Tower Issue #6 (2022-2023)

Messay and Ratan elected 2023-2024 co-chair :

The pair aim to create community and encourage difficult conversations

According to current Co-Chair, Zahali Vauclena, these are some of their responsibilities:

Lead discussions to change aspects of the school’s rules to better serve the school community

Next year, the coveted positions of Executive Committee CoChairs will be held by current juniors Mahlet Messay and Arjun Ratan.

Mahlet Messay, a seven-day boarder from Round Rock, Texas, has been at Masters since her sophomore year. Being co-chair will be the first position she has held in Student Government. Her involvement in Executive Committee started this year due to her strong friendship with this year’s secretary, Luca Lorance ‘23, as well as current Co-Chair Zahali Vauclena ‘23.

Messay said,“I’ve seen how much [Vauclena has] grown in the position of co-chair, and how much he’s been able to affect the student body, so my hope is I’ll be able to do the same thing.” She continued, “I want to create a nice community, just like the past co-chairs have.”

Messay said she was drawn to Masters because of the opportunities that it offered to her. “I didn’t really like my school in Texas, and I wanted to branch out and be in a new commu-

nity and have access to more things than I did in Texas,” she said, “so I think Masters offers a lot more things, like more facilities, and also, it’s a lot more diverse than my old school.”

As a newer student and a boarder, Messay feels that she brings a different perspective to the role of cochair. “I know what it’s like to not feel

A New Perspective

represented in the community that you’re in,” she said, “so I just want to help any student that feels like that, just so everyone’s voices are heard.”

In her free time, Messay said she enjoys hanging out with her Masters friends and calling her friends in Texas, as well as playing the piano. She is a member of the student-led R&B band Positive Rhythm, Model United Nations, and she has a year-long internship for public health outreach in Nigeria. As far as future careers go, Messay wants to be a biomedical engineer. She said, “Since I was a kid, I really liked medicine, and when I came here I took an engineering class. I think engineering is a super cool field.”

Arjun Ratan, who will be serving alongside Messay as co-chair, has been at Masters since sixth grade and served as Class of 2024 president since his freshman year. Even before that, though, in eighth grade he was one of the co-presidents of the Middle School Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Longtime Class President

club. The motivation he had for running for Co-Chair was the desire to be a role model, just like the other Co-Chairs he has seen during his time at Masters.

Ratan said, “I felt like my experience and my desire to see Masters be the best that it can be led me to run for this position. I feel like [being CoChair] will ultimately help me choose and decide the best ways to help the community and make change.”

“I think I bring the experience of a leader, confidence, and someone who is really committed to this school but also to the community,” Ratan continued. “I’m not afraid to stand up to or have difficult conversations

with administration when necessary, and I think that’s extremely important as the voice of the student body.”

In addition to Executive Committee, Ratan is a member of Students of Color Empowering Excellence and Mentorship (SCEEM), Diversity Ambassadors, Gold Key, Community Council, the Writing Center, the Varsity Tennis team, Dobbs Athletic Association (DAA) and he is also a peer leader. Outside of school, he said he enjoys listening to and playing music. “Music is a big passion of mine,” Ratan said. “I feel like music helps me focus when I’m doing work, or getting to know other people and the types of music that they listen to.” Another way he likes to explore other cultures is through food. Ratan said he also spends his free time with his friends or with his dog, Rex, who is a Maltese-Shih Tzu mix.

Vauclena Weighs In

Zahali Vauclena, one of the current co-chairs, has known both Messay and Ratan for a while now and said that he liked how in-

Prepare Morning Meeting presentations

Provide a platform for the student body to voice their concerns

Curate student leader discussions on proposals for DEI and student livelihood

volved all of this year’s candidates were in Executive Committee. He said, “All the candidates were amazing. I find that Arjun, especially completing the Diversity Ambassador co-chair bill, is a very qualified person, as well as having known his grade and how to represent his grade as well as having

expertise in that sort of field as well as Mahlet. I’m glad to see how they take co-chairs to the next level.”

Douglas to take leadership role at Center of Inclusive Excellence

Selas Douglas, the associate director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, is projected to take over the Center of Inclusive Excellence for the 2022-2023 school year. During the 2020-2021 school

year, Roland Davis, Ph.D., joined the Masters community and started off as a consultant working to execute the “A Better Masters Plan” and was also a counselor in the Health Center. Davis later became the Associate Head of the Center for Inclusive Excellence, a position formerly known as Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

Davis was no stranger to DEI work before joining Masters. His career in DEI started when he worked as the assistant dean of first year students

at Dartmouth College, where he saw that the students he was working with were dealing with similar issues surrounding race at a predominately white institution as when he was a student.

That led him to get his doctorate in Educational Psychology, specializing in how racial climate can impact motivation among Black and brown students, springing him to do DEI field work.

Since joining the Masters community, Davis has certainly made his impact on the Masters School by leading the conception of the new Center for Inclusive Excellence. The idea comes from higher education, and it asks the important question, “How do we embed equity and inclusion work in every aspect of the school’s mission and function?” Davis believes that the center will“make sure that everyone here, no matter how they identify, has an equitable experience with equitable outcomes.”

Davis said he hopes that Masters and the Center for Inclusive Excellence will become a national leader in DEI work among independent schools. He said, “My greatest accomplishment is getting the school started on the path to creating the Center for Inclusive Excellence, and bringing together and building a really good team of folks who will continue this work.”

After dedicating himself to DEI work at Masters, Davis will step away at the end of this school year. Though Davis is not sure where his career will take him next, he’s excited to be able to move back to his home state of Massachusetts.

Douglas, the current Upper School history and religions teacher,

and the dean for the Center of Inclusive Excellence, feels very grateful for all that Davis has done and for their time as colleagues together. Douglas said, “Dr. Davis has been a huge supporter of me, and he’s been a great partner in this work, and I’m definitely going to miss him, but the good news is that we have both a professional and a personal relationship, and I believe that I’ll be able to stay connected to him and get advice and support and have him a part of a cheerleading section when I need him.”

Douglas first came to Masters as a history teacher in the History and Religion department in the fall of 2020. In the spring of 2021, Douglas was appointed Upper School DEI director/ coordinator and after the Center for

We are positioned to be a leading voice in this conversation about what helping studentstarts find their place and voice in schools could be.”

- Selas Douglas

Associate Head for the Center for Inclusive Excellence

Prior to joining Masters in 2020, Douglas started his career in private schools as a wrestling coach. Douglas was able to find an opportunity to be a coach and also work in residential life at Georgetown Prep in Washington, D.C. There, he served as Georgetown Prep’s Residential Academic Coordinator. Douglas said that his experience working in residential life programs prepared him to do DEI work at other schools, including Masters, and called that work similar. He said, “When you think about residential life, a lot of that is equity and inclusion work as well, especially in our boarding schools. You’re bringing in people from all types of different backgrounds and say, ‘How can we create an environment where people can feel that they are valued for who they are?’” Douglas said it’s all working in the same vein, they’re just different foci.

Inclusive Excellence was put in place, his title became the Dean for Inclusive Excellence. Douglas has worked on various other projects at Masters, including, creating an inclusive language guide and helping to implement student leader programming throughout the year.

Along with his role in the Center for Inclusive Excellence, Douglas also created and designed the course, Africana Critical Thought, a course offered by the History and Religion Department and available to seniors. Douglas has also worked in redesigning some of the curriculum of World History I and US History by expanding the narratives and perspectives presented.

Douglas has had several highlights throughout his time and work at Masters so far, though there has been one that has especially stood out and he

mentiond Saturday Summit for social justice that originally started by predecessor, Karen Brown in 2016. He said, “Saturday Summit was a big accomplishment. I think anytime you can pull in students that are motivated to engage in matters of inclusion, belonging, and justice, and do that on a Saturday where you can be doing all kinds of other stuff. If nothing else happened in my job, I think that would be worth it.”

Douglas’s new role comes with some change, though. His current role focuses mainly on equity and inclusion on the student level, but moving up to Associate Head of the Upper School for Inclusive Excellence, Douglas will be transitioning to focus on mostly administrative tasks. In his new role, Douglas’s audience will change as he will be working more with the board of trustees, head of school, parent association, and faculty and staff.

Douglas said he is very excited about his new role in the Center for Inclusive Excellence and is eager to start working. He said, “My entire career has been pointing toward the work we’ve been doing in this office, and I’m super excited.”

Douglas continued, “We are positioned to be a leading voice in this conversation about what helping students find their place and voice in schools could be.”

Davis said he believes that Douglas will do a tremendous job in his new role. He said, “I think he’s [Douglas] going to kill it. His nickname in our office is ‘The Professor’. The man is ridiculously smart and is a consummate thinker and because of that, I think he’s going to bring a level of intellectualism to this work that will help keep it on the path of being grounded in research and thinking.”

MATTHIAS JAYLEN/TOWER

SELAS DOUGLAS IS TAKING over as the head of Center for Inclusive Excellence, a position which Roland Davis currently holds. Douglas is looking forward to start his work as he switches to mostly administrative tasks.

Aurora Horn

Lead Copy Editor

Matthias Jaylen Editor-in-chief

MATTHIAS JAYLEN/TOWER

XAVIER ROLSTON/TOWER

Read more at Tower.mastersny.org!

View photos of Chris Nappo’s pottery fundraiser on web!

AFTER THE CO-CHAIR PRIMARIES, four candidates remained: Mahlet Messay, Shaza Murigande, Arjun Ratan, Violet Paull. Of those four, Messay and Ratan triumphed leaving the community excited for what they will accomplish.

Mental health bill aims to alleviate student stress

Justine Pascutti Ad & Distribution Manager

In response to a growing trend to limit how social platforms engage with young users, a new federal bill was unveiled on Wednesday April 26 to establish a national minimum age for social media use and mandate tech companies to obtain parental consent before creating accounts for teens. Bipartisan U.S. senators have proposed legislation to address what is claimed to be a social media-fueled mental health crisis, according to policymakers, mental health advocates, and tech platform critics.

BridgeUSA (the civic discourse club on campus) member Violet Paull said, “The mental health crisis encompasses so many things and has taken so many forms. I think mental health isn’t something that has a one size fits all solution, but this bill would help some people for sure. It just also takes initiative from the kids, parents, and those who create content. I would hope that more mental health support aids would follow this bill.”

According to the draft text of the legislation, known as the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act, social media platforms would not be allowed to allow children under the age of 13 to create

accounts or interact with other users. But, children would still be allowed to view content without logging into an account. For users under the age of 18, tech sites affected by the law would also have to get their parents’ or guardians’ permission before opening new accounts. Companies would not be allowed to target minors with material

young Americans.

In reaction to the measure, the youth alliance Design it For Us said that rather than implementing usage restrictions, policymakers should concentrate on shaping the fundamental product design of social media platforms. “We believe that any legislation addressing harm on social media should put the

We believe that any legislation addressing harm on social media should put the onus on companies to make their platforms safer, instead of preventing kids and teens from being on platforms at all.”

- Zamaan Qureshi, Co-chair of Design it For Us

or advertisements using their personal information, but they may still make certain targeted suggestions to teens based on other contextual indicators.

After similar legislation was passed this year in places such as Utah and Arkansas, the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act is the latest step that legislators have taken to create age restrictions for internet platforms. However, the bill may also spark a wider discussion and lead to potential future legal challenges, raising concerns about the constitutional rights and privacy of

onus on companies to make their platforms safer, instead of preventing kids and teens from being on platforms at all,” said Zamaan Qureshi, a co-chair of the group.

Restrictions on teenagers, according to opponents of the legislation, pose a threat to their constitutional rights. For instance, the tech sector and campaigners for digital rights have claimed that Utah’s legislation mandating age verification and parental authorization would violate young Americans’ first amendment rights to access

information and restrict everyone’s freedom of speech.

Paull said, “I think this [bill] falls under the “freedom of assembly” clause, and in a most direct way does limit free speech. I don’t think this means that the bill is without merit, as it intends to protect young people, but it does limit free assembly of young people. However, kids are banned from places on the grounds of their age frequently. We don’t let kids into bars and no one is organizing around that as a restriction of free speech.”

When asked how she would feel if the bill got approved, Paull said “I think it is easier to talk about this as someone who is both older than 13 and only got social media once I was 13, but I think it would be really great. Kids growing up on social media today are really struggling and many don’t recognize the damage that they’re doing to themselves as well as the experiences they’re missing out on.” She continued, “The bill seems hard to enforce, as people could just lie about their age. But I also feel like in some regards, it isn’t the government’s job to parent people. Parents have discretion to restrict or permit the media that their kids consume, and I think it could set worrying precedents about restricting media for kids.”

SOCIAL MEDIA USE HAS contributed to increased stress among young people. The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act aims to alleviate this by enforcing age limits on various social media platforms, though the bill has sparked debate regarding the limitation of rights like freedom of assembly.

Anti-overdose spray Narcan’s availability grows

Xavier rolston

Editor

Narcan, the nasal spray capable of reversing narcotic overdose, can now be sold over the counter in a long-anticipated move by the U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA). This step is the first of many the US is taking in an attempt to change their harsh policies dubbed the ‘war on drugs,’ policy which has done little to prevent the 106,699 drug-involved overdose deaths reported in the U.S. in 2021 by the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Narcan is the name-brand nasal spray for the drug naloxone.

While the FDA has approved Narcan brand nasal spray for over the counter use, generic brand sprays and intramuscularly-administered naloxone are yet to be approved.

However, the Surgeon General issued an order in 2018 declaring that all pharmacies could sell naloxone without a prescription to customers who asked to purchase it. Selling Narcan over the counter, however, the FDA hopes, will increase overdose danger awareness and encourage more people to purchase and carry it. Most insurance companies cover Narcan, allowing their users to buy the drug at little or no cost.

