Tower Issue #5 (2023-2024)

UpperSchoolstudentsventure“IntotheWoods”

Once upon a time, Masters’ Upper School winter musical fused Brothers Grimm fairy tales, notably Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood, in an enchanting production of “Into the Woods.” Legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim wrote the music for the show, which was accompanied by its book version authored by James Lapine. Although it is chock-full with magical tales, Into the Woods is packed with moral quandaries and challenging plot-based complexities for both the audience and cast to grapple with.

Almost as soon as the protagonists, the Baker and his Wife, are introduced, the

audience is made abundantly aware of the couple’s fruitless wish to have a child. Onlookers tag along throughout the first act as the desperate duo zigzags through the ominous woods, chasing iconic fairy tale characters to secure the ingredients that will lift the Witch’s contraceptive curse: a milky white cow, cloak as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold.

While the Baker and his Wife’s thirst for a child is soon quenched, violent chaos ensues with angered giants, a cheating prince, and a glitzy glow-up for the ugly Witch encourage viewers to ponder moral questions surrounding greed.

Department of Performing Arts Chair, Jennifer Carnevale was a constituent of the casting panel for “Into the Woods” and contributed to the selection of the musi-

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cal. She said, “I think the real beauty is actually in the second act. The first act is fun, it’s funny and it’s playful. And I love that about it,” she said. “The second act is where you get to see these people that are larger than life have to really live life, and that’s where the lessons are in many ways.”

Sondheim’s works are known for their intricacy and practical difficulty, a challenge the entire cast faced.

Junior Josie Leff, who played the role of the Baker’s Wife said, “Sondheim is known

for having incredibly tricky music. So there’s been a lot of counting out beats, a lot of really weird time signatures and stuff like that. So it is very difficult on a technical level,” she explained.

Sage Weinstock ‘24 had a similar experience: “It requires a level of vocal power and vocal control I haven’t really done before. So it’s been a really lovely challenge, and I think it’s really pushed me as a musician.” Weinstock embodied the role of The Witch, one of the thorny antagonists.

It’s just thinking about constructing a life for this person that’s even bigger than what we’re given in the text.”

-JOSIE LEFF ‘25

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Leff and Weinstock took the stage alongside other principal characters, Angel Henriquez (The Baker), Elma Intinarelli (Cinderella), Camilo Bitar-Racedo (Jack), Annette Choi (Jack’s Mother), Keira Burgos (Little Red), Aron Tucker (Cinderella’s Prince), Ehimare Ehikioya (Rapunzel’s Prince) and Xavier Rolston (The Narrator).

In order to prepare for her leading role, Leff said, “It’s just thinking about constructing a life for this person that’s even bigger than what we’re given in the text. I’ve worked with Angel, who plays The Baker, and we’ve decided how long our characters have been together and what our life looks like outside of this.”

On top of a robust and dedicated group of actors, “Into the Woods” would not be feasible without a skilled

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tech team. Lighting, sound engineering and quick costume changers were all put together by the theater tech co-curricular, costume design class, and other student volunteers. Makeup and costumes were managed by Meg O’Connor, upper school department of performing arts teacher and director of “Into the Woods.”

“I didn’t want to locate it as a European only fairy tale because our cast is not simply from European heritage. So there are touches like when Jack’s family gets rich, [his mother] comes out in a traditional Korean dress, and Little Red’s second skirt is a bomba skirt, it’s a traditional Latin American skirt,” she said.

“My hope is it gets people thinking, my hope is that they laugh, my guess is that they may even cry. It’s moving,” Carnevale said.

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Aurora Rose Horn argues that NFL fans “Need To Calm Down” about Taylor Swift.

Staff writers explore why Gen Z talks about sex more than they engage in it.

Lucas Seguinot highlights the Boys Basketball team’s journey to the playoff.

Matthias Jaylen and Alexa Murphy discuss newly arrived migrants at the Ardsley Acres Motel.

EUNICE WANG/TOWER

AS ACT ONE OF the musical “Into the Woods” comes to a close, the characters are unaware of the challenges soon to come. “Into the Woods,” a musical written in 1986 by the legendary composer Stephen Sondheim, draws inspiration from several fairy tales and what happens after “happily ever after.” The Masters production of the show ran from Feb. 22 to Feb. 24.

Allie FA ber

Dartmouth brings back required standardized testing, community reacts

Justine Pascutti

Two Ivy League schools announced that they will once again require applicants to submit standardized test scores, starting with the class of 2029. This comes after they decided to waive test requirements in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dartmouth will be reinstating an SAT or ACT test score submission requirement, whereas Yale is instituting a “test-flexible” policy that would allow for AP and IB exams as well as the SAT and ACT.

According to a new study conducted by Dartmouth economics professors Bruce Sacerdote, Elizabeth Cascio and Douglas Staiger and sociology professor Michele Tine, exam results may have helped less advantaged students get into the institution, such as first-genera-

“tion and low-income students.

In an exclusive interview, Professor Sacerdote explained what the study allowed them to explore.

“The key finding is that, for less advantaged students, it’s harder for them to identify themselves to Dartmouth as being really high achieving. Dartmouth may not know their high school super well. Their high school may never have sent a student to the Ivys before. And so Dartmouth may have a harder time interpreting the transcript, but test scores could be a great leveler.”

The Dartmouth study acknowledges the long-standing claim that students from underrepresented backgrounds suffer when applying to colleges because of standardized testing like the ACT and the SAT, but that the tests could be useful when compared within a cohort.

Dartmouth definitely looks at test scores within context, within the context of the student’s environment.

When they see less advantaged students with very good scores in the context of their high school, they put a lot of weight on that.”

-Bruce Sacerdote

Sacerdote said, “While it’s absolutely true that higher income kids probably have more test preparation resources and may be more likely to take it multiple times, we’re really trying to look for additional ways to identify high achieving students at every part of the income distribution. The other fact that is surprising to us is that going test optional does not really broaden the pool socioeconomically, just everything goes up at every income level.”

He continued, “Despite the unevenness in test prep, the scores are equally useful across different groups. Dartmouth definitely looks at test scores within context, within the context of the student’s environment. When they see less advantaged students with very good scores in the context of their high school, they put a lot of weight on that.”

Higher test scores and higher income have been linked in several studies. In historically disadvantaged groups, Black and Latino students scored lower than white and Asian students on the math section of the SAT in the high school class of 2020.

Will standardized testing requirements return as the new (old) norm for college applications? Director of College Counseling Adam Gimple doesn’t necessarily think so. “My sense from higher ed is that it’s not going to be a massive wave or shift back. It’s not like the pendulum’s

all of a sudden going to swing and dozens upon dozens [of schools] are going to bring their testing policies back.” In fact, other schools including Harvard, Cornell and Princeton have announced extensions on test-optional policies. In Columbia’s case, it’s permanent.

Gimple continued, “Standardized tests became optional, but also nationally grade inflation became a huge problem as well. So without the presence of standardized testing, which on some level one could argue, gives a level playing field of assessment on some level, it still has a big asterisk next to that.”

On the subject of Masters applications, he said, “I don’t see that we’re going to have a huge overhaul of our recommendation…This senior class this year applied to 265 schools or so. I’d be shocked if 10 to 15 of them have requirements for testing.”

Andrew Mitchell ‘22, a current Dartmouth student said, “It was something that we all very quickly wanted to read more about. After that, there was a lot of dialogue on campus. There were definitely some people who disagreed with the decision. Some people thought it was a great decision. Initially, everyone was just shocked.”

