Chronicle the 30-year anniversary of the
Harvard-Westlake • Studio City • Volume 30 • Issue 5 • May 28, 2021 • hwchronicle.com
Prefects organize activities
COVID-19 test results released
The administration said COVID-19 measures have been successful so far.
Seniors will celebrate the end of the year with two weeks of special activities.
By Ava Fattahi and Melody Tang
By Tanisha Gunby
Sophomores, juniors and seniors began returning to in-person classes together May 17, following nearly two months of coming to campus based on a daily rotating grade system. During this time, no positive COVID-19 cases were detected, and four months of athletic practices resulted in one positive COVID-19 case. Before any students, faculty or staff members were able to return to campus, the school required a baseline individual PCR test. On campus, every member of the community undergoes pooled testing, a process in which a group of up to 25 individuals is anonymously tested for COVID-19 through nasal swabbing. The samples are then tested through Concentric, a COVID-19 pool testing program, and the results are not provided to those tested. In addition to pooled testing, students must complete a safety survey, check in through the iHW app and have Trace, a Bluetooth contact tracing app, open on their phones at all times. Pooled testing detected one COVID-19 case between winter break and spring break from a boys athletic team. All members of the squad were individually tested and quarantined for 10 days, resulting in no transmission of the virus. The boys did not practice the day before the positive test, which lessened the probability of infection because a 48-hour period had elapsed before the team next practiced. Head of Communications and Strategic Initiatives Ari Engelberg ’89 said the protocols currently in place were effective for mitigating the spread of this COVID-19 case within the boys athletic team. “We were fortunate in that there hadn’t been a ton of contact between this positive case and his teammates,” Engelberg said. “It also showed that things like masking and distancing work. We were being and continue to be really disciplined about mask-wearing, especially the high contact sports, even when it is
school year. However, she said me instruction in the day,” Salathe school may offer alternative zar said. “Harvard-Westlake has ways of learning online for stu- been great in allowing for a [daidents who are absent or need to ly] schedule [even while learning leave early. remotely], so it’s not completely “Our plan is to be completely hands-off. But I think I really in person,” Ross said. “It is very benefit and have a better work difficult for teachers to try to run ethic from going to an actual a full, immersive, engaging class physical school and having that for two constituencies. We don’t part of my routine be defined intend to use a hybrid model throughout the day.” next year. We intend that Zoom Although Caroline Rediger will not be a part of daily life, but ’22 said she has not yet returned [we are considering] to campus for in-perways that we should be son learning because thinking about using remote learning helps Zoom to support the her manage her schedneeds of students.” ule, she said she would Idalis McZeal ’23, like to return to school. who returned to cam“I wanted to come pus for track and field [to school on campus] practices before particat least a few times,” ipating in the on-camRediger said. “I’ve white’s pus pod activities in just been so busy with Santiago February, said she enschoolwork, and sleepSalazar ’21 joyed the social aspects ing in an extra hour of the recent return to campus. every morning really helps [with] “I think just being able to talk being a junior at Harvard-Westto people and trying to reconnect lake.” with people I’ve only seen online Though she acknowledged has been a very beneficial experi- the challenges posed by the imence,” McZeal said. “I thrive off plementation of the block schedof social interaction, so I think ule with all three grades back on the [return to campus] has been campus, McZeal said she missed something that’s been very good face-to-face interactions while for my mental health overall.” learning remotely. Santiago Salazar ’21 said he “Even though it’s crowded appreciates the structure on-cam- and getting lunch and finding pus learning gives him. tables is more difficult [with all “I learned from myself that I three upper school classes on really benefit from school giving campus], I missed being able to
Seniors will participate in two weeks of activities to commemorate their time at the school starting May 28 and culminating with commencement June 11. The celebrations will begin with the last day of school countdown and pool jump, an annual senior tradition. The senior and faculty barbecue, as well as color wars and field games, will occur June 1. Some senior students will present their art and literary works at the senior capstone presentations, followed by an allschool award ceremony June 3. Prom will be held at the Petersen Automotive Museum on June 5, and Senior Transition Day and a graduation celebration are scheduled to take place June 7 and June 9, respectively. Head Prefect Jonathan Cosgrove ’21 said Prefect Council, which was actively involved in planning and organizing the senior events, wanted to make sure students would be able to participate in senior events like prom. “Our goal was to provide students with as many fun activities as possible with friends and teachers before we leave [the school],” Cosgrove said. “The fall was really difficult because the pandemic was so bad, so I’m really glad we can celebrate in person together to end [the year] on a really high note.” Upper School Dean Sara Brookshire said she anticipates a substantial showing at the events because of the lower COVID-19 positivity rate in the community. “We expect the events planned for seniors to have a strong turnout from students,” Brookshire said. “With vaccinations on the rise and COVID-19 case rates on the decline, many community members feel much safer taking [part] in socially distanced events. We can’t wait to celebrate our seniors, especially in person, given the limitations to do so earlier in the year.” Natalie Barnouw ’21 said she has valued her time on campus and is excited to participate in the senior festivities. “Just a few months ago it didn’t seem like we would be able to go back at all, which has made
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MELODY TANG/CHRONICLE
A DAILY DOSE: Chandace-Akirin Apacanis ’21 gives her nasal swab to Upper School Nurse Becca Pilgrim for pooled testing outside of the Munger Science Center in adherence with COVID-19 protocols before her class.
Students attend school on campus together for first time in over a year
By Tessa Augsberger
The school welcomed sophomores, juniors and seniors back to campus May 17 after conducting most of the 2020-21 school year virtually. The school’s decision to reopen campus at full capacity came as Los Angeles County moved into the yellow tier for COVID-19 and after students returned to campus two to three days per week in grade-level pods. COVID-19 safety protocols such as wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and undergoing routine pooled COVID-19 testing will remain in place throughout the rest of the year. Los Angeles County entered the yellow tier, or minimal country risk level, May 6, a May 4 County of Los Angeles Public Health press release reported. In the yellow tier, most indoor businesses are allowed to open, albeit with restrictions, according to California For All, the state’s official website. Nationally, California has the seventeenth-lowest COVID-19 case rates as of May 14, according to Statista. Although students are currently not required to attend school in person and may continue to attend remotely, Associate Head of School Laura Ross said the school will not follow a hybrid model during the 2021-22
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Letter From the Editors:
Sending Off the Seniors:
After a lengthy debate, The Chronicle Managing Editors decided to release seniors’ names along with the various universities they plan to attend after graduation in the annual college list in this year’s senior section. They explain their reasoning in a Letter From the Editors. A11
The senior staff members of The Chronicle write about their time at the school, sharing memories and reflecting on spending the last year of their high school careers largely online in their final articles for the paper. E1-E12
Introducing the New Chronicle App:
Speaker Series:
To stay up-to-date on Chronicle news, download our new app: 1. Download Student News Source from the App Store. 2. Search “Harvard-Westlake School” under “Search for school name.” 3. Turn notifications on.
Actor Jake Gyllenhall ’98, free speech activist Mary Beth Tinker and scholar Bettina Love spoke to students recently. Check out our coverage of the recent speakers online. hwchronicle.com
A2 News
Students return to campus
• Continued from A1
connect with everyone like it was before,” McZeal said. “I really like going to school with everyone [on campus].” Commons said he is grateful that the 12th grade class fostered a strong sense of community spirit during this unconventional school year. “Even when we were remote, the seniors set the tone of resilience and optimism and connection despite the challenge,” Commons said. “When we were able to come back, the seniors set the tone of joy and the importance of community [...] That tone, I think, not only has echoed through the juniors and the sophomores and the faculty and staff, but it will continue to echo [...] It will continue to echo in the school that being together matters and caring about Harvard-Westlake matters and [that] we can get through anything together.” Commons also said he hopes that the ability to connect with one another in person will allow for greater unity within the school community. “Now that it appears that we have come together physically, I am eager to see us come back together ideologically,” Commons said. “We’ve been apart from one another, and we haven’t been as successful as I would like us to be in finding common ground together. My expectation and great hope is that as we come back together physically this spring and next fall, we’ll be working together to figure out how those of us who see things differently can stand together on common ground and learn from one another in positive ways that don’t divide our community but unite it.”
The Chronicle
Countdown and Pool Jump The senior activities will begin with the annual traditions of the last day of school countdown and pool jump.
Senior Transition Day The school will host a series of workshops to educate the seniors about entering college and adulthood.
Senior and Faculty Barbecue Seniors will participate in color wars and field games on the first day of the senior activities week.
Graduation Celebration Instead of a Grad Night, seniors will celebrate their upcoming graduation in the daytime.
May 28, 2021
Student Award Ceremony Although all upper school students are invited to the ceremony, only seniors will attend in person.
In-Person Senior Prom After one year of remote learning and canceled events, seniors will have an in-person prom.
Senior Graduation Ceremony While last year’s seniors graduated in a drive through ceremony, seniors will graduate in person this year.
School organizes two weeks of senior activities • Continued from A1
my time here even better,” Barnouw said. “I feel like I appreciate the time I have in person with my friends even more. I think these events will be super fun for seniors, as we are enjoying our last few weeks here at HW with our friends.” Similarly, Emery Genga ’21 said she feels fortunate to be able to attend these events in person. “Since so much of my senior year had been spent on Zoom, and since Los Angeles was struggling so badly with coronavirus for such a long time, I honestly didn’t even think we would be coming back to campus,” Genga said. “Having that mindset for so long made the opportunity to be in person for all of these senior events a welcome surprise, and I could not be happier about it.” Genga said she is thrilled to be able to attend an in-person prom after a year of online events.
“I was almost in tears when I found out we were actually getting an in-person prom this year, as it is such a staple of senior year,” Genga said. “It will also be the first time [in a while] that I, and many others probably, have had the opportunity to dress up, go to a real-life party and feel somewhat normal again.” During prom, up to 10 people will be able to sit together at a table if they are all fully vaccinated, and students who have not been vaccinated will sit at a table with a maximum of two other students, in accordance with Los Angeles County health guidelines. Those who are vaccinated can share their vaccination card with the prom planners. Sophie Johnson ’21 said she feels more comfortable attending prom because of these safety measures. “I feel that the school has really made strides to make sure everyone feels and is safe,” Johnson said. “I’m also grateful HW
is going above and beyond the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s] current guidelines. I think requiring vaccination proof is a smart idea to ensure that everyone remains safe while having fun.” Mohona Ganguly ’21 said she is excited to be with both her classmates and teachers during these activities. “I am most looking forward to the student and faculty barbecue because I would love to spend time with my teachers and to thank them for all that they have given me, and [I’m also looking forward to] senior prom because I am so excited to be able to have fun with my friends for one of the last times before we graduate,” Ganguly said. Additionally, the senior and faculty barbecue will be a great time to reconnect with faculty members before graduation, Genga said. “Back in seventh grade, we
had a barbecue and pool party at the end of our orientation day, so I feel like this barbecue will be such a lovely bookend to my journey at Harvard-Westlake,” Genga said. “This will also give me the opportunity to reconnect with some of my teachers from previous years. Because we haven’t been on campus for so long, the only teachers I’ve gotten to talk to are my current ones, and even then it was very hard to talk to them over Zoom. So I am looking forward to connecting with more of the wonderful [faculty and] staff before I graduate.” All in all, Genga said she is thankful for everything the school has done to celebrate the seniors this year. “I appreciate the faculty for all of the hard work they put in to make the end of senior year special for us,” Genga said. “I know it wasn’t the year we wanted, but it is ending better than I could have imagined.”
In the issue...
A5 ALL ABOUT APAH: The Asian Students in Action (ASiA) Club celebrated Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month on May 4.
A11 PARTYING INTO PERIL: Taking
the proper precautions while partying in the age of COVID-19 is essential to ensuring the safety of one’s peers.
B5 OWN IT ALL: Seniors with different
extracurricular interests from sports to music discuss their respective experiences in the college admissions process.
IT’S ALL ON (THE) LINE: As the world becomes more and more virtual, The Chronicle is following suit. Every article is posted online on our website, HWChronicle. com, which also hosts additional online exclusives. The Chronicle recently revamped the entire website, teaming up with SNOSites to make the site more user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. A variety of podcasts, such as the award-winning “3 and Out,”
C1 LGBTQ ON THE SCREEN: Stu-
dents express conflicting sentiments about the impact of representation of LGBTQ relationships in the media.
D2 GIRLS SOCCER SCORES: The
girls soccer team defeated Temecula Valley High School 6-3 in the quarterfinal round of the CIF playoffs May 18.
are available through the Chronicle Podcast Network, accessible on the website. Our broadcast program is constantly creating content produced and written by students, which can be viewed from the broadcast tab on the Harvard-Westlake Broadcast Journalism YouTube channel. To stay up to date with future releases of all forms, follow The Chronicle’s Instagram page, @HWChronicle, and Twitter, @HW_Chronicle.
A3 News
May 28, 2021
The Chronicle
MESA hosts open forum
By Sandra Koretz and Tessa Augsberger
MELODY TANG/CHRONICLE
DISCUSSION ON DIVERSITY: “Euphoria” star, model and activist Hunter Schafer speaks about representation with members of the Gender and Sexuality Awareness club (GSA) on Zoom on May 14. During the Community Flex Time, she elaborated on her experiences in the modeling industry.
“Euphoria” actress discusses career experiences By Melody Tang
Actress, model and artist Hunter Schafer spoke about her career experiences virtually during the Community Flex Time on May 14. Schafer most recently played Jules Vaughn on HBO’s Emmy Award-winning drama, “Euphoria,” where she also co-wrote and co-produced a special episode centered around Vaughn. Previously, Schafer modeled full-time for brands such as Calvin Klein, Dior, Marc Jacobs and Versace, going on to feature on the cover pages of the Dazed, Porter, V and Allure magazines. The event consisted of a Q&A with Gender and Sexuality Awareness (GSA) co-leaders Felicity Phelan ’21, Helen Graham ’21 and Anneliese Ardizzone ’21, who asked Schafer community-submitted questions. Schafer said she began her career in modeling when she graduated from high school and did not intend on pursuing acting; however, working with “Eupho-
ria” director Sam Levinson allowed her to explore the field. “They had every [transgender] model working in New York audition for [the character of Jules],” Schafer said. “I was like ‘okay, I’ll give it a shot. Every other [transgender] girl I know is auditioning for this, so why not?’ And then it just snowballed. It was terrifying because I genuinely had no idea what I was doing. I think the only reason it really did snowball and end up becoming what it has become is the way they cast you, for you. The way [“Euphoria” director Sam Levinson] works is he looks for actors who have some pretty deep parallels to his characters.” Schafer said that while representation and diversity in modeling and mainstream media has improved recently, the overall movement toward equality has not been perfect. “Any sort of progression of inclusion [has] the whitest and the thinnest [models], and the most passing [models] are getting the first opportunities, and then we
start seeing some more inclusion [after] people get criticized for that [lack of diversity],” Schafer said. “The process is a bit [of a] painstaking process, just as far as including everyone in the image of [transgender] people that represents the entire community. And then with Hollywood and TV, there’s still a lot that I would still like to see regarding [transgender] people and the depiction of [transgender] people.” Additionally, Schafer said it is important to learn how to move on and grow from uncomfortable encounters instead of letting them build up. “That’s something ‘Euphoria’ has taught me and our director Sam [Levinson], who’s taught me how to act from the ground up,” Schafer said. “It’s really similar to acting in a lot of ways too. It’s like a moment or feeling or a memory or something which your brain [does] by default. By how we’ve been socialized, we’ll do everything we can to push it back down without you even knowing it.”
Phelan said the goal of organizing the event was to expose students to figures they would not normally get a chance to interact with. “We felt like [because Schafer] is a [transgender] person, and she’s bringing something in terms of representation talking about [transgender] issues,” Phelan said. “She’s also an actress and a model, and she’s involved in the fashion world. That’s very cool and relevant for kids who have interests aligning with those things. [Schafer is] a brand speaker who’s involved in the art world and has that sort of broad appeal and is relevant to young people.” Jamie Kim-Worthington ’22 said he was inspired while listening to Schafer shed light on transgender experiences. “As a transgender person myself, Schafer is a huge inspiration,” Kim-Worthington said. “It was great to hear her talk about experiences specific to the queer and [transgender] youth community and to listen to her Q&A during the Flex Time.”
The Middle Eastern Student Association (MESA) hosted a discussion with History Teacher Dror Yaron about current events and historical tensions between Israel and Palestine on May 18. Two days later, President Rick Commons acknowledged the impact of the conflict in relation to recent social media posts and local expressions of anti-Semitism and encouraged students to seek support from adults on campus in an all-school email Friday. Although Yaron lectured at Ahmanson Lecture Hall in person, MESA club leaders Alon Moradi ’21 and Chronicle Opinion Editor Emma Limor ’21 made the event available for community members to join through Zoom as well. At the start of the event, Yaron, who is Israeli, gave a presentation about the history of Middle Eastern geopolitics and the causes of the recent conflict. “We [are currently seeing] the flare-up between communal violence we haven’t seen since 1947-48 [during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948],” Yaron said. Limor said the club hosted the forum to give students access to a broader variety of perspectives about the conflict. “We held this event for the whole community to open up dialogue about the [ongoing issue], including both groups of people directly affected and people learning from an outside perspective.” Limor said. Attendee Ariana Azarbal ’22 said she gained a more nuanced understanding of the conflict through Yaron’s presentation. “I chose to attend because I wanted to learn more about the conflict from Mr. Yaron, who is an expert on [it],” Azarbal said.
New Jersey Senator speaks on “13th” By Lucas Cohen D’Arbeloff and Leo Saperstein
The Harvard-Westlake Parents Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee hosted New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, author of “Redeeming Justice” Jarrett Adams and Founding Faculty Director of Loyola Project for the Innocent (LPI) Laurie Levenson (Solly ’06, Havi ’08, Dani ’17) to discuss Ava DuVernay’s critically acclaimed documentary “13th” on May 4. After showing a portion of the film, which is centered around racial inequality, DEI Committee Co-Chairs Stacy Messaye (Matthew ’22, Hannah ’23) and Gabe Ramirez (Benjamin ’18, Sophie ’22) introduced Levenson, who spoke with Booker. In response to the documentary, Booker said he is disappointed that the country makes a large contribution to global imprisonment. “When you lay out the truth of our criminal justice system, you realize that it is not about justice,” Booker said. “Booker
said the proper steps toward rectifying the country’s criminal justice system should be focused on building empathy for those affected by the system’s injustices.” Booker said the proper steps toward rectifying the criminal justice system should be focused on building empathy for those affected. “To change this system, you have to attack not just the laws and the rules, but a lot of the biases that allow us to dehumanize people that often really need help,” Booker said. Levenson then conversed with Adams, who shared his story of being sentenced to 28 years in prison for sexual assault, a crime he did not commit, and spoke with LPI interns Samantha McLoughlin ’21 and Izzy Welsh ’22. Adams said before his conviction, he never thought that he might experience injustice in his life. “I always believed that the truth would come out and that we would be vindicated,” Adams said. “I remember, while
going through the trial, thinking about how when this was over, I needed to get to the chores that my mother had left for me. It didn’t end that way. I ended up being sentenced to serve 28 years in prison.” Adams said his difficulty with reintegrating into society led him to see the ramifications of the criminal justice system on exonerated individuals’ mental health. “I knew I was struggling,” Adams said. “I was also really struggling to communicate about my struggle, [and] I knew other men and women who went through what I went through were doing the same.” Attendee Nilufer Mistry Sheasby ’24 said the opportunity to hear real-life stories about the justice system was enlightening and gave her a stronger grasp of how these structures work. “Hearing personal testimonials from those who have worked with or been helped by Project Innocence gave me new insight into the criminal justice system,” Sheasby said.
LEO SAPERSTEIN/CHRONICLE
SENATORIAL SEMINAR: DEI Committee Co-chair Stacy Messaye talks with Senator Cory Booker during a documentary screening and meet-and-greet.
A4 News
The Chronicle
Novelist converses with student body in virtual discussion event By Leo Saperstein
LEO SAPERSTEIN/CHRONICLE
WARD’S WORKS: Writer Jesmyn Ward (top) discusses her career with Asian Students in Action (ASiA) member Neha Tummala ’23 (bottom).
Two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward spoke to the community about her work in an event organized by the Upper School English Department on May 19. Ward’s visit began with a virtual meet-andgreet and continued in a webinar on Zoom. In the first Zoom meeting, HW Parents DEI Committee Co-Chair Stacy Messaye (Matthew ’22, Hannah ’23) moderated a conversation between Ward and community members. Ward said that despite their younger ages, students should not feel discouraged from pursuing their passions. “I feel like I ran from [writing] for a long time,” Ward said. “One thing that I would want
Violist receives recognition as Presidential Scholar in the Arts By Julian Andreone
United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced that Allison Park ’21 has been named as one of the 19 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts on May 13. The United States Presidential Scholars Program is a selective process, created to recognize the most accomplished seniors. After being named a YoungArts finalist in December, Park participated in the virtual National YoungArts Week in January, during which the panelists nominated
her to apply to the U.S. Presidential Scholar Program. Park said she was extremely humbled to receive the high recognition from Cardona. “I was so excited and honored to have been selected as a 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts,” Park said. “Though I’m disappointed that we will not convene in Washington D.C. this summer to meet the President as well as perform in the Kennedy Center, I am still excited to put together a virtual performance with the other 19 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts.”
Park said other students who hope to receive this honor should continue pursuing their passions. She said she did not expect to be in this position, but continued to work hard and was recognized for her efforts. “If you told me a few years ago that I would be a 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, I definitely wouldn’t believe you,” Park said. “These past few years, I’ve continued to pursue my musical studies through Colburn School without a specific end goal, such as this award. Eventually I think everything just works
Seniors inducted into National Cum Laude Society, honored for successes The school hosted the annual Cum Laude induction ceremony on campus May 17, celebrating the academic achievements of the top 20% of the graduating class. A total of 57 seniors who were ranked at the top of the class of 2021 were inducted into the school’s chapter of the National Cum Laude Society based on their grades from their sophomore, junior and senior years of high school.
Cum Laude Society, Harvard-Westlake Chapter: Nicole Austen Kylie Azizzadeh Lily Bailey Natalie Barnouw Ellie Baron Katarina Cheng Chelsea Cho Evelyn Choi Yvette Copeland Jonathan Cosgrove Maitlyn Fletcher Eli Friedman Amaan Furniturewala Jake Futterman Andrew Gong Max Hahn Hannah Han
May 28, 2021
Sally Ho Akseli Kangaslahti Matthew Kihiczak Will Lake Angela Lee Austin Lee Christina Lee Matthew Lee Brandon Liang Bennett Markinson Samantha McLoughlin Athalia Meron Ella Moriarty Samantha Morris Zane Neelin Kosi Nwabueze Allison Park Amy Park Celine Park Matthew Paul
Felicity Phelan Ariana Pineda Luke Riley Isabella Rodriguez William Ruden-Sella Allegra Saltzman Mandy Shao Anna Shell Grace Shin Olivia Smith Brooke Stanford Riley Tao Chase Thumann Ryan Tsai Jasmine Wang Liam Weetman Tyler Weigand George Zhang Jacky Zhang Aaron Zhao
students to take away from my background and from my story is that it’s never too late for you to commit to doing something you love and to find that thing, or multiple things, that gives your life purpose.” During the following webinar, former and current Black Leadership and Culture Club (BLACC) leaders Sirus Wheaton ’19, Makeda Neavill ’21, Cameron Herring ’21 and Asian Students in Action (ASiA) member Neha Tummala ’23 interviewed Ward after she read an excerpt from her novel, “Salvage the Bones,” which is part of the sophomore English II curriculum. Ward said she has to be cautious in order not to confirm racial stereotypes, particularly while writing about underprivileged Black communities.
“
“Not only is it important to assert that trauma happens, but it is also important to assert that we thrive, and we live in spite of it,” Ward said. “I want to give the people that I’m writing about the chance to be complicated and as authentic and fully human as they could.” Ava-Marie Lange ’23, who is reading “Salvage the Bones” in her English class, said Ward’s visit helped her understand the connection between the Ward’s experiences and Esch, the protagonist of the novel. “I knew that this book was very personal to Ward, but after that meet-and-greet, I saw just how personal this story was to her,” Lange said. “It showed that there [were many true stories] behind her view of Esch and the experience of the hurricane.”
She is unquestionably brilliant and hard-working, but more importantly, she is genuine, thoughtful and one of those students who has a true love of learning across disciplines.” — Lilas Lane History Teacher
out as long as you are passionate enough about something.” Park was offered the opportunity, as is every other Presidential Scholar, to name her most influential teacher; she ultimately decided to name History Teacher Lilas Lane. Lane said Park is a mature young woman of strong character and work ethic who deserves to be recognized for her
white’s
various talents. “Over the last few years, it has been a pleasure to watch Allison blossom into an exceptional and balanced young woman,” Lane said. “She is unquestionably brilliant and hard-working, but more importantly, she is genuine, thoughtful and one of those students who has a true love of learning across disciplines.”
COVID-19 protocols ensure school safety • Continued from A1
difficult to wear masks, [our diligence] about mask-wearing [allowed no] opportunity for this positive patient to spread it to anyone else.” Upper School Nurse Becca Pilgrim said the extremely low positive case rate through the school’s testing system gives her confidence that the return to school has been safe. “For our campus, [the number of negative tests] has been phenomenal,” Pilgrim said. “And they work really well if there’s a low [COVID-19] prevalence rate to begin with, which is why we do require a mandatory PCR before coming onto campus. We can guarantee that when kids, faculty and staff are coming onto campus, everyone’s negative. And from there, the pooled tests are extremely effective.” Associate Head of School Laura Ross said this year’s senior festivities will involve a heightened level of testing to allow for more socialization among seniors. “[Safety is] why we’re so aggressively testing every week, and for athletes who are competing against other schools, they’re being tested even more,” Ross said. “And during the senior activities, we’re going to be testing [seniors] a lot. We want these two weeks to feel like you guys just get to
be having fun. Our baseline has been, ‘if we can do the best we can to ensure that nobody on campus is positive, then we can relax a little bit once we are here.’” In addition, Engelberg said he believes the large majority of the school will be vaccinated soon or have already been vaccinated. “I expect that by the time this cycle of [COVID-19] vaccinations is done, three weeks from Saturday, when the second dose is administered to the middle school kids, we’re going to be, well over 90% [vaccinated],” Engelberg said. “I think that the [vaccination rates of ] the Middle School, Upper School and faculty and staff is approaching 100%.” Zane Danton ’22 said he feels confident in his decision to attend in-person school daily, knowing that his classmates and teachers are all consistently tested for COVID-19. “I think testing students in groups is a very efficient practice, and it has clearly been working this year,” Danton said. “The process [of pooled testing] is very efficient, and I appreciate the fact that the school is testing every single person on campus. I feel very confident in attending in-person school knowing that all of my peers have tested negative for [COVID-19].” Information about vaccine clinics offered by the school is featured on A7.
