- the front yards and sidewalks in front velopment Underway” of the East 16th Street Townhouses. neighborhood. Further, the design was responsive to the thoughtful feedback received from the Commissioners and from members of the community.”

In addition to the review process, the school also redefined its longstanding relationship with the New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends — a deal that was in the works for more than a decade — to help facilitate the renovation project. The Quarter reached an historic decision on December 6, 2015 to approve the separate incorporation of Friends Seminary. The school will remain a school deeply rooted in Quaker testimonies and will work closely with the Quarter for Quaker guidance.

“It’s been a challenging process, but all of this hard work will be worth it as it will greatly improve the teaching and learning of our students and teachers for generations to come,” Lauder said. “Any school that is complacent is a school on its way out. At Friends, you see kids multitasking and it looks like chaos but they’re learning. They’re learning in a way that is appropriate to their generation and we want a campus and classrooms to help accommodate their needs.”

To better facilitate this chaos, the Campus Redevelopment Program calls for 15 additional classrooms, new math and science labs, dedicated tech and makerspaces for Lower School students, annex renovations, renovated health, athletic, and fitness facilities, as well as a new performing arts space and assembly hall. Such additions are hoped to provide Upper School students with more spaces to congregate, work, and play besides the current student hubs consisting of the Gallery, Library, and Academic Center.

A new Great Room will have the design of a large lecture room with an attached balcony and retractable glass wall. Like the Meetinghouse, this Great Room will have multiple uses for its large space, even more so with the addition of a retractable glass wall that is believed to help foster an indoor-outdoor connection and hopefully introduce new classroom dynamics for any classes being held there. The Great Room will become an essential alternative to house Upper School activities such as Meeting for Announcements, assemblies, and possibly even graduation. The addition of a new rooftop garden is sure to attract students as well, not to mention the new archive and seminar room planned to house a 30-person table for meetings, classes, and discussions.

As emphasized by the new greenhouse and garden, enhancing green space is a major project goal. A significant amount of greenery will be reintroduced to

Additionally, displaced rear yard plantings will be relocated to the new terrace, and four new trees will be planted in Stuyvesant Square Park in conjunction with the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association.

In addition to the two stories currently being built atop Hunter Hall, the finalized renovation plans call for the restoration of historic facades of three neighboring townhouses, combining and renovating interior spaces, creating interior connections between the three townhouses and Hunter Hall, and aligning floors as a well as a new elevator and stairs that are compliant with ADA accessibility standards.

Lauder said that the new fifth floor, as a result, will house new classes and offices while the fourth floor will now have a room dedicated to the new peace, equity, and justice program as well as a “think-tank, resource center hybrid based on Quaker values.” The additions of floor-to-ceiling windows in the resource center, fourth and fifth grade homerooms, and third floor terrace are aimed to enhance leisure and relaxation. Both Upper and Lower schoolers will also enjoy a renovated school entrance and gym featuring a climbing wall.

In order to maintain these new spaces and ensure continued accessibility on campus, sustainability measures are being implemented into construction procedures from low-emitting adhesives to using locally-sourced materials.

Furthermore, advanced monitoring procedures and techniques will be implemented to deal with noise, dust, vermin, and vibration issues that may arise during the process.

Despite opposition from some neighbors, the project has the overwhelming support of local politicians such as Rosie Mendez, who represents City Council District 2, the Community Board 6 District and the Landmarks Preservation Commission. With phase one underway (Hunter Hall redevelopment) and phases two (townhouse renovation) and three (interiors, completion of exteriors) to soon follow, Friends Seminary’s Redevelopment Program is projected to be completed by 2019.

If you would like to learn more about the construction process, visit www.friendsredevelopment.org Friends will also be hosting a follow-up community forum in late Spring 2016.

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May 2016 Continued from “Chelsea Clinton Comes to Friends” Zara Schreiber: So going off of what Bo was saying, what Quaker aspect of Sidwell do you think really has helped you most in life after high school?

CC: Well, I have to confess that my only real experience with Quakerism was through the prism of Sidwell so it’s hard for me to distinguish what I found and continue to find so impactful about Sidwell that was unique to Sidwell, and what may be kind of inevitably a product of the Quaker ethos that surrounds Sidwell as it does Friends, where we’re sitting this evening. I think a couple of things really have stayed with me. One was an emphasis on competing only with myself, and that my scholastic or other achievements at Sidwell would be measured against my previous efforts and my potential, not against what someone else was doing or not doing. And I think that was hugely helpful for me, because I’m quite a competitive person, and I think it was good that it be sort of directed at my own potential and not outwardly directed, and I don’t think I would have that same grounding without Sidwell. The second, which very much reinforced the ethos that my family raised me with is a commitment to service, that service is not optional in life for those of us that have been blessed, that service is a responsibility for those of us who have been blessed, and I’m grateful that that came not only from my parents but was reinforced really everyday with my experience at Sidwell, so I think that there were other aspects that were important as well, the way conflicts were resolved, the

way conflict was even talked about, but I would have to say the sense of competition against one’s own potential and the sense of a daily commitment to service are two gifts that Sidwell really gave me.

Nahid Mahmud: Awesome. We were also wondering, we know you went to Stanford so what was the transition going from a Friends school like Sidwell to a huge institution like Stanford?

CC: Well I was really well prepared, and I didn’t realize how well prepared I was until I got to Stanford, and I took all the classes that at least at the time were required, I admit I have no idea if they’re the same requirements now, but I had to take a freshman writing class, I had to take a freshman class that was at the time called Civilizations, I’m sure that has a different name now and a different focus, and I just was so much more well prepared. I was more well prepared in my critical thinking, I was more well prepared in my writing, I was more well prepared in my comfort in asking questions and figuring out how to wade through the unknown than many of my classmates were. I’m really grateful for the scholastic equipment and scaffolding that Sidwell gave me. I think the biggest shock to the system was going from a small environment to a big environment, but that was one that I consciously chose. I wanted to go to a big institution, I also wanted to go to a big research institution because I was really interested in engaging in research while I was an undergraduate and I had those opportunities and I wouldn’t of had the same breadth of opportunities if I had gone to a smaller institution. So although it was a little bit of a shock to the system, it was one that I wanted and welcomed.

Both the interview and Chelsea Clinton’s speech can be found on the Friends Youtube Channel.

The interview is found in “Bo’s VodCast February 2016” and the speech is found in “Peace Week 2016: Chelsea Clinton at Friends Seminary.”

Science Requirements at Friends: A Closer Look

By JACKSON WALD ’18

When students fill out their course registrations they come across the required amount of years they need to take each subject. For English, four years are required, and for History, three years are required. The one outlier of all the major subjects is Science, where only two years are required.

Despite this fact, the Upper School Course Catalogue states: “Most students take a minimum of three years of science.”

While taking three years of science is heavily suggested, it is far from enforced.

When asked about the difference, Will Hopkins, Dean of Academics says, “The English requirements are set by NYS law.

Despite the eight credit requirement for science, the vast, vast majority of students take four, or sometimes three years of science. In this sense, the requirement is only a minimum. In very rare cases, there is a student for whom there are other academic priorities (arts, languages, etc.)

For these students, the science requirement provides the flexibility to construct an academic program over four years that is personalized.” Audrey Reynolds, head of College Counseling, said that she has not seen a student take only two years of science for over five years. She believes that if colleges see a student with only two years of science, they will be concerned about their academic capabilities.

A study done in 2013 by STEM, Science Technology Engineering Math Education Coalition, shows that only 36 percent of 2013 U.S. high school students are ready for college level science. This begs the question: Are we preparing our students enough for college level science? Hopkins says, “ Most of our graduates complete four years of science. We offer a three year, labbased sequence followed by AP courses as well as a variety of other electives and an independent research program. I'd say we are doing a fine job of preparing our students for college level study.” Hassan Wilson, head of the Science Department

at Friends, says, “We certainly prepare our students for college level science. We offer three AP courses yearly (Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.) In past years, students have told me their colleges use the same biology textbook as Friends uses in our junior-senior level Biology courses.”

Nonetheless, if one were to browse the website for Trevor Day, Dalton, or many other New York City private schools, they would see that three years are required.

