April issue 2014

Evergreen THE

April 2, 2014

Volume XLVIX, Issue 5

Admission Impossible?

The challenges of evaluating a four-year old p. 10 -11

Photos by Ariana Zhang

BUILDING BLOCKS: Pre-K student Ali Naseem builds a structure out of blocks in his classroom. Ali went through the admissions process last year before coming to Greenhill last fall.

As a part of the evaluation process, admissions officers observe prospective students like Ali in a range of similar early childhood activities, such as playing with building blocks.

After ten years, Andrews to step down as coach Ben Weinberg

Coach Andrews will remain in his role on campus as MS math In a move that came as a teacher and eighth grade advisor surprise to many players and —a load that, according to him, members of the Greenhill became quite difficult when community, Jaye Andrews, boys’ combined with the day-to-day basketball head coach and MS grind of coaching. math teacher, announced in “The coaching responsibilities March his decision to sometimes drew time step down from the and energy away coaching position he from my teaching I’m glad has held for ten years. the players duties,” he said. “I’m Coach Andrews’ teams saw a coach looking for-ward to not made the Southwest who was facing that opposing pull Preparatory Conference committed from two different major (SPC) Division-I until the directions.” tournament six times, For him, the varsity end.” earning a second-place basketball season did not overall finish in 2010. confine itself solely to According to Coach Andrews, the winter. As soon as the season he decided to step down in order proper ends in mid-February, to better balance the various the individual player meetings responsibilities of his professional and scheduling for the next year and personal life. begin. Spring practices begin “Being a high-school in May, as does Metrocrest, the basketball coach, especially high-school summer basketball as a full-time teacher, is a real league that runs through late July, challenge,” Coach Andrews said. in which Greenhill players and Managing Editor

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coaches participate. Preseason conditioning picks up as soon as the school year begins. Such a nonstop schedule was difficult for a full-time teacher and father of three to manage. Coach Andrews’ middle daughter, junior Camille, has been a member of the varsity soccer team for three years. In all those years, he has been unable to watch more than a half of each of her games, he said, due to conflicts with basketball. Coach Andrews’ two other daughters are Melanie ’13 and freshman Ellen Margaret.

As the three have reached their teenage and high-school years, the challenge of balancing family with work became greater.

“Every year, I have to step back and ask myself, ‘Do I want to do it again?’” Coach Andrews said. The decision for him and his family was by no means easy. Besides his love for the team and the position, he explained that he also weighed the timing.

“When I took the job ten years

ago, one of the things I wanted to do was pass the program off to the next coach with momentum,” he said. “This situation allows us to do that.”

Although this year’s squad graduates six seniors, including several key players, Coach Andrews chose the end of the season as a cont’d on page 18

US announces change in team leader system

story on page 4

Also in this issue...

News Capital-Bound

Arts Character-Conscious

Features Wonder Warner

Sports March Madness

Backpage The Great Outdoors

In a move designed to bolster the MS history curriculum, eighth grade students will head to our nation’s Capitol next fall. p. 6

Asst. Features Editor Varun Gupta chats with junior Harris Chowdhary, a stalwart of Greenhill stages from the Elliott Center to the theater. p. 7

Editor-in-Chief Rachel Diebner infiltrates the office and mind of Greenhill’s scheduling guru to better explain the esoteric process. p. 15

SPC basketball season may be over, but Greenhill students are no less mad for the flurry of excitement of college hoops. p. 17

With spring underway, The Evergreen offers suggestions on how to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. p. 20

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The Evergreen Wednesday [04.02.14]

VIEWS

Rants & Raves A RAVE to the repainted CDC parking spots, which are finally different from the white student spots. Greenhill drivers already face an onslaught of problems: herds of peacocks to avoid, speed bumps to swerve around, and throngs of children to try not to hit.

It’s nice to know that drivers on Hornet Road have one less thing to worry about. Not to mention, the new color adds spice to our lives.

A MENTAL SURVEY

A RANT to the lack of hand sanitizer in dispensers around the Upper School. We hold these truths to be self evident, that each student has the right to wave his hand under an amorphous, gray pod, that this pod will dispense a glob of hand sanitizer, and that this glob will be appropriately sized. Our germy limbs will not rest until our rights have been restored.

A RANT to the cones near the water tower that block the carpool line. This is one in a series of obstacles on Hornet Road (see Rave #1). While some of us boast as many as two years on the road, it’s ridiculous to expect that we can simultaneously drink a Venti Frappucino (no whip), force fistfuls of Cocoa Puffs into our mouths, sing along to the Frozen soundtrack, and dodge these cones all at the same time.

A RAVE to the new decals and paint in the underground tunnel of the gym. This update is the latest of many improvements to our athletic department this year. Although we may not always win on the field, we are undoubtedly first in SPC for gym aesthetics.

Leggings from the student perspective season’s new fashion trend leggings have become a source of conflict.

The administration’s response to the student’s love affair with leggings has been confusing. At the beginning of the year, there was an emphasis on discussion. But when the issue of leggings is raised now, that entire message is thrown under the bus.

The administration often does not recognize that students are allowed, under the rules, to wear leggings. Students are told to wear a tunic or clothing that is mid-thigh length with leggings, which is also

A RAVE to the hottest trend in the 2014 Greenhill fashion scene: the purple jackets worn by the Greenhill students who visited Taiwan.

The jackets are a tangible reminder that Greenhill is breaking cultural boundaries AND paving a new era in American fashion.

Next year, when Victoria’s Secret Angels are strutting down the runway in purple jackets, we’ll know whom to thank.

A RAVE to the gorgeous spring weather gracing Greenhill these past few weeks. The sun says he is shining more confidently this year thanks to the new dress code: “I used to have to cover up even in the Spring time, but now I’m letting all of my rays show!” The sun does report, however, that he still does not consider leggings to be pants.

A RANT to the many glitches in the rollout of the new wemail server.

With students suddenly unable to email papers and communicate with faculty, the entire campus fell into mass panic. Frantic freshman ran about the halls, and college obsessed seniors wreaked havoc as they struggled to access their college decision notifications. Also, what was wrong with Ben? The new unnamed server is breaking our hearts.

At the beginning of this year, the Greenhill administration replaced the former “Dress Code” with the less strictly defined “Dress Guidelines” in order to create more gender equality and allow students to choose how they want to portray themselves. In order to promote reflectiveness and self-growth, the administration emphasized in meetings and announcements the importance of having conversations with students about how they wanted to present themselves.

Perhaps due to a cold winter, the lack of a formal dress code, and this

A RAVE to the revival of bagels at bagel break, spearheaded by Mr. Oros and the junior class. Junior class officers have cited the buzzzzz’s limited selection of muffins, cookies and funnel cake on Friday as a driving factor in their decision. “As a diverse community of learners, we deserve a diverse community of snacks,” said a concerned student.

Photo from Diana’s Bakery

not in the dress code or any written rule. To make matters worse, the administration is often abrasive in their handling of the issue, telling the student body in emails that we “are not worthy” of specific privileges.

The Evergreen Staff feels that the student perspective hasn’t been fairly articulated. First of all, it’s important to recognize that there is no dress code. Students who choose to wear leggings without a top that goes knee-length are not breaking any written rule.

Additionally, we feel that students who wear leggings are

A RANT to the trend of Lower and Middle School students leaving public areas unkempt.

We understand that these students haven’t yet developed the grace that comes with graduation rehearsals, but it’s still no excuse for the deplorable state of the lunch areas. We demand a change.

And so do our crumb-covered pants.

Content courtesy of Nick Kraus and Harris Chowdhary

Staff Ed

not trying to be inappropriate or scandalous, but, rather, comfortable and fashionable. There also seems to be a perception that leggings are more inappropriate than other kinds of clothing, but skinny jeans and other fashions are often just as tight. We feel that leggings are not inappropriate or provocative, especially since they don’t reveal skin. Students enjoy wearing them because they are affordable, comfortable and in style.

We ask that the administration recognize that according to its rule, leggings are allowed. The proper

way to handle this issue is to reach out individually to students who are consistently wearing leggings inappropriately and have a conversation with them about how they want to portray themselves, instead of chastising the entire student body at assemblies or through emails. It is unfair to both the administration and the student body to claim that there is no dress code because the school wants to promote individuality and gender equality, while simultaneously putting restrictions on how girls wear leggings.

THE

Evergreen staff

Serving Greenhill

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Rachel Diebner

managing editors Alex Weinberg Ben Weinberg

design editor Laura Arnold

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asst. arts editor

business manager

asst. speacial sections editor

Blake Lieberman

Ben Schachter

asst. news editor

asst. sports editors

art director

staff artists

Ariana Zhang

Jackson Lowen

Suman Chebrolu Andrew Friedman Arhum Khan Zach Rudner

online editor in chief

backpage editor

multimedia editor

advisors

arts editor

Shruti Rao

Sanah Hasan

news editor

sports editors

features editor

double truck editor asst. features editors

Sera Tuz

Sofia Shirley

Megan Wiora

Ben Krakow Madison Goodrich Joseph Middleman

Christian Holmes

staff writers

asst. views editor

views editor

Varun Gupta Christina Zhu

Catherine Leffert Lane Hirsch Amna Naseem

Danielle Stoler

Lizzy D’Apice

Isabet Tranchin

Eve Hill-Agnus Pamela Kripke

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Take Language Seriously

Honor the Gluten-Free Ronak Dhingra, Eighth Grader

Art Hall, Director of Equity and Inclusion

In December, 2012 the U.S. Department of Justice passed a settlement that requires universities to offer gluten free meals to students. If universities are required to serve gluten-free food, the question is: why can’t Greenhill and other private schools also do so?

About three million Americans have celiac disease, a serious allergy to gluten. Around 18 million Americans have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, like me. Celiac disease may cause damage to the small intestines, which leads to not being able to absorb certain types of nutrients, which in turn leads to a lack of important nutrients in the brain, nervous system, bones, liver, and other organs.

Despite the Justice Department settlement, a survey conducted by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness of nearly 1,000 students shows that there continues to be limited access to gluten-free foods at college. Being gluten sensitive myself, I know how it feels to miss out on chicken fried steak, pasta bar, hamburgers and pizza. If Sage Dining (a leading food service provider to independent schools and private colleges nationwide), and other groups like Sage could provide more gluten-free foods to their clients, many students like myself would feel more included in our school community.

Private schools should not only serve gluten-free meals for schools with many people who have gluten allergies. They should serve them to every school, because a gluten-free lifestyle is a better lifestyle than a lifestyle filled with gluten.

Greenhill has a quad, we have peacocks, we have a school store, the only thing that is missing is healthy gluten-free options.

What is language? I think it is easy for us to look up the official definition in a dictionary and rely on those words to define what language is. But if we really press ourselves as a community and come up with our own answer, I believe that somewhere in that definition the word “respect” would be represented and prominent. Language, in its purest form, is supposed to be an honorable communication between two entities that allows for intent to be expressed.

Or maybe language is private, and how individuals communicate with each other is a cherished exchanged of emotions and frivolity.

Either way, language should make a person feel empowered and respected; welcomed and honored; humble and grateful. I believe that there are times in our community when language does not achieve the goals laid out in the previous sentence. Sometimes–not all the time, but sometimes–language in our community can be contrary to the mission of the school and the core principles of our campus: Honor, Respect and Compassion. When language is used to demean, denigrate or disrespect an individual, even in a playful manner, it puts the entire community at risk. Innocent banter that trespasses the boundaries of sexual orientation, racial epithets or gender selection can put many friendships in an awkward position. In the two years that I have been in the office of Equity and Inclusion, I have addressed more than a few situations that dealt with disrespectful language. One example included a young man who repeatedly used a word reserved for female dogs to refer to young ladies around him. When the young man was asked to stop his disrespectful ways, his response was, “I was just playing ... don’t be so literal.” Additionally, I have tried to encourage students to refrain from using racial slurs

as “terms of endearment” on campus, because it sends the wrong message of social acceptance to other students who racially may not identify with the “endearing term.” Language is a tool for comfortable communication, but when it invites trouble and misunderstanding it can be detrimental to the social fabric of a community.

Rita Mae Brown wrote, “Language is the road map of

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Your language is the overt descriptor for who you are and where you are going.

a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” Think for an instant what that means. Your language is the overt descriptor for who you are and where you are going. The intent of the language I have put on display for this editorial is not to call out any group exclusively; nor, is it to make someone feel guilty for the level of comfort they enjoy when language is invoked with a friend in a private situation. On the contrary, this article is to raise the level of awareness about language in our community, so that the next time you hear a rap song, or the next time you re-tell that funny joke you heard, or the next time you want to verbally hurt the person who hurt you, remember, there is an entire community around you and someone may not understand your language and may be hurt because your words were not Honorable, Compassionate nor Respectful.

Colleges: Stop Gouging Us Lindsey Mahomes, Senior

I have just finished applying to college.

Soon I will be applying for a job, thanks to all the money I’ve spent begging schools all around the country to accept me.

