April 2021 | The Evergreen, Greenhill School

April 21, 2021 Volume 56, Issue 5

the Everything Greenhill

evergreen.greenhill.org

In between the binary Gender and sexuality at Greenhill, p. 10

Photo illustration by Lane Herbert and Sarah Luan

Emma Nguyen Associate Editor Nate Stitt News Editor

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thered.

That’s how a junior says they felt after their teacher’s attempts to be more inclusive made them feel more excluded.

The teacher told their class that students would be split into groups of boys and girls the next time they met. If any student identified otherwise, they should email their preferred group.

Nobody emailed, so the teacher split the students by gender in the next class.

Inadvertently, the teacher prevented a non-cisgender person from “passing” as their birth sex by asking students to indicate a preferred group. And by splitting students into groups by perceived gender, the teacher had made the junior feel alienated from themselves and their peers— “othered.”

“So, what would be the point?” said the junior student, who asked to remain anonymous

News

Views

Head of School Lee Hark rolls out the first strategic plan of his tenure, p. 2

Mask-wearing is an act of empathy, despite the end of the Texas mandate, p. 5

Informing Greenhill since 1966

to avoid harming to the teacher.

Greenhill is known among its peer institutions as a diverse and progressive school, but some students feel this inclusive reputation doesn’t always translate into full acceptance of all community members.

To those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer, there is still an underlying fear of rejection within the school community.

“Policy is not reality,” said Michael Legacy, a former Upper School math teacher who identifies as gay and sponsored the campus

group True Colors—a club similar to a gay-straight alliance—until his retirement last year. “Greenhill has always been ahead of the curve in terms of trying to make the environment accepting, but that doesn’t mean it always is.”

Arts

Sports

Primer teacher and cheerleading coach Tracey Pugh writes her fourth collection of stories, p. 7

Upper School student has film accepted into the South by Southwest Film Festival, p. 13

Eating disorders among female athletes requires action by coaches and companies, p. 15

Features

Full selves Since the struggle for Black American civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, Greenhill has positioned itself as a progressive force in the larger Dallas community. The school has established itself at the forefront

of diversity, equity, and inclusion advancements, especially among independent schools in Texas, Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester said.

“Our mission compels us to sustain a diverse and inclusive community,” said Head of School Lee Hark. “Those aren’t just words—they represent one of the primary goals of our school. Every student at Greenhill deserves to feel fully included.” !"#$%#&'()"#)*+),Photo by Raag Venkat

4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001

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News

Greenhill 2025: Growing stronger together Administration unveils new strategic plan

Khushi Chhaya Features Editor

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he administration has released a new strategic plan that will bring significant change to the school’s physical campus, philosophies and learning systems.

“Greenhill 2025: Growing Stronger Together” identifies four key areas of focus: strengthening commitment to academic excellence; developing the whole student; building a more connected community; and planning for and investing in financial sustainability.

The plan seeks to enhance community life through the work of task forces focused on the following areas: campus and facilities; diversity, equity and inclusion; financial stewardship; program and curriculum; and teaching and learning.

Schools and other organizations traditionally have strategic plans, but Greenhill had been operating without one for several years when Head of School Lee Hark arrived in 2018.

“I really wanted to be a part of a strategic planning process and since it had been a while since we had framed one, I wanted to get started on it immediately,” Hark said. “So, I went to the Board of Trustees in September of my first year, and I asked them if we could get started.”

The result is “Greenhill 2025.”

Mission, vision, core values As part of the strategic plan, the school is amending its mission statement, vision statement and core values.

“As our world changes, so, too, must the language we use to articulate the aims of a Greenhill education, our shared values, and our expectations of one another,” states the website detailing the new plan.

The new mission statement declares that “In a diverse and inclusive community, Greenhill prepares and inspires students to lead authentic, purposeful lives.”

The new core values—originally honor, respect and compassion—are now excellence, integrity, compassion and courage.

Associate Head of School for Mission, Community, and Culture Tom Perryman ’81 is a co-chair for the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion task force and was involved in creating the committee to craft the new mission statement, vision statement and core principles.

“We really dug into ‘what do we like about the mission now,’” Perryman said.

“Does it really reflect who we are? Does it really reflect who we want to be? What words seem to be most resonant, what words may be outdated or not as important anymore? Words matter. Words are important.”

The committee consisted of about 25 Greenhill employees. They spent time looking at mission statements from other schools, nonprofits and organizations across the country.

“It had been several decades since we had looked at [our mission, vision and core values] and they can have the feeling of being etched in stone,” Hark said. “Like when Bernard Fulton came to campus, he dug them up out of the ground, and there they were: the core values and the mission statement. But that’s not the way that it happens.”

Out of the four revised core principles, Perryman’s favorite is “courage.”

“Maybe the most important thing we can do for you students is encourage you to be courageous about things that you know

are right,” Perryman said. “That was the one I was really ready to fight for, if need be.”

Commitment to academic excellence One portion of the strategic plan involves strengthening commitment to academic excellence. The plan details ways to provide more resources, attention and care to the academics at Greenhill.

In order to do this, the administration plans to take steps that include investment in and support of faculty. The school wants to closely examine faculty compensation and introduce more rewards to encourage higher teaching performance. Another goal is hiring an increasingly diverse body of teachers.

In one long-awaited development, the plan proposes to support math and science classes by creating a new Science & Innovation Center for Middle and Upper School math, science, engineering, technology and robotics classes.

Plans for a new science building were in the last strategic plan released by the school in the 2009-2010 school year, said Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer & Associate Head of School Kendra Grace.

“It was determined that the greater need at that point in time was a performing arts building,” Grace said. “So they decided to build that, so it’s not a surprise that we need a new science building.”

The existing Agnich Science Building, the oldest academic structure on campus, is no longer conducive to the classroom achievement the school hopes to nurture, Grace said.

An architect has been selected and groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for February 2022.

During the construction period, students will learn in modular buildings containing the needed equipment to properly conduct science classes.

The goal is to open the new building for classes in August 2023.

and crafting a more specific strategic plan for equity and inclusion.

The equity and inclusion plan will include conducting the National Association of Independent Schools Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism survey on campus. The survey is meant to provide schools with a deeper understanding of their state of inclusivity on campus.

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I went to the Board of Trustees in September of my first year, and I asked them if we could get started“

This survey entails two parts: a quantitative section involving the seven broad groups of the school (students, faculty, staff, administrators, parents/ guardians, alumni and board); and a qualitative section with specific focus groups discussing school life.

The quantitative part of the survey will be administered this spring, while the qualitative element will be conducted in the fall of this year.

Financial sustainability The plan envisions increasing Middle and Upper School enrollment in the years ahead. To maintain the current student-to-faculty ratio, new teachers will be hired, Grace said. New or remodeled learning facilities would also be created to accommodate additional students.

Greenhill has also committed to maintaining its need-blind admissions process and meeting 100% of demonstrated need for families. In addition, the plan details ways to increase the school’s endowment and explores new ways to generate revenue on campus.

An endowment is a sum of money that Greenhill invests. The money itself is not used directly, but it generates income through investment returns that the school can use for various purposes. Increasing the endowment would help ensure the school’s long-term financial viability.

“The school is in really good financial shape right now, so how do we ensure that going forward?” Grace said. “Especially in light of everything that’s happened with COVID, but then also just in general, as an independent school.”

Challenges Throughout the nearly two-year process of fleshing out the strategic plan, committees faced many challenges— from debating the words of the mission statement, to contemplating the best way to navigate an issue, to simply trying to hear everyone’s opinions.

“We’re a very, very diverse community and so people bring many different kinds of perspectives, which again is one of the most important strengths of our school,” Hark said. “It makes achieving consensus more challenging. Not impossible, but more challenging, so you have to be intentional, you have to be thoughtful, you have to work harder.”

In order to make the plan as indicative of the school’s values as possible, the process included a wide variety of voices to represent the entire community, Perryman said.

“Greenhill adults—like Greenhill students—have opinions, and they will share them,” Perryman said. “So that makes the process of building consensus a little more challenging. It takes a little longer, but when you get there then it’s all that much more powerful.”

“Greenhill 2025: Growing Stronger Together” is a strategy to get the school to where it hopes to be and accomplish what it hopes to achieve. It reinforces practices that remain important, and identifies new opportunities for growth.

“I hope when people look at the plan that they are excited,” Hark said. “I hope that it’s inspiring. I hope people see that it’s a way for us to build on a truly excellent school and make it even better.”

Prioritizing mental and physical health Greenhill’s commitment to progress goes beyond the realm of academics. The strategic plan details ways to continue supporting the physical and mental health of students rather than focusing only on academics.

Goals include finding more options for students to fulfill their physical education requirement beyond what is currently offered.

Developing every part of the student also includes developing a prekindergarten-12 mental health curriculum.

In doing so, the school hopes to support students’ mental health throughout their time at Greenhill, according to the website for the strategic plan.

Building a more connected community The plan also details the school’s commitment to strengthening community bonds.

Some steps that Greenhill intends to take to involve the larger community include creating parent/family affinity groups, creating additional gathering spaces on campus to build community bonding,

Graphic by Sarah Luan

REDEFINING CAMPUS: The administration aims to uphold academic excellence, ensure financial sustainability, strengthen the community and prioritize health in its 2025 strategic plan.

News 3 Ever Evergreen Midway project brings hope for improved safety and beautification—and environmental costs

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

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Photos courtesy of Addison City Council

RENOVATION AND RESTORATION: A computer-generated image, left, envisions how Midway Road will appear when a $41 million renovation project is completed. Improvements include additional lanes to improve traffic flow and a bike path. Some residents express concern over the cutting of trees to make way for the 2.2-mile project.

Sumana Kethu

Chief Section Editor

Avery Franks

Sports Editor

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ecent traffic jams that have complicated campus access from Midway Road mark the beginning of a $41 million revitalization project that will add a bike trail and other improvements. But some local residents have raised concerns about the project’s environmental costs, including the removal of multiple trees along Midway.

The town of Addison’s Midway Road Revitalization Project involves improvements to the paving, sewage system, lighting fixtures, traffic signals and landscaping of the surrounding area.

Another benefit is the construction of a bike trail along Midway Road that will connect to the Cotton Belt Trail a few miles north of the school.

Snarled traffic and shattered trees aren’t the only downsides to the project.

The owners of Greenhill Towers, the office complex adjacent to campus, and other businesses along Midway Road are facing the loss of land through a legal procedure known as eminent domain. Under eminent domain, a government entity can seize and repurpose private land to be used for public good.

“We want the community to know that the aesthetics of all of the properties along this project are a top concern to the town,” Addison’s Deputy City Manager John Crawford said in an email response to questions from Katie Fairbank, the parent of two Greenhill Middle School students.

“We are doing everything we can to ensure the corridor will be both enhanced by the landscaping, consistent with Addison standards, and improve walkability and connectivity along Midway Road.”

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From [an environmental] standpoint, it is fairly neutral, since it’s not like they are taking down trees and not putting any back”

The project budget, originally $16 million in 2012, has since grown to $41 million. The road revitalization stretches from the Spring Valley-Midway intersection to the Keller Springs-Midway intersection, two miles north of campus.

Construction began in January 2021 and is scheduled to be completed in 2024.

“The project sequencing was defined in the proposal to minimize the overall impact to businesses and the traveling public,” according to an Addison City Council presentation announcing project details. “Although the overall project may take longer to complete, the impact to any individual property is greatly reduced.”

The owners of Greenhill Towers, whose land is adjacent to campus, have filed a lawsuit against Addison to protect the part of their property in front of the parking lot, which is being seized under eminent domain.

Property owners rarely succeed in challenging the ability of the government to take their property, legal experts say.

Addison officials are saying little about the legal challenges.

“The town remains committed to working through the legal process in good faith to consider reasonable options that result in an amicable solution for both parties,” Addison Mayor Joe Chow said during a March 9 City Council meeting.

“While we are unable to provide more details at this time, we look forward to considering what results from the ongoing discussions.”

In addition to legal and financial challenges, the project’s environmental impact has raised concerns among some local residents. Construction of the bike

path will require removal of many of the trees that currently line Midway Road, including those in front of Greenhill Towers and the Greenhill athletic fields. In recent days, trees have been removed from the Midway median near campus.

“People don’t want to feel like they’re going to be losing trees of this size in their communities,” said Fairbank. “Trees make a difference to health and well-being, especially in this particular time in history when it’s necessary to do many activities outside.”

According to an article by the American Heart Association, larger amounts of green space can counteract air pollution.

“We found that both increased greenness and increased air quality were associated with fewer deaths from heart disease,” said William Aitken, M.D., a cardiology fellow with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and UM/Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, in the article.

In an email to Fairbank on Feb. 25, Crawford said that the city would plant new live oak and Chinese pistachio trees to replace the trees that have been removed.

The Addison government will also install improved landscaping with native or adapted plants proven to thrive in the area, the email stated.

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I think this is a very clear sign of how important it is to be a member of a larger community. Greenhill is a really important part of the Addison community, and I think we give a lot to Addison at the same time. There are times when we need to rally for Addison, and this is one of them”

“I don’t like that they’re uprooting trees that we just planted when the MPAC [Marshall Family Performing Arts Center] was built, but we don’t have a say, and they are planning on replanting the trees,” said Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer and Associate Head of School Kendra Grace. “From [an environmental] standpoint, it is fairly neutral, since it’s not like they are taking down trees and not putting any back.”

Despite Addison’s pledge to introduce new vegetation, some residents are worried about removing the trees. Since many of

the trees are around 40 years old, regrowth would take decades.

Elizabeth McDowell started a petition for Addison residents to sign against removing the row of oak trees in front of Greenhill Towers, which are over 30 years old. The petition had more than 500 signatures about three weeks after it was created.

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I think there are benefits. There’s a reason why they’ve selected this road for beautification, because it needs it”

“There is no tree legislation in most Dallas suburbs, so we regularly lose old growth,” Fairbank said. “You don’t get back old trees, and you don’t take them down just for some more concrete. We should be finding ways to do the work around them.”

Although there are environmental concerns, a new bike path has notable benefits. Head of School Lee Hark hopes that despite some consequences, the project will positively impact Greenhill community members.

