Issue 2: 28 October 2014

theOctagon

Sacramento Country Day School

scdsoctagon.com

VOL. XXXVIII, NO. 2

October 28, 2014

Chalk Mural features Betty LaDuke

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.

Charlotte Nichols was editor-in-chief from 1999-2000 and played varsity volleyball.

The school was considering changing campuses, looking at one in Rancho Cordova until a plane crashed on it.

Q: What do you remember about SCDS? A: My most vivid memories were always at the start of a sports season.

There was something exciting about being on a new team and feeling the camaraderie between the classes.

Junior Elinor Hilton, squaremaster, works on the Chalk Mural, Oct. 17. “I liked that (featured artist Betty LaDuke’s)artwork is from all around the world but it all ties together with the similar people in each piece,” she said. (Photo by Adam Ketchum)

Online classes offer students more options higher level class the next year or to get credits for that class,” Chiu said.

By Madison Judd Page Editor

T

he Board of Trustees is considering adding online classes to the cur riculum at Country Day. Global

computer science during one of their free elective periods. They are using an online textbook written by professors at Princ eton University.

“Although it isn’t an online class,

most likely program to be adopted.

itive experience with our online book that I would trust an online sign, health, medicine, intercultural program,” Durante said. studies, mathematics, technology, Freshman At philosophy, politics and suo Chiu wants economics.

“Did the student learn about literary anal- to take an online According to a recent ysis, or were they asked to synthesize class to avoid spending a year students, 98 said that and interpret what they read?.” they would take an on —Lonna Bloedau, director of admissions on one subject. line course because of its Although Chiu availability. doesn’t have any classes in partic Junior Jag Lally said he ular that he would want to take online, he said would take a class during his free period. that he would take a class that wasn’t provided “It would be way more convenient than com muting to another school, and it would allow me at Country Day. to get credit for a class without having to take it “I could just take the class whenever I had free in an actual classroom,” Lally said. time, which would allow me to go straight into a

dents, including senior Jaspreet Gill.

Gill took biology through BYU Independent Study over the summer of his junior year and is prerequisite for AP biology.

By doing this, Gill was able to take an addi tional AP class during his senior year instead of Biology was easy to take online, Gill said.

“The program was interactive, and I didn’t have to drive anywhere to take the class,” he said.

“I just brought my computer with me every where I went.”

Other students who have taken online classes in the past are also interested in taking classes from GOA because of their positive experiences.

Sophomore Camille Locke took Algebra II through Apex Learning during the summer after her freshman year.

“Apex was really well done, especially since I See Online classes, page 10

Motivated juniors tackle AP computer science all on their own

By Elena Lipman Page Editor Though juniors Keaton Ochoa and Jacob Durante aren’t enrolled in an AP computer science course, they will be taking the AP exam on May 7.

Ochoa and Durante are studying on their own, since SCDS doesn’t According to Brooke Wells, head of high school, Ochoa and Durante can opt to attach the transcript of their class to their SCDS transcript

However, it won’t be considered

said.

Ochoa and Durante study during their free Elective I in history teacher Bruce Baird’s room.

But although Baird has a back ground in computers, Ochoa and Durante do not typically go to him with questions.

“There’s no one on campus who really knows Java, which is a huge part of the exam,” Durante said.

So when they need help, they turn to Durante’s father, an electri cal engineer at Intel.

Ochoa and Durante study from an online programming book ti tled “Introduction to Program ming in Java: An Interdisciplinary

chapter is available on line. They will order a phys ical copy of the book after completing ter, Durante said.

“Whenev er we have problems with Juniors Jacob Durante and Keaton Ochoa study AP something we computer science. (Photo by Elena Lipman) don’t under schedule, so we work a bit slowly. stand, we have to talk it out be tween ourselves or wait to ask my It’s hard to keep motivated.” dad,” Durante said.

“There’s no curriculum or set See Self study, page 10

Q: The school got very close to changing campuses when you were a senior. What do you remember about that?

A: At one point we got pretty close to building; the archiand (students) got to put sticky notes on them to suggest Q: Did headmaster Selden Edwards ever get mad at the Octagon?

A: Several times we published controversial articles that got people mad.

Once I wrote an article and I interviewed people and that got people mad.

Q: Can you elaborate on this article?

A: We had polled high schoolhad more than four drinks in results with a controversial headline (“62% of SCDS high schoolers ‘binge’ drink”).

The uproar was mainly around whether the data cause it was a much higher occurrence of drinking than parents or the administration expected.

