The Bolt November 2023

The

BOLT

November 2023 Volume 24, Issue 2 lightningboltonline.com Sage Hill School 20402 Newport Coast Drive, Newport Coast, CA 92657

Students Embody Sage Spirit in Fall Pep R ally

Students gathered in the Peter V. Ueberroth Gymnasium for festivities at the Fall Pep Rally on Oct. 20.

By Mirabelle Jiang

The first pep rally of the school year wrapped up a spirit-filled week of jerseys, white lies and country club outfits. As excited students sporting their class colors packed the stands on Oct. 20, the Sage Hill jazz band played a rendition of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” to amp up the energy. They were followed by senior Tati Malekzadeh singing the national anthem. The Dance Team gave an electric performance to a mashup of “Meet Me Halfway” by the Black Eyed Peas and “Give Me Everything” by Pitbull.

Class co-chairs led their grades in the traditional class chant after the various performances. Students from all grades enthusiastically participated in their chants, blowing trumpets and ringing cowbells to add to the festivities.

Similar to last year, Dean of School Life

OPINION, Page 2

Dominic Campeau used a decibel meter to measure the volume of each roaring chant impartially.

After the chants, each grade screened their music videos for the school to watch, with a variety of songs featured in every video. Freshmen danced to Taylor Swift’s “Delicate,” sophomores lip-synched to Fergie’s “Glamorous” and Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night,” juniors sang along to Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and seniors put together a photo montage of memories of their four years at Sage.

This pep rally marks the second time that music videos, instead of skits, were used to showcase each grade’s talents and students. The format change has received wide support from the Sage Hill community. Compared to skits, the music videos are more understandable and

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clear, said junior Emily Chen, adding that it’s easier for students to participate in the music videos.

The festivities continued with Zorb soccer, in which students faced off in a soccer match whilst half-encased in an inflatable bubble. Though the sophomores quickly won their game against the freshmen, the match between the juniors and seniors dragged on for much longer, with both grades fiercely fighting for the win. Eventually, the match went to penalty kicks.

Junior Noah Jimenez faced off against senior Aidan Raymer. The gym was filled with roaring cheers as the two played, bringing together students from all grades as they waited in anticipation for one of the players to score. The juniors eventually won the match, and the gym burst into excitement as students

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NEWS, Page 6

Jenny Li | The Bolt

rushed onto the floor to celebrate their victory.

This year, the pep rally judging panel consisted of Assistant Head of School for Academics Dr. Matt Balossi, Director of Athletics Megan Cid and Campeau. After much deliberation, the panel declared the sophomores victors in overall spirit and best chant, with seniors in second, juniors third and freshmen last. As the results were announced, each grade erupted into jubilant cheers, with sophomores celebrating the loudest as they snatched their first pep rally victory.

As the festivities ended, students reflected on the spirit-filled week as they helped clean up the gym.

“I really enjoyed the day,” junior Melody Yu said. “I was happy to see my grade come together and try to win.”

ENTERTAINMENT, Page 7

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The Bolt November 2023 Sage Hill School

Opinion

How Can We Foster Civil Discourse During a Crisis?

By the Bolt Editorial Board

Around the world, millions are grappling with the outbreak of violence in Gaza, a strip of territory that Israel occupies. In an Oct. 7 attack, the militant Palestinian group Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis and took about 240 hostages. The Israeli Defense Forces responded by bombing the Gaza strip and killing over 11,000 Palestinians, including over 4,500 children, The New York Times reports.

Israel cut off access to water, food, medical aid, Internet and fuel to Gaza’s 2.2 million residents for weeks. After facing international pressure, Israeli officials allowed dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian aid to cross the border into Gaza. For the first time since the latest conflict started, a truck carrying fuel to the United Nations relief effort was allowed to cross on Nov. 15, according to Reuters.

In October, rallies in support of both Israel’s and the Palestinians’ causes erupted on college and university campuses across the nation. These centers for academic exploration and exchange of ideas became hotspots for protests and are facing backlash from the colleges’ administrations and even prominent public figures and donors.

With a history that goes back 80 years, many people feel alienated from speaking on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, fearing that they will say the wrong thing and be ostracized, demoted and/or fired.

Social media and television commentary has continued to polarize communities, as people consume completely different world perspectives. Particularly on Instagram and X, opinions shared can quickly turn into a battlefield of extremes, and often reject any nuance. Citizens are blamed for the actions of their government, victims are dehumanized and collective punishment for an entire people is justified. Others may feel that staying neutral is the only way to avoid conflict.

