theOctagon
Sacramento Country Day School
www.scdsoctagon.com
VOL. XXXIX, NO. 1
September 22, 2015
Despite drought, school plants three new lawns
However, SCDS water consumption has dropped 26 percent since summer 2014 By Manson Tung Editor-in-Chief
I
t’s a little past 10 p.m., when the still campus suddenly comes alive with the sound of rushing water. On the the sky, to come down as a steady mist on the parched
only to be followed by another round of watering in an adja While this scene is a common occurrence, some students say that the drenching is unnecessary and wasteful as Cali drought. middle of August, the maintenance department planted new
added the new grass.
on the temperature; in temperatures exceeding 70 degrees
Brooke Wells, head of high school, and Patricia Jacobsen, dean of student life, confer near the grass that was (Photo by Adam Ketchum)
“The new plantings don’t even come close to the amount nothing more than routine annual upkeep designed to keep the school attractive.
“We ask both residential and commercial users to use
Not all students disapprove of the new grass. stricted to two days a week during evening and early morning
said. “We have other events coming up. It’s very im portant that the campus Sophomore Atsuo Chiu
“If we wanted to make a statement, we could let (all the grass) die.” —Stephen Repsher, headmaster
sessment.
“As long as we meet the regulations, and do
senior Nathan Chan said.
The school reduced water consumption by
cycling Club, says that the school could do more. “I feel like letting the grass fade to a golden brown would
ing to records kept by the city of Sacramento
“They are trying to make the campus look nice. But I think it makes us look out of touch. “When the rest of the neighborhood is completely yellow
aged holistically. Individual users do not have to achieve the
agrees. “The locations that got the new grass were mainly small,
“Typically, new sod will die if it isn’t watered every day for
he said. “But when the drought is over, and it will be over, we would
“We have to have a few patches of grass for students to sit See Drought, page 7
‘Cavalier Café’ takes over for Goodfellas; students praise swap By Sonja Hansen
schoolers get up to four slices, middles schoolers can get three she agrees. “It is better to pay more for good food than to pay less for
utes the lunches.
See Lunch, page 7
“I hadn’t really gotten to know people in the high school and middle school, because I’m mostly involved with the lower school. I’ve
Business Manager On the most popular days, when Noodles The new lunch program, nicknamed the Cavalier Café, opened and served meals from Noodles & Company, on Sept. 1. The Cavalier Café will also distribute meals from Boudin, the rest of the year. omore Brenda Alegria, who orders every day. “The program is Alegria said that she enjoys the mac and cheese from Noo
lunch program, helps Bajet. All vendors, except for Noodles & Com pany, deliver the food. Bajet escorts workers room at around 11 a.m. and groups the meals by grades on a table. Noodles & Company’s meals are served to remind students of what they ordered. In addition to distributing meals, Bajet said
dents receive the same entree on the same weekday for a ders with the restaurants. Alegria said that she thinks the price is fair.
Alexys Bajet (right), After School Enrichment counselor, ladles out pasta from Noodles and Company to freshman Jack Christian. (Photo by Ethan Hockridge)
2Feature
The Octagon
September 22, 2015
Charity group travels to India to aid orphans, elderly By Zoë Bowlus
Top right: Senior Madison Judd pictured with an orphan from Unique Home, an orphanage for girls in Jalandhar. Bottom left: Sophomore Harkirat Lally and seniors Judd and Jag Lally visit Pingla Ghar, a disability home for disabled people, widowed women and abandoned girls. Jag Lally’s group brought medicine for the patients. Bottom right: Jag Lally holds a baby girl from the Unique Home orphanage. (Photos used by permission of Jag Lally)
Online Editor-in-Chief
P
joy and pride, the parents feel as though their new poor family, it’s a better life than
An additional goal is to emphasize the value of education by sponsoring students whose families struggle to pay for
“Their options are either