While the reasons for the lack of a three year requirement are relevant, it still interesting to see the differences between New York City private schools. When asked about the Science department, The Head of the Science Department at Trevor Day, James Mcclintock, said, “Trevor students take an ‘Integrated Science’ curriculum, which means they take multiple sciences at the same time from grades 9-11, and choose from a range of electives in 12th grade.“ This systems varies greatly from Friends, which teaches an individual science each year, with the option to double up. These systems, although different in curriculum, set the foundation of teaching science for three years.

When asked if the administration would change the requirements for science, Hopkins says, “Not at this time, but evaluating the graduation requirements is something that happens in an ongoing way.” While it is not required, it is heavily recommended students take more than the minimum two years of science. Similarly, Wilson says, “Since historically close to all students take science for three years, an increase in the requirements would be a symbolic gesture, more than a real change.

If enrollment dropped for the third year of science, I would advocate for making it a requirement. I do find it problematic that there are a few students who graduate Friends without having passed Biology, even those who have taken science for four years.” It does not seem like change is on the horizon.

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Political Action Committee Survey: 2016 Presidential Election Survey Conducted By MICHAEL BRITTENHAM ’16 and AINSLEY KASS ’16 With one of the most unpredictable elections in United States history in full swing, a senior class full of eager voters along with the rest of the Upper School has engaged in spirited political discussion and activism. The Political Action Committee (PAC) polled the Upper School student body and faculty through a school-wide email to find out exactly how our school leans politically with regard to the primary and general elections. The poll asked respondents for whom they would vote and for whom they would vote if they had to cast ballots in each party. It also asked voters to include their grade, age (for faculty), their gender, their party affiliation, and whether or not they were registered and prepared to vote in the April 19th New York primary election. The survey received 195 responses. Here are some of the results:

Upper School Students:

Faculty/Staff:

Key: BERNIE SANDERS JOHN KASICH DONALD TRUMP HILLARY CLINTON TED CRUZ

Class of 2017:

Class of 2018:

Class of 2019:

Female Students:

Male Students:

Class of 2016:

Gender Non-Conforming Students

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May 2016

Talking with “Bob the Sub”

by RICHARD OMAR PAYNE ’18

Photo by Coraya Danu-Asmara ’17 Almost everyone that I’ve met who has attended Friends Seminary has said that Bob was their favorite substitute, from my sister, to lifers, to semi-lifers, and even to Friends alumni. Nevertheless, I realized that I didn't know anything else about Bob — about his life nor who he is as a person. I only knew of him but I didn't really know about him. I began to think that maybe this was also true for much of the Friends community, and that it would be a great service to learn more about this man who seems like such a permanent fixture at Friends.

Bob, born Robert Alan Landau, spent his childhood in an area called Pelham Parkway, located east of the Bronx Zoo. His parents were both teachers in the New York City school system. Bob recalls that his parents gave him a very good support system as they “prided themselves on being very reliable and providing for both [his] younger brother and [him] self.” He shares, “There was never a time where I was worried about being poor or not having enough money.” Bob lived in a big apartment house in the Bronx with his parents and his younger brother David, with whom he shared a room until he left for college. Bob still has many treasured memories of his brother and himself going to baseball games or his brother greeting him as he came home from college by delivering all the news of what was happening in New York in a humorous way.

After attending P.S. 96, Bob went to Bronx High School of Science. Bob remembers that he wasn’t happy at Bronx Science but went because his “parents were teachers and they put a lot of stock in the specialized high schools, it was a thing of prestige for them.” He adds

that he couldn't get into Music and Art or Performing Arts (two separate schools that now make up LaGuardia High School) because he didn't have skills in those areas. He surmises that he could’ve attended Christopher Columbus High School, his designated neighborhood school, which had a good honors program, but that “it was very important to my parents; they had a lot of friends who were teachers whose kids were going to Bronx Science or Stuyvesant.” At Bronx Science, Bob began to further pursue his interest in theatre. He recalls that “West Side Story had just opened when I was a sophomore my first year, and just like there are Hamilton freaks now and there were RENT freaks 20 years ago, I was sort of a West Side Story freak.” He would routinely follow the cast changes and saw it several times during its run.

He remembers thinking that “being a dancer in West Side Story, ironically, seemed like the apex of a career that [he] could have.”

As we all know, however, Bob’s career path led him to education and he maintains that the civil rights movement was part of his choice to pursue teaching.

In 1964 a volunteer campaign called the Freedom Summer was launched to get as many African Americans in the deep south states as possible registered to vote. Bob remembers many students, both white and black, signing up to go to Oxford, Ohio where they would be trained to go to Mississippi and Alabama to offer their assistance in the campaign. Bob considered going because he considered himself a leader in his college, due to being president of his theatre group at Johns Hopkins. However, after much internal struggle, Bob decided not to enlist and

attributes that decision to his being “selfprotective.” Part of his decision, he says, was that “the dangers I would have had to face would have been very unsettling for my parents.” He commends the people who did enlist as “the real leaders of my generation” and says that he “admired them so much because they had so much guts” to face the rage and opposition from the white citizens living in that area. He acknowledges that he “saw a little bit lacking in myself that I couldn't do that.” Bob’s final thoughts on the civil rights movement were that he perceived that the sense of hope and energy at the time made him believe that a lot of problems with race would be solved, but sees that sentiment contradicted by the current police relationship with people of color, and the passivity of political leaders towards the issue. The former and the latter are both “insulting Dr. King’s memory” says Bob. However, Bob didn’t really commit to a career as a teacher until he was in his late 40s and early 50s. He had gone to graduate school in theatre and had not done well. “I didn't like them they didn't like me” he says. He came back to New York and was looking for a job that would help him separate from his parents who were schoolteachers and also serve as a springboard for him to take acting classes and establish himself as an actor. Bob got a job working at the Department of Welfare, of which he says “Most of my clients were people of color, and I had some supervisors who were people of color, and I found that very, very interesting. These supervisors were for the most part, very supportive.” He stayed in social work for about twelve or thirteen years until he had enough money to focus on theatre projects instead of working at supporting himself. Bob continued to become a part of the “off off broadway” theatre community for a number of years before recommitting to social work. For a couple of months during the early 90s, he was a provisional teacher at a Morris High School (now the Morris campus) in the Bronx. When the school let teachers go because of falling enrollment, he kept his license which allowed him to substitute, and continue to seek out theater projects.

Bob then found a school in Chinatown and began to sub there in 1996. It was a middle school with grades six, seven, and eight. Bob remembers the school having two classes in each grade of high achieving kids, two or three classes with middle achieving students, ESL students, special education students, and the classes with very difficult students. “You got a feel for everything. Obviously working with the good students was a lot of fun and working with the difficult students was kind of rough” Bob says. But the

overall experience taught him how to work with students at various academic and developmental levels. In 1998, Bob had some trouble renewing his license, and a friend of his, Maxine Kern, got him a job substituting at Friends. Between that point in time and 2006, he subbed at Friends on an average of one or two days a month; most of his subbing was done in the school in Chinatown and a few other public schools. In 2007, he began to sub only at Friends. On comparing Friends to other public schools, he says “I learned a lot from subbing in the public schools.

I found myself in situations that could be very frenetic, sometimes dangerous, therefore when I was first hired to sub at Friends, I knew that the situation was going to be calmer here and more relaxed, I could come in and be more myself, and enjoy the contact I would have with the students; I think the kids picked up on that; that’s why the rapport between myself and the students has been a very positive and enjoyable one.”

When questioned about why he has continued to stay at Friends so long, he expressed that he enjoyed watching how students change over the years. “It’s always very interesting certainly in the last ten to fifteen years watching students evolve. I’ll always remember something a student did in the 5th grade or 6th grade that was very nutty, and I’ll see them in the 11th grade and I’ll want to tell them about it. They’ll look at me like ‘you’re crazy, I don’t even know that person.”

They’ve changed so much that they’ve kind of exorcised or pulled that 5th grader out of them, kind of pulled the child out of them. So it’s almost like they don’t recognize who they were. I have learned that for me to bring something up to an upper school student from their middle school past, would be kind of gauche, kind of clumsy, so I rarely do that.”

Bob understands his greatest influence at Friends is the way he interacts with the students. As a substitute, he admits that he cannot put in the same time as a regular teacher and see what is going on with a student on a daily or even monthly basis, but he tries “to be a very supportive presence to the students and “always tries to stress the positive.” “I just enjoy the interaction,”he says, “the interaction is meaningful to me.”

Bob appears to sell his own contribution to the Friends Community short. For if a student can speak so ardently of her affection for a substitute and pass it on to her brother and even future students, then he must have done much more than “provide a supportive presence.”

