Issue 10

Volume 119 Issue 10

The Record Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903 Courtesy of Barry Bienstock

Bienstock edits collection of essays by late wife Professor Jan Ellen Lewis Allison Markman Staff Writer History teacher Barry Bienstock published his newest book, “Family, Slavery, and Love in the Early American Republic: The Essays of Jan Ellen Lewis,” this October. The book is a collection of thirteen essays by his late wife, Professor Jan Ellen Lewis, contributing to the fields of gender, slavery, the Constitution, and Jefferson studies, while also helping to develop the field of the history of emotions.

The book received positive recognition for its excellent historical analysis and important insights, Bienstock said. Lapham’s Quarterly ran an excerpt from the book and Book Authority listed it as second out of the 33 most influential and important books about slavery that must be read in 2022.

Professor Lewis helped shape many developing fields of history, Bienstock said. She was among the first to write about the history of emotions, he said.

Bienstock wanted to publish the book not only to honor his wife, but also as something for his grandchildren to remember her by.

“One of the things that most distressed my wife when she got her terminal diagnosis was that her granddaughters would grow up not remembering her, so this book is dedicated to them,” he said. “My hope is as they get older, it gives them a direct connection to her.”

Bienstock is excited that the book is finally published and completed, as he has been working on it since 2019. “It’s a strange feeling because it’s out there in the world, and I’m just going to see what the reaction is,” he said. So far, seeing the public’s reaction has been gratifying, he said.

“People have told me how beautiful the book is and how excited they are to read essays that they had not known about,” Bienstock said. “I was pleased to see the book excerpt published in ‘Lapham’s Quarterly,’ and I was thrilled that Book Authority identified the book as a ‘must read’ book on slavery.”

The book is organized into four sections: Gender in the Early American Republic, The History of Emotions, Constitutional and Legal History, and Thomas Jefferson Studies. The framing essays for each section were written by renowned historians Carolyn Eastman, Nicole Eustace P’ 24, David Waldsteicher, Annette Gordon-Reed, and Peter S. Onuf, he said.

“Rather than being simply compartmentalized into one field of

gender studies or race, she looked at the entire field of the early national period and the influence that politics, gender, race, and the Constitution, all had together,” Bienstock said.

In 2019, Bienstock reached out to publishers to begin the publishing process. Signing the book contract was thrilling for Bienstock because he felt like it was the right time to publish Lewis’ work, he said. “It’s a really prestigious publisher,” he said.

“They do only seven or eight books a year, and they put a lot of care and attention into the quality of their books. The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in conjunction with the University of North Carolina Press is known in the profession of producing some of those important books in American history.”

Many of the historians Bienstock chose to write the framing essays attended a session of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic in 2019, an event where Bienstcok suggested scholars to discuss Lewis’ research, he said.

“Those were the people who later contributed the framing essays for the book. They are people who are distinguished historians – who I knew really appreciated Jan’s scholarship,” he said.

It was not difficult for Bienstock to find the material Lewis had created, because she wrote so much, he said.

Instead, the process became about narrowing all the essays down. “She had published a lot over the years and written a lot,” he said. “So it was winnowing it down to ultimately what we thought were the best of those articles and they came down to 13.”

Tracking down all of the sources Lewis used to ensure proper citation was one of the more challenging aspects of the process, Beinstock said.

“The publisher wanted to double check everything before it was published.

That meant I also had to go through her files and see her handwriting and the meticulous notes she took as she was doing her research.”

Through the process, Bienstock refamiliarized himself with all of Lewis’ extensive research, which spanned over four decades, he said.

Lewis first became interested in Jefferson studies during her time in graduate school with the publication of “Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History (1974)” by Fawn M. Brodie, which provided an intimate look into Jefferson’s private life, Beinstock said.

Brodie was the first major historian to suggest that Jefferson had a relationship with an enslaved woman

named Sally Hemmings, he said.

On November 12, historian Robert Caro ‘53 hosted a book publication party to celebrate Bienstock’s accomplishment. Caro held the event for Bienstock because they have become friends over the years, and Caro was also a friend of Lewis, Beinstock said. “He was very impressed with the quality of the book and also the physical look of the book.”

40 people attended including alums, Bienstock’s co-editors Peter Onuf and Annette Gordon-Reed, the historians who wrote the framing essays, people in publishing who were friends of Bienstock, and colleagues, he said.

Of the 40 people in attendance, five were Bienstock’s former students, whose graduation classes ranged from 1986 to 2017. “It was a pretty thrilling evening,” he said.

History teacher Dr. Elisa Milkes said the event felt very communal, as almost all of the people in attendance were friends of Bienstock, she said.

The event felt like a celebration; it recognized the work that went into publishing the book and honored Professor Lewis’ contributions, Milkes said.

The most memorable aspect of the event for Milkes was the speech Bienstock delivered, she said. “[He discussed] why it was so important for this book to come out as a tribute to his wife, and also all the other scholars that she mentored in their scholarly work and in their personal lives. I think his speech was able to really bring that out, and how connected they were,” she said.

Head of the Upper Division Jessica Levenstein said that in addition to being a celebration of the publication of the book the event was also very moving as it honored Lewis. “There were speeches that various people gave at the party, and a lot of them really spoke about Jan Lewis’s impact as a human being, so it was really very beautiful,” she said.

During his speech, Bienstock discussed the cover art on the book, Levenstein said. “He said he wanted the cover of the book to be as beautiful as Jan.” Caro also delivered a speech at the event that discussed Bienstock and their relationship, Levenstein said.

“Robert Caro gave a really beautiful speech about Mr. Bienstock and their friendship and how Mr. Bienstock was responsible for Mr. Caro’s relationship to Horace Mann, and for the prize that’s in Mr. Caro’s name.”

December 3rd, 2021

First Environmental Issues Series spotlights Flowers Hannah Katzke and Kate Beckler Staff and Contributing Writers

PUBLISHING PARTY Bienstock, Caro, and colleagues celebrate release of Professor Lewis’ essays.

record.horacemann.org

Author and activist Catherine Coleman Flowers discussed the importance of looking beyond oneself and taking action on behalf of environmental issues at the first Upper Division (UD) Environmental Issues Series: “Where Do We Go From Here?: A Multifaceted Look at Climate Change and the Environmental Issues We Face” on Tuesday. Claire Goldberg (12) moderated the event with history teacher Dr. Ellen Bales and math and science teacher Catherine Crowley.

Flowers founded the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ), an organization that advocates for environmental justice, according to the Speaker Series’ website. Growing up in Lowndes County, Alabama, Flowers saw how poverty and failing infrastructure contaminated the county’s drinking water and people’s backyards with sewage.

After the success of the UD History Series last year, Goldberg was inspired to start a series on the importance of race and justice on climate change and the environment, she said. “I thought that the Environmental Speaker

“

commitment to approaching everyone as people first rather than assuming their character based on political beliefs, she said. “That seemed to me like both a pragmatic and a generous and human way to be in the world. It’s a model for all of us.”

Flowers also discussed how activism is only successful if people work together, she said. “We’re all part of an ecosystem, and everyone is responsible for their own actions and those actions’ outcomes.”

Throughout the event, Flowers stressed the urgency of environmental issues and how sitting back and doing nothing will only lead to further destruction, she said.

Bales hopes that the Environmental Issues Series created a space for people to discuss and understand the urgency of pressing environmental issues, she said. “Not everyone has to be an activist, not everyone has to be a scientist, but there are ways we can all contribute.”

After a great turnout, Goldberg hopes that Flower’s words motivate people to think about the environmental impacts of racist histories and policies, Goldberg said.

“If even a few kids resonate with what Flowers said yesterday, it would be a success.”

Goldberg hopes the event exposed

“We’re all part of an ecosystem, and everyone is responsible for their own actions and those actions’ outcomes.”

- Catherine Coleman Flowers

Series could complement the history speaker series in a powerful way that will hopefully spark important conversations.”

While the event style is similar to that of the UD History Series, the UD Environmental Issues Series centers solely around environmental issues, Bales said.

During the event, Flowers spoke about how her experience as a teacher gave her the skills needed to be a successful activist, she said. She focuses on sanitation issues in rural communities like Lowndes County because many people, especially in urban areas, do not understand what these communities face unless they see it themselves.

When reaching out to potential speakers, Bales saw Flowers as the dream candidate, she said.

Bales found Flowers’ advocacy for sanitation and waste as human rights to be inspiring, she said.

In 2020, Flowers published her memoir, “Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret,” which addresses the consequences of climate change for marginalized groups and access to proper sanitation.

In preparation for the UD Environmental Issues Series, Bales taught Flowers’ memoir to her Global Environmental History, Atlantic World History, and US History classes, she said.

