Tower Issue #4 2017-2018

Tower The Masters School

49 Clinton Avenue Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 10522

VOLUME 74, NUMBER 4

Editorial Senior speeches are a treasured tradition which represent the best of this community, rough edges and all. The administration’s opaque review process, lack of clear written rules and failure to stop speeches that cross a line have contributed to an environment of confusion. Let students speak without review.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018

tower.mastersny.org

State of the Union: “a new American moment”

Special Report: JUULing at Masters

JacOb Strier

alexanDra bentzien Features Editor

Copy Editor Just over a year after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, he delivered the annual State of the Union address to Congress on Jan. 30, in which he emphasized his administration’s accomplishments thus far and outlined his platforms and ideas.

The speech, delivered in Washington D.C., was the latest of a long tradition of presidential speeches to Congress on national affairs, which fulfill a Constitutional requirement which instructs the president to, “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union.”

President Trump’s inflammatory actions over the past year led over a dozen Democratic members of Congress to publicly declare their intentional absence from the speech. “He does not respect me or the communities I represent, so I cannot in good conscience sit idly on the House floor and listen to his scripted speech…,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York.

These strategic absences were a strong statement of the representatives’ opposition to the presidency, as historically the speeches often receive nearly complete bipartisan congressional attendance, despite differing political opinions on the president’s address.

In preparation for the speech, President Trump’s administration released several excerpts from the planned speech. “This is our New American Moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American dream,” one of the excerpts said. Other quotes released preceding the speech focused largely on President Trump’s ideas about American infrastructure, jobs, and both foreign and immigration policy.

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It’s small, it’s sleek, and it looks like a USB drive, which makes it easy to carry around and inconspicuous to adults...

VINCENT ALBAN/TOWER

A NEW CO-CHAIR OF community government will be elected in order to replace the former co-chair, Ahnaf Taha, who had been deposed in December of 2017. Seniors Anderson Lin and Diego Medina will run today, February 2.

Co-chair election today to fill Taha’s seat Sarah Faber Social Media Manager Once the protests following the removal of Ahnaf Taha as co-chair subsided, a new challenge arose: who would fill the vacancy left in Executive Committee by Taha’s dismissal?

An election to fill a co-chair vacancy is not unprecedented. Before the 2014-15 school year, when a co-chair was expelled during the summer and could not serve for the following year, a special election was held. Since that was the first time such an event had happened, no rules were in place for how the election should run.

“What we had to do is rewrite the constitution, which was very timeconsuming, so it took us three or four months before we could actually get an amendment and get that

passed and hold elections,” Upper School Head Matthew Ives said.

To run in today’s special election for co-chair, seniors must have attended three meetings of Executive Committee in the past 18 months.

This rule was put in the section of the bylaws of the constitution that deals with mid-year elections to ensure that candidates have an idea of the committee’s ongoing work.

Executive Committee decided how this specific election would work during a meeting on Jan. 16. Since few seniors would have the required credentials to run, Executive Committee decided to allow three weeks before the election so that people who wanted to run could attend enough meetings to qualify. Though they decided it would be fair to allow females to run as well, no females decided to run. Two candidates, Anderson Lin and Diego Medina, stepped forward.

“From what I understand so far, being a co-chair is more about entertainment, and it’s hard to make Morning Meeting more funny or appealing, so I am just trying to make the morning more entertaining. I’ll probably find some theater people and get some experience from them, acting maybe, to make it more interesting,” Lin said.

“I regretted not running last year, and it’s something I wanted to try” Mendina said. “I feel like I can continue what Ahnaf was doing– he’s a friend of mine. I love Masters, I’ve been here for such a long time that I want to be involved in the government and up there for Morning Meeting trying to make everyone engaged.”

After the candidates give their speeches at Morning Meeting on Feb. 2, students and faculty will vote by secret ballot, and whichever candidate receives a majority will be elected.

Tower’s first special report of the year explores the new phenomenon that is the “JUUL,” a portable e-cigarette, and its influence on Masters and other high schools in the area.

This report explores topics like health impact, social implications, costs, the administration’s viewpoint, influence on local independent schools and legality.

With more than a dozen interviews and quotes from students and faculty, the report grapples with this little device with a big impact.

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“There are schools even in the FAA that have gone through pretty drastic measures to stop JUULing, including faculty monitoring of bathrooms.

I don’t want to be a school where we have faculty hanging out in bathrooms,” - PETER NEWCOMB

“I know a lot of people who don’t leave their home without it on them. At least half of my grade has it on them all the time. People literally charge it in class,” -An anonymous student said, just before taking a break mid-interview to go JUUL

AP class composition reveals startling racial inequity DaviD OkS Opinion Editor Masters prides itself on being, as the school’s Mission Statement says, “a community of diverse individuals.” Yet when it comes to Advanced Placement classes, Masters is startlingly homogenous.

Masters has 243 students in the junior and senior grades. Of its junior and seniors, 163 are white; 32 are Asian; 21 are black; 15 are of Indian or Middle Eastern origin; and 12 are Latino. These statistics are based on how those students self-identified. Of upperclassmen, 155 are reported in a Tower survey as taking at least one AP course.

Of juniors and seniors, 76.2 percent of white students, 75 percent of Asian students and 66.7 percent of Indian/Middle Eastern students are in an AP according to the survey. Meanwhile, 41.7 percent of Latino students and just 23.8 percent of black students are in an AP. Because relatively few black and Latino students are enrolled in an AP, the courses are largely composed of white, Asian and Indian/ Middle Eastern students. Black/ Latino students are significantly underrepresented in APs. Combined, they comprise just 6.2 percent of those taking at least one AP course, significantly smaller than

the 13.6 percent they make up of the junior and senior grades. (There are five black and five Latino students in AP courses.) Asians and white students are overrepresented in AP courses; only Indian/Middle Eastern students are proportionally represented.

According to a the survey of 84 juniors and seniors, 83.6 percent of nonblack students who were in at least one AP class said that at least one of their AP classes had no black students. Likewise, 71.4 percent of non-Latino students who were in at least one AP class said they were in at least one AP class without a Latino student.

Two departments have no black students in their AP courses. One department has no Latino students in its AP courses. Two departments have only one black or Latino student in their AP courses.

This disparity reflects national trends. The Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection shows that black and Latino students represent 38 percent of students in schools that offer AP courses, but 29 percent of students enrolled in at least one AP course.

According to the College Board, of those deemed likely to pass an AP exam in mathematics, only 30 DAVID OKS/TOWER percent of black and Latino signed up compared to 40 percent of white THE SURVEY USED TO compile this graphic asked students about their identified race as well as the number of Advanced students and 60 percent of Asian Placement (AP) courses upperclassmen are in. This survey was sent to both juniors and seniors, and students submitted their students. class members list. For some cases, students self-identified with whichever best fit them by email or personal response.

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TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

Students strategically skip class to avoid being caught off guard vincent alban Photo Editor When a student feels stressed leading up to a test, quiz, project or assignment, he or she may purposefully call in absent to have more time to prepare. Some students have their parents call to excuse them from school saying the student is sick, or that he or she has a family emergency.

An anonymous survey conducted of random upperclassmen students shows that out of the 75 students interviewed, 33 students (44%) admitted to purposefully skipping school to avoid taking an assessment or turning in work. Only ten of those 33 students were boarders.

It is much harder to skip an entire day of school as a boarder because one’s parents cannot call them in sick; they must go to the nurse’s office where they cannot spend the entire day.

According to those random students interviewed, a popular strategy used by both day and boarding students to get out of a class is to go to the nurse specifically during the period they plan to miss.

Michele Dennis, Chair of the Upper School Math Department, said, “Strategically skipping school and class to miss assessments is not only unfair to the boarding

students who cannot call in sick but to the students who honorably prepared for assessments with the specific time they were given.”

Dennis believes that students who skip assessments end up doing inevitably worse when they take the assessment later on because the class has moved on to new material.

The administration has taken action to ensure that students are not taking strategic absences by having teachers keep track on a “missed assessment form,” which they voluntarily file whenever their students miss a class in which they have an assessment or assignment due. Peter Newcomb, Upper School Dean of Students, said, “The missed assessment form allows for the administration to see if patterns form so we can then talk to that student in making sure they are in the appropriate class.”

According to Newcomb’s statistics from the Missed Assessment Form, there were 61 students throughout the entire 2016-2017 school year that appeared on the form two or more times. 39 out of those 61 students appeared on the form in the same class more than one time. This year, there have been 13 students on the form more than twice up until right before winter break, eight of which have

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE WEED/TOWER

STUDENTS HAVE BEEN CALLING in sick during test periods, or on days when major assignments are due in an effort to get extra time to prepare. Teachers say this will be harmful to students, and the administration is taking steps to combat this. appeared on the form for the same class twice or more. According to Newcomb, this can also be a result of actual sickness and missing school for legitimate reasons.

Colleen Roche, an Upper School history teacher who regularly fills out the missed assessment form, said, “The consequence of purposefully missing class shows up in a student’s learning. If a student

only shows up part time, they only learn part of the material. When you are in a class discussing material, you are coming together to find meaning in it, and when a student misses those discussions, they miss out on learning the material.” Although that focuses more on class participation and not formal assessments, the Harkness discussions are still a factor in a

student’s own learning of material and their grade for the class.

According to Roche, up until before winter break across the board of her three class sections, which include political science and AP US History, she has only had five days in which every single one of her students were present. Three of those days were in the first week of school in September.

Masters Mayor plans a new Croton Murder rocks New Ro eliJah emery News Editor

DaviD okS Opinion Editor

While current junior David Oks may not have prevailed in his longshot campaign for mayor of Ardsley, another Masters alumnus, Brian Pugh ‘04, former junior class president, co-chair of student government and editor-in-chief of Tower, triumphed last November in the race for mayor of Croton-on-Hudson.

Pugh explained his strategy for winning over voters. “I knock on as many doors as possible. In a local race, that’s it,” he said. Many of Pugh’s volunteers came from Masters, including Skeffington Young, the chair of the History & Religion Department. Other volunteers were students. “In 2016, Ms. Roche had me discuss my campaign with her students, and several of them volunteered for the campaign afterwards,” Pugh said.

“I’ve always been a public citizen, in the sense that I try to be informed and engaged. If you develop opinions on issues, it’s hard for me not to become an activist, and political action generally follows from interest in politics,” Pugh said.