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A Brief Tour of Pranks at Friends

By WALTER GOLDBERG ’19 The annual tradition of Senior pranks at Friends has seen both great success and great failure over the past few years.

Bob Rosen, long-time music teacher and widely acclaimed comedic genius, reflected on some of the best senior pranks he’s witnessed over the course of his time at Friends. “A prank has to be clever, imaginative, very well-planned, but it must do no harm,” says Rosen. The pranks that tend to fail “are the pranks that anger people, that inconvenience people for no real reason, that are not well thought out,” Rosen reveals.

Rosen’s favorite prank was one from an Upper School Meeting back in the 90s: “The seniors brought in a Mariachi band in full costume with instruments,” he recalls.

What Rosen found particularly excellent about the prank was that “the music was delightful” and “no one had any idea it was happening.” Alum Akaash Mehta ’01 remembers how “The band parade[d] through the school during finals,” to most, it seems like it was a pleasant disruption.

Kim Moser ’84 said recalls how the seniors during her year released a stink bomb during silent meeting. Terri Bender Greenwald ’81 reveals that balloons were indeed once released in the meeting house.

Rosen spoke about a prank in which they “dropped confetti through the air vents at the center of the Meeting House.”

A lot of other pranks showed seniors with too much time on their hands perhaps wanting to be remembered. Rosen described another prank he liked, sharing “A girl stood up in silent meeting and recited the rhyme of the ancient mariner in almost its entirety.” Apparently she didn’t sit down for a good 20 minutes of non-stop recitation.

Other pranks centered around people moving things. Rosen described a prank from back in the 80s, recalling, “The senior boys took the head of the upper school’s office and brought it in it’s entirety down to the center of the Meeting House, his desk, his lamp, his chairs, his pictures on his desk, they even put a bookshelf down here and we all came in in the morning and there was this guy’s office.” Alum Scott Sklar ’76 said “There was one time a very small car (Mini Cooper or Triumph) was parked in front of school. We got a crowd, picked it up and turned it around 180 degrees and placed it back in its spot, I am sure the owner was a bit puzzled.” Yet another alum, Lucas Miller ’84 described that in ’83 or ’84 they pulled a similar prank in which a “beloved English teacher [and current member of the board of trustees],

Ann Sullivan, drove a VW Bug. A bunch of junior and senior boys got together, picked it up and placed it directly in front of the school steps on 16th street.” Other alums, like Schuyler Allen-Kaalb ’86, remarked on a prank where they put all the senior classroom chairs into one classroom. And Kim Moser ’84 said that around 1980 “there was an upright piano in the music room that a bunch of enterprising students moved up a flight of stairs into another room, possibly the annex (Kelly house?).”

Some other alumni relished pranks that might not pass the Bob Rosen test. Akaash Mehta ’01 described a situation where the entire senior class gathered the school in the courtyard after silent meeting for a ‘chat.’ He exclaimed, “Then [they] water ballooned and water gunned the heck out of us!” He also remembers a prank the following year where all the banisters were lined with vaseline and various reptiles like turtles were deposited in the toilets. Alum Aara Kupris Menzi ’91 said that in ’86 or ’87 they were screening Goddard’s 400 Blows to the Middle and Upper school and someone replaced it with a “different kind of 400 Blows.” And alum Andrew Hinkle ’11 said the seniors hid alarm clocks in the library that were set to go off at different times throughout the day.

Rosen has an idea for a prank he would want to do. He explains “Every year at graduation, the senior class marches past the faculty, but the faculty marches out at Rutherford place and forms a line and traditionally the seniors walk through the faculty.” He thinks it would be a funny prank to have the previous class “all dressed up as graduates come back and walk through the line and see who would notice that these are not our graduates.”

So, advice for the next few senior classes, try to follow Rosen’s rules while still being original. You’ve got your work cut out for you. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

The Community Reflects on the New Schedule

By LILY WEISBERG ’17

On January 25, upper school students left Meeting for Announcements satisfied that their feedback during the Meeting for Business the week before had resulted in a longer lunch period.

However, the Upper School Administration had already resolved, prior to the Meeting for Business, to begin community period programming at 1:25 in order to lengthen the lunch period.

This plan did not take affect until after the Meeting for Business because the administration did not want the change to hinder any comments students may have wanted to make during the meeting.

If this is to be the only adjustment to the schedule, there will, in fact, have been no changes made based on the students’ comments during the Meeting for Business.

This has led some to question whether student feedback is taken seriously. It also brings up the question of whether the schedule committee is willing to address larger issues about the structure of the schedule for next year.

One of the most pressing topics in the Meeting for Business was brought up by both Max Nitke ’18 and Bo Lauder. It had to do with the infrequency of Meetings for Announcements. Max felt it was illogical to have Meeting for Announcements every eight days, when students and teachers still organize around the conventional five-day week.

Lauder suggested a solution: returning to last year’s system of making the first meeting of the week always a Meeting for Announcements, a suggestion which Camilo Durr ’18 had made as well during several Agenda meetings. This idea was well received by the student body, and Jen Blum has since said that she is considering it as an adjustment for next year.

Following the Meeting, Wendy Wilderotter announced on February 11 that

every Day 6 Meeting for Worship will end with five minutes of announcements. Nitke responded to this change saying, “I think the problem of MFA not being frequent enough has been solved. However, the real problem is that MFA is on a day of the cycle rather than a set day of the week.”

Nitke’s concern is that the rest of the world operates on a five-day week, and so it is difficult to schedule out-of-school appointments, because no one ever knows if they are free on any given date. For this reason Nitke suggested moving to a ten day cycle, so every Monday, for example would either be a day one or a day six, which would make life outside of school much more manageable. As popular as this argument was in the Meeting for Business, Will Hopkins has said that the administration is not considering a change from the 8-day cycle.

The administration is also working through what Jen Blum has called “flow of the day changes,” and is considering moving Meeting for Worship to the morning, which was a subject of further discussion. The administration said that concerns about extended time that arose during the meeting are also being taken seriously, although a plan has not yet been developed.

This complaint seems similar to one the Agenda Committee has received about AP classes not having enough time to cover all the material. Blum noted that the extended time and AP concern must be swiftly addressed, saying, “it is less about the schedule, per se, but more about figuring out a new system that will work within the schedule that we have.” The schedule committee is going to have to develop a way to allot more time to AP classes and students with extended time within the confines of our existing schedule.

Any structural changes to the schedule would not take effect until next year. “The three divisions are highly interdependent due to shared spaces and shared faculty” said Hopkins, explaining the complications around changing the schedule. Many concerns, therefore, cannot be solved this year. However, Blum has confirmed that the schedule committee is absolutely willing to create changes in the structure of the schedule to accommodate the concerns addressed in the Meeting for Business.

That said, it remains unclear what those changes could be, given that the schedule committee has no plan to deviate from the eight day system or change the length of upper school class periods.

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May 2016

Examining the Songs of the Winter Concert

By ILANA LEHRMAN ’19

R.I.P. Mariella’s

By DAPHNE DARWISH ’19

For the first time in the school year, the entire Friends community packed into the Meeting House, with the curious wide-eyed kindergarteners huddled on the ground facing the intimidating seniors, the rowdy fifth graders peering over in the back eagerly awaiting their chance to scream “five golden rings” at the top of their lungs.

The atmosphere was antsy as the students and faculty all waited only 60 minutes until their two week winter break began, and at the same time, in-sync as a harmonious community. Many students enjoy the excitement and cheer of the holiday songs, but do any of them consider what they are singing?

Rochelle Itzen, a performing arts teacher, commented on the piece she selected this year for the all-school winter assembly. This year, she chose an Old Huron a Carol, the oldest carol, called “The Moon of Winter”.

“I think the melody is really beautiful and simple, which connects to the Quaker value of simplicity, amidst such a hectic time of year. The whole community can relax and enjoy the beauty of the season.” She sees the other songs as some being religious and some secular. Some of these songs include “Carol of the Bells”, “Jingle Bells”, “Oh, Hanukkah”, and “Silent Night”.

Abram Goren ’19 commented on the assembly, “I wouldn't change anything, but they need to stop pretending it's not a Christmas assembly.” Goren feels strongly about how his religion is portrayed. He claims that Hanukkah is not only about dreidels, people shouldn't be made to think that is so, and that the one song about Hanukkah in the program suggests only this.

