November 2014 issue 3

theOctagon

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

Sacramento Country Day School

VOL. XXXVIII, NO. 3

scdsoctagon.com

November 25, 2014

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

Junior Akilan Murugesan and sophomore Avi Bhullar rehearse for the winter play, “Seven Stories” (left).

Play director Brian Frishman looks on during rehearsal (above). (Photos by Adam Ketchum)

Off-the-wall characters on the ledge

Upcoming play centers on suicidal protagonist

By Maxwell Shukuya

meaning).”

Frishman said that with “Seven Stories,” conveying the theme is particularly important. t 6-foot-6-inches, play director Brian Frishman sits reclined, “The play deals with the meaninglessness of life and how people find feet up, engrossed in what’s unfolding onstage. many different ways to escape it instead of facing their real lives,” he “Daniel, when’s a time in your life when you’ve been most said. dissatisfied?” he asks.

Murugesan said that all of the characters are trying to escape life “That’s where this guy is at, so try to touch into that.” through different means.

“Make it realistic and dramatic,” he adds.

The suicidal man, Murugesan says, is the Sophomore Daniel Hernried nods, takes a drag on his “It’s actually harder than you’d only “straight man” (grounded character) in stage cigarette, looks at the script and continues in a Britthink trying to react natural- the play, as he isn’t as wacky as the others. ish accent.

“It’s actually harder than you’d think trying Six weeks ago, Hernried began preparing for his role as ly to these weird characters, to react naturally to these weird characters, Michael Merchant, one of 12 quirky characters in the up- but it’s fun.” but it’s fun,” he said. coming play, “Seven Stories.”

Junior Elinor Hilton plays one of these —Akilan Murugesan, junior The late 20th century absurdist-existential play revolves strange roles as Nurse Wilson. around a single man (junior Akilan Murugesan) who conWilson, Hilton explained, is an old-peotemplates suicide, while some other characters urge him to ple-hating cynic. “I actually tell the man to kill himself because I think reconsider his decision. waiting to die when you’re old is a waste of time,” she said.

Frishman said that “Seven Stories” wasn’t his first choice for the play.

Hilton says that it’s difficult portraying a mean and cynical character Originally, Frishman had planned to do “Charley’s Aunt,” a famous Enrealistically. glish comedy, but two of his main actors dropped out.

“I’m usually a nice person (in real life), and I’m nicely telling the guy Consequently, Frishman said that the actors have had a shortened reto kill himself,” she said. hearsal period.

“It’s hard having to remember it’s okay to say something like that (on “Ideally, what you’d have if you had time would be a week of table stage).” readings where you discuss the meaning of the play,” he said.

“But now I have actors instinctively discover things while they’re reSee Play, page 10 hearsing, and, at certain important points, we stop and talk about (the

Social Media Editor

A

MS building barely exceeds green requirements

By Aishwarya Nadgauda Online Editor-in-Chief On college tours, guides like to brag about how “green” their schools are. To illustrate, they always take visitors through new buildings with up-to-date, environmentally friendly features.

So what about a future visitor to SCDS? What features of the new Middle School Center for Science and Technology would a guide brag about?

Interestingly enough, how to make the Middle School Center for Science and Technology more environmentally friendly was never officially discussed, headmaster Stephen Repsher said.

“It didn’t come up for discussion because we know that in this day and age (making the building environmentally friendly) is the responsible thing to do,” Repsher said.

According to Repsher, the additional costs for these features are not excessive.

The walls of the new building are insulated much more than the old campus structures so that they retain heat in the winter and stay cool in the summer.

In addition, materials such as carpet, tiles,

wood, paint and varnish have low VOC (volatile handful of additions that go beyond the miniorganic compounds), meaning that what they mum environmentally friendly features required emit is not toxic. by state and city laws.

Moreover, the heating, For example. Abhijeet ventilation and air condiPande, associate vice-presitioning use far less energy “It didn’t come up for discussion dent of building science rethan the old systems while because we know that in this search at SMUD, suggested still providing the same day and age (making the build- that the shape of the buildamount of heat and cooling. ing should be taken into ing environmentally friendly) is consideration for heat gain/ And linoleum tile, made loss purposes. from renewable linseed the responsible thing to do.” oil, is being used instead However, there were a —Stephen Repsher, headmaster of VCT (vinyl composition lot of constraints as far as tile), which is made from the size of the project goes, petroleum. architect Laura Rambin said. The building could Also there is a minimal amount of planting so not be moved further north, because it would that less irrigation is needed, and the windows have ended up in the parking lot. are double-glazed to reduce energy loss and keep On the east side of the building there is an out the heat and cold. easement in which structures are prohibited. On However, according to Michael Keesee, who the west side there is the lower-school building. retired from a position as SMUD’s lead researchRambin, the principal at Studio Bondy Archier in high-performance buildings after 22 years, tecture in Oakland, is the project architect of the these aspects of the building are all requirements building. of the building code.

This means that the new building has only a See Building, page 11

Chelsea Wilson was editor-in-chief from 2004-05. Wilson graduated from the University of Southern California and returned in April 2013 after living in Washington, D.C., for four years. Wilson is public policy communications manager and acts as spokeswoman for Lyft, a transportation system that uses an app to connect customers and drivers.

Q: How did working on The Octagon help you in college and your career?

A: I am an English and political science major. The Octagon gives great lessons in writing quickly and under pressure, which is a great skill to have in college and in the work force.

Q: Have you kept in touch with any other alumni or Octagon staffers?

A: We all keep in touch through Facebook. I think every time Christmas or Thanksgiving comes around, someone will start a group text and we will grab dinner.

Q: What was your favorite thing about SCDS? A: The people. Even now, I can go back to Country Day and find teachers who are so welcoming.

They’re still really happy and energetic.

Q: Were there any big issues on campus when you were a student?

A: Everyone was always talking about expanding the campus or moving. There were a number of locations that were under consideration. At one point, they thought about moving to downtown Sac. Q: Did the administration ever get upset about the articles you wrote?

A: One of the great things about Country Day was that the school was really understanding of the fact that The Octagon was meant to voice the students’ opinions. I think there were some times when they weren’t thrilled with our articles, but Country Day teaches us to ask questions. It’s great that students can do things like that and push the boundaries.

Q: Any memories of being editor-in-chief?

A: Around paste-up there was always craziness, but a good kind of craziness. I think those were some of the moments when everybody was able to bond over getting the paper out. In general, we had such a fun time.

Q: Biggest lesson from being editor-in-chief?

A: I can still function after not having any sleep! (Also) it was good to have high schoolers know that you can put something out there that has value and people will read.

You’re really proud of what you write, and that’s a great feeling.

—Sonja Hansen For more of Wilson’s interview, visit scdsoctagon.com

2 Feature The family that hunts together stays together

The Octagon

November 25, 2014

Sophs brave cold to bond with loved ones

By Aishwarya Nadgauda

hit the water.

“But sometimes they jump out before, and then the ducks swerve away from us,” LaComb said, laughing. eep. Beep. Beep.

The pond near the blind has been filled Sophomore Quin LaComb rolls over in bed. It’s 5:30 a.m. on Satur- with decoys, plastic ducks that float in the water, by LaComb and his dad. The decoy day.

He brushes his teeth. Then he dons his ducks, combined with duck calls, attract camo, earplugs, face mask and waders (large ducks to the blind.

The call is wooden and has a reed in it that waterproof overalls).

LaComb grabs a glass of orange juice as his vibrates. “(The duck call dad drinks coffee.

Then they drive in a “Quin and I sat in the blind for 90 is) saying, ‘Hey, golf cart to the pond. minutes. We talked abouit every- there are some friendly ducks They discuss whether the down here’ or weather is optimal for thing there was to talk about ” duck hunting and wheth—Eric LaComb, parent ‘Hey, there’s a potential mate down er there will be ducks or here,’” LaComb not.

LaComb is at Gunner’s Field, his private said.

LaComb and his dad will be crouching property near Maxwell. in the blind for anywhere from two to four It’s foggy, the perfect weather.

