Junior Issue 3

Record The Horace Mann

MAY 8TH, 2020 || VOLUME 117, JUNIOR ISSUE 3

HORACE MANN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1903

RECORD.HORACEMANN.ORG

Wei ’19 supports local businesses amid COVID-19 Maya Nornberg and Emma Colacino Staff Writers

As Jeren Wei ‘19 watched his home town of New Rochelle suffer from the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, he decided he needed to help. Upon his return home from Emory University in Atlanta, Wei has raised over $15,000 through a fundraiser devoted to supporting communities in New York and Atlanta by delivering meals and personal protective equipment (PPE) to local hospitals.

Shortly after the virus entered New York, Wei’s home town was impacted. “It was really crazy that within the first few weeks of the epidemic that happened in New York, my old house was literally in the radius of quarantine, and after that I wanted to contribute to the fighting of the coronavirus even more,” he said.

Wei was also inspired to help out because of his connection to health care workers. His neighbor is a doctor and seeing other friends and family members combating the virus on the front lines motivated him to act, he said.

In order to provide aid to his community, Wei created a GoFundMe page on Thursday, April 2 entitled “Help for Healthcare: Supporting NY and Atlanta.” He has used the proceeds to purchase meals from local restaurants and delivered them to healthcare workers. Wei called local hospitals to coordinate the most convenient times for the meals

to be delivered, clarify dietary restrictions, and determine the number of meals needed, he said.

Wei has also used the funds to purchase and deliver PPE to hospitals. “We have a PPE distributor that we have contacted in Hong Kong that we have been purchasing a personal protective equipment, namely, the masks,” he said.

Wei chooses restaurants to reach out to based on their economic struggles during quarantine in addition to his personal connections with the business. For instance, he coordinated deliveries with AJ’s Burgers, a place he visited often with his family growing up, he said.

“Our entire team was thrilled to have an opportunity to contribute to the well-being of our frontline providers,” said Alan Cohen, the managing partner at AJ’s burgers. The financial help Wei has provided has helped AJ’s stay open and keep their workers employed, Cohen said.

Wei specifically seeks to support Asian-affiliated businesses, he said. “The pandemic is a very racially charged topic, so being able to combat that stigma by demonstrating that the Asian community is also here to help and contribute to that change is something I really want to do.”

Wei has collaborated with Ascend, the largest Pan-Asian business association in the United States.

Though he purchases some PPE independently with donations from the GoFundME, Ascend

Lauren Kim/Art Director

Courtesy of Jeren Wei

DISTRIBUTING BAGS AT DELI Wei provides aid to local businesses on the frontlines. provides Wei with other PPE which he delivers to local NY hospitals, he said.

Though he has been coordinating many of the meal deliveries independently, some of Wei’s friends have also been helping and engaging in the service. Benjamin Hu ’19 helps Wei contact restaurants and organize fundraising, reaching out to people at his college. Hu is grateful to be a part of something so rewarding and gratifying, he said.

This widespread effort to spread awareness of Wei’s fundraiser has motivated many of his former peers to donate. “I saw it all over the place on social media. Jeren did a really good job of publicizing it,” William Golub ‘19, a donor to the fundraiser, said.

Golub was especially compelled to donate because Wei is a friend and former classmate, he said. “A lot of people are talking about what the national response to the coronavirus looks like, but Jeren has shown me that we can have an impact in our own local communities by leveraging a lot of the resources we have, and that has been inspiring.”

Initially, Wei was surprised by the support for his fundraiser; specifically, the number of donations he received from his former classmates shocked him. The donations touched Wei as they were clearly from a place of compassion, he said.

Wei said that the fundraiser has been a

rewarding experience for him. Interacting with the healthcare workers who directly receive the PPE and meals that he provides has been really gratifying as he can witness his direct impact on his community, he said.

During his time at school, Wei participated in many volunteer related activities such as the Service Learning team, the Saturday Morning Tutoring Program, and the Community Council, which taught him about volunteering in his community.

“Horace Mann really has a dedication to making a direct impact on their community,” Wei said.

“Impact starts with the individual and I think that being able to contribute to the community is very important and can come from anyone.”

In the future, Wei plans to continue his efforts for as long as necessary and hopes to pay greater attention to the fundraiser once his final assessments end. Hu said another goal is to continue the deliveries that are happening currently and to start deliveries in other areas such as Connecticut and New Jersey.

Wei additionally hopes to expand his services beyond health care workers. Specifically, he wants to expand his services to help police officers, the fire department, and other essential workers who are working on the front lines, he said.

Ministry of Fun unites faculty members long distance Devin Allard-Neptune and Max Chasin Staff Writers

The school’s closure has made interacting with members of the community more difficult; nevertheless, the Ministry of Fun (MOF), a faculty-led initiative, continues to connect faculty members to their coworkers.

At the beginning of the school year, Psychologist Dr. Ian Pervil and history teachers Dr. Ellen Bales and Dr. Emily Straus formed the MOF to connect their coworkers with other members of the Upper Division faculty whom they would not normally interact with, Bales said. Because of the enormity of the campus, faculty members often only see the same group of people throughout the day, she said.

In the new, online version of the MOF, faculty members continue their own initiatives aiming to unite the community during quarantine, Bales said. “[The new MOF] is reliant on the strength, generosity, and the fun-spiritedness of other faculty members.”

However, since the school’s closure, the “Ministers of Fun” have had to alter their initiatives’ format. At the beginning of the year, the committee held meetings to allow other faculty members to contribute ideas for initiatives. It was important to incorporate other faculty members in the decision making process so that the activities could be fun for everyone, Bales said.

After the school’s closure, the “Ministers of Fun” organized a spreadsheet on which faculty members could sign up to host initiatives they believed would be enjoyable, Bales said. Examples of these events include a tour of campus photographer Barry Mason’s home studio, a playgroup for children of faculty hosted by Upper Division Physical Education Department Chair Amy Mojica, and a book group hosted by history teacher Melissa Morales.

After Mason revealed a portion of his home studio in his background during a faculty meeting, Bales asked him to give a tour for the MOF, he said. Mason agreed and gave a virtual tour of his home studio on Tuesday, May 5, after organizing a time with Bales, he said. This allowed Mason to share his art with anyone who cannot

physically come to his studio, and he was able to show his coworkers what he does when he is not at school.