Everyone knows college tuition is expensive. What I didn’t realize was how much financial damage simply applying could do. I have paid to send applications, ACT scores, and SAT scores all over the country just to get my application looked at. One former admissions reader once told me the average time she spent on an application was nine minutes. You know what’s ridiculous? The fact that every single one of the aforementioned supplements was electronic. Yes. I paid on average $75 per application and $12 per test score to literally have an email (or some other electronic document) sent to the school of my choosing.

Just let that sink in for a second.

What I find most frustrating is that none of these costs are isolated from each other. Almost all schools require a test score to be sent in with the application. This means I have to pay for the test itself (registration)

and then pay to send the actual scores around take them again. Thus, I incurred the cost of the country, not to mention investing in taking multiple tests and then sending them some kind of test preparation. And schools off to various places. It’s craziness. At this rate, know this. To add insult to injury, some I won’t be able to afford the paraphernalia universities require subject I’m supposed to wear on test scores and subsequent college t-shirt day. full disclosure of those, I understand colleges meaning I have to send can’t read applications At the very for free. In addition to them my scores every time least, I’d like to the fact that admission I take the test. At my cost, of course. know where my season probably requires Yes, it is technically my to hire additional application fee is them decision which colleges I readers, the sheer amount going. of applications that would apply to, which tests I take, and how often I take them. pour in if there were no fee Except that it isn’t. Given would be unmanageable how competitive today’s and likely mean they workforce is, the better the college I can get couldn’t give each one the attention it into, the better my chances are of getting a deserved. Having said that, I think the way good job. Since nearly all colleges require test the system is currently constructed is unfair scores, I necessarily have to take some form and unnecessary. At what point has emphasis of (and likely multiple types of) standardized shifted from education to profit? (I’m tests. I unfortunately was not one of those looking at you, testing agencies.) The average whiz kids who scored perfectly their first college gets 6,170 applications and the most time and was therefore strongly advised to expensive school I applied to, demanding a

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casual $90 and my first born child, received 38,828 applications last year. I don’t have my calculator within reach, but I feel confident saying that adds up to a lot.

At the very least, I’d like to know where my application fee is going. What do they do with this (not so small) fortune they’re collecting? I understand once I hand it over it belongs to the school, but I’d rather it not go towards lawn maintenance, if that’s not too much to ask.

I want to attend college next year. In fact, I’d like to have options, so that I can choose the college that I think is the best fit for me.

Like most kids, this means I am applying to schools with various levels of selectivity and will pick one depending on where I am accepted to. Is this a lot to ask? I’m not going on an application shopping spree or spending hours on essays for the fun of it. I’m trying to secure my future. After all, college is a pretty big decision and I don’t think it unreasonable to want to ensure I end up somewhere I’m happy. I know happiness is priceless, but right now it just seems pricey.

The Evergreen Wednesday [04.02.14]

NEWS

greenhill gets greener the recent recycling audit shows that the greenhill community is recycling more. TO LEARN ABOUT THESE EFFORTS, see page 6.

News Editor

Beginning next fall, Upper School team leaders will maintain stationary positions in their respective grade levels rather than traveling with their class for four years. The administration made this change after a year of reevaluation and reflection on the roles and responsibilities of the team leader position.

Melissa Battis, current Class of 2017 team leader, will be the permanent freshman team leader.

Berkeley Gillentine, current Class of 2016 team leader, will be the sophomore team leader. Jason Yaffe, current Class of 2015 team leader, will relinquish this role as he prepares to be the new Director of Academics. His replacement, a permanent junior team leader, is currently not appointed. David Lowen will be the senior team leader. Mr. Lowen will replace current Class of 2014 team leader Michelle Smith, who recently announced that she is stepping down from her role.

Under the new system, team leaders will lose their advisories, giving them time to get to know more members of their class individually.

However, Mr. Yaffe and Mr. Lowen will keep their advisories for next year, as their advisees will be seniors. All other advisories will stay intact, and students will continue to travel through the Upper School with their advisor.

Last summer, the four team leaders, along with Laura Ross, Head of Upper School, and Rebecca Shuman, Assistant Head of Upper School and team leader facilitator, stood in the corridor of the science building and compiled on the whiteboard wall a comprehensive list of everything team leaders do each year.

Although discussions have been

going on for the last five years, this was the first time the group had delineated the responsibilities by grade level. They concluded that it was necessary to readjust the structure.

“When we looked at the responsibilities all together, [we noticed] it takes a lot of time,” Mrs. Shuman said. “They are the logical point-person for many things. It is a compliment on one hand, but a time constraint on the other.”

Team leaders are responsible for leading weekly team meetings, attending leadership council meetings, communicating information to advisors, helping advisors set agendas for parent conferences, and leading gradereview sessions. They also coordinate between their team’s advisors and meet with their class’s officers.

Each team leader runs his or her team differently.

“As teams get to know each other and work with each other, they have different expectations of their team leader,” Mr. Yaffe said.

The current team leaders all said they think that adding advisor training would help standardize.

The role is tricky because team leaders have an ambiguous authority, as they are in a middle management position.

“You have to figure out how every single one of your advisors works and what support they want and need in order to give them individual support,” Ms. Battis said.

With the current rotational system, team leaders must relearn the position every year. Freshman year: training advisors, working closely with class officers, and assimilating their class into the Upper School. Sophomore year: scheduling, discussion about how to be a successful Upper School student, and coordination with study abroad programs.

Junior year: committee planning, conversations about standardized testing, the addition of college counseling. Senior year: making sure everyone is on track for graduation, coordinating all senior traditions (including the senior trip and graduation), beginning work with the rising freshman class. This is in addition to teaching, coaching, and advising.

The time commitment is one of the reasons Mrs. Smith decided to step down next year.

“I really want to give someone else the opportunity to take the role,” Mrs. Smith said. “It is time consuming, and I am at a point in my career where I’d like to pursue different opportunities.”

Over the course of the year, the team leaders, along with Mrs. Shuman, Mrs. Ross and Jack Oros, Dean of Students, came up with two potential revisions to the role.

The first was to only relieve team leaders of their advisories.

The second tackles another problem more directly: that of moving each year with the team.

“It’s like having a new job for four years,” Mrs. Gillentine said.

Ms. Battis is currently the only team leader who has gone through the entire cycle as a team leader before.

“There’s a rhythm of the school year [that a permanent team leader] can be familiar with,” Mr. Yaffe said.

The change will come with drawbacks because of the attachment team leaders have made with their advisees.

“I’ve developed a relationship with my advisory over the years, but now I [will] have an advisory of 115 kids,” Mrs. Gillentine said.

The decision to move forward with the new system was announced to faculty members on March 31.

Graphic by Sera Tuz

Sera Tuz

wednesday, april 2, 2014

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Photo courtesy of Aaron Timmons

TEAM USA: Aaron Timmons (top row, far right), Greenhill debate coach, was selected to coach the National Speech and Debate Association’s United States National Team. The team recently announced they will be competing internationally, which means Mr. Timmons will get to travel around the world along with two other coaches and a team of nine high school students.

USA Debate Team appoints Greenhill coach Arhum Khan Staff Writer

The National Forensic League, also known as the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), selected Greenhill Debate coach Aaron Timmons to travel with and coach debaters who represent the United States in elite international debate competitions.

Mr. Timmons was selected as one of three coaches for the USA Debate Team. Nine qualified highschool students were also chosen to participate. The team will compete in global competitions in countries such as Canada, Slovenia, and Thailand.

The team will be using a particular form of debate called World Schools Style debate. This type of debate requires preparation for set topics and allows opponents to engage with one another, even during speeches. It also requires strong argumentation and challenges participants to provide high-quality evidence.

The NSDA was founded in 1925 to provide a platform for middle- and high-school students to excel in speech and debate. The largest interscholastic organization

of its kind nationally, the NSDA has helped many thousands of students become critical thinkers and effective communicators.

The association gives membership to more than 3,500 actively involved coaches and offers workshops, district and local tournaments, and a championship national tournament, along with an honor society for special student and alumni recognition.

Mr. Timmons has been a member of the NSDA ever since the beginning of his early coaching career. In 2000, he was recognized by the organization as one of the top debate coaches of the twentieth century. He said he views his new appointment as an honor.

“It’s kind of like coaching the Dream Team in the Olympics. I’m with the best, the Michael Jordans, Larry Birds, and it’s very competitive.

It’s really exciting,” he said.

Mr. Timmons now has the opportunity to travel to various countries around the world.

“Until a couple of years ago, I hadn’t left the country, but debate has taken me to places like the Middle East,” he said. “Who would’ve thought that I would be

able have these kind of experiences? can do, their capabilities,” Mr. It’s great.”

Timmons said.

Mr. Timmons arrived at With three debate coaches in Greenhill in the fall of 1993 and four years, Mr. Timmons’ own hightook over the debate program. Since school debate career was rough at then, Greenhill Debate has become first, but he was able to establish a locally and nationally recognized his love for the art, and found his name. position in coaching.

Mr. Timmons He has coached said he feels that it is in multiple state his competitive nature and national It’s kind of that shapes him as a championships in coach.

Lincoln-Douglas like coaching the “It’s not always and Policy Debate Dream Team in good, but I have to forms. He is also the the Olympics. I’m admit, I am a very only coach ever to with the best, the competitive person have multiple wins Michael Jordans, and I want to win. in both competitions.

Larry Birds, and it’s Those people who He has held very competitive. don’t want it don’t win speech and debate It’s really exciting.” anything. What can I workshops at say? I love winning,” elite universities he said. around the country, Despite the including Harvard program’s success, Mr. Timmons’ University and Stanford University, drive goes beyond the trophies and is a member of the National and praise. He explained the personal Speech and Debate Association connection and impact he loves Hall of Fame, Tournament to have with his students as well. of Champions and the Texas “It’s about how hard I can push Forensic Association. the students to succeed in order Mr. Timmons has another side to make my mark, my impact, to him. He is an avid hip-hop fan, teach these kids what they sports follower, and family man.

“

In a debate room filled with countless trophies and plaques, his office is decorated with basketballs, civil rights posters, and family photographs.

Here, Mr. Timmons talked about one of his favorite hip-hop songs by the artist Common. He explained the symbolism and the meaning of the song. However, his love for the hip-hop genre goes beyond casual listening.

He even taught a course in the Upper School on the folk aspect and history of hip-hop music with science teacher Michelle Smith until a few years ago.

As a competitive coach, Mr. Timmons said he is eager for his next challenge of helping debaters win on the international scale. He said he is excited to compete, but is looking to see what he can bring back to Greenhill’s program. More importantly, he wants students to see the value in their opportunities and appreciate travel.

“Things like this are great ways to get our students to have a worldly view and have them experience the culture. It gives them a broader view on everything,” he said.

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Audit shows recycling progress, more improvements to come Alex Weinberg Managing Editor

Updates on previously published stories Search for a Kidney Jeffrey Diamond ’13, who was diagnosed with stage four renal failure, has not yet found a kidney donor.

Over spring break, he underwent a series of tests and applied for clearance to receive a kidney from the National Kidney Board. Jeffrey hopes to be notified of an acceptance.

“If I’m not allowed to receive a kidney then there’s no use testing other people,” he said.

If you are a match or know somebody who can help, contact Jeffrey at jeffrey.diamond@ymail. com.

Construction Commenced If you enter Greenhill from the Hornet Road entrance, you’ll notice green fencing enclosing the northernmost field. This construction is in preparation for the new fine arts building, which will officially break ground on April 25.

Microfinance Funds The Youth Initiative in Women Leadership (YIWL) fundraiser, which raises awareness for microfinance, raised just under $10,000 at their fundraising concert on Feb 1.

Students from all around Dallas performed. Senior Rebecca Sostek is the president of the youth board.

Perfect Match 5K The second annual Greenhill 5K race will be hosted May 10 at the Greenhill track. This year, proceeds from the race will go to Delete Blood Cancer, an organization that raises money for blood-cancer research.

The Perfect Match race, which is presented by Greenhill and High School Heroes, will include a swabbing station where runners can test their blood marrow types.

New Courses

Should you ever find yourself polishing off the final sips of a water bottle in a Kindergarten classroom at Greenhill, be sure to toss your finished bottle in the recycling bin— or else face the wrath of the best recyclers on campus.

“They’ll get you,” said Kindergarten teacher Janice LaMendola of her students. “If you walk by and throw something in the wrong bin, they’ll stop and you let you know the correct way to dispose of something. My kids know.”

This should come as no surprise, since Mrs. LaMendola is a member of the Green Team, a community group focused on improving Greenhill’s ecological sustainability.

It’s also no surprise Mrs. LaMendola was the only representative from Greenhill who made the trip to the Republic Services recycling center on a freezing cold January day to help conduct an audit of Greenhill’s waste. She was there to see the fruits of her labor.

For the audit, Republic Services collected and sorted a full week’s worth of Greenhill’s recycling and a single day’s worth of Greenhill’s trash. The objective was to ensure that minimal recyclables are being thrown in the trash, and that

minimal non-recyclables are being recycled.

The audit revealed some improvements in Greenhill’s waste management. Upon sorting the recycling, Republic Services found that more than 99 percent of the material was indeed recyclable.

“What we’re putting in the recycling bins is true recycling,” said Mrs. LaMendola. “That’s fantastic.

Two years ago there was all kinds of craziness in there.”

