Issue 23

Record The Horace Mann

MARCH 6TH 2020 || VOLUME 117, ISSUE 23

HORACE MANN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1903

RECORD.HORACEMANN.ORG

School implements new Coronavirus policies Julia Goldberg Staff Writer

Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly has stayed in close communication with the school’s community as New York confirmed its first outbreaks of the novel coronavirus, writing several emails over the course of four days to share that the school has cancelled all after school events from Thursday through Spring Break, including all Middle Division (MD) and Upper Division (UD) programs involving air travel and all Nursery Division trips.

Specifically, the MD and UD orchestra concerts, formerly scheduled for Thursday night, were postponed indefinitely, and weekend programming such as the Saturday Morning Tutoring Program and the MD Mentor Booster Training Session were suspended.

Kelly also stated in one of the emails that the administration has reached out to faculty and staff to ensure that no one has been in contact with the Salanter Akiba Riverdale (SAR) community, which temporarily closed after a student’s father tested positive as the city’s second case. Later, the student, her mother, and her brother tested positive for the virus.

As of Wednesday, one MD teacher—unaffiliated with SAR but whose spouse had traveled to a potentially dangerous area of the country—had been sent home to self-quarantine, though this action was taken only out of “an abundance of caution,” Kelly wrote.

The aforementioned UD programs included the annual college trip and trip for boys tennis to California, and trips for boys lacrosse,

girls lacrosse, baseball, softball, and golf, all of which were headed to Orlando, Florida.

Alexis Fry (11), who signed up for the college tour, was greatly disappointed by its cancellation, she said. “Not only would I get to go to California with my friends and have fun, but I’d get to see a variety of schools I probably wouldn’t see on my own.” Nevertheless, Fry believes in “better safe than sorry” about the coronavirus.

Although the news may have been disappointing, the students who signed up for the college tour have now been notified that the College Counseling Office will be offering a series of day trips to colleges during the first week of Spring Break, which will be open to all juniors, not just those originally traveling to California.

The spread of the virus has also led some families, such as Rhea Patel’s (10), to cancel travel plans that were unaffiliated with the school. Patel and her family had been planning on traveling to Japan over the break, which would have been the first time Patel and her sister stepped foot in an Asian country and would have allowed Patel to put her knowledge from Japanese class to the test, she said.

However, as of last Wednesday, Patel’s family had cancelled all bookings. “[Originally,] most of the cases in Japan were concentrated on a cruise ship, so we thought it’d be okay,” she said. “Then, we started reading more news articles, and it started spreading, and we decided we just didn’t want to take the risk.”

Patel and her family briefly debated traveling

Courtesy of News 12/The Bronx

STUDENT CASES The SAR High school presents first NYC cases.

to Florida instead of Japan, but ultimately will not travel to stay safe.

As the virus continues to spread, the school has taken a few other measures to upkeep the health of the student body. Kelly has asked that students refrain from shaking hands, touching their faces frequently, and congregating in Cohen Dining Commons; instead, a greater number of “grab and go” items are now available to take elsewhere on campus. “While all of our physical spaces are deep-cleaned nightly, current best practices suggest that we minimize large gatherings when and where possible,” Kelly said.

Though the possibility of an extended spring break is still up in the air, were it necessary, the school “would do [its] best to keep the instructional ball in play by using PowerSchoolLearning.” The online experience would vary greatly from teacher to teacher depending on the teacher’s comfort level regarding technology, but no matter what, the lessons will have been approved by grade level leaders and department chairs. One possible method for having class online is Google Meet, a video conferencing app. Teachers had an optional I period training for the program on Thursday.

Although AJ Walker (10) agrees that the coronavirus is upsetting, he thinks that there is no reason to put learning on hold. Lest numerous students are suffering from the virus or show related symptoms, closing school would be extreme, Walker said. “It would create panic among students and could elevate the issue to negatively affect students.”

Horace Mann is not the only school taking precautions as a result of the virus’ multiple outbreaks. On Tuesday, Dalton had a half day so that their teachers could discuss how to best prepare for the coronavirus.

Riverdale Country Day School has also cancelled all school-sponsored spring break trips and established “virtual classrooms” for classes on their website; if school does close, a student will be able to click on a certain period on their online schedule and a phone number will appear for video chat. As of now, Riverdale has rescheduled exams intended for this coming week, but has not yet made any statements concerning a lengthened break.

Going forward, Horace Mann will “err on the side of caution when making decisions,” Kelly said. For now, he said, “Take care of each other and your teachers. If someone isn’t feeling well, encourage them to see the nurse and ultimately go home.”

NYSAIS accredits school for next ten years Jack Crovitz Staff Writer

This week, visitors from the New York Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) came to observe the school’s curriculum, mission, and environment. This visitation is one stage in a longer accreditation process, said Head of Upper Division Dr. Jessica Levenstein.

Members of the school community, including parents, faculty, and students, assembled a one-hundred-page-long self study for NYSAIS over the past year, Levenstein said.

“Ideally, this process is not so much about an outside body looking at us but creating an opportunity for us to look at us,” she said. “It’s a valuable activity to have the whole school reflect on how we’re doing,” Louise Kim (9) said.

The accreditation process can be an opportunity for the school to improve, Levenstein said.

“It makes you proud of what you’ve done, but it also sets goals for the future…it’s healthy to reflect and consider where we want to head,” she also said.

The accreditation process can also help the school connect with a network of other private schools around New York, said Director of the Office for Identity, Culture and Institutional Equity (ICIE) John Gentile, who chaired the Equity and Justice Committee.

“NYSAIS helps us be a part of a larger community which helps set the tone around different policies, programs, and practices...and establishes us as a leader within that community,” Gentile said.

In the past, accreditations have exposed issues and provided targets for improvement, Levenstein said.

“The building of Lutnick Hall was the result of observations made in the last accreditation about us not having the space to do the kind of

science we want to do,” she said.

“It’s always really useful to have other people come here so we can see the school through their eyes,” Gentile said.

Students on NYSAIS committees also discussed areas for improvement, said Kim, who was on the Middle Division (MD) committee.

“We talked about ways to improve both the academic and general wellbeing of students,” she also said.

The NYSAIS accreditation occurs every decade, and the school has excelled in the past, Levenstein said. However, the criteria have changed this time, from a focus on the curriculum to a focus on the school’s core values, she said.

This new focus on the mission and values are important, Taussia Boadi (12), who was on the Student Life committee , said.

“I think that they’re trying to ensure that Horace Mann lives up to its mission and the values it promotes,” Boadi said.

“NYSAIS saw our school as a place where students not only learn but can also grow as people,” Kim said.

Some students participated directly in the NYSAIS visit by speaking on a panel about the school, their experiences, and their recommendations for reform. Madhav Menon (11) said that this changed his conception of the accreditation process.

“At first it felt like we were acting for them, but eventually I think they got a real experience of what Horace Mann is like,” he said.

The accreditation can also help us grow closer and more reflective as a community, Kim said.

“I personally had very enriching discussions with the students and faculty in my committee,” she said.

“NYSAIS encourages us to strive and aspire to be the best versions of who we can be,” Gentile said.

Ailil Walsh/Staff Photographer

SING IT Janet Christian (10) belts out a song.

