Octagon Issue 8

theOctagon

Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sacramento, CA Permit No. 1668

Sacramento Country Day School

www.scdsoctagon.com

VOL. XXXVIII, NO. 8

May 26, 2015

Organizations announce their new leaders

Blast from the Past In celebration of Country Day’s 50th anniversary, a past editor-in-chief of the Octagon is being featured in each issue.

By Annya Dahmani Reporter

The Medallion, Octagon and Student Council have chosen their new leaders for the next school year.

On the Medallion, positions will remain the same. Juniors Gracie Strumpfer and Aidan Galati will continue as co-editors-in-chief. “(Next year), we’ll step up our design,” Galati said. “Also, since it’s not a 50-year anniversary yearbook, we can focus on making it better looking.”

A new position, social media editor, will be filled by freshman Nina Dym. The position was created to make the yearbook more personal to each year, according to Dym. “We know a lot of students use platforms such as Twitter and Instagram,” Dym said. “Our idea is that people will tweet and post photos on Instagram of memorable moments throughout the year, whether that’s during basketball season, on the class trips, Ancil Hoffman, etc. It’ll make people more interactive with the yearbook and get people excited.”

The Octagon has named juniors Manson Tung and Madison Judd as coeditors-in-chief of the print edition.

Tung and Judd have been on the staff for three years and are both currently page editors. Junior Zoë Bowlus, who has also been on Octagon for three years, will be editor-in-chief of the online edition. Bowlus is currently the business manager and sports editor. She will remain sports editor next year as she assumes her new role.

“I think that (Tung, Judd and Bowlus) all have very different kinds of strengths which help a lot with the balance of the Octagon,” said senior Aishwarya Nadguada, current online editor-in-chief. “I think they’re all enthusiastic about it. Zoë is a very meticulous individual, and she is always on top of everything. She is also good at communicating with people, which is very important for the online.”

Judd, like Galati, wants to improve. “(Our goal is) to have a theme color or topic for each issue,” she said.

Bowlus wants to have some more fun things on the Octagon’s website.

“For example, (adviser Patricia) Fels and I were looking at examples of award-winning websites and there was this thing called Song of the Week,” Bowlus said. “I want to do something where each staffer writes up something about a song.”

New officers have been chosen for Student Council as well. Junior Serajh Esmail will be student body president, and juniors Jacob Sands and Jag Lally will share the vice-president position.

According to Esmail, Student Council will fundraise more next year.

Student Council has also added a social media editor position, which will be filled by junior Julia Owaidat. “(I’m) running the Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter accounts,” Owaidat said. “On Snapchat we’re going to put up videos of us setting things up. On Twitter we’ll be reminding people of things and advertising spirit things and sport events. Our goal is to get people pumped for stuff we do.”

At press time, The Glass Knife literary magazine’s positions had not yet been announced.

Headmaster Stephen Repsher opens fourth-grader Gavin Sutley’s car door. Repsher has greeted lower-school students in the morning since he arrived in 2003. (Photo by Adam Ketchum)

Head will retire in 2016 Repsher plans to travel, read, teach Spanish

By Madison Judd Page Editor

W

ith the end of the school year rapidly approaching, seniors are starting to ponder their futures.

But this year, they’re not alone.

Since the beginning of spring, headmaster Stephen Repsher has been contemplating his own future.

Over those few months, Repsher decided that he will retire in June 2016.

“When thinking about the end of the year and graduation - which is a lot like retiring for the seniors because they are in a way retiring from Country Day - I also started to think about my own retirement,” he said.

Repsher also discussed the decision with his wife, Paula. They thought that it was important for her to spend more time with her parents, who are 80 and 78.

“That freedom would allow her to travel back and forth to Texas,” Repsher said.

Repsher’s retirement was announced on May 12 in a schoolwide email.

Once retired, Repsher said that he wants to spend time overseas with his wife, “as finances permit.”

He also wants to catch up on his reading.

Although he doesn’t have a specific list of books in mind, Repsher said that he will always stay current with his reading on the latest trends in education.

Repsher also plans to reread some classic works in Spanish literature because he taught the subject for 13 years before becoming an administrator.

He said his favorite authors include Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, Ana Maria Matute, Miguel de Cervantes and Federico Garcia Lorca.

He is also considering returning to the classroom to teach Spanish. However, he probably won’t teach at Country Day. “I wouldn’t teach here not because I wouldn’t love to, but because past headmasters usually get in the way,” he said.

Repsher moved to Sacramento in 2003 to start his headship at Country Day. When Repsher was applying for the headmaster position, he immediately felt comfortable with SCDS, he said.

“When I got here, it just felt like a perfect fit,” he See Repsher, page 5

Smelly cork boards to come down

By Emma Williams

“There’s not really anyone to blame,” Repsher said.

Editor-in-Chief “There are sometimes issues like this that nobody could predict.”

When it became clear that the Forbo-brand cork The school has decided to pay for the removal and replacement of the odor-emitting cork boards that boards were giving off the gasoline-like odor, they have kept the new middle-school office unoccupied were inspected by the manufacturer. That inspection determined that for five months. the boards were in fine Removal will begin on June 8 and “There are sometimes issues like condition. last about two weeks. “(The boards were) Sandy Lyon, head of middle this that nobody could predict.” according to school, who will be working in the —Stephen Repsher, headmaster installed the design and installanew office, describes the odor, which tion criteria, and there’s is given off by the linseed oil in the nothing wrong with the material,” Repsher said. cork boards, as “pungent” and “headache-inducing.”

