March 2015 | The Evergreen, Greenhill School

Evergreen the

march 5, 2015

Everything Greenhill

volume 50, issue 4

What do we

k

in colleges?

Graphic by Sera Tuz

In late April, a junior’s bedroom is littered with college brochures from all edges of the country. These pamphlets showcase big state universities and small liberal arts colleges, and right now, it may seem impossible for this junior to filter through them all.

Greenhill’s Mission Statement opens by proclaiming, “Greenhill School is a diverse community.” But when it’s time for students to leave the Hill and create their own mission statements, is diversity something they’re looking for?

Out of an Evergreen survey of 52 seniors, 57 percent responded that diversity factored into their college search.

The survey broke diversity down into categories of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and geographic region. When seniors ranked the type of diversity they looked for, 40 percent looked primarily for racial and ethnic diversity, by far the most prioritized subset.

Jennifer Kincaid, Director of College Counseling, said that numerous students come to their junior-year meetings citing diversity as an important factor in their college search.

“Many Greenhill students care about diversity. Families and students who select Greenhill do so purposefully in that they select a diverse environment, and by diverse I mean that very broadly: in terms of race, religion, nationality, and opinion. I also think it would be wrong to assume that [diversity] is something only students of color care about or students of a minority religion care about,” she said.

The search for diversity in colleges is a very personal one. Senior Emily Fine started her college search knowing that diversity was a priority for her.

“With diversity comes a lot of different perspectives and opinions. I’ve grown up hearing many different views within my family, and I enjoy that and want to keep that

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going,” she said.

Some students want to meet a variety of unique people with differing worldviews; others look for diversity to ensure that they will find people like them and feel accepted.

Emily represents both.

“I want people that I can identify with, but I also want to be in an environment where there’s tons of different people, where no one will feel left out,” Emily said.

Other students focus on school size, location, academics, and reputation, with diversity figuring low on their list. Of the seniors who responded that diversity did factor into their search, no one ranked it as his or her first or second priority. Out of ten factors ranging from academics to athletics to cost, diversity was only the seventh-mostimportant factor on average.

“

I ask students to consider diversity not just in numbers of bodies but in terms of student support and a college’s willingness to engage in difficult conversation.”

“It wasn’t one of my top priorities when I was looking at the colleges. Yes, it’s important, but to me it was more about majors, size of the college, where it is, and how the student body feels about the college,” said senior Sophie Bradford, who will be attending Rhodes College in the fall.

Sophie said that she didn’t really think about diversity until after she applied.

“I went on all the websites and was looking at student population, where they’re coming from and who they are. Some of my schools weren’t that diverse, and that’s when I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I should have thought about this,’” she said. “Still, I love my school, so it’s not a huge disappointment.”

Ms. Kincaid cautions against using statistics as the only measure of diversity.

“It’s important to look beyond the numbers, which are the easiest part of the

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Serving Greenhill since 1966

The Noise Only Students Can Hear. p. 5.

conversation. You could pull two colleges with have similar [percentages] of students from historically underrepresented groups, but if one school is smaller, the numbers themselves are radically different,” she said.

Visiting campus might be a good way to gauge the reality of that school’s diversity.

“You can tell a lot about [the school] by who is hanging out. You have to ask yourself, ‘If I was here, would I be able to fit in with this group?’ and looking at those groups, and seeing if they’re diverse enough to meet your expectations is what I want,” said junior Mansi Kumar.

But what’s also important is the campus infrastructure, which can be judged by the quantity or quality of various student associations that support diversity.

“I ask students to consider diversity not just in numbers of bodies but in terms of student support and a college’s willingness to engage in difficult conversation,” Ms. Kincaid said.

Because of this, there is no single type of college that generally harbors the most diversity.

“The larger the institution, the more ‘diverse’ it’s going to be. But I also think it’s not always true that the biggest places are the ones most careful with the dialogue,” Ms. Kincaid said.

To gauge true diversity, she suggests beginning with the numbers through resources like Naviance and Peterson’s Guide. She then suggests talking to a campus representative, and more importantly, ending by engaging with current students.

“Ask if they feel supported and what issues come up. I find that current students are very candid and willing to share their experiences.”

Diversity can also be found in unexpected places. Senior Lindsey Ingram knew diversity was a priority for her, saying that she wanted to learn from other cultures throughout her college experience. When she applied to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), she said, “I was a little worried because I have never been to a school where the African-American community is basically all there is. HBCUs

Features

Greenhill Love Tales p. 8.

Arts

reminded me that not all African-American kids are the same. Most people would think that [Howard] wouldn’t be diverse, but there are so many subcultures within the AfricanAmerican community. Diversity isn’t just based on race.”

Nor is diversity just based on geographic region.

77 percent of the survey respondents considered Southern schools to be less diverse than their counterparts elsewhere in the country. Junior Renée Smith said, “I want to be surrounded by even more types of people in college. However, I think I want to stay in the South, which is not necessarily the most diverse place.”

However, Ms. Kincaid cautions against making those generalizations.

“Because the South is so diverse and because so many students consider colleges near home, Southern colleges can be quite diverse.”

What matters more is the mission of the school. The mission of state schools is to educate the people of that state, which means that their diversity levels usually mimic the breakdown of the state itself. But for private schools, each school can have a completely different mission, with one school including diversity in its opening statement and another not mentioning it at all.

Ultimately, finding a mission statement that you agree with is what matters.

“I think college is a time to define yourself and become independent,” said Lindsay Rawitscher ’11, a current student at Northwestern University.

Lindsay would argue that even at Greenhill, diversity is something you have to choose.

“Greenhill is decently diverse in numbers, especially considering the Dallas, TX, population at large, but the friend groups really aren’t that diverse, at least when I was there they weren’t really,” Lindsay said, reflecting on her time at Greenhill. “I definitely notice more diversity [at Northwestern] and appreciate it so much more. Friend groups are not at all determined by any kind of single race, gender, class, [or] religion.”

The Master of Many Languages. p. 13

4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001

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Freshman Triathlete, Philanthropist. p. 16

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Rants & Raves A RAVE to The Addams Family. As one of many acclaimed reviewing bodies of this musical, falling into company with the likes of the New York Times and People magazine, we give it a million stars—one for each reference to death, the graveyard, or Ohio.

A RANT to worn-out Expo markers. Ideal learning environments include the smells of books, sharp pencils, and fresh markers on whiteboards.

Sadly, the Expo marker population is rapidly diminishing. Nothing is worse than watching aging marker write its final words.

Even the toughest can’t hide their emotions when one dies.

A RANT to outdated technology in the language lab.

The shaky language-pod Wi-Fi was intolerable enough, but the prehistoric specimens in the lab are even worse. The supersite homework would be much more super if we could finish before we fossilized.

A RAVE and RANT to the snow days. The supreme ice lord, WFAA weatherman Pete Delkus, blessed/ cursed us with two snow days, giving those of us who had not begun studying for exams extra time to do so. However, the days off also presented themselves to be prime days for binge-watching season three of House of Cards. Cheers to the extra weekend of (re)studying for exams!

A RANT to conflicting school events. One thing that would make Greenhill events a lot more enjoyable is actually being able to attend them. Please, we beg of you, don’t schedule Winter SPC Championships and Winter Dance on the same day next year!

A RAVE to the free screening of Selma on MLK day for Upper School students. We discovered the story behind a major civil rights struggle. We also discovered a hidden gem in Valley View Mall—yes, it still exists!

A RAVE to SAGE Dining’s revamped breakfast food. The potato wedges and snazzy new paper wrappers for tacos shake up our mundane morning routines of tin foil and square potatoes. The cheese-to-egg ratio has also been lowered to a less gooey reality. These important yet subtle changes have powered us to overcome such difficulties as first period Spanish and early-morning lifts.

A RANT to students who use their phones while walking. Studies have shown that if you consistently look at your phone while walking, you will not only arrive at your destination slower, but you will also have managed to infuriate everyone in your general proximity.

A RAVE to candy in teachers’ officies. Any Greenhill student knows that the most important meal of the day is a handful of candy from the front office. Midway through the strenuous trek from the English pod to the history pod, most will sneak back for refueling. This beautiful cycle is never ending.

Content courtesy of Zoe Allen and Zach Rudner Center middle photo courtesy of blogs.dallasobserver.com Bottom right photo courtesy of www.happysimpleliving.com

“Dear Greenhill...” Staff Editorial

Greenhill’s effort at cultural competence didn’t end after the C-day meeting, in which seniors held signs calling for awareness.It wasn’t over after the credits rolled Dear White People. It didn’t end after Justin Simien came to speak at Greenhill. It will not stop. It is in the core of who we are as a community.

The purpose of the “Dear Greenhill” was to raise questions, to make people question what they think.

“Greenhill has always been a place where people are freer than in most environments,” said Upper School English teacher Dan Kasten, who has taught on the

Hill for 32 years. “The spirit of Greenhill has not changed.”

The effect to create a more aware environment at Greenhill, one that recognizes other people’s experiences and stories, is one we, as a staff, know well. It’s our mission, too.

Similar to the “Dear Greenhill”phenomonon, The Evergreen is a platform to make voices heard. It’s difficult to put opinions out there for criticism or appraisal. Often, the more important aspect is raising the right questions.

During the 2013-2014 school year,

Evergreen staff

Greenhill students took the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE), a questionnaire that evaluated numorous aspects of our school. One question: “During this school year, how often have you discussed questions that have no clear answer?” Greenhill students answered with a mean value of 92 percent who think this is true. This fits with Greenhill’s inquiry-based work, which asks lots of questions, where answers are personal to each individual.

The Evergreen challenges you to let us be facilitators to make you heard. The point of a newspaper is to get to the heart

of the stories that need to be told. We are a community forum. But the community has to participate. We can only be as meaningful as you each help us to be.

Perhaps you don’t realize what you can do. Anyone is welcome to write a letter to the Editor or a column. We encourage the public to send us content ideas. Tell us the stories you long to read, the issues you long to see explored. We hold feedback panels where you can tell us, too.

So, seriously, let us know. What do you think about? Today, tomorrow, the next day...

the

editor-in-chief

views editor

Sera Tuz

Megan Wiora

executive editor

news editors

Sofia Shirley

managing editor Sanah Hasan

Madison Goodrich Christina Zhu

features editors Varun Gupta Amna Naseem

arts editor

Catherine Leffert

sports editors

Lane Hirsch Ben Schachter

Erratas, Dec. 2014 issue

asst. arts editor Arhum Khan

special sections editor

asst. views editor

asst. news editor

online editors

Areeba Amer

Andrew Friedman Suman Chebrolu

asst. features editor Zach Rudner

Christian Holmes Ben Krakow

business manager Ryan Diebner

staff writers

Simra Abedi Zoe Allen Ellen Margaret Andrews Sophie Bernstein Stephen Crotty Maya Ghosh Abbas Hasan Mia Krumerman Radhe Melwani Kathie Rojas Josh Rudner

Lili Stern Zayna Syed Joseph Weinberg

art director

Ariana Zhang

staff artists

addt’l contributor Harris Chowdhary

advisor

Eve Hill-Agnus

Have questions, comments or concerns? Let us know via email at evergreen@greenhill.org.

Hanna Arata Ruchita Iyer Anurag Kurapati Anusha Kurapati Adam Weider Amy Yang

p.4 Allie Woodson graduated in 2014, not 2013.

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Off-Campus Student-Teacher Encounters It was probably the third weekend after school had started. I went to the mall to get some new headphones at Bose, my body took over my brain at that moment and I had to redirect my final destination. To my luck, I ran into two of my new students.

They smiled and said “Hola sr. Luna.” What I really wanted to say was that I was truly happy to see them and I would stop to chat for a bit but I had had too much water and coffee that day, but I was conflicted because I really had to find the nearest restroom. Well, that explanation would have ended badly if I had stopped to socialize. All I could do say “Hola, nos vemos luego,” and kept walking fast through the escalator trying to figure out where the restrooms were while my students gave me that odd face that who knows what it means. On Monday, one of the students I saw at the mall asked, “Hola, ¿no te gusta hablar con los estudiantes fuera de la escuela?(Hi, do you not like to talk with your studetns outside of school?)”, and despite my embarrassment, I told him the truth. I was peeing in my pants and all I could think of was “hold tight and find the restroom. He smiled and said “for a moment, I thought you did not like us.” I guess we cannot deny that seeing students and teachers out of their habitat can be awkward, but sometimes asking for an explanation of those awkward situations and telling the truth can avoid serious misunderstandings.

-Jacobo Luna, US Spanish teacher

I was going to Europe for a wedding last December with a friend, and while waiting at the airport I saw my then-current student, Catherine Leffert. It was a weird coincidence that we were both waiting for an overnight flight. Then I said, “Where are you going?” and she said Frankfort, which is where I was going. She told me what time her flight was and it was the same time as mine. So we boarded together and were sitting a couple of rows apart, and for the whole flight she was able to tell how much I drank at dinner, I saw her in pajamas watching movies constantly all night, and then she saw me doing a headstand and yoga between the bathrooms because it was such a long flight.

The whole night we would pass each other while walking down the aisle.

-Sebastian Gluzman, US Spanish teacher

SPOTTED AT STARBUCKS: How do students and teachers interact when they see each other off-campus?

A few years ago, soon after we had one of those dress-code talks with the eighth grade girls, I ran into two girls at Galleria on a Saturday. As soon as they saw me, both of them, quite instinctively and without pause, tugged down on the hems of their shorts. I told them I was off-duty.

On more than one occasion, when I taught third grade, I ran into students in the grocery store who said to me in amazement, “Ms. Bauman! What are you doing here?” as if they’d never considered that teachers buy food, too.

-Susan Bauman, MS English teacher

Last summer I was at the Apple store and I was talking to the Apple guy and all of the sudden someone says right in my ear, “How you doin’?” and I scream and turn around. It was Mr. Merc!

-Sydnie Schindler, senior I was eating lunch at Liberty Burger over

the summer with my mom and her friend (both Greenhill alums) and ran into Mr. Garza, who was having lunch with a recent graduate. I didn’t notice him there until I looked down at my phone and saw an email from Mr. Garza. The subject read “1235pm Monday Liberty Burger” and the message “If that’s you, look to your right. JG.” We agreed that this was a very “Greenhill” occurrence.

-Caroline Early, senior

“Hello?” I said, pressing the telephone to my ear. A voice on the other line responded with a cheerful, “Hello!”, and a smile stretched across my face as I recognized the familiar tone. “Oh, hi, Grandma!” I eagerly replied.

