Vandals break into cars on Coldwater. Page A6
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Harvard-Westlake School • North Hollywood, CA • Volume XIX • Issue 7 • April 28, 2010 • chronicle.hw.com
‘2 Hats Award’ to honor Kutler By Sam Adams
photos by candice navi/chronicle
champions day: Chamber Singers stand behind President Thomas C. Hudnut at Champions Day last Wednesday in the student lounge (top). Basketball players Amanda Horowitz ’10 and Nicole Nesbit ’10 walk in to a shower of confetti (above). Nick Treuer ’10 won the CIF wrestling championship in the 152-pound division (far left). Leah Merkle ’10 and Doni Hunter-Salustio ’10 are part of the CIF-winning girls’ soccer team (right). For more coverage, see Section C and our editorial, A12.
New department will foster interdisciplinary study, research By Hana Al-Henaid
An Interdisciplinary Studies Program will be created as a new department to support independent research and interdisciplinary study, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said. “[The department will] be the clearinghouse for the development and awarding of all on- and off-campus academic research opportunities and summer internships for students,” Huybrechts said. Interdisciplinary courses will be offered to promote “study in the areas of intersection between disciplines, giving students opportunities to integrate and elaborate knowledge from varied fields,” Huybrechts said. The program, which will begin during the next few years, is specifically intended to dedicate an entire department to independent study and to continue the tradition of offering independent and directed study. Suggestions for interdisciplinary studies have included American Studies, which would incorporate History and English, Bioethics, which would incorporate Biology and Philosophy, and a course on Leadership, which would include History, Lit-
erature, Philosophy and Psychology. Huybrechts cites Lawrenceville School and Riverdale Country School in New Jersey as “two excellent schools that have especially interesting interdisciplinary studies programs.” However, she added, Harvard-Westlake’s program will be uniquely its own. The next step is the appointment of a department chair, who Huybrechts hopes to announce by the end of this school year. Huybrechts has asked current department chairs to nominate candidates. Specifically, Huybrechts is looking for “teachers who might be interested in leading and managing a new department with this kind of focus and mission.” The chair would visit programs at other schools next year and shepherd the development of a curriculum. Although the school is currently seeking funding to initiate the program and endow its future, the administration expects it to be supported financially through a combination of tuition, endowment and Annual Giving. Responses to the program have ranged from enthusiastic endorsement to healthy skepticism, Huybrechts said. “Which is all good,” she said.
One member of the Class of 2010 will receive the first “Two Hats Award” in memory of Brendan Kutler ’10 at the awards assembly June 1, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts announced to the faculty last week. The award will honor a senior who reflected Kutler’s values, with a main criterion being nathanson ’s/chronicle that the senior pursues interdisciplinBrendan ary studies. The award’s name comes Kutler ’10 from Kutler’s interest in multiple fields of study, and from his trademark two baseball cap look. The student who wins should “love learning, which is a lot of kids at this school,” Huybrechts said. “They tried lots of different things, they took academic risks.” A committee comprising deans, teachers and the Kutler family will select the winner from a pool of 22 nominations made by the faculty before last Friday’s deadline. “Brendan wouldn’t be the young man he was if he hadn’t had the opportunity to be at Harvard-Westlake,” his mother, Sara Kutler, said. “He was a quiet behind-thescenes person who pursued knowledge for its own sake, not just for grades or awards,” and the new award is meant to honor someone who shares those values and might not otherwise receive recognition, she said. The award will come with an accompanying grant of undetermined size, which will likely come from the outpouring of donations in Brendan’s name that followed his sudden death during winter break, in addition to a contribution from his family. The grant is meant to encourage the winner to pursue studies or a summer internship without having to worry about money. In future years, the award will likely go to a junior, Upper School Dean Beth Slattery said, so that the student can bring the summer experience back to the school and potentially take classes related to that field of study.
Latest Rugby burglars target tech equipment By Emily Khaykin
A security guard surprised a man and a woman attempting to steal thousands of dollars worth of sound and light equipment from Rugby Auditorium earlier this month. The suspects jumped off the stage and fled with some equipment. Upper school security is investigating the theft, the second from Rugby Auditorium this year. The first, which took place over winter break, resulted in the loss of an estimated $30,000 worth of sound and lighting equipment. At approximately 4:30 a.m. on April 12, security guard Mark Geiger was making his rounds through the campus when he heard sounds coming from Rugby. Geiger entered through the back door of Rugby, frightening the two suspects. Security was unable to find the two after an exhausting search of the campus, Head of Security Jim Crawford said. The suspects managed to take eight wireless microphone body packs, priced at about $1,000 to $1,500 apiece. “They had stacked up various piles of equipment around the auditorium and looked like they were setting up to take them,” Performing Arts teacher Andrew Villaverde said. “But since they were interrupted, they were only able to take the smaller items they could carry.” Security does not know how they got into Rugby. “The gates to the school were locked, but there are many other ways to get into the school, like through the wash down by the north end of campus,” Geiger said. Villaverde said the suspects could have walked in the main doors due to the age of some of the doors in Rugby. “Several of these doors are really old,” Villaverde said. “Sometimes all you have to do to open them is yank hard enough.” Geiger said that the school has talked about replacing some of the doors, but nothing has been confirmed yet. “There used to be cameras in Rugby,” Geiger said. “But most of the time it was just too dark to see anything on the tape so they were taken out.” Geiger believes that the suspects were homeless. He recounted descriptions of them to the authorities.
preview Prefects changed the Honor Board to make it less intimidating.
Absences spiked last Friday as students flocked to the Coachella Valley Music Fesitval.
High Stakes: Our seniors finally know where they are going to college.
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Should the cafeteria provide nutrional information for all food served? Allegra Tepper/Chronicle
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Seniors travel to Japan to honor of Brendan Kutler.
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PHOTO GALLERY: See more photos from Champions Day, which celebrated the success of winter sports teams, The Chronicle and the Chamber Singers.
Randy Newman performs at the Parents Association’s fundraiser on April 17.
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Girls’ basketball coach Melissa Hearlihy was named best coach in California.
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The Chronicle Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Volume XIX Issue 7
ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY JACQUELINE LEE
• VIDEO: Watch video clips from yesterday’s senior picnic.
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podcasts videos photos blogs
new beginnings History teacher Matthew Cutler and his wife, Marla, welcomed their newborn daughter, Ella Trudy Cutler, on Dec. 14. “She is adorable,” Cutler said, “and nothing is more magical than when she smiles.”
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COURTESY OF BILL THILL
es ur PHOTO GALLERY: Missed the senior art show? See all of the pieces, as well as the corresponding artist statements, online.
Math teacher William Thill runs the L.A. Marathon.
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Middle school foreign language teacher Andrew Brabee and his wife, Minette, welcomed their 7 lbs. 10 oz. daughter Mikaela Marie Brabee on April 25. reporting by Saj Sri-Kumar
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Graduating with honors 56 seniors will be inducted into the Harvard-Westlake Cum Laude chapter on Monday, May 17. The top 20% of the class are inducted based on scholarly achievement.
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Bio-Weapons: Dr. Peter Katona, an epidemiologist at UCLA, speaks about infectious diseases and biological warfare as part of the Brown Family Speaker Series. Before speaking, Katona spoke to a Genetics and Biotechnology class, and afterwards, he ate lunch with an AP Biology class.
Bioterrorism attacks inevitable, expert warns By Ester Khachatryan
An infectious disease specialist warned upper school students and faculty that biological attack by terrorists is likely within the next 10 years at the Brown Family Speaker Series assembly Monday, April 19. A world-renowned epidemiologist, Dr. Peter Katona (Karly ’01, Lindsay ’03 and Joey ’06) was the 10th speaker in the Brown Family Speaker series, which was established in 2000 by Linda and Abbott Brown (Russell ’94 and David ‘96). The speaker series brings one notable speaker to the Upper School each year. Katona is an associate professor of clinical medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and is board certified in Infectious Disease as well as Internal Medicine. He has published articles about bioterrorism, among other subjects, and has written a book entitled “Countering Terrorism and WMD: Creating a Global Counter Terrorism Network.” He is also the founder and president of The Center of Medical Multimedia Education Technology, a non-profit organization that works to teach health care workers about infectious diseases through interactive multimedia. Katona has also appeared as an infectious disease expert on various television and radio programs. Coupling his speech with a slideshow featuring captivating images as well as a satiric video of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s advice on sneezing that drew laughs from the audience, Katona spoke to students about the past, present and future of influenza. In the past, influenza was thought to be caused by poison, miasma, biological chemicals or was designated as a distinct life form. We now know, however, that influenza is a “living, contagious and highly mutative RNA virus,” Katona said. The pandemic nature of the influenza virus, meaning that the infectious disease spreads over a continent or even the entire world, Katona explained, is caused by antigenic shift which combines two or more strains of a virus to create a new virus subtype. H1N1 (swine flu) is believed to be one such virus that has undergone antigenic shift since its predecessor viruses caused pandemics in 1900, 1918, 1957, 1968 and 1977. Katona went on to explain the inherent dangers that would result from terrorists obtaining biological weapons. If successfully carried out, Katona explained, bioterrorism will produce the next worldwide pandemic. After the assembly, microphones were set out to give audience members the chance to ask Katona questions. One student asked whether the Transportation Security Administration has the capacity
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One thing that stood out in his speech was the all-encompassing consequences of a biological attack.”
—Jacqueline Feiler ‘10 Biology student
to look for biological weapons. Katona responded that there is currently no way to screen such weapons since a virus can be placed in a simple flask. Another question was whether or not Katona thought that there will be a bioterrorist attack within the next 10 years. Katona believes that there will be an attack, he said. Immediately following his presentation, Katona ate lunch with one of Blaise Eitner’s AP Biology class in Feldman-Horn Gallery, giving the students the opportunity to ask further questions in a more casual setting. “It worked nicely with the curriculum of biology to have lunch during this week because we are just finishing the immune and endocrine systems, which correlated with his speech about pandemics, infectious disease, and bioterrorism,” biology student Jacqueline Feiler ’10 said. In attendance at the lunch reception were Katona and his family, Eitner’s class and additional faculty members. Eitner’s class was split between two tables. Katona ate lunch at one table. Then Katona switched tables to talk to the other half of the class during dessert. “One thing that stood out in his speech was the all-encompassing consequences of a biological attack, in that it would combine fear, break down of the economy, distrust of the government and other countries, global climate change, disease...a whole list of disasters,” Feiler said. Before the assembly, Katona spoke to David Hinden’s fourth period Genetics and Biotechnology class. Katona described to the class the conflict between national security and freedom of expression in the realm of science. Katona presented a hypothetical situation in which a newspaper editor is faced with the decision whether or not to publish an article on how to make anthrax. Katona used the hypothetical editor’s moral and professional dilemma to discuss the policy behind balancing public safety and free speech. His overarching message to students was that biological weapons are a real and impending threat, but that “we will get through it.”
Sam Adams
Nicole Hung
Neha Nimmagadda
Rohun Bansal
Claresta Joe-Wong
Susan Nussbaum
Katherine Barrall
Christopher Kenney
Cindy Ok
Berni Barta
Ester Khachatryan
Jesse Orrall
Marisa Berger
Jamie Kim
Yujin Park
Katherine Casey
Ava Kofman
Alexander Popof
Jennifer Chan
Spencer Koo
Joseph Rafidi
Monica Chen
Jacqueline Lee
Samuel Roth
Jeffrey Dastin
Gabriela Leslie
Alexander Silverman
Natasha Ettensberger
Eva Levy
Max Simchowitz
Edwin Lim
AJ Sugarman
Richard Liu
Nick Treuer
Ilica Mahajan
Andrew Wang
Nicholas Mancall-Bitell
Brandon Wang
Jacqueline Feiler Jacob Gindi Alexandra Glancy Bridget Golob Spencer Gordon Caroline Groth Brian Hentschel Jonathan Hsu Simon Hunegs
Irene Manousiouthakis
Jacob Witten Susanna Wolk
Allison Merz
Claudine Yee
Adam Moelis
Katrina Zandberg
Schuyler Moore
Andrew Zaragoza
graphic by Nicki Resnikoff and Saj SRi-kumar
Kim replaces Huston as middle school dean By Alice Phillips
Middle school science teacher and Admission Associate John Kim will replace Rod Huston as a middle school dean for the class of 2014. “Huston’s shoes will be hard to fill but I look forward to working closely with Kim,” Head of the Middle School Ronnie Codrington-Cazeau said. Nathanson ’s/chronicle Kim has taught science, coached water John Kim polo, and worked with the Admissions office in his 11 years at Harvard-Westlake. He will assume his dean responsibilities at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. Nicholas Edel ’13, one of Kim’s biology students, said that Kim is “really good at interacting with kids” and that his accessible teaching style will likely augment his abilities as a dean. “I’m really fond of this year’s eighth grade and I’m looking forward to working with Nathanson ’s/chronicle them,” Kim said. “I want to be an advocate for Rod Huston the students.” “John brings to the position a deep reservoir of energy and enthusiasm and expertise,” Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said in a statement to the school announcing Huston’s departure. Cazeau said that Kim’s role in the Admissions Office has increased his administrative role in the community. “We look for someone who has already shown leadership in their teaching, in their dealings with students and parents, and in their willingness to volunteer to take on new tasks within the school,” Cazeau said. Huston sustained a head injury on the Mammoth Ski Trip during semester break, and although he has fully recovered he has decided that this is a good time to move on to a new phase of his life, Huybrechts said. “[Huston] was devoted to his student and to Harvard-Westlake. To quote a colleague, ‘Rod bled red and black,” Huybrechts said in the statement. Huybrechts said that Huston may pursue a graduate degree or another full-time teaching position in the future.
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Hiroshima bomb victim shares story
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By Nika Madyoon
An explosion pushed her away, and everything turned pitch black. She heard nothing; Hiroshima was “a dead city.” Just a moment ago she was with her friend, standing in town admiring the beautiful sky. Then she saw the nuclear bomb drop from the silver airplane up above. Shigeko Sasamori survived the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and she shared her experience with students and faculty members in Feldman-Horn last week. The meeting, though primarily set up for students in Japanese classes, was open to anyone interested. Sasamori, who was 13 years old at the time of the bombing, was burned on her hands, face, and chest. Her legs, unlike many other victims, remained intact. She said it was a miracle that she survived. She recalled her laziness that saved her legs that day. After work, she was accustomed to taking off her dirty pants and changing into a clean pair. But that day, she simply added another layer of pants, without which she’s not sure she would still be able to walk. After the bombing, she was placed in a school auditorium with the wounded, where she stayed for five days without food, water, or care. She heard the moans of fellow survivors, but she was unable to open her eyes, or even to distinguish between night and day. Asking for water and reciting her name and address were all that she could muster. Her mother searched for her every day after the bombing, calling out her name. “Here I am,” Sasamori said upon hearing her mother. Her mother heard the quiet voice and found her daughter. Later on, her mother told her that she was unrecognizable. Sasamori said her mother described her face as black, swollen like a basketball, and covered in burns and ashes. Her father proceeded to cut off all of her burnt hair. She warned the audience of curious students and faculty that the next detail would be gruesome: he cut the skin around her face and peeled off the blackness, only to reveal a yellow, puffy infection con-
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‘Here i am’: Jason Mohr ’11 and history teacher Leslie Rockenbach listen to Shigeko Sasamori as she shares what she remembers of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima with a Japanese class last week in Feldman-Horn. suming her. Soybean oil, she said, was the medicine of the day, replacing doctors and modern medication. The city was “like a hell.” Maggots and flies ate up the bodies that littered the streets. The explosion led to a fire that engulfed the city. She described it as a “fire ocean.” Sasamori told the story of her mother’s best friend, who told Sasamori’s mother how lucky she was to have found her daughter. She was not as fortunate. Sasamori emotionally described the woman’s story. She found her oldest child trapped beneath the remains of the city, still alive. After trying with all her might to save her child, she saw the fire approaching. Her daughter told her to leave, to go take care of the two younger siblings she had at home. She was forced to leave her first child there to be consumed by flames. Stories like this, Sasamori explained, were not at all rare. Despite the horrors she has faced, Sasamori remains extremely positive. She continued to remind the audience how happy she was to meet them, how they give her “wonderful energy.” She stressed the importance of communication, telling of her experience in America and of how fond she is of the country and its people. Sasamori was one of 25 Japanese girls adopted by Norman Cousins as part of his Hiroshima Project in 1955. The Hiroshima Maidens, as they were called, were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City for reconstructive plastic surgery.
Geophysicist explains quakes
‘Kid Flicks’ founder wins service award By David Burton
By Emily Khaykin
An expert on earthquakes told students Monday why Haiti suffered more earthquake damage than Chile and how geophysicists use the recent eruption of the volcano in Iceland to predict any other eruptions. “Although the Haiti quake was shallow and a much smaller quake on the Richter scale, it occurred next to a major city that was used to preparing for hurricanes. So when they had built their houses, they had heavy roofs, which are bad for earthquakes,” said Dr. Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena. “The people who were affected by the Chilean earthquake had recognized the hazards they were susceptible to which allowed them to come through,” Hudnut said. “The unusual thing about Haiti is the relationship between the magnitude and the fatalities,” he said. Hudnut said that the fatalities were primarily because “people don’t follow the proper building codes.” “The most effective thing for us to do after an earthquake is to make a rapid assessment of what people should do to reduce the loss of life in case of an aftershock,” Hudnut said. “Our main job is to advise people on proper earthquake protocol for new homes and when to evacuate an area when a natural disaster has struck,” he said. “We’re not that good at predicting what’s going to happen next, but we can study what has happened in the past and make assessments for the future,” Hudnut said. Hudnut used the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland as an example of a natural hazard that has a recognizable and somewhat
The nurses that helped Sasamori during her recovery inspired her to want to become a nurse. She returned to Japan later in life and spoke with her father, who encouraged her to make a decision based on what she really wanted. Describing herself as “so naïve,” Sasamori says she returned to the United States. She explained that Japanese people and Americans may look different, but are really the same inside. “We can think, we can talk, we can do,” she said. Sasamori is against war. “War is a horrible thing. Don’t you think?” she asked the audience. When her son was born, she took one look at him and said, “This baby is not going to war.” She didn’t want him to kill, explaining that killing makes one a criminal. Most parents would not want that for their child, she reflected. Sasamori reminded the audience how lucky they were, urging them not to sit on the “lucky seat” for too long, for they would someday fall off. She told them that sitting and crying about what happened in the past does not help anything, encouraging them to worry about the future and what they can do to change it. “You have a big future waiting,” she said. And the key element to presenting future stories like her own, she explained towards the beginning of her story, was: “No more war.” A loud round of applause filled the room once the period came to an end. “Keep smiling,” she said.
saj sri-kumar/chronicle
analyze this: An expert on earthquatkes, Dr. Kenneth Hudnut analyzed past natural dissasters and their varying effects. predictable pattern. “Each time [Eyjafjallajokull] erupts, Katla, another volcano near [Eyjafjallajokull], erupts within about a month,” Hudnut said. “The question we’re always asking ourselves is what’s next?” Hudnut explained how geologists attempt to predict the behavior of natural hazards. Hudnut also explained how technological advancements in recent years have improved the way geophysicists have mapped out and recorded the damages done by natural disasters. “We are now using computer simulations and modeling to predict answers to some of the most complex systems in the world,” he said. “These simulations help us see how the ground moves during a quake and allows us to help prepare people for what’s to come.”
hospitals as we could,” Barta said. The Youth SerDonations of DVDs invice of America creased as word spread honored Berni about the Barta sisters’ Barta ’10 with the mission. What started as Gladys Marinelli collection drives at local Coccia award at the schools, turned into doNational Servicenations from movie stuLearning Conferdios, production companathanson ’s/chronicle ence in San Jose on nies and collection drives Berni Barta ’10 March 26 during from schools across the the State Farm Awards Cer- country. emony. After delivering movies for The award was founded in childrens’ hospitals in every five memory of Gladys Coccia, who hour radius of Los Angeles, the began her entrepreneurial ca- Barta sisters looked to expand. reer as a young girl in West They began to apply for grants Virginia and went on to become to cover the costs for shipping a successful businesswoman and movies to other cities and states community leader in Washing- outside of Los Angeles. ton, D.C. Barta was one of two The Gladys Marinelli Coccia girls to win this award. Award granted Barta $2,000 for In 2002, Berni along with her and her sisters’ organizaher three older sisters Lexi ’03, tion. Romi ’06, and Marni ’09 founded “The grant is absolutely Kid Flicks, a non-profit organi- great because it helps us with zation dedicated to collecting our shipping costs, which means DVDs, donating them to chil- more movies for more kids,” dren’s hospitals and pediatric Barta said. departments across the United Since its start in 2002, Kid States and abroad. Flicks has donated over 53,900 With a friend in the hospital movies to over 539 hospitals in at the time suffering from Leu- all 50 states and five hospitals in kemia, the four sisters decided Africa. to take their DVDs to their Barta plans to continue to friend so that she could be dis- collect and donate DVDs when tracted from her condition. she goes to college and is cur“From that point on we de- rently organizing a movie drive cided to collect movies and do- on campus that will take place nate them to as many childrens’ within the next month.
April 28, 2010
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Rodents visit deans’ offices
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Cones for Carpoolers
By Sammy Roth
Dean Beth Slattery was talking to a student in her office last week when she was interrupted by a small, unexpected visitor. “A rat came out from behind my couch and then ran back,” Slattery said. Slattery was not the only dean to spy a rat on the second floor of Chalmers last week. Other deans saw one as well, and Slattery and Dean Tamar Adegbile found rat droppings in their offices. When Slattery pulled her couch away from the wall of her office, she discovered a pile of rat droppings, as well as a chewed-up candy wrapper. She later found droppings on her chair. “It’s gross,” said Adegbile, who found droppings under her desk. This is the first rat sighting on the second floor of Chalmers this year, upper school Plant Manager Felipe Anguiano said. Many rats infested the first floor of Chalmers earlier this year, and rats were seen in the Computer Services office on the third floor of Chalmers last month. Anguiano said rat traps have been placed on the second floor of Chalmers in response to the incident. One trap in Adegbile’s office caught a rat Monday. Traps were also placed in the Computer Services office last month, and they have yielded one dead rat. Anguiano said his crew repaired the office’s ceiling tiles, which the rats chewed through. The first floor of Chalmers reeked of dead rats in January after many were killed by traps in the space above the ceilings. The maintenance staff also put bait boxes in the hills behind Chalmers to draw rats out of the building. Anguiano said this strategy has paid off, as there have been fewer rats in Chalmers since then. He also said the January rain pushed rats into the building. According to the University of California, Irvine’s Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, there are no effective rat repellents registered in California.
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We all Scream for Ice Cream: Students enjoy ice cream cones at break last Monday. The environmental club distributed cones to those who carpooled or took the bus.
Advancement office to launch online job board for alumni
By Daniel Rothberg
Courtesy of Jen Bladen
Global education: Rabbi Emily Feigenson (left) takes part in Memorial Day ceremonies with students from Ironi Dalet High School in Tel Aviv on April 19.
