November 2017 Issue by The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

CHRONICLE THE HARVARD-WESTLAKE

Los Angeles • Volume 27 • Issue 3 • Nov. 15, 2017 • hwchronicle.com

Field hockey claims title By LUCAS GELFOND

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY EMORY KIM/CHRONICLE

COURSE OF ACTION: Weddington Golf & Tennis is located less than a mile from the Upper School and includes tennis courts, a driving range and a golf course. The school announced plans to develop the 16-acre property into a Community Athletics Center.

School buys Weddington

By DANIELLE SPITZ After years of attempting to expand athletic facilities, the school put plans for a new parking structure on hold and entered an agreement to purchase Weddington Golf & Tennis with intentions to build a Community Athletics Center, President Rick Commons announced in an email to the school community Oct. 30. Chairman of the Board of Trustees Philip Holthouse said he is unwilling to disclose the sale price of the property before escrow closes and Commons said the purchase price must remain confidential until it is made public knowledge.

The 16-acre property is located less than a mile from the upper school campus between Whitsett Avenue and the LA River. It currently includes a driving range, nine-hole golf course and 16 tennis courts. The new athletics center will be open to students and the greater Studio City community. “It has the possibility to be a win for our immediate neighbors, a win for Studio City and a win for HarvardWestlake,” Commons said. When school initially purchased the property that became the upper school campus in 1937, plans included land that extended further down Coldwater Canyon and toward Ventura Boulevard,

Commons said. Because one field is not enough.” the school did not have the The design process for proper funds to purchase the the athletic facilities, which property at the time, Com- Commons estimated to take mons said there up to two years, has have always been not yet started. He intentions to acsaid he looks forward quire more land. to hearing from stuPrevious President dents and neighbors Tom Hudnut told about their ideas for Commons that the the new athletic faschool has been trycilities. ing to acquire the Commons said Weddington propthe purchase will erty since 1989. help the school’s ’ “I think of this mission of trying to Rick as a purchase 80 achieve balance in Commons years later to rectify students’ lives. the situation that “We are literally we should have had long able to buy time by making ago, which is fields adjacent this purchase because we to campus,” Commons said. can enable students to “The school has long felt that • Continued on A3 for a school of 865 students, WHITE S

Conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt discusses book, ‘The Happiest Life’ By JOSIE ABUGOV

has an estimated weekly audience of around two million, Conservative radio talk according to his website hughshow host Hugh Hewitt shared hewitt.com. “I would advise you all the keys to ﬁnding happiness as outlined in his book, “The to go and start asking questions,” Hewitt Happiest Life” said in his asin an all-school sembly speech. assembly Nov. I believe it’s the “It’s going to 6. greatest necessity to be an essential A lawyer, ingredient to a author, Chaprecognize humanity happy life—to man University opposite you on be able to enlaw professor gage with and political issues.” and Emmy ﬁnd out what award-winning —Hugh Hewitt you have in broadcast journalist, Hewitt Conservative Pundit common with someone.” appears reguIn referenclarly on CNN, Fox News Network and MSN- ing his book, he discussed the BC. His radio show on MSN- seven “ingredients” of a happy BC, “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” life: encouragement, enthusi-

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asm, energy, empathy, generosity, graciousness and gratitude. He talked about his best friend, son’s godfather and college roommate Mark Gearan, who was also Bill Clinton’s campaign chief of staff. Hewitt also emphasized the importance of forming human connections despite differing political opinions. “He’s been wrong since the day he was born, but I love him and I trust him with my family,” Hewitt said. “I believe it’s the greatest necessity to recognize humanity opposite you on political issues. You have to absolutely go out of your way and have decency and collegiality with people with whom you have no common ground with politically.”

Students had the opportunity to ask questions following his speech. In response to a student question about public protest, Hewitt said he does not support athletes, such as those in the NFL kneeling for the national anthem. “I draw the line at the national anthem,” Hewitt said. “I do not believe people should kneel during the national anthem because there are men and women [ﬁghting for our country] who are in harm’s way and I know a lot of them who were killed. I do not believe the athletes fully comprehend how deeply upsetting it • Continued on A2

As the clock ran out and the scoreboard read 3-1, excitement ran through the crowd and team. Months of hard work, lifting, practices and 20 games ended up in a perfect season. The field hockey team won the LAFHA title and finished its first undefeated season ever, 20-0. After getting their medals, the players ran together to embrace and celebrate. “H-dub you know!” the team chanted, jumping up and down in a rowdy huddle. This was the close of a perfect season. The win capped a season Head Coach Erin Creznic said she knew would be one of their strongest. “As I had told people last year, I was pretty certain this was the year to do it and win everything, but even I couldn’t have predicted the 20-0 and winning every single game,” Creznic said. “Our whole team was so deep, so many good players starting with a strong senior class all the way down to our new freshmen on the team. They’re just so strong.” The team was led by key players such as captain Erin Lee ’18, who won MVP of the Northern Section of the Sunset League last year, and Chronicle staff writer and center midfielder Rachel Brown ’20, who was named all-league MVP for the season. Left forward Nicole Bahar ’18 praised Brown’s ability. “[Brown] is the most phenomenal field hockey player I’ve ever seen in my entire life at the high school level,” Bahar said. “She plays at a college level. She already steps up.” Bahar also highlighted Chronicle Executive Editor • Continued on D2

INSIDE

TIME WELL-SPENT: Students discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the school’s competitive environment.

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A2 NEWS

THE CHRONICLE

NOV. 15, 2017

Hewitt promotes openmindedness • Continued from A1

“It actually would have been much more beneﬁcial for is to military families what Hewitt to talk about politics they’re doing.” because he is a really good exAfter the event, students ample of a conservative who is voiced mixed reactions regard- just undeniably incredibly ining Hewitt’s speech. According formed,” Sophie Levy ’18 said. to a Chronicle poll of 265 stu- “He is incredibly experienced dents, 84 percent said Hewitt’s regarding politics and he’s not speech was not what they ex- part of some ridiculously expected. 56 percent said they tremist party. It would have learned something from the been a good chance for people assembly. to see more mainstream conPresident of the Harvard- servative opinions in politics. Westlake chapter of That opportunity was the Young Americas missed in favor of Foundation Natalie kind of vaguely tryWinters ’19, YAF vice ing to have more of a president Will Berpeaceful message.” lin ’19 and Amanda Director of StuChan ’19 introduced dent Affairs Jordan Hewitt before the Church, who is a event. Berlin said he member of the allappreciated that the school assembly speech was not exces’ speaker selection sively political. Sophie committee, said the “Concepts like Levy ’18 administration did happiness are more not tell Hewitt what applicable to the enhe couldn’t say, but rather tire school in terms of self-im- encouraged him to talk about provement,” Berlin said. “Not happiness. overly hitting you in the face “We did not tell Hugh politically is something that’s Hewitt what he couldn’t do,” really nice, especially when the Church said. “We told him [entire] community is forced to what we wanted him to do. We go.” didn’t say, ‘Don’t talk about 49 percent of 263 students politics.’ We said, ‘This is what who responded to the Chron- our community needs the icle poll think Hewitt should most. We like your happiness have discussed his political book and we want you to focus opinions more than he did. on happiness.’” WHITE S

Church said Hewitt’s message of happiness aimed to connect students. “In this political climate, with the negative media coverage that we have, how do you find happiness in that environment?” Church said. “He did focus on his happiness book and how to find happiness, and to me that’s important. He’s both in the political sphere and also in the media sphere and that echo chamber can bring sadness.” The assembly committee of eight faculty and staff members works to bring speakers who will share interesting stories and can connect with the student body, Church said. After receiving speaker proposals from members of the school community, the committee selects two speakers for each semester. Last spring, members of the school community proposed four speakers. The committee chose 2014 Los Angeles Poet Laureate, author and activist Luis Rodriguez and Hewitt as the first semester all-school assembly speakers. Following the selection process, the committee reaches out to the chosen speaker. “We’ll call them up and give them a little background on our school and what we’re like because we want them to have

Club partners with organization to empower, motivate young women BY ALEX GOLDSTEIN AND KAITLIN MUSANTE La Femme aimed to inspire women from schools across the city to find their voice through workshops, discussions and lectures at the first EMPOWER: Empowered Women Empower Others conference Saturday. The club partnered with Empower HerFuture, an organization that hopes to inspire women to speak up and feel more confident, to host the event. La Femme Vice-President Becca Frischling ’19 said that

the club decided to hold the conference because they felt that the community needed an event centered around the importance of young women. “I think [the conference] is important because we have to work to make sure that young women know what they are capable of,” Frischling said. “We think that it is important for people to hear inspiring stories from women of all backgrounds and in all ﬁelds.” Rudi Bakhtiar, a producer for Reuters in D.C. and a former CNN News Anchor, told the audience stories from her time reporting in war-torn

In the issue

News

countries including Iran and Syria. She elaborated on her time in Syria, where Free Syrian Army members escorted her into cities that had been destroyed. “As a result of going [into Syria], I witnessed some of the greatest horrors and tragedies of our decade, of our lives and probably of my life,” Bakhtiar said. “I had never witnessed destruction like that in my entire life.” Bakhtiar also left the audience with lessons that she has learned throughout her life. “Find your passion,” Bakhtiar said. “Really look for

PAVAN TAUH/CHRONICLE

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: The radio talk show host spoke to students and faculty about happiness and ways to attain it. context,” Church said. “Ultimately, what’s big for me is helping them try to ﬁnd a universal message that anyone in the audience can connect to.” Church said the administration endeavors to support students’ differing opinions while also upholding the school values of inclusion. Hewitt said silencing certain voices is a signiﬁcant problem, especially in educational institutions. “All universities, colleges and schools ought to be inviting all different points of views so that students hear the full spectrum of ideas and can decide for themselves,” Hewitt said.

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We have to work to make sure that young women know what they are capable of. We think that it is important for people to hear inspiring stories from women of all backgrounds and fields. ” —Becca Frischling ’19 WHITE’S

it. Don’t be afraid of it, don’t be afraid of anything anymore. Go look, see what makes your heart explode and attack it with all that you got, ﬁnd your passion, don’t just take pride in your job, you don’t have to, you can do anything you want. The second thing is, don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do whatever you want to do. Make sure you laugh at people who tell you you can’t do something. Just look at them and laugh and make sure you

Features BINARY AND NONBINARY: Students and faculty talk about changes needed to make the school community more gender inclusive and reﬂect on the experience of transgender people on campus. B8

I’M NUTS ABOUT YOU: Sophomore ro-

botics team 62K places ﬁrst in the Conquer the Zone competition, qualifying them for the California State Championship. A6

Print Managing Editor discusses the stigma around being an introvert in a extrovertdominated world. A11

• Continued on A4

STIRRING THINGS UP: MasterChef Junior contestant Berry Nakash ’20 talks about her inspirations, motivations and process for becoming a chef. C4

tion warns about the symptoms of pertussis, also known as “whooping cough.” At least one student has been diagnosed. A5

INS AND OUTS OF AN INTROVERT:

prove them wrong, ” Bakhtiar said. Dr. Bow Barris, who specializes in anesthesiology, is another woman who overcame people’s expectations. She spoke about her experience as an African-American woman in the medical ﬁeld and how she has learned to balance her family and career. “You are always trying to prove yourself,” Barris said.

Arts & Entertainment

PERSISTENT PERTUSSIS: Administra-

Opinion

Levy said she is in favor of a future conservative speaker more directly discussing politics as long as that doesn’t include expressing hateful views. “As far as conservative speakers coming on campus, I don’t mind one coming at all,” Levy said. “And I guess this could apply to the far far left, to be fair, but at the same time, it’s just undeniable that the main voice of bigotry in the US right now is on the right. It’s good to have a conservative speaker on campus provided that line of bigotry is not crossed.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KRISTEN KUWADA AND KATE SCHRAGE

WHERE IS THE LOVE?: Students share their experiences engaging in casual romantic relationships, a common trend in today’s high school “hookup” culture. Girls and boys reﬂect on the different pressures they face. B1

THE CHRONICLE, the student newspaper of Harvard-Westlake School, is published eight times per year and distributed free on both the upper and middle school campuses. There are 727 students at the Middle School and 873 students at the Upper School. Subscriptions may be purchased for $20 a year for delivery by mail. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the seniors on the Editorial Board. Letters

Sports

A WEDDING(TON) UNION: Athletes react to the recent purchase of Weddington Golf and Tennis. Many athletes had pushed for more practice space. D1

to the editor 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 for space and to conform to Chronicle style and format. Advertising questions may be directed to Jiwon Park at jpark3@hwemail.com. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or the school.

NOV. 15, 2017

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NEWS A3

Debate team gets most bids

BY SOPHIE HABER

The debate team is leading the nation with 19 bids to the Tournament of Champions. Jaya Nayar ’20, Spencer Paul ’19, Lauren Morganbesser ’19, Jake Davidson ’19, Chronicle assistant opinion editor Vishan Chaudary ’19, Chronicle freelancer Indu Pandey ’18 and Chronicle staff writer Alexandra Mork ’20 each received the two bids necessary to qualify for the tournament, which will be held April 28-30 in Lexington, Kentucky. At the Damus Hollywood Invitational, the most recent tournament hosted at Harvard-Westlake, Nayar, Mork and Andrew Gong ’21 received bids. Mork won the entire tournament. “Our team has been working really hard all year, so I was very excited that Damus was such a successful tournament for me and my teammates,” Mork said Morganbesser said she found out she qualiﬁed while at dinner with her teammates. There, she saw the bracket showing she would debate Samantha McLaughlin ’21 in the next round. At a tournament, two students from the same school cannot debate each other.

SOPHIE HABER /CHRONICLE

MAKE YOUR BID: Chronicle staff writer Alexandra Mork ’20 gives a rebuttal speech during a practice debate round. Mork received two bids, one at the Meadows Tournament in Las Vegas and one at the Damus Tournament which is held at the Upper School. If a student does have to debate someone from the same school, the person with higher seeding in preliminary rounds advances in what is called a walk over. If this happens in a bid round, then both debaters get a bid, meaning Morganbesser received her second bid of the season and McLaughlin her ﬁrst. “We both jumped up and hugged each other.” Morgan-

besser said. “We were just super happy, and the whole team was so supportive. I’ve been debating since eighth grade, and what we’re working for the whole time is qualifying, so to hear that I had qualiﬁed was the best feeling.” Nayar said that after she qualiﬁed, she felt relieved because she could focus on the debate rather than getting a bid for the TOC.

“That’s part of the reason why I feel like I’ve been doing so much better,” Nayar said. “Because I don’t have that same nervous feeling that I really need to get a bid to the TOC.” Because Paul got to the octoﬁnals of the tournament last year, he automatically qualiﬁed for this year’s TOC. “This year my expectations have changed going into

it,” Paul said. “Last year I had no pressure going in because I didn’t expect myself to do that well but this year, being more experienced, I have been working really hard to perform well.” In addition to those who have already qualiﬁed, the team is now working to obtain more bids in the coming months, speciﬁcally for younger debaters.

School hosts Pollyanna Conference

BY VALERIE VELAZQUEZ

KAITLIN MUSANTE/CHRONICLE

DEEP DEI DISCUSSIONS: Josephine Amakye ’21, Diana Castellanos ’20 and Daniel Varela ’18 chat at the Pollyanna Conference.

The Middle School hosted the inaugural Pollyanna Conference, which aims to start conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion within local schools through workshops and discussions, on Saturday. This year’s conference focused on race, privilege and community building. “I deﬁnitely think it’s a step in the right direction because it gives us the opportunity to come together and talk together, and to see that any kind of challenges that we have in our school, other schools also have those challenges,” Spanish

School to build Community Athletics Center • Continued from A1

have far less travel time to their practices and games,” Commons said. “Kids could perhaps have eighth period classes where they haven’t been able to because they’ve needed to go to the softball ﬁeld. Or they could get home in time for dinner with their families.” Before Harvard-Westlake started negotiations to purchase the land, owners of the Weddington property were in the process of building apartments to replace the current green space, owner Matt Becker said. But after the school approached the owners to begin

negotiations, Becker said the owners were excited to move forward with Harvard-Westlake and their plans to preserve the property. “We couldn’t have found a better partner to purchase the property,” Becker said. “It will serve the community in the best possible way. To have an open space with athletic ﬁelds and recreational space for the community is the most important thing.” The open layout and ﬂat landscape of the new property allows for more building opportunities than are available at the Upper School, Holthouse said. “Right now we’ve got this big piece of land and we can really start imagining what we

might be able to do with it over a period of time,” Holthouse said. “I can’t say the opportunities are endless, but they’re deﬁnitely vast.” Harvard-Westlake will re-evaluate the current plans for the Parking, Safety & Athletic Improvement Project and explore parking alternatives after receiving complaints from neighbors. New ideas include increasing parking on campus to replace plans to add a structure on the west side of Coldwater Canyon, which would require a retaining wall and a bridge to connect the structure to the campus, Commons said. Commons said the athletics center will also ease neighbors’ concerns about an

teacher and attendee Veronica Cherry said. Keynote speaker Tricia Rose, Professor of Africana Studies and Director of the Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University, discussed the importance of diversity in school environments. Each participating school came in PODS, which included administrators, alums, current students and other members of the school community. After meeting in groups to discuss problems concerning race, gender and diversity, students shared their ideas for solutions to the conference audience.

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Within the POD speeches, students identified steps to take action by brainstorming ideas as group. They collaborated on a final action plan by finding the overlap and common themes within the individual ideas. Students also shared their experiences in a panel setting before attending breakout sessions. “I think it makes all the adults in the room even more inspired to help out, and it’s a great space for the kids,” upper school dean Chris Jones said. The evening concluded with a wine and cheese reception for adults.

We are literally able to buy time by making this purchase because we can enable students to have far less travel time to their practices and games.” —Rick Commons President

increase in trafﬁc because the new space will alleviate trafﬁc congestion around the upper school campus. He said he hopes to earn the neighbors’ trust and intends to make the development process transparent and thoughtful. LA City Council member Paul Krekorian, who represents the Studio City community, released a public statement following the school’s announcement.

WHITE’S

“I’m glad that Harvard-Westlake is shelving its plans to build a parking structure across the street from its Coldwater campus,” Krekorian said in his press release. “They deserve credit for listening to the serious concerns that the community and I raised about the project, and their announced agreement to purchase Weddington Golf & Tennis shows they are ready to move in another direction.”

NOV. 15, 2017

HWCHRONICLE.COM/NEWS

Alum’s website shut down

NEWS A4

By ANTHONY WEINRAUB

Julia Wick ’07, the theneditor-in-chief of local news website LAist, was finishing her lunch when she noticed an email from billionaire Joe Ricketts in her inbox. Ricketts, the owner of news website Gothamist, LAist’s sister site, was writing to tell her that she— and all of her colleagues—had been fired. At the same time, LAist staffers reloaded their website and found the same note. “It was really a shock,” Wick said in an interview with NPR. “I walked back into the room and I just started to cry and told them I was so sorry that I didn’t have any more information. I felt so terrible that I hadn’t at least been able to sit them down and give these incredibly hardworking, dedicated journalists at least the courtesy of telling them nicely they had lost their jobs.” A week before, writers at Gothamist and sister website DNAinfo voted to unionize. Ricketts’ letter was the response, claiming that the staff’s decision to unionize jeopardized the company’s finances. “Businesses need to be economically successful if they are to endure,” Ricketts’ letter said. “And while we made important progress toward building DNAinfo into a successful business, in the end, that progress hasn’t been sufficient to support the tremendous effort and expense needed to produce the type of journalism on which the company was founded.” Wick said she was ultimately concerned about the loss of a news source exclusively dedicated to local issues. “Some of the work we did might have seemed small, but the ‘small’ local stories we covered would often end up being part of larger patterns and louder stories—stories that our coverage helped build, and flesh out with context and nuance,” Wick wrote after her firing.

