Issue 13

Volume 118 Issue 13

The Record Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903

record.horacemann.org December 11th, 2020

Feature: Weighing benefits, harms of reading troubling works

“

this book and considering how these two themes

Mia Calzolaio and Simon Schackner might work side-by-side, students can transfer this Staff Writers analysis to critique the society in which they are English teacher Jennifer Huang recently finished the book “The Sympathizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen — which follows a man serving as a spy for Communist forces in the final days of the Vietnam War — with her senior elective. While the book enabled the class to have important discussions about the Vietnam war, biracial identity, and the ethics of representation, Huang was initially hesitant about including the book in her curriculum due to a graphic scene of sexual assault. Ultimately, Huang decided to teach the book because she thought the conversations she planned outweighed the brutality of the specific scene, she said.

As her class started reading the book, Huang offered a preemptive trigger warning about the potentially sensitive content, which she felt benefited their later conversation about the explicit scene. “Giving the trigger warning gave students a space to know that they needed to approach that conversation sensitively and carefully, and the discussion that ended up coming out of it felt really productive to me,” she said.

Huang’s dilemma and eventual decision to teach the book with a trigger warning is reflective of a common situation: many teachers must assess the value of teaching works or topics that could be deemed offensive and evaluate their technique of doing so.

The school’s Statement of Community Norms and Values acknowledges that the complex work students do in the classroom requires encounters with “challenging ideas, texts, and viewpoints.” For this reason, the document contains a set guidelines on how conversations about these topics are to be conducted. These points include avoiding gratuitous use of profanity or slurs, refraining from calling out any member of the community, and never shaming anyone speaking in a group meeting. The document also states that speakers should provide clear context when beginning a discussion about “material that can provoke strong personal reactions from students.”

When choosing texts for her courses, English teacher Sarah McIntyre does not necessarily avoid books that may contain offensive material; rather, she thinks about the way in which students will critically approach the matter in the books.

living.

“Unless we teachers say explicitly to our classes, ‘I have chosen these texts because I would like to be able to talk about these issues,’ then we risk communicating to them that these are works that we only celebrate.”

-Sarah McIntyre History teacher Melissa Morales only teaches potentially problematic historical material if she believes it will allow her class to understand a topic more deeply.t She defines offensive content as text or media that has the potential to harm a reader or cause them to reproduce the ideas represented in their own lives. An example of such material that Morales teaches is Thomas Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia,” in which Jefferson tries to scientifically prove that people of African descent are inferior to white people. By the end of the piece, Jefferson acknowledges that slavery is degrading and that God will eventually punish the people of the United States for their acts of enslavement, Morales said.

Morales intends for her class to understand the value of Jefferson’s inability to defend slavery and his recognition of its consequences. In order for Morales to teach similarly problematic works, they must be historically significant and influential within their time period, she said.

English teacher Dr. Wendy Steiner chooses the material that she teaches carefully and considers potentially problematic or triggering content when making these choices, she said. “I do not shy away from controversy if [it is] within the book, as long as the racism involved is being used to make a point or send some kind of message,” she said.

Steiner mentioned Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” as one of these books. “It contains some offensive language, namely the n-word, because Morrison is dramatizing the traumatic horrors of slavery.”

Courtesy of HM Flickr

Courtesy of HM Flickr

APPRECIATING LITERATURE Wilson’s ninth grade English class reads “The Catcher in the Rye.” “I try to pick texts that are going to help students Like Steiner, history teacher Barry Bienstock face difficult questions — difficult ethical, political, only teaches potentially harmful material if he human, psychological questions, all of these big deems it vital to his curriculum. While he believes areas — and to give them a field in which to explore learning about sensitive topics such as war and their own relationship to those hard questions,” colonization is often essential, he tries to avoid McIntyre said. depictions of violence as much as he can and says An example of one of these texts is “The that the mentioning of specific violence is often Great Gatsby,” a book that represents paradoxical unnecessary in history class. “I can talk about the ideologies. Author F. Scott Fitgerald addresses oppressive nature of slavery without discussing in racism while simultaneously promoting anti- detail what the white masters did to their female semitism, McIntyre said. He criticizes the way slaves,” he said. in which anti-Black ideology is at the base of Particularly with books containing potentially socioeconomic hierarchies; however, he also uses problematic and difficult subject matter, English anti-semitic stereotypes, denying the extent to Department Chair Vernon Wilson considers which religious prejudices are part of the same whether the literature is substantial enough for a structure he critiques, she said. class discussion. “Is the book strong enough to hold McIntyre ultimately hopes that through reading our interrogation [and] to withstand the pressure

of the kind of discussion we’re going to do in class a certain sensitive topic. about some of that offensive content?” he said.

Still, teachers must be attentive to students’ There are books Wilson would not teach experiences reading and discussing a text, McIntyre because they do not meet this criteria. For example, said. “In my role as a teacher, I have a strong Wilson does not teach “Portnoy’s Complaint” by caretaking role,” she said. “In order to be performing Philip Roth — which describes a young Jewish that role well, I have to be attending to students’ man’s coming of age in New York City — due to the emotional well-being.” book’s raunchy nature, including Roth’s frequent use Over the years, McIntyre realized students in her of sexual innuendos and description of sexual acts. class could have emotional responses to a text, hence “I don’t know how much learning in the classroom the need for trigger warnings. “I now understand would be done that would necessitate teaching this better than I did in the early stages of my career that book, where another book that is less purposely intellectual engagement does not prevent people offensive could do the same work,” he said. from the experience of retraumatization as they’re Steiner stopped teaching the book “Heart of reading text,” she said.

Darkness” by Joseph Conrad, which discusses a On the other hand, Jaden Richards (12) said man’s experience exploring Africa during the late trigger warnings are not always necessary or 19th century, because some of the imagery in the effective, as potentially sensitive material similar book depicting Africans is plainly racist. While to that covered in class will not always have a the book is certainly a powerful work of literature disclaimer outside of a school environment. with important messages about human nature, Furthermore, a crucial part of the student Steiner said she ultimately decided that this did experience is dealing with difficult content, not outweigh the racially insensitive parts. As years Richards said. “It’s harmful to allow a student to passed, Steiner felt that she should stop teaching it, excuse themselves from a difficult discussion, but she said. also, the entire class is going to have to reckon with Similarly, English teacher Jacob Kaplan would the material anyway,” he said. “What not teach “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov, benefit is there to put a disclaimer a book about before it?” an intimate Ultimately, relationship it is up to the b e t w e e n teachers to a grown figure out how man and a to approach 14-year-old difficult girl, because of content. the pedophilia detailed in the text. While there Contextualizing are books out there a work of that Kaplan wouldn’t literature is an Rachel Zhu/Art Director teach personally, he is a g a i n s t important part of managing its offensive language, preventing certain literature from being taught at Kaplan said. “When offensive language comes up all. “However, the more offensive content a book in Shakespeare, it is almost like a history lesson.” has, the more of a reason I would need to choose When discussing anti-semitism in “The Merchant it,” he said. of Venice” by Shakespeare, for example, Kaplan When choosing material for their classes, tries to explain to his students the meaning of the teachers also have to be careful about the messages offensive language and its use during the time they could be inadvertently sending to their period when the book was written, he said. students, McIntyre said. “Unless we teachers say Historical figures and documents will also explicitly to our classes, ‘I have chosen these texts often use antiquated language, specifically in because I would like to be able to talk about these reference to various racial groups, and Morales issues,’ then we risk communicating to them that conducts conversations in advance to ensure that these are works that we only celebrate.” Trigger students have the proper vocabulary to engage in a warnings help counteract this risk, she said. productive conversation, she said.

A typical trigger warning in Huang’s classroom Specifically during discussions about the is straightforward. If the class is approaching a offensive language in a work of literature, Wilson potentially sensitive topic or scene in a book, Huang wants his students to consider why the author is will mention the pages that contain the material in using such words and investigate their significance order to give students a chance to figure out how in the text. “It is especially important to deal with the they would like to proceed through that part of the weight of that language, historical and otherwise, of book, she said. those choices that the author made,” he said.

Emily Marks’s (12) English teacher sends out Similarly, it is dangerous for students to simply emails prior to a nightly reading regarding any resign to the idea that offensive language, such as content that might necessitate a trigger warning. the n-word, is not acceptable to use at the school The class will usually acknowledge the difficult without exploring why such language is harmful, material the next day, and her teacher offers to Richards said. “If you’re just taking for granted the speak individually with anyone who would like to fact that there’s words that students should not say discuss it further. without actually reckoning with why they shouldn’t In general, there is no universal way to introduce be said — or reckoning with why they’re offensive these kinds of texts and no finite list of topics and just refusing to address them — then [students that teachers should be sensitive to, Wilson said. are] going to be ill prepared when they come across However, if a potentially offensive topic is central to someone in their lives who disagrees on that issue.” a work of literature, it would benefit the teacher to Through reading and discussing texts as a class, alert the students in order to give members of the students can learn an important lesson: people are class a chance to step out of the room if necessary. experiencing the text from their own subjective Julian Silverman (11) said trigger warnings are positions. Ideally, the result of this community important for preparing a class for a conversation engagement is the development of empathy, for which they might not typically be ready. McIntyre said.

