The Horace Mann Record, Issue 7

The Horace Mann Record HORACE MANN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1903

OCTOBER 18TH, 2018 || VOLUME 116, ISSUE 7

Credit

Daniel Lee/Staff Photographer

LD takes Coastal Lab field trip Kiara Royer Staff Writer

Abi Kraus/Photo Editor Jake Shapiro/Photo Editor

PINK POWER Library features pink decorations (top left), Spectrum performs (bottom left), CAC leaders pose (right).

Cancer Awareness Club organizes Pink Week to support breast cancer Henry Owens Staff Writer

In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Cancer Awareness Club (CAC) organized Pink Week to raise money, support, and awareness for breast cancer.

“We assume that most people know what breast cancer is. What we’re really trying to do is garner support and get people motivated to donate and join the cause,” Luke Weber (11), a leader of the CAC, said.

Throughout the week, the CAC implemented community-wide initiatives to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer.

Beginning Monday, the library featured pink decorations and sold bracelets and pins, donating the proceeds to breast cancer research.

The club also held a bake sale to continue fundraising efforts.

Several sports teams wore pink clothing at their games in support of breast cancer. The CAC also encouraged members of the general community to wear pink attire throughout the week.

“We are a team, so wearing pink is showing that we are unified with each other and in supporting people with breast cancer,” Jolie Nelsen (10), a member of the Girls Varsity Field Hockey team, said.

“Cancer is something that’s touched almost everybody in this school,” Kyra Kwok (12), a leader of the CAC, said. “Having everybody wearing pink is going to be a big way we show that our community is standing together.”

By wearing pink attire, Weber hopes the community will demonstrate that “we are committed to putting an end to a cancer that has taken many, many lives in our country,” he said.

Rebecca Rosenzweig (10) chose to participate in wearing pink clothing and eye black.

“Almost everyone I know, including me, has been affected by cancer in some way,” Rosenzweig said. “It’s so important to show support for breast cancer research

“At Horace Mann, I am truly proud and inspired by the fact that there’s a lot of people who want to help. Everybody has been so motivated, and it is just truly incredible to watch people’s efforts. Especially as a cancer survivor, it is very moving.”

- Luke Weber (11) because the fight isn’t only up to doctors and patients. If more people get involved, we can make major steps towards finding a cure.”

On Thursday, the student band Spectrum performed several pieces in support of Pink Week.

The band has also performed at relay for life, another CAC event, in past years, Nyle Hutchinson (12), the drummer for Spectrum, said.

“Spectrum’s performance was really powerful because it brought the community together in support of the incredibly important cause of cancer research,” Julia Robbins (11) said.

Pink Week is also a way of raising awareness for cancer before Relay for Life in the spring, Kwok said.

While some smaller initiatives have been implemented in past years during October for breast cancer awareness, Pink Week is the biggest event yet, she said.

“We’re hoping that by [holding Pink Week], we are addressing something that can easily go unsaid or unacknowledged,” Julia Roth (12), a leader of the CAC, said.

“Having been with cancer for a large portion of my life, I feel like it’s my duty – it’s my responsibility – to do whatever it takes to help other people,” Weber, who battled pediatric cancer on-and-off for eight years, said.

Kwok and Roth have both had family members who suffered from cancer, which partly motivated their involvement.

“I can see cancer affect people I care about so greatly,” Roth said.

Having an older sister who is a breast cancer survivor motivated Hutchinson to show support through his music, he said.

“At Horace Mann, I am truly proud and inspired by the fact that there’s a lot of people who want to help,” said Weber. “Everybody has been so motivated, and it is just truly incredible to watch people’s efforts. Especially as a cancer survivor, it is very moving,” he said.

RECORD.HORACEMANN.ORG

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Lower Division (LD) first graders explored the Sound Waters Coastal Learning Center in Stamford, Connecticut to continue their study of the ocean.

The field trip really helped the class learn some facts about how sea animals live and eat, Simon Shaham (1) said.

The trip to Sound Waters is the first field trip of the year, so the students were very excited to experience something hands on, First Grade teacher Monica Gerken said.

The first grade has been annually going to Sound Waters for at least ten years, Gerken, who plans the trip every year, said.

The Sound Waters site is ideal because the group doesn’t have to travel too far, and the first graders aren’t confined to a classroom all day, she said.

Students were able to explore the beaches on the Long Island Sound and collect shells and Asian Shore crabs, First Grade Team Leader and Teacher Jean Eifert said.

“We had the opportunity to sort through jingle shells, oyster shells, mussels and clams,” Shaham said.

“The jingle shell was my favorite shell because they looked nice and came in different colors like white, orange, blue and shiny white,” he said.

“We learned that we can learn what kind of shell it is from the bottom,” Haris Efthymiatou (1) said.

For example, an oyster has a purple dot on the bottom of its shell, she said. “[Sound Waters] also has touch tanks, which give the students the

opportunity to take things out and feel them and touch them and get their hands in,” Gerken said.

Some of the marine life in the tanks includes turtles, horseshoe crabs, sea stars, and flounder, Eifert said.

While some students only put one finger in the tank, others were very adventurous and picked up rocks to see what was underneath, she said.

There were hermit crabs and spider crabs in the touch tanks, but Brian Mandigo’s (1) favorite animals were the snails, he said. “When you hold the snail out of the water and hum, the snail comes out,” Mandigo said.

Arielle Schaye (1) learned that the turtle in the touch tank could only live at Sound Waters because the site was a mix of fresh water and salt water, or brackish water, she said.

After the trip, the first graders summarized their day in their journals, and Efthymiatou wrote about looking for crabs and scooping them up with a sea shell, she said.

What Eifert liked about the trip was that the children she least expected to be really into the visit were actually the ones most interested, she said.

“It’s a great opportunity for kids that learn in a different way to have an experience that’s not pen to paper or sitting in a desk, and it gives them a chance to shine,” Eifert said.

The trip is a fun way to relate what the first graders are learning in class to real life and do something special as a class, Upper Division Physical Education Department Chair Amy Mojica P’30 said. “[Sound Waters] takes the first graders out of the normal classroom environment and gives them a chance to just enjoy nature and the beach,” Gerken said.

Courtesy of Monica Gerken

INSIDE

COAST TO COAST LD students take trip to Sound Waters Coastal Learning Center.

Keep it positive!

2

Julia Robbins (11) emphasizes optimism.

Throwback Thursday

4

Teachers’ jobs before coming to the school.

Poetfest

6

High school trip to Dodge Poetry Festival.