May 28, 2021
hwchronicle.com/news
aSian American & pacific islander heritage month ASiA presents videos celebrating APAH
By Fallon Dern and Leo Saperstein
The Asian Students in Action (ASiA) Club led a Community Flex Time celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage (APAH) Month at Community Flex Time on May 4. ASiA co-leaders Mia Shelton ’21, Chelsea Cho ’21, Iris Huang ’21 and Kimberly Wang ’21 started the virtual festivities by defining APAH Month as a community celebration of all Asian American cultures. Wang said Asian American experiences can’t be consolidated into a single story and that it’s this diversity within the community that makes celebrating this month so important. “This year, ASiA has been focused on asking ourselves questions about our identity as Asian Americans and also building a community of pride, empathy and celebration for our similarities and our differences,” Wang said. “For many [of us], our culture is a blend of so many different factors that differentiate each person’s perception of their own heritage.” In a discussion about Asian
American struggles throughout American history, Shelton and Cho addressed both the personal connections that many Asian Americans have to their history and the widespread racism they face today. Despite the diversity of their cultures, Shelton said Asian Americans struggle not to be grouped together into one category of American society. “The perpetual foreigner status implies that American society views Asian Americans, regardless of their unique individual experience, as other,” Shelton said. “It erases the rich culture and deep diversity of Asian Americans and groups us into a monolith. Often, it manifests itself in the question, ‘Where are you really from?’” Cho said the purpose of celebrating APAH Month is to encourage others to reassess their preconceived notions of Asians and Asian Americans. “Advocating for Asian Americans isn’t just asking people to not kill our elderly,” Cho said. “It’s about challenging how you and the people around you enforce stereotypes about Asian Americans and exclude mem-
bers of the AAPI community from spaces controlled by dominant white American cultures.” At the end of the discussion, Cho said Asian Americans should be more openly accepted as a part of American culture. “The Asian American Pacific Islander community has so much pride and joy about our identities and cultures,” Cho said. “We deserve to be acknowledged as a culturally rich and diverse community that isn’t other or foreign to your community. We deserve to have our identities recognized and celebrated.” Shelton said the recent rise in popularity of Asian culture through beauty products, food and clothing trends has not included a proportional increase in empathy and support for Asian communities. “Our culture and even our bodies are commodified and consumed,” Shelton said. “Just because you see Asian culture around you doesn’t mean that you know it, and especially doesn’t mean that you own it. Please try to learn and dig deeper than just enjoying our food or laughing at not being able to pronounce the words on the
News A5
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restaurant menu.” ASiA then presented multiple videos that highlighted Asian American culture and featured student perspectives on being Asian American. Ben Kim ’21 said he remembers coming to an early understanding of his Asian American identity on his first day of elementary school. “I was on the playground, playing soccer with other kids, and another kid came up to me, and trying to be nice, he asked, ‘Hey, are you Chinese? Japanese?’” Kim said. “Since I wasn’t either, it made me realize that my identity really was Korean American.” Chinese Teacher Bin He said his Asian American identity connects him to family and friends, giving him a sense of belonging. He said he hopes to branch out to other community members to promote cultural acceptance in the future. “I am proud of my culture,” He said. “At the same time, I also hope that I can continue to work with students to create a diverse and equal cultural environment. All cultures are beautiful, and let’s remain united against hate.”
A year . with ASiA
78
active members of Asian students in . action (Asia)
1,450 Hate crime pamphlets distributed
$2,498 raised and donated through fundraisers
3
all-school events hosted
Ji Rong
san gabriel
Ji Rong offers a wide spread of traditional Chinese dishes and specializes in Peking Duck, a plate of roasted duck, crispy skin, sweet sauce, cucumber, spring onions and flour wraps.
Gangadin restaurant
Studio city
Gangadin is a family-owned Ind an restaurant located on Ventur iPlace. Favorites include naan, a saag paneer and samosas, which they sell in their stand at the Studio City Farmers Market every Sunday.
n-gumi
shin-se
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s in Los ir five store e th f o e n O i feain-Sen-Gum h S s, le e g n men A ul Hakata ra rf o v a fl a s ture ped u broth top in a tonkots rk and a variety u po with chash e dishes. of other sid
the Chronicle’s favorite spots:
Asian-owned Restaurants
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MELODY TANG
A6 News
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
Shawn Costantino: Upper School Performing Arts
By Lucas Cohen-d’Arbeloff
Upper School Performing Arts Chair Shawn Costantino will depart after 14 years of teaching instrumental music to become the founding Head of Arts at Ransom Everglades School in Miami. Costantino directed all of the bands, jazz combos and smaller audition-only jazz groups at the Upper School. He said his favorite part of working at the school was collaborating with talented students and traveling across the world to share music. “I love how engaged [stu-
dents] are and how much they truly love to learn, grow and be excellent,” Costantino said. “My favorite memories are of some of the tours that I have taken the bands on. My favorite tours were to Argentina and Italy, but all of the trips were so unbelievable.” Aerin Duke ’23, who was in Costantino’s Wind Ensemble course, said Costantino was able to design creative assignments for students and make the most of the virtual format this year. “Though [Wind Ensemble class] was on Zoom, Mr. Costantino made it fun with jokes and
a lighthearted spirit,” Duke said. “He completely met the challenge of keeping us all engaged throughout the [class].” Studio Jazz Band member Neha Tummala ’23 said Costantino helped her feel more comfortable during an unusual year. “As a musician who is new to the jazz program, he has been nothing but warm and welcoming to me,” Tummala said. “Despite the difficult circumstances of remote learning, Mr. Costantino has made this year a meaningful experience, which I am so grateful for. I will absolutely miss
having him as a teacher and mentor.” When asked whether he had any other thoughts to share as he leaves, Costantino expressed gratitude toward various community members. “I’d like to add a special note of thanks to all of my colleagues over the years,” Costantino said. “This school has amazing teachers, coaches and staff. From the President of [Harvard-Westlake] to everyone on the maintenance team, there are simply amazing human beings at this school, all of whom I will miss dearly.”
Shannon Acedo: Head Upper School Librarian By Allegra Drago
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF SHANNON ACEDO
After working in the upper school library for 14 years, Head Upper School Librarian Shannon Acedo will retire and devote her time to traveling and the outdoors. During her time at the school, Acedo took part in multiple school groups and events. She said she enjoyed teaching new stitching patterns in the Embroidery Club and helping students discover new books and authors. “My favorite part of the library is either the view from the top of
Michael Mori: Math Teacher By James Hess
Math Teacher Michael Mori will retire after 46 years of teaching, 28 of which were spent at the Upper School. Mori began his career at the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he spent 18 years teaching before coming to the Upper School in 1993. He has taught classes in Algebra II and Precalculus, while hosting classes at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Extension program in the summer and community college at night.
During his time at the Upper School, Mori became well-known among his students for his saying “meaning over method,” Algebra II student Thea Pine ’23 said. Mori said he first used the phrase while tutoring for standardized tests, when he discovered that some students thought of math as just a series of formulas to memorize. “When I started preparing students for the SAT, I realized that it was more important for students to learn the [‘meaning,’ or ‘why,’] rather than the [‘method,’ or ‘how’],” Mori wrote in an
ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXA DRUYANOFF
WHITE’S
the Seaver side stairs where I can look down and see all the different groups of students spread out around the library, working or chatting or just relaxing,” Acedo said. “[I enjoyed] seeing how students loved the ‘hideaway’ spot underneath the stairs where they could chill with friends on the beanbag chairs.” Lily Saada ’22 said Acedo never failed to help students with research projects. “Ms. Acedo helped me find multiple sources in the library and guided me through the process of finding the books,” Saada
said. “She was super friendly and helpful with her guidance.” In retirement, Acedo said she will build on her passion of reading but that she will also garden, birdwatch and travel to places including North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Scotland and England. She has climbed the San Gabriel Valley Mountains, or as she calls them, “her mountains,” and spent time outdoors on school-sponsored trips. “Some of my most memorable experiences have been sharing my love of the outdoors helping chaperone student trips to Death
Valley and sharing stories under the stars on the trip,” Acedo said. Fellow Upper School Librarian Edith Darling said that Acedo pioneered new activities for the library and that the two of them bonded over musicals and books. “I won’t forget her satisfaction when she created the allnight ‘Moby Dick’ reading with Dr. Berezin and Dr. Mamagonian,” Darling said. “She helped make the library into a magical, nautical world and stayed for the entire marathon session of reading Melville’s book.
email. “Students blindly follow a rule, formula or shortcut and come up with the wrong answer. I believe this is how careless mistakes occur.” Algebra II student Mateo Ahmad ’23 said Mori’s method of explaining concepts helped him learn material more effectively. “He wants students to completely understand the material instead of using a formula without actually learning anything,” Ahmad said. “It makes him a kind, understanding and genuine person.” Mori also frequently used
technology when teaching, something he took advantage of during online school. Mori said trying different ways of teaching allows him to be more creative. “I use technology differently than many teachers because it’s like a toy for me,” Mori said. When he departs, Mori said he will miss the people at the school who infused his life with learning. “The students, parents and colleagues I have come in contact with have enriched my experience and have been a blessing to my life,” Mori said.
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF MICHAEL MORI
Cynthia Winters: Performing Arts Teacher and Director of Dance By Natalie Cosgrove
WHITE’S
After 37 years at the school, Performing Arts Teacher and Director of Dance Cynthia Winters will retire. During her career, Winters inspired students to reach out of their comfort zones and explore movement through dance. After her departure at the end of the year, she said she will spend time with her family and friends, travel and continue her artistic work. Advanced Dance I student Emma Miller ’23 said she will miss Winters’s class and that it
was the perfect break from her hectic schedule. “I am going to miss her so much because she inspired so many dancers to explore their creativity through movement and brought joy to so many people,” Miller said. “Even though our class was mostly on Zoom, she did a great job making everybody feel connected and excited to dance.” Winters helped her students both emotionally and physically by ensuring their safety and creating a welcoming environment. Ballet student Aiko Offner ’23
said Winters has always been there for her when she needed support. “This past year Ms. Winter not only taught us the fundamentals of injury prevention and the tools to be a more stable and successful dancer but was there to support us as students and people in the [school] community,” Offner said. “Teaching dance over a screen is so difficult, but she did it with such grace, and her warmth made me feel like I was really a part of the upper school dance community despite still being at home. I will miss her and her lov-
ing energy so much next year.” As Winters leaves the school, she said she will miss her students more than anything. She also expressed her gratitude for all of the opportunities that her classes gave her and for her colleagues at the school. “Thank you, Harvard-Westlake, for a beautiful journey,” Winters said. “Thank you to the administration, faculty and staff who have stepped onto the stage and performed in our concerts with our students. Thank you all for your love and open hearts. You will remain in my heart al-
May 28, 2021
hwchronicle.com/news
News A7
Babel publishes print issue
By Claire Connor
AVA FATTAHI/CHRONICLE
WORTH A SHOT: Students sit and converse for 15 minutes following the first dose of their Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine given at one of the school’s vaccine clinics in the Feldman Horn Gallery on April 28. To register for a COVID-19 vaccine, contact the Community Health Office or visit myturn.ca.gov.
School partners with pharmacy, opens vaccine clinic for those eligible under new regulations By Caroline Jacoby
The school partnered with Elements Pharmacy to hold their third COVID-19 vaccine clinic May 19 and May 22. The clinic was open to all members of the school community who are at least 12-years-old and took place at the lower school. The email announcement from the school’s Community Health Office came May 11, one day after the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for use on 12- to 15-year-olds. A link to sign up for appointments was sent in a follow-up email, and the clinic was cost-free. Head of Communications and Strategic Initiatives Ari Engelberg ’89 said the school made the decision to open up the vaccine clinic to a larger amount of
people because of greater vacci- we have spoken with [Elements nation opportunities. Pharmacy] about running a vac“At this time, the vaccine is cine clinic for our 12+ students widely available so there real- as soon as the vaccine is aply is no need to prioritize one proved for that age group.” group over another,” Engelberg Eloise Dupee ’22, who resaid. “As long as someone is old ceived her second dose of the enough to get the vaccine, we Pfizer vaccine at one of the can make it easy for school’s previous vacthem to do so, regardcine clinics, said reless of whether they ceiving the vaccine has are a current student, made her feel more new student or family comfortable spending member of someone time with larger groups who attends HW.” of friends. Engelberg said that “Both of my parents partnering with Elegot vaccinated in early ments Pharmacy has January, which already white’s made vaccinating the has made me feel safer, Sofia school community a but being vaccinated Llevat ’22 simpler process. myself definitely makes “Elements is right down the me less fearful of going out in street from the upper school public or hanging out with a campus, so it’s really convenient larger group of friends,” Dupee working with them, and they are said. very responsive to our needs,” However, Sofia Llevat ’22 said Engelberg said. “For some time that her level of comfort at school
remains the same since receiving the vaccine, as she said she felt safe prior to being vaccinated. “I don’t have any pre-existing conditions, so being at school with masks and [being socially] distanced has already made me feel safe, so I’m not sure how much safer I feel with the vaccine because I already felt safe before,” Llevat said. Dupee said the vaccination clinics have provided students with a great opportunity and have helped the school reopen. “Vaccines can be so hard to find in [Los Angeles] because of the high demand, and the fact that HW is offering them to all students free of cost is certainly a game-changer for the HW community,” Dupee said. “One of the reasons so many people haven’t gotten vaccinations is because of the lack of accessibility, so by doing this, HW is doing a great service.”
Babel, the Upper School’s foreign language magazine, published its annual issue containing essays, poetry and recipes in modern and Classical languages May 14. While last year’s issue was online, this year’s magazine is in print. As the magazine’s staff adjusted to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, many submissions reflected on quarantine experiences. Head Chinese Editor Joie Zhang ’22 said this year’s virtual environment led to more innovative content. “The three COVID-related Chinese pieces are some of my favorites from the Chinese section in this year’s issue because of how much they encapsulate pandemic life,” Zhang said. “There’s an infographic on how to protect yourself from the coronavirus, a piece about creating a time capsule for 2020 and a student’s reflection on what it was like celebrating a socially-distanced Lunar New Year in 2021.” Babel Editor-in-Chief Emma Walther ’21 said the staff adapted to new challenges that came with compiling a magazine virtually. “The digital format may not have been ideal, but it did allow for us to incorporate more submissions than we have in the past,” Walther said. “Additionally, we made an effort to make this year’s magazine extremely colorful to hopefully bring a little light into such a difficult time.” Head Layout Editor Paisley Kandler ’22 said she appreciated the effort writers and editors put into the magazine and that she looks forward to working with them more. “This year’s students crafted some phenomenal poems, essays and recipes,” Kandler said. “It will be wonderful to have in-person Babel meetings again.” • Continued on hwchronicle.com
Retired English Teacher Heath Moon passes away By Caitlin Muñoz
Former Upper School English Teacher Heath Moon passed away April 5 after a three-month battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Moon, who is remembered fondly by school faculty as an intelligent, devoted and caring mentor, previously served as English Department Chair and Dean of Faculty at the Pilgrim School in Los Angeles. English Teacher Lisa Rado said Moon gave her husband his first teaching job in California in 1998, and by the time he left the Pilgrim School in 2005, Moon had become a close family friend. “[When] it became clear that Moon wanted to move on, it happened [that] there was an opening in the English Department here at [the school],” Rado said. “Obviously, I advocated for him to be hired. He came and was interviewed, and everybody loved him.”
Moon joined the Upper School English Department in 2006, where Rado said his passion for art, literature and teaching left a lasting impact on his students and colleagues. English Teacher Jocelyn Medawar said Moon’s love for his profession was evident considering his animated yet nurturing teaching style. “I remember him in his student meetings,” Medawar said. “He was always so patient, and when a student would finally get something, [he would] say, ‘Now you’re cooking.’ And then, as the student kept talking and expanding on their ideas, Dr. Moon would say, ‘Now you’re cooking with gas.’ He just really wanted them to not only understand but [also] to hopefully love [English] as much as he did.” Although Moon retired in 2012, after six years of teaching at the school, he remained involved with the English Department. • Continued on hwchronicle.com
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JEFF KWITNY
AT THE LIBRARY: (left to right) Former Visual Arts Teacher Art Tobias, former English Teacher Jeff Kwitny, former History Teacher Drew Maddock and former English Teacher Heath Moon pose for a photo Nov. 20, 2019.
A8 News
The Chronicle
Socializing Students
May 28, 2021
Upper school students and teachers socialize while attending their classes and spending time with one another as the 2021 school year comes to a conclusion.
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JOHNATHAN COSGROVE
NATALIE COSGROVE/CHRONICLE
PREFECT PROMPOSAL: Head Prefects Jonathan Cosgrove ’21 and Cleo Maloney ’21 pose on the Quad as Cosgrove asks Maloney to Senior Prom in front of a handmade poster while a student-led string quartet plays.
MASTERPIECE IN PROGRESS: Visual Arts Teacher Conor Thompson gestures to his students while explaining instructions for their projects.
SANDRA KORETZ/CHRONICLE
STUDENTS IN MOTION: (left to right) Porter Comstock ’22, Colin Luse ’22, Walker McGinley ’22 and Henry Burdorf ’22 participate in a group physics lab about motion while standing outide of the Munger Science Center.
KYLE REIMS/CHRONICLE
BASKETBALL SHUTOUT: Juniors, seniors and parents cheer on the boys basketball team in their Senior Night game against St. Francis High School.
SANDRA KORETZ/CHRONICLE
BUSY BEES: Several juniors and seniors gather inside of Chalmers Lounge adjacent to the newly built grab-and-go cafeteria to virtually attend classes while wearing school-distributed KN95 masks and maintaining social distancing.
Comic-Chron
ILLUSTRATION BY SOPHIA EVANS
Opinion
The harvard-westlake
Chronicle
The Chronicle • May 28, 2021
Studio City • Volume 30 • Issue 5 • May 28, 2021 • hwchronicle.com
Editors-in-Chief: Hannah Han, Ethan Lachman Print Managing Editors: Austin Lee, Jaidev Pant, Celine Park
editorial
Digital Managing Editor: Kyle Reims Presentation Managing Editors: Siobhan Harms, Lucas Lee News Editors: Tanisha Gunby, Frank Jiang Assistant News Editors: Tessa Augsberger, Ava Fattahi, Sandra Koretz, Will Sheehy, Melody Tang Opinion Editor: Emma Limor Assistant Opinion Editors: Julian Andreone, Caroline Jacoby, Sarah Mittleman, Alec Rosenthal Features Editors: Ruoshan Dong, Marina Nascimento Assistant Features Editors: Milla Ben-Ezra, Kate Burry, Quincey Dern, Mia Feizbakhsh, Sophia Musante, Katharine Steers A&E Editor: Chloe Schaeffer Assistant A&E Editors: Sydney Fener, Keira Jameson, Mimi Landes, Caitlin Muñoz Sports Editor: Charlie Wang Assistant Sports Editors: Justin Goldstein, Ben Jacoby, Liam Razmjoo, Ryan Razmjoo, Amelia Scharff, Maxine Zuriff Engagement and Multimedia Editor: Marina Nascimento Photography Editors: Crystal Baik, Eugean Choi Broadcast Producers: Alex Amster, Kyle Reims, Charlie Wang Business Managers: Lucas Lee, Emma Limor Assistant Broadcast Editors: Zachary Berg, John Coleman, Ely Dickson, William Moon, Mikey Schwartz Art Director: Evie de Rubertis Junior Art Director: Alexa Druyanoff Freelance Artist: Sophia Evans Layout Assistants and Staff Writers: Grace Belgrader, Rebecca Berlin, Lucas Cohen-d’Arbeloff, Claire Conner, Natalie Cosgrove, Daphne Davie, Fallon Dern, Allegra Drago, Konnie Duan, Georgia Goldberg, Alex Hahn, James Hess, Julia Im, Jina Jeon, Paul Kugan, Lily Lee, Annabelle Nickoll, Andrew Park, Max Ruden-Sella, Leo Saperstein, Charles Seymour, William Sherwood, Josh Silbermann, Natasha Speiss, Harry Tarses, Karen Wu, Vasilia Yordanova, Emmy Zhang Advisers: Jim Burns, Max Tash Layout Assistant: Alexis Arinsburg
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 Business Managers Emma Limor and Lucas Lee at elimor1@hwemail.com and llee3@ hwemail.com, respectively. Publication of an advertisement does not imply any endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or school.
HARVARD-WESTLAKE ARCHIVES AND KYLE REIMS/CHRONICLE
TRAVELING BACK IN TIME: Editors-in-Chief Hannah Han '21 and Ethan Lachman '21 (right) collaborate to design a page with their laptops for Volume 30 of The Chronicle, mirroring the work of students from 30 years ago (left) who compiled the newspaper by hand.
Chronicling Our 30 Years
On The Chronicle’s front page, various articles about gender gaps in classes, college decisions and parking problems catch the reader’s eye. Throughout the rest of the volume, pieces covering America’s involvement in Middle Eastern politics, police brutality and mental health fill each page. This could easily be an issue in this year’s paper, but it's not. Instead, these pieces date all the way back to the year 1991, to the inaugural issue of Volume I of The Chronicle itself. As we browsed the faded yellow archives stashed away in the recesses of Weiler 108, we realized that though so much has changed since 1991 (the rise in social media and the school merger, for example), there are many striking similarities between the worlds in which our earliest and most recent volumes were printed. Although the premise of the stories written then and today may overlap, their content has some stark differences. And while the headlines and concepts might pass for a 2021 release, there are some revealing components of their approach. Some of those revelations have to do with the viewpoints of students; a piece published directly after the Rodney King beatings reported that approximately 71% of the student body felt as though this watershed event was not racially motivated, while another 23% felt unsure about their stance. Other clear indicators fall on The Chronicle itself, such as one article that, when quoting a student, included two-thirds of a racial slur within the quotation. These are certainly things that one would not expect to see in something published today. And while times have changed, and things may have improved, there’s still quite a bit of work to be done. Who
knows—if The Chronicle is still around in 2051, we may look back on some of this issue’s content with the same surprise and shock as we do now. As the world changes, it is our job and our responsibility to change with it. Chronicle began as a way to connect the divide between the still separate Harvard School for Boys and Westlake School for Girls. Because the first issue was published in May 1991, The Chronicle actually started before the schools combined. This means that students from two different institutions worked together to produce content for a larger community, helping to bridge the gap between the schools in the process. Today, Chronicle stands by our founders' original mission, and we will continue to strive to forge connections within the school community. As this is the final issue our current seniors will take part in, we hope we have made an impact that will last as long as The Chronicle has. Our growth doesn’t just end with our social media presence, a brand-new website page or even our graduation. Beyond all the fun we've had with new layout templates or punny headlines this year, we hope we have left a meaningful legacy, one of reporting on and contributing to change. While we should laud the longevity of The Chronicle’s existence, we must take into account the ways in which our publication can evolve with society. And though we have gone through years of new staffs and different advisors, one thing has remained constant: our mission to connect the community. With 30 years in the books, we look forward to working toward providing more accurate, up-to-date and thought-provoking stories that can foster a stronger sense of solidarity within the school community. Here's to 30 more.
Our Story
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
PUBLICATION INFO:
Founded in 1990, The Chronicle is the Harvard-Westlake Upper School’s student-led newspaper. In the midst of its 30-year anniversary, The Chronicle strives to uphold its legacy of journalistic integrity and to report stories accurately and fairly. The newspaper is published eight times per year and is distributed to students, parents, faculty and staff at the Upper School. Additionally, the paper is affiliated with two Upper School magazines, Big Red and Panorama.
EDITORIALS:
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of staffers and are written by the seniors on the Editorial Board, which is composed of the Editors-in-Chief, the Managing Editors and the Section Editors.
ADVERTISING:
Questions pertaining to advertisements may be directed to Business Managers Emma Limor or Lucas Lee at elimor1@hwemail. com or llee3@hwemail.com, respectively. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or school.
UPDATES AND CORRECTIONS:
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. We are committed to uplifting the voices of marginalized or underrepresented individuals and groups in accordance with our efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
Though we always strive to be as accurate as possible, following the publication of each issue, staff members identify inaccuracies and receive feedback from readers. The Chronicle publishes corrections when we discover a factual error within a piece. We will continue to uphold transparency even in the face of mistakes.