ALEX GOLDSTEIN /CHRONICLE

WARRIOR WOMEN: (Top left) Kate Von Mende ’18, Sohni Kaur ’17 and Shauna Altieri speak during a break. (Top right) Daria Arzy ’18 hugs speaker Dr. Bow Baris. (Bottom right) Attendees converse in between lectures. (Bottom left) Arzy asks Baris a question.

La Femme conference speakers ‘empower’ students to speak up and never back down I deserved to be in the ﬁeld.” The New York City’s Com“Even in college, people missioner for International would never exAffairs Penny pect me to be a AbeywardeI am a powerful good student. na said that No matter what surviving doperson and I [need to] stage you are at mestic viostand up for myself and lence inspired in your career, you notice and for other women.” her to speak feel like peofor women’s —Penny Abeywardena rights. ple’s expectation of you is that “I am a NYC Commissioner for powerful peryou may not be International Affairs son and I as prepared or stand up for smart or as willing to work hard as the person myself and for other women,” next to you. I had to prove that Abeywardena said. • Continued from A2

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First Coffeehouse Set List Singers • • • • • •

Imani Allen Natalie Kroh and Alec Davila Ari Yaron Caitlin Chung Luke Markinson Ben Pimstone and Charlotte Weinman

Musicians • • •

Lucas Lyons and Will Toth Gray Toomey and Ryan O’Donnell Sebastian Li

Comedian

•

Farid Adibi

Singer-musicians • • • •

Kate Konvitz and Jake Schroeder Holden McRae The Jack Riley Experience Ori Zur GRAPHIC BY SAM KO AND SOPHIE HABER

Ballerina and quantum physicist Merritt Moore spoke about how she connects her love of dance with her love of science. She said that although she has faced pressure to focus on one passion, she ﬁnds value in pursuing multiple ﬁelds. “In the dance world, it’s brutal,” Moore said. “There is a perfect ideal that everyone is supposed to be and they are going to make you feel really bad if you are not that ideal. And so for me, having the physics and the academics, I can be wandering into class,

so excited and appreciative to be in class, that any negative thoughts or vibes that I was feeling from directors would wash away.” Guests said they felt inspired by the day’s agenda. “I really liked the diversity within the speakers and I am glad that they had speakers from a lot of different backgrounds,” attendee Anita Anand ’19 said. “I thought that was really interesting because I feel like if you are talking about women’s rights and equality you have to talk about it from all angles.

Prefects host first Coffeehouse of year

By LUCAS GELFOND

Students sang, acted and told jokes in the ﬁrst Coffeehouse of the year Monday. For many performers, this was not their ﬁrst time participating in Coffeehouse. Prefect Caroline Cook ’19 said that the biggest change this year was having a mandatory meeting for all performers. “It makes the performers more accountable and the whole thing more organized,” Cook said. Lucas Lyons ’19 said he was excited to perform at Coffeehouse for the second time because it gave him a rare opportunity to play the guitar in front of people. He played “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” by Eric Clapton with Will Toth ’19. Lyons said Coffeehouse was distinct from most school performances.

“It’s deﬁnitely much more forming something innate in accessible for students who me.” Adibi said he likes the may be more amateur artists, or have more unconventional unique environment Coffeetalents,” Lyons said. “It also house offers. “There’s a lot of pressure has a much more chill vibe.” Lyons said that he contin- on me to do well so that people ues to play at coffeehouse be- don’t think [poorly] of me or cause he appreciates the op- my skit, but at the same time it pushes me to do portunity to showcase better and to prachis musical talents. tice more before,” “I love music so it’s Adibi said. always nice to perform Cook said she and illustrate my pasenjoyed helping orsion,” Lyons said, ganize the event. Farid Adibi ’19 per“It’s a similar formed a comedy skit feeling to what one for the second time at gets during opening Coffehouse. night of a show,” “[The] second time, ’ Cook said. “It’s the you have to do it jusCaroline ﬁrst time you get tice but even better, so Cook ’19 to share a piece of there’s that pressure,” Adibi said. “I really like the art you’re proud of with other outlet that it gives me to prac- people, and you get to see the tice my material and go up in performers give something refront of a crowd, I just like that ally special to their audience. excitement of going and per- I love it.” WHITE S

A5 NEWS

THE CHRONICLE

NOV. 15, 2017

Martial Arts clubs to sponsor construction By SABA NIA

those are mainly infrastructure problems and hopeSix martial arts clubs and fully getting this new room teams will propose a renova- will help us address those tion to Hamilton Gym to ad- problems, new equipment, ministrators later this month everything,” Connon said. Benitez and Connon met to accommodate a larger space for the groups to practice. with Upper School Plant After fencers and Boxing Manager Dave Mintz ’87 and Club co-leaders Abner Benitez Chief of Campus Operations ’18 and Charles Connon ’18 and Construction JD de Matnoticed that there was an un- té before contacting archiused storage space in the gym tects at SoCal Design to prelast spring, they approached pare for their meeting. They the members of the other mar- will meet with the artists to tial arts groups, the Martial review the final blueprints Arts Club, Reserve Officers’ and plan proposals Nov. 16 Connon said the project Training Corps, yoga and the wrestling and fencing teams is a tentative restoration, and the clubs and teams to sponsor a joint-efwant to knock down fort to remodel it. the wall between the “We believe we are storage area and the helping the commuwrestling room in nity by helping othorder to convert the er clubs and sports storage room into a deprived of practice larger practice area. area,” Benitez said. “Harvard-West“For example, in fenclake is a great caming, we have all these W ’ pus and there’s a lot members, but we Abner of overlooked activdon’t have that much Benitez ’18 ities that kids do,” space to accommodate all those members.” Connon said. “But I think According to Benitez, the that the school is really good sports teams and clubs cur- at addressing what clubs need rently don’t have enough to succeed and the resourcspace on campus to practice es they need and the school’s effectively. These groups of- been really helpful with that. ten have to share space with So, as long as the school conone another or practice in tinues to help out the overareas that have not been up- looked clubs and the smaller dated to meet the groups’ ones, and not just focusing needs. Connon said clubs on the big ones like football, rely heavily on club grants to baseball, basketball, I think get new, updated equipment. they’re doing a great job.” The martial arts groups “Hopefully the school could put aside some funds to help said they hope to finish the us fix those problems, but project by next school year. HITE S

GRAPHIC BY SAM KO

Community Health Officer reports case of pertussis at the Upper School By SOPHIE HABER

At least one upper school student has been diagnosed with pertussis, or whooping cough, Community Health Ofﬁcer Milo Sini said in an email to parents Nov. 8. Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease that spreads through coughing and sneezing. Sini said that it can lead to hospitalization, or even death when left untreated. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis vaccine usually wears off around the teenage years. Therefore, although many individuals at the school have been vaccinated, Sini

recommended that students get a tdap booster, which is required for all students. Sini said that it is important that members of the community are aware of the early signs and symptoms of the disease, which can occur over a period of ﬁve days to three weeks and include runny nose, low-grade fever and a mild, occasional cough. In the later stages, it can lead to paroxysms of many, rapid coughs followed by a high-pitched “whoop” sound, vomiting and exhaustion after coughing ﬁts. According to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, not everyone who has whooping cough makes the whooping sound, but the condition can be just as dangerous in patients

who do not make the sound. If students think they might be showing symptoms, Sini said they should seek a physician’s advice immediately. He also said students should notify their doctors that pertussis has been identiﬁed at their school. Sini encouraged students to practice good coughing hygiene by coughing into their elbows and taking antibiotics. “On our end, we have already contacted the families of those students whom we believe may have been exposed,” Sini said in the email. “We will continue to monitor, be vigilant and communicate further should the need arise.”

I’ve got the ‘Magic’ in me: club attends tournament

By LUCAS GELFOND AND VISHAN CHAUDHARY

CAMERON STOKES/CHRONICLE

WE ARE FAMILY: Faculty members from the Upper School and Middle School gathered in the Saperstein Theatre to discuss Diversity, Equity and Inclusion during the ﬁrst faculty growth day.

Faculty gets DEI training at growth day By CAMERON STOKES SOFIA HELLER

AND

Faculty discussed improving gender, sexuality and racial inclusion in classes and sports teams at the Faculty Growth Day at the Middle School on Nov. 10. Tricia Rose, Chancellor’s Professor of Africana Studies and Director of the Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University, spoke to faculty about the difference between individual racism and systemic racism. The faculty ﬁrst separated into groups with members of dif-

ferent departments, and they later met with the members of their own department to discuss how these issues related speciﬁcally to their curriculum and classes. Upper school dean Jennifer Cardillo said Rose emphasized that people get defensive about the idea of systemic disadvantages. “We all want to believe that success in our society is based on individual merit rather than inherited privilege,” Cardillo said. Rabbi Emily Feigenson (Natanya Perluss ’16 and Tali Perluss ’18) said Rose’s lectures were help-

ful in understanding the impact of history and culture. “I think these days gives staff, myself included, an opportunity to do some deep thinking about the ways which we cue kids that they have to hide their racial or ethnic identities or the ways that we invite people to reveal those aspects of their persons,” Feigenson said. “It also gives us a safe place to talk about how hesitant we become to refer to someone’s ethnicity or race and how important it is to approach that topic with curiosity instead of thinking that you can’t ask about it.”

ally excited to be playing me because they knew it was my first tournament. Even though Students in the Magic, the my record for the tournament Gathering club traveled to wasn’t great, people were realPhoenix for the Magic, the ly excited even when they got Gathering Grand Prix from knocked out.” The trip’s participants Oct. 27 to 29. Club member Luke Row- played in the main tournaen ’19 said he joined Magic, ment, a nine match game Oct. the Gathering because math 28. After all were eliminated, teacher Andy Stout mentioned the group decided to enter into it during class. a four match side tournament “[Stout] said, ‘if you’re free, Oct 29. Rowen said many parwhy don’t you stop by and I’ll ticipants enjoyed the tourteach you how to play,’” Rowen nament despite their perforsaid. “So I had mance, and he nothing to do, highlighted the and I went to The Magic, [the social element the club, and I Gathering] community of the game. really liked the “If you’re is very welcoming to game.” playing Magnewcomers and firstRowen said ic with somethe tournament timers.” one, you might was very begin—Luke Rowen ’19 as well get to ner-friendly. know them,” “I didn’t reRowen said. ally know what “There isn’t to expect, but it was a lot more fun than I really a rhyme or reason for thought it would be,” Row- it, but in my personal experien said. “Part of that is that ence, I didn’t meet anyone who the Magic, community is very was really annoyed that they welcoming to newcomers and got knocked out of the tournament, or thought they got first-timers.” Rowen said that many play- cheated in some way. Everyone ers wanted to play him partic- was really chill about it, and ularly because he was a new- were there to have fun. It fit into that vibe that they weren’t comer. “That was a really nice part like ‘oh god I really need to win of it, in that people were re- this match’.”

“

The Chronicle

A6 News

inbrief

Nov. 15, 2017

Features magazine to publish first issue

Panorama Magazine, a features magazine created by a group of staff members on the Chronicle, will be published quarterly throughout the school year beginning this November. Chronicle Print Managing Editor Alena Rubin ’18 and Presentation Editor Nicole Kim ’18 serve as the magazine’s editors-in-chief. Juniors and seniors on the Chronicle staff also work on the magazine. The magazine will be a platform for writers to have more creative freedom to publish in-depth stories, Rubin said. —Casey Kim

School holds citywide diversity event Stephanie Carrillo, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Campbell Hall Episcopal, and Harvard University student Elijah De-Vaughn Jr. will speak about the cultivation of a diverse and safe environment at the “Across Colors Diversity Conference” at the Upper School on Nov. 18. Participants will attend workshops about diversity and identity in the community. The conference will give parents, faculty and staff the chance to work together in professional development, according to the website. Additionally, students will discuss their experiences and cultivate ideas for a sustainable and forward-thinking campus. —Jenny Li

Organization screens student-made PSAs At the sixth annual Righteous Conversation Project gifting and screening event, students showed seven public service announcements and two Holocaust survivor digital storytelling projects Nov. 8. Students in eighth through twelfth grade made the PSAs during summer workshops. While the digital storytelling videos were about Holocaust survivors’ stories, the PSAs focused on issues the filmmakers decided were important. —Ryan Albert

SABA NIA/CHRONICLE

THE ANIMATED ANIMATOR: Jorge R. Gutiérrez speaks to the Drawing and Painting I class about his experiences in school and how he works in the arts industry while keeping his culture alive. Gutiérrez advised students about pursuing a career in visual art.

Full of life: animator inspires student artists By Saba Nia

Animator, painter and director Jorge R. Gutiérrez spoke to Drawing and Painting I students about his experience navigating the entertainment industry while remaining true to his background Nov. 1. He also advised students about how they can make a career out of their artistic passions. Gutiérrez, who directed the Golden Globe-nominated film “The Book of Life,” shared the struggles of creating projects that allowed him to showcase his Mexican heritage. Gutiérrez grew up in Mexico and crossed the border daily from ages nine to eighteen to attend his American school before moving permanently to the U.S. for college. His multicultural upbringing

inspired his art, but Gutiérrez said studios turned him down in the beginning of his career because they considered his work too focused on Latin culture. Gutiérrez said his perseverance and sincerity made his work eventually accepted. He refused to let outside pressure shift the focus of his work but maintained friendly relationships with the companies that rejected him. “In the hard times, I need to make work that resonates and feeds that need I have to showcase where I’m from more than I need stability,” Gutiérrez said. “I know it’s a crazy thing to say but, looking back on my career, any success I’ve had has been because of my culture. I can’t turn away from it.”

Students said they appre- ture, he plans on making ciated his honest anecdotes more projects inspired by his about the obstacles he faced upbringing in the future, inand that Gutiérrez’s presenta- cluding a new installment of tion inspired them. “The Lego Movie” franchise “I came out of [the speech] and a possible project about with inspiration as an living on the Mexicanartist knowing that American border. you can keep your “I think it’s up style and your influto creators like me ences and cultural to showcase differinfluence and still ent cultures and to be successful today showcase different as an artist,” Katie things because kids Mumford ’20 said. are still making up Visual arts teachtheir minds about ’ er Alyssa Sherwood, the world,” Gutiérrez Katie who met Gutiérrez in said. “And I think it’s Mumford ’20 the Experimental Ana huge responsibilimation program at the Cali- ity for us to inform them that fornia Institute of the Arts, ap- there are people who are very proached him to come speak different than you, that look to her students about being a differently than you, that have professional artist. different faiths than you, but Gutiérrez said in the fu- they’re just like you.”

her responsibilities, which include supervising database consistency. Advancement Administrator Amber Kasongo will take over Schlom’s position. Although Janowitz said she feels it is the right time for her to retire, she will miss the school community.

“The one thing I love about the school is it feels like family,” Janowitz said. “It is a warm and comfortable environment. We care about one another and would go out of our way to help each other in any way we can.” Director of Advancement Eli Goldsmith said he is sad

Senior advancement administrator to retire By Kaitlin Musante

After a 20-year tenure at Harvard-Westlake, Senior Advancement Administrator Brenda Janowitz will retire in early December. Following her departure, Advancement Administrator Marla Schlom will take over

about Janowitz’s departure and appreciates all of the work she has done for the school. “There is no way HarvardWestlake’s advancement efforts could have been so successful over the past two decades without [Janowitz’s] kindness, commitment and leadership,” Goldsmith said.

Robotics to go to state By Lindsay Wu

Director avoids class questions about war

Photography III students asked director Lynn Novick questions about her latest documentary, “The Vietnam War,” during her livestreamed presentation to gain inspiration for their upcoming photo show. However, due to opposing viewpoints about the war and the large number of comments, Novick did not respond to student’s questions. Although the livestream was not what he expected, photography teacher Kevin O’Malley said that he was impressed with his students’ ability to ask uncomfortable questions. —Kaitlin Musante

white s

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JUSTIN ANSELL ’20

RO, RO, RO YOUR BOT: (Left to right) Dean Reiter ’20, Coco Kaleel ’20, Justin Ansell ’20 and their coach Deniz Armani pose.

The sophomore robotics team 62K placed first in an alliance at the Conquer the Zone Tournament at Don Antonio Lugo High School on Saturday. The team, also known as the Kanagasabapathys, includes members Justin Ansell ’20, Coco Kaleel ’20 and Dean Reiter ’20 who will advance to the 2017 California State Vex Robotics Competition High School Championship in San Jose. “Overall, it was a great competition,” Kaleel said. “We were expecting to do well, as we had finished the robot early and had gotten to practice driving it and scrimmaging it a lot. After preliminary matches,

we finished the highest we ever had. Through [our high ranking] we were able to form alliances that helped us win.” In this year’s competition, randomly generated teams of two robots competed to score points by stacking cones onto mobile goals and carrying the goals to scoring areas over series of pipes. This year will be the teams first time at the state championship. “I know I speak for the team when I say we are all super excited to go to state,” Kaleel said. “We have never gotten this far in the season so we are all just excited to even compete at this level. We plan on making major alterations to our robot to optimize it for the higher competition level at the tournament.”

Nov. 15, 2017

hwchronicle.com/news

News A7

Photographers display teacher grants in project By Ryan Albert

RYAN ALBERT/CHRONICLE

DON’T TAKE THESE PHOTOS FOR GRANTED: Students look at Photography II’s projects that are displayed in Seaver hallway.

Photo II students displayed photos and descriptions of teacher travel grant trips from this summer in Seaver on Oct. 30. The “Development Grant Project” featured studio portraits of the teachers set on a backdrop relating to their trips with brief summaries of their travel grants. Over a dozen teachers who traveled across the globe from Shanghai to Venice were interviewed and photographed for the photo show. The project also raised awareness about the places teachers travel to over the summer and about the teachers’ travel grant program in general, according to participants. Visual arts teacher Kevin O’Malley presented the project to his students to encourage them to showcase a more interesting depiction of campus life through photo and film projects. He said that the communi-

ty has reacted positively to the show and the blurbs have attracted teachers and informed them about the grants. “If there is a spike in teachers applying for grants this year, we shall know that the show was a success,” O’Malley said. Isabella Huang ’19, who interviewed and photographed math teacher Adam Varney and Chinese teacher Kattie Xu, said the project was also intended for students to get to know their teachers better. “I think it was done to make sure teachers are more aware of these grant opportunities and to allow students to learn more about how teachers used those grants,” Huang said. “Students have also been talking a little bit about this project and about what their own teachers did with the grants.” “I thought that the descriptions of the teachers were really interesting and I learned some things about my teacher that I had never known before, even though I had her last year,” Angela Tan ’19 said.

entertaining speakers I’ve heard,” Berg said. “He is not only greatly accomplished, but he told some of the most interesting stories with a significant amount of humor. I learned about the challenges and opportunities in the film industry, and most importantly, keeping an open mind when it comes to pivoting from your original goals.” According to the Women in Entertainment website, the summit aimed to unite leaders in the industry to empower and inspire future generations of women and girls around the world. Video Art II student Kat

Swander ’19 said that the event broadened her awareness about various forms of discrimination and bias in the film and entertainment industry. “I think it was important to put a face [on] the issue and get a first-hand account of some struggles that women are still faced with today in the entertainment industry,” Swander said. “Overall, it was a great experience because I not only got to hear from experienced professionals about the industry, but also gained knowledge on the prevalent issue of gender equality in entertainment.”