He continued, “Compared to a lot of other comparable schools, I think Dartmouth feels a lot more homogenous since they’re very loyal to alumni. A lot of alumni children tend to be like white upper class individuals. I think that’s a big reason why they made the decision. Instead of comparing kids on a universal scale, you can compare them relatively to their peers from similar schools and backgrounds, allowing certain kids to stand out that might not have otherwise,” Mitchell said.

Series of scholars visit campus to help navigate current events

Various scholars and experts have visited campus in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, the subsequent war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and a general desire to improve the discussions held in class. The first of these visitors were from the American Jewish Committee, (AJC). Laura Shaw Frank and Myra Clark-Siegel spoke specifically to faculty on Feb. 14 to discuss how to better recognize antisemitism and bias.

Frank is the director of the William Petschek Contemporary Jewish Life Department of the AJC, for which she has written many articles about Jewish history and culture. Clark-Siegel is the director of the AJC’s Westchester and Fairfield region as of 2020. The AJC was founded in 1906 as a not-for-profit global organization that advocates for Jewish people and Israel.

Peter Horn, a consultant, podcast host, published author and former independent school teacher also spoke to the student body during Morning Meeting

on Feb. 15, to discuss how to encourage civil discourse in the classroom and school environment. He described civil discourse as “respectful conversation about areas of shared concern about which reasonable people are apt to disagree.”

Horn also gave a presentation to the Middle School, and worked with both Upper and Middle School faculty by sitting in on classes and having lunch with various departments. He sat in with both a sophomore and senior class, which allowed him to begin to understand the range of familiarity different students had with discussion.

He said, “It was very cool to see people just kind of getting their Harkness skills, to people who are really masters.” Horn noted that schools varied with each consultation. He said, “Every school is different, just look at Harkness, for example. That is one real marked difference.

You can have excellent schools that are more traditional in their methods, more teacher-centric. And so every school has their own strengths and challenges.”

Selas Douglas, associate head of school for Inclusive Ex-

cellence, felt it was important to have experts work with the community following recent current events. He said, “There are people that are hurting in our community that don’t have the opportunity to be cared for or heard or even process how they are feeling because the topic is so sensitive for so many people.”

Douglas also recalled when the Diversity Ambassadors did an exercise demonstrating their varying viewpoints by walking across the stage to represent the spectrum of perspectives. “We want to help people understand that we may all have different viewpoints, but it’s necessary to hear someone out.”

Both he and Horn mentioned the upcoming election as a divisive topic that would require civil discourse. “We’re getting ready to walk into a presidential election cycle where there are going to be a lot of different beliefs and values that may be challenged by somebody else,” Douglas said.

Daisy Khan, the founder of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, or WISE, spoke to staff on Feb. 22. She visited campus with the intention of improving the dialogue surrounding Islamophobia in the class by clarifying the history and language used. She explained terms such as “Jihad” and exposed myths about the burqa and hijab as tools of oppression. Khan has written both op-eds and two novels, and has worked with many schools and publications.

Peter Newcomb, the head of The Upper School, was in charge of planning the schedules for Khan, Clark-Siegel, and Shaw. Explaining the purpose of their visit, he said, “We brought in these speakers, in particular, with the goal of better helping our community navigate discourse around the conflict in the Middle East and the uptick in antisemitism and Islamophobia.”

While the speakers have met with each faculty department in both The Upper and Middle School, there are also plans for their return after spring break to speak with students.

ellie Hise

CHANA KIM/TOWER

DARTMOUTH, YALE AND THE Massachusetts Institute of Technology rcently chose to re-establish the requirement for applicants to submit standardized testing scores. While such tests have helped less advantaged students get into colleges, it is also true that students from higher income brackets have access to more test prep resources than lower-income students, so it is a double-edged sword.

DAISY KHAN SPOKE TO faculty on Feb. 22 about Islamaphobia to help give teachers greater fluency when discussing the issue in class. Khan founded the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE).

ELLEN COWHEY/TOWER

From El Paso to New York City to Ardsley, NY:

migrants bussed across country find safe landing in local rivertown

As of January, over 33,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, had been relocated by bus to New York City from the southern Texas border. Many of the migrants had traversed the Darien Gap — the dense jungle between Colombia and Panama, and the only overland path connecting Central and South America — swam across the Rio Grande, and crawled through concertina wire at the Texas border, patrolled by armed guardsmen.

After finally stepping foot in New York City, 70 of the migrants were corralled into another bus driving them across county lines to Ardsley, New York.

“Imagine what it was like to be on that bus—some of the people on that first bus that came out basically said they were put on a bus when they crossed the border in Texas. They got out of the bus in New York City only to be put on another bus to go to Ardsley, New York,” Robin Larkins, Church Coordinator at South Presbyterian Church said. She, and the South Church community work closely to support migrants.

The Ardsley Acres Hotel Court, located just two miles away from Masters, has housed over 70 migrants for the past nine months. This group of migrants from Mexico, Central and South America was bussed to Westchester County under the order of New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams. Adams claimed there was no space left in the city to house and support them due to the 33,000 migrants sent to New York under Texas Governor Gregory Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border security initiative.

Operation Lone Star paid for buses that processed migrants arriving at the Southern border and took them to cities like Washington, D.C. and New York City as a means of offloading financial support for immigrants.

The migrants arrived from

New York City to Ardsley during the second week of June, 2023, after crossing the US-Mexico border.

New York City immigration officials did not directly reach out to the village of Ardsley, or any other Westchester County government officials, to alert them of the arrival of migrants who would be bussed to and staying in the Ardsley Acres motel.

Mayor of Ardsley, Nancy Kaboolian said, “Having learned from news media that New York City was looking for locations outside the city because they have reached capacity, I actually reached out to the two owners of our motels and asked them if they had been contacted by New York City for purposes of leasing out any of their rooms and both of them had said they had been.”

No Ardsley resident taxpayer money has been spent on migrant housing as New York City has been renting the 35 rooms on an individual contract basis with the hotel, not the town according to Kaboolian. Future migrant housing in Ardsley is contingent on whether New York City continues to rent rooms from the hotel. Out of the 70 migrants, 16 are children, all under the age of 5.

Kaboolian quickly recognized the need for a community-wide effort to support the newly arrived migrants. In response, she sent out a “Mayor’s Message” seeking volunteer and donor help, which concluded, “I ask you to welcome the people seeking a better life and freedom to our Village and our country. Ardsley, let us be the example for others to follow.”

Since sending that message out to residents, there has been overwhelming support from individual donors, religious groups and non-profit organizations.

“The motel and the people who were operating the site had prepackaged meals that they were getting, but often, they were leaving the people hungry. So our main involvement at the beginning

Immigration

of this unexpected arrival was to bring the resources of the food pantry to the residents there,” Larkins said.

The extent of South Presbyterian Church’s advocacy did not end with the food pantry. Larkins continued, “Working with Midnight Run, we helped people get access to clothing and other things that Midnight Run was able to pro-

“fort to support migrants in Ardsley as a Westchester-based organization which provides legal counseling, education programs like ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), and workforce development, among others. Their legal counseling team has worked tirelessly to ensure that the migrants across Westchester have access to resourc-

We have mostly couples and families staying at the motel, and they are hardworking and learning English. They’re looking for jobs, they’re trying to get their work permits, and they’ve started a better life for themselves.”

- Nancy Kaboolian, Mayor of Ardsley

vide. There was also a store in Dobbs Ferry called Affordables, a consignment shop, and one of our members was the owner of that shop. So we immediately sent some of the residents, in some cases that were children, who basically only had what they wore on their back—in one case, it was just a windbreaker, and we were able to send them down to get clothing. It was really a rapid response to very basic needs at the beginning of the experience in June.”

