Former President Trump’s indictment sparks discourse and debate in and out of the classroom

Diya Chawla and Rena Salsberg Staff Writers

Loewy Miller (9) was walking in Times Square with his family on the way to a Broadway show when he saw the news of former President Donald Trump’s indictment on one of the live billboards. “My initial reaction was that it’s wild that there is now a president who was indicted,” he said.

On March 30, 2023, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Former President Donald Trump on 34 fel ony charges. The indictment came after months of heavy investigation and has sparked widespread discus sion in the school community, Mill er said.

While not required, Upper Divi sion History Department Chair Dr. Daniel Link’s Global Cold War class had group discus sions about the indictment. Since Link usually devotes the start of class to discussing current events, it only made sense that the indictment was brought up, Malcolm Furman (12) said. The conversation allowed students to share their honest first impressions and reactions to the news, Furman said. “This is a topic that may not be as controversial within the school community as some other political issues that have been in the news, and so I think that makes it easier to have a comfortable discussion, especially in a classroom setting,” he said.

The indictment was also a topic of conversation in Jackson Schreiber’s (11) Voices of Protest class, he said. “We mainly discussed whether the indictment would be considered a politically motivated decision.” Sch- indictment did not surprise many, Tandon said. “I think some people are still interested in Trump and what he’s doing, whereas other people are bored hearing about him.” said. Instead, as with any topic, the school should encourage general conversation and free discourse, he said.

In favor of Trump being indicted, Daniel Pustilnik (11) feels that politically active students do not expect Trump to disappear from the headlines. “He is still the most dominant force in the Republican Party and is a serious contender for the Republican nomination,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a surprise that people are still talking about him,” he said.

Since the school does not require teachers to bring up current events in class, teachers have the freedom to decide whether or not to discuss potentially polarizing topics such classrooms, but it’s difficult to have a conversation without people getting uncomfortable,” he said.

Although some people’s views may not directly align with others’, it is essential to prioritize friendship over politics, Miller said. “Politics have become so polarizing now that sometimes just politics can make al, he said. “The district attorney choosing to bring the charges to trial makes it seem like this is a case worth bringing to trial about someone who potentially broke the law.”

Asha Tandon (10) also had a discussion in her history class about the indictment and was intrigued by her peers’ thoughts. “There was definitely a mix of responses, where some people were happy and some people not so much,” she said.

As most students are used to hearing about major political events, especially ones about Trump, his

However, Tanfeels that many stutired of constantly hearing about Trump on the news and are not as invested in the in dictment as they normally would be in other topics. Regardless, she personally enjoyed discussing the indictment in her class because it was a conversation where everyone could contribute their views. “Con sidering that most of us paid close attention to Trump’s presidency, we all knew how to deal with these types of political events and have opinions about it,” she said. While the topic of the indictment is important, it is not the school’s responsibility to formally address or take a stance on the topic, he as Trump’s indictment, Link said. “Students can also determine if they want to discuss the issue by choosing it for their current event.”

While Gabe Jaffe (11) has not discussed the indictment in any of his you rule out somebody as a friend, even if they are good.” With events like the Trump indictment all over the news, it is vital for students to keep an open mind and not let politics prevent them from forming bonds with new people, he to have freedom of speech in their

FRC builds, competes, and adapts at Regionals Tournament

Nikita Pande Staff Writer

The FRC Robotics team placed 45th out of 50 teams at the New York City Regionals Tournament for First Robotics at the Fort Washington Armory from last Wednesday to Friday.

Even though the team did not rank as well as they hoped, they improved their robot significantly during the competition, Imran Siddiqui (11) said. “We went in with a robot that didn’t work, and left with a robot that did.”

At the start of January, First Robotics informed teams across the nation of this year’s selected challenge called “Charged Up.” To complete the challenge, teams had to create a robot that completed two motor-based tasks, Sophie Willer-Burchardi (10) said. For the first task, robots needed to pick up an inflatable cube and place it on a stair-like structure and judges scored them based on the number of cubes a robot could place on a specific stair, she said. Similarly, in the second task, instead of inflatable cubes and stairs, robots utilized traffic cones and poles. The points given out increased as the height of the pole increased, she said.

Following the challenge’s announcement, the team met every day after school in addition to some Saturdays to prepare for the competition, Willer-Burchardi said. The team dedicated the first week of meetings to designing and scheduling.

When preparing for the competition, the team instituted a self-imposed deadline of the first Friday of the season for their theoretical design, Robotics Lab Manager and Team Mentor Fred Levy said. They recognized that this deadline was not set in stone and that they needed to be flexible and prepared for possible changes.

Almost all of the preparation before the tour- nament was team-led, Levy said. While present at every meeting, Levy only intervened in the team’s process if what they proposed could not be accomplished in time, was unsafe, or might work against them. “I feel strongly that it’s their robot so it should be their design,” he said. “I have never had to step in to reverse a design.”

In addition to their own proposals, team members took inspiration from past years’ designs to produce a digital model of their robot using C.A.D. Fusion 360 software, Willer-Burchardi said. Using the C.A.D. program, the team designed specific robot parts on the computer and sent the design over to the 3-D printer to bring their ideas to life.

In the end, the team decided to build a robot with a pivoting arm that extended five feet in the air, team member Menya Obia (10) said. They also planned on developing an intake system where a piece of the robot rolled out and pulled items toward its body.

After the team collectively chose their design for the robot, they scheduled future meeting times and delegated responsibilities to different sub-groups of the team, Willer-Burchardi said.

Members of the FRC robotics team can choose to join either of two sub-groups: Design, Build, and Test (DBT) and Pneumatics and Electronics (P&E), Siddiqui said. DBT focuses on constructing the robot and using a variety of tools such as drills, saws, and a 3D printer. On the other hand, P&E works on programming the robot’s electronic pieces with the software Java, he said.

The competition took place over three days, with the first day dedicated to setting up team work stations, Levy said. Performing this action required utilizing a U-Haul truck to transfer tools, such as a portable saw machine and drill see robotics on page 2 press, to their designated pit. By the end, their area was transformed into a functioning robot shop, he said.

The second day all teams participated in practice rounds, lecting two other teams to help them in the playoffs.

Despite the competitive nature of the tournament, the teams were friendly towards each other throughout the challenge, Obia said. Competitors often asked each other for pieces of equipment they were missing and collaborated with one another.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the team was forced to shorten their building process, Obia said. The robot was functional to the extent that it could push the cubes and cones, but it was not able to pick them up and

Part of the reason why the robot did not reach its full potential is because the team did not realize their design idea had a flaw until late in the process, Siddiqui said. After becoming aware of the mistake, the team was able to redirect their attention to improving their error. The team fixed the error by repositioning the robot’s arm lower down on its body, he said. One reason this obstacle occurred was because most team members did not have much experience competing since they had lost two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

When team members encoun-