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Harvard-Westlake School • North Hollywood, CA • Volume XIX • Issue 4 • Dec. 16, 2009 • chronicle.hw.com
Cross country girls run to state championship By Austin Block
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pRESIDENT sANTA: Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra (left) sits on the lap of President Thomas C. Hudnut, playing the role of Santa Claus, during the Winterfest during Monday break in Chalmers lounge.
Holiday cheer comes to Chalmers By Anna Etra
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Santa Claus came to Chalmers Lounge Monday as part of the the annual Winterfest festivities hosted by the Prefect Council and Social Committee. The celebrations included Christmas carols by the Chamber Singers, cookie decorating, hot cider, the opportunity to buy Wintergrams, pictures with Santa and a video display of holiday-themed movies. “I think it was successful this year,” Senior Prefect Aarti Rao who helped plan the event said. “I’m really grateful for the hard work everyone put into planning this.” Winterfest was supposed to include an all-senior Secret Santa gift exchange. However, it was cancelled when the Facebook event profile indicated that participants should choose to be listed as “naughty or nice.” The event was organized by senior Prefects Sylvia Gintowt-Gindick, Chase Morgan and Aarti Rao, as well as Emma Gilhuly ’10 and Heidi Chung ’10. Under the advice of their advisers, school chaplain Father J.
Young and Jordan Church, the administrators of the group cancelled the Facebook event. Church said that Secret Santa got shut down because although the naughty vs. nice was just a reference to holiday cheer, the prefects “didn’t realize the student body would misconstrue the intentions of the gift exchange.” “I assume they misconstrued it because I have heard from students that in years past, some kids in Peer Support had done a naughty gift exchange,” Church said. “This was supposed to be a community building holiday event but people misinterpreted it to being inappropriate.” Instead of continuing the event without any connection to naughty vs. nice, the “misconception was already out there, so the administrators of the group did not want to risk inappropriate activity being associated with senior prefect members,” Church said. Nevertheless, decorations will remain up for the rest of the week.
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Queen’s iconic “We are the Champions” blared through speakers set up in the lounge. Two pillars of red, white, and black balloons flanked the stage. School President Thomas C. Hudnut waited on the stage, students crowded the room, and the girls’ cross country team walked up to receive recognition for winning the school’s first state cross country title. Hudnut recognized the coaches, gave a short speech congratulating the students on their accomplishment and called out each of the nine players by name, including sophomore Cami Chapus ’12, who placed first overall in the state for Division IV, and Amy Weisenbach ’12, who placed fourth overall in the same division. Each player was given a lei and Jamba Juice and the cookies were served. The girls’ cross country team became state champions for the first time in school history on Saturday, Nov. 28. Coupled with the boys’ fifth place finish, the day quickly became, in the words of the head of the cross country program Jonas Koolsbergen, “the single greatest day for running in the school’s history.” “They have run in the dark and they have run up hills with no one watching and they have run in places that others of us only have nightmares about and they have excelled and they have done wondrously well,” Hudnut said of the state champions. “In cross country everybody counts. It is the ultimate team sport and so everybody up here has contributed to this great day and to a new state champion banner…being hung down in Taper.” The team won state at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday Nov. 28 after taking the CIF title on Nov. 21 and league title on Nov. 4. Chapus won the individual state title with a time of 17:59, a minute faster than her time from the state meet last year for which she individually qualified, and the 18th fastest girls’ time run that day for any division. Weissenbach followed in fourth place, running 18:24 and making Harvard-Westlake the only school to score two runners in the top 10. Lily Einstein ‘11 finished third for the team, passing several runners in the final stretch and coming in 32nd place at 19:26. Claudine Yee ‘10 (46th) and Yasmin Moreno ‘13 (66th) came through next, running 19:42 and 20:05 respectively and finishing off the team’s scoring. Nikki Goren ‘12 (70th) was next at 20:09 and Caitlin Yee ‘13 (78th) followed with 20:22, the first seventh runner to come through for any team by 35 places. The Wolverines’ team time of 1:35:36 became the fastest time ever run at the state meet by a Div. IV team.
Cyber-bullying policy stands despite ruling By Michelle Nosratian
A Beverly Hills school that suspended a middle school student for cyber-bullying violated her 1st Amendment rights, a Los Angeles federal court has ruled. The ruling addresses the question of whether school administrations can have jurisdiction over the verbal conduct of students outside of school. “To allow the school to cast this wide net and suspend a student simply because another student takes offense to their speech, without any evidence that such speech caused a substantial disruption of the school’s activities, runs afoul” of the law, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson wrote in his deci-
sion. “The court cannot uphold school discipline of student speech simply because young persons are unpredictable or immature, or because teenagers may often fight over hurtful comments,” he wrote. Harvard-Westlake’s policy, spelled out in the Student Parent Handbook, maintains that if a student makes a serious threat using school computers or makes negative comments about another student while identifying him or herself as a Harvard-Westlake student from their home computer, the school has the right to punish the student. “If someone is using hardware or software or networks supplied by the school, then it is an honor
code issue,” math teacher and Educational Technology Committee Chairman Jeff Snapp said. “It really doesn’t go back to whether it is a school computer or not, it goes back to who you want in your community, and as a private independent school, we have the opportunity to say who we want in our community,” Salamandra said. “I know public schools don’t have that opportunity but we do.” The administration has many ways of dealing with online transgressions, running the spectrum from a slap on the wrist to expulsion. “We over the years have evolved and changed things so that now online harassment is more strictly punishable,” he said.
Mary Rose Fissinger
INSIDE Questioning faith a common experience. Page B3 Jordan Freisleben
Video art adds cell phones to classics. Page A6
allan sasaki
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The Chronicle Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009 Volume XIX Issue 4
Boys’ varsity basketball captain Erik Swoope ’10 talks about the season.
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• VIDEO: View clips of students singing, dancing, and performing at the Coffee house on Nov. 23. • POLL: Do you think the homework surveys are a useful tool for assessing and amending the workload?
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podcasts videos photos blogs
offbeat By Sam Adams
Courtesy of Canh Oxelson
jamie Kim/Chronicle Lauren Seo/Chronicle
Gavin Cook ’10 started a meditation club on campus.
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• PHOTO: See all of the artwork being displayed in Feldman-Horn for the “Best of Three” photo show.
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PHOTO: See more photos from Champions’ Day, which celebrated the girls’ cross country team’s CIF state title.
An editorial encourages the giving spirit this holiday season.
Canh Oxelson’s lookalike has really been bringing him down lately. When someone pointed out to the upper school dean that he bore a striking resemblance to golfer Tiger Woods over a decade ago, Oxelson figured that it would be an easy way to earn some money for graduate school. He’s been doing corporate gigs and impersonating the athlete at parties ever since. He was featured in Sports Illustrated as Tiger’s doppelganger. He appeared on CNN and in USA Today. He even met Tiger on the set of an American Express commercial in which the two appeared. Business was good: by Oxelson’s count, he moonlighted as the golfer eight to 12 times per year. “After 12 years of doing this, I’ve done just about everything you can do,” Oxelson said. But in the past two weeks, daily allegations of adultery have come out after Tiger crashed his Escalade and started a media feeding frenzy on the reserved star. He has since quit the game for an indefinite period.
Courtesy of Alex Israel
VIDEO: Missed the ‘Up in the Air’ screening? View the entire Q&A with Jason Reitman.
Alex Israel ’00 designed the art installations in a Culver City mall.
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Lucy Davis ’11 will represent the United States in an international equestrian competition.
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“The salacious details have gotten so bad that I am starting to wonder if I even want to do any more lookalike stuff,” Oxelson said. “If people are looking at me, it’s like it’s guilt by association now.” Oxelson’s second career has evaporated since the allegations. A lucrative corporate job was canceled after the scandal broke and the company decided they didn’t want to align themselves with the tainted athlete anymore. Though he’s gotten offers to come onto TV shows as part of a Tiger parody, he said that he only wants to use his resemblance for positive messages. The faux Tiger said that if his likeness manages to repair his image, he’d consider making a comeback. For now, though, he’s just trying to make sure that his reputation doesn’t come crashing down along with Tiger’s. “So far, so good,” Oxelson said. “None of my friends have turned their back on me. None of the other deans have turned their back on me, so I think I’m safe.”
Dec. 16, 2009
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The more you know: Middle school students speak with GM representatives about the Chevrolet Volt.
High voltage: The Chevrolet Volt, General Motors’ new electric car, (pictured above) was showcased to the Middle School during a presentation on Nov. 30 its way to the Los Angeles Auto Show.
GM showcases electric car at Middle School By Daniel Rothberg General Motors’ new electric vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt, made a pit stop at a middle school assembly Nov. 30, en route to the Los Angeles Auto Show. Using slides and short videos, Maria Rohrer of Chevrolet illustrated to students the necessity of transitioning to sustainable fuel and how the Volt is a step in making that transition possible. Additionally, Rohrer explained how the Volt functions, and some of the features that make it unique. The presentation was webcast live from the Bing Auditorium to more than 120 schools across the nation. “We think that Harvard-Westlake is a place where there are a lot of future leaders,” said Tony Posawatz, Vehicle Line Director for the Chevrolet Volt, to explain why Harvard-Westlake was chosen to host the assembly. The assembly was a part of the Harvard-Westlake STEM program’s continuing effort to excite students into pursuing careers in science, technology, and math. “I thought it was the perfect opportunity to bring real world science to you guys,” Head of the Middle School Science Department David Cleland said in his introduction to the assembly. Following the presentation, students and faculty
congregated outside the auditorium around the as of yet unreleased Volt. A chassis, the inside of the car, was also on display. Students were given the opportunity to ask Chevrolet representatives about the car. “These are the cars that kids your age are going to be driving,” said Shelby Fox ’05, a public relations representative for General Motors. “It’s great to introduce it to everybody now and get everyone excited about alternative cars, instead of typical cars that we might be exposed to on an everyday basis.” The Volt will be released later next year, Rohrer said. “We really think this is going to be the beginning of the electrification of the car,” Posawatz said. “So as opposed to a few hundred units of electric vehicles, Chevy plans, beginning next year, to begin building tens of thousands of electric cars. As the presentation stated, we will change the world by doing so.” The Volt is an electric car with extended-range capability, meaning that should the Volt run out of electrical charge, the vehicle would begin running on a small gas-powered generator. The Volt runs for 40 miles on one electrical charge and 300 miles total with the help of the fuel-powered engine. Eighty percent of Americans commute fewer than 40 miles per day, Rohrer said. Moreover, one Volt could save up to 500 gallons of gas per year, she
said. When plugged into a standard household outlet, the Volt can be recharged in about eight hours. However, for faster charging, the Volt can be plugged into a 240-volt outlet where it will re-charge in about three hours. “It is our bridge to what were calling a gas free future that uses renewable energy,” Rohrer said. “The future of your transportation is truly electric. You can charge the battery and change the world.” “I thought it was very interesting,” Luke Holthouse ’13 said after the assembly. “The car is really cool looking and very much the future and it’s great that our generation is getting a look at how our life will be like when we do run out of gas. How we are going to react to that is our responsibility and I am glad that we are getting a chance to learn about how we should handle that.” While Harvard-Westlake students gathered outside to catch a glimpse of the new vehicle, Rohrer answered questions from students from across the nation in a webchat. After the assembly, Chevrolet handed out information to students about the car, complimentary tickets to the Los Angeles auto show and Chevrolet Volt t-shirts. The assembly can be watched online at www. theweeklyreader.com and www.chevroletvoltage. com.
UCLA physics professor ‘loves viruses’ By Emily Khaykin
Daniel Lundberg/Vox
Going Viral: UCLA physics professor Robjin Bruinsma uses a miniature soccer ball to demonstrate the shape of a virus.
UCLA physics professor Robjin Bruinsma discussed the reasons “why physicists love viruses” in an optional assembly that was given in Ahmanson Lecture Hall on Dec. 3. About 60 students and teachers attended the event which was during a special break period. Professor Bruinsma came to speak as a favor to his friend, science teacher Antonio Nassar. Bruinsma explained the similarities between physics and biology and how they have collaborated over the years in research on different viruses. He described viruses as “part of a gray, intermediate world between living and dead matter.” Bruinsma said that many of the tools that biologists use were first developed by physicists. For example, the electron microscope, developed in Germany, was made by physicists. “When you look at the shape of a virus, you can tell how close we are to the world of atomic physics,” Bruinsma said. Bruinsma stressed physicists’ interest in the symmetry of a virus. Bruinsma explained that physicists use a method called X-Ray crystallography to determine the geometry of the atoms within a virus. Bruinsma cited several examples of physicists who conducted experiments on viruses and found some astonishing results. For example, by taking the tobacco mosaic virus’ protein and combining it with water, salt and capsids in a test tube, two physicists, Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat and Robley Williams, discovered in 1955 that viruses were examples of
“complex systems that spontaneously assemble to make working systems.” Another example Bruinsma gave was based on Sir Aaron Klug’s work. Klug was the first to “show the mechanical way of how viruses assemble,” using a phasediagram, a common graph to describe a change in motion in physics. Klug’s discovery also showed that spherical viruses have icosahedra symmetry, making them “exactly the same shape as a soccer ball,” Bruinsma said. Bruinsma also talked about important discoveries by Sir Francis Crick, a physicist who helped discover the structure of DNA. Bruinsma said that Crick was one of the first scientists to ask the question “Why are viruses icosahedra?” This question, along with many others related to it, is what Bruinsma's team of physicists at UCLA are currently working on. “Using simple physics principles, we figured that viruses, like many other things in nature, want a low surface to volume ratio,” Bruinsma said. “Right now we are trying to push the idea that virus capsids are like miniature elastic shells.” “That would mean that from the physics of elasticity, we know that the harmonic spring of the shell would determine the radius or the thickness of the shell,” Bruinsma said. “Virus shells are like plastic, they have properties similar to plastic, but at the same time, a virus, unlike plastic, can be assembled and disassembled,” Bruinsma said. “This is what initiated the love affair between physics and biology,” Bruinsma said.
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Annual service includes all faiths
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Dec. 16, 2009
By Joyce Kim
The annual Christmas Convocation: Service of Nine Lessons and Carols was held in St. Saviour’s Chapel on Dec. 13. Although this was a Christian service, members of all faiths were welcome to attend. The service has been conducted in St. Saviour’s Chapel for decades, even before the merger of Harvard and Westlake. “The service is particularly beautiful because it takes place in such a historic place on our campus,” junior prefect Christopher Holthouse ’11 said. The congregation rose from their seats as school chaplain Father J. Young came in reciting a prayer to begin the service. The Madrigals followed Young’s prayer with a hymn. Candles in hand, the Madrigals walked into the service from outside the chapel in two rows, led by middle school choir director Nina Burtchaell, and accompanist Chris Wong. They sang the hymn “O come O come Emmanuel” along with the rest of the congregation. The service included readings from scriptures, communal singing of hymns and a series of musical offerings from both the upper and middle school performing arts departments. Prefects, the President of the Parents’ Association Laurie Ember, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts and President Thomas C. Hudnut each recited a scripture from different chapters of the Bible. In between each reading was either a hymn or a student performance. The Madrigals sang three songs from their own repertoire: “Adoramus Te” (We Adore Thee), “This Christmastide,” and “Follow That Star.” “The significance is all about the H-W Choral Program existing as a part of the spiritual and communal life of the school,” Burtchaell said. “The students who sing these services learn so much about what the gift of music brings to life.” Burtchaell felt it was more than a religious service. “[The Convocation] is not about religion, but about acceptance, understanding, community and sharing,” Burtchaell said. Following the service, a reception was held in Feldman-Horn Gallery.
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christmas cheer: Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts reads from a prayer book alongside members of the community in the Christmas Convocation in St. Saviour’s Chapel.
Senior, sophomore win high award in scouting By Kelly Ohriner
Chloe Lister/chronicle
picture perfect: Todd Albert ’10 arranges his photograph of lettuce in FeldmanHorn Gallery. The Advanced Photography III show, “The Best of Three,” opened Monday.
Seniors present photography in ‘Best of Three’ show By Ingrid Chang
Family members, strangers, oddlyshaped bell peppers and cats are among the subject matter of the senior photography show, “The Best of Three,” which began on Monday. The name is a play on both the name of the class, Advanced Photography III, and the number of sections the show was divided into. The showcase features three separate sections: “You Are My Hero,” “Homage to Edward Weston,” and “The Best of Three.” For the You Are My Hero assignment, students photographed someone or something they considered a hero and wrote an accompanying paragraph explaining their choice. Among the hero photos are pictures of a parent who is a doctor, a pet cat, and even a self-portrait. Bruno Seros-Ulloa ’10 chose himself as the subject of his hero project. “I don’t live my life thinking about who I
want to be like, so I decided to choose myself because that’s all I really can be,” he said. Edward Weston, a photographer in the 1930s known for his monumental closeup photos, inspired the second part of the show. “I challenged the kids by saying: it’s been 80 years since he took those pictures, the technology has improved considerably. Let’s see what you can do,” photography teacher Kevin O’Malley said. John Billingsley ’10 photographed a bell pepper, which he edited to be black and white and to have high contrast. “I tried to imitate his dramaticism,” he said. The Best of Three is made up of work that the seniors have not displayed before, some of which they put into their college portfolios or submitted to the Spotlight Awards. Each student chose a photograph from the school year or over the summer to display.
A senior and a sophomore Eagle Scout each earned Crescent Bay District Summit Awards. Stephen Carr ’12, a member of troop 223, and Jack Kuhlenschmidt ’10, a member of troop 23, were honored with the Summit Award for their excellence in scouting by the Crescent Bay District, Western Los Angeles County Council of Boy Scouts of America. Both Carr and Kuhlenschmidt are Eagle Scouts, which is the highest rank in scouting at the national level of Boy Scouts of America. The Summit Award, which Carr and Kuhlenschmidt received on Nov. 19, is given to recognize youth and adult excellence within the county. Kuhlenschmidt was honored for his contributions to the community that went beyond what he did to earn his Eagle Scout Award, which he recieved in freshman year. Many of Kuhlenschmidt’s projects reflected his Eagle Scout values. For one of his projects, he conducted five interviews, each of which was about 30 minutes long, with United States veterans from foreign wars including World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, for the Veteran’s History Project. After editing and packaging these interviews, Kuhlenschmidt submitted the final product to the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The final project is now archived there at the National Folklife Center. This project combined the video production skills Kuhlenschmidt acquired in his Video Art classes in school with his Eagle Scout values. Three of the veterans Kuhelnschmidt interviewed went to the Award Luncheon to celebrate his scouting commendation with him.
courtesy of betty-jo tilley
Scout’s honor: Stephen Carr ’12 and Jack Kuhlenschmidt ’10 recieve Summit Awards on Nov. 19. “Although I was extremely excited to win the award, the most rewarding part was interviewing the veterans,” Kuhlenschmidt said. “Their stories gave me a new appreciation for the armed forces.” Like Kuhlenschmidt, Carr was also awarded for his contributions beyond the fufillment of his Eagle Scout Award. Carr conducted his Eagle Scout project working with the organization People Assisting the Homeless. At P.A.T.H., Carr realized that there is a need to publicize and educate about non-profit organizations like P.A.T.H. This revelation inspired Carr to write and direct a video. All aspects of production were done by Carr’s fellow troop members.
