Opinion Pieces & the Hebron Community

Girls on the Mountain Biking Team

By Lili-Marie Schmidt ’22

Apparently, mountain biking is a sport dominated by men at Hebron Academy. Even though I have been mountain biking for several years now, I never thought being a girl made me special. Why should girls not do mountain biking? What would make boys better at mountain biking than girls? However, we - that’s Maggie, Sam and I - are the first girls on the mountain biking team in quite a long time, according to what I’ve been told. “After quite a long time” is, in this case, so long ago that the seniors at Hebron can not remember ever seeing a girl on the team. At least we are not the very first, though, as I found a picture of girls on the mountain biking team eleven years ago, in 2010.

Maggie, Sam and I are proud to make our team more diverse, representing girls and different nationalities. Hebron gives everyone on our team, regardless of their skill level, the opportunity to reach their full potential. We are incredibly grateful to have such great trails right next to our campus, giving us the opportunity to prepare for our races as best as possible. During our practices, we improve our skills by playing games as a team or going on the trails; we clean the trails and our bikes, and build pump tracks. The races on Wednesdays and Saturdays are the highlight of the week, and we can proudly announce that our team diligently collects medals, not only beating the girls of New England, but also many of the boys. Most of the time, we are five boys and two girls representing Hebron at the races. Each member of our team, including our coach Mr. Bates, supports and empowers us to do our best. During hours worth of bus rides and waiting until the start of the races, we have grown together as a team. I have to admit that I actually enjoy our bus rides. And, despite having never done mountain biking before, Sam already participates in our races.

The underrepresentation of girls is apparent at the races. There is still potential to increase the number of girls on Hebron’s mountain biking team, and I really hope to see more girls on the team next year. You are always welcome to join our team, or just borrow my bike on the weekends and try mountain biking for yourself. Mountain biking might seem intimidating at first, but knowing about some tricks makes many of the trails more than doable. The Hebron trail system offers something for all skill levels. I am happy to show you some skills, our trails, and to share my love for biking with you.

My Opinion on the New Junior Division

By Kate Dilworth ’25

I have been at Hebron Academy since sixth grade; I’m in ninth grade now. This summer, when Hebron sent out an email explaining the new senior and junior divisions, I was a little confused and upset. I thought that the ninth grade would be grouped with the middle school for academics, sports, boarding, etc. When I started the year, I noticed not much was different; it seemed like the junior division and the senior division were only going to affect sports and boarding. I am not a boarding student, so I wasn’t really affected. I was first upset about not being able to join afterschool art, something I had looked forward to since the sixth grade. I self-advocated, though, emailing Mr. Miller to ask if I could join the program. Within a few days, I was able to join; I was so grateful and I truly love it. Throughout the first half of this fall trimester, I had classes with sophomores and juniors, having no interaction with the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. When the Fall Ball was announced, I was so excited—until it was announced it would be separated into junior division and senior division. I was so upset, but like I did earlier in the year, I self-advocated along with other ninth graders. How is it fair to do high school homework, tests, and exams later on in the term, to then be “rewarded” with a dance that was full of kids we had barely talked to all year? It made no sense. It would make more sense to have us grouped with the people we know and have classes with, instead of grouping us with kids we have no interaction with. I am so glad the dance was changed, but it still made no sense. I love being able to get my education at Hebron, and I am forever grateful for our teachers and staff.

This Year vs. Last Year

By Sylvie Gill ’26

In many ways, this year at Hebron Academy is a lot different from last year. COVID-19 procedures, sports, and academics are all different from the 2020-2021 school year. COVID procedures are more relaxed this year, thanks to the insight health professionals have gained on the spread of the virus. Last year, all of the students and the desks had to remain six feet apart. After every class, teachers had to sanitize the desks and any in-school materials that were used. At lunch, students could only sit with one other person. Almost all the food was individually packaged. Any food that wasn’t wrapped had to be served by the kitchen staff. Students had to do daily temperature checks and masks had to be worn at all times. This year, we are able to sit with any number of people at lunch, and are able to serve ourselves food. Desks and school materials don’t have to be sanitized after every use, and though masking is sometimes required indoors, we don’t have to wear masks outdoors or social distance.

