Magazine 2007 Part 1

the annual the review magazine 2007

the school at sixty from September 27, 1946 through today

the community remembers 60 years of life on Claremont Lane

table of contents cover story st. john’s school: sixty years and counting.........10 St. John’s is a far different place in 2007 than it was when the school first opened its doors six decades ago. What were sports, fine arts and student life like years ago? Alumni and faculty take a look back at SJS through the years.

Edited by chanel tran

features An Owl, a Commodore, and a Longhorn......20

mav-cliques.................................38

Rice University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Texas at Austin are home to some of the largest numbers of SJS alumni in the nation. What is campus life like for these groups of SJS alums? And how has SJS affected them throughout their time away from Claremont Lane? edited by daniel andreeff

What do CZ, RO and The Seven have in common? Do cliques really dominate the SJS social scene? See what students—seniors and freshmen alike—had to say about the topic.

Beyond Skip Lee Field...................10 Any Upper School student can tell you the stars of the SJS football or lacrosse teams. Many would draw blanks, though, if asked about the students who play soccer or hockey and those who sail or are equestrians. Some surprising passions SJS students have.

Edited by meghan hall

The Facebook Effect.....................48 Facebook has taken over high schools and colleges in America, and not everyone is happy about the trend. Read what students and faculty alike are saying about the wildly-popular online social networking website.

Edited by peter ha 2 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

Edited by Gabriella wise

The New College Admissions........56 College admissions discussions are making their way into the media more than ever, yet the topics at hand are often far removed from issues SJS students deal with. A look at the growth of the SJS College Counseling office, the “SJS effect” and a trend away from Early Decision programs.

Edited by ryan staine

on the cover Student photos from the 1951 SJS yearbook mixed with photos of current SJS students celebrating the school’s 60th birthday this year. Photos by Katherine Kelley (‘08).

Montage by Chanel Tran (‘07).

articles The New Leprosy...............................20 Mono is an illness dreaded at SJS—a name instantly associated with missing weeks of school and being buried under mounds of make-up work. But what are the true effects of mono? Two students with quite different experiences share their stories.

by JUSTIN STEIN

The SJS Stereotype............................45 Whether or not they admit it, many students stereotype not only students at Episcopal, Kinkaid or Lamar, but also here at SJS. Read what students from area high schools believe SJS students are like.

by Danielle Pike

15 Things to Do Before You Graduate.....46 The SAT, AP tests, exams and synthesis papers aside, this writer spells out 15 things every student should do around Houston before they graduate. Get started soon—it may take some time to get through the whole list. by emily foxhall

Caffeine Addiction.............................63 In a high school world of late nights and early mornings, it is not surprising that caffeine works its way into the lives of so many SJS students. Caffeine consumption in its various forms, however, is not always healthy. A look at the prevalence of caffeine at SJS.

by Maddie mcdowell

departments Odds&Ends...5 Word for Word...6 Editorial...7 From the Cloisters...8 Vanity Faces...4 Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Rasmussen (‘08).

SJS Cliques | page 38 columns The Legacy System Examined..........22 The fairness of preferential treatment shown to SJS legacies during the admissions process is often called into question.

Here, one writer offers his view, and tells you how much the status plays into the tough competition for admission to SJS.

by Ryan staine

Out of Fashion or Ahead of Its Time?....33 Will Louis Vuitton and Guccio Gucci be spotted at SJS any time soon? Is Sue Mills the next hot item on the European runways? A humorous look at the uniform. by ashley tam

Two Homes, Two Months Left.........34 Staff Writer Abroad Elizabeth Rasmussen reflects on her year in Spain and discusses her thoughts in words and in photos on returning to the States in just a few short weeks.

by ELizabeth rassmussen

Halls and Tunnels of Doom..............54

Two Homes | page 34

Those few awkward moments that pass when you prepare to pass someone in the hall and are not sure whether to acknowledge them seem to last for hours. What’s a student to do? All of your questions are answered here. by bret vollmer The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 3

VANITY FACES

Vail Kohnert-Yount hits the halls and prompts some striking reactions.

Inspired by Vanity Fair’s “In Character” | Photos by Katherine Kelley

1. You accidentally caught a glimpse of your teacher’s email inbox and spotted an email from your mom.

5. A freshman just stepped on your foot in the hallway.

3. You just got a d-hall for eating in the hallway... from a teacher eating in the hallway.

4. Your new team sweatshirt has arrived, and your name is misspelled.

2. The person in front of you in the cafeteria line just grabbed the last turkey ciabatta sandwich.

6. You just received a text message from a friend at Episcopal who doesn’t have school today.

4 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

odds&ends Thumbs up Spring Break Foreign exchange students March calendar full of holes

Thumbs down USAP term paper Weather warms up Third-quarter cramming

photo of the issue Review photographer (‘00) captures Review staffers tabluating Upper School surveys

Rejected article ideas for The Annual, proposed in an all-staff brainstorming session: Beginner’s guide to cooking, male-female relationships and mixed lunch tables (“might make school look bad”), administration and pregnancies, teachers and babies, lack of sex-ed at SJS, cults in Houston, facial hair, fascist Lamar, “Where’s Alig?” (a la “Where’s Waldo?”).

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 5

word for word spring 2007

“Nascar is the fastest growing sport in the nation.”

- English teacher David Nathan “Because their fan base makes the most children.”

- Patrick Hayes (‘07)

“If you don’t know this information, you’re going to sink like the Lusitania.”

- Upper School History Teacher Gara Johnson-West

“What’s an idiom? Oh, that’s right - The Odyssey is the sequel to the idiom.” - Robbie Bland (‘10)

“Robbie is an idiom.”

- Jacob Halevy (‘10)

“Katy, what can you say in Russian?”

- English Deparment Head Bart Thornton “‘Hello,’ ‘Go with God’... ‘Vodka.’”

- Katy Terrell (‘07) “Actually, I’ll be dead by the time you’re “Were you late for this class?”

55. Isn’t that a cheery

- History teacher Dr. Richard Doina thought.”

“No, it doesn’t start until I get here.”

- Math teacher

- Jordan Thomas (‘07) Doug Sharp “See, that’s why you lost the election.”

- Dr. Doina “She burns herself on a pyre. She’s emo.”

- Zachary Yeung (‘08) on Dido in The Aeneid

“Vice is nice, but incest is best.”- English Teacher Ruth Bellows 6 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

Join

The Review The Official Student Newspaper of St. John’s School

Photo courtesy of The Quadrangle.

The award-winning student newspaper of SJS is looking for motivated staff writers, photographers, business staffers, cartoonists/illustrators and graphics designers. Interested applicants can pick up the new staff application in The Review’s publication room, Q-210. Applications are available beginning March 26 and are due April 20.

Questions?

Contact Justin Stein, Morgan Childs, Mr. Parrish or Mrs. Weissenstein.

*a note on surveys: All information is based on survey results submitted by students in grades 9-12 during the first two weeks of February. 356 students submitted surveys. Not all students responded to every question, and many provided more than one answer per question.

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 7

from the cloisters...

A

s SJS has celebrated its sixtieth birthday this year, I’ve found it most interesting to compare things as they were when the school was founded with how they stand today, six decades later. The photo of the brand-new quadrangle from 1946 hanging in the admissions office is hardly recognizable when compared to the quadrangle today—hidden behind ivy and massive trees.

The first yearbooks created by the school were miniscule compared to the huge keepsakes created today; clad in full-khaki uniforms and ankle-length skirts, the individuals portrayed in the images seem like they belong in another lifetime’ Our cover story in this year’s Annual highlights sixty years of St. John’s School, and we place an emphasis on how things were in the past. Edited by Chanel Tran, the article takes a look at clubs, student life, athletics and fine arts in the school’s early years—in an age before there was a North Campus and a South Campus, before there was a Virginia Stuller Tatham Fine Arts Center and before the school had completed a multimillion dollar reconstruction project. The article touches on the foundations of the school, the student body’s early years and all that happened decades ago to bring SJS to where it is today.

Our five other features this spring are all outstanding; when you have time, make sure to take a look at all of them. We explored the Facebook effect, cliques at SJS, the latest trends in college admissions, students who play sports away from school and the large groups of SJS alumni on a number of college campuses.

The features are not the only thing to check out in this year’s magazine, however. We had writers cover caffeine addiction and stereotypes of SJS students; we also present a list of fifteen things every student should do before he or she graduates. And lastly, we have columns on everything from uniform skirt length to awkward moments students experience throughout the day.

Published annually since 1997, the Review Magazine—The Annual—has become a favorite project of the staff and something enjoyed

and anticipated by the entire community. Our final product is what makes the long hours the staff puts in worth it. Each year, we’re able to report on timely issues in our community and we’re able to give these issues the in-depth coverage they merit. On behalf of the entire staff, I hope that you enjoy the Annual as much as we do. And as always, thanks for reading.

Justin Stein Editor-in-Chief, The Review

The Review

The Official Student Newspaper of St. John’s School 2006-2007

Editor-in-Chief: Justin Stein (‘07) Managing Editor: Morgan Childs (‘07) Business Manager: Andrew Yeh (‘07) News Editor Features Editor Chanel Tran (‘07) Ryan Staine (‘08) Scrivener Leeor Mushin (‘09)

Opinions Editor Sports Editor beyondSJS Editor Arts&Entertainment Editor Peter Ha (‘07) Meghan Hall (‘08) Daniel Andreeff (‘07) Gabriella Wise (‘07)

Photo Editor Online Editor Illustrator Katherine Kelley (‘08) Austin O’Connor (‘08) Kat Oshman (‘09)

Web & Graphics Staff Max Susman (‘10) Evan Winograd (‘08)

Staff Writers Luisa Barron (’09), Courtney Carvill (’07), Hudson Duncan (’10), Emily Foxhall (’09), Margaret Greenberg (’08), Vail Kohnert-Yount (’09), Jade Law (’09), Maddie McDowell (’09), Danielle Pike (’08), Elizabeth Rasmussen (’08), Anjali Salvador (’07), Tiffany Shyu (’09), Anoushka Sinha (‘09), Jeremy Slawin (’07), Max Susman (’10), Ashley Tam (’09), Jordan Thomas (’07), Rebecca Welbourn (’09), Liliana Varman (’10), Bret Vollmer (’09) Business Staff Allison Adkins (’09), Ryan Cordill (’09) Geoffrey Dunn (’09), Cameron Harati (’07), Sage Klement (’09), Caroline Parks (’09), Balpreet Purewal (’08), Matthew Ziemnicki (’07)

Advertising Manager Cathleen Chang (‘07) Circulation Manager Johana Dickerson (‘07) Headmaster John Allman

Photography Staff Katherine Carmichael (’09), Jennifer Denfield (’07), Jennifer Lewis (’10), Daniel Perenyi (’09) Advisors Kyle Parrish (‘01) Rachel Weissenstein

As the student newspaper of St. John’s School, The Review provides a forum for student writing and opinion. The opinions (signed) and staff editorials (unsigned) contained herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Headmaster of Board of Trustees of St. John’s School. Staff editorials represent the opinion of the paper. Letters to the editor and guest columns are encouraged but are subject to editing for reasons of clarity, space, accuracy and good taste. The Review reserves the right not to print letters received. Either the email letters and guest columns to review@sjs.org; give them to Justin Stein, Morgan Childs, Peter Ha, Kyle Parrish, or Rachel Weissenstein in the office of The Review (Q-210); or mail to Editor-in-Chief, The Review, St. John’s School, 2401 Claremont Lane, Houston, TX 77019.

