Octagon 2017-18 Issue 3

THE

OCTAGON

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

VOL. 41 NO. 3 • Sacramento Country Day School • 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento • December 5, 2017

UPDATE ON UC EDUCATIONS

Mock Trial competes in Beach Ball Classic

BY ANNYA DAHMANI

LUNCHEON Junior Rita Chen, freshman Stephanie Ye and senior Crystal Jiang eat lunch on Nov. 30 while listening to senior Zihao Sui describe Qingdao, China. This was the Chinese Club’s first “hometown presentation.” Next up will be freshman Joanne Tsai on Thursday, Dec. 14. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE CHAO

Despite welcome changes, international students say program still needs tweaking

BY SONJA HANSEN

I

n the Octagon’s final issue of the 201617 school year, current international students and alumni opened up about their experiences with the international student program and UC Educations, the third-party agency that arranges their stays.

Many criticized UC Educations for sending students to uncaring host families and providing little service at a great expense.

Soon after publication, Kevin Huang, ’17, said that students, families and even neighbors approached him over the content of his story.

“Most of them were shocked,” Huang said. “They couldn’t believe that such a story had never been unearthed.”

Seniors Crystal Jiang and Howard Yuan also said that some alumni and current students spoke to them. For example, senior Carlos Nunez apologized to both Jiang and Yuan for what they had been through.

program and that he enjoys working with the agency’s representatives, but there are minor areas of improvement.

On May 19, Zhou, Jiang, Yuan and Yuan said that following the publication Fred Xu, ’17, met with head of high school of the stories, he felt thankful that he had Brooke Wells, director of the international student program Lonna Bloedau, local cobeen listened to.

Despite the release of the stories online, ordinator for UC Educations Russell Mcmany families did not receive their print Collough and Thomsen.

Zhou said that he organized the May 19 copies of the Octagon because they were meeting primarily because he did not aprecycled. prove of the rule that required international students to fly out of Sacramento International Airport (SMF) They couldn’t believe that such a story had when they travel to and from China. Whether or not the polnever been unearthed.” has been changed is unclear —Kevin Huang icy as many of the international students now have different ideas of what UC Educations requires when students travel. (See “What’s changed Head of school Lee Thomsen said that it was his decision to recycle the issues but with international students” on page 4 for details.) declined further comment.

Zhou said that he wanted to meet with Now, some international students say that their situation has improved, but some Country Day administrators in particular because he wanted to work with them along problems remain.

Sophomore Ted Zhou said that UC Ed- with UC Educations to get more support ucations has been very helpful to him in for international students both at school the last few months. Zhou said that at the moment, he has no big problems with the

Faculty complains parking spaces are now too small

BY SARINA RYE On a typical Tuesday morning, freshman Erin Wilson can be found in the staff parking lot struggling to get out of her mother’s Honda Odyssey with her lunch, backpack, sports gear and cello.

If the car next to her is parked close, Wilson climbs across to the other side of the car to get out because she can’t open her door without hitting the neighboring car.

She then takes her cello from the trunk and walks all the way around the parking lot because she can’t fit between two cars with her backpack and her cello.

For Wilson’s sister, seventh-grader Anna, it is a sim-

parked for this school year.

“It’s bad,” Christie said.

“We can barely open our doors to get in and out. I’ve had to use the sliding door - which we have, thank goodness ilar ordeal with her baritone and then crawl over from the saxophone. middle to get into my seat. It’s On an exceptionally bad hard.” parking day, their mother When Christie first reMarisa Christie, assistant to ceived her parking space, she the head of middle school, will said she believes drop the girls vehicle size was off at the curb, into conIt’s bad. We taken where they take sideration. can barely out all their gear “(The adminbefore she parks open our doors to istration) asked in the family’s you what size get in and out. assigned space. car you had, be—Marisa Christie cause they were This complex routine started aware that there only in August, were some even though the small spots toward the high family has had the same park- school, and the larger spots ing spot for at least five years, were over by the lower school,” according to Christie.

Christie explained.

Both Wilson and her mothHowever, this school year er could tell their spot was the situation has switched. smaller the first time they In Zone One (see graph-

CURRENT PROBLEMS page 2 >> ic on page 5) the spaces are 103.5 inches wide; in Zone Two they’re 103 inches; and in Zone Six they’re 102 inches.

But in Zones Three, Four and Five (Christie’s car is in Zone Three), they’re almost a foot smaller - only 91.5 inches.

The minimum stall width for compact and standard spaces is eight feet (91 inches) and eight-and-a-half feet (102 inches) respectively, according to the Zone Code Parking Regulations Summary for the city of Sacramento. (A special parking permit is required to have smaller spaces.)

However, unlike other lots, Country Day’s doesn’t label compact spaces.

CFO Bill Petchauer had no comment when asked about parking regulations regarding the size of spaces.

Upon learning this information about the size of

PARKING page 5 >>

On Nov. 11-12 the Mock Trial team competed in a tournament outside of Sacramento County for the first time in Country Day history.

The seven-person team was invited to the Beach Ball Classic, a tournament for California’s best teams, in Irvine and participated in four rounds over a period of two days.

Coach Rick Lewkowitz said he has been familiar with this invitational-only tournament for awhile.

“It’s one of the few scoring tournaments in the state,” he said. “So it was too good (of an opportunity) to pass up.

“It was a way of bonding too. Spending those three days together - not doing just Mock Trial, but having a little fun helped build the team camaraderie.”

SCDS placed 14th of the 22 schools, winning one round, losing two and tying one.

Scoring was done by two judges, who listened to the trial and then scored each school out of 10 points. At the end of the trial, the judges’ scores were added and the team that each judge had winning received one vote (ballot).

The team’s first trial was against Redlands High School; arguing for the defense, SCDS was defeated, 0-2.

Junior attorney Jack Christian attributed the loss to the high caliber of the Redlands team, which was the state champion in the 2014-15 season. “(Redlands) won their county championship,” Christian said. “And we have never even won (a county championship).”

Later that day SCDS faced La Jolla Country Day School and tied, 1-1, while putting on the prosecution case.

Although the team tied, Lewkowitz said that this was the team’s strongest trial of the tournament.

“It was a great team effort,” he said.

“Everyone (was) involved. (La Jolla Country Day) was a pretty good team too. They have won the San Diego County championship the last three years in a row.”

The next morning SCDS faced Citrus Valley High School, defeating them, 2-0, on defense.

MOCK TRIAL page 5 >>

TIGHT SQUEEZE Freshman Erin Wilson maneuvers past her mother Marisa Christie’s Honda Odyssey. Wilson struggles to get out every day with all her gear. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JACQUELINE CHAO

2

News • December 5, 2017

The Octagon

Current problems: Students want more transparency from UC Educations (continued from page 1)

Thomsen added that he handled these sorts of problems when he helped to manage a ski program (Rowmark Ski Academy in Salt Lake City) for 25-30 students. At the academy, Thomsen said that students brought issues to the administration’s attention.

However, Zhou said that following his meeting, communication between the students and the agency continues to be a bit concerning. The agency does not explain their policies to students and their families uniformly, according to Zhou. Therefore, it can be time-consuming to figure out the rules that apply to travel and host family affairs, as the only way to verify a policy is to ask around.

Yuan and Jiang agreed and said that because UC Educations does not lay out all of their rules at once, students find out about policies only when certain situations - such as a

and at home.

Thomsen said a few students seemed frustrated and had misconceptions that were cleared up by McCollough or Bloedau at the meeting.

(Bloedau declined to be interviewed.)

Thomsen said that problems with the speed at which UC Educations addressed host family issues were discussed. Yuan, for example, said that when he requested a new host family, he wasn’t moved or updated for a year.

Thomsen said that his takeaway was that UC Educations was in fact fulfilling its promise of solving any host family issues within a month of a complaint being issued.

“It seemed that UC Educations was living up to its responsibilities,” he said. “My feeling was that Russell and his group were doing their best.

“If you’re a student who’s struggling, every day is a bad day until the situation is resolved, so I can under(Country Day) has stand where kids might a handbook, so have felt like it might have we know what to do and taken longer.”

During the meeting, what not to do. Why according to Zhou, the not UC (Educations)?” students also said that the —Ted Zhou agency doesn’t communicate well with them or their families. For example, Xu said that he always received very little information about request to change host families or a his host family very late in the sum- transportation issue - arise. mer before he traveled to the U.S. While Zhou said that his host parHowever, Zhou said the agency now ents have a good handle on the rules communicates better with the stu- UC Educations imposes, the agency dents and that he recognizes that the itself does not have a central source communication can’t be perfect. for information on policies.

Thomsen also said that in the “My host parents are awesome,” meeting he recognized why students Zhou said. “Everything I struggle were hesitant to speak out about their with is just with UC (Educations).” problems.

To solve this issue, Zhou suggests “There seemed, at times, a fear on that the agency create an official webthe side of the students that if they site that international students, parraised a concern, they would be la- ents and host families can access. beled a complainer, and (a resolution The current UC Educations webto their complaint) would be denied,” site has information on the compahe said. ny’s mission and values, basic require-

ments for prospective host families and students, and a list of locations that the agency services. On each of the website’s pages, viewers are encouraged to email for more details.

Zhou said that if international students had a site that they could check whenever they needed verification of a policy, they would not have to waste time contacting various representatives with questions. “(Country Day) has a handbook, so we know what to do and what not to do,” Zhou said. “Why not UC (Educations)?”

Yuan said that such a source for information would be “very helpful,” and Jiang agreed.

Thomsen said that improving communication is something that the administration would be interested in facilitating in any way possible.

Zhou also proposes that UC Educations dedicate more employees to monitoring their students, as he believes that the local coordinators are overloaded with students to care for.

Yuan, however, said that he believes in quality over quantity, meaning the number of local coordinators doesn’t matter as much as whether the coordinators are helpful to students.

Another topic of interest for some students is the monthly host family fee, which is currently $1,000. Zhou said that UC Educations should invest more in the host families to ensure that international students are provided with high-quality accommodations.

“I’m 16 years old,” Zhou said. “I eat a lot, and I do a lot of (activities). My host family is really generous. I cost more than $1,000 a month.”

However, freshman Joanne Tsai, who said that she would prefer not using UC Educations and instead work directly with her host family, stated that the monthly stipend is excessive.

Yuan agreed with Tsai and said that “cheaper is better.”

While the payments don’t worry Yuan, he said that his current problems reside most with the behavior of administrators. He said that UC Educations does little to look after international students and does not genuinely care about students’ well-being.

For example, he said that though Peter Xie, director of operations at UC Educations, can speak in Chinese with students, he is not very sympathetic to their problems. (Xie said he was too busy to be interviewed by press time.)

“If I have a bad emotion or if I’m getting upset, (Xie) just starts saying I am not polite, but I actually (am) upset, and I did not say anything inap-

SPRING SWIM Sophomore Ted Zhou (far left), senior Howard Yuan (second from the left), their host parents, the host parents’ daughter and her husband pose on a dock in Lake Tahoe on May 29. PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF ZHOU

propriate,” Yuan said. “It feels like he is the boss, so I need to listen to him.”

Jiang said that she was unaware of Xie’s indifference since he usually refers queries to local coordinators.

Xu, who declined to be interviewed because he would like to move on from the agency, said he “is very disappointed about what UC (Educations) did and what they are still doing.”

Huang, now a freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, said that he still believes that more host families from Country Day would dramatically improve the international student program.

Huang, who has lived with host families both from and outside of the school, said Country Day families allowed him more opportunities to socialize and connect with the community, to become involved in school activities and to feel supported.

Huang said that some of the Country Day families who approached him after reading the stories in last year’s issue also said that they were willing to host international students.

McCollough said that local coordinators use Craigslist and referrals to obtain most of their candidates for host families, though not every applicant qualifies after going through the background check by UC Educations.

He also said that since host families sometimes change their minds about hosting or host for only a few years, local coordinators are very busy trying to find new host families.

Thomsen said he doesn’t know why the administration hasn’t publicly solicited families from Country Day’s pool. He also said the need for more

host families could be advertised in platforms like the Friday email.

Another solution that some international students said would hopefully ensure improvement to the program is making the agency immediately aware of any problems.

Jiang emphasized the importance of informing UC Educations of bad living conditions so that the agency can locate a new family quickly.

“If (an international student) doesn’t have a good host family, they can’t study well or function,” she said.

For international students that aren’t happy with their host families, Huang said that he advises these students to not “be afraid to make your voice heard, as that is what caused the struggles of international students to go unnoticed in the first place.

“If you have a good friend, ask them if they have an extra room and if they are willing to host you,” Huang said. “Lots of Country Day’s families are willing to help!”

Junior Jacqueline Chao agreed with Huang that silence is not the best option for international students.

“If you have a problem, definitely go talk to your host family,” she said.

“Sometimes your host family does things differently. It’s better to talk it out instead of keeping quiet.”

Despite the hardships that he has encountered, Yuan said that he still considers his time at Country Day “a good experience.” He also said that his current host family is worlds apart from his previous ones in terms of how nurturing they are.

“As international students, we are on our own, but we are stronger than you think,” Yuan said.

SUMMER CELEBRATION Juniors Chardonnay Needler (second from left) and Jacqueline Chao (third from left) celebrate Chao’s grandmother’s birthday over the summer in China. PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF CHAO

The Octagon

December 5, 2017 • News

Chinese freshmen say they like host families

3

International student enjoys classes, clubs

eyamas will seek another international student so that Ye can continue to have a roommate.

Ye said that she made a good choice in choosing the Tateyamas.

“Everything is awesome,” she said. “(My host family) is very nice. They help me. They cook dinner for me and provide a good environment.”

Ye added that at dinnertime, her host parents often tell her about American culture, history, food and holidays.

While Ye’s parents dropped her off in SacBY SONJA HANSEN ramento and met with the Tateyama family the first time she traveled to the States, Ye said that the next time she travels back from Chireshman Stephanie Ye, who is 15 years old na her host family will likely pick her up from and comes from Changzhou, China, a city either the Sacramento airport or San Francisnear Shangco International. hai, said that Ye said that she she decided to atwas unaware of (My host tend high school any rule preventfamily) is very in America being host families cause she wanted nice. They help from picking up to branch out and their internationme. They cook be independent al students at the dinner for me from her parents. airport. (Last year Ye contacted and provide a good Peter Xie, direcUC Educations tor of UC Educaenvironment.” after the agency tions said that host —Stephanie Ye was recommended families were not to her by a family permitted to drive friend. She said their students to that reviewing the Sacramento airport.) high schools and filling out applications was After her arrival in the U.S., Ye attended a made simple with the agency’s help. two-week orientation event on study skills and Once Ye was admitted to Country Day, she school culture taught by history teacher Damsaid that she was provided with information on any Fisher. two host families and was allowed to choose She also met with Lonna Bloedau, director of which family she wanted to stay with. Ye chose the international student program, a few times her current host family (the Tateyamas) because and talked about her social life and managing senior Crystal Jiang lives there as well. her workload. “( Jiang) can help me with my life and my Besides experiencing a favorable introduction work,” Ye said. “(Living in America) is easier if I to American life, Ye said that her time at school have someone with experience.” has been great as well.