Faculty members visit Israeli school as part of teacher exchange program By Daniel Rothberg
Two teachers returned Sunday after visiting Ironi Dalet High School in Tel Aviv where they explored ways in which Harvard-Westlake could broaden its global education program. As part of a teacher exchange program, Middle School Communications Department Head Jen Bladen and Middle School Chaplain Emily Feigenson attended classes at the Israeli school, met with its teachers and toured sites in Israel. Ironi Dalet currently has exchange programs with schools in Singapore, Germany, Spain and Brazil, in addition to a program with Los Angeles Hebrew High School, Bladen said. “The school we are observing provides a number of different opportunities for their students to encounter family life, culture and society of another country,” Feigenson said in an e-mail from Israel last Wednesday. Bladen and Feigenson arrived in Tel-Aviv April 16 and departed April 25. At Ironi Dalet, Bladen and Feigenson spoke to a group of
students who had participated in the school’s global education program. “The kids at Ironi Dalet who have traveled abroad with their peers have come back changed,” Bladen said last Wednesday. “I am hopeful that before too long Harvard-Westlake will be offering experiences like this for our students.” While they spent the majority of their trip in Tel Aviv, Bladen and Feigenson visited sites in Haifa, Jerusalem and Ceasaria as well. Additionally, Bladen and Feigenson’s trip coincided with Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day. “[On] Sunday night we went to a very somber Memorial Day ceremony in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv with 47,000 other people,” Bladen said. In addition to learning about Ironi Dalet’s global education program, Bladen and Feigenson hoped to learn more about the Israeli school system, Feigenson said. After talking to students at Ironi Dalet, Feigenson was struck by how similar HarvardWestlake students were to their Israeli counterparts.
“I had the opportunity to observe a class of very smart [and] motivated 8th grade students here in Tel Aviv,” Feigenson said. “It was remarkable to hear how very similar they are to our HarvardWestlake students. In their English class, they considered an ethics topic and it was like hearing Harvard-Westlake students with accents.” After her freshman year in high school, Feigenson lived abroad as an exchange student in Puebla, Mexico. “I went essentially on my own and lived with a family,” Feigenson said. “At HarvardWestlake, I would rather see some sort of group venture that would provide students with a supportive presence while they get to know their host family and school.” Bladen also emphasized the importance of participating in an exchange program with a group of peers rather than participating in a program individually. Two teachers from Ironi Dalet will be visiting HarvardWestlake next month as part of the teachers exchange program.
a job poster.” The Advancement Office hopes to also give parents as well as parents of alumni the ability to post on the job board. “Career networking is something that we see as a tremendous opportunity to help our alumni community,” Hu said. “Fellow alumni and parents and parents of alumni are a great resource for the alumni community,” he said. Alumni would have access to the website by logging on to their Harvard-Westlake accounts.
With the unemployment rate in California exceeding 12 percent, the Advancement Office is set to launch a job board website for alumni before the end of the academic year, Chief Advancement Officer Ed Hu said. “The Harvard-Westlake Alumni Board has identified a large group of alums who are contacts or in positions to post jobs in many different fields,” Hu said. “These alums can also identify people in their organizations who can post jobs after being registered as
Time to Volunteer: With approximately 390 students who have yet to fulfill the community service requirement, the Community Council is offering more opportunities as the deadline looms.
May
2 Big Sunday
>> May
8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
At Big Sunday, a citywide event, students and parents will either work at 9th Street School, a soccer clinic or help paint a mural.
8 Heal the Bay Beach Cleanup 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
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Students who attend the Heal the Bay Cleanup will clean the Harvard-Westlake adopted Tower 27 at Santa Monica Beach.
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Franklin Canyon Park Event
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Los Angeles Family Housing
May
9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Canyon Park, students will help care >> AtforFranklin the park north of Coldwater Canyon.
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2 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Family Housing provides services to homeless >> LAchildren, families and individuals. Volunteers help prepare and serve meals for homeless residents.
29 Heal the Bay Beach Cleanup
May
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Source: Community council; LAFH.org Graphic By Daniel Rothberg
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Trainees elect 4 Peer Support coordinators
Beanie Feldstein ’11, Jarred Green ’11, Ben Krause ’11 and Anna Romanoff ’11, all of whom are current Peer Support trainees, were elected Peer Support coordinators for next school year. The election process consisted of candidates filling out an application and giving a short speech in front of their fellow junior trainees, this year’s Coordinators, Luba Bek and Dr. Sheila Siegel. Each Peer Support Trainee cast four votes. The four candidates with the highest votes, regardless of gender, were chosen. The four coordinators are responsible for organizing next year’s Peer Support groups. —Joyce Kim
Juniors attend annual college admissions fair Juniors and their parents engaged in a role-playing exercise on April 21 at the Upper School during the annual college fair along with students and parents from Campbell Hall and Oakwood. Randomly-formed groups of students and parents, along with an associate dean admissions from one of the participating colleges, simulated an admissions committee process, discussing whether or not to admit four fictional students. Afterwards, students and parents convened in Taper Gymnasium to browse the college booths lining the gym walls. —Evan Brown and Alex Gura
Library stocks SAT, AP prep books for students The library has recently acquired a collection of prep guides for the SAT and other tests. The pre-owned guides were donated by students who are finished with them and include a variety of different subjects. The guides are located in the front of the library in the “Take a Book, Leave a Book” area and any student is welcome to take one. —Hunter Price
Latino club hosts Cinco de Mayo book drive The Latino Culture Club will host the annual Cinco de Mayo book drive that will be collecting donations through May 8. Every year the club delivers the donated books to a different school. “Last year we collected 2,500 books from the Upper and Middle School,” said Alex Knight ’11, president of the Latino Culture Club. Last year, in addition to donating books, the club also painted murals for the school. —Emily Khaykin
Chronicle wins state award, website honored For the sixth time in seven years, The Chronicle was named the best high school newspaper in California by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. The Better Newpapers Contest is judged by professional newspaper editors who critique the style of the paper and the quality of the news coverage. The Chronicle website was selected as one out of 13 finalists for the National Pacemaker Award for website design by the National Scholastic Press Association. —Judd Liebman and Alex Gura
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just relax: Lili Nanus ’11 lays down in Chalmers as a Red Cross representative sets up the equipment to draw her blood. Over 100 students, faculty and staff members donated blood in the lounge during any of their free periods last Friday.
Red Cross blood drive attracts record number of participants By Jordan Freisleben
A record number of students, faculty and parents lined up in the Chalmers student lounge to donate blood last Friday. A lot of people volunteered to donate; 106 people successfully donated, 54 of whom were students. The blood drive was the second this year. Unlike the Nov. 5 drive, which was run by UCLA, last Friday’s blood drive was run through the Red Cross. The Red Cross’ different requirements allowed for more students to have the opportunity to donate. Blood could be donated by students as young as 16 as long as they had parental permission, whereas UCLA required students to be 17 or older. Semi annual blood drives on campus have been organized for the past several years. They are organized by the student Blood Drive Committee and Executive Assistant to the President Ann-Marie Whitman. “I think [the blood drives are] there as a reminder that Harvard-Westlake is there for the community,” Blood Drive Committee co-chair Austin Lewis ’11 said. “The Red Cross
constantly has a need for blood — the fact that we could help shows that Harvard-Westlake isn’t just there for the Harvard-Westlake community but also for the greater Los Angeles community.” “We were hoping for [at least] 100 donations,” Lewis said. “To save up to 300 lives would be a great goal to work towards.” “It was the most successful blood drive we’ve ever had,” Blood Drive Committee co-chair Justin Cohen ’11 said. “I had donated at the UCLA blood drive [earlier in the year] and I just thought it would be a nice thing to do,” she said. “I decided to donate because my dad does it all the time because he’s O-negative, the universal donor.” “It was definitely more successful because the Red Cross allows students to donate if they’re 16 with parental permission whereas with [the UCLA blood drive], you have to be 17,” Cohen said. For last Friday’s blood drive, the administration did not allow any in season athletes to donate blood due to parents’ concerns.
Vandals break into student car parked on Coldwater Canyon By Maddy Baxter
Wade Clement’s ’12 2001 Honda Odyssey was broken into on Coldwater Canyon Avenue on March 17. After school, Clement walked outside to his car and found the passenger side window smashed. The thief somehow unlocked the door and used a tool to jam open the dashboard. Clement had an aftermarket Pioneer GPS built into his dashboard and in plain sight. The thief ripped the GPS unit out but left most of the other wires intact. Another student’s Pioneer GPS, whose silver Infiniti G35 was broken into, was also stolen, along with a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses. He or she also looked through the glove compartment and took Clement’s iPod. The car was broken into around 1:45 p.m., but the police could find no fingerprints or trace of the thief on the car, so there are no suspects, according to the police. The car was locked and the alarm was on, but the thief managed to smash the window in such a way that the alarm was not triggered. “I was really upset that this could happen so close to Harvard-Westlake, especially because my car was the first down on Coldwater,” Clement said. Burglaries are on the rise in the San Fernando Valley, and the neighborhood surrounding Harvard-Westlake is not immune, Head of Security Jim Craw-
ford said. “Our crew does a pretty good job keeping them off our campus, but these bandits have been successful on Coldwater and surrounding areas,” Crawford said. “I have stressed at the beginning and throughout the school year, that our students not leave thing out in plain view in their vehicles,” Crawford said. School security has increased patrols on the surrounding streets and sidewalks, Crawford said. Crawford advised that students “secure their belongings” in their trunk or under the seat of their vehicles because culprits usually do not break into vehicles unless they see something that they want. According to FBI crime statistics, a car is stolen every 23 seconds. Every year, about 30,000 vehicles are stolen in the city of Los Angeles alone, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Although 89 percent of all stolen vehicles are recovered, fifty percent come back damaged. For the most part, cars are broken into in areas where large groups of cars are parked for long periods of time, such as at shopping centers, colleges, sporting events, movie complexes, and large apartment buildings, according to the LAPD. The time of day usually has no effect on the likelihood of a car being broken into.
carsafety Each year $1.25 billion worth of equipment and personal items is stolen from cars. Here are some tips for avoiding break-ins: Hide valuables before you park.
Thieves often lurk in parking areas and may see you hiding valuables after you park.
Completely close windows and the sunroof. If left open even
a crack, windows and sunroofs can disable the car’s alarm system so that it will never go off.
Avoid aftermarket installations. The black
market for aftermarket parts is sizeable while there is none for factoryinstalled parts. sources: American automobile associatiion, the insurance information institute, National insurance crime bureau, progressive insurance, sxc.hu Graphic by Saj Sri-Kumar
April 28, 2010
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inbrief
National French Exam announce winners
Michelle yousefzadeh/chronicle
remember: Eli Moghavem ’10 (left) and alumnus Jeremy Levine ’04 (right) with a Holocaust survivor during the March.
Two seniors travel to Poland, Israel for March of the Living
By Ester Khachatryan
Two students visited death camps and concentration camps in Poland and then traveled to Israel during the March of the Living Holocaust awareness trip from April 7-21. Michelle Yousefzadeh ’10 and Eli Moghavem ’10 joined high school students from all over the world in the 20th march since the program was initiated in the late 1980s. The program allowed 162 Los Angeles teens, seven Holocaust survivors and 18 program staff members to connect to their history. The trip offered young people the opportunity “to participate in history, as well as the present and the future,” said Director of the March of the Living program in Los Angeles Monise Neumann. “The significance is simply to connect them to a part of their heritage that perhaps defies description and to allow them to participate in a very personal way in two of the most powerful historical events in modern Jewish history — the destruction of European Jewry and the rebirth of the State of Israel.” “The March is keeping alive the memory of the six million Jews who died, and not to think of the six million as one figure, but to fully understand how many people that is by focusing on the individuals,” Moghavem said. “This program not only teaches you about the history of the holocaust but it is also about what you can do to prevent it from happening again,” Yousefzadeh said. “Since the survivors of the Holocaust are getting older and older and since this is the last generation of witnesses who can hear first hand about the atrocities of this time period — it is our goal to encourage as many students as possible to learn about participating in this program,” Neumann said. Students traveled to Poland to celebrate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, on April 11. They visited the Auschwitz, Treblinka and Majdanek death camps. They then marched from Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp built by Nazis, to Birkenau death camp, retracing the path of countless victims of the Holocaust. The program took students to the mass grave of more than 700 children who were beaten to death. All those gathered said Kaddish, a mourner’s prayer, over the graves. “If they had the chance to live they would have had a chance to have a bar mitzvah, they would have had a chance at an education, a marriage, and a family. So it makes you think about the different people they could have been: doctors, teachers, artists. It is such a shame, think about all of
“
the march is keeping alive the memory of the six million jews who died .”
—Eli Moghavem ’10
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that lost potential,” Yousefzadeh said. “It affected me because I felt that I could make my life more meaningful by assuming the impact they could have made.” Students visited Holocaust survivor Benjamin Lesser’s parents’ graves. The Lesser family tried to escape from Poland by train but a neighbor saw them and reported them to Nazi guards. The Nazi guards killed Lesser’s parents. Lesser founded Zachor Holocaust Remembrance Foundation in 2009 to keep the memories and lessons of the Holocaust alive for future generations. Lesser gave out pins that said “Zachor,” Hebrew for “remember,” to all participants. In Israel, students stayed in youth hostels and visited an orphanage for children from abusive and broken homes. On April 19, students celebrated Yom Hazikaron, the Jewish Memorial Day remembering soldiers who died in the line of duty. “Everyone in Israel knows someone who has lost his or her life in battle,” Yousefzadeh said. Commemorating the holiday in Mount Herzl cemetery, students visited the graves of deceased soldiers. “It made me rethink my priorities. It is easy to get carried away with college decisions, grades and little disputes among friends. At the end of the day, that’s not what makes life meaningful,” Yousefzadeh said. During Yom Ha’Atzmaut on April 19, the mood changed from the gravity that marked Yom Hazikaron to a celebration commemorating the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Both Yom Ha’Atzmaut and Yom Hazikaron, are signaled with sirens that go off throughout Israel, prompting citizens to take a moment out of their day to remember the meaning of these holidays for the Jewish people. “Overall, the trip taught me life lessons that I wouldn’t have been able to learn from a textbook,” Yousefzadeh said.
A serial killing cooking teacher, a renegade Cupid, a hypercompetitive lemonade stand owner — all these characters and more will be featured in films at the 2010 Cine Youth Festival in Chicago. Five films made by Harvard-Westlake students will be screened as part of this showcase celebrating filmmakers 20 years old and younger. Short films made by both current students as well as recent alumni were officially selected to be a part of the festival. Zelda Wengrod ’13 and Halsey Rob-
ertson’s ’13 film “The Cooking Class,” Olivia Chuba’s ’12 “The Stand,” Jake Gutman’s ’10 film “Visibly Impaired” and Phoebe Singer’s ’09 work “Cupidity” will all be featured. Adam Maltz ’09 and Lucas Casso’s ’09 film “Dem Shoes,” which will also be screened at the festival, was shortlisted for a Music Video Award. The Cine Youth festival is an offshoot of the Chicago International Film Festival, where such directors as Martin Scorsese and Mike Leigh made their feature film debuts. Over the course of the three day festival, the student filmmakers will get the opportunity to attend workshops
Seniors to take seminars instead of regular classes Thursday, May 20, is Senior Transition Day. The day features several different offerings of Senior Seminars, which focus on everything from managing money to sex. The seniors will also attend a breakfast, talks by guest alums and yearbook distribution for seniors. Spots are limited for some of the seminars, so members of the Class of 2010 are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible. —Mary-Rose Fissinger
Global Zero organizes documentary screening
Chicago festival to screen student films By Justine Goode
Twenty-eight students placed in the top 10 in the nation for levels I-V in the Grand Concours National French Exam. “My colleagues and I are very proud of all our winners and look forward to seeing them recognized at the May 15 ceremony at Flintridge Prep,” said French teacher Marilyn Shield, school coordinator for the Grand Concours. Karen Kim ’12 and Megan Potoski ‘12 won first place in Southern California in the French II level. —Anabel Pasarow
and discussions at Columbia College Chicago, the “country’s biggest film school.” “I have been pretty surprised by the response to the movie. I really liked how it turned out, but didn’t know that professionals would really enjoy it this much,” Robertson said. Robertson’s film “The Cooking Class” (about “an innocent boy, who is tricked by his serial killer cooking teacher”) was created at the Harvard-Westlake film camp last summer, under the instruction of Upper School Visual Arts Department Head Cheri Gaulke. The 2010 Cine Youth Festival will take place from May 6 to 8.
Global Zero, an organization dedicated to eradicating nuclear weapons, will host an advance screening of their documentary “Countdown to Zero” at the Upper School’s Ahmanson Lecture Hall May 10. The movie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, explores the consequences of a nuclear disaster. The after-school event is sponsored by the Harvard-Westlake chapter of Global Zero, which was recently started by Ester Khachatryan ’10. —Saj Sri-Kumar
ACLU lawyer speaks on civil rights to classes
Mark Rosenbaum (Jonah ’10) spoke to Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics students on April 15 about what it means to represent the public’s interest and fight for liberties not explicitly written in the Constitution. Rosenbaum is Chief Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. In four different classes, Rosenbaum presented three cases regarding civil rights in California. “I thought it would be interesting to present students with real life civil rights cases, because too often we assume that civil rights struggles are part of the past, not the present,” Rosenbaum said. —Anna Etra
Deans of faculty sponsor teacher bowling event Faculty will vie for the championship in an intercampus bowling competition May 7 at Pinz in Studio City that is designed to bridge the gap between the middle and upper school staffs. Middle school Dean of Faculty Betsy Ilg conceived of the event as an opportunity to strengthen the foundations of community within the faculty. Her upper school counterpart Walt Werner coordinated the upper school end of the event. —Jessica Barzilay
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Latin scholars compete at JCL By Lara Sokoloff
gracie Warwick
A helping hand: Max Warwick ’12 wheels supplies across a worksite in New Orleans. Students and faculty members spent spring break building houses with Habitat for Humanity in the area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Habitat rebuilds New Orleans By David Burton
During the first week of spring break, students constructed the foundation for a house in New Orleans that would be occupied by a family left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. Partnering with Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building houses for low-income families around the world, students continued the four-year tradition of building houses in New Orleans. Throughout the school year students volunteer at Habitat for Humanity chapters around the greater Los Angeles area, and since 2007, have annually volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity chapter in Louisiana. “We saw the effect that Hurricane Katrina had on the people of Louisiana and we wanted to extend a helping hand to those who were suffering,” school chaplin Father J. Young said, “so we made the New Orleans Habitat trip an annual event.” On the first day on the construction site, students were met with a huge pile of sand that they shoveled and spread out across the backyard. The sand was then leveled off and watered down. “This was not a normal pile of sand,” Evan Jackson ’11 said. “It took us about four hours to flatten it out across the area that we would build on.” Under the supervision of professional construction workers and Habitat counselors, students began to put together the foundation of the house. Massive wood planks and boards were nailed together into place after being cut and modified by the professionals.
Students worked with recurring volunteers native to Louisiana, student volunteers from New York University and the future and past recipients of Habitat houses. “We didn’t get a chance to meet the family we were building the house for, but we did get a chance see the dedication of another house to a single mother and her son,” Adel Kamal ’11 said. “You could tell how much the house meant to her, and it allowed us to understand the importance of our work and also to appreciate our blessings.” During their free time, students explored the prominent culture that New Orleans has to offer. Taking advantage of opportunity, students ventured to Bourbon Street, New Orleans Hornets basketball games and dined at local restaurants serving Cajun style dishes. “The nightlife in New Orleans was really cool, but as soon as morning hit it was back to work,” Max Zipperman ’10 said. Towards the end of the week, what started as an enormous mound of dirt and sand emerged into the foundation of a brand new house for a family in need. The efforts of the students were not ignored by the people of New Orleans. Southern hospitality was demonstrated when students met a woman while ordering lunch who offered to pay. After learning about the students volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity, the woman offered to pay for all the students’ lunches. “It goes to show you how charitable the Habitat for Humanity organization is,” Young said. “Our New Orleans trip is truly a touching experience.”
Three middle school students won first place overall awards during Saturday’s Junior Classical League competition. Students participated in activities including Latin jeopardy and quidditch. Seventeen upper school students and 22 middle school students competed, more than had ever attended in the past. nathanson ’s/chronicle Held at Woodbridge High Derek Wilairat School in Irvine, the competition is primarily targeted towards Latin students, but anyone with an interest in Latin or the classics is allowed to attend, club member Alex Geller ’10 said. Most Harvard-Westlake JCL participants begin competing in seventh grade, and others join in as they hear nathanson ’s/chronicle from friends how fun it is, Alex Geller ’10 said Geller. The competition features a variety of activities, all requiring varying amount of preparation and Latin knowledge. “There are certain activities you need to prepare for like Certamen, academic testing, arts, and athletics, but there are certain things that you can just go in and wing it,” Geller said. Kurtamin is Latin jeopardy in which there are many different levels, ranging from Middle School 1 to High School Advanced, totaling to six or seven levels. Due to the many levels, many people are able to participate, making it one of the more popular events, Geller said. “It’s pretty much for fun,” Geller said. “It’s just an opportunity for us to compete against other schools from California.” Students placed highly in all areas of the competition. In the middle school division, Matthew Lucas ’14 won a first place overall academic award, and Albert Choi ’15 and Cole Jacobson ’15 took first place in overall athletic awards. April Rosner ’10 and Robby Goldman ’10 received first place academic awards in the high school division. Three sponsors, Paul Chenier, Derek Wilairat and Moss Pike accompanied the students to the competition. The advisors do not directly help the students in preparing for the competition, instead providing them with the resources to prepare, Pike said. “We don’t really coach our students at all. We facilitate certamen practice and help them out with the material contained in the questions, but there’s no real “coaching” involved in the same way as in debate, or mock trial,” Pike said.