@hm.record @thehoracemannrecord Horace Mann School 231 W 246th St, Bronx, NY 10471

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THE RECORD OPINIONS OCTOBER 18TH, 2018

Think pink: the importance of breast cancer week

Samuel Keimweiss When I walked into my history class on Thursday, I was shocked. Of the 16 people in my class, seven of them were wearing a shade of pink. Even my teacher, Dr. Link, was wearing a pink dress shirt. But, I am happy to say that I stood out, wearing my little sister’s pink robe. We were all wearing pink for an amazing reason; October 15-19th is Pink Week, a week in which we celebrate all the warriors who have battled and are battling against breast cancer. Thursday, in particular, is Mammogram Day, a day which emphasizes the importance of mammograms, a process that will consistently identify breast cancer and save lives.

Pink Week is a wonderful time of year, when the school annually gets together in support of breast cancer research. It is a beautiful to see so many people band together in service of a great cause, and personally it warms my heart. Each year, I am amazed at the love that the community shows this week, and, as vice president of the Cancer Awareness Club, this year is especially important. We have been working since the beginning of the school year to make this week as pink and perfect as it can possibly be, so to see the school come together and put so much passion into this week is absolutely amazing.

Pink Week is the center point of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which has been a positive movement for change since it was started in 1985 by the American Cancer Society (ACS). The movement has vaulted breast cancer to national importance, with over $6 billion raised in the fight against each year. This is extremely important, as Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women. In fact, 15% of all cancer diagnoses are breast cancer and 250,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the US alone (as of 2016).

This money has not gone to waste, and 89% of all people diagnosed with breast cancer now survive, and new techniques to treat or detect breast cancer are being developed at a constant rate. However, all is not well and good. Despite the high survival rate, 40,000 people still died of the disease in the US in 2016, one-third of all cured patients had their cancer come back, and of the most severe cases, when cancer has already metastasized, only 20 percent survive.

There are three things to take away from this. One, this cause in incredibly important. Almost everyone’s life is touched by breast cancer. This is a cause that hits close to home, so it shouldn’t be ignored. Second, donate. There is a process to this; with such a large industry, it is hard to know where to donate.

The correct move is to donate directly to research. Although lots of people survive breast cancer, we are still a long way from finding a cure.

Donating to research is a good way to know that your money is being put towards finding that cure, but donating to one of the hundreds of organizations that fight breast cancer could mean that your money is going toward paying telemarketers or organizers, or even lining the pockets of the leaders of that organization. We, as the leaders of the Cancer Awareness Club, are well aware of this and have made sure that all of the money that we raise is donated directly to the Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center, where 97 percent of all money donated goes toward their initiatives.

Finally, support the fight against breast cancer. The Cancer

Jackson Roberts/Art Director

Awareness Club has put a huge emphasis on wearing pink this year. We advocated for all the sports teams to wear pink for spirit this week, and we sent out multiple mass emails to the school reminding students to wear pink on Thursday. We got performances and pink donuts in the library, and we wore pink ribbon pins all week.

The entire week was a pink out, but on Thursday morning, I was asked why. If none of the pink we wore or things we gave out raised money for cancer, why should we do it? The answer is twofold. Wearing pink is a sign of respect and caring. We wear pink as a sign of solidarity and a sign of support for those who have breast cancer, those who have lost someone to breast cancer, and those who continue to fight today. We wear pink to show them that we care, that no matter what happens, they mean something, and that we are rooting for them. On another note, we wear pink to raise awareness. If nobody wore pink, and nobody knew about the importance of the cause, how would anyone know to donate?

We wear pink to show people who aren’t wearing pink the importance of our cause and encourage them to donate. The moral of the story? Donate, support, and wear pink!

Happiness is hard: investing our energy in the right places

Julia Robbins I didn’t break my back when I fell off a hammock a few weeks ago! I fell onto a metal pole and barely even bruised my back. I know, thrilling, right? I stood right back up and went on about my daily life. Ok, it probably doesn’t sound thrilling, because it is so mundane. We normally don’t break our backs, we don’t face some type of catastrophic accident on a daily basis, and nobody is normally out to get us. Because life normally works out for us, people at school, and in society in general, have begun to focus on the negative things: the anomalies, what doesn’t work out.

So many amazing things are happening all the time at school.

Just this Thursday, I had an exciting math class where we began our deep dive into combinatorics; I found out in Spanish class that the word ‘dystopian’ in English comes from the Greek δυσ (dus)- “bad” and τόπος (topos) “place”; we read the first lines of the Odyssey in Greek in my Ancient Greek class which was a great throwback to reciting the incantation of the Odyssey in 10th grade English; during my F free, my friend and physics classmate made a fun observation about the friction between a chair and the floor in one of the study rooms in Lutnick. All of these moments may seem insignificant from afar, but they all contributed to make my day great.

None of what I just mentioned is out of the ordinary for a day in the life of a Horace Mann student, but we just don’t take the time to appreciate everything that we learn, everyone we talk to, and everything that we do. In fact, we normally do the opposite. In our minds we emphasize the test grades that we aren’t happy with or we compare ourselves to people who seem to be doing better than us in a class.

We can make the decision to focus our energy on positive things. Let’s talk about how well our Water Polo team is doing, or the fact that Spectrum just gave a great performance in the library for Breast Cancer Awareness Week, or about how lucky we are to have a new state of the art science building and community center. The list could go on and on.

A significant amount of the stress that students face actually comes from how well resourced Horace Mann is. Our academic stress accompanies the incredibly high standards that our teachers hold us to because they want us to succeed intellectually in life. We stress out about deadlines for articles for various publications without taking the time to realize how incredible it is that the school helps fund our publications and that publication advisors invest time and energy in ensuring that the publication is of the highest caliber: I hear peers stressing out about club events, barely taking the time to think about how privileged we are for the school to provide the space and resources to succeed in our clubs. Our stress often comes at the expense of us ignoring our resources.

We get to decide what we give our energy to. It’s sometimes easier to dwell on the negatives, especially when it seems that so many people around us are doing just that, but we will become a more upbeat community if we redirected our energy to the positives.

In 20 years, you don’t want to regret that you didn’t appreciate your time in high school. Horace Mann is an amazing place with fantastic and energetic people. Make the decision right now to recognize how special a community you are a part of.