Entertainment speakers advise video artists

By Jenny Li

Screenwriter, director and actor John Gatins, most notable for his screenplay “Flight,” spoke to Video Art II and III students Nov. 9 about his introduction to Hollywood and the evolution of his career as a director and actor. Video Art I, II and III students also listened to Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis, most notable for her role in Beetlejuice,” 2012 Olympics Gymnastics Gold Medalist and UCLA coach Jordyn Wieber and other speakers discuss the power of storytelling and sports journalism

in film through fireside chats, presentations and panels at the third annual Women in Entertainment Summit at the Skirball Cultural Center on Nov. 2. “It was amazing and exciting to see, as someone who wants to go into the entertainment industry, someone who didn’t really have a set path and didn’t have all of these connections yet,” Video Art III student Nicole Bahar ’18 said. Video Art II student Matthew Berg ’19 said Gatins helped him gain a greater understanding of the entertainment industry. “He was one of the most

Mock Trial clinches victory

By Jessa Glassman

The Mock Trial team, serving as the prosecution, received its first victory and guilty verdict Nov. 2 at the first trial of the year. The team then won a second round as the defense Nov. 9. Because the cases are set up to ensure the defense has a fair chance of making their case, guilty decisions are quite uncommon, Mock Trial member Ava Benavente ’20 said. While not all of the results have been released yet, Benavente, who plays a witness, said the guilty ruling excited the entire team. “It was just amazing,” Benavente. “We were so thrilled and it was so exciting for us especially because we were on the prosecution side. I definitely think we were all a little shocked but super excited because we did a really good job.” The team will work on the same trial for the entire year. This year’s mock case involves the suspected murder of a member of an extremist nationalist group at an immigra-

inbrief Annual science quiz bowl teams chosen

After weeks of meetings, science teacher Heather Audesirk and Myria Chen ’18 chose teams to represent the school in the National Science Bowl. Science Bowl is a nationwide competition that tests participants on a variety of subjects. Audesirk and Chen said they chose teams they felt were cohesive and capable. Chen will lead David Ahn ’18, Samuel Buckley-Bonanno ’19 and Max Caragozian ’19 on Team A, with Sarah Moon ’19 as an alternate. Alex Kahn ’19 will lead Kevin Im ’19, Sebastian Ko ’19, Vivian Lu ’18 and Danny Seplow ’19 on Team B. They have no designated alternate. — Jeanine Kim

CHLA conducts well-being study Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Harvard Westlake’s Institute of Scholastic Sports Science and Medicine began a study last week concerning the health and wellbeing of the current seventh grade class. The hospital said the survey aims to determine which factors lead to academic, social and athletic success, as well as provide suggestions for improving sleep, nutrition and hydration. The hospital will study the class over their time at Harvard-Westlake. Almost half of the grade is participating. —Zoe Redlich

Students hunt for wolverines in contest

The upper school Instagram account has been posting a picture of a wolverine figurine somewhere on campus every Wednesday as a contest for students to guess the statue’s location. Students comment the location of the wolverine figurine, and the contest continues until someone guesses the correct location. Whoever comments correctly wins a mystery prize. “I think it’s a fun way for the students to compete together on campus,” contest winner George Phillips ’20 said. —Emma Shapiro

School embraces spooktastic spirit

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF AVA BENEVENTE ’20

FOUND GUILTY:The Mock Trial team poses for a picture after the prosecution received its first guilty verdict at Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Nov. 2. Students said they were thrilled by the win. tion rally. “It’s exciting to hear our arguments finally put out in a courtroom and it’s interesting to see what other schools came up with,” clerk and attorney alternate Lauren Lee ’20 said. Roles were assigned to each

member of the team ranging from witnesses to attorneys and bailiffs. Team members will continue to practice these roles for trials that will happen throughout the year. The next hearing will take place Nov. 13, and depending on if the team wins again or

not, they may advance to join the top eight. “I think that as we progress through the competition our opponent will get better, but I have confidence in our team and hope that we do well,” Becca Frischling ’19 said.

Students competed in the annual Halloween costume contest Oct. 31 during Activities. Head of Upper School Laura Ross, President Rick Commons and department heads judged the costume contest in the Chalmers Lounge. Faculty also danced in a flash mob to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Anita Anand ’19 said she saw the majority of students admiring each others’ costumes on the quad before walking to the costume contest. —Sofia Heller

A8 NEWS

THE CHRONICLE

NOV. 15, 2017

HW Works conducts roundtable BY TAMMER BAGDASARIAN

Three alumni in the Harvard-Westlake Real Estate Network spoke to students about their careers and answered questions Nov. 8 to kick off this year’s Harvard-Westlake Works Industry Roundtable series. The event featured real estate developers Casey Federman ’91 and Sara Kramer ’99, as well as real estate lawyer David Stone ’97. The panelists spoke about their careers in the real estate industry and how they first became interested in working in the field. “I got an internship at a transactional real estate firm because my dad told me to, and I just loved everything about it,” Stone said. “I met interesting people, and I got to see what I worked on when it was done, so it was actually tangible, and that just drew me in.” The three speakers also gave advice about how students can make the most of their high school experiences and take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to them. Federman said he was able to learn who he was, as well as important skills such as hard work, commitment and teamwork while he was at Har-

TAMMER BAGDASARIAN/CHRONICLE

FRIENDLY FACES: Amelia Koblentz ’20 and Skyler Calkins ’20 talk to real estate developers and lawyers after their presentation about their transition into their careers and their life in the real estate ﬁeld at the ﬁrst HW Works Roundtable of the year Nov. 8. vard-Westlake. The panelists also addressed the importance of students stepping outside of their comfort zones and trying new things, even when it is not the safest option during the presentation. Kramer spoke to students about her personal experiences working in the real estate industry. “When I was in business

school, we had to write a paper on a professional failure we’d had, and that got me thinking that I had never taken any real risks,” Kramer said. “That led me down a path where I decided to quit my job that I was comfortable at and look for a new one, which was risky but deﬁnitely beneﬁcial.” Amelia Koblentz ’20 moderated the panel and said she thought that the real estate

roundtable was very informative and gave great insight into the industry. “I think through today’s discussion, I was able to get a deeper understanding of real estate and the different opportunities within the business,” Koblentz said. Harvard-Westlake Works Administrator Zaakirah Daniels ’10 organized the event in order to expose students to a

new industry because it is often overlooked. She said she thought it succeeded in doing so. “Not many students think about real estate when they come to me for help about ﬁnding something to do over the summer, so I thought it would be a good idea to include our alumni real estate network in this series,” Daniels said.

Fox Photo Director offers students industry insights

BY KAITLIN MUSANTE

KATE SCHRAGE/CHRONICLE

GADGETS AND GIZMOS: Nick Settelmayer ’18 and Grady Flaherty ’18 conduct research and utilize

temperature sensors to learn about the effect of cool pavement in the newly paved faculty parking lot.

Environmental Science SSR repaves faculty parking lot to conduct research BY SOPHIE HABER

To investigate the effect of cool pavement, the Environmental Science SSR, made up of students who took AP Environmental Science last year, initiated the repavement of half of the faculty parking lot with GuardTop Cool Seal. GuardTop Cool Seal has a high reﬂectivity, which could decrease the amount of heat that the lot absorbs and releases throughout the day and in turn decrease the temperature. The high temperatures that it causes can negatively affect health conditions of peo-

ple living in impacted areas, which tend to be low income communities that lack air conditioning. Environmental Science SSR member Noah Martin ’18 said the urban heat island effect is when an urban area is signiﬁcantly hotter than surrounding rural areas due to factors including waste, heat from cars or air conditioners, a decreased amount of vegetation in cities and asphalt that absorbs heat. Students will collect data during heat waves from temperature sensors stationed around the parking lot to determine if the sealant effective-

ly mitigates the urban heat island effect. If the results show that the new pavement is successful in lowering temperatures, members of the SSR hope to repave all the school’s parking lots. “I’m really looking forward to seeing whether or not our data shows that the cool pavement is effective in reducing the temperature of our parking lot because I think it could deﬁnitely make a difference in people’s lives and their overall health,” Martin said. By the end of the year, SSR members hope to publish a paper with their ﬁndings from their research.

an questions, showed their own work and viewed some Fox Sports Director of of his drones and cameras. Brian originally planned to Photography Brian Alexander (London ’18) offered ad- help students shoot the Nov. vice to students on how to 3 football game, but due to a succeed as a sports videog- conflict, he rescheduled and rapher Nov. 6 during break. will return later in the year. Brian said that he apBrian explained to students the importance of proached visual arts departbeing prepared and us- ment head Cheri Gaulke about ing available resources. teaching his daughter’s video “There are no more excuses art class because he wanted to for not doing what you want to inform students about sports do,” Brian said. “There are so videography at Fox Studios. L o n d o n many resourcsaid she enes available to joyed having us because of There are no her father technology.” more excuses for not come to teach. Brian also “It was fun spoke about doing what you want to listening to the importance do. There are so many him,” London of exercising resources available said. “He was flexibility in his field, citbecause of technology.” a little nervous beforehand being instanc—Brian Alexander cause he had es where his never taught willingness to a class before, adapt led him to discover new stories in his career. but I think he did a good job.” Attendees said the exVisual arts teacher Kevin O’Malley said Brian’s perience helped them learn stories allowed him to rec- more about the TV industry. “As someone who is really ognize a new side of the sports videography industry. interested in the industry and “Usually, I think of TV as wants to learn more about film very structured, where peo- and TV, I hoped to learn more ple are constantly told to about how the process works, ‘do this, do that,’ with abso- as I didn’t really know anylutely no creativity,” O’Mal- thing about it,” Alex Ankai ’19 ley said. “It showed a level said. “[Brian’s] visit allowed of flexibility, which I liked.” me to be more familiar with it Attendees asked Bri- all, which was super helpful.”

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C HRONICLE the harvard-westlake

Editors-in-Chief: Josie Abugov, Danielle Spitz Print Managing Editors: Maddy Daum, Alena Rubin, Anthony Weinraub

Opinion The Chronicle • Nov. 15, 2017

Los Angeles • Volume 27• Issue 2 • Oct. 10, 2017 • hwchronicle.com

editorial

Digital Managing Editors: Eli Adler, Noa Schwartz Executive Editors: Ellis Becker, Elly Choi Presentation Editors: Nicole Kim, Kitty Luo News Editor: Emory Kim Assistant News Editors: Kendall Dees, Alex Goldstein, Sophie Haber, Saba Nia, Kaitlin Musante Opinion Editors: Brittany Hong, Claire Keller Assistant Opinion Editor: Vishan Chaudhary Features Editors: Kristin Kuwada, Kate Schrage Assistant Features Editors: Sofia Heller, Sam Ko, Jenny Li, Alison Oh, Cameron Stokes A&E Editors: Gabi Berchtold, Sarah Lee Assistant A&E Editors: Kaelyn Bowers, Alexandra So Senior A&E Writer: Caty Szeto Sports Editors: Aaron Park, Matthew Yam Assistant Sports Editors: Ryan Albert, Lucas Gelfond, Jackie Greenberg, Ryan Kim, Asa Saperstein, Ben Tenzer Multimedia Editor: Isabelle Eshraghi Engagement Editors: Oliver Akhtarzad, Zach Swartz Innovation Editors: Sam McCabe, Adam Yu Business Editor: Jiwon Park Assistant Business Editor: Cameron Stokes Photography Editor: Pavan Tauh Freelance Cartoonist: Anna Gong Layout Assistants And Staff Writers: Noah Aire, Tammer Bagdasarian, Graham Berger Sacks, Marcelo Blander, Salvatore Casola, Caitlin Chung, Giselle Dalili, Jessa Glassman, Ty Goodrich, Sarah Healy, Kyra Hudson, Joanna Im, Madison Huggins, Cole Katz, Casey Kim, Sun Jae Kim, Spencer Klink, Yoohan Ko, James Lassiter, Isabela Llevat, William Mallory, Anusha Mathur, Keila McCabe, Alex Mork, Jordan Murray, Lauren Nehorai, Nina Nuemann, Grant Palmer, Zoe Redlich, Sarah Reiff, Luke Schneider, Zack Schwartz, William Seymour, Emma Shapiro, Dylan Shenson, Jane Sidon, Valerie Velazquez, Astor Wu, Lindsay Wu, Eugene Wyman, Amelie Zilber Layout Assistant Adviser: Juliet Suess Adviser: Jim Burns The Chronicle is the student newspaper of Harvard-Westlake School. It is published eight times per year. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the seniors on the Editorial Board. Letters to the editor may be submitted to chronicle@hw.com or mailed to 3700 Coldwater Canyon, Studio City, CA 91604. Letters must be signed and may be edited for space and to conform to Chronicle style and format. Advertising questions may be directed to Jiwon Park at jpark3@ hwemail.com. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or school.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KITTY LUO

Supporting our talented community

The opening song of “Cabaret” is called “Willkommen,” German for “welcome.” Not only was this message inspiring, but we also think it represents the production as a whole. Though our community is notoriously competitive, we noticed how students and teachers came together to support the show and everyone involved. The cast welcomed all of us to the show and we also welcomed an opportunity to appreciate the work of our peers. We should realize that we are fortunate to have the creative freedom, resources and mentors that enable us to create this kind of production. Not every high schooler can say they’ve watched their field hockey team win a league championship and a performance that explored gender roles on the same day. Not every high school teacher stays after school to watch their students’ performances. Today’s political climate can be divisive, and our school’s environment is undeniably intense. That’s why it’s so important that we come together as a community as we did to support “Cabaret.” In the grand scheme of our high school experience, we’ll remember the moments we shared with our peers, not the chemistry test we spent a week stressing over. We are encouraged by the support we saw for “Cabaret”, and hope that the same enthusiasm extends to other activities in our community. Students at Harvard-Westlake are talented across many

disciplines, and we are fortunate to be surrounded by such a diversity of interests. So many of our girls’ sports teams excel, but receive little acknowledgement for their accomplishments. Girls’ volleyball, field hockey, tennis and basketball have all had successful seasons. Our performing arts groups deserve recognition for the hard work they put into their shows. The musicians in Jazz Band devote so much time to producing unique and high quality performances. Scenemonkeys and Jackanapes continue to make us laugh at every show. We could continue this list of talented groups on campus for pages, which goes to show how many chances we have to support our peers in every discipline. Harvard-Westlake is often criticized for its perceived lack of community, and with all that our school has to offer, there is no reason for this to be a reality. Each student who attends our school is here because they bring something unique to the table, and when the skills and support of our community are combined, the result is extremely special. Excellence is not only about individual accomplishments, but also the way in which those accomplishments are shared. While Harvard-Westlake students differ in interests and activities, we are similar in that we are all proud of where we go to school. The best way to demonstrate that pride is supporting those who help make our community so impressive.

A10 Opinion

The Chronicle

Nov 15, 2017

Seeking beauty in everything

By Brittany Hong

“

CLAIRE KELLER/CHRONICLE

Musings of a Mormon 2.0 By Claire Keller

our-thirty a.m. I roll off my bed and onto the floor. I slam my hand on the snooze button, a habit I am not planning on breaking. 5:00 a.m. I stumble to the shower, following my usual routine as I get ready for early morning seminary. 5:55 a.m. I bear the 60 degree LA winter as I rush to class, excited to get out of the “cold” and see my friends. 6:45 a.m. I throw the door open to my car, rushing my little brother to the bus where he sleeps on the drive to the middle school campus, exhausted and not used to the early mornings from his first year at seminary. Every morning, Monday through Friday. Repeat. This is my last year attending Mormon seminary class. For some, the conclusion of senior year means the freedom of leaving home. For others, it’s the excitement of a new campus. Though I look forward to the same things, graduation feels bittersweet as I grow closer and closer to leaving my seminary class behind. Looking back, the column I published my first year on the Chronicle titled “Musings of a Mormon Girl” feels like it could have been written yesterday. They say time flies when you’re having fun, and while I cannot truthfully say that I’ve enjoyed getting an average of five hours of sleep a night, I also

cannot deny how much I’ve enjoyed attending seminary. However, it has not always been this way. While I’d like to say I’ve appreciated seminary my entire high school career, at the beginning of my freshman year, I had no intention of enjoying the class. As I stressed over my GPA while attempting to balance my packed schedule, I believed the last thing I needed was to lose an hour of sleep for religious class. Despite my presentations on the horrific, life-altering effects of sleep deprivation, my parents encouraged me to “press forward with faith”, get to bed earlier and learn to enjoy it. That year, I learned that the outcome of most experiences can be determined by my outlook and attitude. When I approached seminary expecting it to be miserable, it was miserable. However, when I finally began giving it the chance it deserved, it became the highlight of my day and I found myself looking forward to each and every class. From seeing my closest friends first thing in the morning to one-upping anyone who complains about waking up early, seminary class has given me the opportunity to find joy in unexpected places. Some of my favorite memories are celebrating birthdays with cake before school, early morning hikes as object les-

sons and taking videos of my friends as they fall asleep in class. While it would have been easy to give up, I am grateful for my parents for pushing me to learn the importance of an optimistic attitude. Maintaining this outlook has benefited me in every aspect of my life. From attending a hypercompetitive college preparatory school to wearing my iconic orthopedic boot for 10 months, learning to remain positive has allowed me to find happiness in the most difficult situations. I learned that my attitude, even if it is the only thing within my control, can give me the power to define my experiences and influence their outcomes. With 2018 rapidly approaching, I want to invite the senior class to make the best of the time we have left on this campus. Let’s take risks and make memories as we face our futures head on, unafraid of new experiences as we decide to find the good in all situations. It wasn’t easy for me to love seminary, but it has become an irreplaceable aspect of my life that I will be heartbroken to leave behind. We are surrounded with opportunities to find happiness if we simply change our outlook to see the good. So, if you’re ever looking to tackle a challenge with positivity, come join me at early morning seminary. It starts at 6 a.m.

The Indu-sputed truth By Indu Pandey

Jared Kushner fails to disclose his cards to Xi Jinping in game of Go Fish

ared Kushner fails to disclose his cards in a tense game of Go Fish with Chinese President Xi Jinping, almost causing a US-China War. Jinping was reportedly considering rolling in the tanks after he discovered the betrayal. “What kind of simpleton doesn’t disclose all of his cards in a game that’s predicated on telling the opponent your cards,” Jinping fumed in a joint press conference. “Gee whizz, I guess I just didn’t understand the game,” Kushner said. “Disclosing cards is tough, huh? Has anyone seen Ivanka?” The White House defended Kushner, citing the difficulty of Go Fish as well as Kushner’s fuzzy memory. “I don’t see the point of ‘disclosure,’” President Trump tweeted at 2:53 a.m. Tuesday night. “I think

Jared was just winning!” Leaks from within the administration tell a different story. “This is why no one plays with him,” White House Chief of Staff John Kelly mumbled as he scrolled through Craigslist job listings. Kushner-Gate has derailed Trump’s highly anticipated trip to Asia, where he hopes to demonstrate a third-grade level knowledge of geography. “No wonder they have a trade deficit with us,” Jinping said. “How hard is it to count how many queens you have?” Jinping appears to be a sore loser. All’s well that ends well, however. Robert Mueller publicly invited Kushner to join his Tuesday game night with Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Carter Page. Let the games begin!

