the eye Singapore American High School
September 3, 2007/vol. 27 no. 1
MOVE TO THE BEAT: Students set the beat for the new school year at the Welcome Back Dance on the first Friday of the school year. Photos by Brian Riady
PARALYZED BY NEON: Freshmen Paige Carmichael and Brittney Diamond strike their first poses as high schoolers.
Year begins with premier of one-shop, one stop, blue bottoms and hasty exit of long locks and popular flip flops. by Amanda Tsao As students ascended the grand staircase at open house they were confronted by a green board pinned with navy blue shorts, skorts and skirts. The navy blue bottoms are from a collection from Lim Meng Keng on the second floor of Holland Road Shopping Centre, which has long carried SAS uniform bottoms. This year the bottoms are optional; next year they are compulsory. For the first time, the dress code sections in the handbook of all four school divisions are the same, ending
OUT WITH THE BAD: Chinese lion dancers weave through the cafeteria on the second day of school.The lions expelled evil spirits and brought good fortune for the school year. Photo by Brian Riady
the confusion faced by parents with students in several divisions. The administrators of all four schools agreed last year on a consistent format. Administrators agreed on a philosophy that would guide dress codes in all four divisions: “SAS students are expected to dress in a manner that shows respect for all members of our international community, is safe, and reflects an attitude of professionalism and success.” “We needed to have a philosophy that we used to filter expectations through. For us it was kind of like the five cornerstones,” Deputy Principal Doug Neihart said. Flip-flop sandals, once allowed on alternate dress days, are now prohibited. Neihart said he had been lenient in the past with girls who wore single-plug shoes on regular dress days. He said he didn’t approach them then because the
Year starts with roar, rock, and more rules
flip-flops looked dressy enough to fit the philosophy. A similar ambiguity allowed boys to have ponytails. Last year Michael Howard’s petition to legalize long hair for boys had its justification from one word in the handbook: “Boy’s hair must be cut or styled in such a manner that it does not fall below the bottom of the collar.” This allowed boys the freedom to have long hair so long as it was kept above the collar. The new rule removes any ambiguity: “Boys’ hair must be cut so that it does not fall below the bottom of the collar or touch their eyebrows. No hair tails (pony tails, etc) are allowed for boys.” Howard’s petition was submitted to superintendent Bob Gross but no changes were made. For the remainder of last year, some male students continued to wear their long hair in ponytails. Last year senior Jacob Massabrio-
Cheung kept his hair, well past shoulder length, in a bun. On the first day of school both high school deputy principals and the principal approached him about his hair and the new rule. Massabrio-Cheung cut his hair as a result. He didn’t really mind. “I just did it,” Massabrio-Cheung said, “but I would like to see that the rule is gone. I would like to be able to make the decision of whether I want to cut it or not.” First grade teacher and SAS parent Gwen Brill liked the new hair rule. “It makes [students] look neat and kind of well-mannered. As a teacher, if you have a student with his hair always in his eyes you can never tell when he’s listening,” Brill said. For now there is no indication of changing rules in the handbook for next year. Save perhaps for the typo on page 32 of “skits” to “skirts.”
MYTHBUSTER 3-FINGERS RULE
Tank tops are allowed as long as the straps are the same width as three of the student’s fingers.
15-MINUTE RULE
Students are allowed to leave class if the teacher is fifteen minutes or more late.
‘ANY HOE GOES’ RULE Students may eat at either the middle or high school caf (Last year disciplinary measures were taken for any high school student caught purchasing food from the wrong Hoe. High school students must eat at High Hoe’s).