Volume 116 Editorial Board Managing Editor Betsey Bennett

Editor in Chief Lynne Sipprelle

Features Abby Kanter Megha Nelivigi

News Katie Goldenberg Surya Gowda

Lions’ Den Natasha Stange Brody McGuinn William Han

Photography Abigail Kraus Ahaan Palla Jake Shapiro

Faculty Adviser David Berenson

Issues Editor Sadie Schwartz A&E Opinions Peri Brooks Rebecca Siegel Jeren Wei Abigail Goldberg-Zelizer Art Directors Juli Moreira Jackson Robers

Middle Division Sandhya Shyam

Design Editors Allison DeRose Caroline Kaplan Mark Fernandez

Online Editor Henry Wildermuth

Staff Writers Malhaar Agrawal, Laura Bae, Andrew Cassino, Mayanka Dhingra, Victor Dimitrov, Amelia Feiner, Mark Fernandez, Nelson Gaillard, Leonora Gogos, Jude Herwitz, Edwin Jin, Spencer Kahn, Samuel Keimweiss, Gabrielle Kepnes, Madison Li, Noah Phillips, Eliza Poster, Julia Robbins, Kiara Royer, Abigail Salzhauer, Nishtha Sharma, Griffin Smith, Benjamin Wang, Robbie Werdiger, Simon Yang, Isabella Zhang, Bradley Bennett, Sogona Cisse, Jackson Feigin, Adam Frommer, Andie Goldmacher, Marina Kazarian, John Mauro, Henry Owens, Emily Shi, Samuel Singer, Sasha Snyder, Vivien Sweet, Joshua Underberg, Talia Winiarsky Staff Photographers Eva Fortunato, Iliana Dezelic, Griffin Smith, Harrison Haft, Andrew Cassino, Julia Isko, Julia Robbins, Daniel Lee, Ava Merker Staff Artists Elizabeth Fortunato, Alexandra Crotty, Annabelle Chan

Jackson Roberts/Art Director

Jackson Roberts/Art Director

Editorial Policy ABOUT The Record is published weekly by the students of Horace Mann School to provide the community with information and entertainment, as well as various viewpoints in the forms of editorials and opinion columns. All editorial decisions regarding content, grammar and layout are made by the editorial board. The Record maintains membership in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and National Scholastic Press Association.

EDITORIALS & OPINIONS Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the majority of the senior editorial board. Opinion columns are the sole opinion of the author and not of The Record or the editorial board.

NOTE 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. The Horace Mann School is not responsible for the accuracy and content of The Record, and is not liable for any claims based on the contents or views expressed therein.

LETTERS To be considered for publication in the next issue, letters to the editor should be submitted by mail (The Record, 231 West 246th Street, Bronx, NY 10471) or e-mail (record@horacemann.org) before 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening. All submissions must be signed and should refer to a Record article. Letters may be edited for grammar, style, length and clarity.

CONTACT For all comments, queries, story suggestions, complaints or corrections, or for information about subscribing, please contact us by email at record@horacemann.org.

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HORACE MANN NEWS OCTOBER 18TH, 2018

Juniors take on independent study

Abigail Salzhauer Staff Writer

This year, Angie Cortez (11) and Sam Mayo (11) are the only juniors participating in the Independent Study course.

Independent Study is a full credit elective course in which students design and carry out their own projects on a topic of their choosing guided by a faculty mentor with whom they meet regularly. Students must apply to the course with a topic in mind, according to the independent study application.

Mayo and Cortez are not the first juniors to take Independent Study, Director of Independent Study Avram Schlesinger said. While some juniors apply almost every year, juniors rarely end up taking the course. For many of them, it is a second choice class or they are just not ready to take the course, he said.

While deciding whether or not to allow a junior to take the course, Schlesinger thinks about “both the

student and the project,” he said.

While there were applications, no juniors took the course during the 2017-2018 school year.

Though the work is no different for juniors than it is for seniors, students who take independent study as juniors can take the course again as a senior with a different project. This has been done three times in the past, Schlesinger said.

Mayo, who took independent study this year instead of a history, is studying abstract algebra and does not feel like being a junior in the class is different from being any other student enrolled in the course, he said.

“The only difference is not having as many close friends in the class,” Mayo said.

“I decided to take an independent study as a junior rather than as a senior because it was a topic I have wanted to know more about practically my whole life,” Cortez, who is studying the History and Evolution of Computers, said. “I just couldn’t wait to get started.”

Cortez already had a rough outline of what she wanted to study in early October of 2017, she said.

Schlesinger thinks that as the school transitions away from the AP curriculum, independent study will be a possibility for students to “engage in a discipline at a level that is different than they would in a traditional class,” he said.

Schlesinger doesn’t see a reason for juniors not to take independent study if they feel the topic that they are interested in is not covered in another class, and there are some instances where the student can only fit the course into their schedule their junior year, he said.

“I think independent study allows students to define, to a certain extent, who they are academically and I think that both juniors and seniors are figuring that out,” Schlesinger said.

“I don’t think seniors are necessarily better at figuring that out than juniors are, and its good for all students to be thinking about who they are academically.”

Andrew Cassino/Staff Photographer

Alex Crotty/Staff Artist

Robotics kicks off the season Marina Kazarian Staff Writer

ALGEBRA-TASTIC Sam Mayo (11) presents his Independent Study project.

Jeffrey Chen (11) and Rohan Bhatia (11) kickstart computer science company Bradley Bennett Staff Writer Last summer, Rohan Bhatia (11) and Jeffrey Chen (11) took their passion for technology beyond the classroom and started a computer science business called Project Syntax, which acts as a service that enables young children to learn computer science.

The project began as a link between programmers and corporate sponsorships, Bhatia said. The company would connect sponsors to kids who wanted to start hackathons, events in which a group of young programmers work together to build something that involves technology.

The connection between the programmers and sponsors is often hard to establish, which prompted Jeffrey and Rohan to take advantage of the relationship and make a profit.

“Sometimes [the sponsors] were donating $2500 to hackathons, so we decided to connect the hackathon to the sponsor,” Bhatia said.

“Jeffrey and Rohan’s idea for their business was an extension of a project they did in my Computer Science II class,” Computer Science and Robotics Department Chair Danah Screen said.

For their school project, the pair designed a tech company, and after developing a passion for the topic looked for a summer opportunity to build on their idea and start their business, she said.

“It’s the goal of every teacher for what we did in our classroom to go beyond the classroom at some point,” Screen said. “I was incredibly excited when they told me they would try to take their idea

Juli Moreira/Art Director

to the next level.”

Some of the sponsors Bhatia and Chen worked with included Microsoft, Google, and Linkedin, and the pair travelled to San Francisco, Chicago, and Toronto to promote their business and pitch their idea to companies.

“In the beginning we were taking about four to five percent of what the companies would donate or give to the hackathon as a fee for connecting them [to programmers], and the money would pile up,” Bhatia said. “But once we connected people, they didn’t need us anymore. So there were limited revenue streams remaining.”

When Bhatia and Chen spoke with companies, they were advised to change their business model so as to not function as the “middleman,” Bhatia said.

“As a team, we restructured our website, our money flow, and changed our business model canvas and went through that transition period, speaking to new people and using our connections,” he said.

The business switched to a different

model with the new goal of giving teachers from universities all around the world the opportunity to participate in teaching kids about computer science.

The model is based on a curriculum from Major League Hacking, one of the largest computer science education programs in the world, Bhatia said.

Although the team paid the teachers $20 an hour for their involvement, they earned revenue from payments from students, Bhatia said.