Shotgun in hand, LaComb sits in a blind, hours, depending on how many ducks they catch. staring at the sky.

Because of a limit system, each can’t kill On his property there are two blinds, or raised platforms surrounded by bushes from more than seven ducks, only two of which can be female. which they shoot the ducks.

“I rely on my dad to tell the difference be“This past Sunday Quin and I sat in the blind for 90 minutes,” LaComb’s father, Eric, tween male and female ducks,” LaComb said. said. “We talked about everything there was “The males tend to be more flashy.”

LaComb got his hunting license at the age to talk about, from school to soccer. We told jokes, had some good laughs and finally saw of 10, though he had been accompanying his father on duck hunts long before that. two ducks.”

Jinx and Olive, black lab hunting dogs, hudHe has been duck hunting with his father dle in the blind with LaComb and his dad. for the past eight years. They go up six to 10 Their job is to jump out of the blinds and times a year. retrieve the ducks after they’ve been shot and Duck hunting runs in the family for sopho-

Online Editor-in-Chief

B

Elizabeth Brownridge holds the ducks she shot in front of the blind (above). Another set of ducks Brownridge shot hangs from the cage where the fetching dogs are held (right).

(Photos used by permission of Brownridge)

mores Elizabeth Brownridge and Christian Van Vleck as well.

Van Vleck often goes duck hunting with his grandfather, although sometimes his father joins them.

They all go hunting at his grandfather’s property in Yuba City.

Brownridge, Van Vleck and LaComb use a 20-gauge shotgun, which makes less noise than a 12-gauge, thereby repelling the ducks less.

“My dad first taught me to shoot with BB guns at the age of 6 or 7,” Van Vleck said.

“Shortly after, I moved on to rifles, shotguns and pistols. The philosophy was that if kids were exposed to guns at an early age, they would be less likely to act in a hazardous manner with them.”

Brownridge used to go with her sister to observe her father’s duck hunt. She hunts at a property her family owns in Maxwell.

The three shoot only ducks that are in the sky, as it is considered unethical to shoot ducks while they are in the water and are stationary targets.

“We’ll throw a rock at them to scare them off the water,” Brownridge said. “So once they

are in the air, we can shoot them.”

By the time they were 10, Van Vleck, LaComb and Brownridge had all earned their hunting licenses.

In order to get their licenses, each had to take a day-long class where they were educated about gun safety and the ethics of hunting.

The course ends with a test.

None of them learned much new material from the class, because they had learned most of it from their fathers and grandfathers.

“It was a long and boring class,” Van Vleck said. “The most important bits of the class, the things I still remember today, I had already been taught.”

Although they have never hunted together, their experiences have common threads.

Combatting the early start on a weekend and the stinging cold is the hardest part.

Beneath their camo and waders, they are layered with thermals, T-shirts and jackets.

See Hunting, page 10

Student-founded charities benefit different communities

By Manson Tung Page Editor From India to H Street, Country Day students are giving back to varied communities. Their charities differ from a fully fledged organization raising tens of thousands of dollars a year to an organization in the beginning stages of development.

Lara Kong, On Broadway Senior Lara Kong started her charity, On Broadway, in 2010 with a simple mission: to allow underprivileged kids the opportunity to experience musical theater.

“As a child, I loved musical theater,” Kong said.

“So I was always confused why I was the only person under 80 that was sitting in the audience.”

On Broadway started by sponsoring 10 Breakthrough students’ trip to the California Musical Theatre’s production of “Wicked.”

“At first, I was set on sending 10 students to the theater,” Kong said.

Kong began to solicit funds from family and friends soon af-

Lara Kong accepts the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award at the Association of Fundraising Professionals gala on Nov. 12, 2013. (Photo used by permission of Kong)

ter, and had enough money left over to sponsor other groups.

Since Kong’s freshman year, her charity has sponsored groups from Breakthrough to the Boys and Girls Club of Sacramento to Shriners Children’s Hospital and sent over 400 students to the theater.

In addition, Kong was able to include underprivileged adult groups like the Wellspring Women’s Center, Sacramento Food Bank and the Rancho Cordova Police Activities League.

Kong’s donation goal for the 2014-15 season is $100,000; she raised $80,000 last year.

While donations at first were strictly from Kong’s family and friends, the general public began donating small amounts of money after a Sacramento Bee article about her project appeared.

Sophomore Maryjane Garcia was a beneficiary of On Broadway’s work.

“I was very thankful for the opportunity it gave me to see the plays,” Garcia said.

“I was glad when it was mentioned at the community meeting at Breakthrough, and I hope that future Breakthrough students will get to enjoy and be as entertained as I was.”

Kong recently won the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Violet Richardson Soroptimist Group Award from the Soroptimist Women’s Organization.

Kong received $1,000 from the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award and $750 from the Violet Richardson award.

She is currently fundraising for the 2015-16 theatrical season, although this season may prove to be the last for On Broadway.

“It would be a lot harder to pull off with me at college,” Kong said.

Aishwarya Nadgauda, Cognitive Exchange While Kong’s charity has been in full swing for four years now, senior Aishwarya Nadgauda’s charity, Cognitive Exchange, is still in its first active year.

Cognitive Exchange is a organization that teaches eightweek public speaking courses over GoToMeeting, a video

conferencing application similar to Skype.

The curriculum Nadgauda invented covers speechwriting from the very beginning stages (parts of speech are the first lesson) to the final presentation, when students give their own speeches from memory.

Cognitive Exchange pairs the classes in India with student teachers in Sacramento. The core group of teachers currently consists of three students from Mira Loma High School and Nadgauda.

Beginning in one school in the state of Maharashtra, Nadgauda’s family’s home state, Cognitive Exchange will have expanded to four schools, reaching out to about 75 students,

by December.

Nadgauda wants to create a Country Day satellite club, another group of student instructors teaching the Cognitive Exchange curriculum, to expand the organization to other schools in India faster.

Cognitive Exchange is currently facing scaling difficulties, as all teachers are high-school students in America. Nadgauda says that the group can teach only 25 students at a time.

When Nadgauda and her fellow teachers were first building their curriculum, they planned to model it after the National Forensics League Forum and include Lincoln-Douglas style debate and impromptu speeches.

“But those skills just really aren’t that applicable to everyday life, as much as pure public speaking,” Nadgauda said.

While Nadgauda’s teaching requires over eight hours of work a week including two hour-long live lessons with the students, seeing her students grow in ability makes it all worth it, she said.

“I saw my students go from super quiet that first day to super-persuasive, captivating speakers,” Nadgauda said. “At the beginning, they were tripping over uncomplicated words and not giving us eye contact, but by the last day, they had so much poise and confidence.”

Akshay Mirajkar, a student of Cognitive Exchange, said that the experience deeply affected him. “Now I am confident and adequate with spoken English,” Mirajkar wrote.

See Charities, page 10

November 25, 2014

Wait! Whatever happened to that club?

By Madison Judd Page Editor

S

t. Francis High School has 60 clubs, Christian Brothers High School has 46 and Jesuit High School has more than 50.

But Country Day rarely has more than five, and most don’t last very long.

Why do our clubs come and go so quickly?

Although the easy answer is that students just lose interest, the reasons are actually more individual and complex.

Here are the answers to what really happened to some of the school’s old clubs.

News

The Octagon

said.

The creation of the third and final club was discussed two years ago when a student asked Neukom if he would be willing to sponsor it again.

“I said yes, but I told them that they would have to be enthusiastic, plan activities and know what to do at the meetings,” Neukom said.

“After that discussion, it was never brought up again.”

Neukom believes that clubs anywhere rise and fall due to student enthusiasm, and that after they run for one or two years, the people that were the most enthusiastic about the club graduate.

The club then disappears.

Dungeons and Dragons Chess Club The Dungeons and Dragons Club was created by Grant QuatThe Chess Club was created by junior Colby Conner in his tlebaum, ’14, in his sophomore year. freshman year.