While this may seem like the safer route, it completely paralyzes any possibility for civil discourse.

This option is not fair to any of the victims or to the scope of the violence. This unfolding humanitarian crisis is one that is sensitive to not just Palestinians or Israelis, but to Jews, Muslims and Middle Eastern people in our own community and school. Can we as students truly live with our school’s core values of courage and compassion while remaining silent in the face of human suffering? We respectfully disagree.

Human suffering shouldn’t carry more weight based on what side of a border wall someone is born on.

A situation where people are stuck in their own perspective and unwilling to engage in discourse is one where citizens feel isolated from their friends and communities. Instead of shying away from discussion, schools should facilitate spaces where civil discourse and students can respectfully challenge each other’s opinions. These conversations matter.

With a community as diverse as Sage Hill, this dialogue exposes students to different perspectives and acknowledges more than one story and stance can peacefully coexist.

We cannot simply resign ourselves to the idea that the Middle East is removed from us and our influence. As citizens of a nation that fiscally and diplomatically supports Israel and is heavily involved in the geopolitics of the Middle East, we have an obligation to continuously educate ourselves and reject apathy. We must actively seek out the voices of more than one side and listen to each other, not simply to respond, but to understand.

Opinion: Parking Lot Parents - The Sequel

By Anne Chen

The campus celebrities idling their way through the student lot in a not-so-lightning fashion are none other than the infamous parking lot parents. More dependable than our campus internet service, parking lot parents can always be counted on to roll in the student lot by 7:30 a.m. and boomerang back right as the clock hits 3 p.m. It wouldn’t be a normal morning if there wasn’t a queue of parents’ cars lined up at the blocked exit entrance, waiting until students stop trickling in.

The utter nightmare that was the traffic congestion of last school year called for some changes in the student parking lot. After a summer of renovation, students were welcomed back on campus this year with a noticeable change: the removal of the temporary outdoor athletics court installed in 2020 to mitigate COVID-19.

This court, once smacked front and center in the student parking lot, was somewhat of an impediment to drivers of the Sage community. Not only was it an odd plot of asphalt blocked off with extensive black fencing, but it also took up space that could have been parking spaces in an ideal world. Add parking lot parents to the equation, and you get the distress of student drivers as they maneuver through cars dropping off sleepy underclassmen in the middle of the road. This chaotic scene breeds even more stress and frustration than that upcoming AP Chemistry exam, especially for our yearly batch of beginner drivers just starting to navigate the rules of the road.

The rush hours at Sage are still no joke but removing the athletics court at least reopens parking spaces, highly sought by those who dread the extra walk back to the car. It restored a glimmer of peace in our taxing mornings.

While the student parking lot is in significantly better shape this year and the security team has been excellent in facilitating traffic flow, there is no deterring the parking lot parents. The situation can get even worse in the afternoons. Walking back to our cars at 3:05 p.m. means we’ll get to the gate at 3:15 p.m.

Getting out of class at 3:08 p.m. means you’re already too late to avoid the parents. Not an exact science, but certainly a student-wide metric for your odds of getting out in under 10 minutes.

So, for all the students getting conveniently picked up at the front of the student parking lot, extend a helping hand to those of us trying to reverse out of a parking spot when there is an alarming tail of parent cars behind.

Pro-tip: the back of the student lot is always an option.

CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, a photo caption on page 6 of the September 2023 edition misidentified a student at Freshman Retreat at Cedar Lake Camp. Freshman Eric Zhao was helped by his Advisory group in a team-building activity. The Bolt regrets the error.

THE BOLT

T

he Bolt is a student newspaper and serves the public forum at Sage Hill School. Its content - news, editorial, opinion, and feature - is protected by Education Code 48907, the state student rights law and the California Constitution which guarantees all citizens the right of freedom of speech and of the press.

Opinions expressed do not represent the views or beliefs of Sage Hill School and its administration. The Bolt accepts signed letters to the editors from members of the Sage Hill community which may be posted as comments at lightningboltonline.com, or addressed to Editors-in-Chief Phoebe Pan, Alia Sajjadian and Anne Chen and put in their mailboxes on campus. These letters may not exceed 150 words or they will be edited for inclusion.

