April 2019 | The Evergreen, Greenhill School

april 24, 2019 volume 54, issue 5

the Everything Greenhill

evergreengreenhill.org

See page 9 Photo illustration by Amber Syed

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News

Features

Arts

Sports

Staff editorial on the state of Heart-of-the-Hill groups p. 2

Greenhill alumni square up in race for Dallas mayor p. 4

Campus literary magazine sees success in national competition p. 7

Upper School films screened at SXSW Film Festival p. 10

Jarrett Shine appointed as Head of Athletics & Physical Education p. 12

Informing Greenhill since 1966

4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001

Views the

Rants & Raves the

Evergreen staff editors-in-chief Jeffrey Harberg Hayden Jacobs

executive editor Harrison Heymann

A RAVE to the prom theme, 24 Karat Magic!

From the suave fedoras passed out by Mr. Hark, to the boujee water bottles brought in by Mrs. Flanagan, the theme was so in tune! We want to thank all the parents that worked so hard to make it possible, we appreciate it! Put your pinky rings up to the moon, Greenhill.

A RANT to Chad Wabrek leaving! I am not sure how we are going to know if there’s frost outside next year. All joking aside, we are going to miss Coach Wabrek’s passion and hard work to making Greenhill Athletics the best they can be, and for always finding the time to say hi!

Relentless effort will live on forever.

A RAVE to senior assassin. Seniors were off to a rough start due to our original unprofessionalism, but Mr. Oros and Mr. Lowen cannot shut us down, the game lives on! If you see any seniors running around with water guns, just try and stay out of the way because all of us want to be crowned assassin champion!

managing editor Amber Syed

copy editor Leah Nutkis

design editor Riya Rangdal

journalism assistant Ross Rubin

arts editor Sonali Notani

backpage editor Shreya Saxena

features editor Lane Herbert Raag Venkat

A RANT to the college admission scandal! As a senior who has been through the terrible, draining, and exhausting process, I believe nobody should be able to cheat it. If I had to do it, your kids should too Lori Loughlin.

A RAVE to March Madness! Nothing warms my heart like seeing half the class watching a game thanks to a classmate who was brave enough to sacrifice their computer. While we’re on it, a rave to Munch Madness, the Evergreen’s very own version that requires no class distraction! Check it out on the backpage.

A RANT to the ISAS rooming situation. Why should we be forced to pick our roommates at the last minute? At least you could have given us a little heads up or something because if you weren’t at school during that small amount of time you had no idea who you’ll be spending the weekend with!

news editor

Mira Jungerman

sports editor Jake Middleman

views editors

Natalie Gonchar Caroline Simpson

asst. arts editor Alyssa Miller

asst. news editor Brent Ladin

asst. sports editors Davis Gutow Victor Le

A RAVE to spring finally greeting us! We’ve been enduring the rain and cold for far too long. I can only stay in and watch movies all day so many times. Now that there’s sunshine, I‘ll only watch movies half the day, then I’ll go play spikeball with the freshman boys. Cannot wait to beg for class outside every single day until summer!

A RANT to Hannah B., also known as Alabama Hannah, being the bachelorette.

She’s a nice girl who deserves love, but does she have to do it on my television? Homegirl can hardly give a toast so I’m really not looking forward to watching her bumble her way through 500 dinners with different men.

A RAVE to the last Avengers movie, “Avengers: Endgame,” coming out on April 26. You bet I’ll be in the movie theater for all three hours, on the edge of my seat, watching Thanos finally get what he deserves. I plan on protesting hardcore if all my favorite characters don’t come back to life (mainly just Peter Parker).

Content courtesy of Sam Bovard, Caroline Simpson, and Natalie Gonchar Photos by Natalie Gonchar and Caroline Simpson

online editor-in-chief Sonia Dhingra

online executive editor Mila Nguyen

online broadcast editor Tej Dhingra

social media editor Emma Light

staff artist

Staff Editorial: Is Heart of the Hill Still Meaningful?

Heart of the Hill (HOH) is a oneof-a-kind program that was launched at Greenhill School 22 years ago with the goal of bringing the entire community together while teaching the school’s core principles.

Six times a year, HOH meets from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and is time dedicated to creating bonds with students in different grades and subsections of the school.

“

Even though these activities that have a structure and directions to them, each HOH group does the activity in their own unique way.”

In previous years, HOH didn’t have many rules or regulations. Students would be greeted with boxes of donuts when they walked into their HOH rooms, and they would compete against each other in intense kickball games; at the end of HOH, Lower Schoolers would ask their newly-made

friends, the Upper School students, to walk them back to their classrooms.

However, in recent years, HOH has changed its curriculum. Now, HOH groups must conduct an activity, designed by the Advancing Core Principles (ACP) committee that focuses on teaching Greenhill’s core principles. An example of one of these activities is having students write something unique about themselves on a puzzle piece and combining the pieces to create a completed puzzle at the end of HOH. This activity highlights Greenhill’s diverse community, one of the school’s most defining characteristics. However, while this idea is plausible, it fails to bond the students in the way that the previous HOH did. The new HOH curriculum hinders the students’ abilities to form genuine bonds with their classmates, because they are forced into certain community-oriented conversations and activities. It seems that less and less Lower School students are walking hand-inhand with their Upper School friends back

to their classrooms.

During the first 10 years of Heart of the Hill, there was a committee dedicated to improving the HOH experience through the voices of students. However, as time went on, students stopped attending the committee meetings, and their input ultimately died off.

Assistant Head of School Tom Perryman ’81, the founder of HOH, recognizes this distinction as well.

“I think that some of the structure can take away from the bonding that occurs,” said Mr. Perryman. “Even though these activities have a structure and directions to them, each HOH group does the activity in their own unique way.”

While there are variations in how to handle each activity from group to group, these structured community-focused HOH times take away from one half of the purpose of HOH: Bringing students together and causing friendships to bond between grades.

Sarah Luan

business manager Ryan Wimberly

adviser

Gregg Jones

asst. adviser Dr. Amy Bresie

Have a response?

Opinion?

Original Idea?

Email us at: evergreen@greenhill.org For the editorial policy visit our website at evergreengreenhill.org

the

Evergreen

wednesday, april 24, 2019

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Last spring, twenty-seven Greenhill facultyy and staff embarked on a year-long quest to read and discuss Ibram X. Kendi’s history of racism in America, “Stamped from the Beginning.” It changed their lives.

Before reading SFTB I considered myself a “non-racist” person. I now understand that there really is no such thing as being non-racist. One is either racist or antiracist. Kendi focuses primarily on the history and adaptation of racist ideas in the United States towards African-American people. While some overt forms of racism and racist ideas have become less blatant (slavery, lynching, and Jim Crow) following the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 60’s, Kendi guides the reader through the transformation of racist ideas in the past 50 years (law and order politics of the 1970’s, the war on drugs of 1980’s and 1990’s, reversal of affirmative action, predatory lending practices) that have perpetuated inequality. As if we didn’t know, we are reminded that we are far from being a “post-racial” society in the United States as glaring inequities and white supremacy persist.

- Jaye Andrews, Middle School math teacher According to Kendi, the American struggle is not so much between racists and non-racists—it’s between racists and assimilationists/segregationists. This idea challenged me to interrogate my teaching: How often have I assimilated or segregated a text by a marginalized author, all in the name of diversifying my course?

- Joel Garza, Upper School English teacher and department chair

While the book’s content generated so much learning for me, both academically and social-emotionally, I have to say that my greatest value is the experience of getting to work in and with an interracial group of my colleagues on a topic that affects every aspect of my being. Our conversations and reflections were HARD, but honestly, I have never felt more motivated, energized and hopeful at Greenhill, and I count it as one of my most transformative learning experiences.

- Karen Bradberry, Director of Equity & Inclusion

SFTB was a life-changing read for me. More than anything, I was struck by the number of ways in which good intentions can inadvertently perpetuate racist ideology. I have an entirely new understanding of what it means to be anti-racist.

It is not enough to merely support the idea of racial equality.

- Paige Ashley, Middle School history teacher

Growing up, I often heard a different version of American history (especially Texas) from my parents and grandparents.

I remember struggling to reconcile what I read in my history books and what I was learning at home. While SFTB was a difficult read for me, I appreciate that Dr. Kendi has shed a different light on many American “heroes.” An important takeaway for me is the understanding that only anti-racist policies will create racial equality, and that these policies must be supported with constant ACTION. There is no in-between. Being an anti-racist is not based on who you are. It is based on what you are doing at the moment to promote equality for humanity.

Dr. Kendi’s book SFTB is such an important treatise on our society. My heart was heavy as each page walked through the history of racism. There have been so many opportunities over the past 400 years for people in power to have made decisions that would have helped to reduce and/or eradicate racist policies and ideas, but time and again, those choices were not made. The book highlighted for me how each of us has a role in helping to move our school community and our society toward ones that solidly reflect anti-racist views.

- Nora Garcia, Lower School modern and classical languages teacher

- Monica Bullock, Middle School English teacher and sixth grade team leader Reading SFTB was eye-opening, and I still have more to learn. I never knew how deeply flawed many of our “heroes” were regarding race. Many of the historical figures whom I was taught to believe were anti-racists often did the right thing for the wrong reasons. I often finished reading a chapter in despair for our society but hope springs eternal.

Knowing that my colleagues and I were reading this together and discussing how to move forward brings me hope.

-Joan Romanosky, Middle School Latin teacher

As a person of color, SFTB was a difficult read because it outlines the history of what many POC know and experience on the daily: this is a country and society that was built on and continues to perpetuate inequity. This was both validating and terrifying.

With that said, my biggest takeaway from reading is that I still believe in the possibility of change AND equity. So, I will start with myself and continue to be an aspiring anti-racist educator and citizen. Here’s my call to action for those of you reading this: read “Stamped” with an open mind and make it a habit to learn about, notice, and call out racist ideas and policies that result in inequity.

My biggest takeaway is that we all have a lot of work to do: at Greenhill, in Dallas, and very much beyond in this country. I was deeply saddened, and sometimes shocked, to see the extent of the coincidence and convergence of racism and the history/development of the United States. But the book also forced me to examine the ways I have personally been responsible for ideas, words, and actions that contributed to a perpetuation of racist ideation. I now believe that there is no middle ground between racism and anti-racism, and though I do not expect to be perfect moving forward, I am more deeply committed than ever to being mindful of promoting equality over assimilationist thought.

-Blake Harkey, Upper School English teacher

- Lizz Melendez, Middle School history teacher and equity and inclusion coordinator Reading SFTB opened my eyes to a history I’d thought I understood, leaving me sad and angry with the deep recognition that all the “freedom” I’d learned about in school was built and upheld for centuries by cruelty and horror, with unjust results that still play out for millions. I see that the racist ideas and systems depicted by Kendi are thriving today.

My biggest takeaway: If I, a white woman, am depressed by reading the historical facts, how must it feel to live with dayto-day racism and the effects of generations of oppression?

I’m looking forward to reading Kendi’s next book, “How to Be an Antiracist.” Maybe I’ll gain some hope through action.