We also asked whether people “had ever” drunk the story in a way that implied they did it all the time.

Regardless of whether the data was right or the article do think it raised the conversation on campus and got people talking about the subject in a way that hadn’t been done before.

—Zane Jakobs

For more of Nichols’s interview, visit scdsoctagon.com

2 Feature

The Octagon

October 28, 2014

Balancing Act

Alumna renounces veganism for healthy lifestyle ByAishwarya Nadgauda Online Editor-in-Chief

“I

am going to kill your family to show you what it is like when you kill a baby chick.”

Jordan Younger, ’09, had built her whole career around her blog, The Blonde Vegan, on which she wrote about her vegan lifestyle.

But on June 23, one post, in which she ex plained why she was no longer vegan, changed if ’ and more in listening to my body,” Younger wrote in that post. terviewed Younger for an Octagon story he wrote in January about the popularity of her Blonde Vegan blog. At the time “she seemed

recognize Younger’s eating disorder because she had never heard of it before. When she thought of eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia came to mind.

However, when Younger called her mother explaining to her that she had

Only after several months did Younger accept that the root of her problems was an eating disorder.

Younger realized she was struggling with orthorexia when talking to a friend who had a disorder as well.

Jamie Graber, who owns a raw

ing from the disorder. when she visited her daugh

“I lost my period for eight months. My body was crying out for help.”

—Jordan Younger, ’09

restaurant she would eat in.

“We would walk all over the city looking for places where she would feel com fortable eating,” her mother said. “She was

thing she liked.”

“I am a spontaneous and carefree person But when she discovered she had devel when it comes to most everything,” Younger oped an eating disorder, Younger started eat said. “It’s not who I am to be so stressed and of her followers responded angrily, some even focused on the issue of food.”

When Younger dis threatening her and her family. “.I spent so much time obsess- covered she had an And friends she had ing over food and a completely eating disorder, she had been vegan for met through the vegan healthy diet.” two years. She had blogging community re fused to speak to her.

—Younger originally turned to a Younger’s eating dis cause of a sensitive order is called orthorex ia. Her disorder made her focus on eating stomach.

“I didn’t realize I spent so much time ob sessing over food and living such a rigidly healthy lifestyle,” Younger said. is also correlated with the fear of eating any thing at all.

Aspects of other eating disorders also eating, Younger started doing cleanses and became dependent on that lifestyle. come up with orthorexia.

She also would attribute any health issues “There are anorexic tendencies involved with orthorexia because of the limited calorie to other aspects of her life.

When Younger became overly slender, los intake and the rigid meal plan,” Younger said.

“There are also components of isolation that was working out too hard.In reality, her clean like distancing yourself from people who are diet with virtually no fat, sugar, wheat, oil or worried and are noticing your strange eating cholesterol contributed to the weight loss. habits.”

“I lost my period for eight months,” Young Younger’s mom, Jane, said that she didn’t

to eat foods, such as eggs, which are high

eat them because she was so attached to the label of veganism.

limits” for Younger.

The scariest part of transitioning away from veganism for Younger was that the eat ing lifestyle was also her career. And when she situation to her bloggers, many lashed out at her.

“Hypocrite.”

“You don’t deserve to live because you are killing animals to feed yourself.”

Some sent death threats. Others demand ed their money back for anything they had bought on her site.

“I pretty much heard everything negative there was to say,” Younger said. “I couldn’t understand why anyone would question my business integrity just because of my dietary choices.”

But there were followers who supported her as well.

“Even though I was going through a ma jor struggle in my life, somehow I was able to inspire people in their lives,” Younger said.

“Parents whose children had eating disorders have been so helpful. And it continues every day.”

Supporters told her that reading her blog helped them come to terms with their own eating disorders.

“Just because you label yourself one way doesn’t mean you can’t change,” they wrote.

While Younger lost vegan brand advertisers

anced life, came out Oct. 23.

In her rare free time, Younger is hard at work on a book that will be published in Octo to Publishing Group.

T h e book will include her vegan journey and descent into orthorexia, a guide to coming out of a restrictive lifestyle, and recipes. she stays posi tive by reading supportive com ments like these from her fans: “You keep doing what’s best for you.”

publicity she got spreading her story to more

azine covered the controversy.

