The Newtonite January Special V95

The Newtonite Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 • Volume 95

Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St., Newtonville, Mass. 02460

School responds to late start initiative

Wendy Li W h e n j u n i o r Ja m e s H o b e n wrote his sophomore speech on the advantages of later high school start times, he found that teenagers have difficulty falling asleep early, so “even if it ends with me getting home later, it still takes the same amount of time to do homework. I think I would end up taking less time to fall asleep.”

Over the past year, the school committee’s High School Start Time Working Group has been gathering community feedback in Newton about later start times through presentations, surveys, and forums.

After several surveys, students and faculty at North voiced a variety of concerns regarding a district-wide start time change.

Junior Jessica Chen, a student -athlete on the indoor track team, expressed worry about a possible delay in winter sports practices after school.

“I think I need more sleep, and a later start time would make more sense, simply for my health,” said Chen, “but it gets dark outside before we finish our run. When we’re almost coming back, it’s sort of pitch black already. I guess having an even later start time might not be too practical for sports.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics states that it is hard for adolescents to fall asleep before 11 p.m. because of their natural sleep cycles, increasing risk of car accidents, physical and mental health problems, and decline in academic performance.

According to Ellen Gibson, one of two school committee members on the working group, common concerns about changing the start time included budget changes for school bus services, before and after school childcare for elementary students, and afterschool activities for high schoolers.

Students who participate in theatre productions also expressed concern about reduced extracurricular time.

“I’m a big fan of sleep and starting school later, but that would push back afterschool activities so much that I don’t know if I would still be a fan,” said sophomore Rene Miller, an active member of Theatre Ink. Junior Jonathan Champion, another Theatre Ink participant, wo r r i e s t h a t l a t e r s t a r t t i m e s could “possibly lower the quality of productions” if rehearsals are shortened. Champion also considered the impact on student life during production weeks, when students are required to stay at school as late as 10:30 p.m.

“Often with two to three hours of homework, it would get to a point where it’s very, very late into the night,” said Champion, adding that a later start would affect people’s social lives and productivity in school and extracurriculars.

The district is “very aware of how important school connectedness is for by

adolescents,” said Gibson, “and so we want to make sure that students could still have the opportunity to do their afterschool athletics, or clubs, or theatre.”

Members of the faculty also expressed concerns with the possibility of a later start time.

“The survey is bringing out the issue of teenagers needing more sleep, and I know that it is an important issue, but there are many different ways to deal with the issue. Changing the time may not be the best option,” says science teacher Sangeet Srikanth, a mother of both high school and elementary school students in the Newton public schools.

One of Srikanth's major concerns is morning traffic for faculty members.

“There are very few teachers teaching in this building who are from Newton,” she said, “and for all the teachers who travel so far to come to school, the traffic is going to become a very big issue.”

Tr a f f i c a r o u n d N o r t h i s backed up by 7:30 a.m. or 7:45 a.m. already, and Srikanth doesn’t “see how that situation would get any better” with “office-goers and everyone else already on the road.”

sophomore Rene Miller “I’m a big fan of sleep and starting school later, but that would push back afterschool activities so much that I don’t know if I would still be a fan.”

Gibson voiced similar thoughts, saying, “I don’t think there is a silver bullet. I don’t think there’s an easy answer. I think if there was an easy answer, districts all across the country would be doing this.”

She added, “It is not likely that we are going to be doing anything for next year because the logistics of this, for a district our size, are very substantial.”

After gathering feedback, the High School Start Time Working Group developed six scenarios for adjusting school start times and asked for feedback from the community. A full presentation detailing each scenario's predicted bus costs, effects on grade levels, and potential increase of sleep opportunity is available on the Newton Public Schools website.

School committee members will meet next Monday, Jan. 23 to consider several scenarios that each propose a different time change.

According to Gibson, the committee will either decide to proceed with a scenario immediately, or to collect more data and feedback from the Newton Public Schools community. If the school committee agrees to implement changes for the next school year, several meetings will finalize the plan before budget planning is completed in March.

Josh Shub-Seltzer

Junior Chris Matthews drives for a basket in the 65-48 victory against Waltham at TD Garden Sunday, Jan. 8.

Trump’s pro-charter stance clashes with state’s ‘No’ vote on Prop 2 Emily Moss Just two weeks after Massachusetts voters struck down a measure to raise the cap on charter schools, presidentelect Donald Trump nominated as his Secretar y of Education one of the strongest pro-charter advocates in the nation. Now, in the wake of an election that has sent shockwaves throughout the country, many Americans—including here in Newton—fear that the face of K-12 education could change drastically over the next four years.

“Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education and people that support charters and vouchers don’t think education is a public good,” said Newton Teachers Association president Michael Zilles. “They think education should be treated like a car: you get what you pay for.”

Education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos has proposed awarding government funds to private and parochial schools through a voucher system in which children would be permitted to attend at a reduced cost.

In her home state of Michigan, she has also advocated the replacement of traditional public schools with charter schools—tuition-free, public schools that receive a special degree of autonomy.

While the notion of vouchers bears little resemblance to any prior national policy, the charter question has long been a point of controversy. Proponents argue that charter schools—with their innovative teaching and management methods—offer top-tier educational opportunities to students who would otherwise languish in troubled district schools. Those who oppose charters, such as Zilles, say that these schools by

siphon money from traditional public schools, create hostile environments for English as a Second Language (ESL) students and special needs students, and lead to de facto segregation within districts.

In a state where popular views on education are now at odds with those of national policymakers, the question of how charter schools fit into the equation remains pressing. The issue does not fall neatly along party lines, and Newton residents have expressed mixed feelings.

Consequences for Newton In the weeks and months leading up to election day, Proposition 2 (Prop 2) became an important topic of conversation among students and teachers. Prop 2 would have “allow[ed] the State Board of Education to approve up to 12 new or expanded public charter schools a year” had the measure passed, according to CBS Boston.

Senior Gregory Brumberg, a student representative to the School Committee, recalled that his history teacher had worn a shirt or button expressing opposition to Prop 2 and that he and his teacher had discussed the matter together.

“I asked him why, and I said, ‘I know that’s the view I’m supposed to have—can you explain to me why I’m supposed to have that?’” Brumberg recounted. “And he explained to me how it [the emergence of charter schools] was taking away funding.”

Following his teacher’s advice, Brumberg ultimately voted “no” on Prop 2. Yet Brumberg said he doubts that a “yes” verdict would have had any direct impact on Newton students.

“A lot of my friends had the same thought that I did—that charter schools take away funds from public schools. But I think that’s a little bit misguided because the bill gives priority to charter schools that would open up in under-achieving districts,” he said. “So I just feel like students weren’t quite informed about that because it wouldn’t necessarily be taking away from Newton Public Schools.”

Brumberg is correct that Newton has not yet become home to any charter schools. However, Zilles said that if Prop 2 had passed, the measure would have “made the emergence of a charter school in our district very likely. They would have tried to open a ‘boutique’ charter, like a language immersion school or a STEM or STEAM school,” he said.

Moreover, individual school districts lack jurisdiction on the charter question, since decisions take place at the state level. “It wouldn’t have mattered if the Newton School Committee had said, ‘we can’t afford that,” Zilles explained. “We would have had to pay for it.”

The funding question The root of Zilles’ concern about affordability lies with the fact that charters receive funding on a perpupil basis: if a student in a given district chooses to attend a charter school rather than a traditional public school, the charter school receives a sum of money equivalent to the average cost of educating a student in a public school. In turn, the public school loses that same sum of money. ◆ continued on page 10

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opinion

2 ◆ The Newtonite, Newton North

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Later school start times make for healthier teens Every morning, North students fight their body clocks to roll out of bed and arrive at school on time. They often yawn through A-block, only begin to wake up about an hour later into the day, and struggle to retain the early morning material presented to them. The school committee’s proposed delay to school start time, if passed, would benefit the mental and physical health as well as academic performance of high school students in the district.

editorial The High School Start Time Working Group has done a thorough analysis of the issue.

Of their six scenarios, deciding factors include cost, school day schedule, “sleep benefits,” afternoon activities, and elementary and middle school schedules.

In this issue’s front page story, students voiced concerns about the potential effects of these later start times on extracurriculars, homework, and bedtimes.

While these concerns are legitimate and should be heard, more important than individual obstacles are the results of scientific studies about teens and sleep. According to a New York Times interview with sleep researcher Judith Owens of Boston Children’s Hospital, a teen waking up at 7 a.m. or earlier to go to school is the equivalent of an adult waking up at 3 a.m. to go to work. This is due to adolescents’ circadian rhythm—teens fall asleep and wake up later than younger children and adults.

Studies show that it is not just how many hours people sleep, but when they get those hours.

Sleep proves more restful when teenagers go to sleep after 11

p.m. and wake up at least eight hours later, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Owens echoed these benefits in The Newtonite’s own interview in 2015. In her extensive studies of later high school start times, the results for students were better moods, lower dropout rates, fewer car accidents, and higher standardized test scores.

Here in Massachusetts, Nauset High School’s 8:35 a.m. start time also demonstrates those effects. According to a Boston Globe article, results were immediate and positive when later start times were implemented, and “more students showed up to school refreshed. Tardiness fell by 35 percent, and the number of Ds and Fs dropped by half.”