“It’ll be nice to improve the aesthetics of that road, as it runs alongside the school,” Hark said. “So, I think there are benefits.

There’s a reason why they’ve selected this road for beautification, because it needs it. And also, if you’re on Midway [Road] turning onto Hornet [Road], the sightlines aren’t great. I’m hopeful that there is an added benefit there, and that maybe it makes it a little safer to enter campus.”

Access to Midway Road and Greenhill School has already been impacted by the project. Greenhill administrators requested that the majority of the construction near the school be completed over the summer, but the COVID-19 pandemic complicated the timeline of the project. As a result, work on the Spring Valley intersection began March 29.

“There will be periods of time on Midway when the construction makes accessing campus on Hornet Road really challenging,” said Hark. “I think this is a very clear sign of how important it is to be a member of a larger community.

Greenhill is fortunate to be a part of the Addison community, and I think we give a lot to Addison at the same time. There are times when we need to rally for Addison, and this is one of them.”

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Ever Evergreen Wednesday, April 21, 2021 School requires continued mask use on campus News

Valerie Xu Arts Editor

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ith an increase in vaccinations and a decrease in COVID-19 cases across the state, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order on March 2, rescinding the state’s mask mandate.

Although Abbott encourages Texans to wear masks, he says that “state mandates are no longer needed.”

Abbott’s order directly contradicts guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In fact, CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky addressed Abbott’s executive order in a press briefing by saying that “now is not the time to release all restrictions.”

Despite Abbott’s edict, Greenhill continues to follow the advice of local and federal health officials and mandates masks on campus.

Greenhill recently modified mask its rules to require all students to wear a school-issued cloth mask. If a student prefers a different face covering, it must be worn underneath a school mask.

Hark says the school-issued mask requirement seeks uniformity in face coverings worn on campus.

“The ultimate goal was to at least get everybody used to wearing a mask,” Hark said. “These [cloth] masks help us to achieve this goal by ensuring that there’s a certain standard that’s met without having the adults be the mask police.”

Cloth divide The CDC has given no recommendation as to which masks are preferable but said in a 2020 study that “rates of infection were consistently higher among those in the cloth mask group than in the medical mask.”

Although sophomore Molly Cleary understands the reasoning behind Greenhill’s cloth mask requirement, she says she believes that students who wear medicalgrade masks should not be penalized.

“I understand why Greenhill is mandating students to wear their cloth mask,” Cleary said. “It ensures that everyone is wearing a good quality, safe mask. I do think that if students would prefer to wear a better-quality mask, like an KN-95, they should be allowed.”

Cleary is not alone. According to a recent online survey conducted by the Evergreen, 89 out of 129 Upper School students who responded expressed the opinion that the Greenhill cloth mask requirement is unnecessary.

“I don’t necessarily understand or see [the] reason for why students should have to wear that particular mask

over other masks that they have at home or other variants of masks that are out there,” senior Micaiah Kapumba said.

Sophomore Ian Bock agrees with Kapumba but cites a different concern.

“These masks arguably make it harder to breathe and probably do less than a medical grade surgical mask or an N95 mask,” Bock said.

Multiple doctors and health specialists have said that masks don’t affect breathing or oxygen levels.

Nevertheless, a majority of students are still skeptical of the cloth mask mandate, especially since there is no documented health benefit in wearing Greenhill’s mask compared to a medical mask.

Although these concerns are valid, Hark says that a family’s or employee’s decision about travel “is personal and private.” Nevertheless, he still encourages members of the Greenhill community to act responsibly and adhere to CDC and local health professional guidelines.

Hark says he is confident that the policies and safety measures Greenhill has already set in place, like the mask mandate, are effective in mitigating as much on-campus exposure as possible.

Do you believe Greenhill should mandate students to wear school-issued masks?

Students on masks Despite a split opinion on the school-issued cloth masks, the Evergreen survey shows that 122 of 129 respondents support Greenhill’s on-campus mask mandate.

Even though the statewide mask mandate is no longer in place, Kapumba agrees with Greenhill’s decision to continue to require masks on campus.

“Governor Abbott is not a health professional, and he has literally no knowledge of how infectious disease travels,” Kapumba said. “I think the criticism from federal health representatives criticizing Texas’ decision is very valid, especially given the number of COVID-19 cases in the Dallas area.”

Cleary also agrees with Greenhill’s decision to maintain the mask mandate, saying that she supports how the school has continuously sought guidance from medical and health experts regarding COVID-19 policy.

Nevertheless, Cleary says she fears that Greenhill’s policies are not enough to stop students from being exposed to the disease outside of campus.

“I think people take it seriously during school, but then they go out and party on the weekends,” Cleary said.

“It’s frustrating because the issue is somewhat beyond Greenhill’s reach.”

Looking forward Hark says that he hears the concerns from many students about how off-campus student activity could potentially threaten the health of students on campus.

“So, I think our sense is, based on the contact tracing that we’ve done, that almost all of the transmission that’s taken place has happened off campus,” Hark said.

“I would say this shows that our administration’s safety procedures work, which is why transmission has been so low while people are here on campus,” Hark said.

Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester says that student athletes, who often have close contact with other teams, have been at high risk of exposure to COVID-19.

“I think the highest-risk places have been athletics, particularly outside club sports,” Worcester said. “I don’t have the complete data picture, but I am willing to bet that less than a handful of cases spread from one student in a classroom to other students in the classroom.”

Although much is uncertain about the course in which COVID-19 will affect the Greenhill community, Worcester says that the mask policies in place are protecting Greenhill students.

“I think we have been very fortunate in the number of cases our community has had, and that is certainly due to the protocols we put in place and the adherence to those protocols by students and adults alike,” Worcester said.

Construction of new STEM center set for next year

Ravi Vasan, Andrew Mann Staff Writers

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tudents, faculty and administrators have talked about it for years.

Now, after much discussion and anticipation, construction of a new science, technology and math center is scheduled to get underway in early 2022.

In a virtual employee meeting on March 21, Head of School Lee Hark shared the general outline of the plan to replace the aging Agnich Science Building. The new facility is set to open in August 2023, as current freshmen begin their senior year.

Thousands of Greenhill students have learned about biology, chemistry and physics in the Agnich Science Building since 1965, but the facility is showing its age, faculty and students say.

“Our new Middle and Upper School STEM + Innovation Center has the potential to revolutionize teaching and learning on this campus,” Hark said. “In addition, I think the new building will be a space that serves as a place for the community to strengthen and grow. And I hope that it feels like a destination that people want to go to and be in when they do not have class.”

Serious discussions about replacing the Agnich Science Building have been underway for nearly a decade. A decision was made to first build a new performing arts facility. Once the Marshall Family Performing Arts Center opened in early 2016, a new STEM center became the next priority.

The Agnich Science Building is the oldest classroom building on campus. It

was designed by renowned Texas architect O’Neil Ford, who died in 1982, and named for the late Dallas geophysicist and businessman Fred Agnich, who led Greenhill’s Board of Trustees and served eight terms in the Texas House of Representatives.

Plans are still under development, but the timetable calls for the existing building to be torn down this summer.

Groundbreaking for the new structure will follow in early 2022.

Upper School Science Department Chair Treavor Kendall says the stateof-the-art facility will eventually house science, math and computer science classes.

Along with the physical changes, Kendall and his colleagues are planning new approaches to the curriculum and teaching philosophy to help each student find their own science path.

“We wanted to move more toward a more modern form of science education,” Kendall said. “When [the Agnich Science Building] was built, the way science was taught was different from the way we are doing it now.”

During the two years of construction, science classes for seventh and eighth graders and Upper School students will be taught in portable trailers on the Meadow.

The new classroom “pods” will be set up this summer.

There will be six pods, each containing two classrooms.

Greenhill Chief Operating Officer/ Chief Financial Officer Kendra Grace will oversee the project. She is the point of contact for the architects and general

Photo courtesy of Tom Perryman

GOOD OLD DAYS: The Agnich Science Building, built in 1965, is the oldest classroom structure on Greenhill’s campus. The planned new STEM center “has the potential to revolutionize teaching and learning on this campus,” said Head of School Lee Hark.

contractors and will also supervise preparation of temporary classrooms for the 2021-2022 school year.

“Every logistical part of creating this space, Ms. Grace is in charge of,” Hark said.

Students say the new STEM center is long overdue, and eagerly awaited.

“My hopes for this science building are incredibly high,” said junior Aimee Stachowiak. “I hope that we will be able to conduct more labs without safety concerns because tools will be up to date. With a new building comes the ability for that building to be more inherently tied to the sciences than simply standard classrooms.”

Senior Samira Kethu expressed disappointment that she will graduate before the new building is opened.

“It’s tough because, as seniors, we are not going to be experiencing the new building,” said Kethu, who plans to study pre-med in college.

But Kethu says she is excited about the opportunities that the building will create for younger students.

“I think that it will benefit Greenhill as a whole and will encourage more Greenhill students to pursue careers in science,” Kethu said.

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Dear New York: Make Him Resign

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t this time last year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was receiving savior-like coverage by the media on the strength of his COVID-19 news briefings and seemingly competent response to the pandemic. What we didn’t know was that Cuomo ran his office like my cat runs our house: abusively, selfishly and with a preference for secrecy.

From the Left Cam Kettles

But unlike my cat, who is actually quite sweet once you get to know her, Cuomo’s mistreatment seems to have gotten worse the closer one was to him.

Since early February, Cuomo has faced three allegations: covering up COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes last year; sexually harassing many of his female aides and

staffers as governor; and using his position to help friends and family cut the vaccine line.

If any Democratic senators’ past speeches on believing women or accountability are to be taken seriously, Cuomo should not only resign but face criminal charges.

So far, at least, Cuomo has no intention of resigning. He apologized not for his actions, but for the way others perceived them; he said he never touched anyone inappropriately; and he called some of the accusations false.

The reason Cuomo hasn’t resigned is simple: Even the lowest estimates, most notably a Quinnipiac Poll, showed that 55% of New York voters want him to stay in office compared to 40% who want him to resign.

“I was elected by the people of New York state,” Cuomo has defiantly said. “I wasn’t elected by politicians.”

This is a simple political calculation— one politicians and political strategists make every time they face a scandal. Politicians like Cuomo respond to public sentiment. He hasn’t faced enough political pressure from his constituents or political colleagues to respond.

What should be substantially more

surprising and upsetting is not that the accused abuser doesn’t feel a sudden wave of remorse for actions he made willingly, but rather that the majority of New York Democrats were unfazed by Cuomo’s behavior. In other words, 55% of Democrats looked at the same behavior they consistently bash when committed by Republicans and went “meh.”

And yet, Democrats would be better off abandoning him and finding a politician that doesn’t make the party look so bad.

Many Democratic politicians have called for his resignation, or at least the possibility of one, after a thorough investigation has been completed. But their calls have been relatively quiet and relatively late.

While this approach allows them to keep their options open politically, it stands in stark contrast to the rapid wave of both national and state Democrats condemning and calling for resignations of Republicans even before investigations begin.

To be clear, not a single Republican senator who voted for Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation should have anything to say. But there should be a universal call to resign from every single

senator who voted against Kavanaugh.

So what are we to make of Gov. Cuomo’s high approval rating?

First, misogyny and rape culture are alive and well everywhere. Democrats are not, and never have been, immune to toxic workplace culture for women.

Second, Republican voters are not alone in putting party over ideals. Democrats, too, will close ranks to protect one of their own, even if they are clearly in the wrong.

Third, and finally, all politicians deserve intense scrutiny. Cuomo was painted as a rising star of the Democratic Party and an icon during the early months of the pandemic. But checking power can never be put on the back burner, just because we really trust the person with that power.

The question for New York Democrats, and really all Democrats, is simple: Do we hold elected officials on both sides of the aisle to the same standard?

If we do, Cuomo will resign, because we will have made him do so. If we don’t, he will stay, others like him will stay, and we lose any moral high ground we had to advocate on behalf of women facing abuse or harassment.

Opinion: Keep requiring masks

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n March 2, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order rescinding COVID-19 safety protocols he had previously required. Most importantly, his action repealed a statewide mask mandate.

Saara Bidiwala To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement.

As the daughter of healthcare workers, I have seen firsthand the blood, sweat and tears that physicians, nurses and workers from all across the industry have put into patient care. Last March was an especially worrisome period in our household.

At that time, little was known about COVID-19, so, as far as healthcare workers

knew, there was no formal medical protocol that was proven to cure the disease.

Healthcare workers could become severely ill or die at any time. That risk still stands.

My parents would come home with mask marks on their faces, and we would not be allowed to touch them until they had disinfected themselves and the belongings they had brought to work. Though they would put on a smile for my sister and me, I knew they were emotionally and physically drained and, above all, very concerned.

Now, while frontline workers continue to put their lives on the line for others, politicians are deciding to ease up on mask policies.

And I hear you. COVID-19 fatigue is real.

But don’t forget that healthcare workers are humans, too. They want to travel across the world just as badly as you do. They want to be able to shed those layers of PPE that they have to put on when visiting COVID-19 patients. They want to be able to hug their loved ones again.

According to various national surveys, roughly 60% of American nurses and 20% of American doctors are planning to quit the workforce due to the effects of the pandemic. This pandemic is hard on everyone. But it’s especially hard for our workers on the front lines.

The bare minimum that we can do to show respect to healthcare workers for their sacrifices is to wear at least one mask.

For some people, wearing a mask is uncomfortable or not the most fashionable thing to do. But put yourself in the shoes of others during the pandemic. Though many of us have been fortunate to either not be affected by the virus or have mild cases, others have not: the 500,000 people who lost their lives to COVID-19; their families; healthcare workers and the 3,544 of them who died of COVID-19; and their families.

Those are facts.

Study after study has proven that masks are effective. Masks significantly slow the daily COVID-19 case growth rate and impede transmission of respiratory

droplets to others.

And so, even though Gov. Abbott has decided that mask-wearing should be a matter of personal choice, I ask you to be an example to others of what is right.

The vaccine is a promising step in the right direction, but it is only a piece of the puzzle. At least until we reach herd immunity, we need to keep our masks on.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the governor himself still recommend that we wear masks.