Editors-in-Chief Phoebe Pan (Bolt), Alia Sajjadian (Bolt) & Anne Chen (Online) Editorial Board Minha Oh, Trinity Chen, Yasmin Dennis, Madeleine Carroll, Ava Eimani, Grace Yan, Grant Franey & Ceyda Shamsai Writers Priya Bhakta, Maya Desai, Mirabelle Jiang, Jesse Lew, Minha Oh, Arya Rawal, Riley Robinson & Sophia Zhou Photographers Amy Choi, Sarah Huang, Sophia Jacinto, Jenny Li & Sophie Wang Adviser Daniel Langhorne

Scan this QR code to check out our online edition or find us at lighningboltonline.com for the latest news!

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faculty wow crowd at costume contest

By Arya Rawal

The annual Sage Hill faculty costume contest brought In-N-Out employees, Minions and a lumberjack crew to Wilkins Town Square in a dazzling display during lunch on Halloween.

This year, the history department dressed up as lumberjacks, sporting plaid shirts and overalls. One history teacher held up an inflatable tree as a prop. The College Counseling Team dressed up as monster cereal characters, while Director of College Counseling Frank Smith sported a Count Chocula costume and handed out cereal amongst the judges. The other college counselors were dressed as Boo Berry, Carmella Creeper, Frankenberry, and Frute Brute.

Smith said the idea came from college counselors’ tradition.

“Every year during Halloween, the college counseling department keeps the monster cereals in their office to hand out to students,” he said. “[I’m] impressed by the effort and work that other groups put into it, like adding music and choreography.”

Dance faculty members dressed as a disco queen and her disco ball. As a part of their showcase, they also performed a disco-themed choreographed

dance with accompanying background music.

One of the groups that tied for best group and best department, Athletics and Physical Health dressed up as In-N-Out workers, with Physical Health and Wellness Department Chair Amy Ray taking the orders of each of the judges and other department members delivering double-doubles.

Tied with them for first place, the Science Department made a surprising entrance dressed as minions. Each of the costumes was hand-made, using chicken wire for the skeleton, thin cardboard to smooth the outside, and yellow felt with jean fabric for the color.

Science Department Chair Anie Robinson said it was “a huge engineering project” that required brainstorming and multiple attempts to nail the babbling creatures’ signature yellow profile and googly eyes.

Science faculty members rallied, spending two to five hours each day for a week to finish their costumes while each taught six courses this semester to fill in for their colleague, Megan Rutherford, while she’s on maternity leave.

Despite tying for first place, Science Teacher Justin Johnson said they “were just happy to put the costumes together in

Arya Rawal | The Bolt

The Science Department’s Minions costumes tied for first place in best group and department. a team-bonding atmosphere.”

Students have enjoyed this tradition over the years, as junior Isabella Nguyen said how she enjoys “how the science

department goes all out every year.”

Junior Joy Qu said she likes “seeing the thoughtfulness put into the costumes, as

they get more original as the years progress” and is looking forward to what next year’s Halloween costume contest has in store.

homecoming week ignites school spirit

By Minha Oh

The Sage Hill Student Council and staff put in their hard work and creativity to coordinate Spirit Week, making it an exciting and unforgettable memory for the school community.

Starting Oct. 17, each day of the week was designated to a certain theme with corresponding outfits. Starting with the Pajama Day on Monday, students and faculty showed up in various outfits, wearing Sage Hill plaid pajama pants, sweatpants and onesies.

On Tuesday, which was Twin Day, students and teachers coordinated outfits with one or more people and even matched each other with accessories such as hats and glasses.

Wednesday was White Lie Day: Participants came to school wearing white shirts with white lies written on them, bringing humor onto the campus. On Thursday, which was Jersey Day, students and faculty came to Sage in sports jerseys of their favorite sports teams. On the final day, which was Pep Rally Day, students showed up in their grade level T-shirts, showing support and cheering for their grades.

“My favorite was Twin Day because it was fun to see other people match together,” junior Natalie Asghar said.

During the Homecoming Tailgate on Friday night, the Sage community gathered at Ramer Field wearing pink to show their support for the Sage Hill football team that played against Flintridge Preparatory School. Despite playing a strong first half, Lightning Football fell to the Wolves 34-47.

Students, families and faculty enjoyed the food from food trucks that served tacos, burgers and desserts, such as ice cream and churros. Students also enjoyed taking pictures at the photo booth with the school mascot Stryker, and played games such as cornhole and spikeball. The Dance Team performed during halftime in matching Halloween-themed outfits, showing support for the football team. Synergy Dance Ensemble also performed on the sidelines.

On Saturday night, the Homecoming dance in the science parking lot featured Halloween-themed decorations, a live DJ, a photo booth and games for students to enjoy.