Additionally, the MOF enables faculty members to simultaneously connect with each other and their own families. Mojica runs a

“[The new MOF] is reliant on the strength, generosity, and the fun-spiritedness of other faculty members.”

- Dr. Ellen Bales weekly Zoom meeting for both faculty members, and their children, for example, organized a playdough session and plans to host an activity where kids get to create their own instruments with common household items.

Morales started reading the book “The Mirror and the Light” by Hilary Mantel, and thought that her coworkers would also be interested in it, she said. Morales was inspired by the MOF’s transition online to create a faculty book club to further interact with her coworkers, she said. “I would have been reading this book anyway, and being able to open that up to other people and have really interesting conversations is great.”

As a first-year teacher, the MOF initiatives have helped Morales connect with the community, she said. In December the MOF’s orchestrated a “Secret Snow Pals,” initiative modeled after Secret Santa, which gave Morales the chance to reach out to colleagues and learn about them in a new way. “I had to find out from colleagues what my person’s interests were, so I knew what to buy them. It wasn’t just getting to know one person, it was also introducing myself to other people,” she said.

The new MOF is more accomodating for different schedules, which

allows for more faculty to take part in these initiatives, Bales said.

The increase in community participation enables a wider range of activities on a more regular basis than before, she said. Furthermore, the spreadsheet organization and the nature of Zoom calls helps avoid scheduling conflicts. “Doing a Zoom meeting is easier in the sense that you don’t have to physically be in a different space,” Bales said.

While many faculty members appreciate the connections the MOF has been able to provide during this time, the new virtual format has come with downsides as well, Bales said. “It’s not as fun as if we were actually sitting around a table together, but it’s the best we can do right now and be safe,” Bales said.

Regardless of the new challenges and benefits the online version of the MOF provides, the mission of the overarching initiative remains the same, Bales said. “[The MOF] is an attempt to do our best to bring the school community into each other’s lives at a moment where we can’t see each other.”

Stella Shah/Contributing Artist

OPINIONS

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Editor-in-Chief Julia Goldberg Managing Editor Sam Chiang Issues Editor Talia Winiarsky Features Adam Frommer Henry Owens News Natalie Sweet Yesh Nikam Opinions Oliver Steinman Jack Crovitz Lions’ Den Alison Isko Joshua Underberg A&E Adrian Arnaboldi Marina Kazarian Middle Division Izzy Abbott Momo Campbell

THE RECORD OPINIONS MAY 8TH, 2020

Dr. Leeds reflects on crisis and contingency

Dr. Jeremy Leeds As many of you know, I am stepping down as Director of the Center for Community Values and Action (CCVA) at the end of this academic year, and assuming a new role in the school as I move toward retirement. We welcome Dr. JoyceBernard as the next CCVA Director in the coming academic year.

I had already been thinking about what has been essential in the first 14 years of the CCVA, when the coronavirus crisis struck. Now, when staying home and social distancing are the most important things most of us can do, it’s challenging to see where service-learning fits in! The CCVA’s mission is to connect education, ethics and action. The possibility for action at this time is limited. But there’s more to the story.

One word that captures something central about this experience—and can shape our response to it—is contingency.

I’m using it here as a direct contrast to permanence. We have discussed this concept in Ethics class and it has special relevance now. It’s human to go through life assuming some things are just “there,” unmovable, given; now, some of these things have vanished, and others have been profoundly disrupted. It shakes the sense that things have to be the way they are. This is a source of anxiety, sadness, and uncertainty. It can also be an opening to question the long-standing order of things, and to envision change for the better. And it can throw a light on what is really essential to preserve.

With a heightened awareness of contingency, I’m thinking

Art Directors Sarah Sun Lauren Kim Photography Jackson Feigin Maxwell Shopkorn Faculty Adviser David Berenson

Jacob Shaw

Staff Photographers Harrison Haft, Julia Isko, Daniel Lee, Ava Merker, Kelly Troop, Halley Robbins, Sophie Gordon, Amanda Wein, Emma Colacino, AJ Walker, Lucas Glickman, Lauren Ho Staff Artists Wilder Harwood, Rachel Zhu

the phrase “we’re all in it together” resonate as real and urgent.

More than ever, we need an expanded sense of who is in our circle of care and connection.

“With a heightened awareness of contingency, I’m thinking about what really is important to rebuild and return to—and what we should act to change.”

Dr. King also said that “everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” It has become a slogan of the servicelearning movement, but now an even more resonant one.

Taking the measure of his life of service, it is clear that he had a broad sense of what “service” includes. It encompasses help and individual connection, what we most often think of when we hear the term “service.” It also means collaborative participation, struggle, and group action. And it means learning, insight and reflection. All to make a new world, a more inclusive “us.”

Take this opportunity to reflect on contingency, how meaningful and important your action can be in creating a better life for each of us and a better world for all of us. I’m happy to have taken this journey with you for the past 14 years.

Courtesy of Dr. Leeds Our entire school community has, in myriad ways, embraced and experienced service-learning. Even now, the outpouring of interest in participating in whatever ways possible inspires hope for the future. Our fantastic CCVA staff, including incoming CCVA Director Dr. Joyce-Bernard, incoming Associate Director Ms. Sanchez, and our indispensable Administrative Assistant Ms. Watts (HM ‘13), will be there to take the next steps in this work, however the circumstances change.

Everyone, please take your own measure of where we are now. With an appreciation for contingency—how much things can change, and also how much they can be changed for the better—take your next steps, to “make of this old world RIBBON CUTTING Leeds at the first ever Service Learning Day. a new world.”

De lingua mortua: Why I love Latin

Design Editors Abby Beckler Lowell Finster

Staff Writers Bradley Bennett, Sogona Cisse, Andie Goldmacher, Avi Kapadia, John Mauro, Emily Shi, Samuel Singer, Vivien Sweet, Devin Allard-Neptune, Chloe Choi, Emma Colacino, Yin Fei, Lucas Glickman, Hanna Hornfeld, Claire Goldberg, Liliana Greyf, Lauren Ho, Walker McCarthy, Maya Nornberg, Morgan Smith, Patrick Steinbaugh, Arushi Talwar, Katya Tolunsky, Nathan Zelizer, Max Chasin, Louise Kim, Ayesha Sen, Emily Sun

about what really is important to rebuild and return to—and what we should act to change. Here are some thoughts about how contingency applies to what is central in community engagement and service-learning.