- Stephanie Ledyard, Library Technical Specialist

This was an inspirational and life-changing experience for me. I felt like I had a good understanding of race as I’ve done thoughtful work and highly value equity and inclusion. It shocked me with how deeply rooted racist ideas are in this country. Every chapter, ended with mouth dropping open. It forced me to take a good hard look at myself and intentionally think about race from a different lens. I ended this experience believing this book should be required reading in America!

-Maggie Parry ’07, second grade teacher and team leader

After reading SFTB, I feel compelled to be proactively anti-racist, even though my efforts might be imperfect.

While I don’t consider myself a naïve person, I did not realize to what extent racist ideologies permeate all facets of American society. Kendi does an outstanding job of documenting the insidiousness of racism in our nation’s religious, educational, cultural, and government institutions—its cyclical nature pervades our history, and Kendi’s work challenges the reader to consider one’s responsibility in actively breaking its patterns in the present.

-Regina Yunker, Lower School science teacher Graphic by Sarah Luan

News the

Eric Johnson ’94 and Mike Ablon ’83 clash in race for Dallas mayor Tej Dhingra A pair of Greenhill alumni are competing to become the next Dallas mayor in the general election set for May 4.

Eric Johnson ’94 represents District 100 in the Texas House of Representatives. Mike Ablon ’83 has invested more than $1 billion in Dallas-Fort Worth commercial real estate projects over the past decade.

Mr. Johnson entered the race on Jan. 23. He said that the primary reason that he is running for mayor is due to his family’s long lineage in Dallas.

“Dallas is where my parents and their parents are from; we’ve been here a long time, and we care about this city,” he said.

“We want to make sure that our city moves in the right direction and who the mayor is will be critically important to that.”

Mr. Ablon entered the mayoral race on Dec. 20. He is the founder of the realestate development firm PegasusAblon, named one of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies and the #1 Best Place to Work in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (DFW) for small companies, according to the company website. Mr. Ablon said the work he has done with PegasusAblon has increased his motivation to serve Dallas in a different way.

“I’ve had the opportunity to build buildings and neighborhoods,” he said.

“Now, the motivation for me is the opportunity to reconcile the challenges and systemic failures of the city so that we can find the prosperity that we have in front of us.”

Mr. Ablon said that first responders, healthcare and public transportation are his areas of highest priority as a candidate, as well as the need for strong neighborhoods in Dallas.

Photos courtesy of Eric Johnson and Mike Ablon

OFF TO THE RACES: Eric Johnson ‘94 (top) reads to children during a campaign stop. Mike Ablon ‘83 (bottom) with daughter Haley ‘14, wife, Karen, and daughter Annie ‘17 (left to right)

“Fundamentally strong neighborhoods are building blocks for the city,” he said.

Mr. Ablon has no prior experience in

politics, which is a fact he feels distinguishes him the most from the other candidates.

“I’m not a politician in any and every

sense of the word,” said Mr. Ablon. “I have no party affiliation; I was trained in building culture and city fabric.”

Mr. Johnson said that public safety, road quality and public transportation are all top priorities for him, but the one that he feels makes him stand out as a candidate is his emphasis on improving the work force.

“I believe that our work force should be the selling point of Dallas, not something that we should have to explain away to companies like Amazon, who chose not to come to Dallas in part because of our work force,” he said.

While Mr. Ablon and Mr. Johnson have different priorities in their campaigns, both candidates said they emphasize education and the power that comes from it, which they have learned from their time at Greenhill.

“I want to be the premier champion of education in the city of Dallas,” said Mr. Johnson. “Being able to attend a school like Greenhill has created all the opportunities to do the things that I do in public service and my legal practice. I want to make sure that other kids have the same opportunities.”

In a YouTube video of his graduation speech in 1994, Mr. Johnson said that the part of the Greenhill experience he valued the most was the diversity. That hasn’t changed in 25 years, as Mr. Johnson still says that the diversity that he was exposed to prepared him for the next chapter of his life.

“My [Greenhill] experience not only prepared me academically but prepared me for the diversity in the complex world I was about to encounter,” he said. “ I was exposed to so many things I never would have known had I never left my neighborhood, and I am eternally grateful to Greenhill for that.”

Greenhill alumna publishes book on love and war Amber Syed When Frederick Albert saw Elinor Powell for the first time, it was love at first sight. However, Frederick and Elinor’s romance was an unusual one. Powell was an African-American nurse during World War II, and Albert was a captured German soldier.

This true story is the premise for “Enemies in Love,” a 2018 book written by Greenhill alumna Alexis Clark ’94. It has received national attention from news sources such as the New York Times, The New Yorker and Essence Magazine. Ms. Clark has also been interviewed

by NPR, Bloomberg TV, PBS Newshour and Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien to discuss her book.

“I got a great response [from people about the book],” said Ms. Clark. “Like me, most people didn’t know this part of the World War II history. We had Nazi soldiers in U.S. prisoner of war camps [who] in some ways were treated better than the African American nurses who were U.S. citizens.”

Ms. Clark’s passion for writing can be traced back to her childhood. When Ms. Clark attended the Lamplighter School as a child, she kept a journal in which she wrote short stories.

After moving to Greenhill, Ms. Clark’s fondness for reading and writing remained strong as she enjoyed her English classes and worked on the Evergreen.

Ms. Clark later attended Spelman College for her

Photo courtesy of Alexis Clark

HONORING THE INSPIRATION: Alexis Clark visited the Court Gardens of the Munich Residence, once a palace to Bavarian Dukes. She was in Munich several times to interview surviving relatives of Frederick Albert.

undergraduate studies. She then received master’s degrees from the University of Virginia and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Ms. Clark now works as a freelance journalist and adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Her original inspiration for “Enemies in Love” came after she learned that her family was distantly related to Cornell Charles

Young, the highest ranking African American in the United States Army until his death in 1922. Upon discovering this, Ms. Clark began researching AfricanAmericans serving in World War II. This was when she first came across a book that discussed African-American nurses during the war. She learned about Elinor Powell, a black nurse serving at the prisoners-of-war camp. Soon after, she published an article in

the New York Times about the story and, after receiving positive responses, was offered a book deal.

Ms. Clark knew she needed to investigate the story more in depth. She used a database to track down Powell’s and Albert’s death notices and home addresses, which listed a son’s name at the same address. She sent him a letter that included her phone number and email address. She received an email from Elinor’s son and began

visiting him every few weeks to discuss their family’s story.

“What I love most about this book is that these people didn’t let racism win, and that’s an important message, especially nowadays,” Ms. Clark said.

Although “Enemies in Love” is a biography, it was important to Ms. Clarke for it to read like a novel.

“Not all people think history is accessible and some think that it’s boring, so [my book] is written in a way that you’re on this journey with these two people during a war,” she said.

While the book generated rave reviews from many sources, writing it was a challenging process that took five-and-a-half years.

“I’m proud of myself that I took so many risks,” she said. “I was making lots of cold calls to family members and friends and traveling to Germany and London.

I learned how hard writing a book is, particularly a nonfiction book.

I’m responsible for telling a true story and I have to get it right.”

Ms. Clark is currently working on another book that’s set in postWorld War II Germany. She would also like to revise a novel she wrote years ago.

“I wrote a novel five years ago that my agent said has potential, but it needs a heavy rewrite, so it’s just a matter of when I can focus and do that,” she said. “There’s nothing better than curling up with a great novel.”

the

5 Robotics team competes at regional championships wednesday, april 24, 2019

Evergreen

news

Raag Venkat Two Upper School robotics teams competed at the North Texas Regional Championships at Wylie East High School during the weekend of Feb. 23, with hopes of capturing one of the eight spots available to qualify for the World Championships in Houston later this spring.

The tournament featured 52 teams from around the North Texas area split evenly into two divisions – Ruby and Sapphire – from which the champions of each division would compete. The robotics program had two teams compete in the tournament: 9045 Motorheads in the Sapphire division and 9054 Viridian in the Ruby division.

While Team Motorheads lost in the Ruby semifinals and Team Viridian fell in the Sapphire preliminary rounds, both teams felt the tournament was important to them as it showed growth from previous years and was instrumental to future success.

Teams began the tournament by competing in five preliminary rounds. Based on their performance, they would either qualify for the elimination rounds or not.

The preliminary rounds included an ‘alliance partner’ from another school, making each game two-versus-two in terms of robots.

Team Motorheads won all five of their preliminary rounds, earning them the topseed ranking during the elimination rounds.

“In past years, we have never been able to carry ourselves in the preliminary rounds, but this year was the first time we were able to outperform two robots practically by ourselves,” said senior and team Motorheads captain Esmir Mesic. “It was a great

Photo courtesy of Maria Suarez

DEEP FOCUS: Robotics team members William Shi, Ethan Newman, and Ria Subramanian (right to left) prepare their robot at the competition where they experienced great success.

experience seeing us improve so much from past years and being the only undefeated team in our division during the preliminary rounds.”

Team Viridian did not advance to the elimination rounds since they lost all their Ruby Division preliminary rounds. This was due to design and testing flaws before the tournament as well as technical difficulties such as alliances not showing up and facing difficult opponents during the tournament, according to senior and team Viridian captain David Bell and sophomore Naren Ram. After qualifying for the elimination rounds, team Motorheads advanced to the semifinals and won 2-0 in a best-of-three-

rounds game.

“We used the semifinal round to test and prepare different strategies for the finals because we knew that was going to be the hardest match,” Esmir said.

Team Motorheads played team Technical Difficulties in the finals of their division. They ended up losing the game 2-1 and their opponent advanced to the grand finals to play the Ruby Division champion.

“It was an incredibly close and tense match and I’m very proud of our team, considering the team we lost to already qualified for [The World Championships in Houston] before we played them,” said junior and Motorheads captain Michelle Liang.

The key to team Motorheads’ success

at the tournament was its preparation, according to Upper School computer science and robotics teacher Maria Suarez.

“We usually finish things up for competitions the day before it starts, but I think one thing Motorheads did very well this year was that they were able to have their robot ready a few days before and this showed in their results,” she said.

Even though both teams did not achieve the results that they wanted to in the competition, they both saw improvement from previous years and predict a bright future for the robotics program.

“I personally feel we still did a lot better than last year in terms of success,” said Naren. “The robot this year may not have looked as good as last year, but I feel from a programming standpoint we had great ideas and automation that will only get better in the coming years.”

Esmir said it is sad to finish his highschool robotics career with a loss, but he has seen significant growth in robotics in recent years.

“This year, we heated things up in terms of organization, design, testing and preparation before competitions and that should continue,” he said.

Even though it will be hard to fill the shoes of graduating seniors, robotics will continue to grow and be successful because they are up to the task, according to Michelle.

“Robotics is not just a club because we meet every week and on the weekends… it begins to feel like family,” said Ms. Suarez.

“The teamwork I saw at the competition is one of the best experiences ever, and I hope robotics will keep growing.”

Greenhill implements 10-month payment plan Lane Herbert The addition of the new 10-month payment plan for the 2019-20 school year aims to aid Greenhill families as they face rising tuition next year.