8 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 9

60 years

st. john’s school:

and counting

10 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

September 27, 2006: SJS’s 60th anniversary. May 7, 2005: SJS mascot becomes the Maverick. June 10, 2004: Groundbreaking Ceremony for Mewbourne Hall. March 12, 2000: Dedication of the Virginia Stuller Tatham Fine Arts Center. December 18, 1998: Groundbreaking ceremony for the Virginia Stuller Tatham Fine Arts Center. July 1, 1998: John Allman appointed as the sixth Headmaster of SJS. November 1997: Production of Wes Anderson’s (‘86) Rushmore begins at SJS. January 29, 1996: Dedication of Georges Middle School Building. May 1995: George W. Bush serves as Commencement speaker.

August 28, 1994: Dedication of the Bob and Vivian Smith Student Athletic Center. January 24, 1992: E. Philip Cannon officially becomes Headmaster of SJS after serving as Interim Headmaster. September 19, 1989: Dedication of the Headmaster’s House. October 6, 1985: SJS acquires Austin Co. tract of 2.6 acres. October 1, 1985: Dedication of Stude Sarofim Learning Resource Center. Summer 1981: James R. Maggart appointed as Headmaster. May 2, 1980: Dedication of Libbie Rice Farish Building, Chidsey Courtyard and Carol Joseloff Taub Memorial Library. October 1978: First SJS-Kinkaid football game played at Rice Stadium. June 1976: Thomas Read appointed as Headmaster. June 1966: E. K. Salls appointed as Headmaster. May 14, 1966: Alan Lake Chidsey retires. February 1962: Hoodwink Theater has its opening night. May 1953: First Cum Laude keys presented. May 1951: SJS’s first Commencement. June 1949: The Quadrangle, SJS’s yearbook, published. April 1, 1949: First Student Council meeting. October 15, 1948: First SJS football game played against St. Thomas. April 10, 1948: Dedication of the School. April 8, 1948: First Johnnycake meeting held. November 7, 1947: First issue of The Review published. December 19, 1946: First Candlelight Service held.

september 27, 1946: opening day.

January 27, 1946: The Board of Trustees has its first meeting. January 4, 1946: First organizational meeting to form SJS is held. by jade law anjali salvador anoushka sinha rebecca welbourn chanel tran

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 11

“Celebrate 60!” By now, you’ve seen the catchphrase over and over. You’ve heard it again and again. You’ve probably thought something along the lines of Happy birthday, St. John’s. 60 years. Big deal. But a lot can happen in 60 years—a lot has happened in the past 60 years: the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, The Brady Bunch, the Berlin Wall, the rise of Britney Spears, Y2K, September 11th, the invasion of Iraq, the fall of Britney Spears… and so much more.

What are we celebrating this year? Most simply, the evolution of SJS from 1946 to 2006. But in order to fully understand—to completely appreciate—this birthday party of sorts (and yes, there will be cake, said Headmaster John Allman), we need to go back to the foundation of the school…

The idea of founding SJS was conceived in the early 1940s and became a reality on Jan. 4, 1946, when Alan Lake Chidsey, Mr. and Mrs. St. John Garwood, Reverend Thomas Sumners of St. John the Divine and other supporters held the first organizational meeting for the school. Mr. Chidsey, former Headmaster of the Arizona Desert School, was named Headmaster of SJS. Nine days later, the group held its second meeting, in which seven trustees and the Founders were elected. The school was given its name, and the official seal of corporation was adopted.

Negotiations with H. R. Cullen to purchase land adjacent to the Church of St. John the Divine began immediately.

On Feb. 2, 1946, Mrs. W. S. Farish, Sr. gave the school its first building and dedicated it to her son; this building would later become part of the Quad. A little over one month later, Mr. Cullen and his family presented five-and-a-half acres to SJS to build the school. Teachers were appointed, and it was announced that student applications for the upcoming school year would be accepted in mid-March.

Once it was time for applications to be submitted, however, the fledgling school was flooded with hopeful prospective students. Within three days, 150 applications had been received, and it soon became obvious that the current facilities were inadequate for the number of students.

To meet the growing demand, the school’s contractor rushed to finish five additional classrooms, more faculty members were hired and war-surplus classroom furniture was purchased from local army posts.

In mid-June, however, a general building strike halted progress on the main building, North Cloister and South Cloister.

The school’s construction company tried its hardest to open the school on sched12 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

ule, and local churches and businesses offered space for classes. By opening day on Sept. 27, the only permanent part of the school was the church. Some classes were held in Hoodwink Theatre, the preschool was held in St. Stephen’s Church and Lamar offered use of their playing fields. Families near the school offered to share their homes with teachers and their families, who had arrived expecting to move into new apartments at the school.

SJS in 1946.

Construction played a large part in student life 60 years ago as well. “Students learned to work midst the ring of hammers, the drone of power saws and the chuff of donkey engines,” wrote Mr. Chidsey in the first edition of the Quadrangle yearbook, which was published in 1949. “Faculty faced undisturbed a daily reassignment of classrooms. It was nothing unusual to share…algebraic formulae…with an electrician lying prone beneath the teaching desk or a plasterer scaffolded above the class.” Although the school has since grown from 344 students to an enrollment of 1,225, apparently some things haven’t changed that much.

traditions An SJS alumna on the alumni board, Clara Gribble Boyce (’53) reminisces about her years as an SJS student during the 1950s.

In the Fall of 1950 when Ms. Boyce first came to SJS to be tested for 10th grade admission, she entered the Quad and immediately thought, “This was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. I just remember saying to myself immediately, ‘I just want to go here so much.’”

Throughout the 60 years, SJS has grown in both size and diversity. When Ms. Boyce attended SJS, air conditioning was absent and the school was much smaller in size. “We all had to cram shoulder to shoulder in the lunch room,” said Ms. Boyce. “We were like sardines.” All school plays and assemblies took place in the gymnasium, chapel was every Wednesday morning and the library’s location was where the headmaster’s office is now. In addition, SJS has gradually evolved into a widely diverse school.

“I’m so happy and proud that today St. John’s is a desegregated school, and many people of other backgrounds than Anglo-Saxons are there,” said Ms. Boyce.

Along with the development of SJS these 60 years, the uniform has also changed its looks many times. In 1953, the girls wore light blue and white-striped outfits with cotton sashes, and boys wore khaki shirts and khaki pants with black ties. In 1971, the boys’ uniforms consisted of white button-down shirts, khaki pants and solid black ties. As a privilege, honor roll students were allowed to wear a black rep tie with red stripes. In 1977, girls wore red jumpers, red or plaid skirts and white oxford shirts with “SJS” monogrammed on the collars. If a female student made the Honor Roll for two consecutive quarters, they could wear powder blue jumpers.

Chapel speakers, like today, were either people from the community, people from different congregations, or politicians.

Photos courtesy of The Quadrangle

the founding

KATHERINE KELLEY | The Review

Anna Beth Hamilton only seniors could Hill (’77) said, “We alwalk on the Quad. ways loved it if the ChaAlong with this, secpel speaker was really ond semester seniors long-winded, so Chapel were allowed to go would cut into our next off-campus for lunch, class period. So that and if the day were was a real blast if somenice, class would be one really loved to talk.” held outside. Ms. Hill Linking back to the said of having senior year SJS was founded privileges, “We felt (1946), traditions still like we had earned permeate the everyday the privilege of havlives of SJS students ing our special places today. The sixty-yearon campus. We felt old school has certainly that we had worked ripened with age, but its so hard and it was past is rich in interesttime for our special ing experiences brought year. It was also forth by the SJS family. something we looked Paul Chapman (’71), forward to from former student and curfreshman year on.” rent SJS parent, helped Senior Tea is a celein keeping the tradibration tradition that tional look of the Quad has steadfastly reduring the renovation. mained at the school.

“We thought that if we However, in the past, did have to tear down it actually involved parts of the Quad and the consumption of replace them that we tea. Every day at 1:30 needed to respect the p.m., mother, who original architecture as had volunteered, Opening services in St. John’s Divine in 1946. much as possible,” said would serve either tea Mr. Chapman. When or iced tea, depending Mr. Chapman took his mother-in-law, a niche solely in SJS history, was once a upon the season. A privilege enjoyed by Joan Taylor (’51), on a tour of the Quad, she ceremony in which “somebody played parents, teachers and seniors alike, Senior did not realize that some sides of the Quad the trumpet or bag pipes and led this Tea hopefully will “remain always as the had been replaced. “We worked very hard whole brigade around a couple of blocks heritage of St. John’s,” said Carolyn Clare, to keep the look of the Quad in the reno- of River Oaks Boulevard, then pack in staff Emerita (‘50) and former SJS mother. vation because it was such an important to deposit ties on the tie tree,” said Suzy Senior Country was also present in 1950 part of our history,” said Mr. Chapman. Mercado, former SJS mother and faculty under the name of the “Senior Room”. SeThe Detention Hall is a successor of the Emerita. However, since the exclusion of nior Room was located where the bookPenalty Hall, a punishment served on a ties from the school uniform, the celebra- store used to be before the Quad was renSaturday morning in a “dark, dank, dusty, tion of Tie Day was doomed to omission ovated. Mr. Chapman said, “Of course the dreary room,” where students would spend as well. Only senior “Tie Thursday” re- nice thing about it being such a dump was two hours doing assignments monitored by mains as a tribute to the former tradition. that no one cared what we did to it so we a teacher, said Kristi Shipnes Martin (‘52).

Senior privileges were an important tra- painted it all of these psychedelic colors.”

Tie Day, a tradition that now has carved dition in SJS history, such as the fact that Along with these traditions, Ms. Mulligan’s birthday also stems back to the inception of the school. According to the Upper School Handbook, notion shop owner Mrs. Mulligan would “at unexpected intervals during the year feel tension and fatigue creeping over her. She simply shut up shop, put the sign ‘Closed - My Birthday’” on the door, and took off. So does St. John’s.”

With a past brimming with colorful memories, SJS boasts traditions and experiences that have prevailed as a defining aspect of the school.

After all, in Suzy Mercado’s words, “St. John’s has been as effective as it has been because of the traditions that have been so important to everybody involved with the school.”

Senior fathers, some former SJS students, host senior tea.

