December 2017 | The Evergreen, Greenhill School

december 13, 2017 volume 53, issue 3

the Everything Greenhill

evergreengreenhill.org Alum fights for removal of Confederate plaque in Texas State Capitol

Grading the triangle

Joseph Weinberg

Editor-in-Chief

Students, teachers and administrators weigh in on assigning letter grades to athletes Zoe Allen

Executive Editor

Harrison Heymann Staff Writer

A sophomore takes five core academic classes and a computer elective. He spends several hours a day working on his homework, and devotes a significant amount of time and focus to obtaining high grades. His end of trimester report card comes back with an A in each of his classes.

A senior spends 20 hours creating his Advanced Video Production (AVP) film that gets accepted into several film festivals around the country. He puts a lot of effort into setting up camera angles, editing video and finding the right actors for his film. His end of year report card shows him with an A in AVP. A junior competes in three Varsity sports for Greenhill, and attends club soccer practice three days a week following her Greenhill practices. She spends countless

Graphic by Areeba Amer and Sera Tuz

hours in the High Performance Center and on the field. She gets home at 8:30 p.m. on these nights, and begins her academic work.

Her report card comes back with a P in each of her athletic “classes.”

“

I don’t think arts and athletics should be treated differently. How much do we value participation in athletics if we don’t factor that into a student’s GPA?”

Throughout Greenhill’s hallways, there are equilateral triangles designed to represent the equal importance of arts, academics, and athletics to the Greenhill community. However, only two of those three disciplines receive a letter grade that is factored into a student’s grade point average (GPA). Athletics, unlike arts and academics, are graded with a simple pass or a fail. With differences in grading philosophy between

the disciplines, is the Greenhill triangle truly equilateral?

Senior Brooke Allen said that if fine arts classes are graded, sports should be too.

Brooke is committed to play lacrosse at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, and is the goalie for varsity field hockey, soccer and lacrosse.

“I don’t think arts and athletics should be treated differently. If they are going to be valued equally as opportunities to grow outside of the classroom, they both should be factored into this thing that colleges look at, which is our GPA,” said Brooke. “How much do we value participation in athletics if we don’t factor that into a student’s GPA?” Upper School Math teacher and Girls Varsity Basketball Coach Darryn Sandler said that Greenhill sports should not be graded, but that is not representative of their value compared to the other disciplines in the Greenhill community. cont’d on page 10

Eric Johnson ’94, a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 100, recently met with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, to push for the removal of a Confederate plaque located outside Johnson’s office in the State Capitol.

The plaque, entitled “Children of the Confederacy Creed,” was erected in 1959.

The plaque states that “the [civil] war was not a rebellion nor, was its underlying cause to sustain slavery,” which has prompted Rep. Johnson to take action and push for its removal. The full text of the plaque is pictured on page 3.

“Governor Abbott, please take any and all required steps to remove the “Children of the Confederacy Creed” plaque from inside the Texas Capitol as soon as possible as the plaque’s central claims are patently false,” Johnson wrote in an October letter to Abbott. cont’d on page 3

Photo courtesy of Eric Johnson

ALUM IN AUSTIN: State Representative Eric Johnson ‘94 (left) poses with Governor Greg Abbott (right) following their meeting in the Capitol.

Football to play in SPC 4A Division for 2018 season Jeffrey Harberg

News Editor

Next fall, varsity football is moving up to the 4A division of the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) after playing in the 3A division for the past two seasons.

Every two years, the SPC evaluates the 3A and 4A split and is permitted to make changes. According to Head of Athletics and Physical Education Chad Wabrek, the SPC decided to realign football assignments based on school size. Greenhill is one of the largest schools in terms of size in the SPC, so they were bumped up to 4A. Head coach Casey Selfridge said that the team doesn’t have many differences compared to current 4A teams. He said that Greenhill will be competitive in the 4A division.

Greenhill finished second in SPC 3A this year, falling to the Trinity Valley School

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A staff editorial on restoring club culture p. 2

24-14 in the 3A title game. Trinity Valley will remain in the 3A division next season.

In the fall, the Hornets suffered a onepoint overtime loss to the St. Marks Lions, the only 4A team Greenhill played last year.

The two teams used to play each other in a division rivalry game every season, but the SPC split caused Greenhill and St. Marks to be in different divisions for past years.

St. Marks is not the only school that the Hornets are going to be meeting up again in 4A next year; the switch to 4A means Greenhill will also be playing Midway-foe Episcopal School of Dallas yearly again. The last time Greenhill played the Eagles was during the 2014 season.

The Kinkaid School and Episcopal High School in Houston, the teams with the two best records in 4A last year, will also be on Greenhill’s schedule in the 2018 season.

Both of those teams defeated St. Marks by at least 30 points last year.

News

Senior launches Viking history tutorial p. 5

Informing Greenhill since 1966

“The effort from last year is not going to be enough,” said sophomore Max LaMendola. “We need to really acquire a level of discipline that I haven’t yet seen from Greenhill football.”

According to Coach Selfridge, the underclassmen who played a lot this year are going to need to step into the important roles next season. He said he is confident that they are capable of doing so.

Even with improved effort, the team will still be relatively young and inexperienced compared to teams from past years.

The team is graduating six seniors this spring, including starting quarterback Jake Webster and wide receivers Xavier Bryant, Kassidy Woods and Curtis Dorsey.

“I think our young guys are going to really need to step up,” Max said. “There needs to be a certain level of focus and willingness to do good, hard work during practice to make up for the seniors leaving.”

Features

The story behind a unique math course p. 7

Arts

As the football team moves to a more competitive division, Coach Selfridge believes in the approach and philosophy he implemented this past season.

“Year two of a system and a program will yield a different set of results,” he said.

“There should be an exponential jump just from an execution standpoint.”

Junior lineman Kevin Hoare expressed support for his coach going into his second year.

“I think he has done a good job; taking us to the first championship for the first time in 17 years is a pretty big accomplishment,” Kevin said. “One thing he does a very good job of is adapting the game plan and playing style to the athletes that we have.”

While coaching will be crucial to the team’s success next year, Max knows that the athletes will also need to rise to the occasion.

“It will add a challenge, mentally and physically,” he said.

The essentials of building gingerbread houses p. 11

Sports

A preview of the Greenhill swim team p.13

4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001

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Rants & Raves

the

Evergreen staff editor-in-chief

Joseph Weinberg

executive editors A RANT to broken and bent utensils in the dining hall. While these forks and knives may not be sterling silver, diamond or other boujee metals, people use them every day, so be mindful, and try not to throw them into the ceiling.

A RAVE to the breakfast potatoes in the cafeteria. They are just one more incredible food produced by the kitchen staff, and we thank them for it. They are sure to brighten up anyone’s day with warmth and tastiness, so if anyone wants to donate some to a hungry R-n-R writer…I wouldn’t refuse.

A RANT to the water fountains that do not work on campus. We are just exhausted kids, the least the school could provide would be the basic necessity of water. Without fountains, the other options are paying too much for bottled water in the Buzz or drinking from the fish pond. (Thanks Class of 2000!)

Zoe Allen Abbas Hasan

managing editor Lili Stern

design editors Areeba Amer Alice Zhang

arts editor

Riya Rangdal

backpage editors

Natalie Gonchar Caroline Simpson

features editors Ross Rubin Amber Syed

A RAVE to the refillable markers spotted around campus. To see Greenhill make a visible commitment to eco-friendliness is awesome, and hopefully we can reduce our contributions to landfills even more in the future. Way to go Hornets!

A RANT to all the debris people leave around the Upper School. This includes: trash, dishware, study materials, and backpacks. There are locker rooms and trash cans for a reason people! The cleaning staff work very hard to make this school a clean place, so do your part to help maintain the school.

A RAVE to the Lower School Running Club. It’s always great to see young kids getting passionate about staying healthy and getting outside, plus it’s a good way for them to work off all the sugar they ingest daily. We can’t wait to see how far these kids will go, metaphorically and literally.

news editor

Jeffrey Harberg

sports editor

Hayden Jacobs

views editor Maya Ghosh

asst. news editor Sonali Notani

asst. sports editor Jake Middleman

online editor-in-chief Areeba Amer

A RANT to people taking more than one candy from the various jars.

Please be courteous to our teachers use their own money to provide candy for us undeserving students, so respect them and make sure there’s enough sweet treats to go around.

A RAVE to the Minglun dance during Community Time! That incredible routine wowed the crowd, and we were so sad to see our friends leave. Thank you Minglun students for broadening our horizons, we hope you enjoyed your stay!

A RANT to the lack of sports credit given for after school Tech Theater students.

These kids work their butts off so that the set and actors look amazing, and then on top of all of this they have to do TBF? Please reward them for all they do for Greenhill productions.

Content courtesy of Sam Bovard Photos by Rylyn Koger

Staff Editorial: Revive Greenhill club culture Three years ago, during the break between second and third period, the halls of the Upper School were quiet. During this 45-minute break, students would flock to a diverse array of clubs led by their peers.

Whether it was to discuss a shared interest in Jeeps, or explore the world of palmistry, students from all four grades took advantage of bagel break to delve into new passions while meeting new students with shared interests across all grade levels. Students were genuinely excited and interested about what club leaders had in store for them each day.

Today, club turnout is minimal. With the exception of a few, clubs have ceased to meet regularly these past few years due to either a lack of leadership or student turnout.

With the daily schedule change that went into place at the beginning of the 20152016 school year, clubs intended to meet before school.. But when given the opportunity to either go to clubs or sleep in an extra half an hour, most students chose to sleep, and understandably so. It was naïve to think stu-

dents would do otherwise.

To remedy the ailing club turnout of the 2015-16 school year, club time moved to lunch. But when given the opportunity to either go to clubs or spend time with their friends and take a break to eat, most students have chosen the latter.

There needs to be a time built into the day where we can learn from each other in a non-traditional classroom setting. Clubs do just that, and it’s worrisome to see their deterioration right before our eyes.

In order to increase club turnout, we need to incentivize going to clubs and find ways to show students the merits of club participation. We should encourage everyone to go to the club fair at the beginning of the year-not just freshmen-and more clubs should be eligible for community service hours. And, since no one has time to read all the mass emails, clubs need alternative advertising techniques such as the bulletin boards scattered around the Upper School.

We need to change the timing of clubs;

lunch does not provide an adequate amount of time and students want to spend this free time with people other than their friends.