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Alumni reunite in London By Michelle Nosratian
Allan Sasaki
Questions in the Air: Head of Visual Arts Cheri Gaulke listens to director Jason Reitman ’95 as he answers questions from students, faculty and staff at a screening of his new film, “Up in the Air,” at Paramount Studios on Dec. 8.
Reitman hosts ‘Up in the Air’ screening, answers questions By Jamie Kim
At a private screening of his latest movie, “Up in the Air,” director Jason Reitman ’95 spoke candidly about how he adapted his screenplay to the context of an economic recession, why he is drawn to polarizing characters and issues and why he could easily relate to a man whose sole purpose in life is to reach 10 million frequent flyer miles. The screening and question and answer session is the third installment of the ‘Speaking of Movies’ speaker series, was hosted by Reitman on Dec. 8 at the Sherry Lansing Theatre at Paramount Studios. Speaking of Movies began last year when Reitman, whose credits include “Thank You for Smoking” and “Juno,” contacted photography teacher Kevin O’Malley and Head of Visual Arts Cheri Gaulke because he was interested in “[giving] back to the school in some way,” Gaulke said. “What he suggested was that he use his address book to contact some of the most fascinating people in the film business and interview them in front of an audience at HarvardWestlake,” she said. This year, that “guest” was Reitman and the question and answer session was preceded by a free, private screening of “Up in the Air,” four days after its nationwide release. Students, faculty and staff received the invitation to attend during Thanksgiving break, and the event filled up very quickly. “Up in the Air,” named the best film of the year by the National Board of Review, was based on a 2001 novel of the same name by Walter Kirn. George Clooney stars as a corporate downsizer who spends more than 300 days in the air per year and relishes packing his life in a single, carry-on suitcase. “This is not a movie about firing people,” Reitman said after the movie. “Firing people is a location for a movie about a man who is trying to figure out whether he’s going to live disconnected.” When an audience member expressed confusion about the movie’s ending and its message, Reitman explained that
he never had the intention of sending a specific message. “I don’t want to tell you what to think,” he said. “I don’t really want to pass moral judgment on the characters. Really, I think that you can have a good life connected and you can actually have a good life disconnected. What I wanted is for this character to understand the value of human relationships.” Reitman said he related to the book version of “Up in the Air” very strongly for two reasons: “One, I like humanizing characters who have kind of polarizing occupations,” he said. “My three main characters are a head lobbyist for big tobacco, a pregnant teenage girl and now a guy who fires people for a living.” “Also, I collect air miles religiously. So, while someone may have viewed the book ironically, I approached the book as, wow, someone understands me,” he said to the audience’s laughter. Reitman said he once went on a “mileage run” to Chicago, when he realized in December that he did not have enough miles to achieve the same airline status for the following year. (Once he arrived, he picked up a Giordano’s pizza and flew back to L.A.) “I have the sickness,” he said. “I understand that, and I thought it’d be interesting to kind of examine why we collect things as meaningless in life as air miles.” When he began writing the screenplay seven years ago, America was in the midst of an economic boom. “I’d written these satirical firing scenes that were similar to the tone of ‘Thank You for Smoking.’ But that didn’t make sense now,” Reitman said. “It’s not that they weren’t funny; they just didn’t speak to what the film was about.” After cutting out all of the firing scenes in the screenplay, Reitman released an ad in the paper asking for volunteers who had lost their jobs and were willing to go on camera for a documentary about job loss. Sixty people went on camera, 22 of whom are seen in the movie. “They would begin to say the kinds of things I would never think to write, as a writer, and they would say it in a way I would never think to direct, as a director,” Reitman said.
A Thanksgiving dinner in London reunited Harvard School alumni with former English foreign exchange students at event organized by the English Speaking Union, the organization that facilitated the exchange program between Harvard and various English private schools. The ESU also invited any Harvard, Westlake, or Harvard-Westlake alumni currently living in Great Britain, regardless of whether they participated in the exchange program. Communications officer Beth Stokes said that an anonymous donor paid for the event. The reunion took place at Dartmouth House, a nineteenth century mansion in central London that is the ESU’s headquarters. “It was a wonderfully elegant setting for some 60 wonderfully elegant people,” attendee Rod Chamberlain said. President of School Thomas C. Hudnut and his wife Deedie also attended the reunion. “I found out that Martin Skan ’54 [the first exchange student to graduate from Harvard] was planning to have this reunion of Harvard and Westlake exchange students and he was planning an American style Thanksgiving dinner in London, so the next thing you know, I was going to be speaking there and was the guest of honor,” Hudnut said. In his speech, which followed a champagne reception and a welcome speech by Skan, Hudnut brought the alumni up to date on what has happened at the school, including the history of the merger . Stokes and the Advancement office staff sent over old pictures of Harvard and Westlake, as well as a slideshow of pictures of middle school construction with captions. “We also sent over some Chronicles, Life magazines, and a couple of other publications for people to peruse,” she said. Hudnut said that 20 exchange students out of 36 came, and there were about 60 people total in attendance. Chamberlain said that popular discussion topics were “good or bad luck stories about girls...our most or least favourite teachers, how we spent the weekend... how the experience changed our lives [and] when we were last back and what that felt like.” “I was inundated with people after the dinner saying ‘can we get this going again, can we get this exchange program started at Harvard-Westlake again’,” he said.
AP Chemistry visits Caltech By Lauren Seo
Chris Dartt’s AP Chemistry class went to the California Institute of Technology after school on Dec. 4, where they visited several labs, spoke to researchers and met with Nobel Prize winner Robert H. Grubbs. The main objective of the trip was to use the institute’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance machine, which was essential to the molecular spectroscopy lab the students were working on in class. For the lab, students were each given an unknown organic compound and were expected to deduce its chemical make-up and structure by using techniques such as qualitative testing, mass spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy. HarvardWestlake’s NMR machine broke down a year ago, three days before last year’s class was scheduled to
use it, so Dartt did not have sufficient time to schedule a trip to use a functioning machine. However, this year Dartt had months to plan for the use of the machine, as well as plan several visits to various caltech labs he thought would interest his students. As they tested their samples in the NMR machine, students learned about the value of the machine from professional scientists. “I remember one scientist telling us how an NMR analysis makes any lab report legitimate,” Jack Petok ’11 said. A high point, Petok said, was meeting Grubbs, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2005 for his work in the field of olefin metathesis. Grubbs research has developed powerful catalysts for organic synthesis reactions, allowing scientists to custom-build molecules with specialized properties. The students visited his
lab, where scientists were working on the olefin organomelatics and catalysts. Dartt knew Grubbs as an adviser at a company he had previously worked for, and was not sure if his busy schedule would allow him to meet the students. The students also visited the lab where Dartt earned his doctorate. “It was a very eye-opening experience because it wasn’t just chemistry or just physics or just biology we saw,” Jennifer Plotkin ’11 said. “It was all these different sciences combined, which made it very cool.” “It was definitely a surprise, and I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from the students,” Dartt said. “I was having thoughts of a career in science, and I feel like now these thoughts are solidified,” Petok said.
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Alumni choreograph on NBC singing show
Two alumni, members of an a cappella group called the SoCal VoCals will compete in an NBC competition, “Sing Off,” tonight. Ben Bram ’06 will be working on the vocal arrangements for the group. Lili Fuller ’05 will help choreograph their performance. In the show, eight a cappella groups will compete for a grand prize of $100,000 and an Epic Records/Sony Music recording contract. The competition premiered on Monday, Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. and was followed by a one hour episode last night. The final episode before the finale is scheduled to air tonight. The finale will air on Monday, Dec. 21. —Vivien Mao
Palmer features football posts in art show A photo taken on Ted Slavin Field by middle school art teacher Katherine Palmer’s husband will be featured in an art show at the Robert Fullerton Museum Feb. 20. Dylan Palmer chose his two photographs from over 900 shots from a variety of angles on a Saturday in late July. Although there was track practice before the shoot and people were exercising on the track, the field was relatively empty. The football posts were portrayed as slingshots, as a football player was flung through, leaving only his helmet behind. “It’s a beautiful field, and was perfect for this piece,” Palmer said. —Jordan Gavens
Middle School drama teacher resigns mid-year Performing Arts teacher Foster Solomon is leaving Harvard-Westlake mid-year, after teaching at the school since 2007. He and his wife will move back east, according to Head of Middle School Ronnie Codrington-Cazeau. Both Solomon and Head of Middle School Performing Arts Nina Burtchaell declined to comment on Solomon’s departure. —Alice Phillips
Calculus class visits Jet Propulsion Laboratory Chris Gragg’s Topics in Calculus and Statistics class visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena on Nov. 12. Approximately 30 students went on the trip. The TCS class studies calculus topics that are relevant to work done by JPL scientists. The tour included a multimedia presentation about what scientists do at JPL. Gragg said the trip accomplished the goals of the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which aims to promote student interests in those professional fields. —Alice Phillips
Sophomore dances in Thanksgiving parade A sophomore was one of 50 dancers featured in the finale of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Rebecca Hutman ’12 performed at the end of the parade during the unveiling of the new Santa Claus float. Hutman first heard of the opportunity through Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts camp that she attended during the summer. —Jordan Freisleben
photos by Allan Sasaki
can you hear me now?: Nick Lieberman ’11 and Romina D’Allessandro ’10 consult with teacher Kevin O’Malley, right. Lorenz Kim ’11 uses a cell phone during a recreation of an Indiana Jones scene.
‘Cell phones rule’ in student film By Daniel Rothberg
More than 35 students stood dressed in desert garb in the Feldman-Horn Art Center plaza, ready to recreate a segment from the film “Indiana Jones.” The scene was filmed as part of an Advanced Video Art I project called “If Cell Phones Ruled the World.” Students from the video art class used tents and tables to transform the Feldman-Horn plaza into a Middle Eastern village. The project will be composed of several segments. Each segment will feature a reproduction of a scene from an iconic film with a cell phone inserted somewhere in each scene. They will use scenes from movies such as “Pulp Fiction,” “Titanic,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Indiana Jones” and “The Conversation.” The class is attempting to recreate the scenes as accurately as possible at different locations on campus. “It’s a series of vignettes strung together by a running joke—the joke being that cell phones are everywhere,” Advanced Video Art I teacher Kevin O’Malley said. “We have done projects — mostly spoofs and satires — where students duplicate a famous scene from a feature film. This is the
first time to my knowledge where one of my classes has so faithfully recreated a series of scenes.” So far, the Advanced Video Art I class has filmed four scenes. They hope to finish the piece in time for the HarvardWestlake Film Festival deadline in January, O’Malley said. The class reproduced each scene shot-for-shot by creating what is known as a “reverse” storyboard, O’Malley said. “They took still frames from each camera set-up in the original scene and then designed their own shots – everything from camera angle, lighting, wardrobe and props,” O’Malley said. “And then, of course, they had to insert a cell phone somewhere in the midst of the scene.” For each scene, students alternated producing and acting in the film. Gabe Benjamin ’11 is the project's lead editor. From creating costumes to designing the set, each scene took hours of preparation, Nick Lieberman ’11 said. “I definitely think that we set a precedent for a lot of preparation and working hard before we even start shooting, which isn’t always done with teenagers,” Lieberman said. “To me, the best part of producing a movie like this is that this merry band of filmmakers keeps getting better and better as they work together,” O’Malley said,
Surveys monitor amount of homework By Anna Etra
Every year, at the end of each quarter, a form is distributed to every student in grades nine through twelve in every course. The form is 8.5 inches by 3 inches, with one line running across the top: “On average, how many hours per week do you spend on homework?” Under the question, there are three choices: less than three hours per week, about three hours per week and more than three hours per week. The survey is meant to be easy and anonymous, Deborah Dowling, Director of Studies said. Each teacher passes out and collects these forms after giving students about a minute of class time to think about it. That is the end of the process for students when it comes to homework surveys. For teachers, there is at least one more form they must fill out. For each class he or she teaches, a teacher must add up the amount of students in each category and submit it to Dowling. The data is then entered into a spreadsheet. In most classes, the information is stored away because the majority of the students put less than or equal to about three hours, the number designated acceptable by the workload committee as a fair amount. However, if more than fifty percent of the students in a course or in a specific teacher’s class indicate that they are spending more than three hours per week on their homework, the homework load for the class is given a “red flag,” according to Dowling, and the class is further looked into. For every course or teacher with a class who has a red flag, Dowling speaks to the person in charge of it, either the teacher or the department chair. The
teacher speaks to the students about the results, and there is almost always a change in the students’ responses for the next quarter. The other option is that the students in a red flag class could have “gamed the system,” Dowling said. In that case, once a teacher starts discussing in detail the reasons why students might be spending over three hours on homework, and the teacher chooses to give the students an extensive survey about their homework habits, students usually confess falsifying their answers. The current system has been in place for just over two years. At the beginning, there were many courses and teachers that came back with results leading to red flags. Each time after that, the number of red flags reduced. At the end of the second semester last year, 99 percent of teachers and 99 percent of courses came back with an acceptable result for the amount of homework. Although teachers feel that homework load evaluation system is helpful, students disagree. “I don’t feel that the homework surveys make a big difference in my overall homework load,” Sophie Turner ’12 said. Ten years ago, David Hinden chaired the Workload Committee, a group consisting of over 30 teachers, parents and students. The idea for such a committee came up in Faculty Academic Committee meeting. The committee worked together to formally define the maximum amount of homework permitted for each class and decide if the limit should be applied to AP classes. The number decided upon was, on average, three hours per subject per week. As a result, every six years, the Workload Committee reconvenes to distribute an extensive workload sur-
“
I DON’T FEEL THAT THE HOMEWORK SURVEYS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.”
—Sophie Turner ‘12
nathanson’s/ Chronicle
vey. The distribution corresponds to the halfway point of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation cycle. The result of the first survey was that students got more homework than they could possibly ever do. Before Dowling developed the current system to survey each quarter, Kent Nealis, a mathematics teacher in charge of FAC, monitored homework. The department chairs would directe the teachers (by department and specific class) to ask students how much time they were spending per week doing homework. This informal survey was ineffective because by the time the answers came back up through the bureaucracy, “all of the results were in different forms, some of it was missing, and it really was not effective in terms of getting the information in an understandable way and making a change,” Dowling said. Because students at Harvard-Westlake take so many courses, “teachers are not allowed to give the amount of homework that will give students the best learning experience,” Dowling said, “but rather what would be the most efficient way to learn.” At first there was concern that teachers would not be able to finish AP curriculums before May but this proved to be false, Dowling said.
Dec. 16, 2009
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Harmony gives toys at annual holiday party
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The upper school debate team received multiple awards from national and local tournaments. Jake Sonnenberg ’11 qualified for both the Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky and the Montgomery Bell Academy Round Robin in Nashville. At USC, Adam Bennett ’12 qualified for the semifinals and Haleh Kanani ’12 was the junior varsity champion. At Damien High School, Michelle Choi ’12 and Bennett advanced to the finals. Sonnenberg and Ben SprungKeyser ’11 cleared to elimination rounds at The Glenbrooks in Chicago. Both finished with records of six wins to one loss. —Nika Madyoon
Mock Trial finishes final competition for season
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Holiday giving: Chloe Korban ’10 drops a game into the box in the lounge for the Holiday Toy Drive. The toys were given to children at United in Harmony’s Holiday Party.
Sports Council debates effectiveness of study hall
soundbytes
Students athletes have suggested that they should have a choice whether or not to attend study hall.
“Sometimes students say where study hall is held, they can’t get work done.”
By Noelle Lyons
—Terry Barnum Athletic Director
“If the study hall were to be abolished, i think the students who study would continue to study, and the students that don’t, wouldn’t.” —steve Shaw
Study hall supervisor photos by nathanson ’s/chronicle graphic by emily khaykin
When athletes have late practice, the school requires that they attend a mandatory study hall on certain days after school in the library. After numerous anonymous complaints, the Sports Council must come to a decision on whether study hall should be required. Along with Athletic Director Terry Barnum, the Sports Council approached the administration with ideas to address complaints from students, who believed this study period was not always necessary. “Some students say they know how to manage time already; therefore, they don’t need to go to study hall,” Barnum said. While students are not obligated to do homework, they must go to the library, where they are advised to do homework. Teams that have late practice usually require students to go to the library until 4:30 p.m. There students are overseen by Steve Shaw, supervisor for the after-school study hall. “The study hall has kids that range from numbers of 0-70 and an average of about 15 students normally,” Shaw said. Punishment for failing to attend
study hall is up to the coach of each team. For some it may result in not going to practice and being prohibited from starting in the following game. Some athletes want to be allowed to go home until their practice starts. “Sometimes it’s unproductive, and I just want to leave,” varsity basketball player Hilary King ’10 said. “When people that are supposed to be in study hall are rowdy, students can’t concentrate and aren’t allowed to get their homework done,” Sports Council Committee member Chelsea Edwards ’11 said. Librarian Clare Lawler doesn’t notice the difference between library attendees and those in the study hall. “In general, I can’t tell the difference between regular students and those here for study hall,” Lawler said. The Sports Council pitched the idea to the administration that study hall should be voluntary. “We suggested that if students have a signed note from their parents, students should be allowed to decide whether or not they go to study hall,” Edwards said. “Administration is still considering our study hall idea, but eventually we should hear something about it,” Barnum said.
Deans start college scavenger hunt By Alex Leichenger
The deans instituted a “College Knowledge” scavenger hunt for this year’s junior class in an effort to make the college research process more informative and enjoyable. The scavenger hunt was assigned Tuesday of the week before Thanksgiving break. Students in teams of two or three were required to answer 40 questions pertaining to dozens of schools. The questions varied in difficulty,
inbrief
Debate team receives local, national recognition
By Nicki Resnikoff
A box decorated with holiday-themed wrapping paper for the Holiday Toy Drive sat in the lounge from Nov. 19 to Dec. 4. The toys that students donated were given to kids from East Los Angeles, ages 7 to 12, who attended United in Harmony’s Christmas party on Dec. 12. In an e-mail to the student body, Judd Liebman ’12 asked students to put new, unwrapped toys in the box outside Director of Student Affairs Jordan Church’s office. Liebman suggested dolls, board games and stuffed animals. United in Harmony did not want video games, because most of the children do not have the consoles to play them with. On Dec. 3, one day before the toy drive was set to end, Liebman sent another e-mail to the community, saying that there were not nearly enough toys for all the children. “These toys are very important to the recipients and we do not want them leaving empty-handed,” Leibman wrote. Liebman sent the e-mail “to make sure everyone knew what United in Harmony really is.” In his e-mail, Liebman described United in Harmony as “a program that works directly with children under the poverty level and living in shelters.” After the e-mail was sent, according to Liebman, many more toys were donated. “We actually had to make an extra trip to the drop off site because of the amazing participation,” he said. Cate Barsky ’10 was involved worked with the administration and made posters in preparation for the toy drive. “It was a little slow to pick up, but I saw tons of toys,” she said. “I think it was definitely a success in the end.” “It went really well,” Lara Sokoloff ’12 said. “Every kid left with a bag of clothes and a bag of toys.”