Each year, the cost for attending Greenhill increases. In the past, Greenhill offered two different tuition payment methods for families: a one-time-a-year payment option and a two-times-a-year payment option. A monthly payment option was offered for certain financial aid applicants. Over the past year, Chief Operating and Financial Officer Kendra Grace and Director of Finance Brent Wheelis have been discussing ways to alleviate the financial stress for families.

“This new plan is an option, that’s what it is,” said Ms. Grace. “Now, instead of two payment options, there are three, so families can still choose to pay in full on June 1. They can still choose to pay 60

percent on June 1 and 40 percent on Dec. 1. Or they can choose to pay out over ten months, starting on June 1.”

The general operating costs for Greenhill increase every year. From maintenance to dining services, Greenhill’s expenses increase about four or five percent per year. Another financial priority is increasing teacher and faculty salaries.

The one-time and two-time payment plans also fell in December and June, months where families may need extra cash for holidays or vacations. According to Ms. Grace and Mr. Wheelis, the new tuition plan aims to add financial flexibility and impartiality for families in the Greenhill community.

“Really for us it was an equity issue,” said Ms. Grace. “We know that tuition is expensive, and we know that our families are making sacrifices to send their kids here. We really wanted to do it as a way to help those who can afford to pay the

tuition but who we know that it’s a struggle for them to come up with all that cash at once.”

Head of School Lee Hark helped strategize and look at the effects of the new tuition plan during its development stages, working with Ms. Grace and Mr. Wheelis in order to create a plan that fits Greenhill’s inclusive environment.

“It’s right at the heart of wanting to create a diverse and equitable school,” said Mr. Hark. “It’s who we are. It’s in our DNA. This speaks to that directly. I think it will enable families paying private school tuition to stay in the school.”

Every family’s cash flow is different and the number of one-income or twoincome families at Greenhill adds to the financial diversity of the community. The new payment plan is an option that helps equalize opportunities for families of different financial backgrounds.

“I think it is an endorsement of our

mission actually,” said Mr. Hark. “At our school, the number of two-income families has increased over the years. These are people working really hard to pay tuition.

We saw this as a way to help any family to alleviate the financial burden.”

Another key difference in payment options for the next school year is that everyone is eligible for the 10-month, spaced-out payment plan. Previously, Greenhill offered a similar 12-month plan for some financial aid recipients and faculty. Now, the 12-month plan has been eliminated and replaced by the new 10-month payment plan. By streamlining the payment methods, Greenhill aims to extend the options to all families in the Greenhill community.

“I think the goal has been achieved,” said Mr. Hark. “The goal was to provide another option for families for spacing tuition payments out over the year to make something that was helpful to them.”

Features the

Common

curriculum

Graphic by Sarah Luan

HEAD TO HEAD: For different teachers, a classroom education takes various forms. From lecture-based learning to project-based learning, each teacher has a unique opinion about how their classrooms should be run. However, by the turn of the 21st century, curricula at Greenhill and across the nation have shifted from content-heavy to skills and application.

Sonia Dhingra Caroline Greenstone During his State of the School address, Head of School Lee Hark outlined a major new initiative to align the curriculum across divisions.

“One of the magical parts of working in an independent school is the freedom that teachers are given to teach what and how they want," said Mr. Hark. "But over time, that freedom can become a centrifugal force and leads to a fragmented, unaligned curriculum. The results can feel haphazard.”

To most, curriculum as a concept may seem straightforward, such as a list of chapters in a textbook. But curriculum also includes a deep understanding of a subject, the most effective strategy for learning that subject and classroom management.

“The designs and goals of any curriculum reflect the educational philosophy—whether intentionally or unintentionally—of the educators who developed it," according to the Glossary of Education Reform, When thinking about curriculum, Director of Academics Jason Yaffe wants each teacher to know what skills students should obtain upon completing their course.

“Curriculum is largely like a road map of what an experience is going to be in a given class,” Mr. Yaffe said.

According to Mr. Yaffe, the most important facets of curriculum are not the content, but the overarching central questions, themes and skills.

“In an ideal world, we have essential questions that run throughout our pre-K-through-[12th grade] curriculum,” he said.

Since Greenhill is a private school, the Texas state standards can be used as resources but do not have to be followed. Therefore, teachers’ work can be informed by national and Texas standards, but they are not compelled to follow them, and they are not required to prepare students for standardized testing.

The ability to be responsive to student needs and having autonomy over what they teach is an attractive point for teachers at Greenhill. Still, Mr. Yaffe believes that presenting a unified, consistent front in what skills are most vital will benefit Greenhill students the most.

There are two different types of alignment: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal alignment means that students are learning the same content across all sections of one course.

Vertical alignment means that one grade level prepares a student for the next grade level and teachers in the next grade level can anticipate students have learned certain concepts.

Head of Middle School Susan Palmer said that since the Middle School has collaboration between teaching teams, it has some strong pockets of curricular alignment already.

“We work very hard horizontally within grade-level groups to make sure each class is a common experience,” said Ms. Palmer. “With vertical alignment, our departments

are working really hard on skill and content from grade to grade and doing a good job. There is always more to do to ensure that our program is cohesive and builds on itself.”

Middle School Math Department chair Celeste Sanders '00 also agrees that Middle School has done a good job aligning the curriculum.

“What I hear from Upper School students is that Middle School helps them to feel comfortable and confident as they move into Upper School,” Ms. Sanders said.

Ms. Sanders thinks that horizontal alignment is something the Middle School Math Department should continue to work on. To fix the issue, the department has three teachers specifically teaching fifth and sixth grade and three teachers specifically teaching seventh and eighth grade. “[The teachers] can then meet more frequently, our schedules are aligned a little better and it is easier to share materials,” Ms. Sanders said.

Upper School Science Department chair Treavor Kendall noted that during his time at Greenhill, the department has received complaints about the curriculum not being aligned.

“As part of the alignment initiative, we have been further building upon consistency across sections within a single class - especially in our core courses which are physics, chemistry and biology. These efforts include ensuring students taking the same subject but have different teachers are assessed in a similar, equitable way,” Dr. Kendall said.

Currently, Upper School science teachers of the same course meet once a rotation to check in. They decide together the pace and content of the activities they want to give. Dr. Kendall also thinks that the resequencing of the Upper School science curriculum (making physics a course for ninth grade, followed by chemistry during tenth grade and biology during eleventh grade) will help the teachers be on the same page. It has also caused the Upper School Science Department to collaborate more with Middle School to understand what the students will have learned by the time they reach ninth grade.

“We get to start with a blank slate, and it’s pretty exciting,” said Dr. Kendall. “We are creating a curriculum that uses modern techniques for teaching physics at a conceptual level, including elements of SEL [Social-Emotional Learning] such as self-awareness and teamwork. We also see this as a nice opportunity to work with Dr. Karen Bradberry [Director of Equity and Inclusion] to help increase the number of underrepresented students in our upper level science courses. I'm thrilled about how we are coming together and building the course as a team, as a community.”

Upper School English Department chair Joel Garza believes that each department should be deliberate about guiding all students in all sections of a single course through a common content and common skills.

“I think often about how certain coaches teach: certain sports have different skill sets than others, certain positions demand different skills sets than others in the same sport— accordingly, those coaches adjust,” Mr. Garza said.

Mr. Yaffe stresses that teachers will still have their

independence but plans to start training over the next year to facilitate curricular alignment. The plan will also encourage teachers to pursue professional development opportunities, as many teachers at Greenhill are skilled in their field of knowledge but have not taken courses on how to teach it.

Mr. Yaffe does see a tension between teachers’ independence and curricular alignment. While some teachers and students may agree with the movement to align curriculum, some on campus do not. Both students and teachers have expressed dissatisfaction with the effects of horizontally aligning curriculum.

Those who are not in favor of aligning the curriculum feel it takes away from the difficulty of the courses and the ability for students to be challenged to reach their potential.

“I don’t believe that one size fits all,” said Middle School math teacher Grant Mindle. “If students could learn more, I teach them more, and if they want to go slower, I want to go slower.”

For Dr. Mindle, the change to fully aligning curriculum takes away the ability for students to reach their full potential.

However, Dr. Mindle is not the only one that sees this result as an effect of the change as students recognize it as well.

“Personally, I would like less aligned curriculums,” said eighth grader Nikitha Thoduguli. “I want the freedom to choose exactly what we learn, just because this has an effect on how we learn it and how willing we are to learn.”

While aligning curriculum is thought to have benefits, the new ways would not be all positive for the students or the teachers since it could also allow teachers to ask less of themselves and of their students.

“The less you ask of your students, the less you ask of yourself as well,” Dr. Mindle said.

Both Nikitha and Dr. Mindle agree that aligning the curriculum doesn't reflect the differences in class personality and does not allow the strongest students to be challenged.

“Standardization can get in the way of creativity and can compromise the pursuit of excellence,” Dr. Mindle said.

As part of aligning the curriculum, Mr. Yaffe wants to ensure that Greenhill’s values of equity and inclusion are appreciated and practiced in every single class. He is looking for culturally-responsive pedagogy.

“We have not necessarily given teachers the tools to put this in place, but part of the training will be how do you infuse equity and inclusion into your course and into your teaching?” said Mr. Yaffe.

Mr. Yaffe also emphasizes that aligning the curriculum is not a one-time act. He hopes Greenhill will build a system where learning measures will be taken as needed. In the 21st century, curriculum is moving from being more contentheavy to being more about skills and application.

He hopes to ensure that the curriculum at Greenhill is not a list of boxes to check off but an agent of change.

"How to make [curriculum] living and meaningful is not thinking of curricular alignment as a one and done process, but instead entering into it by first talking about how to design a class," said Mr Yaffe.

wednesday, april 24, 2019

the

Evergreen

Montage takes gold

features

7

Greenhill’s Montage receives highest award possible at Columbia Scholastic Press Association Conference Caroline Greenstone The Greenhill literary magazine, Montage, won top honors at the recent Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) annual conference in New York City.

Montage is one of hundreds of high school literary magazines in the United States, only 31 of which get nominated for an award from CSPA; only nine receive a Gold Crown.

In previous years, Montage was nominated to receive an award at the CSPA’s Spring Conference. This year’s Gold Crown recognizes the 2017-2018 edition of Montage.

Montage displays work that is created exclusively by Greenhill students every year.

Senior Sam Bovard, Montage’s editor-inchief for the past two years, attended his first CSPA Conference this year. Sam has been a part of Montage staff since his freshman year.

“It was really cool to see all of the ways that other high-school literary magazines work,” said Sam. “I was able to go to different sessions and talk to people in literary magazines and just seeing the way that they do things really gave me ideas for how to change Montage this year and expand it in the future.”

This was the first Gold Crown that Montage has won in seven years, but the third straight year that they have been nominated for an award from CSPA. “We felt that the publication was deserving of the Gold Crown,” said Montage adviser Lesley Rucker. “We have received Silver Crowns in the past couple of years, which is a huge honor. But for this, we were really excited.”