We should have two days each rotation where we start school 20 minutes earlier, at 8:20 as opposed to 8:40. These 20 minutes gained from the earlier start combined with the 20 minutes bagel break would provide an adequate amount of time for clubs to meet.

As clubs die, so does an essential part of the uniqueness and individuality of the Greenhill Upper School. When we stop going to clubs, we stop encouraging each other to share our passions, no matter how weird or quirky they are. By going to clubs, we expose ourselves to a range of different ideas and beliefs and make friends from different parts of campus. Clubs give our school a much needed vibrancy that adds excitement to the school day and raises student morale across campus. It would be a shame to see them go under on our watch.

online executive editor Radhe Melwani

online broadcast editor Zeenya Meherally

staff writers

Stephen Crotty Harrison Heymann Leopold von Hanstein

business manager Rishi Vas

adviser

Nureen Patel

asst. adviser

Dr. Amy Bresie

staff photographers Rylyn Koger

Have a response?

Opinion?

Original Idea?

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

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Alum meets with Governor about controversial plaque cont from page 1 The Texas division of the Children of the Confederacy sponsored the plaque’s installation. According to their website, this group seeks “to honor and perpetuate the memory and deeds of high principles of the men and women of the Confederacy.”

“There was a time when the message folks wanted to send who were in charge of our state was one of white supremacy. They also wanted to accomplish the goal of sanitizing the history of the Civil War and turning it into anything but a war about slavery.

This plaque is there to do all those things,” Johnson said.

Johnson said his main reasoning for demanding the plaque be removed is its historical inaccuracy, not necessarily the fact that it seeks to honor the Confederate cause.

He said this issue should not be a matter of opinion.

“We can’t be in the business of putting things up in the Capitol that we factually know to be false,” he said. “When you get down to the Civil War, you can’t deny the fact that it was fought over slavery.”

Republican Texas House Speaker Joe Straus has backed Johnson in his requests that the controversial plaque be removed.

Straus told “The Texas Tribune” that he agrees with Johnson that any symbol in the Capitol must be historically factual.

Johnson said that symbols put on display in the Capitol should not only be historically accurate, but also serve as something all Texans can take pride in and appreciate.

A staffer for Governor Abbott told “The Texas Tribune” that the October 27 meeting with Johnson was “productive”.

“In our meeting, I told the Governor this: the Texas Capitol is not a Chili’s

bathroom. What we hang on the walls of the Capitol matters. What we hang says to the people of Texas that these are our shared values, these people or these ideas are worth praising, they’re noteworthy, and they are important,” he said.

Johnson said the events that transpired in Charlottesville, Virginia this summer gave him a platform to call for the plaque’s removal and put it on Texas lawmakers’ agenda.

Since the white supremacist rally and subsequent counter-protest that took place in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, Confederate iconography across the country has become the forefront of controversy and heated debate.

In September, the Dallas City Council voted to remove Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s statue from Robert E. Lee Park in uptown. There are about a dozen Confederate symbols or monuments on Texas Capitol Grounds, according to the State Preservation Board.

“In the wake of Charlottesville, we were given an opportunity in Texas to reevaluate all the confederate monuments or plaques we have on our capitol ground and the one that is perhaps the most egregious just happens to be outside my office,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, the actual process for getting a Capitol plaque removed is unclear, thus complicating his efforts to get it removed from the building.

The State Preservation Board is in charge of maintaining the Texas Capitol, yet there is no official procedure in place to follow for the removal of a plaque from Capitol grounds. It is uncertain as to whether this is an issue to be resolved by the legislature, the governor himself, or another body in the Texas government.

Johnson said he believes the gover-

nor personally agrees with him in that the plaque should be removed, but expects that the governor will not take a leadership role in the removal process in fear of alienating key members of his political base.

Governor Abbott is running for re-election in the 2018 Texas gubernatorial, and Johnson said the governor most likely sees this as an issue “best dodged” if possible.

“There are people in his base who know that [the plaque] is a lie and they feel like it is a matter of pride,” he said. “The mindset is that they had the juice to get the plaque up in the first place, and no one is going to take it down.”

Johnson said he would consider it a “failure” if the plaque is not removed from capitol grounds.

“If the plaque ultimately doesn't come down, I will consider it to be a missed opportunity to show the people of Texas that Texas in 2017 is an intelligent, welcoming

and diverse state that doesn't need to cling to fantasies about its history to feel good about itself,” he said.

He doesn't anticipate backing down until the “Children of the Confederacy Creed” plaque no longer resides in the Texas State Capitol.

“I will stay on this like white on rice,” Johnson said. “The governor can count on dealing with me as long as he is in office and as long as I’m in office until the plaque comes down one way or another.”

Johnson concluded his letter to the governor ensuing their meeting as follows: “It is my sincere hope that after reading the text of the ‘Children of the Confederacy Creed’ plaque…you will support the immediate removal of this historically inaccurate plaque from the Texas Capitol,” Johnson wrote. “Your love of and respect for the truth should impel this.”

Photo courtesy of Eric Johnson

CONFEDERATE CONTROVERSY: The Children of the Confederacy plaque resides just steps away from Rep. Eric Johnson’s office in the capitol. He is calling for its removal.

Muslim Student Association visits DMA Radhe Melwani

Online Executive Editor

The Muslim Student Association (MSA) took their second field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) on November 15 to view the Keir Collection of Islamic Art Gallery.

During the trip, they met with the Keir Collection’s curator Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir who took them through a two-hour tour of the Keir Collection.

“Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir is an authority in the Islamic Art field. She is also the curator of the Keir collection and the person that gives soul and life to the exhibition,” said Upper School math teacher and MSA sponsor Dr. Youssef Oumanar. “Her contributions to Islamic Art and to raising awareness of the Islamic culture are numerous and her work with the Spirit and Matter exposition was phenomenal.”

Upper School History teacher Dr. Becky Daniels was studying for her Ph.D. in Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) when she met Dr. Al Khemir.

According to Dr. Daniels, she heard Dr. Al Khemir’s vision and not only loved it but also believes it meets Greenhill’s vision. Dr. Daniels organized a visit to meet with Dr. Al Khemir at the DMA originally with solely Greenhill Art History students in 2014.

When Muslim students approached Dr. Daniels with personal problems and difficulties they face as a result of their religion, Dr. Daniels had the idea of having them meet Dr. Al Khemir.

The Keir Collection came to Dallas in 2015 and Dr. Daniels approached Dr. Oumanar asking for MSA students to join the Art History students to visit the museum.

This most recent trip was the first year that the trip was focused on predominantly MSA students.

Photos by Areeba Amer

A LEARNING EXPERIENCE: The MSA students took an educational tour of the Dallas Museum of Art in November led by the Keir Collection’s curator, Dr. Sabina Al Khemir.

According to Dr. Daniels and Dr. Oumanar, the Keir Collection is one of the world’s largest private holdings of Islamic Art. “Her vision is to use the Islamic art collection as a way to project a positive image of Islamic culture to the world. Her passion is to help people understand the rich beauty and traditions that is contained in this religion and that it has nothing to do with the terrorism that seems to dominate this world,” said Dr. Daniels. “It provides a means to educate the public about the means of Islam in a positive manner by looking at the beauty of the traditions and the beauty of history.”

Students in MSA agree with the vision Dr. Al Khemir hopes to portray through her collection.

“Islamic art is very important to me,” said junior Anaah Abedi. “Especially today, with the way the media is constantly slandering Islam, Islamic art serves as a reminder of the beauty of our religion. It represents our values and the true meaning of Islam.”

In addition, the Keir Collection creates an opportunity for students in the MSA to make connections to their culture that they are unable to obtain otherwise.

“I feel like Islamic art connects me back to this culture, which I’ve experienced par-

tially when I go to India and when I visit my family, but in which I otherwise have minimal experience with living in Texas,” said junior Mishael Khan.

Students in MSA hope that in the future, more students from outside the affinity group will travel with them to visit the Islamic art collection. Mishael said a visit to the Keir Collection with MSA is a good first step in helping Greenhill students learn more about Islam.

“I think this is a really good way for other people to experience this part of Islam that otherwise, we don’t learn about at Greenhill at all because so many students here know Islam as this religion that has some terrorist groups affiliated with it, instead of it being this religion that has sponsored art, culture, math and literature of all kinds for centuries,” said Mishael. “It has just created this rich fabric across the globe of cultural diversity.”

The Keir Collection will be at the DMA until April 26th, 2020 and Dr. Oumanar hopes to revisit the collection with the MSA group in the future.

“Beyond the art technicalities that have interested and intrigued the attendees, the Keir collection was used as a positive bridge to Islamic culture. Moreover, the collection shared powerful messages through some of the pieces that witnessed understanding, peace, and collaboration across cultures and religions,” said Dr. Oumanar. “It was exciting to see the students enjoy the tour and interact with Dr. Al Khemir with passion and eagerness to learn more.”

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wednesday, december 13, 2017

A push for independence

Junior Mira Jungerman writes from Spain about Catalonia’s fight for freedom

Photo by Margot Mackenzie

CONFLICT ABROAD: Spain and the autonomous region of Catalonia are currently in gridlock over whether the northeastern community in Spain should gain independence.

Mira Jungerman Special Contributor

Mira Jungerman is currently studying in Zaragoza, Spain with the School Year Abroad (SYA) program. She wrote this piece reporting from Spain.

Catalonia, a region on Spain’s north-eastern coast, is in the midst of major conflict with Spain over their desire for independence.

This Spanish autonomous community is in a position of power within Spain due to Catalonia’s large economic output and unique history. The headlining events from this past September and October revolved around an independence referendum and vote cast that resulted in 90% of Catalonians in support of obtaining independence.

The Catalonia “Generalitat” government declared independence from Spain, and the Spanish federal government responded by imposing direct rule and threatening to revoke Catalonia’s title of autonomy.

Sole Gutierrez is an SYA professor who was born and raised in

Catalonia but is no longer a resident.

Gutierrez’s perspective regarding Catalonia’s current and historical standing in the greater country of Spain is shared by many other Catalonia natives.

“Catalonia is unique in its language, characterci and culture. Its people have always felt ostracized and its liberal and modern attitude sets it apart from the rest of Spain,” Sole said.