Neighbors’ Link has also been instrumental in the ef-

es which will ease their experience navigating the complex and ever-changing immigration landscape in the U.S.

Paralegal administrator at Neighbors’ Link Community Law Practice, Constanza Bentancor, expanded on Neighbors’ Link role in supporting migrants, “If we have somebody that doesn’t speak Spanish, we have interpretation service. And we just do our best to educate people, not only on the legal system in this country, but also in regard to their specific case, we try to give them all the information

about the ways in which mainstream news and social media portrays, and often villainizes migrants.

She said, “What people hear on the news isn’t necessarily the truth of the matter. We have mostly couples and families staying at the motel, and they are hardworking and learning English. They’re looking for jobs, they’re trying to get their work permits, and they’ve started a better life for themselves.”

possible, so they feel encouraged and they feel powerful just having that knowledge.” She continued, “It’s so stressful, to be in a new place, the culture shock, but then also to be in something as scary and stressful as deportation proceedings. Being in all of that, having to present yourself to an ICE officer, I think the best thing we can do is just give them the information about what to expect what they can do and what they’re eligible for.”

Yet, Larkins expressed concern that Ardsley’s response would not be sufficient to greet the new Ardsley community members. In towns across the country, immigrants have been met with a range of attitudes, and reception has not proved universally positive. In fact, Human Rights Watch has found that Operation Lone Star has led to “injuries and deaths, increased racial profiling of border residents” and “consistently violated the rights of migrants and U.S. citizens,” according to their report published on Oct. 6, 2023.

“It was one thing to just kind of do a collection and drop things off, but [we had to ask] how can we make sure that people knew that we were a welcoming community, because in some communities where these buses were sent, the ‘welcome’ was in some places quite violent,” she said.

Similarly, Kaboolian urged residents to think critically

While the migrants adjust to life and culture in the United States, Kaboolian felt grateful for local community members helping support migrants in their time of need. “I am thrilled that our community has stepped up to address a very small part of this humanitarian crisis to help a group of people move forward,” she said.

For its part, the Masters community has also stepped up to center immigrant stories. The Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE) launched a three-part Morning Meeting series spotlighting immigrant voices; the most recent event was a Q & A with author Yuri Herrera, who has written extensively about the immigrant experience.

Esperanza Borrero, dean for Inclusive Excellence, expanded on the mission for the CIE programming: “The take that we wanted to do on it is to highlight the humanity behind who comes here. I think that oftentimes we’re feeling that as you hear more about migrants coming, especially from our Southern borders, it gets often talked about as if it were a huge group of people, and their individuality gets lost in that. We tend to emphasize policy and solutions without talking enough about the individual story of why they came and how everyone’s different and what that means to think of this whole group as individuals. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t lose the humanity in talking about immigration.”

Photo Gallery in Masters Hall

THE ARDSLEY ACRES HOTEL has about 70 migrants being housed there. It’s located about 30 minutes away from New York City on Saw Mill River road.

MATT IVES/TOWER

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS PERUSE the Masters immigration gallery, a part of the Center for Inclusive Excellence’s yearlong programming with the “I Stand With Immigrants” campaign by the FWD.us Education Fund. The gallery tells the stories shared by teachers and staff at Masters and other partner schools who are immigrants.

XAVIER ROLSTON/TOWER

AlexA Murphy & MAtthiAs JAylen

OpiniOn

EDITORIAL

Aphrase that feels ever so familiar to current Masters students, alumni and faculty is that we are an “art school.” To a large extent, that categorization certainly is true. Both the performing and visual arts programs here at Masters rank up with some of the superior high school art programs in the country with our world-class, talented and passionate arts faculty. Moreover, the school is continually making efforts to update infrastructure including the remodeling of the Claudia Boettcher Theatre along with Strayer Hall within the next 10 years. On top of all that, the school community bolsters the programs with its undying support through large turnouts for events.

We as a community have painted ourselves as an arts school – and other schools do too. Other top independent schools have shrugged their shoulders, categorizing us as only an art school.

But while we are an arts school, we are much more than just that. We bring several more elite programs to the table. Over the years, Masters has made

leaps and bounds in pouring in resources to enhance all of our programs.

The flagship building of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center marks the beginning of a new era for the school and increases the legitimacy of our already prestigious programs in the Department of Engineering and Computer Science. Additionally, the building houses the award-winning cybersecurity team and even welcomed the Diamond Challenge, a business competition that spans over 111 countries, this weekend.

The school has also seen much more success in sports. Masters is no longer an easy team to beat, that some of the other typical “powerhouse” Fairchester and NYSAIS teams can laugh at and expect to demolish. We see this in our excellent and thriving boys soccer, girls tennis, basketball, track and fields programs, squash, and fencing and with pushes to recruit more student athletes, and hire more world-class coaches. An example being the hiring of the new baseball coach

who comes from a nationally ranked program, in order to keep pushing our programs to success. Masters is now a team to fear on the courts and fields.

We’re even a top journalism school. With an already established reputation for the newspaper, it only continues to grow and get better, even though it’s already been named the number one high school paper in New York State.

In the classroom, Masters faculty and students contribute daily to our culture of academic excellence. Every year, course lists are growing to add a diverse range of classes. Students now have new avenues to explore their fields of interest.

After great pushes from the administration and the Board of Trustees, Masters is becoming a school where students with a wide range of talents, skills and interests can strive and succeed in. But most importantly, Masters is building up students to be well-rounded individuals, ready to step up and be leaders by the time they graduate.

Leave Taylor Swift alone

“I can see you years from now in a bar, talkin’ over a football game// with that same big loud opinion, but nobody’s listening.”

When singer, songwriter and global sensation Taylor Swift wrote those words almost 14 years ago in her hit song “Mean,” nobody could have guessed just how prophetic they would turn out to be. But here we are, in the year of our Lord 2024, with grown men complaining about how Swift is ruining football.

In case you haven’t heard, the “Style” singer has been dating Travis Kelce, who plays football for the Kansas City Chiefs as a tight end. Ever since she started attending Kelce’s games in September 2023, National Football League (NFL) fans have been

throwing a fit. Jokes were even made about this at the Golden Globes, when comedian Jo Koy said, “The difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? We have less camera shots of Taylor Swift.”

But the reality of it is that Swift isn’t even being shown all that much. According to an article from the New York Times, Swift is shown for an average of 25 seconds during an NFL game, which usually goes over three hours, and her name is rarely spoken.

Even though it isn’t showing Swift all that much, her effect on the NFL is evident; according to Al-Jazeera, football viewership among teenage girls has gone up 53%. Personally, I don’t think the NFL showing her is the problem, and they’re making a lot of money from it, so go

them. Rather, the fault lies in the “Chads and Brads” who are blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. There’s nothing wrong with supporting her boyfriend. As Swift famously said in one of her songs, “You need to calm down.”

My call to action for you is twofold. First off, let people like what they like. It makes no sense to me that people are coming at Swift for attending her beau’s NFL games, or at Swifties who have become football fans and watch Chiefs games just to catch a glimpse of the star. Secondly, and this one is for the ladies, pay the haters no mind. We will have to deal with “Chads” and “Brads” our whole lives, so the best thing to do is just take Swift’s advice and “shake it off.”

Auror A rose Horn

LARRY KOESTER/FLICKR

TAYLOR DATING TRAVIS KELCE has caused quite the stir in American pop cul-

The Morning Meeting dilemma: Not ENOUGH time.

