The Lodge, Issue 1, 2021 by The Lodge

The Lodge The Lodge St. George’s Independent School | Collierville, Tenn. | 12.8.21 | 5.1

Vol. 5, Issue 1November 18, 2021

Mental health in schools PAGE 10

L Editor-in-Chief Madeline Sisk

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Alanna Murphy

Photography Editor Jack Seigerman Arts Editor

Caroline Higley Design Editor Lauren Shang

Social Media Editor Ellie Christie

Staff Trinity Cannon Natalie Howard Erin Johnson Sienna Lightman Ally Martin Peyton Monroe Anna Schmiedicke Mary Beth Skelton Seth Taub Bess White Advisor Dr. Margaret Robertson

Cover photography and design by Trinity Cannon and Jack Seigerman

About Us: The Lodge and gryphonlodge.com are dedicated to serving as an impartial and authentic voice for the students of St. George’s Independent

School. We at the Lodge strive to be an open forum for student expression, to act in the best interests of the student body and to embody the principles of journalistic excellence. The Lodge is affiliated with the Tennessee High School Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. The Lodge is funded by advertisers, donors and St. George’s Independent School and is published once every eight weeks during the school year by schoolprinting.com. The Lodge prints and distributes 250 copies of each issue to 600 students and faculty on the St. George’s Collierville campus. Bylines indicate the primary writer(s) of each article, and additional contributors are indicated in the shirttail. All of our content is created by our staff unless otherwise clearly stated. The Lodge provides free advertising for student clubs, events and activities and paid advertisements for local businesses. The Lodge welcomes letters to the editor and article submissions. To submit a letter, article or request for advertising, email our staff at thelodge@sgis.org.

News

Zooming Ahead

Open for Business

Features

Turn Back Time

Finding A Work Around

Apprehensive and Afraid

Sports & Arts

Gryphs on the Go

Getting Ready for Gameday

Breaking the Mold

Opinion

Locked Up, Locked Out

Season’s Grievings

Live and Learn

ZOOMING AHEAD Internet Speed Online students return to campus with new view By: Lauren Shang

t is Aug. 16, 2021: the first day of school for the year. Students are coming back to a campus that most haven’t set foot on since May. But there are also students who are coming back after being virtual for more than a whole year. Back in March of 2020, along with many other schools, St. George’s Collierville campus shut down due to the safety and health concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic that took the world by storm. After being virtual for the remainder of that school year, most students went back to campus in-person for the 2020-2021 school year. However, that was not the case for all of the students. For a variety of reasons, some students decided to remain virtual for an additional year and continue their schooling through Zoom. Now senior Isaiah Lewis was one of the students who decided to stay home where he completed his junior year as a virtual student due to his own health issues. “The main reason I stayed home was actually, I mean, obviously COVID wasn’t safe, but it was my asthma,” Lewis said. “During the winter, when it gets really cold, my asthma picks up a bunch so it was like, I was taking my inhaler too much and so my doctor was like ‘Yeah, you might wanna stay home’.” That choice came with its own struggles. Being over Zoom caused an inevitable distance between the students, class and teacher. “There was a disconnect and there’s nothing you can do about that. I would wait until everyone stopped talking, and when I started talking there would be a bit of

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lag or something so someone else already started they would stop, and I would just feel like ‘go ahead and finish.” Teachers similarly felt a struggle with trying to teach students on Zoom and in-person simultaneously. Dr. Shelby Montague, who teaches upper school science, said she experienced difficulties trying to get virtual students’ voices heard in class. “As a teacher, I felt like I wasn’t teaching good enough to anybody,” she said. “I had to sort of decide that I was going to teach the students in the room. Which meant that the students that were on Zoom, I would try to get to them, or try to make sure I would answer their questions,...[but] there are times where I would actively stop and ask ‘you know, someone online needs to answer the next question,’ and I wouldn’t be able to tell who was actually there. We would just be sitting in silence in the room.” While Dr. Montague was struggling to get students to speak up, eighth grader Aiden Rubín de la Borbolla said that when he would try to ask or answer a question, he sometimes felt invisible. “Because typically the teachers aren’t used to looking at the screen for answers so when I raised my hand a lot, I wouldn’t get noticed,” he said. Senior Chloe Lewis (no relation to Isaiah Lewis) remembers how she would often rely on the chat for her questions and answers during her Zoom classes. “I would usually put it in the chat box just cause I hate the way my voice sounds,” she said, “and sometimes on Zoom you can hear your echo, and I was also thinking

about everybody else in the room hearing my voice, my anxiety got really high.” Being virtual throughout the whole year caused other problems with staying focused. Isaiah Lewis said creating boundaries between relaxation and school got difficult. “I don’t like working and relaxing at the same place because when I’m at home it’s so easy to not focus,” he said. “You relax at home, so it was easy because I had all my gaming stuff and all that was right there, and it was tempting.” Time management felt easier for Chloe, who said she didn’t have much trouble with staying on task. “I was able to remain focused for the majority of the school year,” she said, “but I know some students had a lot of trouble going virtual because it is hard to figure out how to manage your time well.” Mrs. Pam Lewis, Chloe’s mother and the Collierville campus’s director of data management, said she was not worried about Chloe’s shift to virtual learning. “She handled it amazingly,” she said. “She is very mature and so she did great. I know there are some kids that did not do so well because that environment just didn’t work for them. They were missing their friends; they were missing the interaction. The in-person instruction is better for some kids, but for her that wasn’t the case.” Still, Chloe looked forward to seeing other students when she returned to campus, but she noted the difficulty that comes with reintegrating back into a community that she’d been gone from so long. “I have to reintroduce myself to

people that already know me,” she said. “Coming back into a school community that you’ve been a part of for so long after being gone for a year is very weird because they continue to move on even while you’re kind of separate and isolated from them.” On the brighter side, she was happy to be back in person for her science classes. Dr. Montague was also excited to have students back in the classroom as a crucial part of her curriculum involves experiments. “Right now, I’m setting up more stuff to do more activities,” she said. “Last year with the protocols that we had, I basically didn’t do labs. But this year, we still have to adjust it, but at least we can do more because I don’t have to have it ready for virtual. I have everybody in person.” Another activity that needs in-person interaction is robotics, and Isaiah was enthusiastic about getting back to it. “We had a huge influx of people for robotics, which is nice because I guess it’s been a year, so everyone is coming back. We have 10 on our team—eight on our team is really big. It’s definitely good to finally be back at robotics, and this is my last year so we’ll definitely have to try to get to state.” Reflecting back on what it was like to go virtual, Isaiah equates it to eating too much Chick-Fil-A. “It’s kind of like, if you like Chick-Fil-A, or something really good, and you get that over and over. You’re like, ‘oh, that’s great, I get Chick-Fil-A everyday for lunch’, but after day 50, you’re like ‘give me something else’.”