Darfur activists support walk By Jordan Gavens, Eli Haims and Meagan Wang
A delegation of students, many of them members of the Darfur Awareness and Activism Training Club, attended the fourth annual Walk to End Genocide on April 18. The walk, organized by the Jewish World Watch, was “primarily to bring awareness about the voting [for the president and the National Assembly] this week in Darfur and Sudan […] and how it was rigged,” club co-president Jake Gutman ’10 said. “The Walk to End Genocide is a one of a kind event,” Gutman said. “It is people gathering together with the common belief that human beings should not be killed or abused just because of their identity.” Ruben Lopez ’10 was one of the students who attended the walk. “A highlight would be the drumming...they got random people to go up and drum to different beats, and ultimately produced quite a nice effect,” he said. The walk raised more than $175,000 to purchase solar power cookers and fund the Sister School Program. Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets came up with the idea of the Sister School Program. The Sister School Program strives toward providing an education for the Darfur Refugees by connecting American schools with 12 refugee camps in Chad. Established in 2004, the JWW began as a
Jewish response to atrocities committed against other human beings, working to educate synagogues, schools and communities about genocide and other violations of human rights. According to JWW, four hundred thousand citizens have been murdered so far in the genocide. After hearing about the walk through JWW’s Youth Activism Training program, DAATC leaders hung posters around school and made a Facebook group to advertise it. Although most of the Harvard-Westlake participants were members of the club, a few found out about the walk through the posters and the Facebook group. Before the walk, there were speeches by the heads of anti-genocide groups and refugees who emphasized the urgency of the situation. “The highlight was hearing the leader of the Congalese Church of Southern California address all of the participants,” Glancy said. “Hearing someone who has so many connections to the atrocities happening in the Congo have so much passion and faith was inspiring.” The participants followed a three-mile route starting and ending at the Warner Center Park in the San Fernando Valley. There were also displays set up inside a tent, each dedicated to a specific genocide, such as the Holocaust and Darfur. “Each one is filled with pictures, memoirs, and facts from the genocide,” Glancy said. “Being surrounded by all of these things inside of a tent is an overpowering experience.”
courtesy of alex glancy
take action: Jake Gutman ’10, English teacher Malina Mamigonian and Alex Glancy ’10 represent Harvard Westlake at the walk.
April 28, 2010
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Newman performs at parent fundraiser
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News A9
By David Gobel
Grammy and Academy Award-winning artist Randy Newman (Erik ’88, John ’96, Patrick ’10 and Alice ’11), performed at the annual Harvard-Westlake Parent Association’s Annual Event Saturday, April 19. The event, named “You Got a Friend in Me” after one of Newman’s songs, was held at the Bing Performing Arts Center at the Middle School. “The whole evening was a success, from the wine tasting to the concert to the buffet dinner. The concert was sold out with 750 paying guests. We were thrilled with [Newman’s] brilliant musical performance,” said the event chair Namhee Han Gilhuly (Emma ’10 and Ty ’13). Seventeen student ambassadors helped with the event, selling opportunity tickets for a drawing before the concert and serving as ushers for parents entering the auditorium. The concert also featured a live auction, including prizes such as Lakers tickets. There was also a drawing, including items such as a MacBook Pro, an iPod Touch complete with some of Newman’s favorite albums, and an upper school parking space. “We are still counting the receipts and don’t have the final [amount of money raised] yet,” Gilhuly said, “But equally as important, this event is also a community-building event. It was a time for parents, teachers, staff and alumni to get together and celebrate everything we love about the school.” The event began at 6 p.m. with wine tasting, cocktails and hors d’oeurves on the Lower Lawn at the Middle School. Then, at 7:30, the main event commenced. It included the live auction, the opportunity drawing and the Randy Newman concert. “[Newman] mixed his own narrative, which included his personal experiences as a Harvard-Westlake parent, with his music,” Gilhuly said. “His music is filled with lots of social commentary about the world, our community and even Harvard-Westlake. [Newman] even explained how his parent orientation at Harvard-Westlake inspired one of his songs.” Throughout his career as a songwriter and composer, Newman has been both critically and commercially successful. One of his most commercially successful songs, “Short People”, reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Newman has also composed music for movies such as “Meet the Parents,” “The Natural” and “Awakenings.” He has also scored Disney-Pixar films such as “Cars,” “Monster’s Inc.” and “Toy Story.”
Copyright Nathanson’s Photography
belt it out: Randy Newman sang and played the piano at the annual HarvardWestlake Parent Association’s Annual Event in the Bing Auditorium.
Teachers work as AP graders over summer By Sam Adams
Science teacher Wendy Van Norden was sitting in a vast, silent auditorium at Clemson University when she saw something familiar. Among the thousands of Advanced Placement Environmental Science tests that she would grade over the course of a week, eight hours a day in the South Carolina room, was an essay that was unmistakably the work of one of her own students. The essay prompted students to write about an endangered species, and the student had chosen to write on an obscure California animal Van Norden recognized from a report she had assigned back in North Hollywood. The essay hit all the requisite points, and Van Norden was glad to give it a perfect 10. For many teachers of AP classes, their annual work with the exam is done after the final test has been unwrapped, bubbled in, scribbled upon and dutifully resealed in Chalmers lounge in late May. But for some, like Van Norden, the next stage begins weeks later, when they are shipped out to a central location to begin the grueling task of plowing through the tens of thousands of tests and giving them a grade. Math teacher William Thill has graded AP Statistics tests three times now, and testifies to how grueling the process can be. “By about day six or day seven, you’re over it,” he said of the ninehour workdays. To maintain consistency during the evaluation process, strict guidelines are set for the teachers. Headphones are banned. Food and drinks aren’t allowed except for water. Talking is prohibited, but one can get away with a slight whisper, Thill said. Graders are given one problem
alone to evaluate, devoting a great amount of time to learning the intricacies and grading standards for that one problem after going through dozens of sample essays. A rubric is then created for the problem. The teachers are paid for their services, but the approximately $1,500 is not the only draw for them to keep coming back. “[The College Board] pays pretty well for one week of work,” computer science teacher Jacob Hazard conceded, but he sees his side gig as providing him with some extra job security as well. “H-W administrators see that I’m grading AP exams; that’s got to be at least somewhat impressive,” he said. All three teachers see the grading convocations as a great chance to network with some of their peers from around the world. But it’s not all work at these sessions. Graders can also find dark humor in their work. “You can’t believe how bad some of these essays are,” Van Norden said. She found some of the answers she comes across “horrifying, funny in a very sad way.” Some essays are apologies for not knowing the material, indictments of lazy teachers who didn’t effectively prepare them, or sob stories of relationship troubles that led to their poor performances. “When a poor student is sitting in an exam and they’re trying to figure out what to write, sometimes what gets put on the page—some things are lost in translation, and when we read it we have to chuckle,” Thill said. But it’s the moments like Van Norden’s encounter of a well-written essay, especially one by her own student, that makes it worthwhile to fly across the country to sit in a dead-silent room for a week, reading the same question over and over.
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Honor Board strives to make process ‘less intimidating’ By Sammy Roth
and
Daniel Rothberg
In an effort to temper fears of going before the Honor Board, the board has developed an explanatory pamphlet for accused students and is holding follow-up meetings with students a few weeks after they appear before the board, Father J. Young said. These initiatives are the latest in a series of changes that have been made to the Honor Board during the last three years. Last year, the administration implemented a policy which allows teachers to deal with “minor” first Honor Code infractions on their own. And two years ago, prefects prepared recommendations meant to change the handling of the Honor Code, including one proposal that would have limited the use of Turnitin.com. However, this proposal and others essentially died with the cheating scandal, when 20 students were involved with the theft of two midterms. “Less intimidating” This year’s changes were implemented to make going before the Honor Board a “more personal experience,” Junior Prefect Chris Holthouse said. The explanatory pamphlet is given to students a few days before they go before the board. It explains the purpose of the board and details what will happen when they appear before the board. “The pamphlet is designed to lessen the anxiety of coming before the board,” Young said. During the follow-up meetings, which Head Prefect Reid Lidow ’10 described as being “totally informal,” several prefects talk with the student, making sure he or she is following up on their recommendations and reinforcing their rationale for those recommendations. Additionally, just before a student comes before the Honor Board, one prefect steps outside of the room and gives the student a brief run through of what the process will be like, a “very quick version” of the pamphlet, Lidow said. Young added that the prefects have made an effort to be less intimidating while questioning students. “Our demeanor...in the Honor Board meetings themselves has become a bit more friendly,” Young said. “Coming before the board shouldn’t be a scary thing. It really shouldn’t,” Lidow said. “If we’re there as the students’ voice and we’re there to really help the kid, then we are totally missing the point if the kid comes in scared to death.” Miranda* ’11, who came before the Honor Board last year, called her experience “really intimidating.” “I was really scared, and I was crying, and it was just a really bad experience,” Miranda said. Miranda made a second appearance before the board this year. Her experience was improved this time. “It was definitely changed this year, with the fact
that they have someone come out [to greet you], and they go slower, and they don’t have the teachers coming at you with the questions, they mostly have the students asking them,” Miranda said. But she added that even with the changes, going before the Honor Board is “never going to be a good experience.” Advantages and disadvantages Holthouse, who was recently elected as one of next year’s Head Prefects, said that the process of going before the Honor Board is beneficial for students who violate the Honor Code. “We get to spend sometimes 45 minutes having an actual conversation with the student and figuring out not just what they did, but what led to the decision, what could have been done to prevent it and what can be done in the future to prevent something like that happening again,” Holthouse said. “So it feels like more of a full disciplinary process where we’re really trying to make a connection with the student and do what’s best for him or her, and the student body at large.” Lidow agreed with Holthouse that the Honor Board is a good experience for students. “If I were to commit an infraction, I wouldn’t want a panel of teachers or a panel of administrators before me because they have no clue what I’m going through and their opinions — with all due respect — would be totally dated, inconsistent and not relevant would be my guess,” Lidow said. “I would really want to look around the room and see people I recognize from around campus.” Miranda said she would have preferred to be punished directly by the administration. “Having your friends on your Honor Board case, and then the next day seeing them, it’s just awkward,” Miranda said. “It makes things different between you.” Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts acknowledged that the process of going before the Honor Board might not be pleasant for students. “All in all I think it’s a good system. I think giving students that authority and responsibility is a good thing,” she said. “But I think it might be very uncomfortable. I can only imagine.” Huybrechts said when the board was first created, going before it was optional for students who violated the Honor Code; it later became mandatory. Lidow said that sometimes the Honor Board will receive positive feedback from a student that appeared before it. “[Sometimes] a kid comes back and says, ‘You know, I really screwed up the first time, I get it. I got it in the case and I got it even more through your recommendations,” Lidow said. “That’s just the best feeling.” “I think the Honor Board is such a great thing,” Lidow said. “I think a student would be missing out if they didn’t do it.”
Going Before the Honor Board Honor Code Violation
A teacher or a dean refers the infraction to the Honor Review committee.
Honor Review Committee
Comprising a dean, about three prefects and Father J. Young, the Honor Review Committee determines whether or not an infraction occurred and if it is an Honor Code violation.
The Case is Referred to the Board
The full Honor Board will hear the case. One to two deans, two teachers, two prefects from each grade and the two head prefects sit on each case.
The Case is Turned Down
The infraction is referred back to the student’s dean.
Recommendation Sent to Administration
The Honor Board sends its recommendation to Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra. He usually discusses the recommendation with Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts.
Recommendation Sent to Student Body
Salamandra decides whether any changes are needed to the recommendation, a rare occurence. He then sends the recommendation to the student body via e-mail. graphic by sammy roth and daniel Rothberg sources: Jeanne Huybrechts, reid lidow and Harry Salamandra
April 28, 2010
soundbytes Administrators, prefect, share their opinions of the Honor Board. “Our Demeanor...in the Honor Board meetings, themselves, has become a bit more friendly.” —Father J. Young Honor Board Adviser “If we’re there as the students’ voice and we’re there to really help the kid, then we are totally missing the point if the kid comes in scared to death.” —Reid Lidow ‘11 Head Prefect “I think [going before the Honor Board] might be very uncomfortable. I can only imagine.” —Jeanne Huybrechts Head of School graphic by daniel rothberg
Fewer cases In years past, the Honor Board has heard an average of 20 cases per year, Lidow said. This year, the board has heard 10 cases thus far. Young and Lidow believe this decrease was caused by the new policy allowing teachers to handle minor first infractions. The first step in implementing this policy was defining “minor.” Each department has created a policy for which infractions are considered. “In most cases it’s been defined by the size of the assignment,” Young said. “A minor typically would be something like a homework or a lab, whereas a major would be more like a test or a large paper.” The policy was enacted by the administration last year at the suggestion of the faculty. While Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra believes the policy has been effective, he recognized that the policy is still in the trial stage and is open to repealing the policy should it prove ineffective. “At least the feedback that I can give you from here seems like it’s working,” Salamandra said. “Is this the way to go? I don’t know the answer to that yet. I think it’s worth keeping it open to the point where if it seems to be problematic in the future, maybe there is a better way to handle it.” While Lidow understands why a teacher might want to handle minor infractions on their own, he believes that the Honor Board should address all infractions, whether they are minor or major. “I think the administration made a big mistake [by implementing this policy],” Lidow said. “When a teacher comes in for an Honor Board case, they spend time talking with us on how they want it handled or they would like it addressed and we always, without fail, incorporate that. There is no reason why that bad instance in the classroom a week earlier can’t be transferred or addressed in an Honor Board case.” Lidow said that by allowing teachers to handle minor first infractions, the administration is undermining the board’s work. “I think the administration should either be 100 percent behind the Honor Board or 100 percent behind something else,” he said. “I want those cases back.” Lidow believes this new policy is part of a larger problem in the administration’s attitude towards the Honor Board. “I feel like in all honesty, over the years the appreciation, interest and desire to have and see the board do what it does is kind of waning,” he said. The administration could show more support, Lidow said, by sending a letter to teachers to remind them that they must refer all major infractions to the Honor Board. Lidow believes that there have been cases where teachers have not brought major violations before the board. Future changes While the prefects try to improve the Honor Board process for students who violate it, plans to change the way the entire community perceives the Honor Code have come to a halt.In 2008, prefects submitted proposals to Huybrechts which included an education program for parents and students about the Honor Code, Head Prefect Tasia Smith ’08 told the Chronicle two years ago. Another proposal was to abolish Turnitin at the start of each school year, with the contingency that if a student was caught plagiarizing, Turnitin would be reinstituted for that student’s grade. see honor board, A11
April 28, 2010
The
C hronicle
chronicle.hw.com
Prefect Council Elected for the 2010-2011 term
News A11
The Chronicle asked the recently elected representatives for the classes of 2011 and 2012 to describe how they hoped to make a difference.
By Hank Gerba, Eli Haims, Hunter Price, Saj Sri-Kumar and Lara Sokoloff
Jamie Temko ’11
“ “ “ “
I’ve learned from Social Committee that you don’t need a big event to bring the campus together. I think that more days where we recognize things other than sports teams should be good.”
Austin Lewis ’11
I would like to send a weekly e-mail from the Prefect Council that would let the different grades know in which venues their class meetings are as well as changes to the schedule.”
Katie Price ’12
the eighth grade retreat is somewhat useless. Junior year is more important to bond with the class. We could come up with an inexpensive, yet still enjoyable place for us to go.”
Rishi Bagrodia ’12
I still plan on having a Call of Duty day and chess tournament in the future. I would go to Social Committee to help me think of an idea that would increase awareness and participation.”
Honor Code revamp on hold
from HONOR BOARD, page 10
“Just as we were negotiating that, the cheating scandal broke out,” Young said. Since then, there has been little talk of amending Honor Code policies. Lidow believes that for the most part, the Honor Code in its current form does not need to be revised. “Right now as vague documents go, we’ve got a fantastic vague document,” Lidow said. “Part of the beauty of it, I think we’ve come to see, is that in its vagueness it makes our job easier because we are not limited to interpreting actions one way or another.” Director of Student Affairs and Prefect Council adviser Jordan Church believes that at some point the prefects might revisit the Turnitin policy and push the idea of having everyone in the community sign the Honor Code, which was also suggested two years ago. “I think at some point they will address those two things again,” Church said. “If you are going to do stuff, it kind of has to be small and very thoughtful,” Lidow said. “You can’t make too many changes to it or else it starts to lose its composition and purpose.” *Name has been changed
Christine Kanoff ’11
“ “ “ “
We are all tired of reading 10 e-mails a week, and one weekly newsletter with all the information and reminders for the upcoming week would address this problem.”
Adam Wolf ’11
My first goal is to get water, candy and soda back in the cafeteria. my second priority is to give students a bigger voice in the decision making process.”
Brooke Levin ’12
A big part of [Fun on the Field] would be input from the students, because it is an event for them. things like slip n’ slides, obstacle courses and water slides could be involved.”
David Olodort ’12
If I can understand how our prefect council works I can then best serve my peers and friends in accomplishing what they want done. my priority would always be the goals of the students.” photos by jessica barzilay, chloe lister and saj sri-kumar
Case illuminates English Department policies By Nicki Resnikoff
Dictionary.com? Wikipedia? Sparknotes? What websites are okay to use as supplementary resources for English class? In the December Honor Board Recommendations sent out to the student body, a case concerning “Carter” ’11, as the Honor Board recap calls him, was described. According to the e-mail, Carter researched author Ralph Waldo Emerson on Google to “help him gain a better understanding of the question at hand and thus strengthen his understanding of the writer’s overall message” for his essay comparing Emerson and Walt Whitman’s works. Carter told the Honor Board that he had no intention of plagiarizing. What triggered suspicion from his teacher, called Ms. Anderson in the recap, was a sentence characterizing Emerson as an expressionist and individualist, which is not accurate. In addition to the issue of accuracy, Anderson was concerned about the statement because no such information had ever been brought up in class discussion. The Honor Board recap states that Carter originally maintained that the biographical information was well known, however he then confessed to using Google. After being told that the fact was not true (in addition to the inclusion of it being prohibited), Carter said he realized he meant to write it about Whitman, and not Emerson. “Ms. Anderson stressed that she not only thought the English Department policy to be clear, but also emphasized that she went over the policy in class and even handed out copies of it to all of her students,” the Honor Board wrote. “She specifically warned students about using secondary sources, particularly via the Internet.” The recommendation acknowledges that this may seem like a very insignificant “infraction” to be presented to the Honor Board. Although Carter used a secondary source,
the words were his own. “The Honor Board understands the potential confusion in the student body over why a seemingly minor incident became an Honor Board case,” the e-mail said. “At this time we would again like to stress that Ms. Anderson herself would have handled the case if this had not been Carter’s third offense.” “We don’t want to give the idea that students shouldn’t be curious about books,” Head of English Department Laurence Weber said. “The primry goal is to engage with the language of the author.” Even so, this brings up the question: What is allowed and what isn’t? The English Department states “We consider it unethical and a violation of the school’s Honor Code to consult any source other than the primary text being studied and a dictionary, unless otherwise directed by one’s teacher” in the policy on published study guides. On the English Department’s website page, there is a “Plagiarism Q&A.” One question is “Is it plagiarism if I research my topic on the internet?” “As a department, we discourage you from consulting other sources, including the internet, because we recognize the difficulty of being able to differentiate your own ideas from the influence of other sources,” the answer says. “To intentionally or unintentionally take ideas or words from any source--internet, print, or unpublished--and to present them as your own is a serious violation of our honor code,” it continues. “Ultimately the work you turn in must reflect your personal perspective and thinking about the topic.” While most students understand the department banning the use of online study guides, many don’t see a need to prohibit all supplementary internet use. “With most of these books, it’s the first time we’ve read anything by these authors, and it helps to know their background,” Alex Mao ’10 said.
opinion
A12
Harvard-Westlake School
Volume XIX
Issue 7
April 28, 2010
Food
Fat (g)
Calories
Carbs (g)
Protein (g)
Fried Chicken French Fries Baked Potato Donut Rice Krispies Treat Twinkies Beef Burrito
18.5 28.8 0.4 12 2.5 4.5 30.2
364 539 278 400 90 150 602
4 29 12.9 22 17 27 52
42 2.8 1.5 2 0.5 1 17
“That’s why they didn’t want to tell us.”
Let us count our own calories
alifornia Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill mandating that chain restaurants provide nutritional information on their menus. These laws were made to protect the public’s health and safety as well as to create factual disclosures and accurate information regarding food served.
At the beginning of the school year, the decision was made to help guide students towards a healthier lifestyle. A nutritionist was consulted, and candy and soda were purged from the cafeteria shelves. Nothing else was done. Guiding students toward a healthier lifestyle should not stop at banning certain items; instead, our school should take a page out of the governor’s book and require that our cafeterias at both the Upper School and the Middle School report calorie counts and other nutritional information on the food they serve. An informational pamphlet, a big bulletin board or labels on the food containers would work. Harvard-Westlake is big on the idea of challenging students both in and out of the classrooms. We are trusted to manage our free periods, our extracurricular activities and, presumably, our food intake. First Lady Michelle Obama introduced her Let’s Move initiative last month to tackle childhood
obesity. The program will focus on making nutrition labels easier to read and putting calorie counts on the front of labels to encourage healthy choices. The efforts will aim to educate the public about healthy body mass indexes and the benefits of exercise. Instead of making choices on our behalf, by removing items from the cafeteria, the school should provide us with the tools to make informed decisions. Rather than try to directly control our diets, the school should follow Michelle Obama’s lead and endeavor to educate us about the food we are consuming. It will be much harder for a student, teacher or faculty member to pick up a slice of New York cheesecake if he or she knows that it has 50 percent of a person’s daily value of saturated fat. Knowing the facts about our food choices is something we will be able to carry with us for the rest of our lives, when we step into a world full of — gasp!—candy and soda.
There is much to celebrate
T
hose of us who were on campus two years ago surely remember the parade following the girls’ volleyball team’s state championship. The team piled into red and black Mustang convertibles and received a heroine’s welcome on the fire road as confetti was thrown.
Everyone came together to cheer for our glorygaining schoolmates. Since that day we’ve had a handful of opportunities to come together and support the championships of our sports teams. The economy took a turn for the worse and the sports cars were abandoned in favor of Diddy Riese cookies, but the important thing was that everyone took some time out of their day to stop and celebrate each other’s accomplishments. At the Champions Day last week in the lounge, we had plenty to celebrate. There were the athletic teams that covered themselves in glory, as we’ve traditionally acknowledged in the past. Girls’ basketball deserves an enormous amount of credit for winning the state title last month. As does girls’ soccer, which won a CIF title after making it to the finals last year, as well as Nick Treuer ’10, who won a CIF championship in the 152-pound division. But we did not stop there in our jubilation. The Chamber Singers marched in to a shower of confetti in honor of their victory at the National Invitational Choral Festival in New York City over spring break.
C hronicle
Editors in Chief: Sam Adams, Hana Al-Henaid Managing Editors: Sammy Roth, Allegra Tepper Executive Editor: Michelle Nosratian Presentations Editor: Candice Navi Multimedia Editor: Jamie Kim Business Manager: Neha Nimmagadda Ads Manager: David Burton Assistants: Jordan Gavens, Victor Yoon Chief Copy Editor: Ellina Chulpaeff Copy Editors: Spencer Gisser, Ester Khachatryan, Catherine Wang
Source: www.CalorieKing.com vivien mao/CHRONICLE
C
The
3700 Coldwater Canyon, North Hollywood, CA 91604
Debaters Jake Sonnenberg ’11 and Ben SprungKeyser ’11 were called to the stage due to their international debating exploits. Even The Chronicle was celebrated as a result of being named the top California high school newspaper. But let’s take it further. What about the Jazz Explorers and Advanced Jazz Combo taking first and second place in the Dos Pueblos Jazz Festival in March? Or the Olympic-caliber performance in more obscure sports of fencer Michael Raynis ’10 and diver Schuyler Moore ’10, to name a few? Everyone appreciates getting acknowledged for their hard work. In the competitive environment that is our school, let’s make sure to not lose sight of the fact that we’re surrounded by diligent people doing amazing things. We would like to commend this new attitude of celebrating student accomplishments of all kinds, and it is not solely due to the fact that this editorial board is largely deficient in athletic ability. We do not need to spend the big bucks on convertibles; it’s the thought that counts—though the cookies don’t hurt, either.