This year, 1,181 school newspapers, yearbooks and magazines were eligible for a Crown selection and many were showcased at the convention, according to CSPA’s website.

“What is unique about [CSPA] is the sheer amount of publications that are out there,” said

Ms. Rucker. “To even get into the running for something is an incredible achievement.”

CSPA’s Spring Conference offers both educational sessions and an awards ceremony.

They offer courses for literary magazines, yearbooks, school papers, digital media and more. Students have the opportunity to determine what courses that they want to attend each day. On the third day is the awards ceremony. While schools know that they have been nominated in advance, they only find out about whether they’ve won awards the day of the ceremony.

At the awards ceremony, the critics noticed the creativity in Montage. The ceremony featured a slide for each Crown winner.

“A magenta octopus! Well that commands some attention certainly,” wrote the slide that announced Montage’s success at CSPA’s award ceremony. “Thankfully, the cover art is no ruse. Montage is a magazine of the highest quality that is at once, both approachable and extraordinary.”

Ms. Rucker says that Montage is already a distinct magazine.

“With our mission of expressing individuality and with students really searching deep artistically, I think that this makes for a very unique publication,” she said.

Within Greenhill, Montage showcases different types of student creative work including poetry, prose, photography, two-dimensional art, three-dimensional art and more. The staff members spend the year organizing the submitted artwork and writings through the Montage club, and even more students join in to help in the third trimester Montage elective.

“We put a lot of time, effort and creative energy into the magazine and it is a really great feeling for that work to be rewarded,” said Contributing Editor Caroline Sasso.

Every student in Upper School has the

Photo Courtesy of Sam Bovard

TAKE HOME THE WIN: Montage Editor-in-Chief Sam Bovard celebrates the Gold Crown awarded to Greenhill’s literary magazine at a recent conference in New York City.

opportunity to submit their artwork to Montage.

For many students, the arts at Greenhill can sometimes seem exclusive. Montage provides a way for more student talent to be highlighted.

“If you can’t take arts classes, or if you can’t take a poetry and writing class then there is no way for you to express that to the school,” said Sam. “[Montage] is the best way to really allow students to express, showcase and celebrate the student body’s creativity.”

Montage staff last year was only composed of five people, so the students had to work more efficiently, said last year’s Production and Editorial Contributor Anais Zhang.

“We had to work hard to compile this book

that most other literacy arts’ magazines have a dozen or more people on staff to help,” she said.

For many staff members, Montage is an important outlet for student creativity.

“Of course, being a Greenhill student is incredibly stressful, and there is a million things that I need to do; but, I know that I always have an hour of my day [in Montage] where I can be in, what is, a safe space to me,” said Caroline.

Although Montage has tasted success, they are excited to continue showcasing Greenhill’s artists and writers.

“This is an acknowledgement that is well-deserved. But this is also inspiration and motivation to push farther,” said Ms. Rucker.

Evergreen Once a Hornet, always a Hornet the

8 features

wednesday, april 24, 2019

Greenhill maintains relationships with alumni across the country Sonali Notani When Shannon McSpadden ’94 had her first child, Samantha, she received a friendly surprise in her mailbox: a bib with the words “I love Hornets” written across it.

Head of School Lee Hark, Director of Alumni Relations Katie Young and the Alumni Board work together to keep in contact with Greenhill alumni. This communication has allowed alumni to maintain strong bonds with the school for years after they graduate.

The Greenhill Alumni Board consists of former students who have represented the school for the past 65 years. The mission of the Alumni Board and Association is to “foster connections and further the mission of Greenhill School through the enrichment of its alumni, support of the school and service to the community.”

Over the decades, the type of communication between alumni and Greenhill has changed. Social media is now one of the primary ways Greenhill keeps in touch with former students and alumni keep in touch with each other. There are regional Facebook groups for alumni based on where they live and a LinkedIn alumni group for professional networking. If an alumnus is looking to lease their apartment or find a summer job, they can post something specifically in that regional group to find alumni that are open and willing to help.

“LinkedIn has become a really strong way for alumni to contact [each other] when looking for career insights or job opportunities,” said Ms. Young. “We’ve had

alumni that have offered to review people’s resumés, host seniors for senior projects and meet with seniors who are exploring certain universities when they visit.”

Brandon Aptilon ’18 is now attending Fordham University in New York. He attended a Greenhill alumni networking event where, to his surprise, many alumni gave him their phone numbers and offered him intern positions in their companies.

“I was so surprised that these people were willing to help me solely based on the fact that they attended the same school as me,” said Mr. Aptilon. “It was a great experience, and I realized that Greenhill’s community extends far beyond the bounds of the school.”

Besides social media, Greenhill maintains relationships with alumni through face-to-face meetings with schoolorganized alumni gatherings every year on the West Coast and New York. Next year, Greenhill plans to do a lot more in major cities across the country. At these reunions, current faculty ambassadors share updates about programs and changes that have been implemented on campus.

“We are quadrupling our efforts to get out on the road and be face-to-face with alumni,” said Mr. Hark. “My goal is for us to reconnect and hear their stories. [I want to] talk to them about what they loved about Greenhill -- the people they loved and the experiences they loved.”

Furthermore, Greenhill has hosted local meetups for alumni to get to know Mr. Hark.

He reached out to them over the summer after his arrival and encouraged them to provide feedback about their experiences

at Greenhill. He has met with alumni for coffee, lunch and tennis.

“I think as a graduate of an independent school like Greenhill, Mr. Hark understands the value of the alumni relationship and the connections it provides for our graduates,” Ms. Young said.

Mr. Hark has also met up with alumni in other cities while he has been traveling.

In January, he and Assistant Head of School Tom Perryman took a group of students from University of Pennsylvania to dinner in Philadelphia during a faculty recruiting trip.

“I have been really missing the community Greenhill has to offer now that I am at the University of Pennsylvania, but having Mr. Perryman and Mr. Hark come visit us and take us out to dinner really helped me feel connected again,” said Ali Khambati ’18.

While Ms. Young and the Alumni Board reach out to alumni and encourage them to stay connected, alumni unexpectedly show up to campus all the time. Ms. Young will stop what she is doing to take a tour of campus with them.

“It’s such a wonderful feeling when I tour an alumnus because everywhere we walk on campus, they will run into someone they recognize whether it be a former teacher, coach or cousin,” said Ms. Young.

“They will walk through the senior and junior pods and see names of their friends on the walls or go to the debate room and see their name on the wall. This makes them feel valued and know their time at Greenhill was not forgotten.”

Ms. Young admits that the hardest part of her job is communicating to a class

whenever a classmate has passed away. This year, some alumni reunited for a memorial service they organized for the classmates that they have lost over the years.

“I don’t think it’s a thing that many schools do, but the relationships that are built here are very tight and connected, so I feel like it’s our responsibility to let the classmates know when a classmate has passed away,” said Ms. Young.

Each year, Greenhill hosts alumni athletic events in basketball, volleyball and soccer. Alumni return to campus and play against the current varsity team or against each other. Sometimes, former coaches return to the Hill to coach the teams as well.

Events such as Homecoming dinner, the Hornet Hustle and senior breakfast at Homecoming are all run by the Alumni Board.

“Greenhill creates an amazing community that has taught me the importance of building good relationships,” said Alumni Board member Shannon McSpadden. “I feel that the Alumni Board helps keep this community alive through generations with its events and communication.”

Greenhill sends care packages to the most recently graduated class of alumni at their respective universities every year. It is not just big events that keep alumni engaged, but the small interactions that keep the memory of Greenhill close.

“I will always feel connected to Greenhill no matter how long ago I was there,” said Mr. Aptilon. “I can’t wait to come back and visit.”

Girl "meats" cafeteria

Fourth grader challenges classmates to go meatless on Mondays Mila Nguyen Fourth grader Annabel Brown has taken on the task of leading Lower Schoolers to participate in “Meatless Mondays.”

The positives of avoiding meat one day a week include helping the environment and reducing the rate at which cows, pigs and other animals are factory farmed. Cutting out meat once a week also has health benefits including increased life expectancy.

After Annabel’s mom and her coworkers researched the benefits of “Meatless Mondays” and came up with the idea to implement the new challenge at their workplace, Annabel decided to investigate and bring the idea to the Greenhill community.

“I really like helping the environment and doing things to help other people, because it makes me feel really good,” said Annabel. “My mom really helps and encourages me.”

To implement the idea, Annabel first started out by talking with Head of Lower School Michael Simpson. Because the lunch menus are planned in advance, it would have been too difficult to eliminate meat from the cafeteria entirely. Instead, Annabel decided to make it a challenge for students to not eat meat. This gives students the option to choose. Annabel is in charge of reading out the lunch menu with the vegetarian options and a “Meatless Monday” fact during the Lower School’s weekly Friday assemblies.

“Meatless Mondays” is not the only idea that Annabel has brought to life here on the Greenhill campus. In second grade, after a random brainstorm in art class, she came up with another challenge to get students to try new foods they had never tried before.

“The new foods challenge definitely had a lot more work than ‘Meatless Mondays,’” said Annabel. “It was fun, because it was the first major idea I had come up with and

it was cool to experience all of that and to figure out how to make it more fun.”

She put a box in the cafeteria where students could write down their new favorite healthy foods. This encouraged the students to experiment and spread awareness of her project. Annabel would then count up the slips and tell the cafeteria staff which foods were the most popular at the end of each month.

“My mom helped to put healthier foods at McDonald's and that inspired me to try and help other people eat better and have a better diet,” Annabel said.

Annabel commented that the hardest part of carrying out her ideas is getting people involved. Her ideas are meant to be challenges and people get to decide if they want to participate.

“I really try to remind people on Mondays, because it really does have a big impact,” Annabel said.

Annabel’s homeroom teacher Melissa McNally ’07 has been one of the many people helping Annabel execute this project.

According to Ms. McNally, Annabel is a gogetter and when she has an idea, she knows how to make it happen.

“I love teaching Annabel because she loves to read and she loves to write and is very creative,” said Ms. McNally. “I love reading her stories and love helping her get her ideas onto paper.”

Annabel is equally proud of both of her projects that she has worked hard to implement. She has more ideas that she is working on to try and help improve the community around her. She aspires to someday be the president of the United States.

“I think her ideas are great for the environment and for students, and I’m glad that there is an option for meatless Mondays,” said fourth grader Oliver Morales.

Special Report the

The most stressful time of the year

Students and faculty discuss the relevance of Upper School exams

Graphic by Sarah Luan

Leah Nutkis A student walks into a classroom to take their math exam, reciting formula after formula under their breath until the moment the test is distributed. Just a few hours later, they walk out of the same room, the formulas in their mind just a distant memory, and two trimesters of hard work merely forgotten after the exam was handed in.

Exams are defined as being “a formal test of a person’s knowledge or proficiency in a particular subject or skill;” however, do these exams really check a person’s knowledge, or do they simply check a student’s ability to memorize material? Are students really retaining this information?

