September 2023 Issue

Campus closes due to leakage

By Hannah Shahidi and Connor Tang

The Upper School experienced a water main leak that resulted in campus closing Sept. 4 and Sept. 5 as announced in an email from Head Upper School Beth Slattery. Teachers had the choice to conduct classes through Zoom or assign asynchronous work until maintenance and the Los Angeles (LA) Department of Water and Power fixed the leak.

Slattery said the leak was first reported by security guards who discovered a small puddle in the main driveway.

“The night before [Labor Day], security had noticed that there was a puddle on the ground in the main driveway,” Slattery said. “It hadn’t rained or anything, [and] it was just a small puddle, not big flooding. What they realized was that there was a water main leak that was leaking three to four gallons per minute underneath the ground. All that was showing on the surface was this little puddle, but there was water all underneath that.”

Slattery said the maintenance team repaired the leak on campus quickly, but in-person instruction was cancelled for a second day out of caution.

“[Maintenance] had to excavate the whole thing to figure out where the leak was,” Slattery said. “[They had] to shut off the water, secure the pieces of the pipe and take out the piece that was broken. The repairs were done by around 10:30 in the morning on the second day that we cancelled classes, but because we had to tell everybody the day before, and we didn’t know, it was just better that we [cancelled classes again].”

Upper School Latin Teacher Bradford Holmes said he wanted to avoid using Zoom and assigned work for his students to complete on their own instead.

“I chose to give everyone asynchronous work which meant class did not meet,” Holmes said.

Annual Giving record set

By Connor Tang

The school raised over $40 million dollars in total donations in the 2022-2023 school year with gifts pledged to support River Park, financial aid and new mental health initiatives.

Annual Giving, the school’s organized effort dedicated to raising funds for the school’s operations, raised over $10 million, breaking the record set of $9.7 million in the 2021-2022 school year. The program accounts for 11% of the annual operating budget.

Head of Advancement Eli Goldsmith said part of the money raised will be dedicated to the school’s Wellness Plan and the construction of River Park.

Administrators speak about student well-being at State of School Address

By Nathan Wang

Leaders of the administration kicked off the 2023-2024 school year with the Harvard-Westlake Parents’ Association (HWPA) sponsored State of the School Address and introductory reception at the Middle School on Sept. 14. Around 500 parents attended the reception which highlighted themes of student mental health and parental involvement in students’ lives.

The event began with opening remarks from HWPA President Katerina Minevich (Julian ’25, Lola ’22), followed by a speech consisting of three reflections of the summer from President Rick Commons. After Commons’ remarks, Head of School

Laura Ross, Head of Athletics

Terry Barnum, Head of Middle School Jon Wimbish, Assistant Head of School for Community and Belonging Janine Jones and Head of Upper School Beth Slattery continued the address with a pre-prepared question and answer (Q&A) session.

Commons said he wanted par-

ents to feel a sense of trust in the steps school leaders take to improve the wellbeing of students and know that the school cares.

“I would like parents to take away that the school leaders care [and] that there’s an immense care for the experience of students,” Commons said. “I gave an opening talk and then I sat down as a parent of two Harvard-Westlake students looking at that array of panelists who were answering questions, and they were funny and wise and deeply caring. For me as a parent, sitting in the audience at that moment, I felt like my kids were very well taken care of, and I wanted the community to feel that way.”

Ross moderated the Q&A portion of the address, while Barnum, Wimbish, Jones and Slattery reflected on lessons from their personal experiences parenting former and current students.

Using an anecdote about her daughter’s experience in a field hockey state championship, Jones said it is important for students to feel a balanced sense of au-

tonomy and parental guidance.

“It was a really big game for the field hockey team, and Taylor wasn’t playing as well as she could so the coach pulled her, and Taylor was devastated,” Jones said. “The coach had every right to pull her because she wasn’t playing as well. [Even though] they ended up winning, Taylor was in tears and we [were] sort of trying to consult her, but I never looked at that field hockey coach sideways. Sometimes you’re going to feel like the disappointment is justified and sometimes you’re gonna feel like it’s completely unfair, but just allowing [kids] to sort through and read through those issues on their own ideals is extremely helpful.”

Wimbish said parents can learn more about their children’s interests by remaining present in their lives.

“[Parents should] stay curious about [their] children,” Wimbish said. “I have learned so much from my kids who have taken and are taking a different journey through their lives than I took.”

•

“Annual Giving is helping the school realize its comprehensive Mental Health and Wellness plan by enabling the hiring of additional counselors, deans and learning specialists,” Goldsmith said. “This total was in addition to many large gifts for Harvard-Westlake River Park, as well as our endowment.”

Goldsmith said the money will also be dedicated to continued missions of expanding financial aid and teacher salaries. According to Goldsmith, the financial aid budget, which allows students unable to afford tuition to attend the school, has grown to $14 million dollars with the help of annual giving donations. Additionally, the support has allowed faculty and staff salaries to rise at a higher rate than tuition, which allows the school to recruit and keep staff.

Goldsmith said all faculty and staff members donated to Annual Giving, which represents their dedication to the community.

“In 2022-2023, 100% of faculty and staff made a gift to Harvard-Westlake for the 15th consecutive year,” Goldsmith. “Teachers, coaches, staff and administration give so much to students every day, and it’s really inspiring that they go a step further to contribute to the school financially.”

• Continued on hwchronicle.com • Continued on hwchronicle.com

INTHIS ISSUE

A3

Fanatic Frenzy: Prefect Council announced the new Junior and Senior Head Fanatics for the 20232024 school year.

C1 B4-B5 A11

Finance Fundamentals: Sabrina Hamideh ’25 and Max Turetzky ’25 outline their opinion on having a financial literacy class.

Military Memories: With national enlistment at a low, past students reflect on the military history of the school and its legacy.

Creative Conflict: Com-

munity members reflect on the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and the changing entertainment industry.

D3

Match MoMents: This season, the varsity girls’ tennis team is filled with underclassmen and off to a 2-2 start.

SCHOOL STATUS UPDATE: Following a speech from President Rick Commons, Head of School Laura Ross poses a question to a panel of leading administrators during the 2023-2024 State of School Address.

State of the school delivered

Wimbish said parents should not immediately distress over adolescent behavior as parenting requires patience.

“The results of what we do as parents may not be immediate and are often not,” Wimbish said. “Yet, we know that our children, though they might not seem they listen, are listening and [parents should] be confident of that. Somewhere around 12 and 13 years old, our children fire us as their managers and as soon as we come to grips with that as parents, we immediately apply to be their consultant.”

Slattery said parents’ appreciation of children for their authentic selves is the key to sincere parent-child relationships.

“I think [it is important to] try to really love our kids and meet them where they are, even if it’s not everything we hoped and dreamed for them [or] even if they’re not like us,” Slattery said. “My son and I traveled to New Zealand this summer, just the two of us, to watch the Women's World Cup. [I had] eight days with this beautiful boy whom I adore and who adores me and that’s because I loved him as he came to be.”

Barnum said parents demanding perfection from their children can be detrimental.

“I was in my 30s before I realized my parents weren't perfect,” Barnum said. “[Perfection] was such an important thing for them because they had grown up in homes that weren’t perfect and they wanted to show that they were a united front and that they were perfect. Perfection is the enemy of good. I want [my children] to be good kids and I want them to be good people.

• Continued on hwchronicle.com

Seniors gather for 90th annual ring ceremony

By Everett Lakey

Seniors and their families gathered on Ted Slavin Field on Sept. 10 for the 90th annual Senior Ceremony. Each senior was given a personalized ring or class pin, as well as flower crowns or boutonnieres, in order to represent class spirit.

Senior Prefects Ryan Cheng ’24, Glory Ho ’24, Elizabeth Johnstone ’24 and Nyla Shelton ’24 gave speeches about their growth together as a class and the meaning of the ceremony and school.

Shelton said she thinks the pursuit of joy both academically and within the community has defined the class throughout the time they have spent at the school.

“Over time, our emphasis on the pursuit of excellence has changed,” Shelton said. “It felt

easy at the beginning of our journey to drop the joyful part of the mission statement because pursuing excellence was the important part. [However], here our class has come together, is in how we’ve shifted our focus to joy. The idea or the practice of incorporating joy into our existence has come to represent more than a mere task on a to-do list.”

During the ceremony, there was also a performance by the Jazz Singers, the school's jazz vocal ensemble. After the senior class received their class rings or pins, History Teacher Lilas Lane spoke as the faculty speaker elected by the seniors. In her speech, Lane encouraged the senior class to slow down and savor the moment during

their final year at the school.

“Relish these days,” Lane said. “Try to remember that these are the good old days, not just because it’s your last year of high school [or] your last year together as the unique congregation of the Harvard-Westlake class of 2024. But because you are here now. It is happening now. You will never live these moments again. So live them fully. Be present. Be kind. Make connections and nurture them. Know that I speak for the teachers when I say we adore you. We appreciate you and we are gratified by you every single day.”

Cole Hall ’24 said that he appreciates the tradition of the Senior Ceremony for the strong

sense of community that it inspires amongst himself and his fellow classmates.

“All the speeches were heartwarming, but to be honest, I've never felt so close to my grade as I did in that moment,” Hall said. “Everyone was just taking pictures with each other. And I took pictures with people I hadn't talked to in years. It just felt really good to come together like that.”

Raquel Moradi ’26, who attended the ceremony for her brother, Aaron Moradi ’24, said the experience made her more excited for her own senior year.

“The [senior] ceremony was very meaningful and memorable as it's an old tradition,” Moradi said. “It was touching to see how far my brother has come over the years, and I’m looking forward to experiencing that when I’m a senior.”

Student wellness alliance formed

By Justin Tang

The school created the Student Mental Health Alliance, an organization that will focus on bringing awareness to mental health issues and reducing the stigma around mental illness at the school. The organization is a part of the school’s Mental Health and Wellness Plan, designed to provide an additional resource for students amid recent tragedies on campus. It features several individual clubs, each targeting a specific issue regarding mental health.

Counselor Michelle Bracken said the newly created organization combines students’ individual efforts to address critical mental health issues into one large organization.

“Last May, I started getting a lot of students reaching out and saying [that they] had an idea for mental health,” Bracken said. “I started seeing that there were lots of people that had interest in [forming] new clubs. I talked to [Dean of Students Jordan Church], saying that there could be an increase

in mental health clubs. It just kept growing into this a group of students that [wanted to] come up with ideas.”

Bracken said having peers to talk to about mental health can encourage students to reach out for help as needed.

“Teenagers tend to be adultaverse,” Bracken said. “[Students] don’t want to talk to adults about [their] problems. I think there are lots of reasons why adults don’t understand the same way that [students] do. Your friend is much easier to talk to.”

Upper School Dean Jamie Chan said allowing students to work with counselors will provide more insight on how to connect with students to the adults on campus.

“Having students work with counselors [and] giving them a lens into the life of a kid will help our counseling team and adults in general be better counselors as well as help them deal with current issues,” Chan said. “We don’t know what we don't know. This is helpful now that we have students also coming up

with ideas of how to reach students and speak their language.”

Co-leader Sunny Lu ’25 said she hopes to educate students on mental health in order to prevent future incidents.

“From all of the tragedies that had happened in our school, I feel like we need to take the next step to prevent this from ever happening again,” Lu said. “We need to bring more awareness to mental illness.”

Lu said students in the alliance will be trained to connect with students on a personal level while still maintaining a professional attitude that is similar to those of the school counselors.

“We’ll get some training on how to [deal] with these problems,” Lu said. “We took training as a crisis counselor, and I feel students will be more willing to come to us. We experience what they’re going through, but also, we’re able to provide the help that they actually need. Since we’re getting trained for it, I feel like we’re a mixture of a counselor but also a person that understands what you’re going through.”

RINGING IN SENIOR YEAR: Head Prefect Bari LeBari ’ 24 poses with Head of School Laura Ross to take a picture after receiving his senior class ring during the annual Senior Ceremony. The school adopted the ceremony tradition from the Westlake School for Girls 90 years ago.

L. Wood Nyla Shelton ’24

MAKING MENTAL HEALTH MATTER: Junior leaders Dennett Stibel ’25, Rachel Reiff ’25, Sunny Lu ’25 and Micah Parr ’25 pose together.

HANNAH SHAHIDI/CHRONICLE

Silent Study relocates

By Jayan Kandavel

The school will provide students with temporary Silent Study locations in the Learning Center and Seaver 205 in addition to the existing temporary library space in Feldman Horn until Mudd Library reopens, Prefect Council announced in an email Aug. 28. Students will have access to the Learning Center during class periods and Seaver 205 during breaks.

Librarian Edith Darling said she is satisfied with how students are utilizing the new Silent Study locations.

Head Fanatics elected for 2023-2024 year

By Colin Ho

Upper school students voted for their Head Fanatics in a survey sent out by Prefect Council on Aug. 30. Prefect Council announced the election results in an email the following day.

Lily Stambouli ’24, Zion Otaño ’24, Annabelle Mass ’24 and Boaz Maydew ’24 were elected as this school year’s senior Head Fanatics, while Ben Boateng ’25 and Fiona Ryan ’25 were elected as junior Head Fanatics.

As an athlete, Maydew said having support from fans is one of the most integral parts to playing well.

“Hearing the crowd roar every play, big or small, always boosts my confidence, and I’m sure that’s the same for other athletes as well,” Maydew said. “80% of

Local

every sport is mental, so having support and energy from outside of the game itself is important.”

Maydew said he has big dreams for the student section this year.

“When I was a sophomore, the Head Fanatics of that year made me an honorary fanatic because they recognized how much spirit and enthusiasm I had at every game,” Maydew said. “That year we were voted best student section in California, and I have dreams of becoming the best student section in the country.”

According to Prefect Council, the main objective of Head Fanatics is to engage the crowd and to build school spirit. The newly elected Head Fanatics will collaborate with Prefect Council to plan Spirit Week and Fanatic Fest, which will take place Oct. 6.

Stambouli said some of her

communities

report rise in COVID

By Colin Ho and Alex Lee

As national COVID cases increase, the school has faced an increasing number of absences from students and faculty. According to Student Discipline and Attendance Coordinator Gabriel Preciado, four to five absences a day have been due to COVID.

Head of Upper School Beth Slattery said that she was expecting a rise in the number of new cases and that she was aware of similar occurrences in other schools around the country.

“There probably is going to be a little bit of a spike,” Slattery said. “I know that there’s a number of universities, like Columbia, where [COVID] is rampant and a ton of people have it. But [here], I think people really freak out about missing school and having to make up work. We want to remind people it’s fine [and] we’re going to work with them.”

The CDC (Center for Disease Control), reported a 10.5% increase in COVID deaths and an 8.7% increase in hospitalizations in a single week in September. Community Health Officer Milo Sini said that people must continue to

stay aware of the threat of infection and stay home if they are sick.

“Our community has done a great job in making sure if one is infectious, to stay home,” Sini said. “If everyone is mindful of others and make sure not to come on campus infectious, we will do a good job in minimizing the number of people who get it.”

Chemistry Teacher and Upper School Registrar Heather Audesirk said she was concerned about the rise in COVID cases and how it would affect vulnerable communities.

“As someone with an autoimmune condition, I am very concerned that if I contract COVID it could worsen my condition, potentially permanently, or at least for a long time even after the infection subsides,” Audesirk said. “Everyone I know with my condition who has contracted COVID has experienced long-term deterioration of their health, so that is something that I am trying my best to avoid. I am slightly concerned that the spike in cases will increase the number of infected people within our community, which will in turn increase the possibility that I will contract the disease, despite the precautions I take.”

• Continued on hwchronicle.com

best memories have been watching sports games from the stands.

“Some of my favorite memories in 10th and 11th grade were at sports games, cheering on my classmates with huge crowds next to me,” Stambouli said. “I love going to sports games because it gives athletes the opportunity to have fans and a crowd to be playing for. I think Head Fanatics are super important because they help to rally the student body together, whether that’s over a themed football game or crazy basketball chants.” Stambouli said she hopes to share this experience with the rest of the school community.

“I really just want to be able to share that hype experience with the whole community,” Stambouli said. “I’ve definitely played in quite a few field hockey games where our only

audience members are parents of people on the team. Having Head Fanatics is also really helpful to HW’s school culture because having fun and packed sporting events are such an integral part of the high school experience and definitely some of the most memorable.”

Football player Quinn Hamilton ’26 said Head Fanatics are significant to him because not only are the fans, but peers with whom he can create connections.

“The Head Fanatics as well as the players are all students who interact with each other during the school year,” Hamilton said. “[This strengthens] the bond between them and leads to an even greater experience because the fanatics are truly invested in the success of the teams. It’s a magical experience.”

“We’re pleased that students are finding the gallery space, and we’re sending out information weekly about the digital resources we have. The gallery is different, for sure, and right now, it’s quieter during the class periods, so it’s a good place to come and study. That’s our favorite aspect of it for students who are looking for quiet places to work. It’s also got lots of natural light and is in a beautiful part of campus,” Darling said. “We are glad that there is a Silent Study space on campus because we know students need spaces like those. ”

Librarian Kacie Cox said the library team has received positive feedback from students about the spaces.

“We definitely have gotten students that are upset that they aren’t getting to use the library as normal, specifically seniors who feel like they are missing out on our normal resources and spaces in their last year at [the school],” Cox said. The majority of students have told us that they really appreciate having a mini library to use while the main library is under construction.”

• Continued on hwchronicle.com

BUILDING UP A DREAM TEAM: 2023-2024 Head Fanatics Zion Otaño ’24, Lily Stambouli ’24, Annabelle Mass ’24, Ben Boateng ’25 Fiona Ryan ’25 and Boaz Maydew ’24 pose for a group photo after meeting in preparation for this year’s spirit activities at athletics games.

“Gatekeeper” mental health training begins for students and faculty

By Kayla Graff And Lyla Kavanagh

The school partnered with the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Foundation this year to provide “Gatekeeper Training,” a mental health training program available to students, parents, faculty and staff.

Counselor Michelle Bracken said the program will give members of the community the tools they need to recognize and respond to mental health crises.