During the event, Flowers said she was surprised by the support she received from people of all political backgrounds. She tries to bridge divides through dialogue, she said.

Bales appreciated Flowers’

attendees to living conditions that exist outside of the urban environment that most students live in, she said. Most members of the community do not even know these conditions — where people do not have access to basic resources like sanitation disposal — exist, she said.“I hope that everyone who comes to the speaker series reconsiders what things in their lives they take for granted.”

Flowers’ stories of important front-line work as well as her warmth and relatability were phenomenal, Rosenblum said. “Many people were able to connect with [Flowers] on different levels.”

Scientist Benjamin Strauss will be the guest speaker at the February Environmental Issues Series, and students will hear from environmental historians Bathsheba Demuth and Jack Davis in April.

Courtesy of Speaker Series website

CATHERINE COLEMAN FLOWERS

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THE RECORD OPINIONS AND NEWS DECEMBER 3RD, 2021

Prioritizing mental health requires deeper change in school culture

Avani Khorana Ever since I came to HM I have held myself to a high standard and repeatedly ignored and invalidated my struggles with mental health. I believe that this willful disregard of poor mental health stems from the prominent culture of pressure at HM. There is a prestige that comes along with the Horace Mann name and after transfering from a much more relaxed public school, I felt the need to push myself past my limits if I had any hope of standing a chance in such a highly competitive environment.

In recent years, stress has become a big topic of discussion within our community. It’s important for students to understand that they’re not alone in their struggles, but

oftentimes I ignore my stress because I know that I’m not the only one who has a lot of work or multiple assessments the next day. I do believe that mental health should be a top priority, but no matter how much I tell myself that, I still have yet to put it before school. I think that I continue to put pressure on myself because, after being in such an overly academically rigorous environment for so long, that’s what I’ve been conditioned to do.

There are, of course, a multitude of circumstances which can contribute to students’ mental health outside of school. Other factors, such as familial relationships and social life, are also aspects of a person’s life which play a large role in their mental health. For me, the majority of my life revolves around school. Along with increasing my stress levels in terms of academics, school has caused strains between me and my parents and influenced my social life to varying degrees. When I’m both physically and mentally exhausted I tend to take it out on the people close to me, and it’s hard to find time to just relax and talk to my family and friends without worrying about the work I need to get done.

I spend seven hours a day in class, another two to three hours in varying extracurriculars, then four or so hours trying to work on my

assignments. On a good day, I then go to sleep for somewhere between five and six hours, until my alarm blares and signals that it’s time to do it all over again. This is not the same reality for every HM student, but the work we are expected to do puts a lot on our plates. I’ve always been told that if I just do my best everything will be okay. But what happens when my best isn’t good enough? What happens when I exhaust myself trying to complete more work than I can handle? High school is too early to be burning ourselves out.

Whenever I have felt unable to work because of burnout in the past, I used to try to give myself some time to step back and relax. However, I soon realized that I wasn’t actually able to recharge, because all I was doing was beating myself up for “procrastinating” my work. I was using that time to scream at myself internally for not doing enough of what I felt was expected of me.

Instead of my relaxation time being relaxation time, I was just burning myself out more because I wasn’t allowing myself to truly unwind.

I told myself that it was my fault for “procrastinating” and as such ignored the detrimental effect this kind of internal punishment had on my mental health.

While it’s crucial for students to

Upperclassmen regain open campus privileges Athena Rem Staff Writer

The Upper Division (UD) announced this past weekend that 11th and 12th graders will be allowed to leave and return to campus at any time during the day and that all students will be permitted to order food to campus.

The campus closed for all students at the beginning of last year due to the risk of COVID spreading from off campus, Head of the UD Jessica Levenstein said. Though the administration had considered returning to an open campus policy in the spring of 2021, Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly ultimately decided to hold off on reinstating it until this year, she said.

Since the majority of students are vaccinated, there is little risk in going down the hill if students are masked when they enter stores and restaurants, Levenstein said. Additionally, since students are already permitted to attend out-ofschool clubs and other activities, there was no benefit or safety gained by not letting students off campus, she said.

The UD administration considered ways to make the delivery process safer, Dean of Students Michael Dalo said. “We are requiring that all delivery people wear masks,” he said.

“We are also expecting that any students who might go off campus wear masks in stores and restaurants when picking up food.” Additionally, deliveries are only allowed to be brought to the security desk in Olshan.

The administration also decided to exclude underclassmen from the change for the time being, Dalo said. “We want to start pulling back on the protocols gradually, but we have also had more incidents of ninth and tenth graders not

being compliant with the mask policy,” he said.

“We want to be comfortable that the ninth and tenth graders understand our policies and are able to follow them before we give them more privileges.”

Before the pandemic, all high school students used to have open campus and ordering privileges. However, this year, the administration decided to test how well the rule would work on a smaller scale, meaning 11th and 12th graders, to make sure students are staying safe and healthy, Levenstein said. “Dr. Kelly’s position was to get our feet under us first, see how healthy our community could stay, and then we can revisit newer policies, such as letting underclassmen off campus.”

Levenstein and Dalo first discussed the idea of reopening the campus in a meeting with Kelly this November, Levenstein said. “As the population got vaccinated, we were thinking about how we could bring school back to normal,” she said. “Last year, we did have the middle school play in person, we had a prom and graduation. So we began to add more things in the spring, and then going into this fall we wanted to have as few restrictions as possible.”

Levenstein’s main argument in favor of an open campus was returning the school to normalcy, she said. “It is not a huge change, but it is more the feeling of us resembling our normal school that was most important for our decision.”

If students remain safe with these new privileges, Levenstein hopes to extend the privilege beyond upperclassmen, she said.

Ninth graders are typically excited about having off-campus privileges coming into the UD, so

see Open Campus on pg. 3

Volume 119 Editorial Board Editor in Chief Hanna Hornfeld

Managing Editor Liliana Greyf

Features Mia Calzolaio Emma Colacino

News Claire Goldberg Katya Tolunsky

Opinions Devin Allard-Neptune Yin Fei

A&E Purvi Jonnalagadda Arushi Talwar

Middle Division Jade Ciriello

Lions’ Den Lauren Ho

Art Directors Vivian Coraci Lauren Kim Riva Vig

Design Editors Avani Khorana Myra Malik Arin Rosen

Photography Daniel Schlumberger Ailill Walsh Sean Lee

Online Editor Lucas Glickman

Head of Design AJ Walker

Faculty Adviser David Berenson

make sure they are taking care of their mental health, others within the community should strive to promote a climate that clearly and actively values the well-being of every student. There have been several instances in which I have felt that teachers did not truly care about my mental health despite saying otherwise. I may express feelings of distress but those concerns are often glossed over by teachers saying that I’ll “be okay” but then continue to assign the same rigor of work. I feel as though teachers preach the idea of improving our mental health but then don’t actually make efforts to help us do so.

Although the school has taken steps to mitigate the pressure students are under such as getting rid of calculated GPAs and midterms, we need to change the mindset students have which causes us to put such large amounts of pressure on ourselves.

This is a more fundamental issue which won’t be solved overnight or with one clear solution.

However, it begins with affirmation and action: teachers, affirm students of the fact that it’s okay if you get a worse grade than you would have hoped for and that it isn’t going to be detrimental

for them, and then take the action to actually prove that fact. Make it more feasible to get accomodations for mental health reasons, give extra credit opportunities, base more of the final grade on participation or homework completion and less on test grades, and, overall, promote learning and understanding over ability to perform on assessments.

We don’t need to and we shouldn’t push ourselves to the brink to get good grades. HM is a bubble. It can be hard to look beyond that bubble and understand that in the grand scheme of things, we will be okay, but I encourage you to try with me to adopt this mindset.

Karla Moreira/Staff Artist

Class of 2020 reunites Sean lee and Rani Ogden Staff Writers

For the first time since school shut in March 2020, 142 members of the Class of 2020 gathered together at Current in Chelsea Piers for a celebratory event hosted by the school last Saturday. “I got the chance to see people I haven’t seen in almost two years at this point,” Diana Shaari ‘20 said. “I didn’t have a sense of closure with a lot of my classmates unless I saw them on that last day of school in March, so it was a surreal experience to finally be able to see everyone.”

The Class of 2020 faced an abrupt end to their high school experience and missed out on some of the most important experiences of senior spring, such as Prom and graduation, former Dean of the Class of 2020 Stephanie Feigin said.

Because the Class of 2020 could not have Prom or graduation in person, the administration had promised to revisit the idea of hosting an additional celebratory event, Head of Upper Division Dr. Levenstein said.