parents, senior Madison Judd and teacher Patricia Jacobsen
The next stop was Pingla Ghar, a home near Jalandhar for disabled people, wid owed women unable to support themselves and abandoned
to scope out community service possibilities in Punjab, a state
The home is run on donations, so the income is
Everyone in Punjab must pay he said, whether the school
school, is public continues education, the cost for school in
Even a small sum is a huge amount for a fam ily, as their income
There was already a stock of groceries, There’s no possibility for them to improve unless they get
for
group bought medication needed
ademically successful young girls and boys
With the support of donations from family and people who as well as commonly “The kids we’re supporting, their parents are earning The last stop was a home for blind men in Model Town,
“All their needs are being met,”
were just living life, and they were India, page 7
of the orphanage are expensive,
c i e s because each pharmacy didn’t carry the
ples, including lentils and grains as well as dry powdered milk, cereal, Upon receiving the groceries,
Judd said she Days later, the group returned to the orphanage to give the girls chocolates and hard candy and an array of toys including
their faces just light up with excitement, that was so gratify learn,” including notebooks and pencils as well as backpacks
Former soccer star takes over as assistant to head of high school By Annya Dahmani Social Media Editor
Along with soccer, Foster’s other passion is her job as the new assistant to the head of high school and the assistant to the athletic
Gabriella Foster has played soccer her en tire life: high school, club season, college and
After college she continued playing soccer
“A few people who played on the And she has worked as a substitute However, Foster said that she doesn’t keep in touch with
Foster said that the commu
Foster describes herself as “bubbly,”
yon Mavericks, was ranked number one in
would comment some thing on one of their Foster played against Kelley O’Hara, who is a
“(My favorite part about my job is) the people that I work with.” —Gabriella Foster, staff
At Biola University, she led the team in goals, total shots, shots on goal and to
However, Foster wanted to play soccer at a higher level, so during her second semes ter she transferred to University of Tampa in Gabriella Foster scores a goal at the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s quarter-finals in 2010. (Photo used by permission of Foster)
According to Foster, her greatest strengths are her organization, outgoing personality and need to Her boss, Brooke Wells,
Foster said she wanted to try out for the national team, but had some setbacks, and and she still enjoys playing the sport when Foster has previous experience in working
were ranked between one and eight in the na
“Everyone’s very friend ly and welcoming,” she
September 22, 2015
The Octagon
Top left: Junior Aidan Cunningham bear-hugs freshman Ben Miner while he drags him to jail. Top right: Senior Johann Dias tackles junior Daniel Hernried to the ground. Right: Hernried calls for a referee to address his situation. (Photos by Gracie Strumpfer)
Ancil Hoffman Roundtable
Game’s intensity at an all-time high By Marigot Fackenthal
to be quite a problem towards the end.
Opinion Editor
Q: What were some examples of cheating this year?
On Sept. 17 the Octagon sat down with representa
Cunningham: ing back from jail, somebody from the black prisoners must hold hands until they reach it wasn’t just once or twice. I don’t know if Sands: sometimes people would just randomly break out of jail.
Q: Do you think this year the game was more competitive?
Dean:
Everyone: Yeah!
of the rules beforehand. Some teachers were going by the rulebook but others weren’t, so
Jake Sands: At the end, it just got real neck and neck with the scores. Jag Lally: Last year, my team got destroyed. Completely wrecked. But this year, it was re ally close, especially towards the end of the game. I feel like it was really competitive be cause of that.
Cunningham:
Serajh Esmail: dude.
Q: Were there any particular instances where the game got excessively rough?
Cunningham: Apparently it was legal, but I’m just going to say that it was kind of gross.
Lally: situation.