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 13

The varsity girls basketball team (1951)

The SJS athletics program has undergone many significant changes since the founding of the school. From different facilities to more opportunities for girls’ sports, the events of the past 60 years have helped shape the current SJS athletics program.

Before the Smith Athletic Center was built, there was an older gym without air conditioning north of the current gym.

In 1994, the athletic center was dedicated. It included an older, smaller gym and one new gym that was built where tennis courts used to stand. Director of Athletics Pat Krieger said that two gyms are necessary “to support the number of teams and athletic programs” the school has, and the choice was made to get rid of the tennis courts because it was “easier to get tennis courts off-campus than it is to get gym space.” Also, the construction of the new gym and the loss of the tennis courts opened up new parking.

In addition to changes in facilities, there have been shifting trends in which sports SJS is dominant in throughout the years. Coach Krieger said that in the 1950s and 1960s, the school was dominant in many of the girls’ sports, especially track and field and basketball. In the 1980s and 1990s, the cross country and track and field teams were strong, and beginning in the 1990s, the school has been strongest in lacrosse. “Those are the sports that come to mind where we’ve kind of established championships in consecutive years,” said Coach Krieger.

Also, the sports that are currently offered at SJS were not always available to student athletes. While girls’ basketball and track and field and boys’ football 14 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

Jesse Dickson (‘51), varsity football player (1948).

Photos courtesy of The Quadrangle

sports

and basketball have been around a fairly long time—the first SJS football game was played on Oct. 15, 1948 against St. Thomas— other sports such as baseball, swimming and girls’ lacrosse have different histories. Baseball was offered at first, taken away, and then reinstated in the 1980s.

Swimming for both boys and girls started less than 10 years ago, while girls’ lacrosse was offered for the first time in the 1990s.

With all the sports currently offered at SJS, Coach Krieger said that “numbers are very high [right now] with student participation.” As the school has grown, JV-2 teams and middle school “B” teams have been formed. Middle school sports teams were only developed in the early 1980s.

Opportunities in girls’ and boys’ athletics were not always equal either.

Girls’ sports really took off in the late 1980s, said Coach Krieger. SJS offered girls’ sports, but “they always had more boys’ teams than girls’ teams, and now…other than wrestling, [they] are even. And you have just as many girls playing sports [at SJS] as you do boys, which is healthy,” Coach Krieger said.

An important part of the history of SJS athletics has been the Kinkaid rivalry in all sports, particularly football. The first SJSKinkaid football game was held in 1951 at SJS, and the game moved to Rice Stadium in 1978. Dr. Dwight Raulston (‘71), current SJS teacher, said, “Kinkaid week was not such an incredible extravaganza and was more focused, I think, on the game.

The all-school pep rally was really cool because it was at night with a big bonfire.”

Coach Krieger credits the long-standing rivalry to the schools’ relatively short distance from each other and the fact that both have been in the community for a long time in comparison to other schools, such as Episcopal High School.

Since Episcopal is a younger school,

“the rivalry is not as storied,” said Coach Krieger, although “there is certainly an increased intensity of rivalry with Episcopal.” She credits this to the fact that students from both SJS and Kinkaid middle schools sometimes attend Episcopal for high school, whereas they usually don’t switch between SJS or Kinkaid.

There may be changes ahead for the SJS athletics program. Coach Krieger said that she hoped a wellness center could be built as a “true kind of fitness-conditioning building [that] would incorporate weights, exercise machinery [and] a classroom for teaching” in a “more modern…up-to-speed approach to conditioning and fitness.” She said that a wellness center would not only benefit SJS students but faculty and alumni as well.

Also, there is a possibility that tennis courts may be built by Scotty Caven Field.

These would be a part of physical education classes and help to bring parents and alumni onto the campus. While a swimming pool would also be a convenient addition to the SJS campus, Coach Krieger acknowledged that with two swimming pools nearby, “the school has to make judgments on how to best use space.”

As the athletics department continues to make changes as it has in the past, one thing is certain: “In my experience,” said Coach Krieger, “students have always loved to play sports.”

The cast of Happy Will Tomorrow Be, the first theater production of SJS (1948).

fine arts “A rich, sincere, and at the same time intelligently circumscribed Fine Arts program is not fashioned overnight,” begins a paragraph in the program for the dedication of Hoodwink Playhouse on February 23, 1963. Almost forty-five years later, this truth still applies to the SJS Fine Arts program, which as been based in three different buildings over its 60-year history.

When the school was first built, its opening had to be postponed, but it was evident that there was a need for a fine arts building. Mr. Walter L. Hood, an engineer involved in the school’s construction, proposed building Hoodwink Hall – “a rambling structure identified with utility rather than beauty,” according to the Hoodwink Playhouse dedication program.

Some of the denizens of Hoodwink Hall were the first fifteen members of Johnnycake, which was founded on April 8, 1948, only two years after the school’s founding. This makes it the “oldest consistent club on campus,” said Chair of the Fine Arts department Bill McDonald. In the years after Johnnycake’s founding, annual events included a “feast [with] dinner, a dance and performances of scenes from the past year,” said Thomas Jay, who worked the lights for theatre productions from 1965 to 1992, served as chairman of the Fine Arts Department from 1969 – 1982, and currently prints, designs and helps with orders for tickets for the productions. Mr. Jay and his son, David (‘82), were the basic lighting crew for Hoodwink productions for several years.

Photos courtesy of The Quadrangle

There Cometh Emanuel (1949).

Johnnycake’s founder and one of its biggest supporters was the founding headmaster, Alan Lake Chidsey. Mr. Chidsey “felt strongly that theatre was an integral part of a student’s life, and he felt strongly that every child should be involved” in theatre, said Mr. McDonald. During times of year when shows were being rehearsed, Mr. Chidsey would occasionally close the school for the entire day so that all the students and faculty could attend rehearsal.

In 1951, Hoodwink Playhouse was refurbished, and the first caricatures of alumni who made significant contributions to the fine arts appeared. One year later, the first Johnnycake members graduated. In February 1963, Hoodwink Theatre was dedicated, intended to serve “the specific needs of those who are blessed with more than ordinary talent,” according to the dedication program. The building was “a typical theatre of the early ‘60’s,” said Mr. Jay, with no balcony or fly space. Even so, “those who worked in Hoodwink could do wonders with what they had available.” At the time, more than 80% of Upper School students were “engaged in music, dance, dramatics, art, and creative writing,” according to the Hoodwink dedication program.

Eventually, Hoodwink developed “an odor from all the scenery paint and mold” said Mr. Jay, and in December 1998, construction on the current Virginia Stuller Tatham Fine Arts Center began. The building was dedicated on March 12, 2000 but had been finished by the previous fall.

With this gradual development and the changes in facilities, “the expectation of the level of productions is higher,” said Mr. McDonald, although he thinks that “in this environment the arts [have] al-

ways been appreciated, and whatever the final product, the enthusiasm has always been there.”

In addition to the past upgrades in facilities, arts education has also changed over the years. “More people are actually majoring in a fine art, and there are actually full-time fine arts teachers,” said Mr. McDonald. “I’ve seen that change. It used to be that faculty did double-duty [in teaching academic classes and arts classes], but I think now there are teachers who are trained specifically in arts education.”

Participation in the fine arts has also increased with the introduction of the fine arts requirement for graduation, said Mr. Jay, who helped introduce some halfcredit art classes to the Upper School curriculum during his time as chairman. He believes that art is currently popular in the fine arts program because of the many art classes that are available.

In celebration of the school’s 60th anniversary, an events committee for the fine arts has been formed that features alumni and parents from every decade from 1950 to the present. They are trying to plan an event for each of the arts disciplines, and their efforts produced the fall alumni visual arts show. Also in the works are an alumni choir for the spring choral concert and alumni dancers for the dance performance, as well as the Johnnycake alumni social before the performance of Pippin in March.

In the past and present, the influence and presence of the fine arts at SJS has made a large impact on the school and will continue to do so in the future. As it was printed in the Hoodwink Playhouse dedication program, “It is not a matter of providing passing enjoyment, but rather one of providing the future with a measuring stick of human perspective.”

The Review Magazine | The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 15

stobie whitmore (‘68)

craig chambers (‘81)

By ANJALI SALVADOR

sam chambers (‘77)

dwight raulston (‘71)

SJS has grown in many ways over the past sixty years. Since 1946, the amount of property owned, the size of the student body and the number of courses offered have all increased. However, the essential ideas upon which the school was founded–faith, virtue, the joy of learning–have remained constant over the years, as alums-turned-teachers can attest to.

“I love it here,” said coach and Middle School history teacher Marty Thompson (’91). “My perspective on the school definitely changed when I became a teacher, but I don’t know if it’s changed so much as it’s remained the same. And there are some things that are exactly the same, like the great relationships students build with teachers.”

The bonds with instructors were a common thread among the teachers’ testimonies.

“I really liked the teachers,” Upper School history teacher Emily Baker (’92) said. “I had good relationships with them back then, as teachers do with students now. I really enjoyed it.”

16 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

The frequently-referenced student-teacher bonds have been a part of the school since its inception, and they remained strong throughout the years. “[The school] hasn’t changed all that much in some of the student-teacher relationships,” said Upper School English and math teacher Dr. Dwight Raulston (’71).

“I kept in touch with one of my teachers here for years and years after I left. His love for experimenting in labs and exploring different ideas are things that I’ve tried to incorporate into my own teaching.”

Despite the similarities between their experiences, many things about SJS have changed over the years.

“To a certain extent, it reflects societal changes,” said Dr. Raulston. “It’s much bigger. There are more things to do, more activities to get involved in.”

The increased class size was remarked upon by all of the teachers. “I graduated in a class of 51 people,” said coach Stobie Whitmore (’68). “We were in the plays, we were on student council, we did yearbook…everybody got to do almost everything. If you wanted to, you could. And it was different because

KATHERINE CARMICHAEL, JENNY LEWIS, CHANEL TRAN | The Review

back to the future:

kyle parrish (‘01)

former students return to teach

KATHERINE CARMICHAEL , JENNY LEWIS, CHANEL TRAN | The Review

grades four through twelve were on [the north campus] with seniors.

Fourth graders passed seniors in the hallways.”

Ms. Baker feels that the school has become “much more studentfriendly, academically. I think now there are a lot more tools that we give students to succeed, though the academic standard has stayed the same, pretty much.”

All of the teachers remarked upon the changes that the evolving college admissions system has wrought. “It’s a shame,” said Dr. Raulston, “that college admissions has become such an all-encompassing priority.”

“The school has changed along with the world,” Coach Whitmore said.

“There is much more of an emphasis on measured academic success.”

“I think a lot of the stresses and pressures are the same, but applying to college has become much more technical. There wasn’t so much of a formula,” Mr. Thompson said. “There’s

learning for the sake of learning, and then there’s learning to get a grade for a paper and have a good record, and I think college admissions has had an effect on that.” He added, “But the students here are phenomenal, and they’re getting a great education.”