However, he acknowledges that action is not limited to political service. “Not everyone who follows politics can or should run for office necessarily, but I do think that they should be actively involved in the political system. Don’t agonize, organize: I’m a believer in that. If you’re going to worry about something, or ponder it, you should act on it,” he said.

Pugh has tried to gain traction in local politics for several years. In 2013, during a campaign for Cortlandt Town Council, he came within ten votes of winning the Democratic nomination. “I was what you’d call an insurgent candidate. I was not endorsed by the town Democratic Committee,” Pugh said. Because the race was close, the party took note of his strong performance

COURTESY OF BRIAN PUGH

MASTERS ALUM BRIAN PUGH at a March 2016 Croton Democrats fundraiser at the yacht club in Croton-on-Hudson. Pugh ran for mayor and won the next year. and nominated him the next time he sought office, in 2014, when Pugh ran for trustee in Croton, a village within Cortlandt. Pugh won the race.

Pugh initially served on an all-Democratic board, only to see the majority, and Croton’s mayorality, lost to the Republicans in 2015.

“It’s a five-person board, so that left me and another Democrat as the only remaining Democrats, so in 2015-16, I was in the minority,” he said.

Yet the Republican majority only helped Pugh win reelection to the trusteeship in 2016 and win the mayorality when he ran in 2017.

“If you consider experience as a requirement and/or a qualification, the loss of the Democratic majority definitely shrank the pool, and improved my standing in that regard,” Pugh said.

The Bush administration impacted his decision to run for office.

“2004 was an intensely competitive year,” Pugh said. “It was a motivation for me to become more involved, and certainly it was a very harsh and rude awakening to the realities of political life, in a way that was very dispiriting. Not just with the Administration itself, but with its enablers, the way that spe-

cifically the Iraq War in 2003-2004 showed how ineffective or weak or unhelpful a lot of institutions that exist in our country are, that are ostensibly to serve the public, and how little they actually do,” Pugh said. “I wanted to have people who served with a spirit of public service where the government exists to serve the common good.”

Pugh explained his political agenda. Pugh advocates the use of Community Choice Aggregation, or CCA, which is the bulk purchase of electricity. CCA will, according to Pugh, provide greater stability and lower prices for consumers.

CCA will also be eco friendly. “Another key aspect is that it will provide 100% renewable power.” Pugh is planning on going 100% green, an idea which was rejected by the previous mayor of Croton, and aggressively campaigned on the issue.

Pugh also plans to complete the Croton Point Avenue infrastructure project, which had not been prioritized by the last mayor, who slated construction for 2021 As to what students can do to get involved in politics, Pugh had one recommendation. “Organize for justice in your own community. You’ve gotta do what you can where you are with what you have.”

Less than a half-hour’s drive from the idyll of Masters, stabbings have rocked a small city’s public high school. New Rochelle High School, situated at the southern tip of Westchester County, saw a series of stabbings that resulted in one death, the first a Westchester student-on-student murder since 1994.

On January 10, Z’inah Brown, a junior at the school, fatally stabbed Valaree Schwab, also a junior, at a Dunkin’ Donuts half a mile from the school.

The altercation began with a confrontation outside the store involving five or six young people, Schwab and her boyfriend.

According to investigators, Schwab had been bullied by the other students and tried to fight back with pepper spray—a tactic that led Brown to reveal a steak knife and stab Schwab twice in the side. Schwab died at Jacobi Medical Center shortly thereafter.

Brown has been charged with second-degree murder for her involvement in Schwab’s death. No others have been charged. According to a CBS report, both Schwab and Brown were raised in “difficult family situations.” Schwab, who was known for using pepper spray against others, had apparently skipped school that day.

New Rochelle High School made counselors and social workers available to students in response to the incident. A funeral was held in which Schwab was remembered as a musician and a political activist. According to the Scarsdale High School Maroon, her boyfriend responded by threatening a school shooting after the incident.

A week after Schwab’s death, another incident of violence involving New Rochelle High School students occurred. A group of about seven students attacked a fellow student while he was ordering food from Gemelli Pizzeria in New Rochelle; the student was also absent from school.

Continued on page 3

LILY (ZIQI) WANG/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

A SERIES OF STABBINGS in the city of New Rochelle, the home of several Masters students, has caused concern. One person has died and several have been injured.

200,000 Salvadorans lose Temporary Protected Status Jacob Strier Copy Editor President Trump’s administration, in continuing efforts to reform national immigration policy, has made it clear that 200,000 Salvadorans will need to leave the country or face being deported, following over a decade of legal immunity under their now expiring Temporary Protected Status. The protected U.S. residents were largely born in El Salvador, the Central American nation historically tainted with violent gang warfare and widespread corruption.

Many immigrants from the country have been allowed to remain in the United States for over a decade under the TPS. The Salvadorans’

status in the United States began in 2001, following several natural disasters in El Salvador. Those protected have been allowed to work and live legally in United States, until now.

Temporary Protected Status has been historically enacted in the face of a natural disaster or political emergency, like a civil war. “They designate these countries [under TPS] to give people temporary refugee status,” said Susan Henner Smith, an immigration lawyer in Westchester, NY. Smith pointed out some ways in which Salvadorans whose status is expiring can attempt to remain in the country: They could apply for political asylum, citing a fear of danger upon return to their home, or they could apply for a “cancellation of re-

moval” if they prove a family member might face extreme hardship in El Salvador. “I think it is going to be difficult,” Smith said. “It is going to break up families,” she added.

Dr. Robert Fish, a history teacher, noted that it is difficult for adults to make the move to a foreign country in the first place. “People are at the other end of this policy,” Fish said.

“They are a large group of people who are here legally who have had the rug pulled out from under them,” he said.

There exist few options for Salvadorans whose protected status is expiring, besides breaking American law or returning to their home country. Additionally, many of the Salvadorans have children born in

the United States, who are American citizens.

“The possibility of the returning of almost 200,000 people, and their children that were born in the US, would be a dramatic social dilemma for El Salvador. The small country is not ready at all for receiving this amount of people,” Spanish teacher Roberto Mercedes said. “This [the USA] is a country of immigrants that is built for immigrants,” he said.

The economy of El Salvador is largely bolstered by a flow of money earned in foreign countries, notably the United States, and economists have predicted widespread economic issues in El Salvador if foreign remittances to the nation cease.

According to Smith, many Salva-

dorans are afraid of returning to the central American nation. “The gangs try to extort money from returning Salvadorans,” Smith said, “It has been designated one of the most dangerous countries in the world.”

While other national groups have been protected under Temporary Protected Status, including comparatively small numbers of Haitians and Nicaraguans, Salvadorans were the largest group covered by the program, and their protections are set to expire in late 2019.

“How are they being punished for having exemplary citizenship behavior, working hard, paying taxes, and believing in this country?” Mercedes asked.

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

NEWS

Thompson Dorm: where the water ran cold Emma LuiS News Editor

While the sun slowly rose at 7:30a.m. on a cold Monday morning in January, the Maintenance Department was already bursting with life. In the department room, tucked away in the basement of Masters Hall, coffee cups were nestled into hands of staff members and keys jangled from belt loops as the members ended their daily morning briefing, and headed out onto campus to start the day’s endeavors.

The maintenance briefing on Jan. 22 ended with several department members being sent to the upper floors of Thompson Dorm, checking pipes and turning up the water temperature, in order to gain some insight into a reported loss of hot water on the second and third floors. At the center of the orders was Craig Dunne, Manager of Building Construction, Mechanics and Outdoor Maintenance.

“My department has responded to every instance of no hot water,” Dunne said. “This morning was the first I’ve heard of this, and we are looking at it right now.” According to Dunne, there have been occasions where there has been hot water loss before, and these can often stem from the buildings’ age or an issue with the campus-wide boiler. “I

believe [the loss of hot water] was just a couple of instances, which my team is looking at and we are taking care of,” Dunne said. “Hot water is always a priority in our department.”

Yet, according to junior and Thompson Dorm proctor, Vittorio Stropoli, borders in Thompson had not had hot water since returning from winter break. “It’s frustrating that no one is doing anything. I just want a hot shower with no problems,” Stropoli said.

The proper procedure for dorm parents who are reporting an issue with maintenance in the dorms, according to Head of Residential Life Dena Torino, would be to submit a formal work order through the faculty portal. “Every time that we hear something, it goes directly to the facilities team at any time at day or night,” Torino said.

However, with cases like hot water and heating, often times it is necessary to call the maintenance office line directly instead of submitting a work order through the portal. Dorm Director for Thompson Dorm and member of the History and World Religion Department, Greg Lesser said, “I don’t know that I put in a formal work order, but it was more that I had emailed Mr. Dunne, talked to him when I saw him in person, or even called him on his work number about the situation.”

After two weeks, Stropoli took matters into his own hands, emailing Head of School Laura Danforth on Jan. 21.

“I just wanted to know what was going on. We haven’t had any hot water for at least two weeks,” Stropoli said. In his email, he wrote, “Dorm students haven’t received any update on the status of the issue. These responses [from dorm parents] seemed a bit dismissive considering the hardship of 34 students unable to take a hot shower for two weeks.”

According to Stropoli, the hot water was restored the following day, Jan 22.

Senior Gage Nettles, a boarder living in Strong Dorm, expressed that the frustrations about the water extended past Thompson Dorm. “Since they didn’t have hot water, they came to our dorm in the morning to shower, which means that all of our schedules were thrown off,” Nettles said. “I’d be trying to get ready in the morning and then ten boys from Thompson would come in and use our hot water.” With the hot water back in Thompson, students who had once searched for a warm shower elsewhere no longer have to find refuge in Strong Dorm or The Fonseca Center locker room.

However, not all students had resorted to other showers. Sophomore Emanuel (Manu) Adamiak continued to shower in Thompson, despite the lack of hot

Math staff divided on midterms Sophia BrouSSEt Copy Editor The Math Department is currently weighing the merits of adding a midterm exam to their curriculum. This idea was proposed by Doug Nestor, a recent addition to the department.

Nestor was considering giving a midterm to his Algebra 2/Trigonometry and Honors Precalculus AB classes after taking a survey in which the majority of his students reported being in favor of a midterm; however, due to issues with the weighting of the exam, he was unable to do so.

