December 2020 | The Evergreen, Greenhill School

December 16, 2020 Volume 56, Issue 3

the Everything Greenhill

evergreen.greenhill.org

The College Quest A Student’s Guide, p. 10

Photo by Raag Venkat

News

Features

Arts

Views

Sports

Administration prepares for return of most students to campus for second semester, p. 2

Admissions navigates the pandemic with virtual alternatives, p. 6

AVP students race to wrap up SXSW Film Festival entries, p. 12

An Asian American student argues the case for affirmative action, p. 18

Basketball program adds two nationally ranked players, p. 17

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News Easing COVID-19 Precautions?

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Administration Unveils Plan to Expand In-Person Learning

Sumana Kethu

Chief Section Editor

Avery Franks Sports Editor

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espite the recent rise in COVID-19 cases nationwide, Greenhill administrators will switch the Upper School from hybrid learning to a fully on-campus model in January.

Students will still be allowed to opt for at-home learning after the return from Winter Break. But the plan will end alternating weeks for in-person learners, a system that was introduced in September to limit the number of students on campus on any given day in an effort to reduce the risks of COVID-19 transmission.

Based on consultation with parents in December, there will be 105 at-home learners for January and 374 on-campus learners, with only five students still outstanding, according to an email from Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester to faculty on Dec. 6.

Worcester first revealed the plan to end the hybrid model in a Nov. 13 email to Upper School families. The shift will begin with the new semester on Jan. 5.

“We believe that, for many, on-campus learning with a teacher and fellow students in the room is far more effective than learning remotely,” Worcester wrote. “However, having more students on campus carries increased risks to those serving your students daily.”

Why the Change?

The decision to return was based on data collected in two surveys, one sent to Upper School parents on Oct. 28 and a shorter version sent to students on Nov. 5. Parents were asked if they were comfortable with adjusting safety protocols, such as maintaining less than six feet of distance in the classroom or holding classes in new spaces. Students were asked for their thoughts about the on-campus model and for feedback on the hybrid model.

Out of families with on-campus hybrid learners, 50% of parents and 52% of students said they were satisfied or completely satisfied with the hybrid model. A majority of parents and 59% of students who completed the survey expressed a desire to move to the on-campus model.

“I would love the opportunity to switch to fully in-person learning because I am so much more engaged in my classes,” said junior Claudia Hurst, who has been attending classes under the hybrid model. “It is so much easier for me to create relationships with my teachers and classmates and to learn in the classroom rather than online through my screen.”

Even as the school prepares to welcome nearly 80% of Upper School students back to campus, health experts have warned that holiday travel and family gatherings might intensify the rise in COVID-19 cases.

Acknowledging the correlation between holiday travel and rising coronavirus transmission rates, Head of School Lee Hark announced on Nov. 19 that Greenhill would shift entirely to remote learning for the week following Thanksgiving break.

“The reason for doing so is mostly to control increased spread of the virus that may come from holiday travel and from spending time in close proximity to others during the break,” Hark wrote in an email to families.

The post-Thanksgiving precautions were welcomed by many students and faculty. But the decision to shift to larger in-person classes in January is proving more controversial.

“Hybrid learning has shown that having kids both online and in school is just an extra burden on teachers who are already struggling with online learning alone,” said senior Theo Johnson, a hybrid student who approved of the week-long return to remote classes after Thanksgiving. “I’m glad Greenhill is making conscious decisions to help our learning and safety.”

The Hybrid Model Currently, Upper School students learn on a hybrid model in which students with last

names from A-L rotate with M-Z students on a weekly basis. Students receive in-person instruction every other week. Students also have the opportunity to choose to do full-time remote learning.

Greenhill administration made the decision to have a hybrid model at the beginning of the year to provide students the opportunity to engage with classmates and teachers. The inconsistency of the week-on, week-off schedule and mental health issues stemming from online learning led to the decision to switch models.

“We were hearing from parents of students who have ADHD or other learning differences, and from parents of students who have feelings of anxiety, sadness or isolation that were exacerbated by being in remote [learning],” Hark said.

Despite a majority of families supporting the decision to discontinue the existing hybrid model following winter break, many Upper School students believe the on-campus model poses an unnecessary safety risk.

“I believe that the hybrid model is more effective than in-person, especially with safety protocols,” said senior Anagha Gouru, another hybrid learner. “I think Greenhill should even more strictly enforce these social distancing and safety guidelines and I think, if anything, especially when cases are rampant, maybe potentially shift to 100% at home. [My parents are] also not extremely comfortable with me being fully in-person, especially during a time when cases are expected to escalate.”

Those satisfied with the hybrid rotation model believe it provides a balance between maintaining safety protocols and providing a better learning experience than being fully remote.

“Having more students in the room will make for more robust and consistent engagement, but from a safety standpoint, [the rotation model] has worked really well,” Upper School English teacher Andrew Mercurio said.

“I definitely got to the point where I felt willing to sacrifice some consistent engagement to feel good about the fact that we could do everything in a really safe way.”

students choose to return. Class locations are going to have to switch, we’re going to have to use different spaces on campus. Some of the options out there are tents, [classes in] Greenhill Towers, or rooms in other divisions.”

Moving Forward The effort to return most students to campus comes against the backdrop of encouraging news in the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

On Nov. 9, Pfizer and BioNTech released data from their large-scale clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine that showed a 90% efficacy rate, later updated to 94.5%. On Nov. 16, Moderna said the trial of a vaccine it has developed reduced the risk of COVID-19 infection by 94.5%.

Health officials have singled out the elderly and hospital workers as priorities when vaccines are expected to be introduced in the coming weeks. It will likely be months before the general population will have access to a

COVID-19 vaccine, experts have said.

In the meantime, Greenhill is moving ahead with its return-to-campus plan.

“Part of it is this inflection point at the semester break where I think it makes sense to look at it because there’s an opportunity to look at brand new class rosters,” Hark said. “If we waited until the vaccine, based on what I’m seeing, students are going to be the very last people who get inoculated. It may not be until late in 2021 that students get inoculated, so we’d be potentially well into next fall.”

Although students and faculty are optimistic about the return to campus at the start of 2021, there is still concern about the ability of the Upper School to effectively implement the new model.

“It can be hard to get teenagers to be aware of the fact that they might unknowingly be presenting a threat to other people, or that their friends might be presenting a threat to them,” Mercurio said. “The more people you put into a space, the harder it’s going to be to remind them that they need to be further apart.”

In-Person Modifications Many families have chosen to stay remote even with the hybrid model due to the local and national rise in COVID-19 cases.

Additionally, students that were considering switching from remote to hybrid learning say they may choose to remain online due to the switch to the all on-campus model.

“Given the current spike in cases, I would be concerned about having everyone going to school together,” said junior Ashton Higgins, who has continued remote learning since students began returning to campus in September. “I feel like some people will definitely be switching to online soon, but I also think that might be driven by rising cases, not just by a transition away from hybrid. I think if schools start to see numbers go up, or if a rise is imminent, I think they should decide what precautions are best to protect teachers and students.”

Since there will be about double the number of Upper School students on campus each day with the new on-campus model, Greenhill is searching for ways to ensure safety for students and staff, such as splitting class sections in half to accommodate more students.

“We’re talking about some pretty ambitious things for teachers who are willing to do this,” said Hark. “We’re looking at some pretty creative ways of managing it, and we just need to know what we’re dealing with so that we know how many of these things we need to follow through on.”

Currently, desks in every classroom are placed six feet apart to maintain social distancing. However, most classrooms do not have space to seat all students that will be returning, so the Upper School is considering several alternatives.

“I know we are being creative in terms of what the learning environments will be,” said Director of Academics Jason Yaffe. “The safety is partially going to depend on how many

Graphic by Sarah Luan

REIMAGINING CLASSROOM SPACES: Some classes may take place in outdoor tents or Greenhill Towers as administration shifts to an in-person learning model for Upper School students.

News 3 Ever Evergreen Life-Changing Discussions Set Agenda at Student Diversity Leadership Conference

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Valerie Xu

Features Editor

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ast year, Greenhill students were among more than 1,600 peers from seven countries who met in Seattle for the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC)—an annual gathering at which students from around the world learn about cross-cultural communication, social justice, allyship and networking.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced this year’s conference into a virtual setting.

Despite this, Greenhill was once again represented by a diverse group of students in four-days of life-changing discussions and reflection, said Assistant Director of Equity and Inclusion Monsie Muñoz ’05.

The Greenhill students who participated in the Dec. 1-4 conference were: sophomore Khushi Chhaya; junior Julian Iwasko; sophomore Sophia Mohamed; sophomore Tanvi Padala; sophomore Madison Rojas and junior Shruti Siva.

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I hope that all of the student delegates feel affirmed, empowered and challenged by the SDLC experience.I hope that they each feel like they grew in a way that allows them to engage in our school community in a different way when they come back. “

Since 2002, a diverse group of Greenhill students has been selected for the conference by the school’s equity and inclusion administrators. The conference

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is organized by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).

Muñoz has participated in SDLC conventions since 2003. This year, she was part of the faculty team trying to ensure that students could achieve the lofty goals of the conference, if only in a virtual setting.

Heading into the conference, Muñoz said that this year’s convention transition to an online platform had proved challenging. But she also said that some things hadn’t changed, including the ambition of students to learn about social justice and the determination of organizers to share that knowledge.

“Being a part of SDLC faculty is one of the most fulfilling, energizing and challenging professional development experiences that I get to do every year,” Muñoz said. “It is a lot of work, but the faculty are amazing and the curriculum is innovative and powerful.”

This enthusiasm was shared by Iwasko, who said he viewed SDLC as a “transformative” opportunity that has allowed him to self-discover his intersectionality as a transgender student.

He intends to spread his deepened understanding of diversity within the Greenhill community, creating a safer environment for other students like him, Iwasko said.

“SDLC has given me a place to learn about myself, my diversity and my existence,” Iwasko said. “I have a space to be my full self, to talk freely, to own my identifiers, and to open up without restraints or limitations.”

One of the things that resonated with Iwasko during her SDLC experience was the concept of being a co-conspirator and the importance of activeness instead of passiveness in the face of social injustices.

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We are all here because we want to be here, and we make it a safe space. We all want to grow by sharing but more importantly actually listening to each other.

There is this unbelievable sense of community that exists even though we are all strangers.”

“An ally will cheer you on from the sidelines, whereas a co-conspirator will fight your battles alongside you,” said Iwasko. “It’s the notion of ‘I support you’ versus ‘I support you and I am here with you.’”

Like Iwasko, sophomore Tanvi Padala says that through SDLC she has learned the importance of being at the forefront of social change instead of sitting on the sidelines of injustices.

Before attending, Padala had said that she hoped to come out of this experience “transformed” and with a better understanding of her own culture and where it converges or diverges with others.

After engaging in four days of seminars and conversation on social justice and diversity, Padala says the only word to describe her experience is magical.

“We are all here because we want to be here, and we make it a safe space,” said

Padala. “We all want to grow by sharing, but more importantly actually listening to each other. There is this unbelievable sense of community that exists even though we are all strangers.”

Padala, who is an Indian American, says she was amazed by the amount of diversity at SDLC and the opportunity to connect with so many others who share backgrounds similar to hers. Those opportunities are rare at Greenhill, she said.

“Here at Greenhill, there are maybe two people who have similar identifiers as me and no representation in media, but I was in a breakout room of [about] 10 people who identified in the same way as me,” said Padala. “There in that group of 10 people was the first time I actually felt valid and like it was okay to be me.”

The desire to be better and a more culturally tolerant person is the first step to starting any discussion on being a coconspirator, Muñoz said.

With SDLC, Muñoz says she hopes that the desire of students to be more culturally inclusive would be channeled into efforts aimed at racial and societal progress.

“I hope that all of the student delegates feel affirmed, empowered and challenged by the SDLC experience,” Muñoz said. “I hope that they each feel like they grew in a way that allows them to engage in our school community in a different way when they come back and to create change and help disrupt systems that they feel need to be shaken up.”

Photo illustration by Khushi Chhaya

CONNECTION AND CONVERSATION: The six Greenhill students attending SDLC participated in four days of virtual conversations with other students from across the globe. They gathered each day after the conclusion of conference events to process their thoughts, feelings and new experiences with Director of Equity and Inclusion Marcus Ingram.

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Ever Evergreen Wednesday, December 16, 2020 Animation, Advocacy, Excellence

The Honors Keep Coming for Distinguished Alumna Karen Rupert Toliver ’84 Nate Stitt Arts Editor

Caroline Greenstone Contributing Writer

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rom performing in the former ZaleFields Theatre to accepting an Oscar in the Dolby Theatre, Karen Rupert Toliver ’84 always knew she had a passion for the arts.

For most of Toliver’s years in Hollywood, she worked behind the scenes, seeking to make films that would last beyond her lifetime. So when Toliver stood on the stage, winning the award that has signaled the career-defining success for so many, she was reminded of the love and devotion she put into every ounce of her work.

“There’s always self-doubt, somewhere deep inside, no matter who you are,” Toliver said. “The affirmation of what we did is super profound. When I think about what we accomplished, I remember how hard it was and how much I sacrificed.”

Toliver is now best known for producing the Oscar-winning animated short “Hair Love,” but it’s only the latest in a lengthening list of achievements.

As the executive vice president of the Creative Department at Sony Animations, Toliver oversees the creative production of upcoming films.

Her most recent accolade, the 2020 Distinguished Alumna award, is the highest honor that Greenhill gives to graduates.