“Sometimes, [students] don’t feel comfortable Students can also learn important lessons from talking about these sensitive topics, but a trigger dissecting difficult topics, especially in regards to [warning] lets us know that our teacher wants us to violence, Richards said. “Having students discuss open up,” he said. “I know I need that sometimes.” and understand why [sensitive material] is so However, a trigger warning could also highlight torturous and terrible helps them understand why a student’s uncomfortable feelings, Lucas Raskin they shouldn’t replicate that in their own lives.”

(12) said. Warnings that offer for students to leave While it may be difficult to face these the classroom can be inadequate because they put conversations, it is crucial to do so, Morales said. “If students on the spot. Raskin said that as a private you really want to understand who you are — who school with many resources, there could be a better we are — and understand ourselves in this moment, way to connect with students about their feelings on we have to endure our full history.”

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THE RECORD OPINIONS DECEMBER 11TH, 2020

College admissions and competition: Why seniors need to stop speculating my parents have numerous conversations with her on how to approach someone who justified her college acceptance as a case of Affirmative Action. I have also had discussions with my parents and my college counselor on how to handle those situations, but I still do not feel prepared to tackle them.

Although I already knew the answer to my question, it constantly lingered in my head. I am particularly worried about what people will say about me based off of my college admissions results not only because I am Black, but because

MoMo Campbell The college process is almost reaching an end and, as seniors await admissions decisions from colleges and universities, speculations — which never fail to rise during this stressful and difficult process — are about to emerge. In this context, I’m referring to the times when students try to justify why other students did or didn’t get into the colleges they applied to.

On Wednesday, seniors met with their college counselors to receive final instructions regarding college lists, affording seniors the opportunity to ask any questions that they had about the college process. During this meeting, an ongoing thought popped into my head: “Are people going to draw their own conclusions and speculate as to why a particular student got into a school over another?”

I first thought about this question when my sister was going through her college process.

During her college process experience, I’ve heard

“HM students — especially seniors — need to hold themselves accountable and stop speculating about others’ college admissions decisions.”

I have cancer. I have already heard a number of my peers speculating as to why I don’t have to worry about the college process: they say that I am a Black student at HM who has decent grades, and I’ll get in wherever I want because of Affirmative Action. I have also heard people say that my Common Application essay is going to be amazing because they automatically assumed that I wrote about my journey and experience with cancer. I’ll admit that my essay is indeed about my journey with cancer, but people are,

nevertheless, discrediting my creative writing skills and undermining the countless number of hours and late nights I spent getting my essay to where it is today.

Worst of all, people assume colleges and universities won’t accept me based on my capability of being able to excel both in and out of the classroom, but rather because I have cancer, and the schools that I am applying to will “feel bad for me.” Honestly, with everything I have been through, including four major operations, countless rounds of chemo, and radiation treatments, I would feel bad for me too, but that shouldn’t take away from my academic accomplishments and my ability to attend another rigorous school. Hearing such statements, especially from people whom I considered my friends, was and still is very hurtful and stressful.

On top of worrying about being admitted to a particular university or college, I was and still am concerned about losing friends if I get into a school that one of my friends didn’t.

Because of the pressure to be admitted into your dream school and to do whatever it takes to do so, students often get caught up in drama and make accusations as to why someone did or didn’t get into a school. More often than not, these accusations come from fellow peers who you thought were your friends, leaving someone with minimal to no outlets to celebrate their accomplishment. Every year during the college process, there seems to be an environment created by students where they view their peers and even their friends as nothing more than competition. Students will even discredit other students’ successes if they didn’t get into the same school that they applied to and wanted to attend.

HM students — especially seniors — need to hold themselves accountable and stop speculating about others’ college admissions decisions, because the process is already difficult and stressful enough. Rather than putting people down and finding reasons as to why someone got into a particular school, students should acknowledge their peer’s achievements both inside and out of the classroom. No one should be viewed as competition. No one should feel as if they need to explain themselves to their peers as to why they got into a specific school, because that is not healthy.

During what feels like an endless process, students need their friends and acquaintances within their community to support them through the emotional ups and downs of the college process. Rather than speculating, students should celebrate one another’s accomplishments and focus, instead, on what they can control.

Gabby Fischberg/Art Director

COVID-19 impedes transition from HM to college

Brian Wu ‘20 When my first quarter of college ended just before Thanksgiving, I made the traditional visit back to Horace Mann’s campus. I was greeted with an unfamiliar landscape: HM had shifted completely to remote learning, leaving its beautiful Bronx campus deserted in its wake. I had arrived expecting to greet some of my former teachers, peers, and staff members. What I had not expected to find were the gates completely shut, not a single sign of life save for the chilly New York breeze blasting on my face.

Every year, I watched class after class of graduates return to campus, making surprise visits to their old teachers, to the delight of those at school. And every year, I couldn’t help but notice how everybody had changed. There was something about college that managed to change people so much; though at the time, it was difficult to pinpoint what exactly caused this.

Today, I still don’t know what that change is, because I never came

to terms with the fact that I had graduated high school. Family and friends would say, “But you’re attending Stanford! How can it be possible that you still feel like you’re still your high school self?”

People also say that graduation is one of the biggest milestones in life. For me, graduation was one morning in June: I woke up, played a prerecorded Vimeo clip to my grandparents, said goodbye to my teachers, and promptly fell back asleep.

Following that milestone, they say that college is supposed to be one of the most transformative experiences of one’s life. In August, after reassuring students for months that we would be starting off our freshman year on campus, Stanford rescinded all of its plans, citing unclear “guidance” from Santa Clara County and plunging us all into remote learning. In all honesty, I struggle to understand how a college experience over Zoom can be transformative.

That’s not to say that this journey hasn’t had positives, either. I’m currently serving on the student government as a member of Frosh Council, creating a link between Stanford’s administration and the Class of 2024. I’ve had the opportunity to take so many interesting courses and talk to leading professors – quite a few of them are Nobel Laureates, Technical Oscar Winners, and the like. Perhaps more importantly, I became friends with so many of my wonderful classmates, albeit entirely on – you guessed it – Zoom.

But at the same time, do I feel like I’ve missed out on everything?

Yes, yes I do. A quick YouTube search of “Stanford Freshman Fall” brings up extravagant videos of parties, spontaneous San Francisco excursions, Full Moon on the Quad, and dorm-sponsored ski trips to Lake Tahoe. Stanford is not an easy place, but students sure knew how to enjoy themselves outside of the rigor of classes. We, on the other hand, have experienced only the most stressful (and sometimes demoralizing) aspects of college.

So that’s one way of putting my college experience thus far: divided.

I’m divided between being a high schooler and college student.

Sometimes I feel like I’m one or the other, and other times I feel like

I’m both or neither.

After HM transitioned online my senior year, I selfishly told myself that I would never miss it. We were the first class to have our senior traditions and end of our childhood ripped away from us. We were the first class that never had our proper prom. We were the first class that never got to say a proper goodbye to a place we called our intellectual haven. We were the first class that never moved on.

Half a year later, I stood once again at the locked gates to Alumni Field. Those gates were special to me: I had walked through them every day, whether that was sprinting to Cross Country practice as they walked down to Van Cortlandt Park just so Coach Eshoo wouldn’t call me out for being too late or braving the elements to make the trek from Tillinghast to Lutnick. I used to never give much of a thought as I walked past those gates; that day, however, I couldn’t get past those gates when I most wanted to.

From when somebody stole Mr. Garcia’s mug and dunked it in Jello to the small-faced cat in Ms. Fergusson’s Calculus class, I came to love those small moments where we could take ourselves a little less seriously. Many have called Cross Country and Track a fake sport to my face, yet it was Coach Eshoo, Coach Cullen, Angelio, and Will who taught me endurance, resilience, and physical and emotional growth.

I had a disdain for the humanities — until Ms. Stanford and Ms. Bahr challenged me to view the world as art, a piece that can be manipulated and interpreted in any way our mind could dream of.

It’s a cliché phrase, but you truly never understand how much you miss something until it’s gone. I regret not cherishing every moment of high school before March 10, 2020. HM is a stressful place, and the school is certainly not perfect, but at the end of the day, it teaches you growth. It taught me how to observe, understand, empathize, and ambitiously solve problems. Maybe the pandemic will prevent me from coming back for a while; but the day public health restrictions are needed no more, I’ll get to walk through those gates to Alumni Field one final time.