According to the first member, Kevin Rossell, ’14, the purpose He created the club because he really likes to play chess and he of the club was to organize separate Dungeons and Dragons cam- wanted to know if there were other people in the high school who paigns (a connected series of battles, adventures or scenarios) be- also enjoyed playing the game. cause each campaign can contain only eight people.

“I thought that creating a team would allow us to bond over a The club’s first meeting was surprisingly popular, Rossell said. game that I find fascinating,” Conner said.

“About 25 people came to that meeting,” he said.

Therefore, Conner asked Brooke Wells, head of the high “Mostly guys, though.” school, to be the faculty adviser.

Although the club was initially popular, a majority of “Wells really enjoys playing chess too, so he agreed to the members didn’t continue to meet regularly after its help me start the club,” he said. creation, Rossell said.

The club had five meetings, with the maximum attenThe only team to regularly meet was headed by fordance being five people. mer chemistry teacher Alan Beamer, who was the faculty “This was super exciting because clubs aren’t very popular adviser and a member of that team. in the high school,” Conner said.

Rossell said that the club officially stopped beHowever, because of increasingly busy school cause once all of the individual groups were orschedules, members weren’t able to go to the ganized, they no longer needed an overarching as frequently as they had in the be“It wasn’t worth the hassle if meetings club to help them, he said. ginning.

People just started going to their individual only one other person could Therefore, Conner made the decision to groups if they wanted to play the game. end it. “It wasn’t worth the hassle if only one do it too.”

The most successful group, which includperson could do it too,” he said.

—Colby Conner, junior other ed senior Jaspreet Gill, was able to finish the Junior Emma Brown said she was disapgame. pointed when Chess Club ended.

“The club was a fun pastime with friends, “I really liked meeting with the group, but I and we made memories that I will never forget,” Gill said. agreed with (Conner)’s decision to stop the club because it was alFor the club as a whole to have been more successful, the heads most impossible to find a time where everyone was free,” she said. of the individual groups should have been more active, Rossell said.

Japanese Club For instance, near the beginning, the members discussed orgaSenior Claire Pinson created the Japanese Club in her sophonizing trips to conventions or overnight gaming sessions at the more year. school.

Pinson wanted to teach students about Japanese language and culture. She intended it to be more of a class than a club because Car Clubs there isn’t a Japanese elective or academic class at Country Day. Over the past few decades, there have been three different car Pinson also wanted to have a Japanese Club because she had clubs, all of which were advised by history teacher Daniel Neu- spent a month in Japan the summer before her sophomore year. kom.

“I needed to have an outlet to learn Japanese besides anime The first, created more than 20 years ago, was by far the most with subtitles and monotonous self-study workbooks,” she said. successful, according to Neukom.

Teacher Patricia Jacobsen, who spent her junior year of college “At the time, there were a number of student car enthusiasts, in Tokyo, advised the club. Jacobsen also lived in Japan for five and we talked about cars all the time,” Neukom said. years, working for the Japanese Ministry of Education as a teachThis club lasted for around two years while the students attend- er. ed Country Day. Neukom attributes this success to the heartfelt The club, however, was not popular, Pinson said. enthusiasm of the eight or nine members.

“It was partly because I made it very clear that it was supposed Their main purpose was to swap magazines and talk about the to be like a Japanese language and culture class where people latest developments in cars. They also fiddled with cars in the would actually have to learn things,” Pinson said. parking lot, Neukom said.

The club lasted about a year, with as many as four people atThe second car club was created five years ago. tending each week. The people who attended the meetings, beHowever, this club faded pretty quickly due to the lack of orga- sides Pinson, were the international students, Pinson said. nization and devotion of the students, Neukom said.

Sophomore Kevin Huang was a dedicated member of the club, “I had—and have—the feeling that the students just wanted Pinson said. He joined the club because his friend, freshman Atto create it so they would have something to put on their college suo Chiu, is Japanese. “I wanted to grow closer to (Chiu) by learnapplications, even if they didn’t actually have a lot of interest in ing Japanese,” Huang said. the subject of the club,” he said.

The club continued into Pinson’s junior year, but was cancelled Neukom also believes that the club lasted only three meetings because Pinson and Jacobsen were too busy to organize it. Pinson because the leaders didn’t take enough responsibility. also felt that there wasn’t enough time to teach a language during “They should plan the meetings and plan the lunch periods. things for outside of school, such as going “I was really disappointed, but I understand that other people to auto shows, race tracks, car dealer- weren’t as passionate about learning the language,” Huang said. ships, or car accessory stores,” Neukom However, Pinson plans to restart the club in January, since she intends to return to Japan in June for swim training.

She is organizing the trip for six or seven of her teammates.

3

On campus now Book Club

Number of years active: 17

Faculty adviser: Librarian Joanne Melinson What they do: Once a month, the club meets in the Matthews Library to discuss books the members have read recently. Oftentimes, Melinson provides beverages, like hot apple cider, and cookies or doughnut holes. “(It’s) a great resource for any of us wanting to get good book reviews from teachers and students.”

—Joanne Melinson, librarian

Philosophy Club

Number of years active: 3

Faculty adviser: Physics teacher Glenn Mangold Student leader: Senior Melissa Vazquez What they do: Students gather in Mangold’s classroom to discuss contemporary philosophical topics.

Each meeting begins with a short overview of the topic, followed by questions and debates.

“I want to truly know I believe in my beliefs, so I have to study them in depth to make sure I really do, not just because they were ingrained in me by society. ” —Melissa Vazquez, senior

MOGAI Club

Number of years active: 1

Faculty adviser: Breakthrough director Adolfo Mercado Student leader: Sophomore Austin Talamantes What they do: Twice a month the club, formerly known as One Love Club, meets in dean of student life Patricia Jacobsen’s classroom to discuss issues that affect the Marginalized Orientations, Gender Alignments and Intersex (MOGAI) community and organize events, such as marching at the Pride Parade in Sacramento.

“I’m really glad we finally have a place where we can discuss these issues in a safe environment.”

—Amelia Fineberg, junior

League of Legends Club Number of years active: 2 Faculty adviser: Latin teacher Jane Batarseh Student leaders: Seniors Michael Wong, Ryan Hoddick and Jaspreet Gill What they do: Members of this club meet in Batarseh’s classroom to compare strategies in the League of Legends video game for competitions against other school clubs. “(The club) helped bring all the people who play (League of Legends) together. Now it’s way easier for me to log in and find people to play with.”

—Erin Reddy, senior Information collected by Sonja Hansen and Emma Williams

4 Sports

The Octagon

November 25, 2014

Soccer player turns to football, kicks it at Oxy

By Zoë Bowlus Sports Editor

O

n Sept. 13, Alex Graves, ’11, kicked for the Occidental football team in the Tigers’ under-thelights season opener against the University of La Verne.

“It was nerve-wracking,” he said. “My first college game for football was my senior year.”

Yes, that’s right.

After four years of playing goalie on the soccer team at Country Day and two at Occidental, Graves now plays on the football field.

Graves was first approached about joining the Oxy football team his sophomore year, as the kicker was going to graduate Graves’s junior year.

But Graves was already working as a student athletic trainer for the football team at the time and said he didn’t have time to add a sport.

His junior year, Graves did not play a sport at all. He said he wasn’t playing as much as he wanted in soccer and that he was more focused on school. He continued scientific research he started his sophomore year and got jobs outside of school, which led to his quitting soccer.

But when the football team was unable to recruit a kicker for his senior year, he agreed to do it.

Even though he had never played football before, Graves was able to hold the position over a kicker who transferred to

Occidental over the summer.

That transfer student kicked for the first two preseason games and didn’t do well. So the coach gave Graves a chance. “(I) beat out an actual kicker to earn that spot!” he said.

Graves had had no previous exposure to a school football experience. “(At) other high schools, football is a really big deal, he said.

That intensity just carries over into college. (It) becomes more intense.”

In fact, Graves said that the change in intensity is something he likes most about football.

