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VOLUME 15 • ISSUE 4 NEWS • JANUARY 27, 2014
RAVEENA KAPATKAR - WINGED POST
Students engage in economics
GATSBY GLAMOUR Students mingle and dance under an elegant chandelier showcasing the Great Gatsby theme of the Winter Ball. Low attendance to the Winter Ball may have been due to a debate tournament, the SATs, sports tournaments, or the three-day weekend. Tickets to the event were $25, with the total budget reaching $6000.
Winter Ball exudes elegance, excitement and extravagance raveena kapatkar & kshithija mulam reporters
Spirit Club and the class of 2015 hosted the annual Winter Ball in Nichols Atrium on Jan. 18 from 8-11 PM, incorporating this year’s theme, “The Great Gatsby”. Dim lighting, elegant glass chandeliers, and vibrant formal dresses welcomed the attendees of this year’s dance as they stepped into the decorated hall of Nichols. “This year we are trying to incorporate part of upstairs and the Atrium, so the decorations are going to be different because there are different designs and different themes every year,” said Julia Wang (11), the Co-President of Spirit Club. The junior class aided Spirit Club in planning and arranging Winter Ball, which has usually been done solely by Spirit Club in past years. “The junior class is sponsor-
ing [the dance] as a fundraiser to make some money for their class as well. We’ve done that differently this year,” said Activities Coordinator Kerry Enzensperger. The junior class and Spirit Club said they struggled with ticket sales, despite the decorations and impressive atmosphere of the event. “The problem this year is [the dance] is on a three-day weekend, there’s a debate tournament, and people are worried about SATs. And there’s a wrestling tournament and volleyball tournament in addition,” Enzensperger said. Low attendance may also be attributed to the price of the tickets to Winter Ball. Ticket prices were lowered this year to an initial price of $25: in the past, sales began at $35 dollars. Prices for the dance are high due to the cost of setting up and decorating the hall for the event; this year’s budget totaled to about $6000.
“The tickets are $25, and the Winter Concert tickets or Dance Show tickets are about $8; I think it’s kind of expensive for just going and dancing,” Hazal Gurcan (9) said. Freshmen were more reluctant to attend the dance as well due to rumors floating around days prior to the ball. “I know a lot of freshmen think that Winter Ball is a couples’ dance, but it’s really not,” Haley Tran (9) said. “It’s really fun to just go out with your friends and hang out and dance.” Despite struggles regarding ticket sales and pricing, the number of people attending the ball increased due to tickets sold on the night of the dance. Winter Ball is the last formal dance of the year for many freshmen and sophomores. The club-funded Sadie Hawkins’ Dance has not been confirmed, and the annual Prom is exclusively for juniors and seniors unless otherwise invited.
New changes allow more students to participate mercedes chien design editor Economics teacher Samuel Lepler made changes in the application process for the National Economics Challenge (NEC) and the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics (HPEC) Challenge to allow all interested students the opportunity to participate this year. Previously, Lepler invited select students taking Advanced Placement Microeconomics who have earned either an A or A+ average to the economic competitions. Those students would take a placement exam, and Lepler would form teams based on their scores. This year, interested students have the option of signing up for either one or both of the challenges. For the NEC, students are now able to form their own teams. “If a student, no matter what the grade is, is excited about econ and wants to go deep into it, what kind of a teacher would limit that opportunity?” he said. Despite losing the luxury of working one-onone with students, Lepler believes opening up the competitions outweighs the consequence. Angela Ma (12), former participant in NEC, credits her team’s third-place finish in states to that one-onone time Lepler referenced. “Mr. Lepler’s class already gave me a solid foundation so that, during the two months of competition preparation, I was constantly learning something new,” she said. 43 students, the highest number in school history, ranging from sophomores to seniors signed up for NEC.
The NEC, hosted by the Council for Economics Education, requires students to go beyond the basic AP material, testing students on microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics, and current events. State winners advance to the National Semi-Finals, in which the top four winners of each division win a trip to New York City for the National Finals. Hosted by the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association, HPEC consists of a written section, a quiz-bowl round robin, and a quizbowl tournament that requires students to know economics trivia and history. Last year, the school sent two teams of four students to HPEC. Due to a large number of registrations from all over the nation, the school is limited to sending only one team. Lepler organized a lottery to determine which four students will attend. Preparing for the challenges is time-consuming, according to former participant Kevin Duraiswamy (12). His team created a study schedule, which helped his team efficiently use their time. “First, it allows the team to learn faster because everyone is pooling information and working on topics together, and second, it forces each team member to study more than they might otherwise because they are accountable to the rest of the team, not just themselves,” he said. Rahul Sridhar (12), a member of the team that placed third at NEC states last year, advises participants to study not only diligently but also broadly. “The National Econ Challenge is all about how much you know. The winning team is almost always the one that knows the most material,” he said. The NEC will announce State Champions in early April. The first round of competition is an online exam that will happen before April 2. HPEC will take place on April 5.