News Managing Editors: Nicki Resnikoff, Michelle Yousefzadeh Section Heads: Emily Khaykin, Alice Phillips, Daniel Rothberg Assistants: Jessica Barzilay, Maddy Baxter, Hank Gerba, Sanjana Kucheria, Marissa Lepor, Rebecca Nussbaum, Hunter Price, Lara Sokoloff, Saj Sri-Kumar Opinion Managing Editors: Anna Etra, Erin Moy Section Heads: Kelly Ohriner, Jean Park Assistants: Eli Haims, Vivien Mao, Anabel Pasarow, Nick Pritzker Features and Arts & Entertainment Managing Editors: Drew Lash, Lauren Seo Features Section Heads: Jordan Freisleben, Olivia Kwitny, Mary Rose Fissinger Features Assistants: Evan Brown, Melanie Chan, Lauren Choi, Camille de Ry, Allison Hamburger, Claire Hong, Megan Kawasaki, Chelsea Khakshouri, Joyce Kim, Ryan Lash, Lauren Li Arts & Entertainment Section Heads: Ingrid Chang, Matthew Lee, Sade Tavangarian Arts & Entertainment Assistants: Justine Goode, Noelle Lyons Sports Managing Editors: Jack Davis, Alex Edel Sports Writer: Jonah Rosenbaum Photo Coordinator: Alec Caso Section Heads: Austin Block, Ashley Khakshouri, Alex Leichenger Assistants: Sofia Davila, David Gobel, David Kolin, Tiffany Liao, Judd Liebman, Austin Lee, Julius Pak, Victoria Pearson, Chelsey Taylor-Vaughn Multimedia: Alex Gura, Chloe Lister, Nika Madyoon, Abbie Neufeld, Megan Wang, Susan Wang Adviser: Kathleen Neumeyer The Chronicle is the student newspaper of Harvard-Westlake School. It is published eight times per year. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the senior members of the Editorial Board. Advertising questions may be directed to Business Manager Neha Nimmagada at (818) 481-2087. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or the school.
April 28, 2010
The
C hronicle
allegra
Tepper
Ivies
West Coast Schools
Wheels for the wasted
A
fine of up to $1,300; probation for up to five years; up to six months in prison; these are among the consequences of an arrest made in California for Driving Under the Influence, but these don’t even compare to the worst consequence of all. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds, and 31 percent of those fatalities in 2008 were due to DUIs. These statistics are often spewed out at students, but I fear the gravity of this harsh reality doesn’t hit home based on a few sets of numbers and penalties that seem unlikely to befall one of our own. In truth, each time that a sophomore emerges from the Department of Motor Vehicles, beaming as they display that new gilded badge of independence, they’re also holding one of the greater responsibilities they’ve faced. Driving is not something to be taken lightly, and yet we so often lose sight of that when caught up in keychains and mix CDs and carpool Jamba Juice runs. When our community lost Julia Siegler to that fatal accident, I realized that it could have just as easily been me who was rushing off to school that morning. While I am not quick to give up my steering wheel of freedom, I did slow down and consider how safe we are as new drivers on the road. One of the first things that comes to mind is driving under the influence. Calabasas High School holds a yearly program where 10 students are selected to play the roles of teens lost in fatal drunk driving accidents. Their classmates participate in simulated memorial services, even write eulogies to understand the impact of a single reckless moment behind the wheel. Programs like these are what hit home; giving a student the sensation of losing their classmate or their teammate, not numbers that flow in one ear and out the other. Others have developed Designated Drivers clubs, amnesty programs in which students who are of age volunteer certain weekend nights to be on call for their classmates who might not have another alternative to driving themselves while intoxicated. This would provide another preventative measure for the accidents that can so easily take place on higher risk nights like Semiformal and Prom. If the incentive of keeping peers safe isn’t enough, this program could be a major campaign for the Community Council to encourage students to serve the community and one another. When I mentioned my idea to some of my friends, the unanimous response was that the administration would be apprehensive about acknowledging that their students drive under the influence. The fact is, teenagers have been bending the rules since the beginning of time. What’s important is to keep them safe, and if we’re willing to supply students with condoms and sex education, I can’t see why designated drivers wouldn’t be just as important.
“ [we need to] understand the impact of a single reckless moment behind the wheel.”
Spread out our burden, please
I
n about a week, I will take my first set of Advanced Placement examinations. I feel that I have been well prepared in my AP classes to take the exams. So, you might be asking yourself, why the column? I cannot help but feel that my AP course teachers, through no fault of their own, were forced to sprint through much of the material without being allowed to delve deeper into specific subjects. Especially in the last month, with APs looming, many teachers have been hard-pressed by the schedule to squeeze in every ounce of material that could possibly pop up on the exam. At the same time, students in many AP courses have been required to do more work each night to keep up with the increased pace. In the coming years, the administration should consider amending the school year calendar to be more accommodating to AP classes, teachers and students. If the administration would like to see AP course cramming abolished, it should move to revise the calendar to make the school year end in May, after AP testing. In addition, they should begin school a little earlier to offset the days that would be lost by ending the school year in May. A school year that ends in May would have little
Opinion A13
chronicle.hw.com
Ivy League
West Coast Schools
West Coast Schools
Ivies
VIVIEN MAO/CHRONICLE
“It’s warmer here anyways.”
Be proud
W
Michelle
Nosratian
hen I decided where I was going to spend the next four years, I unloaded some major cash on official school merchandise at the student store. A nalgene bottle, a sweatshirt, some sweatpants, a banner and a window decal were among my purchases. The colors light blue and yellow, my college colors, are also the colors of the sunny SoCal sky, where I have chosen to remain for college (go Bruins!), and a refreshing upgrade from the severe black and red that I have never really gotten accustomed to these past four years. I am proud. My family is proud. My brother and sister beg me to drive them to the student store so they can also sport a school-spirited sweater. My mother couldn’t be happier that I am attending her alma mater, the school which she credits with having “given her everything.” My father is glad to have his first-born daughter around for a while longer. At home, I feel the sense of elation that I am entitled to after years of long homeworkfilled nights and tiring, stressful days. At school, however, it is a different story. Sophomores dress in crimson sweatshirts with H-A-R-V-A-R-D stitched across the front in all caps. Yale and Princeton are also
ubiquitous around campus. How come? What about USC, which has been skipping ahead in the rankings? Or the unsung heroes of higher education: the small liberal arts colleges, such as Pomona or Carleton? Or the great public schools, like those of the UC system? Where are those sweatshirts? Why do old, northeastern schools have so much influence at Harvard-Westlake? There are colleges and universities scattered across the country that can provide an excellent education. The schools in the Ivy League account for just 0.2 percent of college freshmen. Those consumed with an Ivy fetish seem to believe that only Ivy students land great jobs and make incredible career connections. You can’t tell me that a mere 0.2 percent of all college graduates are hogging all the great jobs and places in renowned graduate schools. Although the deans try hard to make students see beyond just the traditional few and diversify their college lists, the culture here esteems the traditional private colleges. I say enough with this old fashioned view of higher education. Students of the underrepresented colleges of the United States, bust out your collegiate merchandise and wear it with pride. You earned it.
Daniel
Rothberg to no effect on spring sports teams. According to schedules posted on the Harvard-Westlake Athletics website, every spring sport finishes its season by the middle of May. Unless a team makes it to postseason play, a new schedule would have a relatively small effect on student athletes in spring sports. If a schedule such as this were to ever come into effect, the school year would still be comprised of the same number of days as this current school year. However, work in these courses could be spread out for a longer period of time, instead of concentrated in massive reading assignments. This would allow teachers to assign less work per night. Teachers would no longer have to dash through important material and thus, would be able to even better prepare their students for their AP examinations. Additionally, teachers could focus even more attention on analyzing and discussing the material rather than on tailoring their courses to the curriculum laid out by the College Board. This issue is not one that affects a tiny minority of students. Last year alone, 582 students took 1,800 AP exams. Moreover, as the curriculum is currently set-up, it is impossible for any student to graduate from Harvard-Westlake without having taken an AP course.
If the administration were to make this change it would likely be highly unpopular among the students and parents. If a senior prefect candidate can rally the junior class into uproar now by complaining about the five-day cycle, and the abolition of soda and water in the cafeteria, one can only imagine what type of reaction students would have to a new schedule. I admit, a new schedule would be far from perfect and most likely would not please the student body in the short-term. Among other things, it would make students angry about starting earlier and shortchange seniors who look forward to the postAP period of senior year. These protests should not deter reform. Perhaps, what is advocated in this column is the wrong approach. Nonetheless, the adminstration should at least have a conversation with the faculty and the student body, asking them for suggestions of ways that they could improve the schedule. Change of any kind always comes with opposition. Eventually, the student body would buy into the idea and come to the conclusion that changing the schedule to better accommodate AP courses would be an improvement for the entire community.
A14 Opinion
The
C hronicle
Sam
Adams
Detained and Confused
April 28, 2010
chronicle.hw.com
It is hereby decreed: you are to be suspended for three days.
But more importantly, what do you think of the prom theme?
I
“
“I think IT is a luxury that we as a world cannot afford, to simply tell someone to sit still and reflect on what a vile person they are.”
t wasn’t my first time receiving the dreaded e-mail from attendace coordinator Gabriel Preciado. Flagged with high importance, my inbox was almost ashamed to present the assertive subject line that I had been assigned DETENTION, in its all-caps glory. Now, dear reader, don’t get the wrong idea about me; I had never actually attended the pre-school punishment, the previous e-mails were the result of a few quirks in the attendance system that had caught me in the mass mailing net. This time was no different—the offense in question was a day of school I missed for an excused reason. But I forgot to turn in a note and had always been intrigued by the concept of detention, so I decided not to fight the allegation, instead taking my medicine and setting my alarm an hour early the following Wednesday. In my mind, detention was a romanticized convocation of slackers and delinquents, basically “The Breakfast Club.” Who knew, maybe I’d even meet my own Molly Ringwald. So I got up early, stumbling out of the door while resenting myself for not having found a way out of waking up at such an ungodly hour. I arrived at the classroom adjacent to the attendance office where I would serve out my sentence along with a handful of other students, most of whom had also run afoul of the ironclad attendance policy one way or the other. I was more than a little embarrassed when my English teacher from last year, a woman for whom I have the greatest respect, walked in and announced she was the faculty supervisor. We sat at desks. And waited. And waited. I’ve never stared at a wall for so long before. Then, we were done. Excused. Expunged of our sins. I guess I couldn’t have really expected anything more from detention. After all, it’s supposed to be a waste of time, for us to reflect on our transgressions. But honestly, I think it is a luxury that we as a world cannot afford, to simply tell someone to sit still and reflect on what a vile person they are. Why can’t we reform our system for minor penalizations to be constructive rather than merely idling? Instead of sitting at a desk counting the number of freckles on our forearms, we detainees could have been stuffing envelopes for a charity. Or, to help out the school, filing paperwork. Or really anything. Of course there needs to be a method to punish people who skip class and commit other crimes of that caliber. The punishment should fit the crime, and there is more missed when skipping class than just sitting at a desk and spacing out. However, our current system asserts that spacing out is the cure. We should find something more constructive for our early morning prisoners to do, rather than the introspected hour of penance to which we currently subject detainees. Maybe I was misguided in looking for “The Breakfast Club” at detention—I suppose that’s more up Peer Support’s alley. But we can definitely make detention more than just the Brat Pack.
Teach me to be tolerant
“O
d Yavo Shalom Aleinu,” sang a group of Polish Catholic high school students and American Jewish teens in the town of Otwock, Poland. The song is a Hebrew folk song foretelling peace, and Otwock used to house a vibrant Jewish community. For some of the students of the Catholic high school, this was their first encounter with Jews. For all of them, it was the first time they’d seen more than 100 Jews in the same place. I was one of those 160 American Jews as a student on March of the Living. The purpose of the trip was to teach us about the Holocaust in Poland but the trip included some not so heavy days such as this one that
Break it up
A
NICKI RESNIKOFF/CHRONICLE
Alice
Phillips
few years ago, the administration merged two exceedingly different tasks under one tidy umbrella and, with the wave of a hand, the Prefect Council as we know it was born. By day, they fight the injustices of candy and carbonated beverages. By night, they deliberate Honor Code violations. We get a two-for-one deal when we vote for our class representatives. On the one hand, the elected official must vociferously represent the wants, needs, and desires of the student body. On the other, the student must have the ability to discern between right and wrong, just and unjust, and the courage to recommend disciplinary action that may fly in the face of public opinion. Does any of that sound marginally contradictory? Perhaps because the personality traits and/or values required for the two tasks do not necessarily match up at every marker? On the one hand, we ask our elected officials to be a conduit for the student body’s opinions. These people, or so they so often claim, will represent the student body no matter what. And that’s as it should be. But then we turn around and ask the very same set of people to ignore the wants, needs, and desires of their constituents in general so that the letter of the Honor Code can be applied evenly and justly to all students found in violation. Let jurists be jurists and let representatives be representatives.
meant just as much, if not more to me than the tours of death camps such as Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka. At the Catholic high school, I met a girl named Marta. Her family owned a shop and she was an aspiring tattoo artist. She loved to hunt for cute clothes from Forever 21, Hot Topic and Top Shop. I told her about my life in Los Angeles and she told me about her life in Otwock. Although we had only met for a couple of minutes, I felt so comfortable talking about myself and my culture with Marta. I then asked Marta if she had any relatives who were involved with the Holocaust. She gravely admitted, yes. Marta’s uncle was a Nazi and although her family no longer associates themselves with him, she understood that her
Hold two separate elections, one for Prefect Council and one for Honor Board. Let students run in both, if they so choose, and then let their peers decide who is capable of carrying out which tasks. Let us decide whom we trust with disciplinary action and whom we trust with the rest. If the two government groups need to be connected, Head Prefects could serve as the heads of both councils. These individuals are, theoretically, already held to a higher standard and the student body should be capable of treating their election with the thoughtfulness it deserves. I like to think that we, as a student body, are mature enough to know the difference between the two tasks and perceptive enough to recognize which one of our peers could successfully carry out which task and which of our peers are capable of performing both. Of course, that could easily be wishful thinking on my part. Our voting habits are probably more influenced by our obligations and allegiances (the pack mentality) than by any higher level of intelligent consideration. That’s not to say that none of the people we’ve elected is qualified, because quite a few of them are. But, as somebody said to me the other day, are you sure you want the people who plan your dances to be the people suspending you from school? In some cases, yes, and in some cases, no. The question is worth asking.
Michelle
Yousefzadeh uncle killed Jews. She knew all about the death camps and the Jewish ghettos and recognized the Holocaust as a dark time in her country’s history. Still, she wanted to learn more about my religion and my practices. A little surprised by the warm hospitality my group had received, I asked Marta if all high schools in Poland were as accepting of Jews as hers. She understood why I had asked this and explained that tolerance is a movement sweeping Poland. In every city there is still antisemitism, and it is only the more forward thinking and open minded groups who recognize anti-semitism as a problem. At Harvard-Westlake, religion has never been an issue. Still, I now notice how words can make
people feel pushed to the outside. German Nazis were successful at exterminating 6 million Jews because other citizens accepted that the Jews were different and didn’t have a problem pushing them to the outskirts of society. Try to notice how many times you push someone away or separate yourself from someone because you consider that person to be too different. In the week I have been home, I have noticed intolerance a lot in my own life. I am glad that I had the opportunity at such a young age to identify this flaw that is innate in our society. Hopefully by recognizing this problem, I can try to stop it and be as accepting as Marta was of me.
April 28, 2010
The
C hronicle
quadtalk What did you think about the multifaceted Champions Day Parade? “it was a great way to celebrate students. it is not just athletic activities that tie the community together.” —Jordan Bunzel ‘11
“i like that they celebrated other activities but i think that there are still members of the community deserving of recognition”
Opinion A15
chronicle.hw.com
makinggrades
A B+ C+ F The Chronicle evaluates recent campus developments
Record number of students participate in the American Red Cross blood drive.
The Environmental Club celebrates Earth Day by distributing ice cream to carpoolers.
The senior prank breaks two laptops and results in senior privileges revoked for 2.5 days. Rats appear for a second time this year, now on the 2nd floor of Chalmers.
bynumbers
The Chronicle polled 319 students who weighed in on nutrition in our cafeteria and Champions Day. law is requiring chain Eating California restaurants to post nutritional Right information. Should the upper school
—Jacqueline Lee’10
cafeteria do the same?
“it was nice to see a lot more activities being represented at the champions day parade.” —Max Lubkeman ‘12
Yes, it would be good to know what we are eating at school. No, I don’t care about nutritional information for cafeteria food. No, the cafeteria does not have to post nutritional information; they are not a chain.
What did you think about the multifaceted Champions Day Parade?
“I was happy to see the recognition of both athletic and non athletics. it’s important to recognize both.”
182 55 48
—David Hinden Science teacher
34
All photos by Jean park/Chronicle
219 56
44
Champions Day
We should celebrate all student accomplishments. We should stick to just celebrating athletic accomplishments. We don’t need to have any Champions Day. We should celebrate academic accomplishments more.
Results based on an online poll e-mailed to Harvard-Westlake upper school students through http://www.surveymonkey.com.
Asixteen
April 28, 2010
a whole new cabaret
1
Decked out in a spectrum of bright colors, singers belted out Disney tunes in “Hakuna Ma-Cabaret” on the Rugby stage.
T
he lights dimmed, and the familiar sounds of Disney’s “Electrical Light Parade” filled Rugby Auditorium. Suddenly, members of Bel Canto, Wolverine Chorus and Chamber Singers rushed onto the dark stage, covered in glowing bracelets and necklaces. “Hakuna Ma-Cabaret” had begun. The biennial cabaret featured combined and separate performances by each of those three groups and the Jazz Singers. There were also eight solos, four duets and two small group numbers, for which over 40 students auditioned. There was one performance Friday and two Saturday. The songs were chosen by choral director Roger Guerrero and accompanist Sara Shakliyan after they searched through every Disney song book and choral arrange-
ment available. They drew not only from classic Disney movies but also from Disney’s Broadway musicals, which often contain tunes not sung in the movies. “We based our choices upon musical content, text, variety, ease of learning and complexity of meaning,” Guerrero said. The show included songs from “The Little Mermaid,” “Mary Poppins” and “Aladdin,” as well as from more obscure films such as “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and “James and the Giant Peach.” Preparation included four weeks of class work on the songs, two weeks work with choreographer Michele Spears and a week of comprehensive after-school rehearsals. This work culminated in what Guerrero described as a “visual and aural feast.” —Justine Goode
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photos by chloe lister and candice navi/Chronicle
THE HAPPIEST CONCERT ON EARTH: (1) Singers reach for the sky at the Disney-themed Cabaret April 23. (2) Alex Rosenbloom ’12 and Kelly Rodriguez ’10 sing “A Whole New World” in a duet. (3) Susanna Wolk ’10 and Beanie Feldstein ’11 perform with everyday objects in “Human Things” from “The Little Mermaid.” (4) Max Sheldon ’11 performs “Her Voice” from “Little Mermaid: The Musical.” (5) Erica Sunkin ’10 sings “Poor, Unfortunate Souls” from “The Little Mermaid.” (6) Matthew Krisiloff ’10, Ben Dreier ’11 and Hank Doughan ’12 salute the audience during their performance of “Whale of a Tale” from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” (7) The full ensemble complete in glowing accessories during the instrumental “Electrical Light Parade.” (8) Jilli Marine ’10 and Jack Usher ’11 perform “Family” from “James and the Giant Peach” in a duet.
features The
Harvard-Westlake School
Chronicle
Volume XIX
Issue 7
April 28, 2010
desert rocks
The Coldwater crowd fled to the sun-soaked Empire Polo Fields in Indio for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Pages B6-7.
Chloe lister/chronicle
B2 Features
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C hronicle
April 28, 2010
chronicle.hw.com
Really gotta catch ’em all By Eli Haims
Although playing Pokémon may seem like a rather solitary activity, this could not be farther from the truth. After beating the game within the first five days of getting it, Choe has spent dozens of hours since the March 14 release training his Pokémon for battle with friends, like the one with he had Chen. Even when they are not playing, many talk about strategies that they have used or are planning to use, or their Pokémon’s statistics. Throughout the day, snippets of these conversations can be heard, although they may sound like nonsense to a passerby. Although the game does stimulate interaction, not everything that has come from it has been good. Choe said that the game distracts him from his schoolwork “all the time,” and even distracts those around him. One student sitting in a cubicle next to the table where Choe was playing had a document open on a laptop and a book open in his hand, but instead of doing his work he discussed the game with Choe for at least 20 minutes. He realized this, exclaiming, “I can’t get anything done!”, but was still distracted. Choe attributes the popularity of the game to the enjoyment that people get out of it, saying that “everyone wants to be like Ash”, the protagonist of the game. Kaner and Daniel Bai ’12 both attribute the popularity to the nostalgia that it provides Bai says that “it is like a memory of the past from when we were little kids.” Many people who are playing currently have enjoyed the game since the first set of Pokémon was released over 10
C
rouching over his black Nintendo DS on the second floor of the library, Tim Choe ’12 battles Alex Chen ’11 in a Pokémon match. Choe and Sam Kaner ’12, who is standing over his left shoulder, intently watch the DS, Kaner occasionally suggesting which attack with be most effective. Others come and sit at the table, which is strewn with textbooks, binders and notebooks, but all work has been forgotten, with the battle taking precedence. Throughout the battle, the three use words which are totally foreign to anyone unfamiliar with the game. As the battle progresses, Choe nervously twirls the DS’s stylus between his fingers while watching the screen, which is now perched on the desk like a laptop. Even though Choe and Chen seemed competitive at first, they soon begin discussing each other’s plans for their attacks. When the battle is over, Chen leaves, but Choe quickly picks up the DS as his fingers run over the buttons and his stylus scratches at the bottom of the two screens. As people come and go from the table, the game is passed around as Choe asks others their opinions of his Pokémon and shows off his “stats.” Since two new installments, HeartGold and SoulSilver, were released in the Pokémon franchise, there has been an almost constant presence of the game on campus. Although many players spend their time on the top floor of the library or on the bottom floor of Seaver, fingers can be seen fluttering over the DSs throughout the school.
Undercover warriors in the Math Lab By Alex Gura
A
rmed with a small, bright orange flash drive, Fred* ’12 marches down the hallway of the third story of Chalmers and takes a sharp right turn. He enters the computer math lab, where various advanced math students go to use computers for their classes. This time, however, it is not math students filling in the black upholstered chairs. Fred has come to battle his friends, to virtually wage war with five other like-minded students who sit scattered around the black desktops. Fred and his friends are not casual video gamers, surfing the web for distractions; they are very serious about their entertainment, —Jacob Hazard and they come wellprepared. Fred has a Computer Science spare flash drive that Teacher contains an extra copy of the game Starcraft
“
We have computers so that students can use them for studying, not for amusement.”