What is beauty to you?” Here is the irony. Two judges at the first round of a beauty pageant asked me this question. Yet, I had no idea what to say. As I sat there with a blank mind, I engaged in a brief eye staring contest with the judges and played thumb war with my hands, not knowing what to say. But just as my left thumb was about to become victor in the one minute war against my right, my mind clicked. I recalled the time when I first entered the orientation session. There were ten other contestants, all beautiful and all intimidating. They wore glittering dresses and layers of makeup. Meanwhile, I stood in my dirty sneakers and bare face with a forced smile. We picked our contestant numbers randomly. I got number nine. From that point on, I was referred to by the number nine rather than my name. I thought that was bizarre and quite frankly, terrible. I felt like I was being objectified. Could it get any worse? The first rehearsal was terrible. I am not and will never be a dancer. As I looked like an octopus struggling to learn the steps to the group dance, the other contestants leaped around the room like butterflies. I could see our trainer cringe, while she carefully observed my clumsy steps. “Number nine, you need to stretch out your arms more!” “Number nine, you need to kneel on this beat!” “Number nine, are you alright?” I could see everyone’s eyes follow my fall down to the cold ground. My ankle turned, my heels clumped and my mouth opened up for a slight gasp. The next second, I was on

the ground, splat. Facedown. Until that point, I had experienced the stereotypes of a beauty pageant. Objectification, hurt emotions and physical injuries. The once 10 pairs of intimidating eyes transformed into warm faces. I did not experience the typical fights portrayed in media regarding beauty pageants. Our identities grew and we began to refer to each other by names. We encouraged each other through group chats and social media. We shouted words of good luck as our arms wiggled with weakness during our two minute planks. Moreover, we became a united team that shared our love for matcha ice cream and brunch. On the day of the pageant, I stood on stage for two hours. I recalled the moment when I wanted this whole episode to be over. There was a time when I was frightened of potentially experiencing the stigma of beauty pageants that the media portrayed. Now, I didn’t want to lose a single second. “What is beauty to you?” As cheesy as this may sound, beauty cannot be defined. In fact, it exists in every aspect of our lives, regardless of how society may define it. As contestant number nine of a beauty pageant, I can definitively say that when we earnestly seek beauty, it can be found in expected and unexpected places. Up to this point in this article, I have repeated the word “beauty” eleven times as homage to our team of eleven contestants. I believe this random coincidence can be beautiful. My point is that anything, literally anything, can define beauty and that it is our job to realize it.

Former Chronicle News Associate gives her take on current pop culture and politics in a recurring satire column. In this issue, she discusses foreign policy and conservative speakers on campus.

School invites Steve Bannon to talk about new cookbook

teve Bannon spoke about his newest cookbook “Bonbons with Bannon: Desserts That’ll Make You Desert the White House” at an allschool assembly last Monday. After outcry from all six conservative students, the school invited Bannon, the czar of Breitbart, to speak. “After the immeasurable amount of backlash over our lack of conservative speakers, we simply needed to,” the administration admitted in an email to the 99 percent liberal student body. Bannon stirred the pot, so to speak, by weighing in on the pressing pineapple pizza debate. “I’m a journalist, so I can’t lie,” Bannong declared. “I guess I’ll go out and say it then. Pineapple on pizza is God’s work!” Audience members viscerally reacted with some standing up in solidarity with Bannon. Protestors, however, were confused because they were already sitting down.

“We’re working on our new advocacy group, ‘Stand With Pineapple Pizza,’” Bill Munich said. “That obviously doesn’t take precedent over our efforts to have Paul Ryan lead a cross-fit tutorial for Memorial Day. It’s in honor of the boys overseas, you know?” Bannon’s appearance was necessary for students to listen to divergent political views, the administration said. “I’m glad after all of our lobbying they finally let us talk about conservatism,” Munich said, “Did you hear him just totally go after liberals? Pineapple Lives Matter, am I right?” Bannon artfully name-dropped politicians he hoped the audience knew in a searing political critique. “Trump’s chocolate cake was probably only an eight out of ten,” Bannon said. “Paul Ryan likes black licorice and Donna Brazille puts milk in the bowl before cereal! Buy my book at Barnes and Noble, only $19.95.”

hwchronicle.com/opinion

Nov 15, 2017

quadtalk:

Opinion A11

“And what’s that got to do with us?” By Sarah Lee

Poll

Did you learn something from Hugh Hewitt’s assembly speech? Yes: 56% percent No: 44% percent

265 students weighed in on the Nov. 9-10 poll INFOGRAPHIC BY BRITTANY HONG

Kelly Chang ’18

“I did not gain anything particularly insightful from his speech. Him talking about his book was a little bland.” VISHAN CHAUDHARY/CHRONICLE

Emma Poveda ’20

“I did gain tips on how to be happier in my daily life. I liked what he said about having perseverance and stamina, and how getting over goals actually makes you stronger.” Clay Hollander ’19

VISHAN CHAUDHARY/CHRONICLE

“I didn’t really follow him that much. He jumped around a lot. His points about happiness were good, but it wasn’t that interesting.” VISHAN CHAUDHARY/CHRONICLE

The ins and outs of an Introvert

By Maddy Daum

ith 30 students crowded into an English classroom, I felt like everyone was looking over my shoulder. In our dean meetings, we were completing a personality test, trying to identify our traits and how we are seen in the world. As I filled out questions, there was a pattern evidenced in my Myers-Briggs type results. When I received my results, I was disappointed to see an “I,” for introvert. All of my friends had gotten extrovert, and I didn’t understand how I could be so different from them. Looking back on this moment, I wondered why I was so discouraged by my “I”. Every person is a varying

degree of introvert and extrovert and it’s hard to identify with one category completely. However, there are many students like me, people who I think of as the extroverted introverts. Around our friends, we are loud and participate enthusiastically in conversation, but in unfamiliar social situations or large classroom settings, we fall silent. That is not to say I never open my mouth in class, but I am not the kid who raises their hand for every question. Generally, our society values extroverts, outgoing people who thrive off of constant conversation. They are said to be better leaders, as introverts are typically criticized for being too re-

eople who know me are more than aware that, despite not actually being in the cast or crew, I have not been able to stop talking about “Cabaret” for the past two months. It’s one of my favorite musicals of all time, and the sentimental value of it being the last fall musical I’d see as a HarvardWestlake student only added to that love. There are many things I admire about “Cabaret.” It’s a raw, tragic musical that breaks boundaries and expectations of sexuality, gender expression and the medium of musical theater as a whole. It challenges us as the audience to empathize with those different from ourselves, to understand the shortcomings of people we think we are similar to and to reflect on our own choices. And it provides no singular “right” answer—every character is flawed, with some characters far more flawed than others. What I would really like to emphasize here is the role of empathy in the show. The Harvard-Westlake production often directly addressed or interacted with the audience in places where many professional, and certainly most student, productions do not. As I was sitting in the audience, I was reminded that these characters and their responses are not fictional at all: they are real courses of action, or lack thereof, that real people took in Weimar Germany, real courses of action that real people continue to take today. Something that has always stuck with me from the day I was first introduced to the world of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “Cabaret” is a line from the final number, when characters recall things they had previously said in the show. Sally Bowles, a hedonistic cabaret performer from England who decides to stay in Berlin, assures that the rise of fascism will resolve itself, reminding the audience that it’s “only politics.” And because she doesn’t see how events in Germany could possibly affect her or anyone she knows in any way, she continues and asks, “What’s that got to do with us?”

Out of all the moments in the musical, there is not a single one that I feel better reflects our greatest folly in many of our interactions with the world around us. Some of us are lucky enough that many current issues are merely a topic for casual, purely theoretical, lunchtime debate. If an issue doesn’t affect us personally, it’s often hard to see how it could possibly impact anyone else. While I think it’s good that people have enough familiarity with current events to debate these topics, it’s important to remember that these are challenges that people around us and their loved ones have to face every day. Immigration, police brutality, LGBTQ rights, the refugee crisis, sexual harassment, economic inequality. For many people, these issues aren’t just topics saved for small talk at Thanksgiving dinner. It’s real life. And it’s hard. It is a privilege to have the chance to develop opinions on any of these issues and many others without ever having truly experienced them firsthand. But a lack of personal experience should not get in our way of being able to step into another person’s shoes. If you’re at school or in public, look up from your paper or computer screen at the world around you. And if you’re at home, think about where you eat lunch or a class you’re in. We don’t all look the same, dress the same or talk the same. We all have different backgrounds and different experiences, and thus, we all have different issues we deal with that affect us in different ways. What I’m saying is, that thing you think is “just politics” or “only an opinion” may actually be life-altering for the person walking past you, or the guy who sits next to you in English, or the person you always get history notes from when you’re sick or even your best friend. Our beliefs, our “opinions,” they have the power to change lives, for better or for worse. And these aren’t just anyone’s lives, they’re the lives of people we know, people we may care about deeply. So yes, it’s got a lot “to do with us.”

Although they are typically criticized for being too shy or reserved, introverts possess qualities that should be valued just as much as the qualities of extroverts.

served or closed off. But introverts aren’t automatically shy and quiet all the time. Instead, they gain energy from being alone instead of from being with other people. Constant socializing can be exhausting and draining, and having time alone to focus on just yourself gives introverts like me time to recharge. Introvertedness is commonly associated with homebodies who never leave their room and hate going to dinner or out with friends. It is seen as a negative trait and often associated with being distant or uninterested. I would argue that, in actuality, it is quite the contrary. Being less talkative means that we are listening even closer, giving our peers or teachers the chance to share their opin-

ion before we immediately express our own. This creates room for thoughtfulness and a focus on determining what we are going to say before we say it. We don’t all fall into a category, and many of us have different sides of our personality, but it can be easy to discredit the less outgoing piece. After years of pushing myself to talk more, strike up conversations with strangers and be more like my friends, I’ve realized that it’s okay to be shy. I shouldn’t feel pressured to go out and I don’t have to thrive off of lengthy conversations. I have determined that these qualities shouldn’t be viewed as a negative, but should be appreciated just as much as extrovert attributes.

With silence comes a considerate and astute understanding of what others are saying and can often lead to better observation. Enjoying what people have to say and waiting to immediately share our point of view is a good leadership quality and should be valued just as much as talking nonstop. Gaining energy from being alone shouldn’t be indicative of someone who is disinterested or someone who doesn’t deserve the attention and respect of others. This attribute should be celebrated just as being extremely sociable and talkative is. So if you ever want to get better at listening, talk to an introvert, although they might not want to talk to you.

A12

HW’s Halloweentown

spotlight

Nov. 15, 2017

To celebrate Halloween, students and faculty members dressed up and attended the annual costume contest. Following the contest, students mingled together on the quad during break and took photos together.

SOPHIE HABER/CHRONICLE

BABY BOOMERS: (Left to right) Georgia Wiles ’20, Amorette Marcus ’20, Olivia Ketcham ’20 and Ella Mahmoodzadegan ’20 pose for a picture in onesies.

ALEX GOLDSTEIN/CHRONICLE

ORDER’S UP: (Left to right) Carter Beardmore ’19, Cami Katz ’19 and Will Cook-Healy ’19 dress up as members from the “Bob’s Burgers’’ family.

ALEX GOLDSTEIN/CHRONICLE

RIVERDALE COMES TO LIFE: (Left to right) Sophia Schwartz ’20, Rileigh Goldsmith ’20 and Chronicle staff writer Will Mallory ’20 dress up as Betty, Veronia and Archie from the television show “Riverdale.”

SOPHIE HABER/CHRONICLE

SPIDEY SENSES: Ben Block ’19 shows off his Spiderman costume during the costume contest. The teachers judged the contest and scored each costume.

SOPHIE HABER/CHRONICLE

THRILLER NIGHT: HW Works Administrator Zaakirah Daniels ’10 leads the faculty in a Thriller dance performance dressed up as Michael Jackson. The dance group performed during the costume contest.

SOPHIE HABER/CHRONICLE

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: Evan LaTourrette-Ghez ’19 and Nico James ’19 model their Toy Story costumes in the annual Halloween costume contest.

SOPHIE HABER/CHRONICLE

ONESIES, TWOSIES: Lily Block ’19 and Sophie Lopez ’19 pose for a picture in Halloween onesies. They dressed as a baby and a unicorn, respectively.

Features The Chronicle • Nov. 15, 2017

No Strings Attached Students discuss the reality of “hook-up” culture and emotional expectatations associated with modern-day teenage relationships. • Continued on B7

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KATE SCHRAGE AND KRISTIN KUWADA

B2 FEATURES

THE CHRONICLE

NOV. 15, 2017

Staying Afloat

Students seek support from mental health resources, such as school psychologists, Peer Support, deans and outside therapists.

By SOFIA HELLER KAITLIN MUSANTE

Last year, she said she confided in her leaders when she was having suicidal thoughts. They encouraged Hunter* ’18 felt his anxiety in- her to seek help from adults, which creasing. When Monday night ar- she had trouble doing previously. “When you’re on the verge of suirived, he was on the brink of a breakdown. However, as soon as he cide and you want to die, asking for sat down in his Peer Support group help and having people constantly and began to share, his fears in- support you is life changing,” Emilia said. stantly decreased. According to a University of Cam“I detached from everything–my schoolwork, friends, family,” Hunter bridge study, teenagers who strugsaid. “I was drawn into the stress, gle with mental health issues and and I was so anxious. I couldn’t see receive help from mental health services are less likely to be depressed anything outside of that.” Hunter struggles with anxiety later in their adolescence than those and said that the community within who do not get help. Peer Support trainee Lauren Peer Support has helped alleviate it. “Going to Peer Support and ex- Morganbesser ’19 also said Peer plaining my fears that were over- Support has helped her overcome whelming me allowed me to see the personal issues and that she feels reality of the situation, which was comfortable sharing her feelings. “There is something unique in incredibly useful,” Hunter said. “Peer Support has given me the sup- Peer Support because it’s a group port I need to get through my anxi- of your friends and your peers who are going through ety. They were the similar things, so people I didn’t disthere’s a sense of connect from.” empathy,” MorganMany students There is something besser said. “They like Hunter use unique in Peer Support can understand Peer Support as an outlet to cope with because it’s a group of your what you’re going through in a diftheir mental health friends and your peers who ferent way than a issues. According dean or psycholoto a Chronicle poll are going through similar gist would.” of 247 students, things, so there’s a sense of However, some 46 percent said students said that Peer Support is empathy.” the social aspect the most helpful resource on cam—Lauren Morganbesser ’19 of Peer Support makes them unpus for dealing Peer Support trainee comfortable sharwith their mening and it hasn’t tal health related been a helpful outproblems. Emilia* ’19 struggles with anxi- let for them. Anita Anand ’19 said that as an ety, depression, insomnia and bulimia. When Emilia recently confront- introvert, she felt anxious to share ed a difficult issue that resurfaced in issues about her family with her her life, she said she relied on Peer Peer Support group. “You have to be able to talk to a Support for solace in an extreme big group of strangers about realmoment of pain. “I was crying every single day ly personal things, and I was defiduring school,” Emilia said. “I was nitely not comfortable doing that,” down, I had multiple breakdowns Anand said. “I am an introvert, and and anxiety attacks, I couldn’t sleep I couldn’t be [that open or talkative] at night and I wasn’t able to concen- at all.” Ethan* ’19, who also considers trate in school. My whole life hit the fan that week. It became too much himself an introvert, said he noticed for me to deal with, and I felt like I that his more extroverted peers was drowning in my own problem dominated the sessions, making it because I have been carrying it for more difficult for him to gather the the past few years. I wanted people courage to speak. “It was nice to have [extroverted] to help me, support me and tell me people in the group, but it definitely everything was fine.” Emilia said Peer Support has created this environment where the allowed her to find another group pressure to say stuff was contrasted within the community that she can with the fact that I never really had time to speak,” Ethan said. “I often trust at her lowest points.

AND

“

felt almost compressed by the peo- informal resource said the deans ple who were more outgoing.” can be a good alternative. Upper school psychologists and For example, Uriah Celaya ’18 Peer Support advisers Sophie Was- said he sought the guidance of dean son and Luba Bek can serve as Celso Cardenas when he came out another resource for students who as transgender to the student body. don’t feel comfortable expressing “For me, [Cardenas] takes the personal issues in a group setting. double role of school psychologist Penelope* ’19, who saw the mid- and dean,” Celaya said. “I feel like dle school psychologist, said that al- he really is the person that people though she hasn’t talked to either of feel closest to and most comfortable the upper school psychologists, she with and also the person that gives would feel open to doing so. the best advice.” “It’s so convenient to have a In contrast, Penelope said she school psychologist on campus so would not feel comfortable discussyou don’t need to go outside of school ing mental health issues with her or ask your parents to see someone dean due to the difference in gender. for help,” Penelope said. “You don’t “I don’t know if I would really need to worry about the severity of want to talk about my personal isyour issue and I know [the school sues with a guy,” Penelope said. “I psychologist is] confidential and feel like he would be less underonly there to help me. standing. If I had a girl dean and I However, some students said the was close with her, maybe [I would policies surrounding seeing school talk to her]. I think I feel more compsychologists have been fortable talking about my harmful. personal problems with Emilia said that after sharsomeone my own gening an issue that qualified as der.” a “red flag,” she was required Wasson said that to attend weekly meetings while school resources with Wasson. In Peer Supcan be a sufficient outport, a red flag is defined as a let for some students in situation in which a student dealing with their probis hurting themselves, a stulems, other students may dent is hurting someone else benefit from the individor someone else is hurting a ualized aspect of therapy ’ student. Peer Support trainoutside of school. ees and leaders are required Ethan said the proAnita to report these instances to a fessional and specialized Anand ’19 school psychologist. nature of therapy aids Although Emilia noted him in working through that her meetings with the school his problems, even more than Peer psychologist acted as another sup- Support does. plement to her support system, “I know that [therapy] has been she said that the overall policy has very helpful for me,” Ethan said. caused emotional distress at home. “Being able to talk to somebody and “Once the school finds out, it get whatever’s going on inside of my turns into a whole big thing where head out, that’s very helpful for me. they contact your parents,” Emil- Talking one-on-one with somebody ia said. “Everything else was just feels much more genuine and better out of my reach at that point, and than talking to a group of people.” I couldn’t control my own situation. Cardenas said he wishes there You’re a threat to yourself, so your was more professional help on camparents have to find out about it, pus available to students, but the which strained my relationship with school does offer good resources my parents.” overall. Emilia said she wished that the “I think there’s a lot of spaces for school had allowed her to have more students to feel like they have somecontrol over the situation. one to go to,” Cardenas said. “When “Having to talk to the school psy- it comes to actually having trained chologist, or being forced to, made professionals, I think we could do a me feel kind of trapped,” Emilia better job. I’ve been at other schools said. “I think students should have that have less and their resources the option to see the psychologist, were tied up, so we’re doing well. which they do, but I feel like if an That being said, we can always do issue like mine comes up, students better.” shouldn’t be required.” Some students who want a more *Names have been changed. WHITE S

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SOFIA HELLER

Nov. 15, 2017

hwchronicle.com/features

Like a Good Neighbor

Features B3

In light of the recently announced purchase of Weddington Golf & Tennis, neighbors discuss their previous concerns with the school’s attempts to expand.