“If it’s a lot of multiple choice or something, especially if there’s a lot of material covered, I tend to forget it after I take the exam,” said sophomore Georgia Sasso. “It’s a lot to cram into a two-hour exam.”

Greenhill has three exam “periods” throughout the school year: exams following the end of second trimester, exams following the end of third trimester and Advanced Placement (AP) exams. AP exams are taken nationwide; however, the others only apply to courses offered at Greenhill.

There is a total of eight school days dedicated solely to exams, along with another two days designated to exam prep.

Many teachers choose to hold additional exam prep days, and both teachers and students must spend weeks preparing for the exams outside of class.

“I see [Upper School exams] splintering

the academic year,” said Head of School Lee Hark. “I feel like, and have always felt like, that you lose a number of days of instruction when preparing for exams. We basically shut down for two weeks, and not a lot of new learning takes place.”

A survey of 171 Upper School students found that each had an average of three-tofour exams at the end of second trimester.

Each of those exams require their own study time. Not only do students have to study for these major exams, but they’re also required to continue their regular course work as well as keep up with athletic credits and extracurricular activities.

“Having the musical the week before exams was rough,” said Georgia. “Especially because some teachers don’t grasp how much we study for [exams] and how much we need to study. The musical made things hard; I was so busy. I was at school until nine.”

Following the second trimester exam week in late February, there was a week before students headed off for a break. At the end of this week, grades were due for all Upper School students.

“

An exam is sort of a snapshot of potentially a piece of real-life lessons.

Not to say that an exam is an easy answer, but it’s an opportunity for measurement"

“The week teachers have to grade exams, things just shut down,” said Mr. Hark.

“We probably take close to three weeks [for

exams] because teachers have these major assessments that have to get graded, so that’s often all that’s on their mind. I’m sympathetic to the teachers – it’s an enormous amount of work.”

However, for many teachers, exams are essential for making sure a student has the knowledge necessary to continue onto the next “level” of a course. For some classes, exams can be replaced by other types of assessments.

“As you move up through the Upper School, fewer and fewer of your classes will have sit-down exams,” said Mr. Hark.

“More of them will have papers, projects and different kinds of cumulative experiences.”

Even though these projects and papers aren’t hours-long scheduled exams, these big assignments are typically due during the week, usually on the same day as when the class’s exam would have been. An example of this was the final paper for Atlantic Experience 9, the grade-wide, mandatory history class for freshmen last year. While the freshman history class does not have a sit-down exam at the end of the third trimester, they have to submit a multi-paged, analytical paper at the end of the year, which is due on the “history” exam day.

Out of the students surveyed, 76 percent agreed or strongly agreed that they’d rather have their final papers and projects due prior to exam week. Having these large assessments before an exam week lightens the load of stress, as students only have to focus on their sit-down exams during that assessment week.

“Have we asked why we have to have an exam week?” said Mr. Hark. “Could exams

be spaced out over a month on a course-bycourse basis? That way you’re just preparing for one major experience at a time. We need to be more creative, at the very least.”

The design of an ideal “exam” or “exam week” brings up a larger question: What is the purpose of an exam?

“For me, there are several different purposes,” said Upper School English teacher Andrew Mercurio. “I like the idea of some kind of comprehensive assessment looking at two or three trimesters in a way where you’re pulling together threads that you’ve been working on, but also in a way that’s really individual. It allows [students] to see these themes that we’ve been wrestling with for two or three trimesters that I don’t think they would have [seen] otherwise. A lot of it is about synthesis.”

However, to students, exams do not solidify the knowledge learned throughout the year and many forget that information in the aftermath of an exam. Seventy-seven percent of the surveyed students agreed or strongly agreed that they forget most of the information that they studied right after they finish an exam.

By their definition, exams act as a look into the true experience of a subject, even though the exam itself may not be a true “test” of that skill.

“If you take a language exam, the real test isn’t if you can do well on that particular exam,” said Upper School Learning Specialist Grace Kiang. “An exam is sort of a snapshot of potentially a piece of real-life lessons.

Not to say that an exam is an easy answer, but it’s an opportunity for measurement… a standardized measurement.”

Arts Advanced Video Production students’ films the

showcased at South by Southwest Film Festival

Photos taken from “Yellow Fever” and “Forbidden Fruit”

SOUTH BY SUCCESS: Greenhill junior Michelle Liang’s film “Yellow Fever,” a short film about a fight over paying for the bill at dinner (left) and senior Sophia Rigg’s film “Forbidden Fruit,” a short about a witch and her dog (right) are the two films from Advanced Video Production that were accepted to the High School Shorts Reel at South by Southwest.

Riya Rangdal Junior Michelle Liang and senior Sophia Rigg of the Advanced Video Production class (AVP) recently had their films screened in the High School Shorts Competition of the South

by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin.

The High School Shorts Competition is an event for Texas high school students where about 15 films are showcased. South by Southwest is an annual festival that combines film, interactive media, music, technology, political figures and other pop culture influences in an annual event.

Forty-seven films have been accepted into SXSW from Greenhill in the past 11 years.

“South by Southwest is a big deal for people in AVP,” said Michelle. “I think this is because it is the only one of the ‘big three’ film festivals which accepts high school films into their festival, and because of AVP’s legacy of getting into festivals like SXSW over the years.”

In the class, students are urged to create a film in time to submit to SXSW. Michelle believes that SXSW is a big learning opportunity for the students if they are accepted, and it’s a nice way to see their work pay off with screenings for several audiences.

For Michelle, her film “Yellow Fever” was

inspired by watching her own parents and family friends interact at dinner. “Yellow Fever” is a short film about a group of five friends who are fighting over the bill at dinner.

“I envisioned the film to be all in Chinese because that is what I had experienced growing up,” said Michelle. “So, it gives the film an Asian feel that is based completely on my experience of witnessing fights over the bill. My family and family friends when arguing would give completely whack excuses as to why they should pay for the bill, saying things like, ‘I’m younger’ or, ‘I have more money’ just to pay the bill. It’s a big show of respect in a lot of different cultures.”

Sophia’s film “Forbidden Fruit” is about a witch and her dog who, while roaming around an unusual and vaguely sinister landscape, come across a strange presence that has dire consequences for both of them. It’s a very experimental film due to its 3D medium.

Sophia was motivated by memories of watching “Coraline” when she was younger and her general love for horror movies.

“I drew a lot of inspiration from the supposed children’s movie ‘Coraline’ and just the fact that I like horror movies,” said Sophia. “It seemed weird to me that 3D and animation films were always made for children and not adults, so I wanted to branch out and create an animation

that had a little bit of horror and other elements that generally wouldn’t be found in one.”

The medium Sophia utilizes in her film, 3D animation, is a relatively uncommon medium for Greenhill AVP students.

“The majority of students in the past couple of years have drifted towards using live casting for their films, but I think that it [3D animation] worked really well for Sophia’s film,” Michelle said.

Instead of having to deal with real people in live action, Sophia prefers to stick to mediums that allow her to completely control her film.

“I personally think that it is much easier to deal with 3D and 2D animation mediums rather than using actors because it is easier to not have to deal with other people,” said Sophia.

“I also think that by using animation, I was able to satisfy my god-complex because I was able to control and manipulate the film exactly how I wanted to. I guess my only regret, however, would be the large amount of time I had to spend making every little movement in the animation.”

The specific software that Sophia used to create her film, Blender, allowed her to lay out motions in a certain amount of time, then edit the motion’s pathway. This format is different compared to 2D films where the film is created frame by frame.

In the festival itself, high school filmmakers are treated the same as their professional and independent counterparts. The festival gives high school filmmakers an equal opportunity to communicate with various filmmakers and learn from others.

“There are a lot of professional filmmakers and indie filmmakers, but the cool thing about SXSW is that they try to make an emphasis on high school filmmakers and indie filmmakers,” said Michelle. “As a filmmaker, you are given a film badge which grants you access to the filmmaker lounge where you are able to talk to other notable people in the profession and make connections.”

Whereas Michelle was able to attend SXSW, Sophia was unable to go to the festival due to a previous commitment that overlapped with SXSW. “I wasn’t really expecting to get into SXSW, so I had signed up for the Taiwanese exchange trip, but once I found out I got in, I was pretty shocked at first,” Sophia said.

The impact that these films have had on Michelle and Sophia has been quite memorable and special for both of them.

“SXSW was an amazing experience, and I’m really grateful that my film was accepted,” said Michelle. “I’ll definitely remember it.”

A one-day play Lola Frenkel When Upper School Drama and Theatre teacher Valerie Hauss-Smith and performing arts building manager Michael Orman had the idea to institute a 24-hour festival at Greenhill, they immediately ran with it.

They decided to create the “24-Hour Play Challenge” to give students a chance to work independently with their classmates in a challenge that consists of putting together a 10-minute show in 24 hours. Teens from high schools in Dallas are invited to get a group of four students together and participate in the challenge.

There will be a maximum of six teams who can come to campus to collaborate with Greenhill.

The festival will begin on May 10 at 10 p.m., right after the spring musical.

Groups will perform their plays starting at 7 p.m. on May 11.

The teams will be given a prompt on which to base their play. Using the prompt, they will write, direct and perform their play after a day.

“The prompt could be anything,” said Ms. Hauss-Smith. “It could be a word, could be a poem, a picture. When they

Graphic by Raag Venkat and Riya Rangdal

come in at seven the next morning, they will give us their scripts, and we will give them homerooms around campus. They will work on their scripts, rehearse their plays, and set up their technical needs.”

After all the plays have been presented, a team of judges will assess the groups and decide on the winners of multiple categories.

“That evening they will perform their plays in front of a jury who will then award some winners,” said Ms. Hauss-Smith.

“There’s going to be a winner in best play, one in acting and one in directing.”

The whole event will be put on by Greenhill’s Theater Company, which includes seniors Sam Bovard and Sophia Brisbon, juniors Timothy Owens, Michael Rayburn and Caroline Sasso, sophomore Georgia Sasso and freshman Kayla Rutner.

“We wanted to give our Theater Company students the opportunity to come up with the idea of exactly how the concept was going to work,” said Ms. Hauss-Smith.

“They will be running the whole event, checking people in, showing them where to go, helping with the tech.”

Caroline is excited to be behind the scenes of the festival.

“We’re basically organizing the whole thing: the promotion of the event, the organization of the event, scheduling, props for the plays, watching over the groups while they’re here and making sure the whole thing is functional and can get up on its feet and run,” Caroline said.

Caroline believes that the competition is a great educational and creative opportunity for students to take.

“It’s just a good way to get students who are interested in theater involved in elements of theater beyond just acting,” said Caroline. “Producing, writing, tech, directing, etc. Learning within the realm of theater, how to work as a team as opposed to just being the star or the leading role.”

Ms. Hauss-Smith hopes and believes that the competition will be able to gain more participants and attention in the future.

“I would highly encourage students from Greenhill to participate,” said Ms. Hauss-Smith. “Anybody from Greenhill is more than welcome to participate. It will only be five dollars to come see all the shows.”