“It was important to give them an opportunity to have some sort of event to celebrate their graduation and completing high school, but more than that, it was an opportunity for them to feel some closure and to get together as a class,” Dean of Students Michael Dalo said.

The administration had originally considered hosting an additional graduation for the alumni of the Class of 2020 in the graduation tent after the Class of 2021’s graduation, Levenstein said.

In order to get insight on what alumni wanted, Levenstein surveyed the students through email in the Fall of 2020. The class displayed an Staff

Staff Writers Rachel Baez, Audrey Carbonell, Max Chasin, Jiya Chaterjee, Cecilia Coughlin, Owen Heidings, Hannah Katzke, Vidhatrie Keetha, Celine Kiriscioglu, Zachary Kurtz, Alex Lautin, Jillian Lee, Sean Lee, Allison Markman, Audrey Moussazadeh, Divya Ponda, Clio Rao, Emily Salzhauer, Ayesha Sen, Aden Soroca, Emily Sun, Madison Xu, Alexandra Yao, Ariella Frommer, Neeva Patel, Lucy Peck, Ben Rafal, Athena Rem, Etta Singer Staff Photographers Sophie Gordon, Amanda Wein, Emma Colacino, AJ Walker, Lucas Glickman, Lauren Ho Staff Artists Tatum Behrens, Felix Brenner, Kayla Choi, Amira Dossani, Ishaan Iyengar, Isabelle Kim, Dylan Leftt, Sophia Liu, Samuel Stern, Sammy Underberg, Aimee Yang

overwhelming preference for a celebratory party over a “make-up” graduation, Levenstein said.

In a process similar to the planning required for the annual Prom celebration, Levenstein and Director of UD Student Activities Caroline Bartels then surveyed students in order to find a date for the event, and the majority of students chose Thanksgiving break.

Gabby Kepnes ‘20 appreciated the administration’s efforts to survey the class, as it showed they cared about the event, she said. “I always voted for the earlier date because I was so eager to see everyone but the later dates always won,” she said.

Since the majority of the class did not want to attend a party with heavy COVID restrictions, the event only became possible with the development and distribution of the vaccine, Levenstein said. The attendees and staff were not required to wear masks because they were all vaccinated, but all guests were required to provide identification and proof of vaccination to be admitted, Amelia Feiner ‘20 said. “It seems pretty standard for what the policy in New York has been,” she said.

However, in June of 2021, Bartels and Levenstein worried that the event would not be able to take place if COVID protocols became stricter in November. “One of the things I had said to them straight up when they had chose Thanksgiving weekend was that we have no guarantee that things won’t be worse,” Bartels said.

In addition, the Omicron variant began to enter the news around the time of the event, Bartels said. Nonetheless, a majority of the class was still able to attend the event, Bartels said.

see Class of 2020 on pg. 3 Editorial Policy

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THE RECORD NEWS DECEMBER 3RD, 2021

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from Class of 2020 on page 2 While the Prom typically takes place at The Lighthouse in Pier 61, Saturday’s reunion took place at Current in Pier 59 to accommodate the smaller group of people, Bartels said.

Bartels got feedback from the students to decide on the theme of the event, including whether they wanted a formal event or a cocktail party or whether they wanted to have a formal dinner or a buffet, she said.

“The great thing was that it ran the gamut of clothing, some kids actually wore the dresses that they had chosen for Prom,” Bartels said.

Bartels began to decorate the event space, Pier 51, by deciding on a color scheme. Then, she discussed the flower decor with the florist at Botany Bay to fit the color scheme.

“I wanted really beautiful fall flowers, I wanted oranges, and gold, and rusts, and reds, I wanted autumn,” she said. She decided on champagne napkins, and blush pink tablecloth to fit the fall theme, and floating candles above the tables to create the feeling of “sparkly loveliness.” The venue with all of its decor was beautiful, Kepnes said.

Many students were able to attend the event over Thanksgiving break, as they returned from college campuses back to their homes but some students were conflicted between attending important football games or family vacations during the break, Bartels said. “I knew we weren’t going to have 100 percent because it’s a hard time.”

However, the enthusiasm among the Class of 2020 was high preceding the event, Levenstein said. “There were a couple of students who really raised support for the event within the class,” Levenstein said.

Some alumni, including Lexi Levy ‘20, texted group chats of 40 people encouraging their classmates to come to the event, Levenstein said.

The party began with appetizers, a buffet, mocktails, and a DJ, Feiner said. “The event started at 5 PM and went until 8, and it didn’t seem like there was a structure — they wanted us to be able to hang out, talk to each other, and reconnect,” she said.

Bartels thought of the event as a way for the class to catch up with each other. “I kept being like, ‘Kids, come into the party area!’ but they just wanted to be in the buffet area and talking to each other,” she said.

Although Sangmin Lee ‘20 kept in touch with his close friends from his time at the school, he looked forward to the event as a way to catch up with old friends who he hadn’t spoken to in a while.

“It almost felt like nothing changed — each individual had their own special personality that was the same, and the night was composed of laughter and reminiscing the amazing memories we made at HM,” Kepnes said.

Besides reuniting with their classmates, several alumni were excited to see teachers they had personal connections with during

from Open Campus on page 2 Levenstein would like to reinstate the policy soon, she said.

Sofia Kim (10) is unhappy that the policy is not yet available to underclassmen, she said.

“In middle school, I thought that was a big part of the high school experience, and I was pretty disappointed when I found out we were not allowed to go down the hill.” Even so, Kim is happy that restrictions are loosening and hopes that all of the UD will be able to leave campus soon, she said.

Miller Harris (11) is looking forward to the reinstatement of both privileges, he said. “When I was a freshman I would go off campus with my friends during double frees and we would get breakfast, which was really nice. We even went out for my birthday once.” Harris is also excited to get food for his club, the STEAM Coalition, which sets up experiments for lower schoolers, he said.

Similarly, Dalia Pustilnik (12) used to like going out to eat with her friends whenever she had frees, she said. Pustilnik especially liked that most of the stores around campus are small businesses as opposed to chains, she said.

Sam Siegel (11) did not typically use the open campus privileges, however he is also looking forward to having a school year that is more similar to pre-COVID times, he said. “I am always happy when restrictions get lifted, so I am glad about this decision.”

Though Coco Trentalancia (11) is excited about the new rule, she wants to make sure the school community stays safe regarding the

their time in high Courtesy of Barry Mason school. Feiner took the opportunity to catch up with Theatre Teacher Benjamin Posner. “He told me about the shows that they’re doing this season at Horace Mann,” she said.

Shaari was especially touched by Director of Independent Study Avram Schlesinger’s decision to bring hats that are traditionally given to students who take the Independent Study course, she said. “We obviously never got that, and he was kind enough to have brought many of these hats for all of the students who did Independent Study,” she said.

Overall, Feiner was happy to be able to celebrate her time in high school. “We never got an REUNITED AT LAST Members of the Class of 2020 get together for group photo in party attire. opportunity to celebrate Levenstein was glad to see that despite the all of the hard work that we did at Horace of his old students for the first time since the Mann as a class together, and so attending last day of school in March 2020. “Literally pandemic, the Class of 2020 is still thriving. provides some sort of closure,” she said. “A one of those classes I was in the classroom “The last time I saw them in person some of lot of people were very excited to receive the with them when we found out school was them were disappointed because they hadn’t Horace Mann Prom 2020 socks—that was the going to close, and to be able to see some of gotten in early, or some of them felt like they those kids again, and see that they’re okay and didn’t have a choice that they liked, and every highlight of the evening.”

The event was different from any event the they see I’m okay, was really meaningful,” he kid I talked to on Saturday night was so happy about where they were,” she said. school had hosted before, and many faculty said. did not know what to expect, School Registrar Chris Garrison said. “There were aspects that were similar to Prom, but at the same time the fact that it was a lot of catching up and seeing people we hadn’t seen in a while felt very much like an alumni reunion,” he said.

Feigin felt closure after the event, she said.