Student talent showcase

Natalie Sweet & Maya Nornberg Staff Writers As students hurried into Alfred Gross Theatre and the Recital Hall after Tuesday’s New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) accreditation fire drill, performers took to the stage for a student showcase assembly.

Showcase assemblies serve as a way for students to learn about talents their classmates have that they might not have been aware of, Upper Division Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels said.

Many students bringing unique and previously unrecognized talents to the stage.

The myriad of student acts kicked off with steel drums performance in the Recital Hall.

Next, the Student Body Presidents (SBPs) introduced Dylan Chin’s (12) senior reflection. Chin recounted his experience of falling in love with acting, dramatically pointing out his desire to make people think and laugh. “If I can do that for the rest of my life, isn’t that the dream?” Chin said.

In the next performance, Chin induced laughs from the audience as he co-starred in two student films from the Acting for the Camera elective, alongside classmates Spencer Kahn (12) and Wilder Harwood (12). Kahn introduced the silent films, “The Play’s the Thing” and “The Physics Test”, both directed, written, produced and acted by members of the class.

After the films, Treble Choir performed “White Winter Hymn” originally written by Fleet Foxes in 2008, accompanied by a choreography of hand gestures, which took quite a few classes to learn, Treble Choir member Rosy Arora (11) said. “This year, that has been our most successful piece that we’ve worked on and also the hardest,” Arora said.

Shortly after, Janet Christian (11) performed a cover of “Accidentally in Love” by Counting Crows.

As she delivered a lively and engaging production, the audience cheered on with accompanying claps to the rhythm of the song.

Next, members of East Wind West Wind (EWWW) donned onesies and danced to a medley of Korean Pop songs, including “Psycho” by Red Velvet, “Boy in Luv” by BTS, and “Chicken Noodle Soup” by J-Hope. The dance, first performed at Asia Night, was choreographed by Samantha Tsai (11) and was a culmination of all the hard work that EWWW put into Asia night, EWWW member Lindsey Cheng (11) said.

“Everyone enjoys the dance, and I think that everyone enjoyed watching it at Asia night too.”

Bartels said that student showcase assemblies are important to allow members of the community can shine by impressing themselves and others.

“People like Janet Christian were a revelation,” she said. “Did anyone even know that she sang? I think those moments like that are just really good to have, especially when not enough people go to [school] concerts.”

Due to the fire drill, some events had to be cut from the assembly, such as another movie from the Acting for the Camera elective and a second senior reflection. However, Bartels hopes that these performances can take place at the next SBP assembly, she said.

“It’s important for kids to reach out and say ‘yeah, I’d like to perform,” [so I] can let them have that opportunity,” Bartels said.

OPINIONS

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Editor-in-Chief Julia Robbins Managing Editor Mayanka Dhingra Issues Editor Jude Herwitz Features Nelson Gaillard Gabby Kepnes Kiara Royer News Amelia Feiner Madison Li Sam Keimweiss Simon Yang

THE RECORD OPINIONS MARCH 6TH, 2020

My experience at The Mountain School

Izzy Abbott After having spent the last 13 years of my life in the same city, the same house, and the same school, I decided that it was time for a change. I ended my freshman year here utterly unhappy. I could not understand why I never felt like I was being myself and never got grades that reflected my effort—I had enough of struggling with a self-defined mold I felt inept at filling.

When I applied to The Mountain School (TMS) and two other semester programs in February of my sophomore year, I was eager not only to change my academic environment, but also to discover new parts of myself that may have been hiding for the past two years I had spent in the Upper Division. I had never really expressed any interest in environmental science or farming practices, and, like many of my friends at Horace Mann who had never lived anywhere but New York City, I thought I was going to spend the next four months milking cows and going on hikes in the middle of nowhere.

Lions’ Den Darius McCullough Mark Fernandez Ranya Sareen Andrew Cassino A&E Nishtha Sharma Eliza Poster Eddie Jin

Design Editors Euwan Kim Reena Ye Chris Ha Art Directors Annabelle Chan Gabrielle Fischberg Katya Arutyunyan

Julia Robbins Don’t wait for others to do things that you can do.

Too often I see students waiting for people in student

Yes, I did catch chickens in the dead of night for dinner the next week and maybe I wore hiking boots and overalls a few days– okay, weeks– in a row, but I define my experience less by these moments than my decision to go out and seek something new.

If it were not for TMS and the people I shared it with, I would not be the loud, opinionated person openly talking about my choice to leave New York today.

I can’t tell you that TMS changes everyone’s life for the better, but I can share how positively it has impacted me and only hope that all you rising juniors (especially “lifers”) have the courage to change it up a little bit. Who knows— you may even find a hidden love for farm life, or maybe something as lasting and incredible as what I did, especially in myself.

government to get something done that would be completed much faster if they took the matter into their own hands–and I’m saying this as someone in student government.

Things get done faster when you do it yourself rather than waiting for the CC, for several reasons.

The first reason is that if you want something to happen, you almost definitely care more about your idea than whoever you are telling, and therefore have the most passion and enthusiasm to get your idea done quickly and well.

The second reason you’re the best person to advocate for your own goals is that ideas get bogged down in the bureaucracy of student government and other clubs because of how many people are involved in them. If you have an idea, reach out to the student, faculty member, administrator, or staff member who will most directly help bring your objective to light. The less people you bring in on a decision making process, the faster your idea can become reality. That’s not to say you shouldn’t work with other people if you need support, but you should also recognize your

own ability to bring about change.

If we truly wanted to empower all of our students, it might be worth dissolving student government. The idea of disbanding student government doesn’t extend to the Student Body Presidents who have unique and specific responsibilities, like serving on the Committee on Instruction. The most common critique to this idea is that dissolving student government would remove the incentive for students to work on initiatives. But I already see students, like the leaders of the Happiness Club, who are improving our community without being affiliated with student government.

Regardless of whether you agree with dissolving student government, I still think we can agree that all students should feel empowered to create change at school. All empowerment starts from a mentality shift. You need to believe you are able to change your community for the better.

I recommend starting with a mass email.

Don't stigmatize the coronavirus

Photography Griffin Smith Ahaan Palla Jake Shapiro Faculty Adviser David Berenson

Staff Writers Izzy Abbott, Adrian Arnaboldi, Abby Beckler, Bradley Bennett, Sam Chiang, Sogona Cisse, Jack Crovitz, Adam Frommer, Andie Goldmacher, Julia Goldberg, Andie Goldmacher, Alison Isko, Avi Kapadia, Marina Kazarian, John Mauro, Yesh Nikam, Henry Owens, Oliver Steinman, Emily Shi, Samuel Singer, Natalie Sweet, Sasha Snyder, Vivien Sweet, Joshua Underberg, Talia Winiarsky, Chloe Choi, Emma Colacino, Yin Fei, Lucas Glickman, Claire Goldberg, Liliana Greyf, Lauren Ho, Walker McCarthy, Maya Nornberg, Morgan Smith, Patrick Steinbaug, Katya Tolunsky, Nathan Zelizer Staff Photographers Julia Isko, Daniel Lee, Ava Merker, Kelly Troop, Halley Robbins, Sophie Gordon, Amanda Wein, Maxwell Shopkorn, Emma Colacino, AJ Walker, Lucas Glickman, Lauren Ho Staff Artists Wilder Harwood, Sarah Sun, Rachel Zhu

Courtesy of Izzy Abbott

Taking things into your own hands

Opinions Victor Dimitrov Abigail Salzhauer

Middle Division Ben Wang Isabella Zhang

When I arrived in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, I was anxious to meet the 44 other students who were crazy enough to leave school their first semester of junior year to work on a farm. But after a week in my dorm of eleven other girls, I felt for the first time in months that I was where I belonged.