“Uh, actually, this is Mrs. ______.”

Oops!

-Caroline Harris, freshman

While visiting the Big Bend area during Spring Break in the 2013-2014 school year,

I recognized then-seventh grader Michelle Malenfant sitting at a nearby table while Mrs. Harkey and I were eating lunch at the

Reata Steakhouse in Alpine, TX. Though I didn’t teach Michelle at that point (in fact, at that point, I wasn’t even sure of her name), it was clear that there were sufficient “hey-Ithink-I-know-that-person-from-Greenhill” glances from us to them and from them to us to make it at least slightly awkward if I didn’t say hello. So I did, enjoyed a pleasant conversation with Michelle and her parents about our respective adventures in the area and left to resume adventuring. This school year, Michelle’s mother came up to me at a meeting of eighth grade parents and asked, with apparently sincere confusion, “Hey, where’s your hat?” Confused, I said something to the effect that I must have left it at home. Only later, after I got home, did I realize that, during the previous Spring Break, I had been wearing my ten-gallon Stetson (as one does in Big Bend country).

What can I say: vacation teacher attire and working teacher attire are very different things!

-Blake Harkey, US/MS English teacher

Heard on the Hill

What Hornets Are Buzzing About "Mr. Luna, do you have A.D.H.D?” "No, I only have Netflix."

"It was see the camel or die. I chose to live."

-Jacobo Luna, US Spanish teacher, when conversing with a student about life.

-Sally Rosenberg, Director of Service Learning and Community Service, about a perported camel sighting when she was on a trip.

"Amsymptotally!"

"What is this Y-O-L-O? I see it around a lot."

-Lauren Baron, junior, in response to Jim Kondysar, US math teacher, asking if the class found a graph interesting.

Photo by Megan Wiora

-Dan Kasten, US English teacher, when he saw YOLO written on the whiteboard in class one day.

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See p. 6 for more on the new STEM club in fourth grade.

Events coincide, spark powerful conversations about identity Arhum Khan Asst. Arts Editor

Zach Rudner

Asst. Features Editor

Upper School students and faculty flooded into the Phillips Family Athletic Center as Los Angeles-based filmmaker Justin Simien prepared to speak. Corbin Doyle, Upper School Visual Arts teacher, shuffled his list of questions compiled from the hundreds written by students and faculty.

The entire day’s schedule was modified for this event. Classes were shortened, breaks cut. Students received countless reminder emails and instructions about getting to school on time. Greenhill prepared in numerous ways for this hour, including an all-Upper School screening of Mr. Simien’s film, Dear White People, the week before.

What’s more, all of this very easily could not have happened.

In October, a group of Greenhill students and faculty saw Dear White People in theaters. Marie Bigham, Director of College Counseling, loved the movie. She siad she felt it was “so Greenhill” because of its investigation of identity. She also related with the film and its characters.

“I’m half Asian and half white, and I saw a lot of myself in Sam [White, the main character] and [the struggle] she has being [the] voice for black students, having a white boyfriend, and having this multiracial experience,” Ms. Bigham said.

Inspired, she composed a tweet to Mr. Simien that night saying, “@JSim07 I just took 65 students/faculty from my Dallas private school to the film. We’re all blown away. Please come speak at Greenhill!”

Through the jungle of his 9,000-plus followers, he saw her tweet and responded.

Ms. Bigham then was able to get in touch with his agent. Head of School Scott Griggs quickly pulled money from several different department budgets and signed the contract with Mr. Simien’s agent.

With Mr. Simien’s visit confirmed and

approaching, Karen Bradberry, Director of Equity and Inclusion, began to formalize a curriculum about microaggressions, forms of unintended discrimination. Its purpose was to teach students and teachers how to sensitively handle identity issues and be culturally competent.

The first step was to educate the teachers.

On the Faculty Work Day in January, teachers focused on identity and sensitivity.

Later, upper schoolers watched the film on yet another specially scheduled Friday.

There was concern about the freshmen maturity level for an “R” rated film.

“Freshmen vary from ages 13 to 16, so it can be hard to judge their maturity. One freshmen can be as mature as a junior,” said Berkeley Gillentine, Freshman Class Dean.

Freshmen families were sent an email ahead of time, providing the option to not watch the movie if the “R” rated scenes made them or their children uncomfortable.

The following Monday, students gathered in their advisories for 45 minute discussions led by junior and senior facilitators. Senior Emma Pillow was a freshmen advisory facilitator and said she found the discussion to be quiet.

“I think it had less to do with maturity and more to do with the fact that they felt intimidated by such a huge, sensitive topic,” Emma said.

The intensity also came from the movie’s production style. Advanced Video Production (AVP) students analyzed the style of the film and its production as a whole during class. While on campus, Mr. Simien also spoke to the AVP students about his background, the movie industry and the process of making his film.

“It was nice to get to know what his interests were and how similar he was to us in high school. It kind of made it seem like we have a chance of doing the same thing,” said sophomore Will Henley, an AVP student.

Like his visit to Greenhill, the film Dear White People almost did not happen as well.

Photo by Ruchita Iyer

IDENTITY ISSUES: Justin Simien, director of Dear White People, discusses social issues and the making of his film to Upper School students in Phillips Family Athletic Center.

He had limited time for production, weeks less than most movies.

“Obviously Mr. Simien planned a lot, but when it came time to produce, he had to move very quickly. That is a great lesson for the AVP folks. For now and later,” Mr. Doyle said.

The production of Dear White People had a limited budget, too. Everything was under a time crunch, and it all happened very quickly, like the events at Greenhill.

The viewing of Dear White People and all the events before and after eventually took a life of its own. Dr. Bradberry addressed each grade about microaggressions during their class meetings. Some students said they were galvanized by her lectures. The following week, during C-day assembly, members of the senior class walked in a line holding signs reading “Dear Greenhill,” followed by examples of microaggressions. Some signs were personal, while others demonstrated

advocacy and support.

Photos of the students and their signs quickly made their way onto the Internet, which received both positive and negative feedback on Reddit, an Internet forum.

“Were we to do it over again, there are certainly things we would have done differently,” said senior Alex Raphael, Student Council President. “What matters is that the Upper School has sustained a multiweek long period of deep discussion on the topic.”

The “Dear Greenhill” C-day posters sparked controversy and discussion.

Once the pictures were posted on Reddit, users commented their opinions, even though no context was provided for the photos. The Dallas Morning News and Dallas Observer picked up the story as well, which featured opinion pieces on the “Dear Greenhill” movement.

To think, if it weren’t for a late-night tweet, none of this would have happened.

Photos by Ariana Zhang

SIGNS OF OUR TIMES: (Left to right) Seniors Maya Muralidhar, Daniel Spomer, Natasha Suterwala, and Irma Chavez hold posters stating microagressions in an attempt to advocate against both intentional and unintentional bullying at Greenhill. They were only part of a large group of seniors that presented their posters during C-Day assembly.

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Sound Detector eases tension in English Pod

Graphic by Ashley Lee and Ruchita Iyer

Sera Tuz

Editor-in-Chief

Varun Gupta Features Editor

Beeeeeep. The chatter in the 500 Pod suddenly ceases. Beeeeeep.

Students cup their ears, frantically searching for the source of a high-pitched, dragged out beep.

English teachers, who cohabitate the 500 Pod with the junior class, stay in their cubicles, reading, grading or listening to ACDC on a pair of Beats headphones.

The English teachers can’t hear the Sound Detector.

The only people shuffling out of the pod are students, bothered by the notorious noise.

“It reminds me of when I listen to music too loud and afterwards I have this ringing in my ears because my ear drums are damaged,” said junior Raven Breitfeller.

The Sound Detector is a sound-measuring and soundproducing device, designed to emit a “mosquito ringtone” at 13 kilohertz for about four seconds whenever the sound level exceeds 15 units. What’s special about the noise, however, is that only young adults can hear it. This is because of age-related hearing loss, presbycusis, placing most individuals over 30 years old outside the hearing range.

The mosquito ringtone, patented by Compound Security Systems, was created to deter young people from loitering around shopping malls. Greenhill students built and installed a similar device last fall to solve a problem that had been plaguing the 500 Pod since the school year began.

When the Sound Detector beeps, students are faced with two options: quiet down or leave.

The pod, which is connected to the junior locker room, consists of four tables with four chairs each, which are in front of two rows of English teachers’ cubicles. Only two filing cabinets and the wooden partition of the cubicles separate the spaces from one another.

In the past, the junior class has followed the rules of four people to a table and maintained a healthy level of noise.

According to Andy Mercurio, Upper School English teacher, there has been a general lack of respect in the 500 Pod this year, which he said he sees on a daily basis.

“The way the juniors have

treated [the space] this year, it’s a lounge. They eat, they talk, they yell, they play games and music.

It has turned into a lounge rather than a shared workspace. We have been in this space for ten years now, and I’ve never seen it like this for a whole year,” Mr. Mercurio said.

Many English teachers said the loud noise levels interfere with their jobs.

“I’m writing a college rec, I’m writing a lesson, I’m grading an essay, I’m writing comments, I’m conferencing with a student, I’m trying to figure out what Shakespeare means, and [some other] student is treating our work space as if it’s their personal conversation space. This happens frequently,” said Joel Garza, Upper School English teacher.

Teachers often hang the chairs on the tables, signifying that the pod is off-limits for students.

Complaints about the noisiness of the 500 Pod has permeated to colleagues not even teaching in the same building.

“What if six teachers walked into the room and started having a conversation while you are [concentrating] on a test. That’s how my colleagues in the English Pod feel,” said Barry Ide, Upper School science teacher and junior class advisor.

The uncontrolled noisy atmosphere puts the teacherstudent dynamic at risk. Teachers often spend their time policing students to be quiet.

“I feel like I’m the old man telling the teenager to get off my lawn because he’s doing donuts on it,” Mr. Mercurio said. “We don’t want to be the bad guys and I don’t like [yelling at the kids] at all.”

Because of the way the 500 Pod is designed, students often forget that beyond the filing cabinets and wooden partitions, there are teachers’ cubicles. Many juniors said that they often forget that teachers can hear and see everything in “their” pod, from loud chuckles to a student eating barbeque chips from the Buzz and leaving an empty bag on the floor.

“A student doesn’t see English teachers working—she sees a locker room, an often-empty US505, and a wall of bookshelves,” Mr. Garza said.

The space was initially created to foster an environment where students and teachers can coexist.

The junior locker room connects to the Pod, making juniors feel entitled to use the space however they’d like. But the space is also where all Upper School English classes take place. So is it the Junior Pod or the English Pod? According to Mr. Mercurio, “it’s the 500 Pod.” During junior class meetings, he often reiterates this name-calling dilemma “Don’t call it the Junior Pod; it’s the 500 Pod,” he repeats.

Students are not always on the same page, however.

“I’ll be honest that I think about it [as] the Junior Pod—[the] section [with four tables and chairs] and 505—but [starting] from [the cubicles] it’s the English Pod,” said junior Joseph Clint.

English teachers are now faced with a dilemma: they would like to foster healthy relationships with students while also reminding them to quiet down.

Because of this mindset, the English teachers did not intend for the Sound Detector’s installation to be punitive, but instead, to serve as a reminder that this is a shared workspace.

The idea of the device all began with Mr. Ide, who pitched the idea of installing the Sound Detector in the fall.

“I came across the mosquito buzz about ten years ago because students were using it as their ringtone so they could hear their phones ring, but adults could not,” Mr. Ide said.

Ten years later, he thought about applying it to the 500 Pod, which he heard was having noise issues from other junior advisors.

Mr. Ide later presented the concept to Michelle Smith, junior team leader, and Linda Woolley, English department chair. Mrs. Smith then took the idea to Laura Ross, Head of Upper School.

“The Sound Detector was intended as a way for students to get feedback on their behavior (i.e., noise) without putting teachers in a situation that required confrontation,” Mrs. Ross said.

Next, Mr. Ide reached out to Maria Suarez, Upper School computer science teacher, who posed the challenge to her class called Computer 2: Advanced Computational Design. Senior Daniel Butbul and freshman Andrew Glick volunteered to build the infamous contraption, which

required engineering experience and took four weeks to complete.

“It seemed cool to make something that would be useful to our school instead of mini-projects out of our textbook,” Daniel said.

Before the students could install the Sound Detector, they built hardware to measure and emit sound, design the program and troubleshoot errors.

According to Andrew, it was challenging to find the value of the sound threshold to be just right. To avoid activating the machine every time someone merely laughs, they set a timer to measure the duration of loud noises so only prolonged noises would trigger the machine.

Now, the device polices the 500 pod chatter and has shifted the ambience, according to some English teachers.

“I feel like the Sound Detector has prompted more students to be more conscious of [respecting the 500 Pod],” Mr. Mercurio said.

While this all sounds like it brought many members of the community together to solve a noise issue, the junior class is less than ecstatic about the Sound Detector’s installation.

“It violates my human rights.

It’s very obnoxious,” said junior Jordan Robinson jokingly.

Ironically, the English teachers’ ultimate goal is to encourage human decency.

“You think the [Sound Detector] would have reminded them of that. I don’t how many different ways to [remind them].

I’ll try to appeal to their logic, on an emotional level, on a practical level, on a professional level,” Mr. Mercurio said.

There have also been propositions to soundproof the cubicles, but according to Mr. Ide, “It puts a band-aid on [the issue of respect] but doesn’t solve it.”

“Maybe all we need is a simple sign on each desk saying ‘You are in the English Pod, a shared workspace,” Mr. Garza said.

Full disclosure: the reason why the Sound Detector hasn’t been going off much recently in the 500 Pod is not necessarily because the juniors have been especially quiet lately. Rather, the Sound Detector was unplugged. While this suggests that juniors have finally found the proper equilibrium in the 500 Pod, it raises the question of whether this newfound peace and quiet can be sustained.

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thursday, march 5, 2015

Junior starts STEM club for fourth grade girls

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Photos by Megan Wiora

IN HER ELEMENT: Junior Meg Berry and fourth graders Emily Kim, Valerie Xu, Ela Mamdani, and Lauren Brown participate in Meg’s female-only STEM club on Thursdays after school.