Volume 118 Editorial Board Managing Editor Talia Winiarsky Features Henry Owens Emily Shi Vivien Sweet

News Sam Chiang Yesh Nikam Marina Kazarian

Opinions Maurice Campbell Avi Kapadia Natalie Sweet

A&E Izzy Abbott Abby Beckler Oliver Steinman

Editor-in-Chief Julia Goldberg Lions’ Den Yotam Hahn Alison Isko Josh Underberg

Middle Division Adrian Arnaboldi Bradley Bennett Jack Crovitz

Staff Staff Writers Devin Allard-Neptune, Mia Calzolaio Chloe Choi, Emma Colacino, Yin Fei, Lucas Glickman, Claire Goldberg, Tuhin Ghosh, Liliana Greyf, Lauren Ho, Hanna Hornfeld, Purvi Jonnalagadda, Oliver Lewis, Rowan Mally, Simon Schackner, Morgan Smith, Arushi Talwar, Katya Tolunsky, Nathan Zelizer, Max Chasin, Alex Lautin, Jillian Lee, Hannah Katzke, Vidhatrie Keetha, Zachary Kurtz, Clio Rao, Ayesha Sen, Emily Salzhauer, Aden Soroca, Emily Sun, Madison Xu Staff Photographers Kelly Troop, Sophie Gordon, Amanda Wein, Emma Colacino, AJ Walker, Lucas Glickman, Lauren Ho Staff Artists Eliza Becker, Felix Brenner, Riva Vig

Issues Editor Adam Frommer Design Lowell Finster John Mauro Sarah Sun

Art Annabelle Chan Gabby Fischberg Lauren Kim Rachel Zhu

Photography Jackson Feigin Julia Isko Maxwell Shopkorn

Faculty Adviser David Berenson

Editorial Policy About Founded in 1903, The Record is Horace Mann School’s award-winning weekly student newspaper. We publish approximately 30 times during the academic year, offering news, features, opinions, arts, Middle Division and sports coverage relevant to the school community. The Record serves as a public forum to provide the community with information, entertainment, and an outlet for various viewpoints. As a student publication, the contents of The Record are the views and work of the students and do not necessarily represent those of the faculty or administration of the Horace Mann School. Horace Mann School is not responsible for the accuracy and contents of The Record and is not liable for any claims based on the contents or views expressed therein.

Editorials All editorial decisions regarding content, grammar, and layout are made by the senior editorial board. The unsigned editorial represents the opinion of the majority of the board.

Opinions Opinion columns represent the viewpoint of the author and not of The Record or the school. We encourage students, alumni, faculty, staff, and parents to submit opinions by emailing record@horacemann.org.

Letters Letters to the editor often respond to editorials, articles, and opinions pieces, allowing The Record to uphold its commitment to open discourse within the school community. They too represent the opinion of the author and not of The Record or the school.

To be considered for publication in the next issue, letters should

be submitted by mail (The Record, 231 West 246th Street, Bronx, NY 10471) or email (record@horacemann.org) before 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening. All submissions must be signed.

Contact For all tips, comments, queries, story suggestions, complaints and corrections, please contact us by email at record@ horacemann.org.

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HORACE MANN NEWS DECEMBER 11TH, 2020

Mace Rothenberg ’74 spearheads research at Pfizer Lauren Ho Staff Writer After six years at the school, Chief Medical Officer at Pfizer Mace Rothenberg ‘74 Rothenberg discovered his love for research, ultimately sparking the beginning of a series of careers in research and academia that led to his current position at Pfizer.

In 2018, Rothenberg became the Chief Medical Officer at Pfizer, overseeing a group of over 2,500 individuals around the world who are focused on making sure that Pfizer has complete, accurate, and updated data on all of the benefits and risks of their medicines. “This is really to make sure that everyone involved in either prescribing a new medicine or taking a new medicine has all the information they need to make a decision that’s right for them,” Rothenberg said.

Along with the organization’s progress with the COVID 19 vaccine, Rothenberg has continued to work hard to ensure that he alleviates hesitancy regarding the vaccine that stems from the rapid research and development process. “While we’ve gone fast, it has not been at the expense of safety,” he said. “At every step along the way we’ve taken the same steps that we take for the development of other vaccines for other diseases such as meningitis and pneumonia.”

Pfizer was able to develop the COVID-19 vaccine in a much shorter period of time by combining clinical trials into hybrid trials. While clinical trials typically move from phase 1 to phase 2 to phase 3, Pfizer combined the trials such that all three phases were condensed into a singular trial, allowing them to move seamlessly from one trial to the next without any breaks, he said. Additionally, because of the pandemic, Pfizer had plenty of potential subjects with COVID-19 to recruit for their clinical trials in a short period of time.

Moreover, Pfizer discovered which processes in the development of the vaccine could be completed simultaneously to save time. The sense of urgency in their interactions with the FDA also meant that previously long review periods were shortened as a result.

“Everyone was working with the same focus and energy, so these things that normally take weeks or months would happen in days,” Rothenberg said.

As COVID-19 vaccines begin to roll out across the country, Rothenberg and his team will be focused on providing vaccinespecific information to healthcare professionals and the public as well as ensuring that individuals who receive the vaccine are monitored for safety precautions.

Prior to becoming the Chief Medical Officer at Pfizer, Rothenberg was the Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs of Pfizer Oncology from 2008 to 2016 and the Chief Development Officer, Oncology from 2016 to 2018.

“In my first years at Pfizer, I led clinical development of new cancer medicines,” he said.

“It was a tremendously gratifying experience to develop the strategy and implement clinical development plans that eventually led to FDA approval of 11 new cancer medicines in that period.”

When he was approached by Pfizer in 2008, Rothenberg realized it was an opportunity to have an even greater impact on which medicines were taken forward in the development process, and thus decided to leave academia for the private sector.

Rothenberg had spent 25 years in academia up until Pfizer approached him, moving up the ranks until he became a tenured professor at Vanderbilt University. “I enjoyed conducting clinical trials of new cancer medicines that had the potential to create a new and better standard of care,” he said.

Once he graduated medical school, Rothenberg completed a residency at Vanderbilt in internal medicine before subspecializing in medical oncology and becoming involved in new drug development. Rothenberg said he did not initially plan to specialize in medical oncology, but after his first rotation as an intern on the oncology unit treating critically ill patients, he realized the potential and need for therapies that were more effective and less toxic. Rothenberg saw that there had already been progress made against cancer and was inspired by the idea that he could be an active contributor to the fight against the disease, he said.

Rothenberg received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in psychology and fulfilled pre-med requirements concurrently, he said.

Ultimately, research has been the driving theme in his life, from his studies at the school to his current job.

Rothenberg’s love for research, which has influenced his career path, stems from his time at Horace Mann. When Rothenberg was a senior, he decided to conduct an Independent Study on dictators and despots. While his topic for Independent Study did not focus on medicine or even on science, his research sparked his interest in synthesizing information from different sources, establishing a unique narrative of the information, and presenting it in an eloquent manner, he said.

“One of the things that Horace Mann did was really expose me to such a broad array of classes, topics, and subjects, going beyond what was in the textbooks but also relating what we were learning to the world, teaching me to think critically,” Rothenberg said.

Courtesy of Mace Rothenberg ‘74

INNOVATION Rothenberg is Chief Medical Officer at Pfizer.

Community Council elects Gitelman (12) and Frommer (12) as Co-Chairs Katya Tolunsky Staff Writer The Community Council (CC) elected Adam Frommer (12) and Yana Gitelman (12) last Tuesday as the CC Co-Chairs. After the senior candidates pitched their platforms, all members of the CC voted on two seniors for the position of CC Co-Chair via a Google Form. The seniors running were given two to three minutes to explain their goals as CC CoChair and how they plan to improve the CC prior to Tuesday’s vote.

During their pitches, the seniors discussed common themes surrounding the idea of greater achievement of initiatives, CCmember Justin Gurvitch (11) said. “A lot of them discussed forming subcommittees so that all these initiatives could be worked on by a dedicated group of people with a greater degree of focus,” he said.

Since the seniors all spoke about wanting to make the CC more effective, Gurvitch was listening carefully for the specific ways the candidates would implement their ideas before deciding who to vote for, he said. “There was a lot said about improved communication between CC members so that different committees don’t work on the same project, which can become counterproductive,” he said. “With CC Chairs coordinating the effort between various subcommittees, we have an improved process from ideation to implementation.”

The role and responsibilities of CC chairs have not been strictly defined yet, Dean of Students Michael Dalo said. In their pitches to the CC, the candidates explained how they view the role of CC Chair, he said. “I really want them to define how this is going to work,” Dalo said. “It’s their body. I’m more there just to serve as an advisor and a facilitator.”

In the past, the CC chairs have organized and led meetings, communicated with the faculty advisors, and given updates to the student body about the CC’s initiatives, Jake

Ziman (10) said. This year, as there are no Student Body Presidents, the CC chairs will likely be taking on some of those roles, such as speaking at assemblies and organizing school events, Frommer said.