I’m taking hope and inspiration in the work of doctors, nurses, postal workers, scientists, front-line responders, community agencies, teachers, and so many more—in both their response to our current needs, and in their advocacy for change. And along with hope and inspiration, there is also confrontation with the devastating results of “savage inequalities,” as Jonathan Kozol memorably put it decades ago, now brought sharply into focus, including in our own Bronx neighborhood. I’m taking a heightened sense of urgency to turn our focus and our education, to both build on the hope and inspiration, and to work to change the savage inequalities that are so clearly contingent: under human control and possibility.

The CCVA’s programs try to introduce a sense of how one might “make of this old world a new world,” in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Our structure gives all participants a chance to experience community—the “us”—where it previously had not been present. When we connect and build relationships, we create a sense of solidarity with people, places and institutions we didn’t know before. And even if we knew the participants, as often happens with the students on the Service-Learning Team and HM 246, we can feel connected in a new way. It expands the “us” in many directions. It makes

When I tell people I’m currently taking Latin, most people respond with a question: Why? They have a point—I won’t be speaking it with anyone any time soon, and while there are songs and a couple of good podcasts out there, it’s only ever really used in one country (or, more accurately, papal enclave). I won’t be ordering any food or skipping lines for it.

Moreover, I already fulfilled my graduation requirement—so, why?

I started taking Latin in sixth grade as a half-credit and continued to take it through middle school. I remember piecing together my first textbook story. In the first sentence, as I was struggling to make sense of the complex grammar system my teacher taught us in class, I realized how intricate Latin was compared to other languages. By the second sentence, I was in love.

Latin is like a jigsaw puzzle; it revolves around you and the text. Before you start reading with relative fluency, Latin can seem daunting. But the moment you pick up that first “authentic” Latin piece—just you, the text, and your dictionary—and watch yourself begin to make sense out of something written two thousand years ago is exhilarating.

English sentence structures are boring.

Let’s take the sentence “She passes you the ball over the wall.” Who’s doing the passing? She is, because “she” is in front of the verb. Where

is she passing it? To you. Across the wall. See? I get bored just writing it. English is clunky and, at its most simple form, mundane.

So, what about Latin? Here’s how the Latin version of that sentence might sound: “Passshe ball over wall you-to.” You can put any word just about wherever you want it; Latin has linguistic devices to do all of the boring work for you. Just by knowing the last seven letters of any Latin verb (and oftentimes, many fewer), I can tell you who is doing that action, whether they are doing it or wish they were doing it, and exactly when they did it—even whether they will do it in the future or will have already done it by then. Nouns operate in much the same way. So what does all of this mean?

Look back at that sentence. We made what I like to call a word painting—and it never ceases to blow my mind in Latin poetry. The verb ending tells us who’s throwing the ball, so we don’t have to say “she.” It’s almost as if she’s really separated from you with a wall— in this case, literally the word “wall,” which separates the “passes” from “you-to.”

Okay, so that’s cool, you might be thinking.

But why? It’s a dead language! If you’re not going to study classics, why are you taking Latin?

I understand why one might propose this argument, but I find it absurd. With that logic, much of what we learn at school seems like a “dead language”—when will you ever use calculus if you don’t fall into that subsection of professionals that actually “need” to know it? Is calculus a dead language? And what about that war you had to learn about for history class, the one in that country that hasn’t been around for a couple of centuries?

Is world history a dead language? Why are we learning these things that, realistically, will only ever be useful to a handful of us? Is school a dead language? Is it useless?

Obviously not. In New York, you’re allowed to drop out of high school at the age of sixteen, but you’re still here, and you’re still reading about something that may have no

utility to you. But maybe that’s not the whole story. While that war in that country which no longer exists may not be able to help you at your job at Goldman Sachs, it teaches you how to think critically, how to apply past events to present problems, and therefore how to better problem-solve. It allows you to see the world from a different perspective. And it helps to answer some more deep, philosophical questions: How did we get here? How did the world become how it is today? How does the world work?

Don’t get me wrong, the most cited reasons for taking Latin aren’t too bad; knowing what pusillanimous means without picking up a dictionary is certainly nothing to complain about. But Latin is more than a vocabulary tool or a cool way to fulfill your language credit. It’s a glimpse back at the origins of Western culture and a view of the present with the context of millenia of thought.

Reading Latin allows me to understand the origins of Ciceroean rhetoric (and the whole art, or science—he doesn’t end up telling us which one it is—of making people do what you say), read the original words of Newton’s Theory of Universal Gravitation, laugh along with Catullus on his stroll through the marketplace with his girlfriend Lesbia, and

hear Ovid’s somber retelling of star-crossed Pyramus and Thisbe’s faint whispers between the crack in the wall. Reading the words of some of the greatest thinkers in history forges a connection to times and ideas that may otherwise go overlooked as being “dead.”

I can geek out on Latin syntax and relish in the obscurity of the supine verb form ad nauseam, but if you wanted to gain a full perspective on what it’s like to take Latin just by reading this article, I have failed you. I truly believe that there are no words in the English language to describe the joy of learning Latin.

I cannot describe to you what it feels like to see a sentence in terms of declensions nor to feel the perplexity of piecing together that first sentence. And I cannot encapsulate a two-thousand-year-old tradition into this brief, though impassioned, defense.

What I can tell you for certain, however, is quite simple (as the takeaway in these perationes, or last-ditch efforts to make people do what you want, often are): Latin is not dead. Latin may be an esoteric language, and learning it will be, at times, a rocky road.

But the vitality of the texts is incomparable, the doors it opens limitless, the beauty of the language unimaginable: In a word, Latin is alive.

Sarah Sun/Art Director

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HORACE MANN FEATURES MAY 8TH, 2020

Covid dreams Liliana Greyf Staff Writer Determined to make it to her destination, theater teacher Haila VanHentenryck climbed up the steepest side of a mountain. Except the mountain was a sand dune. Made of ice.

She made her way up the jagged cliffs, her feet falling through the ground. She was slipping, unable to gain traction. The ice broke underneath her shoes. Gasping for breath, she thought she wouldn’t make it. Then she woke up.