Zayna Syed Staff Writer

If you find spaghetti strands lying around the Lower School computer lab, don’t be alarmed; it’s just one of Meg Berry’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) Club science experiments (in this particular one, the kids were challenged to build DNA strands out of spaghetti and marshmallows). As of September, Meg started the club for fourth grade girls to encourage their interest in STEM fields,

which usually tends to wane at that age. In fact, the American Association of University Women states that one of the largest gaps between girls’ and boys’ progress in STEM occurs in fourth grade.

Meg’s club serves as her Girl Scout Gold Award, the culmination of a Girl Scout’s career. In this project, she is supposed to give back to the community or work towards a cause she is passionate about.

“My expectations were to get involved with fourth grade girls and to be a positive

influence,” said Meg. To turn STEM Club into a reality, Meg reached out to fourth grade math teacher, Linda White, who is now the teacher sponsor of STEM Club. She helped with the logistics: finding a place for the club to meet, recruiting a parent sponsor, and advertising.

Meg emailed Mr. Simpson a proposal, which included the purpose of the club and ideas of sample activities.

Now, every Thursday afternoon in the Lower School Computer Lab, 10 to 16 fourth grade girls attend STEM Club meetings. At the club, Meg plans mini Pinterest-inspired projects. These projects range from experimenting with dry ice to making models of the arm out of toilet paper rolls.

Meg says her favorite experiment was the time they created homemade Hexbugs.

The Hexbugs you may find at a major toy store look like little, electronic bugs. When you turn them on, they vibrate around the table.

“We cut off the ends of a toothbrush and then we attached a little fiber-linked motor to it. Then we wired that to a battery and then they were these homemade Hexbugs,” Meg said.

These experiments offer an opportunity to learn about science through fun, handson activities.

“I like [the experiments] because you get to do things you wouldn’t get to do in normal school, like build things and do stuff with electricity and dry ice,” said fourth grader Taylor Levy.

Others confess they had doubts about joining the club.

“My father told me it was going to be good, but honestly I thought it was going to be boring until we finally got to do some of the experiments and then I was like, ‘my dad was right for once!’” said fourth grader Madison Rojas.

Meg chose to make the club exclusive to girls in order to promote female participation in science and math-related subjects.

“There’s so much of an inequality. I did it for girls because I feel like guys don’t need more encouragement to go in the direction of STEM,” Meg said.

Fourth grader Sasha Motlagh agrees.

“Sometimes when boys are around they think that they’re the only ones who are good at building and stuff and [at STEM club] you’re able to show that girls are as good as boys can be.”

Ms. White has noticed that in hands-on building projects during class, the boys were more comfortable with the equipment used.

“I would ask who had used the particular equipment before, Keva planks, Zoob pieces, Snap Circuits, et cetera, and often only boy’s hands would appear,” Mrs. White said. “However, both girls and boys were successful with the challenges given and enjoyed the experience.”

Junior Ruchita Iyer helps Meg with her STEM Club. Contrary to Meg, Ruchita says she personally has never felt discouraged from STEM. “I think Greenhill is a pretty accepting environment, because they encourage it so much,” Ruchita said. “[Here], the fact that I’m a girl doesn’t hold me back. If anything, it pushes me forward.”

However, she admits that as girls become teenagers, they tend to shy away from STEM. “Most girls feel like, ‘maybe I’m supposed to do more girly things now, all my friends are doing girly things and science isn’t what girls do.,” Ruchita said.

According to Meg and Ruchita, an all girls STEM club creates a “safe space” for girls to be interested in science, especially at the impressionable age of nine or 10.

Meg’s own interest in science stems from a strong support system at home. Her parents both work with computers. “[I remember in third grade]I asked for a microscope for Christmas and I was super pumped. They’ve always been encouraging science stuff. It’s what they like,” Meg said.

Meg herself has taken a number of science courses at Greenhill and spends her summers participating in STEM related programs.

Meg also participates in Robotics Club and is part of the Upper School Women in STEM club. The Upper School Women in STEM club struggles with recruiting members, but she hopes to fix that by starting the STEM club earlier for her current fourth graders.

To Ruchita, part of the purpose of the club is to expose girls to science so they can decide if they enjoy the subject or not.

“At least you’ve tried it, versus being discouraged from the very beginning,” said Ruchita.

Surprised by how much excitement the club has provoked, Meg said she plans on continuing it next year.

As for her own future, Meg is keeping her options open for now.

“I like computer programming, but I also really like science. So it’s really openended right now. Definitely a STEM thing though,” Meg said.

Features the

See p. 9 to read this issue’s Spotlight: sophomore Madison Cook.

Cohort Cohesion on Campus Photo by Varun Gupta

TOUGH TRANSITION: Jeffrey Boyd teaches during one of his lunch Cohort meetings. Once every rotation during lunch, the Cohort Program, which consists of13 selected freshmen through Upper School, meets to discuss different topics such as Determining Value.

Andrew Friedman Special Sections Editor

Joseph Weinberg Staff Writer

He can often be seen quickly walking across the quad between the Middle and Upper Schools between duties, thinking about the next task that day. Even with his busy schedule, he’ll stop to give somebody, a hug, or at least a “hello.” He is a former student, a colleague, a coach, an advisor, an English teacher, a tutor, and a friend. Now, Jeffrey Boyd ‘06 adds head of the Cohort program to his list of titles. In this new role, he is dedicated to easing the transition of ninth grade students into the Upper School.

When she first arrived at Greenhill three years ago, Laura Ross, Head of Upper School, noticed there were no programs that focused on the transition for freshmen.

Last Spring, a committee led by Mrs. Ross convened. Its objective: create a safety net for students adjusting to high school. The result: a program designed for about ten students, led by Mr. Boyd.

“We wanted to be more proactive than reactive,” said Mrs. Ross. Previously, there was no formal system in place to address a struggling student’s needs. “There were students for whom, we would say either on [the admissions] committee or during the transition meeting, ‘Yeah, this student might struggle.’ We would all kind of say that, and then they would struggle, and then we’d be like, ‘Oh, we better all fix it.’ I felt like we could be doing something between ‘Gee, this student might struggle’ and ‘Oh, look, they’re struggling’.”

The program is optional. Invitations were sent out over the summer to incoming freshmen who faculty believed would stand to benefit from its resources. Of the 16 students invited, 13 accepted and regularly attend meetings, which convene every B-Day during lunch. Just over half of the cohort is made up of students new to Greenhill. “[The committee] picked students who came from schools or environments that were different enough from Greenhill to make things we find instinctive, different. Some students come from schools where they’ve never had a free moment,” Mrs. Ross said.

All of the members of the Cohort were invited for specific and distinct reasons according to Mr. Boyd.

“Some are new to school and for them,

[the Cohort] is an acclimation to Greenhill’s culture, but others said they wanted to participate as a result of an experience they had in the Middle School or a feeling that they could benefit from some additional structure,” said Mr. Boyd.

In the past, if a student was struggling, his or her advisor would be responsible for coordinating efforts to help, which often forced advisors to devote much of their time to just one student. The volume of individual needs necessitated an additional helper, someone to carry the load for advisors.

“What we’ve had to do in the past has been an overburden on the advisor, an overburden on Honelynn Parker [Learning Specialist]. It’s been trying to fix problems after they’ve happened,” said Berkeley Gillentine, Freshman Class Dean.

Enter Jeffrey Boyd, leader of the Cohort program.

“He seemed like the perfect person because he knew a lot of the Middle Schoolers already and because he coaches, he was likely to know Upper School students and what their lives are like,” Mrs. Ross said. “The fact that he’s an English teacher is helpful because a lot of students struggle with the writing process at first. Also because he’s a Greenhill graduate, he gets it, he went here too, and he knows what it’s like from the inside.”

After working in the Middle School for two years, Mr. Boyd spent the last school year earning his Masters in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

“The biggest direct benefit from my experience in grad school was this one course I took on educational psychology. We spent an entire semester diving into aspects of student learning from the perspective of how we can be better educators, understanding how kids’ minds work in the classroom. The whole time I’m sitting there thinking, ‘This would be really beneficial to hear as a student,’” Mr. Boyd said. “I would have very much appreciated someone talking to me about the motivational process, metacognition, mindfulness, and executive functioning. All this stuff that would’ve been helpful. What I took away from that experience was the ability to share that knowledge with our group.”

The Cohort’s B-Day lunch meetings follow a loose curriculum that emphasizes social and emotional development, helpful academic practices and social nuances that ninth-grade students often

find difficult. The program is designed as a supplement to the week-long freshman Foundations class, which is offered over the summer to help new high school students.

The Cohort program covers topics including writing emails to teachers, logging in to BlackBoard, writing argumentative essays and navigating the social aspects of new friends or school dances. Cohort members also spend time setting long-term academic goals for themselves.

“Some of it’s more big picture, like personality inventories and having them think long-term. Recent research about academic success has shown that making plans early on about what you want to do or be has an impact later,” Mrs. Ross said.

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It is easy to work with him (Mr. Boyd) because he can truly relate to the work we are doing in our classes.”

Mr. Boyd also adjusts the curriculum based on what students are currently working on in their classes. For example, Mr. Boyd asked Jennifer Tirrell, Upper School Librarian, to speak to the cohorts while they were working on their AX9 research papers.

The majority of the Cohort members seek help from Mr. Boyd by meeting with him one-on-one to address specific questions.

“Mr. Boyd is always available and always willing to help me whenever I need him,” said freshman Mason Marano. “It is easy to work with him because he can truly relate to the work we are doing in our classes.”

Mr. Boyd said students come to him with all sorts of different questions.

“There are always the scheduling questions: ‘I’m considering dropping this’ or ‘What do you think of me taking seven classes?’ But the vast majority of hours I’ve been putting in are all for papers: English and history-related. When the big research paper came around, most of the Cohort kids would bring me multiple drafts. I ended up looking at 50-something papers, way more than my Cohort kids, which was nice. I’m another resource,” Mr. Boyd said.

Mr. Boyd also acts as a bridge between the Upper School administration and the students.

“In setting up the space, I’ve had the

opportunity to act as a soundboard and hear their frustrations. I can take the information and bring it to the right people,” he said.

Mr. Boyd said he makes an effort to meet with all of his Cohorts whenever they need assistance and regularly checks in on them.

“There’s no reason they should feel like they shouldn’t ask for help. That’s why I’m there. ‘What do ya need?’ It’s like a standard, ‘You good? You need anything?’” Mr. Boyd said.

Arguably more important than the curriculum is the act of new students coming together. Cohorts share the same discomforts, and they all want to navigate the challenges of the high-school transition.

“At the beginning of the year, all of us [the Cohorts] got to know each other as a small group and it was easier to relate to them than the rest of the freshmen class,” said Cohort member Dan Evans.

By coming together, Cohort members have made friends who have aided their transition.

“What I noticed was these kids had a friend group sooner. They’ll sit together, they are in classes together, they were seeking out teachers more effectively and earlier in the process. They were advocating for themselves,” Mrs. Gillentine said.

In the first trimester, the freshmen class as a whole had the highest GPA in recent years, as well as the fewest number of freshmen on academic warning, notice, or probation. Mrs. Ross said she believes that the addition of the Cohort program may have contributed to these academic successes.

“When the first trimester grades came out, I was obsessed with them; I was so thrilled,” she said.

Beyond the grades, Cohort members said they have learned valuable skills.

“The Cohort and Mr. Boyd have taught me how to better manage my time and be an overall better Greenhill student,” Mason said.

The goal of the program is to get the Cohorts to a point where they no longer need Mr. Boyd’s assistance to thrive.

“The end-goal would be for me to work myself out of a job by third trimester. If people feel well adjusted in the transition after a couple months, awesome. If they not only feel well adjusted but now understand the expectations of their teachers and the culture of the work in the Upper School, that’s even better,” he said.

8 features

Love on the Hill

The Ides

They met because of an accident.

Barry Ide, Upper School science teacher, met his wife Olivia on one of her first days on campus, when she was a Middle School teaching fellow. At the time, Greenhill required all new faculty to demonstrate that they could safely open a defibrillator box during emergency safety training. Olivia broke the box in her practice demonstration, Photo courtesy of the Ides and Mr. Ide teased her for her mistake. They struck up a conversation and quickly realized they lived in the same apartment complex near school.

Olivia, now a history teacher at Ursuline Academy, is a runner. She had just moved from the South Side of Chicago to Dallas a week before and didn’t know the area well enough to gauge if it was safe enough to run alone.

“I would see her running around the complex. Then we started meeting each other in the morning to go for a run on the Addison fitness trails before work. I really didn’t have any ulterior motives about the runs, I just told her that she couldn’t run 20 laps around the apartment building when there were well-lit trails all around,” Mr. Ide said.

Sixteen months later, The Ides were married.

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Evergreen

thursday, march 5, 2015

The Greens

They couldn’t have avoided each other.

Georgie Green ’53 and John Green ’55 were among the first Greenhill students. Mrs. Green is the daughter of Greenhill founders Bernard and Helen Fulton. When they attended, the school had very few students, and she and Mr. Green were close in age.

“There were only 60-something children at Greenhill at the time, so you knew everybody,” Mrs. Green said.

They began dating in January of 1953 when Mr. Green, then a senior, asked Mrs. Green out.

Mr. Green played football and basketball and ran track, and Mrs. Green said she went to all his sporting events. They began going to school dances and events together.

“We were mostly just friends for a long time. After we started dating, it got very serious,” Mrs. Green said.

Mr. and Mrs. Green are still married today. Their granddaughter, Mattie Willard ’14, graduated from Greenhill last year.

The Sanders

They were high-school carpool partners.

Middle School math teacher Celeste Sanders ’00 and Byron Sanders ’01 met when Celeste was a sophomore and Byron a freshman at Greenhill.

Both lived far from school, but close to each other, so their parents decreed they would carpool.

Photo courtesy of the Sanders During their commutes, they learned of each other’s respective hobbies. They had completely opposite personalities, Celeste said. She loved sports, especially basketball, while Byron did theater and improv.

Celeste said that while she and Byron did not become close at the time, she got to know him because their families knew each other and she was friends with his twin sister, with whom she played on the basketball team.

They started dating during Celeste’s freshman year at Southern Methodist University, when Byron was a senior at Greenhill.

“I was the sad college girl who was dating a high-school boy,” Celeste said.

Celeste and Byron are current parents of a primer and a preschool student at Greenhill, and Celeste’s older sister has a child in the Child Development Center.

The Mercurios

They met on the playground.

Andy Mercurio, Upper School English teacher, was a fourth grade teacher from Watertown, MA. Tina McDowell was an Extended Day teacher from Dallas.