“What works seems to work really, really well,” Ms. Baker agreed.

Though their perceptions and experiences of the school vary somewhat, as do the reasons for their returns, these SJS students-turned-teachers share a similar regard for and love of the school. “Every year I’m challenged,” Mr. Thompson said. “I love it. It keeps me coming back.”

“I enjoyed it as a student, I loved it as a parent, and it’s always been a great place to work,” Coach Whitmore said.

“I hope I’m here for years to come.”

He laughed. “At this point, where else would I go? Whatever problems are here are everywhere else. This is the place to be.”

emily baker (‘93)

marty thompson (‘91)

richie mercado (‘79)

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 17

The Candy Stick Ball (1949)

student life As for variation in the difficulty of student life, “the median academic demands are probably greater, but there’s also a wider variety of offerings so that it’s easier for more people to find a niche in which they can be successful academically. There’s much more stress related to college admissions, but that’s a reflection of forces outside the school more than anything else, in my opinion,” said Dr. Raulston, in an interview via email.

In addition to the stress of the college process, Dr. Raulson added that sports and fine arts have evolved into activities beyond the realm of extra-curriculars.

“There is more of a drive-to-excellence in certain areas. Some areas that used to be more ‘extra’-curricular have become more specialized—sports and fine arts are two.

The result is sometimes increased level of performance; the cost is sometimes more time in practices/rehearsals.”

Fads come and go, and several trends have had their fifteen minutes of fame at SJS. Mr. Chapman explained that his years spent at SJS were during the sixties, “the hippie days, [when] peace, love, the Beatles, long hair and bellbottom jeans” were the craze. Coach Richie Mercado (’79) reflected that “Butterfly yo-yos came in around fourth grade and came back around eleventh grade. Everyone had one!”

Outside of SJS, students enjoyed spending their free time at various popular locales. “The beach was a really popular place to go,” detailed Mr. Chapman. “Surfing was very popular.”

During Maurie Cannon’s (‘61) middle school years, an ice cream shop called Redding’s was a favorite desti18 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

nation. During her years in high school, dating was a widespread activity, and students often went on dates to driveins. Coach Stobie Whitmore (‘68) “hung out at sporting events, [the] movies, the Rice Library and the eating establishments in the Village [Arcade] on Sundays.” Mr. Mercado and his friends “left campus as seniors to eat lunch at a little sandwich shop on Richmond near Kirby run by an older Polish couple who loved [them] and were so proud to be American citizens and know so much about US politics.” He added, “I appreciate them more and more as I have grown older.”

Popular music and movies, too, have evolved through each decade of SJS’s history. During Mr. Chapman’s years at SJS, The Pink Panther, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the James Bond movies were all the rage. Elvis and Buddy Holly were favorites during Ms. Cannon’s time at SJS. According to Mr. Mercado, “Peter Frampton hit around 10th grade and

was the rage, Led Zeppelin, Tina Turner [and] a lot of old 60s stuff like Donovan, Jimi Hendrix [and] The Doors.” He added, “We also listened to what was then called ‘Progressive Country’ on a major station that would bring in local artists and play their stuff.” Such artists included JJ Walker and Guy Clark.

However, one entity that has remained, in the more expressive words of D.H. Lawrence, ‘steadfast as the irreducible earth beneath us’ is the quality of relationships forged within these storied cloisters. According to Dr. Raulston, “There are some really inspiring, and sometimes idiosyncratic teachers—classroom, arts, athletics, other areas—and some people—whether faculty or fellow students—that students come to know here who will be friends and role models for the rest of their lives.

That hasn’t changed. I now have more close friends left from SJS than from college; I had three or four teachers here who both made the idea of teaching attractive to me and whose philosophies of teaching and working with students are still strong influences on my own teaching; I have students from as long ago as the classes of ‘84 and ‘85 who are good friends now and with whom I still keep up.”

A Lower School student teaches her class (1951).

Photos courtesy of The Quadrangle

Middle School students at the MS Carnival (1951)

everything changes, but everything stays the same...

In the second volume of The Rebel (1951), the first graduating class of SJS published its Last Will and Testament for subsequent classes.

St. John’s School, 2006-2007

Photo courtesy of REBECCA RAUTIO

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 19

There are two diseases that will ruin your social life*.

The first is leprosy 1.

2 The second is .

mono

by Justin Stein *As well as destroy your immune system, ruin your GPA, and land you a pile of makeup work.

1According to Matthew Ziemnicki (‘07).

2Admit it, we’re right.

Infectious mononucleosis. The Kissing Disease. Simply put, mono. The well-known infection is possibly the most dreaded illness that can befall a student in the SJS Upper School where the workload is heavy, the schedule packed and the stakes high.

“I was always tired; I had absolutely no energy to do anything during the day. I pretty much needed about ten to twelve hours of sleep every night or I wouldn’t be able to function the next morning. I always had an upset stomach; I basically couldn’t eat any hard food because I felt like I would throw up afterwards,” said Matthew Ziemnicki (’07), reflecting upon his 2005 bout with mono.

For the average SJS student, surviving the school week even in full health can be a battle; as a result, when a student comes down with mono, people start to panic. The illness, though, is marred by misconceptions and shrouded in myth. Two students affected by the illness—Ziemnicki and Alison Bloch (’07)—did not know much about the Kissing Disease, even after they suffered from it. “I know it means mononucleosis,” Ziemnicki said. “I don’t think I know that much scientifically,” Bloch admitted.

The Review spoke with Dr. Clive Fields, a doctor in private family practice, who of-

20 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

fered insight on what has become a common concern among SJS students in recent years.

Mono spreads so quickly, he said, because individuals can be contagious “before you actually have symptoms. So signs of mono can develop two to four weeks after you’ve been exposed to the virus and you can be infectious during that time. That’s why mono gets spread around so quickly—people don’t even know they’re sick,” Dr. Fields said.

Bloch and Ziemnicki had different experiences with mono during their junior year. Bloch said, “I basically spent break sleeping on the couch. I first thought it was recovering from exams and an exhausting semester in general.

I didn’t go to the doctor until the first week in January, and I was positive for mono.” Bloch also said, “I felt pain in my lower stomach, my spleen area, which was my biggest tip-off.”

Ziemnicki said, “I got mono last year at the end of football season. I pretty much felt really sick for about a week and didn’t know what was wrong until I went to the doctor and they told me that my spleen and liver were enlarged.”

Dr. Fields explained that many times an enlarged spleen is the only factor unique to mono. “Patients come in and their symptoms are very non-specific. They’re symptoms that can be caused by lots of other illnesses,” he said.

Because virtually all individuals with mono will eventually return to full health, the focus at SJS becomes making up academic work missed over a several-week-long period.

“It is the main thing that we have to deal with,” said Ann Louise Hagerty, Upper School Academic Dean. “That’s probably one of the most devastating absences that we experience because very few other things—unless it is something major and life-threatening—would take a student out of school that long,” she said.

Ziemnicki said, “Basically, I didn’t come to school until like 10:00 every morning for two or three weeks, which really was a bad situation for my morning classes.”

“I didn’t go to history very much,” the senior said. “In retrospect, it did lower my grade because I missed so much class discussion that I was behind. You can’t really make up class discussions in tutorials.”

Bloch, who fell ill over the winter holiday, had a different experience. She dealt with the brunt of mono away from SJS. When she returned to school in January 2006, however, Bloch’s “teachers commented that on the first day of school I looked terrible. Just the first day itself was the worst,” she said.

Bloch explained that it was hard to be at school while still recovering from mono. “I

think for the first week I did have trouble getting my work done. I would sleep during lunch and free periods, and I would come home right after school and sleep,” she said.

Bloch’s and Ziemnicki’s experiences in dealing with their make-up work are not unique.

“It is pretty hard for students to make up their work,” said Mrs. Hagerty. “And what makes it even harder is that once they are able to come back to school, they’re never 100%.

They have to gradually ease into it,” she said.

An individual’s long-term health only becomes an issue when their spleen is endangered, Dr. Fields said. A rupture of the spleen “usually occurs if people have mono and are then involved in some kind of traumatic injury. So that’s why we keep kids out of football and contact sports when they have mono,” the doctor said.

“It’s dangerous. It’s the same type of injury that Chris Simms, the Tampa Bay quarterback, had this year. It usually leads to the removal of the spleen. The spleen is part of the body’s immune system, so it can leave you more prone to infections for the rest of your life,” he added.

Many students remember recent SJS graduate Nick Russell (’06) moving around school in a wheelchair, covered in blankets after his spleen ruptured due to mono.

Ziemnicki said he knew that mono was bad “when I heard that Russell’s spleen exploded when he was playing lacrosse. I decided not to mess with mono and let it take its course on me.”

Unfortunately, that is the only choice teens have. Dr. Fields said, “There is no treatment for mono. Doctors can provide what we call symptomatic relief. So we can treat the cold, we can treat the cough, we can treat the fever, but we can’t actually treat the virus. Sleep, rest, and fluids—there’s not a whole lot more.”

When students do finally feel ready to come back to school, one of their first stops should be Mrs. Hagerty’s office, the Dean said. “I can help them with a make-up schedule that in-

“It is pretty hard for students to make up their work,” said Mrs. Hagerty. “And what makes it even harder is that once they are able to come back to school, they’re never 100%” cludes tutorials and spreads it out. It is something that our teachers honor. And if it comes from me, everyone understands there’s a plan and they kind of back off. So certainly, when students have mono, they need to come by and work out a plan. It would also be based on what we think they could do. There’s not a superimposed time period when we’ve got to have everything made up by. We try to be sensitive to what they’re able to do ac-

cording to how good they feel,” she said.

In addition to waiting for her body to combat an illness that doctors could not cure, as well as trying to stay afloat academically, dealing with her peers at school was also difficult for Bloch. “Especially in a competitive environment like St. John’s, illnesses are taboo. And if you come to school with an illness, everyone looks at you and doesn’t want to get contaminated since they worry about themselves,” she said. “So most days, I felt guilty for coming to school, but at the same time, I wanted to not let mono completely throw off my schedule.”

Ziemnicki said he agreed. “I lost a lot of friends for a few weeks because people don’t like having friends who have mono. It’s just really weird. Socially, it just wasn’t acceptable. It’s kind of like if you have leprosy. People just don’t want to be your friend,” he said.

Bloch said, “I feel like kids don’t really take the time to understand how people with mono need to go about their daily life.”

Mrs. Hagerty said, “It’s a problem. But we’re equipped to deal with it and we do. And if someone has mono, he or she should absolutely follow the doctor’s orders and stay home and really get well.”

Ziemnicki concluded, “Mono’s not too bad because once you get it, you can’t get it again. You can only have a relapse afterward, and the relapses are never as bad.