The boards will be replaced with drywall and a “The manufacturer who came out said (that the smell 4-foot-tall tackable surface that will extend across is) just the way the product is.”

Robert O’Connor, an attorney at Hanson Bridgett most of the wall at eye level.

The exact cost of the remodel isn’t definite, but LLP who specializes in construction law, said that the final figure will be “several thousand,” according construction disputes are “notoriously fact-specific,” meaning that liability in a case such as the school’s to headmaster Stephen Repsher.

This money will come from the original budget for could be hard to pinpoint.

“If (the problem with the cork boards is a prodthe construction of the Middle School Center for uct defect), then the owner may have legal recourse Science and Technology, he said.

“We have contingencies in the budget for these against the general contractor, supplier or manufackinds of things,” Repsher said. “We were already turer of the product,” he said.

“However, if the product is not defective, and the $150,000 under budget, so this little amount won’t cause any problems.”

See Cork board, page 5 But why is the school responsible for paying?

Quincey Tidey Grieve, ‘86, was editor-in-chief during her senior fall semester. When Grieve was a freshman, she was on staff with her sister, Ashley Tidey, ‘83. Grieve graduated from UC Berkeley and later taught middle-school English at SCDS. She was also middle-school head in ‘06-07.

She now lives in Washington, D.C., and is associate director of middle school at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Virginia.

Q: What were some big issues when you were a student?

A: Off-campus privileges.

The school didn’t have the legal position to give us these privileges because of building and parking restrictions at the time. Going to The Gourmet, a sandwich shop around the corner from school (now Fins Market & Grill), was a big deal since we didn’t really have off-campus privileges.

But in the end, much to (former dean of students Daniel) Neukom’s dismay, we took the problem of off-campus privileges into our own hands.

Also, I remember being very up in arms about getting in trouble for going barefoot.

I definitely pushed the limits on that rule!

Q: What was having a sibling on staff with you like?

A: My sister was editor-in-chief when I was a freshman on staff. It was weird because we had completely polar personalities. She had a more quiet personality, and I had a more rebellious personality.

I guess I wasn’t as intimidated by her wisdom as I should’ve been, too.

Q: What was your favorite article?

A: When I was a senior, I did a story about homosexuals with the help of a lesbian alumna who was attending UC Berkeley, Jane Sooby, ‘81. We went to San Francisco and visited gay bars in the area.

It won some awards, although I’m not sure which (ones).

—Katia Dahmani For more of the interview, visit scdsoctagon.com.

2 Feature

May 26, 2015

The Octagon

mast cells

antibodies ees sneeze Bless you! tr

Gesundheit! allergies pollen

Sacramento

IgE

Achoo!

grasses

Pollen season sets students apart by their sneezes

By Emma Williams Editor-in-Chief

C

affeine consumption has increased over the past week as students stay up later and later to cram for their last tests of the year.

But there’s another set of drugs making its way around campus at a surprising speed: antihistamines.

That’s right. It’s allergy season in Sacramento, and plant sperm is wreaking havoc on our sinuses.

When pollen grains (rough structures that protect a plant’s male DNA) get lodged in the sinuses, the body mounts a full-on attack against these foreign particles.

Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies are created and diffused throughout the body, setting off a series of defenses.

White blood cells, known as mast cells, are signaled to release the chemical histamine.

Histamine dilates blood vessels, resulting in the symptoms (such as itching, sneezing and inflammation) associated with seasonal allergies.

Sneezing is a reflex, according to everydayhealth.com. When particles like pollen make it into the nasal lining, they trigger a huge intake of air, building pressure in the lungs. This air is forced through the nose when the tongue presses against the palate.

In Sacramento, pollen from oak, willow and walnut trees is primarily responsible for our sneeze season, which usually lasts from March till June (“Allergies Make Life A Misery For Many,” Inside Arden, May 2015).

Allergy symptoms are usually highest in the morning and on warm, windy days when the pollen can travel through the air.

For some students, though, the sneezing season seems to never end. These students have sneezes that their classmates could recognize anywhere.

Aishwarya Nadgauda Senior

The room was quiet - students were bent over their biology tests, circling answers.

“A-tea-oo, a-tea-oo, a-tea-oo, a-tea-oo, a-tea-oo, a-tea-oo, a-tea-oo, achoo!”

When senior Aishwarya Nadgauda sneezes, the room seems to fall apart at the seams. Tests are all but forgotten as students turn to stare and exclamations ring out from every table.

“There was a moment of silence and then the entire class started laughing,” said senior Anna Wiley, a member of that biology class. “Even (biology teacher Kellie Whited) freaked out about how cute (Aishwarya’s sneeze) was.”

Whited doesn’t deny her obsession. “Her sneeze is just adorable!” she said. “The fact that there are multiple sneezes in a row just makes it that much more precious.”

Whited isn’t alone. In a recent Octagon poll, 41 percent of high schoolers listed Nadgauda as having a “distinctive sneeze.”

So what makes her sinuses so “cute”?

“It doesn’t sound like a real sneeze,” senior Maxwell Shukuya said. “It sounds like she’s just reading the word for the sound.”

Wiley has a similar description. “She says the word ‘a-tea-oo’ over and over in a high-pitched voice,” she said. “After doing that about five to 10 times, she has an actual sneeze.”

Nadgauda’s used to the attention that always accompanies allergy season.

“Even after all this time, people still find (my sneeze) funny,” she said.

Because of the frequent laughs, Nadgauda said she often tries to stop herself from sneezing.