While Goren questions the label of the assembly, Daphne Darwish ’19 does not

object to any aspect of the assembly, and hadn’t significantly considered its details.

When prompted, she said, “Now that you bring it up, there are a lot of songs that mention Jesus and Christianity- which I don’t have a problem with, it’s just that Friends Seminary always promotes equality but I only remember singing one Jewish song and everything else was Christmas.

Which, again, is fine but I just think that it’s there and it exists.”

To many, the constant carols being played and painstakingly arranged trees and lights displayed in the stores during the holiday season are just part of the American culture. Daphne continues, “It passes me as American culture because I think that as Americans we become very accustomed to Christmas being the ‘default’ winter and season holiday. Like I think all Americans, at least a little bit- associate Christmas with winter just because that’s how things are.”

Friends Seminary greatly values diversity and self expression within the student body. Its goal is to work to become a community more representative of the city in which we live and to improve our ability to support a diverse student body,” as stated in the Friends’ Diversity and Inclusion Mission. It is therefore important to consider the fact that out of the seven songs included in the program, five of them include the word ‘Christmas’, two include ‘Christ’ and one references a holiday other than Christmas.

As described by Andrew D. Harsh ’19, Unitarian Universalism is “The inherent worth of dignity and every person (everyone is equal). One source, one destiny: We all come from the same place, we’re all going to the same place, even if no one knows where it is.” Although Harsh does

not believe in what many of the songs are immediately suggesting, he felt he was able to put his own interpretations to the words.

He recognized that the majority of the songs were about Christmas, but does not see it as a holiday centered around religion, rather more of a secular holiday like MLK day. Andrew also made the point that many religions cannot be represented in a winter holiday assembly simply because they don’t have winter holidays.

Many students do not have any issues with the spread of music in the assembly.

Maria Fahey, an English teacher, believes there is misrepresentation of the religions portrayed through the songs. A Quaker school comes from Christianity, and she believes that more emphasis should be put on these religious roots, instead of flattening them out in attempt to accommodate everyone. When there are minimal other occasions that any religious ideas are studied, it is understandable that all of a sudden singing songs like “O, Come All Ye Faithful” can bring such a shock. She thinks it would be much more rewarding to study the “deep theological roots” and pinpoint on each specific religion rather than try to make them as uniform as possible.

While this assembly is schoolwidepopular, members of the staff and student body report their initial reactions, opinions, and their second thoughts on what can be seen as a controversial and even sensitive topic for many. Meant merely for the enjoyment for all as well as an infrequent gathering of the whole school, a mixed faith community like Friends Seminary proves the always present controversy circled around faith and religion.

It’s 12:34 on a Tuesday afternoon.

Students rush the lobby, frantically waving their IDs to sign out. No time, no energy for the crowded cafeteria, and no desire to walk more than two seconds outside and spend a lot of money on lunch. Almost all students want somewhere quick, easy, not too expensive, and conveniently across the street.

For years, the perfect alternative was the beloved Mariella’s pizza, and now, the devastating official closing of Mariella’s has fallen upon our Friends Seminary community.

Many students held their breaths for official news about whether or not the pizza store would eventually reopen. Sadly, after 37 years, Mariella’s has officially closed its doors. According to the Town & Village Blog, the owners had planned to reopen after a short closure due to a gas issue, but after five weeks of closure employees had moved on and the impending lease renewal was out of price range.

Frances White ’19 says “Mariella’s was an iconic place and a tradition to many in the school.”

However, since the school is near Union Square, and in New York City, there are countless other food options (specifically pizza options) that could potentially replace Mariella’s, like Joe’s Pizza on 14th and 3rd, why is Mariella’s so special?

White adds that Joe’s is “forever inferior,” and that it “lacks the home-iness Mariella’s naturally has.”

Others, however, are less attached to the establishment and are barely bothered by it; Daniel Vebman ’19, says “I was there maybe twice” and didn’t add any other remark.

Mariella’s will be truly missed. Not by all, but definitely by many, and it will always be remembered as the adored pizza place right across the street.

8

A Woman in Amman

Students Make the Case for Abroad Programs

By ISABEL CLEMENTS ’17

By MAX TEIRSTEIN ’17 Sometime last winter, a representative from a semester program called the “High Mountain Institute (HMI)” came to present at Friends in the Computer Lab. I watched the presentation with growing curiosity and excitement as the speaker discussed a semester of backpacking and outdoorsiness in the Colorado Rockies. I made up my mind to apply, and about 6 months later, I found myself in the Denver airport being waved down by an enthusiastic man with a sign that said “HMI” in big bubble letters. The next 111 days were some of the most eyeopening days of my life, and the 112th day was one of my life’s hardest. Saying goodbye to the family of which I had become a part was painful, and HMI continues to have an impact on my daily life.

However, I didn’t write this article to attempt to convince you, the reader, to join HMI. I loved it, but backpacking isn’t everyone’s “thing.” I wrote this in the attempt to convince you to do something new and take a semester off high school.

Last year, I fell into a monotonous routine.

Every day felt the same, and I viewed going to school as a chore, rather than an exciting opportunity to learn. It wasn’t until HMI that I realized there was more to education than obligation. Getting out of this routine allowed me to experience what I was learning and get excited about it. Having changed my mindset, I am now able to apply that positive perspective on education to my life at Friends. I can invest myself in my classes here more than I had before the fall semester.

There are plenty of valid reasons to stay home. Some people have responsibilities to sports teams, clubs, community service projects, or family. Others are perfectly content at home in the context of high school, and don’t feel motivation for a change as drastic as a semester away. Others are concerned about leaving their routines for academic, financial, or emotional reasons. But the truth is, nearly all of these issues have a counterargument for the case of the semester program. Worried you’ll miss soccer season? Apply for a spring semester, rather than fall. Worried about financing your program? Most schools have excellent financial aid and will match your aid situation at Friends. Concerned about taking the risk? This final question is at the root of a lot of excuses for not taking a semester abroad, and it is the most difficult

to answer. All I can offer is that some of the most rewarding experiences occur outside of one’s comfort zone. Finding that initial courage to apply will ultimately be an investment in your progress towards being a more confident person by the program’s conclusion.

Grace Lopez ’17, is currently taking a year abroad in Italy through “School Year Abroad (SYA).” Lopez is immersing herself in Italian culture and fashion design through her program. When discussing the routine of high school, Lopez remarked, “I felt that I didn’t know myself.” As Lopez can attest, by taking a semester or year off of high school to experience a school like HMI or SYA, students learn to grapple with their identity

and their passions. She writes, “I believe the greatest benefit of having a school semester/ year abroad is finding a different way to be happy. It’s a way for a student to discover more about what they love and what they want to see in the world, outside of their comfort bubble.”

Isabel Clements ’17, recently returned from her semester abroad in Jordan’s “King’s Academy.” She, too, discussed the effect of the semester program on her sense of self, stating, “Three months in a foreign country is a definite testament to the stability of your identity.” Clements argued for the importance of travelling abroad. “I am convinced that if everyone in America took a semester away...a national peace could self-ensue,” she claims.

Jordan: a term that, when imparted to the world wide web, will result in a myriad of links to flashy shoes, and, of course, jump shots of the star NBA player. Arabic “Al-Ordon” took on a new meaning for me when I traveled there for a condensed School Year Abroad this past semester.

I spent the the allotted time at King’s Academy, a boarding school a little ways from the capital city of Amman. Both the school’s affiliation with King Abdullah of Jordan, who founded the school in 2007, and its western-style curriculum render it susceptible to unlikely but plausible opposition. As a result, the campus is tucked away in the less-prominent, tranquil countryside that surrounds Madaba, a smaller, more conservative town. Upon arriving, I was taken aback by the friendly demeanor of nearly everyone who played a part in my journey from the airport to my dorm room, and beyond. After select members and friends of the family had cautioned my parents against their decision to send me to the “volatile” Middle East, such widespread warmth had the effect of undermining any presumption that I had formed of the way in which I would be treated. As my time at King’s progressed I came to learn that the geniality I so often experienced was not a facade, but the true character of the country that at first slowly, but then all at once, became my home.