These students showed up to school refreshed because they were able to undergo REM sleep, the fourth, final, and most important stage of sleep for retaining memories and information. Adolescents begin producing melatonin, a hormone that controls sleep cycles, at around 11 p.m., pushing the sleep cycle a few hours later than that of younger children. When adolescents wake up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for school, REM sleep— the restorative stage of our sleep cycle—is essentially cut off.

The proposals of the Working Group are no longer speculative “what-ifs,” but arguments that have been built with concrete evidence about the advantages of restful sleep.

We must recognize the detrimental consequences of working against the teenage circadian clock. The Newtonite urges the School Committee to implement a change in high school start times in order to benefit students’ health and wellbeing.

The Newtonite The Newtonite, founded in 1922, is the news source of Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St., Newtonville, Mass. 02460.

Editors in chief — Jackie Gong, Maya Metser Managing editors — Rose Bostwick, Blake Krantz, Amy Morrill, Emily Moss, Josh Shub-Seltzer, Jacob Sims Speyer Arts editors — Nour Chahboun, Hannah Liu Features editor — Lucy Lu Freelance editor — Wendy Li News editors — Tali Falk-Judson, Samantha Fredberg Sports editors — Jonathan Cohen, Will Kharfen On Campus editor — Maya Waldman Opinion/Blogs editor — Adam Clements

Talk of the Tiger editor — Laura Schmidt-Hong Photography managers — Wendy Li, Devin Perlo Graphics managers— Alisa Caira, Valeria Dountcheva Advertising and Business manager — Ophelia Baxter Technology manager — Michael Tang Advisers — Tom Fabian, Derek Knapp, Amanda Mazzola Staff — Derek Krantz, Nathan Persampieri

The Newtonite staff does all its reporting and photography to post content daily to its website, thenewtonite.com. It makes all content choices.

In addition to the print graduation special, The Newtonite will publish a special on the first day of school, a club special, and a midyear special.

To place an advertisement in the online or print version of The Newtonite or to contact us by phone, please call 617-559-6273. Readers can also reach us at thenewtonite@gmail.com.

Abby Roll

Students from Advanced Jazz Improv perform during Jazz Night Jan. 11 in the auditorium. Pictured are senior Paris Karniadakis and juniors Matthew Rabin, Bernard Chedekel, and Sophie Spector.

Fight against Trump’s climate agenda Adam Clements As of today, Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States. Going into this new chapter in history, there is one aspect of president Barack Obama’s legacy that is imperative for us to fight for: his progress on climate change.

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column Scientists agree that human impact on the environment has reached a tipping point, where if damage continues to occur at the rate that it has in recent years, the earth may never be able to fully recover.

To combat this risk, the federal government should continue to promote and invest in renewable, clean energy.

Instead, Trump’s apparent positions on the issue, if enacted, will hinder our country from moving past fossil fuels. Any subsequent damage inflicted on the environment is likely to be largely irreparable. To prevent such damage, fighting his climate agenda should be a high priority for all concerned citizens.

Trump’s history on the subject is concerning. In the recent past, he has claimed climate change is a Chinese hoax, expressed desire to withdraw from 2015’s Paris Agreement, threatened to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and vowed to dismantle President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which mandates lowered emissions at existing power plants and encourages growth in renewable energy. According to the Sierra Club, he is the only world leader to actively deny human impact on climate change.

Trump has argued that removing regulations on the oil, natural gas, and coal industries will boost the economy. His prioritizing short-term economic growth in one industry is a harmful step backwards towards unsustainable energy sources.

The only country that is more responsible for carbon emissions on earth than the United States is

The Newtonite serves as a designated forum for student opinion.

Readers are invited to submit guest articles and letters to the editor.

Letters should be put in The Newtonite box in the main office or emailed to thenewtonite@gmail.com.

The Newtonite reserves the right to edit all letters, which must have the writer’s name and a student’s class and homeroom.

agrees human activity is significantly affecting climate change. A strong majority of Americans now accept this scientific consensus. According to a 2016 Gallup poll, a record 65 percent of Americans now believe human-caused climate change is a real issue.

The Paris Agreement, the only organized international effort to combat climate change in existence, has been signed by 193 countries and ratified by 112. If Trump were to withdraw the United States, we would join Iraq, Nicaragua, Uzbekistan, and Syria as the countries abstaining from the agreement.

Climate change affects everybody: it panders to no specific group’s interests, but presents potential to harm any individual in this country or on this planet. While some are at greater risk than others under a Trump presidency, nobody is immune to the effects of climate change.

Climate change will never be resolved as long as massive, traditional energy corporations are supported by the government and left unregulated and free to inflict unnecessary damage on the environment.

Without an election year in the immediate future, our potential as individual citizens to fight Trump’s agenda on climate change is limited.

However, trying as hard as possible is still worthy and important. Call your representatives in the federal government, and let them know that fighting Trump’s climate agenda is a top priority for you. Donate to an environmental advocacy organization like the Sierra Club or the Natural Resources Defense Council if you are able to do so, or encourage others to.

The government is obliged to protect its citizens. For Trump to deny the threat posed by climate change and prioritize the interests of wealthy oil companies disregards his duties as leader of our country, and we should do everything in our power to fight it.

School mourns ‘immeasurable’ loss Jacob Sims Speyer Ty Vignone, a history teacher beloved by generations of students and colleagues, died Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016. He was 79.

Mr. Vignone passed away following a long-term illness at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.

After teaching at F.A. Day Middle School for 18 years, Mr. Vignone started teaching history at North in 1983. During his time at this school, Mr. Vignone brought the Close-Up government program to North, a

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Letters

China. After years of an economy that relied heavily on coal and placed little emphasis on clean energy, the evidence of the effect is striking. In December, smog over some Chinese cities was so severe that both air and ground traffic had to be shut down due to low visibility, according to USA Today. Residents have had to wear surgeon’s masks while outdoors for years.

Now, China is emerging as a strong proponent of the Paris Agreement, poised to become a leader in reducing human effect on climate change. Meanwhile, Trump and the Republican Party want to move the United States—which has been instrumental in encouraging worldwide action on climate change for the past eight years—backwards.

His “100-day action plan,” released in October 2016, includes promises to “lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion’ worth of job producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.”

Trump’s cabinet selections are no friends of the environment. Most troubling is his pick for Administrator of the EPA, Scott Pruitt. The Attorney General of Oklahoma is a well-known climate change denier.

Pruitt has led lawsuits against the EPA during the Obama administration and fought environmental regulation at every opportunity.

In 2014, a New York Times investigation found that Pruitt, as well as other Republican Attorneys General, had secretly co-conspired with energy corporations to fight environmental regulations. He was found to have sent multiple letters to federal officials in protest of regulations that, while sent under his name, were secretly written by officials at the prominent Oklahoma-based energy corporation and frequent Republican campaign donor Devon Energy, according to the Times.

Contrary to Trump’s unfounded claims, climate change is not a hoax. According to NASA, over 97 percent of the scientific community

class where students learn about current events, culminating with a trip to Washington D.C. He also led the Prague Summer field trip, a two-week history intensive visit to Europe, and the freshman class trip to New York City.

History teacher Gregory Drake called Mr. Vignone’s impact on the school “immeasurable. It’s probably something that we won’t fully realize for some time. In his last few weeks, he received letters, cards, and emails from hundreds of students.”

He was remembered in a private family service last month.

The school is planning a celebration of his life Saturday, Jan. 28.

The commemoration will include speakers, a slideshow of photos from Mr. Vignone’s long career, and the opportunity for students to share memories, according to history department chair Jonathan Bassett.

Mr. Vignone was “a man who loved his life, loved the world, and loved his friends,” Bassett said.

feature

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Newton North, The Newtonite ◆ 3

Newton responds to national opioid epidemic Lucy Lu Opioid-related overdoses and deaths in Newton have spiked in the past two years, reaching 20 overdoses and at least four deaths each year, which marks the highest numbers Newton has ever seen.

As of yet, these numbers do not seem to reflect habits of students at North.

Our North community has time and again been referred to as a “bubble,” seemingly separate and secure from the dangers of the nation outside. Based on the results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey that seem to suggest a minimal impact of opioids on this school, this “bubble” seems to be formidable enough that the crisis has not penetrated it. The question is whether our community will remain impervious.

“Is there an opioid epidemic here at North? No, there is not,” said drug intervention and prevention counselor Alison Malkin.

Despite higher numbers in the Newton community as a whole, in North itself, less than two percent of all students used any form of opioids during the 30 days prior to the survey in the 2014-15 school year according to survey results. by

primary care doctor Jim Morrill “People were able to get high at a fraction of the cost.”

In fact, multiple efforts to interview addicts anonymously for this investigative report proved ineffective. Even students referred by sources to The Newtonite denied any form of opioid abuse.

Likewise, despite requests to meet with individual students to give firsthand accounts, Malkin declined to provide opportunities for current students she counsels to be contacted.

This difficulty suggests the broader silences and stigma of the opioid crisis—a difference from conversations about other substance abuse and one that seems distant and unrelatable for students at North.