Eighth grade student, Aiden Rubín de la Borbolla writes at his desk. Rubín de la Borbolla finds connectivity to be far better in-person.

Senior Isaiah Lewis throws a frisbee during his lunch period. Lewis is adjusting to being all in-person for the first time since the beginning of his sophomore year.

Junior Josh Holloway works with Dr. Montague during class. This year, Dr. Montague is happy to have her students engaged in-person in class with no longer having virtual students. Photography by Jack Seigerman Illustration by: Erin Johnson

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Open For Business? Local restaurants meet the challenge of COVID-19 By: Anna Schmeidicke

ccording to the National Restaurant Association, more than 110,000 restaurants in the United States closed in 2020, either temporarily or permanently. In March of 2020 businesses across the country were forced to shut down for a variety of reasons — employees quitting, local and national mandates and a lack of customers. This hit restaurants particularly hard, both nationally

and here in Shelby County. Kohesian, a Korean-fusion restaurant formerly located in Germantown, opened three months before the country went into lockdown. However, during quarantine the business experienced a decrease in sales. In December, Kohesian announced its closing, unrelated to the pandemic. “When COVID first hit, we took a huge plummet,” said Kohesian’s owner and president Julie Kim.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the restaurant was struggling to pay its weekly expenses due to the reduced business. “We’re paying out payroll while, you know, sales aren’t hitting nearly anything,” she said. “We were having $100 days. Just to open with lights on and everything, financially, it was hard.” Over a year and a half into the pandemic, restaurants are still struggling to reach pre-pandemic levels of success. For Kohesian,

Kim said she observed that the number of people eating out is directly related to the number of local cases. “Our sales trend follows exactly where the mandates are,” Kim said. While the future of COVID is unknown, Kim had hoped to stay open with the support of the local community, but sometimes that isn’t enough. “It’s a struggle, but I mean, what can we do?” she said.

A Kohesian server brings out food to hungry diners in the weeks before their December closure. Kohesian was one of the many restaurants to experience decrease in sales during the pandemic. Photography by Jack Seigerman

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While most restaurants have struggled, some have had it easier than others. Memphis Pizza Cafe has been a local staple for nearly 30 years. Owner and operator Gary Garlington founded the restaurant in 1993, and what started as one location turned into a chain of four businesses. “We’re just very fortunate to come in and make a mark in the city,” he said. “You say you’re going to open a pizza shop and who knows if it’s going to ever work out or not.” The restaurant has always offered a combination of dinein and take-out services, so they were able to adapt to the ongoing pandemic. Sales of pizza grew as much as 4% in 2020, according to food industry research and consulting firm Technomic. It was one of only two food categories to have any growth that same year, with the other being chicken. “What’s easy to pick up and take home? Pizza, Mexican food, burgers, Huey’s. Those kinds of places — from my limited knowledge of the people I’ve talked to — have thrived during the pandemic,” he said. Garlington also said that Memphis Pizza Cafe didn’t face issues of understaffing like many other restaurants. “A lot of restaurants you go into them, and they’re only using half the dining room because they only have just a couple of servers,” Garlington said. “The Pizza Cafe hasn’t really had that. We’ve always had enough servers and enough kitchen people where we haven’t had to change any hours or change the way we do anything.” Despite the success of pizza in a time when people are hesitant to leave home, it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing for the restaurant. Like many businesses, Memphis Pizza Cafe has struggled getting supplies. “One of our vendors recently started just blowing our orders off,” he said and cited supply trucks that arrived late or not at all. Not only have deliveries failed to arrive, but Garlington has faced an unforeseen loss of key

ingredients. He said two salad dressings have been discontinued and that their tomato growers ran out of both pizza sauce and tomatoes for the first time ever last year. Despite the difficulties and limitations presented by the pandemic, Garlington attributed his relative success to the people of Memphis. “People would come in and their pizza was $18, but they would leave $40 and say keep the change,” Garlington said. “There’s just a real sense of community and taking care of our employees. I can’t tell you how many people have been really appreciative of us staying open.” What about businesses that did not have an established presence like that of Memphis Pizza Cafe? Amy Green opened Mojo Nutrition with her cousin Monica Staten Garay in September of 2020 during the pandemic. In June of 2020, Green had lost her job, something she had been expecting. Since waiting wasn’t a very palpable option anymore, she pushed on and — with Garay — opened Mojo Nutrition. They sell nutritional teas and shakes that Green said are “just a lot better than drinking a lot of the sugar like your Starbucks. Ours actually have some nutritional value and vitamins and stuff in them.” Opening a restaurant is intimidating even in the best of times. According to a 2017 Forbes article, 17% of restaurants close within their first year of business, though some estimates put the pre-pandemic closure rate even higher. “It was scary to decide to start during the pandemic because you don’t know what to expect,” she said. “It was fine in the beginning and then you had the mask mandates and everything else coming in… It made it more difficult. You have a range of people, some that want to wear them and some that don’t.” Since the majority of their business is people grabbing a drink and heading out as opposed to sitting down and enjoying a meal, they weren’t faced with the same challenges more traditional sitdown restaurants were. This doesn’t mean that Mojo

“People are just really appreciative of us staying open. We heard that a lot the first few months.” -Mr. Gary Garlington Nutrition was immune from the struggles many faced during the pandemic, though. Ever-changing mask mandates and rises in cases were the two most noticeable variables when it came to quantity of customers and atmosphere. “I have been able to tell — as far as when the Covid does rise — we have been a little bit slower,” she said. Green has said that, despite all the challenges brought on by the pandemic, the relationships she has forged with the people of Collierville and Germantown have given her a sense of hope. “Everybody has been very welcoming,” she said. “And I live in Olive Branch and [Garay] lives in Hernando, and I wasn’t sure how people would take us being here since we weren’t residents of Collierville, and we have met some of our best friends here, and they’re like our family.” Garlington reported a similar sense of community in his restaurants. The normalcy granted by their continued local presence was well-appreciated. “People are just really appreciative of us staying open. We heard that a lot the first few months. ‘Thanks for staying open, thanks for thanks for keeping everybody employed,’ things like that,” he said. “The tip outs that our employees have got have just been so, so generous since this whole thing

started. It’s just really shocking how it’s all turned out.” Kohesian wasn’t around nearly as long as Memphis Pizza Cafe, and yet the local community still did all they could to support them through the pandemic. The overwhelming local response encouraged Kim to perservere through an uncertain period of time for as long as she could. Before Kohesion closed Kim expressed her gratefulness to her customers. “The customers that come in here, they say, ‘Hey, you know, like, hang in there,’ I mean, even just that, or like, ‘we appreciate that you guys chose this city to open up in,’ even those little words, they’re all about encouragement,” Kim said. “You just feel this sense of support from them. And it’s awesome.” * Additional reporting by Lauren Shang