No complaints, few surprises from new kids on the block by Alex Boothe Sophomore Brooke McMangal and her brother, senior Tyler McManigal, are two of the 121 transfer students at SAS now calling Singapore home. This is Brooke’s first experience with living overseas, so when she learned she was moving she was “pretty excited.” Before Singapore she and her family lived in Seattle, Washington, where she attended public school. One of the major differences she noticed when she arrived at SAS was its size; her previous school was smaller, and she admitted she still has trouble finding her way around. She said the upside to all her confusion was the kindness
of SAS students. “They’re all really nice and very welcoming,” she said. McManigal has joined the crosscountry team. She said she is excited to be here, but that it would take some getting used to. Senior Laura Picard on the other hand has spent very little time in public schools and is used to the international life. It is her third time moving to Singapore, but this is her first time as an SAS student. Before moving back to Singapore, Picard lived in Japan where she attended ASIJ, and before that, New York, where she attended a public school. She was excited when she learned that
she was moving back to Singapore. “I was happy because I was actually getting bored of Japan,” Picard said. And now that she’s here, she finds herself adapting well. Picard helped start an A cappella Club and has joined IPAU. She found it easy making friends because she was so involved. “I think [SAS students] know what it feels like to be a new kid just because everyone else moves around a lot,” she said. Junior Ryan Goulding is also not a foreigner to the expat life, although he is attending SAS for the first time. Goulding attended other international
schools in Argentina, Bangkok and Taiwan, but he dubbed Singapore his favorite. “I like it here a lot,” Goulding said. As for SAS itself, he really does not see that much of a difference from his previous schools. Because he already had friends here, Goulding’s transition was much easier. He finds SAS an “Americanized” environment – comforting and adaptable. Goulding visited SAS for softball IASAS in 2007, and became familiar with the campus over the course of those four days. He has joined Habitat for Humanity, Bintan Club, Athletic
Council and SACAC football, a sport he is playing for the first time. One new freshman from Holland is not quite so confident about the transition. For Philip Van Zandelholf the SAS scene is new to him in more ways than one. He’s not only a freshman entering high school for the first time, but a new student as well. Van Zandelholf has lived in the colder climates of Europe his whole life, so he was skeptical about living one degree from the equator. “On one hand I thought it would be hard because of the time difference and the weather, but on the other hand I really wanted to move to Asia,” Van Zandelholf said.
2 news
September 3, 2007
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the Eye
High school welcomes new and returning teachers by Amber Bang For the past eight years, Venezuelan politics have been characterized by a measure of antiAmericanism, but that was not social studies teacher Devin Kay’s reason for moving. Kay comes to SAS from Colegio Internacionale de Puerta La Cruz, where he taught for three years. Before teaching in Venezuela, Kay taught in Taiwan for three years. He is a small-town boy from Windlake, Wisconsin who loves to travel, and jumped at the chance to teach overseas after finishing graduate school. “I never wanted to work at the same school for 25 years,” Kay said. Kay decided to teach in Singapore because he wanted to return to Asia. “I love Latin America because it’s very festive, and people are outgoing, but it’s nice to have peace and tranquility in Asia,” he said. Guided learning teacher Karen Olah was the director of special education at a public school in Cheshire, Connecticut before moving to Singapore. Looking for a way to be closer to her daughter and two granddaughters, who live in Singapore, she talked to former superintendent Bob Gross last October about a job at SAS. She toured the school, and then interviewed in February.
“I love the city, and I’m close to family here,” she said. Others found work at SAS through much more unusual methods. A backpacking trip through Southeast Asia turned into a job opportunity when Josh Nobles, SAS class of ‘99, ran into social studies teacher Jim Baker last year in Singapore. Baker told Nobles that Brian Coombes, the sports director at the time, was looking for someone in sports medicine to work at SAS. Two days later, Nobles interviewed for the position. Nobles, who lived in Singapore and attended SAS from three to 19, studied sports medicine at Elon University and the University of Colorado, Boulder. He worked at a sports medicine clinic in San Diego before rejoining the SAS community this academic year as the new activities/athletics trainer. A backpacking trip 12 years ago led new high school counselor Nathan Schelble to discover SAS. Schelble traveled around the world for a year after receiving his master’s degree. “I was in Singapore sitting in a backpacker’s hostel, and literally just opened the phonebook and found Singapore American School,” Schelble said. “I was interested in teaching overseas, so I called and toured the school.” Ron Starker, head of the
