Issue 4

Volume 119 Issue 4

The Record

Female alumni authors share inspiration and challenges

Courtesy of Matthew Aponte

Courtesy of Rachel Baez

an unbalanced representation of gender, Lax said.

It was also important to Bartels that current students and recently graduated alumni know that it is possible to write for a living, she said.

“It is great that Horace Mann students will hear that you can follow your passions and do this with your life.” see Alumni Authors on page 3.

SING YOUR HEART OUT LaChanze sings on Gross stage.

Broadway comes to SOH Emily Salzhauer Staff Writer The school hosted a fundraiser, Broadway Comes to Summer on the Hill (SOH), last Monday evening. During the event, members of the community watched three Broadway stars, Tony Award winner LaChanze, Pearl Sun, and Leesa Richards, perform musical theater songs on the Gross Theatre stage. Executive director of SOH Markell Parker planned the event.

The money raised from the ticket sales went towards supporting SOH’s 7th and 8th grade programs, along with SOH robotics and arts programs, attendee Matthew Aponte (12) said.

Since 1994, the school has hosted SOH, a program for about 200 students grades three through six who are recruited from public schools in Harlem, the Bronx and Washington Heights, Parker said. Students of SOH take accelerated classes during the summer and for select Saturdays each school year, he said. SOH normally takes place at the schools’ campus in Riverdale, but has become virtual due to COVID, Parker said.

Before the performance, the 90 vaccinated and masked guests gathered in Olshan Lobby for a cocktail hour, where SOH Board Chair Ginger McKnight-Chavers P ‘18 welcomed them.

Afterwards, the performance began with two of the Broadway actors, Sun and Richards, singing musical theater songs, Parker said.

The singers were also accompanied by a four player band, which included a bass, guitar, piano and a drummer, he said.

The guests included HM students and

SOH alums, families and teachers, the executive director of SOH Markell Parker said. Congressman Adriano Espaillat, the first Dominican to serve in the House of Representatives, was also present at the event.

It took six months of work to plan this event, Parker said. SOH found these specific performers through families in the community. LD music instructor and MD and UD Carmen Keels, helped secure one of the performers, her friend who is a Broadway performer, Aponte said.

The fundraiser was the second installment of “Broadway Comes to Summer on the Hill,” after its inaugural event in 2019.

“An important aspect of Summer on the Hill is arts and performance, so this was a neat way to recognize the program in that way,” Director of Institutional Research & Enrollment Management Lisa Moreira said.

After that, the performance began with two of the Broadway actors, Pearl Sun, and Lesa Richards, singing musical theatre songs, Parker said. The singers were also accompanied by a four player band, which included a bass, guitar, piano and a drummer, he said.

Since Aponte is interested in pursuing musical theater in the future, he especially appreciated the special guests in attendance, he said. “It was pretty amazing to see these actors come to HM to perform,” Aponte said.

A highlight of the night for Aponte was when LaChanze dedicated a song about being a lion to him, he said. “She gave me a shoutout in her song and said that she was see SOH on page 3.

Editorial: Indigenous Peoples’ Day, beyond the name The message the school community is sending about the upcoming long weekend — its purpose, its value, and its name — is one of ambivalence. Some students just plan to relax or catch up on school work, others think of it as a time to celebrate Christopher Columbus’ arrival in America, and a growing group has begun to take the time to educate themselves on the culture and history of Indigenous Peoples. The administration has changed the name on the school calendar to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” a long overdue change. But nothing else has been done to commemorate the holiday.

While the administration has begun to move towards a necessary reconciliation with the nation’s history, their decision seems cosmetic and inconclusive. The school community can read the name

October 8th, 2021

Archives showcase history of The Record Max Chasin Staff Writer

Rachel Baez Staff Writer Last Wednesday, six female alumni authors discussed their writing careers in a panel organized by Director of Alumni Relations Kristin Lax and moderated by Upper Division Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels. The panel consisted of Alexandra Budabin ‘96, Val Bodurtha ‘14, Leslie Cohen ‘02, Emily Liebert ‘94, Emma Riva ‘18, and Sarah Seltzer ‘01.

The panel discussion will be featured in the virtual “Mann Made” Homecoming program, which celebrates the role that alumni play in inspiring the imaginations of current students, Lax said. The purpose of the panel was to share what motivated panelists to be writers and how the school community influenced their decision.

Lax is extremely grateful to these female alumni authors for participating in the panel discussion and taking time to share their reflections on their journeys as published authors, she said. “If you look at the bookcase filled with alumni publications, the vast majority are written by males,” she said. The school was an all boys school until fifty years ago, so it has

record.horacemann.org

Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903

of the holiday on the school’s webpage, then enjoy their day off without any acknowledgment of the history it represents. At best, we might see an email on Monday about the day. However, more substantial actions are necessary.

Although some members of the community — a few history teachers, a couple politically active students — have changed the language they use, we as a community have not made a commitment to make the change. As an Editorial Board, we believe that it is necessary to switch our language to acknowledge the colonial history that has long dominated rhetoric in the US about this holiday — and go beyond our words, too.

This weekend, in addition to welldeserved relaxation, take time to educate yourself. Learn about the land you are on, whom it belonged to before

colonizers settled the country, and the history of Indigenous people from before colonization to now. Read about the history of residential schools in the US and Canada, the traditions and holidays of various Indigenous peoples, and the Land Back Movement. The school sits on land that once belonged to the Wappinger Munsee Lenape people. As a community member who currently benefits from that land, it is your responsibility to learn about it.

When you hear your peers — or your teachers — refer to the long weekend as a celebration of Columbus, correct them. Let’s make an effort to go beyond performativity this Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Over the past two weeks, an exhibit covering the history of The Record was on display for students and faculty in the school’s archive room. “I love this exhibit because there has been so much about the history of the school that has been overlooked that these articles bring back,” Upper Division Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels said. Bartels created the exhibit, and students had to schedule a time with her for a tour.

Bartels created the exhibit primarily to showcase all of the fascinating information she found throughout The Record’s history, she said. “In October of 1919, I found out that teachers who fought in World War I were returning from the war to come back and teach at Horace Mann,” she said. Without looking through these old articles, Bartels would never have known that something like this had ever happened, she said.

Bartels wanted to display the evolution of the Record, both through its visual appearance and the content it featured, to show students how it’s changed over the years. “The Record first began to look like a newspaper in 1914,” she said. “In the beginning, they looked like stapled pieces of paper, or even pamphlets.”

Bartels main goal, however, was to show people what was happening on the first week of every year throughout the school’s history, she said.

Around 2008, the school sent out copies of the bound issues of The Record to be digitized. For the exhibit, Bartels went through the digital copies of The Record and printed out the first page of every year she had access to, she said.

The school has many of these articles thanks to people cleaning up their parents’and grandparents’ homes and finding old Record issues and articles, Bartels said. The school has also been saving all of the issues of The Record since its founding, she said.