Q: Last year, the rule was that if you touched someone long enough to say, “caught caught caught,” they had to willingly come with you to jail. This year, due to a new rule, prisoners were allowed freedom if they broke free from their captors. Do you think this new
Sands: Somebody on the red team got our lia launched herself towards the person and down, so another person from the red team
the game? Cunningham:
should have stopped everything for a couple seconds. Aidan Cunningham: From my point of
Sands: Cunningham: Yeah, because you’re not sup
Adam Dean: There was another instance
tackling him by the neck. While they were on
Sands: Part of the problem was that when people had ripped shirts or no shirts at all, throw them on the ground, which turned out
wrestle him all the way back to the jail. And at one point, he just fell on the ground and wouldn’t get up. The system doesn’t work if the people being chased have the ability to run away because even if you tag them, they’ll just keep running. Q: There was controversy over the timing at the end of the game. What happened? Sands: So we’ve looked at the handbook, and the rules say that there are four quar ters of about 10 minutes each. And it’s the key phrase “about” that really destroyed the black team’s chance of victory. At the end of the fourth quarter, because our hamburgers were not yet cooked, the teachers added on
News
3
4 Editorial
The Octagon
September 22, 2015
“Green Grass Blues” by Jake Sands
My Angle By Amelia Fineberg Okay, forget the commas, but some things still infuriate me
EDITORIAL: Because of the drought, now trashy grass is classy grass It’s the return of the Golden Age - and with it, the underappreciated color yellow is getting more attention than ever before. Our standards are shifting along with the hues of California’s formerly verdant lawns as more and more people “go gold.” And that’s great. We now look upon yellowed lawns - the same lawns that might have been the subjects of neighborhood scorn in the past - with approval, and label green lawns as pretentious and out-of-touch. Public parks, neighborhoods, estates and schools alike have allowed their lawns to die trendy deaths. Nobody wants to be that one property with the obnoxiously green lawns, right? Well apparently, we don’t mind. In August, the school laid down new sod in several of the decorative lawns - a bizarre decision in the midst of California’s drought. New sod must be soaked for weeks before it can be put on the regular watering cycle, making it an increasingly unpopular option among Californians looking to revamp their yards. Now, we’re not arguing that replacing our lawns with new sod is the cause of California’s drought. Nor are we saying that the school is exceeding state water restrictions - in fact, our maintenance department has done an excellent job of making sure that our school stays within the limits.
the Editors-in-Chief Madison Judd Manson Tung Zoë Bowlus
Alexa Mathisen Allison Zhang Ben Miner Chardonnay Needler Gabi Alvarado Grace Naify Jack Christian Mac Scott Mohini Rye Nicole Wolkov Quin LaComb Sahej Claire
Sonja Hansen Madison Judd
Opinion Editor Marigot Fackenthal
Sports Editor Zoë Bowlus
Copy Editor Amelia Fineberg
News Editor Manson Tung
Social Media Editor Annya Dahmani
Page Editors Adam Dean Amelia Fineberg Annya Dahmani Katia Dahmani Madison Judd Manson Tung
that a large percentage of people look at the grass and think it’s an enormous waste of water. They think that our school is ignoring the drought, that we’re being the stereotypical “rich kid school” that’s more concerned about our appearance than the environment. One may argue it’s not about what people “think,” but it absolutely is. Why else would we plant new school’s impression, we should be aware of the changing times and update our standards to what is currently smiled upon - which is pretty much everything except
Marigot Fackenthal Sonja Hansen Ulises Barajas
Reporters
Feature Editor
While nobody can deny that new grass is beautiful, in a time of drought, it portrays SCDS in a negative light. Regardless of the numbers, regardless of how in-
Octagon
Online Editor-in-Chief Business Manager
However, the reason our grass has been replaced is that the administration believes that green grass is vital to the school’s image. And we are saying that we disagree. Many students say they’re disappointed and annoyed by the new grass. Comments such as “Why would they do that - aren’t we in a drought?” and “I don’t understand why we didn’t just keep the old grass” were nearly as common as “OMG, I haven’t seen you in forev-
Graphic Artist Jake Sands Mohini Rye
Photographers Adam Ketchum Jake Sands Kevin Huang Ethan Hockridge 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 (www.scdsoctagon.com) is updated daily.
Orchids
&
Onions
O
rchids to. . . the new recycling bins from the environmental club in all the classrooms. Hopefully they’ll help the campus become a little greener.
O
nions to. . . shirtless people at Ancil Hoffman. We know you’re hyped for the game, but try to keep your clothes on. (Thanks for wearing pants, though.)
O
rchids to. . . the girls’ varsity volleyball team, the fans and the volunteer refs for supporting the sports scholarships in their Foundation Game on Sept. 2.
nions to. . . the 108-degree heat during Ancil Hoffman. Luckily no one passed out, but it was still uncomfortable waiting for the bus to pick us up and drop us off.
O
September 22, 2015
5
Review
The Octagon
quick questions about
A B C D
Sophomore Andrew Rossell
Junior Maryjane Garcia
“Unproductive”
“Humid”
“Oh, those. I hate them.”