I immersed myself in my schoolwork, spending most nights in the library studying for some tree-identification quiz for my environmental science class or tearing through my AP United States History (APUSH) textbook, but I also discovered what it was like to balance my academic life with my social life. I returned to my dorm excited for whatever impromptu talent show or dance party we would throw and felt so lucky to have not one, but two roommates to check in with before we turned off the light each night.

I found a new web of people, all champions for my success. All of my teachers acted as my advisors, and I got to know and develop personal and academic relationships with them over shared meals, farming crews, and even classes. I never felt unsupported at home, but the comfort of having what now feels like an expanded family makes the tumultuous time of junior year a little more manageable.

Without my parents there to guide me 24/7, I also gained the confidence I did not know I had. I became known as an outspoken activist and unrestrained defendant of myself and my friends. In part, their support made me feel more able to stand up for myself because I had more people to pick me up when I fell.

It was not, as I had anticipated, a pseudo-cult where I would come back a vegan who only wears clothes made out of corn husks and preaches the teachings of the great farmers of Vermont.

Mayanka Dhingra What if I told you I have coronavirus.

Will you look at me differently? Will my name travel via whispers through the halls? Will I return after my recovery to pointing fingers and stares. Will I go down in school history as HM’s patient zero?

As much as we pride ourselves on being a caring community, at the present moment I worry the answers to these questions would overwhelmingly be yes.

Okay, you can breathe now. I, thankfully, do not have coronavirus.

Since the first outbreaks in Wuhan, there is no doubt coronavirus has been on all of our minds. And, rightfully so. There are real questions we should consider such as the extent to which our government is equipped to respond to the real possibility of a pandemic or how this distinctly im-

pacts more vulnerable populations.

Prior to the past week, admittedly, the threat of the virus felt distant and in turn far too easy to make light of.

From TikTok sounds to Instagram memes and boycotts of the popular beer, coronavirus has taken center stage in not only public discourse but in internet culture.

The reality is members of our community and those close to us may very well contract this virus. After all, what sets the virus apart is its striking transmission rate in the absence of an effective vaccine.

But the stigma surrounding the virus may pose an additional and unnecessary barrier to us beating it not only as a global community, but as a school.

No one should be afraid to admit if they are sick. No one should be worried about how others will perceive them for contracting a virus over which none of us have absolutely any control.

As more and more cases present themselves and reach our campus, we need to focus on helping members of our community receive the treatment they need while not being made to feel singled out.

Fortunately, for most of us, our age shields us from the potential for more severe and in some cases potentially fatal effects that this virus holds. At the same time, appearance can never be taken as an indicator of health.

Regardless of age, compromised immune systems or other conditions mean that we need to be sensitive to the various ways in which different people will be affected by this in the coming weeks.

The virus has been a recurring topic of discussion in every single one of my classes here at HM, but this isn’t the case everywhere. On Tuesday I asked my co-workers at the New-York Historical Society how their communities were

reacting to the outbreak. All of them are also high school students, many attending public schools outside of Manhattan. What was clear is that many of their schools aren’t planning for the same contingency measures we are or taking time to discuss the matter with students. What was also clear is that there is the same level of fear and anxiety that many of us have here.

In addition to unique ways this virus affects us according to our medical history, it will also affect people according to socio-economic status. According to The New York Times there are 300 million children worldwide whose school systems are closed due to the coronavirus. If public schools in the United States are forced to close there will be significant burdens placed on parents from substituting free lunch with home meals to the parents with young children that need someone to look after their children while they are at work.

Understanding the larger context might help us put into perspective our own personal disappointments during this time due to new school policies in response to coronavirus concerns from cancelled Spring Break sports trips to various afterschool activities and events. These cancellations have invoked an emotional response from many students, particularly those belonging to the senior class Its true: it is really furstrustating. It is also true that in many ways this is beyond our control and could be far, far worse.

So, to my fellow seniors, let’s take this in stride and continue having an amazing senior year. Let’s refuse for our class to be coined Cor20na. Let’s do all that we can do. That is, to make sure those around us feel like they have the unconditional support from their peers and trust in our administration to make informed decisions.

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HORACE MANN NEWS MARCH 6TH, 2020

Classics Society reaches semis at Princeton Certamen Yin Fei Staff Writer Following hours of flipping through the pages of their old history and Latin textbooks, the Classics Society Club advanced to the semifinals of their first national certamen this year. The group of nine students competed at Princeton University on Saturday as two separate teams amongst several other students from all over the nation.

The Classics Society Club was started by the current President, Wilder Harwood (12), at the end of her sophomore year. “I just wanted to have a club for people who were also really interested in Greek and Latin because I felt, in terms of classics, there wasn’t so much of a specific group for that,” Harwood said.

The club is comprised of people who take either Latin, Greek, or both, and who aspire to celebrate the

classics, Paul Wang (12) said.

Similar to a quiz-bowl game, a certamen is a competition where multiple contests are held, with three teams of four people who participate in each round. Together, the students answered questions based on three main subjects: history, grammar, and mythology, Steve Yang (9) said.

“The moderator would ask a question, whoever got the answer first pressed the buzzer, and then there were two bonus questions after if you got it right,” he said.

The certamens, although there are only a few, are the busiest time of the year for the club, as the club spends several weeks preparing earlier on, Harwood said. “If we are running into a Certamen, we are probably studying. Sometimes we are prepping for a long time by practicing on Quizlet, running through grammar rules for Latin, and memorizing dates and history terms,” she said.

Courtesy of Wilder Harwood

HARD AT WORK Students prep for the certamen together.

This being their second Princeton Certamen, the leaders were more prepared than last year. “We sort of knew what we were up against, since we knew the topics, the categories, and the specificity of the questions after looking at past exams,” Harwood said. “We kind of had a strategy in place when we went this year, so even with the same amount of time to study, we were a lot more efficient.”

The Certamen also allowed students to interact with participants from other states who shared a passion for the classics. “I didn’t realize that there was such a community,” Nina Gaither (11) said. “Even though it seems that the language is kind of declining in popularity, it was nice to see that there were so many teams ready to participate,” she said.

On the other hand, some of the newcomers, such as Yang and Wang, were somewhat intimidated at first by the experienced teams that traveled from around the country. “I was nervous because some of the other strong teams from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania buzzed in two words into the question,” Yang said.

The club’s hard work and courage paid off, the two teams representing the school ranked in the top nine and managed to proceed to the semi-finals. “The highlight was definitely being told that we qualified for semifinals after we bounced back from the second, to present a really good showing in the third preliminary round,” Yang said. “ I think everyone shined in different ways.”

Latin teacher and club advisor James McCaw thought that the two teams proved as excellent ambas-

Courtesy of Wilder Harwood

QUISQUE RISUS! Classics Society Club members smile for the camera. sadors that represented everything good about Horace Mann. “They were kind and considerate but also competitive,” McCaw said. “It was great to watch them go through the process of figuring out what the answer should be as well as flex their knowledge in front of other students,” he said.