This waste audit was Greenhill’s second serving as a follow-up to the original audit in December 2011, which revealed a problem: 96 percent of Greenhill’s trash was actually recyclable material.

The humbling results of the first audit largely motivated Mrs. LaMendola and the Green Team’s revamped recycling initiative of the past two years, called Keep Greenhill Green.

The campaign, to which Mrs. LaMendola said she credits the improvements shown by the recent audit, has included the purchase of $600 in new recycling receptacles, a larger trash compactor that costs $500 per month, and the selection of Republic Services as the school’s central waste-management vendor.

The two audits conducted by Republic Services cost $1,260 each.

“This is all very expensive,” Ideally, Mrs. LaMendola said Mrs. LaMendola said. “I’m glad she’d like to see the amount of missed that we choose to use money in recycling opportunities reduced this way. It makes a great impact on to less than five percent, a goal she us as a school and on our carbon thinks is more than doable. footprint.”

Nonetheless, Mrs. LaMendola The Keep Greenhill Green said the results of the audit provide campaign has also sought to improve plenty of helpful information. For faculty and staff education regarding instance, by observing that most recycling habits by using new signage of the trashed recyclables were on campus with instructional products sold by the Buzz, she information for distinguishing could postulate that snacking Upper recyclables from trash.

School students, among others, may While these enhanced efforts be a group she and the Green Team have successfully impacted the could better educate. recycling bins, with more than 99 However, according to junior percent accuracy, Buzz frequenter Daniel there are still Spomer, lack of education “What we’re misplacements in may not be the issue. putting in the the trash. More than “I think a lot of recycling bins is 20 percent of the people just throw things true recycling. away out of laziness,” he trash sorted during the most recent That’s fantastic. Two said. “If you happen to be audit was recyclable years ago there was closer to a trash can than paper, plastic and all kinds of craziness a recycling bin, I feel like in there.” a lot of people just don’t cardboard. Republic Services terms these make the effort.” recyclables placed in the trash Perhaps Upper School students “recycling opportunities.” Though could stand to gain something the new figure is certainly nicer than from their Kindergarten peers. the 96 percent measured two years Mrs. LaMendola’s classroom is full ago, Mrs. LaMendola said she isn’t of art projects made of repurposed satisfied yet. materials, and her students’ “Paper and plastic bottles are Halloween costumes last fall no-brainers,” she said. “We should were made of 99 percent recycled know that.” materials.

Greenhill students should have the same opportunities as other private school students to travel and to see our nation’s capitol.

“We went to all the major attractions. I was incredibly grateful because they were once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and to experience them as a middle -schooler, it was really unique,” said Noah Cook, a new freshman who went to D.C. two years ago as a Middle School student at St. Alcuin School.

Greenhill administrators agree.

“I think the opportunity to have a trip that has some curricular ties is great. As a history teacher, I’m really, really excited about that,” said Paige Ashley, Middle School history coordinator, who is helping to plan this curriculum.

“I think we have a population, many of which have the opportunity to travel and go to a lot of places, but I think one

of the places everyone should get to is our nation’s capitol.”

Close Up is creating an itinerary specifically for Greenhill, stressing a global focus, according to Lindsay Greenberg, Greenhill’s Close Up contact. The eighth graders will tour D.C.’s monuments and see Capitol Hill, but they will also see embassies of other nations and other sites with international significance, places which are not normally included in Close Up’s trips. The eighth graders will debate the appropriate way government should run and discuss the fundamental rights and freedoms for a democracy.

“It’s going to be issue-driven.

It’ll be things that’ll connect their understanding of democracy and U.S. history with how the United States connects to the world at large,” Mrs. Palmer said.

The eighth grade class, Mrs. Palmer, and the eighth grade advisors will get the opportunity to go. Substitute teachers will cover classes for the eighth grade advisors who will miss classes. The trip will be three

“

Eighth graders to begin annual D.C. trip Zach Rudner Staff Writer

The eighth grade class will go on the first annual four-day trip to Washington D.C. next fall. This trip will replace the former annual eighth grade campout to the Outdoor School at Camp Champions in Marble Falls, TX. The replacement was made to provide all students the opportunity to travel to D.C. and was also influenced by other private schools’ trips.

The trip is scheduled to take place in the first week of November, election week on Capitol Hill. Close Up, a company that organizes school trips to D.C, is planning Greenhill’s trip. The agency is working to bridge the Greenhill seventh grade American history course and the eighth grade multicultural curriculum by visiting sites of both American and international significance. However, most of the specific itinerary is still in the early stages of planning.

“The more we looked at the global offerings that we have for our students now, semesters abroad, and international travel, we realized we were missing the boat on doing something in our own country,” said Susan Palmer, Head of Middle School.

Many other Dallas private schools already have an eighth grade trip to D.C. Mrs. Palmer said that

nights and four days, the longest grade-wide trip Greenhill has ever taken.

Eighth grade parents will not be charged any additional cost, but the school-wide tuition for 20142015 has been increased by 4.5 percent, .5 percent of which will fund the D.C. trip. The decision to include the trip in tuition was made because the school board felt the trip should be a mandatory component of the eighth grade curriculum, and as such, should be paid for like all other school programs, according to Melissa Orth, Chief Financial Officer.

“We’re very, very lucky in that it will be covered by tuition,” Mrs. Palmer said.

The seventh graders are enthusiastic about having the opportunity to travel to D.C. “I’m excited to just go on a trip with all of my friends,” said seventh grader Jennifer Rojas. “Just to experience it with everybody so it’s not just something a couple people went on, [but] it’s something all of us can remember.”

In addition to the computer courses discussed in the last issue, Upper Schoolers can look forward to a plethora of new courses in the 2014-15 school year. These include Urban Studies; Senior Seminar: The Politics and Culture of Food; Advanced Latin Seminar; Comedy; Acting for Film; Script Analysis; and Understanding Shakespeare Through Performance. story by Madison Goodrich and Sera Tuz

Graphic by Emily Wilson

CAPITOL KIDS: Next November, the eighth grade class will travel on the first annual trip to Washington, D.C. On the four-day trip, students will visit famous national monuments as well as embassies of other nations to tie in with the Middle School history curriculum.

The Evergreen Wednesday [04.02.14]

ARTS

& Entertainment

What’s in a name?

Flip to p. 9 for a look at why AVP film-makers change their names when submitting shorts.

An Eye for Character

How an actor develops his stage presence

Varun Gupta

Asst. FeaturesEditor

Applause and giggles fill the Elliott Center when junior Harris Chowdhary, dressed as Canny the Can, stumbles to the podium wearing a man-sized, brightred Campbell soup costume and talks in an animated voice for a C-Day announcement.

Harris broadcasts his personality and through onstage (live-theatre) appearances in school plays, TACT (Teen Age Communication Theatre), and C-Day skits.

Whether he is performing a scripted or spontaneous role, Harris aims to bring something new and fresh to the audience.

“When you do something that no one has ever seen before, you get to take your audience on a journey with you. I think that’s really cool,” said Harris.

Canny the Can originated as an idea on a drawing board. When Greenhill’s GIVE service council wanted to promote an upcoming can drive, Harris bought a soup suit and used his vast imagination to add humor to a routine C-Day announcement. He developed an original voice, personality, and set of quirks for Canny the Can. “While I was at first embarrassed for making a fool of myself, I realized that I was doing it for a good cause and having fun, so it didn’t really matter how embarrassing it was anymore,” said Harris.

According to Harris, performing in

Photos by Jackson Lowen

front of the Upper School is easy for him because he likes to make people laugh.

His early acting days weren’t so smooth. In fifth grade, during his auditions for the Greek play, Harris did not get cast for a part.

Little experience and butterflies in his stomach caused Harris to mutter his monologue to the judges.

“I remember thinking that I hadn’t shown my actual potential,” he said.

Four years later, he has been in every fall drama, spring musical, and student production since freshman year.

On-stage scripted work brings its challenges.

“All you have to draw on for how that character is are words on a page, and that’s one of the biggest challenges of an actor,” said Harris.

Tools that are at his disposal include positioning hands, making appropriate facial gestures, and practicing character voices, and paying special attention to the subtleties of stage direction.

“It’s always much more fun to become a character that I know inside and out. Apart from what they say, I know how they say it, what they mean when they say certain things, and so much more that adds depth to characters,” said Harris.

Harris also knows when to adjust.

“He’s self

sufficient and self-sure as an actor. to have my own style, because I If the director says take another know exactly how I want to do it,” route, it’s important to make that said Harris. distinction and be sure of it,” said

To bring his character senior Allie Woodson, who has to life, Harris focuses on acted on stage wtih Harris. grasping important details of his Harris relishes the student- character’s personality. written spring student production, “I think the ones that impact since he is able to work with me on some level are interesting and characters that have never existed unique, and those are the ones that I before. remember naturally,” said Harris.

Harris also feels an obligation During his free period, to expend his maximum amount of I sat next to Harris in the energy and time when Elliott Center. he is invited to be in a Watching him interact peer’s production. The with his peers, it was third trimester class clear that Harris was When you do acutely observing the is full of excitement something that no people around him because all of the one has ever seen amidst the buzz and students are bringing before, you get to the chatter. something to the stage take your audience for the first time.

“I enjoy watching on a journey with what people do when “I enjoy the you. I think that’s they are listening to third trimester play really cool.” other people. It’s very because I know it’s exciting that this is telling to see how they the first time the play react to what others is being performed. The say,” said Harris. student director always really, really From acting class with Synthia cares about the play,” said Harris.

Rogers, Upper School Theatre Director, Harris has learned Harris excercises improvisation techniques to special care when cover up mistakes that may occur building a during a play. character.

For example, when he caught himself from slipping on a wet floor, Harris implemented the Personalizing movement into his character’s body his pieces of language. theatrical art is Mrs. Rogers also encourages important to her students to develop their him. imagination through a simple, “ I three H motto: w a n t head, heart, hand.

“

QUICK CHANGE: Harris shows off his differenct characters in his Upper School theater career. He portrays (from left to right) Nicky from Avenue Q, Canny the Can, and Tom Timmy Thompson Smith III from McMatthews.

In class, they are given tools that include intellectual approach, psychological gesture, and tactical hand-gestures.

“I don’t want to superimpose and spoon-feed interpretations to my actors. I want to build creativity in my class,” said Mrs. Rogers.

In addition to school productions, Harris volunteers in TACT after auditioning for a part last August. The organization directs and performs skits that are relevant to high-school students, such as drinking, teenage pregnancy, relationship problems, and cyber bullying.

The troupe of 30 members, six of whom are Greenhill students, learns about issues in the summer, and then travels around the metroplex during the year to perform five-minute original skits to high-school audiences. On some occasions, Harris is expected to address victims of traumatic experiences. Once, he performed for young girls who were rescued from sex-trafficking rings.

Harris’s TACT group prepared a dating skit to oppose their existing fear of trusting another stranger.

“It was a really humbling experience to teach them about how a healthy relationship functions,” said Harris.

These lessons reveal Harris’ ultimate mission through acting.

“Telling the stories is more powerful than anything,” he said.

8

The

arts

Evergreen

wednesday, april 2, 2014

Traditional Tex-Mex A review of Chiladas

W

hen I pulled in to the parking lot at Chilada’s, it was nearly empty. At most, three cars occupied the area. I felt myself hesitate to enter—how could I enjoy a Tex-Mex restaurant that had more employees than customers at 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday night? Having heard positive reviews from a friend, though, I took the chance and went in.

Immediately inside, I saw a sunroom with floor-length open windows, perfect for nice fall and spring days. The wall to my left was covered with Highland Park posters, showing support for various activities at the local high school.

Upon opening the next door, I expected to be greeted by a hostess.

Instead, a small paper sign directed me to the back of the restaurant to place my order. I couldn’t even see where that was from the entrance point. As I made my way through the restaurant, I noted that it was clean and spacious, but the décor came off as cliché and boring. The pop-art posters of vegetables with Spanish labels looked cheesy alongside the metal, sun-and moon-shaped mirrors. Instead of a quirky, casual design similar to rival restaurants such as Torchy’s Tacos and Velvet

Taco, the set-up of Chilada’s was mainstream with a predictable layout of tables and booths. Velvet Taco offers wooden, communal tables and benches. Chiladas describes itself as a “Fresh Mex Grill”; Torchy’s Tacos prefers the slogan, “Damn Good Tacos.”

I placed my order with the friendly, young girl behind the counter. I chose something safe, chicken enchiladas, and situated myself in a booth with a view of March Madness playing on the TV on the wall. Immediately, the young girl brought chips and salsa to my table. My entrée arrived quickly, but it wasn’t what I ordered.

The chicken quesadillas looked appetizing, however, so I stuck with them. The chicken was flavorful and the quesadilla was an appropriate portion, accompanied by tasty refried beans and rice.