Jiang said that after she graduates, the Tat“I’m very, very happy here,” she said. “This

F

Taiwanese native learns to live with American affection

BY SONJA HANSEN

Fifteen-year-old freshman Joanne Tsai was born in Taiwan and moved to Huizhou, China, when she was in “year one” (first grade). Tsai attended elementary and middle school two hours away in Guangzhou, China.

When it was time for Tsai to begin reviewing her options for high schools, she made it clear that she wanted to pursue an education abroad like her siblings.

“Both of my siblings went to Canada for high school and university,” she said. “I didn’t want to go to Can-

GRADUATION GATHERING Freshman Joanne Tsai (left) and her family celebrate Tsai’s brother’s graduation from the University of British Columbia in the summer. PHOTO USED

BY PERMISSION OF TSAI

DOGGY DUO Freshman Stephanie Ye (front row, left) holds one of her dogs with her family in China. PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF YE

school is awesome.”

Ye said that math teacher Patricia Jacobsen is a very good teacher and has a very interesting course, though Ye’s limited grasp of English initially made it difficult for her to get a handle on the material.

“The first time I listened to ( Jacobsen’s) class, I was sort of confused because I didn’t understand the math terms, but now I’m getting better,” she said.

Ye said that fellow international students have advised her to practice English as much as possible.

Outside of her classes, Ye said that American students are expected to join many clubs and

extracurriculars and have much more independence, which differs greatly from her home life.

“My parents used to do everything for me,” she said. “(They did laundry) for me and cooked for me and (did) all of my chores.”

Because of this emphasis on extracurriculars, Ye has joined the staff of the literary magazine, The Glass Knife, and plans on snowboarding for the ski and snowboard team, even though she has no experience.

While Ye has found her host family, school and classmates to be top-notch, she said that her favorite thing about living in America has been the lack of air pollution and the temperate weather.

ada because they had been there, so I switch host families in the future to was (deciding) between England and experience different kinds of Amerthe U.S.” ican lifestyles but worries that her A friend of Tsai’s mother recom- next host family won’t be as great as mended that she use UC Educations her current one. to apply to American schools, and Tsai said that she gets along well Tsai said that using the agency sim- with the Taylors, as they enforce very plified her application process. few rules and ask her to take on only “(Representatives of UC Educa- simple chores, like doing the dishes. tions) just throw me the forms to fill In fact, Tsai said that adjusting to in and tell me which tests I need to the habits of the couple’s two cats take, and then they handle the rest,” has posed the greatest challenges at Tsai said. times, since she did not have any pets After being accepted to Country in China. She said that the cats ofDay and being assigned a host family, ten wake her up in the middle of the Tsai said that she was worried about night when they meow.

Though Tsai’s first-time host parwhat that family would be like. Years of hearing about negative experiences ents don’t have time to do weekend from her Chinese friends who cur- activities with her since they both rently attend high schools on the East work, Tsai said her fellow students Coast, as well as her siblings, made come up with activities to keep her busy. her nervous.

Tsai said that she has found SacFor one, Tsai’s brother and sister told her that she would be served ramentans to be welcoming and aconly cold food or sandwiches at every cepting.

She said that people can dress meal.

Tsai said that she would prefer if UC Educations had assigned her Asians don’t really host family and given her their contact informahug. But here, if tion at the beginning of you meet someone, they the summer rather than might give you a hug. I a month before school begins so that she could really like that.” potentially request to —Joanne Tsai switch.

“If I saw (the host family’s) information, (and) I didn’t like the animals they however they want and be who they had, or I wasn’t happy with them, I want to be without facing judgment from others. could at least change,” she said.

Tsai said that she has also noticed Tsai said that she repeatedly asked for the contact information from UC how openly affectionate Americans Educations over the summer, but her are. “(Asians) don’t really hug,” Tsai request was fulfilled only two weeks said. “But here, if you meet someone, before her arrival in the U.S. But Tsai said that she needn’t have they might give you a hug. I really worried as the young couple that she like that.”

Furthermore, on Sept. 30, Tsai’s is staying with (the Taylors) is “very birthday, her classmates brought balgood so far.”

Tsai said that she might like to loons, cake and gifts to school. Tsai

said that even though the Taylors had taken her to a movie and out to dinner the previous night - and local UC Educations coordinator Russell McCollough had visited her house with a cake and flowers - students wanted to surprise her since her host parents were unable to celebrate on her actual birthdate.

Tsai said that a few of her new friends from school have even offered to go through UC Educations’ background check (in which a representative interviews family members and inspects the house) so that she can stay at her friends’ houses if her host parents go out of town again.

Tsai’s host parents went on vacation for a week in October, but since there wasn’t enough time to complete a background check on any of Tsai’s friends, they arranged for Tsai to stay with the family of junior Gabi Alvarado.

Because the Alvarados are hosting international student junior Jacqueline Chao, they had already been approved by UC Educations and were allowed to care for Tsai for the week.

Besides easing into her new social life with the Taylors and her classmates, Tsai said that she has greatly enjoyed Country Day’s teachers. “(English teacher Jason) Hinojosa is awesome,” she said. “He’s just so nice and so chill.”

Tsai said that she found it surprising that her math class has been so challenging as Asian students usually take to the subject easily.

However, she hypothesizes that because she took Integrated Math (a style of teaching math that covers several topics like algebra, trigonometry and geometry at once) in secondary school, she has needed to adjust to the American approach to math.

4

News • December 5, 2017

What’s changed with international students?

BY SONJA HANSEN

S

ince August, international students say that they have noticed some sizeable changes to their program, namely an increase in the number of visits made by local representatives from UC Educations, an adjustment to the transportation policy enforced by UC Educations, and modifications to the summer orientation course for international and scholarship students.

International student Kevin Huang, ’17, said that in previous years local representatives did not meet with the international students in person every month as they had agreed to in their contracts.

Now, however, junior Jacqueline Chao said that local coordinator Russell McCollough has visited her four times since June, much more frequently than last year. Additionally, during each visit, Chao said that he told her that UC Educations was going to be making some changes although he didn’t give her any details.

(McCollough did not respond to texts requesting an interview).

Sophomore Ted Zhou and seniors Crystal Jiang and Howard Yuan also said that this year they have seen representatives more often than ever before.

Freshman Joanne Tsai said that at least once a month she has met with a UC representative or Lonna Bloedau.

(Head of school Lee Thomsen said that Bloedau is now the director of the international student program, works part-time for Country Day and runs the program from home though she visits campus occasionally.)

Tsai said that head of high school Brooke Wells also often checks in with her.

Besides more frequent visitations from their local reps, students say that they have received different messages about the transportation policy. Last year, director of UC Educations Peter Xie said that the agency encourages students to fly out of Sacramento International Airport (SMF) instead of having their host families drive them to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) because flying is considered safer than driving. Instead of flying from SMF to SFO, a student could take a free van service hired

by UC Educations to the airport, he said.

Thomsen said that his understanding is that this rule was also instated because federal laws require people with certain visas to fly

out from an airport within a certain distance of their home.

For Chao, this policy is still being enforced. However, Chao is staying with junior Gabi Alvarado’s family this school year, and staying with the Alvarados entails lots of traveling.

Chao said that because Alvarado’s father is interested in photography, they watched a salmon run together in Tahoe in October. The following week, Chao and the Alvarados went to Berkeley to tour the University of California.

And on top of those excursions, Chao said that the family visited Los Angeles over Thanksgiving break to

The Octagon

see the University of Southern California and the Claremont Colleges and that they plan to tour colleges on the East Coast.

But despite all of these trips, Chao was told by McCollough that the Alvarados are still not allowed to drive her to SFO when she returns home to China because of a liability issue.

So while Chao can accompany her host family to Los Angeles or San Francisco on vacation, her host family would not be able to drop her off at the airport.

“I really wish that (UC Educations) could fix the transportation policy,” Chao said. “It’s really ridiculous that (international students) have to take a plane to SFO. If they don’t have a problem with (Alvarado’s mother Patricia Portillo) driving me to L.A., why should they have a problem with her driving me to the airport?”

Contradictory to Chao’s experience, sophomore Ted Zhou said that ADVISORY SNACK Sophomore Emma Boersma, freshmen Joanne Tsai and Stephanie Ye and sophomore Jackson Crawford eat his host father was granted permission by UC Educations to pick him bagels in history teacher Damany Fisher’s room during advisory meeting. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE CHAO up from the San Francisco Interna- TOEFL. ick Douglass?” haps the most productive session that tional Airport (SFO) in August.

But a change to the transportation Fisher said that he chose to assign we had. (And) I wasn’t even present!” “(The transportation policy is) policy was not the only difference an essay because he wanted students he said, laughing. something that UC Educations had that greeted international students at to become comfortable with the types Tsai said that the students talked been really stubborn about,” he said. the beginning of the school year. of assignments that they would re- about school events and which classes “They think there are big risks. (GetOn Aug. 7 history teacher Dam- ceive in the fall. are the hardest. ting permission to have our host par- any Fisher worked for the first time Tsai said that she was already Fisher said that his main takeaway ents pick us up) is one somewhat familiar with from the course was that having a of the main things (inthe writing skills that were formal academic orientation for new ternational students) discussed and didn’t en- students is critical.

I really wish that (UC have been struggling joy writing the essay but “I think all incoming students with.”

Educations) could fix thought that Fisher was should experience some kind of tranTsai, on the other very nice and welcoming. sitional program during the summer the transportation policy. It’s hand, said that inFisher said that equally so that when they arrive in the fall, really ridiculous that (internaternational students important to the academic they won’t feel out of sorts or totally may be dropped off or tional students) have to take a skills covered in the orien- lost,” he said. picked up at the San tation was the opportuniIn fact, Thomsen said that adplane to SFO.” Francisco airport by ty for students to develop ministrators are in the early stages —Jacqueline Chao their host parents as meaningful relationships of extending programs for internalong as the parents are before the beginning of the tional students as well as scholarship reimbursed. school year. students, starting with Fisher’s ori“It’s only once or in an orientation course with five “We had a lot of opportunities to entation course. He said that having twice a year, but (the fee) is not super incoming freshmen: three interna- just get to know each other and forge Fisher as an adviser dedicated to necessary,” she said. tionals and two Country Day schol- a bond,” he said. serving international and scholarship Tsai said that she was unaware of ars (beneficiaries of the scholarship Because this is Fisher’s first year at students is a good starting point. a free shuttle organized by UC Ed- that gives two freshmen a full ride SCDS, he invited senior international However, creating more robust ucations but would much prefer that through high school). students to give an overview of school programs is financially dependent, option if offered.

Thomsen said that both inter- culture and traditions. Fisher said he according to Thomsen, and there are Jiang agreed with Tsai’s belief that national students and scholarship stepped out of the room so that the no definite plans yet. students must pay their host fami- students were included in the orien- students could speak more candidly Fisher said that he would be open ly for pick-ups and drops-offs, but tation because many of their needs and ask questions that they might not to teaching both the orientation added that UC Educations requires overlap. ask in the presence of a teacher. course and a history class next sumstudents to sign a waiver in order to English teacher Jane Bauman “From what I heard, that was per- mer. charter a bus or grant their host fam- had previously taught the course but ilies permission to drive them. handed it off to Fisher once he volunIn August, Jiang’s host family teered in the spring. picked her up from SFO. Jiang said Fisher said that he volunteered that she enjoyed this much more than because he was unable to teach a waiting for hours to take a con- summer history course since all of n e c t i n g the offered summer courses had alflight to ready been approved by the time he SMF. was hired. While he consulted with Thom- Bauman, Fisher said that she was adsen said that amant that he use his own teaching at a meeting on approach.

May 19 McCollough Fisher said that his goal for the said that this policy involv- course was to introduce his students ing the waivers was still be- to critical thinking and reading and ing enforced. strategies for effective studying and Senior Howard Yuan said note-taking, such as the Cornell he received an email stating method. To practice these skills, that a recently implemented rule Fisher gave students passages to read allows students to Uber to and from and then paraphrase or summarize.

SFO or for their host families to pick “I wanted to equip (the students) them up. When Yuan traveled to with some of the tools that I know China at the beginning of the sum- and have enhanced my academic exmer, he and Michelle Li, ’17, ordered perience,” he said. “I approached it an Uber to take them to SFO. from a perspective of a history teachHowever, UC Educations does er, but I think that a lot of the skills not allow students to Uber around that we developed were skills that the city, according to Yuan, especial- could be applied to other subjects, not ly since Uber’s own policy prohibits just history.” minors from using their service. NevThe students’ culminating assignertheless, Yuan, who is 19 years old, ment was an essay on a narrative of said that he uses Uber every now and the life of Frederick Douglass in rethen when his host parents are unable sponse to the question “What role to drive him to tests like the SAT or did literacy play in the life of Freder-

The Octagon

December 5, 2017 • News

5

Mock Trial: No seniors, only four juniors on team this year (continued from page 4)

very rehearsed, (but) our witnesses did a very good job of not sounding rehearsed,” Christian Christian said that this was the team’s best said. “We’re a very likeable team, and we’re not performance of the tournament. overbearing or quiet. We have a natural, friendly “All of our witnesses were very strong that presence, which a lot of scoring judges like.” morning,” he said. “They all answered questions In addition, the team now knows what they well and had a good presence in the courtroom. need to improve on in the upcoming weeks.

It kind of all clicked after having that experi“We need to work more on our cross and dience the day before of a couple hard trials.” rect examinations,” junior attorney Mehdi LaLincoln attributed the win to SCDS’s confi- combe said. “There were a couple of questions dence level. we saw other teams asking that we weren’t ask“(Citrus Valley) was good, but we were defi- ing and need to incorporate.” nitely better,” Lincoln said. “They weren’t a Christian said that even though the team did slacker team. So the fact that we were strong well at the Beach Ball classic, the team still faces and confident and ended up winmany challenges this year. ning was a good sign.”