News A7
from naming the schools in the Pacific 10 conference to questions that required more than just a Google search. “One of the big goals was to have [the juniors] understand all the different ways there are to research schools,” Bird said. Another goal was to help students identify lesser-known schools or programs at schools. Weeklong senior privileges were awarded to the team from each dean group that answered the most ques-
tions correctly. In past years, juniors put together PowerPoint presentations about the different types of colleges and universities, such as the University of California schools or small liberal arts colleges. “Some kids would just go scan a page from the Fiske [Guide to Colleges],” Bird said. “We wanted to force them to do something that would actually force them to be more proactive and not passive.”
The Mock Trial West Team made it to semifinals and the Lake Team made it to quarterfinals this year. The two teams finished their final competition before Thanksgiving break. The Lake Team reached the third round before losing to the West Team, which placed in the semifinals on Nov. 24 and was in the top four. Science teacher David Hinden coached the team, alongside attorney Margo Baxter. —Sade Tavangarian
Environmental Club hosts meatless Friday In an effort to encourage students to reduce their consumption of meat, the Environmental Club will host a “meatless day” this Friday. The vegetarian day is in preparation for the Environmental Club entering the Green Cup challenge, a Green Schools Alliance competition to reduce the weekly electricity usage in February. The cafeteria will offer a wider variety of vegetarian lunch options. The club is hoping to have the cafeteria and students more involved for future “meatless days”. -Maddy Baxter and Jordan Gavens
CHOSA co-founder speaks to club members The co-founder of CHOSA, a charity which assists underprivileged South African youth, introduced the organization’s goals to the CHOSA club Dec. 8. Rosenberg explained the housing and education issues affecting children in the country’s povertystricken townships. She was invited by club president Gabe Benjamin ’11. —Alex Leichenger
World Politics classes go to regional conference About 20 students in history teacher Nini Halkett’s World Politics classes attended the Face-toFace conference at Whittier College on Nov. 21, with one class representing Turkey, and one class representing India. The students also had several online afterschool conferences prior to the final one. Halkett said that students attempted to finish their final negotiations and proposals in person. Around 10 other schools participated, some from out of state. —Austin Block
A8 News
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Publications attend NSPA convention
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Dec. 16, 2009
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By Alex Leichenger
Members of the school newspaper and yearbook visited the floor of the House of Representatives and sat in on a Page 1 meeting of the New York Times during their trip to Washington D.C. for a national high school journalism conference Nov. 12-14. The National Scholastic Press Association and Journalism Education Association Fall Student Journalism Convention attracted 33 Members of the staffs of Chornicle and Vox and over 6,000 total. Students were joined by faculty members Kathleen Neumeyer and Jennifer Bladen as well as Advancement Officer Ed Hu and Stephen Chae, advisor for the middle school newsmagazine The Spectrum. At the closing ceremony of the convention, the 2008-2009 edition of The Chronicle won a National Pacemaker award and the November issue of the 2009-2010 edition won first place in the Best of Show competition for newspapers larger than 17 pages. The Spectrum was awarded third place Best of Show for middle school newspapers and Big Red, a sports magazine produced by staffers on The Chronicle, earned ninth place Best of Show for Newspaper Special Edition. The Chronicle website was recognized as the seventh best in the nation. During their first day in Washington, students visited the Newseum for three hours before leaving for Capitol Hill. The group was led on a tour of the Capitol Building by Michael Borden ’95, Senior Counsel to the House Finance Committee and former editorin-chief of The Chronicle. After seeing the offices of congressmen and the rotunda, students were led to the floor of the House of Representatives. Borden and two congressional aides gave a brief presentation and answered questions about the history of both the room itself and the congressmen who have debated
Chloe Lister/chronicle
page 1: Chronicle and Vox staff sit in on the New York Times front page teleconference for the Nov. 14th issue on Nov. 13th. The staffers also visited the Capitol building, the Newseum, and attended the NSPA convention. in it. In the last segment of the Capitol tour, students were granted access to the balcony directly outside Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office. Some participants in the trip opted to visit Georgetown University with Hu and Chae, a Georgetown alum. The group was toured on campus by current Georgetown students Mark Doumet ’07 and Chris Ballard ’08. Journalist Nick Clooney delivered the keynote address at the formal opening of the convention that evening. Seminars for student journalists and advisers began Friday morning, covering multiple facets of a publication such as layout and page design, interviewing, reporting and media ethics. Sessions were available on Friday and Saturday. Friday afternoon’s keynote speakers were Peter Baker, a Washington bureau reporter for the New York Times, and his wife, Susan Glasser of Foreign Policy Magazine.
The group later toured the Washington bureau courtesy of Times staff writer Elisabeth Bumiller and husband Steven R. Weisman, a friend of Donald Etra (Harry ’05, Dorothy ’08, Anna ’10, and Jonathan ’11, all former or current members of either The Chronicle or Vox). Courtesy of Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet, a neighbor of Vox’s Ali Nadel ’11 while he was editorin-chief of the Los Angeles Times, the students were able to sit in on the Page 1 meeting for the Nov. 14 issue of the New York Times. Baquet pitched a story from his bureau about Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to prosecute Guantanamo Bay detainees suspected of involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York. The article, by Charlie Savage, appeared on the front page the next day. Following the final seminars and awards ceremony Saturday, the group visited the capital’s landmarks, including the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam and Korean War memorials.
Show to honor former teacher
Chinese II students communicate via Skype By Sammy Roth
Sophomores in Chinese II talked to high school students in China via live webcam Monday. About 20 students spent approximately half an hour after school speaking in both Chinese and English with the students in China, using Skype, a website that allows the user to make phone calls over the internet. The conversation was an extra credit assignment for the Harvard-Westlake students. “The goal is to learn about how students in China are doing,” teacher Binbin Wei said. “They’re in high school, just like our students.” The students in China were from a high school affiliated with Remmin University, which Wei said is one of the country’s best high schools. All of the Chinese II students also made Christmas cards for the students in China. Wei said that in return, the students in China will make Chinese New Year cards for her Chinese II students.
By Jordan Freisleben
sammy roth/chronicle
ni hao: Aletheia Kim ’12 and John Lee ’12 skype with high school students in China in Chinese and English.
Alumnus designs artwork for Culver City mall
By Michelle Yousefzadeh
Alex Israel ’00 designed art installations for the new Westfield Culver City as part of the mall’s efforts to bring contemporary art into the commercial context. Israel said he was approached early in the fall by the director and curator of LAXART, a non-profit contemporary art exhibition space in Culver City, Lauri Firstenberg. She was searching for artists to design pieces for the launch of the newly renovated Fox Hills Mall, now Westfield Culver City. Israel’s art is displayed on an interior billboard wall by the mall’s
Sepulveda entrance and on the exterior wall adjacent to the parking lot. This was the first public exhibition of Israel’s artwork. “The offer was incredibly exciting,” Israel said. “The opportunity to see my work produced at that scale and for that large an audience was truly a dream come true.” Israel used the installations as an opportunity to advertise his other projects such as his sunglass brand Freeway Eyewear, his sunglass design L.A. RAYS, and web episodes titled Rough Winds. Rough Winds documents the lives of privileged, disaffected Southern California youth and is inspired by the writing
Mall art: Alex Israel’s ’00 art, below, is on display at the Westfield Culver City shopping center.
ael of alex isr courtesy
of Bret Easton Ellis and the shows Beverly Hills 90210 and The Hills, Israel said. “I incorporated all three logos into the pieces that I made for Westfield, and in the exterior piece I created a collage of imagery that expresses the Southern California lifestyle that both my sunglasses and my webisodes investigate,” Israel said. Besides working on Freeway Eyewear and Rough Winds, Israel is currently working on his graduate school final thesis exhibition which will be displayed in a gallery at USC. The exhibit will include a classical sculpture show.
Former Visual Arts teacher Carl Wilson will be honored posthumously in February in an exhibition in FeldmanHorn gallery featuring his work. Wilson, who founded the art department at Harvard School, taught at the two don hagopian/chronicle schools for 36 years before Carl Wilson retiring in June 2006. He died in January 2008. “He used to teach everything,” said Head of the Visual Arts department Cheri Gaulke. “Before he retired, he was teaching Art History, Drawing and Painting, Architecture, and he also used to teach a design course. He was really a delightful character.” The dates of exhibition are Feb. 1 to Feb. 26 with the opening reception on Sunday Feb. 7. In addition to the exhibit, the school is producing a 20-page hardbound catalogue featuring Wilson’s work. The catalogue will feature essays by President Thomas C. Hudnut as well as one by art historian Dr. Betty Ann Brown. Gaulke will also write the catalogue’s introduction. The volume of Wilson’s work was unknown to his colleagues until discovered by his partner, Dan Gumbleton, after his death. “One of the things that we discovered after Carl died was that he was drawing all the time,” Gaulke said. “We had no idea.” Hundreds of his works were found within the past year. “He would go through phases of being interested in shapes. It was pretty much all abstract, I’d say he was probably inspired by Kandinsky and he would like spend a year doing variations on a circle or variations of straight lines that are perpendicular to each other.” The working title for the show is called “Menifee’s Mark.” Menifee, a family name which was Wilson’s middle name, has significance in his work. “When he signed his work, he always signed it ‘Menifee’—that was sort of his art name,” Gaulke said. “I thought that would be a good title—it’s a play on words. He’s making marks on a page but it’s always what kind of mark does a teacher have on their students—we always hope that we have a mark on our students.”
opinion Harvard-Westlake School
Volume XIX
Issue 4
Dec. 16, 2009
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3700 Coldwater Canyon, North Hollywood, CA 91604 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: Victor Yoon Chief Copy Editor: Ellina Chulpaeff Copy Editors: Spencer Gisser, Ester Khachatryan, Catherine Wang
“I would donate, but who has the time to shop?”
Jamie Kim/CHRONICLE
The Grinch inside all of us
T
was the day before Thanksgiving break, and all throughout Chalmers, not a student was stirring, it had never been calmer. Westside Food Bank containers were placed around campus with care, in hopes that the Harvard-Westlake community would place canned food there.
It was a lackluster showing and it was very clear, that our community was definitely lacking in holiday cheer. Nevertheless a toy drive was well underway, but as of now it seems as though Camp Harmony will have no gifts for their soiree. It is really quite sad that our giving spirit has shown itself to be rather bad. At Harvard-Westlake, it is sometimes easy to forget the world outside our gates. We wrap ourselves up in the drama of homework, college applications and extra-curricular activities, rarely considering that there are actually issues beyond 3700 Coldwater Canyon. Let’s consider for a moment, that 14.6% of Los Angeles’ population is considered to live below the poverty line, a number that is made with obsolete and outdated estimations (the real poverty line is supposedly three times the current cutoff). The fact that we can’t bring ourselves to donate canned food for a homeless shelter’s Thanksgiving
or a toy for homeless children’s holidays reflects poorly on us as a community. It seems as though we ca inconvenience ourselves enough to only bring our books to school, that we don’t care enough to make an effort to significantly brighten someone’s holidays. Participating in the holiday spirit can extend beyond school; the entire city has an opportunities for us to donate our time and resources. “Maybe Christmas...doesn’t come from a store Maybe Christmas, perhaps means a little bit more…” thinks the Grinch after he stole Christmas from Who-ville. Yes, Mr. Grinch, you’re definitely right. The holiday season isn’t only about getting gifts or a school vacation (though indeed valuable presents). It’s also about giving; the giving of food to the less fortunate, or the giving of your time by volunteering. So though we were rather slow on the holiday cheer uptake, let’s have ourselves a rather unGrinchy winter break.
We support all of our teams
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athered in Chalmers Lounge during break a week ago Monday, we as a community set aside all of our school related anxiety to celebrate the girls’ cross country team’s state title championship. For a few minutes, we dropped what we were doing to savor the accomplishments of our peers.
“They ran through the dark and they have run up hills with no one watching and they have run in places that others of us only have nightmares about,” President Thomas Hudut said in honoring the girls. Last issue, The Chronicle gave a grade of F to the fact that water polo lost to rival Loyola for the fifth time in a row. Some members of the team protested, arguing that our assessment was unfair and did not reflect the intense preparation and hard work that had gone into their season. Let us clarify here that our grade was not a condemnation of the team, but rather a commiseration in what was admittedly a tough loss for them. We on The Chronicle celebrate with our schoolmates when they triumph and agonize with them when they fall short. As in Hudnut’s speech, we stay with our teams when they run in the light and the dark. We apologize if any readers interpreted our evaluation as an attempt to single out or humiliate the members of the team. Our school has a rich athletic tradition. Take the recent football playoff game against Oaks Christian. Our team had had a great season, upsetting high-ranked Alemany in a thrilling Homecoming game, but in the quarterfinal match loomed Oaks Christian, one of the best teams in the nation. The odds were against us and the game took place
during Thanksgiving break, but the stands were still filled with black-clad Fanatics. Confiscated inflatable noisemakers filled several trashcans in the cheerleaders’ box. Our team put up a very solid effort but was eventually overpowered by the squad. The fans stayed until the bitter end and gave the team the ovation they deserved after their season. Few things are more engrained in our community than the water polo team’s rivalry with Loyola. Both squads are perpetually in the top tier of high school water polo and though supremacy may oscillate between the teams over the years, the games are always contested, emotional matches. Losses, especially in a series, resonate within the school community in a way that demands coverage within our pages. Sports teams at Harvard-Westlake represent a major part of the school community, and often are a source of great pride. We honor accomplishments with confetti and cookies and leis, we congratulate team members the day after a big win, and we commiserate with our team members after a disappointing loss. If The Chronicle covers our victories, so must we our defeats. We do not do so out of spite, nor to pour salt on the wounds. However, as is so common in school, oftentimes the full story can’ t be summarized into one letter grade.
News Managing Editors: Nicki Resnikoff, Michelle Yousefzadeh Section Heads: Emily Khaykin, Alice Phillips, Daniel Rothberg Assistants: Jessica Barzilay, Maddy Baxter, Hank Gerba, Sanjana Kucheria, Jordan Gavens, 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, Lauren O’Neil 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, Chelsey Taylor-Vaughn Photography: Chloe Lister, Nika Madyoon Web Designer: Jake Staahl 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.
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Dec. 16, 2009
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Drew
Lash
Sue, meet Drew
I
tell ya, life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue” sang country singer Johnny Cash. His hit song, “A Boy Named Sue,” tells a story of a young man’s lifelong quest for revenge on the father who left him and named him “Sue.” While life isn’t so hard for a girl named Drew, growing up with a typically male name has made me highly aware of the oh-so-subtle differences in the treatment of girls and boys because I often get both. Most of the time, it’s I find a case of a mistaken identity rather than the people teasing and bullying Cash’s Sue had to endure. When I was little, I was always invited to have boys’ birthday parties when mothers went expecta- through the class list inviting all the boys in their son’s class. But that was the whole point of tions name. about me myMy parents grew up in a time when women and my were just beginning to chip away at the glass behavior ceiling. They thought that by giving me a boy’s that are name, it would give me an advantage in the world… until I showed up for an thrown professional interview, that is. when Because my sister has a similarly ambiguous name, Ryan, we are an interesting pair. In fact, they a friend of ours is a college professor and she discover uses us as an example in her class on gender I’m not roles and discrimination. She starts her class by saying that a family she knows has two a boy.” children named Drew and Ryan. “Are they two boys, two girls, or a boy and a girl?” she asks the students. No one has ever correctly answered that Drew and Ryan are sisters, showing that gender roles begin as soon as someone hears the name, something I’m sure Sue could attest to. Of course, there are times when having a boy’s name allows me insight into Sue’s anger. Sue was treated differently because of his name as soon as anyone saw he was a boy. And on occasion, I am treated differently too. Every once in a while, I find people have expectations about me and my behavior that are thrown when they discover I’m not a boy. I was recently exchanging e-mails with an adult I had never met before and it was clear (through his use of pronouns) that he thought I was a boy. When I found out later that he would have worded his e-mail in a more delicate tone, as opposed to the slightly harsh one I received, I was infuriated. While the context of the e-mail wasn’t particularly hurtful, the additional information I discovered was painful. The point was clear—I was being judged by my gender rather than as an individual person. Then again, the bad comes with the good. Because of it, I have learned a lot about other people and society’s gender perceptions during my initial interactions with people. I’ve gained a lot of insight: that even in a society that tries to focus on equality, boys and girls are still treated differently. I don’t resent my parents for naming me Drew. As a matter of fact, I actually love my name.
“
I’m a celebrity, get me out of here
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illions of viewers sat aghast, eyes fixed to a TV or computer screen, watching a weather balloon that may or may not have contained a small boy floating across the Colorado sky. The world skidded to a halt as the so-called “Balloon Boy” saga unfolded before our very eyes. As the supposed aviator Falcon (oh, the irony) later told us after emerging from the attic, it was all a hoax engineered to better position his family for a reality show. My first reaction was to see if I could get away with floating a sophomore as part of an SSR project; the project was grounded due to lack of brave volunteers. The fact that parents would crave fame so much as to risk the thousands of dollars in therapy
VIVIEN MAO/CHRONICLE
Reading, a lost art
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Allegra
Tepper
leven books sit by my bed, commiserating about their untouched second halves, unappreciated epilogues and unacknowledged climaxes. I promise I had good intentions with every last one of them. Some of them are the tougher ones to get through, the books I know I must read as part of my intellectual adolescence (“Lolita”) and others are just the guilty pleasure memoirs (“Teenage Hipster in the Modern World”). Nabokov or not, the story’s always the same—I, quite shamefully, rarely reach the end of a book if it won’t end with an analytical essay. It’s been a certain looming thought of mine since bedtimes were replaced by falling asleep with the lights on with that beloved, colossal Civics textbook weighing down on my chest. I was a member of Book Bistro, a short-lived club, and an intimate one at that. Since then, I’ve become guilty of this very phenomenon, a carrier of the disease. Allow me to be plain: here we are at Harvard-Westlake, widely regarded as premier academia, and yet, no one reads. Now before you reject the thought, peering over at the grossly annotated “Beloved” sitting beside you, think about the last time you read a book, simply for the sake of enjoying the text and nothing more. I pray that it falls within the semester, but I fear that simply isn’t the case for the greater majority of the student body. President Thomas Hudnut begins each school year telling parents and faculty about the incredible novels he read this summer. It puts parents at ease, even excites them that their students are in such worthy hands. But somehow, we kids aren’t inspired in the same
that the kid will require after the ordeal is a terrifying reflection on our cultural values. Take the recent White House state dinner crashers. Two socialite morons decided to play Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn to campaign for a role on an upcoming reality show. That became the story of the evening; Not the presence of a major world leader, not the importance of a strong alliance with India, not even the green curry prawns that were served. Instead, we heard for weeks about the two chumps who really wanted to be on TV. We may hear stories like these and scoff. We may go on with our daily lives with the quiet satisfaction that, yes, we are in fact better than these attention whores, but look deep down
way. How can we be led by such a thirsty intellect and not feed off of that energy? Spanish teacher Javier Zaragoza brought this troubling thought up in a class, fearful that the flame of intellectual vitality of his students has withered away to a mere flicker. He fears the clear diminution in students without a drive beyond the grade book can only be attributed to the post-modern revolution that is “Mytweetface.” Every great civilization faces its downfall, he said; Rome did, and now so will we. I have no intentions of being melodramatic; however, that doesn’t erase the memory of a panic, along with many of my classmates, when presented with the question, “What books have you read outside of required reading in the last year?” It only makes sense that students applying to these intellectual communities would have a literary repertoire and a natural desire to expand it. But no. The easy, self-indulgent appeal would be for less work so that we could read for personal interests, not just academic pursuits. Perhaps English classes could assign students to read books of their choice and it would reignite the flame. So what do I want you to take away from this? No, I don’t want the underclassmen to begin their scrambling a Hemingway anthology to round out their college applications. It’s about a thirst for intellectual stimulation. If we all leave Harvard-Westlake having read little outside our curriculum, I fear we’ll be academic clones. As for me, I will give each of those cobwebbed novels attention because I’ll get the joy and freedom of intellectual stimulation we all deserve and need.
