High school students discuss results of 2024 presidential election
BY AARYAN GANDHI & JACOB RABE
With a victory of 312 to 226 electoral votes on Nov. 5, former president Donald Trump won the 2024 U.S. election, marking his second term after serving in office from 2016 to 2020. Trump will be inaugurated into office on Jan. 20, 2025. While many call Trump’s win a mandate, the popular vote totals were 76.8
million to 74.2 million. Trump won 49.8% of the popular vote.
During the presidential race, Democratic Party candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris released an 82-page online policy guide detailing her stance on issues concerning the United States. Based on that guide and Harris’s statements during her campaign, she emphasized two key issues: tackling the cost of living for middle-class Americans and
advocating for female reproductive rights.
After Trump’s first term ended in 2020, Project 2025 was established under the Heritage Foundation, outlining policy-related action plans for conservative presidents. Although Trump has publicly denied ties to the Project 2025 handbook, sources like CNN and the American Civil Liberties Union reported that at least 140 former Trump administration members are connected to it.
Now, with Trump’s re-election, there are certain policies the United States can expect for his upcoming term, which are released on his website.
Economic Policies
In the presidential debate on Sept. 10,
As book bans increase, Country Day educators and students push back
BY REHAN AFZAL, ANISHA MONDAL & ZEMA NASIROV
Over the course of the 2023-24 school year, over 10,000 instances of book bans have been recorded across the United States, according to the Poets, Essayists and Novelists of America (PEN America) — a non-profit organization that promotes freedom of expression in literature.
PEN America classifies a school book ban as an objection to its content, leading the previously accessible book to be withdrawn in full or partially from availability of students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished.
CAMPUSCORNER
ORCHESTRA
On Dec. 12, students from the middle and high school orchestra will be performing at the State Capitol Rotunda. Performances will start at 11 a.m., and family members are encouraged to atttend.
According to PEN America, 44% of these bans targeted books featuring people and characters of color and 39% targeted those featuring LGBTQ+ people and characters.
To raise awareness on this issue, Sacramento Country Day middle school and high school librarian Jo Melinson created an annual banned books display in the middle school and high school library — Matthews Library — during Banned Books Week, held Sept. 22-28.
“The reason that we have this display is to bring attention to the fact that there are places in this world that restrict what people can read,” Melinson said.
Melinson’s main goal has been to cele-
BE A BANANA WEEK
In memory of teaching assistant Ariyana “Banana” Jones, students will have the opportunity to participate in “Be a Banana Week” from Dec. 2 to Dec. 6. Throughout the week, they will be encouraged to be kind and supportive, following the example set by Jones.
brate the freedom to read while also educating students on the ban elsewhere.
“We’ve felt more compelled to make sure people understand book bans generally. So even though our display is down, we still have information up on the windows,” she said.
Melinson recognizes an obvious trend regarding the books that are most commonly banned, including books related to LGBTQ+ and race.
“I agree that it’s important to be aware of certain topics, but calling it something that it’s clearly not is just unreasonable. Mentioning LGBTQ+ characters doesn’t automatically make the book obscene,” she said.
To help raise awareness, Melinson hosted student activities inspired by the highlighted books during Banned Books Week.
“For some of the displays in the past, we would cover the book, write the reason it got banned and allow the students to figure out what book it is,” Melinson said.
Throughout the school year, the Matthews Library doesn’t have an official banned books section because Melinson doesn’t find it reasonable to divide these books from the rest.
“I think it’s good to bring attention to BOOK BANS page 3 >>
INSIDE ISSUE the
CHROMAKOPIA
REVIEW
Read a review critiquing Tyler, The Creator’s latest album. (PAGE 11)
PHOTO COURTESY OF TYLER OKONMA
ON YOUR MARKS Students pose before participating in the 2024 Run to Feed the Hungry, taking place in East Sacramento. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW BURR
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
Ava Eberhart
Saheb Gulati
Zema Nasirov
Garrett Xu
COPY EDITORS
Eesha Dhawan
Saheb Gulati
Ryan Xu
NEWS EDITOR
Aaryan Gandhi
FEATURE EDITOR
Eesha Dhawan
SPORTS EDITOR
Andrew Burr
A&E/OPINION EDITOR
Kate Barnes
TECHNOLOGY TEAM
Ava Eberhart, manager
Daniel Holz
Rebecca Lin
PHOTO EDITOR
Rehan Afzal
PAGE EDITORS
Rehan Afzal
Andrew Burr
Jesse Dizon
Ava Eberhart
Aaryan Gandhi
Anisha Mondal
Anika Nadgauda
Zema Nasirov Garrett Xu
BUSINESS STAFF
Aaryan Gandhi, manager
SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF
Ava Eberhart, co-editor
Anika Nadgauda, co-editor
REPORTERS
Noor Alameri
Lukas Chung
Ava Levermore
Vivian Li
Parsiny Nijher
Maggie Nuñez-Aguilera
Jacob Rabe
Jack Robinson
Maddy Schank
Sid Shukla
Zachary Vando-Milberger
Andrea Yue
Ryan Xu
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Rehan Afzal, editor
Simon Lindenau
Anika Nadgauda
Zema Nasirov
MULTIMEDIA STAFF
Ryan Xu, editor
Andrew Burr
Jesse Dizon
Anika Nadgauda
GRAPHIC ARTISTS
Claire Gemmell
Anika Nadgauda
Zema Nasirov
Gavin Wang
ADVISER
Andrea Todd
The Octagon is the student-run newspaper of Sacramento Country Day high school. The print edition is published eight times a year, and the website is updated regularly. The Octagon is committed to unbiased and comprehensive reporting, serving as a source of reliable information for SCDS students and the school community. The Octagon will publish all timely and relevant news deemed appropriate by the editors-in-chief and adviser. We seek to highlight high-school-related events and spotlight the voices of those with a story to share. Further policies can be found on our website or by scanning the QR code below.
Rockvemberfest talent show winners 2024
BY KATE BARNES
On Nov. 8, the annual Sacramento Country Day tradition of the talent show took place in the multi-purpose room. The show, a Rockvemberfest event, consists of performances from students that range from musical pieces to dance and martial arts.
The winners of this year’s talent show include senior Ryan Pirie in third place, freshman Harriet Agyeman in second and junior Rebecca Lin in first. Pirie, with his piano performance of “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, led the audience in a sing-along performance. Agyeman sang “Dreamer” by Laufey, and Lin played “Liebestraum No. 3” by Franz Liszt on the piano.
Head of history department Christopher Arns, who sat on the panel of judges, gave some insight into how the winners are selected.
“We try to take into account a few things, like technical ability but also the level of difficulty of what they’re doing, whether it’s a musical piece or something else,” he said.
A student who performed well doing something relatively easy would not score as much as a student who performed something more difficult, Arns said.
“We were trying to award technical skill, but also technical difficulty,” he said.
He cited Lin’s performance on the piano as a perfect example of a balance of the two.
“The Liszt piece that she played was incredibly difficult, but she played it really, really well, nearly flawlessly,” he said.
Lin, who participated in the talent show last year, used this year’s talent show as an opportunity to practice.
“The talent show usually falls very close to a competition that I’m in every year,” she said. “Usually, I don’t get to play in front of people often before the competition, so the show is a good opportunity for me to remember how to do that again.”