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unior Mariah Nellessen has experienced a different schedule for each of the past four years. In fact, anyone who has been attending St. George’s for that long has. In 2018-19, the schedule had three periods before lunch, a 50-minute lunch block, a fourth period, and then x-block from 2:30-3:15. But all that ended in March of 2020, when the school went remote and students attended class in 30-minute blocks, with 30 minutes in between. Students and teachers alike were left questioning the reasons behind these changes. Last year, while the school faced extensive COVID protocols and a learning plan that had students in person and online, active teaching lasted 50 minutes with 20 minutes at the end of class for study time. This year there are two periods before lunch, the second period being nearly two hours long, a 45-minute lunch block and two more periods concluding the day. Ms. Pam McCarthy, director of the upper school, stressed that the changes made to the schedule were in response to the pandemic. “In the 2020-2021 school year we created a new schedule for COVID specifically to make sure we were following all of the protocols,” she said. “If 2020 COVID didn’t happen, I don’t think our schedule would’ve changed. I don’t think the schedule we had before was broken.” According to students, the

most significant change was the shift from x-block to extended block. The extended block, which takes place during the second period of each day replaced a 45-minute period at the end of the day, that was known as “x-block.” Nellessen was not happy with the change. “My first thought when I found out about the extended block was ‘What happened to x-block?’,” Nellessen said, “and it made me very upset.” “One of the reasons why this was a better school for me was because they had x-block at the end of the day,” she said. “It was just a great time to meet with all your teachers and go to any teachers you needed help with or work on a project with a group.” Junior Angelina David, also misses the x-block. Last year, when she was planning her schedule for this year, she decided to take seven classes, one for every available period, and to not take a study hall. She made this decision before she was aware that x-block wasn’t coming back. “X-block was a thing where I could be like, ‘I can not have a study hall and still keep my sanity and keep my grades where they need to be’,” she said. “Without that, it’s extremely stressful.” Junior Reese Dlabach, a member of student government, said the new extended block isn’t a good replacement for the lost time. “Some teachers teach into the extended block, and since there isn’t an x-block or the built in 20 minutes like

“If 2020 Covid didn’t happen, I don’t think our schedule would’ve changed. I don’t think the schedule we had before was broken.” - Ms. Pamela McCarthy

there was last year, there isn’t always time for students to get work done when they have sports after school,” she said. “It makes it more stressful that there isn’t time to do work in school.” According to Ms. McCarthy, the x-block had some negative aspects too. “X-block as an academic period was based on feedback from students and teachers and families,” she said. “It worked in some situations, but there was a lot of what people called dead time. Kids were scrolling on phones and just sort of zombie-like. Those weren’t my words, so someone actually said that.” While the schedule was being created, Ms. McCarthy said the safety of the staff and students was a top priority. “We were trying to think about how we can still adhere to our COVID protocol while making a more productive school day for our students,” she said. Even though the point of the extended block was a more productive day, it is getting some negative reviews from teachers and students. Nellessen said she finds it tiring when teachers teach through the extended block. “There are the teachers that do teach for two full hours, and it actually breaks my mind. Like, it gives me a headache,” Nellessen said. Freshman Lorelai Michael also noted how an extra 45 minutes in a classroom can be a lot to handle. “I think it works for some classes and not for others,” she said. “My brain cannot function for the rest of that two hours of learning more academic work, but for other classes where we do something different besides the regular classwork, where we do a little extra something that works on those

skills [that can be okay].” Students are not the only ones who see the difficulties of staying engaged for the entire extended period. Ms. Emily Metz, history and AP government teacher, said that she understands the challenges of the extended block for students. “I am giving my kids a 45-minute study hall at the end of that time,” she said. “I don’t have the stamina to teach for that long. If I don’t have that kind of stamina, I worry that my students also don’t have that kind of stamina. For now I’m just giving them the opportunity to work ahead on projects and homework or stuff they need to get done for their classes.” Chemistry teacher Mr. Ethan Sullivan also struggled to stay occupied during the extended block. “It’s just a long time to be in a classroom, and if you have something you can do that’s productive outside that’s great, but maybe you don’t,” he said. As a lab science teacher Mr. Sullivan said he could see benefits as well. “There are some times as a lab science teacher I can definitely use it, and it will make my life a lot easier,” he says. “I have five lab stations. If I have a class of 20, that would mean four kids per station, which is probably not optimal right now, so I can use that time to have two kids per lab station, and then have people cycle through.” Some students also saw some positives of the extended block. “I think an upside is that if you’re in a class that you need help with, it gives you time to ask the teacher a question,” Dlabach said. Though the extended block remains in place for now, it may not stay after the pandemic is over. “I don’t know that our intention was ever to keep this schedule forever,” McCarthy said.

“It makes it more stressful that there isn’t time to do work in school.” - Reese Dlabach

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Illustration by: Madeline Sisk

By: Natalie Howard and Madeline Sisk

hen junior Mary Wilkes Dunavant gets stressed, like, really stressed, it affects everything. “My stomach hurts, and I’m so moody, like, I hate people during that time,” Dunavant said. “I feel like my life is spinning out of control because there is so much work that I have to be able to manage my time well to accomplish… I just kind of shut down for a few days and have to have a few days to pick back up and be smiley and, like, jolly in the hallways again.” Dunavant credits her mother, a therapist, with helping her deal with her feelings of anxiety. “She helps manage my stress, and she’ll be like, ‘it’s okay, it’s high school,’” she said. “Like, ‘if you get a bad grade, you get a bad grade. You’re smart, and we all know it.’” While not every parent is a therapist, they still notice when their kids are stressed about school. In 2013, NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a survey among parents to gauge the amount of school-related stress their children had experienced in the last year. Nearly four in ten parents (38%) with children in grades 9-12, and over a third (36%) of parents of children in grades 6-8 said their child experienced a lot of school-related stress. Not all stress leads to diagnosed anxiety, but some does. According to the CDC, 7.1% of children aged 3-17 years have been diagnosed with anxiety. In 2016, National Public Radio reported that up to one in five kids living in the U.S. show signs of mental health disorders in a given year, including depression, anxiety and substance abuse. However, 80% of American children who need mental health services don’t get them. According to the Tennessee Department of Education, untreated mental health issues can result in a buildup of absences, and these students are the most likely to drop out of school. For students, mental health was a problem even before the

pandemic. With COVID-19, the importance of good mental stability has returned to the forefront of people’s minds. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says that the most common stressors teens experience include school demands, taking on too many activities, overwhelming expectations, social problems/issues at school and family financial problems. A study reported by Forbes in 2020 found that Gen-Z (people aged 6-24) spends an average of nine hours a day on their phones. The addition of social media means that it’s hard to get away from the stress, even for a short time. “Without a doubt, social media, whether we like it or not, does play a part in affecting teenagers’ mental health,” Sophomore Grayce Thompson said. “I have found myself often comparing myself to other people on social media, which is not healthy to do.” She also said social media decreases self-assurance in teens. “This constant comparison of oneself to others makes it harder to stay positive if you keep focusing on the ‘bad parts’ about you and wishing you looked different,” Thompson said. The feeling of depleting mental health can come from multiple factors. Some don’t meet the surface, so it can be harder to pinpoint when they begin. This is why treatment is crucial.

