Evergreen THE
April 3, 2013
Volume XLVIII, Issue 5
Sidelined in the classroom
Business Club receives funds for real-world investments Francesca Riddick
Concussed students struggle to keep up with work, teachers labor to accomodate needs Shuman, Assistant Head of Upper School, Honelynn Parker, Learning Specialist, magine yourself stuck in a tunnel nurses Celia Cogan and Katie Trimmer, of darkness, then emerging into R.N., Dr. Janet Arnold, Director of Student fog and confusion. The darkness Support Services, and team leaders. only goes away if you allow yourself to The new system focuses on the be isolated for weeks, with only a haze of academic problems that come with having difficulty at the end of that tunnel. a concussion, prioritizing them over After noticing an sports. This creates an entirely increasing number of new division of work for Betsy students relapsing once and Kent. The brain they return to school from Here is how it works. First, gets shaken up concussions, Greenhill your brain hurts (headaches, just like a snow has implemented a new sensitivity to light, and nausea globe and then all academic reentry program after a hard hit). You complain of the snow bits for students with serious to Betsy. If she thinks you have fly around, and it concussions. a concussion, she has you do takes a while for For athletic trainer a “shut-down”: no looking the snow to calm Betsy Nadler, this has meant down.” at phones, no watching TV, a new reality. She may go no school for 48 hours. You from therapy on a student take the ImPACT test, which with an ACL injury to taping confirms your concussion. a student with a broken You start daily check-ins with thumb to deciding when a student should Betsy or Kent, who decide what you can take their final exams. This is the new face and cannot do on a day-to-day basis. of concussion treatment at Greenhill at a Progressively, you take the ImPACT test time when people are realizing the danger more often. You start to add things like that comes with having a brain injury. taking notes in class. Once you pass the If left unwatched and unregulated, ImPACT test, you are officially recovered. students with concussions can face You start doing school work regularly. memory loss and other complications in Now the problem is making up everything the future. The pressure in the brain can you missed. even be fatal. “It’s the academic piece we were To formulate the new system that missing,” Betsy said. “While reviewing addresses academics, athletic trainers Kent our management program we realized Johnson and Betsy worked with Laura we needed to do a better job directing the Ross, Head of Upper School, Rebecca return to academics.” Sera Tuz
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Asst. News Editor
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Graphic by Greer Goss
Staff Writer
Prior to this year, students would go through athletic therapy, but would have to figure out the academic side on their own. Now, the athletic trainers are the ones leading decisions about the return to work. Most students, with the guidance of a concussion specialist outside of school, visit Betsy once a day to check in. It is here that decisions are made about the student’s progress, which determines the amount of work they can begin to do. One of the concussion specialists many Greenhill students see is Dr. James Sterling, M.D. at Texas Orthopaedic Associates. He compares a concussion to a snow globe. When Betsy explains why students have to shut down, she refers to Dr. Sterling’s analogy. “Once you shake the globe, the snow flies, which is a perfect example of what is happening in the brain on a cellular level,” she said. “The chemicals exit the injured cells and cause a neurometabolic cascade. It takes about a week for the ‘snow’ to settle and there should be little external brain stimulation. Thus the shut down.” Although there has been no change in the number of concussions this year (30 so far this year, compared to 37 total last year), the athletic trainers decided to work on a more regimented academic reentry process after a student athlete relapsed last year because they began their schoolwork too soon. Now that academics are more closely monitored, teachers are more aware of cont’d on page 22
The Board of Trustee’s investment committee recently entrusted Business Club with the sum of $100,000 from to invest in the stock market. Though the committee is in charge of overseeing the investment of Greenhill’s endowment; however, the donation is entirely comprised of personal contribution by the committee’s members. The money will be used to give Business Club members experience in investing real money. Returns will go to the endowment. The club leaders—juniors Lewis Carlson and Hank Golman, copresidents, and sophomore Christian Holmes and junior Blake Lieberman, co-vice presidents—pitched the idea of managing real money to the Board’s investment committee last fall. They dressed in suits and ties, aiming to make the presentation as professional as possible. A PowerPoint presentation detailed the project’s structure, approval process, timeline, and proposed amount of money. The proposed sum was $30,000 to $50,000. Melissa Orth, Chief Financial Officer, and Katie Robbins, Director of Finance and Human Resources, helped Hank and Lewis create the PowerPoint and the project it outlined. “They were very organized and well spoken,” said Will Rose, chair of the investment committee and father of seventh-grade student Alex. In the end, the proposition was approved—with a surprising bit of good news. The investment committee decided to commit $100,000. “The committee felt that the idea of having the club manage a portfolio of US public equities had merit as a learning experience for the students, [provided they had] guidelines to follow regarding suitable companies, diversification, position sizing, and internal controls such that likely returns will be acceptable,” Mr. Rose said. Hank said the club leaders highfiving one another after they heard the news. “We were all very excited,” Hank said. “We know that it’s going to be a long process over the next year, but we’re very excited.” The investment committee also decided to provide the money through committee members’ personal contributions, rather than allocate part of Greenhill’s endowment to the project. cont’d on page 6
Also in this issue... News Teacher Salaries
Features Reach for the Stars
Double Truck Capturing Capstones
Special Report Seeing Cindy Sherman
News Editor Rachel Diebner explains the nuanced methodology behind teacher salaries, including how they are set and the effects of external factors. page 4
Assistant News Editor Christian Holmes speaks with alum Tina Srivastava ’05 about her aeronautical accomplishments. page 10
Ten seniors are in the midst of finishing their capstones. The Evergreen reports on the adventures they have embarked upon. pages 12-13
Students in several Upper School classes are helping to orchestrate a Late Night at the DMA. Content Editor Samantha Carp investigates. page 14
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