Prior to being available over the counter, naloxone was a prescription drug. However, this drug could still be purchased without having a doctor prescribe naloxone to an individual. The United States Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) declared in 2018 that naloxone could be purchased by all individuals looking to prevent overdoses, in an effort to combat the growing opioid epidemic.

Right now, pharmacies are slowly working on rolling out Narcan distribution. While many don’t expect to distribute the drug until mid-July, people can still request Narcan at all pharmacies across the United States. Many states have policies in place to help cover the costs of the overdose-reversing drug, such as New York’s “Naloxone Co-payment Assistance Program (N-CAP).”

The largest public school district in the United States, New York City (NYC), has yet to implement naloxone into school buildings. However, it’s a problem that is currently being deliberated.

Assistant Commissioner for the Office of School Health Tracy Agerton described the programs NYC’s Health Department currently has in place. “The health department has a very robust community naloxone administration program,” she said. “They train individuals and groups of people in Narcan administration.”

Agerton explained that these groups work with local communities that are most in need. “They have really focused on doing it in groups where, there is a very high risk of overdose. They’ve worked with a lot of substance abuse prevention centers, recovery centers, and treatment centers, and really just harm

NARCAN IS A LIFESAVING nasal spray which can stop the negative effects of many drug overdoses. As the tragic epidemic of drug addiction and drug overdose deaths continues to devastate hundreds of thousands of victims and their loved ones, many are pushing for the further advancement of Narcan as a key resource to address the deadly problem.

reduction,” she said.

Agerton added that while these programs often work in tandem with schools to train students and teachers, Narcan is not yet stocked. “Right now we don’t stock naloxone in schools,” she said. “But, anybody who has been trained, and has been given a naloxone kit from those community trainings, can

You can’t do any harm by administering it to someone who’s not having an overdose. It’s important to relay that to reassure people that they can’t do any harm”

- Tara Eng, Head Nurse

Testimony from the April 19 city council hearing said, “Overdoses are very rare among under 18 year olds in NYC currently but we recognize the need to train our school health staff to be prepared for any medical situation that may arise. We have begun preparations to stock naloxone and train nurse and health staff serving high school students in its administration.”

Masters has deployed naloxone throughout the school. School Nurse Tara Eng explained that Masters houses Narcan spray in most of the automated external defibrillator (AED) emergency boxes on campus, in addition to stocking it in the health center, and providing it to the administrators-on-duty.

“I have been here for six years, and when I came on is when we got Narcan,” Eng said. “I was checking our emergency procedures and realized that we did not have Narcan, so that was one of the things I was able to get for us.”

“What I am a little weary of is that the prices are a little higher than what people who might need it can afford.”

Narcan is expected to cost between 30 and 50 dollars. While that’s a steep drop from the prescription prices right now, it’s still more expensive than many people can afford, especially since overthe-counter medications are not typically covered by insurance companies.

Eng concluded that it’s important for everyone to understand how Narcan works. “You can’t do any harm by administering it to someone who’s not having an overdose. It’s important to relay that to reassure people that they can’t do any harm,” she said.

carry it in schools. We [also] have about 147 school buildings in NYC that have primary care clinics with school-based health centers in them. Many of them have naloxone because they’re clinics,” Agerton explained.

While NYC school health staff do not currently all carry naloxone, the city has begun preparations to change that.

Eng said that this was a discussion between the health center, the maintenance team, and the head of school on how to implement Narcan around school, but that the decision was universally accepted.

“I think it is great that [Narcan] will now be available shortly over the counter, so it’s easily accessible,” Eng said.

With Narcan now being readily available, people can take this time to learn more about its importance, and buy the life-saving medication to carry on their person. Agerton explained, “Opiate overdose is not necessarily in school aged children. Yet, I think it’s touched a lot of people’s lives.”

She continued, “These are preventive steps. Having [naloxone] in the communities where it’s needed the most, and getting it into the hands of people that can really make a difference, is really important,” Agerton concluded.

Debate surrounding Jordan Neely’s killing moves to the courts

Social Media Manager

On May first, a passenger on the subway put 30 year old Jordan Neely into a chokehold, killing him before a train full of onlookers. A video of the incident depicts 24 year-old ex-Marine, Daniel Penny, pinning Neely to the ground as he strangled Neely to death.

Fellow passenger Juan Alberto Vasquez, a freelance journalist, recorded the video and published it on Facebook. According to Vasquez, Neely stood in the middle of the train, yelling that he didn’t have food or water, that he was homeless, that he was tired, and that he didn’t care

if he was sent to jail. Neely then bundled up his jacket and threw it on the floor with force enough that “you could hear the sound of the zipper hitting the floor,” Vasquez had told Curbed.

It was then that the other passenger attacked Neely. When the doors opened at the subways stop, every other passenger fled the scene, and the video began from the vantage point of the subway platform, looking in through the window. From the platform, passengers yelled to “Call the police!” though there were none in the vicinity. Several bystanders then stood between the closing doors—demanding that the doors stayed open in order for help to arrive— which prompted the conductor to call for police assistance over the speaker.

1, Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, filed a felony complaint of second-degree manslaughter against Penny. Although Penny faced possible charges of first degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, the evidence obtained by prosecutors engendered them to file a felony complaint of manslaughter in the second-degree. “There are times when someone does something like that where you could say that they acted with the intent to murder, murder in the second degree. In this case they determined based on the evidence they had, the best that could they do is that he acted recklessly which is a lesser form of intent or mens rea,” said former Bronx and Brooklyn prosecutor Ed Purce, in an interview.

ny and in politicians demanding action might have played a significant role in the urgency of the case brought against Penny. Several civil rights activists rallied in support as they grieved Neenly’s death this past Friday. Activist Al Sharpton, who eulogized Neely, said “Jordan was screaming for help. We keep criminalizing people with mental illness.”

DANIEL PENNY HAS BEEN charged with second-degree manslaughter for killing Jordan Neely. On a NYC subway, Penny choked Neely to death on May 1. His death has sparked several debates surrounding bystander and subway culture in New York, as well as raised questions surrounding the systemic issues which might have contributed to Neely’s death. death.

Vasquez continued in the interview with Curbed, “Then he wasn’t moving anymore, and we were all looking at each other, like, ‘What’s going on? Did he faint? What happened?’ I got off the train, and I filmed another 30-second video where you can see it’s the F train. In that second video, you can see Neely is lying down and two guys are standing over him — the one who grabbed him and one other man. The second guy, he wanted to help. You can see in my first video that he never touches Jordan and never tries to restrain him; he is simply trying to listen to him and trying to tell the other one not to squeeze him so hard.” Ten days after Neely’s killing on May

The process of filing a felony complaint did two main things to bolster the case against Neely: first, it gave investigators ample time to interview as many witnesses as would substantially negate the claim made by Penny’s lawyers, that the killing was a necessary means of self defense. Second, it allowed prosecutors to skip the unpredictable process of working through a grand jury, who may or may not have charged Penny at all.

Other factors may have led to the DA’s decision to skip the initial Grand Jury hearing and pursue indictment charges, with many arguing that the rise in protests calling for justice against Pen-

More than two million dollars have been raised via GiveSendGo in support of Penny’s claim to self defense. The fundraiser was initially started by Raiser and Kenniff, the law firm representing Penny. Thomas A. Keniff, 2021 DA election opponent of Alvin. L Bragg and Penny’s lawyer, said “[Penny] was really putting himself in harm’s way for the benefit of others. He shouldn’t be pilloried for that. He should be celebrated.”

These claims to self defense will inevitably be challenged in court. “The prosecutor will have the burden of proving beyond reasonable doubt that Penny was not justified [for acting in self defense]. [Penny] could argue that it was proper for him to defend himself or another person and that he felt that Mr. Neely was going to use deadly physical force on another person, and in which case Mr. Penny would be permitted if he were justified to counteract whatever Mr. Neenly was doing,” Purce said.

Web

ale X a Mur Phy & lydia ettinger

News Editor &

Narcan vs. Naloxone

Rise in transphobic bills and laws spread across the US

counterparts in conservative states).

ver the past year, debates over the basic rights of transgender people have regained national prominence. Since the 2010s, America has seen more conversations about the level of freedom transgender people have to express their identity in society, sparked by both growing social acceptance of trans people and more complex understandings of gender, as well as concurring backlash from a reactionary minority seeking to strip trans people of their rights and trying to stifle growing levels of expression of trans identity in society.

The Recent History of the Trans Rights Debate

Back in 2012, former U.S. Vice President (current U.S. President) Joe Biden called trans rights the “civil rights issue of our time” in response to a passerby’s question, one of the earliest mentions of transgender issues in national political conservation and a sign of civil rights and social debates to come.

Fast-forward to 2016, the visibility of trans issues was already growing. Notable civil rights cases over anti-trans policies had emerged, particularly ones regarding trans peoples’ right to use bathrooms that align with their gender. One such case began in 2014 by a transgender boy named Gavin Grimm who had been forced to use the girls’ bathroom at his Virginia school.

In 2015, President Barack Obama had also reversed military policies that discharged transgender soldiers who came out, and in 2016, North Carolina state politics were thrown into heated debate over a “bathroom bill” passed by the Republican legislature, which banned trans people from using bathrooms that honor their gender. Culture wars surrounding the “bathroom bill” created a chaotic political environment in North Carolina, and even on the same day they voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, North Carolina voted out their Republican

ONews Editor Oliver Kreeger Editor-in-chief lucas seguinOt

governor, with state-level backlash to his transphobic “bathroom bill.” That contributed crucially to his opponent’s victory. A key civil rights victory for trans people came in 2020, when the Supreme Court ruled that existing laws banning workplace and hiring discrimination related to race and gender also applied to trans people and respecting their gender identity. Then came the new state legislature bills. Mainstream political analyses tend to attribute the

The latest national headline-making controversy in regard to state anti-trans activity comes from Montana, where Democratic state representative Zooey Zephyr, the first openly transgender legislator in the state’s history, was banned from giving speeches in the House by the over two-thirds Republican State House.

The Republicans in Montana say they banned Zephyr from making further remarks on the house floor until

“I think what we’re seeing with Representative Zephyr is part of this larger attack on trans people and trans rights.”

- Brendan Collins-Jordan,

recent rise in anti-trans state legislative activity to the November 2021 upset victory of Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin in the Virginia governor election; Youngkin had run on a campaign promoting “parental rights” and protecting kids and students in schools from supposed malignant “woke” influences.

New Anti-Trans Legislation

Whatever the cause, since late 2021 and 2022 there has been a rapid rise in anti-trans bills in state legislatures across the country, some seeking to emulate North Carolina’s old “bathroom bill” or to ban trans kids from participating in school sports teams whose gender makeup is different from the gender a trans person was assigned at birth. Some bills seek to exert more broad suppression of the trans community as a whole. A new law in Texas, for instance, bans the transition of any children, and could see parents of trans kids lose custody of their children for respecting their child’s gender. Similar bans on gender-affirming care for trans people have taken effect in conservative states like Idaho and Indiana (anti-trans bills have also been introduced en masse in many liberal states, though due to the political balance are far less successful than their

she apologizes for a speech, saying that any supporters of bills banning gender-affirming healthcare would have “blood on [their] hands”. Trans rights activists and Democrats voiced outrage over the expulsion of Zephyr from the floor, stating that such a tactic in response to her speech is an unfair attempt to silence her. Many also pointed to potential further malignant motives for the floor expulsion; Zephyr is the first trans lawmaker in a political environment where transphobes are increasingly emboldened to push back, and indeed a press release from the Montana Freedom Caucus (a grouping of the most far-right GOP legislators) repeatedly misgendered Zephyr and purposefully inaccurately referred to her as a man.

History teacher Brendan Collins Jordan and English teacher Pilar Mendez-Cruz ‘12 co-teach the interdisciplinary humanities course (American Studies) offered to juniors. In American Studies, or AmStud, Mendez-Cruz and Collins Jordan recently set aside class time to discuss the expulsion of Zephyr from the Montana house floor.

“This strategy of expelling using a super majority to expel lawmakers from different groups that are being targeted in that legislative session…I think that’s unfortunately a trend that is becoming a political strategy. I think we’re going to see more of that. And I think what this in some ways, I

think what we’re seeing with Representative Zephyr is sort of like part of this larger attack on trans people and trans rights,” Collins Jordan said, “and it’s manifesting in the same way that these other attacks are. There are attacks on trans people that are attempting to remove trans people, to make trans people invisible in the world that we live in, and so I think removing Zooey Zephyr from a legislative body is doing the same thing. They’re trying to remove her from the political process.” she continued.

AmStud isn’t the only class where Collins Jordan and Mendez-Cruz see discussions about gender emerge more and more. “In terms of the English classes that I’m teaching in general, I would say that myself and the entire English department are working on incorporating more and more literature that represents more and more identities and experiences.

But I’ll also say that I think that’s an area of growth for the department, or at least for me, in the department. And so, continuing in that effort is really important.” Mendez-Cruz said.

Collins Jordan added that she has emphasized the different perceptions of gender across the world in her Religions classes for sophomores. “I think we often assume religion has one perspective on gender and sexuality, simply because that’s been the dominant narrative in this country. But that’s a narrative that’s very centered on Christianity and a narrative that centered on a very particular kind of Christianity. Of course, there are queer and trans Christians. There are lots of different experiences with gender and sexuality and religion, many of which are very queer and trans affirming.”

A Call to Action

Both teachers reaffirmed the importance of having more discussions surrounding gender and affirming the rights and identity of trans people. “I can say that since I was also a student here, we weren’t having any sort of conversations like this in my memory when I was a student in 2012.”