However, Malkin warns against viewing the opioid crisis with complacency, saying “the opioid conversation is a cautionary tale.”

“We must understand the continuum of substance abuse,” she added. “People can transfer from

one substance to another.”

Moreover, there are many students seeking help who have had family members struggling with opioid addiction, according to Malkin.

Jim Morrill, a primary care doctor on Massachusetts General Hospital at Charlestown’s addictions consult team, said that the national “opioid epidemic has reached groups that were never affected by opioids before, and that has included an increasing number of high school students. Its impact varies in different communities, but it definitely reaches even into Newton.”

In the past year, the city of Newton has implemented both preventative measures and treatment efforts in response to this crisis, including an umbrella project known as Newton Prevention, Awareness, Treatment, and Hope (PATH).

“We have done a lot of work confronting this issue, and we’re lucky to have a group that is focused on it,” said Newton Health and Human Services Commissioner Deborah Youngblood. “Health and human services, social workers, the Newton Police Department, Newton Fire Department, drug court, and community partners all work in recovery.”

Newton PATH has made an effort in helping people safely dispose of prescription drugs, reversing overdoses, and educating the community. Designating specific drug disposal kiosks at the police station, making sure that police officers and school health rooms carry a safe overdose reversal drug known as Narcan, and hanging up posters for addiction awareness are just a few of the many initiatives implemented to suppress the rise of an epidemic in Newton.

Even more, the group has sparked fires of new conversation between teens and adults in the community to help those struggling to find hope.

On Oct. 6, 2016, the Newton PATH program organized “No Regrets,” an event held at North dedicated to those affected by the opioid crisis. Teens and adults gathered to participate in an interactive panel with Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and to watch an opioid awareness short film, If Only, directed by James Wahlberg.

Abuse of prescription opioid painkillers and heroin has surged in recent years. About 15 years ago, a big push by the pharmaceutical industry educated doctors about

Josh Shub-Seltzer

“I was surprised to see how much was overprescribed,” said Sims Speyer. “I only used about half of each prescription and ended up with around 15 extra pills, which I promptly flushed.” pain control, promoting narcotics and claiming opioids were nonaddictive.

According to Youngblood, the medical community was convinced that they were wrong in underprescribing a drug perceived as harmless—soon, the pills were in the hands of greater numbers of people.

drug intervention and prevention counselor Alison Malkin “The opioid conversation is a cautionary tale.”

Painkillers such as oxycontin are typically prescribed medically following injuries or surgeries.

Senior Josh Sims Speyer was prescribed oxycontin by both his ER doctor and surgeon after hurting his arm in an accident and later undergoing surgery for it.

“I was surprised to see how much was overprescribed,” said Sims Speyer. “I only used about

Newton Police response to heroin overdoses =Overdose =Death

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half of each prescription and ended up with around 15 extra pills, which I promptly flushed.

“I could have made $1000 plus selling my extra pills—the drug is so addictive and so powerful,” he added. “It was scary to see how fast my body adapted to the opioids.”

According to Morrill, oxycontin holds a high price tag on the street of about a dollar per milligram, and people could use up to hundreds of milligrams a day to get high. As they become more deeply addicted, users’ tolerance levels increase.

“Heroin is about 30-fold more affordable because trade routes from South America changed to accommodate fewer middle men, and efficiency of getting it into the market increased,” said Morrill.

“People were able to get high at a fraction of the cost.”

The heroin trade steered clear of urban centers that were already controlled, and it moved into small towns and suburbs, not getting picked up by law enforcement as quickly as other drugs did, according to Youngblood.

She added that addicts often start taking painkillers in high school before pursuing heroin in their mid-twenties to thirties.

“Aside from crystal meth, [heroin] is probably the most rapid drug you can use in terms of tolerance,” said South drug intervention and prevention counselor Brian Deleskey. “Heroin is so available and plentiful and so pure.”

Deleskey is also a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and runs his own private clinical practice in which he has observed a common path to heroin.

“What I see is a cycle of kids starting [to use heroin] freshman year of college and bottoming out senior year,” he added. “People come to me around 23 or 24 when their addiction has escalated, hopefully seeking help.”

In addition to the city’s efforts to provide addiction counseling, Newton PATH also serves those who have already been convicted of drug-related crimes in Newton.

According to Newton Drug

Court criminal defense lawyer David Jellinek, Newton Drug Court represents convicts in the process of keeping them out of jail and later helps them enter a rehabilitation program, the most focused probation they have access to.

“We see many clients with breaking and entering cases, stealing to support their habits,” said Jellinek. “By giving them a second chance, we work to educate and remove the stigma of having an addiction.”

senior Josh Sims Speyer “I could have made $1000 plus selling my extra pills—the drug is so addictive and powerful.”

Deleskey noted that the growing concerns of the crisis among white middle-class kids is “what’s making people step up and parents step up,” he said. “I hope that isn’t the reason people start caring, but they seem to be realizing that this could happen to anybody.”

To open up the conversation, Morrill argued that people must work towards changing their societal perception of addiction.

“We must recognize that addiction is not a failure of will or character flaw,” Morrill said. “It is a chronic but treatable brain disease, a psychosocial and medical condition—people shouldn’t stigmatize or ignore it, but rather turn toward it and nevertheless love those going through it.”

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4 ◆ The Newtonite, Newton North

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Leadership class explores questions of diversity, community Laura Schmidt-Hong Every morning, 55 juniors and seniors from all corners of the school come together to discuss issues related to identity and community. Their forum for discussion is the Leadership in a Diverse Society course, an elective created in 1996 in the aftermath of racial incidents at North.

Taught by English teachers Peter Goddard and Michele Leong, the class allows students to discuss current events, represent the student body, and respond to school and global incidents. The students in the class “represent a variety and diversity of experiences in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, and activities they do” and include both Newton and METCO students, said Leong.

The class began after two racial incidents, the first of which led to the creation of the Thompson Island retreat, which remains an integral part of the Leadership curriculum. It occurs over two days every September or October, and students build trust and bond by sharing personal stories and taking part in team-building activities.

For senior Galen Rokosz, the retreat was a chance to recognize his privilege, he noted. “The most challenging thing was sitting down and saying, ‘I don’t have a story like this.’ It humbled me a lot,” he said.

After the retreat, students learn about dominant and nondominant groups through units on race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. These topics, particularly socioeconomic status, all have “potential for controversy, depending on what people bring” to the table, explained Goddard.

Another component of the curriculum involves learning about by

various leadership styles and noteworthy leaders.

“It was really interesting to learn about all these different ways people can lead,” said junior Sophie Ferreira, “to dismantle this idea that you have to be a certain way to be a leader or a force of positive change in the world.”

Along with teaching a set curriculum, Leadership works as a representation of the student body.

“When things happen, whether in the world or in the school, we have to put the curriculum down and be the student response to that,” explained Goddard.

For instance, Leadership was involved in the response to the Confederate flag incident, during which two students waved a Confederate flag while driving around Tiger Drive this past fall. Principal Henry Turner said he and the students discussed how to “respond to this incident that impacted people in our community.”

Discussions often explore personal experiences, homework readings, community events, global events, and films, said Leong.

The discussions “get to the core of issues,” no matter the controversy or tensions surrounding them, according to senior Luther Evans.

Evans added that Goddard and Leong “emphasize that some people are going to be uncomfortable” while discussing certain topics, but moving past that discomfort is essential.

However, drawing out the opinions of all students can be challenging, said Goddard. He explained that students “who don’t always go with what a lot of people would call the ‘Newton narrative’” may be more reticent in the class than they are in other settings.

Devin Perlo

English teacher Peter Goddard, who co-teaches the Leadership in a Diverse Society elective with English teacher Michele Leong, speaks to the class Friday, Jan. 6.

“We know that a lot of people know how to publicly sound like they’re along with the program, but privately, they’re not,” he added.

Ferreira shared similar observations regarding a discussion about the recent presidential election, which explored “people’s reactions about it, debriefing about it, and allowing people to process their emotions in a raw way.”

She explained, “Our environment is so heavily liberal that people who didn’t feel negatively about the election may have felt a little bit intimidated to speak up.”

Students have also discussed “how you really need to respect everyone’s opinion within the class, and you can’t yell at them,” said senior Grace Kellman.

She added that what she learns in the class is unique in that “you’re learning it for your own betterment,” not to score well on a test.

The process of nominating 55 students to the class begins in February. Goddard and Leong “put the invitation out to the staff ” and “ask this year’s class to nominate students they think would be a good fit for next year,” said Leong.

Faculty are asked “to think about different forms of leadership” and are given examples of various leadership styles. Both quieter leaders and louder leaders are considered, Leong added.

After students are nominated, a committee of deans, faculty from different departments, the principal, and Goddard and Leong together “try to represent the crosssection of the school” as best they can, said Goddard. The students from the current class also weigh in separately.

While the nomination process is limiting, Turner also commented that there are some skills and top-

ics that are taught in the class “that would be great for all of our students to learn.”

He is “open-minded about some different ways” of including more students in the class, although he recognized that doing so would be difficult.

Kellman also recognized the difficulties in opening up the class to more students. Evans said he wishes Leadership was a mandatory course.