When Spanish dictator Francisco Franco came into power following the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s, he discriminated against all minorities, including Catalans, and took drastic measures to enforce Castilian Spanish as the sole language of the country.

After Franco’s death in 1975, Catalonia acquired a new constitution that granted them autonomy with regard to the language of Catalan and their education system.

This long and rich history is one of the main roots of Catalan nationalism and their separate identity.

Oriol Bastardes, another Catalonia native who has now been living in Aragon for 23 years, said there are two distinct groups of Catalonians with differing opin-

ions on the conflict.

“Generally, those whose families have lived in Catalonia for several generations tend to be proindependence because their family history has led them to believe that Catalonia is its own country or territory,” he said. “Those who are first generation immigrants to Catalonia tend be anti-independence because their family history has been scattered about other parts of Spain, causing them to see Catalonia as just another autonomous community.”

Bastardes’ entire family is from Barcelona, the biggest city in Catalonia, and still lives there today. Because he has spent so many years living in Aragon, he said he no longer feels as connected to the situation.

Bastardes said he is very upset and frustrated by the way Spanish politicians on both sides are dealing with the conflict.

“I think that the root of the problem stems from the way all politicians involved are handling the situation. The Catalonia Generalitat and the Madrid central government are mishandling the situation and making the presentday conflict what it is,” Oriol said

Gutierrez shared a similar view despite the fact that her family falls in the category of being first-generation Catalonia immigrants.

“The sentiments of those from Catalonia are authentic, but the politicians from both parties are manipulating everything. The idea of the Madrid central government preventing the referendum is anti-democratic, but the Catalonia Generalitat is also handling the situation poorly.”

Carmen Blasco Viana, a multi-generation Aragon native, does not buy into the idea that Catalonia is different from the rest of the Spanish autonomous communities.

“Catalonia is not unique in comparison to other communities.

País Vasco and Andalucía all have different languages too and they do not complain about the same things as Catalonia complains about,” Blasco Viana said.

Bastardes attributed much of the present-day conflict to events of the past.

“Catalonia has always had problems with the rest of Spain and the central government. There were similar sentiments and events

Debate dominates tournament Areeba Amer

Online Editor-in-Chief/Design Editor

On October 15, senior Shruthi Krishnan and junior Anna Myers closed-out at the debate tournament held at St. Mark’s Episcopal School of Texas in the Lincoln-Douglas category. In addition, senior Sam Grimsley and junior Chris Eckert won the policy category at the tournament.

According to Director of Debate Aaron Timmons, a school has not won both the policy and LincolnDouglas categories of a tournament since 1997.

The term “close-out” refers to when two competitors from the same school become co-champions at a tournament.

“I was really excited. It was a

big win and it was a big deal,” she said.

Director of Debate Aaron Timmons credits the results to their hard work.

“It is an amazing accomplishment when we win a major tournament, but when two students from one school end up in the finals that’s even more of an accomplishment,” Mr. Timmons said.

On top of that, Shruthi won the “Top Speaker” award. In the preliminary rounds, debaters are ranked on a 30-point scale and whoever gets the highest points wins the award.

“That was the first time I had won,” said Shruthi. “It’s hard enough to win one of the tournaments so winning was really surreal.”

Photo courtesy of Shruthi Krishnan

CHAMPIONS: Shruthi and Anna pose with their trophies after their historic “close-out.”

when Catalonia lost a war during the 18th century, had other conflicts throughout the 19th century, and more recently during events of the 1930’s with Franco and his dictatorship,” Bastardes said.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, declared the entirety of Catalonia’s government removed from office after Catalonian President Carlos Puigdemont’s illegal declaration of independence following the referendum and vote. Puigdemont then fled to Brussels and has said he will not return until after the December 21 elections when an entirely new Parliament of Catalonia will be elected.

Bastardes said that he doesn't believe that Catalonia will gain independence in the near future unless the two opposing governments can find a way to bridge their longstanding conflict.

“Today’s situation in Spain is the worst it has ever been. The events sadden me and everything is being handled illogically. It is a terrible reflection of the people of Spain and the people of Catalonia because both parties are being misrepresented by politicians,” Gutierrez said.

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Evergreen

wednesday, december 13, 2017

Senior creates Viking history tutorial Hayden Jacobs Sports Editor

When senior Swati Ravi was a freshman, she used to joke with her friends about taking a history class about Vikings. Now as a senior, she has created the class herself.

Last year, Swati brought the idea of a Vikings class to the Upper School History department chair Dr. Amy Bresie. Dr. Bresie agreed to sponsor the tutorial after seeing the effort Swati put into writing her course proposal that included an overview of the material the students would study during the trimester-long class. She then found five other students who agreed to enroll in the tutorial with her during the first trimester. “[Swati] wrote this five page, thorough proposal researching why Viking history should be a Greenhill history class. The rest of the department was like ‘I don’t know’ but I was so impressed with her dedication that I said I would step up and help out,” Dr. Bresie said.

“

The rest of the department was like ‘I don’t know’ but I was so impressed with her dedication that I said I would step up and help out.”

After the tutorial was approved, Swati got to work writing a syllabus for the 12-week-long course. She wanted to include a variety of aspects of Viking and Norse cul-

ture in the class such as paintings, poetry, mythology and methods of transportation.

The group tutorial was different than other tutorials and classes at Greenhill because it was led by Swati, a student, alongside Dr. Bresie.

Senior Drake Heptig enrolled in the tutorial with a group of his friends. He said he wanted to take the course knowing it would be drastically different from other history courses he had taken in the past.

Drake said he was impressed with Swati’s leadership within the class.

“She knew everything that we were doing because she was part of choosing the text that we used, as well as kind of guiding the class. She also kind of made the entire last part of it around building boats,” said Drake.

“

It was exciting but also kind of daunting to not be driving the ship and learn to let go of control.”

While writing the course overview, Swati decided that she wanted the class to study Viking boats for a large chunk of the trimester since the boats comprise such an important part of Viking culture. The class decided that they were going to build a boat made from cardboard boxes found in the Upper School snack bar and sail it for their final project.

“We started by reading articles about

Photo by Amy Bresie

A VIKING VOYAGE: Swati Ravi (third from right) turned an idea into a reality by writing a proposal for a Vikings tutorial, which history teacher Dr. Amy Bresie volunteered to teach.

The students in the course (above) built a boat that resembles that of Vikings.

the materials that they used and a lot of the construction techniques and from there, we decided the logical progression was to try and build a boat ourselves,” said Swati.

Although the class was not allowed to sail their boat for safety reasons, they were confident it would have floated because of the oil based paint they covered the boat in.

Swati’s tutorial had challenges that most history classes don't face. Because the class met before school, it was hard for the students to be there on time.

Dr. Bresie said her lack of prior experience and knowledge of Norse culture made teaching the class more difficult than others.

“It was personally a challenge because Viking history is not my area of expertise so I had to learn with students, and it was much more student focused and driven,” said Dr. Bresie. “It was exciting but also kind of daunting to not be driving the ship and learn to let go of control.”

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Features

The cube craze

Riya Rangdal Arts Editor

Natalie Gonchar Backpage Editor

The typical fourth grade homeroom consists of students running around, talking with their friend and reading. Despite these hectic surroundings, fourth grader Grant Bomersbach stands in the doorway of one of the fourth grade classrooms, zeroed in on one thing: his three-by-three, six-colored Rubik’s Cube.

Since October, Rubik’s Cubes have become a popular hobby among fourth graders in their free time. According to Fourth Grade teacher Laura Flanagan, 15 students have been playing with Rubik’s Cubes during their breaks throughout the school day.

“It is a very distinct group of kids that thrive on solving puzzles,” Mrs. Flanagan said.

The fourth grade faculty has put a restriction on solving Rubik’s Cubes during class times in order to keep the students focused on the lessons. The teachers have made this rule as they would have for any other popular toy, despite the fact that cubes are proven to help with hand-eye coordination and stimulate the brain.

“There’s always something going on, and this year, it’s Rubik’s Cubes,” Fourth Grade teacher Greg Krauss said. “Before this, it was spinners.”

The students use different models of Rubik’s cube, according to Mrs. Flanagan.

Photo by Rylyn Koger

RUBIK’S CUBE SHOWDOWN: Fourth graders crowd around as they solve their cubes.

Students use cubes ranging from a simple 2x2 cube all the way up to a 7x7. Some students even use a particularly difficult cube, the pyramid Rubik’s Cube.

“A 4x4 cube will take me around 10 minutes to solve, whereas an easier one can take just as little as a minute for me to solve,” Grant said. “I got interested in them while watching competitions, and I saw the competitors solve them in seconds. I then

saw other people on YouTube who couldn’t solve them as fast but after, I decided I’d try also so I got on YouTube and made videos myself.”

The world record for solving the standard 3x3 Rubik’s cube is 4.74 seconds.

Grant and others said they can solve them between roughly one and five minutes.

Of the 25 students who participate in this trend, there are only three fourth

graders who have successfully solved a 3x3 Rubik’s Cube.

Mrs. Flanagan said the fourth grade students know who those students are and aspire to one day solve the cube like they do.

One of the three fourth graders who has reached Rubik’s Cube glory is Miles Bordelon, who is new to Greenhill this year.

“I just saw everyone having a Rubik’s Cube and I just thought it was really cool,” Miles said.

Some students have tricks and shortcuts that they use to help them solve the cube even more efficiently.

“There are some tricks I know, like moving an entire section instead of just an outer part. A lot of kids like Grant and Miles help out the other kids and teach them tricks as well,” said fourth grader Noah Chu. Noah has been solving the Rubik’s Cube for two years, but only recently has he spent more time with his classmates trying to solve the cube. The students regularly time themselves solving to cube to see how fast they can complete it. Miles averages around five minutes to solve the standard cube.

Mrs. Flanagan said the trend is one that will most likely be beneficial for those who have chosen to engage in the challenge of solving the cube.

“It’s challenging the brain in a way that I think is positive,” she said.

The formula for success Caroline Simpson Backpage Editor

Jake Middleman

Asst. Sports Editor

What once began as a small group of students that met in the 300 pod three times a week, has transformed into Greenhill’s largest club, with over 90 members present at meetings.

Math Club, which now takes place in the lecture hall and fills more than once a week with students carrying scratch paper and pencils, ready to answer whatever problem flashes across the screen next.

Math Club is not alone in their strong membership. Business Club also brings a large group of people to Upper School Math teacher Darryn Sandler’s room every B-day.