Mendez-Cruz emphasized the importance of talking about the issue.

“The fact that we are having these conversations should be happening more consistently throughout a variety of spaces in school, such as, advisory, morning meeting, and classes.”

Collins-Jordan also called for

students to take action politically. “I think reaching out to local representatives is huge, especially because there are now anti-trans bills that have been introduced in the state of New York. Donating to organizations that are fighting this legislation [is also important]. There are a lot of organizations that are filing lawsuits to try to stop a lot of this legislation…Getting involved with those kinds of organizations and that kind of work [is important]. We’re going into summer

and a lot of students are often looking for internships. And students who are interested in legal work or advocacy work can get involved with organizations that are fighting for trans rights, that are providing services for trans people, whether that’s mental health services or health care services or financial services. I think that can be a great way to do this work in a more tangible, hands-on way as well, and is something that is really important and necessary.” Collins Jordan said.

Seniors take the first steps towards graduation

On June 10th, the Class of 2023 will take their final steps as Masters students. For these seniors, graduation isn’t just a date in history, but a culmination of practices and time poured into perfecting the celebration. In the weeks leading up to the big day, students practice in anticipation for how the actual day will look. Around campus, a graduation fever seems to take place too. Masters graduation is a day rooted in tradition. Historically there has been a dress requirement of a white dress, a white pantsuit, or a navy blue blazer with white pants and the trademark Masters tie. The celebration takes place on Graduation Terrace, a part of Masters Hall named for being the hallowed ground on which

graduation takes place. Students walk down the graduation steps, an area commonly untouched for many of the Masters community until their fateful day. Photos can be seen from some of the first graduations to modern day.

During the week of finals, the seniors go through four practice runs. Most of the planning for practices are orchestrated by Head of the Upper School Peter Newcomb and Senior Class Dean, English teacher Darren Wood. They consist of going through the motions, so the seniors can get a feel of what the real day will be like.

Wood has followed the class on an uncommon journey. Since freshman year, the senior class has undergone the leadership of three class deans. Their first class dean, Matt Kammrath, who left after their sophomore year, prompting former English teacher Miguel Segovia to take over. After Segovia moved

on to another school, Wood was approached to take the position.

“It has been a pleasure to get to know them… I feel a mix of delight that I got to spend time with them in this way, but also regret that I didn’t have two years or even three years to get to them in this way before they graduate.”

For class presidents Tyler Hack and Aimee Ayala, this day takes on an extra responsibility, because class presidents give speeches for their class and those attending. This year is Hack and Ayala’s second year serving together. Ayala admits to feeling some pressure to have a successful speech. “ I want it to be good, I want something the class will appreciate, but I also want it to be something unique. I am nervous about the content, but not actually the speaking.”

Even with all the fluctuations of class deans and changes within the grade, Ayala looks back fond-

ly over her time with the deans and the class overall. “Every single dean has been very unique and had very unique leadership styles, which has been very fun.” Ayala continued, “It has been a good time seeing the class change and mature over time.”

For senior Miranda Dennis, graduation is about more than leaving school. Dennis has been part of the Masters community and lived on campus since birth, as the daughter of a long time faculty member, Michele Dennis. Dennis is also one of the few remaining members of the fifth grade class, the first grade you can enter in Masters.

“This month is the biggest month because it is so soon, and you are trying to soak up every last memory with your friends. It is a bit sad but exciting knowing that we are moving on to the next chapter,” Dennis said.

Writers’ strike makes waves in Hollywood

Television and movie writers have gone on strike after failing to reach a new contract. It has been a little over a decade since the Writers Guild of America (WGA)’s last strike in 20072008, yet the film and TV industry looks drastically different since then.

The last strike lasted 100 days, engendering a mass recession for the state as its economy lost 2.2 billion dollars. Nicole Kassel, Masters parent ‘23, ‘26 and film director, entered the industry a few years before that strike. “When I was entering [the industry] independent film was thriving. Television was very different, there was a rise in what we now call the ‘golden age ‘of television,” Kassel said. The current strike mirrors similar circumstances as those in 2008, as writers have been embroiled by economic and technological uncertainty. Every three years, the WGA negotiates a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, comprising Apple, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount and Sony. Currently, the WGA is demanding increases in payment, residual pay, and protection from AI. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television producers hopes to “Reach a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry.”

Over the past four years, as streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+, Hulu,

and Amazon Prime produce thousands of new shows, companies have been pressured into investing millions into individual episodes to gain an advantage over their competition. As a result, the amount of money circulating for wage increases has remained stagnant. And, factoring in inflation, the median wage for screenwriters has decreased 14%.

In recent years, starker disparities in terms of income between broadcast writers and streaming writers have emerged. Writers paid by streaming companies lack the safeguarded incomes of broadcast writers, because they are not protected by syndication (selling something for publication or broadcast directly to multiple outlets) or residuals (payments made to writers from reruns that are funded by commercials on networks).

In tandem with the shrinking attention spans of Americans, the number of weeks that writers are employed have also decreased. Traditionally, sitcoms such as Friends usually included at least 20 episodes per season, keeping writers employed for 10–12 months per year , but with the rise of mass streaming and competition from other networks, the number of episodes per season has shrunk. For example, the eight episode second season of the hit HBO MAX original series White Lotus took only 10 weeks to write.

Additionally, concerns over the number of writers hired for shows are circulating as the implementation of “mini-rooms’’ made up of fewer writers than have traditionally been used, have prevented TV writers from profiting off

of popular shows. Because shows like White Lotus are written entirely by their creators, writers claim that there is little room for a source of income. “You can’t just have one person write every single episode, or you are going to clean out the middle class,” said Peter Ackerman, American actor, playwright, screenwriter, television writer, television producer, author and member of the WGA,“You have to have multiple jobs a year now that [shows] are getting shorter and shorter, so writers are getting panicky.”

In response, the WGA proposed a hiring quota to mitigate this issue, which studios struck down as “incompatible with the creative nature of our industry.”

For some, the strike is raising questions about the future of Hollywood. Ackerman said, “My older son is a junior in college studying film, and I can’t quite picture what the industry is going to look like.” Junior and aspiring director, Toby Freeman, is worried about how the present moment will impact film students’ future.“I think that the writers’ strike is a good thing, because once over, it will ensure quality scripts for the future of Hollywood. A lot of what they want would be great for the industry, but as it stands, the strike is problematic for the entire film community, especially film students looking for internships,” Freedman said.

Contributing to more widespread panic are worries of AI replacing industry workers, ranging from truck drivers, to writers. “Are we all just going to want to watch television shows that are made by computers? It’s really weird, but it’s very threatening to us

WRITERS’ GUILD STRIKE IN front of Fox News Headquarters circa 2007. Though writers’’ strikes are not unheard of in Hollywood history, the current strike responds to uniquely modern issues, such as the rise of streaming and AI.

because they are becoming better and better,” said Ackerman. The WGA is advocating for bans on studio usage of AI for first drafts and rewrites.

Because first drafts can make up a significant portion of a writer’s pay, AI could potentially eliminate the rudiments of the writing process. The Teamsters union, America’s largest union compris-

ing freight drivers and warehouse workers, have supported the WGA as they too could be impacted by a heightened use of AI in Hollywood. 12,000 Teamsters belong to the Motion Picture and Theatrical Trade Division, so if developments were to be made for self-driving trucks, large segments of Teamsters could lose their jobs. Ackerman hopes for a more equi-

table future. “We all know that we are not going to achieve all of our demands, but we are hoping that we get a little bit better salaries, a little tinier piece of the pie, what we are asking for the whole union of 12,000 members is literally less than 2% of the industry profits, we just want to be able to sustain our careers.”

History and Religions Teacher

JOSH MARKOWITZ/TOWER

LILY ZUCKERMAN Lead Features Editor

After ten years of teaching at Masters, Upper School history teacher Andrew Lopez is leaving to begin the next chapter of his life. After graduation, Lopez will be moving to the DC area of Northern Virginia with his wife and four children, where he will be a fifth and sixth grade social studies teacher at the Congressional School.

The supportive community is what instantly drew Lopez to work at Masters. He said he can still recall his first day on campus.

Lopez said “There was a morning meeting with the whole high school (at that time everybody could fit in the theater) and that day there was a musical performance. I noticed that everyone was cheering and dancing,” he continued, “I knew this place was going to be filled with high-spirited people, and I was right.”

Throughout his time at Masters, Lopez has taught an array of history classes: World History I, World History II, and US History. Prior to that, he taught elementary school at the Hackley School and middle schoolers at a public school in Harlem. Lo-

Andrew Lopez is history

pez said he has loved being a part of the tight-knit community within the History and Religion Department.

Upper School history teacher Eric Shapiro explained that he will miss having Lopez as a colleague.

“Lopez always brings his sense of humor and willingness to talk. He keeps everyone calm during stressful times,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro and Lopez co-taught the “Shaping National Identity: The Impact of Cold War Film” Wintermission together.

Shapiro said, “I enjoy talking with him about the different films that reflect our own experiences and memories of living through the Cold War.”

Like Shapiro, students will also miss Lopez after his departure. Senior Camila Arthur had Lopez as a teacher

for World History II. She explained how she will miss his friendly face on campus. She said “I’m going to miss being able to make jokes with him, which I

portunity to know Lopez inside the classroom as her teacher and outside the classroom as her advisor. She explained how Lopez is different from other teachers she has had.

Fishkind said, “Mr. Lopez is always genuine and has empathy for anything that may be going on. I can tell he really wants his students to

Mr. Lopez is always genuine and has empathy for anything that may be going on. I can tell he really wants his students to enjoy learning.”

still do even though he hasn’t taught me for over a year,” She continued, “That goes to show how close we got during my sophomore year and how he kept that vital connection.”

Another student, freshman Scout Fishkind, has had the op-

enjoy learning.”

Lopez has met a lot of different students throughout his time at Masters and he said that he will miss them the most when he leaves. He said, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find another place that has kids with such distinct interests.”

Emily Mitchell to move on to university administration

cause of her love for children. “I was always that person babysitting little kids when I was younger, so I knew I wanted to teach,” she said.

In the Fall of 2020, Emily Mitchell, Upper School math teacher, joined the Masters community. Since then, she has taught many classes including Topics in Precalculus and Statistics while being an advisor and dorm parent for Cole Dorm.

Though 2020 was Mitchell’s first year at Masters, she started teaching high school in Boston three years earlier. Being a high school teacher was not Mitchell’s first job after graduation from Bowdoin College in 2014. “I did a couple of different jobs outside of college, one of which was working at the University of Southern Maine in the Office of Engaged Learning,” Mitchell said.

Whether it is in the classroom or the office, Mitchell chose to work in the field of education be

Now, having spent some years in her career as a teacher, Mitchell has found her passion in the relationships she can build with students. Moving forward, Mitchell’s goal is to return to working in universities after obtaining a master’s degree in higher education administration. She said, “Through teaching I realized what I really enjoy is the relationships and less so the actual act of teaching. So I’m hoping to move into academic advising for something similar at a university level.”

Looking back at her time at Masters, Mitchell said that it has helped her to reach this decision as the school is relationship-based and places emphasis on individual connections. “I loved being a dorm parent. I had a great time. I love the Cole girls. That sense of community and being with students in a way that I’m not grading them was really enjoyable,” Mitchell said.

Sophomore Hannah Xu is a new student in Cole this year as well as a student in Mitchell’s honors Algebra II class. Xu said “Ms. Mitchell is a really trustful and dependable person. For me as a new student this year and as someone in Ms. Mitchell’s dorm, she is a really great dorm parent and is always dedicating extra time to help students out whenever they need.”

Mitchell has also found ways to extend her expertise in math to her relationship with the students in Cole dorm. Xu said, “She will always host extra study sessions before math tests and pull the math community together in the dorm.”

As an advisor, Mitchell has been a figure to turn to when students needed help. Senior Luca Lorance, a member of Mitchell’s advisory, said, “I think that Ms. Mitchell is a great advisor, especially this year. Senior year was really hard, but she was there to support me. She would always say ‘do you need me to help you’, ‘let’s set up a meeting so we could talk about how you could

manage yourself’ and things like that, so overall she’s been really supportive as an advisor.”

Inside the classroom, Mitchell has incorporated activities alongside math learning to make her lessons varied. “She’s very buoyant and very vibrant in the classroom. She’s always trying to make things more fun, like one time she had bingo and a lot of different ways to get group work done,” Xu said.

When asked to reflect on the past three years, Mitchell described it as interesting. Having joined the community in the middle of the pandemic, starting her time here on Zoom then in hybrid learning, Mitchell said her experience might not have been a normal one but she was still able to build relationships in and out of the classroom. “I like the emphasis [at Masters] on community and social justice and valuing people for who they are. And my time here has been very interesting and varied,” she said.

RYAN GUAN/TOWER

EMILY MITCHELL WILL LEAVE Masters following the end of this school year. She has taught math at Masters since the 2020-2021 school year, and has become loved as a teacher and a dorm parent; she’s been known to host many a pre-math test review session at Cole Dorm. Mitchell will be working towards a master’s degree in higher education administration so she can move on to a job in a college.

Sara Eismont to depart from the school community

just six months after she graduated from Wesleyan University. In high school, she participated in CITYterm, Masters’ semester residential program focused on NYC’s history, literature, and urban environment. As an admissions officer, Eismont became responsible primarily for CITYterm admissions and, after moving to campus in 2019, became a CITYterm dorm parent.

“My first impression [of Masters] was that there was a lot of excitement, a lot of joy around learning, a lot of things going on all the time,” Eismont said. She later added, “As someone who is a very enthusiastic person working in a very enthusiastic community, I would say it’s really inspiring to see how passionate people are here about the things they care about.”