Students gathered to dance to the music and socialize with their friends.

“The football game was fun as there were many people that were cheering and I also performed with the Dance Team during halftime which was memorable,” junior Christine Li said.

Amy Choi | The Bolt

The Dance Team kicks off the year’s first pep rally with a lively performace on Oct. 20.

Jenny Li | The Bolt

Students circle up during the Homecoming Dance in the Science parking lot on Oct. 21.

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The Bolt November 2023 Sage Hill School

School Life

New Peer Tutor Program Sees Traction in 2nd Quarter

By Jesse Lew

This year, Sage Hill is offering a new peer tutor program which allows students, particularly underclassmen, to get extra support for their transition to Sage Hill’s rigorous academics.

The booking process is purely student-motivated, meaning students book sessions if they feel the need for supplementary assistance in a class or concept.

Students can confidentially book appointments with a qualified peer tutor in the Library Nook for a 20-minute session. Moreover, students are free to book appointments weeks in advance or the day of the appointment. The structure of a given session is usually a mix of tutor explanation and tutee demonstration so the latter understands the concept better than when they walked in.

School Librarian and Peer Tutor Program Lead Michalle Gould selected prospective peer tutors after an extensive application and interview process. Gould considered their grade point average, performance in the subjects they wanted to tutor and their motivations for being a peer tutor. “I also had them do a sample lesson. I had them pick a topic in one of the classes they were interested in tutoring and…teach it to me as if I was a student in the class,” Gould said.

Despite this effort, the fledgling peer tutor program has seen fewer scheduled appointments than anticipated. However, according to Gould, since the release of quarter grades and an October Town Meeting announcement, the number of bookings has ticked up.

“We anticipated that it would take some time for people to get familiar with it,” said Gould.

Regardless of the present popularity of the program, peer tutors are passionate about their work. “It’s satisfying knowing you helped someone…to get the ‘Aha’ moment,” junior and math peer tutor Tony Tan said.

“I wish…that I had that experience during freshman year when…I was confused about something, I [could] just ask…a peer of mine to explain it,” said Tan. “That is actually exactly why I started doing it.”

Senior and biology peer tutor Annie Zhu had similar motivations for becoming a peer tutor.

“I [felt]…a sense of responsibility to help the lowerclassmen if they have trouble on stuff because I’ve been through it all,” said Zhu. “I hope the peer tutor program gets…more well-known just so more people know that this thing is out there and…we’re there to help them.”

Amy Choi | The Bolt

Junior Oneal Wang tutors chemistry to Sophomore Abigail Ko in the Johnson Family Library

Pulitzer Prize Winner Talks Photojournalism With Students

By Grace Yan

Award-winning photojournalist Christina House met with members of The Bolt and Storm to share her career experience on Oct. 24. Having first embraced photography at the tender age of seven, House’s portfolio includes a decade as a freelance photographer and six years as a staff photojournalist at the Los Angeles Times. Her greatest career projects include “Game Changers: A Celebration of Women in Sports,” which won the 2021 National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism Awards, and “Hollywood’s Finest,” a collection of photos on homelessness in LA that won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography.

Within the newspaper, House covers southern California. She especially enjoys photographing celebrities and major local events, like Coachella.

“I love capturing people in their element,” she said. “They just happen to run by my camera… In general, photography requires a lot of patience. When the magic moment happens, you’re ready.”

In 2018, House was looking to start a project covering homelessness in Hollywood when the newsroom received a call from a woman asking the Times to cover a story about her daughter, McKenzie Trahan, who was living on the streets at seven months pregnant and had just lost all her possessions in a camp sweep.

House and her team, which included journalist Gale Holland and videographer Claire Collins, set out to look for McKenzie. “[McKenzie] was tired of being invisible and wanted to share her story and what she was going through,” House said. “Homelessness is one of the biggest issues of our time. We were searching for ways to zoom into the face of the person instead of just reporting on numbers… and we just so happened to receive this call.”

For over a year, House and her team followed McKenzie’s journey as she gave birth, struggled with sobriety, looked for employment and eventually fell back into old habits and lost custody of her child, she said. The resulting photo essay, “Hollywood’s Finest,” was condensed into 30 photos from the thousands taken over the course of the project.

“I was also pregnant at the time, so the connection I had with [McKenzie] was very real,” House said. “Knowing I had a comfortable bed at home while she couldn’t simply walk away from it all… was just terrifying.”