Frommer, who has been a member of the CC since ninth grade, wants the CC to serve as a governing body in the Upper Division (UD), rather than just a place for initiatives, he said. The CC could be a really great way to work student input into the school decisions, Frommer said.

Gitelman, who has been a member of the CC since her sophomore year, said in her pitch that she wants to improve the organization of the CC. Historically, the CC hasn’t been as productive as she would have liked, Gitelman said. “I’m really passionate about making the CC what it is intended to be, which is a group intended to represent students and be a source of change where it’s really necessary.”

Gitelman wants to utilize spreadsheets to create a more organized way to propose initiatives, she said. “I remember as a sophomore, and a pretty outgoing person, I never felt confident enough to stand up in a meeting in front of all these seniors and pitch ideas,” Gitelman said. The spreadsheet can create a safe space to suggest ideas, she said.

In his pitch, Frommer talked about making the CC a more cohesive community, he said. “I really want to bring us 26 students together so we can have a really fun time during meetings and spearheading initiatives together,” he said.

“I want it to be a really enjoyable experience where we’re all excited to work together.”

CC member Rowan Mally (11) said he voted for Frommer because he liked Frommer’s message about the CC having a greater voice with the school’s administration than it has had in the past. “I like that Adam talked about the CC being the voice of the students to the administration and creating increased conversations and interactions between the CC and the administration,” Mally said. “When

Courtesy of Yana Gitelman

Courtesy of Adam Frommer

ALL SMILES Gitelman and Frommer look forward to leading the CC this year. he said that I thought ‘I want him as the CC chair.’”

Frommer also wants to bring the school together for some “goofy events,” he said. “I think that would bring a really lighthearted dynamic to the school that I think we sometimes need,” he said.

Similarly to how the debate team has juniors and seniors teach people how to write and research a case and speak, Gitelman wants there to be a CC equivalent, where CC members learn how initiatives progress and how they can make an impact by the end of their first semester, she said.

“Everything I know about how to get an initiative done was learned through trial and error on my own,” Gitelman said. “A big part of the role of CC chairs is to lighten the burden for people by teaching how to get initiatives passed more efficiently and more quickly and how to streamline the logistical work,” she said.

When voting, Ziman was looking for someone who would not ignore ideas from the

younger representatives, he said. “Their input is just as important as the seniors’ input, and their ideas are just as valid.”

The CC chairs should be able to balance leading with listening, Ziman said. “I’m looking for someone who prioritizes an active, involved CC, and someone who talks more about the framework for how the CC will operate and the broad goals we want to accomplish, rather than policy proposals,” he said. “At the end of the day, no matter who the two co-chairs are, any CC member can work on initiatives, but whether or not the CC is as focused and effective as it can be could depend on its cochairs.”

Dalo thinks an important quality in a CC chair position is someone who is organized, he said. “[The CC needs] someone who is able to help foster and facilitate a conversation in the meetings.”

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THE RECORD NEWS DECEMBER 11TH, 2020

Parent Institute covers social injustice Devin Allard-Neptune Staff Writer

During this year’s third Parent Institute event on Thursday night, CNN rnchor Kate Bolduan P ‘32 and CNN contributor and author Bakari Sellers educated parents about the racial and social injustices in the United States.

“We’re bringing in people with various experiences, perspectives, and published writings around unconscious bias to help all of us within the parent community become more sensitized and educated,” Director of the Parent Institute Wendy Reiter said. Through this series, she also hopes that the parent community will develop a different set of skills that will allow them to be more effective in having difficult conversations surrounding race with their children, she said.

As an active watcher of CNN, Reiter decided to invite Bolduan after seeing her work as a journalist, she wrote. Reiter had also seen Sellers appear on CNN as a consultant, and thought that he was extremely thoughtful and reflective on the current social unrest in the United States, she said.

Bolduan joined CNN as a national correspondent in 2007 and has anchored multiple shows on the network since then.

Currently, she hosts the daily show “At this Hour with Kate Bolduan,” and she was a reporter for CNN’s coverage of the 2020 election, according

to CNN’s website.

Sellers is a civil rights attorney from South Carolina, and is also a contributor for CNN. In 2006, he was elected into the South Carolina House of Representatives and was the youngest African-American elected official in the country at age 22. His recently published memoir “My Vanishing Country, A Memoir,” outlines his early life and tells the story of the Black working class in the south through his personal experiences, his website wrote.

Bolduan and Sellers are not only colleagues, but also good friends outside of work, Reiter said. Because of this, the event was structured to allow for a conversation between the speakers.

The event began with Bolduan asking Sellers about his book and how George Floyd’s death days after its release placed it into the bigger context of what it is like to be Black in America.

“When writing the book at this moment, there was a lot of sadness,” he said. Sellers said that being Black is like living in a perpetual state of grieving and that he hopes to break that cycle of racism by having conversations about race.

As a father of two Black daughters, Sellers discussed what it was like to answer questions about parenting Black children from white parents. When other parents ask him what he teaches his children about race, he said he turns the question around and asks them about their own techniques, he said. “How are you teaching

your kids to give my children the benefit of their humanity?” he asked.

Sellers said it is important to not only to teach children about race through not only discussion, but also through their parents’ actions. “The example we set by either the people that work for us, or with us, our friends, the way we communicate about them, the news we watch, the things we take in at home — a lot of those things have an impact on the children and their upbringing behind us.”

From Sellers’ perspective, the one strategy to avoid when teaching children about race is color blindness, he said. “Nobody wants you to be colorblind,” he said. “I want you to see me for my experiences in the diversity I bring to the table.

I want you to see the race of whomever you’re talking to and appreciate it, lift it up, and give it voice.”

School Photographer Barry Mason, who attended the event, was already familiar with both of the speakers after watching them on CNN, he wrote in an email. For Mason, watching Sellers and Bolduan present on cable television was different from seeing them at Thursday’s event. “I felt I got to see Bakari the person,” he said.

Gita Shaari P’22 ’20 ’17 ‘16 also attended the conversation, and enjoyed the honesty and candidness of the speakers, she said.

Fourth installment of the History Speaker Series:

Professors Noelani Arista and Philip Deloria reflect on Indigenous issues and communities Jade Ciriello and Maeve Goldman Staff Writer and Contributing Writer On Monday night, professors Dr. Noelani Arista and Dr. Philip Deloria discussed the obstacles Indigenous people face today and the erasure and romanization of their history during the fourth iteration of the Upper Division (UD) Speaker Series: “How Did We Get Here?: Reflections on Indigenous Issues and Communities.”

The event was hosted by history teachers Emily Straus and Barry Bienstock and moderated by Devin Allard-Neptune (11) and Rowan Mally (11).

Allard-Neptune was grateful for the opportunity to moderate the event, especially since she is learning about Native American history in her current history class, she said.

“Vast Early American History has really opened my eyes to the importance of this history.”

Mally is also in Bienstock’s Vast Early American history class. “We have discussed a lot about Indigenous history and how it’s often overlooked in standard American history classes, so this was really interesting,” Mally said.

Both Arista and Deloria are highly acclaimed

historians and authors of literary works exploring Indigenous peoples’ histories. Arista completed an award-winning dissertation on Hawaiian governance and the political impact of Euro-American contact. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Hawaii, teaching Hawaiian, 19th century American, and Pacific World history.

Deloria has written a renowned book discussing the construction of American Indians’ national identity by white people. He is a professor at Harvard University, where he focuses on the existence of American Indian history in a global context, as well as the historic relationships between American Indian people and the United States.

In the discussion, Arista and Deloria spoke about the absence of Indigenous people in the media and how Native American history is often excluded from the narrative of American history. “Indigenous people make up somewhere between 1.5% and 1.9% of the American population,” Deloria said. However, Native American people do not get nearly enough of the attention they deserve from the rest of the American population, he said.

Deloria said Native American people are often omitted from American history and only

selectively represented through a European lens, he said. “They therefore are contained in particular kinds of forms.”

Arista added onto Deloria’s ideas by talking about the frequent stereotypes and “strategies of containment” that she often experiences.

“There’s nearly no way for me to show up in any discussion and say that I am from Hawaii without the paradise filter being placed on my body, or my history, or my culture,” she said. “For a lot of people, my language doesn’t even exist, because most people assume that our mode of keeping and narrating history, our ability to historicize, comes directly from inherited oral traditions.”

Allard-Neptune said the discussion highlighted the vitality of including Indigenous people’s opinions in discussions about Indigenous issues. “These people have a very important perspective and extensive knowledge on these subjects, and asking them to offer insight on how Indigenous people are threatened by the environment was something that I was particularly interested in, as well as the response to current events, such as COVID-19,” she said.