“I can’t speak for the Math Department as a whole but I can to what I know as a mathematics student and someone who was not too long ago in high school and college,” Nestor said.

“I understand midterms to be a beneficial tool as somebody who may have a difficult time with a year worth of content.”

Prior to 2003, Masters operated on a trimester system with an exam administered at the end of the first trimester. “The midterm system would

make a bit more sense because it’s more material being covered than in the trimester system. The first trimester was basically just review,” Head of the Math Department Michele Dennis said.

“Midterms allow for the focus on the final exam to be on the second half of the year which typically contains the more difficult material. It would also be a good way to break up the pressure of the grade of the final exam,” Dennis said. If the midterm were added, it would be worth ten percent of the final grade with the final exam worth ten percent rather than the current 20 percent.

Many students find the idea agreeable for this reason. Sophomore Natalie Lockhart said, “I would like midterms because then finals wouldn’t be covering the whole year which would take a lot of studying and stress off.”

Others felt it would add to the end of semester anxiety. “I don’t want midterms. I think they’ll only add more stress,” sophomore June Lee said.

Dennis noted that a midterm may take away from the value of the final exam. “The point of a final is to syn-

thesize the information from the year.

It’s a good time to see the unifying themes.”

Not every teacher in the department is on board. “I don’t think we should have midterms. I think it will detract from the time that we have to teach because we’d have to schedule time to review and time for the test.

Our year is short enough as it is,” Danae Derby said.

Nestor does not believe this will be the case: “If we have a cumulative midterm, that means there’s less content on the final and we can use that extra time to prepare for the midterm.”

If the Math Department ends up coming to a pro-midterm consensus, they are still not expected to be added to the curriculum anytime soon. “I think having midterms by next year might be a bit ambitious,” he continued, “If we, as a Math Department, decided this is something we wanted we would have no idea if that will play against other departments and what impact that will have. While I think it’s a little bit outside my wheelhouse, I think it’s a conversation every department should have.”

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THOMPSON DORM’S HOT WATER had been in flux since after New Years day. In the past month, some boys showered in Strong Dorm, pictured here, or the FC. water. “[The water] has been pretty cold over the last three to four weeks. Some days it was freezing, but other times it’s kind of warm.” Adamiak said. “I shower no matter what, but the water was never hot until [Jan. 22].”

Often, according to Lesser, the hot water just needs some time to warm up.

“I think the showers on the second and third floor take a little longer, sometimes it’ll only be two minutes and I’ll have students saying ‘there’s no hot water!’,

but we’ll wait a minute and it’ll be fine.”

Lesser said. Torino also mentioned the need to let the water run for a while before the water warmed. “Sometimes getting the hot water takes a while, so we have to let it run,” she said.

With the water restored, students can continue with their regular routine.

“I know it’s been inconvenient and not ideal, but it’s something we have been aware of and working on,” Lesser said.

No détente for detentions Eric DowD Sports Editor The current detention system at Masters was created for students arriving late or missing Morning Meetings without an excuse. Students can also serve detentions if they leave campus during school hours or by a community council recommendation.Underclassmen detentions are on Friday nights and upperclassmen detentions are on Saturday mornings. In recent months, this system has received a lot of backlash from students who feel as though administrators have been giving out unfair detentions.

Students who arrive more than five minutes late to Morning Meeting will receive a detention, however some students find themselves on the wrong end of a miscommunication, and are given detentions. Sophomore Haakon Sheehan said, “I once received a detention for not coming to Morning Meeting, even though I was there sitting in my seat on time at 8:00a.m. They gave me a detention on the Friday night before Thanksgiving break. The detention started at 7:00p.m., and I sat there until 7:50p.m., when I finally left because nobody showed up. The next morning I received an email saying that my detention had been moved to December 1. Not only did I not deserve a detention in the first place, but now I had to attend another detention to avoid further punishment.”

According to Dean of Students Peter Newcomb, the goal of detentions is to figure out why kids are coming and to help them avoid the situation. Small tasks such as checking in with advisors at Morning Meeting to ensure attendance will cancel out any chance of a miscommunication that would result in a detention. Newcomb said, “Most of the kids are there at their very first detention. Some kids obtain multiple detentions. We are working with kids to figure out how to avoid detentions in the first place. Detentions aren’t designed to be fun, but I think they are an opportunity to be reflective.”

Detentions, specifically Saturday morning detentions, require non-boarders to commute to school for a detention at 8:00a.m. Many upperclassmen, especially seniors, who are juggling an intense workload between AP classes, standardized tests and the college admissions process, believe that these detentions are unnecessary. Senior Soukay Mbaye said, “Throughout my Masters career I’ve had teachers prefer to issue out multiple detentions over anything without actually having any human-to-human understanding regarding the workload, scheduling and day-to-day hardships of being a senior in high school; especially a senior in high school that has to commute and doesn’t have time or money to repeatedly be coming to school on Saturday mornings to sit in a cold room for two hours.”

LILY (ZIQI) WANG/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

WITH A REINFORCED DETENTION policy, more and more students have had to report to detentions, often on Saturday mornings. Students feel discontented with the new system.

Murder rocks New Ro Continued from page 2 The student was stabbed, and fought back against his attackers, stabbing one of them. The group fled the restaurant, only to be apprehended; the victim and one of the students who had been stabbed were sent to the hospital.

The day after the incident at Gemelli Pizza, a student was stabbed at the High School—the first incident that occurred on school grounds.

The student, a junior, sustained two wounds and is expected to survive.

The suspect—the same student who

was stabbed at Gemelli’s Pizza—fled the school and is yet to be caught. According to CBS, the motive appears to have been revenge; the suspect had stabbed another student in 2016.

After the stabbing, parents drove their children home from school early en masse.

In response to the stabbings, New Rochelle High instituted a series of strict new security policies. Uniformed police officers were stationed at entry points around the school.

Random searches of students were instituted.

OpiniOn 4

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TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

EDITORIAL

Let us speak!

The confusing dynamics of senior speeches

A

senior walks up to the stage, removes the mic from its holder, and utters a familiar phrase: “Hi, I’m ______ and this is my senior speech.” The words that come next paint a picture of this community: sometimes as it is, sometimes as they wish it was, and sometimes as what they wish it wasn’t. Those words, given five minutes in the spotlight, have at times drawn discontent from some faculty and administrators, yet they share the responsibility because they have failed to set or enforce clear guidelines.

Over the past few years, Masters has instituted a policy requiring that every senior speech be fully written and approved a week in advance. No one but the speaker in question has full control of what is said, regardless of what their written speech contains, and the lack of specific rules concerning allowed topics and behavior have created an environment of confusion. The review process fails to adapt to the reality that much of public speaking is spontaneous and from the heart, and often last-minute circumstances and changes of heart lead to the best speeches.

ogy later the same week. The circumstances surrounding these moments often involve going offscript or using coarse language.

Several approved presentations on MLK day included swear words. While we assume that the administration finds vulgarity largely unacceptable on stage, so far they have not made explicit what is and isn’t allowed in a speech. To be fair, the senior class has been told that their aim is not censorship, and that review is “to ensure that speeches are high-quality” and “ready for a general audience.”

Of course, these terms can just as easily stand in for whatever the administration deems appropriate.

Another source of confusion is the school’s response during the speeches themselves. So far no one has been stopped or interrupted while speaking, including in the case of an unauthorized speech. By allowing these speeches to continue and leaving the students’ disciplinary situations ambiguous, the school undermines its own argument for requiring review.

Senior speeches are supposed to be rough around the everal speeches have edges. At their best, they repseen backlash from fac- resent the real unfiltered exulty and administrators, periences and emotions of the including a case where a students who have spent student had to give a public apol- the most time here. They

S

push boundaries. Sometimes, they should make the audience uncomfortable. Right now the administration has obfuscated the boundaries for senior speeches through a completely opaque review process. This lack of clarity can have a chilling effect, leading students to self-censor or avoid edgy topics that wouldn’t cross lines but may toe near them. We have no way of knowing what speeches haven’t made the cut, or have been changed by the time they make it to the stage.

F

or years, Masters trusted its most mature students with the responsibility of public speech, and the senior speech program saw huge growth in participation, with the caveat of several uncomfortable or borderline speeches. The present cumbersome and murky review process has likewise resulted in several speeches that have pushed the boundaries and led to backlash. The incidence of students explicitly going “offscript” shows that seniors are, predictably, chafing under this imposition of authority. We do not need an elaborate system. Just let students speak without prior review, make clear and specific rules on acceptable language, and have an administrator cut off students if they clearly cross a line, making the boundaries obvious to all watching.

The tonal whiplash of Morning Meeting Tyler Conway Web Editor

Morning Meeting is a hallmark of the Masters community: an opportunity for students to learn, share and create. However, occasionally the announcements, speeches and performances do not go as planned, and Morning Meeting veers off track.

Recently, senior Stephen Boe delivered a personal speech on Veterans Day about his family’s history with the military. This speech resonated with members of the community and was well-received.

However, immediately after Boe’s heartfelt presentation, Dance Company’s rendition of “Gucci Gang” somewhat diminished the gravity of what he had said. As someone with a connection to the military, I found

United Korean Olympic march could lead the way to peace Drew SChoTT Features Editor On Jan. 17, North Korea and South Korea announced that athletes from both nations will march at the opening ceremony under a unified Korean flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This agreement, a milestone in Korean relations, marks a new dialogue between the nations, which haven’t communicated diplomatically since Dec. 2015. If they are able to work towards stronger relations, it would not only eliminate a threat to global stability, but also show how peace can be attained in any conflict.

Since 1954, North Korea and South Korea have been in conflict because no peace treaty was signed after the Korean War. Despite the signing of an armistice and the creation of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), North

Korea has denied peace offerings for decades. Instead, the North has resorted to aggression towards the South and has threatened to use nuclear weapons on the nation.

By communicating with Moon Jae-in, the president of South Korea, Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s “Dear Leader,” can raise the North’s profile through the Olympics to show that the country only holds nuclear weapons for security purposes.

By marching under one flag at the 2018 Olympics, North and South Korean leaders erase apprehensiveness and, instead, justify the prospect of peace on the Korean peninsula. In halting issues that have previously caused inter-Korean volatility, a roadmap to reconciliation can truly begin. But with this pathway to peace comes a responsibility for not just South Korea, but eventually the international community, to accept the North’s peaceful reintegration into global relations.

putting comedy after Boe disrespectful to those we celebrate on Veterans Day. Not to fault Dance Company, as they had no knowledge of when their announcement would be read, but with better planning this mistake could have been avoided.