This competition, which Lin has competed in for six years, is the Crescendo International Music Competition, a youth music competition held annually since 2007 for students between the ages of three and twenty-four.
A difference between the competition and the talent show, according to Lin, is her opinion of what her audience thinks.
“I was nervous partially because the talent show is in front of your high school, it’s in front of people that you actually care about, not just in front of people that you would usually play in front of during competitions,” she said.
Lin has been working on “Liebestraum” on and off since February, when she chose the piece — one of many she’s played since learning the piano at six years old. Since then, she’s started playing for herself, rather than for her mother, who encouraged her to take lessons.
“I’ve grown attached to playing, so now I play because I want to, not because my mom makes me,” she said.
Lin added that she might compete in next year’s talent show, as long as she has a piece to perform.
Unlike Lin, first-year student Agyeman signed up for the talent show on a whim, singing “Dreamer” by Laufey.
“I just signed up for it, blindsided, and I kind of regretted it five minutes before, but I was like, you know what, YOLO,” she said.
She added that she felt nervous during her performance as a result of being new to the school.
“It’s a new environment. You don’t know how people are gonna take it, that’s why it’s like, ‘do I really want to sing in front of them?’ But I think the outcome was okay,” Agyeman said.
Agyeman, who has been a vocalist her whole life, enjoys singing because she likes the challenge of covering a complex song, she said.
Agyeman chose “Dreamer” because it was the song she used in her vocal ensemble jazz audition at a school she considered attending, Natomas Charter School’s Performing and Fine Arts Academy. The score she earned for her audition made her confident that she would be able to perform the song again in front of her Country Day classmates for the talent show.
This confidence in her knowledge of the technique prevented her from over-practicing before the show, Agyeman said.
“I’m the type of person that if I over-practice, then I’ll forget everything when I’m up there,” she said. “I already had the techniques down, so the only thing I had to do was warm up my voice and hope for the best.”
She added that she will participate in next year’s talent show if she can sing a beltier song, for example, “All I Ask” by Adele.
“I think I’d find something that showcases my range more, maybe a higher song,” Agyeman said.
Pirie, like Lin, played a piece on the piano but chose a genre very different from “Liebestraum.” “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey is a popular classic rock song, and its popularity is part of why Pirie chose the song.
“I thought most people knew the song, and I thought it’d be fun if the audience could sing. And it turned out really well,” he said.
His goal to get the audience to sing along succeeded, which caused him to have to improvise and adjust his playing during his performance.
“While I was playing, I was trying to change the timing and quality to match,”
Pirie said. “I thought people would sing louder, but it was much more quiet, so I had to soften my playing a little so their voices were brought out more.”
In addition to his performance of “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Pirie also played the keyboard for the Country Day garage band, the Alienzz.
Similar to Agyeman, Pirie signed up for his solo performance on a whim, just hours before the submissions were due.
“I just thought it’d be something fun. I was like, ‘might as well, why not give it a shot?’” Pirie said.
As far as practice, Pirie learned the song a few months ago and played from memory during his solo performance, which he felt more pressure over.
“I was more nervous for my solo, because with a band, the people are relying on you, and you can rely on other people to keep the song going,” he said. “But for my solo piece, I was definitely more worried. I think I was shaking at one point while I was playing.”
Arns said that Pirie’s performance of “Don’t Stop Believin’” gave the famous song another layer.
“Ryan’s piece was a classic rock song, but by performing it the way he did on the piano, he brought a level of complexity to it that I think showed both that technical difficulty and the technical skill,” he said. The judges on the panel ultimately decided on the top three out of seven student performances at this year’s talent show, concluding the tradition until next year.
DREAMY PERFORMANCE Second place talent show winner, freshman Harriet Agyeman, sings "Dreamer" by Laufey. PHOTO COURTESY OF @SACCDS INSTAGRAM
ROCK AND ROLL Performing from left to right are freshman Sophie Chuchel, senior Ryan Pirie, and Richard Day with Brooke Wells. PHOTO COURTESY OF @SACCDS INSTAGRAM
Andrew Burr organizes annual Run to Feed The Hungry NEWS
BY LUKAS CHUNG
Every year, Sacramento Country Day students and families participate in Run to Feed the Hungry: the largest Thanksgiving running event in Sacramento.
This event is aimed at raising money for the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, a nonprofit charity organization that distributes food to people in need.
Consisting of both 5K and 10K races, timed and untimed, the race is designed to be suited for runners of all skills and ages. Thursday, Nov. 28, marked the 31st year of the annual Run to Feed the Hungry event.
There are around 400 other teams, including schools like Jesuit and St. Francis, but Country Day has remained as the top donating team out of all of the teams. Country Day held a streak as the highest donating team for nearly a decade, but lost 2 years ago to Geocon Consultants, an engineering consulting firm. They regained first place last year, and are on track for winning again.
Senior Andrew Burr has participated in the event every year since pre-K and now organizes Country Day’s participation in Run to Feed the Hungry. As Burr also runs for Country Day’s cross country and track
teams, this event is something that he is committed to.
“Running is something I am passionate about and something I enjoy, and giving back to the community is the same exact thing that I’m passionate about, so this event is like a junction of the two,” said Burr.
Burr became the team captain for the Country Day Run to Feed the Hungry team in eighth-grade, and has been leading the team ever since. Due to his commitments, Country Day has become very successful in fundraising for this Thanksgiving event.
“A standout memory would be being the top donor individually and the top team donor, and getting to collect those awards at the banquet a few years ago,” Burr said.
As this year is Burr’s last year at Country Day, he is looking for another student to take over the leadership role and continue the legacy. Burr is currently looking for potential freshmen to lead Country Day’s team for Run to Feed the Hungry, so that they can lead throughout their high school experience. Most importantly, Burr is looking for someone who truly cares about the fundraising event.
“I want someone who truly appreciates the event for what it is. I want to make sure they have a passion for it and really want to continue our success,” he said.
As Burr’s time as Country Day’s team captain for Run to Feed the Hungry comes to a close, he reflects on the accomplishments he has come to alongside his com-
munity.
“I’ve done my duty and I’ve continued the culture. Instead of sadness, I feel more satisfaction with the job I’ve done,” Burr
Book bans: faculty discusses the effects of banned books
(continued from page 1)
books that have been banned elsewhere and students are free to read here at Country Day,” Melinson said. “But throughout the rest of the year, I like keeping them together with our other books because I don’t think there’s any reason we should be treating them differently from any of the other books.”
In one instance, a parent from Country Day didn’t approve of one of the books offered in the library, though they never took further action, Melinson said.
Rather than banning books at Country Day, Melinson recognizes that more parents advocate for their students to have the freedom to read books based on their own preferences.
“At Country Day, I’ve had more parents call me to say that their kids can read whatever they want,” Melinson said.
As a teacher and father, English department chair Jason Hinojosa brings a unique dual perspective to the banned books debate.
“Even as a teacher of literature, I am somewhat empathetic to those efforts, because I think parents feel a lot of fear about what their kids are learning,” Hinojosa said. “The over-correction in my mind is that everything should be allowed all the time, and I just don’t think that. Maybe that’s because I’m a parent of young children, but I just don’t feel that way, even if I did as a younger person.”