“Gatekeeper training is one of the most widely used suicide prevention strategies,” Bracken said. “It involves training people who are not clinicians to be able to identify people experiencing suicidality and refer them to appropriate services. The hope is that students and adults who take the training are able to reduce the barriers to students who are struggling with thoughts of suicide and hopelessness to get help.”

According to Bracken, Gatekeeper training consists of a half-day program which aims to inform students how to identify and assist a person with thoughts of suicide. This includes recognizing invitations for help that may be overlooked and applying the Talk, Ask, Listen and KeepSafe (TALK) steps. Trainees will also learn about resources available in the community and how to direct peers with suicidal thoughts to them. Currently, a select group of student leaders as well as counselors, deans, coaches, bookstore personnel and at least one teacher from each department will receive training. The second round of training for certain sophomores and juniors took place during the school’s most recent flex day.

The Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center, which created Gatekeeper training, trained over 175,000 individuals in suicide prevention during 2022. Bracken

said it is the first organization of its kind and serves as a model for other suicide prevention centers.

“Several of the counselors have worked with Didi Hirsch for suicide prevention trainings and we needed some professionals who could help guide us,” Bracken said.

Bracken said Gatekeeper training aims to help students who need additional mental health support by reducing barriers and fostering empathy and compassion.

“A student doesn’t need to feel hopeless, or sad or worried to need to talk to someone,” Bracken said. “By training as many members of our community in suicide prevention and mental health first aid, we hope to empower everyone to use their training, empathy and compassion to come together as a community and be the one who helps a friend, classmate, colleague, so they don’t have to suffer alone and can find a way to thrive.”

Peer Support leader Lily Stambouli ’24, said the training taught her how to navigate mental health as a student leader, especially in the context of Peer Support.

“In [Peer Support] we get a lot of situations when people might be struggling with certain things,” Stambouli said. “The training taught us a lot about how to approach situations in which you think somebody might be depressed. It gave us tools for when people are feeling that way and how to get them further help.”

Emma Tseng ’26 also participated in the first round of training as a member of the Student-Athlete Leadership Council. Tseng said she plans to create a safe space to discuss mental health struggles among athletes.

“We talked about the mental health of athletes,” Tseng said. “I will implement this training by encouraging conversations to decrease the stigma.”

School varsity debate team competes in four-day nationwide competition

By Sabrina Hamideh

The debate team flew to Dallas, Texas to attend the annual Greenhill Fall Classic tournament Sept. 14-18. This was the team’s first national tournament of the season. The school is competing in the Varsity Lincoln Douglas division.

Luke Rascoff ’27 said the team has been diligently preparing for the tournament.

“Everyone on the team works really hard to prepare, so doing the best that I can is really important to me,” Rascoff said. “The style of debate we do is extremely research heavy, so a lot of downtime is spent doing as much work as we can to set ourselves up for success.”

Rascoff said he is thrilled because Greenhill will be his first national tournament on the varsity debate team.

“I’m very excited,” Rascoff said. “I’m a ninth grader which means this is one of my first tournaments

National merit semifinalists announced

By Alex Dinh

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation selected over 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists across the country, including 34 members of the Class of 2024, based on students’ PSAT/ NMSQT scores. To become a Semifinalist in California, students had to have a score of at least 221, a one point increase from last year.

The school has the eighth most Semifinalists of any school in California, and has the second highest percentage of students achieving the honor of the top eight schools, only behind Lynbrook High School in San Jose. The school’s 34 finalists also greatly outnumber other independent schools in the area, such as Marlborough with three finalists and Brentwood with four. Head of Upper School Beth Slattery said she is happy the school performed so well.

“We did well compared to some of our peer institutions, as a percentage, and we always do,” Slattery said. “I’m proud of that, but I don’t want to make it into too big of a thing.”

Over 1.3 million students took the test around the coun-

try, with 1.2% of all students nationwide earning the honor. Within the class of 2024, 11.8% were named Semifinalists. President Rick Commons said while the test does not fully measure a student’s capabilities, he is still pleased with the high number of students who earned the honor.

“I’m proud of the high number of students who achieved that distinction,” Commons said. “It reflects the academic talent that is in our student body. We all understand that standardized testing is a measure of one kind of academic ability. So I understand why some people might question how worthwhile it is to celebrate that total, but I’m still proud of the academic ability that it reflects in our community.”

Similar to Commons, Slattery said she is happy for those who achieved the Semifinalist honor while recognizing that it is not fully encompassing of a student.

“I always want to balance not diminishing the accomplishment of kids who achieved this, and also not inflating it into the most important thing that ever happened,” Slattery said. “To do well on a thing on one particular morning during your junior year, shouldn’t be equated with people’s

academic performance. Somebody not being a finalist doesn’t have a negative impact on their college application process. I’m happy for the kids who did it, and I’m proud that we have so many of them. And it’s also okay to not be one.”

Sophia Vourakis ’24, who was named as a Semifinalist, said despite the competitiveness of this time of year, the community around her has been positive.

“A lot of my friends didn’t take the PSAT, so it hasn’t really been a big subject of conversation for the people around me,” Vourakis said. “Going to a school like Harvard-Westlake, there’s going to be competitiveness in that area. Even though our school can get a bit tricky with competitiveness in the college season, my group of friends is really amazing in that we’re all super supportive of each other in all of our achievements.”

Curtis Ahn ’24 said although he is disappointed he didn’t earn the honor, he is happy that others in the school did well.

“It’s a bit frustrating because my score was close,” Ahn said. “But, I don’t feel that our school is super competitive about it. I think the school is just naturally inclined to doing well on it, which is good.”

on varsity debate, so I’ll be going against people that are a lot more experienced than I am.”

Lila Daoudi ’24 said this tournament was specifically particularly difficult because it was on a national stage.

“It’s one of the bigger tournaments of the year because it brings so much competition,” Daoudi said. “It’s a very large pool of people who are very, very good at this activity, so it’s harder to do better.”

Assistant Opinion Editor William Liu ’25 won the Greenhill Round Robin Debate Tournament. Round Robin is a smaller tournament comprised of select debaters around the country before the full Greenhill Tournament. Round Robin style tournaments traditionally do not disclose the winner of each round until the end. Liu said this made him worried about his final record, but he was ecstatic when he found out he won.

“I was extremely nervous about how I was doing and completely thrilled when I found out I was advancing to the finals,” Liu said. Liu said his dedication is what allowed him to do so well.

“I was super surprised that I ended up winning it all, but I’ve really been working hard in debate last year and this year, and I’m happy it paid off in the form of a win like this,” Liu said.

Although he has been successful in debate, Liu said the reason he is still invested is because of the community the activity brings.

“To me, the prestige and clout from winning something as big as the largest nationwide round robin isn’t the main reason I do debate,” Liu said. “It’s the people on my team, my coaches and my friends from schools all around the nation that keep me invested. I really enjoy the weekends where I can travel around the U.S. and debate the best from the whole country.”

LOCKED IN: Assistant Opinion Editor William Liu ’25 and Assistant Debate Coach Jonathan Meza prepare for the final round of the round robin tournament. The team travelled to Dallas, Texas over the weekend.

Sophomore advisory established

By William Liu

The school implemented a Sophomore Advisory block every Day 4 to provide opportunities for student wellness, mental health and relationship-building. The mandatory program is an addition to the reformed Sophomore Seminar, which now focuses primarily on school-related matters.

Upper School Dean Nia Kilgore said the new class will provide more faculty resources for students and ease the adjustment to the new campus.

“The goal for adding the [Sophomore Advisory] was to give sophomores more touch points with adults in the community,” Kilgore said. “Having a dean, an advisor and a dedicated counselor for each sophomore gives more support to the scaffolding that is in place to help sophomores transition to the Upper School.”

Peer Support attends retreat at Camp Ramah

By Hannah Shahidi

Peer Support leaders and trainees participated in their annual overnight retreat at Camp Ramah in Ojai from Sept. 8 to 10. Peer Support partnered with Fulcrum Adventures to host bonding activies such as building boats and racing them, completing a ropes course and participating in team games led by the four Peer Support coordinators — Olivia Baradaran ’24, Jordan Dees ’24, Casey Reims ’24 and Stella Stringer ’24. Peer Support Trainee Savvy Mahoney ’25 said the retreat helped her feel comfortable with other leaders and trainees.

“[The retreats] just offer a chance to get to [better] know the people that you’re going to be working with for the rest of the year,” Mahoney said. “That’s such a necessary part [of the program],

just being able to be open and know each other well. Also, because you’re in that environment, it allows you to share super personal things and get really close with each other in a way that we wouldn’t be able to do in school.”

Each Peer Support group is led by four to five leaders and trainees. Dees said the coordinators take many factors into consideration when creating groups during retreat.

“We first go through conflicts, which are just when someone writes [up to three people] that they would not want to work with,” Dees said.

“And so we go through that and filter through all of those and match up the rest of the people. That’s a big deciding factor, but we also go based off personality,

leadership styles and people’s different skills within a group.”

Head of Peer Support Tina McGraw said the retreat is meant to build a strong foundation for relationships between trainees and leaders.

“[Retreats] are important because the work of Peer Support leaders is often challenging and requires a lot of trust and commitment to the program,” McGraw said. “The bonds that are created during retreat serve as the starting point for the year. Activities are aimed at team building and connecting on a personal level so that trainees and leaders have a strong base from which to start their work together.”

Fiona Ryan ’25 said that a

College representatives visit campus

By Jack Ryan

Representatives from almost 100 colleges and universities around the world will present to students at the Upper School from Sept. 6 to Nov. 3.

Upper School Dean Sharon Cuseo said the main goal of bringing the college representatives to campus is to familiarize students with an assortment of schools.

“The best thing that can come from these visits is that students can expand their familiarity with a range of colleges,” Cuseo said. “I think most students start Harvard-Westlake with knowledge of a small number of the same schools. We have over 100 college visits every year, and if students take advantage of the range of colleges, they’ll increase their exposure to a larger variety of schools.”

Dickinson College Senior Associate Director and Co-Coordinator of Admissions Volunteer Network Amy Hall said the best part of the visits is the connec-

tion that representatives get to form with interested students.

“We get a specific kind of insight [into] what the student is looking for,” Hall said. “We get a face to your name then, [and] for me, it’s about having an actual connection with a person.”

Eric Lee ’25 said that college representatives can help students make important choices about which college they want to attend.

“Where we go to college is a big factor in at least the next four years of our life after high school,” Lee said. “It’s great that the school is giving us the chance to become more familiar with these places [and] ask admissions officers questions we normally wouldn’t be able to find the answers to online.”

Lee said that a weakness of the various college presentations was that they not did give students a window into student life at each campus.

“I think the greatest shortcoming of the college visitation

system is that it’s still hard to get perspective on whether or not that college is a good match for a student,” Lee said. “It’s not that having a college come over is useless — it’s great to be able to connect with an administrator and learn more about the college. It’s just that the visitation in and of itself doesn’t seem to offer some sort of unknown or sought after perspective about what student life at the colleges would look like.”

Aidan Deshong ’24 said though speaking to college representatives can be helpful in learning general information, talking to actual students and alumni gives a more accurate depiction of the school.

“The [representatives] are good at giving you broad information about the college, but if you want to get a sense of student life, you are better off asking people who go there rather than the college [representatives] who have their own pre-programmed statement,” Deshong said.

highlight of the experience on the retreat was getting to meet new people that she might not have otherwise had the chance to meet.

“I think one of the best parts is you become really close with people, totally unexpectedly,” Ryan said. “Your best friend might be one of your coaches, too, but there’s the people that you never talked to on a daily basis that you become really close to. I really enjoy that.”

Dees said that the retreat played a central role in helping not only the students but also the coordinators to get to know each other.

“I feel like the retreat really bonds together all the leaders,” Dees said. “Between the group deciding process and all the activities we do, it’s just such a rare and fun chance to get to know everyone in the club.”

Kilgore said the advisory will create deeper relationships between deans and students.

“[Sophomore Seminar] is the most important group connection sophomores will have with their dean,” Kilgore said. “Having some of the social [and] emotional learning content pulled out of seminars and moved to advisory will ostensibly give deans more time with their sophomore cohorts and invariably get to know them better, sooner.”

Sophomore Advisory is only a 40 minute block as opposed to the hour long Sophomore Seminar but still aims to create meaningful discussions regarding relationship skills. Head of Sophomore Advisory and Psychology Teacher Tina McGraw said advisors can support students’ mental health.

“The advisor relationship is unique because advisors don’t grade students and they also aren’t the assigned dean,” McGraw said. “It means that the incoming sophomores will have another adult on campus who cares about them and who they can go to for support.”

PEER POWER: Peer Support members pose together in a photo at Camp Ramah in Ojai, California, where they bonded over two days of team building activities. Th e retreat served as a way to help members of the organization grow closer together through a common experience.

COLLEGE COUNSEL: A representative from Carnegie Mellon speaks about the admissions process, academic experience and student life.

OLIVIA SUDDLESON/CHRONICLE

L. Wood

Tina McGraw

Club Craze: Preview

Hw Sailing Ultimate Frisbee

By Erin Ryu

HW Sailing Club, started by Matthew Commons ’25 and Sean Ozalpasan ’25, aims to foster a community where avid sailors can compete and bond over the sport.

Ozalpasan said having a sailing club at the school encourages competitive spirit and stronger relationships within the team.

“Not only does sailing together with peers increase the chance of performing better but also allows the sailors to have fun on the water,” Ozalpasan said. “[It also builds] a sense of camaraderie that might not otherwise be built at school.”

Commons said he and Ozalpasan plan to practice and compete in monthly boat races hosted by the Paci c Coast Interscholastic Sailing Association (PCISA).

“ is year, HW Sailing has chosen California Yacht Club as its partner, and from this yacht club we will receive next level coaching as well as access to the boats we will race at regattas,” Commons said. “Every month on a certain weekend, all PCISA schools travel to a location on the California coast, and we spend the entire weekend racing and seeing which team is the best.”

Ozalpasan said he is anticipating that the club will increase its skill though competitions.

“As we are a newly registered team, we will be placed in Silver division and will have to prove ourselves through winning and sportsmanship in order to rank up to Gold division,” Ozalpasan said. “If we perform well this year, next year we will be apart of the Gold division, or Gold Fleet. Gold Fleet is where the best schools across California compete in order to see who is the best at our sport.”

Commons said he hopes the school will be able to recognize the club’s skills and consider making it an interscholastic sport.

“Because Harvard-Westlake Sailing is in its debut year, we have started out as a club, but hopefully as the years go on, and hopefully our experienced member count [increases] , we can become a full part of the HW Athletics program.” Commons said.

By Ella Jeon

Ultimate Frisbee Club, founded by Sam Pulaski ’24 and Evan Krautheimer ’24, seeks to create a fun and relaxing environment for students to take a break from their studies and unwind.

Pulaski said he and Krautheimer decided to start the club because of their shared love for frisbee that started at a young age as well as their connections to the sport through movies and other media.

“We have always loved playing frisbee as far back as elementary school, but we were speci cally inspired by the frisbee scene in the movie ‘Hard Ticket to Hawaii,’” Pulaski said. “It really puts an exciting spin on the sport.”

Krautheimer said one of the major objectives of the club is to bring people together in a way that is reminiscent of Physical Education (P.E.) class during their early years at the school.

“We aim to bring back the joy of seventh-grade P.E.,” Krautheimer said.”We want to have a space for fun play that friends can gather around and go ham with. [ e space] would be not only for players, but for crowds of people to enjoy watching.”

Pulaski said he is looking forward to expanding the club as much as possible, even to outside of the school, and to creating fun accessories and clothes for club members.

“I think our are plans to venture outside of the Harvard-Westlake community and meet other passionate frisbee players,” Pulaski said. “We would also love to have merch that people are excited to wear. We are going to have ridiculous matching uniforms that embody the spirit of the sport and make our team recognizable. We will hold practices often in order to maintain a competitive advantage. We are also just excited to watch the plastic disc glide through the air.”

of the activities fair

Rock Climbing Songwriting

By Celine Wang

e Rock Climbing Club, founded by Rustom Malhotra ’24, eodore Tsai ’24 and Ryan Whiteman ’24, plans to bring students to local rock climbing gyms and on outdoor expeditions at climbing spots throughout Los Angeles.

Malhotra said his decision to create the club stems from his passion for rock climbing.

“I’ve always been a climber at heart, scaling every rock and tree in sight,” Malhotra said. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, I started climbing outdoors more frequently. After lockdowns concluded, I decided to join a competitive team to improve my technique and nd a cohort of fellow climbing enthusiasts. I’ve now been a member of my competitive Touchstone climbing team for two years.”

Tsai said rock climbing is an accessible sport because there are few prerequisites to joining.

“I wanted to start the club because I wanted to gather more people that may be interested in rock climbing,” Tsai said. “I feel like rock climbing is a sport that anyone can enjoy simply because there is no minimum requirement you need to meet in order to climb. Rock climbing has also introduced me to many of my closest friends, and I hope that others can also connect through this sport.”

Whiteman said rock climbing can foster a positive team spirit that motivates those that are looking to push past their limits.

“Rock climbing is special because of the community,” Whiteman said. “It’s a team sport where you can’t let anyone down, and everyone wants everyone to succeed. It’s [similar to a] gym where you can’t just lower the weight. If you can’t do something, you need to work your way up through practice.”

By A nnabelle Cheung

e Songwriting Club, founded by Whitney Enenstein ’24 and Maya Ray ’25, plans to create a supportive, creative environment for both experienced and amateur songwriters to express themselves. Inspired by strong female singer-songwriters, Enenstein and Ray said they hope to encourage learning and growth in their members’ songwriting knowledge and abilities. Enenstein said her passion for songwriting has given her a unique outlet for her creativity.

“[Songwriting] gives me an outlook to express myself through music and o ers a di erent perspective into life situations,” Enenstein said. “My favorite thing about songwriting is realizing emotions I didn’t know I felt through lyric writing.”

Ray said she hopes to learn more about songwriting through her leadership role in the club.

“Being [one of the leaders]of the club is an amazing way for me to learn more about a craft that I am discovering a love for,” Ray said. “[It] is also a great way for me to help other people nd their love for it as well.”

e club plans on hosting collaboration sessions, song workshops and songwriting technique lessons during their club meetings as well as informal performances at a senior home and two showcases. Ray said she is excited to join a community of students who share her interests.