Another example of poorly planned Morning Meeting presentations was on Oct. 7, when senior Miranda Luiz spoke on how young women must fight for their rights.

Luiz’s eloquent speech put the

room in a solemn mood. Yet following this speech, the co-chairs read an announcement asking the community if they liked watching girls in skirts. The audience was visibly uncomfortable as the announcement was read.

I believe that Morning Meeting’s agenda must be prepared with greater detail before the school meets. It is imperative that presentations are appropriately placed. This will make Morning Meeting more cohesive.

Letter to the editor: Thoughts on my removal

Dear Tower,

After any setback, it is important to reflect on the experience.

That being said, I have come to one conclusion: no one understood the gravity of my removal. Almost a month passed before I began to comprehend what not being cochair meant.

An administrator who happened to be instrumental to my Community Council case told me at the beginning of this school year to “set major goals” that I could accomplish as co-chair. That led me to work on legislation for Executive Committee that I believed the community needed. My goal for this school year as co-chair was to harness as much of that spirit as possible into positive and tangible change. It is difficult to imagine another elected leader easily transitioning into the position of co-chair. I am willing to pass on

the torch, but how simple will it be for my work, and my plans, to be continued on? I can only hope that the change in leadership will not impede the good that can be done through Executive Committee.

With more reflection came the realization of how losing co-chair would personally affect me. Most of all, I realized that my work as a passionate leader of the community, and the legacy I had hoped to build, meant virtually nothing to the administration and Community Council. The good intent with which I had gone to countless meetings was disregarded.

I am not one to wallow in selfpity; instead, I share my genuine perception of what happened in order to help other students. I encourage Masters students to continue to forge on without me, and to grow as a community.

Ahnaf Taha ‘18

editors-iN-chieF

miChaEl fitzgErald gEorgE wEEd hEnry williams News editors

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alExandra BEntziEn drEw sChott sports editors

morgan BrEttsChnEidEr EriC dowd MaNagiNg editor

logan toporoff web editors

tylEr Conway sarah faBEr photo editor

vinCEnt alBan distributioN MaNager

jaCoB striEr advertisiNg MaNager

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ziqi wang Faculty advisers

matthEw BrownE EllEn CowhEy a Note to our readers

News editor Henry Williams will assume the title of editor-in-chief and the responsibilities thereof.

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scholastic press aFFiliatioNs, letters aNd editorial policy Tower is the winner of the Pacemaker Award for Overall Excellence and a CSPA Gold Award, 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 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 opinions of the authors and not of Tower, 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.

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

OP-ED

Oprah, you’re great, but don’t quit your day job

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THE INTERNATIONALIST

LGBTaiwan: island nation recognizes third gender

Elijah EmEry News Editor

CasEy li

hEnry Williams Editor-in-Chief America can’t get its mind off politics. Mainstream news media outlets cover political issues more than any other subject, according to a 2006 study in Political Communication.

And why shouldn’t they? Our country is a democracy, protected and maintained by an engaged public debate over the way we are governed. But because of this obsession, our politics are presented to a public with a dangerous infatuation with artifice, presentation, gamesmanship and celebrity.

We live in an era of weak parties and strong political polarization, an era in which unconventional outsiders are able to gain power through the political structures which had originally been able to keep them out.

“Weak parties” really means that the leadership that helms the Democrats and Republicans are unable to control their elected members or the primary campaigns for their nomination.

The Republican field for the 2016 nomination started out so bloated and confusing that Donald Trump’s media savvy and name recognition due to his reality TV career allowed him to rise to the top.

Oprah Winfrey shares Trump’s media magnetism and name recognition, and thus she shares Trump’s ability to be nominated and to win. Many Americans find comfort in electing celebrities and reality TV stars, based on the connections Americans can create between their own lives and the lives those stars choose to present.

Voters love to shake up the system, evidenced by the elections of first Barack Obama and now Donald Trump. Winfrey would again provide Americans with the option to show their dissatisfaction with the status quo, and to connect with a celebrity.

But Winfrey should not run for President.

Winfrey, in and of herself, is not the problem. There is a lot of allure to the thought of a Winfrey presidency. Oprah Winfrey has a powerful drive, and an enviable raw

Taiwan’s Gender Equality Committee (GEC) has announced that the process and legal research of adding a third gender option to the country’s official ID cards has begun. The addition of a third gender would protect the civil rights of transgender, intersex and other gender non-conforming individuals.

Taiwan would join Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and seven other countries that provide an “X” category or various third gender options.

An “X” category is an unspecified gender option that would allow people the freedom to express their gender identity outside the traditional two-gender system. The GEC announced that the government will convene cross-agency meetings to discuss the specifics concerning laws, regulations and forms. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that there should be no legal issues regarding adding a new gender option to passports either. Following Taiwan’s top constitutional court ruling the ban against same-sex marriage unconstitutional on May 24, 2017, Taiwan continues to pave

LAWRENCE JACKON/OBAMA WHITE HOUSE

MEDIA MOGUL OPRAH WINFREY has recently been the subject of presidential buzz. Rumors of a presidential bid have attracted both praise and criticism. charisma.

She has a compelling story: a rags to riches tale that enables her oratory to carry an unmistakable ethos.

Nor is Winfrey a demagogue, but instead a woman who would “give us an electrifying presentation of utterly conventional politics,” as Jeremy Young, an historian of the history of emotions, social movements and political communication, said.

But most celebrities are far less qualified than Winfrey, and most politicians far more qualified.

Americans searching to put a viable and inspiring woman of color in the White House should look to figures like Kamala Harris, who have dedicated their lives to public service.

Americans deserve to have lead-

ers who have learned how to fight for legislative change, fundraise, lead, and meet with other leaders across this nation.

And though a celebrity can and should run for office if they truly care about helping maintain and strengthen the United States, they should probably run for lower offices—congressional, senatorial, or gubernatorial—to acquire political experience before they try to become the leader of the free world.

If Americans allow inexperienced celebrity presidents to become the rule, rather than regrettable exceptions, often unqualified, often demagogic individuals will be enabled, and elected, worsening our leadership, global moral standing and collective ability to address the many challenges with which our nation is faced.

way for the recognition and acceptance of LGBTQ people and their rights in East Asia.

While adding a third gender is one step forward for the LGBTQ community, the step creates problems that might not have existed if there are only two genders.

Countries that declare being LGBTQ illegal may deny entry to individuals who identify as “X”-gendered. Those who do not identify as male or female may face discrimination in many countries where the expression of queer identity is illegal and punishable by law. In fact, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warns travelers that it “cannot guarantee a passport showing ‘X’ in the sex field will be accepted for entry or transit by another country.”

“X”-gendered travelers might even be harassed or subjected to unnecessary and encroaching physical searches at airports.

Despite the challenges, Taiwan must continue to strive for social equality and protection of civil rights for all.

NFL (No Fun League) provides awful product mikE FitzgErald Editor-in-Chief The NFL is a multi-billion dollar company, and it is largely forgotten that it primarily serves as a source of entertainment for millions of consumers. However, this year, the NFL’s television viewership reportedly dropped five percent from last season, a large decrease for a corporation with such a large following. There is a clear reason for this decrease that the NFL is unlikely to admit: This NFL season was simply the worst ever.

Many issues plagued this season, and turned football from one of the most exciting sports in the country into a mediocre television product. One reason for this is the increase in political involvement seen this season.

After many players took a knee during the National Anthem to protest the mistreatment of blacks in America, President Donald Trump spoke out, saying “when somebody disrespects our flag, get that son of a b*tch off the field right now.” Trump telling NFL owners to cut players from their teams for protesting created a sense of political entanglement that should not be present in sports. Additionally, Vice President Mike Pence publicly left the 49ers-Colts game due to these protests, later stating that he did not want to “dignify” the players’ demonstrations.

Players should be able to protest and use their celebrity statuses as a platform to preach social justice issues without fearing political interference, and by responding so strongly against these anthem protests, Trump and Pence significantly inflamed an already controversial issue.

Politicians should not be attempting to interfere with the actions of NFL players. NFL athletes are employed as entertainers, and their actions should not be dictated by outside forces.

Additionally, this past NFL season was plagued with the conundrum of player safety. Many star players went down with serious injuries, decreasing the talent in the league.

One of the elite quarterbacks in the league, Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers, played only seven games this season due to a broken collarbone. Philadelphia Eagles’ Quarterback Car-

son Wentz looked like the favorite to win the MVP award before he went down with a torn ACL. Houston Texans’ rookie phenomenon Deshaun Watson was one of the most exciting players to watch, but only for seven games before he too tore his ACL. As a result, the number of good teams in the league significantly diminished. This created a disparity in the league in terms of talent and led to a league seemingly filled with mediocrity.

10 out of the NFL’s 32 teams finished with between three and six wins, showing that almost a third of the NFL’s teams were entirely mediocre. Some may claim that this increased parity is good for the league, but it resulted in many nationally televised games that were almost unwatchably mundane. In order to better protect its players, the NFL should reduce the amount of full-contact practices.

The NFL season is a long and physically grueling one, and as players’ bodies began to break down over the course of 16 games, they are at a greater risk of injuring themself. The NFL has tried to blame the decrease in viewership on the National Anthem protests, claiming that many conservative fans will no longer support players and teams who kneel for the National Anthem. This is simply not true, and until the NFL accepts that the quality of product they’re giving the people is subpar, they will continue to decrease their popularity.

COURTESY OF MAX PIXEL

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE AS A result of anthem protests were one of many issues that plagued the NFL’s product.

WOMEN’S MARCH SPECIAL COVERAGE

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

DR. MLK DAY SPECIAL COVERAGE

7 VINCENT ALBAN AND GEORGE WEED/TOWER

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WOMEN’S MARCH SPECIAL COVERAGE

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

DR. MLK DAY SPECIAL COVERAGE

7 VINCENT ALBAN AND GEORGE WEED/TOWER

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Social juStice 8

OPINION

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

FocuS

IN

Letter to the editor: MLK woes Dear Tower, I wanted to express my concerns over a disconcerting trend in what we call our “MLK Day Celebration.” Students asked at the beginning what it meant to them, and every answer offered was a stock response such as “unity,” “equality,” and many other words that we equate the day with. I completely agree that this is what the day and what the movement actually stand for. The celebration in recent years, however, appears quite different to me.