Toliver is a self-described “shy and nerdy kid” who didn’t move to Hollywood to hang out with the stars. Her work has always been about telling stories that matter and those that don’t often get told.

“I think that you’re either part of the solution or part of the problem,” Toliver said. “I feel personally that the movies and storytelling I want to make should help solve the human problem.”

“A Safe Community” When Toliver thinks about what kind of educational experience she wants her children to have, she can’t help but reflect upon Greenhill’s impact on her.

“I think a lot of people would say that they were formed by their college experience, but I definitely feel like I was formed by my Greenhill experience,” Toliver said.

It was during her time at Greenhill that Toliver first found herself enamored by the arts and the concept of storytelling. She felt comfortable exploring her passion amid the people and the community on the Hill.

“There was sort of a safe community in which you kind of got to try everything and not feel outwardly competitive about the next step,” Toliver said.

The Fine Arts Department is where Toliver found her home on campus.

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At the heart of it, it still came down to the thing I love to do: Reading a story and getting ideas and having notes and writing my notes up. That love absolutely came from like a love of writing from the very beginning.”

Former Head of Fine Arts Michael Manes taught Toliver as part of the Greenhill Singers. She also performed in musicals and attended the annual Fine Arts Festival staged by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest.

“She was just a joy to be around,” Manes said. “What I remember about Karen is that she was very active, bubbly, and she just enjoyed everything in the arts.”

Manes emphasizes the importance that art plays in everyday life, and he encourages

Photo courtesy of Karen Rupert Toliver ‘84

A PASSION FOR THE ARTS: Karen Rupert Toliver ‘84, left, and Matthew A. Cherry created the Oscar-winning animated short film “Hair Love.” The film portrays a Black father learning to style his daughter’s natural hair, defying gender normalities and promoting self-love.

artists to pursue careers in what they are passionate about.

“I think the arts really fill up a fairly huge, big place in our lives,” said Manes. “It can be a vocation and not just an avocation.”

With the arts culture created by Manes, Toliver found the space to pursue her passions.

It was during those years at Greenhill that Toliver developed an ability to be confident in her opinions while maintaining a collaborative spirit.

“It just made me realize that my ideas mattered,” Toliver said. “As long as I was able to really communicate them and express myself, that was really the most important thing. I really felt shaped by that experience. And that’s kind of how I deal with my job all the time.”

Hollywood Dreams After graduating from Greenhill, Toliver attended Barnard College in New York City to study pre-engineering.

Both of her parents were scientists, so she pursued a STEM-focused career at first.

Toliver later transferred to the University of Texas at Austin to be closer to home.

“I didn’t feel like I was in a space that was closed in the same way that Greenhill was—that I could really sort of explore,” she said. “People were looking and expecting things of me and hoping for things and helping me shape myself.”

After graduating, Toliver moved to California to pursue her love of the arts.

“I just realized that I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try, you know?” Toliver said.

Since she moved, she has constantly been working in the film industry.

“I knew that I wanted to be part of telling stories and telling seminal stories,” Toliver said. “So, it was really just trying to figure out where I fit into the picture where I felt like I could do the best.”

She realized that her strengths were in writing and analyzing—her expertise was about the story. From there, she found

animation.

With animation, Toliver could “geek out” with other self-described nerdy artists and truly bring a story to life.

“There were also a lot of theater people that were in animation at Disney when I first started,” Toliver said. “That really did feel like my roots of when I was in high school.”

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I think a lot of people would say that they were formed by their college experience, but I definitely feel like I was formed by my Greenhill experience.”

As her career and responsibilities grew, Toliver would work with actors and musicians and have a more outward-facing job.

“But at the heart of it, it still came down to the thing I love to do: Reading a story and getting ideas and having notes and writing my notes up,” Toliver said.

“That love absolutely came from like a love of writing from the very beginning.”

In her current role at Sony Animations, Toliver now oversees the creative supervision of upcoming features from inception to script through production. She believes that the unique quality a storyteller has is their voice.

“There’s so much media out there right now, so it’s very hard to think about ‘okay, this is a story that hasn’t been told before,’” Toliver said. “It’s really about the way you tell the story.”

“Hair Love” Toliver has hoped to see more diverse representation in media for quite a while, she said. It’s a key reason that she took on “Hair Love,” an animated short film about a Black father who learns to style his daughter’s hair. Directed by Matthew A. Cherry, the seven-minute film was inspired by online videos of Black fathers showing love to their daughters. “There’s a gender

angle to it,” Toliver said. “When moms do their kid’s hair, it’s ‘just what they’re supposed to do.’ When dads do their kid’s hair, it’s like, ‘oh, boy, wait a minute, let’s raise a flag.’ The truth is a lot of Black men are doing kids’ hair.”

Toliver says the usage of animation was quite purposeful, as she believes that one can place themself in the characters of an animated film, which leads to growth.

“Hair Love” is connected to a piece of California state legislation known as the CROWN Act. CROWN is an acronym for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” and it was passed by the California Legislature to prevent discrimination based on hair style.

“The politicians that were happy to have ‘Hair Love’ out in the world said: ‘you can create all the legislation you want, but the thing you really have to do is change hearts and minds,’” Toliver said. “The things that I can shepherd and support in storytelling can create change.”

A longtime friend and former classmate, Michael Davis ’84, sees Toliver’s Oscar-winning achievement as the logical outcome of her formative years at Greenhill.

“It is no irony that ‘Hair Love’ would be [Toliver’s] conveyance into history,” said Davis, the 2010 Distinguished Alumnus.

“Her journey is such a poignant example of the diversity that Greenhill enables. [Her] story is one of transforming isolation and using it to fuel her ascendancy to make films that give sanctuary to millions.”

Toliver’s ability to create and perform is an attribute that continues to earn her praise and honors.

“I think in all of the things I’ve learned in my everyday career, the biggest is taking a chance, having to believe in it, and realizing that, regardless of perception, I feel good about it,” Toliver said. “There are so many gifts I got out of producing that short that will now kind of give me even more boldness and confidence in moving forward in the things that I do next.”

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Opinions: Trump Revealed, Socialism Rejected

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y any metric, 2020 will be a year to remember. Collectively, the world faced the gradually intensifying effects of the climate crisis, a recession and the first global pandemic in a hundred years.

From the Left Cameron Kettles

On at least one of those fronts, the preliminary production of vaccines means the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel is beginning to show.

Weird begets weird and the U.S. presidential election was no exception.

The two oldest nominees in history faced a massively polarized country that, for the most part, had decided their vote months before Nov. 3.

The winner campaigned almost entirely virtually, and the results remained inconclusive for days.

And while none of this is normal, President Trump’s reaction to his loss should shock all Americans, no matter who they voted for, as the biggest threat to American democracy since World War II. Trump’s direct appeal to strong identities, his use of propaganda by launching a billion-dollar media campaign to convince people he had won, his preference for dictators over established U.S. allies, his assertion that a peaceful transition of power is conditional upon Trump victory, and his attempts to use his political sway to convince governors not to certify the election results are clear indications of authoritarianism.

I don’t mean to diminish the enormous success of former Vice President Joe Biden’s candidacy. Authoritarian populists rarely leave through elections and even if Trump was normal, winning against an incumbent is so hard it has only happened three times since the 1930s. To a small but not insignificant extent, Joe Biden was able to bridge the divide between Americans.

But the era of Trump is not over.

Roughly 74 million people experienced a pandemic and a recession at the same time and still felt the person in charge should be given four more years. As it was in 2016,

the surprise comes not with how abnormal Trump was, but how unfazed the system and indeed almost half of Americans remained.

President Trump never hid his affinity for authoritarianism. “He’s the head of a country and he’s the strong head. Don’t let anyone think anything different,” Trump said about North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un during an interview with Fox News in 2018. “He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”

And yet, nearly half of the country showed that when given a politician who can effectively praise the flag, guns and Christmas, democracy becomes an afterthought.

Let me be very clear: the election is over. President-elect Biden has won the popular vote by a margin of over 7 million votes and the electoral college by 74 votes. Biden didn’t need to win Arizona or Georgia and yet, he won both. Legal challenges are being rejected left and right and claims of widespread voter fraud are unsubstantiated. It’s over.

President Trump’s attempt to subvert the results and undermine America’s faith in the electoral system itself is purely tyrannical. The gap between reality and Trump’s reality is widening and a disturbing number of Republican members of Congress are willing to defend him for it.

The biggest lesson that can be gained from 2020 is the true vulnerability of American democracy. We came very close to the complete subversion of democratic norms.

Democracies are about more than holding elections. Authoritarian countries all over the world hold elections their leaders are guaranteed to win. The real test is how well politicians in office reflect the will of the people.

Biden’s electoral success is certainly a positive sign, but this election should serve as a wake-up call. No country, whether they have constitutions decreeing freedom and equality or not, is immune to democratic backsliding when it’s disguised as love for the country.

The takeaway should not be that the Democrats beat Trump or that democracy triumphed. It should be that a politically untalented person without a real strategy brought the country to the tipping point and half of us cheered.

The next authoritarian candidate and possible president will be much more competent than President Trump. The country will need to be ready.

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s it stands today, Joseph R. Biden will likely be the 46th president of the United States.

From the Right Brent Ladin

Contrary to the opinion of President Trump and many high-ranking members of his campaign, Biden did not win the election by stealing millions of votes, but rather through the individuals who checked Biden on their ballots. It frustrates me to see many Republicans ruin their credibility by making false accusations in an attempt to delay admitting defeat.

I do believe there are legitimate concerns regarding the security of mail-in ballots and the process in which they were counted. All votes should be accounted for on or before election day. Republicans should call for better voting practices in future elections to minimize concerns of voter fraud. Lobbying for legislation that disqualifies votes that arrive after election day would be a meaningful and effective use of time.

Unfortunately, Trump’s actions have been far from effective. He has repeatedly claimed in tweets and public statements that he won the election. Denying defeat and claiming a stolen election is both immature and dishonest.

That being said, Trump has been entitled to his day in court, as it is completely within his rights as an American citizen.

But thus far Trump’s legal efforts have failed to flip the outcome in any of the swing states won by Biden. State and federal judges in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin have all dismissed Trump’s legal challenges. “Trump’s campaign has spent much of the past week in court with little success and without presenting anything close to evidence that points to a fraudulent result,” as NPR recently reported.

As if Trump’s fruitless legal efforts weren’t enough to persuade him to concede, the events of Dec. 14 should be.

On that day, Electoral College electors met in their respective states to cast their votes as prescribed by the Constitution. The

electors pushed Joe Biden past the 270-vote threshold required to win the White House.

Still, Trump and his supporters have vowed to make another attempt to overturn the election on Jan. 6, when Congress meets to formally count the electoral votes. But that attempt is the longest of long shots for the sitting president.

Losing a national election is not easy, especially for a man with such a colossal ego. Regardless, continuing to make Hail Mary attempts to fight the outcome and delay the inevitable only further stains the reputation, validity and image of the Grand Old Party.

These last-ditch efforts only take away from the success that the Republicans did achieve.

While Trump might not have won the election, his performance far exceeded expectations. On election eve, the national polling average showed Biden winning by more than seven points. Instead, Biden won by roughly four points in the national popular vote. And the outcome has been even closer in key swing states.

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I do believe there are legitimate concerns regarding the security of mail-in ballots and the process in which they were counted. All votes should be accounted for on or before election day.”

Just as in 2016, Trump outperformed expectations, once again proving the strength and loyalty of his supporters.

Republicans fared much better than expected in the congressional elections as well. The GOP didn’t lose its Senate majority, as some predicted. With 50 seats held by Republicans as of this writing, two Georgia seats remain to be decided in a Jan. 5 runoff election. There is a good chance that the GOP will win at least one of those seats.

In the House of Representatives, the Republicans did even better, flipping 10 seats and chipping away at the Democratic majority Regardless of the outcome of Trump’s legal pursuits or the senate races in Georgia, the results of the 2020 election show a bright future for the Republican party. As I see it, the 74 million people who voted for Trump delivered a message: Americans reject radical leftism and Marxism.

Opinion: January Is Too Soon To Resume In-Person Learning Jothi Gupta

Online Editor-in-Chief

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ecently, students, faculty and families were notified of Greenhill’s plans to shift to an in-person learning model in January with the start of the second semester.

This came as a big surprise to many of us. It may be the timing or the decision itself, but with COVID-19 cases rising in Texas and all around the U.S. this seems to me to be a move that won’t end well.

I am currently a hybrid learner, but I have decided to be an online learner if we shift into a less restrictive in-person model.

In the current hybrid model, less than half of the Upper School is on campus every week. Even with this model, there are risks: during lunch we take our masks off; in passing periods there are more people in the hallways and during breaks people tend to congregate.

I am concerned for an expanded inperson model because these risks would be multiplied.

It no longer becomes feasible to meet in classrooms with social distancing of six feet or have lunch in crowded advisory rooms.

Regardless of proposed changes to alleviate these concerns (classroom in tents, using Greenhill Towers, having more outdoor spaces) the reality is there will simply be more people on campus.

No matter what can be done to keep people distanced in classes, the major concern is out of the classroom, when those small congregations become large ones and when the outdoors spaces get rained out.

It is simply not worth the risk.

Even if there was a way to alleviate these risks, is the new reality really the version of school that families want? Having larger classrooms in Rose Hall and the Lecture Hall? If students complain about not being able to pay attention in an online setting, this seems even more likely in large classes in a lecture setting.