In spite of his cautious approach to content limitations, Hinojosa acknowledges the vital role that challenging material plays in
literature.
“Part of what I’m attracted to in literature is authenticity. I think any artist or writer who’s being authentic about the human experience is going to address the salacious sides of it,” he said.
Still, Hinojosa believes that the media presented in English curriculums should be judiciously selected.
“I don’t always agree that a book should be banned or that a child should not have access to information, but to say that a 14-year-old in a high school should not be exposed to X or Y content kind of makes sense to me,” he said.
While Hinojosa appreciates Country Day’s openness to books that have been banned, he selects books based on their relevance to his classes. In Advanced Topics in English Literature (AT English), Hinojosa began the course with “Beloved” by Toni Morrison.
“I read ‘Beloved’ before I learned that it had been a banned book. My first impressions were exceedingly positive,” he said.
“The book boldly and evocatively addresses the disturbing realities of enslavement, and the writing is incredible in terms of both form and style.”
As a student, Hinojosa recalls his experiences with restrictions on reading material.
“The students I teach know when you are not telling them the whole truth. I knew when I wasn’t being told the whole truth as a student, and I really resented that,” Hinojosa said.
Senior Jordyn LaPlaca, a student in Hinojosa’s AT English class, has read multiple banned books throughout high school.
“I’ve read many, though at the time, I was not aware that they were banned or challenged. I just read them because they held something that piqued my interest,” LaPlaca said.
Still, LaPlaca believes that there should be sensible censorship based on maturity.
“I believe it should work roughly along the same criteria as a movie would,” LaPlaca said. “But it is important to note that including an age recommendation is very different from taking a book from schools.”
Drawing from personal experience, LaPlaca recognizes the crucial role books play in adolescent development.
“Everyone knows that kids are trying to find their place in the world and where they fit,” LaPlaca said. “If they find they don’t fit with the worldview that they were raised to express, without any other source of information, it can truly hurt them.”
Ultimately, LaPlaca points to the broader implications for understanding diversity.
“This is especially true for queer kids, who very likely don’t have a trusted adult whom they can ask regarding these issues,” LaPlaca said. “If kids are not taught about other communities, how will they learn empathy? How will they learn to respect those with different beliefs and cultures?”
Echoing the concerns of students like LaPlaca, Melinson has been actively work-
ing to address the challenges posed by book bans. Recognizing the importance of diverse voices and educational resources, Melinson joined the Association of Independent School Librarians (AISL) — an organization aimed to provide resources and leadership opportunities for librarians of independent schools.
In 2023, AISL held an online conference with a few authors where they discussed how these bans affect the authors involved, specifically the effects on emerging authors.
“When someone popular like Stephen King gets his book banned, he’s just like ‘go buy my book at the bookstore’ or ‘go find it in the public library.’ But what about authors who don’t have his fame?” Melinson said. “People won’t even get to know who they are. Instead of their voices being uplifted, they’re just being squashed. They don’t have a microphone like Stephen King does.”
As a nationwide organization, AISL invites some of these authors to speak to help uplift their voices. At AISL, Melinson said that their main goal is to allow these authors’ points of view to be heard through speaking at these conferences.
“One of the things we’re lucky about here is that our school is adamant about our critical thinking skills, and ‘how do you get that when you can’t look at different points of view?’ We need to make sure books are accessible to kids,” Melinson said.
RUNNING FOR A CAUSE Participants line up for last year’s Run to Feed the Hungry, marking its 30th year. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SACRAMENTO BEE
from court to clouds mia askovich
Senior Mia Askovich has always been fascinated by aviation. Ever since she was young, she was constantly glued to the huge glass walls, watching airplanes fly into and out of the airport.
Her parents noticed, so when she was 12 years old, her dad got her a remote-controlled airplane.
“I fell in love with that thing. So I learned to fly it for stunts. When that wasn’t enough, I started building my own airplanes. I sat down one day and said, ‘Why can’t I do this? Who’s to tell me no.’ So I just started building them out of cardboard,” Askovich said.
Meanwhile, at the same age, Askovich was on her way to playing tennis competitively.
Askovich has been playing tennis ever since she was 5 years old, playing her first competitive tournament at 8 years old.
Askovich would practice every day for two to three hours and over the weekends, she would spend her time going to national tournaments all over the country. Her biggest tournament was the September 2022 USTA National Campus tournament in Orlando, Fla.
“This was also my first time in Florida, so it was a lot of fun playing there and competing. I had one of my friends with me, and we were playing double,” she said.
Askovich and her family moved from Seattle to Sacramento in 2023 when she was 16 years old. One of the main reasons for their move was for Askovich’s tennis training.
Despite living in Seattle, Askovich had been training
for tennis at Rio Del Oro Sports Club in Sacramento.
“I needed to get better training because the training in Seattle was not adequate,” Askovich said.
Askovich would spend anywhere from two weeks in Sacramento to two or three months at a time. She would drive or fly out from Seattle every couple of months. Despite the time spent on the court, she excelled in the classroom, skipping her freshman year altogether.
Tennis was her whole life at that point until she suffered a traumatic arm injury which disabled her from playing tennis for a significant period.
“I was training for a big tournament. It was a couple of days prior, and I was pushing myself way too hard. I tripped over myself, and my arms stretched out and impacted. I did not have any immediate symptoms, but a day later and in the coming weeks, it was hurting a lot,” she said.
Askovich has received three surgeries on her arm since: two arthroscopic surgeries and one open wrist surgery, which resulted in a metal plate in her wrist.
The injury has been one of her biggest challenges in high school as it makes it difficult to write or even use that arm at all.
“I had to learn to write with my left hand. I have taken too many exams including AP exams to count using my left hand,” she said.
Before her injury, Askovich’s schedule primarily consisted of tennis
The transition to life without tennis was a big challenge for her.
“There were days I did not want to do anything because it was just so mentally rough. Sitting around and doing nothing was not going to help me,” she said. “I decided, ‘I can’t play tennis now, but I still want to play tennis in the future. Why not set myself up academically to be ready to play?’ So that’s what I did.
Besides academics, she also immersed herself in her lifelong passion for aviation.
“To pursue that passion, I researched online and watched documentaries. I started building this model aviation path from scratch. Getting hands-on knowledge is beneficial for me,” she said. “I’ve had to figure out a lot of stuff on my own because surprisingly, there are not many good online resources. Most of it is trial and error.
Askovich wanted to share her passion with others and bring it to school, so this school year, she started Sacramento Country Day’s Model Aviation Club.
Her club has three structures. The first is teaching students the basics of aviation. Students who have
joined her club have
a wide variety of knowledge of aircraft.
“What I do in the starting portion is bring everyone up to the same part and teach them a little bit more specifics about model aviation. Even if you know everything about real aircraft or how they work, model aircraft work slightly different,” she said.
The second structure is the building model aircrafts. Askovich bought kits for students to assemble aircraft and learn about the process.
Next year, they will switch over to building their own from scratch, applying the knowledge that they learned from Askovich.
The aircraft that students build in her club are made of foam and poster board. They will also be using balsa wood and carbon fiber material to help strengthen the aircraft.
The third structure of the club involves flying the model aircraft.
“Once we’ve successfully built a couple of aircrafts, we are going to start applying them. So that’s going to start off with some simulator training so that we don’t crash our aircraft,” she said.