Internet interference
in case another person needs it or, more importantly, in case he cannot play. Fred doesn’t see a problem with what he is doing. To him it is simply a way to have fun and relax. “[Playing videogames] is just a way to escape all the stress of working and studying and deadlines, when you need it most [at school],” Fred said. “And it’s just a great way to have fun with your friends and chill.” However some teachers have issues with what Fred and his friends are doing. Though some teachers, such as computer science teacher Jacob Hazard, do not believe it is a pressing problem, they all agree it is against the rules. “We have computers so that students can use them for studying, not for amusement,” Hazard said. “When kids use computers to play games, they take up space that could be filled by a student trying to work.” Even with this consideration, Hazard said, people playing games has never seemed like a big problem to him. “It’s not a pandemic,” he said. “I’ve never had a kid get a detention for playing games too frequently.” It is not the people playing games that poses the problems, Hazard said, but where they
Old-school gamers play Pokéman in the library.
years ago. Kaner also credits the popularity to the number of people who play, creating a snowball effect. “Since everyone has it, it is kind of ‘in’ so I have been playing a lot,” he said. “The games are more of a competition than enjoyment,” Bai said. Bai has already beaten the game, but continues to play in order to be more competitive in his battles. Although the game is very popular now, there is no consensus on how long it will remain so. Bai says it will only be popular for a few more weeks, while Choe thinks that it will last closer to the end of the year. Since two new games, Pokémon Black and White, are coming out sometime this year, Bai thinks that there will be a resurgence in popularity. On the other hand, Ernest Wolfe ’10 didn’t get the new game, although he spent a good amount of time over the summer playing Platinum, the last edition. “I’m afraid of it,” he said, “it can take over your life very easily.”
dr
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get the games. “If a kid decides to install software and play through the network, he has to go through the network firewall and bypass the administrator. This is a serious offense,” Hazard said. “We all sign a code of conduct when we start at the Upper School, and we have to sign a sheet that says ‘We agree to abide by the rules of the network, etc.’ Breaking these rules is a breach of contract, and could even be expellable.” However, people still manage to install software on school computers, to the dismay of the computer administrators. Among the quieted shouts of victory during a videogame session of the game Battlefront, one student playing the games mentions that he started playing the game when he found it preinstalled and hidden in a folder for calculus programs. “I never would have played it if it wasn’t already there,” said Jerome* ’10. “Someone obviously went through a lot of trouble, I’m just glad I didn’t have to do it.” Even with threats of punishment over their heads, Fred, Jerome, and their friends still manage to have a good time and blow each other to pieces in the process. *Name changed upon request.
Websites provide a fun and exciting alternative to doing homework or studying for a test.
KittehRoulette Watch endless videos of cats acting adorable. Some may find this silly, but it can be quite distracting.
StumbleUpon Discover the obscure by “stumbling upon” new websites with the click of a button.
TextsFromLastNight Sporcle Test your knowledge by listing every member of a category, with hundreds of categories to chose from.
Read posts from people all around the country and world recounting funny text messages sent to them by friends.
Hulu Legally watch tons of movies, TV shows, and clips of your favorites all on one website.
FreeRice
Answer vocabulary questions. For each correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to the hungry.
Wikipedia Start with looking up something random, then challlenge yourself to reach a drastically different topic just by clicking on the links.
AddictingGames
Find hundreds of games from many different genres all in one place.
PostSecret View anonymous postcards sent in by people revealing their deepest secrets. sources: www.kittehroulette. com, www.sporcle.com, www.hulu. com, www.stumbleupon.com, www. wikipedia.org, www.freerice.com, www.textsfromlastnight.com, www. addictinggames.com, www.postsecret.com infographic and illustration by drew lash
April 28, 2010
The
Chronicle
chronicle.hw.com
Features B3
courtesy of aidan brewster
Eastern excursion: Henry Mantel ’10, Robert Reeves ’10, Azuka Ehi ’10, and Aidan Brewster ’10 visit a cemetary near a monastery in Koyasan,
sentimental
journey
By Candice Navi
A
and
Michelle Nosratian
sleek, silver bullet train tore through the Japanese countryside, carrying five seniors: Andrew Zaragoza, Aidan Brewster, Azuka Ehi, Henry Mantel and Robert Reeves. It was a few days into their journey, and the five friends were enroute to Koyasan, the place where Japanese Buddhism originated. However, the trip, as planned at the beginning of the year, was supposed to include one more traveler: Brendan Kutler. Kutler’s death in December was devastating to his close friends, but Mantel and Ehi came up with an innovative way to honor their friend. “I asked Mr. Kutler for a few bracelets, the ones that say ‘Just B’ on them, to leave in Japan, and he gave me as many as I could hold,” Mantel said. “I ended up leaving five of them in Japan in different towns.” “The day we were leaving Kinosaki we saw a festival going on and people were floating baskets down the river. Ehi had the idea to buy a basket and put a bracelet in it,” he said. “Perhaps our best opportunity to honor Brendan came in Koyasan, where we stayed for a night in the Buddhist temple, Eko-in,” Reeves said. “There, we each chipped in to make an offering in honor of Brendan. Every day for the next year, the monks at Eko-in will write his name in a ceremonial book and pray for him.” The boys also experienced two ancient ceremonies during their stay with the monks, the first of which honored Brendan and all those who have passed. The group sought not only to fully experience the country’s unique culture, but also to test their own proficiency in Japanese. “I made sure we spent a good deal of time experiencing old Japan, which also meant dealing with people who spoke little to no English,” Reeves said. “It really stretched our Japanese abilities and was often rewarding, but it also showed us how much we still have to learn.” The idea for the memorable trip began in Kyoko Tomikura’s Japanese IV class. “Being in a class with only a dozen or fewer people, all brought together by our love of video games, anime and manga, we were predisposed to become a mini-clique amongst ourselves,” Zaragoza said. “That culminated in spending two weeks together in Japan.” Stop number one was Matsumoto, a small town north of Tokyo. “We stayed at a nice traditional inn and saw one of the best-preserved castles in Japan,” Mantel said. From Mastsumoto, the boys took a bus to Shirakawago,“a beautiful scenic farm town” secluded by the mountains.
Japan. The four boys, along with Andrew Zaragoza ’10, traveled to Japan over spring break, where they honored their friend Brendan Kutler ’10.
Friends of Brendan Kutler ’10 leave keepsakes around Japan in his memory. “We stayed in an old style farmhouse which was quite an interesting place to stay,” Mantel said. “There was a great lookout point that gave an amazing view of the mountains and village. Many photos were taken.” “Osaka is what you would get if you combined New York, Vegas and some kind of hallucinogenic drug because that place was insane,” Mantel said. The group stopped in Osaka at Mantel’s special request. A train, cable car and bus later, the boys were enjoying vegetarian meals courtesy of Buddhist monks, watching monks pray and visiting a cemetery in Koyasan. “Of all the towns the Buddhist one was my favorite, the sense of culture, the architecture you couldn’t imagine from just hearing about it, and just the feeling you get walking around the shrines and the temples, I suggest everyone go to Koyasan at least once in their life,” Zaragoza said. The sakura, or cherry blossom trees, were in their peak season when the travelers arrived in Kyoto. “We bought lunches and went to the park to see the sakura,” Mantel said. “There were hundreds of people there.” The next stop was Kinosaki, a traditional town famous for its onsens, or public baths. “Yes, you have to get naked with a bunch of guys, but after the first time the awkwardness went away and we just enjoyed the waters,” Mantel said. “Really, really hot waters. Felt great. Also in that town you can walk around in a traditional Yukatta no matter where you go. That’s just a robe basically.” The boys didn’t experience much of a culture shock during their trip to Japan, Zargoza said. “If anything our cultural preconceptions made us appreciate everything all the more, like the styles of the traditional rooms or the politeness of everyone we met, especially if we were in a store or a restaurant,” Zaragoza said. “Different cities had a different mix of American culture and of course traditional Japanese culture. Places like Tokyo gave the same feeling a city like New York would but with a Japanese spin, while places like Shirakawago felt like a 100 percent true Japanese experience.” “On the whole, I would say that experiencing an Asian culture is something everyone should do given the chance,” Reeves said. “Many if not most Harvard-Westlake students have visited Europe at some point, but America is barely removed from its European roots. Japan is the only Asian culture I’ve experienced firsthand, but it really is unlike America and Europe in fundamental ways. It’s thrilling to discover how different human beings can truly be.”
Andrew zaragoza
Andrew zaragoza
Andrew zaragoza
robert reeves
Remembering Brendan: A “Just B” bracelet hangs on the branch of a sakura tree in Kyoto (from top). Henry Mantel ’10 and Aidan Brewster ’10 walk towards the shrine near their hotel in Matsumoto, where they left another bracelet (middle left.) A bracelet floats down the river in a basket in Kinosaki (middle right.) Azuka Ehi ’10, Rovert Reeves ’10, Henry Mantel ’10 and Andrew Zaragoza ’10 wear yukata, or Japanese robes, by the onsens, or natural hot spring spas, in Kinosaki (right.)
B4 Features
The
C hronicle
chronicle.hw.com
April 28, 2010
SADE TAVANGARIAN/CHRONICLE
faculty friends: Sisters Marka and Xochi Maberry-Gaulke ’12 kiss their mother Visual Arts Head Cheri Gaulke (from left), Dean Vanna Cairns hugs son Graham Cairns ’12 (middle top), History teacher Greg
Fac Brat Pack By Jordan Gavens
and
Lara Sokoloff
When some parents drive their children to school, they drop them off at the entrance, tell them to have a great day and then drive away. Yet, while some students are getting their backpacks out of the trunk, their parents are grabbing briefcases full of tests, quizzes and worksheets that they stayed up all night grading. After locking the doors to the car, the parents walk into school right beside their child. Although many high school students consider school a six-hour escape from their parents, a group of sophomores are children of faculty or administors, “the Fac-Brats.” Graham Cairns ’12, son of Dean Vanna Cairns, Bella Gonzalez ’12, daughter of history teacher Greg Gonzalez, Olivia Chuba ’12 daughter of History Department Head Katherine Holmes-Chuba, and twins Marka and Xochi Maberry-Gaulke ’12, daughters of Visual Arts Department Head Cheri Gaulke, comprise the ‘Fac-Brats.’ Sophomores Hank Doughan, Josh Hearlihy and Will Tobias also have parents who are members of the faculty. Before coming to Harvard-Westlake, the Fac-Brats met when they were toddlers, in day care and at a pool party organized by their parents. Some became fast friends, said Graham Cairns. Especially for those
Gonzalez smooches daughter Bella Gonzalez ’12 (middle bottom), and History Head Katherine Homes-Chuba snuggles with daughter Olivia Chuba ’12 (right.)
Having parents on the faculty bonds these sophomores.
who attended smaller eleschools like Cairns did, and did not know many kids upon arriving at HarvardWestlake, meeting the Fac-Brats before starting seventh grade made the transition that much easier, Cairns said. Without having met one another previously, Cairns believes they would all be friends, but most likely not as close. The Fac Brats often play a favorite board game, “Settlers of Katan,” bake vegan food for Marka, and watch the movie “Mean Girls”. They also spend time together before school in Chalmers, after school on the patio above the field, and eating lunch behind Rugby. Although he sometimes feel as if she ignores him, Cairns generally enjoys being at school with his mom. “I like it. If I’m feeling sick, I go to her office to get Airborne,” he said. “If I need note cards, she has note cards.” Cairns isn’t thinking about college yet, although his mother is an expert on the subject. Though when it is time for Cairns to think about the future, he plans on speaking with his dean, Michelle Bird, before consulting his mother. His mom didn’t attend his dean meeting with Bird, but his dad did. While many sophomores struggle with the World and Europe II, Gonzalez finds comfort in always having her dad around to ask questions. For Gonzalez,
her father is a reliable resource for her to turn to for history help when her own teacher is unavailable, she said. “It’s also nice to see him because I know some kids in our grade have dads who are gone for weeks, so it’s nice because I love him,” Gonzalez said. Xochi Gaulke and her mother share an interest in art. During the summer, they make family reunion videos and edit them. Gaulke feels that the time she and her mother and she spend on making family videos is like her own personal video art class, except at her house. She has taken her mother’s summer Video Art class for the past four years, so she chose not to take it as an elective this year. She plans on taking it as a senior though, and her mom will be her teacher. Along with meeting her fellow Fac-Brats, Gaulke already had relationships with some faculty members before coming to the school as a seventh grader in 2006. The majority of the art department attended her parents’ wedding. Photography teachers Alan Sasaki and Kevin O’Malley even took the pictures and wedding portraits. “It was kind of funny the first couple weeks because my teachers would realize that I’m her daughter and then say things like, ‘Ooh, I remember you when you were this tall’ or I remember when your mom was still pregnant with you and your sister!” Gaulke said.
Skipping high school for college By Alex Leichenger
Like most 15 year-olds, Michelle Vaisman wakes up and grabs a quick bite to eat before her first class in the morning. Unlike most 15-year-olds, Vaisman’s first class is walking distance from her where she lives. While most of her former classmates from the class of 2012 are just starting to think about applying to colleges, Vaisman and a handful of other students skip some classes to get into college earlier. Vaisman enrolled at Mary Baldwin College, an all-women’s school in Staunton, Virginia, at age 13, after being accepted into the school’s Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. Founded in 1985, the program consists of over 70 students from ages 12 to 16, according to its website. Vaisman has since transferred to Bryn Mawr, an all-women’s college in Pennsylvania, and will graduate at age 17. Vaisman is majoring in chemistry, with minors in Math and Economics. Vaisman took the SAT in eighth grade in order to enroll at a summer program at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and Mary Baldwin obtained her scores. After responding to a letter from the school, she received a phone call that prompted her to apply to PEG. A month later she toured the campus, and she received an jordan freisleben/chronicle acceptance letter the next week. Vasiman said she was “looking for a more it’s nice to focus on challenging learning environment” when she my interest more.” first heard about PEG. “In seventh grade at Harvard-Westlake, about —Hannah Rosenberg ’11 halfway through my first semester I started coming home with no homework, because I finished it during my free periods,” she said. “In eighth grade, the same thing sort of happened, not as much, but I still came home with less and less homework.” The transition to college for Vaisman was difficult at first. “I cried a lot when my parents left,” Vaisman said. But she became gradually more comfortable in her new environment, she said, and with so many other pegs, as students
“
in PEG are called, she was not alone in her uncommon situation. Vaisman said that most professors cannot even differentiate between pegs and older students. More often than not, pegs are actually the most vocal and intelligent students in their classes, she said. Nonetheless, younger students and older students have their differences. “Because I’m younger, there are some things that I don’t have in common with the older students, [like some] older students like to drink, but I can’t do that, and I’m not really interested in doing that,” Vaisman said. Vasiman is the only student who left for college early. After his junior year at Harvard-Westlake, Michael photo courtesy of michael stampler Stampler ’09 was accepted to the University of Southern California through the school’s Resident Honors socially, the fact Program. Stampler, who would have graduated with the class of 2009, was later admitted to USC’s School of Cinthat i was a year ematic Arts. younger didn’t Stampler described RHP as an “entrance program” make a difference.” that brings high achievers to USC who could otherwise —Michael Stampler ‘09 matriculate to other schools. He said that students admitted through the program are treated no differently than regular students in all aspects of campus life. “Socially, the fact that I was a year younger didn’t really make a difference,” he said. “Everybody treated me the same as everyone else.” Now a sophomore, Stampler spent much of his freshman year completing the general education requirements he missed as a high school senior. Since Harvard-Westlake does not allow early graduation, Stampler received his diploma with the 2009 graduating class, though he was studying at USC. Starting in Fall 2010, Hannah Rosenberg ’11 will take history, English, cinema studies and art classes at Harvard-Westlake each day before heading to the Otis School of Design for night classes. “It’s nice to focus on my interests much more,” Rosenberg said. Vaisman and Stampler both said they could not be happier with how their experiences have panned out. “It was probably the best decision of my life,” Vaisman said.
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April 28, 2010
The
C hronicle
Features B5
chronicle.hw.com
courtesy of cheston gunawan
head in the game: Cheston Gunawan ’12 contemplates his next move during chess practice. An avid player, he has played in 151 tournaments so far.
Checkmate By Megan Kawasaki
Cheston Gunawan ’12 focuses his eyes on the white chess pieces laid out in front of him during another hectic day at Chess Club. Surrounded by the bickering and chatter of other students, Gunawan remains silent as he searches for the right strategy to best his opponent. His hands moves swiftly as he pushes his pawn forward and tapped the blue button of the game timer next to him. His collection of captured black pieces piled up higher next to him, as pressure mounts on his opponent to come up with a plan for victory, and fast. Unfortunately for him, Gunawan had already thought of a winning strategy. In a matter of minutes, he defeated his opponent, who could do nothing but sputter in shock and outrage. What was extraordinary about this chess match was that Gunawan bested two classmates simultaneously in minutes. After years of practice, the difficulties of overcoming two opponents at once seemed to be no problem for Gunawan. Gunawan first began playing chess at the age of four after being introduced I play chess still to the game by his father. At the time, however, he found the game uninterestbecause I love ing. His appreciation for chess would seeing my chess not arise until later. “When I first learned it, I was really friends, whom I bored and quit instantaneously,” Guprobably wouldn’t nawan said. Gunawan’s interest was piqued as he have met othergrew older. He attended the Chandler School, a private elementary school in wise. For that, I’m Pasadena, and joined the chess club in really grateful.” fourth grade. Gunawan immediately be—Cheston Gunawan ‘12 came hooked and discovered a true enjoyment for the game. Due to the competitiveness of this particular club, he participated in matches against other schools and practiced with the coach, who stopped by once a week to help train club members. Soon, Gunawan started taking lessons after school, which helped him sharpen his mental skills and furthered his appreciation for chess. After a few years, he began to participate in tournaments. As an avid player, he now takes part in many tournaments and has
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Cheston Gunawan ’12 competes for the United States in international chess tournaments but mostly, he plays for fun. played in 151 of them overall. He takes part in grade-level national tournaments against experienced players as well as for-prize tournaments. “I like the silent competition although that would not sound appealing to most,” Gunawan said. “I like playing the six-hour chess games in one sitting. I’m not really sure why I like it, but it really helped me to develop patience.” He has won many of the competitions he has entered, winning prizes ranging from trophies and money to chess accessories. “I normally compete around two to three times a month, but most are small tournaments,” Gunawan said. “Normally there is only one big tournament each month.” The majority of the tournaments he currently plays are for money and are often in Los Angeles. However, he has gone abroad for some tournaments. “I have gone to Argentina and Singapore representing the United States to play in chess tournaments,” he said. People who compete in chess tournaments have designated ratings, which increase in accordance with a player’s skill level. Currently, Gunawan is rated 1978 out of a possible 2800. The rating increases or decreases based on whether one wins or loses a match. As one’s rating becomes higher, however, it becomes harder and harder to gain points. Gunawan is content with his current rating. He finds the game to be more than just a means of competition. “Since chess relaxes me, it is a good break for me from school. I couldn’t think of a better way to use my time,” Gunawan said. The game has also helped him form new friendships with competitors from the United States to Japan, who are as young as 6 and as old as 70. “I play chess still because I love seeing my chess friends, whom I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise,” Gunawan said. “For that, I’m really grateful.” Even after years of playing chess, the hours of intensive practice, and the stress of heavy competition, Gunawan does not tire of the game. “I consider chess to be a passion and a relaxing activity,” Gunawan said. “Without it, I’m not really sure what I would have lauren seo/chronicle done for the past six years.”
PIANO LESSONS FROM JUILLIARD GRADUATE Few other activities engage the physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual abilities to the degree that piano can. Studies have consistently shown the unparalleled educational value of piano lessons. I earned a Masters in Piano Performance from the Juilliard School and was awarded a Piano Fellowship in recognition of my teaching abilities. While in New York City, I taught 15 students from the SAR Academy as well as in several local music conservatories. I’ve performed as piano soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony and have toured as collaborative pianist with many world class soloists including violinists Cho Liang Lin, Kurt Nikkonen and cellist Daniel Gaisford. My composition, “Wizard of Oz Fantasy” has been performed around the world, on radio and has inspired videos on YouTube. You can view them by typing in my name William Hirtz on YouTube. I also am active as a composer of film scores and a songwriter. I teach in my home and also travel to the student’s home if desired. Please call for references.