An administration survey sent out to families even asked if they were willing to sacrifice the social distancing of six feet, yet I don’t think that people understand

the consequences of this. The likelihood of being exposed to COVID-19 and sent home because of contact tracing increases exponentially. If people are really so insistent on going back to school, the likelihood of getting sent home is much larger in this new reality.

My father has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a progressive degeneration of nerve cells that control muscle movements. My father’s disease marks him as a high-risk individual under coronavirus protocols. So, too, is my grandmother, who lives with us.

If Greenhill pushes forward with plans to reopen campus to all students, I feel coerced to go to an online model—all because people are pushing for a model that makes me decide between my education and my safety.

And I know that I am not alone in these circumstances. Many students and faculty face similar risks. Unlike students, faculty don’t have much of a choice.

We are currently facing a global pandemic ravaging the world. At a time

with rising cases, with people making the decision to go on vacation during the breaks and individuals having large parties outside of school, it is not the time to expand inperson classes.

Nationally, schools are closing down.

I understand that it’s difficult to learn in an online environment, but the insistence on bringing things as close to normal as possible is ignorant of the reality that we are facing.

So, I urge Greenhill administration and families to rethink this decision. It is not the time nor the place to go fully in person.

There is simply too much at stake.

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Features

Admission Process Shifts to a Virtual World COVID-19 Leads to Zoom Sessions and Remote Tours for Prospective Students Khushi Chhaya News Editor

Pooja Sanghvi Staff Writer

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andemic restrictions have forced another annual campus ritual into a virtual routine: the Greenhill admissions season.

The goal of the admissions process is to allow prospective students and their families to experience campus culture and make connections with Greenhill students and faculty. The various activities are designed to allow families to make an informed decision as to whether the school is a good fit for their student.

The admissions office offers information sessions, campus tours and panels featuring community members.

“Part of the magic of our school happens when we get people on campus and they get a sense of what it feels like,” Head of School Lee Hark said. “Lots of our students talk about how that feeling, that engagement and that personal touch is the number one thing that helps them make the decision of where they want to go to school.”

While the admissions application due date of December for Preschool and Lower School and January for Middle and Upper School has not changed, events that occur in those months have undergone major modifications due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Prospective families are absorbing what Greenhill has to offer from their own homes, as the information sessions and panel discussions are all on Zoom.

So far, the Zoom webinars have proven successful. Administrators say they have received positive feedback from many attending families regarding the convenience and effectiveness of the virtual format.

“I know that our admissions staff is working hard to make them as successful as they possibly can be, and to maintain as much of the Greenhill feel as they can,” Hark said. “They’ve been creative in reinventing all of that in an online or virtual platform.”

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The sense of everything having to be through a video, a website [or other] materials as opposed to that in-person experience is a really big thing for admissions.”

These online events are unique this year because of their increased accessibility to families relocating to the Dallas area. These families would normally have to leave school and work and physically travel to campus for admissions events. Sometimes families would miss out on information that might help them decide whether Greenhill is the best school for their family.

“It’s been nice for those out-of-towners to not feel so different,” Director of Admission Sarah Markhovsky said. “[They don’t] feel like they are coming from a deficit.”

Preschoolers and first graders are required to undergo collaborative academic testing (CATS). These psychological assessments are used to measure the learning capability of younger applicants. These tests are still in person because they are conducted at a doctor’s office with rigorous protocols, according to Associate Director of Admission for Preschool and Lower School Louise Thompson.

For Preschool and Lower School applicant interviews, parents are asked to film a sit-down with their child and send it to the school, rather than the admissions office trying to interview them virtually.

For Preschool, these interviews are used at all schools within the Independent Schools Admission Association of Dallas (ISAAD), so a family will only have to record one

Graphic by Sarah Luan

interview for applications to any school.

Lower, Middle and Upper School students applying to Greenhill must also take the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE). This year, the ISEE is offering an athome option so students can take the exam remotely with proctors from the ISEE board monitoring the test, Markhovsky said.

According to Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester, the biggest limitation has been the inability of families to come to campus and experience Greenhill in person.

Typically, Greenhill students volunteer to serve as Hill Guides, leading campus tours for prospective families. In other years, Middle and Upper School applicants have also shadowed a Greenhill student to experience a typical day.

“The shadow visit was the hardest part to change because that is such a valuable opportunity for prospective students,” Markhovsky said. “We are going to do student panels for students who’ve applied, which allows prospective students to ask questions of current students.”

The connection and energy achieved from a physical audience is also difficult to emulate in a virtual setting. The webinar format of online events means that communication is largely one-way: from the presenter to the audience, according to Worcester.

“I enjoy the energy of an audience

and being able to draw from that, whether it’s the questions they ask or even the acknowledgement when you say something, and you’re missing that when you’re doing it virtually,” Worcester said. “The sense of everything having to be through a video, a website [or other] materials as opposed to that in-person experience is a really big thing for admissions.”

A family’s income and socioeconomic

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Flexibility is going to be the key this year,” Thompson said. “Letting go of some of the things [committee members] have in our minds of what we always want to see, because we might not get to see that today.”

status are not part of the equation when evaluating a student’s application, but financial aid is often a deciding factor for students who otherwise couldn’t afford the cost of a Greenhill education, according to Markhovsky.

Greenhill’s admissions process is “needblind,” which means that only after a student is accepted is their financial need assessed and addressed, Markhovsky said.

The school does not provide merit- or athletic-based scholarships, so need is the only factor considered when allocating financial aid money.

“We are really lucky,” said Markhovsky.

“Most schools around the country can’t do that. Most colleges can’t do that. [Financial aid is] an incredibly important part of our process, that if a student is admitted, we want to be able to support them the best we can.”

Based on the application data thus far, Preschool and Lower School applications are on track for the same numbers as last year, said Thompson.

“In a pandemic like this, there are questions of whether families can’t afford or feel they can’t afford private school and so they might not apply,” said Markhovsky.

“I don’t know how many people are willing to make a change; they might just be really busy or distracted by all the things going on right now, or we could see more applications because maybe people aren’t happy with public schools.”

As the deadlines for all divisions approach, admissions administrators say they will continue to work around the obstacles presented by this year’s extraordinary circumstances.

“Flexibility is going to be the key this year,” Thompson said. “[And] letting go of some of the things [committee members] have in our minds of what we always want to see, because we might not get to see that today.”

Ever Evergreen Boxed In or Boxed Out?

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

the

Features

7

Lower School Reflects on Social and Emotional Learning While Distant

Photo courtesy of Karen Dzialowski

NO MORE SHARING: Two third graders work together on a partner assignment while sitting six feet apart within the bounds of their designated boxes, one of the many protocols implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, Lower School Students are no longer allowed to share materials, which has created additional challenges for teachers.

Lane Herbert Executive Editor

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n Preschool and Lower School classrooms, students sit at desks within six-foot-square borders.

They use their own materials and learning bins to avoid sharing items.

Excluding mask breaks, physical education and recess, the students spend their entire learning day within their designated square.

If students want to use a book or something else from another classroom, that item goes into quarantine before it can be used again.

Precautions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 have forced the suspension of traditional social and emotional learning practices that formed the foundation of prekindergarten and Lower School classes before the pandemic.

Now, students in prekindergarten through fourth grade are experiencing a very different learning environment.

“You’d be surprised [by] what’s going on down there,” Lower School science teacher Roger Charlebois said. “With the in-person kids, the desks are approximately six feet apart. We even took yellow tape and taped off to tell them ‘this is your box; you stay in this box.’ They each have their own whole set of materials, you know, tape, scissors and color pencils because technically, according to school policies, we’re not supposed to share anything.”

MindUP As part of Lower School policy, teachers implement social and emotional learning through a curriculum called MindUP. “MindUP really does focus on social and emotional learning, but also on the neuroscience principles so that students understand the purpose of the amygdala and other parts of the brain and their functions,” said Preschool and Lower School counselor Nicole Jones. “It really warms my heart to hear students learning about the brain and it is even better when they are able to use the vocabulary correctly to explain their emotions.”

In the past, MindUP has been implemented through collaborative work, group discussions and educational sessions on a variety of topics such as relationships, coping, anxiety and problem solving.

MindUP is supposed to give students the tools they need to work with others, handle conflict and develop strong relationships among peers.

If a teacher senses her students could use some guidance, they can build in an educational lesson on a topic of his or her choice or request support from the counselor. For example, teachers can create a lesson on friendship in response to conflict between friend groups or a lesson on coping mechanisms in response to anxiety.

Director of Social and Emotional Learning Shanti Majefski believes that it is more important to focus on the social and emotional learning process as a tool to bridge gaps and create connection.

“Pre-COVID, while we focused on relationships and connection, there were many other things that often took priority,” said Majefski. “During this pandemic, relationships, connection and safety are what we are focused on. Of course, content is important, but the connection and relationships are key. All learning is social and all learning is emotional.”

Adjustments to the schedule and curriculum have been implemented as teachers balance at-home classes, or learning cohorts, and in-person classes. The schedule this year has also been different.

The Lower School has three academic classes instead of four, and the amount of academic learning has decreased, according to Lower School literacy teacher Karen Dzialowski.

“Between our hourlong classes, we feel like we have to be able to take them outside when there’s good weather to take their mask off, to walk around, and to go run a little bit because otherwise they’re in the classroom in their chairs for their learning period,” Dzialowski said.

Forming Connections In the Science Department, Charlebois

says that managing learning cohorts and the in-person classes has been a challenge.

“I don’t really have enough materials, especially to do any kind of complicated experiments or stuff to send home,” Charlebois said. “That really puts a damper on things. I’ve kind of had to shift to doing a lot more demonstration that the at-home kids can see.”

Social and emotional learning is integrated into all aspects of learning.

Building connections, according Majefski, is how students learn best. This year, building those connections has been a new challenge. For the Preschool and Lower School students, Majefski has noticed that building the skills to read nonverbal body language, such as smiling through the eyes, has become key to establishing connection.

“A lot of adults are concerned about academics,” said Majefski. “What is this going to do to our kids? From my perspective, if we are able to integrate the social-emotional components into all that we do, and have a strong sense of safety, connection, relationships, and a sense of belonging, then the academic skills, they’re going to come.”

Struggling, Thriving Teachers and counselors alike have noticed physical conflicts between students are at an all-time low.

“That’s largely because they’re not having the close social interactions at lunch and especially at recess,” said Dzialowski.

“At the same time, the kids aren’t getting the opportunity to work through the conflict and the drama, which is part of being the Lower School student.”

In prekindergarten and kindergarten, teachers Sari Pogorzelski and Greg Browne-Nichols have noticed that teachers and students have been able to establish community through technology.

Pogorzelski noted that childhood research points away from using technology in the classroom. However, given the circumstances, they have used technology to create a community for the in-person and at-home learners.

“Early childhood educational research across the last 35 years has found that young children learn best when they’re physically touching manipulatives or physically touching paint,” Pogorzelski said. “It’s hand to head, the phrase we use. Children learn best from their hand to their head.”

According to Majefski, Greenhill has room to grow in how they engage athome learners in comparison to in-person learners when focusing on social and emotional learning.

“In terms of your question of at-home versus in-person learning, I think it’s very individual,” Majefski said. “Some kids are really thriving with at-home learning and some kids are really struggling with it. And the opposite is true also. Some people are really thriving when they’re on campus for in-person learning with the safety protocols we have in place. While other kids are really struggling with structures and protocols in place related to COVID.” According to Browne-Nichols and Pogorzelski, their students have been adapting well to change and are just happy to be back in the classroom.

“The amazing thing about children, specifically young children, is how resilient they are,” Pogorzelski said. “In terms of social-emotional learning, they’re just happy to be in school, and they don’t know anything different.”

While many aspects of life have changed this year, the energy from the students has not.

“One of the things I have really enjoyed this year is looking at the kids on the playground and watching how happy they are as they’re running around and playing all these creative and imaginary plays,” Browne-Nichols said. “This really helps us as teachers knowing there could be so much going on in the world, but our little friends are still happy, and they’re still enjoying school and I think that’s one of the most important things that we could ever hope for.”

Ever Evergreen Hanging Out During the Holidays

8 Features

the

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Students Get Creative and Find Ways to Gather During the Holidays

Graphic by Sarah Luan

Saara Bidiwala

Associate Editor

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s COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise, Greenhill families are finding original ways to replicate past traditions and celebrations without compromising their health.

In a typical year, the campus community celebrates a wide variety of holidays, from Christmas to Kwanzaa to Chinese New Year to Diwali, to name a few.

“Greenhill, particularly through the portals of affinity groups, seeks to affirm important rituals and experiences (holidays, holy days, etc.), especially for our students,” Director of Equity and Inclusion Marcus Ingram wrote in an email interview.

The plurality of cultures represented in the student body, faculty and administration is an integral part of the Greenhill experience, said Head of School Lee Hark.

“Oftentimes, the celebrations that we have are inclusive of multiple faith traditions or family traditions at once,” Hark said. “Religious diversity and families’ faith traditions are a really important part of the diversity of Greenhill, and we try to reinforce that through the different programs we have.”

Faculty and staff members particularly relish partaking in holiday celebrations organized by the school’s affinity groups and clubs.

During past Diwali celebrations, for example, parents brought traditional Indian clothing for the faculty to wear.

Upper School Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Sonja Hayes described one such celebration during which a mom dressed her in traditional South Asian attire and explained the Diwali traditions to her.

“Every year I always look forward to that because I always want to know more to make sure I am respectful of the holidays and the culture,” Hayes said.