When asked about her favorite photo within the collection, House pulls up a hospital scene: McKenzie on the left, sitting cross-legged on the hospital bed and grinning so hard her eyes were shut and one of McKenzie’s friends on the right next to the medical equipment,

Grace Yan | The Bolt

Los Angeles Times staff photographer Christina House standing before a projection of her favorite photo from “Hollywood’s Finest.” holding up the newborn baby girl.

“I loved this moment,” House said, wistfully looking up at the projected photo. “The day of the birth, and how proud she was of herself and how far she made it. She was housed, her baby was healthy, family and friends were there. She was in

a very good place there.”

House plans to continue to shed light on the underreported communities around her.

“I look for a story in everything,” she said. “Every story deserves to be told.”

School Life

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New Club Boosts Orange County Nonprofits

By Amber Wang Sophomores Meilin Shen and Taite Nicholson are the founders of The Giver’s Guide, an online and print magazine dedicated to highlighting nonprofit organizations and discussing the issues they address.

The club focuses on publicizing and writing and although it is based in Newport Beach, its articles will feature organizations throughout Orange County. The Giver’s Guide exemplifies how students can engage and help their community. Not only does The Giver’s Guide (TGG) provide opportunities for students to explore areas of interests, it also gives a platform for nonprofits to promote themselves in magazines, printed and online.

“One of the main benefits from being a part of our club is an appreciation for service and lasting connections with philanthropists in Orange County,” Taite said.

The Giver’s Guide does a thorough job of organizing volunteer dates, publishing articles, and producing a website and magazine. The club hosts bimonthly meetings and sends small groups of volunteers to nonprofits to conduct interviews, take photographs, and experi-

ence what it’s like to volunteer with the organization.

Members work together to write articles and design each section of the magazine and submit each copy to competitions, such as Scholastic Arts, and distribute it throughout the community starting from Sage Hill. Not only does this promote nonprofits spotlighted by The Giver’s Guide but also encourages students and nonprofits to join as well.

Taite and Meilin’s first visit was at Clothing the Homeless in Santa Ana on Nov. 11. Ahead of this event, the nonprofit’s director Mitchell Raff said, “​​on behalf of the people that GGC will be serving this Saturday’s clothing distribution, they are very grateful for their time and empathy for those in dire need.”

One of the many things that makes this club unique is how it is connecting with students at other Orange County schools who volunteer and contribute to the magazine’s production. Taite also said that “the club is distinctive from others because we unite people with many different interests and hobbies, from art to journalism to politics and volunteering in the community and support nonprofit organizations and their objectives.”

Amy Choi | The Bolt

Sophomores Taite Nicholson and Meilin Shen co-founded The Giver’s Guide.

The club’s founders said the club was partially inspired by Service Learning at Sage. They enjoyed going to Back Bay and that inspired them to give back during their summer break.

“We really enjoyed our experience in Ninth Grade and wanted to continue volunteering and expand our reach to more nonprofits,” Meilin said.

The team went to many organizations, including The Ecology

Teacher Spotlight: Jorden’s Journey

Jenny Li | The Bolt

English teacher Boyd Jorden discusses assignments with his accelerated English III class.

By Riley Robinson Boyd Jorden has been at Sage Hill for 18 years, teaching every grade level of English including his favorite course: Accelerated English III. When Boyd Jorden joined the Sage Hill community in 2006, he was part of “the second wave of teachers of the original group that had come in and started this school,” which has made his journey special. Jorden attended USC and majored in communications. He originally planned to pursue an advertising career, but he realized he didn’t like the restrictions on creativity.

One day when he was walking around the campus at USC and thought, “I really miss reading.”

He decided to take an English survey class called American Literature, where he began

connecting his love for literature and the idea of teaching. This then began his double major in communications and English.

As former English Department Chair, he has seen positive change occur at Sage throughout the years. Jorden has taught several English electives and was also involved in several student-run programs here at Sage. He has worked with Publications, taught the Storytellers’ Workshop English elective class, a nonfiction composition class, a short story class, and he currently works on Struck, the student-run art and literature magazine.

Jorden also enjoyed the experience of watching his daughter, Lorelei, Class of ‘23, grow as a student at Sage Hill.

“It was really weird, but I loved it,” Jorden said.

Having his daughter attend Sage made him more aware of what he said and did in his classes, but more importantly, he gained a new level of respect and appreciation for his colleagues who taught her.

Jorden’s favorite memory at Sage Hill was seeing her graduate earlier this year.