Sam
Adams and you’ll probably find a reality TV star just yearning to break free and crash the White House. We live in an age where we can follow the lives of stars via Twitter and Facebook as though we were watching the plot of their latest blockbusters unfold. The line between the real life and the glittering mystique of celebrity is blurred. If Brad Pitt goes to the grocery store like I, by the transitive property I must indeed be a star! Many of us live as though we are the stars of our own reality show. Those around us are supporting characters as we go through the insulated existence from each episode. A fight with a boyfriend or girlfriend becomes a cliffhanger; tune in next week. College decisions? Sweeps Week.
Our existence has become insulated by the camera lens we perceive to be following us as we walk through our daily lives. The American Dream once stood for working hard and rising up in the world. But no longer is the endgame a house in the suburbs, a stable job and 2.2 children. The new Dream is to concoct something so outrageous that someone is bound to give us the reality show we deserve. We’ll rewrite the inscription on the Statue of Liberty: give me your Octomoms, your Hiltons, your desperate housewives yearning to breathe free. We’re all guilty of this affliction. It’s time for our superegos to come out of their shells and break the bonds. At the end of the day, do we really want to keep up with the Kardashians?
Dec. 16, 2009
The
C hronicle
quadtalk What is the most significant thing you remember about 2009?
“STEM Fest. It was so much fun, a big celebration. How can you go wrong with robots and rockets? ”
—Paula Evans Math Dept. chair
“Ernest Wolfe’s ‘10 dancing in the quad on ‘80s day was epic. He brought us together through the art of dance.”
Opinion A11
chronicle.hw.com
The Chronicle chooses the best and worst moments of 2009.
the best of times
5 3
The Class of 2009 has the first Senior Retreat at the end of the year.
4 2
Casper Stockwell ’10 brings his pet pig as his semiformal date.
Prom 2009 video featuring Andrew Lee ‘09, TeRhon O’Neil ‘09 and Danny Rudyak ‘09 rapping.
Boys’ and girls’ basketball win CIF, girls’ soccer wins the regional championship, and girls’ cross country wins state.
1
Students storm the field when football upsets Alemany at Homecoming.
—Barrett Meister ’10
“I loved everything about 2009, i can’t pick a single moment.” —Emma Gilhuly ‘10
the worst of times
5 3 1
The school switches photographers for the yearbook photos, resulting in longer photo shoots.
4 2
Athletic department kicks Fanatics out of the girls’ volleyball game.
Candy and soda are removed from the cafeteria menu
Ventura Blvd. restaurants close because of water main breaking during the summer.
“When there was a battle royale between two praying manti in the quad.”
The economic downturn leads to budget cuts.
—Jordan Byran ‘12
All photos by Erin Moy/Chronicle
Atwelve
Dec. 16, 2009
3
Original photo by Ethan Kurtzman ’10
Original photo by Bruno Paredes ’10
Original photo by Todd Albert ’10
Original photo by Katrina Zandberg ’10
Original photo by Candice Navi ’10
Original photo by Gracie Warwick ’10
best of
Advanced Photography classes displayed their work in Feldman-Horn Gallery at a reception Dec. 14.
Original photo by John Billingsley ’10
Allegra Tepper/chronicle
Three’s company: Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra (at left, middle) wore his Winterfest hat while studying a photo in the art show; students explained their works to gallery guests over lemon bars and refreshments (center); History teacher Eric Zwemer looks at a military tribute by Chelsea McMahon ’10 (at right). Ingrid Chang/chronicle
Ingrid Chang/chronicle
Original photo by Ilica Mahjan ’10
Original photo by Gracie Warwick ’10
Original photo by Megan Hilliard ’10
Original photo by Candice Navi ’10
Original photo by Megan Hilliard ’10
features The
Chronicle
EXPLORE Harvard-Westlake School
Volume XIX
Issue 4
Dec. 16, 2009
CREATE
REVIVE REINVENT
new
NEW
YOU.
RIDE
2010
MUSEUMS
MOVIES ADVENTURE year
BOOKS
REACH
UPDATE
ENHANCE
RENEW
Tips and tricks to make the most of your year.
B6-B8.
ENRICH graphic by Candice Navi and allegra tepper
B2 Features
The
C hronicle
Staying home for sanity’s sake By Ingrid Chang
and
Jordan Freisleben
On a Tuesday morning, Leah* ’11 called in sick for the day. However, it wasn’t a fever that was plaguing her, but rather the stress of junior year. She proceeded to spend the day catching up on sleep, relaxing and getting ahead on homework. For Leah, mental health days are necessities to deal with the demands of school. “It releases pressure,” she said. “Sometimes you need the extra time to catch up on sleep and work. If you’re really stressed at school, you won’t be able to focus.” Stress makes it hard for students to perform their best in school, school psychologist Sheila Siegel said. “I think they need breaks, and when a break comes, they need it to be a real break,” she said. “When you take an honest break, you come back refreshed, with more energy to focus.” However, Siegel’s idea of a break may differ from the ways that students spend their days off. She considers a break a day to recuperate. “I think kids often take mental health days to finish a paper, so it’s not like they’re just relaxing. That’s a big difference,” Siegel said. “You only go to school for about 158 days a year, so it isn’t exactly overtaxing. But that said, sometimes people need a break.” The administration is not oblivious to the fact that students take mental health days, even if the students try to conceal them by faking illness. “You sense it, you know it happens,” Attendance Coordinator J. Gabriel Preciado said. “Occasionally if a student is exhausted and they let me know, it depends on what they say. We encourage them to tell us what the truth of the matter is so we can at least work with them.” Leah believes that being overstressed is an adequate excuse to miss a day of school. “[Stress] is an actual issue that psychologists study,” she said.
Dec. 16, 2009
chronicle.hw.com
“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” counselor and humanities teacher Luba Bek said. “I’m a little bit biased as a mental health professional. But I do think that if a student is really stressed out or has a quote-unquote meltdown or is losing it, I think being at school is not a good idea.” To Bek, a truly overstressed student coming to school could be just as detrimental to others as a sick student would be. “It’s just as important to take a day off for mental health as it is if you had the flu, even if it’s not contagious,” she said. “It could even be a difficult thing for people to be around,” she said. Carter* ’11 agrees with this sentiment. He thinks that the administration should give more consideration to the mental health of students. “There should be allotted mental health days for students,” he said. “It would be truly beneficial to the mental health of student body,” he said. “It might even improve your grades because you won’t be as stressed.” Although Bek thinks alotting mental health days would be a good idea, she said it would be problematic for the school to implement it. “Logistically it probably would be a nightmare to figure out how many days the student has taken, whether they were really stressed out or if they were taking the time to write a paper,” Bek said. “But I know that students in general are really reluctant to miss school because of the amount of work, so if a kid wants to take a day off because he or she cannot handle it, then I’m all for it.” Although teachers generally discourage taking days off unless a student is sick, history teacher Leslie Rockenbach feels otherwise. “Well, it’s a slippery slope,” she said. “I think that for the majority of students at HarvardWestlake, I think you guys work really hard, you’re totally over-stressed. I think taking a day to yourself is a great idea, I do.” *Names have been changed
“With Harvardwestlake’s rigorous curriculum, [mental health days] should be a necessity.” — Charlotte Gordon ’12 nathanson ’s/chronicle
“It’s not something for me, but if it works for other people, I don’t have a problem with it.” — Russell Madison ’10 nathanson ’s/chronicle
nathanson ’s/chronicle
“i think that it if i take a mental health day i’ll just come back to more work and it’ll be more stressful.” — Jamie Temko ’11
“I think school can be stressful sometimes and taking a day off would be good, but it depends on the situation. ” — Alex Scharch ‘11
“Everyone should be entitled to a mental health day each quarter.” — Nikki Volpert ’12 nathanson ’s/chronicle
Club meets to meditate By Matthew Lee
An aura of calmness settles over the students in Feldman-Horn as they sit down and begin to meditate. One student describes the sensation of being able to feel every part of his body and to control all his thoughts. Soft murmurs of meditation instruction from the leaders of the Harvard-Westlake Levitation Society can be heard, while it’s members strive for an inner spiritual peace. Gavin Cook ’10 founded the club in No v e m b e r, hoping to share the positive effects of meditation with his peers. The club currently meets e v e r y
Wednesday at 2:45 P.M., but Cook said that he plans to schedule meetings during break on Mondays and before school. Cook started meditating during the summer before his sophomore year after a family friend introduced him to books about Eastern style meditation. After reading several books, on the subject, Cook continued his meditation journey while living in China during his junior year. He took classes in Eastern medicine, and his teacher, in addition to teaching him medicine, instructed him in meditation. “Ever since I began to live in China, I’ve been meditating daily, nightly, and ever so rightly,” Cook said. Cook said that he named the club the Levitation Society because levitation was a good metaphor for the effects of meditation; that after a session of meditation, he feels a spiritual high, he said. Cook emphasized the positive effects of meditation that he wishes to share with his fellow students. “By using your mind, you can re-
lax every muscle in your body and really feel the presence of your body in the world,” Cook said. “Meditation teaches you to live in the moment.” Cook had to work very diligently to fully feel the effects of meditation. He said that it is a gradual process and that one must slowly build up the time he or she can spend meditating. “Meditation is like the internet; once you start using it, you can’t imagine how you lived without it,” Cook said. Each club meeting lasts for 45 minutes to an hour, and during this time members meditate, and more experienced meditators aid beginning meditators. “We help other members progress and the atmosphere is very casual and supportive,” Cook said. Cook said that meditation changed his lifestyle in noticeable ways. He said that it helped him with his asthma; he now runs and dances every day. Since he started meditation, Cook has also noticed that studying has become more enjoyable, he said.
breathe deeply: Gavin Cook ’10 takes a few minutes out of the school day to relieve stress. lauren seo/chronicle
nathanson ’s/chronicle
Dec. 16, 2009
C hronicle
high rollers By Ellina Chulpaeff
I
The
and
Neha Nimmagadda
ris* stared down at her speedometer. Thirty-five miles per hour exactly. She hurriedly looked back up at the road. Scanning the intersection for stop signs, she spotted the police car. Luckily, the policeman had already pulled over another woman. Thank goodness, she thought. Everything around her seemed like a trap. She looked at the road signs and her speedometer, back and forth, more times than she could count. She made sure she followed every rule was followed to the letter. Only 12 more miles to go. Iris, who smokes marijuana at parties and kickbacks, frequently drives home after getting high. However, she attempts to wait as long as possible for the high to wear off, “unless it’s like three in the morning or something, and no one is on the road. At that point it’s just fun to drive high. Forget safety,” she joked. Iris believes she is more alert when driving under the influence because of the constant fear that she might get pulled over. “When you’re driving sober, you’re more careless with speeding or running stop signs or infractions like that,” she said. “But when you’re high, you feel way more intent on not making any mistakes, because you don’t want to get pulled over, so you’re more observant of traffic laws.” “That’s called denial and rationalization,” Counselor and humanities teacher Luba Bek said. “Kids in general feel pretty invincible. It’s true that the reaction time you have at your age is the fastest, but not under the influence. It slows you down. Why do people smoke? To relax, right? To chill. So, when you’re chill, then you’re not as quick. There’s some kind of incongruency in the terms.” According to Jeff Uy, a behavioral psychiatrist with experienced in treating drug addiction, marijuana acts in stages. First, its effects are sympathetic and it acts as a stimulant. Later, it begins to act in a parasympathetic way, causimg people to calm down and become sedated. The actual effect of marijuana on the ability of drivers to react to unpredictable situations has not yet been pinpointed by research. But according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a metaanalysis found that increasing marijuana blood levels impaired behavioral and cognitive skills related to driving. Also, studies based on real and stimulated driving have indicated that marijuana can negatively affect a driver’s attentiveness, memory, and perception of time and speed. Still, the National Institute on Drug Abuse concedes that more research is necessary to determine the full effect of marijuana on drivers. Another study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Administration in 1993 suggests that the effects of marijuana on driving performance appear to be minor. In the study, increasing the dosage of THC, the psychoactive substance present in marijuana, caused more lane deviation while driving. However, the effects of marijuana seemed to be less drastic than those of alcohol. Those who had a blood alcohol content of 0.04 percent had significant driving impairments compared to a control group who did not drink any alcohol. Even though their performance was weakened, the subjects did not seem to be impaired. The subjects under the influence of THC believed that their driving performance was altered, but in reality they were not significantly affected. Subjects under the influence of alcohol had the tendency to drive faster while those under the influence of THC tended to drive slower. Baron*, who also drives under the influence of marijuana “about once every two weeks,” agrees with Iris’s assertion that people usually drive more carefully under the influence of marijuana. “Honestly I think there is nothing wrong with like driving high if you know you can be safe,” he said. “People put a bad rap on smoking because it’s all politics. Smoking is just portrayed as like this evil thing that society shuns. I definitely feel more careful when I drive high because I’m a little bit more worried so I pay more attention to what I’m doing.”
Features B3
chronicle.hw.com
Many teens believe driving while under the influence of drugs does not pose a significant risk, but some experts say otherwise.
However, Uy said that “scientifically speaking, you can never say that it actually improves your ability to drive.” Senior boy Ezra* agrees with Uy. Some of his friends drive while high and also assert that it’s perfectly safe. “It makes me so mad when people say that,” he said. “I mean, if you don’t feel any different after smoking, then why would you smoke at all? Obviously you feel different or are impaired after smoking, otherwise you wouldn’t smoke.” For Iris and Baron, driving high is a much better alternative to driving drunk. They both believe that people who are generally responsible and good drivers while sober are perfectly fine while driving high. “The standard deal is that the designated driver of a group can smoke, but not drink,” Iris said. “I have a friend who was telling me the other day about how he got high with his friends and they took turns purposely spinning out their cars in a parking lot at like two in the morning. See, but people like that would do that even if they weren’t high. That’s why I trust people to drive me high only if they’re good at driving when they’re sober. It’s more a question of ‘are you a maniac’ than ‘are you high’ for me.” Attempting to determine the influence of marijuana on individuals is very hard to do because it is subjective, Uy said. “Different people act in different ways,” Uy said. “Marijuana has a more idiosyncratic effect on different people than alcohol does. So, it’s very hard to judge both of them because you aren’t going to get the same correlation scientifically.” Even though the effects of smoking marijuana on driving performance are debatable, the consequences of getting caught are dire. “More people are stopped for alcohol than marijuana,” criminal attor— Luba Bek ney Donald Etra (Harry ’05, Dorothy Counselor and Humanities teacher ’08, Anna ’10, Jonathan ’11) said. “I’ve certainly had cases with people driving under the influence of marijuana and the consequences are the same. A minor [anyone under the age of 21] would have an automatic year of suspension [from driving]. It could also be six months in jail.” Harvard-Westlake can punish students for their behaviors off campus in non-school activities, even if the student is not charged with a crime, Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra said. The Student/Parent Handbook asserts the school’s right to “impose discipline and penalties for conduct occurring both on and off campus… off campus behavior may be punished when it constitutes a major rules infraction…or constitutes a criminal effect.” “Our community’s safety and the individual’s safety are paramount to us,” Salamandra said. “We work diligently to help students make correct choices. Penalties range from working with parents and outside counselors to expulsion. Each case is evaluated to identify what previous infractions the student has been involved in.” If a student were to boast about driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in Peer Support or admit to having a substance abuse problem, Harvard-Westlake would take action. “We’re not a punitive organization,” Bek said. “We’re not there to get people and punish them. Basically what we do is we tell the parents. We can make sure the kids are safe at school but in terms of getting treatment, or taking your car away, we can’t do that. Our primary concern is the safety of the school community and the safety of the individual.” Still, Iris and Baron really believe that driving under the influence of marijuana is safe. “People aren’t really impaired when they’re driving high, unless they’re really high,” Iris said. “I guess a radical idea would be to drive sober instead of drunk or high, but I mean, come on. You can’t demand perfection.”
“
why do people smoke? to relax, right? to chill. so, when you’re chill, you’re not as quick.”
*Names have been changed.
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B4 Features
The
C hronicle
questioning
Dec. 16, 2009
chronicle.hw.com
faith
Experimenting with faith, students strive to find their religious identities even if it differs from what they grew up with.
By Hana Al-Henaid
and
Michelle Nosratian
For the past year or so, Robby Mack ’10 could not figure out what to put as his religion on Facebook. Many do not give much thought to the label, but for Mack, the inability to answer that particular question represents his difficulty identifying wholly with one religion, something he struggled with while simultaneously enduring the trials of junior year. What began as a slight questioning of the values he had been brought up with evolved into a full-blown religious identity crisis. Mack comes from a family that he describes as “Christian and conservative.” For the first 15 or 16 years of his life, Mack never questioned the views that his family held, he said. “In terms of both my religious and political values, I listened to what my parents said,” he said. “I used to believe that God is truth, Jesus is the savior, the free market is great, Ronald Reagan was the best president we’ve ever had and that anybody can attain the American Dream. I never questioned it and I’m not entirely sure what prompted it to change.” One night, Mack was sitting on the couch of his parents’ house with his mother’s laptop when his thoughts started wandering. “I was curious as to what the Qur’an actually says,” he said. “Maybe it was divine influence, but I went to Google and typed in Qur’an text and I was surprised because it said radically different things than I thought.” In many ways, Mack was shocked by what he found in the Muslim holy book. “There was one section in the Qur’an particularly that struck me,” Mack said. “It was Chapter 2 section 62, and it basically said Muslims, Jews and Christians all will go to heaven. I thought that was so 180 degrees from what I’ve been told.” After he read about Islam, Mack went on to Facebook, removed the label that said ‘protestant’ and left it blank for a while. “There was one point when I considered putting Muslim in there but decided against it,” he said. “After a while, this honeymoon period went away and I didn’t feel that rush when I read it anymore.” After his fascination with Islam died down, Mack went on another religious search — literally. He looked up religions on Wikipedia, wondering “which one’s for me,” he said. He looked at Buddhism and once again “saw something.” Mack’s longtime friend Myles Teasley ’10 identifies himself as a Buddhist, and for a long while, Mack considered himself a Buddhist as well. Teasley was raised by his Christian mother, a Methodist, and his Buddhist father, who converted to Buddhism before Teasley was born. Growing up with the influences of two different religions prompted Teasley to look for a unique niche between the two. “It was weird being raised by parents who are
ILLUSTRATION BY JORDAN FREISLEBEN
different religions,” Teasley said. “It’s been really hard to answer the question of what religion I am.” Although his parents both made the conscious effort to raise Teasley as a practicing Christian and a practicing Buddhist, Teasley said, with age he began to define his spirituality for himself. “At first I thought I had to choose,” Teasley said. “As time went on and I got more mature, I realized that faith itself is really a choice. You don’t need to answer that question. You are what you are.” As Teasley began exploring different facets of both faiths, he selected parts of each tradition that appealed to him. While Teasley believes in reincarnation and nirvana, for instance, he also believes in the Ten Commandments and in a Creator. “It’s syncretic,” Teasley said. “I have taken aspects from a lot of places, from anything that fits, that resonates with me. I officially stopped going to church when I was 11. Now I’m more Buddhist than Christian.” Teasley influenced Mack, for whom Buddhism seemed to fill in a lot of the gaps that Christianity left open. “I saw the love and compassion,” Mack said. “In the Bible there’s charity and in the Qur’an, what they call Zakat, which is alms-giving, but I never saw that manifested. In Buddhism I saw the Dalai Lama and monks being utterly compassionate and thought ‘maybe that’s what I’ve been missing.’ One of the things I saw in Buddhism is the simple honor in a life of poverty. There was a time when I wanted to drop out of high school and go to a monastery and have no material goods and just meditate.” Although it lasted much longer than it did for Islam, the “honeymoon period died” for Buddhism as well. “After a while, I thought ‘well, another swing and a miss,’ so I went on another search and after a while, realized that there is really nothing that fits,” Mack said. “For so long, I thought the holy books were the word of God. I didn’t bother to think that this was written down by the hand of a human being, it couldn’t possibly be perfect. In fact, a lot of it couldn’t possibly be truthful.” Mack now refers to himself as agnostic, although he appreciates the experiences he has had. “One thing I did gain from all this is a newfound respect for all faiths,” Mack said. “By experiencing it and feeling what they felt, it opened me up to
“
As time went on and i got more mature, i realized that faith itself is really a choice.”