I am glad that Greenhill has decided to maintain its mask policy. The more compliant we are with public health recommendations such as wearing masks, social distancing and hand-washing, the sooner this pandemic can end—something we all want.

Wearing a mask is not a matter of vanity, but one of pure humanity. It’s also an act of empathy, and if there is one thing I hope we all have learned after this year, it’s empathy.

How to be Successful in AP Spanish Raag Venkat Editor-in-Chief

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Features

Dallas Council elections: “It really does matter” Sophia Li, Max Kettles Staff Writers

W

ith 57 candidates competing for 14 Dallas city council seats in the May 1 election, the nation’s ninth-most-populous city faces the potential of a dramatic shift in policy and power.

And that policy fascinates politically minded Greenhill students and faculty.

“This election is special, in that the ballot will hold more than 50 names, the most that it has been in a year without a mayoral race since 1990,” junior Ashley Shan said. “The dynamic within Dallas could change drastically—every district within Dallas could see a new representative come May.” Early voting runs from April 19 to April 27, with election day on May 1. The upcoming election is only for city council seats and is not a mayoral race. This election is also only for the city of Dallas, rather than all of Dallas County.

While specific voting locations are still tentative, they will be in accessible locations, such as schools and gymnasiums. Early voting results will be announced at 7 p.m. on election day and results will be updated as votes come in.

Current council The Dallas City Council is tasked with reviewing the city’s annual budget, setting tax rates, approving ordinances and responding to citizen complaints.

The council is headed by Mayor Eric Johnson ’94. As the mayor, Johnson is responsible for presiding over council meetings. Under Johnson’s leadership, the current council sought federal assistance after the November 2019 EF-3 tornado and unanimously passed the 2019 budget. The council also approved the

Safe Communities initiative fund to reduce Dallas’s crime rate.

One measure that Johnson could not pass was the “defund the bureaucracy” initiative in the summer of 2020. This plan aimed to take $6.5 million in city salaries from the $1.4 billion municipal budget and repurpose it to pay for other essential city services.

Instead, the council approved cutting police overtime by $7 million, or one-third of their overtime budget, and

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These local elections have the potential to impact you personally more than the presidential elections. Every little thing that happens affects you because it’s such a small town.”

spending it on improving infrastructure, adding more civilian positions as well as adding lighting in neighborhoods.

The upcoming elections have the power to cement or ease the contentious working relationship that Johnson has with many of the council members.

Shan speaks about the potential danger in electing a leader that is unable to utilize power to maximize efficiency.

“A mayor who is not interested in encouraging and building coalitions results in local gridlock, with citywide and individual policy initiatives failing,” said Shan.

Greenhill ties Alumnus Leland Burk ’80 is running for Dallas City Council in District 13. Burk is a Dallas-area real estate executive and extensively involved in community and civic activities. Burk ran for city council in 2013 but lost to Jennifer Gates, who now is term-limited and can-

not run again.

Burk’s campaign has emphasized public safety, quality of life, smart economic growth and recovery from COVID-19, according to his campaign website. His website also states that he will bring strong leadership as well as a taxpayer’s perspective to the council.

This election has far-reaching impacts that could influence the Greenhill community in different ways, from public safety to access to parks and other recreational programs. And yet, local elections like the upcoming council contests historically generate little community interest and low voter turnout.

According to the Dallas County Elections Department, only 9% of eligible voters voted in the last municipal election in 2019, when Johnson won by just 8,329 votes. Given a history of low voter turnout, the large number of Greenhill students, staff, faculty and parents eligible to vote in Dallas could affect the outcome of the election.

“I am not anticipating it being anything like what we saw in November,” said History Department Chair Amy Bresie ’96, “Presidential elections always have more turnout, and when it comes to things with city council elections, it can be really hard to get people to the polls.”

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These local elections have the potential to impact you personally more than the presidential elections. Every little thing that happens affects you because it’s such a small town.”

Given the closeness of past municipal elections, many individuals have issues that they are particularly passionate about and hope that newly elected city officials will enact specific policies to fa-

cilitate change in Dallas.

After turning 18 in 2020, senior Clarissa Smith voted in the presidential election and more recently in a municipal election for the mayor of DeSoto.

“These local elections have the potential to impact you personally more than the presidential elections,” Smith said. “Every little thing that happens affects you because [Desoto is] such a small town.”

Why it matters While politicians typically vote and run campaigns along party lines in the U.S. Congress and Senate, local elections typically aren’t affiliated with political parties.

“In a hyperlocal election, city council elections are not party elections,” Bresie said. “Those are not elections where people are running as a Democrat or as a Republican typically. You are running to represent.”

For Shan, elected officials aren’t in their positions due to their allegiance to a party; instead, their job and duty are a lot more personal.

“Newly elected council members should check the mayor and remind each local representative of why they serve: for the people,” Shan said.

Although previous national elections have shown to have more voter engagement than local elections, voting in local elections is equally as crucial.

These elections serve as a way for citizens to have a more direct say in the policies passed that affect their daily lives.

“I encourage everyone to pay attention to local elections because it really does matter and you really can make a difference that is harder to make in a presidential election,” Bresie said.

Photo by Nate Stitt

LOCAL CHANGE: With all 14 seats up for election, the 2021 Dallas City Council Election will have 57 candidates on the ballot. The election can change the makeup of Dallas government.

Headed by Mayor Eric Johnson ‘94, the group is responsible for many local-level duties. Greenhill alumnus Leland Burk ‘80 is running for City Council Seat in District 13.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Evergreen Ever the

Features

Students explore women’s stories across humanities Diane Lin Views Editor

T

he celebration of Women’s History Month officially occurs every March, but discussions of gender discrimination and other women’s issues occur throughout the year in two popular Upper School courses: Women’s History and Women’s Literature.

Women’s History is offered during both the spring and fall, while Women’s Literature is only offered in the fall. The two semester-long classes have similar subjects— women in their fields, feminism and sexism—but they are distinct courses taught by different teachers.

Women’s History is usually taught by History Department Chair Amy Bresie, ’96 while Women’s Literature is taught by Upper School English teacher Abby Seeskin.

The Women’s History course takes a largely linear path in examining the role of women in U.S. history.

“We start with the question: who are American women?” Bresie said.

The course explores Indigenous, European and African history and traces their merger in a uniquely American identity. Then, students focus on the 19th and 20th centuries by reading literature like “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs. The course culminates with an examination of what the future of feminism looks like.

“Thanks to this class, we’re making sure that women’s stories—regardless of where they are from—are not simply two lines in a textbook connecting them to men,” said junior Aimee Stachowiak, who is currently taking

Women’s History. “Studying women’s history this year has allowed me to become more aware of stories that have previously been overlooked in textbooks and general education.”

Bresie said history textbooks are often structured around men, leaving little room for the stories and contributions of women. She says she believes it is one reason why a course like Women’s History is so important to have.

“We’re interested in what the lives of regular women were like,” Bresie said. “That’s something you won’t get in a regular history class. There’s something empowering and important in people understanding that women have always been part of history, whether they’re in book indexes or not.”

In the same way that Women’s History highlights the role of women in past events, Women’s Literature places an emphasis on the role of women in literature and feminist literature.

“I think of Women’s Literature as a class about literature and feminism,” said Seeskin. “We start by working on coming to an understanding about what feminism is, as a movement to end sexism.”

To explore the subject, students read literature by different authors defining feminism. From there, the course explores various pieces of feminist literature, from Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” to the Ms. Marvel comics. This year, students also watched “Becoming,” a film about Michelle Obama based on her autobiography of the same name.

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“It was really cool learning through different types of media,” said junior Ashton Higgins, who took Women’s Literature last fall. “I feel like doing that provided a holistic view of how feminism exists in society.”

Seeskin describes the goal of her class to be one that allows students a place to understand feminism and seriously read women’s literature. She says it’s important to think about how gender matters in the way students tell stories about themselves.

“I think students end up finding [Women’s Literature] a space where they get to read cool things about gender with other students who care about those things, too,” Seeskin said.

And although both Women’s Literature and Women’s History are heavily focused on women in their respective fields, Bresie and Seeskin clarify that the classes aren’t for female students only.

“I have never had a guy take Women’s History who didn’t come away genuinely glad that they got to have those discussions,” Bresie said. “In fact, I think the course is really important for men to take. This is not a bash-onmen course. I encourage guys to take [the class].”

Both courses discuss similar topics—women, sexism and feminism—but students will explore different material in each class, Seeskin and Bresie said.

“Students who are really invested in feminism would get complementary but different discussions,” Seeskin said. “[Women’s Literature] tends to be much more contemporary; [Women’s History] looks more historically.”

Primer, pom-poms and publishing books

Isabel Martinez Arts Editor

L

ongtime Primer teacher and varsity cheerleading head coach Tracey Pugh is juggling the publication of her fourth collection of stories while teaching and coaching.

Pugh has been teaching at Greenhill for 17 years, starting in first grade and quickly switching to Primer after a year.

Teaching has been a part of Pugh’s life since she was a child. Her mother and many aunts and other female role models that she spent time around were teachers.

“My mother had been a teacher, my mother-in-law was a teacher, all of my aunts were teachers, so teachers were always around me,” Pugh said. “I was exposed to that very early in life.”

Despite early exposure, Pugh didn’t start working in the education system when she graduated from college.

“I had a life before I became a teacher,” Pugh said.

“I was working in public relations and marketing before ever teaching. I fell in love with teaching later.”

One of Pugh’s first teaching experiences was when she taught English, writing and life skills at Richland College in Dallas and realized that she really enjoyed it.

Pugh got her teacher certification and became a fourth-through-sixth-grade science teacher in 2002. She taught in the Dallas Independent School District and at Cedar Hill before transitioning to teaching younger students at Greenhill.

Pugh started working with this age group because she was interested in childhood development.

“I think that part of it was because I had two young children at the time and early childhood development was so important to me because I wanted to be a good mom,” Pugh said. “And then I was more of a kind of a nerd, kind of a research person. So, I wanted to know what made their brains tick.”

The childhood development aspect of teaching became a passion for Pugh, and she focused on learning with the children she taught.

Pugh says the connections that she develops with each child and their family is also extremely important.

“I love connecting with people,” she said. “That’s my all-time favorite thing to do, and it is the most amazing feeling to be a part of a child’s life. It is just [amazing] to watch them grow into these superstars and rock stars.”

Pugh has also been the head coach of varsity cheerleading for 14 years. She participated in cheerleading throughout high school and college, which allowed her to gain the experience necessary to coach.

Pugh then developed a love for seeing cheerleaders gain respect for the work they put into their physically demanding discipline.

“Watching the athletes earn the respect that they deserve is the best part,” Pugh said. “There’s a misconception about cheerleading, that it’s not really a sport and that it’s not this or it’s not as athletic. But that’s just not true.”

Now, coaching cheerleading is one of many ways for Pugh to reconnect with her former Primer students.

“When I came to Greenhill, not only did I want to be connected in my classroom, but I also wanted to be connected across campus,” she said. “I got a chance to see some of the kids I used to teach.”

Cheerleading

Books

Cheerleading has been a part of Pugh’s professional career for a very long time. Before coming to Greenhill, she coached cheerleading camps and coached for the Cedar Hill School District.

Greenhill gave Pugh her first experience of coaching varsity sports.

Pugh is not only a successful teacher and coach, but also an accomplished author.

She published her first book in 2006, titled “A Show and Tell Lesson.” It was more of a hobby, something entertaining that Pugh says she enjoyed doing. But then she got into publishing.

Photo courtesy of Tracey Pugh

MULTITALENTED: In addition to having taught for many years, Pugh is the head coach of varsity cheerleading and has written several books about parenting and short stories from her childhood, including the series “The Adventures of Lil’ Tracey.”

Pugh has developed a series called “The Adventures of Lil’ Tracey,” which features short stories that come from Pugh’s childhood.

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I love connecting with people. It is the most amazing feeling to be a part of a child’s life for the majority of their adolescent time, to watch them grow into these superstars and rock stars.”

Young girls of color today don’t see enough representation in literature, Pugh said. Through her book series, she wants to change that.

“My daughter and certain girls of color need to see more protagonists of color, people that look like them,” Pugh said. “It did not have to be [that] every time we read something about a person of color they were in a hut in Africa or India.”

By publishing “The Adventures of Lil’ Tracey,” Pugh hopes to teach young girls like her daughter that the color of their skin doesn’t make them inferior to anybody else.

Another takeaway from her stories: making mistakes is okay.

“We believe the same, we’re the same,” Pugh said. “We have different skin tones, we are different in our cultures, but we are still human beings and we still have situations and connections just like anybody else. And I needed my child to see that.”

Ever Evergreen The disconnect for online students

8 Features

the

Ria Agarwal, Eliza Lamster

Staff Writers

D

espite the best efforts of teachers and students, many virtual learners say they continue to feel an educational discrepancy between online and inperson classes.

“It’s really hard to maintain connections with people in the classroom and your teachers when you’re so disconnected from them,” sophomore Chancey Stefanos said.

Earlier this year, Stefanos and her family made the difficult decision for her to stay online rather than resume in-person classes. The reason: Her mother is immunocompromised, which puts her at an increased risk of complications resulting from COVID-19.

Although Stefanos says she greatly prefers in-person learning to online, she knows it is worth protecting her mother.

“I’m not really worried about myself, and my brother—he’s not worried about himself either,” Stefanos said.

There are upsides to virtual learning, though.

Stefanos enjoys the lack of stress about homework, having more free time and especially getting to sleep in.

Freshman Susie Fagelman agrees.

Photo courtesy of Uday Narayanan

A WORLD AWAY: Some students have been online learners for the entire academic year, with all the challenges that presents to them.

“For me, I live far from school, so I have to wake up at 6:15 to go to school when I am in person,” Fagelman said. “But now, I wake up at 8:35 and just walk from my bed to my desk.”

The disadvantages of virtual classes outweigh the advantages, students say. Many students have difficulty absorbing and retaining information and find the onslaught of Microsoft Teams calls to be incredibly repetitive.

For most, the lack of social experiences is the most significant loss.

Students say missing out on little things like seeing people in the hallways and at gradewide ice cream socials make it hard to appreciate online learning.