Lucas seguinot

Co-chairs Arjun Ratan ‘24 and Mahlet Messay ‘24 take the stage and say their usual introduction in a different language, “¡Konnichiwa!” They say as the student body parrots their words. But, their hello seems rather unfamiliar today. With all the days off from school, special schedules and more, it seems like there are fewer and fewer Morning Meetings. Even though I pass by the Co-chairs in the halls every day, Morning Meeting feels shorter and overall not as fruitful. This isn’t just a feeling though -the reality is that we have missed more than usual.

Still, even without most of the missed Morning Meetings, I believe the community’s need for them exceeds the number that we have allotted. As a club leader of Model United Nations (MUN), we have experienced our fair share of Morning Meeting triumphs and shortcomings.

Most recently we attempted to schedule time for March, but sadly were pushed back to April. I

am not here to complain, though; I adore the Cochairs and the tech team, whose jobs are essential and often unrecognized throughout the school community. Rather, I am here to ask the school to explore the option of more Morning Meeting time and for the community to reflect on their use of this crucial time.

Morning Meetings are one of the most intricate traditions in the Masters community. In an eight-day cycle, there are four Morning Meetings, two oneon-one days, one paired advisory, and one regular advisory. Each of those Morning Meetings is only 30 minutes each. Additionally, for large events such as Holocaust Remembrance Day, their speaking time is extended.

With these factors to consider, I hope it is clear that these are vital times for the community to gather and hear each other on a collective basis.

Ratan recognizes how valuable this time is and agrees that there should be some thoughtful solution to the lack of time together.

“I think we really do need more Morning Meet -

ing time. I think it can be done,” he said.

Tech Team & Seniors

Ratan brought up a key stakeholder in this conversation: the tech team from the Live Production class. Every Morning Meeting day, the team is responsible for preparation. They are also in charge of returning the Claudia Boettcher Theatre back to normalcy after presentations. Expanding the amount of morning meetings will place a huge burden on their already packed schedules.

“I think it’s hard, it puts a strain on the tech team. But, I think if it’s spread out enough where we’ll feel the effects in a positive way of having more time for student announcements and whatever it might be that needs that Morning Meeting time that it’ll be fantastic. I don’t think in that way it’ll put as much of a strain on the tech team.”

Four-year member of a tech team, senior Silas Rosenfeld recognizes the possible difficulties that may come along with adding more.

“I think that already it’s a bit of an ask to have us [the tech team] come in every other day at X-band. I think increasing that would probably not bode well.”

Aside from clubs, I am also concerned about the senior grade. As of right now, there are 11 seniors on the waitlist to give a senior speech. This rare opportunity is one of the most unique Masters experiences ever. The thought that they might be deprived of this is horrifying.

Future steps

Currently, I don’t think adding more Morning Meetings is feasible. Scheduling is an intense process that would require work over the summer. One possible solution is that the amount of advisory time in any form is reduced. However, advisory is valuable to some members of the community, especially students who are transitioning to the new culture of the school. Cutting back on that time might damage people’s experience here, but more damage is being done when we can’t unite as

THE CO-CHAIRS ARE VITAL members of the community, and one of their many jobs is leading Morning Meeting. Lucas Seguinot argues for more Morning Meetings and better use of the ones we have.

a community.

Furthermore, Rosenfeld identified the current sentiments around these gatherings in the school community. “A lot of people think Morning Meetings are kind of unnecessary. And that frustrates me ,because I think it’s a cool thing that we do.”

I wholeheartedly agree with this point but this is because we as a community aren’t supplying exciting presentations and speeches. When I think of my favorite experiences

in school I recall a vibrant morning with unique Masters activities like senior speeches and laudations followed by engaging and relevant presentations. Additionally, presenters should be responsible and cancel in an amount of time that allows their slot to be filled. Let’s make the most of the morning meetings we have so that the remaining ones are full and lively.

Once Vibrant Clubs Need Budgetary Life Support

Clubs are an integral part of Masters culture. They’re a way for many students to do exactly what our school’s mission statement encourages students “to gather, to learn, to strive, to dare, to do and to be a power for good in the world.”

From Chess Club to Masters Interested in Sharing and Helping (MISH), every club fulfills this key component of the school’s mission.

Yet “dead clubs” are infamous here, from Ghost-Hunting club to Trivia club to the Salty Dogs, clubs that were once vibrant and essential to the Masters community but are now nonexistent. The reason for their fall is simple: funding.

At Masters, clubs are given 100 dollars of funding for the entire year and are expected to make the most of it. This might work for some clubs, but for clubs like Barbeque Club or Mock Trials, the money just isn’t enough.

Assistant Director of MISH and Assistant Coordi-

nator of Student Activities/ Transportation, Joe DiDonato, said that when a club needs more funding, they can just go to Dean of Students Jeff Carnevale, and ask for more. This decision was made by the school to focus clubs on helping others, not themselves. However, 100 dollars isn’t enough for cubs to truly be a power for good in the world. If a student wanted to start

a medical club and wanted to bring in a speaker to talk about diseases and methods being developed to fight the disease, 100 dollars might be able to cover the fee. But, it might not and it certainly not enough money for a club to host a speaker and still do events throughout the year.

So what is the solution to this problem? New clubs should still be able to get their

customary 100 dollars, but at the end of the year, club leaders should be able to create a new budget plan. That way they can not only get the funding they need but also learn the importance of budgeting and finances.

In a Forbes article released in 2019, “5 Reasons Personal Finance Should Be Taught In School,” a study revealed that, “more than half

(51%) of millennials feel their level of personal finance knowledge is holding them back from making financial progress, compared with just 43% of Gen Z and 26% of Gen X and older.”

Some might say that giving students greater access to funding will cause them to use their money for trivial things, and not benefit the clubs that they run. However, that problem dissolves with the added implementation that at the end of each academic quarter, clubs would be required to submit receipts and details about what they did with their money that quarter so that administration will know how clubs are spending their money and that will affect how much funding they get the following year. At Masters, we often talk about how open to creating clubs we are, but now it is time

to begin to help them thrive. Clubs will allow students to develop life skills that will help them for the rest of their lives.

DO YOU HAVE STRONG OPINIONS TO VOICE?

We encourage Letters to the Editor, which can be submitted to the following email address: TowerEditors@MastersNY.org.

Published approximately six times a year, Tower, the student newspaper of The Masters School, is a public forum, with its Editorial Board making all decisions concerning content. Commentaries and opinion columns are the expressed opinion of the author and not of Tower and its Editorial Board or its advisers. Furthermore, the opinions conveyed are not those of The Masters School, faculty, or staff. Unsigned editorials express views of the majority of the Editorial Board.

ayanna Beckett

SOME CLUBS AT MASTERS have been under funded for many years now, leading to the deaths of many clubs like Ghost-Hunting Club, Disney Club and Trivia Club.

CHANA KIM/TOWER

EUNICEWANG/TOWER

LET’STALKABOUTSEX...

BETWEEN SHEETS AND SCREENS:

Navigating romance in the digital age

aviv EmEry

When you wake up in the morning, roll over and look at your brightly lit phone, what do you see? Do you immediately jump onto TikTok, jumping to your likes and comments, instantly feeling the face-burning shame of not looking like the people on your “for you” page? Or, maybe, do you scroll through Instagram, watching people’s lives through your screen, envying the vacations and parties they’ve attended?

No matter what social media app you race to check when you open your phone, they all have one thing in common: they make everyone who uses them feel bad about all different aspects of their lives, whether it be money, relationships or bodies.

What about sex? How

has social media warped people’s opinions of an act that, way back when, was supposed to ‘mean something’?