While the first celebrations I attended presented difficult issues, they were still about Dr. King, and were uplifting in the end. In recent years, it has become evident that Dr. Martin Luther King’s message has been lost to our community.

His true message, stemming from his Christian beliefs was, at its core, about unity and mutual respect for one another. In 1957, Dr. King referred to the Sermon on the Mount in one of his homilies to his parishioners, stating, “So I want to turn your attention to the subject: ‘Loving Your Enemies.” It’s so basic to me because it is a part of my basic philosophical and theological orientation, the whole idea of love, the whole philosophy of love. In the fifth chapter of the gospel as recorded by Saint Matthew, we read these very arresting words flowing from the lips of our Lord and Master: ‘Ye have heard that it has been said, ‘Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.’ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them

that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” This wisdom is one of the critical fundamentals of the Christian religion, pushing to love others as you would love yourself. Dr. King preached this, and this guided him in his movement.

It is what gave him his calling, and it was what caused him to see the injustices that were present. While Gandhi may have inspired the means, it was still consistent with his teaching: the Christian faith.

Like any other person, Dr. Martin Luther King was an imperfect person, but he was an extraordinary individual. His work and his principles came first. While he was fighting the good fight to instill equal justice for all, he remained true to his principle of calling for unity and loving his neighbor as he loved himself, and this included a neighbor who was black or white. The MLK celebration in recent years has become a means of giving members of our community carte blanche to deliver presentations that are divisive, negative, shaming, and are largely not about the person who we are celebrating. As Irshad Manji said to the faculty, “We need to listen to each other, and ask, ‘What am I missing?’” The divisive presentations have only supported Ms. Manji’s claim of polarization. Dr. King would not be proud of what we are doing in his name.

If we want to remain true to Dr. King’s calling, then we must strive for unity, we must portray a positive message, and we must not divide our community with such pre-

sentations. I am not saying that we cannot have discourse. What I am saying is we must unite in what we hold in common despite our differences. If we can do that for one day, or in this case, two days, then hopefully we can begin to practice this in our everyday life. The true core of what Martin Luther King’s calling for stems from one of his quotes, saying, “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.”

Rather than having an assembly of polarizing presentations, giving off negative energy, I suggest that we do a day of service. After all, this is what Dr. King wanted from all of us. This is not divisive, but rather this creates unity as we are all doing good, and showing that we are indeed a power for good. Rather than talk, let’s do. Let’s give back to those who are not as privileged as us. Through service, we strive for the ultimate goal living true to the greatest commandments. Love others as you love yourself. Wouldn’t that truly fulfill Dr. King’s dream?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I wish not to create controversy, but rather create a more positive environment that builds a solid foundation of trust and unity.

Only then can we be a true power for good instead of just saying we are. Let’s actually be one. Do it with thy might!

Sincerely, Anonymous A member of The Masters School community, name witheld upon request

VINCENT ALBAN/TOWER

NUMEROUS STUDENTS PERFORMED DURING Masters’s MLK celebration, includAbdoul Bah, who presented two poems. Fitzgerald notes in his article how Masters has created the platofrm for these performances to occur.

Reflecting on my final MLK day MichAel FitzgerAld Editor-in-Chief There have been many days throughout my Masters lifetime where I have truly understood what it means to call ourselves a community. For example, at my first Founder’s Day, I was in awe at how passionate high school seniors could be about something an outsider would view as no more than an intramural competition. I had never seen anything like it at school, students painting their faces and jumping around in celebration-all for a half hour’s worth of tug-of-war. Once I became a high schooler, I was once again shocked by my first Halloween experience. Students of all grades were so excited to dress up and enjoy the videos they had made. Days such as these bring us closer together as students and faculty, and make Masters more than just a school.

None of these other days can compare to the community feeling provided on MLK Day. In my previous schools, I had never before had a national holiday treated as anything more than a day off of school, yet here we were not only given the day off, but also had an-

other days, worth of class time devoted to speeches, poems and presentations regarding social justice. The entire student body and the faculty support one another while they reveal extremely personal information, emotion and anecdotes of their experiences with racism and social justice. It is imperative to understand how lucky it is to be at a school that values social justice enough to dedicate this time towards better understanding it, and that few other schools are committing this time towards understanding issues regarding social justice present and past.

At Masters, we are provided platforms to speak, share and listen to personal stories and further educate ourselves in a way arguably more valuable than that of a traditional classroom setting. Often we judge Masters for its wrongdoings or what it fails to provide us, but on days at Masters such as MLK day we must remember how special our community is that we encourage students to speak out on issues they believe are prevalent within not only our school, but also the world. So, for all the MLK day celebrations I have been in attendance for I have only one piece of feedback I would like to share with Masters: a thank you.

The Women’s March, through a lens Vincent AlbAn VINCENT ALBAN/TOWER

DIVERSITY AMBASSADORS FROM LEFT to right: Karen Brown, Nova Rivers, Phoenix Jackson, Brendon Barrios and Emma Friedman. The mentioned members read accounts from anonymous students who expereinced racist or homophobic situations while on campus.

MLK day celebration urges us towards a continuing conversation eric dowd Sports Editor

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated his entire life to fight for the African-American dream. For 13 years of his life, MLK used non-violent protests to highlight the everyday abuses that black American citizens were subjected to. On the third Monday of each year, the world honors his life and the legacy he left behind, but it seems that our community, and the nation as a whole, fails to derive long-term meaning from this yearly homage. Instead, many students see MLK day as little more than an excuse for a long weekend.

At this year’s MLK day celebration, the main theme was “If you see something, say something,” which focuses on students acting as upstanders during situations in which they feel attacked or cornered. This theme allows for the advocacy of standing up for oneself and one’s friends. This ideology comes directly from Martin Luther King Jr. himself, who said: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Students still don’t always feel comfortable speaking about issues such

as racism and mental health in class.

President of ONYX Phoenix Jackson said, “I think that making a space for these topics in daily conversation is important. We’re a school that uses Harkness to learn but, oddly enough, we don’t necessarily talk about the issues pertaining to this community. Luckily I took AMSTUD my junior year so I was able to talk a lot about issues in America like racism and sexism, so the Masters community was able to play a large part in our conversations. But for people taking traditional courses, I don’t think teachers always make space for the curriculum to address the world that we live in as students.”

Masters students who presented repeatedly emphasized that the community should continue the conversation about the topics discussed, instead of just clapping and moving on to the next presentation. The goal of this year is to legitimately continue the conversation and talk about the topics brought up at MLK day, to ensure that all students, regardless of race, sexuality or gender can call Masters a safe place.

Unfortunately, not everything happens overnight. Last year, the MLK celebration was a stunning celebration over two days with moving performances and plans to bring inequality at Masters to an end. However, for the next

year, little was done to fulfill the ideas brought up at MLK day.

The number of underclassmen involved in this years MLK day celebration was a welcoming sight for the Masters community, which included solo performances from freshman Dillon Graham, a video made by freshman Miles Fuller, and a song performed by members of the Masters Middle School.

While hopeful that conversation topics brought up will truly be continued this year, Graham said, “Some people take into consideration what’s said, and really care about what’s going on in the community, but others take them for granted and don’t put too much thought into the issues that me and others deal with every day.”

Since the MLK day celebration, ONYX has hosted two meetings, including a screening of their original MLK day video, as well as discussions on the N word and colorism. Jackson said, “I’m hopeful because of all the underclassmen that are so aware. I’m hopeful that they will bring change. To see so many freshman and sophomores on stage talking about how we need to make changes. I’m confident that by their senior year, they will make a proposal to Executive Committee, or they’re going to be the ones to schedule a meeting with Ms. Danforth.”

Photo Editor Before the 2018 Women’s March, I asked multiple people if they would be attending again this year, and many responses were, “I’m busy that day” or “I have too much work.” After hearing this type of response from many people and after not seeing nearly as much social media promotion as last year, I was concerned that this year’s march would not be as impactful or widespread as it was last year. When I took the subway down to 72nd Street though, it was packed with pink hats and decorative signs with catchy slogans. Getting off the subway, I was met with police officers telling everyone to walk up to 75th Street, because 72nd Street was already too full of marchers. My faith in New York had been restored.

I immediately started taking pictures to capture the genuine positive energy and powerful enthusiasm that was palpable and united all the marchers. I stood outside the Trump International Hotel as thousands of people carried that energy. I watched as about five hotel clerks standing in silence with stone cold faces as a popular chant was directed at them, “Your silence is complicity!”

Opposite the Trump hotel, on the other side of a guard rail from the march, stood about six Trump supporters including a Jewish man holding a “Jews for Trump” poster. Additionally, a white man was decked out in full Trump merchandise with a flag that said “Ivanka 2024,” and a black man who seemed to be the leader of the tiny group of conservatives, as well as two young men, were both wearing the staple of a Trump supporter, the

“Make America Great” hat. Futhermore, an old woman recorded their entire protest on her smartphone while shouting derogatory comments directed towards the marchers. Although it was a fight of six against hundreds of thousands, almost every liberal marcher fired some partially liberal slogan back at the Trump supporters.

Once I saw these counter-marchers, I tagged them as good photo subjects to depict the conflict between a handful of Republicans against an entire parade of Democrats. The Republicans were anti-protesting for attention and to spark anger in the liberal marchers, so they loved having a camera in their face. As I photographed them, I saw firsthand the genuine anger from the liberals towards the Trump supporters, and the dirty mocking of the Trump supporters back at them.

This was a very unique experience as I saw many raw emotions as both sides struggled for words as they grew increasingly angry at each other.

Although I remained neutral taking photos of both sides of the conflict, I sympathized and agreed more with the liberal marchers and felt more compelled to their views than the radical views of the Trump supporters. The Democrats all raised multiple points of how the Republican views were morally wrong, to which the Republicans responded with how their views were vaguely justified or with rude remarks. It was as if the Democrats had reliable reasoning for their opinions while the Republicans could only defend themselves by insulting their opponents. The protests, of the liberal marchers were much more emotional and personal, while the Trump supporters were just protesting back to gain attention and promote their conservative views that were much less personal.