“When I sneeze, people always say I’m kidding,” she said.

“I try not to sneeze during Mock Trial because I don’t want (the judges) to think I’m joking.”

In addition to laughing, many students also say Nadgauda’s sneeze correlates to her personality. “(She has) a very dainty sneeze, and she’s a very proper person,” Wiley said.

Manson Tung Junior

Nadgauda isn’t the only student with a sneeze that reflects her personality.

Junior Manson Tung’s is “loud, just like him,” according to junior Madison Judd.

“It’s one huge ‘achoo,’ and then he’s done,” Judd said.

Even strangers are impressed by Tung’s sneeze.“I was on a plane to Hong Kong, and I was sneezing,” Tung said.

“Everyone was in these pods, but I could see their heads sticking out looking at me.”

Like Nadgauda, Tung sometimes tries to hold in his sneeze to keep from disrupting class.

“In English class, I can sometimes feel it build up,” he said. “When it comes without any warning, people get scared.”

Micaela Bennett-Smith Senior

Like Nadgauda and Tung, senior Micaela Bennett-Smith always gets a reaction after a sneeze. “(Her sneeze) is one of those things where everyone stops and listens,” senior Grant Miner said. “You just can’t talk over it.”

It’s not necessarily loud like Tung’s, just big.

“Her whole body shakes, but the sneeze itself is so tiny,” Nadgauda said. “Then she kind of shakes afterwards like it was hard to use all that energy to sneeze.”

Senior Ethan Ham describes the Bennett-Smith sneeze as “excessively loud and high at the beginning.” “(Bennett-Smith) says ‘achoo’ at such a high pitch I wouldn’t think it was possible,” senior Grant Miner said. “It’s like a dolphin with hay fever.”

“I think my friends have gotten used to my sneeze by now, but every once in a while someone still laughs or says I sneeze weird,” Bennett-Smith said. “Once someone points it out, it becomes more noticeable.”

And, her classmates say, Bennett-Smith’s sneeze also fits her personality.

“She has a large personality, and her sneeze is proportionally large,” Miner said.

Katia and Annya Dahmani Freshmen

Nadgauda’s “cute” sneezes don’t run in the family. In fact, she says her little sister often makes fun of her sneeze.

But that isn’t the case for twin freshmen Annya and Katia Dahmani, who share a very quiet sneeze.

“People think I’m faking it when I sneeze,” Annya said.

Katia has had similar problems. “(People) always mock my sneeze,” she said. “They’ll say ‘Bless you’ in the same way I sneeze by going up an octave on the ‘you.’”

And the Dahmanis have their fair share of sneezing stories, too.

“I was writing an in-class English essay once, and I sneezed three times in a row,” Annya said.

“Everyone looked up and laughed.”

Freshman Sonja Hansen said that Annya and Katia always get a lot of stares when they sneeze.

But the general consensus is that Katia’s sneeze is uncharacteristic of her personality.

“Katia is aggressive, and she has an attitude,” Annya said. “But then her sneeze makes her seem like a really small, nice person.”

Their personalities may be opposite, but maybe it’s not so strange that the Dahmanis sneeze so similarly. There is an “innate pattern to the way we sneeze” and this pattern is “probably genetic in some ways,” said Frederic Little, assistant professor of medicine at Boston University, in an abcnews.com article.

May 26, 2015

News

The Octagon

Parent-installed fluorescent flags make Munroe crossing safer

3

By Adam Dean Reporter

T

he safety of students and faculty is a high priority for Susan and Doug Brown, parents of junior Emma and freshman Lily.

On May 10, they decided to make the crosswalk at Munroe Street and Latham Drive safer by putting bright orange flags at each side.

The flags make pedestrians more noticeable while crossing.

The Browns made canisters for the flags with 4-inch plastic piping, caps and brackets they bought at Home Depot. The canisters were attached to the crosswalk signs on each side of the street. In case of rain, the Browns drilled holes into the bottoms of the canisters as a draining system. The project cost around $50. “(That crosswalk) is a dangerous hot spot for students and teachers,” Susan said. “It is a serious accident waiting to happen.”

The Browns got the idea to use flags from a similar system in place at McKinley Park in East Sacramento, she said.

Seniors Clare Fina, Skovran Cunningham, Micaela Bennett-Smith and Ethan Ham cross Munroe Street with Susan said she first contacted the city’s Department of the new flags provided by parents Susan and Doug Brown. (Photo by Aishwarya Nadgauda) Traffic Engineering to file a complaint in the spring. She was told the city is considering putting an island in the middle of Kerbs said.

Munroe - and possibly some flashing lights or reflectors on light, when it comes to pedestrian safety,” he said.

Many students have had close calls in the crosswalk, inCity Council member Eric Guerra said he has asked for the yellow pedestrian crossing sign. cluding senior Clare Fina and junior Jenny a meeting with city officials to determine the next steps to But since the city hasn’t yet impleKerbs. make the crosswalk safer. mented these possibilities, Susan took “It is a serious accident waitWhen he was a county planning commissioner, Guerra Fina said she had a miscommunication matters into her own hands. with a driver that nearly caused an acci- recommended that a crosswalk beacon (which flashes yelThis isn’t the first time someone from ing to happen.” low when a pedestrian is crossing) be placed SCDS has tried to improve the cross—Susan Brown, parent dent. there.

“I thought the walk’s safety.