—Myles Teasley ‘10
what it is that is the essence of those faiths.” “Agnostic is Greek for ‘without knowledge’,” Mack said. “Maybe it was the way I was brought up, but I have a very hard time just shirking the idea of there being something. I have no idea what it is, and there’s a large part of me that thinks no matter how powerful or perfect something is, does it really deserve my worship?” School chaplain and Episcopal priest Father J. Young feels that questioning one’s religion in high school is “appropriate and normal.” “High school is a time, as you’re maturing, that you question all of your boundaries,” he said. “Anything that is boundary-setting in your life, whether it’s your parents’ authority or your moral obligations, are tested in high school and college. It makes total sense that we also challenge and test our religion, which is another boundary setting institution in our lives.” “The main developmental goal of adolescence is to develop a sense of identity,” Counselor and humanities teacher Luba Bek said. “Developmentally, it’s very clear that if you were to question your religion, this is the time to do it.” Mack used to wear a necklace with a small golden cross on it, which he hasn’t worn since he picked up the Qur’an. “There was one night a few months ago when I put it back on for 15 minutes,” he said. “I was listening to this song by one of my favorite bands called Skillet and something inside me wants to believe, wants to have the ‘theist’ at the end of the agnostic.” After a tumultuous year of spiritual crises, Mack has finally found a label that fits. “My big triumph is finally changing my Facebook status,” he said. “I changed it to agnostic theist, although the theist part is mostly to keep my family happy.”
Dec. 16, 2009
The
C hronicle
chronicle.hw.com
Friending faculty By Daniel Rothberg
L
News Feed On one of the world’s most known social networks, teachers and students discuss their friending policy.
>> >>
“I think students are more aware that what’s on there isn’t confidential and so it kind of has minimized the threat of any kind of problem arising” —Jeff Snapp mathematics teacher
“it’s kind of nice to see what their lives are like. I just sort of don’t really comment on it.” —Stephanie Quan science teacher
>>
“I am not their best friend. I am their teacher. And for me that’s the kind of relationship that I choose to develop and nurture.” —Nancy HolmeElledge foreign language teacher
Nathanson’s/Chronicle
>>
“I see no reasons why my students would benefit from seeing my status updates.” —Kevin Weis mathematics teacher
Don Hagopian/Chronicle
ast year, science teacher Stephanie Quan was pestered by several girls in her chemistry class to friend them on her personal Facebook account. Though Quan told the girls that she was not going to add students to her Facebook network, their nagging did not subside. “We wanted to be friends with her on Facebook because we always talked to her about her life,” said Ali Nadel ’11, one of Quan’s students. “I finally caved and at the end of the year I made a Facebook,” Quan said. Quan put a stop to their begging by creating a separate Facebook profile for just Harvard-Westlake students. After doing this, Quan made her personal Facebook profile unsearchable. Quan uses her student accessible Facebook primarily to post links to interesting science-related videos. Quan also uses her profile to upload albums of schoolrelated events, such as the geology class trip to Death Valley last year. “It’s kind of nice to see what their lives are like,” Quan said. With the Internet becoming a more prevalent form of communication, teachers have been recently faced with the question of whether or not it is appropriate to accept friend requests from students on Facebook. The school has no official policy stating whether or not it is acceptable for teachers to add students to their Facebook network, Head of School Dr. Jeanne Huybrechts said. However the school advises teachers to abide by the guidelines outlined in the Faculty Handbook regarding ethical conduct between students and faculty. “We’ve intentionally made broad guidelines that are described in our Faculty Handbook that relate to interactions between students and adults,” Huybrechts said. “The reason that they’re broad is because you never know what new mode of communication is going to come along.” After having Quan as a teacher, Riley Guerin ‘11 added her to his Facebook network. However, he feels that adding a teacher to Facebook can have some harmful side effects for students. “If she ever saw something on there that was not H-W appropriate she would be well within her rights as a teacher to report us for it, and that’s kind of nerve-racking,” Guerin said. While many teachers wait until their students graduate before adding them on their personal Facebook pages, some teachers add students while they are still enrolled in the school. Math teacher and Educational Technology Committee chairman Jeff Snapp is one teacher who will accept invitations from current students on his personal Facebook account. Although Snapp is willing to add students to his Facebook network, his policy is to never communicate with them via Facebook. “I think that faculty should very cautiously friend students via Facebook pages that are personal,” Huybrechts said. Snapp does not believe that students are making very many incriminating posts on Facebook. “Students are more aware that what’s on there isn’t confidential and so it kind of has minimized the threat of any kind of problem arising,” Snapp said. However Snapp does recognize that students present themselves differently on Facebook than they do in class. “The child who I see in class is very refined, for the most part,” Snapp said. “When I see things on Facebook, I am reminded that you guys are 16, 17 and 18 years old.” “The potential danger is that once you’re connected via a Facebook page, you never know what else is going to be added to that Facebook page,” Huybrechts said. “I would be very cautious about being connected with something that is always changing and is there for the whole world to see.” Unlike Snapp, math teacher Kevin Weis only accepts friend requests of students who are no longer enrolled in Harvard-Westlake. “I prefer to remain ignorant of any of my current students’ bad behavior. I would, for example, rather not hear them using foul language or read foul language written by them,” Weis said. Moreover, Weis believes that friending students on Facebook might jeopardize the studentteacher relationship. “Also, I would rather keep my own personal life private,” Weis said. “I see no reasons why my students would benefit from seeing my status updates.” For this reason, Weis keeps his profile private
Features B5 Should teachers and students be friends’ on one of the world’s most known social utility networks?
from anyone that he has not accepted to be his friend on Facebook. On the other hand, Weis sees Facebook as an excellent medium for keeping in touch with graduates. “I see this as Facebook’s major purpose: staying in contact with people and reconnecting with people you have somehow lost contact with. I would love to know what all of my students end up doing with their lives,” Weis said. “I hope Facebook or whatever the next thing like Facebook is will allow me to see them grow into adults.” The Educational Technology Committee explored the issues surrounding Facebook earlier this year in response to an inquiry made by foreign language teacher Nancy Holme-Elledge, Snapp said. Holme-Elledge was curious as to whether the school had developed an official policy about teachers accepting student friend requests on Facebook. Holme-Elledge has had a personal Facebook page for about a year and a half and chooses not to friend her students on Facebook. “The relationships that I have with my students are certainly friendly. I care very much about their well-being as human beings and certainly about their learning experience,” Holme-Elledge said. “But I think it’s also perhaps prudent for me as a professional educator to perhaps maintain some distance from my students. I am not their best friend. I am their teacher. And for me that’s the kind of relationship that I choose to develop and nurture.” However, Holme-Elledge, like many other teachers, does friend former students after they graduate from Harvard-Westlake. Like Holme-Elledge, Joe Girton ‘10, who is Facebook friends with science teacher Christopher Dartt, believes that friending a teacher on Facebook can blur the teacher-student relationship. “Even though most of us are pretty smart with our Facebook, sometimes things get through on our Facebook that teachers shouldn’t be seeing,” Girton said. “I think it should be two separate worlds. At the end of the day, I’m not going to un-friend Dr. Dartt because he is not really on Facebook much. But if I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn’t have friended him until I graduated.” Girton feels that it is more appropriate for students to friend teachers on Facebook after they graduate high school. “I feel like he knows too much about me for a teacher,“ Girton said. “Until I graduate and move on to a different school, he is still sort of my teacher. But when we are at the [same] school it’s weird to mix those two dynamics. So I would avoid it.” When it comes to Facebook, one gray area is whose responsibility it is to report illegal activity. “The courts have looked at that. Sometimes they will say it is the adult’s responsibility. Sometimes they will say it’s Facebook’s responsibility. So there is no clear-cut answer to that,” Snapp said. “So our answer to it was [for faculty to] proceed with caution. That’s all we could say. That’s the official policy on that for the committee.” The Educational Technology Committee is composed of 12 faculty members including Head of the Upper School Harry Salamandra and Head of the Middle School Ronnie Cazaeu. The committee helps develop school policy regarding technology use in classrooms and around campus. In addition to communicating via Facebook, some teachers have set up instant message screen names for the purpose of answering questions that students may have before a test. Quan is one such teacher that has set up a screen name for her students. “I created this screen name and I went on for an hour or two…the night before a test just to answer some questions,” Quan said. “Initially you will get a ton of different students trying to reach you on that. Some of them will ask you maybe two or three questions. Some of them get too dependent and they start asking more and more.” While there are obvious drawbacks to teachers and students communicating via a social networking site, many teachers do recognize that positive things could arise from such a relationship. “I absolutely support the responsible use of technology when it is helpful to students and when it advances learning,” Holme-Elledge said. “I am very interested in embracing those tools as long as they are reliable and safe and advance learning and help students.” “A professional Facebook page is the same thing as Moodle in a lot of ways. It’s a very very useful tool,” Huybrechts said. “The Internet is an extremely useful tool for communication...and it’s here to stay for sure.”
2010 B6 Features
Dec. 16, 2009 The
jazz clubs Picks from Performing Arts teacher Shawn Costantino
To start out the new year, here are tips from students and faculty for having a more adventurous, musical, soothing, spontaneous, delicious, artsy, cultured, healthy 2010.
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museums
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Suggested by history teacher Katherine Holmes-Chuba
Exhibit:“Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Different” exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Dates: Until Feb. 28, 2010. About: “More than 30 years of scholarly research of Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn’s work will be presented in this exhibit. The display will pair different drawings of Rembrandt’s with those of his pupils and outline the artistic differences.”
gRAPHIC BY mATTHEW lEE
1 2 3 4
Saddle Peak from Stunt High Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.
San Gabriel River via East Fork in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Mt. Hollywood in Griffith Park.
Vibrato Grill Jazz ... etc: “Again, a venue where HarvardWestlake plays from time to time, this club features live jazz six nights a week. Look out for Bob Sheppard, Peter Erskine and the occasional Joey DeFranceso sighting.”
4 5
Exhibit: “The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis” at the Hammer Museum. Dates: Until Feb. 7, 2010. About: “Robert Crumb’s cartoon version of the Book of Genesis contains all 50 chapters of the book illustrated and incorporates every word of the text in the pieces. The exhibit will feature 207 black and white drawings.”
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Vitello’s Jazz Club: “A club often featuring our own HarvardWestlake combos, this venue has recently reinvented itself as the premier valley jazz club.”
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Exhibit: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ s “Comtesse d’ Haussonville” at the Norton Simon Museum. Dates: Until Jan. 25, 2010. About: “This will be the first time the painting is in California. It is on loan from the Frick Collection in New York as a part of an art exchange program between the museums.”
Favorites from Science teacher WendyVan Norden
The Baked Potato: “Right by Universal City, this jazz venue always features prominent acts such as The Yellow Jackets, Arnold McCuller ( James Taylor Vocalist) and many modern jazz fusion acts.”
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Exhibit: “Luis Meléndez: Master of the Spanish Still Life” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Dates: Until Jan. 3, 2010. About: “Luis Meléndez (1716–1780) was one of the greatest still life painters of 18th century in Spain. The exhibition includes more than 20 of his paintings. Other relevant works from abroad are also grouped with this exhibit.”
hiking trails
Ch
Catalina’s: “The Premier Jazz club on the west coast. This place has rockin’ jazz all the time.” Jazz at the LA Phil: “A wonderful concert series in Disney Hall featuring some of the most world-class jazz musicians alive today.”
From the intersection of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Mulholland Drive to Malibu via Stunt Road and then Las Flores (very steep and technical descent). Mulholland Drive from Topanga Avenue to the beach. Malibu to Port Hueneme via Pacific Coast Highway. Silver Lake/Echo Park to Harvard-Westlake Upper School via Riverside Drive (or the LA River bike path).
In the Inland Valley Empire, Mt Baldy Road to Glendora Ridge Road to Altadena.
bike paths Suggested by science teacher Dietrich Schuhl
San Jacinto Peak via Palm Springs Tram.
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Features B7
chronicle.hw.com
books 1 2 3
“Journey to the End of the Millenium” Top picks from by A.B. Yehoshua English teacher “It’s a fascinating window into Laurence Weber the intersection of Jew, Mus-
lim, and Christian at a critical historical moment, and Yehoby Ted Kooser shua’s story suggests, among “This book is accessible, resonant other things, a fluidity in the and they are grounding in terms of relationships between his reading about common experiences. diverse characters that we He’s a great human writer.” could learn from.”
“Delights and Shadows”
“Letters to a Young Poet”
Suggestions from Performing Arts teacherTed Walch
movies
by Rania Maria Rilke “It is a correspondence between a young writer and great poet. It’s full of life lessons and wisdom.”
1 2 3
“A Man Escaped”
True story about a French Resistance fighter
(1956) “M”
Directed by Fritz Lang
(1931)
“Fanny and Alexander” Won four Oscars
(1982)
Allegra tepper/Chronicle
4 5 6
“Being There”
7 8 9 10
“La Strada”
Won Oscar for Best Foreign Film
Featuring Peter Sellers and Shirley Maclaine
(1979)
(1954)
Running on Empty
Won Golden Globe for Best Screenplay
“Au Revoir, Les Enfants” Nominated for two Oscars
(1987)
“Don’t Look Now”
Featuring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie
(1973)
(1988)
“The Motorcycle Diaries”
Adaptation of Che Guevara’s journal
(2004)
“America, America”
ENRICH
Album: Sainthood Song: Hell
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“I like them because their voices are really unique, and outside of their music they seem like really cool people... i mean, they’re twins from canada.”
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“I like the beats. They have Great Energy.”
—Alán Snider ‘12
Lauren Lauren Seo/Chronicle Seo/Chronicle
Portugal the Man Album: Censored Colors Song: Lay Me Back Down
Lauren Seo/Chronicle
Student favorites
G AN CH
—Danielle Strassman ‘11
Album: In Ghost Colours Song: Lights & Music
“They Blend The style from the ‘60s anti-war movement into the new age acoustic progressive rock.”
Lauren Seo/Chronicle
Nominated for Oscar for Best Picture
(1963)
Tegan & Sara
music Cut Copy
candice navi/Chronicle
—Jack Healy ‘10
B8 Features
C hronicle
Dec. 16, 2009
chronicle.hw.com
“‘costume’ yourself for a day and put together a themed outfit (‘Victorian Dandy’; ‘Secret Agent’; ‘Edie Sedgewick goes to Bollywood’…)”
try adding...
Nathanson’s/Chronicle
“Step one: close your eyes. Step two: reach in your closet and pull out one top and one bottom. Step three: make it work!”
a hat a bow tie legwarmers some heavy metal
“Dye it (one package RIT + a tired old pair of jeans = American Apparel lookalike mineral wash fabulousness for way less money!)”
go to...
a thrift store your grandparents’ closet Michael’s craft stores
“hint: cheap, size XXL thrift store merino or cashmere sweaters turn super cute and cozy after a hot wash and dry cycle.”
Illustrations by Hannah Rosenberg
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do a good deed The Community Council suggests:
operation santa claus
tea
Science teacher Yanni Vourgourakis recommends:
When: Dec. 24 Where: 150 North Madison Ave., Pasadena, and other locations What: Be Santa for underprivileged children: pack your car full of toys and deliver them to boys and girls throughout Pasadena and surrounding communities. Contact: www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp602450.jsp
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one voice
When: Dec. 20, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. What: Distribute meals and toys to underprivileged families. Where: A bus will take you to and from the Upper School. Contact: communitycouncil@hw.com
meals on wheels
When: Any time you want to volunteer. Where: 1823 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica What: Deliver hot lunches, or frozen food to homebound individuals. Contact: 310-394-7558 or visit mealsonwheels.com
Lupica
Westfield and Century City
“They have a lot of specialty teas. A good one is called lapsang souchon, which is a kind of smoky Chinese tea.”
Teavana Sherman Oaks
“They have more red teas, or roibos, all noncaffeinated.”
Illustration by Michelle Nosratian
Emily Khaykin/Chronicle
“The crab hand roll is superb: highest quality seaweed, blue crab, and warm rice.”