William Hirtz 14045 Milbank Street
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 Phone – 818-981-4164 Email – w.hirtz@att.net
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B6 Features
April 28, 2010 The
Concert marks 1st show of summer F By Catherine Wang
rantically searching for their friend’s car, two senior girls ran around the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio at 2:30 a.m. After watching Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival headliner Jay-Z perform Friday night, the girls became separated from their group of 11 friends. The 13 friends had parked their cars at Palm Spring’s La Quinta Resort, so that they could ride the shuttle to and from the festival. Realizing with dismay that the last shuttle had left the festival at 2 a.m., the pair called a friend and desperately looked for her car among the thousands of cars parked in the festival parking lots. Eventually, they found their friend’s car “behind some RVs” and returned to their rented villa at around five in the morning. They planned their Coachella trip for several months. They rented a small villa, sleeping in sleeping bags, on couches, and even in a bathtub. They were among the 225,000 people who ventured to Coachella Valley for the three-day music festival, helping set a new attendance record for the festival, which is in its 11th year. Coachella marks the beginning of the yearly summer music festivals that many students travel to. Despite the festival’s new policy of halting the sale of one-day passes and only selling three-day passes, which sold for around $285, people from around the country and the world still made the trip. Traffic in the four-mile route from the 10 Freeway to the venue was close to not moving during most of Friday afternoon. Once people parked, most had to wait hours to enter the gates. “For the last mile before we entered the parking lot, it was completely stopped and it took three hours to get in,” Timmy Schorr ‘10, who went to Coachella this year for the second time, said. “Basically everyone would get out of their cars, blast their music, and have a huge dance party. Every 10 minutes we’d get back in the car and drive forwards 10 feet and then get back out and keep dancing.” More than 120 bands played at Coachella, including the festival’s first hip-hop headliner Jay-Z, Muse, Thom Yorke, Gorillaz, and MGMT. Because of the eruption of the volcano in Iceland, seven artists and bands were unable to fly to the United States in time to perform at the festival. “My ears were ringing for three days nonstop,” Ben Krause ‘11, who went to the festival for Saturday and Sunday said. “When [we] got back to the condo we were staying at, we had to shout to hear each other.” Despite the overwhelming crowds, festivalgoers enjoyed themselves while dancing to their favorite bands’ music alongside people from around the world. But underneath the facade of the festival’s
bright lights and the fairground’s looming Ferris Wheel lay security and safety issues stemming from what many Coachella visitors say was disorganization on the management’s part. “There were so many undercover police there,” Schorr said. “You know who [they] are because men that are over 40 don’t go to Coachella.” Yet, many people, including Harvard-Westlake students were able to sneak themselves into the festival. “The shuttle stop was a mile away from the entrance,” one girl said. “I saw tons of people climb over the fences without getting caught.” When Lucille* arrived at Coachella on Friday, all of the wristbands - which would be necessary to enter the festival - had been given away already. “We just had to show the guards our online print-out verifications,” Lucille said. “They didn’t even scan them or anything.” Two students bought tickets two days before the festival from second party ticket sellers. At the entrance gate, they were denied entrance and the tickets were ripped by the security guard because they were found to be fake. Lucille’s friends salvaged the ticket stubs and took them to a different security guard, who let them enter the festival. Security guards searched all visitors for any drugs and drug paraphernalia and minors for alcohol, but students said that security was not as strict as it could have been. “I saw lots of people get away with some shady stuff,” Molly* ’12 said. “It seemed like security was more concerned about people cutting lines than with what kind of stuff was in people’s backpacks.” There were a lot of crazy, wacked-out people there,” one student said. The festival’s medical tent was full throughout the weekend, treating around 1,000 people. According to the Los Angeles Times, 84 people, including students, were sent to hospitals from Coachella this year, due to drug overdoses, a broken neck, a private security officer who fell off his horse and a nawwked man under the influence of “unknown substances” who smashed out the windows of parked cars with his head before he was tasered by police.” “There were so many undercover police there,” Schorr said. “You know who [they] are because men that are over 40 don’t go to Coachella.” Even though she missed the final day of Coachella because she had to study for an AP Art History test on Monday, Lucille* was just happy to have had the “Coachella experience,” she said. She summed up the weekend, despite the nocturnal wandering in the parking lot, as “just absolutely, incredibly amazing.” * names have been changed
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courtesy of Bridget G
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Dancing in the desert: Nick Chuba ’10, Jason Macabbee ’10 Bridget Golob ’10 take a break from the festivities to pose for a picture ( Olivia Nathanson ’10, Anthony Bundak ’10 and Jillian McAndrews ’10 w arm in arm to the next set (middle); Fredel Romano ’11, Natasha Etten berger ’10, Caroline Hartig ’10, Catie Yagher ’10 and Caity Croft ’10 mee each other in crowd during the Passion Pit concert (bottom).
hronicle
Features B7
chronicle.hw.com
chella craze
Three days of performances, including everyone from Jay-Z to Matt & Kim to Muse, drew throngs of revelers to the Southern California desert from April 16 o 18. More than 100 students ditched school to soak in the music and sun.
Golob
hanson
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0 and (top); walk nset
Ditchers face joint detention By Jordan Freisleben
O
n the attendance board in Chalmers hangs the cut list, the list of students’names who will be receiving detention for their unexcused absences. Last week, the list took up significantly more space than usual, containing the names of more than 70 students who missed either part or all of Friday, April 16, due to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Several other students who attended the festival were able to avoid the cut list by filling out an excused absence before missing school. The 72 students assigned detention for missing school for Coachella will attend a separate detention tomorrow morning in Ahmanson Lecture Hall. “The deans collectively agreed to have the Coachella detention separate from the rest,” Attendance Coordinator Gabriel Preciado said. “They thought that students shouldn’t miss [school] and that if they did, there would be repercussions.” “If you choose to attend Coachella on Friday, you will not be permitted to attend sports practices or Cabaret rehearsal that afternoon/evening,” Dean Vanna Cairns warned students on behalf of the deans in a school-wide e-mail in advance of the event. “My feeling is that this event is a little different from a club sport or going to visit colleges,” Preciado said. “There was conflict between how we were going to approach this situation based on what teachers thought we should do and proper procedure.” “I feel bad for the teachers who have to reschedule tests or make tests harder. [Students] should respect the school day schedule and be in school for all the days they can be. The green form was a way to have absences excused but teachers may have thought it was inexcusable. The students were excused once deans got the green forms and signed off,” Preciado said. “The news that absences are excused with a green form got out kind of late.” “If you didn’t fill out the proper paperwork, then you got detention and it’s deemed cuts,” Preciado said. “We honored the green form.” In Cairns’ e-mail, she emphasized the Student Handbook rule that students who miss a class without being excused may receive a zero or failing grade for work during that period. “We presume that there are assignments, quizzes, tests or papers due in your classes,” she wrote. “At best, your make-up exams will be significantly harder. At worst, the letter of the law will prevail.” Despite the number of students given detention for missing school because of Coachella, Preciado believes that the rules regarding whether or not absences are excused should be malleable. “We should limit [excused absences] to those who have outstanding attendance records. I think for this event, it should be in some ways earned. “One side wants parents to create an open door with us. If we don’t allow [the absences] to be excused, it could lead to notes or reasons being untruthful,” he said. Preciado hopes that students are honest with the attendance office regarding their reasons for missing school.
Candice navi/Chronicle
Summer music festivals
Bonnaroo
June 10-13
Manchester, Tenn. Headliners include Dave Matthews
Band, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z and Weezer. Conan O’ Brien will perform a stand-up act. The festival is a camping event, held on a 700-acre farm.
June 25-Aug. 15
Warped Tour
Several major cities. The traveling punk rock festival
comes to the Los Angeles area for three days: June 25, June 27 and Aug. 11. On select days, the All American Rejects, Motion City Soundtrack, Alkaline Trio, Dropkick Murphys, Sum 41 and Reel Big Fish are performing.
Lollapalooza
Aug. 6-8
Chicago. Well-known perfromers include Green Day, Lady Gaga, Soundgarden, The Strokes, Arcade Fire, Spoon, MGMT, Chromeo and Phoenix. The lineup includes a diverse array of music, ranging from rock to electronic.
Graphic By Olivia Kwitny and Mary Rose Fissinger
Candice navi/Chronicle
B8 Features
The
High Stakes
C hronicle
chronicle.hw.com
April 28, 2010
Clue seven: With all acceptance and rejection letters sent out, students evaluate their choices. By Allegra Tepper
After enduring months of waiting, the decision is finally in the hands of the seniors as they weigh their options for matriculation. With only a month to decide, our three seniors scramble to catch glimpses of student life on campuses around the country. For some, the choice is obvious, but for others, it proves to be the hardest part of the process yet. Taylor* The last time we caught up with Taylor, a generous financial aid package and the lure of a completely different experience from that of Harvard-Westlake had Taylor interested in Bennington College in Vermont. However, upon further consideration, Taylor became more apprehensive about joining a student body hundreds smaller than Harvard-Westlake’s. During the last month, Taylor was rejected by Williams College, which was her first choice. The blow was amplified by an e-mail beginning, “Dear Readers” instead of with a more personalized greeting. Taylor resolved that if a school could not reject her personally, she did not want to be there anyway. Acceptances came in from Scripps College and Oberlin College, but Oberlin soon fell out of consideration due to a small financial aid package and because Taylor was admitted only to the liberal arts college and not the music conservatory. “Scripps has a really supportive atmosphere,” Taylor said. “I can double major, make use of the [Claremont Consortium] resources, and it’s far enough away for me to be independent but still have the option to come back.” After spending an overnight on campus for an admitted students program at Scripps, an all-girls college near Claremont Colleges like Pomona and Claremont McKenna, Taylor decided it was the place for her. Despite choosing Scripps, she also plans to send a letter to Vassar College letting them know that she
Illustration by Melanie CHan and MEGAN KAWASAKI
would attend if they admit her off the wait list and meet her demonstrated need for financial aid. Shawn* Last month caught Shawn pleasantly off guard as he received three acceptances to top 20 universities, his personal goal having been to receive one. Shawn spent the month of April deciding between the University of Michigan, Vanderbilt University, Emory University and Washington University in St. Louis. After visiting Michigan for a final time, Shawn took it out of the running based on the enormity of the school. Following that, Vanderbilt was removed from consideration after a multi-cultural visitors weekend that fell short in Shawn’s eyes. Shawn was turned off by the Vanderbilt party atmosphere. “It felt really superficial and really Greek. People were drinking on Friday by 2 p.m. and the next morning lawns were covered with beer cans. That felt really prevalent and I don’t want to be a part of that.” When the decision came down to Washington University and Emory, Shawn was, for the most part, at a loss for distinguishing evidence. Washington University’s slightly more urban campus, roomy housing and better food were the details that tipped the scale. “I could barely differentiate between the two schools, but then I realized I’m going to be living in this place for the next four years,” Shawn said. “So I better love it.”
Annabelle* Annabelle has decided that she will be attending Cornell University come fall. While Cornell was not even under consideration until Annabelle was courted by a coach from the school, it still beat out USC in Annabelle’s final moments of decision-making. “Cornell felt more personal and intimate than USC,” Annabelle said. “I felt like the students and alums that I met cared about what your interests are, not just the fact that you’re smart. They were down-to-earth, mellow and honest. I didn’t get those same warm fuzzies from USC.” Before receiving her decisions, Annabelle thought she would end up at Stanford, which ranked among her top three choices along with USC and Columbia. “I worked really hard on that application. I put myself all over that Stanford supplement,” Annabelle said. “So if that’s not what they wanted, I can’t be upset. As for Columbia, I think I made a mistake by submitting online. Their strict character limits forced me to take so much of the essence of my essays out, and I think that’s what did me in. That was the hardest rejection to take, but everything happens for a reason.” While USC is a bigger powerhouse in Annabelle’s sport, Cornell boasts Ivy League championships and Annabelle feels satisfied being a part of that. As for her apprehensions about the chilly climate in upstate New York, Annabelle is looking forward to purchasing a “very, very large coat”. *Names have been changed
April 28, 2010
The
C hronicle
Features B9
chronicle.hw.com
Cafeteria hours lead to non-stop grazing ILLUSTRATION BY MELISSA GERTLER
By Catherine Wang
While running between first period English and second period Physics, Allison Merz '10 conveniently passes the cafeteria. Every morning she dashes in, grabs a muffin and a chocolate milk, and bolts to class. After Physics, she normally buys another snack to eat during third period while doing homework. During fifth period, Merz eats lunch, making more than one trip to the cafeteria during the period. At the end of the period, Merz buys another snack to eat in her AP Environmental Science class. And finally, before leaving school for swim practice, Merz buys yet another snack to eat in the car. Merz does not make trips to the cafeteria purely out of hunger. Instead, she frequents the cafeteria because it is so convenient — perhaps too convenient — she said. “I feel like I spend an unnecessary amount of money at the cafeteria,” she said. “I literally just eat out of boredom and because [the cafeteria] is open all day.” Unlike many public schools, which open their
cafeterias during snack and lunch hours only, Harvard-Westlake opens its cafeteria for the entire school day. At other schools, when the cafeteria is closed, students buy snacks from vending machines, eat snacks they bring from home, or wait until the cafeteria re-opens during its designated hours. With no designated lunch period during the day at Harvard-Westlake, opening the cafeteria the entire day serves a practical purpose. Since there is no specific time slot during which students and teachers eat their lunches and snacks, the cafeteria must remain open to accomodate students and teachers during any of their free periods. Consequently, many students find themselves grabbing their school ID cards and strolling through the cafeteria’s green doors very often during the day. From a nutritional standpoint, this excessive eating can translate into the consumption of an inordinate amount of empty calories and the beginning of poor eating habits. From a parent’s standpoint, the cafeteria’s hours
Slim pickings
By Jordan Freisleben
and
Jean Park
Strolling through the cafeteria during a deserted seventh period, Errol Bilgin ’11 makes his way from the glass case containing donuts and cupcakes to the mini fridge holding yogurt and milk cartons. Along the way, he points out the few things he is able to eat as a vegan. Bilgin has struggled to maintain his diet at school. After limiting himself to fruits and bare vegetables during the first few weeks, he has since begun to learn more and more about the nutritional flexibilities of a vegan diet. He started eating a few more snacks, but he always feels unsatisfied with his minimal food intake. “It’s really difficult for vegans to eat the hot foods at the cafeteria,” Bilgin said. “We’re in the dark because we don’t know what they are cooked in.”
can translate into an unnecessarily high food bill each month. “I feel like I overeat at school because the cafeteria is open all the time, so I just go get food all the time,” Shanshan Heh '12 said. Heh estimates she gets food four times a day. Despite some students’ stories of overeating, others find positives in its all-day hours. “I went to a public middle school, and I was always hungry during the day,” Jameson Huang '12 said. “It’s nice to be able to get food any time I feel like it.” Additionally, a cafeteria open throughout the day is optimal for athletic nutrition. “It takes time to process food, which is why grazing — eating many, smaller meals — is better for endurance athletes,” said sports nutritionist and competitive runner Ryan Denner. “Grazing helps keep a steady stream of fuel and anti-oxidants running through your system for proper recovery,” he said. “It also keeps your from having too low energy levels, and then eating too much in one sitting, which we all have a tendency to do at times.”
Finding vegan or kosher food is a struggle for those with dietary restrictions.
Ellie Diamant ’11, who has been a vegan for two years, also feels unsatisfied with the cafeteria options. Composing her school meals of small snacks, rather than a full meal, Diamant stresses her desire for a full vegan meal on a daily basis at the cafeteria that can be served as “hot food.” “I definitely don’t think they do a good enough job offering vegan food,” Diamant said. “Although they do have some nice vegan snacks, they usually don’t have main courses that are vegan, other than cereal and rice.” Art instructor Marianne Hall, a vegan, finds most of her dietary needs sufficiently met by the cafeteria’s vegan options, such as the “excellent salad bar with a variety of fresh and delicious ingredients [where] some form of vegan protein is usually included.” Hall has a few suggestions for the
cafeteria to take into consideration as well. “I would love it if there would be a non-starchy form of vegan protein — tofu or soy ‘meat’ — available every day,” Hall said. “A variety of stir fried green vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli or spinach, with garlic, would also be wonderful, and avocado is always a treat,” she said. During a free period a hungry Chanah Haddad ’11 walks into the cafeteria for a snack. While perusing the shelves, she instinctively turns the bag of pretzels over to look at the nutritional information. Haddad is not looking for the calorie count, but rather for the kashrus label, to see if Jewish dietary laws will allow her to eat the pretzels. Like many Jewish students, Haddad must buy only food that satisfies her dietary restrictions as well as
her appetite. Haddad has to monitor which cafeteria products are kosher and which are not. “I always eat things without any meat in them, but sometimes there’s stuff that you wouldn’t think are made with animal products,” she said. “I know [now] that the brown rice is cooked in chicken broth.” Both Haddad and fellow kosher student Jonathan Etra ’11 feel that the cafeteria provides enough options for kosher students. Although Etra feels that kosher options are available, he feels the choices can, at times, get monotonous. “[The cafeteria has] kosher friendly options, but in my five years at Harvard-Westlake they haven’t really changed the options,” Etra said. “They’re pretty accommodating, but you’re always looking for something exciting. Everything has been more or less the same since 7th grade.”
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Masterpiece Dance Theatre Curriculum endorsed by the Vaganova Ballet Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia
PROGRAM OFFERINGS -Performing Company -Summer Programs: (Los Angeles and Rome, Italy) - Excellent student to teacher ratio - Certificated Programs -Competition Dance Coaching -Scholarships
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1365 WESTWOOD BLVD. Los Angeles, CA. 90024 310-477-6414 www.balletla.com Nadezhda Koscuik, a Principal Ballerina who has trained and worked with the Kirov Ballet for the past thirty seven years, is also the only authorized professional to teach in Los Angeles the Vaganova curriculum which is synonymous with the Kirov Ballet.
20% off any dental procedure for Harvard-Westlake families
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B10 Features
The
C hronicle
arts&entertainment
On the playbill... Hunter in the Snow
Ava Kofman ’10 Directed by Graham Parkes ’10 Nathanson’s/chronicle
A play about a man and his loneliness.
Lonely, Lonely Pigeons
Wyatt Kroopf ’12 Directed by Nick Lieberman ’11
NOELLE LYONS/chronicle
The loneliness of an odd guy affects his one friendship with his ex-roommate, who is trying to move on with his life.
A Simple Proof
April 28, 2010
Young playwrights oversee production as their plays are directed and performed.
Me, Myself, and You
Leland Frankel ’12 Directed by Paul Norwood A desperate writer uses the 13-year-old spirit of himself in order to assess the situation and get the girl.
NOELLE LYONS/chronicle
The ABC’s of Growing Up Kelsey Woo ’11 Directed by David Shaughnessy
A modern satire of the college process through the eyes of families applying to kindergarden.
NOELLE LYONS/chronicle
Benjamin Sprung-Keyser ’11 Directed by Cate Caplin
NOELLE LYONS/chronicle
Four kids debate the existence of God, highlighting the friction between the debaters and their stories.
Eli Petzold ’10 Directed by Susanna Wolk ’10 The world has ended and two survivors, after wandering alone for a long time, meet.
The Crowdpleaser
Graham Parkes ’10 Directed by Austin Park ’10
Nathanson’s/chronicle
What the Thunder Said
A girl and boy fall in love as they as they realize why they were written as characters in a play.
It Ends With a Kiss
Nathanson’s/chronicle
The Sky’s the Limit Jacob Axelrad ’10 Directed by James Sauer
Two business partners, one of whom is much older than the other, explore the dynamic of their relationship and the reality of the business world.
Nathanson’s/chronicle
Arielle Basich ’11 Directed by Peter Cellini
NOELLE LYONS/chronicle
on the web:
Mise-en-Scene A story about love. Centered around a girl and boy in high school, and the love Myles Teasley ’10 Directed by C. M. Moore in the English book they are reading. See the semifinalists and finalists for the Playwrights Festival at
chronicle.hw.com
A series of unconnected dramatic experiences that examine human reactions and emotional response in light of them.
Nathanson’s/chronicle
One-Act plays come to life next month By Chloe Lister
Noah Ross ’12 sits opposite Hank Doughan ’12, recounting lines he has said so many times that he has easily lost count. Ross and Doughan have been rehearsing in preparation for their performance later this month. They are both actors in the annual Playwrights Festival, which consists entirely of student-written one-act plays. Ross and Doughan, along with Taylor Nunley ’12, will perform in Jacob Axelrad’s ’10 play that will be presented during the festival. Although he received the news that his one-act play would be performed in the annual Playwrights Festival just weeks ago, Axelrad submitted a rough draft of his play over six months ago. Various other drafts were then reviewed by Playwrights Festival producer and Performing Arts teacher Christopher Moore and Axelrad’s mentor, English teacher Jocelyn Medawar-Turner. “My play is about two salesmen, one’s a much older man, one’s a much younger man, and basical-
ly it’s the dynamic between them and how each of their lives are significantly affected by the business,” Axelrad said. His play is titled “The Sky’s the Limit.” Axelrad is one of 26 students who have written their plays since the beginning of the year. Of those 26, only 10 were chosen. “I am always surprised, excited and intrigued by what the writers come up with breaking the conventions of theatrical structure and exploring new and wildly interesting ways of storytelling and exploring character,” Moore said. The plays were submitted to Moore, who is part of the “Reading and Selection Committee” which consists of 30 other teachers, professional writers, directors, actors, dramaturges, script coverage personnel, and alumni who have been involved in the Festival. “The members of the “Reading and Selection Committee” read the plays blind to name, age, gender and previous writing experience. They cast their ballots, and the final selections are based on which
scored the highest number of votes from the committee,” Moore said. Their plays will be performed in two separate series; five will be performed as Series A on May 20, 22, and 23, and the other five will be performed as Series B May 21, 22, and 23. In addition to the plays being written entirely by students, the Playwrights Festival also offers numerous chances for students to get involved with the Performing Arts Department in ways they otherwise could not have, such as acting in or directing a play. “More students are involved in this one theatrical production than the other two main-stage productions combined,” Moore said. Beanie Feldstein ’11 is the festival’s Associate Student Director, Griffy Simon ’11 is the Student Lighting Designer, and Lauren Berliner ’10 is the Costume Designer. Every play has its own student director or assistant director. “The Playwrights Festival is unique to any high school theatrical arena,” Moore said.
April 28, 2010
The
C hronicle
arts&entertainment
Jazz bands play Europe
Features B11
By Ingrid Chang
A
group of 25 jazz musicians returning from a gig are packed in a bus, stuck at a busy Paris intersection. The 100-foot long bus has been blocking traffic for half an hour, and people are getting out of their cars to push it. The musicians are Harvard-Westlake students on the last stop of their tour. They had traveled to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Brussels and Bruges in Belgium, playing shows nearly every night for nine nights over spring break. “The coolest part of it was just being a musician on tour,” Chris Holthouse ’11 said. “We were on the move 24/7. It was almost fun that we didn’t have much down time because we were always either playing for a show, preparing for a show, packing up the bus, or touring. We were always in action.” For Conor Ross ’11, the biggest difference in playing gigs in Europe, as opposed to here, came from simply being a foreigner. “People there are more impressed with how we play, because jazz is a more American thing that people in America are more accustomed to, whereas European people aren’t as much,” he said. The group played one to three-hour sets nearly every night, spending only one night off in Bruges. The venues they played at included jazz clubs, a children’s hospital, and music schools in Amsterdam and Paris. “We played classic big band songs, small combo songs, some modern poptype songs,” said upper school jazz teacher Shawn Costantino. “It was a pretty diverse set list.” Costantino, English teacher Adam Howard, dance teacher Carrie Green and an Oakwood music teacher accompanied the students on the trip. “This was the first jazz-only trip to Europe. We’ve had many trips over there with performing arts related things, and we’ve been to Edinburgh many times, but this is the first instrumentalist trip,” Costantino said. The students chosen to go on the trip included the Jazz Explorers, the Advanced Jazz Combo, and a few from Studio Jazz. “This was my first time in Europe,” Alex Scharch ’11 said. “I really liked Brussels, and Belgium in general was just beautiful.” When they were not busy playing gigs, the group went sightseeing, most notably visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre in Paris, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and the Selmer Factory, a famous music manufacturer, in Paris. Holthouse and Austin Park ’10 agreed that Bruges was a highlight of the trip. “It was like a little medieval town in the middle of modern Europe,” Park said. Some students regretted not having enough time to go to exhibits and museums they wanted to see. “If some of us knew the language we might have been able to explore more authentic places,” Max Simchowitz ’10 said. “One or two people spoke French, but often when they tried to speak French in Paris, the people would hear the American accent and switch to English, which [the students] found kind of insulting.” Although some students felt that speaking the local language would have been beneficial, the language did not matter when it came to playing jazz.
May
1
Spring Jazz Concert
Time: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Where: Rugby Auditorium
May
23
Show at Vibrato jazz club
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Where: 2930 Beverly Glen Circle
June
8
Show at Catalina jazz club
Time: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Where: 6725 West Sunset Blvd.