Younger decided not to attach herself to any dieting labels and just go with what her body needed, rebranding herself as the “Bal anced Blonde.”

day life, clothing and home décor. She also continues to work on her Blonde Vegan clothing line although it’s called Truth Bal In addition, Younger’s app, which has reci pes and tips on how to live a healthy and bal After Jordan Younger, ’09, quit being vegan, she experienced a jump in popularity, including an interview with Juju Chang on “Good Morning America.”

Orthorexia comes from the Greek orthos meaning “correct” or “right” and orexis meaning “appetite.”

The term orthorexia nervosa was coined by doctor Steven Bratman in 1997.

Orthorexia is not listed in the “Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders.”

“Orthorexics get a feeling of superiority. ‘I am so much better than everyone else.’ The feeling of eating healthy is intoxicating,” Vando said.

Graphic by Anna Wiley

Psychologist Jessica Vando, ’92, specializes in adolescent eating disorders. She says that orthorexia is “similar to anorexia in terms of its ego syntonic, which means that it goes with our ego.”

Orthorexia nervosa is a proposed eating disorder that is characterized by an extreme preoccupation with avoiding unhealthy foods.

October 28, 2014

News

The Octagon

3

Race roundtable: Stereotyping not unique to Ferguson

By Emma Williams Editor-in-Chief

Serajh Esmail: Conner:

A

Q: Do you think Country Day does a good job of encouraging a diverse environment? What do you think could be improved ?

Gill: “He was just making an assumption

Gill:

that I play basketball because I’m black!”

—Colby Conner, junior

Q: Have you or your parents ever been in a situation where you felt like you were being watched extra carefully because of your race?

Jag Lally:

Lally: Jaspreet Gill:

“The TSA does a ‘random’ check literally every time I go through any airport.”

—Jaspreet Gill, senior

Colby Conner:

Lally: Conner:

Esmail: Conner: Q: Have you ever had racist jokes told about you at school?

Conner:

Conner:

Gill:

Esmail:

Colby Conner, junior

Jag Lally, junior

Jaspreet Gill, senior

Serajh Esmail, junior

Race: African American

Race: East Indian

Race: East Indian

Race: African American and Arab

Thank you to our sponsors for keeping us in the black The Judd Family

The Barajas Family

The Williams Family

The Bowlus Family

The Tung Family

The Dahmani Family

Docendo Discimus

The Nadgauda Family

School newspaper wins All-American

By Emma Williams Editor-in-Chief

Last year’s Octagon was named an

The Fineberg-Chiu Family

Kamira Patel, ’14, Connor Martin, ’14, sophomore Elena Lipman, Garrett Kaighn, ’14, seniors Micaela Bennett-Smith, Aishwarya Nadgauda and Grant Miner, and Octagon adviser Patricia Fels (front) display the awards won at April’s national journalism convention.

(Photo by Cissy Shi )

4 Sports

The Octagon

October 28, 2014

Senior Keegan Crain practices shooting before the Homecoming game against Cristo Rey, Oct . 17. The Cavs tied the match, 0-0. (Photo illustration by Elena Lipman)

Boys’ soccer, girls’ varsity volleyball keep racking up wins Freshmen step up, contribute 24 of 61 goals

success is the three freshman start

that were left out on the team last year,”

The boys’ varsity soccer team is undefeated in league, with the ex

In a suspenseful home match on

around with each other, and at the Surprisingly, many players picked

Baxter the owl brings good luck to 11-3 team

The team has scored 61 goals, 24 of which were made by fresh

tle hesitant before going up against Forest Lake, but came out strong in In fact, the varsity volleyball team has won 11 of 14 matches, los

In fact, on average, the team has Vargo attributes the high scoring

“Last year our wins weren’t as

“Playing in a large venue under the lights was amazing,” senior captain Keegan “I felt more chéd player on I felt more sig

last year who were leading scorers, as well as some - really good tions that were left out on freshmen that can put the ball the team last year.” in the net,” Var

—Skovran Cunningham, senior

Encina

scrim

excellent record is that many girls played on the 530 outdoor volley Juniors Jenny Kerbs, Aidan Gala ti, Sydney Michel, and Judd, as well as freshman Kyra Petersen, all played on the 530 team, created by

Askew and senior captain Ethan

defense was very strong and no

“Although it was a scrimmage, it showed us that we were going to be quick on my feet and improved my Vargo said the best full game was

But things took a disappointing turn during the second half when El

crushed every team they’ve faced

But he says there’s still room for

However, some players attribute the winning streak to their new lucky charm: a plastic owl modeled This owl, donated by freshmen An nya and Katia

still think we need to continually been at every game except for the one loss to “Baxter re laxes us a little

Senior setter Erin Reddy saves a ball at the Homecoming game against Millennium, Oct 17. (Photo by Adam Ketchum)

Senior setter Erin Reddy said that the team’s biggest strength is the middle hitters, while focus and determination

“It’s really exciting. The team is a good mix of players with touch and players with power.”