According to an article published on Monday, April 13 in The New York Times, the number of Google searches for “Why am I having weird dreams lately?” has quadrupled in the United States over the last few weeks. During this time, the majority of people’s dreams have become both more vivid — featuring unfragmented, cohesive, often bizarre stories and events — and more frequent, the article wrote.

In a school-wide anonymous survey sent out earlier this week, over 60 percent of the 136 student and faculty members who responded reported that their dreams were becoming more vivid over the time that they have been in social isolation.

During the past few weeks, Ryan Finlay (10) has found himself stealing trucks, while Lily Seckendorf (12) was chased by a bear. Regardless of the content of the dreams, 57 percent of respondents reported remembering multiple dreams per week.

As a result of the pandemic, people’s sleep patterns have changed in a number of ways, Psychologist Dr. Ian Pervil said. “Longer nights of sleep generally increase the number of REM cycles, and people dream during REM cycles, so there is a greater likelihood of having dreams with more sleep,” he said. “Conversely, greater anxiety might lead to more wakeful, restless sleep, when dreams might be remembered more.”

Athena Spencer (9) said that disruptions in her regular sleep patterns allow her to remember her dreams. She hasn’t been sleeping as well as she usually does, so waking up in the middle of a REM cycle causes her to remember the dream she was having, she said.

Spencer cannot attribute details of her dreams to real life events. She recently dreamt that the Acropolis of Athens was being hidden inside of a cave and that it was her responsibility to find it. Although this dream does not pertain to anything that has recently happened in Spencer’s life, she can recall the dream with an accuracy that was not present before the

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pandemic, she said.

Riya Daga (9) said that the quantity of her memorable dreams has increased as a result of her new morning routine, she said. “I used to wake up and go straight to getting ready because I didn’t have that much time,” she said. “Now, I can wake up and look at my phone and relax for a few minutes, so I feel like I have more of a chance to remember them.” Daga recently read an article that explained that much of a person’s ability to remember their dreams is based on their actions only seconds after they wake up. She recognizes that this may be the cause of her frequent memorable dreams; she can now process what happened as she slept when she has just woken up, she said.

An article published in the Boston Globe on Friday, April 24 titled “You’re not the only one having vivid dreams in quarantine” confirmed the pandemic’s psychological effect on dreaming. In the article, dream researcher at Harvard Medical School Deirdre Leigh Barrett answered a list of questions presented by readers. “Any big life change tends to stir up one’s dream life and result in more and more vivid dreams,” Barrett said. “The shelter-at-home situation is a big life change.”

Barrett specifically explained that dreams pertaining to themes of the virus occur because of the stressors felt during this historic, often emotionally difficult, moment in time. “This could be our mind’s way of working through the trauma,” she said.

Theater teacher Benjamin Posner has specifically felt his anxieties about the virus become more prevalent in his dreams, as Barrett explained. He has recently been having dreams in which he discussed the virus with people he knows. Although he can’t recall the exact details of the dreams, he understands that they come from a place of anxiety surrounding the pandemic, he said.

Daga, too, has found herself dreaming about the virus. She recently had a dream that she was a chemist who found and created a vaccine for COVID-19, she said.

In the article, Barrett wrote that although mentions of the virus may not be present in dreams, fears surrounding it can manifest themselves in metaphors and symbols within the dreams. Tiger Lily Moreno (12) has noticed this “metaphor” phenomenon in her own dreams. She recently dreamt that an entire street was deserted and desolate; every storefront was closed and barren. The restaurant in which she was having dinner suddenly became empty. “This dream wouldn’t make sense pre-coronavirus,” she said. “It would be too obscure. Now, a world like that is a thinkable possibility.”

Moreno attributes this conjuring of the virus to the lack of other stimulus in her present dayto-day life. “The only thing stimulating my brain besides online classes is the news of the

“I am at a museum. I am with someone who in the dream I know is my friend. There is art everywhere, but it is also the Natural History Museum. You know how in [the movie] The Night at the Museum all the dinosaurs come to life? That starts to happen. It is like Jurassic Park, where the dinosaurs are dangerous. We run from them, even though they are still skeletons. We run to a floor that just had art; there are no dinosaurs. We realize, though, that the floor we are on isn’t really art. It is the remnants of a paintball fight that we had just been caught in the middle of, so we join in.”

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virus,” she said. Since there are not many things for us to think about and pay attention to besides the coronavirus, it makes sense to Moreno that her brain will start to incorporate that anxiety into what she thinks about at night, she said.

Posner’s dreams have also incorporated anxieties surrounding the virus without directly referencing the pandemic. Recently, he had a realistic and strikingly dramatic dream in which he was unable to throw a party that he had planned, he said. “I sent out an invitation for a party, and before I knew it people were responding, which I didn’t necessarily expect them to do,” he said. “I looked down at my watch and I’m thinking, ‘Well, there’s no way I’m going to be ready for this.’ I didn’t have any of the party supplies.”

Directly after Posner woke up from this dream, he credited its stressful nature to his experience teaching online, he said.

Posner said that he related its theme of performance anxiety to the anxieties he has experienced as a faculty member during HM Online, very similar to the way he has felt in acting roles he was unprepared for in the past. However, as he continued to analyze the contents of the dream, he realized that there were many connections between the narrative and his family’s recent troubles grocery shopping. Posner has recently been worried about ensuring that he has enough of what he needs from the store, and he believes that fear prompted the lack of party supplies in his dream, he said.

Unlike Spencer and Daga, Carmel Pe’er (11) has been experiencing surprisingly normal ways of life in her dreams, she said. Pe’er has had a recurring dream about receiving a takehome test during math class. “The feeling of being at school was really real,” she said. “I could see the whole classroom and all the other ten kids and Mr. Worrall. Even the whiteboard was in the same place.” Similarly, Seckendorf, who has found that she never dreams about the virus, recently had a dream that her and her friends were at graduation as planned.

Although these dreams may feel unnatural or anxietyinducing, it may just be a body’s way of working through the stress, Pervil said. “There’s some research to suggest that, in dreams, individuals sometimes attempt to work through the problems in their lives, he said. “Because we’re all in the middle of a pandemic, we all are suddenly faced with a new, challenging, and quite difficult set of problems. It would make sense that we are trying to find solutions or even ways of dealing with the problem as we sleep.”