“I got to go up and surprise her by giving her the diploma,’’ Jorden said, which is a special memory between the two of them.

His favorite book to teach changes each year. He always learns a lot from his students and the discussions that occur during class each year.

“A lot of it is about the chemistry of the class and how intellectually curious they are.

[The students] are the ones that determine the level of discussion. I feel like I always get too much credit for what happens in the class; it’s really the students who elevate the discussions,” Jorden said.

This year, he has really enjoyed teaching “The Scarlet Letter” to his Accelerated English III classes and looks forward to the rest of the year teaching them.

Jorden would like to say to the Sage Hill student body that “the beautiful thing about Sage and why I have stayed here for 18 years is that I feel like it’s a place where you can determine your experience and you don’t have to do things the way they’ve always been done, you can create your own traditions and experiences here.”

Center in San Juan Capistrano and Orange County Coastkeeper during a Santa Ana River cleanup. In doing so, they are creating a platform for themselves but also motivating others who share similar interests to join.

“Many high schoolers complete volunteer hours for college resumes or high school requirements without actually resonating with the cause they support,” she said.

The club is unequivocal that it will have a positive impact throughout the area. “[We] connect people with a way to give back using their passions and interests so they can actually enjoy volunteering and develop a love for giving,” Taite said. With around 100 members already, Meilin and Taite believe their club could become something even bigger.

Why Freshmen Keep Winning Town Meeting

Jenny Li | The Bolt Freshman Jeffrey Chang claims victory in a magical chairs scavenger hunt at Town Meeting on Oct. 16.

By Maya Desai

An orange blur left the freshman’s arm with confident force. The dodgeball searched for its target and, less than a second later, the opposing sophomore let out a sigh of defeat. The sophomore walks off the court. “And the freshmen win!” exclaims Student Council Vice President Fiori Lee. In the three months since the start of the school year, the freshmen class has gained a reputation for their success at Town Meeting. From tug of war to musical chairs, they continue to win against their older counterparts. However, these students don’t hold special physical strength or shocking athletic ability. So, many community members are asking what is different about this freshman class.

In his 21 years at Sage, Science teacher Dan Thomassen has seen freshmen win tug

of war three times. He remarks that this year’s class has, “the enthusiasm that other grades do not have.” They participate in school activities with a smile and put their all in every opportunity that arises. The freshmen’s teamwork has also contributed to their success.

“This class supports each other and has really good teamwork skills. They genuinely want their classmates to succeed, which is a fact that cannot be applied to every grade” remarked Andrew Walbridge, newly elected co-chair of the freshman class.

They have entered Sage with open minds. Equipped with impressive Town Meeting wins and a true care for one another, it will be exciting to see the mark this class leaves on Sage.

“Our class’s determination and eagerness provide the foundation for our success,” freshman Linda Liu said.

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News

The Bolt November 2023 Sage Hill School

Students Shrug off Switch to Digital PSAT

By Sophia Zhou

In October, sophomores and juniors expressed mixed feelings about various changes presented by the first digital PSAT. The format change aims to help students “familiarize themselves with the digital testing experience before taking the digital SAT,” which is also moving to digital in spring 2024, College Board officials said.

This decision increases “flexibility in terms of when, where, and how often the SAT is given,” particularly for SAT School Days, where the SAT is administered on school grounds, and which is an important factor in helping lower-income or rural students reach college. Despite the switch to a digital format, which eliminated the costs of printing, mailing and scanning tests, the cost of $18 for taking the PSAT and $60 for the SAT has not changed.

Many students noted that the pas-

sages were much shorter in the digital PSAT, especially for the reading section.

After completing both paper and digital versions, junior Katelyn Gan said she preferred the digital version because “instead of large chunks of excerpts, you get short paragraphs which are way better for focusing and reading.”

Junior Sophia Lin added that she preferred the paper, saying “I feel like they lowered the difficulty.”

The Reading/Writing and Language used to be separate sections but are now combined, with both digital sections appearing to test the same things. This also applied to the math section, as the two sections were very similar. One benefit of the math section was its calculator, which included both algebraic and graphing functions that may be helpful to students who don’t own graphing calculators.

Junior Joyce Rizko pointed out a different aspect of the experience, since

Courtesy of David Precious | Creative Commons digital versions provide different questions for everyone.

“It was a common experience,” Joyce said. “Now you don’t get to discuss [the same questions] after with your peers.”

College Board states that the SAT will

also undergo question changes to better accommodate the digital format. Though the new digital format of the PSAT has some benefits such as reducing paper waste, many students have mixed opinions on the changed question format.