38% of parents with students in grades 9-12 said they experience school related stress According to The American Psychological Association, Gen-Z is 27% more likely to report poor mental health and 37% more likely than other generations to receive treatment and/or therapy from a licensed professional. Mrs. Emily Metz, upper school history teacher, found that this fact is something she can back up with experiences of her own. More often than not, she believes, Gen-Z will speak up for themselves around people they trust. “Most kids will tell you they are struggling, in my experience. This probably isn’t, you know, every teacher across the board, but most kids will say, ‘I’m freaked out right now.’ ‘I’m struggling.’... ‘I am overwhelmed by x, y, z,’” she said. “And sometimes there are tears,

80% of American children who need mental health services don’t get them. Features | 11

There is a 90% improvement rate for mental health issues when they are treated. but crying is totally fine. That’s an acceptable response.” Similarly, English teacher Mr. Zachary Adcock said that he trusts students who speak up about their struggles. “I’m really proud of my students who will advocate for their mental health, actually,” he said. “My hope is that we would never use mental health as a crutch or as an excuse, but I will 100% believe you if you’re like, ‘I just couldn’t do my homework last night.’ There’s great power in self-advocacy.” Ms. Nikki Davis, director of upper school counseling, remembers earlier generations addressing mental health differently. Counselors would do everything from college application support to testing prep to mental health support, which didn’t leave much time to focus on anything. She emphasizes how counselors in the past didn’t necessarily put mental stability as a top priority but instead gave topics such as testing more attention. “I feel like when I was in high school, some of the things that stressed me or my peers out, we kind of had to... I don’t want to say fend for

ourselves, but our counselors had a lot more to do,” she said. “I do feel like it has changed for the better, where people are more aware, and we’re making sure that we address [mental health] more.” Mental health issues don’t go away on their own. Even in states with the best access to mental health resources, nearly one in three teens are going without treatment according to Mental Health America. Mrs. Pam McCarthy, director of the upper school, believes that simply having a diagnosis can make a huge difference in how students view themselves. “I think for some students, having a diagnosis has helped them know themselves better,” she said, “It gives an explanation, if you will, for why x, y, or z is happening, and so sometimes... that’s freeing, and they’re able to think differently about their mental health.” Being able to bounce back from mental health decline is difficult; however it can be a little easier with help. There is a 90% improvement rate for mental health issues when they are treated. Mrs. Metz believes that diagnosis shouldn’t be something to hide. Starting an open conversation about mental health can

“You are not a weak person for struggling with this. There are people in this building, and also people in the outside world, who want destigto help and support student matize the mental health.” diagnosis and - Ms. Emily Metz empower people. “I think being open and honest about mental health is

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super important... I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression, and my students who know are like, ‘Oh, okay. It’s okay.’ I am medicated for anxiety, and that has totally changed my life,” she said. “You are not a weak person for struggling with this. There are people in this building, and also people in the outside world, who want to help and support student mental health.”

When students feel overwhelmed, they often end up in the office of the upper school learning specialist, Dr. Brenda Monk, for academic coaching and support. Still, she aims to support the student as a whole person. Dr. Monk serves as a guide to promote accountability for students with learning disabilities or challenges at St. George’s. She says that anxiety is something that comes into play with every student she works with. “I would say 100% of every student that I work with, 100% of those students have some sort of anxiety or mental health [issue], in addition to [their learning differences],” she said, “so my job is to support them through letting them understand they have learning differences, and also to help them really begin to figure out on their own ways that they can cope with that anxiety, and try to diminish it.” Dr. Monk also keeps an eye on “at-risk students.” Each week, an algorithm is run through Canvas to check for students with a 70% or below in one or more classes. Using this information, Dr. Monk takes time to check in with each of those students. “I would say I would touch base with probably 100 students in a seven-day cycle,” she said. Check-ins can keep students from getting so far behind and overwhelmed that they feel like they can’t catch up. Mrs. Davis is also a resource for students struggling with stress and anxiety. “I think that mental health is so important,” she said, “and it’s becoming more apparent that we need that help in high school. I really like that, in my role, I’m able to focus on that.”