“I feel that the most important part of songwriting club is being able to practice and nurture your craft in a supportive and collaborative environment,” Ray said. “Since everyone that is a part of this club has an interest or want to learn about songwriting, the club becomes this escape where musicians can just practice things they love.”

Overall, Ray said a big focus of the club is being able to perform.

“Sharing your songs and creations with the greater school community [is] our larger goal,” Ray said.

Challenging Crossword

Aidan Deshong ’24 created this issue’s 78 word crossword puzzle. Do you have the superpowers necessary to solve it?

DOWN:

1. Felt hat

2. Patch applied using heat

3. ______ the occasion

4. Ooze

5. Spice on a deviled egg

6. “I’m at _____ for words...”

7. One-person performances

8. “The doing is often more important ___ the outcome” (Arthur Ashe)

9. Term for a tune you just can’t get out of your head

10. Certain facial injection

11. Palindromic name

12. Traffic or printer problem

13. Ginger beer?

21. Cheese that’s made backwards?

22. It beat the tortoise

26. Related (to)

27. Chilly

28. Good for what ____ you

30. Coral conglomeration

31. Jacob’s twin, in the Bible

34. Goat with curved horns

35. Relative of a golden retriever, for short

36. ____ Coast (the best coast)

37. Flabbergasted

38. Green thing in Mario games

39. One of the Rice Krispies mascots

43. Clickable image

44. Name of two NASA probes and a “Star Trek” series

45. The Moon has 9,137 of them

46. Hawaiian coffee region

50. Login info

ACROSS:

1. Many Christmas trees

5. Command-V

10. Word to add before an American state to yield a Mexican state

14. ne of the Great Lakes

15. Hi, in HI

16. Shape of a famous room in the White House

17. Prescribed amount

18. Like the coordinate (3, 60º)

19. Domesticated

20. Important announcement (part 1 of 4)

23. Decompose

24. Roast on SoundCloud, say

25. Mexican state with a surprising pronunciation

29. Arctic jacket

31. “To ___ is human”

32. Fish in a Japanese garden

33. Important announcement (part 2 of 4)

37. Section in a cathe-

dral

40. Sheepish sound

41. Brings to a close

42. Important announcement (part 3 of 4)

47. Clean Air Act org.

48. Ms. ___ (one of the librarians)

49. Word that means the same thing when its third letter is removed

53. Arrange for battle

55. It follows C on TV

57. Last word of “America the Beautiful”

58. Important announcement (part 4 of 4)

61. Apt rhyme of “superfan”

64. Science fiction, say

65. Ish

66. He had a dream

67. Raring to go

68. Not-so-peaceful protest

69. Digging

70. Deceptive ploys

71. “The Incredibles” character, Mode

51. Actor Liam from Northern Ireland

52. “North” or “South” state

54. Slang

55. Things on the Billboard Top 100

56. Blender button

59. Name featuring three consecutive vowels that collectively make the sound of one of the two vowels not in the word

60. Was dressed in

61. Hit the slopes

62. Its abbreviation comes from the word “stannum”

63. “Red” or “Fire” insect •

Homecoming Heroes

Editors-in-Chief: Averie Perrin, Ella Yadegar

Print Managing Editors: Jade Harris, Iona Lee, Davis Marks

Presentation Managing Editors: Kriste An, Chloe Park, Tate Sheehy

Executive Editors: Jackson Mayer, Grant Park

News Editor: Sammy Glassman

Assistant News Editors: Jayan Kandavel, Everett Lakey, Alex Lee, Hannah Shahidi, Jack Ryan, Connor Tang, Nathan Wang

Opinion Editor: Jackson Tanner

Assistant Opinion Editors: Eden Conner, Sabrina Hamideh, William Liu, Hana Mehdi Williams, Olivia Phillips, Max Turetzky

Features Editor: Dylan Graff

Assistant Features Editors: Alden Detmer, Alex Dinh, Zoe Goor, Georgia Grad, Saisha Kumar, Mejo Liao

A&E Editor: Caroline Plunkett

Assistant A&E Editors: Sasha Aghnatios, Crista Kim, Katelyn Kim, Mia Morgan, Shiara Navarro, Olivia So

Sports Managing Editor: Jake Lancer

Sports Editors:

Karsten Cole, Christopher Mo

Assistant

Sports Editors: Hailey Cho, Justin Tang

Satire Editors: Jade Harris, Davis Marks

Digital Editor: Casey Reims

Business Manager: Tate Sheehy

Photography Editor: Olivia Suddleson

Art Director: Eva Park

Illustrators: Amelia Chiarelli, Annabelle Cheung, Iris Chung, Ashley Ham, Ava Hakakha, Alexandria Liu, Juana Markman, Lucia Plata, Maiya Holly, Sabrina Simek, Siena Orwitz

Executive Broadcast Producer: Jake Lancer

Assistant Broadcast Producer: Rohan Amin, Alexa Benitez, Hunter Bridgett, Eric Chang, Hudson Chen, Grace Coleman, William Coleman, Jack Limor, Aaron Milburn

Layout Assistants and Staff

Writers: Annabelle Cheung, Iris Chung, Emma Cohen, Sienna Dall’Olmo, Wynne Davis, Kayla Graff, Lydia Gugsa, Tali Gurule, Colin Ho, Ella Jeon, Yuna Jeon, Priscilla Johnston, Lyla Kavanagh, Connor Merrihew, Max Nam, Analeigh Nava, Alex Reisner, Andrea Ricabal, Olivia Roosa, Erin Ryu, Eila Shokravi, Aven Son, Celine Wang, Sophia Wiczyk

Advisors: Billy Montgomery, Max Tash

Layout Assistants: Jen Bladen, James Lane

Publication Information:

Founded in 1990, The Chronicle is the Harvard-Westlake Upper School’s student-led newspaper. Now in its 33rd year, The Chronicle strives to report stories accurately and to uphold its legacy of journalistic integrity. The newspaper is published eight times per year and distributed to students, parents, faculty and staff. The paper is affiliated with two school magazines, Big Red and Panorama. We are members of the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the Private School Journalism Association.

Never Forget: 22 Years Later

Our country recently commemorated the 22nd anniversary of the most deadly attack on American soil in modern history. For more than a decade, the 9/11 attacks were in the center of American political memory; the resulting war on terror led to two decades of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, and “Never Forget” was a common mantra throughout the U.S.

But for the current student body, the memory is distant and ever fading. The eldest of us were born four years after the attacks, and while we grew up hearing stories of it, none of us have an enduring memory of where we were when the attacks happened that older generations often reference. We all have relatives who remember exactly what happened, but our only image of the events comes from watching grainy old TV footage and hearing recorded 9-1-1 calls.

9/11 and its aftermath seem to play an increasingly less important role in how our generation thinks about politics. The unity of America in the aftermath of the attacks is seen as a moment of pride but also the last moment Americans were able to break divisive boundaries between one another, reach across the aisle and stand together in the face of a defining crisis. According to a poll reported in ABC News, 73% of adults associated the time after 9/11 as a time of unity. For those under 18, that number falls off to 21%. This pattern holds up on campus. Most students know the basics of 9/11 from the experience of maturing in a post-9/11 America, but any sort of standardized education is missing, even in our history or government classes.

Despite occurring 22 years ago, 9/11 continues to be the

about us

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION:

The Chronicle strives to be a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes all who wish to contribute. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committewwe works to ensure that every member of the Harvard-Westlake community is recognized, included and given a voice.

The Chronicle's publications will aim to represent this diverse community and provide a variety of perspectives on the topics that they cover.

most important single day in modern American history, both in its immediate and long-term impacts as a turning point in foreign and domestic policy. Any history of the U.S. from 2001 to the present day, from the “forever wars” in the Middle East to the roots of the rhetoric used by Trump in the 2016 election, can be tied back to 9/11. Yet with each passing year, we learn less and less about the attacks, and any chance of remembrance slips further from the realm of plausibility.

As a school with a mission of educating well rounded, informed and capable students, the school has a duty to ensure that basic education around 9/11 is integrated into our curriculum. Perhaps a day or two should be dedicated to it in history or government courses, especially those involving U.S. history, a practice that some teachers already informally adhere to. The addition of a yearly all-school assembly that gives the student body a chance to hear from speakers who have personal experiences with 9/11 could be effective at educating students on the importance of the attacks. Addressing the severity and relevance of 9/11 should not only be done yearly, but the effects of the attacks are relevant within our social and political history. Additionally, care should be taken to ensure that the raging and widespread xenophobia in the U.S. that followed the attacks is also discussed to paint a more comprehensive picture of the event.

In order to commemorate this seminal and tragic moment in American history and educate our generation and future generations of its impact, we must take action to ensure that we, indeed, never forget.

EDITORIALS:

Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of staffers and are written by the Editorial Board, which is composed of the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors and Section Editors.

ADVERTISING:

Looking to place an advertisement in our paper? Questions pertaining to advertisements may be directed to The Chronicle's Business Manager Tate Sheehy at tsheehy1@hwemail.com. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or school.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

Letters may be submitted to chronicle@ hw.com or mailed to 3700 Coldwater Canyon Ave., Studio City, CA 91604. Letters must be signed and may be edited to conform to Chronicle style, space and format. We are committed to uplifting the voices of marginalized or underrepresented individuals and groups in accordance with our efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

PUBLICATION AWARDS:

- NSPA Pacemaker Winner

- CSPA Gold Crown Winner

UPDATES AND CORRECTIONS:

Though we always strive to be as accurate as possible, staff members identify inaccuracies and receive feedback from readers.

The Chronicle publishes corrections when we discover a factual error within a piece. We will continue to uphold transparency even in the face of mistakes following the publication of each issue.

MEMBERSHIPS:

- Columbia Scholastic Press Association

- National Scholastic Press Association

- Quill and Scroll Honor Society

Equalizing activities

By Hannah Shahidi

While working on the tech crew for "Urinetown," last spring's musical, I found myself incredibly overwhelmed with approaching assessments in my classes. I was trying to manage my time productively and stay on top of my school work, however I was also getting home around 9 p.m. every night that I had rehearsal. I sacrificed sleep, didn’t have time to eat and devoted all my free time at school to completing work and studying. During that week and a half long period that the musical took up my time, I did not experience leniency from my teachers about assignment due dates and test postponements, which proved to be detrimental to my well-being.

Such occurrences are common for many students who participate in extracurricular activities, both at the school and externally — these students will at some point experience highly stressful periods of time due to their commitments. However, there is an obvious discrepancy between how athletics is treated in this regard versus other extracurricular activities.

Teachers often times see athletics as a more legitimate excuse for pushing back a deadline than another activity, regardless of the time commitment. At the beginning of the school year, many coaches will connect with their players' teachers to establish open communication about how athletes are doing academically, according to Athletic Director Jason Kelly. Not all extracurriculars follow this practice. For other activities, students are expected to handle all of the communication between their advisor or overseeing faculty member and their own teachers, which could explain why athletes are given more leeway when it comes to academics. Additionally, the school sets limits on practice times for athletes — in-season sports are allowed a maximum of two and a half hours per day, while out of season sports are allowed a maximum of four hours per week, according to Kelly.

The school should implement

a standardized policy for extensions and postponements that are requested due to extracurricular commitments. Students should be able to participate in the things they enjoy and are passionate about, and they should not have to sacrifice their academics or mental health in order to do so. Such a policy should allow students with extended after-school commitments to postpone an assignment due date until they have more time to study and complete work. There would be little to no negative impact of a student taking a test a few days after their classmates. However, it can be a huge source of stress if a student has to juggle everything at once.

Many extracurricular activities have periods of concentration, such as a weekend-long athletic tournament or a layout week for one of the school's publications. During these times, students have significantly less free time to complete school work and study for assessments. During layout sessions for The Chronicle, which last for about a week, I often get home at around 7 p.m. and am still expected to continue working on my assignments in addition to my normal school workload. Creating the paper takes up more of my time after school than an in-season varsity sport does. However, the Chronicle advisor doesn't have the same type of communication as coaches, which should be obligatory for all students who participate in time consuming activities.

This type of concentration also occurs in academics — oftentimes, many tests and important deadlines are all during the same few days due to different classes finishing their units at around the same time. This causes inherent stress for students, which is why the school has in the past created policies like the three test rule, where if a student has three or more tests in one day, they are able to push one back. Having these types of policies have proven to have positive impacts on students; therefore, there should be clear policies that pertain solely to extracurricular activities.

ILLUSTRATION BY AMELIA CHIARELLI

Social Media in Politics

By Eden Conner

On Nov. 4, 2008, the Americans who signed up for former President Barack Obama’s text updates received a final message: “All of this happened because of you. Thanks, Barack.”

Obama was the first presidential candidate to use wide forms of social media to aid his campaign. His grassroots movement gained

national attention with the help of his New Media team who ran his social media accounts. They gathered supporters through sophisticated email systems, text messaging and accounts on a wide range of social media platforms. Over the course of eight years, a new era of candidate social media use came to fruition. Platforms were often not used to

ILLUSTRATION BY AMELIA CHIARELLI

How AI can be beneficial to education

By William Liu

When the artificial intelligence (AI) language model ChatGPT first became available to the public, schools scrambled to rearrange curricula, develop new policies and cushion against what seemed to be the biggest threat to educational integrity yet. The program, developed by OpenAI, was the first language model that could respond to prompts and replicate the mannerisms and styles of humans. Students could request multi-page college essays, solve difficult STEM problems and produce near flawless translations of both ancient Latin and state of the art computer code — all on demand. At least that’s what they thought.

As much as generative AI has received credit for its human-like capabilities, programs like ChatGPT or DALL-E still fall short of creating genuine, authentic pieces of work. In high level science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) or foreign language classes, teachers have recognized common errors in the outputted responses, and in more creative or humanitiesfocused subjects, teachers have learned to detect robotic writing styles or questionable redundancy. According to a Stanford and UC Berkeley study, ChatGPT’s responses are actively worsening in quality. The program isn't very

spread word of campaign strategies and goals for the country, but to incite controversy for media attention. Changes in social media’s use gripped the American public and now politics — and it will continue to wreak havoc on presidential campaigns.

Obama’s New Media team aimed at providing the American public with a deeper look at the campaign, showing behindthe-scenes footage and providing snippets of Obama’s personal life. Additionally, his campaign used it to earn micro-donations from hundreds of thousands of Americans rather than endorsements from high net-worth individuals. Obama’s New Media team used a wide variety of platforms, such as LinkedIn, with a majority conservative audience in an attempt to reach across the aisle and answer questions from opposing parties.

Transitioning to former President Donald Trump’s run for president in 2016, the candidate used social media to gain the same national attention Obama achieved, but with entirely differ-

customizable, leading to rigid and stale answers.

If generative AI's shortcomings are becoming more recognizable, schools shouldn’t shy away and ban usage altogether; they should embrace and educate about it instead. They should recognize and inform students about AI's imperfections, using that as a launching point for disincentivizing its direct application to academic work. Assignments like semester capstone papers or take home essays can be important ways to assess a student's progress, and removing them hastily may be too much of a tradeoff. While AI would be able to complete some assignments, an approach centering academic honesty and education surrounding ChatGPT would better encourage AI responsibility.

A simple ban does little compared to a nuanced generative AI education. A study by Cornell University shows that generativeAI detectors are inaccurate in most practical scenarios. While ChatGPT is banned in multiple academic departments, some students simply find similar generative AI developed by other technology giants — Google’s Bard, Amazon’s Codewhisperer and the new Microsoft Bing are all chatbots with similar capabilities. It would be a dead end for schools to constantly chase the tails of

ent methods. In order to get free media attention, Trump posted provocative and sometimes entirely inaccurate tweets which earned him free media coverage. MediaQuant estimated Trump’s earned revenue from media up until his election to be close to 2 billion dollars. To put that into perspective, Republican nominee John McCain spent 400 million on his entire 2008 campaign.

Trump used Twitter as a personal outlet for bullying, giving members of government damaging nicknames like Karen Bass' "Castro-lover." He spread disinformation by craftily wielding the 140-character limit to his benefit. And yet, the candidate experienced the same, if not more success from social media as Obama.

Whatever political views one has, both sides wake up to a new social media today than the one that existed when Obama ran for president. While in 2008 it was enough to post that a candidate liked Godfather I and II to gain support, the tweets that get the most attention across platforms now involve strong emotional

new and upcoming alternatives. Furthermore, students may inevitably use ChatGPT outside of the school's network for homework assignments or general studying tools. A ban would do little against that.

Schools need to focus more on the upsides of ChatGPT as well. Generative AI could be a way to plan more effectively, brainstorm ideas quickly or find information on random subjects with ease. Innovative and emerging technologies will continue to offer more possibilities with more potential, and teachers should ensure that students have the knowledge to employ those technologies responsibly. If we cannot trust our generation with what we have now, how can it be prepared for the even more dangerous future?

Schools around the country have already begun reforming policies surrounding generative AI technology. In May, the New York City Department of Education rescinded its ban on ChatGPT, arguing that the potential benefits of working with emerging technology would outweigh the immediate implication of misuse. Other schools, including ours, should follow these steps, remembering that AI shouldn’t be a threat to our humanity but rather a tool to enhance our critical thinking skills.

reactions. As cancel-culture and hatred of “the other” on social media grew, the kind of content necessary to protect one’s followers' opinions of them often involved belittling other people and ideas. Campaigning is no longer about content, but conflict. In building virtual armies of supporters and haters, the American political system has shifted away from a push toward a better future to a push against imaginary enemies we can erase with the close of a tab.

There may be no turning back from the group-think of the social media world, but we must look into the deeply rooted harm that social media plays in our politics. The right to free speech is an essential privilege in democracy, so if we can't censor even disinformation spread by candidates, we need to incorporate curricula in the American education system that will teach students to identify potential falsities in the media and have a better sense of truth online. Obama was right: all of this happened because of us, and it is up to us as an entire American population to fix it.

• Continued on hwchronicle.com

The value of financial literacy

By Sabrina Hamideh and Max Turetzky

In a world that is becoming more financially complex and intimidating when finding the right career path, the importance of financial literacy and choosing the right occupation cannot be overstated. The ability to manage investments and career development is crucial for every young person’s long-term success. The school falls short by not offering either of these classes, but the addition of a financial literacy class and job selection class is very neces sary in order to give students a complete education.