Evergreen arts 11 Students take on All-State Band Convention

wednesday, april 24, 2019

Emma Light Victor Le When a student makes the decision to start playing an instrument, it’s usually because they enjoy making music and want to get better at it as they get older. But it doesn’t hurt to receive some recognition along the way. In the world of high school bands, the highest distinction in the state of Texas is to be accepted into the Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB) All-State band. This year, the Greenhill band had the honor of sending three musicians to perform in the ATSSB’s concert and symphonic bands.

Sophomore Anagha Gouru and seniors Pulkit Gupta and Scott Wang all earned their way to the ATSSB AllState Band Convention held in San Antonio in February.

Anagha and Pulkit both play the French horn, and Scott plays the flute.

ATSSB is an organization with the goal of promoting band in schools with a high school student population of fewer than 1000. It was formed with the purpose of providing representation for school bands that were previously overshadowed by their larger counterparts.

The students practiced hard to perform well enough at auditions to make All-State, according to Upper and Middle School band teacher Brian Donnell.

“Each student was practicing an hour or more a day, months and months before the auditions,” said Mr. Donnell. “It is a very selective process and they worked a tremendous amount to play at that level.”

To earn the right to join the All-State band, a student must first participate in a regional audition. The best musicians in the audition make the All-Region band. Students in the All-Region band can then undergo a further audition to represent the All-Area band if they are again selected. If the chair they are placed in for the All-Area audition is high enough, they qualify to be a part of the All-State band.

Auditions and positions in the band are apportioned by instrument, with each instrument getting a certain number of spots. Students play a prepared piece for a panel

the

of judges sitting behind a black screen to keep the audition process anonymous.

Anagha, Scott and Pulkit all made it through the series of auditions that started last December. During regional auditions, Pulkit and Anagha placed third and fourth respectively. During the auditions for All-Area, Pulkit and Anagha were awarded first and second place out of 16 competitors. Scott placed second for the flute, meaning all three placed high enough in their auditions to clinch their positions in the All-State band.

“I am so thankful that Greenhill gives me the opportunity to go to conventions like this and compete with other smaller schools, especially because many large schools attend All-State.”

Scott worked even harder this year than he did his junior year to become a better musician and make it to AllState after finding out he didn’t make the cut last year.

“My junior year, after I found out I did not make it, I went home to my private lesson teacher and asked to start rehearsing for next year,” Scott said.

For the actual ATSSB All-State band convention, students traveled down to San Antonio with Mr. Donnell.

Once there, they rehearsed with students from all over Texas that had also qualified. The students auditioned for chair placement within the All-State band and performed a concert at the convention center in front of an audience of 2,300 people. Pulkit was the first chair for the French horn, Anagha was seventh chair for the French horn and Scott was ninth chair for the flute.

“I really liked the convention center, it was my favorite part of All- State,” said Anagha. “There were people from all over Texas there and I got to try some of the best [French] horns in the country. One cost ten thousand dollars!”

When the students had free time, they could explore the convention, trying out top of the line flutes and French horns and meeting composers and other musicians.

“All-State was an experience I could never forget,” said Scott. “I got to try out all different flutes, some of which I had never tried before. Overall it was a lot fun and a lot of music playing.”

Photo courtesy of Brian Donnell

BANDING TOGETHER: Senior Pulkit Gupta, sophomore Anagha Gouru and senior Scott Wang with band director Brian Donnell (top, left to right) at the Association of Texas Small School Bands All-State Band Convention. “It is a very selective process and they worked a tremendous amount to play at that level,” Mr. Donnell said.

From actor to playwright

Junior steps up to directing role in spring show Sarah Luan

Written by junior Caroline Sasso, this year’s spring show, “Spaceships and Stardust,” takes place in a sci-fi, 80s themed video game while incorporating a playful twist on Star Trek. The show will premier on campus on May 3 and 4.

In this “defeat the bad guy” spacethemed video game, Captain Stardust and her crew try to save Princess Aurora B. Realis, who is being held hostage in a castle by the evil villain Elektra. However, halfway through, the video game console shorts out, and they’re all stuck in the middle of the game. Together, they must work their way out.

“We’ve never done a play at Greenhill that’s set in a video game, so the stage adaptation should be very interesting,” said senior Scottie Pearson-Thompson, who plays the role of Princess Aurora B. Realis.

“I’ve never really seen a video game do a stage adaptation, so the technical aspect is going to be different than anything we’ve ever done.”

Caroline originally wrote the play as an assignment for Theater Company, a yearlong elective that allows students to write and produce their own shows. For this particular assignment, the class was given a picture of a nebula in space and was told to come up with a 15-minute play about it. That image, along with Caroline’s love for sci-fi, sparked the idea that is now “Spaceships and Stardust.”

When Upper School Drama and Theater teacher Valerie Hauss-Smith read Caroline’s work, she thought it could be something more.

“We read it and thought: ‘There is no way this could take place in 10 minutes,’” said Ms. Hauss-Smith. “’We must do something way longer with this piece.’”

After Ms. Hauss-Smith talked to Car-

Photo by Alyssa Miller

A STUDENT PRODUCTION: Junior Caroline Sasso (center) wrote this year’s spring show, “Spaceships and Stardust,” a video game-themed play set to debut on campus on May 3.

oline, they agreed to adjust her play to be an hour long so that they would be able to use it in the spring show. She was able to finish the new version in just five days.

“I knew I had to get this play done and that it had to be an hour long. You just have to have the goal in mind and be motivated to work towards it,” she said.

Ms. Hauss-Smith helped cast the seven actors of the show and also directs the play, while Caroline gets to attend the rehearsals after school. As they work through scenes, Caroline occasionally makes changes to the script.

“We’re [constantly] evolving,” said Ms. Hauss-Smith. “We go back and forth, and she’s in the room with us during rehearsals. She gives her input and she changes and adapts the script as we go. So it’s really working in conjunction with a playwright in residence.”

The seven actors of the show include seniors Sophia Brisbon, Scottie PearsonThompson and William Shi; juniors Bruno Pasquinelli and Michael Rayburn; sophomore Ava Markhovsky and freshman William McDonald. Caroline enjoys seeing these actors bringing her play to life.

“All of the people in the show are my friends, and they have been for a long time now,” said Caroline. “Seeing them take the characters that I had written and bring them to life in ways that I didn’t expect and making my jokes funny was really amazing.”

Scottie thinks having such a small cast has also been a great experience for her, because she is normally used to being in larger productions.

“I’ve never really worked in a smaller environment in terms of theater,” said

Scottie. “This is a really small environment, so I’m getting to know all the people around me.”

Along with “Spaceships and Stardust” being a comedy with quirky characters, the show also involves a romance between two women and a romance between two men. Caroline believes this aspect of her play is important to the LGBTQ community.

“I think it’s important for people to see media, plays and theater where two characters that are in love that are both women isn’t an issue, and it’s completely normal,” said Caroline. “It isn’t a plot point because it normalizes LGBTQ relationships for people.”

Writing has been a passion of Caroline’s for a long time, but she thinks writing plays is very different than other forms of creative expression.

“Writing plays is amazing and it’s unique as a form of writing and art,” said Caroline. “You get to see first hand the ways that the characters in your story impact other people and what those characters mean to them.”

Ms. Hauss-Smith agrees with Caroline, adding that playwrights must be able to execute their creativity and be collaborative with the cast, tech crew and the production as a whole.

“There’s your voice in what you’re creating, and then there are the actors and the production and what’s going to come out of that process,” said Ms. Hauss-Smith.

“There’s back and forth and give and take in trying to figure out what the best way to tell the story is. It’s just a giant group project.”

For Caroline, its been a rewarding change of roles.

“I love to act, so it’s been fun being on the other side, not being an actor but being a part of the production,” Caroline said.

Sports the

A new era for Greenhill athletics

Ex-football player and coach Jarrett Shine to take over as Head of Athletics & Physical Education Hayden Jacobs Jothi Gupta

Ex-college football star Jarrett Shine is coming to tackle Greenhill athletics.

Mr. Shine was appointed as Greenhill’s new Head of Athletics & Physical Education on Mar. 7 and will begin his duties this fall. He will join Greenhill after 10 years at The Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he served as the head football coach and the Director of Alumni Relations.

His decade of work at Brunswick was just a part of a lifetime spent at the Connecticut private school. Over the course of his high school career there, he played four sports: football, basketball, baseball and lacrosse. He graduated from the school in 1992 before going to play college football at Lafayette College, where he was a captain of the team his senior season.

After college, he moved to Dallas with the goal of earning a spot on a National Football League (NFL) roster.

“Dallas has changed quite a bit since I’ve been there,” Mr. Shine said.

Although Mr. Shine’s NFL dream didn’t take flight, he found a new passion in education and entrepreneurship.

“I started coaching and teaching and just sort of fell in love with coaching,” said Mr. Shine. “It was just something I was really passionate about. I love the relationships I formed with a lot of student-athletes who I had the opportunity to coach and who still call me coach.”

Mr. Shine is excited to work towards creating and maintaining a winning culture within Greenhill’s sports.

This mentality contributed to him being selected to replace the departing Chad Wabrek.

“What he was talking about not only fit with who we were, but we could tell that he was someone who could move us forward,” said Head of School Lee Hark.

In Greenhill’s search for a new Head of Athletics & Physical Education, the search committee consulted Upper School students as part of the selection process, allowing them to interview prospective candidates. In

Photos courtesy of Jarrett Shine

A NEW CHAPTER: Recently appointed Head of Athletics & Physical Education Jarrett Shine at Brunswick School where he was head football coach. He said he is willing to use students’ feedback to improve the athletics program at Greenhill.

February, a group of freshmen, sophomores and juniors interviewed Mr. Shine over lunch in the cafeteria.

“When we were talking to him, he was taking notes, really trying to remember,” said freshman Johrdyn Tarpeh. “So, it seemed that our student view was important to him.”

During the meeting, Mr. Shine asked the students questions to hear their thoughts and ideas for improving the athletics program.

“We were talking about how the coaches need to train the athletes differently, because they often have different goals as some [students] are trying to go the college [athletics route while] others just want a sports credit,” Johrdyn said.

Mr. Shine was open to many of the students’ ideas and said he will look at all of the problems they want to resolve when he starts his tenure in the fall.

“I’m a winner; I love winning,” said Mr. Shine. “With that said, I want to do it the right way. I’ve had the chance to talk to some of the student-athletes, and they want to have more fans at some of the games. I want to make sure that they are getting supported by the fans.”

Spring Sports Schedules Baseball:

Boys Lacrosse:

4/26 @ Cistercian Preparatory School

4/26-4/27 SPC Championships

4/29 @ Parish Episcopal School

Boys Tennis:

5/2-5/4 SPC Championships Softball:

4/25 vs. Cistercian Preparatory School

4/25 vs. THESA

5/2-5/4 SPC Championships

5/2-5/4 SPC Championships

Girls Tennis:

Girls Lacrosse: 2/27 vs. The Hockaday School 4/24-4/28 District Playoffs 5/2-5/4 SPC Championships

3/4 vs. The Hockaday School Boys and Girls Track & Field: 5/2-5/4 SPC Championships

Mr. Shine has expressed enthusiasm in joining the Greenhill community and addressing suggestions to improve the school’s athletics.