“The biggest thing that we took away from the project was how this process works and how Horace Mann kids are set up to succeed in real world situations based on the skills they’re taught in their classes,” Bhatia said.

Bhatia felt the pair had an advantage in speaking and communicating with partners and clients as well as overcoming problems due to the skills they learned at the school, he said.

“The most profitable thing for us was the real life business experience and getting to work with real people in the industry,” Chen said.

This year, the robotics team compete with robots built using a new milling machine, and will expand their horizons by participating in service learning programs and using different techniques to effectively design robots.

A new Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling machine will allow the team to achieve more ambitious goals during their robot building season this winter.

“Our mill removes material from a piece of wood or steel, and it automates that process. You can do it either by hand or you can code it into the machine and let it do the work for you,” Gabby Fischberg (10) said.

The robotics team is comprised of two programs, the First Robotics Competition (FRC) and the First Technical Challenge (FTC). FTC consists of three teams with a maximum of fifteen students each, whereas FRC is made up of one large team that has no cap on its size, William Golub (12), cocaptain of FRC, said.

There are three different divisions within the club: operations, software, and hardware.

Operations is in charge of outreach and public relations, and software is in charge of programming. The hardware division’s job is to make sure the team has a clear idea of what the robot’s design is, manage the online model of the robot, and plan deadlines, Mitchell Yu (10), head of the hardware division for FTC, said.

“This year, teams are made based off of team dynamic instead of skill or experience,” Yu said.

There are at least three qualifying competitions for FTC, followed

by NYC super qualifiers, NYC Championship, and Worlds, if the teams advance. FRC has two or three day competitions that are sometimes live streamed, Golub said.

The teams build robots that participate in games to earn points.

Last year, the game for the FRC robot required the robot to pick up blocks and then shoot them into goals. The team members cannot start building the robot until January 5th, the day they find out the game and purpose of the

robot this year, Fischberg, head of operations for FRC, said.

“During competitions, our robot is inspected to make sure that if fulfills the requirements. Then we go to a judging portion where we meet a panel of judges and talk about the robot and all of our outreach. After that, we play games where we actually use our robot to compete against other robots. We build our robot to be the best at the game assigned at the beginning of the season,” Erin Zhao (10), head of software for FTC, said.

Nisha Sahgal (12), co-captain of FTC and a member of the hardware division of FTC, describes FTC as a small company; the members decide how to get fifteen people to contribute to the goal effectively, she said.

Aside from the new milling machine, the team is also implementing new service learning and outreach opportunities both in and outside of school this year, Sahgal said.

“People get stressed out and we need to figure out how to deal with that on a robotics team where you also have to focus on the robot,” Sahgal said.

Whether it is a new technique, technology, or pushing the limits of what the members already know, Robotics Lab Manager Fred Levy always tries to bring something new to the team, he said.

This year, the team plans on becoming more familiar with CNC programming, a technology that allows the computer to control the operation of the machine, thus describing several different machines, Levy said.

“We are really excited to start using the mill to fabricate our own pieces,” Sahgal said.

In terms of building the robot, everyone plays a role in the process, and the members with more experience help and teach others how to use the tools to build the robot, Yu (10) said.

“This year, we are really emphasizing communication. We are making sure that everyone knows what is happening with the robot,” Audrey Yu (12), co-captain of FTC and a member of the hardware division, said.

“We like to think of our team as a family. It’s not only just working there, you also get to know people,” Yu (10) said.

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THE RECORD FEATURES OCTOBER 18TH, 2018

Blast from the Past: Teacher’s Jobs

Nishtha Sharma Staff Writer

From performing in Bangkok to working on Wall Street, school faculty have held a wide array of jobs before arriving at their current teaching careers at the school.

When she was seven years old, Theatre, Dance, and Film Studies Department Chair Alison Kolinski told her mom she wanted to be a professional dancer. A decade or so later, she was dancing and performing shows during world tours, she said.

Immediately after high school, Kolinski began dancing and singing in live shows as part of the Michigan Opera Theatre. Later on, she was a part of “Hooray for Hollywood,” a show highlighting Hollywood movies that began in Los Angeles and was promoted as a World Tour. Kolinski travelled to Montreal, Baghdad, Spain, Italy, and France, she said. Because she loved Paris so much, she lived and worked there for a year after her contract with “Hooray for Hollywood” ended, she said.

“I performed in a weekly variety show, a show where different guest stars would come on, and we would dance in numbers with them.

you have the opportunity to do multiple gigs,” she said.

However, after a 15-year career, Kolinski began to consider what she wanted to do next, since she knew performers tended to have short careers due to injuries or age, she said.

Kolinski felt that going into teaching was “a seamless transition,” she said. “I love teaching and carrying on traditions and imparting the knowledge I’ve gained to students.”

Across the world, English teacher Rebecca Bahr was the lead singer of a blues band in Bangkok, Thailand.

During her five years teaching at an international school, Bahr was approached by a colleague of hers who was interested in music, and she had a friend who was looking to start a band, she said. From there, the band booked their first gig and played at a local club three days a week.

After two or three years, Bahr moved to New York where she worked with her boyfriend at the time to perform jazz ballads once a week as well as at Thai restaurants and occasional weddings, she said. “Going from singing in Glee clubs and a cappella groups while

closely related to their fields today.

After receiving his doctorate,

Palfrey

she said.

“I entered graduate school and research

Courtesy of Ms. Kolinski

DANCING QUEEN Theatre, Dance, and Film Studies Department Chair Alison Kolinski featured in a Crystal Light commercial.

spent several years doing research related to his thesis, and a few years later, he joined a company that worked on semiconductor lasers, found in printers, CDs, and DVDs, he said. The company typically had contracts with government agencies, including NASA, who they assisted in using the specialized lasers for satellite communications, he said.

“

because I love chemistry and science. I wanted to continue studying and exploring the intricacies of synthetic inorganic chemistry with a specialty in inorganic spectroscopy,” she said.

Throughout her five years conducting research, Reesbeck worked with two students from Bar Ilan University in Israel who

I left much more dedicated to accomplishing a mission, whatever it may be, rather than personal gain.”

- MD History Teacher John McNally

RAISING THE BAHR English teacher Rebecca Bahr performs with her band.

That was a fantastic experience,” Kolinski said.

“I was known there as the ‘American jazz dancer’ by my coworkers.”

From Paris, Kolinski moved to New York City, where she was cast in the musical 42nd Street on Broadway and toured with the company to promote the show. At the same time, she acted in commercials, including a Pepsi ad featuring Michael Jackson, and in the 1982 movie Annie.

“One thing leads to the next, and when you’re lucky enough to be working in this industry,

admissions officer

Courtesy of Ms. Bahr

growing up to being the sole singer was a whole different experience…but I slowly got more comfortable, and it was a lot of fun,” Bahr said.