Many students enter college with a strong academic foundation but no real-world financial skills. We learn how to graph derivatives and interpret English literature but not how to man age a 401(k). As students transition into adulthood, they often find themselves facing financial decisions that were previously managed by their parents. Between man aging budgets, understanding credit and making decisions about saving and investing, young adults need the skills to navigate these challenges. We assume adults will eventually grasp these concepts on their own, but that’s a risk that doesn’t pay off. According to a National Financial Educators Council survey, Americans lost $436 billion to decisions caused by financial illiteracy in 2022 alone. Teaching important skills to high schoolers before they are thrust into the real world will allow them to become more successful.

Lack of experience with per -

sonal finance has even greater implications for students who take on student loans. Many of the school’s graduates attend private four-year universities, and many take on significant student debt to afford tuition.

We’re setting up a portion of the school's graduates for unneeded hardships.

A financial literacy class should emphasize other re -

STATS AND FACTS

account, the different types of bank accounts and understanding online banking platforms. Lastly, a section on understanding the tax system would properly establish many graduates into their adult lives.

Understanding financial concepts is crucial for graduates, but it's equally important to recognize how these principles are only useful if a graduate is earning money by making informed decisions when choosing a career. Students put such a high focus on college applications that many times they forget their future career goals. According to a Philips North America survey, 41% of 1,000 surveyed U.S. workers regretted their career decisions because the occupation they settled on did not align with their personal interests. Choosing a career you're passionate about is crucial because it greatly affects your long-term success, daily productivity and overall happiness.

Do you consider yourself financially educated?

Yes: 33.27% No: 66.8%

Should the school do more to promote financial literacy?

Yes: 90.5%

No: 9.5%

Do you know what carreer path you want to pursue?

Yes: 46.8% No: 53.2%

entrepreneurship. Handson experiences would better prepare them for the financial challenges they will encounter in life. The class could begin with an introduction to the importance of financial literacy skills in an adult's life. Then, students could learn about budgeting needs and wants properly; it is extremely important for graduates to understand how to save a certain percentage of their income for both emergency situations and future investments. Another topic could include understanding the banking system: how to open and manage a bank

The course curriculum could begin with a unit on understanding the importance of choosing a career. The class could cover many different types of occupations so that students could establish their future interests and goals. Students could then use those ideas to come up with different career options.

Although many students see getting into college as their final destination, it is important for students to be reminded that college is not the end. Teaching career skills and financial literacy is vital for students to be able to thrive as working adults.

Revisiting Afghanistan two years later

By Jackson Tanner

Alittle over two years ago, the U.S. military began in earnest its full-scale withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of ongoing conflict. Even before the last U.S. troops had left the country, the Afghan government had already collapsed completely, and the white flag of the Taliban flew over Kabul. Dramatic photos of fleeing Afghans hanging onto departing U.S. aircrafts colored newspapers and the minds of the public amid the mass exodus. At the cost of $2.3 trillion, 20 years and nearly 2,500 American lives, the complete collapse of this U.S.-backed democratic government remains one of the most dramatic U.S. foreign policy failures in the last century, and two years later, it provides a key lesson as to how the U.S. should conduct foreign policy in the future.

The objective of the intervention in Afghanistan in its first months was simply to destroy Al-Qaeda training facilities which were being sheltered by the Taliban. Over the coming two decades, it evolved into an all-encompassing state-building project. The U.S. felt it necessary to not only rid the nation of a potential terrorist threat, but to

restructure its political system to suit democratic ideals. Promotion of human rights and creation of democratic institutions became primary missions alongside the destruction of the Taliban. It was this overextension that caused the collapse of the U.S. regime.

It was easy to justify staying in Afghanistan when the goal of the conflict wasn’t just destroying Al-Qaeda training camps but ensuring rule of law, stable government and women’s rights for a nation of 40 million. The humanitarian cost of abandoning such a mission meant the conflict needed to drag on until the cost of staying became so exorbitant it was politically untenable.

At the same time, it was clear that the justification for continued U.S. involvement — the creation of a democracy — was increasingly out of touch with the situation on the ground. The Afghan Army, armed with a total of $73 billion in U.S. aid and training, surrendered to the Taliban. Their President fled the country. The entire U.S. policy in Afghanistan did not even have the popular support within the country to maintain itself without thousands of U.S. troops holding it up.

Lessening the goals of the intervention from the start to prioritize U.S. interests over engaging in idealistic state-building projects would be a wise course in the future. It is the job of the U.S. government to protect our country, not change the governing fabric of another's. If things go wrong and a withdrawal is necessary, it can simply be based on the notion that the U.S. does not have interests in the region anymore, instead of having to deal with the backlash of leaving 40 million people to tyranny. We cannot make commitments to defend people's rights and freedoms, and then abandon them. It is dishonest if we truly do not have the popular political will to do so, as we didn't with Afghanistan. It leads to the dangerous risk of dragging us into an unsustainable future political engagement.

This isn’t an argument about America needing to be the world’s police or not. Regardless of whether it is right or not, we have the resources to do so. The debate is over how we police the world so that it is most efficient, and most beneficial to both U.S. and broader global interests.

By pitching ourselves as

Do you think your career path will integrate your personal interests?

Yes: 88.9% No: 11.1%

*252 students polled

The Chronicle's Opinion Section Editor analyzes a past U.S. foreign policy mistake in Afghanistan and argues in support of decisions for the betterment of Americans.

having a responsibility to uphold morality, an admirable goal in and of itself, across the world, we drag ourselves easily into conflicts we cannot detach ourselves from. For example, after similar rhetoric about the necessity to uphold democracy and human rights in Ukraine, there is no ability for the U.S. to withdraw its involvement now. However, this situation is different as there is a much clearer and more pressing security concern to the U.S. than there was in Afghanistan for most of the time we were there. Russia is

a heavily armed state which borders and has been openly hostile towards a number of U.S. allies. America needs to learn from Afghanistan — we cannot overstretch ourselves to the moral significance of conflicts at the detriment of our own geopolitical position. While this event occurred two years ago, its lasting impact on Afghanistan shed light on the importance of revisiting the subject again. The costs of the inability to withdraw effectively will often be higher than the costs of under committing in the first place.

Studio City Neighborhood Council members resign

By Max Turetzky

11 members of the Studio City Neighborhood Council (SCNC) resigned Aug. 21 after Ian Mitchell King, a newly seated councilmember, was revealed to be a registered violent sex offender. The SCNC Board unanimously confirmed King to fill a vacant Employees/ Independent Contractors seat at a public Board meeting Aug. 16.

King was convicted of three sexual offenses in 2008 and eventually released in 2021, according to the California Department of Justice Megan’s Law website which tracks information about registered sex offenders.

HW Media Director Jen Bladen served on the SCNC Board until she resigned after learning

about King’s conviction. Bladen said King was more easily appointed because he joined the Board in between election cycles.

“For the second meeting of the fiscal year, we had three candidates ask for seats,” Bladen said.

“There was a Residential Homeowners seat, an Employees/Independent Contractors seat and a Youth Member seat for people that would like to be involved. And because it’s between election cycles, we don’t waste taxpayers’ money. The Board votes to bring those people in or not.”

Bladen said she did not know about King’s history when she voted to confirm him, though she felt unsettled by him.

“I had this creepy feeling from the moment I saw that guy,” Blad-

en said. “In the moment, he was very smiley in a ‘trust me’ way, not in a nice way. I was very much creeped out in the moment, but we voted ‘yes.’ I’m alphabetically first [for roll call], and so I kind of also feel like I set the tone for a lot of votes.”

Bladen said she discovered that King was a convicted rapist after other Board members began resigning en masse Aug. 21.

“Monday morning, I checked my email and Treasurer Kim Clements had resigned,” Bladen said. “Dean Cutler, the Board member who sits on her right, resigned. You just know that two people don’t resign on the same morning for no reason. At 7 p.m., my phone rang and it was the Board’s president, Scott Mandell. Scott

River Park approaches approval

By William Liu

Following approval by the Los Angeles City Planning Commission (CPC) on Aug. 24, final approval of the River Park project will be voted on by the Los Angeles (LA) City Council due to an appeal by community dissenters.

The school’s proposal for River Park involves replacing Weddington Golf and Tennis with two new athletic fields, a gymnasium complex, a swimming pool, eight tennis courts, an underground parking complex, a stormwater reclamation system, solar power and native landscaping features. The school has worked to get the project approved since 2017 but has faced community opposition throughout the process. The LA City Council held a public hearing on July 12 to hear from community members prior to the City Planning Commission’s confirming vote on Aug. 24.

Head of Communications and Strategic Initiatives Ari Engelberg ’89 said the increase in recent public meetings has given more opportunities for opponents of River Park to voice their opinions.

“We are now in the middle of the city’s entitlement process, which includes a series of public meetings at which project opponents are allowed to state their

case,” Engelberg said. “So while there aren’t necessarily more dissenters now, the dissenters who do exist have recently had more opportunities to voice their [many] concerns.”

Engelberg said the school aims to consider both the school’s needs and the concerns of local residents benefits and the comfort of local residents.

“Since the very beginning of the River Park effort, we have tried very hard to strike a balance between the interests of Harvard-Westlake and the interests of our Studio City neighbors,” Engelberg said. “We started by doing a lot of listening at neighborhood meetings and in dozens and dozens of individual conversations with the [various] neighbors and stakeholder groups.”

Save Weddington Board Member Teri Austin, a Studio City resident for over 35 years, said River Park will strip the original Weddington Golf and Tennis of historical and cultural significance.

“Weddington Golf and Tennis, although privately held, has been open to the public for 70 years and is in the heart of this neighborhood,” Austin said. “I think [River Park] will be an industrial zone. There is no golf course and the driving range will be reduced to just a putting green.”

Austin said the diverse geography of the student body makes it difficult to convince the school community of River Park’s immense cultural impact.

“Only less than four percent of the kids who go to school live anywhere near [Weddington Golf and Tennis] according to the numbers,” Austin said. “[The school] likes to say, they have 130 zip codes or whatever, and if they don’t live around here, they don’t understand that [Weddington Golf and Tennis] is not meant to be an industrial five or six lane road. The traffic congestion is going to be enormous.”

Austin also said the school implemented few changes to the new facilities despite having multiple meetings with residents.

“It’s been three and a half years,” Austin said. “We’ve had lots of meetings with lots of people and nothing has changed. I have a map [of River Park] from March 2019, their first original map, and an alternative. The map that they handed into the city that got stamped for approval recently is the exact same. They could have used the five years while they were waiting for this project to get approved for the betterment of the students who are actually going to that school right now.”

proceeded to tell me about what happened with Ian Mitchell King. He has a Megan’s Law rap sheet. He’s a violent sex offender.”

Bladen said Mandell, who voted to confirm King, knew about him before his appointment, but could not legally prevent him from running for office.

“Scott had been talking to the City Attorney’s Office, all leading up to this,” Bladen said. “The President of the [SCNC] and City Attorney’s Office kind of came to the conclusion that, as a formerly incarcerated person, Ian King had every right to run for office in California. You can go to jail and do whatever you want after. You can vote, you can get a loan, you can get a job. We have very strong post-conviction rights for former-

ly incarcerated persons. So Scott [thought], ‘What do we do?’ They talked about a bunch of different options. What Scott personally decided to do was resign.”

KTLA reported Sept. 12 two other council members, including Clements, discovered King was formerly incarcerated before voting yes. Clements said to KTLA she was hesitant to confront him in the moment but felt pressured to vote yes.

Bladen said Mandell believed it would be illegal to privately inform the SCNC about King’s circumstances before the vote. She said the remaining council members, including herself, individually resigned after learning about his past.

COUNCIL CONTROVERSY: Ian Mitchell King (center, partially obscured), registered sex offender, joined the Studio City Neighborhood Council as a Board Member at the Council’s monthly Board meeting Aug. 16. The Board unanimously confirmed King to fill a vacant Employees/Independent Contractors seat during this meeting, and 11 members resigned Aug. 21.

RIVER PARK RESISTANCE: Signs protesting River Park have been spotted along Coldwater and homes near Weddington Golf and Tennis.

Venturing to Ventura

Students and local Studio City buissness managers discuss how the school community affects restuarants and coffee shops around the Upper School campus.

By Alex Dinh and Zoe Goor

Machines whir, blending up pumpkin spice Frappuccinos, and bags crinkle, filled with vanilla bean scones at the Starbucks on Ventura Boulevard. Of the 19 total customers that have made purchases in the last 20 minutes since school has ended, 16 are students of the school. Some came with large groups of friends and stayed in the cafe to enjoy their drinks, while others simply grabbed their mobile orders and left. Starbucks has a location 0.2 miles away from the Upper School. According to a Chronicle poll, 55.5% of 247 respondents said they go to thisw location at least once a week. Students often visit businesses close to campus for something to eat before, during or after school. Fiona Kim ’24 said she enjoys going to that Starbucks because it is a great location to get coffee in the morning and to study later in the day.

“I often find myself driving to Starbucks before school to get my daily caffeine,” Kim said. “Starbucks is also an immaculate location to get work done. The drinks are consistently great at every location in town, and there’s always people who are also studying at the tables beside me.”

Tess Rosenfeld ’25 said before she stopped having caffeine last year, almost all the money she spent

“I helped open the Alfred Coldwater location right down the way on Ventura,” Dotson said. “It was nice seeing students again. A lot of my regulars go to that location because it is in the neighborhood.”

Kate Beckerman ’25 said the new Alfred location has been convenient because she enjoys it more than Starbucks, and it is easier to get to from school as opposed to the original Studio City location.

“We had Starbucks and it’s not that different, but I like Alfred more,” Beckerman said. “There’s an Alfred about nine minutes away but it’s a lot easier to just go to the one down the street.”

Dotson said while they were the manager of the Studio City location, they often had to organize the day to account for the rush that students caused.

“During my time there, I did have to plan for students coming to the cafe,” Dotson said. “We had to make sure that lunches, breaks and all of our prep was done beforehand. The most popular drink ordered by students is probably our iced matcha latte with oat milk and vanilla. So we made sure that we were stocked and ready for that. It was a major factor in my scheduling process and how we coordinated our day.”

Dotson said they saw a significant decrease in customers for summer as many students were not in the area as often.

the restaurant for the day at 11 a.m. to groups of students waiting for the restaurant to open. Ramos said she sees parents and students of the school frequently, which makes her happy.

“There’s sometimes on Fridays where we’ll have a line of students out side the door waiting for us to open,” Ramos said. “I just love [seeing mem bers of the school’s communi ty] because I’m like, ‘Yes, more students,’ and I see new faces, which means more people.”

Sharky’s location on the corner of Ven tura Boulvard and Cold water Canyon Avenue is frequented by many members of the school community. According to a Chronicle Poll, 58% of 248 students polled have been to the Sharky’s loca tion. Not only is it a popular spot for dining, but Andres Alas ’25 and Junior Prefect Ellie Borris ’25 are employ ees at the restaurant. Borris primarily works at Sharky’s during the summer and on week ends, and said he sees many adminis trators and teachers at the restaurant.

“In the summer, a lot of kids who have sports practices will come after they’re done,” Borris said. “I run into a bunch of teachers. For instance,

Sharky’s custom

mos said because many students are unaware of the 10% discount that Sharky’s offers to students of the school, she and her staff make sure to inform people wearing school attire of the discount offered to both students and teachers.

Ramos said many customers at her establishment are from the school.

“We have a lot of groups that come in before school, during their lunch hours or sometimes even after [school],” Ramos said. “It helps us out because we have a lot of students that [spread the] word, so once one friend likes it, they tell their whole friend [group]. It’s amazing.”

Chipotle Studio City manager Travis Jones said he sees a lot of students in the restaurant and that it helps their business in a variety of ways.

“I definitely see a lot of students around lunchtime,” Jones said. “A lot of students come to get because it is a quick place to get something. This helps us out with extra sales and income, but a lot of students also bring their positive energy to the restaurant. Their energy often uplifts the mood of everyone in the restaurant.”

While sophomores and juniors are only able to leave campus after all their classes have finished or before they have begun, seniors can go off-campus for lunch, which tends to expand the range of businesses they go to. According to a Chronicle poll 62% of 84 seniors pus lunch privileges and 74% of 177 juniors and sophomores polled said ly enjoys using her off-campus lunch

“Off-campus lunch privileges were definitely an exciting aspect of senior year,” Kim said. “My friends and I immediately took advantage of the privilege on the first day of school. Since then, I still go off-campus for lunch sometimes, but the one hour time interval is quite limiting in how much we can do. So, we often just end

es around school allow her to spend time with her friends who

“School being so close to many places where you can walk or drive is very convenient for me,” Beckerman nect with others in the community. Because everyone lives so far away, having areas around campus where you can hangout with friends really

Mind the Gap

By Georgia Grad

Maddy Pimstone ’25 had looked forward to her plans all week. Pimstone was seeing a guy in the grade above despite their hour-and-a- half commute. Without a driver’s license, Pimstone had to ask her parents to drive the long distance to see him, limiting how often they could see each other. Pimstone said not being able to see each other frequently was difficult.

“I couldn’t drive to see him, so he had to always drive to me,” Pimstone said. “The first time we broke up was over not being able to hang out enough because he was so far away. Having my parents drop me off so far away to see him was ridiculous. It’s definitely a lot harder [than dating somebody in school]. You don’t really see them everyday like when you see someone in school.”

Although Pimstone dated someone one year older than her, she said she would generally rather date someone in her own grade.

“I would not date someone more than a year younger than me and someone more than two years older than me,” Pimstone said. “Generally, my preference is to date someone the same age as me, but obviously there are certain things you can’t control.”

TV shows, especially those most popular with teenagers and young adults, often include an idealized version of dating with large age gaps, according to an article in CBR. In “Gossip Girl,” many of the high school girl main characters continuously date older men. This appears as a “scandalous” and idealized lifestyle, normalizing these kinds of relationship to young viewers.

Vanessa*, a student at the school, said people were surprised when she first started to date her boy friend who was in the grade above.