One such challenge is the Lewkowitz also said that conteam’s small size of 13 people.

(We were fidence was a factor of the win.

“We have to have multiple able to take) people doing multiple roles,” “Confidence is a big deal when you’re in a situation where there’s advantage of other Christian said. “It makes things a lot of thinking on your feet and a little bit more complicated.” teams’ slip-ups and public speaking,” he said.

And doubling up on roles FANTASTIC SEVEN Before the tournament, the Mock Trial team sits in the jury box at the Harbor Justice Center.

Later that day SCDS faced its were able to correct occurred during the tourna- Back row: freshman Ming Zhu, sophomore Ian Thompson and juniors Jack Christian and Mehdi Lacombe. Front row: final competition in the tourna- them quickly.” ment. freshman Sarina Rye and juniors Blake Lincoln and Gabi Alvarado. PHOTO BY HAYLEY GRAVES ment: La Reina High School.

Due to members saying they —Blake Lincoln couldn’t attend at the last min“They just need to develop their speaking five years prior to that - replaced former coach La Reina won the state chamWayne Strumpfer this year. pionships from 2010-13 and was ute, the team had to quickly skills.”

Lincoln said that the team faces a confidence And he said he’s still getting used to having runner-up in 2014, so it wasn’t a rearrange. practices only on Sundays. surprise when SCDS was defeated, 0-2, while Junior attorney Gabi Alvarado had to take on issue because of their young team.

“It’s good we have younger kids because “I think that’s the biggest challenge with the on prosecution. a witness role because the original witness didn’t they can carry the team when we juniors aren’t Country Day program,” Lewkowitz said. “The One judge awarded La Reina six points more attend the tournament. around,” he said. “(But right now), a lot of the two schools that have dominated for almost than SCDS and the other 10.

And Lincoln had four roles. younger kids are still trying to four years in the county competitions are Rio “Even losing to La Reina, I’m pretty sure (our On the defense and prosefigure out how it works.”

Americano (High School) and Elk Grove. And team) knows that they weren’t that far from be- cution, Lincoln was both the Lewkowitz said the youth- they practice all the time.” ing in a position of beating (them),” Lewkowitz pre-trial attorney and expert wit(But right has indeed been an For example, Elk Grove had practices on Satsaid. ness. now) a lot of fulness issue for the team. urdays from 8 a.m. to noon and on Monday to Although they won only one round through“He joked that he was a mirror “But we’re making it less Thursday from 3:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. out the tournament, the team was proud of their image of himself,” freshman Sari- the younger kids are “(Lewkowitz) is trying to figure out how to results. na Rye said. still trying to figure out and less of an issue the more “They actually exceeded my expectations,” Another challenge is that how (Mock Trial) works.” (the younger kids) go into best fulfill our three hours a week,” Lincoln said. scrimmages and tournaments “It’s a lot stricter, scheduled and hardcore (this Lewkowitz said.

Country Day’s team is younger —Lincoln like (the Beach Ball Classic),” year). It’s going to help build the younger kids’ Lincoln agreed. than in previous years. he said. confidence levels earlier along.” “(We were able to take) advantage of other The team has no seniors and Lewkowitz himself is a Lewkowitz also said that the tournament and teams’ slip-ups and were able to correct them only four juniors; the rest are major change to the team. future scrimmages will help in the long haul. quickly,” he said. sophomores and freshmen.

Lewkowitz - the attorney coach at Elk Grove “They’ve seen the best (in the) state,” he said.

Christian said the team had a good persona “Freshmen have never done Mock Trial bein the courtroom. fore,” Christian said. “It’s not really about the High School for the past 14 years and the attor- “And they know they aren’t that far off from “Some of the (other teams’) witnesses were level of their talent because they all have talent. ney coach at Christian Brothers High School beating them.”

ing was done.

For Fels, complaining wasn’t an option because she said she didn’t believe anything could be done about it.

However, Wilson, Christie, Keys and Fels agree that reassigning parking spaces so that compact cars park either side of my car,” Keys said. in smaller spaces is the best idea.

“Then we got back to school, and Both Keys and Fels don’t mind now it’s way to the left. I know it’s having a smaller parking space, but not the same space, and it does seem say having bigger cars on either sides smaller.” of them is a difficulty.

Keys discussed the problem with “Sometimes I park between two band director Bob Ratcliff, with vans, and I have to be really careful whom she shares the space. about leaving them enough space,” “He said that (the administraKeys said. tion) claims that there are the same “Sometimes I have to re-adjust number of spaces in the parking lot several times. I don’t mind taking a - that (the spaces) didn’t smaller (space) if I’m next change, (and) they just to two smaller cars.”

Sometimes I have to re-adjust several redrew the lines,” Keys Wilson noticed that said. times. I don’t mind taking a smaller (space) there are “pretty small Like Wilson, Chriscars in the very big parktie and Keys, junior AP if I’m next to two smaller cars.” ing spaces,” whereas —Felecia Keys larger cars, such as her English teacher Patricia Fels, who drives a Volkfamily’s, are stuck in the swagen Golf, realized smaller parking spaces.

“My lunch box is the same. But all of Fels agreed that the size of the vea sudden there’s just that much less hicle should correspond with the size space, (and) I worry that I am going of the parking space.

The Octagon created to dent the car.”

“Maybe it is a good idea to have Like Christie, Fels considered that bigger spaces in one area and smaller parking zones to clarify the people who did the re-striping spaces in another,” Fels said. the locations of larger could have made a mistake.

“But it’s not a good idea if you keep and smaller spaces.

“But it’s not just one space,” Fels the big cars in the smaller spaces.” said.“It’s my space. It’s Marisa’s space.

In an email interview, Petchauer It’s Ms. Keys’s space.” stated that “the school does its best to Although the size of the spaces has accommodate larger vehicles so they become a problem for these faculty are not parked next to each other.” and staff members, Holman said that Fels said that what bothers her they have not heard any complaints most is the assertion that the parking regarding the work that was complet- spaces really didn’t get smaller - that ed, and Petchauer agreed with him. it’s all in everybody’s head - when she However, one interviewee, who knows it’s not. asked to remain anonymous, said that “It’s not (like) all of a sudden she tried to discuss the parking space the two people on either side of me issue with an administrator, but noth- bought Hummers!” she said.

Parking: Faculty suggest putting big cars in big spaces and small cars in small ones (continued from page 1) her parking space, Christie had some questions.

“I don’t understand how that happened,” Christie said.

“I mean why wouldn’t Mr. Petchauer have known about that? Was it just an oversight on the part of the company that did the repaving and the painting?”

In July and August, the parking lot received an overlay (an asphalt resurfacing), was re-striped and had speed bumps added near the exit by Sierra National Asphalt, according to director of the physical plant Jay Holman.

“There may be some spaces that are slightly larger than others depending on how the area was laid out, but the

re-striping matched what was existing, and no changes were made,” Holman said in an email interview.

Petchauer agreed that no changes had been made to the sizes of the parking spaces.

However, Wilson and Christie are not the only ones who have noticed a their much-smaller parking space.

Music teacher Felecia Keys, who drives a Honda Accord, has had her p space in Zone Three for as long as she has taught at Country Day. But the first week of the school year, she immediately realized something was different.

“Before, I used to pull in and (there was a) little tree (that aligned) with the center of my car, and that’s how I knew I was leaving enough space on

GRAPHIC BY MOHINI RYE

there was a problem with her Zone Three parking space from the very first day she used it.

“I was getting out with my lunch (box) in my hand, and it was almost impossible to get out of my car,” Fels explained.

The limited space means Fels worries about both causing and receiving dents. She said she is now “hyper-aware” of how widely she opens her car door.

However, Fels noted that even trying to make sure there is at least an inch between her door and the side of her neighboring has been difficult.

“I certainly have not gained copious amounts of weight,” Fels said.

6

Sports • December 5, 2017

The Octagon

Volleyball enthusiasts push for boys team in spring

Michelle Myers, Jason Kreps, Aaron Graves all learned sport in PE “Jason (Kreps) was such a small set- ball Club 16-1’s, the club’s best team, ter (6’1”), but he was so athletic and as a starting middle blocker. The team had such a great vertical jump that his is currently ranked fourth in Northern ans may have a new sport to size didn’t even matter,” she said. “He California. cheer on this spring, thanks was such a smart and strategic player.”

Although he has been playing club to three generations of But for such a great setter, Kreps volleyball for only a few months, he SCDS volleyball had an unexpected start. has already experienced many memoathletes who started recIn fact, he was a soc- rable moments. reationally and turned cer player his “My favorite memory so far was in into competitive powf r e s h m a n the Power League Qualifier Tournaerhouses. and soph- ment (Sept. 24) when I got the final Physical educao m o r e kill against Mountain View Volleyball tion teacher Miof high school years of high Club,” said Graves. chelle Myers school.

Both Kreps and Myers said they boys said they’d started playing Then, he prefer coaching boys’ volleyball, and like to play volleyball in said, he dis- really hope to have an SCDS boys’ volleyball high school PE. covered the sport team soon.

From there, she through PE. After “There are no bickering dynamics, Based on Nov. 28 said that she “messing around in and it’s a much faster-paced game,” poll of 60 boys fell in love with the backyard with a Myers said. the sport. Myers volleyball with some Kreps agreed, saying that the lack of played throughbuddies,” Kreps said drama is refreshing. out her college career he fell in love with it, just like Myers.

“It’s just something different,” Kreps at University of Hawaii, becoming a Therefore, in the spring of his soph- said. “Girls can have all kinds of issues, coach soon after graduation. omore year, Kreps tried out for his but guys can just push that all aside After moving around in differ- high school team and made varsity. and just play volleyball. ent coaching positions, Myers found In his junior year, Kreps quit soccer “I’ve wanted a guys’ team for a long herself coaching at Sacramento State and continued solely with volleyball time, but the concern is that it will take University. There she coached current throughout high school. away from other spring sports.”

SCDS girls’ varsity volleyball coach “My junior year was super Graves said Jason Kreps from 2001-05. memorable just because I got that he would In 2002, the Sac State men’s vol- so close to the seniors,” definitely leyball team qualified for nationals in Kreps said. play on Dallas, where they made it to the finals He now coaches a school and placed second nationwide to Uni- the SCDS girls’ varsity team, versity of Arizona. volleyball team but along with of boys said Myers still remembers the road trip hopes to also coach 28 other they’d play volleyto Dallas. an SCDS boys’ boys, deball even in the “The guys hung sweatshirts on the team soon. pending on spring windows of the Suburban to block out Sophomore the season. any light and they took my computer, Aaron Graves Myers said placed it in between the driver’s seat wants to join the hypoKreps would and passenger’s seat, and all watched thetical team. head coach the movies for hours from that tiny screen Graves had a similar start to Myers boys’ team, and she would while we drove,” said Myers. and Kreps, first discovering his love for make a few appearances at practices, but wouldn’t coach, as she wants to put Kreps was named an All-American volleyball in middle school PE. Graves started playing one-on-one the ball in Kreps’s court. setter in 2002 in Dallas, which requires “After 30 years of coaching volleya strong GPA and excellent perfor- after school with Kreps, who told him to try out for club volleyball. ball, I figured it’s time to let the next mance.

Graves made the team and currently generation have their turn, and pay it Myers said Kreps definitely deplays for Northern California Volley- forward,” said Myers. served the award.

BY BRI DAVIES

F

55%

BLOCK PARTY Above, Jason Kreps blocks a volleyball at the 2002 NIRSA collegiate volleyball sport club championships. PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF KREPS Below, Aaron Graves spikes a ball. PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF GRAVES

22%

WINNING SPIRIT Above, Graves (third from left) and his Northern California Volleyball Club team, hold up “W’s” for “win.” PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF GRAVES At left, Kreps (right) blocks at the NIRSA championships.

His team placed as a runner-up in men’s Division III. PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF KREPS

Sports Boosters’ Athletes of the Month Reggie Fan

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Annya Dahmani

Fan shows leadership and work ethic, never making excuses not to get better. His offense is aggressive, and his defense has greatly improved. Coach Dave Ancrum said he expects Fan to get even better, because “he’s the real deal!”.

Dahmani is one of the team’s best defenders, whose offense is still growing.

You can always count on her to give her all. She’s the fastest one on the team and doesn’t like to sit out because she knows she gives a lot to the team!

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For information, please see SCDS homepage under the Quicklink “Parents.”

The Octagon

Bible says no to coed soccer Soccer co-coach Matt Vargo said he was informed that Victory Christian had refused to play SCDS’s coed team months before the teams would have even scrimmaged.

But former soccer coach Daniel Neukom didn’t have the same warning in 1980.

That fall Neukom had one girl on the team, Marydaisy Fong ‘81. The team drove two miles to Glenbrook Park except that on arrival Victory Christian’s boys’ team’s coach announced that they would not play with Fong.

Neukom was blindsided by the announcement, as his team had played Victory Christian the previous year with five girls on the field.

In order to play the game, Neukom chose to not allow Fong to play. Later, Fong said, “I was a little bummed out, but I thought it would be better (for the team to play).”

However, the Octagon staff disagreed, editorializing that the decision was a violation of Fong’s civil rights.

“If Victory Christian’s policy had been to not play against a team with blacks on it, would SCDS, with two black men on its team, have played?” the staffers wrote.

After that game the 1980 team voted unanimously not to play Victory Christian again without Fong playing with them.

That meant that Victory Christian was forced to forfeit the second game.

Almost the same policy applies 37 years later.

The difference is that this time Victory will have to forfeit only playoff games, not those in the regular season.

Neither the Victory Christian boys’ soccer coach nor the principal responded to inquiries about the specific policy.

In 1980 former Victory Christian principal Don Hedden claimed the policy was based on the Bible.

“We believe the roles (of ) a man and a woman are to be distinguished (between),” Hedden said. “If we try to combine these, it creates a problem.”

However, this policy has never been followed by any other Christian schools in the area.

December 5, 2017 • Sports

Girls’ and boys’ teams unify after decades apart Law, ’76 and her boyfriend Dave Pollock, ’77.