Lightning Football Closes a Mixed Season

By Ava Eimani

This season, Sage Hill football faced a variety of hurdles, but never stopped trying to overcome them.

Throughout every game, each player brought their all onto the field, always excited to play and leave everything on the field. While Sage Hill didn’t advance to the CIF finals, they defeated tough opponents and became a close-knit team.

Lightning Football had an overall record of 5-4. Their first home game, they played California School for the Deaf, Riverside (CDSR), a team fresh off a CIF championship. With the Sage Hill student section cheering them on, the Lightning Football team battled to win 41-6.

“The CSDR game was definitely the most exciting part of the season.

That game I actually got a new nickname: D’Latte!” junior running back Dylan Dolotta said.

In their third game, football played Ánimo Jackie Robinson Charter High School, a school that had excellent offensive and defensive players.

Rising to the challenge, the team planned strategies, ran new plays and focused on bonding as a team.

Their dedication to the game paid off when they scored eight touchdowns and a 2-point conversion. That game, players from each grade were able to showcase their individual skills and talent on the field, learning new lessons and using old ones to win the game. This game earned them a record of 3-0.

The next week, the football team faced a new opponent: Hesperia Christian. Although they showed perseverance, Sage lost 27-48. Yet, they came out of the game with new ideas for plays and a determination to win the next game “It’s been tough with players playing new and unfamiliar positions and having to deal with injuries,” junior wide receiver Jake Pirnazar said.

However, Pirnazar believed that with their determination, the team would overcome these obstacles.

All of the hours the team had spent working hard in practice paid off in a victory against Foothills Christian High School.

“That game, I saw every player putting in their absolute best for us to secure the W,” senior and team captain Danyel Khan said.

Yet, they faced headwinds in losses against Chadwick High School and the Flintridge Prep football team. Instead of being weighed down by these defeats, the team worked harder than ever off and on the field to improve their skills and communication. Their discipline and work ethic earned them a win over Windward School in a home game on Ramer Field.

Sage Hill lost their final game of the season against Avalon High School 26-63 after traveling by boat to Catalina Island.

Next year, the team hopes to focus on developing strong work ethics, creating new plays becoming a closeknit team and winning the CIF finals.

Jenny Li | The Bolt

Quarterback Jack Weisberg ‘24 prepares to pass to a teammate in the Homecoming football game on Oct. 20.

2023 Season at a Glance 5 wins, 4 losses Qualified for the 2023 CIF-SS 8-Man Football Playoffs

Sage 69 - Lone Pine 22; win Sage 41 - CSDR 6; win Sage 71 - Animo Robinson 36; win Sage 27 - Hesperia Christian 48; loss Sage 57 - Foothills Christian 13; win Sage 21 - Chadwick 40; loss Sage 34 - Flintridge Prep 47; loss Sage 45 - Windward School 26; win Sage 26 - Avalon 63; loss

Jenny Li | The Bolt

The Lightning Football team faces Flintridge Preparatory School on Ramer Field.

ARTS

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“Eras Tour” Slays on Silver Screen

By Priya Bhakta

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour has taken social media by storm since its opening night in late March. Swifties and nonSwifties alike fought the infamous battle on Ticketmaster in hopes of being one of the lucky few to get tickets. After Ticketmaster crashed due to the incredibly high demand for tickets, many fans were left disappointed that they would not be able to witness the tour for themselves.

From this, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” was born.

Many fans who were unable to attend the concert saw the movie as an opportunity to experience the concert, albeit in a nontraditional way, which was evident upon arriving at the theater. Tour merchandise and sparkly outfits were at every corner as moviegoers filed into the theater with their special Eras-Tour-movie popcorn buckets. You could truly feel the excitement in the air as everyone anticipated the beginning of the movie. The environment

felt electric as the lights dimmed and everyone began cheering.

Throughout the entire movie, everyone was singing along to the movie and enjoying themselves.

The movie itself was filmed beautifully—the quality was amazing and the cinematography captured the essence of the tour perfectly. I enjoyed how the movie emphasized the artistic elements of the concert that differentiate The Eras Tour from Swift’s previous concerts, many of which I did not notice while attending the concert. I was impressed by how seamlessly the footage was blended together, as the footage from three different nights was combined together to create the movie.

Certain songs from the concert setlist were removed from the movie as well, a fact that the editing hid incredibly well.

“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is a great way for anyone who didn’t attend the concert to experience it for themselves, and it made for a fun and entertaining night.