SARA

of Wesleyan University and previously participated in the old CITYterm program formerly offered at Masters. Eismont looks forward to continuing work in the field of education, and has been lauded by the boarders at Cushing Dorm, where she has been a dorm parent.

ities beyond the school community. Known for her energetic personality and easily-recognizable laugh, Eismont has become an important part of the Masters community, working as an admissions officer, advisor to the class of 2024 and a co-director of Cushing Dorm.

“She’s

weekends,” Cushing resident Amaris Asiedu ‘23 said. “She’s helped me with a lot of stuff by letting me ask questions and not minimizing what I’ve been through or what I’m asking her for. I think she really knows how to empathize with students and doesn’t look down on us [as kids].”

Eismont joined Masters as an admissions associate in 2018,

the

Eismont has always wanted to work in education and was also interested in returning to Masters where she once studied. The work in admissions entailed two things she is passionate about: meeting new people and forming relationships with them.

Director of Middle School Admission, Abbe Montaldo, has worked with Eismont since the latter joined the school. She said, “[Eismont] has been a really strong asset to our team. I’m going to miss her terribly because she’s always willing to jump in and help if someone on the team needs an interview covered or a file read. I call her ‘sparkles’ because she is always so upbeat, positive and kind to everyone.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the suspension and even -

tual termination of the CITYterm program, Eismont became part of the Activities Team for two years, helping to organize trips and events for boarding students. Last academic year, she also became an advisor for seven students from the Class of 2024.

“My favorite part of working in Masters has to be working with the students and their families, and getting to see students grow and try new things and just kind of seeing them surprise themselves with all that they can do,” Eismont said.

This academic year, Eismont has taken up a new role: Co-Director of Cushing Dorm. As a supportive and enthusiastic dorm parent, she has earned the love of many boarders.

Kade Bartlett ‘26, who lives in Cushing, said, “Ms. Eismont is a really outgoing person, who makes you feel welcome whenever you’re around her. I remember at the beginning of the year, she always came up with new ideas for games to bring us together. Even if some of us were not into it at first, we would always get into it with the energy that she brought.”

This year, Cushing became the school’s first gender expansive dorm. Helping to lead the community through such a historic change has been Eismont’s proudest achievement from her Masters career.

“Cushing this year has been this new adventure we’ve all been on together, and it’s been a lot of figuring things out,” Eismont said. “And I think I’m really proud of how we’ve navigated building the first gender expansive dorm here. And I know

that I’m leaving that in a really good place, and we have amazing students who are part of this community and amazing proctors for next year.”

Throughout her work at Masters, Eismont has tried many different responsibilities: from running receptions for prospective families to being an AP test coordinator to chaperoning boarders at Knicks games. She said she is excited to take all that she has learned here to whatever her new role would be.

“I have learned from Masters that you do nothing alone,” Eismont said. “And that you know, there’s that saying, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.’ So I think I have learned, the more people you know, and the more people that you can figure out how to collaborate with in general, the better.”

After Masters, Eismont plans to try new roles, while still staying in education. Having worked in admissions for five years, she is looking forward to being more centrally located within the school community.

“I think all institutions are imperfect, including schools, and I’m excited to work within an imperfect institution to hopefully make it a little bit better,” Eismont said. “And I think education is really hard because you’re constantly up against all of society’s issues. But I think it’s the greatest pivot we have for social change.”Eismont said. “And I think education is really hard because you’re constantly up against all of society’s issues. But I think it’s the greatest pivot we have for social change.”

LILY ZUCKERMAN/TOWER

ANDREW LOPEZ LEAVES AFTER a decade of teaching history classes at Masters. Lopez’s history classes have mostly consisted of the World History I (the freshman history major covering global history before the 1500s), World History II (the sophomore history major covering global history in the past roughly 500-550 years), and the US History major for juniors, covering all of American history. He will now teach fifth and sixth grade social studies at a school in Virginia.

EISMONT TO STEP down after five years of working at Masters. Currently the Associate Director of Admissions, Eismont is a graduate

RYAN GUAN/TOWER

ELLIE YANG

Editor-In-Chief Emeritus

VIKTORIIA SOKOLENKO

Staff Writer

- Scout Fishkind, ‘26

OpiniOn

EDITORIAL

A country without compromise

I

This flood of immigrants has led to the burden of immigration being placed on a few cities around the nation, including one city that’s right in our backyard, New York City. NYC has had to physically and financially provide for these immigrants.

In the last year, New York City has taken in over 50,000 immigrants bussed in from states such as Texas and Florida. Because of the influx, shelters are nearing full capacity, leading to the city to establish temporary housing and use hotels –all this on top of the already high homeless rates in the city –to combat the issue. This is going to cost a projected 4.3 billion dollars, taken from New York City residents’ tax dollars.

The long term solution isn’t leaving our borders accessible for people to enter. Nor is it the opposite, closing them forever.

Instead, we must find common ground to end the humanitarian crisis that is affecting millions of lives around the world. Many immigrants coming into our nation are seeking asylum because they are running from dangerous – some-

n 2022, a record-breaking 2.76 million undocumented people crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. That broke the record of immigrants entering the U.S. without documents by about one million in 2021. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico estimates there to be 12,000 illegal immigrants crossing the border every day.times life-threatening – situations in their home countries.

However, it can take up to four years for an asylum case to be reviewed, which shows the lack of competence in our immigration system and the lack of support or care for those in need of help. There must be reform.

One solution could be to allow asylum seekers to get work authorization papers much more quickly so that they can work to support themselves while they wait for their cases to be adjudicated. While the problem of large-scale immigration will most likely never cease to exist, what we can do is provide support for those immigrants to work, which allows them to be able to pay for their own food and housing, while also paying back to the city and country through taxes.

The process to obtain working papers is currently too difficult and long. Illegal immigrants cannot obtain working papers and only undocumented immigrants that are applying for asylum can be eligible for working papers, but even that process takes a minimum of five months and can drag out far longer. The application process is not an easy one, either.

It is hard to access and navigate applying for working papers or seeking asylum, especially without being fluent in English. Without the vital work permit, immigrants who do get jobs illegally are often paid low wag -

2023-2024 Editors-in-Chief and Executive Producers

es off the books, with no worker protections, which makes it impossible for them to support themselves and their families in the American economy. In addition, few of these off-the-book workers are paying income tax.

On the other hand, with easier access to work permits, the reliance of immigrants on shelters and local governments could be relieved and costs to taxpayers decreased. In the end, the economy will also benefit from the filling of jobs that others may deem unwanted, especially in this era of very low unemployment.

Americans all over the country must recognize that this is a country built on the foundation of immigration. This is not easy because the United States of America is in an age where the Left can not shake hands with the Right, and our sense of compromise and empathy as citizens has been blinded.

However, rather than turning a blind eye to the issue or offloading the problem to other Americans, we must again unite, explore common sense proposals like making work permits more accessible to asylum seekers, so that we can support fellow humans that deserve rights and opportunities to thrive, just like we in the Masters community have the opportunity to do, for the eventual growth of our nation.

2022-2023 Tower Editors-in-Chief and Exectutive Producers Emeritae

Fare thee well to our seniors

EllEn CowhEy & Matt Iv Es Tower Advisors

W

Ellie has been an amazing writer, willing to drop everything for a last minute story, or dive deeply into the school archives for a piece about the history of Masters. Maia is also a great writer, never afraid to share her opinion, whether about senior parking or daylight savings time. She kept us organized, on task and efficient. Both of our editors are skilled in inDesign, always eager to help the younger staff figure out a problem laying out a page.

Maia and Ellie worked won-

2022-2023

editors-iN-chieF

Matthis Jaylen luCas seGuinot

editors-iN-chieF emeriti Maia BarantsevitCh ellie yanG

News Lead editor Gisele Cestaro

News editors

oliver KreeGer alexa MurPhy

opiNioN Lead editor Maya PhilliPs

Features Lead editors

Marianna Gu tara PhilliPs lily zuCKerMan

Features editor rooKe wiser

sports Lead editor noah Kassell-yunG

sports editor adaM Bello

sociaL media maNager sandra liu

weB editor xavier rolston

staFF writer viKtoriia soKolenKo

photo editor Josh MarKowitz

Lead copy editor aurora rose horn copy editor aviv eMery

executive producer emeriti, tower Broadcast News Carol Queiroz hanna sChiCiano

coNtriButiNg writer elisaBeth sKrenta

staFF photographers aNd iLLustrators Chana KiM lisa yao sydney starKey eleanor sChalKwyK alyssa wanG Konstantin MieBaCh ryan Guan

FacuLty advisers ellen Cowhey Matt ives

online MeDia

e owe so much to Ellie Yang and Maia Barantsevitch, Tower’s editors-in-chief this year. They took over from Sophia Van Beek ‘22 and Kira Ratan, ‘22 last May as the nation was reeling from yet another school shooting, this one in Uvalde, Texas. Ellie and Maia guided their team through coverage of even more shootings, increasing restrictions on abortions, and the start of the next presidential campaign season.derfully together - whether on a centerspread about technological change, or staying until the bitter end as layout nights stretched well past midnight. They created a true sense of camaraderie amongst the entire staff – from Starbucks runs to dance parties, we are going to remember this year as incredibly fun, full of laughter, cakes and jokes.

Carol Queiroz and Hanna Schiciano have had an amazing year as our executive producers of Tower Broadcast News--winning national awards for their broadcast work on multiple platforms. They fearlessly led Masters first-ever Broadcast Production class, and even with a team just learning the basics, were able to lead the staff in producing six stellar episodes. Their passion and curiosity for exploring community issues both on and off campus has led to some fantastic coverage. Carol is our only senior who has been on board with Tower since her freshman year. Emerging from being the youngest and quietest staff member on Tower as a sophomore copy editor, Carol has helped guide the new TBN crew with confidence, kindness and

humor. Hanna has been working on Tower Broadcast News ever since she was a ninth grader and was recruited by her older brother to be the person on the other side of the camera or holding a boom mic as he interviewed subjects mid-pandemic. She’s kept the crew on schedule, been innovative with story ideas and helped the newer students sharpen their skills in the studio and in the field. It was no surprise to us when she was designated New York State’s student journalist of the year! We’ve had so many adventures together this year, and we’ll really miss the outstanding leadership and commitment to excellence you both put forth.

Gisele Cestaro leaves big shoes to fill as she steps aside from leading the news section. Often she was responsible for the last minute story we needed for the front page – and she always came through. She also did a wonderful job mentoring two juniors brand new to page layout. We’ll miss her smile, her dedication and her can-do attitude.

Carlos Heredia created a brand new position for himself as Marketing Director, and did a great job overseeing a group of

students dedicated to increasing viewership of our website and social media. The results speak for themselves. Tower’s Facebook page visits increased 104% over last year. Our Instagram profile visits were up by 75%. And our TBN YouTube subscriptions quadrupled. Most recently, Carlos has spearheaded a successful move into using Instagram Reels, which have proved extraordinarily popular among our viewers.

Marianna Gu has been a wonderful lead features editor. She has a strong design sense and has produced creative and striking page spreads and center spreads, in addition to writing strong content for all of our sections.

Noah Kassell-Yung was the fearless leader of the sports page. He was always looking for interesting stories – his piece on why Masters doesn’t have football was particularly well done –and he hit all of our goals for the section this year: better photos, a wider scope of coverage, and even some live commentary on games. He has also done a great job mentoring younger staff members who are now ready to step into leadership roles. Sandra Liu played a crit-

ical role building up our social media presence, and was a constant source of strong content for our print and digital divisions.

Josh Markowitz joined the Tower team as a senior, and made an immediate impact by organizing a large and effective team of photographers and illustrators. He also took a lot of great pictures himself, and helped us consider some newer equipment options. Make sure you follow his instagram: @josh.markowitz.photo.

Maya Phillips was the steady leader of our opinion page, tracking down our bloggers and columnists and always laying out pages with a wonderful eye for design. Her patience with late-breaking editorials was infinite and for this and much more, we are all grateful.

Tara Phillips came back from Italy to tackle a wide array of topics as a senior, from the local coffee shop to the resurgence of hippy culture -she also played DJ and organized the dance parties! We are thankful for the creative flair she added to the feature section and our whole staff vibe.

Vika Sokolenko was our go-to staff writer whenever we needed a big topic covered, from

the situation in Ukraine, to the lack of diversity in AP courses, to the impact of wealth on college admissions. Her work was recognized on the state and national levels multiple times even before the end of this school year.

Though he’s not in the journalism class, he is a crucial member of the Tower staff and we must give a shout out and a huge thank you to Ryan Guan. He is a talented photographer – and he is everywhere we need him to be! Ryan, we don’t know what we are going to do without your skills, persistence and dedication next year.

Thank you to the entire Tower and TBN staff for all your hard work this year. Editors, staff writers, web, photo and social media managers, bloggers, illustrators and photographers - all of your efforts have paid off for our readers. Congratulations to these graduating seniors - you have left a lasting and important legacy in Tower and TBN. We will miss you even as we hold you in our hearts as you boldly venture forward.

For more information, follow Tower on the following platforms:

Website: Tower.MastersNY. org

Facebook: MastersTower Twitter: @MastersTower Instagram: @MastersTower

Distribution Process Tower is hand-delivered on the day of publication to the Upper School. 650 copies are printed. A copy is sent to each of our advertisers. scholastic Press affiliations, letters anD eDitorial Policy Tower is the winner of the Pacemaker Award for Overall Excellence, an award-winning member of the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), Journalism Education Association (JEA) and Quill and Scroll. We encourage Letters to the Editor, which can be submitted to the following email address: TowerEditors@MastersNY.org. Published approximately five 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.