“Eric Guerra is fighting to make this hapdriver saw me, so “It was a really scary situation Headmaster Stephen Repsher said he pen,” said Darsey Varnedoe Jr., Guerra’s excontacted the city five years ago to see what could be done. At I began to walk,” Fina said. “But the to be in, to say the least.” assistant. that time, they already had 23 requests to put a traffic light at driver wasn’t stopping, so I had to jump —Jenny Kerbs, junior ecutive Immediately after the flags were put up, backwards.

Two other cars almost hit the Munroe-Latham intersection, he said. they were in use, according to Susan.

But there are downsides to the traffic-light solution, ac- the car that stopped late.”

“The second day the flags were in place, the girls and I saw Kerbs actually witnessed an accident this winter. According cording to Repsher. A traffic light is very expensive. And so an elderly couple getting ready to cross with their dog,” she to Kerbs, a car had to stop more quickly than usual for her. many lights in such a close area might cause a traffic issue.

Another solution could be having a pedestrian-only traf- That car was hit by a car behind it, which was also hit by said.

“They went straight for the flags and ventured out into the fic light, like the one by the intersection of American River another one. street with confidence.

What resulted was a three-car pileup, but no injuries.

Drive and Mills Road, Repsher said.

“We were so happy.”

“It was a really scary situation to be in, to say the least,” “I think that would work just as well as an actual traffic

Thank you to our sponsors for keeping us in the black

The Barajas Family The Williams Family Docendo Discimus The Nadgauda Family

The Tung Family The Bowlus Family The Judd Family The Dahmani Family

The Fineberg-Chiu Family

4 Sports

The Octagon

May 26, 2015

Senior George Cvetich stands at bat against Big Valley Christian, May 14.

The Cavs won their first playoff game in 12 years, 8-6. (Photo by Tom Wroten)

Boys’ baseball, 15-3, makes CD history

Girls’ Soccer 6-6-1

By Grant Miner Opinion Editor The hope of every high schooler who attends an institution of limited athleticism is that they will be there when one of their programs cranks out “the dream team.” Improbably enough, this year has had two: basketball in the fall, and now baseball.

While the basketball team’s success fluctuated over the years, the baseball team has had a poor record throughout its 12-year career.

But not this year.

This year, they made it to the playoffs for the first time, finishing with a league record of 9-3 and an overall record of 15-3.

“It feels good,” said senior Dominic Stephen, who’s been on the team for four years. “After putting in so many hours, we made it.”

Boys’ Lacrosse 0-5 Golf 5th of 6 in league

“After putting in so many hours, we made it.”

—Dominic Stephen, senior And make it they did. But why, after all these years?

One obvious answer is freshman Miles Edwards.

In other seasons, the Cavs have suffered from a lack of good pitching. Usually, the team would rely on one or two pitchers, often having to make do with putting an infielder on the mound when they reached their pitch limit.

With the addition of Edwards, though, the Cavs were given a rare thing: somebody who plays serious baseball outside of school. Armed with what was basically a walk-on starter, the Cavs had guaranteed themselves at least one good arm on the mound.

“In other years we struggled because we didn’t have the pitching,” said coach Chris Millsback. “(Edwards) made a huge difference because he added another element of pitching.”

But to attribute the large jump in strength only to Edwards would be to overlook another fine addition to the team - although this time, it was an addition to the coaching staff.

Michael Cvetich, the newest member of the technology department, also became the newest assistant coach of Country Day baseball - a position that used to be filled by parent Gary Smith.

While Smith had tried his best to be at games and practices, his schedule rarely afforded him the time to attend the latter.

Cvetich had played ball for UC Merced and Country Day and still plays for the Turlock Bears in a semi-professional adult league.

Because of this, Cvetich has a keen eye for pitching and works closely with the pitchers. “One big mistake that new players-turned-coaches make is to have everyone pitch like (the coaches) do,” Cvetich said. “That doesn’t work. I tell them to do what’s easy and natural, and then we work on things like balance and aim.”

However, Cvetich offered more than just pitching expertise. “He allowed me to work with the infielders and outfielders while he was throwing to guys in the cage,” Millsback said. “And he throws pretty darn hard, which helped us prepare for other teams.”

This allowed the team to improve in fielding and batting. “In practice, we got twice as much done as we did in other years,” Stephen said.

As for next year’s prospects, Millsback remains hopeful, but keeps his expectations realistic.

Although he and the team will be losing the bulk of their roster to graduation, Millsback hopes that some incoming eighth graders, all of whom play travel ball, will make up for the lost skill.

“It’ll be very difficult to replace a senior class with so much leadership,” Millsback said. “But I’m confident we’ll make the playoffs.”

Tennis 1-7

From top: Micaela Bennet-Smith (Photo

by Gracie Strumpfer), Brad Petchauer (Photo

by Andy Cunningham), Jacob Sands (Photo by Ben Felix) and Johann Dias (Photo by Adam Ketchum)

Sports Boosters’ Athletes of the Month Senior Claire Pinson and freshman Amalie Fackenthal won the 200 free and the 50 free, respectively, at swimming section championships on May 16. They are the first SCDS students to win individual section championship events.

Junior Ben Felix was the golf team’s only representative at section championships on May 4.

He was also on the first team all-league in golf.

Athletes of the Month are chosen by the athletic department on behalf of the Sports Boosters.

May 26, 2015

The Octagon

Cork board: Liability hard to establish in construction cases, local attorney says (Continued from page 1) problem arises more from the manner in which the entire assembly was designed or constructed, liability could be difficult to determine.”