Rather than solving numbers and word problems, the students are dealing with real money like they would be in the real business world.

With the shortened break period three years ago, other club participation began dropping, yet these two clubs continue to see immense participation within the student body. These two clubs meet when all others do, during lunch, yet their popularity remains strong.

According to Business Club copresident senior Alex Rose, the club’s high turnout may be attributed to the reallife impacts of the work they do in the club. The students in Business Club work with real money that they deal with it much like they would in the real business world.

In 2013, Business Club was given $100,000 to invest where they decided.

Today, they have $140,000. Each club rotation, they meet to discuss stock market news, where to invest their money next and financial history. The club has appointed sector leaders who decide on investing in different companies or selling stocks that

the club holds in companies already. Even though all the club decisions must go through the Board of Trustees and the chief financial officer, it is the students who make the decisions about where the money will go.

“It’s real money and real-life scenarios.

Not nearly as many people would show up if we used a fake portfolio. When the investments grow, the students have the right to feel proud because it was their decision making that allowed it to do so,” Alex said.

Many of the club members expect to pursue business as a profession, which is another reason for the popularity: it’s applicable to their futures.

“Greenhill gives us an amazing opportunity to manage real money and invest it, as I hope to do when I’m older,” junior Barrett Russ said. Barrett leads the technology sector of the club.

“Mr. Sandler, our sponsor, has a business degree from Georgetown, so he really knows what he’s doing and makes it very real,” Alex said.

Although Business Club is still one of the leading clubs in terms of numbers, the presidents confirmed that their numbers have dropped as a result of the schedule change.

Math Club has taken a different approach to attracting and attaining club members. The club has almost 100 people on the email list and at least 30 attending each competition.

The competitions are held twice a week when the Greenhill Team competes against other schools. There are bigger tournaments, such as Math Madness, where Greenhill can compete with schools across the nation online and advance through up to 128 rounds. There are also smaller competitions when the students split into smaller groups and work together.

Part of the appeal with this club is that

Photo by Rylyn Koger

GREENHILL’S MATHLETES: Math Club members pose for a picture after their competition.

students can earn a quantum bump on one test per trimester by competing in a certain number of math competitions and attending meetings.

To receive the extra credit that the club promises, a student must receive 15 points.

They receive three for showing up to a competition and answering a question right.

Once a student reaches 15 points, they can bump one test in the trimester up by one quantum.

The first time sophomore Divya Inaganti attended a competition, she was going for the quantum bump. While it may have brought her there, she said it ultimately wasn’t what made her stay.

“I’m a competitive person, and so once I’m there I get very into it and want to win,” Divya said.

The first time she attended, Divya was given the chance to answer the last question which if answered correctly would keep her team in the competition. She answered correctly, and her team got enough extra

credit questions correctly to win the competition.

“It really feels like a sport sometimes.

The teamwork in the club is excellent and you feel really supported,” Divya said.

Senior Rishi Vas said that the community aspect of the club is special, adding that the club’s sponsor, Upper School Math teacher Dr. Youssef Oumanar, ties it all together perfectly. Rishi has also stayed not for the quantum bump, but other aspects as well.

“When there are group competitions, my friends and I will get together to compete, it’s just fun,” Rishi said.

When asked what kept him coming, instead of saying the extra points he, like Divya, said it was the group aspect of the club.

“It also helps my skills for actual math class,” said Divya.

wednesday, december 13, 2017

the

Evergreen

features

7

Real world applications

A look inside Greenhill’s Mathematical Decision Making class Alice Zhang

Design Editor

The white board is filled with mathematical computations and equations. The team of three, seniors Allie Frymire, Rishi Vas and Matthew Toudouze, have spent weeks solving just one single problem. This problem isn’t just your basic calculus computation or geometric proof -they’ve successfully completed optimization of all financial portfolios for Chapwood Investments, a wealth management company in Addison, Texas.

Mathematical Decision Making, a trimester-long course taught by Upper School Math teacher Dr. Youssef Oumanar, contextualizes advanced math problems in the real world. The difference between this class and other traditional math classes, such as Algebra II and Precalculus, is that students are posed with questions that challenge them to incorporate the math they learn from the classroom into real-life situations.

Last year, there were three juniors and three seniors who took the course when it was offered for the first time. This year, there are five students enrolled, three seniors and two juniors. Senior Theo Lauriette said he decided to take the course this year because the concept of relating math to real-life situations appealed to him.

“When I read the class description, the idea of using math in an actual, complex, applied way was interesting, especially since it appears to me that the higher in math you go, the more theoretical and grounded real-life examples become less frequent,” Theo said.

The process of problemsolving is student-driven. Every day, Dr. Oumanar gives students a set of data to work with, and he allows them to formulate their own questions regarding the data and solve them.

“I don’t make them solve a specific question. Often, they have a question in mind, but then they come up with another one, so we end up solving another version of

Photo by Alice Zhang

PROBLEM SOLVERS: Seniors Theo Lauriette (left) and Gregory Toudouze (right) discuss real world applications of math in this year’s Mathematical Decision Making course.

the problem, which is really cool,” Dr. Oumanar said.

Because students are required to work together frequently, senior Allie Frymire said that she developed important social skills from collaborating with other students during the course.

“Sometimes, a certain student would ‘lead’ the problem because they understood it better than others, but most of the time it was really just us working together to find a solution, and that’s extremely vital to developing teamwork skills,” Allie said.

According to Dr. Oumanar, the course was created without a formal curriculum to give students the freedom of applying math to their personal areas of interest. It shows students that math is a critical skill to have in order to succeed in other professional fields, such as physics and business.

Dr. Oumanar said that applying math to other disciplines is necessary because math can provide solid evidence for reasoning behind a certain decision.

“Today, in a variety of fields, applied mathematics is not only important, but necessary. In many

situations, decision makers tend to trust and follow their intuition.

They sometimes think a certain idea is the right approach, but when modeled mathematically, it fails to achieve the goal. Math is a neutral tool that helps to exclude human biases from the decision-making process and to find the optimal solution to a given problem,” said Dr. Oumanar.

The class incorporates standard mathematical concepts such as linear algebra and matrices with other professional areas like business. In last year’s class, students worked with problems dealing with asset optimization and currency arbitrage–trading money for money. Senior Rishi Vas, who was also in last year’s class, said the course’s interdisciplinary nature brought realizations about the real-world applications of his mathematical knowledge.

“A lot of people lose track of the real world in school, especially when you’re learning a lot of math and science. It was really good to realize that everything I’ve learned at Greenhill, at least in the math department, could be used in the future, whether in college or as a profession,” Rishi said.

Although the course encourages students to extend their knowledge to different types of problems, the solution is not always easy. Due to the problem solving, hands-on nature of the class, the students look at long-term projects that require extensive thought and planning.

While students in Algebra II take multi-question tests in 55 minutes, students in “Mathematical Decision Making” often don’t even produce a concrete answer for two weeks.

Allie said that the problemsolving experience is difficult, but rewarding.

“There was one problem in which we had to memorize a grid where the boxes were either filled with red squares or gray squares. Initially, I thought it had something to do with memorizing patterns, but eventually we realized that there was a quantitative method to memorizing them: binary numbers. It took us two weeks to arrive at that answer, which was difficult, but everything seemed to fall together in the end,” Allie said.

One of the biggest projects last year’s class took on was handling financial portfolios

for Chapwood Investments.

After meeting with the CEO of the company, Ed Butowsky, the students analyzed the 10 years’ worth data given and addressed the specific needs of the company.

Their job was to allocate money to over 100 assets, maximizing return and minimizing risk. According to Rishi, working with a professional company was a rewarding learning experience.

“It was a cool project for us.

The experience was great because it was definitely a hands-on project that involved a real-world situation. It was a great opportunity to further develop presentation skills since we met with the people at Chapwood Investments and gave presentations to the Greenhill administration,” said Rishi.

According to Dr. Oumanar, this class has shaped students to have more of a problem-solving mindset. Dr. Oumanar said that he thinks his students were successful in building skills needed in the real world from Mathematical Decision Making.

“Beyond the mathematical topics and formulas, the students from last year took away numerous problem-solving strategies, including how to break down a problem into smaller pieces and how to generalize it in a thorough way. I believe that one of the most important strategies they learned was how to listen to an idea that may not make sense at first instead of dismissing it quickly. By the end of class they were able to fix its flaws, which would put them a step closer to the solution,” Dr. Oumanar said.

Allie attests to developing problem-solving skills and values the knowledge gained over the course of Mathematical Decision Making.

“It was a really amazing experience, and honestly, probably one of the most influential educational experiences I’ve ever had,” she said. “Being able to practice these real-life applications this early on in my education is incredibly invaluable.”

8

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A Global

Everg

PERSPEC

An exploration of the Global Onli History of GOA at Greenhill Students enrolled in Upper School Science teacher Dr. Treavor Kendall’s Medical Problem Solving Global Online Academy (GOA) course all start the class the same way. Each individual student is dropped to a random location on the globe using Geo Guessr, and they must find out where in the world they are. The locations vary from Argentina to Russia to Australia. Students compete to see who can accurately find their location fastest.

This is more than just a creative game for Dr. Kendall, it is an important teaching moment for his online course. He asks students to recall how they attempted to figure out their location. Did they just start walking around? Did they use the climate? Geography? Architecture? Landmarks? According to Dr. Kendall, each individual student has a unique approach to solving the problem. He urges students to reflect on their individual path to finding a solution.

Medical Problem Solving is problem based. Students collaborate to work through medical cases like physicians do in hospitals. Students are surrounded by information, and they have to use their problem solving skills to reach the best diagnosis. Like the introductory game, students each take an individual path to solving a complicated medical case.

This diversity of perspectives is at the core mission of the Global Online Academy. According to their website, the goal of GOA is “to increase diversity in style and perspective by having online courses available alongside traditional learning environments.”

GOA courses are designed to promote curiosity, exploration, flexibility and discussion. The courses, like the one taught by Dr. Kendall, promote a new style of learning that is being embraced at Greenhill.

GOA was founded at Lakeside School in Seattle,

Washington. After receiving a grant, Lakeside Head of School Bernie Noe had the idea to create an online space where students could take unique courses online taught by teachers from other independent schools.