“I gave a graduation speech to a single camera Ayesha Sen on a field as it was streamed to them. Those While a few fish died as a result of the are such great moments seeing kids grow over Staff Writer leak, by the end of the day on Tuesday, most the years, to have that kind of moment to let All of the water and fish flowed out of the of the fish had adapted to the change and them know how proud I am — I didn’t have fish tank on the second floor of Lutnick Hall were swimming around in their new tank, that,” Feigin said. due to a leak at the end of the school day on Rosenblum said. “It seemed to me that most Although Shaari appreciated the online Tuesday, November 23, Head of the Science of them had survived, and I really hope that’s graduation ceremony, she still felt as though Department Dr. Lisa Rosenblum said. the case,” she said. that chapter of her life was not completely The leak occurred because a seal at the The original installer of the tank — the over, and she appreciated the administration’s bottom edge of the tank released and the same company that maintains the tanks efforts to host an event that helped her feel a glass separated at the joint for an unknown — is currently manufacturing a new tank sense of closure, she said. reason, Director of Facilities Management free of charge, Jensen said. Once the tank is Luke Weber ‘20 was glad to see classmates Gordon Jensen said. The failed seal was a complete, it will be re-installed in Lutnick and teachers that made his experience at the shock to the maintenance staff because the Hall. Once the tank is installed, it will take school feel like home. “I had grown up next to engineer and the manufacturer had never time to get the water balanced for fish to be all of these people, so to see them once again had this issue with any of the tanks they had introduced, and when that occurs, the fish was really special,” he said. designed and installed, Jensen said. will be transferred into the new tank, he said.

“It was awesome to see all the hugs, high After the leak Woolford believes fives, and the silliness as they reverted back occurred, Director Kayden Hansong/Staff Artist that the students can to their sixteen year old selves,” Feigin said. of Athletics Robert take the situation “We get such a sense of joy from seeing them Annunziata, physics with the leak as a so happy.” teacher Oleg Zvezdin, learning experience, Math Teacher Benjamin Kafoglis saw many Biology Lab Manager she wrote. “I know a Alison Woolford, and lot of students enjoy Rosenblum began to walking past and take the fish out of the observing the fish pandemic, she said. “I hope that people in the tank and transfer them tank every day, so community will be responsible and there still to another saltwater I think for the time definitely is a risk,” she said. “However, if we can tank that was already being it is something follow the rule like we have with other COVID set up for a ninth that will be missed,” measures, I think there will be no issue.” grade biology lab, she wrote. “However, Sophia Paley (10) is looking forward to Rosenblum said. They it will be rebuilt and being able to go off campus in the future, but also transferred the we will get to see the is enjoying ordering to school in the meantime. corals from the leaked process of building “The first day we were able to order, Monday, tank to a separate a new ecosystem I got my group of lunch friends coffee from tank in the basement from the ground Dunkin Donuts.” of Lutnick Hall, up. It should be Hanzhang Swen (10) also ordered to campus Rosenblum said. fascinating.” for the first time this week, she said. “I ordered Isha Krishnamurthy Jensen is proud Burger King for myself and sushi for my friend.

(11) saw the leak of the maintenance We have to stay after school every week for when she was walking staff, the Science debate tutoring, so I expect that we will be to swim practice on department, and the ordering a lot, and I am looking forward to it.”

Tuesday afternoon, she said. “Water was Athletic Department for their help with the Isabelle Kim/Staff Artist literally gushing out of the ceiling, and there flooding, he said. “Everyone worked as well were people holding garbage cans, trying to as they could under the circumstances and catch the water,” she said. “It was honestly with the help of the Science and Athletic shocking to walk in to.” departments we were able to save many of There were no repercussions to the the fish and coral. There is nothing we would building, primarily because of the deliberate have done differently – everyone pitched in structuring of Lutnick Hall, Jensen said. and helped.”

Without that design, the impacts of the leak Overall, Rosenblum believes that everyone could have been more severe, he said. “We acted proactively given the circumstances, built the building to allow for some water, and she is eager for the tank to be restocked, and the Bio Lab actually has a floor drain in she said. “We at the science department love it,” he said. that tank,” Rosenblum said. “Right from the The company that maintains the fish tank fish tank observation lab in ninth grade, it’s arrived later on Tuesday afternoon and were such an amazing way of making everyone able to transfer several of the organisms aware of the fascinating interactions between into bags to take them back to their on-site organisms.” saltwater tanks as well, Woolford wrote.

Lutnick fish tank breaks, flooding hallway

4

THE RECORD ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT DECEMBER 3RD, 2021

Student Written One Act playwriting processes Zachary Kurtz Staff Writer

In 2020, Spencer Kahn (12) was inspired to write his play “Think Tank” after a conversation with Theatre Teacher Haila VanHentenryck in front of the fish tank in Lutnick Hall, he said. “We had this long conversation making up fish society and what was going on inside this tank,” he said.

He wanted to create a play that combined a fantastical concept like talking fish with complex human ideas. His play was chosen as one of the four One Acts to be performed in February 2022.

The One Acts are a group of four plays that are written, directed, and acted in by students every other year. Each student in VanHentenryck’s playwriting class submitted a One Act play during the last two years. The submitted plays are then read by a committee of anonymous teachers who pick four plays to be produced.

This year, the four plays are “Cosmic Cleanup Crew,” by Liliana Greyf (12), “Canceled,” by AJ Walker (12), “Till Death Does Its Part,” by Tess Abraham ’21, and “Think Tank,” by Spencer Kahn ’20.

“Cosmic Cleanup Crew” is a coming-of-age story about a friendship between two teenagers who meet in an ice cream shop. Greyf has always been interested in narratives on identity and wanted to write a story about friendship that was deliberately not about falling in romantic love, she said.

Walker was inspired to write “Canceled,” a satire about cancel culture set in high school, since he and his friends were always talking about it, especially during the pandemic, he said.

“I thought it would be really interesting to kind of poke fun at it and also make people question what it is and what its role is in society.”

“Till Death Does Its Part” is a drama about an impassioned family gathered to celebrate their matriarch’s birthday. “I started it out as a character study on different archetypes and how different people interact with each other and human relationships and stuff like that, and then it came together as a play about family,” Abraham said.

Lastly, “Think Tank” is a dramedy about a group of fish living in a tank until a mysterious entity called the Nibbler starts to eat them, Kahn said. The fish then discover they are living in a tank and suffer an existential crisis.

Walker typically generates ideas for his plays from titles he creates, he said. “I have a Notes app document where I write down a bunch of titles that I think would be really interesting, and I take one of those and think ‘okay, what story does this title tell?’ Then, that’s how I start writing.”

In his plays, Walker tries to comment on an idea that he finds interesting in the world around him, he said. He asks himself, “How can I write this in a way that will be entertaining, but that also says something real about the world that we’re living in?”

Walker has fine-tuned his writing process to work for him, he said. He always writes his plays in chronological order and does most of the writing in his head before he begins to type up the script, he said. “By the time I sit down to write, I pretty much know what is going to happen, and then it’s about what the characters are going to say.”

In contrast, Abraham’s process is dialoguedriven. She likes to think about a character’s essence and what they would say in any given scenario, she said.

In “Till Death Does Its Part,” Abraham wanted audience members to feel an incredibly deep connection with at least one of the characters in the play, she said. “I wanted to have a variety of different characters from the kindest character to the [meanest] character that people love to hate, or hate to love,” she said. “It’s about the dialogue for me and bouncing characters off of each other.”

Greyf starts writing with an idea for a scene, a conversation, or a very specific situation, she said. When writing “Cosmic Cleanup Crew,” she had to outline the play before writing it since it was longer than anything she had written previously, Greyf said. “I ended up outlining it a million times and rewriting the whole thing a million times.”

Greyf originally wrote an entirely different play for her playwriting assignment but “got

super stumped, had really horrible writer’s block, and felt super unmotivated to finish the work,” she said. She decided to write a new play in a matter of days before the assignment was due, she said.

When Walker is faced with writer’s block, he often texts Greyf and asks her for advice on what to do, he said. Writer’s block usually happens when he comes to a part of the play that he did not completely think through, he said. “A lot of times, those are the most fun moments because then I don’t have time to stop and edit myself.

I just have to write something,” Walker said.

“Anytime I encounter a moment that I hadn’t given much thought to before, I write the first thing that comes to mind and most of the time that’s the best stuff because it’s unfiltered.”

Writer’s block appears when Kahn is not invested in what he is writing, he said.

“Sometimes you get an assignment you think is boring and you just don’t want to write it,” he said. “If you find an idea or you’re convinced what you’re doing is something that you want to tell or you’re committed behind what it is, then writer’s block isn’t usually an issue.”

One of Greyf ’s main takeaways from the playwriting process is that you cannot control how the audience will experience the play, she said. “What I’ve done is just notes for the actors and the director and a basic plot, but everything else is done by the other people and the audience can perceive it however they wish.”

Playwrights give their work away to a director, actors, costume designers, set designers, and eventually the audience, who will each experience it in their own way, VanHentenryck said.

“Playwriting is giving the world this blueprint of an experience that other people will have.”