counseling department at the time, let Schelble stay in his apartment. Schelble decided he would first teach in the U.S. before returning overseas. He spent five years working in a public high school in New York, and then in Bangkok at the Thai-Chinese International School. His most recent job was in Kobe, Japan at the Canadian Academy where he worked for four years before coming to Singapore. Teachers returning to SAS are Roy Tomlinson and Keith Hynes who come back after one-year stints abroad. Tomlinson spent a year at the International School of Manila as athletics and activities director before returning to SAS to teach math and a social studies course. “There’s a certain level of respect in the atmosphere at SAS that I miss,” Tomlinson said in a May 2007 interview with the Eye. Physical education teacher Keith Hynes moved to Toronto for a year before deciding to return to Singapore. Hynes had moved to Toronto because of his wife, Lisa Oake, new journalism teacher, who had a job there. When the two retuned to Singapore, they were both offered jobs at SAS. “It doesn’t feel any different,” Hynes said. “The trees are bigger – at the front of the school there’s shade now.” Oake, currently working as
a part time teacher, worked as a news anchor for Business News Network for a year in Toronto before moving back to Singapore to teach for the first time. “I get the chance to teach young people,” Oake said. She said that she was glad to be passing on the torch to the next generation of journalists. Also working part time this year is Spanish teacher Noelia Mayorgas, who is a native of Barcelona, and has been living in Singapore for a year doing freelance interpretation and translation. Mayorgas met a teacher from the middle school who told her there was a vacant spot for a Spanish teacher. She came to interview at SAS and was placed in the high school as a Spanish teacher. Mayorgas had taught in Dublin for two years before moving to China where she taught for a year. “Singapore is great,” Mayorgas said. “Everything works more smoothly here.” New part time Chinese teacher Miao Li Hua Yang has taught in the U.S. and China. She received a referral from the Chinese teachers, since she has been involved in the SAS community for many years. Yang has a daughter who graduated from SAS, and a son in tenth grade. Four not quite so new teachers come to the high school from the
middle school this year. The most visible has been Deputy Principal Lauren Mehrbach. Mehrbach commented on the difference in maturity, both physically and psychologically. “I can’t see the tops of everybody’s heads [in the high school],” she said. “And the conversations with students are much more adult.” Mehrbach said that although things have gone well so far, everyone is still on their best behavior. Former middle school English teacher, Amy Zuber Meehan, is now teaching English 10 and British Literature. It is not her first time teaching high school English. She taught it in New Zealand before coming to Singapore. It is health teacher Annika Ferell’s fifth year in Singapore, and though she enjoyed teaching in the middle school, she decided to switch positions when the job opportunity came. “Kids are just a bit bigger [in the high school],” she said. “High schoolers are also more inclined to learn.” Dr. Jeff Devens has taken the position as full time high school psychologist. Dr. David Putnam previously served as middle school and high school psychologist. Devens is teaching a psychology class as well.
In the zone: naan and hot cocoa a hit with students by Megan Anderson If the comforting smell of freshly brewed coffee doesn’t lure you to SAS’s new eatery, the wafting aroma of naan and curry will. Located next to the high school library, the Eagle Zone blends itself into the modern SAS architecture. With its colorful décor, delicious food and efficient service, the new café has become popular with students and teachers. “The food is really good, a little bit pricey but I think it’s worth it,” senior Chelsea Curto said. “It’s different than other things you can get in the cafeteria.” The food and beverage company, Sodexho manages the Eagle Zone and has another outlet in the cafeteria called Nourish, which replaced Juice Zone. According to Anthony Wong, the Director of Facilities at SAS, Juice Zone was not popular because of slow service, a lack of variety and high prices. Eagle Zone hopes to avoid this problem by providing a wider range of food items and more efficient service. “We hope to serve students with a balance of a fairly decent variety of food,” Wong said. “Our number one concern is ensuring students are tended to as quickly as possible due to the short breaks.” Sodexho manages food outlets in other schools in Singapore such as UWC, the French School, German School, Singapore Polytechnic, and NUS so they have experience
with crowds of starving children. The major obstacle is maximizing efficiency in such a small space. So far, despite efforts, long lines and crowds are already posing a problem and seem almost inevitable in such a small space. “I can tell just by going there at the beginning of lunch that the area is going to get really crowded,” senior Katy Lydens said. “[The design] is very pretty, but not particularly efficient because there is really no space for lines,” Curto said. Crowds and long lines are kept in check by the “Pick-and-go System”, Tan said. With the issues of long lines and crowds in the cafeteria last year, it was clear that the expanding student body was taking its toll on existing outlets at SAS. “After the first year [in the new cafeteria] it became apparent that the dining spaces were fairly limited and congested,” Wong said. “We had to look at addressing the congestion.” The menu consists of both local and western cuisine and gives students and faculty yet another dining option. “We cater to a variety of different tastes: vegetarians, meat lovers, and those with a sweet tooth,” Unit manager Gabriel Tan Said. The Eagle Zone also offers healthy options such as fruit salads and a variety of wholesome sandwiches. Among the more popular
BREADTALKS:Tasty muffins, croissants, and puffs wait for hungry students.