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

9

SPECIAL REPORT

IN SCHOOL A speciAl report by AlexAndrA bentzien Features Editor

I

t’s small, it’s sleek, and it looks like a USB drive, which makes it easy to carry around and inconspicuous to adults. You can charge it by plugging it into your computer, and slip it into your back pocket as naturally as you would your phone or your wallet.

Unlike cigarettes or marijuana, it emits no smell, and only gives you a slight nicotine buzz. It’s convenient and it’s modern, both in style and in practice.

This new trend in electronic smoking, a rechargeable e-cigarette called a JUUL, is currently gaining popularity among teens and young adults.

While cigarettes took center stage in every culture icon’s black-and-white portrait beginning in the 20th century, today’s 21st century youth have turned to JUULs for two reasons: the vapor exhaled remains identical to the cool look popularized by the culture of the past, yet the substance inhaled is believed to be less harmful to your lungs.

Unlike normal cigarettes, JUULs are much simpler, in that it is not actually smoke which is released, but water vapor. One factor which makes JUULs so appealing is that they do not emit any recognizable odors, which, along with its small size and casual appearance makes it easy to use without getting caught.

“I know people at school go in the bathroom and do it; I know some people even do it in class,” an anonymous senior girl, Source 1, said.

“The fact that you can easily put it in your pocket or in your bra makes it easier to hide.”

“Personally, I don’t like weed, but I like JUUL because it gives you a bigger sense of control,” an anonymous junior girl, Source 2, said.

“After a head high you can get dizzy, but I can still comprehend.

I’m still on top of my Harkness game,” an anonymous senior girl, Source 3, said.

JUUL’s customizable aspect is unique from other smoking or vape devices. The skin of the JUUL can be personalized, as well as the flavor. JUULpods, the source behind the JUUL’s vapor, contain nicotine and juice concentrates of flavors ranging from mango to mint to creme brulée. JUULpods are also traded and re-sold among friends, and the ability to make “quite a bit of money,” according to Source 1, on these trades gives the device a practical financial quality.

However, many teens find they turn to JUULs for the culture that is beginning to arise around the phenomenon.

“It’s a similar phenomenon to smoking in the sixties – cigarettes are cool, so all the teenagers do it,” one anonymous junior boy, Source 4, said. “It’s this weird cultural thing that you’re not supposed to do, but all the other guys have it so one person will be inclined to do it, and before they realize it they’re all using it all the time when they’re hanging out.”

This source noted that JUULing has started becoming a new norm in social situations, with most people in a group JUULing nonchalantly, with an air of “no big deal.”

“It’s just another thing to do with friends. It’s like drinking, it’s the appeal of it’s taboo and that it’s still somewhat exclusive is what’s interesting about it. People want to prove their coolness or their experience in a group. If you pass your JUUL to your friend and they start coughing, they’re seen as inexperienced. But if I can do rings or I can zero it out, I’m cool because I’m experienced with it,” Source 3 said.

Though it is hard to measure the long-term side effects of a substance

Masters administration on JUUL A

ccording to the results of the Prevention Needs Assessment, a survey assessing students’ exposure to harmful environments and use of illicit substances which was administered in November, Masters is “slightly above national norms” for kids who have smoked e-cigarettes in the past 30 days and below national average for students who have tried it once in their lives.

As of this school year, Masters has handled two disciplinary cases surrounding JUULing.

“The e-cigarette phenomenon is something that sort of snuck up on us. I had never even heard of a JUUL until November,” Head of the Upper School Matthew Ives said.

JUULs have been a matter of interest on the Dean of Students’ list serve, a place for independent school deans to ask questions and share policies, the experience of implementing those policies, with regard to issues ranging from dress code to vaping.

“There are schools even in the FAA that have gone through pretty drastic measures to stop JUUL-

ing, including faculty monitoring of bathrooms. I don’t want to be a school where we have faculty hanging out in bathrooms,” Dean of Students Peter Newcomb said.

“If the behavior of constant JUULing is happening, our goal is to make it stop, not find kids and punish them,” Ives said.

“Rather than having a draconian enforcement, I’d rather work with students to build from the ground up. What I’d rather have some students do is use their social capital to tell their friends this is not who we are.”

“I think education is going to be really key in helping combat what can be a pretty dangerous habit,” Newcomb said. Moving forward, JUULing will be a featured topic in freshman seminar.

Newcomb and Ives stressed that Masters would not only focus on educating students, but parents and teachers as well.

“It’s not something I’ve got a sense of. It’s just not a conversation I’ve really had with a lot of kids,” Ives said.

Nicotine and the brain T

he prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain responsible for one’s cognitive capabilities and personality, and is still undeveloped into late adolescence. Its malleability in this developing stage makes it a highly sensitive area easily influenced by nicotine. According to a study published by Natalia Goriounova in the Dec. 2012 issue of Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, adult smokers’ brains are fully developed, whereas the adolescent brain in contrast is still vulnerable to the life-altering changes nicotine has on cognitive capabilities, including decision-making, self-control, attention span and mental health.

However, the amygdala, the main area of the brain which controls emotion, goes into overdrive during adolescence. The heightened sense of emotion experienced during this time period makes teens more prone to the erratic behavior that accounts for rebellious action as well as succumbing to peer pressure.

A study published by Brian Primack in the Dec. 2017 issue of theAmerican Journal of Medicine revealed 47.7% of a surveyed group of youths aged 18-30 who used e-cigarettes would turn to combustible cigarettes within 18 months, compared to only 10.2% never-smokers.

that is still fairly new, some aspects of the JUUL are a “big deal” for one’s health. Using one JUUL pod, a juice and nicotine concentrate packet which gives the JUUL its flavor, is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes.

The effects of the nicotine in the JUUL pod is one factor which attracts people to use a JUUL, with some sources noting it is a way for them to relieve stress and achieve a sense of calm. However, the JUUL’s high nicotine content can turn the use of the casual device into a serious addiction.

“I know a lot of people who don’t leave their home without it on them. At least half of my grade has it on them all the time. People literally charge it in class,” Source 1 said, just before taking a break mid-interview to go JUUL with a friend.

Despite the knowledge of the device’s questionable effects, many still find the JUUL appealing and continue to use it.

“I think most students don’t understand the effects that JUULs have on their lungs or their overall health. When they’re using it, they’re in the moment, not thinking. I say that as someone who does JUUL,” Source 3 said.

“I notice that there are multiple health issues, including addiction.

I personally don’t JUUL, but I’m not going to deny it: I think it looks cool,” another anonymous Junior boy, Source 5, said.

This is not to say that the JUUL is held to high esteem by all teens. One anonymous Junior girl, Source 6, recognized, “A lot of people don’t like it and think it’s ridiculous. There’s always one person who is very against JUULing and will judge you for it, so you go and hide in a bathroom to

“

“THE E-CIGARETTE PHENOMENON IS SOMETHING THAT SORT OF SNUCK UP ON US. I HAD NEVER EVEN HEARD OF A JUUL UNTIL NOVEMBER.” - MATTHEW IVES

Legality of JUULs

W

hile the legal age to buy smoking products is 18 in many states, only adults over the age of 21 can buy products from JUUL Labs online. The company’s website boasts “industry-leading ID match and age-verification technology” to support their commitment to eliminate underage smoking. In addition, JUUL Labs’ marketing code states that only models over the age of 35 are used in advertisements, which do not feature situations containing youths.

Teens have nevertheless quickly learned how to circumvent these regulations to buy JUULs and JUUL pods underage. Fake IDs can be used to purchase the products, and word spreads amont friends about which convenience stores or gas stations won’t card on transactions.

The cost of habit T

he rechargeable device itself costs $34.99, with each pack of four pods–think four packs of cigarettes–costing an additional $15.99. For those who use regularly, the cost will begin to add up.

“JUULers” most commonly acquire their fixes through friends and friends of friends who will trade and buy for them, not just on credit or with cold hard cash, but in exchange for clothes, favors, and food – like an old-fashioned barter system.

LILY (ZIQI) WANG/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

JUUL. It has the same stigma as cigarettes because it doesn’t get you high, yet you’re still inhaling things that are bad for you.”

Source 4 added, “I think there’s no upside in getting addicted to nicotine. It gives teenagers a high or a buzz and makes them feel rebellious, but to me it seems dumb to JUUL just to feel rebellious.”

“It’s ugly, it’s not cute, and I don’t

understand why anyone would find any enjoyment in it,” junior Thomas West said.

Editor’s Note: Several students interviewed for this article asked to be kept anonymous so as to not be pursued by their school or face disciplinary action.

Attempts were made to contact officials at other schools directly, though none made themselves available to comment.

JUULing at independent schools W

hile the consequences of drug and alcohol use is underscored in many private school student handbooks, receiving paragraphs and pages of specifications, smoking and cigarette usage is often a one- or two-sentence policy. Horace Mann’s handbook states drug use on campus as cause for a variety of serious or severe disciplinary responses; Fieldston, Hackley, and Rye Country Day’s handbooks state that drug use is grounds for expulsion or withdrawal of a student from the school, in some cases even for a first-time offense. With regard to smoking, however, these four schools’ policies are much more vague, with smoking not mentioned in Horace Mann’s handbook at all.

An anonymous senior boy from Horace Mann estimated, “Around fifty percent of the boys and thirty percent of the girls in my grade have JUULs on them all the time.”

Prohibition of tobacco and smoking devices on campus, but not consequence for usage, is named in the handbooks of Fieldston and Hackley. Rye Country Day leaves the punsihment of smoking to “disciplinary consequences,” which remain unspecified.

Only Masters’ student handbook directly references nicotine: “If a student arrives at school addicted to nicotine, he or she must be prepared to quit and will be assisted in doing so by the school nurse and our school counselor.”

Masters’ handbook does not specify consequences for smoking on campus, which includes use of combustible tobacco products and

e-cigarettes.

Other private schools have begun to crack down on student’s possession and usage of JUULs during school hours and on school grounds.

Though they have since been reinstalled after winter break, the bathroom doors in the freshmen wing at Holy Child in Rye were taken down for two months in order to diminish students’ tendencies to JUUL during the school day. At Marymount in New York, eight girls in the sophomore class have been suspended so far this year after admitting to JUULing on campus or being present while friends were JUULing.

“They didn’t suspend the people who did it outside of school, otherwise half the grade would be gone,” an anonymous sophomore at Marymount said.