“They really lived and breathed or the first time since 1992, soccer,” Neukom said. “The two of both boys and girls will play them would play together all the time on the varsity soccer team. and that’s where she really grew to The team will play in the boys’ love the sport.” league since the league allows girls to Law was a member of the first play on boys’ teams but not the other soccer team at UCLA, working with way around. another UCLA student, Margaret Boys’ coach Matt Vargo is working Forbes, to establish the team in 1976. with former girls’ soccer coach George The girls would practice with the boys Champayne to co-coach the team. until they competed in California’s Actually, the very first soccer team, first intercollegiate league in 1979. coached by former history teacher “I’ll never forget the day I saw Life Daniel Neukom in 1974, was also magazine’s cover photo at the locoed. It even included a few middle cal Lucky store,” Neukom wrote. “It school students since the school was was of Rochelle Law, arms raised in so small. a cheer. She was on the women’s socNeukom said that he started the cer team at UCLA. The Country Day team because he had learned to play soccer program had arrived.” soccer when he was 10 years old and After 10 years of coaching, Neuattended a boarding school in Switkom turned the team over to former zerland. math teacher and head of high school He then went on to play club soccer Dan Williams. while an undergraduate at Stanford The first official girls’ team at CounUniversity, and even took on a paid try Day was founded in 1992, though job at Woodside Priory School in some girls still played on the boys’ Portola Valley as history teacher and team, either because of their skill or soccer coach. because the boys’ team “Soccer was just needed players. beginning its wideVargo started I think our spread popularity in coaching boys’ soccer the 1970s, so it was team will 15 years ago. still considered someEven though the be more competitive what exotic,” Neukom team has yet to play wrote in an essay about this year (since) we’ve its first game, the unSCDS soccer for the pooled the talents conventional line-up is 50th anniversarary. causing problems. from both teams. ” “We were fortunate.

Victory Christian’s — Matt Vargo Jesuit, Waldorf, Encina policy states that and Christian Broththey will not play any ers agreed to include cross-gendered teams Country Day in their schedules.” in contact sports, although Vargo said These were most of the schools he hadn’t heard of any other Christian with soccer teams in the Sacramento school with a similar policy. area at that time.

Ironically, Neukom’s team faced the The games with Jesuit’s team stood same issue with Victory Christian (see out the most to Neukom. sidebar).

“There were always a lot of Jesuit Our league, the SMAL, has only boys that would come to the game to one other coed team ( John Adams watch Country Day,” Neukom said.

Academy), but Vargo doesn’t think “They would come specifically to our chances in league are hindered by watch the Country Day girls.” playing both boys and girls.

Though the coed team’s first four “ I think our team will years were difficult, their fifth year be more comwas much more successful, and they petitive this finished 7-1-2. year (since) “(Former headmaster Clayton J. Tidey) and the Board sent me a letter of congratulations and a gift certificate to a fancy French restaurant to celebrate the accomplishment,” Neukom wrote.

Though the team didn’t see much success, the 1981 season was a real turning point.

“We (named ourselves) the ‘Berserkers,’” Neukom wrote. “Martin Hoshino (’82) led the scoring with 21 goals - an all-time SCDS record.”

Neukom also mentioned other players who dominated the season.

Neukom said that he fondly remembers coaching both Rochelle

BY MEHDI LACOMBE

F

BATTLE FOR THE BALL Freshman Hayden Boersma struggles to keep the ball from sophomore Garrett Shonkwiler during the Nov. 29 scrimmage. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE CHAO

we’ve pooled the talents from both teams,” he said.

“There are really good male and female players on campus.”

He said the team will also be better since they have more players and can substitute players when those on the field start to get tired.

While there weren’t enough girls to have their own team, a few girls joined after hearing the team would be coed.

Junior Tori Van Vleck said she joined because she felt it would take less time than the all-girls’ team.

“Since the team is a lot bigger and my attendance wouldn’t always be necessary, I feel like it’ll be less of a time commitment for me,” Van Vleck said.

Van Vleck played soccer as a child and joined the SCDS middle school team in sixth grade.

She stopped playing soccer when she started playing club volleyball, but since she isn’t participating in that this year, she picked soccer back up again.

Junior Abby LaComb joined the team after initially having chosen not to play.

“But since I hadn’t

(played coed soccer) in a long time I thought it would be fun” LaComb said, “especially since a lot of my friends are on the team.”

LaComb started playing soccer when she was 5 years old and competitive club soccer when she was 8. She currently plays for the Folsom Lake Earthquakes and was captain of last year’s girls’ soccer team.

Junior Lia Kaufman, who’s been playing soccer since she was 3 years old, will be playing on the team alongside her brother, senior Theo Kaufman. “(Playing with Theo) was really fun in middle school, and I think it will be a lot more fun now since the team is much more competitive,” she said.

Lia said she and Theo played for two years in middle school and still practice at school together sometimes.

Kaufman started playing at both Country Day and Sacramento United Soccer club in sixth grade.

She switched to Union Football Club last year.

Kaufman said she has high hopes for both the team and playing with her brother again.

“I’m really excited to play coed, and I think the team will do really well since there is so much skill,” Kaufman said.

SOPHOMORE SPEEDSTER Sophomore Emma Boersma runs to steal the ball from junior Yelin Mao. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE CHAO

UPCOMING GAMES Ski & Snowboard

Boys’ Basketball

Girls’ Basketball

Coed Soccer

GS Double up

Western Sierra

Western Sierra

Encina Prep

@ Boreal

@ SCDS

@ SCDS

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Jan. 15

7

Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 5, 6 p.m.

Dec. 7, 3 p.m.

8

Centerpoint

The Oc

Sexual harassment in th

As allegations surface in journalism, film, tech, academ

F

resh out of college, an SCDS alumna finally landed a job at a news desk, where she worked long hours with a male co-worker.

But she eventually earned the label of being a “disloyal employee” because she asked to be switched to a different news team and was denied.

And journalist and talk-show host Charlie Rose was fired on Nov. 21 by PBS, Bloomberg and CBS after sexual harassment allegations from several women.

But sexual harassment in the workplace isn’t a new problem.

Almost a twelfth of the 90,000 complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Commission (EEOC) in the 2015 fiscal year were sexual harassment allegations, according to the National Women’s Law Center November 2016 Fact Sheet.

This statistic isn’t totally accurate, as about three of four people who experience harassment never report Fortunately, she quickly became close with the it to a manager, supervisor or union representative, acco-worker, who wasn’t her boss but was her superior cording to the EEOC. during the long nights when they were the only two And the prevalence of sexual harassment in the at work. workplace is evident through the now He was married with kids and was not almost daily new allegations of sexual much older than the alumna, who asked to harassment against prominent actors Actors use remain anonymous. and Hollywood figures. their body She confided in him that she wanted The surfacing of actor Bill Cosby’s to leave the company and find a new job to create art, so sexual misconduct was arguably the since the company had questioned her start of the flood of allegations of sexthey automatically loyalty due to her request to switch teams. ual harassment in the acting business, The co-worker was really nice to her become non-human.” the alumna said. and even helped her redo her resume, she These alleged instances of sexual —Isabel Siragusa said. He was someone the alumna had bemisconduct spanned from 1965-2008 come close to at the company. and victims came from in and out of But this friendship quickly changed the industry. one night.

Another alumna has had first-hand experience with He began to tell her how he didn’t want to work at sexual harassment while working as an actor. the company anymore either.

Isabel Siragusa, ’07, studied acting at Yale University, “And I asked him, ‘What would it take to make you but never really broke into the film industry because of stay here?’” she said. the attitudes toward actors, she said.

And that’s when he suggested a sex act, she said.

“Actors use their body to create art, so they automatThis instance of sexual harassment in the journalism ically become non-human,” she said. “You are thought business isn’t rare. of as something to make money off of, and that just NPR’s senior vice president of news and editorial fuels the harassment.” director Michael Oreskes resigned on Nov. 1 after two When Siragusa was in college, she took a film acting female journalists accused the top editor of sexual ha- class in which an agent told the students that they were rassment. “just a product.”

BY KATIA DAHMANI

SHOW BIZ Isabel Siragusa, ’07, acts in a camping scene in a thriller called “Capps Crossing” with fellow cast member Marcus Parker. The film is available on AmazonPrime. PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF SIRAGUSA

SCDS mothers at Capitol say ‘Enough,’ sign protest letter with 140 outraged women

BY SAHEJ CLAIRE When lobbyist Kim Stone (mother of eighth grader Casey) was 35 and new to the job, she was sexually harassed by a political candidate.

“I would back up, and he would come forward in this little conversational circle,” Stone said.

“He was chasing me.

“It was a game of cat and mouse. The other people in the conversation could see what was happening, but (everyone) pretended like it wasn’t.

“(It was) kind of like when somebody farts in church, or yoga, and everybody just acts like it didn’t happen.”

In the midst of the recent sexual harassment scandals, Stone and other women of the California legislature have said, “Enough.”

More than 140 women - including lobbyists, legislators, and Capitol staff - signed a letter published Oct. 14 addressing the “pervasive, inappropriate and sexually harassing behavior” that many of them have experienced, joining the global conversation.

Among those signatures were Country Day parents Cassie Gilson (mother of sixth grader Ellery Kaye) and Stone.

And from that moment Siragusa said she was less In fact, the alumna in the news enthusiastic about acting in movies, discouraging her known about the now infamous Lo from moving to Los Angeles or New York City after years now. college.

Comedians Dana Min Goodman “I don’t know if I want to be fully engaged in that leged that in 2002 the “Louie Louie world,” she said. “But unfortunately (sexual harass- in front of them, and comedian Ab ment) has also trickled down to the minor film industry she could hear him masturbating o that’s in San Francisco.”

2003 as she invited C.K. to one of h Siragusa worked on a web series in San Francisco Two other women came forward with a producer who was extremely inappropriate to- sexual harassment. ward her, she said.

And on Nov. 10 the actor confirm The behavior started when the producer asked her in a statement and apologized for th out, but she declined.

“I’m not part of the Hollywood e Consequently, the producer pretended to be Siragusa knew about (C.K.),” the anonymous on social media and dating apps.

And according to her, the Weinste He sent random people to Siragusa’s house through no secret either. these sites just because she didn’t want to go out with “If you look back at Oscar (cerem him, she said. been making jokes about (his beha He also sent her constant text messages saying he said. could ruin her career, even though he could actually Siragusa said the constant allegati never have followed through on these threats. surfacing are both good and bad.

“He had no actual power over me because we were “It’s a constant reminder why I around the same age, and it was a minor independent braced the film industry even thou film in the Bay Area,” she said.

Siragusa said.

“He thought that as a producer he could act that way, “I just hate the business.” which mostly comes from a long-lasting standard.”

But Siragusa said that she hasn’t e That standard was on display in October when The by avoiding the film industry.

New York Times and The New Yorker published the After working on and off as an first accounts of dozens of women who alleged that film working for a small tech startup com producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed them.

When the whole company would Subsequently, many actresses, including Rose Mc- powerful male employee would get d Gowan, Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow, stepped feely” with female employees, Siragu forward to confirm Weinstein’s history of sexual assault, “He would touch your arm or p as well as their own experiences with the producer. you or try to kiss your cheek,” she sa The alumna who worked in the news industry said And sexual harassment isn’t new t that it was Weinstein’s declining career and power that Founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetso enabled women to come forward. resigned from Draper Fisher Jurve “He was a kingmaker, and no one would want to taken a leave of absence from Tesla topple a kingmaker if he’s making their payments,” she said.

And I have wondered again and again, as But once Weinstein so many women in academia do, whether started to lose his power, it was easy for women to the men you encounter professionally are really come forward, she said. interested in your work.”

“It’s a domino effect,” she —Susan Harlan said. “When they have five people come forward, they keep getting more.

“The (first person who came forward) allowed people proached by a founding partner of D to see that they could (bring Weinstein down).” vetson should be careful” to her Face But the male-dominated film industry doesn’t mean Sexual harassment allegations hav only women are harassed. peared in academia.

Siragusa said that her boyfriend was sexually haA University of California at rassed by both men and women while working in the student in the mid-1980s, Kimberl theater world. her Facebook page on Nov. 5 that em And “House of Cards” actor Kevin Spacey was re- professor Franco Moretti “sexually cently accused of making sexual advances toward a and raped” her while she was at the g 14-year-old boy at a party. Since then The Old Vic theMoretti was a visiting professor a ater in London has found that Spacey sexually harassed the time. more than 20 people from 1995-2013.

He has denied any claims of rape Siragusa said she wasn’t surprised by the extent of he and Latta had consensual sex. the harassment.

But recently two more women hav “There have been problems (in the film industry) accuse Moretti of sexually harassing forever, yet these people still make movies with these were graduate students. His allegati people and nominate them for Oscars,” Siragusa said. now extend over three campuses: Ca

According to an article by Melanie Mason in The Los Angeles Times (“Female lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists speak out on ‘pervasive’ harassment in California’s Capitol,” Oct. 17), the letter was penned after Adama Iwu, head of government relations in the western states for Visa, “aired her anger to a friend over a recent ‘unpleasant situation’ at a public event.”

The story explains that her male colleagues who witnessed the sexual harassment incident thought it was all right because she knew the offender.

“Their venting soon included a handful of people - and then dozens more, as Iwu and her friends crafted a public statement of exasperation,” the story says.

Gilson said the letter was an “unambiguous way” for her to say that sexual misconduct is unacceptable and cannot continue. “(The letter was a way) to join with a group of women that I know and respect (and) use the leverage of our collective voices to make

some progress,” she said.

The letter states, “Men have groped and

RESIGNED California State Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra resigned from office on Nov. 26 after allegations of sexual harassment from six women. PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

touched us inappropria and our abi Other off al innuendo jobs.

But, it ad “Each of will no lon tors or enab Stone sa the politica a young lob her job to to ment.”

“If it hap would he n wouldn’t ev like, ‘Hey, s have to put “There w that was ina that that w

December 5, 2017

ctagon

he workplace

9

mia, alumnae tell their own stories

industry said she’s ouis C.K. story for

n and Julia Wolo ale” star masturbated bby Schachner said over the phone in her shows. d to accuse C.K. of

med the allegations hem. elite, but everybody s alumna said. ein allegations were

monies), people have avior) forever,” she

ions that have been

haven’t fully emugh I love acting,”

escaped harassment

n actor, she began mpany in 2014. go out for drinks, a drunk and “touchyusa said. put his arm around aid. to the tech world. on, Steve Jurvetson, etson and has also a after accusations of sexual harassment from women.

Suspicions about his behavior toward women arose after tech entrepreneur Keri Kukral posted “Women apDraper Fisher Jurebook in October. ve also recently ap-

Berkeley graduate y Latta, posted on meritus humanities stalked, pressured graduate school. at the university at

e and has said that

ve come forward to g them when they ions of harassment al, Dartmouth Uni-

versity and Johns Hopkins University. her harasser.