Forbo cork boards are treated with linseed oil, a water-resistant oil extracted from flax seeds and used in paints, varnishes and linoleum. Pine rosin, cork, pigments and jute fiber backing are also used in the cork board, said Scott Day, division sales manager at Forbo.

“The odor is as harmless as walking through a field of pine trees,” Day said.

Laura Rambin, principal at Studio Bondy Architecture and head architect on the middle-school building project, said linseed oil contains no volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), which are gases emitted from certain solids or liquids. (VOC’s can cause short- and long-term health problems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.) “(Linseed oil) meets the indoor air quality standards of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) as well as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for recycled content, rapidly renewable materials and low-emitting materials (both the material itself and the adhesive with which it is applied),” Rambin said in an email.

“There certainly is no blame for the contractor who installed it or the architect who designed it or the manufacturer who made it,” Repsher said. “The material is used all over in churches, schools, hospitals, and businesses - it’s a common material.”

In fact, the same cork boards are located in the lower-school library, but no odor has been detected there, he said.

Repsher attributes this difference to the sizes of the two rooms.

“What’s different about (the office) is that it’s an unusually large surface of cork in a relatively confined space,” he said.

Day said the size of the room and its ventilation could affect how long it takes the odor to dissipate.

Rambin said the odor might have been affected by how long the boards were allowed to air out.

“The color (of the cork boards) is the company’s most popular color, and therefore the material may not have been warehoused for very long,” she said.

Nonetheless, Rambin said the long-lasting odor from the

boards could not have been predicted.

“We have never had any issues with Forbo cork boards,” she said.

No matter what the reason behind the odor, Repsher said the school will be paying for the removal and replacement process because the cork board is “within specifications.”

“At some point you simply have to say, ‘Let’s take care of this and move forward,’” Repsher said.

“We wouldn’t go to war with the manufacturer over this - that’s not going to solve any problem. Let’s just recognize that this was all an unintended glitch.”

In a case such as this, though, O’Connor said the contracts involved - such as those between the owner and architect, the owner and contractor and the general contractor and specialty subcontractors and suppliers - are often just as important as the “specific factual details.”

Nonetheless, O’Connor said three general principles apply in most cases such as this one.

“The general contractor’s basic obligation is to construct the project in accordance with the plans and specifications provided by the owner,” he said. “Normally, the general contractor also warrants to the owner that the work will be free from defects in workmanship and materials.

“The (general contractor) in turn passes these obligations down the chain to the specific subcontractors or suppliers who are responsible for each specific component of the work.”

Additionally, the owner usually warrants that the plans are “free from design defects,” O’Connor said.

Finally, the architect is liable for any such design defects that are the result of “negligent error or omission” on his or her part.

The financial obligation will be fulfilled by the school, though.

And the only causes for delay are the 50th anniversary celebrations and graduation ceremonies, Repsher said.

Lyon and her assistant Barbara Johnson should be able to move into their new office by June 17, according to Repsher. Their office will become the Breakthrough headquarters, and the technology department will move to the old Breakthrough room.

“I (will) be ecstatic once we get in (the office),” Lyon said.

Meanwhile, the soon-to-be removed cork board will be recycled as green waste or go back to the manufacturer for reprocessing, Repsher said.

Remainder

5

Repsher: Head to ‘graduate’ in 2016 (Continued from page 1)

said. “Everyone was so welcoming and there is a great sense of community. It’s almost like a family.”

Repsher said one of his fondest memories will be walking through the prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms.

“It’s something that grounds you when you see those little 4-year-olds and how cute they are,” he said.

Among his proudest accomplishments, he said, are the new high-school science center and lowerschool building.

However, Repsher believes that the buildings aren’t the most important part of the school.

“I mean, you have to have nice buildings, but the buildings aren’t the school,” he said.

“The people are the school.”

Although moving is part of an administrator’s job, Repsher said that it never gets easier.

“It was very difficult for me to move from all my previous schools, but after 13 years at Country Day, it’s going to be the toughest of all. I’m definitely not looking forward to (the 2016 graduation).”

That graduation will be an especially emotional occasion because Repsher became headmaster when the class of 2016 entered kindergarten.

“I feel a close connection to (them) because of the time we’ve spent together,” Repsher said.

“I don’t even want to think about next graduation because I’ll be graduating with that class.”

Repsher said he has an especially close relationship with junior Manson Tung’s family.

On Repsher’s first day as headmaster, he decided to check out the lower school.

When he arrived, Repsher remembers when “little (Tung) marched up to me, looked up and said, ‘I know who you are. You’re the headmaster!’

“I knew that he was going to be a pistol from that day on,” he said with a laugh.

6 Editorial

The Octagon

May 26, 2015

“Gandalf the Orange” by Jacob Sands

My Angle

By Grant Miner

It was fun while it lasted, but it couldn’t last forever

EDITORIAL: Maybe it’s great for agility training, but the crosswalk has to be fixed Having video games come to life is, for the most part, a pleasing prospect. Think about it. What kid didn’t dream of being a real-life Pokemon trainer?

However, one game that is better left on screen is Frogger. Just think of all the times that poor frog met his digital death on the grilles of careening neon automobiles (and, inexplicably, water).

Yet, that’s something we find ourselves experiencing every time we have a hankering for a burrito or a cup of coffee and have to brave the dreaded walk across Munroe. In fact, tales of oblivious, speeding drivers not stopping for students (even when they’re in the middle of the crosswalk) are all too common.

Not stopping for a frog is one thing, but we’re pretty sure that knowing that humans have the right of way is required on every driving test.