Having support systems that challenging, but there are ways to doro-inspired technique that uses take a direct interest in students’ avoid it. a 20-minute timer to focus on one mental well-being like Mrs. Davis, “I think too much work can thing at a time, followed by a short provide a safe haven for those that really really hurt people for sure, five-minute break between focus feel like they have nowhere else but I think sometimes people are changes. This extends the amount to go. This is especially helpful their own worst enemy in letting of work a student can get done in for teachers who reach out when that work pile up,” she said. one sitting. students are wary of beginning “No one should ever work on that conversation themselves. any one assignment for more than “As I’ve transitioned into this 20 minutes without a break,” she role, and getting to know more says. “You’re going to work for of the upper school students, 20 minutes, and then you’re “Take one step, do I’m able to kind of tell when going to take a break, go do something is going on. I’m something else, and then one thing, and just do it to [also] teacher-recommendcome back and study.” the best that you can, in this ed,” she said. “So maybe Ms. Davis and Dr. the teacher is noticing Monk said they moment, not the best ever, but believeboth something, or another that using a the best that you can for now, administrator is noticing weekly planner can make something in their classa substantial difference in to get it done.” room or in the hallway, and helping students develthey reach out to me, and op good work habits. St. - Ms. Pamela McCarthy then I, in turn, reach out to George’s provides a custom the student.” St. George’s planner to every While reaching out for help student at the beginning of every isn’t always easy, people like school year. Thompson have found it benefi“The cool thing about planners cial. is you can use them as you need, “I feel like the teachers defi“I think students like some people use them to help nitely do respect, like, if you are in general use [structured school set goals,” Ms. Davis said. “Some stressed out or something, they will time] really poorly and tend to people use them to be more speciftry to help you. Or like, extend procrastinate a lot and then be ic about how they use their time.” due dates or something like that, ” like, ‘I’ve got so much. I’m drownThompson is one student who she said. ing.’ And it’s like, right, but you’ve finds planners to be a work-habit With trust and support being done actually nothing in study hall wonder. built between staff and students, for the last 10 days, so what would “I like to be organized, so I the school becomes a place where drowning have looked like had you definitely do use my planner all people are willing to talk about im- chunked that out and used that the time,” she said. “[I] like to portant issues and their solutions time more wisely?” color coordinate it and make it as more openly and honestly. Not developing good working fun as possible because it was hard What can students do better? habits in high school can become to remember everything.” According to the Association an issue later in life. Seeing a visual such as a of Supervision and Curriculum A survey conducted by Greenplanner can help with overall Development, a non-profit that field Online found that nearly half preparedness and setting good supports educators, procrastinaof college students feel their high organizational habits to help avoid tion and time management are a school did not prepare them with a dump of last-minute work. significant source of stress for 55% the organizational skills required Mrs. McCarthy suggests that of high school students, and 81% to do well in college. taking things one step at a time of students admit to multitasking Dr. Monk aims to ensure that without stressing about the big picwhen they do their homework, St. George’s students don’t find ture will help students get things which can slow progress. themselves in that position once done in a timely manner. Dean of Students Mrs. Leanne they graduate. “Take one step, do one thing, Ricketson believes that an accuOne of the strategies Dr. Monk and just do it to the best that you mulation of work can be really suggests to students is a Pomocan, in this moment, not the best ever, but the best that you can for now, to get it done,” she said. Because of COVID, exams have been cancelled for the last two years and the skills students acquired through the exam process may have dropped off. This year, exams are back for good. Dunavant thinks that while 55% of high school students, and 81% of stuexams are hard, we can learn a lot dents admit to multitasking when they do their from the experience. “Obviously, I wish we didn’t homework.

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even if you’re busy, stay up two hours later to get it done.’” Thompson agreed that, in her experience, most teachers will work with students when it comes to due dates as long as they know what’s going on in advance. Communicating with teachers is particularly important for her because she occasionally struggles to hit deadlines. “Obviously, certain due dates can’t be pushed back or excused,” Thompson said, “but usually, if you just maybe work on it during lunch, or just get it to them by the end of the day, they’re usually pretty okay with it.” The key, teachers say, is communication. “I think a big solution is communication and trust, on both ends of the conversation,” Ms. Metz said. “So students need to communicate and trust that their teachers do have their best interests at heart, and they will be willing to work with them.” Mr. Adcock agreed. “My hope is that teachers are willing to listen to their students [about their mental health],” he said. “Even if they have that voice in their head saying, ‘this is a phase’ or ‘this is an excuse’ or whatever, that they’re able to kind of override the weight of how history hasn’t always validated mental health as something that’s important, and listen to the voice from now that’s saying, despite all that history, we should really pay attention to it and be careful with it and be aware of it as a real thing.” He also said that there shouldn’t be a difference between how

“I think a big solution is communication and trust, on both ends of the conversation.” -Ms. Emily Metz have exams,” Dunavant said, “but I do think they are going to be good just, at least for me, to learn how to study properly because I know in college that teachers aren’t going to be as lenient as they are here.” While Dunavant believes that exams are stressful, she also said they are important to experience in high school. “I do believe that this is the time that I’m supposed to be learning my study habits,” she said. “I think it’s good that we’re having exams for college.”

Finding a balance between providing rigorous academics that prepare students for college and tending to their emotional needs is something students say still needs work, however. Dunavant believes that while most teachers at St. George’s do a good job understanding that there are more aspects to a student’s life than schoolwork, some don’t. “Most of my teachers this school year are really understanding that we have other things to do in our life,” she said. “I have a job, I play soccer, and I feel like with one teacher it’s like ‘No, this class comes before anything, like,

teachers view physical health and mental health. “At the end of the day, no teacher would bat an eye at, like, ‘Oh, you’re sick, you should stay home.’ Right? You’re physically sick, you’ve got a cold, you’re throwing up or whatever, and I think that mental health struggles are complicated, because you’re equally sick, but in a way that’s not as visible.” Dr. Monk believes that it’s important for teachers to keep in mind that they don’t always know the full story and to be more understanding with school work as a result. The first step, she said, is to understand the student. “You’ve got to understand the child before you can teach the child, and if you don’t understand what’s going on and recognize that, then you’re not going to help, you’re going to increase the anxiety, ” Dr. Monk said.“If teachers can just understand the child and let the child have a part in their own learning, then that would really help tremendously in the classroom.” Having students feel like they have an adult who understands them is an important part of St. George’s goals. Mrs. McCarthy finds that students feel and do better when they have at least one teacher that they are close to. “I think that the most important piece in all of this is making sure that every kid, every student, has a person here at school, who they feel like they could talk to when things are great, and mediate when things are not so great.” Mrs. McCarthy said. “I think having our teachers know students well, having our adults know the students so well, helps.” Mrs. Metz agreed. “Every single adult in this building wants what’s best for kids” she said. “We would not be here if we didn’t.”

If you or someone you know are struggling with feelings of depression, contact: The National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800- 273 -8255 Upper School Counselor, Ms. Nikki Davis at 901-457-2012 (ndavis@sgis.org) Middle School Counselor, Ms. Kim Finch at 901-457-2128 (kfinch@sgis.org).

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Apprehensive and Afraid Anxiety rises amidst the unknowns of a global pandemic

Illustration by: Trinity Cannon

By: Anna Schmiedicke

hat amount of anxiety is normal, and what crosses the line? Dr. Annie Gadiparthi, a child psychiatrist who works in Memphis, knows there isn’t a definitive answer. Instead a delicate balance is required. “To have some form of anxiety is a healthy thing, actually,” she said. “It protects us and ensures that we stay cautious and prepared.” But according to a study published by the Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 2019, the teenage mental health crisis has been growing annually. Rates of depression and anxiety have been on a steep upward trend since at least 2005. Then in came COVID-19. COVID has put that survival mechanism to the test. Dr. Gadiparthi understands the toll the virus has taken on people, especially teenagers — and their social lives. “Usually we think of extroverted people as really suffering, but I feel like it’s been everybody,” she said. “Introvert, extrovert, it doesn’t matter.” Junior Mary Alice Murphy can