“We were friends before anything more,” Vanessa said. “A lot of people were shocked to see that we were even friends when we started [dating]. People saw us sitting together and stuff like that. I don’t think there was judgment in a negative way, it was more of a surprise that we knew each other so well.”

Although Vanessa and her boyfriend spent a lot of time to gether, she said she would some times feel the age difference.

“During the school year, I could definitely [feel it] because our sched ules were so different,” Vanessa said. “We were going through different parts of our lives. On the weekends, when we were just with each other, it felt like there was no age gap, but when we were in school, I visually saw him with a different grade, and it made [the age gap] more apparent.”

Vanessa said that because they were in different grades, she found it difficult to merge their social lives.

“I think at first it was hard to get to know his friends because they had all already known each other for so long and had been in the same grade for so long,” Vanes

sa said. “But they were all super kind and welcoming and just happy for us. Later on in the relationship when I was with his friends, I felt like it was normal because I became friends with them pretty quickly. Because he didn’t really spend that much time with my friends, it still felt slightly awkward. I think a lot of my friends were intimidated by him and the age difference and that’s why he was not as close with my friends as I was with his friends.”

Morgan Beckerman ’24, who is dating a junior from another high school, said he does not notice the age difference between him and his girlfriend.

“On our first date, I didn’t know that she was a junior,” Beckerman said. “Then I found out, obviously. I couldn’t tell that she was a junior while we were on the date so I think that was a good sign. If she was a sophomore, that’d be a different story.”

Even though Beckerman is dating a junior, he said he is opposed to larger age differences.

“I think seniors and juniors [dating] is fine but senior to sophomore or junior to freshmen is not good,” Beckerman said. “I think with senior to junior, the maturity levels are comparable, but anything more than that would be immoral in my opinion.”

Unlike Beckerman, Charlotte Appel ’25 is dating someone in her own grade. Appel said she thinks dating someone in another grade would be harder.

“There are completely different friend groups and different levels of

me because we are in the same [social] circle so we get to see each other a lot. I feel like if we were in different grades, we would not see each other.”

Appel said that there are both positives and negatives that come with dating someone in the same grade.

“A positive is that we are in a lot of the same classes so we get to work a lot together and spend more time together,” Appel said. “A negative is when we argue, it is kind of difficult because we are together a lot.”

Eliana Schaffer ’25 said that dating between grades can be difficult in high school because of the grade dynamics.

“From what I have seen from friends who are either intending on or beginning to date someone in a different grade as them, a lot of the time as a lowerclassmen, it is kind of a social signifier and social status symbol if you’re able to achieve a relationship with someone older than you,” Schaffer said. “I think that for the upperclassmen, that’s definitely not the case so it is kind of transactional in that way. Because [upperclassmen] know that it’s a big deal for lowerclassmen [to date someone older], upperclassmen can take advantage of that. It might be funny to them and their friends. I have heard a lot of people talk about words like ‘cougar,’ using that jokingly. I definitely think when I was an underclassmen, I looked at relation -

ships with age gaps as more foreign but also a more appealing concept. Whereas as an upperclassman, I look at students who actively search for relationships with underclassmen as weird.”

Schaffer said that society’s perceptions on dating age gaps have definitely changed throughout the years.

“Generally, there’s a lot of complications that come with dating someone older or younger [than you].

“In the 2000s and 2010s, I think dating between larger age gaps was actually more normalized,” Schaffer said. “There have been a lot more conversations going around about age gaps and power imbalances, especially with the rise of social media. I have friends who have had pretty significant age gap relationships, and I know those relationships, even out of school, were more taxing especially when their older partner would go off to college. Generally, there’s a lot of complications that come with dating someone older or younger [than you]. The power dynamics are also definitely on display a lot of the time in situations like this. Dating gets a lot more complicated as people get older. Two years can be a huge difference if you’re 15 and someone else is turning 18.”

Counselor Michelle Bracken said there are many different factors that can play into inter-grade relationships.

“I do know that [dating between grade levels] is definitely not recent and seniors have been dating sophomores for a long time,” Bracken said. “Some students are very mature and gravitate towards older people naturally. I do think that the two or more year difference does create a power dynamic with the older student having more ‘experience’ with dating and this could be used against a younger partner. The younger student may feel obligated to do things they are not necessarily ready to do when they have an older partner in high school. The two to three year age difference does level off in college, not just because students have reached the age of 18, but because the brain has developed more and everyone catches up.”

Certified in educational therapy, Bracken is experienced in the mental health field. Bracken helps students combat issues they may be dealing with. Bracken said she thinks dating could possibly improve someone’s mental health, but there are problems that can accompany relationships.

“Knowing that you have a person you can trust and talk to is a huge benefit for emotional stability and having feelings validated,” Bracken said. “I think that dating in high school could also have a negative effect on a student’s mental health if someone is in an unhealthy relationship or feels pressure from their partner. Breakups can be hard too because when you really like someone and you trust them and tell them things and it doesn’t work out, that can feel devastating for a while.”

Eliana Schaffer ’25

L. Wood

Morgan Beckerman ’24

Students and faculty at the school discuss the perceptions and realities of dating within the same grade in comparison to a different grade.

in formation: NEw

Alumni reflect on Harvard School’s military past and the administration’s Vietnam War era decision to remove the Junior ROTC curriculum and affiliation.

By Zoe Goor

On a sun-drenched morning at the end of the 1960s, as war raged across the Pacific and Beetlemania spread stateside, the Studio City fire department received an unusual call. There had been a brush fire at the school — the result of a war game between high school boys at Harvard School. Each year, juniors and seniors at Harvard School participated in a day of war games with a red team and a blue team that went head to head in a military-style game of capture the flag, blank M1 rifles and all. John Roberts ’69 said fireworks caused the brush fire as the war games took on a new element of danger.

“Some guys went down to Tijuana, bought some firecrackers, hooked them up to a car battery and had a guy up in a tree with binoculars,” Roberts said. “Whenever the other team would come by, they would connect the wires and kaboom. It started a brush fire, so the firemen came down, and our guys don’t have anything in their guns, but [the guns] are going, and the firemen are shooting water at [the students]. It was wild.”

Harvard School, founded as a military all-boys school by Grenville C. Emery in 1900, was designated as a Cadet School of the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) in 1917, making it the first high school on the West Coast to receive this classification, according to “Harvard-Westlake: A History.”

The structure of the Junior ROTC

program separated students into squads. Three squads made up a platoon, each of which was headed by a platoon leader. Two platoons formed a company, and the bat talion, composed of the entire student body, was made up of four companies and was led by the battalion commander, who was chosen by the headmaster and the major stationed at the school.

Stepping onto the Harvard campus each morning, students, rather than checking in on the iHW app, stood in for mation based on their position in the military structure. Davis Masten ’69, who was second in command of the brigade as First Battalion Com mander during his time at the school, said he would rush to get into formation to avoid receiving a demerit.

“I lived close to campus, so I could hear the first bell,” Masten said. “If I ran, I could sneak through the gate because, depending on the morning, you would get demerits for not showing up on time, and you had to be in formation,” Masten said. “There would be a formation outside, and somebody would yell, and

everybody would get to attention.”

Masten said students wore one of two uniforms. In the summer, students wore khakis, and in the winter, green wool uniforms and ties. Students always wore belt buckles that they had to shine and, depending on their rank, carried swords at formal events. These swords served as a reminder that though the school was an educational institution, it had an additional purpose as a unit of the Junior ROTC. Rick Kent ’69 said students were taught how to use semi-automatic M1 rifles as part of the program.

“There was a rifle range down past the senior parking lot which was the parking lot closest to Ventura,” Kent said. “We put the targets out, and the two sergeants would sit out there and hand us out .22-caliber bullets to put in the rifles. We would get little medals for marksmanship.”

In addition to shooting practices, Roberts said students learned about military tactics and skills in classes once or twice a week, like map reading, camouflage and small unit tactics. For students who enjoyed the military aspect of the school, Masten said there was a military honor guard that grade 10 through 12 students could participate in.

“This was a military group that competed in [Los Angeles] competitions,” Masten said. “It was people throwing their M1 rifles, spinning them in the air and going down on one knee and doing pageantry stuff.”

Though Harvard boys often learned about the military in a school environment, students got to see the Marines participate in war games during their senior trip to Camp Pendleton. Roberts said the field trip gave students a taste of what was happening across the Pacific.

“[Camp Pendleton] had a fake Vietnamese village set up, and [sol-

diers] were flying helicopters overhead, dropping leaflets,” Roberts said. “Tanks would come up. We sat on grandstands as boats came up with Navy frogmen, and they blew up an old rusted out husk of a tank that gets blown up every year.”

Rodger Erickson ’64 said the majority of his peers accepted the role of the Junior ROTC in their day to day life.

“We didn’t mind shining our shoes, [polishing] our belt buckles and standing rigid in formation every morning before classes,” Erickson said. “There were a lot of things that you [would] think that boys, in particular, just wouldn’t be interested in or rebel against, but for the most part, we all accepted it as part of what we had to do in order to be a part of the school.”

Erickson said he noticed a large change in students’ attitudes toward the military when he returned to teach at the school in 1968.

“I came back to teach English and [a class called] Sacred Studies,” Erickson said. “I assistant coached football, wrestling and the military. You could see the kids weren’t polishing their buckles, and their shoes weren’t shined. It was much more lackadaisical and casual, and I don’t think there was anybody who could have held it together with the Vietnam War becoming such a prominent issue in America.”

By the late 1960s, the Vietnam War had become one of the most divisive issues in American politics with anti-war protests breaking out at uni versities across the country. The school was not completely immune to the anti-Vietnam sentiments spreading throughout educational institutions, bringing to light flaws under the surface of the program. 1969 was the last year of the Junior ROTC program at Harvard school.

MARCHING ORDERS

Masten was one of a group of students that prepared a paper that they presented to the Board of Trustees outlining the reasons the school should eliminate the military program. The paper said the ROTC program at the school had failed to fulfill its main objectives.

“None of the four purposes of ROTC are, at present, being fulfilled,” the paper said. “The program does nothing to develop resourcefulness and responsibility; the discipline is no more than a minimum forced group obedience, farcical when compared to its goals and when [contrasted] against other examples of discipline in the school. The respect of country fostered by ROTC is really no more than grudging and often resentful submission to authority. Finally, the curriculum and drill field training are entirely inconsistent with Harvard’s standards of learning and accomplishment. The effect is a program [that] is a burden, both to the school itself and to the students it serves.”

In contrast to Erickson’s remarks about students’ passive attitudes toward the military, this paper, written only five years after Erickson graduated, said the only way forward regarding the military at the school was to abolish it. The students’ proposal was successful.

“Military at Harvard has outgrown its usefulness,” the paper said. “It now hangs as a burden around the collective necks of the student body, faculty and administration. At present, it does little toward accomplishing its idealistic goals. Intensification can only result in the compromise of Harvard’s finer programs. The one possible solution beneficial to all concerned is the abandonment of the military itself. Time magazine reports that most of the finest schools in the country now exist without ROTC. Harvard, if it is to maintain and increase its standards of excellence, must soon follow their example.”

Kent said the war was polarizing and caused him to support the push to get rid of the military at the school.

“Most of my friends and I were against the war, and our families were against the war,” Kent said. “If you imagine what happened with masking and vaccination, how it got politicized, the military was that in spades back then. We were all going to be 18 soon after we graduated, so we could get drafted. It was real.”

Dana Alden ’69 said his disapproval of the war in Vietnam motivated him to protest the military at the school, shirking the dress code and growing his hair out long. He was one of the only people in his graduating class who

was never promoted in the military, ending his time at the school as a private.

“[The military] was not comfortable at that time because of the war in Vietnam,” Alden said. “The general sense in my mind was that it was not a war that was particularly well-justified. You have to remember that in our junior year, we lost Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, [and] we came into our senior year with riots going on in the country, both anti-war and poverty-based protests. I think some of us felt that the military at Harvard was too close to that or supporting that making me feel it just wasn’t a legitimate thing to have at this time.”

Today, the military has reached an important turning point. According to the Wall Street Journal, two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, combined with reports of poor quality of life in the military, have resulted in falling recruitment numbers and expected failure to meet 2023 recruitment goals in many sectors of the military. The U.S. army expects that it will recruit around 50,000 new soldiers this year, ending short of their goal of 65,000. The Navy expects to end up short of their goal of 38,000 recruits by about 10,000.

Since 2001, the Junior ROTC program has grown to 1716 units nationwide, according to the U.S. Army Junior ROTC. Around 314,000 students go through the program yearly. Today, 55 years after the last Harvard military class’s first day of school, the Junior ROTC program at the school is a distant memory.

The Sentinel Bulletin, Harvard’s student newspaper, declared that 1969 was

“the end of an era” with the eradication of the current form of the Junior ROTC program at the school and departure of former Head of School Father Chalmers.

Kent, who was the editor of the yearbook The Sentinel in 1969, said he and the yearbook staff decided to protest the military and the war in Vietnam in the pages of the book. On page 248, there is a picture of the members of the military honor society, similar to the formal portraits for the other activities. Facing the photo, on page 249, there is a picture of a skull staring down at the group of students being honored for their military achievements. Kent said the spread was meant to show the staff’s negative attitude towards Vietnam.

“What the war represented to us is needless death,” Kent said. “I’m sure Father Chalmers had a fit when he saw [the spread].”

The decision to get rid of the military at the school was complex. The bulletin sent out by the school to explain their choice said the school attempted to re-

form the program but was ultimately unsuccessful.

“During these last eight years, Harvard school, desiring to continue as a junior ROTC school, tried in various ways to overcome the weaknesses inherent in this program,” the bulletin said. “We wrote an honors course for this program, but the instructors provided by the Army could not teach it. Then we went to the other extreme and tried to make it practical, but the obsolete rifle and such things rendered this impossible. Finally, we asked the Army authorities for permission to help them revise the Junior ROTC program by letting us to be a pilot school for experimentation, but they have refused or, at least, temporized.”

In the end, the bulletin said the school’s decision should not be interpreted as un-American.

“Those responsible for Harvard school recognize the elimination of junior ROTC at this particular time can be interpreted as meaning that the school is weakening its determination to stand for discipline and patriotism,” the bulletin said. “The school will prove by teaching and the setting of standards that this is not the correct interpretation.”

By MeJo Liao

As Loklin Gertschen-Klaseus ’25 relaxed under anesthesia, he turned to inspect the IV line in his right arm and gazed at the lights flickering above him, his heart fluttering with anticipation and nervousness. Scheduled to undergo a life-changing medical procedure, Gertschen-Klaseus said he was thrilled to start a new chapter of his life.

“I remember I was so excited going into the surgery,” Gertschen-Klaseus said. “I was so ready. It was something I’d wanted to get done for a long time and it was finally happening.”

Gertschen-Klaseus emerged from the operating room ten hours later with a successful breast reduction surgery. He said he thought about undergoing this procedure for a while since coming out as transgender.

not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for gender dysphoria, suppress sex hormones — testosterone for those who are assigned male at birth and estrogen for those who are assigned female at birth. Then, minors have the option to continue pursuing hormone treatments, a process in which hormones are taken to initiate a puberty that matches the minor’s gender identity.

A study conducted by Komodo Health TM reported 1,390 patients aged six to 17 in the U.S. have started puberty blocker treatment, and 4,231 patients have started hormone treatment after a gender dysphoria diagnosis.

Gertschen-Klaseus said he had been on puberty blockers and testosterone for six years before committing to surgery.

“I came out as transgender when I was 10, and I met a doctor after that,” Gertschen-Klaseus said. “I went on puberty blockers when I was 11, and then

American Medical Association (JAMA) Surgery Network.

Gertschen-Klaseus said he was transparent about his transgender identity but strayed from discussing his surgery due to uncertainties surrounding laws on gender-affirming surgeries.

“I’m pretty open about my transgender identity,” Gertschen-Klaseus said. “[However, for the surgery], it is possible for me to get backlash, just because the laws right now are very shaky on whether or not minors should even be taking hormones. So if I meet someone, I usually don’t go into as much detail, though it’s pretty clear that I’m on testosterone, and they can assume things, but everybody close to me has been very supportive, so I’ve been open with them.”

Tristen* is a student who recently underwent a gender-affirming surgery at 17. He said he was hesitant to be open about the procedure

There have been an increasing number of legal bans on gender-affirming care in recent years. A record-breaking 491 anti-LGBTQI+ bills have been introduced into state legislatures in 2023 so far, 63 of which have been signed into law, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Many of these laws attempt to criminalize access to gender-affirming treatments for transgender minors by prosecuting medical providers and parents who consent to these procedures. Currently, 20 states have bans against gender-affirming care in some form.

Upper School DEI Coordinator Reb Limerick said she felt students were heavily affected by the political climate surrounding LGBTQI+ communities.

“I’ve talked to a transgender student last year who talked about how [these laws] have impacted the college process,” Limerick said. “They were talking

*Name has been changed •Continuedonhwchronicle.com

Students and faculty discuss the legal challenges and psychological effects of gender-affirming surgeries on minors.

Policy Against Pollution

By Saisha Kumar and William Liu

As Senior Prefect and Environmental Club Leader Elizabeth Johnstone ’24 walked into a meeting with members of the administration, she was determined to voice her concerns about the school’s sustainability. However, Johnstone said she found the school had to prioritize other, more pressing issues.

“It’s tough to pick and choose where our energy gets focused,” Johnstone said. “Especially given the awful last year we had, mental health had to be at the fore front of this year’s policy. In 2020 and 2018, Diversity, Equity sion (DEI) was at the forefront of training. In stitutional change and priorities end up be ing a zero-sum game with time, resources, money and energy. I don’t want to say [environmental policy] is not a priority of the administration, but it might take a bit of time before it gets up there.”

In late Au gust, Hurricane Hilary hit the coast of Cali fornia, flooding freeways, top pling trees and causing mud slides. Members of the com munity were relieved the storms dissi pated before the start of school, but a greater root cause of the problem remains unresolved — climate change.

July 2023 was recorded to have the highest global average temperature in the past 120,000 years, 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the average for pre-industrial times, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Long-term climate change and increasing temperatures are not only responsible for the warm waters and ocean heat that resulted in Hurricane Hilary but also for future extreme weather events that could doom humanity to global biodiversity loss, financial crises and existential resource conflicts, according to The Guardian.