“One of my favorite parts of school is in between classes talking to your friends,” Fagelman said. “But when you’re online during all those breaks, you’re just sitting at your desk on your phone.”

Some classes, like science and math, are harder for online students to experience fully. Virtual students have found it easier to retain information in discussion-based classes than in lesson-based ones.

Electives are also more difficult because the majority of activities are very hands-on.

Stefanos says her chemistry class is especially difficult, as online students can only watch as the inperson students complete labs.

“It’s just not the same as the hands-on experience that doing a lab usually is,” Stefanos said.

Every class has adjusted differently to COVID-19 restrictions, but some classes have converted better to the new format. According to Fagelman, Middle School and Upper School film teacher Corbin Doyle’s Video Production class is an example of a more structurally changed class.

Fagelman says talking to teachers like Doyle makes her feel like part of the class.

“Every time I join Video Production, Mr. Doyle spends a few minutes talking to just me, and it makes me feel very included because I can tell that he really cares,” Fagelman said.

Maintaining a teacher-student bond is a critical component of keeping everyone engaged and included.

In Doyle’s class, consistent check-ins with virtual students attempt to break down the barrier between the virtual and in-person students, despite the drawback of having

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

a slower-moving class.

“I think some students might have thought I was singling them out, but it was really just my attempt to connect with everyone,” Doyle said.

Across the campus, in the Upper School history pod, teachers are working to maintain an essential element of learning: connections.

“The content of the class is important, and the skills that we teach are important, but I don’t think you can get that without first having a relationship with your students,” Upper School history teacher Matthew Giorgio said.

But building a strong connection with students isn’t always simple and teachers sometimes struggle to balance the needs of online and in-person students.

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Every time I join Video Production, Mr. Doyle spends a few minutes talking to just me, and it makes me feel very included because I can tell that he really cares.”

Teachers can’t always tell when a student feels excluded, especially because body language is much harder to read online.

“The thing that I worry about most is that what I’m doing is going to alienate somebody,” Giorgio said.

Giorgio says he believes that building connections with students can happen both inside and outside of class. He enjoys having one-on-one conversations during office hours or whenever a student comes to him with a question.

Forming and maintaining student-to-student relationships has also been challenging. Senior Sarim Naqvi says he looked forward to the natural mentor position that seniors take.

“When you’re a senior, you can make friends with juniors and sophomores because people go to you for advice, but since I’m online, I hardly know any underclassmen,” Naqvi said.

Often, second-semester seniors feel less motivated after getting into colleges, and this has only been exacerbated by the isolation of online school.

“It’s less of a physical thing, it’s more of a psychological thing,” Naqvi said. “Every day, you just get hit.”

9

Special Report

In the year of COVID-19, nature piles on

Graphic by Sarah Luan

Community members endure devastating winter storm Emily Hu, Pooja Sanghvi Staff Writers

I

n mid-February, as Arctic temperatures burst pipes and crashed the Texas power grid, sophomore Maya Harrington walked into her room to find it filling with water. She’s still living in her family’s guest bedroom and will likely remain there for another five months as repairs are made.

Upper School English teacher Karin Thomas avoided the misery of burst pipes, but she didn’t have water service for two weeks.

Junior Lukas Mullin and his family lost power in their house and had to stay in tight rooms with his grandfather because his freezing cold house was unbearable.

The ongoing pandemic has claimed more than 560,000 lives in the United States, and those numbers continue to increase. In a year already so massively impacted by COVID-19, the last thing that people needed was an outbreak of extreme winter weather that left millions of Texans without power and water and left 58 people dead.

The effects on learning On Thursday, Feb. 11, the day before a four-day winter break, Head of School Lee Hark announced that school was canceled for the day due to dangerous road conditions.

Icy, slippery roads were reported throughout the state, including major highways such as Interstate 20. These driving conditions led to more than 100 accidents on Interstate 35 that Thursday.

Snow blanketed some cities for the first time in decades.

By Sunday, Feb. 14, around five inches of snow had fallen in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with freezing rain following snow flurries.

Eventually, the extreme weather would result in a week’s worth of canceled classes.

With the pandemic already chipping away at the curriculum, the storm caused further disruptions in learning.

While some classes were rushed, other teachers like Thomas decided to change their curriculum and talk about the snowstorm.

“Initially, I was compelled to ignore issues, but then I realized that this is part of the problems of education: that we rush through the uncomfortable,” Thomas said. “This shouldn’t be a private internalized experience because I was probably representing many people.”

As the storm prompted people to reconsider curriculums, and what learning means, many changed their mindsets moving forward.

“At the beginning of the school year, I did feel obligated to ‘catch’ my students up due to COVID, but I learned quickly that this concept of ‘learning loss’ is an

adult problem that is imposed on students,” Upper School history teacher Sidrah Khan said. “Curriculum was affected, but students are only going to feel ‘behind’ if teachers and parents make them feel like they are. Learning happens in a lot of ways, not just in the classroom.”

As students and faculty at Greenhill transitioned back to normal, many said they appreciated Greenhill’s flexibility.

“There were just a lot of public schools that stayed open not because they could actually teach, but because they needed to serve their students food since that’s how they got their meals,” senior Ava Markhovsky said. “Canceling school for a week is really annoying and messes up plans, but at the end of the day, it’s not detrimental to us.”

Personal experiences Aside from disruptions to classes, Greenhill community members experienced a range of impacts due to the extreme weather event.

The extreme cold weather caused water inside pipes to freeze and expand, so the ice blockage inside of these pipes in many people’s houses built pressure until they eventually burst. Gallons of water spilled into homes, damaging walls, ceilings and more.

“I walked downstairs thinking the shower was on and saw that the ceiling was pouring,” Harrington said. “Water was falling through all the vents, so we frantically pulled everything out of my room. The pipes only burst in my room, but it was still extremely hectic.”

Frozen pipes that hadn’t burst still left people without access to water in their homes.

“I didn’t have heat for at least five days, and didn’t have water for two weeks,” Thomas said. “It got so cold, and I couldn’t do anything without water.”

Many, including Gov. Greg Abbott, compared the impact to Hurricane Harvey, which caused $125 billion in damage in Texas, according to the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

Senior Sheena Kwon and her family experienced another common impact: unsafe water due to the failure of treatment plants. They were among the millions of Texans ordered to boil their water before drinking it or using it for household needs.

The freezing temperatures caused Texans to turn up their heaters which spiked demands that couldn’t be fulfilled due to the inability of power plants to generate electricity in those freezing temperatures. Power grids failed across the state, leaving homes and businesses without heat and electricity.

“My family moved in with my grandfather as he was on the same power grid as the local hospital,” Mullin said.

“However, he only had a two-bedroom, one-bath apartment.

The tight sleeping quarters, lack of privacy, and shortage of

‘real’ food still were preferable to having no power.”

Politicization of the power grid While personal impacts played out, a political conversation unfolded about the controversial Texas decision to deregulate electric utilities and decouple the state from the national power grid.

“Companies competed to keep prices low for consumers,” said economist James Galbraith. “But they also created a market where a surge in demand could overpower supply.”

Although Texas power companies could have spent the money to prepare their plants to cope with extremely cold weather, there were no state regulations that required it—and no financial incentive for companies to spend the money.

“There’s a shortsightedness to [the regulation of the power grid], which is frustrating,” Middle School history teacher James Herman said. “People suffered, lost money, and even died. People in higher positions in government are pointing fingers or saying that the price of human suffering is worth the freedom of a deregulated market.”

Corporate reluctance to prepare affected communities differently. In Texas, Black and Hispanic families are more than twice as likely as white households to live under the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Whether it’s flooding from severe weather events like hurricanes or something like this severe cold, the history of our response to disasters is that these [marginalized] communities are hit first and have to suffer the longest,” Robert Bullard, a professor at Texas Southern University, said in an interview.

Though there are different perspectives on what caused the power failures and disagreement about future preventative measures, there is consensus among one thing: something like this should never happen again.

For some Greenhill community members, the failure of the power grid highlighted a lack of accountability in Austin as elected officials pursued an anti-regulation agenda that went farther than any other state in the country.

“I wish we would get back on the grid with the rest of the country and let the federal government regulate it,” said Upper School Latin teacher Jason Gajderowicz. “Our state government is not answerable to some of us, and other people don’t hold them accountable the way they should.”

Ultimately, members of the Greenhill community and people throughout Texas paid the price for that lack of accountability.

“I worried about the health and safety of Texans around the state, especially those who did not have shelter or did not know how to keep themselves warm,” Khan said. “It made me sick knowing that there would be people who would not survive this.”

WINTER STORM: The beauty of the Dallas-area snowfall contrasted with the damage caused by the extreme cold. Following the days after Texans experienced below-freezing temperatures, residents began filing insurance claims for the severe weather-related damages. The February snowstorm is expected to be one of the most costly weather events in the history of Texas.

Photos courtesy of Maya Harrington, Ashton Higgins, Claudia Hurst

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F&%(+/=$+)#8"#@#"=.7():%&) F&%@#"#8<)<+8"+&G.H&9#8<)/.&+) $%)9#8%&(D) From the Reporters: This was a difficult story to tackle.

In part, that’s because the LGBTQ community is a constantly changing entity,

Everg Ever the

especially regarding the language used to describe its members’ various identities. We wanted to use the terminology that members of the LGBTQ community we interviewed prefer, but we also wanted our readers outside the LGBTQ community to understand what those terms mean and who can use them. For example, those outside the LGBTQ community may understand terms like “coming out,” but not “cisgender.”

The Evergreen follows Associated Press Style, which

shortens the full LGBTQIA+ acronym to LGBTQ. While the last word of the acronym, “queer,” has been reclaimed by many LGBTQ people as an umbrella term, others abhor the usage of the word by nonLGBTQ people because of its ugly history as a slur. The National Association for LGBTQ Journalists’ Style Guide has this to say on this issue: “Now being reclaimed by some gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as a self-affirming umbrella term ... Queer is still offensive as an epithet to many.”

continued from p.1, Hark says that includes striving to ensure that students feel accepted and celebrated.

“We will never stop trying to achieve that aspiration,” Hark said.

We heavily debated the usage of the word in the story.

Should we publish a word used as a slur, even when reclaimed as an identity? Ultimately, we decided to keep the word when directly quoting interviewees who used the word to describe their identity. Otherwise, we use the LGBTQ acronym.

The sensitive nature of the material also made this story challenging. According to a majority of our interviewees, many LGBTQ students are in the closet: to the broader Greenhill community, nobody knows their

Senior Oli Williams, president of the True Colors club, says Greenhill still has much work to do.

“It is very different being queer,” Williams said. “I have felt

isolation and discrimination in the Greenhill community.”

Greenhill has expanded its non-discrimination policy in recent years to acknowledge LGBTQ rights.

Some LGBTQ students say Greenhill has made good on that pledge by establishing a level of acceptance that goes beyond other schools. LGBTQ students at Greenhill don’t face the sort of harsh disciplinary measures that some students face for even modest expressions of non-cisgender sexual identity. In Clyde, Texas, for example, a gay senior was suspended last December for wearing nail polish to school.

“We have a True Colors club here,” said a freshman who wishes to stay anonymous because they have not come out yet. “My old [public] school wouldn’t even consider having something like that.”

Freshman Andy, who identifies as transgender, says he sees a trend toward greater inclusivity on campus.

“For the most part, there has been nothing but positive experiences,” Andy said. “I know that there are a select few [who] would say something that was offensive on purpose. But from who I’ve come in contact to, it’s not malicious. It’s just not knowing.”

A binary gap Among the changes that Greenhill has made to accommodate LGBTQ students in the classroom is introducing a person’s pronouns.

In part, such changes are the result of a nationwide cultural shift toward inclusivity and diversity regarding different identities. The constant evolution of terminology has made navigating the ins and outs of the LGBTQ community’s everchanging collective identity difficult.

Across the nation, acceptance for those whose sexual orientation differs from straight has skyrocketed, Legacy said.

“When I started at Greenhill in 2000, about 38% of the population was in favor of same-sex marriage,” Legacy said. “In 2019, that figure is about 61%, nationally.”

For those who identify as transgender, acceptance is still dragging along at a much slower pace.

“Most people know someone who is gay or lesbian at work or socially, and so it’s easier for them to understand what that means,” Legacy said. “Not nearly as many people know someone who is transgender.”

identity. The reasons why they have not revealed their identity vary from person to person.

Some wish to stay anonymous for safety concerns. Others just don’t want to come out right now.

Ethically, we, as journalists, will not “out” these students.

They aren’t ready to have their names revealed, but their stories and experiences are just as valid as those who are quoted by name, and they deserve to have a voice. !""#$%&'()*$#*+$%#,)$-,.,,

The idea that gender identity extends beyond the female-male binary is still new to many. Socializing as someone who identifies beyond the norm creates a sense of alienation for those who choose to come out.

Some within the LGBTQ community on campus feel there is little acceptance to be found in the face of narrow-minded beliefs by some students and faculty.

“When I came out as trans, I didn’t start using Andy until a few months later,” Andy said. “[My teacher] had told me that it might take some getting used to and that she doesn’t know a lot of stuff about trans people. It just felt like she was spitting whenever she said the old name that I used to use.”

Non-cisgender students—students who identify outside of their designated sex at birth—have faced classmates and teachers unwilling to fully accept their identities.

Deadnames, or birth-names that non-cisgender people have rejected, sometimes are still inadvertently used in classes.

“I have had underclassmen who don’t know my deadname tell me that they can’t find my email,” Williams said. “I email the school from my deadname. I attend class from my deadname. It’s on rosters and it’s what other students who don’t know me see.”

Many students use a preferred name that is listed in the campus directory and rosters provided to teachers. But Texas law considers any person under the age of 18 to be a minor, subject to parental consent, and that prevents the school from changing a student’s name in official records.

Despite the legal restraints on the school, Williams describes the experience as uncomfortable, stigmatizing and harmful.

The feelings of isolation that some students feel from issues such as proper pronoun use or deadnames are not minor, experts say.

The rate of suicide attempts by transgender and nonbinary youth who reported having pronouns respected by all or most people in their lives

was half that of those who did not have their pronouns respected, according to the Trevor Project’s 2020 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.

School faculty say they recognize the potential harm to students that can result from practices such as deadnaming.