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“My family is in this really nice, wooden, chalet cabin in the middle of nowhere in Vermont. It is the house of [olympic diver] Tom Daley.

I am preparing to go on a hike. My friend JJ shows up in this pink head-to-toe winter suit. She says, “Kiara and I are going on a hike. Are you coming?” Kiara walks by outside the door wearing the exact same pink suit. For some reason, I am already wearing black snow pants, so I just need to find a shirt. There is a pile of flannel button up shirts on a dresser in the room that I am in, and next to it is a box of these wet Swiffer things. I decide not to wear the flannel shirt. Instead, I make a shirt out of the wet Swiffer pads. I start taking them out of the box and my dad comes in. He says “Here, just put this on,” and it’s just a different flannel shirt.

At this point, I have the Swiffer pads all over myself so I just take them off. I put on the flannel shirt, and I go downstairs to find JJ.”

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developed powers over light. Each color has a significance of some sort. My mission is to rescue a horse that is stuck in a castle.

It is a big black draft horse, and it is trapped. I am using the different colors of light to infiltrate this castle. I use the different lights for different things— to get over the moat, around a corner, subdue a guard— and I finally reach the horse. But as it turns out, the horse can fly. It just takes off. The horse doesn’t need my help. It is kind of a letdown. I am on this mission; I am going to do this good work, and then it was just like “Oh hey, nice to see you!” *galloping noises* and it flies away.”

Riva Vig/Staff Artist

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THE RECORD FEATURES AND MIDDLE DIVISION MAY 8TH, 2020

Faculty balance classwork and childcare

Arushi Talwar and Helen Fajemirokun his frees, which he now dedicates to watching his children and keeping them entertained, Staff and Contributing Writers During one of the English Department practice Zoom meetings for HM Online, English teacher Jennifer Little’s five-year-old son ran into the bathroom, forgot to close the door, and began peeing. “I had to say ‘Henry close the door!’” Little said. “It was good training because I know now, don’t Zoom yourself in a place with a bathroom behind you.”

As students and faculty grow more accustomed to HM Online, many faculty members are juggling the responsibilities of caring for their young children at home while teaching throughout the day.

“Everybody’s got to be resilient and creative,” Upper Division Physical Education Department Chair and mother of three Amy Mojica said. “No matter what your family structure is, everyone’s doing a version of that, their own way.”

Spanish teacher Diego Argibay, who has a four-year-old daughter, said that raising a child under normal circumstances is already difficult and becomes an even greater challenge in an environment where everyone is cooped up together.

To manage the workload of teaching and guiding his daughter in her lengthy online classes, Argibay and his wife alternate the days that they spend caring for her. “I work more at night now when my wife is available to take care of her,” he said. Still, there are some days where he has to dedicate the whole school day to teaching so he doesn’t get to see his daughter as often, he said.

Kristin Rowson, who teaches in the Academic Center, also divides her time to take care of her threeyear-old daughter with her husband.

Rowson looks after her daughter until the end of C period, when they switch roles, she said. She then works from D to G period while her husband takes care of their daughter.

Though it is nice to be at home throughout the day, photography teacher Aaron Taylor said that it poses a challenge with

rather than solely his work.

Since Rowson’s child’s regular daycare schedule went for longer hours than the school day, Rowson used to have more alone time than she currently does, she said. Before, she had 30 extra minutes to relax until she picked her daughter up from daycare, but now she doesn’t have any breaks in the day, she said.

For Dean of the Class of 2021 Dr. Susan Groppi, lunch is one of the most inconvenient times of the day. Her son’s daily lunch period frequently coincides with her own Zoom meetings, regularly causing a scheduling conflict, she said. Despite the time she’s had to adjust, Groppi and her husband still find organizing lunch to be a challenge. Most days, her husband takes charge of lunch since she teaches during that time, but there have been a few times where she needed to adjust her

Lauren Kim/Art Director

schedule in order to help with her child’s lunch process, she said.

Lunchtime scheduling dilemmas are also a challenge for Visual Arts Department Chair Dr. Anna Hetherington and her husband, music teacher Nathan Hetherington. They have done their best to address the problem by creating daily color-coded schedules, Anna said.

Even so, because of the way her classes work out, Anna frequently misses her lunch and copes by drinking coffee, she said.

Since beginning online school, Mojica’s routine has also changed. Now she goes to sleep much later than she used to, Mojica said. Because it is significantly harder to create an interactive experience for her students online, finding time to perfect this teaching style as well as helping her children homeschool has been a lot of work, she said.

In order to have a place for everyone in her family to do their work, Groppi has devised organized workspaces for each family member, and Groppi works in the kitchen, she said. Though there are occasional interruptions from her son coming into the kitchen, they are never enough to develop into an issue, she said.

While Groppi has had some difficulties with the s c h o o l ’s

transition to HM Online, said that she still

s h e keeps

a positive attitude.

Ceramics teacher Keith Renner tries to free up time in his schedule to spend with his kids by trying different approaches to teaching his classes. “Through my teaching, I’ve been trying to figure out more asynchronous methods of delivering [information],” he said. These methods include more instructional work through Google Slides for his ceramics students.

Now, Renner spends free time with his family at noon each day. “We take a lunch break to get some fresh air, find something fun to do in the backyard, and shift their mind[s] to something that’s not school,” he said.

Throughout the last few weeks, Mojica has noticed that her kids have been working together during the day to deal with the at-home situation, she said. “They are more independent,” she said. “They are going out of their way to help each other out.” In one instance, her elevenyear-old helped her two-year-old get a glass of milk when Mojica was teaching in class, which she usually does for them.

Now that he is stationed at home, Taylor has also found himself able to devote more time to family, he said. He saves time on his normal school commute, often spending “an hour and a half getting to school in the mornings,” he said.

Since his kids are young and growing quickly, he now gets to see more of the special moments that he might have missed otherwise due to his commute.

Despite the difficulties of balancing school life with taking care of his daughter, Argibay finds himself lucky to be spending so much time with her, as his typically long workdays prevent him from doing. “I [usually] leave home before she’s even up in the morning and when I get home, there were times she had already gone to bed.” Now, during HM Online, Argibay enjoys watching her grow and develop, he said.