Mr. Noe is a friend and former colleague of Greenhill Head of School Scott Griggs. In 2012, Mr. Noe contacted Mr. Griggs about joining the program.

“He asked if Greenhill would be interested in this, and I said ‘yes, this is right up our alley.’ We were in very early on,” Mr. Griggs said.

Greenhill joined a group of roughly 70 GOA member schools, and is currently the only school in Texas that is a member of GOA. According to Mr. Griggs, it is a selective process to be a part of GOA, but he sees the value of having the program at Greenhill.

“They want schools that think along their lines and are open to non-traditional teaching and learning styles,” he said.

“These courses are taught by teachers that are passionate about their classes, and exposing that to other kids is fabulous.”

Greenhill pays to be a member school, and covers the cost of every course that students take. There is no financial commitment for students, only a commitment to complete the course.

Currently, Greenhill has five teachers who have taught GOA courses on top of their Greenhill courseload. These teachers are Upper School History teacher Scott Cotton, Upper School History teacher David Lowen, Upper School Science teacher Dr. Treavor Kendall, Upper School Counselor Priya Singhvi and Lower School Counselor Shanti Majefski.

At Greenhill, GOA courses are offered to all juniors and seniors. In 2012, only five students were enrolled in GOA courses. That number has grown to over 25 in 2017.

Upper School Computer Science/Engineering teacher

LILI GOMEZ UNITED STATES ENROLLED IN iOS APP DESIGN

Dr. Chris Bigenho serves as the On-Site Coordinator for GOA at Greenhill. It is a requirement that every member school of GOA has a designated On-Site Coordinator. Dr. Bigenho is tasked with encouraging Greenhill students to sign up for GOA courses as well as helping students manage the online environment.

“I am not here to teach Japanese, because I don’t know any Japanese, but I can help a student taking Japanese navigate the online learning environment and the dynamics of that environment so they can be successful,” Dr. Bigenho said.

Dr. Bigenho is no amateur when it comes to online education. He teaches courses on how to teach online courses at the university level. According to Dr. Bigenho, there are unique challenges in taking classes online.

“Not everyone who takes a GOA course is necessarily equipped to take a course. It takes a lot of self-discipline. There is goal setting, planning and metacognition that all go in to doing well in an online course,” said Dr. Bigenho.

Upper School History teacher and Director of Academics Jason Yaffe sees GOA as an opportunity for Greenhill to evolve the way they approach education as a whole.

“GOA is part of a greater movement that is trying to redefine what learning looks like in schools. Learning for centuries has been very teacher centered in a brick and mortar setting. We have that model, and it is an antiquated model. That model is being redefined,” Mr. Yaffe said.

Dr. Bigenho said that being a part of GOA is beneficial for students beyond their years at Greenhill.

“As you move onto university, online resources are being leveraged globally. Being able to collaborate across distances is important. I think being introduced to that is the greatest benefit to GOA. Now students can develop those skill sets,” Dr. Bigenho said.

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wednesday, december 13, 2017

9

CTIVE

ine Academy program at Greenhill Student-Teacher Experience Of all the GOA member schools, Greenhill has one of the largest representations in terms of student and teacher participation. More than 25 juniors and seniors are currently enrolled in GOA courses, and five Greenhill teachers teach courses on GOA. Greenhill students take advantage of the GOA program for different reasons. Some enroll in GOA to take courses not offered at Greenhill, while other students said they have taken online classes to explore different topics and cultures.

Senior Matthew Toudouze has taken three GOA courses over the past two years: Japanese I Language and Culture, Japanese II Language and Culture and 9/11 in Global Context.

Matthew said his curiosity and desire for flexibility led him to the GOA courses.

“I always wanted to learn something about [Japanese culture], so I figured I would try the course online,” said Matthew. “With GOA, you can do it on your own time and whenever you want to, which is really nice because whenever I have free time I can do it, instead of having a set time or class period.”

The GOA courses are taught on a semester schedule.

Students can take courses to replace their Greenhill classes or add extra course load. Greenhill students cannot replace all of their Greenhill courses with GOAs, but some students do take upwards of half of their courses through the GOA program instead of at Greenhill. All credits transfer, and the transcript shows a pass or fail grade.

Senior Joanna Quan agrees with Matthew in that the flexibility of GOA courses makes them appealing. Joanna has taken iOS App Design, Intro to Psychology, 9/11 in a Global Context, Creative Non-fiction, and she will take Creative Fiction next semester.

“It makes my schedule very flexible. I really like the independence of it; you have so much more time to do your work and do whatever you need to do with it,” said Joanna.

Matthew believes the diversity of perspective in his GOA courses adds to his learning experience.

“Coming from Greenhill where diversity is everywhere, I think that definitely says something that I’m able to find more diverse students within the class and hear their perspectives on certain things,” he said.

Teaching a GOA class gives teachers the freedom to completely redesign and rethink the classroom experience.

Upper School History teacher Scott Cotton teaches two GOA courses: 9/11 in Global Context and Comparative Politics. According to Mr. Cotton, the online courses present both challenges and advantages as a teacher.

“It is a totally different way of teaching. I have to think about how I am going to present information and get students involved without ever seeing them,” Mr. Cotton said. “I feel that I am facilitating the flow of information. GOA is nontraditional and student centered.”

GOA courses bring students from around the world to learn together and share ideas and perspectives in an online setting. There are GOA member schools in Indonesia, South Africa, Jordan, India, Hong Kong and China. With students from across the globe participating in courses, GOA teachers from Greenhill take advantage of the global perspective GOA offers.

“It is interesting to see their educational experience and compare it to what we do here at Greenhill. GOA students are self-selected. These students are really curious and really motivated,” said Dr. Kendall, who teaches students from Singapore, India and the United States in his Medical Problem Solving I course.

Mr. Cotton said he learns from the international students he teaches in his GOA through the online format.

“It is great to meet students I wouldn’t get to meet otherwise. It has made me a better teacher, and it has put me in contact with great colleagues at GOA. I have learned a lot from [those students] as well,” Mr. Cotton said.

Lower School Counselor Ms. Shanti Majefski, who teachers Neuropsychology, believes that even though students are not in the same classroom, there is a strong connection between students who take a GOA course together.

“I would argue that some GOA teachers know their students better than students in a brick and mortar classroom,” Ms. Majefski said. “I really am hoping my students take away life skills. I want them to reflect on themselves as learners,” Ms. Majefski said.

Mr. Cotton has taken the skills he has learned in the past five years teaching his GOA courses back to his Greenhill classroom.

He said teaching GOA has made him a better teacher in his classes at Greenhill because he is less reliant on a textbook and more focused on what he calls “experiential learning.”

According to the GOA website, students “have a chance to explore a topic [they’re] passionate about,” The focus is on the individual and a desire to learn more.

“We let the students drive it. Almost by definition, [for GOA] autonomy is key. The students are designing their own experience. I help curate that a little bit, but I want the students dictating the path that they take,” Dr. Kendall said.

Story by Abbas Hasan Additional Reporting by Lane Herbert, Leopold Von Hanstein and Mila Nguyen

FABIO BANDUCCI ITALY ENROLLED IN JAPANESE I

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Special Report

Why athletics should (or should not) receive a letter grade

cont’d from page 1 “I don’t think that grades determine how much we value one component of the triangle versus the other,” said Mr. Sandler. “I don’t think not grading one versus the other means that something’s more important from the school’s perspective. I don’t think grading sports or not grading sports will change the triangle and how the school values the three components.”

Mr. Sandler also said that assessing students in their athletic requirements would be detrimental to Greenhill athletics.

“I think that grading sports would be detrimental to our athletic programs, because students would be scared to try a sport out of fear of how it would affect their [GPA],” Mr. Sandler said. “It’s hard enough to get enough students to participate in sports, so we can’t do anything to deter people from wanting to come out and play.”

Junior Megan Olomu believes the equilateral triangle is important to have at Greenhill, but questions the values being placed on each discipline because of the grading differences.

Megan participates in three varsity sports at Greenhill and also sings in Greenhill Singers.

“It’s [contradictory] to have one of the three disciplines of the triangle be pass-fail, because it says effort in arts is more important than effort in athletics for your GPA,” said Megan. “But, some fine arts don’t have as much of a team aspect, and Greenhill needs to incentivize that there is a standard in fine arts. For sports, it is expected you show up as part of a team.”

Junior Kevin Hoare believes in the idea of the triangle, but doesn’t think each discipline is treated the same. Kevin plays football, runs track and field and takes photography classes.

“I do like the idea of an equilateral triangle, but the way it is executed and carried out at Greenhill is not equilateral. [I think] athletics is a lot more paid attention to by the student body, but arts gets a letter grade credit,” said Kevin. “Each

one has a pro and a con.”

Dean of Students Jack Oros said the idea of the Greenhill equilateral triangle is not always applicable because each student is unique.

“The triangle of arts, academics and athletics is not always equilateral. It is unrealistic that all students are equally adept in all sides of the triangle,” said Mr. Oros. “Exercising your body in athletics is just as important as exercising your mind in academics, which is just as important as exercising your creativity in the art, but every student has their own things in which they are interested.”

“

Greenhill says each discipline is equally important, but we’re not evaluating the whole thing. We’re supposed to evaluate the whole student, not two-thirds of the student.”

When asked about what their own personal triangle would look like if they could draw it, both Megan and sophomore Kaiti Ness drew triangles with sides of 60-3010 percentage points, vastly different from an equilateral triangle with sides of 33-33-33.

Kaiti believes in valuing both athletics and arts equally, and likes the way Greenhill handles the grades in both disciplines right now. Kaiti runs cross country and track, plays basketball and also sings in the choir.

“As long as maximum effort is being given, it’s not unfair to grade two and not grade one,” Kaiti said. “[Many] people show a lot of effort in the sports they are in, and as long as you do that coaches shouldn’t have to differentiate between people that are good and people that work hard.”

She said the current arts grading system is beneficial, as it gives fine arts instructor a way to hold their students accountable with a letter grade.

Chad Wabrek, Head of Athletics and Physical Education, came to Greenhill from a school that did assign letter grades to students for their sports, but the grades were not factored

into student GPAs. According to Mr. Wabrek, the grades were primarily to give credit for the course, and the majority of students received A’s for their effort each season.

Coach Wabrek said he does not want to switch to a letter-graded system for the athletics because of both the infeasibility of such a policy and the likely negative effects.