“Having a structure in place to support transgender and gendernonconforming students is key to prevent otherizing those students,” Worcester said. “We as a school are tasked to provide a safe environment for all students so that they can share in the Greenhill experience, and our mission and core values should be our guide in this.”

Socialization out of the classroom can become more complicated because of the words or actions of less understanding peers.

“There were points pre-namechange when I was trying out names, being deadnamed, binding and trying to figure a lot of stuff out that my peers didn’t really get, which made socializing really difficult,” Williams said.

Some students say they find their experience has been much more accommodating.

“I came out as trans the summer before I started high school,” a student who wishes to remain anonymous said. “I think one helpful thing was that shift from middle school to high school.

I noticed that all of my teachers would ask for pronouns at the beginning of the year, which was something that had never been done in middleschool. So, I really appreciated that.”

Change is resulting from Greenhill’s recent experience with gay-straight alliances, LGBTQ spaces and openly-out students.

“It’s really important to also remember that all of this has been driven by students,” said Assistant Director of Equity and Inclusion Monsie Muñoz ’05, who also identifies as gay. “Students [who] wanted that found sponsors, saying, ‘we would like a space that is ours, where we can speak from the I-perspective,’ and that’s how that came to be.”

In Between

How far has LGBTQ acceptanc

green

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

“In social situations, I still hold my breath a little bit,” Muñoz said. “Being part of the LGBTQ community and being in the Latinx community, I may not fit some of the stereotypes [for either group]. It did sort of create an extra harm for me, being I had to deal with that personally with my family, now professionally also.”

Students of color The experiences of LGBTQ students of color frequently differ from those of white students.

Stereotypes within the LGBTQ community can alienate students of color.

“A lot of the queer people at Greenhill fit a lot of the queer tropes: skinny, somewhat androgynous, white,” Williams said. “The experience becomes isolating.”

Some students of color feel the brunt of having more stereotypes associated with them, including in LGBTQ-centric areas of conversation.

“Being a person of color as well as perceived as a woman has allowed other people to take validity away from my statements before I even say them due to the ‘angry [woman of color]’ stereotype,” said a sophomore student who hasn’t revealed their gender identity to peers.

“People assume that my conversation points will be angry and emotional and subconsciously dismiss them instead of hearing me out.”

Faculty members have felt this detachment as well. The dissociation from the “conventional” LGBTQ person has made conversations with both their racial and LGBTQ identities challenging to navigate.

“In social situations, I still hold my breath a little bit,” Muñoz said. “Being part of the LGBTQ

community and being in the Latinx community, I may not fit some of the stereotypes [for either group]. It did sort of create an extra harm for me, being I had to deal with that personally with my family, now professionally also.”

This loneliness is heightened when individuals don’t fit a stereotypical mold within the LGBTQ community itself.

“Specifically, as a Black person of color, I feel the need to have an affinity with Black students,” Williams said. “There aren’t many overlaps in Black student and queer student spaces, making it harder to find times and spaces to relate to Black students, as I have had to assimilate into a fairly white space.”

Many within the LGBTQ community say that recognizing how these identities converge with one another is integral to reach acceptance for everyone within it.

“If you’re white, that always comes first,” the sophomore added.

“It’s why a common saying at pride is ‘there is no liberation for some of us until there is liberation for all of us.’”

A straight divide On the national level, debates persist over whether the country has progressed into a new era of civil rights.

New measures like Arkansas legislation that outlawed genderaffirming healthcare to transgender youth has shaped the discussion regarding trans rights. The legislature overrode the governor’s veto of the bill, so the measure will become law.

At the national level, the U.S. House of Representatives in February passed the Equality Act, which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, marks a step forward for LGBTQ equality.

Against the backdrop of an evolving national political climate, some LGBTQ students say they want to see the administration do more to promote inclusivity. Critics like Williams say the school’s changes have been mostly

performative, such as eliminating the prom queen and king titles.

Since the founding of True Colors in the Upper School in 2011,

more students have begun to come out publicly.

Now, administrators are trying to navigate a fast-evolving transition in how people exist.

The administration is working to create diversity, equity and inclusion plans within their new strate gic plan for the school. Worcester says he is open to changing the wording of the school handbook to be more inclusive.

But an underlying fear still persists among some students that they will be treated differently for no other reason than the fact they are not straight. Despite Greenhill’s efforts to foster inclusivity, a certain sense of alienation still pervades some students’ interactions.

“I think that there is a certain demographic that shied away from me once I came out as bisexual in the beginning of eighth grade,” Andy said.

This sentiment of feeling excluded, feeling like you don’t be- long, is felt especially by LGBTQ athletes.

“When you’re actually in the face of a queer person, you might act differently,” said a varsity athlete who identifies as bisexual.

“Coming out means that people will look at me differently, and then treat me differently, and then

n the Binary

treat me differently on the field.”

Many students say they have chosen not to come out for fear that their identity may hurt their relationships and future opportunities.

“When I first told my parents they were like, ‘You haven’t told other people this yet, right?’” the

athlete added.

“I think they’re just wanting to protect me because they obviously came from an era where things would have been much worse.”

Many teachers, administrators and parents come from that era, and that raises a question for some LGBTQ students: How can individuals steeped in cisgender and heterosexual norms change the culture of a school or a nation?

LGBTQ students have found allies in their effort to create a space for their on-campus identity.

“Homophobia and transphobia happen way too much in American society and on this campus,” said sophomore Carcyn Coleman, who identifies as an ally. “I’m glad that they’re adding initiatives to tackle these issues. I just wish we didn’t have to in the first place.”

LGBTQ students say they don’t just want to be seen. They want to be heard and accommodated, and they want to see more meaningful change.

“I think most LGBTQ+ students, in any situation, don’t just want tolerance,” Legacy said. “They want to be tolerated at a minimum, yes, but more so they want to be recognized, accepted and celebrated for who they are.”

ce really advanced at Greenhill?

11

12

Arts

The art of performance

Senior Joshua Timmons achieves state and national success in speech and debate Ava Iwasko, Emma Rikalo Staff Writers

E

ver since senior Joshua Timmons became a member of Greenhill’s Middle School Speech and Debate Club in fourth grade, his journey as an orator has been a resounding success.

Timmons has won many awards for his debates and speech performances: middle school national champion in 2017; poetry interpretation national champion in the 2020 National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament; Program Oral Interpretation state champion in March; and, most recently, national champion in two events at the University of Kentucky’s Tournament of Champions in April.

In the past year alone, Timmons has won first place in 13 tournaments and has placed second in four other competitions.

Timmons will complete his senior year by competing in the National Individual Event Tournament of Champions and the 2021 National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament.

His success is a tribute to his coaches— who also happen to be his parents. The Lower School and Middle School clubs that set him on his path to becoming a national champion were started by his mother, Cynthia Timmons, and father, Director of Debate Aaron Timmons.

“Knowing [Joshua] had some potential, knowing that there are other students that potentially had interest, we opened it up when he was in Lower School,” Aaron Timmons said. “It’s turned out well so far.”

Early talent The potential that Aaron Timmons saw in his son was prominent from childhood.

“We knew from the time he was little that there was a talent that he had,” Aaron Timmons said. “He has always been a people-person. There are people who didn’t even know him that would be impressed with the way he would interact with them.

We knew that could translate into doing really well in speech and debate.”

After Joshua Timmons participated in the Middle School Speech and Debate Club for a year, he signed up for the national tournament, which had recently added a middle school division.

During his years in Middle School speech, his skills developed. Starting with reading excerpts from authors like Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss, Joshua Timmons began moving toward material he felt he could do more with. Every year that he returned to the national tournament, his increased effectiveness as a speaker grew, he said.

“Each year I had not only grown in my skill or my experience, but also the actual material itself that I was interpreting was getting more complex, growing, and becoming more powerful,” Joshua Timmons said.

Gaining experience The confidence that Joshua Timmons gained through his participation in various tournaments led to greater success. In seventh grade, he made it to the quarterfinals of the national tournament. Finally, in eighth grade, he advanced to the national finals in both Poetry and Prose Interpretation, placing first and third, respectively.

As he entered high school, Joshua Timmons began focusing more on speech.

Even though he won a World Schools Debating Championship hosted by the Blake School, Joshua Timmons says that speech interpretation was becoming his main focus.

Aaron Timmons says that his son was meant to work mainly in oral interpretation.

“Ultimately, his skill set was really well-suited toward doing the acting and speech events,” Aaron Timmons said. “So, we steered him in that direction at a fairly young age.”

Although he still enjoys debate, Joshua Timmons says that audience interactions, the connections he makes with his material

Photo courtesy of Joshua Timmons

PASSION FOR ORATION: Having started speech and debate in the fourth grade, Timmons hopes to use oration as a platform to inspire, motivate and connect with others.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Timmons

SPEAKING WITH SUCCESS: In this year alone, senior Joshua Timmons has won first place in 11 speech tournaments, including multiple national championships.

and the emotion behind his performances drew him in to speech events.

In oral interpretation, he says he enjoys what the audience is able to provide him.

“It’s a transaction in a way, where I give you a performance and then you give me either your reaction or you involve yourself in that performance by giving some sort of feedback,” Joshua Timmons said. “Whether it’s a reaction that I can see, or you giving me some sort of energy back, it kind of helps fuel the performance even more.”

Why speech?

Joshua Timmons says that making connections with the material he performs is another reason why he enjoys speech so much.

“I think one thing that’s unique to speech is that to do well you have to be able to connect with a story or be able to be open and willing to share something that relates to your story,” he said. “It can give you more confidence in a different kind of way that I think only speech would be able to provide, not debate or any other activity.”

The emotion present in speech performances has continued to inspire him more than his work in debate, Joshua Timmons said.

“In debate I’m just saying that stuff to you, but in speech I’m showing it to you,” he said.

Aaron Timmons has a similar view on the differences and similarities between speech and debate.

“It’s just a different vehicle to make an argument and/or tell a story,” Aaron Timmons said. “Debate is many times logos based. In speech, you’re still making an argument, but you utilize other persuasive appeals, more pathos and ethos, and just more of the performative nature of things.”

Joshua Timmons began his rise through the national ranks of oral interpretation tournaments as a freshman.

He started performing in the Program Oral Interpretation category, which combines a mix of poetry, prose, articles and dramatic readings into a performance.

As Joshua Timmons moved to higher levels of competition, he continued to work to advance farther into those tournaments.

As he got more comfortable among more experienced competitors, Joshua Timmons says that he grew to appreciate the competitions for others’ performances as well as his own.

“It’s fun to have to become the different characters, and then compete against other different people,” Joshua Timmons said.

“To see the different arguments that they’re making, and all the different perspectives people have whenever they make those, and just being able to share your story, and then experience other people’s stories as well.”

Continuing his journey Joshua Timmons has found a comfortable space in the speech community and he cherishes the connections he has made through tournaments.

“Speech people are very fun, very eccentric,” Joshua Timmons said.

This past year has been one full of many notable achievements, Aaron Timmons said.

“He’s been incredibly successful in his time in speech, but this year in particular I think he has taken it to another level,” Aaron Timmons said. “I’m real proud of him as coach and as dad.”

While Aaron Timmons thinks it’s always an accomplishment to win a tournament or competition, the real win for him has been being able to watch his son throughout his journey.

“It’s been really cool to watch him grow as a performer and as a speaker, but also as a young man,” Aaron Timmons said. “To be able to walk in front of any audience and tell stories—it requires a lot of courage to be vulnerable to tell a story like that.”

Cynthia Timmons sees her son’s accomplishments as a reflection of his skill.

“It takes natural talent and an extraordinary amount of work to have the level of success Joshua has had,” Cynthia Timmons said.

As Joshua Timmons gets closer to graduation in May, he is thinking about competing at the collegiate level.

“There’s still some stuff I feel I want to do with speech in the future that I’ll probably try to get out of college speech,” Joshua Timmons said.

Even after that, he anticipates that what he has learned in his many years of speech will continue to benefit him in his life beyond college.

“From there, it’s really just the use of the communication skills, storytelling, public speaking, all those types of things that I’ve learned along the way that I’ll just carry along with me,” Joshua Timmons said.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Evergreen Ever the

Another year in the books

Arts

13

Cavalcade shifts to remote work under pandemic restrictions Jack Trimmer, Payton Blalock

Planning the book

Staff Writers

W

hen she was younger, junior Isabelle Kronick always looked forward to the end-of-school rite of receiving her yearbook. She enjoyed it so much that when she entered Upper School three years ago she decided to join the staff that creates the book.

“I like to think of it as a way for everyone to remember all the fun they had in a given year and all the opportunities that Greenhill provides,” said Kronick, now managing editor of Cavalcade, the Greenhill yearbook.

Kronick is one of 33 Upper School students who has overcome extraordinary challenges to produce a book of memories in a year like no other in the school’s history.

In a normal year, creation of the book is a six-month process, start to finish. In the year of COVID-19, pandemic-related restrictions made those six months more difficult and time-consuming.

Among the challenges: social-distancing requirements that prevented the entire staff from coming together in the same room; the division of students into at-home and inperson learners; and the cancellation of many school activities and limitations on covering those events that actually happened.

“Traditionally, yearbook staff would reach out to faculty and students about what events and activities that might be happening at a given time and then make plans to cover it,” said Cavalcade faculty adviser Lesley Rucker, who also oversees the campus literary magazine, Montage, and teaches Upper School and Advanced Placement studio art. “Since there are only limited opportunities for the photo team to take pictures inside buildings, and so many annual happenings have been canceled, stories and pictures are limited.”

The process of creating the book begins with the staff determining the focus of each page. The editors in chief—seniors Abby Meyers and Lucy Sayah this year—discuss theme ideas and their design approach. That includes making decisions about typography, graphics and an overall color palette, Rucker said.

“We always have the portraits and then a section for fine arts and student life and sports,” Kronick said. “Sports is usually pretty set because you just have a page for each sport, but some of the other sections are a little bit more like malleable year-to-year.”

The planning process was more complicated this year because some students were in the classroom and others joined discussions through Microsoft Teams. In one such example, senior page section editor Sydney Horowitz has been an at-home learner all year. Her assistant editor, Ellie Feldman, has been on campus.