“Unattractive but functional.”
Drake
One Direction
Junior Natalie Brown
“They’re overpriced.”
Senior Max Schmitz
Senior Vanessa Previsic
“Trill”
“Intense”
“They’re a disgrace to mankind. OG Last Supper sandals.”
“They’re gross, but I’ve heard they’re comfy.”
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
5 4 4 5 6
6Sports
The Octagon
September 22, 2015
Unexpected diagnosis shocks sophomore’s family Rare heart condition means immediate end to all strenuous athletics By Katia Dahmani Page Editor From the age of 4, sophomore Miles Edwards has been playing baseball. he played for the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, To ronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants. At the age of 11, he started to play competitive travel base ball. While playing for the Sacramento Hittmen as a pitcher, Edwards’s team won a couple championships. When he was 15, Edwards played for Walbeck Baseball Academy, a club baseball team in Sacramento. There he would have conditioning sessions, which included agility and weight training, three to four days a week Edwards pitched for his travel team and he pitched team had a winning record. “Baseball has been a part of me and my family’s life,” Edwards said.
had,” Cynthia said. ”I started to ask the doctor questions about the disease because I had never heard of it, of course I became scared” And his half sister, Lauren Taylor, ‘11, was just as upset. crying,” Steve said. “She was his biggest fan, and she couldn’t believe that Miles’s dreams of playing college baseball were crushed.” Shortly after receiving the diagnosis, Edwards and his par ents traveled to an HCM center in Minneapolis to see Barry J. Maron, the world’s leading specialist on HCM. At the center, Edwards underwent many tests to measure the severity of his disease, including a stress echocardiogram, a regular echocardiogram and a cardiac MRI. For the stress echocardiogram, Edwards ran on a treadmill while hooked up to heart monitors. The monitors measured his heart rhythm, and his blood pressure was closely watched. Doctors concluded that Edwards’s HCM is not severe, al though he won’t know his lifelong severity until he is about 19, he said. That means that Edwards doesn’t need surgery or a Steve said that both he and Cynthia went online after
when Edwards played Little League. In addition, “After learning more, we started to notice how he took his son to his practice and conditioning many people in the media, athletes includ sessions. His mother Cynthia pitched in in other ways. “Baseball has been a part of “My mom would help me with the me and my family’s life.” player at Loyola Marymount University mental side of baseball, like being more Hank Gather unknowingly had cardiomy —Miles Edwards, sophomore positive,” Edwards said. “My dad was opathy, and during a game against UC San more on the technical side of baseball.” ta Barbara the athlete collapsed and died. But Edwards’s involvement in base Other athletes who died of cardiomy opathy include Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Joe Kennedy, U.S. an abrupt end in late May due to an unexpected diagnosis of marathon runner Ryan Shay, Denver Broncos Before getting his wisdom teeth removed in May, Edwards running back Damien Nash and NHL player Sergei Zholtok. None knew they had cardiomyopathy because there are virtually no symptoms. oral surgeon noticed something odd about his heart rate. Edwards said he has received a lot of Edwards was then sent to a heart specialist. The special support from faculty. ist was fairly sure that Edwards had HCM, but checked with other doctors to be certain of this diagnosis. Finally, in late May Edwards was diagnosed with HCM. HCM is a fairly rare cardiac disorder in which the heart’s heart to correctly circulate blood throughout the body. According to his doctor, Edwards’s wall thickness is cur rently 1.8 centimeters, much thicker than the healthy hearts
concluded that the disease is a result of a genetic mutation. Edwards said that he took his diagnosis well, but his par ents and family didn’t.