INCOMING EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Lucas Seguinot and Matthias Jaylen

EDITORS -IN-CHIEF EMERITAE: Ellie Yang and Maia Barantsevitch

INCOMING EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Azariah Charles and Zara Suvanto

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS EMERITAE : Hanna Schiciano and Carol Queiroz

opiNioN editor lydia ettinGer

executive producer , tower Broadcast News azariah Charles zara suvanto

Panda Diplomacy: A sick panda’s plight highlights political tension

Giant panda bears repre sent peace and friend ship. Their black and white coloring aligns with that of the Asian symbol, the Yin Yang, which represents duality, the dif ference that exists in harmony.

Too often, the U.S. and China do not fit within the ideas of a Yin Yang, rather, they are in opposition. Gifting pandas is a tool of diplomacy used by China. YaYa, a 22-year-old panda, was sent from Beijing to Tennessee 20 years ago. She served as a symbol of cooperation between the U.S. and China. What once was a bridge between the two na tions has now become a source of tension.

Recent videos of YaYa depict her as ex tremely thin with patchy fur. This has sparked outrage in China. Now, the Tennessee Zoo has been accused of mistreat ment. The reaction is a symbol of animosity between the US and China. There is already pre-existing ten sions and anti-American sentiment, which has been galvanized by the “pan da issue”. Robert Fish, Dean of Global Stud ies, says, “They view each other with grave suspicion. There is a

Videos of Ding Ding, an active and playful panda, are being compared to YaYa. Chinese media claim Russia is taking excellent care of Ding Ding, whereas the U.S. is neglecting their gift. Chinese and American scientists launched an investigation that concluded that YaYa has a genetic skin and fur condition. It does not affect her quality of life, just her appearance. However,, this finding is not reaching the people in China.

Mikey Lyu, a sophomore at The Masters School, who is

says, “I saw mini videos of the panda on Douyin, which is a Chinese ver sion of TikTok. Those videos were on fire, with millions of likes. There were also many com ments posted. It caught ceeds by serving as the largest holder of U.S. dollars, thereby prop ping up the U.S. economy. Fish says, “There are strong areas of struc tural disagreements and rivalry on economic issues. The United States and Chinese economies are highly

From the first shot of Martin McDonagh’s 2022 film, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” I knew I was about to witness a cinematic masterpiece. With scenes showing the breathtaking valleys of old Ireland to some of the rawest emotions you will see on the screen, it should be added to your movie bucket list as soon as possible. It conveys themes like the importance of people’s actions and the weight it can have on people around them. Now streaming on many entertainment services like Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. and still in some theaters, this is a great film for anyone looking to have their hearts touched.

Set in 1923 in a small town on the Aran coast during the Irish Civil War, The Banshees of Inisherin begins with dim-witted Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell), an Inisherin loafer who is stunned when his best mate, native musician Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson), suddenly and inexplicably breaks off their friendship. It is painful to see the termination of their lifelong relationship, but it gives the audience sorrowful suspense. Farrell, especially, offers one of his most nuanced performances as a

nice guy driven to extremes because of forced loneliness. If not from this film, you may have seen him in the 2015 film, The Lobster which is another thought provoking film.

In the opening scene Pádraic walks through the small isle of Inersherin to meet his best friend Colm down at the pub. He passes the vibrant green rolling hills and says his daily greeting to other locals. When finally met, Colm one-sidedly terminates his friendship with Pádraic. When pressed to explain, he declares, “I just don’t like ye no more.”

When pressed further, he elaborates that Pádraic’s “dull” conversation is holding him back from fulfilling the artistic aspirations to which he wishes to dedicate the rest of his life.

That is how the story starts and a friendship ends. Minimalist yet captivating, all one hour and 45 minutes range with stimulating emotions. The dark comedy captures moments of surprise, hope, and heartbreak. It left me in deep thought which I look for when watching something, for it to hit deeper than the surface. When a film is able to make you form connections into you’re own life about the nature of friendship or solitude, as this one did is something extraordinary special. Unlike a slick Hollywood film, there is rawness and a realness to The Banshee of Inersherin, a movie that we haven’t seen in a while. So don’t miss out on this beautiful gem of a film.

On April 8, many chil dren of all ages wept at “Watching And Dreaming,” the series finale of the beloved animated show “The Owl House.” First airing in January 2020 and having since garnered quite a large fan base, “The Owl House” (TOH) can be found on Disney XD or the streaming service Disney+. It follows a quirky tween named Luz Noceda who discovers a portal into a magical world called the Boiling Isles, which is inhabited by witches and ruled by the evil Emperor Belos. The show did not get picked up for a fourth season, and the third and final season of the show was only three episodes long, unfortunately.

Why was it cut short, despite its good ratings? The most popular theories among fans were that Disney took issue with the show’s LGBTQ+ representation or that the company didn’t have enough money to keep funding the show as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but according to an article on Distractify, TOH showrunner Dana Terrace revealed via Reddit that the reason for the show’s cancellation was simply that it didn’t mesh with the taste of some Disney executives. “At the end of the day, there are a few business people who oversee what fits into the Disney brand and one day one of those guys decided TOH didn’t fit that ‘brand,’” Terrace wrote. “The story is serialized, our audience skews older, and that just didn’t fit this one guy’s tastes. … Really

CHRIS NAPPO uses ceramic skills to fundraise for Ukraine

of show, and I’m very sad that it didn’t get to reach its full potential.”

“The Owl House” isn’t the only cartoon that’s been canceled recently, either; this past January, Hamish Steele, the creator of the Netflix original animated series “Dead End: Paranormal Park”, posted a Tweet announcing the cancellation of his show and leaving myself and its other viewers both sad and confused.

Steele mentioned in this Tweet that they did, in fact, do a writer’s room for season three of the show and that he had always planned to give these characters the happy ending they deserved, but sadly the powers that be put an end to that. The show aired for two seasons and followed two teenag-

ers and a talking pug who fought demons in a haunted amusement park, and I binged the whole first season last summer. Other animated shows that have been canceled include “Inside Job,” “Q-Force,” “Tuca & Bertie,” “City of Ghosts” (which actually won a Peabody award) and “Bad Crimes”, which was canceled before it could even become a series. There isn’t much that we can do as regular people to prevent these cancellations; it seems that even animated shows that are acclaimed are at risk of getting the ax. What I can suggest to you, though, is to watch these shows to see how great they are. Maybe you will even agree with me that they did not deserve to be canceled.

‘The Banshees of Inersherin’ Review: the tragic ending of a life-long friendship

Dear streaming services, leave beloved cartoons alone

grave suspicion. There is a belief that each side has, that the other side creates a potential security threat.”

VARIETY

ELISABETH SKRENTA REVIEWS MARTIN McDonagh’s 2022 film, The Banshees of Inisherin. Skrenta believes the themes of friendship and loneliness were gut-wretching.

Contributing Writer

ELISABETH SKRENTA

Lead Copy Editor

AURORA ROSE HORN

Appreciating and acknowledging our teachers

Duringmy 15 years of schooling, I have witnessed the great importance of educators. I have seen the vast complexities and challenges that they face, especially evident during the recent pandemic. School has taught me countless lessons, but most importantly I have learned to value teachers, who are underpaid, overworked and underappreciated. The recent national decline in teacher pay as well the disparities between teacher income in comparison to compensation for other professions is deplorable. Respect is often shown in a paycheck, therefore teachers must be given fair wages and better retirement plans - and beyond money, they must be given respect. Teachers are tasked with an array of responsibilities that require skill and expertise, assessing student learning, writing lesson plans, and grading student work while working with a range of demanding students. The intensity of the teaching profesions is often overlooked.

“What people don’t get about teaching is that the ten months you’re on, you’re so on!”said Upper School Math Teacher Michele Dennis,who started at Masters in 1996, and after leaving for two years, came back and is now on her 25th year.

“Every night and every weekend you’ve got work that you have to bring home. By the time summer comes, I’m exhausted. At the end of each year I feel like I’m ready to give up teaching, but then the summer happens and I’m like, I can do this one more year.”

“There is so much work that takes place outside of the school day. Teachers must put in a

crazy amount of work while also balancing their lives outside of the classroom,” Masters senior Sarah Chernoff, an Elementary and Early Childhood Education major, said. Skilled educators have the ability to transform young lives, but this requires passion, extensive knowledge, and unseen hard work. “The more you enjoy teaching, the more time you’re going to spend trying to make really awesome lessons. I don’t even use the same worksheets that I made the previous year. I revise them and revamp them. You could say, I am making work for myself, which I am, but I wouldn’t feel like a good teacher if I didn’t,” Dennis said. According to The U.S. Census Bureau, between 2010 and 2019 the average income of teachers in the United States declined by 4.4%, from $59,529 to $57,033. This decrease in salary is made worse by inflation rates over 6%. Teachers are underpaid compared to other careers with similar educational requirements. According to Erstrategies, teacher salaries today are 14%- 25% lower than salaries for other professions available to college graduates. While teacher pay has stalled, the cost of a fouryear degree has nearly doubled. A 2022 paper “The Rise and Fall of the Teaching Profession,” found that interest in teaching has fallen among high school seniors and college freshmen to the lowest level in the last 50 years.

“I think the fact that teaching is such a challenging and underpaid position really steers people away from it. It’s hard to commit to such a time-consuming job if you’re not making enough money to support yourself,” Chernoff said.

While fewer young people aspire to be teachers, existing teachers are leaving the profession in large numbers. According to a National Education Association

(NEA) 55 percent of educators are thinking about leaving the profession earlier than they had planned. These findings warrant serious attention on the national level. “College is crazy, crazy, crazy expensive! A lot of times you’re going to pay more to go to school than you’re gonna end up making. It doesn’t seem very appealing to pay around 50,000 to 100,00 dollars for a degree in education if you’re gonna come out making maybe half of that,” Chernoff said.

Although the interest in teaching has significantly dropped, there are still young adults and current teachers willing to overlook th e challenges of the

job. “I don’t want to be that person who spends the rest of their life doing something they hate… I don’t want to go home miserable. There are so many rewards to teaching that outweigh the

challenges.

I know I’m going to love teaching because I know I will have the ability to make an impact on students. Teachers are incredibly needed,” Chernoff said.

Current teachers might feel dissatisfied with certain aspects of their career, however, some still feel passion and privilege to be in the classroom. “I sometimes think I could make a career change, but I can’t think of anything I would want to do. Teaching is the only thing that I really enjoy! I enjoy being with high school students because they keep me young. It’s really uplifting and inspiring to be with high schoolers. I’d rather

spend my days with high school students than with adults,” Dennis said.

The future of teaching is uncertain. Although some people can look past the difficulties of teaching others are reluctant to pursue a career, which is emotionally rewarding but not in financial terms. Teachers who dedicate their lives to education should not have to sacrifice their well-being and family life due to stagnating pay and constant financial stress. There need to be fewer drawbacks and more incentives given to teachers. The role of educators is imperative to a flourishing society.

Bring back the senior lounge

www

Noah Kassell-yuNg

Lead Sports Editor

Every year I’ve been at Masters, my grade has had an area in the school that most people would flock to -

wards during breaks. Unfortunately, this year this is no longer true - there’s no space reserved for the senior class. I feel that Masters and the seniors should create a senior lounge again. When I was a freshman, before

the Masters Hall renovations, I remember there being a lounge on the garden level of Masters Hall, and while my friends and I spent a lot of time there, a place where students could gravitate towards was a privilege. While that lounge

wasn’t specifically for seniors, I recall hearing stories from friends who had older siblings of the seniors who had their own lounge. The lounge was a cool senior privilege that united the grade, and it’s time we bring this back.

A walk around campus will show that there are spaces where the seniors hang out, mostly around the entrance to the library, but there isn’t a space that the grade can make their own– where everyone would want to spend time together.

Multiple seniors have complained that the underclassmen take up the most desirable spaces on campus– there becomes a competition to occupy certain spaces.

Senior Francesco Desiderio commented on the crowded spaces and the want for a senior lounge. He said, “The library gets too crowded, so it would be nice to have one designated place for the seniors.” He continued, “A space that the seniors could have ownership over would hopefully bond the grade in a way that the class has lost since the pandemic.”

Past senior lounges have occupied multiple spaces on campus including on the first floor of the dining hall, in the library and even on the top floor of Masters Hall. Senior David Fer -

rando had two older siblings that utilized their senior lounges. He said that they would spend their free time together playing video games and socializing in their lounge.

The argument against a senior lounge is that having such a space would exclude most of the upper school students and that the seniors would be more removed and separated from the rest of the school. However, I believe that that argument would be trumped by the privilege the seniors would receive from having a space of their own.

Starting next year, the space on the first floor of the dining hall now occupied by the IEC will not have a use because the new IEC building is opening. While many programs are surely hankering to occupy that space, one of the rooms should be

designated as a senior lounge.

Ferrando said, “A senior lounge would allow us to see people more often, especially since there isn’t a set spot that people go during their frees when they have no work to do.”

As a senior, I’ve tried to find spaces where seniors primarily hangout to potentially interact with different people outside of my normal circle. The missing communal space hinders the bonding that could and should happen as seniors. One of the rooms under the dining hall should turn into that space that the seniors can take ownership of.

Current junior Silas Rosenfeld hopes to enjoy such a privilege for his senior year. He said, “I think any rising senior would want to see a senior lounge that’s just dedicated to us.”

TOWER/JOSH MARKOWITZ

A senior lounge would allow us to see people more often, especially since there isn’t a set spot that people go during their frees when they have to do to.

- David Ferrando ‘23

TOWER/SYDNEY STARKEY

MAYA PHILLIPS ARGUES THAT teachers deserve more. In her op-ed she the decline in teacher pay. Additionally, Phillips shares that interest in teaching has fallen drastically amoung younger generations. She argues that there need to be fewer drawbacks and more incentives given to teachers.