However, Bartels has not been able to salvage every issue of The Record in the school’s history, she said. “Certain things are missing,” she said. “We have no copies of the 1916/1917 Record, except for the very end of 1917; the rest have been lost.”1917/1918 is also gone, with no extant issues except for those published by the HM Girls School in Manhattan. see Archive Show on page 3.

2

THE RECORD OPINIONS OCTOBER 8TH, 2021

Evolving language: “Enslaved people,” not “slaves”

Connor Dwin For eleven years at this school, I never thought twice about using the word slave to describe enslaved Black people.

I think I defaulted to that term because I felt it adequately described enslaved African Americans, and because, for the most part, it seemed harmless. It was not until my junior year, when my history teacher Dr. Straus proposed the idea of using the term “enslaved individual” in the Comparative Race and Ethnicity elective, that I stopped using the word slave — and started thinking about its weight.

The word “slave” emphasizes the position of an enslaved person while only implying that they are human.

In continuing to simply suggest the

humanity of enslaved Africans when addressing slavery, instead of explicitly stating their humanity, we are defining enslaved Africans as property first and people second. In using the phrase “enslaved African” instead of slave we are accomplishing the opposite; we are describing them as “human first and commodities second,” as reporter Katy Waldman wrote in her 2015 essay on the word “slave.” By prioritizing the humanization of enslaved individuals we are taking steps towards fully recognizing their identities. In this way, we become enactors of historical justice, even on a small scale, because we are helping to legitimize the identities of a group of people who were never defined beyond their status as slaves. The term “enslaved African” also holds those who enslaved people accountable for their role in enslavement. While the word “slave” only denotes a person’s status, the term enslaved African indicates both the status of that person and — because of the use of the passive voice (enslaved) which suggests that a person actively caused something to happen — connotes the existence of an enslaver.

It therefore connects the suffering and dehumanization of enslaved Africans to those who caused their suffering.

When I first switched the terminology I was using, I never considered articulating the reason for the adjustment. To me, the change in wording seemed like a semi-needless

act of political correctness, and I didn’t understand what the effect of using one description over the other was. Still, I continued to use the term “enslaved African” — mostly because it seemed like a more respectful way to describe a group of people and because changing my wording wasn’t bothersome for me to complain or protest. This year, in Dr. Meyers’ African American history elective, I have focused on the historiography of and philosophy behind Black history: how historians write and deliver Black historical narratives to accomplish different objectives. In Nikole Hanah Jones’s introductory essay for the 1619 project, she aims to shift the narrative of Black history from one of victimhood to one of patriotism, thereby spurring Black America’s pride in their Americanness.

Discussing historiography through pieces like Hanah Jones’ made me more conscious about the power of language when it came to portraying slavery.

Just as we should become cognizant of the terminology we use to describe enslaved individuals, we must also become more careful about the comparisons we make between small injustices our own lives and slavery. It is not exaggeration to state that American chattel slavery was one of the most servere forms of oppression in human history. Yet, even today I continue to hear others use slavery as a metaphor for our twenty-first century, first world

the complex ways in which our identities and experiences intersect.

This mindset also inhibits our ability to build the empathy required to solve these problems, as they cannot be properly addressed if we feel disconnected from them.

The last school year began after a summer filled with protests and social unrest, confronting us directly with the realities of racial violence in America. These protests were held across the country, including in New York City. There was no way to escape or ignore the fear, pain, and discomfort that they evoked.

With these events affecting so many of us personally, it should not be surprising that last year was the first year that nearly all of my classes set time aside to openly discuss current social issues. It should not be surprising that teachers became more sensitive to how these issues may be affecting their students’ personal lives and to how these students might have needed an open, judgementfree environment to express their emotions.

What I do find surprising is how we seemed to only have become conscious of certain issues once protests and extensive media coverage brought them to our attention. These are not new ideas. Many, if not all, of the people of color attending this school have

grappled with racism and the reality of racial violence. Despite this fact, the majority of our teachers did not choose to discuss the pain caused by such issues, nor the frequent discomfort experienced by their students, until George Floyd was murdered and protests erupted across the country.

This is not to say we have never discussed racism — I have learned about racial

problems. Oftentimes, I hear someone say “these are slave wages,” or “they treat us like slaves.” In comparing the relatively small injustices we experience today to the suffering enslaved Africans experienced, we grossly belittle the oppression enslaved African Americans endured by incorrectly labeling the injustice of slavery. In making that connection, w e therefore

Lauren Bay Kim/Staff Artist

become actors of historical injustice because we are, unconciously, encouraging a narrative about slavery is that blatently innacurate.

As our interpretations of history change, the terminology we use must also evolve. A primary goal of history is to interrogate and revise our understanding of the past. The terminology we use represents, and partly dictates, how we view people

Talk about all issues, no matter whom they affect

Vidhatrie Keetha “Why do we have to talk about this? It doesn’t even affect me.”

Although this statement is rather generalized, it is a sentiment I’m used to hearing time and again — either spoken in the hallways, whispered during assemblies, or talked about openly after a heavy class discussion.

This belief that people should not need to educate themselves on issues that do not involve or affect them — unless it’s for a grade, assignment, or any other form of recognition — is inherently problematic.

No social issue truly excludes any group of people — there is always going to be some part of it that affects everyone, even tangentially.

A situation can affect us indirectly by affecting the people around us.

A part of this can also be attributed to the idea of intersectionality, which describes the ways in which various aspects of our identities overlap. If we operate under the assumption that certain issues affect us directly while others do not, we disregard

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 Oliver Lewis Daniel Schlumberger Ailill Walsh

Online Editor Lucas Glickman

Head of Design AJ Walker

Faculty Adviser David Berenson

context, nor in a way that allowed me to talk about and process my own emotions. Perhaps the most valuable part of these open discussions for me, would be the way that they have helped me process and better understand my experiences as a person of color attending this school.

So while discussions of racism within literature or history are important, it is equally as important to talk about within a present-day context.

In my experience, acknowledging such issues outside of work assigned for class helped amplify my own awareness of them. Even taking sixty seconds of peace to recognize current social events in Orchestra, a class wherein we do not normally discuss these issues, emphasized their importance and relevance.

These discussions have enriched our education, allowing us to develop a deeper understanding of what we hear on the news. Yet, how come we have been having fewer such conversations Vivian Coraci/Staff Artist this year? Why aren’t we continuing to talk about relevant social issues that affect so inequality in my many people in our country?

English and History classes, Although the answer to these wherein we are often required to read questions may not be straightforward, texts that shed light on such issues. it is apparent to me that I wouldn’t However, I had never discussed these even be asking them if we were issues freely in response to a current frequently learning about social issues event in an ungraded, non-academic that do not seem to directly involve or 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 Staff Photographers Sophie Gordon, Amanda Wein, Emma Colacino, AJ Walker, Lucas Glickman, Lauren Ho, Sean Lee Staff Artists Tatum Behrens, Felix Brenner, Kayla Choi, Amira Dossani, Ishaan Iyengar, Isabelle Kim, Dylan Leftt, Sophia Liu, Samuel Stern, Sammy Underberg, Aimee Yang

and events. Therefore, because our understanding of historical narratives is ever-changing, our wording must remain flexible as well. Making the conscious switch from “slave” to “enslaved African” encourages us to actively consider the humanity of enslaved Black people and reshapes our understanding of slave owners as active agents who unjustifiably enslaved millions of people. Similarly, being more careful about the comparisons we make to slavery helps to prevent grossly understating the suffering of enslaved Africans.