In order to include more students in the class, Goddard has considered open enrollment. However, it would likely lead to staffing or scheduling issues.

Leong explained that the nominated students are “not always the usual suspects,” and she and Goddard make sure to “advocate for a variety of different leadership styles.”

sports

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Newton North, The Newtonite ◆ 5

Systemic gender biases in athletics raise frustrations, concerns Blake Krantz For many, the United States Women’s National Soccer team’s convincing victory over Japan in the finals of the 2015 Women’s World Cup seemed to signify a pivotal moment in women’s sports.

The final matchup set the highest television rating of a soccer game in U.S. history, and it seemed to captivate fans across the nation.

However, nearly a year and a half later, this success has failed to translate into popularity for professional female leagues such as the National Women’s Soccer League and the Women’s National Basketball Association.

The same apparent lack of interest in women’s sports is evident in our school community.

“It’s just kind of the way it is. It’s not intentional, but over time it kind of just happens,” said senior Caroline Howley, a captain of the girls’ basketball team.

“You buy sixth man shirts for the boys’ games, and all of the hype is about the boys’ games. Last year we had parents come to our home games on Tuesdays, and that was it.”

However, Howley stressed the fact that the athletic department is not “trying to emphasize boys more than girls,” but that this reality is simply present in sports.

Senior Janey Bombara, an officer of Feminism Club, also commented on the disparity in interest between boys’ and girls’ sports.

“I think that a lot of times, just like out in the world, boys’ sports are taken much more seriously than girls’ sports,” she said. “Football is considered a huge deal and so is boys’ basketball, but not girls’ basketball. The girls’ soccer team has won so many state championships, but people don’t care as much.”

Athletic director Tom Giusti emphasized the need for more equal support and attention among all sports teams.

“We need to support studentathletes and have students support each other by attending games and being boisterous. Sometimes we get so caught up in our busy world that we don’t support each other enough,” he explained. He added that “I would like to see us build a large fanbase for everyone, because everyone wants to play in front of a crowd of peers.”

However, as students are forced to make choices about their schedules, equal crowds often do not end up being the case.

According to North’s athletes, the real question becomes less about pointing fingers and more about why this issue revolving by

around gender and sports is “the way it is.”

Simply put, according to Bombara, it “is a systemic problem more than the fault of an individual person or incident.”

As another fall season has wrapped up and winter has begun, students have raised their concerns.

One issue concerns the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams running shirtless at their practices, an apparent inequality that occurs despite what is intended to be an equal policy that all runners practice fully clothed, according to Giusti.

Senior Amanda Powers, a captain of the girls’ cross country team, voiced the frustrations of many.

“It becomes easy for the boys’ team to be shirtless 75 percent of the time and for the girls’ team to feel like they aren’t sure what they can or cannot wear. It leads to a lot of girls going on a run, taking their shirt off on Commonwealth Avenue, and putting it on when they get back,” she explained.

According to Powers, although the policy may be intended to be equal for all athletes, it seems that this message is not always entirely felt by the players, adding that “a lot of girls were upset,” and that it “feels weird to enforce that only for the girls’ cross country team and not for other people,” including runners not affiliated with the school who simply use the track.

This ultimately creates a dynamic that can be frustrating for many athletes in girls’ sports such as cross country, even without the deliberate imposition of any disparity.

Senior Ryan Steele, a captain of the boys’ cross country team, gave his perspective on the problem and current athletic policies.

He explained that running shirtless “is kind of just an individual choice that runners make,” adding, about the policy, “the message definitely got lost.”

Math teacher Brandon Mogayzel, the girl’s cross country coach, said, “you exercise and you do your practice fully clothed. That is the policy, that is the school policy, that is the policy that I enforce. Perhaps it is not enforced universally the same way, but that is the policy as I know it.”

The disparity, then, becomes the product of “a vague rule” that is “easier to be enforced in an unequal manner,” as Powers put it. The enforcement of rules like this one ultimately seem to illustrate the common culture among students and student-athletes about boys’ and girls’ sports, and what is deemed to be appropriate behavior for male and female athletes.

Italics= away game

Sunday Week of 1/22 Girls’/Boys’ Track

Howley pointed to another subtle difference in the experiences of the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams.

Although explicitly stating that nobody in the athletic department intended for the inequality to occur, Howley explained that sometimes “people would set up chairs and the clock and everything before the boys’ game and clean it up afterwards, but the girls always had to put the chairs away after their games, which is unfortunate because there is no need to have a difference,” she said. “Last year our parents would help clean up the chairs after the girls’ games because we had to talk afterwards and go home because it was late.”

In sports with boys’ and girls’ teams like cross country and basketball, it is often “hard to change, because other people often don’t really see a problem” and they may just “have fun and go to the boys’ games” as a tradition, according to Howley. Hence, the “way it is” continues to manifest itself.

Director of American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University, Earl Smith believes this dynamic can be attributed to the social environment that currently surrounds sports in this country, and the potential criticism that female athletes may face as they dissent from what seems to be the norm for men and women.

Smith explained that while there are women who can compete on an equal playing field, the scrutiny of breaking the common division of men’s and women’s sports may not be worth the benefit. Instead, female athletes are left to participate in often-neglected women’s sports.

On a national level, women’s sports have undoubtedly expanded.

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 was the first step in this process, guaranteeing equal funds and barring discrimination due to gender in athletics.

However, even despite this hallmark declaration in the struggle for equality in athletics, Title IX is still often inconsistently enforced.

According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, female athletes still receive just 43 percent of participation opportunities at NCAA schools, or 63,241 less opportunities than men. In addition, female athletes currently receive roughly 45 percent of NCAA collegiate athletic scholarship dollars, 40 percent of college sport operating dollars, and 36 percent of college recruitment spending, illustrating the perhaps still prevalent inequality that exists.

This divide between men’s and

Josh Shub-Seltzer

Senior Sayawni Lassiter goes up for a basktet in a 53-30 victory against Milton Friday, Dec. 16 in the gym. women’s sports is often most perpetuated by the largest names in sports media.

For example, according to a recent study conducted by Sage Journals, ESPN’s iconic program, Sportscenter, consistently dedicates less than five percent of its highlights to women’s sports.

Additionally, reporter Andy Benoit of Sports Illustrated recently tweeted that “women’s sports in general are not worth watching.”

Howley commented on her perspective as a female athlete. “Now that I am actually on the team, I notice it a lot more, the small inequalities between them,” she said on boys’ and girls’ sports teams. “Your feelings are kind of hurt, but it’s not an actual problem. I definitely notice it, but I can’t personally change anything.”

This change likely takes root in the large body of people outside

Newton North Winter Varsity Schedule

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

the players themselves who watch sports and help shape its customs and its culture.

According to Giusti, girls’ sports are fundamentally equal to boys’ sports, and should be treated accordingly. “Female athletes are playing the same games and are giving the same amount of intensity and some great athleticism and team spirit. They are working as hard every single day, and the word athlete is not a male or a female term,” he said.

For Bombara, there is certainly still room for improvement in the culture that helps foster this mindset across the country.

She said, “I think that girls’ sports have to be treated with the same respect and with the same level of funding and the same dignity that boys’ sports are, because there is no difference other than the people who are playing the sports.”

Friday

Saturday

Boys’ Swim Nordic Skiing Boys’/Girls’ Track Girls’/Boys’ Basketball Boys’ Wrestling Alpine Skiing Girls’ Gymnastics Girls’/Boys’ Hockey Girls’ Gymnastics

Girls’/Boys’ Swim Girls’/Boys’ Track Girls’/Boys’ Gymnastics Boys’ Wrestling Girls’/Boys’ Basketball Girls’/Boys’Hockey

Week of 1/29 Girls’ Hockey Girls’/Boys’ Basketball Girls’/Boys’ Track Girls’/Boys’ Gymnastics Girls’/Boys’ Hockey Boys’ Wrestling Alpine Skiing

Girls’/Boys’ Basketball Girls’/Boys’ Track Alpine Skiing Girls’/Boys’Hockey

Boys’ Swim Nordic Skiing

Week of 2/6 Girls’ Dance Girls’ Gymnastics Girls’/Boys’ Track Alpine Skiing Girls’/Boys’ Basketball Boys’ Wrestling

Boys’ Basketball Girls’/Boys’ Basketball Girls’/Boys’ Hockey Boys’ Gymnastics Girls’ Gymnastics Girls’ Dance Girls’ Dance Nordic Skiing Girls’/Boys’ Hockey Week of 2/12 Boys’ Hockey Girls’/Boys’ Basketball Girls’/Boys’ Track Alpine Skiing Nordic Skiing Girls’ Dance Girls’/Boys’ Hockey Week of 2/19 Week of 2/26

Girls’/Boys’ Basketball

Girls’/Boys’ Basketball

Girls’/Boys’ Basketball Boys’ Wrestling Alpine Skiing

Girls’/Boys’ ‘Track Girls’/Boys’ Hockey

Girls’ Basketball

Girls’/Boys’ Track Nordic Skiing Boys’ Wrestling Girls’ Gymnastics Girls’/Boys’ Track Girls’ Dance

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

6 ◆ The Newtonite, Newton North

Newton North, The Newtonite ◆ 7

Post-election dialogue highlights strained relations Administrators urge students to find commonalities

Since Donald Trump’s election, students have either supported or criticized his incoming administration, which has resulted in strained relations across North and on social media. In a school that boasts of its diversity and acceptance, this election cycle has uncovered a blindspot in our community’s core values.