PUBLICATION AWARDS:
- Columbia Scholastic Press Association - National Scholastic Press Association - Quill and Scroll Honor Society
- NSPA Pacemaker Winner - CSPA Gold Crown Winner
MEMBERSHIPS:
The Chronicle
A10 Opinion
The Mittle-man on campus By Sarah mittleman
T
he 2020-2021 school year has had one of the most creative plotlines yet, complete with a venue change, new cast members and a modern, digital format. The writers have tried something spectacularly unique, frequently shaking things up throughout the year and keeping students on their toes. Throughout the season, we wondered, "Will we go back to school tomorrow? Next year? Never??" Confusing emails about the return to campus added to the suspense, leaving us enraptured by the story. However, while the new story arc is undoubtedly original, is it really what the student body is looking for? And as we go forward into next year, is creativity worth the effort? The quality of this year's plot was disappointing, especially after the dramatic 2020 season finale. This season persisted with the same, tired storyline for months. The pre-Thanksgiving rush of as-
signments was dizzying, my winter break sleep schedule rendered me practically nocturnal and January was as miserable as ever. But the overarching theme of online school left the writer’s room without any opportunities to shine: there were no dances, no holiday parties and no thrilling on-campus romances. Time and time again, I advised the director to scrap the plot entirely, but he seemed insistent on making do. This foolish decision is plainly visible in the year’s sluggish pace— has it been a few months, a few years or a few centuries? The concept of online school has frankly disappointed me. Off the bat, the 2021 plot was incredibly far-fetched: a global pandemic forces everybody to do Zoom school? That’s not exactly relatable. Not to mention it is completely derivative of the big plot twist of 2020. I suppose the directors thought they could just take last year’s drama and run with it, but a
May 28, 2021 "The Mittle-man on Campus" is a satirical column centered around high school clichés and the teenage experience that appears in The Chronicle once every two weeks. None of the articles in this column are representative of the opinions of The Chronicle staff.
whole year and a half of an unrealistic storyline is bound to wear the student body out. Relieved that the writers were finally willing to change it up, I was thrilled to return to campus. Last year’s plot twist was riveting, and this year follows in those footsteps, flipping everything on its head by bringing students back to school right before finals. So you can imagine the height of my expectations. Would there be a new indoor cafeteria inspired by “High School Musical?" Would they have brought in sparkling vampires and rugged werewolves? Perhaps a marching band would meet me by the pool and carry me to my first class. I was deeply disappointed to learn that I was still expected to walk on my own and that the new cafeteria was more reminiscent of a snack bar than the scene of a dramatic song and dance. The first class came tragically early—8:30 a.m. The actors were
completely drained of all energy, and a few of them even slumped over their desks, fast asleep. Now, I could understand this if their characters were notably always tired, but seeing both the school bully and the eccentric genius resting their eyes took me out of the scene. The second block was better: the actress who played the teacher did an exceptional job of chewing me out in front of the entire class for not understanding basic French. However, I did expect a love interest to come to my rescue, which to my dismay, did not happen. The lunch period left me woefully underwhelmed. The Quad’s positioning in the middle of campus has so much untapped potential. I did not see a single schoolwide musical number, leaving the campus barren of excitement. To get through the torturously boring hour of lunch, I took it upon myself to start singing in the middle of campus. Two minutes into my
jovial song, “Why You Should Date Me,” I realized that nobody had joined in. The actors’ laziness made my performance a fiasco and reflected poorly on the school’s production value. It was expected that I would be satiated by a few Prom-posals, but none of them were directed at me. Cheering on the sidelines is not how I want to be spending my high school days. I hope that in the coming years, the directors develop a Musical Production Task Force (MPTF) to use that lunch hour wisely. In class meeting, my dean tried to convince me to work on my Common Application, even though I already assured him that I was going to CULA undergrad and Harvard Law like Elle Woods from "Legally Blonde." His insistence that I apply to “real colleges” was very off-putting and reduced the quality of my experience. • Continued on hwchronicle.com
Appreciating interaction By Sydney Fener
I
ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXA DRUYANOFF
Supporting our students' speech By Caroline Jacoby
F
rustrated about being rejected from the varsity cheerleading team, Brandi Levy, a high school senior at Mahanoy Area High School in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, vented to her Snapchat story. “F*ck school f*ck softball f*ck cheer f*ck everything,” she wrote. The message spread quickly and soon reached her cheerleading coach, and Levy was ultimately suspended from the team for the remainder of the season. Her parents sued the school board over this decision in a case now known as Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. The U.S. Courts of Appeals ruled that Levy’s free speech rights were violated, but the school board appealed the decision until the case made its way to the Supreme Court. This case has given academic institutions across the country an opportunity to reflect on the control schools have over their students' actions in the internet age. School officials can see almost anything a student posts on social media, limiting high schoolers' freedom of speech off campus. As students, we should want Levy to win her case. The scenario of a dispute between an athlete and
their coach seems so commonplace that almost any student can imagine being at the center of this case. Including social media under the school’s jurisdiction would force high school students to avoid making mistakes and remain professional at all times. This places a constant burden on students; the pressure to maintain a perfect online image exists regardless of the court’s decision. However, giving schools the right to limit what students can say or do online would exacerbate this issue. There are some instances of online misconduct, such as bullying and discrimination, which would warrant disciplinary action from the school. In these situations, school involvement should be encouraged, though schools need to know where to draw the line. In situations like Levy’s, attempting to protect students accomplishes the opposite. I would caution the school against coming down too hard on students who are misguided but mean no harm. Grappling with the permanence of our words is new to this generation and should be treated as such. It is unreasonable for the school to be holding students accountable for
what they do in their private lives when their words have no negative consequences on their peers. The outcome of this case likely will not have a large impact on how our school specifically chooses to regulate student speech on social media. The federal government has much less authority over private schools than they do over a public school such as Levy’s. However, the implications of the case pose a unique question for private schools: if public schools have this level of control over student speech off campus, how far can our school go? The school should take the outcome of the Levy case into account when deciding if it is within their authority to discipline a student for online actions. After experiencing a whole year of Zoom classes, we have learned that the school's reach extends beyond its campus. But if student speech on social media can be subject to disciplinary action by the school, there needs to be careful consideration about when that power should be exercised. Ultimately, schools must allow students to learn how to be responsible online on their own terms.
t’s just the truth. Being at school every day is tiring. Waking up early in the morning, driving in Los Angeles traffic, physically walking to different classrooms—it’s a lot to manage after a year of attending school through an online application on our computers. With full-time in-person school beginning for every grade level, it may be more difficult for us to face the rest of the year outside of the comfort of our beds. But we need to remember how it felt to be back on campus for the first time. We need to remember that first lunch when we all sat with our friends and talked face-to-face, that first in-person meeting with our teachers and our surprise that they were not as tall as we thought they were, that feeling of being surrounded by laughter and chatter and learning. We simply cannot take in-person school for granted. When I saw the announcement that school was closing last March, I ran to the quad and joined the dozens of other students enthusiastically cheering and hugging each other. This March, I did the same with my family members when I heard that classes were returning in person. Simple preparations were incredibly exciting to me: packing my backpack, scoping out the parking situation and preparing outfits. Soon, this will all become a dull routine, but the excitement about school should last far beyond the refreshing return to our everyday habits. We should be thrilled by the prospect of socialization, engaged learning and in-person connection for the rest of our high school experiences. Coming back to campus gave me a jolt of energy after a year of exhaustion. I was surprised by just how engaging my classes were; despite my best efforts, I found myself zoning out in online classes. It is so much easier to pay attention on campus and so much more fulfilling to speak to a room of
students instead of my computer screen. While being at school may be more physically draining, it is certainly more emotionally energizing. I am so grateful for all of the experiences the Upper School offers, and I want to maintain this gratitude when the novelty of the campus begins to wear off. When we lose our frame of reference for in-person learning, it is important to remember that school is not just good in comparison to the boredom and loneliness of Zoom. Socialization may feel especially valuable after being deprived, but it is necessary to be grateful for this campus even when we have gotten used to it again. School provides an irreplaceable opportunity to learn alongside others. It allows me to learn from my fellow students in a more effective and engaging way. Hearing an insightful comment from a Zoom meeting is very different from hearing it in real life. Seeing a presentation, a performance or a guest speaker in person is a more rewarding opportunity. It feels less remote. It is easier to take in information. And best of all, I get to engage with the materials alongside my peers and discuss them afterward on the quad. The time I spend learning and socializing lasts the whole day, as opposed to being relegated to 75-minute blocks that end as abruptly as they start. Though the school did an excellent job of implementing online learning, there is simply no substitute for the on-campus experience. As we transition back to fulltime school, I want to remember not only how draining Zoom was but also how much of a gift it is to attend in-person school. Every day we get to spend surrounded by our closest friends and most beloved educators is a privilege. Though it was tiring, stressful and overwhelming, this past year has shown me that being at school is an irreplaceable joy that should not go unappreciated.
hwchronicle.com/opinion
May 28, 2021
Opinion A11
Do you think it is okay to party right now if not everyone attending is vaccinated? Yes: 41.7% No: 58.3% *168 students polled
ILLUSTRATION BY SYDNEY FENER
Securing safety over socializing By Alec Rosenthal
A
s I swiped through what felt like an endless slew of Snapchat stories on a Saturday night in April, I realized that many of my peers were conspicuously posting photos of their maskless friends in the same locations. DJ booths were littered with red Solo cups and empty drink cans, but only a couple of people were in the photos at a time. It was clear that those who posted these photos were at parties together, and perhaps they knew openly partying would result in others casting judgement on them given the ongoing pandemic. The images in those stories became stuck in my mind that night. Were they vaccinated? I wondered. Were they just taking their masks off for this photo? Was this their first party since quarantine started or the first one I have caught? Occasionally, I heard about the continuation of party culture at times when coronavirus cases were much higher and safety guidelines were much stricter; one of my friends even invited me to a Halloween party at her house last year. After some of my other friends revealed to me that they had continued to attend parties throughout the past year, I realized that those around me weren’t taking the virus seriously, though I couldn’t muster the courage to inform them that
their decisions were harmful. To some extent, I understood my friends' perspectives. It’s completely natural to want to attend parties—humans are social beings. For a whole year, many students have been interacting with their classmates solely through online platforms and have been forced into a state of social isolation. Quarantine has eviscerated people’s connections with one another and has made us take an unhealthy and unnatural approach to socializing. However, being deprived of our social lives does not permit us to jump back into them headfirst, completely ignoring the context of this past year. The guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) permit fully vaccinated individuals to gather indoors with others who are vaccinated without wearing masks or staying six feet apart as of April 27. However, the CDC still recommends that citizens wear masks and avoid large indoor gatherings, and masks are especially encouraged when around unvaccinated people from more than one other household. Also, recipients of the vaccine are only considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving a singledose vaccine or the second dose of a two-dose series. As the population of Los Angeles becomes increasingly
vaccinated and coronavirus cases continue to decline, it is going to be more normal to see parties return into the public eye and become less stigmatized. While popular Los Angeles-based Instagram account @west_la_memes posted a meme which chastised party-goers and accumulated almost 12,000 likes in October of 2020, more recent accounts such as @may7thparty, @may22_ rager and @june10th_rager have already begun to cultivate mass followings of Los Angeles teenagers. The public perception of partying within the context of the pandemic is quickly changing. Before partying, attendees should get tested for COVID-19 and ensure that the safety of the other party-goers is not at risk. Throwing massive ragers that have over 2,000 people on the admission list is completely irresponsible, as it would be extremely difficult to ensure that all attendees are vaccinated. Those who are vaccinated should still take the proper precautions and continue to be wary of the coronavirus, especially when considering those within and outside of the school community who have not been vaccinated yet. While reconnecting with one’s peers and being socially active is important, public safety must be treated with equal, if not greater, importance.
“I think the fact that I’m not quite sure [about the CDC guidelines] is why I would say just no. I feel like unless you’re 100% sure that it’s safe and there’s guidance out about it, then it’s just not worth it.”
Natalie Ayeni ’21
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF NATALIE AYENI
Jason Salmeron ’22 “I think it’s up to each individual to assess their risk and if it feels safe enough to party without being vaccinated. That’s their decision.”
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JASON SALMERON
“[Partying] is just going to work against progress with [COVID-19], and we’re so close to a free summer. We’re so close to getting out of this, so partying right now is just blatantly working against that.”
Anika Kumar ’23
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF ANIKA KUMAR
Letter from the Editors
Reviewing The Chronicle’s college list By The Managing Team
A
s we planned for our last Chronicle hurrah, we found an issue with our final issue. Every year, the student community flocks to find a copy of this May issue of The Chronicle. Skimming through the countless pages in the newspaper, they find themselves looking for a very special two-page spread: The Chronicle college list. Whether it’s a senior looking for their friends’ names, a junior trying to figure out where to apply early decision or even an eager seventh grader simply hoping to examine the school’s matriculation, this two-page spread has repeatedly proven its importance and relevance throughout The Chronicle’s 30-year existence. The spread has been a pillar of Weiler Hall layout
ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXA DRUYANOFF
in May and is one of the first articles that people associate with our paper. But why is this list so important? In a year like this, characterized by isolation from a pandemic and emotional upheaval from an unstable world, we weren’t sure if we should publish our traditional college list. Normally, it includes every student in the grade and their corresponding college-choice, but what if this contributed to hypercompetitivity? What if the list that so many people read actually bred a sort of perverse enjoyment? What if the list did more harm than it did good? However, in our yearly survey to the class of 2021 this year, you might have noticed another question at the bottom of the Google
Form—we chose to ask our student body whether or not we should continue printing the college spread as part of our final issue. After all, while there are many positives that come out of including one’s college in The Chronicle, we have been forced to consider the possibly negative effects on mental health that could arise from the paper’s final issue. With the school’s longestablished reputation as a pressure cooker, at the end of the day, those who “decline to state” or are attending a less traditional college may feel uncomfortable with others within the school community having access to such information. In addition, we recognize that the “college competition” has increased at HarvardWestlake from our very
first issue 30 years ago. The climate surrounding placement has only increased in the last few years, and this could cause some to feel uncomfortable with their name and school being published in The Chronicle. With this being said, we are happy to report that our college survey will remain a tradition for this issue. In our Google Form, which received over 191 responses, we found that almost nine in 10 seniors felt that the names of seniors and the colleges they plan to attend should be published in The Chronicle. The people have spoken, and so naturally we will honor our storied tradition in our last issue of this hectic and unique year. The people who choose “decline to state” will not be included, however, as we
do not want to add to any potential tension. We realize that the list can be used as a means of connecting with each other and celebrating our accomplishments, and we implore that those interested will not use it to foster toxic competition. As mentioned in our editorial this issue, our 30-year anniversary has reminded us about the inextricable connection between longevity and change. Though we ultimately did not change The Chronicle college list tradition, we hope that future Chronicle staff members will continue to assess the ways in which they are contributing to their student body and overall school community. And if necessary, we hope they will be ready to adapt their ways for the greater good.
Community The Chronicle • May 28, 2021
SANDRA KORETZ/CHRONICLE
HILLSIDE HISTORY: Studio City residents and school community members debated over the designation of Weddington Golf & Tennis as a historical monument during a forum April 15. The Los Angeles Heritage Commission recommended the change, which would delay the plans for the construction of River Park, an athletics facility located near the Upper School.
Studio City community discusses historical status of Weddington
By Julian Andreone
The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission officially recommended that the Los Angeles City Council consider designating Weddington Golf & Tennis a historic monument April 15. Such a designation would slow the school’s construction plans for its River Park project by establishing narrower restrictions for the development of the 16-acre-property. The school purchased Weddington Golf & Tennis in 2017, but community members have still been able to use the facilities when student-athletes are not present. Despite concerned community members’ claims that the River Park project would strip an
asset from their neighborhood, Head of Communications & Strategic Initiatives Ari Engelberg said the new River Park project would actually increase public access to the property. “The River Park plan offers numerous opportunities for the community to enjoy the recreational and natural amenities of the site,” Engelberg said. “When the project is completed, members of the community will have access to the putting green, tennis courts, playing fields, community room, walking and jogging trails and the clubhouse cafe.” The new athletic facilities included in the River Park site plan also present new opportunities to student-athletes. Girls tennis player Jade Zoller ’22 said she is
excited for the River Park developments at Weddington. “I think that River Park will be a great addition to the Harvard-Westlake athletics program,” Zoller said. Representatives of the recently-started Save Weddington movement, a group of Studio City community members who originally nominated Weddington Golf & Tennis as a historic landmark of the city, said they agree with all of the findings of the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission. “We strongly urge the Planning and Land Use Management Committee Committee and City Council to adopt the Cultural Heritage Commission’s findings, as written, and support the rec-
CDC eases mask requirements as Los Angeles enters city’s yellow tier By Sandra Koretz
Fully vaccinated individuals were first permitted to remain maskless outdoors except in certain settings when Los Angeles County moved to the yellow tier, the least restrictive tier in California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy plan, on May 4. Additionally, fully vaccinated people are now able to visit other fully vaccinated people indoors without masks or social distancing. Prior to May 4, members of Los Angeles County continued to abide by the restrictions held in place by the orange tier, which required residents to follow stricter mask restrictions. With the county’s transition to the yellow tier, California has become the state with the lowest COVID-19 case rate within the country. As a result, restaurants, indoor gyms and movie theaters are allowed extended capacity, and fitness centers are now reopening, according to the Los Angeles Times. Matteo Dall’Olmo ’22 said that while he will continue to
follow local health recommendations, he is looking forward to spending time with friends who also received the vaccine. “When I’m with friends who are also fully vaccinated, it’s nice that we can feel comfortable being outside without masks,” Dall’Olmo said. “Yet it’s still really important for the community to wear masks and pay attention to health policies.” As of May 15, 52.7% of California citizens have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 37.7% of Californians are fully vaccinated, according to California for All. Claire Paul ’23, who is fully vaccinated, said she feels safer going back to school and returning to other activities that she previously enjoyed with friends. “Being fully vaccinated provides a nice sense of security in regards to returning to campus as well as other normal activities,” Paul said. “While the pandemic certainly isn’t over yet, I now feel significantly more comfortable seeing my teachers and peers in
“
[The school] believes that certain aspects of Weddington Golf & Tennis are worthy of historic preservation. [...] The property as a whole [is not].” —Ari Engelberg Head of Communications
ommendation for Weddington Golf & Tennis to be designated a Historic-Cultural Monument,” Save Weddington representatives said in a written statement to The Chronicle. “Community members are counting on Councilmember [Paul] Krekorian to help preserve a significant piece of Studio City history and community for the benefit of future generations.” Despite its efforts to move forward with River Park, the school supports the designation of parts of Weddington as historic monuments. Engelberg said the school’s site plan specifies which preservation measures
white’s
the school supports. The entire property, however, is not historic and should not be designated as a historic monument altogether, he said. “Harvard-Westlake believes that certain aspects of Weddington Golf & Tennis are worthy of historic preservation,” Engelberg said. “These include the putting green, clubhouse and iconic golf ball floodlights. This is why the school integrated these features into the site construction plan before the historic preservation effort even began. The property as a whole should not be designated historic because it simply is not.”
person. I go on hikes with friends too and also feel much more comfortable eating outside at restaurants now that restrictions have been eased.” In addition, Science Teacher Steve Yang ’08 said he has enjoyed the normal aspects of returning to school on campus that he missed out on during the virtual teaching period. “For my part, I’ve enjoyed returning to campus,” Yang said in an email interview. “There is so much texture to the portrait of a student that gets lost when we are online: the back-andforth classroom banter, the small conversations that we can have before and after class. Although these interactions are technically possible online as well, it often feels less organic than what normally occurs on campus. Everything online has to be done very purposefully, and there’s a lot less room for the sort of spontaneous conversations that would norAVA FATTAHI/CHRONICLE mally take place as I passed by everybody in the school commu- KEEPING DISTANCE: Studio City caffeine enthusiasts wait outside of Alfred Coffee wearing masks while social distancing from one another. nity in the quad before.”
Features The Chronicle • May 28, 2021
A Tough Pill to Swallow
Eyes on
the College
Prize
College applicants describe the pressures they feel to excel during an atypical year.
Teenage girls discuss how taking birth control has impacted their personal lives.
By Ava Fattahi
By Milla Ben-Ezra and Kate Burry 5 million women around the U.S. take some form of the birth control pill. Whether it be for contraception, acne prevention or menstrual regulation, “the pill” assists women in having control over their bodies. According to Planned Parenthood, even with the pill’s widespread benefits and societal support, many politicians seek to defund the institutions that uphold it. Recently, access to the pill has been in jeopardy, particularly under former President Donald Trump’s administration, which actively sought to make the birth control pill less accessible through healthcare. For Oakwood student Sophia Diamond ’23, the pill was a fortunate solution to her long term struggle with acne and severe breakouts. After battling intense flare-ups, Diamond’s dermatologist and physician both recommended she go on the contraceptive medication. Diamond was one of the women who received free access to birth control as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “My skin was getting really bad, and there are hormones in certain birth control pills that react with the hormones in your skin,” Diamond said. “Since I’ve started taking [the pill], my skin is way clearer, and I’ve stopped getting giant breakouts, but now I only get a bit here and there. It’s helped a ton.” After the ACA was passed in 2010 under former President Barack Obama’s administration, hundreds of thousands of insured women gained access to free contraceptive pills. However, as soon as Trump was elected into office, he began to roll back these mandates, according to HealthAffairs.com. Trump’s federal agencies declared it the right of companies to deny free access to birth control for their employees if it contradicted their moral or religious beliefs. Shortly after, the Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration’s rollback on the ACA’s contraceptive mandate. • Continued on B2
Breaking the Mold Mixed race students reflect on how their cultural identities have been shaped by their interactions with society.
By Mia Feizbakhsh On her first day of seventh grade, Alex Mieszala ’20 was met with the same question every time she introduced herself to someone: “What are you?” When she told them, she would always receive the same response: “Wow, you really don’t look Asian.” Mieszala is half-Chinese; her mother immigrated to the United States from China, and her father was born and raised in Luxembourg. Growing up, Mieszala said she didn’t realize she lacked the stereotypical features associated with being Asian. “When people meet me, they usually assume I’m white because I really do look very white,” Mieszala said. “Often, people guess that I’m Italian or Greek, but I’m neither. As a result, I’ve definitely come to identify a lot more with my Eu-
was kind of forced to be either Asian or white—there wasn’t an in-between.” Like Mieszala, Adrienne Usher ’22 attended a predominantly-white elementary school, a space, she said, that did not allow her to embrace her Black ancestry. Usher, whose mother is Haitan and whose father is white, said her experience being mixed in an environment with little diversity made her feel alienated and confused about her identity. “Because I grew up around white people the most, I used to identify more as white,” Usher said. “But as I realized that many of my own classmates didn’t identify with me or see me like themselves, I realized that I am much more like the Black community in many ways. For example, I had to learn how to take care of my [Type] 4A hair by watching Black YouTubers.” • Continued on B3
MIA FEIZBAKHSH/CHRONICLE
Constructing Connections
Talking With the Twins Identical siblings open up about their struggles with identity and individuality as they navigate through their high school lives. B7
ropean side.” Mieszala said there was a time when she did not feel as connected to her European identity. Growing up, Mieszala attended a predominantly-white Catholic school, where she said her Chinese heritage stood out. However, when she came to the Middle School, Mieszala said her relationship with race began to change. “I was one of two girls who were Asian at my elementary school, so everyone knew I was half-Chinese, and I felt very Asian in comparison to these white Catholic kids,” Mieszala said. “When I came to Harvard-Westlake, there were so many Asian kids, and I wanted to be friends with them, but I felt excluded and not really accepted because I didn’t look very Chinese. It was a really weird transition because at my old school I had been considered as very Asian, but here I
Through the revival of the popular online game, Minecraft, upper school students rekindle their friendships with their peers during the pandemic. PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF BELLA GANOCY AND ELLA GANOCY
Casey Weisman ’22 felt the blue fluorescent glow of his laptop screen on his face as he logged onto his fifth virtual college panel in mid-April. When he saw dozens of his peers on the Zoom call with him, he began worrying about the upcoming college admissions season. “During the pandemic, I feel like it’s been even harder for people to get into colleges,” Weisman said. “And, as Harvard-Westlake students always do, they compete with their peers to outdo one another. Since my sophomore year, I’ve become a lot more aware and nervous of the admissions process and have felt pressured to do better than my peers. We already go to one of the top schools in the country, and because of that, we feel the need to prove ourselves by competing with each other for the ‘ultimate’ applications.” A report published in The Washington Post in April of 2021 revealed that college applications at Ivy League universities increased by an average of 33.4% during the COVID-19 pandemic, while actual acceptance rates dropped by an average of 1.98% among all of the Ivies. Upper School Dean Nia Kilgore said that this recent drop in acceptances has driven high school students to feel even more competitive in the college application period, which is where the deans have noticed the most pressure to perform exceptionally. The administration office hopes to help their students shift their perspectives from those of worry to those of optimism, Kilgore said. “College admissions are only getting pickier over time,” Kilgore said. “The pandemic has created an influx of applications with less acceptances than ever, which [alarms students]. As deans, we have to help students believe in themselves and not feel defined by the colleges they get accepted to. When kids feel good about their abilities, they are less inclined to view competition as a bad thing. Adjusting their mindset can lead to more productive and happier students.”