Sports are also very different this year. Last year, I was on the middle school soccer team in the fall, and on the track team in the spring. During soccer in the fall, we had to wear masks and stay six feet apart, which is nearly impossible when playing soccer. We also did not have any games. During the spring, the same rules applied in track and field. While we were able to do a meet, there were a lot of restrictions and only two schools could compete against each other at a time. This year is much better! Even though there are many restrictions due to COVID-19, our sports teams are able to compete with other schools. This year Hebron Academy is a lot more hands on in classes, and uses less devices. Last year, because there were a lot of long-term online students, teachers had to make lesson plans that included the online students. In the school year of 2020-2021, after any breaks where boarding students went home, there was a series of testing and a two-week quarantine period. During quarantine time, school was on Zoom. This year, quarantining for COVID-19 patients is still in place, but quarantining after breaks is not required for people who test negative.

This school year at Hebron Academy is looking to be a huge improvement from many aspects of last year. There are still many restrictions because of the Coronavirus, but because of the vaccine and new knowledge about COVID-19, those restrictions have loosened. The sports this year at Hebron have improved dramatically, and teams are now allowed to play games. Academically, things are so much better without online school. Since the pandemic hit, things have been very hard on everybody, but Hebron Academy is still doing a fantastic job providing an amazing learning experience.

Being An International Student in the Hebron Community

By Kaan Uslular ’23

On the first day of Hebron Review, we gathered in Ms. Waterman’s classroom. I was so excited to write, and thankful to Nola for this opportunity. Then I suddenly realized that I was the only international student among my friends. I thought it was a privilege for me, and I had a different life story like everyone else. That’s why I would like to talk about my own experiences being an international student, and what it has been like to be in the Hebron community.

Before I became a member of Hebron, I was a public school student in Turkey, and got used to that culture and education system, but I always had a dream of traveling the world and studying abroad.The first advantage of being at Hebron, especially for boarding students, starts here. In my perspective, our biggest disadvantage is not knowing English. It's not shameful not to know, but it is shameful not to ask and learn. For this reason, as international students, we need to be more open-minded to new cultures by being willing to learn. You can easily find this opportunity in the Hebron environment. Here, our teachers and advisors are very helpful and productive for our needs. For instance, I love playing chess; I found out that in Hebron, there is no

chess club for fun and learning strategy skills. Then I emailed Ms. Carton about how to start and run a club. I didn’t know anything at that time, but now we are playing every Thursday with friends. Generally, if you want to ask something that confuses you, the faculty are really passionate about their jobs.This is not abnormal for high school at Hebron; there is a wide range of help for college counseling, according to my observations. Now I am in the eleventh grade, it may seem like it's early for a college decision (in fact it's definitely not early!), but trips and online conversations have already started. For me, my biggest interest is the brain, so I want to be a neurosurgeon in the future.

When I look at opportunities about this long journey at Hebron, there are a lot of resources to learn and search in line with our needs. Of course, this is very proportional to the student's desire to learn and how these opportunities are used. For my future dream, the best class is Anatomy and Physiology from amusing Mr. Vining with his wit. From the classes here, I understood that education at Hebron is very different and interactive compared to Turkey. There are also many laboratory and experiment opportunities during the class. Besides, if you are an athlete, Maine is the place to be astonished by nature. The sports opportunities in the campus are endless, such as the gym, Williams Center, and the turf.

I am on the football team this fall. No matter what sport you do here, your team feels like family to you. It doesn't change whether you win or lose. Especially when you ring that bell after you win. It is a very nice feeling. I hope everyone at Hebron will know this feeling. This is just one of them that makes us feel like a family. The place of friendships here is very different; there are times when we really learn life lessons from them. Every moment with friends is truly unforgettable. We are all in a place separate from our families, and maybe that gives us power. Everyone here becomes like our family. I think that's the reason I didn't experience a huge culture-shock when I came here.

I am very glad to be a part of this school. I am sure that we will develop more, and achieve great success. All we have to do is help each other, and move forward on this journey together. I only have one piece of advice for new ̓Jacks who want to come and join our community: never wait to achieve anything here. NEVER WAIT AND PROCRASTINATE AT HEBRON!

Student Artwork

Top: Xiangru “Aaron” Han, Watercolor, “Kaleidoscope”

Bottom: Lillybeth Randall, Gouache, Untitled

Top to bottom, left to right: Galia Braun, Spray Paint, “Electric,” Greta Prause, Watercolor and Ink, “Seahorse,” Mya Tucker, Watercolor and Ink, “Bumblebee,” Abigail McDonald, Ceramics, “The Emperor”