Meanwhile, Askovich had returned to tennis practices, hitting foam balls at the net.
She plans to play for Country Day’s high school tennis team in the spring.
“I’ve never played on a high school team before; I would just play solo. I think it’ll be interesting to me. I’ve played team tournaments before, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun hitting with other people here at the school,” she said.
Though Askovich doubts she can return to her previous level of skill at tennis, she is going to try to continue playing tennis in college and try out for a Division I team.
“I’ll just see how my wrist holds up,” Askovich said. In college, she plans to major in aerospace engineering, and post-college, she hopes to have a career in the Air Force flying fighter jets. After that, she plans to start her own aircraft company where she wants to make aircrafts.
Askovich is positive about her future, and how she got there despite the setback.
“There were definitely a lot of days where I felt like giving up, like I didn’t want to get out of bed. But having that passion for aviation helped me get through this,” she said. “If anyone were to be in the same position that I am in, just find something, anything, it could be the stupidest thing on the planet, and just go for it.”
BLOOMING COLLEGE STUDENT Grace Zhao lives up college life at Claremont McKenna — academically and socially. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ZHAO
Grace Zhao, ’24, joins student-led podcast at Claremont McKenna College
BY MAGGIE NUÑEZ-AGUILERA
Grace Zhao, ’24, attends Claremont McKenna College. She is undecided in her major.
Q: Why did you choose to attend Claremont McKenna (CMC)?
A: I think something I really appreciate about CMC is that it clearly articulates its core values.
Our school’s official motto is: “Preparing students to lead thoughtful and productive lives in business, government and the professions.” We also have a subtheme going on, which is all about constructive dialog and engaging thoughtfully across party lines, not just politically, but in general with people you disagree with.
When I came to CMC, I found out people take that stuff seriously, and I appreciate that the school has such a purposeful direction. That’s why I applied to CMC.
I’m really happy to find that they do take their core values of thoughtfulness and constructive dialog very seriously here.
Q: Are you participating in any clubs?
A: I am very happy to be a part of Free Food for Thought, which is our school’s official student-run podcast.
It’s for speakers that come to our Athenaeum, which is a big formal event space where guest lecturers will come and give talks three nights a week. It looks like a fancy restaurant, and it’s a big part of CMC culture.
We interviewed the guest speakers before they got on stage for their official talk, and it’s been a fascinating opportunity.
I got to interview Ninth Circuit Federal Judge John Owens last week, and being able to talk to him personally was just an amazing experience. So I’m grateful that I got the position working on the podcast.
Q: How was the transition from Sacramento Country Day to CMC?
A: I’d say when it came to Spanish, Country Day prepared me very well for college.
Dra. Pepa, and before her, Dra. Portillo, were such fantastic Spanish teachers. I didn’t fully appreciate that until I got here.
It was really beneficial to have great Spanish teachers at Country Day and to be able to have months to go over topics, ask questions and practice because things just go so fast in college.
The other thing I’d say about college is that working hard isn’t necessarily getting you better grades — you have to work smarter and harder.
I had to adjust a lot of my study techniques because in high school, I was able to do well by trying my best at everything, but in college, the workload increases to a volume and difficulty that you don’t have enough time to go around.
You have to consider what to prioritize, which things to maybe not try so hard on, and which things to put your full effort towards. Otherwise, it’s just too much to manage.
Q: How are you adjusting to college life?
A: I love college life.
My dorm, Beckett Hall, has a great community where people are always hanging out together. And the professors are great. The people are very smart, nice and passionate about their interests.
I’ve really been enjoying CMC in general. I have never been a big school spirit person, but I feel like I do have school spirit now that I’m at CMC.
Q: Have you had any struggles with time management?
A: Oh, definitely. Time management is such a big challenge when starting college.
A big mistake I made the first time around was either taking too detailed notes
which made me not have time to actually take notes for all the material, or not taking enough notes so that when the exam came around, I had to relearn everything without any of my prior knowledge to help me.
So that was a lesson that I learned I’m still working on.
Q: Have you made any freshman mistakes?
A: Oh, boy. One thing that I learned, and this kind of goes back to the time management thing, is that you have to be intentional about prioritizing self-care.
Self-care and academic productivity are not mutually exclusive; they’re mutually supportive.
During my first round of midterms, I was like, “I’m so busy, I’m not gonna work out this week.” That ended up making me a lot more depressed, and my mental health a lot worse. I ended up doing a lot worse on that first round of midterms.
No one is going to be here to be your parent and say, ‘Hey, you have to get out of bed and go to the gym,’ but you want to be the one who does that for yourself.
Keep in mind that your own health has to be your first priority because that’s how you achieve productivity.
Q: What advice would you give to the Class of 2025?
A: I would say, first of all, going back to what I said about Spanish, take advantage of the small class sizes and the resources at Country Day.
Build a good academic foundation there because once you get to college, you’re going to need to hit the ground running.
If you haven’t developed some foundation of study skills, time management skills or just technical skills in whatever subject you’re studying, it’s going to be a lot more difficult for you to pick things up in college. Also, chill out, it’s not that deep. You’re gonna have a good time and you’re gonna figure things out. A big lesson I’ve learned
is that you have to be very comfortable with being on your own path.
For example, within the first two weeks I got to CMC, we went through club rush, which is when all the on-campus clubs and research institutes open up their applications.
It’s a very tough time for a lot of people because they’re applying, getting rejected, hearing about other peers who got in when they didn’t.
I personally got rejected from mock trial, which was tough for me to process because I was so passionate about mock trial in high school.
I had to learn that what I was really trying to do was seek validation from these outside sources because I was feeling displaced in this new environment where I wasn’t sure how I compared to all my distinguished classmates. I had to get comfortable with doing my own thing and trusting the process.
If I had started that mindset earlier in high school, it would have helped me a lot more during those first couple of tough weeks of college.
I figured out that for the rest of your adult life, you’re going to be in a cycle of applying for things, so you might as well get comfortable with seeing rejection as redirection and letting things work themselves out with time.
FIVE STAR OR SUBPAR?
Quality of classes: School Spirit: Food: Social Scene: Clubs: Location: Student-Teacher Interactions:
Election 2024: Trump’s
Policies on Education
(continued from page 1)
upcoming term include tax cuts and tariffs on international imports.
Trump’s policy on tariffs would be to raise imports from all other countries by up to 20%, and tariffs on Chinese goods could bear an additional 60% to 100%.
According to the Tax Foundation — a nonprofit think tank that collects data and publishes research on taxes — it’s typically businesses that directly pay import taxes to the government.
However, in response to tariffs, businesses raise their prices, passing the cost of the tariff directly to the consumer. For instance, during Trump’s first term in 2018, he put a tariff on washing machines, raising its price by an average of 12% according to a research paper from the University of Chicago.
AP U.S. History teacher Christopher Arns said that from a logistical standpoint, Trump’s likely rationale for increasing tariffs is to increase domestic growth.
“I think Trump’s point in raising tariffs is to stimulate American industrial jobs by forcing companies to manufacture domestically instead of as much overseas,” Arns said. “But that’s not a change that could be made overnight since we’d need more factories for that to be feasible.”
In terms of tax policies, Trump has proposed making tips tax-free and abolishing the tax on Social Security payments.