HWCHRONICLE.COM PHOTO CREDIT BY ALEC ROSENTHAL
Socioeconomic Stigma among Students
Members of the school community evaluate the perception of financial aid within the student body and address the stigma surrounding socioeconomic disparities. B8 ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXA DRUYANOFF
• Continued on B4
Fishing for College Bait
Students, faculty and alumni discuss their approaches to the college process and contemplate the value of college counselors. HWCHRONICLE.COM ILLUSTRATION BY CAROLINE JACOBY
B2 Features
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
ILLUSTRATION BY SOPHIA MUSANTE
and a lot of the time I would feel sick and be stuck at home in bed,” Corwin In order to solve issues pertaining said. “Now I don’t have to deal with to teenage hormonal acne, doctors can that, and the pill gives me more cerprescribe birth control to offset break- tainty and regularity, so I don’t always outs. According to a 2017 study by have to be worrying about when my Cutanea Life Sciences Inc., over 85% period is going to come.” of teens said having acne caused them Although some are accepting of to struggle with confidence and self others using the pill, others espouse perception. Crossroads student Cate the stigmas regarding teenage birth, afElson ’22 said birth control trans- fecting the young women who take it. formed her skin and enabled her to Kate Hasset ’22 said she turned to birth feel good about herself like she never control to alleviate painful menstrual had before. cramps and said that although she has “After years of struggling with my not seen much taboo surrounding the skin and trying different pill in her social spheres, she products, birth control alhas experienced stigma in relowed me to become my ligious settings. most confident self,” Elson “I went to a Christian said. “It instantly cleared up school, and I recently ran my skin on both my face and into someone I used to go to my back and has continued school with,” Hassett said. to keep it clear for the three “We were talking about medwhite’s years I’ve been on it. While it icines we take, and I menKate originally was meant to help tioned birth control, and the Hassett ’22 my skin, it has also benefited person told me, ‘Jesus would me by helping me regulate be so mad at you.’ I’m Cathmy period and helping my cramps.” olic, and in [Catholicism] it’s frowned Thousands of teenage girls like upon.” Diamond and Elson use contracepMaya Harbour ’21 said she also tive pills as a way to not only prevent dealt with some of the negative stepregnancy but also to mitigate painful reotypes regarding the pill, despite the menstrual cramps, regulate heavy pe- fact that she takes it to relieve menstruriods, control cystic acne and overall al cramps. improve their state of being, according “I feel like there’s a lot of misconto Planned Parenthood. Marlborough ceptions about the pill,” Harbour said. student Hannah Corwin ’22 said that “My mom said to maybe not tell my until she started taking birth control, father. I was confused because I literalher unpredictable and painful men- ly just use it for my cramps. But, you strual cycle added anxiety to her alknow, some peoready stressful life. ple assume it’s “In the past, I always for felt like I had to be preparing for my period, • Continued from B1
other reasons.” vider of reproductive care, and thouOakwood junior Coco Cooley ’22 sands of women rely on it to preserve said that in addition to the lack of their right to have control over their knowledge surrounding the pill’s pur- bodies. poses, there are a number of other mis“The wonderful thing about conceptions that surround the method Planned Parenthood is that it allows of contraception. Cooley initially be- people to make their own choicgan taking the pill as a means of preg- es about what they want to do with nancy prevention, and though she had their bodies,” Unger said. “It’s a nona positive experience with the first type judgmental way of dealing with peoof pill she was prescribed, she said she ple with regards to contraception and recognizes that many women do not. abortion. We talk to our patients to “I think that people often forget find out what is best for them, and we that ‘the pill’ isn’t just one pill, and let them make their own decisions.” there are different types of birth conDiamond said she understands trol pills that use the significance of different hormones,” an organization like Cooley said. “You’re Planned Parenthood I feel like there’s taking hormones, so in a nation that has a lot of misconceptions obviously there are systemically opabout the pill. [...] But, chances that it won’t pressed female reyou know, some people productive rights. She work out at first, and assume it’s for other you have to try a difsaid she recognizes reasons. ” ferent one. It doesn’t that Planned Parenthave to be this all or —Maya Harbour ’21 hood provides a mulnothing experience.” titude of services for Cooley said she around 2.4 million believes people often wrongly fear the women that rely on its programs and pill and that proper contraceptive edu- resources, and she is nervous about cation, a major component of Planned the possibility of a world without it. Parenthood’s programs, is the key to “It scares me that Planned Parsupporting women and ensuring their enthood could be taken away from health. this country because even though Planned Parenthood serves as the [the organization] provides free birth country’s biggest reproductive services control for those who need it, it’s not provider, giving contraceptive pre- just about birth control,” Diamond scriptions to many women and girls said. “Planned Parenthood provides nationwide, according to their web- sex education and other resources site. In an interview with The Chron- for women. And for those who need icle, Cathy Unger, a national board birth control, it’s not just about sex. member of the organization, said a The pill is used for so many things, recent poll showed Planned Parent- like girls who have painful periods or hood as the most trusted girls with bad acne. There’s more to it p r o - than contraception.”
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MILLA BE
N-EZRA/C
HRONIC
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B3 Features
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
TORN BETWEEN TWO WORLDS Biracial students reflect on their experiences feeling isolated, as they struggle to feel accepted by people of either of their racial backgrounds. accepting herself as a person of color in an environment where most of her peers were Usher said she often feels conflicted white. about identifying as both white and Black. “I dealt a lot with my own insecurities “Most days I don’t feel like enough of and internalized racism, believing that I either race,” Usher said. “I am tan and have wasn’t good enough because I wasn’t fully a big Afro, so I often find myself in a sit- white,” Greenman said. “I also didn’t know uation with a bunch of white people, and much about Black culture beyond what I the minute they start talking about race, I had been exposed to through family and the am no longer ‘Adrienne the mixed-race girl’ media and had a very narrow perception of but more like ‘Adrienne who is Black, so what being African American meant.” we have to be careful of what we say.’ On Isabella Daum ’23 also went to a majorthe other hand, because I grew up predom- ity-white elementary school; however, she inantly with white people, I feel discon- said her experience was slightly different nected from my Black roots. I feel like I’ve than Usher’s. Daum, who is half-Indian missed out on a lot of experiences that most and half-Jewish, said that though she strugBlack kids have, like certain rites of passage gled to connect with her Indian culture, she and stuff, and I often feel too white [when did feel in touch with her Jewish identity. I’m] with my Black friends.” “I did feel I was a part of a Jamie Kim-Worthington ’22, community because of my Jewwho is half-Korean and halfish religion, but it was hard to white, said he relates to Usher’s connect with anyone based off struggle to find where she fits in. of my Indian culture,” Daum Specifically, Kim-Worthington said. “The fact that I couldn’t said he feels most alienated when relate to almost anyone at my he is in a primarily white environschool made it almost impossiment. ble to be closely in touch with white’s “I’ve definitely had experimy Indian side.” Sofia Li ’22 ences where I’ve felt ‘not Korean Daum said that, at times, she enough’ or ‘not white enough,’” feels distant from her Indian herKim-Worthington said. “When I’ve gone itage. to Korea, I’ve felt alienated because I don’t “I definitely have felt invalidated bespeak the language, [and] my British side cause I am mixed, and I think it has to of the family lives in the countryside, and do with growing up in a setting where I my mom and I have experienced anti-Asian never had the chance to fully be immersed racism in England just as we’ve experienced in my Indian culture,” Daum said. “My it in the U.S. When I’m in an area where grandparents are constantly talking to us I’m one of the very few Asian people, I defi- about their religion, language, life grownitely feel like I’m not ‘white enough’ to fit ing up in India and other parts of their in.” own culture. Although this makes me feel Similarly to Kim-Worthington, Cate a part of something, they live across the Greenman ’22 said she has had issues with country, which makes it hard sometimes • Continued from B1
“I dealt a lot with my own insecurities and internalized racism, believing I wasn’t good enough because I wasn’t fully white.” —Cate Greenman ’22
to feel close to them.” also mixed, so I really was able to relate to Sofia Li ’22 also said that living far away them.” from one set of grandparents and close to While Usher said she has been able to the other set had a dramatic impact on the find a place where she feels seen and actraditional holidays she grew up with. cepted, Li said that she sometimes feels as “We would only really do traditional though her Chinese heritage is ignored or Chinese activities when my grandparents erased by her friends. would come into town and would never “My friends are mainly white, and I really do them on our own,” Li said. “I did think sometimes they forget that I’m not extake part in more of the [religious tradi- actly like them,” Li said. “I remember havtions] from my Jewish side [while growing ing a conversation with them about privup], since my mom’s side of the family lives ilege, and this was amidst all of the Asian here. We do Passover and Hanukkah.” hate crimes that the media was covering, Despite the distance, Li said she has and my friend laughed and told me that found a way to connect to her roots with- we had the same amount of privilege. Norin the school’s curriculum. By choosing mally, I would have agreed—I know I’m to take Chinese as her world language, Li privileged in a lot of ways—but as this was said she has been able to going on, I realized how learn more about the inthat wasn’t true. It was ner workings of Chinese kind of shocking, and On the other culture. my response was, ‘No, hand, because I grew “When I got into Harwe don’t,’ because before up predominantly with vard-Westlake, I knew I all of this, it went over white people, I feel wanted to take Chinese,” my head, and I would’ve disconnected with my Li said. “My dad’s side of agreed. I remember I was the family speaks Chinese, kind of offended [at the black roots.” and I really wanted to idea].” —Adrienne Usher ’22 learn about my own culDuring the pandemture. It’s so interesting to ic, events such as the learn about that side of who I am.” death of George Floyd and a rise in anOne way Usher said she has been able to ti-Asian hate crimes have brought converembrace her culture is through Boot Squad. sations about race to light. Usher said she The in-school club allows students to learn feels that the past year has affected her outthe art of stepping: a full-body percussive look on life. dance native to African and Caribbean cul“I would have to say that the recent tures. shootings and the police’s reaction to the “[I decided to join the Boot Squad be- riots from last year made me think about cause] I wanted to be around more peo- how society sees me,” Usher said. “Am I ple of color and kind of catch up on what mixed to the outside world, or am I just a I missed while growing up being one of slightly light Black kid? In other words, if four Black kids in my whole grade,” Ush- my friends were caught shoplifting, am I er said. “A lot of Boot Squad members are the first one who is going to be blamed?”
“I’ve whe definitel re y enou I’ve fel had exp t ‘no gh’ o t Ko eriences r ‘no t —Ja whit rean mie e en Kim ough -Wo .’” rthin gton ’22
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ted valida k it n i t l e thin ave f tely h ixed, and I n a setting i n fi e i e “I d am m owing up ully b f I e o s t u r e anc th g beca do wi had the ch lture.” o t s a r cu h ’23 I neve y Indian e r e Daum h m a w l n l i e b rsed —Isa imme
ILLUSTRATIONS BY EVIE DE RUBERTIS AND ALEXA DRUYANOFF
B4 Features
May 28, 2021
The Chronicle
high school pictures presents..
Faculty and students speak on competition over college applications amid the recent unprecented admissions season. where the next four years will take us.” Upper School Science TeachUpper School Dean Jen er Nate Cardin said he has Cardillo said the greatest disobserved that overworked stu- advantage her senior students dents are a byproduct of aca- faced during the pandemic was demic competition and that the not being able to travel to the desire to create an impressive colleges they were interested in college application is a burden visiting. on students. “Very few of my seniors had “The environment of over- significant opportunities to visit loaded, exhausted students of- colleges,” Cardillo said. “Those ten makes school days feel less who did get to tour the colleges joyful,” Cardin said. “Students where they are now enrolled aren’t able to dig deep into the might have visited pre-pandemideas we’re discussing in Zoom ic, when they were significantly classes. Instead, it feels like younger, or did unofficial tours many of them are scrambling more recently. It was definitely to keep up, sacrificing sleep, a disadvantage not to have those hobbies and friendships to do opportunities to see a college so. Each student campus in person, but feels pressure to perI am really impressed form because of the with my seniors for looming certainty of their sense of advencollege applications, ture and dedication, [creating] a harsh as many of them plan space formed by stuto move this summer dents [who overload to campuses they will on extracurriculars].” be seeing for the first Naomi Attal ’21 time.” white’s said now that she Will Ruden-Sella Casey has gone through the ’21 said he felt hinWeisman ’22 college application dered by his inability process and has been to tour colleges on the accepted to New York Univer- East Coast during this year’s sity, she thinks the competitive admissions cycle because of atmosphere she was in was un- COVID-19 safety concerns. necessary. “I had planned to go on col“I’m really happy with the lege tours during spring break college I’m going to, but I think last year,” Ruden-Sella said. “I I still would have done very feel like if I would have gone well and been a lot less stressed on a college tour and saw the if I hadn’t faced the competi- campuses of a bunch of schools, tion with my peers during ad- I would have gotten a sense missions season,” Attal said. “I of where I wanted to apply to love my classmates, but it’s a more, which I didn’t really get. shame that we treat our last year Overall, [COVID-19] made as high school students seeing it really hard to get to know each other as targets or people each college and what is unique who could steal our spots at about each college.” our dream schools. I’ve noticed Kilgore said that students pressure to one-up each other in have approached their deans terms of how many extracurric- feeling discouraged especially ulars, volunteer hours or sports during this year’s admissions accolades you have—which has process. been even harder to do virtual“Now more than ever, stuly, and people overwork them- dents have expressed that they selves until it takes a toll on feel ‘lesser’ than their seemingtheir mental health as a result. If ly smarter peers,” Kilgore said. we can move past this competi- “Going through a year of virtutive mindset, I think we would al school prevented them from be so much happier while still seeing their peers, and it seems feeling successful and proud of that the lack of face-to-face • Continued from B1
connections has added to their COVID-19 is that it made instress about college. I engage formation among peers way in conversations about what harder to reach,” Prybil said. situations lead to [stress]—is “Because usually when you’re it breakout room discussions isolated at home, you don’t when you don’t know answers have all the information with or the perception of who gets the College Board or anything into certain colleges and who like that, which means that it’s doesn’t factors that makes you very easy to mess up in the apfeel unworthy? I think all deans plication process. On the other are having these conversations hand, the biggest positive was with some of their students, that since you’re home all the and the problem isn’t solved af- time, it kind of almost forced ter one talk.” you to focus on your whole apA New York Times study plication process.” conducted by Michael HurWeisman said the struggle witz in 2011 found that one to maintain “perfect” grades unnamed college was 15 times follows his peers throughout more likely to accept legacy their daily lives at school, and students than students without only the top few performers family alumni. come out of the H o p e competition Sh i n d e r m a n emotionally The environment ’21, who will unscathed. be atttend- of overloaded, exhausted “I feel like ing Columbia students often makes our the competiUniversity in tion doesn’t fall of 2021, days at school together benefit many said she has feel less joyful.” people except also witnessed for those who —Nate Cardin manage to excel the advantages applicants with the help of Science Teacher have in the online tutors or college applifamily conneccation process, which increase tions,” Weisman said. “Otherpressure on those who lack such wise, it really seems like everybenefits. one at school is just fighting “I’ve also noticed that for themselves in this ongoing wealthier students whose par- battle against one another that ents know more people in the I think is dangerous to us, especollege world or attended well- cially during this unpredictable known universities tend to be past year. Everyone has a ‘surfavored by admissions officers vival of the fittest’ mentality and and feel like they shouldn’t tell that they have no choice others about factors that may but to try to come out help them,” Shinderman said. on top.” “These often discourage those who lack connections and can’t make them during a global pandemic, so I feel like the entire situation can be quite unfair.” Ryan Prybil ’21 said the largest challenge he faced during the recent admissions season was communicating with his classmates and fellow applicants, but he also appreciated the extra time he had in quarantine to devote to his applications. “I think the difficulty with
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Produced by Due
dates CO. directed by stressed students co-produced by college applications screenplay by sleepless nights starring secretive conversations and perfect scorers and ap classes featuring performances by assumptions and rumors effects by academic validation EFFECTS AGES 13-18
illustrations by sophia evans
May 28, 2021
hwchronicle.com/features
Features B5
By Sydney Fener and Caitlin Muñoz illustration by alexa druyanoff, sophia evans and chloe schaeffer
Four graduating seniors looking forward to their college experiences reflect on their journeys navigating the application process. Kiki Iriafen
Reflecting on the early months of her senior year, Stanford University women’s basketball commit Kiki Iriafen ’21 recalled the pressure she and her peers felt as they grappled with Common Application essays and early admission deadlines, all while navigating a new school year on Zoom. Iriafen said her own stress was alleviated following her commitment to Stanford in August of 2020.
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“After I submitted my application, I knew pretty early [that I was accepted], so I didn’t have to stress about college like everyone else,” Iriafen said. “I think that’s the biggest difference between regular [college admissions] and mine—that there was a stress reliever in me knowing so early.” Iriafen said she decided to attend Stanford University due to its academic rigor, which she believes will provide a strong educational foundation for a future career outside of basketball. “In women’s basketball professionally, there’s not a lot of money, so I wanted [my education] to fall back on,” Iriafen said. “I chose Stanford because of its academic excellence, and I know that I’ll succeed in my future with whatever I choose to do, whether that’s with basketball or not with basketball.” Iriafen said her desire to thrive academically and athletically is reflected in her discipline throughout senior year, even following her commitment to college. When asked what advice she would give to rising seniors, Iriafen warned against falling into complacency. “Even if you already know you’re [accepted into a] school, don’t ever slack,” Iriafen said. “You really have to finish strong. My Stanford coaches remind me, ‘this can be taken away at any second.’ I got into [Stanford] not just because of my basketball, but because of the academics, so my academics have to stay intact as well.”
Turandot Shayegan
Looking back on her college journey, Turandot Shayegan ’21 said the road was paved with hard work, accomplishments and plenty of nerves. Shayegan was accepted to Harvard College via restrictive early action Dec. 17, 2020. Her application was centered around her creative and academic writing, which focuses primarily on women’s sexuality and independence throughout history. She wrote a research paper exploring the treatment of women in Ancient Egypt and said an independent study with English Teacher Greg Gonzalez was also incredibly fulfilling and constructive. As opposed to her other academic writing, this extensive work was creative and enriching. “I wrote 40 pages of experimental writing,” said Shayegan. “It was the story of my family through different techniques. I read a lot of Faulkner, Stein and Morrison to get a sense of experimental writing to basically tell my family’s story.”
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Shayegan’s writing has been published in several magazines, and she was a finalist for the Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate in 2019. She said she enjoys writing so much that even her Common App essay was enjoyable to write. However, the process was still nerve-wracking; Shayegan nitpicked and over-edited her essays, she said, making the process incredibly stressful. In the weeks leading up to the decision date, Shayegan said she was very nervous, but the moment of opening the decision letter was overwhelming and joyous. “I was stressed out of my mind,” Shayegan said. “I wanted to open the decision with my entire family. I set it up in my living room, and I remember seeing a status update. I just saw the big ‘congratulations,’ and everyone was jumping up and down and screaming and kissing me and crying.”
Faramarz Nia
Faramarz Nia ’21 said he looks back on his college application process with satisfaction, knowing that he would not have changed any aspect of his journey. Nia, who was accepted to the University of Michigan, said he is both grateful for his senior year and excited for his future as a biology major. He said he is especially grateful for the guidance and support of his sister and friends.
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“I thought [the college process] was stressful,” Nia said. “But it always helped knowing that everyone else was in the same boat.” Nia structured his application around his interest in pursuing science and his passion for serving his community. Nia said that he has experienced some of the most fulfilling and joyful times in his life through his experience volunteering as a camp counselor. “Every summer I volunteered as a camp counselor at Rustic Canyon, hanging out with the kids and teaching them sports,” Nia said. “The thing I really enjoyed was being able to work with kids because I think they’re the most pure-hearted and young people. Seeing them happy made me enjoy my summer.” Nia said he developed empathy through community service and believes that he utilizes this strength in other aspects of his life. His communication skills extend into his academic life, where he says he values good relationships with his teachers and puts time and effort into cultivating them. “I engaged a lot with [Math Teacher Derric] Chien or [Science Teacher Ryan] Ellingson outside of class,” Nia said. “This really helped me [in building] a stronger relationship with them. It’s almost impossible to form those types of bonds just during class. I enjoyed talking to them not just as teachers, but as individuals.”
Rafael Singer
Like most of his peers, Rafael Singer ’21 had expected to spend the end of his junior year planning summer campus tours. Instead, Singer lounged in his bedroom with a laptop, scrolling through YouTube videos in search of the dull virtual tours of universities that had shut down during the pandemic. “My college process [was] overwhelming,” Singer said. “From finding the right fit [with a] lack of physical campus tours [to] all of the turbulence surrounding standardized testing and virtual interviews, I can say with full certainty my college application process was bizarre.” While Singer applied early decision to his dream school, his application was rejected, leaving him to await decisions from the nine colleges he had applied to via regular admissions. Although he was later accepted into Boston College, Singer said he is considering deferring his enrollment and taking a gap year as a short break from the traditional course of higher education.
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“I feel like I would benefit from the self-discovery, work experience and finances that a gap year could bring,” Singer said. “I want to see what the real world is like and grow from those experiences before I delve back into academics.” Singer plans to major in either economics or political science and said he is excited at the prospect of hands-on experience in those fields. However, he said he also feels apprehensive when considering the potential drawbacks of total independence directly out of high school. “It’s really exciting to essentially be free in the world to pursue whatever new opportunities cross my path and to experience life in the real world,” Singer said. “On the other hand, the uncertainty can be a little worrisome as this path doesn’t feel as stable as the traditional four years in college. I’ll be on my own, for better or for worse.”
B6 Features
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW
2020 By Milla Ben-Ezra
From remote classes on Zoom to political turmoil at the United States Capitol, members of the school community reflect on an unprecedented year.
2021
AUGUST Head Prefects Cleo Maloney ’21 and Jonathan Cosgrove ’21 kicked off the virtual school year with speeches during the traditional robing ceremony at a Zoom convocation Aug. 23. The first day of online classes soon followed, in which students experienced the new block schedule, all-school lunches and Community Flex Time in a virtual format.
SEPTEMBER
As COVID-19 cases spiked, the school was forced to cancel several in-person standardized tests, including both ACT assessments scheduled to take place in September. Seniors participated in a drive-thru version of the annual Ring Ceremony on Sept. 13, safely allowing seniors to engage in the school tradition and initiate their final year of high school. Delaney Klace ’21 said she was grateful to have had the opportunity to enjoy the tradition. “It was definitely a nice way to kind of remind us that we were seniors now because the transition [from junior year to senior year], starting on Zoom, didn’t feel tangible,” Klace said.
OCTOBER
Emergency room nurse Joanna Gerhardt (Skylar ’23) said that when the world shut down during the pandemic, the lives of frontline workers were greatly affected. Gerhardt said the fall was a difficult time for her because of the spike in coronavirus cases, with nearly every COVID-19 test she conducted coming back positive. “It was hard, and it was really tricky,” Gerhardt said. “But it felt great helping people and being there for people when their families couldn’t be because no matter what, a lot of people were totally alone.”
NOVEMBER As students took Thanksgiving break off from school, the pandemic forced several families to adjust their holiday traditions in order to stay safe. Stephen Purdum ’22 said his family celebrated Thanksgiving with a family Zoom call, where he was able to reconnect with his grandparents without potentially exposing them to COVID-19. “It was definitely a treat to get to see [my family] because I hadn’t seen them for over a year, even through quarantine,” Purdum said. “I felt really lucky that they were okay and safe because they were at a high risk of being vulnerable to the virus.” Thousands took to the streets of Washington D.C. on Jan. 6 in support of former President Donald Trump, storming the United States Capitol building in a violent insurrection and leaving five dead and several injured, according to The New York Times. Two weeks later, President Joe Biden and Vice President As winter break drew nearer, the performing arts department held a virtual Kamala Harris were inaugurated, marking the choir concert Dec. 13. Chamber Singers Vice President Billy Johnson ’22 entrance of the first woman and the first woman of said the format of the concert was new to him and posed many challenges. color into the Oval Office. Vice President of EMHowever, he said he is proud to have adapted to the circumstances. POWER Club Shoshie Bernstein ’22 said the election “[The concert] came together pretty well,” Johnson said. “I’m pleased with it, of a female vice president is long overdue and brings though I wished it could’ve been in person. It’s definitely better than having her hope for the future. done nothing at all.” “For young girls growing up, there’s now someone they can look up at and think, ‘Wow, that can be me one day,’” Bernstein said.
JANUARY
DECEMBER
MARCH With the end of the third quarter, March saw the official return to campus in grade-level cohorts where students could log onto Zoom courses alongside their peers. The first in-person standardized test of the year on campus took place March 13, with students from all over Los Angeles gathering safely to take the SAT. On March 19, Westflix presented their
FEBRUARY
After a nearly year-long hiatus, the cross country team began its season Feb. 13, marking the first school sporting event since the initial shutdown of the athletic programs in March of 2020. Throughout February, several sports teams also returned to physical training and practices, including tennis and water polo.
annual film festival, hosted by actress Beanie Feldstein ’11, and screened film submissions from high school students across California.
MAY APRIL California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that beginning April 15, Californians ages 16 years and older were eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, making vaccinations available to much of the student population. On April 20, the student body made history: Jade Stanford ’22 and Chronicle Assistant Features Editor Quincey Dern ’22 were elected Head Prefects, marking the first time in school history that two female students were selected for the positions.
The Asian Students in Action (ASiA) club led a celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month during the Community Flex Time on May 4, featuring a video presentation and discussion. As of May 11, 58.5% of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALEXA DRUYANOFF
B7 Features
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021 Identical twins relate their experiences with discovering their individual identities while frequently being mistaken for one another by their friends and peers.