So one you have mono, its kind of like chicken pox—you’re cured for life.”q

Who knows who would be in “Pots and Pans” if SJS didn’t consider “SJS Community” status.

JENNY LEWIS | The Review

should

“SJS community candidates” get an upper hand in the

admissions process?

by Ryan Staine

Many SJS students remember the admissions process that led to their admittance into the school, when they were presumably judged on their intelligence, skill and work ethic. SJS works hard “to attract qualified individuals of diverse backgrounds to its student body,” as stated in to the SJS website. In its search, SJS has to sift through countless qualified applicants to whittle down to the students that are ultimately admitted into the school.

However, in this process how does the admissions office decide between so many applicants? For kindergarten, for example, “SJS community candidates” are automatically placed on the list of applicants to be tested for admittance. There are a total of 175 applicants tested for kindergarten. What is a “SJS community candi22 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

date,” one might ask? An “SJS community candidate” is defined as an applicant who has a sibling already at SJS or who had a parent who attended SJS. In addition, beyond the kindergarten admissions process, SJS does consider “SJS community” status in the admissions process as a factor.

Many would argue that “SJS community candidates” getting an advantage in admissions is a financial necessity for the school. As the SJS website states, “To continue this excellent education, St. John’s relies on contributions from alumni, parents, grandparents, parents of alumni and friends. As an independent school, St. John’s operates without financial support from local, state and federal governments.”

It wouldn’t exactly be the best way to encourage donations from alumni if SJS

rejected an alumni’s children from the school on a regular basis. From the eyes of SJS administration, wouldn’t it be completely logical and fiscally astute to admit a student who is slightly less qualified than another student, but is a “SJS community candidate,” when rejecting the first student might lose SJS valuable funds that could serve the school better in the future?

This idea could particularly make sense when considering that being an “SJS community candidate” is only one factor in the decision making process in admissions. However, to me there is something unsettling about allowing “SJS community” status to have too strong an impact upon admissions.

Though many factors have an impact upon an applicant’s admission into

SJS, their status as an “SJS community candidate” is the only one that is not specifically merit-based, and it is consequently the only one that is not directly related to the applicant’s qualifications as a potential student at SJS. While the system as it is explained now of allowing “SJS community” status as a factor in admissions seems innocent enough, I see it as a slippery slope towards the kind of nepotism and favoritism that SJS should avoid at all costs. To maintain its status as the gold standard in high school education in the Houston area, SJS must continually strive to fill its halls with the most qualified applicants available. To me, it seems that it would be difficult to consider fairly admissions of an “SJS community candidate,” and that it would be most fair to all involved if it were not considered.

From the outside looking in, the consideration of “SJS community” status seems at its very core nepotistic. SJS could be viewed as just the same privileged kids entering generation after generation and not allowing a new influx of students into the school. It is because of even this possible view that I would like SJS to avoid considering “SJS community” status altogether, a so not to tarnish the credentials of the school.

That is not to say, however, that I do not consider the history and tradition of SJS to be important. While the idea of maintaining the legacy of SJS through many generations of SJS students in one family seems to be an admirable goal, I, personally, would prefer if SJS were to forge a new tradition continually with the most qualified applicants available. I think that knowing that SJS is filled with the most well-rounded, qualified students around is legacy enough.

I was, upon my entry into SJS, an “SJS community candidate,” and this knowledge does not alter my views on this as-

pect of the SJS admissions process. I do not feel that I have enhanced the history and tradition of SJS more than another applicant, perhaps more qualified than I, would have. And even though I have no expectation for SJS to change its policy on “SJS community candidates” at any point, I would urge them to consider the idea that

each graduating class forges its piece of the SJS legacy on its own, independent of any relatives who preceded them. q

*For a note on survey results, please see p. 7.

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 23

Reflections from Africa Scott Rubin in Nairobi A past SJS physics teacher’s experiences in Kenya

As I continue my journey through my first year away from St. John’s, I keep a sort of a running list in my head of ideas that are not quite ready for St. John’s. One such idea is a senior – teacher cocktail hour at which the older students have a drink or two with their favorite teacher in order to learn how to drink responsibly. It’s a reasonable idea here where the drinking age is eighteen and the culture is overall more accepting in that regard, but I think we have to file the cocktail hour idea away as not quite being ready for the Storied Cloisters.

One nice idea that St. John’s could consider is a half-term holiday – a week off after mid term reports to sit at home and sort of recharge your engines. My half-term last week was unfortunately marred by a trip to the emergency room for my younger son Alex who fell while riding his bike – no worries, he’s home now – and my older boy actually had to go to school for half the week.

So my week off became about two days.

Still, I had a few days to sit and watch the odd TV show. Every morning, for example, Kenyan television shows CNN for an hour followed by the English version of Al Jazeera for an hour and a half. Yes, I said Al Jazeera, that news program that’s routinely vilified as the mouthpiece for terrorists (or at least, that’s the way it seemed to me when I left the States last year).

24 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

Well, on the particular morning I watched the news last week, the lead story on CNN was the death of Anna Nicole Smith, including exhaustive retrospectives of her life, loves, and families, and the lead story on Al Jazeera was a bombing in Lebanon that killed a dozen people and seemed to reflect tension between the Syrian backed elements in the country and the people as a whole.

I must confess I was more interested in Anna Nicole Smith because I’ve always had a sweet spot in my heart for her and I’ve always felt like she got a lot of bad press she didn’t deserve.

However, the two different stories really highlighted a difference in perspective between the U.S. and the rest of the world, and I wanted to write this month about some of the incidents and conversations I’ve had living abroad that illustrate how Americans are viewed from the outside.

First off, early in the year, I was asked by one of my students to get some information about applying for admission to MIT for engineering. I know nothing about college applications, but I know someone who knows a lot (thanks Mr. Alig), so I was able to inform my student how difficult it is to gain admittance, especially for boys. However, I decided to ask a couple of my brighter female Physics students if they’d thought about applying to

MIT, to which the reply was a resounding no.

I was shocked about how firm the reply was and I asked them why they wouldn’t even consider studying in the US. The answer was simple: ‘We’re Muslim.”

I didn’t know what to say. What would you? The US never struck me as a particularly anti-Muslim place, despite the war on terror.

I always thought our leaders tried their best to make sure the world knew what we are fighting is ‘Radical Islam’, but I could be wrong.

After all, I’m not a Muslim American and I don’t actually know any Muslim Americans.

A few days earlier Al Jazeera had run a story in which they showed an American network commentator claiming that a newly elected Muslim Congressman in the US wanting to be sworn in on the Koran rather than on the Bible was like wanting to be sworn in on the Satanic Bible. I don’t know if that really happened since I only saw one side of the story, but clearly one message that’s getting out is that Americans hate Muslims.

Later in the year out in the common area over a game of chess, I overheard a conversation between two other students about how much they hated George Bush. They were busy decrying the Iraq war and their belief that the American government was acting overall in a heavy handed fashion in all of

their foreign affairs. One of them went so far as to say Bush made him hate all Americans, to which the other replied that Americans were good people and you can’t hate them based on the actions or views of the President.

However, the idea that Americans are at fault for many of the problems in the world is a common thread I’ve come up against this year. As another example, two weeks ago there was a conversation in the staffroom about the spike in gun violence in Kenya. It really has gotten a lot worse since I was a Peace Corps Volunteer here, but this was the first time someone made the claim that all the gun violence in Kenya was all the fault of Americans.

I just gaped, and I challenged my colleague.

How? How can you blame the gun violence in Kenya on the US? He told me that when the Americans got out of Mogadishu in the early 1990s, they just left all their depots of guns in Somalia, and these are the very guns that are killing Kenyans today.

So I guess that’s point number 2: Americans are to blame for everything.

Okay, so it sounds pretty bad so far, but if you look a bit deeper you begin to see that underneath the way most people deride the US and our government, people, and culture, there is a sort of admiration and even copying of our lifestyle.

I feel like half the casual wear I see was made in the US, from Yankees caps to football (that’s American football) Jerseys, to the way trousers hang low on teenage boys to show off their boxers. Kids here listen almost exclusively to American hip hop, and they use gangster slang in their speech. Even some people who seem to hate everything about the US are clearly using the US to define who they are.

Last week I was teaching about latent heat of fusion and thermal energy (sorry, Chemistry teachers, that’s Physics territory here), and

when I came to the formula that explained how much heat it takes to raise temperature, my students were confused that temperature used the symbol theta rather than T. When I told them in the US we stick to a capital T, a sizeable number of my students said, “well, if the US does it, it can’t be right.”

It’s a small example, but I feel like a lot of people define themselves not by who they are but by how they are different from Americans.

So I guess that’s point number 3: American cultural influence is a huge influence on the rest of the world, either in a negative or a positive way.

Now I have to say I don’t really agree with any of these feelings about Americans. I don’t think the US is anti-Muslim, I don’t think we

are to blame for gun violence in Kenya (after all, doesn’t Kenya have an obligation to keep its own borders safe?), and I wish people wouldn’t try to ape American culture quite so completely.

At the risk of sounding paternalistic, it’s almost as though the US has been like a parent to the rest of the world, but an abusive one rather than a nurturing one.

They always say that if you’re raised in an abusive relationship, you tend to become abusive yourself. You can’t help copying a parental influence, even if it’s a bad one.

And that means America and Americans need to start being a non-paternal influence in the world, and moreover we should be a positive influence. We should be loving siblings rather than abusive parents.

I say that because most of the people I know who actually know a lot of Americans think very highly of them.

For example, my brother-in-law, not the most eloquent guy I’ve ever met, told me whenever he sees a charity organization that is actually helping people, its run by an American. The Peace Corps is great about that, by the way. Its whole purpose is to bring Americans abroad at a grass roots level and live like the host country natives.

I think my brother-in-law is right. I think Americans need to watch more Al Jazeera and the rest of the world needs to have access to something beside it. I think the part of our culture that should be exported is our intolerance of injustice and our desire to work hard every day to make our lives and the lives of others a little better, and the only way that can happen is for Americans to meet non Americans for the long term and as equals.

That seems like a pretty easy thing to do.

Mr. Rubin lives in Nairobi, Kenya with his wife and two sons.

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 25

So an Owl, a Commodore, and a Longhorn step beyond SJS...

By Vail Kohnert-Yount, Margaret Greenberg, and Liliana Varman

26 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

Photos Courtesy of Taylor Johnson

Rice University

By Vail KohNert-Yount “I Went To St. John’s Like Half of Rice or I Know Someone Who Went To St. John’s.”

That is the title of the 55-member group in the Rice University community on Facebook.

Though certainly many claims on Facebook may be taken with a grain—or a pound—of salt, this sentiment is shared by Evan Mintz (’04) and Mark Yurewicz (’05), both SJS graduates and current Rice students. “We’re like roaches,” said Mintz, referring to the abundance of SJS alumni on the Rice campus. “You can’t take a step without stepping on one of us.”

“We’re like roaches.