Mojica cherishes the important moments spent with her kids each day and watching them grow and bond together. “I hope when my kids look back on this, they look back on the family dinners, movie nights, and those pieces, and not the anxiety and stress of the situation,” she said.

Javaid Khan: a YEAR IN REVIEW as head of md Lauren Ho and Frankie Dogramaci Staff and Contributing Writers

When Head of the Middle Division (MD) Javaid Khan ‘92 first stepped onto the school’s campus as a ninth grader, the MD didn’t exist. He had no idea that over three decades later, he would return to serve as its head.

In his first year at the MD, Khan has worked to improve assemblies and re-evaluate several policies and practices, such as the cell phone and the food policy. So far, his favorite moments at the MD have been the assemblies because he has hosted games that excite and engage the students, he said. He has invited wellknown authors, ex-NBA player Etan Thomas, Emerald Garner (Eric Garner’s sister), the ballet troupe Exit 12, and opera singer Angel Blue, exposing students to a wide variety of people from different walks of life, he said.

“He has transformed our assemblies and created a program that is rich in substance and fosters community,” history teacher Catherine Garrison said. “We now have assembly every week and he has invited incredible speakers that spark interest and lead to rich discussions afterwards.”

Annabelle Chan/Art Director

Khan placed a new importance on assemblies, emphasizing what it means to be a good audience member by teaching the students to give the speaker their undivided attention, he said.

Assemblies cover a wide variety of topics and can leave the audience deep in thought or jumping out of their seats, Khan said. During one assembly, Head of School Tom Kelly presented to the MD about his senior thesis in college, which discussed the

behavior of homeless people and the services available to them, leaving the audience so quiet “you could hear the people thinking,” Khan said. At another assembly, the MD played “Name that Tune,” and students were screaming and had a blast, he said.

Khan has been planning assemblies for ten years, originally at Poly Prep and then at the Bank Street School for Children, he said. “At assemblies, there’s a duality: sheer joy and excitement, and learning, which is exactly what school should be.”

The new assemblies are enhanced by Khan’s great sense of humor, Elise Kang (8) said. “He writes jokes in his emails, tells jokes in advisory, and even tells jokes during assemblies,” she said.

In addition to making students laugh, Khan has made a commitment to getting to know each of the students personally, Kang said.

“Mr. Khan began the year by listening and observing to really get to know the MD,” Garrison said. “He has been supportive and asks thoughtful questions, and it’s been a pleasure getting to know him and his leadership of the MD.” “It’s tough to gain the respect of the students and faculty at a new school, and by interacting and establishing personal connections with everyone, he’s really gained everyone’s respect and admiration,” Nate Chiang (8) said.

William Choi (8) said that he is grateful to have Khan as an advisor. “Whenever I am on Zoom with him, or when I was face to face with him, he brings a very motivating attitude, which reflects on how he leads the MD.” A new initiative that Khan started and has continued throughout HM Online is “Khanmendations,” a play on the word “commendations,” Ellie Romero (7) said. Before HM Online, he shared Khanmendations during assemblies; now, he shares an anonymous act of kindness from each grade in his weekly emails she said. An example of a Khanmendation could be a student staying after class and helping a teacher clean up or helping to make worksheets for their class, Romero said.

The school has changed considerably since Khan was a student, since it was one large division (7-12), and the advisory program did not exist, he said. It has also been paying more attention to the social and emotional health of students, which helps shape a community, Khan said. “We teach them in a bubble of care now, and take into account how students are feeling and what’s going on at home, which didn’t exist as much when I was a student.”

This year, Khan has re-evaluated two important policies, which were previously in effect in the MD, but were unclear to both students and teachers, he said. “The parameters of the cell

phone policy have been made more clear, especially to the teachers, and now students know exactly when and where they can and can not use their phones,” he said. Cell phones can be used before 8:00 a.m. outside of school buildings, but once students enter the building, phones must be turned off and put away, he said. If a student needs to use their phone to receive a call or text someone, they must go to the office and get permission.

Additionally, as a result of the new food policies that lay out rules for when and where students can eat food, there have been almost no infestations of rodents and roaches, Khan said. The year started out with issues, but students slowly took to the policies and in the second half of the year, there were no infestations, he said.

Another project Khan has been working on is improving the approach to discipline in the MD. When Khan visited the MD last year, he talked about a “restorative justice” disciplinary system.

“A restorative practice is a creative way of looking at disciplinary actions and teaching students to learn from the experience and then re-enter the community,” Khan said. Students must learn from their mistakes and repair the harm caused, he said.

The MD teachers had an hour-long restorative justice session with the International Institute for Restorative Practices in March, Khan said. “We plan to fully roll out [a restorative justice disciplinary system] in the fall, after everyone has received the proper training.”

The biggest challenge this year is managing HM Online, Khan said. He had to adjust the demands of HM Online for the many MD students who had coronavirus. “I’ve tried to balance what the community is telling me what they want and need, versus what I think they can handle.”

“Especially now that we’re doing HM Online, he’s been very good with managing everything, from sending us schedules every week, to trying to bring back non-academic activities on Zoom,” Choi said.

However, HM Online cannot provide the solution to everything. “We still have 8th graders who missed their Dorr trip or will not finish their community service requirements, so we are trying to keep these things in mind as we plan out next year, although even next year’s plans are a bit up in the air,” Khan said.

“Although we do not see him in person anymore, Mr. Khan still maintains his uplifting personality and positive attitude during this tough time,” Chiang said.

5

HORACE MANN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT MAY 8TH, 2020

The knead to relax: Cooking in quarantine Hanna Hornfeld & Jillian Lee Staff and Contributing Writers Matthew Brand (6) has used his free time in quarantine to discover a new passion: cooking tagliatelles in sausage ragus and pistachio crusted rack of lambs with carrot ginger purées, lamb tallow onions, and chicken bouillon sauces.

“It’s a mouthful to say, but it was really good,” he said. In quarantine, many students and faculty members have turned to the culinary world as a way to destress and pass the time.

For Nina Gaither (11), cooking has a calming effect because of its detail-oriented nature.

“There are steps that you follow, and you know something’s going to come together in the end,” she said. “And then being able to eat something you’ve made feels good.”

“Cooking gets me out of my head and into the present,” said Upper Division Director of Counseling and Guidance Dr. Daniel Rothstein, who was a professional chef before going into psychology. “If you are working on a big history paper, for example, if you take a break and cook something, you can complete a dish that gives enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment.”