By Kate Burry And Katharine Steers
sport, people assume that they are competitive with one another. She said that despite this pressure, they only strive to be As Gisele Stigi ’22 drove to her two their best selves. “Usually, it’s only good competition,” best friends’ birthday celebration, she was struck with a sudden wave of nervousness. Bella Ganocy said. “Although people are Despite being close friends with Ella Gan- always asking us which one is better [at ocy ’22 and Bella Ganocy ’22, she said she sports], we just try [to] use that to make often worried that she would fail to dis- each other better and not worse because tinguish them. Luckily for Stigi, after 16 that wouldn’t help anything.” Science Teacher Melody Lee, who years, Bella Ganocy said she has become teaches Genetics and Biotechaccustomed to this mistake. nology, explained that although “I honestly don’t care at this identical twins can share perpoint,” Bella Ganocy said. “It’s sonality traits and hobbies, gotten so routine that [the contheir personhood ultimately fusion] doesn’t really mean anycomes down to external factors. thing. It happens very often and It’s the individual experiences, usually takes months for people beyond environmental and geto be able to tell us apart.” netic factors, that make for the According to the Los Andisparity, she said. geles Times, the school has a white’s “If you think about twins at long-standing history of enrollBella Harvard-Westlake, they live in ing athletically adept twins. For Ganocy ’22 the same environment with the example, fraternal twins Alex same parents and so forth, but Copeland ’15 and Shea Copeland ’15 set multiple school records and it is possible that they develop different interests,” Lee said. “Maybe one prefers to graduated from Ivy League colleges. Before them, the Collins twins, Ja- do something like theater or athletics, but son Collins ’97 and Jarron Collins ’97, you often also see a lot of twins, at least former NBA players, were the school’s younger twins, engaged in very similar reigning identical twin athletes. Now, it’s activities.” Like the Ganocys, Spencer CasamassiElla Ganocy and Bella Ganocy, Princeton University-bound field hockey and soccer ma ’24 and Nathan Casamassima ’24 said mix-ups have become a part of their players. Bella Ganocy said that since their reality, one that they don’t take personalnames are similar, and they play the same ly. Despite having a strong relationship
and sharing a love for soccer and history, gotten used to it.” Spencer Casamassima said that they often To avoid a name mix-up, Stigi said she compare themselves to each other. keeps track of the telltale differences be“Whenever we take out the trash, we tween the twins: their respective styles and have to make a deal who has to take out different freckle patterns. two cans and who does one, or if one of However, she said she takes comfort in us takes the dogs, then the other does knowing that her friends are very forgivall the cans,” Spencer Casamassima said. ing of errors. “Being a twin has shaped my identity in “I’d memorize their outfits at the beall aspects. I have grown up with someone ginning of the day, and from a distance, always next to me and looking at me and it was really difficult for me to tell the always being my friend. difference,” Stigi said. In that way, I am not al“But I think that they ways looking to get out have a relationship with I’d memorize and to find new friends each other and then their outfits at the in the way that I have with their friends where one forever. Also, it has they’re very nice about beginning of the day, made me much more init and they don’t get ofand from a distance, it clined to speak my mind fended.” was really hard for me and more competitive, as Identical twins AnI am always competing gela Lee ’21 and Christo tell the difference.” with Nathan.” tina Lee ’21 said that —Gisele Stigi ’22 despite the hardships Like many identical twins, the Casamassima that come with being brothers are often misidentical twins, they taken for one another and admit that the have built a strong bond. confusion can cause annoyance. “[Having a twin has] definitely made a Genuine confusion for the twins is ac- big impact because we always have someceptable, Nathan Casamassima said, but one to talk to and depend on,” Angela the joke crosses a line when people mock Lee said. “I think it’s shaped who we are them for it. because we are never really just thinking “[Some people] come up to me and about ourselves or what’s good for us indiask which one I am, even though they vidually, but rather we always factor each already know which one I am,” Nathan other into our decisions.” Casamassima said. “They do it as a game. It gets a tad annoying at times, but I have • Continued on hwchronicle.com
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Off The Field By Fallon Dern
lucky to have made such good friends and reconnected with old ones.” However, Alyssa Thompson’s knack From 8:30 a.m to 8:30 p.m, Alyssa Thompson ’23 is all work. Daily life for finding good friends isn’t limited to as a Stanford commit, varsity soccer the soccer field. She and Max Thompson and track superstar and USA U18 soc- ’23 had been dubbed ‘The Thompson cer team member has distinguished her Twins’ by friends at The Wesley School, from both her peers and the average where the two attended middle school. student-athlete. Thompson spent much When the then ninth graders befriended of her high school experience winning Jessica Thompson ’23, they became the games, championships and the respect ‘The Thompson Triplets.’ Both Max and Jessica are quick to gush of older and younger about their friendship teammates alike. But and comment on how don’t get it twisted— [My sister is] at well-rounded Alyssa has beneath a plethora of school with me now, always been. accomplishments and and I’ve loved having “Alyssa is easily the scholar-athlete swagger, most talented and hardThompson is soulful, her on the field here. I working person I’ve ever kind and worth more know I have her back met,” Jessica Thompson than the gold medals. and that she has mine.” said. “She’s become one At the start of our Zoom call, Thompson —Alyssa Thompson ’23 of my closest friends and is not only a talentmoves locations to make ed athlete but an sure she has the best WiFi possible. She wears a gray hoodie even better friend. She’s deand a simple gold necklace that spells her serving of all her accomname. It’s an outfit that matches with her plishments, and I can’t personal style, which, in three words, she wait to see her thrive in describes as “comfy, jeans-y and neutral.” the future.” Max Thompson On the walk to her room, she passes by a photo of her family of four with echoed Jessica’s praises, an overlay of inspirational and loving saying that although the messages. Through the pixels and glass, sibling title may just be a a young Alyssa smiles next to her sister, coincidence of last name, their six years of friendship Giselle Thompson ’24. “We’ve always been so close, and soc- make Alyssa feel like family. “I’ve known Alyssa since the cer really connects us,” Alyssa Thompson said. “She’s at school with me now, and fifth grade,” Max Thompson said. “I’ve I’ve loved having her on the field here. seen her grow up. She has always been I know I have her back and that she has a determined and wildly talented athlete but is also able to juggle academics and mine.” Like her younger sister, Alyssa Thomp- relationships with ease—this is someson was placed on the varsity soccer team thing about her that has never changed.” Alyssa Thompson’s average week as a freshman. She said she adores her teammates and is especially grateful that consists of school, practices, games and they welcomed both her and her sister meets. She said her friends, sports and art help get her mind off of school and with open arms. “They’re the best people ever,” Al- that she’s adjusted well to this virtual yssa Thompson said. “I love my soccer learning environment. “I take ceramics this year, and I’ve team, and I think it’s a really good group of girls. I was new that year and was so grown to really like 3D art, drawing and
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On top of being an accomplished soccer player and track star, Alyssa Thompson ’23 is a friend, multidisciplinary artist, music lover and student.
painting,” Thompson said. “Last year, I took pottery for the first time, and it was really relaxing. I also listen to a lot of music to unwind.” While Beyoncé is Thompson’s alltime favorite artist, Thompson said she loves SZA, Summer Walker, Giveon and other R&B artists. Thompson said that if the COVID-19 pandemic were to suddenly stop, she’d love to watch Beyoncé or SZA perform in person. “I have only been to one concert,” Thompson said. “It was a Selena Gomez concert, which was so cool, but I’d love to go to any concert.” Still, concert opportunities weren’t Thompson’s biggest loss over quarantine. As a player for the U18 National Soccer Team, Zoom meetings have replaced her monthly camps and World Cup training. “There hasn’t been anything other than Zoom calls to stay connected with players,” Thompson said. “The coaches are really serious about making travel safe for everyone because we’re coming from all over the state. We haven’t done anything in person.” This new vacancy in her schedule has given her time to focus on in-school soccer and track, a n d her undivided attention has made all t h e difference in her performance. During a meet against Windward School, Thompson ran the 100-meter dash in 12.05 seconds, giving her the second fastest time in school history.
“This season has been going so well,” Thompson said. “Last season, I barely got to play because of national team commitments, but this year, I’ve been playing every game, and it’s been so fun. I’d love to win the whole conference.” Having been labeled a gifted athlete so early in her life, she said she often reflects on what lies beyond others’ expectations for her. “I usually just talk about soccer,” Thompson said.
• Continued on hwchronicle.com
illustration by alexa druyanoff
B8 Features
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
Teachers’ Testimony By Julian Andreone
*Names have been changed.
Teachers and students were working with less than 30 minutes of class remaining when The City Journal published “The Miseducation of America’s Elites” on March 9. In the article, journalist Bari Weiss quoted parents who anonymously criticized the school, its faculty and its new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) curriculum. Weiss’s article gained traction in the conservative political sphere, as prominent conservative figures such as Senator Ted Cruz, who referred to the article as “powerful” and “insightful,” posted on social media commending her work. In addition, various news organizations such as Fox News, The Atlantic and The Daily Mail covered the story in their own articles. One component absent from all the news coverage of the school, however, was the perspective of a sitting faculty member. Journalists like Weiss and The Daily Mail’s Caroline Graham interviewed parents to gather information on the school’s curriculum instead of interviewing the individuals who teach the lessons themselves. French Teacher Amandine Nelaton said she was offended by the accusations in the national media because they undermined the intelligence of her students. “These accusations were so diminishing to students’ intellectual abilities,” Nelaton said. “This is not a population that can be indoctrinated. I have never been in contact with such intellectual and interesting minds. I am not teaching kids. I am teaching very intelligent adults. [My students] are always interesting and interested.” History Teacher Lilas Lane said there is a stark difference between teaching students how to analyze information and telling them what to believe. She said accusing the faculty of doing the latter is insulting. “[The accusations] are absolutely outrageous and offensive, as far as I’m concerned,” Lane said. “History is about creating the ability to distinguish between fact and interpretation.”
• Continued on hwchronicle.com
• Continued on hwchronicle.com
MIMI LANDES/CHRONICLE
CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Sarah Rivera ’21, Ariana Pineda ’21, Simran Yogakumar ’21 and Natalie Barnouw ’21 particpate in a staged photo where they receive unauthorized aid on their physics test. The students use their electronics to search for answers despite the class’s open note policy.
Given and Received? By Caroline Jacoby After completing her in-class essay, Betty* looked down at her phone and scrolled through the texts on her English class group chat. Betty realized that another member of the group chat had sent the essay prompt before the in-class essay was administered, when the students were not yet supposed to know it. Betty’s panic grew when she received an email from Dean of Students Jordan Church. Though Betty had not used the information she was sent on this group chat in her essay, she and her peers in the group chat had to appear before the Honor Board for receiving unauthorized aid. Betty’s case was among the many brought to the attention of the Honor Board in the past year. Cheating and plagiarism on tests and assignments are not new problems; however, according to an email sent to the upper school student body Jan. 19, the Honor Board had already seen two times the number of cases compared to the same time last year. While students have been taking tests on Zoom, many teachers have adopted open-note policies
By Will Sheehy
Cheating has been on the rise as a result of online school, constant academic pressure and overall stress. Students and faculty members reflect on school policies regarding assessments, the role of the Honor Board and its methods.
and other measures in the effort to reduce cheating. Upper School Dean Sharon Cuseo said she is optimistic that cheating will decrease now that in-person school has resumed, but she thinks students will continue to cheat when desperate. “Certainly the immediate temptations of the internet will decrease when that is no longer an option, but students who get desperate will still find ways to take shortcuts,” Cuseo said. As Zoom classes have exacerbated the issue of cheating, some students, including Betty, have begun to look at ways in which modifications to the Honor Board or school policies could minimize cheating. Betty said the school creates an overwhelming environment where students feel a need to cheat to suceed. “If we had a better system in place and one that valued the mental health of students, I think we’d have a lot less cheating,” Betty said. “If there were a greater amount of extensions and teachers being cognizant of just how much work we have in relation to other classes and more communication between students and teachers, [it] would be real-
ly beneficial and would probably decrease cheating.” Skylar Whitley ’23 said that continuing to allow open-note tests as school reopens will likely minimize instances of cheating. “I think just letting people use notes during tests and gearing tests toward applying knowledge and using less memorization will make people less inclined to cheat,” Whitley said. “You still need to actually understand the material, and if you let people use their notes, most people will feel more comfortable with what they’re doing and therefore feel less inclined to cheat.” Prefect Council member Micah Gold ’22 also cited unreasonable expectations and procrastination as reasons students cheat and proposed solutions that address these problems directly. “Making different tests for different periods, clearly outlining what counts as cheating and sending students to the Honor Board [are all methods that teachers and the school could employ to limit cheating],” Gold said. English Teacher Jocelyn Medawar said that though she recognizes these pressures, it is ultimately on the students to make the choice not to cheat and that
no changes will stop everybody from cheating. “The school [and] teachers can’t prevent cheating,” Medawar said. “That’s up to students. But we can work our hardest to avoid situations that could prove too tempting and to be sure that students know what forms cheating can take and that the best of us [aren’t] immune to taking a wrong turn. I always tell students not to sign the Honor Code without taking a moment to think about it each time. And if they can’t sign in good conscience, I tell them not to be afraid but to talk to me.” Cuseo agreed with Medawar that cheating will continue to persist even if changes to school policies are implemented, but she said that there are certain measures the school could take in order to minimize cheating. “While ultimately the decision to take a shortcut rests with the student, there are certainly ways the school can reduce the temptation, such as changing tests between periods or giving different versions of tests even during the same period,” Cuseo said.
Expanding Financial Aid
While other athletes on the boys golf team purchased new equipment before the season, Ford McDill ’21 browsed the thrift store for golf clubs. Later, at practices and competitions, he noticed the differences between his pre-owned gear and his teammates’ new equipment. McDill recalled his experience on the school’s golf team, which left him feeling slightly estranged from his teammates at times. “[While I was on the golf team,] people didn’t make fun of me, but I just felt a little out of place when people had the newest expensive [clubs], and
I was kind of stuck with these secondhand things,” McDill said. “I think there’s a little bit of a stigma towards people on financial aid, but nothing major or too serious.” McDill announced the creation of the Financial Diversity Group, an affinity group for students receiving financial assistance from the school, in an upper school assembly last year. “I said, ‘I’m on financial aid, and it’s great,’ and then everybody laughed,” McDill said. “I like to think it was a joke, but it was a little bit, I think, because I was on financial aid. I feel like [the assembly] changed how some people
viewed me, even though it was just a little thing.” Director of Financial Aid and Upper School History Teacher Greg Gonzalez said that one of his goals is to erase any stigma associated with receiving financial aid. “We’re trying to normalize it,” Gonzalez said. “We’re trying to make it so it shouldn’t be unusual to be on aid. It should be normal, and it should be something we celebrate more.” According to the school’s website, 315 students, about 20% of the student body, receive an average grant of $31,000, which is about 75% of the school’s tuition. Financial aid at the school is need-
based, rather than merit-based, and the school provides 100% of its students’ needs. Need is determined by a family’s assets and income relative to tuition. Students receiving aid also benefit from an account for the school bookstore and cafeteria, as well as help purchasing books, course-related materials, athletic team-required clothing and equipment and paying for school-related trips. “Our philosophy is that all our students have merit, so the best way to determine financial aid grants is through need,” Gonzalez said. McDill said such efforts demonstrate the school’s continued support of students re-
13.7 million ceiving financial aid. “When quarantine started, [the school] sent out an email and asked if you need headphones or [supplies] for back to school,” McDill said. “It did seem like we were important.” The school allocated $13.7 million to financial aid this year, which was considerably more than nearby independent schools such as Brentwood School ($7 million), Polytechnic ($5.2 million) and Windward School ($2.3 million), according to each school’s website, and at higher or comparable rates to each institution’s student body. • Continued on hwchronicle.com illustration by mimi landes
Arts &Entertainment The Chronicle • May 28, 2021
Character Tropes, Red Velvet Ropes
By Milla Ben-Ezra
erick said. “I just remember that being something that opened my eyes and Wrapped in a fuzzy blanket with a mind: that if I was attracted to girls in bowl of buttered popcorn on his lap, a high school, it didn’t necessarily mean 10-year-old Tom Baker ’22 snuggled I was a lesbian and that I could also be alongside his parents as they shuffled bisexual or pansexual. So just seeing that through films on their family movie as a part of the storyline on ‘The O.C.’ night. From animated Pixar films to definitely made me question my own action-packed pirate adventures, Bak- sexuality in a way that felt safe.” Phelan said seeing queer archetypes er’s family filled his childhood with vivid stories––most of which hinged on amid the plethora of typical high school stereotypes in “Mean Girls” helped normale-female romances. As an LGBTQ student, Baker malize the prospect of being queer for said he did not feel embodied in them. “I remember seeing Janis Ian in the content he saw and often felt different because of the lack of on- ‘Mean Girls,’ and even though she isn’t a lesbian, for much of the movie, she’s screen LGBTQ representation. “Later in life, having seen actual queer presented as a lesbian character, and representation in media, I know how just hearing that word and seeing her helpful it is and how much it actually aesthetic, unattached to sexuality, was a speeds up your developmental process,” moment of realization for me,” Phelan Baker said. “When you’re younger, said. “To see that as a possibility for a you’re not really choosing what movies younger person, even a high schooler, you’re watching, so it’s always just a man was important to me.” Baker said an example of a and a woman, always, every queer archetype he regularly sees single movie. So when you’re is the ‘gay best friend,’ promiconditioned into that, it just nently used as a tool of comeprograms into your head that dic relief in place of developed who you are is not normal, queer representation. Baker said but it fully is.” he often feels he does not fit into Since he became more sethe ‘gay best friend’ trope he sees cure in his identity, Baker said in film and television and that he has been more selective feeling separated from this stewith the media he watches white’s reotype has left him questioning and seeks out LGBTQ repreFelicity if he is doing something wrong. sentation that makes him feel Phelan ’21 “I think tropes are kind of seen on screen. “I am more of a fully realized per- harmful because, in a way, they dehuson, and I realize my identity and then manize [queer characters],” Baker said. choose to reflect that in what I watch,” “It puts people into a sort of box. It’s Baker said. “I choose to watch a lot of so hurtful to have these different labels shows or movies that have queer repre- and boxes that people feel like they have sentation because that’s what I’m drawn to be forced into, and if they don’t fit to. [It is] what I can relate to, and that’s into these boxes, they’re not validated by [the] media.” what I enjoy watching.” Similarly to Baker, Avery KonwisGender and Sexuality Awareness (GSA) Club leader Felicity Phelan ’21 er ’22 said he feels misrepresented by said LGBTQ stories can be critical in LGBTQ archetypes. Konwiser said he the lives of young queer people who are understands that they leave many queer teenagers believing they need to change. in the process of self-discovery. “I find that queer people tend to be “When you’re really young, depending on what environment you’re grow- portrayed in broad archetypes, and I ing up in, it’s possible that media rep- personally don’t think that I really fit resentation is the only time you’re even into those archetypes because everyhearing about LGBTQ identities,” Phel- body’s different,” Konwiser said. “Aran said. “From that perspective, I think chetypes can be very limiting to queer it’s a really valuable way that young people whose only exposure to LGBTQ LGBTQ kids are able to find themselves people in media are those very specific tropes, so I think people might feel or realize that things they might be feelvery restricted and [think] that, ‘I’m ing are not just them and are experinot this kind of specific person. That enced by other people.” means people won’t accept me, and Upper School Video Art Teacher I should change how I’m perceived or and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Reb Limerick said they felt who I am.’” Phelan said they recognize that for the impacts of LGBTQ presence in media growing up. Limerick said that while those who do not fit the molds cast by watching Olivia Wilde’s character, Alex media archetypes, watching these stereoKelly, on “The O.C.” in high school, typical portrayals of LGBTQ characters they felt connected to their own experi- can be destructive. However, Phelan said stereotypical tropes can present reences and self-exploration. “I liked that [Kelly’s queer relation- alistic representations for audiences who ship] wasn’t treated as a lesbian phase, can relate to them. “I think a stereotype is a stereotype, but rather that both characters identified as bisexual and liked all genders,” Lim- and it can be harmful for people and
LGBTQ members of the school community reflect on queer media representation and the way that on-screen portrayals affect them.
can build up exp e c t a t i o n s ties, and two, because I do just think it in people’s minds,” Phelan said. makes more real and accurate art.” “But if you are someone who aligns with Limerick said having characters that that stereotype, it can be [representa- represent them in both the plot of the tive]. This representation shouldn’t be story and off-screen feels significant the only representation that we see of when connecting with characters. LGBTQ identities, but we shouldn’t “A modern example that’s been strike it all from the books just because groundbreaking for me has been seeing it’s stereotypical.” Alex Newell on ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Even with the prevalence of LGBTQ Playlist,’ who is gender nonconforming, tropes, Konwiser said he has seen an and the character that they play is genincrease in queer representation lately, der-fluid,” Limerick said. “Mo, the charwhich he believes is a shift from the his- acter on ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,’ torical tokenization of LGBTQ charac- as well as [Newell], both go by all proters in media. nouns, similar to how I identify.” “Just the fact that there are more In a Community Flex Time webinar queer people in media is helpful and hosted by GSA Club on May 14, actress eye-opening,” Konswiser said. “You Hunter Schafer discussed her experiused to have [television] shows in the ences growing up as a transgender per90s and 2000s where a single gay charac- son and recalled how seeing LGBTQ ter was out-of-the-norm, and that char- representation in the media played a acter was a sort of token. But having the role in defining her. After working as a expansion of inclusion of queer people model for several years with brands such in media is something that’s good and, as Calvin Klein and Versace, Schafer sein recent years, has cured the role of seen a rise.” Jules Vaughn on Phelan said they’ve HBO’s “EuphoI choose to watch a ria” and had the seen a lack of interlot of shows or movies that opportunity to repsectionality when it comes to diversity, have queer representation resent a transgender queer characters and character on-screen as because that’s what I’m their stories and that a transgender actress they hope this will herself. Schafer said drawn to. ” change in the future. she feels meaningful — Tom Baker ’22 LGBTQ representa“I would say, recently, we’re getting tion is crucial because more queer characters it humanizes queer of color,” Phelan said. “But in order for people for those who may not directly it to be ‘more,’ this has to speak to the connect to the LGBTQ community. fact that for [a long time], they’ve been “Growing up, if we, [LGBTQ peovery white stories.” ple], had seen the kind of relationships, Phelan said having diversity and dynamics [and] gender expressions LGBTQ representation off screen is [that] we’ve all had to learn about just as essential as having on-screen through the internet or through exportrayals and that authentic repreposure [from] other people who [we] sentation leads to more genuine memight be surrounded [by, then we dia representation. would] have easier access to [LGBTQ] “I think people telling stories that communities,” Schafer said. “Media is draw from their own lives are going to really powerful in the sense that it can make more raw or impactful or emotion- educate you not only on a surface-level al art than people going off of what they sense with terminology, but also on an think it’s like to be a certain identity,” emotional level [so that whoPhelan said. “So I definitely think giving ever] you’re watching, creators the opportunity to share their you create an own stories is important—one, because e m o tional it’s good to give those people opportuni- b o n d with.”
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‘LGBTQ+ Characters That Impact Me’ “I love how Mo’s character fluidly moves between gender expressions but is very confident in who they are as Mo.” – Reb Limerick
“Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” NBC
“The way Jules disregards gender and is totally unique and true to herself has inspired and allowed me to do the same.” – Tom Baker ’22
“Euphoria,” HBO
“David didn’t fit in with the stereotypes that gay people often get boxed into, which expanded my horizons in a way.” – Avery Konwiser ’22
“Six Feet Under,” HBO ILLUSTRATIONS BY SOPHIA EVANS
C2 A&E
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
GOING ANALOG Recent trends have sparked a rise in film photography among teenagers. The community discusses its love for the timeless medium.
During the 2019 Geology trip to Death Valley, Lena Bagley ’22 captured her classmates balancing on a colossal boulder with her Minolta X-700 camera on a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film. Soon, she had pulled the film advance lever 35 more times, leaving her with a full roll of film. “I was really excited about the photos I took, but as soon as I got home, I realized that I had accidentally exposed the roll of film to light, which ruined the entire batch of photos,” Bagley said. “I wasn’t upset about it after because it was more about the process than the final product. With film, you don’t know what kind of photos you’re going to get until the end, and you’re forced to be more thoughtful with the photos you take. While I do wish that I got to see the photos I took on the trip, I ended up being able to really connect with my surroundings and take it all in.” Following its decline in the 2000s, film photography has been on the rise in recent years, particularly with the popularization of disposable cameras. In a survey of 6,800 people conducted by Ilford Photo, 24.2% of respondents said they were new to film, and 32.8% said they returned to film after a break. Additionally, in an interview with NBC, Eastman Kodak General Manager Ed Hurley said Kodak was manufacturing two times as much film in 2019 than it was in 2015. Nik Grube ’21 said he first noticed film photography gaining traction on social media as more of his peers began to post photos they shot on film. “[I’ve seen a rise] primarily on Instagram,” Grube said. “I follow a couple of photography accounts on Instagram, and I would say there’s definitely been a greater proportion of the pictures they post that are film-based. And, in addition to that, [there has been
an increase in posts of] casual social settings of teenagers or high school kids and college kids. They’ll post a lot more pictures taken on film on their Instagrams.” Timothy Yi, an employee at 35m Pro Photo Lab in Sherman Oaks, said the decline of film had a direct impact on the photo processing business, which his father has owned since 1990. “My memory of the 2000s was everything going digital,” Yi said. “There was a lot of stress about how to ship photos and where we were going to go with the business. Film seemed to be getting old, and at that point in the early 2000s, film was dead. That was weird, and now [film] is making a strange comeback, but I definitely appreciate it.” Sales of disposable cameras have been record-breaking recently, according to Time Magazine. In 2016, Fujifilm sold 6.5 million disposable QuickSnap cameras, in comparison to 2014, when it sold 3.9 million cameras. Cory Porter ’22 said she began taking photos with disposable cameras last year when she noticed her friends using film cameras and developing their own photos. After seeing their results, Porter said she was
motivated to purchase disposable cameras and shoot photos for herself. “I think they have a really cool quality to them,” Porter said. “It’s so different from what we’re surrounded by, which is digital media that you have right at your fingertips. It’s definitely a different feeling and has a different vibe to it. It’s less of ‘Take 800 million pictures, go through them and pick which ones we
like.’ You have a limited number [of photos], so it takes the pressure off of [photography].” Santiago Salazar ’21 said his fascination with film photography began at a young age when his father introduced him to his first camera; since then, he said he has enjoyed the process of developing negatives the most. “[The process] is zen,”
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Each frame that you shoot matters more. Each frame is a greater investment in film than it would be in digital.” —Nik Grube ’21
Salazar said. “You compose the shot and think about it for a moment, but you don’t [complete the process] until you get the photos back. So you’ll take the photos and leave them in the back of your head and just go along with your day. I like that part, but some people won’t like it because they don’t get to know how their photo turned out.” Visual Arts Teacher Alexandra Pacheco-Garcia said the physical process of developing film differs from the modern art of photography, which has become dematerialized through cell phones. She said teaching film photography allows her to share the slower, more self-reflective process of making images with her students. “The first time you’re in the darkroom is such a magical experience because you get to have this other relationship with the images that you made, however long ago, and you get to re-experience [the photos] in a different way,” Pacheco-Garcia said. “You have no idea what’s going to be on the other side of that piece of film. It’s the first time you get to see your pictures show up in a chemical bath in this very tranquil space that is the darkroom. It’s magical.” Salazar said the school’s photography program, where he was able to learn more about working with film, was beneficial to his
growth as an artist. “Being at [school] definitely helped because the photo program is really strong,” Salazar said. “It has not only digital cameras but [also] a lot of film equipment. We have so many different cameras [and] our own darkroom. You can even develop your own film and be a part of the whole process in a different way than if you picked it up on your own. [Having all these resources has] been really valuable to me doing film photography.” In contrast, Colin Yuan ’22 said he prefers using digital cameras for his photography projects. Yuan said his curiosity led him to try the medium of film photography, but he ultimately decided that digital photography better suits his artistic range. “Film does cost a lot—all the materials are pretty expensive,” Yuan said. “Also, you can turn your digital pictures into film pictures and get that same sort of vibe. I personally just like how with digital, there’s no limitation, and you could do a lot more with it.” Visual Arts Teacher Jesse Chehak said students have gravitated toward analog photography in an age dominated by digital photography because they crave a unique, immersive experience to break up their busy days. “To me, [the rise of film photography is] communicating that generations like [Generation Z] are hungry to engage in activities [where] you want to use your hands, and you want to make things,” Chehak said. “You want to be in a studio, and you want to have full control over what you’re doing. Folks are realizing that when you shoot film photography, you are committing to this multi-step process that is funky and smelly. But when it’s done step by step, you get this sense of ownership. [You end up with this] unique, jewel-like object that completely transcends the ways that most of [the younger generations] are used to consuming photography.”