NOAH KASSELL-YUNG DISCUSSES the need for a senior lounge. In the past seniors were given a designated space on campus, however this is no longer the case. Kassell-Yung believes that next years seniors, should have a lounge located in the basement of the Cameron Mann dining hall. This would alllow seniors to bond with their fellow classmates.

-Michele Dennis

I’d rather spend my days with high school students

I think the fact that teaching is such a challenging and underpaid position really steers people away from it. It’s hard to commit to such a time-consuming job if you’re not making enough money to support yourself.”

- Sarah Chernoff

lanova Univer-

Nakum Muhlenburg College Kathy Christie

Drexel University Noah Kassell-Yung Aidan Meltzer Avalon Golden

Stony Brook University

Ashleigh Woodruff

Ava Bashew

Hanna Frasca

Barnard College

Sophia Semczuk

Columbia University

David Medina

DeyanairaHaileCooreMinnifield

UniversityatBuffalo

BatesCollege

NicholasCharlieAnhouse

College of Wooster

Baird Hruska

RochesterInstituteof Technology

StellaSimonds

Oberlin College

Lorelei

McCarthy

Noah Lin

Duke University

LeoShatzoff

Lusardi

Charlie Cooper

Kenyon College

American University

UniversityofVermont

SabineGodwin

GeorgetownUniversity

MiddleburyCollege

Aofie Fortuna

Owen Edelson

AdulSamon

HenryEisenbeis

UniversityofMaryland HannahShapiro

SarahCameronLovett

Denison University

Benjamin New

Purdue University

Yawen Wang

Northwestern University

Cestaro

Markowitz

Delilah Vega

PennsylvaniaStateUniversity

CaseWesternReserve DayanBattulga

Chernoff

GeorgeWashingtonUniversity

TannerDandridge

CamilaArthur TylerHack

Hanna Schiciano

Viktoriia Sokolenko

Vanderbilt University

Marianna Gu

Washington University

Hannah Raab

Hao (August) Liu

Tim Yang

Lauren Marlowe

Grinnell College

Oluwademilade Oni

Luke Byrnes

Florida Southern College

Dakota Daniello

2 University

Morgan Young

3

University of Miami

Josh Barshay

Jack Borwick

Rice University

Kenneth Crump

Kuorkor Ashie

University of Denver

Jagger Gossett

University of Colorado

Boulder

Mir Ahmed

Jordyn White

Claremont McKenna College

Nicolas Riley

Occidental College

Will Tarica

UC Los Angeles

Jesse Xu

UC Berkeley

Nataliia Kulieshova

American University of Paris

Maya Phillips

Note: the students included responded to a survey sent out by Tower to the Class of 2023, asking for their permission to be included on the college map. Those not shown did not respond.

Design & data collection by Editor-in-chief Emeriti Maia Barantsevitch and Ellie Yang With help from TBN Executive Producer Emeritus Hanna Schiciano

Furthest

The Power of Journaling

Aviv EmEry

When many people were younger, they wrote in diaries, writing about their day or small things, and some people may look back on these diaries as childish, they were actually more beneficial than we could have imagined.

Suppose you’ve just gotten a bad grade in school or in a fight with your boyfriend. Maybe you’re stressed and exhausted for finals, but you don’t know how to tell anyone about it. So you don’t. Instead of having the stress of putting your difficult feelings into words, you write them down. You, only for yourself, write down everything you’re feeling in an unfiltered light.

Believe it or not, journaling can actually help you train your brain to feel more peace and happiness, which helps your brain slow down the production of stress hormones and produce more endorphins (peptides produced by the brain which block feeling of pain

and increase feelings of happiness).

Elijah Brooks ‘24 wrote his TedX Talk on self-care, focusing a lot on the power of journaling. Brooks said,“I started journaling in the fourth grade because my teacher gave me a notebook, and I just started writing. At first I was using it as a joke, like pretending I was the main char-

itude, and celebrating the good things in your life every day can improve your mental health amazing amounts.”

It’s just nice to have at the end of the day. Did your day go good, did your day go bad?

It’s just nice to write something down, you know?”

- Elijah Brooks

acter in a TV show, I was just writing about my day and stuff that happened. Then, I started using it different ways, I began using it as a self-help tool.”

Though wmany people have grown out of the version of journaling they did in elementary school, studies show that journaling helps with depression, anxiety, and what high school students often feel the most, stress.

For students, getting to know yourself by writing can help with a lot of aspects you wouldn’t think. Your social, mental, even physical health could be improved. Journaling can encourage self-confidence, boost emotional intelligence, helps with achieving goals, inspires creativity, boosts memory, enhances critical thinking skills, heightens academic performance and even increases writing skill and performance.

Brooks agreed with the benefits. He said, “It definitely has improved my mental health. It’s not a complete fix, but the main benefit is just awareness? You become much more aware of your thoughts.”

Journaling can help you process things for yourself rather than immediately sharing happy moments with other peo

AYANNA

Insert Name

Insert Name

where they come from and how to solve them, as well as giving a space to talk both positively and negatively about yourself and other people without hurting anyone else or yourself. One important thing is to try to keep a journal consistently. Moss said, “It’s also a daily practice, like a meditation,

it gives you a rhythm, it helps you create order when you feel like your world is in chaos.” That way, even when there isn’t anything going on in your life, journaling can help you become more able to express your emotions when an actual problem arises. The next time you’re angry, happy, or upset, try writing something down. Write a poem, a song,

E N I S R T N A M E

By Nate Borwick, Sam Scheinbach, Ella Dundas, and Ellie Yang

By Nate Borwick, Sam Scheinbach, Ella

Dundas,

and Ellie Yang

maybe just a line about what’s bothering you or making you happy. Potentially, it’ll help, and become a regular part of your life.

Brooks finished by saying, “It’s just nice to have at the end of the day. Did your day go good, did your day go bad? It’s just nice to write something down, you know?”

MATTHIAS JAYLEN/TOWER

Copy Editor

‘24

On May 4, the Masters community gathered at the Experimental Theater to see the spring shorts: one-act, student-directed and written plays. This is only the second year that the school’s theater company, Mainstage, has produced Spring Shorts, but they have proven to be quite a success. Students, faculty, and parents crowded the house on both performance nights.

Overall, the audience could see three plays: “Harton Springs,” written by Tucker Smith ‘21 and directed by Viviana Simon ‘24, “A Front Row Seat to Murder,” written by Mckarthy Grimes ‘24 and directed by Matthias Jaylen ‘24, and “Rom Com from Hell,” written by Emerson Riter ‘25 and directed by Avalon Golden ‘23.

“Harton Springs” is the second story written by Masters alumna Tucker Smith. His play, “Understaffed,” was performed by Mainstage last year. At the center of the story, set in the 1980s in rural Florida, is the developing relationship between Stephanie and Diana, played by Willow Maniscalco ‘24 and Ellie Schalkwyk ‘24 respectively. Diana has recently arrived at Harton Springs from Singapore, shocking the local community, where the only entertainment for bored teenagers are drugs, alcohol, or collecting car plates as Stephanie does.

Since the play was written by another student, everyone involved tried extra hard to honor their work and convey the original idea of the play.

“Because these [student-written] shows feel more connected to you, as another student, you want to make

performing: students do it all in the Spring Shorts

that student proud,” Maniscalco said. “This is someone else’s creative piece of work, and it’s the first time it’s being performed. You want to portray it in a way that will make them feel like they’re accomplished as a screenwriter.”

Another play, “Rom Com from Hell,” starts with the arrival of Rey, played by Ray Cassese ‘26, to a purgatory where it turns out that they can not be placed in heaven or hell. To deal with the consequences of Rey’s uneventful life, an angel Anais (Gabriela Olay ‘25) and a demon Izra (Alex Cooperstock ‘25) decide to go against the rules of the otherworld, which leads to even more havoc, love confessions, and plot twists.

from the actor’s movements to their expressions and inflections.

Golden said, “I never realized how vague it would be to have to work with an actual script. And how much of it I would have to come up with myself, like a lot of the side relationships and then Rey kind of being forgotten [at the end]. I remember that was a big thing for me because Rey didn’t have a lot of lines even though they were technically one of the main characters. So that’s kind of why I gave them the ending scene because I was like, ‘This is your moment, have it.’”

It was a very out of body experience. It felt unreal, but also like, ‘Oh, my God, like I wrote those words, and they’re being performed so well by real actors.’”

- Mckarthy Grimes ‘24

The final play performed, “A Front Row Seat to Murder,” mixes suspense, murder, and humor as it invites the audience to see the premiere of another play along with the detective and detective assistant (Oliver Kreeger ‘24 and Gifty Baah ‘25 respectively). Grimes wrote the script as a junior after completing her playwriting class. She took inspiration from “The Play That Goes Wrong” and murder mystery movies like “Knives Out” or “Murder on the Orient Express.”

“I kind of combined the two where it’s like, the audience thinks they are sitting in for a normal play, then a murder happens, then it turns out the murder was in the play, and then it’s left ambiguously,” Grimes said.

With scripts being mainly dialogues, student directors had to make many inferences about the play. In fact, most of the staging was decided by the directors:

Since a lot of the play is open to interpretation, spring shorts also gave actors creative freedom in the production.

Maniscalco said, “This year with [our director], it was very much [like] she’ll tell us how to do something, and we’ll be like, ‘But what if this?’ and it’s much more like a conversation. We got to make some of our own directions, probably, much more creatively than you would if it was a more formal directing situation.”

Other actors also appreciated the ability to work together as a team. Olay, who was a lead in “Rom Com from Hell” said, “I think it was really fun to have someone who is around your age to be directing you. It felt more like a collaboration than just someone being in charge of you and what you do.”

While facilitating cooperation on the set, the small age difference also complicated the dynamic between the directors and actors. Students often found it harder to attribute authority to their peers.

Skye Pearlman ‘25, who per-

formed in both “Rom Com from Hell” and “A Front Row Seat to Murder,” said, “I think there is a level to which [student directors] can connect with [other] students. While they’re your “boss,” they can also be your friend. But also I just think, student directors have to work harder because they are not like a teacher who has the immediate respect of everyone.” Directors had to learn to deal with the complicated power dynamic while still creating a friendly and supportive environment.

For Golden, being a senior helped

the to establish authority among younger students acting in her show.

“I guess you’d have to find a balance between having fun and also getting work done,” Golden said. “I think out of the majority of the directors, being an authority figure [for me] was a lot easier, especially since I am used to taking charge of things. And my priority was, the sooner we get things done, the more time they have free. We probably finished staging maybe like a week and a half before tech week. I was able to keep them on task but it was also necessary for us to have

moments when we made jokes and had fun.”

As the shows were finalized and put together, all three student writers came to see their work come to life.

“It was a very out of body experience,” Grimes said. “It felt unreal, but also like, ‘Oh, my God, like I wrote those words, and they’re being performed so well by real actors.’ So it was definitely a good experience. And I was nervous every single night. I saw it all three nights, and I was still nervous by the end.”

Viktoriia Sokolenko Staff Writer

MASTER’S MAINSTAGE PRESENTS THEIR performance of “A Front Row Seat to Murder,” written by Mckarthy Grimes ‘24 and directed by Matthias Jaylen ‘24. Oliver Kreeger ‘24 and Gifty Baah ‘25, portraying the detective and detective’s assistant respectively, investigate a shocking murder that unfolds right behind the audience’s eyes.

MEG O’CONNOR/TOWER

Follow NOT OR

out, they did a gradewide poll with three options: not starting an account at all, starting an account and posting after winter break or starting an account and posting when all decisions are out after spring break.

Previously, high school seniors would find out where their friends were attending college from word of mouth, but things have changed: nowadays, seniors can find out where their friends are headed just by scrolling through their Instagram feed.

Masters adapted to this new “norm” a few years ago, hence the @mastersseniors2020, @masters2021college, and @masters2022decisions Instagram accounts. On these accounts, seniors have the option of sending the account admins a message saying what college they will be attending, and this information gets posted along with a photo (usually a baby picture) of the senior.

This past fall, Class of 2023 Co-Presidents Tyler Hack and Aimee Ayala knew that they would need to bring up the idea of creating an Instagram page for their grade. Though not inclined to do it, the class presidents knew that this discussion was inevitable. At a class meeting in November, before early decisions came

The majority of their grade picked the second option, but wanted to start the account then (before any regular decisions came out), so that was what they did. Ayala and Hack didn’t believe the account was necessary, but they started it nonetheless.

“I was hesitant to start posting, it felt hurtful to post someone’s decision to a school where I knew others didn’t get the same result from,” Ayala said.

As of May 15, the @masters2023decisions account on Instagram had 89 posts from the 129 kids in the soon-to-be graduating class. 34 students had opted out of submitting their decisions to this account. One of those students was Nat Attwell.

“I just don’t see the point in advertising your college,” Attwell said. “People will probably judge you without ever meeting you. I think the college process is not a quantifiable ranking of a person’s ability.”

Despite following the account

since it came out, Attwell has chosen to not send his decision, nor include it in his Instagram bio. Attwell said, “I like to keep my decision private, I’d rather tell people in person myself where I am going to college instead of them having an image of me that is colored by the name of the college I will be attending.” Despite the potential

“

judge you

way to praise and recognize the hard work that we’ve all put in these past four years and to see where your classmates are going and their next destination because we’ve been with these people for a while at their next destination.” She continued, “Whether I know the person or not, I always get really happy when I see a new post, because I am aware of all the hard work that went into that decision” There are some observed benefits to the whole community when it comes to having a page with college decisions.

ever meeting you. I think the college process is not a quantifiable ranking of a person’s ability. “

harms of the account, senior Kuorkor Ashie is in favor of the account and posting for her friends’ college acceptances.