Though the majority of people at HM would be open to embracing evolving historical language, I find that many may just be limited by their lack of awareness. It is therefore our responsibility to educate them on the significance of wording so they not only recognize that they should be using one term over the other, but also why. American slavery was a tragedy; generations of my ancestors were born enslaved and died that way. I choose to use “enslaved Africans” instead of “slaves” not only to remain fluid in my use of historical language, but because I feel a need to recognize the humanity of my ancestors to the fullest extent I can.

Altering our wording may seem like a needless practice of political correctness, but wording changes the way we approach African American, and therefore American history as a whole.

affect us. Empathy and intersectional thinking force us to understand that the issues faced by others may often have a significant effect on our own lives. In order to develop this sense of empathy, we cannot exclusively address issues once they directly confront us. We must also become aware of and discuss social issues that may not seem to affect us initially.

It shouldn’t have taken a summer of protests for us to begin learning about and discussing the Black Lives Matter movement in a classroom setting.

While I do acknowledge that my experience as a student at the school is not representative of everyone else’s experience, there is a noticeable difference in the collective awareness of current social issues between last year and this year, at least so far. Why is that the case? The pandemic is not yet over, there is an immigration crisis at the southern border, and the recent fall of Kabul to the Taliban following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has prompted a refugee crisis. There are plenty of current social issues we can and should be learning about and reacting to, even if it’s not for a grade.

Combating these issues, as well as our own internal biases, starts with educating ourselves. However, I would say that simply educating ourselves is not enough — we need to continue to develop spaces wherein we can openly converse about such topics. Not only can these conversations teach us how to articulate our own thoughts and views on certain social issues, but they can help us develop the sense of empathy required to resolve them.

Editorial Policy

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

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

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

Letters Letters to the editor often respond to editorials, articles, and opinions pieces, allowing The Record to uphold its commitment to open discourse within the school community. They too represent the opinion of the author and not of The Record or the school. To be considered for publication in the next issue, letters should be submitted by mail (The Record, 231 West 246th Street, Bronx, NY 10471) or email (record@horacemann. org) before 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening. All submissions must be signed.

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

3

THE RECORD NEWS OCTOBER 8TH, 2021

from Alumni on page 1

from SOH on page 1

The panel began with Bartels asking the alumni which, if any, teachers influenced them to become writers. Seltzer, as well as the other alumni, expressed the impact that previous head of the English department David Schiller had on her desire to continue writing. Schiller and former English teacher Gerri Woods assigned more assignments than her other teachers, which helped Seltzer truly understand her writing process in the long run, she said.

At the end of the semester, Schiller had patted each student’s head and given them

“

“If you look at the bookcase filled with alumni publications, the vast majority are written by males.”

- Kristin Lax

a prediction. His prediction for Cohen was, “smart girl, literary mind.” This stuck with Cohen because someone recognized her love for reading and writing, she said.

History teacher and current Dean of the Class of 2021 Susan Groppi played a large role in Bodurtha’s writing career.

On one of her assignments, Groppi had singing it to me, which was pretty cool,” more about SOH, he said. “I hope they took commented “this can be a book.” Bodurtha away the good feelings that were in the room did exactly that, turning it into her first Aponte said.

“Thanks to FLIK dining and the facilitator and that they learned something about the book, “The History Makers.”

Riva was fond of English teacher department, the event went on smoothly and extraordinary students we serve at SOH,” Adam Casdin, who emphasized that life without a hitch,” Parker said. “It was a great Parker said. experiences hold more weight than formal night.”

Parker hopes that guests were able to learn education, she said.

These authors have faced many obstacles throughout their careers, including being Courtesy of Matthew Aponte women within a male-dominated field, Riva said. Sexism within the writing community is prevalent, Bodurtha said.

There is a genre called Women’s Fiction, yet there is not one called Men’s Fiction, Liebert said. Men are seen as the default, Riva said.

It was interesting to hear about these women’s careers from their point of view, Bartels said. “One of the questions that I asked them was about writing during the pandemic,” she said. “Three of them are mothers, so being a writer at home with kids and trying to meet deadlines is difficult. It was fascinating to see how each of them had handled it.”

Authors can have a difficult time motivating themselves to write, especially during a pandemic, Liebert said. She, Budabin, and Seltzer were inconsistent with their writing since they had young children that needed more attention than VIBRANT VOCALS LaChanze performs in Gross Theater. they would if they had in-person school.

Seltzer didn’t write for a whole year during the pandemic. She was able to pick it back Courtesy of Matthew Aponte up once her schedule returned to normal, she said.

As a romantic comedy author, Cohen’s work felt small compared to the bigger things happening in the world, she said.

She didn’t want to write about COVID in her novels because everyone experienced it. Instead, Cohen wanted to provide an escape for her readers, she said.

Riva also thought it was unnecessary to include the pandemic in her writing because she could express the emotions of it through her books without including COVID itself, she said.

All the authors in the panel came to the consensus that it was important to get used to rejection because it is a large part of writing, Riva said. “At Horace Mann you have a specific idea on what your lives are going to look like, but that’s not realistic,” Riva said. “Things are not going to turn out the way you think they are, and that’s fine.”

GROUP POSE Performers smile for the camera.

from Archive on page 1 Emily Sun (11), who visited the archives last week, noticed many differences between The Record today in comparison to over the past century, she said. “It started more as a creative writing publication with fiction and things like that, which is different from what we do now.” The Record also used to be much more text-heavy, Courtesy of Barry Mason

resembling a newspaper like the New York Times, compared to today’s editions, which are filled with many pictures, she said.

The topics discussed in the paper have drastically changed over the years, Bartels said. For example, in one issue, a writer from the school commented on and critiqued the newspapers of other schools in the

region, she said.

It is also important to remember that these students came from a completely different era, Bartels said. “It’s the history of every school at that time that the concept of race was looked upon differently. I was about to put up one article when I found a racist comment right in the middle, so I realized I couldn’t

put it up.”

The school’s newspaper system has also changed as a whole.

For example, the school did not always have only one school paper, she said. “Back in the day, the school used to create a summer newspaper,” she said. It was run by the students who participated in the school’s summer program, she said. “Also, for a while, the school had many boarding students, and those people also participated in

around the 1970s.

UD History teacher Elisa Milkes also visited the archives. “I find it comforting that the school has its own archives, and that the school prioritizes the resources that are required to support and archive, and I wanted to acknowledge that and support it.” At the exhibit, Milkes was fascinated by the fact that there were newspapers that came out during World War I, she said.