By Jenny Li

campus to the structure, as well as other features, including an adBruce Killlingsworth never ditional two turn lanes to help imthought he would be placing signs prove traffic. According to Commons, the protesting Harvard-Westlake on his most pressing motive for the struclawn. As a child, he would routinely ture was safety. Students who park walk the two minutes up to Har- off-campus currently have to walk vard School for Boys for a game of down Coldwater Canyon and are baseball with his neighbors. Now exposed to oncoming traffic, and living in the same home on Alcove during school events, that problem Avenue more than 50 years later, is exacerbated. “There are some drivers crossKillingsworth said he was disappointed with the school’s proposed ing completely ignoring the [peParking, Safety and Athletics im- destrians],” Blythe Berk ‘19 said. “It is actually so dangerous, and provement plan. “I have seen this neighborhood they drive past without a second develop over the past 65 years,” thought. Safety is a real problem Killingsworth said. “I have always that should be addressed.” However, this effort garnered had good feelings toward [Harvard-Westlake], so I was extremely opposition and conflict, most notasad to hear they wanted to build a bly in the creation of the non-profit organization Save bridge and parking Coldwater Canyon! structure. It was like a bad dream. And I think the school in 2013, which had over 3800 annow, the bad dream had to do it. Now, as a ti-structure peis over.” student, I see that while tition signatures The school reand support from cently announced it was an ambitious community groups that it purchased plan, it was in the such as the SanWeddington Golf & ta Monica Mounstudents’ best interest.” Tennis and will be tains Conservanputting the Parking, —Sophia* ’19 cy and the Studio Safety and Athletic City Neighborhood Improvement Project on hold. The purchase is a break- Council. SCC placed signs in prothrough in the midst of a four- test, displaying slogans such as year-long conflict regarding the “Stop Harvard-Westlake’s DestrucPSA plan, President Rick Commons tion of Coldwater Canyon!” and “Say No! To Harvard-Westlake’s said. Plans to expand began years ago Private Bridge.” SCC Board member Sarah Boyd after the upper school campus became home to grades ten through presented many grievances during twelve. The plans address a need the discussion of the project, infor parking and athletic space the cluding the structure’s impact on school has been trying to resolve the environment and an increase since its merger in 1991, Commons in traffic. However, Boyd’s most pressing argument was the issue of said. “Since 1991, we have many fairness. With the PSA plan, Boyd said more activities and events and parents coming in great numbers,” the school would attempt to build Commons said. “What that means more than 50 times the ordinary is we have far more cars coming hillside limit and a retaining wall onto campus for school and in the that would become the largest in afternoons and evenings, more LA, setting a dangerous precedent events. That began with the merger for other developers. Another issue of fairness came and has grown ever since.” Almost 10 years ago, the school from the outward perception of began to look into the property the school and its infringement on they own across from the school on neighborhood social rights. From Coldwater Canyon, which ultimate- their perspective, the structure was ly became a part of the PSA plan: a symbol of the school’s influence a three-story 750 spot parking lot and privilege, Boyd said. “If this weren’t Harvard-Westwith an athletic field on the top to address the late night practices lake School, we wouldn’t even be that some athletes currently face. [negotiating this plan] four years In the plan, the school proposed later,” Boyd said. “Harvard-Westa pedestrian bridge to connect the lake has a lot of influence.”

“

This sentiment is magnified by SCC, Boyd said. among neighbors living close to the “If it is true that the school has school. Joseph*, who lives on Al- abandoned the idea of developing cove Avenue, said the perception of the west side of Coldwater Canyon the school makes it difficult for the and expanding across Coldwater, community to support a parking we consider it a success [for SCC],” structure. Boyd said. “Not only for our group “You have to understand what and the community at large, but everybody feels,” Joseph said. “The also for the environment and for administration has to be conscious the commuters who use Coldwater of what they are doing around the Canyon daily.” area and they have to be conscious However, the tensions are not about their perception.” completely resolved. The golf club Sophia* ’19 said she agreed has been a controversial site for with these sentiments before she years. enrolled at Harvard-Westlake two Prior to the school’s purchase, years ago. As a neighbor living a the owners had planned, with mile away from the upper school strong neighborhood protest, to decampus, she said her family op- velop apartments and reduce the posed the structure until she en- athletic facilities on the property. tered the school and realized the Because the school is now planning benefits of the PSA project. to build an athletics center, there “I understand where may be conflict regarding they were coming from, the reconstruction of the and it was an unfortunate golf club. situation, but I think the However, the four-year school had to do it,” SoPSA project dispute has phia said. “Previously, [my mainly been pacified. The family and I] didn’t really protest signs have been see that it is a necessity. taken down, according to Now, as a student, I see SCC board member Suelthat while it was an amlen Wagner, although they ’ bitious plan, it was in the hope the school will doBlythe students’ best interest. I nate the property for the Berk ’19 think that it could have proposed parking strucbenefited the neighborture to the Santa Monica hood as well as the school in the Mountains Conservancy, which long run.” owns the adjacent land. Boyd said Commons said it was this type the organization will still continof emotion on both sides that pre- ue to address other neighborhood vented the communities from complaints and hopes to work with reaching a compromise prior to the the school in the future. impending purchase of Weddington “Our organization has many Golf & Tennis. goals relating to the protection of “I can get emotional about the canyon’s residents, open space wanting to protect students, want- and wildlife,” Boyd said. “We are ing to get students home earlier appreciative that [the school] has from practice and wanting to pro- finally reached out to our organivide parking on land that we own,” zation and look forward to sharing Commons said. “I think the same our ongoing concerns about the applies to our neighbors. It’s hard current operations of the school to have good conversations when and how it affects the neighborwe’re emotional on our side and hood.” they’re emotional on their side.” With the purchase of WeddingOne of the many results of the ton Golf & Tennis comes the beginWeddington purchase, including ning of a stronger bond in the comthe construction of a Harvard-West- munity as a whole, Chief Financial lake Community Athletics Center Officer David Weil said. and recreational opportunities for “We hope that the recent anneighbors, is the school’s explora- nouncement of our intent to purtion of parking alternatives. Com- chase Weddington Golf and Tennis mons said the school is considering demonstrates the school’s willingadding parking on the main cam- ness to listen to the community’s pus, which could have the possi- concerns regarding the size and bility to resolve the four-year-long location of the PSA project,” Weil conflict. said. The announcement of the school’s purchase was received well *Names have been changed. white s

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SAMANTHA KO AND JENNY LI

THE CHRONICLE

B4 FEATURES

NOV. 1

Spin to Succeed Current students and alumni reflect on their experiences at Harvard-Westlake as well as on the impact of the school on their lives.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JENNY LI AND ALISON OH

15, 2017

HWCHRONICLE.COM/FEATURES

By NOA SCHWARTZ

it was very different and far more supportive. I met kids After first reading “Privilege from very progressive and reand Pressure,” a 2013 article laxed schools who were also in the Los Angeles Times crit- very smart and did amazing icizing Harvard-Westlake’s [at Brown.]” Though Daniela noted the intense environment upper school dean Sharon Cuseo school’s strong relationships said she prepared herself for with selective colleges as a an avalanche of verifying re- standout aspect of her high school experience, Cuseo said sponses from alumni. Instead, she received the that the school’s unique array opposite: alumni quickly and of opportunities is what sets willingly came to the defense its student experience apart. “I always talk about our of the school. They articulated their appreciation for their size as being a huge bonus,” respective experiences and Cuseo said. “It allows us to their hopes that the article have more sports teams, more debate opportunidid not permanently ties, more communialter the culture of ty service opportunithe school. ties, more curricular Daniela* ’12, a opportunities and it sophomore at Brown allows students to University at the find their people eartime of the article’s lier. I think a lot of release, said she times students don’t shared this feeling of ’ have that experience appreciation. Sharon of finding other peo“When I look back Cuseo ple who are excitat high school I think ed about the same it was worth it, but I think it was the hardest I things as they are until they have ever worked in my life,” get to college. Typically at othDaniela said. “I think it was er private schools, you have a worth it because Brown was lot of homogeneity, and here the best place I’ve ever been that’s different, which is exand I credit Harvard-West- citing.” As an Admissions Counlake for getting me there.” Daniela said she recalls re- selor at Lake Forest College, peatedly hearing the promise Jordan Gavens ’12 frequentthat after enduring the stress ly meets with students who, of Harvard-Westlake, college similar to those at Harand life after school in the vard-Westlake, find that being surrounded by so many real world would be easy. “There’s no question that exceptional students makes [Harvard-Westlake] prepared it challenging to discover me for college so well,” Dan- what makes them specifically iela said. “I learned a lot, I smart or unique. “I think that the competiworked really hard and it got me where I wanted to be. tive environment of certain I ended up wanting to go to schools can be toxic, in that Brown because it didn’t have it’s hard for an extremethe competitiveness of Har- ly smart and bright student to feel capable or special if vard-Westlake.” In order to succeed at Har- they aren’t at the top of their vard-Westlake, one must be class,” Gavens said. Gavens said she continues naturally self-possessed and to feel extremely lucky she confident, Daniela said. “I think that at Har- attended Harvard-Westlake, vard-Westlake, if you don’t and felt extremely prepared have all those qualities, it’s for college and life beyond. She said she is particularly easy to feel like you’re not capable or successful, and I saw grateful for her time at Harthat happen to kids all the vard-Westlake because her time,” Daniela said. “I felt like experience directly led her to everyone was always fighting her current role at Lake Forto get to the top. At Brown, est. WHITE S

FEATURES B5 “I greatly enjoyed working with my deans during my time at the Upper School,” Gavens said. “I found the intricacies of the college process so fascinating. While searching for a job, I spoke with numerous deans about their experiences in admissions, and each one of them readily volunteered to mentor me in the field. I will be forever grateful to Sharon Cuseo, and former deans Canh Oxelson and Pete Silberman, as each one of them helped me get my foot in the door, and I couldn’t be happier with my current job.” Similarly to Gavens, Cuseo said she understands the lack of validation given to kids not at the top of their class. “I hate to delay the gratification like this, but once you get out of this environment, you’re able to realize how spectacularly gifted and able you are,” Cuseo said. “I think that the comparisons here are rough, but when you get into even a larger competitive university environment, you’re going to start to feel pretty capable and pretty special.” Noah Martin ’18 said he came to the school seeking a challenge. After being at the top of his class at a small private school in New York, he said he felt ready for the difficulty of Harvard-Westlake. My confidence was kind of shattered my first couple weeks here,” Martin said. “I never really had to study at my old school, and when I got here, I really had to try for the first time in my life. There’s a lot more on your plate, both academically and socially, and it was an adjustment that I wasn’t prepared for.” Martin said after getting to know more about his new school environment, he began to appreciate what Harvard-Westlake has to offer. “I definitely like it here more than I liked my old school,” Martin said. “After the initial culture shock, as I made new friends I started to understand from them why people like it here, and I agreed. I feel like there’s definitely a sense of solidarity among the students because

we’re all kind of getting ham- excited about the AP maximered by the school at all mums and the unweighting times. Even though I’m not of the GPA. That’s not just lip at top of the class, I think service, that’s actual moveI’ve learned more about my- ment toward focusing on edself and the world around me ucation and the opportunities coming from here.” that are here.” Martin said that while Melanie Hirsch ’18 arrived looking at prospective col- at Harvard-Westlake in sevleges, he searches for schools enth grade looking for an exthat mirror core values of perience different from that of Harvard-Westlake and make her elementary school, which community a priority. she described as extremely “The promise when I came progressive. here is that high school would Hirsch said she chose Harbe hard, but then college vard-Westlake because she won’t be that bad,” Martin felt ready for an academic said. “That’s what I’m hoping challenge, and because of for, because the school’s I’m mostly robust sports The promise looking at fun program. state schools, “I had super when I came here is so I’m kind of low expectathat high school would tions for myself looking for a be hard, but then different exwhen I came perience in here because college won’t be that college where I thought that bad.” I can use the everyone was skills I got —Noah Martin ’18 going to be bethere, because ter than me,” I know that Hirsch said. that in such a massive envi- “Everyone here, including ronment, people won’t really myself, is very high achieving, be checking up on me and I’ll which can be a good thing have so much independence.” because success and being Gavens echoed Martin’s pushed is important.” ideas on college preparation. While Hirsch said she ap“I think if there’s any- preciates being surrounded thing I could tell kids at Har- by so many excellent stuvard-Westlake now, it’s that dents, she also said feels that they’re all there because the environment of the school they’re really good at some- becomes too competitive. thing,” Gavens said. “Even if “I deﬁnitely admire evit’s hard to see now, I genu- eryone’s motivation,” Hirsch inely think that it’ll become said. “Everyone here genuevident through their college inely wants to do well, which experiences.” I appreciate. I don’t mind a Cuseo said that recently, certain level of competitivethe school has shifted to a ness because it pushes me, more “journey-focused” ap- but there comes a point when proach in an effort to help it’s too much and I wish peokids make this realization ple would just mind their own earlier on. business and do what they “Since Mr. Commons’ ar- can do instead of comparing rival, we started to really con- themselves to other people.” sciously think about what it is Overall, Hirsch said she is that we do here and what we grateful for her high school want to do here,” Cuseo said. experience. “I think missions are usually “I’m very happy I went just ﬂuffy words that all kind here,” Hirsch said. “I think of sound the same, but I real- HW gives the best education ly do believe the process that and opportunities possible, we went through, and the fact and I’m excited to see how that it is actually referenced that translates for me in cola lot, is meaningful and has lege and life beyond.” pushed us in a good direction. I personally am really *Names have been changed.

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GRAPHIC BY ALISON OH

B6 Features

The Chronicle

highstakes

Nov. 15, 2017

The Deadline Wildcard

ILLUSTRATION BY SAMANTHA KO

The four players pass Early Decision deadlines and begin working on their Regular Decision applications.

By Kate Schrage The infamous Nov. 1 deadline has come and gone for Early Decision and Early Action college applicants. For most students, juggling their applications with the workload of senior year was a struggle and hitting “submit” was a relief. They will now wait until December to receive early application decisions and potentially start working on Regular Decision applications. However, as was the initial case for applicants Audrey*, Jenna*, Nate* and Christopher*, their plans are still slightly out of the ordinary. The Portfolio Applicant: Audrey: Audrey, though claiming to still be very sleep deprived, is thoroughly relieved to have submitted not only her early applications, but also her art portfolio. Producing and collecting components of her portfolio didn’t give her as much trouble as she had anticipated, she said. In fact, her portfolio was fairly easy to assemble, Audrey said, since it was essentially a variation of her submission to The National YoungArts Foundation earlier this year. Audrey said she is confident in what she submitted, which makes the waiting period more bearable. However, she also said her satisfaction isn’t necessarily indicative of how admissions boards will receive her work. “I worked on [my portfolio] for a year consistently and it’s definitely very personal when you really just put that much effort into something,” Audrey said. “But art is so subjective that I don’t know how it’s going to be perceived. You don’t

know if they’re really going to be in love with what they’re seeing.” Audrey said she’s kept close connections with the schools she has the most interest in. She officially decided to apply as an art history major, which means she will be applying with the standard pool of applicants to her early and regular schools. For now, Audrey is waiting to hear back from Barnard College, her Early Decision school, in December. “I feel nervous because you never know how these things are going to go, but I’m glad that I got what I had to do done in time,” Audrey said. The Service Applicant: Jenna Jenna said she is feeling surprisingly at ease at this stage of the college process: she submitted all of her applications well before November, passed the critical Candidate Fitness Assessment over the summer and already completed most of her interviews. Jenna also participated in a shadow program at West Point the weekend of Nov. 4 to retake her Candidate Fitness Assessment, have her interview and get a better understanding of the experience of a student at the academy. Unlike a typical college applicant, she may hear back from West Point sooner than next month. “They can choose whenever they want to [release your decision],” Jenna said. “So pretty much starting mid-November, or I think after I turn in my fitness assessment, from then until regular decisions come out, I could get accepted.” While she is unable to formally commit to a service

academy, West Point may send her a letter indicating she is likely to be admitted. “I’ll hear back from West Point relatively soon with a letter,” Jenna said. “They do something that’s pretty different. It’s not technically rolling admissions, but if they see that you’re a really strong candidate, they’ll send you a letter of assurance.” As long as she receives the letter of assurance from West Point, maintains a strong GPA and receives a nomination, she is most likely to be admitted.While she said the period of waiting is certainly stressful, Jenna is relieved to put the process behind her. “It’s good because I think a lot of people just finished their early apps the weekend of the deadline and haven’t started their other ones, but I’m done,” she said. The Athletic Applicant: Nate For four weeks between September and October, Nate missed every Thursday and Friday of the school week to visit colleges. While that may have been a nightmare for most students at Harvard-Westlake, Nate is excited to have spent time at potential colleges he may be interested in swimming for. In total, he visited five schools: Williams, Brown, MIT, Amherst and, unofficially, Pomona. “Those visits consisted of flying out, hanging out with the team for two days, eating with them, watching a practice and getting to sleep in the dorms,” Nate said. “It was a really fun experience and I really got to meet the teams and kind of figure out really which one I bonded with the best.” Luckily, Nate’s visits gave

him some clarity about where he wants to be and prompted him to apply Early Decision to Williams College. Though he cannot formally commit to the school due to a NESCAC rule, he said he’s hopeful that his relationship with the coach will positively influence his admissions decision. “On his end, the coach is going to support my application in any way that he can. Basically, since it’s [Division III], it’s not a guarantee, but it’s as close to a guarantee as he can give me,” Nate said. “It was a long process just because of having to go back and forth every week to keep the Williams coach interested, but I think I managed.” Since Nate is not considered to be a recruit or “commit,” he is applying along with the standard pool of applicants that Williams will receive. “Now it’s just a waiting game,” Nate said. “I won’t know before anyone else, since the admissions team wants to be the one to give the decisions, not the coaches.” Until his decision is released, Nate will continue to push through the academics of senior year and plans to continue his everyday schedule as usual. The Audition Applicant: Christopher For a student with mainly Regular Decision schools, Christopher is far ahead of the curve. With the exception of the UC schools, he already completed all of his applications and put together his setlists for their audition components. Of the five total songs Christopher will need to submit, he

has already recorded one and plans to have completed the others by early December. He applied Early Action to one of his top choices, University of Colorado Boulder, and plans to apply Regular Decision to his other top choice, the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. “I feel like I have a solid list of schools,” Christopher said. “I had a couple of other recording sessions just to find the songs that were right to record, and we’ve already got all of them.” Due to different schools’ requirements for music submissions, Christopher will need to record both audio and video performances. “I have to get into the recording studio for three songs that I’m doing for [USC] Thornton,” Christopher said. “They have to be videoed, so those are kind of second priority. The ones for [University of Colorado] Boulder’s musical theater department are due Nov. 15, but they’re only audio so they’re not as hard to record.” The potentially most difficult aspect of his application, the original song requirement, came rather naturally to Christopher, he said. “[I wrote my original song] recently, like in the past two weeks,” Christopher said. “I was going through a little phase, so to speak, that kind of inspired me to write an album. So I’m just going to pull one original song from that.” Overall, Christopher said he is pleased with his work and will now endure the nerve-racking waiting periodfor decisions with his classmates as decision dates approach. *Names have been changed.