“If we put letter grades with sports, we might not see growth. We would most likely see a slippage in sports participation,” said Mr. Wabrek.

The decision to grade arts was put into place starting in the fall of 2014, and was instituted to inspire students to work hard in their fine arts classes. The initiative was spearheaded

by Upper School Photography Teacher Frank Lopez and former Head of Upper School Laura Ross.

Terry Martin, Head of Fine Arts, was not at Greenhill when the decision was made to switch arts grades to a lettergraded system at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year.

He said he supports assigning a letter grade to fine arts courses, and thinks it has a positive effect on the effort put forth by students in the arts.

“It’s my feeling that if Upper School Fine Arts classes are pass-fail, then students might have a tendency to do the minimum. We pay very close attention to participation and effort. We don’t give an A because a piece of art, or piece of music is “successful”. Art is subjective. The Fine Arts faculty evaluate how hard a student is trying. A grade is partly for motivation, and I think with a grade scale rather than a passfail scale, it can motivate a student to focus and work harder because there is more on the line.” said Mr. Martin.

Brooke said Greenhill does not treat athletes fairly by not handing out letter grades in athletic courses.

“It’s not fair that an athlete isn’t given the same academic credit as an artist. To me, that is the school saying ‘this isn’t really an equilateral triangle’. Greenhill says each discipline is equally important, but we’re not evaluating the whole thing.

We’re supposed to evaluate the whole student, not two-thirds of the student,” said Brooke.

JACK OF ALL TRADES: Junior Megan Olomu participates in academics, athletics and the arts. However, only academics and arts receive a letter grade at Greenhill.

Photos by Lili Stern

the

Arts

In the spirit of Christmas

A Hindu and a Jew take on an unfamiliar holiday tradition Maya Ghosh Views Editor

Lili Stern

Managing Editor

Each year, as Thanksgiving passes and the Christmas jingles ring out everywhere we go, our Christmas cheer is compromised by the fact that we aren’t Christian. As a Hindu and a Jew, the songs about Rudolph and Jesus have the same sweet sound for us as for everyone else, but we usually don’t participate in the Christmas season festivities to the same extent that most of America does. That is, until this year.

In order to feel the Christmas cheer and spirit as two non-believers, we decided to try out something new and classically Christmas-y: building gingerbread houses.

So, we embarked on our journey to buy and then create the ultimate candied Christmas cribs.

On a sleepy Saturday afternoon, we drove to the nearest Target Superstore (after feeding a cat Lili was babysitting), and hoped that a relatively cheap, easy-to-make gingerbread house would line the aisles.

Anticipating a hard find, we asked Jonas, a Target employee, “Do you have gingerbread houses?”

He directed us to the aisle of the houses, which was distinctly located right in front of the entrance. Our excitement had gotten the best of us.

After a few minutes of debating which house to buy based on price, amount of candy in the boxes and degree of building difficulty, we settled on a box that showed the most promise (and candy). This box came equipped with materials to build four houses - a village of Christmas cheer - and seemed like the best fit for our lack of artistic ability and dexterity.

Photo courtesy of Ana Bonnheim

BY THE FIRESIDE: Lili and Maya pose behind their four gingerbread house masterpeices.

After choosing the ideal box for our adventure, we went to the candy aisle to see if we could find more accessories to decorate and cover up mistakes on what were sure to be poor excuses for gingerbread houses. Once we checked out and drove 15 minutes to Lili’s house, which is located directly across the street from Maya’s house (neighbors on 3- 1, 2, 3 NEIGHBORS), we started construction.

We opened the box and took out the gingerbread cookies, which were pre-baked for our convenience, and chose the model gingerbread houses we wanted to make.

Lili began her adventure with the house labeled “Chalet” and Maya chose “Santa’s house”. We pieced the walls and roof together clumsily, using the mantra “More icing, more

sticking” to justify our excessive use of icing to make the houses stable. The soundtrack to our activity was Christmas music (what else?), and our mutual conclusion was that Michael Bublé has the best Christmas album on Spotify.

Lili’s first house, which was Hannukahthemed, had slanted edges and holes in the walls, meaning that the gummy bears who lived in this humble abode would experience a very, very cold winter.

Maya’s first house wouldn’t stay up straight and the back wall eventually toppled from a lack of support beams and concrete foundation. To say that our first time around building these gingerbread houses was rough would be an understatement.

Around the time that we finished building the first two houses in the box, the

doorbell rang. Two rabbis, in addition to the two rabbis already present in the house (Lili’s parents), were at the door. Imagine their surprise when they came into the kitchen to see a Jew and her Hindu friend jamming to Christmas music and building gingerbread houses. The newcomers rolled with it, telling us that they had recently built a gingerbread turkey with their two young kids- a project that seemed a little strange to us.

Next came the final two houses in the box, Maya took “The elves’ workshop” and Lili took, “Cozy hut”. This time, equipped with slightly more skill and experience, we crafted the houses to the tune of “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. As we frosted snow onto the roofs of our houses and strategically placed gumdrops to hide our mistakes, we talked about our holiday plans and traditions- learning more about one another and our lives.

Once we finished, we stared at our little, decrepit village in delight. The houses may not have been perfect or even semi-decent, but they were ours and we were proud of the work we had put into making them what they were. And, because of these few hours spent together, our friendship had grown and strengthened.

The gingerbread houses were reflections of ourselves and the ways that we celebrate during the holiday season. It was the epitome of cultural competency. We always celebrate the Hindu holiday Diwali and Jewish celebrations Sukkot and Shabbat together, but now we plan on adding another holiday to celebrate together (at least culturally): Christmas.

Band welcomes new percussion director Sonali Notani Asst. News Editor

As a curious boy, Dr. Michael Ptacin ventured into his Middle School’s band room. Intrigued, he picked up a snare drum and began to play. Before he knew it, he was spending hours after school with his band instructor practicing his new-found hobby.

Soon, this hobby morphed into a passion.

Little did Dr. Ptacin know that walking into that room one day would eventually spark a career in percussion.

This school year, Greenhill welcomed new Percussion Director Dr. Ptacin into the Fine Arts department as a part-time employee.

“

His approach is very proactive, we have already started our percussion ensemble pieces a lot earlier than we would have before. He is also picking a harder repertoire and challenging us rather than selecting music that he thinks is at our level.”

Dr. Ptacin’s percussion career began in sixth grade with him learning how to play the snare drum. Soon after, his instrument was stolen. Following the incident, his band instructor introduced him to other percussion instruments such as the bells and xylophone. He then began to play the

Photo by Sonali Notani

PROFESSIONAL PERCUSSIONIST: New percussion teacher Dr. Michael Ptacin has been

marimba, which became his favorite of all the percussion instruments due to its melodic resonance and similarity to the piano. These unexpected circumstances offered Dr. Ptacin a broader perspective on the variety of instruments available in percussion.

“Having my snare drum stolen actually allowed me to play other instruments and expand my horizons,” said Dr. Ptacin.

“Sometimes, we don’t have control over what happens.”

The percussion students said that Dr. Ptacin has become a beneficial member of the Greenhill Fine Arts community by helping them enhance their technique and skills.

“His approach is very proactive, we have already started our percussion ensemble pieces a lot earlier than we would have before. He is also picking a harder repertoire and challenging us rather than selecting music that he thinks is at our level,” said senior Nikita Jindal, a percussionist.

Attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and becoming a Doctor of Musical Arts allowed Dr. Ptacin to form some of the best memories of his life.

“I enjoyed the marching side of music. I competed with a drum corps for five years. You get to travel around the country spending your summer on the road with different people playing in different environments,” said Dr. Ptacin.

Dr. Ptacin almost switched out of his major in percussion performance during his undergraduate years at UNC Greensboro, but after he played one piece, Maslanka’s Fourth symphony, he said he was convinced to stick with this major.

“I fell in love with the piece,” he said. “[Playing] it was such an amazing experience. I can’t explain what it was, but that’s the power of music. After that, I decided to continue in music.”

In addition to teaching the Upper School Percussion class, Dr. Ptacin teaches private lessons and serves as an extra member of the Dallas Wind Symphony. He is a substitute at rehearsals and occasionally performs at the concerts. According to his blog, Dr. Ptacin first heard of the Dallas Wind Symphony in his undergrad and has admired them since.

On November 14, Dr. Ptacin performed at the Myerson with the Dallas Winds symphony playing David Maslanka’s Fourth Symphony, Maslanka was the same musician that convinced him to pursue his career in music.

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The thumbprints of Greenhill

Stephen Crotty Staff Writer

In a time in life of great stress and change, examining one’s thumbprint is often last on one’s mind. However, that is exactly what Valerie Gillespie, Middle School and Upper School Visual Arts Teacher and Coordinator of Fine Arts Equity & Inclusion chose to have her middle chool students do. Ms. Gillespie, along with Director of Equity and Inclusion Dr. Karen Bradberry, have spearheaded the “We Are Greenhill” initiative at Greenhill using the power of art.

“We are Greenhill” was started

by Dr. Bradberry this year to introduce storytelling and concepts of hope and love to the Greenhill community. She brought in a program called Journeyman Ink to present to faculty. Journeyman ink is an organization based in DFW that aims to give people the skills to embrace their community through various art forms, Journeyman Ink’s website says it “transcends cultures, creeds, and races, by awakening the creative soul through the development of emotional literacy in various forms of artistic expression.”

Dr. Bradberry was inspired to bring Journeyman Ink to Greenhill after seeing one of their public oral exhibitions in Deep Ellum, in which several Greenhill students were performing. Every Friday, the organization hosts a platform for spoken word at their base in Deep Ellum, known as DaVerse Lounge.

“They are working with children to learn how to speak their truths and celebrate themselves and their stories using spoken word. When I realized that this was new way people could tell their stories, I started talking about, ‘we should get them to come

Photo by Greenhill Communications

MY THUMBPRINT: Middle School students have created thier thubprint art by using thier life experience story they previously wrote.

out,’” said Dr. Bradberry.

At a faculty meeting in October supervised by Journeyman Ink, teachers and administrators learned about the ways that they could embrace their communities through various art forms, such as dance, chanting and singing.

Ms. Gillespie was particularly inspired by this experience and sought out a meaningful way to embed it into her middle school art curriculum. Her choice to embrace this experience as a type of learning was even more powerful given the age of her students.