“I love this exhibit because there has been so much about the history of the school that has been overlooked that these articles bring back” - Caroline Bartels Courtesy of Barry Mason

the summer Record.” The paper was called the Summer School Record, Bartels said.

Additionally, The Record was not published as frequently as it is today.

“The Record was not published weekly, but rather quarterly, or just every once in a while in the early years.” The Record changed into a weekly paper in 1914, but there was no set publication day, she said. Sometimes it came out on Wednesdays, sometimes Thursdays. It didn’t consistently start coming out on Fridays until

Sun learned a lot from visiting the exhibit, she said. “I discovered the school featured a Christmas issue where the paper was printed in green and red,” she said. “There were also many articles about exchange students at our school, from countries like Japan and Russia.”

“My main takeaway from visiting the exhibit is that we have an extraordinary collection, and the room is such amazing research given how extensive it is,” Milkes said.

4

THE RECORD FEATURES OCTOBER 8TH, 2021

Students with dietary restrictions adapt to changing cafeteria options Sean Lee Staff Writer

of pasta — one takes more time, and you can’t really cut grilled chicken on the go.”

“It’s hard to stop and make one Last year, Blackman brought meals specialty sandwich for one student from home because she had difficulty when we’re concentrating on feeding finding satisfying things to eat during 1,500 people, but we do it,” Head of the school day. This year, however, FLIK Dining and Service Brenda she no longer brings food from home Cohn said. “We do our best to because the cafeteria offers a wider accommodate those special needs in array of food options, she said. whatever manner we can.”

Sophie Gordon (12), a vegetarian, Community members with dietary also found it difficult to find meals restrictions must ensure that they are that did not contain meat during the receiving meals that are in accordance pandemic when cafeteria options with their needs for lunch, whether were limited, she said. “Once the by coordinating with FLIK staff or pandemic hit, especially last year, it bringing food from home. became a lot more difficult because Students should reach out for help there were more limited options in if they are having trouble finding the cafeteria, and the majority of viable food options, Cohn said. “Only them had meat in them because that’s students who identify themselves to what the majority of the student body myself, who I then introduce to the consumes.” The cafeteria has executive chef, the chefs, and the staff returned for ist taff Art S so we can assist them, can we the most t/ ft e L Dylan assist.” Students can also part to go through the nurse i t s who helps introduce those with dietary restrictions to the FLIK staff to find a

menu that suits their particular diet, Cohn said. “We will do everything that we can to make [students’] experience in the lunchroom delicious, nutritious, and safe.”

Sammy Blackman (12), a student with celiac disease, has trouble finding snacks or a meal to eat quickly, she said. “Eating a salad on the go isn’t as easy as maybe just holding a sandwich in your hand, chicken fingers, or grabbing a bowl

preCOVID state with the reintroduction of the salad bar, the deli, and other non-packaged food items that were missing last year, Cohn said. At each lunch station, students with dietary restrictions have several options to fit their dietary needs.

The cafeteria is also able to accommodate dietary restrictions more easily, she said. While the cafeteria tries to avoid nut-based ingredients in recipes and sometimes replaces flour with cornstarch in

sauces to accommodate gluten-free students, the staff does not avoid any other ingredients in the Middle and Upper Divisions, Cohn said. “At the Middle and Upper school, you really are old enough to be asking the questions about any ingredients you might be allergic to.”

Cohn encourages students to avoid foods whose ingredients they are unsure of. All staff members are trained and reminded during daily morning meetings to ask the chef whenever students have questions about ingredients, she said. For instance, Cohn was unsure of whether a shipment of cookies for this year’s dessert station came from a nut-free facility and instead encouraged students with a nut-free diet to get a fruit cup or have a slushy as a replacement, she said. “We have our famous phrase: when in doubt, do without.”

Students with allergies and restrictions should also be wary of using the salad bar and other self-service stations, Cohn said.

“We advise students to never eat from a self-serve type of service because the opportunity for crosscontamination is great,” she said. “We prefer that they come to us, where we get their food from segregated areas in the kitchen to ensure that they’re eating safely.”

Gordon found that the return of the salad bar helped her find nutritious meals that she also enjoyed eating, she said.

As a lactose-intolerant student, Lexi Schwartz (11) has found that it is easy to avoid dairy products and other foods that could affect her dietary restriction, she said. “I’ve been dealing with being lactose intolerant for a while, so I kind of know what’s going to affect me, and I feel like the school makes it easy to eat things,” she said. “If I want pasta

or a sandwich, I just won’t get cheese on it, so it can definitely be easily avoided.”

Dalia Pustilnik (12), who has avoided eating pork from a young age for religious and personal reasons, also finds it easy to avoid pork-based lunches and snacks that may contain gelatin, she said. “Because there are so many options, even when the hot lunch option is pork-based, there are so many other foods that I don’t really feel like I am ever restricted because of that.”

Although Lawson Wright (11), who, like Blackman, has celiac disease, feels that students with dietary restrictions have less options, he does not find it difficult to find options for lunch, he said. “There are less options, just because some days they may have offerings that aren’t within your dietary restrictions, but you can definitely find something to eat, and even then, there’s still a lot of options to have a nutritious lunch.”

Ria Chowdhry (12) believes that while the cafeteria does a good job of providing vegetarian options for students, an array of vegetarian sandwiches and paninis throughout the week would be convenient, she said.

Blackman would appreciate quicker options that fit into her dietary restrictions. “Any sort of gluten-free snacks and premade salads that are more grab-and-go would be helpful,” she said.

Having a wider variety of options in the cafeteria has positive effects on students who can find meals that fit within the limits of their dietary restriction, School Nurse DeAnna Cooper said. “Students have had a good experience and have gained confidence in choosing foods specific to their dietary requirements,’’ she said.

Dylan Leftt/Staff Artist

THE RECORD FEATURES OCTOBER 8TH, 2021

“We wouldn’t be HM today without our PA:” Parents Association connects school community Hannah Katzke Staff Writer “The HMPA always embraces people who want to roll up their sleeves and pitch in,” Executive Committee Chair of the “Friends of the Arts” Committee Sara Zion P‘22 ‘24 wrote. The Horace Mann School Parents Association (HMPA), a group of parents and guardians, works to facilitate strong relationships between the school and the parent body and help parents feel connected with the school community, President of the HMPA Sally Zhang P‘26 said.

“The HMPA does a wonderful job of connecting families to one another and of cultivating a sense of oneness within the family community as a whole,” Zion wrote. The primary impact of the HMPA is their ability to connect the schools’ families, who come from over 150 zip codes, she said.

The HMPA is composed of an Executive Board, four Divisional Boards — Upper Division (UD), Middle Division (MD), Lower Division (LD), and Nursery Division (ND) — and other parent-run committees. Each of these committees are made up of parents and guardians of students at the school, Zhang said.

HMPA members have the opportunity to participate and work directly with the school. “Every parent of an HM student is officially a member of the HM Parents Association; everyone has the opportunity to get involved in any way they would like, and we welcome the involvement of people with all different opinions, backgrounds, and experiences,” Co-Chair of the UDPA Marisa Rosenthal P‘21 ‘24 wrote.