The stories here explore how students and faculty have felt since the election and illustrate the tension between supporters and detractors of the president across this school. Despite Trump’s vic-

tory, students who support him still feel marginalized by their peers.

Despite reconciling with the idea that Trump is the 45th president, those who oppose him still wonder how their concerns for the country will be addressed. As a result, neither side has felt like they have truly won.

The Newtonite has focused on how various members of the community have reacted in order to bridge this divide between our diverse political ideologies.

Alisa Caira Valeria Dountcheva

designed by and

Concerned students pledge to continue advocacy Amy Morrill For non-Trump supporters, the night of the presidential election was one of shock and disbelief. As president Donald Trump’s win sinks in, North students who did not support him during the election season work to find new bearings in our school community and our country.

Junior Drew Nolan described feeling “pure astonishment” when Trump was elected because “people had been openly doubtful about his chances since the beginning.”

However, since then, his “frustration has turned away from the voters” whom he initially blamed. He added that many of Trump’s supporters had “genuine demands,” like wanting financial stability and “the American working class to come back to America.” Nolan believes that voters were not at fault for buying into a candidate who he believes made “empty promises to solve these problems.”

Senior Noah Stonehill, a Gary Johnson supporter, was also shocked by the election but decided that he was “content with the results” because he preferred Trump to Clinton “even though I never would have voted for him.” He said his happiness with the president has only increased since then because Trump has “for the most part ended his unprofessional tone.”

However, for many Clinton and thirdparty candidate supporters, Trump’s win was a call to action.

Senior Zoe Birnhak said that she has moved towards acceptance, but knows she “can still protest for the issues that I consider to be important.”

Similarly, junior Abby Richmond said that she will concentrate her anger into “productive things like writing, taking action, spreading

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“No, I think that if you look at last year a lot of incidents happened in our school, and the symbol of Nazis was dealt with immediately, but the Black Culture Day questions were not.” ~junior Eliza Inder

awareness about important causes that are now at risk” because of Trump’s “hateful speech,” which has “given rise to more open racism, sexism, and homophobia in this country.”

Even if Clinton had won the election, Richmond said that she believes that “it would still be important to stand up for rights and be active. There’s always more progress to be made, regardless of who’s in office.”

She added that although it is important to accept the results of the election it “doesn’t mean, however, that we should just blindly accept his power.”

Students have been participating in anti-Trump rallies and peace rallies across the country. Although they seem similar, the difference between the two is important to some.

Birnhak explained that she has only gone to peace rallies because they show that “there are people who don’t fully accept what’s going on and are trying to unify against it in a respectful manner,” as opposed to people who don’t accept Trump’s presidency.

Richmond said that peace rallies are more beneficial because they “promote love and tolerance and raise awareness on social justice issues.” However, she added that there are other, more effective ways to protest Trump, such as donating to organizations like Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, contacting members of Congress, and calling out bigotry.

The day after the election was tense at North. Students had mixed opinions after the administration’s decision to hold a schoolwide spirit day Nov. 9 in an effort to unite the student body.

Birnhak said, “I think it was a good idea to have the spirit day, but I know a lot of people just wore their political views. It maybe wasn’t executed in the best way, but you can’t blame the school because you can’t force people to participate.”

Stonehill disagreed, explaining that his teachers were constantly “seeing if people were okay,” which he doesn’t think “would’ve happened if Hillary won.”

He asserted that “people just need to accept” the results of the election and not overreact.

In light of the immense feelings of separation in our country, many students expressed a wish for unity in our school and country.

“We cannot let this election tear us apart as a nation,” said Nolan.

“As a community, we must remain strong and stay together through this. Unity has always been, and will always be, humanity’s biggest strength.”

Rose Bostwick In general, the 2016 election cycle was met with clashes between opposing sides.

Both within North and the country as a whole, tensions ran high in the year leading up to the presidential election. Faculty reported conservative students being met with backlash and even personal insults from the more liberal majority both leading up to and after the election.

“The cycle has been very emotional for people,” said Beals House dean Scott Heslin. “The negativity from both sides made some really question the leadership of our country.”

At this school, according to vice principal Amy Winston, “one of the toughest differences was that so little of the press coverage, and the debate content, was about real issues for our country. We rarely heard the presidential candidates have the opportunity to really discuss their plans for the country.” She added, “Listening to an election cycle like this leads students to believe that it is okay to talk ‘at each other’ instead of engaging in true inquisitive dialogue.”

Guidance counselor Patrick Manning voiced similar thoughts, citing a “noticeable tension” at the school, mainly between members of the student body. “People identified strongly for or against a certain candidate, and things became personal. They were assuming others were a certain type of person based on the candidate they liked,” he

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said. Additionally, Heslin reported “incidents where students inappropriately defended the candidate of their choice or attacked the other.”

According to Winston, the school administration is attempting to ease tensions within the student body by placing an emphasis on “our social and civic expectations and our school mission.”

“We believe that a focus on these expectations and explicit instruction around and reinforcement of these expectations, will increase the skill with which students are able to discuss difficult content which will in turn decrease tensions,” Winston said.

Of Inauguration Day, Heslin said, “I believe our students will handle themselves appropriately. In a school with over 2000 students, some may do something they should not do and if that occurs, they will be dealt with.”

Manning said that from a counseling perspective, he foresees that Inauguration Day may possibly reignite many of the tensions seen earlier in the year. He added that counselors are always available for discussion, saying, “We are here to help.”

As to how to handle these possible issues, principal Henry Turner and Winston have been unable to come to a clear resolution, according to Winston. However, she added, “Our goal is to do everything possible so that all students, no matter their political affiliation, feel safe.”

Trump supporters still face intolerance from peers Maya Waldman As of today, Trump is our country’s president, which may allow his supporters to discuss their views more openly, with less fear of being judged. His supporters said they found it difficult to advocate for their political opinions during the election process as their voices were silenced by many students at North.

“When everyone thought that Hillary would win, they were always rubbing it in, but I knew that Trump could and would pull it off,” said senior Jacob Nutting, a Trump supporter.

Despite Trump’s election, junior Jack Pomper still struggles to find his place as a Trump supporter.

Voicing a similar concern, Nutting said, “There has always been negative feedback about my opinions because this is Newton.” He added, “They preach tolerance, but their tolerance hides an intolerance that you wouldn’t understand if you were not against their ideologies.”

According to sophomore Jonny Guekguezian, the liberal environment at North is known for being accepting, though this idea was not reflected during the election. “The vernacular here is targeted towards political correctness, but that really impacts the things you say,” he added. “There was a lot of backlash from my other peers about the things I said.”

However, Pomper said that it was not just students partaking in biased political remarks during the school day. “What I see often is a lot of teachers trying to push their agendas onto students. One thing that teachers can’t teach us is how to feel,” he said.

It has been widely reported that voters across the country disagreed with both candidates this election and only chose one because they felt compelled to as citizens.

Guekguezian and Pomper expressed dissatisfaction with both candidates. “Although I don’t like everything, I like [Trump’s] economic approach and foreign policy ideas,” Guekguezian said.

Nutting believes that Trump’s presidency will reverse some of the country’s problems. “We need to realize that some of Obama’s ideas were okay, and that they can work with a little bit of fixing. Trump can do that; he’s a very smart man,” he said.

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According to TV production teacher Scott Dunlop, media has played an influential role in the election. “Getting information from websites like Facebook is fine, if you don’t want your beliefs challenged,” he said. Those websites “give you information based on your likes, so if you already have liberal or conservative leanings, it’s going to give you information based on your leanings,” added Dunlop.

Pomper added that part of the reason people viewed Trump’s ideas negatively is that many students only look at what one media source tells them.

“People were even calling me racist and xenophobic, just because I supported this person. I told them that they should look deeper into it, because they are just listening to what the internet is saying,” he said.

“I feel like sometimes when I state my opinion, people take it the wrong way,” said Guekguezian. “The second people hear the name ‘Trump’, the situation just becomes super hectic.”

Does North support diverse political opinions?

“Yeah, because I think that people mostly speak out on whatever they believe in, and they aren’t really forced to think one way or another.” ~sophomore Mikayla Gillul

“Yes, because I think the school comes together when things happen that affect the community... everyone can share their opinion.” ~sophomore Dylan Judge

“No, not really. It’s a liberal town, a liberal school.

We don’t have as much dialogue as we should because there are definitely a bunch of opinions.” ~senior Daniel Babitskiy

“Sort of. It’s the best you’re going to get in Newton... It’s very hard to have Republican ideas because everyone is telling you that you can’t have these views.” ~freshman Emily Pan

“I think it depends on the teacher. For instance, in my math class we always have open discussions, and in my G-block we always have open topics and can share our opinions. I think it really depends on the teacher.” ~senior Ryan Davis

feature

8 ◆ The Newtonite, Newton North

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Automotive Technology promotes experience, collaboration Samantha Fredberg For some students, Automotive Technology is a hidden gem. In a classroom wedged between the academic and theater sections of North, the course provides students with a fun, educational, and creative outlet.