By Melody Tang
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MELODY TANG
The Chronicle
C3 A&E
It’s Curtains for ArcLight
May 28, 2021
Many Los Angeles movie lovers were devastated when ArcLight Cinemas announced their closing. Students, teachers and industry professionals celebrate its past and debate the future of movie theaters and cinema. By Sydney Fener
“I was heartbroken when I got the news,” Walch said. “I had every reason When film writer Chris McKenna was to believe that things were going well at a child, his introduction to great cinema ArcLight. ArcLight Hollywood was the occurred at ArcLight theaters. McKenna, home of WestFlix—the Harvard-Westwho has worked on recent films such as lake Film Festival—and was made “Spider-man Homecoming,” “Ant-man available to us through the warmth and and the Wasp” and “Jumanji,” recalled generosity of Harvard School alum, personal memories at the famous Cin- Christopher Forman, CEO of ArcLight erama Dome and said that ArcLight was Cinemas. Some of the best moments a key contributor to his love of movies. of my time at HW have been those evenings with our “I remember gofilm festival—with ing to the CineraThere’s something guests ranging from ma Dome when I Tom Hanks and was 10—I saw ‘E.T. about a theater which is Kathryn Bigelow The Extra-Terrestriimpossible to replicate and I to Alejandro Iñáral’ there,” McKenna think that this pandemic has ritu and Bo Burnsaid. “[Its closing] is ham — some in the a bummer as a fan really shown us this.” Dome and some in of movies and as a —Aiden Schiller ’22 other theaters at Arwriter of movies. cLight Hollywood.” If you love movies Like WestFlix, and you can’t stand some of the chains that make you the Philosophy in Art and Science and sit through a bunch of TV commer- Cinema Studies classes have an annual cials and just don’t have the quality event at the Cinerama Dome. This year, of service, Arclight was just a haven.” their screening of “2001: A Space OdMovie theaters worldwide sat empty yssey” will be held at an AMC theater this past year as COVID-19 restrictions instead of the newly closed Hollywood prevented film fanatics from going to Cinerama Dome where it’s traditionally the cinema. This decrease in profit has shown. The closing of ArcLight theaters affected all theaters, but it hit ArcLight caused concern for many film lovers who Cinemas and Pacific Theaters hard, lead- fear that movie theaters everywhere are ing to the announcement of its closing in danger. The popularity of streaming during the week of April 16. ArcLight services and the low theater attendance theaters are located across several states, over the past year have signaled the bebut according to Visual Arts, ISIR and ginning of the end, according to HW Performing Arts Teacher Ted Walch, Film Club member Hannah Yanover ’22. “I think that the pandemic has only who teaches Cinema Studies, its loss is deeply felt in Los Angeles. The his- exacerbated what we were already seetoric Hollywood Cinerama Dome, a ing: the demise of movie theaters,” centerpiece of Los Angeles culture, is Yanover said. “Personally, I think that mourned by many, including Walch. movie theaters will be a relatively rare
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Framed Injustice By Caitlin Muñoz
tently across acclaimed art institutions has made her goals feel unattainable. “[Looking back on] my experience Raisa Effress ’23 picked up a large cardboard box filled with various props with museums, I would walk into a room before leading her model through the filled with all of this amazing contempodoors of the Leica Gallery Los Angeles rary art, and I’d look around and not be and out into the bright morning light. able to relate to any of the artists, who Setting up her own photography equip- were all male,” Effress said. “It can defiment, she expertly adjusted the lens of nitely be discouraging because it seems her camera and directed the model away like the goal of becoming a professional from the glare of the sun. It was not until artist is even further out of reach.” While Effress said she has been chalshe lowered her camera that she became aware of curious side-eyes from her peers, lenged by the lack of female representation in visual arts, Victoria Peng ’23 said all but one of whom were male. “It was that moment when I realized she doesn’t view the underrepresentation of women as a barrier to her [the men at the workshop] were own success as much as a frusreally surprised that I was able trating lack of visibility. to take charge of situations “I think the beauty of goand direct my models,” Effress ing into a museum is that the said. “It really shaped my unperson who painted the piece derstanding of the way people you’re looking at is just a little view women in art. I had only nameplate [to] the side,” Peng recently begun to note gender said. “You don’t really look disparity in art, and especially at [the name] first. But, [at [within] major [American] art white’s the same time], knowing that museums, where most of the art Kacey you’re just seeing the world that we see is by men [...] I reKim ’21 from the perspective of a white member the model told me she was so happy to see a young female pho- man whenever you enter a museum is a tographer making waves in a persistently little discouraging because you don’t exactly see your own perspective.” male-dominated field.” Similarly to Peng, Upper School ViAccording to 2019 statistics released by Data USA, women make up 60.8% sual Arts Teacher Alexandra Pacheco of students earning visual arts degrees; Garcia stressed the importance of muhowever, on average, only 11% of art ac- seums diversifying their acquired works quired by major United States art muse- in order to appeal to a variety of perums over the past decade were works by spectives. Pacheco Garcia said it is invaluable for people of all backgrounds female artists. Effress said that as an aspiring artist, to be represented in art and culture and the gender imbalance that exists consis- believes that the permanent collections illustrations by alexa druyanoff
occurrence in the future, and most it may be difficult to predict the trends movies will be released via streaming for upcoming movie production. He services. Especially after this last year, I also said that streaming could dominate think that a lot of people will cut back the industry, movie theaters may see an on their theater experiences because uptick in popularity after the pandemthey realized, by not attending for the ic fades or the monopolization of film past year, that they don’t need that ex- studios might lead to fewer releases. perience as regularly in their lives.” “One of the trends that we do know is Film Club leader Aiden Schiller that companies are eating up other com’22 said he disagreed with the idea that panies,” McKenna said. “Disney bought theaters will give way to streaming. He Fox, so how much of Fox’s slate is actusaid he believes movie theally getting made? We have a aters have an irreplaceable consolidation of less buyers quality that will keep them and producers of studio fare.” alive for a long time to come. This past year, there has “I think streaming and been a noticeable decline in at-home releases are sort of movie releases, in large part a boogeyman,” Schiller said. due to COVID-19 restric“There’s something about tions on production. Accorda theater which is impossiing to Statista, there were ble to replicate, and I think 792 movies released in the white’s that this pandemic has realUnited States and Canada Hannah ly shown us this. I have no in 2019. In 2020, there were Yanover ’22 doubt that once all this is only 329 movies released. over, people will rush back The movies that did come to theaters just for the experience.” out were primarily available through McKenna echoed the sentiment streaming. Some consumers, like that movie theaters provide a valu- Yanover, said that they were not bothered able experience and add a vital di- by the shortage of new content because mension to cinema. He said superhe- there was already so much available. ro movies are examples of films that “Honestly, I have not been very afare always best watched in a theater. fected by the lack of movies released “Part of the spectacle of seeing Mar- during the pandemic,” Yanover said. vel movies is seeing them on the big “Yes, it would be nice to have some new screen,” McKenna said. “No one’s hit- content, but there is so much out there ting pause so you can take a phone call. to watch that in the long run, a year It’s an experience that you’re sharing doesn’t make too much of a difference.” communally with other people, strangThough Walch did not ideners in the dark, and I think that like any tify lack of content as an issue, theater, it’s an experience that can’t be he said streaming at home is not replicated in your home. It unifies you as enjoyable as going to a theater. with the people you’re watching it with.” McKenna said that going forward, • Continued on hwchronicle.com
in many of Los Angeles’s acclaimed art institutions inaccurately reflect the city’s diversity. “Historically, the perspectives in places like museums have been very white, male and heteronormative,” Pacheco Garcia said. “[There] is a very narrow presentation of experience that is alienating if you exist outside of that historical canon. Cumulative art shows are so telling [of a museum’s diversity] because most of those works are by white men. I just think it’s interesting that in shows of permanent collections, I tend to notice a lack of diversity and gender inclusivity.” Joey Schoenberg ’22 said he believes artists benefit from greater opportunity and recognition when their work is acquired by prominent art institutions. However, he said he has come to notice that a majority of artists represented by acclaimed modern art galleries and museums are both white and male. Schoenberg said the diversity of his mother’s self-curated gallery has led him to question the roots of inadequate racial diversity in art. “It’s a symbol of the status of your art, that you’re worthy enough to be in a museum,” Schoenberg said. “When your art is in a gallery or a museum that gets a lot of visitors, you [expand] your platform. My mom owned a photography gallery, and I think she was good about finding diverse [artists], but she wasn’t looking in particular for diversity; she was looking for art that she liked, and I feel like [any lack of diversity] is more the system’s fault than her fault because there are just more white applicants and more white artists
than there are [artists] of other races.” Schoenberg said a system of racially inequitable education and pay is primarily responsible for the lack of diversity in museums’ permanent collections. “College and graduate school to get your Master of Fine Arts (MFA) just costs a lot of money,” Schoenberg said. “On average, white people make more, so they have the means to send their children to graduate school, but a lot of families in [racial] minority groups can’t afford it, so they go out as artists without actually earning a degree, which can affect how [desirable] museums consider their art. Pacheco Garcia said her own experience earning a degree in the fine arts was characterized by a lack of racial diversity among her peers. “As an MFA candidate, [in] my incoming class, less than a third of us were self-identified people of color,” Pacheco Garcia said. “Most of my educational experience, [I was] one of a handful of Brown folks in predominantly-white educational spaces, so seeing that at the highest level was not shocking, but it was disheartening.” According to Data USA, 54.1% of artists who have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher in visual and performing arts identify as white. However, a 2019 study published by PLOS One revealed that white artists make up 85.4% of those represented across 18 of the United States’ major art museums, while artists of Asian descent constitute 9%, Latinx... • Continued on hwchronicle.com
May 28, 2021
The Chronicle
C4 Arts and Entertainment
Senior Stars
printed with permission of sasha vogel
printed with permission of olivia gubel
Sasha Vogel
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By Natasha Speiss
hen Sasha Vogel ’21 sat down to write the script for “Capsule,” her short film about a girl reliving her memories through a photograph, her mind was bursting with possibilities. As she wrote the script, the film quickly came to life with the help of actresses Asia Fuqua ’21 and Lilia Buckingham and cinematographer and Chronicle Digital Managing Editor Kyle Reims ’21. She said her experience working on the film was exhilarating and rewarding. “I wrote the script almost all in one sitting in a spurt of inspiration and then reached out to a bunch of my friends to help me out,” Vogel said. “The cast and crew was made up of good friends of mine, which I hadn’t experienced on a film set before, and a wonderful, vibrant energy came with that. My experience working on it was honestly just fun and experimenting to see what I could do when I really applied myself.” Vogel began creating films in middle school and said she quickly gained an appreciation for the art. Vogel is a festival director for Westflix, a yearly student-run film festival for California teenagers hosted by the school. Vogel’s short film “Capsule” was one of the 14 final films chosen from over 150 submissions to be presented as part of the program. Vogel said she always knew she wanted to be a storyteller but was initially unsure of what medium to pursue. “I used to think I wanted to be an author, but I took my first film class in middle school and immediately knew that this was it for me,” Vogel said. “Movies have always affected me very strongly, and I was honestly terrified of them for a while. But when I got to experience the other side of it, I fell in love with the concept of visual storytelling and making others feel things as strongly as I did through filmmaking.” • Continue reading at hwchronicle.com
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illu strati on
Olivia Gubel
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By Keira Jameson
livia Gubel ’21 dipped her brush into the oil paints and sat down at her easel to paint a picture of her backyard on a summer day. As the vibrant paint glided across the canvas, she felt inspired by the environment around her. Gubel realized her passion for art at a young age; with time and exploration, she was able to unlock a side of herself that was previously obscured and discovered that painting was her calling. “I started doing art classes around the age of seven or eight,” Gubel said. “I felt like I’ve gone through a lot of activities since then, but visual art has been one of the ones that have really stuck.” Though she started painting at a young age, it was not until she attended the Upper School that her art career began to take off. She said she has been able to grow as an artist through the visual arts program and that she is now able to see painting as a means to express herself rather than just as a recreational activity. “I feel so grateful for the art department at Harvard-Westlake because I feel like they treat art not simply as a hobby or outlet, but as a true mode of expression as well as an intellectual endeavor,” Gubel said. “I’ve certainly grown technically, [but] most of the progress I’ve made has concerned making my art purposeful, making it less static and using my work to probe some sort of interest or emotion within the viewer.” Gubel’s true inspiration lies in exploration and being able to try new things in the classroom. The ability to play around with different media and art forms has not only been a challenge for her but has also proven to be beneficial, since she has found her favorite form of expression. • Continue reading at hwchronicle.com
y fe s by sydne
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Brandon Liang
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By Vasilia Yordanova
hen saxophonist Brandon Liang ’21 stepped on stage to perform at the 2018 Worldstrides Heritage Festival in Seattle with his fellow Jazz Band musicians, adrenaline rushed through his veins. As the lights came on in the performance hall, he knew that being a jazz musician was what he was meant to do. Liang said his music career has expanded immensely since seventh grade, when he began performing in Symphonic Band. He also said he makes his own lo-fi jazz and hip-hop beats and has traversed a wide variety of music genres along the way. “[Making beats] lets me utilize all the skills I’ve learned as a jazz musician but in a completely different style, and I love the vibe,” Liang said. “Over time, I learned to really love [jazz] and music as a whole.” Liang said his eighth and ninth grade band trips to Disneyland and Seattle were the two most formative events of his music career. “The experience of being able to perform on stage with friends was so fun,” Liang said. “We also were given free time to explore Seattle after our performances, and those are memories that I’m never going to forget.” Liang credited Middle School Performing Arts Teacher Starr Wayne and Upper School Performing Arts Department Head Shawn Costantino as instrumental to his success as a musician. “[Wayne and Costantino] have taught me so much about jazz and about how to approach music in general, but I’d say I’ve learned the most from my bandmates,” Liang said. “The greatest aspect of being in the jazz band is being able to play music with other students who are equally as passionate about making music.” • Continue reading at hwchronicle.com
Sports The Chronicle • May 28, 2021
FINDING THEIR STRIDE
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Article By Justin Goldstein Photo Credits: Joe Lester Photography 1. Football Program Head and Coach Aaron Huerta pumps up his players in crunch time during a big game at the Rose Bowl. 2. Lineman Viswa Douglass '21 lets out a mighty roar after an important defensive stop in the Rose Bowl game. 3. Quarterback Marshall Howe '21 throws a dart to a wide receiver during his warmups for the championship game.
6-0 Overall Team Record 2,216 Total Team Yards
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ide receiver Alex Mogollon ’22 said he was used to disappointing seasons. Last year, the football team went 4-6 overall with a league record of 3-3. In the offseason, the Wolverines hired Football Program Head Aaron Huerta, and this year, the team flipped that narrative, going undefeated with a league record of 3-0 and an overall record of 6-0. “ I think [our] coach did an amazing job of getting us focused for the year,” Mogollon said. “He also instilled a sense of purpose in our team that gave us the fuel necessary for success this season.” Because of COVID-19, the football team was unable to compete for over a year. Its first
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game against St. Genevieve High School marked the squad’s return to competition. Mogollon said he had doubts about the team’s chances of success given the break. “When we went up to play against St. Genevieve, I think we were all a little nervous because we had not physically played a competitive football game in over a year,” Mogollon said. “I think Coach Huerta did a great job of calming our nerves, however, and helped us start off the year strong with that tight victory.” The team would go on to beat the Valiants 20-19, marking its first win of the new season. Wide receiver Mark Cho ’22 said he felt the game was a turning point for the year. “That first game and us being able to squeeze out that win definitely felt good,” Cho said.
“We thought we were good, but I don’t think we believed we were good until that first win. After that game, our team synced even better, and I think that team chemistry was a big reason for our continued success throughout the rest of the year.” After the win over St. Genevieve, the Wolverines continued to win. In its second game of the season against Bishop Mora Salesian High School, the team won 48-29 and would go on to beat their remaining opponents by an average of 28.4 points. The season reached its highest peak during the football team’s game against La Salle High School at the Rose Bowl. Under the bright lights of the historic stadium, the team shone and won in decisive fashion. The Wolverines’ offense dominated the game, resulting in a final score of 58-40. Wide receiver Jason Thompson ’22 finished with 186 receiving yards and five touchdowns. In its final game of the season, the boys faced off against Mary Star of the Sea High School. The team had a strong offensive performance, scoring 14 points in the first half without allowing its opponents to score any points and then added 21 points in the second half to extend its lead to 35-7. This performance completed the record breaking season. However, the undefeated season was not without its challenges, as the group was plagued with injuries that forced the team to adapt, like wide receiver Santiago Hernandez ’23 tearing a ligament in his knee. Offensive lineman Kainalu Faucher ’23 said these injuries forced players to step up. “Injuries definitely took a toll
on the team from week to week,” Faucher said. “It was really up to each individual [player] as to how he was going to approach recovery, and luckily everyone was on top of getting healthy as fast as possible. O u r roster doesn’t have a ton of depth, so [players] being able to stay healthy was crucial.” In his first year with the team, Huerta said he had to deal with these issues head on, but these pandemic-related challenges had a silver lining. “Starting our offseason program during a pandemic wasn’t easy,” Huerta said. “I am someone who thinks spending time together is important to build team chemistry. While it sure wasn’t the same, we did a lot of team activities on Zoom when we weren’t able to see one another in person. The one good thing about the whole situation was that we weren’t in a rush to get ready for a season, so it was nice to take time to get to know each other.” Mogollon said the Zoom workouts were a big reason why the team stayed connected despite being in quarantine. “During the extended closures, the team held Zoom workouts where we all got to see each other,” Mogollon said. Looking forward to next sea-
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son, the Wolverines will look to continue their previous success, despite the loss of the senior class. Perez said the seniors’ presence will be missed. “The seniors this year are very special,” Perez said. “They would a l ways pick us up if we w e r e lacking motivation and ignite that spark to get us to work harder. Looking to next season, it’s definitely going to be a tough task to replicate that energy, but I feel like the incoming seniors on the team will be up to the job, and we can carry on the legacy that these guys left us this year.” Huerta said his goals for the team will not change, despite the loss of the senior class. “Our goal will always be to win a championship,” Huerta said. “If we put ourselves in a position to win a league title, we will also be ready to compete for a CIF title. This senior class did a great job helping this program start on the right path of competing for a CIF title very soon.” Huerta said he believes this group has what it takes. “I am confident we can achieve this goal because we have a group of young men who are dedicated, unselfish and hardworking,” Huerta said. “I am excited to see what we can achieve as a team.”
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D2 Sports
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ONICLE HARFF/CHR
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JUSTIN GOLDSTEIN/CHRONICLE
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May 28
8, 2021
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Sports D3
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RONICLE
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D4 Sports
“GOOD FOR A GIRL”
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t the height of the 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament, girls basketball player Kiki Iriafen ’21 scoffed at the sight of the pictures of the women’s undersupplied weight room posted on Instagram. Looking at the lavish training facilities the men’s teams received at the NCAA March Madness Tournament, Iriafen said she felt defeated. Even for Iriafen, a five-star Stanford University commit currently ranked No. 19 by ESPN for women’s basketball, gender inequality and sexism in athletics is old news. “I wasn’t surprised, honestly,” Iriafen said. “It’s disappointing, and it’s awful, but it wasn’t surprising at all, especially in that big of a stage. When I saw the picture, I was just so sad.” The treatment of women’s basketball players at 1. March Madness sparked controversy and public outrage, as it reflected the value society places on women’s athletics, both at the professional and high school levels. According to an analysis conducted by the National Women’s Law Center of the 2011-12 Department of Education, there are nearly 4,500 public schools in the U.S. that could be in violation of Title IX, which requires all federally funded educational institutions to provide equal access and funding to all athletes, regardless of sex or gender. Although the school is a private, non-profit institution, former varsity field hockey team captain Astor Wu ’20 said she feels the school is complicit in perpetuating the stereotype that women’s sports are unimportant. Despite her squad going undefeated for three consecutive seasons during Wu’s tenure, she said the allocation of field space relative to boys sports was unequal and that this same implicit “less than” message meant that community support and attendance at field hockey events was consistently lower than it was for boy’s sports. “I never was on the team at a period where we were respected in the same way as a male counterpart sport,” Wu said. “It was definitely frustrating at times to see how much attention football received, or maybe baseball or boys 1 my water polo. I believed that me and teammates were working equally as hard on the field and even winning and so that was definitely frustrating.” Despite Wu’s frequent disappointment with the lack of attention and respect the field hockey team got from both the student body and the school, she said she felt powerless to fix the sit-
May 28, 2021
The Chronicle
uation. “If we were standing on the sideline, waiting for football to get off and for us to start our practice as a varsity winning team, that’s a little bit demoralizing,” Wu said. “Especially as the captain of the team my senior year, I really felt like I couldn’t do anything about it. Because I had seen the captains
before me try, and nothing happened. We were just constantly shut down. I feel like I was told that we were overreacting or that it just wasn’t a big enough deal to fix. We were treated [as] relatively disposable at times, and I just feel like we were really underappreciated.” Although field hockey player Sarah Rivera ’21 said she is satisfied with the number of fans and classmates that come to watch her squad’s games, she thinks most of the inequality stems directly from the school’s lack of respect for the sport. “It gives a feeling as though the field hockey team is something the school can find pride in until it comes to asking for something more than a school bus to ride to away games, or even better, sticks and more balls for those who are just starting out for the first time,” Rivera said. “Although we have respect locally from students, parents and teachers alike, a lack of funding conveys the message that no matter how well we do or how hard we fight, our extremely skilled program will always struggle with finding respect from the school itself.” Football player Sonny Heyes ’22 said he agrees with this sentiment, as he said he notices that the football team enjoys more fans and special treatment from the school, such as getting better field times and more publicity. “I think the football team enjoys a lot of privileges, like convenient field
By Amelia Scharff Female athletes discuss the recent weight room controversy at the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament and how gender inequality in athletics affects them and their teammates. Photo Credits: 1. Ryan Albert 2. Woo Sim 1. Forward Kiki Iriafen ’21 looks to score in the CIF-SS Division I Championship against Troy High School in 2020. 2. Midfielder Astor Wu ’20 dribbles the ball up the field against Bonita High School in 2019.
time, complete access to [the] weight room and televised games,” Heyes said. “I don’t think that the field hockey team enjoys those privileges to the full extent that we do.” Head of Athletics Terry Barnum responded to claims of gender inequality by stating that all sports, regardless of gender, receive equal treatment. “We are extremely proud of our girls athletic teams,” Barnum said. “Girls sports have enjoyed great success at our school, regularly winning league and CIF championships. We are committed to supporting and promoting our girls teams as much as we do our boys teams. Girls games are featured on HWTV and highlighted via our various social media platforms. We want all athletes to feel an equal sense of belonging.” Iriafen said she felt that the school treated the girls and boys basketball programs equally, yet she said that her peers frequently diminish her success in the sport because of her gender. “The one thing I get the most is guys saying, ‘you’re pretty good for a girl,’” Iriafen said. “It’s never, ‘you’re a good basketball player.’ It’s always, ‘you’re a good girl basketball player.’ It always has to be a gender thing. Guys not really seeing me as a basketball player, but forcing me to be a female basketball player and not giving me the same respect that they would another male basketball player.” Although Wu and Iriafen agreed they want more fans at their matches, starting varsity outside hitter and Villanova University women’s volleyball commit Skylar Gerhardt ’22 said students didn’t come to her games to cheer for the team; instead, she said they came to watch the girls in their uniforms. “The g u y s made [me] feel kind o f uncomfortable,” Gerhardt said. 2. “ I f t h e y’r e just looking at [my] butt the whole game, and I think most girls kind of feel that way on volley-
ball, as a girl, that’s always in the back of my head. I’m always adjusting because I don’t want my shorts to ride up too much, and I always pull them down because I don’t want to be sexualized in the stands or be embarrassed when coaches and parents tell me my shorts are too short.” Gerhardt said the sexualization doesn’t stop on the court. Oftentimes, she said her peers send her posts on social media degrading women’s volleyball or women’s sports in general, which discourages her as an athlete. “When I see posts like that, it makes me feel frustrated and sad,” Gerhardt said. “I feel women already get less respect than boys and men’s sports so it is upsetting. I wish things were different in that people [would] stop feeding into posts that degrade women and women in sports. It is already hard enough always feeling compared to and getting less than men in sports, so comments and posts sexualizing young women is very annoying.” Whether women’s athletics is sexualized, ignored or disrespected by peers or institutions, Iriafen said the consistent help and encouragement of professional male athletes and her male classmates is vital to ameliorate gender inequality and sexism in athletics. This, she said, will allow female athletes to receive proper recognition and resources at both the high school and professional levels. “I will say that the NBA players have a lot of influence, especially with their fans and everything,” Iriafen said. “If men support women’s basketball, I think that helps a lot. Because those same people [who] are making comments about women’s basketball and diminishing it, they can see the people that they look up to supporting women’s sports. So I think that’s really positive, and that’s a step in the right direction.”
E1 Senior Supplemment
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS! Photo Illustration by Siobhan Harms
E2 Senior Supplement
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
Chronicle, Hit Me With Your Best Shot One of the best senior classes in history reflects on the good times they had on the newspaper, even in a hectic pandemic year.
Reflections (and maybe a little bit more philosophy than is desired)
By Ethan Lachman
ETHAN LACHMAN/CHRONICLE
EE-YOU’RE THE GOAT: Editors-in-Chief Hannah Han ’21 and Ethan Lachman ’21 hug their favorite stuffed animals on a Zoom call.