attest to that fact. A self-described “introverted-extrovert,” she said she found herself reluctant to go back to her pre-pandemic social life at first. “We’ve been alone for so long, and I got used to that,” she said. “When everything started to open back up I was like, ‘oh gosh, I’ve definitely developed some sort of anxiety’.” At the beginning of the year, Murphy wished she still had the option to stay home and attend classes remotely, even if it was more difficult for her to learn while doing so. “It’s easier to be here for the workload, but it’s definitely a lot harder for my mental state,” she said. Still, she missed the most mundane things from before the pandemic. For her, it was going to the store without being worried that she would catch the coronavirus. “Oh gosh, the person behind me is coughing, and we’re gonna get COVID,” she said. It’s not just the grocery store, though. She was excited to come back to school in the fall of 2020, especially after three months of solely online school. But that initial excitement faded very quickly

when anxiety set in. “I was excited to go to school, and then that first week was just miserable for me,” she said. “Oh my gosh, there’s so many people, I’m only used to my small little circle.” Dr. Gadiparthi noticed something similar in her patients post-pandemic. Frequently, concerned parents would come to her with questions about their children. “Is it normal for a teenager right now to isolate? Is this a symptom of depression or something more going on?” she said. “So I think just understanding and navigating — is this really a mental health issue or is this normal? That’s been the biggest thing.” What Dr. Gadiparthi has seen in her patients is a trend well documented by the CDC. Stress, anxiety, grief and more have become commonplace during the pandemic. Ms. Kim Finch, the middle school guidance counselor, has observed the same. The worry brought on by the reality of a global pandemic has been anything but beneficial. “I think you will find nationally increased rates of depression and

anxiety that’s able to be diagnosed,” Mrs. Finch said. “There is an overall increased or heightened sense of worry and of the unknown.” So how do people learn to overcome these new fears and worries? Dr. Gadiparthi’s advice as a board-certified psychiatrist on what to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed like so many others during the pandemic is fairly simple. “So I think that it may just mean getting back to the basics of getting getting six to eight hours of sleep, making sure to get good rest, making sure to do something that’s nice for yourself,” she said. The CDC recommends seeking out professional help if you are struggling, especially during a time of crisis like the pandemic. Mr. Zack Adcock, 9th grade team leader and English teacher, shared his piece on what surprised him most about the pandemic. It wasn’t virus transmission rates, mask mandates, or anything of the kind. “I think the remarkable piece is how resilient people are in responding to challenge and change,” he said.

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GRYPHS

ON THE

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GETTING READY FOR...

GOLF: Eighth grader Miles McNamee hits the gold ball with technique and power. The varsity boys golf team finished their season successfully in fifth place at the West Region Tournament. “It went pretty well, not as far as we wanted to go, but I mean overall as a team we did pretty well.” Senior James Reid Hamblen said, “We won the match we wanted to win... so pretty successful.”

CROSS COUNTRY: Sophomore Sienna Lightman, junior Megan Yost and senior Emma Clayton run a hard workout at Shelby Farms to train for the regional meet. The varsity cross country team had a successful season as the girl’s team won state for the third time in a row with the boys placing fifth out of nine. “It’s a really positive atmosphere on the team,” Clayton said. “Everyone’s really encouraging whether you’re on the boys team or the girls team, everyone’s really happy for one another.” VOLLEYBALL: Senior libero Maya Ibrahim focuses on the ball as she practices passing drills before a playoff game. The varsity girls volleyball finished their season in the first-round substate. “We had a lot of steps to overcome. It was really hard because we had a very young team. At first, we didn’t really know how to win, and I guess it just took time to get used to our team,” Ibrahim said. “Every person was experiencing something different, the eighth graders had never played on varsity and the older people had never played with someone so young.” GIRLS SOCCER: Senior right back defender Eleanor Kuykendall dribbles and looks up the field to find a teammate in scoring position. The varsity girls soccer team had a successful season, making it to the semi-finals of the state tournament. Kuykendall talked about the team. “I think the team, like the connections that each member of the team built as the season progressed, was what gave us the success that we had,” she said, “I don’t think we could’ve made it all the way to the tournament without the relationships that we built, where we could trust each other and rely on each other.” CHEER: Junior Mary Alice Murphy smiles while listening for the next cheer to be performed during the football game. “The varsity cheer team has fired up our student section every football game this fall. They excite the fans with their cheers and their halftime show that includes a synchronized dance,” Murphy said. “It’s just another way to get to know people from other grades, and it’s always fun to dress up and wear fun clothes.” By: Ally Martin. Peyton Monroe, Seth Taub, and Bess White Photography by Jack Seigerman

FOOTBALL: Senior quarterback Wilson Whittemore scrambles to the right to evade the collapsing pocket toput gainthe some yards.on Thethe left leg, “You gotta leg sleeve varsity football team has been working the wrist tape, the ankle tape. Um, what else. hard allgotta summer to have successful Oh! You spit on your acleats, too.” season this year. “We started in early June and went all the way through Oct. so it’s been a long time,” Whittemore said, “we had a lot of ups and downs but it’s been Drake Gonzalez ‘24 fun for the most part.” Varsity Football

ED M GA

FOOTBALL: Senior quarterback Wilson Whittemore scrambles to the right to evade the collapsing pocket to gain some yards. The varsity football team has been working hard all summer to have a successful season this year. “We started in early June and went all the way through Oct. so it’s been a long time,” Whittemore said. “We had a lot of ups and downs, but it’s been fun for the most part.”

GOLF: Namee, hits the gold ball

Eighth grader, Miles Mc“On the day before I wake up, get some oatmeal, some Eggo waffles, maybe a banana like some fast digesting carbs to get me energy for that night. And then maybe two to three hours before I stop by Lenny’s and get a seven-inch turkey sandwich on wheat bread with the turkey, cheese and lettuce and that’s it. Also I have to remember to hydrate a lot.”