Susan Harlan, ’95, a professor at a private research She simply told her male co-worker that his propuniversity, has also been sexually harassed both as an osition was inappropriate, and they never talked about undergraduate and graduate student and as a professor. it again.

“It’s happened many, many times,” she said.

In addition, she and her male co-worker stopped “And I have wondered again and again, as so many talking unless they had to for work. women in academia do, whether the men you encoun“I thought the same things that probably a lot of ter professionally are really interested in your work.” women think,” she said.

Academia is a profession with massive power imbal“Was I encouraging him? Did he think that we were ances and a lot of sexism, according to her. more than friends?”

“Sexual harassment is obviously about power, wieldNevertheless, the impact of her first and only instance ing power over another person, and taking of sexual harassment is long-lasting, advantage of your power,” she said. she said.

And that’s why some of her worst ofShe didn’t tell anybody about what It’s just fenders struck when she was an underhad happened at her first job because the subtle graduate, she said. she said she didn’t think anybody message that your Male professors would often hit on her would believe her. or proposition her.

It wasn’t until about six or seven body can be touched But according to her, this is “part of uniyears after it happened that she told and isn’t completely some of her friends, she said. versity culture.”

And now Harlan said that she faces the yours.”

And she still won’t go on the record “micro-aggressions” of a sexist culture. about her experience with sexual ha—Harlan “It’s not the same level of harassment rassment in the workplace because her that we’ve all been discussing for the past parents are unaware of it. few weeks,” she said. “But they’re little “Now I feel sorry for my 22-yearcomments and unnecessary hands on your arm, shoul- old self because I really didn’t know what to do,” she der or back. said.

“It’s just the subtle message that your body can be “Even if it happened now, I would obviously get out touched and isn’t really completely yours.” of the situation, but I probably wouldn’t report it.”

The person who is just casually touching a female The anonymous alumna said that she hopes there colleague would never touch a male colleague the same will be new mechanisms that make it easier to report way, she said. sexual harassment.

“These things chip away at you, little by little,” Har“It’s the job of a (human resources department) to lan said. limit the liability for the company and not help the And what makes it worse, she said, is that these very employee,” she said. men are the ones who are supposedly liberal and say “(So) going to H.R. isn’t always the best thing to do.” they are feminists.

“But when you really get down to it, they see you as different,” Harlan said.

“And they treat you accordingly.”

So how do these women deal with the men who sexually harassed them?

Siragusa eventually got a restraining order against the producer of the Bay Area independent film because of his inappropriate behavior.

However, although the inappropriate displays at the tech company Siragusa worked at were in public, no one tried to say anything until a woman, who worked on his team, questioned what he was doing.

And that woman wasn’t Siragusa.

“I wish I could say that I was stronger,” she said.

“But as a woman when you have someone with power around you doing (inappropriate things), it’s hard to step away or say no, especially when you know that they’re a nice person otherwise.”

Harlan, too, has never reported any instance of sexual harassment.

“As an undergrad, you just don’t think you can report it,” Harlan said.

The male teachers who sexually harass students are the men who are grading your work, so they have power over you, she said.

“If you report someone, you know that it’s going to mess with your life in a big way,” Harlan said. “And you wonder if it’s worth it.”

The anonymous alumna said she also never reported

s without our consent (and) made ate comments about our bodies ilities.” ffenses listed include insults, sexuo and threats to women’s

Susan Harlan, ’95

my job.”

The letter asks, “Why didn’t we speak up?” and answers “Sometimes out of fear. Sometimes out of shame.” And, equally as import-

unique to the Capitol - it exists in all professional settings.

“It’s a reflection of our history,” Gilson said.

“It exists everywhere.

The women behind the op-ed also created the “We Said Enough” movedds, “We’re done with this.

There was no public acknowledgment that ment, a platform to “help amplify the f us who signed this op-ed voices and the message in that letter,” that was inappropriate behavior, (so) I nger tolerate the perpetraaccording to Gilson. learned that that was a normal and expected part of blers who do.”

“The broader conversation is what’s aid her experience with my job.” going to lead to an awareness that is al candidate taught her, as critical and the more formal policies —Kim Stone and approaches that the legislature bbyist, that it was part of olerate “that kind of treatand businesses - any organizations can use to minimize this dynamic,” ppened in front of my boss, not only ant, because the men in question were “bosses, Gilson said.

When Stone signed the letter, she thought not do anything about it, but he gatekeepers, and contacts.”

“We don’t want to jeopardize our future, about her daughter, she said. ven say anything to me afterwards “It is, in part, because I have a daughter and sorry that happened; you shouldn’t make waves, or be labeled ‘crazy,’ ‘troublemaker’ or ‘asking for it,’” it states. “Worse, we’re a son that I chose to (sign the letter),” Stone t up with that,’” Stone said. was no public acknowledgment that afraid when we speak up that no one will be- said. “I don’t want Casey, in her professional life, to have to think (this is) normal. It’s not. appropriate behavior, (so) I learned lieve us, or we will be blacklisted.”

Gilson added that this is not a problem It’s wrong. It’s messed up.” was a normal and expected part of

Sarah Gaither, ’03

How to stay safe away at college Sarah Gaither, ’03, is an assistant professor in Duke University’s psychology and neuroscience department. She offered these tips for high school seniors headed to college. Gaither said that 80-90 percent of sexual harassment incidents are not reported on campuses.

Students should not only report all incidents of sexual harassment, but they should empower their friends to report, she said. To read a full interview with Gaither, visit www.scdsoctagon.com.

1

Watch your drinks at bars and parties

Rohypnol (the date rape drug popularly known as “roofies”) can be dropped into an unknowing victim’s drink, leaving the person incapacitated and vulnerable. Never leave your drink unattended, and don’t accept a drink from a stranger.

2 3

Look over your shoulder when walking home at night

College students keep late hours. When you’re walking home from a friend’s dorm, a party or the library, keep a sharp lookout.

Create a support network for yourself

The network should include your friends and family, who are essential in helping you overcome a sexual harassment experience and can encourage you to file a report against your harasser, Gaither said.

Often people are unaware that what has happened to them is in fact sexual harassment. An outside perspective can help.

4

Consider the situations you put yourself in

Ask yourself if it’s appropriate for your professor to be texting you, sending you suggestive messages, inviting you to a dinner with only them at their house, or cornering you in their office.

Research shows that imbalanced power situations (such as a professor and a student or a man and a woman) are predictive of sexual assault and harassment, Gaither said.

5

Know how to report, and do so when something happens

Most campuses have specific harassment advisers or hotlines, offices of institutional equity, and women’s and gender centers, all of which will assist their students in filing reports, Gaither said.

You can find out more through flyers posted on campus or information posted on college websites. Student groups are another resource.

—By Katia Dahmani

10

Opinion • December 5, 2017

OCTAGON STAFF

The Octagon

“Improve-ometer” by Mohini Rye

My Angle

PRINT EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Annya Dahmani Katia Dahmani Sonja Hansen

By Jackson Margolis

ONLINE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Sahej Claire Chardonnay Needler

OK, so I am a little Scrooge-ish

DESIGN CHIEFS Mohini Rye Allison Zhang BUSINESS MANAGER Larkin Barnard-Bahn NEWS EDITOR Jack Christian FEATURE EDITOR Mohini Rye OPINION EDITOR Allison Zhang PRINT SPORTS EDITOR Jake Longoria ONLINE SPORTS EDITOR Bryce Longoria SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Bri Davies PHOTO EDITOR Jacqueline Chao MULTIMEDIA EDITORS Jake Longoria Harrison Moon Bryce Longoria, assistant David Situ, assistant PAGE EDITORS Jack Christian Annya Dahmani Katia Dahmani Anna Frankel Sonja Hansen Mehdi Lacombe Jackson Margolis Mohini Rye Héloïse Schep Allison Zhang

O

REPORTERS Keshav Anand Sarina Rye Kristine Schmitz Spencer Scott Elise Sommerhaug Ian Thompson Ming Zhu GRAPHIC ARTISTS Jacqueline Chao Mohini Rye PHOTOGRAPHERS Jacqueline Chao Bianca Hansen Shimin Zhang ADVISER Patricia Fels The OcTagOn is sacramenTO cOunTry Day’s high schOOl newspaper. iTs purpOse is TO prOviDe a reliable sOurce Of infOrmaTiOn On evenTs cOncerning The high schOOl in Or-

Der TO infOrm anD enTerTain The enTire schOOl cOmmuniTy.

The

sTaff sTrives

fOr accuracy anD freeDOm frOm bias in iTs sTOries.

significanT

will be nOTeD anD cOrrecTeD.

The OcTagOn

errOrs

shall publish maTerial

ThaT The sTaff Deems in The besT inTeresT Of The schOOl cOmmuniTy.

The

sTaff

recOgnizes The impOrTance Of having accuraTe anD reliable infOrmaTiOn in OrDer TO be well infOrmeD anD On which TO base DecisiOns anD OpiniOns.

The OcTagOn

will publish all

Timely anD relevanT news, subjecT TO

The fOllOwing excepTiOns: ObsceniTy; slanDerOus Or libelOus maTerial; ma-

Terial cOnTrary TO The besT inTeresTs Of The schOOl cOmmuniTy, as juDgeD

by The newspaper sTaff anD aDviser.

eDiTOrials

shall be apprOveD by The

eDiTOrial bOarD.

cOlumns/cOmmen-

Taries shall be labeleD as such anD represenT The OpiniOn Of The auThOr Only.

in

The inTeresT Of represenTing all

pOinTs Of view, leTTers TO The eDiTOr

shall be publisheD, space permiTTing, unless OTherwise requesTeD by The auThOr.

all

leTTers musT be signeD

anD cOnfOrm TO The abOve resTricTiOns On publisheD maTerial.

EDITORIAL: We applaud the changes, but don’t stop now

The sTaff

reTains The righT TO make changes in grammar anD puncTuaTiOn anD TO

abriDge leTTers fOr space cOnsiDeraTiOns.

n all fronts, a swell of support for international students has become apparent. It’s comforting, especially after the publication of several accounts from international students on their experiences with the program in the Octagon’s final issue of 2016-17.

We applaud those who have taken the time to carefully consider these students and have reacted.

Following the issue’s publication, several parents, students, faculty and alumni spoke both to the involved international students and to Octagon staffers. These people apologized, pledged to help or said that they intended to watch over international students.

On top of that, head of school Lee Thomsen has promised that the school plans to invigorate international student affairs. He added that Country Day wants to help these students and genuinely cares about their well-being, but the primary responsibility for the students lies with UC Educations (the third-party agency that organizes the students’ stays).

But not only the community has rightly responded to

the stories of the international students; UC Educations has as well.

International students report that they are experiencing more visits by local representatives from UC Educations.

Furthermore, some students say that there have been changes to UC Educations’ policy that had required students to schedule flights from Sacramento International Airport (SMF) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to China. Now, students can charter buses, arrange Uber drivers or use their host families to get to SFO. These updates have made travel plans more convenient and efficient.

This increase in attention and responsiveness to problems from UC Educations has been greatly appreciated by the international students. They also report that they are now satisfied by their host families and have developed healthy relationships with their caretakers.

But despite these positive accounts, now is not the time to tune out the international students. We implore the community to keep the subject alive and well in the public sphere.

And while paying attention to the needs and issues of the international program is essential, SCDS families volunteering to host those students would further ensure the security and success of the program. Students have repeatedly stated that host families from Country Day are often the best caregivers because they can acclimate students to school culture.

Students have also asked that the problem of poor communication about rules be fixed through the creation of an informative website. When asked about UC Educations’ transportation policy, some students gave contradictory explanations.

A website that clearly explains protocol for any situation would eliminate this confusion as well as the constant requests for information from the students These proposals are neither expensive nor time consuming. Though simple, they could greatly improve the lives of these international students.

While the energy and willingness to contribute that were shown following the release of the international students’ stories were touching, now is not the time to give up the ghost.

CAMPUSCORNER How do you feel about Victory’s decision not to play our coed team?

“It doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand why (Victory Christian would cancel the games). The team being coed doesn’t change the fact that it’s still soccer. I don’t know if they are afraid of playing girls, or they just don’t want to play girls, but unless they have a reasonable reason, they should play us.”

“It’s not right that (Victory Christian) doesn’t (want to) play us. We have a coed team (only) because we are a small school and don’t have enough players (for an all-boys team). It’s disrespectful because we’ve all been in the same league for a long time, and they’re just refusing to play us now.”

BRANDY RIZIKI, JUNIOR

YELIN MAO, JUNIOR

It was 3:15 p.m. on Nov. 6, and I was leaving school early for an orthodontist appointment. If only I had known of the holiday horror that I was about to experience.

Halloween had been only a week ago, and as my mother and I drove down American River Drive, there were still a few spiders and skeletons in some people’s yards.

However, once I entered the orthodontist office, I was played.

During my year-and-a-half of braces, I have always waited at least 15 minutes before I’m told to go in and have them do the “back-breaking work” of snapping rubber around metal in my mouth.

But that day, it was only a few moments before I set foot in what soon would become Dante’s “Inferno.”

I was lying in the orthodontist chair with my eyes shut. If Van Gogh were to paint me there, he would name the piece “Innocence before the Truth.”

Just as the assistant began looking at my mouth, out of nowhere I heard something more horrific than Hannibal Lecter, more annoying than Alvin and the Chipmunks on caffeine, and more out-of-place than Sarah Palin at a mosque envelop the office.

Christmas music.

The painful chains wrapped around my teeth, squeezing my gums, were nothing compared to the swell in my ears from the “slay” bells ringing.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the holiday season. Its music isn’t all that bad either. But why do people start celebrating the December holidays with Thanksgiving still weeks away?

On Nov. 15, my ballet teacher started class by saying, “I know it’s a little early, but I just love this music.” She then proceeded to blast holiday music until students were forced to sit down due to a month-early case of déjà vu.

Anyway, it’s not just the music that is out of place; it’s also the consumerism. Target began broadcasting holiday commercials around Halloween, pushing shoppers to buy toys.

The pressure to buy holiday gifts in November just creates a problem. And when I say “problem,” I don’t mean a fundamental society issue. I mean a problem that is a perfect scenario for a math word problem, such as...

“If Johnny buys Sally three holiday gifts on Nov. 2, how many will he have misplaced by Dec. 16?”

Also before Thanksgiving break, Arden Hills Resort put up holiday-themed ads on billboards encouraging people to join.

As if people want to work out during the holidays - smart!

And the media isn’t any help. By early November, almost every feature story on the local television news relates to holiday spirit or shopping.