Performing gave Bahr a “transformation of confidence,” which she also applies when she teaches, she said. “Teaching is like a new challenge every day, and my singing prepared me for that.”

Other teachers, such as Science Department Chair Dr. Stephen Palfrey and science teacher Dr. Megan Reesbeck, have had in careers

Over time Palfrey realized he was more interested in the business and marketing side of technology, which led him to work for a large consulting firm instead, he said. Later, he also worked in venture capital and as a financial strategist on Wall Street.

“During each profession, I learned about what you need to do in order to accomplish something and how to work with people,” Palfrey said. “While I’ve often thought it would be fun to go back to any one of my past jobs, I’m much more interested in looking at what I do now and how I can improve that,” he said.

Reesbeck worked in a research lab during graduate school, where she spent the first two years taking classes and beginning research, and the last three purely focused on research,

nightclub bus boy

television producer

ice cream scooper

zookeeper congressional aide

Starbucks barista

member of the peace corps KFC

cook

were also working on similar projects. She would collaborate with others and travel approximately twice a year for conferences, she said.

However, Reesbeck chose to teach chemistry because she knew that pursuing academia or industry were not the best options for her, she said. “While I love science and working in the lab, research does require a certain resilience and drive. My work was purely academic meaning there were no direct applications and it did not provide a strong sense of purpose for me.”

Overall, her experience has greatly influenced her view of the greater world, she said. “[My experience] makes me question ‘how was this determined?’ and ‘how do we know?’ with curiosity, not anxiety.”

Visual Arts Teacher Kim Do was a street portrait artist briefly after graduate school. “I had done a lot of [charcoal drawings] since high school and throughout art school… I was pretty well-practiced, and it was something I knew I could do, so I decided to try it out,” he said.

Do’s first experience as a street artist was in Provincetown, MA, however, his first attempts were not very successful, he said. A year later, after painting the front of a café in Little Italy, the owner offered him the sidewalk to do street portraits for two weeks during a food festival, he said.

“I sat there waiting for customers mostly and did maybe three or four portraits in two weeks.

In the end, it wasn’t something which lured me in for the long-term, so I kept looking,” Do said.

Nonetheless, Do felt that street art was a good experience, he said. “It was good trying something outside of my comfort zone. I was a shy person and to interact with strangers was an exciting way to try something out,” he said.

“Street art wasn’t right for me, but I had to try it out to realize that it wasn’t actually a dead end.”

Middle Division history teacher John McNally began serving in the United States Army when he was 18, after attending the United States Military Academy, he said.

HORACE MANN FEATURES OCTOBER 18TH, 2018

The apple doesn’t fall far from the teacher’s desk: teacher-student families Isabella Zhang Staff Writer While most students think of school as a time away from, students whose parents work at the school share a different experience.

“Although there might be a whole taboo about my mom teaching at school, I find the situation bettering my relationship with her,” said Sadie Hill (10), youngest daughter of Middle Division Science Department Chair and science teacher Jodi Hill.

The traditional parent-child dynamic is different for teachers whose students attend the school as well. “Having a child with you

Now, however, Jackson thinks the situation is quite funny, and he often makes jokes about it. “Once I saw her in the hallway, and I said ‘Sup Homie’ as a joke trying to embarrass her,” he said.

“Running into dad in the hallways is always fun,” Emma Kelly ’18 said. “I would give him a smile and a nod, and occasionally a hug. As I got older, I would sometimes stop to update him about my day.”

“Rarely did a day go by when we wouldn’t see each other, but I tried to give her privacy,” Dr. Kelly wrote. “There was that one time when Emma texted me not to come down a certain hallway she was hanging out in with

Juli Moreira/Art Director

so well.”

Coach Troop recalled one moment years ago

I sent my child to HM because...

“

I know how stressful HM can be. I can understand the walls he walks, and give him the right amount of space to thrive.”

Dean of Class of 2020

“

- Rawlins Troop,

Physicsal Education Teacher

while working at HM is a gift! That said, it does require two or more members of the family feeling comfortable with home-life and work-life being somewhat integrated!” Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly, father of Emma Kelly ’18 wrote in an email.

“There are definitely more perks than bad things for having a parent at school,” said Sadie Hill (10), Middle Division Science Department Chair and teacher Jodi Hill’s youngest daughter.

When Jackson Feigin (10) was younger he felt a little weird having his mom, Dean of the Class of 2020 and science teacher Stephanie Feigin, work at school, but as he matured it became convenient having her there, he said.

“He often keeps his bags in my office, and comes to my office for snacks. I also come in handy when he needs money to buy something at the bake sale,” Stephanie Feigin said.

Courtesy of Emma Kelly

LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly and Emma Kelly ‘18.

Dr. Kelly taught her how to ride a bike through the halls of Tillinghast. Another time, when she explored the roof of Tillinghast, Dr. Kelly had one of the school’s Public Safety Officers escort them home so they would know what it would feel like if they ever did it again, he said.

While Dean Feigin feels teaching at the school allows her to support her son, she can also “give him the right amount of space to thrive,” she said. Because the school is big enough, they rarely see each other. She chooses not to teach Jackson’s grade, and if he gets in trouble or has any issues, he can talk to his dean or advisor, she said.

Coach Troop also tries to stay out of his kids’

The school here is amazing and everything worked out perfectly for my family.”

- Stephanie Feigin,

The education here is amazing, and I trust everyone here.”

“ “

5

“

It’s a wonderful place to go to school.”

- Jodi Hill,

Middle Division Science Department Chair

her friends!”

Middle Division history teacher Catherine Garrison ’01, daughter of Upper Division Tutoring Center Director Lionel Garrison, would always became embarrassed and annoyed when he was on cafeteria duty, because she did not want him to go up to her friends and ask them to put their trays away, Lionel Garrison said.

Kelly Troop (10), daughter of Physical Education teacher and coach Rawlins Troop, said her father gives her the right amount of space, but is also there for her whenever she wants to talk.

“Knowing my dad is just across the field from me is very nice,” Kelly said.

“Sending my five kids to the school is the best decision I ever made,” Coach Troop said.

“Not a lot of fathers can get to know their kids

Courtesy of Grace Hill

- Lionel Garrison,

Director of Upper Division Tutoring Center

Hands down, the educational experience at HM was the greatest gift I could have given Emma. What the faculty, staff and administration have done and continue to do for Emma and her classmates is nothing short of spectacular.”

- Tom Kelly, Head of School

when his son Max Troop ’07 was in middle school. Max broke his arm swinging on a pipe, came out of the locker room with a broken arm, and walked right into his father, he said.

“I always knew what was going on,” Coach Troop said.

Grace Hill (’18), Ms. Hill’s eldest daughter, also liked having her mother around for middle and high school. “I left my clarinet under her desk, so when I had band I would visit her in her office and talk about my day,” she said.