Ashie said, “I think it’s a great

Sophomore Gabriela Olay has found the page to be rewarding when she sees where older friends have gotten in. “I would say that it’s much easier to find out online from a post where my peers are going than having to bother them during such a stressful time in their life,” Olay said. She continued, “It makes it easier for everyone when I don’t have to go up to them until I can congratulate them.”

SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED the relationship between students and their prospective schools. For the fourth year in a row, Masters seniors have participated in the college decision Instagram trend.

Public disinterest in coronation

aia Barantsveich Editor-In-Chief Emeritus

here were 2,200 people, 400 representatives, 203 countries, and one throne. On Saturday, May 6, 2023, King Charles and his wife Camilla were crowned King and Queen, at Westminster Abbey, London. The ceremony was conducted by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Ceremony saw His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort.

The Coronation reflected the monarch’s role today and looked towards the future, while also being rooted in long-standing traditions and pageantry.

The last coronation before this one took place over 70 years ago,but in those 70 years, a divide has formed between the royal family and their status in the world’s eyes. A recent study commissioned by the BBC through YouGov, conducted ahead of the event, found that the majority of young Brits are “not interested” in the royal family and believe the newly-anointed king is “out of touch.” Yet several controversies around the royal

institution have nabbed significant headlines as some view the monarchy itself to be outdated.

Senior Esmé Talenfeld, finds that the pageantry of the coronation is an ill-timed event. “I think that having a multimillion dollar ceremony while the U.K is currently in a cost of living crisis does not paint a good picture. The whole tradition is rooted in this prehistoric rhetoric,” she said.

Other students, such as Josh Barshay ‘23, were not even aware that Britain’s most historic occasion was taking place. “I didn’t even know there was a coronation,” Barshay said..

Not only did many citizens refuse to participate in this revelry, famous music stars including Adele, Harry Styles, The Spice Girls and Robbie Williams all allegedly rejected an invitation to perform at the coronation concert, possibly because of the royal family’s “PR disasters.”

“The royal family has faced a number of PR disasters in recent times, and anyone performing at the show would have to consider whether there would be a backlash from appearing amongst their fans,” Simon Jones, a publicist for Little Mix, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, told Rolling Stone in March.

Even Britain’s citizens themselves have collected a multitude of

reasons for not watching or participating in this grand ceremony. Reasons range from feeling that the coronation wastes public money, is not worth the energy of participating, not thinking Charles deserves to be king and the fact that the monarchy has no place in modern society. The latter dispute is a contention for many in the younger generations. According to the British Social Attitudes Surveys, which regularly asks how important or unimportant it is for Britain to have a monarchy, the numbers have dropped significantly in the last 30 years. Before 1994, on average, 66 percent of citizens said having a monarchy was “very” or “quite” important. But after the divorce then death of Princess Diana, the “very important” description of the monarchy fell to below 30 percent.

After three of the late Queen Elizabeth’s children decided to separate from or divorce their partners, the “royal family” was no longer seen as very royal nor familial. Since the late nineties, the need for a monarchy has been an ever-increasing question, and the coronation of King Charles has only furthered the division between history and society. As we begin and continue to view the work of the newly appointed King Charles, the attitude towards the monarchy will remain unsteady in an already erratic world.

DID YOU KNOW?

This coronation is only the second televised in the history of the Crown.

The King exited in a golden carriage from the 1760s.

There have been 39 coronations since the first in 1066.

-NAT ATTWELL’23

People will probably

without

KING CHARLES’ CORONATION WAS attended by approximately 2,200 people. While over 70 years ago Queen Elizabeth reined in over 8,000 attendees for her coronation. The decline in loyalty to the royal family has been on downhill path for the past 7 decades. The reasons vary from anger toward the monarchy to disinterest in the historic traditions.

h istory of m asters

and get nothing.”

- Eliza Masters

August 9, 1877, The Misses Masters’ Boarding and Day School for Young Ladies and Children officially opened its doors. Since then, this small ‘finishing school’ has moved, built, rebuilt, expanded and flourished into The Masters School of today. Whether it is the stained glass windows of Masters Hall, or the creaking steps of the old stairwell, this place has witnessed the history that is taught in its classrooms. So what really is the impact of the larger historical contexts on Masters? And how did it become the school it is today?

1914 - 1918

In 1917, as the U.S. became officially involved in the First World War, Dobbs girls knitted 658 pairs of socks and 294 sweaters for servicemen, while the school team names (now Delta and /Phi) were changed from Princeton and Yale to Army and Navy. Beyond Dobbs Ferry, Masters alumnae were serving in the Red Cross and volunteer -

ing for the war efforts around the world. Margaret Benedict, Masters alumna, wrote in her July 1917 letter back to “Dobbs”, “We are actually at the front now within sound of anon and we frequently see the airplanes, which is most exciting. We are living in a tent and it certainly looks like a circus. Eighteen of us eat and sleep in the same tent. We have a bulldog, Cheeky, two kit -

1941 - 1944

In September of 1941, Ann Atkins (now Ann Atkins Clarke) joined The Masters School in the class of 1944. Coming from Indianapolis, Indiana, Clarke was anxious about joining a school on the East Coast at first. But now, nearly 80 years later, she looks back at her time at Masters fondly, “It was a dream, I was on my own, and it turned out wonderful.”

In describing a day in her life in the 1940s at Masters, many rules and routines may seem unfamiliar to a current Masters student. The school was made up of mostly boarders at the time, and the girls lived and ate together every day of the week. “I was in the

1920 - 1935

World War I Depression

tens and a magpie. They are quite friendly and awfully cunning.”

And on Armistice Day in November of 1918, students “marched through the village and back to Estherwood where we sang the National Anthem and saluted the flag,” according to a letter a student at the time wrote home.

In the 1930, as the Depression set in, all Masters faculty salaries were reduced by 5%, and were cut once again in 1933. During the same time, the very first scholarship amounting to 25,000 dollars was created and tuition was lowered in the face of decreasing enrollment.

Alumna Spotlight: Ann Atkins Clarke ‘44

Hill House, then I lived in Estherwood my senior year, right across the hall from the Headmistress. Only seniors were allowed to go up the staircase, and there were a lot of seniors in Estherwood, which was very special and great fun,” Clarke recalled.

On Sunday nights, speakers would come on campus to represent different religious backgrounds as well as educate the girls on world events at the time.

While the weekends were slow in the dormitories, the weekdays for Clarke were filled with courses and rules. For Clarke, the Communications Rule stood out: “When we went from one class to another, we were not allowed to smile or communicate in any manner. It was ridiculous, but I found it very nice because if you smiled at one person and forgot to smile and wave hi to another, they might think you were snubbing them or something.”

Academically, Clarke said she enjoyed many of her courses and found it to be a highlight of her time at Masters, though chemistry gave her some trouble. She said, “I remember I was given special permission by the academic dean. I was

1972 - 2005

allowed to stay up as late as I wanted to to be assisted by a very smart classmate in chemistry, which I was flunking. But I managed to get a D+, and she got me through the test, that was a good thing.”

Outside of class, Clark was also a part of the Dobbs Athletics Association (DAA) “I was president of the DAA, and that was a big deal. And the Phi and Deltas competed against each other, which was great fun, because we couldn’t travel to other schools because of the gas rationing and so forth,” Clarke said.

Due to the Second World War, the girls were not able to leave campus, so sports and clubs afterschool became the main hub for activities. Clarke said, “I had very very good friends, and one particular friend who later worked at Dobbs [Masters] and we would play a lot of sports together. We’d play ping pong, or badminton, or do anything athletic. So that was fun.”

Having joined Masters only a few months before Pearl Harbor, the historical context affected Clarke’s entire time at the school. “I will never forget. We were listening to the radio when Pearl Harbor occurred. And I think it did make us

all much more of a community. Because everyone had someone they knew, a friend, a brother, who was serving in the armed forces.” Due to a shortage of manpower as well as resources, the students, including Clarke, washed their dishes and waited tables themselves during their years at Masters.

Beyond their school years, Clarke said that her generation was affected by both before and after their time in the Masters community. “My brother was in WWII, and my son was in Vietnam, and my father was in WWI, so I don’t think there’s ever been a time in my long life that someone hasn’t been in a war.”

After leaving Masters, Clarke went to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and married her husband, Charles Clarke, with whom she had seven children. She then lived in both New York and New Haven, working as a teacher and coach in schools including Yale University.

Now 97 years old, Clarke paused after recounting the above, and said, “It’s been a good life.”

Notable events

1987: Affected by the economic environment, former infirmary was named the Francis R. Masters Science Center.

1996: Masters turns co-ed and opens campus to male students for the first time after experiencing under-enrollment.

1996: The harkness table was introduced to Masters.

2001: September 11. The school gathered in the dining hall to receive the news. Fortunately, no member of the Masters community was lost.

2005: The Middle School building opens with 15 initial classrooms.

2023

Masters hosts Reunion Weekend

This past weekend, May 19 to May 20, Masters student and faculty alumni from 1944 - 2019 gathered in Dobbs Ferry for a range of events. On Friday May 20, they arrived on campus greeted by a 50th year reunion dinner, and were invited to watch Macbeth, the spring play. The next day there was

a range of activities and classes for the alumni to attend. Starting off with a lunch and an address from Laura Danforth, then moving into more events. Among these were Gold Key tours, highlighting the changes on campus for those who hadn’t visited in years, class of 1973 tree-planting sessions, current Masters classes, and more. Ann Atkins Clarke, fea-

tured in the above article, received the Eliza Bailey Masters award for spearheading dobbs alumni branch in New Haven.

See podcasts featuring alumni from the reunion on tower.mastersny.org

1972: The Masters Hall fire damaged the building, leading to its reconstruction.

“Some girls will learn a great deal in this school. Others will stay just as long

Photo credits (top to bottom): Ellen Cowhey, Masterpieces 1976 and Katherine Horn, Masterpieces 1944, Emily Brumming

ANN ATKINS CLARKE ‘44 attends the 2023 reunion weekend with her daughters Annie Clarke ’79 and Susie Clarke ‘70.

UPPERCLASSMEN OUTSIDE THE SMOKING room in the common area of the dorms in a photo captured by the 1976 yearbook.

PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE 1944 year book featuring students out on a field day.

PHOTO OF STUDENTS PARTICIPATING in a Maypole ceremony found in Emily Brumming’s journal. Brumming was a student at Masters in 1912.

Unclaimed lost items find new fate as school year ends

Rooke Wiser Accountability/Media Advancement Manager

Every year, the Masters campus becomes home to a stockpile of lost possessions as hundreds of students and faculty members lose their belongings. Each time a lost item is found, it gets brought to the security office in Strayer Hall and put into an enormous closet, bursting at the seams with an assortment of forgotten memorabilia.

Despite the diligent efforts to locate the rightful owners, a significant number of items remain unclaimed, leading to hundreds of shoes, shirts, sweatshirts, earbuds, pants, mugs and other items of unknown ownership still in the

school’s possession at the end of the school year.

To combat this overwhelming accumulation, the security team is devising a new approach to tackle the buildup. Recognizing the need for a more manageable and efficient system, they have begun to implement a method of gradually transitioning items from the sealed, locked closet into open racks of clothes. This new approach allows community members to independently search for and reclaim their belongings without constant intervention from the security team.

As the academic year draws to a close, the goal is to transform the first-floor exit of Strayer Hall into an open lost and found for items lost but never claimed during the

school year.

The security team will set up multiple racks and tables, where they will notify the community that if someone has lost anything during the school year, they should come and collect it at the tables. Unfor tunately, though, even implement ing tables does not fully combat the issue. As Director of Safety and Security Victor Seguinot said, “In terms of lost jewelry, airpods—you can’t put that out on the table.”

Nevertheless, despite all these efforts, not all items will be collect ed. The school decides to donate these unclaimed items to charity.

“If things are not claimed in a timely fashion, what happens is that—sometime in July—we have someone in the neighborhood collecting clothing for people who need it. And so, we donate it to that person. She takes it, she comes here with a van, picks everything up, and cleans up the closet for us.”

Unfortunately, the daily influx of lost items has overwhelmed the team’s capacity to manage the situation effectively. “It is hard for us to keep up with because we’re talking about every single day there is something lost, even laptops.” Seguinot said. “But, for the most part, we try to figure out what belongs to you, especially expensive stuff.” The team continues to find

If things are not claimed in a timely fashion, what happens is that—sometime in July—we have someone in the neighborhood collecting clothing for people who need it. And so, we donate it to that person. She takes it, she comes here with a van, picks everything up, and cleans up the closet for us.

- Victor Seguinot, Director of Safety and Security

themselves overwhelmed and illequipped to handle this responsibility. Seguinot reflects, “I don’t know how security adopted this job of the lost and found. Maybe because of the fact that some stuff is expensive, I guess, but we don’t really have the time to keep up with it.”

Complicating matters further, the issue extends beyond the im -

mediate school year. Parents sometimes contact the security team months after graduation, hoping to recover lost items belonging to their children. “We have parents calling saying, ‘My son, you know, we just realized he lost his coat, blah blah blah, do you have it here?’ And most of the times I try to keep expensive stuff here. But the stuff that we give away, we have

concern from students regarding their lost belongings. Seguinot said he thinks that students from different socioeconomic backgrounds may perceive the value of lost items differently. He said “I find that some of the kids who do come looking for this stuff are probably not in the same income bracket. That makes sense, right? If you’re a kid that comes from a family with money, you tend to lose something, and it gets replaced, and no questions asked, basically.”