—Glenn Mangold, teacher

Even if Baxter the reason, coach Sarah Song and Kreps are

things, like moving to the ball, defense and passing, in practice,”

Kreps, Song and JV coach Kristi Mathisen require the JV and varsity teams to attend each other’s match “This is a way to have the girls

T h freshmen

e on

Yasmin Gupta, Peterssen and the

And JV players say that watching varsity’s matches is improving their Along with the JV players, larger

played club volleyball last year at

Members of the faculty, like physics teacher Glenn Mangold,

experience with the demands of

“It’s really exciting,” Mangold

“It’s intense, but it isn’t as intense as the other teams that I’ve been

players with touch and players with

Sports Boosters’ Athletes of the Month Junior Aidan Galati, outside hitter for the varsity volleyball team, comes to practice focused and determined to improve not only her own game, but also the team’s.

Senior Keegan Crain is a captain of varsity soccer.

He plays sweeper, the last player on defense.

Crain has scored two hat tricks and played strong defense.

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

October 28, 2014

The Octagon

Sports

5

Freshman nationally ranked in fencing division

Grueling practices, demanding coaches groom No for competition

By Zoë Bowlus Sports Editor

“R

eady?” Pause. “Fence!”

It’s Tuesday evening at sit out.

Nicholas No, freshman

“Once you start some said.

Freshman Nicholas No has been fencing since he was 7 years old. (Photo used by permission of No)

said.

“We were very happy when (Nicholas) came to the club.

He was always talented.”

—Tsvetelina Hristov, coach

ed.

Fencing,

ing.

to get used it.

Sophomore Marigot Fackenthal (left) retreats in a bout against her opponent in practice, Oct. 7. (Photo by Adam Ketchum)

6

Cente

The$Octagon$

Dealing with class-tim

I

t is long period, and you’ve made it halfway through class, but now your mind is wandering. You’re sure the teacher has to say is interesting, but you just ca to get interested.

Suddenly, a solution pops into your head. You’re alrea taking notes on your laptop, so who’ll notice if you just Chrome and browse for a while? Besides, you’re sitting back row! No teacher ever comes back there.

Yes, laptops are powerful tools. But they can also be powerful sources of distrac tion.

Now students are no longer tied down to a bank of computers in the library for such basic programs as Word and Excel.

By Grant Miner When a teacher looks over a student’s shoulder, chances are that

82

And humanities teachers aren’t oblivious to this growing problem.

“I can mostly tell when people are messing around,” English teache said. “They’ll get these random facial expressions in class, so I know the ing through images.”

So, yes, while some teachers may not know who, when and “I’m'a'co how their students are misusing their laptops, they know to'take that misuse is occurring. out'and “It’s hard to circulate in my classroom,” said history teach er Daniel Neukom, “although it is easy to spot smiling stu that.” dents. I know that Thutmose III isn’t exactly turning them on.”

While all teachers would agree that the misuse of laptops in the classroom is a bad thing, their views on how to deal with it ar united.

class assignment. Yet it’s what the students do when the teacher isn’t looking that’s becoming an increasing concern among teachers.

“I was telling my son and his friend about our 1:1 laptop program,” English teacher Jane Bauman said, “and they told me in unison: ‘If a kid is looking at his laptop in class, I guarantee you he’s not paying attention.’”

That’s because for many, if not all, “I try to run my class the way I ran my college class,” history teac students, the lulls in Baird said. “At some point you’re going to class provide the per fect opportunity to “If' one' student' gets' distracted,' get in some browsing then'the'whole'class'loses.'It'beHigh school, Baird argues, is a place t time. sponsibility and what is needed to succeed comes' really' hard' to' ignore' the' “I’ll surf the Web demic environment. or play videogames, temptation.”

But Baird said that he wouldn’t hesita although I don’t do —Kellie,Whited,,teacher away the privileges of someone who he fe much of the second ed the class or was continually damaging any more,” senior Jas own grades. preet Gill admits. “I like to go to my

use their laptops to take notes

server’s forums to check up on what’s happening with various people and fac tions.”

certainly not the norm, his habit of browsing the Web may be. the Internet,” said one junior girl. “I usually go to Pinterest for a min ute or two because the content is easy to pick up and put down.”