The year was 2000, and Mr. Mercurio was not planning to stay in Dallas long-term. When he saw two of his students misbehaving on the playground after school, it gave him an excuse to go over and talk Photo courtesy of to her. Five months later, they were the Mercurios engaged.

The Mercurios now have a son in second grade and a daughter in the Child Development Center who play on the same playground where their parents met. While his wife no longer works at Greenhill, Mr. Mercurio says the school is home for his family.

“This sounds clichéd, but it is the honest-to-God truth.

Greenhill is my Dallas family. I met my wife at this school.

My son and my daughter have been here since they were four months old. I get to work with my close friends every day.

That’s awesome. I love that,” Mr. Mercurio said. story by Ben Krakow Photo courtesy of of www.itechtalk.com

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thursday, march 5, 2015

features

9

Photo by Adam Weider Graphic by Arhum Khan

The Hill Guides of Greenhill: A Personal Commentary Ellen Margaret Andrews Staff Writer

“What type of languages can fifth graders take?” “What after school sports are offered for 7th graders?” “Are enrichment programs offered for first graders?” “What percentages of seniors at Greenhill go to Ivy League schools? And which ones?” Welcome to my life as a Hill Guide. This is going to be an eventful tour.

At the end of my freshman year, Johnny Thompson, Head of Middle and Upper School Admissions, came to speak to my grade about the Hill Guide program. Becoming a Hill Guide seemed very appealing to me. It was a great chance to give back to my school, and an opportunity to have experience being in a situation I wasn’t used to. It was a complete role reversal. Us kids were in charge of the adults. I was excited, but in reality, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Being a Hill Guides does look good on a resume, but most Hill Guides aren’t just in it for that. Rachel Poole, a junior Hill Guide, said she was drawn to be a Hill Guide because of how they brought her to Greenhill when she was a Kindergartener.

“My mom still remembers the Hill Guides that were walking her around campus and so I said, ‘I have to do this!’”

Rachel said.

Yes, we had training. A Mock Tour with

an adult from the Admissions Office. The adult was very relaxed and asked simple questions. But it wasn’t until my first tour that I realized the questions the Admissions rep tossed out were nowhere as close to as weird as the ones I got in the real tours.

My first tour happened to be of the Pre-K and the Kindergarten. Although I have been at Greenhill since Kindergarten, many things have changed. The curriculum, the schedule, and even the buildings. This didn’t help the nerves.

Something as simple as telling the parents where to walk, and when our group had to “keep moving,” offered challenges. It was so strange that I was telling the parents what to do. I mean, I had never seen these people in my life and I had to speak to them as if I knew everything!

I vividly remember being in the Pre-K classrooms, shyly talking about the curriculum and the class size and realizing I had to hurry up the tour because it was getting close to 11 o’clock, when the tour was supposed to end.

But one group of parents seemed very keen on lingering. They didn’t seem to want to stop talking about the after-school sports, languages, and the indoor playground space.

I remember thinking ‘Man these people don’t understand that we can walk AND talk. Let’s keep moving people!’ I was way too nervous to say anything though.

In the Spotlight...

Andrew Friedman Special Sections Editor

We continue our “In the Spotlight” series, a chance to get to know one randomly-selected Upper School student each issue.

This conversation was with sophomore Madison Cook.

Sophomore Madison Cook knows all the sports stereotypes.

“People are always like, ‘Oh wow, for a girl you really have a good arm.’” said Madison. “I guess they just don’t expect it naturally. I kind of like it because I like to show [people] what I can do. People see a short, white girl, and I don’t really seem like the type that would be [athletic]. When people look at me without knowing me, I don’t fit any stereotypes.”

Madison played left outside midfielder on the Dallas Texans and FC Dallas club teams for five years before joining Greenhill’s team. She quit club soccer in order to pursue her three sports at Greenhill.

“Coming to Greenhill, I knew that it was going to be a stretch to

handle Greenhill academics and Greenhill sports teams and on top of that have club practices. I knew I wasn’t interested in playing in college, so it didn’t really make sense anymore,” Madison said.

Madison added cross-country and long-distance track to her sports when she came to Greenhill.

At the 2014 SPC track and field championships, she ran the 1600 meter and 3200 meter races and the 4x800 meter relay.

“Before the [4x800 meter relay,] Madison was giving me tips on how to run through it,” said Madison’s friend and teammate, Sophomore Mia Hirsch. “She was telling me about my breathing.

She was just talking me through how to run the race, because I had never done it before. It was really helpful.”

Madison is known on campus as an athlete-extraordinaire, excelling in cross-country, soccer, and long distance track, but she’s an equally devout fan of Dallas professional teams, widely following the Cowboys and Mavericks.

Mia can testify.

One of my fellow Hill Guides, junior Raven Breitfeller, summed up what it’s like.

“You do the best that you can to keep the herd of parents together,” she said. “But it’s hard to say ‘We have to keep moving, we’re on a time limit, and I have to get to class.’”

Another time, I remember seeing a woman in my group go into a Lower School bathroom about midway through the tour. I waited a while for her, but six minutes later, I knew I had to catch up with my group so I asked another tour group to let her join their group after she got out of the bathroom. To this day, I have no idea how long she was in there.

Lauren Stock, who became a Hill Guide as a sophomore, also faced a weird experience with a parent while giving a tour.

“I had someone on a tour keep telling me that everything I was saying wasn’t true.

I would say ‘This is where we have our Upper School classes’ and they would say ‘I don’t think that’s right,’” Lauren said.

I’ve discovered that sometimes the parents can be the childish ones. Some will interrupt the Hill Guides, or whisper to one another in a seemingly judgmental manner.

Rachel talked about feeling constantly judged by the parents during the tours.

“You don’t want to say the wrong thing or the wrong word,” she said. “You just want to be absolutely perfect in this bubble. There’s

“Last year after homecoming at Clay Goldberg’s house, while everyone else was outside, [Madison] was watching [a football] game, and all the guys came in to watch the game with her, cheering with her. All the girls were still outside,” she said.

Madison receives notifications on her SportsCenter iPhone app and reads Sportsday in the Dallas Morning News every morning.

“I’ve always loved [Tony Romo] from the youngest age; even when he would throw all his interceptions, I would always be his biggest fan,” Madison said.

Although sports have been time consuming, Madison said she does not regret her commitment.

“It’s really hard because sometimes you just want a break, but it’s also really rewarding.

Knowing that three teams are relying on you forces you to manage your time because you don’t have that much of it. I make the commitment that I’m going to give everything I have and be all in and not just go through the motions,” she said.

Madison hopes to pursue a

a lot of pressure to say the right information and to say the right answer.”

I also learned that parents love bringing up college. It kind of baffled me at first that a parent whose child was only three years old wanted to know about the college application process and extracurricular activities her kid could do to set himself up in the best position possible. At three years old. Are you kidding me?

As a sophomore in high school, I’ve only just started to explore college options.

But after talking to Mr. Thompson, he gave me a new perspective.

“The prospective parents look at the Hill Guides as an investment of their own children’s potential future, and what their children could become one day,” he said.

I’ve come to a conclusion that parents want to put their kids in a position to be successful. They feel pressure to give their kids the best possible chance to have a positive future.

And according to Mr. Thompson at the end of every tour, the parents laud the Hill Guides for how they handle themselves during the tours.

“The first thing I usually hear about after the tours are how wonderful our kids are. How great they hold themselves, and how poised they are,” he said.

Maybe the parents like us Hill Guides more than we think!

career in the sports industry after college. When I asked her who she hopes her first interview would be as a sports journalist, she named Aaron Rodgers, quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.

“Because people say Aaron Rodgers embodies perfection in the NFL, and I would just want to know how he consistently performs at such a high level,” Madison said.

Madison is also serious about her academics; she attributes much of her success to cross-country.

“In cross-country, my work ethic is advantageous because it is a hard, grueling sport,” Madison said.

Sophomore Jake Hershman, whom Madison has been dating since the beginning of her freshman year, can confirm.

“She is very disciplined. In a good way, she’s sort of like a perfectionist. She likes to get every detail right, and if she doesn’t, she’ll keep working at it,” he said.

Off the field, Madison cultivates a laid-back personality.

“I feel like I’m always that person who lightens the mood; I’m somewhat of a jokester,” she said.

Jake summed it up: “I think there are two different sides of her. When she is trying to accomplish a goal, she won’t talk to me, she will be incredibly focused and she won’t let anything distract her. But then when she’s out and about and not preoccupied, she’s very outgoing and just a happy person.”

Photo by Sydnie Schindler

SPRINT MODE: Sophomore Madison Cook is on the Varsity Cross Country, Soccer, and Track teams.

She won Most Valuable Player for cross country her freshman year.

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The Instigation YOU. YES YOU. DO YOU WANT: BETTER GRADES? LESS DEPRESSION? TO LIVE LONGER? LESS DISEASE? TO BE MORE ATHLETIC? MORE CREATIVE? MORE AWESOME? Then this petition is for you!

“The day I sent that email we’d had a late start and I’d gotten the full, recommended nine-and-a-quarter hours of sleep. I just felt so full of energy and so ready to absorb information,” said sophomore Evan O’Brien of the revelation that inspired the email he sent to the entire Upper School on Jan. 21, 2014.

368 days, 118 signatures and 27 schedule drafts later, it was officially announced to parents and the student body that the start time for the Upper School would be later for the 2015-2016 school year.

Evan decided that a petition would be the best way for him to gauge whether or not other students were interested in a late start too.

“I stared at the send button for like 15 min- utes, and I just did it,” Evan said.

Almost immediately, students and faculty replied in what became a long thread of emails.

“I can’t say I was surprised,” Evan said. “I honestly just didn’t know what to expect. I kind of thought that everyone would ignore me, but it caused such an uproar and I was not prepared for that.”

Much of the uproar included concerns about the logistics of pushing back the school day.

“My whole idea was that I wanted people to talk about it and sending that mass email definitely worked,” Evan said.

Laura Ross, Head of Upper School, wanted the student body to do more than just talk."We sent an email out saying, ‘Okay, we want this too,’ ” Mrs. Ross said. “ ‘Tell us how to do it.’ ” Months before that email was sent, junior Kevin Wei had begun creating what would become the first draft the new schedule. In April, he met with Mrs. Ross.

“I had been thinking about starting the school day later ever since I got here, because the research makes it clear that it’s better,” Mrs. Ross said. “Last year, the adults starting talking about whether or not we could make this happen, and then Kevin appeared in my office with 25 pages of research – because he’s a debater – and a draft schedule. He had actually taken it upon himself to talk to the Middle School, to the cafeteria, and to make a draft.”

Kevin himself had experience with later starts. Before transferring to Greenhill in eighth grade, he attended a school where classes started at 8:30 for middle school and 9 a.m. for upper school.

“As a teenager, 30 to 40 minutes of sleep actually does help a lot, even if its just the difference between six and six and a half hours of sleep,” Kevin said. “I just think the science behind it is really sound.”

After meeting with Mrs. Ross in April, Kevin spent countless hours over the summer researching the scientific evidence that would help Mrs. Ross convince the faculty and staff. He sent Mrs. Ross a list of the studies he had read, complete with citations, hashtags, summaries, and links.

Even after 27 drafts, Kevin’s work still shows through. “We’ve definitely improved the schedule since then, but it’s relatively similar to Kevins original draft,” Mrs. Ross said. “As an administrator, it’s really easy to have ideas and see challenges, but you get so busy that you never have time to sit down and make a draft. I’m so grateful to Kevin for having made a draft because it’s so much easier when you envision something to work off of something than trying to think it up.

It gave us a foundation.”

car accidents caused each year due to drowsiness.

decrease in school absences with a later start.

The Process Classes starting later for the Upper School is primarily meant to benefit the physical and mental health, learning, and efficacy of the students.

For Laura Ross, Head of Upper School, much of this planning is based on research about the teenage brain.

“You are at the mercy of the moment of where your brains are,” Mrs. Ross said.

“What we can try and do is structure your day in a way that will allow you to maximize the ways your brains work.”

According to a study by Harvard, certain chemicals, such as melatonin, regulate human sleep cycles by making someone feel tired. During adolescence, the timing of the secretion of melatonin is pushed back, so sleep cycles change. Teenagers naturally want to go to sleep later and wake up later. Scientists say melatonin secretion doesn’t stop until anywhere from 7 a.m to 9 a.m. When teenagers wake up before that, they feel sleepy during classes.

With the new schedule, academic classes don’t begin until 9 a.m.

“In terms of the way students’ brains are developing, physics at 9 [a.m.] is a very different experience than physics at 8 [a.m.],” Mrs. Ross said.

Junior Kevin Wei had immersed himself in the science when he approached Mrs. Ross with a draft of a schedule, backed with research that exemplified why it would be better for the student body.

“Scheduling has been on my backburner since the middle of second trimester last year,” Kevin said. “But then I just wrote one up and brought research to Mrs. Ross in April.”

He also created a 26-page research guide with links to the articles and studies he had found, which included negative effects of sleep deprivation, schools’ experiments with later start times, and the science of why sleep is especially important to teenagers.

“I would kid with Kevin and say, ‘OK, if they like this schedule, it was my idea, but if they don’t it was all you,’” Mrs. Ross said.

She had been thinking about changing the schedule since she began at Greenhill in 2012.

“I saw the way kids didn’t sleep. And I’ve read the research as to why sleep is important, but I’ve also just watched. [The students] look exhausted,” she said.

Writing up a new schedule meant going through the Leadership Committee, made up of department heads and administrators, who voiced suggestions and concerns. Faculty also gave input later.

27 drafts of the new schedule were constructed, each making changes and improvements.

The considerations were numerous.

For example, “We’re not changing the Middle School schedule much, but since we’re changing Upper School, how is that going to change Middle School and Fine Arts?” said Jack Oros, Dean of Students.

Jeff Funkhouser, Science Department Chair, color-coded the drafts and Steve Warner, Upper School Schedule Coordinator, laid out what would be most viable.

After much work, the schedule was finalized in January.

“If it makes a difference to the kids, and based on the research it will, then it will be a win-win situation,” Mr. Oros said.

hours is the optimal amount of sleep for adolescents age 10 to 17.

of students are really sleepy between 8-10 a.m.

green

thursday, march 5, 2015

The Effects Obviously, there were concerns that need to be hased out. For example, the new schedule puts more responsibility on club leaders to make their respective clubs substantive enough to attract members to voluntarily show up earlier than required to school. Some club members are worried about whether or not their club will withstand this change. “[Club attendance] will probably die down a little bit because it’s in the morning and I know some people will be like, ‘Oh why should I come to a club to watch movies when I could be sleeping?’” said sophomore Richa Sinkre, president of ‘90s club.