However, he also said that after playing soccer for more than half of his life, he misses the team aspect of the sport.

He’s had to adjust to the kicker position after so many years of being a team player.

“It’s hard to come on as a kicker,” he said. “(The kicker) is his own player.”

The kicker position is a small, specialized unit, he said.

Joining the team as a kicker, Graves said he was like “an outsider coming into a role that’s already more or less ostracized.”

In addition, Graves is blind in one eye. Although this disability affected his play on the soccer field, it didn’t on the football field.

“As I got older and played (college soccer), the pace of play was so much faster that I couldn’t keep up anymore, which led to me not playing because I was just not as good,” he said.

He said the blindness is not very relevant in football because he simply kicks.

Alex Graves, ’11, kicks a point after touchdown (PAT) for the Tigers in a game against Chapman University. Occidental lost 21-59, even though Graves made all three of his PATs. (Photo used by permission of Graves)

‘Are you blind?!’ Student referees experience flip side of officiating

By Katia Dahmani

for a youth team earns about $25, and the older the team, the higher the pay.

Before they could ref, the three took a refWhat’s it like to be a referee and be on the eree course.

In the four-day course they learned the other side of all the booing after a call?

Just ask senior Ethan Ham, junior Jacob “laws” of soccer.

“The course was like PowerPoint poisonDurante and sophomore Zane Jakobs.

Not only are Durante, Jakobs and Ham ing,” Jakobs said. “It was four hours a day over student referees, but they all have experience four days that only covered 17 laws.”

The course had over 460 presentation playing soccer. slides, and the passing Ham and Durante are grade for the class was 70 members of the boys’ “Once I called a player offside, percent. varsity, and Jakobs played and that player’s parent got The test wasn’t hard, as a child. and Jakobs didn’t study All three are both cen- extremely mad at the call. The for it, he said. ter and assistant referees. parent came on to the field Jakobs, Durante and Assistant referees help and started yelling at me.”

Ham referee using a by telling the players the —Zane Jakobs, sophomore three-man system with throw-in direction and a center referee and two telling the center referee assistants. calls that he or she didn’t The three say they often have to deal with get. Their calls can be overruled by the center angry parents. referee.

However, since referees aren’t supposed to The center referee is a harder job and requires more participation and concentration, directly confront a parent, they have to tell Ham said. Center referees are in charge of the coach to control them. making all the calls and making sure players “Once I called a player offside, and that and coaches behave well. player’s parent got extremely mad at the call,” All three usually are center referees for Jakobs said. “The parent came onto the field 10-and-under and 12-and-under teams. and started to yell at me.

Pay depends on the team. A center referee “I told him to leave the game, which he

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“The depth perception isn’t a problem,” he said.“I know the exact distance I am going to kick before I even step on the field for the PATs (points after touchdowns) or the field goal.”

He is more concerned about being hurt in football than in soccer, he said. “But it’s a pretty rare incident to be tackled as a kicker.”

SCDS soccer coach Matt Vargo agrees. While there is the possibility that Graves could get hurt, he is at less of a risk than are other players, Vargo said.

“The kicker’s the last man on defense, so (he’s) not running down smashing into people,” Vargo said. “He’s the last safety valve.”

Vargo said an athlete’s switch from a soccer player to a football kicker is actually very common. “Most successful kickers were former soccer players at some point in their lives,” Vargo said.

But Graves said that soccer hasn’t helped him on the football field besides the overall athleticism and the motion of kicking a ball.

He actually had to relearn how to kick.

“There are many ways to kick a soccer ball,” he said. However, in football, “for a field goal, there’s only part of the bone you want to hit the ball (with).”

The best region of the foot with which to kick the football is the metatarsal, the long group of bones in the middle of the foot that provides a flat surface for kicking.

Over the summer, Graves worked out a couple of times with the former Oxy kicker. He also watched videos online to learn how to kick.

Though it wasn’t initially bad adapting his skills to kick a football, Graves said the hardest adjustment was learning the timing.

To complete a field goal, one player snaps the ball. The holder catches it then places it on the ground so that the kicker can run up and kick the ball.

In his first game, a 33-27 win over La Verne, his first field goal was blocked, he said. At the time, Graves said he remembered thinking, “This is going to be harder than I thought.”

However, that didn’t hold true for long. Later in the game, he kicked a field goal and also made all of his PATs. In a 23-17 home victory over Whittier College, Oct. 11, Graves had his first perfect game: he made every one of his three kicks (all PATs).

The Tigers play in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference against schools including Chapman, Redlands, Cal Lutheran, La Verne, Whittier, Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Graves described the home crowd as “moderate.”

“Normally, it’s not quiet, but it’s not super loud,” he said.

While there were 3,000 in attendance at the homecoming game against Mudd-Claremont-Scripps, the typical number is from 200-700 people, Graves said.

The Tigers finished the season 5-4, with four of the wins at home.

Graves finished the season making two of four field goals and 26 of 27 PATs.

did, and fortunately it didn’t get physical.”

Ham also said that parents frequently get mad at his calls.

“But as a referee I can’t change the calls, because it’s something that we never do,” he said.

“I don’t want the rest of my calls to be doubted or questioned just because a parent wasn’t happy with it.”

All three say they always stick by their calls.

“I have never regretted a call I’ve made,” Jakobs said.

Durante said that he learned how to deal with unhappy parents disagreeing with his calls by simply ignoring the parents.

Knowing what it’s like to have parents constantly criticizing their calls gives Durante and Ham an advantage when they play soccer, they said.

“I’m empathetic of the referees because I know that sometimes the refs are hesitant about their calls and don’t make the right call,” Ham said.

“I understand the refs’ calls, but I can also tell when they aren’t making the right call,” Durante said.

But Jakobs said that reffing makes him more critical of the referee’s calls, especially because of the dual system that the school‘s Div. VII league uses.

Both Durante and Jakobs say they don’t think that this is an effective way to ref.

“It’s hard to referee with only two officials for any team above 12 years old,” Jakobs said.

“The players are too fast for the refs to make proper and fair calls.”

During the league games, it’s apparent that they constantly miss calls, Durante said.

But Ham disagrees and thinks two referees are as effective in making calls as three.

As to why they took a job where people yell at them, all three say that they wanted a flexible, easy way to make money.

“I was looking for easy money, and I found it at $20 a game,” Durante said. “And a game is only an hour of my time.”

So, as it turns out, it doesn’t feel too bad to be the one getting booed as long as you’re making some fast cash.

Zane Jakobs records a goal for the Land Park Kick It! tournament on Oct. 12.

(Photo used by permission of Jakobs)

November 25, 2014

The Octagon

Sports

5

Three freshmen join girls’ varsity basketball team Although the girls’ basketball team has been practicing since only Nov. 11, their lineup is looking strong, coach Matt Vargo said.

The team consists of seniors Isabella Tochterman and Micaela Bennett-Smith; juniors Julia Owaidat and Saachi Sikaria; sophomores Natalie Brown, Elena Lipman and Anny Schmidt; and freshmen Brenda Alegria, Esme Romo and Yasmin Gupta.

Based on the team’s few practices, Vargo said the players already have a lot of speed. However, he said they still need to grow in their teamwork and passing, especially with the addition of new players.

This is particularly true for Romo, as she is participating in a sport for the first time.

“I am a bit nervous that I am the only person on the team that has never played basketball before, but I think that this season will be a good learning opportunity,” Romo said.

Even though there are only seven returning players, Owaidat is looking forward to the new team.

“I’m especially looking forward to the team’s growth in communication and familiarity with each other,” Owaidat said.

“You learn a lot about a person when you play a sport with them.”

When Owaidat played with Alison Walter and Mary-Clare Bosco, both ’13, in her freshman year, she was very intimidated, she said.

“However, going on long car rides to games and the Redding tournament made me realize how sweet they both are,” Owaidat said.

“After we started playing, they always offered to help me out with basketball

Sophomore Natalie Brown shoots a layup during practice. (Photo by Adam Ketchum)

and school.”