During the school year, the HMPA only gets together as an entire group a few times, but they meet and talk frequently in their committees, Zion wrote.

The HMPA helps host and plan several events throughout the year, including the New Family Welcome gatherings, the school’s Annual Benefit, the International Food Festival, and the Book Fair.

To plan these events, the HMPA works with the appropriate administrator to set dates for the events, Rosenthal wrote. For example, for an event like the Book Fair, a designated committee works closely with UD Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels to plan. The co-chairs of the

Dylan Leftt/Staff Artist

committee then take over planning with the help of committee volunteers and Divisional officers, Rosenthal wrote.

Zhang loves talking with parents who are interested in joining the HMPA, volunteering for events like Picture Day or the Book Fair, or suggesting ways to improve the PA’s work. “When someone wants to reach out, it means they care,” she said.

As the HMPA President, Zhang works closely with Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly, who reviews and approves the PA’s initiatives and projects, she said. “HMPA is also extremely grateful for the strong support we have been receiving from the Division Heads, Mrs. Arroyo, Mrs. Neuwirth, Mr. Khan, and Dr. Levenstein,” Zhang said.

Kelly works with the HMPA to coordinate and plan events like Homecoming, school opening, outfitting for the school’s merchandise, and the Benefit, he wrote. “HM’s PA is an integral part of a family’s journey through HM; we wouldn’t be HM today without our PA.” Zhang also now serves as a member of the Board of Trustees, she said. “It is amazing to see the huge collection of the talented and experienced parents and other volunteers who deeply love the school to serve on the Board.”

As MD Co-Chair, Lindsay Taylor P‘24 ‘26 ‘29 works with Head of the MD Javaid

“I have met such incredible people who have inspired me, made me laugh, and have been great teammates and friends over the years.”

- Lindsay Taylor P‘24 ‘26 ‘29 Khan to plan and coordinate communitybuilding events for MD parents like the International Food Festival, she wrote.

The committee talks to the administration about changes they want to see in the MD events, then brainstorms new ideas for the year. Taylor works with the faculty to execute their ideas, she wrote.

Taylor joined the HMPA because she wanted to support the school, she wrote.

“It is absolutely the best way to get to know other parents, and I have made some of my best friends by volunteering.”

Rosenthal works with the UD administration to coordinate and schedule Conversations with Dr. Levenstein, which are Head of Upper Division Dr. Jessica Levenstein’s talks with parents to discuss topics that impact UD students, like the curriculum and support systems, she wrote.

Rosenthal and the PA Divisional officers also ensure that information on the UD’s upcoming events is accurately shared with the parent body, while building a community among the UD parents.

Executive Secretary Tyana Kurtz P‘23 ‘26 and Executive Assistant Secretary Jackie Friedman-Brogadir P‘34 function as the PA’s communication team — which also includes two web managers — sending out eBlasts and maintaining the HMPA section of the parent portal on the school’s website. Every other Sunday, Kurtz and Friedman-Brogadir compile information on all of the school’s upcoming events in an eBlast sent to the entire parent body, Kurtz said. “We make sure that from a communications standpoint, everybody knows what’s going on, when it’s going on, and how they can engage and participate.”

Besides the Executive and Divisional Boards, there are numerous parent-run committees on the HMPA. They include several Alliance Groups created for parents and families, such as the Black Parents Union, Chinese Family Network (CFN), Hispanic/Latino Family Network, HM Pride, HM South Asian Families, the Korean Parents League, andthe Cross Cultural Alliance (CCA).

The CCA is for parents who do not readily identify with an already established alliance group, Executive Committee Co-Chair of the CCA Sheri Madison-Kwarteng P‘27 said. The committee welcomes all and focuses on topics like mindfulness, religion, and socioeconomics, she said. They partner with the school’s faculty and the National Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) Project to develop content and lead parent SEED sessions. MadisonKwarteng and Executive Committee Co-Chair of the CCA Cathy Trentalancia P‘23 hosted four SEED sessions with the CCA last school year.

The CFN’s mission is to bring together the school’s Chinese parents to promote culture, language, and heritage diversity in the school’s community, Co-Chair of the CFN and the MD New Family Welcome Committee Mandy Sun P‘23 ‘27 wrote. “It’s a great way for HM parents to celebrate their own culture and learn about different cultures, as HM is a very diverse community.”

Through the CFN, Sun can connect with Chinese families at the school at events held during the year, she wrote. In January, the CFN will host a Lunar New Year Virtual Celebration where families are invited to wear festive cultural attire, enjoy students’ performances, and mingle online with friends and families, Sun wrote.

Last school year, for the online International Food Festival, the UD

5

PA and MD PA created a cookbook for parents to submit recipes or videos of them cooking dishes from their family’s culture, Rosenthal wrote. She hopes the event will be on campus this year and the collective cookbook will continue.

While online, the HMPA also hosted grade-wide cocktail parties, Rosenthal wrote. Last year, with the help of the PA’s grade representatives who plan the grade-wide cocktail parties and are involved in the New Family Welcome events, the HMPA invited creative entertainment like magicians and a mixology demonstration. Recently, Kelly released COVID-19 parameters for the grade-wide cocktail parties if the grade representative wants to hold them inperson, Rosenthal wrote.

This year, the HMPA restored HM Has a Heart (HMHaH), a parent-run support group for the school’s parents and faculty.

The primary goal of HMHaH is to assist

“HMPA volunteers are all united by the genuine intention to make HM a better place for our kids and for the families who come after us.”

- Sara Zion P’22 ‘24 anyone in the school’s community going through a difficult time in their life, Zhang said. If one of the school’s families, faculty, or staff is grieving over the loss of a loved one, the network of over 200 opt-in parents will support the family by supplying them with meals to their home.

When a parent comes to the HMPA with a question or concern, the HMPA does their best to share the opinion with the school’s administration, but they also suggest that the parents speak to the administration directly, Rosenthal wrote.

When Zion was a new parent at the school, working on the HMPA allowed her to feel like she was a part of the school’s community, she wrote. Zion volunteered at events like the Horace Mann Theater Company performances because she loves to see the students’ shows and meet teachers, her fellow HMPA members, and their children.

“Taking on a big responsibility in an unfamiliar place allowed me to quickly find my bearings and understand how HM works.”

Rosenthal’s favorite part of being on the HMPA is getting to know parents with whom she may not have crossed paths with otherwise, she wrote. “I have met such incredible people who have inspired me, made me laugh, and have been great teammates and friends over the years.”

As someone who has volunteered extensively for the HMPA, Zion wrote that the parents on the HMPA are the ones who are willing and able to take time out of their days to roll up their sleeves and get work done for their kids’ school community, she wrote. “HMPA volunteers are all united by the genuine intention to make HM a better place for our kids and for the families who come after us.”