Thankfully, Susan and Doug Brown, parents of Lily and Emma, stepped up after a formal complaint to the city went unacknowledged. Now, instead of just crossing ourselves and praying that the cars miss us and our brittle, brittle bones, we can wave a bright flag to get their attention.

The folks over by McKinley Park have the same problem on H Street and, like us, somebody got tired of the constant assault of one-ton metal death machines and set up a flag system. All testimony we’ve heard says that, for whatever reason, cars will brake for people holding an orange flag.

We don’t know why, but the prevailing theory is that it reminds people of somebody who works for CalTrans and who can actually punish them if they don’t respect

the

the right of way.

That being said, we’re a little peeved by the fact that a parent did something before the city did. If Jesuit can move mountains to make everyone stop on the superhighway that is Fair Oaks Boulevard, is it impossible for us to have something to protect us?

We’re not alone in this issue, either. Both the neighborhood association and the administration at Sierra Oaks Elementary School have put in formal complaints.

Now, we’re not as big as Jesuit. We don’t expect a stoplight to be put in the middle of Munroe. It will just annoy people and make their commutes that much longer. And, to be perfectly honest, it won’t really serve much of a purpose between 8:20 and 3:25 beyond making people resent our school.

No, what we need are those flashing LED’s. For those of you who have gone on the Ashland trip (or have chaperoned), you know them as the lights that prevent us from becoming pancakes when we cross the street our motel is on.

For those of you who aren’t, the concept is simple.

It’s one of those pedestrian crossing signs with a button on it. When pressed, LED’s at the top of the sign flash on and off, letting everyone know that there is someone in the crosswalk.

It’s easy, effective and cheap. (Well, cheaper than stoplights, anyway. Nothing is cheap when the city’s involved.) Nobody has to have their commute significantly lengthened and we get to remain three dimensional. Everybody wins.

Octagon

Editor-in-Chief Emma Williams Online Editor-in-Chief Aishwarya Nadgauda Business Manager Zoë Bowlus Feature Editor Aishwarya Nadgauda Opinion Editor Grant Miner Sports Editor Zoë Bowlus Copy Editor Amelia Fineberg Social Media Editor Maxwell Shukuya Page Editors Grant Miner Aishwarya Nadgauda Maxwell Shukuya

Emma Williams Madison Judd Manson Tung Reporters Adam Dean Marigot Fackenthal Ulises Barajas Annya Dahmani Katia Dahmani Sonja Hansen Graphic Artists Anna Wiley Jacob Sands Photographers Erin Reddy Adam Ketchum Jacob Sands Kevin Huang Adviser Patricia Fels

The Octagon is published eight times a year by high-school journalism students of Sacramento Country Day School, 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento, California 95864. Phone: (916) 4818811, ext. 347.

The online Octagon (www.scdsoctagon.com) is updated daily.

Orchids

&

Onions

Next to spiders, pain and the awkwardness of unexpectedly meeting an acquaintance in public, the thing I hate most is change.

I’ve lived in the same room in the same house in the same city for my entire life. Save for a few years of preschool, I’ve gone to the same school and hung out with roughly the same group of people, too.

I mean, I even have the same haircut that I’ve had since, I don’t know, second grade. Seriously. Look at the pictures.

Believe me, if the world froze the way it was in one big burst of entropic decay, I wouldn’t complain.

A change is coming, though. A big one. My life, as well as the lives of my classmates, will be uprooted and scattered to the wind. All of us will wind up in new places with no friends and nobody but ourselves (at least in the immediate vicinity) for support.

That is, we will go to college. It may not be the “real world,” but it sure as hell stings like it is.

What we will need to come to terms with, and come to terms with fast, is that it is by and large a lonely existence - if not physically then mentally.

I’m not crazy about the idea of writing a “farewell column” - they tend to bloat the final issue, and the four columns written by the four editors-in-chief (collectively adding up to over 36 inches of space) might have cost us an award or two last year.

That said, I’ve been squatting in this particular text box for a year and a half now, and if this column weren’t something “goodbye” flavored, it wouldn’t feel right.

I’m not going to tell you about the stress or the bonding or give you vivid descriptions of the Cave during paste-up because, unless you’re our parents, I don’t think you care much at all.

So instead of that, I’ll just say the only thing I have to say.

I am not good at much.

As I said in my last column, I’m terrible at all things STEM, I can’t do sports, and my sax skills are nothing to write home about.

Really, the only thing I’ve ever been “good” at is making people laugh and, by extension, writing. (I say “good” because I’m afraid that if I acknowledge it and look down, I will be Wily Coyote’d and disappear in a puff of smoke.)

I’m unsure why I feel that way. It’s not as if I’m one of those people who value what they’re good at so much as to viciously and jealously guard it from all criticism, that is, Golluming “the precious” away in the dark places of the world.

I don’t know who I would be if I hadn’t joined the Octagon - I wouldn’t have a place to write save for the occasional English essay, and I usually don’t do much more than what I need to.

All I know is that I probably wouldn’t like myself as much.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is, thanks for the voice, Fels. If it weren’t for you, I doubt I would be me.

See you later, guys.

O

rchids to. . . Student Council for organizing the Kids for Kids fundraiser. The $400 goal could cover the cost of 16 goats for our sister school, Rulindo.

O

nions to. . . teachers who load on essays, projects and tests during the final days of the year. We know you’re pressed for time, but we’re exhausted.

O

rchids to. . . the pre-med and Spanish clubs for their fundraisers to help the victims of the earthquake in Nepal. We’re glad the money’s going to a good cause.

nions to. . . seniors who show up late to senior seminars.