The playwriting class stresses collaboration and tries to get students to read each other’s writing and work together on plays as much as possible, Greyf said. “It’s a super collaborative process, and so [VanHentenryck] makes sure that we’re constantly working together both on the plays themselves and also on the ideas and the playmaking process.”

Students had many chances to share their

work in class, Walker said. “At the beginning of the year, I definitely didn’t want to share anything because it can be really scary, but the environment of that class was just so safe and so supportive, that by the end of the year, I had them reading everything.”

The class forces students to get used to sharing their work with others very quickly, VanHentenryck said. “It also forces students to learn to receive other people’s work, which is not something we do a lot.”

Abraham appreciated how her playwriting classmates challenged her on what she wrote, she said. “It’s really great to have different input and voices and have people kind of push back on something you’re writing like, ‘hey, that doesn’t really sound right,’ or ‘why does this character do this?’”

Greyf said that these types of discussions are necessary so she can hear what others like, do not like, and what they think needs to be changed.

While writing her play, Greyf sought feedback from Walker, her classmate, she said. “I take inspiration from whatever it is that he’s written, and he also gives me his own feedback, and points things out that I haven’t even noticed.”

Walker feels as though he needs to let others interpret his work as they see fit, he said. While he feels the urge to put his own stage directions on the page, he tries to take a step back and leave that up to the director, he said.

Samuel Stern/Staff Artist

“Turn Every Page:” Exhibit on Robert Caro ‘53 exhibit opens at New York Historical Society Max Chasin Staff Writer “Turn Every Page” — an exhibit dedicated to the work of historian and journalist Robert Caro ‘53, famous for his biographies on Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson — opened at The New York Historical Society on October 24. “It is very hard to sum up a career as significant as Mr. Caro’s in glass cases, but the exhibit did an excellent job of bringing in a ton of material about his work,” Head of the Upper Division Dr. Jessica Levenstein said.

When Caro first visited the exhibit, he loved it, he said. “It is made up of two long walls, one being biographical information, and the other is full of all of my writing,” he said. “It includes all the stages — samples of my outlines, my first drafts in longhand, and my typewritten drafts as well.”

Caro has dedicated his life to writing. “I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember,” he said. “When I gave papers to the historical society, I found, in my ancient files that my mother or father kept, an essay that I wrote in the 5th or 6th grade that was a biography called Honk the Moose.”

The exhibit is beautiful, History teacher Barry Bienstock said. “Caro has done extensive research over the years, yet much of the research and writing did not make it into the published books. That material is now available to researchers. His archive will be invaluable to anyone working on American history from the 1930s through the 1960s.”

Caro’s favorite parts in the exhibit are two quotes about his work, given by Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, he said. Obama gave Caro the National Humanities Medal and said that Caro’s book, “The Power Broker,” “helped to shape how I think about politics.” Clinton found Caro’s work to be very descriptive, and he wrote a glowing review about the book on Lyndon B. Johnson, Caro said.

Caro hopes viewers of his exhibit learn that the standard and quality for writing in

nonfiction books should be equal to that in books of fiction. “Nowadays, people have less interest in American history than there used to be, all too often because the books are not written well,” he said. “There needs to be a strong sense of place, some type of rhythm to help the reader understand the mood of what’s happening, descriptions of characters, like those in books of fiction.”

Caro’s work in journalism began at the school. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Record, which had a tremendous influence on him, he said. “In the class above me, there was a ton of excellent writing, which made you feel pressured to meet a certain standard with your own writing — when I became editor, I continued to feel like I had to continue the strong quality of writing in the paper.”

Throughout his time at the school, Caro was very involved with the community, Levenstein said. “Caro was an important school leader as head editor of The Record, and he produced a great newspaper that year.”

Today, Caro’s influence at the school is reflected by the Robert Caro Prize for Literary Excellence in the Writing of History, which all students in UD history classes can participate in, Levenstein said.

Bienstock came up with the idea for the writing prize, and approached Caro 11 years ago to discuss creating it, he said. “When we met, Caro wanted to make sure that the prize adhered to something he believed in, which is why it combines literary qualities as well as rigorous research.”

Caro wanted to make sure that the writing celebrated was in itself beautiful and effective,

Levenstein said. “He believed that excellent historical writing is not just writing that amasses historical information efficiently, but writing that creates a feeling in the reader that a novel might create,” she said. “He loves what he does, and he does it all beautifully.”

When looking back upon his life and career, Caro is most proud of his ability to show not just how political power works but the effect it has on people for both good and for bad, he said. “When I was writing my book, ‘The Power Broker,’ which is about Robert Moses, I had to read tons of books about highways, as Moses built more roads than anyone else in history,” he said. “However, 21 neighborhoods were destroyed from his roads, so I showed

SIGNATURE POSE Caro autographs book on a visit to the school.

what it meant to destroy a neighborhood by interviewing people from these destroyed locations.”

Caro has had an immeasurable impact on the school’s community; he completely changed the way our school teaches research papers and makes research papers an important part of our curriculum for history electives, Bienstock said. “I credit the Caro Prize for generating increased student interest in the writing of research papers over the last few years.”

“HM’ers are proud that Caro is an alum of the school, and students interested in history definitely see him as a role model,” Levenstein said.

Courtesy of Kristen Lax

THE RECORD FEATURES DECEMBER 3RD, 2021

5

Welcome to the holiday kitchen: Students and faculty whip up food for celebrations with family Sam Gordon/Staff Artist

Emily Salzhauer Staff Writer Sam Siegel (11) was up all night last Wednesday perfecting the cocoa crust for his Thanksgiving maple bourbon pumpkin pie, which he has been working on for years, he said. After many failed attempts, Siegel decided to bake the filling on its own and forget about the crust. Thankfully, the treat turned out just as well without it.

Food plays a vital role in celebrating holidays and bringing families together. Many families serve the same meals each year for a holiday, tying those dishes to traditions and holiday memories.

Sophia Liu/Staff Artist

Researchers at the University of Oxford performed a study in 2017 which found a connection between how often people eat with others and their satisfaction in life. Since socializing is so important for mental and physical well being, communal meals are a key step for bonding with others.

76% of the people in the study said that sharing meals with others was an easy way to bring people together. Having social gathering with food creates an increased sense of comfort and willingness to try new things. Food also helped people to bond and feel belonging because of common tastes.

The study also showed that food brings people from different cultures together by demonstrating their unique backgrounds.

Dishes become a part of a family’s history, with recipes passed down through generations and served at family gatherings.

Because Siegel’s whole household likes to cook, they each make Thanksgiving dishes for their meal separately, then warm up all the dishes together in the oven before eating, he said. “My family has lots of cooks in it, so depending on who is the busiest or who wants to cook, it just kind of separates out like that,” Siegel said. Siegel ended up making the pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes, while his mother made their roast chicken.

Although Siegel’s family celebrates Thanksgiving with a big meal each year, their food is less traditional, he said. “We didn’t even do turkey this year for Thanksgiving,” he said. “[Turkey] is dry and too hard to prepare, and, around Thanksgiving, it’s crazy expensive, so it’s not worth it.”

meals, she said. She looks forward to cooking chicken and vegetables with her parents and grandparents. Sareen and her sister also like to bake throughout the winter, especially for the holidays, she said.

Karolina Fic (10) and her family celebrate Thanksgiving by making a turkey each year, but they frequently switch who cooks the sides, she said. “The big part of our Thanksgiving is the desserts, so we always have pecan, pumpkin, and apple pie with ice cream,” Fic said.

For Braden Queen (11), a Thanksgiving meal is not complete without apple pie and ice cream, he said. Queen’s family usually orders in or has friends bring food for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Gathering together with friends and family is the best way to celebrate the holidays, he said. One thing that Queen’s family does make for the holidays is hot apple cider, he said. “We warm up apple cider and add cinnamon and some other mix, and it always tastes really good.”

Jared Contant’s (11) favorite Thanksgiving food to make is mac ‘n cheese, he said.

Although it is untraditional, he loves looking for the best ingredients and perfecting his recipe to serve to family and friends. “For me, food is a way to share with family and friends,” he said. It was hard for him to share his food with friends and family during the pandemic, so Contant valued this year’s Thanksgiving meal even more, he said. “It depends on the holiday, but food is always about sharing good times with the people you love.”

Dani Brooks/Staff Artist

During Hanukkah, Zach Goodman (11) and his family celebrate with latkes — traditional potato pancakes — and matzo ball soup as they light the candles together, he said. Goodman loves the smell of the soup cooking in the kitchen and the taste of latkes fresh out of the pan, he said. He looks forward to celebrating Hanukkah with his family and good food each year.