For senior Pearson Brooks, Greenhill’s inclusion efforts allows students to share treasured family holiday traditions with their peers and teachers at school.

This year, the pandemic has curtailed campus festivities. School celebrations have been delayed in some cases or shifted to virtual programs in others.

For example, this year’s campus Diwali celebration was reduced to a Teams call during which students shared the significance of the holiday and how it is observed.

The tradition of setting up a Diwali display and parents bringing Indian attire for faculty to wear was suspended because of COVID-19 concerns.

Off campus, families are having to rethink the way that they celebrate and congregate. As COVID-19 continues to claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone, people are searching for ways to keep their families and friends closer, not further away.

Junior Kayla Rutner experienced this longing firsthand. One of her family members contracted the virus, and she was unable to visit him during his time of need, Rutner said.

“I would probably give my right arm to be able to see some of my family and friends again,” Rutner said. “It’s put a lot of things into perspective.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is discouraging large gatherings while encouraging people to avoid holiday travel this year.

Holiday travel and family gatherings raise the risk of COVID-19 transmission—a fact that concerns Greenhill administrators.

“I don’t know so much that I’m concerned about travel specifically as much as the kinds of activities that people might be engaged in that have proven to be very effective at spreading the virus,” Hark said.

For the first week of school after Thanksgiving break, the school held only remote classes to reduce the coronavirus transmission risks of holiday-related travel and gatherings.

As far as how the holidays might affect plans to bring most students back to campus in January, Hark says that the school is monitoring the situation and will make changes if the need arises.

Due to increased travel restrictions and safety precautions put into place to stop the spread of the virus, many Greenhill families plan to stay close to home over the Winter Break.

Senior Clarissa Smith says that her family is keeping festivities low-key this year because they don’t want to risk putting other loved ones in harm’s way.

“This year, I don’t think we’re going to have anybody over because of COVID-19,” said Smith. “It’s just going to be me, my brother and my parents.”

Brooks and his family have decided not to travel this

year but are trying to include his older family members in the celebrations. They spent the Thanksgiving holiday at home instead of traveling to Florida as they usually do.

With COVID-19 limiting family gatherings, community members say the experience has brought them closer to the people living in their household.

“The pandemic has made me appreciate my time with [my parents] more,” senior Drewv Desai said. “Spend the most time with your family before it’s too late.”

Upper School basketball coach Joey Sims reflected on how the crisis has underscored the importance of family.

“There’s just a new appreciation [for them] as you’re seeing people die from the virus,” Sims said. “It just makes you appreciate having a family to be close to.”

Still, people are getting creative to try to keep the holiday spirit alive during the pandemic and to connect with family who they are unable to visit.

Desai and Brooks have kept connected with their extended family through Zoom calls, texts and social media.

“With my younger cousins, we talk anyway, either by text or via social media,” Brooks said.

Hayes, the equity and inclusion coordinator, says she is finding creative ways to communicate with her family and friends that do not involve a screen. Hayes believes that it’s all about “the little things that will bring somebody joy”. “[The pandemic] has really [forced] me to be more creative,” said Hayes. “I bought cards, and if a student came across my mind, I would write them a card and send it to them in the mail. I’m continuing to do little things like that.”

In the midst of all of the holiday celebrations, Greenhill faculty and administration are urging students and families to exercise caution out of compassion and respect for fellow community members.

“Everybody needs to do their part and take precautions so that we can stop the upward trend of cases,” Sims said. “Hopefully, this spike flattens out, and we can get back to life as normal.”

Ultimately, for Smith, it’s all about striking a balance between safety and emotional well-being.

“There’s always a safe way to do things,” Smith said.

“If [things are not safe], find another way.”

Special Report

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Remote Learning Reveals Inequities

Photo illustration by Jung Min Yean

LEARNING LIABILITIES: Many at-home students say they face challenges that put them at a disadvantage during the pandemic. Teachers have also noticed the differences in class participation between remote learners and in-person students. “It’s like some kind of barrier is preventing them from speaking,” Upper School English teacher Andrew Mercurio said.

Jothi Gupta

Online Editor-in-Chief

Mila Nguyen

Online Arts and Entertainment Editor

Victor Le

Online Science and Technology Editor

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n September, when Uday Narayanan was given the choice of resuming inperson classes or remaining at-home in the Greenhill learning model initiated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Upper School senior found the choice easy.

“Seeing how the cases in Texas were managed, it didn’t seem satisfactory for me,” Narayanan said. “My mom is immunocompromised, I figured it was safer to work from home.”

As families decide whether they want their students to return to in-person classes in January, they are facing hard decisions: return to campus, and face a heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 and potentially exposing vulnerable family members to a deadly disease; or choose the safer remote learning option and the more challenging learning environment that entails, students and faculty said.

For Narayanan, staying with remote learning has been the right choice for his family. Still, he finds it difficult to learn as well at home as opposed to a classroom, and he encounters challenges that in-person students don’t face.

“The most egregious example is in Vector Calculus,” Narayanan said. “The camera quality can be a little bad sometimes. It can be hard to copy down what is on the board.”

Teachers, too, notice the differences in class participation that at-home and inperson learners exhibit.

“Kids who have been really active one week come home and it’s suddenly harder for them to talk, and students who have been quiet online come in and are more inclined to engage,” Upper School English teacher

Andrew Mercurio said. “It’s like some kind of barrier is preventing them from speaking.”

This problem is not exclusive to the Upper School. Middle and Lower School students can also be less inclined to participate if they attend class through a screen, teachers said.

“I have a son in Middle School and a daughter in Lower School, and both of my children seem to be more engaged. They feel better being on campus than remote,” Mercurio said. “My children would struggle if we went back to remote learning.”

Confronting Deficiencies The drawbacks of remote learning became apparent to Greenhill students, faculty and administrators last spring, when the expanding pandemic led the school to suspend in-person classes on March 13.

After a summer of reflection and analysis, Greenhill administrators began the 2020-2021 school year with efforts to address some of the deficiencies that came to light.

“What Greenhill does that most other schools don’t is that the school actively tries to make sure that at-home and in-person learners are truly equal,” said Director of Academics Jason Yaffe. “Most other schools will provide an at-home option but try to nudge you to going back to physical classes.”

This sentiment is communicated clearly to teachers, who have taken measures to ensure that at-home learners can access the same resources and opportunities as inperson learners.

“One of the things we’ve done for the ninth and 11th grades is to give them little physics kits,” Upper School physics teacher Michael Haskins said. “When we are in class and I have a lab activity, I will tell them to pull out their kits and make a model. It has worked so well that some students returning to in-person bring the kits with them instead of using normal equipment.”

Teachers have also come up with a few

techniques to draw out at-home learners from their online shells, including having a time exclusively for at-home learners to participate “I like to treat at-home and in-person learners as two groups,” said Haskins, “I ask if anyone in the class has questions or comments, and then I will turn to the camera and say ‘anything from at-home learners?’”

Socioeconomic Factors Socioeconomic inequities also factor into education quality during the pandemic.

Some families can’t afford highspeed internet service. Other families have multiple children trying to learn in the same space or young children who need care while older children are trying to attend online classes.

“There is one instance I’m aware of where there’s a student who lives in an apartment complex and has to go to a communal area for Wi-Fi,” Upper School English teacher Blake Harkey said.

During the spring, Greenhill established a fund for families struggling with everyday necessities as a result of COVID-19.

Additionally, 10% of financial aid is being used to defray the costs of extra needs such as books, required sports gear and, in some cases, internet access, said Director of Financial Aid Amy deBorst.

“She is the one responsible for contacting at-risk families eligible for the COVID Relief Fund, in part to help fund some of those needs, in order to close some gaps,” Head of School Lee Hark said. “Talking to her, I have gotten the feeling that many of the families have gotten what they need.”

Despite these efforts, some Greenhill students have experienced firsthand the pandemic’s financial upheaval. One student described how they were forced to transfer to a public high school because of their family’s pandemic-related budget difficulties, and the educational and emotional impact triggered by this change. The student agreed to be

named, but The Evergreen has decided not to reveal their identity to protect the family’s privacy.

Finding Focus Greenhill’s hybrid learning model of the past four months, with students at school one week and at home the next, has made learning more difficult, some students say.

“I learn more at school than I do at home,” said senior Matias Henry. “When I am at home, it is a lot harder to stay engaged because I am not actually present in the class. It is difficult when there are technological issues that cause me to miss chunks of lessons or when I can’t find times to jump into a discussion like I would at school.”

Henry doesn’t have anyone in his immediate family with health issues, which allows him to attend in-person classes without the added concern of exposing a vulnerable loved one to COVID-19.

“I know that there are families that have members that are immunocompromised,” Henry said. “I definitely think that I have a privilege over those people because I am able to learn at school without the worry of seriously risking the life of someone in my family.”

Senior Ava Markhovsky, however, has a family member who is immunocompromised and has been intensely quarantining since March.

“It was easier in terms of mindset when everybody was at home because you didn’t feel ‘othered,’” Markhovsky said. “The day I felt the worst was when all the seniors came to school because there were certain classes where I was one of two people at home, and that stung.”

Similarly, Uday Narayanan is also an athome learner, because his mother is immunocompromised.

“It is more on me to focus and to make sure I get everything,” Narayanan said. “It would be a lot easier if I was sitting and a teacher was right in front of me.”

Graphic by Raag Venkat

Everg Ever the

10 Leah Nutkis Editor-in-Chief

Diane Lin

Views Editor

Emma Nguyen

Associate Editor

It’s the middle of the night during the third week of December, the week when the nerve-wracking ritual reaches its peak: colleges revealing the fate of early-decision applications submitted by high school seniors.

For many seniors, it’s a moment of joy and relief: a ticket to their dream school.

For others, it’s a moment of heartbreak and anguish: their first college rejection, perhaps the first rejection of any sort that some high-achievers have ever experienced.

Whatever the outcome, it’s the culmination of years of work: endless hours of homework, allnighters, test-prep, SAT-Saturdays, extracurriculars and volunteer hours.

While the college application process reaches its crescendo in senior year, many students have been engaged in this quest for years.

It’s a quest with many common qualities and universal elements. And yet, among the 118 students of the Class of 2021, there are 118 unique college experiences.

“It’s a very individualized process for each student,” CoDirector of College Counseling Jenny Fisher said. “There are certain mileposts we want students to meet, but there is variation in how they meet them.”

This difference in process poses the question: how are Greenhill students preparing for the college admissions process as they progress through Upper School?

Freshman Year The start of the college admissions journey begins in the freshman year for most students.

The year is structured to build the foundation of a student’s academic journey through high school. Instead of getting into the nitty-gritty details of college applications, such as where to apply or preparing for standardized tests, the aim is to acclimate the student into the high school environment and begin building an academic record, according to Greenhill college counseling’s calendar.

Freshman Helina Tedros describes her year thus far as focused on curriculum and opportunities available rather than college.

Tedros is new to Greenhill and says she believes the strong curriculum will help her build a stable foundation when she begins applying to colleges. She also sees unique electives like Latin as giving Greenhill students an edge.

“As a freshman, everything I would need at this point has been presented to me,” Tedros said.

Freshman Tia Chatterjee says she would like to be learning more about college admissions this year to understand the process better, but most of the preparation at this point is self-initiated. Her primary focus is on her studies, but she is also doing some test preparation, she said.

“The biggest thing this year is just not to slack off and build a good work ethic,” Chatterjee said.

Though freshman year is more hands-off than the other grades, the college counseling office sends out newsletters and a detailed timeline, as well as holds an informational evening program to help parents and students understand the timeline of how the process will unfold in the years ahead.

“We don’t send a lot out in ninth grade because there’s almost nothing relevant for students to do for college,” Fisher said. “Students’ interests and strengths should be the things that guide the college process, not colleges guiding students’ strengths and interests.”

Sophomore Year For sophomores, October provides a taste of what’s to come in the years ahead. That’s when students take the PSAT, the precursor of the standardized tests that have traditionally played a prominent role in the admissions process.

College counselors begin to meet with student advisories and host a College Night where both parents and students can learn more about the process.

Information on study-away programs is offered during class meetings. An option to take the practice ACT becomes available in winter as well.

Co-Director of College

Counseling Keith Todd says this year is one where there are a few additional milestones in terms of college applications.

“But they won’t be as universal or as many of them when you get to 11th or 12th grade,” he added.

The interaction between sophomores and college counseling is more frequent. Additionally, sophomores are assigned a specific college counselor with whom they will be working for the rest of high school.

Sophomore Ahmed Agha says the course rigor and material covered at Greenhill feels like it prepares him for what lies ahead.

The biggest boon is the clubs and fine arts, though.

“I think other extracurriculars have definitely helped me,” Agha said.

Sophomore Shreeya Madhavanur agrees.

“The speech and debate program has been essential to me to create the relationships and develop the courage and confidence necessary to face these challenges,” she said.

The opportunities allow each student to cultivate their individual voice, which is crucial in the college admissions process.

Madhavanur says the school’s wide variety of clubs has allowed her to explore interests and passions that have helped her understand herself.

“Colleges are looking for unique voices and stories,” Madhavanur added. “Express where your interests lie.”

Sophomore year finds the pressure beginning to build.

Both Agha and Madhavanur say they have felt pressured by the increasing importance placed on college admissions.

“There’s a lingering fear that I may be behind—this feeling that you have to be vigilant and pressing on the gas a little bit in terms of college preparation,” Agha said.

Todd says the college counseling schedule is adjusted according to how students develop mentally, allowing room for student experimentation.