“It’s hard when the person in charge of our section is online, but we have made it work,” Feldman said. “If someone has a question about the senior page, I get asked questions before Sydney.”

Designing Pages Once the pages are determined, the students begin gathering content.

In past years, yearbook students fanned out across campus to conduct interviews, cover events and snap photographs. This year, gathering content has been harder, and much was gathered via email interviews or virtually.

Once content is gathered, the students start designing and laying out pages, Kronick said.

The students create pages using Adobe

Photos courtesy of Lucy Sayah

LAYOUT: The Cavalcade team practices social distancing while creating pages on Adobe InDesign. The pandemic has required coordination between in-person and remote learners.

InDesign, a desktop publishing and typesetting software application. In normal years, students would work side-by-side on desktop computers. Health and safety restrictions made that impossible this year, so students shifted to laptops equipped with InDesign.

“Working with technology and our publishing tech rep, files were set up and a checkout system put in place,” Rucker said.

“This involves a more complicated process.

As it took a little time to get it set up, the staff started on the master book pages later than usual.”

Once the students began working on pages, they had to adjust to the complications of working in separate spaces.

“Two sections go to each computer lab area and some go out to tables in the hallway,” said Feldman. “We try to split it up by

sections, but some of my section works out in the hallway while I work in the computer lab, so it can be hard to communicate.”

Changing the focus One outcome of this year’s restrictions is a different approach to chronicling campus life.

“We are focusing more on students individually and what they do,” Feldman said as the staff ’s March deadline loomed. “We are trying to make Cavalcade not just tailored to those in person, but to everybody.”

The students made their March deadline, and their work is now in the printer’s hands.

For the Cavalcade staff, one more year in the life of Greenhill is in the books.

The Good Wife’s Guide

Upper School junior’s film accepted into this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival Josie Arbuckle, Payton Blalock Staff Writers

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unior Chloe Merriman is the latest Advanced Video Production student to have their work showcased at the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin.

Merriman’s film, “The Good Wife’s Guide,” is an animated interpretation of an apocryphal 1950s magazine article that detailed the subservient behavior expected of women during that era. Merriman’s creation contains a series of graphics and backgrounds of women and housewives while demonstrating the sexist expectations that

women faced.

Her film premiered during the March festival, which was moved online for the second consecutive year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. South by Southwest released all the films at various times, and Merriman says she was able to watch them on demand whenever she wanted to.

“I liked it because it was kind of like Netflix, where I could just like watch it when I wanted to,” she said.

Work on South by Southwest entries, which are due in December, is a highlight of the Advanced Video Production class at Greenhill each year. Students work diligently in hopes that their film will be accepted

Graphic courtesy of Chloe Merriman

A GOOD WIFE: Junior Chloe Merriman is the latest Upper School film student to have their work screened by the South by Southwest Film Festival. The animated interpretation of an article examines the gender gap faced by women in the 1950s and today.

into the festival.

In the last 13 years, 52 films made by Greenhill AVP students have been accepted into the Texas High School Shorts category of the festival, which is one of the world’s premier events for music, film, and interactive media.

Merriman began work on the project in the summer program taught by Middle and Upper School video production teacher Corbin Doyle.

She cut out pictures of housewives, took pictures of the cutouts, uploaded them to her phone and then used a collage app to create each frame. Merriman made the entire film on her own, with feedback she received from classmates. The process took place during her two weeks in Greenhill’s summer film program.

As a young woman exposed to 2020’s eye-opening queries into both racial and gender equality, Merriman was inspired to tell a story using a glittery, collage-heavy animation that highlighted the gender gap in the 1950s and today.

Doyle said watching Merriman on her journey of conceiving her idea, executing it, and finally polishing it made him incredibly proud of her—her vision, the path she took, and the choice she made this year to spotlight gender inequality.

“This is the win Chloe Merriman needed,” Doyle said.

Doyle chooses his words carefully when it comes to discussing the Greenhill AVP experience, especially with regard to the program’s South by Southwest successes.

“Part of me doesn’t want this in print,”

he said. “I don’t want to give away our secrets, but here’s what I will say: this has to be about the individual. This can’t be about me.”

Merriman says that one of her main goals was to highlight the similarities between 1950s housewives and modern-day women. She feels some of the expectations of women presented in her film have not changed, and she wants viewers to draw that conclusion. She also wants viewers to walk away from her film with more knowledge and details about housewives in the 1950s.

Merriman recalls exactly where she was, who she was with, and how she felt when she first found out her film was accepted into South by Southwest.

“I was at Piada’s, and I remember I was sitting in the parking lot and my friend had texted me that our other film that we had been working on that year didn’t [get picked

by South by Southwest],” Merriman said.

After that, Merriman then realized that she should check her email to see if her other film had been accepted.

“I remember I saw it and I was like ‘what?’” Merriman said, smiling.

Initially, Merriman was confused and flustered, but she found herself in tears of joy after the information started to sink in.

For Merriman, this film was an opportunity to experiment in the summer program and work alone instead of in a large group. It also meant that her film’s success was a product of just herself.

“To see it be successful is just definitely like a crazy feeling,” Merriman said.

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Arts

Evergreen Ever the

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Upper School musicians take their talents off campus Greenhill Band students find fulfillment in Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Students win art and writing awards Sarah Luan

Managing Editor

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Photo courtesy of Ayne Park

DRESS REHEARSAL: Members of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Flute Choir prepare for a performance before the pandemic. Freshman Ayne Park, sitting first from right, and junior Katherine Li, sitting first from left, were selected after competitive auditions.

Sarah Luan

Managing Editor

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everal Upper School students are developing their skills and engaging with a larger musical community by participating in the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra.

The GDYO program is comprised of about 465 people, selected in a competitive audition process in the spring. When students audition, they are placed in appropriate ensembles. Within the program, the most prestigious ensemble is named GDYO. Other ensembles include Philharmonic, Wind Symphony and Flute Choir.

Freshman Ayne Park remembers auditioning for her first time in seventh grade. She didn’t get accepted into any of the ensembles that year, but she reauditioned in spring 2019 and has since been in the Flute Choir.

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“I grew up knowing that GDYO was the most prestigious music group for high school students in the Dallas area, so I always knew that I wanted to audition. I started auditioning in eighth grade, and the first year I got in was my sophomore year.”

“It was kind of nerve-wracking because there would be a bunch of other really good flutists in this auditorium where we were all practicing,” Park said. “This was when we had live auditions, and we went into this room where all the conductors of every single orchestra group were there to listen to you.”

Like Park, junior Katherine Li has previous experience auditioning for GDYO. Being a part of the program was something that Li wanted to do since she

started playing the flute. She played in the Flute Choir for one year and currently plays in the Philharmonic Orchestra.

“I grew up knowing that GDYO was the most prestigious music group for high school students in the Dallas area, so I always knew that I wanted to audition,” Li said. “I started auditioning in eighth grade, and the first year I got in was my sophomore year.”

Senior Anagha Gouru first auditioned last spring. Due to COVID-19, last year’s auditions were virtual—a restriction that will be repeated again this spring. To audition, students upload a YouTube video of them playing their scales and selected etudes in one sitting. Gouru is currently in the Wind Symphony, an ensemble comprised entirely of wind and brass instruments.

GDYO holds two-hour rehearsals over Zoom every Sunday. Conductors utilize recorded snippets of the songs so everyone at home can play along. Ensembles use an audio engineer so that individual recordings can be put together for virtual concerts or used during rehearsal for practice.

“Thanks to technology, it’s not been as bad as we thought it would be,” Gouru said. “It’s obviously not the same as playing with everyone in a group, but it’s the best way to deal with what’s happening right now.”

Gouru, Li and Park are all Greenhill band members. They say that being a part of GDYO makes them better musicians because of the audition process, practice requirements and advanced level of music.

“All the musicians are really talented because we all have to go through an audition process to get into GDYO,” Gouru said. “You’re also devoting three-hour rehearsals on Sunday and you’re putting in a lot of time working on that music. A lot of the music is also very challenging music too.”

Middle School and Upper School Band teacher Brian Donnell sees how students who participate in GDYO have positively impacted the Greenhill band.

“Having higher-level techniques and concepts experienced at GDYO shows up in the rehearsals we have in our band hall,” Donnell said. “Those students tend to be the leaders in our ensemble and make a big impact on the group and especially on the younger members.”

Li says she likes that GDYO gives her opportunities that the school band doesn’t offer. Flute Choir allowed her to play with an all-flute group, while being in Philharmonic lets her experience what it’s like playing with string instruments.

“At Greenhill, I’m in the band, which means I’m playing with primarily wind and brass instruments as well as percussion,” Li said. “But being in the Flute Choir or the Philharmonic, I get to be around different instruments, which is an entirely different experience in terms of sound and knowing how to blend in.”

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“My favorite thing is just being able to collaborate with a lot of really talented flutists around Dallas and Texas. It was more fun in person, but it’s still really fun in the moment to just play music and hear the end product.”

Even in a pandemic, these students have found ways to stay engaged in the music community.

“My favorite thing is just being able to collaborate with a lot of really good flutists around Dallas and Texas,” Park said.

“It was more fun in person, but it’s still really fun in the moment to just play music and hear the end product.”

hirteen Greenhill students have received honors in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, an annual competition hosted by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers.

The following students received awards in 11 different categories: seniors Olivia Kim and Sarah Luan; juniors Charlotte Brown, Katherine Li, Diane Lin, Travis Mann, Ashley Shan, Aimee Stachowiak and Christine Yan; freshmen Sophia Li and Natalie Stachowiak; and eighth-grader Aria Kutty. Collectively, the students received six Gold Keys, eight Silver Keys and 15 Honorable Mentions.

Students can submit as many pieces as they want in the writing category. In the photography category, each student may upload up to 16 works.

Animation partners Katherine Li and Yan received a Gold Key for their film “Fish Fish Bish,” which also received a Silver Medal at the national level. Katherine Li also received three individual awards in the photography category.

“Christine and I had already planned to submit ‘Fish Fish Bish’ to Scholastic, and I also had these photos I took from Intermediate Photography last year,” Li said.

Yan also individually submitted a piece to the painting category and received a Gold Key for her work titled “I Am Not a Virus.” Her message behind the painting was to show the harmful impact of blaming Asians for the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My mom was the one who told me that I received a Gold Medal and I remember just sitting there in shock,” Yan said.

“After I came to the realization of what happened, I was super happy and excited to win such a prestigious award.”

Brown and Mann both received awards in the photography contest. As Honors Photography students, the students say they have been encouraged by Upper School Visual Arts teacher Frank Lopez to submit their work to competitions like the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

“When there’s a big competition, Mr. Lopez will let us know and he’ll tell us the deadline,” Brown said. “He looks at the images that you’re thinking about submitting, gives feedback on it and really helps to get your images ready.”

Brown won three Silver Keys, two of which built upon her artistic statement of interpreting meaning behind her dreams.

Mann received an Honorable Mention for his photo titled “Solitude.”

“By winning one of these competitions, you’re going to have people discover your Instagram and then afterwards, you’re going to get internships or job opportunities and just grow from there,” Mann said.

Brown says the process of submitting artwork is a creative way to grow as an artist.

“It’s a great way to get a message out there,” Brown said. “Even if you’re not famous, people see it, people hear you and sometimes it’s a great way to get feedback.”

Sports

Defining a sports credit: discussion spurs debate

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Photos courtesy of Ellis Yang and Zoya Iyer

FLEXIBILITY COUNTS: Yoga, left, is an after-school class that meets every other day and qualifies as a sports credit. The school’s spring musical is offered during the day and counts as either a sports or fine arts credit to fulfill graduation requirements. Greenhill freshmen and sophomores need two sports credits per year, while juniors and seniors only need one.

Helina Tedros, Hanlon Shedd Staff Writers

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oming into the 2020-2021 school year, freshman Ellis Yang had a plan for fulfilling his required two sports credits: He would take the Ultimate Frisbee class and join the basketball team.

His plan hit a roadblock when he was cut from the basketball team because of limited space. After talking with his adviser, Yang enrolled in Yoga for the spring semester—a class that the Upper School counts as a sports credit.

Yang doesn’t see yoga as a sport, but he’s meeting his requirements.

“While yoga has its benefits, I think there is a big difference between yoga and a sport such as basketball or football because they are much more intense, but they are being treated as the same thing,” Yang said.

“Greenhill offers options like yoga for the kids who either get cut from the Greenhill sports teams or have no interest in playing a sport and need a credit to pass.”

All students at Greenhill need to fulfill a set number of sports credits: underclassmen need two credits each year, while juniors and seniors need only one.

Students can pick from several possible options: traditional team sports; and then a range of nontraditional options, including dance, yoga, sports performance, Ultimate Frisbee, and involvement in the Theater Department’s annual musical.

Head of Athletics and Physical Education Jarrett Shine supports a wide range of sports credit options to help students realize their full potential. As long

as there is a “strong physical fitness” aspect to an activity, it can be counted as a sports credit, he said.

“A sports credit is considered an activity that pushes your fitness level,” Shine said. “A student should choose an activity that develops them physically beyond their baseline. There are physical education classes that instill the knowledge of proper fitness and team sports that teach life lessons and skills that are needed well past Greenhill.”

Every team sport requires regular sessions in the High Performance Center, which mainly consists of strength and resistance training aimed at keeping student-athletes in shape for competitions.

The twice-weekly sessions are part of each student’s credit for their sport.

High Performance Center workouts are usually designed by Director of Sports Performance Jessen Houston or a member of his staff. These workouts are customized for each sport and athlete.

“One of the things that is different at Greenhill than other schools is that we’re lucky to have individuals and staff that can teach all the components of fitness,” Houston said. “That’s one of the things that we really stress.”

The expanded definition of sports credits is a subject of disagreement among Upper School students.

Sophomore Bridget Hill plays club volleyball in addition to competing for the Greenhill volleyball team. Hill agrees with the school’s athletic requirement “because I do think that sports area an important part of child development, mindset,

and life lessons.” But she believes that extracurricular activities such as dance and the musical should count as arts credits— not sports credits.

“If Greenhill wants to make sports and arts credits interchangeable, that’s fine, but I don’t think they should call the musical a sport,” Hill said. “I think they should just call it an arts credit, and if that’s enough, then that’s enough.”