Sushi Zo West LA
“the owner will ask you if you like to eat slimy and chewy. If [you say] yes, you will get the full selection of wonderful sushi.” Nathanson’s/Chronicle
sushi
Sushi Nozawa Studio City
Archivist Allan Sasaki suggests:
1 2 3 Asanebo Studio City
“They’re known for their sashimi dishes. One of my favorites is yellowtail.”
update your look
tricks of the trade
With Costume Designer Lisa Peters’s tips
enhance
The
infographic by mary rose fissinger
Dec. 16, 2009
High Stakes
The
C hronicle
chronicle.hw.com
Clue four: Early decision results are in for some while other seniors finish their applications. By Allegra Tepper The first college verdicts came in this past week. Dartmouth did the honors of kicking off the blitzkrieg last Wednesday, followed by Cornell and Columbia on Thursday. Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford all received two dozen applications from Harvard-Westlake seniors. U. Penn, Stanford and Wesleyan released their decisions on Friday, with decidedly mixed results. Shawn* Shawn picked the short straw on Friday afternoon, receiving a rejection from Penn, his first -choice school. “I’m not upset, just disappointed,” Shawn said. “I pretty much knew that everyone else I was applying with was a lot more qualified so I didn’t have the highest expectations, but I was hopeful.” Shawn thought that the major jump in his first quarter grades would have enticed the admission office at Penn (he had a 4.5 GPA, last quarter bringing his cumulative GPA up to a 3.81 weighted). Regardless, Shawn has no intention of looking back. With a University of Wisconsin acceptance already under his belt and a decision on its way from the University of Michigan on Dec. 24, he has chosen to look at the bright side of keeping his options open. “I considered applying Early Decision II to either Emory University or Vanderbilt University, but I de-
Features B9
Illustration by joyce kim
cided it’s better to give myself choices,” Shawn said. Through an Early Decision II program, students apply by the Regular Decision deadline. However, in return for a February response, they must commit to attending if accepted. “It’s terrible to receive a rejection when you were set on that one school, attached to it, but that wasn’t me,” he said. Annabelle* Annabelle said she found the responses from Columbia and Stanford to her classmates who had applied terrifying. “The Columbia rejections were totally unexpected,” Annabelle said. “And to hear how much they wanted to be at these schools and the school just doesn’t want you back it’s unrequited love.” Columbia has always hovered in Annabelle’s top three schools, but she says this Thursday’s onslaught made her question how realistic her aspirations are. Similar emotions came about after the Stanford verdicts were revealed. With the exceptions of her major reach schools, though, Annabelle said she is very comfortable with her current list of nine schools. Thus far, she has only applied to the University of California at Berkeley, she said maintained typical form by procrastinating past the Dec. 1 priority and scholarship deadline for the University of Southern California. She is in the process of applying for the Ron Brown Scholar Program and the AXA Achievement Foun-
dation scholarships, through which she could earn anywhere from $2,000 to $40,000. Taylor* For Taylor, the early results brought on regret of deciding to wait until the regular deadline for her 12 schools (counting the UCs as a single university). Even so, she knows that committing to Williams that early in the game would have been too difficult. As of today, she has submitted applications to the UCs and USC, as well as the music supplement for her conservatory-style schools such as Oberlin. “I recorded my supplement in a home space and I made the mistake of doing it just after the musical; it’s not my best work, but I think it only matters for a handful of schools,” Taylor said. In addition to her recording, Oberlin requested that Taylor take a music theory test on her own and submit it by February. Along with Performing Arts teacher Chris Moore, Taylor is completing an acting supplement, which will include one Shakespearean monologue, and two contemporary monologues, one dramatic and one comedic. “When I can, I just look at the websites. Like today, I looked at Vassar’s and was so inspired,” Taylor said, “It’s really exciting. It just makes me think about how much I want a true college experience, where everyone is there to learn and make good friendships. I can’t wait.” *Names have been changed
“High standards, exceptional results”
www.DrFaraNosratian.com
20% off any dental procedure for Harvard-Westlake families
> Digital X-rays (80-90% less radiation) > Aesthetic Crowns/bridges > Porcelain Veneers > Tooth Colored Fillings > ZOOM! Teeth Whitening > Root Canals > Dentures > Extractions > Implants
B10 Features
The
C hronicle
Dec. 16, 2009
chronicle.hw.com
Upper school choirs ‘Deck the Hall’ with holiday spirit By Sammy Roth
To conclude the winter choral concert on Saturday, senior vocalists lined the aisles and joined the audience in a rendition of “Silent Night,” while sophomores and juniors performed “Peace, Peace,” accompanied by 11 students playing handbells. Director of the Choral Music Program Rodger Guerrero said that the winter choral concert has ended with, “Peace, Peace,” for at least the last 19 years. “Traditions can be comforting and emotional,” Guerrero said. “Not only does this particular song possess both of these characteristics, it allows the seniors to be recognized while simultaneously giving the audience a chance to participate.” The concert was held at the Santa Monica 1st Presbyterian Church. All four upper school vocal groups performed: Chamber Singers, Bel Canto, the Wolverine Chorus and the Jazz Singers. The groups came together for three pieces, opening the concert with, “Magnificat,” and closing with “Peace, Peace,” and a few variations of “Jingle Bells.” “There really is no magic to great performances,” Guerrero said. “It’s just that combination of variables so unique to Harvard-Westlake students: talent, intelligence, determination and work ethic.” The concert also featured the four-member Jazz Combo of Hank Adelmann ’11, Spencer Horstman ’10, Charlie Mischer ’10 and Jake Staahl ’10, in addition to 12 orchestra musicians and professional accompanist Sara Shakliyan-Mendez. This is Shakliyan-Mendez’s first year as upper school accompanist. She earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Choral Conducting, with a minor in piano accompaniment, from the University of Southern California The concert was called “Deck the Hall”. Guerrero said this title embodied the spirit of the concert. “I usually utilize a title from one of the songs that is most descriptive of the overall character of the music to be performed,” Guerrero said. “In this year’s case, the emotions one feels when ‘decorating’ for a grand event— joy, expectation, enthusiasm, etc.—were inherent in almost every piece of music.”
daniel lundberg/vox
Colors of the Rainbow: The dancers portray different colors of the rainbow. Jill Wilson ’12 in front of Advanced Dance I class (top); Sara Best ’11, Chanah Haddad ’11, and Stephanie Maldonado ’11 (bottom left); Chanah Haddad ’11 and Sara Best ’11 (bottom right).
Dance classes perform two different showcases By Joyce Kim
Dance classes performed two showcases earlier this month. Dancers from the Art of Dance I and II classes performed their showcase on Dec. 9. While there was no central theme throughout the entire showcase, each dance was centered around a specific idea, such as nature, or animals. “We rehearsed every dance class and during frees during the week,” Celine Pourmoradi ’11 said. “We based some of our dances on impulses, nature, dreams and animals.” A small group of dancers performed pieces anywhere from three to five minutes long. “The parents really enjoyed it and we had a good time performing it,” Pourmoradi said. Another class that performed was Advanced Dance I. They performed their showcase twice, on Dec. 7 and 10. The first performance was not open for general admission. The dancers performed for special guests, adults from the charity Activities for Retarded Children and Adults. ARC is an organization that creates a homelike atmosphere for mentally disabled children and adults. The caretakers organize different activities throughout the day, including a period of time for “school” during which the adults learn subjects such as math and grammar. The dancers perform around this time every year, and ARC has been invited to these showcases before. “Each year Art of Dance I does their showcase
for ARC and Ms. Winter plans it out,” Jill Wilson ’12 said. We spent September through November working on it, and was a great show.” This year, the storyline of the dance consisted of all the dancers and a painter, played by Chase Morgan ’10. The painter’s secret was that he had never painted before in his life. The dancers came on stage, as all the different colors of the rainbow, to help Morgan learn how to paint. The dancers portrayed different colors in small groups, slowly helping the painter create a masterpiece. The piece was also interactive. Morgan would often ask the audience different questions about primary and secondary colors, and had them shout out the colors of the rainbow. There was also a dance where the painter learned to mix primary colors in order to create secondary colors. By the end of the show, every colors of the rainbow had been called out to dance, and there was a rainbow themed dance finale. Afterwards, the guests from ARC were invited up to dance with the students. “It was such an amazing experience to perform for ARC because they are so different than any other audience I’ve performed for before,” Wilson said. The dancers performed the piece both Monday and Thursday night, showing that the dance could be performed for both ARC and a general audience, and the message would be portrayed all the same to both ARC and the general audience.
Faculty chorale to sing in Winter Choral Concert By Catherine Wang
One hundred and fifty students and faculty members will perform at the middle school Winter Choral Concert tomorrow night. One hundred singers, 30 middle school Symphony members and 20 faculty singers will take the stage in Bing Auditorium. The seventh grade Boys’ and Girls’ Choruses, the Vocal Ensemble, Madrigals and the Men’s Festival Chorus, will each perform about five songs each. Each ensemble is directed by Performing Arts Department Chair and Director of Choral Music Nina Burtchaell. The Men’s Festival Chorus, which comprises 55 male singers from seventh through twelfth grade, the faculty chorale and the a capella groups, will sing several songs afterward. This is the 18th year of the Faculty Chorale’s existence. The Faculty Chorale, started by Burtchaell, has had 20 to 25 members in it every year since. Some faculty members, including Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts and President Tom Hudnut, have been a part of the chorale since its existence. Burtchaell provides the teachers with music and recordings with which to practice on their own. She rehearses with them only once before the Vocal Concert. “It is cool because the teachers and students get to make music together in a very exciting setting,” Burtchaell said. All 150 performers will take part in the show’s closing number, Vivaldi’s “Gloria.” The group was set to rehearse together as a whole only once before the concert at a dress rehearsal last night. The instrumental music is provided by members of the middle school Symphony Orchestra, which is directed by performing arts teacher Emily Reola. To rehearse, Burtchaell will have each section sing through its part alone, with piano aocompaniment. “After we are all smashed up on to the stage, we run the piece as many times as we can, striving for balance, precision with the orchestra, dynamics-as perfect as we can get it!” Burtchaell said. The Winter Choral Concert is the first of the two vocal concerts the Middle School puts on each year. “It’s great way to kick off the holiday season,” Burtchaell said.
Dec. 16, 2009
The
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Features B11
arts&entertainment
courtesy of christina yang
Jazzin’ it up: Jordan Butler ’11, Ellery Rosenfield ’11, Elliot Storey ’11, and Billy Singleton ’12 play “In the Mood” by Harbach and Kern. The Jazz Ensemble.
played four songs Dec 5, including “Spain” by Chick Corea. Their set was followed by the Jazz Explorers and Jazz Band.
All jazzed up By Sade Tavangarian
The first jazz concert of the year featured Jazz Band classes, the Jazz Ensemble and the Studio Jazz ensemble, as well as a few smaller combos. The concert featured numerous trumpet, guitar, saxophone and piano solos. “It was a very successful concert,” bassist Alex Silverman ’10 said. “We played exactly how we wanted to, if not better.” After Director Shawn Costantino welcomed the audience, the Studio Jazz Band Combo Two led by Kevin Schwarzwald ’11 played “Pick to the Pieces” by Average White Band. The Jazz Ensemble then played four songs, including “In the Mood” by Harbach and Kern and “Spain” by Chick Corea.
The rest of the concert featured the Studio Jazz class, the Jazz Explorers combo, Jazz Band and the Advanced Jazz Combo. Studio Jazz played four songs, including “Basically Blues” by Phil Wilson and “Love for Sale” by Cole Porter. Jazz Explorers and Jazz Band followed the Studio Jazz ensemble. The Jazz Band played three songs, including “Una Mas” by Kenny Dorhan, “Makin Whoopie” by Kahn and Donaldson. To finish the concert, the Advanced Jazz Combo, led by Jordan Bryan ’11 and Gaby Leslie ’10, performed “Purple Rain” by Prince and “With Bells On” by Thad Jones. “Purple Rain’ stole the show,” Silverman said.
Rugby auditorium was filled with sounds of jazz on Dec. 5.
“Mr. Costantino chose ‘Purple Rain’ but I really liked playing it because it was a really different style than I’m used to so it was a challenge,” guitarist Nick Chuba ’10 said. The Advanced Combo also played a tune written by tenor saxaphone player Spencer Hortsman ’10. He titled it “The Libertine.” Silverman plays two variations of the bass instrument, upright and bass guitar. He alternated between the two during the concert. “It is fun to play both,” he said. “My favorite part of the concert was probably playing with the Jazz explorers because the group this year was made up of great musicians and it’s a pleasure just to be able to play with them,” Chuba said.
Singers spread holiday cheer By Lauren Seo courtesy of richard chung
Symphonic bunch: Richard Chung ’12, Ian Durra ’12 and Justin Sohn ’12 of Concert Strings perform Bela Bartok’s “Four Small Dances” at St. Michael’s Church Dec 2.
Wind Ensemble delivers its first performance of the year By Megan Kawasaki
and
Julius Pak
The newly-created Wind Ensemble performed in its first concert ever on Dec 2. The wind musicians joined the Concert Strings Ensemble and the Symphony for the upper school’s Winter Orchestra Concert at the St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church. They performed both classical and contemporary compositions. Symphony and Concert Strings teacher Mark Hilt and Jazz Band instructor Shawn Costantino both teach the Wind Ensemble. “Since I grew up playing wind ensemble music, teaching that class is a very natural fit for me,” Costantino said. The Wind Ensemble played a variety of compositions, including the “Academic Festival Overture” written by Johannes Brahms and “Afton Variatons” by Carl Strommen, a contemporary jazz and orchestra composer.
“Mr. Costantino and Mr. Hilt did a very good job preparing for the concert,” Justin Ho ’12 said. They did a lot, and I’m grateful for the preparation.” Ho performed a solo on the alto saxophone. Concert Strings performed “Four Small Dances,” composed by Bela Bartok. Richard Chung ’12 performed a solo in the third dance, “Evening in Orchestra.” The Symphony performed four pieces, including “Allegretto Scherzando,” the second dance of “Slavonic Dances, Op. 46,” written by Antonin Dvorak, and the overture of “Die Fledermaus,” an opera composed by Johann Strauss, Jr. During the performance, seniors Christine Byun ’10 and Simon Hunegs ’10 had solos on the flute and violin, respectively. “The performance was amazing,” Costantino said. “The kids shined, stepped up, and totally blew me away with how great they played.”
The Community Singers planned to perform for abused children at Adat Ari El Synagogue yesterday. The singers arranged to perform while the children eat dinner at a holiday party. The party would be the community service singing group’s first performance outside of school this year. The party was hosted by Family Violence Project, an organization dedicated to supporting children with abusive parents. The nonprofit organization hosts weekly support groups as well as events such as the holiday party. Fifteen singers, selected on a first-come, firstserve basis, volunteered to spend their evening entertaining the children The singers planned to encourage the children to participate in an open mic session after the organized performance. The student-run a cappella group, led by co-coordinators Simon Hunegs ’10 and Lizzy Pratt ’11, has been practicing Mondays during break since September to prepare for the event’s repertoire. The group was started four years ago, and is currently made up of around 30 members, the number fluctuating during each optional rehearsal. The group’s next performance is Tuesday at a home for the elderly in Santa Monica. Hunegs said the singers will perform “crowd pleaser” songs, such as “Only You,” “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and various Disney songs. “I think a lot of people have fun with [Community Singers] because it’s a great cause, and it’s gratifying to see the look on people’s faces as you brighten their day,” Hunegs said.
B12 Features
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mondaymusic By Allegra Tepper
For just a moment the room grew silent as Max Druz ’10, Jasmine McAllister ’11, and Jack Petok ’11 took the Chalmers East stage. Students looked up from their homework and paused their sipping on ice blended beverages. From tables adorned with red restive table cloths, Hershey’s kisses and glitter confetti, students and faculty watched wide-eyed in anticipation as Petok shouted a line of garbled French, kicking off a dramatic reading of 1940s French Existentialist theatre. Then came the laughter. The reading of Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Huis Clos” (“No Exit”) was the only performance of its kind at the first annual Coffee House, hosted by the Prefect Council on Nov. 23. Nevertheless, the afternoon was not short of performers. Classical and jazz instrumentalists and a capella singers took turns performing for the audience of about 40. Kathryn Gallagher ’11 started off the show with an original song fol-
Dec. 16, 2009
arts&entertainment
SET LIST: Kathryn Gallagher ’11 starts off the first Coffee House in Chalmers by singing and playing her guitar at top left. Hank Doughan ’12 performs on the piano at top right. Spencer Horstman ’10 plays the saxophone at middle left. Chase Morgan ’10 jams on his electric guitar at middle right. Lizzy Pratt and Ben Dreier sing at bottom left. Members of Jazz Singers sing at bottom right.
Chloe Lister and Candice navi/chronicle
Performers showcased a variety of talents at the first annual Coffee House hosted by Prefect Council.
lowed by Taylor Swift selections. Audience members sang along to the sounds of Gallagher’s guitar. From then on, the set list was free-form. Students jumped from their seats in the audience whenever the stage was clear, running up to the Chalmer’s computer lab to print out sheet music when necessary. Things took a turn for the digital when Ben Drier ’11 and Lizzy Pratt ’11 used their iPhones to read the lyrics for their duet, Aladdin’s “A Whole New World.” The event was spearheaded by prefects Brooke Levin ’12 and Chris Holthouse ’11. “The entire council had the idea, but Brooke and I were attracted to the project because we are both in jazz bands and would be able to try to get those musicians to perform,” Holthouse said. Some of Holthouse’s band mates, Spencer Horstman ’10 and Jake Staahl ’10 performed a jazz tune on saxophone and piano respectively, and Druz took the stage a second time to perform Brazilian tunes on the piano. There was no limit to how
many times a student could performe. “It was just a spontaneous and casual venue for fun and diverse performers to express their various talents,” Holthouse said. Jilli Marine ’10 and Megan Fleming ’10 both performed several times, once as a duet and once with other members of the Jazz Singers. Fleming also sang Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” on the piano and Marine performed a duet with former Head Prefect Brandon Levin ’09. More students crowded into the east side of the lounge as school play rehearsals and sports practices came to an end and students arrived on campus for Peer Support. The room was packed when senior prefect Chase Morgan ’10 performed original music on electric guitar after sending a shout-out to his fellow prefects for executing the event successfully. “I think it wrapped up a bit on the early side, but I am happy that it was implemented and I think that it will gain popularity over time and with repetition,” Gaby Leslie ’10 said.
sports The
Harvard-Westlake School
Chronicle
Volume XIX
Issue 4 Dec. 16, 2009
Mary Rose Fissinger/chronicle
Mary Rose Fissinger/chronicle
Courtesy of Teresa On
Best in the state: Members of the girls’ cross country team celebrate (top left) after the team won the Division IV State Championship on Nov. 28. Head Coach Tim Sharpe holds the trophy aloft as the players rejoice (bottom left). Cami Chapus ’12 runs the State Finals race as Amy Weisenbach ’12 and other runners trail (right).
Leader of the pack
Last year, Cami Chapus ’12 placed 12th at the cross country state championship race. One year later, she returned to Woodward Park in Fresno to beat out 188 competitors and capture the Division IV individual state title. By Catherine Wang On a crisp November morning, the Chapus family pile into the family’s dark green SUV outside their Pacific Palisades home. It is quite the sight, since there are six Chapus children, ranging in age from one to 15. Even so, family outings are nothing out of the ordinary for the Chapus family. What is out of the ordinary is that one member of the Chapus family is missing from the family trip. Across town, Cami ’12, the oldest of the Chapus children, boards a bus headed for the same place as her family. As her younger siblings laugh and watch snowflakes fall outside their car window, Chapus giggles with her cross country teammates, jittery with excitement for the next day. This is the second time Chapus has made the three
and a half hour trip to Woodward Park in Fresno – where she will compete in the State Championship for Cross Country. Last year, she was the sole Wolverine to qualify for the race, in which she placed 12th. This year is different though–very different. Chapus has one year of experience under her belt and is driven by a goal she set over the summer: to place in the top 10 of the race. Another difference: she will no longer be the lone runner on the starting line sporting the H-W paw print on her jersey. This year, she is accompanied by her six teammates, who she has trained tirelessly with for the past five months. The meet’s atmosphere is overwhelming, even for Chapus. She and her teammates gape in awe at their competition, which Chapus calls “intimidating.” Emotions run high as the best of California’s cross country runners take their place at the starting line.