Gupta said she is especially looking forward to playing alongside Owaidat because they practiced together at several of assistant coach David Ancrum’s clinics.

Vargo said that Gupta will add to the leadership because of her previous experience with basketball—Gupta trained with Ancrum for a year and a half (and the San Juan High School girls’ basketball coach for the past two months).

Even with the different ranges of skill on the team, Owaidat believes that the girls are going to have a lot of freedom on the court.

“The girls who have played before have really developed basketball IQs, and the girls who have never played are in labs on the weekend trying to enhance their skills,” Owaidat said.

“Therefore, I don’t think that we will need to follow strict plays or rely on any specific players; everyone will be able to do something with the ball.”

—Madison Judd

Freshmen B.J. Askew and Steven Wang (both in red) square off as the ball returns to the ground in the championship match against Ripon Christian on Nov. 15. Askew scored the Cavs’ only goal in the 1-4 loss. (Photo by Elena Lipman)

Boys’ soccer loses championship game to Ripon Christian; varsity volleyball falls short in semifinals “We showed we could compete against “The tryout process is very nerve-wrackBoys’ Soccer Students, parents and faculty made the a big school,” Vargo said. “In the game we ing,” said Gupta, who was accepted onto NCVC. “There are about 80 girls trying their drive to Stockton and braved 55-degree matched up toe to toe with them.” weather to cheer on the boys’ soccer team at “The whole atmosphere was surreal,” Mor- hardest to get noticed by the coaches.”

Only 24 girls are accepted onto NCVC. the section finals championship game against fin-Ruiz said.

Club teams require a lot of dedication— Ripon Christian.

In that game Country Day stayed locked in Bundled up in coats, the crowd gave the a tie until halftime, but in the second half al- and a large investment.

NCVC, which plays all over California, boys a standing ovation as the final whistle lowed three goals to lose the game, costs $3000 to join, which pays for coaches blew.

0-3.

C o u n t r y “This season was one of the In the second round of the play- and gym rent, Gupta said.

In most clubs, players must provide their Day’s 1-4 loss in offs against Delta High School on own kneepads and shoes. Some clubs require the section fi- best in school history.”

Nov. 12, senior Keegan Crain came —Matt Vargo, soccer coach on as a sub in his first game back that players also buy their own uniforms, nals marked the end of a highly from an ankle injury, to score the which can cost more than $250. successful socHowever, the players say that club volleygo-ahead goal. cer campaign. The boys finished the season ball is worth these expenses.

“That goal changed the whole outcome of with a record of 17-2-1 in Div. VII. “Playing club volleyball with different peothe game, I felt so ecstatic,” Crain said.

“This season was one of the best in school ple can make you a stronger player because The boys defeated Delta, 4-2. history,” head coach Matt Vargo said. you have to adapt to the way that they play,” —Adam Dean “The team was very talented. They did well junior Jenny Kerbs said. finishing off teams and not allowing their op“A different coach can give passing, servGirls’ Varsity Volleyball ponents to come back.” ing and hitting suggestions that you hadn’t The girls’ varsity volleyball team ended its Offensively, the Cavs dominated their op- season with a 15-6 overall record. known about before.” ponents, scoring 95 goals. In comparison, diJunior Aidan Galati has decided not to play The girls lost their semifinal match in playvision champion Ripon Christian scored 82 for a club, even though she played for club offs to Stone Ridge Christian, 3-1. during their season. teams in the past. Instead, Galati will go to a Setter Erin Reddy was the only senior on “We had a lot of offensive weapons,” Vargo public park with volleyball sand courts in Folthe team. said. som on Sundays.

Reddy plans to play volleyball Senior Ethan Ham and freshman B.J. Galati said that “There are about 80 girls tryAskew led the team with 24 goals apiece. Se- next year on an intramural or club the environment team in college, as it’ll give her ing their hardest to get nonior Erik Morfin-Ruiz was third, with 17. is much more remore free time. ticed by the coaches.”

To get to the next level, the team has creaslaxed and doesn’t The other varsity girls are planes to iron out before next season. require regular —Yasmin Gupta, freshman attendance.

In “Next year we will have to work on improv- ning what they will do to keep addition, sand ing our defense and clearing corner kicks,” their skills sharp. Senior Erin Reddy, junior Sydney Michel and volleyball has only two players per team, so Askew said. players must move around more.

“We needed to be more aggressive. We freshmen Kyra PeterThe outdoor volleyball club designed by just played weak in the air and box,” senior sen, Yasmin Gupta and Annya and Katia Dahmani tried out recently for club teams coaches Jason Kreps and Drew Petersen, 530, Skovran Cunningham said.

The Sept. 24 game against Div. III El such as Gold Cal, Northern California Vol- will be starting in January. This year, 530 will Camino High School was one of the most ex- leyball Club (NCVC), Elite Beach Volleyball offer open training sessions instead of being citing games of the year according to Vargo and Sac Performance Volleyball Club (SPVC). an official team.

Trying out for these clubs is rigorous.

The girls and coaches have also begun and senior Erik Morfin-Ruiz. talking about plans for improvement for next year’s season.

“I think the biggest improvement we could make is Boys’ Soccer Team Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Team to remain focused at practice,” Kerbs The girls fought their way The boys finished with a resaid. through the season to a loss in cord of 17-2-1. They were “There have been the semifinals. They finished the Sac-Joaquin Div. VII runsome matches where second in their league with a ner-up after losing in the we might have been record of 10-2. championship game. more competitive if we had taken practice more seriously.”

Sports Boosters’ Athletes of the Month

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

—Sonja Hansen

6

Centerpoint

The$Octagon$

November$15,$2014

7

The surprising connection between sleep and study I

t’s 3 a.m. when senior Melissa Vazquez jerks awake. Her laptop is open, showing a

By Emma Williams not

a.m.

“I% had% to% (leave% school)% early% that% day% because%I%was%so%tired.%But%it%all%paid%off!”

—Caroline,Mehta,,senior

“I% used% to% think% teachers% told% us% to% get% a% good%night’s%sleep%as%a%way%to%make%themselves%seem%more%caring.”

—Julia,Owaidat,,senior

broke out the books again.

When do students go to sleep the night before a test?

Earlier than usual (8%)

Later than usual (35%)

Same time as usual (57%)

6

Centerpoint

The$Octagon$

November$15,$2014

7

The surprising connection between sleep and study I

t’s 3 a.m. when senior Melissa Vazquez jerks awake. Her laptop is open, showing a

By Emma Williams not

a.m.

“I% had% to% (leave% school)% early% that% day% because%I%was%so%tired.%But%it%all%paid%off!”

—Caroline,Mehta,,senior

“I% used% to% think% teachers% told% us% to% get% a% good%night’s%sleep%as%a%way%to%make%themselves%seem%more%caring.”

—Julia,Owaidat,,senior

broke out the books again.

When do students go to sleep the night before a test?

Earlier than usual (8%)

Later than usual (35%)

Same time as usual (57%)

8 Editorial

The Octagon

November 25, 2014

“One Day” by Jacob Sands

My Angle

By Grant Miner

Why I don’t think you deserve two dollars for pouring a cup of coffee

EDITORIAL: Settling for environmental adequacy will leave us in last place forever Environmentalism aside, the new building is quite impressive.

The middle school no longer has to hold science classes in those dinky rooms that, despite the linoleum floors and chemical-resistant tables, aren’t real labs.

The building looks good, if a bit imposing, and gives the middle school the facelift it’s needed for years.

And, to be fair, the thing is pretty environmentally friendly. The light fixtures and air conditioning units consume less energy, the arcade shields the classrooms from the sun and every room has a thermostat, ensuring that no teacher will need to leave their door open with the air conditioning on just to ensure the comfort of their neighbor.

Yep, everything’s up to code.

But that’s just it. Everything done in the new science building to shrink our carbon footprint merely satisfies the code and doesn’t do much more beyond that.

One of our editors once said that when he was first enrolled at SCDS, his parents’ friends knew Country Day only as that “crunchy granola alternative school.”