Junior Isabella Serrano, a member of the swim team, also questions some aspects of the broad definition of a physical education or sports credit.

“I definitely think that dance is like a sport,” Serrano said. “I totally agree with that. Musical, however, I mean I understand why it’s considered a sports credit because there is probably a good amount of dancing.

However, I do not think it’s enough to be like a sport.”

Senior Dulany Bloom says she sees the broader definition as a valid recognition of the physical aspects of certain arts activities.

Bloom has been a member of cross-country, track and soccer while also participating in theater activities.

“I think it’s completely fair for the musical or theater to get sports credits,” Bloom said. “Those types of productions involve long hours where you are constantly on your feet. Additionally, they might prohibit you from being able to participate in athletics.”

For nearly two decades, students have received either an arts or sports credit from dance classes. From student choreographers to performers, each member gets credit to fulfill either their sports or elective

requirements, according to Middle and Upper School Dance teacher Kelly McCain.

While students cannot earn both credits from one semester, many students take dance for the entire year to fulfill the requirements.

“It’s like painting a portrait versus painting the side of my house,” McCain said. “Yes, I’ve got paint on my brush and I’m going to apply it, but it is a very different focus. Dance is not a sport in my mind, even though there’s a lot of byproducts that are very similar to sports.”

Like dance, the annual musical can also serve as a fine arts or sports credit.

Similar to dance, it can only be used to fill one credit at once.

Sophomore Molly Cleary is involved in both the musical and dance. She describes an appropriate physical education credit as “anything that has activity to it and requires some kind of physical input and is also an incredible time commitment”—a definition that both the musical and dance meet, in her view.

Upper School theater director and instructor Valerie Hauss-Smith says the intersection of theater and sports goes beyond just physical activity.

“The team effort, for me, that’s where sports and theater really meet,” HaussSmith said.

Shine has a similarly broad view of physical education.

“My hope is that students understand the importance of physical fitness, being reliable to their teammates, and push to become a better version of themselves,” Shine said.

Opinion: A diet-obsessed culture harms women’s sports !"#$%&'() *%$+,) -.#() /%0123) "#(/1((+() +4$#35)"#(%&"+&()43")$.+#&)&+04$#%3(.#6)$%)$.+) $&4#3#35) %7) +0#$+) 4$.0+$+(8) 9%&+) #37%&24$#%3) 4:%1$) (166%&$;) &+(%1&/+() 43") $&+4$2+3$) %6$#%3() #() 4<4#04:0+) 4$) $.+) *4$#%340) !4$#35) =#(%&"+&()>((%/#4$#%3)?+:(#$+, .$$6(,@@???834$#%340+4$#35"#(%&"+&(8%&5@ .+06A(166%&$@/%3$4/$A.+060#3+

The Sports Lane Lane Herbert

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ave you ever heard of the Nike Oregon Project?

Don’t worry. I hadn’t heard of it either until I stumbled on the story of Mary Cain.

A running phenom, Cain was breaking

records and setting new ones in high school and was eager for more. During her freshman year at college, Cain joined the elite running and training program sponsored by Nike, the Oregon Project.

She had hopes of going to the Olympics.

However, the all-male coaching staff was convinced that she had to lose weight to get faster. Public shaming about her weight and her inability to hit the 114-pound goal set by her coach, as well as her slowing performance, led Cain to suicidal thoughts.

Cain developed Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport or RED-S Syndrome— and lost her period for three years. With unnaturally low estrogen levels, her bone health deteriorated, and she broke five bones while she was training there.

Cain’s story is a warning to the sports community. Nike shut down the program in 2019 and fired the head coach, Alberto Salazar. But why isn’t this talked about more?

It is ignorant to say that weight isn’t a performance factor in some sports, like football or wrestling. But programs like the

Oregon Project destroy the female body.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, female collegiate athletes have an increased risk for developing eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. One study found that female athletes have a 35% chance of developing anorexia while males have a 10% chance.

Females and males have a 58% and 38% chance of developing bulimia, respectively.

This phenomenon even has a specific category called anorexia athletica: an eating disorder athletes can develop after obsessing over foods and lowering caloric intake while maintaining high levels of physical activity.

This is a national crisis in female sports.

It is a crisis of body and soul.

There is tremendous pressure to perform, and society paints the picture that nimble figures can get the job done better, faster and more successfully because they are “healthier.” Ideas like skinny equals healthy and big equals fat are dangerous and cause unrealistic standards for athletes.

Performance can be linked to weight, but it’s not the sole contributor. Athletes’

bodies need food, but society tells them no.

Beauty standards contort the idea of healthy, hurting the female sports community. We need to fix that.

One solution is more female coaches.

Female coaches have a shared experience and perspective. They also represent a model for young female athletes to emulate and a path to follow.

The other solution involves companies like Nike. With such a tremendous platform and impact on sports, companies like Nike have the power to flip the switch and prove that healthy doesn’t necessarily mean skinny. Female and male athletes alike should have access to sports psychologists and should see ad campaigns where muscles are highlighted, not bones.

I hope we can soon recognize the duties outlined in Title IX and provide the resources necessary for these female athletes to play and perform at elite levels of sport.

Let’s grow the game, one healthy athlete at a time.

16 Sports

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Evergreen Ever

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

COVID Quandary: To play or not to play?

Chloe Wetzler Backpage Editor

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OVID-19 and the resulting health and safety restrictions have made participating in athletics difficult for students this year. Alongside the larger cohort of Greenhill athletes who have endured shortened and suspended seasons is a lesser-known group: students who opted to sit the season out entirely.

Even with pandemic modifications and regulations—like wearing masks and socially distancing—some students felt their safety would still be threatened by competing.

One of these students is junior Rachel Wegener, who has played volleyball since the seventh grade. Given the fact that volleyball is an indoor sport with teammates positioned side-by-side on a small court, Wegener felt it was too risky to play.

“I wasn’t so worried about myself getting COVID; it was more about exposing my household to COVID,” Wegener said. “I live with immunocompromised people.”

Wegener has also opted to learn virtually this year.

This spring, Wegener is participating in track and field in-person. A major factor in her decision to return for the season was the setting of the practices.

“I’m doing track because it’s outside, so I feel safer,” Wegener said. “Indoor sports, like volleyball, were much riskier to participate in this year than an outdoor sport.”

Senior Pearson Brooks decided to sit out the basketball season because of COVID-19 concerns. In previous years,

Brooks played three sports: volleyball, basketball and track. Like Wegener, he is participating in track this spring.

“With COVID, I just felt unsafe playing,” Brooks said. “Basketball is a contact sport. I couldn’t imagine playing and trying to stay two feet away from someone, much less six.”

Brooks played on the boys varsity volleyball team for the fall 2020 season.

Unlike Wegener, Brooks felt safe enough to play volleyball.

“Volleyball is not a contact sport,” Brooks said. “I could get a little bit more space during practice and even during games from my teammates and from the other team. I felt more comfortable with that.”

But the way the volleyball season unfolded discouraged Brooks. Even with a limited schedule, COVID-19 concerns resulted in several cancellations. For Brooks, the season felt incomplete.

“We didn’t even get to play for half of our season,” Brooks said. “The day before our very last game, we were told that we weren’t going to be able to play because someone had gotten COVID. So we needed to go into quarantine.”

In the aftermath of that disappointment, Brooks had to make his decision about whether to play basketball.

The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths was growing exponentially. If he decided to play basketball, he would’ve been exposing himself at the peak of the virus. He felt his personal safety and that of his teammates— as well as their scheduled games—were threatened by the rise in cases.

“Being in much closer quarters with

Photos courtesy of Pearson Brooks and Rachel Wegener

A CHANGED GAME: Senior Pearson Brooks, left, and junior Rachel Wegener sat out fall seasons because of COVID-19 concerns, but they’ve returned for the track season.

my basketball team, and with cases going up, I just didn’t envision basketball having a full season,” Brooks said.

Like many other senior athletes, Brooks is disappointed by the loss of competition that resulted from the pandemic.

“It was disappointing for me—and other seniors as well—to learn that we’re not going to have a full year,” Brooks said.

“But I’m happy we got to play the few games that we did.”

After the winter season, he decided to return to the track team. Brooks says he felt comfortable with the space he could anticipate having during track practices and meets.

“I’m one of the few male hurdlers on

the team, so I don’t have to be with the rest of the sprinters or the jumpers,” Brooks said. “I can be in my own area and not be risking my safety or anyone else’s.”

Like Brooks, Wegener also took into account the amount of space she would have when returning to track. Being a polevaulter, she didn’t expect to be less than six feet away from people at most times.

She also believes the way the pandemic is being handled by her peers has improved.

“I just thought that everybody would be doing a better job than they were in the fall,” Wegener said. “Vaccines are becoming more available; people are wearing masks more. It feels like they understand the severity of it a little bit better.”

Strikeout

Low turnout is a swing-and-a-miss for spring softball Raag Venkat Editor-in-Chief

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aving played softball since sixth grade, Abbi Kassanoff was excited to be the only senior leading the varsity team.

Unfortunately, her dreams did not come true.

Instead, because of low enrollment, the Upper School softball program was canceled for the 2020-2021 spring season.

“I was definitely disappointed when I heard, because this has been something I have been looking forward to all throughout high school,” Kassanoff said. “Seeing the seniors that have come before me definitely prepared me to lead, so it’s an experience I’m going to miss.”

To have a successful softball program, a team needs at least nine members, as this is the number of players on the field for defense. The batting lineup, however, can have anywhere from nine to 12 players.

Team members have some theories about why so few people signed up this year.

Many think the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the team’s numbers. According to Kassanoff, the softball team would have had more players if it weren’t for the pandemic.

COVID-19 has complicated playing sports, especially for remote learners.

“Some people chose to do online school throughout the year, and they didn’t feel comfortable playing a sport because of the contact with others,” Kassanoff said. “So, I think that had something to do with the dwindling number of players.”

Varsity softball coach Monica Stephens says she feels that it is simply a general decline in interest among Upper School

students that has caused the lack of softball players.

“I would say with this group of upper schoolers there was a big boom in lacrosse, as it has recently become a big deal in Dallas,” Stephens said. “Everything comes in waves, and so this is just a year where there was a lot more interest in something else.”

There are about 19 Middle School softball players that Stephens is actively coaching. She hopes that the softball program will flourish in the next couple of years. “[The Middle Schoolers] are loving softball, and they’re so into it,” Stephens said.

“It’s part of that wave or boom of interest.”

Other players who were signed up for softball this year were dismayed after hearing about their season’s cancellation.

“I was disappointed that the season was canceled, especially because it got cut short last year,” sophomore Sophia Chao said. “I am looking forward to, hopefully, having a team for our 2022 season.”

Though the softball squad isn’t having a spring season with games and tournaments, Stephens has found a solution for current players.

Stephens has been hosting softball sessions on Mondays for players to practice their fielding and batting skills. She has recently added Wednesday practices due to strong interest.

Many players have formed long-lasting bonds and memories with teammates.

“I have made some very unlikely friendships while playing softball at Greenhill,” junior Icis Barrientos said. “The players on the softball team have always felt like a family because we always encourage each other to never give up. Unfortunately,

Photo courtesy of Abbi Kassanoff

FIELD OF DREAMS: Senior Abbi Kassanoff, who had played softball since sixth grade, hoped to lead the team in her final year until she found out the season would be canceled.

we don’t have [the Southwest Preparatory Conference tournament] this year, but in past years, the experience is one I will never forget.”

Chao says she has also found her friends through the sport.

“I have met two of my closest friends through softball and have created so many amazing memories,” Chao said. “Some of the best ones are traveling with my team, going out to lunch in between games, and 6:30 a.m.

warmups.”

Though it is disappointing to players to not have a team or season this year, the athletes say the sport has taught them important life lessons.

“Playing has taught me teamwork, work ethic and discipline,” Chao said. “All the hard work and time we dedicate to a common goal has really strengthened our bond and has enabled us to realize that we are not just playing for ourselves, but for each other.”

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Evergreen Ever the

Sports

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Female coaches motivate and inspire Hornet athletes Lane Herbert Executive Editor

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omen’s History Month represents a window of time to acknowledge the contributions of females who have had a profound impact on history. In the sports world, these women tend to be coaches who have empowered young female athletes to compete and grow in the sport they play.

The same narrative applies to athletes and coaches at Greenhill.

Senior field hockey captain Sheela Vasan has been coached by females ever since her freshman year.

“I think it definitely makes a big difference in terms of relatability and mutual experience,” Vasan said. “A lot of times when you have a female coach, they are someone who played in college, and played in high school and understand what it’s like to be a female athlete.”

Head volleyball coach Tatiane Deibert says she believes that there is an extra ability to empathize between female coaches and players.

“We can understand each other,” Deibert said.

“Sometimes, as women, we need just a little break, especially since you guys are under such pressure in this school. I think academically, Tatiane Deibert it’s such a heavy, heavy load.”

Female coaches can also inspire the younger generation of athletes. Seeing role models in their coaches, athletes like Vasan say they aspire to continue their athletic careers.

“I now have people around me who played in college, and I know what that’s going to look like,” Vasan said. “I know what it’s like to be a student athlete, and that’s something that I want to do. So, I personally think I owe a lot of my own sports motivation

to those coaches just because they gave me a realistic standard of what I would be able to do.”

Senior volleyball captain Kaylee Chien says she feels that her female coaches cultivate a sense of empowerment because they demonstrate independence and motivation.

“It’s inspiring because these coaches are so independent and so they can teach people to have that kind of motivation,” Chien said. “I think it’s really empowering because they’re able to control so much like what we do and yet, they’re able to empathize with us on a personal level.”

Since the passage of Title IX—a federal civil rights law passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 that protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance—the percentage of female coaches in senior-level coaching positions in female sports has declined. One possible source for this underrepresentation is the application process for coaching positions, female coaches and athletes say.

Originally from Brazil, Deibert says she looked for coaching jobs when she moved to the United States. After many job interviews, she remembers being asked whether she could manage a busy volleyball season given that she had a young daughter. Deibert says there were other instances where she was asked how her race would affect her coaching style and ability.