6

THE RECORD MIDDLE DIVISION AND ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 8TH, 2021

Courtesy of Julian Silverman

Silverman’s (12) photography featured in gallery Lucy Peck Contributing Writer Utilizing different forms of media from various artists and focusing on New York’s recovery efforts during the pandemic, the Maggi Peyton Gallery in lower Manhattan, an exhibit hosted by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office and President Gale Brewer, features Julian Silverman’s (12) photographs.

Silverman was first introduced to the opportunity when teaching photography at a non-profit called Concrete Safaris over the summer. His boss sent him a submission link and he applied to have his work featured in the gallery, Silverman said.

In August, he submitted five of his best pieces, and in late September he heard that two had been selected for the exhibit, he said. “I was surprised. I recently found out that there were hundreds of submissions and when I went to the gallery opening on Monday, there were 20-25 pieces, so definitely a small selection but a big pool.”

The first of Silverman’s two photographs was taken in March 2020 and is titled “Social Distancing.” It depicts an empty midtown in rainy weather with a lone delivery biker. “It showed the craziness of the time,” he said. “It was a surreal feeling

to be out there shooting with no one else there, everyone fearful of what was to come.”

Silverman took the second photograph last June at a Black Lives Matter protest in Brooklyn, he said. “At the time, there were protesters clashing with police, and off to the side, there was a woman with a mask that says ‘I will breathe’ which relates to what George Floyd said.”

Although Silverman helped curate the school’s Black Lives Matter exhibit last year as well as the Summer Gallery show, this is his first out-of-school exhibit. “I am definitely excited because this is going to be my first gallery opening. I’m excited to see what comes.”

Silverman’s photography journey began in seventh grade. “I’ve always been interested in New York City as a whole and I love living here, so I started by walking around neighborhoods in NYC and taking pictures on my iPhone.”

Over time, Silverman developed a love for photography, buying his first camera, a Canon EOS Rebel, with the help and support of his parents. He used to think his niche was sunsets but he then discovered it was cityscape images, he said. “I now call myself a street NYC photographer.”

Upper Division photography teacher Aaron Taylor has taught Julian for three years in Photography 1, Photography

3, and now in Directed Study in Photography. “He shows a definite passion for photography; he shoots when there’s not an assignment due for class,” Taylor said.

Taylor first met Silverman when Silverman was touring the school in eighth grade. Silverman went into one of Taylor’s classes with his parents, holding a portfolio. “I was really impressed by that and I was like ‘who is this eighthgrader that has a bound book of his street photography,” Taylor said. “I thought, ‘I hope this kid comes here and takes my class.’ I knew immediately then he was gonna be a great photographer.”

In the past, Silverman aimed to go out and shoot once every two weeks, especially at night and when it rained, he said. However, now in the midst of the school year, finding time to shoot has been hard. “I try to take advantage of breaks, the summer, and days off,” he said.

When shooting, Silverman finds inspiration from fellow photographers as well as New York City. “New York City is a huge inspiration of mine,” he said. “I love living here, the people, the food, the culture, everything about it.”

Silverman also finds inspiration from exploring different neighborhoods and seeking out interesting scenes, he said.

While he loves taking the subway, and

often taking pictures on it, his least favorite part of shoots is the long commute to different photo locations, he said. “It can be an hour and a half from my apartment in Manhattan to Coney Island, where I love shooting.”

Despite these setbacks, the pandemic has actually given Silverman more subjects to shoot, he said. The best times for him to shoot have been during COVID, the Black Lives Matter movement and protests, and the 2020 election, he said. “These conflicts bring out the raw emotions which I seek in my photos.”

Silverman’s most memorable photography experience was at the height of the pandemic, when he left his house at midnight and shot continuously until 7:30 am, he said. “We used Citi Bikes to get to Times Square, shot there, then went over to East Midtown and shot there, we eventually ended up downtown and shot there,” he said. “I remember standing on the overpass of 42nd street at 2:30 in the morning with no one else around.”

Photography is one of Silverman’s favorite hobbies, he said. “I like having photography as a hobby and something I can turn to as a therapeutic thing. If I’m having a tough week, I can walk around and take pictures.”

7

THE RECORD ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 8TH, 2021

“Singin’ in the Rain” rehearsal process begins Rani Ogden Contributing Writer Last week marked the first full week of rehearsal for the Middle Division (MD) musical, “Singin’ in the Rain.”

The audition process began on Monday September 20, a week before rehearsals. The performances will occur on December 9, 10, and 11. Dance Teacher and Choreographer Patrick O’Neill will direct the show with Lower Division Music and Theatre Arts teacher Carmen Keels.

For the singing audition, all students learned 10 bars of the song “Good Morning,” from the musical together and then auditioned individually afterward, O’Neill said.

During the singing audition, Loewy Miller (8), who will play the lead role of Cosmo Brown, felt intimidated after listening to some sixth graders practice while he waited in the pavilion for his audition. “I heard Cayden and all the other sixth graders singing ‘Good Morning’ perfectly and very angelically,” he said. Miller felt anxious over the fact that his voice is much lower in comparison, he said.

As a part of the audition process students also had to perform one of three scenes selected by O’Neill. O’Neill looked for students who were able to portray intense emotions, he said. Students who could not attend the D period acting audition had to record a video.

The final part of the auditioning for the play was the dance audition for which O’Neill taught students four counts of a dance. He then watched the students dance in groups of three to four and observed how quickly they caught on to the material, he said.

Ella Hecht (8) enjoyed the dance audition because she dances competitively, she said.

“It was simple moves, but we did it pretty fast, so we got to work on technique,” Hecht said.

Cayden Tan’s (6) primary strength is singing, so he found the dance portion to be the most difficult, he said. “I completely freaked out because I can’t dance and messed the whole thing up, but I just went on and hoped they didn’t notice,” he said.

Madison Nina’s (7) favorite part of the audition process was the dancing. “I’ve been dancing since I was three, so it was fun to relive that experience,” said Nina.

O’Neill’s favorite part of the audition process was going through videos from

Celine Kiriscioglu Contributing Writer “It’s like a huge part of New York City itself has been gone for so long,” Athena Spencer (11) said about Broadway’s reopening. After closing for 18 months due to COVID-19, many Broadway shows including “Aladdin,” “Chicago,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Hadestown,” “Hamilton,” “The Lion King,” and “Wicked” have reopened, according to Broadway.org.

Spencer, a fan of musical theater, attended the opening show of “Six: The Musical” in late September. In 2020, the musical had been scheduled to open on March 12, the same date all Broadway theatres closed due to the pandemic. Due to the long-awaited opening night, the audience was more lively than ever, Spencer said. As the show began and the cast came out onto the stage, the crowd greeted them with a big round of applause, she said Willa Davis (11), who also attended the opening of “Six: The Musical” said the audience was incredibly energetic because the audience had not been to a show in such a long time.

Although she has not made plans yet, Bailey

students who could not make it to the acting auditions together with Keels, he said. O’Neill and Keels spent over five hours on a Saturday going through the student’s performances.