Eliminating taxes on Social Security payments would be a loss of tax revenue for the federal government since nearly 40% of Social Security recipients meet the income threshold to pay the required income tax.
Additionally, getting rid of the tips on taxes
President Trump’s Cabinet
For the upcoming term, Trump has already chosen his cabinet of advisory heads, and according to a New York Times article, Trump made this decision a month earlier than his last term.
Several sources, including NPR and BBC News, state Donald Trump’s decision was abrupt and without significant consideration of the Senate approving certain members.
Besides making immediate decisions, Trump also intentionally picked loyalists for certain positions due to disagreements with his cabinet during his last term.
only positively benefits 2.5% of total workers in the United States labor force, according to a June 24 analysis done by Yale University’s Budget Lab.
Furthermore, Margot Crandall-Hollick, a researcher at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, considers Trump’s stance on tax-free tips as problematic since tips are intended to bridge the gap between the tipped minimum wage and the federal minimum wage ($7.25 hourly since 2009, when Obama raised it from $6.55).
In his prior term, Trump introduced the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 which will expire in 2025.
Junior Isaac Reynen thinks Trump’s implementation could be problematic, much like how Reynen believes it was in 2017.
“Trump delivered on providing tax cuts in his last term, but it was only for the rich upper class of society instead of people from other classes who’d benefit more from it,” Reynen said. “He has the right idea regarding Social Security, but I fear for his plan on implementing it.”
Another proposition Trump plans to execute is lowering the corporate tax rate to 15% to extend provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which previously lowered the rate from 35% to 21%.
This new tax rate for all corporations could decrease total revenue by 500 to 600 billion dollars based on an analysis conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Given the cumulative effect of Trump’s proposed fiscal policies, The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget states that these changes would reduce federal tax revenue by $3 trillion from 2025 up until 2034.
In 2016, one of Trump’s cabinet members included representative and professor of medicine Tom Price for Health and Human Services.
For that same role, Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“He’s made several claims about being against certain vaccines in the past, so I can’t imagine why Trump wants to put an anti-vaxxer in charge of something like Health and Human Services,” junior Rehan Afzal said.
As per CNN News, a particularly radical change proposed by Trump is adding a new sector titled “Government Efficiency,” which would be handled by Vivek Ramaswamy and tech CEO Elon Musk.
One of Trump’s other major campaign proposals as per his website includes disbanding the Department of Education and thus “saving American education.”
It was a Sept. 7 rally in Mosinee, Wis., where Trump promised to eliminate the Department of Education because he claims the agency’s budget is too large.
According to Michigan State professor of education policy Joshua Cowen, Trump’s plan is challenging to ensure since he needs congressional approval and a super-majority vote in the Senate.
In a September 2023 campaign video, Trump accused schools of “indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual and political material.”
Additionally, Trump threatens to cut federal funding for schools that teach “Critical Race Theory” — a 40-year-old academic approach to systemic racism — and concepts that Trump describes as “gender ideology.”
For that to happen, Trump needs both congressional approval and a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate, based on the guidelines set in the Constitution.
Additionally, Arns mentions that Trump’s plan would give students an incomplete understanding of history.
“In a history class, part of talking about history is how different people have gone through different experiences, which is very much affected by one’s identity,” Arns said. “To remove any discussion of a person’s identity is removing a significant part of the story of humanity.”
As the affinity and alliance group coordinator at Country Day, Arns believes that removing these discussions about gender, sex and race would undermine the school’s goal of inclusivity.
“At this school, we very much want to make sure everybody feels welcome and that we are honoring everybody’s authentic self. Part of that is acknowledging the pronouns that people identify with,” Arns said.
The National Center for Education Statistics makes a distinction in the effects Trump’s plans would have on a private versus a public institution. Private schools like Country Day are typically governed and financed by private authorities so the removal of federal funding would be minimal, but the same isn’t necessarily true for public schools.
As per their government site, The Department of Education coordinates most federal assistance to education and significant funding for public schools.
Beyond that, the U.S. Department of Education also plays a major role in executing the president’s nationwide education policies and implementing laws enacted by Congress.
STORY BY AARYAN GANDHI & JACOB RABE; GRAPHICS BY ANIKA NADGAUDA & ZEMA NASIROV; STATISTICS FROM PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Presidential Blueprint
Views on abortion by race and ethnicity
Illegal Immigration
In a Sept. 12 news conference, Trump said he wanted to carry out “the largest deportation in the history of our country” of undocumented immigrants.
As per the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, illegal crossing at the U.S.-Mexico border reached an all-time high of 2.2 million during President Joe Biden’s term in 2022.
“Illegal immigration could potentially allow for dangerous people to come across our border unchecked. There’s been a huge problem with drugs illegally entering because of that,” Reynen said.
During Trump’s campaign and on his website, he has outlined several measures to detain illegal migrants caught entering the country. One measure includes the Migrant Protection Protocols program, which forces asylum seekers (people requesting international protection from danger in their home country) to wait in Mexico while their case gets evaluated.
Another one of Trump’s tactics includes continuing to build the wall during his first term, for which his administration built 452 miles of the wall.
In the Sept. 10 ABC News Presidential Debate, Trump said he would also involve law enforcement and the military in deportations but did not detail how he would do this constitutionally or within states rights.
On deportations, first-generation U.S.-born citizen Afzal said: “With 13 million undocu-
Legal status of immigrants in the U.S. (2022)
mented immigrants in the United States, Trump’s mass deportations could potentially impact the economy, particularly in terms of losing labor. ”
Researchers from the University of New Hampshire agree, finding that a mass deportation campaign could reduce the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by as much as 6.2% or $1.7 trillion in lost productivity.
Visa overstays account for a large portion of illegal immigration. In fact, the Center for Migration Studies reported that 62% of newly undocumented individuals between 2016 and 2017 were people overstaying their visas, not people who illegally crossed the border.
One of Trump’s appointees, Stephen Miller, has been named as the new White House Deputy Chief of Staff for policy.
Miller was Trump’s chief immigration officer during his first term. Miller also assisted Trump in the family separation policy during 2017 and 2018 intentionally splitting children from their parents to deter unauthorized crossings, as stated by The New York Times.
Now, under Trump’s second term, Miller plans to drive more restrictive immigration policy.
For instance, in this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Miller said he plans to deport at least one million undocumented migrants a year and have the military build detention centers to house immigrants arrested and facing deportation.
“[The deportations] begin on Inauguration Day, as soon as he takes oath in office,” Miller said in a Nov. 11 Fox News interview.
Abortion
In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that protected abortion rights nationally. Trump took credit for the overturning, claiming that without him, “the pro-life movement would have just kept losing.”
As per BBC News, Trump’s abortion policy entails allowing states to individually decide whether they allow abortion or not. Harris, however, noted on her website that if elected, she would allow female reproductive rights nationwide.
A Country Day teacher who chose to remain anonymous said she disagrees with Trump’s stance on abortion.
“From this year’s election map, there are many red states in the midwest,” she said. “I fear for young women in these states because they could die if doctors can’t provide them the care they need.”
The Project 2025 handbook states that “the next conservative president should work with Congress to enact the most robust protections for the unborn.”
With Trump leaving the issue up to states, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a health policy research organization, has noted certain medical exceptions certain states have considered. For example, Arizona allows doctors to exercise “reasonable good faith judgment” in granting exceptions; others, like Texas, do not.