You can’t take a step without stepping on one of us.”

- Mark Yurewicz (‘05)

Mintz, a dynamic and often controversial writer for The Review for the last four years of his 12-year tenure at SJS, was also a member of the Junior Statesmen of America and the Quiz Bowl team, affectionately known as the Nerd Squad. (“You don’t have to print that,” he added.)

Currently a history major, “specifically the history of science,” Mintz’s passion for journalism followed him from the storied cloisters of SJS to the live oaks and hedges of Rice University.

The current Opinions and Satire editor for the Rice Thresher, the university’s awardwinning student newspaper, he is soon to assume the position of executive editor. “The Thresher has a notorious satire section on the Backpage,” Mintz explained. “I take a lot of pride in that.”

One of the chief benefits of being a part of the Thresher staff, according to Mintz, is being the first to know the news. “Every little bit of information around campus comes through here,” he said.

Coincidentally enough, Mintz is reviewing the student musical production Reefer Madness for the Thresher, starring Yurewicz as the protagonist and directed by SJS alumni Andrew Sinclair (’04).

Yurewicz’s was extensively involved in the fine arts during his years at SJS. After enrolling in the sixth grade, he participated in Chorale, Kantorei, Boychoir, and Chapel Singers during his Upper School years. He was the historian and production manager of Johnnycake, the captain of Drum Corps, and the president of the Science and Math Club.

At Rice, Yurewicz is pursuing a major in religious studies and a pre-medical degree.

In addition to his theatre interests, he is also a member of the Outdoor Club at Rice and

involved in the HealthRep program, which the philosophy department, though not so sponsors “health-related events and improve- much in other areas.” Because that was not ments on campus.” the type of program he was looking for, and he The decision to attend Rice was based on didn’t like the East Coast or the Georgetown different criteria for both. neighborhood, his decision was ultimately beAfter applying to a number of schools in- tween Washington University and Rice. cluding Georgetown, Vassar, Franklin and As for his final verdict, Yurewicz explained, Marshall and a plethora of “small schools that “If WashU was in Houston, I would have gone I don’t remember that I was forced to apply there.” However, though not a priority at first, to,” Mintz turned down an enticing offer from proximity to home was the deciding factor.

Reed College to attend Rice.

“I knew more about Rice, I felt a little more Ironically, though known for the liberal po- comfortable there,” he said. litical viewpoint often expressed in the newsMintz offered a bit of admission advice to print pages of The Review, Mintz said the prospective students: take advantage of the ultra-left mindset of the Portland, Oregon, connections between members of the SJS school was not the right fit for him. “I didn’t family and the Rice community. “If you’re want to go to a place where I’d be the most looking to come here, ask someone to give conservative person on campus,” he remarked you a leg up,” he recommended. “I definitely dryly. used some of those connections. I knew Dr. “[Rice] was always sort of in the back of my [Deborah] Harter, [Rice professor and mother mind, as colleges go,” Mintz stated. “At some of Sydney Cochran (’04)], and she wrote my point senior year, I was driving around with letter of recommendation.” my friend Cameron Hill (’04) because we had Mintz said even the vaguest connections nothing else to do. We drove around the Rice were useful in securing a place in the freshcampus, and I said, ‘I could go here.’” The fol- men class at Rice. “A friend of a friend knew lowing autumn, Mintz found himself as a resi- someone on the board here, who saw some of dent of Hanszen College at Rice University. my stuff in The Review. That helped, too,” he Yurewicz admitted that at first, he “didn’t said. actually consider [Rice] as an option” for colAs for remaining in Houston, it can be a lege. “I didn’t think much of Rice either way,” blessing or a curse, “depend[ing] on your rehe explained. “I decided to apply to Rice be- lationship with your parents,” said Yurewicz. cause I knew people here. I knew I would “For me, it’s great.” He explained, “Your parhave an okay time here. I had a chance of get- ents are always happy to see you, and you can ting in here.” take home your laundry. It’s convenient, you After applying to 15 different colleges and save money, and the end of the summer is reuniversities, Yurewicz narrowed down his ally easy.” choices to Washington University in St. Louis, Mintz said he had no reservation about Georgetown University, and Rice. spending his college years in his hometown.

He decided against Georgetown due to the “It doesn’t bother me at all; in fact, I kind of nature of its philosophy program and the geographical location.

“I was interested in philosophy at the time because I had a great time with Mr. [Anthony] Sirigiano,” he explained. “ A t Georgetown, the Jesuit influence PETER HA| The Review was really Mr. Nathan keeps several Rice pennants in his classroom. strong in

Left: Evan Mintz (‘04) is the Opinions and Satire editor of The Rice Thresher

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 27

like it,” he explained. “In high school I didn’t get out much; besides, it’s not really like being in Houston.”

“At some point, I’ll have to go somewhere else where I don’t know anything,” he acknowledged, “but I can put that off.”

Like Mintz, Yurewicz agreed that the Rice campus experience is much different than living off-campus in Houston. “Rice is not Houston,” he said. “When you go to Rice, you can learn a lot more about Houston than you ever thought you could. In high school, you really can’t go see things.”

Living on an isolated campus in a big city is the opportunity to lead a dual lifestyle, Yurewicz said. “You can still be on campus and not have to worry about being in a big city, or you can go off campus and live in a big city.” In fact, there is a saying that Rice students never leave the hedges, and while that proves partially true, Houston community connections with the university entice many to pursue opportunities off campus.

“Most of my time at SJS was spent studying, discussing politics, or preparing for Quiz Bowl,” he explained. “Rice was my first time to have free time and have fun.”

Yurewicz agreed that the academic transition was not particularly difficult, despite a rigorous first semester class schedule in pursuit of a pre-med degree.

“It was really hard to adjust…socially,” he expressed. “Socially, college is completely

different. [High school and college] are not really comparable.” Adjusting to living with other people and making new friends was “definitely a challenge,” he said. “At SJS I was pretty secure with my friends.”

Yurewicz said that around 60 students from his graduating class at SJS applied, and nearly 30 got in. However, he said, “Most of my close friends weren’t interested at all.” He continued, “From my grade, people who shared the same interests as me like theater were looking elsewhere.”

“After 12 years at SJS, the workload was a lot lighter, easier, and less intensive [at Rice].”

- Evan Mintz (‘04)

Despite that, Yurewicz stated, “There’s definitely a presence [of SJS students on campus]; it’s not just SJS people that know it, Rice people know it.” Sometimes, he remarked, “It seems like everyone here at Rice is from SJS.” Mintz said his class at Rice has “12 or 11 from SJS.” SJS graduates attending other colleges are frequent visitors to the Rice campus on their holiday breaks and long weekends.

“Back in the day, Harvard, Princeton and Yale all had prep schools that fed into them,” he explained. “I like to think that SJS is that for Rice.”

“One week in the Thresher,” he noted with some amusement, “Matt Dunn (’04), Andrew Sinclair (’04) and I all wrote. We called it ‘Evan and Pals.’”

Mintz found the transition between high school and college to be somewhat enlightening. “After 12 years at SJS, the workload was a lot lighter, easier, and less intensive [at Rice],” he said. He said he felt “110% prepared” academically when starting classes at Rice.

“Students [from other schools] come in that are smart and great but haven’t had the opportunity to have teachers to force them to write college-level essays,” Image courtesy of The Rice Thresher he said. “You really learn that whole SJS “Evan and Pals” write in The Rice Thresher.

28 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

cramming thing and use it here.”

One of the main differences of the academic climate at SJS versus that of Rice was the tempo. “At SJS you have to constantly be on the ball,” he described. “Here, class is more spread out and you’re not constantly on the clock.”

Yurewicz said that SJS “definitely prepared [him] with writing papers.” “I haven’t encountered this,” he said, “but [some say] when you go into an English class here, they’ll know you’re from SJS from the papers you write.”

Even in other subjects, the rigorous academics SJS is famous for—or infamous, depending on one’s viewpoint—have helped him. “For me especially, the classes now have flowover from SJS,” he explained.

Yurewicz said that one of the best things about Rice—in fact, the reason he chose the school—was the quality of instruction. “The professors love teaching; they know what they’re talking about and make you want to come to class,” he said.

He explained, “One of Mr. Sirigiano’s friends, Professor [John] Zammito, who’s an amazing lecturer—I sat in on his class one day. He was the reason I came here. He used to teach at SJS.” Yurewicz said that even among the science professors, typically known for their extraordinary research connections, there are “great lecturers and teachers.” He especially acknowledged the quality of the instruction in the Humanities department, many of whom “have connections at SJS.” The strong relationship between students and teachers is something Mintz has also enjoyed at both institutions. “I think that’s something that SJS does well—[maintaining] a collegiate atmosphere where the teachers encourage talking,” he said. “[At Rice] it’s very intimate; the professors have office hours, and they invite you to come in,” he explained.

According to Mintz, another unique feature of the Rice community is the residential college system. “The college system encourages community so there’s no reliance on external organizations,” he explained. “No frats and no sororities is a good thing. It’s all-inclusive.”

No frats and no sororities is a good thing. It’s all-inclusive.

- Evan Mintz (‘04)

The only negative aspect of the residential college system, said Mintz, is the tendency for some members of the colleges to take things too seriously. “Only a little group of people have time to get engaged in the system and sometimes start the trend to be somewhat fratty,” he explained. “It gets a little summer campy.”

Yurewicz agreed that the residential college system “more or less takes the place of a frat.”

He stays involved in Baker College’s student government as a member of the permanent

Image Courtesy of www.rice.edu

Thomas Mastoriani (‘06) is featured in a graphic on the recently redesigned Rice Prospective Students webpage. improvements committee. The committee’s projects this year include reinstalling broken hammocks and upgrading the lighting in the college’s library.

Many students have “a lot of college pride,” said Yurewicz, especially those who compete on sports teams representing their college in the intramural leagues, which can get “pretty intense.”

In addition to maintaining their corner of the Rice campus and providing a sense of community, each college occasionally sponsors external events like the auto show or the opera for students to attend.

Rice students also receive free admission to various museums and the Houston Zoo, as well as discounts to local eateries and commercial venues ranging from Buffalo Wild Wings to la Madeleine to Thai Spice.

“On many different levels Rice is connected to the community,” said Yurewicz. Not only does association with the school bring the aforementioned benefits aimed at broke college students, but he asserted that Rice has “great research connections” with the local medical, scientific, and entrepreneurial communities.

Yurewicz marveled at the coincidences that are bound to occur with such a tightly-woven community. “I mean, my pediatrician knows my organic chemistry teacher!” he exclaimed.

Referring to the overall Rice community dynamic, Mintz remarked, “Things happen that you don’t expect. There are lots of little different niches here. It’s very small but very diverse.”

For example, one very religious friend of his unexpectedly found a subgroup of the campus community that he identified with. “There’s a very strong religious undercurrent here, which took him in,” explained Mintz. “That’s not a bad thing, just not what we expected to happen.”