Luke Gumbert ‘23 Boys Varsity Cross Country with technique and power. The varsity boys golf team finished their season successfully in fifth place at the West Region Tournament. “It went pretty well,I have, not asthey’re far as like these fro“Before every single game we wanted go but I mean overall zen chicken panini thingstofrom Costco, and they’re as a team did pretty surprisingly really good.weI have one of those every well.” Senior James single Reid time.” Hamblen said, “ We won the match we wanted to win and I think our record ended up being like 40 something and 20 something, Margaret O’Neill ‘25 so pretty successful” Girls Varsity Soccer CROSS COUNTRY: Sophomore Sienna Lightman, Junior Megan Yost and Senior Emma Clayton “Before every game, all of the cheer leaders, we run gather a hard workout Shelby in McNeilatGym, and we stretch together. FarmsThen to train for this the regional we do thing called the compliment meet. The” varsity crossHarris coun- says. “We all stand circle, Junior DeJa try team had a successful around, and we can’t compliment each others season as the team looks, we havegirl’s to compliment something we won state for the third like about the other person’s personality or time in a row with something, and the we do that every game.” boys placing fifth out of nine. “It’s a really positive DeJa Harris ‘23 atmosphere on the team,” Varsity Cheer Clayton said, “everyone’s really

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G N I K A E R B

THE

A senior’s passion for pottery becomes a business By: Anna Schmiedicke

George Brandon

enior George Brandon pulls one bowl from a stack of many. He’s glazing today, one of the final steps in the extended process of creating pottery. This one is littered with holes across the lower half. He tells me it’s a berry bowl, meant for both rinsing and displaying fruit. Slowly and carefully, he lowers the clay creation into a five-gallon glaze bucket with his hands. Soon, it’s submerged in swirling shades of mulberry. It drips as he pulls it out of the bucket. Brandon adjusts his grip, exposing the few naked spots of clay that were formerly covered by his hands. He dips again, and when the bowl emerges it’s fully coated. He sets his bowl aside and picks up another, and the process continues. Brandon took his first pottery class the first semester of his junior year. He was hooked instantly. “I liked it immediately,” he said. But that surface-level interest soon became much more. A class he signed up for at the end of his sophomore year turned into an activity he not only looked forward to, but one that consumed day after day until all his free time

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was spent in the art room, honing his craft into something beyond a simple schedule requirement. At the end of his junior year, he signed up for pottery again. Creating pottery in the upper school art room took over his study halls, then became the subject of his college essay, and is now his Specialized Independent Study [SIS]. The “culminating academic and intellectual experience for students” at St.George’s according to the school’s website, the SIS is a project upperclassmen design and complete before graduation. Students typically work on something they are already familiar with or interested in. Past and current examples include building a skateboard from scratch, creating a field map of a planet, or organizing book drives for local schools. Around the second semester of his junior year, George started to mull over the idea of starting a pottery business for his SIS. He planned to sell his pottery — a variety of bowls, plates and more — primarily on Instagram, though with a brief stint at the St. George’s Art Show, spanning from Nov. 11 to Nov. 12. His business, Grey’s Ceramics,

was an instant hit. He had completely sold out of his extensive stock by midday on the first day. Ms. Allison Webb, one of St. Georges’s artists in residence and the fine arts department chair said being able to provide a student with the means to explore their passions is very gratifying for her. “As teachers, it just fills our soul to know that we’re teaching students things that truly impact their lives and truly impact the world later on,” she said. Brandon doesn’t see his passion ending when the school year does. “Right now I’m thinking of probably keeping the business open,” he said. And in the meantime his experience is proving useful for his college application essays.“I wrote partly about pottery,” he said, “and partly about how you can learn from your mistakes.” Brandon, a self-described perfectionist, has had to learn how to deal with the mess-ups that are inevitable when learning a new skill. “When I first started, I wasn’t very good,” he said, “but after each class, I got better and better”. Over a year into his practice of the art form, he still isn’t immune to messing up on occasion, even if it’s difficult to tell when looking at his

finished pieces. “If I make a mistake, I can make something else,” he said. To demonstrate he showed a planter that was intended to be a bowl before he accidentally cut too deep into the bottom. Brandon credits Florian Gadsby, a London-based potter who posts YouTube videos of himself at work, for helping him accept his errors. “He sometimes even puts in a compilation of his mistakes,” he said. Now instead of completely scraping his mistakes and starting over, Brandon tries to make something out of them. “One of the reasons I like pottery is because if you make a mistake, you can reclaim it,” he said. “You can reclaim whatever you make, and then try again.” Brandon said that some of his least favorite pieces are the ones others like the most. His pottery has reinforced a lesson able to be applied far beyond his potter’s wheel. “You can make a mistake,” he said, “but you can always try again.”

1. Brandon begins the process by wedging his clay, preparing it for optimal use. George started his own business this year, Grey’s Ceramics where he has been extremely successful in selling his work. 2. Brandon trims a bowl on the wheel to ensure there is no excess clay. 3. He runs his finger along a bowl to check for imperfections. 4. Brandon taps on the center of a berry bowl and waxes the bottom so no glaze gets on it.

George Brandon

5. In this photo, Brandon dips his creation in glaze, finalizing it for sale. 6. Brandon shows his product after glazing a drip pattern. 7. Brandon half coats this berry bowl in glaze. Photography by Jack Seigerman

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Phone Parking Lots

Locked Up, Locked Out By: Caroline Higley

ell phone parking lots. You know, the blue and yellow pouches that hang on the wall in every classroom. At the beginning of this school year, every teacher was told they had to have their students put their phones in the parking lots for the entirety of every class. St. George’s has been trying just about everything to get students off of their phones for the past seven years. Put your phone in your locker, in your backpack, in a box, on the ground, on your desk, on a table at the front of the room, in this blue bucket, and now, in the cell phone parking lot. Has it worked? No. Obviously, not. If students want to keep their phones, they will find a way. We’ve seen this before. “I forgot my phone in my car.” “I left it at home.” “I left it in my last class.” If teachers forget to make sure every phone is in the parking lot, not every phone will be there.

Cell phones rule not only the lives of teenagers, but the whole world, and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. Every Sunday, Apple users get a weekly update on their average daily cell phone use from the past week. It says something like “Congratulations, you’ve wasted 15% more time this week than you wasted last week. Go to the gym.” But that’s just another number, another notification to swipe and ignore. We’re not going to change. I respect St. George’s for trying to limit our phone usage — personally, I find that I can focus more without my cell phone buzzing on the desk next to me — but the school will lose this battle every time. Phones hold everything. I can use the calculator, open the dictionary, fact check using Google, look at my grades, find my homework assignments and submit them.The possibilities are literally endless. You can’t fight that. I can contact anyone I need to. I

can send my mom a text, email my teachers, ask my friends what the plan is for lunch that day. Colleges call me on my phone. Some students have employers and doctors that call on their phones and sometimes those calls are urgent. Not to mention, students get important safety alerts on their phones. During the school day on Sept. 23, a shooter opened fire inside a Kroger just six miles from St. George’s. Where was my phone? In the parking lot. I found out about the shooting after class. But tragedies like this one don’t wait until after class. Thankfully, none of my family or friends were at Kroger at the time of the shooting, but other members of the St. George’s community were. No rule can compete with my desire to know my family is safe. The truth is, the school has the same chance of successfully controlling cell phone use in

classrooms as I have of marrying Cole Sprouse. And no amount of hoping and dreaming will actually make it happen. The school can fight with students as long as they want because students are willing to fight back and the students will win every time. Let’s invest our energies elsewhere. We are wasting time and effort that could be used to make an actual difference somewhere else: improving clubs, actively working to promote inclusion in our community, ramping up our arts program, showing off the individual talents of our students, checking in on their mental health regularly, educating our students on physical health, pick anything. We can create a stronger community by investing our energy in the places where it can take us the farthest. Illustration by: Trinity Cannon and Erin Johnson

OPINION POLICY: The Lodge opinion section is a venue for the free expression of the student views at St. George’s Independent School. The opinions represented in this section are those of the authors alone and do not nessesarily reflect those of the Lodge staff or of the St. George’s community at large. The Lodge strives to be an open forum for the thoughtful and deliberate exchange of comment and criticism and therefore welcomes letters to the editor. Letters to the editor will be printed in the opinion section of the newspaper, should not exceed 300 words and must be signed and accompanied by a verifiable email address. These letters will not be printed if the content is judged obscene, violates the privacy of others or encourages physical disruption of school activities.