Chamber Singers, Vocal Ensemble win 1st place at national choral festivals By Megan Kawasaki
Both Chamber Singers and the Vocal Ensemble have won first place at major singing contests. Chamber Singers won first place at the National Invitational Choral Festival after making their first ever appearance at the festival. Bel Canto and the Wolverine Chorus also went to New York to perform for five days in April. The Middle School Vocal Ensemble earned a gold medal and won first place in the Women’s Choir division at the Heritage Music Festival in San Diego; it has been invited to participate in the National Youth Choir Festival at Carnegie Hall in 2011 as well as the National Invitational Choral Festival. “We were all proud of ourselves, and we were so excited,” Karen Kim ’12 said. “All of us were above the 90th percentile in the nation, and we worked so hard for it.” This is the first year that a Harvard-Westlake choir has been invited to a National Festival of Gold event, a program in which 33 choirs and over 1,000 students participate. The three ensembles performed so well at various regional festivals that all three classes were chosen to compete in the event. Bel Canto and the Wolverine Chorus merited an invitation based on their performances at a Heritage Regional Festival in Anaheim in 2009.
Graphic by Matthew Lee
Future Jazz Events
Eurotrip: Students and faculty pose in front of the Eiffel Tower (top). Chris Freedman ’12, Noah Weinman ‘12, and Jake Chapman ‘12 dine at a restaurant in Brussels (middle). Max Simchowitz ’10 and Austin Park ’10 perform with a European musician at a jazz club in Amsterdam (bottom). Graphic by Matthew Lee and Ingrid Chang
Both choirs placed in the 96th percentile, according to national standards. These Festivals of Gold branch from the Elite Performance Series of the Heritage Festivals, and they are only open by invitation for choirs that have garnered a Gold or Superior rating in previous festivals by the performance judges. Heritage Festivals was established in 1980 by music teachers and educational professionals who wanted to provide schools with a multitude Courtesy of Kelsey Woo ‘11 of performance opportunities. champion singers: Chamber Singers perform at St. Bartholomew’s The choirs performed at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New Church in New York City, winning first place in a national choral festival. York City for three days from April 9 to April 11. selected and performing, in addition to having a In addition to their performances, choir members phenomenal time in New York, would have sufficed attended recreational activities such as the Broadway for us. Trophies and awards are secondary.” musical “Hair” at the Al Hirschfeld Theater and Chamber Singers were recognized for their dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. accomplishments at Champions Day, a special event “This is a first ever appearance at the National to celebrate sports teams and other school groups for Festival of Gold for any Harvard-Westlake ensemble,” their performances in competitions, last Wednesday choir director Rodger Guerrero said. “Just being in the student lounge.
B12 Features
The
C hronicle
April 28, 2010
arts&entertainment
Pencil and colored pencil on illustration board by Jacqi Lee ’10
Watercolor paint Kronstadt ’10
on
paper
by
Nicola
Finishing Touches AP Studio Art and Drawing & Painting III students showcase concentrations from their bodies of work.
By Joyce Kim
Oil paint on canvas by Caroline Hartig ’10
The Senior Art Show, which features all seniors in Advanced Drawing and Painting III and AP Studio Art, opened Monday in FeldmanHorn Gallery. Each artist had to decide on a concentration or theme to tie their pieces together throughout the entire year. The show is a culmination of the seniors’ bodies of work. “The seniors show mostly their concentrations, sometimes adding pieces they did previous to their concentration in the show,” painter Caroline Hartig ’10 said. “My concentration is titled ‘Inner Portraits’, and I painted my friends, family and myself. I chose it because I love portraiture, and there was so much I could say about each person.” Emma Weinman ’10, an AP Studio Art student, chose “Frame of Mind” as her theme.
Acrylic paint on canvas by Alex Mao ’10
“I’ve always been really interested in portraiture and the inherent expressiveness of a face and wanted to explore that, so I used the people I know best, family and friends, and tried to show who they are to me through their portraits,” she said. “I put them all in different ‘frames’ as if they were hanging in someone’s living room.” Drawing and Painting III student Olivia Van Iderstine ’10 is showing pieces centered on a circus theme. “[The theme] began when Visual Arts teacher Marianne Hall learned that I performed in a circus over the summer,” she said. “I used circus as a visual metaphor and explored how life is a circus of fear, pride, relationships, et cetera.” Each artist in Drawing and Painting III is required to finish six pieces by the end of the year, while each artist in AP Studio Art is required to complete 12.
Oil paint on illustration board by Charlie Fogarty ’10
Acrylic and oil paint on illustration board by Riley Mate ’10
all photos by Ingrid Chang/Chronicle
sports The
Harvard-Westlake School
Chronicle
Volume XIX
Issue 7 April 28, 2010
Hearlihy wins Coach of Year After 10 years coaching as a Wolverine, Hearlihy led the girls’ basketball team to its first state title program history.
By Alex Edel
Jack Davis/chronicle
getting under the tag: Center fielder Austin Wilson ’10 avoids a pick off tag in a tournament game against St. Paul’s. The Wolverines beat St. Francis 7-5 as Wilson went 2-3 with two singles.
Baseball sweeps Notre Dame, closes in on playoff berth By Jack Davis
After another dramatic come-from-behind win in a season full of them, the varsity baseball team is closing in on the playoffs after a two-year drought. The boys started out strong in league play early with a six-run-come-from-behind win over Alemany in the first league series of the year. That win improved the boys’ league record to 1-1. However, the squad was swept in their next series against Chaminade. The Chaminade sweep left the Wolverines with a 1-3 league record and out of the playoff picture. The top three teams in the six-team Mission League qualify for the playoffs. But the squad bounced backed quickly by taking advantage of non-league opponents. The team beat Long Beach Millikan 8-6 in the Redondo Beach Tournament, setting off a run in which the team won six of their next seven games, all against non-league competition. “The quality of baseball in the Mission League is truly incredible,” catcher Andrew Shanfeld ’10 said. “Since over the last few years we have become accustomed to playing against such top level competition, we always feel very confident when we are playing games outside our league,” Shanfeld said. The Wolverines’ strong play outside of the Mission League allowed the team to start firing on all cylinders as league play resumed with rival Notre Dame. The squad started out the Notre Dame series strong with another come-from-behind win, working their way from an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Fighting Irish 9-6. The game featured aggresive play from both sides and small on-field skirmishes. “It was pretty intense,” outfielder Oliver Lowry ’10 said. “There was a lot of chirping going on and it was pretty physical on the field, a lot of hard slides
and stuff like that. But our team has a fearless attitude.” After edging out Notre Dame in the first match, the Wolverines blew out their rival in the second game, winning 13-0 as third baseman Jordan Orringer ’11 hit a grand slam and Austin Kamel ’12 threw a complete game shutout to power the Wolverines. The sweep moved the Wolverines’ league record to 3-3, setting up a crucial series with St. Francis. In the first game of the two-game set, St. Francis jumped out to a 6-0 lead after five innings, leaving the Wolverines only two innings to try and right the ship. “We were just playing awful,” Lowry said. But as poorly as the Wolverines played for the first five innings, they were able to quickly turn it around in the sixth. The first two hitters in the inning walked, the next batter singled and the rally was on. The Wolverines scored seven runs in the inning, pulling off a dramatic 7-6 victory that moved their league record above 500 for the first time all year. “This team just has that belief,” Shanfeld said. “No matter the deficit we have that feeling we can pull out any game and that has been on display this year.” However, the Wolverines were edged out by St. Francis the next day 8-7, bringing their league record to 4-4. The Wolverines started a series with Loyola yesterday, the results of which were not available as of press time. The team has another game against Loyola tomorrow. The Wolverines end their season with a series against current Mission League leader Crespi. If the team wins three of their final four remaining league games, they will qualify for the playoffs. “Playoffs is the goal, anything less is unacceptable,” Shanfeld said.
In her 25th year of coaching, Melissa Hearlihy’s girls’ basketball team snagged the school’s first state basketball title, and Hearlihy was named state Coach of the Year. Hearlihy started her career directly out of University of San Francisco where she played basketNathanson ’s/chronicle ball. She started out as an assistant coach at Alemany High School and Melissa Hearlihy within a year became head coach at the age of 23. While working on her master’s degree in education, Hearlihy continued to coach and teach at Alemany. After 15 years of coaching there and before the birth of her second child, Hearlihy started coaching at Harvard-Westlake. “I saw it as a wonderful opportunity,” Hearlihy said. “It offers many different things from what Alemany offered. I also had kids coming up. I mean I had one already and one on the way and having the opportunity for them to possibly be Harvard-Westlake students, I felt was something that was very important.” After coaching for 15 years at one place, HarvardWestlake was a change of pace for Hearlihy. She said that adjusting to the more rigorous academics was the main change. “I am more sensitive to what their schedule is,” Hearlihy said. “At Alemany I taught and understood, but they weren’t going home and doing four hours of homework. Plus, kids here don’t just play basketball. They do other things whether they are writing for the Chronicle, or playing for the jazz band. You have to be a little more sensitive to the fact that these kids are much more well-rounded.” This season her team lost only one game, against the number one nationally-ranked team, Mater Dei, and had a 30-game winning streak culminating in a 14 point win over St. Mary’s in the state finals. Last year, the team also won CIF, but lost in the quarterfinals of state. In her 25 years of coaching Hearlihy has coached 553 games, putting her in the top 10 of all-time career wins by ESPN RISE Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book & Almanac. She was also named by ESPN RISE as the 2010 Div. IV state coach of the year. Along with See HEARLIHY, C7
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Olympians and longtime friends coach track team
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Girls’ basketball brings home first state title
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Backtalk with runner Matthew Bedford ’10
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Teachers run, prepare for future marathons By Lauren Choi
and
Sammy Roth
Chemistry teacher Krista McClain is an ambitious runner. She runs five days a week on average, and every day is a different workout. When she is in good shape she runs three to six miles during the week and eight to 12 miles on weekends. “I only run outdoors. I hate treadmills,” McClain said. Running outdoors gives her time to be alone in her head, she said. She got into running through her father, who has run over 15 marathons and received many cross country and track scholarships that helped pay for his college tuition. The two ran and participated in races together. It was a great opportunity for bonding, especially since McClain is the oldest of five children. Running was also a good way for her to cross-train for soccer, which she called her “first love,” and cheerleading. So far, she has trained for the Orlando and Chicago marathons, but didn’t get the opportunity to run them. She plans on running one in the near future, but in the meantime she has run many halfmarathons and a few triathlons in the Midwest. Math teacher Bill Thill is a more recent convert to the sport. He ran the Los Angeles Marathon after he joined a running group called the AIDS marathon training program, which fundraises for AIDS Project Los Angeles. “I felt that the money was going to have a serious impact,” Thill said. “It was literally going to save lives.” For six months they took long runs at the Santa Monica beach and ran on their own twice a week for 30 to 45 minutes. “I have a tendency of going for these big projects,” he said. The program is what really got him started. He wasn’t a runner, but rather a swimmer in high school. He said he may run another marathon but only if it was for fundraising. Science teacher Christopher Dartt has been a regular runner for several years. After almost a year of training, Dartt caught the flu two days
before the 2003 Los Angeles Marathon. Afflicted by laryngitis and a fever, he knew he was in no condition to run 26.2 miles. He ran anyway. He finished in four hours and 50 minutes, half an hour longer than his goal. “It seemed like all of my effort for training for all of these months would just go down the toilet if I didn’t at least try the marathon, even though I was sick as a dog,” he said. Dartt has run three marathons during the last two years. He trains by running about 40 miles per week with his wife Cheryl. “[Running] is a good stress relief, which I never would have believed before I had started running,” Dartt said. Dartt first ran regularly as an undergraduate student at Princeton University. “In high school I was on the basketball team but I was horrible,” he said. “I was on the baseball team but I couldn’t hit a curve ball. Running seemed like a way that I could stay in shape and it didn’t matter if I was any good at it.” Dartt continued running casually while attending graduate school at the California Institute of Technology. But after receiving his Ph.D. and getting a job doing chemical research for Chevron Corporation, Dartt did not have time to keep up his running. By 2002, Dartt had left Chevron and was working for Insert Therapeutics, a small cancer research company started by his former faculty adviser at CIT. That’s when his wife Cheryl suggested that the two of them run the L.A. Marathon. Dartt agreed to give it a shot. Despite his disappointing time in that marathon, Dartt decided to keep running, and he began training for more marathons when he started teaching at Harvard-Westlake in 2004. He has run with his wife on a daily basis ever since, and his best marathon time is now three hours and 51 minutes. But his love of running is not the only reason he keeps doing it, he said. “[Cheryl] works even far longer hours at work than I do,” Dartt said. “So [running] allows us to carve out some time each night when we see each other, and we can do the same sport together and spend time together.”
Dynamic duo By Justine Goode
and
CourTesy of Bill Thill
Thillathon: Math teacher Bill Thill crosses Robertson Boulevard in the Los Angeles Marathon on March 21.
CourTesy of Christopher Dartt
Dartting to the finish: Science teacher Cristopher Dartt runs in the 2008 Napa Valley Marathon.
Olympic gold medalists Quincy Watts and Joanna Hayes join forces to guide the Wolverine track team.
Meagan Wang
Track practice is just ending. A slight breeze gently stirs the thick, warm air as the last few runners finish their cool down laps. Coach Joanna Hayes leans over the rail to give advice to one of her hurdlers as fellow coach Quincy Watts yells after one of his 400 meter runners to swing their arms. Both coaches have enjoyed successful athletic careers, winning multiple Olympic and World Championship medals, but it is ultimately their distinctive personalities that have won them the respect and affection of their athletes. Watts and Hayes are known for bringing intensity and focus to their workouts, but are equally famous for their trademark humor. Both coaches have been involved in sports from a young age. Hayes began running at age nine and knew by age 12 that she wanted to go to the Olympics. When she was 18, she started running on the track team at UCLA, where she first met Watts. “I was in love with Quincy. But you grow up and you get smart, and you don’t anymore,” Hayes joked. Watts said he got into sports “a little late,” beginning running at age 12. However, he went on to play basketball and football in high school, and became a wide receiver at USC. Despite being an Olympic gold medalist in track, Watts says that his favorite sport is still basketball. “But he sucks at it,” teased Hayes. “He likes it, but he’s not that good at it.” “You’re not to answer the questions
From dyligences.be
From bbc.co.uk
Barcelona ’92: Watts won gold in the 400m and the 4x400m relay.
Athens: Hayes jumps in her record setting 100m olympic hurdle race.
for me!” Watts said indignantly. Turning away from Hayes, Watts switched tones and began to recall his Olympic experience. “I can still remember standing on the podium and all I did was kind of basically reflect on my whole life,” he said. Watts won the gold medal in the 400 meter and 4x400m relay at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, also setting an Olympic record. Hayes then reminded Watts that they have something in common—she also set an Olympic record for the 100m hurdle race at the 2004 Olympics. “Except mine still stands,” she
taunted. Watts had his medals stolen shortly after he received them and now keeps them in a bank vault. “They said the guys kind of looked like you,” teased Watts as Hayes rolls her eyes. “Mine are in my closet,” she remarked. In addition to coaching, both Watts and Hayes give back to the community in several different ways. Watts is very conscious of the “youth of America,” a phrase he repeated frequently (“You keep saying the ‘youth of America’ like it’s some kind of club,” commented Hayes) and he helps to fight childhood obesity. He is currently
involved in the Kids Fitness Challenge, encouraging kids and their families to exercise. Watts is also an entreptrenuer—he co-owns Neo-tone Apparel, a clothing line geared towards injury prevention, along with former Harvard-Westlake track coach Johnny Gray. Watts is also involved with the clothing line Fandomwear. When asked about it, his eyes immediately lit up. “Oh yeah, Fandomwear!” he yelled excitedly, before adding in his best salesman’s voice, “It’s a new line, having fun with crazy jerseys. Fandomwear is there for everybody.” Hayes added that she has her own nonprofit organization, the Joanna Hayes foundation, for children living in challenging situations. In addition to helping her community, Hayes emcees for various track and field meets. “And she’s also performing at LA Live in comedy, she’s opening up for Steve Harvey,” Watts added. “No!” Hayes yelped immediately. “I think I’ve always been a coach, like when I was in high school and I would be warming up for my event, and I’d see a girl doing it wrong, like her drills, I would always try to help her out, even my competition,” Hayes said. “So as I got older I just started helping younger kids and I just really enjoy teaching.” “Whether I’m helping out in basketball, whether I’m helping out on the track, I love coaching, it’s what I was born to do, you know?” Watts said. “I love being an entrepreneur, but aside from that, I love at 2 p.m coming out and giving my time.”
April 28, 2010
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David Siegel
on ball defense: Hilary King ’11 tries to prevent a St. Marys of Albany player from driving to the basket in the Wolverines victorious state title game.
Girls’ basketball wins state championship By Alex Edel
With 30 seconds left in the game, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the girls’ basketball team had finally grasped the state championship title. The Wolverine’s second string was put into the game and the team prepared to receive the title which had been their goal for the last four years. In the final game of this season, the Wolverines beat out St. Mary’s 58-44 to capture the state championship. “There was a lot of hype regarding the crowds because St. Mary’s canceled school for the day and brought their entire student body down to Bakersfield, but our fans still out-cheered them,” Nicole Hung ’10 said. “After we got out to a comfortable lead, the mood became much more relaxed and we just enjoyed the final minutes that we had playing together.” The team won 30 games in a row, losing only once the entire season. The loss was to Mater Dei, a team ranked number one in the country by maxpreps.com. On the road to the state finals, the team beat Bell Jeff, St. Joseph, and Bishop Montgomery. “Four years of blood, sweat, and tears - literally - finally paid off,” Hung said. After losing the tip and four quick points to St. Mary’s, the girls’ were down 4-0 within the first 20 seconds of the game. That could have seen that as a bad sign, but head coach Melissa
Hearlihy had a different idea. “I looked at my assistant coach Sam and said ‘it’s over’. And she looked at me and I said, ‘It’s over for them.’ I could tell that once the game became a flow and it became our flow that we were going to win the game,” Hearlihy said. “Were we going to play a half court game with them or were we going to get down the court and play our game? I felt that our girls really had the confidence to play our game and that was the difference.” The team celebrated their victorious season during the Champions Day assembly. The team walked through the Chalmers lounge while “We are the Champions” played through the speakers and confetti was thrown in the girls’ hair. “I think the parade was incredible to put some, I don’t want to say closure because it has a negative connotation; I think at least it helps us celebrate,” Hearlihy said. “That was really nice, but once I think we have the banquet then we will actually have the ultimate sense of accomplishment.” What was once a senior-less team has now become a senior heavy team. “I feel very confident with the returners that we will have a very good defensive team, but I don’t know what kind of offensive team we will have,” Hearlihy said. “I think it’s going to have to be everybody. That’s what it had to be this year. No one kid can shoulder all of the responsibility.”
David Siegel
syd the kid: Forward Sydney Haydel ’10 drives down the court against a defender from St. Marys of Albany during the state championship game.
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Girls’ track undefeated so far, boys battle injuries By Jonah Rosenbaum
Courtesy of Roger On
fighting for position: Hank Adelmann ’11 maintains his lead against an Oaks Christian runner in a Tri-County Invitational race.
The girls’ track and field team currently has an undefeated record including a first place finish at the prestigious Mt. Sac invitational. The team features two relay teams ranked in the top five nationally, and has also broken ten school records so far this year. The team consists of Jenny Porter ’10, Cami Chapus ’12, Lauren Hansson ’11 and Amy Weissenbach ’12. “This season has been amazing so far. It started out in practice with everyone training as hard as they possibly could and it has translated to success during meets,” Bridget Golob ’10 said. “A lot of the girls on the track team were part of the cross country team that won the state championship so we know how that feels,” Golob said. “It is definitely out there that this team can challenge for a CIF and state title, so that is our goal going forward.” The league preliminaries for both the boys and girls teams are on Mon. May 3, the finals are on Thurs. May 6, and CIF preliminaries for both teams begin on May 15. Despite injuries to six distance runners, the boys’ track and field team finished the regular season with a record of 4-2. “Con-
sidering what we went through and all the adjustments we have been forced to make, we have done some pretty good, impressive things,” Abergel said. “We did not let the injuries distract us or get us down, we just kept working really hard, stayed focused and it’s resulted in a successful season so far,” Abergel said. The team also had to adapt to a new assistant coach in Tim Sharpe, who after guiding the girls’ cross country team to a state title earlier this year, joined the coaching staff of the boys’ and girls’ track teams. “Coach Sharpe has been great. It really has not been much of an adjustment for a lot of us since he coached us in cross country, plus he also coached at HarvardWestlake a few years ago,” Abergel said. “He knows how everything works at the school and he has done a great job helping us cope with all the injuries and improve every day in practice and run our best in meets.” With the team finally back to full strength, Abergel has high expectations for the remainder of the season. “Now that were finally close to being completely healthy I think we can be really competitive for the remainder of the season and for CIF,” Abergel said. “We have a lot of runners who have a chance to qualify for CIF.”
Boys need strong finish to qualify for playoffs By Austin Block
The boys’ golf team will end its season tomorrow with a home match against Loyola, with whom the team shared the league championship last year. The team played Loyola yesterday after press time. After beginning the league season 1-3, the team won back to back matches against Alemany, shooting a season-low 184 in the first of the two wins. From there, the season took a strange turn. The team squared off against St. Francis twice on back to back days and both times the teams’ top five scores added up to the same total. The Wolverines won the first match on the strength of its sixth score but lost the second in the same fashion. Head Coach Scott Wood said he had never seen that happen before. “It was exciting to say the least,” he said. The team, which doesn’t normally have team pratices, has had a few practices recently to prepare for the Loyola matches. “It’s our big rival, but we’re having more team practices, which really do a lot,” Ernie Zaferis ’11 said. “[We’re] just trying to treat every match leading up to that like it’s playoffs. We can’t do anything unless we win that match, and [we’re] just trying to have the right mind going into it.” More recently, the team split its two game series with Chaminade, losing the first match on April 20
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by 9 shots but winning its home match two days later by four. “I thought we showed heart to come back and beat Chaminade at home after losing handily at their place,” Wood said. “The guys stepped up and earned a win.” Wood said the team’s consistency has improved over the course of the season. The team also competed in the Champion’s Invitational in Palm Springs on April 9 and 10 and finished 13th in a 28-team field. Team Captain Jeff Wibawa ’10, ranked as the 5th best junior player in the nation by the Polo Golf Rankings, and Charlie Benell ’12 finished in the top 20 individually. “We have a really young team and we started off a little rough but we’re coming together now,” Zaferis said. “Every week somebody has a good round. It’s kind of fueling the energy of the team and keeping us going. We’re getting close to being ready for playoffs.” The team is currently in 5th in league behind Chaminade, Loyola, St. Francis, and Notre Dame. League Finals are on May 5 and 6. As of press time, the Wolverines still had a chance at making the playoffs, though if St. Francis beat Chaminade yesterday they are shut out of the playoffs. “A lot of the teams have gotten stronger and been improving,” Zaferis said. “I think with the team we have now we have just as good a shot as anyone else. Week by week we’re getting better at bonding as a team. It should be a good fight.”