However, Mintz said he was disappointed with the lack of Rice community support for libertarian political candidate, SJS graduate and current Rice student Mhair Dekmezian (’04) in the recent November elections for the district 134 state representative. “The effort could have been a lot better,” he said.

Mintz supported Dekmezian in the pages of the Thresher during the weeks before the election. Unfortunately, Mintz said, Dekmezian missed out on potential support from the Rice Libertarians organization due to the club president’s refusal to support a candidate or vote in the election because “she didn’t believe in democracy.”

That incident aside, Mintz expressed his mild surprise at the political composition of the student body at Rice versus that at SJS. “Surprisingly, I’ve met more of the conservative, religious element here than at SJS,” he stated. “At SJS, it’s more of a parental influence. In college, you at least have to back it up yourself.”

Yet another advantage of being at Rice in Mintz’s opinion is the strength of the honor code in the campus community. “Rice puts trust in students like SJS did; both institutions rely on that to function,” remarked Mintz.

Yurewicz said that the abundant prospects

that Rice offers him would be hard to find anywhere else. He referenced former president Bill Clinton’s recent speaking engagement on campus as well as the Dalai Lama’s upcoming visit. “I have the opportunities to do things I wouldn’t be able to do at a smaller school in a different place,” he said.

“There are so many different types of people from SJS at Rice,” remarked Yurewicz, “and all seem to be really happy. Almost anyone could be fine at Rice. […] The only reason not to come is if Rice isn’t the right size or doesn’t have the right field of studies,” he said.

Though Mintz was hard-pressed to define the ideal Rice student because of “lots of little different niches here,” he asserted that “quirkier students that are a little more out in left field would enjoy [Rice] very much.” He said the most predominant and important quality in a Rice student was the desire “to learn but also have a good time.”

Mintz spoke of his recent visit to the reconstructed but still storied cloisters with bittersweet nostalgia. “I don’t like the redone quad,” he said. “It doesn’t smell like dead rats. That’s not the SJS I knew and loved.”

“I don’t like the redone quad. It doesn’t smell like dead rats. That’s not the SJS I knew and loved.”

- Evan Mintz (‘04)

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 29

Vanderbilt University new friends, new groups.” Bellows does not feel like having other SJS alumnae in his class Over the past 5 years, 26 SJS graduates have stops him from branching out and meeting matriculated at Vanderbilt University in new people. “At a school even of Vanderbilt’s Nashville, Tennessee. 11 members of the class size, where you have 6,000 undergrads … of 2006 enrolled in Vanderbilt, including Jon- you barely run into [people from your high athan Payne (’06), who sees a lot of parallels school]. It’s not that big of a deal—you see between SJS and Vanderbilt. them as much or as little as you want.”

“It was a pretty smooth transition [to colOn the other hand, Payne has kept in close lege] because the culture here is pretty much contact with many SJS alums at Vanderbilt. the same as it was at St. John’s,” said Payne. “I guess what you’d call my social network “Not saying that Vanderbilt is a replica of St. is based on the people I knew from Houston John’s, [but there are] a lot of similar qualities when I came, like from St. John’s, and Epislike hard work.” copal, too,” said Payne. He names 3 general Jack Bellows (’03), a senior at Vanderbilt, groups of friends at Vanderbilt: people he agrees with Payne. “Vanderbilt, in a lot of hangs out with “consistently, like Steve [Spenways, is a lot like St. John’s. If you didn’t like cer (’06)],” a group of people he met through St. John’s, you’re probably not going to like friends he knew before coming to Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt,” said Bellows. and a group he has “met on [his] own.”

Virginia Melo (’05), a sophomore at Vanderbilt in the Peabody College of Education and Human Development, found having friends from SJS at her college proved invaluable freshman year. In fact, fellow SJS graduate Megan Wright (’05) is in Melo’s sorority, so the two have managed to keep in close contact despite attending a college of thousands.

- Jack Bellows (‘03) However, Melo identified several difficulties that came with the transition from SJS to VanBellows’ graduating class from SJS sent 5 stu- derbilt. Though Melo found it to be “a fairly dents to Vanderbilt, who, according to Bel- easy transition academically in terms of just lows, still “keep in touch a little bit. But for the class size and the work load and the prothe most part, we just spread out and made fessors,” she said the difficulty lay in “learning about that diversity, [which] takes a little time to get used to.” After attending St. John’s for 13 years, where she “always knew what was going on, and [everything] was really predictable,” getting used to the volatility of college was a significant change that took time to accept.

Payne also has noticed significant differences between SJS and college, most notably changes in overall class size (6,000 total undergraduates at Vanderbilt as opposed to about 140 per class at SJS) and the increase in freedom of classes you can take in college as opposed to high school. However, Payne notes that his graduating class is in a “unique situation.” “We had 11 people from our class come here so that helped with the transition too, because we could kinda stick together and then meet new people,” said Payne.

Bellows added “The workload certainly [isn’t] any harder than it was at St. John’s, there are really just a billion more distractions, just Image courtesy of Johnathan Payne so much to do.” Bellows said that Payne at a Vanderbilt basketball game. one of the best differences between

By Margaret Greenberg

“If you didn’t like St. John’s, you’re probably not going to like Vanderbilt”

30 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

SJS and Vanderbilt is that at Vanderbilt, “you get to make your own schedule and you don’t necessarily have to get to school at 8 a.m. anymore.” On the other hand, he said that “the worst part of course is you’re on your own and there’s not a set schedule to follow. You can dig yourself into a hole real quick.”

Bellows also said that he misses “burrito day” in the SJS cafeteria, but it’s worth not “having to get up at 6:30 a.m.” Payne cites playing SJS sports as the thing he misses most, while the things he misses least are “a lot of the rules like uniform [and] going every morning at 7:40 and leaving at 2:40.” Melo misses the close personal relationships between teachers and students at SJS. Conversely, she is happy to be out of “the incredibly intense atmosphere [SJS] creates that gives students a very limited perspective of the world.”

One thing that Payne, Bellows and Melo agreed upon was the stellar job SJS did preparing them for the academics at Vanderbilt.

“You work really hard, and you come [to Vanderbilt], and you have really good study habits, and you know how to write papers,” said Melo. “And honestly, I mean, I work hard [in college], but it was not […] a shocking transition.” Payne echoed Melo’s comments on paper-writing and said, “One of the major things is paper writing—we’re definitely above our peers in our abilities to write papers and how quickly we can write them.”

Bellows added that he “felt tremendously well-prepared” despite the fact that he was in the third quartile of his class at SJS and was not a National Merit Scholar. “The best thing I can say is that just because you are low in the game at St. John’s doesn’t mean you’re going to be low in the game in college. You’re going to be right up there at the top,” said Bellows.

“Everything they did at St. John’s, it’s clear for me [now] the reasons why they were doing it.”

“We’re definitely above our peers in our abilities to write papers and how quickly we can write them.

- Jonathan Payne (’06)

Much like academics, the social atmosphere at Vanderbilt was likened to that at SJS by many SJS alumni. Payne believes that “people from different St. John’s backgrounds can still find their place [at Vanderbilt]”, and Bellows calls the social mix at Vanderbilt “a similar crosssection of student body” as at SJS. Melo said that there is “a lot of pressure socially […] which is really similar to St. John’s” and that Vanderbilt “is obviously bigger [than SJS], but it doesn’t necessarily feel a lot bigger just be-

Image Courtesy of Jonathan Dietz

Jonathan Payne (center) cheers on the Vanderbilt Commodores as a member of the Dudley Defenders, a popular athletic spirit squad. cause it’s still a lot of people you always kinda know.” On the other hand, Melo noted, “[College is] a lot more diverse than St. John’s, because not everyone is coming from the same neighborhoods.”

The professor-student relationships at Vanderbilt were likened to, but also differentiated from, teacher-student relationships at SJS by Payne, Bellows and Melo. “Whereas at St. John’s every teacher is going to know your name and things about you, there’s more initiative on the students [in college]” said Payne.

However, “I’d say it’s a pretty similar interaction in that teachers have office hours where you can go talk to them,” added Payne. “You can get to know [your professors] on a first name basis.”

Bellows notes, “It’s different given the academic environment—in college a lot of professors can be pretty pretentious,” he said. Yet “the departments in general are fairly small in comparison to larger state schools, and so you’re really able to interact with your professors— knock on their doors, chat if you have a chance.” Since Melo transferred to the Peabody College of Education and Human Development from the College of Arts and Sciences, she has experienced

closer professor-student relations than others. “I know all my professors very well,” said Melo. “[I] can go to them with questions and it’s not uncomfortable.”

With the academic and social atmospheres so similar between SJS and Vanderbilt, what kind of SJS student should or should not attend Vanderbilt? Bellows recommends Vanderbilt to “folks that really enjoy the type of cross-section of the student body that St. John’s has, [and who] want to go to a place that really isn’t too cold and certainly experiences a fall, which Houston doesn’t have.”

Melo believes Vanderbilt is for “people who can handle a lot of pressure and people who really like to be involved in everything,” and adds that Vanderbilt is “definitely a really southern school; it’s not like out-of- control southern, but if you’re not looking for Greek life-Greek life is huge here-and if you don’t [want that] I wouldn’t really recommend [Vanderbilt].” Payne simply states that “the people that wouldn’t like Vanderbilt are the people that didn’t really like the culture at St. John’s.”

Image Courtesy of Jack Bellows

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 31

The University of Texas at Austin

By Liliana Varman Six members of the SJS class of 2006 currently attend the University of Texas at Austin, which is known for its strong academics and social scene. Students from SJS, which has an all-school population of around 1,200, may find it intimidating to move to UT, which houses almost 40,000 undergraduates.

Meghan Jump (’06) said that when she first came to UT, she was still used to the intimate atmosphere of SJS, and that it was a big change for her to know only a few people in a huge public university.

Jump added that the social atmosphere at UT was “definitely intimidating” at first, and “definitely [requires] some adjusting.”

On the other hand, Roxy Mody (’06), who came to SJS in sixth grade, said the change of seeing the same people everyday for six years to suddenly knowing nobody was “kind [of] nice.”

With students from all over the country as well as all over the world, it can be difficult to find your niche at a school as diverse as UT. Jump said she found hers by joining a sorority and becoming involved in smaller class organizations. Being part of an organization, Jump said, makes the school appear smaller, and now she sees a lot of people she knows daily.

Alex Au (’06) said although the social scene at UT was “a lot different” than the social atmosphere at SJS, he added that the social atmosphere depends on the area of residence.

Au, who lives in Andrew’s dorm, says that the social atmosphere in his area is “kind of clean”.

“I owe a lot... to the experiences I had at SJS. I’m always proud to say I came from SJS.” - Meghan Jump (’06)

Jump said that UT was a big change for her because she has observed that although some people are quite serious about academics, a lot of people don’t seem to care about their studies. Jump said that she and the rest of SJS was “really nerdy” and that she felt that everyone embraced their “nerdiness”.