“Some students may begin to want to do individual exploration of colleges, but it’s still a point where we want to see where you’re going before we have more formal discussions and decisions about the college list,” Todd said.

Junior Year Junior year has the reputation of being the hardest for high school students, and along with the increased course rigor is an escalation in preparations for college applications.

“The college process builds through all four years,” Todd said. “But it certainly begins to culminate in junior year when we begin to focus more specifically on choosing colleges and beginning the application process.”

The counselors kick off the college search process in earnest starting in the second semester of

lot of people put more weight on it than they should,” Williams said.

“It can make or break your application if you’re a very “on the fence” applicant, but it’s not going to be the deciding factor in every application.”

Greenhill’s college counseling supports Williams’ sentiment.

In contrast to other factors to measure academic skills, colleges don’t take standardized test scores as the primary measurement, Fisher said.

“If you’re thinking about the academic indicators for colleges— grades, curriculum, standardized

College

Inside the Quest that Consu junior year, Co-Director of College Counseling Randy Mills said.

Among the highlights is a family conference with the student’s counselor in late winter or spring.

“All of the juniors and their parents are given a big questionnaire in December,” Fisher said. “That’s what jump starts our setting up one-on-one meetings with all of the juniors.”

Another subject addressed early in the junior year is standardized testing. Students take the PSAT as sophomores and again as juniors, a final dress rehearsal for students to take the SAT or ACT at some point later in the year.

“We offer an optional practice ACT in December for sophomores and juniors,” Mills said. “But we don’t encourage sophomores to focus energies on extensive test preparation.”

Standardized tests aren’t as critical in the process as some students think, senior Oli Williams said.

“It’s an important part, but a

testing—standardized testing has always been the distant third,” Fisher said. “It is less important now than it ever has been.”

Senior Year The pace of the application process reaches a peak in a student’s senior year. Among the final pieces in the puzzle are recommendation letters and personal essays.

While teacher recommendations are due to the college counseling office by Oct. 1, students must submit their request forms for recommendation letters near the end of their junior year.

Students request two academic letters of recommendation. A small number of students will also ask for a third, non-core recommendation; however, only some students want or need a third recommendation.

“It’s definitely best to pick teachers who you think you’ve made a good impression on or who teach a subject similar to what you might major in,” senior Coryell Smith said.

Letters of recommendation are often seen as a way to give colleges a look into a student’s

green

character from an outsider perspective.

“The teacher’s letter of recommendation is supposed to be a focused narrative describing a student’s work in a particular academic discipline,” Fisher said.

“If a student chooses a math teacher—how has the student done in math? How do they approach difficult problems? Are they curious? Are they asking a lot of questions? Are they going above and beyond the responsibilities in the course?”

Upper School English teacher Andrew Mercurio wants his recommendation letters to pique

Wednesday, December 16, 2020 to all of the colleges they’re applying to using the Common App, while supplemental essays are submitted to specific colleges. “[Essays] are the one place where students can share who they are and what they care about,” Fisher said. “The main essay is not nearly as important as students and parents think. It’s not going to be the thing that changes an administrator’s decision.”

Work on the essays actually begins for some students during the summer before the senior year, when Greenhill’s college counseling office offers a college essay workshop where students

e Bound

umes Upper School Students the interest of a college.

“I want admissions officers to get to know these students through my letters, and then want to know more about them,” Mercurio said.

Greenhill college counselors weigh in with their own letter. “[College counselors] write what is considered the school’s letter of recommendation,” Fisher said. “And that’s a really comprehensive letter—it’s probably the longest letter. The primary purpose of the school’s letter is to talk about who that student is academically, extracurricularly and personally, and to put them in context for an admissions committee.”

Simultaneously, seniors are advocating for themselves by writing personal essays. If a senior is using the Common Application (Common App), they submit a main essay

can brainstorm possible topics and begin to write under the guidance of a Greenhill English teacher.

Fisher says the college-specific supplemental essays are more important than the Common App essay that goes out to all colleges on a student’s list.

“If there are more important essays, it would be a college’s own supplemental work,” Fisher said.

“Because that’s what they’re really looking for—authentic engagement with the institution.”

Seniors must also finish finalizing their list of colleges to which they intend to apply.

“Essentially, I thought about what I might want out of a college—size, areas of strength,

major options, et cetera—and my college counselor gave me a list of schools to look at,” Smith said. “I sifted through this list and made note of what schools jumped out at me.”

While some Greenhill students don’t have to worry about the cost of college, the availability of financial aid is an important consideration for many students as they prepare their college applications.

By the early fall, students are navigating a tangle of guidelines, rules and deadlines for their applications.

One of the most crucial decisions facing seniors is the time and process of applying. While there are different fall options available, the two most common seniors consider are early decision (ED) and early action (EA). While EA applications are non-binding, ED applications are binding. This means that if an ED application is accepted by a school, a student is contractually obligated to attend.

Students who decide to apply early decision or early action typically have a November deadline for submission of application materials. By contrast, regular decision deadlines are generally in January. However, like with a majority of the college process, the date of an application deadline varies from school to school.

Many Greenhill students choose to apply ED to a college.

And then the wait begins.

For early-decision applicants, Dec. 15 is the date that takes on huge importance. That’s when a large number of colleges choose to release their ED results.

For many early-decision applicants, mid-December is a time period that takes on huge importance, as while many colleges release ED decisions from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24, many reveal their decisions in the middle of the month.

Mid-December For many seniors, midDecember is a time of hope and tension as they anxiously await letters of acceptance to their early decision choice. For some students, the letter of their dreams never comes. “[When I think about Dec. 15], stressed is the first word [that comes to mind],” Smith said. “I just try my best to not think about Dec. 15 to be frank.”

If a student is rejected from the school that they applied early to, the next common date to hear back from schools is late March— an agonizing three months with no information, and nothing to do but wait and hope.

As Dec. 15 looms once again, many seniors simply want the process to be over.

“I wish [my ED school] could have told me [if I got in] right after I applied, because I’m just tired and done,” senior Ria Subramanian said. “Reject me, accept me, just tell me something. I just want [the decision] to be here now so that I’ll know something.”

The stress is exacerbated by a competitive culture that has transformed the private notifications into a subject of speculation and gossip.

“With this toxic college

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culture that we have that’s super competitive—or, if not competitive, overly curious—people are just going to infringe on other people’s boundaries,” Williams said. “Some people are going to be left feeling bad; some people are going to make people feel bad on purpose and some people are going to make people feel bad on accident.”

But along with the anguish are acts of kindness of friendship.

“One time, one of my thensenior friends had an unfortunate decision come out in the middle of the night, so a bunch of us went over to his house and threw a miniparty where we ate ice cream and played video games,” Subramanian said. “He was really down before that, but afterwards I felt like he cheered and moved on.”

With Dec. 15 and the days surrounding it looming over the Class of 2021 in a year that has already been stressed and distorted by the COVID-19 pandemic, some seniors are preparing for their very first decisions, leading to an overall feeling of tension that permeates the Upper School.

As grueling as the process is, History Department chair Amy Bresie ’96 says there is light at the end of the tunnel for every student.

“The thing I always say to people is that it works out,” Bresie said. “Not one time have I seen people graduate and not have an exciting, awesome future planned.

Ride it out, have a little faith, and there’s something good waiting for you, even if it’s not the good that you could possibly imagine right now.”

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Arts

Scene by Scene

Advanced Video Production’s Journey to South by Southwest Film Festival

Photo courtesy of Jessica Herlitz

Photo courtesy of Kati Gibson

SETTING UP THE SHOT: An Advanced Video Production team prepares to film a scene as the South by Southwest deadline approaches.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: After months of brainstorming and perfecting scripts, AVP students spend early December filming and editing as their creations come together.

Sarah Luan

issue of getting good sound because of lawnmowers and planes flying overhead, which was kind of annoying, but we’re working it out.”

Managing Editor

Isabel Martinez

Arts Editor

I

t’s an annual December ritual for the students of Advanced Video Production (AVP): the frantic rush to complete and edit and polish films, then upload them by the 11:59 p.m. deadline for entries to the prestigious South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival.

This year’s deadline fell on Dec. 10, capping a strange and challenging fall semester for Greenhill AVP students.

“It’s the coolest feeling when they’re submitting the films,” Middle School and Upper School Visual Art teacher Corbin Doyle said. “It’s like a cathartic effect where people are crying and upset and overjoyed and the proudest I’ve ever seen them, because they finished this thing and made it all themselves and put it out there in the world.”

Advanced Video Production is a yearlong course that is the pinnacle of the Greenhill film program. The highlight for many students is the South by Southwest deadline.

AVP students start each year by brainstorming and crafting films to enter in the festival’s Texas High School Shorts category. Doyle’s students have had great success in this competition, with 51 films accepted in the last 12 years, including four last year.

Writing and Filming SXSW is one of the big three North American film festivals and the only one that accepts high school films. Though the event normally takes place in Austin, the festival was moved online in March amid the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. It will be held online again in March 2021.

Following months of brainstorming and perfecting scripts, late November and early December is crunch time for students as they film and edit to finally bring their ideas to life.

In past years, students worked individually. This year, Doyle decided to put the students in groups in hopes that they might create more crafted and complete films.

Seniors Kati Gibson and Sheela Vasan, junior Claudia Hurst and sophomore Taylor Levy worked together on a film that draws inspiration from the im-

agery in Harry Potter and Narnia. Their film is about a lonely girl who wants to find a friend.

“All four of us kind of wanted to go with something open-ended,” said Gibson, a returning AVP student. “Last year, my film was very scripted and thought out, so I wanted to go the opposite route and get a bunch of feedback from everyone else and include their input.”

Like Gibson, Hurst is also a returning student in the class this year. She made her own film for SXSW last year and remembers it being a more tedious process, especially since she still didn’t have much experience. This year, she looks forward to working in groups so that everyone can contribute and gain knowledge from other people’s strengths.

“It was definitely challenging for me, especially because I didn’t have a lot of experience in most of the things that I was trying to accomplish,” Hurst said.

“I definitely think that it’s good to work with groups and rely on other people because everybody can bring their own strengths into the project.”

Looming Deadline As the deadline loomed, each group had to be efficient with every aspect of the filmmaking process.

“From the end of November to December, it happens so quickly,” Hurst said. “The editing of the film is definitely the hardest thing to budget your time for, especially because you can spend hours editing and not even realize how much time has gone by.”

Gibson and Hurst both remember staying after school last year to finish working on their films. Sometimes this involved staying up late, but Gibson values the sense of community that brought them together in the AVP room.

“Everyone was so high-energy and they were all helping each other and wanting to get things done,” Gibson said.

“We had snacks and drinks out, so it felt like we were pulling an all-nighter, but it was fun and everyone was very helpful.”

The group encountered some minor difficulties and setbacks in filming this year, putting them a bit behind schedule as Dec. 10 approached.

“I think it looks really good so far and the sound effects sound good, so I’m excited,” Gibson said as the deadline neared. “There was originally an

Extended Family As students soon discover, the extended AVP family extends far beyond their classroom. Doyle routinely asks alumni to help current students with their films.

“I have a Facebook group that’s only for arts and film alums, so I reached out to them and they sent letters,” said Doyle. “All the newbies got letters from multiple-year AVP alums and current returning AVP [students]. It’s cool just because there are people that have been there for three years that are helping the new people, and that’s pretty beautiful.”

Senior Joshua Flowers and junior Charlotte Brown, both returning AVP students, partnered on a film this year.

It’s a comedic film focusing on three characters preparing for a big tennis match.

In a normal year, the South by Southwest Film Festival attracts thousands of people from different parts of the industry. It’s a great way to form connections outside of the high school film world, Brown said.

“South by Southwest is kind of like a small portal into the film world beyond just high school,” Brown said. “Even if your film doesn’t get in, you can still go and talk to these really successful filmmakers and get some advice.”

Flowers admits that working on these films is definitely not an easy task.

He believes that the hardest part about managing time is setting a date to film and sticking to that plan.

“It involves a lot of late nights staying up, writing scripts, planning scenes and coming up with shots for the short list,” Flowers said. “You can do all that pre-production stuff at like 1 a.m. in the morning and update your film at ungodly hours. But when you’re actually shooting, it has to be more specific because you have to have your actors. If you’re outside lighting is a big thing and weather is important too.”

Even if their film doesn’t get into the festival, Flowers believes that he’ll gain many skills from this experience.

From last year’s film, he learned how to create more interesting characters and

improved his editing skills. As a photographer, he also found how those skills could help with his filmmaking.

“I definitely feel like, with every film I make, I grow as a creator,” Flowers said. “I do a lot of photography, but not a lot of films, so learning how to translate photography skills into crafting shots on the camera was very interesting.”

“The Coolest Feeling” The dynamic of each of these groups brings each of the films together. Many of this year’s groups were composed of friends, which can help smooth out the filmmaking process.

“It’s a lot of work creating these films,” sophomore Chancey Stefanos said. “You have to completely dedicate yourself to it on top of all of your schoolwork and extracurriculars. It’s always really hard to balance it all out.”

Because there is so much to get done, Doyle has a policy when it comes to how students should divide up their schoolwork and their AVP work that students must follow.

“Mr. Doyle says if we have an 80-minute class, he wants 80 minutes of work outside of class, like talking to your partner and doing whatever you need for your home,” Brown said. “So honestly, right now I’m doing like 80 minutes on top of my other homework.”

The work pays off, as Greenhill is empirically the most successful high school that participates in South by Southwest. According to Doyle, no other school, production company or group has gotten as many films accepted into the festival as Greenhill.