Now in college, Grace said she misses having her mother around, and also misses the lifelong connections she has had with teachers ever since she was a baby.

“I am a lifer,” she said. “The school, the faculties, and my mom were my biggest support.”

Emma is also a “lifer.” When she was young,

Courtesy of Jackson Feigin

HILL SCHOOL Grace ‘18 and Sadie (10) THE FEIGIN FAM UD Dean Stephanie Feigin with mom/MD Science Chair Jodi Hill. spends time with son Jackson (10).

business.

“I only got involved in things if a teacher approached me, or if they needed me,” he said, “but everybody always looked out for them. It was like their second home.”

Working at the school also makes it “more convenient for after school activities as well,” Dean Feigin said. “Because I go to the same school as my kids, I am able to go to all of Jackson’s soccer games.”

“I am able to be a little more involved in their lives,” Dr. Garrison said of Catherine and his son, Registrar Chris Garrison. “I went to their plays, and I would visit them in the lower school and play chess with them.”

“Selfishly,” Dean Feigin said, “I cherish the times with my kids in the car and these small chunks of time made possible because my kids go to the same school as me.”

Courtesy of Kelly Troop

FAMILY OF TROOPERS Kelly (10) and father/ PE teacher Rawlins Troop attend Caroline’s ‘18 graduation.

6

THE RECORD ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 18TH, 2018

Faculty and students explore novel modes of storytelling in Upper Division Tectonic Theatre workshop Isabella Abbott Contributing Writer On Wednesday, Theatre Teacher Benjamin Posner hosted an Upper Division theatre workshop with a teaching artist from the Tectonic Theatre Project to broaden the artistic and creative horizons of students and faculty alike.

Based in NYC, the Tectonic Theatre Project aims to explore and utilize new theatrical forms and languages through their process of “moment work.” The teaching artist led the students through their process of moment work to devise what he calls “moments” or units of theatrical time beginning an action by saying “I begin” and ending it by saying “I end.”

The participants were all asked to bring a wide range of tools with them to the workshop including a portable light source, a small prop item and a costume piece to incorporate into their “moments.”

Structured around creating moments that highlighted certain aspects of the theatre in three separate activities, the activity accentuated the architecture of the space, the light surrounding them, and the props they were instructed to bring.

“The purpose of this is to learn new ways to make theatre happen.

I also hope that the students in my performance class were able to learn different tools for storytelling that we can use in our classwork,” Posner said.

For students who did not take Posner’s

performing arts class, Posner aimed to have them “come away having a theatrical experience and maybe even feel empowered to take one of our classes,” he said.

Jordan Ferdman (10), who took Posner’s History of American Musical Theatre class last year, decided to participate in this workshop to learn more about novel approaches to performance and playmaking.

“I think the biggest thing I learned was that the creation of plays isn’t necessarily linear, and there are so many ways to get to a finished product,” Ferdman said. “This workshop helped me realize that the moments we think of as insignificant in theatre are really essential to the story and the artform.”

Grace Ermias (11), a member of Posner’s playwriting class, attended the workshop hoping to expand her previous knowledge of moment work acquired from the theatre class she took last year.

“I went into the workshop thinking we would use moment work similarly to how we did in last year’s workshop, but the work we did this time totally changed how I thought about the creative process of a performance,” Ermias said.

She enjoyed working in a setting with teachers where everyone was trying to accomplish a common goal, and the workshop allowed her to see a side of teachers that are otherwise not seen in a classroom environment, she said.

Administrative Assistant to the

Grade Deans Ennis Smith, particularly enjoyed the workshop’s “exploration of light, and learned what a useful element that can be when you’re telling a story on stage,” he said.

Posner also hoped that by including teachers of all departments instead of limiting it to those in the arts, the performance would allow students to learn more about the multitude of ways in which plays can be created, he said.

He believes workshops like these are beneficial to those involved with

the Royal Shakespeare Company, a school affiliated theatre organization based in London, as it allows them to bring new methods of teaching and performing Shakespeare in a classroom environment, he said.

On a larger scale, Posner believes that the skills students can learn through theatre and storytelling are essential to their everyday lives, he said.

“No matter what you end up doing, there is always going to be a frame of information you are trying

to share, and theatre teaches you how to communicate with your audience,” Posner said.

“Theater, by nature, makes the artist acknowledge the audience in the equation of performance,” Middle Division English teacher Isaac Brooks said. “When you perform, you are living the audience’s reactions. The feedback is immediate and your ability to pivot and craft a better product is more rewarding. HM students and teachers need more of these kinds of experiences.”

MOMENT TO MOMENT Faculty and students participate in theatre activities.

Julia Isko/ Staff Photographer

Poets in the making: students attend Dodge Poetry Festival Adam Frommer Staff Writer

Today, students, led by Englisht Teacher Rebecca Bahr, will attend the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry festival and listen to poets perform their artwork, share their stories, and teach their craft.

Bahr started encouraging students to attend the Dodge Poetry Festival over 10 years ago after going with her husband, and every year the group has grown, she said.

With few opportunities to listen to readings from contemporary poets beyond attending slam poetry, students enrolled in Bahr’s 12th grade poetry elective as well as other poetry lovers have the chance to experience live poetry readings at the festival, Bahr said.

Despite not having enrolled in

Bahr’s poetry elective this year, Natasha Gaither (12), inspired by Bahr’s poetry unit in English 11, plans to attend the event for the first time. “[Bahr] made us keep journals, find poems every night, and write reflections about them, so that’s what got me started,” Gaither said.

Students will attend multiple hourlong panels and have the opportunity to walk around, see different poets, and hear them read, Claire Yoo (12) said.

It is inspiring to catch well known poets, like Rita Dove, and be able to interpret and listen to a number of their less readily available works, English teacher Dr. Wendy Steiner, said.

In previous years, it was so great to hear these new poets, and hear them bring their work to life, Yoo said.

“The poets who were there talked

to the people attending the festival as if they were peers - even though poet laureate Billy Collins was there, I felt like through our crafts we were connected,” Emma Jones ’18 said.

Two years ago, during the last trip, Jones and Tishiya Carey ’17 read their own poetry at the festival. “They all spontaneously got up and read and were fantastic,” Bahr said. They learned about who they were as poets and what their poetry was all about, she said.

“The open mic I did there was great because it just felt so accepting, and everyone had just come there with their own stories to tell through poetry,” Jones said.

“I was too intimidated to read anything that I had written, but I shared [Tishiya’s] pride in that she felt comfortable enough to share the more vulnerable parts of herself with

strangers,” Ricardo Pinnock ’18, who attended the festival two years ago, said.

The ultimate goal of the event is to have people be more immersed in poetry, exposed to the art form, and inspired to read and write poetry, Bahr said.