Arista also touched on the threat of climate change in the Pacific due to rising sea levels, as well as technology initiatives that can improve the Hawaiian response to climate change. “I’m

Courtesy of UD History Speaker Series

BROADER REPRESENTATION Professors discuss including Indigenous people in the American history narrative.

building fish ponds, obtaining or trying to secure food security, because we don’t know if the ships are going to stop coming and bringing goods,” she said. Arista explained that Hawaiians are invested in their community and will do their best to initiate conversations about food sovereignty and climate change.

“Wherever the native people are in the territory or state, they are fighting for land and cleanliness of water and the environment in ways that will benefit everyone around them,” Arista said. However, people view these problems as solely Indigenous issues, she said.

It is critical to raise awareness about what is currently occurring in the Pacific, Arista said.

She elaborated on the differences between Native American people and scientists coming over to Hawaii. The scientists try to dictate to the Native American people the sciences of their environment, even though these people have been there for centuries.

One of the questions posed to the speakers surrounded the correct terms and labels to use when talking about Native American people.

Deloria said although there is no perfect universal terminology, words such as Indian and Native American are applicable, and in certain situations, the term Indigenous can also be used.

Mekhala Mantravadi (11) said this part of the discussion stood out to her. “I now understand that it’s much more complicated than just a label,” she said. “It’s an identity for people, and identities are personal, so you can’t just go around making labels that you feel comfortable with. It’s the identity that people have, and they get to choose. You have to respect that.”

French teacher Caroline Dolan was particularly interested in Professor Arista’s discussion of language reclamation programs.

“I’ve thought about it more in the context of Polynesian languages, or in West African languages where French was a colonial presence in terms of linguistic space, so it was really interesting to hear how those programs are functioning today and how they’re thriving,” she said.

AJ Walker (11) said watching the speaker series made him reflect on his own identity. “I see a lot of similarities between the way white Americans treated Black people and the way they treated Native Americans in the past, and I appreciated the point they made about how, just like Black history is American history, so is Native American history,” Walker said. “This concept forced me to think about how I, as a Black American, can help amplify the voices of other marginalized groups who face similar acts of oppression and discrimination.”

Allard-Neptune said if people can take what they learned from the discussion and look more into the history of what happened to Indigenous people, the school community would be in a much better place to discuss issues that the American Indian community faces.

“We can’t overlook Indigenous histories, and we have to remember that Indigenous people and American Indians are part of our community,” Mally said. “A lot of times people only provide them with the necessary respect if they are wearing feathers on their heads or tribal attire, which is wrong. They can be members of our community too, but they still have their American Indian heritage.”

Courtesy of UD History Speaker Series

HORACE MANN FEATURES DECEMBER 11TH, 2020

Teachers adapt to remote learning Emma Colacino Staff Writer

In math teacher Charles Worrall’s 25 years of teaching, HM Online has been one of the busiest times of his career. While there is less class time for students during HM Online 2.0, teachers must plan asynchronous classes with assigned work to be done on the days that the classes do not meet.

Worrall said the increase of work during HM Online has been overwhelming. He has a lot more logistical work because the time spent grading and designing classes has increased significantly.

For example, when grading tests, Worrall prints out all the tests, hand-grades them, scans the assignment, and emails it back to the students, which makes his grading process more timeconsuming, he said. “There is now built-in extra work for any assignment,” he said. “It could be the shortest little quiz and still has two hours of extra stuff in it.”

English teacher Jennifer Huang has found that the administrative aspect of planning her classes has become more complicated with online learning, as she teaches ninth, 10th, and 11th grade classes, which all operate on different schedules, she said. “Writing and sending Sunday night emails, scheduling and reading and lesson-planning around three separate waves of twice-weekly short responses, making sure students have turned in their work on time and following up with those who haven’t — all of that takes a fair amount of time,” she said.

“

“I wish that we could just add in a third class in a week when we want to test rather than have to sacrifice that precious 45 minutes for just proctoring a test.”

-Charles Worrall

During in-person school, science teacher Dr. Susan Delanty plans all of her classes in advance, but she has to be more flexible with class plans in HM Online, she said. “This online world is really difficult because you never know where you’re going to end up, and your plans can blow up in your face at any given moment,” she said. “So flexibility is the name of the game these days.”

Like Delanty, history teacher Barry Bienstock has also found it important to be flexible in what course material he covers, he said. “I am trying to be as flexible as I can, recognizing that it’s not easy for any of us and certainly not easy for the students, and so I am not demanding quite as much as I would normally demand,” he said.

Math teacher Benjamin Kafoglis spends more time planning asynchronous activities than synchronous classes. However, the previous experience of online school in the spring has allowed him to practice putting together asynchronous lessons — specifically filming videos, he said. “I’ve given myself a little forgiveness and try not to hold myself to be perfect,” he said. “There’s plenty of times where I’ll make a mistake, and rather than start the whole video over, I’m just like, ‘Oh, okay, I made a mistake,’” he said.

Asynchronous classes give students more independent work, which changes the dynamic of the class, Kafoglis said. “It requires more personal accountability for students, when there’s not those three hours of automatic class time per week, so you have to make that up on your own and it’s more incumbent upon students to make that happen for themselves,” he said.

However, while the classwork is more independent, Kafoglis said there are benefits to asynchronous work, he said. “Independent learning is itself a skill, and the more practice that the students have with that, the better.”

Science teacher Matthew Boller also said there is a benefit to students engaging in independent work, as there is a lot more independence after high school. “[Colleges] didn’t call it asynchronous back then, but your classes only meet twice or three times a week in college,” he said.

With more asynchronous work to plan, Computer Science teacher Lester Lee spends additional time preparing these lessons. However, because last year was his first year teaching, Lee spent a lot of time prepping then as well, he said. “This year, it doesn’t feel like anything different; it’s just like I just have to prep for a different circumstance.”

Huang has a similar amount of work as last year as well. “The HM Online workload, for me, is not necessarily worse than it was last year, because I’m still fairly new to teaching and every year so far has involved a fairly heavy workload as I figure out what works and as I grow and improve as a teacher,” she said.

English teacher Sarah McIntyre assigns asynchronous writing assignments to her students, which help her see how the students are understanding the material, she said. While the additional writing assignments give McIntyre more writing to grade, she finds the extra grading to be worth the insight into students’ analytical process that she gains. “It tells me so much about what they’re thinking and what they see and what they don’t yet see,” she said.

Similarly to McIntyre, English teacher Dr. Adam Casdin gives writing assignments for asynchronous work, and while he would assign asynchronous writing to his students every day, the HM Online schedule limits the amount of work students can spend on asynchronous assignments. “A team got together to decide what was an appropriate amount of time to spend on assignments, and so they’ve partitioned it this way,” he said.

Casdin’s goal in assigning this asynchronous work is to spark thought from his students in a way that might have occurred naturally in class.

He also uses the asynchronous writings to have his students do quick analytical assignments, he said.

“We should be giving students more opportunities to practice — practice their thinking, practice their analysis, and practice their use of evidence,” he said.

When school is back in-person, Casdin will be giving his students more small writing moments, and small projects, he said.

Because it is difficult to translate complete classes into asynchronous work, Worrall assigns asynchronous work that he would not give to the class otherwise. “I’m not making the mistake of trying to teach the same things that I would have taught anyway, but in an asynchronous way,” he said. “Instead, I’m shuffling around and giving different material for the asynchronous stuff than I would have done otherwise.”

Similarly, French teacher Caroline Dolan aims to have her students practice listening and speaking outside of the synchronous classes. “For our specific department, something that’s really important to us is integrating those opportunities to listen and speak during asynchronous time,” she said.

Dolan tries to use the asynchronous assignments as a way to maintain continuity between classes, she said. “We’re already experiencing a lot of disconnection when living our lives, so having that fluidity from a moment of independent work to a moment of collaborative work is something that I really like to prioritize when I’m thinking about a lesson plan.”

Science teacher Lisa Scott said the work it takes to plan an asynchronous class work is not necessarily more work than planning a normal class, although it is different. “The hardest part about planning asynchronous work is that it’s really hard for me to gauge how long it’s going to take students to do assignments,” she said.

Like Scott, planning this asynchronous work is not more work for Dolan, but it requires using different platforms to communicate with students.

In class, Dolan can hear her students speak and give them feedback in the moment, she said. During online school, she has to give feedback to her students through other platforms such as Flipgrid, which is a learning platform that allows educators to ask a question, which students respond to in a video.