“We have the most acceptances out of all the schools,” Stefanos said. “So really South by Southwest is the biggest accomplishment that we as a Texas high school can really make.”

Doyle says he thinks he knows why his students have excelled at South by Southwest.

“The secret is our voice,” Doyle said. “I think that’s why AVP has had such a good run, because then all I do is talk about how it has to be about them.

Even if the product isn’t the best, if you do the process right and connect with it yourself, it’s the coolest feeling.”

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Evergreen Ever the

Arts

13

From the Classroom to the Gallery

Former Arts Instructor and Alumna Valerie Gillespie ’98 Creates “An Art Haven” Ria Agarwal Staff Writer

Emma Rikalo Staff Writer

V

alerie Gillespie’s passion for arts education has been at the center of her life and career for a long time.

But with the opening of the Pencil on Paper Gallery about 18 months ago, the 1998 Greenhill alumna and former Fine Arts faculty member has taken her passion to new heights.

The gallery, which she founded with her husband Emmanuel Gillespie, allows visitors to learn about art while enjoying it. It offers exhibitions as well as studio art classes for all ages and skill levels.

Gillespie’s love of art began when she was a student at Greenhill. She came under the influence of art teacher Marilu Gruben, who taught drawing and painting at Greenhill for two decades.

“She believed in me when I didn’t think I could draw,” Gillespie said. “She taught me how to draw and paint. She would often take me to her studio and all of her art shows. I watched her grow as an artist when I was a little kid, and in turn, I grew because of her guidance.”

Those experiences inspired Gillespie to pursue a career as an artist and an educator.

Her career path eventually led her back to Greenhill as a teacher.

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I’m hoping that when they leave class, they’re like ‘Oh! that was so much fun! I want it to be more of a release and more of a space where it is just about the arts and enjoying the creative process.

Gillespie taught art to lower and middle school students, and quickly proved herself to be a valuable addition to the campus fine arts community.

“Her passion for arts education is unsurpassed,” Head of Fine Arts Terry Martin said. “While at Greenhill, she had a great desire to push the school along in terms of our mission of diversity and inclusivity.”

While she was teaching at Greenhill, Gillespie often focused projects on furthering classroom discussions about diversity and inclusivity. She showed students how they could incorporate these elements into their art, Martin said.

An example was a Lower School art

project where the students painted one big portrait which incorporated different skin colors throughout the student body. It was a way of providing an open environment for her students, one in which they could feel comfortable expressing their opinions in art.

Gillespie made these discussions a routine part of her lessons.

“I think she opened a lot of students’ minds to what art can be and in her teaching students to be very expressive with their artistic point of view,” said Martin.

With the Pencil on Paper Gallery, Gillespie infused this spirit in supporting artists through education and exhibitions that shine a spotlight on their work.

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Her passion for education and arts education is really unsurpassed in any of the teachers that I have come across in a really long time.”

Gillespie says she wanted to create a space where anyone could have a positive artistic experience, both as a student and as a visitor.

“I’m hoping that when they leave class, they’re like ‘Oh! That was so much fun!’”

Gillespie said. “I want it to be more of a release and more of a space where it is just about the arts and enjoying the creative process.”

Gallery visitors have the opportunity to view exhibitions featuring a range of visual works from local artists. This includes events focused on singular artists, as well as open calls.

For these events, such as the gallery’s upcoming “How We See” exhibition, any artist is welcomed to submit a visual piece related to the chosen theme. A jury reviews submissions and selects those to be exhibited.

Gillespie says she wants her gallery to be “an art haven”–a place where people just enjoy being there and experiencing art from a whole range of artists. She wants it to be accepting, inviting and inclusive, so that visitors feel like they belong.

“I want anybody who steps through our doors to feel a sense of comfort,” Gillespie said.

Gillespie says that the gallery is still dedicated to pursuing these goals during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some limitations. Class sizes are smaller, and during exhibitions there is limited entry and advance appointments are required.

Photo courtesy of Valerie Gillespie ‘98

PENCIL ON PAPER: Former arts instructor and alumna Valerie Gillespie ‘98 developed a passion for art as a student at Greenhill. She and her husband Emmanuel opened the Pencil on Paper Gallery on Midway Road in Farmers Branch last year.

“It’s been a little bit rough on the business side, but I feel like it’s just in the best interest of our students that we do it this way for a while until everything just kind of calms down,” Gillespie said.

With hopes of expanding the gallery’s influence, Gillespie wants to hire more staff

to give new teachers the ability to grow as educators and to allow students to learn from a wider variety of people. She also hopes that she will be able to support and showcase the work of more artists.

“I feel like we’re creating a different lane that I’m excited about,” Gillespie said.

Photos courtesy of Valerie Gillespie ‘98

EYE-CATCHING: Visitors admire artwork at Valerie and Emmanuel Gillespie’s Pencil on Paper Gallery before the COVID-19 pandemic. The gallery hosts exhibitions featuring local artists. It also offers art workshops, classes and yoga for all ages. “I want anybody who steps through our doors to feel a sense of comfort,” Valerie Gillespie said.

14

Ever Evergreen A (VIRTUAL) MOVIE the

Arts

DINNER

&

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Evergreen Senior Staff Members Review “The Nightmare Before Christmas” Raag Venkat Editor-in-Chief

Lane Herbert Executive Editor

Sarah Luan

Managing Editor

Chloe Wetzler Backpage Editor

T

wo days after Thanksgiving, four friends gathered around their computer screens, snuggled in blankets and drank Christmas-themed drinks to watch “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

And oh boy, you could say it was a nightmare indeed.

Before we could start the movie, we needed to get in the spirit. Lane sported some holly-themed PJ’s, a shirt that said “Everyone Loves a Ginger” with a gingerbread man, and some homemade hot chocolate. Sarah quickly drove to Starbucks and left with a warm, peppermint hot cocoa and a snowman cookie. Chloe had the urge to try Chick-fil-A’s new peppermint chocolate chip milkshake.

Don’t worry, Chloe’s milkshake survived the car ride home.

We hopped on the Zoom call at 7 p.m. sharp, struggling to find out how to screenshare on different platforms. After 10 minutes of trial and error while Raag silently ate his Chipotle bowl, we finally landed on the movie of the night from Disney Plus: “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

We all muted ourselves to avoid hearing the gross chewing sounds that the microphone might pick up, so we couldn’t engage in our usual movie-theater chatter.

It was unusually quiet as the movie played.

The film follows the life of Jack Skellington, Halloweentown’s pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people on

Photo Illustration by Raag Venkat

Halloween.

“When will this song end?!” Raag texted as the movie started with the opening song, “This is Halloween.”

“I know right? It feels like they’ve been singing for forever,” Sarah replied.

One night, Jack accidentally stumbles on Christmastown, where he discovers a land full of bright colors, warm spirits and most importantly, presents. He decides that he wants to be a part of this world instead and plans to bring Christmas under his control by taking over the role of Santa Claus, or as he pronounces it: “Sandy Claws.” Jack tasks three Halloweentown citizens with keeping Santa safe, but they instead deliver him to Oogie Boogie, a gambling bogeyman who plays games with Santa’s life at stake.

While some scenes from the movie were light-hearted and kid-friendly, others were

unusual and creepy. One song was particularly aggressive about kidnapping Santa, while another scene showed Jack’s love interest, Sally, jumping from a tower to escape being held captive by a scientist.

Though the song lyrics were quite catchy, it didn’t sound very Christmas-y to us.

Jack, or the new “Sandy Claws,” begins to deliver presents around the world, but the Halloween-style gifts leave the children mortified. Jack realizes he isn’t meant for this role and that the only way to fix Christmas was by bringing the real Santa back.

Jack returns to Halloweentown and find’s Oogie’s lair. They have a duel to the death, which left us at the edge of our seats.

I mean, even Raag had his camera on, which is saying something.

“Jack attack!” Lane exclaimed. Of

course, she had to make a pun during the single most important scene of the whole movie.

Throughout his experiences in Christmastown, Jack’s love for Halloween was rekindled. He only realized how much he loved his own holiday and background until he entered a new space. The saying stands true: you don’t know how much you love something until you let it go.

Even though we couldn’t be there together, the virtual format was a fun, new way to experience “going to the movies.”

We all thought that the virtual experience didn’t match going to the movies physically, but it proves that there are innovative, enjoyable and safe ways to celebrate the holidays this year.

Sports

Numerous Protocols Address COVID-19 Concerns Facing Swim Team

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Photos by Lane Herbert

SWIMMERS CONFRONT COVID: A Greenhill swimmer, left, rushes to put on her mask after exiting the pool during a Dec. 9 meet won by the Hornets. Under new COVID-19 protocols, masks are required at all times unless the swimmer is in the water. While waiting to compete, swimmers are required to sit in chairs six feet apart to meet social-distancing guidelines.

Payton Blalock Staff Writer Emma Hoffman Staff Writer Ava Iwasko Staff Writer

T

he new COVID-19 rules greeted the Greenhill swimmers as soon as they stepped inside the Ginsburg Natatorium for the season’s first practice.

One entrance, one exit. No lockers.

Bathrooms off limits. And no post-workout showers.

All that even before the swimmers slid into the water.

It’s been the strangest of seasons for the swimmers thus far, with pervasive pandemic precautions and the threat of a quarantine or an abrupt end to the season a constant threat.

“I still think the season will be fun, even though there is uncertainty,” said senior captain Victoria Le. “We can still have fun as a team and enjoy it even if we don’t get all of our meets in.”

For Coach Patti Monzingo, the season is special for more personal reasons.

Monzingo has nine seniors, a majority of whom she has coached since first grade.

She says she hopes to get a season in so that her seniors can get the “last hoorah” that they deserve.

“We have an amazing high school and middle school team this year, on both the boys’ and the girls’ sides,” Monzingo said.

“All four of my swim teams are top-notch, so it’s very emotional.”

Safety Requirements The new safety protocols aimed at preventing COVID-19 infections have changed every aspect of the old practice and competition routines. Now that the adjustment period is over, Le says it doesn’t feel much different than it would in a normal year.

Club swimmers usually don’t practice with everyone else anyway, Le said, and without them most of the team members

can fit in the pool while maintaining social distancing.

Still, worries over a potential COVID-19 outbreak can be stressful, concedes senior captain Hannah Fox. “It is an important worry with swimming especially, because everyone is in the same water,” Fox said. “It’s really hard to keep separated when you’re in the same pool. If one of us does get COVID, then everyone’s going home for those two weeks.”

Some athletes in other campus sports have said that social-distancing requirements have slowed team bonding, but Fox says that really hasn’t been an issue for the swimmers.

“During practice we can still goof off, we still splash each other,” said Fox. “We can get to know each other during meets.

It’s relatively easy to connect with the new people.”

Connecting with new swimmers is one thing that Fox thinks has become increasingly important for her this year in her new role as a team captain.

“It feels a lot like being a big sister,” Fox said. “I have a responsibility, so I need to put that effort into making connections with new swimmers and the people I don’t know.”

Despite all the coronavirus concerns, winter sports seemed on track at Greenhill before the Thanksgiving break. But on the afternoon of Nov. 17, with COVID-19 cases surging in Dallas County and across the country, Director of Athletics and Physical Education Jarrett Shine announced that all after-school sports practices and games would be suspended from the following day through Nov. 29, the final day of the break.

The suspension of practices in late November further complicated the season for Monzingo’s swimmers. Because most swimmers do not have access to a pool as large as Greenhill’s, the coaches asked team members to add out-of-water workouts over the Thanksgiving break.

The turnout was less than what coaches and athletes hoped to see. Whether these missed workouts show up in competitive

results ahead is a concern for Fox and others on the team.

“Especially with those who are not on a club team, without prompting from a coach, a lot of people will not work out,” Fox said. “When you’re out of the water for two weeks, you lose that touch and it sets you back.”

Uncertain Season The roller-coaster season took another twist when the team’s first meet, set for Dec. 2, was canceled.

On Dec. 9, the Hornet swimmers finally saw action in a meet that was supposed to feature Bishop Lynch High School and Parish Episcopal School. Bishop Lynch withdrew from the meet, leaving Greenhill to face off against Parish.

The results were worth the wait: The Hornets won 17 of 22 races, highlighted by senior Theo Johnson breaking the school record in winning the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 59.65 seconds; Johnson also won the 50-yard freestyle. Other individual winners were: Josie Arbuckle, 100-yard butterfly; Oliver Feng, 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke: Hannah Fox, 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle; M.J. Ward, 100-yard butterfly; Diane Lin, 50-yard freestyle and Jackson Benners, 100yard freestyle.

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I still think the season will be fun, even though there is uncertainty. We can still have fun as a team and enjoy it even if we don’t get all of our meets in.”

The Greenhill girls amassed 102 points to 58 for Parish; the boys put up 119 points to 70 for Parish. Overall, Greenhill won the meet 221 to 128.

The meet, which was held without spectators but livestreamed, offered a glimpse of the COVID-19 protocols that will be applied throughout the season.

Teams are required to come dressed in

their swimsuits to avoid changing in locker rooms. Competitors and coaches are also required to enter and exit through specific doors. Swimmers were required to wear masks and be socially distanced while awaiting their races, and leave the pool immediately after finishing a race.

Normally, Greenhill’s natatorium can host meets with over 100 swimmers. Under the new restrictions, only 60 swimmers will be allowed to be in the natatorium during a meet.

To enforce the limits, Monzingo says she has had to rescind invitations for some teams that normally attend Greenhill meets.