“I’m hoping there will be those people, who are dedicated to a club, who don’t care about getting up that extra 30 or 45 minutes early just to come and hang out with their friends,” said sophomore Jackson Carroll, president of Quidditch club.

This also gives club leaders the flexibility to decide how often their clubs will meet and for how long, since club time is now 30 minutes.

Bagel break, meanwhile, will be free of meetings.

“We want this to be a time where everyone in the community has a break and to have some time off, to not have a scheduled time,” Mrs. Ross said.

Beginning next year, Upper School C-day meeting and F-day assembly will be combined to create Community Time

from 12:20-1:15. Student council will be given the responsibility to plan that community time as they see fit from rotation to rotation. This means that Senior Speeches, currently given one every C-day, will be spread throughout the course of the year as student council deam appropriate. Community time also backs up to lunch, giving student council the flexibility to schedule longer events.

“

We don’t want students’ days to become longer.”

Next year, lunch will start at 1:15 everyday and will be 45 minutes everyday (excluding 4th, 5th or Rotator periods that have a 5-mod). Students who have breaks during 3rd period or 4th period, (or rotator on C-days) can each lunch during those breaks if they choose to do so. If this schedule was implemented now, 40 percent of the students would have the opportunity to get lunch early. Similar percentages will have the same opportunity next year.

To ease the impact of sports, 5th and 6th period have flipped on C-days due to sports games. Currently, students always miss 6th period, therefore absent from a substantial amount of class if they are in a sport with frequent weekday

11

games. Next year, the amount of time missed will be spread over more classes.

When they took a division-wide survey regarding schedule-changes earlier this year, students were in favor of pushing back the start time only if the school day did not end substantially later than currently. It would not have been possible to maintain the 4pm-6pm sports time and still keep all the valuable parts of the currently schedule, which is why the athletic schedule was only pushed back 15 minutes.

“We don’t want students’ days to become longer,” Mrs. Ross said.

Currently, release-time differs from coach to coach or teacher to teacher. The Administration has partnered with the Athletic Department to ensure the 6:15 dismissal time will be enforced.

“Students should be able to get into their cars at 6:15,” Mrs. Ross said.

The passing period between the last academic class and after-school activities will be 20 minutes. This creates a cushion for activities with a longer process, such as football, where athletics have to spend time putting on safety pads and taping up.

Other activities, such as theater, may not require as much prep time. For activities like these, teachers and coaches have the flexibility to start and end earlier than the designated times.

“Some sports take a longer time to prepare for than others, so the timing of after-school activities will hopefully work out somewhat organically,” Mrs. Ross said.

story by Josh Rudner, Catherine Leffert and Megan Wiora graphic by Sera Tuz

Special Report the

Hornets of the Round Table: Lunch Revamped

Sanah Hasan

Managing Editor

Areeba Amer Staff Writer

At the end of this school year, construction for the cafeteria’s expansion will begin immediately. When students return to campus in the fall, the Community Dining Program, designed to increase efficiency and cost effectiveness, will be introduced.

In order to implement these changes, the Zale-Fields Theater will be torn down to increase the size of the cafeteria, and to serve as the new home for The Buzz. New round tables will replace the more traditional rectangular ones. A separate Lower School dining area and private lunch rooms will also be built.

The expansion of the cafeteria also provided the ideal time to change the lunch cost policies: next year, the cost of a year-long lunch plan will be included in students’ tuition. Greenhill is one of the only schools in the area that currently does not use this policy, so administrators have been considering this change for a while.

“We were waiting for the renovations [to the cafeteria] to change the lunch plan.

Now I think we will have adequate space to feed and serve everyone,” said Melissa Orth, Chief Financial Officer.

Students will still have the option to bring own their lunch, however, they will be paying for a cafeteria meal every day. In the past, students had three options: charge each meal to their debit account, pay one flat rate for an all-year meal plan, or bring their lunch themselves.

According to Ms. Orth, approximately 60 percent of the student body is already on the pre-paid lunch plan. An additional 1015 percent purchase their lunch daily, so, on average, 70-75 percent of the student body eats cafeteria food every day.

“I think one of our biggest problems is that the kids have to come in and eat very quickly. They don’t have a lot of time to eat because we don’t have a lot of space,” said Ed Bogard, SAGE Food Services Manager.

Mr. Bogard is referencing the tight cafeteria schedule that takes place every day—with students coming in as early as a 11 a.m.

The new schedule and expanded cafeteria will provide enough room for students to eat without having that “rushed” feeling. Additionally, the number of hotlunch lines will be doubled, so students will have four lines rather than two.

The cafeteria staff currently cooks in batches, preparing food for each rotation in the lunch cycle. While this system will not change next year, the new lunch plan does allow the staff to gain a more accurate reading of how many students will eat per day.

“By being able to better predict our daily food needs, we will be able to better control costs through less waste and better serve students and faculty by making sure we have enough of all offerings,” Ms. Orth said.

The expansion will also include a new kitchen.

“The kitchen in the back is 46 years old. We are building a whole new kitchen.

Everything is going to be new, so I’m really, really excited about that,” Mr. Bogard said.

All in all, these physical and financial changes will increase the efficiency of the cafeteria.

There are some concerns with the new lunch plan, however. Some people are worried that it may not compensate for people’s allergy restrictions.

“Whatever I eat, even if I think I’ll be fine, I get sick thirty minutes later. So there is cross-contamination and stuff like that,” said Corbin Doyle, Middle and Upper School Visual Art teacher. His daughter, freshman Grace Doyle, also has celiac, making the pair gluten-intolerant. “Grace has the same thing, so [she] is never going to use [the complimentary lunch]. If it is like the way it is now, there will be two people that don’t get to eat [the lunch].”

To address this, there will be a designated cafeteria staff member, either a Greenhill employee or SAGE employee dedicated to working with kids who have allergies. Also, more vegetarian and vegan options will be available. According to Mr. Bogard, there will most likely be a tofu dish every day.

“Any time there is change there is uncertainty and oftentimes concern over the unknown. In addition to being ready for this change, I would say SAGE and the school are excited about the new lunch program and the opportunities it provides,” Ms. Orth said.

But the changes go even further than more lunch lines, more options and more time. Students are also being given opportunities to engage in conversations, and to reduce the overall noise level, and chaos some students feel.

“The cafeteria now is very crowded [and] noisy. Many people describe it like ‘The Hunger Games,’” said Justin Caldwell, eighth grader.

Students in both Lower and Middle School will have assigned seating, where they will rotate according to a set schedule with one faculty member or volunteer per table.

Susan Palmer, Head of Middle School, spearheaded adjustments to the current lunch policies for next year along with the Middle School Character Council, a group of students who work to maintain a healthy atmosphere in the Middle School.

The reasoning behind this new initiative is for faculty members to connect more with their students. Having a faculty member present at the table, will encourage students to be more inclusive.

“A couple of [new] students brought up how they had teachers intermingled with the students and that solved [those] problems [of gossip, fights, etc.],” Justin said.

New lunch policies implemented throughout Lower and Middle School are meant to increase a sense of community within the grade levels.

“When I first came to Greenhill eight years ago, [it shocked me] that a school with Greenhill’s reputation would have a lunch room with this much chaos. It didn’t feel like a healthy lunch atmosphere to me,” said Michael Simpson, Head of Lower School.

According to Mr. Simpson, there are problems with bullying and exclusion because of a lack of teacher supervision. What a child eats during lunch is not supervised either.

“Kids might not be eating healthy

Graphics by Sera Tuz

Photo courtesy of Weiss/Manfredi

MODERN DINING FACILITIES: Crossman Cafeteria resdesigned as part of the Building Community campaign. The new layout promotes conversation and provides extra room.

[because of a lack of teacher supervision].

I mean a bare minimum. A kid could eat crackers for weeks without a teacher noticing,” he said.

Opinions from both faculty and students have been mixed.

“Socially, I think it is very cool. I like the idea of these big, round tables and people sitting in a circle and talking together. And the teachers and students [sitting together] will be an exciting thing to see, even though a lot of people don’t think so. I want to see socially how that’s going to be like,” Mr. Doyle said.

But some students simply don’t want to sit with their teachers during lunch.

“I don’t really like [the new policy] because if teachers sit with you, you won’t be able to talk. If a teacher sits with us, we won’t learn how to be responsible and [we’ll] feel like we always have to do the right thing,” said Victoria Shelswell-White, seventh grader.

Lower and Middle School teachers value their lunch time and take it as an opportunity to get work done, socialize with fellow faculty members, or take a break.

However, next year, Lower and Middle school faculty will be carrying new lunch duties and responsibilities. They will not have any sort of separate lunch break.

According to Upper School teachers like Mary Tapia, Upper School Spanish and French teacher, having a break at lunch is important.

“I walk a lot during lunch and often take time to meditate,” Mrs. Tapia said. “I find that having the opportunity to disconnect

for a few minutes helps me feel more positive and energetic in the afternoon.”

David Lowen, Upper School history teacher, said he believes that teachers monitoring students at all times, including lunch, may influence a child’s mindset towards food.

“An adult talking to a child and saying, ‘Oh, are you going to eat that?’ or ‘Don’t you need more?’ or anything where you think you might be helping can start a child on the path towards an eating disorder. Research shows us that often times it’s something as innocuous as a comment that may start a child thinking that way. I mean, in teaching psychology, one of the things we often cover is eating disorders,” Mr. Lowen said.

“Having worked previously at a school where lunch seating was assigned and each table consisted of students and a faculty member, I am thrilled that Greenhill is moving in this direction. I cherished the opportunity to spend time with students outside of the classroom, as well as get to know students who [I] didn’t teach,” said Middle School math teacher, Gregg Ross.

Pre-Kindergarten through second grade will practice family-style dining, where food will be placed at the center of the table and served to the kids directly by a faculty member. The goal is to teach children certain manners that they would not learn under the old system and to make sure children are eating a balanced, healthy lunch.

“We are looking to provide a family atmosphere,” Mr. Simpson said. “There is a different feel to that.”

Arts the

See p. 15 for a look at the new fourth grade percussion class, The Treble-makers

Communication Forte

Peter Grishin lives “normally,” well-versed in three instruments and five languages Madison Goodrich News Editor

Kathie Rojas

Staff Writer

Summer 2012. Germany. Three hours until show time. Senior Peter Grishin was getting ready for his performance with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra when his violin string snapped. After replacing his violin string, he spent three hours coaxing the instrument into tune.

“The thing with changing violin strings is [the string] takes a while to get used to the tension [of stretching] across the violin.

It takes a while to get in tune really quickly.

You have to play it in so it settles and doesn’t get out of tune [while you’re playing],” Peter said.

He lets the music speak for itself and trusts it to work his magic “So I just spent 3 hours playing and getting that new string to settle and that was really nice,” he said.

Peter has played the violin since fourth grade, the piano from first to seventh grade, and percussion from sixth to eighth grade.

Even though he does not play for Greenhill’s orchestra, he played the piano and violin for the fall drama, Our Town. As the student director, he got this opportunity by talking to Catherine Hopkins, Upper School Theatre Teacher.

“Mrs. Hopkins was wondering how to do transitions between the acts. I mentioned in passing that I play violin,” Peter said. “She asked if I wanted to play violin in transitions, before acts, stuff like that. That’s how I got the opportunity to do that. She also asked if anyone can play piano and I said I can.”

Peter feels that he excels in playing instruments because of all the time he dedicates. In a week, he will typically spend five hours rehearsing and an hour of violin lessons on the weekend. According to Peter, his talent isn’t out of the ordinary.

“I’m interested in [musical instruments] and [I] think about it and work on it outside of school,” he said. “I mean people who do sports are good at sports because they think about sports and do sports outside of school sports. So, I think it’s just [what I do] with my free time.”

His talent for communicating also translates to his usage of language. Peter is fluent in Russian and English. He has also studied Spanish and Latin at Greenhill.

He took Spanish I and Latin III honors his freshman year. After taking a Spanish program over the summer, he skipped to Spanish III Honors for his sophomore year. His junior year he took Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish and was one of 91 students around the world to have a perfect score. He is currently taking Advanced Latin Seminar and AP Spanish Literature. Trevor Worcester, Modern and Classical Languages Department Chair, taught Peter his freshman year, sophomore year, and first trimester of his junior year. Mr. Worcester constantly tried to find ways to challenge Peter.

“He keeps you on your toes,” said Mr. Worcester. “There were times when I certainly questioned, ‘Am I even teaching Peter anymore, or are these things he understands and gets so quickly?’ He had done so much on his own.”

Although he may be a man of few words, you would be hard pressed to find someone more immersed in communication. Mr. Worcester realized that and encouraged Peter to submit his work into competitions.

“There’s a contest called Scribo where students can submit original Latin compositions. His was published in the

Photos by David Pillow and Zoe Touchet

PITCH PERFECT: Peter can not only read music, but also play songs by ear on both violin and piano. (Above) he plays violin in the fall drama, Our Town. Peter has been inand left the choir, orchestra, and band programs at Greenhill, at different times.

magazine that year. I knew the contest was right up his alley.”

Mr. Worcester was very impressed at the speed with which Peter learned Spanish and Latin.

“I think he approached it and advanced so quickly: to go from a beginning Spanish student as a freshmen [to a junior who] was getting a perfect score on the AP exam. That’s just crazy,” Mr. Worcester said.

School is not the only place where Peter learned languages. When he was an infant, he lived in Moscow for nine months with his grandmother. This is where he learned his first language, Russian. When Peter was little, his mother spoke to him in Chinese, but after the first day of preschool in America when Peter came home crying because he couldn’t communicate with anyone, she decided to speak to him in English.

To Peter, it’s normal to have all of these languages and cultures intertwined with each other.

“All of that is really normal for me. Like things no one thinks about are the things that are really, really normal,” Peter said. “I guess I’ve always known my family’s different. Like [look] in the media. You see examples of the typical American family and it’s so different from mine.”

He lives with his parents and grandfather.

His mother is Chinese and his father and grandfather are Russian. Neither of them were born in America, but his parents speak English to each other. Peter speaks to his father and grandfather in Russian and to his mother in English. His grandfather and mother don’t speak to each other because

they don’t share the same language. Not speaking Chinese cuts him off from speaking with his mom’s side of the family. For Peter, even birthday dinners get complicated.