Let’s talk about how I developed these preconceived notions. My experience as an American in Jordan was ultimately positive. Whenever it wasn’t, the sources of my discomfort were actions associated with the U.S. that people around me were subject to witnessing, actions which reflected on me as an American. Even now, back home, I continue to be ashamed of certain behaviors of the American government, or the portrayal of the Middle East by American media, things which I know my Jordanian friends see, chose to brush off when we hung out, and avoid broaching now. To actually be in a country that ingests the effects of irresponsible American conduct is entirely different from attempting to sympathize from within the United States. I found it peculiar that the very group of people who are so often demonized in the United States took me in fully, despite knowing the degree to which they are despised by the people who sent me. It was the first time in my life in which I realized that the cultures demonized by

Continued on page 9

9

May 2016 Continued from “A Woman in Amman” the U.S. largely do not demonize the U.S. back. America has a singular capacity for indiscriminate, xenophobic hate.

I recall returning to my room sometime in early November after an exhausting, social day and seeing that my mom had attempted to call me numerous times. Worried, I FaceTimed her hastily, immediately noticing how her jaw clenched, her face grim with anxiety. My mom informed me that there had been a shooting at a police training center near Amman, the closest city to my school. Two of the five killed in the incident were American, the fact with which she seemed to be most preoccupied. My mother was less alarmed by the act of killing itself, that had occurred in close proximity to my school, instead concerned with the specific identities of those shot. Her emphasis on the latter was likely not self-derived, but was plausibly promoted by whatever source from which she had gained knowledge of the event.

It is unquestionably the media that most primarily shapes the nation’s views and, even if unconsciously, afflicts a viewer with its own particular perspective and/or biases.

The media’s role in international relations is at this time of utmost importance.

Strategies utilized and choices performed by those responsible for portraying current

events in the Middle East are more critical to the global, but particularly American, understanding of these events than ever before. The problem with this national reliance on the news source is that these companies, while somewhat obliged to be providing factual information, are in favor of action-ridden stories that will increase their viewership. Fact-checking exists, but does not eliminate equivocatory news, or news that frames the issue. This kind of lucrative news carefully selects a warped perspective from which an issue, often one which must be seen from multiple angles to be fully understood, is covered. The confines that such a perspective creates disallow for a true image of transpiring events, instead putting forth a distorted one that neglects vital details. Returning from Jordan after comparing my experiences there to what people interpreted of widely covered events back home, I find nearly every news source to be illegitimate, or at least biased. As a topic that creates sensitivity across America, and therefore attracts viewers, radical Islam is apparent in (at least) the background of nearly every news story set in the Middle East. The extent to which U.S. media dramatize extreme jihadism is most evident when compared to the Jordanian media.

Surprisingly, I had gone that particularly social day at my plugged-in school without hearing about what had happened in the very country of my residence, my mother across the ocean being the first one to inform

me of the event. I find miraculous the speed with which America has come to report an incident that has the slightest chance of involving terrorism.

The West’s opinion of the Middle East is imperative to the global outlook on the area, and on its people. As ISIS and other “Islamic” terrorist groups continue to grow, the US must strive to be as supportive of non-radical Muslims across the globe as possible. The condoning of Islam as a religion, and the message that it is in no way inherently violent must first begin within our communities. Only after this will we be able to spread the message to surrounding,

Spring Coffee House 2016

Photos by Coraya Danu-Asmara ’17

as well as more distant, countries. As misconceptions that stem from the media lead to Islamophobia, and ignorance leads to exclusion, we see ahead of us a great divide that jihadi groups, including ISIS, have premeditated. The more marginalized the Muslim population grows, the more likely it is that Muslim individuals will feel the need to escape. In the most extreme cases, terrorist groups like ISIS may be the only source of refuge. As a country proudly founded on principles of human rights, home to a sufficient, integrated Islamic population that has aided, as have we all, in building the nation, we must be the ones to lead.

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Friends Athletics Teams Flourish During Winter Season

By RICK MORTENSON ’16 As we finish off the year, The Insight takes a look back at the successes of the Winter sports teams at Friends in this edition of Sports Recap.

The words “Ball is Life” are often uttered without much thought in the inner courtyard but they rang particularly true this Winter Season on the hardwood. Last year, the men’s Varsity team had a tough year, only winning six games and not qualifying for the state tournament for the first time in several years. By New Years this year, not even half way through the season, the team has amassed more wins than they had all of last season. Over winter break, the team traveled to Arizona to play in the Cactus Jam tournament where they played against top level competition including teams from Washington, California, and Alaska among others states and were able to place third after a series of hard-fought games. After the break, the team traveled to Staten Island to take on SIA, the top team in the league at the time, and got an exhilarating road victory as well as one of the best wins of the season.

The team continued to thrive and finished as the 5th seed in the ACIS and eventually qualified for the State tournament to go on to defeat Rye Country day, a team with a 6’8 college prospect. The team lost in the semi-finals in a close game against the 1st seeded Packer Pelicans but are clearly back on track after a tough season

last year. Many of our players enjoyed individual accolades, with Cal Freundlich and Jevaughni Pegues receiving AllLeague honors. Freundlich, a 4 year Varsity player, recorded his 1000th point in a game against Fieldston, an accolade only seven other players in the past 25 years have achieved. On his 1000th point of the season, Freundlich said, “Scoring 1000 was great. It’s something I’ve always worked towards and was worried I might miss because of my injury last year. That along with a great win in the first round of states made it a very memorable season.”

On the women’s side, despite being in a period of transition, the team did well and continued to develop its young talent.

New coach Adam Cash, who previously won back to back league championships with the JV boys team the two years prior, took the reins in his debut season as head coach. The highlights of the season came in very exciting victories against Brooklyn Friends and Hewitt. In the game against Brooklyn Friends, junior player Elizabeth Ely hit a clutch jumper to seal the game and give Friends a big road win. In addition, freshman Julia Barkan played outstandingly throughout the course of the season and was able to earn All-League honors. While the team continues to transition with their new head coach, no one on the team was a senior, meaning everyone will return and thus

the team will be poised to take even more strides forward next year. “This season wasn’t about wins and losses,” said Cash.

“It was more about teaching the girls how to play the game, and getting them to understand that the more work they put in, the more success they’ll see,” he went on to say. Since the end of the season, many of the team members have been “coming in before school two, three, sometimes four times a week to workout and improve their skills.” Coach Cash says that “if they keep this up, next season should be a huge success.”

As fast as this year has gone, the Friends Seminary Winter track team was even faster this past season. Competing in five Ivy League meets this winter, the team had the highest placing among every ACIS team who participated and featured a number of extremely impressive individual accolades while shattering records. The women’s 4 x 200 team, featuring junior Ashley Thompson, sophomore Ale Rizzo, junior Mali Axinn, and junior Fatima Mbaye, broke the school record yet again (they had held the previous fastest time in the 4 x 200 as well.) Each member was also eligible to go to the state championship in Ithaca, but very narrowly missed qualifying in the final meet. Nevertheless, runners Thompson, Rizzo, and Mbaye all received All-League honors. On the men’s side,

the team shared similar success in shot put, with seniors Atticus Wakefield and Elijah Allen placing second and third in all meets including those against prospective college football players from Poly Prep and other Ivy Preparatory School League schools. Even though veteran senior captains Felix Parker, Cat Bactat, and Giles Lemmon will all be off to college in a few months, plenty of young talent remains as the mantle of success and sportsmanship is passed on and our rising athletes push through their spring seasons towards the end of a challenging but rewarding athletic year.

Last but certainly not least, the Friends Swim team enjoyed another very successful season. Frolicking in the pools of the Lower East side this past winter, Friends competed against top level ACIS teams and other schools city-wide in various meets and invitationals. Senior captains Tsejin ‘Ragin’’ Bhotia, Holly ‘Big G’ Gottsegen, Jack ‘The Flash’ Warshaw, and Santi ‘The Colombian Torpedo’ Niño led the team throughout the season. In addition, Bhotia and junior Javin Bose won All-League awards in the ACIS. The Winter season was a great success, and the Spring season is going well, too.

Consider seeing the softball, baseball, track, golf, or tennis teams in action!

11

May 2016

March Madness Swept the Nation

By SAM JACOVITZ ’18

March Madness has had excitement from Cinderella stories to last second buzzerbeaters since Oregon beat Ohio State 46-33 in 1939 to win the first Division I basketball tournament ever. However, this year’s tournament may have been the best one yet. March Madness in previous years has always been known for its unpredictability, and 2016 was no different. On the second day of the tournament in the Round of 64, Middle Tennessee ousted Michigan State 90-81 in arguably the biggest upset in college basketball history. According to ESPN’s tournament challenge, out of the 13 million brackets made, 98% of them picked Michigan state to beat Middle Tennessee, and 22% of brackets picked them to cut down the net and win the National championship. This was only the beginning of the insanity that happened in the tournament.