“That’s a shame, because a lot of these teams don’t have other places that they can swim for meets,” Monzingo said. “They were really looking forward to being able to come to our pool.”

Championship Hopes For the swimmers, like other winter sports teams, the trajectory of the season remains uncertain. Team members don’t even know if they will be able to participate in the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC), something that swimmers aspire to qualify for every year.

“SPC is basically our championship meet, so if we can have some shape or form of that, whether it’s a reduced size or something, if we can swim our events for Greenhill, then I will be happy,” said Johnson, a senior captain. “That’s all I’m hoping for.”

Fox says that if the conference championship does take place, Greenhill swimmers will have the opportunity to do well.

“I’m excited because the girls relay has a chance to place at SPC, if that does happen this year,” Fox said.

Despite the uncertainties, the coaches and swimmers have remained positive about how the season will turn out.

“The team aspect of this sport isn’t really about just the swimming,” said Le. “So we can still find that in other ways.”

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Sports

the

Evergreen Ever

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Coaches and Athletes Welcome Resumption of Sports Performance Training Chloe Wetzler Backpage Editor Jack Trimmer Staff Writer

C

OVID-19 has forced changes to classroom instruction and campus social life. It’s also disrupted workouts for Greenhill athletes.

During the fall 2020 preseason, COVID-19 concerns limited access to the High Performance Center (HPC) and forced athletes to rely on home workouts using Microsoft Teams, Zoom and TeamBuildr.

Progress was monitored with fitness tracking devices like Fitbits. But the results clearly weren’t the same as if student-athletes were undergoing their typical HPC regimen, according to Director of Sports Performance Jessen Houston.

“Our contact time with athletes decreased significantly, and with decreased contact time, it’s virtually impossible to develop kids the way that’s best intended,” Houston said. “Nothing beats in-person sports performance training.”

As the fall season neared and teams became competition-ready, the HPC opened to teams with strict limitations. In order to follow the recommended health guidelines, teams were initially split up. Groups of no more than 15 went to the HPC while the others were outside, Houston said.

This HPC time consisted of 45 minutes of maintenance and injury prevention work.

Many teams did not always get to utilize this time.

“We lost a lot of time doing sports performance with athletes because a lot of coaches needed time on the field to teach kids the literacy of learning their sport, which was much different than what we used to do prior to COVID-19,” Houston said.

Despite the limited time many athletes have in the HPC, sports performance specialist Ramiro Mendez believes there are still some key things student-athletes can do to improve HPC sessions going forward.

“I’d like to say that the most important and crucial thing an athlete can do to improve from a sports performance standpoint is to have a championship attitude,” Mendez said. “Athletes are in complete control of the attitude and effort they bring to each remote or in-person workout.”

Mendez feels that the girls volleyball team represented this productive mindset well during the recently concluded fall season.

“I saw great increases in lower body power from the start of the volleyball season,” Mendez said. “We were able to test vertical jump, broad jump and 40-yard dash. When we re-tested, most of the girls took half a second to a full second off their 40 time. Before our testing, we did a lot of explosive dumbbell work.”

While some athletes had success, according to Houston, the prolonged offseason and lack of proper equipment may have hurt others’ progress.

“Many of the student-athletes in our community did not have access to frequent strength training,” Houston said. “Thus far, I’ve seen this affect our readiness to play and proclivity to injuries.”

Junior Nick Franklin, who plays boys varsity volleyball, was one of the lucky athletes who had access to equipment at his house during his pre-season, which allowed him to train in ways many other volleyball players couldn’t.

“I think now that we have had time in the HPC, they are doing a good job of helping athletes who haven’t been around equipment adjust back into weightlifting,” Franklin said.

Senior Kaylee Chien, a girls varsity volleyball captain, says that during the athome workouts, her teammates made do with what they had.

“Most of the time, if we did at-home workouts, we would do bodyweight exercises and cardio,” Chien said. “Most people had some equipment or could use a backpack with something in it to lift.”

Since the HPC opened up, studentathletes have had access to the proper equipment. Nonetheless, Chien has noticed a shift in the quality of in-person workouts.

She believes they have been less intensive, something she blames on the loss of fitness during the weeks of home workouts without proper equipment.

Other players say they saw little difference in the performance of their team.

Sophomore Laya Venkat played for Greenhill’s field hockey team this fall. She says the HPC shutdown changed the team’s

Graphic by Sarah Luan

dynamic, but not their skill level.

“While the HPC was shut down, I think the only difference it made on the team’s ability was our ability to get to know each other and bond,” Venkat said.

Once in-person sessions resumed, the team grew close, Venkat said. To her, a return to HPC workouts was an opportunity for the team to bond.

“In the HPC, we get to laugh and talk while working out,” said Venkat. “Due to the circumstances, our team chemistry was a little slow at first, but we all grew together and ended up becoming really close.”

Pandemic safety precautions impeded teams both socially and athletically during the fall preseason, but Houston says he is hopeful for a better training environment— and better results—in the months ahead.

“Now that things are beginning to open up since the end of the fall season, winter is feeling a whole lot more similar to normal,” Houston said.

Quarantine Forces Early End of Season for Fall Teams

Mateo Lanzillotta Staff Writer Andrew Mann Staff Writer Ravi Vasan Staff Writer

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reenhill athletics had high hopes for the fall season amid a COVID-19plagued year. It didn’t turn out the way that they planned.

During the recently concluded season, the football team had to quarantine after two of the three games they were able to play. The isolation was caused by players on the opposing teams coming into contact with or contracting COVID-19.

A similar situation happened with the boys volleyball team when someone on the team was exposed to COVID-19. The team competed in only six games.

As a result, both teams suffered a significant reduction in games and practices and an early end for their seasons.

“You see games have been canceled, seasons have been delayed,” Head of School Lee Hark said. “It’s disruptive. Our goal all along was to be able to have some semblance of a sports season but doing it in the safest way possible.”

Football Frustrations On Sept. 23, a 43-0 loss to Episcopal School of Dallas was only the beginning of a stressful start to the season for the Greenhill varsity football team.

The loss turned out to be even more costly. Two days after the game, Hark learned that a player on the ESD team had been exposed to COVID-19 and was symptomatic.

That evening, Sept. 25, Hark sent out an email to all players, informing them that they would have to quarantine. The Greenhill contract tracing team began to investigate the situation and further potential exposure.

All Greenhill football players who attended the game ended up having to quarantine, preventing those in the A-L name rotation from attending in-person classes during the week.

“My immediate reaction was to begin to think about the implications for us and for the safety for our players,” Hark said.

Team members spent Monday, Sept. 26, at home.

“I was extremely upset,” senior captain Gregory Osler said.

But it turned out that Monday’s practice was the only one the team missed that week.

By Tuesday, the ESD player had tested negative, and the Greenhill squad resumed practices.

That Friday, the team returned to the field for a game against Trinity Valley School, losing 17-14.

Unlike some fall sports, the contact nature of football presented a higher risk.

“I worried more about the health of our players and their families rather than the outcome of the rest of our season,” junior and quarterback Bennett Broadus said.

On Nov. 6, leaving the COVID scare in the past, the team took the field against St. Mark’s School of Texas. Greenhill lost 14-0.

Following the game, Hark received another phone call, informing him that a player on St. Mark’s team had a confirmed positive COVID-19 test.

Athletes that played in that game were required to quarantine for two weeks, effectively ending the season.

“It was pretty disappointing then, but it was bound to happen,” freshman Zain Crumedy said. “We felt like we were really getting it together before our last game.”

Volleyball Shutdown Football wasn’t the only sport affected by the virus in the closing weeks of the fall season. Volleyball went through a similar crisis when a Greenhill player was exposed

Graphic by Sarah Luan

to the virus, forcing all varsity and junior varsity players into quarantine.

The shutdown was effective from Nov. 11 through the Thanksgiving break for all of the team members attending in-person classes.

The boys volleyball team was off to a 2-4 start when the team’s scheduled season finale against St. Mark’s was canceled due to the quarantine, marking an abrupt end to the Greenhill careers of four senior players.

“I’m incredibly grateful that I still have one more year of participation in the boys volleyball program,” junior Ryan Fiedelman said. “I can’t say the same for our seniors.

They gave their all to the team, and I can’t imagine how the news felt to them. I hope we can go out next year and win a much-needed SPC [Southwest Preparatory Conference] championship.”

Winter Transition In early November, while boys volleyball and football players were at home and other

fall sports were concluding a frustrating season, winter sports preseason practices began.

Teams were preparing for a competitive season when they hit a roadblock.

As COVID-19 cases surged in the Dallas area and nationally in the week before the Thanksgiving break, Director of Athletics and Physical Education Jarrett Shine announced a suspension of all afterschool athletic practices and games from Nov. 18 through Nov. 29.

“This approach will limit additional exposure for our student-athletes and offers them the best opportunity for continuing their winter athletics season after the Thanksgiving holiday,” Shine said.

Elaborating on the decision, Hark said: “We felt like it was a chance for us to pause, and it would give us a chance to catch our breath, and to reset with athletics” At the time the suspension was announced, Shine said that “being cautious now helps us prepare for future competition after the break.”

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

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Sports

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Basketball Team Welcomes Nationally Ranked Players Saara Bidiwala Staff Writer Josie Arbuckle Staff Writer

H

ead of Athletics and Physical Education Jarett Shine knows talent when he sees it.

Earlier this year, when two talented basketball players attending other Dallasarea high schools expressed an interest in transferring to Greenhill, Shine jumped at the opportunity.

“They reached out to us, and it was a great opportunity to have them be a part of the Greenhill community,” Shine said.

That’s the short version of how juniors Lee Dort and Noah Shelby came to Greenhill.

Thus far, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented Coach Joey Sims from deploying his two elite additions against Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) rivals.

The first games have been pushed back to January.

But the school’s coaches and athletic administrators have seen enough to imagine the impact of their two new arrivals— believed to be the highest-ranked basketball players that Greenhill has ever had, Shine said.

Dort, a native of Haiti, has the potential to be a dominating center. At 6-feet-10inches and 240 pounds, Dort is ranked nationally as the No. 19 recruit in the high school 2022 class by the 247sports.com basketball recruiting website.

“Lee is huge, is strong, has great hands, rebounds well, blocks shots… and he does it on a very high level,” Sims said. “He’s got a great inside presence.”

Sims says he is equally impressed with the talent of Shelby, a “combo” guard who is 6-feet-3-inches and 175 pounds, and is nationally ranked as the No. 108 recruit for 2022 by 247sports.com. Shelby helped lead St. Mark’s School of Texas to a SPC

Photos Courtesy of Noah Shelby and Lee Dort

UNPRECEDENTED TALENT: Juniors Noah Shelby, right, and Lee Dort are the highest ranked recruits to play for the boys basketball team despite the postponed season.

title in February, topping the scoring with five 3-pointers and 19 points overall in the title game against Houston Christian High School.

Coincidentally, the title game was played at Greenhill’s Phillips Family Athletic Center.

“Noah’s an incredible shooter, one of the best I’ve coached,” Sims said. “He’s a very smart point guard and a good leader.”

Sims praised the work ethic of the two players.

“They put hundreds of thousands of hours in the gym,” Sims said. “Seeing them progress is something I’m excited about.”

Dort and Shelby both say they were drawn to Greenhill by its academic rigor and strong basketball program.

“My family and I just thought this would be the best decision,” Shelby wrote in an email response to questions.

Aside from the campus restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic,

coaches say that Dort and Shelby have had a relatively smooth transition.

Dort says he is enjoying his first year at Greenhill so far.

!

“I see a lot of the other players rallying around them. [They] push everyone to be at their best.”

“I really appreciate how the teachers are willing to help me succeed, and the students are pretty nice,” Dort wrote in an email interview.

But it’s basketball that is front-andcenter in Dort’s life.

“Basketball is my happiness,” Dort said.

Shelby says the change to Greenhill hasn’t been drastic. The school is similar to St. Mark’s from an education standpoint, he said.

Dort and Shelby are teammates on the

court and close friends off. Since coming to the U.S. two years ago, Dort has been on Shelby’s summer basketball team, and that’s where they cemented their friendship.

Dort now lives with the Shelby family in McKinney.

Since practice started in early November, Dort and Shelby have been working on refining their technique and getting to know their new teammates.

“I see a lot of the other players rallying around them,” Shine said. “[They] push everyone to be at their best.”

Both players are already attracting a lot of attention from college coaches, Sims said. So far, they have gotten more than 40 offers combined from universities across the country, from Tennessee to Arizona to Georgetown.

In the short term, the goal for the players and coaches is an SPC title.

“We have some talented players, and we’re excited about [Dort and Shelby] being a part of the team,” Shine said.

After leading St. Mark’s to an SPC victory last year, Shelby is no stranger to big games.

“Noah’s played in so many highpressure games that it’s natural for him,” Sims said.

Sims says he is confident that both Dort and Shelby will perform well for the Hornets.

“There’s not many things that [they] can’t do,” Sims said.

Dort and Shelby’s presence could also help Greenhill attract other elite basketball talent, Shine said.

“They bring a whole different level of competitiveness and talent,” Sims said. “Our goal is to improve every game and work hard in practice. Everything else will take care of itself.” !"#$% &'(")'*% +,,#% -./0)12% !")34#1()% 567#*%#18%9#1:61%!4)88%#:*6%;61"'(</")8%"6% "4(*%*"6'0=%

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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Opinion: An Asian American Makes the Case for Affirmative Action in College Admissions Emily Ding

Contributing Opinion Writer

W

hen it comes to college admissions, there is one elephant in the room in the Asian community: race. As a junior who will soon be completing those dreaded applications, I wonder—will being Asian hurt my chances?