Similarly, Sadie Katzenstein (10) and her family eat latkes, gelt, and jelly donuts throughout Hanukkah, she said. Katzenstein’s family also celebrates with anything cooked in oil, a common way to celebrate the holiday reflecting how the macabeah’s oil lasted for eight nights instead of one, she said.

“It depends on the holiday, but food is always about sharing good times with the people you love.”

- Jared Contant (11) Similarly to Siegel’s family, Aamri Sareen (10)’s family cooks together for the holiday

Riya Daga (11) and her family celebrated Diwali this November with traditional Indian

food, especially desserts, including chocolate and rose pistachio cake, she said. Although Daga does not cook herself, she enjoys watching her mother and grandmother cook together for the holidays. “For my family, food is comfort,” she said. “It’s a reminder of what we ate earlier in our childhoods and reminds us of fond family memories together around the table.”

This year, Maya Westra (11) spent Thanksgiving visiting her sister at college

own home; Mignone’s grandmother cooks seven fishes and pasta for everyone, she said.

Similarly, Westra, her mom, dad, and older sister usually celebrate Christmas with a big meal, she said. “My dad really likes cooking big meals, so he usually makes four courses for Christmas: a salad, a soup, a main course, and dessert,” she said. “I help out sometimes, but my dad likes being the chef for holiday meals.”

Fic looks forward to the holidays because

“For my family, food is comfort. It’s a reminder of what we ate earlier in our childhoods and reminds us of fond family memories together around the table.”

- Riya Daga (11) in Scotland, so she had a very different celebration than her family is used to, she said. “We actually had Thanksgiving dinner at an Italian restaurant, which was very untraditional, but the food was actually really good,” she said. “It was more about getting to see my sister, who I haven’t seen in a while, so it was a nice way to celebrate.”

Upper Division math teacher Dr. Linda Hubschman celebrates Thanksgiving in a more traditional way, she said. “Regardless of which member of the family is cooking, we have the usual things like turkey and stuffing, gravy and vegetables and sweet potatoes.” If Hubschman is hosting the meal at her own home, she usually bakes the pies for desserts and some sides and her husband makes the turkey, gravy, and stuffing, she said.

Traditions are an important part of any holiday meal, Hubschman said. She and her family always celebrate Thanksgiving with her mother’s sweet potatoes with marshmallows called Williamsburg Sweet Potatoes, Hubschman said. She and her sister grew up eating this dish and she remembers how sweet the dish was when her mother made it, she said. Although Hubschman and her sister have altered the recipe to make it a little less sweet than the original version, they still make the dish for their own Thanksgiving meal.

For Jojo Mignone (10), the biggest holiday meals are at Christmas time, she said. Mignone and her family enjoy preparing cookies, cakes, hot chocolate, and other sweets for the time leading up to Christmas, she said. “On actual Christmas Eve, we have a huge party with all of my family which has been hosted at my grandma’s house for decades,” she said. The party is a potluck, so each guest brings something different that they cook at their

of special dishes like pavlova — a traditional Australian dessert to celebrate their family’s Australian heritage — and her grandmother’s pumpkin pie, Fic said. “Our grandmother has been making her pumpkin pie for as long as we can remember, and uses the same recipe each year,” Fic said. Because her family loves it so much, they have pumpkin pie at all the winter holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year, she said.

Katzenstein found that holiday meals are an easy way to see people who she doesn’t usually see, she said. “The food is more of an excuse to get together with family and friends.”

Katzenstein also gets excited for certain holidays because of the meals that her family eats on them, she said.

Food has also played a big role in how Mignone’s whole family gathers and celebrates the holidays all together, she said. “For my family, food is essential in our holiday seasons and always will be,” she said. Mignone also feels that, at the holidays, gathering together around a meal can make interactions with new people so much more comfortable, she said.

Mignone fondly remembers growing up cooking with her family for the holidays, she said. “Some of my first memories are baking and cooking with my mom and I think while each year is different, the same base concept o f holiday food will remain despite its evolution through time.”

Sophie Li/Staff Artist

6

THE RECORD LIONS’ DEN NOVEMBER 12TH, 2021

Basketball

Snowflakes by Riva Vig/Art Director

r T o r o ack d n I

The Boys and Girls Indoor Track Teams are back in person this year and are excited to participate in meets for the first time in two years, Ellie Campbell (10) said.

“What’s exciting for me is how the girls get along together as a team, how they work hard together, and how they seem to be having fun,” Girls Indoor Track Coach RJ Harmon said.

To start off the season, the team did some light conditioning and weight room training, so that the fall sport athletes were able

to transition from the fall to winter seasons, Boys Indoor Track Coach Jon Eshoo said.

According to Campbell, the first practice was the most exciting because she was able to meet all the girls on the team and figure out what events everybody was running.

“The challenge is that you have to figure out what your own pace is and not get competitive with everyone else,” Campbell said. “Your only real opponent is yourself.”

Since then, the team has begun more intense running and conditioning to prepare for their first meet next week, Eshoo said.

“We’ve been going to Van Cortlandt Park to get sprints and longer runs in. We go to the weight room a few times a week when there’s time, ” Spencer Kim (10) said.

One challenge for the teams thus far is that they have

not b e e n able to practice in the Armory, the official track where the meets take place, Harmon said. In pre-COVID years, the team would practice there twice a week, he said. This is a drawback because the team will not have been able to practice on the track beforehand, he said.

Despite not being able to practice at the Armory, Harmon is excited to be able to watch the team compete for the first time in two years and enjoy everybody’s positive energy at practice, he said.

Fencing

“Fencing has this aura of honor and nobility,” Leonardo Giorgini (12) said. By learning to fence the fencing team puts their own unique mark on that history, he said.

In preparation for their first meet today, the team has transitioned from solely working out in the fitness center to fencing in Hazen gym, Sylvie Seo (11) said. Conditioning is important to fencing, so the team usually starts with non-fencing drills, she said. “We do suicides — running back and forth across the gym — mountain climbers, and pushups,” she said.

After conditioning, the fencers begin practicing fencing with weapons.

The team has begun to

The Boys and Girls Varsity Basketball teams are excited to participate in practices, scrimmages, and games, Boys Varsity Basketball (BVB) Coach Tony Wright said.

“The excitement I’m getting from this team is that these guys are trying to learn and picking up this basketball system this far,” he said.

The Boys began the season with a strong opener against Regis on Wednesday, winning 60-53. They play tomorrow against Loyola.

Before the start of the winter sports season, the Girls Varsity Basketball (GVB) team had already begun preparing to make up for the 18 months away from the team, GVB Coach Ray Barile said.

“I communicated with the team during

include target practice and partner work, Fencing Coach Julio Benjamin said. For example, working in pairs, the team performs different variables and blade work with the fencing sword so that they are ready for any situation that might occur, he said.

Then, at the end of every practice, the seniors lead a stretch. This is a crucial part of practice as it builds their team’s spirit, Seo said.

The whole team helps and supports each other in practice, Giorgini said.

“Unity and spirit really makes the team.”

To keep the team motivated, the coaches and captains play music, Gwendolyn Simon (10) said. “It’s really fun to practice to upbeat songs and sing along,” Simon said. “Everyone has the same goals of getting better at fencing so it’s really great to be in that environment.”

The team uses their unique energy to improve their fencing. “I would describe the team’s energy as positive chaos,” Giorgini said. “There’s a lot of energy from being in school all day but we all want to channel that energy into a win

t h e offseason, giving them dribbling workouts.”

The upperclassmen’s dedication to the sport has translated into their playing, Barile said. “All the girls that came back, our four captains [Mia Calzolaio (12), Devin Allard-Neptune (12), Bella Colacino (12), Sareena Parikh (12)] and Ceci Coughlin (11)] have really improved.”

At the moment, the BVB team only has one returning varsity player, Ailill Walsh (12). “I’m looking forward to Ailill being a leader for the new group of guys joining the team this year,” Wright said.

As most of the GVB team hasn’t played competitive basketball in a year, Barile had to spend some time reteaching game strategies, he said.

“We work on offense and defense every day,” he said. “We go through the playbook and I email visuals with the plays.”

BVB practices every day after school and sometimes on Saturdays, Wright said. “During practice we spend our time focusing on skill development,”

he said.

For Barile, team spirit is what sets the Lions apart from other basketball teams. “The team has really good chemistry,” he said. “We are close, on the same page, and we achieve our goals.”

This Saturday, GVB has their first game against the Masters School, whom they faced in the finals during their 2018 and 2019 seasons, Barile said.

Despite being up against one of the best teams in the state, Saturday’s game is just one stop on a long road to championships, Barile said.

“The season is like a marathon: it’s long and we will hit some barriers along the way,” he said. “It’s how we adjust to the barriers that’s important.”