“I have a vision in mind, and once I step foot on Greenhill soil, I’ll have a good chance to understand what the school is all about and put my own personal touches on it,” he said.

When discussing the Athletics Department’s connection to Greenhill’s mission, Mr. Hark emphasized his main goals for the program.

“One of the most important things is to leverage the opportunities you have in athletics to expand character and leadership development, especially with our team captains,” Mr. Hark said.

After experiencing college athletics, entrepreneurship, marketing and now education, Mr. Shine has engaged with nearly every aspect of sports. However, he feels that sports education is where he belongs.

Mr. Hark is confident in his potential as well, commenting that “he’ll pick up the ball and run with it.”

the

Evergreen

wednesday, april 24, 2019

sports

The search for sports stars

13

How the Admission Office chooses future student athletes

Davis Gutow Whether athletic recruitment is being done at a high school, collegiate or professional level, the process has increased in popularity and intensified over the last decade. As the level of competition increases, the recruitment process does, too.

Greenhill follows a certain set of guidelines given by the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) and the city of Dallas. The conference expects all families who are interested in a particular SPC school to go through the school’s Admission Office first before contacting coaches or assistant coaches.

Schools in the Dallas or Addison area, like Greenhill, have an agreement to release all of their admissions decisions on the same day. After decisions are released, faculty and coaches are not allowed to contact that student for two weeks. However, the student is permitted to contact the school with questions or concerns prior to making their decision.

The Greenhill Admission Office undergoes a meticulous process while reviewing each student’s application. The school incorporates a holistic view of each prospective student, only admitting who they believe holds a strong balance of Greenhill’s three core principles: academics, athletics and arts, according to Director of Admissions Sarah Markhovsky. Interviews, standardized test scores, previous grades and recommendations are all factors that play into the ultimate admission of a student-athlete as well, she said.

Head of Athletics & Physical Education Chad Wabrek and Ms. Markhovsky work in partnership when targeting students who may be potential contributors to Greenhill’s athletic program. If a coach

knows of a student-athlete that they think would be beneficial to their program, they contact Coach Wabrek, who then relays the information to Ms. Markhovsky to begin the overall process.

SPC consists of 15 private schools in Dallas, Fort Worth, Oklahoma, Austin and Houston, and the conference is split into two different divisions, or zones. Seven of these compete in the South Zone while the other eight participate in the North Zone.

Greenhill is part of the North Zone with the other schools in the DFW area and the Casady School in Oklahoma.

In recent years, the South Zone has been the more dominant division, winning more conference championships than the North. Since the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, the South Zone has won 31 of 38 SPC Championships available for boys and girls teams. The Episcopal High School (EHS) boys soccer team was even ranked as the number one high school boys soccer team in the country by Top Soccer Winter FAB 50 national boys soccer rankings. The Evergreen reached out to EHS’s Director of Athletics Jason Grove via email, but he didn’t respond to an interview request.

The South Zone consists of schools like EHS, which is just a high school and not a K-12 school like all of the North Zone schools. Therefore, they have five-tosix times as many freshman applicants as Greenhill, creating a larger selection of student-athletes and resulting in more dominant athletics.

“The day-to-day realities in each zone, North and South, are, as expected, different, whether it be rivalries or which games garner the most crowd support or which teams find success on a year in/year out basis,” said Coach Wabrek. “But we all operate under the same expectations - to

Graphic by Sarah Luan

SELECTED FOR SPORTS: Greenhill’s recruiting process prioritizes academics first. Recruits must be able to keep up with the coursework before their athletic talent is considered.

provide the best student athlete experience possible.”

Both Coach Wabrek and Ms. Markhovsky emphasize to each prospective student-athlete that Greenhill prioritizes school work over athletics. Greenhill is a rigorous academic-based institution, and if students can’t maintain a certain academic standard, then they can’t play their sport. Coach Wabrek said that Greenhill is admitting more students who share the school’s principles of an academics-first

education.

He said he believes that the school should only admit athletes that are capable of handling Greenhill’s demanding curriculum.

“If the Admission Office feels that any applicant would struggle to fulfill our basic academic standards and find daily success at the same time, we, as a school, are not helping prospective families by offering them admission only to see them struggle all the time,” said Coach Wabrek.

Second grade, second down

Head of Lower School Michael Simpson coaches a co-ed flag football team Natalie Gonchar At recess, second graders Emmitt Cosidine and Libby Beck can usually be found playing flag football behind the library. The two love playing together, especially at practice and during games on one of Greenhill’s only co-ed teams.

While the Lower School has offered a football team in the past, this is the first year that co-ed flag football has been offered as a sport.

After not having enough players on the field, the coaches and parents of the team asked the question of who else they could add to the roster.

“Actually, a lot of the boys came up with the idea of asking the girls who they play with during recess to join our team,” said Head of Lower School Michael Simpson.

The team holds weekly practices at the Meadow that are coached by Mr. Simpson. There are nine total members that make up the team, three of whom are girls who travel every Sunday to play in the games.

The Greenhill flag football team operates under the Hornet Sports Association that plays with other teams from the Spring Valley Sports Association.

There are not many co-ed teams in the Lower School; Mr. Simpson credits this to the fact there is usually an equiva-

lent team that is geared toward girls. For example, there are separate boys and girls soccer teams. But, in this case there is not a flag football team offered for both genders.

Megan Cosidine, a Greenhill parent and alumna, is the co-manager of the team for the 2018-2019 school year. Her son has played for various sports teams from lacrosse to football.

“It’s unique that we are the team in our league and at Greenhill that has girls on their flag football team,” Emmitt said.

“

Libby’s the fastest, and they recognize that; there’s none of that macho attitude coming from any of the boys about that.”

Ms. Cosidine’s opinion doesn’t stray far from her son’s, as she volunteered to be a co-manager after learning that the team was co-ed.

“The first thing I did was text one of the girl’s mom and said, ‘let’s co-manage this team,’” said Ms. Cosidine. “I was just so excited for our kids to be together.”

Since the team is one of the few coed teams in the league, they have gotten some negative comments from other players during their games.

“During our first practice, I addressed the co-ed thing,” said Mr. Simpson. “I said,

Photo courtesy of Carol Chu

TINY TACKLERS: Head of Lower School Michael Simpson coaches a co-ed flag football team that practices weekly on the Greenhill Meadow. The team consists of both boys and girls.

‘look there might be some kids that will have a problem with this, and what are we going to do about that?’”

Despite this, the players and coaches have realized that the girls are a valuable addition on the field.

“Libby’s the fastest, and they recognize that,” said Mr. Simpson. “There’s none of that macho attitude coming from any of the boys about that.”

After only three games, many of the players on the team have a good feeling about the outcome of this season, and many of the players credit that to their coach and the variety of players this season.

“I think we’ll win this year, because we have a great team,” said second grader Landon Wade. “I got to know people I usually wouldn’t at school.”

14 sports

the

Evergreen

wednesday, april 24, 2019

Middle School PE changes curriculum

Coach Houston: “We want kids to do something physically active every day”

Harrison Heymann Daily physical activity and exercise are key for students in school if they want to live a healthy lifestyle. Greenhill is recommitting itself to this initiative in Middle School, as the Athletics Department is in the process of modifying its Physical Education (PE) class for seventh and eighth graders not playing a sport.

During their seventh and eighth grade years, Greenhill students are given their first opportunities to represent Greenhill in sports and compete against other schools instead of going to PE for an hour each day.

Many students choose to take advantage of this opportunity, but anywhere between five and 30 students each season elect to still participate in PE. During the past few years, that PE course has consisted mostly of an hour of games and minimal physical development for students.

However, that has begun to change under Assistant Director of High Performance Gillian Glengarry, who has recently reassumed oversight of the seventh and eighth grade PE class after not teaching it for three years. Next year, the class will officially change its name from PE to Introduction to High Performance to solidify the changes Coach Glengarry has made to the class.

“As I was watching the class, I felt like I could do a better job and teach the kids more than just playing games,” said Coach Glengarry. “The goal of the class is to prepare students for whatever direction they want to go in high school, Total Body Fitness or varsity sports, but I also want to

teach students about personal excellence and that winning matters.”

Coach Glengarry said she wants students who take the class to be able to handle more advanced strength programs when they finish the class. Some of the key things she aims to achieve is teaching students basic techniques for weightlifting in the HPC, improving their core and muscle strength and teaching team spirit and leadership skills so they can encourage their peers as they put in work in the gym and on the field.

Coach Glengarry said she is surprised by how many seventh and eighth graders can’t perform a hand stand, cart wheel or other exercises that require basic hand-eye coordination.

“A lot of them don’t even know how to do a basic push-up, so I’ve instilled more core work into the class,” she said. “I can still do a lot of the things I need them to do, so they shouldn’t have any excuse with me to not be able to do it.”

Director of Sports Performance Jessen Houston said he has two main goals in mind when he thinks about what he hopes the class accomplishes.

“The primary goals are to understand all the components of fitness and get those components to translate to sports performance,” he said. “Also, the chronic disease of childhood obesity has been on the rise the last 15 years. This is our way of stressing the importance of what living a healthy lifestyle looks like, what it looks like to take care of yourself and get in front of that.”

Coach Glengarry said students in the

Photo by Jake Middleman

HIGH PERFORMANCE: Coach Gillian Glengarry wants Middle School students to be able to handle more advanced strength programs when they finish their Physical Education class.

class won’t be lifting weights their bodies can’t handle. They will just be learning the basics of strength and conditioning, so they’re prepared for their lifts in and out of the High Performance Center during Upper School and beyond. Hence, the reasoning for the class being called Introduction to High Performance.

“We teach bench [press], how to squat and a lot of things like that,” said Coach Glengarry. “We do body weight only for most kids. We don’t squat with weight, usually only the 15-pound bar or the wooden stick. Everything is about form and proper technique, and we regulate how much weight more advanced kids used.”

One problem the class might run into is that the vast majority of students play a sport every season during seventh and eighth grade and don’t take PE any

trimester. So, to combat this and also supplement the experience students who do take PE get from the class, Coach Houston is introducing summer sessions for seventh and eighth graders starting this year.

The sessions are currently expected to run Monday through Thursday from June until the beginning of August when Upper School fall preseason practices start. They will run from 3 to 4 p.m. every week except two.

“It’s frustrating as a parent when you can’t take your Middle Schooler to a wellness center with you to work out because of age restrictions,” said Coach Houston. “We’re excited for kids to come and get some exercise. We want kids to do something physically active every day, and we want to give them that opportunity.”

the

Evergreen

wednesday, april 24, 2019

Bruh!

hook (caro) line and sinker caroline simpson views editor

Growing up, I always considered myself lucky to have an older brother. I got to hang out with his cool older friends, go to all his football games, and use him to threaten whomever I pleased. It didn’t matter that his friends mostly just nailed me with Nerf guns, I played with my sister instead of watching

the games, or that he would never actually beat someone up for me. I still loved the idea of doing those things, of having those things.