I wasn’t disappointed with Chiladas. There was enjoyable food, friendly service and a clean environment. The menu offers a variety of tacos, quesadillas, and enchiladas, all of which are prepared in-house without a freezer or microwave. However, when I compare it to some of its counterparts, Rusty Taco, Torchy’s Tacos, and Velvet Taco, I am unimpressed. The

orders are simple: fish tacos, chicken enchiladas, beef quesadillas. You will not find any of the out-of-the box taco options that I so thoroughly enjoy at other places. Instead of ordering a Dirty Sanchez (scrambled eggs with a fried poblano chile, guacamole, escabeche carrots, and shredded cheese) from Torchy’s, the Chiladas taco options are only distinguished by how they vary in meat. Chiladas felt like an unusual mix between Mi Cocina and the quirky taco restaurants I mentioned.

They have more to offer than just tacos, but significantly fewer options than most Tex-Mex restaurants.

So if you enjoy the simplicities of tradicional Tex-Mex has, I would recommend Chiladas. However, if you are expecting something new and original out of this recentlyopened restaurant in Park Cities, I would try somewhere else. story by Laura Arnold Chiladas Fresh Mex Grill 4448 Lovers Ln Dallas, TX 75225

A TASTE OF TEX-MEX: Chiladas Fresh Mex Grill opened in Highland Park last spring. A plate of brisket tacos, pictured above, is one of Chilada’s classic Tex-Mex offerings.

Photo courtesy of Chiladas Fresh Mex Grill

Newsies: A Striking Production break their backs to earn a dime per day. It surprised me that they In the Broadway musical were our age. One boy leads the five Newsies, which my Evergreen staffers thousand (well, on stage it’s only and I saw on Broadway while about 20) kids to victory. attending the Columbia Scholastic Seeing this show with a group Press Association journalism of teenagers (even better, my fellow conference, attractive turn-of-the- high-school journalists) made the century newsboys flip and tap across story more meaningful than if I had the stage in a romping and energetic seen it with anyone else. As a staff, we portrayal of the Newsboy got to share a common Rebellion of 1899. What interest outside of the is most engaging about Evergreen lab.

Either way, this show is its relevance.

Not only did the these firecracker A group of underdogs, message resonate with triple threats will ragtag kids and teens, me, the production have you singing make a challenge and along and feeling itself made me want to win. that even you sing along. The vigor In the musical, no could take on of the dancing boys on one is too small to rise your own Joseph stage matched that of against what he thinks is Pulitzer.“ other classic musicals wrong. The newsies, the such as West Side kids on the street who Story and Singin’ in hawk the newspapers the Rain, with dance every day, beat Joseph moves that made Pulitzer, publisher and writer for my head spin and flips that left me New York City’s leading newspaper, gasping in awe. Before Newsies was The World. These child laborers a musical, it was a movie, produced literally fight for what they believe in 1992. The musical debuted on is right, striking for better pay. They the 20th anniversary of the film, Catherine Leffert Asst. Arts Editor

“

subsequently winning the 2012 Tony awards for Best Original Score and Best Choreography.

Leading actor Corey Cott plays Jack Kelly, charismatic leader of the newsie bunch, dreaming to someday move out of New York’s labor force to new and promising Santa Fe. He takes the show by the reins and inspires the child workers to form a union of their own.

Luckily, the show is coming to Dallas’ Winspear Opera House for two weeks in May 2015. It is definitely worth saving up for a ticket and experiencing the energy, classic Broadway music, spectacular dancing, and moving plot line that Newsies offers. So, take a group of friends and catch the show when it’s here. Or, if that isn’t an option, or it sounds too good to wait for, the 1992 musical-movie version of Newsies starring Christian Bale and Robert Duvall is an entertaining watch as well. Either way, these firecracker triple threats will have you singing along and feeling that even you could take on your own Joseph Pulitzer.

wednesday, april 2, 2014

Sera Tuz News Editor

“Hi, I’m Andrew Fields and I will be presenting ‘Plasticine Dream,’” Andrew ’13 said to the audience. He stepped back into the line and then shuffled a few spaces over before squeezing between two other high school filmmakers. A few minutes later he stepped up again. “Hi, I’m Bobby Jorgenson, and I’ll be presenting ‘Knit Picky.’” By now, Andrew had the attention and curiosity of the audience, who lost interest in the rest of the introductions and had their eyes glued on Andrew (or Bobby). As he stepped back a second time and squeezed in between the last batch of filmmakers, the audience roared in laughter.

“Hi, I’m Andrew Fields, and I’ll be presenting ‘Boom.’”

This was in 2012, when Greenhill Advanced Video Production (AVP) had made seven of

The

Evergreen

the 21 films accepted in the high school short category at South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival. Andrew created three of those seven films, to the surprise of the judges who selected them, according to Corbin Doyle, visual arts teacher.

That year, students like Andrew used fake names on their submissions.

Mr. Doyle said the organizers of SXSW were not happy about this.

“They said it wouldn’t happen again,” Mr. Doyle said.

But it did. In 2013, Greenhill again had seven films accepted, and this year, five films were selected.

AVP has been taking many precautions when preparing to send off their films to SXSW since 2012. Along with fake names, submissions have no Greenhill affiliation, and the filmmakers try not to use the same actors

in multiple films.

This is “totally legal” according to Mr. Doyle. He said SXSW was simply worried that it looks bad on their part.

“It looks like they are playing favorites,” Mr. Doyle said.

By now, Mr. Doyle said SXSW knows that Greenhill will have multiple films accepted each year, even if the judges don’t know exactly which ones. In fact, they emailed Mr. Doyle this year asking how many films Greenhill got in.

“I just answered five and they laughed and said a curse word,” Mr. Doyle said.

Because of this, creating the fake names has evolved into a fun, AVP tradition rather than a precautionary act. While students are not required to use fake names, it is encouraged, especially when submitting multiple films.

Take, for example, junior Alex Raphael. He

arts

9

submitted eight films to SXSW in December and created a new persona for each one. In order to keep up with the personas, their biographies, and the emails and addresses attached to each submission, he created a comprehensive spreadsheet.

“In the end, I got it all confused,” Alex said with a laugh.

Alex had one of his films, “Ice Cream Truck,” accepted into the festival this year.

He and senior Rania Blaik submitted the film under the names Boris Bumble and Candace Cliffercorn.

Alex and Rania later called the organizers to inform them of their actual names.

“They didn’t question it; they said it was okay,” Alex said.

Junior Caila Pickett and Max Montoya ‘13’s film, “Seawolf,” won the high-school short film catergory at SXSW this year.

Photos by Ariana Zhang

CAUGHT RED-HANDED: Junior Alex Raphael holds four of the eight fake names he used when submitting his films to the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. The practice of creating alternate names, originally intended to avoid bias in judging, has evolved into a quirky tradition among Advanced Video Production students.

10

The

Ever

Early Ev

No mat t er t he age or place, ad m i ssion s i s a dau nt i ng

t o ou r you nges t pr os pe c t ive s t udent s . How does Gr e

T he Ever g reen t ack le d t h i s ques t ion, demy s t i f y i

On March 7, decisions for Greenhill applicants were released. For Pre-K and Kindergarten, Greenhill accepted 28 children, 14 girls and 14 boys.

They have no essays, no GPAs. Some of them don’t even have prior school experience. What makes little Johnny stand out from little Davy, when both of them mostly eat, sleep, and play?

The admissions committee is looking for evidence that a student will thrive at the school, but the scarcity of evidence is extreme at this age. Are preschool admissions decisions totally random?

According to experts, the answer is no.

“We used to say what a child was doing by third grade was a good indicator of how they would progress, but our more recent findings are finding good predictability in preschool,” said Margaret Owen, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Essentially, a preschooler’s behavior can be an accurate predictor of his success later in life. The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, a series of studies on delayed gratification led by psychologist Walter Mischel in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, corroborates this idea. Toddlers were given the option of eating one marshmallow immediately or more marshmallows later, to test their understanding of delayed gratification. Those who chose to delay their gratification later had higher SAT scores, lower obesity rates, and a happier outlook on life.

Dr. Owen emphasized the importance of self-regulation skills.

“I think of self-regulation as the ability to learn, follow direction, pay attention, repress impulses … Those are some of the skills that are developing from ages 1.5 to three, and you can measure those abilities. Those have been very predictive of good outcomes,” she said.

Once accepted and enrolled at Greenhill, students do not re-apply. This means that a preschooler could stay until senior year, causing the admissions team to carefully pick students that will thrive in Greenhill’s environment.

“Pre-K through 1st grade are probably some of our most difficult decisions, so we look at several pieces of data,” said Angela Woodson, Director of Admissions.

According to Kim Barnes, Head of Early Childhood Director, Greenhill has no recipe for admission. They are not always looking for a child who is 25 percent creative, 25 percent organized, and 50 percent compassionate, for example. No one trait is valued over another, and they are not looking for any specific items.

“At this age, one of the things that can easily be focused on is how verbal a child is and how shy a child is,” Mrs. Barnes said. “But we don’t just want to look at the children who are extremely verbal. We’re really looking at the whole child: how they put ideas together, problem solve, creative aspects, follow directions, how independent they are.”

The goal isn’t to create a homogenous group of kids, but rather a diverse group of individuals.

“There are threads that go through [an application] and you look to see what those threads are. You don’t want a particular kind of child; you want a combination of children,” Mrs. Barnes said.

To create this combination, the admissions committee looks at

each child holistically. They pick up on his interests and his variety of behaviors in the observation sessions.

“We’re even looking at some of those children that maybe we’ve noticed have a real interest in drawing or block-building, or a child who loves dinosaurs,” Mrs. Barnes said.

Although they’re looking for variety, students are not evaluated based on what will “balance out” other applicants that year.

“We’re really just looking at every child, and at the end when we’ve kind of narrowed our pool down, we look to [find] a good balance. It kind of naturally happens,” Mrs. Barnes said.

The variety of the children manifests itself in the classroom from the very beginning of their time at Greenhill.

“When they come in on the first day of school, they’re already their own little person within that classroom.”​Mrs. Barnes said.

There are three parts of the admission process: Collaborative Academic Testing Services (CATS), student observation, and, for families new to Greenhill, parent interviews.

CATS testing is an outside testing tool Greenhill uses to determine a child’s IQ. Preschoolers spend 30 minutes with a psychologist who determines a child’s full-scale IQ, verbal reasoning and performance reasoning skills. Many Dallas and Houston private schools use this test to help determine admission for young applicants. Greenhill uses this test to determine admission for Pre-K to fourth grade students.

Another part of the admissions process is observation. For observation, various division heads, faculty and admission staff observe students while they interact with their environment. Before the observation, Greenhill hosts a pre-observation, which is a time for the children to get to know each other and become comfortable with their environment. For observation, the Director of Admission, Head of Early Childhood, and other teachers and admissions directors observe students to see how they behave in their environment.

Families new to Greenhill have a parent interview, during which Mrs. Woodson hears from them about their children’s strengths and weaknesses and also determines if the family’s values align with Greenhill’s mission statement.

Parent of first grader Alex and preschooler Erin, Jennifer Sharma had a positive experience with Greenhill’s admission process.

“I thought it was very well done. The application is a little lengthy at the beginning. There [are] a lot of essay questions.”

Mr. and Mrs. Sharma did their best to keep this process as stress-free as possible for their children. They chose not to tell their kids about the application process.

“I don’t think they were really aware. They don’t know that the application is really going on,” she said.

As a parent, Mrs. Sharma’s biggest concern was that her kids would not accurately express who they are.

“The CATS testing was probably more worrisome as a parent because when they’re only three years old you are worried that [the] kids may be having an off day and may not present a true reflection of themselves. They’re just little,” she said.

For observation day, Mr. and Mrs. Sharma came up with a story of why they were there again, to minimize their child’s stress. “The observation day, we did not tell them they were in an interview type of setting or an application process. We really just said, you’re just going to play for an hour, see what you think of the school, see if you like the other kids. [We] did more of a ‘how do you like Greenhill’ versus the other way around.”

After their observation, her children told her what they did. “They would bring back pictures they’d drawn or crafts they made. I think they read a story, Erin told me.”

Mrs. Sharma believes that a family’s experience throughout this process depends on the child. “I think it really depends on the temperament of your child. Alex is really outgoing so that made the process a lot smoother. Some children had difficulty separating.”

The three components of the admission file are reviewed by a committee for Pre-K and Kindergarten admissions.

The file also includes other components, such as a teacher recommendation and parent statement. Each member of the committee separately assesses every file and fills out a

“

I don’t think they were really aware.

They don’t know that the application is really going on.”

rgreen

wednesday, april 2, 2014

11

aluation

g t a sk— one made even mor e complex when it comes

een h i l l t es t k id s who don’t k now how t o t a ke a t es t?

i ng t he complex it ies of P r e -K a nd K ad m i ssion s .

Photos courtesy of Joe Monaco

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: Lower School students (clockwise from left) prepare a science project; carve pumpkins with faculty; select their choices from the LS Library; and perform in the annual Nutcracker. During admissions season, Greenhill seeks prospective Lower School students who demonstrate a wide range of interests, skills, and talents.

reader sheet.

“[I love] all the different perspectives of the committee members. I am very proud about how we come up with our final decisions. I encourage everyone on the committee [to state their opinion] so we kind of hash out [disagreements],” Ms. Woodson said.

The boys are compared with boys and girls are compared with girls for a gender-balanced class.