Texas A&M faced off against Northern Iowa in the Round of 32, in one of the most exciting games of the tournament. Northern Iowa was up 32-22 at halftime, with Jeremy Morgan having scored 14 points. Texas A&M fought back cutting the lead to six with 14 minutes to play, but when there were 44 seconds left and the Aggies were down by 12, it seemed hopeless. ESPN’s Five Thirty Eight website had the Aggies’ win probability with 44 seconds left at one in 3,000 or just .04%. However, during the remaining time, Texas A&M went on a 14-2 run, consisting of three layups, a dunk, and a three pointer. Four different people turned the ball over on Northern Iowa in the final minute. At the end of regulation, the Aggies were tied 71-71 with Northern Iowa. The game ended up going to Double OT, but Texas A&M came out victorious with a 92-88 win. Texas A&M was the first Division 1 college basketball team ever to come back and win when they were down by ten with less than a minute

remaining. The last time anything similar to this has happened was when NBA player Tracy McGrady singlehandedly brought his team, the Rockets, back, by scoring 13 points in 33 seconds to win 81-80 over the Spurs after being down by eight, with 40 seconds remaining. On the other hand, Texas A&M’s victory was in an elimination game, which makes it even more extraordinary.

After three weeks of madness, four teams remained, all of them looking for a way to play in the national championship game. The first game of the doubleheader was the Oklahoma Sooners against the Villanova Wildcats. Oklahoma had beaten the Wildcats by 20 in a game earlier this year and were a big favorite to win again after their star player Buddy Hield had scored 37 points in their previous win over Oregon. However, to the surprise to almost everyone in NRG stadium, Villanova pulled off the upset by blowing out Oklahoma 95-51 in the most lopsided Final Four victory of all time. On the other side of the bracket the North Carolina Tar Heels faced off against the Syracuse Orange Men. The freshman hero for Syracuse in the previous game, Malachi Richardson, who led his team back to beat Virgina after being down 15 at halftime, was pretty absent in UNC’s 83 to 66 win over Syracuse. Brice Johnson led the team with 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Villanova and North Carolina were set to meet in a historic NCAA tournament finale.

Seventy-five thousand fans filed into NRG stadium to witness Villanova and North Carolina face off. Right from the beginning at the tip-off it was obvious that the game was going to be an emotional, physical, and close game. Win or lose, some players such as seniors Ryan Arcidiacono, Daniel Ochefu, Marcus Paige, and Brice Johnson will be playing their final college basketball game. Villanova showed right

from the start that their game against Oklahoma was not a fluke jumping out to a 17-12 lead. At the end of a seesaw first half UNC had the lead 39-34. Joel Berry II contributed with 15 points and Villanova looked to be in a tough spot, but they did not give up. After Ryan Arcidiacono’s eight points with six minutes to play Villanova were leading 65-57. However, the craziness didn’t even begin until there were under two minutes remaining. With two minutes left and North Carolina down six Marcus Paige did all he could to get his team back in the game. After getting blocked on a two point shot he was given the ball back and hit a fade away three pointer to cut the lead to three. Then, after a UNC steal, Paige stormed up the court and threw up a contested lay up which rolled off rim, but he grabbed his own miss and put it up again to get the friendly role and cut the lead to 72-71 with 22 seconds remaining. After Villanova’s Josh Hart knocked down two pressure free throws to stretch the lead to three points with 13 seconds left. Joel Berry hustled the ball up the court and passed the ball over a lunging Daniel Ochefu. Paige took an unbalanced double clutched contested 25 foot three pointer, and was somehow was able to knock down the shot. The game was now tied 74-74 with 4.3 seconds remaining as the stadium erupted with chants of, “TAR HEELS TAR HEELS TAR HEELS.” Kris Jenkins inbounded the ball to Ryan Arcidiacono while Jenkins trailed behind him, with two seconds left Arcidiacono underhand tosses the ball to Jenkins who fired up a long range three to win the national championship, and it rolled in.

Villanova had won the NCAA tournament on a last second buzzer beater by Kris ‘Big Smoove’ Jenkins. Jenkins hit the shot that every kid dreamed about, ending one of the greatest college basketball games of all time.

Cipher

By RACHEL HODES ’17

This is a basic substitution cipher, where letters of the cipher text are substituted for specific letters in the plain text.

“PYVDL AB QYS N EDNQB; AS AB NQ DQI. YQD IYDB QYS DBSNUJABR N IAHSNSYLBRAP AQ YLIDL SY BNZDOTNLI N LDKYJTSAYQ; YQD ENGDB SRD LDKYJTSAYQ AQ YLIDL SY DBSNUJABR SRD IAHSNSYLBRAP. SRD YUXDHS YZ PDLBDHTSAYQ AB PDLBDHTSAYQ. SRD YUXDHS YZ SYLSTLD AB SYLSTLD. SRD YUXDHS YZ PYVDL AB PYVDL.” - ODYLOD YLVDJJ

Those who solve it can send either the solution or the deciphered text to insight@friendsseminary.org.

The first three to email us will have their names printed in the next edition. Good luck!

12

Q & A with Stefan, History Teacher and Musician

Photo by Coraya Danu-Asmara ’17

By REBECCA FINLEY ’16 and SABRINA EDELMAN ’16

Who are your favorite artists and bands?

Right now, my favorite band is probably the National. As to who else I listen to right now, I really like Ryan Adams’ cover of 1989, the full Taylor Swift album. I’m listening to this band called Matthew and the Atlas, and Milky Chance, I’m digging them right now.

The National is pretty much a mainstay, or Arcade Fire except for [their album] Reflektor. And, Rural Alberta Advantage.

Why do you like those artists and bands?

I like bands that are musically adventurous as well as lyrically interesting. So not necessarily lyrics like, “I love a girl, here’s a song about her. I love a girl…”

So, not country music?

No, but that’s more like “I love a girl, here’s a song about her. I love a girl, but my pickup can’t get gas.” That’s unfortunately where country music is today. I like songs that are more poeticbased, more than songs that are just straight, “this is how I feel, and I will sing about it” songs. And, I also like bands that are very musically talented.

For example, both the National and Rural Alberta Advantage have incredible drummers, wildly different, but two of the best drummers I’ve ever heard. So that’s what keeps me interested.

How would you describe your band, Stefko?

I’m in it. So there’s the first descriptive measure. In terms of sound, I guess we are kind of indie-folkish; it’s mainly guitar, vocals, and cello. Sometimes we’ll have a bass and some backup vocals. It’s very stripped down. It’s melodic. It’s simple.

Are you the lead vocalist?

Yes, I am.

What is your favorite song by your band?

It is probably a song called, “Girl in Black and White,” which is about a photograph, a black and white photograph.

Would you ever join a band at school?

Would I be interested in playing with other faculty and students? Yeah, sure. Playing is fun. I’d need to practice because I’m kind of out of practice, since I need to, you know, teach kids. But, yeah, I’d be open to that.

So, why did you stop playing live?

It just got to be, with teaching, and then with coaching, and clubs, and then writing recommendation letters, it just became too hectic… Would I like to play live again? Yeah, sure…

Do you sell your music?

No, I give it away at this point. I used to sell it. I have this CD that is still for sale. It was recorded back in 2006. I still record, though, periodically, thanks to the iPads that the school gave us. But, most of the stuff I do now, I just stream onto something like Soundcloud.

Have you ever written a song with a political message?

Yep… I didn’t necessarily write all of it. But, in 2004, during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine… I put together a concert series in the East Village with four or five acts. There was no charge to come in, but people could donate money, and we raised a bunch of money for election observers. The center-piece of my set during that performance was a song [with content from] my buddy [who] had written a poem, which was okay, and I took some of that poem and put it to music. Then, I wrote a chorus, and I added some Ukrainian language as well. It’s lyrical content was basically about how Russia had screwed Ukraine over for many, many years, and appeared to be screwing Ukraine over again in this particular election.

Would you want to write more politically charged songs?

When you write lyrics, I don’t think it's something you can force. When you realize you have a skill at writing lyrics you sorta realize what lyrical content is best suited to your writing style. If I tried to write more politically charged lyrics it would just be too straightforward with no metaphor. It would just be like: here's

an issue that I'm commenting on with no subtlety whatsoever. Which I really didn't want to do. So what I found to be more potent, was to take songs that were already politically charged and doing it in my own type of style make the musicality fit the way that I’m playing as opposed to trying to come up with new politically charged songs.