She also added that it was a bit harder for her to find people who cared about and enjoyed school as much as she did since some people at UT “kind of put academics and classes on the back-burner.” Although it took Jump a little while to adjust to the bustling social atmosphere at UT, she said that, now that she’s found her niche, she loves UT.

32 The Review Magazine | Spring 2007

Jump said that, coming from SJS, at first she acted a bit like an “intellectual snob”, but quickly “got off her high horse” when she realized that few people around her knew about SJS and its reputation.

Au said that some of those who have heard of SJS can “give you a hard time,” but that he feels all his friends were equally prepared for life at UT. Au is in Plan II Honors Program and said that the academics at UT are of the same difficulty as SJS. Mody and Jump seem to notice a difference between course difficulty at SJS and UT. Mody, who is currently studying biomedical engineering, said that Ms. Kagi’s AP Biology class was “amazing” and “harder than any bio

“You had to work in SJS, and [because] of that, the workload in college seems less.”

- Roxy Mody (’06)

class I’ve taken [at UT] so far.”

Jump also noticed that at SJS, she was always writing papers, but has only written one real paper this year. She also said that she felt that at SJS, she was expected to work a lot harder.

Even though Jump has taken some challenging, enjoyable courses this year, she noticed that in some of the more basic courses she took, the professors had to adjust their curriculums a bit to fit students who were not as prepared as she was coming in to college.

Au said that he’s had some good and bad professors, and that his classes vary in size.

His English class consists of only 15 people, whereas others consist of 100. Au says that in his experience in the honors program, it’s fairly easy to get the attention of a teacher or of a teacher’s assistant. Au said that when he first arrived at UT, he had heard that some of the T.A.’s were better than the teachers.

Although this does not hold true for him, Au did add that he has had some “good” T.A.’s.

Whereas Au has no problem finding a professor, Jump seems to have a much harder time finding professors. Since the classes are so large at UT, it is a lot more difficult to find professors unless you make an attempt to.

Jump also sees quite a difference in the student-professor interaction at SJS and UT. At SJS, Jump said that she saw her teachers often and had “pretty close” relationships with a lot of her them, but that at UT, she often finds herself too busy to seek out teachers.

Since the school is so large, there are fewer opportunities for students to accidentally run

into their professors. However, professors have office hours and when students stop by, they enjoy talking to their students.

Several factors influenced each alum’s decision to attend UT. Jump, who turned down NYU, Southwestern, and Northeastern to attend UT, said that when it came to making the decision, she “really wanted to stay a little bit closer to home.” Positive aspects of UT for her include the academics, location, and instate tuition.

Jump was active in sports, choir, and theater at SJS, and although she says that none of those factors directly influenced her decision to attend UT, she said she knew that at UT she could be involved in anything she wanted.

Au’s decision to attend UT was mainly based on the academics offered at the school. Au said that he chose UT because he felt that he would get the best education there.

Mody said that because she was so active in sports at SJS, she knew she wanted to go to a school that supported its sports teams. Sports was a major factor in her decision to attend UT, especially since “the Longhorns pretty much dominate.” Mody played field hockey, basketball and tennis at SJS. She currently plays basketball and softball at an intramural level and manages the UT softball team.

Jump said that she does not think that SJS could have done anything else to prepare her for life at UT. Mody agreed that SJS prepared her well for college, not just in terms of the academics but in time management and study skills as well. “You had to work in SJS, and

“I really wanted to stay a little bit closer to home.”

T U - Meghan Jump (’06)

[because] of that, the workload in college seems less,” Mody said.

As a final note, Jump added, “College really allows you to take what you’ve learned from high school, both academically and socially, and apply it in a new and different place where you really learn to become an independent, self-sufficient, smart individual, and I owe a lot of that to the experiences I had at SJS. I’m always proud to say I came from SJS.”

?

humor Out of fashion ...or ahead of its time By ashley tam

T

op designers have recently been sighted prowling our very own storied cloisters with sketchbooks and coffee in hand. With his shiny, over-tanned face plastered against the glass, Giorgio Armani was seen lurking about the windows of Trammell.

Abercrombie and Horror is in trouble with their low-slung jeans and invisible pico-skirts.

The longer skirt lengths offer chic elegance and are flirty without being too promiscuous. Even better, they protect from a variety of troubles associated with shorter skirts: unsightly incidents when bending down to pack books at the locker, the unfortunate and unavoidable gust of wind when descending into the new tunnel.

The magnificent blend of scarlet, viridian and other tones makes the SJS plaid an imminent favorite of the runway. I predict our special plaid will be used everywhere from casual sportswear to ball gowns.

The whites and blues favored by all SJS students will soon be popularized in the fashion world, bringing the logoless polo and button-downs back.

The tucked shirt phenomenon will be

Karl Lagerfeld, followed closely by what can only be described as the fashion ghost of Coco Chanel (in a black dress and pearls, no less) was spotted skulking on the third floor of Mewbourne. John Galliano of Dior was found loitering about Senior Country, seeking a “new look,” undoubtedly.

Why are all these haute couture creators rushing into the quad? Are they seeking the lamp of knowledge? Or are they merely seeking high fashion’s new trend? The answer, obviously, is the latter. At a school as elite as St. John’s, it can only make sense that the styles of next year’s New York Fashion Week are already being flaunted down freshman hallway.

Most notably, skirt lengths have become longer than ever before this year with hemlines grazing the tops of knees. Actually, fashion in general has taken a turn toward the demure.

It looks as though Lizzy Bowen (‘08), Betsy Cowell (‘08), Blanche Jamail, and Ellis Bowen (‘08) in

huge very soon, with playful detention hall slips fanning out of the pockets of the khaki pants loose around the models’ non-hips.

Goodbye sandals and slip-ons: next year’s season will be all about close-toed, close-heeled shoes. Unfortunately, sketches of “Ugg” boots were seen littered about the computer lab: hopefully by the time they hit the runways, they will be long gone from the dainty feet of SJS students, both male and female. Also, white athletic socks will be very, very in, and very, very visible above the athletic shoe.

So, for all those who actually know and recognize the designers we’ve been tripping over on campus lately, be aware: you should probably move on to bigger and better trends before the long skirt, tucked shirt, and distinctive SJS plaid come flying down the runway at Fashion Week 2008. q

the world renowned SJS apparel.

KATHERINE KELLEY | The Review

The Review Magazine | Spring 2007 33

two two homes, months left

a

Elizabeth Rassmussen, Staff Writer abroad, is ready to come home...sort of.

few weeks ago I was lying in my cot-like bed, tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep. No matter how many times I readjusted my positioning, nothing seemed to help. My twisting and turning did not help me fall asleep–it woke me up; it woke me up from a five month long dream.

That night I realized that I had been living here, in Spain, for almost half a year. My awakening brought to my attention that I only had three and a half months left here. Three and a half months to perfect my Spanish. Two months to travel to a slew of cities around Spain. Two months to solidify my friendships, both with Americans and Spaniards. Two more months to chat with my Spanish mom on our overstuffed couch at two in the morning.

For my first five months here it seemed as if I

Reality is beginning to settle in. The new realities are so different from the realities of my life back in the States, but they have now become realities none the less. was living a dream. Nothing was perfect; a lot of the time things were not quite living up to my expectations–forming long lasting friendships with the other American students is a lot harder than it has been in my idealized world, making friends with Spanish teenagers has proven to be an almost impossible task; and the more Spanish I learn, the further away becoming fluent seems–but it had not hit me how little time is left in my stay here in order to make the most of my situation. I kept comparing my new life here to the ideal one I had created in my head as I was applying to School Year Abroad, and reality kept falling short of my expectations. That night, after five months, it finally hit me that as wonderful as this experience it, it is not a dream, it is reality, and I had to accept it as reality. Comparing my

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{ photos courtesy of the author }

life to the dreamy expectations I had before coming to Spain would not be fair, this is reality, and no matter how much we want, reality never quite lives up to our expectations.

Now, having lived here in Spain for five months, things are starting to settle down, things are starting to become routine.

Reality is beginning to settle in.

The new realities are so different from the realities of my life back in the States, but they have now become realities none the less.

It seems as if every little detail in my life has changed. I now go to school from 9:00 in the morning to 5:30 in the afternoon. Instead of driving my Volvo to school and parking at Scotty Caven Field, I am now quite accustomed to walking or taking the number 30 bus if I am running late. I eat lunch at three in the afternoon and dinner at nine at night. I kiss the members of my Spanish family on each cheek whenever I enter or exit a room.

I now have four seasons a year instead of Houston’s two.

Life here in Spain, as different as it is, has finally become real to me. As my time here is now beginning to tick down, I have begun to realize that each day that passes is one less day here in Zaragoza, and it scares me to death.

The two months that I have left seems like so little, especially in comparison to the nine months I started out with. I feel like I have so many things to do before I leave, and two does not seem like anywhere near enough time to do everything. I haven’t been wasting my time here, but I also don’t feel like I have been milking it for all its worth.

My experiences here have transformed me from an American citizen to a citizen of the

world, not just a Spanish one. By becoming a temporary Spanish citizen through my VISA, my eyes have been opened to other cultures

als, I know their likes and dislikes, the major events that have happened in their lives. I know that Gema, my Spanish mother is allergic to latex and that when she was operated on last October she had to wear a special bracelet in the hospital announcing her allergy. I know how María Jesus, one of my Spanish sisters, is terrified of snakes and that even a picture of a snake makes her squeamish. I know how Amaya, my ten-year-old Spanish niece, hates the lentils that her mother makes and how she scoops them on to her five-year-old sister’s plate so that her mother thinks she ate them all.

After this year, my American family has not become by any means less important to me; if anything, my time apart from them has brought me closer to them. But I now have a new family, a second family, who loves me and treats me as their own. Ever since that night in September when my Spanish mother gave me those first kisses on each cheek, I have been and always will be part of the Vitar-Hidalgo family.

Here I am: I have now been living in Zaragoza for over five months and will only be here for three and a half more. As the clock ticks down on my time here in Spain, I become more and more aware about the reality of my situation. There are some aspects of life in the United States that I miss terribly, some things that just are not the same here, but I know that once I return to the United States I will feel the same way, missing aspects of my life in Spain. From here on out, I will experience perpetual homesickness because I no longer have one home. I have two, and I will never be able to be in both at the same time.q

After this year, my American family has not become by any means less important to me; if anything, my time apart from them has brought me closer to them. But I now have a new family, a second family, who loves me and treats me as their own. and ways of life–not only Spanish ones. In a few months, my VISA will expire, and as official papers will read, I will go back to being

a normal American citizen, but I myself know that is not true. I have, as my Spanish family reminds me on a daily basis, a home here in Spain.

I do not just live in the household, paying for room and board, but I have become a member of the family. I know my family as individu-

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