QUEUING UP AT THE EAGLE ZONE: The menu (right) boasts a variety of options. The coffee machine (top left) grinds coffee throughout the day, catering to caffeine addicts. Chef Rana (top) expertly kneads the naan dough for waiting customers. Photos by Megan Anderson.
items offered is the North Indian cuisine. Chef Rana, a specialist in North Indian cuisine, has been with Sodexho for seven years and is now kept busy with the popularity of naan among the SAS students. “The one item that we strongly wanted to push was the Indian counter,” Wong said. The area next to the library has
always been a potential space for a café of some sort. In past years, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf have assembled at the location and has always been interested in opening an outlet on campus. The high prices and lack of variety of food would limit their potential success, Wong said. SAS high school students and
teachers now have four food outlets to choose from within the high school vicinity. Eagle Zone will hopefully remain popular in years to come so as to provide relief for the crowded cafeteria. “We will continue to provide and adjust to the students wants,” Wong said.
the Eye
staff editorial
The stifling of 1200 yawns Five minutes into the first assembly of the new school year, students started checking their watches. Some looked longingly at the door, while others covertly talked with their friends. Two brought out a deck of “Magic” cards and played with muted exclamations. Timetables were compared and the new dress code condemned in hushed tones. The upshot was very few people seemed to be listening to Principal Dave Norcott. It wasn’t Norcott’s delivery but his topic that ensured almost nobody paid attention. Any speech coach or writing instructor will tell you that you have to know your audience. And it doesn’t take a degree in child psychology to understand that most teenagers will get bored listening to a discourse on the importance of responsibility. Australian author Gregory Roberts said that there is nothing more depressing than good advice, and if Norcott needs to talk about shared values and responsibility, he has other forums. The first assembly of a new academic year sets the mood, and is an important opportunity for the administration to connect with students and the faculty. The moralistic tone of Norcott’s address alienated him—it had far too much in it about behavior. While it is not quite a “big brother is watching” scenario, punishments should not be on a first assembly agenda. Vice Principals Doug Neihart and Lauren Mehrbach were scarcely better. Double-teaming might work on the Morning Show, but Neihart and Mehrbach’s attempt was a failure. Perhaps they could get some tips from broadcast students. Or maybe its just an age thing—you can pull off stuff when you’re seventeen
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that you can’t when you’re over forty. However you look at it, the administration lost the plot. Even the best teachers and principals can sometimes take the wrong tone, and this happened here. As long as the speakers realize that they have to entertain their audience, assemblies do not have to be an excruciating experience. Respect is not an inherent right, especially when standing in front of 1200 fidgety teenagers. Speakers get a grace period, perhaps of five minutes, whereupon if they fail to captivate their audience, that audience loses interest. It may be slightly disrespectful, but is a natural instinct. Putting 1200 teenagers together and expecting them to listen quietly to a monotonous speech crosses the line from unreasonable to nuts. The only time people sat up was when Norcott spoke about Virginia Tech, and how students need to support each other. It was not his message but a perfectly timed loud noise that grabbed their attention. It is telling that the only highlight in the assembly had nothing to do with the administration. SAS is not one big happy family. There are cliques, and the diverse student body does not have much in common. As long as the administration recognizes this, a convivial atmosphere can develop. While it will never be a second home, SAS can be an excellent school. If Norcott, Neihart and Mehrbach limit the discourse on rules, and do not pretend that SAS is an extended family, the next assembly will not be an exercise in tedium. Everybody makes mistakes. For all our sakes, lets hope this one isn’t repeated.