In some of the videos, students either had family members read opposite of them or did scenes completely on their own as if it were a monologue, O’Neill said. In Hecht’s audition video, she had her sister read the lines opposite her character in the scene.

In contrast to Hecht, Claire Lee (6) performed the scenes on her own and paused in between her character’s lines, she said. “It was very hard, and I would’ve liked to do it in person, but it also has some advantages because you can reshoot.”

Hecht was excited to make friends with students across grades during the audition process. “When we got the cast list I wasn’t only looking for my name, I was looking for all my friend’s names,” she said.

O’Neill chose students who exhibited leadership and confidence in addition to skill during their auditions, he said. “We wanted to find people who were confident and had a solid base that could lead the rest of the cast.”

The students with lead roles are Cayden Tan (6) as Don Locwood, Lee as Cathy Seldon, Madison Nina (7) as Lina Lamont, and Miller as Cosmo Brown.

Miller was surprised when he saw the cast results. “It was my first musical, so I wasn’t really expecting to get a lead part,” he said The cast conducted a table read on the first day of rehearsal. During the table read, the cast read through the dialogue of the script before staging it, O’Neill said. The rehearsal made O’Neill excited for this coming year.

“When you do a read through it’s very dry and you don’t know the scenes yet, the emotions aren’t there, and you don’t know what your motivation is because there are so many unknowns,” he said.

However, O’Neill was impressed with the cast, who did a fantastic job, he said. O’Neill was particularly impressed with Nina’s confidence and the accent she created for her character, Lina Lamont. “She knew she wanted that role, and went ‘this is what I’m doing’ which I love to see,” O’Neill said.

Miller said that the cast was very impressed with Nina’s accent the first time they heard it, he said. “She is so good at that voice that we all doubled over laughing.”

Nina prepared for the role by watching other people doing her character’s accent on YouTube and emulating the voice herself, she said. She observed their bodily movements

Hecht (11) is happy about the possibility of now seeing “Six” and “Moulin Rouge.” Not only are people excited that Broadway has reopened, some are ready for the arrival of new productions, Hecht said. “People want new reasons to go to the theater.”

While attending “Six: The Musical,” Davis said she noticed a QR code on the show’s playbill that promoted a virtual stage door experience.

The tradition of audience members meeting the performers at the stage door has been adapted into a virtual experience, she said.

As a Broadway fan and a member of the Horace Mann Theater Company, Hecht has always enjoyed meeting the cast of Broadway shows and experiencing the show in person.

Hecht said that although she finds the new interactive stage door experience interesting, she believes there is something to be said about going out to the theatre and meeting actors in person rather than through a screen. “Getting the opportunity to meet the actual performers of a show I’ve been following or watching is such a surreal moment.”

Along with the virtual adaptation of meet and greets, Broadway has also changed the requirements for audience members attending

Amiri Dosani/Staff Artist

and gestures in order to convey Lina’s ditzy and narcissistic personality in her audition, Miller said. “I put all the movements and the right tones to fit the attitude of the character and changed myself so I could become the character.”

Although the rehearsal went well, there have been several difficulties with scheduling and students taking their commitment to the musical seriously, O’Neill said. “It’s a big commitment doing the musical as a director, as a choreographer, as a technical director, and as a cast member,” O’Neill said.

There have been some small incidents of students missing rehearsal, Alex Felberbaum (8) said. “One of the first things they said to us is, ‘You need to tell us if you are going to be late, and if you are absent too much you cannot be part of the production.’”

Hecht needed to figure out days she could miss rehearsal for dance, she said.

Despite these challenges, the cast is enthusiastic about the musical and supporting each other, O’Neill said. “Overall everyone has a really fantastic attitude,” he said. “Everyone really wants to be there,” he said. “It’s a really great community that we are building.”

Nina finds community within the excitement and energy of the cast, she said.

“Since we share that level of excitement, me and my fellow cast members have really grown our relationship,” Miller said. “I’m happy to find a community where I feel like I belong.”

Felberbaum has settled into a leadership role in the theater community, he said.

Felberbaum gave sixth and seventh graders

acting tips, and showed them a couple of “secrets” inside Gross Theater. “When I was younger, I was looking up to the eighth graders,” he said. “Now they are looking up to us, that’s really heartwarming to know.”

Lee is enthusiastic about using props for dramatic effect, she said. Specifically, when she gets to throw a cake at somebody’s face, jump out of a cake, and drive a car on stage.

Tan is looking forward to his song “Fit as a Fiddle,” where he harmonizes with Miller.

Both Miller and Tan practiced the song on opposite sides of the stage because the harmonies were so difficult to learn, Miller said.

Nina is the most excited to recreate the scene after Don Lockwood tells Lina Lamont that he is in love with Cathy Seldon, she said. “Lina Lamont expresses herself as narcissistic, however, the scene really broadcasts her insecurities, and it just goes to show not to judge a book by its cover,” Nina said.

While he initially had three options for the musical, O’Neill decided to go with “Singing in the Rain” because of Theater Design Teacher and Technical Director Caitie Miller, he said. “I said I only wanted “Singing In the Rain” if we could have real rain,” he said.

Miller and O’Neill are installing rain shafts that create the effect of rain on stage.

In addition to the rain scene, O’Neill is most excited about bringing the large and technicolor closing number of the show, “Broadway Melody,” to the stage, he said.

Hecht is excited to be on stage again, she said. “I love performing on stage because we get to see people’s reactions in person.”

a show. According to their website, all productions require the audience, performers, backstage crew, and theatre staff to wear masks and be fully vaccinated.

Despite these new requirements, Davis is concerned about the impact the reopening will have on COVID-19 cases. “I’m glad they were very safe, but there’s always a little part of me that’s nervous about things reopening because when that happens, there tends to be a rise in cases,” she said.

Middle and Upper School Dance teacher Patrick O’Neill attended “Pass Over,” where staff members checked everyone’s vaccination card and ID before letting them into the theater and mandated that masks be worn throughout the performance. “Even with all the precautions, which I fully support, it was still a magical evening,” O’Neill said.

The distance COVID created between the public’s access to theater did not hinder O’Neill’s love for Broadway.

Although he was not impacted by the loss of Broadway, his friends who travel in touring companies on Broadway had to suffer the

challenges created by the pandemic, O’Neill said. “Too many artists were out of work and lost their livelihoods because of the pandemic and it’s time to get everyone back in the theaters doing what they love and sharing that love with an audience.”

Felix Brenner/Staff Artist

Lions’ Den Record Sports

8

OCTOBER 8TH, 2021

Cross Country teams race against league schools Alex Lautin Staff Writer

The Boys and Girls Varsity Cross Country teams competed this Wednesday in a meet with the Ivy Preparatory League schools in preparation for their biggest meet of the season this Saturday: the Manhattan Invitational.

This meet, the team competed against league schools in addition to Avenues, Sareena Parikh (12) said.