However, it is certainly more common in some classes than in others.

Typically, students say they’re less likely to use their laptop for purposes other than schoolwork in math classes for the simple reason that they’re rarely ever needed in class. After all, only a student who’s reached

17

approach is needed when dealing with technology.

“Teenagers don’t have a fully developed prefrontal cortex, which help make appropriate decisions,” Whited said. “It’s our job as teachers to prefrontal cortex and remind them that they need to pay attention.”

she banned her whole biology class from using laptops in c Peer pressure, she says, is a powerful motivating fact student gets distracted, then the whole class loses. It beco hard to ignore the temptation.”

Bauman espouses a similar philosophy. Ac

dents don’t get distracted is to never give opportunity.

“I’m a control freak,” Bauman said, s they’re going to take notes, I give the out and make them take notes on tha like they’re not using their laptops

use their laptops to shop online

erpoint

October$28,$2014

me pastimes

h the that what an’t seem

7

The ethics of thievery it that you can’t skip.

“The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.”

But does anyone take this warning seriously?

for certain entertainment industries.

So here are the facts: higher rates of piracy correlate with lower demand for CDs and other consumer me of dollars per year in the music industry due to piracy.

6

ady open up g in the

use their laptops to play video games

numbers are higher for juniors and seniors, at 61 per But there’s a positive side to piracy too. Some argue posure: people who pirate music don’t have to buy it to listen to it and are more likely to try new songs or artists without already knowing they like them.

sales. Contracts vary, but on iTunes, for instance, art that a track costs.

As one senior commented in an anonymous poll,

“People'in'charge'of'music'do'a'lot'of'things' that'are'unfair,'and'this'sort'of'balances'it.”

—A,senior

down. I’m always circulating.”

Despite the widespread misuse of lap

er Ron Bell ey’re scroll

claim to not have a problem with their students.

Neukom said few of his students used laptops in his freshman Ancient History course despite its reliance on written notes.

ontrol'freak.'If'they’re'going' e'notes,'I'give'them'a'handd'make'them'take'notes'on' —Jane,Bauman,,teacher

re far from

cher Bruce o learn that

to learn re d in an aca

ate to take elt distract g his or her

ps them to act as that

class. tor. “If one omes really

ccording to

e them the

smiling. “If em a hand at. If I feel right, my

tops. They just felt more comfortable using paper and pen.” dents diagrams and maps to copy as one reason for their lim ited technology use.

On the other hand, history teacher Sue Nellis has been us ing the computer in her new freshman Comparative World

group research and powerpoint presentations.

According to Nellis, she has had few problems with freshmen getting distracted in class. okay,” Nellis said. “I think part of what we want to do is teach students to learn how to stay focused.”

That’s not to say that Nellis lets her students run wild. She enforces a strict aren’t taking notes or working on an activity.

You look up from the funny pictures of cats on the browser page. The clock reads 12:03, and the teacher is winding down his lecture. Just like that, the class is over.

Who knew that in addition to taking notes, your laptop can also be a time machine?

48

“People in charge of music do a lot of things that are unfair, and this sort of balances it.”

Of course, if you pirate the tracks, the artist gets no money. But at least it isn’t going to the big record labels, right?

legally,” a junior said.

“Corporations are greedy,” a sophomore said.

Another reason people pirate is for the conve nience. As one senior put it, “I know it’s wrong, but ly easier than buying it.”

not on either of those, the other options are to wait

incredibly easy.”

“If a movie’s out, and I don’t want to go to the the ater, I can just download it,” another junior said.

A sophomore agreed: “If a producer makes no rea

For the unenlightened, piracy is easy: hop on a site

However, piracy is also preventable, at least to an extent. According to Tom Wroten, director of tech

use their laptops to do homework for other subjects

“It is up to the students to make the right choice

One example of this is the gaming client Steam, which is an application used to buy and download games and keep the game collection all in one place.

On Steam, a wide variety of games are available for instant purchase at the click of a mouse. With the convenience both vanish.

can sit at a computer and spend much less.

The senior mentioned above uses Steam to game,

Statistics based on poll results from 93 high schoolers; students could check more than one answer.

