Tower The Masters School
49 Clinton Avenue Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 10522
VOLUME 75, NUMBER 2
@MastersTower
Editorial It is important for students to use their voice and stand up for what they believe in through advocacy. Though we may not be of voting age, we can effect change together by speaking out against injustice.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2018
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LEFT: HISTORY TEACHER MATTHEW Browne addresses the Upper School on the Quad during at the conclusion of a series of morning events to honor the 100th anniversary of the armistice which ended World War One. Middle: History and religion teacher Brian Cheney reads the poem “In Flanders Fields.” Right: A picture of a soldier found by senior Julia Mathas in her research about WWI soldiers from local towns.
Masters commemorates WWI with school-wide event annie rubinSon Features Design Editor The 100th anniversary of the armistice that concluded World War I passed on Sunday, Nov. 12; and on the following day, various students and faculty members led the Masters community in an educational, interactive commemoration of the event. From daily history facts at Morning Meeting to yearly celebrations of Martin Luther King Day, the Masters community often celebrates important historical events; the commemoration of Armistice of Veterans Day on Monday was no exception. The event was first announced in May by history teacher Matthew Browne, who has been responsible
for much of the coordination of the armistice commemoration. “In the past, for Veterans Day, there had always been students who felt that we didn’t do enough,” Browne said. “There’s something powerful about major anniversaries like this. I see it as an opportunity to think more deeply about conflict, the loss of life and the world we are building going forward.” On Nov. 12, the Upper School gathered in the Claudia Boettcher Theatre for a Musical Monday, where performers were asked to select repertoire that was relevant to World War I. The Salty Dogs performed a traditional song from World War I, as opposed to their typical 18th- and 19th-century repertoire. After the performances and a video, the community was divided into
Children’s Village Immigrant children housed at local children’s center Morgan brettSchneider News Design Editor Children’s Village, a local organization which helps society’s most vulnerable children integrate into society, also serves as a “relatively small” detention center for 179 immigrant children who were separated from their families at the U.S./Mexican border, according to their website. The organization, which is one of ten detention centers in New York State, was contracted by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to house undocumented immigrant kids who traveled across the border alone or were separated from their parents at the border. Since the 90s, many immigrant detention centers have existed across the United States in order to provide places for undocumented immigrant children to stay until the government decides what to do with them after crossing the border on their own. Due to the Trump administration’s creation of new rulings that force children and parents to be separated, an increased number of kids are sent to detention centers, mostly in Texas and Arizona. The Children’s Village mission is to help children by providing them with education and helping them form lifelong relations. Through MISH, Masters has supported Children’s Village for several years with toy drives, haunted houses and volunteer opportunities. As an organization which was contracted by the federal government to house undocumented immigrants in the United States, Children’s Village is given money to provide amenities and services to the children.
“People don’t realize that places like this are right in our backyard,” said Jill Faber, a lawyer who visited the facility on a court-ordered monitoring visit in October. Faber is the wife of Upper School faculty member Eric Shapiro and mother of Sarah Faber 20’. During the two days that Faber spent there with a group of lawyers, she noted that all the staff at Children’s Village are committed to engaging with the children. “The big takeaway from the visit is that all the faculty from Children’s Village from the top down are committed to engaging and looking out for the best interests of all the children,” she said. After spending many hours with the children and, together with other lawyers, interviewing over a hundred of them, she said, “They have nutritious food, appropriate clothing, art materials, bedding, books, etc. They attend classes in their houses for about 4 hours a day and learn math, English, history and science. They have recreation time during the day and several times a week they go on outings outside of Children’s Village.” Faber also added that what these kids want the most is to be reunited with their family members. However, certain Office of Refugee Resettlement regulations make it difficult for many of these children to get their wish. Although Children’s Village is doing everything they can to help these children cope with their unfortunate circumstances, uniting kids back with their families is out of their hands as they must follow the policies and procedures dictated by the government’s Office of Refugee Resettlement.