Harwood agrees with the same sentiment and she explains the reason that the clubs make an effort to attend the certamens is because they add a sense of fun to learning about the humanities by bringing the dead languages alive, she said. “Our last round was probably our best because we were at a really close level with

one of the other teams and we were just going back and forth which was really fun,” Harwood said.

“Getting to know people and spending time with people outside of the classroom was great because we got a chance to get to know each other,” Wang said. “The mix of competition and camaraderie that I found with my teammates was one that I especially enjoyed.”

“It’s important to explore what there is beyond just simply what we’re learning in class is that there’s much more that can be done in terms of either competitions, or any other things that are done outside of the classroom,” McCaw said.

WaPo editor, Fisher, shares journalism expertise Hanna Hornfeld and Arushi Talwar Staff & Contributing Writers On Monday, Pulitzer Prize-winning Senior Editor of the Washington Post Mark Fisher ‘76 gave a talk to students during G, H and I period, highlighting his career in journalism. The talk was a part of the Career Lecture Series initiated by CC Representative Jaden Kirshner (11), which gives students the opportunity to learn about the various career paths of Horace Mann alumni.

Kirshner reached out to Fisher because of his expertise in political journalism, which Kirshner felt would appeal to many students. Though Fisher visited the school last year at an event hosted by The Record to speak about the role of media in the world of journalism, Monday’s talk was more focused on his personal career path.

English teacher Harry Bauld brought his G period class to the talk because he wanted his students to hear from such a talented and accomplished writer, he said. Fisher wrote an article called The Master for the New Yorker that Bauld found to be an extremely well-researched blend of personal history, reporting, and storytelling. He plans to share it with his juniors as a model of a possible junior research project.

Adam Frommer (11), a staff writer for The Record, attended the talk because of his passion for journalism, he said. He was interested in hearing about what a career in journalism would look like from a successful professional. “Journalism is not something most Horace Mann students are thinking of going into, so I haven’t heard any journalists speak,” Frommer said. “It exposed me to a job path that I’ve been thinking about but I don’t know much about.”

Many of Fisher’s high school extracurriculars have helped him hone his journalistic skills. For example, his theatre experience helped him with his inherently shy personality, he said. “Journal-

ism, like theatre, is one of those ways in which shy people force themselves to go out into the world, and talk to people you would otherwise never talk to.”

In high school, Fisher was involved with the Record, where he acquired skills he uses to this day in the workplace. Writing different styles of articles, making difficult decisions as Editor-in-Chief, and running controversial pieces despite pushback from the administration were all good training for real-world journalism, he said. “It was an enormous time-suck but we loved every second of it,” he said.

Fisher went into college intending to pursue a career in politics or law. Although he never took a journalism course, he realized that it was far more motivating and exciting than the political field, he said.

“That shows me that I don’t have to close myself off to any career paths or options, and that I don’t need to necessarily know what I want my career to be in the future as of right now,” Julia Goldberg (11) said.

Rosy Arora (11) agreed that it was nice to see somebody who started out pursuing one thing was able to make a switch in professions and still be successful, she said.

Though Fisher values prior journalism experience when hiring, he generally prefers college students who have studied in-depth in a field other than journalism - whether physics or English literature - as it demonstrates the curiosity required for reporting, he said. To Goldberg, it was really interesting to hear how the skills of journalism are so applicable to all the different aspects of the profession.

For Nshera Tutu (12), who is in Bauld’s class, the idea of using versatile skills within a particular field was satisfying to hear. “When I’m thinking about my future career paths, I have this idea that in order to be successful I have to take specific classes and do specific things,” she said.

In over 30 years at the Washington Post, Fish-

er has held various positions, including Enterprise Editor, local columnist and Berlin bureau chief. He is currently a Senior Editor, which, contrary to what the name suggests, involves more writing than editing. Fisher enjoys taking on different roles because it makes his job feel new and fresh, he said.

In addition to sharing his experiences, Fisher offered advice to the school’s aspiring journalists. Frommer recalls Fisher saying that one of his editors once told him that “every article should question the meaning of life,” he said. Although Frommer feels that this may have been a slight overstatement, the idea of how every article should bring up larger, deeper questions than just what lies on the surface struck him.

Ellery Lapin (10) does not plan on pursuing a career in journalism, but still found aspects of the talk to be relevant to her life. The talk helped Lapin realize that while she has access to reliable

news sources, a lot of people choose free, potentially biased information over paying for higher quality information, she said.

Over the years, Fisher has witnessed a rise in biased media, which he believes is a result of the internet and the way it incentivizes strong allegiances, he said.

Fisher recommended taking measures to gain exposure to both sides of the story, such as clicking on headlines you would not usually pay attention to. “I think that is a hugely educational thing to do and is eye opening to see,” Fisher said.

“It was inspiring to hear from someone who’s writing style had evolved out of The Record itself, and to hear from someone for whom The Record was the springboard for a career in journalism,” Goldberg said.

Emma Colacino/Staff Photographer

WISE WORDS Marc Fisher speaks about journalism to students.

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THE RECORD FEATURES MARCH 6TH, 2020

Inner working I

n a school where students are often under pressure to perform well on assessments in limited time, testing accommodations— specifically that of extra time—are necessary, as they provide students with equitable opportunities to succeed. The school dedicates abundant resources and time to ensure the playing field is level; nevertheless, some students question whether or not every one of their peers’ accommodations is merited. This wariness has, in many ways, led to a larger stigma surrounding the topic of accommodations as a whole.

PROCESS

P

Written by Julia Goldberg and Adam Frommer Staff Writers

sychologist Dr. Ian Pervil, who oversees the provision of testing accommodations in the Upper Division, said that the school provides accommodations to students with learning disabilities because it is both “the right thing to do and the law.” According to The Americans with Disabilities Act, accommodations serve to counteract the “unnecessary discrimination and prejudice [that] denies people with disabilities the opportunity… to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous.”

The school’s Family Handbook states that testing accommodations are “designed to provide equal access to qualified students with a disability, not to ensure success or a particular outcome.”

The majority of students who apply for accommodations have really struggled for a long time because of a learning disability, Pervil said.

“They’re relieved to know what’s going on. It’s really about them coming to understand, ‘this is how I learn.’”

The process of acquiring time begins when a student, parent, or caregiver directs a request for accommodations to the Committee on Disabilities, chaired by Psychologist Dr. Christina Nichols. “The Committee generally requires a full psychoeducational evaluation for learning disabilities, as well as hearing tests, physical agility tests, and vision examinations in certain circumstances,” the Handbook says.

“The school will consider evaluations regarding student disabilities and accommodations only from accredited professionals who have actually performed the evaluation or examination.”

Along with the psychoeducational evaluations, the Handbook lists a multitude of factors the Committee will take into consideration before granting accommodations. A few of these factors include relevant medical and academic history, reports of classroom performance and behavior, and a history of relevant medication and current use.

Despite the effort of the school’s Committee to supply equal opportunities to all students, there are certain limitations to testing accommodations.

The school—unlike standardized test companies—does not give students more than time and a half, allow for readers, or administer tests over consecutive days in a majority of the cases. “To do so would significantly erode the School’s rigorous educational program,” the Handbook says.

Because there are trained psychologists and administrators in the Committee, the Committee probably evaluates needs accurately, Pascale Zissu (11) said. “I think there are students who do need that extra time, and I would trust that kids who have that [extra time] actually do need it.”