Nov. 15, 2017

hwchronicle.com/features

Features B7

Casual Encounters By Danielle Spitz

but it already exists from the past, and no guy is going to try Wearing skin-tight leggings to stop it.” Troy said he doesn’t need and a low-cut tank top, Amanda* ‘18 tugged at her shirt to try to to feel emotionally attracted to cover up. But after “hooking up” someone to hook up with them, with a senior boy at a party, her but that it makes the situation outfit wasn’t the only choice that more meaningful and enjoyable. Even if others judged her for made her feel vulnerable and casually hooking up with someoverexposed. She heard senior girls whis- one, Amanda said it wasn’t per about her at the party. As a meaningless for her. “For me, there’s no such thing sophomore, she had never spoas no strings attached,” Amanda ken to them before. “People find excuses to make said. “Even if it was just a rangirls feel bad about themselves,” dom hookup, I get with them for Amanda said. “I 100 percent was a reason. There are always emodressing for someone that wasn’t tions attached.” As someone coming out of a myself. There was a lot of pressure to look good for the older serious relationship, Clara* ‘18 people and make good impres- said she is only interested in casions on the older guys so that sual hookups with no emotions involved. While she said it may they would like you.” A 2013 study by the Ameri- be less emotionally fulfilling, she can Psychological Association isn’t necessarily looking for a commitment. defined hookups “I just want to as brief uncommitted sexual Even if it was just have fun and be a teenager,” Clara encounters bea random hookup, I get said. “But in the tween individuwith them for a reason. back of my mind, I als who are not always wonder if I romantic partThere are always should be disgustners or dating emotions attached.” ed with myself, beeach other. 61 percent of teen—Amanda* ’18 cause society teaches you that if you’re age participants getting around, reported a sexual encounter outside a dating then you should be disgusted with yourself.” relationship. She said girls are told to be 73 percent of 270 students who responded to the November ashamed for wanting to have fun Chronicle poll said it’s common while guys are glorified for hookto hook up with someone with- ing up with girls. Amanda shared out emotional attachments or similar sentiments, saying boys and girls face very different conexpectations. 78 percent of respondents said sequences. “No strings attached for a guy girls are judged more than boys for hooking up with someone, is ‘so hype’, and no strings atand 65 percent of female respon- tached for a girl is ‘she’s a slut’,” dents said they feel pressured to Amanda said. Upper school psychologist dress differently at parties. Although Troy* ’18 said boys Luba Bek said this hookup culand girls face an equal amount ture is in part perpetuated by a of pressure to hook up with peo- lack of privacy. She explained ple, he has noticed that girls are that social media has led people expected to dress a certain way if to share much more about their they want to hook up with some- private lives, including hookups, which welcomes outside judgone. “It implies that a girl needs ment. She said there also tends to to sexualize herself to be looked at as attractive whereas a guy be a vagueness in terms of what doesn’t,” Troy said. “I don’t think each person wants or expects a lot of guys actually care. Guys in a casual hookup. Especially aren’t promoting this culture, when substances are involved,

“

Kiss and Tell

percent of girls reported that they do not feel pressured to dress differently at parties.

Bek said decisions can be made to have fun.” in an altered state of mind that Jillian* ’17 said she was indon’t necessarily reflect some- fluenced by others’ opinions of one’s true feelings. hookup culture, but not in a “At that moment, the lack of negative way. After breaking up emotional involvement can be with her boyfriend, her friends utopian,” Bek said. “It can be encouraged her to hook up with something that one or both of other people and see what “felt the partners just at that time be- right.” lieves is not present, but I don’t She eventually got back tothink that they can be hooking gether with her boyfriend, but up without some emotion in- she said the nature of hooking volved.” up in her relationship changed. While casual hookup culture “It doesn’t feel like something has been widely accepted by Har- that matters anymore because vard-Westlake students, Harper* I did it with two people that I ‘19, who identifies as queer, said couldn’t care about less,” Jillian it’s more difficult for same-sex said. “Once it became normalized relationships to be no strings at- with a couple of other people, it tached. sort of became meaningless with “There are much less gay peo- my boyfriend.” ple who are out than there are While she was single, Jillian straight [people], so it’s more said the casual hookup culture awkward to start something ca- seemed completely backwards. sual,” Harper said. “It could work She said that it wasn’t someout well if two people are thing special that she completely on the same did with someone who page, but that’s probashe liked, but instead bly not always the case.” a way to test the waters Axel Rivera de Leon with someone to see if ’18, who identifies as she could potentially degay, said emotions are velop feelings. automatically involved “A lot of people don’t for same-sex hookups have an interest in just because they aren’t as sitting and talking for ’ common, making them hours with some ranAxel Rivera feel more meaningful. dom girl,” Jillian said. de Leon ’18 “There’s a sense of “But if you hook up with pride that you hooked up with them first it gives you a way in someone because it’s more of an and a reason to talk, and then accomplishment than it would you can start liking each other.” be for a heterosexual hookup,” Amanda said she used to feel Rivera de Leon said. “It’s a lot a similar pressure to hook up of odds that are working against with older boys as a way to get to you, so being able to make some- know them and feel better about thing out of that definitely feels herself. like more of an accomplishment.” But now she said she tries to Negative reactions to casual ignore slut-shaming and believes hookups often come from other girls should hook up with people people instead of those involved if that’s what they want to do, in the relationship, Rivera de not because they feel like they’re Leon said. supposed to. Clara said she is confident “You shouldn’t need a boy’s enough to vocalize her expec- attention or a boy to want to get tations but also worries about with you to make you feel like what others might think of her you accomplished something,” decisions. Amanda said. “I see the soph“I don’t feel comfortable shar- omores and the juniors going ing who I’ve hooked up with in a through what I went through, certain amount of time and fear and I just want to go up to them everybody finding out because and tell them it’s going to get stuff spreads like wildfire here,” better.” Clara said. “But it’s all on my terms. Everybody should be able *Names have been changed. nathanson s

The Chronicle polled 270 students Nov. 10 about their experiences with the modern “hookup” culture and emotional expectations.

percent of students think girls are judged more than boys for hooking up with someone.

percent of students think it’s possible to hook up wiwithout emotional atachments or expectations. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KATE SCHRAGE AND KRISTIN KUWADA

B8 Features

The Chronicle

Nov. 15, 2017

Transforming the Policy Students and faculty reflect on the experiences of transgender people on campus and discuss ways to promote inclusivity.

By Kendall Dees and Sophie Haber

community. That’s why I think representation across the board is so important.” Similarly, Cardin said that he Uriah Celaya ’18, who identifies as transgender, remembered when hopes to make it easier for students his French teacher Simona Ghir- to change their gender on Didax landa asked to talk to him after and official school documents and class. Nervous to speak with her, to offer a third gender option by the Celaya tried to recall what he could end of the school year. In order to provide a space to have done wrong. “I’ll protect you like a mother further discuss these issues and to lion protecting her cub if anyone pursue change on campus, Cardin tries to mess with you,” Ghirlanda said he is working to form a commitsaid, offering her support and giv- tee consisting of faculty and staff to tackle gender inclusivity concerns ing him resources to consult. Despite feeling initially afraid, at Harvard-Westlake. Cardin said Celaya described the experience of the committee intends to consider coming out to his peers as trans- ideas from other schools in order to learn from the successes and diffigender as primarily positive. At the beginning of this year, culties that other institutions have Celaya’s dean, Jennifer Cardillo, faced when adopting more gender-inclusive policies. sent an email to his teach“I’m excited that the ers, dean group and stuschool is super supportdents in his classes. She ive of these changes, and explained that he now they’re also supportive of identifies as male and inus taking a step back to structed his peers and figure out what’s the best teachers to use his correct thing to do and what’s the pronouns and name. After way that is going to make the first week of coming as many people feel as inout, Celaya said he felt sigcluded as possible,” Carnificantly more comfort’ din said. able on campus. Uriah The DEI office estab“No one’s really been Celaya ’18 lished two new all-gender disrespectful,” Celaya said. “Other than misgendering, bathrooms in September. Gender which I know is accidental I hope, and Sexuality Awareness Club leader Axel Rivera de León ’18 hopes the reactions have been good.” California Governor Jerry the new bathrooms will help set the Brown signed a bill Oct. 15 that tone for a more inclusive culture. In a Chronicle poll of 266 stuwill allow California residents who do not identify as male or female to dents, 86 percent of respondents indicate their preference on driv- said they think the all-gender bather’s licenses and birth certificates rooms are a positive addition to the with an ‘X’ in January of next year. school; however, not all students The bill will also make it easier for have felt comfortable using the retransgender residents to change strooms.Last year, it was common the gender they are legally classi- for students to lock the library’s fied as by removing the previous re- all-gender bathroom and pull it quirement for a psychologist’s note closed so no one could get in, English teacher Darcy Buck, who to make this legal change. In an effort to help everyone feel identifies as gender non-binary, accepted on campus, the school said. “I think that the perception administration is working to implement policies promoting gender of our institution is that it’s an queer-friendly and inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and extremely Inclusion Coordinator and science queer-supportive environment, and I think that uniformly our queer teacher Nate Cardin said. “Realizing they can go in Janu- students will tell you that that’s not ary of 2019 and have that changed the case,” Buck said. “They often and be seen as who they are has feel marginalized, they often feel to have such a positive impact on bullied and they feel that it’s very their self worth and their morale,” difficult to come out.” Quinn*, who identifies as transCardin said. “If you have people feeling better about themselves and gender, remembered walking out feeling seen and acknowledged, of the all-gender bathroom to stuthen they can bring that into the dents laughing and whispering unwhite s

der their breath. ing to gender non-binary students. “I think that a lot of students Cardin said that although this don’t really understand,” Quinn system was put into place with the said. “There are a few that are out- intention of providing more equal wardly transphobic, but I think representation, the consequence is that the majority of people just real- that students who are gender nonly don’t know that much or are just conforming or gender non-binary internally transphobic.” don’t know where they fit at all. Quinn said seemingly small acBoth Quinn and Celaya said tions, such as insensitive jokes re- that since the administration is garding gender identity, can have a working to make the school more large impact on queer students. inclusive, the attitudes of other “That’s funny I guess, but that’s students on campus toward the also the life I’m living right now,” LGBTQ community will ultimately Quinn said. “If you make ‘did you be the biggest factor in determining just assume my gender?’ jokes whether or not the school can be it makes trans people sound like considered a safe place for students they’re always getting unnecessar- to come out. ily upset.” Buck said education is the best Celaya said his entire gender way to ensure the student body is identity experience was not com- aware of the spectrum of gender pletely positive, as identities and is he received some welcoming of all negative feedback students. Moving forward, from his family. “I think what “I really do is needed is that the best thing for everyone feel like Harthese converto do is just keep an open vard-Westlake is a sations about good place to come mind and try and see where gender begin in out,” Celaya said. seventh grade people are coming from. “ “I came out to my when you get to mom and that —Axel Rivera de León ‘18 H a r v a r d - W e s t didn’t go the best lake,” Buck said. way, so I know the “We need to start other side of it too having those conwhere coming out might not be so versations very early on so that by great.” the time we get to this point, there Although Celaya said he con- aren’t people who are arguing that siders the school a safe communi- there are only two genders or that ty where he can embrace his gen- trans people are making it up.” der identity, he recognizes that the Rivera de León said that once school’s history as separate boys students are familiar with the genand girls schools can make it diffi- der spectrum, they will speak with cult for it to be naturally inclusive. more sensitivity and realize the poLast year, in the hope that it tential harm their words can cause. would create a more inclusive com“I think it is very easy to judge munity and prevent students from something that you’re uncomfortbeing confined to identifying as able with, so moving forward, the a certain gender, the administra- best thing for everyone to do is just tion and Prefect Council decided to keep an open mind and try and see have all seniors wear white robes at where people are coming from,” Rigraduation. vera de León said. This ended the tradition of male Cardin said his goal is to ensure students wearing black and fe- that everyone in the Harvard-Westmale students wearing white that lake community feels a sense of acevolved from the merging of the ceptance and belonging. two schools. Prefect council roles “Being seen and recognized for are still gender-restricted. There who you are is so essential,” Carare two male and two female rep- din said. “We don’t always have to resentatives elected for each grade, all agree on every single topic, but as well as both a male and female every single person should come to Head Prefect. this campus and be seen for who In response to the gender sep- they are and not feel like they have aration on Prefect Council, mem- to shy away from anything they bers of the middle school GSA have want to do.” started an initiative to make student government positions welcom*Names have been changed.

“

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SAM KO AND JENNY LI

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT The Chronicle • Nov. 15, 2017

“Auf Wiedersehen, À Bientôt...” Cast members and students who watched the fall production of “Cabaret” say the final number of the show and the ensemble contributed the most to the show’s impact.

By SARAH LEE

most exactly what it was I was hoping for, which was both a The house lights came up, celebration of individual expresand Sophia Nuñez ’20 found sion, as well as a stark lesson on herself in tears at the end of the the conditions under which hate Nov. 4 performance of “Caba- groups ﬂourish,” Pugh said. Pugh said he attributes ret.” She tried to distract herself and join in on conversations many of the reactions of the with friends, but the emotional school community to the play’s ability to force the audience to impact of the show remained. “Seeing how our lives ar- choose what it will and will not en’t forever and how we have support. “[‘Cabaret’] to do somemakes you begin thing during to examine all them just reSeeing how our of your own acally struck a lives aren’t forever and tions,” Pugh said. chord with me,” how we have to do “You applaud the Nuñez said. “I was inspired, something during them performers, but not so much just really struck a chord the piece makes you so uneasy, sad. It just with me.” which is really made me more aware about —Sophia Nunñez ’20 what it’s intended to do. I think our current that’s why it’s so times and how all of us have effects on each effective and why we saw the reother. I just got extremely emo- action we did from people who tional because it’s so relevant didn’t know the show.” Jaz Choi ’19, a student who to today to be able to make a watched the Nov. 6 performance, change.” According to Performing Arts said she was most affected by Department Head Rees Pugh, the ﬁnal number of the show. “Going into ‘Cabaret,’ I didn’t Nuñez was not alone in her reaction to the fall production of know what to expect,” Choi said. “Cabaret.” Pugh said that in ad- “I expected it to be very happy, dition to the reactions he saw but by the end of the second after the performances Nov. 2 act it was a lot more disheartand Nov. 4-6, he has received ening and depressing than I emails from parents and faculty expected it to be. And since what’s going members about their responses you know to happen, that to the show. makes “One parent wrote [me it even d e an email that] worse scribed al-

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because no one had a happy show. ending. It was a somber recog“We sort of exist to create the nition of the message that was world of the cabaret in which intended.” the show takes place,” Brindze Jake Schroeder ’20, who said. played the Emcee in the HarBrindze said the role of the vard-Westlake production, said ensemble was also to connect he has heard other students the world of the Kit Kat Kub to had reactions similar to Choi’s. that of the audience and criticize “People say that they per- patterns of apathy and complaceived this show as a lot light- cency. er before going into it, and then “At the end of the show, we after they felt really imdo this thing where we pacted by the show,” look out into the audiSchroeder said. “I ence as part of the last think that’s awesome number,” Brindze said. because the purpose ”It’s sort of calling to of the show is to show them to take action of people how cruel hutheir own.” manity can be.” Nuñez said she has He also said he bebeen having conversalieves the part that the tions with other stu’ ensemble plays in the dents about the show Shana musical contributed since she saw it, mostly Brindze ’19 the most to its impact. about the importance “[‘Cabaret] is such an en- of standing up against injustice. semble piece.” Schroeder said. “We hear ridiculous things “The ensemble’s dedication and in the news, but we may not involvement gave the show so have the power to stop them, much more of a punch. People and our only option is to speak have this preconceived notion out against it,” Nuñez said. that the ensemble is just back- “But I feel like a lot of people at ground people, but that’s so not school do not want to do that, true. It’s the unit as a whole, and that’s why it’s important to not just one speciﬁc part, and say that if you are not actively it’s the biggest part in the entire against something, then you show.” are passively agreeing with it. Shana Brindze ’19, who was We all need to make sure that in the ensemble, said she feels we are supportive of people who t h e ensemble’s role in might be different than us but “ C a b a r e t ” who still deserve is to set all of the same the tone basic human for the rights.” WHITE S

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SARAH LEE AND PAVAN TAUH

C2 A&E

THE CHRONICLE

NOV. 15, 2017

Singing Outside the Box Bel Canto has been preparing to sing three pieces at the Redlands High School Choral Festival. In their rehearsals, they have been employing new methods to push their boundaries.

ILLUSTRATION BY ALENA RUBIN

By GABI BERCHTOLD

choral music. Bel Canto will perform three It is a typical seventh period, pieces at the festival: Psalm 100, but the students eating lunch on Noel c’est l’amour, and an origithe quad see an unusual sight: the nal composition by Robles, Kumembers of Bel Canto cross the jichagulia, which means self-dequad and climb the stairs to Feld- termination in Swahili. They will man-Horn. Instead of practicing in perform Kujichagulia a capella, acthe Chalmers choir room, the en- companied by Robles on the djemsemble decided to shake up their be, an African drum. Robles said routine and practice in St. Sav- playing the djembe with Bel Canto is a good opportunity to collaboiour’s Chapel. “I really try to encourage them rate with her ensemble. “I actually went on YouTube and be a positive force, while at the same time insisting on excellence,” and looked up how to play the djembe,” Robles said. “I upper school Choir Direcspent a lot time learntor Zanaida Robles said. ing patterns and I actu“They have to get up in ally practice every day. I front of an audience and learned how to play the perform and they need to djembe as a result of these perform well. That’s the women [in Bel Canto] who expectation.” have inspired me.” Bel Canto will attend Bel Canto has been the Redlands High School preparing for the festival Choral Festival on Thursduring their class period day. Twenty-six ensemWHITE’S and has had their pieces bles will participate in memorized for the past Emma the festival, split between Sesar ’18 two weeks. morning and afternoon “Preparing for the fessessions. Bel Canto members will leave school at 6:30 am, tival has been a little challenging sing in the festival’s morning ses- since it is very close to the beginsion and return to school before ning of the year and we have a new teacher, so it was hard to get adthe end of the school day. During the festival, a music justed.” Bel Canto member Emma professional, called a master ad- Sesar ’18 said. During the festival preparation judicator, will judge the choral groups. Bel Canto will also sing process, Robles aimed to get Bel and interact with other choral Canto out of their comfort zone when performing. They have pracgroups. Robles said the festival will be ticed in St. Saviour’s Chapel and an opportunity to build camarade- on Ted Slavin Field. “These women are really crerie between schools, get Bel Canto out of the school environment ating an all-encompassing muand learn more about the world of sical experience all on their own,

and it’s really amazing to see them been working very hard and pushclaim that,” Robles said. “It’s very ing their limits as they’ve been prepowerful.” paring their pieces. Robles has been working with Robles hopes for the ensemble the all-girls ensemble to develop to eliminate mistakes and create a their voices and presence through- flawless performance for the festiout the year. She hopes the work val. will show during their performancAccording to ensemble memes. bers, Robles’ perfectionist attitude “[They have] a real openness has been beneficial to their work. and willingness to persevere,” Ro“Robles is strict about us knowbles said. “One of the biggest chal- ing our pieces but we sound a lot lenges, especially for a women’s better than we did last year.” Sesar ensemble, is claiming your pow- said. er. I’m really working to challenge Students value her approach to these women to claim their power, teaching and her perspective as a to be more energized, director. to sing with their “It is really nice whole body and not to have a female I really try to just their voice, to director,” Conway encourage them and be said. “She is able convince them that a positive force, while at to be strict with there is more in them that they can let out us, making sure the same time insisting and to not be afraid that we have our on excellence.” to be vulnerable.” music memorized, Bel Canto singers — Zanaida Robles while also bringappreciate the new ing a lot of fun to Choir Director the choir itself. perspective that Robles has brought to She is very conthe choir in her first few months as fident and very supportive of our director. singing. She is exactly what Bel “With our previous director, we Canto, and I believe all the other never performed at any competi- choirs, needed to get back on track tions, so it is really nice to go and towards success.” sing outside of Harvard-Westlake,” Robles hopes that regardless of Bel Canto member Sarah Conway the outcome of their performance, ’18 said. “I feel like Dr. Robles is the ensemble will take away one mixing a little more fun into this important message. competition. It is definitely serious “Your voice matters,” Robles and we are working very hard in said. You have more power than making sure we sound great, but you think you do. Don’t be afraid she also recognizes that this can to sing out. It’s all or nothing. Your also be a great bonding experience sound is informed by your mind, for Bel Canto.” your spirit, your body, and it takes Robles said the ensemble has all of that to have an impact.”