Seguinot, who noticed the same problem upon his arrival three years ago, suggests implementing proactive measures to address the issue. He proposes making announcements about the lost and found during school assemblies, in both the Middle School and Upper School, as well as in the school newspaper. By distributing the information widely, it would improve communication within the community and ensure a smoother process for lost and found items.

FULL SERVICE COMMERCIAL GRADE CLEANING

SterileMed is leading the way in the new-age of cleaning by fusing technology with exceptional service. In addition to our traditional janitorial services, we offer innovative cleaning solutions with a strong focus on disinfecting and sterilizing high traffic facilities. Our leadership team has over 50 years of experience in the cleaning industry and is a preferred vendor to countless offices, major hospitals and big box retailers. Whether you run a small office, large building or even a warehouse, we can provide you with a customized cleaning solution to keep your facility running beautifully.

Janitorial Services:

Complete Maintenance Programs

Disinfecting & Sanitizing Services

Day Porter Services & Lobby Attendants

Floor Care & Restoration

Post Construction Clean-Up

Window Treatment 24/7 Cleaning Services Industries We Service:

Professional Office Buildings

Residential Condo, Co-Op & Townhouse Developme

Children’s

PILES OF CLOTHES ARE left unclaimed in a small cabinet in the lost and found. They have been in there since the beginning of the semester.

ROOKE WISER/TOWER

STUDENTS FROM PRIVILEGED FAMILIES often have less motivation in finding their lost belongings because what they lose can soon be replaced. Piles of clothes from the lost and found are donated to charity each summer.

ROOKE WISER/TOWER

Arthur helps lead girls’ lacrosse to strong finish

SAndrA liu Social Media Manager

Camila Arthur ‘23 has always loved playing lacrosse. As one of the three seniors on this year’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team, her importance is greatly appreciated by the team.

“Camila is always driven. She cares a lot about the team. She just wanted to make sure everyone is okay,” Sabine Godwin 23’, Arthur’s longtime teammate, explained.

At the beginning of the season, girls’ varsity lacrosse did not find much success. They lost three away games in a row. After a long adjustment, the team has finally found the tactics and strategy that suits them best.

ARTHUR winds up a pass in a home match against Marymount School on April 21. Arthur was crucial in pushing her team to win 15 to 14. Since that match, the girls varsity team went undefeated, finishing the year on a very strong note. Arthur has been playing the sport since the sixth grade.

lacrosse team in my middle school because it was a requirement. It was frustrating at first because I couldn’t grasp how to cradle, but I continued to practice and I began to really enjoy playing on the field.”

Arthur’s obsession with lacrosse was sparked by many different factors. “I love lacrosse because playing gives you this crazy feeling of freedom and control. The field is my favorite place to let go of some anger, learn new skills, and meet new people,” she said.

Arthur said the team’s last game against Wooster left an impression on her. “We put an end to their undefeated season. We had a solid defense and consistent communication, and our team bond grew stronger the longer we played.”

I love lacrosse because playing gives you this crazy feeling of freedom and control. The field is my favorite place to let go of some anger, learn new skills, and meet new people.”

- Camilla Arthur

They won a home match against the Marymount School on April 21, by a score of 15-14 and have not lost since.

Arthur started playing lacrosse at Masters her sophomore year. However, Masters is not the starting line of her lacrosse career.

Arthur found her passion for lacrosse at a young age: when she started playing lacrosse in the sixth grade, she realized that she had talent in this sport. She said, “I joined the

As she said, the team cannot win without cohesion, and the bond between this team is uniquely close.

“My best memories from this season were prepping team pb&j’s with Jennica, competitions during practice, team breakfast, our last game, and our numerous munchkin celebrations,” Arthur said This season was Arthur’s final lacrosse season at Masters. Even though she will not continue to play lacrosse in college, the rare experiences and deep friendships that lacrosse has brought her will always be with her.

Record number of runners leads to school records

AlexA Murphy News Editor

This spring track season has shown incredible turnout in the quantity and quality of runners. The athletes have worked tirelessly to first qualify for and then place at prestigious meets, beating long-established school records in their respective events.

On the weekend of May 2, the team broke various records at the coveted Fairchester Athletic Association Track Invitational, at our own Masters campus. Scrolling through the meet’s website displaying the meet’s results, viewers are met with a sea of “The Masters School,” filling first, second, and third place spots across the board.

More recently, at the May 6 FAA Invitational, Masters placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the men’s 100m, with excellent times from runners Jake Mason, Demi Oni, and Nicholas Lusardi, respectively.

Accordingly, the trio is going to New Balance Nationals for the men’s 100m—a truly impressive feat given the quality of runners who will attend the meet, with track all- stars like Noah Lyles competing against Masters students.

On May 6, Masters also placed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place in the men’s 200m, 3rd in the men’s 800m, 2nd in the 4 by 400, and 4th in the ultra-competitive men’s 400m.

“The track team has some of its biggest numbers to date in members this year—[it’s] an absolutely massive team and we’re having one of our most successful years in over a decade.”Toby Freeman ‘24, (a member of the track team since his freshman year) said.

“In our last weekend (May 6th) we were running champs, and in multiple events the boys scored many points and the girls also scored a few. Our boys came third in the league, girls came 7th. And the boys swept all the points for the one hundred meter dash,” Freeman said.

Among the team’s most accomplished runners is August Liu ‘23, who has run on the team only since his junior year. Liu set the school record for the men’s 1500 meter with a time of 4:26.43 at the May 6

FAA meet, and despite his compar atively short running career, he has distinguished himself as one of the fastest runners on the team.

“I ran track junior year but not seriously because I needed to fill a requirement for graduation.

During Covid, I just thought it was something I had to get through but when I started running it was more so the cross country season this year,” Liu said. “It might be sur prising for many people, because I ran a 7- minute mile at the start of this year, which is really slow - I was the slowest on the team. But now, I might have become the best runner for the Masters School overall, because I broke some school re cords,” he continued.

Track is often considered a largely independent sport, with accomplishments measured by individual runners, rather than by the overall team’s success. However, Liu has not overlooked the importance of genuine collaboration, and admits that true success is a reflection of both independent and collective effort.

“Everything is in your own control, you control the pace, how fast you run, how long you run.

The more you dedicate the more you grow. At the same time, I look up to some people, like Aidan Lothian from last year, and Gene Perry from eight years ago. I never saw them running, but I know they’re fast. I was thinking, ‘Maybe one day I’ll pass them.’ Looking up to them gives me energy and motivation that makes me run faster and run more,” Liu said.

Overall, runners can attest that the Masters Track Team has fostered an environment which has paved the way for such stories as August’s, promoting progress, dedication, and hard work over all else.

“I think track has given me one of the most extremely positive outcomes of anything I’ve done in Masters. I’ve gained the most friends

SENIOR CAPTAIN CAMILLA

JOSH MARKOWITZ/TOWER

SENIOR IAN STEIN SPRINTS in a meet at home. Stein was a crucial member of the 4x1 track team that set school records and competed at Penn Relays. Next to him is a Greenwich Country Day School runner, competing against Stein.

SportS

Boys varsity volleyball falls short in NYSAIS semi-finals

AdAm Bello And Gisele CestAro

Sports Editor and Lead News Editor

Boys varsity volleyball made it to the NYSAIS playoffs and have been on an absolute tear as of late. On May 10, the boys had their senior game against Riverdale Country Day, and won three sets to zero. Many family members and students came to support the seniors in their last regular season game. Senior Jack Borwick, a two year player, played outside and had multiple spikes, leading them to victory.

Soon after, they secured their spot in the second round of the playoffs in a win over Dwight on May 20. This has been a special season for the team as their eleven man roster almost entirely consists of seniors with only three juniors on the team, Lucas Seguinot, Eli Savage, and Oliver Jones.

In their 13 games this season, out of which seven were losses and six wins, the team became more consistent and really kicked into high gear towards the end of the regular season.

That being said, after talking with coaches Betty and. Jansen, Tower reviewed how the year went. The team was in agreement that practices needed to be more aggressive and well organized. In the years to come I expect that the team will only get stronger and stronger, and will bring home NYSAIS soon.

Practices consisted of warming up, scrimmages, and different passing exercises. They normally play a game called “Kings”, where one team starts on the king side and the rest of them form groups of three to fight to get to the other side of the court.

David Ferrando, who plays middle, described the environment of practices with his team. “It was super upbeat and we were all really competitive which made it a lot of fun. Whenever one of us made a mistake, we would always lift each other up.”

Cesco Desiderio, a three-year= member of the team, commented on his excitement as a senior in his last moments of playing. “It’s a really good social environment, and I think as a senior it’s really fun to hang out with your friends,” he said.

This year the volleyball team was exceptional. As a team we created unreal chemistry and all became closer with each other. That being said, after talking with coaches Betty and Ms. Jansen, we reviewed how the year went. The team was in agreement that practices needed to be more aggressive and well organized.

Coach Bai Zhang, better known as Coach Betty, and Coach Jansen have been a huge part of the team’s success, creating an environment where the players can play freely and be connected as a team.

Stephen Skrenta, a first year senior on the team, elaborated on his experience with both the team and the coaches saying “This year the volleyball team was exceptional. As a team we created unreal chemistry and all became closer with each other.

Borwick commented on the loss he felt last year, and the excitement that was to come for the second round of playoffs.

“Last year, we had a heartbreaking loss. But this year I feel our team is strong enough to call for revenge.”

Unfortunately, in the second round of playoffs against Horace Man on May 22, they lost three sets to zero.

Ferrando said, “Although we ended on a bad loss, we still accomplished so much this season and we are so happy that we made it to the semi-finals of NYSAIS playoffs.”

Boys varsity lacrosse set big goals for their future

“I think we have a really long way to go, but every day is a new day and if you approach it with that mentality we’re going to grow next year, and keep getting better,” Adrien Blanc ‘23, a senior who’s been on the Masters Lacrosse team since middle school said. Blanc, along with the three other seniors next year, Noah Kassel-Yung, Henry Eisenbeis, Baird Hruska, will be leaving for college.

Among the other members, the team is losing their most valuable player, Baird Hruska ‘23, who’s scored the majority of the team’s goals this season. He’s also committed to Wooster College to play Division III lacrosse next year, but he’s not the only player who the younger team-members will have to work hard to replace. Ethan Katzke ‘24, an attack player, said, “We’re definitely going to be missing key pieces on both sides of the field, including at midfield. The seniors leaving is definitely going to lead to others needing to step up and people filling in the roles left behind.”

But, even though Katzke sees the difficulties, he has faith in the team. He said,“We definitely have players on both sides of the field who will step up next year to replace our seniors.”

One of the biggest questions, is how the how juniors will lead the team next year when they become the oldest on the team. Katzke believes the younger team-members will take the places of the older ones, “Current players will step up next year and fill in roles of the seniors. I think Nathan Lothian will take Noah’s Kassell-Yung’s spot. Jack Parsons will take Henry Eisenbeis’s spot, and Ollie Eisenberg will take Baird’s Hruska’s spot, hopefully,” he said. Adrien Blanc ‘23 was unfortunately out most of the season due to injury, but he had a lot of time to sit and watch how the team worked together off and on the field. Blanc said, “I’m very confident with the juniors, they’re going to be really good next year, and might even do better than the seniors this year.” He continued, “The seniors this year brought a lot to the juniors and taught them how to really lead a team, but, it’s in the juniors hands now. Hopefully, we seniors left a good legacy behind.”

Although teams losing members is always typical for high school teams, because the Masters lacrosse team is so small, the loss of even four players is problematic. Each of the players carry their own skill, but for this team, the biggest worry is the total number of players. There are ten people on the field at each time in a lacrosse game, and each team always tries to have substitutions. However, the Masters team this year has only 17 players. Losing

four of their starters means they’d only have 13 players. Every team they’ve played has over 20 players, with plenty of substitutions.

Junior defenceman Jack Parsons said, “We’re probably going to have about nine to ten people next year, assuming no new people join. But, we’re probably going to get a few new players, so I believe we’ll have the numbers for a full team next year.” He continued, “I believe that we’ll have a team, it’s just going to be even smaller next year.” Having a small team can put a lot of pressure on the players, knowing that there might not be enough substitutes if someone gets hurt on the field.

There are five juniors currently on the Varsity team, all of whom plan to continue playing lacrosse next year. They’ve been given a lot of guidance watching the current seniors lead the team, but still, becoming the leaders of a team may be a new experience for all of them. “Our team is definitely growing, and we’re more focused on teaching rather than doing.” Blanc said.

Overall, the members of the Boys Varsity Lacrosse team have faith in themselves, and their ability to step up and lead the team next year. Katzke said, “It’s going to be tough losing some of our best players, but we all put our all out every single time we step on the field. Having few people makes it very difficult, but the determination and passion we all play with definitely shines through, we always try our best.”

Aviv emery

Copy Editor

COACHES RICARDO WILLIAMS AND Benjamin Thorn speak to the team at halftime during a home game. While the team will miss their seniors and the leaders of their team, they are in good hands with the up and coming seniors for the 2024 season. Captain Nathan Lothian, ‘24, Oliver Eisenberg, ‘25 and Jack Parsons, ‘24, have had huge roles on the team this year and said they hope to elevate their level of play for next year.

KONSTANTIN MIEBACH/ TOWER

- Stephen Skrenta ‘23

SENIORS STEPHEN SKRENTA, JACK Borwick and Cesco Desiderio prepare for their senior game against Riverdale Country Day School. This was the teams final home game of the season. The team won the game winning three sets to zero absolutely dominating throughout the entire game.Shortly after, the team celebrated their seniors with a ceremony showing their appreciation for their devotion to the team over the years.

JOSH MARKOWITZ/ TOWER