“We are fortunate enough to be in a position where we always have more qualified applicants for each grade than we have spaces available. This allows us to not only offer to the students we want but have a wait pool of applicants should additional spaces become available,” Mrs. Woodson said.

Karlyn Herlitz, mother of three girls attending Greenhill, said, “They do such a nice job of making the kids feel comfortable. That’s what you want, you want the kids to have a positive experience whether they’re going to get in or not.”

Katelyn recalls having a great time throughout the admissions process.

“I liked the doll house,” she said. “I [liked] play[ing] with it.”

Why Greenhill? “‘Cause my sissies are here,” Katelyn said with a big smile.

Mrs. Herlitz’s longing for her daughter’s acceptance was the only nerve-racking part of the admission process.

“I guess everybody is nervous because you really want to come,” she said. “[Especially] After you see the campus and the teachers and hear so many great things. It’s a mixture of emotions, because you’re so excited and you really hope to come and then going through the application process can sometimes be stressful.”

Mrs. Herlitz said she tried not to let that show in front of her daughter. Like Mrs. Sharma, Mrs. Herlitz tried to be reassuring, while still telling the truth.

“I let her know ahead of time that she was going to play and they don’t take the parents. I want[ed] her to know she was going to have fun, so I just tried to be honest. At this age, they’re so young; I just wanted her to have a good time. There’s nothing you can prepare for, and you don’t know what they’re going to test. They are who they are and I thought that she would probably have a good time.”

Mrs. Herlitz said she understands the hard decisions that must be made.

“I know it’s a lot of applicants for a few spots. So I think they do a good job with the parents and trying to educate us. I’m sure it’s a challenging process for them too, to pick and narrow it down. So we feel very fortunate that we’re here. All three of us.”

Story by Sofia Shirley, Madison Goodrich, and Christina Zhu

The Evergreen Wednesday [04.02.14]

SCIENCE GUY SenioR MICHAEL MENG SPENT THE YEAR WORKING in a research lab examining the development of fetal duck hearts. see page 13.

Lasting Footprint

Photo by Ariana Zhang

HEADMASTER’S HOME: Former headmaster Phillip Foote sat down with The Evergreen and Dean of Students Jack Oros in his cozy New York city apartment last month. Mr. Foote hired Mr. Oros at Greenhill 25 years ago, as well as many other current Greenhill Legends. The photo below of Mr. Foote is from the Headmaster’s page in the 1978 issue of the Cavalcade.

of community to the students and the teachers. Students had an When Phillip Foote became understanding of all classes around Headmaster of Greenhill, he took them and could connect with other over from founder Bernard Fulton. students in the classroom, not only Following the most vital figure of during breaks. Teachers were also a school’s history is a challenging able to link topics together from feat, but in his 17 years at Greenhill, different classes.

Mr. Foote shaped the school into Teachers initially were surprised one of the most innovative schools by the decision to convert to an in the Metroplex. Using a variety open-space environment, especially of progressive methods, he helped because of the high noise levels. transform Greenhill into the school However, they eventually became it is today. accustomed to the new arrangement One of the main changes Mr. and students learned to focus.

Foote made was the concept of “It took some time for people open-space buildings without walls. to get into it, but it was a great The first open space building advancement for the students was the Middle School, where the because you were with everyone in entire building was one big room. your grade all day long. Everybody Each grade’s team of teachers was was on stage and it just worked centralized in a designated portion beautifully,” Mr. Foote said. of the space. For example, a sixth Mr. Foote ordered classroom grade math class would be directly furniture to be specifically made next to a sixth grade history class, for Greenhill’s buildings. The desks and across the room were triangle-shaped, in the eight grade so it would be easier to I didn’t look corner would be those group them together much at what respective classes at and collaborate. [teachers] had the eight grade level.

Although triangledone or who “Open space was shape desks are no they had been. new and exciting. longer used, trapezoid I wanted to find shape desks are located It’s not what people out who they in the science building were used to at all,” were and what for the same purpose.

Mr. Foote said in an they were going interview last month In 1989, the Upper to do for the kids.” School in his New York made the apartment. The room change back to walled is comfortable with classrooms, but glass cozy furniture and colors. Next to walls face the center of the pods to the blue striped lounge chair in maintain a sense of openness. which he sat, was a piano with a “When people come to peacock figurine on top, reminding Greenhill, they are taken back by the him of the 17 years he spent at glass walls, but students don’t even Greenhill. (Greenhill originally gave think when people walk by,” said him a live peacock as a departing Jack Oros, Dean of Students. gift, but he gave it away for practical Because Greenhill was a reasons). This sense of a safe and relatively new school, Mr. Foote warm environment is the same type was able to incorporate new and of environment he wanted Greenhill innovative ideas at the time. to be.

“We reflected this period of Mr. Foote decided to introduce history in that we were much more open classrooms in part because open to things,” he said. they brought a heightened sense Mr. Foote also made the switch Megan Wiora Asst. Views Editor

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to a trimester schedule. Mr. Foote thought that holidays and breaks fell at better times in the year with the trimesters, which are still used today. He was also very involved with the Boys and Girls Club, so he partnered with them to transport students from south Dallas to Greenhill. This helped with the integration of students from all different areas of Dallas.

Mr. Foote carried his progressive philosophy with him when hiring teachers. During his time as headmaster, Greenhill did not require teachers to have degrees in education.

“I wanted teachers that were exciting for the kids to learn from.

I didn’t look much at what they had done or who they had been. I wanted to find out who they were and what they were going to do for the kids,” Mr. Foote said.

Many teachers with international backgrounds joined the Greenhill community, for they had unique experiences they could use when teaching the students. Some teachers that have international experience are still teaching today. These individuals include Upper School history teacher Becky Daniels, who has lived in Germany, Upper School English teacher Dan Kasten, who has lived in Japan and whose first teaching job was in Turkey, and Upper School math teacher Barbara Currier, who has lived in France.

Mr. Foote said he valued their worldly understandings and thought that incorporating their knowledge into what they were teaching would be a unique and different way to teach.

Mr. Foote’s main goal for the school was to do what was best for the students, he said. He knew every kids’ name by heart.

Mr. Foote return to Greenhill for the groundbreaking of the new Fine Arts Building April 25.

The

wednesday, april 2, 2014

Evergreen

features

Heart-Stopping Work

Sanah Hasan Arts Editor

When senior Michael Meng walked into his new workspace for the year, a laboratory at the University of North Texas (UNT), he knew that he was going to have to work with ducklings. However, he was unaware of the first task that would be assigned to by his mentor.

“I walked in to the lab, and my first job was to harvest a duckling heart, and that meant that I had to kill the duckling and then dissect it.

It was a little overwhelming, to be honest,” Michael said.

The purpose of Michael’s research is to investigate the developmental stages of growth between the left and right sides of the heart. This research comes as a part of Michael’s senior Capstone, a yearlong projec, which allows for a pursuit of an area of self-designed study.

At the end of Michael’s junior year, Upper School science teacher Barry Ide approached Michael about pursuing a Capstone project.

“I was really excited about doing a Capstone, but the only problem was neither of us knew if an esteemed researcher would be willing to take on some random high-schooler,” Michael said.

Mr. Ide advised Michael to brainstorm broad research topics, so that there might be at least one researcher willing to take him on.

He chose to focus his attention on cardiology, as there are a variety of researchable subjects in that field of study.

Photo courtesy of Michael Meng, graphic by Ariana Zhang

SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS: Senior Michael Meng works in a lab at the University of North Texas under Dr. Ed Dzialowski, a specialist in developmental integrative biology. Michael examines the development of duck hearts.

“Then came the wild witch hunt trying to find a researcher who studies cardiology and would want to mentor me,” Michael said.

Ed Dzialowski, an Associate Professor at UNT, is currently mentoring Michael. He specializes in developmental integrative biology.

His current project focuses on how the heart develops.

When a fetus is in the womb, the left and right side of the heart are approximately equal in mass, but right after birth there is a drastic switch, and the left side becomes 2/3 the mass of the heart. Because duck hearts and mammal hearts are very similar, the developmental stages are analogous as well. Through harvesting the duckling hearts,

In the Spotlight We continue our “In the Spotlight” series, a chance to get to know one randomlyselected Upper School student each issue. This conversation was with freshman Jillie Rubin.

Jillie Rubin was the only one in her family to pursue gymnastics, beginning the activity as a young child. As a high-school freshman, this passion has led to a routine of practicing gymnastics three times a week.

“I go whenever I can,” said Jillie. “I put a lot of work into sports.” To practice her sport, Jillie goes to the Jewish Community Center to perform gymnastics training, where the coaches and team are familiar to her through years of practicing together.

With years of gymnastics experience, Jillie has picked up several pieces of valuable advice.

“Have fun, because a lot of the time the coaches take it really seriously and they can push you really hard, but it’s important to have fun while you’re doing it,” she says. Out of all the exercises in gymnastics, the beam is

Photo courtesy of Melanie Rubin

BALANCING ACT: Freshman Jillie Rubin has mastered gymastics and cheer, and now uses these skills to mentor kids.

her favorite.

“I don’t really know why, it’s just my favorite,” Jillie said.

Jillie also incorporates her gymnastics skills into the physical aspect of cheerleading at Greenhill.

“It’s been nice to cheer with a gymnastics background. It makes it easier,” Jillie said.

During the summer, some cheer practice periods are dedicated just to tumbling, where her gymnastics background is useful. As a cheerleader, she enjoyed the time spent with the younger children in the community.

Before school started, the cheerleaders hosted a camp for little kids to learn cheers, and during Homecoming week, they read books and performed cheers for the children. This is not Jillie’s only interaction as mentor.

At the Jewish Community Center, she coaches first graders for volunteer hours. She works at camps over the summer and holds a one-hour class on Sunday afternoons to teach the children gymnastics.

“Sometimes they are a little difficult, but usually they’re good,” said Jillie of the children she teaches. The lessons generally include cartwheels, handstands, and other basics that first graders can perform easily.

“For the most part they grasp [the concept], but sometimes there are a few of them that are a little more behind. But they catch up and tend to get it pretty quickly,” Jillie said, adding that repetition works best for her students. Jillie hopes that she can continue this part of her life throughout high school.

“I like that I can be both student and teacher,” said Jillie. “It is cool that you can still practice, but get to teach what you learn.” story by Isabet Tranchin

Michael and the rest of the research crew at UNT is able to study the transition in mass at a deeper level.

“I had the option of working with humans, but I thought that working with ducks would be a more hands-on experience,” Michael said.

Michael goes to the lab approximately three times a week, where he works with both graduate

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and undergraduate students at UNT. All are working in the same lab under the supervision of Dr. Dzialowski. Through many trial and error processes, he has learned to harvest his duck slides (a tissue sample that is examined under a microscope) with efficiency.

“The whole process of creating a slide is extremely complicated.

It’s a really long procedure, and it can take up to eight hours. My first few ones took me forever, but now that I’ve prepared them so many times, I’ve gotten a lot better,” he said.

Because Michael visits the lab so frequently, he has had the opportunity to get to know many of the other graduate and undergraduate students.

“We’ve become like a family.

The older research students keep an eye out for me, and they always help me when I need it,” he said.

“On my very first day, when I was doing the duckling dissection for the first time, an actual cardiac surgeon was helping me through the process. Being able to collaborate with such experienced people has been so great.”

Michael will be presenting his research to his Capstone committee, a group of students and faculty in charge of overseeing the progress of his project, and the greater Greenhill community in May. This presentation comes as part of a larger Capstone exposition, where all of this year’s Capstones will be on display.

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wednesday, april 2, 2014

eligion in the Classroom

Lane Hirsch

Asst. Sports Editor

Photo by Ariana Zhang

RELIGIOUS READS: In addition to many classic works, Greenhill freshmen also read excerpts of Oxford Study Bible as part of the English curriculum. It is studied specifically as a literary text, not a religious text.

What happens when you take a religious piece of writing and integrate it into a secular curriculum? The English department has to deal with the possible issues that surround discussing religious texts each year. The Bible, the foundation for multiple religions practiced at Greenhill, is a required part of the freshman curriculum due to its literary relevance.

“The religious texts are so foundational, and other artists later refer to them so much, that if you do not understand their basic foundation, then you do not have the tools necessary to understand later works of art,” said Trey Colvin, Upper School English teacher.

Biblical references are an important part of the literature of Western culture, which is why the Bible is taught at Greenhill.

“The Bible is, without question, the most influential book in Western civilization, and educated people simply have to know something about its contents,” said Dan Kasten, Upper School English teacher.

Passages and allusions from the Bible are relayed in various texts after freshman year.

“Toni Morrison’s Beloved resonates deeply if one knows the gospel passages or church hymns that the characters and the narrator paraphrase and quote,” said Upper School English teacher Joel Garza, who teaches Beloved in the context of AP Literature.

Other Biblical references in his curriculum include the angelic visits in Incarnadine, an assortment of poetry written by Mary Szybist, and James Joyce’s allusion, in Dubliners, to the revelation of Christ’s birth to the Magi.

“I return to religious texts in the classroom for many of the reasons that I return to the best non-religious texts—to force students to consider the merits of self-sacrifice, the varieties of love, the power of evil, the courage it takes to forgive, and the consequences of human choice,” Mr. Garza said.