Affirmative action is the use of race in admissions to promote representation in a university’s student body.

Opponents of affirmative action argue that the system penalizes white and Asian students while giving an unfair advantage to students who are Black, Hispanic and Native American.

Even as an Asian American, someone who is said to be disadvantaged by the admissions process, I believe affirmative action is necessary to promote diversity and equal opportunity for all.

Those who are less privileged and are given less opportunity tend to be minorities such as Black people, Hispanic people and Native Americans—groups that have experienced institutionalized racism in areas such as employment and education.

In recent years, the Trump administration and conservative Asian organizations such as Students for Fair Admissions have brought court cases against the nation’s top universities, including Harvard, University of North Carolina and University of Texas at Austin. These lawsuits have accused the targeted universities of discriminating against Asian applicants.

These plaintiffs claim that they should have been awarded admission by “merit,” usually meaning stronger grades, test scores and extracurriculars than those accepted.

However, only using scores or activities fails to account for the racial and class disparities in this country—an individual’s context

matters.

SAT scores are associated with income, private tutoring or prep schools are beyond the financial means of most, and opportunity is harder to access for those in impoverished communities. These and other factors such as environment and family situation all affect an individual’s achievements.

Simply removing context would be doing a disservice to the underprivileged.

It would mean a return to the rich, white student bodies before affirmative action.

Sadly, some of these plaintiffs are probably using Asians as a wedge to divide minorities.

For years, conservative activist Edward Blum encouraged white plaintiffs, most notably University of Texas reject Abigail Fisher, to sue universities. However, he has recently shifted to working with Asian litigants. “I needed Asian plaintiffs,” Blum has said.

It seems clear that Blum is using Asians to push his agenda, which will benefit the white and rich while hurting the students who already are disadvantaged. Although 70% of Asians support using race in admissions, the debate has turned into whites and Asians versus Black people, Hispanic people, Native Americans and other underrepresented minority groups.

Calls to dismantle affirmative action have revealed some of the dirty secrets of the admissions process. Having personal connections to a school official, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars, and being a “legacy” applicant will boost someone’s chances.

The takeaway: The admissions process was never meritocratic.

Unfortunately, these factors disproportionately benefit the wealthy students who are already overrepresented in colleges.

A New York Times investigation puts the median parent income at selected elite colleges at $157,700 and the number of students from the top one percent over 15%.

Anti-affirmative action organizations and the public only seem to focus on affirmative action for race, not for income or for legacies.

If elite colleges already are made up of so many affluent students and show no signs of improving representation, they will remain a hub for the rich for decades to come.

The future of affirmative action now is uncertain. Many Asian organizations have sued universities, and if one of these cases reaches the Supreme Court, a conservative majority will put the future of affirmative action in jeopardy.

The admissions process is by no means perfect, but the organizations and activists suing colleges are looking for a scapegoat in the wrong place. Race-based affirmative action is needed to reduce systemic inequality and promoted diversity.

Indeed, in a society plagued by problems of race and class, affirmative action in the college admissions process may be our only hope to support equity.

A

Lee Hark’s Nov. 19 announcement to extend their vacations for an additional week. Some students spent their virtual weeks attending classes from the comfort of their hotel room, defeating the point of having a virtual week to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Now, not only is Greenhill facing a possible repeat of Thanksgiving break, but the school faces an additional challenge: The retirement of the current hybrid model in favor of bringing most Upper School students back on campus in January for the second semester.

The risks of bringing even more students back on campus and potentially sacrificing social-distancing and other precautions are well known. But there is the additional risk of another round of holiday family gatherings and travel before plunging into the next phase of Greenhill’s coronavirus-challenged school year.

On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Hark announced a slight change in plans: He informed Greenhill families that—like with Thanksgiving break— the entire school would undertake a week of virtual learning following the conclusion of Winter Break.

While a virtual week is absolutely necessary, the problem comes from the date of delivery: exactly three weeks before this online week would even occur.

Our Editorial Policy

national and international events through articles and editorials written and edited by students.

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

Anonymous letters will not be published.

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

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

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

Editors-in-Chief Leah Nutkis Raag Venkat

Executive Editor Lane Herbert

Managing Editors Cameron Kettles Sarah Luan

Chief Section Editor Sumana Kethu

News Editor Khushi Chhaya

Features Editor Valerie Xu

Arts Editors Isabel Martinez Nate Stitt

Sports Editor Avery Franks

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Editorial: Defying Pandemic Safety Protocols, Round Two s Greenhill nears another long break, many students and their families will be leaving on planes to vacation across the country. While only some students will be traveling, the ones that don’t and choose to come back physically to campus will be exposed to those who did travel.

The recent Thanksgiving holiday and school break acts as a reminder for what can and will most likely happen.

On Nov. 22, in the midst of Greenhill’s as well as many other schools’ Thanksgiving break, the Transportation Security Administration said airports saw the most flyers in a single day since March. Despite a global pandemic that only continues to ravage the United States, and with a death count nearing 300,000, many people—including members of the Greenhill community— continue to travel for fun.

Despite fully understanding the consequences of their actions, there are Greenhill families that chose to go on a vacation over Thanksgiving break, coming back just in time for their children to go back to school in-person.

To mitigate the impact of holiday travel and gatherings, Greenhill administration converted the week following the break to remote classes only. But many families simply took advantage of Head of School

the Ever Evergreen staff

Views Editor Diane Lin

Backpage Editor Chloe Wetzler

With a repeat of the Thanksgiving example looking likely, some of the same families that traveled during the last holiday will be traveling during Winter Break. And the students in those families will return to school and could potentially expose all inperson learners to COVID-19.

We believe that this digital beginning to second semester should have come as a surprise to Greenhill families. Waiting until the last minute to inform families about a remote week following Winter Break would hopefully prevent families from extending their vacations and defeating the purpose of a delayed return to the in-person learning plan.

This could enhance the safety of students, faculty and staff when the return to campus gets underway in January.

Some families wouldn’t have liked a lastminute notice, and some undoubtedly would have complained. But the health and safety of the community should hold a higher priority than the vacation plans of the most privileged among us. By informing families three weeks in advance, Greenhill is giving these vacationsavvy families time to add an additional week to their trip. When their children subsequently return to a brand new model of in-person learning, faculty, staff and students can only hope that the holiday travelers won’t be carrying the novel coronavirus.

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

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

Associate Editors Saara Bidiwala Emma Nguyen

Staff Writer Jack Trimmer

Adviser

Gregg Jones

Assistant Adviser Amy Bresie

Have a response?

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

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Rants

&

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Raves

RAVE to the amount of work faculty are putting in. From adjusting to a new system to block schedules and semesters, and writing comments in the middle of it, teachers have put in a lot of work even without taking a pandemic into the equation. Thank you, teachers!

RANT to that one week when a ton of college early decisions come out. Seniors always carry that strange tension during the days before they get their results, and the rest of the school just helplessly watches and tiptoes around them.

The rollercoaster of some seniors getting in while others don’t isn’t a particularly fun experience for anyone.

RAVE to the holiday season. We have hit that time of the year

RANT to online tests that can’t be printed. All of our test-

RAVE to no midterms. I feel like this rave doesn’t need

taking skills that depend on having a physical copy of a test to mark up and show our work are cut out by having to test online. Can we please have PDFs to print out at home?

much elaboration.

RANT to no more science bathroom memes. “Enter the boartex” was genuinely the only reason I ever stepped foot in the science building bathrooms in the first place.

RAVE to Thanksgiving and winter break. The amount

RANT to how Blackbaud [aka MyGreenhill] always signs you out after an hour or so. Why? I have to log back in any time I’m looking for something. Also, we get redirected through so many different pages when we try to log in. It’s even worse on my phone, because everything is even smaller and there are even more websites and pages to go through.

RAVENT to how trying to maintain senior traditions

of sleep I catch up on during the first day of winter break alone is probably more sleep than I got in total in the week leading up to it. Thanksgiving break was essentially the much needed breather that everyone—students and faculty alike—needed to make it through the end of the school semester.

between Thanksgiving and Winter Break when department stores exclusively play holiday music, and everyone is drinking hot chocolate and is slightly more cheerful.

is going. On one hand, the efforts to keep the senior year somewhat normal and the work that faculty/administration/ parents are putting in to keep traditions alive is worthy of a rave. On the other hand, no one can learn six TikTok dances at once, and there’s a lot of disorganization in maintaining traditions with COVID-19 lurking.

How to Be Successful in Narrative Nonfiction Sarah Luan

in May.” – Senior Anagha Gouru

W

62'&',#&)/"&'2(702,%.&,*%&/2'&%$%&123&/,*%0"&$)5&

Managing Editor

ith the wide variety of English electives available to Upper School juniors and seniors, Narrative Nonfiction is the one course that all students must take in the latter half of their junior year.

Narrative Nonfiction has previously been offered exclusively in the third trimester. Since the switch to semesters this year, all juniors will take Narrative Nonfiction during the second semester.

The class focuses on helping students develop their unique voice and personality in their writing to prepare them for the college application essays.

We’ve asked some Narrative Nonfiction alums about the class, and here is what we learned: !"#$%"#&'($)$*+&*,((,)$-"#.&'/,)&"0#"&%$%&123&%2&$*&)/"& 40,##5& “The class was focused on figuring out our sense of self and what aspects of our personality we should emphasize.

We also explored other styles of writing like exposition and informative writing. Specifically in my class with Mr. Hark, we focused on grammar concepts. It was nice to learn them again. Finally, we learned to craft strong rhetorical essays in preparation for the AP Language exam

“The workload in Narrative Nonfiction was very manageable, especially since we had just gotten into the quarantine during the beginning of COVID. We wrote about four pieces, which I think would be the same as we would in normal times. However, since we had so much asynchronous time back then, I had more time to work on these assignments.”

– Senior Kaylee Chien 62'&%$%&)/"&40,##&/"08&123&'$)/&123(&'($)$*+&#7$00#&92(& 4200"+"&,880$4,)$2*#5& “All the essays in that class were about us. All the essays that I wrote I could’ve submitted as my personal statement essay because they all had to do with things like discovering yourself and your interests.”

– Senior Drewv Desai :$%&)/"&40,##&(",%$*+#&#8,(7&,*1&$*)"("#)&92(&1235&;/,)& '"("&)/"&40,##&%$#43##$2*#&0$7"&,<23)&)/"#"&(",%$*+#5 & “It was really interesting to read about different people’s experiences and then apply them to my own.

Class discussions were really fun because there were so many different perspectives applied to just one article, and I really liked that I not only got to learn more about myself, but about my classmates as well.”

– Senior Sheena Kwon ;/,)&,%-$4"&'230%&123&+$-"&)2&43(("*)&=3*$2(#&'/2&,("& ,<23)&)2&),7"&)/"&40,##&$*&)/"&#"42*%&#">"#)"(5& “Approach the class with an open-mind, because the skills and techniques you are introduced to can significantly improve the college essay writing process you will encounter in a few months. It might be hard at first to be introspective about yourself, but don’t be afraid to be vulnerable in your writing because this practice will prepare you for future essays.”

– Senior Shreya Saxena ;/,)&'"("&)/"&*,((,)$-"&)28$4#&)/,)&123&'"("&+$-"*5 & “I remember we had writing assignments that were about the challenges we’ve faced, a nightmare we’ve had, and our family and friends, so basically just topics about our identity and our life.”

– Senior Jung Min Yean

20 Backpage

Evergreen Ever the

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

AVP STUDENT SHOWCASE

AdvancedVideo VideoProduction Production (AVP) (AVP)students students begin films to be to thetoSouth

by Southwest Film Festival.

The December deadlinedealine has Advanced begin each eachschool schoolyear yearbybycreating creatingshort short films to submitted be submitted the South

By Southwest Film Festival.

The December always been a challenging task for AVP students, but it was even more difficult this year due to the COVID-19 safety restrictions.

A sampling of their work is showcased below. has always been a challenging task for AVP students, but it was even more difficult this year due to COVID-19 safety restrictions. A sampling of their work is showcased below.

VEDGY TALES by Katherine Li and Christine Yan

In the wake of industrialization, a large majority of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environment is beyond repair. One little girl finds it in herself to nurture back to life an abandoned garden she stumbles upon.

Along the way, she makes some unusual friends, and together, they try to build a new and improved society.

INHIBITER by Cian Collins and Jessica Herlitz

To dull the human mind and prevent insanity, an experiment has been set up to make people create and self-administer a sedative that keeps them mentally numb.

THE LAST SUPPER by Carcyn Coleman, Chloe Merriman and Isabella Serrano

A film about a dinner party that goes awry.

LOVE, ALL by Charlotte Brown and Josh Flowers

Two tennis players, one with crippling mommy issues and the other a borderline raging alcoholic, train with their respective coaches and meet on the court to settle a long-standing feud and assert dominance over one another for the final time. As they battle it out in the tiniest of shorts and tightest of shirts, each player hopes to take home the ultimate prize, but what happens when loathing turns into lust? Who really wins in the game of love?

FIND ME by Kati Gibson, Claudia Hurst, Taylor Levy and Sheela Vasan

A lonely girl just wants to find a friend in this world.

SOLITAIRE by Meredith Roberts

A woman at work attempts to play Solitaire, but she keeps losing. She keeps getting distracted but still continues...Will she ever win?

Graphics by Raag Venkat