With the continual escalation of climate change, the Environmental Club has become increasingly alert about the school’s impact on the environment. Johnstone said although few policies have been implemented, the club has initiated discussions with the administration.

“Last year, I had some discussions with some people in [administration] about making our upper school campus more sustainable and bringing it up to speed with the great sustainability work at River Park,” Johnstone said. “However, they have only been conversations. Hopefully, in the next couple months or next semester, we [can] bring those con-

versations into action.”

Chief Financial Officer David Weil ’93 said the school has to prioritize its main objectives before tackling environmental concerns.

“The most important things that any school needs to provide is a safe and welcoming environment and an opportunity for students to be challenged, physically and mentally, to find their passion and to begin to understand themselves,” Weil said. “Those are fundamental goals of any school. Once those have been established and are being addressed appropriately, then there are important complementary initiatives and environmental sustain -

Science Teacher Ryan Ellingson said while he understands that implementing sustainable practices may be difficult, the school should still make

“It’s hard to accept the reality of a problem far bigger than any one person,” Ellingson said. “Environmental crises are all around us and we can’t afford to keep looking the other way. Climate change is already here and it’s rapidly accelerating. I understand big changes must be made carefully and logistics can get complicated, but Harvard-Westlake lags behind many school districts and colleges that have made sustainable campuses and curricula much bigger priorities. Institutional change at Harvard-Westlake is needed soon, and overcoming community apathy has to be part of that change.”

Ellingson said all members of the community have a responsibility to advocate for sustainability improvements.

“I am confident that when meaningful changes come from the top, students and the rest of the community will embrace it,” Ellingson said.

“It is also true that top decision makers will make changes more quickly if the community demands them, so it is likely that students, alumni and even teachers can have a much bigger positive impact than they may realize. None of our individual goals will matter if humans continue to degrade our shared environment by burning fossil fuels, deforesting wilderness and overconsuming. Harvard-Westlake cannot save the world, but going about our business as if these environmental crises don’t exist does a disservice to our students and to the greater community beyond ourselves.”

Weil said although the administration may seem unconcerned with the environment, it certainly will take opportunities for greater sustainability.

“We may not be proceeding at the

pace that everybody’s comfortable with or what everybody would like to see when it comes to our sustainability initiatives,” Weil said. “I fully grant that, but we certainly do what we can when we can.”

Over the past years, the school has converted almost the entirety of both the upper school and middle school campuses to have light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures, according to Weil. Weil said that converting to LED fixtures does not produce a direct financial benefit and the school made the decision to implement them because of their environmental benefit.

Johnstone said the age of the upper school infrastructure makes it difficult for the school to emphasize sustainability.

“Our Upper School campus is over a century old,” Johnstone said. “We’re playing catchup with common sense environmental policies that were developed at the latter end of the 20th century. It’s easier for a new facility like River Park to be built up to [environmentally-friendly] standards as opposed to renovating our Coldwater campus. It’s really difficult, so I see how the administration is in a pickle there.”

Despite these difficulties, the school has worked with students and faculty to make strides towards sustainability. Ellingson said he noticed recent changes like drought-tolerant landscaping next to the north driveway. Ellingson also said he appreciates that in the short time he has worked at the school, the cafeteria has worked in conjunction with the Environmental Club to replace plastic utensils with compostable utensils, stop selling plastic water bottles and offer more meatless options.

“It’s my understanding that the Environmental Club re quested many of these positive changes, and the cafeteria staff deserves credit for responding to students’ concerns,” Ellingson said.

Like Ellingson, Science teacher Nadine Eisen kolb said that a past stu dent-led effort towards environmental sustain ability was realized by the administration.

“One of the things spearheaded in the past was when a student was really interested in hydro ponics,” Eisenkolb said. “They were growing a lot of vegetables and herbs at home, and they asked the school whether we could have a hydroponic system here on campus.”

Eisenkolb said the stu dents and adminstration worked together to facilitate the hydroponic towers idea.

“They approached the Learning Center and were incredibly excited

about picking food that we could use on campus and teaching people where our food comes from. Later, the school purchased three hydroponic towers, and we worked with both the maintenance team, who set up the electricity, and the administration, who paid. Even though that student has gone off to graduate, we still use the hydroponic system in my Directed Study class.”

Johnstone said a full-time position dedicated to environmental policy would be vital to prioritizing sustainability.

“The real way to get something done is to put it on the payroll,” Johnstone said. “I think there should be a director of sustainability at our school, that’s not a part-time job split with being a teacher. Students can be the ones pushing for them and trying to help the administration find solutions, but to really prioritize these issues, you’ve got to have someone who’s doing it full time.”

Johnstone said while administrative power may be limited, environmental solutions can still be woven into current policies such as diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I think we should reframe environmentalism as an intersectional discipline,” Johnstone said. “There’s tons of scholarship, decades old, which shows black and brown populations, socioeconomically disadvantaged [populations] and neighborhoods historically redlined all suffer the most from environmental degradation. When we think about [environmental policy] like that, it’s not necessarily a question of which issue we are fighting for, because we can incorporate [environ

Students, faculty and members of the administration discuss environmental policies and sustainability goals moving forward.

“ Environmental crises are all around us and we can’t afford to keep looking the other way.”

-Ryan Ellingson Science Teacher

By Alden Detmer and Alex Dinh

It is 1:30 a.m. in Palmdale, CA. Head of Upper School Security Earl Saunders’ day just began. Before Saunders hops on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle an hour later, he checks in with his wife about their weekend schedule. Saunders plans to spend time with his 11 grandkids by attending a football game, a dance recital and a birthday party.

As his bright headlights illuminate the open road, Saunders thinks back to his recent motorcycle trip where he hit 100,000 miles on his bike. After pulling into the empty school parking lot, Saunders finds a spot to sit down and relax for a few hours before beginning his shift at 6:30 a.m. With a smile and a wave, Saunders greets upper school students, parents, faculty and staff at the main entrance of the Upper School each morning.

“It’s very important when you work up there,” Saunders said. “You greet the students coming in, but you’re also looking at the people coming in and making sure you recognize everyone. If there’s someone or a vehicle I don’t recognize, I’ll ask one of the [guards] to identify him and make sure nobody is on campus that doesn’t belong.”

Out of high school, Saunders said he planned to attend a police academy until he found out he had received too many speeding tickets on his motorcycle. Instead, Saunders attended the California Department of Corrections Academy before working at the California State Rehabilitation Center in Norco, CA. Saunders said through working in a prison, he learned how to exert his authority while still respecting inmates.

“In the prison system, kindness can be considered a weakness,” Saunders said. “You have to be fair but a little bit rigid. When I started, I was the youngest [peace officer], and I had a shaved head. When I used to walk through the dorms with 100 or 200 criminals, I would hear comments like ‘Go back to high school’ or ‘Why do they let kids work in prisons?’ because I looked so young.”

Saunders worked in the prison system for over 30 years in both minimum and maximum security environments. Saunders has worked a range of jobs, from driving prison buses to extraditing inmates who skipped parole and fled to other states. Despite the many differences between his role in prison and at school, Saunders said

his core principles remain constant.

“You have to change a little bit of your perspective,” Saunders said. “It’s still all about respect, whether [you are] talking to criminals or students who are trying to further their education and go to bigger and better things. I never disrespected [an inmate] regardless of what he was in prison for. I always came at him straight and honest. It’s the same [principle] with students. If a student asks me something, I’m gonna tell them yes or no whether they like the answer or not. Honesty, respect and having manners go a long way when you’re dealing with people, regardless of how old or young they are.”

Like Saunders, Head of Security Jim Crawford aspired to be a police officer but also had some speeding tickets in high school. Crawford grew up watching the TV show “Adam-12” and was inspired by two police officers patrolling Los Angeles. At 19 years old, Crawford started to work part-time security at Harvard School for Boys. He then joined the Los Angeles Police Department for 26 years before taking over as Head of Security in 2006. Crawford said former Headmaster Thomas Hudnut stressed the importance of having trained professionals as security guards.

“Hudnut had hired us on, and he insisted on having law enforcement there, because of the range of skill sets that policeman had,” Crawford said. “Whether communicating with people or dealing with different situations, he wanted trained guys and girls to work for the school [because] we provide more for the school than just being a rigorous security guard.”

Building on Hudnut’s guidance, Crawford said he has continued to only hire current or former law enforcement, military or prison guards to work as security guards.

“I don’t hire guys from a website, I hire guys that I know because I need a certain skill set from those guys and girls,” Crawford said. “I recruit from within, from guys and girls that work for me now that they refer me to people that I do background checks on.

I make sure that they’re not troublemakers, [and] that they don’t have anything in there that is different than what I expect a policeman to be. I don’t want people that are that are prejudiced. I don’t want people that have grudges and that can’t cope with how things are in today’s times.”

Upper School Security Guard Tony Tutino spent most of his 30-year career in the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department before retiring. After spending some time at home, Tutino said he wanted to return to the workforce, leading him to look for job opportunities. Tutino said he has grown close with Saunders throughout their time working together at the school.

“Earl and I are together a lot so we make a pretty good team,” Tutino said. “We’re both two peas in a pod [and] exactly alike, in a lot of ways. We definitely look intimidating to a lot of people, but in reality, we’re not. We’re very approachable, but if you’re doing something wrong and trying to get away with it, it’s not going to be good.”

During the day, Saunders and his team members walk throughout the campus to make sure that they don’t see anything out of place, reinforced by the camera system that is monitored by Tutino. Crawford said the cameras are used only in common areas, entrance and exit points.

“We don’t put cameras in classrooms because we don’t want our students or faculty to think they’re being spied on,” Crawford said. “It’s more of a deterrent. They’re little dome cameras outside everywhere and we have some cameras that move so you can see them on the rooftops. We’ve got about 40 to 50 cameras on each campus and they are monitored 24/7. They’re covering critical, main traveled areas so we can track down people and things.”

ing on campus, we want you out of that classroom and off that campus.”

Since the protocol was implemented, many students have undergone training in a specially designed room to simulate the scenario of an active shooter. Amber Zhang ’25 participated in the training during her sophomore year and said the protocol will help students in the event of a gunman on campus.

“I would definitely say it’s beneficial,” Zhang said. “I have full faith in the security guards. It’s good to know that we all know what to do in case of an emergency. I think that everyone would benefit from the training because there’s a possibility that it is going to happen, and if it does, it’s better to be overprepared than underprepared.”

Every student interacts with security at some point in the day, by either checking in, leaving at the end of the day or simply saying hello. Tanya Anand ’24 said the security guards are always flexible when she needs help.

“Earl and I are together a lot so we make a good team. We’re both two peas in a pod [and] exactly alike in a lot of ways.”

Tony Tutino Security Guard

Another protocol that security has implemented in order to protect the community is the Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate (A.L.I.C.E.) program. Following the school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, Crawford and Security Guard Mark Geiger started researching different programs to protect the school in case of an attack. They ultimately decided on A.L.I.C.E. following a rigorous fourday training in Texas. Crawford said the training equips students with some necessary tools to defend themselves in the event of an active shooter on campus.

“If a gunman came into a classroom, let’s teach our young people what to do instead of just [sitting] there and [getting] shot,” Crawford said. “Let’s teach them how to fight back. Let’s give them some skills that can better their odds. If there’s a shoot-

“The security guards are really nice people, and they’re always so helpful,” Anand said.

“A lot of times I need to leave slightly early for tennis and sometimes my app won’t let me check out, but the security guards are always so accommodating.” Saunders said he enjoys connecting with students because of the unique capabilities and interests they have.

“High school students are at the age where [they’re] able to interact with them a lot more because you might have things in common with them,” Saunders said. “Whether it be sports, art, music or anything else. Every student is different so you’re always learning something new. I’m still constantly learning stuff that I didn’t know about all this cell phone technology.”

Beyond individual connections with students, Crawford said his team strives to support students by keeping the community protected.

“Our goal is to make sure that [students] have a safe working environment,” Crawford said. “On our patches, it says ‘protecting our greatest resource’ which is the students. They’re the future, so we want to make sure that they have a safe working environment and you carry on the stuff that we’ve been doing all our lives. We can only hope that you all guide the country to be strong, healthy and safe.”

L. Wood

Tanya Anand ’24

Members of the school’s security team discuss their previous careers and different safety measures the school has enacted in recent years.

Lights, Camera, Strike!

By Sasha Aghnatios

Kate Goldberg ’25 stared at her computer, the finished script of her new short film looking back at her. She paused for a moment, wondering if she might want to pursue a career in screenwriting. One part of her loved giving life to the characters that had been in her head for so long, but the other part didn’t — it was a demanding task that often garnered little recognition. Moreover, she was concerned; it had been more than four months since the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike, and she worried she might be entering a field that undervalued her work.

Goldberg said movies and television (TV) shows are a big part of her life, and she is disappointed in the mistreatment of the people who bring these stories to life.

“Movies and TV shows are little things that make a big impact,” Goldberg said. “They occupy such a big space in our culture and serve as [more than] just entertainment but are often works of art that can make us feel seen in ways we didn’t know we could be. That is why the mistreatment of the people that create those stories and pour their hearts into this content makes me completely bitter towards the entertainment corporations and industry as a whole.”

After the Alliance of Motion

Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) refused to meet WGA demands for increased compensation for projects on streaming services and protections against the threat artificial intelligence (AI) poses to their jobs, writers began striking on May 2.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) soon followed suit and protested declining residual pay due to streaming services July 14. Prior to the rise of streaming services, actors received residual pay when a movie or TV show was re-aired or purchased on DVD. Now, residual payments are a small percentage of the initial pay based on viewership numbers. Actors are demanding a more fair and updated residual system, increased pay to match the rates of inflation and – like the WGA – protection against AI.

SAG-AFTRA Secretary-Treasurer Joely Fisher said failing to secure a deal would drastically impact the entertainment industry because the majority of actors currently struggle to make a living wage.

“It could be the end of the industry as we know it if we don’t get this deal,” Fisher said. “We’re fighting for the actors that are trying to earn a living wage, qualify for health care and earn a pension, so they can retire. We’re storytellers and artists, but this is also our job.”

Actor and member of SAG-AFTRA Max Greenfield said the entertainment industry has changed drastically in the past few years, resulting in the strike.

“The WGA and SAG-AFTRA both have agreements with the studios that essentially guarantee two things: compensation and protections,” Greenfield said. “As time goes by, and the entertainment industry changes, these agreements or deals have to be amended to reflect that change. Over the past several years, especially with the introduction of streaming, that change has been astronomical. The business has been completely disrupted, and common ground between the guilds, the studios [and] streamers at the conclusion of their respective deals could not be found, resulting in the current strike.”

Greenfield said the strike is not only important in allowing people to make a living wage but in determining what the entertainment industry might look like in the future.

“This strike feels particularly important,” Greenfield said. “Obviously compensation and protecting health care and job security are at the forefront. The unions will stand strong on those issues, but it also feels like the entire industry is reshaping. What is gained or lost in these negotiations could determine what it ends up looking like.”

• Continued on hwchronicle.com

Student Spotlights

Basslines and Beyond: Manos Vourgourakis

By Everett Lakey

The crowd quiets down, and the lights flash on as the school’s Jazz Band begins their performance. Hidden beneath the trumpets and drum lines, Manos Vourgarakis ’25 keeps the rhythm with a smooth bass line. Vourgarakis is a member of the Jazz Explorers, the most advanced jazz ensemble at the school. In addition to performing for the school, he has won awards from both the Spotlight music competition and DownBeat magazine for his performances on the jazz piano and bass.

Vourgarakis said he started out playing classical music and then transitioned to Jazz in the eighth grade.

“[It was when] I joined the jazz band that I actually got into jazz,” Vourgarakis said. “I liked how different from other genres it was. That’s what got me interested, and I’ve loved it ever since.”

Vourgarakis said he admires different jazz musicians with distinct styles.

“My favorite musicians, composers [and] players are Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea because they’re so unique,” Vourgarakis said. “They’re so individual, and they’re all musicians [that are] not trying to copy anyone else. I admire that, and I think it’s cool.”

Despite this, Vourgarakis said one of the hardest parts of being a jazz musician is finding his own style.

“Being creative and not getting caught up in trends [is challenging],” Vourgarakis said. “I feel like as an artist, I want to be individual [and] distinct, and I don’t want to copy other people or do what they’re doing. I think that the hardest thing is [trying] to differentiate yourself from other people.”

Molding Creations: Skyler Griswold

By Sasha Aghnatios

Sitting in a classroom in Feldman Horn, Skyler Griswold ’24 places down a pound of clay on a potter’s wheel. After days of planning, Griswold begins shaping the clay, stopping every few minutes to assess the pot. Satisfied with her work, Griswold stops the wheel. She has just completed the first step in creating her new pot.

Griswold said though she has been interested in three-dimensional (3D) art since she was a child, she began to explore it in greater depth at the school.

“I have always been interested in 3D art, but it became a serious hobby of mine once I was at the Middle School and started taking classes,” Griswold said.

Griswold said the teachers and curriculum at the school have helped her further explore her interest.

“The curriculum at school [is] amazing, but I think it is the teachers that have helped me to grow as an artist,” Griswold said. “[Middle School Visual Arts Teacher Megan] Cotts is responsible for the start of my journey, but [Upper School Visual Arts Teacher Nicole] Stahl and [Upper School Visual Arts Teacher Gustavo] Godoy have helped me further my abilities at the Upper School.”

Griswold said the process of creating a piece of pottery varies, but she tries to follow a structured approach.

“I try to organize my thoughts enough so that I have a clear vision of what I want to make, and then, I see how I can bring it to life,” Griswold said. “I usually start with throwing something on the wheel, and then I find a way to edit the shape of my piece when trimming.”

Behind the Lens: Edie Cohen

By Crista Kim

Nestled in a corner of her sunlit room, Edie Cohen ’24 sketches a roadmap for her new film, one frame at a time. Cohen said she dedicates considerable time to brainstorming before a compelling idea takes root.

“Usually, I will jot down ideas for what I want to make to get my brain flowing,” Cohen said. “Not long after, I usually come up with an idea and will start to organize and sketch a storyboard. [Then], I will bring together a crew to collaborate with and from there, start to shoot.”