An anonymous junior girl spoke about her losing her virginity. She said, “When I lost my virginity, I felt like the boy expected me to act like a porn star; he was pushing all these expectations he’d seen onto me. He was so wrapped up in what he wanted our sex to be that it didn’t feel like he took time to make sure that I was comfortable and okay with everything that was happening.” She continued, “It was supposed to be a special important moment, but instead it was sad, uncomfortable and disappointing. I ended up feeling super guilty and bad about myself.”

Different apps Tinder, Grindr and Snapchat, to name a few have made sex an incredibly casual and accessible act, eliminating the emotional connection that used to be

valued when having sex with someone.

Another junior girl spoke on this, saying, “Social media makes sex more about pleasure than about the real content of lovemaking,” She continued, “Social media has made me view sex as a meaningless thing. This makes me want to value it more. It’s an important part of one’s life, given that intimacy is, or should be, to me, viewed as something precious and meaningful with someone you truly care for.” This may be one of the many reason that teens are having less sex in the younger generations.

None of this is to say that there are no positives of sexual content on social media. According to Modern Intimacy, through social media, we’ve been able to have destigmatized conversations and forums about sex that wouldn’t have been imaginable years ago. Social media

helps to educate people on all things sex.

An anonymous senior spoke on this, saying, “There are a lot of thirst trap videos on the internet that are designed to turn people on.” They continued, “I think that seeing these videos have been both helpful and harmful to my relationship because on one hand, if something looks ‘hot’ I can try to apply it to my relationship, but on the other hand I feel disappointed when the sex I have isn’t as good as what I’ve seen online.”

An anonymous senior boy also spoke on the positive and negative ways social media has impacted his views on sex.

“For the most part, there are two types of content that I see regarding sexuality. The first is sex-positive content that promotes open conversations between sexual partners and the realities of what a serious relationship entails,” he said. He continued, “Though, it’s

“When I lost my virginity, I felt like the boy expected me to act like a porn star; he was pushing all these expectations he’d seen onto me.

-Anonymous Junior

often overshadowed by the darker side of sexual content on social media platforms. Whether it be comments on a post or the familiar names of Andrew Tate or other influencers who make their name by being negative about sexual relationships. Often, this either demeans women, uses outdated views on what is socially acceptable for men to engage in during sexual acts,

or even discourages the benefits a sexual relationship may have on your life as a young male.”

But, it is argued that the negatives of sexual content in the media highly outweigh the positives. Social media gives sexual predators the ability to hide behind a screen, giving opportunities for unsolicited nude photos and the opportunity for younger children to be exposed to sexual content too early.

Social media has also created a cesspool of insecurity among teenagers. A different anonymous senior boy spoke on this, saying, “Part of why I deleted TikTok a few years ago was because of people like Vinnie Hacker and Noah Beck. Just random hot people that would go viral.” He continued, “The ones I’d compare myself to the most were the guys. They were all very similar: sharp jawline, abs, sometimes tattoos, but al-

PHOTO & DESIGN BY LILY ZUCKERMAN/TOWER

Gen Z is talking about sex more than they are engaging in it. Only 38.7% of never-married male teenagers and 40.5% of never-married female teenagers have had heterosexual intercourse, compared to 54.1% of teens in 1991 , according to a CDC Report published in 2023 that tracked sexual activity from 2015-2019.

In tandem with less sex, fewer teens are also in romantic relationships than previous generations. 56% of Gen Z adults reported being in a relationship during their teenage years, compared to their parents’ generational average of 76%. Although the outbreak of COVID-19 was responsible for the lowest dip in teen intercourse, 30% of the number of teens having sex had been decreasing even before 2020.

Exploring Gen Z’s sex drought SEX STATS WHO IS?

are on the rise. What is it that is reshaping the teenage experience? And why is sex implicated in this?

Some look to “life history theory”: in societies where conditions are tougher, teens grow up faster and take on more responsibilities at a younger age. Now that families in the U.S. and other Western nations are wealthier, it is proposed that teens are not taking on these responsibilities or adult behaviors, like sex or getting a driver’s license, as young as they did in previous generations.

Yet some view the associations with adult maturity and “being ready” to have sex as myth. “I feel like ‘feeling ready’ is a made-up idea, I think that a lot of the time being ready for this physical and emotional transformation once you have sex for the first time is fake,” an upper class student who asked to remain anonymous said.

While these figures spiral downwards, other figures like mental health episodes, mood disorders and anxiety

Another student who also asked to remain anonymous, on the other hand, felt that having sex with someone they felt comfortable with was more mature than engaging in emotionally detached hookups. “I don’t think I realized

until after I had sex what the level of intimacy actually is.” They continued, “I think the way that it is talked about a lot makes it seem like a very casual thing, but I didn’t realize that it is not casual unless that is the intention of both parties. Even then, I don’t know how much I believe that it can fully be casual.”

Others point to the increased presence of technology in teenagers’ lives. With teenagers feeling pressured to live up to sexual standards seen in easily-accessible porn and social media, sex may be seen as less desirable for some who feel they cannot achieve those standards. In tandem with the spread of COVID, the spread of Pornhub’s audience increased with 24% more views on videos by March 25, 2020, two weeks after COVID was labeled a pandemic.

Psychotherapist Heather Zuckerman P’24 has been exposed to situations where people in their prepubescent years have been exposed to Pornhub.

She said, “The prevalence of porn changes the way boys view relationships with girls.” She added, “Unreal-

ways athletic and definitely people who are more masculine. I very rarely saw a lot of queer or somewhat fem representation. It was just super hyper masculine straight sexual representation.” He finished by saying, “All of the ‘choke me, daddy’, ‘this is so hot’ comments of people obsessing over stuff that I thought I couldn’t relate to, and it made me compare myself more.”

Social media platforms continue to develop the best algorithms and ways to grab people’s attention and keep us hooked, and media continues to further shape how people see the world. As social media dependencies rage on, these apps continue to affect the social, mental, and physical world around us.

istic ideals of relationships and sex on social media only portray the good, without any exposure to what the middle stages of relationships look like, so expectations are often not met from both parties.”

Zuckerman has noticed how teens express a lack of stability in their sexual endeavors. “Dating doesn’t seem to be as popular a term anymore, many teens express to me that they are always searching and searching for more fun. This often leads to less intimacy, and with the combination of digitally-centered ways of communicating, they don’t know where they stand.”

In addition to those standards, new ways of monitoring teens’ actions, like through family tracker apps like Life 360 and checking browsing history, lead to some teens feeling like their private lives are being invaded.

“When I had sex for the first time, it felt like it wasn’t just about me and the other person. It also felt like it was me, the other person and the world that was going to hear about it,” the first anonymous student said.

56%

78%

76% of Generation Z adults reported being in a relationship during their teenage years of Baby Boomers adults reported being in a relationship during their teenage years of Generation X adults reported being in a relationship during their teenage years

ACCORDING TO A CDC REPORT:

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) , in report Number 196, published findings on Dec. 14, 2023 that tracked sexual activity from 2015-2019 and included a report by the National Center for Health Statistics, National Survey of Family Growth which was conducte0uyhd in 2002. Here are some results from the report.

2002 vs. 2015-2019

45.5% of never-married male teenagers (ages 15-19) reported to have engaged in sexual intercourse of never-married female teenagers (ages 15-19) reported to have engaged in sexual intercourse

45.7%

38.7%

40.5% of never-married male teenagers (ages 15-19) reported to have engaged in sexual intercourse of never-married female teenagers (ages 15-19) reported to have engaged in sexual intercourse

Roses are red, violets are blue...

and I think I just spent too much on you

LISA YAO/TOWER

THE CLASSIC CONVERSATION HEARTS, or Sweethearts, date back to 1847, stemming from Oliver Chase’s invention of a lozenge-cutter meant for medicinal tablets. Smithsonian Magazine reported that roughly 13 million pounds of conversation hearts are sold in only the six weeks before Valentine’s Day.