When I turn on the shower, I sometimes plug my ears. I close my eyes, allowing the water to pitter-patter my back, listening to the steady hum of the fan that pulses in my mind. Then, inside my head, things turn gray, colorful, dark, bright? Honestly, I’m not so sure. My feelings about Chronicle, about anything, change every single second. As people, it seems we all try to set ourselves in stone and categorize our thoughts, but this year, I’ve learned that my opinions wholeheartedly depend on my mood. So, just a warning—take this article with a grain of salt, as a mere snapshot of my thoughts at this very moment. Over the years, with the difficulties of growing up only increasing, I found it nice to close my eyes, not just to be mindful but to imagine a place where I could feel at peace. I hone in on the ground beneath my tension-filled toes, and oftentimes, I imagine the ground of Weiler Hall, home of The Chronicle. And with just the place in mind and white, noise-inducing silence, I can wander around a real-life location I made so many memories in—but in my head. Much like writing a news article in inverted-pyramid style, I can strip down the experience to its bare bones—to only the
feelings I desire. In my mind, I like to walk around Weiler 106, to the place where we devoured the Chronicle-favorite SusieCakes, to the trash cans that shocked me with peek-a-boo squirrels and to the broadcast room where I napped while waiting for a page in what I consider my first true experience of “the grind.” When I stand there, everything is almost perfect, but there’s something off, something that makes me reconsider if perfect solitude is what I really want. I always vacillate between wanting to relish in the ideal and reside in the real. I wish I could live within my fantasy and avoid the ever-fleeting nature of life, but I also realize what I’d miss out on. It seems we must choose our narrow-minded, inherently biased experiences and make them our own—the same is true with The Chronicle. And reflecting on my time with the newspaper, I think I did just that. When I look back on Chronicle, at my intellectual and social evolution, the courage that I proved I had and the absolutely incredible friends I made, the experience is priceless, superior to the image of perfection I may sometimes dream of. It frightens me to think that what I experience could be distorted by my mind—that if I just plug
my ears, close my eyes and become submerged in the falling water, then I can completely lose myself in a new, made-up experience. But that experience is not the same as reality and never will be. It doesn’t embody living in the moment and the spontaneity of a world so far out of my control. Chronicle was a whirlwind, but it requires me to keep my eyes wide open. It requires optimism and inclusivity and honesty and vulnerability; those very qualities add vibrancy to life. I am sure about one thing— complete control is boring and dull, and the thrill of a pressing deadline, the incomprehensible laugh of a section-mate and the impenetrable, knowing stares of two people who realize what work lies ahead for them is not something you can imagine. Chronicle was so incredible and stressful and fulfilling. And yet I am left wanting more, more time to fix the things I wish I did differently, more time to fulfill the things I regret not doing. I can imagine a perfect world, but it lacks the unfiltered reality that makes it beautiful—the contradiction and inevitable stumbles that lie along the journey. Chronicle is not what I imagined when I plugged my ears and closed my eyes in the shower, nor could it ever be—it was better.
My Chronicle journey: Embracing the quiet By Hannah Han
Quiet. For a long time, the word followed me like a ghost, haunting the comments sections of my report cards and spilling into my interactions with teachers and classmates. It was how the world identified me and how I defined myself. Since elementary school, I’ve known that being quiet is not a good thing. I was always aware of its hidden implications: anti-social, docile, timid. I wanted to dissociate from my quietness, but the thought of participating in class made my stomach seethe with anxiety. So I sat in my seat, hand hovering just above my desk, wondering how to articulate my thoughts. When my classmates spoke, the words dissolved on my tongue, and I quickly put my hand down again. Oftentimes I wondered whether my voice was worth listening to— or whether I even had one in the first place. With my apprehension at voicing my thoughts aloud, it was natural that I began to write. For me, writing was a radical act: transcribing my thoughts, my interiority, into something tangible. Writing created a liminal space in which I could be entirely honest with myself. I’d already grown comfortable with creative writing; I had been spinning stories since I was seven, crafting underwater worlds brimming with mythical creatures in my purple, dog-eared notebook.
When I arrived on the lush grounds of the Middle School as an untested seventh grader, I decided to venture into a new realm of writing: journalism. With its inverted pyramids, rigid AP style guidelines and unequivocal rejection of the Oxford comma, journalism was starkly different from creative writing. It was more analytical, more incisive and, in some ways, more demanding. I began freelancing for The Spectrum in eighth grade, first writing a food column about my not-so-savory experience at The Pie Hole (according to my ninth grade self, The Pie Hole’s “attempt at an apple pie” was characterized by “half-burnt, limp apples and stale crust.” In retrospect, I might have been a little harsh). After a year of developing my journalistic skills, I wrote my longest and most ambitious piece for The Spectrum, called, unsurprisingly, “Silence Is Golden: Combating the Cultural Bias Against Introverts.” In middle school, I had begun to take pride in my quietness, knowing that it would never leave me. I defined myself using another word: introverted. Yet a part of me was always ashamed that I could not voice my thoughts in class, that I instead let my words fracture into syllables and then dissipate into nothing. In 10th grade, I joined The Chronicle, eager to tackle more stories and intimidated by the stair-filled campus. In Weiler Hall, I plunged myself into the news grind, learning to love the exquisite
HANNAH HAN/CHRONICLE
LEARNING THE RULES OF THE ROAD: Editors-in-Chief Hannah Han ’21 and Ethan Lachman ’21 pose for a legendary car selfie. Han and Lachman dined at Panera Bread and enjoyed quality food that day. art of pica’ing and the post-layout haze of delirious exhaustion. Under the intense heat of each press deadline, I chased down my peers to ask them about the latest HW Venture speaker and shamelessly triple-texted upperclassmen for quotes at 11:40 p.m. for articles due at 11:59 p.m. In my junior year, when I worked up the courage to write an article about the administration’s newest initiative regarding AP tests, students approached me in the hallways to
disagree with me or to thank me for voicing their opinions. Caught off guard, I found myself immersed in 30-minute conversations outside of my calculus classroom and by the bus stop, listening and responding to my peers’ opinions. I began to see the intrinsic power of journalism: its ability to spark discourse. And, more specifically, its ability to draw out my voice and the voices of those seen as quiet. Long ago, I found solace within the faded blue lines of a pur-
ple, dog-eared notebook. But The Chronicle introduced me to a platform and to friends who reaffirmed the value of the thoughts drifting inside of me, even if they vehemently disagreed with them. For so long, I believed that the voice I had was too inconsequential to share with the world. But after three overwhelmingly stressful yet illuminating years on The Chronicle, I realize now that my voice was always inside of me, waiting to be released into the open.
May 28, 2021
hwchronicle.com
Senior Supplement E3
A Great Mistake By Kyle Reims
Let me get this out of the way; I wasn’t supposed to be on The Chronicle staff. If we’re being technical, I’m still not really in the class. I’m officially a broadcast student, and that was what I signed up for in the summer before 10th grade. I was genuinely annoyed when I got an email telling me that layout was scheduled for August, and I was expected to be there. I hadn’t signed up for this. I would never choose to spend extra time on campus working on some newspaper I didn’t care about. Yet, here I am now, writing this while spending extra time on campus working on some newspaper that I definitely do care about. So what changed? Why am I now so heartbroken to say goodbye to a room, to a community and job that I did not intend to, nor want to join? There wasn’t some switch that was flipped or some moment that I finally realized I was having a good time. It’s cliché to say, but it was truly the friends I made and the people I met who are the most responsible for winning me over. It’s been said countless times, but Chron is a family. I cannot imagine high school without them. The connections that we forged extend beyond the walls of Weiler Hall, even beyond Harvard-Westlake. These connections transcend grade levels; I spent most of my junior year playing Madden with for-
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF TAREK FATTAL
HW(TV)’S BEST: Digital Managing Editor Kyle Reims ’21 and Print Managing Editor Jaidev Pant ’21 pose prior to commentating a school basketball game with Sports Editor Charlie Wang ’21. Pant, Reims and Wang all worked continuously with HWTV throughout their three years. mer Chronicle Sports Editors Zack Schwartz ’20 and Eugene Wyman ’20. Former Chronicle Presentations Editor Keila McCabe ’20 encouraged me to join Westflix, one of the best experiences in high school. Some of my closest friends originated in Chronicle, like A&E Editor Chloe Schaeffer ’21, who I get to go to college with. I share countless memories of fantasy football matches, song picks and announcing games with Jaidev Pant ’21 and Charlie Wang ’21, much more than the space allotted here. I simply cannot mention all the people who played a role, but just know I am
eternally grateful for all of them. I think that’s a pretty solid encapsulation of my time here at Harvard-Westlake; I end up trying something new (usually unintentionally) and the people I get to interact with make the experience invaluable. Take film, for example. I would, now, consider myself a “film bro” through-and-through, for all the negative (and often deserving) connotations that come with that title. But, similar to Chronicle, I signed up to take my first film course almost on a whim. Fast-forward four years, I’m going to be a film major, I intend
to try to make it a career, and I’ve met some of the most influential people because of it, like Sasha Vogel ’21, who I’ve collaborated with numerous times. Would I be where I’m at without these people I’ve mentioned? Possibly. But I certainly would’ve had less fun, and I doubt I would hold these experiences in the high esteem that I do now. I am not someone who loves to go out of their way to try new things. Adventurous is not my answer when I get those “three adjectives to describe yourself ” questions. Not even in my top 10. When transitioning from
freshman to sophomore year, I secretly prayed the administration would switch the campuses for the Middle and Upper Schools so I didn’t have to learn a new one. That part of me is significantly smaller now than it was only a few years ago, though. As I’ve been forced into new experiences and seen the bonds that can form and good that come from them, I’ve tried to open myself up more. And as I head into the largest unknown I’ve ever faced, I will continue to try. Who knows, I may accidentally sign up for my next love.
Sports!—Always and Forever By Jaidev Pant
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF MATTHEW PAUL
THE LEAGUE: Pant and Reims pose near Weiler in their league jackets for what some call the greatest fantasy football league in the school’s history.
March 20, 2021. As I pulled into school listening to “New Light” by John Mayer, I felt myself reliving a moment I experienced countless times before. This wasn’t the first day of school, but rather the first day of in-person layout. When I entered Weiler 104, also known as the Sports Room, it felt like I was transported back to the year before. Our potential Big Red layout dates were still etched into the whiteboard along with our various lists we had made the year prior. In the back corner, former Chronicle Presentations Managing Editor Keila McCabe’s ’20 sketches of Kobe Bryant for our Winter Big Red Issue were still pinned to the board. It had really been a year. Despite all these memories, I found myself rushing to one place: the computer next to the projector. From here, I went through the various steps that felt routine, first typing in the username and password, turning on the projector and, of course, opening up the sports Spotify account. In Sports (or SPORTS! as our Adviser Jim Burns likes to say), music has long been the staple of our room. Usually chosen by the seniors, the genre of music varies depending on the day. One day, you could find yourself listening to the famous “Ztemple, Big
Salva and Lord Swae” playlist curated by former Chronicle Sports Section Editor Zack Schwartz ’20, former Chronicle Digital Managing Editor Luke Casola ’20 and former Chronicle Print Managing Editor William Seymour ’20. On the other hand, you could find yourself listening to various hip hop hits, somehow being played through an argument about the artist between former Chronicle Photography Editor Jay Lassiter ’20 and Schwartz. Finally, there was, of course, “Chronicle Playlist Official,” which still finds its way into the mix, despite the fact that none of the people who created the playlist still attend the school. To me, music had always been one of the pillars of my Chronicle experience, and it was now my turn to take over the reins. However, as I opened Spotify, I was shocked to see that we could not remember the username and password. As I frantically texted members of the Sports Room, it felt as though the memory I had of Sports had been shattered, like I couldn’t recognize the distinct green walls that defined our room. Then, enter our Chronicle Digital Managing Editor Kyle Reims ’21. When Kyle walked in, all of the countless memories we had together from layout suddenly rushed back. From helping each other with spreads to trash-
talking each other prior to our fantasy football game, Kyle had been along with me for the ride. In addition, I remembered the numerous souvenirs from Zoom layout: the day where I played EDM on Zoom, the day I had to put on Lakers merchandise against my will for a staged photo and, of course, my infamous allstaff email about Kyle that will hopefully be remembered by everyone in Volume 30. In that moment, I realized that Chronicle wasn’t simply a room or an extracurricular activity on my Common Application; it’s a group of people that I will forever be connected with. There are so many things in this world that I connect Chronicle to. When I find myself watching a regular season college basketball game, I remember the numerous times we watched SEC basketball on cold Saturday mornings. When I see Five Guys, I think of the many times I had to traverse down Coldwater Canyon Ave. to get food for the staff. Even when I see Ted Slavin Field every day, I’m reminded of my loss in the first annual Chronicle Super Bowl between the Sports juniors and seniors. Chronicle isn’t just a newspaper—it’s a group of people that helped define my high school experience and whom I’ll forever be grateful for. I just hope I can find a family as good as this one in the next phase of my life.
E4 Senior Supplement
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
(S)HOT Girl Summer
Six years and six lessons By Celine Park
Six. Years. Little seventh grade me could not fathom how quickly my time at Harvard-Westlake would float by. Now that I’m a senior, I have the unspoken right to gather wide-eyed underclassmen by the fireplace and bestow upon them my great and allpowerful sagacity. All jokes aside, every single senior has grown as an individual since seventh grade, acquiring new skills and know-how along the way. As this is the last article I will ever write for The Chronicle, I would like to leave my final footprint on the publication by reflecting on six lessons I learned during my six years at HarvardWestlake. Seventh grade. A time when striped T-shirts from Brandy Melville and black Lululemon leggings were my middle-school couture. A time when my most worrisome concerns were if I could win a lottery ticket to the infamous Catalina Island trip or if I could change into my skinny jeans post-P.E. swim during a five-minute passing period. By the end of seventh grade, I learned the hard way to take a deep breath and understand that trivial matters will fix themselves. Eighth grade! A particularly interesting year for me, since this was when I took Algebra II Honors, a class that I swear is one of the hardest math classes the school offers. I spent my late afternoons (and late evenings)
MELODY TANG/CHRONICLE
CELINE PARK/CHRONICLE
COFFEE RUN: Print Managing Editor Celine Park ’21 and Presentations Managing Editor Siobhan Harms ’21 return after a trip for snacks.
PRINT PALS: Print Managing Editors Celine Park ’21 and Austin Lee ’21 take a nighttime hike over a spring break with friends.
inside an empty Munger Library trying to solve packets of math problems—until the librarians kicked me out, at which point I proceeded to do even more sets of review questions by the Hazy lunch tables. While eighth grade was a walk in the park for some in comparison to high school, it was an extremely formative year for me, as I began to understand that even the hardest work comes with true responsibility. Ninth grade (cue the ominous background music). The last year at the Middle School but the first of high school, where new friendships were formed, when the fabric of our class would change for the better. When new opportunities presented themselves to me, I tried to experiment with all of them. Playing on the varsity golf
of the toughest years at HarvardWestlake. During difficult circumstances, it is crucial to find your people that will always be there for you. 11th grade, the fateful year. Admittedly, I was one of those kids sitting by the Lower Quad filming the raptured cheers of my classmates seconds after receiving Mr. Commons’s schoolclosure email. I casually waved a “see you after spring break” goodbye to my fellow Managing Editor Siobhan Harms ’21 in the library but didn’t realize the next time I would see her would be an entire year later. To me, the AP classes and looming college thoughts weren’t of primary concern; as an onlychild, I craved for a return to my community and missed waving
team in the fall, officially writing for The Spectrum and discovering a newfound love for history, I felt extremely overwhelmed with the number of endeavors I took on. But at the end of freshman year, I was able to look back with no regrets, as I was able to deeply explore my passions. 10th grade: stairs, stairs and stairs. But in all seriousness, besides my daily calorie-burning trek from Weiler to Seaver, my first year at the Upper School went by so quickly that the memories blur together. Yet one memory I actually do retain is when I happened to stumble across a Model United Nations (MUN) meeting— the rest is history. Through the MUN team, I was able to get through what many consider one
to acquaintances in the hallway or chatting with teachers during lunch. While cliché, my poignant self-reminder last year was to stay grateful even during times when gratitude seems to be inconceivable. And we circle back to 12th grade! I couldn’t help but smile while reminiscing about all of these experiences. As I count down the days until graduation, I feel various emotions: sad to be leaving my high school years behind, excited to enter the next chapter of my life on another coastline and curious to see how much I’ll change in the next four years. But in the midst of getting all sentimental, I realize that all of us are experiencing change, and the best way to handle change is to simply embrace it.
Let’s Play a Little Game— Two Truths and One Lie By Siobhan Harms
Let’s play a game: two-truths and a lie. 1. I came to Harvard-Westlake as a sophomore. 2. I’ve never cried at school before. 3. My favorite teacher is Derric Chien.
KATE BURRY/CHRONICLE
SENIOR SISTERS: Best friends Presentations Managing Editor Siobhan Harms ’21 and Print Managing Editor Celine Park ’21 pose for a photo.
I think we all know the lie is #2. Of course, it is no secret that being at Harvard-Westlake is hard. In the last three years, I have spent a fair share of my time juggling math exams, history research papers and hours upon hours of homework. On top of this, I dedicated my time to The Chronicle—determined to create award-winning spreads and intriguing articles. So, it is pretty fair to say that HarvardWestlake has consumed my life, my entire being. However, even
with all of the tears and stress, I would not trade my experience as a Wolverine for any other educational institution. I have learned a tremendous amount during my time here— from time management and study skills to making sure I get to school early to secure a coveted parking spot. As I embark on the next chapter of my life, I’m excited but also incredibly nervous. For the first time, we are in charge of creating our own timeline; we are no longer bound to the cycle of K-12. To me, that’s scary. I worry that I won’t be able to meet the expectations I’ve set for myself or realize my dreams. At a school like this, where you are surrounded by some of the nation’s best and brightest, it’s hard not to be competitive. I often find myself comparing my achievements to those of my peers, chastising myself for not
being better. This year, I was particularly distraught when I didn’t receive an acceptance to the school of my dreams (or my second or third choices). It took me a long time to realize that going to a selective, top-tier school does not necessarily guarantee success. In reality, success starts with you. So, for those of you about to begin the college process, please don’t place your self worth on college admissions. You are worth it, with or without that top-tier school. Although this is not an easy task, see your time at Harvard-Westlake as a destination, not a stepping stone. I wasted a lot of time focusing on my future when I could have been enjoying myself in the present; don’t make the same mistake as me. In short: enjoy your high school experience, be in the moment and stop worrying.
The
May 28, 2021
High School Lessons
hwchronicle.com
Senior Supplement E5
Lee’s (No Relation)
By Lucas Lee
I
n sixth grade, I applied to Harvard-Westlake. I was still happy at Chandler, a Kindergarten through eighth grade school which was less than a twominute walk from my house. At Chandler, I was comfortable, I hung out with my childhood best friends and I did pretty well in school. I was applying to Polytechnic School, a Kindergarten through high school, for my mom, who wanted me to go there for middle school for an easier transition into high school. I didn’t even know Harvard-Westlake even existed until my ISEE tutor said that I should apply since I was already going through the process. To say the very least, I was pretty indifferent to both schools because it would mean leaving Chandler. It wasn’t until I toured Harvard-Westlake that it became my dream school. I was in awe with the Middle School’s lavish cafeteria, decorated debate team and the relaxed dress code (after seven years in a navy polo and khakis, I had grown to despise uniforms). But by then, it was too late; I just had a mediocre interview with Athletic Director Scott Bello where we struggled to find a subject that I could talk passionately about, and my application that I hadn’t cared to put much time into was already in. In April, I got the news that I didn’t get in. I didn’t mind that I got waitlisted at Poly. HarvardWestlake was what really mattered. I don’t remember if I was upset about it, but looking back on it, I understand the decision. What I took from the experience was that if I wanted to go to Harvard-Westlake for high school as badly as I did, I had to put in a different level of effort. I studied like a madman for the ISEE, rewrote my application numerous times, worked to get strong recommendations and became one of the best debaters at Chandler. I submitted my application, had a much better interview with Senior Associate Director of Admission and Enrollment Management Nancy Jeon ’89 and waited for a response. The decision came an hour after my grandfather’s funeral, and the joy from seeing the fruits of my labor were hampered by the sadness of the loss of my family member. My grandfather was someone who exemplified what it means to be a man, coming from a time where honor was important than anything else. He didn’t care about being politically correct or disciplining me about the minutia. What mattered to him was that I live with integrity and become a
AMMAN FURNITUREWALA/HW VENTURE
ON SIGHT: Atop Weiler Hall, Presentations Managing Editor Lucas Lee ’21 and Print Managing Editor Austin Lee ’21 envision the bright future of The Chronicle. Among the many Lee’s to graduate from the paper, these Lee’s would like to remember their time discussing the facets of life in breakout rooms. man like those of his time. My high school journey was nothing like the simple middle school narrative of working hard and putting in effort to achieve a goal. Through high school, I’ve learned many of the lessons that my grandfather would have wanted to teach me from others or through my own folly. These are a few of the lessons that mattered most to me: - Be a man of your word. - Protect your integrity (and reputation). - Family comes first. - Mind your manners. - Be organized. - Pay attention to the short run, but keep your eye on the long run.
Some of my Suggestions t’s all too easy to fall into a soppy or preachy narrative when writing these senior supplements, so I’ve compiled a list of the books, movies and albums I’ve enjoyed most over the past year. To the reader: I hope you find something you like.
Griffith “Tao Te Ching”—L. Tzu transl. Feng “The Arabian Nights”—transl. Burton “Norse Mythology”—Gaiman “Epigrammaton Libri I”—Martial “Philology”—Turner “How to Kill a Dragon”—Watkins “The Da Vinci Code”—Brown “How to Run a Country”—Cicero transl. Freeman “The Once and Future King”— White
Books and Short Stories “Dune Chronicles”—Herbert “Cat’s Cradle” and “Slaughterhouse Five”—Vonnegut “The Nine Billion Names of God”—Clarke “Old Man’s War” series—Scalzi “The Art of War”—S. Tzu transl.
Movies and TV Shows “Blade Runner” and “Blade Runner 2049” “The Sting” “Twelve Angry Men” “The Dirty Dozen” “Dunkirk” “Lincoln”
By Austin Lee
I
“It Happened One Night” “Four Weddings and a Funeral” “My Cousin Vinny” “The Fugitive” “Air Force One” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” “Back to School” “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” “Arrival” Albums “The Composer of Desafinado, Plays”—Antônio Carlos Jobim “DREAMLAND 2021”, “Ringos Desert” and “Generationwhy”— ZHU “The Stranger”—Billy Joel “I Am > I Was”—21 Savage “Grease”—various artists “Geography”—Tom Misch “The Sound of Peace”—John Fluker “iSouljaBoyTellem”—Soulja Boy
The Chronicle
E6 Senior Supplement
May 2
‘I’m Not Throwing Away My Shot...’ In The Chronicle’s final issue of Volume 30, students of the Class of 2021 share their college announcements in the paper’s annual college list.
Audrey Ahn Trinity College
Alex Button Tulane University
Caitlyn Dovel Kenyon College
Andrew Gong Harvard College
Charlie Albert Washington University in St. Louis
Quinn Callaghan University of Southern California (Viterbi)
Maya Doyle University of Chicago
Paula Gonzalez University of Southern California (Viterbi)
Josephine Amakye University of Michigan Chandace-Akirin Apacanis Santa Clara University Naomi Attal New York University Nicole Austen Harvard College Natalie Ayeni Barnard College Kylie Azizzadeh Duke University Olivia Baer University of Chicago
Devon Carmel University of Miami (Rosenstiel) Katarina Cheng Massachusetts Institute of Technology Chelsea Cho Stanford University Lauren Cho University of California, Berkeley Eugean Choi Colby College Evelyn Choi Stanford University
Alexandra Du Manoir New York University Jaesan Emeret University of Edinburgh Josie Enenstein University of Pennsylvania Jake Engelberg Washington University in St. Louis Jennifer Epstein Washington University in St. Louis Will Farhat University of Southern California (Viterbi School of Engineering)
Lucas Grad University of Wisconsin-Madison Helen Graham George Washington University Joe Grode University of Southern California Nik Grube University of Michigan Olivia Gubel Williams College Hannah Han Yale University
Spencer Felix University of Michigan
Ian Han Institute of Culinary Education
Maitlyn Fletcher Sarah Lawrence College
Maya Harbour University of San Francisco
Spencer Flippen Morehouse College
Chase Harleston Columbia University
Connor Colao University of Michigan
Leanna Fodor California State University, Northridge
Juliet Colitre Reed College
Eli Friedman Dartmouth College
Siobhan Harms University of Missouri (School of Journalism and Honors College)
Christian Becerra University of California, Berkeley
George Cooper Harvard College
Grant Bishop Pepperdine University
Yvette Copeland Cornell University (College of Engineering)
Asia Fuqua University of Southern California (Thornton)
Crystal Baik New York University (Steinhardt) Lily Bailey Stanford University Natalie Barnouw Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ellie Baron Georgetown University (School of Nursing & Health Studies)
Adam Blackman University of Michigan Paul Boardman Jr. Bowdoin College Riley Bock University of Notre Dame
Alex Chon Tulane University Solomon Christopher Amherst College Juliana Ciccone Sarah Lawrence College
Jonathan Cosgrove Harvard College Grace Daniels New York University (Gallatin)
Jake Futterman University of Southern California (Viterbi) Mohona Ganguly Cornell University Sydney Gartner New York University
Maddie Boudov New York University (Tisch)
Evie De Rubertis Cornell University (College of Architecture, Art and Planning)
Mariela Breidsprecher University of St. Andrews
Taylor Dees University of Texas at Austin
Ben Brill Parsons School of Design at The New School
Isaac Dienstag University of Chicago
Emery Genga Boston University (College of Fine Arts)
Ruoshan Dong University of California, Berkeley
Trumann Gettings Tufts University
Emma Donnelly New York University (FYA Florence)
Navid Ghodsi Rice University
Rachel Brown University of Michigan (Ross) Lola Butan Tufts University (School of the Museum of Fine Arts)
Viswa Douglass George Washington University
Ned Garvey Bucknell University Valentina Gaxiola University of Southern California (Viterbi)
Shay Gillearn Bucknell University
Garrett Ingman The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Lucy Ingold University of Chicago Amaan Irfan University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) Kiki Iriafen Stanford University Adeline Jackson University of Southern California Isaiah Jeter Harvey Mudd College Frank Jiang Washington University in St. Louis Sophie Johnson University of Chicago James Johnson-Brown Williams College Penny Juarez Wellesley College Akseli Kangaslahti University of Michigan (College of Engineering) Kimiko Katzaroff Sarah Lawrence College
Alice He Carleton College
Kyle Kaufman Case Western Reserve University
Cameron Herring Barnard College
Julian Kay The American University of Paris (Transferring to University of Southern California)
Scarlet Heyes Trinity College Julia Hines Princeton University Adam Hinton Phillips Exeter Academy
Grant Keller Brigham Young University Katie Kennedy Elon University Katherine Kihiczak Swarthmore College
Sally Ho University of Pennsylvania (School of Engineering and Applied Science)
Matthew Kihiczak University of California, Berkeley
Harper Hollander Colgate University
Ben Kim New York University
Marshall Howe Avon Old Farms School
Kacey Kim Cornell University (College of Architecture, Art and Planning)
Iris Huang University of Chicago Nicholas Hubbard University of California, San Diego Owen Hudgins University of Colorado Boulder Mia Hutchinson Northeastern University
Reggie Kim University of Colorado Boulder Sterling Kim University of Michigan Maddy Kirschenbaum University of Michigan
*Numbers are based only on The Chronicle survey.