In another instance, Deibert says she was a finalist for a university-level coaching position when a male administrator in the hiring process remarked, “Well I’m really concerned by, you know, Brazilians and Latinos are, you know, super, how do you say, passionate. And I don’t know how you would be in my coaching staff.”

“So, he was pretty much just saying Latinos are nuts,” Deibert said.

Head field hockey coach Brittany

COACHING EMPOWERMENT: Senior Sheela Vasan, who has committed to play college field hockey, believes that having female coaches helped her envision her athletic future.

Johnson says she is aware of other female coaching candidates being asked similar questions.

“That’s definitely a reality, and something that was brought up,” Johnson said. “Not with me, but with a friend who was interviewing for a job. They were like, ‘How are you going to manage coaching, being a head coach and dealing with your kids?’ And it’s like you would never ask a man that, would just assume that they’ve got a handle on it.”

Deibert says that how people handle themselves in an interview can determine whether they get the job.

Head softball coach Monica Stephens says that female coaches have to prove themselves more than their male counterparts.

“Females are never going to get like the full outright respect from males, regardless of their age,” Stephens said.

“As a female being around male athletes, regardless of Monica Stephens

the age, you have to prove yourself. You can’t just walk in and be, ‘I played at this level and this is what I did.’ You could say it but they’re not going to respect it until they see it.”

Johnson says the pandemic has also contributed to discrepancies between male and female coaches in the workplace.

“We live in a society where there is a power dynamic, and especially thinking about the pandemic, and the number of women who’ve had to leave the workforce because of childcare, or they get laid Brittany Johnson off, it’s just not fair,” Johnson said. “It’s unequal.”

Regardless of the challenges that female coaches face, they’ve made a tremendous impact in their work, Greenhill athletes say.

“I think for me, having four coaches who have played in college or were college athletes, whether that be field hockey or other sports as a freshman, was one of the reasons why I found myself wanting to play in college,” Vasan said.

18 Views

Rants

Evergreen Ever the

& Raves

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 the Ever Evergreen staff Editors-in-Chief Leah Nutkis Raag Venkat

Executive Editor Lane Herbert

RAVE to SAGE for keeping us fed throughout

this year. As much as we like to complain about the lack of cheese in the mac and cheese, this year has been challenging for everyone, and it cannot be easy for SAGE workers to feed an almost fully returned campus while keeping everything distanced and safe.

RANT to Ascension Coffee (formerly 84

Point) closing at 5 p.m. While we’re all very grateful that there’s caffeine available a short walk away, it’d be great if said caffeine were available for longer than an hour after school ends, so anyone who stays on campus until 6 p.m. could get some.

RAVENT to the hour before Community

Time with your advisory. I’m never quite sure what we’re supposed to be doing. Lastminute homework? Cramming for a test?

Making an advisory Tik-Tok? No one’s quite sure, but my advisory has found some interesting ways to use up the time.

Managing Editors Cam Kettles Sarah Luan

Chief Section Editor Sumana Kethu

News Editor Nate Stitt

Views Editor Diane Lin

RANT to AP exams. One consequence of

discontinued subject tests is that AP exams matter more. We’re looking at one of the worst months of the school year for those in AP courses as April rears its head. The idea of AP exams feels even worse this year because we’re not supposed to have finals in the first place.

RAVENT to advisory time. I have never spent

so much time with my advisory group as I did this year. I have learned many new things and have had my share of laughs and fond memories and lunches (and snacks, community times and office hours). That being said, I also desperately want to eat lunch with some other people.

RAVE to Women’s History Month. It’s always

important to celebrate women’s rights and recognize the long road it took to get here and how much further we have to go to achieve equality. While we should be talking about these things every March, it’s important to have these conversations throughout the year.

Features Editor Khushi Chhaya

Arts Editors Isabel Martinez Valerie Xu

Sports Editor Avery Franks

Backpage Editor Chloe Wetzler

Associate Editors RAVENT to the weather. Don’t get me

wrong–the weather is nice. Lots of students have finally busted shorts out again. The breeze is cool, not cold, and the afternoon is warm, not blistering hot. What does suck, however, is the wave of bugs that the weather brings.

RAVE to more and more people being

vaccinated. With over 230 million doses distributed in the United States, and all Texas adults eligible for vaccines, here’s to hoping that we’re on track for a somewhat normal school year when we return in August!

RANT to the imbalance of Green and Gold days these last few weeks. The adjusted schedule has eight Green days and eleven Gold. I’m also pretty sure that most teachers already adjusted, and this imbalance is just going to make them have to readjust.

Editorial: Set aside the stigma surrounding Johnson & Johnson The race to get vaccinated is on everyone’s mind.

Since December, three COVID-19 vaccines have been given emergency use authorization by the federal Food and Drug Administration: the double-dose PfizerBioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and a singledose vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson.

A hierarchy quickly developed between the vaccines based on their efficacy rate. While the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have efficacy rates of 95% and 94.1%,respectively, Johnson & Johnson reported an efficacy rate of 66%.

As a result, Pfizer and Moderna became the preferred vaccine for many, while Johnson & Johnson was seen as a last resort—or an option to be avoided.

And then came the events of April.

Six women between the ages of 18 and 48 who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine developed a rare type of blood clot. The FDA paused the use of this vaccine.

Six cases is a minute number in a population of 6.8 million individuals who had received Johnson & Johnson doses by April

Our Editorial Policy

The Evergreen is an independent, student-run newspaper serving the community of Greenhill School. It is printed six times during the school year. Print circulation is 1,000 copies. Past issues are archived at issuu.com/ghevergreen.

The Evergreen staff upholds a code of ethics that values honesty, integrity, accuracy and responsibility. Our mission is to help the local community interpret campus, local,

12. The FDA pause was not an unusual event either, as what was perceived as a crisis quickly passed.

A panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to end the pause and resume use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. On April 23, satisfied that the blood clots were aberrations rather than indicative of a larger problem, the FDA agreed.

It ended its recommended pause on the vaccine.

The problem now is one of public perception. A vaccine that was already seen as less desirable because of a lower efficacy rate became tainted by social-media whispers that it was unsafe. But rumor isn’t reality.

With doses more widely available, we would like to urge members of our community and beyond to get vaccinated—whether it’s Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.

It’s time to set aside the stigma surrounding the Johsnon & Johnson vaccine.

While its efficacy rate was significantly lower in trials, there were zero deaths or hospitalizations because of COVID-19 out of the entire trial population that received the actual Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The survivability rate national and international events through articles and editorials written and edited by students.

The Evergreen welcomes letters and emails from readers. We reserve the right to edit submissions for accuracy, grammar and length. The Evergreen will not publish material that we judge to be libelous, obscene, invades privacy or constitutes hate speech.

Anonymous letters will not be published.

The Staff Editorial represents the opinion of The Evergreen staff, not necessarily that of Greenhill School.

of COVID-19 in those with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is nearly 100%.

And yet, even before the April pause, the mayor of Detroit passed on more than 6,000 Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, solely solely on the basis of it having a lower efficacy rate than Pfizer and Moderna. As a result, 6,000 people in Detroit had to wait a little bit longer for immense protection from this virus—a decision that may have cost lives and certainly did nothing to hasten the end of the pandemic.

With the FDA pause lifted and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine once again in use, there’s still some unfortunate elitism in the public attitudes. . In the midst of a pandemic that has claimed over half a million American lives, people are pausing to make sure that they get the “best” vaccine.

We believe it’s the civic duty of members of our community—and communities across Texas and the United States—to get vaccinated.

A 66% efficacy rate is smaller than 95% or 94.1%, but it’s infinitely larger than 0.

For Greenhill and the nation, when you’re eligible, sign up to get any COVID-19 vaccine, even if it happens to be Johnson & Johnson.

Saara Bidiwala Emma Nguyen

Staff Writers Ria Agarwal Kaden Alibhai Josie Arbuckle Payton Blalock Emma Hoffman Emily Hu Ava Iwakso Max Kettles Eliza Lamster Mateo Lanzillotta Sophia Li

Andrew Mann Emily Quinn Emma Rikalo Stephanie Rojas Nate Rutledge Pooja Sanghvi Hanlon Shedd Helina Tedros Jack Trimmer Ravi Vasan Kaylee Wilson

Adviser

Gregg Jones

Assistant Adviser Amy Bresie

Have a response?

Opinion?

Original Idea?

Email the Editors-in-chief nutkisl21@greenhill.org venkatr21@greenhill.org

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Corrections and Clarifications

The Evergreen welcomes advertisements, but we reserve the right to refuse an ad.

We pledge to correct our errors. To request a correction or clarification, please email Gregg Jones:

Business inquiries should be directed to Spencer Jacobs: jacobss22@greenhill.org

jonesg@greenhill.org

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Evergreen Ever the

Views

Asian American identity in a time of hate

19

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DR. INGRAM: If we’re thinking about what it means to be a person of Asian descent, culturally,

DR. INGRAM: You mentioned you joined the Greenhill community from another school.

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“The public school I went to before definitely doesn’t celebrate cultures as well as Greenhill, much less East Asian culture. While I definitely feel like I belong today, it took a while before I felt like I fit in with the Greenhill community. It’s hard wanting to reach out knowing that there are people calling me and the new group of Chinese students the ‘ch*** squad,’ and I really struggled with being able to create my own identity. I was constantly confused with other Chinese people that had the same hair length; I was confused for the Minglun students multiple times; and I have been always grouped in to the new group of Chinese students. There have been so many times when people have ‘complimented’ me by saying, ‘Oh you’re actually cooler than I thought you were because I thought you and the other Chinese kids didn’t talk.’ Now I feel like I’ve found my place at Greenhill, but it definitely took me a while to get here.”

what might that look like?

G$:&#(53$01/+->$H/*#$

What insights would you offer to us about both your transition here and the experience that you’ve had since you’ve been at Greenhill?

- junior Katherine Li

DR. INGRAM: As you reflect on that attempt of ours to raise awareness

about these challenges that we’re facing to varying degrees in various parts of our world, what would you like to remind us about today?

“You can’t pick and choose which part of Asian culture you wish to support. For those of you who enjoy getting boba with your friends, claim BTS was robbed at the Grammys, watch ‘Attack on Titan,’ read manga, watch ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ as your go-to romcom, and get sushi on the weekends with your friends, I’m really lost on why you choose to be silent when my people and other BIPOC are being attacked, threatened, and killed simply because they exist. It’s especially disheartening to see that the ones who are the most careless with COVID are the ones who blame us for ‘bringing it here’ in the first place….The media has perpetuated the idea that Asian women are your punchlines, the butt of your joke, and the root of your fetish. We are not your ‘lotus blossoms’ or your ‘dragon ladies,’ we are people, and fetishization reinforces gender violence against Asian women. It is not flattering, and for those of you who have said I’m pretty for an Asian person or that I’m only pretty because I’m Asian, it’s appalling and dehumanizing, and it needs to stop. When we say, ‘Stop Asian hate,’ we don’t just mean to stop blaming us for COVID-19. We mean stop fetishizing us, stop dehumanizing us, stop stealing our culture, and stop blaming us for something that’s not our fault.”

- junior Chloe Merriman

DR. INGRAM: Why is there is a necessity for more than one affinity group to honor students that are from various versions of Asian descent?

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Graphics by Raag Venkat

Evergreen Ever

20 Backpage

the

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

April 11: The U.S. becomes the most heavily affected country in the world, with a death toll from COVID-19 that surpasses Italy.

March 26: The U.S. COVID-19 death toll reaches 1,000.

March 25: Greenhill begins conducting virtual classes.

March 13: President Trump declares COVID-19 a national emergency.

Greenhill cancels the final day of classes before Spring Break. All Southwest Preparatory Conference events are postponed.

March 5: The Independent Schools Association of the Southwest cancels its annual arts festival.

March 11: There are now more than 1,200 confirmed cases in the United States.

The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic.

March 4: The U.S. has more than 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with the first case reported on Jan. 22.

April 3: All SPC athletic events are officially canceled for the spring 2020 season. Greenhill announces that all classes and activities will remain virtual for the rest of the school year.

April 28: Total U.S. cases surpass 1 million, with more than 57,000 deaths.

May 1: Protests against COVID-19 restrictions and state-mandated shutdowns have erupted in more than 25 states. Protesters in Michigan and other states are armed.

May 27: Greenhill classes end. The U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 100,000.

July 7: U.S. reaches 3 million cases.

July 11: President Trump wears a mask in public for the first time.

May 31: Black Lives Matter protests occur across the country. Some criticize the protests and claim they are spreading COVID-19, but health officials will dispute those claims.

June 10: U.S. COVID-19 cases reach 2 million.

Aug. 25: Greenhill begins the 2020-2021 school year with virtual classes conducted via Microsoft Teams.

Aug. 11: The Trump administration agrees to pay Moderna $1.5 billion for 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Jan. 11-14: Upper School reconSept. 8: Greenhill resumes in-person venes classes after Winter Break classes for the Upper School, with stuwith a week of school-wide dents who choose to return allowed on Dec. 18: The federal Food remote learning. campus every other week to enable social- and Drug Aministartion distancing. approves the Moderna vaccine for emergency use.

Jan. 19: Greenhill Upper School ends its hybrid learning structure, allowing all students who choose to return to in-person classes. About 30% of students initially choose to continue at-home learning.

Sept. 22: The U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 200,000.

Feb. 23: The U.S. death toll tops 500,000.

Oct. 2: President Trump and Melania Trump test positive for COVID-19.

Trump begins a threeday stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Oct. 30: Total US COVID-19 cases top 9 million.

Dec. 11: The FDA issues Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. It is the first vaccine approved.

Feb. 27: The FDA authorizes the Johnson & Johnson singledose COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

March 2: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issues an executive order that will end the statewide mask mandate, “Texas is OPEN 100%,” Abbott tweets.

“EVERYTHING.” March 27: Total U.S. cases pass 30 million.

April 1: U.S. COVID-19 deaths top 550,000 as 75,000 new cases

Case numbers and deaths were obtained from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website unless stated otherwise.

April 4: Thirty-two percent of Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 18.5% are fully vaccinated. There have been over 165 million vaccines administered, including nearly 13 million doses in Texas.

Graphics by Chloe Wetzler