Dolan has found that the technology department, w h i c h

5

Courtesy of Vivien Sweet

SYNCHRONOUS MATH Calculus class transitions from meeting five to two times a week. sends out weekly updates with ideas about how to adjust the material of her 12th grade English teachers can use different resources online, has elective. She has to either assign the same amount been helpful, she said. of reading she would give normally, with less class In addition, Kafoglis has found that while discussion; or, she will assign less reading and not planning asynchronous class work is more get through all the stories that she intended, and time consuming, working with other members have more in-depth discussions. “That is a really of the math department is helpful, he said. brutal choice to make,” she said. “[Collaborating] is so pivotal in terms of sharing Like McIntyre, math teacher Catherine Gao has tips and techniques for asynchronous and Zoom also changed her schedule; she has moved specific class, and just sharing materials and being able to topics to the end of the year, so that if that topic is look at what other people are making,” he said. not reached, the students are not missing a crucial Lee said not having instant feedback of how skill, she said. “Especially with classes like Geometry students are grasping material is challenging. When where the specific topics are not so critical to the he is walking around the classroom, he can quickly progression of the math sequence, it’s not that big of see what is on his students screens and how to help a deal if they don’t cover something like coordinate them, but with online school and asynchronous geometry this year,” she said. work, he is unable to do that.

Between Gao’s math classes, there are different “I have to now make students turn stuff in in amounts of material that can be skipped over. “In order for me to see how they’re doing, which is more a class like Algebra 2, there’s a lot more pressure to [stressful] for them, and also now I have to actually get to everything because we need to make sure that grade them before they get feedback, as opposed students are prepared for precalculus,” she said. to walking around the classroom and immediately As class time is so limited, Worrall wishes that seeing what students are working on,” he said. there was an additional class period each week When preparing asynchronous work, Lee that could be used for testing, he said. “I wish that considers what topics were confusing for his we could just add in a third class in a week when students last year to anticipate what topics will be we want to test rather than have to sacrifice that confusing for his current students. “It’s a lot more precious 45 minutes for just proctoring a test.” having to think ahead, and I can’t be as flexible as Delanty’s classes will also not get through the with a class I’m currently in front of,” he said. “And same amount of content as they would normally. for my half credit, I only see them once a week, so “You can’t just think ‘I need to get through this it’s like, ‘How do I introduce new content, but also material, so if they have to learn it on their own, I’m make sure that they’re not being totally left behind just going to test them on it anyway,’” she said. “You on something [they’re] not getting?’” have to leave things behind and focus on the most Because Lee only meets with his Computer important information and skills you want your Science 2 class once a week, he encourages students students to learn.” to utilize material that they find online. “I’m hoping Similarly, Bienstock has not been able to cover that the slides and the worksheets that I provide are as much material in his classes, so he is currently enough to go off of, but I also am like, ‘Yeah, look behind where he would have been by now in past stuff up, I encourage you to Google it,’” he said. years, he said. “But I just have to accept reality, this is Delanty tells her students to use the abundance where we are at this point,” he said. “We just have to of extra material on her Google classroom page make the best of it and hope students learn.” to make asynchronous work easier, she said.

“My Google Classroom is just overflowing with resources, and I know that that’s overwhelming for the students, but for those who want to get more answers, that’s important,” she said.

Because of the decrease in class time, McIntyre has

Lauren Kim/Art Director

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SINFONIETTA Maeve Goldman Contributing Writer

Gone will be the brightly lit stage of Gross Theater, cluttered with students in black dress clothes clutching their instruments: this year, Sinfonietta’s virtual performance “Lyric For Strings’’ by George Walker, reflects the root of the global situation. “Sinfonietta is presenting the more solemn side of the pandemic,” Orchestra Director Nathan Hetherington said.

The piece featured in the concert was specifically chosen through a vote by the members of Sinfonietta, who chose from multiple pieces that the ensemble experimented with at the beginning of the school year, Hetherington said. He initially chose the piece not just for its musical quality, but because of the message it conveys about the

TREBLE CHOIR Allison Markman Contributing Writer The Treble Choir will release two upbeat renditions of a Hawaian song and a soul song for the school to enjoy in this virtual concert.

HORACE MANN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT DECEMBER 11TH, 2020

seriousness of the virus. “It’s a slowish piece.

It’s very beautiful. It’s a little bit sad, and it’s very expressive,” he said.

Hetherington also wanted this concert to feature the work of musicians of color in the primarily white space of orchestral music. The piece’s composer George Walker was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize. “Classical concerts are 99% white dudes, so we are trying to find ways to mix that up, trying to get different voices heard and to hear them ourselves too,” he said.

The dynamics of Sinfonietta are always important to the group because of its small size, and despite the concert’s virtual nature, the ensemble has been able to develop a strong sense of identity, Hetherington said.

One song is a contemporary Hawaiian Christmas song performed in English called “Christmas in the Islands.” The song describes Hawaii around Christmas time, Music Department Chair and Treble Choir director Timothy Ho said.

The song will also feature acclaimed Hawaiian musician and skilled pianist, Aaron J. Sala, and his wife, Makanani Sala, a professionally trained hula dancer from Hawaii; both will perform and dance alongside the choir. When Ho chose the piece, he wanted to feature performers from Hawaii to sing along with his students, he

WIND ENSEMBLE Jillian Lee and Malcolm Furman Staff and Contributing Writers

In the upcoming virtual concert, the Wind Ensemble will play “Foundry,” composed by John Mackey. Music teacher Michael Bomwell said that rather than performing multiple songs like in past years, the ensemble will be playing one piece due to the difficulty of rehearsing and filming amidst the pandemic.

Bomwell selected the piece for this year’s assembly because it was written to incorporate items and objects that can be found anywhere and repurposed as instruments, he said.

Trombonist Alec Jackson (9) said the piece brings out a lot of emotions. “It’s intense and

said. “My intention of that was to show that even though we’re in this time where we’re completely isolated, we still have ways of reaching out and understanding that there’s a larger world that’s out there,” Ho said.

Their second song,“You Gotta Be,” by Des’ree, is an upbeat, pop melody that features three soloists: Piper Wallace (11), Isabella Abbot (12), and Kareena Gupta (12), with beatboxing by Ben Rosenbaum ‘19. Ho chose this piece because of its uplifting, positive message that will hopefully be beneficial to the students during these unprecedented times by spreading some joy throughout the

dynamic,” he said. “Individually, one person’s role can seem unimportant, but when the ensemble comes together each role becomes necessary for the piece to work.” The percussion provides a baseline that the brass and wind instruments can go along with to make the piece come together, Jackson said. He said it was challenging to record such an energetic piece individually, but is excited to see the end result.

Bomwell believes that the performance will still bring the same amount of gratification that a live performance would. “It’s not an ideal situation, but we want to show that we can still make music together and we can still bring people together in this way,” he said.

community, he said. The song’s lyrics “you got to be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger. You gotta be cool, you got to stay calm, you gotta stick together and all I know is love will save the day,” help convey this optimistic message. “I think it’s something we all need to hear right now,” Ho said.

Ho hopes his students will feel a sense of pride with the work they have accomplished so far this year, and that the songs have a sense of expansiveness and dispense a sense of connection to other people throughout the world.

THE STORIES BEHIND THE SONGS The winter concert will be released to the school on Wednesday, December 16. In preparation, Record reporters spoke to music teachers Timothy Ho, Nathan Hetherington, and Michael Bomwell about the musical pieces that will be performed.

In an attempt to temper the challenges that the pandemic has presented to the Jazz Combo, music teacher Michael Bomwell has chosen to perform only one song for this concert. “The Jazz Combo recorded a jazz standard called ‘Perdido,’ which was made famous by Duke Ellington and his orchestra,” he said. “It was written by one of his trombone players, named Juan Tizol.” Three of the four performers were able to record the piece in school, while the fourth recorded their part from home due to

quarantine issues. The two recordings will be combined into one for the concert.

Bomwell said he intentionally chose a straight-forward piece due to the challenges of recording both in person and at home. “In this case, we’re just really trying to do something traditional and something that’s going to feel good and swing, and will make people happy to listen to.”

“Perdido was good because it didn’t have very many c h o r d changes,

and we have a bunch of new members this year,” Abigail Morse (12) said. “I think it was really good because it gave everyone an opportunity to work on their solos.”

Bomwell hopes that the school will understand all of the effort and time the performers put into the upcoming virtual concert and is excited to see the final results.

GLEE AND CONCERT GLEE Rachel Baez Contributing Writer The Concert Glee will perform three songs in this virtual extravaganza: “Silver Bells,” “Oiwi E,” and “Words.” The Glee Club will also perform three songs; along with Concert Glee, they will perform “Oiwi E,” a medley of “Pine Cones and Holly Berries” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” and “Horace Mann Hymn.”

Music Department Chair and Choir Director Timothy Ho decided on the classic version of “Silver Bells’” to bring some holiday joy to the school, he said. “Pine Cones and Holly Berries/It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas” will also hopefully bring holiday spirit, he said.

“Oiwi E’” showcases a combined effort by Concert Glee and Glee Club and will be performed with a Hawaiian combo made up of a guitar, an upright bass, and a ukulele, Ho said.

Unlike previous years, the guitarist, bass, and ukulele trio will be performing with the ensemble; Ho combined the voices of the students and the Hawaiian Combo’s instrumental

music, making it one synchronous sound, he also said. “No matter who you are or what cultural grouping you belong to, now is the time to stick together,” Ho said to relate this piece to the ensemble.