Singapore American High School 40 Woodlands Street 41 Republic of Singapore 738547 Staff: (65) 6363-3404 x537 Adviser: (65) 6363-3404 x539 Fax: (65) 6363-6443 eye@sas.edu.sg
Editors-in-chief: Megan Anderson, sr. editor Amanda Tsao, Ravi Shanmugam News editor: Amanda Tsao, sr. editor, See Young Lee Op/Ed editor: Ravi Shanmugam, sr. editor; Alex Lim Features editor: Alex Boothe, sr. editor, Amber Bang, Akilesh Pant Eye In Focus editor: Devin Hardee, Hee Soo Chung A&E editor: Jon Cheng, Lizzie Ashby Sports editor: Barbara Lodwick Photo: Megan Anderson, Lizzie Ashby, Brian Riady, Jin Yoo Kim Reporters: Megan Anderson, Lizzie Ashby, Amber Bang, Alex Boothe, Jon Cheng, Rohin Dewan, Devin Hardee, DJ Hartman, Lorenzo Holt, Jin Yoo Kim, See Young Lee, Nick Leisiuk, Alex Lim, Barbara Lodwick, Akilesh Pant, Ravi Shanmugam, Amanda Tsao Adviser: Mark Clemens Assistant adviser: Judy Agusti
The Eye is the student newspaper of the Singapore American School. All opinions stated within these pages are those of their respective writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Singapore American School, its board of governors, PTA, faculty or administration. Comments and suggestions can be sent to the Eye via the Internet at eye@sas. edu.sg. At the author’s request, names can be withheld from publication. Letters will be printed as completely as possible. The Eye reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of taste and space.
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Crackdown on toonies overdue Fullmetal Alchemist and Bleach the owners of the offending IP addresses. seem like names out of a toddler’s comic Many received a letter of demand from book, but these cartoons are attracting Odex’s lawyers, and some had to pay Odex up to $5000. people significantly The local Anime older. They are the community is up in teenager’sanswerto arms. Although illegal Tin Tin, Asterix and downloading is a Obelix. Alchemist crime in Singapore, and Bleach are it has long been a anime characters. rule honored more Anime, or Japanese in the breach than animation, is observance. popular with kids Laws that are who turn their noses not enforced create up at Batman and their own ambiguity. the Joker but can’t If violations of the tear themselves Ravi Shanmugam dress code were not from the world of punished, few would cartoons. follow it. Likewise, Anime users, like music aficionados, have an affinity if students did not get into trouble for for illegal downloads. They got a rude cheating, honesty would be out the shock this year, as Odex, a leading window. As important as the law itself, distributor of anime in Singapore, started is its enforcement. By turning a blind taking legal action against this breach of eye to illegal downloads for so long, its copyright. It tracked the IP addresses the government has suggested that such of people using illegal downloads from infringements will escape chastisement. More important than the legal suspected sites, and forced internet service providers like StarHub to disclose question, though, is the moral dimension.
The government may have turned a blind eye to illegal downloads, but that does not excuse the people who took this as a license to save a few bucks. I am not against saving money per se, just not at the expense of intellectual property rights. Merely because a rule isn’t enforced does not mean it can be flaunted with impunity. Students know when they are doing something wrong; they are doing so because of an unwillingness to pay for their enjoyment. Fundamental to our society is the concept of payment. We all pay for goods and services rendered, allowing the provider to make money. We pay our school to educate us, and pay Mr. Ho when we buy his lemon chicken. As Jim Baker is fond of telling his students, “There is no free lunch.” Why, then, should it be different for the creators of Anime? Infringements of copyright and illegal downloading deserve to be punished. The protests of affected Anime users are nothing more than disingenuous howls of pain at the prospect of having to fork out a little money.
Uniform code recalls rebuffed sneetches
For those of us who remember brushed the top of our kneecaps the Dr. Seuss story of plain and watched as short-armed classmates star-bellied sneetches, we recall frolicked through their classes in pre-pubescent one of our freedom. As the earliest lessons years passed, our in discrimination. tribe shrank as the The plain-bellied magical process sneetches are of puberty began treated poorly to fill some of because they us out. Yet many don’t have stars, of us remained and the starshort-less. bellies think they Fortunately, by are superior. We the time I reached don’t promote high school, our inequality at kind were no SAS, but in a way Amanda Tsao longer bound to the plain and starstrict inspection bellied sneetches and joined in the are an allegory to frolicking. this year’s change in dress code. But this year, as the high school As one of that tribe of awkward and gangly pre-teens, I could never has adapted a version of the middle wear a pair of shorts during my school fingertip rule (see page 32 middle school years at SAS. The of the student handbook), we longfingertip rule was ruthless. Those armed sneetches are in for a trip of us whose long arms almost down memory lane.