‘break-out sessions’, which they had selected several days prior. The sessions were led by various students and faculty members. Some examples of these sessions were: ‘World War I around the World’ by International Club, ‘Women in the War’ by GALs, ‘World War I Naval Songs’ by Salty Dogs. “My favorite part by far was working with students on the committee, and seeing them take initiative,” Browne said. Julia Mathas, senior and active member of the planning committee, reflected upon her experience preparing the celebration and on her break-out session in particular: “It’s not just about World War I,” she said. She hoped the community would “recognize how important that War was for the country as a whole and also to the world.” Mathas’ break-out session includ-
ed various profiles on war veterans from the Dobbs Ferry and Hudson River area. “My particular breakout group recognizes the importance of an individual–the ones who didn’t win all of the awards, the ones who weren’t generals, the ones whose names no one remembers today–and celebrating them, even if just for 45 minutes,” Mathas said. Senior Ted Horowitz, co-president of Salty Dogs, facilitated a discussion and reflection of World War I Naval songs. He, along with co-president Ian Accetta, placed an emphasis on non-partisanship in their presentation. “It’s important that we acknowledge that the tragedy of the war wasn’t that Americans died, it was the fact that the war itself happened in the first place,” Horowitz said. He then reflected upon the impact of
his experience. “It made me a better researcher,” he said. “Researching both sides of the war is important in humanizing the soldiers who fought, and giving them personalities.” After attending two break-out sessions, the Masters community gathered on the Dining Hall quad to participate in a moment of silence for the 17 million killed in the War. Junior Brian Margolis shared his personal response: “I felt that it was very powerful to let everyone be alone with their thoughts,” he said. Although Margolis doesn’t personally have any relatives that fought in the war, he acknowledged that it is important to set time aside to honor those who do. “Since we don’t get the day off from school, like most do, I felt it was important for us to acknowledge this piece of history,” he said.
College office to provide test prep Sarah Faber Staff Writer Starting during the winter co-curricular season, the College Office will be offering a test prep co-curricular to juniors. Students enrolled will have the opportunity to have semi-private tutoring via video conference with professional tutors from Revolutionary Prep. The College Counseling office hopes that the co-curricular will enable students to work proactively towards success in standardized testing while completing their co-curricular credit. The idea for the co-curricular came about in the late summer of 2018. “We were constantly trying
to explore and navigate all the different ways in which students can get test prep. The common theme among all test prep is that in order for it to really have value, students need to invest the energy and the effort into it,” Adam Gimple, Director of College Counseling, said. “The co curricular option came as a result of us doing lots of research with different companies and different independent schools as to how they navigated access to test prep and how to best use that time. The idea of adding it as a co-curricular option came from partnering with a company we’ve really started to utilize, Revolution Prep.” According to Gimple, a majority of juniors will take their SATs or ACTs in the late winter or ear-
ly spring, so the dates of the winter co-curricular put students in a place to be prepared. The co-curricular costs $499 for 24 hours of tutoring, but needbased financial aid is available. The course, which will run twice a week from Nov. 27 through Feb. 14, includes 24 hours of time with a tutor, five practice tests and a personalized improvement plan. “One of the things we like about Revolution Prep is that their business model is great for families at Masters. They’re flexible with scheduling, their price point is good and they honor financial aid and they are proactive about making sure that all the demographics at Masters are handled in a way that’s appropriate for them,” Gimple said.
On the web: tower.mastersny.org Masters hosts Summit Right-wing leader wins Masters Students react on Social Justice Brazilian elections to California shooting YaSMine PaScal
SoPhia brouSSet
Over 100 students and faculty of different backgrounds,ethnicities, races, gender and sexualities from The Masters School, Rye Country Day and Holy Child, attended the second annual Saturday Social Justice Summit, hosted by Masters in the Middle School on Oct. 27. They participated in a variety of discussions and affinity groups.
Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing conservative of Brazil’s Social Liberal Party, won the presidency of Brazil, seemingly on trend with the global rise of right-wing parties. This growth of populism was also seen in the election of U.S. President Donald Trump and the election of a number of nationalist leaders internationally.
alexandra bentzien An ordinary night at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif. became the scene of a tragedy as a gunman fired shots into a crowd of people, murdering 12 and wounding others. The incident, which occured on Wed., Nov. 7, marked the 307th mass shooting in the United States since the beginning of 2018, according to ABC News.
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