STUDENT CONCERNS

D All art by Kiara Royer / Features Editor

espite the Committee’s deliberate process, some students do not believe that its methods of implementation for the system are conducive to an equitable learning environment.

Sasha Snyder (11) said that she takes issue with

the school’s policy because despite the individual learning differences of the students, the policy does not typically give more or less than exactly time and a half on assessments. As such, the system benefits the people who need more than standard time but under time and a half, she said. “Those who oppose extra time would be more sympathetic to it if it was a more scalar application of it rather than all or nothing.”

Pervil said that there are individual variations in the ideal amount of time it takes each student to complete an assessment, regardless of whether or not they have accommodations. “It’s the job of educators and administrators to keep thinking about the best ways to serve all students in the community given practical constraints,” Pervil said.

Will Golub ‘19, who has extra time in college and had accommodations at the school, acknowledged that it is difficult for some students to understand that their peers need exactly one and a half time, a somewhat arbitrary amount, to complete the same tasks as the rest of the group.

Nevertheless, he said that a “scalar application” would not make a difference for most students with extra time. “Generally, I think one and a half time is usually enough to reduce time pressure, which is often the biggest thing that you are getting out of [extended time].”

Elaine*, who also has extra time, said that the process of receiving accommodations is not fair because finding a professional to perform an evaluation is quite expensive and not an easily accessible option for everyone.

A 2019 article in The New York Times (NYT) titled “Need extra time on tests? It helps to have the cash” stated that some psychological assessments cost up to $10,000 and are not always covered by insurance.

“It is kind of twisted that it costs so much money to get tested,” Margaux Devaney (12), a student at the Convent of the Sacred Heart (CHS) in New York, said. “Obviously, these professionals are in high demand and charge outrageous prices.” Devaney said that there are students who likely need accommodations but never end up getting a diagnosis due to cost.

However, at Horace Mann, if a student needs a neurologist but their caregivers cannot afford one, they can work with Head of School Tom Kelly to find a solution, Nichols said.

“Financial need should not interfere with the ability of a student to receive a high quality evaluation for learning disabilities,” the Handbook states.

For any aspect of the evaluation process, if, for financial reasons, a parent or other guardian is having difficulty securing the services required to complete an evaluation, the school is able to provide the financial or professional services needed to do so, Kelly wrote.

Nevertheless, Snyder said she would be interested in a study at the school on the correlation between familial income and extra time.

When NYT conducted a national study on the correlation between socio-economic status and testing accommodations, they found that an average of 2.7 percent of students receive accommodations across the nation. Furthermore, they discovered that 5.8 percent of students in the top one percent of familial income receive them.

Additionally, racial disparities on a national level correlate with the students who receive accommodations; NYT found that a greater percentage of white students were granted accommodations than students of any other race.

The school does not share any information about the demographic of students who use accommodations, Nichols said. The school considers this type of student information confidential, Kelly wrote.

Golub said that an arguably larger barrier to receiving accommodations is the discrepancy in knowledge about the system. “There was no day when the school got up and said: ‘There are some students who have learning differences. You might fall into this category if you experience these things. Here is what we do about learning differences.’”

Instead, students learn about extended time either because a teacher suggested it, a parent urged for it, or outside-of-school help mentioned it, Golub said. As such, though expenses may

HORACE MANN FEATURES MARCH 6TH, 2020

gs of extra time not necessarily be an issue, the process generally works smoother for families who have ample time and resources to dedicate to research and evaluations, he said.

Another issue addressed in the NYT article is that not only are the private health practitioners expensive, but they also often receive little oversight from school systems.

Students sometimes manipulate the results on their own during testing with out-of-school practitioners, Charlie Shapiro (11) said. Some purposefully perform poorly on diagnostic tests so that their results conclude that they have ADHD, and they may receive extra time, he said.

“Are there people who have [cheated on their test results]? Yes. Do I think it is easy? No,” Golub said. The tests are designed by psychologists to understand what is going on and to confirm learning disabilities, he said. “It is harder than one might think.”

“It is actually quite difficult to ‘game’ psychological tests,” Dr. Daniel Rothstein, Director of Counseling & Guidance, said. “Many tests are designed to pick up inconsistencies that occur when someone is trying to fake responses.

In addition, a diagnosis is not given as the result of one test—it comes from data across a number of tests, observations from other people in the student’s life, and the clinical judgement of the psychologist after extensive interviews.”

Although the Committee does not do its own testing, Nichols acknowledged, the members can certainly confirm whether a diagnosis is accurate or not. “The school professionals at the table are skilled at recognizing when a report contains recommendations that are not in keeping with a particular student’s levels of functioning or other data available for review,” she said.

According to the Handbook, the school never guarantees that it will agree with the findings of a parent, physician, or outside evaluator, or implement their recommendations.

Izzy Abbott (11) was denied accommodations at the end of ninth grade, and even though she scored very high in terms of her IQ, she tested in the second percentile when assessed for her ability to work under time pressure. Abbott said that the school paid more attention to her general academic performance rather than her disabilities and that her intelligence and school grades made her ineligible to receive accommodations. “It was heartbreaking that they didn’t fully acknowledge all of my learning differences,” she said, considering how difficult it is to come forward and admit a need for accommodations.

In addition to the demographic of students with extra time, Snyder also thinks that there is an unfair difference between the environments of

the classroom and those of the Test Center (often called the Testing Center), where students with extra time take their assessments.

Test Center Coordinator Jesse Shaw said that it is hard to compare the environment of the testing center with a classroom setting. “There are so many different moving pieces that we have to operate differently,” he said. “Every student has a different test; every test has different starting times, ending times, different reference materials, [and] different calculators.”

However, even in these circumstances, Shaw works extremely hard to give students the appropriate alloted time for their tests, he said.

Snyder thinks that the relaxed nature of the testing center can lead to an improvement in students’ grades. The testing center provides individual desks, sharpened pencils, graphing calculators, candy, and pretzels—and relaxed timing, regardless of a student’s given accommodations, she said.

While Snyder said that food in the testing center doesn’t necessarily improve a student’s grades, the snacks are further examples of the experience available only in the testing center.

“And time starts whenever you want. For me, I am running from class to class trying to get to my tests on time,” she said.

Zissu, however, believes the leniency of the testing center hurts students’ ability to perform well on tests as students who are not taking tests often stop by to take snacks, which can be disruptive, she said. As such, though some of her friends who do not have extra time often ask to take their tests in the testing center in hopes of gaining some more time, Zissu much prefers the classroom.

A recent study in the testing center from this year found that students with “normal” time on average have handed in their assessments one minute and forty-five seconds late, Pervil and Shaw explained in an email to the UD faculty. The same study found that students who have one and a half time on average finish over three minutes and thirty seconds early.

Despite the welcoming nature of the testing center, it does not provide students with an unfair advantage or disadvantage, Shaw said. For each test, teachers send in a checklist of their rules to Shaw, such as whether or not a calculator or spell check is allowed. Ultimately, all students still take the same test with the same reference materials, he said.

Moving forward, the testing center plans to change its policy regarding timing. “If [students] do not stop working immediately and hand in their assessment in a timely fashion (within a grace period of a minute or so), they will receive a

Photo by Ahaan Palla / Photography Editor

TESTING TESTING 1, 2, 3 Shaw works in the Test Center.

stamp on the front page of the test that notifies the teacher that the student has gone over their allotted time (and the number of minutes),” Shaw and Pervil’s email said.