“I can count on my hands the number of times I’ve pirated games, and it was mostly to try them out,” said the senior. “At one point I pirated Deus Ex: Human Revolution to try it out because I wasn’t willing to “But when it went on sale on Steam, I bought it for

8 Editorial

October 28, 2014

The Octagon

“Country Day for Dummies” by Jake Sands

My Angle

By Grant Miner

The Hunger (for) Games: Senior year isn’t a cakewalk; it’s a cakerun Out of all the advice that I was given by the class of ‘14, the only thing they could all agree on was that senior year was much easier than junior year.

I don’t know when everything will suddenly shift to easy mode, but as of right now I’m feeling a bit misled.

With college app deadlines bearing down on us, AP classes piling on the homework and extracurriculars claiming a big chunk of the day, we seniors have little time to enjoy ourselves outside of school.

What this doesn’t leave time for, however, is video

EDITORIAL: Lack of computer science classes will be a disadvantage in college, beyond Being able to code and program has become indispensable in many careers and very useful in others.

There was a time when having computer science knowledge in high school distinguished an individual.

Now, it’s becoming common knowledge everywhere, it seems, except Country Day. St. Francis High School, Jesuit High School and Rio Americano High School all offer computer science classes.

In fact, St. Francis offers Computer Graphics, Web Design, Introduction to Computer Science, AP Computer Science and a liliPad Technology Internship.

While Country Day prides itself on offering students the academic support they need to be well prepared for college, it’s obviously a step behind without a highschool class in computer science.

In past years, computer science classes were taught at Country Day, but not since 2008.

It’s not that students aren’t interested.

In a recent Octagon poll, 52 percent of 114 polled students said they would be interested in a computer science class.

This clear interest in computer science should be supported by the school.

Many colleges assume that students coming into their engineering programs have prior knowledge of computer science.

Thus, SCDS students entering such a program are at

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

school year. As work piles up, the trips into the base

At Santa Clara University, engineering students generally go straight into more advanced courses.

However, David Myers, ‘14, a freshman engineering student at Santa Clara, has to take beginner courses with students who aren’t really interested in engineering because he never had the chance to study computer science before college.

“I’m stuck at an introductory level, rather than with a class of other computer-passionate people,” Myers said.

In The Washington Post (“High school students are all about computers but get little instruction in computer science,” Jan. 23), Marie desJardins, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland, argued that computer science skills are now as important as algebra.

And learning programming and coding is not just applicable to students who want to program.

Whether students want to work in graphic design, ics, they need to know computer science to be suc“Everybody in the country should learn how to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think,” Steve Jobs said.

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.

It has still been a month since I last descended into the nerd cave. My games are untouched, and the divot in my desk chair that I thought was permanent has now almost disappeared.

What a change from the summer, when I would play for countless hours on end, breaking only to bike to the gym to combat the atrophy that 14 hours of

Orchids

&

Onions

few and far between.

This phenomenon is due to a special procrastina tion technique that only a master avoider of work can handle: the ability to procrastinate from procrastina tion.

In the 45 minutes that I have in between work and sleep, there’s just enough time for a game or two, but it would require me to walk down not one, but two to play.

No, I’d better just stay in bed, although even then I’m faced with some sizable obstacles.

If, through some unimaginable force of will, I can still be confronted by the Herculean task of choosing what I want to watch.

is ruined.

Ultimately, it’s much easier to just stay in bed and all my feeds will contain nothing but pictures of the 10 pages of Reddit, I still come back like a crackhead My life is an endless slog of hardships and misery.

O

rchids to. . . freshman teachers Sue Nellis and Glenn Mangold for planning the Soviet Union seminar during the PSATs. The quiet campus made it easier to concentrate.

O

nions to. . . the slow Wi-Fi on the high-school campus.

It’s difficult to do work when the connection cuts out every few seconds or doesn’t work entirely.

O

rchids to. . . college counselor Jane Bauman for awarding bigger candy bars to those who correctly answer Freshman Focus questions. It focuses the restless crowd.

nions to. . . the construction workers for tarring during Homecoming.

Homecoming is a day when we want to show off our school and impress our guests.

O

October 28, 2014

Opinion

The Octagon

Sweet Teeth:

9

When calories aren’t an issue, try these decadent desserts!

Rick’s Dessert Diner

Freshmen Esme Bruce-Romo and Brenda Alegria eat Death by Chocolate Cake at Rick’s Dessert Diner. (Photo by Elena Lipman)

and cheesecake.

“Doughnuts are made in the back, but the smell is so sweet that I checked my mouth for cavities.”