Courtesy of Paolo Villanueva | Creative Commons

American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performing on the Eras Tour concert at SoFi Stadium in August 2023.

“R adium Girls” R adiates Talent

By Grace Yan

From Nov. 2 to 4, Sage Hill’s Theater Program put on four showings of the Fall Play, “Radium Girls,” written by D.W. Gregory and directed by Theater teacher Mary Kildare.

“Radium Girls” follows the true story of radium-dial factory worker Grace Fryer (played by Liesel Hartmann), as she and several colleagues mysteriously fall ill. Upon discovering radium poisoning as the cause of their illnesses, the women gather to sue the factory, in particular, U.S. Radium Corporation President Arthur Roeder (played

by Grant Franey), for endangering their lives. They ultimately reach a settlement outside of the court, but not before dozens of workers had died and even more permanently disabled from the radium poisoning.

Personally, I really enjoyed “Radium Girls.” It was my first time seeing a play based on a true story, and I felt a deep connection to all the characters on stage. Having gone in with little to no background knowledge on the radium crisis, the opening scenes caught me up quickly with its dialogue and reporter interludes.

One of my favorite features of the play was the glowing, dial-clock floor with blurred hands, as if in motion. Each time the lights faded out at the end of a scene, the image on the floor would remind the audience of the passage of time and how the main characters were dying before our eyes. It created a sense of helpless-

Courtesy of Sage Hill School

Seniors Liesel Hartmann and Jamie Parrott act in a “Radium Girls” dress rehearsal on Nov. 1 in the Kazu Fukuda Black Box Theater. ness and closed the distance between the audience and cast that usually accompanies such scene transitions.

For me, the most moving part of the play came in the final scene, when Arthur Roeder, in a stiff and broken voice, pro-

fesses that he can’t remember the faces of any of the women who died. Immediately after his statement, members of the cast walked past the audience, carrying a printed black and white photo of the real Grace Fryer. Having just witnessed a

dramatized version of her life, seeing her photo felt like a way of paying tribute to her struggle and suffering.

The story of the Radium Girls is proof that humaneness and justice still have a play within a society of capitalism

and corporate greed. Even when the world was against them, the Radium Girls spoke out about the dangers of radium poisoning, sparking a revolution that saved lives down the road from this lethal substance, once acclaimed a “miracle cure.”

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Opinion

The Bolt November 2023 Sage Hill School

Opinion: A Plea to the Youth

By Courtney Tetteh-Martey

Though the epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in the Middle East, the dispute’s nuanced implications pervade various communities across the world. The latest war between Israel and Hamas has sparked contentious debates, re-emphasized underlying tension and fueled hostile and alienating environments.

Many communities, including Newport Beach, have reported despicable incidents of discrimination rooted in these international tensions. The persecution of diverse individuals illustrates the undying necessity to remind the youth that apathy is the absence of humanity.

Israel and Palestine’s physical confrontation has translated into vicious hate crimes against individuals that share identity markers with members of the involved parties. Newport Beach police are investigating how a locker was vandalized with swastikas at Corona del Mar High School in mid-October, the Los Angeles Times reports. Representatives from Groundswell (the Orange County Human Relations Council) detail the rise of Islamophobia within local schools as Muslim students receive derogatory comments from peers who wrongly accuse them of supporting terrorist ideals.

The stories are many, but the conclusion is the same: terror engulfs students.

While some kids feel the frightening effects of prejudice, others navigate the world in a cloud of obliviousness. The conflict’s origins and ongoing fallout often seem incomprehensibly complicated to many adults and children. This narrative is poisonous. The dystopian juxtaposition of two vastly different realities — one of fear

Photo courtesy of Ishmael N. Daro | Creative Commons

Counterprotests for opposing sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are separated by police in Toronto, Ontario. and one of apathy — is concerning. While it is unproductive and intellectually elitist to shame individuals for a lack of knowledge, it is crucial for the youth to be educated about current events.

As this wide-scale humanitarian crisis unfolds, young people must seek out diverse stories and empower others

to do the same. While all should strive to become students of the world as they gather information that highlights differing perspectives, it is especially important that young people engage in such activities because the youth are the foundation of the future. Arguably, it is most vital that these young individuals center compas-

sion for humanity when developing informed opinions and conversing with others. We should strive to symphathize with all people of the world, see past social categorizations and respect the dignity of every individual. Only then can we foster a culture of compassion and understanding needed to reach equitable solutions.

November Crossword