Michael and I could not be more different. He revels in difficult math problems, but they make me cry. He enjoys and intends to pursue scientific research, but the thought of it makes me physically shudder.

His ideal weekend is spent inside watching movies, followed by discussions of the movie, and then repeating the process. I love to spend the weekend out surrounded by all my friends. I love to write and could do it forever, but more than one page has him squirming. I want to hear the personal story of every person in history, but he prefers straightforward facts. I talk at the dinner table, while he listens. I can joke with anyone and everyone, but he doesn’t speak to strang-

I’ve been to the year 3019 B.C.E

hey mann, what’s up? harrison

Imagine: It’s 3019 B.C.E. You’re wearing the hide of the saber tooth tiger you killed last week and are now picking crops for your family to eat.

Suddenly, you hear a noise and turn to see a small spear stuck in the ground, not too far from you and your hut. A boy stops and

sets down the cart he’s rolling before running over and yelling “Sorry!”

You think for a minute and decide what to say.

Clearly the spear fell off of the top of his cart, but it also seems like it was an accident and he wasn’t trying to hurt you. You could chew him out for accidentally putting you in danger by trying to carry too much on his cart at one time. Or you could give him back his spear, tell him to be careful and pack the sharp stuff where it can’t fall and hurt anybody and send him on his way. The choice is yours.

The choice seems rather obvious. At least I think it is. But as I listen to people, both teenagers and adults, talk about the actions of others, I wonder if this choice is as obvious for some as it seems.

Judging people on their intent and not

senior columns

15

ers much.

These differences have prevented me and Michael from comparing ourselves throughout our life, and instead we’ve been able to learn from each other. This isn’t to say Michael and I weren’t competitive.

The amount of Sorry, Uno, and Monopoly games that ended up in flipped boards and slammed doors proves that. I once broke a ping pong paddle in half because the tension of our game pushed me too far. I dislocated my toe running away from him during a ‘touch’ football game one Thanksgiving when the stakes of the game were extra high.

But Michael and I never seriously compared ourselves between teachers, grades, or other aspects of our life. Our differences were too large, our personalities too mismatched, for concern of one child overshadowing another.

I was able to step back and see the qualities that made him special, and he was able to do the same for me. We have watched each other over the years, taking qualities from the other. Michael has watched me in social situations, chatting with adults, and learned. I have spent hours over chemistry homework with Michael, learning how to look at different problems. I have learned how to judge situations on facts rather than emotion and his capacity for empathy has grown.

I am grateful that our differences prevented us from comparing ourselves. I fear that if we were more similar, competition would have overshadowed our ability to learn for each other. We still usually end up screaming at each other during Battleship, though.

only their action is a basic element of human decency that seems to be slipping by the wayside.

There’s a poster at Mr. Martinez’s desk with a quote from Milton Friedman that says, “one of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”

But people are not policies. People have intentions and ideas, but they are not perfect. Yet we often judge people by their actions and their intent when things don’t go as they planned.

If a soccer ball rolls in to your conversation circle from the local soccer tennis game being played next to you, that’s no reason to get mad at the kid who had a bad touch and knocked the ball towards you on accident.

If a teacher tries to help you understand something from class and they just can’t get

the point across, don’t be mad at them for being unhelpful. Appreciate their effort and get someone else to help you.

Look for the good in others. If you think someone has made a genuine effort to be helpful or do good, appreciate what they tried to do, whether their efforts come to fruition or not.

Don’t always look to tear people down so you can complain to your friends about them and tell your woe-is-me tale all over again. Life is about doing what you can and dealing with obstacles.

So, if you weren’t sure about how to respond to the kid who dropped his spear, the answer was you should have seen his action was unintentional and not yelled at him, because you would have only compounded his anxiety. He was trying to do good and sometimes, that’s all that should matter.

As my senior year continues, I am starting to learn a valuable lesson: Nobody’s life is as perfect as the movies and no one person’s life is the same as another’s.

Every coming-of-age movie has a conflict that the protagonist has to face.

Right before the end of the movie, the protagonist usually faces hardship and there is a dip in the movie. In these teen movies, the problem is usually friend drama. There is enough of that in the real world too. Sometimes we (or I) get caught up in that drama and we let it blind us to what we have to do.

Even though real life is very different from these movies, there is another important lesson to take away. Just like

these movies, senior year is not all perfect.

There are the fights and hugs and the ups and the downs. However, after the setback in the movie, the main character usually resolves all of their problems and becomes happier in their life and more comfortable in their skin. This year truly has been a roller coaster of the highest highs and lowest lows; however, the end of my Greenhill senior year movie is coming up, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am starting to feel more comfortable, and I am happy with my life.

Starring Ross Rubin rossboss ross rubin journalism assistant

I am obsessed with teen coming-ofage movies. Even if the protagonist is the complete opposite of me in many ways, I always find myself relating to the characters in the story. I base my life’s expectations on these storylines, and I compare myself and

my life to the characters and their crazy lives. These movies crafted my dreams of an ideal senior year.

I would have the grades from The Good Kids, the funny friend group from Love Simon, and the crazy parties and memories from The First Time. I thought that if I didn’t have those kinds of things happening in my life, and especially senior year, then my life wouldn’t be as memorable.

This started to harm my social life and me. I would avoid any events that I thought would be a waste of my time and I got embarrassed when my friends weren’t as cool or funny as the side characters in the movies. This is something I deeply regret.

So go ahead and roll the credits.

Letters to the Editor

Evergreen alumnus Josh Rudner responds to “Neutrality is no longer an option: Pulling the veil off the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Feb. 20, 2019 Dear Editor, I don’t understand the obsession. With two front-page stories in this newspaper in two years alone, this conflict over real estate seems to demand your attention.

And while I understand that any situation in which Jews don’t shut up and die may be unsettling for the rest of the world, this doesn’t mean that anyone needs to have an opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yes, everyone should feel free to do research, reach out to the different sides, and form an educated opinion on this tragic conflict. But the notion that all Americans need to have an opinion on this issue over a land roughly the size of New Jersey, or the notion that the policies of a specific government make or break its country’s right to exist, is blatant lunacy.

And despite my discomfort with this obsession, I realize that there are those who want to intellectually engage with this conflict. And it’s important to me that in any conversation involving the land and the people for which I would give my life, we make sure that we have the facts right.

I want to clarify some things that appeared in the last issue of the Evergreen.

Genocide, or the murder of a whole group of people, especially a whole nation, race, or religious group, does not apply to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has seen the Palestinian population increase nearly six-fold from roughly a million in 1948 to roughly 6 million today. Attempts to Nazify Israel and accuse it, with blatant disregard of historical fact, of genocide is disgusting.

Hamas, or “the political branch of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood,” is recognized by Egypt, Jordan, the United States,

and the European Union as a terrorist organization. It consistently uses international aid to build attack tunnels into Israel, launches rockets from Mosques, schools, and hospitals, and forces its civilians to act as human shields. Failure to call Hamas a terrorist organization is irresponsible journalism.

The Nazis did not “force Jews to flee to Palestine... causing a territorial dispute.”

There has been a documented Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, without pause, since the dawn of human civilization; and the modern Zionist movement began roughly a century before the trains entered Auschwitz. This falsehood, as well as the malignant comparison between Israel’s history and those of America, Canada and Australia, all of which were established by regimes of foreign conquerors, is an affront to truth.

Attempts to paint Jews, whose con-

nections to their land are ancient, national, and genetic, as foreigners who randomly fled to the Middle East is at best woeful ignorance and at worst malicious antiSemitism.

And lastly, the most vitriolic myth of all: that somehow, anti-Zionism and antiSemitism are different things.

Zionism, in its most basic form, is the belief that the Jewish people, like all other people, have the right to be free in their own homeland.

Make no mistake. Anti-Zionism, or rather, the belief that Jews do not have the right to be free in their homeland is antiSemitism at its reprehensible and vile core.

Josh Rudner ’17 Givatayim, Israel

the

Evergreen

16 backpage

y Tast

wednesday, april 24, 2019

Though March Madness may have ended last week, the feeling of competition lingers on. To fill the emptiness in your hearts and brackets, n e The Evergreen decided to bring back the snack food bracket originally e Sixt y t l created in 2015 and redone in 2018, establishing Munch Madness as an Sa Ate tradition. Thanks to your votes, the Best Greenhill Snack was lite Mac & Cheese EEvergreen crowned winner: the results are below. r Animal Fou e i d Crackers Dibs Foo

o -tw irty

Th

Ramen

Mac & Cheese

Dibs Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich

Dibs

Cookies

npio

m

Cha

Carrots Grapes Grapes

Animal Crackers

chip

Chex Mix

Gum

Animal Crackers Vanilla Wafers

Boom Chicka Pop

Gum

Boom Chicka Pop

Mentos

Annie’s Bunnies

Cookies Chex Mix

Cookies

Chex Mix

Warm Pretzels

Chex Mix

Cookies Cookies

Sunflower Seeds

The Buzz Region

Stroopwafels

The Snack Bar Region

Cookies

Cookie Dough

Cookie Dough

Fruit Snacks Cookie Dough

Apple Sauce

Fruit Snacks

Dove Chocolate

Chex Mix

Baked Cheetos

Dove Chocolate Brownie Brittle

Fruit Snacks

Deep River Chips

Fruit Snacks

Baked Cheetos Veggie Straws Cheez-its

Deep River Chips

Cheez-its

Deep River Chips

Takis

Cheese

Sticks Bagels

Deep River Chips

Gogurt

Muffins Bagels

Goldfish Goldfish

Ramen vs. Mac & Cheese Though Ramen and Mac & Cheese have their many differences, they are both the snacks that desperate Greenhill students set out to purchase on chicken & rice days at lunch. Even with a popular fan base supporting both these snacks, Ramen pulled through with 12 more votes than Mac & Cheese.

Bagels

Fruit Snacks vs.

Baked Cheetos The Fruit Snacks vs. Baked Cheetos matchup was one of the closest yet, with 51% of voters leaning towards Fruit Snacks and the remaining 49% for Baked Cheetos. What’s most captivating about this result is that even though Baked Cheetos was titled the 2018 Munch Madness runner-up, it lost to Fruit Snacks in the Salty Sixteen.

Cookie Dough vs.

Deep River Chips Cookie Dough and Deep River Chips have both always been popular snacks amongst the Upper School Student body, so it was inevitable for this matchup to be a good one. Ever since Cookie Dough arrived in the Buzz, it has been an immediate threat to the various other snacks in the vicinity. Surprisingly, the scrumptious Cookie Dough was taken out of the race after Deep River Chips was victorious with 10%

votes ahead.

Cookies vs. Chex Mix This matchup is what all you viewers and voters have been waiting for: Cookies and Chex Mix, two powerhouses, pitted against one another. The savory flavor and crunchiness of Chex Mix and the gooey, delectable Cookies were destined to battle against one another for the winning title. Cookies won by a landslide, with 79% of voters in favor of this title-winning snack from 2018.