Cohen said childhood traditions with her family sparked her initial passion for filmmaking, drawing her into the land of film.

“I come from a family of movie lovers,” Cohen said. “I remember every Friday night, my family celebrated Shabbat dinner, and then afterward, my siblings and I would race to the cabinets in our house filled with DVDs to choose a movie to watch. That tradition definitely sparked my love for film.”

Cohen said she finds inspiration for her films in music.

“I am inspired by music where variations of tone and rhythm spark creative wires in my brain that give me an urge to make something,” Cohen said.

Despite her involvement in other projects, Cohen said she feels most proud of the film she directed at a program this past summer.

“I am most proud of a film I made at the Rhode Island School of Design pre-college this summer where I was able to have a lot of freedom to create.”

Picture Perfect: Andres Alas

By Katelyn Kim

Student photographer Andres Alas ’25 navigates his camera as he attempts to capture the perfect angle. Each click of the camera’s shutter freezes moments in time, preserving the intricate details of his subject. Through the lens, he weaves a compelling visual narrative. One of the recipients of the Gold Key for photography in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition, Alas said photography serves as both an escape from school-induced stress and a means of delivering a positive message to audience members.

“My photography serves as a distraction from the challenges of my academic life and allows me to immerse myself in an environment where those struggles can fade,” Alas said. “I want to capture the beauty of the world around me and convey a sense of joy and happiness through my photos.”

Alas said his creations remain fluid and demand meticulous assessment.

“Photography is a powerful form of art that possesses the ability to capture fleeting moments in time,” Alas said. “Oftentimes, my work develops [organically]. I like to continue to work with a photo and gain ideas [from] mistakes I might have made.”

Alas said he begins to brainstorm ideas through utilizing word associations, thinking of the first terms or phrases that come to his mind on a given topic.

“When presented with a prompt, I typically find it [easiest] to concentrate on my initial [word] associations and build off of those,” Alas said.

Songs of September

“Winner” - Conan Gray

By Erin Ryu

Chart-topping music sensation Conan Gray has returned with another captivating song that is certain to enthrall listeners, offering an experience that won’t disappoint. Gray released his new single, “Winner,” on Aug. 25. Unlike his past release, “Never Ending Song,” a song filled with upbeat sounds reminiscent of the 1980s, the new release explores themes of pain and growth. Though Gray’s discography includes a plethora of songs that discuss themes of heartbreak and familial tensions, his recent

release introduces a sense of vulnerability, underscoring his evolution as an artist and musician.

In the song, Gray discusses the emotional pain he received from a stubborn and selfish adult figure. He sings about leaving a toxic environment and seeing how the figure responds to his absence. The first verse of the song provides anallusion to Gray’s tumultuous past as a child, describing a young teen leaving his neglectful home environment. The song starts with a simple piano melody as Gray sings, his voice carrying raw emotion and sentiment. This builds into a chorus

“Zach Bryan” - Zach Bryan

By Aven Son

Zach Bryan’s most recent album does not disappoint. The 27-year-old Oklahoma singer-songwriter’s fourth studio album, self-titled “Zach Bryan,” was released Aug. 25. The 16-track album is a distinctive blend of country, rock and folk that encompasses a diverse range of emotions and instrumentation. It is Bryan’s first self-produced album and features a few notable artists, including the Lumineers and Kacey Musgraves. Though reminiscent at times of his breakthrough album, “Amer-

ican Heartbreak,” this new record demonstrates Bryan’s immense growth as a songwriter and storyteller, cementing himself as a name at the forefront of country and rock music.

Bryan’s new album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart and has racked up more than 233 million listens across streaming platforms. This marks Bryan’s first No. 1 album and his first No. 1 single, “I Remember Everything” (feat. Kacey Musgraves).

The album’s opening track is one of introspection. “Fear and Friday’s (Poem)” is presented as a poem. Over the resonant

By Everett Lakey

British band Slowdive released its newest album, “everything is alive,” Sept. 1. The album offers a fresh take on shoegaze rock, a subgenre of indie and alternative rock that is known for its use of ethereal vocals over distorted guitar, that the band helped pioneer in the 1990s.

The new album appears to be Slowdive’s attempt at asserting their continued relevance, three decades after their breakout moment. It begins with the band’s signature crescendos of electron-

Mitski’s New Singles

By Analeigh Nava

Mitski released three new singles — “Bug Like an Angel” on Jul. 26 and “Heaven” and “Star” on Aug. 23 for her new album “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.” Though “Bug Like an Angel” is the album’s lead single, the song that stands out is “Star” because of how pop-oriented it is. “Star” is different from the rest of the new releases that seem to fall into the same gloomy genre. This inconsistency is interesting for Mitski given in that the tracks on her most famous album, “Be the Cowboy, ” all had the same rhythmic,

catchy feeling to them.

“Bug Like an Angel” starts with a sad guitar riff as Mitski sings a low tune. She is interrupted by a strong harmony of louder voices chanting “family.” It’s almost like an alarm that interrupts the song’s otherwise sleepy and steady tempo. The backing vocalists reappear after the next verse, this time singing, “They break you right back, break you right back.” The dreamy, ethereal sounds of the vocalists are what make the song so intriguing — however, the lyrics are just as interesting. The repetition of the phrases “family” and “break you right back” serves to convey an

where the titular lyric is emphasized by the crash of cymbals, electric guitars and voice reverb. Gray sarcastically refers to the adult figure as the “winner” for being the best at making him feel the worst. In the second half of the song, Gray sings from a new perspective, having left the manipulative figure he sings of, and delivers poignant imagery of his permanent emotional scars through his lyrics.

In a press release Gray said he wrote the song late at night and poured his emotions into it. This is not hard to tell; Gray’s lyrics are sharp and poignant,

capturing his emotions and transferring them to listeners. Many can feel the pain and hardship he experienced, having undergone a childhood in a turbulent household.

Though many listeners are able to empathize with Gray’s songs in which hevoices the challenges of growing up, “Winner” touches his audience with deeper lyrics. Gray’s ability to experiment with different elements of music while holdingon to genuine emotions that resonate with listeners proves his versatility as an artist and leaves his listeners excited for more.

chords of an acoustic guitar, Bryan delivers a captivating performance, which contepmplates what it means to feel fear and asserting that satisfaction comes from living in the present, fleeting as it may seem.

“Overtime” and “Fear and Fridays” are the more extreme tracks on the album, supported by electric guitar and driving drum beats. Their anthemic nature is a nice contrast to the more acoustic tracks, including “Smaller Acts,” “Summertime’s Close” and the closing track “Oklahoman Son.”

“East Side of Sorrow” is one

of the most moving tracks on the album. Beginning with the lull of a warm, fingerstyle acoustic guitar, the song explores the emotional toll of losing family and friends to war, illness and alcohol. When the chorus hits and the rest of the band kicks in, Bryan expresses a more hopeful outlook as he sings, “He said the sun’s gonna rise tomorrow / somewhere on the east side of sorrow.” It is a song about facing adversities and standing strong in the face of bleak situations.

Some of the best songs in the album have guest features.

• Continued on hwchronicle.com

ic noise that blend into a harsh harmony, setting the tone for the entire album. These sounds make the album feel somewhat like a blend of the band’s past songs, and many of the tracks are so familiar that they seem like they could easily fit in earlier albums. For example, “Skin in the Game” and “Kisses” both fit the expansive and melancholy feel of their innovative albums from the 1990s, changing to something else despite their increased production quality.

The song that stands out most on the album is “Andalu-

cia Plays.” It is one of the only songs on the album where you can hear the lyrics, a rare treat in a genre that typically uses lyrics as just another instrument. Lyrics like “These reggae tunes / Maybe it’s over / Chained to the clouds / You are my angel” are inscrutable and feel more like fleeting emotions or passing descriptions rather than traditional lyrics. Despite this, they add a layer of complexity to the song that makes it feel more full by taking it away from the song being purely instrumental.

Even though the album has

similarities to the band’s previous releases, it feels like something is lost. The band isn’t using the new production techniques they have at its disposal to push itself forward; instead, it’s producing the same style of songs that it was in the 1990s. In comparison to their earlier albums, the songs feel hollow and formulaic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. While it reminds listeners why Slowdive gained popularity in the first place, if the group wants to regain relevance in a new era, it will have to innovate.

interesting juxtaposition.

“Heaven” is one of Mitski’s more emotional and abstract songs in which she explores themes of longing and existentialism. Mitski’s voice matches the tone of the melancholy instrumental track. Even though the song is meant to sound sad, this gets boring throughout the three-minute run time. The chorus isn’t catchy, nor has any build-up to it in the verses. The only interesting part of “Heaven” is the instrumental track, especially the flute at the end, that creates a dreamlike energy. Mitski has proven to listeners that she can make a catchy song with sad,

sorrowful lyrics. “Washing Machine Heart,” one of her previous songs, is an example of this. The song’s boring nature makes it seem like she didn’t push as much effort into “Heaven” as she did for her past songs.

“Star” begins with ascending piano scales and the slow beat of drums, together creating a soft bass. Instrumentally, this single is the most successful. Much subtle buildup grows into a loud overlap of instruments that give off a synth feel. It sounds almost otherworldly at the end as the sounds grow chaotic, but this is surprisingly satisfying to hear.

• Continued on hwchronicle.com

“everything is alive” - Slowdive

Chronicle dinner

By Hannah Shahidi

A proper “girl dinner” can’t be described with silly things like words — it is a state of mind. You may be asking: “Hannah, you’re not the Washington Post. How could you tell us what girl dinner is?” To that I say, I am a girl, and I eat dinner — sometimes twice. What more do you people want from me? So in the treasured American traditions of generosity, peace and kindness, I will share with you my top recommendations for an authentic, Chronicle approved girl dinner.

1. Chips.

2. The taste of the joyful pursuit of educational excellence. It keeps you fuller than food ever could.

3. The Joans on Third Chinese Chicken Salad.

4. Caffeine.

5. History reading. You can quench your thirst…for knowledge.

6. The Hailey Bieber Strawberry Glaze smoothie from Erewhon. Now, I know it doesn’t make you look like Hailey Bieber, but it makes your smoothie look like Hailey Bieber’s smoothie?

7. White rice. It’ll bring you a comforting taste of the school cafeteria.

8. Online shopping. Your eyes can feast upon Reformation dresses

as you scan for an outfit that someone hasn’t worn to Senior Ceremony yet.

9. Goop’s Brentwood Chinese Chicken Salad. Gwyneth Paltrow saves lives. It’s extremely different than the Joans on Third Chinese Chicken salad — both are equally necessary.

10. A sip of water from the Los Angeles (LA) River. It’ll keep you full (of bacteria) for life.

11. Anything from Sharky’s on Ventura Boulevard. Maybe you’ll run into Junior Prefect Ellie Borris ’25!

12. The Erewhon Frankies Bikinis Malibu Mango smoothie. It’s like the Hailey Bieber one except it’s yellow.

13. “Save Weddington” posters on the lawns of Studio City residents. It’ll probably be softer than the chicken in the cafeteria. Plus, you get to show your support for our beloved school! Maybe you’ll even get to testify at a Studio City Neighborhood Council meeting in front of HW Media Director Jen Bladen.

14. Those frosted sugar cookies from Ralphs. I will probably be eating those for dinner as Print Managing and Satire Editors Jade Harris ’24 and Davis Marks ’24 rip apart this article Friday night.*

*We actually ripped apart this article on Saturday morning. -Jade and Davis

Letter from the (satire) editors

By Jade Harris and Davis Marks

Every year, the Editors-in-Chief of The Chronicle talk a big game about prioritizing truthful reporting and becoming better journalists, but after seeing the stomped-on pages of our newspaper scattered across the Quad, these words feel naive. It has become clear to us that people do not read newspapers for the truth.

No more nice journalism. We want the bad. We want the ugly. We want the made-up quotes that former Print Managing Editor Claire Conner ’23 fought to keep out of the paper. We want the fake facts that former Editor-in-Chief Will Sherwood ’23 never let us publish. We want to entertain people. In doing so, The Chronicle will be able to reach more people and be known for more than just its toxic and gossip-heavy work environment.

In order to accomplish these goals, we will be implementing the following policies to make The

Crossword Puzzle Solutions

Chronicle a newspaper everyone can believe in.

1. Spread more misinformation. All press is good press. There’s a reason our most controversial and inaccuracy-loaded articles are the ones that trend on our website every issue.

2. Start making up quotes. In fact, we should be able to interview Assistant News Editor Hannah Shahidi ’25 for anonymous quotes. That girl is trouble.

3. Destroy the Chronicle Illustrators’ Union (CIU). We know this doesn’t exist yet, but they’re multiplying in Weiler 108. We hear their whispers, and we need preventative measures.

4. Make the sophomores do more manual labor. Less writing, more walking down Coldwater Canyon Drive to buy Summer Edition Red Bulls for Sports Managing Editor Jake Lancer ’24 or Go-Gurts for Presentation Managing Editor Tate Sheehy ’24.

5. Start putting issues of The Chronicle into backpacks without permission. Our current system of leaving copies on tables on the Quad is not working. True journalists don’t take no for an answer.

6. No more Olivia Rodrigo in the sports room. We will strictly play Drake or watch sports on YouTube. We need to conserve the fraternity that used to be the Sports section. Lancer deserves it.

7. Secede from HW Media. Yearbook kids are too nice. They even taught us how to use a camera for the photo on this page. A real Chronicle kid would ask to see your camera and smash it on the ground, just like former Presentation Managing Editor Leo Saperstein ’23 allegedly did to the laptop of Opinion Editor Jackson Tanner ’24.

We know what you did, Saperstein. We hope these new policies are taken seriously, even though the Satire section isn’t.

Chili Cook-Off survival guide

By Sienna Dall’olmo and Yuna Jeon

The Malibu Chili Cook-Off: a wondrous celebration of being coastal elites and having the opportunity to bump shoulders with Lele Pons and James Charles at our quaint county fair. The whole event is just proof that we truly are better than Northern California. If you’re confused, the Cook-Off is basically a national holiday... for middle schoolers in the greater Los Angeles (LA) area, that is. The best thing about the Cook-Off though is being able to eat a warm bowl of vegan, dairy-free, farm-raised, Goop-approved, Mal ibu chili, then subse quently go on the up side-down roller coaster with your ultimate crush. Cutest. Date. Ever. Despite the glorious tradition that is the Chili CookOff, there is a 104% chance that you will leave looking and feeling like a Chronicle junior who just

finished Saturday layout. Lucky for you, we are here to show that you weren’t the only one, so here’s a list of the unavoidable effects of going to the Cook-Off.

1. The Unpredict able and Outfit-Ru ining Weather: what a wonderful time to throw an outdoor event! No one knows what direc tion climate change will take us this time so have that fight with your par ents about bringing a jacket “just in case.” You’ll be taking a risk no matter what: ruin your outfit or risk freezing at the top of the Drop Tower. Either way, you’ll come back to a room that looks like it was just hit by a Category

2. The Never-Ending Wait Times: what better use of your weekly allowance than to spend

$40 on tickets for rides that you will never get to go on? It’s seriously reminiscent of the line outside of Taper to get tickets for the Sierra Canyon basketball game. But who doesn’t love the excitement of the unknown? Will you spend the entirety of your night in line? Who knows!

The Carnival Food and Rides-Induced Nausea: the Cook-Off offers the best combination of food and activities possible. Devour a funnel cake in line for the flying swings and wait for the amazing feeling of queasiness to hit you without warning.

4. Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Rush Hour: your parents will surely greet you with smiling faces after having driven three hours in PCH traffic to pick you up. Enjoy spending the next hours trapped in the car hearing that it is way past their bedtime!

BATTLE-TESTED JOURNALISTS: Print Managing and Satire Editors Jade Harris ’24 and Davis Marks ’24 pose as Editors-in-Chief Averie Perrin ’24 and Ella Yadegar ’24 with Yadegar’s signature Madhappy sweatshirt.

Fantasy Frenzy

By Justin Tang

After several weeks of waiting, it was finally draft day for Wilson Federman ’24 and 11 of his friends. Wilson Federman calmly took a seat at the table, already knowing which players he wanted on his team; the only thing left to do was draft. Wilson Federman said competing in a fantasy league with his friends and family allows him to connect with the game of football in a special way.

“I’ve been playing [fantasy football] since seventh grade, mainly with my friends,” Wilson Federman said. “I also have a family league that I’ve been doing for a while, which is really fun. I’d say the reason why I keep playing each year is because [fantasy football] brings us together over our shared love of the sport. It’s also really fun to compete against your friends.”

Fantasy football is a virtual game in which players select real National Football League (NFL) athletes for their team to compete against others in the league. Athletes earn a certain amount of points depending on live-time NFL performances. The fantasy team that earns more points based on the NFL results that week wins the matchup. After 14 weeks of regular season play, the top teams compete in the playoffs.

Wilson Federman said his preparation prior to the fantasy draft was crucial in building a successful team.

“I spent around two weeks

doing research for the draft,” Wilson Federman said. “I did a lot of mock drafts on fantasy, and I had a lot of preparation because this is our biggest buyin out of all the leagues we’ve had so far.”

Although there are three types of drafts — auction, standard and offline — the most common is standard, also known as a snake draft. In standard drafts, the order of picking athletes among participants is reversed each round until all rosters are filled. Asher Engelberg ’24 said knowing when to pick certain players is critical when drafting.

“I like to go with a solid base of wide receivers and running backs to start my team because those are the most valuable,” Engelberg said. “In my opinion, a quarterback you can pick up off of waivers and gain points on any given week, but the wide receivers and the running backs are the ones that really produce points for you every week.”

Micah Parr ’25 said knowing which players have the most potential to earn points is crucial to a team’s success.

“You have to be smart enough to know which players that are typically drafted early that will probably not do well,” Parr said. “If you look at whether they get a ton of points or no points, Evan Ingram is a good example because he’s technically the number five tight end in fantasy points. [If a bad player] gets 20 or 30 points one week, then they’ll get like five

points in the next two or three weeks. It’s about knowing how consistent they are by knowing how many points they get [and] the difference between popular players and good players.”

A fantasy league is typically made up of 10 to 12 players, although sizes can vary. JT Federman ’24 said having a large number of participants in a league can make fantasy football more competitive.