“I learned that my ear is more powerful than I thought it was,” Pinnock said. “An undervalued aspect of the writing process is listening to your writing and other people’s writing. Finding the right words that sound good to me became more important after I attended the conference.”

While Jones attended the Dodge

Halloween s c e R rd E di o c e

n tio

R

Poetry Festival, a filmmaker interviewed her about her work and recorded her reading at the open mic, she said.

“It made me feel like I was being taken seriously, and that was really powerful,” Jones said.

The festival is a wonderful opportunity for all high schoolers to appreciate poetry in a new, exciting way, Yoo said.

“The writers of the poetry themselves bring their work to life in a way that only they will truly be able to since it is their own work. I think that it’s a very rare opportunity to have, and this is a great way to take advantage of it,” Yoo said.

Movies to Watch HalloweenTown Nightmare on Elm Street The Shining Rosemary’s Bary

Annabelle Chan/ Art Director

Juli Moreira/Art Director

7

HORACE MANN MIDDLE DIVISION OCTOBER 18TH, 2018 Griffin Smith/Staff Photographer

Students discuss Refugee with senior citizens

Julia Goldberg ContributingWriter

MAKING AN IMPACT Students interview service learning representatives.

Assembly explores servicelearning opportunities Natalie Sweet Staff Writer This past Thursday, several Upper and Middle Division (MD) students sat down with staff from different New York community service organizations for a Q and A session. The discussion occurred during a service learning assembly led by MD history teacher and service learning coordinator Caitlin Hickerson.

Madison Kim (7), Zachary Kurtz (8), and Laila Farmer (9) interviewed representatives Neill Bogan from the New York Common Pantry, Emily LoBou from Sanctuary for Families and Mary Anne Sheridan from the Mercy Center.

The Mercy Center has a long-standing tradition of partnering with the school for events such as the sixth grade service learning carnival, Kim said. The questions she prepared included asking what role the Mercy Center plays in the Mott Haven community, where the center is located in the Bronx, and what students can do to support or help the Mercy Center, she said.

The assembly also included information about the Sanctuary for Families dinner in the winter, where children and their families come to the school for a night of food and fun, Farmer said. Sanctuary for Families is an organization primarily located in the Bronx that works with families who’ve experienced abuse, she said.

During the Sanctuary for Families dinner, student volunteers play games with the children and do activities such as face painting, Farmer said.

“Overall, it’s a really good and happy time for the community, and seeing all the smiles of the children is really fun and heartwarming,” she said.

During the assembly, LoBou talked about the different programs that the Mercy Center runs.

“We have eight English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for parents who want to learn English, which serve 250 adults per day,” she said. “We also have a family-oriented program called ‘Families Moving Forward,’ which has over 400 participants,” she said.

Kurtz asked Bogan about the size of New York Common Pantry.

“We distribute groceries to about 400 households, as well as running a hot meals program that serves breakfast and dinners,” he said.

Later in the assembly, Bogan reflected on how

important training volunteers properly is, since the New York Common Pantry is almost entirely volunteer run.

“It’s really important for the volunteers to understand that the people they’re working with are just like them, so they should treat others the way they wanted to be treated,” he said.

Sheridan strongly agreed with Bogan, she said.

The circumstances of those coming to Sanctuary for Families may be different, but they are just like everyone else, she said.

“At Sanctuary for Families, we try to make sure that everyone feels that their self-worth is still looked upon with respect, no matter what situation they may be in,” she said.

According to Hickerson, service learning assemblies for the MD have occurred in the past as well. However, they have typically been geared to one grade, while this assembly is meant for all grades to learn from, she said.

The goal of the assembly was to give the students a better sense of how our contributions impact the community and why service learning work is so important, Hickerson said.

“I want to give our community a solid foundation and understanding of who they are working with and what they can expect when they participate in service activities,” she said.

Students should know about the community around them and how they can help it, Kim said.

The assembly was a good opportunity to hear how students can participate through service learning, Farmer said.

“To most people, service learning sounds like a chore, so I hope the assembly can help people realize that it’s actually a lot of fun,” she said.

Kurtz thought it was exciting to meet people the school has worked with to organize service learning programs before, he said.

“It was really interesting to learn about how these organizations provide fundamental resources that most students take for granted,” he said.

In the future, Hickerson is looking forward to expanding he MD service learning program, she said.

“I look forward to working with the grade deans and Norma Rodriguez on creating some richer preparation and reflection activities for advisory,” she said.

Last Wednesday, Middle Division (MD) Service Learning Coordinator Caitlin Hickerson offered eighth graders the opportunity to discuss the book Refugee by Alan Gratz with residents from the Bronx Jewish Community Center (BJCC).

Although the trip was optional, the seven eighth graders that attended fulfilled their off-campus service learning requirement.

Hickerson found Refugee “wonderfully constructed, incredibly moving, and totally age appropriate,” and “hoped the trip to the BJCC could provide a chance to talk about personal stories of migration across generations,” she said.

When the eighth graders arrived, they met four of the residents of the BJCC, all of whom were senior citizens. “We all sat down together to discuss the book, the writing, and each person’s personal reflection,” Louise Kim (8) said.

Kim thought it was fascinating to talk about the connections between Refugee and current events, such as the Syrian Civil War and improper media coverage of refugees and immigrants, she said.“I found it really interesting to hear the ideas of people that have such a different perspective than I do.”

Sylvie Seo (8), who also went on the trip, was enthusiastic about spending time with others who relate to Refugee differently, she said. Before going, she anticipated “a very stimulating conversation” and was not disappointed, she said.

Each resident shared where their families BJCC were from, and told stories that connected to Refugee, Seo said.

“We also discussed the most frightening scenes, our favorite parts of the book, symbolism, and other characteristics that make the book so special,” Avi Kumar (8)

said.

The HM Newbury Committee, led by librarian Rachael Ricker, had selected Refugee previously for the entire MD to read. Every year, the committee, comprised of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, works on finding one book they think the entire division would enjoy. They begin with a list of upwards of 30 books and slowly narrow the list down.

“Refugee was so good, most of us knew it would win,” Kimsaid. “The storyline was intriguing and intense, the plot twists were unexpected, and the ending was phenomenal.”

The book intertwines three stories, all centered around escape: Josef, a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany, Isabel, a Cuban girl in 1994, and Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015.

“I’ve never seen a book resonate so well with sixth, seventh, and eighth graders,” Ricker said. “It truly offered something for everyone,” she said.

“No one really knows what it’s like to be a refugee except for refugees themselves, so this book helps us learn and understand all they’ve been through,” Seo said.

On September 20th, the author of Refugee, Alan Gratz, visited a C period assembly and hosted a Q&A with the Newbery Committee.

Kim thought Gratz’s assembly was especially creative and original, she said.