Automotive Technology has been a popular class at North since its establishment, but very few students are aware of how unique the class is when compared to other exploratories. For Automotive Technology teacher Paul Wagner, the class is special because “the kids get to be in a class where they can move around and learn real life skills by seeing practical applications.” by

junior Caleb Butler “Hands-on is a big part of the class.

If you can’t fix something, you have to figure it out.”

A typical class period includes classroom lessons, customer work, facility maintenance, research on parts and repairs, and computer based training, according to Wagner.

Students contribute to repairs on cars and handle customer work.

“The customer cars are provided by staff members, students, and the community,” Wagner said.

“Maybe once or twice a week, Mr. Wagner will bring us in the shop and teach us a lesson on brakes or transmission or other things we don’t know,” said junior Caleb Butler, an Automotive Technology major. “Hands-on is a big part of the class. If you can’t fix something, you have to figure it out.”

“We have learned about engine strokes, tires, how to take them on

and off, and how to identify the right ones for the season,” said freshman Max Schaefer, an Automotive Technology exploratory student.

Major students have more hands-on experience with the cars and customer orders. “Occasionally, Mr. Wagner will let kids do oil changes on a customer car if someone is watching over us,” said Schaefer.

The program holds connections in the community, because it is funded as a Massachusetts Chapter 74 Automotive Technology program and has partnerships with local organizations, such as Second Step and Newton At Home.

Teachers and students may bring their cars to the shop. “It’s a great program. The labor is free, but you have to pay for the parts,” said math teacher Joseph Siciliano, who has utilized the shop in the past.

While students look to serve the community, the focus of the class is on student learning, not running a business. “I always tell the customers they are helping us by agreeing to have their vehicle worked on,” Wagner said.

Students are attracted to the class for many reasons. According to Wagner, students enjoy the class because they can do something they like and grow close with other students and staff who share that mutual interest.

“I was interested in the topic and maybe looking into having a career using what I learn in the class,” said Butler.

The class provides students with skills they can use in and outside of automotive repair, according to Butler. “You learn a lot of spacial awareness skills, problem solving, and working with others.

“The greatest impact is that the

Josh Shub-Seltzer

Freshman Tobey Lowe works with Automotive Technology teacher Paul Wagner on a windshield wiper during an F-block exploratory class Monday, Jan. 9. kids get to do something they like and form relationships with other students and staff members,” he said.

The class is helpful to students regardless of whether or not they hope to pursue a career related to automotive technology, according to Courtney Leahy ’12, an alumna of Automotive Technology and current aide in North’s Community Connections program. “I drive to work, and if something were to happen to my car, being able to selfdiagnose it saves a lot of money. It’s extremely helpful,” she added.

According to Siciliano, the program also impacts the car owners.

“There’s great follow up on the

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cars. They tell me exactly what to do. I put my old Cadillac in there and they told me, ‘don’t even save it,’ so instead of putting a lot of money in for it, they told me the truth and helped me out a lot,” he said.

Students and staff who have participated in Automotive Technology often describe the class as a strong community. “My personal favorite aspect of the class is that I get to know students better than I would otherwise,” Wagner said.

“Sometimes I know students for four years and get to know their families as well.”

According to Butler, the class’ community is a safe environment

to express yourself. “You can do things differently from other people. It’s a good break to come down here and be creative with the class,” he said.

Students sometimes react to joining the class with hesitation because automotive technology can seem like a complex topic. However, Butler said, “Wagner does a really good job teaching this. I started to really grasp the concept during exploratory,” he said.

According to Wagner, the class is more than learning about automotive repairs. “It gives them a way to connect with people as a whole and apply what they have learned,” he said.

news

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Newton North, The Newtonite ◆ 9

Declan Sung wins first place in speech contest Nour Chahboun Declan Sung took home first place in the fifth annual Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Sophomore Speech Competition with his speech, “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave” Friday, Jan. 12 during B-block in the auditorium.

Sung spoke on the significance of being kind and welcoming to everyone. He also emphasized that America should continue to be a safe haven for people in search of greater opportunities.

He began his speech by pointing out America’s current immigration situation and posing the question of its future immigration stance.

“Today, the chaos of world events has many Americans questioning whether or not our country should continue to welcome refugees,” he said. “We must now decide what America will stand for tomorrow.”

Sung also drew similarities between Syrian refugees and the refugees who came to Ellis Island in search for a better life.

According to principal Henry Turner, “Declan did a very nice job connecting our American ideals of liberty with his dream for America to become a more welcoming nation for immigrants.”

Minutes before the competition began, Sung had his earbuds in, listening to “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey. He said, “In that moment, I was thinking that there are a lot of people here, and it would be very embarrassing if I messed up, so I should try not to do that.”

In his speech, Sung incorporated a quotation from the poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty which reads, “I lift my lamp beside by

the golden door,” signifying that by welcoming immigrants, America enriches itself culturally and redefines the meaning of being an American.

Sung’s English teacher Brian Reardon, a first year faculty member at North, said he thought that the speech was in the spirit of MLK because it encompassed ideals of kindness. “It is so necessary in our world today that we remember and act on the belief in the importance of being kind to each other,” he said.

Runner-up Imani Bibuld spoke on racism and its profound existence despite its lack of recognition in her speech, “A House Divided,” challenging her peers to take action and work towards unifying their community to combat racism.

The contest began with speech competitions in each sophomore English class, from which winners moved on as semi-finalists to perform their speech again in front of four judges from the English Department. The judges then picked finalists Sung, Bibuld, Arianna Azadzoi, Maya Lozinsky, and Laura Schwartz to proceed to the final round.

In Azadzoi’s speech, “The Many Faces of Eating Disorders,” she spoke about how eating disorders are a mindset that makes “hating yourself become a hobby,” rather than something that can be seen.

Lozinsky advocated for awareness of sexual harassment, the impact it has on victims, and how society has become desensitized to it in her speech, “The Silent Crime.”

Schwartz, in her speech, “Conscious Consumerism,” discussed how teenagers’ buying habits affect the world and the importance of

consumer awareness.

“I thought that all of the finalists did an excellent job calling people to action as Dr. King envisioned,” said Turner.

This year’s final round judges panel consisted of Turner, Beals House dean Scott Heslin, English teacher Tim Finnegan, counseling department chair Beth Swederskas, and last year’s speech contest winner, junior Samidio DePina.

As a finals round judge and last year’s competition winner, DePina said he was delighted to be a part of the speech contest again this year.

He looked forward to “getting to witness students speak about a passion of theirs,” he said, and “watching them share a piece of wisdom they've gained in their lives that could be beneficial to others.”

Speaking on his own experience with the speech contest, DePina explained that the competition was “one of my biggest academic successes and built up my confidence as a speaker both publicly and in private conversation.”

Dilworth said she is impressed by students’ growth throughout the speech process each year. “Towards the end of the sophomore speech unit, I'm always floored by what these students accomplish in such a short amount of time,” she said.

She added, “They become more confident in their presence, in their opinions, and in the power of their individual voices. What they think matters. What they feel matters.

What they say matters. After it all ends, I certainly hope that students feel more equipped and empowered to use their voices to effect change in the world.”

Looking back on the speech unit, Finnegan said that students

Josh Shub-Seltzer

Declan Sung speaks on immigration in the final round of the Martin Luther King Jr. Sophomore Speech Contest Friday, Jan. 13. are “surprised they did as well as they did and that others actually heard them.”

Sung said, “I was inspired to write my speech by my personal immigration history as both sides of my family immigrated to this country, and people have recently been working to prevent immigration.”

According to Finnegan, “with even this single unit in hand, stu-

dents move forward knowing that they can, in fact, speak from the heart about issues that matter to them, which will serve them well as they move through the world via interviews, wedding and anniversary celebrations, celebrations of life and new life, or even more formal talks to change, save, and praise the world.”

High School Quiz Show team to compete this weekend Rose Skylstad It may feel like an unlikely dream to be on a TV game show, but for five North students, this is a reality. For the last four years, North has sent a team of five or six students to compete in the WGBH show, “High School Quiz Show.”

History teachers Albert Cho and Gregory Drake, the coaches, select these students in October with a test comprised of trivia questions from a variety of sources, according to Cho. The students with the top six scores fill the team.

There are four players onscreen, and at least two alternates, who switch in for the on-stage players if they cannot attend a filming.

When an alternate switches in, the other team member is not permitted back on stage for the entirety of the show.

Of about 40 students who took by

the test this year, seniors Isabella Jackson-Saitz, Paris Karniadakis, Louis Torracinta, and junior Max Teszler made it on stage, with senior Max Bennett, the only alternate this year. Karniadakis, Torracinta, and Teszler have all previously participated in the show.

“We did the best we could last time,” said Teszler. He said that this year, “we are just going to practice, practice and see what we can do.”

Jackson-Saitz will be the first female student to represent North on stage.

“It wasn’t part of the reason that I tried out, but I do feel proud of having made it,” she said. “There might be a bit more pressure that I feel, but otherwise it’s all normal.