story for my family. “Like how you would expect, my parents were heartbroken and extremely shocked. They knew I could no longer play the sports I love, and that was devastating for them.” Edwards’s parents said they were both shocked and con
Whited was notably supportive,” Edwards said. “She told me to contact her when I got the re sults. “Some teachers who had medical connections would re fer me to doctors.” Edwards said he will have to travel annually to Minne apolis to have his heart wall measured by Maron. Maron who wrote “A Guide to Hypertrophic Cardiomy opathy,” and is an accredited physician at the Minneap olis Heart Institute Foun dation and the director of the Hypertrophic Car diomyopathy Center. ups, HCM means that Edwards’s life Now he can’t have any sudden bursts
Girls’ Varsity Volleyball (2-1) Sept. 15
Forest Lake Christian
3-2
Sept. 9
Woodland Christian
1-3
Aug. 31
Cornerstone Christian (Foundation game)
3-0
Boys’ Soccer (4-1) Sept. 15
Forest Lake Christian
3-0
Sept. 10
Freedom Christian
7-0
Sept. 9
Sacramento Lutheran
8-0
Sept. 2
Encina Prep
4-4
Aug. 28
Delta
1-3
For official updates on the volleyball and soccer teams, visit scdsoctagon.org
Miles Edwards, age 5, on his Little League team, the Pirates. (Photo used by permission of Cynthia Edwards)
of movement or extreme exhaustion. That’s bad news for a team that depended on Edwards
“He was a leader because of how he played and how much he understood the sport,” junior catcher Emil Erickson said. could keep their lead. He was also one of the best hitters on the team And he was a guard on the varsity basketball team
So now Edwards will shift his focus to a sport he can He used to play golf every August and devote the rest of the year to baseball.
starting to get into it,” he said. Edwards plans on playing for the school’s golf team. But he said he still will support the boys’ basketball and baseball teams and wants to help baseball coaches Chris Millsback and Michael Cvetich coach. He still plans on attending the majority of the baseball and basketball games, he said. Aside from no longer participating in exhausting activities or sprinting, Miles hasn’t noticed much of a change in his life from his HCM, he said. His parents say they’re still Pitcher Miles Edrecovering emotionally, but time is wards had a 2.12 ERA in the making things better. SCDS 2014-15 season. (Photo “We are still processing in our own way by Tom Wroten) right now,” Steve said. “We know we will get through this. “Miles is doing so well with his new lifestyle, and he is helping us get through this tough time,” Steve said. “He never has asked ‘Why me?’, he is our hero.”
Sports Boosters’ Athletes of the Month Jenny Kerbs Senior Jenny Kerbs is a dedicated player who smiles at practices and games. She’s a strong vital piece of the team, especially at net.
B.J. Askew High scorer sophomore B.J. Askew has eight goals and four assists in the past four games.
Athletes of the Month are chosen by the athletic department on behalf of the Sports Boosters
September 22, 2015
The Octagon
India: Visions of poverty haunt students after trip
7
Lunch: Menu will change based on meals’ popularity
percent humidity. “You’re always sweating,” Lally said.
Bajet said that she expects that some of
tor. “They had an old one, and it was com
menu. However, Bajet said that if one meal is removed, it will always be replaced by another. Last spring, Petchauer and the management
Parts were falling out.” vice, scenes of poverty remain vivid in Lal ly’s mind.
Remainder
long partnership with Goodfellas, the former lunch program. This decision was made as a
education. (Photo by Jag Lally)
to Goodfellas: only 5 percent of high schoolers “Everyone’s just sitting on the streets. They don’t have anywhere to go.”
Lally also wants to continue sponsoring these children’s educa tions.
By Aug. 26, 122 people had sent in orders for
erty,” Lally said. at a lot of those places regularly.” Owaidat said that she decided to try the pro gram because she has tried most of the meals
to be rough,” she said.
Drought: Lush grass serves important purposes, staff argues Garden leads campus in saving water; native plants thrive in dry soil
on,” Repsher said. Holman adds that while the maintenance department did plant new grass, they also
One area of campus leads the school in According to garden coordinator Mi chael Covey, the garden has always held water conservation as a priority. “I personally hate wasting water, wheth er we are in a drought or not,” Covey said. The garden has drip irrigation through out its planting beds. In addition, unused
amount of time some water cycles receive. Holman also said that the new grass will serve a utilitarian role in the winter. “When it does rain, all those places that would have dried out had we not planted new grass would’ve become mud, and been Repsher also isn’t in favor of another
Both Alegria and Owaidat said that they
she could always trade lunches with her broth Alegria doesn’t have this option and recom mends that the program be changed so stu the entire month. Petchauer explained that the reason he had parents order a month in advance is because it
“We did not want to have a higher cost. In restaurants to adjust to more frequent order changes.” Besides ordering more often, Owaidat and Alegria said the program should also consider
the center of the garden has been cut to lion dollars,” Repsher said.