“It was similar to that of a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ type story; the audience was able to choose their own path with a raise of hands,” she said.

“I thought it was really interesting the way Alan Gratz wrote Refugee, and as a writer myself I appreciate how much time, effort and research he put into one book.

He is truly an inspiration to all readers and writers,” she said.

Alex Crotty/Staff Artist

Looking To Next Week...

Parents In Action (PIA) 7th grade meeting - Tuesday, October 23rd Coffee and Conversation with Dr. Kelly - Thursday, October 25th 7th grade Parent Visiting Day - Friday, October 26th

Lions’ Den Record Sports

OCTOBER 18TH, 2018

Win of the Week: Girls Varsity Tennis Courtesy of Nelson Gaillard

Anrew Cassino Staff Writer

CLUTCH WIN A long and close match against Hackley ends in a victory.

Boys Varsity Soccer dribbles to victory Jack Crovitz Contributing Writer

The Boys Varsity Soccer Team beat Fieldston on Monday in a last-minute comeback. Although they were losing at the start of the second half, two goals scored by Evan Buonagurio (12) brought the Lions the victory. The team also won 1­-0 in a game against Collegiate on Wednesday, making their record this season 7-­5.

The team has performed impressively due to a combination of experienced and new players, Head Coach Neil Berniker said.

“The last couple of games have been going very well,” he said. “It’s progressing very nicely.”

One of the team’s strengths has been their defense. “The defense has proven to be really great,” goalkeeper Richard Hausman (12) said.

However, the team has struggled in coordination between the lines, particularly in building an attack, Hausman said.

The team is currently ranked fifth in the Ivy Preparatory League, behind Hackley, Riverdale, Dalton and Trinity.

The team hopes to rise to fourth place soon, Jeffrey Chen (11) said.

Girls Varsity Field Hockey roars through the season

“I feel we have the potential to finish higher in the rankings,” he said.

The next couple games are especially important, Berniker said.

“Every win or tie brings us one step closer to the New York state’s consideration for the post­ season tournament,” he said.

“I think that we have the skills and players to make States as long as we play our hearts out every single game,” Chen said.

The team is also particularly close-­ knit, Hausman said. “Everyone is very supportive and collaborative this year,” Hausman said.

The team captains, Evan Buonagurio (12), Gavin Delanty (12), and Melchior Lee (12) have been especially inclusive, Chen said.

“They encourage every single player to reach their full potential,” he said.

Another strength of the team has been their work ethic, shown in early­ morning practices, Hausman said.

“The fact that people would come to practice that early in the morning is amazing,” Hausman said.”

Some players who have been especially influential in this season’s success are goalie Hausman, midfielder Philippe Boulas (12), and midfielder Delanty, who are “all leaders of the team,” Berniker said.

Heading into the final stretch of their season with a 5-4 record, the Varsity Field Hockey team hopes to continue their success with victories in the upcoming games against Masters, the Brearley-Chapin Invitational, and the New York State Association of Independent School (NYSAIS) games.

They will face Masters on Friday, October 19, followed by the multiteam Brearley-Chapin Invitational.

The opening round of NYSIAS will be on Monday, October 29th.

The NYSAIS games are especially important to the team because it gives them a final chance to face their opponents, Jolie Nelsen (10) said.

Right now, co-captain Julia Roth (12) predicts that the team will be in the fifth, sixth, or seventh seed. Being in the fifth seed would be ideal for the team because then they would play against the fourth seed, Nelsen said.

The team is mostly underclassmen, Coach Surhoff said, although there are four returning starters from last season. She added that four ninth graders have taken on responsibility of playing in intense games. “I am excited for these girls and their progression in field hockey through the coming years,” she said. Coach Surhoff added that the team is supportive and cooperative of each other.

Similarly, co-captain Katie Goldenberg (12) credits the team’s success to teamwork. “We always make sure to look up and communicate on the field,” she said.

“The team has had amazing wins,” co-captain Julia Roth (12) said . The most memorable game of the season for Roth was the team’s Homecoming game, when they had a win against Fieldston in overtime to wrap up at 4-3.

“The energy and the determination of the team was especially prominent because it was Homecoming,” Roth said.

Roth also said that the field hockey experience is enhanced by friendships among teammates, both on and off the field. The strong leadership by returning players is complemented by the enthusiasm of the team’s many underclassmen, and the friendships

are fluid between teammates in different grades.

To incorporate the underclassmen, the team created mentoring groups, and assigned one upperclassman to practice with younger players to help improve their skills, Goldenberg said. In her fourth year on the team, Goldenberg feels that it is rewarding to serve as captain, after having senior role models whom she had looked up to previously. “It’s nice to get to know people from different branches of the community,” she said.

Abi Kraus/Photo Editor

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Field hockey putting in work during training.

Ready, Set, Squash!

Talia Winiarsky Staff Writer

Abi Kraus/Photo Editor

Jackson Robert/Arts Director

ON THE BALL Phillipe Boulas (12) goes for the ball.

8

Last Monday, the Boys and Girls Varsity Squash teams had an organizational meeting to prepare for the upcoming squash season. Coach Ronnie Beller will be holding tryouts starting on November 7th.

Beller hopes to have the teams finalized by November 14th. He doesn’t have a set number of players he wants to keep but prefers to keep as many as possible, he said “I expect both squash teams to play for each other and foster that team

spirit we have displayed the past few years,” Beller said.

Although the team was co-ed in the past, squash will be splitting up into two teams. Rhea Sanger (11) and Chloe Kim (11) are both looking forward to having a separate girls team.

Sanger expects the teams to switch off going to Sarah Lawrence College for practice as well as working out in the fitness center. She also found a facility in Westchester that one of the

teams would be able to use in the event of both teams having matches.

Sanger is happy about all the interest in the team she’s seen in freshmen and new students, she said.

Connor Morris (12) is excited about the split as more students are now able to play on the team.

“There are a lot of great squash players at the school,” Morris said.

“There are not so many spots on the team: we only play seven in the lineup.

Splitting into two teams will allow 14 players to get into that lineup and make an impact on HM squash.” “I’m not technically on the team yet, but I feel like a part of the family. I feel as if I’ve been on the team my whole life,” Sam Mayo (11) said.

Having to take a bus to Sarah Lawrence College for practice limits the amount of time the team can practice Morris said. Efficiency is very important with such time constraints, he said.

“Coach Beller does a great job organizing practice for us, bringing us to Sarah Lawrence, getting us disciplined, and making the best use of the time we have on the courts,” Peter Lehv (11) said.

Every year, the team competes for an Ivy League title. Morris hopes to take home the title this year, he said.

For the first time, Squash will be competing in the NYSAIS championship. Sanger expects the competition to be fierce but has confidence in the abilities of her teammates, she said.