“Recently, it was my birthday and it was me, my mom, my dad, and my grandfather, sitting down to eat. It was really weird because my mom was trying to make me talk to my dad and her at the same time, but I always speak to my dad in Russian. I feel extremely uncomfortable talking to him in English, so I was basically talking to my mom in English, with the intent that my dad overhears me,” Peter said. “[At the same time] my dad was talking to my mom and proxy-talking to me. So that’s how we sort of had a conversation in English that my mom understood. [The] whole time my grandpa was just siting there politely eating, quietly, not understanding what was going on. So that was kind of awkward.”

In the midst of all this, Peter tries to be the balancing thread between everyone.

“There’s also other cultural things like the way people eat [and] what people eat is different,” Peter said. “My Russian

grandfather always complains that Chinese puts sugar in their meat.”

Peter can communicate with everyone in his house or at school, but sometimes he has trouble communicating with his mother’s side of the family.

“I can’t talk to my mom’s parents because they only speak Chinese and I don’t,” Peter said.” I [know] they love me in their own way. [When] they video chat with my mom or my uncle they always try to bring me in and I always just wave [and] it turns out kind of weird because I can’t say anything to them and they know they cant say anything to me.”

His complicated family dynamic has made him able to communicate with anyone, be it language or music. According to Mr. Worcester, Peter simply has his way with words.

“It’s just, he’s got that kind of mind that if you give him anything. I mean even [Trey] Colvin, [Upper School English Teacher], has him for [AP Literature] and he’s just like ‘man this guy, the stuff he writes in English,’” Mr. Worcester said. “‘He’s so good with words.’”

14 arts

the

Evergreen

thursday, march 5, 2015

Lights, Camera, Sign

The Alumni-made documentary “Signing Day” examines the competitive world of college football recruiting.

Christian Holmes Online Editor

Greenhill alumni Clay Fowler ’98 and Mark Schoellkopf ’98 spent six months in 2011 reliving the most stressful part of the high school experience: the college application process. Thankfully for them, there was a twist, this time they were behind a camera as they shot their documentary “Signing Day,” which explores the highpressure world of college football recruiting.

Mr. Fowler, a sports writer in Los Angeles, and Mr. Schoellkopf, a Los Angeles-based independent filmmaker, hope their film strikes an emotional chord by showing the competition and sacrifice athletes endure to play at the next level.

According to Mr. Fowler, the idea for the movie came from his interest in the world of sports.

“Growing up in Texas, I knew I wanted to be a sports writer, but cover different angles of sports. Mark and I, who’ve been great friends since preschool, agreed college football recruiting is the fascinating convergence of both high-school and college

football, and that a documentary would best highlight this,” Mr. Fowler said.

The film focuses on three highschool football athletes in Southern California: Devon, a top-tier recruit in Fontana; Aaron, a middle-tier recruit who transferred to a new school in Los Angeles in the middle of his season; and Daniel, who entered his senior year in Claremont without a scholarship offer.

“We researched 20 recruits and whittled it down to four,” Mr. Fowler said. “However, we wanted three subjects with different recruiting statuses: one highly recruited prospect, one middle-tier recruit, and one trying to get an offer, so we whittled down the list by one.”

Then, production at the athletes’ homes, schools, and sports practices began.

“We had to hurry filming because the school year was starting and we wanted to capture our subjects’ football season through to Signing Day in February,” Mr. Schoellkopf said.

Mr. Fowler and Mr. Schoellkopf shot

Q&A

Photos courtesy of Clay Fowler and Mark Schoellkopf

SEVENTEEN YEARS: (Above) A poster for the film, Signing Day, while (below) are pictures Mark Schoellkopf and Clay Fowler from their 1998 senior pages in the Cavalcade.

the film themselves, with two cameras and various mics. They filmed in schools, at practices, in parks, and on city streets. Overall, they logged 200 hours of footage.

“We tried to capture as much as we could, whether it was an impromptu conversation or a candid situation,” Mr. Fowler said.

According to Mr. Schoellkopf, as college football continues to become one of the largest, most-watched sports leagues in the world, the competition between recruits for media attention and playing time is rising.

“The film shows all of the mental and physical anguish these kids and their

families have to endure as part of the football recruiting process,” Mr. Schoellkopf said.

“You learn what happens when the dreams of these young men meet the billion-dollar sports league and media juggernaut that is college football.”

The exact premiere date and release format of the film are still undetermined.

Mr. Fowler and Mr. Schoellkopf have contacted distribution companies to make the documentary available to the public in theaters, on TV, or in a Video on Demand format and are waiting to hear back.

“We’ve put so much time and effort into this project, and have learned so much about filming a documentary,” Mr. Fowler said. “We’re confident the subject matter is pertinent, timely and that these athletes’ stories won’t lose their impact anytime soon.”

At the end of the day, both Schoellkopf and Fowler hope one key question sticks in their audiences’ mind after seeing the documentary…what price will athletes pay to chase their dreams?

Weiss-Manfredi Architects

Architect Marion Weiss and her husband, Michael Manfredi, formed the architecture firm responsible for the rapidly rising Marshall Performing Arts Center. Since the firm’s selection in 2012, Marion Weiss has developed a knowledge of Greenhill history. Weiss-Manfredi’s past building projects include massive and intricate undertakings such as the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, which spans a highway and connects the city to the water. On Jan. 23, Ms. Weiss spoke to Upper School students about the building and her career, and she sat down with three Evergreen staff members afterwards for questions.

Why are you excited about this? Why did you take it on (even though it’s in Dallas?)

We were super excited because the performing arts are something that certainly inspired me when I was in high school. We were also inspired because Greenhill School

is probably one of the most extraordinary independent schools anywhere in the U.S. It had the insight long ago to value architecture and to value creation of interior space.

What is your favorite room or space in the building?

I would say that each room is going to be extraordinary in and of it’s own right. The proscenium theater is a fabulous place, because the volume’s so generous. My favorite room is all of them. And all of them in relation to each other.

What room or space gave you the biggest challenge?

The proscenium is probably the most complex. We have something called simultaneous mechanical and technical demands that shape that space in a unique way. For instance, if you went out there today, you would see steps and concrete that you’d think those

are steps for the chairs–but they’re not. The chairs are going to be four feet above that.

That’s what’s called an air plenum. That’s one complexity that you will never see, but will experience.

I know your other projects have been museums or parks. How is designing a school different? Did you treat it similarly to the buildings on college campuses?

It’s a much more intimate thing. When you work on a school, you realize that you’re creating a space for people who are changing.

Learning at the rate of a child is a faster rate, than say [somebody] at a college, or graduate school. We’re very mindful that things need to feel terrific for somebody that’s very, very small and could be intimidated by this environment, but it also needs to have enough stature that when you’re a senior, you still feel like it’s very fitting.

What kind of guidance did Greenhill give you through the process?

Greenhill was a partner in shaping the aspirations and criteria, both on the aesthetic, and the feel, and the volume. They wanted to participate and make some of the decisions, from the selection of the brick, to the selection of the fabric on the seats.

What’s it like being a husband-wife team?

When Michael Manfredi and I started our practice, I wanted to have my own firm.

But we were both interested in similar issues, and so we did some pro bono projects in Harlem and we realized that we shared a lot of the same ideas. We decided to enter a national competition and we won as a partnership. It feels like it’s the best thing ever, because we both work so very, very hard. reporting by Suman Chebrolu, Sofia Shirley, and Zayna Syed

thursday, march 5, 2015

the

Evergreen

arts

15

Dinner and a Movie Graphic by Hartley McGuire Photo by Ruchita Iyer

Lane Hirsch Sports Editor

Amna Naseem

Features Editor

Driving into Preston Center that Friday night, it seemed as if we were the only two people not hustling to get a spot at Hopdoddy’s burger bar. That night, we were looking to try something a little less mainstream, to have an adventure off the menu—literally. Our venture brought us to Project Pie, a small make-your-own pizza restaurant nestled next to Hopdoddy’s. It rarely experiences the same Friday-night frenzies as its more popular neighbors… but if you’re up for it, your visit can be a flurry of creativity.

Under normal circumstances, ordering a pizza culminates in heated debate and broken friendships over which toppings should be left on or taken off a single, shared pizza. Project Pie, with it’s customized individual pizzas saved us the stress—and possibly our friendship. The only arguing was about who would go first in line.

Upon entering the restaurant, we immediately hopped in a Chipotlestyle ordering line. We both felt a little overwhelmed. Where to start? Luckily, Project Pie had us covered, inspiring us with

quotes plastered on the wall beside us.

“I’d rather regret things I’ve done than things I haven’t done,” was among the quotes that adorned one wall. It struck a chord and we let our imaginations run wild, unleashing our inner artists as we pointed from topping to topping, frequently backtracking to ensure we had not missed a single option.

As soon as the waiter stuck his hand in the black olives, Lane would change her mind and ask for red onion.

“I love all the toppings they offered.

As soon as they finished sprinkling on the parmesan I’d notice a fourth type of cheese and had to add it; even after the pizza was chock-full of ingredients, I spied the garlic hiding in the back corner and could not resist. I am slightly disappointed, however, that they did not offer anchovies.” – Lane “Trust me when I say no one else is as disappointed as you.” – Amna replied.

Just before ordering, Amna realized she had left her wallet in the car.

“Chicken and cheese,” she instructed over her shoulder, but Lane had other plans.

“Hi, can you put chicken, cheese, garlic, onions, and pepper on that pizza for my friend?” she asked the waiter.

Right Amna’s altered creation went into the oven, she came running back in and saw

the artistic liberties Lane had taken.

“I’m sorry, but please take everything off but the chicken and cheese. I didn’t want anything else,” she stuck to her vision.

As the pizzas came out of the oven, Lane couldn’t help commenting on the artistic inferiority of Amna’s creation.

“Sorry, Ms. Picasso, I’m a proponent of less is more.”

Our final products mimicked the tone

set by Project Pie; they were our very own, masterpieces that no one but us might enjoy, but were special all the same.

“That first bite of artichoke, onion and garlic practically melted in my mouth,” said Lane.

“What is it with you and these toppings?”

While our personal topping preferences were polar opposites, there was one creation we could agree on: the banana and Nutella specialty. While Project Pie encourages outside-the-box creativity, there is a menu for those who prefer to stay within a

conventional menu-ordering zone. The banana- Nutella pie consists of chopped bananas drizzled with Nutella and baked on a pizza. We were eager to try this quirky cuisine, but forced ourselves to wait until we returned home and could enjoy two treats at once, the dessert and the movie Ratatouille.

“Even though we are in high school, this movie will never get old, ” said Amna.

“I love the movie too, but I don’t even think Remy the rat could make a dessert quite as good as this.”

We realized we resembled the movie’s main character. Remy dreams of being a chef, but cannot pursue his passion because he is a rat. Neither of us had ever designed a pizza before, but, like Remy, that did not stop us from trying.

Remy defied everyone’s expectations of his cooking abilities, just as Project Pie had defied our preconceived notions of a restaurant. Situated next to Hopdoddy’s, Project Pie falls into obscurity, and no one recognizes what a gem lies at the heart of Preston Center. No one realized what a gem Remy was either; he had to prove his worth.

I guess we will have to wait and see if Project Pie can do the same, but neither of us have any doubt that this delectable diner will win over its audience, just as Remy did.

music class. The only option until this year was the third and fourth grade choir. “[Percussion] is something that all children enjoy. They are naturally drawn to these instruments. They just consider it for the most part cooler,” Mrs. Holmes said.

Mrs. Holmes decided whom to let in the class on a first-come-first-serve basis, and capped the class at 12 students.

Some students already other musical instruments outside of school, while for others it was a new experience.

The class filled quickly as both parents and students expressed interest after she first announced the ensemble. “[The small class size enables] the students to get the individual attention they need to learn every part. If I had [allowed a higher number], I don’t think I could have given them the same quality experience,” Mrs. Holmes said.

The ensemble meets on Monday afternoons for an hour to play global and diverse music from Korea, Zimbabwe, America, Ireland, and even music Mrs. Holmes wrote. In addition to different drums, xylophones, and clapping, they play instruments such as a Mexican Buzz Marimba, Klong yaws, afuchi cabasas, glockenspiels, guiros, and Djembes.

According to Treble-maker Vijay Agrawal, certain instruments, such as the Mexican Buzz Marimba, are exclusive to the private percussion class.

“There’s this huge instrument in Mrs. Holmes’ room. We haven’t used it yet [in the regular music class]. It’s almost like a xylophone. All of the students just asked, ‘Are we going to get to play that?’ Mrs. Holmes said, ‘The Treble-makers are.’ We just smiled,” Vijay said.

The students also learn skills relevant to their regular music class curriculum.

Mrs. Holmes teaches music vocabulary, rhythmic systems, and how to care for the instruments.

“Everyone has to be involved [in playing music]. Everyone has to feel cru-

cial to the process. Every part has to be challenging, but it can’t be so far above their heads that it’s unattainable,” Mrs. Holmes said.

The fourth grade percussion ensemble curriculum will continue to evolve next year. According to Mrs. Holmes, the future Treble-makers can look forward to working with technology. She will start bringing her old iPad to class to experiment with software like GarageBand, which can create the sound of any known instrument.

The group performs alone and alongside the Lower School choir for events like Grandparents’/Special Freinds’ day.

Their next performance will be their spring show on March 26.

Ian Bock, one of the fourth graders in the percussion ensemble, said they were like “VIPs” in performances. “[Preforming] kind of gives us the pizazz,” Vijay said.

Many of the Treble-makers said that they enjoyed the percussion ensemble.

“One parent told me that his child liked percussion ensemble more than chicken tenders, and that was very high praise,” Mrs. Holmes said.

As part of the fourth grade percussion ensemble, students have fun and learn music. “[Mrs. Holmes] sometimes calls us the troublemakers instead of the Treble-makers, because-” one fourth grader said, but another student interrupted laughing and saying, “We are troublemakers.”

“

I’d rather regret things I’ve done than I haven’t done.

New fourth grade percussion class excites young musicians Sophie Bernstein Staff Writer

They call themselves the Treble-makers.

This year, Kathy Holmes, Lower School music teacher, started an optional percussion ensemble for fourth graders in addition to their regular music class.

“Our name should be up in lights,” said Nuha Omer a fourth grader in the Treblemakers.