You may be graduating next week, but that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be disrespectful.

O

know

work

Google press song

Senior Emma Williams

itting up, I reach for my phone while opening up my laptop, which is perched at the foot of my bed.

It’s 4 in the morning, way too early to get up for school. But I have a feeling Octagon adviser Patricia Fels is awake and has already sent some emails.

While everyone else is sleeping, it’s time to fix whatever I screwed up on the online Octagon the night before. I’m hoping no one besides Fels has seen my mistakes yet.

Senior year ended up being significantly more difficult than I anticipated. And the leading reason for that was the Octagon.

By the second week of school, I already felt like I was hopelessly behind. There seemed to be no way to keep up with last year’s online editor-in-chief Ryan Ho’s level of commitment and work ethic. And print editor-in-chief Emma Williams had completely revamped the print edition, while I struggled just to keep my head above water with the online edition.

Every time I opened my phone, I held my breath hoping there were no disappointed emails from Fels.

Time and time again, I would sit at my desk at 1 a.m. editing a story, swearing that tomorrow would be the day I would quit. It didn’t seem possible to keep up the pace for the rest of the year.

I couldn’t even get the freshmen on staff to turn their stories in on time!

In most other activities, I stay on top of my work fairly well. But with the Octagon, so many things were beyond my control, I felt it slipping through my hands.

I had spent two years working towards getting an editor position on staff. And now that I had it, I looked forward to the day when I could pass on the job.

S

Online Editor-in-Chief

By Aishwarya Nadgauda

My classmates not on staff would always joke with me, telling me I had already gotten into college, so I might as well just quit now.

But I knew I couldn’t do that. Because it was all worth it, and, even if I never admitted it to those classmates, I enjoyed the slog.

The late nights, late stories and emails from Fels became a foundation for camaraderie amongst the seniors on staff.

I knew that when I really felt like I couldn’t handle it anymore, a text message or phone call to Emma would cheer me up.

After all, misery loves company.

And now, the freshmen not only volunteer for stories, but sometimes even ask for assignments. I never thought I’d see this day.

Through Octagon I’ve learned to work in a group of peers and still make sure that work gets done. I’ve learned the hard way when to motivate people by reprimanding them versus praising them.

And now that it’s actually time to leave, I can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic and reluctant to actually let it go.

I even researched the process to join the Daily Pennsylvanian, the newspaper of my future college, University of Pennsylvania.

I’m going to miss Grant’s humorous comments that distract the class and irk Fels.

I’ll miss the look Emma gives me when I make a dumb mistake.

And I’ll miss Fels. Her blunt feedback on my writing has been the greatest tool in allowing me to improve. And her commitment to the Octagon is what makes me wake up at 4 a.m. to do whatever needs to be done.

Being on staff has pushed me to my limits in more ways than I could have imagined, but I am grateful for everything I’ve learned.

Everything said and done, if I had to do it all again - staying at school until 11 p.m., arguing with Fels, waking up to 10 angry emails - I wouldn’t think twice about joining Octagon or becoming online editor-in-chief.

It’s been a struggle, but I’ve survived

The words were pulled from the favorite stories by seniors Emma Williams and Aishwarya Nadgauda, written during their tenures on the Octagon staff. (Photos

by Adam Ketchum)

practice

being

dictator

game while tattoo

thoughT students

write

always

next play

paradise

music mother

started

school

memoir parents

violin

Opinion

teachers

idea anime

mother class

dance

movie

group

music

sweet

next

see

period

parents

students

make

first

course piercings ballet Senior Aishwarya Nadgauda

school

historyfriends

time

YouTube

college

late

If it weren’t for the slightly more sane online editor-in-chief Aishwarya Nadgauda, I’m sure some staffers would’ve quit in the first month.

But as the year went on, I began to realize that my approach wasn’t working. Some seniors were brave enough to tell me that I was ostracizing them, and I eventually listened.

As much as I enjoy planning my day down to the last minute and completing assignments early, most people don’t.

So I began to take these near catastrophes less seriously. I would still feel like yelling when Grant Miner turned in his story weeks late or when Maxwell Shukuya spent paste-up searching Spotify instead of working on pages.

But I tried to keep a calm face and act like these events weren’t the end of the world.

Eventually, I began to believe the act, and I came to a marvelous conclusion: being editor-in-chief doesn’t mean I’m above everyone else. I’m just the one that people get to point fingers at when things go wrong.

Once I had this realization, Octagon became much more enjoyable - I spent more time working on stories and designs, and I grew closer to my peers.

Don’t misunderstand. I still feel like shaking Grant when I hear he hasn’t done a single interview two weeks after his story was assigned. But I’ve learned to put things in perspective and to appreciate the experience.

I have no doubt that my years on Octagon have been a blessing. The friends and memories I’ve made will be in my life forever.

Most importantly, though, Octagon has transformed me from a competitor to a collaborator. I’ve gone from being concerned solely with the end product to caring most about the people and process that make that product possible.

Even though I like to think I’ve changed, I still smile when I see my face behind Batman villain Bane’s mask on my own desktop.

Maybe I’m still a totalitarian at heart.

videos

hen I was named editor-in-chief of the print edition last year, I skipped the celebration period. There was no special dinner or night out on the town - I had grand plans, and I wasn’t going to let ice cream get in the way.

Instead I spent my time planning for the next year - the year I would make the Octagon the best it had ever been.