Boys’ cross country takes 5th in state, secures best finish in school history By Jonah Rosenbaum
After a fifth place finish at State Finals in Fresno, the boys’ cross country team came home with the best finish in team history. “We ran a great race and left nothing out there,” said Chris Vanderschans ’10. Kevin On ’11 and David Abergel ’11 paced the team, coming in together with a time of 16:39. Charlie Stigler ’11 and Reid Lidow ’10 were close behind, finishing in
17:04 and 17:11 respectively. “We came into this season with very lofty expectations, we really wanted to win state,” said Vanderschans. But taking fifth place, the highest ever for the boys’ is a great accomplishment, and I’m really proud of the team.” Key runners On, Ben Saunders ’11 and Vanderschans battled injuries. “We never let the injuries be an excuse for us, we used them as motivations to practice harder and push ourselves further,”
Vanderschans said. “What we did at state is an incredible accomplishment. We had a lot of obstacles to overcome, but early in the season, after the Woodridge Invitational, we came together as a team and showed our new coach what we can do,” Abergel said. The Woodbridge Invitational is the biggest one-day race in the country. The team finished third. “Next year we plan on matching the girls and taking home state,” Abergel said.
“A lot of people wouldn’t call cross country exciting,” Chapus said after the race. “But it felt exciting.” From the beginning of the grueling 3.1 mile race, Chapus and teammate Amy Weissenbauch ’12 were in the forefront of the race. But just before the halfway mark, Marin Catholic of Kentwood’s Theresa Devine broke away from the pack. “I got really confused then,” Chapus said. “I was hoping she would slow down so I could catch her. But she didn’t.” At the race’s 2-mile mark, Chapus was a full seven seconds behind Devine. With the help of her family and friends’ fanatic cheering, Chapus “got her kick going” and began gaining on Devine. “Once I realized I was gaining on her it clicked in my head that I could catch up to her,” she said. “Once I passed her, I kept running and didn’t look back.”
Inside Sports:
See CHAPUS, C5
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Q and A with Eric Swoope. Athletes use yoga for strength training.
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Defending CIF champ girls’ basketball begins season.
C2 Sports
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Athletes gain strength, flexibility with yoga By Alex Edel
During most sports practices, athletes can be found running around the track, scrimmaging, or doing drills. However, there are some athletes training through the warrior pose or the downward dog. Yoga is sometimes seen as a way for people who do not compete in sports to get some exercise, but some athletes use yoga as a supplemental activity in order to become more flexible and have more core strength. “I appreciate both yoga and Pilates in regards to cross training, core strength gain, stretching and body awareness,” Head Swim Coach Darlene Bible said. Under Head Coach Mark Haddad, last year’s lacrosse team had morning yoga sessions before school to supplement their other training. “It was good for team building and it helped us physically as well,” Jake Lasker ’10 said. Lasker felt that mandatory weight training would have been much more helpful for the team. However, he felt that yoga really helped with team bonding. “Bonding with the team early in the morning really helped us grow together as a team because of the common experience,” Lasker said. Allison Merz ’10 feels that yoga has a more beneficial role in training for sports. “Yoga has helped a lot with my flexibility, which has definitely made a difference in my swimming. It has also helped with my bad posture, which was actually contributing to an injury I had, so it’s great for that reason as well,” Merz said. After suffering a shoulder injury, Merz started doing yoga in order to strengthen the muscles in her shoulder and back. This helped her to prevent further injury and helped her shoulder heal. “Yoga isn’t really considered to be important in a lot of sports, but I think it’s a great way to gain both flexibility and strength,” Merz said. “A lot of the stretches are really nice they are relaxing and they make you feel great. A lot of the positions they have are way harder than you would think. I get really sore after yoga.” Bryce Tobias ’10 also occasionally does yoga, which he says helps with his water polo. “It helps with my flexibility which is always good,” Tobias said. The school does offer a yoga class taught by Amy Bird, and is offered as an alternative to P.E. “Ms. Bird was my instructor for the two semesters I had and she was amazing,” Jackie Jasuta ’10 said. “She helped us get into tough positions and readjusted us if we weren’t correct, but is she also just an amazing confidant and friend. She was always whatever I needed her to be.” Jasuta took the class for two semesters last year and says that it did help with her swimming. “In yoga we focused a lot on breathing, controlling breathing, different ways to breathe, just laying down and breathing,” Jasuta said. “That may have helped me get into the water since I had previously just done
land sports and never really had to think about when to breathe. But because I had learned to control my breathing, swimming may have been easier than it would have been otherwise.” The class was mainly stretching and working on positions which correctly align the body Jasuta said. Although a lot of the poses were just stretching, there were some harder poses like a headstand. “Some things are harder than others, but the harder things are often really rewarding,” Jasuta said. Although she feels that yoga helped her with swimming, she feels that weight training is still a better supplement to training. “Perhaps every once in a while yoga is good, like we do during spring break, but I don’t think it is so beneficial as to make it as regular as weight training,” she said.
Warrior Pose
Tree Pose
Balancing books and basketball
G
ood work today Wolverines, keep pushing forward and come back tomorrow with more intensity,” your coach exclaims after a hard-working two hour practice. You shower, grab your gear, and head home relieved that the day has come to an end. As you make your way home by whatever means, you realize that the nightly activities are not characteristic of the skyscrapers, neon lights, and vibrancy of the city you pass through. Tonight’s post-practice agenda dreadfully consists of a quick bite to eat, ice bags, and a vain attempt not to just study, but also retain the information. Regardless of sports played or classes taken, all student athletes at some point have had to deal with the arduous battle between schoolwork and sports. Let me be the first to assure all student athletes facing this dilemma
Crow Pose
that. You are not alone…seriously. Since the beginning of the winter sports season, I have grappled with balancing piles of endless homework, the reason for my need for additional hours in the day. I could use about three or five more hours. On many occasions I have avoided touching, let alone opening, my binders after a long day of classes and practice. Let’s be honest, we have all had that postworkout, pre-homework distraction that deters us from the massive fourhour homework load that is staring us down like the Geico money. It is not like we do not try to concentrate; we do. But there is always that voice of procrastination that rescues us from the world of conformity and thrusts our mind into a technological amusement park. Distractions. Distractions. Distractions. Aren’t they lovely? Non-athletes often face the
Downward Dog Pose
Alex Edel/chronicle
David
Burton distractions of Facebook, Twitter, various Blackberry/iPhone applications, which are placed on a high pedestal in most of our lives. For a student-athlete, after hours of extensive physical activity, the 30-minute nap that turns into the two-hour snooze button marathon is the routine after school distraction. I envy the student-athletes who just finished fall season sports. They have the luxury of going home immediately after school, snatching a Jamba Juice, finishing their homework early, catching the early SportsCenter, and complying with the eight hours of sleep recommended by doctors. Good luck to my fellow winter season and the future spring season athletes. Although it is a struggle for all student athletes to manage sports and school work, we all know what we signed up for. Harvard-Westlake has and always will have strict academic
demands. Homework is here to stay. Having homework is inevitable. Being tired after a tough practice or game is inevitable. Being both tired and having homework as a HarvardWestlake student-athlete is inevitable. So why complain? As much as we student-athletes would love to come home and flop down on a new TempurPedic mattress with fresh crisp sheets and soft fluffy pillows, we have to come home from a game or practice ready to dive into our books. If it takes putting the laptop in the closet, video games under the bed, and our cellular devices on the roof in order to focus on our homework, then we must do these things. It is necessary for us to persevere through any tiredness and remember that we have a commitment to our studies along with our sports. In line with our new Nike athletic sponsorship, “JUST DO IT.”
Dec. 16, 2009
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Sports C3
Football loses to Oaks Christian at home By Austin Block
The playoff hopes of the varsity football team, kept alive by a 34-20 comeback win over Compton Centennial in Compton, were quickly crushed by powerhouse Oaks Christian, which outplayed the Wolverines at Ted Slavin Field. The Lions advanced to the semifinals of CIF with a 45-10 victory on Nov. 27. Gatorade California Player of the Year and star senior running back Malcolm Jones, who ran for 2,477 yards on 236 carries this season and scored 45 touchdowns, ran for four touchdowns. Nick Montana, son of legendary quarterback Joe Montana, threw two touchdown passes to Jordan Payton. The Wolverines’ lone touchdown came near the end of the game, long after the game was out of reach. Linebacker and quarterback Oliver Lowry ’10 found Jackson Liguori ’10, who caught 13 touchdown passes this season and averaged 74.8 yards per game, in the right side of the end zone. The Lions defeated Cathedral, to whom the Wolverines lost 32-16 the next week. The Wolverines lost to defending Del Rey League Champion Serra 42-41 last Friday in overtime in the CIF title game due to a missed extra point. Though the Wolverines had compiled a 6-3 record as of Nov. 6, they had lost to league rivals Cathedral and Serra, making the team’s playoff fate uncertain. It had to win its final game of the season against league opponent Bishop St. Montgomery in order to bring its league record to 2-2 and make the playoffs as the third seed in the Del Rey League. The team won decisively (37-2) to extend its season for at least one more game. “It was a wonder and a privilege to play against Oaks Christian because other teams don’t get to play against top ranked teams in the nation. We
were lucky enough to play them at our home field and play against some of the top recruits,” said strong safety Jordan Tolson ’10, who led the team in tackles with 115 tackles (10.5 tackles per game). In the first quarter of the game against Compton, the Wolverines fell behind 14-0 and lost starting quarterback Max Heltzer ’11, who threw for 1,557 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions this year, to injury. However, the team tied the game 14-14 by halftime with Lowry at the helm. At the end of the third quarter, the Wolverines led 21-20, but they broke away in the fourth quarter to set up a home matchup that generated a large amount of excitement among fans and players. Lowry also played quarterback in the game against Oaks Christian. “The kids played great this year,” Head Coach Vic Eumont said. “We played four of the top teams in the state and our guys held their own and fought hard.” The team will move back to the more challenging Mission League next year along with Del Rey League rivals Serra and Cathedral after several years in the Del Rey League. Members of the Mission League include St. Francis, St. Paul, and Chaminade, who the Wolverines lost to 24-17 this year. “When I came here four years ago that’s what the goal was: to get back to the Mission League but to be strong enough to be able to go back and want to go back and I think we’re at that position where we want to go back,” Eumont said. “It’s not going to be an easy league but we’re not in this to be easy.” Lowry, who played mostly linebacker and occasionally quarterback this year, was named team MVP. “You’re never happy unless you win the state championship but [I am] very happy with the kids’ efforts and how hard they worked,” Eumont said.
Austin block/chronicle
On the line: Players line up during the team’s CIF second round home loss to Oaks Christian on Nov. 27. The team finished with a 7-3 regular season record.
Austin block/chronicle
Wrapped up: Jamias Jones ’12 is tackled by an Oaks Christian player from the side. The Wolverines lost to Oaks Christian 45-10 in the second round of CIF.
Girls’ tennis season ends in CIF quarterfinals loss By Ashley Khakshouri
Austin Block/chronicle
looking for options: Alex Popof ’10 gets ready to throw in the team’s 26-5 win over Alemany. The team lost in the second round of CIF to Newport Harbor.
Boys’ water polo falls in CIF
By Alec Caso
The boys’ varsity water polo team ended its season in the quarter finals of CIF. The team finished league play, beating every team except for Loyola. They won their first two games against Crespi and Notre Dame, but then lost to Loyola 7-11. They won their next three games against Crespi, Alemany and Notre Dame but then lost in their second game against Loyola 8-11. “It’s always hard during a transition year, but we gave it our all,” said Jake Schine ’10. The team’s new Head Coach Robert Lynn led the team to second place in league, earning them a spot in CIF. The Wolverines lost four games outside of league. The team lost their first two games against Corona del Mar and J Serra High, but continued on to beat
La Canada and Foothill. They then lost to both LB Wilson and Mater Dei. The team participated in the S & R Cup Los Alamitos on the weekend of Oct. 30. Placing fifth, the team beat Sacred Heart and Los Alamitos but lost to Mira Monte. Last year, the team also made it to CIF with a league record of 6-2 and an overall record of 13-9 under former Head Coach Larry Felix. The team lost in the first round of CIF to Dos Pueblos 6-7 last year. This year the team made it to the second round against Newport Harbor. In the first round of CIF the team faced Santa Barbara at the Upper School and won 11-4. The team then faced Newport Harbor and lost 5-10. “We went into the game playing a very good team. We lost but we played our hearts out,” said Schine.
Girls’ tennis ended this year with a record of 16-3, a great improvement from last year’s 12-7 record, which led them to the CIF playoffs. The team only lost two regular season matches and defeated rival Chaminade twice 10-8, 12-6. Other than those matches, the team won each league match by a significant amount. The team’s smallest margin of victory in those other matches was 10 games. After winning the Mission League title, the team moved on to the League Individuals on Nov. 6 and CIF Playoffs on Nov. 13. In CIF Individuals, two doubles teams and two singles players (Savannah de Montesquiou ’13 and Kristina Park ’13) competed. One doubles team consisted of captains Nicole Hung ’10 and Izzy Heller ’10, and Kei Goldberg ’12 and Taylor Coon ’12 made up the other team. On Nov. 9, Hung and Heller beat Goldberg and Coon in the finals 6-0, 6-3. De Montesquiou also lost against a player from Chaminade. In the first round of CIF Playoffs, the team beat Westlake 14-4. The team traveled to Orange County for a weekend match against Woodbridge where they triumphed over them in the second Round Playoffs 13-5. “It is difficult for a team to travel far and pull off a win against a good team like that, so everyone was pleased with the win,” Coon said. The team was defeated in the quar-
terfinals by Campbell Hall when it suffered a loss of 14-4. Campbell Hall later went on to win the CIF Championship. The team was very proud of how far it came in CIF, Hung said. “I think we did exceptionally well in CIF… making it to the quarters was one of our main goals for the season,” she said. “We had really good team chemistry and everyone stepped up at the end of the season which enabled us to get that far.” A lot of the team’s success has been due to the intense training five times a week since August, Coon said. The team has a structured workout made by the coaches that consists of a pre-warm up and warm up that help the players prepare for the matches. The training focuses on net game, especially for doubles. “Our practices were very productive, and prepared us well for tough matches, such as our victories over Chaminade,” Coon said. “If the team hadn’t worked hard during practices and matches, I don’t think the team could have reached the quarterfinals.” For Izzy Heller ’10, it was a bittersweet ending to the season and her varsity career. “Obviously we wish we could’ve gotten further in CIF...and I feel we could’ve done better in individuals,” Heller said. “But we trained hard as a team and this was the first time in my varsity career we won Mission League outright, so I’m proud of our accomplishments.”
C4 Sports
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Boys’ basketball ‘disappointed’ after early tournaments By Jack Davis
The boys’ basketball team has begun the season with a 4-4 record, a start some members of the team have called “disappointing” after the squad opened the season ranked fifth in Southern California by the Los Angeles Times. Expectations for the team were high after last year’s CIF Championship and run to the state semifinals. The team boasted five returning starters and lost no key seniors. “With all the seniors we have and all the younger guys we have who have matured into bigger roles, there is no reason we can’t do everything we did last year and more,” forward Nate Bulluck ’10 said before the season began. However, in the Pacific Shores Tournament, the boys’ first tournament of the year, they suffered a disappointing second round loss to Compton. Later in the tournament, they suffered another loss, this time to unranked Palisades High School, before dropping their next two games to Long Beach Poly and Compton Centennial, respectively. “We have just been making too many mental mistakes,” Captain Erik Swoope ’10 said. “I’m disappointed with the start we’ve gotten off to because I know we’re better than that, but I have faith we will pull in together
in time for league,” Swoope said. Part of the team’s slow start can be attributed to injuries. Four year starter Austin Kelly ’10 still hasn’t seen the court because of a torn meniscus he suffered in fall practices, and backup point guard Nick Firestone ’10 has also yet to play or practice with the team because of nagging injuries he suffered during football season. “Not being able to be out there really hurts,” Kelly said. “But I’ll be back in time for league games which are most important, and I’ve got a lot of faith in our team and I know we have the talent and discipline to match everything we did last year,” Kelly said. The team bounced back from its 2-4 start with two straight victories, including a 72-58 victory over the Compton team which it had previously lost to. Despite some of the early season struggles, Head Coach Greg Hilliard is satisfied with the way his team is responding under adverse circumstances. “We are doing well under the circumstances,” Hilliard said. “We are learning to play with key players out and some of the younger players have had to step up sooner than we would have felt was necessary. We found a way to beat Compton the second time and had a miraculous comeback against
Austin Block/chronicle
Guarded: Zena Edosomwan ’12 faces off against Eric Swoope ’10 during practice on Dec. 14. The team has compiled a 4-4 record so far. Huntington Beach.” Hilliard also thinks his team will be able to quickly rebound from any early season struggles that they have faced. “We are making more turnovers because of our unfamiliarity with each other in certain positions. However, we are playing hard and have shown signs of that relentless resolve that we had last year,” Hilliard said. The team does not play again until
Dec. 26, at the Dessert Heat Classic in Palm Springs. League play for the squad begins Jan. sixth at St. Francis, a game that kicks off 14 straight league games for the Wolverines. “League play means everything,” Kelly said. “All the early season stuff doesn’t matter if we can just win the league games like we are supposed to, and guarantee ourselves a good seeding in playoffs,” Kelly said.
Wrestling to begin tournament competition By Jonah Rosenbaum
Alex Leichenger/chronicle
Drill: Leslie Schuman ’12 guards Amanda Horowitz ’10 in practice Dec. 14.
Girls’ basketball wins first 5 games, loses to Mater Dei By Alex Edel
After a 4-0 start to the season, the girls’ basketball team will head to Phoenix, Az. tomorrow to play in the Nike Tournament which will continue through Dec. 23. In its first official game of the season, the team beat El Camino 66-40. It then went on to play in the Mater Dei Tournament where it won all four games, placing first in the tournament. The Wolverines played their first game on Monday, Dec. 7 against Chaparral, winning 73-56. On Dec. 8, the girls played Mayfair, winning 84-44 and on the ninth they played Corona Santiago, winning 61-55. They ended up getting second place in the tournament losing only to Mater Dei. “We were 3-1 and although we lost to Mater Dei, we never gave up at any point in that game, which I can say makes me very proud,” Sydney Haydel ’10 said. “This year we are looking forward to
defending our title and, hopefully, winning state,” Nicole Hung ’10 said. Their first league game will be on Jan. 7 against Chaminade. However, before school starts in the fall, the team will play in the West Coast Holiday Classic. “We can improve on offense, executing our half court offense, and rebounding,” Hung said. “Since it’s my senior season I’m just looking forward to spending this last year with the team and winning,” Haydel said. “We are also looking forward to the Arizona tournament coming up. We get to bond with each other. We all get along and you’ll always find us laughing.” The team’s last game will be on Feb. 11 against Flintridge Sacred Heart. It will play 10 league games in total, playing one home game and one away game against each of the team’s five league opponents, Chaminade, Flintridge Sacred Heart, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Alemany.