She wanted to give students a structured way to play music outside of

Photo by Emily Wilson

DRUM ‘TIL YOU DROP: The Treble-makers performed during Grandparents & Special Friends Day, playing songs like “Catch a Falling Star” on various percussion instruments.

Sports the

See p. 18 for more on Greenhill’s athletic surfaces.

Photos courtesy of teamariana.org

ALWAYS TRI HARD: Freshman Ariana Luterman has been running triathalons since she was seven years old. After she started to gain attnetion for her success, she formed Team Ariana, which is devoted to raising awareness and funds for local charity, Vogel Alcove. In two and a half years, Team Ariana has managed to raise a total of $75,000 for Vogel Alcove.

Simra Abedi

Swim, Bike, Run, Donate

Staff Writer

Freshman Ariana Luterman has been running triathlons since she was seven. Over the last two years, she has given her proceeds from the sport to charity. Now, she has raised $75,000 for a local organization.

According to Ariana, when friends introduced her to triathlons, Ariana quickly fell in love with how unique the events were. She loved the feeling of swimming, biking, and running together.

Initially, Ariana raced in events for children, but quickly felt the distances were not challenging enough. She entered in adult triathlons at age ten. The adult race required a halfmile swim, 20k bike ride and a 5k run.

“I was starting to receive national attention due to my competing in high-profile, Olympic-distance triathlons and beating most of the men and women,” Ariana said. “There was a lot of respect out on the course for me, and I think they appreciated that such a young kid was not only competing, but winning these adult triathlons.”

After two years of achievements in adult triathlons, Ariana decided to use the attention to benefit Vogel Alcove, a non-profit organization that supports at-risk children, offering education, childcare, medical attention, clothes, and diapers to families in need.

“When I realized how much attention I was getting from all these races, I decided two years later, at the age of twelve, to create a new focus–I wanted to combine my two passions. I really love competing at a high level in triathlons.

With that exposure came a great deal of publicity. I made a

conscious effort to utilize that attention for a greater cause. I redirected the focus away from me and onto a more worthwhile cause.” Ariana said.

Ariana was introduced to Vogel Alcove by her younger sister, Gabrielle. Gabrielle was part of a father-daughter group, and they had an activity where they spent time at Vogel Alcove. When Ariana accompanied her sister and dad, she knew she had to do whatever she could to help the kids there.

“I always knew there were others less fortunate than myself, but it wasn’t until I saw the sweet, innocent, smiling faces of those children that it hit me. They were just like me, but unaware of the challenges ahead of them in life,” Ariana said. “It broke my heart and I knew then that I could do more and that I could and would make a difference in their lives.

Ariana soon formed Team Ariana, originally meant to be a “voice for the homeless,” and picked up national attention, which she began to use as a way to raise awareness for Vogel Alcove. At first, she had no idea how to gain sponsors, but with the help of her parents, she began sending emails and making phone calls to companies that might be interested in a sponsorship.

“Numerous national sponsors just kept signing up with Team Ariana,” she said.

The premier international racing gear clothing company, Champion System, quickly decided to be the exclusive race-wear sponsor for Team Ariana.

Team Ariana’s sponsors each have a different task to make the brand successful, from providing business cards to making sports jerseys. Each sponsor pays Ariana to have a

spot of advertising on her racing clothes. The money goes directly to Vogel Alcove.

Ariana is now racing Olympic distances: a 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike ride, and a 6.1 mile run. As soon as she is eligible, at age 18, she hopes to race an Ironman, which entails a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run.

Ariana said that her training and involvement in these events have helped her in Greenhill cross-country and swimming. This year at the cross-country Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) meet, Ariana placed second on the Greenhill team. She says the mental strength is the toughest part of it all. “[The hardest part is] probably staying mentally focused, because it’s you against the clock. If I’m not mentally strong, I’ve already lost,” Ariana said.

Despite the struggle of balancing sports training and school work, Ariana’s motivation has never wavered. She says all the extra effort is worth it.

“Team Ariana has really helped me stay motivated, not only in my sport, but in the pursuit of giving back to the children at Vogel Alcove,” Ariana said. “I am one of these kids’ biggest voices, and it’s really important to me to be that voice for them, locally and nationally.”

The Dallas community has not failed to recognize Ariana for her talents. She won the Association of Fundraising Professional Youth and Philanthropy award which is only awarded to one person in the DFW Metroplex per year.

“Ariana doesn’t make a big deal out of her awards.” said freshman Audrey Berner. “She’s very modest about what she does.”

younger-students can be utilized on upper schoolers.

“I think more of my teaching skills come from coaching than coaching skills from teaching, but I think they’re so interchangeable, that there’s value to be gained from each,” said Greg Krauss, fourth grade teacher and Varsity Boys Soccer coach.

Many of the concepts overlap.

“It’s funny how there are a lot of parallels,” Mr. Ritz said.

“With second graders, there’s a lot of classroom management, getting them focused, and helping them understand why they need to focus. In high school it’s the same thing: listening and following directions.”

Tracey Pugh, Varsity Cheerleading Coach and primer teacher, said that each child, whether in Lower School or Upper School, seeks the same thing: respect.

“I try to make sure that, whether it’s on a six-year-old level or a 16-year-old level, I’m using eye contact and trying to value each of their opinions,” Mrs. Pugh said.

Ms. Giovannini said she finds that something as subtle as tone is important depending on who’s being talked to.

“Teaching young kids, you have to be very patient and use a calm, nurturing voice, but when you [talk] to high schoolers, you can be more firm,” she said.

Using age-appropriate vocabulary is also a key difference.

“The vocabulary I’m using with second graders is much simpler,” Mr. Ritz said. “Sometimes I’ll use bigger words, and I’ll have to [explain what they mean].”

Ms. Giovannini sees this nuance play out when she leaves the preschool to coach Girls Varsity Tennis. Sometimes she refers to her players as “my friends,” a phrase that she uses frequently when teaching Pre-K. “There is a period when practice begins when sometimes I’ll use the word ‘friends’ or when I’m [still] thinking about what I did in the classroom 20 minutes ago,” Ms. Giovannini said.

For the girls’ tennis players, being referred to as “friends” can elicit a small chuckle during practice.

Some of the teachers choose to use the cross-grade reach coaching has given them to their advantage.

“If I have a little boy or girl who’s having an issue, I might have a cheerleader who’s been in a similar situation come speak to them or spend time with them,” Mrs. Pugh said.

Furthermore, the day can be exhausting, as it requires matching the eagerness of young kids and Upper School athletes.

“It’s very challenging to be in a classroom from 7:30 until 3:00, with the students for four hours a day and then go out and be on a field for two hours with students and be able to give them the attention, energy, and enthusiasm that they should get,” Mr. Krauss said.

While splitting time between age groups can be difficult, some teachers say it adds a valuable dimension.

“It’s a great balance to my day. I get a chance to spend time with my babies and my big babies,” Mrs. Pugh said.

Balancing Act: faculty straddle age-gap in coaching, teaching Ben Schachter Sports Editor

By three o’clock, Evan Ritz, Second Grade Carter Teaching Fellow, is exhausted from a day of keeping his seven and eight-year-old students focused on long division, guiding his class through the hallways, and supervising his students throughout lunch and recess. At the end of the day, most Lower School teachers head home.

Instead, Mr. Ritz detours to the Phillips Family Athletic Center. There, he becomes Coach Ritz to a team of Upper School athletes.

Mr. Ritz, who coaches football, basketball, and baseball, is one of several teachers whose dual responsibilities have them straddling a line between different age groups.

Jumping from younger students to older students is not automatic. Neither is the shift between academics and athletics.

“I do have a little bit of a grace period between [teaching and coaching], so I can recharge my batteries and change my mindset,” Mr. Ritz said. “I’ll go to the gym 15 minutes before practice and shoot around.”

For some, if the adjustment is not rapid, the beginning of practice is often unproductive.

“In the five minute span [when I walk from the Preschool to the tennis courts], I have to change my thinking very quickly,” said Lauren Giovannini, preschool teacher and Girls Varsity Tennis Coach.

However, many of the teaching styles designed for

thursday, march 5, 2015

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sports

17

Graphic by Julie Weinberg, Lane Hirsch

FIELDING FRESHMEN: The baseball team will rely on the six returning varsity players as well as a number of underclassmen as they try to replace the 12 senior players lost from last year’s team. Varsity baseball coach Curt Lowry sees this as a “rebuilding” year for the team.

Lili Stern

Varsity baseball rebuilds, only six players return

Staff Writer

When baseball season began last spring, 12 seniors stepped onto the field to lead their team, six of them starters. Many had been in the baseball program all four years of high school. This year, those 12 seniors are gone. A young team, composed of just six players who spent all of last year on varsity, will be expected to take their place.

“I have never had a rebuilding year like this. I have never had to start over with a whole new team, but this year we will,” Curt Lowry, Head Varsity Baseball Coach said.

“We are starting from square one.”

Senior Alan Bliss said he sees the year the same way.

“We’re definitely rebuilding, so we don’t expect to be as good this year as we were last year. It’s more about developing the younger kids,” Alan said.

One concern for Coach Lowry is the

lack of experience of the younger group coming onto this year’s team.

“The seniors who graduated played a lot more baseball than the kids coming in,” Coach Lowry said.

However, some of the underclassmen have the advantage of having played for Coach Lowry’s club team, Storm. The club team, organized through Greenhill, offers competitive baseball for kids too young to play for school. About 80 percent of the kids who play for Greenhill in high school played for Storm or some other outside organization when they were younger.

Because Coach Lowry runs the team, kids who have participated have an idea of what it is like to play for him.

“I think I have a greater sense of his expectations and what he wants in a baseball player than what I would just coming into high school not knowing,” said freshman varsity player Eli Krakow.

This year there will be openings at pitching, outfield, and shortstop. Young players will have to jump into these roles.

“In the past, the younger players have had time to watch from the bench and really learn how to play the game, but now they’re going to be thrown right into action,” Alan said.

Eli said he plans to embrace the challenge.

“It’s definitely a good opportunity, because as freshmen and underclassmen, we know that there’s playing time there if we earn it,” he said.

Peter Diaz, a sophomore who played on both the JV and Varsity baseball teams last year, said he knows he will be expected to play a much larger role than he did last year. He expects that other people will have to do the same.

“A lot of people are going to need to step up and fill roles that are open, and I think

that’s going to be good for us,” Peter said.

Though Alan says he is more used to being led than to leading, as one of the few seniors this year, he is looking forward to helping the younger players learn.

“It’s kind of neat to really be able to show [the younger players] how it’s done,” he said. “They need someone to tell them that yeah, they’ll be good. Maybe they’re not where they want to be right now, but with a lot of practice and confidence they’ll be where they want to be.”

Although Coach Lowry said he thinks this year will be challenging, he is optimistic.

Peter agrees that this year is about more than just the record.

“We are going to be one of the youngest if not the youngest team in SPC. Maybe we won’t be super successful this year, but in the future it’ll be good for our program,” Peter said.

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Lacrosse the World Mia Krumerman Staff Writer

Radhe Melwani Staff Writer

What are those?” Sophomore Courtney Perkins and freshman Hannah Caplan still remember the first day of Israel Lacrosse’s Two Week Winter Developmental Service Trip in December; where, after studying their lacrosse sticks for several minutes, one of the girls they were coaching asked the simple question, “What are those?” Courtney and Hannah smiled. At that moment, the girls both knew exactly why they were there. To teach the Israeli students what lacrosse is, as part of the Israel Lacrosse Association.

“I just told her it was a lacrosse stick and that lacrosse is a fun sport that she should play.

I had a ball with me so I was just like “here, catch this [with the stick]” Courtney said. “It was really weird for me,” she added. “I knew that [Israeli teenagers] did not know a lot about lacrosse, but it is such a big part of my life that I can’t imagine where I would be without [it].”

The two Hornet athletes had many experiences like this one, as they hosted clinics at local schools in Ashkelon and Netanya, two coastal cities in Israel. As part of the Israel Lacrosse Association, each morning of the trip was devoted to community service and included going to new schools to teach lacrosse to school-aged girls

and boys who had never heard of not often encouraged. I think the the sport. sport of lacrosse especially is “While they weren’t an amazing opportunity teaching me the sport, for these girls because they it was amazing to see learn to be strong, agile, them teaching Israeli thoughtful on the field. children While these assets t h e i r are definitely found own age. in other More than sports bonding I think with them they’re well over pophighlighted culture, they in lacrosse,” said began to bond Nikki. over their shared Hannah and heritage and their Courtney still love of lacrosse, keep in touch with even though the a few of the girls Israeli children had they had befriended only been playing in Israel. for a short time,” said Both Courtney Nikki Avershal, the and Hannah were logistics director for the uncertain about combined trip. traveling to Israel with Courtney learned their fellow volunteers, about the Winter a group of girls they Developmental Service had previously never graphic by Varun Gupta and Sera Tuz Trip through her met, but that lacrosse coach and LAX IS LIFE: Over winter break, sophomore Courtney quickly changed as invited Hannah. Perkins and freshman Hannah Caplan traveled with Isthey became closer The Israel Lacrosse rael Lacrosse to represent the Israel U17 National Team. and overcame the A s s o c i a t i o n initial apprehension. lacrosse for five to six years and are was founded “Getting to in 2010 and is Israel’s on the Greenhill lacrosse team. The know the team was one of the official lacrosse team. Its members skill level of the girls on Courtney best parts. This program is so compete against other teams and Hannah’s team varied, as some unique because everyone had volunteered to be on the two things in common: they internationally.

Hannah and Courtney team and others were chosen, but were Jewish and they played were part of the Israel U17 skill level was not what lacrosse. Just between those National Team, a team of seven was important–teaching was. two things there are so many “Girls in Israel do not play connections you can make,” girls who travelled to Israel for sports nearly as much as girls in Hannah said. ten days during winter break.

Both girls have been playing America. It’s not popular and it’s Hannah and Courtney’s team,

Athletic surfaces prove valuable for softball, track teams Stephen Crotty Staff Writer

Over the last couple of seasons, two renovations to the athletics facilities have highlighted the importance of what’s under your feet. Greenhill now boasts a dirt infield for the softball field as well as a re-painted track with a stabilized foundation that gives it a more vibrant look and a more natural feel. When it comes to athletic surfaces, what you’re playing on makes a difference.

Before last year’s softball season, a new softball field was installed, with the main change being an entirely dirt infield. Monica Stephens, Softball coach, and Chad Wabrek, Head of Athletics and Physical Education, felt that the change was necessary to keep the Greenhill softball program current.