The Bible is traditionally taught in the second trimester in the freshman classes, following the Greek period that revolves around ancient European works, such as The Odyssey. Dr. Colvin’s class reads all of Genesis and parts of Leviticus and Numbers, as well as the Gospel of Matthew. They are currently reading the Arthurian Legends and discussing how to identify biblical parallels and explain their significance.

“It is easier to interpret King Arthur and the book’s biblical undertones because of our study of the Bible prior to reading King Arthur,” said freshman Elise Andres.

Due to the diverse religious backgrounds of Greenhill’s students, however, the in-depth discussions of one religious text provide the potential for students practicing different religions to be offended.

There are many students who have grown up attending Bible School every Sunday and studying from a religious perspective.

“It is difficult to transition from looking at the Bible as a religious text to simply a literary text. Trying to view it and treat it as any other academic piece of literature made me feel a little uncomfortable,” said Elise, who grew up attending Sunday School at Temple Emanu-El in North Dallas.

“Greenhill is not a religious school and I understand that I can’t change the way people teach, but when you are not a religious school and decide to teach the most religious text, then you can’t help but cross boundaries for some people,” said freshman Josh Rudner.

Josh graduated from Ann and Nate Levine Academy prior to attending Greenhill.

Levine is a traditional Jewish day school where students are required to read biblical stories Mondays and Thursdays and participate in religious services every day. They read other important texts central the Jewish religion as well, such as the Mishna and Talmud. Reading a text that Josh has treated as extremely holy in academic setting is difficult, he said.

“It’s frustrating because Greenhill says that English is a literary class and not a theology class, so I feel as if it is not my place to explain theological principles, but it is hard to avoid then when reading a religious text,” he said.

That is the ubiquitous struggle facing the English department: focusing the conversation on the text and insight it has to offer into the human and divine experience rather than on a particular belief system. “[The fears are] that students might misunderstand the role of religious texts in our classes. In assigning different passages, I am not intending to convert students to a particular belief,” said Mr. Garza.

Students have to be aware of what might offend their peers.

“I personally do not have a problem discussing the Bible,” said sophomore Kevin Gonzalez. “I understand, though, that it is a sensitive topic because for some people the Bible is a central aspect in their lives. I do my best to avoid saying anything that could come off as offensive. However my peers are very open and usually speak up if they are uncomfortable.”

Mr. Garza mentioned times when students have reacted in personal ways to the religious text under discussion, and how their perspective classmates responded.

“Generally, our students listen even more carefully. Our student body, in my experience, is really animated by a course’s relevance to their personal lives,” he said.

The Greenhill curriculum includes a wide range of religious texts, including the Bhagavad Gita, the Dhammapada, the Tao Te Ching, the Confucian Analects, the Quran, the Hadith, and the Zohar, all taught in Mr. Kasten’s World Religions class. These texts, along with the Bible, are personal text for many students. As a secular school, Greenhill has a challenging task in teaching the Bible and other religious texts as literary composition rather than as foundational religious texts.

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Photo by Ariana Zhang

WARNER’S WOES: At the peak of scheduling season, Mr. Warner may be pacing his office, screaming at the walls. He’s not crazy; he’s just trying to corral Greenhill’s plethora of classes into a schedule that minimizes conflicts for all students. The schedule used to be comprised of seven 45-minute periods that rotated each day, but over a decade ago the Visioning Committee decided on the flexible, modular schedule we have now. Mr. Warner worked with a committee for the first year, but has gone solo ever since.

Scheduling Struggles

that it’s very Greenhill. It’s just a completely different, much more If you visit campus over Spring labor-intensive, much more studentBreak, you might notice that it is centered way to do scheduling.” eerily quiet without the hustle and The process is a lengthy one. bustle of students and teachers on It begins in December, when rising the way to class. Steve Warner is in juniors and seniors submit their his office, however. Inside, he paces course requests. back and forth, talking to himself For the next few months, Mr. as he arranges and rearranges Warner grapples with the data, the magnets on his wall. Sometimes, mapping out course combinations he says, he’ll even start yelling. on a giant conflict-resolution grid The thorn in his side: on his computer. Lining the first row scheduling. and column of the grid are the course At the heart of the Upper numbers of every class offered in the School’s scheduling Upper School. For every philosophy is the idea intersection on the grid, that students should Mr. Warner inputs the My goal be able to take every number of students that is that [the class that they want to have requested both students] get to take. However, a high courses. Some pairings take everything demand for Advanced have 50 requests; others that [they] Placement and singlepossibly can and, have none. It is here section courses has more importantly that he determines the made for a difficult everything that most popular course scheduling grid with and [they] need to combinations lots of potential for take.” conflicts. conflict.

With that crucial As Upper School information, along schedule coordinator, Mr. Warner with details from department is responsible for designing a chairs about how many sections schedule that minimizes these are offered and who will teach conflicts. them, Mr. Warner begins figuring “My goal is that [the students] out which period each class will go get to take everything that [they] in. This is when he takes it from possibly can and, more importantly, his computer to the wall. On the everything that [they] need to white board behind his desk, take,” Mr. Warner said. “With seven Mr. Warner has hundreds of tiny periods and a lot of single-section magnets, one for each section classes, it becomes very difficult to of each course offered in do that, so I have to do the best I the Upper School course can.” catalog. Each of the magnets is colorLaura Ross, Head of Upper coded by subject and labeled with School, came from a school where the official course name, number, students’ desires weren’t taken into and section of each course. Moving consideration in the same way. Our the magnets around the board, scheduling seemed outrageously which he has divided into seven complicated. sections (one for each period), he “When I first [came to begins to craft the schedule.

Greenhill], I thought ‘That’s insane.

This part of the job is trial-andWe can’t do scheduling this way,’” error, a guessing game of which Mrs. Ross said. “But I realized placement will create the schedule Rachel Diebner Editor-in-Chief

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with the least number of conflicts.

“It’s kind of a puzzle,” Mr. Warner said. “Like all puzzles, it’s great when it works and not so great when it doesn’t work. It gets frustrating at times.”

The problem with this puzzle is that it’s never perfect. Mr. Warner plays with the schedule for days, constantly arranging and rearranging the magnets on his whiteboard, looking back at the data from the conflict-resolution grid, tweaking and tinkering.

He begins the process department by department, placing classes that are less flexible first— ones with teachers who teach both Middle School and Upper School classes, for example—and working his way in.

“You start with all of the corners, all of the easy pieces, and you work your way into the middle,” said Assistant Head of Upper School Rebecca Shuman, who was in charge of scheduling roughly 13 years ago.

“You always hope that by the time you end that process in July, you have a 500-piece puzzle that fits together and all of the pieces are there and it looks like the picture on the box.”

Each year is a completely different story.

“This year I was just about ready to redo it all and start from scratch,” he said. “But I know I don’t have the time for that.”

It isn’t until March that Mr. Warner finally begins to craft individual student schedules. For Mr. Warner, this is the bulk of the work, and it hits at a moment of high stress: On top of scheduling, he is also grading exams, writing comments, and preparing for spring parent-teacher conferences.

When Mr. Warner is finished designing all of the individual student schedules, he allows students to preview them. After that,

the floodgates open: Students rush into his office, meeting with him about conflicts, asking him to swap one class for another, wondering why he can’t move just one class to a different period — a tiny change in their minds, since they have not seen the effort behind this process.

“Mr. Warner puts in untold hours,” said Upper School history teacher David Lowen, who used to do scheduling. “It’s a hard job, and it’s a thankless job. Because no matter what he does, people are upset at him.”

Conflicts are still unavoidable:

Sometimes a student must choose between two classes, or give up an elective.

“That’s my goal,” Mr. Warner said, “That everyone leaves my office, not necessarily smiling because they got everything, but not in tears because they can’t take something that they really, really want to take.”

By July it all has to come together.

“Mr. Warner builds the schedule with the kids first,” Mr. Lowen said.

“He really works hard to get all of the students with the schedules that they want.”

sports The Evergreen Wednesday [04.02.14]

Bracket Madness

There are many different strategies to fill out a March Madness bracket. p. 18

Senior strides to success Ben Schachter

Asst. Special Sections Editor

A guy, average height at best, sprints down the track with a goal, a mission, an objective. He doesn’t appear to be any better than the rest, but he tries his hardest to prove it.

Senior Tre Albritten was always a little bit ahead of the game. As a Lower School student at Prince of Peace, Tre competed on the Middle School track team. Tre loved to run, and that was apparent as he got older.

“In Middle School, I was small, but what I loved about [track] is that size doesn’t matter, it’s just about speed,” said Tre. “The pure challenge of [track] is that you can go out and have a bad day and the clock won’t lie, whereas in other sports the other team might have a bad day too and you can still win.”

Tre, a four-year member of the Varsity Greenhill Track and Field team found himself improving each year with more experience. After competing and finishing in the top ten last year in the 200 meter dash, 400 meter dash, 4 x 100, 4x 400, and the triple jump at the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) Championships, Tre feels as though he has set himself up for success this season.

“I’ve always been fast, but this year I’m more confident in my ability to go out and leave it all on the track,” said Tre.

Running multiple events can come as a challenge, said Tre. Each week during track season, he often has to go one to two hours longer after practice.

“Whenever I get better in one event, I generally get better in another one, too,” he said.

The practice has paid off; his personal record (PR) in the 200-meter is 22.72 seconds. In the 400-meter, his PR is 52.47, within one second of the Greenhill record. For the triple jump, he has reached as far as 43’ 10’’.

Regardless of Tre’s success or failures in meets, coaches can still count on him to show great work ethic each and every practice.

“He’s always been extremely hard-working and he’s one of our hardest-working kids without a doubt,” said Head Track and Field coach Stacey Johnson. “A couple of nights a week he goes after practice to work with a club coach on extra technical work.”

Tre’s teammates see the same desire and passion for improvement that his coaches do.

“He works really hard in academic and athletics,” said senior and fellow track and field captain Jalen Sharp. “His work ethic is crazy.”

With this constant hard work, Tre started to excel not just among Greenhill runners, but also among track athletes throughout the United

States. He was just one spot away from being part of the U.S. Junior Olympic Team. Realizing the heights and goals he could possibly achieve in track this season, Tre opted to join an indoor club track team in preparation for the upcoming season instead of playing basketball.

Indoor track is slightly different than outdoor track; the track curves at an incline around the corners. Tre saw this as a valuable opportunity and one that was essential to his development—especially if he wanted to compete in college.

“I knew I wanted to run track in college, and a lot of the schools I was looking at compete in indoor track, so I didn’t want to be behind,” said Tre. This commitment to track was already apparent to coaches, which is why he was selected as one of the captains of the track team for the past two years.

“I try to lead by example more than being a vocal leader because in track you don’t get many opportunities to be loud,” said Tre. A prime example of his leadership style took place at SPC last year.

“I really enjoyed having the privilege of running for my team when it counted in the last event of the SPC Championships last season,” said Tre. Beyond this season, Tre has high hopes for competing in college no

Photo couresy of Phyllis Albritten

ON THE RIGHT TRACK: Senior Tre Albritten sprints the 400-meter dash in a meet last year. His personal record for that event is 52.47 seconds.

matter what the situation might be.

“Wherever I go, I will have already had a spot on the track team or I will try out for their team,” said Tre. He has already been

Boys, girls track enter season with individual goals, championship expectations Joseph Middleman Sports Editor

After a 4th place finish from the boys and a 5th place finish from the girls last season, the team has high expectations for this season and is ready to improve upon those results.

So far this season, they have finished among the top teams in each track meet they have participated in.

Part of what makes the team elite this year is not only the number of athletes they have, but also the number of returning athletes.

“We’ve got a lot of returning athletes who have been making a lot of improvement throughout the years. The kids are confident and have high expectations for themselves and the younger athletes,” said Head Track and Field coach Stacey Johnson.

The experienced athletes include Shelby Beauchamp, Camille Andrews, Jalen Sharp, Paulo Springer, and Dylan Roberts. They bring a certain authority to the team that helps the team stay on track.

“The leadership on the team is great. If there are ever people that are being lazy or slacking off during practice, the captains always get them to focus,” sophomore Amelia Jones said.

Not only is there strong leadership on the team, but there is also a depth of leadership.

“As a captain, my main goal is to encourage the team and keep them motivated to do the best that they can every time they step on the track,” said junior Camille Andrews.

“I think this year we have a really good group of captains on the boys and the girls side. There are a mix of the super stars of the team like Naya, Jalen, and Tre, and then people who are motivated to carry the team and support each other.”

However, with roughly 80 athletes on the team, unification can be difficult.

“Although it sometimes hard to get everyone motivated, in the end we all are there for the same reason.

The individual parts of it aren’t really

individual as I can see. The best way I can put it is like we are all pieces of a jigsaw puzzle,” Camille said.

Although the team aspect is a crucial part of the team, there are many individual goals as well.

What is most impressive about these goals and what makes the team so strong this year is that many of these goals are to break school records.

Each athlete set these goals individually.

Amelia has high expectations for pole vault this season as she wishes to clear 10’6”.