—Sonja Hansen, freshman

“I stared at the cake, knowing I had to eat it, while all I was really thinking about was the sad little kid in ‘Matilda’ who is forced to eat chocolate cake by Miss Trunchbull.”

—Lily Brown, freshman

the cake, and the

Rick’s

Dessert

Diner

is

“The Parlor does not have any information about the ice cream puffs’ calories.”

—Hansen

Cleary’s

sert.

10 Remainder

Self study: Durante wants to be engineer Ochoa has done programming in the past, as he was interested in how com puters worked.

Although he is not planning to major in computer science, Ochoa thought the course would be the perfect opportunity to improve his programming skills.

Durante, however, is planning to ma jor in computer science or computer en gineering.

“I’ve always been around computers, ever since I was young,” Durante said.

“I really want to go into a career where I build computers or program them.”

SCDS has had an AP computer science course in the past, but it hasn’t been of Wells is considering the addition of the course to the school once there is a suitable teacher and enough student in terest.

The Octagon

October 28, 2014

Fencing: Students cross swords around the world talent, discipline, sportsmanship and ability to manipulate the opponent.

No likes the independence of fencing, or what Tsvetelina calls a game of “physical chess.”

Now fencing has evolved into a part of his life.

“I can’t imagine not doing it,” he said.

tice. In the past month, he’s traveled to Po land, Hungary and Portland, Oregon. He at tends over 20 local, national and international competitions a year. and made huge improvements, according to Tsvetelina.

“He’s very hard working,” she said. “He keeps trying and trying. Usually, those are the kids that succeed.”

No’s mother said her son has become more disciplined in everything thanks to fencing, sometimes called a gentleman’s sport.

“The sport is really interesting,” she said. “It looks simple, but there are so many rules. There’s so much etiquette involved.”

For example, a fencer must salute the referees, then the opponent and then the referees again.

Mrs. No said she thinks the pres sure on No is a lot for his age.

However, she says she and her hus band realize that a lot of the pressure comes from No himself.

No has already gotten a taste of world championships by represent ing the United States at World Cups.

Sophomore Marigot Fackenthal tries to score a point during practice. (Photo by Adam Ketchum)

the Poland International Cup in Ko nin by plane, train and bus. To qual ify, he had to be nationally ranked in the top 20 of his age group.

He recently competed in competitions in Hungary and Portland, Oregon.

Mrs. No traveled to both World Cups.

When she’s watching her son fence, “you can almost see my heart beating,” she said.

“Boom, boom. You feel it.”

Representing his country and wearing USA

titions but certainly not his last. three at a World Cup, Tsvetelina said.

Online classes: Apex teachers very available, interactive, sophomore says could set my own pace,” Locke said.

Since Apex is geared for homeschooled children, its teach ers are very interactive and available, according to Locke. “I had access to a teacher at any time,” she said.

Although students are requesting the addition of GOA, would its courses make the school more attractive?

Lonna Bloedau, director of admissions, doesn’t think so.

Bloedau said that she sometimes looks at distance learning skeptically, especially concerning the rigor and depth of such

programs.

When applications arrive with records of online classes, they also come with letter grades. However, according to Bloedau, those letter grades never indicate the level of critical thinking skills that are required at Country Day. “Those types of grades leave us wondering what was done to earn that grade,” Bloedau said. “Was it a mere comprehen sion test? Did the student learn about literary analysis, or were they asked to synthesize and interpret what they read?

This makes it hard to gauge value.”

Because of this uncertainty, any classes taken outside of

Country Day, including online classes, are only attached to in students’ overall GPAs. Also, when new classes are added to the curriculum, the school must get the classes approved by the University of Cal ifornia, according to college counselor Jane Bauman.

Great Ideas that Changed History last year, he had to have it

sis, it also approves certain online schools.

October 28, 2014

Community

The Octagon

11

College-crazed juniors up the competition For the class of ’16, A- becomes the new F

By Maxwell Shukuya

test preparation the summer before his junior year.

“I’m stressed,” he said. “Basically, other people’s worries make

Social Media Editor

A

t junior Zoë Bowlus’s September birthday party, a group of her close friends surround an outdoor table on a cool summer night. But her friends aren’t discussing Taylor Swift’s new hit or the latest episode of “American Horror Story.”

Instead their conversation is a parent’s dream. It’s almost too good to be true. They’re talking about college.

“Our class is the craziest,” junior Emma Belliveau said.

“We all think we have to go to Harvard, and all of us want

students, the class of ’16 may have the most.