in the ecosystem.” contain carcinogens and other dangerous chemicals. Repsher is also against the painted lawn
native plants that are drought tolerant. “Because these plants were designed for this climate, they can go a whole summer Senior Emma Brown picks ripe cherry without a drop of water,” Covey said. tomatoes in the garden. (Photo by Jenny Kerbs) restricted so heavily that we had to paint the grass, then I would just suggest that we
“If it came to the point where water was
Repsher said.
Thank you to our sponsors for keeping us in the black The Barajas Family
The Judd Family
The Bowlus Family
The Longoria Family
The Christian Family
The Mathisen Family
The Claire Family The Dahmani Family The Fackenthal Family
The Naify Family The Needler Family The Scott Family
The Fineberg-Chiu Family
The Tung Family
The Hansen Family
The Wolkov Family
The Zhang Family
that it will be accommodated soon. next month, while Owaidat said that she will wait until the end of the month to decide. According to Bajet, the vendors told her that
Meanwhile, it’s 6 a.m. and the campus is rises over the soggy baseball diamond, and the verdant greens of Country Day greet an other scorching California morning.
is then colored with an organically based dye
more meatless choices. Petchauer said that he has already received a
Order forms for October will be posted on
8 Feature
The Octagon
September 22, 2015
THE NETFLIX GENERATION On-demand video site means sharing accounts, bingeing shows
I
t’s late Friday night, and senior Jenny Kerbs is getting ready to watch the next episode of “Breaking Bad”
to think about the lives of the characters from your shows “It’s a lot easier for us to simply click a mouse than to go “It’s another form of relaxation that can take the place of Although it can be relaxing, some seniors think that Net
But after she grabs the popcorn and clicks on the episode
For instance, senior Jag Lally once told seniors Serajh Esmail and Brad
Seniors Jacob Sands and Brown are both
By Madison Judd
“Arrested
Development,”
hang out with them over the weekend because he had too much home work, when he re ally just wanted to
“Sher
“Chuck,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and
“Dang it, Sydney!”
Sands has watched “Narcos,” “Daredevil,” “Friends,” “Scrubs,” “That ’70s Show,” “Breaking Bad,” “Adventure Time,” “How I Met
72%
count, has forgotten that Kerbs had asked if she could use According to Brown, despite skipping the opening and closing credits, it still took her around
Since Michel and her mother are both watching movies, Kerbs can’t watch because only two people can access an And because Kerbs’s family thought that having both ca
Although this instance may seem extreme, it is far from un
Country Day is not alone in its
“When people are bored, they can al
“If it wasn’t there, they would turn to their Michel and Brown, on the other hand, be
In another poll distribut
lengths that Country Day’s students are willing to go to in order to stream the increasingly
have regularly used
ts
“It’s really easy to binge during the summer because you can spend hours and hours watching shows on your com puter without any distrac
has to call Michel to ask her to stop watching “Star Trek
school students said they have a
of studen
“I know that that makes me antisocial, but I really wanted to watch ‘Baby Daddy,’”
“You
can
always
your friends if you have nothing else to do,
school students out of 93 said that Even though there is more time to stream during the summer, students say that they don’t let schoolwork lessen
55%
said that they watch one to two hours
ts
of studen
“It’s so addicting,” freshman Bella “You start watching a show, and it’s al most impossible to stop because you want With 60 million subscribers as of April
born between the early 1980s and the high school isn’t as of March 2015, according to the ar ticle “By the Numbers: 50 Amazing
wasn’t really big until a few
“It’s so addicting. You start watching a show and it’s almost impossible to stop because you want to see what happens in the end.” —Bella Mathisen, freshman
since freshman year, but most people Senior Emma Brown, who said she watches four or more
it,” “Boyfriend? That’s a funny way to say and chill” are often used among the senior class, according to Mi
Although Kerbs is one of those who use these phrases, really became popular then However, last week she did break down and watched “When there is so much going on in your life, you want