Lions in t Winter sports

[on t h e fencing strip].”

As the team hasn’t fenced competitively in two years, the start of the season has been all about adjusting, Seo said. “Getting back into the swing of things is a big thing for me,” she said. “It’s challenging to get back into something that you once did pretty regularly and then stopped doing.”

The team looks forward to improving their skills and getting closer as a team.

“I’m really excited to get out there and fence,” Simon said. “I can’t wait to further develop our team’s bond as the season continues.”

“We are a family, we are energetic, we are excited and we want to win,” Benjamin said.

Although they have not yet hit the slopes, the ski team has had a great start to their winter season, Ski Coach Rawlins Troop said.

“The Ski team is special,’’ Ski Coach John Eckels said. “The whole team comes together to create a cohesive group,” he said.

Until winter break, the ski team is focusing on conditioning off of the slopes, Eckels said. Due to the weather, the ski season is short, so its first competition is in January, he said.

In order to ensure that athletes are prepared for competitions, the team participates in rigorous workouts, which are geared towards exercising muscles students don’t use in everyday activity, Eckels said.

Reporting by Mira Bansal, M

Ski

Conditioning is important to the team’s success, Alexa Turteltaub (11) said. “We know we have to stay in shape.”

The workouts are difficult to push through, she said. “We practice every day on Four Acres and it’s usually pretty cold so it takes a lot of team effort to keep morale up,” Turteltaub said. “We sometimes have fun fridays where we play soccer or play a game to have a break from intense exercise.”

This season, the upperclassmen have stepped up to keep team enthusiasm high. “The upperclassmen have taken the reins for warmups,” Eckels said. “They get a lot of people involved so that everyone feels included in the team, not just the seniors.”

The seniors’ team energy uplifts everyone even when they are unmotivated and physically don’t think they can finish, Lucca Correia (12) said. “Team spirit wise we set the bar really high, which I love about the team,” Correia said.

Next weekend the team is

going t o Killington for the team’s annual ski trip, Turteltaub said.

“The best memories are on our annual ski trip,” Turteltaub said. “It’s super fun because there is a lot of team bonding and we get to ski all Friday and Saturday.”

The team outing will allow the skiers to finally start skiing. Troop will be able to watch the new kids race and gauge their skill level, he said. It is also exciting for the team to get back on the mountains and to participate in races again, he said.

There is a large buildup to the end of the season because the team has been conditioning so much, Turteltaub said.

“When we actually get to go skiing it’s a lot of fun.”

C ar som seas U prac said stud mu h

Swim

The B o y s and Girls Swim teams “crushed” their meet against Fieldston this Wednesday, with both the boys and girls teams winning the meet, Girls Swim Captain Catherine Mignone (12) said. “We were very dominant in that meet,” she said.

As the event was the team’s first meet in over two years, just getting back into the water was an accomplishment, Swim Coach Michael Duffy said. “The whole team really came together to swim to the win.”

So far, the swim team has had two meets this year — one against all of the Ivy Preparatory League schools and one against Fieldston, Mignone said.

Zachary Montbach (10) enjoyed the meets, he said.

“The most exciting part for me was just getting

back into the season,” he said.

During practice, the team focuses on skills such as kicking and stroke work, he said. “It’s just going to practice and trying to get better,” Montbach said.

The team also splits up into groups that focus on the different strokes: breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke, Mignone said. Other times, the team will focus on the more technical aspects of swimming, she said. “Since we have 2-3 hours of practice every day, we get to work in a lot of technique and also a lot of repetition,” she said. “This makes us pretty powerful as a team.”

Even though it’s still early in the season, the team has begun to bond, Irene Argenti (12) said. “We all try to motivate everyone to do their best and to keep going,” she said.

“If someone is stopped at the wall, we’ll ask them if they are okay.”

The seniors are trying to help the group get even closer, Argenti said. “We are trying to get some team dinners set up so that we can get to know each other better and create a tight knit community,” she said.

Additionally, the swim team has reignited old traditions that did not occur

Photos by Sean Lee/Photo Editor and Aryan Palla/Staff Photographer

last y e a r due to the pandemic, Mignone said. For example, the swim team passes down a secret brownie recipe, and every year one upperclassman bakes brownies for the team before every meet, she said.

At the meet last Monday, the team’s positive energy showed through, Argenti said. “We practiced our cheer for the first time all together,” she said. The swim team’s cheer consists of yelling “arf, arf, arf,” with the seniors and the rest of the team switching off between “arfs,” she said.

“Everyone is excited to get in the pool, everyone cheers each other on,” Mignone said. “It’s a very supportive atmosphere that encourages those individual successes, so when those individual successes come together, we have first place meets.”

T he wrestling team started the season strong this Wednesday with a 4826 victory against Dalton.

“I am very impressed with the level of dedication that was showcased by the team,” Wrestling Coach Gregg Quilty said.

Leading up to the match, the team practiced every day, usually starting practices with warmups, Miles Schamroth (12) said. Warmups consist of exercises such as high knees, butt kicks, and pushups, he said. “Sometimes we do gymnastics at the beginning of a practice, so we’ll do handstands, somersaults or backwards s o m e r s a u l t s ,” he said. “It

the snow: begin practice

Maeve Goldman, Naomi Yaeger

The Boys and Girls Squash teams have come into the season strong and are ready to play hard, reach their goals, and take home some medals, Girls Squash Coach Olufemi Salako said. “We re looking forward to winning me of our matches during the son and making it to the nationals.”

Unlike other teams, the squash team ctices off of school campus, Salako d. This approach allows more dents to attend practice, as it is much closer to some of their homes, he said.

Sarah Lawrence College, the team’s usual practicing venue, was closed to outside schools due to the pandemic, so practices are now held at the Spence School in

Squash

Manhattan, Boys Squash Coach Ronnie Beller said.

Practice starts at 6:30 instead of 4pm, which can be difficult for certain students who are tired at the end of the day, Zahra Motwani (11) said.

“Nonetheless, we are all super grateful to be allowed to play on the courts together.”

The team has persevered and members are adapting to the new schedule well, Salako said. Once everyone arrives at practice, the energy is very high, he said. “Everyone on the team participates and is ready to train with each other,” he said.

At practices, the team works on learning the fundamentals. “During practice we do drills,” Salako said. The coaches use a hands-on approach to showcase new skills. “I get on the courts with the team to demonstrate specific moves and teach new rules,” he said.

After going over basic skills, the team plays practice matches against each other, Motwani said. Although the girls team and the boys team are usually separated during practice

7

THE RECORD LIONS’ DEN DECEMBER 3RD, 2021

works our flexibility and it gets us moving and our blood flowing.”

After that, the team drills technique sessions, Schamroth said.

The coach will call out a move, such as a headlock, and players will team up and practice the move on each other. “We do the motion slowly to get the technique down.”

In another common drill called “live scenarios,” players practice particular moves in partnerships, Schamroth said. The coaches assign each partner one of three positions: up, down, or neutral. These positions determine whether they are on the offensive or defensive, he said.

Last year, athletes were not allowed to practice within six feet of each other; instead, they conditioned and practiced their moves without a partner, he said. Due to the team’s inability to practice as intensely, many players have fallen a year behind in their training, Quilty said. “It’s just tricky

trying to balance all the different levels of experience,” he said.

Overall, the team has brought its energy to every aspect of practice, Quilty said.

During the first week of practices, Quilty noticed players staying late after practice ended to continue conditioning.

For Elias Romero (12), the team spirit shines through at the end of practice. “We all gather in the center of the mat, slap the mat and do our team chant,” he said.

“It’s a really strong moment at the end of each practice just to show that we finished and brought our energy.”

Table Tennis

T he T a b l e Tennis team will attempt to extend their undefeated streak from the 2019-2020 season on December 8 at their first match against Fieldston, Jiya Chatterjee (11) said.

The team runs a variety of drills during practices, Leo Hess (12) said.

“We usually start with some drills, some different sort of skill-building exercises, and from there, we play [against] each other,” he said. “We do Round Robin tournaments or other kinds of rounds, brackets so that everyone gets a lot of on Monday playing time in.” the whole team The team practices on the participated in a cosecond and third floors of ed match, she said. “The Lutnick, a new location game was really fun because for them, Hess said. “In Coach Salako played and 2018 and 2019, we rallied with us,” Motwani said. practiced in the The squash team has already basement established a close community, o f Motwani said. “Getting to know everyone on the team is the best part of squash,” she said. “Even though we have only had a couple of practices and it’s the first time that many of us are meeting each other, we have bonded super quickly.”