Concert Glee will also perform Anders Edenroth’s “Words.” This piece is both intellectual and challenging as the process of learning each individual part was complicated, Ho said. “It is a play on words and how they function in society,” Ho said. The song is a highly rhythmic cerebral vocal jazz piece, which is hard to teach online, Ho said. Along with a large number of lyrics, there is also a five-part choir, including four soloists that execute vocal percussion.

Performed by Glee Club, “Horace Mann Hymn” is the original Horace Mann alma mater. Ho is hoping that this piece evokes a sense of nostalgia, allowing the school to embrace its history, he said. The piece was arranged by alumnus Jacob Bass.

Ho hopes that the concert will provide some sort of normalcy. “There is still a sense of community [in school] even though we have to be six feet apart with masks on,” Ho said.

JAZZ COMBO Jillian Lee and Malcolm Furman Staff and Contributing Writers

HM ORCHESTRA Ava Lipsky Contributing Writer

The graceful notes of string instruments rang out in harmony as the Upper Division (UD) Orchestra practiced for their performance of Mozart’s A Little Night Music (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in German) and the annual performance of Romberg’s Toy Symphony for their upcoming virtual concert. “[A Little Night Music] is a fun recognizable piece for both the orchestra and for any audience who sees the performance,” Orchestra Director Nathan Hetherington said.

“The Romberg, we do every year. It’s our traditional piece where the seniors are featured.”

The Toy Symphony is a more lively piece, which features the

seniors playing toy instruments along with the orchestra.

Hetherington introduced the piece to the holiday concert when he began teaching at the school, he said. “I was looking to start some new traditions, and I wanted a way to feature the seniors.”

Hetherington said it is important to incorporate the Romberg into the concert this year so that the seniors could play their toys, despite the present circumstances. “At this point, it gives us something to look forward to every year,” he said.

“The fact that we were all able to get together this fall on a regular basis in the same room and make music together was pretty joyous,” Hetherington said. “We needed a piece that can help match that.”

Lauren Kim / Art Director

F Te Re tenn bega com Fr requ “You no o It is mist stay abou he sa C Fra he to

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HORACE MANN MIDDLE DIVISION DECEMBER 11TH, 2020

UD Art History students host art history talk online Etta Singer Contributing Writer On Tuesday and Friday, juniors and seniors taking the advanced art history course “What Is A Masterpiece?” ran a virtual art history assembly for eighth graders in place of their annual field trip to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, a trip that has been long standing tradition since the mid-1990s.

The beginning of the eighth grade history curriculum focuses on Hinduism and Buddhism, so the high schoolers focused on exhibits from South and Southeast Asia, Kaia Fisher (11) said. To prepare, the Upper Couresty of Xander Cox

WHAT’S A MASTERPIECE? Bodhisattva.

Division art history students learned about iconography and works of art in Hinduism and Buddhism. They were put into pairs and received specific pieces of art to study, Fisher said. Each pair researched their art pieces to learn their iconographic, symbolic, and historic significance.

The pairs presented to each other and to the class multiple times before they taught the eighth grade students, said Visual Arts Department Chair Dr. Anna Hetherington, who teaches “What Is A Masterpiece?” and has been running the Met trip for the past few years. “It’s an intense preparation process because we want it to be the best it can be,” Hetherington said.

The eighth graders were split into small groups in order to give each student the opportunity to participate in a more intimate learning environment, Rose Korff (8) said.

Each pair of high school students was assigned to one of these groups. The high schoolers taught one piece from Hinduism, one piece from Buddhism, and a final piece from either religion that the eighth graders sketched and then discussed.

“There is something really profound about trying to trace the lines of an object you see,” Hetherington said. “Your hand notices things that your eyes and brain do not, and you can have more access to the work of art in that way.”

Learning from other students was a different academic experience for the eighth graders, and both Korff and Nicole Au (8) said they could relate to their high school peers more closely than to a teacher. Having student interaction between the Upper and Middle Divisions is what makes the Met trip

so successful, Hetherington said. “It felt like I was learning from someone who understood us more than our teachers can,” Danil Harding (8) said.

Alexander Cox (12) took AP Art History last year, a class no longer offered, which traditionally had taken MD students to the Met. “It was harder to engage kids and make sure they were paying attention,” he said about this year’s online dynamic. “It’s usually such an exciting experience to get out of school for a couple hours and actually see the art.”

Cox said the trip is more interactive in person when students can view the art to scale and walk around the Met. Still, the eighth graders seemed to enjoy making observations and contributing to the discussions, he said.

Learning about and creating art over Zoom gives students a different perspective than when they create art in person.

One of both the greatest advantages and disadvantages of learning art history virtually is understanding the work of art’s scale and presence in the world, Hetherington said.

For smaller objects, technology allows one to zoom into details in a way that is not possible in person, but for large objects, proportion and scale is not clear. In his breakout room, Michael Shaari (11) presented a 13-foot statue of a Buddhist figure, called a boddhisattva.

“The sheer size of the work, you can’t really fathom from a picture on a screen,” he said.

Josh Borut (8) also acknowledged that scale was an issue when learning about art remotely.

The UD students that presented to his group used photos of people standing next to statues so the eighth graders could get a sense of the actual height of the statues. “[The picture] helped me get a feel of what it would actually

look like in person,” Borut said.

The Met trip not only allowed students to relate their learning to more concrete objects, but it also served as an introduction to art history in the Upper Division. “[The trip] is really informative, especially for kids who have just gotten a taste of art history but don’t know what it is,” Fisher said.

This was the first time art was introduced to many eighth graders as an important part of history, Valeria Huerta (8) said. Huerta did not realize how much she could learn from just one piece of art, she said. “I was surprised how much there was about religion just in the art itself.”

Huerta said the high schoolers’ presentations also piqued student interest in art history for the future. “I like the idea of looking at art through a different lens,” Harding said. “Because of that, maybe I’ll take art history in the future.”

Never giving up: Lukas Frangeberg’s (8) tennis journey Emily Sun Staff Writer

Just minutes into Lukas Frangenberg (8)’s first tennis tournament at age 10, he was losing 4-0. “I was crying on the court because I was so upset,” he said.

Frangenberg was nervous, but at the lowest point in the match, he felt a switch in his mindset. He saw his father and grandfather cheering for him from the side of the court and considered how he could improve his performance. Then, he mounted a comeback and won the first set 7-6.

Now, four years after that first competition, Frangenberg is ranked 12th in the United States ennis Association (USTA) Eastern Metropolitan egion for Boys 14 and under. He started playing nis at age six because his grandfather played, but an to take it seriously when he was nine and now mpetes year-round, he said. rangenberg was drawn to the sport because it uires both physical and mental strength, he said. u have to regulate your feelings because there’s one you can get mad at except yourself,” he said. difficult to not become frustrated after making takes during a game, but Frangenberg tries to positive, imagine himself winning, and think ut tactics he could use to turn the match around, aid.

Control over emotions is crucial prior to a match, angenberg said. Even after years of competitions, e is not immune to butterflies before a ournament. He typically is nervous on his way to the match or the day before but is calm when he steps onto the court.

“I always think about the mind and the body as two completely different things,” Frangenberg said. “My body may be sweating and feeling nervous, but I tell myself in my mind that I’m not nervous, and my body will calm

down as well. If my mind is thinking, ‘I’m so nervous,’ then it is definitely not going to go well.”

Frangenberg enjoys the sport because it is self-reliant, he said. “When I’m on the court, I’m completely on my own,” he said. “Even if there’s someone watching me, they can’t help, so I have to come up with solutions by myself.”

Frangenberg trains five days a week at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy on Randall’s Island.

To protect players from COVID-19, the facility checks their temperatures before training sessions, organizes play in smaller groups, and maintains strict social distancing rules, he said.

At tournaments, Frangenberg and his opponents can only touch tennis balls marked with their initials, and only the players are allowed in the venue. He plays better when no one watches him because he does not have the pressure of parents or coaches getting upset at him if he makes a mistake, he said. The lack of spectators also gives him more responsibility to reflect on the match and how he can improve by himself, he said.

Both Frangenberg and his father have high expectations for his tournaments, so losing often sends them down a spiral of negative thoughts, he said. “When we’re driving back to the house after the game, I won’t want to talk,” he said. Losses are especially hard after close matches or when an opponent cheats, Frangenberg said.

At his first tournament, Fragenberg played someone who took advantage of his inexperience, argued with his line calls, and stole points from him to win. It taught him that players can be mean in competition, but it is more important for him to adhere to his values. “It feels so good when I win a match [where my opponent cheated] and I can look him in the eyes when I walk off to make sure he knows that what he did to me was not fair.”

Frangenberg’s father encourages him to keep a positive outlook after games. His dad used to golf competitively, so he knows how it feels to be under pressure and feel down after a defeat, Frangenberg said.