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Season’s Grievings By: Ellie Christie

llie: It’s autumn, which means the weather outside is not quite yet frightful but it sure is getting there. When the weather gets frightful, so do some folks’ brains.

going extra wrong. E: That seems a tad dramatic.

SAD: Makes sense. Where’s the joy in life during a time like this? E: Oh, brother, not this guy. That’s seasonal affective disorder talking, and it’s to blame for how garbage some people start to feel during autumn and winter. Feels like your standard depression, but it specifically appears when summer starts to fade. It’s got to do with sunlight, but we don’t really know why that affects some people and not others. Some of us just start feeling like… SAD: Life sucks now! E: There’s no reason for me to feel worse at the end of the year. I mean, October is my favorite month. It’s the month of both my birthday and Halloween. It’s when the temperature starts getting the way I like best— SAD: But it’s also when life starts

E: All that work for little old me? I’m flattered. And can I take a second to make sure everyone notices and processes that the abbreviation for seasonal affective disorder is SAD? Is that not the funniest and most pathetic thing you’ve ever heard? SAD: Not as funny and pathetic as your life!

SAD: So much starts happening in the fall and it’s all overwhelming and it all SUCKS. Everything is too difficult and everyone hates you. And that says a lot, because you’re cursed or something. Things do not work out for you at any point in the year. E: Okay, was that one seasonal depression or regular depression? You two sound the same sometimes. SAD: We collaborate.

E: Shut up. Let me make my point. I know I’m not the only one who deals with seasonal depression, and I want anyone else dealing with it to know that they aren’t the only one either. It’s isolating to feel so horrible, but whatever you feel is something that someone else feels too. We just don’t always talk about it. SAD: Yeah, because nobody wants to hear it! This article is about what you have to say, but who cares? E: Was that the wind or something? Crazy weather we’re having. Anyway, take care of yourselves. Do that all year long, of course, but especially during the harder months. Like, I dunno, take a walk? Grab the changing weath-

er in your cold hands and make the most of it. Or talk to a friend instead of the little angsty voice in your head! It gets real annoying. SAD: That’s hurtful. E: Eat my shorts. Our brains are mean to us sometimes, but if you can at least try to tune out the bad thoughts, do things that bring you comfort and peace and remind yourself that spring will come again, that makes it a bit better.

If you or someone you know are struggling with feelings of depression, contact: The National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800- 273 -8255 Upper School Counselor Ms. Nikki Davis: 901-457-2012 (ndavis@sgis.org) Middle School Counselor Ms. Kim Finch: 901-457-2128 (kfinch@sgis.org). Illustration by: Ellie Christie

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LIVE AND LEARN WHAT’S AN EDITORIAL? Editorials represent the opinion of the editorial board and do not nessesarily reflect those of the Lodge staff or of the St. George’s community at large. The Lodge strives to be an open forum for the thoughtful and deliberate exchange of comment and criticism and therefore welcomes letters in response to the editorial. Responses will be printed in the opinion section of the newspaper, should not exceed 300 words and must be signed and accompanied by a verifiable email address. These letters will not be printed if the content is judged obscene, violates the privacy of others or encourages physical disruption of school activities. The Editorial Board: Madeline Sisk, Alanna Murphy, Ellie Christie, Caroline Higley, Jack Seigerman and Lauren Shang.

By: Editorial Board

n March of 2020, St. George’s went entirely virtual. The school building closed, and teachers taught classes over Zoom. Since then, so much has happened both in the world and in our school community. When students returned in August 2020, everything was different. We went from all-virtual learning to having a portion of our students online and the others in masks at school, eating lunch outside and socially distancing in the halls. Markers on the floors indicated how far apart we needed to stand. Now it’s December of the year afterward, and all of us are back on campus as “Zooming Ahead” reports. Masks are no longer mandatory, the dining hall is available as a lunch spot again, and teachers aren’t virtually broadcasting their classes to anyone. We’re back to our passions as “Getting Ready for Gameday” and “Breaking The Mold” suggest. Even with the return to some of the aspects of pre-pandemic life, many things still feel different.

After going through a pandemic of this magnitude, it’s hard to go back. And why should we? The pandemic pushed people to focus on mental health more than before, and taking it seriously is even more of a priority now, as our feature story “Finding a Work Around” explains. We took the community around us for granted, never thinking that it would be ripped from us the way it was. We were separated from an environment that we never even realized was as beneficial to us as it had been. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s how to see what is really important: people. And if it was once normal to prioritize grades or attendance records over our connections to each other, it shouldn’t be that way anymore. We don’t need life to be the way it used to be. Two years ago, everything was “normal.” But in the time since, the definition of the word has changed. We’ve all heard about the “new normal” in regards to life then versus now. We are living in the new normal right now, in

the ways we behave around each other and the ways we perceive the world. Two years may feel short, but in the grand scheme of things, we have come so far. It’s time we move forward with what we learned and grow together as a community. We can start by coming to terms with the present. In the past two years, we lost so much, and we need to grieve that loss. Not only the losses of loved ones, but of experiences, a sense of community, precious moments on which we missed out, and the loss of any normalcy. We have gone through denial, isolation, anger and depression. Now we need to work on accepting it and moving on, not accepting it and trying to go back to the way things were in 2019. That’s the past, and we need to keep our eyes on the future. Our old normal is dead and gone, and the new normal doesn’t need to be like that. Nobody is the same person they were before the pandemic, and that’s okay. There’s still so much uncertainty. That’s okay too. We’ve dealt with it before, and we’ll do it again.

CORRECTIONS AND RETRACTIONS: The Lodge strives for accuracy in all articles. However, mistakes are sometimes made. When this happens, you will see corrections here.

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Editorial | 23

St. George’s Independent School 1880 Wolf River Blvd. Collierville Tenn. 38017