“Middle school students deal with

so much. They are uniquely in that period within their lives where they are just starting to figure everything out. There is a ton of ambiguity and uncertainty, coupled with new ways of doing thing things an immense amount of growth and change,” said Ms. Gillespie.

The biggest component of this learning experience for the Middle School students was the creation of thumbprint art. Students were asked to reflectively write their life experiences down, and then traced each of their individual thumbprints. What they had written down would now form the

lines of their thumbprint, or the substance of what makes each person unique.

Similarly, when the faculty was participating in that initial October meeting, groups of them received a certain line of a song and combined together to create complete piece of music. The activity was intended to be a model for the way all types of people combine to create a richer experience.

“You have different, different, different. Symbolically, when we put all that together, we can make beautiful music. This is a fun way of really getting at very heavy topics,” said Dr. Bradberry.

Although the activities in October were just for faculty and the art projects are just for the middle schoolers, Journeyman Ink came to Greenhill in December to work with Upper School students.

The main goal of the Middle School project was to show how art can serve as a way to heal and be relieved from the pressures of everyday life. By seeing what makes each of them uniquely creative, Ms. Gillespie hopes to create a consistent emotional outlet for kids through art.

For fifth grader Harris Xie, art serves as an emotional outlet. In addition to Ms. Gillespie, Harris is inspired by his older brother who likes to draw transportation.

“I like drawing random things. It just sometimes calms me down. It makes me feel peaceful,” said Harris.

“Art is such a personal endeavor. There is no right or wrong way to do it, and it helps to generate an awareness or mindfulness that serves aspects in life far greater that ourselves,” said Ms. Gillespie.

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Sports Dive into Greenhill swimming A preview of Hornet swim season

Amber Syed Features Editor Greenhill’s swim season began on November 13 with 14 swimmers qualifying for the Texas Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (TISCA), an elite swim competition where Greenhill swimmers compete against all the 5A and 6A public schools, as well as competing against schools in the The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools in North Texas (TAPPS).

Last year, just one team member, junior Erica Yang, qualified.

“I know that [last year] was a growing year for us. We had a lot of kids improve a lot and drop a lot of time and work really hard on improving themselves. They’re ready to start the season fast. The whole team is strong,” said swimming Head Coach Patti Monzingo.

“

What we’re trying to do now is look at our first, second, and third grade swimmers, recognize who is a good swimmer and where our talent is.”

In addition to last year’s group of strong swimmers, there are many new additions to the team that have a competitive swim background. Of the 31 swimmers on the team,

Photo by Raag Venkat

IN THE FAST LANE: Greenhill swimmers work on their strokes in practice before their meet against Bishop Lynch High School and Parish Episcopal School.

only two girls and three boys are club swimmers. One new member, freshman MJ Ward, currently swims for the Dallas Mustangs, which is a nationally ranked club team. He has swum for Greenhill since seventh grade.

“This year, my goal is to get first in at least one event in SPC, and hopefully to go to state meet and get first while we’re there

too,” said MJ. The coaching staff is making an intentional effort to look at Greenhill’s Lower School for potential standout Upper School swimmers. They have started to teach first graders skills needed for competitive situations, such as learning how to do underwater streamline push offs and kick outs. They

have also started teaching second grade students how to dive off the blocks in streamline position, which used to be taught starting in third grade.

“What we’re trying to do now is look at our first, second and third grade swimmers, recognize who is a good swimmer and where our talent is and then grow that talent from the bottom up, so by the time they get into Middle School it’s kind of a no-brainer,” Coach Monzingo said.

Erica Yang has been a part of the Greenhill swim program since she was in seventh grade, and has been a competitive swimmer since she was four-years-old. According to Coach Monzingo, Erica has been an asset to the high school team since her freshman year. Erica, a 200 Freestyle and 200 Medley relay competitor alongside Alisha Nathani, Megan Benz, Hannah Fox, and Victoria Le, is anticipating a successful season for relays.

“It’s going to be so much fun. There are a bunch of new club swimmers [and] we’re going to have really good relays,” said Erica.

On November 29, the swim team had their first meet where they competed against Ursuline and Jesuit and lost. Their second meet took place on Wednesday, December 6, where they competed against Bishop Lynch and Parish and won. Their third meet takes place on December 14.

The solo polo player

Senior Megan Benz brings her water polo talents to Texas

Ross Rubin Features Editor

Senior Megan Benz pours a few drops of milk into her swim goggles, tilts her head back and puts the goggles on. She then blinks to get the milk out, takes the goggles off and dives back into the pool.

During a normal water polo tournament that consists of three to four games, just like many other players, Megan’s eyes will sting due to the immense amount of chlorine. The milks helps Megan protect her eyes.

Megan first started playing water polo when she was 14 because of her father, George Benz, who played when he was younger. He recommended that his daughter follow in his footsteps and try to play herself.

“My dad made me a deal, he said, ‘Megan, if you stay for the two weeks out of the six-week camp then you can quit.’ After two weeks, I completely forgot about the entire deal and I absolutely loved it. I signed up to play for my high school and then club,” said Megan.

After Megan moved from Manhattan Beach, California to Dallas before her junior year, she began her search to find a water polo team so she could continue playing.

Upon realizing that the only school team in the area was St. Marks, Megan looked for a club team. The team is in Southlake and they are called the Southlake Thunder.

“The number of women’s teams and locations is still limited compared to California. Megan is driving more than 100 miles a week to commute back and forth

to evening practices,” said Mr. Benz. “It is not convenient, but it is important to her, so she makes it work.”

According to her club coach, Chris Cullens, Megan is a hardworker and a key part of their team’s success.

“She is a good swimmer, she’s athletic, she can throw the ball well and she’s left handed so we can count on her. She is definitely an integral part of our team,” said Coach Cullens.

Although school water polo teams are scarce in Texas, Megan hopes that the state will see growth in the game.

“I wish it was more popular for high schools to have girls water polo because there is something so different from a high school team than a club team. I love traveling with my team but it’s so different when you don’t go to school with them….the team bonding makes school teams so special,” said Megan.

Megan and her father also recognize that despite how tough the sport is to play, it does not receive the recognition it might deserve.

“It requires a great deal of endurance, and it uses nearly every muscle in your body, especially your legs and core,” said Mr. Benz.

Megan often gets asked what water polo is and she often receives comical questions.

“When I first came [to Texas] everybody asked me what sport I played. I had to explain to them that water polo has nothing to do with horses,” said Megan.

Although Megan has learned a lot of water polo skills from her father, there

Photo courtesy of Megan Benz

MARCO POLO: Megan prepares for a shot in a water polo match against a local team.

are many differences between men’s and women’s water polo, such as the offensive and defensive formations as women and men have different physical strengths.

They also include the differences in the physicality of the sports, as women wear full body suits and tend to be more aggressive by “playing dirty” and “grabbing and holding onto others” suits underwater.

“It is a very physical sport, especially for the girls, because they wear full body suits so they are taught to grab. There is a lot of grabbing underwater that the refs never see,” said Megan.

Coach Cullens believes that Megan can be great later in her career.

“I believe there are opportunities for her to play in college…left-handers there are not as many of them so I know a lot of coaches will be looking for a left-handed attacker…she definitely has the ability for her to play in college,” said Coach Cullens.

While Megan is not committed to play water polo in college, she said would like to continue playing water polo.

“I would love to play in college. But if I don’t get to play in a divisional level, I hope I go to a school that offers it as a club sport,” said Megan.

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Update on the Class of 2017’s Division 1 Athletes Max Rheagen Ellen Margaret Chris Photo courtesy of Ricky Davis

Photo courtesy of Chris Quintero

Photo courtesy of Russell James

Photo courtesy of Sam Rubin

Although Max Mendelsohn ’17 arrived at Greenhill his senior year and played just one tennis season as a Hornet, his presence was felt immediately. Max’s 5-star recruiting ranking and 32nd national rank (by tennisrecruiting.com) in high school put him in contention for a spot on a competitive Division I college tennis team, and he committed to play at Pepperdine University in the fall of 2016.

Max’s success on the court has continued into his freshman year as a Wave.

He finished the fall season with a winning record in singles, going 6-5. After an undefeated senior season with the Hornets, the step up in competition is clear to Max. “You don’t get any easy matches in college,” Max said. “Everything is super competitive, all the players are top level, you are constantly playing guys who are better than you or the same level as you. It challenges you to bring your A-game to the court everyday.”

Coming off of a senior season in which he helped lead Boys soccer to the SPC title game and earned both team MVP and AllSPC honors in 2017, Chris Quintero ’17 started his Division I soccer career at Oral Roberts University. He appeared in five games as a Golden Eagle, and started one; an accomplishment Chris is especially proud of.

“It was a dream come true,” Chris said.

“Starting at the Division I level has always been a dream, and I was able to fulfill it three games into my freshman year. That was really cool.”

According to Chris, while he relishes the competition and high level of play he experiences as a Golden Eagle, the physicality of the game took a notable step up in the transition from high school to college soccer.

“Every time I touch a ball on a college field, someone has already kicked me, but in high school soccer, I had a lot more time to play,” he said. “I have to be a lot faster in college.”

Rheagen Smith ’17 recently concluded her first soccer season at Texas A&M University. As a Hornet, Smith earned AllSPC honors during her sophomore, junior and senior years of soccer, in addition to winning MVP of the soccer team her senior year.

This season, Rheagen appeared in 16 of a total 22 games, logging a total of 308 minutes on the season. She said that at the Division I level, the competition is significantly more athletic than in high school.

“The speed of play is different. People are faster and stronger, and you just don’t have as much time on the ball,” she said.

Smith put an exclamation point on her freshman season with a goal in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Tournament semifinals against Florida. The Aggies would go on to win the game and eventually the tournament. After earning the number two seed in the NCAA Division I women’s soccer playoffs, Smith and the Aggies were eliminated by Notre Dame in the second round.

Ellen Margaret Andrews ‘17 was a standout volleyball, basketball and track and field athlete in high school, but she chose to focus on basketball at the Division I level at Yale University.

Through the first six games of the season (current as of November 30, 2017), Ellen Margaret has averaged 22.2 minutes per game 6 points per game, and 3.3 rebounds per game. She has been in the starting lineup three times as a forward.

On November 21, The Bulldogs traveled to Fort Worth and beat Texas Christian University (TCU), a Big 12 team. She said playing close to home and winning was the highlight of her season thus far.