TSAOISM- An indirect direction
It’s true that many belonging to that lanky tribe are also known to dress scantily, and the new rule is supposed to negate the image they project, but there will always be delinquents in any given group. Take the high-browed sneetches for example, notorious for sleeping in class while hiding behind thick fringes of hair. They are subject to scrutiny now that their hair can’t touch their eyebrows (page 32). Rest assured there will be no high-browed-twiggy-limbed sneetch mutiny. Many of us actually like the dress code and uniform as it keeps flesh-baring and sloppy sneetches from parading down the halls and scaring the visitors (don’t worry, our tribe is working on keeping them in their cages.) We merely hope that lengths in measuring dress are kept subjective to all individuals; long-armed and short-armed, high-browed and low-browed sneetches alike.
By Amanda Tsao
4 sports
September 3, 2007
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Auxilary gym renovations to move quickly
Phase One Complete: The first stage of the renovations was to remove the old roof and begin the framework inside the building. The new building will sport three full size gyms. Photos by Barbara Lodwick.
by Barbara Lodwick The sketchy scaffolding serving as a barrier between the rubble of the old auxiliary gyms, the field and the pool is an obvious sign that the gyms are being renovated and rebuilt. The gyms are undergoing major construction due to be completed at the end of October or in early November. Instead of two gyms, there will be three. The roof has been knocked down, and a full sized gym will be built over the existing gyms. The renovation will proceed in three stages, with the first already underway. The demolition of the roof covering the existing gyms will be followed by setting the footprint of the upper gyms. Then the lower gyms will be sealed off so they are usable. The lower gyms will be ready for use towards the end of
October, or at the latest, November 1. The final stage will be to finish the upper gyms. The new gym will be of the same quality as the high school “gymatorium,” but without the projectors, dimming lights and sound system. “I think it’s going to be a great space to allow us for more student participation in all three seasons.” Athletic Director Will Norris said. While the gyms are beneficial to the athletic programs of the future, there have been some inconveniences caused by the construction. “Sometimes we can’t play on the stadium field because of the noise, we can’t hear each other on the field.” Senior soccer captain Alex Shaulis said. One lower gym will continue
to serve as a practice gym for the SACAC gymnastics team. The gym used to be a fully functional gymnastics facility. The gymnasts are temporarily using the elementary school gym, but will return to the auxiliary gym facility upon its completion. The construction accommodates the growing student body. Previously, the junior varsity teams had to take turns using the auxiliary gyms. The gym, being worse than the middle and high school gyms, was never anyone’s first choice. With the addition of the new gyms, and an improvement in quality of the floor the auxiliary gyms will now improve it’s usage. The Junior varsity will no longer be last on the food chain when the gyms are dealt out for the indoor sports.
New teams form, captains named as try-outs conclude
by Barbara Lodwick Coming back to school after a long summer break produces conflicting emotions in many students. Not everybody is happy to return to the monotony of lessons and homework that school entails. But for jocks, school means sports, and the first week is synonymous with tryouts.
It is a chance to resume training and crush the opposition. Seniors especially look forward to their seasons because it means the election of captains, and they are finally in with a shout. Cross Country has five captains this year. The seniors , appointed by the coach, are Chi Chi Lin, Devin Hardee, Renuka Agarwal, Sunny
Han and Evan Shawler. With soccer, three is the charm; on the boys side there are three captains: Kyo Joong Kim, Markus Friis and Jordan reed. On the girl’s side there are three senior captains, returning players Natalie Favati, Megan Anderson and Alex Shaulis. In the gyms, the girls varsity team broke with tradition and opted
for two seniors as opposed to a junior and senior. The seniors are returning members Barbara Lodwick and Alexandra Boothe. The boys volleyball captains are seniors Chris Hussey and Kelson Nef.
From left to right: Senior Victor Seet runs laps around the track, freshmen show off their heading skills on the back field during girls soccer tryouts. Senior Rachel Liou returns a serve while Coach Lodwick records observations. This is Mrs.Lodwicks’ second year as girls volleyball coach. Photos by Brian Riady.