NeeNa atkiNs & LiLy ZuckermaN

Was Saint Valentine a martyred matchmaker defying the Roman king’s love-ban, or a smitten secret message sender? The true story of Saint Valentine is shrouded in mystery; however, there are two historian-cultivated ideas surrounding the holiday and its origins.

One theory places him in the reign of Emperor Claudius II, who believed unmarried men made fiercer soldiers and thus outlawed marriage within the Roman Empire. This defiance may have led Saint Valentine to illegally officiate wedding ceremonies.

Origins Cost of Love

Regardless of his romantic legacy, Valentine’s Day has morphed from a historical footnote into a multi-billion-dollar industry powered by consumeristic desires. Red roses, overpriced dinners, and diamond-encrusted expectations lead data analysts from Statista to project just under $26 billion spent on Valentine’s Day this year.

According to the Hallmark Corporation, their Valentine’s Day cards were first offered on a small scale in 1913 and were mass-produced in 1916. 100+ years later, GoodHousekeeping found that Americans send 145 million Valentine’s Day Cards on Feb. 14 each year.

The celebration of love has become increasingly associated with consumerism, raising questions about whether it prioritizes commercial interests over genuine sentiment.

Imprisonment for aiding persecuted Christian refugees is what others believe about Saint Valentine. During his captivity, he supposedly fell madly in love with the jailer’s daughter and, as a final gesture, sent her a heartfelt message before his execution, which is considered the first Valentine’s Day “love” note.

“I don’t know what they [partner and/or friend] would want. I don’t want to get them more or less than they’re getting me,” said Ren Allendorf ‘24, co-president of GALS (Masters’ student-led feminist club), expressing her anxiety about gift-giving for Valentine’s Day. She continued, “It’s like it has to be balanced and it creates a lot of stress around a holiday that’s not really about giving and receiving, it’s about love.”

Romantic expectations set by society and commercial influences can leave individuals feeling obligated to open their wallets wide on Valentine’s Day. Seniors Charley Agranoff and Connor Toporoff-Richman have been in a relationship for two years, and Agranoff reflected on how they celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Wallet Woes

“If I’m being honest, I’ve probably gotten a little bit more materialistic [in the gifts I give him], but I’d also like to think that that’s

made me sway in the direction of doing more handmade and thoughtful things that somebody can keep far more of a memory rather than a materialistic thing,” Agranoff commented.

Individuals without a romantic partner have embraced the trend of celebrating Galentine’s Day with their platonic, female-identifying friends. Gift exchanges, outings, and various other consumer-driven activities characterize Galentine’s Day festivities.

The Greeting Card Association—a community for those part of the industry of greeting cards—reported that their second most popular seasonal cards are ones designated for Valentine’s Day. Additionally, the association noted “Galentine’s Day, often celebrated on Feb. 13, has increased in popularity for the last several years as women are celebrating their female friends the day before Valentine’s Day aka…Galentine’s Day!”

Allendorf mentioned how the pressure to purchase gifts during this

time of year can stem from childhood and elementary activities. “I think it’s difficult because when you’re in elementary school the thing is to get everybody a Valentine’s Day gift like you give everybody candy or something. I think that kind of thing translates when you get older and you think, ‘Oh, do I have to get my friends something for Galentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day?’” she said.

Varying Valentines

In an exclusive interview, Tracy Humphreys, who oversees the influencer programming, Gen Z marketing activities and public marketing for Hallmark Cards, explained that consumer behaviors have evolved over the years around Valentine’s Day.

Humphreys said, “When we think about cards and how people are celebrating, it is about all different types of relationships. Now, it’s not necessarily just those romantic occasions. It can be for anyone, it can be for your girl -

friends, it can be for your parents, it can be for your kids and your friends. And so when we think about Valentine’s Day, it’s expanded a little bit more in recent years.”

Historically, Valentine’s Day cards by Hallmark have been geared towards romantic partners. Yet, in recent years their target audience has grown increasingly more diverse.

Valentine’s Day is no longer celebrated with the classic bouquet of peonies and Godiva chocolate box combination. Humphreys believes that people have become more creative in the ways they cele brate Valentine’s Day, especially due to the recognition of several varying sorts of relationships.

“It goes back to that trend about different types of relationships and different types of love. And you may love your romantic partner differently than you love your friends,” she commented.

Empowering excellence: How student-led initiatives redefined Black History Month at Masters

Ella Black

With student-run organizations and affinity groups taking the lead, SCEEM (Students of Color Empowering Excellence and Mentorship) and ONYX expanded the Black History Month celebrations at Masters. They focused on celebrating black faculty members and students.

This year, Black History Month was different than it was in past years

because, according to Juan Torres ‘25, co-president of SCEEM, they wanted to move away from standard informative presentations.

One way SCEEM did something innovative was by honoring and recognizing staff of color with laudations from students of color to staff of color. The laudations occurred during Morning Meeting where a SCEEM member shared their thoughts about how a staff member has impacted their life and how important they are to the school.

ANGEL HENRIQUEZTOWER

Torres said, “These laudations are long overdue and are a sliver of the sizable work that we must do as a community to honor and praise staff of color.”

Torres gave a laudation to Shell Benjamin, Upper School dance teacher and director of Dance Company; Elijah Brooks gave a laudation to Brandon Sanders, Dara Akinwande ‘27 gave a laudation to Samuel Appiah, Department of Performing Arts faculty, and M’kaela Riley ‘26 gave a laudation to Victoria Jansen, dean of the class of 2025, language teacher, and Riley’s dorm parent; Ayanna Beckett ‘26 gave a laudation to Tokumbo Bodunde, Upper School English teacher, and Azariah Charles ‘26 gave a laudation to Abdoulaye Ngom, Upper School modern & classical language teacher. Month. Nyasha Chiundiza, Upper School History/Religion teacher, received a laudation from Chloe Mackay ‘24. A laudation from SCEEM leadership was given to Madame Lodz Pierre-Juanzo, Upper School French teacher and program advisor for SCEEM, for every-

thing she has done for the club and school as a whole. The laudations happened consistently throughout the entire month during morning meetings.

Charles said, “The laudation I gave highlighted Mr. Ngom’s achievements and recognized his excellence which many times goes unnoticed.”

ONYX also held a special Black History Month party on Feb. 29 where all community members were invited to eat, dance, sing and celebrate Black culture together.

Apart from student organizations, the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE) also planned and hosted their own Black History Month programming.

Selas Douglas, associate head of school for inclusive excellence said, “Black History Month was founded as a way to honor and acknowledge the contributions of Black Americans in our community and in the greater world.”

He continued, “Our goal is to highlight experiences and perspectives of people who don’t always get highlighted.”

One voice that served the Center’s goal was Brandon Sanders, Upper School coun-

selor and basketball coach, who has made important contributions to our community through his roles. Sanders has also shared his love and talent with music to the community. He and his jazz band played during Morning Meeting, where they not only showcased their talents but explained the link between jazz history and Black artists.

“ “Black History Month is founded as a way to honor and acknowledge the contributions of Black Americans in our community and in the greater world. ”

-Selas douglas

The Center also wanted to highlight historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to educate the community about them. Esperanza Borrero, dean for inclusive excellence, said, “We discovered that not everybody knows what [HBCUs] are, their history or how many exist, so we’d like to highlight them more.” At-

lantic Staff writer, Adam Harris, who visited the school on the day the School celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with in-school programming, talked about HBCUs and their importance, so Borerro’s presentation of HBCUs was a continuation of that conversation.