STIGMA AND DISCLOSURE

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he tension surrounding issues of equality, whether it be who receives extra time, how much they receive, or where they receive it, has created an unwarranted stigma for those who truly deserve accommodations. Because there are rumors of some students not needing their extra time, some students assume that nobody needs it, which is not true, Zissu said.

Some students simply do not understand why having a learning disability is a reason for extra time. As such, they do not view their 45 minutes as equivalent to her 68, Elaine said. “It’s annoying,” she said. “They don’t get how other people’s learning works.” A There is a misconception that students who have extra time are not as intelligent as their peers and need accommodations to keep up with the rigor of the school, Daryl*, a student with accommodations, said.

Demystifying the process of receiving extra time is important, as it creates a better-informed

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community, Pervil said.

This stigma often manifests itself in rude comments, Shapiro said. In the past, peers who did not believe that he deserved testing accommodations have told him “You just did well because you have extra time,” or have asked “Do you really need extra time?”

Elaine said that when she complains about the difficulty of certain tests, peers will sometimes ask offensive questions, such as “Why are you complaining? You had so much time.” These judgmental comments, which come from a place of misunderstanding, are often really frustrating, Elaine said.

Even as a student who does not receive accommodations, Cindy* recognizes that there is a clear stigma around the topic of accomodations.

Because students with extra time do not take tests with their peers, the unspoken sentiment she sometimes feels during tests is, “Oh, they have extra time, that’s why they’re not here,” she said.

No matter how necessary, Pervil said that it will be difficult to rid the school of the stigma because of its cyclical nature. “People who have accommodations may not really want to talk about why they have accommodations,” he said.

Because these students are staying silent, others may believe that those with accommodations have been given special treatment and that the process is unfair.

The stigma around topics such as accommodations simply should not exist, Zissu said. “Deal with your own life. You have a lot going on, so mind your own business.”

But in rigorous environments like the school, perfection may be an issue on many students’ minds, Pervil said. “When you are acknowledging that we are different from each other… you are admitting that we are not perfect, which for me is a wonderful thing, but is also hard for a lot of people,” he said. “In order to reduce the stigma, we have to accept that our imperfections make us wonderful, that our differences make us unique and terrific, that if we were all the same we would be completely boring.”

Daryl said that a hesitation to admit to having an accommodation is especially prevalent in the Middle Division (MD), when some students first notice they need extra time. “I used to be nervous; I thought it was a little scary because I thought I was less than everyone else,” he said.

When Elaine came to the school in fourth grade, she always had to finish her tests outside of the classroom. Starting in fifth grade, she had to finish her tests during lunch periods, a trade-off that did not have a serious impact on her social or academic life. In the MD, however, Elaine would finish her tests in the academic center. “In sixth and seventh [grades], I thought I was the only person who had it, so I was really embarrassed,” she said. Instead of discussing her learning disability, Elaine would tell peers she was going to the academic center because she missed school and needed to retake missed

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THE RECORD FEATURES MARCH 6TH, 2020

*Extra Time continued from page 5 assessments. Now, Elaine is open about her accommodations: “The whole grade knows I have it,” she said. Because many of her peers are aware of her accommodations, she feels much more comfortable talking about them, she said.

Marge*, who remains anonymous because she did not want her accommodations to be accessible online for colleges to discover, realized she needed extra time in the beginning of eighth grade. Although she had trouble on her seventh grade finals, her ADHD started seriously affecting her grades in eighth grade. “I remember there was a Spanish test with a twenty point paragraph at the end, and I didn’t get to it, so then I was like, ‘ok, I really need to find out what’s wrong,’” she said. Marge received time and a half on tests after a month and a half of communicating with the administration and completing numerous medical evaluations. Unlike Daryl, Marge did not care much about others knowing, nor did she try to hide the fact that she had extra time; she thought her peers would find out eventually no matter what, she said.

Now, Daryl no longer minds if any of his peers knows he has extra time. “If they start talking about me, I can’t control it, [but] I don’t really care,” he said. “You can see a lot of people have [extra time], and I don’t seem alone. I feel like I’m with others.”

Testing accommodations do not fix all of the drawbacks that come with having a disability, Devaney said. Homework, take-home essays, and problem sets also take more time to finish outside of school. “I have learned to cope with the fact that things take me longer. I have to set expectations for myself and plan around taking more time,” she said.

FINDING FLEXIBILITY

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side from the challenge of discussing testing accommodations with peers, finding the space in a student’s schedule for taking assessments with extra time can also be difficult.

“Students should be able to access the full curriculum,” Pervil said. However, finding solutions is not always easy; “[it] requires a lot of mental juggling from students and teachers.”

For the most part, teachers have been very accommodating with Shapiro in terms of scheduling assessments, but he once had a teacher make him take a test on its scheduled date, during which he had no free periods. After he asked to take it on a different day, the teacher said “No. You just have to figure it out,” so Shapiro decided to take matters into his own hands and negotiate with other teachers, ultimately skipping a different class to take the test.

Sometimes, students who have time and a half will need to split their tests, which means that they take one third during one period and two thirds during

another period. “It’s obviously easier to have a double free, but that doesn’t always work out,” Elaine* said. “You sometimes need to split the test, and that cuts out of your lunch period or a period you could be doing work. It changes your schedule, and it’s really hard to figure out.” “[Splitting tests] is not ideal at all,” Marge said.

In Marge’s experience, she has been given one third of a test at once and can ask for more pages, but if she doesn’t finish the pages she requests, she’s “done”: students are never allowed to revisit pages of a test from a previous period, she said.

Students are also not allowed to revisit essays, Shaw said. After the first testing period, a student’s work is photocopied. When the student returns to finish their essay, they continue it on paper which is later attached to the photocopy.

Splitting tests is challenging because students need to focus on the same material twice in one day. “[You’re] in the math mode for a math test, but then you have four other subjects, and then you have to go back to taking the math test,” Daryl said.

Cindy said that because of their accommodations, some students are able to take their tests on later dates, a flexibility that she does not have. Once, in Cindy’s French 4 class, a student with extra time asked to take a test two days later than the scheduled date since they did not have back-to-back free periods on the scheduled date. The student did not feel comfortable splitting the test, and as a result they had two extra days to study, Cindy said. “That’s when I feel like it’s crossing the line.”

To lower her chances of needing to split tests and essays, Marge has switched her schedule around every year of high school to circumvent having two academic classes back to back, she said.

Deans commonly help out students with testing accommodations by arranging their schedules so that they have space, such as double frees, for extended time testing, Dean of the Class of 2021 Dr. Susan Groppi said. “It’s often not possible to make it work, just because there are so many factors involved in scheduling, but when possible we do try.” Deans also assist other groups of students, such as athletes with early dismissal, rearrange their schedules, she said.

In order to have more flexibility in his schedule, Shapiro is only taking one half-credit course this year. He also generally takes half-credits that are less intense so that if needed, he can ask his

teacher to let him miss a class period for a test, he said.

Systems of testing accommodations work differently at every school. For example, Lauren Tsai (12), a student at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, said that students with testing accommodations take tests with their class and then arrange for a time to finish their assessments elsewhere. Tsai said that because all students take tests in the same room, it is difficult to know who has accommodations. In fact, Tsai only knows of one peer who receives extra time, despite assuming that other students likely have accommodations. Since students do not know much about the topic, there is no stigma around it, she said.