Marymount held “interrogations,” formal individual meetings to determine if students were guilty of JUULing during school hours and randomly checked backpacks, wallets, and make-up bags to find JUULs. Though the one-day suspension did not go on permanent records, it also entailed that students participate in six hours of community service and write a reflection. The source also revealed that the school threatened consequences worse than suspension if a student did not come clean or withheld information.

“Some people in the junior grade still JUUL, but to my knowledge the girls in my grade stopped because they’re scared. Some people showed screenshots to administration and turned their friends in,” the Marymount source said.

10

FEATURES AND ARTS

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

Former editor-in-chief earns prestigous reporting opportunity drew Schott Features Editor Tyler Pager, Tower’s editor-in-chief from 2012-2013, was selected the winner of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s win-a-trip contest on Jan. 12. Pager, along with Kristof, will travel to a foreign nation, likely the Central African Republic, in March to report on issues such as poverty and health care accessibility. Additionally, over the summer, Pager will be reporting for the New York Times Metropolitan Desk after being selected as a James Reston Fellow. Pager was one of thirty two candidates chosen for summer internships at the Times in a pool of hundreds of applicants.

While attending Masters, Pager took the Introduction to Journalism class in 2009, beginning his four year stint on Tower.

“I was fascinated with the news and enjoyed writing and talking to people. And so I was drawn to taking the class because the profession was something I could naturally see myself doing,” Pager said.

Participating in Tower was foundational for Pager’s journalistic career. As editor-in-chief, Pager, along with his fellow editors-in-chief Joanna Costigan and Noah Buyon, spearheaded profound changes to the paper including the creation of Tower’s Twitter and Facebook pages and its website. These experiences, Pager said, along with learning journalism from faculty member and Tower advisor Ellen Cowhey, paved the way for his future journalistic endeavours.

After graduating from Masters in 2013, Pager attended the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he was a staff member of The Daily Northwestern, a student-led newspaper, until he was named its editor-in-chief in 2015. As editor-in-chief, Pager’s responsibilities included leading

a staff of almost 100 people and overseeing the publication of five newspaper issues per week. Pager graduated from Medill as its valedictorian in June 2017.

While at Northwestern, Pager had summer internships at USA Today and Politico and a journalism residency at The Boston Globe.

These internships allowed Pager to write for the respective publications and report on important topics, such as national security.

Pager was introduced to Kristof when interviewing him for The Daily Northwestern after he gave a lecture on campus. During the interview, Pager admired Kristof’s philosophy of telling the story of the voiceless, such as accounts from victims escaping genocide in Darfur. Kristof “has traveled the world to report on issues often neglected by the mainstream media. His work has transformed the discourse on many of these issues and led to instrumental change,” Pager said.

Similarly, Pager focuses his pieces on issues that are not only important to him, but also not fully understood by American citizens, such as immigration and social policy.

Pager is currently studying at Oxford University for a Masters degree in Comparative Social Policy, which he indicated will give him theoretical and practical training for his reporting of policy related issues. In addition to this, Pager aims to start conversations through his stories. For example, Pager, while at Northwestern, wrote an article about a student’s suicide, which he used to shed light on the difficulties students faced in accessing mental health resources.

“I’ve tried to focus my reporting on vulnerable populations and specifically issues of personal safety. I’ve always been driven by the impact journalists can have by illuminating society’s challenges and being the first step in creating change,” Pager said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANNON BRENT

A SPRING AWAKENING PERFORMANCE in 2006. This play, dealing with sexual education in the late 1800s, is being perfomed by Masters students this Feburary as it deals with present issues including sexual and domestic abuse.

Spring Awakening plans to awaken students to issues of suicide, abortion, sex and abuse AlexAndrA Bentzien Features Editor Before rehearsals even started, Masters’ winter musical, Spring Awakening, seemed to be surrounded with controversy. The prospect that as many as 31 students would be cut left many fretting during audition week, though the directing team of the musical eventually decided to allow all 56 students to participate.

The Department of the Performing Arts, DOPA, required each student to sign permission slips in order to participate in the production, because the storyline calls for students to tackle issues of physical and sexual abuse, teenage sexuality, suicide and depression and abortion on stage.

Though this year’s school-wide theme is humor, neither the winter musical nor the fall play, The Crucible, have emulated comedic subject matter reflective of the theme. The musical’s production team, which includes the director, choreographer, and technical director, originally discussed choosing a light-hearted piece, but eventually decided Spring Awakening was more reflective of everyday

issues students face, according to Jennifer Carnevale, chair of DOPA. “What we were hearing from students was that the ‘light and fluffy’ feels kind of dismissive. To turn this musical down in favor of a glossy, not-really-meaty story felt somehow like we would be dismissing the very real issues that students here and everywhere interact with, and also like we would be minimizing those concerns to some extent,” Carnevale said.

The production team had also considered producing a show featuring light-hearted content to distract from the tension created by the current political atmosphere. The fall play was chosen in contrast to this idea: The Crucible’s director, Chris Briante, selected the particular play to showcase that, though set during the Salem Witch trials and written as an allegory for the McCarthy trials era, its message was politically and socially relevant to today’s times. The theme of abuse in Spring Awakening reflects the rise of the #MeToo movement as the thread of awareness weaves together fiction and reality. Ultimately, Spring Awakening was chosen because it addresses important topics being currently discussed in news and

media, and the choice indicates Masters’s recognition of these issues.

“We thought about using the theme of humor as escapist, but what it came down to those of us adults in the room was that we don’t want the message that the arts are just a place to get away. We wanted to utilize the unique opportunity we have to teach students that arts can be a vehicle for social change, self expression, and to some extent therapy. Our mission talks about daring and striving and being a power for being a good in the world, and this show really confronts the issue of things going on in kids lives that parents don’t want to see,” Carnevale said.

Performing Arts Teacher Jessica Bogart also added that she hopes the musical will start conversation not only centered on the musical’s themes, but emphasize the importance of community. “We hope to illuminate the importance of friendship during a crisis or hopeless moment in a teen’s life. I am very excited about the authenticity of this production being performed by actual teenagers. I am brought to tears at every rehearsal hearing these words sung by these students.”

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

State of the Union Continued from page 1 Throughout the 80 minute speech, which was received with robust, standing ovations by Republicans and stern faces from Democrats, President Trump maintained a largely neutral stance and avoided overly inflammatory remarks. No mention was made of the #MeToo movement, which has led thousands of women to publicly declare sexual abuse in the workplace and open a public forum of discussion about the issue. The President focused largely on the accomplishments of his administration and the advances made by nation, citing the expanding job market and national financial growth.

While President Trump’s rhetoric reflected America’s unity, success and even diversity, he also took a strong stance on immigration policy. “Struggling communities, especially immigrant communities, will also be helped by immigration policies that focus on the best interests of American workers and American families,” he said. The President also outlined a plan to make a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought here as minors, in return for the building of a wall to prevent illegal immigration on the southern border.

In keeping with the strong patriotic rhetoric of the speech, President Trump said, “As long as we have confidence in our values, faith in our citizens, and trust in our God, we will not fail,” he said. “As long as we are proud of who we are, and what we are fighting for, there is nothing we cannot achieve,” he said.

CONTINUATIONS

11

Phoenix, Masters institution, pulls back the curtain Century-old society in transition considers point system for take-ons Cedar Berrol-Young Opinion Editor Phoenix, the honorary drama society, is one of the oldest and most exclusive clubs on campus. Because of this, rumours always seem to circulate the society, including the cultish behavior of their confidential meetings. One of the latest rumblings that have been rotating around the alumni community is that Phoenix is no longer a society and that the administration shut down the society due to its extreme exclusivity and take-on process.

However, just like other rumours that have prevailed through the club’s long run on campus, it was false. “It is in fact still a club and for all of the foreseeable future it will continue to be,” Owen Gifford-Smith, the current co-president of Phoenix said.

Although the club may continue, it is also in a transitory period. The restructuring of the drama and music departments into what is now known as the combined department of performing arts, or DOPA, has had significant change in the way the club operates. Before, the club was mostly run by a faculty advisor and two co-presidents, but with the creation of DOPA club decisions are now more closely monitored by the new department, according to Gifford-Smith.

VINCENT ALBAN/TOWER

PHOENIX MEMBERS PERFORM IN this year’s Phoenix presents, Red White and Blaine.

The society has always accepted new members based on voting, but that is changing.

One of these decisions is the Phoenix take-on process, which has been a staple ritual in the club since its infancy. Phoenix has traditionally taken the approach of discussing potential members in club meetings and either approving or denying them with a vote. “It did become a bit of a clique, with some worthy and eligible members not being accepted simply because they were unpopular and not well liked. I do feel like this was a very rare occurrence, but it did happen on a few occasions,” John Pomatto, class of 2001 and former Phoenix member, said.

This has opened up a lot of disgruntlement among both students and parents as they feel the process is too subjective. “It got tricky and there was a lot of cynicism that came from that process,” Christopher Briante, the phoenix faculty advisor, said. “People always wondered how objective or how subjective the process was.”

Because of this controversy, the heads of the club, working alongside Briante, have outlined a new temporary take-on process that has not yet been approved by DOPA. The system is structured more as a point system in which

students are rewarded with points after completing a drama performance at school. When enough points are acquired by a student they can apply to Phoenix and become a member of the club. Dobbs Athletic Association, or DAA, is the honorary athletics club and has a similar system in which they reward students with points based on how many sports they participate. Thomas Oladayo, senior and president of DAA, had expressed doubt about the use of a point system in a non-athletic club.

“It works for DAA but I think it will be harder for Phoenix,” Oladayo said, “we can’t ask people to do an audition or give a monologue but they have that ability.”

However, others have seen many more problems with the old system than benefits. “What I’ve inherited as a department chair is a rather long and sordid history of some rather exclusive behavior in the group.” Jennifer Carnevale, chair of DOPA, said. Carnevale became the head of DOPA at the beginning of the year and has seen a lot of problems in Phoenix’s exclusivity and the concerns some students expressed about the club excluding individuals for reasons outside of theater. “We set out to create a system for take-ons that eliminates open-discussion and instead uses a more objective system,” Carnevale said.

Smells like team spirit: DAA revamps Spirit Week Sophia BrouSSet Copy Editor Dobbs Athletic Association (DAA), Masters's sporting society, is currently finalizing plans for Spirit Week scheduled for the week of Feb. 12-16.