In an article titled “Baking During A Pandemic can Reduce Stress and Provide Comfort,” CNN explores the positive effects of “stress baking” during a pandemic. In the article, Michael Kocet, a professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, wrote that having control over a process and being able to physically enjoy the results can be helpful in a time when everything else feels out of control.

“Just the act of measuring things out and doing things in an order is similar to following the order of a school day,” Sophie Gordon (10) said. “Not having order every day anymore is

kind of stressful. Having that timetable to follow with specific measurements with cooking makes up for that in a way.”

Leyli Granmayeh (11) used to stressbake often, she said. “It doesn’t take a lot of brainpower to make brownies, so I can think, I can meditate, I can just focus on scooping flour,” she said.

Activities such as cooking shift the brain’s focus away from stressers, Northwestern University Professor of Psychiatry Jaqueline Gollan said in an interview for WIRED. Directing attention to one simple task can help engage the prefrontal cortex in a way similar to mindful meditation, she said.

“Any baking or cooking is a perfect way to practice mindfulness,” Rothstein said. “It engages all the senses: touch, smell, taste, [and] sight. And do you know that bread sings when it cools down after coming out of the oven? The crust crackles gently as the bread contracts.”

Baking has become a particularly meaningful way to take a break from the digital world, Madison Xu (9) said. “Eventually, you get sick of sitting in front of your screen, and cooking is an escape from that,” she said. “It’s just really nice and relaxing.” Xu enjoys creating new dishes and treats, and most recently made a peach panna cotta and raspberry macarons, she said.

“There is a special meaning to these times, where we are more aware of what cooking really means to us in our own homes,” World Languages teacher Dr. Cornelie Ladd said.

“There is this particular comfort about being in the kitchen, the center of the home.” Before quarantine, the process of making food, as well as enjoying it with family, was ordinary, but now, it is a more meaningful part of the day, Ladd said. “It’s a nice addition to the run-of-themill tasks that we have during the day.”

While some have been baking more in the recent weeks, Upper Division Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels has scaled down her baking operation. During the school year, she bakes snacks for break, her advisory, and other occasions, she said. Now, however, she has only baked once in the past eight weeks because there is no one to bake for. This has felt odd, especially since she had been looking forward to baking a week’s worth of snacks to give out during break for the last week of school before spring break, she said. Instead, she has spent a lot more time cooking for herself because she can’t go out to eat.

Gaither has always baked during breaks and on weekends, but she didn’t cook much until spring break, due to a lack of time, she said.

Now, she has been making three or four dinners per week for her family, she said.

Some students, like Annabelle Xing (11), have been using this time to both cook and bake. Xing cooks for herself during the day, and on the weekends, she experiments with baking loaves of bread which can take anywhere from four to twelve hours, she said.

Baking can be time-intensive, especially when it requires using yeast and enriched flour, so certain projects can’t be completed regularly, said Jared Contant (9), who competed on Chopped Junior in 2017. “In this environment, it’s easier to do longer-term projects.”

COVID-19, however, also poses new challenges for those looking to bake or cook.

For instance, Granmayeh has had to find ways to acquire ingredients while limiting her contact with people. “Now that going to a supermarket is more of an ordeal, I’ve had to cook a lot more with just the ingredients that I’ve had at hand and be more adaptable,” she said.

Contant has found that essential baking

ingredients are now sparse, he said. “Flour, sugar, and butter have [always] been in short supply because they are versatile, but especially now are being depleted compared to produce in a time when people are making two to three meals a day.”

A good recipe should accommodate ingredients that have already been acquired, especially during a time like this, Contant said. He compared finding a recipe to finding a history source: “cross-check your recipes and look at the reviews,” he said.

Gaither’s family has groceries delivered every week and a half, and from there, she figures out what she can make. Gaither uses websites such as Bon Appetit, New York Times Cooking, Food 52, and Smitten Kitchen to find recipes.

When she doesn’t have all of the necessary ingredients for one recipe, she’ll use it in tandem with another recipe. She recently made banana pancakes by piecing together recipes from Food 52, Epicurious, and her own imagination, she said.

Brand has been using an app called “Yummly” for recipes and inspiration. The app allows users to create a profile, describe their cuisine preferences, and receive weekly emails containing a mix of recipes to try. Brand has also been using his own intuition and trial-anderror to spice up his creations, he said.

When school on campus restarts, Bartels is going to “go big” as frequently as she can, she said. “I’m not going to save it for weeks that we’re heading into a break,” she said. “I’m just going to randomly throw in homemade snacks, because we’re going to have extended periods of time where we’re closed, and I want those to be moments that people can cling to. Dipped marshmallows, trail mix, pretzel bites, all the things that people love.”

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6

MAY 8TH, 2020

TS SPORTS BUSINESS S O H N I FORU E T S N M COR

Louise Kim Staff Writer

Although students, parents, and faculty may not be able to enjoy live sports on television every night, the Sports Business Forum provides them with the opportunity to engage with a different aspect of the sports world. “I like to look at the silver lining for everything,” Marc Cornstein ‘88, P ‘24, the host of the forum, said. “Maybe this forum can provide that silver lining for many students.”

Cornstein hosts the forum every Tuesday from 4-5 p.m. on Zoom.

With the increase in downtime created by the switch to online school, Cornstein thought it would be helpful for members of the community who are interested in sports or business to have a space to hear from people in those industries, he said. He hopes that students who attend the meetings will learn something new, have a chance to communicate with people they wouldn’t have otherwise, and be both inspired and motivated by any of the speakers’ responses, he said.

Each meeting, Cornstein invites a new guest speaker. He hopes to invite speakers who will bring diverse backgrounds and viewpoints to the table so that students can have the opportunity to hear about all aspects of the sports industry, he said.

The guest speaker for the second meeting, held last Tuesday, was David Griffin, Executive Vice President of

Basketball Operations for the New Orleans Pelicans, and former General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Griffin won a title in Cleveland with LeBron James, and now works with Zion Williamson, the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, who currently plays for the Pelicans. Over 70 people joined the Zoom meeting Cornstein kicked off the event by asking Griffin what it takes to build a championship team and what it is like to manage basketball superstars.