According to the KFF, most abortion laws have been shaped by state legislatures — not voters. Nonetheless, junior Ella Harbart thinks female reproductive care should be federal.
“At the end of the day, abortion is a woman’s right and therefore should be a federal right and every woman should have the ability to make their own choice,” Harbart said.
EDITORIAL: Music on campus should entertain, not overwhelm
BY EDITORIAL STAFF
Lunch at Sacramento Country Day is special in many ways. Whether it’s eating outside (unless it’s raining), having tables right in the quad, spending time in the garden or meeting with teachers in classrooms, these all provide for a one-of-a-kind experience.
However, any Country Day student reading this might notice one key aspect not mentioned: the music.
Depending on whom you ask, the music either enhances the lunch ambiance or interrupts conversations and thoughts.
Regardless, one thing is for sure: the music is very loud. For those who enjoy it, this can be a great addition. But for those who don’t, it’s not as pleasant of an experience.
There is a divide between students on this topic. Some believe that the music choices perfectly represent Country Day’s unique, quirky culture, while others believe that the constant drone from the speakers is unwelcome and should either be changed or removed altogether.
Sophomore Ryan Scripps believes that the high school’s music needs some adjustments.
“The music isn’t really satisfactory. It seems like mainly songs that most students wouldn’t listen to on their own time,” Scripps said.
Song choice isn’t the only problem Scripps has with the music.
“I think the music is too loud as well, to be honest. Some-
times it gets in the way of conversations,” Scripps said.
According to High School Dance Chair and senior Imani Thiara, the music is currently from a playlist that Head of High School Brooke Wells has procured.
This hasn’t always been the case this year.
“At the start of the year, we were using one of the playlists from my personal Spotify account for the campus music,” Thiara said. “For whatever reason, they stopped using this after the first couple weeks of school.”
Wells believes that the current state of the music is fine, but he has been open to student suggestions.
“We’ve been playing music at lunch off and on for many, many years. The system has changed and has had problems, so it hasn’t been as seamless as I would like, but it is still fun,” Wells said. “Imani and others have shared playlists for specific events, and ‘Showtune Friday’ was a student suggestion.”
With students expressing frustration over the music, this poses the question: how can this be fixed?
Well, there are a couple of viable approaches to fixing this issue.
First, a Student Council member could be specifically assigned to lunch music.
Thiara is open to making this option a reality.
“People have definitely approached us asking to change the playlist. We would love to do this; we just have to figure out the logistics first. It seems like Mr. Wells would also be open to this option,” Thiara said.
There are some technological constraints holding Wells
and the Student Council back from implementing these changes, though.
“Our technology department is still working on connecting the school’s Spotify with the Sonos system — hopefully, that will happen soon so we can create student playlists,” Wells said.
Once the technology allows for it, the Student Council members could decide on the music each day based on a combination of their own personal tastes and recommendations from other students.
Another option would be to take recommendations from the student body as a whole.
Student Council could send a form to the entire high school requesting song recommendations. This way, everybody who feels strongly about the music issue will get their say in the matter and be somewhat satisfied.
In addition, people who enjoy current music can just re-suggest it and be happy with it.
This form could be repopulated every quarter for a refreshed, more varied playlist each season.
Ultimately, the lunchtime music at Country Day should reflect the diverse preferences of the student body. Whether it is through a more varied playlist, lower volume or allowing students to have a greater say in the selections, there’s a clear opportunity to make lunchtime a more enjoyable experience for everyone.
After all, it’s our campus, and the soundtrack should be just as unique as the students who fill it.
“Going Nuts” by Claire Gemmell
MY ANGLE: Don’t let Christmas decor steal Thanksgiving’s spotlight
BY ANIKA NADGAUDA
Ho-ho-hold your horses. Christmas is on Dec. 25, not Nov. 1 at 12:01 a.m. So why does almost every store blast Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” the minute the Halloween season ends?
If the winter holidays were a family, Halloween would be the fun youngest sibling, Thanksgiving would be the overlooked middle child and of course Christmas would be the overly-celebrated and overly-praised oldest sibling.
A holiday full of food, feeling grateful and fall leaves — why would anybody want to just skip over that so quickly?
Yet every year, like clockwork, we’re hit with holiday music and twinkling lights before we’ve even finished our Halloween candy. We’re barely into November, and somehow, it’s already beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Sure, it’s exciting, but here’s a hot take: can we please hold the brakes on Christmas until after Thanksgiving?
Let’s be honest. By the time Christmas rolls around, everyone is exhausted. We’ve heard “Jingle Bells” more times than we’ve heard our own thoughts, and if I see another inflatable Santa on someone’s lawn in early November, I might lose it. Now, Christmas is great — don’t get me wrong — but part of what makes it special is its time of year. By celebrating it too early, we’re making it lose its charm.
Thanksgiving has always been the unsung hero of the holiday season. It’s the one day we gather around a table loaded with carbs, gravy and pie, and reflect on what we’re grateful for. No gifts, no high-stakes decorations other than the occasional gourd display or inflatable turkey — just family, food and the occasional football game. It’s like the calm before the storm: a cozy, low-pressure holiday sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas.
Let’s let Thanksgiving shine before Santa and his reindeer take over every store, TV commercial and Spotify playlist.
Some people argue that starting Christmas early just “extends the magic.” Well, maybe there’s such a thing as too much magic. Think about it: if you start celebrating Christmas on Nov. 1, that’s almost two whole months of holiday jingles, mall Santas and seasonal lattes (although, no hate for the Starbucks Peppermint Mocha will be tolerated).
By mid-December, the “magic” starts to feel more like a chore. When you hear “All I Want for Christmas Is You” for the billionth time in early December, it’s less magical and more of an earworm slowly eating away at your sanity.
And let’s not forget about the shopping pressure. Nothing ruins Thanksgiving fun faster than seeing a “Black Friday Starts Now!” sign in early November. It’s like the holiday retail world has declared war on our wallets, and we’re just here trying to enjoy some calming tryptophan in peace. Don’t we all deserve a few weeks to relax and digest before being lured into holiday shopping deals?
Some people will say, “But Christmas brings people joy!” Sure, it does. But can’t we spread that joy out over a reasonable amount of time? Maybe hold off until at least the day after Thanksgiving? Think of it like dessert: Christmas is the
sweet treat at the very end. It’s that sweet, wonderful ending to the year. But if you start eating dessert halfway through the meal, it kind of ruins the whole point of a treat, doesn’t it?
People argue, “Well, Thanksgiving is only about food. Christmas has a whole vibe.” Okay, first of all, food has a perfectly valid vibe. But even beyond that, Thanksgiving is more than just food. It’s a time to reflect, to reconnect with family and to celebrate what we’re thankful for. It’s a pause button on the year that reminds us of all the good things before we jump into the holiday frenzy. But it’s hard to focus on gratitude when every store is already telling you to buy, buy, buy for Christmas.
Then there’s the decor issue. Have you ever seen a pumpkin centerpiece sitting next to a Christmas tree? It’s confusing, to say the least. Thanksgiving decor is all about fall leaves, pumpkins and warm, earthy colors. Christmas decor is bright, loud and covered in glitter. Mixing them together just feels wrong, like putting ketchup on your pancakes.