When feeling discouraged, he often finds inspiration in his favorite professional tennis players, such as Roger Federer, he said. Seeing their trick shots and

w i n n e r s motivates him to get back on a court and try to replicate them himself.

Above all, he reminds himself that he is at the start of his tennis career. “I’m still fourteen years old, and I have plenty more matches in front of me,” he said. “Besides, I’m not playing the U.S. Open or the most important match in my life — it’s just for fun.”

Frangenberg said he hopes to improve his mental and tactical skills, join the Varsity team at the school, and play college tennis. “My biggest dream beyond college is to be successful in tennis as a professional player,” he said. “That would be amazing.”

It is a difficult goal, but his strength lies in his fighting spirit and drive to win, Frangenberg said.

“If I’m losing, I am not going to give up. I’m going to keep trying.”

Courtesy of Frangenberg

Courtesy of Frangenberg

Riva Vig/Staff Artist

POP Frangenberg slams a shot and celebrates.

Lions’ Den Record Sports

In loving memory

Carlucci battled mantle cell lymphoma. In his memory, his family has created a fundraiser for cancer research. It can be accessed here: https://bit. ly/33Y8XBK

DECEMBER 11TH, 2020

Community mourns loss of Coach John Carlucci

Liliana Greyf, Spencer Kolker, and Clara Stevanovic Staff and Contributing Writers

On Tuesday, December 2, former Wrestling Coach John Carlucci passed away after a long battle against cancer. A native of the East Bronx, Carlucci was the MVP and captain of the wrestling team at Lehman College. He joined the school community in 1981 and spent nine years working as both a Physical Education teacher and a coach for the JV Football and Softball teams. Carlucci’s impact on the athletes he coached was immeasurable, Sasha Grutman ’85 P’18 said. “He gave a lot of young men a lot of confidence by teaching them the skills they needed to succeed in a wrestling match.”

The team was consistently successful with the help of Carlucci’s coaching and won the New York State private school championships for many consecutive years. Additionally, a few wrestlers he coached were frequently invited to national championship matches.

Before his arrival at the school, Carlucci coached wrestling at Lincoln High School in Yonkers. Horace Mann hired Carlucci after students he coached at a summer program urged the administration to consider him.

At that time, student wrestlers felt as though they were entering a “new era” of the sport, according to a Record article from that year (Volume 75, Issue 12). Although the team had not previously been successful, Carlucci was determined to turn the program around, the article said. The practices he designed were described in the article as “one of the toughest schedules in recent memory.”

During practices, Carlucci would turn the heat up in the room so the wrestlers burned more calories, and he kept wrestlers exercising until minutes before their buses left the school, Brad Harris ’85 P ’20 ’22 ’23 said. “He wanted us to do well, and he pushed us very hard,” Harris said. “It was really tough, but it was something that matured us. It made us responsible and gave us a sense of being.”

The constant training and focusing was difficult for the students, but it was also deeply educational, Hayim Grant ’87 P ’22 ’28 said. “We didn’t realize it at the time, but the discipline that we learned helped shape our lives,” he said. “We all look back on that experience as a special defining moment of growth in our lives.”

Carlucci’s disciplinarianism was ultimately beneficial for his wrestlers, Alan Ronson ‘85 said. “We were young and trying to figure it

Courtesy of HM Record Vol. 83 Issue 32

all out,” he said. “He guided us through that.”

Carlucci gave students a diet to follow with balanced and healthy meals.

Harris remembers following the guidelines that he laid out for him, eating well and going out with his friends less than he typically would, he said. “He was a coach that was both loved and a little bit feared,” Harris said. “You wanted to perform well for him because you knew how much he cared about you.”

Carlucci taught his students to approach their practices, matches, and ultimately their lives with determination, Michael Eisner ’83 said. “He taught me rigor, discipline, and hard work — and that it would pay off on the wrestling mat,” Eisner said. “He believed in me, and I wanted to validate that belief.”

Carlucci was not solely focused on rigor and technique. During practice, he would make funny comments that brought joy into the room, Villella said. “Humor helped make the arduous and tough thing that is wrestling practice entertaining and fun,” he said. “He brought some laughter into the difficulty.”

The coach may have been strict during practice, but he cared for his students with an unbelievable kindness, Harris said. “He was very interested in making sure that everyone did well and wasn’t getting into trouble,” he said. “We would have very open conversations, and he was genuinely interested in his students.”

Carlucci loved the connections that he formed with his students, Eisner said . “He wanted to connect on a deep level and try to understand how he could make us be the best wrestlers that we could be,” he said. “He tried to have a personal relationship with each kid.

He had the time and the interest, and that is what he wanted to do.”

On the door to the wrestling room, Carlucci pinned a poster with the words ‘luck is when

Courtesy of Hayim Grant ‘87

REUNION DINNER Carlucci is joined by former students.

preparation meets opportunity,’ Grutman said. “That quote stuck with me long after I graduated,” he said. “It was one of the great life lessons he gave to us on the team.”

Carlucci covered the walls with inspirational posters, urging team members to continue their hard work, Grant said. Carlucci was always supportive in his approach to coaching, but to succeed in his practices required discipline and commitment, he said.

Eisner was in his junior year of high school when Carlucci became the wrestling coach, and his arrival transformed the team, he said.

“He had a huge impact on the way the team functioned.”

Eisner was a strong wrestler and the captain of the team, and when he won tournaments, he attributed his victories to Carlucci. “I won the private school championship my senior year, and that was his doing. He made us into good wrestlers.”

Harris, on the other hand, said that he was not a star on such an elite team, but Carlucci’s strict coaching and constant kindness pushed him to be the best person that he could be both inside and outside of the sport.

Carlucci was invested in making sure that every student on his team succeeded, so he paid individual attention to each athlete, understanding their personal strengths

Harris remembers walking through the gymnasium as his coach taught Physical Education and seeing students who were not at all athletic participating in the class. “I saw the way he dealt with students who could care less about sports— he engaged them and made it fun.”

After retiring in 1990, Carlucci moved to Orlando, Florida to work at the Bishop Moore High School, where he led the wrestling team and served as the Dean of Students.

Years after they graduated high school, the team continued to meet for annual dinners, Grant said. “We became so close on the team that we still stay in touch with one another, and [Carlucci] was a big reason for that.”

In 2018, the team decided to invite Carlucci to their reunion. The school organized a cocktail party for former wrestlers to honor their coach, followed by a dinner at Jake’s Steakhouse down the hill. “We were there for hours, and it was just an incredible experience,” Grant said. “We were amazed at how special it was and the impact he had had on all of us.”

At that dinner there were around 25 former wrestlers coming from seven or eight graduating classes, Eisner said. “We were all giving our memories and our thoughts from way across the years — people I barely even knew. I can’t imagine him having other

Courtesy of Hayim Grant ‘87

1986-87 YEAR BOOK Carlucci stands with the wrestling team. and weaknesses, Grutman said. “With each wrestler, he knew what was needed,” he said.

“With some guys, he pressured them; with others, he encouraged them; with others, he challenged them. He was a master motivator, and he understood what each person was motivated by.”

Carlucci’s focus on improving the wrestlers’ technique was integral to their success, Villella said. “He had trained us very specifically with drill after drill, and then when it came to the wrestling match, you had all of these movements already ingrained,” he said. “They became second nature. I can feel it like it was yesterday.”

The team would often travel on long trips to compete. “It was like a big road trip,” Villella said. “We all got in the van and drove down for a three day tournament. It was very memorable to be there as such a successful group.”

On van rides to tournaments, Carlucci made jokes to lighten the mood, Ronson said. “He knew when we were getting stressed, and he knew how to change that and redirect it in a positive way.”

Although wrestling is an individual sport, the connections between team members were unbreakable, Ronson said. “You never feel so alone as when you walk over to your match,” he said. “But, we were all rooting for each other.

There was a lot of camaraderie.”

wrestlers that weren’t on my team, but he did, and they were all there together.”

Many of his former wrestlers gave speeches that were very moving, Harris said. “As a student, you could call him a parent, or a big brother, or an uncle,” he said. “But as an adult, you could call him a friend.”

Grutman feels lucky to have been able to celebrate him in this way before his passing, he said. “He touched so many people’s lives.”

Ronson remembers Carlucci’s posts on social media with students that were wrestling years after Ronson’s graduation. “I see posts from guys that were 10, 15, 20 years down the road that had the same experiences and with the same influence that Carlucci had on us.”

Although he was ill for many years, he did not give up his will to fight on or his connections to the people who loved him, Ronson said.

“He was grappling with his cancer the way he taught us to grapple with each other,” he said.

“He put forth the maximum amount of strength and fought until the bitter end. He had such a positive influence on so many of us and will be greatly missed.”

Despite his illness in his later years, Carlucci continued to be the compassionate coach that his athletes remember him as, Grutman said.

“He left us too early, but he changed all of our lives.”