Who's your politically charged artist?

I think a lot of guys in the hip hop community right now, the ones who are really doing that well: Immortal Technique, Sage Francis. I think from a singer songwriter perspective you have to tip your hat to Bob Dylan, obviously.

You have artists that I don't particularly care for do this, like Dixie Chicks, were big in the Bush Era in terms of being very critical of him. But I don't think sadly in the time that we are living in now you can point to one particular artist or a group of artist as you could have done in the 60s,70s, 80s (with punk) and go they are the voice of this generation.

Now unfortunately the music industry has become so saturated and almost selfindulgent to the point of comedy with guys like Kanye West, who think that they are politically charged, but they are sheer spectacles of themselves.

So, you won't be voting for him then?

Nah, I won’t be voting for him in 2020.

Whose are your fellow band members?

I used to play with a guy named Matt Logan, he played cello. And his wife Kate Black would play bass and sing backup vocals.

How did you get into music?

My parents signed me up for guitar lessons when I was in seventh grade, and apparently my family has a musical

background to it. My mom is a really good singer, although she never did it professionally. Apparently I come from a long line of guys who would sing in church. Then I got hooked up with some friends in 8th grade and got my first band together. We played together throughout high school and that was kind of interesting. I guess where I realized that I wanted to do this more seriously was in college when I started meeting people who were there because of music, like music majors, or people who are dead set on making it in the industry or at least recording something and putting it out there. And you have to remember this was before you could just pull out an iPad and record someone. This was when recording was still like a big undertaking. So just being immersed in that community for four years really just solidified my liking of music.

Is there a particular song/moment that made you want to do this?

I'm ashamed to say this, but when I was 14, my dad took me to see Fiona Apple, which I was excited about, and the Counting Crows, which I was not so excited about. Fiona Apple was great, she was still really young, she must have been 19 at the time. But then the Counting Crows came on and I really appreciated their set, and watching Adam Duritz, who I now see in the East Village all the time, oddly enough, which is weird. Watching him onstage as sort of the frontman of a band, I thought I could do this, and it seems fun. Jumping around with the microphone, dreadlocks flopping everywhere. So I think that was the moment where it crystallized like that looks like a lot of fun and it's something I would like to do.

13

May 2016

The City of Lead

By BRYAN IRELAND ’17

Angry inhabitants of Flint, Michigan protest the government’s policies which resulted in undrinkable water.

As residents of New York City, when we turn on our faucets and drink water from them, we can expect that we will not get sick from it. The same cannot be said for the rest of the country, as a town in the Northern part of the country has recently discovered. How can a town so near one of the cleanest freshwater reservoirs in

North America have toxic water? That is a question that many people have asked the government officials in Flint, Michigan.

For many years, the town of Flint purchased water from Lake Huron that was treated by a Detroit water company. Then, in April of 2014, the city switched their water source from Lake Huron to water from

the closer and less expensive Flint River.

Residents were uneasy about this decision.

Their local Congressman, Dan Kildee, said, "We go from the freshest, deepest, coldest source of freshwater in North America, the Great Lakes, and we switch to the Flint River, which, historically, was an industrial sewer." Soon afterwards, residents found that their water was colored brown or red due to iron corrosion. Later, in the summer of 2014, residents reported incidents when coming into contact with the water resulted in severe skin irritation as well as loss of hair. In the fall of 2014, the city issued an E.coli warning, urging residents to boil water, and the city put more chlorine into the water treatment to kill the potential bacteria. The chlorine levels eventually were too high, and caused even worse reactions to the water. Despite all of this, the city said the water was safe to drink, even after the local General Motors plant refused to use it due to the water being extremely corrosive to the manufactured car parts. In early 2015, the water system of Detroit offered to reconnect their water supply to Flint while waiving all fees, but their offer was declined by city officials.

After increasing amounts of pressure from inhabitants, the level of lead in the water

was found to be 104 parts per billion, according to the inspector of the city. The level of lead which requires governmental action is 15 parts per billion. Chemistry students here at Friends have applied their classroom knowledge in researching how the problem developed and how it could have been prevented.

While the crisis is in the process of being resolved, as the federal government declared a state of emergency and is currently in an intervention process, the damages from lead poisoning will probably be catastrophic and long-term. According to Medlineplus, lead poisoning in children, infants, and fetuses could lead to numerous developmental issues, including stunted growth, behavioral and attentive disorders, mental retardation, loss of hearing, and kidney failure. Possible symptoms of acute lead poisoning may include nausea and cramping, increased irritability and aggression, anemia, digestive issues, insomnia, headaches, eating problems, numbness, vomiting, weakness, seizures, and comas. It is very possible that inhabitants of Flint, Michigan will have to deal with the fallout of the pipeline switch for a very long time.

Is the High School Application Process Useful?

By HAILEY ARONSON ’18 Those who have gone through the process of applying to a private high school in New York City often justify the stressful application by saying that it will make the daunting college process easier, but is this true?

As a I am preparing for my junior year, I have been thinking about college more and more. I came to Friends in ninth grade due to my old school ending in eighth grade. I found applying to high school to be fairly stressful, as I spent the first semester of eighth grade preparing for and taking tests, filling out applications, writing essays, and touring different schools, all things which one typically does when applying for college as well.

Throughout the process of applying to high school, I would hear parents and even teachers around me say that what I was going through was almost as much work as the college application process. As I have started thinking more about college, I have been wondering if applying to all those schools in eighth grade will actually give me an advantage over some of my peers when it comes to college.

To see if there is a significant difference

between the experiences of applying to college for students who have had to apply to a private high school, such as Friends, and students who have stayed at the same school, I sent a survey to a sample of the current seniors here at Friends. This survey included various questions about the college application, concerning how stressful it is and how difficult different aspects are.

Out of the 39 seniors who responded to the survey, 21 students stated that they came to Friends some time after sixth grade, 19 of whom came for high school. Of these 19 who came for high school, the most common reason for coming to Friends was that the school one had previously attended ended in eighth grade and so students were forced to find a new school, although 21% of new students said that they had wanted to leave their old school for other reasons.

When asked how difficult students found either the SAT or the ACT on a scale of one to five, one being very easy, five being very difficult, most students replied that they had found it fairly difficult, being that 40% of students answered four. Most students found the writing component of the application (this would include any essays or other

pieces of writing that they had to compose) to be much easier than the standardized tests. The median rating for how difficult all students found the writing component was was a three, implying that most students found the writing to of average difficulty.

Comparing the difference between the responses from students who came for high school and older students, newer students rated the stress of applying to college with a mean of about 3.2, whereas older students (those who came before sixth grade) had slightly higher mean rating for stress of approximately 3.9. This difference is statistically significant, which would suggest that students who have already gone through some type of school application process find applying to college less stressful than those for whom it is a new experience. However, this conclusion may be in invalid due to the fact that my sample was not truly a random, and therefore may not be representative of the whole senior grade and since the size of my sample was fairly small.

Students who came after sixth grade also responded having a slightly easier time on the standardized test (mean rating of 3.05 for newer students versus 3.22 for lifers),

and were less likely to participate in outside of school tutoring or test prep, although these differences are not significant.

What does all this mean? Although the survey results do show a difference in how easy it is for students who have already gone through a similar experience as the college application, we cannot conclude that that is the only reason why students said they had an easier time. Perhaps students who came later are less truthful and simply responded that they had had an easier time. Even though this scenario is improbable, it goes to show that there are ways in which the results could be disproven, so we cannot conclude causation.

However, the data does support the claim that perhaps applying to high school does give an advantage to some students, not necessarily in being accepted, but in having an easier time going through the process.

Does this mean that you should apply to different high schools in eighth grade just for the experience? No. If you know you want to stay in one school and you do not have to leave, it is probably best to enjoy, and not have to deal with the extra stress.

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Friends Trips to South Africa and Paris over Spring Break

South Africa Photos By Scott Leff ’16

Paris Photos By Lizzie Ely ’17

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May 2016

Is it Bad to Consume Protein Powder?

The Fight Over GMOs Takes Flight, GMOs Take Center Stage

By ISA SKIBELI ’18

By TESSA DEFRANCO ’17

Michael Specter, a writer for The New Yorker, claims there is no evidence that genetically modified organisms are harmful to humans. However, with so many people taking stands against GMOs, it is reasonable to wonder who is right in this ongoing debate.