So what’s the harm in waiting a few more weeks to start with the Christmas cheer? If anything, it would make the season feel fresher and more exciting. Imagine waking up on the day after Thanksgiving, and bam — the Christmas season of-
ficially begins. The music, the lights and the tree — it all feels new and thrilling again. When we wait until Thanksgiving is over, we get to experience that rush of holiday spirit, rather than letting it stretch on so long that it loses its spark. And let’s be real: starting Christmas early doesn’t actually make the holiday season longer. It just makes it drag on. It’s like reading the last page of a book before you’ve even gotten through the first chapter. You lose that sense of anticipation, that build-up that makes Christmas morning feel so special. So here’s my humble request: let’s give Thanksgiving the space it deserves. Let’s enjoy a few weeks of autumn leaves and turkey dinners without diving headfirst into winter-wonderland mode. Let’s remember that there’s something special about having a limited amount of time to celebrate a holiday. And when the day after Thanksgiving rolls around, I’ll be the first to hit play on the holiday playlist. But until then, let’s keep the Christmas spirit in the freezer for just a little longer. Let Thanksgiving have its place at the holiday table. Christmas can wait.
ADVICE: Coming out safely and celebrating your achievements
BY ANONYMOUS
This advice column responds to questions shared by Sacramento Country Day students anonymously. To submit, send a question to the Google Form sent out on Nov. 6. Responses are not guaranteed, but all submissions are welcome.
Q: I’m a lesbian, but my parents are really homophobic. I’m scared to come out to them. It’s such a big part of me, and I can’t keep it a secret from them. We’ve always been really close and told each other everything. I don’t know what to do.
For starters, know that feeling uncertain about what to do is completely valid. It’s natural to want to share something as important as your sexual orientation with those you’re closest to, especially when honesty has been central to your relationship with your parents.
The fear of losing that bond, however, can make this situation incredibly tough and overwhelming.
Given different families will handle your situation in vastly different ways, you must tailor your approach to coming out specifically to how your parents would react.
Ask yourself these questions: How would they react, not just emotionally but practically? Do you depend on your parents for financial support, food, housing, etc?
If you’re concerned that their reaction could jeopardize any of those, it might be best to wait until you’re in a place where you can handle the possibility of a worst-case-scenario response.
This isn’t about hiding your identity; it’s about protecting yourself.
Now, on the flip side, based on your question, it may very
well be possible your parents—although not receptive to your sexuality—will still accept and love you for who you are.
In this case, consider sitting down with them for an honest conversation. Tell them as it is: your sexuality is an important part of you. Share how you can’t help who you love and give them time to process.
In the meantime, find people you can open up to. Whether it’s friends or LGBTQA+ support groups (Country Day’s Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) or the Sacramento LGBT Community Center), having a space where you’re fully accepted and supported will help you feel understood.
Remember, your identity deserves to be celebrated, and your value doesn’t depend on your parents’ acceptance.
Only you can know when you’re ready. Even if it’s difficult, just know they’re still your family at the end of the day — they love you and likely will come around in time.
Just know you deserve to feel both loved and accepted; with time, you’ll find those who will provide both, family included or not.
Q: So many of my classmates have a lot going for them — good grades, extracurriculars, internships, etc. — while I often feel left behind. How can I stop comparing myself to others and feel more confident in my own achievements?
As a student in a small private school, the environment can often feel overwhelming. There’s constant pressure to earn the highest grades, participate in the most extracurricular activities and shape yourself into an outstanding college applicant. But your mindset must change — what your peers are doing should not affect your self-worth, because everyone has a unique path to success.
Take a moment to think about all of your accomplishments.
From the effort you put into an extracurricular that you genuinely enjoy to the A on that Calculus test you studied hard for, you have so much to be proud of. Each achievement, no matter how big or small, reflects your growth.
As long as you’re striving to reach your full potential, comparing yourself to others does nothing but diminish the value of your own hard work and experiences.
Instead, compare yourself to your past self.
Reflect on where you are now compared to a year ago. Chances are, you’ve made significant progress since then — whether in personal growth, maturity, study skills or discovering your passions. This reflection may also highlight areas for further improvement, helping you set realistic and meaningful goals.
By creating a list of daily objectives, you can celebrate small victories every time you complete a task, giving yourself a sense of progress and accomplishment.
To avoid unhealthy comparisons to others, it may be helpful to limit social media use. Scrolling through countless posts of other high schoolers, you’ll be exposed to the highlights of others’ lives, presenting an unrealistic and discouraging view of success.
Finally, remind yourself that intelligence and success come in many forms. Your strengths and talents will be different from the student sitting next to you, and that’s OK. You can’t replicate the experiences of your peers, and they can’t replicate yours. So moving forward, be proud of what you’ve already accomplished and look forward to what you have yet to achieve.
Undoubtedly, the students of Sacramento Country Day are nothing short of impressive — but so are you! Embrace your individuality and define your own journey, independently of anyone else.
“Christmas Too Early” by Gavin Wang
SPRINTING TO VICTORY
BY AVA LEVERMORE
Making his way to the front of the starting line, New Balance shoes on his feet and a personal best time in his head, Senior Wyatt Hall is ready to run.
Wyatt has been training for cross country and track races since the fifth grade. On Oct. 31, he competed in the Cross Country Boys Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League (SMAL). He won first place in the boys’ varsity category with a time of 18:31 for the 5k run.
“I’ve been working really hard at running for a while, so to see some results was a huge moment for me,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt’s mindset going into races is to set goals and benchmarks throughout the race.
Wyatt says it’s important to focus while running competitively, especially at a winning pace.
“If you’re going for a place on the podium, you want to think about a strategy like finding other runners to pace off so you can get the place you want,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt’s typical pace goal for this cross country season was below 18 minutes. Now after training consistently, his time is moving down to below 17 minutes.
“Sub 18 minutes is around five minutes and 40 seconds per mile. Sub 17 minutes is five minutes and 24 seconds per mile,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt prefers running during the track season because of the flat terrain, though he does not mind the hills in cross country.
As a freshman, he competed in the 2021 Sac-Joaquin Section Championships, where he won the division five freshman race.
In his junior year, he added to his list of accomplishments by winning seventh place at the 2023 Sac-Joaquin Section Championships division five varsity race.
In that same year, he qualified for the California State cross country championships.
Wyatt has been SMAL Varsity Champion this year and the first team all-league.
Aside from those achievements, Wyatt’s most memorable moment was relaying in the California International Marathon last year with his dad.
“My dad ran the first half. I ran the second half. That was a ton of fun. It was the longest race I had ever run,” Wyatt said. “We were just under three and a half hours for our total time.”
Like the up and downhills of cross country courses, Wyatt’s running journey has had its highs and lows.
Last track season, Wyatt was recovering from a knee injury. The tendons weakened because of overuse from training.
When the cross country season started in July, Wyatt’s injury hadn’t recovered. He was not able to return to his practices until September.
Since his recovery, Wyatt practices for one to two hours every weekday. There are different workouts for each day.
“There are long run days where you do a long run and shorter run days where you run shorter distances, multiple times, at a faster pace, and then variations of each,” Wyatt said.
Junior Vann Bolman is a member of the Country Day track team along with Wyatt. He believes Wyatt’s positive atti tude keeps his energy up and helps him stay positive during practice.