Additionally, Tsai said that at her public high school, students are less competitive about grades, and for the most part, there is not as much pressure to “cheat the system” to improve one’s class rank.

Devaney said that CHS allows for testing accommodations other than one and a half time.

While she has one and a half time on tests, some of her classmates have double time or laptop use at school. “There are so many intricacies that I don’t even know,” she said. CHS generally grants students the same accommodations as they are given on standardized tests, she said, which is not always true for students at Horace Mann.

Devaney also said that there is no version of a testing center at CHS. Instead, class periods are an hour long with 40 minute tests. Students with extra time take tests in the same classroom as their peers, and ince most have one and a half time, they can simply stay in the classroom for the entire hour to take an assessment instead of leaving early.

At Horace Mann, “the system is not perfect, but it has been deeply considered,” Pervil said. “I am here, and advisors and deans are there, for moments that are unsolvable and we have to figure things out.”

STANDARDIZED TESTING

T

he controversy surrounding extra time extends into the tumultuous world of standardized testing. The SAT (officiated

by The College Board) and the ACT are independent companies that make their own determinations about whether a student should receive any accommodations, Pervil said. Any student can apply for extra time on the ACT or SAT, no matter the status of accommodations at one’s high school. That being said, The College Board website said that it is rare for a student not approved for accommodations at their school to have accommodations for standardized testing.

Extra time is not the only possible accommodation to receive on standardized tests: students can additionally receive computer use, extra and extended breaks, reading and seeing accommodations, or a four function calculator (when not permitted on a section).

There are differences between requesting accommodations for the ACT and SAT tests: the ACT said that a school must submit request forms for testing accommodations, whereas for the SAT, families may request to work directly with the College

Board. No matter how a student applies for accommodations, though, their testing details are omitted from their official ACT or SAT score report.

Because the ACT is known to be especially cramped for time, extra time is a “game changer,” Daryl said. Daryl had time and a half for the test and took only one section per day. He found that he had plenty of time and that the test was far less stressful for him than for students taking the test with normal time. “It’s honestly not fair, but why not use it if you can get it?” he said.

Since the makers of the ACT know about the time pressure, they sometimes deny students— even those who have extra time at the school—of accommodations, Elaine said.

Marge had trouble communicating with the company and did not quickly receive her accommodations, which were time and a half, laptop use, and the ability to take the test over two days. “We kept emailing people, and trying to get connected, but eventually, we had to go through the government,” she said. Marge and her family contacted the Department of Education and were directed to the unit that deals with special education needs.

Ultimately, Marge received extra time and her laptop on the ACT, but still had to take the test in one day. She said that this was frustrating because she had been practicing it over the course of two days, but that it would have been a “whole process” to try to receive the privilege of two days to retake the test.Because the ACT is so pressed for time, students who do have extra time often receive even more backlash. “The summer ACT course wasn’t taught by a faculty member, but I remember the kids were saying he was talking about how it’d be a breeze for everyone with extra time. It’s kind of offensive, because that’s not how we feel,” Elaine said.

Marge said that students incorrectly assume that because she has extra time on the ACT, the test is easier for her. “It’s not like it’s easier; I take full time,” she said.

With so much controversy over testing accommodations, students and faculty have begun to wonder if time should even be a factor in testing. Daryl, for instance, is a firm believer that tests should not be taken based on time. “The whole point of school is to assess your learning, and it shouldn’t be in a given amount of time,” he said. Testing should be based on how smart a student is and how well they know the material, not how fast they work in allotted time, he said.

“I think the main goal of a test is to see what a kid knows, so I think it’d be nice if everyone had unlimited time,” Elaine said.

High school is an artificial situation and differs entirely from the real world, Pervil said. “I want to get out of the mindset that’s ‘I finished faster, therefore I’m smarter.’”

If a person needs ten extra minutes on an assignment for a job, for example, that individual will just be at work ten minutes later, and no one will really care, Pervil said. “It’s only within the confines of this strange system that we’ve created, where we’ve given you questions and we’re asking you to answer them within this time frame, that this problem occurs. In life, that’s just not the way things usually work.”

* Any name with an asterisk represents a student granted anonymity.

HORACE MANN LIONS’ DEN OCTOBER 25TH, 2019

Varsity swim hosts NYSAIS meet

Alison Isko Staff Writer

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Courtesy of Barry Mason

The Girls and Boys Varsity Swim team placed 10th out of 20 for the girls’ events and fifth out of 14 for the boys’ during The New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) meet.

Vincent Li (10) received 6th place in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke, Eddie Jin (12) received 6th place in the 50 free, Harmony Li (10) received 5th place in the 100 free, and Walker McCarthy (10) received 5th place in the 200 free. Ahaana Shrivastava (11) earned 4th in the 100 backstroke, the highest place won by one of the school’s swimmers.

“I know [Shrivastava’s] been working so hard in that event and so I was just really proud of her, seeing her come out of the pool and just having her finish her event with a strong time,” McKayla Widener (12) said.

Nina Gaither (11) earned two personal records while swimming relays on the second day of NYSAIS, she said. She swam in the 50 free and the 100 free.

While NYSAIS wasn’t the team’s best meet, it was far from their worst as everyone swam well and some people had very good times, Leah Sepiashvili (10) said. “In terms of everyone’s swimming, I think we all strive for a little bit better, but that’s just the reality of competing against yourself,” she said.

Some of the team members’ best times this season occurred during the NYSAIS meet, Widener said and compared to other meets this season, it felt stronger.

Teams from private schools throughout New York state competed in the meet, Varsity Swim Coach Michael Duffy said.

In order to compete, swimmers had to meet a qualifying time for their event. Schools were then allowed to bring up to two qualifying swimmers per event. Those who placed in the top 16 on the first day of competition moved onto the finals that occured on the second day of NYSAIS, which were made up of two heats per event.

Many members of the team qualified for the finals, which was impressive because of how close together all of the competitors’ times were, Widener said.

NYSAIS is the largest meet hosted by the school, and for many people, it was their first

SWIMMING FAST Aimee Yang (9) races through the water. chance to see what a meet with fifteen or twenty teams looks like, Shrivastava said. “Relative the Ivy meet, everyone competing at NYASIS was at a higher skill level, as they had to meet certain time cuts to qualify,” Jin said. In fact, one member of Packer Collegiate’s team qualified for the Olympics trials in the 100 free, he said.

The NYSAIS meet felt more serious because of how many teams were competing, which Shrivastava liked, she said, and although the increased number of teams caused NYSAIS to be a longer meet than usual, there was also more time in between events.

To prepare for the meet, practice became slightly more individualized, with different parts for different swimmers, Gaither said.

“You swam short distance one thing, long distance another thing.”

“The way swimming works is you work really hard, and it kind of breaks your body down, and you kind of feel sore,” Duffy said. “About two weeks prior to a championship meet you do more sprinting and more rest during practice. Normally we swim almost three miles a day, so we might drop it to a mile and a half of just sprint-intense work. So it’s just a different way to train. You lower the amount you swim, so there’s more rest but more sprint.”