While that title may be more aptly applied to Waldorf, we still would like to think we’re progressive.

At least a little more progressive than the Catholic behemoths, Jesuit, Christian Brothers and St. Francis.

But if you look at our environmental track record, we lag far behind. Jesuit won a Sacramento County

the 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

Sustainable Building award in 2012, Christian Brothers has several buildings with power usage control systems, and St. Francis has solar panels that provide nearly a third of their energy.

Of course, those three have much more money flowing through their respective coffers. Because of their larger budgets, they can erect new buildings, which is what’s needed to make any really significant environmental improvement.

Last year, when the high school was renovated, the cost of putting any meaningful work into the buildings to make them more environmentally friendly would have been disproportionate to the buildings’ value.

However, this new building was our chance to put our best foot forward, so to speak.

The costs for the environmental improvements of a completely energy-neutral building are at most 10 percent more than the original cost. (See story, p. 1) And both SMUD and PG&E pay architects to create environmentally friendly designs for their buildings.

In skipping that step, we lost what could have been a shining example of our dedication to both environmental sustainability and the teaching of the sciences.

But the best argument is that we’d be back on top of our peers when it comes to “crunchiness.”

After all, if we can’t do it for the environment, we can at least do it to best Jesuit.

Octagon Madison Judd Manson Tung Elena Lipman

Reporters

Adam Dean Zane Jakobs Ulises Barajas Lily Brown Annya Dahmani Katia Dahmani Sonja Hansen

Graphic Artists Jake Sands Anna Wiley

Photographers Adam Ketchum Jake Sands Kevin Huang Elena Lipman

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, Calif. 95864. Phone: (916) 481-8811, ext. 347.

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

Orchids

&

Onions

It is 2 p.m. on a Saturday in an East Sac coffeehouse.

I, nearly two hours distant from my last cup of coffee, break from my studying friends for a refill.

As I approach the counter, I get the nagging feeling that something is off. Then it hits me. The guy who was at the register before is on break. Normally, having someone else ring me up wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t for one thing: the other guy saw me tip.

He smiles at me, and I order.

“One medium iced coffee, please.”

He turns around and reaches for a pitcher as I break into a cold sweat.

“That’ll be $2.10.”

I hand him my debit card to scan into the iPad register that nearly every independent coffeehouse has decided to install. Oh, how I despise those registers.

Now for the part I’ve been dreading since the whole exchange began: tipping.

With the proliferation of the iPad as a point-of-sale device (particularly with the use of the Square mobile card reader), tipping is no longer something that you do in a jar with your spare change. Now it is the default.

The numbers that appear on the screen aren’t even modest sums. At Tupelo, the three options are $1, $1.50 and $2. (Keep in mind that those prices range from half to almost the entire price of my drink.)

Anything else, and you’re either required to choose the “custom tip” option or simply choose “no tip,” which makes me feel and look like a complete cheapskate.

Of course, no one’s ever said anything to me about deciding not to tip, but I can feel the icy, judging stares from tbe barista as I return to my table with my iced coffee.

I’m an American, a nationality known for our strong opinions. We hate communism, we believe in the right of the average citizen to own a high-powered assault rifles and, most importantly, we believe in the right to pay 70 percent of our waiter’s wages.

My policy is to put everything smaller than a quarter into the tip jar. It’s not big, but it’s certainly equivalent to the effort of grabbing a pitcher full of iced coffee and pouring it into a glass.

At the risk of sounding like a whiner, I like to feel like tipping is something extra that I do for someone, not a default option that I feel guilty for avoiding.

And please, coffeehouses, make those amounts smaller. I’m happy to pay double once in exchange for bumming around your place for four hours, but no more than that.

The iPad makes its malevolent swivel.

Long have I been enslaved under its rule. Not today, I decide. I select “no tip” for the first time in ages.

“Thank you. Have a nice day!”

He knows.

O

rchids to. . . Brooke Wells, head of high school, for organizing the Thanksgiving lunch.

The event creates a sense of community and gets students ready for the holiday.

O

nions to. . . the rear library door being locked when it rains. Although it prevents mud from being tracked in, students need that door to escape the weather!

O

rchids to. . .the Parents’ Association for running the annual Thanksgiving turkey drive for the Food Bank and the pizza fundraiser for the Dyer-Kelly school.

nions to. . . the middle-school construction for blocking the way to the MP room. It’s an inconvenient detour around the back side of the art room.

O

November 25, 2014

The Octagon

Opinion

9

Klutz vs. klutzier: a match of incompetence Seniors turn bowling date nights into competition

By Grant Miner

We laid out the specifics of our showdown. The time: high noon. The place: Country Club Lanes.

The first stop was the Dollar Tree next door. Anna had forgotten socks, and the situation demanded that ll right. Here we go. A vs. G. Monday Night she have the proper gear. We decided on penBowling Showdown Extravaganza: Rematch.” guin Christmas socks.

“It’s an R.” As we entered the alley, we passed several “A what?” tables piled high with cakes, soda bottles and “An R. It says A vs. R. Look up there.”

I looked up at the screen above our lane. There it was: an presents. Yes, Country Club Lanes still remains party central.

“R.” I checked the scoreboard.

It’s a testament to the bowling alley’s reputation as “Rant vs. Anna.” the go-to party location for a parent in a bind that the bar I sighed. Apparently, telling the guy “Grant with an ‘R-AN-T’” wasn’t as clear an instruction as I’d thought. Great—a and pool hall are perennially dead while the laser tag arena humiliating beginning to what was most likely going to be a and arcades are always full of children hopped up on root beer humiliating end to a three-day period of confronting my own and chocolate cake.

Country Club Lanes also charges by time spent, and the guy inability to roll a ball in a straight line.

The best thing about bowling in a group of two is that up front told me it would be $16 for half an hour, or about the you’re bound to get at least a little better. People underesti- same as Capitol Bowl.

By the end of our first game, I was already trailing by 20 mate the number of games you can get in when you’re not either a) a group of kids only there for the promise of free pizza points. The careful technique I had learned from a “How to Bowl” article on the Internet was no match for and birthday cake or b) half a dozen Anna’s strangely effective method of chucking 30-somethings that came as an excuse “And, yes, I did lose to my the ball down the lane and crossing her finto drink pitchers of cheap beer. gers.

Of course, there are always the mother.”

The final score was 80-54, Anna. league players, but even I know to —Grant Miner, senior Deciding that I wanted to win something avoid league nights, not only because for once, I challenged Anna to a game of air it’s impossible to get a lane, but also because being the only gutter ball in a sea of strikes is a hockey before we left.

5-1, Anna. soul-crushing experience I’m not ready for.

This was getting bad. I’m not supposed to be My bowling safari began on a Friday. My mother had been kicked out of an 8 p.m. showing of “Interstellar” by my little this bad at everything. I needed to get my life brother (“No, Mom. You can’t be in the same theater as us!”), in control.

There was only one solution: a rematch. and I needed a ride. You could say we were united by mutual The only other convenient place in the area interest.

So there we were at Capitol Bowl (900 W Capitol Ave.). It’s was Land Park Lanes (5850 Freeport Blvd.) right across the river in West Sac, right in the middle of that part of across from the Executive Airport.

The alley’s exterior is less than inviting. The parking lot town where every building is either a modern development or was empty save for two homeless men rooting through the a seedy motel that offers hourly rates.

Thankfully, Capitol Bowl is one of the former (although trash cans. And the windows are tinted, so it’s impossible to it’s sandwiched between two of the latter). The building has see whether it’s open or not. I’d been there many times, but that retro square look, with old-timey neon signs and a big I didn’t remember it looking that bad.

I opened the doors to similar bowling pin on the front.

My only real issue with Capitol Bowl is that there isn’t desolation. Apparently, no one else thought that 4 p.m. on a Monday much space to bowl.

The building is long and narrow, so there’s room for only was a good time to bowl.