Camille also has high expectations in pole vault, but personally enjoys the 300 meter hurdles and looks to medal in this event at SPC. Senior Dylan Roberts looks to break the school record in the 4x1 relay with a team of senior Jalen Sharp, senior Tre Albritten, sophomre Justin Estrada, and himself. They are currently 0.2 seconds from breaking the record.

Jalen also has many individual goals, such as breaking the school record in long jump and medaling in the 100 meter sprint and 200 meter sprint. The school long jump record is currently 22’6,” and Jalen has jumped 22’2” thus far.

Coach Johnson notices the team’s spirit and enthusiasm.

“One of the great aspects of the program is the team’s support for each other. The older kids are always pushing the younger kids,” Coach Johnson said. “Our kids at SPC are always cheering louder than any of the other fans. They are very committed to each other.”

Along with Jalen’s personal high expectations, he also has particularly high expectations for the team.

“We keep on getting better every week and with such a great team this season I am hopeful that we will win SPC,” Jalen said.

Winning SPC would require a realization of these goals as well as a big performance from the team.

accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech University, and Columbia University but is unsure where he wants to attend.

By the numbers

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The place taken by the the boys’ golf, tennis, baseball, and track teams at respective tournaments in March The boys’ tennis team’s national ranking after the 15th Annual National Invitational Boys High School Team Tennis Tournament The girls’ lacrosse team’s margin of victory over Trinity Lax Club on March 18

wednesday, april 2, 2014

The

Evergreen

sports

Methods to the Madness Danielle Stoler

Online Editor-in-Cheif

Every year, the month of March graces us with the galvanizing threeweek spectacle known as March Madness. For large portions of Americans, everything stands still for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, which is notorious for providing thrillers and upsets. Even here at Greenhill, students display games on Smart Boards throughout the high school.

The 68-team contest to be crowned the best in college basketball is the largest national single-elimination competition in the world. Paired with the fact that many of the qualifying teams are unheard-of to even the most refined sports ears, you can bet that Vegas and the mass one-and-done tournament are a match made in gamblers’ heaven. But beyond the U.S. gambling hotspot, low money and recreational pools consume the lives of spectators nation-wide.

This year, small chunks of change and bragging rights are not the only things bracket-makers are competing for. Billionaire Warren Buffett and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, have partnered with Quicken Loans to raise the stakes, offering $1 billion for the perfect NCAA tournament bracket. The contest, entitled the Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge, has billionaire-wannabes salivating, regardless of their level of college basketball intrigue.

For some participants, a season or more of college basketball expertise and statistics go into the making of their annual brackets.

Others are blissfully ignorant, routinely pleased by “bubble team” first-time-qualifiers pulling firstround upsets over teams some argue could make it in the pros. After all, it

is called madness for a reason!

Whether you are a data-driven bracketologist, or base your picks on uniform colors and coin flips, there is a strategy for everyone, especially with $1 billion on the line. Here are some you can test in the future.

upset.

“In one of my brackets, I had Texas winning it all,” said senior Brent Rubin. “Although the likelihood of this occurring is minimal, I have followed the team forever and will be going there next year. How could I not?”

In one of his brackets, senior Nick Kraus slotted his future alma mater, Stanford, as the 2014 tournament champions. “I can’t help but have faith in the tree,” said Nick.

The Chalk Bracket “Going chalk” does not reference the utensil with which you fill out your bracket. In the old days of horse racing, bookmakers would set the odds for a horse by writing them on a chalkboard next to the gambling stations. As horses were scratched from races, odds would continue to change, so the “bookies” often had to erase original odds and update them. It is because of this that betting on the favorite is called “betting the chalk.” Picking the higher seed can be dull but reliable; however, people who do this often dread the “bracket buster” team that unexpectedly afflicts safe predictions.

“I’m going to speak candidly,” said junior Griffin Olesky. “I don’t typically follow basketballno, sports in general. But my intuition was telling me to go with the lower-seeded teams.” After the first round, he had a 78 percent success rate.

The Statistical Bracket On the first day of the 2014 tournament, it was estimated that the odds of creating the perfect bracket and winning Warren Buffett’s challenge were one in more than nine-quintillion. Once you have coped with how heavily against you these odds are, why not try and make well-thought-out guesses based on each team’s statistical season

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The “Arbitrary Traits of a School” Bracket

performances? The most commonly used statistic to aid bracket-makers is the Rating Percentage Index or RPI, which ranks teams based upon the team’s total number of wins, losses, and strength of schedule. In the last few years, however, the College Basketball Power Index, or BPI, has become increasingly relevant, due to the fact that it also accounts for the final score, pace of play, game site, strength of opponent, and absence of key players in each game of a team’s season. This statistic is often credited for its ability to measure how well a team has performed overall, and how powerful they may be moving forward. Last year’s champion, Louisville, and 2012’s champion, Kentucky, both had the highest BPI rankings entering the NCAA tournament in their respective years.

This year’s BPI leader is Arizona.

“BPI accounts for so much: pace of play, margin of victory, strength of victory,” said freshman Diego Marrero, who has Arizona winning his bracket. “It is the most accurate

way of predicting future success, [plus] Arizona has a winning March formula: good guard play.”

Some call it narcissism; I call it unconditional love. Your bracket should reflect any true devotions you have to teams. Whether you once attended a school, plan to attend a school, or live in the same city as a school, seeding and statistics can and should always be overlooked for emotional devotion. If you went to Mercer, a 14-seed, and they are playing Duke, a three-seed, it does not matter. You should clearly have Mercer advancing to the second round. And who knows? Maybe they will end up the “bracket buster” of the season. Similarly, if you are a Louisville fan, it does not matter how highly Kentucky is ranked going into the tournament. The simple fact that they are the University of Kentucky is grounds to mark them as an early

One of the joys and miseries of the NCAA tournament is its anything-can-happen nature.

What this means is that it does not matter how much or how little you know about the game. Your guess is as good as any. Of the 40 FinalFour teams in the past 10 years, just 14 have been No. 1 seeds. This being said, a 16-seed has never won the whole tournament. If the stress of picking the correct upsets is too much for you, resort to a more simple method. If you are particularly antagonistic towards a certain coast, make a Location Bracket. For the fashionistas out there, some jerseys are just too bright or dull, so the Jersey Bracket might just be the way to go. Or make a Mascot Bracket, where the school with the most vicious mascot takes home the trophy.

Senior Miles Andres made a bracket for his dog, Cooper, in which canine-based mascots make it the furthest. He has the University of Connecticut huskies winning. On behalf of his dog, Miles says “the huskies are always a tournament threat. I hope they do well for Cooper.”

over breaks.

“You cannot go two weeks without practice and jump into games and expect it to be as sharp as you would like,” said Coach Sandler.

During the winter break, the Varsity Girls’ Basketball team had three optional practices before mandatory practice started in preparation for the first conference game and a tournament. The girls who attended those optional practices adjusted more easily and the effects were clear in their performance, according to Coach Sandler.

“The practices at the end of the break were probably the best practices up to that point in the season,” he said.

Players said practices truly did help their overall performance and basic athleticism.

“It was extremely effective,” said senior Emily Koehler, Varsity Softball Captain. “Especially so because we played two teams, and we learned a lot from that. We were able to use that in our counter games.”

Making time for practice over the break can be difficult.

“It would be nice to be able to have the entire Spring Break off since I have a one-year-old at home,” said Coach Lowry, Varsity Baseball Head Coach. “Family time is invaluable, but I have also made a commitment to my varsity players, so the way we have it set right now I feel that we

have the best of both worlds. We get a little vacation time and then we get back to business to prepare for our counter games the following week.”

The athletes also seem to come

with a positive attitude.

“I don’t love it, because it’s during Spring Break; but it’s an extremely important thing to have and it was a lot of fun,” said Emily.

Photo by Ariana Zhang

BRACKET BONANZA: People across the country scramble to fill out their brackets in hopes of winning prizes, glory, and bragging rights.

The Sentiment Bracket

Athletes Still Training Over Spring Break

Suman Chebrolu Staff Writer

While some students may sit on the beach or zip line through the canopies of the jungle during Spring Break, others are getting out their cleats and rackets to prepare for practice.

Each year, sports practices start the Thursday of Spring Break, meaning coaches and students must sacrifice the end of their vacation.

“They are coming back not for practices, but for games, because [the break] is in the middle of our season,” said Chad Wabrek, Head of the Athletics Department. “Those teams are all going to have games that weekend.”

Coaches have full control over whether they hold practices over the break or not. Though they are not required to, coaches nearly always choose to have practices before most teams have their games that weekend.

The Athletic Department takes certain measures to ensure that student-athletes and their families can plan for a relaxing vacation.

Coaches are told to give their varsity teams a schedule of games and practices at least six months ahead of time. Athletes then make their vacation plans according to that schedule.

Some coaches choose to have

practices for the players who are in town so they can stay fit during the break. Others just wait until a day or two before a game to start again.

There are certain ‘black-out’ days during the breaks on which no teams are allowed to conduct official practices. This allows for everybody, coaches and athletes, to have some time off.

“When designing the season’s schedule, coaches work with the Athletic Department to design appropriate plans that include some rest and time off. For winter and spring sports, this approach gets coupled with vacations,” Mr. Wabrek said.

The ‘black-out’ days also provide a level of convenience for families with athletes in different sports to have vacation without worry, since all athletes will be free at the same time.

Repercussions for missing practices over breaks are entirely situational and cannot be dealt with according to a rulebook. It is up to the individual coach to determine the consequences of absences, if any.

Although this issue is dealt with on a situational basis, the department strives for consistency. Head coaches dictate that if a player misses a set number of practices, he or she will be removed from the team.

Darryn Sandler, Varsity Girls’ Basketball Head Coach, believes in the importance of having practice

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The

Evergreen

A sport of quirks Ben Krakow Sports Editor

When the golf team practices or plays on the various courses they travel to, new Greenhill golf coach Mike Krueger walks around from group to group, encouraging his players and giving them advice.

Yet Coach Krueger on average may only see 10-20 shots of the 80-100 shots that each of his players hits that day.

Golf is a quirky sport with many oddities not present in any other sport. From the different courses, to its solarity nature, golf is hardly like most other high-school teams.

Just because Coach Krueger cannot be everywhere on the golf course to see every move each of his players makes (unlike, say, a basketball coach), this doesn’t mean a golf coach cannot influence his players.

Players say that practices have become more serious with Coach Krueger as head coach this season, including sessions in the Greenhill high performance center on Fridays.

The team had never spent time in the facility in years past. Most practices are spent at the driving range or playing practice rounds.

“Changing coaches is an experience, but Coach Krueger can fill the hole left by Coach Dorber,” sophomore golfer Evan Haynes said, “We need to practice harder and he is pushing us.”

Even though Coach Krueger is at practice every day, many players are not able to get much individual instruction from him, since players

are all over the course. Many get additional instruction from private golf instructors.

Every golf course is different, and requires adjustment. For example, a scheduling change this year means that the team will not get a chance to play the SPC championship course before the championship. In the past, the team has played a tournament in the Woodlands on the same course where the SPC championship is played. This year, that tournament is not being held, so the team will instead travel to a tournament in Austin. Normally, getting familiar with a course is important for golfers before tournaments, but Coach Krueger said that luckily, the players can rely on their experience. The team played the course twice last year and everybody on the team that has played a golf SPC championship tournament has played it on the course in the Woodlands.

Coach Krueger is also faced with the challenge of connecting and getting to know his players even though they are all over the course during practices and tournaments.

The team had a larger number of players try out. This year 13 players came to tryouts, a record number.

Five play on the varsity squad and five are on the JV team. The other three will be on a developmental team that practices but does not play tournaments. In the past, the team has sometimes struggled to have 10 players, but this year that is not the case.

“We have several freshmen

and a couple of sophomores who are trying out for the first time, lot of people who are new to the Upper School who are interested in golf,” Coach Krueger said.

According to him they will have to wait and see what the turnout is next year to see whether the rise of interest in golf is a one-year fluke, or whether it will continue to rise. He added that the team has a solid foundation for years to come.

Even though players not having their coach is oversight at all times, players said that it is easier because golf is a rare individual sport, unlike a team sport where having a coach to coordinate the team would be essential at all times.

“Golf is a solo sport, so it is just you out on the course by yourself,” Evan said. Coaches are only allowed to speak with players between holes.

“I’ll inquire about their score, help them stay focused or even try to take their mind off a bad shot,” Coach Krueger said. “They don’t want me in their face anyway.”

So far, the team has had its best start in recent history, finishing second in the Jesuit’s Dallas Invitational Tournament at Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas on March 17, losing by one stroke to John Paul II. The following day the team won the Kent Henning Invitational at Hawk’s Creek Golf Club in Fort Worth by nine strokes.

Senior Jassem Setayesh paced the Hornets, earning runner-up with his 2 over par 74 score.

Photo courtesy of Greenhill Athletic Department

UNIFIED IN GOLD: From left to right, sophomore Evan Hanes, senior Ryan Gupta, junior Reed Russ, senior Jassem Setayesh, and freshman Luis Perales celebrate their victory at the Kent Henning Invitational.

wednesday, april 2, 2014

Boys’ basketball team searches for new coach con’t’d from page 1 good jumping-off point. He is confident in their potential for even more success next season.