In fact, on Nov. 16, Fox 40 ran a story on what people in New Zealand put on their Christmas trees.

You’re probably guessing, “Oh, now he’s just going to say that journalists need to wait longer to talk about the holidays, and that by waiting, the news outlets wouldn’t be encouraging this premature holiday spirit, which would then cause people to wait just several more weeks before celebrating the holidays, ending the malevolence that is impatience in spirit.”

No, I wasn’t going to say any of that. I was just going to commend the beauty of the Pōhutukawa tree. So sue me.

The Octagon

December 5, 2017 • Opinion

11

S GRAP HIC BY AL LISON ZH A AND MO NG HINI RY E

Blue House has better environment, wait time, taste than Oz

W

hat would happen if you combined two great things - barbecuing your own food and meat prepared Asian style? Well, you’d end up with Korean barbecue.

BY DAVID SITU Seniors Bryce Longoria, Jake Longoria and Nina Dym, junior Harrison Moon and I reviewed the all-youcan-eat meal at two Korean barbecue locations: Blue House Korean Restaurant (1030 Howe Ave.) and Oz Korean BBQ (3343 Bradshaw Rd.).

The concept of Korean barbecue is pretty simple: similar to a buffet, people pay a single price to eat as much as they want, but they cook the food at the table.

Once seated, the waiter will ask if you’ve visited the restaurant before. If not, the waiter will describe how the restaurant works and give you suggestions for cooking your meat. After this, the waiter will light your grill and give each diner a pair of tongs to handle the meat.

All tables have built-in grills. Diners order items from the menu, usually three at a time.

At the beginning of your meal, you are served side dishes, called “banchan.” The sides include “kimchi,” a dish made of fermented vegetables and spices that tastes spicy and sour, and “japchae,” stir-fried sweet potato noodles.

We began by visiting Blue House for lunch, where the price is the same as dinner ($23.99 per person).

We had planned on mak-

BANCHAN are small Korean side dishes, which often include...

ing a reservation to have a specific table for filming and eliminate our wait time. Unfortunately, we needed at least seven diners.

Walking into the Blue House, you get a quiet, secluded vibe. Although you can hear other people talking and cooking at their tables, it’s not very loud - especially once you’re in your own booth.

The spaciousness of the restaurant also serves to isolate you from other diners; in fact, during our lunch there, we were the only diners in our area.

We ended up ordering about four rounds of meat, three choices of meat each time, and were able to sample the beef, pork and chicken offerings.

Although Blue House offers appetizers, such as pork and beef dumplings, they aren’t part of the all-youcan-eat meal, so we didn’t order them.

(The appetizers cost about $10.)

The meats that we compared were the bulgogi, beef brisket, beef short ribs, spicy bulgogi and chicken.

Bulgogi is a dish made of thin, marinated slices of beef or pork. The marinade consists of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ground black pepper and other ingredients such as scallions, ginger, onions or mushrooms.

The beef short ribs, or “galbi,” can be marinated in a sweet and savory sauce containing soy sauce, garlic and sugar, although they don’t have to be.

The chicken and brisket aren’t anything special - they’re prepared the same way they would be prepared in any other barbecue restaurant.

Everyone agreed that the meats had a great flavor, but the bulgogi was our favorite.

The next day, we headed over to Oz Korean BBQ for dinner (also $23.99 per person).

Once again we couldn’t get a reservation (Oz requires at least nine diners), so we waited in the lobby for 45 minutes before being seated.

There we could smell the food being cooked at tables and hear people talking along with music. All of these features give Oz a vibe that is the exact opposite of Blue House’s: it’s a loud, bustling restaurant where you can’t be isolated from everyone else.

The noise is constant.

Although there are televisions in both places, Oz’s are significantly louder - constantly

Kimchi

salted and fermented cabbage

stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables Japchae

ALL YOU CAN EAT Seniors Jake Longoria and Nina Dym grill their own meat and vegetables at Blue House Korean Restaurant. Surrounding the grill are complimentary “banchan,” small Korean side dishes. Both Blue House and Oz Korean BBQ offer other appetizers, but at Blue House, they cost extra. PHOTO BY HARRISON MOON

playing Korean music videos.

The various smells of meat cooking also grew stronger as we made our way to our table. It’s hard to ignore the frying, sizzling noises and the delicious smells of the grilling.

With our recording equipment ready, Nina and Jake began our order - starting with the bulgogi, beef brisket and beef short ribs.

Unlike Blue House, Oz includes two appetizers with the all-you-caneat meal, so we selected the sweet chili wings and cheese corn.

You wouldn’t be alone if you’ve never heard of cheese corn; I had never heard of it either. Cheese corn is exactly what it sounds like: corn covered in cheese that is cooked on the grill.

After finishing our first round of meat, we agreed that the bulgogi wasn’t as flavorful as its counterpart at Blue House. In addition, the beef brisket was a bit too salty.

However, the appetizers were very tasty. The sweet chili flavor of the wings was delicious, and the cheese corn was surprisingly good - the sweetness of the corn blended well with the cheesy flavor.

Next we ordered the spicy bulgogi and chicken.

Their flavor was a lot stronger than our first round. Both had a distinct, unique flavor, and I really enjoyed the heat of the spicy bulgogi.

However, this spicy bulgogi was pork instead of beef. Thus the feel of the meat was different - a

Sukju Namul seasoned mung bean sprouts salad

little thicker and chewier.

So which of the two restaurants, Blue House and Oz, was the best?

Of the meat we sampled, my favorite had to be the bulgogi and beef brisket from Blue House.

The marinade gives the beef a very interesting flavor, and the brisket has a satisfying fatty taste.

Although I don’t usually eat much of the vegetable offerings from restaurants, at the urging of Nina, Jake and Bryce, I tried the pineapple.

Now, I definitely have to agree with them that the grilled pineapple is one of the best things at Oz. The warm, freshly grilled pineapple bursts with a sweet flavor when you bite down on it.

Because we ate at two different times, lunch at Blue House and dinner at Oz, it’s hard to compare the wait time.

The wait time at Blue House for lunch was basically non-existent; we were seated at a table almost as soon as we entered the building.

It’s very possible that dinner is much busier than lunch, although the one other time I visited for dinner was not very busy either.

Oz, however, was a different story. At dinner, the wait time was very long (about 45 minutes) especially compared to Blue House.

Moving on to the service of the restaurants, which was pretty good at both, I felt that Blue House was slightly better.

There our waiter was much more attentive to the needs of our table compared to our wait-

er at Oz, perhaps because there were fewer customers.

The main difference in price is what meats are available.

At Blue House, paying $23.99 allows you to order most of the meats - but not all. For an additional fee of $7, there are more options, such as rib-eye steak and marinated beef short ribs.

Oz, on the other hand, offers all meat options for the same price.

In addition to the meats, the meal at Oz also includes as many appetizers as you want, limited to two on the table at one time, and on-demand vegetables for you to cook.

Oz does have a second location (2605 Riparian Drive, Elk Grove), which Nina visits more frequently and recommends over the one we visited. “(The other location) is much newer; it’s cleaner and pretty big,” Nina said.

However, most of the tables are connected, although there are a few booths, so you grill side by side with another family.

So which of the two offered the best all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue experience?

The group agreed with me that Blue House was our favorite.

Korean barbecue is a delicious and a fun experience, and you can get the best value by going with friends and an empty stomach.

spicy cucumber salad Oi Muchim

12

Opinion • December 5, 2017

The Octagon

Trek to Cal Expo’s underwhelming Winter ‘Waste-of-Money-Land’ proves unimpressive

Junior disappointed by small selection of easily broken attractions past all the pretty lights, none of the rides or We didn't expect much from the ride, though food carts were holiday themed. And they are we were pleasantly surprised because it gave us all packed away in the back of the park, away some time to answer our snapchats and send hen I first moved from Brussels, from any of the continental light displays. pictures to friends.

Belgium, to Sacramento, a city But after going on a few rides, we realized Wanting to try the scarier rides, we made our that hasn't had more than half an we shouldn't have paid for the way to Vertigo, which spun inch of snow since 1976, I didn't unlimited rides in the first place. fast enough to stick the rider think I would be seeing many Christmas fesOf the four rides we went on, to the wall with centrifugal tivities.

The sign (though we tried to ride five) only force.

So when I heard my friends talking about reading ‘CEMonce were we asked to show our "(Physics teacher) Mr. Winter Wonderland in the Cave (the Octagon's wristbands.

Mangold would be so proud," ETERY’ was missing office), I was intrigued.

Mine was tucked in under my Katia said.

A quick Google search and an informationevery letter except the coat and the stamp on my hand We had to wait only for the al video featuring a poorly animated penguin almost entirely faded, but most of R and half of the M.” current riders to get off before revealed a large empty lot filled with internathe time we just walked on.

—Lacombe we could get on. tionally themed light displays, food vendors and Our first "ride" was The Glass And when we did, there rides.

Room, a maze of glass and mirwere still plenty of empty All in all it seemed like a pretty fun way to rors. spaces. Worried about getting spend a few hours, until I saw the price: $34 for Senior Katia Dahmani led the way, walking too dizzy, Jack didn't follow us on. admission and unlimited rides. This seemed like into mirrors a few times until she started waving After struggling with the seat belts for a few a lot, until junior Jack Christian said that the her hands in front of her as she walked. seconds, I saw the ride operator was making his tickets were usually $53.

The room was fun, way around, checking everyone's belt. (There are THE REJECTED Due to their previous experience with On the evening of Nov. 18, but I probably seat belts because the ride tilts to be almost per- some of the unsafe-looking rides, junior Mehdi Lacombe we scanned the tickets pendicular to the ground.) and other students decided not to go on the Zipper, which on our phones and However, when he got to us, he saw us tight- was just one of 30 attractions that they passed up for walked through en our seat belts and simply said, "Looks good." similar reasons. PHOTO BY JACK CHRISTIAN the light display "I kinda regret getting on this," senior Sahej to the oppoClaire said as the operator got off.

When we reached the front, Jack noticed the site side of As the ride started to spin, we heard creaking operator walking onto the track and into the the park to and grinding. room. redeem our The ride was fun, though it seemed a little bit "I'm pretty sure someone got stuck in there," unlimited-ride long, and the creaking was disconcerting.

Jack said as the operator disappeared. wristbands.

We later realized After a few more minutes we reI was slightly that description would alized the ride was definitely brodisappointed to see The ride was apply to every ride we ken, confirming our theory that the that once we were tried. rides we went on had gotten more definitely browouldn't have We made our way to and more sketchy as time passed. ken, confirming our theory SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL While on Vertigo, a tried it without unlimited ride ac- the Ranger, a hammer "This is way overpriced," Sahej ride that spins around so quickly that the riders are stuck cess. which flings the riders that the rides we went on said as we made our way to the to the wall using centrifugal force, the ride operator It would've cost us $3.75 just for around back and forth had gotten more and more front of the park. neglected to check the seat belts of any of the four stuthe two-to-three-minute ride. and almost gives them "Just remember, guys, this was sketchy as time passed.” dents who went on. PHOTO BY JACK CHRISTIAN Next up were the Flying Elephants, whiplash. the sale price," Jack reminded her.

—Lacombe a slow-spinning ride where four The operator told If we hadn't paid for the wristpeople ride an elephant around in us we would need one band, we would've spent almost When (the ride operator) got to us, he saw circles. more person since Jack $20 for the rides alone, not countSince the seats aren't intended once again opted out and the weight had to be ing our failed attempt at The Graveyard. us tighten our seat belts and simply said, for high school students, we rode even.

However, we probably could've walked into ‘Looks good.’” two to an elephant, Katia and I Sahej volunteered to sit out, but after listen- any of the rides without paying.

—Mehdi Lacombe sharing the front one. ing to the ride creak even more and even louder So after four repetitive, cheap-looking rides, than Vertigo had, Katia and I decided that we'd all we were really left with was a few pictures to skip it too. post on Instagram - at $34 apiece.

The next ride, the Tornado, was similar to our experience on Vertigo. This time Jack came with us, but once again the operator didn't check whether we were fastened, and the ride became boring after the first few minutes.

"We need to take some nice Instagram pictures!" Katia shouted over the sound of the spinning machine.

Jack took pictures of only Katia and Sahej as the huge pole connecting us to the machine was in between Jack and me.

Once again the ride was fun at first, even with the screeching of the Ranger the whole time. I mistook the sound for police sirens on multiple occasions.

When the ride ended, we made our way towards our last one, The Graveyard.

We looked around for other rides, but most of the 30 or so rides were repetitive. We saw at least four rides like Flying Elephants and an exact copy of Vertigo with a roof over it.

The Graveyard seemed more promising than OPENING TIME: the others since there was a long line outside, even though the sign reading “CEMETERY” CLOSING TIME: was missing every letter except the R and half of the M. However, after waiting for 10 minutes, DUMBO GONE PINK Considering the animals themselves, the Flying Elephants ride was predictably slow enough for junior Mehdi Lacombe and senior Katia Dahmani to seize the moment and use their down time to check their we realized that the long line was probably snapchats and text friends. Lacombe dubbed this ride to be the worst out of four low-key, repetitive rides. PHOTO BY because there were only two four-people carts available.

JACK CHRISTIAN

BY MEHDI LACOMBE

W

Winter WONDERLAND

The park will be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in December; from Dec. 22 to Jan. 7, it will be open every day.

4:30 or 5 p.m.

10 or 11 p.m.

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS FOR KEEPING US IN THE BLACK!

Anand Family, Anonymous, Barnard-Bahn Coaching and Consulting, Christian Family, Claire Family, Dahmani Family, Davies Family, Frankel Family, Lacombe Family, Needler Family, Schep-Smit Family, Scott Family, Situ Family, Zhang Family

The Octagon

December 5, 2017 • Opinion

13

Travel to seven continents in 10 minutes at Winter Wonderland

Rides aside, theme park boasts colorful versions of famed locations, attempts ‘international’ foods completely biased.

All the lighted figures in North America are from New York City!

We should go to (Global) Where is the representation from Winter Wonderland!” senior the other major cities in the United Katia Dahmani shouted to me States (Or Canada? Or Mexico? Or one Tuesday in Octagon.

Costa Rica? Or even Greenland?)?

I immediately thought, “That That said, the New York City figwould be a lot of fun. Let’s do it!” ures were well done. A ginormous Unfortunately, Global Winter light-up Christmas tree, almost 20 Wonderland at Cal Expo (1600 Exfeet tall, represents the Rockefeller position Blvd.) is not as wonderful Center Christmas Tree. The tree is as the name may seem (or worth the covered in vibrantly colored Christprice). mas lights and glows a soft green.