Being part of the team is pressure enough on its own.”

The team qualified for the tournament after successfully complet-

ing Super Sunday, the first elimination event of the tournament Sunday, Nov. 13, according to Drake.

During Super Sunday, two volunteer test administrators, one to ask questions, and one to take down the score, individually quiz each team, said Jackson-Saitz. Students must answer 50 questions on an array of subjects, including math, science, literature, history, sports, the arts and current events, according to WGBH. This season, teams from 111 Massachusetts schools participated in Super Sunday. Sixteen continued to the televised rounds. North has made it past Super Sunday in every year it has participated.

After passing Super Sunday, the team shifts their focus to practice for the real show, said Drake. Filming for season eight of the show will

Abby Roll

Senior Paris Karniadakis, junior Max Teszler, seniors Isabella Jackson-Saitz, Louis Torracinta, and Max Bennett, and history teachers Albert Cho and Gregory Drake pose for a team photo Thursday, Jan. 12.

begin Jan. 22, and the team will prepare for their first match up until that date. Every X-block in 310, the coaches quiz the students with a variety of trivia questions on subjects ranging from academics to pop culture and current events, according to Drake. Using buzzers to answer in, students prepare for the real feeling of being on the show.

The coaches analyze the students’ areas of strength, figure out areas of weakness, and assign students certain areas to study, said Drake.

“Most of our kids are pretty well-rounded,” he added.

According to Jackson-Saitz, however, “people end up gravitating towards a certain subject.”

The practices also serve as a time for the team to learn how to work well together and become a cohesive group, said Jackson-Saitz.

Cho said that one of his major roles as a coach is “to create a sense of camaraderie” among the team members.

The team gets to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and who might best answer questions from each category, said Teszler.

When the competition begins, the 16 teams are bracketed. The teams play one-on-one games, the winner moves on, and the loser is eliminated, according to WGBH. According to Cho, each game consists of four rounds: general knowledge, head to head, category round, and a lightning round.

The general knowledge round lasts eight to ten minutes, and any team member on either team can answer the question. “I really like the first round, which is just the individual round, because it is individual, but it’s not too stressful,”

said Teszler, “it’s almost like a warm up in a way.”

Next comes the 90 second head to head round, where members of both teams answer questions oneon-one.

The category round is also eight to ten minutes and is formatted similarly to the popular game show “Jeopardy,” with six themed categories.

The final round, or lightning round, consists of 90 seconds of quick fire questions. According to Teszler, “the lightning round is the most stressful because you have just 90 seconds of answering, answering, answering.”

The coaches and alternates sit in the audience, and may consult with the players in between rounds.

“It’s really nerve-racking to watch” because the point totals can swing quickly during rounds with increasing point values, said Drake.

This Sunday, Jan. 22, is the first game, or the qualifying match, then comes quarterfinals, semifinals, and finally the state championship match. Tickets are available on the WGBH website.

“It definitely is so encouraging to see out there,” said Teszler, “and see all the people on your team.”

North’s team has made it to the semifinals each year they’ve participated, and once to the finals, said Drake.

Though they are happy just to have made it onto the show, the team hopes to “win the entire thing,” said Cho. “At some point another team might know more than you, but I want to get as far as our knowledge will take us,” said Teszler.

features

10 ◆ The Newtonite, Newton North

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Winterfest I, II to feature special guests, variety of music by

Hannah Liu

Winterfest I

For the first time in years, North’s Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band will be joined by bands from F.A. Day and Bigelow middle schools to play a wide range of music for Winterfest I Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium.

Music teacher Richard Labedz, director and instructor of both North bands, plans to make this concert stand out from the “stigma attached to band concerts.” Inspired by the positive feedback on the interactive experience of this fall’s Harvestfest, he plans to focus on involving the audience through a broader range of songs. Comparing the construction of a concert program to the construction of a house, he described the band program as more than a one-dimensional concert.

“It’s great to be with other musicians who you’ve never played with before,” said senior Sophie Cohen, who plays the flute.

Sophomore John Moore, who plays baritone saxophone, said he is really looking forward to “listening to other groups.”

According to Labedz, the wind ensemble will be playing untraditional music, including a British march called “Sea Songs” by Ralph Vaughan, Eric Osterling’s “Bandology”—a more modern Hollywood tune with the feel of a traditional march—and David Holsinger’s “On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss.”

Sophomore Jake Graham, who plays clarinet, said, “There’s a lot of interesting songs, and they’re pretty different.”

According to Labedz, the ensemble will also play a medley of three pieces from The Nutcracker

by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky starting with a “march that everybody will recognize.” The second part is “Arabian Dance,” which is the “most mysterious” of the three parts, and includes a trumpet solo by senior Max Bennett. The familiar “Russian Dance” will complete the performance.

Symphonic Band will play the ragtime tune, “White Leaf Hill” by Benjamin Tucker.

At this show, the Bigelow seventh and eighth grade band and F.A. Day eighth grade band will join the high school ensembles to experience the environment of a high school concert. Labedz said he most enjoys seeing the different grades playing on stage together and witnessing the transformation of the young performers all the way up to seasoned seniors.

Winterfest II

Concert Choir, Family Singers, and Orchestra will collaborate with South’s Vocal Ensemble and Orchestra in one of the biggest concerts of the year, the Ray Smith Memorial concert, also known as Winterfest II, Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium.

The concert is composed of mostly traditional French music inspired by the featured performance by acclaimed opera singer Sandra Piques Eddy, who specializes in the title role of Carmen, a French opera

by Georges Bizet.

Eddy is a mezzo soprano and Boston-area native who has performed in theaters all over the world. She will sing several arias from Carmen, including “Habanera.” Eddy said, “I try to approach the line and the text in subtle new ways each time. The more experiences I can bring to the piece, the better and the richer the communi-

Josh Shub-Seltzer

Senior Isinsu Bastepe performs with Jubilee during the Holiday concert Friday, Dec. 23. Catch Jubilee and other performers at Winterfest Jan. 25-26. cation with the audience will be.”

Music department head Todd Young invited her to the show.

“I sincerely hope that this Winterfest concert will cause a spark in the musicians and audience members alike to be curious about attending more local opera and symphony concerts” added Eddy.

The Family Singers, originally named the Smith Family Singers was founded by Ray Smith when he was a music teacher at North from 1972 through 1986. “By keeping active as a performer, he set an example for his students, and they met his challenge,” said Bigelow Middle School’s music teacher, Gregory Livingston. Smith was Livingston’s father-in-law.

The Ray Smith Scholarship was founded shortly after Smith’s

death in 1996, and Winterfest was renamed for him a few years later.

Smith performed with the Boston Opera Company and many local churches and synagogues. He also founded the Troubadours, a chorus for middle school students.

Freshman Julia Bosco, who plays cello in the orchestra, said her favorite part of the concert is “the prelude to Carmen because the cellos have the melody,” and “the fact that we are mixed with Newton South.”

“Cantique de Jean Racine” by Gabriel Fauré is a choral classic that the Family Singers along with one of South’s Vocal Ensemble will perform.

Junior Liz Reikine said, “I’m super excited because we will be having a professional opera singer

joining us. She works for one of the best opera companies in the U.S., if not world, and I do not know how we got to be so lucky to have her.”

She continued, “It’ll be cool being a gigantic orchestra, not even thinking about how big we will be as an entire ensemble with orchestra, band, and chorus.”

They will sing and play “Il Est Bel Et Bon” in French by Pierre Passereau, a “short” and “funny” Renaissance piece, according to Grossman. The song’s title translates to “He Is Good and Handsome.”

Sophomore Daniel Thompson, who sings in concert choir, said “the energy that’s in the songs” is his favorite part of the show.

Presidential election, MA ballot question fuel charter debate Emily Moss ◆ continued from page 1 Zilles noted that this process can result in a significant reduction of funding without a real reduction in cost, since “you still have to run your buildings and operations.”

“The other thing that happens is, the students you take out are mostly not high-needs. That means the perpupil cost of education in public schools goes up,” Zilles added.

In an op-ed in Commonwealth Magazine, Thomas Kane, a Newton resident and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, attempts to soothe concerns about funding: “The state law recognizes that district schools have commitments regarding staffing and facilities which are difficult to adjust quickly when demand declines,” Kane writes. “Therefore, the state law seeks to soften the transition, by paying both the district and the charter school for the first year after a student has left and by continuing to reimburse the district for one quarter of the students’ cost for the subsequent five years.” by

Charter performance in Massachusetts

While pro-charter advocates such as Kane have evidently worked to refute claims that charters siphon funds from traditional public schools, the main argument these proponents put forth rests on the quality of the charter schools themselves. Those in Kane’s camp argue that Massachusetts charter schools educate students far more effectively than do traditional public schools.

In Boston, at least, there is evidence that charter schools help

narrow the achievement gap with regard to income and race, according to a New York Times op-ed. In a piece titled, “Schools that Work,” Times writer David Leonhardt explains, “The gains are large enough that some of Boston’s charters, despite enrolling mostly lower-income students, have test scores that resemble those of upper-middle-class public schools.”

According to Boston Magazine, moreover, “The average SAT composite score in Boston’s charter high schools in 2015 was 100 points higher (about 10 percentile points) than the district schools.”