“It was fun getting to see this new world I’m a part of here [at Yale] interact with the world I’ve been with for 18 years, and getting to play in front of family and friends was a really exciting opportunity,” she said.

Story by Lili Stern Additional reporting by Shreya Saxena and Sonia Dhingra

wednesday, december 13 , 2017

Confronting discomfort

“Every accomplishment, leadership role and award needs to be on that resume,” the admissions representative told the group of seniors in the lecture hall. “Brag to us about yourself. Show us everything.”

Everything. Colleges want to see everything.

Coming from a school that prides itself on producing students with humility, the college application process has been especially challenging and uncomfortable.

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A strong application relies on excessive self-confidence and pride. I’ve spent the past three months building my application up, building myself up, with the hopes of earning the approval of some admissions department somewhere. The process encourages (and truthfully forces) us to explain why our story, our background and our accolades are more worthy of admittance than someone else’s.

The humility that Greenhill has worked to instill in us is nowhere to be found.

As I added every last club I attended and service projected I participated in over the last three and a half years to my resume, I couldn’t help but feel I was leaving myself vulnerable to pain and defeat should a college deem my application unworthy of acceptance.

At Greenhill, I’ve been able to control whether I succeed. If I study for a test, I’m likely to get a good grade. If I work hard in sports, I will make the team and see playing

Maya in the middle

As I prepared to board a plane I looked to my ticket in disgust and dread. Seat 18B. I would be in the middle seat between two absolute strangers with no escape for hours.

I could feel the awkward, unfamiliar tension before I even took my seat.

A half hour later as the plane began to taxi and I was getting ready to fall asleep to pass the time, the two women sitting around me began to talk. Their constant chatter

about the drama amongst their friends, their matching Hawaiian shirts, their similar smell of cookies, and their identical New Jersey accents were a dead giveaway: I was sitting in between close friends. I offered to change seats with one of them so they could sit with each other and they cackled wildly.

They rejected the offer, they wanted to talk to me, too.

A couple months later in seat 22E, I sat in between a young man in a suit and a greying lady with a bright purple scarf.

The lady took out her Sudoku puzzles from the latest local newspaper and groaned in frustration. She was stuck. The man in the suit on the other side of me smiled and offered his help. Apparently, he was quite fond of Sudoku as well. 30 minutes and three airplane servings of Diet Coke and pretzels later, the Sudoku was finished and they moved onto the crossword puzzle on the next page. But this time, they wanted me to

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time. I have almost always been able to control my outcome.

On the other hand, the college process is a complete crapshoot. While hard work obviously gives us a better shot of admittance, we don’t have complete control of what our effort will amount to. The nature of the process lends itself to making us feel vulnerable and unworthy. Our fate (for the meantime) is in someone else’s hands.

For one of the first times in our lives, we are getting a true glimpse of the unfairness and unpredictability of life outside the Greenhill bubble.

We are learning how to brag about ourselves and reflect on our lives in a meaningful way. Whether it’s applying for a job, running for higher office, or seeking any sort of leadership position, we will need to learn how to sell ourselves in a humble way.

In giving ourselves the best chance for success, we are also making ourselves

vulnerable to rejection, concepts foreign to many Greenhill students, including myself.

The process will go smoothly for some of us, but for most, it will leave bumps and bruises along the way if it hasn’t already.

While rejection sucks in the short-run (as it should), it brings with it important lessons.

Although Greenhill is one of the top private schools in the country and we’ve grown up in a culture where failure is an anomaly, there are times in life when we will not be the smartest, most accomplished people in the room.

So, we’ll give colleges our everything, but sometimes, everything isn’t enough. It’s an unfortunate reality, but one we will have to learn to live with as we move through life.

Frustration and pain are natural corollaries of the process, but I’m confident there is value in that frustration, even if it doesn’t show itself right away.

do the puzzle with them.

The following year after a canceled flight and an unexpected overnight stay in an airport that I didn’t know, I was excited to get on a plane home. Seat 19B. 15 minutes later I sat down in my seat, in between an obviously confused man muttering to himself under his breath on my left and another man on what seemed like an urgent phone call on my right.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax, but the man on my left nudged me awake and he looked close to tears. In Spanish he told me that he didn’t understand what any of the flight attendants were saying: nobody spoke Spanish. In my broken Spanish I tried to calm him down, helping translate his words to the flight attendants.

And as the man on my left calmed down, the man on my right began to cry.

His wife was in labor and he was missing the birth of his first child. I didn’t know what

to say to either of the confused, frustrated, angry, sad men, so I pulled out my bag of Sour Patch Kids in my backpack and offered it to them. Less than five minutes later my bag was empty.

I used to hate the middle seat because it’s simultaneously a lonely and crowded spot, but now I prefer to sit there. Sometimes I get to sit with happy, excited people, and sometimes I am stuck next to people who want nothing to do with me. But sitting in the middle has shown me time and time again of the power that strangers have on one another, and how even the smallest acts of kindness matter. I likely will never see any of the people I’ve sat next to again, and I doubt they remembered me past the baggage claim, but their words, interactions with each other and how to act have made an impact on me.

highlights of the past year–laughing, crying and rejoicing with one another. Family secrets, gossip and jokes are told, one after the other. For just one day, it is heartwarming to see the whole family detached from the outside world to celebrate.

Last year, as we kneaded, Grandmother recounted a time when her dumplings were the only ones on the platter. As her family grew, the plate did too, resembling an eclectic family tree; each dumpling carrying the cross-generational memoirs of its maker.

My dumplings, although unflattering, are meaningful. They symbolize my contribution to unity and tradition in my family. They hold my portion of life, meaning and experiences in them.

Traditions bring us to think about our roots, connecting us to something larger and more powerful than ourselves. They remind us to constantly be aware of ourselves and others, acting as a guiding force in our lives.

There is real beauty in respecting tradition; it teaches us about who we are and where we come from. Our traditions are what makes us unique, and valuing those traditions shapes us as people.

Time moves on. Things change. And I know that one day, my dumplings, as aesthetically unpleasing as they are, will be the only ones I eat on Chinese New Year. But because of my pride in the traditions I hold, the essence of who I am and what I value will largely remain the same. So in the future, when I take a bite of the doughy pouch of oriental flavor, I’ll be brought back to the dining room, laughing and sharing joy with my family.

“Keep eating! Keep eating! There is real magic in these dumplings,” Grandmother says.

And she is right.

passions lie artistically and academically.

I realized that not only do I have a creative right side of my brain, but also a third section, a middle, that strives unconsciously to connect the logical left and the imaginative right.

The letters on my transcript don’t show this third section. Though I exert myself always to earn “worthy” grades, I feel most satisfied when I focus less on grades, and more on learning. That moment when I connect my artist statement to a class on the Nature and Uses of Language, or when I am able to connect a thought of Rumi to the concept of intoxication and its relation to what I learned in biology the day before-

those are the times when I feel enlightened.

I focus my learning on discovering, understanding and connecting with the left, right and combined sides of my brain.

So what? Why should anyone care? Isn’t high school just about college? What’s the point of learning if you don’t get into college?

Let me put it this way: true education comes from quality, not quantity.

Search for the greater meaning behind the ideas thrown around in our courses at school, don’t get caught up in the physicality of what is presented. When we find our place in our learning and connect to the material presented, we gain knowledge, and with that knowledge comes power and liberation.

A taste of tradition

The savory aroma of pork and chives filled the house on Sunday morning and I instantly knew what day it was: Chinese New Year. This festival welcomes the new year by celebrating wealth, happiness and fortune.

Every year, our family tradition brings all of the women in the extended family together to make dumplings.

Grandmother stands at the head of the table, orchestrating this culinary theater, and we gather around the kitchen island, each

playing our individual role. An unrelenting process of cutting and flattening the dough, adding filling and squeezing the edges to form a dumpling begins. The process is tedious, but a mere mention of store bought dumplings is always countered by a glare that screams: uncultured, unacceptable and un-Chinese.

For some reason other than genetics, I am incapable of folding a dumpling. Meat falls out one end when I squeeze the pouch, and when I try fixing the oozing mess by stuffing dough into the unclosed end, the filling comes out through the other end.

By the afternoon, I am usually banished to a simpler role–cutting and flattening the dough. Whatever, right? They don’t need me anyway.

In all seriousness, it isn’t about making the ideal dumpling. This tradition brings my family closer together. As we stand around the kitchen island, hour after hour, we share

Learning for liberation

My brain has a left side, a right side and a middle. I have always tried to fit all three pieces into the left side, designed to deal with logic, math, and science. Freshman year, I was living life in a hexagon, bouncing off

the walls created by the traditional subjects of geometry, English, history, chemistry, Spanish and debate.

I was uninspired; I studied, but I didn’t learn. I felt like there was something waiting to reveal the true capacity of my mind, but what? Toward the end of that year, I took a brave step toward something different.

That step, literally across the hall, opened the door to photography, and the right side of my brain – creativity, intuition, and imagination. Third trimester, I joined the Beginning Black and White Photography class, taking me into an unexplored world that I had been missing. That one step across the hall altered my perception of where my

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Ingredients 12 ounces of Ghiradelli’s dark chocolate 12 ounces of Ghiradelli’s white chocolate Peppermint chocolate chips Steps 1. Cover baking tray with parchment paper completely.

2. Melt dark chocolate in microwave, stirring in 30 second increments until completely melted.

3. Pour dark chocolate onto tray, spreading evenly to cover whole tray.

4. Melt white chocolate with same process as dark.

5. Pour white chocolate over dark chocolate until dark chocolate isn’t showing.

6. Spread peppermint chocolate chips throughout and then freeze for two hours. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Hot Cocoa Mix Whip Cream Your choice of toppings!

Steps 1.Pour the hot chocolate packet in a mug.

2.Add boiling hot water.

3.Add whip cream and any other toppings you want!

4. Cuddle up by the fire and enjoy!

Ingredients 1 Box of sugar cookie mix 1 Egg 1 Stick of Butter Parchment Paper Sheet Pan Steps 1. Pour mix into bowl (procedure may vary based on brand) 2. Add egg and melted butter 3. Mix! 4. Use cookie cutters to shape dough and place cookies on pan.

5. Heat oven to 375 and bake for 10 minutes.

6. Decorate!

Photos and recipes by Natalie Gonchar and Caroline Simpson