Three major events are occuring throughout the course of the week: a swim meet on Monday, a girls’ varsity basketball game on Wednesday and a boys’ varsity basketball game on Thursday.

Each day will have a theme, keeping with the major event of the day. Monday is “At the Beach”, Tuesday is Twin Day, Wednesday is Valentine’s Day, Thursday is School Spirit and Friday is Pajama Day. That week, students will be exempt from co-curriculars.

“We wanted Spirit Week to feel like more than just a day of wearing pajamas to school. We’re planning things throughout the course of the day and in the morning,” History teacher and Pack the Den founder Brandon Barrios said.

Activities planned include t-shirt giveaways, Delta/Phi “minute to win it” competitions, poster-making for Pack The Den games and MISH fundraisers.

The Middle School is also being incorporated into the Spirit Week festivities. Middle Schoolers will participate in a Delta/Phi competition in which each student will be given a “passport” to be stamped each time they attend a different game, activity or performance. The events are tallied and the team with the most events attended wins.

“We’re going to try to get school spirit up and higher than it has been throughout the entire year but do it in an organized way that won’t fall won’t through and that can be repeated in later years,” DAA co-president Elizabeth Mitchell said.

Spirit Week has been a long time coming. Plans and conversation had already started at the beginning of the school year but began to concretize right before winter break.

“There’s been a lot of people involved in the planning of it, it’s not just DAA thing. This is really coming from everybody,” DAA faculty advisor Meghan MacWilliams said. “It has truly become a collaborative effort amongst all different departments on campus.”

Throughout the week there will

VINCENT ALBAN/TOWER

MIDDLE SCHOOLERS PARTAKE IN the annual Delta/Phi rock-paper-scissors competition this past Founders Day. Every year, DAA plans a celebration for Founders Day to stir up school spirit. performances by MUSE and Urban Connection, a jazz concert and a Musical Monday. “The idea is to celebrate the school as a whole and not just athletics. I think there’s a misconception that when we talk about school spirit we’re only

talking about athletics. We want to send the message that students are much more than one thing.

The people you’re supporting are diverse and multifaceted,” Barrios said.

12

SPORTS

TOWER/FEBRUARY 2, 2018

SportS

Indoor track improves despite attendance issues ELIjaH EMEry News Editor The indoor track team has faced many challenges this season, including frigid weather and low attendance. However, the team is improving in the face of these issues.

Coach Ford Palmer described one of the larger problems. “The challenge with indoor track in general is always the weather. We have an indoor Indoor track here at Masters, but it isn’t ideal because of its tight turns and small size,” Palmer said. According to Palmer, the weather makes it hard to schedule long runs, and equally difficult to provide throwers with the time and space to practice, especially in the colder months of December and January. Palmer included that winter break added further problems.

“We came off of winter break, where the kids were ‘training on their own’ for two weeks in the cold, and it’s very hard to train in the cold, so I don’t blame them if they weren’t out there running by themselves,” Palmer said.

“Unlike last year, where we always had practice indoors, this year we’re able to get outside sometimes, and get longer runs in, and we’re seeing the

VINCENT ALBAN/TOWER

JUNIOR VITTORIO STROPOLI AND sophomores Dorian Gilmartin and Jacob Kriss along with freshman Misha Feller run during practice. The team continues to improve in the face of challenges. benefits from that,” Palmer said.

Students meanwhile, see attendance as a larger issue. “The biggest problem is the attendance. Not enough runners take it seriously, only a handful of us do,” said junior Luke Ferrando. Ferrando explained that in

relay races, there are some starters who run during matches, but there are also fill-ins who could be less experienced or less qualified to run in the races.

Palmer acknowledged this issue, but said that it was diminishing for

practices. “We’re having a little hiccup with our attendance right now, but the kids have been picking it up, and the coaches have been stressing attendance lately and the kids are responding well, Palmer said. Junior Vittorio Stropoli explained that

Girls’ Varsity basketball tops New York State rankings

COLUMN: TEAMS OF RIVALS

MITCHELL FINK

saraH FaBEr Social Media Manager What the Masters Girls Varsity Basketball team lacks in membership, they make up for in hard work and spirit.

Though comprised of only eight players, MGVB has not only won games against other schools in the area, but has competed in tournaments–and won them. Competing on weekends and even over winter break, the team has brought home trophies from all around Westchester and Connecticut. On December 2nd, the team won the Tappan Zee Tip-off tournament, overcoming Pelham 37-34 in the finals. At that point, the winter sports season had not yet begun.

Their next big tournament win was in the Masters Holiday Classic, held at Masters from December 14-15. The team beat Dalton 44-40 in the final round.

“Our entire team has been re-

cruited except for two players, me and Emily [Brieant],” Kikka Domeneghetti ‘18 said. “I think our team has really improved from last year.”

“Last year it was a lot of seniors who were playing, and now a lot of recruits came in that are freshmen and sophomores, so the whole dynamic has changed,” manager Francesca Scorsese said.

After winning their game against Hopkins on on Jan. 27, the team became the number one ranked private school girls basketball team in New York, with a record of 13-4.

“We shoot a lot in practice, we’re hoping to build up consistency and be one of the best shooting teams in the league,” team captain Kendra Cooper-Smith said. “Because we are a young team in that we don’t have many seniors, we’re small, and we have a lot of new players.

We are working together to figure each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how we can really play together.”

VINCENT ALBAN/TOWER

JUNIOR EMILY BRIEANT PLAYS strategic defense against the Riverdale Country School. The team hopes to continue their success for the rest of the season.

Trump targets College shoplifters

A college freshman named Liangelo Ball, along with two former teammates on the UCLA basketball team, Jalen Hill, and Cody Riley, shoplifted from a Louis Vuitton store in China, which has ignited a national controversy. Although it may seem like just another teenage mistake, this incident has somehow become a massive story and Donald Trump is right in the thick of it.

The story is so important because Ball comes from a family which lives and thrives in the spotlight of the American sports world.

Ball has two brothers, LaMelo, a 16-year-old, and Lonzo, who was the second overall pick in the NBA Draft. Lonzo has his own shoe line, with the Big Baller Brand, a company that his father created specifically for his family.

When LiAngelo got caught shoplifting in China, President Trump happened to be in there at the same time.

President Trump was able to negotiate with the Chinese to get

Olympics buck NHL costs MorgaN BrETTsCHNEIdEr Sports Editor

Since 1998, National Hockey League (NHL) players have taken part in the Winter Olympics.

Spectators have been able to follow their favorite NHL players all season and then watch them compete in the Olympic Games from the comfort of their home. However, this year, NHL players will not participate in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games, ending a five consecutive Olympic run of these athletes. This decision has forced the U.S. to form a team of college athletes, European based players and players competing outside of the NHL. Without the participation of players known across the

nation, the spirit of hockey in the Olympics will be less competitive and therefore much less exciting to watch.

This decision stems from a series of disputes between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the NHL over costs for the athletes. In the past, the IOC would cover the costs for travel and accommodations, but declined to continue this year. Besides the cost issue, another reason to not send athletes to the games was the risk of injury to players while competing in the Olympics, which would create many problems that affect the NHL season.

The absence of NHL players in the Games has opened up many doors for college athletes. Looking at the rosters for team U.S. and Canada, which feature some NCAA athletes, it is clear there is some room for these younger play-

ers to shine. Some of these players that are not quite good enough for the NHL will now have a chance to compete for their country.

You never know what is store for this underdog United State’s team. There could even be a repeat of the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic games, when the rookie U.S. hockey team beat the number one seeded Soviet team. There is always a chance for a rookie team to rise up to a challenge and triumph, as displayed many years ago.

However, something very special about the Olympic Games is cheering for players you know and love while seeing them compete for their country. This feeling can only be repeated every four years for each sport. During this year’s Olympic hockey, it will be hard for the citizens of the United States and Canada to enjoy the Games.

“stressing attendance” meant people calling teammates out for skipping practices or meets, coaches emailing students to remind them to come to practice, detention threats and an announcement from Palmer that if someone doesn’t show up to one of the next two meets, ACR credit will not be given to that individual.

Stropoli and Palmer both talked about the effect of attendance upon the team’s performance during meets.

Stropoli pointed out the magnitude of the problem. “There were nine people at the last meet, when we were supposed to have 30.”

“We have yet to see our teams potential, because we haven’t had full attendance at a meet,” Palmer said. All of indoor track’s four races thus far have been at the Armory in the Bronx, where progress is being made, especially for new members.

“There are numerous PRs (personal records) mainly because it’s their first time running or second time running.

We’re definitely turning it around at the right time,” Palmer said.

Palmer spoke about another important factor in the team’s performance.“An important thing is to keep the mood light and to have fun. As long as we keep them motivated and keep the mood light I think we’ll do very well for the rest of the season.”

the players back to the U.S. Ball, Riley, and Hill all thanked President Trump for the help, but LaVar decided not to thank the president.

With every other thick-skinned past president, this would have blown over immediately. However, President Trump decided to once again make the situation into a much bigger deal than it actually was.

In one of his tweets, President Trump declared LaVar a “poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair,” and an “ungrateful fool”. It seemed almost like a joke to LaVar, although President Trump was taking it more seriously than any issue pressing the nation.

The issue eventually led LiAngelo and his little brother LaMelo playing in Lithuania. Although the feud between Lavar and President Trump seems to be over, this small feud that became a national controversy shows the priorities of the current administration.

COLUMN: ADEN’S ARCHIVE

Boys’ swim

Breaks records adEN KHUraNa

On Jan. 19, the Boys’ Varsity Swim team clinched their first win of the season against the Riverdale Country School. Two school records were set during the meet, one team and one individual. Led

by Captains Chris Epes and Jesse Horowitz, as well as juniors Michael D’Angelo and Marcus Diaz, the boys broke the previous school record for the 200m medley relay with a time of 1:50.55. “It felt great to set a new record with a bunch of talented seniors and I was very excited to accomplish such an achievement,” Diaz said.

While one record broken during a meet is an accomplishment, two is unheard of, for a single swimmer. Along with the 200m medley relay record, junior Michael D’Angelo broke the record for the 100m backstroke. He beat his previous record by one second with a time of 1:03. “It’s always a great feeling to set a new personal best in an event, but breaking and setting a new school record is special,” D’Angelo said.

Under the guidance of new head coach, Craig McClintock, the boys are working hard to create history.