“One of the things that is very important to the school administration, the coaches, is that our facilities stay very current in not only how they look, but in their functionality,” Coach Wabrek said. “To play softball at the highest level, the infield needs to be dirt.”

Coach Stephens agreed that the surface affects the quality of play and that playing on a grass infield was, as she put it, “unheard of ” for a competitive team. In previous years, before the dirt infield, the team often struggled when playing in tournaments, due to the fact that most schools outside Southwest Prepartory Conference’s (SPC) North Zone have dirt infields.

However, after the upgrades, which also included pushing the outfield fence in from 225 feet to 190 feet, Greenhill hosted the SPC championships for softball, in part due to Greenhill being the only school in SPC’s

North Zone with a dirt infield.

Hailey Wetherill, a new freshman on the team who also plays club softball, said she believes a dirt infield is important for the game.

“I grew up playing on dirt. It’s what softball was meant to be played on,” Hailey said.

There are a lot of different aspects to consider when deciding upon making changes to the athletic surfaces, primarily cost.

“When it comes to the quality of dirt used in our softball infield, we chose what we felt was the best option, taking into consideration the total use of the facility over a fiscal year,” Coach Wabrek said. “In the end, our choice was to go with an above average to excellent grade of infield dirt.”

Additionally, the track has undergone significant renovations this year. On the south end, closest to Spring Valley Road, what Coach Wabrek described as “soft spots” and “cracks” had emerged, and the lane markings had faded.

“You don’t want to be running and have some parts of the track feel strange or completely different,” said Coach Wabrek. “[Re-surfacing the track] was a strategic move to improve the quality of the track itself to ensure compliance with maintaining our facilities with utmost care and safety.”

All of these renovations were done to keep Greenhill’s athletic current with program needs and expectations.

“I never want a student-athlete to not do a sport because he or she does not feel comfortable with the facilities,” Coach Wabrek said.

the Israel U17 National Team, also traveled to Belgium to represent Israel in a tournament. They played two games against a team of adults and won 11-3.

The Belgium National Team and Israel U17 National Team bonded through lunch, during games, and off the field as well.

“It was competitive, but friendly. When the whistle was blowing it was going to be competitive because we were representing Israel’s national team,

“

And after being Israel, we weren’t just representing Israel, we were representing the Ashkelon kids, we were representing Israelis and we were representing our country.”

but off the field we became friends,” said Courtney.

Representing Israel’s national lacrosse team and playing against Belgium’s National Team was a powerful experience for both Hannah and Courtney as well as the end of their trip.

“To wear the jersey on our chests and step out on the field was an experience most people cannot say they had, and it felt like it meant something.

And after being in Israel, we weren’t just representing Israel, we were representing the Ashkelon kids, we were representing Israelis, and we were representing our country,” Courtney said.

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Nietzche & YouTube

afterwords

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I tried to reinvent myself over winter break. While I was on vacation in Hawaii, I stared at couples on their honeymoons, smiling and holding hands around the resort, yet when I tried to muster the confidence to walk up to a girl and start talking to her myself, I couldn’t. That just isn’t me, I thought. That kind of move really wasn’t, but I was convinced that finding love required that I start a conversation with a random

person. Unsure of what to do with these conflicting impulses, I turned to Youtube for solutions.

A video entitled “How to Handle Crushes” on a channel called The School of Life was surprisingly comforting. The video said that everyone, no matter how perfect he or she may seem, is deeply flawed; everyone has fears and anxiety, and no one has it all figured out. I found myself nodding in agreement; my crushes, I realized, are really just the result of focusing on little, captivating details—her smile, her hair color, the way she dresses. These details don’t really matter, but I think they do. Everyone thinks they do. Every girl to whom I will ever talk is probably just as confused as I am, and there is something strangely reassuring about that.

Another thing to point out: I just found useful, thoughtful life advice on Youtube.

What? I kept watching. I watched the next

video on the channel, which was about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzche. As I watched, I earned confirmation that my skepticism of religion actually isn’t unfounded; Nietzche saw the ideals of religion as poor excuses for the qualities we lack of an übermensch, or superman; someone who takes initiative in his or her life. I clicked on a video in the sidebar and learned about Confucianism and ritual propriety, which explains why Sera’s Turkish tea tradition with her parents is so important. A third video about Epicureanism, a philosophy that states that friendships have the power to make you happy, explained why I hate spending time with my parents instead of my friends.

It is nice to know that someone has thought about this stuff before. Previously, I was always dumbfounded by the lack of helpful advice when I had questions about life. I wondered how in the previous 200,000 years of its existence, the human race had

not come up with some instantly accessible answers to the mystery of life. Because toting around big books like the Odyssey or the Bible is just not practical. Youtube gave me answers. It also raised more questions. Is resorting to Youtube philosophy overkill for a girl problem?

I admit, my experience is uniquely millennial. The number of outlets for dating advice is unprecedented; in my parents’ time, there were only a couple ways you could approach a date. I was looking for a solution that was only a little bit more sophisticated than Tinder or Match.com, and instead I got videos discussing the philosophy of Nietzche. Hopefully the first thing that comes out of my mouth when I eventually do land that date on a beach in Hawaii isn’t, “Nietzche once said, ‘God is dead.’” I guess for millennials, life is about reconciling the serious and the not-soserious.

When I went to Australia with Greenhill for three weeks last summer, I realized that what I am going to miss the most when I leave for college won’t be my spacious bedroom, my comfy bed, or my super-clean bathroom. I went through withdrawal; as we got closer to our return date, all I could think about was the spicy, savory taste of my favor-

ite Pakistani dish: Biryani.

The minute I walked through my front door, I smelled the cardamom-and-turmeric infused chicken korma stewing, and I knew I was home. As I shoveled the tender chicken into my mouth, I came to a horrible realization: I will not have my mother with me in college, cooking delicious, warm Pakistani meals every day. I won’t have anyone catering to my every food craving. As I sat there, I knew there was only one answer to my problem. I was going to have to learn to cook.

The solution seems pretty straightforward. I’ll just have my mom teach me, and I’ll be good to go. One big obstacle to this problem-solving scenario stands in my way.

I cannot cook. At all. I just have zero talent. About a month ago, I tried to make a very, very simple chicken pasta for dinner, and the results were disastrous. The chicken

was rubbery, the sauce made me gag, and I even managed to mess up the pasta. It came out clumpy, over-cooked and disgusting. All I had to do was follow an incredibly easy recipe, and I ruined it.

Biryani, meanwhile, is a complex dish; there are so many individual components, from the preparation of the chicken to the seasoning of the rice. The color of the dish is one of my favorite parts. One of the main spices used is saffron, and it stains the rice grains bright orange, yellow, and red. The end product is a beautiful platter of yellows, reds and orange. I can judge a person’s cooking based on how well they make Biryani.

My mom learned to prepare meals from my grandmother, and my grandmother from her mother. Some of my favorite meals started as recipes my great-grandmother adjusted and perfected. Every time I take a bite,

I feel like I’m taking in part of my family history. Food is such an important part of my culture, and I am not ready to give that part of me up. But if I even attempted to make Biryani myself, I would probably burn my house down.

Right now, I am just taking baby steps. Number one is learning how to cook basic chicken so that it is actually edible. Ultimately, what matters most is the time I will spend with my mom in the kitchen. I probably won’t be cooking Biryani like a pro, but I know learning how to cook food that I will miss dearly is going to bring me closer to my culture and family. Who knows, maybe next year in college I’ll be inviting all of my friends over to eat some of the amazing Biryani I made. Until then, I’ll be in the kitchen boiling rice and mixing spices.

community, 18 years ago. You’ve probably seen ParkGate while driving on the Tollway and never realized what it was. Its large white frame off Wycliff and the Tollway originally served as the Braniff College building for flight attendants.

Last June, my mom sold ParkGate after transitioning each resident to another home.

Before that, ParkGate had been a part of my life since I was born. I would tag along when my mom went to work. I had a giant purple box of toys in the lobby. I went to every holiday party and would stop by occasionally for lunch, to bake cookies, or to play Bingo.

Because ParkGate was a boutique, 46apartment retirement home, I basically grew up with dozens of grandparents.

Ms. P regaled me with stories of her childhood in San Francisco. Her single father, a chef, worked late hours, so he found wealthy and cultured families without children to take her under their wing. She grew up at the opera and the symphony and was later the pianist for the San Francisco

ballet. At ParkGate, she played for me until her eyesight started to fade, and then I would play a little for her.

Dr. S, was Russian, but grew up in China.

He told me about the end of the tsars and how his father researched the disappearance of the last Grand Duchess, Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. His stories brought royalty out of the Disney realm. He made me think for the first time about history, the world extending beyond my single-digit years. Ms. M accompanied my family to the symphony, and pieces that I found dull livened under her appreciative ear. Another humorous group of residents went with me each year to the horse races and taught me how to bet.

As I grew older and busier, I visited ParkGate less and less. Every time I stopped by, the residents commented on how much I had grown, and I found an unfamiliar face in the lobby. Many residents had to move to more intensive care units as time passed. In hindsight, the very reason I stopped going

as frequently is the reason I should have gone more: time. Time passes differently for their generation than for mine. For me, time is a commodity I need to ration efficiently between classes and extracurriculars, carefully budgeting the hours spent on math versus chemistry. For the residents, time simply flowed. The elderly are often accused of reliving the past, but the residents at ParkGate lived in the present more than I do.

Spending time at retirement homes is considered community service, but that wasn’t really the case for me at ParkGate.

Service implies that I did them a favor by gracing them with my presence, but they were gracing me with theirs. I may joke about the parallels between cliques of teenagers and octogenarians, but these people have a wisdom that can only be gained from life experience. We often tend to pity these people for all their losses in life, but when ParkGate closed, the biggest loss was mine.

I want—there were no “dumb” questions.

These conversations are my taste of the real world, carved out of days that can seem full of tests and papers and college applications.

There is a bit of irony here: while my parents and I never discuss college over tea, these post-dinner discussions have explicitly shown me that I crave not only traditions, but also deep, thought-provoking discussions.

Now that I know what I need, I know what to create for myself next year when I go to college.

My parents gave me my tea-drinking ritual, but when I think about it, I have created a lot of traditions myself. Sanah, Sofia and I meet every hour on the hour to regroup during layout. Saveena and I walk the campus eating popcorn at lunch to destress. Remya and I have watched every single Improv show from the booth. I have

a countless number of traditions I keep up with just at Greenhill, and I stick to them so adamantly because I need consistency. And as we seniors know, much of our lives will be chaotic rather than consistent next year.

We’re all going to miss something when we flee from the Hornet’s nest.

Sanah will miss her biriyani; I will miss tea. I have spent years building traditions, and most of them have manifested naturally—I do it once, then one more time and suddenly I realize, this is a tradition.

Sometimes building traditions like this is just about having the grace and consciousness to realize one when you stumble upon it.

Instead of trying to create traditions, live your life, but take a look back to see what you have created for yourself. You will likely find an empty glass of tea waiting to be filled once again.

A Taste of Culture

An Old Soul

As per usual, drama filled the lunchroom.

Well-established cliques clustered around each table and the newbie couldn’t find a place to sit. But the center table was filled with crossword puzzles, not jocks, and the corner table housed a trio of grandmothers rather than cheerleaders. This isn’t high school. Rather, it’s a retirement home. And despite the similarity to our very own Greenhill cafeteria, its inhabitants have decades of life experience on us.

My mom opened ParkGate, a retirement

Brewing Traditions

“One more glass,” I say as my mom returns to the stove. She brings back two piping kettles, one with freshly brewed Turkish black tea and another with hot water. As she refills my four-ounce glass to the brim with a perfect blend of both liquids, I remind myself that I’m on my fifth glass. I won’t be falling asleep anytime soon.

My mom returns to her seat at the table, and we continue right where we left off. Tonight’s discussion: exchange-traded funds. It could be anything, though: Turkish politics, a recent New York Times article or commercial real estate. The ritual is what matters. This is our time to talk.

Back home in Turkey, tea is a staple— anywhere you go, you will find someone walking around with a tray of tea glasses, spilling over and steaming hot. During breakfast: tea. After lunch: tea. Mid-day snack: tea. And most importantly, after dinner: tea. While we don’t sit in silence during the meal, it is not until post-meal chai that my family and I really dive into discussion. One night, we discussed the European Union. The night before, it was the gubernatorial election. They serve as a platform for me to ask my parents anything

20 backpage

the

Evergreen

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Earthquake

Survival Guide

It felt like a car ran into the house.”—Junior Connor Cowman

It felt like the garage door was opening, but way stronger than usual.”—Senior Hanna Arata

thursday, march 5, 2015

T

exans are used to unexpected weather. High winds and thunderstorms are as common as blazing sun and clear skies. But what about earthquakes? Dallas did not have a history of earthquakes— until recently. Now, we’ve been hit by an “earthquake storm,” with 25 earthquakes since the beginning of 2015.

They were never violent (the largest was only a 3.6 on the Richter Scale). Still, it helps to be prepared. As we struggle to put the new experience into words, The Evergreen has some tips for how to face the next ones.

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I thought a tree had fallen on my house.”—Sophomore Sarah Matthews

“At first, I thought it was construction going on. Then a minute or two later I felt another shake and I realized it was an earthquake.” —Senior Jack Diamond

On the Road

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“It felt like somebody had dropped a heavy object in another room.”—Sophomore Hudson Fernandes

If you happen to be driving to Fat Straws during an earthquake, it may feel like something is wrong with your car. There is: it’s on the road during on earthquake. Move to the side of the road as quickly as possible, turn off the car, and wait for the shaking to stop before continuing on your quest for bubble-tea goodness.

On the Field

Let’s say you’re on the fields for sports practice or taking a stroll in the warm weather when the shaking begins. Don’t go inside. Buildings are death traps. Like those box traps held up by a stick, but in this case the stick is holding up tons of concrete.

At Home Now imagine an earthquake hits when you are listening to the new Drake album. Ideally, you would have earthquake-proofed your room by making sure that heavy or dangerous objects are not placed on the tops of cabinets or shelves, but instead near the floor or in closable containers. When the quake hits, take cover under something sturdy, like your bed, to avoid having anything falling on you. Afterwards, come out, unscathed, and clean up the awful mess that was left behind. (For once, you get to blame a force of nature!)

Story by Suman Chebrolu Graphic by Sera Tuz