GMOs are the result of biotechnology, a relatively new laboratory process which involves the transfer of genes from one species to another. Making a copy of a gene for a desired trait from one organism and using it in another is often done for the purpose of making plants resistant to certain diseases, pests, chemical treatments, and environmental conditions, but can also improve the crop’s nutritional value according to GMO Answers. Today, nearly half of the world’s soybeans and a third of its corn are genetically modified.

Specter led an assembly earlier this year that focused on his perspective of GMOs and left many students intrigued by his strong, unwavering stance on the issue.

While admitting that GMOs are potentially harmful to humans and the environment, he claimed, “There has never been one scientifically valid case of GMOs making a person sick. Nowhere.” If this is so certain, why do so many people oppose GMOs, and why have more than a million people signed a petition urging the Food and Drug Administration to require GMO labeling?

According to James Hamblin from The Atlantic, the major argument against GMOs is “driven by Internet rumors, liberal anti-corporatism, and mothers concerned about their children.” Despite this supposedly unreliable root source of opposition, according to the Institute for Responsible Technology, genetically modified organisms can cause a loss of genetic diversity, lead to the exploitation of

small-scale farmers by biotech companies, and are ultimately unsustainable in the long run. However, Specter claims that these studies “are not carried out by legitimate scientists and reviewed by their peers.

They are political statements. There is no conflicting data. They are not a serious group of scientists.”

Many arguments against GMOs seem to be flawed. Some create a connection between the introduction of GMOs and health problems of Americans, such as food allergies, reproductive disorders, autism, and digestive problems, even though there is no scientific evidence that GMOs are a contributing factor to the rise of these issues.

In addition, studies, cited by the Institute for Responsible Technology, conducted on humans demonstrate that although genetically modified food can leave “material” inside us, they fail to say how this is directly harmful.

Despite these weaknesses in the antiGMO argument, according to the Institute for Responsible Technology, there is evidence of a pesticide called Roundup being unhealthy and possibly unsafe for human consumption.

Roundup is a glyphosate pesticide that was created by the company Monsanto to kill weeds that damage genetically modified crops. According to the Institute for Responsible Technology, Roundup is linked to causing cancer, birth defects, and superweeds that cause farmers to use even more pesticides. However, Specter goes as far to say, “their glyphosate assertions are laughable.”

Because of all of the different evidence supporting both sides of the argument, it is difficult to say who is correct. Specter says, “Of course there is a possibility that GMOs can harm humans or the environment.

NOTHING is without risk, including organic food.”

Many adults and teens, especially young male athletes, consume protein powder and supplements as a way to regain strength after a workout and build up muscle mass. Companies producing protein powder and supplements claim they boost muscle growth, aid weight loss and speed up metabolism, allowing consumers to reach high levels of physical performance, and increase energy levels.

What most people don’t know, however, is that many of these powders and supplements have been found to negatively impact health, and contain damaging ingredients. Protein powder comes in a variety of flavors, ranging from chocolate to vanilla to fruit punch, and are often mixed with liquids. Health food and juice bars often mix protein powder into drinks and as well as smoothies.

People who use protein supplements and powders are often unaware of the serious health implications. Protein supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and are not tested to certify that they are safe, effectual, and do not contain contaminants. Many contain a host of chemicals such as Anabolic Steroids. They can cause dramatic decrease in testosterone levels in men, causing fertility loss, reduced bone strength, sore muscles, anxiety, depression, and fatigue. Protein supplements also increase the risk of sickness with long term illnesses such as prostate cancer, heart disease, and liver and kidney damage.

State laws require manufacturers to state if their product includes any substances that pose a risk of cancer or infertility. However, many companies that produce protein supplements do not abide by these requirements.

According to Consumer Reports, many of the supplements contain varying amounts of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury.

The US Pharmacopeial (USP)Convention, is a scientific nonprofit organization which sets standards for the strength, quality, and ingredients of medicines, food ingredients, and dietary supplements in the United States, According to the USP’s study discovered that drinking three servings of the protein shake EAS Myoplex Original Rich Dark Chocolate Shake exposes people to an average of 16.9 micrograms of arsenic, which exceeds the USP limit of 15 micrograms per day, and an average of 5.1 micrograms of cadmium, slightly above the USP 5 micrograms per day. and USP standards are used by the Food and Drug Administration. The study also

discovered unsafe levels of metals for other protein supplements.

In their mission to gain the perfect body, many men, and also a rising number of women, are developing a dependence on protein power. Scientists and nutritionists have spoken about how taking large amounts of protein powders and supplements everyday and replacing protein drinks with meals is becoming a recognized eating disorder.

“Body-conscious men who are driven by psychological factors to attain a level of physical or masculine 'perfection' are prone to use these supplements and drugs in a manner that is excessive and which was demonstrated in this study to be a variant of disordered eating,” said Dr Richard Achiro, psychotherapist from the Alliant International University in Los Angeles.

“As legal supplements become increasingly prevalent around the globe, it is all the more important to assess and treat the psychological causes and effects of excessive use of these drugs and supplements,” he continues.

“The marketing efforts, which are tailored to addressing underlying insecurities associated with masculinity, position these products perfectly as a “solution” by which to fill a void felt by so many men in our culture,” Dr. Achir addeds .

A study, conducted by Dr. Achiro and Dr. Peter Theodore and presented at the American Physiological annual conference in 2015 involved the examination of 195 male participants, from age 18 to 65. These men had all consumed legal appearance and performancing enhancing protein supplements over 30 days, and exercised a minimum of twice a week in order to improve fitness and or appearance. Some common protein products used by the men included whey protein, creatine and L-carnitine. The men were surveyed, and over 40 percent said their use of supplements had gone up over time. 22 percent said they were concerned about their own use of protein supplements, while eight percent said that their doctor had advised them to stop using the supplements due to adverse health impacts. Three percent said they had been hospitalized because of overuse of protein powders and supplements.

The bottom line is, be smart about how you get your protein. While protein powders and supplements may have short term effects that increase the size of your abs and help you perform better physically, ultimately they will end up taking a toll on your health and overall wellbeing. Taking protein supplements just isn't worth it. After a workout try eating a granola bar and having a sports drink. You should also make sure to be getting plenty of protein in other ways. Some great sources of protein include meat, poultry, seafood, beans, peas, eggs, soy products, nuts, and seeds. Your body will thank you.

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Backpage

MOVIE MATCH Match the famous movie to the line of dialogue contained in its script.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Gone with the Wind

"Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything."

The Godfather

“There’s no place like home.”

“Here’s Johnny!”

Starwars

“May the force be with you.”

The Wizard of Oz

"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

Jerry Maguire When Harry Met Sally The Terminator

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

“Look, you're a hoops dude. Not a musical singer person. Have you ever seen Michael Crawford on a cereal box?”

“Show me the money!”

Bonnie and Clyde

“I’ll be back.”

The Shining

“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

High School Musical Zoolander The Karate Kid Dead Poets Society

SUDOKU

3 5 6 5 2 1 2 6 8 7 4 5 1 9 6 4 9 4 8 7 1 3 4 1 7 8 1 6 2 4 2015 & 2016

“I’ll have what she’s having.”

"I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is."

“We rob banks.”

Writers Bryan Ireland ’17

Max Teirstein ’17

Nahid Mahmud ’17

Camilo Durr ’18

Rachel Hodes ’17

Zara Schreiber ’17

Daphne Darwish ’19

Rebecca Finley ’16

Hailey Aronson ’18

Richard Mortenson ’16

Ilana Lehrman ’19 Richard Omar Payne ’18

THE

Student Lens

Featuring the Work of Jamie Brunstad ’18

The following is a photo taken by Jamie Brunstad ’18. If you would like to feature your own work contact insight@ friendsseminary.org.

Chief Editors

Isa Skibeli ’18

Sabrina Edelman ’16

Isabel Clements ’17

Sam Jacovitz ’18

Jackson Wald ’18

Tessa DeFranco ’17

Lily Weisberg ’17

Walter Goldberg ’19

Designers Adrian Moore ’17 Coraya Danu-Asmara ’17 Maeve Woollen ’17 Morgan Rosenkranz ’17 Zara Schreiber ’17

Advisors John Galayda Deanna Yurchuk