After two “duel” matches, which are treated as scrimmages, the boys’ wrestling team heads into tournament play this Friday at the Rosemead Invitational. The team is comprised of several inexperienced but talented wrestlers, and is anchored by Ben Kogan ’11, Nick Truer ’10, and Patrick Newman ’10. Kogan went 9-0 at the Camarillo Duel and Truer finished 9-1. Jake Sonnenberg ’11 had a strong showing as well, winning eight of his nine matches. “This is a learning experience for a lot of these kids, and I’ve been really impressed with them so far,” said Head Coach Gary Bairos. “We’re a
young, hardworking team that is going to keep getting better. A lot of these guys have never wrestled before and they are already competing at a very high level. Each time they wrestle it’s a good learning experience.” First year wrestler Tennyson Turner ’10 agreed with Bairos’ assessment. “We have a lot of new guys like myself, but we’re progressing at a fast rate and hopefully our hard work will pay dividends by the time league play comes around,” Turner said. “We have strong leadership from Ben Kogan and Nick Truer, so even though we are a small team, I think we can be a force to be reckoned with.” After the Rosemead Invitational, the team heads to Cerritos Dec. 29 for the Tournament of Champions.
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Dec. 16, 2009
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Girls’ soccer starts with 4 straight wins By Austin Block
Austin Block/chronicle
Fast STart: Katrina Okano ’11 dribbles the ball down the field in a game against Pasadena. The team went on to win the game 4-0.
Following in the footsteps of last year’s team, the defending Southern California regional girls’ soccer champions won their first four games of the season going into yesterday’s game against Mira Costa, which took place after press time. The team will play San Clemente, ranked first in Division I, this Friday in the Mater Dei tournament. The team defeated Notre Dame Academy 1-0 and blew out Pasadena 4-0 at home and beat Oaks Christian and Westlake on the road. The team only gave up two goals in those four games, both to Oaks Christian. Head Coach Richard Simms said the team has not yet played to its full potential. “I think that we can play better but to be honest it’s been pretty much exactly as I expected,” Simms said. “I knew we’d be a little sluggish and sloppy early on as everyone gets familiar with each other. It’s been nice to win three games knowing we haven’t yet played our best.” “So far we’ve done a good job of taking our scoring chances. We are capitalizing on our chances at a very high rate [about 1 out of every 3 chances has been a goal],” Simms said. “We need to work on passing better and working together a little better in transition. Our fitness will also need to improve but that’s normal.” “I think we need to work on coming out strong in the beginning instead of just warming up into the game,” said forward
Haley Boysen ’10, who has already chipped in three goals, two assists, and eight points for the team [each goal counts for two points and each assist counts for one]. Boysen has won the Mission League Offensive MVP two years in a row and is committed to USC. The team will practice during winter break and plays Santa Barbara on Dec. 29. League play begins on Jan. 6 against defending league champion Flintridge Sacred Heart. The team will play nine more league games and its season will end against Chaminade, who finished second in league last year, on Feb. 10. The Wolverines finished third in league last year but reached the finals of CIF and won the regional championship. Simms said the team’s best player so far has been goalkeeper Rebecca Magier ’12, who made 32 saves in the first four games for the team and has only let in 2 goals in 320 minutes of play. “She has literally been saving us,” Simms said. He also said that midfielders Danielle Duhl ’10, who has five points, and Doni Hunter-Sallustio ’10 have been playing well. Duhl, Cami Chapus ’12, Leah Merkle ’10, Katie Speidel ’11, and Alex Venegas ’10 have scored this year along with Boysen. Speidel led the team with 16 goals last year. “I feel like we’re just going to get even better as the season progresses,” Boysen said. “The chemistry this year is really awesome.”
Boys’ soccer falls in Aliso Cup semifinals, ties Bell Gardens By Alex Leichenger
The week before a tie at home against Bell Gardens Friday, the boys’ soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the three-day, four-game Aliso Cup tournament. The Wolverines defeated Upland 3-0 in their first Aliso Cup game Dec. 2 at Ted Slavin Field. They won 2-1 at Salesian Friday, then tied Servite 1-1 Saturday to earn a semifinal berth against Santa Ana, to whom they lost in penalty kicks. The Wolverines were without forward and midfielder Victor Kroh ’10, who suffered a strained quadriceps, and forward Josh Lerner ’11, sidelined by a groin injury amd goalie Alex
Silverman ’10, forward Michael Williams ’11 and defender Alex Markes ’11, who had varying commitments that prevented them from taking part in the semifinal game. “We finished basically in the top four in that tournament out of 25 outstanding teams,” Head Coach Freddy Arroyo said. “Our goal was to get the championship, but I was satisfied with the way the team played in that tournament, given the circumstances of our injuries and not having a complete team.” Although Kroh and Lerner were still out for precautionary reasons on Friday, the Wolverines closed the gap from the 3-0 loss they suffered against Bell Gardens
last season. A.J. Hong’s ’10 goal gave the Wolverines the lead going into halftime before Bell Gardens evened the score. “We can compete with anyone this year,” Arroyo said last Tuesday. “Bell Gardens is one of the top Division II teams in the area. We played Servite, who is a powerhouse in Division I. We played Salesian, who won CIF Division V, so we can play with anyone.” The team will play Cathedral Thursday and host the Valley Classic tournament Dec. 19-22. “We have a lot of home games, so we have to try to take care of business,” Arroyo said. After the SoCal showcase tournament in Oceanside, the team will visit St. Francis for its first league game Jan. 6.
Alex leichenger/chronicle
Attack: Jesse Mirman ’10 pressures an Upland opponent in the Wolverines 3-0 season opening win in the Aliso Cup.
Second year cross country runner wins state championship from CHAPUS page C1 Chapus ran a time of 17:59 to become the school’s first individual state winner. Dazed by her surprising victory, Chapus then watched as her teammates flew over the finish line after her, hoping their times would be fast enough to capture a state title to pair with the team’s recent CIF title. And it was. The team’s combined time of 95:36 was not only the fastest time at the competition, but the fastest time any Div. IV has ever run. “I definitely would not have pictured myself winning State,” Chapus said. “If someone told me last year that I would, I probably would have said ‘Really?’” But Chapus seems to have
running in her blood. Her mother Victoria was a distance runner for UCLA and her father Jean-Marc ran the 400 for Harvard University. In fact, her mother’s “phenomenal” running achievements inspired Chapus to begin running in the first place. Now, Chapus seems to be following her mother’s footsteps, which led Victoria to win three state track championships herself. This is the first year that Chapus has trained intensively for cross country. She joined the team last year as a new ninth grader, hoping to make friends and have fun. What she found instead, was a natural talent and a passion for the sport. Over the summer, Chapus
trained roughly five times a week for up to one and a half hours. She ran whenever she could with her mother, her godmother, her teammates, or “basically anyone” she could find. During the school year, Chapus follows a similar training routine as her summer routine, running almost every day after school with her school teammates. Some days the team would go on long runs. Other days, Chapus and her teammates would run miles or 800s consecutively. In addition to attending taxing cross country workouts, Chapus had to juggle club soccer workouts during the fall. Chapus, who has been playing soccer for the Westside Breakers since she was 11,
finished her club season just weeks ago. But cross country practices and meets almost always directly conflicted with her soccer practices and games. After her stellar cross country season last year, Chapus decided that she did not want to give up either sport. She worked out an agreement with her parents. Before the cross country League Prelims meet, soccer would take priority. After League Prelims, cross country would take priority. Mere days after her thrilling victory at the State Championship, Chapus has started the school soccer season, the second varsity sport on her yearly athletic schedule. Last year, she was a member of the Southern California Divi-
sion Regional Championshipwinning team. This year, she hopes to add to her cross country team CIF title and help the Wolverines win one too. In the spring, Chapus will bring her running shoes out of her closet again and run track for the school. “People always think that if you do cross country, you do track,” she said. “A lot of people do, but they’re definitely two different sports.” While cross country training focuses on mileage, track training is “all about the intensity,” she said. As for choosing a favorite sport of her three, Chapus says there is no clear frontrunner. “I like all three of them equally,” she said. “They all complement each other.”
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Girls’ water polo wins first 7 nonleague games By Alec Caso
Courtesy of Gerry Grossman
undefeated: Kassie Shannon ’13 holds on to the ball during a game. The team is 7-0 and won the Mistletoe tournament, beating Rio Mesa 7-4 in the final.
Girls’ basketball
The JV girls’ basketball team has only lost one game this season. The team’s record is currently 7-1. The team has won five of it games by at least 27 points. Against Birmingham, the JV team won by four times the opponent’s score. The score of the game was 64-16. Against Westlake, the JV team prevailed by only five points. The team’s only loss was to West Torrance in the South Torrance tournament. The score of the game was 2723. “We’re really trying to foster the idea of all five,” Brooke Levin ’12 said. All five is the concept that fans, substitutes, and players all make up the team. To train during the season, girls lift weights and do drills. The team will continue to play in the Burbank Tournament, which started Monday and will go on through Saturday. They will open league play Jan. 7 against Chaminade, who they defeated in both matchups last season, by scores of 34-25 and 37-34. —David Kolin
Under the guidance of new head coach Robert Lynn, the girls’ varsity water polo team is already 7-0 and is looking forward to its first league game on the road against Marymount on Jan. 7. “I can speak for the entire team when I say we like Robert a lot. He has a great attitude in coaching girls,” Ashley Grossman ’11 said. The team beat Notre Dame, Alemany, Marymount, Louisville and Flintridge Sacred Heart during its regular season. The team made it to the first round of CIF and then lost to Whittier 19-20 at Harvard-Westlake. The team isn’t very worried about the Mission League in the upcoming season. “League wasn’t very hard for us last year, the closest we came to a loss was seven points but we still won by a lot,” said Grossman. The team has almost doubled in size this year, and players feel very confident about the team’s chances of making CIF. Outside of league the team played an additional 13 games, making its overall record 17-6. The team lost sev-
JVRoundup
Boys’ basketball
The JV boys’ basketball team won its last two games in the preseason Cathedral tournament. The team had two big wins, recently winning 66-50 against Brentwood and 75-60 against Serra. Currently, the team has a 3-1 record. “I’m most looking forward to playing St. Francis and Loyola, since we lost to both of them last year,” said Adam Williams ’12. The JV team’s highest scorer so far is Adel Kemal ’11, who leads the team with 19 points per game and four assists per game. The team is currently playing in the Chatsworth tournament and will then play in the Redondo Tournament at Lawndale High School starting Saturday. Its first league game will be against St. Francis on Jan. 6. It will then play 13 more league games, the last of which will be a home matchup against Chaminade. —David Gobel
Girls’ soccer
After winning its first two games with 15 goals combined, the JV girls’ soccer team has a record of 4-2 as of
Dec. 16, 2009
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Monday night. With many returning players, the team has high expectations for the season. “The team has a good chance of doing well. Our work ethic is improving and we are getting closer as a team,” Captain Tess Winebaum ’12 said. Returning Coach Dave Smith is working the team hard with practices every weekday and working to improve the team’s defense to go with its powerful offense. —Judd Liebman
Boys’ soccer
The JV boys’ soccer team is currently 1-1-2. They have defeated Taft High School 2-0 in the Burroughs tournament. Its only loss was to St. Francis. The team has also tied against two teams, to La Cañada 1-1 and to Bell Gardens 0-0. In the game against La Cañada, Spencer Hartig ’12 scored the only goal; he scored again against Taft High School. The team has also played a scrimmage with Oaks Christian where Harrison Kalt ’13 scored two goals and Ellery Rosenfeld ’11 scored once. Tomorrow, the JV team will play a game against Cathedral.
eral games to Division I, II and III opponents in the Mistletoe and Irvine classics. “We face a lot of division I, II and III teams in tournaments outside of league. That’s why we lost so many games outside of league,” Grossman said. So far this year the team has gone 7-0 overall in exhibition matches, but it has yet to play its first regular season game. The team played its first exhibition against Long Beach Millikan and won 18-4. It then continued to participate in the Mistletoe tournament and won all five of its games. The Wolverines played Santa Ynez, Hipomo, Cabrillo, Westlake, and Rio Mesa and ended up winning the tournament. The team’s last game was against Cerritos at Cerritos High and it won 18-10. The team has lost some players in recent games due to injury which hasn’t hindered their success. “We lost some experienced players to injury but the seniors have really led the team and the younger players have really stepped it up,” Grossman said. The team will play its next game against Burroughs Monday Jan. 4. Their first league game will be the following Thursday, Jan. 7.
“I think we are going to do well. Much better than last year,” Hartig said. “The returning players will help up the talent level. Our new players are very good. They are a great addition to the team.” —David Kolin and Judd Liebman
Girls’ water polo
The JV girls’ water polo team started the season off with an overall record of 1-1. The first game of the season was against Millikan High School, and resulted in a 4-8 loss. The team rebounded when the team won its second game, scoring 11-9 against Cerritos High School. Along with games, this team participates in tournaments. So far, they have participated in the Agoura Tournament. “I’m really happy there’s a JV team this year because last year, there wasn’t. I get to play with new girls and make friends, and actually learn how to play and play more,” Xochi Maberry-Gaulke ’12 said. The team’s next game is a home game against Burroughs High School on Monday, Jan. 4. —Tiffany Liao
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School changes uniform brand By Jordan Freisleben
Courtesy of Lucy Davis
Leaping for London: Lucy Davis ’11 jumps a hurdle while she competed in the North American Young Riders Competition in Lexington, Ky. Davis who won a gold medal at the competition hopes to compete in the 2012 Olympics.
Junior rider to represent U.S. in international competition By Ashley Khakshouri
Lucy Davis ’11 will participate in the Young Master League Championships in Frankfurt, Germany today. The top 30 riders ages 25 and younger from Europe compete all year to qualify for these championships. This is the first year that the Young Master League has opened two wild card spots to the United States Equestrian Federation. Davis found out she was chosen in late November as one of the wild cards. “I was at a show in New York and the United States Equestrian Federation approached me and told me I had been chosen. Then they sent me a letter confirming everything,” Davis said. “It was a really exciting moment for her.” “I am very lucky to get to compete on an international level and I really enjoy competing in these pressurized situations,” Davis said. “It’s exhilarating. Basically riding is just my passion and I really love it.” Davis and her family will be in Germany for a week. She hopes to do well enough in the Championship to represent the United States in a positive way, she said. “You always want to win but really what’s important is to be consistent and try to always be in the game,” Davis said. “It’s a little bit scary because I am the only one rep-
resenting the U.S.” Davis will be taking one of her horses to Germany with her. “It will be a great experience and I will be able to see a different culture which is more based on equestrian and it’ll be really fun to have a lot more spectators.” Davis began equestrian lessons when she was five years old. It was natural for her to get involved, she said. “My grandfather is involved with horse racing so my family has always been around horses,” Davis said. When my mom moved to LA she started riding and so I grew up around horses and that’s how I got into it,” Davis said. Since then, Davis has been training six days a week. She has a few stalls at her house in Brentwood but most of her horses are stabled in Lake View Terrace. “The hardest part of equestrian is communicating with your horse. You have to know how and what they are feeling at all times. You need to feel if they are tired, strong, injured, etc. The communication is hard, especially if you tend to be impatient like me,” Davis said. The highlights of her riding career have been winning gold and silver medals at the North American Youth Competition this summer in Lexington, Ky. and last summer in Parker, Colo.
After three years of sporting Adidas uniforms, all school athletic teams’ uniforms have been changed to Nike. The change to Nike was led by Athletic Director Darlene Bible, who oversees all operations of the Athletic Department. “She is constantly looking for ways to better serve our students, while conserving school resources,” Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas said. “She was the architect of the original plan to have every school team wear uniforms with a consistent look and identity.” The switch in brands was based primarily on the fact that Adidas had difficulty stocking enough items from which the Athletic Department could choose. “Our vendor also had trouble filling our orders in a timely manner due to lack of stocked items. Special orders take a great deal of time to receive,” Bible said. “We are staying with the same vendor, and they are secure that we will have more items available and be able to receive these items more quickly while working with Nike.” With Nike uniforms, there is more red, black and white readily available, Bible said. “So far we are as pleased with the quality as we were with Adidas overall,” she said. “I know some of the teams receiving new uniforms this year were happy with the change, the girls’ tennis team for example. The quality is equal, the choices are much better and the time it takes to get the merchandise is less.” All sports uniforms the school is scheduled to purchase are now made by Nike. Uniforms for most teams are changed approximately every three years. There are still a few teams not required to go with Nike. “We have a deal to get Nike uniforms whenever possible, and this brings the cost of the merchandise down,” she said. “It is actually a contract that we have with Nike, allowing a reduced price for ordering large amounts of merchandise.”
Olympian visits Middle School By Catherine Wang
Westlake Alum and five-time Olympic swimmer Dara Torres’ 85 visited the Middle School Nov. 22. Torres, who won three Olympic medals at the Beijing Olympics, met with students and signed autographs. Director of Athletics Operations Darlene Bible, who was Torres’ swim coach at Westlake, organized her visit. Torres was in Los Angeles for the Golden Goggles Awards event, a ceremony honoring the nation’s top swimmers at the Beverly Hilton. Torres recently had reconstructive knee surgery, so she came to the event in a brace and had to use crutches. “The kids loved her visit and Dara loved seeing the new campus,” Bible said.
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backtalk withErik Swoope Senior boys’ basketball Captain
Alex Edel/chronicle
By Jack Davis
Q A Q A
Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A
After winning CIF last year, what were the goals for this year? Since we have a lot of returning seniors and our starting five is the exact same, we’re looking to build on last year’s success and take the next step towardmaking a run at the state championship. I think there is no reason this group can’t have the same success we had last year.
How would you evaluate the team’s performance so far? So far we have had plenty of ups and downs, even though it’s early in the year. At times we look like that dominant team from last year that played so well, but at other moments we have mental lapses. I think we are okay for where we are but we need to tighten up some of those mental lapses and mistakes we’ve been making.
What does the team need to do to perform better and consistent? We just have to keep practicing. We really haven’t had a whole lot of practicing time and injuries have taken away a lot of key players. Once we get those guys back we will be able to keep developing that team harmony on the court.
What does being a team captain mean to you? Being team captain gives me an opportunity to lead and help take my guys to the promised land. I’ve been on varsity for four years now and being captain allows me to share that knowledge with the team. Are you being recruited? By what schools? Utah, UNLV, Washington State and Harvard are currently showing the most interest in me. UCLA has also shown some interest. What are your personal goals for this season? Personally, my only goals are to help the team in any way I can. I’m not a guy who is just going to go gunning for his points or try and be a superstar, I just want to do whatever I can every night to help us win.
How are you trying to improve? I’m working on 15 feet shooting, defending and overall court vision to make a transition into more of a small forward.
January
mark your calendar
6 7 11 15 16
Girls’ soccer
vs. Flintridge SH
Wednesday at 5 p.m. Ted Slavin Field “They have always been one of our strongest opponents and every game is a battle.” – Haley Boysen ’10
Wrestling
vs. Chaminade
Thursday at 5 p.m. Hamilton Gymnasium
“We are pretty evenly matched with Chaminade. We are excited and ready to beat them.” – Jordan Bryan ’11
Boys’ basketball
Boys’ soccer
Girls’ basketball
Monday at 7 p.m. Taper Gymnasium
Friday at 5 p.m. Ted Slavin Field
Saturday at 7 p.m. Taper Gymnasium
vs. Loyola
“The game isn’t only a historical match, but it sets the tone for the whole season.” – Austin Kelly ‘10
vs. Crespi
“This game is a test for us to see if we can match their intensity and come away with a win.” – Alex Silverman ‘10
vs. Notre Dame
“We haven’t beat them twice in a season for a few years so it’s important for us to win at home.” – Nicole Hung ’10