I worked for hours a day developing ways to improve every aspect of the paper. I created a class website, paste-up dinner schedules, Powerpoints on design and photography principles and schedules for the Octagon “boot camp” in August; I came to the Cave weekly during the summer to clean up and design pages.

My subordinates didn’t fail to notice the slowly emerging autocracy. The screensavers on the Cave computers began switching to Photoshopped images of infamous dictators with my face on their shoulders, and a proposal for the staff sweatshirt had a raised fist and the words “Bring Down the Dictatorship.”

Even Octagon adviser Patricia Fels referenced my “leadership” when she tweeted “Under Emma Williams, the trains run on time!” after the first issue went to print.

While most would take offense at having their face superimposed on Stalin or Chairman Mao, I actually kind of liked it. I felt like I was making a difference, and I was convinced this difference was a positive one.

In the first few weeks of senior year, everything that happened seemed like a disaster.

If stories were a couple days late, I would find the reporters and scold them. If a staffer didn’t seem to take Octagon seriously enough, I would send conspiratorial emails to Fels and call the person to tell them to step it up.

W

Editor-in-Chief

By Emma Williams

What I’ve learned as supreme leader

The Octagon

7 Editors reflect on challenges, triumphs May 26, 2015

20 5

8 Feature

The Octagon

May 26, 2015

Everything they said about senior year was

A LIE

work harder in their extracurriculars - yes, even harder than in junior year.

Take senior Emma Williams, who was promoted to editor-in-chief of the Octagon.

“Being editor-in-chief essentially means that I do everything I did last year plus more stories and more pages, and I’m ultimately responsible for everything else in the print edition,” she

By Maxwell Shukuya said.

Social Media Editor And for those of you who don’t know how much work that is, Williams says that her time commitment has tripled - from y childhood, and childhood in general, was full three hours a week junior year (not including paste-up or class) to eight senior year. of lies.

But maybe you won’t be in a demanding extracurricular next “I’m leaving without you, Max!” Lie - my mom didn’t ever leave me alone in the year.

Even so, you have to worry about catching a terrible disease store.

- an insidious infection that eats away at the few remaining “Now be a good boy or Santa won’t get you anycrumbs of motivation you thing nice.”

Oh, and don’t forget the essays, may have left, as your GPA Lie - sadly, Santa isn’t real.

“You can’t use a calculator! You won’t always have which require seniors to reduce flatlines.

Senioritis. one with you.” their existential significance to First of all, as I said earliLie - I always carry a calculator (phone) in my er, everyone loses steam by 500 words or fewer. pocket. senior year. But this is comMaybe “lies” is too strong a word, but nonethepounded by the fact that less, I’d guessed that my high-school experience twelfth-grade teachers are much more lenient with due dates. would be at least a tad “truthier.”

In Daniel Neukom’s AP European history class, which I had But I was wrong.

As a junior, I felt as if my entire existence was devoted to the pleasure of taking, he doesn’t check that you’ve read the homework. getting into college.

Really, you’re on your own, and the only impactful graded But, at the same time, juniors think, “Sure, I’ll have to take a ton of AP’s, and, sure, I’ll slap on the extracurriculars. But that’s assessments are tests and occasional map assignments.

Now, I get it. Teachers are preparing seniors for college, okay because everyone says senior year is easy!”

I’m sorry, but you juniors are wrong. I don’t love to be that where grades are more dependent on exams and where professors are more hands-off, but this leniency can lead to some ramguy, but I’m here to tell the truth. pant procrastination.

I mean, it makes sense.

In the case of AP Euro, I didn’t read a chapter until Junior year, three weeks after it was assigned (please don’t hurt me, I was trudging through this Even so, you have to worry about catch- Mr. Neukom) because it was really, really easy to procrasharsh prover- ing a terrible disease - an insidious infec- tinate.

And Glenn Mangold, teacher of AP Physics C, has bial desert, tion that eats away at the few remaining much the same policy. searching for But wait, there’s more! water. And, by crumbs of motivation you may have left, If you’re a talented procrastinator such as myself, you the end, I was as your GPA flatlines. have to worry about graduation requirements, too. already spent.

Because I had only four trimesters of P.E. credit, I had But I kept my head up, rubbed the sand out of my eyes, and, just a few feet to play two sports senior year. And since I waited until the last in front of me, saw an oasis with beautiful, shimmering water minute, I had to do two sports in the same season.

You don’t want to do this. There were days when I had to be and bountiful fruit trees - also known as senior year. in three places at once. Literally.

But that, my friends, was a mirage.

Also, while I have only a few hours of community service to And that’s part of what makes senior year difficult. At the start of the fourth year of high school, I already needed a break. finish, senior Alex Bushberg had 15 hours left as of a few weeks It’s when I started college applications that I realized senior ago.

And if you think I’m being overly dramatic about senior year, year wouldn’t be a breeze.

First, there’s the actual process, during which seniors have then let’s look at the facts.

In a recent Octagon poll, a third of the seniors rated this year only a few months to decide where they want to spend their next four years and their family’s savings (upwards of $200,000). as their hardest. “(Last year’s seniors) lied to us,” senior Skovran Cunningham And if you’re someone who can’t afford the extremely reasonable price of $30,000+ a year, then you also have to worry said.

But now that it’s over, all I can do is hope that college will be about financial aid.

Oh, and don’t forget the essays, which require seniors to re- different - that the untruths will stop.

College is supposed to be “the best four years of your life.” duce their existential significance to 500 words or fewer.

It better be.

But on top of making life-changing decisions, seniors have to

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