With 50 lanes, Land Park Lanes is about 20 lanes, something that resulted in a 45-minute wait time for me and my mother. In its defense, though, Capitol similar to Country Club. Without the arcades and laser tag arena, though, there Bowl was packed. are certainly fewer kids running Fortunately, the food provided an adequate distraction. around.

The pizza was cheap ($17.60 for a large veggie), or at least relNo one else was there, so they stuck us atively so, considering the prices many bowling alleys charge in lane 46 so that they could start up their captive audiences. the waxing machine at the other The price for Friday night “glow bowling”—blacklights end. warrant extra cost, I guess—was $35 an hour. Shoes included.

It sounds pretty steep, but we two managed to get through four games, which averages out to about $4.30 per game, each.

My performance was…less than perfect: 160 points in four games. I really do have a knack for messing things up. One frame, my ball would curve to the left; another, to the right. No matter where I positioned myself, I still found new and exciting ways to miss the pins.

And, yes, I did lose to my mother.

Concluding that my mom was too tough an opponent, I decided to give senior Anna Wiley, a self-professed “awful bowler,” a try.

Opinion Editor

“A

Seniors Anna Wiley and Grant Miner bowl at Country Club Lanes. Miner lost the game, 54-80. (Photo by Adam Ketchum)

While the price was good at $8.19 per two-hour session per person (although it does get a little steeper on the weekends at $17.29 on a Saturday), my favorite thing about the alley was its seedy charm.

The shoes were laced instead of the new Velcro and the lanes took a little longer to set up than usual, but the atmosphere was worth it. I felt like at any point I would look over at the lane beside us and see the Dude shooting the breeze with Walter.

Initially, it seemed like things were going my way. Sure, I’d lost the first game, but only by one point. That meant that Anna and I were neck and neck.

And so I bowled. I bowled like I had never bowled before. Balls were thrown. Pins were knocked over.

86-66, Grant.

Finally I had something I could gloat about.

The victory party lasted for all of 10 seconds. Then Anna reminded me that, with Saturday’s game, I was still six points behind.

We went for Indian (her choice) to celebrate her victory.

10 Remainder

Charities: Junior just starting on non-profit path (Continued from page 2) “Things are changing in India. If you have a lack of knowledge in English, you will lose in a head-to-head competition. But I have so many skills in cognitive exchange now, thanks to the program.”

Jag Lally, New Hope Junior Jag Lally’s charity also is centered in India, but is still in a nascent stage.

When Lally went to India last summer he was shocked by the appalling inequality.

“No one does anything about it,” Lally said.

“It’s like Beverly Hills and Compton right next to each other, but the idea of charity just isn’t there.”

So Lally founded New Hope Incorporated, a nonprofit organization whose aim is to give food to the homeless, correct vision with aid from doctors, provide basic medical needs and give clean sources of water to the disadvantaged in India.

After months of fundraising, Lally has collected over $8,000 from family and friends. Lally also set up a booth at the annual Yuba City Sikh Parade, and New Hope’s website will launch next month.

Lally plans to go to the city of Ludhiana in Punjab state next summer to begin dispersing the money and will start a Country Day club after he speaks at a Leadership Lunch on Dec. 3.

Although this will be Lally’s first charity project, he isn’t the first in his family to have one.

Lally’s family in India has run charities in the past, including taking charge of upkeep for the Golden Temple, a famous Sikh cultural site, in Amritsar, Punjab. In addition, Lally’s family has built two hospitals in Amritsar and Chandigarh, Punjab.

“I am carrying the torch, so to speak,” Lally said.

November 25, 2014

The Octagon

Play: Portraying wacky characters proves challenging (Continued from page 1) Hernried said he is having the most trouble switching between characters within the play.

He plays Michael Merchant, a failed American actor who pretends to be a debonair Brit named Marshall in hopes of marrying a very rich heiress.

“It’s more than just a lot of memorization for the monologues because I always have to switch back and forth between accents from Marshall to Michael,” he said.

Sophomore Austin Talamantes has also had a difficult time mastering his

character Leonard’s voice.

“I’m trying to make him sound really weird, but with the voice I’m doing it’s hard to enunciate,” Talamantes said.

Leonard—a paranoid practicing psychiatrist who’s been driven insane by listening to his patients—thinks there’s a pattern with the lights going on and off in his neighbors’ apartments.

“When he gets nervous about stuff, he draws into himself and starts scratching his arm,” Talamantes said.

But while Talamantes says he is intentionally portraying Leonard as weird, he wants to avoid associating the character with a mental illness.

“I’m not trying to offend people, so I need to do some research on paranoia and look to see if his mannerisms could be considered quirks and not symptoms,” he said.

In “Seven Stories” not only are the characters unique, the set is as well.

The entirety of the play is limited to a 3-foot high, “seventh-story” ledge with a facade of seven functional windows.

To create the set, Frishman is employing a contractor found through an advertisement in the Sacramento Regional Theater Association magazine.

Frishman and the actors have a little more than two weeks to transform the modest MP room stage into a sevenstory building.

And by the debut, on Thursday, Dec. 11, Frishman will be sitting in the front row, laughing at the characters he helped create.

Hunting: Students find peace in outdoor blinds (Continued from page 2) “My hands get really cold, especially when I’m clenching a metal gun,” Van Vleck said. “I don’t wear a glove on my shooting hand.”

“The little guys fly through the sky pretty fast,” LaComb said.

The ducks usually go about 20 miles per hour.

Depending on how successful the hunt is going on a given day, all three say that sitting in the blind for hours can get dull.

“One time my grandpa and I reached the limit, (which is 14), in two hours,” Van Vleck said. “Other times we will get three in three hours. It can get really boring really fast.”

Brownridge sometimes takes a nap in the blind on a slow day.

For Brownridge and LaComb, the time in the blind also serves as a break in their busy lives and a chance to catch up with family. The blind can be an escape from the city and school drama, Brownridge said.

She talks to her father about her classes, and sometimes he

will help her study.

“Or we will sit there and enjoy the peacefulness of being in our own little world, away from the city sounds,” Brownridge said.

Now it’s around 10 a.m., and the air is no longer thick with fog. The time for duck hunting has passed.

Up in Yuba City, Van Vleck and his grandfather take the dead ducks back to where the hunting and social club is. They hang up the ducks, jotting down the breed and his hunting license number.

After grabbing a bite to eat, they head home.

Meanwhile, at her property in Williams, Brownridge settles down to eat her father’s special dish after a day of hunting— duck leg cooked with garlic. As her dad cooks, she helps make the sauce and seasoning, a family secret.

Back at Gunner’s Field, LaComb and his father are wrapping up as well. After cleaning the ducks, LaComb and his father drop them off at a “mini butcher shop” to be plucked and cleaned. The next time they’re up there the ducks will be sealed in a vacuum pack, ready to be picked up.

Together they head back home.

November 25, 2014

The Octagon

Remainder

11

Building: Some ‘green’ features relatively inexpensive (Continued from page 1)

To achieve an energy-efficient building, there are always that is used. This means turning lights off when they are not tradeoffs between cost and design. being used and turning down the thermostats.

“Most architects do not have experience doing this,” KeeThe building does go above and beyond the basic requireTechnology can be used to automate some of these things. see said. “So they have a cookie-cutter approach to the design ments in a few ways, Rambin said.

The daylighting, the natural light that comes in from When the energy consumption of mechanical equipment, of buildings. windows, in the building should be maximized, Pande said.

“Building a high-performance building the heating/air conditioning units in the building and light If there is already natural lighting, many fixtures is calculated, those features consumed less than the is expensive if you don’t establish it as a lights can be dimmed or turned off. goal and direct your designers and con- “(Most architects) have a maximum allowed by the state energy code, Rambin said.