Borrero said, “There are over 100 HBCUs in our country and 70% of Black doctors in the United States attended HBCUs, yet many members of our school don’t know they exist.”

Borrero said she wants to continue to educate the community about these universities during and beyond Black History Month. SCEEM is working closely with the CIE for the implementation of the Masters Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which will comprise the leadership from Latinos Unidos, ONYX, API, the International Club, and SCEEM. Some of their work intersects, so they are hoping to work together to create something big.

Torres said, “We hope to establish a more robust and uniform program for students of color.”

THE BRANDON SANDER jazz group played for the community for Morning Meeting. They highlighted black innovation and interwove the history of jazz into the musical performance.

Freshman fights against hate speech in Senate

It didn’t come as a surprise to junior

Thomas O’Grady that freshman Noah Adler is lobbying the New York Senators for bill 6871.

According to O’Grady, who participates in Model United Nations (MUN) with Adler, “He’s super hardworking, [MUN] is his forte — he’s relentless. In MUN he’s very proactive, he’s a great delegate.”

The bill would specifically require the education on hate crimes and how it can be combated in school districts. The bill explicitly references religious intolerance, but it would apply to all forms of discrimination. Such instruc -

“tion would not need to be its own class, or uniform throughout schools and grades.

Adler recently took a trip to Albany to continue pushing the bill, a project he’s advocated for almost a year. The bill was formed last May by Adler with the purpose of incorporating hate crime education into the public school curriculum.

Adler said he was motivated to create this bill after witnessing and experiencing hate speech at his previous school, Rye Middle School.

“I experienced some really bad antisemitism and I had students saying things like ‘I wish your family was killed in the Holocaust, I wish Hitler killed all the

He’s super hardworking, model un is his forte — he’s relentless. In MUN he’s very proactive, he’s a great delegate.”

- Thomas O’Grady ‘25

Jews,’ doing the Nazi salute,” Adler said. He continued, “I also witnessed them say the n-word and really terrible slurs.”

The hate speech was not just antisemitic, as Adler described in what he said was one of the worst things he witnessed.

“Rye, where I live, is a very white town. There was a student who was one of the few African American kids in our grade, [who] got sexually touched and harassed and then the kid who did that put a bottle in his hood pretending to be the KKK and said, ‘Your kind is not welcome here.’”

Adler said that these acts were what led him to realize that many kids spreading hate don’t realize how damaging it is.

“Our country is built on an education system that fails to address the core issues of America and the core issues of racism and antisemitism and Islamophobia that are built into

this country,” he said.

Initially, Adler met with Senator Shelly Mayer, who represents District 37, and Peter Harckham, who represents District 40, but support grew as he met with 15 senators, eight of whom agreed to co-sponsor the bill.

Adler explained his lobbying strategy. He said, “It took a lot of emailing. I would send an email, if they didn’t respond I would send another email, if they didn’t respond to that email I’d call their office.”

He emphasized an important point raised by Senator Joseph Addabbo, who represents District 15.

“We need to strike while the iron is hot,” he said in reference to the laws in Florida reducing hate crime awareness in schools. “This is a civil rights issue as much as it is an education issue.”

AYANNA

The next step is raising awareness. Adler spoke of a social media initiative, as well as the importance of sharing around his petition, but he also stressed the need for people to reach out to their local senators.

Adler predicted a long battle ahead of him. He said, “It’s not gonna be an easy process. It’s going to be a long process, it might take multiple years. But right now we have to keep getting this work done. Now is the time to keep fighting for the youth of New York.”

O’Donnell inspires students with medical journey

Alumna Scout O’Donnell’s journey with the neurological condition hydrocephalus started at Masters. The Morning Meeting on Feb. 9 welcomed O’Donnell to speak on her experiences with the condition. She began with an anecdote that resonated with many students in the audience -her time as a Masters student starting in 2015. O’Donnell spoke about her love for learning, her role as a club leader and student ambassador and her participation in AP classes.

By 2018, however, she started noticing lapses in her memory that quickly grew in severity. On a day she describes as fateful, she was rushed to the hospital after being found on the

floor of her bathroom. That was the day the trajectory of her life changed. She was told she had “water on the brain,” or an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in her brain. Although she hoped a shunt, or a tool to drain the fluid, would ‘fix’ her life, the issue proved to be more complicated.

O’Donnell quickly realized the holes in hydrocephalus research. Because the condition is typically found in infants or elderly, doctors were not used to approaching a case like O’Donnell’s. Moreover, the symptoms she had described were mainly cognitive, which led to many additional mental diagnoses including bipolar and personality disorder.

It was when she consulted doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital that those conclusions were brought into question, It was the experts who pushed back against

the false diagnoses of other doctors that instilled within O’Donnell a faith in the hospital. She later approached Hopkins with the idea of a mood study that drew attention to the invisible symptoms of hydrocephalus.

This study would require analysis of the patient’s base mood and cognition so that symptoms wouldn’t be limited to just physical traits. The study isn’t O’Donnell’s only project. She offers free fashion consultation services, in return for the option to donate to the Hydrocephalus Association, an organization founded in 1893. Elena Olivieri, the associate dean of purposeful engagement & faculty, helped connect O’Donnell with the school.

She said, “[Her goal is to] raise awareness because she feels so passionate about ensuring people get properly

diagnosed, especially mental health patients, and her other goal was to find closure.”

Her talk at Morning Meeting wasn’t Scout’s only interaction with the school.

“I’ve connected her with Dr. Gremski and Ms. Merrill who are both interested in having Scout come into their classes.” Olivieri said. “Dr. Gremski wants Scout to talk about how she’s using research to further her mission, and Ms. Merrill looks at cognitive neuroscience.”

After her talk, O’Donnell shared a note with the Masters community expressing her gratitude, and also the hope that her work with Hopkins was just the beginning. She hopes that the awareness she is raising will lead others to join the cause.

In her letter she

wrote, “I may be one girl with hydrocephalus, but from years around the Hark-

ness table I learned sometimes it only takes one voice for millions to be heard.”

ElliE HisE

AyAnnA BEck Ett

FRESHMAN NOAH ADLER LOBBIES New York Senators for bill 6871, a bill that pushes for education on hate crimes in schools.

BECKETT/TOWER

ElliE HisE

PHOTO BY LAURA DANFORTH ALUMNA SCOUT O’DONNELL RETURNS to Masters to talk at Morning Meeting. She gave an inspirional speech about her medical struggles and how she became an advocate for people with her diease, hydrocephalus.

FENCING WINS BIG IN END OF SEASON TOURNAMENT

ElliE HisE

By the time the Masters’ bus arrived at Hackley around 8:20 a.m. on Feb. 24, where the championship would take place, fencers and coaches were already rushing around, greeting athletes they recognized from earlier in the season, setting up tables of gatorade and checking the seasonal standings. One could hear the zipping and unzipping of gear bags, the steady thuds of footwork in the gym below, and the rhythmic clanging of blades during practice bouts. Within a half hour, the six hour competition would begin.

The Independent School Fencing League, or ISFL Championship would have the girls foil team fence seven schools, and the boys foil, girls and boys epee, and girls and boys sabre team fence six. The fencers

ship was being hosted by the Hackley School in two gyms outfitted with temporary fencing strips and scoring equipment.

Masters was heading into the game with lots of anticipation built up from the season. Girls epee and foil had won all but three of the 11 and 12 respective meets, and were hoping to continue the good streak. The sabre teams, lacking a coach, had struggled to keep their footing throughout the season and were itching to make a comeback.