The team’s first meet is on December 15, Salako said. Even though this meet is just the beginning, the team already can’t wait to play nationals at the end of the season, Motwani said.

Wrestling

Lutnick, and last year we practiced outside,” he said.

The new practice location is better than any previous practice location, as it gives the team more space to move around, Chatterjee said. “Last year we were in a makeshift tent on the tennis courts, which wasn’t so fun because it was always cold and dark, in spite of the heaters and lights.”

Last year, many players decided not to sign up for winter sports due to the effects COVID-19 would have on their playing time, Hess said. Now that the team has returned to its pre-COVID practice schedule, Hess has seen an increase in sign-ups. “More students signed up for the team this year than ever before,” he said.

Overall, Hess has seen this increase as a positive change for the team.

“Having new players, both freshmen and sophomores and even a lot of juniors has been a good addition to the team,” Hess said. The new teammates bring new playing styles to practice, add variety, and challenge the team to practice better, he said.

“We are all really excited for the season, we’ve all improved a lot since we were last playing any school, so we have a really strong team.”

The increase in the team’s size hasn’t affected its positive energy, Chatterjee said. “Everyone really gets along and has a fun time competing with each other,” she said. “There’s a sense of camaraderie as well as competitive spirit in every practice, which is what makes the team so great.”

Looking forward, Chatterjee expects the team to succeed in their future matches, she said. “We have a really strong team this year, so we’re really looking forward to playing competitions and matches against other schools,” Chatterjee said.

8

THE RECORD MIDDLE DIVISION NOVEMBER 12TH, 2021

A look into the Service Learning Program in the MD Nia Huff and Samantha Matays Contributing Writers

“The MD Service-Learning program encourages students to see themselves as members of an interdependent New York City community,” Head of Middle Division (MD) Javaid Khan said. “We support the leadership of our community-based partners by learning about the issues that affect our neighbors and provide volunteer service to local organizations.

In addition, we seek to understand how the major issues of the day impact our lives and how we can creatively and inclusively meet these challenges.”

This years’ MD Service Learning program is in full swing. In previous, sixth and seventh graders did service learning with their advisories and eighth graders signed up individually for activities that were facilitated and chaperoned

by MD teachers, Service Learning Coordinator Caitlin Hickerson said. This year, all grade levels will do service learning through their advisories to comply with the COVID-19 protocols and decrease potential exposure, Hickerson said.

After school began, Khan met with Hickerson every other week to plan the service learning activities. As the Service Learning Coordinator, Hickerson develops ideas for activities, ensures that they run smoothly, and coordinates with the CCVA to plan activities between multiple divisions, she said.

Advisory Coordinator Norrma Rodgriguez and Hickerson met over the summer to prepare the upcoming year and discuss how service learning will be implemented in the advisories,

Advisory Coordinator Norma Rodriguez said.

“The goal is to continue to build the community within the advisory so the advisor is more involved,” Rodriguez said.

Before the pandemic, MD service learning included trips to Target, the Mercy Center, and the New York Common Pantry. However, these plans can no longer take place due to COVID-19, so Hickerson pivoted to outdoor activities that worked well with the ages of the students, she said.

This year’s theme in the MD is “A Climate Healthy Future for All,” Hickerson said. “A theme establishes a cohesive idea around which to plan and reflect on a set of activities,” she said.

“The sixth and eighth grade activities are most directly connected to this theme, and there will also be division-wide activities that speak to it.”

Each grade in the MD works on different initiatives. In sixth grade, advisories go to Broadway Avenue and pick up trash in the neighborhood. Lila Lee (6) found her experience engaging and thought it was a great way to build bonds with her friends, she said.

In seventh grade, two advisories every week pack 100 sack lunches for the New York Common Pantry (NYCP).

Ava Litman (7) enjoyed packing bags because it was a great experience to see her advisory come together and divy up the tasks.

Her advisor, Math Department Chair Quentin Brooks, laid out cards that listed food items and the budget an individual had to work with, showing the students the difficult economic choices people make when grocery shopping. It made her even more appreciative for what she

SERVICE LEARNING Students prepare food bags. has and for the school, she said.

In addition to service learning in advisory, Caroline Mignone’s (7) Spanish class wrote notes in multiple different languages for the sack lunches for the NYCP. “It was a good way to be kind and bond with our class,” she said.

In the spring, the eighth grade class will perform trail maintenance with the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance, Hickerson said.

Future service learning plans include an assembly in January with a speaker on climate justice and climate law, and an upcycling activity where students will turn t-shirts into bags, Hickerson said. Later this year as well as in future years, Khan hopes to return to working with the school’s partners.

Sixth grade Dorr program shortens to one day

DORR TRIP Students pose outside.

Ella Shaham and Erica Jiang

Contributing Writers

“I realized how important nature is to our lives and how it can help us bond with each other,” William Pietrzak (6) said. “This trip made me much closer to all my advisory classmates.”

Pietrzak belonged to the first group of students to participate in the new sixth grade John Dorr Nature Laboratory (Dorr) program. The updated program, which began this week, condenses the previous three-day program into just one day.

The program aims to make sixth-grade students more comfortable within their community, just as it had before the pandemic. “The more meaningful, purposeful work a group needs to accomplish, the tighter they become,” DePreter said.

In previous years, sixth graders typically visited Dorr for three days during late August to complete various initiatives and challenges with their new advisory classmates before the school year started.

However, this structure had to be reconsidered due to COVID-19, Dorr teacher Jackie Ricca said.

This year, to introduce new sixth graders to their peers and the division, the Dorr faculty hosted a

one-day Zoom orientation for the students during August, in place of the old program.

Nonetheless, the faculty believed that visiting Dorr in person would be critical for students to connect with the outdoors and form bonds with peers outside of the typical classroom setting, Ricca said. The only way to accomplish this goal with COVID-19 restrictions in place would be to decrease the length of the program to only one day, she said.

As a result of the shortened amount of time, the Dorr faculty created an entirely new curriculum, with changes in all of the activities. The activities were also modified to compensate for the weather at this time of the year.

For example, the students will no longer build and test rafts in the pond, as has been the tradition at sixth grade Dorr for many years. Instead, they take part in a nature photo scavenger hunt.

Other activities include a challenge on Dorr’s Adventure Treehouse structure and a scavenger hunt intended to teach students to think creatively and strategically while working together, Assistant Director of Dorr Kate Kerrick said.

The activities and challenges offer students the

chance to build community and learn teamwork, Ricca said. The program is a unique chance for students to reconnect, Kerrick said. “As this time is outside of the normal routine, it allows students to get a different perspective on their peers, their homeroom and themselves,” Kerrick said. At Dorr, the sixth graders reaffirm community norms and values and strengthen their bonds with one another, Ricca said.

For Dilan Shah (6), who went to Dorr this week, climbing the Adventure Treehouse was one of his favorite experiences from the trip to Dorr. “It was also fun to play tag with my friends during free time,” he said. In addition to bonding with his friends, Shah learned about building teamwork and community.

Even though the new sixth grade Dorr trip is shorter than in previous years, the activities planned still make for a day of fun, Director of Dorr Nick DePreter said. “The fires they use for Dorr’mores, the scavenger hunt, and the high ropes courses all add up to an amazing day for the 6th-grade students.”

Pietrzak enjoyed the challenge of moving a ball from one side of an obstacle course to the other, he said. All of the students had to stand still while they tried to pass a ball around, without allowing the ball to touch the ground, he said.

Pietrzak also learned about Beauty and Order, the Dorr tradition in which students work together to contribute to the upkeep of the Dorr campus.

Pietrzak cleaned the bathrooms and floors of the lodge and helped to prepare utensils and napkins for lunch, he said.

The Dorr faculty are still unsure of what the sixth grade program might look like in future years, but they are willing to stay flexible and accommodating, Ricca said. “[The Dorr staff] hope to hold the program in August next school year too,” she said.

DePreter and Kerrick led the creation of the program, and had the Dorr faculty come up with creative solutions to adapt to all the new circumstances, Ricca said. “The Dorr faculty have been amazing in using creative thoughts and ideas to figure out how to make programs work and keep having students up [at Dorr].”

Although COVID-19 forced this particular adjustment in the sixth grade program, the concept of change is not an entirely new idea at Dorr. “We always have changes at Dorr. It is a growing place where everyone is welcome to add their own enthusiasm to the spirit of Dorr and push our mission forward,” DePreter said. “It’s an exciting time to be at Dorr.”

MORE DORR Students gather at first 6th grade trip

Grab an umbrella and come see the MD musical “Singin’ in the Rain”!

Friday, December 10, 2021 and Saturday, December 11, 2021 7:00 pm in Gross Theater