After earning the fourth seed in the North Zone and finishing seventh overall in the conference, boys’ basketball returns four regular starters, including two All-SPC honorees. Junior Cooper Raiff, who started regularly for the team this season, has played under Coach Andrews since the summer before eighth grade. That strong relationship is what Cooper said he would miss most about his coach.

“I was the youngest one out there, but Coach made me feel like a part of the team,” Cooper said.

He acknowledged that adjusting to a new coach for his senior season will not be easy.

“I’ll have to learn the new coach’s style of coaching, and I’ll also have to introduce him to my style of playing,” Cooper said.

“It’ll be difficult to do in just one year.”

Coach Andrews, for his part, said that he understands how tough his decision could be for his core of rising seniors.

“I probably would’ve felt the same way in their position,” he said.

The Athletic Department is in the early stages of receiving applications and interviewing for the next head coach. The job opening has been posted online since early March.

Although Coach Andrews will not play a large role in the hiring process, he has offered Chad Wabrek, Head of Athletics, and Head of School Scott Griggs his opinion regarding the qualities the

new coach should have.

In addition to a strong work ethic and a commitment to development, Coach Andrews explained that the coach should place a strong emphasis on establishing himself in the high-school network outside of Greenhill, a skill that could result in more student-athletes naturally choosing to come to Greenhill to play basketball.

Cooper said that he hopes for a coach with a work ethic to match the one the team is used to.

“Coach Andrews was more dedicated than any coach I’ve ever had,” Cooper said. “That’s one of the main reasons our basketball program thrives.”

Coach Andrews made it clear that he never regretted the choice to give the job his all.

“I’m glad [the players] saw a coach who was committed until the end,” he said Coach Andrews will continue to fulfill the role until the new coach is hired, meaning that his workload in terms of scheduling and offseason preparation has not yet slowed. When it does, Coach Andrews looks forward to the chance to restore balance to his busy life.

“I really want to use this coming year to recalibrate as a person, as a professional, and as a family man,” he said.

Of course, he plans on maintaining a strong connection to the team – one that will involve plenty of appearances at games, but a healthy distance as far as any coaching is involved.

“The only thing I haven’t figured out yet is where I’ll sit at games.”

wednesday, april 2, 2014

AFTERWORDS

Redefining extracurriculars in high school

People always told me to take advantage of extra-curricular opportunities on campus.

What they usually meant was to take AP courses or join a few clubs. If there is anything my experience on campus has showed me, however, it is that the most impactful extracurricular activities are the ones that you

create for yourself.

My advice is to use your time in high school to hunt down the cutting edge, innovative, out-of-the box experiences. I’ve learned that those experiences rarely fall into your lap, and that you have to tailor-make them for yourself.

Take, for example, my senior Capstone project, which is largely focused on improving the juvenile justice system in Texas. I have interacted with court directors across the state, helped judges writing their policies, and assisted government agencies to write grants for federal funds. These real world experiences have made me a stronger student in the classroom and a more well-rounded person overall.

It wasn’t easy, though. When I first started, I tried to contact federal prosecutors, public

You can’t control the constants

In the opening minutes of one of the most important soccer games of the year, I felt a sharp pain ripple through the back of my leg. I’d done it again. In a simple practice drill just a few weeks earlier, I had partially torn my hamstring. Now, having come back too

quickly from the injury, I’d torn it again. My Greenhill soccer career was over, just like that.

As a senior, I should have had half of a season left to play, but it was swept away like a rug under my feet.

Since the injury, I have begun the three grueling months of recovery, and I often find myself feeling restless and stressed. Physical activity had always been my method for relaxing and forgetting about the “real world” for a while. Now, my cleats sit quietly in the corner of my room behind a pile of laundry.

I have a missing constant, and I don’t know what to do with myself.

I’ve been thinking a lot about constants.

Since my freshman year, my environment has been essentially the same. Same school. Same friends. Same sports. As August approaches, however, I realize that I can’t expect to always

The senior prank that never was

I’ve been dreaming about our senior prank ever since I was in Lower School.

I remember being awed by stories of the senior class that brought in two pigs, labeled “#1” and “#3” so that the whole school would have to search for the “missing” pig.

As a Middle Schooler, I was amazed by the elbow-grease and tenacity of the seniors who managed to move all of the furniture onto the roof of the Upper School. Throughout my

freshman year of Spanish class, an alarm clock buried within the classroom walls never failed to go off at the same time each day — a lasting legacy of the senior class that hid alarm clocks throughout the school years ago in a moment of wicked genius.

These stories stuck with me throughout my high school years. They made my mind spin with ideas for my own class’ senior prank.

They made me want our senior class to be one that the younger kids could look up to, the one that they wanted to be like.

This year, though, our class chose not to have a senior prank at all. When the votes were tallied last week, less than 25 percent of the grade wanted to go through with the prank.

That makes me sad. This was our chance to show how clever and witty and funny and imaginative we are as a class. A challenge to outdo the classes that came before us and to set the bar high for the classes that will follow.

And we passed it up. But why?

Some blame a recently instituted rule that

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officials and researchers at local universities.

Not a single person got back to me. I soon realized that that’s just a part of working in the real world. It’s risky sometimes, and you won’t always stumble upon the right people who can make things happen with you. But when the stars line up, incredible things can happen. I learned this just in time: my senior year as I was poised to venture into the real world.

I’ve seen my friends delve into other rich learning experiences. In fact, in this issue of The Evergreen, we are featuring Michael Meng, a Greenhill senior, for his in-depth work on a science research project. Michael went on a wild-goose chase trying to find a researcher who would mentor a high-school student.

Even though he hit serious road bumps, his persistence was rewarded with a phenomenal opportunity to study developmental changes

in the left and right sides of the heart. That’s taking passion to new heights.

My point is that it’s never too early to start identifying your interests or take charge of your own education. If the possibility is there, go for it. If there is a topic that you are especially interested in, find someone in the community and talk to them about your passion. You never know where it could go.

Dallas is a huge, thriving city with universities and businesses that you can contribute to. Empower yourself with the hidden opportunities in this city, and if there aren’t enough cool programs or pre-made classes, then don’t be afraid to create them yourself. I can’t wait to come back to campus as an alum and hear about the innovative Capstones and research projects Greenhill students are pouring themselves into.

have my constants. Sure, my family will always be there for me. But when I grow up and move away, I will not have the option to lean on them as I have my whole life (financially or otherwise).

One thousand nine hundred and thirty two miles. That is exactly how far away I will be from home when I leave for Colby College in four months. I will be playing soccer in the fall, but that is about the only constant from my previous life that will remain. Even so, my soccer experience will be entirely different than it was in high school. I recognize that the transition will be difficult, and, at times, it may seem unbearable. I will be out of my element. There will only be one familiar face accompanied by a sea of unrecognizable ones.

I will have to face a miserable winter and grow accustomed to an entirely new environment.

My injury didn’t force me to try new things or open my eyes to a passion I did not know that I had, as setbacks can do for certain people. I do not consider this one of those “blessing in disguise” moments. However, my injury forced me to learn more about myself.

I realized what was important to me, and that I needed more methods for stress relief. With the absence of sports, I experienced a small sample of what the beginning of my college life will be like. In a word: unfamiliar.

I know now that all I have is myself; anything else can be gone in an instant. So instead of focusing on improving my soccer skill or grades, I focus on my work ethic.

Rather than specifically aiming to strengthen my constants, I strive to better parts of myself that are within my control, which ultimately helps my constants as a result.

requires seniors to be on campus during the prank, meaning that we would fall victim to our own prank.

Others say it’s not even about the prank at all. Administrators said that if the prank wasn’t carried out successfully, the seniors wouldn’t be able to have a Skip Day, a fun day off of school spent at a pool party or Six Flags.

By voting for a prank, they thought they might be endangering Skip Day. Perhaps the greatest reason, though, is that we as a class didn’t take the time to plan a good prank. Only six people showed up to a senior prank planning meeting in February that the whole grade was invited to. That’s crazy.

Some of the most infamous pranks (or “hacks”) in history have taken place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

One year, they managed to place a police car, complete with flashing lights, on top of the dome of one of the main buildings on campus.

Another year, they changed an inscription

in the lobby of one building so subtly that university police didn’t even notice upon first inspection.

Imagine the amount of coordination these hacks must have taken, the amount of thought, the amount of communication. Good pranks don’t just happen; they require planning and effort. And that’s something that we should be eager and excited to take on. Greenhill students are of such a high caliber; surely, we could pull off something just as clever if we put our minds to it.

And if we get Skip Day taken away? We can coordinate a pool party any day. The fact that we, as a class, value a day off over a chance to showcase our creativity, wit, and imagination surprises me.

The senior prank isn’t just a Greenhill tradition. It’s a tradition that joins an entire community of tricksters and pranksters across America and around the globe. That’s a tradition that we, as a class, should want to carry on.

Wasting time? Not much of a waste to me

It’s 2:00 am. Empty cups of coffee lie strewn across the floor. My laptop’s fan whirs like an alarm. I get up and splash water on my face. I can’t go to bed yet. I haven’t finished my work for the night.

I haven’t finished this episode of House of Cards, that is. That Frank Underwood guy is really stressing me out.

What, you thought I was talking about a paper? Test prep? Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a

third-trimester senior; we don’t mess around athletes work to make varsity; varsity athletes with so much academic nonsense. work to win a championship. Greenhill I should probably explain myself before students work to get into college; college Mr. Bittenbender blows a gasket or Mr. Oros students work to get the right job; employees calls an emergency parent-teacher conference – work to get the even better job. None of that is or worse, Mr. Kasten decides he’s disappointed bad or wrong. I don’t regret at all the decision in me. I’m not skipping third to work my butt off in trimester. I’m not blowing off high school. I’ve achieved my work or boycotting my the tangible goal. Now classes. I’m just changing my I find myself in a more We do what we interesting position. approach. do with the purpose For 11 consecutive As a third-trimester trimesters, I went at full speed. of accomplishing a senior, I am still very much I read every chapter, wrote the Greenhill phase of goal. in every paper, slaved over every my life. But because of the textbook. For three and a half work I’ve already put in, as years, I worked vigorously to well as a little bit of luck get the grades and the resume here and there, I’ve already I needed to complete the one overarching goal achieved the goal of getting to that next step. on my mind: college.

Once school starts in September, I’ll be right At essentially every point in our lives, we do back at it, working long days and late nights what we do with the purpose of accomplishing to get to advance one more rung on the ladder a goal. There is always a tangible next step. JV of life. Unless I invent the next Facebook (still

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very much on the table), I’ll remain in that cycle for decades to come. I’m in a strange state of limbo in which I have time to kill, but nothing pressing to kill it with. I may never have this luxury again. So why not try it out while I still can?

I’m going to waste time this trimester, but I plan on wasting it effectively. I quit baseball as a junior in order to make more time to work.

This spring, I’ll come out to watch the games.

I’ll boldly seek dinners outside the confines of Preston and Forest. I’ll tune into Cosmos on Sunday nights, at least until Game of Thrones returns. Maybe I’ll even make headway in the untouched reading list that’s been growing since freshman year.

Of course, I’ll do my homework and study and all that jazz, but mostly I’ll give wasting time a try — maybe it’ll work out for me. Unlike the last 11 trimesters, I won’t care that much if my grades aren’t perfect. I have much bigger fish to fry. Mad Men comes back in April, and I’m still two seasons behind.

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wednesday, april 2, 2014

Step into spring...

With warmer weather slowly but surely headed Texas’ way, here are places to get out of the house and into the sun.

Cedar Ridge Preserve Contrary to popular belief, Dallas is not all suburbia. We are in fact home to many wildlife preserves, one of which is the Cedar Ridge Preserve.

This 640 acre preserve is home to seven miles of hiking trails, native plant nurseries and an abundance of peaceful picnic spots. Just a few minutes from downtown Dallas, this preserve offers an idyllic atmosphere to just sit back and relax.

Gardens & Parks Dallas itself is the lucky home of an array of beautiful gardens and parks, including the Belo Garden, Main Street Garden Park, and the most recent and popular Klyde Warren Park. If you’re willing to pay a few bucks, head over to the Dallas Arboretum where you’ll be greeted by the sight and smell of hundreds of carefully curated flowers. Picnic, read, throw a frisbee, or sun bathe.

The world is yours.

The Old West Audubon Center Spring is the perfect time to get in touch with your more charitable side.

The Trinity River Audubon Center is devoted to the restoration and protection of the Trinity River. Located just south of downtown Dallas, the center welcomes volunteers of all ages. They offer a variety of volunteer opportunities ranging from making seed balls for the nearby birds to picking up trash along the road.This beautiful nature oasis also provides hiking trails, canoe trips down the river, and information on the importance of the Trinity River and the wildlife. For more information visit trinityriver. audubon.org

Take a little trip back in time by visiting The Old West at the Dallas Heritage Village. When you step into this village you will enter the world of Texas during the 19th century. With identical pioneer and Victorian houses and “ye old west” surroundings, you’ll be checking your cell phone to make sure it’s still 2014.

Story by Lizzy D’Apice