CHRONICLE tHE HaRvaRd wEstLakE
Studio City • Volume 29 • Issue 6 • March 3, 2020 • hwchronicle.com
By ruoshan Dong anD Frank Jiang Glancing outside her window at the nearly empty streets, Catherine Zhu, a student at Harvard-Westlake’s sister school WLSA Shanghai Academy, could think only of how badly she wanted to go outside. But Zhu was stuck, one of the millions across China confined to their homes under the mandatory 14-day coronavirus incubation period. “We had to stay at home for 14 days,” Zhu said. “I was generally peaceful and I just accepted everything calmly. I believe that prevention and control is very developed now in China, and people will pay high attention to the issue of coronavirus. The people around me, [are] focused on protecting themselves as • Continued on B2
School releases curriculum guide for new block schedule By Tammer BagDasarian The school released its 2020-2021 Curriculum Guide, which includes an array of new courses and modifications that will go into effect next year alongside the school’s redesigned block schedule. The revised curriculum is intended to allow teachers more freedom to construct and teach their courses and provide students the opportunity to take greater control over their education, Head of Upper School Laura Ross said. “In advance of the new schedule, we charged every department with looking at
their entire slate of course offerings and gave them the freedom to talk about what they would like to offer across the board,” Ross said. “While we were providing structure and funding and time for curriculum redesign, we wanted to really look at what we offer and think about if it’s exactly what we wanted it to be.” The updated Curriculum Guide includes new directed study courses, more non-Advanced Placement options and alternatives to a few existing science classes. The Curriculum Guide lists 20 directed study topics, ranging from performing and visual arts
programs to courses within the Kutler Center that focus on subsets of social and governmental studies. Though the curriculum has included directed studies in the past, recent changes have standardized these courses to encourage students to study specific topics in more depth than standard classes allow, Ross said. “We wanted the opportunity for students to experiment with their areas of interest without adding a full extra class or something that would conflict with their full courses,” Ross said. “What we hear from students all the time is ‘I’d
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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SIOBHAN HARMS AND SPENCER KLINK
We wanted the opportunity for students to experiment with their areas of interest without adding a full extra class or something that would conflict with their full courses.” — Laura Ross Head of Upper School
love to learn more about that cool subject, but I can’t take away a whole slot for it,’ so it gives us the opportunity to let our students learn about what truly interests them.” Many of the changes originated from teachers’ requests to shift courses away from the structure of the College Board’s AP curriculum, Ross said. The science department, for example, has chosen to discontinue AP Biology, but will instead offer two classes, Advanced Topics in Evolution
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and Ecology and Advanced Topics in Molecular and Cellular Biology, that focus on different sections of the former AP course. Ross said the move was essential to promote indepth learning of the subject rather than just the AP exams. “We asked the faculty, ‘what would you do differently?’” Ross said. “They told us that the AP [Biology] curriculum as it was previously structured was so content-heavy, just • Continued on A5
Girls’ water polo wins D1 CIF By Charlie Wang
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF WOO SIM
CIF CHAMPS: Attacker Alex Button ’21 rises above her opponent, looking to pass in the 13-12 win against San Clemente on Feb. 22.
Two years ago, the girls’ water polo team exited the Woollett Aquatic Center empty-handed after losing the CIFSS Division III Championship 6-5 to Woodrow Wilson High School. The team was forced to watch as Wilson’s coaching staff and players jumped in the pool and celebrated the win, propelled by a go-ahead goal with less than a minute left in the game. On Feb. 22, in the CIF Championship, attacker Juliette O’Brien ’21 and the rest of the Wolverines would not let history repeat itself. With 1:18 to go in the game, O’Brien scored the go-ahead goal on a
cross-pass from fellow attacker Alex Button ’21 to give the Wolverines a 13-12 lead. Moments later, it was first-year head coach Matt Kubeck and his staff who were leaping into the Woollett Aquatic Center pool to celebrate their CIF-SS Division II win. “We just really wanted it,” O’Brien said. “We lost the last time, but [Button] made a great pass and I happened to be in the right place at the right time” The girls’ team defeated San Clemente High School 13-12 and won its first CIFSS Division II Championship, while the boys’ team, winners of the CIF-SS Division I Championship, watched in support.
The title is the program’s third Southern Section Championship overall and its highestlevel championship to date. The program’s first two came in 2011 and 2012 when it won consecutive Division IV titles. Head of Athletics Terry Barnum commended the team on its historic victory. “Coach Kubeck and his staff did a great job of leading the team, giving them confidence, and getting them ready to play every day,” Barnum said. Entering the playoffs, the common fan would not have expected the Wolverines to make the run that they did, with the Wolverines ranked • Continued on D1