“We tried to build a family that loved each other e n ou g h to tell each

ot her what they need to hear, not what they want to hear,” Griffin said in response.

Griffin covered a variety of topics, ranging from how to deal with player

injuries to how he felt when James returned to the Cavaliers in 2018. When asked to compare managing James versus Williamson, he answered that the two didn’t share many similarities. “In the case of LeBron, he taught me what leadership was like—he was already a fully-formed champion,” Griffin said. “For Zion, I hope to create an environment to raise him to be like LeBron when he came back [to Cleveland]. Zion sees and feels the game like LeBron does, but he isn’t skilled enough to act on it yet, but he is [also] the most selfless superstar I’ve ever been around.”

Sports

Gabby Fischberg/Art Director

business has always interested Ben Chasin (11), so he thought that the forum would be a great learning opportunity, he said. During the

forum, Chasin discovered that having a job like G r i f f i n’s requires starting from the bottom and working one’s way up, he said. He was particularly intrigued by Griffin’s conversation about wanting to keep Williamson happy so that he would want to re-sign with the Pelicans when the time comes, he said.

Coach Ronnie Beller was surprised to hear that making a superstar feel at home was of more value to Griffin than promising the player something in return for joining the team, he said. “Team building, the dynamic of the team, selflessness— everything about the family atmosphere that he stressed was really important,” Beller said.

Head of Middle Division Javaid Khan ‘92, an avid fan of both basketball and Lebron James, enjoyed attending the meeting.

“To hear from a basketball mind, with the level of experience David Griffin has, [was] a level of access that I could not pass up, and that Horace Mann is lucky to have,” he said.

Eddie Mantz (11) attended the meeting because he knew that Griffin is one of the top-ranked general managers in the league. “It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get to the point he is at—you have to learn to overcome the obstacles you are going to face,” Mantz said.

Griffin advised young people, especially those interested in pursuing a career in sports, to remember the importance of passion and determination in every walk of life. “Do the thing you’re most passionate about, whatever speaks to you,” he said.

As for entering the sports industry, Griffin recommended being proactive and interactive, he said. Creating connections by volunteering at high school or college programs is important because students can meet new coaches and mentors, he said.

Attendees are already showing their interest in joining future meetings. Khan said that he is definitely planning on attending again. “As a sports fan, I am all too eager to see what Mr. Cornstein comes up with next.”

Riva Vig/Staff Artist

Fernandez (12) pursues passion for baseball in postgraduate year Emily Sun and Mia Calzolaio Staff and Contributing Writers In August, as the Class of 2020 heads to colleges across the nation, Mark Fernandez (12) will return to high school in order to take a postgraduate (PG) year at the boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall.

A PG year is a fifth year of high school that students can take to better prepare for college.

Academically, students can use the time to show colleges continued growth, Associate Director of College Counseling Frank Cabrera said.

A PG year also provides athletes with time to hone their skills and strengthen their bodies,

Courtesy of Mark Fernandez

FASTBALL TO THE PLATE Fernandez pitches.

science teacher Matthew Boller, who taught at Choate Rosemary Hall for four years, said.

“The PG year [will give Fernandez] the opportunity to refine his craft, get a little better at it, and potentially put himself in a position to have a four-year [baseball] career at a college,” Boys Varsity Baseball coach Matthew Russo said.

Fernandez wants to use his PG year to grow as a person, as a student, and as a baseball player, he said. “Some kids take gap years to travel the world; I’m taking another year to follow my passion.”

Fernandez first heard of PG years while attending baseball recruitment showcases the summer before his junior year, as many students were older than him because they were taking a PG year, he said.

After the showcases, Fernandez had the opportunity to play in college, but decided it was not the right fit for him, Russo said.

Fernandez felt an urge to give the recruiting process another go because he knew that “whatifs” would start to build up if he did not, he said.

The previous year, Fernandez had made first team all-conference, which is awarded to the best players in the Ivy Preparatory School League. The four other pitchers who received the award were all National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I recruits. Fernandez knew that he was as good, if not better than those pitchers, so he thought that an extra year of training would allow him to give the sport his all, he said.

Specifically, Fernandez knew that he needed to increase his pitching velocity in order to get recruited as a pitcher at a top college. He started weight training the summer before this year, and after gaining 30 pounds in three months, he realized that another year of training would

make him a completely different athlete, he said.

Nevertheless, before he committed to taking a PG year, Fernandez had his doubts because students who choose to take PG years are a rare sight at the school, he said. “It’s looked at a little strangely by people who don’t know what it is or why I’m taking it.”

In Cabrera’s four years at the school, Fernandez is his only advisee to take a PG year. “HM students are really excited about the prospect of going to college, so the idea of delaying college to take advantage of a PG year isn’t compelling enough for many,” Cabrera said.

To decide whether he should take a PG year, Fernandez talked to a friend from Dalton who took the route of a PG year at Choate Rosemary Hall and will play lacrosse at Washington and Lee University next year. Seeing the PG path lead to success for someone else reassured Fernandez that it was the right choice for him as well, he said.

Fernandez also sought guidance from Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly, who provided extra encouragement, he said. “[Dr. Kelly] wanted to push my passion and make sure that I was going for the thing that I love to do,” he said.

With that in mind, Fernandez undertook the application process for both PG schools and colleges in his senior year, completing around 25 to 30 applications. At the same time, he continued to improve his skills in the offseason with weight training and weekly pitching lessons, he said.

While looking into PG schools, Fernandez had more responsibility than he did with his college applications, Cabrera said. The college counseling office is less experienced with PG years since so few students pursue them, he

Courtesy of Mark Fernandez

LINE DRIVE Fernandez prepares to catch the ball. said.

PG applications are similar to college applications, but with the added aspect of admissions calls to coaches at each school, Terri Fernandez, Fernandez’s mother, said.

“The student is looking for their right place and the coaches need to find the right fit for their team,” she said.

Eventually, Fernandez was accepted to Phillips Exeter Academy, the Hotchkiss School, the Westminster School, and Choate Rosemary Hall. He decided on Choate Rosemary Hall because it had rigorous academics and their baseball team was the first in their league. He also thought that the head coach Scott Wosleger “would support his baseball development, push him to improve, and understand his goals,” Terri Fernandez said.

After his PG year, Fernandez hopes to find a college where he can balance both his love for academics and his love for baseball, he said.