Junior Mehdi Lacombe, senior SaThere is also a perfect re-creation hej Claire, Katia and I tried it out on of the Statue of Liberty and even a Nov. 11. re-creation of the New Year’s Ball on Purchasing our tickets online top of One Times Square. made getting into the park much easRight next to North America is ier. Also, we could add our tickets to South America, which features a vaour Apple Wallets on our iPhones, so riety of Mayan and Aztec structures. we didn’t have to print them at home.

The main feature of South AmerThe only problem was the price. ica is a colossal Mayan step pyramid, The General Admission and Unlimprobably modeled after El Castillo at ited Ride Wristband Package cost Chichen Itza. $34 plus a $1 fee, if bought online.

The pyramid emits a brilliant The ticket website showed that this bright orange light, drawing people JOURNEY TO THE EAST The continent of Asia covers China, Japan and India, featuring glowing dragon heads, huge Japanese gardens and package was on sale from $53. in from all over the park. the Taj Mahal, respectively. PHOTO BY JACK CHRISTIAN That’s an outraIt’s a simple structure geous price for a sinwidth of a Country Day classroom. It displays include all the major conti- drinks. but beautiful.

The pyragle visit to the park, However, waiting in line we could After traveling across has many detailed windows, columns nents and ecozones except Antarcdespite the unlimited mid emits tica. Why no cool igloos and polar see the workers preparing cheeseNorth America and and domes, much like the original. rides! (An unlimitThe least appealing continent is bears? burgers. a brilliant bright South America, we ed ride wristband by All in all, the light attractions are “Look,” Mehdi said. “You can see found out that the map the mythical Fantasyland, which has orange light, drawitself costs $36, and we’d been given wasn’t very few light attractions. And those mostly engaging and fun to look at. him putting on a piece of cheese to adult admission alone ing people in from cover up the undercooked meat.” right. It was almost as if it does have are dull and run-down, But that’s really all you can do: look. is $18.)

At one point, Katia wanted to sit So our total order was only fries. all over the park.” we had a map from last such as a gingerbread house that’s In fact, an adult falling apart and has many blown-out on one of the temples in Asia but Sahej and Mehdi both reportyear’s park.

—Jack Christian season pass to Global couldn’t because they were all roped ed that that the $4 fries in a mediFor example, on the lights.

Winter Wonderland The main castle in Fantasyland is off. We could only admire the struc- um-sized basket were good: crisp and map, it shows Fantais $49 for unlimited also falling apart. There are light-up tures from a distance. not too greasy. syland in the back leftrides and admission for the entire In addition, the around-the-world “There is no way that you can really hand corner of the park, but it is in soldiers guarding the castle, but many season. So who would buy the $53 are missing their trumpets or swords. journey takes only 10 minutes. mess up french fries,” Sahej said. the front of the park on the right. package for one night?

After a few terrible and unsafe The pretzel stand may be the only Undaunted, we forged on into Af- The castle itself also has many missWe were soon to find out, though, rides, we became hungry since none so-called “international cuisine,” but rica, where we were faced with a life- ing lights. that the park was barely worth the Finally, we arrived at the most im- of us had eaten dinner. it definitely was not “delicious.” like lion rising almost 25 feet into the $10 parking fee, even if we did save pressive continent of the night: EuOn the website Winter WonderThe stand looks like a Dutch-style air. money by going in a single car.

Kids ran excitedly through the rope. Europe is the largest “continent” land advertises “delicious interna- house and has four moving manneThe first problem we ran into was quins at the top. lion’s mouth, screaming. Multiple in the park, as much area as Africa, tional cuisine.” actually locating Winter WonderHowever, there are only four places Each pretzel was $7. But the choicsmall pyramids, palm trees and huts South America and North America land. combined. es were exotic: cinnamon pretzels, are also scattered all across Africa.

As we turned into the main Cal Europe pizza pretzels (covered in pepperoAfter Africa came Oceania, which Expo entrance, we saw two cars in the The light attractions are fun to look at. But ni and cheese), salted pretzels, plain is not a continent that I had ever f e a t u r e s parking lot, and a sign for the Harpretzels, pretzel bites and many other heard of. A quick internet search many of its that’s really all you can do: look.” vest Festival. strange flavors for a pretzel. revealed that Oceania is an ecozone major landHowever, Sahej immediate—Christian I chose a classic pretzel with salt. consisting of Melanesia, Micronesia, marks: the ly looked up the hours for Winter How could they mess up a salted Polynesia and Australasia (Australia). L e a n i n g Wonderland and confirmed that it of pretzel?

In Oceania there are schools of Tower indeed was open.

But it was only OK. Katia and I beautifully colored fish tightly clus- Pisa, the Eiffel Tower, the Acropolis, to get food - a dessert stand, a fries Now we just had to find it. a Venetian bridge and the Arc de Tri- and burger stand, a pretzel stand and shared it, and we finished it all. It was tered around green seaweed.

Luckily, a woman stationed at one a funnel cake stand. very doughy and fatty, and, like the Also in Oceania is a breathtak- omphe. of the parking booths instructed us to But the best is the stunning LeanAt the dessert stand, Katia and I churro, had an unusual taste. ing re-creation of the Sydney Opgo back out onto Exposition Blvd., Afterward I was left with a bad era House. The famous peaks of the ing Tower of Pisa. It leans at just the shared a churro, one of the four opmake a left, then continue on down structure glow a stark white and are right angle, and each step of the tow- tions, which included caramel apples, stomachache. And I wasn’t the only to the second Cal Expo entrance. one. almost exactly the same as the origi- er is colored in a bright red, green or snow cones and cotton candy.

Once there, the first thing that we After one bite, Katia remarked, After our experience with the first nal building. I felt like I was in Syd- yellow. noticed was the cold. It was 46 deSurrounding the tower are five “This tastes like a fish stick.” three, we passed on the funnel cakes. ney, despite the giant floating octopus grees, and we were all underdressed. women, each elaborately dressed in She was right. The $3 churro was We never did find that “delicious near my head.

We hoped that there would be heatNext on our journey to the ticket flamboyant dresses and headpiec- bland, overly crunchy and slightly international cuisine.” ers in the park.

Soon after we headed booth was Asia, which con- es. The facial expressions on each of fishy. But I was hungry, so I ate the Even from outside the park, them are insanely lifelike.

I couldn’t whole thing, which I later found out home as we were freeztains dozens of beautiful we could see the dazzling array of was a bad idea. ing and there was no Japanese gardens filled with figure out why they lights. A huge yellow lion head rose Then we waited in a 15-minute source of warmth in the five-foot flowers and vines. were surrounding 10 feet above the chain-link fence, line at the fries and burger stand. entire park.

There are also a couple of in- the Leaning Towand an Eiffel Tower dotted the sky The fries and burger stand had So if you go to Globtricate Chinese dragon heads er of Pisa, but they in the distance. were still interestvery few options: fries, a burger, a al Winter Wonderland, with huge bulging eyes.

And the park was filled with litcheeseburger or a corn dog. You could have a nice In-N-Out But the main feature of ing to look at. tle kids.

Thus, the also order burger beforehand - and Asia is the Taj Mahal, We soon bring a jacket. which is about the realized the park was organized by continent or “quasi-continent,” as there were some arWINDING WINDMILLS In addieas, like “Fantasyland.” tion to the Eiffel Tower, the continent Our first mission was to of Europe has colorful Dutch windmills redeem our ride wristbands spinning amongst a vibrant “garat the ticket booth across the den” of lights. PHOTO BY JACK park, so we began walking CHRISTIAN through the continents.

First up was North America, by far the smallest of all and

BY JACK CHRISTIAN

“

14

Feature • December 5, 2017

The Octagon

World language textbooks follow dramatic lives of fictional families

Latin students travel with the wealthy Corneliuses from southern Italy to Rome Gaius’s position in society is important enough that in the first book he is called back to Rome to advise ere’s a sentence from the the emperor, Titus. Thus the first “Ecce Romani” series of book follows the Corneliuses as they Latin textbooks: “Postquam return to Rome from their villa. hoc fecit, corpus meum in The second book in the “Ecce Roplaustro posuit et stercus supra comani” series details the everyday life niecit.” of the family in Rome.

This means, “After this was done, After the first two books, the fammy body was placed in the wagon and ily story ends, as the third book uses feces (or its more vulgar alternative) actual Latin texts instead of made-up was thrown on top of it.” passages.

This is one of Latin teacher Jane Batarseh said that she loves the seBatarseh’s favorite sentences from ries but believes that the writers had the series, which she a little too much fun in teaches to her Latin naming the characters.

I-III classes.

Sometimes I The series was The first two books originally published feel like they in the series follow in 1971 by Oliver & the Cornelius family, are having a joke at Boyd of Edinburgh, a patrician family with our expense.”

Scotland. It was remoney and power, and published in 2005 by —Jane Batarseh their day-to-day life in Prentice Hall with a ancient Rome. slightly different story The family includes line.

Gaius, a wealthy senator and head “I am always a little bit suspicious of the family; his wife Aurelia; their of these old Scottish gents in the way children Marcus and Cornelia; and that they named the characters, she Sextus, a family friend who is living said. with the Corneliuses.

“Sometimes I feel like they are Batarseh said that the Cornelius- having a joke at our expense. Sextus es support the needs of the common is named Sextus (meaning Sixth) but people in Rome, which is unusual as could as easily have been named Terhistorically most of the wealthy class tius (meaning Third), and Cornelia’s simply ignored the lower classes. best friend is named Flavia,” Batarseh The family owns a working villa in said. southern Italy and hundreds of slaves, “Most Latin scholars know that making the villa self-sustaining.

Flavia means Blondie!”

BY JACK CHRISTIAN

H

In chapter eight of book one, the characters experience a near collision on the Appian Way

The Cornelius family Gaius Marcus Sextus Aurelia

Cornelia

Despite the fun names, Batarseh said some of the stories in the series can begin to drag.

“Some are, as one scholar put it, ‘boring enough to kill you if you don’t have auxiliary material,’” she said.

“In chapter 10 or 11 of the first book, when the Corneliuses are traveling to Rome, the whole story is just boring. Nothing happens at all. The characters are making only 20 miles a day in a Roman ‘raeda’ (carriage).

“This journey kills students’ interest; I basically have to stand on my head through these chapters to keep the students engaged,” she said.

Some Latin teachers do rewrite the stories to make them more interesting, according to Batarseh.

“I try to treat the stories with respect, but I know that some of my colleagues write parodies of the stories,” she said.

“At times, the stories can be melodramatic, awkward and simply the basis for a good joke.”

Batarseh said that she used to write parodies but found that the plot of these parodies distracted from the Latin.

“I haven’t rewritten the stories because once I looked at them, I saw how carefully they had been con-

structed to reach the pedagogical early chapters of book one are situataims of the author,” she said. ed,” Batarseh said.

That’s because the grammatical ap“I found the depiction of the Italproach is as excellent as the stories are ian countryside, the rural architecture boring, Batarseh said. and the feel of the land to be com“When the authors wrote these pletely accurate.”

However, Batarseh said the porstories, they did their best to repeat vocabulary, introduce new syntax and, trayal of Rome is flawed. more importantly, introduce con“Once (the Corneliuses) return structions that one would find when to Rome, I found their depiction of they start to read real Rome to be naive on Latin literature,” she one hand or too violent At times, the said. on the other,” she said. stories can be Batarseh added that Instead of writing the series struggles parodies, Batarseh melodramatic, awkwith over-violence as a uses many strategies ward and simply the whole. in her classes to focus on the grammar basis for a good joke.”

“For example, in one of the stories instead —Batarseh story, Eucleides, one of of the plot. the Corneliuses’ slaves, comes in very beaten, “I keep most of but there is nothing in the jokes to myself, cut the readings in half and go the story to indicate that this (should have) happened,” she said. straight to the grammar,” she said.

“I then leave time for real Roman Batarseh said that her favorite stohistory, which is more absurd and ry from the series is in chapter 5 of strange than a story could ever be.” the first book.

Another aspect of the “Ecce Ro“The girls are wandering in the mani” series that Batarseh said she woods and a wolf attacks them,” she particularly enjoys is its historical said. accuracy.

“That one always gets the class go“I spent two summers in Campan- ing.” ia, Italy, visiting the villa on which the Spoiler alert: the girls get away.

Dutch sophomore learns English with the Goth Gloom patriarch Some people learn English by writing essays, reading books and magazines or listening to English music.

My preferred method was following the thrilling lives of vampires in a small English village.

“Hot Spot” is a textbook series aimed at fifth to eighth grade students learning British English. Each book (levels one through three) has seven chapters and focuses on a different family or friend group.

I used the level one book with my tutor in the Netherlands to learn English before I moved to America.

Each chapter had a different comic centered around a family that incorporated the chapter vocabulary.

For example, a comic about a boy named Lee who discovers a time-traveling machine and meets various people in the future taught us how to introduce ourselves.

One about a boy named Fussy Freddy taught us about likes and dislikes: doors but not windows, coffee but not tea, all letters except “C.” The friends and families would return throughout the chapter as characters in grammar exercises.

My all-time favorite,

though, was about a Goth/ vampire family called the Glooms. They lived in a huge Victorian mansion and dressed exclusively in black.

The stories mostly focused on Mandy and Helga Gloom, two teenage girls, but also included the Gloom grandparents (who were over 100 years old because they lived forever), parents, uncles, aunts, children and pets.

The parents wore vampire cloaks to pick up their children from school, and their favorite activity was playing pool in a dungeon.

The Gloom patriarch, Gordon, was a famous ex-

plorer and author who visit- five years later. ed Mount Kilimanjaro and The only thing I didn’t like set a world record by sailing about the textbook was the around the singing. world in 80 Besides days. completing But looking A few years grammar exback, I’m after my Enercises and glish lessons, really glad I learned speaking I watched English in such a fun projects, readthe movie ing stories way, humiliating as the and listening “The Addams singing was.”

Family,” and to lectures, the resemsinging songs blance bethat involved tween the two was uncanny! the vocabulary was part of the I loved the comics; obvi- curriculum. ously, they made it easy to At the end of each chapremember the vocabulary, ter, I memorized a song from since I can still recall them the chapter, which could be

Héloïse Schep found on a CD that accompanied the textbook.

Since my tutor visited me at school during the day, my classmates and other teachers could hear me singing songs (such as one about pronouns that was called “You and Me” and went on forever because it had to cover all the pronouns).