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NOV. 15, 2017

HWCHRONICLE.COM/AE

A&E C3

Striking a Chord After jazz combo performances, students reflect on the benefits of music and prepare for the upcoming strings fall concert.

itting at her desk, violinist Clara Ross ’19 read over her schedule for her next school year, realizing that she had to make an important decision that could define her Harvard-Westlake career: choosing between orchestra and debate. An eighth grader at the time, Ross sat in frustration as she weighed her two options. Ultimately, she decided she had to follow her true passion: music. “In the end, at the bottom of my heart, I know that it was the right choice because it shaped my identity, as a violinist, that I still hold until this day,” Ross said. “This school has a very strong music program, especially in comparison to most schools. In particular, we have a very strong chamber music program at the Upper School, which really helped me explore different mediums of music and connect with people.” Bass player Calvin Kaleel ’17 also voiced positive opinions on the impact the school’s music program has had on his life. “[The music] just enriches your life,” Kaleel said. “I am always humming a tune that I am playing in Jazz Band or Symphony, and it makes me really happy. I get to work with a lot of great, creative people, and I think everyone should have music in their lives. It is a great unifier and I just love it.” In the first few months of the school year, the upper school instrumental music program focused on starting off strong with each ensemble’s performance. Four jazz combos, made up of students from Jazz Band and Studio Jazz, performed in the Catalina Jazz Club on Oct. 22. Their repertoire included “Monday Night October,” an original composition by Charlie Kogen ’19, “Conception” by Miles Davis and “Passion Dance” by McCoy Tyner. In preparation for the performance, the combos practiced together almost every day for nearly two months. “[It is] a team effort to sound like we have been playing together for years, although we have only been playing together for a couple of months,” instrumentalist Otis Gordon

ALEXANDRA SO CATY SZETO

AND

’20 said. “It is a really fun process, and Faltus said. “A concert of this kind takes a great although it could be stressful at times, deal of work and preparation and it’s always very when playing on stage it all comes to- exciting when the actual performance day comes.” gether and it really feels like someThe concert will feature music played by each thing we all accomplished together. ensemble and combined pieces. Camarata Strings The performance demonstrated will perform “Minuet” by Joseph Haydn, “Royal to members what they could ac- Minuet” by Georg Philipp Telemann and “Brancomplish as a group and sparked denburg Concerto” by Johann Sebastian Bach. excitement for future performanc- Symphony will perform “Symphony in C” by es in the year. Georges Bizet and “Doctor Gradus Ad Par“The Catalina pernassum” by Claude Debussy. formance was definiteCamarata Strings and Symphony ly interesting because will collaborate and play “Serenade for it was the first concert Strings” by Dag Wiren. Hilt, who acwe ever played together cording to Faltus has a wonderfully rich as a group,” Gordon said. “But it knowledge of orchestral repertoire, secame together nicely and all the lected the music for the concert. groups playing all sounded clean. To prepare for the concert, the orI can’t wait to see how we progchestras will practice in after school reress throughout each concert.” hearsals as well as their regular classes. W ’ Musicians in Symphony and Otis Gordon ’20 Class rehearsals are split between full Camarata Strings will perensemble run-throughs and sectionals, form at the Upper School where only a specific section of the orFall Instrumental Music Concert on chestra practices. Nov. 17. “We rehearse the pieces as needed and I take In the absence of upper suggestions from the players as to what needs the school Symphony director most work as we approach the performance,” FalMark Hilt, players in both tus said. “The closer we get to the concert, the more ensembles have been re- we play through the pieces without stopping.” hearsing under the diFaltus also stressed the importance of sturection of substitute or- dents’ preparation at home. chestra teacher Daniel “Each group makes progress toward the final Faltus, who has worked goal, but it’s also up to the individual musicians to part time for the school practice on their own,” Faltus explained. since 2013 as a pianist, Faltus said he hopes his students will take musical director for away something new as individual musicians. He the fall musicals and said he wants the music in the concert to not only substitute teacher in touch the audience members watching the show, the performing arts but also the performers playing on stage. department. “[I hope] they come away having improved as “I am delighted to individual players and orchestral members,” Faltus be involved and I look said. “And of course that they have experienced the forward to the evening,” unparalleled joy of music.” HITE S

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXANDRA SO

C4 ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Berry Delicious

By KAELYN BOWERS Standing before a line of television cameras, Berry Nakash ’20 cooked her favorite risotto for the judges of “MasterChef Junior.” Nakash said she wasn’t planning on going onto “Mas-

THE CHRONICLE

NOV. 15, 2017

Berry Nakash ’20 talks about her new catering job, the cultures that inspire her most when creating dishes and how “MasterChef Junior” changed her life

terChef Junior” but found out about the opportunity through a friend. The auditions included identifying exotic foods, following judges’ specific cooking instructionsand copying specific cutting techniques. Although Nakash thought the auditions were easy, she said the callbacks were more difficult and required her to go to a hotel kitchen and create a dish in a 30 minute time limit. Nakash said the most rewarding part of her experience on the show was the relationships she built following her participation. “I met so many people there that I’m still friends with now,” Nakash said. “The experience was just amazing and I learned a lot from it. I was only there for an episode but I managed to get

so much out of it.” “My mom says I’ve been After the show, Nakash cooking since I was two,” Nastarted working for a catering kash said. company, which requires her She ﬁnds most of her inspito attend events and cook for ration from her cultural backguests during ground. the summer “I am half and on weekChinese and There was one ends. half Israeli so most of the “Masterchef week where I was Junior has testing cake recipes and things that I opened up a make are midI had a cake every single dle eastern and lot of opportunities for me,” I would say day for two weeks,” most of that is Nakash said. —Berry Nakash ’20 inﬂuenced by “For example with the catermy grandparents,” Nakash ing job, I don’t think I would said. When Nakash travels to Ishave gotten it without being on MasterChef Junior. It shows rael, she typically studies the that you have a level of exper- spices used in traditional dishes and added them to her own tise within that craft.” She said she has cooked recipes.She said her recipes since before she can remember. are never taken straight from

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a book but instead developed by trial and error. “There was one week when I was testing cake recipes and I had a cake every single day,” Nakash said. Since coming to Harvard Westlake in ninth grade, she has had to ﬁnd time outside of school to pursue her passion. “I feel like I have less time to do cooking because of the amount of work that is required here but I still feel like I am able to cook fairly often and still be creative within that time,” Nakash said. In the future, Nakash hopes to study management and have a large franchise based off her name. She also wants to own a smaller restaurant where she can pursue her creativity and use high quality ingredients.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF BERRY NAKASH

BON APPETIT: LEFT: Berry Nakash ’20 cooks an oven-roasted duck breast served on slices of rutabaga. CENTER: Nakash presents a stack of sautéed lamb chops upon a rosemary bed, marinated in a rub. RIGHT: Nakash showcases a birthday cake airbrushed with an altered version of the Mona Lisa resembling her mother.

Easy as Pumpkin Pie

Across 1. 1960s hallucinogen 4. Paper quantity 8. Read, as a bar code 12. Newspaper column piece 14. Civil rights org. 15. Indianapolis football team 16. Judge’s attire 17. Photographed 18. Camel’s cousin 19. Thanksgiving side dish mashed between the cushions? 22. Pond growth 23. Super Mario Bros. video game console 24. ___ Paulo, Brazil 27. Makes sure the turkey is browned on both sides? 32. Greek letter X 35. Castle’s watery defense 36. Chopped into small cubes 37. Points scored in baseball 39. Place at an angle 42. Batman bad guy 43. Killer whales 45. The Hawkeye State 47. Item stuffed in an env. 48. “Don’t eat your bread so quickly!”? 52. Senior-level experimental science class at Harvard-Westlake: abbr. 53. Hospital workers: abbr. 54. Outdoor area 58. Stufﬁng eaten in the stables? 63. Singer with albums titled “19”, “21”, and “25” 65. Greek god of love 66. At any point 67. Something used to lure in and mislead 68. Incline plane

Science teacher Nate Cardin created a Thanksgiving-themed crossword puzzle for HarvardWestlake students to complete. Crossword puzzles will be featured in every issue this year.

69. Thick cord 70. Romantic outing 71. Inﬂuence 72. Wall and Sesame, for two: abbr. Down 1. Spanish poet Garcia _____ 2. Thread holder 3. Clean up a computer program 4. Hoarse voice 5. Canyon sound 6. Many 7. Teenage _____ Ninja Turtles 8. Only 9. Music genre that includes Mozart 10. Cash dispenser 11. Secretive intelligence org. 13. Coffee type that won’t give you a boost 15. Not open 20. Captain’s place on a ship 21. Typo so common that it has become an internet meme 25. Grammatically correct version of ain’t 26. More unusual 28. Platform for Apple mobile devices 29. Buddy 30. One of many ways up or down at Harvard-Westlake 31. Baby’s highchair attire 32. Religious symbol for some 33. Throws 34. Wrong 38. Gory movie franchise 40. Neither’s partner 41. The only even prime number

4 13

16 19

20 23 27 33

51 54

62 66

42 46

53 58

36 39

72 CROSSWORD BY NATE CARDIN

44. Australian city (but not its capital!) 46. Swiss mountains 49. “The Lord of the Rings” creature 50. Shows to one’s seat 51. Intense red beam 55. Records a TV show for later, perhaps

56. Incompetent 57. Shrek and Fiona, for two 59. Soothing plant Scan 60. Sketch or doodle for 61. Italy’s capital, to Italians Answers! 62. TV sports award 63. Contribute (to) 64. Org. in “Breaking Bad”

Sports The Chronicle • Nov. 15, 2017

Field of Dreams Athletes hope for more practice space and better facilities at newly purchased Weddington Golf & Tennis.

By Aaron Park By the time Ashlee Wong ’18 finishes basketball practice, it’s already dark outside. Even after a two-hour-long practice, Wong’s night is just beginning. She still has a full schedule of homework and studying to finish before school the next day. It’s worse for some of her teammates. Wong lives only 15 minutes from campus, while some players live more than half an hour away. Wong said that stress over post-practice obligations often affect players, preventing them from getting the most out of practice. Because of the limited space currently available at the upper school campus, some practices do not begin until as late as 7:00 p.m., but after the school announced its purchase of Weddington Golf & Tennis, located less than a mile from the upper school campus, athletes expressed hope that the expansion of athletic facilities would allow them to achieve more balance. The school plans to build a community athletics center on the new property. Designs for the new facilities have not yet started and will most likely take up to two years, President Rick Commons said. The field hockey and football teams currently share Ted Slavin Field during the fall season. During the late fall, winter teams begin their training seasons; the girls’ volleyball team shares Taper Gym with the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams while the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams begin practicing on Ted Slavin Field. The fencing team and drumline currently share a small room located behind Hamilton Gym. “It’s difficult to share the field with football because neither team is able to have 100 percent intensity,” field hockey player Mia Reilly ’18 said. “We are both worried about hitting balls onto the other team’s side of the field or being too distracting.” Additionally, the baseball and softball teams practice and play home games at the Mid Valley complex in Encino, 7.8 miles away from the Upper School. O’Malley Family Field, the baseball program’s home venue located on the com-

plex, opened in 2010. The Los Angeles “The biggest benefit for us moving to a Times reported that the facility cost new facility would probably be everyone $700,000. being able to actually practice simultaneThe boys’ and girls’ golf programs ously,” Ahn said. “It would be really great currently practice and play at the Enci- for all of us to have space to practice. no Golf Course, 7.5 miles away from Most of us just have people just standing campus. around waiting for a strip to open up, so In the Chronicle’s November poll, 85 there aren’t enough [practice] strips.” percent of 191 athletes said they were in While the administration said they favor of the school’s plans to convert the plan to repurpose the golf course, exact Weddington property into a sports facility. 79 percent of athletes said they think plans on the extent of the renovations have yet to be determined. the school needs more practice space. “Having a driving range at WeddingThe desire for more facilities for teams to conduct simultaneous prac- ton would absolutely be a help to the golf tices and games was a common theme team,” golfer Josie Baker ’18 said. “Havamong athletes. Girls’ basketball player ing a practice facility so close to the camMelanie Hirsch ’18 said that she hopes pus would be a huge improvement from girls’ sports in particular would having to drive to a range have earlier practice slots, inhalf an hour away. That bestead of scheduling practice after ing said, I’m not sure if a boys’ sports. driving range is necessarily Multiple members of the cheer the best use of the space, as team said that they were dissatnot everyone in the commuisfied with their current practice nity plays golf and it takes up arrangements. Last year, an evea good portion of the land.” ning cheerleading practice was The Tribull Family recancelled after noise complaints cently sponsored a refurfrom neighbors. nathanson’s bishment for courts at the “I wish we had a facility that Grace Los Angeles Valley College, had mats so we could practice our Swift ’19 where the girls tennis team stunting,” cheerleader Anneliese currently plays home games. Breidsprecher ’18 said. “We pracThe team recently took part in a ribtice in Hamilton [gym] but we get kicked out as soon as another team that has bon-cutting ceremony at LAVC, where greater priority needs it, which sucks it currently plays home games. School because we have just as much priority president Rick Commons and Head of as them.” Athletics Terry Barnum attended the cerVolleyball player Eve Baxter ’19 sug- emony. gested using the new space to expand Tennis player Lara Mikhail ’18 said the current program. that while she is grateful for the reno“There’s definitely been talk recently vations at LAVC, playing at Weddington about building beach volleyball courts, would be much more convenient. which would be amazing,” Baxter said. “I still think it’s a great thing that the “The program hasn’t really developed Tribull family did, to fix up those courts a ton recently because, in itself, beach and make them all nice,” Grace Swift volleyball isn’t huge, but it’s coming up ’19 said. “They built the courts because right now and growing a lot. I think by the time that structure is done, if there they wanted to continue the tradition of were to be a beach volleyball court there excellent tennis. I think that having nice courts in the valley is a nice thing to have, that would be great.” Other teams currently practice in no matter if we’re using them or not.” When asked to comment, Barnum and small facilities. Fencer David Ahn ’18 said that upgrading to a bigger space Athletic Director Jason Kelly directed all inquiries to Commons. would benefit his team.

ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE KIM

D2 Sports

Game to watch NOVEMBER 21 Basketball vs. Campbell Hall Taper Gym The Wolverines will host Campbell Hall to open the highly-anticipated season, seeking a victory to establish their presence in the CIF Southern Section. The team, led by Head Coach David Rebibo, hopes to add to successes in a 23-12 2016 season. Campbell Hall, 9-16 last year, will try to upset the young team with experience. But Harvard-Westlake’s raw talent is undeniable. key player

Johnny Juzang '20 With the departure of three key players after last season, small forward Johnny Juzang '20 is expected to assume a larger role. Juzang was already a big part of the offense last season, averaging 16.2 points a game even in his freshman year. He has recieved national recognition for his talents, ranked by ESPN.com as the 15th best prospect for his class.

& Figures Facts

Number of loses by the girls' field hockey team

Ranking of girls' volleyball in California

88%

Win percentage by girls' tennis in league

164

Ranking of the football team in California

Junior Varsity Boys' Basketball Next Game:

Nov. 27 @ Heritage Christian

Girls' Soccer Next Match:

Nov. 30 @ OC Winter Showcase

Girls' Basketball Next Match: Nov. 30 @ Burroughs

Boys' Soccer Next Game: Nov. 28 @ OC Winter Showcase

The Chronicle

Nov. 15, 2017

Field Hockey

Undefeated champs win title • Continued from A1

and goalkeeper Elly Choi ’18, who only let in one goal throughout the entire season. “[Choi] was telling people where to be, who to cover and that was part of our success because she was our eyes on the field,” Bahar said. “There were also times where it got past the defense and got to her and another player and she just made some really amazing saves. She was smart about it. She never LUCAS GELFOND/CHRONICLE flubbed the ball. She never MAMMA MIA: Mia Reilly '18 controls the ball in a game against Huntington Beach on Oct.7. The team took a step in the wrong defeated the Oilers in this game, winning 1-0. The girls finished the season with a record of 20-0. direction.” Members of the team They sang and danced attitude every game as key to [our rising seniors] are really highlighted their closeness before every game to get their success. strong and passionate about as one of the main driving excited and ate together "Every practice was like a field hockey,” Tran said. factors in the successful afterwards to celebrate. championship game," Creznic “Rachel [Brown] of course, season. “The older girls are always said. "They just fought so who won MVP of the league, Stopper Cypress Toomey saying hi to you on campus,” hard every practice making ’19 said it was only natural Pizer said. “You really feel like each other better. They were she will definitely keep the for the team to celebrate such we’re such a team off the field really focused on just doing team going strong.” Despite the departure of a momentous win together. as well.” their best every single game current senior leaders, Tran “It definitely was first Team captain Alyse Tran and it paid off.” instinct to celebrate with the ’18 compared the team's The 20-0 season was a said she is hopeful for the whole team because we’ve closeness to a family. strong improvement over the next season. all worked so hard for this “They’re all really strong “Beyond it all, we’re not team’s 15-3-3 record last and it wouldn’t have been just a field hockey team, season. players and really strong possible without every single we’re 100 percent a family,” This year's team was leaders so I think that they’re one of us,” Toomey said. “It Tran said. “No matter how older, 11 seniors and 11 definitely going to step up,” wouldn’t have been possible cheesy that sounds, that’s underclassmen. Tran said. without us as a team, so the really what keeps us going Left midfielder Isabella Team captain Mia Reilly first thing we wanted to do for the entire time, every Huang ’19 said ’18 said she was celebrate together.” single game. No matter who she thinks the was very The team’s cohesion we played and no matter dynamic will proud of the allowed for cooperation- what the score was it was like change with the Every practice team’s overall based plays like touch-and- playing with my sisters.” shift in grade was like a championship performance goes, where two players pass Lee said she was proud balance next game. They fought so this season. the ball back and forth up the of the team’s temperament season. “I am so field until one is able to score. throughout the season. “I’m not hard every practice proud of Right forward Sydney Pizer “Even though we didn't sure how next making each other better." e v e r y b o d y ’19 said the team’s closeness experience any losses, I'm year will turn off the field also led to better so proud of how we never out yet, but —Erin Creznic for the way communication during lost our spirit,” Lee said. my hopes are finished Head Coach they games. “We played our game every high,” Huang our season “The fact that we’re all time. We never stooped to said. “Last well," Reilly very close just means that low levels when we knew year, we had half the amount said. "We really left it all out we work really well with each we were playing against a of seniors on the team on the field for playoffs. Our other,” Pizer said. “I think less competitive team. We compared to how many we competitiveness is what really we care about each other a played with confidence and had this year and it kind of helped us to beat every other lot. It’s just this very close poise when going against the changes the dynamic of the team and remain undefeated team dynamic. We’re really a hardest teams. No matter team in general.” group. None of us are playing what type of team we were Tran mentioned Brown the whole season. I wish the for ourselves. We’re playing playing, we stuck to our and all of the team’s rising team the best of luck in the for the team.” own agenda and executed it seniors (Huang, Toomey and future and I know that many Pizer said the team spends without fail each time.” Pizer) as potential leaders of us seniors will be watching the livestreams and cheering a lot of time together off the Creznic echoed Lee, going into the next season. field. mentioning the team's “I think every single one of the family on from college.”