Here at North, some students are familiar with this argument and acknowledge its merit. Senior Izzy Tils has received an inside view into the experiences of students who attend charter schools through her work with Boston Cares, an organization that coordinates community service projects among teens from the Boston area. Two of Tils’ peer collaborators attend charter high schools, and in preparing to vote this past fall, she asked these students about their experiences.

“They were saying that although a lot of kids don’t get this opportunity, for the kids who do, it really changes their lives for the better,” Tils said. “They were saying, ‘we want more kids to have this opportunity.’”

While Tils noted that her conversations with these students certainly “put things in perspective,” she still felt the need to do significant research before casting her vote. She ultimately voted “no” after learning more about the potential risks associated with charter schools.

“I read this article that talked

about how we think charter schools are an equal opportunity for everyone because you don’t have to pay,” said Tils. “Even though you apply, it’s free, which creates a very diverse group of people.”

Upon reading further, she realized that “the admissions process isn’t as equal as we thought, just because in order to actually write an application … your parents have to be educated enough to do that.”

Indeed, while charter schools admit students indiscriminately— employing a lottery system rather than selecting based on prior academic performance—the very act of applying suggests a degree of parental involvement that could help explain students’ academic success.

Zilles, similarly, believes that charter schools begin with a different pool of students than traditional public schools and that it is dishonest to attribute their success to the charter school environment.

Researchers have tried to take this concern into account when evaluating the success of charter schools. Some have compared the achievement of students who attend charter schools to that of students who apply but lose the lottery.

“At the time of the admission lottery, those applicants who are offered a slot at a charter school and those who are denied are indistinguishable; they have the same prior achievement, parental engagement, and motivation,” writes Kane. “Yet, when I and a group of researchers from Harvard, MIT, Duke, and the University of Michigan subsequently tracked down the admission lottery winners, and compared their outcomes to the lottery losers, we found large differences in

achievement.”

While he notes that “Boston charter schools truly are a cut above charter schools nationally,” Kane claims that the data favors Boston charter schools over traditional public schools. According to Kane, in the course of just one school year, “Oversubscribed charter schools in the Boston area are closing roughly one-third of the blackwhite achievement gap in math and about one-fifth of the achievement gap in English.”

Zilles nevertheless believes that Kane’s data is distorted and that the research that has been conducted does not constitute a “pure experiment.”

senior Izzy Tils “In order to actually write an application... your parents have to be educated enough to do that.”

“When they look at the pool of kids accepted in charters and those on waitlists, only high-performing charters have waitlists,” said Zilles.

“It’s as if you took kids from Boston Latin School and compared them to the rest of the Boston Public Schools—it’s a false comparison.”

He added, “It also doesn’t look at the fact that some of the kids don’t end up remaining in charters.”

Potential barriers among students

Another major area of controversy relates to charter schools’ abilities to accommodate students who are non-native English-speakers and students who have special

needs.

In an op-ed in the Newton Tab, Zilles cites the Fall River Public Schools as an example of a district in which charter schools have created barriers between students with differing degrees of proficiency in English.

“Charter schools in Fall River do not serve English language learners….They create a segregated, two-tiered system where children with higher needs are concentrated in the public schools.”

In an interview with The Newtonite, Zilles added that charter schools are “not hospitable environments for students who have special needs.”

Kane acknowledges that “students with special needs and English language learners were underrepresented in charter schools for many years” but explains that the state has been working to fix this issue through policy changes. “[I]n 2010, the legislation required charter schools to submit plans to actively recruit students with special needs and English language learners,” Kane writes.

“Moreover, the legislation required the state board to consider schools’ success in recruiting and retaining students with disabilities and English language learners when renewing a charter school’s right to stay open.”

Zilles remains skeptical. “Charter advocates have talked about how they’re increasing the numbers of services, but the numbers are false,” he said. “Even though they may have been increased to some extent, those are the children with the most moderate needs.”

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Newton North, The Newtonite ◆ 11

1. adjective Here is some ____________ advice for 2. adjective having a(n) ____________ winter: 3. piece of clothing • Make sure to wear a(n) ____________ every day, especially if the temperanumber degrees. ture drops below 4. ______ 5. food • Always wear ____________ on a string around your neck to ward off the 6. adjective ____________, cold wind, and to adjective stay7.____________ and warm.

8. type of clothing with • Cover all of your ____________ 9. material ____________ to add an extra layer 10. adjective of ____________ insulation.

11. material • Wrap your food in ____________ to keep it warm, and eat food every 12. number days so that you stay nice ______ 13. adjective and ____________.

14. adjective • Every day, drink a(n) ____________ cup of drink to stay healthy.

15. tool • Use a ____________ to make a path in the snow in front of you as you walk, 16. something hot to and always carry ____________ melt ice on the sidewalk.

17. liquid • Clean your boots with ____________ whenever you enter a building so 18. adjective that you don’t track ____________ snow and ice inside.

19. adjective • To make a(n) ____________ snowman, 20. vegetable use ____________ instead of carrots. number • Bake holiday desserts every 21. ______ days, and make sure to decorate 22. food them with ____________ and 23. food ____________ for an extra punch.

1. Adjective:_______________________

13. Adjective:_______________________

2. Adjective:_______________________

14. Adjective:_______________________

3. Piece of Clothing:________________

15. Tool: ___________________________

4. Number:________________________

16. Something Hot: _________________

5. Food:__________________________

17. Liquid: _________________________

6. Adjective:_______________________

18. Adjective:_______________________

7. Adjective: ______________________

19. Adjective:_______________________

8. Type of Clothing: ________________

20. Vegetable: ______________________

9. Material: _______________________

21. Number:________________________

10. Adjective: ______________________

22. Food:__________________________

11. Material: _______________________

23. Food:__________________________

12. Number:________________________

Compiled by Hannah Liu and Laura Schmidt-Hong

Semester Two Advice “You have to find a quiet place, and for me, I like to listen to music and put my phone away.”

—freshman Emily Cox “Break up your study sessions so you don’t cram the night before.”

—sophomore Seth Galdston “Don’t think that you cannot pay attention in class. Take notes, and just pay attention in class.”

—sophomore Taya Frishman “I really like Anki. I also like a special method called Cornell notes.”

— senior Gregory Brumberg “Do not procrastinate, use class notes, and see your teacher for clarification.”

—senior Nattalya Brown “Shutt your phone off— sometimes I tell my brother

to hide mine. I like listening to white noise. Rewriting notes is important.”

—junior Nai Abelenda “Don’t do all of it at once. I like using mnemonic devices because they’re fun.”

—sophomore Sarah Rosenstrach “Whatever you do, don’t procrastinate because you’ll set yourself up for failure.”

—sophomore Cassandra Gong “Start a few nights before because it helps you remember, and then you don’t have to do it all the night before.”

—senior Allegra Klein “Stay on track, and stay focused. Go to X-block. Get enough sleep. All that good stuff.”

—junior Tameek Bray “Get a plan, and try your

hardest to not get distracted.

It’s all about time management, and it’s a good skill to have in high school and college.”

—senior Costa Razis “Keep your phone in another room. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are a lot of resources people don’t know about, like study groups.”

—senior Lily Marcus “Be focused on certain goals, like raising a grade in a certain class. Cut out the things in your life that are taking up a lot of time.”

—junior Martha Bennett “Find easy ways to make puns or jokes. I like to make fun ways to remember things. That way studying is funny.”

—senior Patrick Koziatek

Tiger Quiz: North Trivia 1. How many students did North have in the 2015-16 school year? a. North had 1,934 students. b. North had 2,089 students. c. North had 2,137 students. d. North had 1,895 students.

2. In what year was the new North building first used? a. 2007 b. 2009 c. 2010 d. 2012 3. How many clubs does North have? a. 56 clubs b. 73 clubs c. 81 clubs d. 94 clubs 4. When was the Leadership in a Diverse Society course created? a. 1993 b. 1996 c. 1999 d. 2001 5. What is the name of North’s yearbook? a. The Newtonian b. Tiger Yearbook c. The Northbook d. Year of the Tiger 6. How many productions will Theatre Ink organize this year? a. Eight b. Ten c. Twelve d. Fourteen

7. Which of the following people did NOT attend North? a. Matt LeBlanc, star of Friends b. Veronica Roth, author of the Divergent series c. Priyanka Chopra, star of Quantico d. Katharine Lee Bates, writer of “America the Beautiful” 8. What is the origin of Beals house’s name? a. J.N. Beals sponsored the construction of the school. b. Newton’s mayor when North was founded was named J.N. Beals. c. J.N. Beals designed the original school. d. The first principal was named J.N. Beals.

9. Which of the following is NOT a global education program that North offers? a. A 10-day trip to Rome for the Latin course b. A four-week trip to Panama for biology students c. A three- to four-week exchange to either Spain or Mexico for students taking Spanish d. A semester-long exchange to Beijing 10. When was North founded? a. 1833 b. 1859 c. 1884 d. 1905

Answers: 1b, 2c, 3c, 4b, 5a, 6c, 7b, 8d, 9b, 10b

Tiger Libs: Survive Winter

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12 ◆ The Newtonite, Newton North

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