It was embarrassing at the time, but looking back, I’m really glad I learned English in such a fun way, humiliating as the singing was.

The Octagon

December 5, 2017 • Feature

Spanish students chuckle, roll their eyes at corny plot, jokes

BY ALLISON ZHANG

“

Leila

Julien

Aurelie GR AP HIC SB YS ON JA

HA NS EN

Meet the cast of the Spanish III textbook “Descubre 3,” the Spanish III class’s textbook, follows the staff of the newspaper “Facetas”: Johnny, Fabiola, Mariela, Diana, Éric and Aguayo .

they were talking about the pizza.

“This joke plays on the fact that in Spanish, objects can be masculine or feminine and can be mistaken for people,” Shonkwiler said.

Él está en el baño, reunido con un cliente.”

This is a real line from a video that’s part of Having taken both Spanish II and Spanish III, the Spanish III class’s textbook.

Translation: “He’s in the bathroom, meet- Shonkwiler prefers the latter’s textbook. ing with a client.”

“Last year, the storyline (of Spanish II) was sigThen come the shocked faces of the other char- nificantly worse,” he said. “It was very generic stuff. acters and the laugh track in the background.

(The characters would) go walking on a nature trail, (Aguayo, the “él” in the situation, isn’t actually visiting ruins. meeting a client while in the lavatory. Rather, when “It was just ‘meh.’” he isn’t around, another character answers a call for The Spanish II textbook follows a group of main him and tries to make up an excuse, which results characters. These characters have also appeared in in that line.) prior textbooks that freshman LindThese videos are made to be say Burback has used. funny and “sitcom style,” accord“It’s nice that (we) recognize them, The challenge ing to Spanish teacher Patricia so we don’t have to keep learning is making Portillo. about new characters,” Burback said.

The textbook focuses on the six the material compreEven so, the short videos don’t staffers of a newspaper: Johnny, hensible.” follow a continuous storyline. There Fabiola, Mariela, Diana, Éric and been videos ranging from the —Patricia Portillo have Aguayo. Each chapter in the book characters visiting a watering hole to is accompanied by a short video going shopping. featuring these staffers.

Spanish I is the only class whose “The challenge is making the material compre- videos follow one long plot, though they still inhensible,” Portillo said. corporate words and topics from their respective She said some of the videos tend to be more chapters. challenging or confusing to students.

On the other hand, Spanish IV has more literary “(Therefore,) I do a bit of scaffolding with stu- readings, Portillo said, as opposed to short videos of dents before showing the videos,” Portillo said. a recurring cast.

Sophomore Darius Shahbazi recalled a video in Nevertheless, Portillo still incorporates video which Mariela rips off Éric’s shirt. and audio into her Spanish IV curriculum. “(Mariela) said she was going to a rock concert “The one that is most fun is ‘Como Agua para later that night, and she was going to rip off the Chocolate’ (‘Like Water for Chocolate’),” she said. shirt of the rock star, so Éric insisted that she (prac“We do a bit of acting with it and watch the first tice) on him,” Shahbazi said. few minutes of the movie.”

When Mariela succeeded, Éric was in shock.

Each chapter of the Spanish IV textbook has Shahbazi wouldn’t describe the videos as “hysan excerpt of a poem, short story or book (such as terically funny.”

“But there were times where I laughed,” he said. “Como Agua para Chocolate,” a novel published in 1989 by Mexican novelist and screenwriter Laura “However, our class as a whole (is) pretty dull.

Esquivel).

They don’t laugh out loud when watching the vidLast year, Portillo started using Teaching Profieos.” ciency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS).

For sophomore Garrett Shonkwiler, who’s in “TPRS involves telling stories and being more Shahbazi’s class, there are many jokes in the videos, creative with language,” Portillo said. some of which play off of the Spanish language.

One such joke involves Éric and Fabiola discussing their new co-worker, Mariela, while eating. Fabiola asks Éric what he thinks of her. He responds that she is “buenísima” (delicious). Fabiola is shocked, but Éric clarifies and says he thought

15

Like Spanish IV, the AP Literature class’s textbook is full of stories and poems. The AP Language class’s textbook contains literature, audio recordings and informative articles on organizations in Latin America and Spain.

Johnny

The reporter for the art, food, politics and wellness sections

Mariela An American, who is new to the paper and supports Aguayo

Éric

The photographer who dreams big

Fabiola

Writer of the economy, tourism and entertainment sections

Diana The business manager who helps keep order in the workplace

Aguayo The controlling editor-in-chief

A love triangle in the boulevards of La Rochelle? Oh là là!

BY HÉLOÏSE SCHEP Two French teens, Julien and Aurelie, are chatting in the hallway of their high school. Suddenly, a third comes rushing in.

“Leila’s been hit by a car!” he yells.

This scene is from a story in “C’est à Toi!” the textbook series French teacher Richard Day uses for his French I-IV classes.

He uses the level one book for French I, the level two for French II and III and the level three book in French IV. The series includes a textbook, a workbook and a grammar and vocabulary book for extra practice.

At the beginning of each chapter of “C’est à Toi!”, there is a “Conversation Culturelle,” a dialogue between two or more people that incorporates the chapter’s vocabulary and grammar.

The recurring friend group in these conversations consists of Leila, Julien and Aurelie, along with their friends, siblings and parents.

They are also featured in the corresponding “C’est à Toi!” video series, which Day uses in his French I-III classes.

The series follows the teens until they finish high school in the coastal city of La Rochelle.

Senior Annya Dahmani, who finished AP French last year, said she thought the series was “really interesting, funny and dramatic.”

For example, Dahmani said there was an ongoing love triangle between Leila, Aurelie, and Julien. Aurelie and Julien kissed at a party, so later Leila starts dating another boy.

She said she appreciated that while watching the videos, students would fill out corresponding exercises.

“I was able to get work done and be entertained at the same time,” Dahmani said.

The actors who play the students are real ment French: Preparing for the Language and French students, which Day said he likes.

Culture Examination.”

Day said he also appreciates that the series is Only “Bravo!”, a college-level grammar book, a bit exaggerated because it helps students who includes conversations between a group of are less proficient in French understand what is French friends at the beginning of each chapter. happening.

While both “Bravo!” and “C’est à Toi!” were Senior Katia Dahmani, who also finished AP most recently published in 2012, the converFrench last year, agrees with Day. sations in “Bravo!” are trendier because they’re “I thought the stories were really funny be- shown as emails or comments on a social media cause they tried so hard to be dramatic,” Katia page, whereas those in “C’est à Toi!” are either said. face to face, letters or postcards.

For example, she said, the books “made the Katia said the conversations in her AP French biggest deal” of two teens learning to bargain books were very different from while attending a flea market. those in previous textbooks.

The conversation topics in gen“They felt really adult-like to I thought the eral were trivial, according to Katia, me,” she said, recalling conversaas they often had to do with small stories were tions discussing marriage, famiaspects of the friend group’s lives, lies, jobs and political beliefs. like deciding what they wanted to really funny because However, she did not like the they tried so hard to do on a Friday night. conversations’ bias toward the However, Katia said the con- be dramatic.”

French. versations are a good way to learn “There were several passag—Katia Dahmani French because they incorporate es talking about how vapid and vocabulary and idioms. materialistic Americans are But Day said some of the culturand how Americans are fake al references are outdated, as the last edition of and have meaningless friendships, whereas the the books dates back to 2012.

French have (profound relationships),” Katia For example, the book references “télécartes,” said. phone cards that are useful as currency only in Some of the supplementary materials Day French phone booths, which are extremely scarce adds feature families as well. nowadays.

In French IV, for example, students read “Le Furthermore, he said students sometimes complain that the French used in the vid- petit Nicolas,” a series of illustrated French eos can be more Canadian than French from children’s books that follows a mischievous boy France, as most of the material was written by named Nicolas and his family.

Day also uses “Extr@,” a language-education French-American or Canadian authors. However, Day said he believes that exposure to a variety series that focuses on Sam, an American who barely speaks French and comes to stay with his of accents is good for students.

In AP French, Day uses three different books: pen pal, Sacha, and her roommate, Annie, in Par“Allons au-delà!”, “Bravo!” and “Advanced Place- is.

16

Backpage • December 5, 2017

The Octagon

From a wooden egg to a fluffy owl . . .

Baxter confuses sports opponents, but younger kids love him

F

rom an egg, Baxter the Owl was born and given the purpose of spreading spirit during the 50th anniversary celebra-

and Owlfred) and welcomed into the SCDS community, showing up multiple times throughout the year at pep rallies and other events. tion.

When 2014-15 was over, students But that was three years ago, and reverted to being the Cavaliers, and he’s stuck around.

Baxter’s time was over - well, supposed to be. After all, he was simply

BY MOHINI RYE acting as a figurehead for one part of the school’s history.

But there was a problem: Baxter Baxter’s big reveal at a 2014 winter had been created, named and welpep rally tied in with the anniversary comed into the SCDS community. festivities, which brought back pieces In other words, he had been inteof SCDS history. The owl was the of- grated into school life. ficial mascot from the school’s 1964 “Kids loved him,” head of high founding to the mid-80s, when it was school Brooke Wells said. replaced by the Cavalier, the current According to Wells, Baxter has bemascot, in a student vote suggested by come “our thing” since the 50th anniformer headmaster, Doug Crone. versary year.

According to former “(Now when) he teacher Daniel Neuwalks down to the lowkom, the name came er school, all the kids Making us from the basketball yell, ‘Baxter!’” he said. the Cavateam, the Cleveland So how could BaxCavaliers, as the team liers makes us look ter - now such a large was popular in the late of SCDS - be just like we’re the nobili- part ’80s, when they were taken away? regular playoff con- ty (and) out of touch Acknowledging that tenders.

Baxter had become with the people.”

“It would be like bigger part of the —Daniel Neukom acommunity, calling yourself the Student Giants after the GiCouncil started using ants had won the the costume, saving World Series - you want some of the Baxter from a life spent in a storage good luck to rub off on you,” he said. box.

However, Neukom pointed out Student Council adviser Patricia that the Cavaliers - the group that Jacobsen said Baxter attends many SCDS’s own Cavalier costume is events where lots of children are. modeled after - were a band of con“Baxter doesn’t roam around the servative nobles who backed Charles high school,” Jacobsen said. “He goes I, the king of England, against the to the pep rally and other events Roundheads, English Protestants where littles will be.” who opposed the king, in the English But Jacobsen wants to create a bigCivil War of the mid-17th century. ger role for him by having tryouts for Neukom noted that Charles was Baxter to perform at games. an “arrogant and not very intelligent Her idea followed the varsity girls’ fellow,” and that the Cavaliers were volleyball playoffs game against Ri“hardly the most admirable group.” pon Christian on Nov. 2, when Baxter “Making us the Cavaliers makes us showed up to entertain the crowd. look like we’re the nobility (and) out “(The) performance inspired me to of touch with the people,” he said. ask the school to buy a new costume On the other hand, the owl mascot and have Baxter at more games,” Jawas inspired by a family of burrowing cobsen said. owls that lived underneath the power Richard Mancina, ’73, who chaired poles on the SCDS playing fields. the 50th anniversary committee, dis“It seemed because (the owls) were covered the Baxter costume online, on the grounds of Country Day, and and it was bought for $1,070 in 2013. because owls always stand for wisBut with its constant use, the cosdom, that that would be the perfect tume now has some tattered pieces mascot for the school,” Neukom said. on the inside of the eyes, senior class So it was only fitting that a year of president Jake Longoria explained. celebrating SCDS history would inIf Baxter were to be used more, clude becoming the Owls again. which would occur with tryouts, he’d Hence, Baxter was created, named need sprucing up. in a contest (beating out Alice, Bob Although it’s still only theoretical,

“There is a fan on top of the head piece, but my hair (would) get caught by the fan when I (turned) it on. I always (took) a shower after being in Baxter, because I was so sweaty.”

—Alumnus

MASCOT MEETING Aided by the Cavalier, Baxter announces his return to SCDS by signig an official proclamation to kick off the 50th anniversary celebration in January 2014. PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF JULIE NELSON

Wells supports having tryouts.

“It would be fun to build on something everyone already loves,” he said.

But Baxter’s now prominent - and growing - presence has also created a paradox: SCDS is officially the school with sports teams called the Cavaliers but a giant fluffy owl as a mascot.

While the school does have a Cavalier costume, said Patrick Talamantes, ’14, who last filled the role, it hasn’t been worn since Baxter’s pep-rally initiation, according to Wells.

Wells said that changing names to match the school mascot is something that could come from the students, but for him, the current situation isn’t a big deal.

“The Cavaliers can still have an owl as the mascot,” he said.

“You have lots of strange school mascots in the world. Like with the Stanford tree: they’re the Cardinals,

“It does smell at times. It depends on if you put it on after it got washed. After it’s been washed, it’s pretty clean, but after a couple of uses it’s kinda grimy and kinda smelly.”

—Junior

(so) why would they have a tree?”

Longoria and junior class president Luca Procida agreed that having an owl as a mascot while being the Cavaliers wasn’t something that necessarily needed changing.

However, both have also experienced situations where other schools were bewildered by the owl mascot.

“It doesn’t really confuse me to say, ‘Let’s go, Cavs!’ (while having an owl running around), but I know it does confuse other schools,” Procida said.

“When I was at the playoff game for the volleyball team, one of the (Ripon) parents said, ‘Hey, I thought you guys were the Cavaliers?’”

Procida admitted it was a bit awkward, but the explanation was easy.

For Longoria, the experience was at the basketball section championship March 5, 2015, his freshman year, which Baxter also attended.

“It’s really hard to see below you, too, especially when little kids run up to you and try to high-five you. I’ve sometimes run into kids, and it’s really bad.”

—Senior

“One of the commentators for the game was (joking around and) saying, ‘I don’t know what an owl has to do with the Cavaliers,’” he said.

But to Longoria, the contradiction makes it all the better.

“It’s a goofy thing, like, ‘Why is there an owl costume there?’ (But) I think that’s the point: to be funny and get people excited.”

Baxter may have come for 2014, but it appears his place is permanent.

“It was supposed to be a 50th anniversary thing,” Longoria said. “But I think kids like the owl more than the Cavalier.”

Wells agreed, saying it would be silly to force a change now.

“People like Baxter a lot,” he said.

“He’s a cool character, being named after the founder of the school (Baxter Geeting).

“Baxter’s here to stay, baby!”

“It’s hard to move around in because you’re worried about the leg coming down and a little kid seeing your leg, spoiling the idea of Baxter being real.”

—Junior