Rae Ben Shahar-Pyke, a junior on the girls sabre team, said, “There have definitely been challenges not having a coach all season, as I have had to be the one coaching both boys and girls sabre.”

Another challenge arose when the rules for qualification were changed just days before, and many alternates were unable to

ship began. Junior foil fencer Charlie Haas said, “If not for Clara convincing all the other schools’ head coaches to change qualification standards back to last year’s half an hour before bouts started, a large portion, maybe 30 percent of the team wouldn’t have qualified.” He explained how Masters would have run the risk of having to forfeit numerous bouts automatically.

The boys sabre team won their first round with a clean 9-0 against Rye Country Day School, and girls epee followed suit with an impressive score of 8-1 against Rye as well.

The girls epee team proceeded to win against Horace Mann in a much closer round of 5-4, but didn’t lose to another school until their final match against Riverdale Country School.

Girls foil won all but their second round, also against Riverdale. Senior Mahlet Messay, the girls foil team captain, said,

“I was really proud of where girls foil ended up with the amount of work we put into this season.

At the beginning of the day all I told [the team] was to play hard and have fun, and that’s what we did.”

The boys foil team only lost two matches, as did boys epee, which was an improvement from having lost five during the season.

By 2 p.m., teams began wrap-

ping up their final bouts. Gear and garbage was being collected from the gym, exhausted fencers were sitting or lying down on the fencing strips, many half-dressed in their fencing attire. The award ceremony was soon to begin.

The first awards doled out were for the championship. Girls and boys epee and girls foil won 2nd place, and boys foil won 3rd. Girls epee and foil also won 2nd for league standings, and boys foil won 3rd. For individual league rankings, senior Jerome Chen won 6th place for boys sabre.

The fencers returned to Masters just before 5 p.m. to have a final party in the Sharon Room. parents had chipped in to bring soda, chips and pizza, and some final speeches were made.

There were warm thanks to the graduating seniors, and some talk of the ISFL potentially joining NYSAIS next year.

Junior epee fencer Beila Kraus said at the party, “I’m so grateful to have been on the team this year, and I know that next year we are going to kick ass!”

Fencers Milo Wallach, Thomas Marison, Garvin Ramnarase, John Thorn, and Charlie Haas celebrate the sucessful tournament at Hackley. Masters fencing had a great season among all of their 6 of their different teams.

GHARVIN RAMNARASE ’24 AND an opponent hit each other simultaneously, Beila Kraus ’25 shows off her second place awards, Mahlet Messay ’24 warms up minutes before the championship begins.

New baseball coach joins the Masters family

AdAm BEllo

In a game full of home runs and strikeouts, the Masters varsity baseball team has had their fair share of strikeouts in last few seasons. The team went 3-11 last spring missing the playoffs yet another year, but this spring, the addition of new head coach Chuck Gutierrez might give the team the push they need for a

successful upcoming season.

Gutierrez was formally the head coach at All Hallows High School in the Bronx leading, their program to a CHSAA (Catholic High School Athletic Association) Championship and working with a number of talented professional players synch as Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Edgar Martinez. Gutierrez said, “The CHSAA was a

very competitive league with a lot of parity. We competed every year and got kids who worked hard for us every day.”

Though Gutierrez has primarily been in and around the CHSAA League, he spoke to his familiarity with private independent school teams like Masters.“I also know a little bit about the private school league and the level of competition here as well. Because I coach for the Bronx Bombers, a nationally ranked travel team, I saw a couple of kids from some of the school in Masters’ league and they were competitive and could play,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez expressed his enthusiasm and expectations for this new chapter in his coaching career. He said, “When I came up to visit Masters, the community was so warming. I love the college-like facilities and atmosphere, and that drew my attention. I also understood

the struggles that were going on here with the baseball program. I felt like I could come here and try to help turn things around.”

Starting pitcher, senior captain and Bard College commit, Henry Hubner, expressed his excitement for the opportunity to play for Gutierrez.

Hubner has played for Masters for three years, being appointed captain in his 2023 junior season. He said, “I’m absolutely so excited for what’s to come this year and going forward. Coach Chuck has had so much success between coaching All Hallows High School his travel team, Bronx Bombers, I can only imagine that this is the start of something great here at Masters.”

Though the last few years have been rough, the Masters varsity baseball program is on the rise and Coach Chuck Gutierrez is a big reason for that.

ELLIE HISE/TOWER

ELLIE HISE/TOWER

ELLIE HISE/TOWER

RYAN GUAN/TOWER

SENIOR CAPTAIN HENRY HUBNER warms up before a home game. The team is looking for a huge senior campaign from him.

ELLIE HISE/TOWER

The journey to the boys basketball playoff triumphs

After a five-year playoff drought from the ultra-competitive Fairchester Athletic Association (FAA), the Masters boys varsity basketball team triumphed over the slump and clinched the playoffs as the third seed with a 5-3 record.

Their first playoff game since 2018 happened in the den, their home court, as they squared up against the King School in the first round. Following a resounding 65-51 win, they fell short against Greenwich Country Day School Tigers in the FAA semifinals, with the final score of 68-55.

For the team of 12 play-

ers, playoffs were always the expectation. Starting center and co-captain Nathan Lothian ‘24 explained that from the very beginning of the season, the team set the goal; to win the championship.

“When we first got here we wrote down our goals and talked about what our goals are for the season. If we said that our goal was to make the playoffs, that’s what we’d be working for. But that’s kind of not what we set for ourselves. We said our goal was to win it all, and [Coach Joey Kuhl] kept coming back to that during practice.”

Last year the team was on the precipice of playoffs, even with a record that was under .500. Shockingly

though, co-captain Adam Bello saw the defeat as a welcomed motivator.

“ I think it’s good that we didn’t; it was a learning experience for all of us. We got to feel that sense of defeat and kind of where we don’t want to be this year and use that to catapult us into where we are now.”

Just like Rome, this wasn’t built in a day. The team emphasized the impact of their coach, Joey Kuhl, and the rigorous schedule he has produced. Not only does the team engage in the traditional varsity schedule with practices from Monday to Friday, but the team practices in the morning, on weekends and even seven-hour practices

over school breaks. To boost team culture, the team works out together in the gym and often goes bowling, watches movies or talks to guest speakers.

Kuhl describes his goal of immersing the team with these speakers and bridging between the players.

“One of the things we try to show in the program is the relationships you build here should be just the first step. And that skill of building relationships is what

“ One of the things we try to show in the program is the relationships you build here should be just the first step”

can take you places in life. And so being able to demonstrate that, like it’s something I’m really proud of.” The bond that this team created was a motivator for extending their playoff run and winning it all.

“I think the message that resonated in the locker room that I think we all felt is like, we want to practice tomorrow.

-COACH JOEY KUHL

The practice and the time we spend together is really meaningful,” Kuhl said.

this experience.

Roberson was saddened about the disappointing loss against Greenwhich Country Day but remained hopeful about the future of the program.

“They see the future of the team right here. People are going to want to come here and play basketball because they see we have good coaching and we have good facilities and play in a league that’s competitive.”

For the five seniors on the team, Bello, Lothian, Spencer Roberson, Shawn Pichardo and Jake Sinel, this playoff run is emotional but they are gracious for

Lucas seguinot

ISAAC CASS /THE MASTERS SCHOOL

SENIOR CO-CAPTAIN ADAM BELLO shouts in the team’s Pack the Den victory against Columbia Prep. The team of 13 played 22 games, winning 13 and losing 9, making huge improvements from their record in previous years.