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Football

Rebound season ends in first round of playoffs

By Jackie Greenberg

The football team has made significant strides since its 2016 season, improving upon last season's overall record of 3-8 and a league record of 0-5 to this season's 8-2 overall record and 3-2 record in league. Despite the improvement, the team's chances of a CIF championship vanished Friday when the squad lost 49-44 to Saint Joseph's in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs. From the start of the summer, the Wolverines have not only changed their defensive and offensive line, but also the coaching staff and plays.

Players say that the team has been better this year on both sides of the ball because of adjustments the coaching staff has made to the playbook. “I believe our offense is more explosive this year,” halfback Thomas Glover '18 said. “I think that we have players on our offense who can give us big plays any time they touch the ball. Our defense is more confident this year than last year. I think that our scheme is also a better design for the players we have.” Head Coach Scot Ruggles, who did not call offensive plays last season, assumed the role of offensive coordinator this year. • Continued on D6

JACKIE GREENBERG/CHRONICLE

CATCH AND RUN: Halfback Jake Kelly '20 runs with the ball in the homecoming game against Cathedral on Oct.7.

Nov. 15, 2017

hwchronicle.com/sports

Sports D3

inbrief

Girls’ Tennis

Alum Nik Turley ’08 claimed by Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates claimed Nik Turley ’08 off the waivers from the Minnesota Twins on Nov. 5. Turley spent most of 2017 playing for the Twins and is the third player to be claimed off its waivers. He pitches at 90-91 mph and can throw a curveball at 77-79 mph. After playing for the Wolverines, he went to the New York Yankees. He was in Minor League Baseball a total of ten seasons. —Rachel Brown

Basketball twins commit to Pepperdine

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END OF THE ROAD: Lara Mikhail ’18 warms up for a match. The team faced Palos Verdes in the first round of the CIF playoffs, after previously losing to them 4-14 earlier in the season. In the playoffs, the team lost to Palos Verdes again with a score of 3-15.

Team’s season ends after CIF defeat

By Ben Tenzer

best attempt. “We lost but we left it all The girls’ tennis team’s on the court so I don’t think season came to a close with the score reflected how we a 3-15 loss to Palos Verdes in played,” Chloe Donovan ’19 the first round of the CIF play- said. “We all had so much energy and ended the season on offs. The final matchup saw the a high note.” Having played Palos Verdes girls facing an opponent they the players said they lost to 4-14 earlier in had an idea of what to the season. expect from their opDespite the seaponent. son-ending loss, “We already knew team members said that this team was gothey saw positives in ing to be tough,” team how the match went. captain Lara Mikhail “The team was ’18 said. “We played pretty disappointed them in the beginning because we really W ’ of the season and lost wanted to move onto Chloe 4-14. They have a lot the next round, but I Donovan ’19 of high-caliber playthink we were all reers. We were hoping ally proud of how we played,” Grace Swift ’19 said. “Every- to get a little bit better of a reone was cheering each other sult but we honestly were not on and energy was high until expecting to wipe them out. Everyone just went in with the the end.” Another player reflected mindset that they were just goon how they had given it their ing to get everything back and hite s

fight till the very last point.” The Wolverines finished Despite the CIF loss, team the season with an overall remembers said they are satis- cord of 8-4 and had only one fied with their success this league loss for the second seaseason. “We definitely knew going son in a row. Members of the squad, esinto the season that because we lost a lot of strong players, pecially standout underclasswe were going men who plan to to have troube returning next ble being as The team was year look forward dominant,” to the 2018 seapretty disappointed Mikhail said. son, Donovan “We worked because we really really hard said. wanted to move onto this season “Next year, the next round.” and we’re it would great if honestly —Grace Swift ’19 we got farther in a different CIF but my main team now goal is to have than we were at the beginning of September. an experience as great as this While we’re disappointed to be year has been,” Donovan said. eliminated from CIF so early, “I feel so bonded to my teamwe’re proud of this season, mates that it feels like a famand also we knew that it was a very real possibility that CIF ily, which I hope is continued finals were just not happening next year because it is someagain.” thing really special.”

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Girls’ Volleyball

Squad prepares for Division I state meet

By Ryan Albert

The girls’ volleyball team is looking forward to state after losing to Corona Del Mar in the CIF-SS Quarter Finals. The girls made it to the third round of CIF playoffs, an improvement from last year’s first-round elimination. The team has overcome defeats, like their first loss to Alemany in 21 years, and went on to win against Temecula in their biggest upset in the second round of playoffs. Volleyball program head Hayley Blanchard said that the best part of this season was that win against Temecula, the third-seeded team. “We were the clear underdogs and people were not expecting us to come out,” Blanchard said. “The girls played great and handled the match mentally really well.”

Although the team is no longer in contention for a CIF Southern Section victory, its victory in the second round of CIF playoffs allows them to compete in Division I State. After their post-season victories, Blanchard is hoping to find success in Division I State. “The top four teams from SoCal will not be [in our division] so it will be us battling all the other teams that also lost tonight,” Blanchard said. Outside hitter Bella Hedley ’18 believes that the team’s improvement came as a result of their cooperation and close unity they found. “Everyone came in very talented individually but we really learned how to play with each other and to build team chemistry,” Hedley said. Libero Isabel Wiatt ’18 agreed that the team’s chemistry and attitude in play contrib-

Jayda Ruffus-Miller ’18 and Jayla Ruffus-Miller ’18 both verbally committed to the womens’ basketball program at Pepperdine University on Nov. 8. Jayda Ruffus-Miller is 5’11” and averaged 12.3 points per game. Jayla Ruffus-Miller is also 5’11” and averaged 15 points per game in the 2017 season,. The twins were the first two to commit to Pepperdine’s class of 2018. Jayla Ruffus-Miller was also named the Los Angeles Daily News Girls Basketball Player of the Year last season. The twins signed their letters of intent Nov. 8, which confirmed their attendance in Pepperdine next fall. —Joanna Im

Baseball players sign letter of intent Jesse Bergin ’18 and Loren Frank ’18 signed letters of intent to play baseball at Division I schools on November eighth. As a sophomore, Bergin led the Wolverines to the CIF Southern Section Championship game. Next year, he will join the Pac-12 UCLA Bruins. Frank will join the Loyola Marymount University Lions. “Both players are strong leaders and are of good character on and off the field,” baseball coach Jared Halpert said. This season, Bergin and Frank will look to lead the Wolverines to a successful season during their senior year. —Eugene Wyman

Softball player Waco signs letter of intent

RYAN ALBERT/CHRONICLE

BUMP IT: Carly Wallace ’20 receives the ball in game. The team is preparing for the state meet after a loss in CIF playoffs. uted to the team’s success. “Once we established this bond, we stopped playing for ourselves and started playing for each other,” Wiatt said. “This made us much more aggressive, and has ultimately led to our team’s success.” The team’s success comes after a season of assimilation with a new coaching staff. Wiatt said that some players

were nervous for a new coach, but that Blanchard turned out to be the best coach she has ever had. “She knows the perfect balance between being a coach and being a friend,” Wiatt said. “We love her, she has been extremely valuable to our girls’ volleyball program, and was an excellent addition to the HW athletics team.”

Ashley Waco ’18 signed a letter of intent to the University of Pennsylvania for softball Oct. 10 after verbally committing during her junior year. Waco said she had pressure to perform well in school and on the field before her commit because the recruiting process for softball begins in eighth grade. After visiting the school, Waco said she fell in love with the city, campus and athletic facilities and knew it was her first choice. Waco said her commit allowed her to have more fun while playing without worrying about college scouts. —Grant Palmer

D4 SPORTS

THE CHRONICLE

NOV. 1

15, 2017

HWCHRONICLE.COM/SPORTS

SPORTS D5

As the winter season approaches, teams reassemble and prepare to face their opponents. Here is a primer on what to expect for the season.

ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN ALBERT AND SAM KO

D6 Sports

The Chronicle

Nov. 15, 2017

Comeback season ends in defeat

Cross Country

• Continued from D2

RYAN ALBERT / CHRONICLE

LORD OF THE RINGS: Cross country team captain Adin Ring ’18 runs in the Mission League Finals at Crescenta Valley Park. Both the girls’ and boys’ team took second place at the meet. The teams competed at Crescenta earlier this year at the second Mission League meet.

Team looks toward state meet win By Ryan Kim

Following its success in the regular season, the cross country team entered the postseason poised for CIF preliminaries and finals season. The team hopes to repeat last season’s strong performance and qualify for the state meet for the second year in a row. “For prelims, our goal is a steady race that qualifies us to move onto finals the next weekend,” Captain Lila Cardillo ’18 said, “From there, our focus will be on qualifying for the state meet.” The team’s performance at the finals qualified them for the CIF Southern Section prelims on Nov. 11 in Fresno.

If the runners perform well at the prelims, they can then qualify them for the CIF finals. The team aims to continue its streak and make it to the all-state meet. Due to a CIF rule change, more teams have been allowed to qualify for the CIF meet out of the prelims. On Nov. 1, the team competed in the Mission League Finals at Crescenta Valley Park. Both the varsity girls and boys finished in second place overall in the league. Natalia Quintero ’21 became the league champion, winning first place with a time of 18:27 and Cardillo came in fifth place with a time of 19:56. Jonah Ring ’18 placed eighth in 16:21

followed by Andrew Shibuya talent,” Adin Ring said. ’19 in ninth place in 16:29. The girls team gained a The team has had troubles number of new freshman with injuvarsity runries on both ners this year. the girls’ and These emergboys’ teams ing runners inOur goal is a throughout Quinsteady race that qualifies cluded the season. tero, who took us to move onto finals Jonah Ring first place at and Captain the Griffith Park the next weekend” Adin Ring ’18 league meet. — Lila Cardillo ’18 were both Additionout with inally, Shibuya juries at the has contribGriffith Park uted to the meet on Sept. 26, in which boys’ team’s success. the boys’ squad achieved secShibuya took seventh ond place behind Loyola. place at both the Seaside “Our team isn’t as deep and the Sunny Hills/Wayne this year as it was last year, Walker Invitationals, on Sept. but we have lots of great 8 and Sept. 23 respectively.

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is also a better design for the players we have.” Head Coach Scot Ruggles, who relinquished offensive playcalling last season, assumed the role of offensive coordinator this year, and the result has been a quicker-paced offense. “Coach Ruggles calls plays now, and he runs a really fast, uptempo offense, which wears defenses out, then tries to knit pick a little hole that occurs once the defense is tired,” USC commit and offensive lineman Liam Douglass ’18 said. “Jameson [Wang ’20] has done a really good job for us, we need that offense and we have some great playmakers like Cam [Jones ’19] and Thomas [Glover ’19].” Ruggles has also worked to base the new, uptempo offense around the talents of Wang, using the read-option to best utilize his talents. Wang has emerged as a talented dual-threat quarterback who can pass from the pocket or rush out of the read-option. With 15 rushing touchdowns and over 20 passing, Wang leads the team in not just passing yards but also rushing yards. “Last year I feel like we were young, some of us were trying to figure out how to play football,” Douglass said. “This year I feel like we all bought in, there are guys who bought into the whole ‘we’re going to go as far as we can and win a CIF championship’ mindset. Obviously with Coach Ruggles calling the plays we get them a lot quicker, and we are able to move faster which plays to our strengths. Also our defense is so much better than it was last year with Defensive Coordinator Patrick Cartmill.”

Girls’ Golf

Squad finishes strong season By Adam Yu and Oliver Akhtarzhad

ported each other, which led us to play our best out on the course,” Claire Dennis The girls’ golf team finished ’18 said. “Meeting up with my the regular season on a strong teammates after matches was note with a victory against one of the highlights of matchAlemany 204-286 Oct. 12. es for me, because everyone They finished with an over- would encourage each other and support one all record of 6-1 and a another no matter league record of 5-1, how we all played.” which is slightly lowDaisy Wan ’20 er than their perfect shared some of the record from last year. squad’s strengths The squad only gave and the reasons for up a match againtst the team’s strong the Marlborough performance. Mustangs 206-212. “Throughout the Girls’ golf won the ’ season, the overall first consecutive five strengths were that Claire matches of the seawe were a great team Dennis ’18 son, including wins skill-wise and menagainst Chaminade, Notre Dame and Marymount tally,” Wan said. “I think the with scores of 187-272, 187- team’s compatibility was really 205 and 192-237, respectively. good this year. We always had Players touted team chemis- a lot of fun and played our best try as part of the reason for their and when we didn’t, we always success during the season. had support. We all had bad “This year we had a close- days here and there but I didn’t knit team and we really sup- think we had like a weakness.” white s

The girls finished in third place as a team in the CIF-SS Team Tournament on Oct. 30, which qualified them for the Women’s Southern California Golf Association semifinals. The squad’s finish exceeded the players’ original outlooks as it wasn’t sure how they would fare compared to last season. “The season’s results surpassed my expectations,” Dennis said. “I am so proud of everyone on the team because they accomplished what the Harvard-Westlake girls’ golf team has not accomplished in many years by making it to the CIF State semifinals.” Dennis reflected on her golf career at Harvard-Westlake as a whole. “I am so proud to have been on a team and playing in tournaments with so many talented golfers,” she said. “This golf team has really shaped my experience at HarvardWestlake because it is such a supportive community.”

ADAM YU /CHRONICLE

GUO UP: Karina Guo ’18 swings away in a match against Louisville at the Encino Golf Course. The team went 6-1 for the season.

Nov. 15, 2017

hwchronicle.com/sports

Sports D7

Water Polo

Team suffers second round playoff exit

By Asa Saperstein

Maloney ’18 said. “Our record doesn’t define this seaAfter upsetting last year’s son as much as our end. We Division I champion Orange were the least talented team Lutheran 9-8 in the first round on paper and we finished as of CIF, the boys’ water polo a top team in the nation.” team’s hopes of a CIF chamThis was not the first time pionship vanished Nov. 8 that this year’s team let a when they fell in double-over- late-game lead go in overtime. time to Oaks Christian, last It lost its third game of year’s Division III champion. the year, falling 9-8 to NewIn the CIF Southern Sec- port, in double-overtime. tion Division I boys’ water The biggest difficulty that polo semifinal, the Wolver- the team has had this season ines held a 7-6 lead near the is capitalizing on offensive opend of the fourth quarter. portunities, attacker Alex BuBut with cur ’19 said. just twelve “[Frustraseconds left tion] stems in the game, We were the least from the fact Oaks Christian talented team on paper that we haven’t was able to converted in put in a lastand we finished as a top those big mosecond goal to ments,” Buteam in the nation.” force overtime. cur said. “After Both teams —Keller Maloney ’19 playing for the went scoreless past two years during the first with hyperovertime, but talented teams, this year has Oaks Christian scored on the Wolverines with a penalty shot been more difficult, but more in the second overtime to bare- enjoyable at the same time.” The team barely manly edge the Wolverines 8-7. aged a winning overThe team scored five record, at 16-13. goals in the third period, all As usual, it dominated its but, like many previous times this season, strug- league matches, going undegled in late-game situations. feated, with an average marDespite the loss, players said gin of victory in league of 17 they think that the team’s CIF goals and took third place run was impressive this year. in the Elite 8 Tournament. Goalkeeper Sam Krutonog “We were 12 seconds from the CIF championship, and ’18 said that the team’s win we almost completed a fairy- against Huntington Beach tale run,” attacker Keller in the tournament was one

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PAVAN TAUH /CHRONICLE

NEA-GOALS: Ryan Neapole ’19 recieves a pass. Neapole and his fellow underclassmen will take on

new leadership roles without players like Keller Maloney ’18 and Sam Krutonog ’18 leading the team.

of the teams defining moments and showed that when they play hard and smart, they can play with anyone. After falling to Huntington Beach 9-8, the team defeated them Sept. 16 to secure the third place finish. The Wolverines faced a 10-8 deficit heading into the fourth quarter. They then scored four unanswered goals in the final quarter to take the match. Despite struggles throughout the season, players said that wins like this show

how well-coached and welldisciplined the team is. “The last win against Huntington Beach proved that our squad can play with anyone, especially when we are the aggressors,” Krutonog said. Bucur reflected on the season with fondness and thinks that the CIF run was a success, despite falling short of competing in the championship. “We faced a ton of adversity through the season in wins and losses,” Bucur said. “It was the trust we had in each other that allowed us

to stick together in the moments. No matter the circumstances, we always stuck together as a single unit. That allowed us to grow together as a group and lead us to being successful in CIF this year.” Next season, Head of Aquatics Brian Flacks will have to deal with more important senior departures that will affect the team’s chemistry and starting lineup. Krutonog and Maloney, who has emerged as the team’s best offensive weapon, players said, will graduate.

D8 SPORTS

THE CHRONICLE

Q&A

NOV. 15, 2017

Johnny Juzang Basketball

By JACKIE GREENBERG MARCELO BLANDER RODRIGUEZ

AND

How long have you been playing basketball? Seriously for about three years, but I have been playing since I was four. I don’t know how tall I was then, but right now I’m 6’ 7”. What motivates you to play basketball? I just want to be great. I want to be the greatest. What’s it like being an underclassman on varsity? It’s not really anything. We only have one senior and two juniors. Grade level isn’t really a big deal. Plus I was on the team last year, so I feel like I’m a leader. How is the team responding to losing some key players? Pretty well. Everybody is playing well and bonding well. I don’t think that it has had a big impact. Once it happened everybody moved on. How did your role change this year? I’m deﬁnitely doing a lot more this year. It’s good for me. I have to do a lot more and be a leader now. Just forced to do a lot more on the court. I have a lot more responsibilities and it’s been very good for my growth. What’s on your pregame playlist from last year? Big Soulja, Famous Dex, P Diddy, some 50 Cent, little bit of Chief Keef, a lot of bangers. I like to go crazy before the games, but can’t pick just one. Where does the nickname Silky come from? Just because I play smooth, stuff like that. I got it from that and my shot. I also have the nickname Draco because I spray, you know with my jump shot. What do you see for your future? College and NBA for sure. I want to play for the Lakers. I wouldn’t call myself a Lakers fan, but playing for the hometown team would be really cool. What are you most excited for this season? Just playing, putting on a show. Turning it up for the people watching. I’m really excited to just play the game I love. It’ll be a lot of fun.

Stats

Who’s your basketball role model? [I really like] Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash. Kobe is just a beast. I try to model my offensive game after him and Jordan, especially my work ethic. As far as facilitating and leadership, I try to model myself after Nash. What’s your favorite thing about basketball? I just like playing basketball because it’s something I’ve done for a long time. I really like to shoot.

15 7 16.2

Current rank in the ESPN 25

Division I NCAA oﬀers Points per game as a freshman

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