There are two cross country races: the 1.5 mile race for novice and freshmen and the 2.5 mile race for runners with more experience, Ahana Nayar (11) said. “Both courses are fairly hard because you’re running hills for the majority of the time,” she said. “It’s pretty difficult and strenuous and it takes up a lot of your energy.”

The first section of the 2.5 mile race is mainly flat, the middle section is the hardest section as it is almost all uphill, and the last section is the final 1000 meters of the race, Justin Burrell (12) said. “It’s really hard to continue to push it. So our strategy was to make sure we try to push it at the end and don’t really slow down,” he said.

For each meet, the team does both short runs and longer runs, Eric Do (11) said. On the day before the meet, the team takes it easy to allow their bodies to recover before the meet. “The main challenge was deciding how to prepare ourselves for Saturday without [injuring] ourselves,” he said.

Short runs help to build strength, while long runs help build stamina, Jake Ziman (11) said.

“The strategy is not only to start fast and end fast, but to maintain your speed throughout the race.”

At the meet, Burrell earned a personal record (PR), he said. He had been working on maintaining his energy at the end of the race, and feels as though he was able to push during the last part, allowing him to best his previous PR, he said.

The hardest aspect of this season is maintaining team spirit because unlike soccer, football, or volleyball, Cross Country is a more individual sport and less of a team one, Burrell said.

The team saw improvement from previous meets, Burrell said. “Over time, I’ve just been able to run longer distances which helps me [when] practicing for shorter races,” Parikh said. “The longer you run, the shorter the distance feels.” Parikh’s endurance has improved significantly since she started cross country in seventh grade, she said.

The Manhattan Invitational on Saturday is the biggest race of the season, with around 100 schools attending the meet, Burrell said.

At meets with more people, Burrell uses other runners as motivation to run faster.

“Before [a meet], we’re kind of a tangle of nerves, but at the end, we all feel super proud of ourselves,” Parikh said.

Congratulations... to Harrison Bader ‘12 for being named Major League Baseball’s National League Player of the Week and a ‘Top 50’ to Watch in Baseball Playoffs

Boys Varsity Soccer plays through the week Cece Coughlin Staff Writer The Boys Varsity Soccer team had ups and downs this week in their two games. The Lions beat Hackley 3-1 on Monday and lost to Dalton 2-1 on Wednesday, The Lions game plan was pretty simple. Game play is based on what they work on during practice, trying to get everyone to play, and just working hard, Boys Varsity Soccer coach Gregg Quilty said before the games.

During the game against Hackley, Leo Courbe (11) scored the first goal with an assist by Jayden Siegel (12) in the first five minutes. Daniel Schlumberger (12) scored the second goal with an assist from Courbe. “[Schlumberger] shot the ball beautifully with his opposite foot into the far corner,” Quilty said. Finally, Schlumberger scored the third goal during the second half.

“We played really well as a team [during the Hackley game],” Owen Stafford (11) said. “We had some great team goals, we were aggressive and energetic the entire time, and we just wanted it more than Hackley.”

The Hackley game ended up ending early because of thunder and lightning, Quilty said.

While the officials could have suspended the game, because it was already in the second half, it was considered an official game, he said.

Schlumberger said that the game suspension was a fair call. The Lions went into the second half 2-1, then their goalie Matthew Edelman (11) had a great save on a free kick, before Schlumberger scored again at the 69 minute mark, making the score 3-1. “We would have kept the lead,” Schlumberger said.

Quilty only had a few critiques of the game.

Right before halftime, Hackley scored on a corner kick, Quilty said. “We just have trouble defending those; other than that the defense completely

locked down the field, they didn’t let anyone

Schlumberger said. After the loss on Wednesday,

SHOOT TO SCORE Lions on their A-game. down the middle and didn’t allow hardly any shots at all.”

During the game against Dalton, Schlumberger scored the only goal. Dalton scored once in the first half and then again in overtime, Stafford said.

“We got [an early lead] and then they hit two shots perfectly in the top corner,” Max Ting (11) said. “We played a much better game and we were probably the better team. Sometimes we just lose like that.”

While the team came out strong at the beginning of the second half, the team’s energy decreased and Dalton just wanted it more than the Lions did, Stafford said.

The Lions next game will be against Riverdale at Homecoming on Saturday. “They are a pretty good team so hopefully we don’t lose momentum from [Wednesday],” Ting said. “We have had a pretty good vibe the last few weeks.”

The Lions are confident in their ability to have a fun and rewarding game against Riverdale,

the Lions hope they can build on their loss and see how they can positively respond to it, he said.

“Everyone played together really well and the captains have done a really good job.”

“Our chemistry is really good and everyone is excited for Homecoming,” Ting said.

In general, the team has one main goal for the season. “We are in the top four [of the Ivy Preparatory School League] so at this rate we should go into the NYSAIS tournament, we just have to keep that up,” Spencer Kolker (10) said.

“It’s been years since we’ve been in the NYSAIS tournament, so it’s definitely a goal to get into the post-season tournament and hopefully win a round or two,” Quilty said. “We want to place in at least the top half of the league so that we get selected for it.”

“Hopefully if we keep up the streak of beating most of these big teams and capitalizing the small teams and not losing to them, we can win the league,” Schlumberger said.

LIONS’ BOX: Results from This Week’s games Girls Varsity Soccer vs. Dalton -- TIE 1-1 GirlsVarsity Volleyball vs. Dalton -- WIN 3-0 Boys Varsity Soccer vs. Dalton -- LOSS 2-1 Boys Varsity Soccer vs. Hackley -- WIN 3-1

Girls Varsity Soccer vs. Hackley -- TIE 0-0 Girls Varsity Tennis vs. Trinity -- WIN 3-2 Varsity Water Polo vs. Fieldston -- WIN 17-8

Courtesy of Boys XC Instagram

HOMECOMING SCHEDULE-- Saturday, October 9th, 2021 Varsity Field Hockey vs. Riverdale -- 11:00 AM, Four Acres Boys Varsity Soccer vs. Riverdale -- 11:00 AM, Alumni Field Girls Varsity Tennis vs. Fieldston -- 12:00 PM, Andrew Feinberg Tennis Center GirlsVarsity Volleyball vs. Riverdale -- 12:00 PM, Richard A. Friedman ‘75 Gymnasium Varsity Water Polo vs. Riverdale -- 12:00 PM,

Jeffrey H. Loria Family Aquatic Center Girls Varsity Soccer vs. Riverdale -- 1:00 PM, Four Acres Varsity Football vs. Riverdale -- 2:30 PM, Alumni Field Girls XC Manhattan College Invitational -3:20 PM, Van Cortlandt Park Parade Grounds Boys XC Manhattan College Invitational -3:35 PM, Van Cortlandt Park Parade Grounds

Note: “For the safety of all, attendance at Homecoming 2021 is limited to current HM students in grades 7 through 12, employees, and fully vaccinated members of their families. HM students under 12 are permitted only if a sibling is playing in a Homecoming athletic contest. No other children under 12 are permitted.”

MILES OF SPIRIT XC team post-game.

For more information, visit horacemann.org/alumni/homecoming-2021