18
UMICH
15 NYU
14
UCHICAGO
12 USC
10
WASHU
28, 2021 hwchronicle.com/seniorsupplement Delaney Klace Kenyon College Gracie Klein New York University Stone Kletecka University of Chicago Len Korol Claremont McKenna College Ethan Lachman Northwestern University (Medill) Christopher Ladreyt University of Michigan (Ross) Nicolas Ladreyt Trinity University William Lake Brown University Alexandra Landecker Tufts University (School of the Museum of Fine Arts) Alexandria Lange Harvard College Aden Lee Southern Methodist University Angela Lee Stanford University
Kellan McCarthy Northeastern University (College of Engineering)
Senior Supplement E7 Pat Otero University of Chicago
Lukas Seklir Gap Year
Ford McDill Wesleyan University
Jaidev Pant University of Michigan (Ross)
Krista Semaan Washington University in St. Louis (McKelvey)
Claire Wacziarg University of Chicago
Kai McGrath University of California, Berkeley
Allison Park Harvard College
Matthew Servin Claremont McKenna College
Chance Walker Tufts University
Samantha McLoughlin Vanderbilt University
Amy Park University of California, San Diego
Mandy Shao University of California, Berkeley
Athalia Meron Harvard College
Celine Park Georgetown University (Walsh)
Nick Shapoff University of Wisconsin-Madison
Emma Walther George Washington University (Elliott School of International Affairs)
Cate Mittweg Sarah Lawrence College Ryan Moon University of Southern California Alon Moradi Carnegie Mellon University (John Wells Directing Program) Owen Morgan Boston University Ella Moriarty Pomona College Samantha Morris Johns Hopkins University Marina Nascimento Tufts University
Matthew Paul Duke University Elias Peter Connecticut College Aidan Peterson Chapman University (Dodge)
Dottie Shayegan Harvard College
Jasmine Wang University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
Mia Shelton University of California, Berkeley
Kimberly Wang University of Michigan
Spencer Sherman University of California, San Diego
Lexie Warlick Parsons School of Design at The New School
Felicity Phelan Gap Year (Rice University)
Grace Shin Case Western Reserve University
Natalie Phillips Claremont McKenna College
Hope Shinderman Columbia University
Ariana Pineda Rice University
Rafael Singer Gap Year
Ryan Prybil Syracuse University
Olivia Smith Duke University
Natalia Quintero Columbia University
Andrew So Cornell University
Zane Neelin Cornell University
Matthew Redford Reed College
Andy Song New York University
Tara Neil Georgetown University
Kyle Reims Wesleyan University
India Spencer Colby College
Matthias Nguyen University of Chicago
Nicole Rich University of Michigan
Brooke Stanford Harvard College
Faramarz Nia University of Michigan
Luke Riley Brown University
Helena Steuch New York University
Eli Nickoll Williams College
Sarah Rivera Washington University in St. Louis
Khyra Stiner Chapman University
Will Nordstrom Chapman University
Carolina Rodriguez University of Richmond
Brandon Liang University of California, Santa Barbara
Kailey Suh University of California, San Diego (Transferring to Cornell University)
Jack North Emory University
Isabella Rodriguez University of Virginia
Emma Limor Princeton University
Daniel Novikov University of Southern California
Hayley Rothbart Tulane University
Liam Sullivan George Washington University (Elliott School of International Affairs)
Skylar Liu University of Chicago
Kosi Nwabueze Massachusetts Institute of Technology
William Ruden-Sella Wesleyan University
John Szijjarto University of Pennsylvania
Ally Lynch Clemson University
Brandon Oberfeld New York University (Gallatin)
Nathan Russell University of Chicago
Riley Tao University of Chicago
Santiago Salazar Carnegie Mellon University (Bachelor of Humanities and Arts)
Alex Thibiant University of Colorado Boulder
Benjamin Lee University of Michigan Christina Lee Yale University Lucas Lee University of Pennsylvania Matthew Lee Yale University Eva Lekovic Trinity College Jas Li University of Chicago
Simba Makawa Salisbury University Cleo Maloney Yale University Sara Maniscalco Wellesley College Bennett Markinson Northwestern University Samantha Martin Chapman University
Christopher O’Brien Northwestern University (Bienen) Juliette O’Brien University of Michigan
Chloe Schaeffer Wesleyan University
Gabby Odoom Williams College
Walt Schoen Gap Year (Vassar College)
Chiemeka Offor New York University
Thomas Schramm Washington University in St. Louis
Alexandra Oster University of Michigan
Asher Schwartz Washington University in St. Louis
Charlie Wang United States Military Academy
Anna Shell University of Pennsylvania
Makeda Neavill University of California, Los Angeles (School of Theater, Film and Television)
Austin Lee Yale University
Sasha Vogel Tufts University (School of the Museum of Fine Arts)
Nathan Thomas New York University (Tisch) Chase Thumann Columbia University Ryan Tsai Yale University Valentina Vinuela Johns Hopkins University
Amaya Washington Grinnell College Liam Weetman Georgetown University Tyler Weigand University of California, Berkeley (College of Engineering) Ben Weinberg Georgetown University Jack Weisskopf Tulane University Maddie Wolf Cornell University Capri Woss Southern Methodist University (Meadows School of the Arts and Dedman College of Humanities & Sciences) Thomas Ye New York University Roan Yeh Tufts University Simran Yogakumar Barnard College Kanoa Young Bowdoin College Noah Yun University of Michigan George Zhang University of Michigan (Ross) Jacky Zhang Washington University in St. Louis (McKelvey) Aaron Zhao California Institute of Technology Christina Zhao Parsons School of Design at The New School Ethan Zuckerman University of Southern California Greta Zumbrunnen School of the Art Institute of Chicago
E8 Senior Supplement
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
Running out of time, but never out of memories
By Chloe Schaeffer
Solid spikes squish underneath my feet as I return to the rubber track. One more jump, one last calf stretch before the gun fires. Five minutes and 15 seconds later, I’m right back here at the line where I started. I can still remember the feeling of running my first 1,600-meter race at CIF. The crowd was tangibly unenthused at the 8 a.m. race
time and horrifyingly packed parking lot, but rallied enough energy that I can still remember the pounding cheers from that freshman year race every time I step on the track. The memories that I have made from my six years running track and my four years running cross country are perhaps those which are the fondest in my mind as I reflect on my time at Harvard-Westlake. I have been
PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF INDIA SPENCER
SPORTCENTER: Outside of The Chronicle, Schaeffer and Wang love watching sports and the television shows “New Girl” and “Brooklyn 9-9.”
fortunate enough to be involved in so many of the opportunities this school has to offer, from drawing and painting, to dance, soccer, clay and glass, Peer Support and The Chronicle, and I feel so grateful for the irreplaceable relationships and memories that I have forged through each of these experiences. However, as the most constant aspect of my life throughout these past six years, I feel that my running experience at Harvard-Westlake has given me a family. It’s true that the blood, sweat and tears we shed have inextricably tied me to my teammates and coaches on a deeper level than I could have ever expected. I will miss all of the little moments with my team: “slaps” with everyone before a cross country race, arguing over who gets aux at lifting, the bus rides to Fresno, fighting off what feels like death at the end of the iconically grueling 40-40s workout and, of course, the Big Bear training retreat. I will never forget stealing the baton with my relay team after the Mount Sac Invitational 4x1600 race, or when the entire team stayed late after the Seaside Invitational cross country race trying to find the dog that attacked me mid-race. I have met some of my best friends through my years on this team, and as cliché as it may sound, I truly can’t imagine my high school experience (or life) without them. I am also so beyond grateful for my incredible coaches, Tim Sharpe and Jonas Koolsbergen. The past four years of my life have been shaped in countless ways by their love, guidance, support and killer workouts. The
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TROPHIES: A&E Section Editor Chloe Schaeffer ’21 and Sports Section Editor Charlie Wang ’21 balance life as varsity student-athletes. passion that both of them have for the sport is infectious, and it is evident how deeply they care about each and every one of their athletes. They have been by my side through cheers, hugs and celebration, but also through nerves, tears and pain. At our recent senior night meet, I began to cry as I thought about how much it means to me that I can count on them to support me equally through the times when I was running at CIF and the times when I was so injured I couldn’t run at all. Their presence in my life has been in-
valuable, and I will forever remember the moments we have shared together. As I sit here writing this reflection, I’m brought to tears as I think about how much love I have for this team and how lucky I am to have been a part of the Harvard-Westlake running progrwam. For anyone reading this who isn’t graduating with me, I strongly suggest becoming a part of the running family. True, our sport may be everyone else’s punishment, but I think you will come to find that it is actually the greatest reward of all.
Running it back before we move on to the next
By Charlie Wang
Every year, on the night before the football team’s last regular season game, everyone in the program gathers to listen to the seniors reflect on their experiences playing football at the school. When I first heard the speeches in seventh grade from seniors who I had never met or played with, I was compelled by each player’s unique, yet similar journey of ups and downs. There was a raw and authentic vulnerability that all of the players showed that made me want to be a part of the football program. To my surprise, the players didn’t talk about the games. Instead, they talked about their families, conditioning after practice and the emotional struggles they endured throughout their time in middle and high school. Throughout the last few years, I have constantly thought about and thought out what I was going to say when it was my turn to stand in front of my team. Not wanting to wait until the last second, I practiced portions of my speech on my drives to school for practice this year. After my last high school walkthrough in April, I decided against writing anything down
and planned to just give my speech from the heart. After my speech, though, I couldn’t help but feel angry at myself. While I got some good laughs and did a good job of highlighting the highs and lows of my playing career, I didn’t really take enough time to show gratitude or thanks to the people on the team who helped create those moments. In football, where I only viewed my journey as the product of my own actions, I realized that it was coaches like Vic Eumont, who would yell at me relentlessly after long days of seventh grade Algebra I, who helped me reach a level of skill that I never knew I could. It was people like Brian Gallagher, Miguel Acevado, Carlos Samayoa and Roberto Hernandez, who always made sure to show me love and keep me entertained when I wasn’t on the field, who helped me stay positive on my most stressful days. It was my teammates, who would annoy me in the locker room but also protect me on the field, who made me want to run straight into 250-pound moving walls while at running back. I also realized that I have not thought enough about the people
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FALLING FORWARD: Wang, an active member of the school football team, analyzes the field for nearby defenders in a game on the road against Mary Star of the Sea High School to end their undefeated season. who have pushed and guided me through my time working on The Chronicle. I always thought maybe it was just my mindset or positive outlook on life that caused me to enjoy and look forward to layout. But, in reality, it’s been the people starting in the 2018-2019 sports room who helped me reach where I am. I realize that it was former Chronicle Digital Managing Editor Will Seymour ’20 and former Sports Section Edi-
tor Eugene Wyman ’20 talking trash about my writing skills at football practice that motivated me to lock in when I walked into Weiler Hall. It was former Chronicle Digital Managing Editor Luke Casola ’20 and former Executive Editor Will Mallory ’20 laboring to fit in a mug on my page that made me realize that I would never have to endure a challenge alone. I realize it was the warm greeting and the complaints
about the state of the University of Southern California football team from Mr. Burns before every class that made me want to trek down the Chalmers Hall steps. Finally, I realize it was all of my fellow senior writers who made the searing walks down Halkirk to Starbucks during sophomore layouts desirable and who have made the Chronicle one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
May 28, 2021
hwchronicle.com
It’s the people I met who made the place By Tanisha Gunby
As I look back at my education at Harvard-Westlake, I appreciate the opportunities I have been given and the knowledge I have gained. Above all, the friendships I have made and the people I have met are what I value the most. Like my grandfather always says, “it is the people that make the place.” On the first day of school, I remember anxiously waiting at the bus stop, looking forward to beginning a new chapter of my life. As the bus doors opened, I was greeted by a warm smile from my Middle School Bus Driver, Howard Broadnax, who, over the next three years, became a special friend and a role model to me. Our bus group relished his monthly pizza parties and his thoughtful, annual end-of-year videos that captured memorable times, which continued during our bus rides to the Upper School with Perla Sandoval. Within my first few weeks at the Middle School, my circle of friends expanded beyond my Horn Commons lunch table. The seventh grade’s fall retreat brought me closer to many classmates and was a bonding experience with our first deans, Dean Department Head Kate Benton and Dean Jon Carroll. Beginning with my prealgebra class with Mathematics Teacher Mike Grier, our devoted and passionate teachers have done everything to make learning so enjoyable over the past six years. I had a delightful introduction to Latin by former Latin Teacher Moss Pike, who made our assignments into
innovative projects, such as when he let me make a board game in Latin called “Romanopoly.” In seventh grade, students who took Latin went to the Getty Center, where I met my future Latin teachers while connecting the language with ancient Greek sculptures. In addition to exchanging greetings in Latin in eighth grade, we were given Latin names by Magistra Mercedes Barletta. Mine was “Titia,” which means “happiness.” The art room has been my sanctuary where I have spent many hours experimenting, reflecting and revising my threedimensional artwork under the guidance of my art teachers, former Visual Arts Teacher Katie Palmer in middle school and Visual Arts Teacher Nicole Stahl in high school. They became my mentors as I learned many life lessons from our conversations. Interviewing visiting speakers and attendees during events for newspaper journalism enabled me to know more people on campus. These experiences have broadened my understanding of the school and the community at large. Working on the middle school news magazine, The Spectrum, with former English Teacher and Communications Department Head Stephen Chae cultivated a team spirit that developed into long-term friendships as my newspaper team transitioned to The Chronicle with Communications Teacher and Communications Department Head Jim Burns. During the pandemic, I have been able to meet with more people at virtual programs and
Senior Supplement E9
HANNAH HAN/CHRONICLE
DYNAMIC DUO: Editor-in-Chief Hannah Han ’21 and News Editor Tanisha Gunby ’21 pose for a photo together. They will never forget their chats and refreshing walks along the track after late-night layout sessions. clubs, beginning with the Quad organized by the Prefect Council during spring break in 2020. Instead of feeling isolated during the lockdown, I was deeply engaged in a wide spectrum of virtual programs hosted by faculty and students, ranging from cooking classes with Mathematics Teacher and Robotics Coach Andrew Theiss to my most memorable poetry class, “The Art of the Villanelle,” with President Rick Commons. Throughout my education, I
have been so blessed to have outstanding teachers whose dedication and perseverance have been put to the test by the pandemic. All of them have gone above and beyond to give their best. I shall always remember how Science Teacher Melody Lee stayed after hours to explain concepts in AP Biology and Genetics and Biotechnology in detail. I am humbled by Science Teacher Steve Yang’s unconditional kindness to guide me through physics at any time. I am also thankful to my
teachers Science Teacher Nadine Eisenkolb, Mathematics Teacher Laffite Lamberto-Egan, English Teacher Jocelyn Medawar, Visual Arts Teacher Nicole Stahl, Mathematics Teacher Kasia Williams and my dean, Sara Brookshire, for making my senior year an unforgettable experience! Although I am unable to thank every person I have connected with during my journey, each one of them has made an exceptional impact on my life for which I shall always be grateful.
10 things about high school I wish I had known four years ago By Frank Jiang
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REFLECTIONS: Senior News Editors Frank Jiang ’21 and Tanisha Gunby ’21 smile as they remember memorable times on The Chronicle.
Rifling through old, waferthin newspaper pages and scanning online versions of previous senior supplements, I found that most seniors offer some form of wisdom: an important anecdote, a resonant piece of advice or even just a fond reminiscence of their high school careers. While it’s important to underscore the pinnacle of the first 18 years of life in the final issue of The Chronicle 2021, I’m here to explain the “wisdom” most people won’t talk about: high school sucking. You might have some expectations for your sophomore, junior or senior years—junior year is tough, but when you go through it, it’s not going to feel that way. Senior year will seem easy yet somehow manifest into a challenge even harder than what everyone tells you is going to be “the hardest year of your high school journey.” Academics are going to overwhelm you, college is going to come faster than you’d prefer, you’re probably going to lose some friends along the way, you will get at least one bad grade and at some point, I can guarantee that you’ll find yourself crying in the middle of the night, perhaps
in a hot shower, for what seems to be no rational reason. While I can’t prevent that from happening, I can definitely offer some insight into how to mitigate those things. To get the obvious ones out of the way, create good study habits early, don’t be afraid to ask your teacher, even your parents, for help if you need it, try not to sleep past 11:00 p.m. (unless you happen to be the 10% of the population that can thrive on a magical three hours of sleep) and don’t be afraid to take chances on other people; it’s only through trial and error that you can find the ones you trust in this world. It’s also only through trial and error that you will find the way you live—and study—best. People learn in a variety of ways (hearing, seeing, acting) so find how YOU best live and learn (not how someone else does) and exploit it. View tests and exams as challenges, or intellectual exercises, if you will, and not as pitfalls. Always maintain that optimistic outlook—one way or another, you’ll hit an “up” in the valley of life, and I can guarantee you that if you look at it positively, you’ll be able to appreciate it so much more. Furthermore, focusing on what you’re interested in as early
as you can takes priority. Experience everything and venture into all fields to find what you want to do early—accumulating those experience points will help you later down the line when you level up from high school to college to life. You’ll also find your drive— why are you here? Reminding yourself of what you want to do in life and doing those things will refine your willpower and temper your discipline as you fight against steep mounds of homework, countless term papers and presentations. For all of those who have come and gone through high school, I think we can all agree on one thing: finding your tribe. Find a couple of good friends and keep them close—quality over quantity is the name of the game here. If you feel like you’re not able to find one person in particular, don’t try to force a friendship; try to find people who you first naturally have a connection with, and remember that trust isn’t something that you can gain overnight but is definitely something you can lose overnight. For those of you who are “romanticallyinclined,” rest assured that when you start focusing on yourself, those around you will notice you much more than when you are actively trying to pursue them.
E10 Senior Supplement
The Chronicle
By Crystal Baik
tion. I remember thinking that I should be joining a club more people gravitate towards rather than helping my friends tend to the school’s garden. I remember feeling so out of place as I threw my first punches in Boxing Club and the burning sensation in my arms not even 10 minutes in. I remember a timid younger self, hesitantly standing on the formal dance floor as my friends went wild around me. But most of all, I remember the quiet self pride and confidence that began creeping up as I blocked out the noise and continued to pursue all that interested me anyways. In less than a month, I will don my white cap and gown and walk across the turf to receive my diploma. I will do so more grounded and forward driven than ever before. I will do so with my friends cheering me on from the bleachers, people whom, funnily enough, I found only after I shifted my focus inwards. And I will pause, just for a second, as I shake Mr. Commons’s hand and smile, excited for what’s ahead and proud of the person I’ve become.
May 28, 2021
Making my own community
They put cereal boxes over their heads. Facing the general direction of their peers (cardboard is not see-through, after all), they communicated with trilling and robot sounds. They blasted music and swirled around on spinnychairs until, nauseous with their heads pounding, their eyes lolled about their sockets as they attempted to refocus their sight once more. They threw popcorn at one another, teasing and sharing hilarious stories, many of which made me want to double over with tears of laughter blurring my sight as well. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. So I clenched my teeth and flexed those facial muscles around my eyes to make the skin taut, my method of keeping a poker face, while praying the laughter threatening to spill out would soon subside. After all, I was only a new sophomore transfer who had yet to remember anyone’s names, and at that very moment happened to be eavesdropping on the Chronicle seniors’ conversations during layout.
I remember looking at those seniors with such an incredulous and hopeful expression on my face during those first few layouts. Was this what senior year had in store for me? Would I, who had yet to befriend anyone, also be participating in similarly boisterous behavior while surrounded by a community I could call my own? I shake my head and chuckle when I think back to how much that word consumed me: community. Perhaps it was because the academic and social transition had already been so rough. Or perhaps it was merely because I was smack dab in the middle of my socially focused adolescent years. And I did meet the people I feel comfortable putting cereal boxes over my head and making weird noises with. But looking back, and much to my younger self ’s astonishment, my fond reflections of these past three years don’t stem from that fact. Instead I remember the overwhelming anxiety that washed over me as I stepped into that first theater class, improv session and school production audi-
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SENIOR SELFIES: Features Editor Marina Nascimento ’21 takes a selfie with Photography Editor Crystal Baik ’21 after a day of school.
Journeys of a new ninth grader By Marina Nascimento
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CATCH US OUTSIDE: Photography Editor Crystal Baik ’21 and Features Editor Marina Nascimento ’21 spend their days off in nature.
Aug. 26, 2017 would be the day in when I carefully crafted the perfect commencement to high school outfit, stepped foot on the yellow Westchester school bus for the first time and got introduced to my new reality at Harvard-Westlake. The day was particularly hot and filled with uncertainty, nerves and excitement as I prepared to begin my high school odyssey. It would be an understatement to say I did not know what to expect, as every ounce of my complex high school journey took its own course. First came the daunting journey of finding a solid friend group, one that mirrored the dynamic of my middle school friends. An extrovert at heart, I struck up a conversation with just about every single person I could, whether in the hallways or inside a classroom. Difficul-
ties arose when my peers did not match my enthusiasm and open energy to exploring new relationships, leading to tumultuous times in terms of meeting new people. I spent my first days of high school questioning my place at this seemingly utopian turned dystopian school. Next, I tried to find a sense of community within the classrooms. As I sat down in the small chair facing the blank whiteboard in my ninth grade geometry class, my face stared blankly at the material being discussed. Those in my class not only seemed to perfect the concept of proofs but also knew exactly how to interact with their teachers as well as perfect their work and participate in the class. To the approximately 90 new ninth graders coming into high school with no clue of what to expect: take every advantage of every single opportunity. I have
learned the hard way to appreciate the number of chances I was given throughout freshman year, inside and outside of the campus. Learning the hard way, I now know that I should never take any of them for granted. As an incoming freshman, everything will seem new, confusing and extremely challenging, but never let a comparison to another one of your peers affect you. Be your own advocate and make sure to never force any friendships that are simply just not meant to be. Every single person at the school is there for a unique reason, and it is up to you to do the utmost with your education. Pressure and stress are no foreigners to this school’s culture, but you have the ability to change that. Lastly, embrace your process of growth throughout these four years because, frankly, it is beautiful to witness and realize your development as a teenager in high school.
Goodbye from the other side By Ruoshan Dong
Ironically, I came to HarvardWestlake knowing exactly how I wanted to leave: with my entire future––which, at the time, I equated to college acceptances— safe and secured. I’ve always been in a rush to grow up, from planning out my future career in third grade to looking up penthouses in New York during those idle moments in class. And at first, I saw this school as nothing more than a stepping stone which I had hoped would catapult me directly into my most ambitious and fantastical dreams. Needless to say, the past yearor-so has thrown a bigger wrench in my goals than I could have ever imagined possible. Last month, after I had opened waitlist after rejection after waitlist, my future became something that I desperately wanted to ignore, to pretend didn’t exist. For the first time, I began to
question if all of this––the latenight cramming, the Geometry Honors tears that my friends still don’t let me live down––was even worth it. Yet, looking back now, I wouldn’t trade my time at the school for anything. Though I wouldn’t turn down a chance to go back in time to fix a test answer or make the first move on a guy I liked, the ups and downs (but especially the downs) of my high school experience have shaped me into who I am today. I wouldn’t have discovered my passion for chemistry if it weren’t for the 120% error lab analyses I spent hours in the science office trying to decode. I would have never found my voice as an aspiring entrepreneur if it weren’t for the Venture classes that I’m still not sure whether I loved or hated. Although I regret taking this long to realize it, Harvard-Westlake is so much more than the “college-preparatory” school that
initially caught my eye in eighth grade. It’s a place where my teachers, who hold hours-long review sessions on weekends and let me and my friends make disgusting beef-gelatin gummy bears in their labs, have and always will continue to inspire me with their dedication to their students and their genuine, contagious passions for their disciplines. It’s a place where I can revive friendships with my peers after not having seen them for over a year, where I can bruise my hands playing Egyptian Rat Slap and laugh until my stomach hurts about how cheesecake is essentially cheese on crackers. I came to this school knowing exactly how I wanted to leave, but now, as graduation inches closer and closer, all I can think about is how badly I’d like to pause time and savor my last few moments here for just a little longer. Though I might just be saying that because I have an average of one class a day now...
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FABULOUS FRIENDS: Features Editor Ruoshan Dong ’21 poses with Presentations Managing Editor Siobhan Harms ’21 in front of Weiler Hall.
E11 Senior Supplement
The Chronicle
Snapshots of Senior Year
May 28, 2021
Take a dive into the daily lives of our beloved senior editing staff while they work tirelessly on laying out Issue 5 of Volume 30, their final contribution to the school newspaper.
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SIOBHAN HARMS/CHRONICLE
THE HAZMAT MAN: Editor-in-Chief Ethan Lachman ’21 sits next to the hazmat man built by Presentations Editor Siobhan Harms ’21.
WORK HARD PLAY HARD: Print Managing Editor Jaidev Pant ’21 and Presentations Managing Editor Lucas Lee ’21 edit away on the school desktops after spending most of the year using their own laptops.
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HANNAH HAN/CHRONICLE
SMILEY WEILEY: The Management Team, Sports Editor Charlie Wang ’21 and A&E Editor Chloe Schaeffer ’21 smile for a group photo together on the steps of Weiler Hall after a hard day of editing pages for the final issue.
MASKED MUSKETEERS: Managing Editors Jaidev Pant ’21, Austin Lee ’21 and Lucas Lee ’21 prepare for a socially distanced day of layout.
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KATE BURRY/CHRONICLE
#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: Then-sophomores (now seniors) package Volume 28 of The Chronicle for parents who signed up for a subscription.
DAB ON ’EM: An excited Editor-in-Chief Ethan Lachman ’21 rolls with a dab of ranch while the other Managing Editors ignore him and strike their own unique personality poses, donning groovy Hawaiian floral shirts.
E12 Senior Supplement
The Chronicle
May 28, 2021
ILLUSTRATION BY SIOBHAN HARMS