Alex Leichenger/chronicle
Breathe in: Marissa Berger ’10 takes a breath while competing in the 500 yard freestyle during the team’s meet against Alemany. Both the girls’ and boys’ teams won the meet.
Girls’ swimming wins league, boys finish with one league loss By Jonah Rosenbaum
After a loss to Notre Dame, the girls’ swimming team bounced back to defeat Alemany and claim a share of the Mission League title. “We did not expect to lose to Notre Dame,” Allison Merz ’10 said. “They were a lot stronger and deeper than we expected but it was really exciting the way we bounced back to beat Alemany. To win league and beat a great team like Alemany validates all the hard work that the team as put in this year.” The girls’ league preliminaries are this Friday, marking the final chance swimmers have to qualify for the upcoming CIF vmeet. “We have a lot of people who still have a really good chance to qualify,” Merz said. “All three relay teams should get in and
we have some individual swimmers who are really close.” After defeating Alemany 109-61, the boys’ swimming team finished league competition with a record of 5-1, (7-2 overall). “Winning all of our meets with the exception of Loyola was a really good accomplishment,” Danny Fujinaka ’10 said. “Loyola is an amazing team and there was really nothing that we could have done differently. Other than that, our biggest match was against Crespi and we won that by 12 points.” The boys’ league preliminaries are this Saturday, with CIF competition beginning the following week. “Individually I would like to make the finals in all my individual and relay events. For the team, I’d like to just see as many people qualify and compete in CIF as possible,” Fujinaka said.
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Boys’ tennis remains undefeated in league By Austin Block
With an undefeated league record, the boys’ tennis team is closing in on the Mission League title. The team was 7-0 in league and 16-4 overall before yesterday’s league match against Crespi, which took place after press time. Prior to the game, the team’s league win streak was over 100 games long. The team finished fourth in the Dana Hills Tournament. The team lost narrowly on games in the semifinals to the top seeded team and then fell again in the match for third place. Besides those two losses, the Wolverines have only fallen to perennial powerhouses Peninsula and Santa Barbara, both of whom defeated the Wolverines last year as well. Since the loss to Santa Barbara, the team has won six in a row, including four league victories. The team has beaten each of its league opponents at least once. A few of the players also competed in the prestigious Ojai Tournament, which began April 20. The tournament’s website says that its history stretches back to the late 1800s. Famous tennis players Jack Kramer, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, Jimmy Connors, Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport, and the Bryan brothers have all played in this tournament. Chris Kenney ’10 and Matt Wagner ’11 played as a doubles team and made it to the quarterfinals in the Boys CIF Division. Jackson Frons ’12 played singles and lost in the second round in the same division. Alums Ryan Thacher ’08 and Hillary Barte
’07, who both play for Stanford, played in the Pac-10 Championships part of the tournament. Thacher lost in the semifinals and Barte made it to the finals in both doubles and singles. The team won the Bay Area Classic for the fourth time by beating Santa Monica 11-7 on April 14, after defeating Mira Costa 10-8 and Palisades 12-6 earlier in the season. The team’s biggest upcoming matchup will be against Brentwood. “We’re definitely rivals and winning this will help us get a good seed for CIF, so it’s a big match,” Jamie West ’12 said. “We’re going to try a few different doubles formulas,” Head Coach Chris Simpson said. The team concludes its regular season on May 3 against Chaminade. “I think we’re a talented team. We have everything we need to win,” doubles player Spencer Suk ’10 said. “We just need to focus and make sure we consistently give a strong effort and hope for the best.” Last year, the Wolverines reached the semifinals of CIF before falling to University 13-5. “We have really good camaraderie and we get along well and I think we can make it pretty far in CIF,” West said. If the Wolverines reach the finals of CIF this year, they could meet University again. “They’re really good this year,” West said. If we’re doing really well in CIF we might have a shot but they’re a strong team this year.” “It’s really up in the air,” Suk said. “I think there are a handful of teams that are just as good as us, so on any given day, any team could win.”
Austin Block/chronicle
ground strokes: Harrison Kalt ’13 hits a backhand while warming up for the match against Palisades High School.
Boys’ volleyball falls to rival Loyola By Judd Liebman
Alec Caso/chronicle
toss up: Jacob Witten ’10 serves in a match against Alemany April 20.
After having their three-game winning streak snapped by rival Loyola on April 22, the boys’ volleyball team looks to bounce back and not only to make the playoffs, but also reach the advanced rounds. “We’ll definitely make the playoffs. That will be reaching our main goal, but how far we get through playoffs depends on who we play. The end of the season is bound to be good,” Captain Ryan Plueger ’10 said. The boys’ volleyball team goes into the end of their season with a 10-7 overall record and 6-3 league record. The team’s strong record is a direct result of hard work on the court, setter Stephen Carr ’12 said. The end of the season is going to bring wins for the squad against some pretty tough teams, Carr said. The team has gone on three separate threegame winning streaks, along with one three-game losing streak. “As the season progresses, our re-
Softball to battle series of league opponents By Alec Caso The girls’ softball team has an overall record of 6-10. The Wolverines ended their season last year with an overall record of 11-13 and a season record of 3-7. This year the team has played three league games with a record of 1-2. The Wolverines’ first league game was a close loss to Chaminade, 1-2. In their second game, however, the team scored a crushing 23-1 victory over Louisvill. In addition to its league games, the team has participated in two tournaments, the Lancaster High Desert Tournament and the Charter Oak Tournament. In the Lancaster
High Desert Tournament the team had two wins and two losses winning its first and last games. In the more recent Charter Oak Tournament, over the weekend of April 17, the team had three loses and one win. After losing their first two games to Charter Oak and Saint Lucy, the team beat Monrovia 5-1. The team lost its final game to Ontario Christian 6-4. “We have a chance for CIF if we focus,” catcher Emilia Louy ’11 said. The team played a 3:45 p.m. league game yesterday against Flintridge at Los Angeles Valley College. The team will play its next league game against Chaminade tomorrow at 3:45 p.m. also at Los Angeles Valley College.
cord will improve with wins against our rivals,” he said. The team’s performance is very similar to its 2009 season. The team had a 8-4 league record last year along with a 15-9-2 overall record. That the team has only had trouble with Loyola and Crespi means it is a big force in its league, Carr said. A lot of the team’s success is due to their team chemistry and talent. The players work to overcome the team’s weaknesses by playing smart and knowing the game. “We know and understand our individual roles and play smart volleyball while on the court,” Josh Schwartz ’11 said. “A strength of the team is our big hitters,” he said. “Our height really makes for an effective offense, as well as providing really strong defensive block.” The team has been practicing five days a week by watching film to learn about their opponents, practicing drills that mimic games, and improv-
ing their fundamentals and physical strength. “The coaching staff is great at helping us with any aspects of the game that we need to work on,” Carr said. “All of our coaches have really helped the players to reach their potential by working with them individually in practice.” Some of the team’s losses can be attributed to injuries that it had to work through, Carr said. Starting libero Matthew Goldhaber ’11 suffered a fracture in his spine before the first game of the season. “He is a really skilled libero and our team looks forward to his complete recovery,” Carr said. The return of Goldhaber could help boost the team down its final stretch of games. The team won two close games against Oaks Christian and Alemany, both of which went to five games. “They were both good opportunities to show our mental toughness and resilience,” Schwartz said.
C6 Sports
The
Lacrosse nears league title
C hronicle
April 28, 2010
chronicle.hw.com
By Alex Leichenger
A one-goal loss to Loyola was the boys’ lacrosse team’s only defeat in the last month. The team defeated Crespi 8-6 Saturday to win for the 10th time in 11 games through Monday. The 10-3 Wolverines played at Chaminade last night after press time. The Wolverines’ wins have been close, a 10-5 win over Peninsula April 17 being the most lopsided since a 17-0 rout of Viewpoint March 16. The team won three straight games in March and April by a combined four goals. Head Coach Mark Haddad is pleased with the team’s balance and depth. “Consistently, every game, we have five to eight kids who are scoring points,” Haddad said. “We have a lot more kids contributing, kids that we never thought would be contributing.” Offensive Coordinator Jared Little said players like midfielders Alex Herrarte ’10 and Spencer Ward ’11, who “can take the ball from defense to offense,” have provided the team with a dimension that was missing last season. Little said the Wolverines are scoring two to four points per game off transition because of these players’ versatility. Little emphasized the significance of Herrarte’s six groundballs, which ties him for second on the team with Joey Edwards ’10 and Will Oliver ’11. A groundball is when a player picks up a loose ball on the field. Although they are playing “a lot more controlled lacrosse” than they were at the beginning of the season, the Wolverines still need to cut down on turn-
Alex Leichenger/chronicle
On the attack: Daniel Edelstein ’11 carries the ball upfield in a game against Oaks Christian April 20. The Wolverines won the game 13-9, for their ninth victory in 10 games. The team’s record was 10-3 at press time. overs, Haddad said. And the loss to Loyola, a game the Wolverines were favored to win, has kept the squad grounded despite its multitude of victories, Little said. “Those were games we should have had,” he said. “And when you don’t get those, it’s a good lesson in humility.” The team has been hit with a slew of minor injuries in recent weeks, including shin splints and sore necks, backs and knees. But player depth and resourcefulness by the coaching staff have prevented a drop-off in performance as adjustments to the lineup have been made, Haddad said.
JVRoundup
Midfielder Conor O’Toole ’10, who leads the team with 45 points and 11 groundballs, was held out of the Peninsula game in order to be fresh for the playoffs. “He’s a workhorse,” Haddad said. “And when a workhorse does a lot of work, it needs some rest, otherwise it’s going to break down.” Goalie Barrett Meister ’10 said the team should be able to make a playoff run if it improves two of its aspects. “What we need to work on is moving the ball on offense, which we did a great a job of last game,” Meister said. “And...we need to work on fastbreak defense.”
Alex Leichenger/chronicle
Courtesy of Roger on
Alex Leichenger/chronicle
eYES ON THE PRIZES: Justin Berman ’13 chases his opponents during the Tri-County Invitational on March 13 at Moorpark High School. Natalie Markiles ’13 swims the butterfly during the JV girls’ swimming team’s 91-63 home victory against Alemany. Chase Klein ’13 strikes the ball on a serve.
Boys’ golf The JV boys’ golf team, which currently has a losing record, has two games remaining in its season. The team’s record is 2-4. It won against Loyola by ten shots, 208-218. “It was kind of a building year,” Parker Thomas ’12 said. “It was tough to get consistency going.” The team’s closest loss was to Notre Dame High School. They have lost two games with a score difference of 10 or more against Westlake and Chaminade. The team’s first match against Loyola was a loss with a shot difference of nine. “I think everyone did their best. Everyone definitely had one day where they played well,” Thomas said. —David Kolin
Lacrosse After a stretch during which the JV lacrosse team lost six out of eight games, the team rebounded with a strong 14-3 win against Peninsula and a close 5-6 loss against Crespi. Overall, the team’s record is 4-6-1. “We want to pick up the next couple of wins, and finish the season strong,” JV team captain Connor Pasich ’12 said. The losing stretch included two losses at Loyola and a 7-5 win against Chaminade. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement in a lot of the team, we’re really getting better on basic stuff,” Pasich said.
The team will play its final game against Thatcher at home on Saturday. The team played Chaminade yesterday after press time. —David Gobel
Baseball Nearing the end of its’ season, the JV boys’ baseball team has a good chance of winning league, starting pitcher Alex Rand-Lewis ’12 said. With a league record of 4-3, the team needs a few more wins to reach their goal of winning Mission League, he said. “We’re over .500, which is much improved from last year,” Rand-Lewis said. “The start of the season was a little rough, but we have hit our stride and have a good chance at league.” The team has a 13-6-1 overall record. “We’re all friends off the field. Whenever anyone makes a mistake, the rest of the guys pull him up and encourage him to do better,” he said. “The help we get from one another makes us all perform better.”
Santa Monica, 14-4, Loyola, 13-5,= and Beverly Hills, 14-4. The team defeated Notre Dame on April 26 and played Crespi yesterday after press time. The team is playing Brentwood today and will play St. Francis tomorrow. —Austin Lee and Tiffany Liao
Track and field The boys’ track and field team won their first league match in a 56-48 victory over Crespi, despite starting the season with two league losses against St. Francis and Alemany. The girls’ team remains undefeated in the Mission League after their most recent league match, when they defeated Louisville at home April 14, 80-44. The boys’ and girls’ teams will finish their season tomorrow at home against Loyola and Mayfield, respectively. The Mission League preliminaries will take place at Los Angeles Valley College Monday, May 3. The League finals will take place on the Thursday after.
—Judd Liebman
Boys’ tennis The JV boys’ tennis team has maintained their perfect record, with an overall record of 14-0 and a league record of 6-0. The team started the month with a complete victory over St. Francis, 180, which was followed by victories over
—Julius Pak
Swimming The JV swimming teams are heading into the end of their season, the boys with an overall record of 8-1 and a league record of 5-1, and the girls with an overall record of 6-3 and a league record of 5-1.
The boys’ team started the month with a league victory against Agoura, 91-63, which was followed by their first and only loss, against Loyola, 38-116. They came back from this loss with victories against Oaks Christian and Alemany. The girls’ team won all four of itsgames this month, defeating Agoura and continuing on with victories over Flintridge Sacred Heart, Oaks Christian and Alemany. Both teams are preparing for their upcoming league preliminaries, April 30 for the girls and May 1 for the boys. “I am very happy with our record this season,” Richard Polo ’12 said. “Everyone tried their best and gave it their all.” —Austin Lee
Boys’ volleyball After playing nine matches, the JV boys’ Volleyball team had an overall record of 7-4 and a league record of 6-3. The team lost to its toughest competitor Loyola two close games with scores of 25-21 and 25-20. “I thought we played well, we came with a lot of energy which rattled them a bit, but we just didn’t close it out when we had the chances” said Charlton Azouma ’12 said. The team played Notre Dame, whom they defeated in two games, yesterday after press time. In their first match up they beat Crespi in three games. They will play them again tomorrow as well.
—Chelsey Taylor-Vaughn
April 28, 2010
The
C hronicle
Sports C7
chronicle.hw.com
Athletes branch out to other interests After finishing their senior seasons, students train for college sports careers or just enjoy their new free time. By Austin Block, Jack Davis Alex Leichenger
AUstin Block/chronicle
Athlete turned Artist: Volleyball player Caroline Hartig ’10, who now paints for her AP Studio Art class after school, poses with her work
Alex Edel/chronicle
Chill time: Athletes Tennyson Turner ’10, Jordan Tolson ’10, A.J Hong ’10 and Erik Swoope ’10 hang out in the quad during a free period.
Three fencing teams claim league titles By Alex Leichenger
The foil, épée, and saber boys’ varsity A fencing teams all won the titles of their respective leagues. The foil team, consisting of three fencers, won its tournament March 6 at Victor Valley High School. The épée and saber teams won their league titles April 17 at Chaminade High School. The boys’ foil varsity team B, placed in second, and girls’ foil varsity team A placed third in its division. Several other Harvard-Westlake
teams competed in saber and épée. “We came together as a group and had really good team spirit in an individualistic sport,” varsity a foil team captain David Lehoang ’11 said. Varsity A Team saber fencer Spencer Koo ’10 saw few to no flaws in this year’s team. “We won pretty easily,” Koo said. Lehoang cautioned against letting the success affect the fencers’ work ethic. “We can’t get complacent,” Lehoang said.
Alum makes MLB debut for Detroit Tigers By Jack Davis
Brennan Boesch ’04 became the first of four Wolverines from the 2004 state runner-up baseball team to make the big leagues, making his Major League Baseball debut for the Detroit Tigers last Friday. Boesch did not disappoint, going 2-4 with a double while hitting in the fifth spot in the lineup. Boesch was called up when Tigers left fielder Carlos Guillen was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring, making room for a starting spot to Boesch. Boesch had been playing for the Tigers Triple-A affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens, where he hit .379 in just 15 games.
“It feels pretty good to walk in here and see my uniform,” Boesch told USA Today. “I really like him,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said to USA ToFrom mlive.com day. “I didn’t expect him to be Brennan Boesch ’04 here this soon but I think he’ll do well,” Leyland told USA today. At Harvard-Westlake, Boesch was picked as a pre-season All-American by Baseball America in his senior year. After Harvard-Westlake Boesch continued playing at University of California, Berkeley going to two college playoffs.
and
Alex Silverman ’10 was last seen in goal for boys’ soccer, leading his team to the CIF championship game. Before that, there was rarely a time Silverman could be seen far from a weight room or a soccer field, whether during the school season or not. In his four years on the varsity team at Harvard-Westlake, Silverman was never away from a soccer field for long. As soon as the season ended, Silverman would dedicate his time to his club team. But this year has been different, since Silverman was last on the field March 20 for the Senior All-Star game. “I hadn’t stopped playing in a couple of years, so there was kind of a void of doing nothing,” Silverman said. For Silverman and many fellow senior athletes who have completed their high school athletic careers, second semester is not only a time of less academic pressure, but athletic pressure as well. “I work out a couple times of week just because it’s a little weird going from training and working five to six times per week to not at all,” Silverman said. Since Silverman will try to walkon to the University of Pennsylvania’s varsity team next season, he plans to spend much of his summer playing in a summer league. Silverman says he had enjoyed the added time to spend with friends, but
he does miss playing alongside his fellow Wolverines. “It is really sad. I’ve had so many good memories and good experiences here,” he said. “I just miss those guys a lot. I miss the camaraderie.” Caroline Hartig ’10 played volleyball in the fall. Since the season ended, she has filled her time by painting for her AP Studio Art class. “AP Art really gets more intense starting November/December and that’s kind of when season was ending anyway, so it worked out pretty well,” Hartig said. She said she will not play varsity volleyball in college, though she might play club. She still plays casually with friends. For recruits like Nate Bulluck ’10, this offseason is like any other. Bulluck, a forward for the boys’ basketball team, has committed to continue his basketball career at Middlebury, a division III school. Bulluck is motivated to enter his new school playing the best basketball he ever has played. “I plan to outwork everyone,” Bulluck said. “I was never the star here at Harvard-Westlake and that helped teach me discipline, it made me always work harder. I want to be the star at Middlebury,” Bulluck said. Bulluck’s plans to get better have included taking 200 shots a day, working out with a private trainer five times a week, and even daily yoga classes. “Yoga might help the most,” Bulluck said. “The increase body control and flexibility I have help me so much out there on the court,” Bulluck said.
Hearlihy takes home top coach honors from HEARLIHY, C1 Along with the state coach of the year award, Hearlihy will also be walking away from this season with a league title, a regional title and a state championship. She said the coaching staff helped the team achieve is trust. Whether it was morning breakfasts at Roscoe’s to reading letters from the athlete’s parents aloud at the retreat, Hearlihy facilitates many different events throughout the year to create more trust between the members of the team. “We went to the press conference (after the championship game) and that’s something they continue to talk about because an integral part of the championship is the trust and togetherness the team has,” Hearlihy said. Hearlihy will have to help the team adjust after graduating more than half of their starting lineup this year. “We are losing a huge component of our team, but I feel very confident with the returners that we will have a very good defensive team, but I don’t know what kind of offensive team we will have, and that is the big question that I have,” Hearlihy said. Her role with the seniors is not only that of a coach but also that of a communicator between the players and college recruiters. Although most of the athletes exposure to college coaches come during the club season, Hearlihy helps by providing recomendations to coaches and also by helping the girls make their decisions. Hearlihy has coached three of this year’s star players to play college basketball. Nicole Hung ’10 will play at Princeton, Nicole Nesbit ’10 will play at University of Santa Barbara, and Sydney Haydel ’10 will be playing at the University of Hawaii in the fall.
DAvid Siegel
Focused: Hearlihy calls out instructions during the state title game.
onthe
chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com chronicle.hw.com • Erik Swoope ’10, Nate Bulluck ’10, and Mike Attanasio ’10 play in academic all star game
WEB
• Nicole Hung ’10 named Daily News Player of the Year all at chronicle.hw.com
C8 Sports
The
C hronicle
April 28, 2010
chronicle.hw.com
backtalk with Matthew Bedford School 400m record holder
By Ashley Khakshouri
Q A Q A
What do you do to prepare for each match mentally and physically? To prepare for each match I have my iPod and listen to some rap music. I warm up an hour before my race. I do about a mile to a mile and a half and then I’ll stretch for about 30 minutes or so, then I’ll do strides and quick sprints.
What are your strengths and what are some of your weaknesses?
Q A Q A Q A Q A
I have a lot of endurance and speed but I’m working on my power and keeping my form. My strengths would be my endurance and speed and in a race I usually have a slow start or it isn’t as good as I’d like it to be so I need to work on that. I need to work on my form and learn pace. How would you describe the team dynamics on and off the field? I practice 5-6 days a week. I’ll practice some Saturdays. You come out here and you work hard. We have our easy days and our hard days. From day to day our training changes depending on what our coaches want us to focus on. What is your most memorable moment running track and field? In the summer after junior year I did club track and qualified for the Junior Olympics in the 4x400 which is a mile relay race basically. It was really fun. Great learning experience and I look forward to going again this year. It was my second year so I learned a lot. How does it feel to be a record holder for the school and leader for the state this year? Feels pretty good. This year that was one of the records I wanted but I still have some work to do. I want to lower it. It’s not where I want it to be but it feels great. At least I know that the work that I’m putting in is paying off but I’m still working at it. So you have a reputation for being pretty intense in your training. Where does that come from or why is that? Last year I finished off my season getting last place at CIF Finals. I have to say that felt horrible so basically I went to my sprint coach, Coach Watts, after that season and I told him I wanted to get better. The season was done and school was over. I came back a week later and I continued training and I kept training until a week before school started. I did club track, I competed, I was working out five, six, seven days a week sometimes and I’d practice twice a day on occasion. Track started off as an activity, something that I do for fun. It went from that to being a lifestyle.
mark your calendar
May
Candice NAVI/chronicle
1 4 5 6 7
Boys’ Lacrosse vs. Thatcher
Saturday 5:30 p.m. Ted Slavin Field
Softball
vs. Louisville
Boys’ Tennis
“We will continue to practice the way we have been in order to come out with a victory over Louisville.”
—Emilia Louy ’11
Baseball
Thursday at 6 p.m. Taper Gymnasium
Friday at 3:45 p.m. Franklin Field
“They’re a tough team, and we are going to need to make sure that our defense is strong.” —Ryan Plueger ’10
“We’ve been building up to take on Crespi all year. It’s going to be tough, but we’ll be ready.” —Brandon Deere ’12
Individual League Finals Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. Los Angeles Valley College Weddington Golf and Tennis
“We’ve been practicing really hard and this will be a good measure as to how we will do in playoffs.” —Danny Marenzi ’11
Boys’ Volleyball
“It’s the playoffs, the chance for our best players to showcase their games against top competition.” —Kyle Martin-Patterson ’10
vs. Chaminade
vs. Crespi