Sensors can be put in to determine how Repsher also notes that the arcade is on the south face, tractors to meet that goal.” cookie-cutter approach to much daylight is coming in. They will ac“If you start planning early on, you can which protects classrooms from direct sun during the sumthe design of buildings.” cordingly turn off the lights. The cost for do it at no cost,” Pande said. mer and brings in light during the winter. daylight sensors for a 5000-square-foot —Michael Keesee, retired Pande suggested architectural ideas In addition, each classroom has its own thermostat to inbuilding would be only a couple hundred crease thermal comfort and productivity of the occupants, a that should have been taken into considSMUD employee dollars, Pande said. eration during the early design stage such green building principle.

The technology required to actually This is not true in the current high-school buildings, where as which direction (north, south, east or turn the lights on and off would cost a few hundred dollars west) the building faces and how to shade windows so that there is one thermostat for every two rooms. more, but cut energy costs. they don’t get direct sunlight in summer but do get it in winBut Keesee doesn’t think those features are enough.

Not only does maximizing daylight in classrooms make it “Is (just doing what’s required by law) environmentally ter.

The price increases when the green aspect of the building more cost effective, but studies have also shown that students friendly?” Keesee said. “I don’t think so. You’re getting a D+ comes as an afterthought, he said. “Even at zero-net-energy perform better in more daylight, Pande said. building.”

Keesee pointed out that SMUD and PG&E both offer “ag- schools, which is the most energy efficient you can gressive” new construction program incentives for schools.

SMUD will provide help at the designing stage of the pro- make it, the additional cost for construction is not more cess and even pay designers to come up with better designs. than 10 percent of However, Rambin never the cost,” Pande made use of this opportunity.

“My understanding is “If you start planning early on, said.

What about solar that PG&E offers building you can do it at no cost.” panels? They tend advice, but that’s more for —Abhijeet Pande, to be expensive, esrenovations,” Rambin said.

SMUD employee pecially for schools “With a new building, the because they have energy-efficiency aspects are to directly pay for built into the design.”

Keesee said the school (and designers) may have not includ- the panels and the installaed additional green features to reduce design and construc- tion cost, Pande said.

The most cost-efficient tion costs.

However, he said owners need to pay attention to the build- way to use solar panels would be to first reduce the energy ing’s lifetime operating cost.

“Owners often pursue low first-cost strategies, ignoring or consumed in other ways then downplaying the lifetime operating costs of the building, in- use solar panels for the remaining energy used. cluding escalating utility costs,” Keesee said.

There are also fairly cheap According to Keesee, owners should set energy performance and environmental goals for their project, such as hav- additions that can be made to buildings after construcing the building exceed the state energy code.

From there the architect, owners, builders and subcontrac- tion has already begun.

The most obvious one is to tors must collaborate to achieve that standard at the lowest control the amount of energy cost.

Correction In a recent story (“Online classes offer students more options,” Oct. 28), the Octagon reported that the Board of Trustees was considering adding courses offered by Global Online Academy to the high-school curriculum. In fact, Brooke

Wells, head of high school, would be the one to make this decision. When Tucker Foehl, assistant head for strategic programs, joined the school this year, he suggested that Country Day could benefit from becoming a part of this program.

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12 Feature

The Octagon

November 25, 2014

Kuipers and Vargo leave it all on the field Usually, he’s an eighth-grade history teacher. Maybe know him as the college counselor. But armed with a of spreadsheets, a computer and 18 years of experience, transformed. Chris Kuipers is the manager of his own football team.

In the faculty league, Kreps finds that luck plays a large role.

“I’m a competitive person, but it really comes down to luck,” he said.

Brooke Wells, head of high school, a second-year fantasy player in the faculty league, agrees.

“At least for me, it seems like (winning) is only luck,” Wells said.

“I bench one guy, and he does really well one week. I put Social Media Editor him in the next, and he does really poorly.”

But Mangold doesn’t rely on luck. He has the fourth best So how has Kuipers kept his double-life secret for all this record in the league, beating fantasy veterans like Kuipers. time? “(For the draft) we joked that he was at home running algoIt’s simple: fantasy football. rithms on his computer,” Kuipers said.

Kuipers, a fantasy veteran and a Minnesota Vikings fan Mangold says that he’s been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan since since childhood, has been playing fantasy with the same childhood, and while he doesn’t have a TV, he subscribes to an friends since high school. online streaming service to catch every Steelers game. “(In the league), pride means more than anything, and it’s But on top of just knowing how the game is played, Manvery competitive,” he said. gold’s strategy is simple—like Kuipers, he reads online expert Kuipers who considers himself a “really good” player, said football columns and uses their advice. he approaches the game analytically. Not only does he look Another unlikely front runner is Hannah Frank, head of online at game and player statistics, but Kuipers also pays for accounts payable and purchasing, a second-year player who an online fantasy football strategy subscription. finished 11th last year, but now has the second best record in “I can’t tell you what it’s called because I don’t want my the league. competitors to get it!” he said.

Frank says she’s been a New York Giants fan since she was When it comes to the draft, Kuipers focuses on “positional a teenager. scarcity.”

“I grew up in a household of 49ers fans, and I chose the Essentially, for certain positions like quarterback, there are Giants to be different,” she said. a lot of good players that are available, he said.

Apart from winning, many fantasy players find that the But for positions like running game helps them stay in back, there are fewer players with old friends. “(For the draft) we joked that (Mangold) was at touch that will end up doing well. “(In my high-school Thus, it makes sense to pick home running algorithms on his computer.” league,) it kind of forces positions with fewer good play—Chris Kuipers, team manager me to send a note to my ers first, and then move on to friends,” said Kuipers, positions with more volume, such as quarterbacks. who continues to stay in touch with his early fantasy friends Kuipers manages and applies his strategy to all three of the from 18 years ago. leagues he’s in, including the SCDS faculty league, which beKreps, who began playing fantasy nearly a decade ago with gan last year. college friends, also finds the social aspect to be one of the “It was just water cooler talk, and a couple of us that are more enjoyable parts of the game. into football decided to start it,” athletic director Matt Vargo In fact, Kreps says he just reconnected with an old friend (number one in the league at press time) said. from high school because of the league.

Last year, the league was comprised of 10 faculty members Also, fantasy football allows Kreps to have something in from volleyball coach Jason Kreps to Michael Cvetich, tech- common with other co-workers, he says. nology support specialist.

“It’s cool that we have people like Jay (Holman) from mainThis year, the league is up to 12 players, having added tenance and Hannah (Frank) from the office all playing in the Tucker Foehl, assistant head for strategic programs, and same league,” he said.

Glenn Mangold, math and physics teacher.

Also, Kreps plays fantasy because it allows him to get more

Maxwell Shukuya

you pile he’s pro

involved with the game.

Since he has a lot of different players on different teams, he has a reason to watch more real games, he said.

This was Mangold’s biggest reason for joining the fantasy league. “(Before fantasy), I knew all the rules and all about the Steelers, but I didn’t know players on other teams,” he said.

In fact, Mangold made sure he didn’t draft Steelers players, so that he could learn about as many other teams as possible.

But the faculty aren’t the only ones playing fantasy.

Sophomore Adam Dean said that he plays for the trash talk—a large part of fantasy.

“Players in our league will say stuff like, ‘Might have to change your name to Dunkin’ ‘cause you have so many donuts (player that don’t yield points),” he said.

However, Wells says that in the faculty league, there isn’t much trash talk.

“We don’t have a lot of teasers in the league,” Wells said.

“I can’t imagine Mr. Mangold saying something like that.”

But no trash talk doesn’t mean the faculty aren’t competitive, Kuipers said.

“I’m going to beat Vargo, and you can quote me on that,” he said.

So what is Fantasy Football?

Draft: Players take turns picking real players from real teams (Yes, that means it’s possible to have a 49ers quarterback and a Seahawks wide receiver). The exception is the defense—instead of picking individual players, entire team defenses are picked.

Points: Each player or defensive team can score points. Points are based on how well these players or teams do in real games.

Games: Every week players face different team within the league, and the team with the most points wins.

Management: The game includes bye weeks (weeks where players don’t play) and injuries, so player management is important. And there are always options to drop, trade, or pick up free agents.

Winning: The top teams with the best record at the end of the season advance to the playoffs to determine the winner of the league.