According to Belliveau, the competitiveness all began in seventh grade.

“Once a lot of my classmates went to Algebra I instead of

said.

“Now we have a large amount of competitive people.”

Belliveau’s mother, Philippa, agrees.

“In seventh grade, math got more com petitive, and students were also taking slight ly higher languages,” she said.

College counselor Jane Bauman, explained that the ability to take geometry in middle school allows students to be on track for AP Calculus BC by senior year. in world languages can easily be placed into more ad vanced classes.

Thus, she says, there’s been an upward trend in placement in AP math classes and AP world language classes.

Of the 33 juniors, 19 are in AP math classes, and eight are in AP world languages. there.

To get ahead, junior Manson Tung began his college prep class. kept asking basic questions, but then they realized I hadn’t taken geometry yet,” he said.

Tung says that this type of early preparation is typical of the class of 2016.

“A lot of people in our class decided what they wanted to do in seventh grade, academically demolishing everything in their path,” he said.

Besides lots of motivated students, what ingredients go into a competitive class?

It boils down to four things: SAT preparation, col lege counseling, a heavy course load and extracurric ulars. competitive 2016 students.

Not only is she taking three APs, but she also has an independent college counselor, volunteers at Loaves and Fishes and the Ronald McDonald House, is on the SCDS

On top of all that, she plans to apply to Notre Dame’s leadership conference and Tellu ride’s summer leadership program.

Junior Jag Lally’s load is similar, with a current in ternship at the Yuba City Pulmonary Health Clinic, a

“People may be self motivated, but no one wants anyone to fail.“ —Akilan Murugesan, junior

“We all think we have to go to Harvard, and all of us want high-paying jobs.“ —Emma Belliveau, junior

“Sometimes it’s like our class is in a giant hamster wheel.

It’s just work, work, work.”

—Manson Tung, junior

“Someone starts discussing what they’re doing to prepare for college applications, and it gets everyone else talking about it too,” Tung said.

After coming to Country Day in sixth grade, junior Julia Owaidat, a prospective civil engineer, noticed a pattern.

“Everyone kind of has their future planned out, and that takes a big toll in terms of how much work they’re doing right now,” she said.

For example, juniors Akilan Murugesan, Colby Conner, Serajh Esmail and Lally have all wanted to be doctors from a young age.

Along with taking four APs, Esmail has shadowed surgeons at Mercy Folsom Hospital and has volunteered at the Mind Insti tute at UC Davis, working with autistic children.

But despite large workloads, stress and competitiveness,

up seeing an increase in SAT scores,” Tung said. fail,” Murugesan said. the library.”

Although Belliveau agrees that it isn’t a cutthroat environ some at times.

“A lot of the class complains when they get a 90 percent on a test,” she said.

Murugesan explained that these students have an entirely dif

he said.

Esmail describes it as inadvertent bragging.

But not every junior is college crazy. too seriously.

“People will complain about being too stressed when they chose to take like 80 APs,” he said. enjoyment, not expressly for college. on the track team, takes photos for the Octagon and plays trom bone in concert band.

“I’m just not super stressed like all the other juniors are,” he said.

“It’s not that I don’t care about college.”

Bowlus’s philosophy is that everyone at Country Day is going to get into college, so there’s no point in stressing too much. agrees.

“Sometimes it’s like our class is in a giant hamster wheel,” Tung said.

“It’s just work, work, work.”

12 Feature

October 28, 2014

The Octagon

Cat Tales: Sophomore spends 2 years exploring Asia F rom China to Myanmar and Cambodia, sophomore Catherine “Cat” Ryan has had her share of worldwide experience.

By Elena Lipman Page Editor

. . . .

Ice sleddin g in Harbin, 2014

extended, so Ryan spent her freshman year

Cruising

the Yang tze Rive r, 2012

said.

Far East, Ryan and her family

.

laysia, the Philippines, Thai land, Cambodia, Myanmar, land. to places in Asia,” Ryan said.

Our well in Cambodia, 2013 whole area.” eled to Myanmar, Ryan was

they are American.

bodia.

less,” she said.

tralia, dney, Aus y S in r e n Din

Waterfall in the Philippin es, 2013

2014

“I don’t necessarily Ryan said.

“Most of my friends would said.

—Catherine Ryan, sophomore barrier in China.

Freedom made her more responsible, she said.

—Ryan stay in Asia.

one of the two schools she went to in China: International

Francisco Pride parade next year.”

trip.