“Every league I’ve played in has been either a 12, 10 or sixperson league,” JT Federman said. “12-person leagues are the most serious, as those have been with my [school] friends where we each pay a certain amount of money before the season, and the top three players receive that money at the end of the season. We also decide a punishment for last place which is a big incentive for everybody to take the league seriously.”

In a fantasy league, participants compete against one another weekly, mirroring the NFL’s weekly schedule. JT Federman said he is excited about his team this year despite the other strong players he will have to face during the season.

“I’m pretty confident going into week one this year, but there is so much unpredictability and luck that goes into a successful team,” JT Federman said. “Most of my friends drafted some solid teams too, so it’s definitely going to be a fun season.”

Punishments are also a tradition of many fantasy leagues, typically given to the players who finish last. Some common punishments include body waxing, taking the SAT and getting a tattoo. JT Federman said he

hopes his league will follow through with the punishment decided on for this year.

“In past years, my leagues haven’t followed through on completing our league punishment which isn’t really cool, but we’ve made sure to agree on punishments this year,” JT Federman said. “My favorite punishment we’ve done is that the loser must stay in IHOP for 24 hours straight, and with every pancake they eat, two hours are subtracted off the total 24 hours they need to stay there.”

During the 2022-2023 school year, Gus Mingst ’23 served his league’s punishment by running a mile while drinking a glass of milk after every lap in front of the school community. Engelberg said having an extreme punishment can make fantasy leagues more enjoyable.

form of punishment we’re going for,” Wilson Federman said. “Another idea of ours was having the loser play an instrument of their choice in public, and having to get a certain number of tips until they could stop.”

Although some fantasy football leagues enjoy the aspect of punishments, others decide not to have them at all.

“My favorite one we’ve done is that the loser must stay in IHOP for 24 hours straight, and with every pancake they eat, two hours are subtracted off the total 24 hours they need to stay there.”

—JT Federman ’24

John McNitt ’25 said having a punishment can take away the aspect of winning.

“There are no punishments in our league,” McNitt said. “I think [they] make [leagues] worse because they don’t incentivize finishing first, just not last.”

Alexander Hudlin ’26 said although fantasy football can be competitive at times, it is still generally a light-hearted and fun activity.

“The milk mile was really fun to watch,” Engelberg said. “I’m pretty confident that I’m not going to lose. I say the punishment should be as severe as it can be because it makes things interesting come playoffs.”

Wilson Federman said having the loser complete the punishment in public is most optimal.

“The public humiliation part is definitely one of the key aspects of the punishment, and some public humiliation at school is definitely the ultimate

“Sometimes someone will talk trash or send you a bad trade, but it’s all good fun and it’s not an actual competition.” Hudlin said.

Hudlin said playing in a fantasy league with his friends naturally brings him closer to the game of football.

“You have to watch a lot of football to know which players are good and bad,” Hudlin said. “Being in a fantasy league kind of forces you to get closer with those people in your league and watch football more.”

L. Wood Asher Engelberg ’24

Football 2-2 after week four

By Casey Reims

The football team defeated South Torrance High School 28-21 on Sept. 8th. This win came following a critical loss in their previous game against Canyon Country.

The team entered the game with a different offensive approach, choosing to start Captain Aidan Greenfield ’24 instead of Aaryan Medhi Williams ’27. Greenfield spent his previous season as the team’s leading wide receiver. Greenfield said he focused on getting the team going and having fun in the game.

“I felt like our team clicked [in] both our scheme and energy,” Greenfield said. “It felt incredible being out there, putting up points and having a good time doing it. I just told myself to have fun and be athletic, and that carried throughout the entire offense.”

Wide receiver Connor Bunnak ’24 caught three passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. With Greenfield shifting to quarterback, Bunnak noticed more attention on him from both sides of the ball. He said that the offensive transition was able to go

smoothly this week due to his chemistry with Greenfield and his coaches.

“I’ve been playing alongside [Greenfield] since we were in seventh grade, so we have developed a consistent and reliable connection,” Bunnak said. “I know that he has faith in me, and he knows that I have faith in him. Coach Williams has [also] shown a lot of trust in me to get me the ball and allow me to make an impact in the game,

but in the end, all I want to do is go out there and win, and I’ll play any role if it helps us achieve that.”

Samuel Christopher ’24 continued to produce, rushing 19 times for 141 yards and a touchdown. He led the team in all-purpose yards, while also securing seven tackles on defense. The Wolverines will need him to remain effective on both offense and defense.

Captain Bill Coleman ’24 said

HW Athletics introduces new student-run social media team

By Karsten Cole and Nathan Wang

Harvard-Westlake Athletics

created the Student Social Media Team to give students experience creating and posting content for the school teams’ social media accounts. Sophomores, juniors and seniors are able to join the team and earn physical education (P.E.) credit for their participation.

Prior to the creation of the team, Athletic Director Jason Kelly was in charge of manag-

ing all of the school’s athletic social media accounts. The accounts relied on coaches to pass information regarding their players and game scores. The creation of the new Student Social Media Team shifts the focus, putting students in charge of controlling the social media accounts and determining the content that is produced.

Kelly said the previous content creation process was difficult and inefficient given the large number of sports that the school supports.

“It becomes difficult for me on a game day to be able to manage all of the accounts and give as many of our teams dayto-day coverage,” Kelly said. “In the past, I’ve relied on fellow athletic directors to be at games running the HW [school] athletics app [and to tweet] for me. I’ve relied on coaches getting information to me, but it is not always reliable in terms of how quickly that [information] gets to me.”

Kelly said his main goal with the new team is to bridge the

the defense was fundamental in supporting the team as the offense familiarized itself with its new approach.

“The defense had to do our part in keeping us in the game,” Coleman said. “We understood that the offense might be a little slow to start the game and that mistakes would happen. We knew that it would be our job to pick the offense up after inevitable mistakes. We had that approach coming into the

game, and it gave us motivation. We felt like we had to be that safety net for the team to fall back on.”

The defense held onto a tight, one possession win for the Wolverines. Aaron Milburn ’24 led the defense with ten total tackles, while Michael Schneider ’24 and Matteo Arroyo ’25 both tallied a sack. Kurtis Walters ’27 came up with an interception.

The squad will face the Northview Vikings on Sept. 22.

Having young people who consume social media making decisions, helping design and create calendars and giving us ideas of where we should go is the next important thing to do.”

— Athletic Director Jason Kelly

gap between himself and more media-oriented students, combining visual aesthetics with efficient content creation.

“I’m a 52-year-old man trying to be relevant in a young person’s space,” Kelly said.

“Having young people who consume social media making

decisions, helping design and create calendars and giving us ideas of where we should go next is an important thing to do. It’s better to have younger people as your mentors because they just know what’s fresh, and they know what’s exciting.”

Freshman leads field hockey team

By Lyla Kavanagh and Ellika Lesage

During the 2021-22 school year, girls’ field hockey forward Valentina Ganocy ’27 broke her arm twice, requiring multiple surgeries in the span of six months. Two years later, at only fourteen-years-old, Ganocy was selected to play in the 2023 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympics with athletes from across the country.

Ganocy said while at the Junior Olympics, she noticed that players from various parts of the U.S. play differently.

“It was so much fun,” Ganocy said. “The level was super high, and it was crazy to see how different places across the country play. I feel like [east coast players] all pass a lot more. The pace of the game is so much faster.”

Field Hockey Program Head Sue Hodgkins said she was happy to see Ganocy bounce back from

her injury.

“After missing a year, I was so happy for her when she made it to the Nexus National Championship, the AAU Junior Olympic Games and was selected for the U-16 Junior Women’s National Team Selection Camp and the National Field Hockey Coaches Association High School Watchlist.”

Ganocy is one of four freshmen on varsity. Although she is one of the youngest players on the team, Ganocy has scored ten goals so far this season.

Ganocy grew up watching her sisters Ella and Bella Ganocy ’22 play and said she aims to surpass the high standard her sisters set.

“I think I was eight when I started playing, [at the time] when my sisters had just started playing,” Valentina Ganocy said.

“[They have] high standards so I try to reach them…but I also try to surpass their standards.”

Even in her early years as a player, Assistant Varsity Coach Giles Andrews said she was constantly playing older and more experienced players. Andrews said Valentina Ganocy’s confidence and ambition has helped her quickly advance her game.

“I first knew Val as a player up in Moorpark playing club hockey; she was young, maybe 10 or 11, and already holding her own against youth player[s] much older than herself,” Andrews said.

“This self-confidence and desire to always play to a higher level than her current age or ability has helped her progress quickly as a player, and she will continue to do so as she plays this season as a freshman on varsity.”

STICK IT TO THEM: Freshman Val Ganocy ’27 dribbles the ball up the field with her stick. Ganocy scored four goals in the team’s last game.

SECRET WEAPON: Quarterback Aidan Greenfield ’24 rushes through the South High School defensive line, picking up yards on one of the team’s four sccoring drives. Greenfield replaced Aaryan Mehdi Williams ’27 as the starting quarterback in the team’s fourth game of the year.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF DARLENE BIBLE

Valentina Ganocy ’27

ON THE OFFENSIVE: Attacker Alex Heenan ’24 works a one-man zone with Center Otto Stothart ’25 in a semifinal game against Newport Harbor High School in the annual South Coast Tournament. Following a 12-9 win against Newport, the team lost 14-7 to JSerra Catholic High School in the finals.

Boys’ water polo places second in tournament

By Justin Tang

The varsity boys’ water polo team earned second place in the South Coast Tournament hosted by Newport Harbor High School Sept. 14-17. The team defeated Newport Harbor High School 12-9 in the semifinals and lost to JSerra Catholic High School 14-7 in the finals. The team moves to an overall record of 7-3 with a league record of 4-0.

Water Polo Program Head Jack Grover said the team’s defensive coordination was excellent against Newport Harbor.

“If you watch the Newport game, especially in the first quarter, our defenses were so

Girls’ golf competes in Arizona

By Hailey Cho

In the Arizona sun, the girl’s golf team prepared for their match by practicing their strokes on the greens. For their first match of the year, the team participated in the Brophy Rodeo tournament Aug. 24 to 26. The games took place at Greyhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, the site of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships.

A week before the official start of the season, Head Coach Branden Augustus organized a bonding day for the team at Sandpiper Golf Club in Santa Barbara. The team played 18 holes, and welcomed Hannah Biggins ’25 to the team, who was formerly on junior varsity. Biggins said she enjoyed meeting her new teammates.

“The bonding trip at Sandpiper was so much fun,” Biggins said. The course had the most amazing views and it was fun to play in the electric carts.

well organized and ran,” Grover said. “The communication was great, people were arriving to balls, stair-stepping to players, and that extra effort was really made in that game to make [Newport Harbor] have to think and make decisions. The way that we moved on the perimeter on offense against Newport was excellent.”

Grover said staying controlled while maintaining intensity was a challenge against JSerra.

“If you’re not playing clean or controlled, but still energetic at the same time, it’s really hard to beat [JSerra],” Grover said. “The word I like to use is ‘composed’ because you don’t want to play relaxed against

a team like [JSerra]. We want to play with composed energy where the energy is still there.”

Grover said the team is moving in a positive direction despite not winning the tournament.

“Our improvement as a team isn’t perfectly linear,” Grover said. “It isn’t a straight line. Sometimes you take four steps forward and one step back. Our overall trajectory from the entire tournament was very far forward.”

Collin Caras ’25 said the success of the team depends on contributions from every player on the roster.

“We’ve discussed how [any person] on the team is just as important as [the next],” Caras

said. “For example, bench players need to be doing their role, but that role is just as important for people in the pool. If we work together in unison, we’ll be unstoppable. Our strength is in the depth of our team, and opposing teams will be tired by the amount of players that we have that can go in and bring energy.”

Caras said having consistency in practice is crucial, especially during the midst of season.

“We need to be winning each individual training every single day,” Caras said. “Every training is just as important as another training. We can’t have bad days and we need to have good days consistently if we want to be the best.”

It was great to see my junior varsity team members join us after a long summer and I’m looking forward to more outings like this in the future.”

Biggins said she was eager to contribute to the team for her first match on varsity.

“The Arizona trip was a great experience,” Biggins said. “It was a challenging course and hot there, but I made it through the round with the help and encouragement of our coaches and team.”

The tournament totaled 150 points, and Kaydence Kim ’25 was the top finisher, placing 17th overall. Madi Ushiba ’24 finished in the top 25 out of the 100 players. • Continued on hwchronicle.com

Girls’

tennis gears up for start of league play

By Eden Conner

Last season, the girls’ tennis team went 15-3 overall and 7-1 in the Mission League with a trip to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) semifinal. They started their 2023-2024 season 2-2 with a 13-5 win against Brentwood Aug. 28 and 14-4 win at Calabasas Sept. 12.

Girls Tennis Program Head Jelena Durisic is entering her seventh year coaching at the school. Durisic said she is happy about the team’s offseason work and is looking forward to this year.

“This season is a brand new one with many new players coming in,” Durisic said. “I like how the returning players have welcomed them and are focusing on having a great team dynamic. A lot of them put in hard work in the off-season and improved.”

In the team’s loss to Mater Dei on Aug. 29, Sunny Lu ’25 beat two of their top three players. The team swept singles in the Calabasas match, going 9-0 with wins from Emily Stutsman ’26, Joya Roy ’26 and Alli Firtel ’27. As six of the 15 Varsity players are underclassmen, Mimi Rhee ’25 said she

hopes to have a strong relationship with her younger teammates.

“I see a whole shift in perspective because there’s a lot of underclassmen this year,” Rhee said. “I feel like I have to guide them more and hope to be just like the seniors who took me under their wings when I joined.”

Aryadini Diggavi ’25 joined the varsity squad this year as a junior. Diggavi said she is looking forward to the doubles team groupings this year which need to be carefully decided.

“You have to know each other and both of your playing styles really well,” Diggavi said.

“Knowing what each other’s strengths [and] weaknesses [are] and being able to communicate really well is so important. You can’t be scared to give your partner constructive criticism.”

Heading into the season, some upperclassmen are focused on recruitment to play at the collegiate level. Lu said it is crucial this season for her to improve her game and ensure that she is heading into it with a new perspective on what needs her focus.

“I feel like I used to only focus on trying to improve my

weaknesses and forgot about maintaining or even improving my strengths,” Lu said. “My goal is to focus on improv-

ing my strengths that will allow me to dictate on the court.”

The team will begin league play the week of Sept. 18.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF DAVE TOULOUMIAN

DOUBLE TROUBLE: McKenzie Henry ’27 and Mimi Rhee ’25 discuss strategy in between sets against Westlake High School on Sept. 13.

WOLVERINESONLY

BY

LILY STAMBOULI

Istarted playing field hockey in seventh grade. As a forward, I was mostly known for my unruly and somewhat dangerous style of play. If anyone got near me, my instinct was immediately to get the ball out of their possession, even if it meant illegally whacking their stick (or sometimes them). This rambunctiousness carried over into practice, where I once lifted the ball 20 feet in the air and inches away from Megan Kim ’24’s head. Despite not being the best or safest player, I absolutely loved field hockey; however, I was left behind as my teammates started getting more skillful and competitive. I was decent for a seventhgrade player, but once I hit ninth grade, my middle school skills didn't help all that much. When COVID-19 hit, field hockey became one big varsity team. I quickly became a consistent benchwarmer and felt pretty bad about my skills compared to the Divison 1 athletes I was playing with. I quickly grew self-conscious over how I played and started to hate going to practice. That summer, one day when I was ditching practice, I got a call from Nyla Shelton ’24. She informed me that the goalie had quit and one was needed for the upcoming game against Huntington Beach. Positive that I was not making it onto junior varsity otherwise, I agreed.

For those who don't know, the goalie is at all times equipped with kickers, leg guards, arm guards, body armor, hand protectors, a helmet, a stick and my personal favorite, a jockstrap. The first time I had ever put on this gear was on

the day of our game against [Huntington Beach High School]. I had to ask the other team's coach for assistance in tightening my helmet because it kept going over my eyes. Rather than looking intimidating as goalies are supposed to, my bright blue jersey made me look like a smurf. During warmups, I was running around like a headless chicken, unsure of anything I was doing. Then, after 20 minutes of practicing goalie, my first game began against one of the best teams we would play against the whole season. I wish this could have been a hype story about how I saved 50 goals, did dives and made crazy saves, but alas, we lost 7-0. Even though I was sure I was about to get pummelled by field hockey balls or maybe even get stoned with tiny rocks by my teammates, they all congratulated me on the game. Their support made me decide that I wanted to stick with being a goalie.

From then on, I gave field hockey my all. I genuinely enjoyed going to practice and playing on junior varsity with all my friends. We had a great season, and I went with varsity as a substitute goalie to the finals, where they won the Los Angeles Field Hockey Association (LAFHA) championship. Even though I went back to my roots as a benchwarmer, their victory inspired me to keep playing to hopefully one day get to where they were.

In eleventh grade, however, I had difficulty finding the joy that field hockey once gave me. After a rough season as a (#certified) junior

on junior varsity, I felt really discouraged and out of place. In January, I dislocated my elbow doing an insane ski trick (I couldn't correctly pizza-french fry on the bunny slopes, so I wiped out) right before our training season started. I would still attend practice but often thought about quitting because of how unhappy it made me. I talked with my coach about my feelings, and she convinced me to stay. At the time, I was definitely hesitant, but I can safely say that it was the best decisions I have ever made.

During this year's season, I am focusing on becoming the best goalie that I can be, since I am now the official varsity goalie and don't want to let my team down. I was chosen to be one of the team captains alongside Claire Park ’24, and I am convinced I am the most unathletic captain of any Harvard-Westlake varsity team of all time. I still refuse to run more than two laps around the track unless a bear is chasing me.

My first away game as captain and varsity goalie was against [Huntington Beach High School]. Going back there gave me intense déjà vu, and I was terrified to see the number seven on that scoreboard for a second time. To my utter surprise, we won the game 2-0. Our victory was such a full-circle moment for me. All I could think about was how it was the very first place I had put on my gear and had been a goalie, and now I was back here as varsity captain, beating the very team that had once crushed me 7-0.