Because the team had recently competed in the Ivy meet, they had just tapered off, which is lowering the amount of high-intensity work during practice, and then tapered again for the NYSAIS meet, so the team didn’t have time to do the high-intensity training that keeps them in shape, Jin said.

There was an extended swim season this year, and when there’s two championship

meets, it can be difficult to rally together for the second meet, Duffy said. However, the team rose to the challenge, meeting their goals of working hard, having fun, and hitting their best times at the end of the season, he said.

While Jin did not achieve his goal of placing in the top three at one of his events, he “thinks that there was a lot of competition in the events that [he] swam, like the 100 freestyle and 500 freestyle.” he said. “I think in some events, if I chose my events smartly - maybe if I swam the 200 - it’s pretty possible that I could have gotten one.

Jin still enjoyed the meet, though. “This was my last swim meet ever,” he said. “I’ve been swimming for over ten years, having swam for various teams and at all levels of competition, and I can safely say that there’s nowhere else that I would have ended my career.

Three members of wrestling team compete in NYSAIS tournament Avi Kapadia Staff Writer

Anabelle Chan/Art Director

This past weekend, Liam Futterman (11), Nic Moreira (11) and Patrick Stinebaugh (10) wrestled in the New York State Championships representing the NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools) division.

New York schools are divided into 14 sections for wrestling, one of which is NYSAIS. Each section brings their champions from each weight class to compete, according to HM Wrestling Head Coach Gregg Quilty.

Quilty was the coach of the NYSAIS team, which was comprised of wrestlers from several different independent schools. “We practiced together for three weeks. Each day we would go to a different school to practice. We practiced at Hackley, Collegiate, Brunswick, Horace Mann and some other schools,” Quilty said.

The experience of practicing with wrestlers from other schools was very unique, Stinebaugh said. “All the wrestlers were very friendly and there were no hard feelings between anyone.”

The state championship was held on February 28th and 29th at the Times Union Center in Albany with a packed crowd in attendance. “As someone who loves the sport so much, it was great to see all those people in the stands,” Futterman said.

On the other hand, the atmosphere was very different from their normal tournaments because teammates were not all lined up on the side cheering the wrestlers on, instead they were in the stands, Quilty said.

The team faced off against talented wrestlers in the tournament.

“[Our opponents] are some of the best wrestlers in the country.

New York state is very strong. We see guys in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) championships that we faced in the New York State championships,” Quilty said.

“There isn’t a single weak wrestler in the tournament,” Futterman said. “These wrestlers are much better than any others we have faced this season.”

Additionally, the competitors wrestle nationwide and have been wrestling in year-long well-coached clubs since a young age, Quilty said.

All of the Horace Mann wrestlers had similar mindsets going into their matches. “I knew going into the competition that it was going to be tough,” Moreira said. “I really wanted to leave the mat knowing that I gave my all.”

Although the Horace Mann wrestlers put up a strong fight, the results were not what they had hoped. Futterman was the only one to win a match in his double elimination bracket.

“Liam wrestled a kid from Eagle Academy in the Bronx. They were back and forth the entire match. It looked like it could have gone either way. Then, Liam capitalized on a mistake by his opponent and pinned him in the second period,” Quilty said.

Both Futterman and Moreira were inspired by the level of competition at the tournament. “There is still room to improve and I can’t stop working,” Moreira said.

“It was inspirational seeing how good the kids are. I just have to keep working harder. You can always get better,” Futterman said.

Lions’ Den Record Sports

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MARCH 6TH, 2020

From college playing to high school coaching: Coach Keri Panarelli’s lacrosse journey

Yin Fei Staff Writer Girls Varsity Lacrosse Coach Keri Panarelli has a profound love for the sport rooted in her years as a standout collegiate lacrosse player at Hofstra University.

Panarelli was first exposed to the world of lacrosse in sixth grade before going on to play Division One in college, club, and on a couple of other teams.

Although she played several sports growing up, including basketball, field hockey, and softball, she found that she excelled at lacrosse. Panarelli became enamored with the sport and her desire grew to a point where she found herself playing lacrosse and wall ball every day, she said.

“It wasn’t a job for me,” Panarelli said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I have to go to lacrosse practice today or I have to play this weekend or this summer. It was just fun.’”

She remembers sharing catches with her dad during their pastime, which was a memory she especially enjoyed, she said.

Panarelli used her lacrosse talents to help secure a spot playing for a D1 school.

“I didn’t know if I was good enough to be honest. I didn’t really have a lot of confidence,” she said.

“Once I started getting letters and recruiting from coaches, I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I can do this,’” Panarelli said.

As a senior, she was captain of the Hofstra Women’s Lacrosse team which went 8-8 overall. “Playing on the collegiate level in a state away from where I grew up was amazing.

I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Panarelli said.

She made many new friends that she still has today, whether they were her fellow teammates or even just other athletes who gravitated towards each other because of their dedication to their sports and similar interests. “It’s like a cultural thing. Once you’re in the lacrosse world, you kind of know everyone,” she said.

Her younger self especially relied on lacrosse to carry her when the stress of a rigorous education caught up with her.

“Everytime I stepped onto the field, I didn’t have to worry about anything. You know, you just played,” she said.

Panarelli said that it was a number of significant encounters with her own coaches that inspired her to go into coaching. “I had a coach growing up and I didn’t have a lot of confidence,” Panarelli said. “She really instilled confidence in me and she was the one who made me believe that I could play and I could succeed.”

As an athlete, she worked with a tough coach who Panarelli felt was too hard on her and did not use positive encouragement. “I promised myself that if I were ever to become a coach, I wouldn’t deal with situations the way that she did with me,” Panarelli said. “It was really important for me to not do that to athletes. I wanted to be a different type of coach.”

Her experiences with a variety of coaches influenced Panarelli into becoming the coach and person she is today and the ways she inspires young athletes.

Not only was she influenced by her previous coaches, but also by her family. Her husband played lacrosse at Hofstra, her son currently plays, and with her parents’ have always supported and encouraged her. “My parents were the ones Anabelle Chan/Art Director

that said, ‘you know you can do this, you can be a great coach,’” Panarelli said. “And they would also come to the games in the beginning when I worked here.”

Panarelli wants to convey a clear message to her athletes: “You step on the field and you have two, three hour practices and you don’t have to worry about anything else. Just play.

Just have fun.”

“School work will be there when you’re done,” Panarelli said. “The tests are going to be there, but for those two, three hours, just live in the moment.”

“She knows when to be stern, when to be more laidback with us, and her coaching style is so easy to follow,” Laila Farmer (10). “She always is able to motivate us with her words and demonstrate her skill set when teaching us.

Coach P is honestly one of the best coaches I’ve ever had the privilege of working with, “ she said.

Despite her expansive lacrosse knowledge earned from years of first hand experience, Panarelli still aspires to continue to do better with learning more about the game that is constantly changing. “Now it’s totally different,” she said. “A lot of new, cool rules that I’m still learning about. So it’s my job as a coach to learn them, to still go to clinics, to read online, to stay updated and to make sure that I give my players the best knowledge of the game that I can.”

Panarelli has high hopes that the upcoming season will be great and is excited to work with her girls in the spring.

“Just to see the girls really appreciate what you do, when they thank you and just say, ‘wow, you taught me so much,’ makes me love what I do and realize this is where I belong and I was meant to do this,” Panarelli said.

Courtesy of Keri Panarelli