“Seeing as you’re always running to get your new fastest time, people like Wyatt are always there to remind you of the end goal and to keep pushing through the difficult times,” Bolman said.
The current cross country coach, Kristoffer Hall, is Wyatt’s dad.
Kristoffer has coached Wyatt for the past four years and is now head coach of the Country Day Cross Country Team.
Kristoffer said Wyatt had a great running foundation coming out of middle school. Having run since fifth grade for Country Day, he transitioned very well to high school cross country.
“It has been great watching him develop a love for the sports, both cross country and track,” Kristoffer said. “As he progressed into his junior and senior years, he definitely became a better runner, but also improved his general strategy on how to run each race, which has served him well in the last two years.”
Wyatt believes that one of the reasons he has been able to improve so much is having constant access to a coach, his dad.
“It’s interesting because he wasn’t the head coach for most of my seasons on the team. It helps to have the head coach right there if I ever need anything,” Wyatt said.
Additionally, Wyatt has been training at practices with freshman Carly Townend.
“He never complains about having to run and he’s just always ready to go and that motivates me because sometimes the mental aspect of running can be really hard to navigate and it’s great to have a teammate who’s like that,” Townend said. “He’s great at cheering everybody on during their races.”
Wyatt’s coaches also had a role in helping him improve as a runner.
What keeps Wyatt running is the enjoyment of the sport and his improvement over time.
“I’ve been consistently getting better at running my entire life. I enjoy seeing the improvement and mainly seeing the results of all that hard work,” Wyatt said.
The advice that Kristoffer gave to Wyatt that stood out to him was that all the training and hard work was a sacrifice to compete in the top races.
“We work hard to get to the big races. It’s OK to enjoy these big moments and have some fun,” Kristoffer said.
Although Wyatt does not plan to get recruited for college, he plans to join his future college’s junior varsity squad to keep on running throughout his college career.
For many, crossing the finish line is just the end of a race. But, for Wyatt, it marks the beginning of races yet to come.
VICTORY LAP Senior Wyatt Hall takes the lead in last year’s Brian Lewis Invitational. PHOTO COURTESY OF @SACCDS INSTAGRAM
CHROMAKOPIA
STORY BY JESSE DIZON; GRAPHICS BY ZEMA NASIROV; Photo courtesy of Tyler okonma
“Darling, I” FT. Teezo Touchdown
From the first beat, the song pulls you in with its infectious rhythm and fresh sound. It’s upbeat, vibrant and effortlessly taps into the pulse of today’s music scene.
Tyler, the Creator starts the song with the catchy lyric, “Darling, I keep- (keep falling in love),” which becomes the song’s motif.
Throughout this stunning song, Tyler expresses how he is unable to stay tied down to one person, due to always falling in love with other people. Tyler’s struggle with monogamy is evident as he portrays his negative feelings towards long-term relationships and commitments throughout this song.
In “Darling, I,” there is also an insight into Tyler’s romantic restlessness — the cycle of falling in love but quickly becoming captivated by the excitement of new experiences and connections. This desire for fresh feelings and interactions disrupts his ability to focus on one partner long-term.
In addition to the lyrics, the music also conveys this feeling and conflict of falling in love. The powerful synth chords paired with subtle beat-boxing in the background, with drums and layered vocals simulate the chaotic feeling of falling in love.
The song also has a sense of relatability, capturing the universal experience of falling in love and the struggle of those who fall in love with multiple people.
What draws me in is how the lyrics both complement the song’s atmosphere and amplify its rhythmic energy.
The beat takes entire control over the body, and the groovy lyrics inspire at least a few head bops.
Overall, this is one of my favorite songs and one that will become a part of my daily song rotations.
“Rah Tah Tah”
5/5
In a word, overwhelming. From the start, this song felt like too much all at once.
“Rah Tah Tah” is about Tyler’s fame and riches, exemplifying his status and superiority.
What draws me away from the ideas that Tyler was trying to portray is the instruments. The beat is too distracting and it becomes hard to focus on the lyrics and meaning of the song, as they become drowned out by the background noise.
Instead of working in harmony, the jumbled mass of background instruments creates chaos, obscuring the song’s meaning and challenging the listener’s experience. This song does not particularly stand out to me in terms of the musicality or lyrics due to it being over dramatic and cluttered.
The lyrics are centered around his own riches, which, to me, is not as impactful as his other songs, which have more meaningful, grounded and relatable lyrics.
The lack of connectedness coupled with the sheer intensity of the music took away from his lyrical art and meaning.
2/5
In a word, “St. Chroma” is daring. As a bold step into uncharted territory, this passionate song delves into the light within.
The tension-filled song opens with a talking sample from Tyler, the Creator’s mother, Bonita Smith, talking to him about how he should never dim his creative light. The chanting of “Chromakopia” that follows shortly after becomes an addicting aspect that complements the strong beats of stomping, vocal notes and the rise to chaos in the background.
Tyler, the Creator then starts the song by whispering lyrics like a rap, following the beat of the song. The whispering paired with the stomping and harmonic vocals builds up the anticipation for the rest of the song and creates a sense of excitement for the rest of the music to come.
Some melodic lyrics in particular stand out, such as “Can you feel the light inside? Can you feel that fire?” These lyrics not only sound ethereal, but they also have meaning and connect to the sample at the beginning of the song. Tyler seemingly asks himself: Can he feel the light inside? The fire for creativity?
This song showcases his artistic creativity and diversity in music, as “St. Chroma” is unlike any other song he has made in his discography.
“St. Chroma” is powerful, yet elegant at the same time, and the stark contrast between the beats and the melodies and vocals make this song an ingenious masterpiece.
4/5
“Like Him” FT. Lola Young
After listening to “Like Him” for the first time, I instantly knew it would be one of my favorites from this album that features the talented indie singer and songwriter Lola Young.
The song opens with the gentle plunk of piano keys delicately tiptoeing, before welcoming Bonita Smith — Tyler’s mother — to speak once again. Smith begins this song by talking about how Tyler physically resembles his absent father, and throughout the song it seems as if Tyler is going down an emotional spiral, questioning himself and his own resemblance to his father.
“Like Him” explores different themes of longing, self-discovery and validation. From a musical standpoint, this song reflects his longing and emotional distraught stunningly. The simple piano in the beginning of the song feels melancholy and builds tension as the song starts to escalate into a complex arrangement, reflecting the song’s rising emotional intensity.
This aspect of “Like Him” takes it from a regular song to an introspective and creative work of art. As the song progresses, the piano is accompanied by the electric guitar, synth and bass, creating a dreamy atmosphere as the chords flow and integrate in the air of a musical storm.
My favorite part of the song comes near the end, where he pauses for about 10 seconds before reintroducing the music with a breathtaking escalation of synth notes. This moment seamlessly blends all the elements — Lola Young’s vocals, his own voice, the beat and the instrumental layers—into an extraordinary harmony that feels almost heavenly.
Out of all the songs in “Chromokopia,” this would be one of my favorites, as it is just a song that is both emotionally and musically impactful. From the moment I heard “Like Him,” I knew I would give the song a strong five out of five stars.
“St. Chroma,” ft. Daniel Caesar
Graphics by Andrew Burr;
Photos courtesy of Xu, Nasirov, Allen & Weitzman